The Duck Soap Box

Easter 2015

2015-04-05T16:43:00.002-05:00

First Fish

2015-04-05T16:38:00.001-05:00

Going without TV Week 3: Afterthoughts

2015-02-01T15:15:00.000-06:00

So apparently there is a sporting event to happen today. I don't do sports. I like when Texas sports are winning but I don't actually watch them... but I do watch the SuperBowl, its a culture thing I guess, a ridiculous one but it happens and I watch it so that I'm not left out of all the water cooler talk at my work. It's a one-woman design shop. I'm that one woman (see what i did there? #jokethings). Yesterday marked the 3 weeks without TV, so today I will break the fast with a SuperBowl. I'm 99% certain it won't be worth it. Oh well.

What happened you ask? Week 1 and Week 2 of my TV fast.

This past week was busy, Busy enough to throw my kids in bed, check my email then go to bed myself, most nights. That helps when you aren't suppose to watch TV.... But if I'm being honest the YouTube and Facebook on our phone have been running a bit much. Like my phone is dead a lot.

So what's my post-mortem assessment of 3 weeks of no TV:

I enjoyed my kids a bunch: A bunch a bunch, like loosing-a-little-bit-of-patience-sometimes enjoyed my kids a bunch. But not as much as I think I would have had the TV been on in the background or if they were on some mind-numbing TV binge. As I believe it is with most parents I'm working on my patience. I have loved observing them play and explore and learn with and without me. Watching them from a distance has really just become my entertainment.

All of these are great quotes.

Things around the house: We got stuff done around the house, especially Ross, he's trimmed the trees and has become a little addicted, we may have to use the neighbor's allotted limb-trash space, (whatever they moved). We are planning an epic garage sale, we are preparing for my sister to ~~steal~~ take back her guest bed and dining table. We are thinking about have a designated space for kids coloring or learning, we got the garden started, we have a much longer list, but it's nice to start getting all of it started.

I miss TV at nights when I have to work: I always thought I was super productive at nights when I sat down and watched TV while designing a blog or website. Its was nice to have on in the background. But on the flip side I CANNOT watch TV and read/write at the same time. So I've been getting a lot of writing done lately. I'm more confident that I can find a good balance.

I also miss TV during dinner prep time: Cause of patience and kids underfoot.

Music & Reading: I bought a few gospel songs and have made sure that it is always on in the background, I have really loved this. I have finished 2 books and almost finished a 3rd.

From here on out:
So we will be getting rid of 50% of our TV. And by 50% I mean we aren't cutting TV time I mean we are removing 1 of the TVs permanently and will be only using the one in the big room. We'll see if it stays there. Hopefully that will cut down on our reliability to parent with th idiot box. Also I want to be a bit more selective with my TV and especially the kid's TV.

We will get right on this after this whole Seahawks and Patriots thing... mom told me yesterday who was playing.

My Soul is a Little Split Lately

2015-01-31T14:48:00.000-06:00

Dear Maggie and Willow,

A lot has happen recently that keeps me from writing. But I won’t bore you with adult responsibilities, recently I got back from my first vacation away from y'all. Me and your Dad went to New York and ya’ll stayed with Grammy and Papaw for 3 whole days.

It felt weird being apart from a such a large piece of myself… Let me explain (in the most abstract annoying way possible).

When you are a child, a teen, or young adult your world revolves around you. You worry about worldly things and you may love your family and your God but your whole soul resides in your body. You see things only from your point of view and its hard to understand true absolute love. You want Christmas to be fun for you. You want a vacation to be memorable for you. You find a husband that will be good for you. You want to know what God can do for you & your little world. You may be appreciative and thankful and that completely-understandable self-centeredness is normal... or at least it was for me.

Now as a 30-year old mother of 2 little girls I began thinking about life not from a self-centered point of view, but from your small, innocent, new point of view, and sometimes a much more spiritual point of view. Everything has taken on more meaning. My soul doesn’t just reside in my body, but I leave a big part of it with y'all, and that is a weird feeling. As a mom I worry a lot about that part of my soul, its very humbling and vulnerable.

We are entering that stage in your life that you are starting to understand things and I don't have all the answers. The older I get the more I realize I won’t ever have all the answers, but I hope to at least stay ahead of y'all by 27ish years. I'm only human, and I'm starting to realize my parents were only human. I really want you to think I have the answers. I want you to think I got all of this under control, I want you to think I hung the moon tonight. My parents sure had me amazed, still do, well at least by 27 years or so.

My life revolves around making your childhood magical, educational, and safe. I am not in control of your quantity of life or that part of my soul I left with you, and that terrifies me as I am sure it terrifies all moms and dads. I am in charge of your quality of life. The quality of that little part of my soul that I am leaving with you. I have given myself over to being your mom. Being your protector. Being your magic maker. Being your teacher, leader and your childhood maker.

I love more since being a mom, I love bigger. I love 100% absolutely. I don’t just love y'all more but I love your daddy more. I love my parents more. I love Jesus more. I love people more and I love all of that much deeper that I can ever think possible. God feels different now too, I know that sounds weird but to me I am more appreciative, and amazed, and even terrified at all that He has given me and that He can take away.

Together we grow, together we are figuring things out. I am not the same mom I will be in 20 years its comforting to think that my mom was just as clueless as I am 20 years ago, that's why they call them GRANDmoms.

Dear Willow

2015-01-31T11:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Willow,
The other day I was talking to a lady about why I named you "Willow". Most people apparently think of Willow as a peaceful name.... I always disagree. I described my thoughts on the name 'Willow' as an "old-soul sassy" personality. And boy are you. And I even knew that before I met you. You are a mischievous little grandma living in a toddler's body, reeking havoc in my house, all while running around naked, I kinda love that. Your eyes are always saying more than your little voice and oh boy you know a ton of words. Which totally freaks me out most days cause your sister just now found her verbal stride of girlish 3-year old curiosity.

* this is an unfinished letter from Jan 2015 that I am posting Jan. 2016

Going without TV Week 2: Feelin' the Burn

2015-01-25T23:03:00.002-06:00

Week 2 without TV. Still going strong... well until today. Let me explain.

Even before I ~~decided~~ was challenged to go on a 3-week "fast" without TV I had been trying to clean up my TV watching shows and started substituting vampires, crime, superheroes and lesbian prisoners for more Property Brothers, Bible: the MiniSeries, and 19 Kids and Counting. I was trying to find less mind numbing TV to put on in the background while we went about our day, or while I worked at night.

I'm still not willing to give up GoT, SoA, or HoC, but I'm getting a little better.

Overall I have loved quitting and changing our TV habits. Now I just have to find some good habits to replace this one.

This week though, had a lot more stress and personal challenges that would have been great to come home and vegetate in front of the idiot box with a beer, but that just didn't happen.

CHALLENGE 1 - THE CAR: We had to buy a car this week and that itself was the most stressful thing to research and pray over. We bought a car on Wednesday and I'm just glad it is over, its a dark beige (inside & out) 2004 Honda Pilot, over 150,000 miles, I named it the Happy Honda, cause no matter how much stress came with buying Happy, I was determined for Happy to bring happy moments and happy thoughts. I decided this after a 3 hour car buying experience during a particular stressful drive home at rush hour in the dark while raining without my phone or GPS.

But more importantly to note is that the new car came with a DVD player. SOO during the drive to my parents house this weekend the kids watched a bit of Bambi.

Sidenote: my three year old is not mature enough for Bambi. I almost lost it when Maggie was asking me from the back seat "What happened to the mother?" "What happened to the mother?"

Note: I have not read Fahrenheit 451, I think I started it once, but then a TV show came on that day

CHALLENGE 2 - PARENTS: I'm at my parents house. So even tho I have NOT sat down in front of the TV, it is on in the back ground. Parent's house is the worse when I try to restrict myself from something like TV or peanut butter cookies.

CHALLENGE 3 - TUMBLR: Ross seems to be the one missing his shows, mainly cause all his shows are discussed and shown on tumblr. So sometimes I hear him wimper when he's scrolling on his phone. He's still 100% supportive of our quest as a family. I myself, have long ago "hid" TV shows and entertainment pages I liked on facebook. I found myself delving into endless internet surfing sessions revolved around the fake character lives of hollywood people. Ain't nobody got time for 'dat!

WHAT ARE WE SUBSTITUTING TV WITH:

Reading: I just finished my 2nd Duggar book. Both books are so good and truly inspirational to see how Jesus and the Bible have inspired a peaceful parenting atmosphere and a ministry-minded life. We are also reading the Bible, Researching natural solutions and gardening.
Play: Maggie is loving puzzels and she has really enjoyed doing all sorts of puzzels, including a puzzle of the United States Map. Willow is finding that taking people's things and then running at top speed is super fun.
Potty Training: I made a HUGE deal out of going to the store to buy "big girl" panties and having a big girl day with mommy and getting our toes done and buying a bunch of potty books for Maggie to read. So we've been a LOT more consistent over here.
Buying stuff: Not necessarily a good substitute, but this last week I have noticed an influx of spending, not including the car we bought. Gonna have to fix that.
Eating: Peanut Butter cookies..... um yea, not a good substitute either.

Dear Maggie

2015-01-25T11:41:00.000-06:00

The other day you surprised me. I have always thought of you as a mini Ross. Ross's little girl not just in the way you look but in the way you acted or thought out things, but the other day you picked up a pretzel and bit off the two humps and proudly told me that it looked like the shape of some broccoli. They bit off some more and told me it looked like a 'y' and then bit off some more and told me it looked like a 'p' (you don't know that letter looks like yet, but you were responding with my giggles). At that moment I realized your creativity and your ability to see things a little differently, and wanting to make people laugh.

I saw me in you.

I realized you aren't a mini Ross or a mini Crystal. Both of us were in there along with a whole other little person with a ton of little things to say and talk about. You are a Maggie. (P.S. You still sometimes talk in 3rd person).

You love coloring for hours and creating and building and moving things around constantly. You love dirt and playdoh and you stare insistently at the TV without knowledge of anything else going on around you. You are quick to get angry or irritated at the littlest things with a little tiny "Grrrrr" but are also quick to calm down. You love love people and want to play all day sometimes to the dismay of sleep and other bodily functions. You love being around adults and love cuddles in the morning and taking care of people. This is all mini me, things I see in myself and that you've developed whether it was nature or nurture.

You also say "ok, people" before you say anything to more than one person and you also say "I need something?" right before you go to bed and you are trying to stall or when you walk into a room.... that is also me, but probably a more learned behavior. As I'm raising you kids I've noticed all your good and bad behavior, because y'all mimic it as y'all see it, in a non-funny exaggerated way. But some are still very funny. Like when something unexpected happens, you shake your little 3-year old head and say "Oh dear."

Lately you have been needing to "work" and you set up some laptop-looking toy next me me as I check my email or work on a website. It's humbling to see you mimic my "work" as your play. I'm focusing lately on making sure you don't see me as a workaholic but more of a healthy balance of work and mom things.

You also love animals and puzzles and helping, you love solving a problem and assessing a situation before jumping in headfirst. You love cereal and bananas and eating food behind my back.

You went through a treefrog phase around your birthday, but your 3rd birthday didn't happen cause you and me kept getting sick. I tried twice honey but you never really had a 3rd Birthday. So sorry. The theme was age of exploration.

...
*this is an unfinished letter from a year ago that I am posting in January 2016

Going without TV Week 1: Why?

2015-01-18T23:42:00.000-06:00

Going without TV was something that has been on my mind for a while. I love ALL the TV. But I also think it is major time-suck and I kept thinking I wanted more time. More time to read, more time to write, more time to work efficiently so I could sllllleeeeep more, but I could excuse all that away cause ya know, Game of Thrones.

I have been toying with the idea as a yearly "resolution" or monthly "challenge". But resolutions don't last and never change anything and ya know, House of Cards.

So that brought me to a recent book that I was reading called 20 and Counting a 'how-to' about raising one of America's largest families, the Duggars. And in the book the Duggars were challenged in their first year of marriage to NOT have a TV. They survived, and they mentioned that their family is stronger because of their limitations on programming, but ya know, Modern Family.

This continued to weigh on my mind and every morning I woke up to zombie-toddlers worshipping Dora the Explorer, or little minds that were being molded by Curious George and Clifford. Me and my husband had spoken about it before and there were definite days that I wanted to just get the scissors and cut the cord. It even bothered me at night that me and my husband went to a separate rooms to watch our own shows. But ya know, Dexter, Dr. Who, Arrow, The Flash, Jane the Virgin, Vampire Diaries, The BlackList, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Sherlock, True Blood, Bitten, the Walking Dead, Downtown Abbey, Law and Order, Criminal Minds and really so much more that I'm embarrassed.

Then my church challenged the community to a 21 day fast, which usually means I should give up soda or cheese or some biblical food item, but instead they mentioned TV directly, so that was a slap in the face to my subconscious and really I thought "January is still winter break for TV, I can manage 3 weeks without screens consuming my kids lives and my time. Let's see what will happen."

So.. we did it.

I knew that I would be tempted if I didn't just appeal to my inherent laziness and get rid of the TV (I'm too lazy to pull a tv out of a closet and plug it in when I want to vegetate). So I woke up last Saturday.... and we turned the TVs off. Ultimately I actually had to...

Remove the tv from the living room,
Covered the wall mounted tv in our Room
Hide all remotes
Blocked Hulu, Netflix and You Tube from my computer and I also blocked Facebook (more of a work-related time sucker)

THE RESULTS: Things have changed around here and I noticed it almost immediately.

ONE, THE GIRLS: Maggie (3yo) and Willow (1yo) have gone about their day as if nothing has changed. They haven't asked for it except the first day when Maggie thought it was broken and that dad would "fix" it. I've noticed a huge difference in their concentration, imagination, and general play time with different toys. Maggie is loving puzzles, Willow is glued to this erasable drawing toy and both girls have been playing with their dolls. Don't get me wrong, they are also a bit more mischievous lately too, getting into things and spaces that normally wouldn't have come to their minds

TWO, THE SILENCE: There were days that I would come home and the noise level was intense with 2 toddlers, the TV, the dog, and the other going-ons. Now, its a little more peaceful and the girls are playing by themselves (sometimes too quietly for 2 little girls) for minutes at a time.

THREE, THE EXTRA TIME: I'm not rolling in extra time that I'm bored or unaware of what to do with myself but I have found more time to read, write, have some Bible & meditation moments and get some to do list stuff done. Its been nice.

FOUR, THE HUSBAND: We have talked. I'm not saying we didn't before the Shut Off of 2015, but now I feel as if conversations are happening that didn't before. Even if we are both sitting in the same room doing different things, now instead of the TV being on in the background to occupy the silence its us communicating and just shooting the breeze like some old married couple.

Hopefully this peacefulness, self-awareness, God-centric time continues. Stay-tuned....

Also have I missed any life altering news coverage or gossip? I heard the Cowboys lost, Jennifer Lopez arrived naked to the Oscars...again, and that DFW might sink into the ground by earthquakes, but was there anything else?

Halloween 2014

2014-11-01T21:37:00.001-05:00

It was 3 days of Halloween activities. I had a little Queen of Hearts and a little Ursula.

The outfits worked the best on day 2, but that day was the biggest bummer in terms of available candy. :) On Halloween we got to go trick or treating with the neighbors. We had so much fun, but 3 days is a lot. Sorry the pictures are out of order and kinda jumbled up.

WILLOW - THE QUEEN OF HEARTS

URSULA - SEA WITCH/QUEEN

"Maggie, Make a scary face......... facing the camera, please"

Zombie Ninja ... wish I had gotten a better picture

Dorthy

Little Penny Lion

I steal the neighbors baby and take selfies, cause babies make selfies cooler.

Sisters & Sorry

2014-09-29T10:47:00.000-05:00

So I decided to keep my personal blog stuff over here on blogger.... I temporary moved it over to my professional design wordpress site because.... well, i don't know... I'm a sucker for self-inflicted internet problems. Some of my pictures went missing in the process but after a few Google searches I realized it wasn't the actual move it was .... google. Weird. So if you find a post that has missing photos... I'm sorry. Blame the internet. Here's a .gif of my girls being sisters.

Summertime Painting

2014-08-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

Today I decided in the spur of the moment to throw the paints outside with the girls. I even invited the neighbors over real quick. I love my neighbors, they have 3 kids with 2 girls one about a year younger than Maggie and another about a year younger than Willow. So perfect I couldn't ask for better neighbors.

And since 30 photos of painting is just not enough, I attached another 15 when the neighbors came over for some bubble time last week. :)

In true Willow fashion she went full Braveheart almost immediately.

Willow, always ready for a picture... Maggie, would never say 'no' to a popsicle

2014-07-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

2 weeks ago the girls found a frog, a pool, and a few popsicles at grammy's house.

Summer Swimmings and Bubbles

2014-07-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

I love these girls, and even tho the pool had a hole and was leaking air, we filled it up and turned on the bubble machine tonight. I always feel so incredibly blessed to be a mom, and also incredibly blessed that I didn't drop the camera in the water. :) These girls are so different from one another, I can't get over Maggie's "thinking" tongue, Willow's giant smile and the giggles. Oh the giggles.
Tasting bubbles. This girl loves the water. She just wanted to lie down in it.Bubbles, bubbles bubblesCan't decide which one I like more above or below, cause one of these has to go on the wall!!

Never stop smiling Willow.... never. Yea she was told it was almost time to get out.

Week 52: WIllow is one and has a PARTY

2014-05-22T13:06:00.002-05:00

Aben

2014-05-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

Dear Maggie, you are almost 2 and a half years and I just tucked you into bed and simultaneously that simple act filled my heart with joy and love. You gathered all your animals and babies and dora and princesses up and climbed into bed willingly, you asked for a book and we read "Biscuit goes to the petting zoo". All the babies cows and goats in the book nuzzle and cuddle their mommies, you cupped your tiny hands around the 2D babies in the book and kissed them.

Then I said our normal prayers, and you interrupted with a string of sentences that only the good Lord understood and you kept looking over at me as I agreed with whatever you needed to tell Jesus. And then we said "Aben" and you tried to make the sign of the cross "father, son, spirt" about eight different ways until I helped you. As I kissed you goodnight and told you I loved you and walked away you called me back cause you needed a fist-pump.

Love you Maggie.

Nailed It.

Week 51 - Superhero or Luchador

2014-05-13T21:10:00.002-05:00

Mother's Day 2014

2014-05-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

I have always loved this picture of my mom with her 2 girls. So the moment I found out I was having a 2nd girl I knew I wanted to recreate this image with my 2. This Mother's Day I'm giving my mom both these images framed.

Love you mom so much. I hope I'll be a good "girl" mom just like you. :)

Have girls they said. It'll be easy they said. And she isn't even 1 yet.

2014-05-09T20:54:00.001-05:00

Dear Willow,

I have no idea how to be your mother.

You are not quite 1 year old and my little baby girl is all boy. You run and climb and throw things in the toilet (the wii num chuck was today's casualty). You kick balls and eat rocks then run away from me and you put your own head under the bath water repeatedly cause I guess you enjoy gasping, drowning and coughing. You ride your plastic car and stand on top of the grocery buggy and run. You wriggle out of restraints, enjoy skipping naptimes and bedtimes and with your head leading the way, you run. Last Tuesday you had some kind of running mouth/teeth incident I didn't witness and it took me 90 minutes to get you to stop bleeding. And you are not even 1 yet.

You talk. You say ball, mama, dada, up, baba, da among other vowel sounds that I haven't placed with an object. You are a messy eater cause you insist on feeding yourself, 50% of the time we have to bathe you after a meal, the other 50% of the time you just have food on your face cause there is no amount of wipeys (Maggie's words) that can take spaghetti out of your hair and clothes. And you are not even 1 yet.

At night you sleep hard. Me and your dad have both noticed you sleep in the planking position. Face down, feet and hands stretched out straight to your side like a board. Last week you were up late with me and you were so tired but wouldn't sit still so I just placed you on the ground, you took off running at full speed, tripped over the carpet, had a soft landing on a blanket on the floor and you fell asleep right there, not another movement. So basically you party hard until the very end. And you are not even 1 yet.

botched cloth diaper job from earlier today

But damn girl you are beautiful. You got all the good features from me and your dad and you smile like a tiny little awesome trouble-maker. You are always super smiley when I go and get you in the morning. You are truly everything I imagined a Willow to be. Fiery and Beautiful. And you are not even 1 yet.

You are always having a great time. A mama's girl that gets cranky when she is hungry but generally always trying to live-it-up... and I know all of this before your first birthday.

I just pray everyday that your guardian angel graduated top of his class and has had centuries of successful experiences. I pray for you more than I have prayed for anyone else. I pray that I am an attentive mother, that the gas oven knobs are boring to you, that your fascination with water will subside, that you never find anything exciting or edible inside of your diaper, that the bathroom doors will always be closed, that small rocks are scarce and the large ones are not tasty. I pray that the yard will be full of soft grass and dirt looses all flavor to you. I pray that concrete will be swishy under your tiny feet and knees and all furniture and walls are rounded and padded. I pray that the Lord makes me the mom you need for me to be.

I pray, most of all, that you make sure Maggie has a ton of fun and that she is your conscience when you aren't being safe. Maggie's favorite thing to say is "uh-oh Willow", but she also blames her poopy diapers on you, oh well, big sisters, can't live with them can't be a fiery little sister without them.

I love you so much, my little trouble maker, be careful.

-Mom

Willow Week 50

2014-05-06T17:43:00.000-05:00

Official Photo

AND MAGGIE

Week 49

2014-04-27T21:48:00.001-05:00

Week 47 & 48

2014-04-21T11:01:00.003-05:00

11 months

Willow Week 46

2014-04-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

Its about time I give Willow some awesome photos. hard to pick just one.

The official Week 46.

Dear Maggie

2014-04-04T22:59:00.001-05:00

Dear Maggie,

This should have been your 2-year old letter, but I’ve been a little slow, as you are currently 28 months old.

Every once in a while, I look at you, and all-of-a-sudden, you look older. Your baby fat is almost all gone, and what’s left is tiny knobby knees on a little girl who loves the outdoors and hiking but who also has a very girly side. You love your “pity des” (pretty dress). You make parenthood look uncharacteristically easy – well, so far. You surprise me every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

The other day I was bathing your baby sister Willow, and you started to take off your clothes. I said, “No, Maggie, you don’t get a bath right now”, so you calmly walked away. Later I found you half naked in our bathroom trying to pull up your pants and diaper because you had just used the potty all by yourself for the 1^st time – I was in shock! You have probably tee-teed in the potty maybe 5 times so far, but I have always been there to wait and cheer you on. So you just owning it like a boss all by yourself was a bit out of the ordinary and uncharacteristic of a toddler. Weird.

When I put you to bed that night, I told you to come get me when you had to potty. 30 minutes later, you strolled into my room to tell me you had to potty (again a 1^st), and we only missed it because you had to stop to grab a glow-in-the-dark bouncy cow. So basically I think you are awesome for this. It’s the little victories that make me so happy.

Putting you to bed in general is also super easy. You just crawl up there and go to bed, and you gibber along as you say your prayers- really only Jesus could understand you. Twinkie sleeps with you in your bed, and you both insist on snuggling at night.

You love reading, and you will come get us by our hands, drag us to the couch, insist that we “sit down” and read you a “book”. You even sleep with your toddler bible.

You are so fun to watch as you explore your surroundings, test your limits, and figure stuff out. Everyday is an adventure, and most of the time, I can’t help but smile. Even when I’m having a really bad day and my soul is feeling bitter, I come home to see you and your sister running/crawling towards me, and my bad day melts away. You have special powers like that. You know how to test mine and your dad’s patience, but you can erase that all with a hug and a cuddle.

The biggest improvement and milestone you’ve made in the last 4 months is that you’re speaking so much now. You don’t use complete sentences, and your pronunciation is more than a little off, but you can now communicate with us. Though this doesn’t stop the grunting and whining, you are learning tons of words. I love watching you try out a new word to see if we understand you. Sometimes you just blurt out a word and just keep going like you “nailed It”. Just in the last week, you have been really using “tank ooo” (thank you). You are finally calling me Mama, after a very long stint of me being “Bobby” because you couldn’t pronounce your M’s. You are also starting to say your name- “Battie”…. Um, well kinda. You are still working on your M’s, & G’s.

You do all the fun (and not so fun things) that 2-years olds do:

• You hug randomly and tightly, and you even do this finger tapping thing when you hug that is far too cute.

• Singing (kinda) and dancing with me; and when I dance with your sister you run to grab your doll and do circles with her.

• You stand next to me while I cook and constantly ask for cereal and cheese. Which tests my patience.

• You are becoming picky with your food, but you have finally learned to use a fork. Your favorite foods are cheese, cereal, crackers, sausage, and apples.

• Dora the Explorer is your favorite show. You love to play along with the TV show, and you love wearing your backpack around the house.

• You love using my phone, and you insist on seeing the “pitours” (pictures).

• You love coloring on walls. Recently I discovered that you love cleaning up the mess after coloring on the walls more.

• You still breast feed your baby doll when I nurse Willow. You lift up your shirt, put the babies head near your tummy, and then just sit there looking around.

But by far my happiest daily moment is seeing you and your sister playing together. There is something truly special about being a mom and witnessing the beginning of your lifelong friendship. I pray that you and your sister will be able to look past your differences in later years and become rock solid best friends.

Love ya,

Mom

Dear Willow

2014-04-04T22:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Willa-Monster,

You are such a happy baby. I hope you stay that way forever and ever. This good nature is really very unexpected, as I was fully prepared for a screamer. You are still feisty, but a different kind of feisty than I was expecting. We have nicknamed you Smiley Lady Infant and that is quickly turning into Smiley. Your other nickname is Willa Monster when you are having a “moment”. But generally, you are a smiley, easy baby who loves her Mama. When you are unhappy, you just want to be held, walked around the house or fed.

You’re about 10 months old now and really walking (oh yes, WALKING) now and beginning to talk. The walking is very strange to witness in a baby as young as 10 months, and you are kind of starting to run a little (it’s faster than a typical walk) and CLIMB onto things. These are things that never dawned on Maggie to even try at this age. We are really starting to see why there is so much baby proofing- we didn’t need much for Mags. I’ve had to tell all of your sitters that you are faster than them, so they have to be smarter.

You love to drop things off your highchair and watch us pick it up. And of course, once we give it back to you, you just do it again. This is actually very typical of babies your age, and it's the first "game" you have played with us.

Kicking a soccer ball around the house is not a typical game, but you do that too. You love holding on to our fingers, while you run up to a little ball and kick it, so naturally we all think you will be a soccer player or sports enthusiast. You also try to throw the ball if you are sitting near it.

You love pulling hair and chewing on shoes, so we are constantly taking Maggie's hair out of your hands and our shoes out of your mouth.

You talk... kinda. You really love just crawling after me at full speed saying "ma ma ma ma ma" when you are hungry. You also say “uh-oh” when you play your drop-stuff game. We are still breast feeding and nursing, which I'm super excited about because I only nursed Mags until 9 months (barely). You are distracted very easily, and you look up at me with the biggest eyes. You find comfort in curling up with Mama and feeding in the mornings. You also love motor-boating me and blowing raspberries on my chest when you are hungry.

You love to wrestle with us, and play peek-a-boo. Both make you giggle so much. So much giggling! Best sound ever is hearing you and Maggie giggling together, when you play with each other.

I'm sorry I have not been very good at keeping up with your weekly photos, 2nd child syndrome maybe. I have, on the other hand, been taking photos.

There will always be differences between you and your sister. Sometimes you will get the best part, and sometimes you will draw the shorter straw. Your Aunt Jessi will make sure it isn't too short. I love you both very much.

You stay you.

Love,

Mama

Week 45

2014-04-02T10:45:00.003-05:00