I love blogging.

I love blogging, and I have a whole handful of posts that are half written in my drafts and I am just seriously having a hard time pushing through to the end, making sure all my thoughts come together, and actually publishing the post. And, I have to admit - I've gotten behind, so most of the things that I do post, I wayyyy back-post so most of you don't even read them which doesn't make much sense, except that I blog for myself and my family first (hello blog-books) and am just super happy to have my friends along for the ride. One thing that I miss the most about being better at blogging is posting about the little things instead of just the big things. I always think to myself "Self, I should blog this." And then I spend the time thinking out exactly what I would say (usually while I'm doing dishes) but I've had a hard time sitting down and writing it.

But today as I was doing the dishes (again), I thought about writing this post and even though I can't remember exactly how I was going to word everything - I'm going to write it anyway.

Yesterday we had a big kick-off for our 2015 Summer Stay-cation! David has the whole week off and we have a whole list of fun things that we have planned. It starting with the library and park for Lydia in the afternoon and then a special movie-night before bed. We picked up Paddington from the Redbox (it was the best choice available for Lydia), pulled our couch up close to the TV, made popcorn, and let her eat dinner while we watched. We only got through about half of the movie, but it was perfect.

After we got Lydia to bed, we switched DVDs and David and I watched Interstellar. We'd heard mixed reviews but, it was awe-some! 12 minutes in and we were totally hooked. It was so super super intense but really good. Also, it was SO long. Even with a 7:00 bedtime for Lydia we didn't finish the movie until midnight. (Granted there were several mostly-unsuccessful attempts to get Austin to fall asleep in his bed, so there was a good amount of pausing going on.)

Today Austin, David, and I all woke up with sore throats, goopy eyes, and tired bodies. Boo! Definitely not my plan for a fun family vacation. David and I basically switched off kid-watching every couple of hours while the other one slept/rested. Austin was a trooper and was pretty happy between his extra long naps. Lydia was pretty happy because she got to play puzzles on the ipad (which she never gets to do at home), watch PBS on my cell phone, and watch Netflix with the couch pulled up close. We figured that even if we were going to be lame and sick on our vacation, we could try to help make it special for her - and we were too tired to do anything else.

I started feeling better towards the end of the day. David started feeling worse. Double-boo.

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Austin is pretty much the most darling thing in the whole world. This age he's at? I. love. it! So much. I have his 9 month blog post started but not finished, so this will be a little redundant, but if babies were born at this stage that he's at right now I wouldn't be able to stop myself from having 100 of them. He's so sweet and smiley (always has been), but now he's mobile and so darn cute that I can't help but cheesy-grin every time I look at him.

Lydia is at such a fun age, too. She constantly surprises me with the things that she says and that she is able to articulate. She loves to give Austin big hugs and lately she wants to help him stand up by holding his hands. Today she got too close and he grabbed at her with his sweet baby fingers and pinched her neck a bit. She didn't like that much (even though I had been telling her that she needed to give him some space and that he was just playing with her in the only way he knew how as she was invading his personal space so thoroughly) and after I explained that he hadn't meant to hurt her and that babies sometimes just grab at whatever is close so we have to be careful she got down on his level, put her face right in front of his face and proceeded to explain to him why she was upset and that in the future he shouldn't grab her neck like that. "Austin, when you grabbed my neck it hurt me and I didn't like that very much. It didn't make me happy, it made me sad. We don't grab peoples necks because that might hurt them and make them sad. Okay? Okay, Austin? So just don't hurt me next time when you want to grab me...." I was equal parts proud, amused, and reflective. Proud of her for being able to express her feelings so well, amused because it really was so funny, and reflective because it was a very simplified version of the conversations I have with her. I'm realizing more and more and more and more that every single word I say is being absorbed into her consciousness and will be the voice that she uses to talk to others, and to talk to herself. Like, when she came down the stairs and wanted to show me the pajamas she had picked out which consisted of a pajama dress, leggings, and a skirt from her closet. (She's dressing herself now, and it's... an adventure.) I was busy cleaning the kitchen up, and when she asked me what I thought I replied, "Oh Lydia, that's perfect." She immediately ran to David and said "Mommy says that the clothes I picked out are perfect!" I was surprised to hear my words reflected back so immediately in her 3-year old innocence and I was struck with the thought that what if I had said "Lydia, I don't really care which jammies you picked out, please go finish getting ready for bed." That is what she would have heard. Not all of my interaction with Lydia are as positive as "Oh, that's perfect." but I want them to be. I want her inner voice to sound just like me and be forever supportive and loving and encouraging.

Wow, that little thought about Lydia took on a life of it's own. But, that's why I like to blog so much, because I like having a place to write down whatever comes in my head, even if I tend to write in run-on-paragraphs. (My 11th grade English teacher, Mr. Anderson would be appalled.)

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Last month, I was able to attend a special Book Club event at our library where Julianne Donaldson came and spoke about her books Edenbrooke and Blackmoore (loooveeed Blackmoore). One thing she said really has stuck with me. She talked about her writing and how you have to take the time for the things that are important to you, because no one is going to give it to you. Blogging is important to me, and I'm going to make sure that I allow myself to take the time to write, even if that means staying up late or letting go of my endless to-do list, or whatever.

Now David is sleeping in our bed next to me, and I really should be going to sleep, too. But I just wanted to make sure that I was able to finish this blog post - even if it was about mostly nothing at all.

Here's to more blog posts in the near future.