So much to update...so little time!

I have so many things to update you guys on! Unfortunately, today is not the day for me to do it. But to make sure that I don't forget anything I am going to make a list (on here)...

- Sydney---oh my goodness. Bundle of fun and energy these days. Also just certain things like her speech and all around amazing-ness.

-Household fun---we took on a couple of projects at Casa de Batten/Mitchell this weekend. I have an amazing husband. Just to keep it brief for now---our bathroom no longer displays pink foil/hummingbird wallpaper! Thank goodness.

- Hockey, including Sydney's love for it

- Wedding happenings (Bestie's wedding is officially less than a month away!!!)

- My initiation to the whole spring cleaning process. I have no idea what got into me this weekend. So in addition to Cory starting (and finishing) the wallpaper removal process (just the initial removing) both bedrooms have been given the head to toe cleaning smackdown!

More to come later!

When I Must Leave You...

If anyone else just cannot stay away from pop culture gossip and events like me, you probably tuned in for at least some of Whitney Houston's funeral a couple weeks ago. Confession---during one part I actually burst into tears. The reason? One of the speakers read a poem that I remember from my Grandma's funeral service...or my Great-Grandfather's funeral service which was only 3 months after that. I am having a hard time remembering these details. I think what is more relevant is that I kept both of their service programs and in my scrapbook, this is the poem that I have on my pages devoted to her. She was, and is, by far one of my most favorite people in the entire world. I miss her so much. I would trade pretty much anything in the world for just one more day with her so that I could make sure she knew how much she means to me and that she could spend the day with Sydney and Cory. She would love both of them. But I am also of the mindset that she does spend her days with Sydney and with Cory. And when I meet her in Heaven she will tell me how well I did by choosing Cory and how great we did in raising Sydney. But again I digress...

On Thursday night, my maternal grandfather passed away. In 1998, he fought cancer and beat it. This affected his neck region and his treatment included removing all of his lymphnodes. During radiation, a hole was created in his esophagus. Since then, it has been a challenge for his body to receive nourishment because food literally falls in through hole. The other side of this is that the particles go into his lungs and created problems that way. Over time it just wore his body down. I should also explain that my relationship with him was very minimal for reasons outside of my control. As part of his extended family, I find peace that he is no longer in pain. He had been in hospice care since November and at the end, machines were controlling all aspects of his existence. His body had just failed him and he was ready to go, attempting to rip out the cords and pieces that were keeping him alive whenever he had the slightest bit of consciousness. My deepest deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who is hurting with his passing. Hopefully, they too will find solace in the below poem...

When I Must Leave You

by Helen Steiner Rice

When I must leave you
For a little while-
Please do not grieve
And shed wild tears
And hug your sorrow to you
Through the years,

But start out bravely
With a gallant smile;
And for my sake
And for my name
Live on and do
All things the same,

Feed not your lonliness
On empty days,
But fill each waking hour
In useful ways,

Reach out your hand
In comfort and in cheer
And I in turn will comfort you
And hold you near;

And never, never
Be afraid to die
For I am waiting for you in the sky!

Sydney at 20 months...Feb 2012

So I have decided that I should probably stop referring to my daughter's age in months. Non-toddler parents and non-parents just look at me like I am crazy! But I cannot say 1 (too much of a maturity difference) and 1 1/2 doesn't quite give her the same justice. So I have decided that she is "almost 2". And that, my dear friends, has begun to give me a slight anxiety attack. She is just growing so fast!!! She has so many new interests and developing interests that she is really coming into her own little personality. Some of this has been challenging, but not all of it. Most of it has made me incredibly proud to call her my little angel.

I am so happy that she is starting to warm up to the whole picture thing so now if she just knows she is being too cute, she will say picture! picture! and then she will say cheeeeeesssseeee!!!

I got her these glasses (Dora) so that she would kinda leave mine alone. It took her awhile to warm up to them, but we are getting there ha ha. She knows she is slick though. ha ha

I guess this is also the age that the want to be undressed starts to occur? I haven't looked up the information about this one, but this is how it plays out in this house...

And that brings us to our favorite... Reading! First, I have a slight bad mommy confession. Sydney gets to watch a lot of TV. I still don't know if it's considered a LOT of TV, but she has some distinct favorites that get played a lot more than I initially thought that I would let her watch. Dora, Elmo, Diego, Wonder Pets, Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves these guys. I used to fight back against the constant want for something to be on the TV, even on the weeknights. But after 8-9 hours of stimulation at daycare, I have started to give myself a break on this one. It helps us mellow out after long hard days at our respective daytime locations. It allows dinner to get made, dishes to get done, cleaning to be taken care of. And when it comes down to it, a happy mommy=a happy wife=a happy daughter (me to my dad and sydney to us)=a happy husband=a happy papa (my dad). And I am feeling like we really have a great system in place. It just works. So sue me if Sydney watches TV more than the doctor or psychologist recommended time. Obviously I am digressing from my initial start. What I meant to transition to is that we piggy back on this with balance. Sydney love certain shows, but she also loves reading. So we have tons of books around. Every night concludes with a book before bedtime. Sometimes we pause our tv watching for a book. Sometimes we read in the car. But the point is that this girl LOVES books. So much like her mama, I must admit. My first major injury was because of a book. Such a nerdy story right here...I was stacking my books nicely and organized on our front brick steps and I fell forward, somersaulted, and busted the back of my head opened. So it's in Sydney blood to be a reader. God bless her. She also loves hockey, she was so made for this family! So last night we combined both of our favorite pleasures and this was the result at the end of the night...

We also are starting to spend more time outside with the weather getting so nice. And that is great too. The other night it was about 75 when we got home so we went for walks and ran around the yard. And then she did the same when Daddy got home. And then she got to go for a walk around the block with Papa. This is helping us instill the good behavior while walking as well. The first walk she went on with Papa wasn't as smooth sailing. But the other night she made it all the way around without fighting against holding hands or trying to walk into someone's yard. That long walk gave Mommy a chance to get dinner together. It was amazing. Gotta love this girl!!!