My Baby Is Going to School!!!

E-isms

We've had some fun around our house lately. As a stranger pointed out to me this evening, "How old is she? Only two? She is very verbal!"

And boy was that "stranger" right. Although I still don't understand everything she says, it's becoming quite clearer. And hilarious.

Some E-isms as of late:

-The past few mornings, after getting into the car:
Mommy: Alright, time to go to ______'s house.
E: No....let's go to M's house today. (M is my best friend from high school who has every toy God ever created in her home. We visited her on Saturday and E still remembers how much fun her house was!)

-I caved and bought some sugary cereal this past weekend. Lucky Charms, to be exact. Her favorite thing to do has been - of course - to eat ALL the marshmallows out of the bowl then turn sweetly to me and ask, "More 'Monkey Arms', Mommy?"

-Her favorite phrase right now? "Mommy, I neeeeeeeed ____________ (fill in the blank with anything you can imagine...). And if I say "No" E turns to her daddy, "Daddy, I neeeeeeeeed ____________." How do they learn this stuff???

And the best one to date (and possibly a premonition of things to come?)...

-Tonight, after falling and stubbing her toe, and crying for some time:
"*Sniff* *Sniff* I........need..........some...........chocolate!!!"

Update:

Almost forgot this one!

Every morning after dropping E off at the sitter's house:
Mommy: *kiss* "See you later! I love you!"
E: "Love me too, mommy!"

B.H.A.G.

Chick-fil-A has a love affair with the B.H.A.G.

B.H.A.G. = Big. Hairy. Audacious. Goal.

At the Chick-fil-A Seminar in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, I got a new perspective on what a BHAG really is. Danny Cahill, the "biggest" Biggest Loser the reality TV show has ever seen, was a guest on Tuesday at Seminar. He lost 239 lbs on the show - from 430 to 191 lbs over the course of the season.

Crazy Awesome.

What struck me the most was his very candid interview on stage. He admitted that he had lost 50-60 lbs multiple times over the course of his life, but because he couldn't see a difference in the mirror, he would give up and end up gaining it back. He said that if you took all the times that he lost those 50-60 lbs and added them up, it was way more weight than what he lost on the show. His "take-home point" was that he spent more energy and time quitting during all those years of being overweight than it took him to "win" on the show.

Seeing him there, it was obvious that he had had a radical perspective change. He had accomplished a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. My husband turned and looked at me as we were walking out the door after the break, "HE eliminates any excuse I could ever have for anything ever again." And it's true. He's inspiring. He's living out Scripture and bearing the standard for those of us whom God has called and equipped for the task before us.

I love how The Message puts it..."let's not allow ourselves...." So many times I "allow myself" to quit. I present excuses and accept them. I talk myself out of doing good - right there in my head, all to myself. JMom has a quote on her blog that I think of often: "The way we spend our days is, of course, the way we spend our lives" (Annie Dillard). Am I going to spend my days (and my life) giving up on the things that God has called me to do? Am I going to spend my days (and my life) thinking up excuses for not completing the task God has for me?

So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit.
Galatians 6:9 (The Message)

NYC!

As a delayed 5-year anniversary gift to each other, we flew up to NYC on Saturday for some sight-seeing, a Broadway show, and a one-night stay at the Waldorf Astoria. It was one of those trips - seriously - where everything just seemed to go right...though we weren't able to do EVERYTHING on our list, we had a magical time together and were able to see and do so much with the 24 hours we had.

NY has a pace that exhausted me after a short 24 hours. In the South, I would never hesitate to stop a stranger to ask for a picture. In NYC, the only people who are standing still are the people you would never trust to hold even a dollar for a minute. Sooooooooo...we have lots of crazy pictures where we zoomed the camera out as far as it would go, I stood on my tip-toes, and L held it back as far as his long arms would reach in order to get our faces in front of whatever scenery we were trying to capture. What we ended up with was actually quite a memorable array of some of our best moments from that day and a half - looking back, they really do capture our time there.

To be honest, this was actually the first trip that I've taken post-baby that I was able to let go of being "mom" for a day and step into the shoes of just giving myself over to being with my man. And to be even more honest, I wasn't specifically praying for that to happen - it just did. One of those things that God gives you that you don't even know that you need. For that reason, though, I think NYC will hold some pretty special memories for the two of us - a place that belongs to just L and I and isn't shared with the feelings and responsibilities of parenting. Don't read what I'm not saying! I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom. But there's a tendency for me to get sucked into it, to invest the best of my care first and foremost to the 2-year-old with the most immediate and tangible needs. I felt a little like a "newlywed" for a day in NYC - as if I had the freedom to offer L my best without having to worry about whether or not E's needs were being met (side note: Thank you Nana and PopPop!!).

This is still a thought-in-progress. I am looking forward to being back home with our family back together. But I am wondering about the glimpse God has given to us this weekend of the importance of a little "getaway." A time for me to focus my eyes 100% on the man God has blessed me with and to be able to offer him all the love I have in my heart for him without any hindrances. A time for romance to blossom a little more. A time to remember walking down the aisle toward the man of my dreams. A time to be thankful that I have a mate with a common vision and purpose in life. A really really GOOD time!!

Waldorf Astoria

First trip on the subway

Staton Island Ferry

Lady Liberty is back there somewhere!

Lombardi's Pizza

The Lion King on Broadway!

Times Square

We were MASTERS of the subway

Central Park

On our way home...

SNOW!!!

Seriously, this has been the snowiest winter since E was born, and definitely the first winter she's been able to enjoy it a little! Her favorite thing to do is EAT it. Her next favorite thing to do is.......EAT it. While her daddy and I had snowball fights, built snowmen, and made snow cream, she was happily content to just simply walk around and try to find the places where it would scrape off clean in her hand. Though I've been feeling pretty bummed about a recurring cold for most of the day, I have to admit - these sweet moments really brightened my day. :)

(Before you go on judging this mama, I just wish you could've heard the giggles that accompanied these slobbery canine kisses!

Trust me...worth it!!)

They are so cute it just kills me.

The Heart Issue

E is SOOOO "2." Bossiness, saying "No" all the time to everything, wanting to do it all herself, craving control and independence and an opportunity to claim her stake in this world.

As she becomes more and more self-aware and able to reflect a little bit on the reasons for her behavior, discipline is definitely changing in our home.

I'm really appreciating what Dr. Tedd Tripp offers young parents who are struggling with how to raise a child biblically in his book, Shepherding a Child's Heart, and in the corresponding Parent's Handbook. He pours Scripture into the pages, and helps me remember that this parenting job isn't just about controlling a wild-eyed, havoc-wreaking little monster. Instead, he brings me back to focusing on helping her work through her sin-ravaged little heart to be able to come to a place where God can speak grace and light into her spirit and soul, and she will recognize Him as the willing, powerful, Savior of her sin. I get SO caught up in the very thing that Jesus talks about in Matthew 23:25-28 - and find myself being such a hypocrite sometimes as I tend to cherish the cleanliness of the outside of her cup without taking note of the the inside of her heart.

This is definitely a tough one for me, and something I have to take to Jesus every day.

Bathtime Sonatas

This post is dedicated to Nana. She is hard at work this week with her job, and feeling a little under the weather today. E misses her, and decided to sing her a few songs tonight during bathtime.

We love you, Nana! Enjoy!