When you are younger you tend to want to wish for the next stage in life. I would often think, "I can't wait until I am in high school." Or "I can't wait until I am 16 and can drive." While there are benefits in each stage of life, my mom often reminded me not to wish my life away. She told me to enjoy life in the fullest and bask in it's ups and downs. For you can only enjoy the next stage if you fully experienced the previous one.
Now, as a mother myself, I take that piece of advice to heart even more. My beautiful kids are growing up too fast. I am so happy and content in the stage of life they are in right NOW. And I already miss their younger selves.
It seems that the older I get, the faster life goes by. Why waste time wishing for the next stage in life? So what if my kid isn't potty trained yet... it's more convenient sometimes! And yes my baby often wakes up in the middle of the night. But that is also when I get the best baby cuddles. There is nothing better than a sleepy baby resting across your chest, even if it is at 3:00 in the morning.
When my dad died, my biggest regret was that perhaps I didn't soak in my time with him as much as I could have. If I were to go back in time, you know what I would want to do? Just sit, and relish in the love that I often felt around my dad. I would want to do nothing. I would want to be around my dad and not worry about what I was going to do next. I wouldn't be checking my phone for the latest updates. I would just take it all in and enjoy being around him.
And sometimes I have to remind myself to do the same with my kids, my husband, my brothers, my mom and my sweet friends. Because life is too short and you just never know when the next stage could end up being the last stage in life.
And here is a much needed update from the DC Essigs:
Eva is now 2 1/2. . She loves to dress up. She tells me she is a beautiful princess, which I whole heartily agree. She is so smart! She knows her ABC's 123's colors, shapes, you name it. She loves to learn. She loves to sing. And she loves playing games and watching you tube on the ipad. She loves to read stories and point out everything she knows in the books. She is also afraid of the dark. She likes to sleep with the light on. And if we turn it off, she will usually end up sleeping in our room on the floor by our bed. Everyday she tells me what she wants to do and who she wants to play with.
Emerson is almost 10 months now. He is crawling and loves to explore. (especially in the toliet :) He never did the army crawl. He just went straight on all fours. One of my favorite things about him is that he smiles with his whole body. He kicks and jumps and smiles when he sees someone he loves. When he sees his sister sometimes he will literally almost jump out of my arms, because he is so excited to play. He has always been a kicker. From my belly, to his crib he almost does the "worm" when he wakes up in the morning by pulling his legs together up so high and smashing them back down has hard as he can. My brother heard him once and thought he was playing the drums or something. He can also get mad really fast if you don't give him what he wants. You can tell he just gets frustrated that he can't communicate. He is also learning that with two kids, his mom doesn't get to him as fast as she wants. He realized pretty early on that the "squeaky wheel gets the oil"so he can go from 0 to 90 real fast and then back to 0 just as fast after he gets what he wants. And he really loves his Mama. But his first word (if you can call it that) is "da da," He is so sweet. I just love him.
For the month of October, Lincoln and I went to Utah to attend two weddings of our good friends.The first was Tara and Michael. Tara was my MTC companion and Michael was the whole reason why I met Lincoln (he convinced me to come and visit him in DC) So we returned the favor and set Michael up with Tara. Their wedding was so beautiful.
We were also able to make it to Matt and Heidi Fisher's wedding. Matt was Lincoln's former roomate, and the whole reason why I officially met Lincoln the way I did. Matt dared me to jump in Lincoln's bed while he was sleeping. There is always a party with Matt Fisher.
And while we were in Utah the kids enjoyed some good cousin and Nonnie time.
We spent Halloween in Utah again this year. The weather was great. We enjoyed parties at the Essig's and the Abegg's house.
We visited Great Grandma Holder
And took lots of naps on the go
I finally cleaned out my high school wardrobe and gave most of my old dress up clothes to the DI
And our trip to Utah wouldn't have been complete without us all getting sick. This time we got the entire family sick. We all had the flu, and we were all throwing up one after another...
And sick kids meant no sleep and more doctor's visits
THen Lincoln and I went to CA for his Law Firm retreat. We left the kids in Utah and really enjoyed the weekend to ourselves.
When we got back to DC I finally finished painting Emerson's room. Thanks to the help from our babysitter Tori.
For Thanksgiving this year we drove to Durham NC again to visit my cousin the Isleys. And as always it did not disappoint. The food was Amazing!
My Cousin Jeff who lives in NY joined us this year for the Thanksgiving festivities.
And Lincoln mastered putting the kids to sleep while playing xbox.
Eva LOVED riding the Isley's horses. It was adorable to see her.
During Christmas time we visited the Capitol Christmas Tree and then went to see the Trains at the Botanic Gardens
Eva also went to her first movie in the Theaters to see Frozen. She loved it!
And spending Christmas in Utah with family was so nice.
The Essig Christmas party did not disappoint. There was much fun to be had.
We saw Landen Abegg in his school play, "The Christmas Carol"
And Eva and Penelope danced around the Christmas Tree
The Holidays were good to us this year.
