Lainey's Birthday Letter ~ Age 2

She's Two, She's Two - Our little Lainey Bug is TWO! Popping in today to honor our little tradition of birthday letters to my littles.

Previous Letters to Lainey:

• Lainey's letter to the world - She's arrived
• Lainey's First Birthday Letter

Lainey Lou,

Lou Bugg, Nainey Girl, Lou, Elaine Louise, my sweet whittle baby girl ... I LOVE YOU! I love you, I love you, I LOVE you. You are the biggest spunk of bright energy I could have ever imagined and you sweetheart, you are truly the apple of our eyes.

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around you being two years old. Not because of the obvious "time has flown by, how are you so big, where did the time go, etc <all of those are true too>", but more because I honestly cannot remember nor can I imagine life without you.  You beam with love and happiness always and it is such a bright spot in our lives. You have never met a stranger and make everyone who meets you smile. You are a total goof and keep up laughing constantly. You have complete disregard for authority and do anything and everything your way. It is no secret you run the show.

Little lady you entered our lives when things were quiet (relatively speaking). And from the moment you started to actually wake up life got a lot less quiet. We began questioning everything and life was spiraling quickly - and yet through it all - there you were. The bright spot. The littlest spunk that ever was and the one that made every single part of it worth walking through.

I could have told you when I began having children with 100% certainty that I would be a boy mom. I would have a little football team and it would be all I ever needed. But then here you came. With a full head of brown hair that the nurse quickly adorned with a pink bow and I knew right then and there my younger self had never been more wrong. I needed you sweet thing. I needed you more than I ever knew and I am so thankful God gave you to me. Being your mommy is SO. MUCH. FUN.

All of your sass, all of your spunk, all of your drama ... every single piece of your personality is my favorite. You are the perfect mix of silly and sweet ... you'll fake an injury one moment to get everyeone's attention and then laugh scream and run the very next.

You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and simply cannot get enough of Mickey on TV or your iPad. You literally eat EVERYTHING - the pantry is your favorite room in the entire house and if you had it your way you'd have noodles, hot dogs, cheetos and cookies for every meal -- probably mixed together. Your favorite outfit is a pretty dress paired with tennis shoes and a high ponytail - because duh, a little girly and a little tomboy is the perfect combonation - and it couldn't make me prouder.

You are absolutely SMITTEN with your big brother, Bubby. And he prefers you call him Bubby over Bennett -- and corrects you when you say his real name. The two of you play hide and go seek almost daily and you make sure if you get a snack you always grab one for him too.

You have your daddy completely wrapped around your finger, and you're probably his biggest fan. Him coming home at the end of the work day if you favorite part of the evening - a close second to shaking your booty in the bathtub and running naked baby through the house until we catch you.

You still sleep with your paci and request to pick out which one you'd like before bed everr night. You're very paticular about your blankets when we put you to bed and always have a different opinion on if you will sleep with a stuffed animal and which one it will be.

You've had a big year sweet girl! Soon after your first birthday we packed your bags and vacationed in New York City for the first time in November. After Christmas we packed everything once again and moved to a new city in December. January was a bit of a blur. It was a rough month of everyone (except you). You seemed completely unphased by the move and as long as you had your family with you - you were per usual, happy as a lark. You started regularly rocking ponytails and went to the circus. Aside from not sleeping (which continued for the better part of 5 months due to the sleeping arrangements of the new living conditions) you were settling into your second year of life just fine. 

Come April, we packed our bags once again and celebrated LIFE and HAPPINESS at the happiest place on earth. You made it all the way to Florida to see The One and Only Mickey Mouse at Disney World. My favorite memory of you from the trip was watching you dance and wave during the parade as Mickey walked by. It really is magical. As the months turned warmer and summer snuck in - you packed your little backpack and headed to summer camp with your brother.  No tears from you at drop off - you couldn't wait to explore a new place with new friends. My social little butterfly :)

In the midst of summer and truly the hottest week of the year, we all cheered as we'd survived a 6 month renovation project and FINALLY unpacked our bags inside our new home. Once again, you seemed unphased. You loved the new space, when right back to sleeping like a champ in your big girl room (and is it ever a big girl room!) and settled right in with your best people around you as though nothing had changed. As one final hoorah of summer, and a farewell trip to your uncle Max we packed your bags AGAIN in early August and took you along for a fun getaway to Chicago. 

Once we returned home we dusted off that little backpack at the end of the month and packed it up once again as you officially started Preschool two days a week. And, as no surpise you LOVE it. You walked in the first day like you owned the place and love to come home and tell us all about your "fwiends". We rounded out fall with some apple picking, pumpkin picking, and halloween festivities ... but quickly turned the calendar to celebrate our little gal turning TWO!

So, on your second birthday I'm praying for you little bug. Praying for your spirit - that is always shines bright. Praying for your future - that it is filled with happiness and goals that you work hard to achieve. Praying that the bond between you and your brother always remains strong. Praying for your future friends - that they lift you up and not tear you down. Praying for your family - both the one we share and the one you may one day have, that you know happiness health and wholeness all of your days.

You're the apple little Lou. The apple of our eye and the best daughter and sister we could have dreamed of.

So keep leading the way little lady ... because you my sweet have some big awesome things ahead of you!

And yes, shake that booty when it's time to celebrate - because life's no fun when you take it too seriously!

Signing off as your biggest fan with the most love for you in the entire world,
The Proudest Mommy, The Luckiest Mommy, Your Mommy

A Day In My Life

We went to our basement one night last week to have a movie night. Complete with popcorn, extra blankets, beverages for everyone and let the kiddos pic the feature film. Scrolling through their options they both easily agreed on Smurfs. And when the kids land on a "decent" family film that we haven't seen 400 times Hubs and I click "select" way too fast. We're in the "watch every movie we like on repeat" ALWAYS phase right now and while I love to listen to Branch (aka Justin Timberlake) sing his little Troll heart out - I'm about O.V.E.R. it :) 

So, Smurfs it was and we all snuggled up for movie night. If you've seen the movie you would probably agree with me, it's a solid mix between Trolls and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. All of the Smurfs have themed names based on what their talents are. I.e. Hefty is the strong one, Brainy is the smart one, etc. but the one that made us all laugh hysterically for some reason was Nosey - aka - the nosey/in everyone's business one. One scene in particular was in the beginning when everyone is being introduced and Nosey walks by a window, peers his little head in and in this silly voice said "Hey what's going on in here?!" - to which the Smurfs reply "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS" and he walks off and said "Oh, alright."

Not funny at all right? Right. Except his voice is spot on, and Bennett and I love to resight it to one another all the time and it makes us laugh - so I thought I would share :) Also, wanted to let you in on a little secret that Nosey Smurf is the inspiration behind today's post. I always love reading when other blogger's share their day. Nothing special, nothing fancy, just "A Day in The Life." It let's me be a little nosey and I also love spying on THOSE moms that seem to do EVERYTHING ... and I'm always "HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I WISH I COULD JUST SEE INTO THEIR LIFE FOR ONE DAY!" ... I am certainly NOT one of THOSE moms ... we barely keep things a float around here. But, nevertheless - if you're interested - here's "A Day In The Life." A Thursday to be exact. A Thursday in September 2017.

6:20 am ~ Shane heads to a Men's bible study early on Thursday mornings, so I got up soon after he left to start my day. About 6:20 I was pouring hot coffee in a quiet house in the morning. I should also note - this is a great perk about my husband - he makes the coffee everyday :) Usually we drink it out of Tervis Tumblers and it's almost always on my nightstand waiting for me before my feet ever hit the floor. But, on occasional mornings I prefer the warmth of holding a mug and cozying up.

 After a few sips of coffee and a little background morning news, I packed up Bennett's lunch box.

6:52 am ~ Then headed to my office to finish up some work before I needed to get the kiddos up for school. Bennett goes to school Tuesday - Friday and stays late on both Wednesday and Thursday. Lainey heads to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and has extended day on Thursday - so it's usually my full day to get A LOT done for the week. I had a session from the week before I was sending out, and needed to organize a few meetings and get some emails out in the inter webs.

 7:49 am ~And before I knew it - little miss was hollering "MOMMY, DADDY" Ya'll this girl is the happiest little on the planet. What person wakes up EVERYDAY with a smile from ear to ear and hugs galore?! Okay actually, both my mother and my husband do too ... but I certainly do not - NOT a morning person over here (and my sweet B isn't either), but little miss and her daddy are always so happy :) and she always looks so well rested.

 Then we got ready for school ... I always struggle with whether or not I should get her dressed before or after breakfast (because she's ridiculously messy) but this morning, Shane was gone I knew I didn't have an extra hand and we had time which meant we could give Bennett the extra time to sleep (which is always a good choice) ... so we got ready first.

 8:00 am ~ time to wake up Bubby! Complete with the "good morning to you - monkey song" our kiddos favorite and lots of kisses and snuggles while he was "still waking up" - his favorite thing to say in the mornings.

 I coaxed him into FINALLY getting out of bed with bribery and letting him know I had cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast :) Making my kiddos cinnamon rolls in the morning before school takes me straight back to my childhood. We were a cereal house for the most part during the week ... I have two brothers and it always seemed like we were rushing to head out the door to school ... BUT on the mornings my mom woke up early and had it all together she ALWAYS ALWAYS made cinnamon rolls and walking downstairs to that smell was THE BEST. The other times we didn't have cereal were the mornings dad took us to school (which was always WAYYY too early) and we'd have to wait in the cafeteria for school to start - BUT - it usually also included a McD's breakfast stop before school too -- which was also a great addition to the morning. But here's my little mini me - still tired and swollen and only awake because someone promised him something delicious :)

 8:15 am ~ we make our way to the kitchen, land on some morning cartoons we all agree are suitable for our breakfast and dig in.

 While the kiddos scarf some food - I tend to the rest of the morning chores before we have to scurry out the door - feed the dog, get the rest of the school bags packed and in the car, make sure I have all of my items I'll need for the day, etc.

 Then get mister Bennett dressed and head to the garage (it was purple day at school for B and we were hard pressed to find purple in his wardrobe - luckily our boys in purple - Louisville City - came through for us!)

  **** OKAY -- so here's a little something I'm sharing that was certainly the biggest LOW of my entire day -- and these photos were actually taken way later in the afternoon --- but need to be placed here to chronologically make sense. Y'all --- just thinking back and typing this is making me sweat. Alright, so I opened the garage door, turned the car ON to get some air flowing and opened the Bennett's back car do to let the kid "climb up" in their seats ... then I realized I'd forgotten to take Maggie out so I told them to hop in their seats while I walked Maggie to the patch of grass two feet away.

I turned my back to literally say "Maggie go potty" turned back around and THE GARAGE DOOR WAS CLOSED! The car was on, my keys were in the ignition, my phone was in my purse IN THE CAR, and SO WERE MY CHILDREN!!!!! Inside the garage, with a car running, near all kind of garage tools and stuff that still hasn't been properly put away since the move and I had NO WAY TO GET TO THEM!! Our garage does not have a keypad installed yet and my keys were in the car. I started FRANTICALLY screaming Bennett's name thinking I could coach him through how to help me, but he started screaming back that he had already buckled himself into his car seat (a great trick he knows how to do at literally EVERY moment but this one) and a straight PANICKED!

Everything went through my head - should I run to the neighbors? Do I kick in the brand new garage door, all the things that could go wrong, EVERYTHING! I started kicking the side door repeatedly, when I realized we have a side door with a glass top ... and a cute lawn owl (that also is a story for another time) that would be able to break the glass and I could unlock the door from the outside. So out come my mama bear claws and VOILA - I'm back inside. What felt like 3 hours was probably more like 5 minutes but HOLY SMOKES. Garage keypad will be installed next week :)

9:15 am - 20 minutes late for school and I need a shower - but both kids are dropped off and I'm a free woman for a few hours.

 9:30 am - I'm waiting at a body shop to get an estimate on my latest brilliant move of backing into my neighbors mailbox - such a great way to say welcome to the neighborhood - DUNCE CAP. Luckily Fixer Upper was on in the waiting room :) PERK!

 10:15 am - I realize in the midst of the breaking the window craziness I forgot to grab my breakfast - so after my car appointment I was STARVING, and certainly needed more coffee.

 10:45 am ~ I had a bunch of errands to run - so that took up most of my time until it was time to pick up little Lou Bug.

 12:00 pm ~ Lainey usually has extended day on Thursdays, but she couldn't this week - so I had to  snag little Miss from school at normal time and we headed home to have some lunch.

 12:30 pm~ lunch time for me and little bit. We chatted about her day while I sorted through the mail.

 1:15 pm ~ I laid little miss down for her afternoon nap and headed back to my office to finish the work I'd started that morning. Emails never end folks. Neither does laundry. While I tackled some afternoon work, I also streamed Game of Thrones on HBO Go because it's currently on my much watch list. I've just started season 4 and cannot believe the way season 3 ended! AHHH!

This is also usually where Hubs and I check in with one another about our days - he was in Evansville helping with the canning line for the new Falls City Beer can launch, so he was sending me all the photos like a kid in a candy store. 

 3:39 pm ~ I woke little miss up from her nap around 2:40 and we loaded up the car once again to snag her brother from his extended day. After we picked him up we headed to the mall. My mom needed me to check something out for her so we stopped in real quick and then took a few minutes to have a cookie break and throw some monies into the fountain.

 4:45 pm ~ we're finished with our errands and business for the day and head home to play, hang and be home! Everything from stickers, to Trolls bowling, sidewalk chalk, and hide and seek. We also set up our Himylayan salt lamp that I've been wanting to try and the kids loved the fancy orange glow!

 6:20 pm ~ their sassy attitudes remind me it's time to start thinking about dinner. Shane was headed to Cinci for the Thursday night Bengals game which meant I was home alone with the littles and also meant I was splurging on dinner :) Postmates sushi for me. YAY!

 And leftover pizza and fruit for the kiddos!

 While the kids ate dinner, we worked on our monthly Highlights magazine that had arrived (B really loves the hidden picture puzzles)

7:00 pm ~ After the kiddos were done eating I sent them to the basement to bounce off the last bit of energy before bedtime, while I called our alarm company to handle some doorbell issues we've been having, and wait for my dinner to arrive (postmates was way behind). Dinner arrived. The doorbell was working, the kids were playing nicely and I sat down to listen to my book and eat my dinner in peace ...

But, that's hilarious because after two pieces of Sushi the kids were screaming at each other. Lainey was crying "Bubby hit me" and Bennett was arguing his case that it didn't happen the way she was saying it went down. So, my yummy sushi sat on the counter while I played bounce house and basement toys to avoid anymore nighttime meltdowns. BTW - this bounce house is from Amazon, we bought it for Bennett's 3rd birthday party on their Cyber Monday sale and it was the best money we EVER spent!

 Daddy sent us "look how much fun I'm having" pictures and I secretly roll my eyes while I break up yet another fight :) hah!

8:15 pm ~ mama calls the bath and bedtime alarm .. and while I'm scrubbing off my makeup, I hear Bennett yelling LAINEY DON'T DO THAT! and come back in the bathroom to find her "helping" her stuffed animals go potty -- which translates as completely summering them into the toilet. Which reminds me, they are currently still int he guest bathtub and I should probably throw those things in the washer.  RASCALS!!

8:40 pm ~ We put on our pjs, brush our teeth, take our allergy medicines, and pick a couple of books to read together. Bennett was EXHAUSTED - so I tucked him in first, kissed him goodnight and little Lou and I headed to her room for a few more books that are better suited for her age before tucking her in.

 9:00 pm ~ the house is silent, dinner is FINALLY served and Game of Thrones is streaming once again. I head to bed around 10:45 and wake up to do {most} of it all again the very next day! :)

And there you have it folks! A day in the life. Nothing glamorous, nothing fancy - just a normal day for us. And we're glad to have them. Cheers to many more normal days ~ and the freakin' weekend!