A is for Beautiful

I thought this was such a good ideas so I stole this from my friend Merritt.

Here’s 30 reasons why my mom is great, one for each year she’s been a mother.

1. She’s creative.
2. She’s loving.
3. She’s fun!
4. She cares for other people.
5. She studies scripture and serves at church.
6. She’s not afraid to learn new things.
7. She’s not afraid to say how she really feels or what she really thinks.
8. She’s brave.
9. She loves plants and gardening and is very knowledgable on the subjects.
10. She can cook, sew, and clean.
11. She’s pretty artistic.
12. She adores her grandaughter.
13. She’s giving.
14. She likes to play.
15. She’s optimistic about most things.
16. She’s got a good memory.
17. She’s honest.
18. She’s sentimental.
19. She speaks proper English and knows how to spell really well.
20. She’s a hard worker.
21. She loves to laugh and be silly after an exhausting day shopping.
22. She’s a wonderful teacher.
23. She has beautiful handwriting.
24. She puts up with more than she should ever have to.
25. She’s more spontaneous than I am.
26. She likes action movies, horror movies, and chick flicks all the same.
27. She loves to bake.
28. She’s never gotten a speeding ticket or had a cavity.
29. She’s not afraid to scream, cry, or ask for help.
30. She loves me unconditionally.

I love you, Mom!
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Scene: A rambunctious two year old kicks, squirms, and climbs aound her high chair at a local greasy burger joint for a late (and I mean LATE) dinner with her parents and grandparents. She’s exhausted from having to patiently wait out the duration of an exercise class after a cut-in-half nap and a long afternoon jaunt on the playground. She’s throwing napkins and forks, refusing food and whining as she makes a disgusting mess of our table.

My Mom: She’s so sweet.

Me: Yes, she’s so sweet and I love her to pieces until she gets in between me and my food.

Dear Julianna,

My sweet little baby girl. My sweet little big girl. I can hardly call you a baby anymore. Somewhere around the two year mark is when people stop speaking in terms of months for your age and instead start speaking in terms of years. It’s bittersweet really. While I know that time inevitably marches on, I also long for the days when I could snuggle you easily whenever I wanted instead of just when you want. I long for the days when I could put you down and you wouldn’t run off and get into trouble. I long for the days when you needed me for everything. But at the same time I’m excited about the future days when you realize something new all on your own and you share it with me happily. I’m excited about the future days when you can dress and bathe yourself. I’m excited about the future days spent with you doing “bigger kid things” and I’m excited about the future days when you accomplish something you’ve never done before and I get to see that proud smile on your face.

Today when I picked you up from school you were giving your teacher the sweetest, most enormous bear hug I’ve ever seen you give. It made me smile from ear to ear and I couldn’t wait to hold you again even though you said you’d rather walk and then asked “Where Pap is?”

One of the cutest things you’ve learned this month is how to say, “Play marbles with me, please!” or “Play cards with me!” or “Read it to me.” Sometimes you’re so stinkin’ adorable that it’s hard to deny you a thing. That’s why every day since Easter you’ve had a cupcake, a chocolate egg, a piece of monkey birthday cake, or a ring pop – whichever you ask for that day. I’m a sucker for your brown eyes.

Plus you’ve got these amazing half-curls that stick out above your ears. You call your blonde hair “so pretty” when you brush it and you are turning into a beautiful little girl.

You’re doing better in the sleep department. You’ve stopped waking up in the middle of every night and only wake up every few nights. It’s also pleases me to be able to report that you’re still easy to get back to bed whenever you do wake up. You’ve moved into your big room and into a queen bed. The first night you slept there (your birthday night) you pooched out your bottom lip in protest just like you did exactly two years before (your real birthday) but of course you were easy to comfort and you did great sleeping there all night. We really, really, really love you for that.

Jules, you’ve made your daddy and I so proud to be parents. We weren’t sure how hard or how easy it would be but luckily you’ve made it loads of fun. The rewards of being your mama can’t compare to anything else I’ve experienced and I gush about you to anyone who’ll listen.

I can fondly remember those early days two years ago when I’d sit on the couch and closely examine every wrinkle in your long and tiny toes and I’ll treasure every moment I had like that with you, but I look forward to the new moments we get to share together and I’m so glad to have you. Happy birthday, Big Girl! I love you!

Love,
Mama

Dear Julianna,

This is the first time ever in your whole life that I haven’t started this letter before the day I needed to post it. Time has just gotten away from me and the month has gone by way too fast this time. It really seems like I just did one of these last week. And we have been sooooo busy. Running here and there for the holidays and when you finally get a chance to sit down and breathe you remember ten other things you needed to do so you get up once more or you just sit there and rest so you don’t lose your mind. ANYWAY, you’re still mama’s wonderful little girl who never ceases to amaze me.

This month you’ve somehow learned how to count to ten. You’ve also expanded your vocabulary by leaps and bounds. I can’t even begin to keep up with all the words you know now. Just now you climbed in daddy’s lap to read a book and you quickly said the name of the book, “Shapes,” a word we didn’t know you even knew. Things like that actually happen all the time now. You’ve learned almost all of the basic colors and you can point them all out to us although you can’t say a few of them. You’ve learned a good bit of the alphabet and now when we go to Nanna and Pap’s house you prompt me if I forget to start singing at exactly the right spot on the way.

You’ve also had a little bit of a “mean” streak going lately where you hit and push people when they want your toy or when they ask you to do something you don’t want to do. Mama and Daddyyou’re your favorite people to hit although you’ve managed to swat at a few others. We’ve still been using time out when this happens, but you don’t seem to mind too much.

It will be interesting to see your interpretation of Christmas this year considering that last year you hardly understood anything. This year though, I think you’ll start to get a little bit of what’s going on. I know I sure have had a blast explaining the season to you and seeing you process it all so far. It makes me feel like a kid again. I was so excited to take you to see Santa at the mall the other day and you did really well with it. It took some warming up, but you finally sat on his lap and you’ve talked about it lots since then.

We put up our Christmas tree the other day and you’ve been fascinated with the “biiiiiiiggg tree” in the house as well as all the ornaments. The nativity set that I had as a little girl has brought you lots of joy in the last week or so. You set all the pieces out in a line and then transfer them to a new location one by one and amazingly display them in the proper positions. Occasionally you pick Baby Jesus up and give him a gentle kiss.

You’ve had some fun playing with a few friends this month. You can tell that you’re learning more and more how to interact with the people around you. You recently took a bath with your friend Baylee which you haven’t stopped telling us about since and you love going to Mamaw’s house so you can go visit and play with Abby and then later tell us about how Abby cried, “Waahhhhh.”

Potty training hasn’t been going very far. You will sometimes go days without wetting a diaper, telling us every time you need to potty and then after that you’ll go back needing lots of prompting or never wanting to use the potty at all. It’s so confusing sometimes why it goes that way, but we’re still giving you all the time you need.
You’re doing really well in your big girl bed. You’ve rarely gotten out of bed at night and you’ve taken many more naps there this month so I feel we’re doing great. You’re growing up so quickly! In a few of the pictures we took the other day you look eight years old already!

Finally, I want to tell you about Thanksgiving a couple of days ago. We celebrated with family as usual and as Thanksgiving often prompts, I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for the early mornings you bring. I’m thankful for the messy highchairs and dirty kitchen floors. I’m thankful for filthy bathrooms and cars with squeaky brakes. I’m thankful for that extra roll or two of fat that I have gained this year and I am thankful for your small temper tantrums. I am thankful for your problem-solving daddy even when I just want him to listen to me rant. I’m thankful for money problems and always needing more hours in the day. I’m thankful for the past and the future. I’m thankful for hearing the word “applesauce” 1,822 times and for that really annoying “Candice Can-Do” book. I’m thankful for every bit of my life. And I’m thankful for you, Jules. I love you, baby girl.

Love,
Mama

One of my friend’s little boys came over to play on Wednesday. His mom had all day training for her new job so I offered to keep him while she went in for the first day. Julianna had fun playing with him (he’s only a few weeks older than she is) and it gave us something to do. Plus it was cool to try my hands out at taking care of two little people instead of just one. Good times. Anyway, they’re adorable together. See?