10.19.2012

Friday Favorite Things

Here's another "Friday Favorite Things" post to join all the other amazing posts over at finding joy.

I'm thankful for many things this week. 

*Ava always knows how to cheer me up with her choice of outfits.




*Whenever Ava and I take a car ride together, just the two of us, she loves to have the windows down and scream as loud as she can. I let her...because why not? I mean look at the joy all over her!




*As much as my daughters make me happy, I think, no I know, that I love making them happy more. This year for Halloween, Ava asked to dress up as Rapunzel from the Disney Tangled movie. We bought her costume this week, and she couldn't be more proud of it. And yes I let her wear it all day that day.




*My sweet, beautiful, adorable, precious baby girl Lyla decided to have a couple of milestones this week. Here she is sitting up by herself. I love how happy and proud she looks. And the way she's sitting up as straight as possible. 




*Another big milestone that Lyla decided to have this very same week is saying her first word. "Momma" My heart could not be filled with more joy. Here's a video to prove it. It's quick and not great quality, but it's there regardless. She says it very quickly at the beginning of the video and then laughs at herself for doing so. I love how she's so happy and proud of herself. 



What are your Friday Favorite Things?



10.17.2012

Lyn 101: 2-5

Ok...ok...I know I've been gone from the blog for awhile now, (3 1/2 weeks), but don't be too angry with me. Life happens. It always has a way of doing that somehow.

I went to the beach with my family and had a wonderful time. It's always so nice to be able to relax and enjoy family time. Ever since we've been back though, it seems like one thing after another has come up and unfortunately I've had zero time for writing. I thought I'd continue the Lyn 101 series.

#2 I'm completely O.C.D. about pretty much everything.

I thrive on having order in my life. I love being in a routine. I enjoying scheduling. I love cleaning. I pay major attention to details. It's all a bit much at times, and the majority of my O.C.D.-ness comes from my need to control things. I'm trying to learn to be better about being more laid back. Going with the flow. Not letting "small things" get to me, but it's reeeeeaaaaally difficult at times. I constantly fight the urge to be up and running about the house straightening up. I am always dealing with the guilt that comes with missing "laundry day" yet again this week and having to move it to *gasp* a different day of the week. I could spend hours on end alphabetizing the dvd collection at our house. There are far too many of these instances that I could even begin to list here, but that's just a peek into my head. All just part of the t.v.'s that are on incessantly in my head.

#3 I count stairs everywhere I go.

Ok...so maybe this goes hand in hand with my O.C.D., but it's very specific to me. At my parents house there are 15 from the garage to the living room. At my house there are 12, then a small landing, and then 5 more. At the dance studio they are in increments of 12, then a landing, and then 12 more...unless you're coming in from outside first, and then there's 5, then a landing, and then 5 more. I've done this for as long as I can remember. I do it unconsciously. I catch myself counting, and then try to stop, but I just can't. I've finally accepted about myself. It's not that bad of a habit, and it really does come in handy during power outages...no need to see the stairs when you know how many there are.

#4 I wear a night guard while I sleep because I clinch and grind my teeth.

Sometimes my husband and I will lay in bed at night laughing to the point of tears at the way it causes me to have a lisp when I talk. Of course I choose that very moment to practice as many words containing the letter -s as possible. There's the typical "sister sally sells seashells by the seashore" that I always bust out. I've also found that sometimes speaking words in a different language can cause quite a guffaw or two. It is often funnier to me though the way that we are trying to stifle our laughter as to not wake up our children.

#5 I sing in and out of the bath/shower.

Yeah so everyone sings in the shower. I mean the acoustics are amazing in bathrooms. Everyone sounds awesome when they sing there. Another very specific thing about me though is that I sing the same song each time upon exiting the bath/shower. (I know this may be due to my O.C.D. as well. There's no need to remind me.) Without fail, as I step out of the bath/shower, I sing "ain't nobody dope as me I'm dressed so fresh and clean, so fresh and so clean, clean" either in my head or out loud...mostly out loud.

Ok so there ya go. A post to tide you over until something uber substantial strikes me. I promise not to leave the blog so lonely for so long again.