Trouble with a Capital T

This kid is what we like to call "busy". Us and everyone who has had the pleasure of watching her for any length of time. In addition to being busy, she is also very curious, brave, and clever. Which leads to a lot of gasps of terror on our part. Here are just a few examples of the ways in which she likes to test our resilience, when we actually had time to grab our camera.

She really loves to climb on things. She started walking early at 10.5 months, and that quickly lead to piling things on top of each other so she could climb up onto even higher vantage points.

She also likes to squirm her way into small spaces, which sometimes results in her getting stuck.

Then of course, she also likes to climb IN to things. Like boxes. And wagons. And storage bins and cabinets and pretty much anything.

All those adventures are exhausting.

Putting it all in Perspective: "Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime"

I ran across a wonderful article today that sums up the meaning behind the name of our blog much better than my post about it does, so I thought I would share. Enjoy reading while I go try to find some Kairos time with my munchkin.

Don't Carpe Diem (Huffington Post)

best friends

Everett's love affair with Miss Beyla began right from the beginning. Beyla seemed to understand immediately that this was a baby, something small and fragile and precious that needed to be handled with care.

As EJ has gotten more mobile, she has become even more interested in "her" dog and follows Beyla everywhere trying to play with her. Sometimes (like when EJ is carrying around her snack trap and dumping cheerios everywhere) Miss Beyla returns the favor and follows her around. EJ thinks they are playing some version of hide & seek/tag, but I think Miss B is just there for the snacks.

Of course, they both seem to love the open-mouth kisses, much to the disgust of Omar.

Miss Beyla makes a pretty good First Mate for Captain Everett. They are a good team. =)

It's hard to beat the love of a girl and her dog.

EJ's second best friend is Beyla's cousin Frankie, so we will give her a shout-out too. Even though Miss B doesn't like her very much.

An Ode to Fat Rolls (hers, not mine)

Omar is afraid EJ is losing her delicious fat rolls, so I decided to create an homage to them so he can always refer back and enjoy their awesomeness. I am sure she will be thrilled to discover this when she is 16.

3 months old

4 months old

6 months old .......................................7 months old

8 months old .........................................9 months old

10 months old

(and you can see 11 months old in the Falcons picture in the post below)

How many people can say they have an entire post in their blog devoted to fat rolls? That's just the kind of greatness I bring to the table.

Football's #1 Fan

First, let me say that the Falcons have experienced a disappointing end to their last 2 seasons, despite their #1 fan EJ. Our girl has inherited a love of football - it's in her genes, afterall.

Then & Now:

Here she is watching the Falcons with daddy. What a difference a year makes! She seemed a bit more into it this season.

We are confident that our Dirty Birds will go further next year, with EJ cheering them on.

(we won't mention our Jackets)

V-Day photoshoot

Amy brought her boys over for their Valentine's Day photos so I decided to get some pictures of EJ while we had the decorations up.

Everett & Elliott

Trying out the huge sunglasses trend

Balloons!

You can see she got my sweet dance moves.

The Days Are Long But The Years Are Short

I thought I should explain the title of our blog. I came across this quote in reference to being a stay at home mom, and although I am not technically a SAHM, I completely understood and related to it. My job is flexible enough to allow me to stay home with Everett most of the time, which has been wonderful. But I'm not going to lie: trying to keep a very busy toddler occupied and happy all day long is exhausting, particularly since I am often trying to get work done at the same time. I often find myself watching the clock starting around 3 in the afternoon, counting down until I know Omar will be home. Those last few hours can seem to ssssstretttttchhhhh out; hence, "the days are long."

And yet, it seems like the weeks and months have absolutely flown by. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital, and now somehow she is a true toddler, running and climbing and chatting up a storm. Having opinions (and expressing them!) and making us laugh constantly. How did we get here so quickly? Thus, "the years are short."

And as frustrated, overwhelmed, or exhausted I sometimes find myself at the end of the day when my house is a mess, the laundry is backed up, and the mail is sitting unopened in huge piles on the counter: every smile, every giggle, every running hug makes it worth it. And while sometimes I am counting down the seconds, wishing Omar would get home already so I can get a break and pour a glass of wine - what I really want is for her to stop growing up so fast, to slow it all down and savor every moment. Because time really does fly, and I can never get these moments back.

But don't misunderstand: nap time is great. =)

So Stylish Already

Out of all the great gifts EJ recieved for Christmas, I have to say that my favorites are her shoes. I mean, can you really go wrong with baby cowgirl boots and pink Chucks??? Thanks to her awesome aunts Najwa and Stephanie for making her so stylish.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was a lot of fun this year! We woke up bright and early to open our stockings & gifts as a family before heading up to Omar's folks, where we spent a wonderful day full of tons of presents, amazing food (as usual) and some fierce Just Dance-off battles.

Everett got bubbles in her stocking, which both her and Miss Beyla seemed to enjoy.

EJ had no trouble figuring out how to open her presents. =)

Her "big" gift was this motorized train, which she loves and cruises around the house at the warp speed of .5 miles per hour.

Even Beyla got into it and had fun opening her own stocking to find a new squeeky toy!