Water Play!

So since this magical summer is winding down to an end, we used Saturday to our advantage and squeezed in as much summer fun as we could. In the evening we went to see the Obrynbas and take a dip in their pool, it was very fun. Except for that part of it when Sydney told me to shut up (Oh.the.testing.boundaries) and had to sit in time out while we all swimmed and splashed around. We also had a seriously awesome dinner with all of the summer fixin's... Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, watermelon, etc. yummmmyyyyyy. We always have a great time with those guys so it did not disappoint. Plus they are SUPER good and fun with Sydney so it really warms my heart to be able to go and hang out with them, with or without the Syd monster.

Saturday morning we went to Ocean Breeze since this weekend will be our last chance to go for the summer. It was the busiest it has ever been (Labor Day weekend, Rock n Roll Half Marathon---pick your tourist poison) but it was still a lot of fun. I met a friend of mine up there from work since we have worked together for year, knowing we have children that are the same age and still have yet to get them together. They loved each other and we had a great time.

It took all of 2 hours for them to be this chummy....

And Sydney wore herself out so much that this took all of 2 minutes to happen. Pure Bliss....

Sydney Says...

Since I pretty much suck at updates on here I have come up with an idea to HOPEFULLY help me get more regular about this here blog. My idea involves sharing the little tidbits that Sydney does because, legit, everyday there is another moment that she says something that either melts my heart or makes me wonder "where did this girl get that from?"

So Thursday morning while getting ready for school Sydney had told me she wanted to wear her Dora outfit, NBD. She even corrected me when I brought in her pink fluffy flowery Dora, miss personality, and asked me to get her blue Dora shirt and her matching shorts. Well, excuse me missy. Anyways, after I got ready for work and we were getting ready to leave, Sydney goes "Mama? I wanna wear my pretty dress?" Cue melting heart. While she is saying this she is twirling and looking down like she does when she puts on her dress. It was sooooo stinking cute. How could I say no? So I say which one baby the pink one or the green one? and she at first chose the green one but then when I went to get it, she was like nooooo the pink one please!

Love this girl.

It kinda makes up for the fact that she learned how to say "Shut up!" and now will randomly say "Shut up Mommy!"....Instant Timeout for that one.

Until next time!

Polarizing...

Ok so this post is my expression of some serious venting and working through some personal feelings that I have. If you dont think that you can handle that, you probably shouldnt read this post. Come back when there is something a little bit more cookie cutter going on in the world. But for today, I am having some serious thought provoking moments...

Today I am really sad. Unless you have been living under a very huge rock, you are aware that today was designated by many as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Based on their president's comments, supporters of his message have flocked in DROVES to their local eateries, some even many times a day. The Chick-fil-A closest to our house had a drive thru line that wrapped all the way around the restaurant and spilled out onto the main road at 430PM 700PM and 930PM---I assume it never left. First, I think that I should mention that I love that Chick-fil-A stands on moral grounds and sticks beside those morals no matter how it goes against the typical stance of businesses. Our country is becoming overwhelmingly morally defunct and seeing that thousands and thousands of people are supporting their moral stance is somewhat refreshing to me. I applaud them for standing by and expressing their freedom of speech. I have spent a lot of time today reading different people's thoughts on both sides of the issue and many of the supporters state that they are not promoting hate, but are simply standing by their moral grounds and thats what Mr. Cathy was doing in his statements. This is the first thing that bothers me because I kinda disagree with how his tone came off. I believe his exact words were something about "shaking our hands at God and asking for his judgement upon us"...ok maybe that is your true opinion. I think the hate came in when he said (and I paraphrase) "what a prideful and arrogant generation, that has the audacity to believe that we define what marriage is." Now I am admittedly not knowledgable about the exacts of the Bible. I do consider myself to be a Christian, I really do believe in God and His force on our lives. But arent ALL christians imperfect? Aren't all of our thoughts flawed? If a group of people that believes homosexuality is ok cannot define what marriage is, how can Christians say that they know WITH 100% CERTAINTY that they can define it too? I know that the things that I am saying may not make me a good christian, but really this journey of my thoughts is all mine. I can't judge a person for being gay. In my opinion, if God considers homosexuality a sin, then homosexuals are still morally on the same level as I am because one part of the Bible that I do remember says that ALL SINS are the same. Regardless of what our imperfect human minds think, we are ALL the same.

This thought process has really been evolving lately for me and I am really not sure why or how it has changed. I just really don't think that I am the person who should be judging the ability of a gay person to get married. Who am I? I am no one. If a person is gay and wants to get married, I care just as much about that as I care about the next stranger that walks past me. It is really none of my business and its not for me to decide. As Christians, I thought that we were simply supposed to pray for man and accept all and love and cherish our fellow man. I know that everyone says that they are accepting and not judging and just "expressing their freedom of speech". But it just doesn't feel like a loving message. That is why I am sad today. Actually my stance on Mr. Cathy's statement really turned into the fact that is statement doesn't mean diddly squat for the actual people who own the restaurants and work in the restaurants. We have NO IDEA what these people think. This is the thought that made me sure that I would not pay any mind to these makeshift "support" days that are drawing people out in masses. It just creates such an atmosphere of isolation for the gay men and women who are watching this mass movement against something so close to their heart. I know that they say that this isn't about 'being gay', but just about being able to get married. Honestly, actions speak louder than words and it just feels like its being done with a harsh spirit.

By the way, I also think that any city or state or whatever that says they would try to stop the building of any new Chick-fil-A restaurants because of these statements also seems ludacris to me. That just seems like overreaching. And I do believe that the company should use their money to donate to some more productive charities. There are plenty of food banks, mentoring charities, children's hospitals, etc that could find great use for their generous donations.

I just came across this article online in reference to gay employees that work at Chick-fil-A I think it tells another perspective very well and kinda what I was referring to earlier.

There is another side of me that despises that this whole debate has become so politically driven. Why can't we get a little bit more passionate about other relevant issues that shoud be at the forefront of everyone's mind during the election year? I disagree with the whole premise that this debate is turning into a political one.

I just keep thinking about the what ifs... What if Sydney were to ever come to me and tell me that she is gay? I never want her to question for a second that she can come to her own mother for acceptance, hands down, no questions asked. So that is kinda where I stand on this. I really find it to be nonsense. From all sides, honestly. I welcome any company that is standing their ground on their beliefs. We need more morally sound companies in the world. I do think that the words of Mr. Cathy came out a little harsher than he probably intended and the media does take about .00000000001 seconds to make a firestorm out of a little gas bubble. So in summary, I just wish we can go back to eating chicken, just to eat the damn chicken. I don't want to go on Appreciation Day because that person working the drive thru could have completely separate moral principles than anyone that he works for, either directly or indirectly. I also don't believe that I will be going on Friday either.

But I hope that if you did stick through and read my thoughts, you can appreciate that I am just being honest and respectful in everything that I say. I just want people to be happy, overall.

And so it has begun...

So an interesting thing happened to the Mitchell parents last night. Let me narrate...

After 2 glasses of milk, the milk obsessed smallest Mitchell looked at her Mama and said,

"Sydney have more milk???"

To which Mama Mitchell replied,

"Not until after we eat our dinner"

Then, as Mama sat cruising the internet and Dada was talking in the other room to a friend on the phone, little Sydney uttered these fateful words,

"I go ask Dada for milk."

And that, my friends, is how it all begins. I sat and watched, in utter disbelief, that my recently-turned-2 year old was literally playing us in front of my eyes. The thought process that I saw playing out right before my eyes shocked me. This, my little 2 year old, just realized that if you ask one and they say no, try, try again. Because not being in the conversation with me, Dada definitely filled that cup with milk and sent our little angel on her way. :)

Have a great weekend!!

July 4th Recap

We had a great 4th of July. It was very weird for us to have Wednesday off which broke up the work week into 2 short segments, feeling very much like two Monday/Tuesdays! Nana and Opa ended up coming by for hamburgers, baked beans and french fries. No culinary masterpiece, but hey! it was about relaxing too. Here are some of our pictures from our trip to the Oceanfront!

P.S. we had very little problems with parking and NO traffic to get out...we were awesome-ly lucky!

Sydney very much enjoyed listening to the Michael Jackson tribute artist. He was pretty awesome!



A lot of awesome things have happened at this guy! We love Neptune!

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Independence Day to Everyone out there! Today we will be having a low key day of water fun outside in the yard and relaxing around the house. Then at 5, Nana and Opa are coming over for dinner and then we are going to brave the crowds at the oceanfront for fireworks. We are very excited. Sydney has never seen 4th of July fireworks before and really never even enjoyed some real time at the beach (we went once last year but she wasnt very interested). So we are pretty excited!

Hope you all have a safe and healthy holiday and remember what this day is all about! Thank you to all of our military members and first responders! Sydney has the utmost respect for you all as well!

2 Years?! Really???

Legit, I can't believe it has been over a month since my last blog. So horrible!! June was pretty epic so do forgive and I promise I will catch you up on all of the happenings from our point of view.

One major event of this month was Sydney's 2nd Birthday! I really can't believe that it has been 2 years since this 8lb 3oz bundle of joy entered our lives. What a bundle of energy she is turning into. I just decided that I will have to devote a different blog to her general persona at this stage in her life. But since she has been terrorizing the house all morning, I am making this blog just strictly about her amazingly awesome Little Mermaid birthday party.

The Decorations

What exactly is going on here guys?

 I made all of the adults play "Give Ariel her seashell." I was not yet brave enough to have a birthday party that included children so we stuck to family and close friends that are family to us!

Present Time! Surprising to me was that Sydney is still not quite sure about how to handle the whole present unwrapping thing. I dont know if its the presents or just the fact that all of the attention was on her and she really doesn't like that, even though I would not describe her as shy...at all. 

This gift was the most creative gift I have ever gotten. That's including any of my presents ever in my life and now Sydney's life too. Bridget and Eric made Sydney a dress up box filled with all of these amazing dress up goodies for us to play with. There was jewelry and both gender play things. It is sooooo awesome. More below on that one too. 

Batman mask

Everyone is looking at what the last present is from Nana and Opa and Sydney is like "What?! What is it?"

Priceless reaction shot, "Holy moly Nana!"

It's a Dora Tricyle!!! Whaaaaaaat?

Awesome cake

Quite a different cake eating face compared to last year. 

Someone is very blessed!

Dress up box!

Since I didn't want to do a kids party, we took a cake to school to share on her actual birthday!!!

Happenings...

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you for all of those who are serving, have served and those who have paid the ultimate price. May we all take a moment to pray for these individuals and their families as I know first hand the sacrifices that they make for their country. Thank you especially to my Dad (23 years retired Navy and my husband (6 years and medically discharged in the Army).

We are enjoying a nice relaxing weekend. I need to get better about taking pictures because I have been seriously slacking. I took the day off on Friday and gave myself a 4 day weekend. I got some serious cleaning done around the house which was so nice. Sunday, Cory got up with Sydney and let me sleep in. I didnt wake up until 10:15!!! WOW. We also went to Mt Trashmore and let Sydney play in the Kid's Cove. She LOVED it. She even ran about 3/4 of the way up the side of Mt Trashmore before she was exhausted and begging for me to pick her up. We had a great time. That night Cory and I had a date night and went to get drinks and a movie. Thank goodness for the drinks, ha ha. The movie was HORRIBLE. I was being a team player and picked out a movie that I know Cory wanted to see, The Dictator. Obviously I didn't want to see this movie which was why we went for drinks before. Even Cory thought it was HORRIBLE!! That is saying something! Now today I am forced to finish the laundry and get ready for the next week ahead. It is beginning to look like its going to be a dreary day so maybe I wont feel like we are missing out on too much. Have a great week!

What I have learned

This week we have had some tough learnings here in the Mitchell households. On Wednesday morning, a co-worker of mine passed away. It was unexpected on all aspects. The harder thing about it was that she was pregnant (days away from being 36 weeks and considered full term) and the baby had passed away on Saturday morning. Just to keep it brief, she had what I would call a perfect storm of pregnancy complications that caused the baby to pass away and then caused her to pass away as well. Heartbreaking. This has slapped all of us in the face at work. Her service was on Saturday and it was beautiful. The reason why I am sharing this though is to reiterate that you really have no idea when your last days on this Earth are going to be. Maya had truly no idea that this was anywhere even close to her future. Our last conversation on Wednesday was a happy conversation about how good she looked and how excited she was to be on maternity leave during the summer. She was excited about dressing her baby in basic shorts and onesies all summer and drinking kool-aid in pitchers. One of her complications was gestational diabetes and she could not have the sugar. But the whole situation shocks you and makes you remember that the next day, or even the rest of today is never guaranteed. You really just have to take each day on its own and forget all of the BS and appreciate what you have. So that's what I will be doing from now on!

Enough...

I have had enough already. Today, while running on the treadmill and watching hockey, I caught a commercial for "Anderson." This commercial was highlighting another media fixture doing an entire show devoted to "attachment parenting." And I am officially OVER.IT. Seriously people?! Parenting isn't hard enough on its own and now you want to KEEP GOING with your shoving ideas down everyone else's throats? This is getting a little out of hand and I really felt that it was necessary to take to my own emotional release and express how much I wish that these moms would just SHUT. YOUR. MOUTHS. NOW. IMMEDIATELY. Not later, not tomorrow, not next week...NOW.

I just read (literally 2 minutes ago) that Alanis Morissette says that she will breastfeed her child until he wants to stop. FINE. I can respect that if that is your decision. But this is where she begins to get offensive... She continues by saying that her child is going to need less therapy because of this. REALLY?!?! really? What about the kid on the cover of Time? How much therapy do you think that he is going to need when he is an adult (or a teenager--bless his heart) and people find out that he is "this" kid? And who the heck are you to insinuate that my child is going to need therapy because she didnt breastfeed until she was leaving for college. I also fully admit that part of my sensitivity to the breastfeeding part of this debate is because I had trouble with my own breastfeeding journey. My maternal instincts ache because I was not able to breastfeed naturally. I judge myself for having to pump exclusively for Sydney. It is like these people do not remember how hard it truly is to breastfeed. Who are they to judge? At the end of the day, Sydney is healthy. Sydney is emotionally developed. We have the same connection now that we would have had if she had been able to latch on properly. She is also just as physically developed as if she had breastfed past 10 weeks. I took my body and my mind to its brink in order to provide for her as long as I could. And then we switched over to formula and guess what? SYDNEY.IS.HEALTHY. And happy. And adorable. Screw you for judging me on my parenting abilities. I am a wonderful mother.

And co-sleeping? Where are all of the doctors and nurses at right now that should be screaming from the rooftops on this one? My theory is that the media is controlling the message on this one and they are not being provided with the forum to speak. Co-sleeping (when improperly done) is DANGEROUS! Go to any pediatrician and ask him how he feels about it? I am sure that he has a million stories of co-sleeping gone wrong. Sydney has never slept with us. Out of fear for her safety, she has always slept on her own. At first it was right beside us in her basinet. Then at about 2 months it was on the other side of our room. Then at about 3 months it was in her crib and she has been there ever since. This has been amazing for everyone involved. Sydney grows to be independent by sleeping in her own bed and having her own space. She is self-comforting in the middle of the night and she goes down amazingly. She has slept through the night since 3 months. We also just recently converted her to a toddler bed. Guess what? She hasn't gotten out of bed in the middle of the night a single time. *probably just jinxed that* But she knows that she sleeps in her own bed. I have even tried to sleep with her at some points and she thinks that means its playtime. I take that as a sign that I have done my job as a parent and created an independent sleeper. If you want to safely co-sleep with your child...Fine. But please, keep your judgmental comments to yourself. There is nothing wrong with way I have raised my child and as long as you being safe, there is nothing wrong with your method either. I know that I am a wonderful mother.

This is pretty much why I don't really like girls. We are so damn hard on each other! It is bad enough that if we are the slightest bit imperfect, we are judged. Overweight? Judged for that big time. Eccentric? Oh, you bet you are judged for that. Rebel? Judged. Religious? Judged. No matter what you do---women cannot just be happy for each other and continue to live their lives. It is so RIDICULOUS!!! So judge me all you want. I know that I am a wonderful mother.

Part of being a wonderful mother is having a warm personality. It is also not being judgmental. I like to believe that all mothers are pretty much on this same journey together. That is a bond that mothers should have with each other. I like to look at it this way...I help you to celebrate your happiness and success, even if I am not physically there. I also send positive messages and prayers your way when you struggle, even if I am not physically there. I love to be that way because I love children. It is physically engrained in my DNA to be a mother and I just want children to be loved and happy and provided for. The method in which that is done is NONE of my business. Why can't other Moms be that way? I just don't understand it...its pure MADNESS!!

So I think you get my message here....let's all take a second and CHILL OUT. Honestly, when I was in high school there were judgmental girls all over the place and I was like "whew! I will be done with this once I leave." Then I went to college and joined a sorority and thought, well here are a group of girls that are my sisters and will stick by me through thick and thin....yup wrong there too by a long shot. So I was happy to leave that behind. And now here I am at 26 and dealing with the entire country judging my parenting choices. Over it. Please join me. I just want us all to be happy for other mothers and supportive of all that they do...regardless of what "that" is.

Happy Weekend! (I have to end on an upswing)

It does not get any better than this...

Only have a few minutes to let you in on some quick updates :)

~Sydney had her first picture day at school today...They said she just looked at them blankly like "Why are you people making faces at me like I am some idiot?" So we will see how they turned out.

~Bestie got her wedding pictures back this week...sooooo beautiful! Literally not a single bad one in the bunch... here are just a couple....Thanks to Charlie Gunther Photography...

This weekend I am hoping to get in some relaxation (Yeah Right)!! I guess we will see. We have a hockey game Saturday at 8pm (BE THERE AT SCOPE!) for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. We are playing so well and I hope it keeps up. And tomorrow morning Sydney and I are going to the Chesapeake Jubilee bright and early to get some outside time in. I am pretty excited. We are also hopefully meeting a friend there that we haven't seen in a while.

Secret time...I have been doing very well working out in the evenings. I havent seen too much (if any) weight loss on the scale but I have actually been doing some pretty good work on the treadmill. Wednesday and Thursday I did a mile in 15 minutes!!! It felt so good. I know 15 minutes is like forever in real people time, but for inactive overweight people, that is doing pretty good. And I never thought I would say this but I actually am starting to enjoy running!!! I am riding this wave as far as I can. I have signed up for a race in October and I have a goal that I would like to obtain for it so I am working hard to get there and preparing in more than enough time (I hope).

And lastly... how can you ever be sad in life when this is your entertainment?? I am so blessed....

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mommies out there!!! Yesterday, we spent a fantastic day with my Mom and it was a great time for us girls to get to spend the day together.

Today was an interesting Mother's Day. I intended to get on here tonight and blog about the irony in my Mother's Day. Because it was very "motherly". I spent the day doing my normal Sunday activities, womp womp womp. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. And it was just me and my girl. Cory spent the day at my Mom's house working and my Dad was actually at work. So obviously not just a relaxing day. So I was going to be ironic and joke around about the normality of the day....

But then my normal bedtime routine with Sydney happened. And so while we rocked, which is our normal nightly routine, I thanked her for my presents that they made at school this week. Because I really do love everything that they made and I can't wait to take it to put up at work. But then I just started talking to her about how much I love her. It was quiet and she was just laying there listening to me...and then my emotions got the best of me. She is just so truly amazing and being her "Mama" is the best thing that I could ever be. Forget every title that I have ever had or ever will have. "Mommy" is the best job that I could ever have. It just blows my mind. I just told her how amazing she is, how smart she is, how beautiful she is, how special she is. How much I absolutely love being her Mommy and how proud I am of her and how great she is. She really does blow my mind. So that part of my day won over. I had the best Mother's Day ever. Because not only was it a day for Sydney and Cory to thank me for what I do for them, but it was a day for me to sit back and look at how amazingly lucky I am to be a mother. So I hope you mommies got the chance to sit back and do the same....and may every day be Mother's Day for us all :)

Lost it...

I may have lost my marbles....literally. We have been talking about converting Sydney's bed to her toddler bed for quite some time now. We haven't had any accidents yet, but knowing my curious little angel, we knew that it might be time soon. And I would like to avoid the middle of the night crashing to the floor which would surely take us to our local emergency room. And one morning when I was in there about to get her out of the crib she looked at me with these questioning eyes, stuck one foot up on the bar, both hands at the top of the rail and said "Climb?" No, little one. we should not be climbing anywhere. Unless it is on our local jungle gym and nothing inside these four walls signify jungle gyms. But we still thought, surely we have time before we take this HUGE step. Until my usual Sunday morning CRAZY decision making. And within twenty minutes, we set this up and immediately after...we are left with this....

And yes I was crazy enough to go into her room and take these pictures while she was sleeping... and yes, in case you are wondering...we are aware that this rail is NO BUENO when it comes to making sure that Mommy is not a giant nutso worrying about her falling out...hence this for this nap time while Daddy is out getting a more substantial safety rail...

Oh and while I am here and don't need a full blog for it...check out her new sweet art board for all of her fun projects from school...

and her new book storage. The old book shelf I thought was A. getting old (I got it while I was in college) and B. too dangerous for a little one. It was also quite difficult for her to stack everything to aid in cleaning up so we went to something more Sydney appropriate.

International Children's Festival

Today we went with Nana and Opa to the International Children's Festival in Hampton. Since Opa is the President of the Executive Board of Bay Days, we often get strongarmed invited to go to various events in Hampton's downtown area. But the International Children's Festival is actually a lot of fun. They have activities, performers and food, etc from all kinds of different countries and they are all grouped by their various areas of the world.

We actually got really lucky today with the weather. We originally thought we were going to have to bail on the festival because of rain. Turns out, the rain starts tomorrow. So we trekked over to Hampton and got our festival-ing on. We enjoyed all of the different musical performers and dancers from all over the world. Got a glitter tattoo that will last 3-4 days, probably 1-2 for the toddler that will be messing with it. We also got our face painted. And since it is nicely dubbed a children's festival, we let Sydney run pretty free. She ran herself silly. It was so much fun to watch her take in all of the different scenary. We also let her get way ahead of us to see just how far she would go without us. Turns out, we still aren't that brave and after about 4 steps we are turning around to look for Mommy. Love it!

Anyone actually surprised the Elmo goes pretty much anywhere with us? Either Elmo or Dora. :)