Water Park Junkie

So I'm borderline obsessed with water parks. Okay, I'm obsessed. I could go to them every day and I'm sure Lily would too if she could. I've passed on this addiction to her and soon Grady will figure it out too. Growing up, I used to go to Six Flags, but it was 30+ minutes away so when we went it was such a treasured gift. We're lucky to have one just down the road from us that we frequent at every opportunity, but my dad said we could go with him for a soccer tournament he was reffing. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. So did the girls. Lily was calling all the shots and the big girls were doing all they could to keep her happy to avoid a 3 year old public meltdown. She had a lot of say how things went down at this water park. Yo.
When I asked her, Lily was a stubborn one refusing the green slide because it was too dawk and fwast, but once Katie works her magic, she was whipping down that like a true water park junkie.

this ginormous bucket would unload it's fury every 70 seconds alerting everyone with a bell.

I had to bring out the inner child in me....

don't worry, we made sure we were safe in the hot sun.



someone who's really sweet and smiley is about to turn 11 months next week, but look at the cuteness spilling from his heart a few weeks ago on his 10 month birthday. Usually, taking this monthly shot is a 2-party deal; David sets him up, runs away quickly so i can snap in a nanosecond before he crawls off the cliff at the end of the chair. David was in the pool with Lily so I thought I'd try it by myself. Never. Again!! A half a millisecond after his picture, he lunged forward and I caught him mid-air. Not only is he a true crawler now, he can lap you if you're walking around the house. He's super quick and into everything investigating like a private detective. He places no expectations on anyone around him and is happy just to be alive. He inspires me daily with his heart. I can't believe he's real.

I think I had mistakenly stereotyped boys before I had Gradycakes. I truly never, ever, ever (insert 387 more "evers") thought they could be this sweet. For realz! I heard it from every mother who had a son about that special love from a son, but after having a girl I never dreamed it could be that good again. He happily proves me wrong everyday! This is the boy we get to be with everyday and I still can't believe lightning struck twice in our house.



and this little Lily who won our hearts back in 2008 is turning into a funny little girl. She loves to be on the go at. all. times. asking where we're going if we're home for longer than 5 minutes. I love to be out and about so it's a match made in heaven. She was playing with her imaginary friends at the restaurant (exusing herself from the table, walking over the empty table to report back what they talked about) so naturally I asked to be her friend. "Will you be my friend Lily? "She looked shocked and almost annoyed at the question. She thought about it for a good 7 solid seconds looking for an out and replies "Ummmmm, well we can be just pwetend fwends bekaz, uhhhmmm, my reel fwends are at skool. okay mommy? okay." letting me down gently. Just like that I was rejected and sent packing by an adorable 3 year old. I put my head down laughing and she asked why I was sleeping at the restaurant. She has strong opinions and can turn her emotional switch on and off like a lightbulb; where she's wailing like her life is about to end one minute, then 30 seconds later asking me where her pink baby doll is nonchalantly like she wasn't shrieking the world is ending seconds prior. She may not wanna be my actual non-pretend friend, but she's got a serious fan club groupie in me then. With the tantrum stress, she brings way more love into our lives and heart than I ever thought possible. She's adjusting (alongwith me) now that David is not home as much as we're used to. When she misses us, she asks us to kiss her hand like in the book Aunt Jeffer read her weeks ago she still talks about. She loves to boss Grady around suddenly now that he's crawling for whatever reason. She still talks about a nightmare she had 4-5 months ago with a lollipop that said boo. every nap and every night asking us to make sure the lollipop doesn't say boo when in actuality she's asking if she's safe. She is diligent about making sure every light is off that needs to be. She gets major heartburn when Grady unrolls the toilet paper or eats cat food because she doesn't want him to meow like cat. She thinks that David and I hung the moon and if it'd make her happy, we'd die trying. She feels every emotion with all of her heart from her head to her toes and we're just along for the ride watching her from the sidelines cheering her on like the groupies we are. I now know what my mom and dad wanted for us when they'd simply say they wanted us to be happy. It seemed too simple, but now I get it. I really get it. Sometimes I feel like I'm actually inside our kids' body feeling everything they are feeling times a gabillion.

"Yuk, mommy, i'm widing my twicycle in the rain". I felt like I was on the back step riding along with her watching her feel so happy. Nothing better.


life is good.