Bedtime hell

Dear Emily,
I love you so very much! I really, really do. You are one of the sweetest, most caring, FUNNY girls I know!! Almost every moment of my every day is filled with great love, admiration and honor because I am yours and you are mine.

However. Bedtime hell has set in.

We put you down, you don't want to go down.

You either need something in your tummy,

or your thirsty,

or you need to change your nightgown,

or you went pee pee (in your diaper... which is a whole different story)

or you want snuggles (which of course I love snuggling you, but not when it's already an hour and a half past your bedtime!!!)

or you need another book,

or you think theres bugs in your room,

or you want one more smooch and hug,

etc,

etc,

etc.


The thing is, when 7:00 rolls around, this mom of yours is quite ready to be off duty. I have put in my solid hours for the day, and I'm tired. I want to check out and do something, or nothing. I want to breath. I want to have an adult conversation with your dad about life without many, many interruptions. I want to be. I need to be.

I know you don't understand this yet, and right now you think this is all a fun game of seeing how late you can stall. But my dear, this has got to stop. I'm so sorry.

I love you with my whole being.

I feel as though every ounce of my mothering is selfless. But I need to rest, to recharge, to be done come bed time.

So tonight. Good luck- because bedtime comes at 7 and by 7:30 I will be done reading you books, changing diapers, getting you water, tucking your toys in to bed, getting you the perfect hair tie and on and on... I love you. And I know when you are a mother, you will understand. And this blog is so that you have a place to look back. And while I hope you don't look back and see(read about) a frazzled mother- I want you to know that in the midst of all the wonderful times, there are also some very hard, exhausting times - and that's okay. And they will pass. And we will get through. And that... well, that is life.

Oh- and I know this might sound odd, but I can already tell that you're going to be an amazing mother one day. For real. You are so caring, so creative, and so thoughtful! I believe in you already, and I will believe in you when you're doubting your every motherly decision and sleep deprived. You've got this!

I Love you.

Margaret's First Birthday... Part 1

Maggie's first birthday party was a great success!!! We had so much fun and I am so thankful to my sister for grabbing my camera when I didn't have it and capturing this special day for me to look back on!!! Hannah- I love you and I appreciate your support, love, help and company!!! Thanks for being a fantastic sister. xoxo

Welcoming our guests

Taking a moment to share some thoughts that have been on my mind lately. 

William praying for lunch

COUSINS!!!

My handsome Dad and Gorgeous Sister!

Admiring her bow :)

I love this woman!!!

I made her sign above the highchair as well as the cake and ONE sign. 

So happy!

Cake and sign made by me.

Welcome and sign in table... love her sweet face!

I upcycled old cans with some glitter- SO FUN!!!

I love my big girl!

Josh starting the dedication

Prayers for Maggie

Drink station

Upcycled baby food jars with babies breath made by me.

I made her this party hat with an old onesie and pieces from one of my favorite necklaces that broke. 

SISTERS!!!

Many more pictures to come... including the excitement of Maggie having her first cake!!!

Family, friends, parties!!!!

One of the many things I love about parties is that family and friends get to come together to celebrate, catch up and make memories! We have so many family members flying and driving into town from all around California, Philadelphia, Kansas City and Arizona. It means so much to us that we get this special time with our loved ones! I can't wait to journal about all the fun we have! 

I just picked up my sister at the airport and now we are off to have a great weekend together!!! 

First stop: First Street Coffee

Party prep...

Will, Emily and I have been working hard getting things ready for Maggie's birthday party and a special day where we get to celebrate how great of a big sister Emily is to Maggie. :)

Emily has been really hands on with me as I've been making things... It's precious! She keeps talking about how Maggie is her baby sister but she (maggie) is getting bigger now. 

Here are a few sneak peeks into party land: 

Up-cycled glitter cans for vases 

Verrrry happy high chair! 

Em and the floral arrangements she helped me put together. She poured the water into each of these :) so sweet. 

Emily: you really are a dream of a big sister. Your love, joyful spirit and willingness to be patient with Margaret are mind boggling for me to comprehend. You are a nurturer by birth. I can't wait to see what The Lord has in store for you as you continue to blossom into a young lady. I love you, and I always will!!!! 

Maggie girl... Looking back a bit...

With Maggie's birthday on Sunday and lots of prep taking place, I was looking through my phone to find notes I made to myself while in the hospital and found this sweet note I had plugged into my phone early last may... 

Yupp. She most definitely is our little rascal. 

Margaret Grace. You are loved. 

Xoxo

A day at the bay

ROAD TRIP!!!!

Since we needed to be out of our house on Sunday afternoon for an Open House, we decided to head to Monterey to use our Monterey Bay Aquarium Passes. We LOVE going there and having passes with little kids makes it so enjoyable. The girls and I were just there a few days ago because Emily had been asking to see the Otters. It was really fun to get to go as a family!!! 

Here we are driving to the bay

Emily was so excited to be headed to see the fishies at the "a-cari-uum"that she passed out on our way there. Maggie did too, but I couldn't (well, chose not to) lean over my seat to get a picture of her sleeping sweetness. 

We of course had to go to the Jelly Fish display.... because on the other side of this is the Sea Birds which the girls LOOOOOOVE!!!!! Here's a picture of Dada and Margaret looking at the Jellies. 

It was so nice out we sat outside on the upper level deck for a bit just enjoying the salty ocean air and looking for Otters. 

Family Photo... tryyyying to get better about making sure these happen

Margaret and Mama

bahaha! I like how she's rested her legs :) 

hugs!!!

While the otters were "at lunch" dada and Emily got to watch the other fish in the tank. 

We ended our day by walking to fishermans warf and trying the free clam chowder and eating dinner overlooking the ocean. Maggie was ooooover it but once she got some bread she was better. Eating out with littles is work. But, we've all gotta eat and although she would squack here and there, it really wasn't all that bad. 

I snapped this of the 2 of them walking behind maggie and I. They are such Rock Stars!!!!

love spending time with this guy!

Motherhood Monday

It's time for another phone clearing of all Mommy and Me pictures. I just la-la-la-love my girlies!!! We have such a fun time together, and they are such a blessing to my life. I still have to pinch myself at times to make sure that this is truly our life. This week, no pinching was necessary though- on Monday, Maggie woke up from her nap in a pool of vomit and she soaked her jammies in poop. I know, lovely, right?! It was okay though. Jammies off and straight to the shower we went. She hated the shower so once I got her all rinsed off, we settled into a nice relaxing bath. When we were done in there, Will had walked through the door (welcome home, honey... HELP!!!!) I passed her off to him so he could get a fresh diaper and jammies on her and I set out to clean up the mess. Go Team Laing!!!

Me and my sickie 

Once Maggie was feeling better and we had just started to recover from that, Emily got ill. In the middle of the night. In my bed, which I didn't even know she had climbed in. All over me. ALL. over me! But Daddy to the rescue yet again. He was a very brave first responder- just needed s good jump start. lol! Into the shower and then the bath... then back to bed. Then got to follow her around all day with a barf bucket, changed lots of dirty diapers and snuggled lots and lots. There is no greater honor than being able to be here to help the girls through these times. Sickness is no fun, but I'll take the common flu or cold any day when I know that there is WAYYYY worse out there. I am happy to report that both girls are back to normal and so far Will and I seem to have dodged it. Here's to hoping that is the case...

snuggles in bed

And now for random mommy and me's:

Sending Daddy a good morning picture 

Teething baby Maggie

Kissy face before getting on the carousel at Disneyland (few weeks old)

Schvetting (sweating) to death at Disneyland- 98 degrees out at the beginning of MAY.... what in the world?!

Rocking on the porch waiting for daddy to come home

Mothers Day morning with my sweet girlie she woke me up verrry early... guess she had lots of celebrating she wanted to do with me <3 

That's it for this week. Until next time...

xo