Bendelle is 2

Time has been slipping quickly through our fingers, which is why it feel like forever since I've last written. Bendelle is growing more and more every day and I just want to hold onto every little phase and quirk that she goes through (yes, even her bossy phase - I blame that on me).

This month she turned 2 and all I could think about was the moment she was born and how tiny and new she was and how in that moment, I couldn't imagine her a day older than what she was. I would have never imagined she'd become this silly and charming little blonde hair, blue eyed character. She is full of spunk and opinions and it is clear to everyone that this girl has a mind of her own.

She enjoys her little routines as much as we do. They say babies and kids find comfort in routines, and I think that for the most part, this is definitely true. She loves her bubble baths and will usually bathe with her bow and jewelry still on and almost always asks for "more bubbles".

Ever since her Frozen birthday party on the 8th, she's been into wearing princess dresses and for the last couple of months, the first thing she'll ask for when she wakes up and we get her from her crib is "more bow please" and then for a necklace and then bracelets and then a dress. This girl has got it down.

She is definitely, without a doubt, girly, but she has so much desire to explore and climb and is just as crazy and wild as any boy her age.

She loves to color and play with chalk, is still loving reading, and enjoys riding on her toys, playing with her dolls and her new kitchen sets. And she is an expert at puzzles! More than anything, she loves to be outside and climb around in our backyard and the park, and explore. That's the downside to this cooler weather coming up - as beautiful as it is, she won't be able to spend as much time outside.

But as much fun as she had at her birthday party, we can't even imagine how fun Christmas will be for her this year! More than anything, we are excited that both my dad and Aaron's mom will be flying out to visit for the holiday. She is obsessed with my dad and it will be nice to have him around before Christmas so she can spend some quality time with him (and so I can get extra stuff done too) ;) Trying to balance doing work for my shop and being a full time stay-at-home mama is the most difficult thing, and I am constantly trying to find that balance! But more than anything I am sooo grateful that I get to raise my daughter all while pursuing something I really love, something that's all mine and that is growing alongside my daughter.

I've said it a million times, but I honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

life & summer

It's been a while since I've written, BUT I recently decided to be better about it and intentionally carve out time for blogging!

Bendelle is 20.5 months old, and quickly on her way to 2 years. Like every other parent out there, I go to bed wondering where the time has gone! I seriously can't believe how much she is growing and learning, and seeing her feisty, charming and hilarious personality take hold has been something else. I've said it a million times before, but being a parent is honestly the coolest thing ever. And most difficult. But more than anything, it's such a  blessing.

We spent a few weeks in Seal Beach looking over my mom's place and her pets. It was so nice to be back at the ocean and visit all our favorite beach spots, and having our first official beach day with Bendelle. Even though it meant taking care of two cats and walking four dogs four times a day (craaaazy), it was totally worth it.

We quickly found out that just like her mama, Bendelle is a total beach bum. She loved the sand and the water and would quickly point out each boat on the sea and bird in the sky every time we went to the shore. We took her to different beaches on a daily basis and it became apparent that she could stay there all day if we let her.

The weather was perfect the whole time we were there, so it was nice to take strolls on the boardwalk and through town and getting chances to meet up with friends who lived close by.

Here are just a few of the spots we took her to :)

malibu

malibu

wood's cove - laguna

wood's cove - laguna

huntington dog beach

huntington dog beach

sunset beach - our first official family beach trip!

sunset beach

palos verdes

seal beach - steps from my mom's place :)

And in case you haven't noticed, we have a new puppy! Even though we were NOT looking for another dog, this little girl needed a home and being part schnauzer and identical to Darcy when she was a pup, we couldn't say no :) So here is little Miss Bingley! And we have officially completed our Pride & Prejudice trifecta with our pups!

xoxo

18 months!

It is so crazy to think that my little tiny ball of feist is a year and a half old! This age is by far the most fun (although I think I say that at every new stage) because we are seeing her personality bloom so much.

At 18 months young, Bendelle is independent, adventurous, hilarious, dramatic, energetic, dangerous, wild, sweet and oh-so loving. You cannot take your eyes off this child for a second! She is fearless. She is always trying to climb (up anything!) as high as she can. And then she'll just sit there for a minute before she decides its time to jump off (umm, no!). A month or two ago I taught her to hold our hand before she attempts to climb/walk/explore anywhere and that has been not only the sweetest thing ever, but also a lot safer! It's the cutest when she holds her hand open to you and says, "hand! hand! hand!" until you hold her little hand.

Outside is her favorite place to be. Sometimes she'll ask to go "outside? outside?!" as soon as she wakes up. When I go to get her from her crib in the morning, sometimes she'll ask for her socks, then shoes, then bow - she is so smart and knows how to dress herself (more or less) and is obsessed with accessories. Homegirl always has to have a bow in her hair. Sometimes she'll be playing and out of nowhere she'll pat her head and if there's no bow there she'll ask, "bow? bow? bow?!" And she loves necklaces (which I am still careful about) so if she sees one laying around, she'll immediately grab it and put it around her neck.

She doesn't watch that much TV but some mornings or evenings we'll stick on a movie or show for her. Her favorite show is Caillou (sometimes she'll give me the remote and ask to watch "Cai") and her favorite movie is Frozen! Every once in a while I will pop some fresh kernels of popcorn for her and put her in her tiny comfy chair with a blanket while she watches Frozen for a good 20 minutes. I think she's really captivated by it because of all the singing, but we don't mind because we love the humor in it and can totally relate to Kristoff who talks for his pet reindeer :)

As always, she is loving her baths and will stay in there as long as we let her. We've been introducing and encouraging her to use the potty and to our surprise, she both peed and pooped in the potty several times before she turned 18 months old. Once it really starts to warm up here, I want to do some serious (naked) potty training!

When Aaron has off, we've been taking her to church on Sundays and story time at the library on Mondays. Our church is not that big but there is always a responsible adult/leader of the church that will take her off to do some one-on-one reading, playing and learning during the service. And we love taking her to story time at the library where she can listen to new books being read out loud (by someone other than us!) and be around other babies and toddlers. We recently enrolled her in a 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program, which has been so fun since she loves books and reading so much. Basically, we keep track of everything we read to her and every time we hit 100 books, we turn in her reading log and her picture gets bumped up a notch on the reading log chart!

She loooves playing at the park, going down the slide, playing in the sandbox and swinging on the swings. We recently went to Seal Beach for a week and I had so much fun taking her to the beach and letting her play in the sand. She loves playing with rocks and pebbles as well, so when we went to an old favorite beach, we collected some pretty beach stones for her to play with and they are sitting on our bedroom floor right now, where she plays with them on a daily basis.

The other day we took her to my sister's new pool to swim and even though it was in the 90s she could have stayed out there all day. Aaron taught her to kick in the water and she had so much fun splashing around and holding our hands while she explored around the pool.

Everything is so fun, new and interesting right now and it's so exciting to see her learn new things and hear her say new words everyday. I feel so blessed to have this fun, bright and beautiful little daughter and could not be more in love with our little family.

Life with my little.

It has been MONTHS since I have written! Although life has been crazy and sad and beautiful in the past few months, making blogging kind of an overwhelming thing to do, it is something that I want to continue doing despite how busy everyday can be. So here I am! And here is an update on my precious little mini:

She is so social, active, charming and hilarious. And the most beautiful little girl I know. I love that she seems to have the same sense of humor that Aaron and I do (funny how that happens ;) ) and cracks us up with her cheesy expressions and unexpected attitude.

She overwhelms us with her bursts of love and affection, which is my favorite thing ever. And those sloppy little kisses? The best. She also loves surprising the dogs with hugs and kisses. Darcy has mixed feelings about it, but Bennet loves being her sidekick . . . most of the time ;)

She is obsessed with books and reading! Sometimes we read over 20 stories in one day! I am so proud of how smart this little girl is and how she loves to just absorb everything we tell her. She is constantly learning new words and pulling out her books to have us read to her. She makes us so happy!

She is wild, reckless and fearless. I love her sense of adventure and her need to explore. She loves being outdoors, just like her parents, and I love that we have this in common.

She is stunningly beautiful with her bright blue eyes and rosy red cheeks. Sometimes I feel like people do a double take when they see this little blonde hair blue eyed girl with her brunette and hazel eyed mom and dad. But if you look closely and study her, you'll see us there :) The shape of her eyes, her plump lips, round face, long lashes. A beautiful mixture of the both of us. 

I love doing everything together-taking baths, eating lunch, playing outside, cleaning up the house, watching a movie- it's just better when I have this little mini me around to do things with and be inspired by.