Well.... little miss Liana is now 17 months and 2 weeks old and oh how I adore that little girl.
She's got some serious spunk to her these days. I swear, the minute she turned 16 months it was like a switch was flipped and she went from being my easy-going, carefree baby to a rambunctious, hard-to-keep up with toddler. No longer does she entertain herself for long.... no, she feels very strongly that that's a job for mommy to do! When she doesn't get her way? Oh goodness, watch out.... the little not even 21lb body of hers goes flailing onto the floor in a fit of rage. Thankfully, her "fits of rage" never last for long (maybe 30 seconds or so?) and she's soon distracted by something else.
I'm learning just how social and outgoing this little girl is too. Shopping trips are my favorite because there's nothing sweeter to this mama's ears that listening to her little girl enthusiastically say "HI!!" to everyone that passes by. Most people kindly respond with a "Hi!" back, but nothing leaves me feeling happier than when people enthusiastically respond to her greetings. When my kid smiles, I smile too! Along the same lines, I struggle when people choose to ignore her kind gestures because I can sense her disappointment. No mama likes to see their child disappointed, but it's been a stark realization for me that a few years down the road, I'm not going to be able to shield each of these disappointments simply by giving to her what others can't or won't.
Oh how I don't look forward to those days.
Speaking of which, school started again this week and I had this moment of pure terror when I realized that in just a matter of a few short years, Liana will be hiking off to her first day of preschool, kindergarten, first grade, etc. I knew all along that kids grow up, but I guess I've just been in a blissful denial that mine never would. However, the past 17 months have flown by and I look at my peanut and catch myself thinking, "How did we get here already? Where did my baby go? And who is this little person standing in front of me?" I just can't believe how quickly it goes and to make matters worse, I keep hearing that time only goes faster as they get older.
So right now, I'm trying to soak up every ounce of toddlerhood I have with her.
And today in particular, I'm soaking up all the snuggles that my pumkin has to give me. For those of you who don't know, Liana is not a snuggler. She never has been. The last time she enjoyed being held was sometime last summer... so probably when she was 4 or 5 months old. My kid seems to firmly believe in the fact that there's "too much to do to be tied down for long". However, today she climbed up on the couch with me and sat next to me for a good 25-35 minutes while we watched some television. I loved it. I breathed it in and I soaked it up. I held her close for as long as I could until she finally decided it was time to get down and continue playing. But guess what? After a little while, she even decided to come back for more.
What a piece of heaven on earth for this mama.
I haven't been very good about taking pictures these past few weeks because things seem to be so busy for us here. (I've been even worse about taking video, which I realized while laying in bed last night.) But, I do have this for you.... we got our "church pics" taken on august 4th. The photographer did great with Liana and each of her pictures came out adorably, but seriously Olan Mills, could you please work on your backdrops? I mean really.....
And where is Mike?
Well, Mike is busy... as usual. He's playing hockey (or trying to, anyways) three mornings a week from 6:00-7am (or something along those lines... I'm enjoying my sleep while he's getting up to go!). Work is demanding as always, but he loves it. For those of you who don't know him well, he works for Meijer as a Merchandise Analyst in the Dairy Department.... the biggest and most profitable dept in the whole company. He takes his job seriously and feels good about the work that he does. While he's coached varsity hockey for EGRHS the past 3 years, coaching will likely be out of the picture for a long while thanks to yours truly (no hate mail, please!). It just became too hard for me having Liana all day, every day, without any kind of relief. Plus, and most importantly, it wasn't fair to Liana to have her daddy gone so much. I really put my foot down after this last hockey season and while we've still been talking about it throughout the summer months, I just can't be okay with him being gone 5 or 6 nights a week anymore. When our kids are older? Sure. I know he loves it deeply and I feel badly asking him to give it up, but right now is not the best time for this type of commitment in our lives. I hope he understands and that someday he feels like it was the right thing to do.
(I'm sure he will because after all, I'm Haley and 99% of the time, I'm right. At least when it comes down to him vs. me. Fact.) ;)
Last but not least.... life is going well for me too. I can't believe how quickly this summer flew by and I find myself resentful of the cooler weather which I usually embrace with open arms. (Only in Michigan can we go from 90 degrees to 68 in just a matter of a week or two!) My decision to leave weekends and job hunt for a position that allowed me to focus more on "family time" took a lot of energy, faith, and time this summer and as a result, I feel like I missed out on May, June, and most of July. By the grace of God though and the help of one of my coworkers, SHH offered me a part time position for 20 hrs per week. I'm highly nervous about going down in hours and pay (because I got incentive pay for working weekends), but my heart (and everyone around me) tells me that we'll be fine and that it'll be well worth it. I hope that's the case.... though I have a peace within me that says it is. They've found someone to replace my weekend position and I'm hopeful that she'll be taking over weekends sometime in mid-October. Trust me, as much as I'll miss these paychecks, I cannot wait to have Saturdays and Sundays with Mike again!
:)
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