Trust...

"Trust yourself and your deepest instincts about your kids."

Trust is such a deep rooted word. Then to throw trusting your instincts about your kids and wow...really deep.  There are days that its hard to see the forest through the trees, but I am holding onto what we feel is right with how we take care of and deal with things about our family.  I feel like we are trying to create a wonderful family life and we are trying to cherish each and every moment.

Being a grown up

"Children operate from a place grownups wish to come back to but have lost in the daily grind of life."

Being a grown up is hard...being a child is hard (in their eyes, of course).  There are definite times that I wish to be a child again, but mostly now I'm just enjoying to see things through my child's eyes.  This is something that I am learning on a daily basis to do and sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's easy...here's to hoping that it gets easier on a daily basis to not get lost in the grind of life.

Words...

"Words are important. They are building blocks of your child's spirit.  Use them with care."

This is an interesting topic in a sense because there is a nursery rhyme that states "Sticks and stones my break my bones but words will never harm me."  I think this is entirely false, words can hurt and sting and stay around for a really long time.  I never want for Regan to feel like something we have said with our words will hurt her, but of course something will.  Throughout this parental path we have taken, I make sure that even if she's upset with something that I have said or done, etc...that I say I love you.  I want her to know more than anything that I love her so very much.

Today, and always, my wish for my family is to have love, lots and lots of love.

Starting Lent...

This year for lent I have decided to write for myself to learn more about being a spiritual parent or at least try harder ;)  In our Sunday School class we have been using a website called spiritualparenting.com and it has a "thought for the day" that we use to kind of jump start our conversations and get our juices flowing to think about our kids and the Bible.  I thought this would be a way for me to do it every day and just kind of see what kind of blogs it would lead to at that specific moment.

Blogger of course would not let me post this yesterday for some reason, so I'm just putting yesterday's start and today's together...

"Think of your yourself as part of your child's support team rather than her only lifeline."

I completely agree with this.  I think that it's important for Regan to have many people in her life to help mold her into the person that she has become.  I believe that we've thought about this from the beginning and maybe it's because she is without that father parental figure, but we knew from the beginning that we could find people that would fulfill that role and nurture her in that sense.  I can think of handful of men in her life that she absolutely adores and they adore her in the same sense.  We have tried to put Regan in situations where she would have adults that would help build her self-esteem and love her no matter what.  She is currently in preschool, we go to church, and she is in dance class.  In all 3 she has found niche and adults that can be her support team.

I think this quote can go towards the parents as well.  I want Amanda to be my support team, but I don't want her to be my only "lifeline" to the real world.  I have to admit that staying at home with Regan was a decision that I am so glad that I made because I get to see her grow and change every day, but at the same token it means that I do not have as much adult interaction as I once did at my job.  It's hard for me to find those special friends that can be my outlet away from Amanda.  I think everybody needs friends that they can hang out with without their wife...I know that I've struggled with that over the years, but have definitely gotten better with making friends and stretching myself to meet new people.

I am learning about myself everyday and hope that the things that I am teaching Regan will stick with her for a lifetime.  "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." - Ephesians 4:2

17 months

17 months of Regan...cannot believe it!  I asked Amanda to weigh her last night so that we could kind of see, and she came in at 22 lbs.  Man, I was thinking she weighed more than that because when I pick her up for a while it feels like my arm is going to fall off.  And when I run with her in the jogging stroller it is very hard.  Nonetheless, she's around 22 pounds, wearing all kinds of sizes in clothes.  Shorts-12 months and some 18 months, shirts-definitely 18 months, shoe size-5ish, but we're buying 6's now.  I can tell she's getting bigger because her bows in her hair are looking smaller ;)  She only takes 1 nap at school, but still takes 2 naps with us.  She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins, but also enjoys So you think you Can Dance and any type of music.  She's become very independent here lately, a little too much at times.  She still drinks her milk from a sippy cup with a straw, but any other type of drink we have her on a "big girl" cup.  She thinks Deer are dogs and can now say the word basketball thanks to a kid toy from Wendy's...I'm guessing we should actually buy her a baby basketball.  The words she can say are Mama, dog, Rebound (well, sort of...it comes out Bound), sippy, shoe, Love you (I think that's what she's saying), hi, bye...she knows some animals now and is in love with the Itsy Bitsy Spider song :)  These are just a few things, but we definitely noticed that she will try to copy anything you do...we have to be careful.  Being her Mama is mostly fun, except for those nights that she doesn't want to sleep and the fits she throws on the ground now.  Who said that it happens at 2 is crazy, she's already getting into those.  We're hoping that we can work around those and that they will eventually go away, but who am I kidding...our child is very independent and when you tell her "No" for something she wants to do...it's over.  Nonetheless we're having fun and Regan is the cutest little thing, but who I am to tell you guys that...here's proof :)

Love,
The England's :)

Olympics

Well, the 2012 Olympics have started and we opened our Olympics with Evan and Regan dismounting off of the couch onto the floor...aka Toddler Olympics at Meredith & Brian's :)  It was fun.  I am very much enjoying the Olympics and so is Regan!!!  She is in love with the diving and will clap when they are finished...it is totally the cutest thing.  Then of course it makes you think about all of these people and that they have mothers who are supporting them...which in turn makes me think about the things that Regan could do.  Kind of fun to think about years down the road.  Does she have the drive, does she have the determination...is she not skilled in sports like her Mama or be very sporty like her Mommy...haha, all funny thoughts.  Of course then reality sinks back in as she has on 10 Mardi Gras necklaces and loves her pink sparkly Toms...oh yeah our baby is a diva...so sports might not be too high on her priorities.  Haha...it doesn't matter, we will love her all the same :)

Toddler Olympics :)

Ok ok ok...

Ok ok...I haven't blogged in forever.  I'm like the horrible online guru blogger.  I like to look at everybody else's blog and then think to myself about what I should blog about...until I've realized I've been contemplating for hours and so it's time to go to bed.  This has been my life for the past several months ;) 

Updates to our life: 
We now live in the beautiful state of North Carolina with all the trees (yay) and all the traffic (yuck)!  But nonetheless, we love it so far!  Our child is now almost 16 months old and has an attitude at times to prove it, more updates on her in a different paragraph.  Amanda started at UNC and as she put it...and she made it through her first night on call with 55 babies, I would say that is a success!  I have transferred with Regions and now work in Raleigh, stressful, but good...some days are harder than others I suppose.  Rebound likes his new house, except for the stairs, but definitely enjoys barking at the bunnies and the deer that come into the yard.  Our life has settled down a bit and we now feel like we're home...except for our neighborhood...boy do we miss our neighbors in Nola. 

Onto Regan: 

She will be 16 months in 4 days and I cannot believe where the time has gone.  Quickly time flies when you have to keep up with a little girl who's hair is starting to turn wavy, giggles if you dance in front of her, watches tv with us and claps at the appropriate times after a dance on 'So you think you Can Dance,' throws the ball mostly in the right direction, slides down the stairs...and then goes back up the stairs, knows exactly what she wants but doesn't have the big girl words to tell us, gives hugs and kisses, loves shopping, plays on playgrounds, sits at the big girl table, drinks out of sippy cups that are not meant for her age, eats gogurt (with some help of course), loves her sunglasses, and her puppy...and so much more.  Our life has continued with more adventures.  Never did I realize that Regan would be able to turn me into a Mama...a person that I longed to be for so long, but didn't truly understand the meaning until she came into my life.  I had my perceptions of what parenthood would be like, but it has most definitely been more than I could have ever imagined and I am so thankful to continue all the fun we're having :)  Amanda and I are so proud of her, for the learning and the growing that she has done in just the past couple of months...cannot imagine what is too come, but we're ready! 

Promise that there will be more updates to come...I will be better about putting my thoughts onto the blog that I'm quite sure everyone wants to read about it :) 

Love, 
The England's (AKA...Cheryl)

Here's some pictures...

Before church :)

Cuteness!

New pool!

Aunt Tristan playing with bubbles on 4th of July

Cousins :)

Regan's Doctor and our friend Cat :)

Meesh & Brian...miss them already!

So pretty!