Magnolia says so many things. She’s always said lots of words, and is constantly saying new ones, ones that we never remember teaching her (like today, she said “table,” which I had no idea she knew), and ones that we do teach her (like “cereal” and “milk” which are two of the cutest things ever when said by that sweet little voice). But lately in addition to her world of new words, she’s been saying sentences. “Mama is cute.” “Dada is funny.” “What happened Coco?” “Where is Lunie?” “Papa is silly.” The other day she was holding the dvd case for Cinderella and she studied it and said “Prince dancing with Rella.” She always says “I help you?” when she wants help with something, usually fastening one of her many fancy plastic necklaces about her pretty little neck. Similar, and even more adorable, is when she says “I hold you?” when she wants me to hold her. Also, when you ask her if she’s happy, if she’s hungry, if she’s sleepy, to answer in the affirmative, she says matter-of-factly, “Yeah, Iam.” But slurred together sort of so it sounds more like “Yeah, yam.”
She also knows her name. It’s one of the cutest things she says, “A-No-ee-a.” She also knows that she is also called “Noie” and, of course, “Baby.” I am so very glad that she calls herself Baby, because it makes me feel just a little bit like she is still a baby, even though she’s really not. She’s such a big grown up lady, speaking in sentences all day long. But she will always be my baby, and I’m glad she knows it.
She also loves to sing. Mostly she likes us to sing to her, but she sings along, inserting the correct words in the correct places here and there. When we sing “I love to see the…” she always pipes up with “temple!” (She also thinks that all churches are temples, and that the Disney castle is a temple, but at least she can also recognize actual temples, right?) She chimes in on the ABC’s, saying every five letters are so, always the right ones in the right places, which amazes me. She loves “Part of Your World” from her beloved Meemee, her favorite line being “What do you call ‘em? Oh, feet.” Tonight, I was singing her to sleep, “Moon River,” what I always sing, and she sang along almost every word. She let me rock her in my arms and she just sang quietly with me and my heart was full.
These days life is really hectic. Since we’ve lived in our house, we’ve had a lot going on. Settling in and putting the house together has been taking so much longer than I expected, which has been frustrating for me. Truth be told, I’ve been pretty down. Moving is always hard, and even though I’ve done it many times, especially in the last few years, this time has beenthe most difficult. Not even just unpacking boxes, painting and cleaning (which are STILL not finished, by the way.), taking care of a YARD for the first time ever, and deciding where things go. We’re living in a new town, a new county even, and there have been a lot of adjustments that I guess I never really thought about when we were going through the process of buying our house. I know that once we’re settled, this will feel like home, and in some ways it’s starting to, but it’s been a little rough, for me at least. I’ve lost a lot of steam too, and can’t seem to find the motivation or the inspiration to put our house together. That’s really unlike me; I always get pictures on the walls and throw pillows on the couch as soon as possible so a new place feels like ours, but so far that hasn’t happened here. I guess I’m just in kind of a funk.
But I take things one day at a time. Today our new bookshelves were delivered, and tomorrow Rob will put them together, and maybe the day after that I can unpack the EIGHT (I think there are at least EIGHT) big boxes of our books that have been stowed away for over a year. And I will put those books on the shelves, and instead of a big tower of boxes, there will be a nice, beautiful wall of our books. I think that will feel really great.
The slow-going of making our home ours has gotten me down a little bit, but my bright-eyed, sensitive and curious child has balanced all that out. These last weeks I think that my new-house blues have made me appreciate how wonderful it is to be a mom to such a beauty. She has really gotten me through it.She’s been extra snuggly when I feel like doing nothing, and she tags along on all my errands, always happy and ready to go.
And her dad, he’s pretty great too. When I don’t want to unpack any more boxes or decide where the crockpot is going to go, Rob is always there to keep me going. He’s also done tons of stuff on his own, while I’ve worked in the evenings or even just crashed on the couch after putting Nolie to bed. He put together our new kitchen island, which is the best thing that ever happened to our kitchen. It took him two-and-a-half hours and I know was no easy feat. He has put hours of hard work into the yard and I have helped absolutely zero percent with that because it’s not really my thing. He’s been really patient with me too, which I know has not been easy. He’s woken up extra early for his new, much longer commute, and he’s never complained. He’s really wonderful, and I think that too often I am guilty of overlooking all the ways he makes my life so great. Like the fact that he lets me buy as many popsicles as I want and doesn’t get mad that I eat them all before he has a chance to have any.
I’m lucky, to have these two. Blessed. They make me feel that I’m worthwhile, like I’m doing things with my life that really matter, even when I don’t feel like it on my own. My sweet Magnolia makes me feel like me getting her “cereal and milk” is the most exciting thing that could happen during our morning, with the joy that sounds in her little voice when she asks for them. My husband is happy, and proud of his hard work, when I put my crockpot away in the kitchen island and danced around it, so happy that everything in the kitchen has a place. Things are good. Despite all the things that aren’t perfect right now, I’m happy. “Yeah yam.”







