the 52 project // 13

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014."

penny: this photo pretty well sums you up these days. no pants, skinned knees, and getting into something you probably shouldn't be. you are most definitely two!

last week we drove up to charlotte to visit our best buds for there little boy's very first birthday. it was one year ago that we were doing THIS. i can not believe how fast this past year went. the years fly by in regards to your own children, but i'm pretty sure they move at warp speed when it's your friend's children! on our trip we pretty much expected penny's terrible sleep patterns (mentioned here if you missed it) to continue right on as scheduled, but to our great delight she actually started sleeping through the night again, and even slept until 8am every day. that far exceeded her 6:30am wake up that she was having previous to this trip. she slept in a pack-n-play while we were there, and you had best believe we busted hers out when we got home to see if her new good habits would carry over. after a few rough starts we seem to have solved it... for now. we came to the conclusion that she was doing some extreme rolling in her sleep, probably rolling out of her floor bed, sort of waking herself up, and that's what was kicking off the night terrors. we never would have guessed that without going out of town because she's been in that bed since she was 4 months old. we'll for sure be keeping her in her pack-n-play until we know we're in the clear, and then probably go ahead and get her a real big girl bed... with toddler rails for this little mover!

linking up with jodi.

the 52 project // 12

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014."

penny: i've kind of been putting off writing this past weeks post because it hasn't been the most pleasant week for either of us. you're going through a really tough phase right now, and it's got all of us exhausted. it started as just an occasional bad dream, but lately it seems that you're having nightmares (or night terrors on the really bad days) almost every single night. this is leading to a complete lack of sleep, which is leading to very cranky and tantrum filled days, which as it turns out, only leads to more night terrors. i'm doing my best to help you through this time with comfort and understanding, but it's not always easy. as i'm writing this now, you're asleep in your room after having a meltdown so epic that you actually passed out afterwards. it's 2 hours before nap time, and you're never a fan of going to bed, so this should be noted as out of the ordinary for sure. i'm so heartbroken over the fact that i don't know how to make this cycle stop. we're trying everything possible and still you wake twice a night with bad dreams. without a doubt, it's the hardest thing we've gone through as parents so far. i only find comfort in knowing that this too shall pass...

linking up with jodi.

scenes from the weekend...

it was a good one...

5 minutes...

motherhood obviously isn't always full of gorgeous sun filled days, and perfect window lighting. sometimes all you get is an apartment bathroom with a single lightbulb. does that mean these moments are any less important to remember? not even a little bit! we had just spent the morning painting. it's one of penny's latest and greatest loves, and she was pretty well covered in varying shades of blue and purple. she pulled her random little wood box over to the sink and began what would end up being about 30 mins of washing her hands. she just looked like such a big kid to me in that moment, so i made a point to take a few minutes and capture it. finding the beauty in the less then beautiful, paint stains, dirty socks, and all...

the 52 project // 11

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014."

penny: slowly but surely we've been preparing you for what's to come... mommy's first wedding season. sure we've had a few weekends apart here and there, but very soon, and for a couple of months in a row, i'll be gone almost every weekend. thankfully your daddy is a pro at steering the ship in my absence, and you're very excited about the idea of mommy taking a plane so often. it's hard to explain that my being away is completely for the good of our family, you just know that you miss me when i'm not here, and the feeling is very much mutual, my little bug. i know in time that all this will become completely natural for you, and until it does, you know you'll be getting lot's of mommy guilt souveneirs... so really, i don't think you'll mind it all that much after all.

linking up with j0di.