LITTLE LADY

Today the love of my life turns three years old. 36 months. 1,095 days. The past three years seem to have gone by in hyper speed and yet, I almost cannot remember a time in my life before her. She's wild, and magic. Her kindness stops me in my tracks, and inspires me to be a better person. She is a baby deer with the power and force of a wild wind. Breathtaking, magnificent, and refreshing. She is the best parts of Stephen and I, but so much more. She is mine, and I am hers. 

A few of her favorite things: 1// the color pink. 2// chicken nuggets. 3// trains and cars. 4// reading books before bed. 5// dancing. 6// telling jokes. 7// taking baths. 8// peanut butter. 9// being a helper. 10// putting her own shoes on. 

ALL YOU MAMA'S OUT THERE

To all the new moms, the seasoned moms, and the soon-to-be moms. You are worth your weight and gold, and cannot ever be replaced. You can see last years post here.

10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU

Dakota, my sweet sweet baby girl. You are exactly that, a sweet girl. You are growing into such a little girl, no more a baby. In a few months you'll be 3 years old and I find myself asking where time has gone so often. I always thought it was such a cliche to say that, but it really is true. I love you more and more each day, and even though I am far from perfect, I am so thankful and blessed to have the gift of being your mama. Here are 10 things you do right now that I love, and do not want to forget.

1. The way you say "Oh no! I never find my daddy" as soon as you wake up in the morning, and daddy has already left for work
2. How you shelter the smaller kids in nursery during church, and walk around with them holding hands.
3.The fact that you love to ride your bike, and your dad and I both laugh because you look too small to be riding a bike. We joke that you should be in the circus as "The Worlds Smallest Baby Riding A Bike in a Bowtie!"
4.The way you call everyone you've ever met by their name, and if you don't know them you call them "a friend." You have never met a person that you don't call "a friend."
5. That you love to fish, play in the dirt, and be outside, but hate any and all bugs. You call all bugs you see "spiders"
6. You still let me, and want me to, "baby loaf" you every night before bed.  I cradle you in my arms and sway from side to side singing "baby loafy, baby loafy."
7. Your impressive, excellent memory! You don't forget anything!
8. When you get in trouble, and then look at me and say "I'm sorry mommy, I not scared you."
9. The fact that you and your daddy are like twins. Each day, my love for both of your adorable faces grows stronger and stronger.
10. When I say I love you, and you respond with "I love you more."

You make me a better person.

KIDDO OUTFITS FOR SPRING

one  two  three  four  five  six

While browsing online for new shoes for Dakota (she is in desperate need of new shoes! They're all too small, and she's so tough on them.) I couldn't help but let my mind wander elsewhere and oh man, there are some adorable little girl clothes out there! I guess I was in a little bit of a b+w mood when I made this. And I may or may not have added each and every one of these things to my cart, and then closed the window with the speed of light. But who am I kidding? I'll probably go back and buy all of these things tomorrow, ha!

WEEKEND

This weekend was good. It was the perfect blend of everything I imagine a weekend should have: adventure, relaxation, late mornings, good coffee, even better food, family time, and a good dance session. We spent Sunday appeasing Dakota in her plea to ride "my Star Baby," despite the unreal winds and dropping temperatures. I bet she'd tell you her favorite thing about the weekend is getting to play cowgirl. This time she got to ride with Daddy. These two make my heart so happy.

Toddler Style: New feature!

Well, I've been wanting to do this for sometime now. It's just so much fun to dress little girls, and Dakota has some adorable clothes, if you ask me! I can't promise how often it actually appear..it's hard enough to get her to sit still long enough for me to dress her, so you can imagine how hard it was to take these pictures! In a dream world, I'll have a new outfit to share with you each week! Maybe this will inspire other momma's to branch out and buy things or try things on their kiddos that they wouldn't normally. 

Dakotas wearing:  Dress; Baby Gap // Sweater; Target // Tights; Walmart // Boots; Target // Cat Pin; Boy Girl Party 

She's such a funny girl, and we joke all the time that she's going to be the class clown, because she loves to make everyone laugh. Case and point: that second picture up there! I told her to smile and she did that. Also, aren't her painted fingernails amazing? My mom gives her a pedi and mani every time Dakota goes over to her house. This time, she didn't sit still long enough, so only one hand got painted. She's my favorite! xo, Meghan + Dakota

Best Pals

No matter what's going on or who is around, everything is forgotten when "dadtee" comes home. He scoops her up, gives her a smooch, and takes her outside to play. They are best friends. I have a feeling that she is going to have him wrapped around her finger one day. And I'm sure he would say "that's okay with me Darlin' as long as it makes you happy." To say she is in a daddy phase is a gross understatement! It's true what they say, a girl needs her father. But I think more so, the father needs the girl. 

What's in a name

Dakota when she was 9 months old

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while now, but I'm afraid to do so because I am slightly embarrassed. My child has well over 15 nick names. Is this normal? I have no idea, but I am leaning towards the no side. No, it is not normal. I don't plan on sharing them all, because you will probably think we're crazy! For a while there, we were calling her so many names I started to wonder if she even knew what her real Some have a story and some have no rhyme or reason at all. Some are probably average names you'd call your sweet little one, and some will leave you wondering why!

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Loaf: We, or should I say 'I' started calling her this days after she was born. Something about her reminded me of a tiny warm loaf of bread. The kind of bread that was so yummy I wanted to butter and eat. No folks, I am not in any way saying I wanted to eat my child. Just, you know, 'so cute you could eat them up', was the type of mindset I had when we gave her this nickname. I'm sure it startled everyone when I started calling her that, but no one dare question a lady who just gave birth! So needless to stay, the name stuck. It's funny to me that almost everyone refers to her as Loaf!

Moon Pie: This could be, by far, my favorite nickname for anyone. ever. period. Dakota's middle name is Moon-Dakota Moon. One day we were chatting about nick names at Bean's moms house and Uncle Judah said Moon Pie. It was kind of like an "ah-ha" moment. Why hadn't that been said before? It's just so adorable. I hope she will let us call her that for the rest of forever. Or at least until she goes to middle school! He even made her a hair clip for her birthday in the shape of a chocolate Moon Pie and had stitched those words onto it. Cue the tears! 

Ling: This nickname happened on a road trip to South Carolina. We were bored and our bag of tricks was running low. We started rhyming (this is where most of her nick names came from) and took "Loaf" dropped the "oaf" and added "ing". Ling Ling. We still call her this a lot. Almost anyone can use this technique to create a nickname. Say your name is Meghan, you take everything after the first letter and forget about it. Add "ing" in its place and there you have yourself a fine nickname. Ming. We did this for everyone in the car, Ning, Bring, Ging (Gigi) which is what I call my mom all the time now. I think she secretly hates it!

A few others: Dinga, Babycakes, Pumkinbutt, Derb, and Merb (Derb's evil twin.) Please tell me we aren't completely crazy, and that you have something equally as off the wall as we do that you call your kids? 

xo.

Christmas Festivities!

I hope it's not too late to be posting this? It's only a mere 4 days after Christmas, but it feels like much more! Truthfully, the first days after the holiday have me feeling bummed. What's keeping my spirits up is having Bean home for a week! I'm so thankful for the time he gets off around the holidays. With that being said, Christmas was a blast! I wasn't sure how Dakota would feel, or if she would understand the concept at all, but after waking up Christmas morning realizing that Santa had visited her and it was indeed all for her, each one after that kept getting sweeter. We had a total of 4 Christmases (including ours), 2 dinners, a Christmas Eve party, lots of snacks and lots of company. It was a crammed day to say the least, but so much fun. Dakota made out like a bandit, and now we're having a week of clean to make room for the new and pass on what we don't need anymore. It's really refreshing!

My favorite part about the whole day (aside from being with family!) was watching Dakota walk right up to her new kitchen, stick her cup full of milk in the microwave and start pressing buttons. Be still my heart! ♥ I hope your Christmas was as merry and Santa was good to you. xo, Meghan