Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

My poor neglected blog. I do love it. I want to spend more time with it. It just isn't always easy. I am well-intentioned with poor execution, it seems. I have a lot going on and so much I could write about, but by the time I sit down at 9:30pm with a glass of red wine in my hand...the decompression mode wins over, and the motivation mode loses out.

Health-wise, I have seen better days. I have been struggling with a plethora of undiagnosed symptoms since February. I am functional, but many times I just muster my way through my days...trying to get beyond thinking maybe I am just crazy. I miss feeling good and being without pain and loopiness. I also miss just feeling like "me" instead of the new normal, which is pretty much living under a mysterious cloud of random odd-feelings and sensations. But, who doesn't have issues, right? So, until I see the neurologist at the end of June for a consult, all of that is just what it is.

Finnley has really come into her own as far as being independent and defiant. Tantrums reach defcon-10 without much warning. We are all trying to learn how to cope with these firestorms with little scarring. So far, mostly good. Ah, she is pure spitfire that one. Wallflower with an attitude. Could be worse, I suppose! Better to be passionate than a boring bump on a log.

And, almost every day is still filled with enough funny moments to more than outweigh the trying ones. One day I will have more gumption to speak on some of the less fine moments of meltdowns, but I will save that for a non-holiday weekend. For now, I just want to enjoy. Plus, in less than one week we will be more than engrossed in full-on-Outer-Banksdom so that hopefully those seeing-red toddler tantrum moments of late will seem a bit more humorous than they have right in the heat of it all. Beach vacations are good for cleansing the soul. And for drinking...which, now that I think of it is probably HOW the soul gets cleansed.

For today, I will leave you with my favorite "Finnley Funny". In asking my sweet girl if she needed to go potty, her response was:
"No, I don't need to go potty. I went potty yesterday.".

Well, all righty then...

An Overview.

My daughter:

• loves to watch movies
• thinks the dog is her brother (as she should, because he is, and that is what we have always told her)
• says things like, "oh, my...THAT is ADORABLE!"
• has a tween like attitude housed in a pint sized body
• sometimes believes that she is (or pretends to be) Strawberry Shortcake
• laughs a lot
• makes some horrendously inappropriate decisions at least a couple of times a week
• lightly slaps me in the face now and again thinking she is charming or funny (of which she is neither)
• uses the potty regularly, consistently, and happily
• has one of the best smiles on the planet
• is learning to pose for pictures
• recently discovered the term "best friend" and has even used it to describe me, you know, her MOM
• thinks her daddy is a super hero
• is both an extrovert and a wall flower
• has decided that most food is stupid, save mostly for ham, mac and cheese, cereal, fruit, toast, turkey hot dogs, popcorn, and chicken in some random breaded form
• is as skinny as she is tall
• has recently thrown such massive tantrums that I may or may not have threatened to leave her on the side of the road / let strangers take her home / or never let her leave the house again
• continues to get smarter by the day
• still sounds like she is swearing when she says the words truck and chocolate
• excels at toddler gymnastics
• is lucky she is so freaking cute for most of the above-metioned reasons

Regardless of what Finnley is or isn't at any given second, we still make the most of our time together and try to make as many good memories as we can possibly cram into any given week.  Sometimes that means going out on adventures.  Other times it means having a day in to do chores and cuddle up to watch movies together as buddies.  I know that she won't remember the majority of things that we do together at this point.  But I will.  And, I also believe that all of these little moments will assist in shaping who my daughter will be in the future.  I want to provide her with the best chance of being the best her that she can be...whatever it is she dreams up for herself for her future.  I'd like to think that we have had a pretty good start.  

This week's memory building consisted of more beach outings, chalk drawings, running around, movie-watching, the avoidance of sick people, playground meetings, stranger watching, picnics, playtime with friends, sidewalk walking, and one Mom's Night Out.  Here is a peek at a bit of it that was captured on film:

Chalk It Up!

Most of the day yesterday was clouded over and dampened with periods of rain. Late in the day, though, the clouds parted and the sun broke brilliantly through. In keeping with our desire to have fun outdoors, Finnley and I headed out before dinner to play with some sidewalk chalk. We drew circles, and triangles, and stars. We drew with red, green, blue, purple, yellow, and orange. We also drew whole bunches of random nothingness. I think that is Finnley's favorite.

And after all of that, mommy drew some special scenes and asked Finnley to pose. My growing-up-so-fast-big-little-girl complied with surprising gusto. She was not only willing to lay down where I asked her to, but she was HAPPY to do it. She is really starting to understand what mommy does with the camera, and that makes it easier to be creative on a whim. Oh the fun we had! I think I see a lot of more interesting photography in our future now that I have a willing and pliable model!



Thanks for being such a good sport and an amazing little person, Finnley. Mommy sure does love you!

Spring Days

The weather is all over the map these days. Typical capricious springtime. So, we are all over the map these days, too. Our days all flex on the weather's plan, and we are ok with that. Some days call for indoor activities. Some days happily whisk us outside.

And, oh how we love the outside!

One of the last cool but sunny and beautiful days thrust us into first time lessons in blowing bubbles and cloud watching.



Finnley was (not so surprisingly) a natural at both. The girl is just in her element outside. That makes me happy. No one wants a kid who prefers to sit around on a couch all day. At least they shouldn't!



In addition to blowing the most grand rainbow-reflecting bubbles and witnessing the passing of several families of fluffy white clouds, Finnley took it upon herself to taste the grass, too. Hey, why not? It is there for the picking. She seemed to like it just fine, so who am I to argue?



My girl makes the most simple of new experiences seem like a monumental delight, so I really love days filled with "firsts". Good thing that there are so many of them still to come!