My 30th birthday

Because it's my birthday, here are my top two favorite things I've produced in all my thirty years. :)

(EL at 13 months and James at 9 months)

The Roaring Twenties

My twenties
Youthfulness
College
Husband
2 Babies
Binge watching Friends, the Office, Gilmore Girls, and Parks and Rec
Frisbee on the weekends
Energy
Late night Gilmore Girls and movie nights with college friends
Boyfriend mistakes
Clemson
Dancing to Whitney Houston in my dorm room
Bachelor's and Master's degree
Jesus
Teaching
Cats and goats
A failed epidural and a successful epidural
Two houses
Naps
Tattoos
Shooting freshmen with marshmallows as they went out on dates

It's been quite the decade. Sometimes I still think of myself as a 22 year old college kid and then hello: bills. kids. potty training, breast feeding. cleaning a house. wrinkles....
Here we go with the next 10 years.

Emmie Carolyn is 1 Part 2: The Stats

(5 days before she is 13 months old - whoops!)
EL can currently: wave, clap, walk, climb stairs (up and sorta down), play peekaboo, and say momma, da-da, hey, and go(goat, of course she would)

She currently loves: Eating (all day every day), sucking on a pacifier only right before bedtime, shutting books when I'm trying to read, sticking her hands all over the toilet, opening and closing doors, opening all the cabinets and throwing things out, putting tiny toys into buckets, and throwing food on the floor

She currently hates: Not being around me, when someone has food and she doesn't, being told no (duh), and when I refuse to pick her up (girlfriend would be carried all day every day if I let her)

She weighs 17lbs 8 oz (16%), wears size 2 diapers, is still in 9 month clothes, and takes two naps when she's with me. At daycare, she refuses the morning nap.

This month she has had a stomach bug(diarrhea only), a UTI (from said diarrhea), a rash and swollen feet that I thought was an allergic reaction to her medicine (turns out it was just a weird virus), and CROUP (steroids made her a p-s-y-c-h-o baby for 4 days). (That's only ONE of my two children. Momma's tired. Spring - PLEASE hurry)

Emmie Lyn, you are a sweet and feisty baby/mini toddler. Thanks for allowing me to finally wean you 4 days ago.
Much love,
Momma

Life

One grave weekend a few weeks ago....

The whole family (sans EL) got hit with a vicious stomach virus Sunday after church.

That same weekend, we realized the leaking water flowing into the garage (for the past week) was from a busted water line and we had to shut our water off.

My husband then called the water company hoping to get a little sympathy towards our next bill (hello 71,000 gallons instead of 5,000) only to get told that since it's on our property, it's our responsibility.

(Meanwhile, puke and diarrhea are everywhere with no water to wash everything away)

I ended up calling the water company crying since we make enough money to be on welfare every month and thankfully I got a kinder lady on the other line.

Papa Lanc then generously came and helped us fix the plumbing problem.

Bottom line:

 I have now used a whole can of lysol in our house from top to bottom. 

We're still awaiting the water bill. 

Stomach bugs are bad enough without the ability to wash anything. 

Spring, please come quickly. 

Emmie Carolyn is 1 Part 1

This year has been the slowest year ever while still maintaining record speed. It seems like I blinked and a year had passed. 

The days were long and rough with a lot of sleeplessness in there. I remember telling myself daily, "If I can just make it through this first year" and "every day, I'm one day closer to it getting easier."

I don't know that my todays are any easier than my yesterdays. But I'm still thankful to be a momma to such wonderful babies. 
Yes, momma-hood is filled with cleaning up thrown food, wiping down tiny butts, coloring on everything other than paper, and phrases like, "don't take that from your sister" and "why did you pee on the couch even though you've been potty trained for 2 months?"
Some days I literally get so frustrated that I've had tiny hands all over me for the past 12 hours and I don't ever get to poop by myself and the house is a disaster and the copycat chickfila nuggets that I just made were enjoyed by no one under the age of 4 and we've had all of 2? 3? date nights in the past year. 

But. Momma-hood is also filled with tiny snuggles at 4am (yes, last night indeed), and "Mommy, I love you's" and giant smiles as you pick them up from daycare and tiny hands that love you so much they can't stand to NOT be touching you all day every day.
And THAT my friends makes it worth it every day. 

Today, my sweet Emmie turned one and my heart broke a little that my baby is no longer technically a baby anymore. 
  

The heisman

PS -Emmie Lyn is now walking and has been for 1 1/2 weeks. Look out world!

All the feels

My last teeny tiny baby will be ONE in five days. Someone please come hold me while I sob.