ONE

Goodness, here we are. My sweet Leighty-bug is officially one. I had every intention of blogging more of her first year, but two kids is the real deal, y'all. It's such a strange thing having two children in two very different stages of life. One is close to taking her first steps and the other is about to start kindergarten. My heart feels like it's on a never-ending roller coaster.

But I'll save that for another day. Today I want to be sure to capture everything that is my sweet Leighton at this stage.

It's amazing to me how different my girls are already. Leighton is so loud and full of life. Even her adorable little babbling is at volume ten. She is so funny and ornery and Todd and I are often looking at each other with wide eyes thinking "what are we going to do with this one?" She laughs when we say no to her and lately when we say no, she just looks at us with a huge grin and nods her head yes. Such a stinker, she is. But she loves people. She's a cuddle bug and she falls asleep nearly every night cuddled with her sister. It is truly the sweetest thing.

Speaking of, she loves her sister. Adores her. She has two words that she says regularly and "Cos" is one of them. The other is hi. She says hi to everyone and everything. Where Crosbi at this age did not want any strangers talking to her, Leighton is quick to say hi to every person we meet.

Not quite walking, she's still incredibly mobile. When not crawling around the house, she's sneakily climbing the stairs before someone catches her. She has zero teeth but she's not afraid to eat anything. It's hilarious to watch her gum things like pretzels and crackers.

Leigthon is such a joy to our family. I know I've said it before, but she's truly the special final piece to our puzzle and we're all better for knowing and loving her.

Happy first birthday baby girl. We love you so much.

view post

The Days Are Long But The Years Are Short

Parenting is hard. Really hard. Just when I think I have a handle on things, I'm quickly reminded that I really don't have a clue. Crosbi and I are butting heads a lot lately. She's testing her boundaries and I'm getting irritated too easily. Sometimes I ask myself, "Why does this have to be so difficult?" And then I remember that I've been entrusted to raise a HUMAN BEING. I'm trying to mold another person who has her own thoughts and ideas and words that she's experimenting with everyday.

We had a hard night recently. She was in a bad mood, choosing words that she knew would hurt me. I took the bait and lashed out at her. It was ugly. I put myself in timeout, locking myself in my bedroom to cool off. She marched up to her room too and slammed the door (how does she know to do this at five?). 

A few minutes later she knocked and slid a note under my door. 

To mom. I love you a lot. You are my best friend. Love you. Love you. Love you. Love you. Love you.

Her note didn't change her consequences, but it did make forgiving her and asking her for forgiveness much easier. I'm thankful she's quick to apologize. I'm even more thankful that God is too. Because I had plenty of apologies myself. 

I'm learning parenting is hard because it forces me to deal with my own weaknesses, especially when I see them thrown in my face. But I'm also learning there's so much grace in it. Kids are quick to learn and they're quick to forgive. I'm hopeful that as long as we can let each other fail and quickly accept each other's apologies, we just might survive these long days and oh so short years.

xoxo

view post

Leighton :: Six Months

My baby is six months old! How? Why? I was told it feels like time goes even faster with a second child, but come on. This is crazy.

It almost makes me emotional to write this post. I love my little Leighty-bug so much. So much. It makes me emotional because when I was pregnant, I couldn't wrap my head around having enough love for two children. I really couldn't comprehend two little girls needing me as their mom and having enough of me to give. But man, having a second child has made our lives so full. Nothing turns a day around like a giggling baby. We're all so smitten.

Leighton might look like her sister, but as babies they're quite a bit different. Crosbi was definitely sleeping through the night at six months. This time? Yeah, I've forgotten what sleep is. Is that a thing? I was up three times last night. I haven't had a full night of sleep since I was pregnant. By God's grace I somehow have the energy to make it through the day, but poor Todd, by 9pm I'm done.

She's also taking her sweet time in most things. Crosbi was above the curve in every developmental milestone. She rolled, crawled, walked, and talked well before the books said she should be doing those things. Leighton has rolled over four times. FOUR. It's not that she can't, girl just doesn't want to. She sits up on her own like a champ and her fine motor skills are pretty impressive. She's been picking up her paci (and anything else she sees laying around) and putting it in her mouth for a long time. She's just now starting to scoot backwards when she's on her belly. She's not in any kind of hurry. At first I was concerned, but I truly think now that we're seeing a huge glimpse into her personality. She is so laid back. Nothing really bothers her. She does things in her own time and it's kind of a nice change of pace from her sister who's five going on fifteen.

 I can't believe we're more than halfway to her turning one, but I also can't believe she's just been with us six months. We can't imagine life without her.

Happy six months my sweet Leighton. You sure make life fun.

xoxo

view post