This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

–Henry David Thoreau

In the thick of motherhood, I can get caught up with trying to carry the world on my shoulders. Between being a mom, writing papers for school, working, and trying to keep up with housework, I sometimes forget how the world must seem to Mila. She’s helped bring the color back in my life and smile at the little things, but I wish I could slow down.

We’ve been super busy the last few days. Mila’s routine is all out of whack and our sleep schedule is way off. Yesterday we were able to slow down a little bit. After a typical morning and midday walk, she took a long two hour nap. During that time, I was looking at pictures from last year and realized how fast everything’s going. She’s gotten so big in the last month and is saying so many words. Mila is all the things I dreamed about, but I want time to slow down… just a little bit.

After waking up, she pointed to the door and wanted to go outside. She played with the neighbor kids until it started storming. We had dinner and instead of just rushing our nighttime routine, I just wanted more of her.

I showed her bubbles last week, but didn’t have the chance to really play with them. They’ve been on my counter and she points to them while I make breakfast in the mornings. When I showed them to her last night and told her we were going outside, she was so excited.

When making this bucket list, I didn’t really realize how each item would make me feel. They’re all different experiences that she’s briefly or never encountered. Although we’re only on the second one, I love being able to introduce her to the world around us.

I loved watching her try to blow bubbles out of the wand. Spoiler alert: she got more in her mouth and all over her body than actually making bubbles. Then with every bubble I blew, she loved chasing them. I wonder what her thoughts were with them. It really brought me back to being a kid again with all the wonder and imagination that’s little ones have.

One day she’ll think blowing bubbles and hanging out with me is lame. She won’t be as surprised or intrigued in these little wonders. They grow up so fast and the world doesn’t let them stay young for long.

I hope that day doesn’t come for years and years, but for now, I’m going to try and slow down with her. I want to be amazed by the bubbles in the world and slow down time for us both. When that day eventually comes, I hope she remembers these type of memories we created because I know I’ll never forget them.

Two out of many experiences are checked off our bucket list. If you created a summer bucket list, which items have you checked off?

After the turbulent week we had with the two Mila injuries, I’m HAPPY to say that the first weekend of summer went wonderfully for us!

Fortunately, Mila has had no problem with her eye and has been her usual busy self. I’ll quickly say that most of the swelling around her eye and forehead has went down. Her eyelid is still a very dark purple and a little swollen. It’s starting to turn green on the outside, but she’s really doing awesome. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and prayers, I know she was feeling them!

Although I was content with staying home and letting her rest the last few days, she was determined to go outside. In true summer fashion and wanting to mark items off our summer bucket list, we turned out pool day to a pool weekend.

I’ve always said water is so healing. After Jensen was born I liked to just float or go kayaking. It helped me calm down and focus my energy. Last year with Mila, the pool was the one place where we could both just take a break. She’d stop crying as soon as we’d get in and that brought me relief too. Before we opened the pool, I was afraid she’d not like it as much this year and I’d have to warm her up to it.

Boy, those fears were way off.

This weekend Mila was jumping to me from off the deck and the steps. She’s kicking her feet and trying to move her arms to swim too. There were a couple times I let go of her by the wall (she had a swimming life vest on) and she swam right to where she needed to grab on to. I’m pretty impressed and so glad she likes it as much as I do. Two of the days, we had her big cousins come over. She liked to ‘race’ them to the duck and then throw it to race again. When they left, she liked to try and keep it away from Finnick, my parent’s dog). She’s such a ball of energy. The only thing she absolutely refuses to do is let me float her on her back. She rolls and throws a fit, so I’m not pressuring her too much.

All in all, this specific bucket list experience was a success. I knew we’d get to it pretty quickly and we’ll probably have many more pool days this summer. As of this moment, I’m not entirely sure what the next box we’ll check off will be or really when either… Hey, it’s summer so we’re just going with the flow. Fingers crossed to no more ER visits and that Miss Mila’s eye will get better soon too.

I hope everyone had a great first weekend of summer. What fun things did you get into?