Mother's Day 2016

May is always a hectic month for our family. We have Mother's Day, my father's birthday, our anniversary, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, My brother in laws birthday and Memorial Day weekend (doesn't include whatever wedding/graduations that pop up). This year is no exception, and we are adding my cousin's wedding, our niece's birthday, and now sweet Lena's birthday.

We try to celebrate each event as well as we can. Military Spouse Appreciation Day gets thrown by the wayside usually, but I'm ok with that. My husband does a good job of expressing his appreciation on the regular without a day or a card expressly put aside for the occasion. Mother's Day is one we definitely think is worth the time and effort to celebrate. Since our schedule is always so crazy, though, we are RARELY home together for the occasion. Last year, I was home, but my husband was not. My daughter was very sick, and I was two weeks from delivering Lena with Bronchitis to boot! It was a really tough Mother's Day last year. This year was much nicer. We may not have been home, but we were together!

I got to kick off the day with 9 hrs of uninterrupted sleep and woke up to coffee and donuts from my favorite hometown donut shop and enjoyed it with my favorite people. After we ate, we packed up and took a long family walk down Riverside Drive in Tulsa. Just us four. We had a good time just playing and talking. Lena got so relaxed, she even fell asleep in the Ergo! NEVER happens. That girl likes her bed.

After that, Lena took a nap, and my husband and I hit my parent's pool with Ellie (and even Della!). When everyone was done napping and swimming, we came home. The girls were so tired, which means they were quiet and my husband and I got to experience a rare and awesome road trip conversation. When we arrived home, my husband had a gift waiting for me. We snuggled a little with the girls before putting them down and enjoyed our favorite show together.

Nothing spectacular, but it was just what I wanted. Spending time together always feels wonderful. Having two kids is more challenging than we thought it would be, but it's still pretty amazing. We feel pretty damn lucky that these two kids are ours.

This year, I thought back to the first year Mother's Day meant something to me (and not as a daughter). I was 5 weeks pregnant with Elise and just terrified. Scared to lose her and a little scared at the thought of having her and being someone's mother. I wanted her with every fiber of my being, but it's daunting isn't it? To know you're bringing a LIFE into this world and it's YOUR responsibility to not only make sure they are physically taken care of, but that they are also decent human beings. Sometimes that thought still keeps me awake at night. Am I being nurturing enough to make her kind and generous? Am I strict enough to make sure she doesn't grow up an entitled brat? Did I tell her I love her enough times today? What more can I do to SHOW her? It's a lot. Sometimes it just completely overwhelms me. And really, those questions are just the generalized tip of the iceberg. Every year they morph and change ever so slightly, just like she does. Like she will continue to do. Like I will have to continue to do to keep up. These girls are the greatest challenge I've ever been asked to do. They are also and will continue to be the greatest thing I ever do with my life. All I really want is to do right by them and make sure they know I will always be there for them. No matter what. They are my heart!

11 months

Suddenly, we are down to one month left before Lena becomes a year old. We are about to have two toddlers and no babies in our home. It's bittersweet for sure. I know my husband says he won't miss it and there are definitely parts that I won't miss either. I won't miss the not sleeping....all the NOT SLEEPING. Stressing over how to make her sleep without harming her, finding ways to healthily cope with not sleeping, worrying about myself and what not sleeping is doing to MY mental and physical well being, worrying about my oldest daughter and how my not sleeping is affecting her, etc, etc, etc, etc. I love my babies more than I know how to say, but I am pretty certain that their first years took years off my life in stress. That is something I won't miss.

But oh, how I will miss their baby coos, watching them sleep on my chest, falling asleep nursing, grabbing my fingers with their tiny fists, smiling at me those first few times, and that AMAZING baby smell....on their heads and in their tiny breath. Watching them do so many new and amazing things everyday for months, seeing their personalities bloom and blossom.

This month, Lena started saying MAMA to me! FINALLY! She says it all day long now and it's music to my ears! She crawls around saying it over and over, then after awhile, she crawls into my lap and lays down...softly saying "mamamamamama" My heart just melts into a big ole puddle. She's on the go most of the day now. She doesn't always nap twice a day, we've found that we can stretch her to one if we need to. It won't be long before she will only be napping once everyday. Just like her sister. Much easier on us to get out and do stuff together. She is still sleeping really well at night. She sleeps a solid 12 hours. Right now she's waking around 6am and goes to bed around 6pm. We have been inching our way towards a 7pm bedtime (and hopefully a 7am wakeup) so that both girls are going to bed at the same time and we get a little more time together as a family of four in the evenings.

Lena is still eating like a teenage boy. When we go out (especially for breakfast) she and her sister can usually split an adult meal. We have yet to find a food that Lena doesn't gobble up immediately. She is a big fan of protein, which is great, but girl also has a heart for carbs! She definitely gets that from her mama! She's really good at picking up her food, whatever it may be. We are starting to branch out in what we let her try and she has surprised us each time. Still avoiding most fruit and dairy for now for safety reasons. She has tried a little bit of apple and blueberry here and there, but we don't want to overdo anything or cause an allergic reaction. Our pediatrician is still confident that she will grow out of it before she's two.

Lena hasn't mastered walking yet, but she gets closer everyday. She's cruising from couch to table and can stand up along empty walls and using people's legs. After having one kid who started walking at 10 months, I'm perfectly content to sit back and enjoy this crawling stage while it lasts. Elise crawled for maybe 2-3 weeks before she picked up walking, I feel like we didn't really get to enjoy it! Lena isn't in a hurry so neither are we! Plus, my husband says she's not technically a toddler until she starts walking so we can still call her our baby. (Though, if I'm being honest, I'll always call her my baby since she's the youngest!)

So we have many more milestones yet to hit and we are looking forward to witnessing them all! Birthday party plans are under way and will be on the blog next month. I still can't believe it....

First Easter as a family of four!

They LOVED hunting and playing with the eggs

Lazy mornings with Daddy

Our girls love eating outside 

Always helping Lena get a drink! No wonder Lena still won't hold her own sippy, she never has to!

Trying to stand up

Hipster babe

We LOVE weekends at the McVay Farm!

Lena got really sick this month. Double ear infection and a nasty virus! Lots of snuggles prescribed.

Obviously it got much worse before she got better! (that's one TIRED mama)

On the mend

Our little bookworm

Finally feeling better

Damn sun!

Reading with BeeBee

Signs and SAYS ALL DONE now!

Cousin Norah came for a playdate!

So glad we got to spend time with BOTH Newport Aunts at once! We miss having Aunt Kiki in OK!

We take weekend play time and rest time very seriously

Getting better at the sippy cup thing!

Looking so big with her shoes on!

That face!

I'm pretty proud of this silhouette. I knew exactly what I wanted this shot to look like and I figured it out on my own in manual mode. Photography game is getting better and better!

MOM!