five things i love about arrow.

when it comes to finding things i love about arrow, i do not struggle. i mean, look at her, she's adorable, brilliant & hilarious. however, it's so hard to narrow it down to just five! plus, with my favorite things about her changing all the time, i should document them every once and a while so i can one day remember them all, here we go!

O N E. 

right now she is really into putting diapers and onesies onto all of her stuffed animals. she even sometimes goes as far as clips in their hair, hats on their heads & socks on their feet. I'm hoping i can keep her satisfied with stuffed animals until its barbie doll time & we can just skip the whole baby doll phase, because lets get real, baby dolls give me the creeps.

T W O.

 i taught her how to fist bump in her carseat. i know I'm not from the jersey shore & i pray to God she never knows who snooki is, but when the time comes for a dance party and you're strapped into a safety 1st 5-point harness, a raging fist bump is really all you can do anyways. i always try to film it, but the music we're jamming to is on my phone.. oh, and I'm usually driving. chris brown: forever, is her song of the moment. circa 2007, but does it really ever get old?

T H R E E.

she is a repeater. i am pretty sure it's just a natural phase of toddler-hood, but i feel like she might have an even more serious case of the repeats. let me clarify. "done. I'm done. done. do-ne. don-e. done. rowrowDONE. done. done. mama, done. done, mama. done done."  arrow, are you done? i think you might be done. it sounds annoying; its not. its precious. sometimes, i just let her go on and on about being done or wanting to go 'wiiiing' (swing) outside because she sounds so sweet & i can't believe she's talking.

F O U R.

her ponytail, can officially be a top knot now. clips and bows be gone! i'm sure by now you have seen pictures of her infamous sprout across all my social media outlets (insert a billion heart eyes emoji) - but what you haven't seen is the aftermath. about three hours into her updo, she will realize her hair is up & want to take it out. you go girl. one second she's arrow, the next she is the villain from the incredibles. hair blown up and out in all directions. hilarious. oh, and before we get off the topic of her hair, her bed head, top notch people. top. notch.

F I V E.

she has always been independent & becomes even more so with each passing day, but my favorite, favorite thing about her right now is that in midst of all this changing and growing, she still needs her mama. she still needs me to put her to sleep every night, her heavy head on my chest until i tuck her in and say the same prayer over her that i have since the day she was born. she comes running to me when she is scared or hurt; & whether i hear it through the monitor or she has made her way into bed with grant & i during the night, her first word in the morning is always, mama. my favorite title. i am the luckiest woman in the whole world to have someone as wonderful as her need me, just as much as i need her. God certainly knew what he was doing when he put us together. 

happy monday! spend today thinking about all the reasons you love the people around you & then go and tell them! you never know whose day you could turn around by reminding them how great they are!

e a s t e r!

happy easter!
anyone else feel as if easter 2014 was like 5 days ago? it can't possibly have come and gone again, right?! sheesh. i know i say it all the time, but time is flyyyyyyying by. anyways, happy late easter everyone, the sweet anniversary of jesus conquering the grave & freeing us from our sins! a serious praise hands emoji to that one. this year, i was lucky enough to host easter! though we were missing a few characters, almost the whole family was there! we had honey baked ham, twice baked potatoes, a tasty salad, deviled eggs & of course, more desserts than we should have. homemade strawberry lemonade and iced tea were quenching our thirsts on this beautiful day & easter candy wrappers were strewn everywhere. abel and arrow participated in their very first easter egg hunt & i did more underdoggies on the swings than i can count. it was wonderful to get everyone together, laugh & celebrate this day! i hope everyone was able to spend time with your families and get out in this great weather!

^^ can we just take a moment to appreciate the bedhead going on in these photos? that girl knows how to rock bedhead. & the fact that she wants all of her new easter bows in her hair at once.

^^ loving on her new snuggly lamb.

  ^^ table setting & food! if it's not pretty, it's not worth eating!

^^ grammy love <333333 p="">

^^ daddy is the ultimate egg finder, maybe because he was also the egg hider... who knows :)

(below) on the hunt! she was so adorable & determined to find every egg our backyard had to offer (&hold her own basket.)

happy tuesday everyone!

eighteen months has never looked so good!

i can't believe its april. i can't believe today, my baby is 18 months old. it feels like, just a deep breath ago she was a wrinkly newborn, curled up in my lap; her daddy's handsome profile & my eyes. it has gone by way too fast, like, waaaaaaaay too fast. arrow is all her own now. a beautiful blend of us both; strong willed, smart, joyful, charismatic & one seriously tough cookie. we call her a little bruiser. no splinter or skinned knee can slow her down.

her hair is just long enough to tuck behind her ears or pull into a sprout ponytail & thank goodness for it, because she's been 'over' bows and clips since, well, forever. her legs are 24 months long & her eyes get bluer every time she wakes, i swear it. she fills my life with 'uh-ohs & whoas' and says 'mama' in her sleep. her vocabulary is rapidly growing. no seriously, grant + i are in trouble seeing as she tries to imitate every word we say (maybe we should try a swear jar...) she can identify, eyes, ears, hands, feet, tummy, bellybutton, booty etc. & make alllllll kinds of adorable animal noises on command. her mooooooooo is quite possibly the cutest thing you've ever seen. ever.

 we're working on our please + thank yous, being kind with our hands & sharing. I'm pretty sure she believes that strawberries are the most important food group, maybe even the only food group, well that and ice cream sandwiches. if it were up to me, she'd sleep with us every night, its terribly uncomfortable because she is a ninja in her dreams, but it is also so sweet & those days are so numbered.

she insists on going down the slide on her belly, my little wild one, and loves dance parties in the kitchen. bubble guppies & swinging are her jam, along with drinking out of big girl water bottles. what can i say, she is a girl of many interests! she can usually be found with a sidekick in hand, boo boo, the famous pomeranian* to be precise, thank you LA airport store!
*kitty or pig will suffice when he is in the washing machine.

she is my light, and a shiny bright spot in each persons life that she meets, whether it be the grandma in the grocery store, or her own birdie & grammy back at home. she has changed grant & i for the better & i hope she continues to grow and cultivate us into the perfect parents, do those exist? 

my sweet arrow, we made it! thank you for making the last 18 months of my life, the brightest + most wonderful, i have yet to encounter. every moment with you is new. thank you for forgiving me when i fail you, loving me when i need it most & challenging me to be a better mama every day. though one day you may be blessed with a little brother or sister, there will never be another you. a first. a perfect little crash test & i wouldn't have it any other way. happiest of year & a half birthdays to you, arrow! love, your mama