10 months

Dear Baby,

How dare you.

How dare you grow so quickly and change every instant.

How dare you be so beautiful causing me to get lost in your eyes for hours at a time.

How dare you giggle at everything I do and say, making me believe that I am worthy of the Mother-of-the-Year award.

I knew it would go by fast.

I knew I would close my eyes and you would grow up before I opened them again.

I knew it all, but it's something you can't believe until you're the Mom and it's your baby.

And now look at us.

You are crawling all over the house.

Pulling out every plug.

Clearing off every reachable shelf.

Laughing hysterically at Mommy's dance moves

and swooning over Papi's.

Suddenly, you eat big people food.

A whole banana and green smoothie at breakfast.

A whole Greek yogurt and another jar of baby food at lunch.

A whole avocado at dinner and usually half of whatever I am eating.

And that food?

It ends up everywhere.

Stuck to your eyelashes, 

in your hair, 

inside your ears, 

down your shirt 

(and mine).

Eating has become such an adventure

You are such a tease.

At a whopping 17 pounds, everyone thinks you should only be 6ish months,

but once they see your

pageant wave,

eyelash batting,

LOUD talking,

clapping with your hands and feet,

and the way you look into people's eyes and act as if you are staring straight into their soul,

they can't believe that such a personality can come from such a teeny gal.

I love the chats we have.

You are a talker.

You'll say something (inaudible, of course)

and you will wait for me to answer back.

Just like the best girlfriends.

I find myself wondering which language you are trying to speak in

and what secrets you are telling me.

I'm always wishing there was a Google Translate app for baby talk.

Your hair has gone from wild to curly this month.

There is no doubt about it.

You have the most gorgeous, dark curls.

I couldn't be more proud.

You love watching Papi on the television.

Once you hear his voice, you scurry over to the tv, pull yourself up, and watch very intently.

Once he's done, you quickly go back to clearing shelves and making me smile.

I know that you love me, but the thing that makes my heart sing is your relationship with your Papi.

The fact that you will snuggle up into his shoulder makes me burst inside.

Watching you slow dance together, 

hold hands,

sing while he plays the guitar,

swim,

and stare into his eyes,

makes me happier than anything else.

Happy 10 month birthday baby girl.

I had no idea that life could be so sweet.

Love you forever,

Mama

Easter and a few #momfails

I have done my fair share of easing into the holiday craziness that motherhood brings.

For example, our Easter dinner yesterday was a complete fail with barely enough food to fill the Mister's empty belly.

And while we're talking about Easter fails, lets take a look at my Easter breakfast:

The monkey bread on the cake platter didn't work out so well.

As it came plopping out of the bundt pan, landing all over the counter top, I started laughing.

I laughed out loud for a good five minutes.

The Mister and Baby were still asleep so there wasn't even anyone to laugh at my idiocy with me.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been as funny had my family been standing around awaiting their breakfast.

Lets all take note that this fail was recorded with a finger over the camera lens.

Double fail.

Celine had a fever but we were scheduled to sing in a quartet during church so staying home wasn't an option.

The poor dear cried through the first hour...

and the second...

and then we gave up, piled in the car, and drove the 20 minutes back home.

When we got home, Celine and I laid down for a two hour nap.

Celine and I had been out of town for a whole week and yet we left the poor Mister to hang out with himself for yet another afternoon.

Celine's face fully encapsulates her utter and complete shock at my failure of an Easter celebration.

The lucky thing is that this holiday is celebrated because of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Luckily, he already did his part and he did it REAL well.

No Easter fails for Him.

I feel so blessed to have been guided to Him,

to know of His atoning sacrifice, 

and to feel that I truly know Him.

The greatest Easter memory of this year will be the evening we spent at the Mesa Easter Pageant watching our dear friends.

The things we learned and the feelings we felt will forever outweigh my 2013 Easter fails.

The gift of the Savior is so good and so much more important that ruined monkey bread.