Gratitude Friday...

Hey y'all!  Long day.  Good day but long.  

Thursday I spent most of the day out of the house.  By myself. 

Right?!?!

Started off at the outlet mall where I discovered I no longer have a clue how to shop without a stroller/cup holder/purse rack.  Really, I spent the first 10 minutes wondering what the heck I was supposed to do with my arms.  Never truly felt comfortable.  Almost like I was attempting to impersonate a carefree gal with actual money to spend.  And failing miserably.

The rest of the day was grocery store, a thrift shop I'd been eyeing, the consignment shop, Hobby Lobby and Target.  

Honestly, my feet are still a little sore.  

All that window shopping and I never found the yellow seersucker pants I was hunting for Homeboy's Easter outfit.  Apparently, seersucker is not "in" for baby boys.  

To which I say, why not?

Today, Chris went all spontaneous on us and offered to take us out for lunch and some play at the park.  We went to Plucker's, one of my favorite joints, and then to the same park in Grapevine we visited after our photo shoot in January.  

We had a good time.  Plucker's is a wings and sports bar so there are about 345 ginormous TV's to distract Rhys and lots of sugar packets for Aubrey Kate to stack and count.  She even ate her grilled cheese which is huge.  Girly has never been a picky eater but she's almost three so anything we want her to do, she doesn't want to do and that absolutely includes eating.  

Rhys, however, found his new favorite toy.

A straw.

Seriously.  A solid 12 minutes of awe.

The park was a huge hit.  Aubrey Kate loves to watch other kids play and there were plenty of those.  She did eventually warm up and go down the slide over and over and over...and over again.  Of course, she wants lots of praise every time and if for some reason, we're not watching, she'll run over to let us know she went down the slide.  Again.

I love it.  

Really, I watched her today and fell a little more in love with her.  

She's growing up so ridiculously fast.  Sometimes, I forget that.  

Or she "why's" me to death and I simply want the day to end.  

But she is growing, like, crazy fast.  

Honestly, I get to watch my daughter play at the park lots.  Most days, with good weather.  Sometimes multiple times a day.  But most of those times, I am rarely watching her sweetly from the bench.  Usually, I am trying desperately to hold the baby with one arm and help AK down from the slide with the other arm.

And sometimes trying to text pictures of the kids to grandparents while she climbs up to the slide.  

Of course, there are plenty of moments when she'll say something or do something unexpected and my love for her takes my breath away.  There will come a day when she doesn't need me to help her down and I know I will wish she would call "Momma!" for help just one more time.  

But I refuse to live my life dreading someday instead of living today so I generally don't let those thoughts of her no longer needing me enter my head.

Okay, or, she asks me "why" and even if I were having that thought, the mental exhaustion of "why" squashes it quickly.

Seriously, "why" is wearing me out.

Today, though, I was able to thoroughly enjoy her play.  Watch in amazement at how beautiful she is.  How careful she is not to break in line.  How singularly focused she can be when she decides she is going to do something.  How her precious face lights up when I praise her.  How much my heart fills with joy when she runs towards me for a hug.  

What am absolute miracle she truly is and how blessed we are to have her.  

And I believe I was able to do that because of the break Chris gave me yesterday.  

Thank you for the break, babe.  It was much needed and much appreciated. 

Thank you, Lord, for my husband, my daughter and the miracle of a day at the park together.  

Oh...and Aubrey Kate was grateful today for the cards from Meme and Buddy and Nana and Puddin, all the pictures in her room and all the people in those pictures.  Sweet girl.