Strawberries & Ketchup

There have been so many times in my life that I have asked myself, "Is this the right decision to make?" Or "What can happen if I make this choice?" I get that type of thinking from my dad. For some reason these past few weeks have been tough on me as a mother and I have found myself wondering if I made the right choice to even have children. Not really, but sort of.

My sweet Taylor has been such a handful lately (or at least I think so). I am able to talk about it now since we have had a wonderful week together compared to the two weeks before. My eyes have once again been opened to the fact that I can handle more than I thought and even more importantly - she is SUCH AN AMAZING KID! I don't really feel the need to explain or describe all the adventures of parenting I have had lately raising a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old baby (both girls, which I feel is a challenge in itself), but I would rather document the moments that have reminded me just how lucky I really am.

Things that Taylor says on a daily basis
(NOTE: I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE her sweet voice):

1.) When asked what she wants to do for the day she says, "I want to wear a dress!"
2.) "Mommy, I have pockets.......I need money!"
3.) "I'm sick. I need medicine."
4.) "Mom, I want to take a bath." (She says this about 5 times a day!)
5.) "Mom, I want some cheese."
6.) "You're crazy mom!"
7.) "Mommy I need a sucker....a purple one!"
8.) "Oh gosh, where is my lip gloss?"

Moments that have made me smile:

1.) She wanted some peach yogurt the other day (which is the color orange) and when I handed her a spoon she started getting really upset, telling me that she wanted "Orange." I told her that it was orange and I didn't know why she was getting so upset. She jumped out of her seat and walked over to the kitchen counter, opened the drawer and pulled out one of Bentley's baby spoons.....the color orange. She had to eat her orange yogurt with an orange spoon! She was so happy after she got what she wanted that I had to chuckle to myself! How in the world am I going to make it through the teenage years!

2.) I overheard her playing the other day with her princess dolls and she was calling all of them, "Sleeping Buty", "Sleeping Rella" (for Cinderella), and "Sleeping Ariel" She must like Sleeping Beauty the best. At least she's not calling her Sleeping Boobie anymore!

3.) Taylor doesn't take naps anymore during the day and by about 4:00 she is SO tired. I've tried everything, but she just won't take a nap. It works out fine most days or sometimes she will even curl up on the couch by herself and fall asleep. The last two days though she has come up to me with sleepy eyes and asked me, "Hold you" which really means hold me. I pick her up and she falls right to sleep in my arms. I enjoy this so much because she was NOT a cuddler as a baby. Holding her so peacefully sure helped me remember that she once was my little baby!

4.) The girls and I went to Walmart one day and as I was pulling into a parking spot, there was a woman next to us leaving. I heard Taylor gasp so I quickly turned around to see what the problem was. See was pointing out the window and yelled, "Mommy, cute dress!" I guess she liked the dress that the woman was wearing. What a girl!

5.) We are big fans of fish sticks in our house and Taylor & I have them for lunch at least once a week. The other day I made them and got her all situated so I could start getting some chores done around the house. Her little plate consisted of 4 fish sticks, some ketchup, pretzels and strawberries. I started a load of laundry and went back to check on her progress. I noticed that all the fish sticks were still sitting neatly on her plate, but the ketchup was all gone along with the strawberries except the one she was still eating. I watched her for a moment without her noticing me and sure enough, she dipped it right into the tiny bit of ketchup she had left. I just smiled and asked her if she needed more ketchup for her fish sticks.

I'm sure that I could write a million more short stories about my little girl if I sat and thought about it, but these were just a few that I wanted to make sure I never forgot! She is so hard at times, but I know those times will only make both of us stronger if I try to handle them with love and patience. I don't regret my decision to have children. In fact, I feel so blessed and thankful for the opportunity to have them in my life. They make my life so much better and I really don't know what I would do without them!

What a face!

Tay enjoying her special treat of strawberries & ketchup - YUM!