My Favorite Time of Day

It was 5:30am, on the dot, and I woke to the sound of you pouting in your room. I gladly sprung out of bed, went to your room, picked you up, kissed you, changed your diaper, then laid you next to me in bed and nursed you. You fell right back to sleep and started twitching because you were giggling and smirking in your sleep. This is my favorite time of day...these quiet moments you and I share in the mornings are the ones that will stay embedded in my mind until the end of time. I will always picture you as the sweet little angel that has one arm in my hair and the other draped around my chest. 18 months of snuggling you will never be enough...

As you continued to run your tiny fingers through my hair, I thought back over the past year and a half. You changed so much since the day you came into the world. It's hard to believe that the little baby that laid on my chest and looked at me to be cared for is now running everywhere and is getting less and less dependent on me. It has been the greatest joy and my biggest accomplishment to be your mommy.

I marvel in your achievements every day, even if it is something as little as eating your entire meal with a fork. You now weigh 30lbs and are a quarter of an inch shy of standing 34 inches tall! You have 16 teeth and smile so sweetly. You have become a better sleeper on your own, but much rather prefer to be sleeping near me. You can climb just about everything and feed yourself. You continue to expand your vocabulary, but are still very shy when it comes to talking (you'd rather giggle or scream to get your point across). Your absolute favorite thing to do is to give hugs and kisses (and they are to die for). You always bust out into dance when music comes on. Just recently, you've started to play by yourself; which confuses me because I just don't know how to act when you are not hugging my ankles. 

Regardless of your achievements and milestones, you are such a happy girl. You really have spunk and sass, girl. There is never a dull moment with you. Your smile could light up the darkest room and get thee grumpiest person to squeal with excitement.

Thanks for making each day we share such a blast!

(I could kiss you all day!)

Happy 18 month birthday, Tenley Bear!!

Weekly Update

The munch and I took goofy pictures:

Tenley got an awesome new Tinkerbell toothbrush:

Since it was super windy and chilly out, we went to Run Plus Fun when Daddy got home from work:

(Love these action shots! Baby girl loved sliding into the ball pit.)

Tenley called Grandma D on the iPad (all by herself) to show her how she dances: 

My in-laws sent me a Si Robertson t-shirt and Si Robertson inspired tea cup. I love Duck Dynasty and Si, so I obviously loved the gifts! Since it was Wednesday I sported my new gifts all day:

(HEY! Thanks so much, Jack!!)

I bought Tenley an adorable outfit from Janie and Jack awhile ago because the Doggie on the shirt looked identical to Pearl. Tenley finally wore it and I made sure to get lots of pics:

We went to Karina and Sofia's and the girls were so excited to see each other that they kept giving each other bear hugs, until Tenley squeezed the lil' munckin too much:

In addition to sleeping with Princess Teddy, Piglet, and Smokey, Tenley now requires her Daddy's baby blankie and her Minnie Mouse blanket that Grandma D made:

Tenley read books on her potty:

We played in the backyard with T-birds new princess ball and had fun going down the slide over and over again:

(Apparently she doesn't understand the concept of soccer quite yet.)

Tenley showed me her dancing skills and her belly button:

We went to dinner and Tenley was being a total maniac and wanted to decorate the table with paper towels:

Tenley pooped herself out by helping me vacuum:

T and I went to Panera with Liz and since we were right by Lovebug Baby (one of my fav stores) we stopped in and Tenley picked out a super cute kitty backpack:

Ed ended up having to work all day on Saturday; while I was bummed about it, Tenley was happy to hog the bed:

(She is crazy long!)

I caught her trying to escape her room:

We went to Avellino park for Charley's first birthday party:

(Happy early birthday, Charley!!)

Tenley quickly passed out in the car on our way home from Charley's party:

When we got home she showed me how she can climb up the kitchen chairs and sit like a big girl:

We bought T a new water toy for the backyard and she started to play with it before I could even get her in a bathing suit. At one point, she was even running around naked. She had a blast:

To end the day, Tenley goofed off in her ball pit:

Until next week! :)