Ive built my life around you...

You should play this song, before you read this blog.  Landslide is a great song on its own, but it is a song that sort of sums up where I am in my life right now. Hadley Blaine is now in a big girl bed, she has even gone potty in the big girl potty.  I feel like Brooke and I spend our days trying to get her to grow up.  We are trying to make her a big girl.  She is such a joy to watch grow, and is by nature the funniest girl we have.  Caroline is accidentally hilarious, Hadley is intentional.  Here she is doing a downward facing dog while watching Duck Dynasty with her Dad.  Why not?

Her optional words she speaks are funny too.  Of course she says Mom, Dad, bye, hi, etc.  The normal words a girl her age will say.  Its pretty funny when she says iPad, cheeeeeese, please, boo (if she is trying to scare you) or FIA (for Sophia- a Disney cartoon)!  Soon she will ditch the binky, lose the diapers, and Brooke and I will be out of the baby stage.  Im sure Brooke will have a glass of wine to celebrate, I will be little sad.

Her first roller coaster, Thunder Mt. 

You probably expected me to write about my Disney trip, and maybe you're wondering why it has come? Truth is, it was very un-Griswoldian.  It almost all went according to plan.  Baylor Grace and I did everything together, and we learned she LOVES roller coasters.  She hasn't learned how to properly yell on a roller coaster yet though.  She sort of yelps like a dog.  Reagan has a horror movie like yell, perfect for a coaster or movie theatre.  It was so neat to see them ride the big girl rides, Baylor Grace has no fear.  We even rode a ride at Animal Kingdom where you go back in time and try and find this particular dinosaur, it was very Jurassic Park.  It got to the point where Reagan couldn't take it anymore.  She closed her eyes, and bowed her head as if she was praying.  Truth be told, she probably was.  Not Baylor Grace, nothing fazed her.  She screamed (yelped) with the best of them and loved the ride. AGAIN, was her word of the week.  I pity the boys who come calling for her.   Caroline spent much of her time with MaMaw, they had a great week together.  Reagan was mostly with Brooke, while Hadley got passed around like a cold plate of biscuits.  The weather wasn't great in Naples, but it didnt ruin their fun.  Disney is a place where "dreams come true" and seeing my mother there with my wife and kids was very special for me.

Hadley is not even 2, this was her third trip to Disney.  Needless to say, we love that place.  I love that place.  It costs us an arm and a leg every time we go, but Brooke and I think it is totally worth the money.  The look in the girls eyes truly is magical.  I saw a slight change in Reagan this time.  A slight change in Reagan.  Don't get me wrong, we all loved it and had a great time.  However, this time....she wasn't into it as much as the past.  You could tell that she had sort of seen it already and wasn't as impressed.  At least that is what I thought.  Our last night there got cut a little short because of a rain storm, so we had to leave prior than expected.  She cried a little bit as we were leaving, that let me know she loves it there still too.

I am constantly reminded that she is growing up , see the picture above.  She has now lost two teeth, her second one just today.  We have one girl that we are trying to get to grow up, and another one I am trying to hit the brakes on.  Its strange, you know? You build your whole life around people with the goal of doing it in such a way that they can make it without you.  I think of my parents who now have both their boys living in other parts of the country.  I hate going a day without seeing my girls, I couldn't imagine being in their shoes.  I know they are happy for us, but it is difficult.   Handling the seasons of your life is bittersweet.  Its tough to see your last baby give up her binky, and it is tough to see your oldest baby start losing her teeth.  It is tough to see your last baby move to Chicago, and your oldest to VA.  So you do what you can to hold on to what you can.  You hit the brakes as much as possible.

Children get older, and Im getting older too.