This morning, a blog post I wrote two years ago popped up on my facebook feed. As I read through it, I realized that I miss blogging more than realized. Like, I knew I missed it a little bit, but I have been so busy (hello MARCH, how-did-you-get-here-so-fast?) that I really don't give myself much time to think about it. This probably feels redundant because I think I've said something similar the last four times I've posted on here, but recording memories on a blog really does feel more permanent than a quick instagram post, so I need to make it a higher priority. I'm not making any promises to blog more, but maybe I should?

I'm realizing more and more that I need to be more intentional with my time. It's hard because on any given day I might have 30 minutes of "free time" while both kids are napping or I might have two hours and since I never know what I'm going to get it's been easier for me to have zero exceptions for myself and what I'll accomplish during that time. Then, if I do only get 20 minutes I don't have to be frustrated/disappointed. The reality of what that means, though, is that I end up wasting a LOT of time watching other people's instagram stories instead of spending that time proactively preserving my own thoughts and family memories.

I can't believe Elliott will be 10 months tomorrow! TEN MONTHS! In my mind 10 months is basically 1! (Stephen will roll his eyes at that because I always make these ridiculous jumps in my head with rounding up like that. hahahha. It's one of his favorite traits of mine, no doubt ;))

...And right before Elliott turns one, Lydia will be 2 1/2! In a lot of ways Lydia feels so much older than that though. I'm not around many other kids her age, but I am constantly blown away by how much she knows! She can sing her ABC's, count to 14 (sometimes she skips 7 but I'm still very impressed by it, haha) and sings lots of songs! Some of her favorites are "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "I am A Child Of God." (She also loves Jingle Bells and Oh Christmas Tree <- which is particularly funny because neither Stephen nor I know the words so we just sing "oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches" over and over again.)

On Sunday we were sitting on the couch and she was calling "Daddyyy!!" I started calling with her, and then I turned to her and said, "Lydia, do I call Daddy, Daddy?" "No," she said. "What do I call him?" I asked. "Stephen," she replied without hesitating!! I then asked her what he calls me and she said, "Hannah." KIDS, MAN! THEY ARE SO STINKIN' SMART!

Elliott still doesn't have a SINGLE tooth, which I love! Something about those gummy baby smiles just makes me SO happy. He still isn't very close to crawling, but he finds ways to get around when he wants (by rolling one way and then the other). He's usually content to just sit and play with toys in one spot, though, which I ALSO love. Have I emphasized the fact that he's the BEST baby enough yet? (#neverenough)

Speaking of #neverenough that boy will never have enough food! HE EATS SO MUCH FOOD. He easily eats double what Lydia eats (which isn't hard because she eats like a bird) but sometimes i honestly think he would eat forever. After a while I just get tired of giving him food so I stop, not because he gave any indication of being done, but just because I've been giving him pieces of food nonstop for 15 minutes 😂. The other night I was out and Stephen texted me "How do you decide when to stop feeding Elliott? He's almost eaten an entire chicken breast and shows no signs of stopping." hahaha. I laughed when I read that text because I ask myself the same question at every mealtime!


One of Lydia's favorite things to say right now is "Mom! What chu doing?!" She asks me everytime I leave the room and sometimes multiple times while I'm in the same room. It might be my favorite thing she says. She also loves changing kiki's diaper (and I have to hide the wipes because she hasn't quite grasped the concept of the 'wipe ration' I instituted. haha).

Watching Elliott and Lydia together continues to be the best. The first thing Lydia says when she wakes up every morning is, "Elliott!" and she wants to see him ASAP. Usually he's still sleeping, so I have to distract her until he wakes up and she can go into the closet where he sleeps and climb in his crib with him. Sometimes she'll take books into his crib with her and read to him/show him the pictures and sometimes when I go in there to get them she'll kick me out! "Mom! Not ready yet!" She'll say. (Or when she doesn't take books, she just sits on his head. He doesn't seem to mind 🤷🏻‍♀️😂.)

Elliott had been saying something very close to "mamamama" for a while, but now every time I ask him to say it he VERY distinctly says, "DADADADA" it's the WORST. haha! That stinker.

I don't usually think that Lydia and Elliott look that much alike, but I took some pictures/videos of them together in Lydia's crib the other night and when I was looking at them after I saw all of their similarities! Turns out they DO look a lot alike! I'm sure once Elliott thins out a little their similarities will be even more obvious.

Good job for making it this far in this random brain dump of random things I don't want to forget.
I sure love this life of mine.
_ _ _
han.