20 Months! I can’t believe it!

Oh my, how we have grown. I’m sorry for these out of focus pics. I give her- her little animal to hold and she flings that thing around like…well…a pizza. So I had to cut him out of some of these shots.

 

 

What’s the update? Well at 20 months old she basically does everything that she’s always done just louder and with more attitude. She is vocal- speaking in short sentences. She is much more active then she ever has been before, and adventurous too! Climbing rocks at the park, following around the big kids, and asking me every single day to “go outside, let’s go park!”

 

My favorite feature? I LOVE her hair! Do you see how her mullet is growing out a bit? The sides are finally growing in. She has these giant loopy curls that dance around her hair and make her look like a tiny Richard Simmons. It’s awesome! At 20 months old she gets scarred of things pretty easily, like lions and bears that she sees on her flashcards. She’ll run into my arms and hold my hand and say “Mama, oh no!” I always tell her that I will ever let any of those terrible animals take my baby and then she repeats “No take baby!”

She’s all girl. She wears my bracelets around the house and has her hand in my make-up bag at all times applying blush and eye make-up. I would stop her, but y’all know that I have always wanted her to be a pageant princess- we’re comin’ for you Eden Wood!

In a few short months ill have to do the post I’ve only dreamed about. The 24 month post- were we look back at her progress from month 1 to year 2. I am starting to slightly freak out at the idea of my baby being 2 years old. She hardly acts like a baby anymore- which is why I now walk her to the grocery store wearing her on my back in her Ergo carrier. I hear that sweet baby voice in my ear and she’s suddenly  small again. We won’t make it much longer in the Ergo carrier but hopefully when it’s time to let go I’ll be ready and she will be too.

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My Sunshine girl, we are your parents.

You’re to little right now to know that we spend many evenings in this household dancing to Michael Jackson. Your Dad can’t dance to save his life. Last night he did some weird move were he jumped in crisscross circles around the family room and you and I sort of stared at him like he was insane. I hate to pin your blackself against your whiteself but you get your moves and tush from me. (You’re welcome for both)

His hands shoot straight up into the air and my God he dances to the words and not the beat. But here’s what’s important to remember, no matter how terrible of a dancer your father is he always dances. He never lets his lack of rhythm stop him from dancing in our family room, weddings, or any  other public forum.  Something for you to keep in mind, no matter how ridiculous he looks- he looks ridiculous for us. And no matter how much he might embarrass you one day with his retro dance moves- he comes home early just to dance with you. He thinks you are awesome, and you are, but you’re more awesome because he’s your Dad.

We are your parents. We are lovers of Michael Jackson, Prince, and Glee knockoffs. We are about love and fun and your overall happiness.  Ir is my prayer that you’ll never be afraid to stand up and dance away the hard stuff, celebrate the little stuff, and find sober joy in a good dance off.

 

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Mary has a little boy and he’s as cute as he can be.

And one day he ate ice cream on the boardwalk  and that moment became one of Mary’s most cherished moments and then she sent that moment to me.

Little Love Stories Presents: Gavin & His Ice Cream

And in case you missed it, The Day She Met The Ocean

 

Visit Mary’s photography website and blog  at www.tearsofjoyphotography.com

 

 

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My Mother In Law sent these photos from NC and I really really think they capture the tiny tornado that is my child.

I feel like the photo above really captures her appetite for all things food and drink. While the next photo (below) really says…

I am in charge and all of you are my human helpers/assistants.

*Note the little side eye. She’s like, hey you…this is my board room, you’re in my light!

For just one second can you imagine raising this kid? If you tell her that the president in Obama, she will respond with “Oh no…ME!” Then I say “Nooooo it’s Obama” then she says “Noooooo MEEEEEEEE! GAY-CEE”

I mean I think she might be someday- I’ll just stay out of her way.

In other news my brother made us this little sign to open and close our videos with…

Cute right? This way I don’t have to type www.littlelovestories.com I believe smart people with degrees in this type of stuff would call this branding…Thank you smart people and Christopher Statham.

Lastly ( is that a word) I would like to share with you my new favorite reality show. Seriously can’t get enough and I know what you’re thinking, Toddler and Tiaras is NOT new! But don’t worry it’s not T&T ( even though that is awesome) this is DANCE MOMS!

http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/dance-moms

God I love these women. I hate that I love it- I also hate that I have visions of my Sunshine girl dancing around in a  tu-tu and competing in national shows and win titles!

*Side note my girlfriend Mother Dear is reading this rolling her eyes saying “Gracen is NOT that girl”- we’ve been threw this Jess she’s evolving into a sassy dancing princess accept it and move on!

PS. Can you write PS on a blog? Well whatever it’s mine, see how branding works??? Anyway thank you to those of you who sent in video of your little ones. I’ll be back soon with some vignettes of your kids AND welcome to our new readers we’re so glad you are here.

 

 

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My work is magical.  That’s right.  I stop time.

It’s not always possible to create an hour long video about my child- as I do for my clients. Which is why I’ve come up with something simple that reminds me of last week (right now) and will remind me of her “babyhood” later.

What if we took our children’s lives as they are-  moment by moment? What if we captured just a few minutes of video of their big moments or their mundane moments or their I would never remember this if I didn’t press record moments?

Well, if you did that you’d get this.

Little Love Stories presents: The Day She Met The Ocean

 

We’re looking to feature other families for the vignette portion of our website!


Visit our facebook fan page (hit the tab above) LIKE US &  leave a comment. I’ll be randomly selecting other families for a free vignette so pass our link around and encourage your friends and family to participate too!

For your own vignette featuring your children and family, please contact me at info@littlelovestories.com

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I’ll spare y’all the commentary from our family vacation post. Instead here are about 800 photos of our family enjoying the beach.

The kids you see are my BEAUTIFUL nieces and nephews. God bless those kids who took every “request” from our “passionate” baby girl and filled ever single desire she might have.  They are as sweet as they are cute and the little blond baby boy- Eric makes me want a baby boy ( which almost never happens unless I’m holding Rory). The other grown ups are my brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws and in-laws.

They are all so awesome, they almost convinced me to pick up and move to Ohio- just for the free babysitting, their entertaining kids, and the chance to have dinner nightly with each of them. It makes me sad that we are so far away- but I love when we’re all together and so does our Sweet Baby Gracen ( which is what they call Sunny).

I already miss the beach, jumping in the waves….okay watching Matt and Sunny jump in the waves while I scream things like “I swear to God Matt if you drop that baby I’ll drop kick you! Are there sharks? So help me God Matt I will feed your A** to the sharks if anything happens to that baby! MATT!!! Too DEEP! GET OUT! NOW! Bring me my baby!!!!!!!!” I’m a real joy while on vacation :)

They are “twins”- sigh…..she likes adventure, her Da-Da, her cousins, her family, and yes…jumping into the pool so that she will “go under.” If only everyday could be vacation days- I’m having my coffee alone this morning, there is no walk on the beach, and we won’t be eating scallops this evening :( Hope your summer is going just as beautifully.

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