Quarterly Top Five

I'm linking up with Ashley. Amber, and Sarah for the quarterly top five photos you've taken of your children. This covers April through June and it was SO hard to pick just five!

1. My first newborn photo shoot. My sweet Lillian.

2. My second photo is also from her newborn shoot. I love the simplicity.

3. Carwash. This action shot, screams summer fun to me!

4. I'm not even sure why I love this photo so much. Something about it speaks to her childhood innocence and curiosity to me.

5. My family. Love.

Colored Pasta

I've been trying to find new things to keep Sydney entertained, other than asking me to watch Dora 200 times a day, and thanks to Pinterest, I remembered colored pasta and decided to give it a try.

Dying the pasta is really simple.

Just add a little bit of rubbing alcohol (about a quarter cup) and food coloring (8-10 drops) into a ziplock bag with a cup or so of pasta. Seal up the bags tight and let them sit for a few hours, turning them over every half hour or so. Then lay the pasta out to dry.

Once you have your colored pasta, the possibilities for play are endless!

You can sort them.

Use glue to make works of art.

Or make colorful jewelry. 

Sydney has been asking to play with her "noo-nals" every day so far and even if it only buys me a half hour of "I watch Dora PLEASE" free time...I'll take it!

One note: the rubbing alcohol oder on the noodles is still strong, so if you have a young child who might try to put the noodles in his/her mouth, or in my case a hoover vacuum dog, you might want to keep an eye on them.

Twenty Nine

I woke up early on my birthday. Not because I wanted to, but because a certain brown-eyed babe decided today would be a good day not to go back to sleep. But, that's ok, I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of girl so I sat there, sun coming up, nursing my baby thinking about the year to come. So I said to my self, "Self. This is the last bit of your twenties. You are going to rock this year out. It's going to be the best, last year of your twenties ever!" [Insert fist pump here]

And that's when Lillian decided to spit-up all over me. I'm talking, shirt soaking, spit-up pouring down between you boobs, shock-and-awe, kind of spit-up.

Welcome to twenty-nine mama. It's going to be a good year.

Promise of a new day.

(Paula Abdul anyone?)

It's been a rough few days and last night I had my first breakdown since we brought Lillian home.

It was almost three in the morning, I was trying to rock her to sleep again after multiple attempts, the dam broke, and I started crying. Part exhaustion, part frustration, and part self-pity. I'd been through this three out of the last four days and the sudden setback in our sleep routine threw me for a loop. On top of that, Sydney has been fighting me on EVERY little thing lately, so I feel like I've been spending most of my days yelling and disciplining her and then of course feeling guilty about it.

We women need a good cry every once and a while though, and as the sun came up this morning I felt better. The first rays of light bring with it the promise of a new begining. A chance to start again. Today would be better. I would be better. Life is what you make of it.

Today was good.

Every moment wasn't perfect. Sydney still had some meltdowns and some time outs. I still lost my cool a few times and raised my voice at her, but the scale was definitely tipped in the good direction.

That's one of the things I love about photography and blogging. As I sort through my photos at the end of the day, I'm reminded of all the good moments. Details that might otherwise be lost amongst the day's chaos and two year old drama.

We took a trip to Prairie Farm this afternoon. Sydney loved it! I can't believe we live down the street from this free petting zoo and have never gone before! I have a feeling we'll be back soon.

The goat decided Sydney's dress looked tasty...also that little blond girl's hair.

It was a warm afternoon to be outside, so we decided to cool off afterwards with some custard.

New flavor. Harvest Peach. Yum.

Hopefully our nights will improve soon. But until then, there is still much to enjoy. My camera holds the proof.

Some Days

Some days, motherhood makes me want run screaming down the street like a madwoman; but mostly, there are good days. Days that make me feel so lucky to be a mama.

Days that start out slowly with coffee, pajamas, and extended bath time.

Days with sweet slippers and chubby baby legs.

Days where we camp out under the shade of a tree on a warm afternoon and read books.

Days where we join family to cheer at a baseball game.

I am so enjoying this time off with my girls. I'm looking forward to all that summer has to offer and making the most of the days we have left to enjoy it together!