Sew In Love

20 years ago I took a smocking course at a local sewing store.  At the time I made a dress and bonnet and dreamed of the little girl – my little girl - my daughter – who would wear it one day. 

Sunday that dream came true.

I must admit to being a little teary eyed when I dressed Hannah for church on Sunday.  The little dress that had hung in my closet for years and then in Hannah’s closet for the past 5+ years was now being worn by her – and she loved it!  We’re currently reading ‘Little House on the Prairie’ so she was excited to be dressed like Mary and Laura.  When we had a little photo shoot at Nana and Papa’s she even wanted to wear the bonnet.

*sigh*  Wasn’t it just yesterday that I dressed her in adorable little bonnets all the time?  She’s growing up far too quickly!  I’m so thankful she was able to wear this dress before she outgrew it!

My little prairie girl. 

A Lesson in Obedience and A Lesson in Gravity

Blog posts are sadly lacking.  Sorry!  I’m working on a project in the evenings that has to be done by Monday so after that I’ll get back into the swing of things.  I have lots of pictures and stories to share with you once time permits.  Until then, here’s a little post about a moment in our day yesterday.  I love that this blog allows me to capture the tiny moments that otherwise would get lost in time. 

When it’s time for Hannah to leave daycare we’ve been working on her listening and being ready to go.  Ange and I normally chat at the door for a few minutes and during that time I remind Hannah that it will soon be time to leave.  Unfortunately when this time comes Hannah thinks it hilarious to run away and wants me to run and chase her.  I just can’t do this and I also want her to know that it’s important that she obey me when I ask something of her.  (This is a common lesson we’re working on right now.) 

Anyway, Tuesday she was distraught when I took her little car snack away when she didn’t come when it was time to leave.  I called her - she looked at me and then proceeded to run the other way.  I reminded her that it was time to go and she needed to obey.  She called out ‘no’ and kept running around.  I explained that she would not get her car snack if she didn’t come immediately and she just looked at me and then ran the other way.  Ugh!  Follow through is key so I told her she’d lost her car snack for that night.  That’s when the switch flipped and she came running up saying ‘Sowwy Mommy!  Sowwy!’ and asking for her snack.  I explained that she’d lost her snack for that night and that she could try again the following night. 

Oh the tears!   Big huge alligator tears and many  cries of ‘I’m sowwy mommy’.  We made our way to the car and her snack remained closed on the seat.  She was not impressed to say the least!

Fast forward to the next day.  When I entered the house Hannah came running up and said, ‘I listen mommy!  I’ll put my shoes on.’  Oh yes!  As hard as it was to discipline her and take her snack away, consistency and follow through are key!  We left quickly and Hannah enjoyed her little car snack on the way home.

When we arrived home she had 2 little jelly beans in her hands.  I had begun to unpack my lunch bah when she came running up to me and said that one of her jelly beans was missing.  I asked if she knew where it was and she said, ‘Outside Mommy.’

Outside?  I’d just locked the screen door moments before so how could it possibly be outside?

I asked her to show me and sure enough, outside it was!  I quickly realized what had happened and it made me giggle at my wonderful girl and her adventurous curiosity.

I grabbed the camera and asked her to point to where her jelly bean was.  (Yes, Hannah is tall!!  Many have commented on this and I hear it in person all the time through.  At 2 1/2 years old she is now 37 1/4” tall!)

I looked outside and sure enough, there it was!

Even though I’d quickly figured it out it was cute when Hannah showed me how the jelly bean had made it’s way onto the front porch.

The little culprit was rescued and within moments she was enjoying it….after posing for one last picture.

To most this picture looks like a little girl holding a jelly bean.

To me when I look at this picture I see a little girl who is absolutely amazing!  A little girl who took to heart the lesson we’d talked about Tuesday and applied it Wednesday with a huge smile on her face and a sense of accomplishment.  Oh how I praised her when she came to me, even before I called her!  And tonight?  Tonight Grandma picked her up at daycare and she ran to her too.  Oh yes Hannah, you are amazing and we love you!

And…thank you for obeying!

Mommy’s First Night Out!

Hannah had been home for 16 months and with the exception of going to work we were together 24/7…and I wouldn’t have it any other way!!  That being said, a wonderful opportunity came up and I knew it was time for Mommy to leave Hannah in the great care of Grandma and Grandpa and enjoy a night out.  Steven Curtis Chapman was coming to town and I was excited to attend his concert!

After spending a fun Saturday together I took Hannah to my parent’s place around 3 in the afternoon. I was surprised by my emotions as I teared up after saying goodbye to her. I leave her Monday to Friday each week and haven’t cried since the 2nd week of daycare so the emotions I was feeling surprised me a bit.  I guess the change had to do partially because I was going to miss her; I would be travelling more than an hour away from her and also because someone else was going to be putting her to bed for the night which had never happened since we’d been together.

I knew Hannah was going to have a great time with Grandma and Grandpa so as quickly as the tears came, they left again.  I picked up my friend Liz and together we headed to the other side of the city where we met up with Karen and Mike.  It was a treat to spend time with these friends and getting caught up on one another’s lives.

After supper we went to the concert and it was absolutely wonderful!!  Steven Curtis Chapman is a Christian singer who is blessed to have adopted 3 little girls from China. 

The concert was an evening of praise, worship, surrender as well as a few tears.  You may remember that this dear man and his family lost their youngest daughter in a terrible accident at their family home in 2008.  Their story is one of sadness and yet forgiveness, celebration, love, acceptance and praise!  It was such a blessing to spend time praising and worshiping God through the amazing music of this very talented singer. (Thanks for the pictures Daniel.)

After the concert I was anxious to get home to Hannah.  I had a great time but now that the concert was over I wanted to be with my baby!  It was midnight when I reached my parents home so I unlocked the front door and quietly let myself in. I quickly realized that there was no need to be too quiet as I heard the pitter patter of sleeper clad feet and my sweet Shaoey called out ‘Mommy!!!’ as she ran into my arms!  She’d gone to sleep well with Grandma by her side and slept soundly for 2 hours but when she woke and realized Mommy wasn’t there she decided to wait up for me.   She was happily watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while Grandma sat in the rocking chair and Grandpa dozed on the couch.  After saying thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting we slipped into the car and my sweet baby girl was softly snoring before we reached the town limits.  Once home we snuggled into bed and she slept peacefully with visions of fun times with G&G dancing in her head while songs of praise to our Saviour and King filled my heart and prayers. 

‘Sit Down Mommy, Sit Down’

This is a phrase I hear almost daily and while it warms my heart to hear my sweet ‘baby’ girl expressing her desires, it also breaks my heart to hear those words. 

Anyone who knows me, knows that my home is that, a ‘home.’ It won’t win a spot in a designer magazine nor a Molly Maid ad but it is a place where love is.  I love the time that Hannah and I share together here but there are times when she wants more of mommy’s time and as hard as it is to hear the words, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’ I’m glad she knows to say them to express her desires.  When I’m trying to get something done, these simple words cause me to pause and question whether what I’m doing needs to happen at that exact moment or if it can wait? 

There are times when supper preparations are set aside in preference for reading a few stories together.  Sometimes the laundry is left for a day longer than I may have intended but a great tea party was held complete with imaginary tea, cookies and lively 'conversation’.  The dishes may sit in the sink until after she’s in bed but we will have built a big tower using her wooden building blocks and then shot it down with the ball popper.   

There are other times when I need to continue with what I’m doing when I hear ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’ but those words challenge me to ask myself if Hannah can help me with what I’m doing?  It may take a little longer to accomplish what I’m doing but we’re doing it together and that’s all that matters!

Supper preparation is still a work in progress but we’re getting there.  We normally get home around 5:30 so the question is always, playtime/story time or begin preparing supper and save those activities for after supper?  We have a narrow 2 1/2 hour window in the evening and I want to make the most of my time with my sweetie.  I think what I’m going to try this week is a 15 min window of time dedicated to all things Hannah when we first get home and then move into dinner preparations from there.  Thankfully we don’t mind leftovers so dinner prep won’t need to happen each night.  Also,  I may try to pull out the crockpot and see what we can have waiting for us when we get home. 

I’m slowly trying to get some little projects done around the house that I’ve been avoiding for far too long and trying to do them with a busy toddler as my ‘helper’ keeps life interesting to say the least.  Last week one evening’s goal was simply to unpack 1 suitcase and put away 1 load of laundry that was already folded and upstairs.  In those brief moments Hannah was able to completely empty a bathroom cupboard, 1/2 her book case and begin looking for what she could 'do’ next.  Yikes!!  The laundry did get put away and thanks to her start, the bathroom cupboard was also cleaned and reorganized. 

I find by the time Hannah goes to bed I’m ready for some down time and just don’t have the energy to attack bigger projects so another change in my routine is that I’m going to wake up 15mins earlier each day and slowly work away on the little projects I want to get accomplished early in the morning.  Tomorrow morning starts with beginning to work my way through the baskets of clothing in Hannah’s room and organizing it into sizes and storage bins.  Right now it’s pretty much just in a ‘too small’ basket and needs to be further refined.  It’s good to have a doable project that I can work away on each morning and then just leave it ‘as is’ when it’s time to begin getting ready for work. 

Hopefully with my project time taking place in the mornings before Hannah wakes, she won’t have as much need to remind me to, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.’

On a side note, my little smarty pants knows her mommy well!  On the Friday morning that we were leaving for Florida I was doing the last minute packing that can’t happen until well…the last minute.  Hannah was awake and playing in our room while I was packing in the office.  I suddenly heard, ‘Mommy!!  I stuck!  I stuck!’  I immediately stopped what I was doing and quickly went to see what I could do to get her ‘unstuck.’  As I walked into our room there sat Hannah.  Not stuck at all, just patiently sitting on our bed waiting for me to arrive.  As I entered the room she said, ‘Sit down Mommy.  Sit down.  Read story!’  Yup, that’s my girl!!  If she’d asked me at that particular moment to come and read a story I would have said that I needed to finish packing so she knew enough to say that she was ‘stuck’ to get me to come immediately.  I couldn’t do anything but laugh, shake my head at her logic and snuggle into bed to read a story with my sweetie. 

At the rate we’re going Hannah is going to be smarter than me by the time she’s umm….5!!

Oops!

I'm working on a little project with Hannah and decided I wanted to include her hand prints. I thought I was careful enough when I bought the materials but obviously I was wrong!

I purchased this ink: (M3...there`s that `dead` language again! :o)
which said this on the back:

To me, that meant we were good to go!


Ummm....nope! I'm guessing the Fuchsia colour I chose was one that met the 'may require repeat washing' statement on the back. LOL!! Together we happily stamped her hand prints where I wanted them and even did a couple of extras for mommy. The problem arose when I went to wash off the ink it barely budged!! We tried soap and water as well as baby wipes but my daughter was still sporting pretty pink hands. Also, while in the midst of stamping and before I could stop her, she put her hand up to her mouth so for a brief time her beautiful rose bud lips looked like she had lipstick on them! Oye vey! Thankfully that little bit came off when supper was consumed.





After multiple attempts to get the colour out it was still quite prominent. She was funny as she'd go about her way playing and then I'd notice her look at her little hands as if to say, 'Hey! I don't remember them looking like this before!' We even added an unscheduled bath to tonight's routine to see if that might help but, no, not really. Here is my sleeping XiaoFen with her pretty pink hands. Much better than where we started...but still pink!