Play-yards, Poofy Dresses, and Playmates

So many times throughout the day it strikes me, "Someday they will be all grown up and this will all be over." Sometimes it is in the middle of one of Charlotte's famous meltdowns, when she is beyond any thought of reason and can't remember why she is "cying" in the first place. More often though, it is when there is a brief moment during the day that time stops and I realize they are growing up and won't need me to check on them in the middle of the night, or help blow their nose, or nurse them, or "tiss my owies". And if I may quote one of my favorite actors in one of my all time favorite movies, "something inside me began to hurt." Don't get me wrong, I am challenged with my 2 year old beyond what any marathon runner or power lifter is on a daily basis. Especially when I hand Charlotte her breakfast plate and fork and she furrows her brows in one of her most famous frowns and says, "no mamma, they don't match." She scoffs at me probably thinking to herself what a twit her mother is in thinking that a blue fork would compliment a pink plate. The nerve of me...Charlotte's favorite quote of the week is, "I miss to my aunties and uncles." She says this with an extremely pathetic look of sadness on her face while she hangs her head and looks at me with eyes that haunt a mother's soul. Sigh...oh Charlotte soon enough honey. I try to think that this sentence is brought on by an actually longing for her aunties and uncles and not just a body to play with since I have now rejected her request to "pay wit me?" several times. If only I could clone and duplicate myself, I would never have to disappoint her again! (I am sure that this particular thought has been thrown to the universe by several thousand mother's from all sectors of the galaxy tonight!" 

One of the moments I long to remember for the whole of my existence is watching Charlotte dance. With her princess dress or her tutu on she bops her head to the music and twirls around the living room. She is obsessed with all things princess right now, especially their dresses and crowns. This was spurred by our Disney trip last September when she was Cinderella for the majority of the trip alongside her friend Elle.

Unfortunately Charlotte and Elle's favorite part of dinner at 1900 Park Fare was not meeting Cinderella or Prince Charming but dancing and playing with the stepsisters!

Later that week when we went to Cinderella's Royal Table they both dressed up like princess's!

So at home when Charlotte puts on her sparkly dresses, telling me that "daddy doesn't wike those sparkles!", and dances around the room it practically puts me in tears on the spot! Charlie tells her on a regular basis that he does not care for sparkles and if he was ever King of the world he would outlaw them. Than when he's now paying attention I soften this shocking blow to her 2 year old intellect by telling her "of course daddy loves sparkles, he especially likes them on his bed!" To which she grins from ear to ear and happily runs off to roll all over his side of the bed shedding sparkle and after sparkle as she goes! Ha ha ha..score one for me honey! She loves being pretty and dressed up, and this may come back to haunt me when she's 16! 

This was when we were trying on dresses to be a flower girl in Aunt Theresa's wedding! At this particuaar point she had spied the tiara's across the room and was very excited telling me, "I want wanna those crowns!"

One of her favorite playmates, Elle. Elle had to try a dress on too with Charlotte and than they sat together admiring each other's dresses!

They other favorite playmate, Savannah! Or as Charlotte lovingly refers to her as, "Sabanah!" Celesta's mom made the girls these matching skirts! Charlotte wore hers everyday for like a week after this telling me it was, "my faborit tutu!"

In order to get this picture I had to threaten Charlotte with the highest form of punishment...No movie tonight unless you take a pretty picture!

This is what she was doing before the threat of no TV took place.

The target special pink tutu dress that we just had to have after she spotted it from across the aisle. She needed it...or so she told me!

My princess Charlotte would not be complete royalty without having a little joker around and I'm afraid Bethany has been forced into that role by order of importance! Little Bethy! She learned how to roll over this week! From her tummy to her back. She did if for the first time of course when I was at work! Little stinker. But has shown off her new skill several times while momma has been home. She loves laying around practicing this newly acquired and very useful skill in her play yard!

Eyeballing those ladybugs!

She finally noticed I was laying in front of her!

Oh Hi Mom!

Beth got to wear her first tutu of her life!!

It wouldn't be fair now if I let Charlotte have all the tutu and princess dress wearing fun! Bethany got to wear her first tutu today!! Now lets think back though to Charlotte's first encounter with a tutu. It was a $50 pink dream of a tutu from a boutique we lived nearby in Dallas! No wonder Charlotte wants all things expensive and perfect! When I say I bred the crazy in Charlotte I ain't kidding! Poor Beth. Her first tutu was a gift from my baby shower from Crazy 8! And that my friends is the difference between the first and the second child. You can say you won't treat them differently but who are we kidding...Charlotte gets an expensive cloud of pink with a satin ribbon from the Tiney Hiney Couture Baby Boutique and Beth gets some scratchy tulle sewn onto a pair of brown leggings that someone got on clearance! Oh well, don't worry Beth it'll make you stronger! And don't forget! Your daddy's little cookie!

Oh my girls...I love you so much. I can't wait to watch you grow into the beautiful women that I know you will become. But I much enjoy this time of childhood dreaming and dancing. Mommy loves you both so much.