Putting the "IN" in intentional

We had such a lovely day today. We were intentional about just staying IN!

Rosie discovered M's new bling-bling flip-flops and decided to give them a whirl. Except she didn't try them on--she put them up to her ears like a phone! Then she crawled around with one in each hand. So she was actually "flip-flopping", just not with her feet!

M requested "pony tails" in her hair today. Which in the past has caused me to break a sweat, because as it turns out I'm not as good at doing someone else's hair as I thought I would be. It's unfortunate--I had really different notions about my skills in this area when I learned I'd be a girl mom! But I'm happy to say that I'm getting better with practice, if you cut me some slack and consider my customer is a wiggly 3-year-old and her part happens to be impossible. And she's tender-headed, which I totally prayed about when I learned she was a girl in utero (superficial, I know!). I'm not at all tender-headed, so I was hoping my girls wouldn't be either in order to make hairstyling easier.

Not one to be left out, Rosie ended up with a bow too. Granted, for about 2 minutes. She's sadly begun to rip her bows out much earlier than her sister did! M didn't rebel until about 18 mos. Rosie's only 14 months! She'd rather chew on them.

Sister fun on the bathroom floor. Rosie was crawling around and M held her shirt so she was "crawling in place". They were cracking up! I couldn't help but catch their giggles.

That afternoon, Mama Landa came to pick up the girls so J and I could have a date night. I brought one of Rosie's car seat bases into the house so I could install it into her car, and at one point today Rosie was playing with it on the entryway floor. I happened to glance at it, and this is what I saw:

Smart girl! Rosie was taking care of her baby by getting her in her car seat. (This baby was given to M for her third birthday by my sorority sister Carollee. Carollee, M's since named the baby "Eleanor". It's SO CUTE to hear her say it! Warms my heart that she chose that name...I LOVE the name Eleanor!)

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Though our day was simple today, it was simply wonderful! Since I knew the girls would be away for a bit, I wanted to soak them up as much as I could. We spent a lot of time in our PJs, spent a lot of time playing on the floor, read a lot, cuddled a lot, rocked in our rocking chair a lot, laughed a lot. We had an easy lunch of crackers, cheese and grapes, but it was extravagantly fun.

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Rosie ate (quartered) grapes like a pro finally! And she ate several of them. I was so proud! It took M a lot longer to develop a taste for grapes and their strange texture.

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The best part of this day? Rosie didn't cry when I left. That's a record, folks. She's a bit of a mama's girl and usually doesn't stand for anyone else to hold her but me. I was dreading leaving her today! But she was a champ, and I am one relieved mama. Hopefully my baby's growing out of this phase!

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I had a MOPS meeting tonight, so J stayed late at work while I was there. It's his busy season--TAKS testing is coming up soon! So we met up for a late dinner at Cheesecake Factory. It was heavenly! We were seated in a corner we'd never been in, and our booth was in a little bay window. The lights were almost completely off, so our table was lit primarily by the mall lights and the stars. We caught up on all the daily details of our lives that get lost in the chaos of evening wind-down with two little ones. The best part was that all of our conversations were complete ones! No "snippets" that become reality when you're parents. :0) I was reminded afresh of how handsome my man is--admiring him across the table in the nighttime glow, in awe of him as he filled me in on all the grown-up stresses of his job. It was a sweet time.

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Now, why don't I plan to not make plans more often?!