are you out there?

Do I still have readers out here!? Haha. I've been so bad to this blog! But guess what? It's coming back! I am going to have to spend a few days updating it, but it will happen - I promise :)
And one day, I will even go back in time to... her birth?? Wow, that's alot of blog entries... but I will try.. afterall, this is for her one day right?

Just a few to share from our trip to Santa Cruz

Take a little time...

Today while we were out playing at the park, I witnessed a mother-child relationship that was just unreal to me. The child wasn't allowed to be a child for one second without being scolded. It made me feel heavy-hearted that this was real life for that child. So it got me thinking just how I myself react to everyday childish behavior. And I'm so happy to say that I live by the opposite philosophy as the woman at the park today.

Here's just a little something to remind us of our priorities...

Hug your kids, even if they don't want to be hugged. Kiss them, even if they don't want you to. Love them, even if they are misbehaving. Finger paint more, and point the finger less. Do less correcting and more connecting. Take your eyes off your watch, and watch with your eyes. Take more walks and fly more kites. Stop playing serious and seriously play. Run through more fields and gaze at more stars. Do more hugging and less tugging... Just spend more time living and loving.

It seems every time I gaze into her eyes she changes just a bit. She is getting so big...too fast. One thing she knows, she will always have my ♥

rockin new sunglasses

Flashback Friday!

July 2007. Taking some big steps before her 1st birthday!

I just love the way the green grass reflects in her eyes in this shot!

10 Things to Know (and Love) About Karaleigh

1.) Number 1 couldn't be about anything other than MILK. This girl lives for milk. She consumes about a gallon a week, no joke. It's insane. And milk is getting expensive these days! Most kids have a blanky, stuffed animal or such that they love to carry around and snuggle with. Not Karaleigh... her comfort is milk! Whenever she gets upset, it's milk to the rescue. As long as there's milk, she can snap out of any crying fit.



3.) She loves the outside world. Front yard, back yard, playground, any outside. She'll do anything for fresh air, she'll plead with me "mommy I wanna go outside" in that sweet little voice that I just can't resist!



4.) Her new favorite thing to do is go in "mommy's red car" in her "new carseat". And then when we get in, she wants to go "superfast!"



5.) Water is like crack to Karaleigh. She just can't resist it. The bath, a puddle, and don't think she won't jump in the pool w/no floaties on and sink right to the bottom (that's always fun). The other day she was playing in her sand/water box and the next thing I knew she was butt naked sitting in the water side.



6.) She hates her crib. Or any bed that doesn't have me in it!



7.) Karaleigh loves flying. Thank god right? She better be used to it after all the flying she's done in her life already! She is definitly one of the more well behaved kids on the airplane now. That's pretty good considering our flights are usually at least 5 hours. She gets so excited during take off and she'll pat her knees like they do in little einsteins and shout "blast-off!"



8.) Her sweet side: She is so into kisses right now. Probably due to me kissing her all the dang time. Whenever anybody leaves our house, no matter who it is, when it's time to say goodbye, if she doesn't get her kiss in... she is just torn.



9.) The word NO has been frequenting Karaleigh's vocabulary lately. And that's not always a good thing.



10.) Whenever a tv show ends, she gets so sad and almost starts to cry, as if it is the end of the world and she is never going to see the doodlebops or little einsteins again.

Summer fun...