Love that Song!

Ugh -- I just clicked on the Kenny Chesney song, "Don't Blink" and my slideshow post was running right next to the music player and while I'm sure that you will not get as choked up as I just did listening to the song and watching the pictures of my children scroll by -- sniff, sniff! It was quite touching! I just love that song -- that one and the Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This" song -- both really put things in perspective for me, especially on days when my patience is in short supply!

Alright, I'm off to get a tissue!

Overcoming the Language Barrier

Finally, the switch has flipped! After months of my youngest daughter constantly saying, "Lulu bus!" mixed in with some indistinguishable baby babble and a lot of pointing and frustration, all of a sudden this past week she is beginning to speak our language! It is amazing to me to realize that children just soak up everything around them and when they are ready, they will surprise you with either their grasp of language, or a new skill, or whatever else they have up their sleeve!

Within the last week, my baby (she'll be 2 in July but she will always be my baby!) went from "Lulu bus!" to "Mommy, where is Daddy?" and while playing with her babies this afternoon, "Ok baby, nap time!"

Now, she isn't just speaking in full sentences, but her vocabulary has expanding considerably in the last week or so! She is able to tell us "Ha cog" (which actually sounds a lot more like Hot Dog when she says it), like at dinner tonight when her sister begged to have pasta for dinner and we gave them both pasta, and my little one ate a few bites and then handed her bowl to me and said, "Ha cog, Mommy!" Ok, that is communication! She put forth a message, I received it and was able to understand it and address her needs -- excellent! We had salad with our dinner tonight, and she likes grape tomatoes and cucumbers, and I thought I'd throw in some romaine lettuce. She picked up a piece, put it in her mouth, and then took it out and put it back on her plate. I said, "Oh, you didn't like that?" And she shook her head no and replied, "Sorry, Mommy!" Ok, I understood that, too!

Now, we try to speak clearly in front of her and she also hears her sister speak (all the time!), so I'm sure she is gathering all of this up for later use. Some of the things she says, we think are so cute and we don't always correct her -- like ha cog. But pretty soon we will get to the point that we did with her older sister, where we realized as cute as it is to hear her say, "Pack Pack" instead of backpack, we can't very well have her carrying her high school social studies books to school in a "Pack Pack." So, when she would say something incorrectly (and this still happens, but with tougher words) we would say, "Oh, do you mean ______ ?" And fill in the correct pronunciation. It really helped build her vocabulary tremendously!

But for now, I'm excited that my little one learned the word "Hunry" (hungry) and could actually come up and tell me when she was hungry for lunch today! Communication -- it's a beautiful thing!

My Music!

You may notice a new addition to the sidebar of my blog -- My Music! After a few trials and errors, I was able to add this music player in -- just a short list of songs for now, but I will add to it as time goes on. I thought I would add some of my favorite "parenting inspirational" songs -- songs that help pick me up when my patience wanes, or songs that make me think of my daughters.

I chose not to have it automatically start playing when someone opens up my blog, but you can click on any of the songs to start playing them, or scroll down the list to check them out. And please, if there is a song that you feel would be a good addition, in keeping with the theme of this blog, please feel free to let me know and I will try to find it!

Enjoy!

Check out my Slide Show!

I thought this was a great way to share some of my favorite pictures and I look forward to adding to it and updating, as time goes on! Enjoy!

Mom's Day Out!

Two of my very best friends from work and I have started a new Mother's Day tradition this year! This is the group of friends that we had over recently and their husbands came along and my one friend brought her daughter, who is the same age as my older daughter. We had had a great time just hanging out and talking and we got to talking about taking a wine tour together sometime. My husband's work schedule is just crazy, to say the least, and so it turned out that the best time for him, would be this past Saturday, the day before Mother's Day. I talked to my girlfriends about it, and at first I thought, maybe it would be too hectic for them, maybe they wouldn't want to go on Mother's Day weekend. But, in talking about it, we decided, hey! We're all mothers, why not go out and do something special for ourselves for a change!

So we did! The six of us headed out in the new mini van, armed with a picnic lunch, cheese and crackers, soda and water -- we were probably stocked for a weekend, not just a day! But we drove to Seneca Lake and we visited about 7 different wineries and had a really great day! My husband and I used to go to the wineries quite a bit before our first daughter was born, and we haven't been back since then, so this was a real treat for us. Our friends had never gone wine-touring before and they had a great time -- it was the perfect mix of good friends, good wine, and great weather! At one of the wineries, we pulled out our lunch and sat at a picnic table in the sun, enjoying the nice weather and the view of the vineyards and the lake -- you couldn't ask for better ambiance!

The wineries close at 5:00pm and at the last winery we went to, we again found a picnic table, this time near a pretty little pond, and we pulled out the cheese and crackers and sat around relaxing, enjoying the conversation and having a few laughs. It was the perfect day!

On our way home, we stopped and picked up my friend's daughter, and we brought her back to our house. My kids were there, after a fun-filled day with Grandpa and Gramby -- they went to The Indoor Sandbox, out to lunch, and my girl even had an ice skating birthday party to go to.

Everyone had brought something to contribute to a bbq, and so we threw some chicken and sausage on the grill and had a nice dinner together. My daughter and my friend's daughter even pulled themselves away from playing to have dinner with us. It's so great that they have become such good friends -- from the moment we walked into the house, the two of them disappeared up into my daughter's room and they played Barbie's and listened to music on her cd player. They really play very well together.

We had such a great time that day that we decided to make this an annual tradition and to try to do the same thing every year as part of our Mother's Day celebration. It's wonderful to honor all of the Moms in your life and to spend the day/weekend visiting them and celebrating with them, but it's truly a special treat to get to do something a little indulgent for yourself too!