Picture Post

It's no secret that I love how much my kids look alike. Who knows if this will always be the case, but for now, I think it's tons of fun. 

Lillian, April 2012

Lillian, March 2012. Immediately after this photo she jammed the flowers into her mouth. 

Elliott in our Bradford Pear tree in March 2014. 

Elliott at his dedication on 3/18/14.

Hobby, rediscovered

Once upon a time I used to run. I picked it up in college as a way to spend time with friends/stay in some sort of shape, and continued it into my early years in Charleston. I ran the Cooper River Bridge run three times. And then we spontaneously got an adorable puppy in April 2010 who needed lots of exercise and BOOM my running career ended and I became a walker. Throw a couple of pregnancies (which produce kids, by the way) into the mix and my motivation to run sank lower and lower.
This all changed about three weeks ago when I went to watch the end of Thomas' Tough Mudder race. My friend Caroline, who is an incredible natural athlete, had casually decided to run the race that week and only finished a few minutes behind the guys. To be completely honest, my first reaction to this was pure jealousy of her awesomeness and frustration with my own lack of fitness. So I took a deep breath and told Thomas that I wanted to start running again, and we strategized about ways to make this happen. [Sidebar: one of the keys to staying sane while staying at home with small children is my supportive husband, who is quick to help me get out of the house or change up what can sometimes feel like a stifling routine, whether it's Bible study, writing blog posts, running, or working part time. Love that man.]
I invested in some good running shoes (Brooks, if you're curious), and have started pounding the pavement 3-4 times per week for the last couple of weeks. I'm certainly not going to be breaking any land speed records any time soon but it feels great to be out doing something challenging. Yesterday a man drove by as I was finishing a double stroller run and yelled "You go, Mama!" and it totally made my day. (Quick! Spot the words of affirmation girl!) I prefer running with Elliott, who hangs out quietly playing with toys until he goes to sleep--man do I love that kid-- but have survived a couple of runs with Lillian, too. And I even went by myself once, which I appreciate about 1000x more than I did back in 2010. There's nothing like responding to a two-year-old's unending stream of questions and demands while you're winded and pushing a double stroller. #goodtimes
I'm hoping to do a few races this year with local friends and college friends to help keep my motivation going.

Instagram repeat, sorry. Running in the springtime is glorious!

It's fun to be running with Thomas again! Plus our three additions.

Sleep, interrupted

Lest the title of my post deter you from reading further, let me assure that this post is not intended to whine about or "martyrize" my situation (my name for an ugly phenomenon in the mommy world in which mommies try to "one-up" each other about whose life is the hardest, or whose kids are the most difficult, etc. It's gross and I apologize for all the times I've taken part in that). RATHER, this post is intended to celebrate God's goodness and grace in the face of my weakness and selfishness.
Lillian has never been a great sleeper. In spite of our bedtime routines, our sound machines, our sleep sacks, our lavender diffuser, our sugar monitoring and about 50 other "tricks," she just has a hard time. We joke that she's ready for college because she not only survives but often thrives on much less sleep than most kids her age. As an infant, she much preferred being awake, long past the point of pleasantness, and we had to trick her into sleeping through a variety of jostling positions, swaddling, paci/thumb, etc. Honestly, it's a miracle we decided to have another kid. She dropped her morning nap at 13 months, earlier than pretty much all of her peers. I felt exceedingly sorry for myself ("God!" I cried, "I'm never going to have time for you again! Woe is me!"), and it took me a good month to pull it together and realize how much more flexibility this gave us during the day. Fitting in time with the Lord remains challenging, but He is faithful and I just have to seek it out actively instead of expecting it-- and if that isn't a life lesson, I don't know what is. She had several months of wonderful naps, especially while I was in my first trimester with Elliott and therefore so tired, which helped to make up for her early wake-ups. 90% of the time she would wake up between 5 and 6:30. Occasionally she'd sleep in all the way until 7. Her naps were superb though.
Then it happened.
One night in August (post E's birth on the 18th and pre her birthday on the 31st), Thomas and I + tiny Elliott had just turned out our lights around 10:30 and we heard a giant THUD from down the hall. I knew instantly what had happened, and the pitter patter of little feet + our door opening+ a sweet little voice shouting "I get out!" confirmed my worst fears. Lillian had jumped out of her crib, never to return. Thomas leaped out of bed to deal with the situation by putting her back in the crib, and of course she promptly jumped out again. So down the hall they went to Lillian's big girl bed, which we'd been planning on easing her into in October or November. HA. Apparently we'd forgotten who we were raising. After several hours, she finally fell asleep next to an exhausted and frustrated Thomas. Newborn haze + a newly freed Lillian= two very unhappy and tired parents.
As such, sleep times for the last six+ months have been challenging. Some nights it takes us two hours to get her to sleep. Some mornings are very early. Oftentimes Thomas has to sleep in there because otherwise she will just cry at the door until someone comes back (for hours). So when Lillian started exhibiting signs of being done with naptime in November, I pretty much lost it. Journal entries from that month are pretty melodramatic--"I cannot survive without Lillian's naptime"--and I was absolutely sure that I could not.
But God.
In January her afternoon naps ended. Because of Elliott, I didn't have an hour-plus (the amount of time it took on average to get her down) to spend solo in her room. I was completely stressed out about sleep; bedtimes were nightmarishly long; and thus finally Thomas and I decided together that we'd move up her bedtime and give a napless schedule a try. And guess what? We survived! She still refuses to do any sort of rest time by herself in her room (for my little extrovert, being shut in her room by herself is akin to torture), but most days I settle her down with some PBS Kids on the iPad so I can take time to read or journal or whatever. Is it ideal? Nope, but it's a season and we are working through it. Life has gone on, and I have found some marvelous benefits for our now wide-open days. We get to spend more time with some of her little friends. We get out more in general. We get some good mommy-daughter time when E naps. Thomas and I have more time in the evening together because she now goes to bed extremely early. Some days she's so tired that she falls asleep in the car or the stroller and naps in the garage (rare but wonderful!).
Basically God has completely redeemed a situation that I didn't think I could handle. Some days are tough and I'm pretty much loony tunes by the time Thomas comes home, but those days are a great time to remember that his mercies are new every morning. His grace is sufficient to cover my weaknesses and sins, as well as my daughter's.
And on a lighter note, as a good friend who also has a sleep-challenged child told me: "Presidents don't sleep much either. Maybe she's going to be the President."

Finally catching up and some big news!

Let's just pretend that it hasn't been three months since my last post, mmkay? My list of excuses ranges from vacation to potty training to being super pregnant with a toddler in the summer to a broken computer, etc.

 Quick recap of the last couple o' months:
Summer 2013 was FUN. It was pretty much the summer of Lillian and we tried to throw as much fun stuff her way as possible. She was in the water almost every day between our neighborhood pool, my parents' pool, the ocean, the water table in the backyard, pool parties with friends...like I said, FUN.
We vacationed in San Diego in June and spent the first part of our 10 day trip with my family, staying in a house on Mission Beach with my parents and sister who flew over from Hawaii. We pretty much ran non-stop with Sea World, the San Diego Zoo (highly recommend!), the seals at La Jolla, visiting the Hotel del Coronado, lots of good food and other adventures. Then we spent the second half of our trip staying in downtown San Diego with some dear friends from Charleston who bravely volunteered to host us and our crazytown toddler for six nights. It was wonderful to "do life" with them for a few days, and Lillian absolutely loved both of them. Some highlights from this part of the trip include yummy Mexican food, the Wild Animal Park (again, awesome), the dessert place next to their apartment and games at night, and visiting the lighthouse at Point Loma.
Other fun things to report from this summer: Lillian is potty trained during all waking hours (HUZZAH) and continues to be a delightful almost two year old, and oh yeah WE HAD A BABY last Sunday!! Elliott William is one week old today and is on the whole a wonderfully content and happy addition to our family.  I plan to write out his birth story soon.

Well, didn't see that one coming!

Disclaimer: potty-related talk ahead...you have been warned.

Ah, potty training. The end result of which every parent longs for, but the process every parent dreads. When Lillian was 18 months old, we hauled out the little potty chairs that we'd been given by generous neighbors and had one in the upstairs bathroom and one in the downstairs bathroom. L was pretty interested in "bathroom-related things" aka watching us (yep, privacy is a non-starter with toddlers), and we started to talk about the potty. For the next month or two, she would occasionally ask to sit on it but nothing ever happened and she squirmed off in about 3 seconds. We decided to buy a seat for the real toiliet to see if that would help. Nope. I took it easy for a few weeks and didn't ask if she wanted to use the potty but would put her on it if she asked me, which she did every few days.

Right at 20 months T's parents came to town for the weekend and L peed about 2 drops in her little potty. We cheered for her as if she had just kicked a game-winning goal in the World Cup(GOOOOOALLLLLL). The next day, I attempted to repeat the conditions sans grandparents and she cried and squirmed off the seat. I prayed about it, and just decided to drop the whole potty training issue for the moment. I didn't want it to be traumatizing for her, or stressful for me. I came to a peace about two kids in diapers, but most of all, I knew that L would do it when she was ready (b/c she's just that kind of kid). She has all the "readiness" signs--interested in the potty, wakes up dry after naps and in the morning, knows when she is going, etc., but I didn't think there was any point in forcing it. 

On Saturday afternoon, I got a hankering for something sweet and came back with all the fixins' for rice krispie treats with M&Ms. Which I never got to make because SOMEONE decided they wanted frozen yogurt that night instead. :) (No complaints here though!). Anyways, L saw the M&Ms and asked for some and on a wild hair, I told her that if she peed in the potty she could have a piece of candy. Like she'd been doing it all her life, she ran to the little potty and peed. Then she immediately demanded her treat, which we handed to her in a state of shock. Side note, she says "M&Ms" just like she says "animals," and when you think about it, they really do sound alike! She went four or five more times that evening and a handful of times yesterday when we were at home, including the Big Kahuna. Naturally she has figured out how to work the system and oftentimes she will go, come to the kitchen and demand an M&M, then go back and finish up and ask for more M&Ms. At this point, we are being pretty liberal with them since this is all such an experiment. She's enjoying her Elmo underwear and the chocolate candy, so we are sticking with those things for the moment and enjoying a few diaper free hours.

Where is all this headed? Honestly, I'm not sure. We're going on vacation soon and there is no way I'm lugging a potty chair across the country or sticking her cute little butt on a public toilet seat. Ideally we'll take a break for a couple of weeks and "hit it hard" when we come back. Then she'll have a few months to get used to it before Little Bro Regression is born. Don't worry, I will be sure to keep you posted since I'm sure you are all dying to know the ins and outs of L's every potty training move. We are pretty proud of her for her progress so far and we are enjoying how perfectly reflective it is of her personality.

And this is how we roll

This girl is 100% mess. And I (mostly) love it! Note: hair is standing up because of various foods that have been "shampooed" in.

So proud

Lillian's first grammatically correct sentence:

I peed! 

(complete, of course, with illustrative hand motions)

Not bad for 18 months! I never thought a sentence of this nature would bring me so much joy. Ah parenthood--it's so glamorous.

Proof positive...

...that Lillian is a climber!

glorious mullet

my mantra at these times is, "don't think about the germs, don't think about the germs"

getting as close to the germy surfaces as possible

"are you watching, Dad?"

Pictures courtesy of Thomas on Tuesday's daddy-daughter date night at Chickfila. I tutor and go to Bible study, and Thomas takes Lillian on an outing. What a sweet daddy he is--I love watching him delight in her. And she's pretty cute, too.

Of first birthdays

Okay, so I wrote this post last week and never published it. In the meantime, Lillian has turned one! She has been officially celebrated, present-ed, doctor-ed, etc. We had a wonderful weekend with family and friends celebrating our sweet girl.

(As I type this, Lillian is methodically emptying my purse--current favorite find, a partially-filled plastic water bottle--and Sullivan is just as methodically attempting to take said items from her hand. So if this is a bit jumbled, I blame them.)

This is a big week for our little family. Lilian, lover of dogs and mischief, is turning one. Now, before having a kid, I never understood the importance of the one-year old birthday party. "One? Big whoop. They're still just babies." But now I see that celebrating the first birthday has less to do with the child and more to do with the parents--"we've kept a tiny, irrational and helpless being alive for 365 whole days!" Of course it is slightly sentimental, too. As I plan her party, I imagine her planning parties with me as she turns 4, 6, 12, 19, 32...I remember dark nights (ha, no pun intended) from those first few months when I couldn't imagine surviving until her first birthday. I remember on night #11 or so passionately declaring to Thomas that we were done having kids. (Yeah, I do really well with lack of sleep. I don't get crazy or dramatic or anything.)

And this week I'm excited to celebrate Lillian. To get excited about who she already is, who we imagine her becoming, dreaming about what the Lord has planned for her life. I'm not overly sad to say goodbye to the baby stage. Seeing this 2.5 foot tall little person walk, and hearing her babble incessantly, and watching her explore the world around her is (in my book) infinitely more fun than all the little snuggles and moments of babyhood. I love watching her point at Sullivan and say "dog!" as she slides down his haunches.

Lillian update

I have officially written more posts this year already than I did in 2010 and 2011. Huzzah! Not bad considering I took a 3.5 month break in the spring/early summer!


Don't get too excited though, because I don't have much to blog about today. Lillian has her first real bug and it is a doozy. Hand, foot and mouth disease, though it is much less gross than it sounds, is still not fun. Fortunately she is feeling better today and is happily playing near me while I type this. She just pushed her little portable piano into our poor snoozing dog and scared the metaphorical poop out of him. If I haven't mentioned this before, Sullivan is pretty much the wussiest dog alive and acts like he weighs 7.5 pounds instead of 75 pounds.
Oh, and L is just about a full time walker! She took her first steps about a month ago, and has been steadily progressing since then. For long distances, she still crawls, but walks or cruises everywhere else. 


I promise to write a more substantive post next week, but here is a picture of Lillian to tide you over until then. Poor kids of today--so many different places to post embarrassing pictures of them!

11 months old! We've almost made it!

Photo shoot fail (or not)

We were pretty excited to find this gem in the camera after what we thought was a failed photo shoot. This is definitely one of our all time favorite photos. Two seconds after this, Sullivan accidentally bopped L. in the face. Perhaps the disgusted look on her face is the anticipation of this.

The tamer version. I know I'm biased, but I have to say that L's blue eyes really are stunning. And I love her little romper. Again, not a particularly great picture, but sometimes you just have to capture the moment anyways. Happy 6 months, sweet bear!