A Lesson in Being Brave.

Back at the end of May a certain 4 year old chopped off her hair. She wanted short hair. Her reasoning? Less tangles. Tangles are an enemy here in our home. They hurt. They make someone cry. They had to be gone.


She was scared. She made Madelyn go first and Madelyn showed her that haircuts were fun. She couldn't let her baby sister be the brave one, so up in the chair she went. Inches of hair were gone in moments. I was choked up but tried to be the brave one. I succeeded. she succeeded, we made it through yet another haircut.


After haircuts Isabella announced she wanted earrings. I'm ready, Mommy. I want earrings.


So another choked up momma moment and we were sitting and waiting to get earrings. Pink, sparkly earrings. Prin-press earrings. When the moment came to have it done she didn't back out. She sat there bravely and didn't shed a tear. No screaming. No tears. Just a happy girl with two earrings and a lollipop.


It's funny how in a span of one day she grew up in more ways than one. She was certainly braver than I was. How is that even possible? 


So for now I think we have hit a few major milestones in the whole growing up area. I need a break from it...I need to sit back and enjoy every moment that comes our way....and hope that my girls will stay little for a long, long time...

Beautiful Dancer...

Isabella's dance recital is April 29th. I cannot believe that the time for her recital is almost here!

Here is a picture that I snapped before we left to get her dance pictures done. Isn't she beautiful? On days that I feel myself frustrated with her I look at this picture and realize how truly sweet she is. Love her.

Isabella, age 4

The Spirited Child {PYHO}

I could write about so many things, but want to write on a topic that I haven't ever talked about on my blog. It's actually taken me a few years to come to acceptance and talk to my mom about this. It won't be easy to write about, but feel like I need to get this out. Maybe my story will click with another mom or dad.

Deep breaths. Here I go...



When Isabella was born I honestly had no idea how a newborn baby should act like. Sure, I knew there would be crying. Dirty diapers. Sleepless nights.

She cried. A lot. Screaming. Crying. Nothing would soothe her. Nothing.

Leo and I would walk around the house to try and hope that she would finally, at last, fall asleep. We pleaded with her in our heads. I prayed that she would just sleep. She never really did, though. Still to this day I have a hard time getting this girl to sleep. It's crazy, but something that we have grown accustomed to.

She remembers everything--seriously. She will ask me if I remember an event and it blows my mind that she can fully grasp onto that memory. Her memory amazes me and I think that it is fabulous that she has such a great one. I'm jealous to be honest.

She is very sensitive to changes. If there is a lot of noise, activities, people, she shuts down on me. It's as if her sweet self can't comprehend what all is going off. I want to say it's a sensory type of thing--but her pediatrician has blown me off in the past when I have brought this up. Case in point: we recently went to a children's museum. She was so excited to go--talked about it, happy and jabbering away a mile a minute about how excited she was. We arrive and it's as if I have a different child. She shut down. Crying. Anger. Hitting out of frustration. Now that I can recognize these signs I had Leo take her to another part of the museum that was quiet and not so sensory overloaded as the area that we were in.

Loud noises frighten her. To the point of hysterics. Screaming. Attacking whoever is closest for her to lash out on.

Same with bugs. She melts down even spotting a bug within radius of her. She isn't just scared, but is terrified. It's heartbreaking as a mother, as a parent to see my child so scared of normal things. I don't like bugs, but I don't break down when I see them.

When she was younger the tantrums were awful. She bit. She hit. She scratched. It hurt me to see her lashing out at everyone who would come into contact with her. It hurt me to apologize on countless times to children and parents who were injured by my daughter. No parent wants to see their child hurt another. It broke my heart. What was I doing wrong?

I thought perhaps this was my fault. Had I failed my child? Had I failed my oldest daughter? What could I have done to prevent this?

Then I gave birth to Madelyn and eventually Brynlie. It has taken me 4 years to realize that I have done nothing wrong in raising my Isabella. She is spirited. Some will say a handful. Some may even call her difficult. Sure, we have difficult moments. Who doesn't?

But she is different. I have finally, after FOUR years, accepted that she is different. She is simply spirited and I have taken steps to understand her better. I recently bought a book about raising a spirited child. I have spent countless nights pouring over the internet and soaking up all of the information that I can so I can help her.

I can't imagine having some of these things that my sweet girl goes through on a daily basis. Could you imagine? I love her with all of my heart and vow to learn as much as possible about spirited children. This isn't something that she can help. This isn't the path that she chose to go on. But I can take her and guide her with the best of my ability.

I don't want this to come across as a whiny post about an ill behaved child. She is far from ill behaved. She is smart--as in very advanced for her age. She has one of the biggest hearts of anyone that I have ever met. She loves helping me with tasks around the home. She is an amazing dance student. She is wonderful in so, so many ways. I love my daughters and as their mom I will do everything that I can in my power to make sure that they are equipped with the right tools in life to succeed, have a joy filled life, and to be happy little girls who grow up into happy teens, happy women.

Sorry this was so long. Hey--it's called Pour Your Heart Out for a reason, right? Happy 2nd Anniversary, Shell!

Stomach Bug from Hell.

Oh my word. Somewhere from Texas to Mississippi Isabella picked up a stomach bug. I have decided that this bug is the virus from hell. I am not even kidding.

It all began on Wednesday with Isabella throwing up all. day. long.

She started feeling a little better on Thursday, which made me do a happy dance and thank the Lord that I wouldn't have to smell puke anymore. Which, by the way, is one of my least favorite smells in the world.

Friday morning all five of us were in our bed making plans of perhaps going to the park for some fresh air. Madelyn and Brynlie--within seconds of one another--throw up all over me. So much for park slash fresh air time.

*sigh*

Baths, mountains of laundry, carpet shampooing.

That was the extent of our week last week. I am now an expert of realizing the moment of puke impact and how many towels can fit into my washing machine at any given moment.

Here's hoping that Monday will be our day of no throwing up. In fact, I am declaring tomorrow the day of zero tolerance to anything puke related. Hopefully the virus will get that memo as well...

The One With a Toot. Or a Series of Toots.

This past weekend we made the drive to Texas to see Leo's family. The girls did so well (the trip home was another story...) and Isabella begged to stop at the rest stop with the huge Texas star once we crossed into Texas.

I take her into the bathroom and as we are washing up we hear something. Someone was just letting them rip in one of the stalls.

I, being the mature adult that I am, hold in my giggles. Isabella on the other hand? Not so much.

She starts looking around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. She then looks up at me once all is quiet again.

"Mommy?" she asks. "What was THAT?!"

I rushed us out to car and by then I died laughing. Leo asked me what was so funny...

As I finish telling him we both look at one another with tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.

Let it be known--children? Have absolutely no filter. And I?

Find that absolutely refreshing.

We had a date. The best date ever.

Dear Isabella,

You and I went out for a little Sunday date. We weren't sure of what to do--your only "must do" was visit a toy store for Santa ideas.

We decided to hit up the outlet mall near our home. This place has it all--we were in girl heaven! Shopping, walking, eating some Dippin' Dots.

SO stinkin' cute!

After wandering around and not finding a lot to buy (we were just at the outlets on Friday) we thought we'd go to our first ever 3D movie--Puss in Boots.


We BOTH loved it! It was hilarious--we giggled, I would giggle, you would ask me what was funny (you know, it was one of those cartoon mommy/daddy humor bits that were snuck in), you kept leaning over and giving me kisses while whispering "I love you".

Pretty much it was a day for Mommy's heart to melt into a big sappy puddle. Go figure, I know.

We had so much fun. It's so rare that I get much one on one time with you, my first born. You were grinning and beaming ear to ear, your smile never wavered off of your face. For once you were the object--the only object--of my attention. You acted so much older and it made me realize how important it is for you and I to sneak off occasionally alone together.

When you're older and reading this, I want to thank you for being my date. I loved wearing silly 3D glasses with you, holding hands and giggling like we were sisters. I promise to try and sneak off with you for more dates in the future. I'm still trying to figure out this whole Mommy jig.

So for now we'll eat crazy ice cream, popcorn with butter and wash it all down with Diet Cokes. Because sometimes we I need to walk on the wild side of mommy life.

Love,
Your dorky Mom

Sweet Girl {Full of Words Wednesday}

Isabella.

She loves with all of her might. 

Her compassion for others is on another level.

She loves to text her Aunt Kristi.

She is always my assistant baker.

She has a love for nail polish.

She is a 4 year old fashionista.

She's an amazing big sister to Brynlie.

She's an amazing big sister to Madelyn when they aren't fighting.

Love my little girl...hard to believe she's grown so much since this cute post...

I Heart Instagram--September Photo Dump

If you're friends with me on Facebook or friends with me on Instagram, it's no secret that I have a crush on my Instagram app. It's addicting. Quick. Easy. Fun.

If you don't have Instagram I highly suggest snagging that little app for your phone--you can thank me later. It's a great way to snap a pic and give it a different look, a different feel and the bonus? You can stream it right onto your Facebook, Twitter accounts in a snap.

So, here are a few of my favorite pics from September...love!

From left: 1. The girls filling up their car...so sweet when they play nicely together! 2. Brynlie on our car trip to Houston a couple of weeks ago. Great times. 3. My lucky scratcher Bingo ticket--won $200! 4. Sweet Brynlie asleep...love sleeping baby pics. 5. Me and my new hair. I am not going to show a close up of the highlight job...not good, friends. 6. Brynlie on our trip home from Houston earlier this week. More great times. 7. Maddie on a rocking horse at her grandparents' in Houston...she turned into a cowgirl while we were in Texas. 8. My two new fave hair products. I'm a hair product junkie. 9. Brynlie at the Houston zoo--LOVE the pic of her. 10. Isabella outside of her dance class. Girlfriend is in l-o-v-e with dance and her "teach-ah".

That was my photo dump for September. Hoping to do this weekly...if you do a photo dump leave me a comment--I love checking out pics from my favorite readers!

The One Where I am a Dance Mom...

 Isabella has recently started dance class which consists of tap and ballet. She has wanted to dance for so long and I really think that this will do wonders for her firecracker personality. Watching her do the tap moves and ballet poses is one of the cutest and funniest things ever. I am constantly giggling and grinning from ear to ear while I watch her. You can definitely tell who the newbie mom is that has never had her daughter enrolled in anything...I probably embarrass her to death. Poor Isabella!

Madelyn, unfortunately, is too young to be in the class. On the first day of Bella's first class Madelyn insisted on wearing her own dance attire. She was so happy and felt so big in her own precious leotard and tights. Isabella was so great about it and really was happy that Madelyn was dressed up which really made me proud of her.

Once the first class had started the students were sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front and hands in their laps. They were each telling the teacher, Miss L, their names. I was holding Brynlie and before I could stop Madelyn she was sitting at the end of the row with the students.

It was the sweetest thing ever, and absolutely shattered my heart that I had to go and remove her from the class. She broke down in tears and was sobbing. I felt so bad for Maddie! She was so proud of herself and even made sure that she was sitting just like the big girls.

Sigh.

I'm thinking once spring arrives that I'll enroll both big girls in gymnastics somewhere...but until then Madelyn will keep wearing her leotard and tights to dance to her big sister's class.

Style? Isabella's Got It...

I believe in letting my girls show their sense of individuality. Whether it be through art, choice of shoes, choice of clothes, to how they wear their hair, I will let them shine in their unique way. Lately Isabella has proven that point to me--that she is indeed her own individual. If we have somewhere to go that day I will assist her in picking out an outfit--usually by picking out some outfits or cute summer dresses and letting her choose from the selections that I have set out.

But if we aren't going anywhere, which to be honest we don't do a lot of since Brynlie was born, I let her pick out her outfit for the day. This will usually end up with the result of a bright striped skirt that she will wear as long as it is folded and put away in her dresser, a bright Hannah Montana shirt that was given to her from a certain someone (thanks, Mom!) and her silvery glittery Mary Jane shoes that we bought last fall--sans socks of course.

I love it when I tell her that it's time to get dressed and she runs into her bedroom so fast to pick out the outfit of the day. I love seeing her experiment with different clothing options, learning what matches and what doesn't (although to be honest, we haven't hit that mark yet), and just watching her individuality shine through. She is her own person, her own little being.

I think that there are a lot of people out there that pressure their children to look and dress a certain way at all times. I agree that there is a time and place for my three daughters to look put together, but if we're at home why not let them choose their unique look? Eventually they will each have their own sense of style and I love having them experiment when they are little. While I would never pick out Isabella's concoction of clothing pieces, I would never tell her to change her clothing choices either. It  makes her who she is and not a little cookie cutter of a child.

What about your child? Do they like to pick out their own outfits? Is there something that they add to their look that will show off their true personality? I cannot wait to read your submissions! Children and their individuality is what sets them apart from their friends and siblings, don't you think?


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and jcpenney blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

My Little Momma...

 

This little girl is an amazing big sister.

She helps in every way possible...

By giving hugs and kisses.

Picking up toys.

Reading stories.

Singing made up songs.

Sharing toys.

She helps me in more ways than I could ever imagine.

She allows me to see the world as an entirely different place.

Isn't it amazing how much a child can teach us?

And here I thought I was the only one doing the teaching...

Getting Her Art On...

 

Have I mentioned how much I *love* summer?

Playing outside after dinner...

Followed by sidewalk chalk fun...

Throw in an impromptu photoshoot?

You have one very happy momma.

The Big "3"

Happy 3rd Birthday, Isabella!

I hope our day of Oreos for breakfast (what you picked out)...

Shopping...

Eating yummy princess cake...

And snuggling with your momma....

Is the best birthday ever.

I love you, sweet Bella!

And I'm still in shock that you?

Are the big 3...

Happy Day Indeed...

Today we made a Halloween card for Daddy...

Played outside for a couple of hours...

Had our windows open for fresh air...

And ordered pizza for three.

A happy, smile filled day.

Just what this momma needed.

Remember...She's a Princess...

I have a feeling Isabella is about to embark on the year that she is a princess. She is obsessed with all things princess related and has told me on numerous occasions that she is indeed a princess. From wearing Mommy's shoes, to wanting to play with makeup, to wearing a crown--it is all focused on being a princess.


But there is one area that she is in love with. Jewelery. She is beyond in love with necklaces, earrings, bracelets--the works. She has been known to wear her favorite jewelery pieces to church, too, which has everyone smiling at my little princess. See? It makes everyone happy to know a princess!


For her upcoming 3rd birthday I have been on the hunt for the cutest childrens jewellery. I have bought her items in the past, but they were not very well made. In fact, from all of the ones that I have bought her none of them are still in working order and most of them have made their way to our trash can. I don't want to spend a fortune on jewelery for a three year old, but at the same time I don't want to be basically throwing money down the drain for a few days of play time before it breaks.


With only two weeks left before the big birthday I am now on a hunt to find some awesome jewelery for my princess--I have bought her the crown, the shoes, the makeup, her own vanity set--so I am almost complete with this party that will be suited for, well...you know...a true, real life princess.


This is a sponsored post in which I was compensated for writing.

Because They? Make Me...

Smile.

Love.

Laugh.

Live.

Breathe.

Be joyful.

Forgive.

Cry on occasion.

Love unconditionally.

Be my best.

These two girls are me.

And everything I do I do it better.

Just for them...

Curious George Season 5 Premiere

Did you read Curious George when you were younger? I know that I did and I have always had a soft spot in my heart for that adorable little monkey. A little mischievous and really sweet, I adore Curious George!

Both of my girls adore Curious George--I love that they are in love with the same cuddly monkey that I was when I was younger. They watch it on PBS Kids and I can trust that they are watching a television show that I approve of.

We were sent the Season 5 season premiere of Curious George to get a sneak peek on what will airing across the country on Monday September 6th. The girls LOVED it! 

The girls got to watch "George and Marco Sound it Out" and "A Monkey's Duckling". They have watched the DVD two times already today. Isabella was dancing, Madelyn was happy. It was a peaceful morning over here for us and I loved it.

***Catch the Curious George Season 5 Premiere!***

You  can watch the Season 5 premiere of Curious George on Monday, September 6th. It airs on PBS Kids.

If you are unsure of what time Curious George plays in your area you can go to the PBS Kids website for your local listing.

Image Credit:

CG: ® & © 2010 Universal Studios and/or HMH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PBS KIDS (R) Public Broadcasting Service. FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY

I received a DVD of the Season 5 Premiere episode. No other compensation or products were given. All opinions above are my own honest opinion.

Because She's a Princess, Y'all

Or as Isabella would say, "I'm a prin-press, Mommy! Where my neckwace? Where my bracewet?"

The girl is a diva.

Nail polish on? Check.

Hair bow? Check.

Purse? Yep. 

Tiara? Oh, yes. Well, until Macy chewed it up...

Jewelry? Won't leave home without it.

So yesterday when I asked her what type of birthday party theme she wanted?

You guessed it. A prin-press party.

I'm not doing the whole party at my house thing this year with Leo being gone. I'm way too of a high strung person to do a shindig like that.

Instead I'm inviting 6 of her closest friends for a party at her favorite bounce place--Monkey Joe's.

Her only request for her party?

That she has a pink prin-press crown. So if you'll excuse me, I'm off to search for the perfect prin--press--I mean, princess, crown for the sweetest little princess on the Gulf Coast.

Rain, Rain Go Away...And Stay Away For Awhile...

If your summer has been anything like ours, it has rained, rained and rained some more.

We have had it with the rain so we did what we had to do to survive.

Friday afternoon we had a jam session.

We put on our bling...

Got our glasses ready...

Got the tunes started...

We had a little girl talk...

And played with our favorite pink castle...

Our day that started out dreary and boring?

Turned into a fabulous, rainy day.

Sidewalk Chalk, Sunglasses & Sprinkle Shoes {You Capture}

I'm a little nervous participating in a photo link up. While I love all most some of my photos...it's a little intimidating to join in and ask others to look at my photos...

Does any of that even make sense? Probably not...which doesn't surprise me.

This week I'm participating in You Capture over at Beth's fabulous and wonderful blog, I Should Be Folding Laundry. I was drawn into her blog by her gorgeous photos, beautiful writing and of course the name of her blog...seriously the story of my life.

So, here we go with our theme: Get outside! The girls and I try to play outside daily--so this was one challenge that we had a blast with...

This little beauty...

And her oh-so-fabulous shades...

And this little beauty...

And her "sprinkle" shoes...

Played under the late August sun...

Making beautiful memories for their Momma...

Talking and dreaming of yummy cupcakes...

And never missing a single ounce of love.