Magnolia * Maggie * Mermaid

Our sweet Maggie girl, still called Magnolia by her mommy & daddy, her aunts + cousins call her Maggie, & if it was her choice everyone would call her "mermaid!" Ryan & I are corrected on a daily basis, we can't even say she smells like a strawberry without being told very firmly that her name is in fact Mermaid. Her personality has blossomed just like the spring flowers. She plays with her imaginary friends all the time, and her best friend is named Anna (probably from Frozen). I hear her talking to her friends often saying "my mom" this & that, and I'll often giggle out loud, to which she'll ask me why I'm laughing. Not only does she make me feel like the luckiest mommy in the world, she also makes me feel like I have super powers. My kisses, on her injuries, are magic! She's in love with T-wift aka Taylor Swift. Ryan & I cannot bring ourselves to correct her name pronunciation & therefore we now call her Twift also. I'm fully aware that encouraging mispronunciation might not be the wisest, but we are loving the cuteness too much right now to push her language too far into little-girl-hood. Her new scooter arrived, the reward for using the toilet full time, and she rides it back & forth from the bathroom now. By the way, she basically taught herself how to use the toilet. Once we got over the hump of going the first time, it was one million times easier than I expected. We are just so proud of her & her little butt in underwear is quite precious. TIGER KING, can someone please tell me how she knows who he is??? We only watched a little bit of it once, I hated it so we turned it off, and then weeks passed & she was talking about him. She even pointed him out on my phone when I was scrolling on Instagram. Like, what in the WORLD is going on!?!? She is a freakin' sponge & it's a little scary to know how much she is picking up on nowadays. On that subject, she's been making face masks out of toilet paper. She also asks me almost daily "are the people all better yet?" And we have talked about that subject & why we can't go places right now. She seems to understand better than I would have thought. We are still doing music class once a week on a Zoom call & we do quiet time with deep breathing during class. Now if I'm stressed out about anything she'll stop me & basically help me deep breathe with her. My little angel she is! Her prayers before bed melt my heart into one million pieces. Not one single night has passed that she doesn't pray (all on her own) for a little girl named Eva that we have been following on Instagram for months. You can follow her dad here & join us in prayer if you'd like. This sounds crazy, but I dream about Magnolia getting to meet her someday, when she is all better & healed by our Lord in Heaven. Magnolia just loves her to pieces & wants to check on her all the time. Last night in her prayer she thanked God for her new helmet, some nights she'll pray about dinner & one night she even prayed about her daddy's pizza that didn't make it in our Walmart grocery pick-up. Magnolia does all the modeling for my sister's clothing boutique Little Lucca Love & I have a phone full of the most adorable photos of our girl. I decided to share the last round of styles & her sweet little poses here. She is quite the hoot with her natural modeling abilities.






























I cannot even remember what week of home isolation we are on, totally lost count. Sometimes I worry about what she's missing out on, especially from a socializing stand point, but I know this is only temporary & all the kids are in the same boat. Oh my gosh though, she misses playing with her cousins to the point that it breaks my heart. The other night the three of us were sitting on the sofa, she was standing in between us, and she put her arms around both of our necks and said "my best friends!" Ryan & I both looked at each other with big eyes & we both felt an equal part of pride & sadness. We are her only friends right now & we are almost 40 years old. Goodness! How is this time in history going to affect her? I often wonder what this is doing to her psychologically. Ryan & I are being even more intentional than ever before with making sure we play with her, get her outside, do morning arts & crafts each day, with music playing on Alexa all the time. This isn't to say she isn't watching more Disney than I'd like to admit to, but we are trying to be as fun as possible also. We are so very blessed & I cannot ever bring myself to worry too much about the affects of all of this on her. There is no changing it & I find that counting my blessings every single day brings me an enormous amount of peace & happiness. It's such a simple act to look around & thank God for so much, but the payoff is tenfold. The birds singing, the flowers blooming, the spring fresh air, the little things are everything & in my opinion it's kind of special right now too. We are all being forced to breathe in little pieces of Heaven by slowing down. In a book I'm currently reading, it says to admire the robins, canaries, & hummingbirds & listen to them whisper rumors of another world. And I love that so much. Magnolia jumped around in a water puddle for at least 10 minutes before her afternoon nap today & I stood there listening to her laugh & saw the sun sparkle on the water & it was amazing. A look-up and THANK YOU GOD moment.
xo