“I did it all myseff!”

There are so many GREAT things about being a parent and right at the top of the list is the heart-warming feeling you get when your child is proud of themselves. Jayleigh has always been very demonstrative and is truly joy-full every single day. That alone is awe-inspiring to me. I mean what more can you ask for than a happy baby?! Lately Jayleigh has even started saying “I happy!” It’s so cute because she smiles and giggles pretty much all day long so that’s a pretty big clue she’s happy but hearing her say it, well, it’s the icing on the cake. To see her grin with excitement and exclaim with pride when she accomplishes something, big or small, makes my heart swell. Like when she puts on her lace up shoes (even if they’re on the wrong feet) or she climbs up the stairs and down the slide at the playground or gets herself dressed (even if it is a yellow Thomas the Train tshirt mismatched with her black and silver glitter leggings & hot pink crocs!). And then she says the ultimate, “I did it all myseff!” I’m excited and proud for her. As much as I’m enjoying seeing her growing up and learning new things (like the fact she can tell me exactly what she wants now or that she can carry on a complete conversation whether it’s with me, on the phone with Mommaw or with one of her doll babies!), it’s bittersweet ’cause I know she won’t always need me as much.

Today, for example, Hubs and I had the opportunity to watch her make new friends, all by herself. There were a number of children in the playspace and quite honestly she is naturally social (can’t imagine where she got that from!) so we’re kinda used to seeing her “holding court” with other kids. I guess I’d never really paid much attention to their conversation though. Here’s a recap:

Jayleigh: “Hieee“

Three-year old twins: “Hi.” “Hi.”

Jayleigh: “How you?”

Twins: “Huh?” “Hi.”

Jayleigh: “Wanna see my booboo?”

Twins: “Sure!” “Yeah!“

Jayleigh: (said as she bends down to point to her skinned knee) “I falled down.”

Twins: (said as they each bend down to check out her booboo more closely) “Oh!” “Me too!” (then they both point to their respective knees to show their own booboos)

Jayleigh: “You falled down?“

Twins: “Yeah.” “Yeah.”

Jayleigh: (said as she again bends down to point to her skinned knee) “Yeah, I falled down.”

Twins: “Yeah.” “Me too.”

Then they all giggled and played and were fast friends.

It made us proud…but I was happiest watching her when I realized, every now and then, she’d look over to make sure we were watching her. Thankfully, she still needs us even if she “did it all herseff!”

Sleeping Beauty has a new bed time…boo!

Sleeping Beauty has a new bed time…boo!.

Sleeping Beauty has a new bed time…boo!

I know I say it A LOT but, I’m blessed. And I know it. And I’m so appreciative! My Jayleigh started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old and most nights since then she’s slept in as well…much to momma’s glee. I LOVE TO SLEEP. And, if I do say so myself, I’m pretty good at it. I’ve heard my hubby say before that when I was preggers I slept so much that he would sometimes come close to my face just to make sure I was still breathing. I have gotten used to my late-to-bed (9pm-ish), late to rise (9am-ish) child’s schedule and truly look forward to it. It gives us plenty of time to eat dinner, play, hang out, sing songs and read a ton of books before bedtime and, the late mornings allow momma to…sleep in too! Ok, I know you thought I was going to say that it helped me get things done around the house, workout, take a longer shower, actually put on makeup, etc, etc but I’m no dummy. I actually use that extra time when baby’s sleeping to SLEEP! I guess I really took to heart all the baby books I read that said to “sleep when the baby sleeps!” heehee

Anyway, recently with the Spring Forward and more daylight hours, Jayleigh’s nap schedule has suffered and she’s actually started keeping herself awake all day so she can play and play some more! (Well, that is her job as a 2-yr old, right?!). So, she’s begun going to bed earlier like ; 7:30pm!!! It’s happened a few times before but never consistently until now. So, what to do with my newfound “waking-hours-without-baby”?! I wasn’t sure, since this is a new occurrence after all, whether or not I should commit to anything big (ie housecleaning, closet organizing, etc) because, let’s face it….she could wake up at any time and need her mommy! With that in mind, I decided to do other ehem important tasks around the house including:

• flipping mindlessly through catalogs I’d received in the mail (a magazine would have taken too much brain-energy so forget reading a book either!)
• painting my nails with a new color (sherbet…yes, Jayleigh gets to pick all new nail polish colors!) we’d purchased a day prior when we accidentally drove past Walgreen’s only for Jayleigh to shout that she “need goed dare” to push “chopping cart”! (yes, she has one at home but there’s something about the shopping carts in actual retail stores that she prefers, go figure!).
• making a list of all the people I owe thank you notes to for Jayleigh’s birthday (I do realize December was 3 months ago, oops!) as well as my own birthday (only 2.5 weeks late I might add! well, so far that is!).
• eating a non-chicken-nugget dinner (yummy homemade turkey burgers on the grill thanks to the free time to chop up veggies with a real knife!)
• watching a grown up movie all the way through without hitting pause (if you haven’t seen “Friends with Benefits” it’s a fun break from reality!)
• playing around on Facebook and WordPress without extra little fingers hitting random keys that make me look drunk, crazy or just a really bad speller

With all that I accomplished ‘sans bebe’, you think I’d have been on Cloud 9, right? In actuality, I wasn’t. At one point, I turned to the hubs and asked, “do you think it’s wrong if I wake her up now cause I’m missing her?” Don’t be too surprised that he agreed…BUT we were very disciplined and did NOT wake her…we just contentedly continued watching her sleep on the video monitor, occasionally walking to check on her more so we could remark on how cute she is sleeping versus anything else. Ahhhhh, life is so good!

Words Matter or, better yet, Words Are A Matter Of the Heart

The rumor is true…I’m tender-hearted. And, kinda silly. Always have been. And, I have a special place in my heart for kids, especially my nieces, nephew and my own precious daughter. Long before I was blessed with my own, I had nieces and a nephew to love spoil–a job I took very seriously (they don’t call me “favorite Aunt Minda” for nothing!). So, after many years of loving spoiling my nieces and nephew, I’d have to say discipline is not at the top of my list of best parenting skills. In fact, I’m so easily enthralled by the cute things they say and the even cuter things they do, that I’m kind of a softy. I will admit, a few of my close friends had warned me about the cutesy talk (the pet names like booboo kitty, poopedeedo & batookiss, silly words like “baba” (bottle), “wawa” (water), “games” (pajamas), “nippy nap” etc, etc) but it’s hard to not giggle and even repeat the words Jayleigh uses for things especially when they’re, well, just so darn precious! I get that laughing is encouraging & I probably should correct her a bit more at times but, let’s face it, our babies are little for such a short while that I think it’s just fine to chill out and enjoy it all! Here are a few of my faves from some of my favorite people:

My nephew Devin (aka BamBam):

He’s always been hilarious even when he wasn’t trying to be. For example, when he first started calling his mother by name, he called her “Mommies”. It was a short while after that my twin sister realized he had learned this from her as she would always say “You’re mommy’s boy!”

He’s five now and has an extensive vocabulary so it’s even cuter when he says things like:

“Mommy, can I have a refund please?” while holding his cup out for more to drink; my sister explained that what he wanted was a “refill” to which he promptly replied, “oh re-FILL please; so, what’s a refund?” or when he was in riding in the car and they got in rush hour traffic, he said, “We gotta get outta this situation!“. Or, the absolute smartest…he used to call me “Jeffie” and Jeff, “the man.” We finally realized it was because he knew I wasn’t “a man” (as in A-man-da”) so he switched our names so they made more sense!

My youngest niece Meggie (when she was only about two years old):

“You have breath!” She literally said this first to her Pastor one Sunday when he bent down to speak to her, apparently with less than the freshest breath! hahahahahahaha.

And, of course, my Jayleigh:

To her baby doll as she held her close: “Don’t be skeered. I tect you!” (as in “protect” you! She’s clearly tender-hearted too!)

To me as I grabbed each of her toes respectively: This little piggy went to….”ma-kit“. This little piggy stayed…”home“. This little piggy had….”LUNCH“. hahahahahahah Guess we might wanna make some “roast beef” for dinner so she’ll have a point of reference next time we play Piggie Toes!

In Nordstrom’s shopping with her new baby (yes, another new baby doll…don’t tell Daddy!): she promptly put the baby in it’s carrier down on the floor and shouted, “Oh no! I gots problems!” to which I investigated to learn she was having issues trying to get the baby buckled in. I promptly solved the issue, to her relieved pleasure as I reminded her, “You don’t have any problems Jayleigh…life is your oyster!” She grinned and then repeated to the sales associate, “I a oyser!”

Looking at herself in the mirror as she twists and twirls her skirt back and forth just so, Jayleigh states matter of factly, “Boo-Full!”

To her baby doll who was apparently not minding: “no, no, no. K?”

To her daddy when he played too rough with her, “Goed time out daddy! Right now, peez!” (Yes I know I shouldn’t encourage this Jenny but, you have to admit, it could come in handy when Daddy gets out of line!).

When she’s getting ready for bed and wants to keep a light on: The dark hurt my eyeez. Turn da lights on now!”

Or, when Jayleigh repeats something her daddy or I say routinely, sometimes putting her own unique spin on it; like:

“Hi honey.” (It’s just funny & precious all at the same time when she calls me (or daddy, Mommaw or the sitter) this, right?!)

“How you, fine?” (in her pretend phone calls…it’s a nod to her Southern roots for sure!)

“I too busy; call back; byee!“

“I test you.” (aka “text”…said while holding her phone of course!)

“I neeeed dat, right now!” (admittedly, this is often after she’s seen a lonesome baby doll in the store!)

–And the list of what she says that makes me laugh & smile grows every. single. day. What a cool life we’re living! XO

 

Retail Therapy

Retail Therapy.

No matter how you look at it, it’s not a gray day here!

I know I always say this but, truly, I have SO many things to be thankful for and SO very many things that make me smile (& giggle!) on a daily basis…it really is the little things (as in little JayGee Joyner!) that make all the difference in an otherwise gray Chicago day:

• Jayleigh to me as she strokes my hair: “Momma, I love your hair down.” I mean, really?! Could be because it tickles her face when I bend down to pick her up. Or the fact that on most days, for at least the majority of the day, my hair is in a ponytail. Either way? So sweet to hear.
• Jayleigh to me as she disrobes: “JayGee take shirt off. I booboo heewer (pointing to her lil belly).” My reply: “Oh no. What happened?” Jayleigh: “Chessie bite JayGee belwee.” Me: seeing absolutely no booboo whatsoever & knowing Chessie didn’t bite her, but with a serious face: “Really? The doggie bit your belly? She’s going to be in big trouble if she did!” Then, looking at Jayleigh waiting for her to fess up to the fib so her sweet doggie wouldn’t be in trouble, she replies…”Ohhhh Chessie. Trouble, trouble, trouble!”
• Jayleigh reciting her colors as I point to different objects: (I admit we play this game a LOT but who wouldn’t when it sounds so cute!)

“ogend” = orange

“lello” = yellow

“boooo” = blue

“geen” = green

“back” = black

“wipe” = white

And her two favs: “pinK” and “pupple“!

• Me to Jayleigh: “Is that chocolate on your mouth?” Jayleigh: “ah, no; that a sugar bug! Goed brush teef now!” as she runs to the bathroom to brush her teeth. (Yay, Princess Tooferella strikes again!)
• Jayleigh as she shuts the bathroom door in my face, “Stay out momma! Be back.” Then, hearing someone knocking at the door, I reply: “who is it?” Jayleigh: “Is JayGee.” Me: “JayGee who?” Jayleigh: “Jay Joy!” Me: “who???” Jayleigh: “JayGeeMommyDaddySissy!”
• Watching Jayleigh as she rocks one of her (very) many babe dolls, I hear her humming in between singing the words to a made-up lullaby that I’ve sang to her since she was born: “Goed to sweep, hm hm hm, Goed to sweep, wittle won, hm hm hm, hm hm hm, count sheep, hm, hm, hm!” She is just the sweetest. thing. ever.

So I can go to sleep now, having what some would say was a pretty uneventful day but knowing I have smiled, giggled and felt so very, very thankful!

Boobies not babies!

So I completely forgot to share this when it happened so here goes. We have a preggo friend who shall remain nameless (Lori) whose a wee bit overdue so she’s looking pretty much, well, “with child”. Because I have told Jayleigh many times that before she was born she was in mommy’s belly, I thought it’d help her understand better by pointing out someone who currently has a baby in her belly. As an aside, it’s kinda funny to me that Jayleigh didn’t seem to think it was that odd to have been in my belly! Maybe that’s something innate. Anyway, I point to Lori’s belly and tell her there’s a baby inside and she immediately goes to Lori and begins to gently touch her belly. Precious, right?! Then, when it becme obvious that she wasn’t able to see the baby from that angle she tried several other routes including: putting her hand down Lori’s shirt, putting both hands up Lori’s shirt and, of course, lifting up her shirt as she said “baaaabyyyyy” and looked fervently. When she happened upon two other areas that kind felt bigger to her, located above Lori’s belly at, say, chest level, she proudly grabbed each one saying “ohhhh babies”. Yes, precious & hilarious & I just couldn’t correct her cause it was just priceless.

A short time later, Jayleigh was sitting on my lap and found more “babies”! Sooooooo, not wanting to disappoint her when my “girls” don’t eventually turn into babies, I decided to tell her the difference between “babies” and “boobies”. I wasn’t convinced she completely understood me until days later when she pulled up her shirt and proudly pointed out her “boobies” and, without skipping a beat, grabbed mine and said with a very serious face: “dese mommy boobies.” Then, before I could even concur, she patted my belly and said, “disa baby.” Guess there’s one more very good reason for me to workout tomorrow! Heehee

Family Traditions

I think it’s easy when you’re a kid to take for granted some of the traditions and unique ways of doing things that all families have. I guess it’s like everything else…appreciation is something that comes when we, in turn, become our parents! You know how, as you get older, you find yourself saying things that sound all too familiar (“you have to wear a hat!” “you can’t go outside without your coat on!” “eat your broccoli” etc, etc)! As a side note, I also find myself doing things that I swore I’d never do (like let my house be overrun with toys, going out w/ food on my clothes, wearing a shirt I might have actually also slept in the night before and of course the biggie…going somewhere with wet hair (while Jayleigh’s freshly coiffed with a bow on top!) More etc, etc here)!

One of my fondest family traditions was having homemade pizza every Friday night most of my teenage years. I’ve tried making it myself many times (and before yummy store-bought pizza crust became prevalent, I had at least one catastrophe where I used self-rising flour AND yeast–don’t try this at home–huge flop, literally!). I’ve recently, finally, become pretty proficient at it so it’s a new Joyner family tradition and one that Jayleigh looks forward to and loves to help with. I have to say, cooking doesn’t get any funner than it is with a 2 year old as your sous chef! Love it! Mess and all!

Another fun tradition from my fam is the game “I got your nose!” I can’t say that it’s something I’ve seen played recently (maybe it’s a Southern thing?) and I’d all but forgotten it myself (could be my age? Nah!) but it was a HUGE game my Poppaw used to play with us all the time growing up!). Anyway, one day I was remarking how cute Jayleigh’s nose is when it hit me that I should snatch it! I immediately did, showed it to her (thumb clutched tightly beneath my fingers) and she squealed with delight! Now it’s a game she often instigates but with her own added twist…after snatching my nose she will sometimes put it back on crooked but her real wit shines through when she runs off with my nose while shouting “trash!” as in, she threw my nose in the trash! She’s such a teaser, another reason we say she’s Jeff’s mini me! Sadly, I lost my Poppaw and dearest Mommaw (God bless their souls) when I was in high school but it’s endearing to know their spirit lives on a gazillion years later in family fun with my own little one. And it’s cool because I tell her it was a game handed down to me by her Great Grandfather.

Other traditions for my fam might seem a bit eccentric (read: odd but lemme say there’s nothing odd about puddin’ n biscuits for breakfast on special occasions; it’s truly a delicacy and for those who can’t appreciate it I gleefully say, “yay, more for me!”) while others just so very special to us (like the saying I coined when my first beloved late niece Sarah was born and I tried to find words that would truly explain how I felt about her; nothing seemed more appropriate than “I love you more than the sunshine!” We continue this saying as a family but often write it as LUMTTSS (to further honor Sarah’s love of texting!) and now Jayleigh’s made it her own as well. Just now I said to her as I often do, “do you know how much your mommy loves you?” her reply: “yes!” “How much?” I inquire and she simply says “sunshine!”. Yep, she’s my sunshine all right!

How blessed I am to be able to keep family traditions alive and even create new ones with my own lil fam. We attempted to do so this very week in building a snowman (as Jayleigh reminded us, “from the song!”) in honor of our first snowfall this winter. Well, we didn’t quite get one built this time (dare I say the snow blower was too fun?!) but you’ll see from the pics that at least one of us looked adorable in her snowsuit & snow boots! Hopefully we’ll get another opp at building one soon! More pics to follow I promise!

Princess Toofer-ella Banishes SugarBugs But Babas Survive Another Day!

Today was a BIG day at Casa Joyner…Lil Miss JayGee had her very 1st dentist appointment!!! Yay! I know what you’re thinking…she doesn’t even have all her baby teeth yet plus, why rush to take her somewhere every kid in the world dreads going, right?! Well, luckily enough for her, her mommy and daddy are huge teeth people (well, not that we have huge teeth ourselves, although I used to be told a lot that I look like Marie Osmond and she does have pretty big teeth!); we’ve both just been through braces (some of us more than once!) and worse and we want her to protect her pearly whites.

Jeff and I are both loyal brushers & flossers so Jayleigh’s always been interested in all the cool tools we have (sonicare toothbrushes, power flossers, even the little mirror on a stick). I’ve been brushing her teeth since her very first toofer appeared but lately, Jayleigh’s been a bit more interested in chewing on the toothbrush and eating the ChooChoo paste as she calls it (thanks to the Thomas the Train pic on the front) so we were excited to see if the dentist visit would help.

I’d have to say, the staff at the pediatric dental practice was amazing! First off, the dentist herself kinda resembles Cinderalla (not at all dentist-looking!) and her staff are all very kid-loving with singsongy voices and reassuring comments. They have a colorful waiting room filled with fun toys & tiny chairs and tables for the kids and, much to Jayleigh’s amazement, her exam room came equipped with a ceiling-mounted flat screen already keyed up to Curious George, her fav! Add to that the pink dental appliances, chocolate-flavored toothpaste, the glitter-infused fluoride treatment and sheet of Elmo stickers she earned and even I didn’t wanna leave! It’s nothing like the cold, sterile, drill-sounding-in-the-next-room dentist we went to growing up. I used to dread going to the dentist (until I got older and started requesting laughing gas–talk about yay!).

Jayleigh was very brave throughout the appointment, opening wide and holding the dentist’s hand (& mommy’s) & a couple of times she sat up and said, “all done!” even though we weren’t (hey, she knows what she wants and is willing to speak up about it!) so we had to coax her back to finish up. The stuffed animals in the room (that all had stuffed teeth too!) were a big help! And, of course, the fact that they cleaned Jayleigh’s doll baby’s teeth first so she’d see how fun and easy it was–so precious!

It was bittersweet for me because she looked so grown up and she was so proud of herself when the dentist told her how beautiful and shiny her teeth were and what a great job she’d done! The only tears came when the Dr. explained to her that babas (remember, she’s a bit of a milkaholic and mommy & daddy are somewhat her enablers) cause “SugarBugs” that lead to mean ol’ cavities and then she showed us pics of pretty toofers like Jayleigh’s versus a 3-year old who’d had SugarBugs move in…not a pretty sight. She suggested several techniques (none of which will be easy, to say the least!) to help end her love affair with milk babas including the pull-the-bandaid-off-quickly, cold turkey approach. The dentist mentioned she has a daughter whose about 6 months old and still taking babas so she offered to let Jayleigh give her old babas to her…I think that’s when the reality set in cause it’s about at that point when I saw the horse tears fill up in Jayleigh’s eyes. Bless her heart. It was just so sad to see. Needless to say, we weren’t in the car five minutes when she asked for her old trusty baba back and mommy, seeing the tears roll down her face, just couldn’t break her heart. So, I did what any sane adult would do and I gave in. There’s always tomorrow to go cold turkey, right?!

Seriously, I don’t want her to get SugarBugs! Or cavities–ick! So tomorrow we will start our “you’re a big girl now so maybe we should give this baba to some needy little baby” campaign. I’m sure it’ll be harder on me than it will be on her! All I know is, once we got home from the day’s adventures she reached for me with both arms and said, “need you momma!” And of course I replied, “oh JayGee, I need YOU!” and I really, really do.

My New Year’s Reflections aka Random Things I Just Wanna Share

Yep, you read that right…no New Year’s resolutions for me. Seriously, why set yourself up with unrealistic expectations just because it’s January 1st?! I just don’t get it. We put enough pressure on ourselves already just trying to, well, get it right, right?!

So, it’s in that vain that I bring you my New Year’s Reflections aka Random Things That I Just Wanna Share:

• Children are proof that God is the real deal. I’m a believer but Jayleigh just strengthens my belief every, single day. The way she smiles (& sometimes sings) in her sleep, the look of awe on her face when Santa brought her both the babedoll AND the bike she asked for (& knew to get her a pink one even though she forgot to tell him it’s her fav color!), the way she unabashedly claps & says “yay” after the choir sings at church (even when no one else is clapping!), and how proud she is when she accomplishes things like learning to jump (even if she hasn’t quite mastered having her feet leave the ground!).
• Children learn from their parents (and pick up what they hear us say, eek!); fortunately, we’ve cleaned up our language & it’s been fun to hear Jayleigh’s version. For example:

1. “Momma, hold you!” (this came from me always asking if she’d like “momma to hold you?”). On a side note, I pray she will say this to me every day for the rest of her life.

2. “Thisey one.” When asked what kind of cheese she’d like. I had previously shown her two kinds to choose between: this one or this one (guess I should have instead said ‘string cheese’ or ‘sliced cheese’ as I showed her the choices!) Clearly this will only be problematic when in restaurants.

3. “Tant you much!” Her abbreviated version of ‘thank you so much’ heard over and over again between her 2nd birthday and Christmas only two weeks later! Thank you God for an appreciative child. It makes the “mines” and “no’s” that much more palatable.

4. “Oh goodness!”, “Shoop!” (aka ‘shoot!’)“, “I a PooDeeDoo” (from ‘Are you a PooPooPeeDoo?’), “Jiggle Balls” (yep, she still thinks it’s the name of one of her fav songs that dada has sung to her since birth!), “Bess you”.

• A clean house will NEVER be as important as time spent messing it up with my precious daughter! Ok, I’ll admit this was a difficult thing for me ’cause momma loves me a clean, organized house BUT I have learned to chill a bit and take in all the grandeur that comes with being in the home of a toddler! (that was actually one bit of advice my mom gave me when I first had Jayleigh and it’s just SO true!). Now, I even find myself ‘staging’ her dollies in their highchair or crib or arranging her dollhouse furniture long after Jayleigh’s done playing with them vs putting them away! I’d have to say, I adored Jayleigh’s nursery and spent many hours in it before she was born, just enjoying the beauty of the room and imaging what it’d be like when she joined us. Now, it’s a whirlwind of color, music & toys galore, baby dolls and books are everywhere…and it’s absolutely a perfect mess!
• It’s uncanny how much they’re like us! You can’t help but wonder what traits your child may have inherited and then they do something so much like you or your spouse (or even a grandparent or late niece) that it’s unreal! She is her daddy’s mini me and has my eyes and her mommaw’s expressions (& childhood curls) but it goes way beyond just looks. She will put her shoes away (& yours too if you don’t!) without being asked, throws away trash and even puts dirty laundry in the hamper (something her daddy still can’t seem to do and he’s 40 yrs older than her!), has been seen putting chocolate bars in random drawers of the house (we won’t tell where she might have seen this but her last visit was to Grandmama’s house) and has been seen sleeping with her legs crossed (odd trait but I inherited it too!). As I write this, the pink and purple ‘castle’ that Santa brought Jayleigh is STILL taking up space in our great room (I did try to relocate the castle the day after Christmas while she was napping but the first thing she said upon waking was “hey, where’s my house?! it goes here!” and it promptly did) and if you were to look inside, you might just nominate her for an episode of the tv show “Horders”! I don’t know how but she has managed to accumulate so much in such a small space and in such a short time; currently you’ll find: a dolly potty, a pink stuffed yapping poodle (thanks Ally!), a yellow stuffed Labrador (daddy couldn’t resist when she said “peez dada” & held him tight in the store two days before Christmas like he was a lonely puppy in the pound that needed to be adopted!), a stuffed doggie from Starbucks (also clearly very lonely and in need of a good home), a BittyBaby diaper bag (thanks Aunt Amy), another diaper bag (hey, every mommy has more than one, right?!) filled with all the things a mommy needs like two cell phones, two pacis, hair brush, comb, mirror, diaper cream, diapers, changing pad, play to go coffee cup (ok, I admit I may have something to do with the fact she likes her pretend morning cup o’ Joe!), dolly clothes, three baby dolls of varying sizes and a big orange kickball adorned with a smiley face from her recent NYE party at Lil’ Kickers Soccer School. Had I written this earlier today, I might have actually been inside the ‘castle’ as well since she often banishes mommy or daddy there (I have to also admit that initially Jeff and I both were kinda ok with being put in the castle because we were so big that no one else could fit inside and we used the quiet time to catch up on emails/texts (oops!); Jayleigh, realizing we weren’t “playing castle” as actively as she’d like, soon began banishing us only AFTER also taking away our cell phones!–Tell me she’s not the smartest 2 yr old ever!).
• Today is the best day. I used to look forward to “events” like an upcoming party or holiday but honestly now I look forward to every day with the same sense of anticipation. I know that every today will be special because it’ll be a today with Jayleigh in my life and there’s just nothing better than that, any way you slice it!
• All the sayings are true. Ok, I get that’s why people keep repeating them but honestly, THEY’RE REALLY ALL TRUE: They grow up way too fast. Enjoy them while they’re little because they’ll be big before you know it. You can always clean your house when they’re grown. No one ever reflected on their life wishing they’d worked more. Don’t sweat the small stuff. And, it’s all small stuff. Nobody’s perfect. You can’t have it all. Don’t borrow tomorrow’s troubles today. This too shall pass. Poop happens. Never wake a sleeping baby. Mother knows best. A happy wife is a happy life. Babies are such a nice way to start people. Love is the best gift of all.

Happy 2012 everyone! Here’s wishing you a year filled with peace, love, happiness and prosperity.