the battle of the bottle.

Quinn never attached herself to a pacifier.

 

Somewhere along the way the bottle became her pacifier.

Her soother.

In many ways it was great because if she lost it in her crib it was much easier to find than a paci.  She would find it quickly on her own before a cry would start and fall right back to sleep. 

It doesn't need to have anything in it, it's just a soother.

 

Quinn was about 15/16 months when we started to feel like it was the right time for her to start to separate herself from the bottle.  Sure she drank from sippy cups earlier than this, but it was never the same for her.  Unfortunately right around this stage we were also in pack up the house, things are crazy, go live with grandma ginny, move into a new and strange house phase.  It was too much, and I just knew it was not the time to add another huge change for her. 

We waited until we were settled in and by the end of the fall it was pretty much gone from the day (except for when she is sick - how in the world does any mama deny their only soother when they are sick?)

 

Now just like the battle of how to transition the paci away from nighttime for others, we battle the how to transition the bottle from nighttime.  We have encountered a new battle, a new attempt many times.  Several have worked but then a sickness falls and we are right back to where we started. 

Over all this time it has only ever held a little water or just been completely empty, it is just like a paci for her. 

 

Last night I tried another one of these attempts at bedtime.  But it was a battle for me more than it was the right time for her.  I was ready last night to make the break, but I should have known better that it wasn't the right time for her.  She still has a cold, a cough, and took a slept only in the car nap.

 

I have always been an easygoing, do what's right for her, for us, kind of mama.

I needed to be reminded of that last night.

 

As the conversation with my darling husband resembled something like this:

 

Me:  We created this bad habit for her.  We need to start to break it. 

Todd:  Why is it a bad habit?

        It's her one thing.  It soothes her.  She is such a good sleeper.  She is a good girl.  It's her one thing.

       (and with a big sweet silly smile on his face)

        Is there some law out there that says she can't have it? 

       Do you think that all the moms of the world are going to get together to tell you that you are a bad mom?

       It's not a bad habit babe.

 

I love him.

 

Every thought that was usually in my head had left last night.  I needed to be told what I had always been thinking.  Be the parents we have always been.

 

The parents who do what is right for her, not what is right for everyone else.

 

When she is no longer sneezing, or coughing.  When she is in her normal sleeping routine.

When she is her usual happy easygoing self.

Then we will try again.  And when it is right for her we will know.

 

To the mamas of the world, fighting any battle with themselves. 

It's okay.

We aren't perfect, but you know in your heart that you know what is best for your child.

No child ever follows a book.

Life is more simple than that.

 

Last week was filled with sneezes, cuddles, tissues, thermometers, and comfy jammies.
Quinn was running a fever for several days, and fortunately has kicked that but is still getting over a lingering cough, and watery eyes. :(

Todd's volleyball team continues it's winning streak. :)

Crafts and projects and party things are strewn across the kitchen counter...more updates on those later.

And Great Grandma Ginny is home from Arizona!  Yea!  We enjoyed seeing her yesterday, catching up, and enjoying breakfast.

And yes, a morning post means a morning nap.  I think she will be taking two today.

the remote control.

just for fun.

mondays.

It has been over two years since I switched from full-time elementary school teacher to full-time stay-at-home mama, but not a day goes by that I don't think about it.  I appreciate every single second of being home with her all the more.

I loved my job as a teacher.
I wanted to be a teacher.

I needed to be a mother.
I dreamed of it for as long as I can remember.

I am so grateful for every minute I have at home with her.
I feel so fortunate and blessed.

My Mondays sure do look different though.
Instead of heading back into the work week drag of a Monday with meetings and e-mails, we are easing into our day with chocolate chip pancakes. Why not?  They aren't just for Sundays anymore. :)

and we walk around while eating bananas.
because for some reason when she eats them in her chair she only takes 3 bites but if she walks around with it she finishes the whole thing.

we show off our fake dramatic face just to be silly.

and then we giggle and laugh at ourself for being so silly.

we watch an episode or two of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

and because I have the time, there are usually one or two projects in the works at any given time. 
at this time, I am actually in the middle of about six. :)

we head outside and find our first flowers have bloomed!  so exciting!

 

we run up and down the steps and sidewalk for half an hour because we can.

and then we journey off for a long walk and wagon ride.

 and a stop at the park to hop into our favorite swings.

throw in some coloring.

always a dance party.

Mondays.
They sure have changed.

After she wakes from her long cozy nap, it will be back outside for sidewalk chalk and playing catch with a volleyball (one of her absolute favorite things to do these days).  Followed by dinner, and then daddy will be home. :)

Naptime for mommy is:  dishes, a lunch break :) while catching up on a DVR'd show, then straightening up, blogging and working on any craft or project in the works. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And for anyone following along with Todd's volleyball team this spring, this past weekend they won their third tournament championship this season!!  3 for 3 on tournaments and they are 17-3 for the season so far.  It's been such a great season!! 
Will keep you updated.

it doesn't get much better than this.



I guess this post bounces right off the last one.
The simple moments are my favorites.
We make the simple moments feel completely special.
A Sunday morning where we can be together,
so special.

The little things make me one happy mama.

 

 

P.S.  We had a few family pics taken too. 

simple and sweet.

The simplest things are often the sweetest.

We embrace and soak in every little simple moment.
We try not to be in a hurry to move onto the next moment.

The simple moments, the ordinary days... wiping noses, sweet cuddles in soft jammies, baking cookies, sharing an ice cream cone, reading books for hours...
and taking wagon rides.

as many as she wants.

because we aren't in a hurry.
because these little smiles, these little moments of pure happiness...
these we want to remember.

everything else can wait.

our love story: chapter two.

To read Our Love Story: Chapter One CLICK HERE :).

 

 

And I would see him again.

 

Just a few weeks later...

 

I was working another volleyball game, playing with my hair, eating some food, chatting away as per usual.  When in the corner of my eye I see someone walk out of the locker room.

A quick peek, and my assumptions (or hopes) were confirmed.

It was him.

 

He was talking to a teacher I knew, he glanced my way, and quickly our eyes met.

He was wearing a blue tee, black athletic pants, and a baseball cap.

He continued to talk and then he walked away.

To my fortune, the teacher he was talking to came to say hi and sat down next to me for a little bit.
We talked the normal chat, but I knew this was my in to casually question about this guy. 
Since my last time seeing him, I had learned his name and discovered that he was a coach and a p.e. teacher.
As Steve and I were talking, I asked about his hearing.
And I learned that he was in fact Deaf.

And my mind raced with a dozen questions.
Does he understand me when I'm talking?
How is his speech so good?
What would it be like if we were to date?
How do I talk to him?
Do I speak louder? 
What do I do so that I won't offend him?

relax Lisa, don't get ahead of yourself, you may not even talk to him again.

But I did in fact talk to him again.
About thirty minutes later actually.

He entered the gym and slowly made his way over to the scorers table.
He sat down right next to me this time.
Todd:  How's it goin'?
Me:  Good, how are you?
Totally cheesy, but the sly little smile on his face made it all the more amusing.
We exchanged simple pleasantries.  It was a gorgeous and sunny fall day.
It was sweet, it was simple.
I found myself a little more shy than usual in this situation, because I was trying to figure out how to best communicate with him, how he was understanding me, trying to adapt along the way to converse better.
We discussed work, the game we were watching and music.
It was only for a few minutes.

But I did discover this.
He gave his full attention to me in those few minutes.
I had never felt more heard or listened to in my life.
He was quiet, thoughtful, responsive to each word.
And I realized with each glance at my lips how much he relied on lip-reading in our conversation.
But it was more than that, he was genuinely wanting to soak in every word I said.
In an instant he made me feel special, beautiful...without ever saying those words.

I smiled a lot.
His eyes had a whole story to tell.
I wanted to hear it, but...
After just a few short minutes he was up and had to leave.
We smiled,
and said goodbye.

What we didn't know was that this goodbye would be for a while.

It would be a year before we would see each other again.

 

pinterest worthy.

If you are like me and spring rejuvenates you and motivates you then you are also probably looking for new ideas and things to try out.  Pinterest is the place many of us go to right away isn't it?

Our family spring checklist calls for trying out at least 5 new dinner recipes and 2 new dessert recipes (so far I have checked off 2 new dinner recipes and 1 dessert recipe - all yummy so far).  If you share this need for looking for new recipes check out a few that we have tried, enjoyed and found to be successful.  We pin away ideas and recipes all the time, but it's nice to actually know something that is great and worthy of trying out.

Recipes we have tried and loved:
Cheesy Sausage Tortellini
Avocado Chicken Salad
Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Cheesy Chicken Bacon Avocado Quesadillas
Simple and Easy Cinnamon Sticky Buns

& Sweet Desserts that were super yummy:
Chocolate Chunk Fudgy Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies  (just tried these on Easter weekend - yum)
Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies  (tried these at Christmas and they were a delicious puffy
                                                                           snickerdoodle cookie)
Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies  (used my own chocolate chip cookies recipe and followed the 
                                              instruction to make them into gooey melty Lava Cookies - soooo good!)

A few other random things I use regularly:
A Meal Planning sheet - I print out two and use these every time I'm planning out grocery trips.
Cleaning our Microfiber Furniture.
Felt Flower Tutorial

really, I could go on here with things I have found to be useful ideas for us and for crafting too.

But maybe if you are looking for a new recipe to try, one of those listed above will sound perfect for a spring day. :)

Speaking of food and eating, this little girl is doing some major growing.

or at least her eating habits are growing. :)
She has never been a huge eater.  Not a picky eater, just a light eater.
For the longest time, she would really eat great for one meal and not much the other two and have one snack.
Lately, she eats at least 2 good full meals most days and 3 snacks.  Yeah, 3 snacks, a morning, an afternoon and lately one before bedtime.  She sits down for 3 regular meals a day, but usually one of them she doesn't eat too much (and it's different everyday which one it will be).
A good little eater she is these days.
And fortunately for us, she is not a whiner (even though that picture above seems to tell otherwise).  She doesn't whine at all, and she doesn't ask for food at times that don't make sense. 

Quinn has always been a BIG fan of the Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings recipe listed above, ever since she was about 10 months old.

welcome spring.

We had a very mild December through February, but March was definitely all lion and no lamb.
So we are glad to have the warmth and sunshine of spring here.
Neighbors are outside, everyone's working in their yards, going for walks, making trips to the park. 
I love spring and fall for this reason. 
In winter, everyone is snuggled inside their homes, and in the hot days of summer everyone is cooling off in their air conditioning (I much prefer a mild summer). 

We loved our spring weekend this past weekend.
Hours of playing outside.
Yardwork, cleaning out the garage, grilling out and just enjoying a gorgeous day. 

Sidewalk chalk has made it's first appearance this year.

 

Happy Spring!

projects.

Around here, there is always something in the works. :)
From small to big, we love to take on a good project.
There is always a list.
But it's a good fun list, not a weighing heavy on your mind let's just get this done list.

I have finally been updating our PROJECTS page.  You can CLICK HERE.
or click the Projects link at the top of this homepage.

We were way overdue for some updates, since nothing had been added since we moved to our new house.  Many projects have been added already, and many more will be added in the next week and hopefully I will keep up with it now. :)

Several different painting projects this past weekend, including Quinn's Bedroom, some home decor, a chalkboard redesign, and because I always need something different I decided to repaint Quinn's pink rocking chair a more desirable yellow.

volleyball.

Volleyball is a big thing around this house.
We spend about 8 months of the year in volleyball season.
As busy as it is for us to be in volleyball season, we love it.
Many of you know that Todd coaches a girls team in the fall and a boys team in the spring.
This is Todd's fourth season coaching the North Star boys.

Yesterday, his team just acquired their second tournament championship win this season.
They have had an awesome start to their season with a record of 10-1 currently.  Pretty exciting!
This is a great group of boys and Todd is having a blast coaching them this season.
Looking forward to the rest of this fun season!
Hopefully Quinn will get used to the buzzer and whistle (she is not a fan right now).

 

 

 



our love story: chapter one.

"In springtime Love is carried on the breeze."

 

Spring is here.  A time for buds to sprout, flowers to bloom, color to re-enter the world.

A season of love.  New beginnings and budding romances.

 

I get inspired to write about stories that I want to remember and stories I want to tell our children one day.  It is an everflowing thought on my mind that it is so important to show love and for Quinn to be surrounded by it.  All the love we have for her, and all the love we have for each other.  I make sure that there are pictures of just Todd & I in the house to remind her of this, and we cuddle and kiss and embrace all the time around her.  I figure the most important thing in the world is to show and share love, to love and be loved in return.  I want her to be hugged and squeezed and kissed and cuddled as much as possible.  I want her to be soaked up in it by the time she grows into a young lady.  Love is everything.

 

And so a little post series begins...
Something I've been wanting to record for us for a while.
 

This is the first part of our love story.

 

 

I was twenty-four. 

Finding my true love out there in this world was never far from my mind.

But yet, I was young and still had some more learning about love and relationships to do.

 

I had already determined that meeting someone at work was very unlikely to happen.
so I had thought.

 

I was teaching first grade.

He was teaching middle school P.E.

Two years before our first official date our paths crossed for the first time.

It was Fall.
The start of a new school year.

I was working an after school volleyball game with my friend Jill. 
It was a middle school game, so I was playing with my hair, chatting with Jill, eating some food and maintaining the scorebook for the game.  Somewhere in the middle of the second match I noticed a group of about 12 high school girls had made their way into the bleachers and were watching the game.
Added another sideout and point to the book, and I looked up again. 
Off to the side of this group there was this guy.  I see him quickly, but it took all of two seconds for me to look back again.  He was wearing a t-shirt, white athletic shorts and a baseball cap.  There is something about the color white that I just love on a guy, a white fitted tee, a pair of white board shorts, <enter dreamy sigh here>. 
He was tall, he was athletic and he was hot. 
I remember him sitting so casually on the bleachers, leaning forward, feet up on the seat in front of him, elbows on his knees.  By this time I obviously had been looking a little too long.  I quickly took my eyes down, hoping I didn't miss a play for the book and so it wasn't obvious that I had been staring. 
 

A couple more points go by, a couple more quick glances his way. 
A substitution and this time when I looked up, he was looking back. 
Our eyes met. 

I talked myself out of it at the time, he was all the way across the gym, he could be looking at anything on this side.  But when I looked up a second time, our eyes met again. I knew he either had noticed me or he was on to my quick non-subtle glances. 
At this point I tried hard not to glance over there.  A minute later I did and he wasn't there anymore.
  Nope, he was walking over towards me.  What!?! 
I of course tried to act casual as if I wasn't paying attention, all the while deciding whether to say hi or what to say.

Up close, yes he is in fact tall.  He is in fact very fit, totally an athlete, check that off on my type list.
And then before I could decide what to do he walked right past me with a quick glance my way and then into the locker room. 
My shoulders relax, and at this time I was trying to figure out who this guy was and how did I not know him.  I thought I knew everyone in this school district.  I had determined that he was in fact that group of 12 high school girls coach, and that maybe he knows someone with an office in the locker room. 
He came back out after what seemed like 10 minutes but was really in fact probably only 3. 
I glanced up, he smiled, I smiled back and as he started to walk past me I quickly said "Hi". 
But he just kept walking and didn't acknowledge my "Hi" at all.

Huh.
Well maybe he really hadn't noticed me, or at least not in that way. 

I pulled my attention back to the game. 
Occasionally I would still glance over to the spot in the bleachers he had now returned to.
But I made an effort not to. 
Since I wasn't watching him like a hawk anymore, I didn't notice it when he had returned and had in fact sat down at the scoring table with us.

okay, maybe I'm wrong,
maybe he did notice me,
or maybe he just wants to ask us a question,
or tell me I missed a point because I was clearly not paying close attention.
When I glance over, as casually as I can as though I barely noticed he had joined us, I look up and see these big, warm brown eyes, and in those 2 seconds they are already telling me I am a good guy. I am calm. I am gentle. I am genuine. I am compassionate. I am strong.  I will take care of you always. 

Butterflies in my stomach and flying everywhere.
His eyes were on mine, and then he looked at Jill in a casual I can't be obvious and I need to glance elsewhere type of glance - and this was his tell. 
He had noticed me.

We didn't introduce ourselves, we simply all said hi and he asked us a simple question I am quite sure he already knew the answer to.  Becoming a little more obvious he had been searching for a way to come over here.  We talked about the first match, who won, how many games.  He casually looked at the team rosters on the table and then looked up at the game.
Me: "Do you teach here?" 
Again, he didn't respond and kept his eyes on the game. 
Jill just kind of looks at me. 
Huh.
He then started to push his chair back, looked at us and said "Well, you guys have fun." 
As he stood up he turned his eyes to mine and then he smiled this sweet smile I knew was for me and he started to walk away.
I wanted to talk to him more, I wasn't ready for him to leave just yet.
It was just as he had turned to walk away that I saw something else I hadn't noticed yet.
He was wearing hearing aids.

And I'm left a little baffled.  Well, I now understand why he didn't respond to me, either of my attempts. 
So is he or isn't he interested? 
But, I'm also very curious because he just sat here and talked to us in a way that any person would.  My lack of knowledge and awareness for hearing loss and the deaf community did not help me here, and I was wishing I knew more.  But he just spoke to us, clearly.  He seemed to understand our answers.  I figured he must just have a slight hearing loss.

I glance at him as he appears to be gathering his team to leave the gym.
He glances back.
And before I knew it, he had left.

I still didn't know his name.  I didn't know if he taught here.
I didn't know if I would see him again.

But, I really hoped that I would.

 

 



meet pinky.

This is Pinky.
The cutest, sweetest, cuddliest teddy bear around.
Quinn's new BFF.
With much thanks to our good friends we recently ventured out to Build-A-Bear Workshop and created and adopted this new furry pal.  It was so fun, and Quinn latched onto her immediately.  We picked out all kinds of cute accessories for Pinky.  She has many bows to choose from.  (And thanks to Grandpa for his diligent coupon searching we were able to get Pinky extra accessories, like a purse and some glasses.) 
Pinky has been with us for only a few days and she has already been to the grocery store, a volleyball game, an Easter egg hunt and slept with Quinn every night.

Quinn is always making sure that Pinky's shoes are on.
When we get home, she takes off Pinky's shoes and puts them in the mudroom next to her own.
She started this all on her own, there was no prompting here.  The first time I found them there was just the cutest thing.

Here is a little video of Quinn's day adopting Pinky.
She was determined to carry her around herself.
Turn up the volume to enjoy the music.




Quinn also loves Pinky's glasses.  But not on pinky...
on herself. :)

She thought these totally went with her outfit.
I turn around and she is just walking around with them on.

 

 

love my cousins.

As this group of cousins get older they only get cuter! :)
And they have a lot more fun playing together.
Brynnie follows Quinn around and squeals when she sees her. She wants to touch her all the time. The 9 month gap between them is starting to narrow a bit more.
So excited for them to only grow closer.
 
A little video of some of our 24 hours together.
Enjoy!



Hope you had a wonderful Easter!