Becoming a Big Girl

I've had a great time the last week and half with the Princess while the boy's been on vacation with his grandparents. One of my favorite outings with the Princess was when we went to the Botanical Gardens for some pictures with her new kitty cat fascinator (we found it at Claire's) and her Marie dress.

She's a fun one but don't let the cuteness fool you, she's a handful. We've made some big steps to getting her ready to be a big sister. Some of those big steps have come with growing pains. Potty training was attempted and abandoned-we'll try again in a couple months. Her big girl bed has been set up and she's accepted it...for the most part. Every once in a while she'll still try to insist on sleeping in the crib but buying her new Minnie Mouse bedding went a long way to convincing her that the big bed is the way to go. Lastly, time outs are now a regular thing...it probably sounds odd to throw that in with potty training and a real bed but in our house, discipline is viewed as a good thing. She's old enough to be corrected, to be held accountable and to grow as a person. It's not easy or fun for any of us...today a two minute time out for putting clothes from the hamper into the toilet turned into a 20 minute time out because until she sat on the step for two minutes without getting up or playing, her time kept resarting. But in the end, she did it and more importantly, she apologized. The icing on the cake was when I asked if she would make good choices, her answer was a loud "yes, ma'am" instead of the quiet mouthing of the words she's tried to get away with in the past. She's independent and bold and I wouldn't change that for anything but she's also going to be respectful and kind even if it takes us 20 minutes to do a two minute time out. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the blue dye we have in the toilet water comes out of the clothes she dumped.

Spitting Image

I've been arrogant at times when it comes to parenting...breezing through with an easy-to-parent son and years and years of nanny experience...infants, teenagers, triplets-heck, even a family with ten kids. I was ready to take on the challenge of parenting head on and do it with ease until one little girl came into our lives and uprooted everything.

It's humbling to have a child who reminds you of all your most negative qualities. I have that and so much more in our little princess.  She's our "strong-willed" child and I celebrate it...most of the time...because I know it means she'll grow up to be a brave woman with conviction and determination.

But then, there are days like today when I wake up and my first thought is "oh no, what is she going to do today?!" It's exhausting. Not just having a strong-willed, loud, sneaky, demanding child...just about all nearly-two-year-olds are that way. It's the way she's strong-willed, loud, sneaky and demanding that's exhausting because it's a reminder of all the areas of my own character that are less than stellar.

It's not that she's stubborn, I'm stubborn. It's not that she's loud and abrasive, I'm loud and abrasive. It's not that she's manipulative, it's that I'm manipulative. I feel like a hypocrite trying desperately to teach her not to be these things when I know my heart betrays me. I'm all these things and I've lived long enough to know that they're not good things. They make life more difficult. They make relationships more difficult. 

I'm starting to realize that all I can do is parent the best I know how and let God do the rest. Which, if you've been paying attention, you know isn't easy for me because like my daughter, I want to control everything. But God wanted more. He gave me a child who is bringing me closer to Him. He's using her to show me that He wants better not just for her but from me and I'm listening.

Princess Pics

Over the weekend, I had a little fun with my camera. I got my wedding dress out and took some shots of our daughter in it.

(I'm a horrible bride-it's been 7+ years and I STILL haven't had my dress professionally cleaned/preserved...but I will...soon...) 

This is why having a daughter is fun...makes her first sentence, "I'm mad at Mommy" so much easier to deal with.

Daddy's Girl

With the chaos of the holidays, Joshua's birthday and the "crud" making it's way through our home, a not-so-small milestone has passed. 

Joshua has officially been home with our princess longer than he was away after she was born.

It's a big deal to all of us because missing her birth was one of the hardest parts of the deployment. No matter how prepared I was, I can still close my eyes and feel the heartache of his absence that day a year and a half ago.

When he returned, we were lucky in that she didn't show fear or anxiety around him and they bonded quickly. Of course it helped that she had a big brother to take her cues from but she and Joshua have a relationship all their own. Now, when he comes home in the evening, she throws her hands up and yells "Da" as she runs to his arms. I'm pretty sure in that moment, if she the ability to ask him for anything in the world, she'd get it.

Reintegration hasn't been a cake walk but milestones like this make it that much easier.

PS>I didn't do a full Christmas post but I have to post a couple obnoxious obligatory Mom pics from Christmas...it was a great year.

O-N-E

We did it! Tomorrow is the girl's first birthday! We have managed (assuming nothing happens between NOW and midnight) to keep our little daredevil princess alive for the first year. We opted to not do a big 1st birthday party for several reasons but mostly because we wanted to just have time as a family of four. It's something we were unable to do when she was born because of the deployment so last weekend (Wednesday birthdays are the worst!) we had a Princess Day. I took some 1 year photos...

And afterwards, we took the kids to get lunch at a local, whole-in-the-wall, super yummy BBQ place. Don't try telling our Princess that BBQ isn't very Princess-like...she LOVES it!

Lunch was great and as a treat to both kids, we took a trip over to the Disney Store where our sweet, selfless little man wanted to spend ALL his birthday money on presents for the girl. We allowed him to buy a couple little things for her but encouraged him to save his money or buy something for himself.

Love. That. Boy!

Sunday night we came home and had cake. Our little ladybug birthday princess started out slow. After ripping a piece off the cake and trying to put it back together, she slowly tasted it...the slow didn't last and it wasn't long before she was face-first in the cake...