finally

finally, a photo by Everyday Lil on Flickr.

hair

hair, a photo by Everyday Lil on Flickr.

Letting nature take its course since 2011.

a little bitty bigger

Untitled, a photo by Everyday Lil on Flickr.

meow meow meow meow (VIDEO)

When I was around Lil's age, my favorite thing in the world was the song from the meow mix commercial. My mother told me how I would get out of bed late at night whenever it came on the television. Tonight Lil got to experience the Meow Mix song for herself, and being that this is the age of instant gratification, she got to watch it again and again on YouTube. She calls the cats in the commercial "Toas-toas" and "Bo-bo," her names for our cats.
And needless to say it's pretty cute,  at least from my perspective. 

laughter (VIDEO)

I've been trying to get Bitty to laugh for weeks. I can get a chuckle, or a "heh heh" and lots of smiles, but I just have not gotten a good hearty laugh out of her. I really did not expect it after a morning of shots and measurements for both girls, but after a nap marathon (cue angels singing) everyone was in a good mood, and a bit of dancing spurred on by big sis got the reaction I've been waiting for. I will warn you all— it does get a bit loud somewhere in the middle, so you might want to turn your speakers down a touch.

(Yes, that's me dancing with a towel over my shoulder. Cuz you know, be prepared or whatever.)

 How much do you love Piggy's cameo there at the end?

And here are some pics of Lil sitting still, taken right around her birthday. She's wearing a little sweater dress with black bows with matching tights and black Maryjane's which ended up being a size too small, much to Lil's dismay. Last week she got a pair of red Hello Kitty Maryjane's which I hope will fit her for a month or two.

Yup. Them's my girls.

two whole years

I probably don't have as much time to write about Lil's birthday as I'd like— Lil and Bitty are both napping, and have been for some time now— let me just say that it was a fun-filled event which culminated with "happy cake" for Lil, and a somewhat emotional, even bittersweet day for me. For one thing, I played this song about a dozen times, and perused blog entries from the early days. I also went back to my Facebook post for January 16, 2011:

"I had a baby today."

And then on January 28, 2011:

"This week beats the most beautiful hawaiian vacation hands down."

I have traded in Hawaiian getaways (for now) for something I can't say is more relaxing than 10 days on a white sandy beach, snorkeling with turtles, and drinking mai tais and dark and stormies under a grass beach umbrella, but Little Lil, my darling, I wouldn't trade you for the ocean. I wouldn't trade you for the sun. I wouldn't trade you for the world.

Sometimes, though, I am tempted to trade you for a mai tai or two.

Love—Mama.