{Moments} That Take Your Breath Away!

Because my phone is done-zo .. you know, until Benny cooks it in the oven .. I'm lacking pictures of the last 2 weeks of my life. However, sometimes that's okay. Today was one of those "Can I please just hold these moments in my heart forever and ever and never ever forget them?" kind of days. So it was okay that I didn't waste time pulling out my camera and just really got to be 110% in the moment(s). 

So, in words, here are events of today I wish I could just imprint in my heart forever (which I fully plan on doing but my memory span is equivalent to a one-year-old's attention span, so chances are.. in time.. I will forget and will need this post to remind me).

Father/Son Snuggles. Getting ready while Benny and Trice were spooning in bed is so beautiful my heart aches. Any time Trice is sleeping I cry if I look at his sweet little face. I recently told an expecting mom that I've never felt a stronger relationship with God than I've felt these last 14 months when I snuggle and nurse my precious boy. He's definitely all the proof that I need.

Breakfast. As you'll read in a future post, I've been menu planning for Trice (I'll save the details for later). This morning, because he was asleep spooning with daddy, I made some muffins and covered his in yogurt and bananas. He always lights up when I make something new. He picked the bananas off one-by-one and then sucked every drop of yogurt out of the muffin before tearing it into a thousand pieces and throwing it on the floor (to which I did NOT put him in time-out as suggested in my babycenter email this week.. seriously, who write those emails? Get real.)

Baby Signs. I have been doing sign language with Trice for quite awhile now. He understands a ton of signs and uses quite a few. I love that we can really communicate with each other. Most of his signs are obviously not exactly what the "actual" sign is, but they are close enough for me to know. However, these past few days he has been signing "More" exactly as it looks.. with the tips of his fingers.. and my heart glows every.single.time. And then I give him more. :)

Crunchy Leaves. Trice and I went to the park this afternoon. I LOVE this weather .. seriously, perfect. We played a lot, but the BEST part of it was when I took him to the grass covered in leaves and taught him how to CRUNCH them. I'm an avid lover of leaf-crunching, so this was basically a dream come true. He ran around every inch of that park crunching the leaves and smiling great big and letting out the most heart-warming squeals. But seriously, if we could all have the joy that children have over the littlest things -- how happy would this world be? I think I'll go plant a tree tomorrow so we can leaf crunch whenever we want in our own yard. Oh, and Trice pointed out that all the leaves were red and yellow just like his favorite football team!! He's so smart.

Pumpkin Painting. I just couldn't wait any longer. So we painted. And this I DO have pictures of! Trice created quite the masterpiece. I insisted on using non-toxic paint so therefore it's not going to last, but that wasn't the point. And the painting wasn't the best part.. when he leaned in and gave the pumpkin a GREAT BIG HUG - that's what got me.

Bath Time. I am pretty sure when it's my time to die and I think back on the happiest moments of my life, most of them will revolve around bath time. The pure innocent joy that radiates out of a toddler during a seemingly simple activity cannot be topped. The splashing, the bubbles, the "here's my tummy", the peek-a-boo with the washcloth, the filling and dumping, the hooded towels, and the cute little clean baby bottom. Standing over the sink doing dishes tonight and hearing the squeals and the laughter along with Benny's daddy voice.. yep, my heart skipped 802 beats.

Oh, and then this happened...

A harmless trip to Walmart for some almond bark ended with Trice owning THE cutest dining sets ever created by man (or ever sold at WalMart). If you haven't already impulsively bought these, you should. I also might have bought the matching cups.. I did, however, hold myself back and did not purchase the absolutely adorable owl .. until my next trip. Benny took the cost out of my fun money, but they are SO cute I don't even care. Fun hater!

There will always be stress, work to be done, projects to be completed, and there will never be enough time.  But there is ALWAYS time for crunching leaves and getting wrinkled like a prune. That, my friends, is what life is all about. Have I mentioned I love this mommy thing?!