Umm, time… please SLOW DOWN!

Signs time is going too fast:

1. It's already February.

2. I'm turning 30 in 4 short months.

3. Emmett is eating solids.

4. Harper is registered for preschool.

All four points above completely blow my mind. As I re-read them over and over, I'm still slightly baffled. 

Where did January go?  When did my sweet newborn baby get big enough to eat solid food from a spoon? How is Harper old enough to be registered for anything with "school" in the name? Don't even get me started on saying goodbye to my 20's and turning the big 3-0!

The days are too short and time seems to be cruising by at an unbelievable rate. Over the last week I've had to remind myself it sit, take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the present. It sounds so simple, but it's proven to be harder than expected. 

We've been busy lately! Weekly dance class, TFFN (Thursday Family Fun Night), work happy hours, girls nights, birthday celebrations, baby food making and Super Bowl parties. Whew, I'm tired just typing all of that! 

As I mentioned, Emmett is officially eating solids. After celebrating his 5 month milestone last week, we decided it was time to introduce rice cereal. We pulled the high chair out of storage, strapped him in and started shoveling spoonfuls of "food" into that tiny mouth. In between bites, he managed to sneak in a little thumb sucking but when all was said and done, the bowl was empty. 

We continued with rice cereal throughout the week and Emmett's "eating from a spoon" skills improved tremendously. By the weekend, I was whipping up our first batch of baby food. The plan is to continue introducing him to new foods over the next several weeks. So far he's proven to be a great lil' eater. I'm just hoping he's a little more adventurous than his big sister! :)

This fall, Harper will be an official preschooler. Mitch and I filled out all the necessary paperwork last week and enrolled her into Karing Kingdom Preschool at Lord of Life. 

First of all, who knew you needed to register for preschool (starting in September) in January? Not this Mama! I called 10 days after registration opened and the nice woman on the phone let me know just a couple spots were still available in the afternoon class. We were hoping for mornings, so 12:30-3 was not our first choice. After a quick discussion with Mitch, we decided afternoons would have to do! Starting in September, Harper will be a preschooler two days a week. I'm so excited, and slightly sad. She's getting too big! 

Last Thursday for our TFFN, we headed to SkyZone for open jump and invited the Donahues to join us! Mitch, Harper, Paul and Bennett jumped around on the trampoline squares in their stylish "sky socks" with smiles on their faces. Kody and I caught up on the sidelines while Emmett snoozed through the entire outing.

Crowds were minimal, so there was plenty of space for the kiddos to run free. Harper perfected her tushy bouncing and even managed to do a somersault or two. After 30 minutes of jumping, they had worked up a sweat and an appetite. We headed to Noodles for dinner which was a perfect ending to our TFFN! Thanks Donahues for playing with us!

We're on a church streak, if you count two weeks in a row as a streak. We've decided the Saturday 5:30pm services seem to work best for us since we enjoy our lazy Sunday mornings too much. To hold us accountable, we signed Harper up for church school on Saturday nights. This past weekend was her first time going and she could barely contain her excitement. She had no idea what they were going to do, or what "church school" entailed - she was just excited to play with other kids! 

I walked her to the classroom where she'd be playing with 3 other girls her own age. One girl was sobbing, another refused to let go of her Dad's hand. Harper walked into the room and made a beeline for the toys. I tried getting her attention to say, "we'll come get you in a little bit." She looked up for a split second and said, "yea okay, bye Mom." So clearly she was going to miss me. :)

We dropped Emmett off in the nursery and Mitch and I were able to enjoy the service, just the two of us. It was nice. Afterwards we picked Harper up, and she was thrilled to show us the card she made. As expected, the girl in the nursery said Emmett was great and just smiled the whole time. What a successful Saturday night church experience! 

After church I met up with Jenna, Melissa and Kelly to celebrate Jen's birthday (which is actually today, Happy 30th!!) We reminisced about old high school days, caught each other up on family news and shared plenty of laughs.

There are many reasons I love these girls, but the fact that they were all willing to go next door for malts after dinner made me love them even more. We walked into Snuffy's Malt Shop and plopped down in a corner booth. We all order malts and continued our conversations. Seeing my high school gals always brings a smile to my face. When we left, we promised to get together again sooner than later!

It's been so fun celebrating these special milestones with our kiddos and friends over the last week. Time might be going insanely fast, but I know there is plenty of fun and adventure in our future! Bring it on!

Until next time…

The Helleens