a letter

dearest baby girl,

first, i have to say that i am so sorry i don't write on this more. i have this blog so i can easily write stories about your life so when your older you will have an amazing thing to look back on. plus i want to always remember all these little and big things you do and accomplish. i promise to change that. it is laziness and also when daddy is gone i kinda get in a funk...i hope it doesn't show to you but i know as you get older it will be something i have to watch. it is something i am working on and with God's help i will get better at.

you are 16 months and 5 days old. for the first time you walked across the living room today! you took so many steps that i lost count! this is such a huge step. for the past few months i have been like "okay any day now she is gonna do it!" we worked on it but i also reminded myself that it was OKAY that you hadn't. it really taught me not to compare and not to worry about such a small thing. i knew it was mostly due to your personality. you are a very cautious little girl. any little bump or fall you take great insult too...not by crying (unless of course it really hurt) but you just give a dirty look to anyone around like "what the heck!" it cracks us up! you have a very impressive furrow brow (which you get from daddy) it was so great to see you so proud of yourself as you walked back and forth! every time you sat down you clapped along with us. we are so proud of our little walker!

you have so many words it is crazy. some new ones are...NO!, yes, mimi, night night. you mimic lots of words too! so many i can't even remember. the other day i asked you if you were ready for night night and you said "NO night night!" haha! everything right now seems to be NO! along with your famous furrow brow but we are working on yes. you have to be reminded of that one a lot haha. you also know where your eyes and nose are and can say the words! you know where your ears are but can't really say that one yet. you know toes, belly, belly button, foot too!

you love animals and love all their sounds. you do a mean lion, monkey, cow, dog, snake, bear, bee, cat, and pig. you fav as of this moment is monkey you love scratching your arm pits and going ooh ahh ahh! you also have grown very attached to a baby monkey toy. it actually was the first toy you would smile at. we haven't played with it for like 8 months and you found it the other day and now you won't put it down. you also know that santa says HO HO HO! this is the cutest!
you love your stuffed animals! you feed them and kiss them and dance with them. it is so darling. you have really been getting into imaginary play with them.

as i sit here thinking about all this i am just so thankful. i am so thankful for your daddy. you have a good one. he is so in love with you. he also is very hands on. he wants to get you up in the morning. he wants to put you to bed. he wants to get on the floor and play with you and read you books. he misses you so much when he is on the road. and when he gets home he fills all the time he can loving on you. i also want you to know that he cooks, cleans, changes the grosses diapers, and always puts us first. one of my biggest prayers for you is that the man God has for you is like your daddy. we got a good one baby.

i love you baby girl. you have been so fun to watch grow and change and get this fiery, loving personality. you are so fun to be around and i am so thankful for you. i promise to write down more stories.

loves and kisses

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

hello lovelies! hope you all had a great thanksgiving! we had a great time up in st. louis with my side of the fam. bennet loved playing with all her cousin's cool toys! especially their play kitchen, which i believe she is asking santa for this year. she has been such a little sweet heart so i am sure she will have something extra special waiting for her under the tree. ;) speaking of santa...we went to see him today! bennet warmed up quick to him. she just sat there jibber jabbering to him. it was so cute. santa went on and on about how she reminds him of his little girl (santa and mrs. claus have babies ya'll) you could tell santa was very content to hold her and secretly didn't want her to go. i think the feeling was mutual ;)

oh and here is a flash back of last year....

same santa, same girl...even though she looks so different! it really is crazy to see how much she has changed. still the sweetest little thing though :)

my little family

i love my husband. i love my baby girl. i love our kitty.

i am so in love with my little family.

they mean everything to me. i am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a fun bunch.

but...

i wish my husband was home. the days we have to spend with each other are few and go by too quick. some days are so hard to get through. and most days don't go by fast enough. i could write on and on about how hard dealing with my husband's job is. how hard it is to see your little girl cry and knock on the front door after dada leaves...again.
this tour is almost over and then we will have some time in december to all be together. and then it starts all over again in january. he will be gone 4-5 days a week till april. yep.

today i was daydreaming about what it would be like to have him home on the weekends. what would that look like? would we snuggle in bed and watch cartoons with bennet? would be get up and make the most of our day? head to the farmers market? do brunch? go on random road trips? stay in pjs all day?

there are a few things i want to say...
-obviously it is hard. days are long.
-if he is gonna have to travel for a job, it is pretty cool that he gets to do something he loves.
-i am thankful he has a job.
-there are perks.
-there are downers.


all this to say, i just am missing him...so is bennet.

this is my baby

{photo by ethan luck}


i am one blessed mommy

lately...

{at the park}

{got her hair did ha}

i feel like bennet has been such a sponge the past couple months. she tries really hard to say words and mimics everything!
bennet's favorite words are:
cheese
turkey
cracker
kitty cat
bye
dada
mama

{slides!!}


she is constantly using her baby signs...more, eat, drink, thank you. those are just the main ones i taught her. she knows lots of words and knows what i mean when i say "are you ready for night night?" she crawls to her room. same with bath time. it is crazy how much she knows. i will ask something and she will totally know it. it def surprises me sometimes.

she knows some animals sounds too. right now her favorites are lions, bears, and snakes. she knows monkeys scratch their armpits haha. i would say reading books with animals is her favorite thing to do. she loves the flap books and constantly wants to read and lift the flap up.

{eating jeni's ice cream}

{at the pumpkinfest with her buddy addison}

she still won't walk by herself, but i think she is getting close. we will see.

did i mention she is gonna be a kitty cat for halloween?! isn't she the cutest!!

random memories...

~i stopped nursing bennet completely while in st louis on oct 4. i was just feeding her in the morning but i could see she wasn't really caring about it. so i just stopped. she hasn't seemed to miss it. as much as i was longing for this day, i was super sad the next couple days...she is such a big girl now.

~bennet knows what a lion says. anytime you ask her she growls the cutest growl. she has also mooed when asked what a cow says but prefers to growl. she pretty much thinks every animal growls since learning about lions. i took her to the zoo while in st louis and when we saw the lions she just sat there forever growling at them. ha

~bennet has such a personality and likes to have all the attention. she still has no stranger danger and says HI! to everyone she sees.

~you went to your 3rd sanctus real show and saw dada play. while watching him you kept saying dada! dada! and clapping. you dance so much to music it is hilarious.

~you have 6 teeth right now and some more trying to get through. you are officially the slowest at getting teeth. sorry baby.

~you think its awesome to pull petty's hair out by the handfuls. he still hasn't scratched you. seriously the sweetest cat. and he adores you.

~you refuse to keep socks and shoes on. i am on the hunt to find one that you can't take off. so frustrating as it is colder out and you NEED something on your feet.

~after seeing your daddy for the 1st time after being away from him for that horrible 24 days, you lite up. i will never forget your smiling face and how excited you were for him. he won't either...you made his day. :)

(us last night at daddy's show)

Happy Birthday dada!

today is pete's birthday! we sent him this little video today to wish him a happy one!

Untitled from melissa prevost on Vimeo.

we are hanging in there! and only have 6 more days to get through till we are all together again! it has been hard...very hard. but i am thankful pete has had some fun (including meeting/hanging out with DJ Tanner!!?!) and bennet & i have been hanging with family in st louis. it has helped the time go by faster but still...24 days SUCKS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE! your girls love you and can't wait to give you lots of hugs and kisses!

~m