Gal Pals

 

We haven’t quite hit Spice Girls status, but we are definitely riding the ‘Girl Power’ wave around these parts.  With the dad putting in 60+ hour work weeks this last month (you know, just living the glamorous life of a new dentist) there has been a lot of time left for girls to be girls and lots of fun to be had.

I must admit I am awfully lucky to get to be the one to stay home and hang out with two of the cutest little ladies on the planet.  And we have had some pretty exciting adventures and hit some pretty big milestones over the last few weeks.

And now I’m going to tell you about them.

I feel like the most monumental development with the Palmer family is that Miss Stella is now sporting the big girl panties.  I am not sure that I can now (or ever) say she is officially potty trained, but things are certainly headed in the right direction.  The fact that Cinderella is now out of the box and sleeping peacefully next to her rightful owner is a very, very good sign.  Getting this girl to poop on the potty was no easy feat and I am not lying when I say I shed a tear or two when the deed was finally done.

In between the “potty timer” going ding and changing wet panties we did manage to relax just a little bit.

Running through sprinklers and making cookies in our undies seemed like good distractions for everyone involved.

In all honesty the whole potty training thing went so much better than I could have, and did, imagine.  I was absolutely dreading it, and while it wasn’t as pain free as some people claim it to be (are they really telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth?) it wasn’t the absolute worst experience of my life.  And seeing how excited and proud the girl was every time we accomplished another step in the process was pretty great, too.

Another big step in this not-so-little girl’s life was the start of her first ballet class. 

I may have mentioned once or twice or one hundred times before that Stella is slightly obsessed with dance.  Getting to wear her very own tutu at her very own dance class with her very own teacher is basically a two-year olds dream come true.  And every Monday morning it is the same joy as the very first day.  She when I tell her it is time to get up and get ready for dance class she exclaims, “I’m so excited, mom!”  This girl helps me find the real joy in life every single day.

Eliza is now mere weeks away from her first birthday.  And I am dying.

How can this sweet little babe be turning into a toddler right before my very eyes?  Wasn’t it just yesterday that she surprised us with her early arrival?  That I spent the late nights and early mornings holding her close as she ate?  Suddenly she is drinking out of Sippy cups and scaling the stairs like she knows what she is doing.

I love this girl with every fiber of my being and I just feel such urgency to soak up every second of her.  That feeling translates straight over to her sister as well, as I am amazed every day at what she has learned and what she can do.  I love these babies of mine more than my simple, inadequate words can say.

The every day life of a mother is an interesting thing.   There are so many emotions and feelings intertwined throughout each day.  Sometimes I feel like have conquered the world, and other days I am so thankful for a second chance when the sun rises in the morning.  We take baths (and clean them up…who knew the carnage of bath time could be so great?!), we take naps at the dinner table, we sort through piles and piles and piles of clothes (remind me to never buy them another article of clothing again…haha, right.) and we dance and we sleep and we cry and we play dress up and we fall into our beds completely exhausted and filled to the brim with joy.

I love these girls so much that I thought it would be a good idea to take a 6+ hour road trip, just the three of us.  Overall they are pretty great travelers and we made it to Idaho all in one piece.  Seeing my amazing sister and cute little babe made the trip totally worth it, although Stella coming down with fevers and in turn quarantining the newborn upstairs wasn’t quite the visit we were planning for.  Everything worked out in the end and now that we are on day five of antibiotics (hidden strategically in her beverages and food, mind you) Stella is well on her way to recovery and it looks like Baby G avoided the germs we left behind.

Life with my little girlfriends is pretty great.  Of course we still have rough shopping trips to Walmart (note to self: never go back there), early bedtimes at the end of long days with little to no naps, and late night discoveries of removed diapers and soaked sheets.  And while most of the time ‘Girl Power’ reigns supreme at our house, daddy finally has a day off tomorrow and we couldn’t be happier about that.