I can pull weeds later.

I have finally sat down to breathe deeply and enjoy a few moments of solitude. They are few and far between. When we were on our Disney trip last month we were around thousands of people; not to mention in close proximity to our own family constantly. On the way back to our hotel one night Libby said to me "Mom, I can't wait to go home because I like sleeping alone and I like the feeling when no one is around me." I typed this into my phone as soon as she said it because I didn't want to forget. She articulated exactly how I feel every night by about seven o'clock.

But this is not the reason I am writing. I wanted to get down a few things about Juliet because she is changing so fast and my baby girl has turned into a little girl. It is shock and awe.

Whenever she says strawberry or library she adds an extra syllable so it comes out "straw buh berry" and "li buh brary."

And there it is. The only thing about my angel I can remember because I am so brain dead.

Tonight we planted the remainder of our summer garden and I let the dishes lie and sat on the back porch stoop with my Jimmy and watched Juliet play.

She brought out a bunch of buddies (small stuffed toys from her bed and the favorite, "bunny.") into the yard and worked so very hard at buckling them into a play stroller and whatever wouldn't fit, carrying them in her arms. She kept dropping them or they fell out and she never got frustrated, just kept her eye on whatever the goal was.

I took a picture of her and her sweaty messy head and then she proceeded to have me take a picture of her with every single one of her buddies one by one.

The weather was beautiful, she was beautiful, and sometimes you get those moments that don't involve dishes, laundry, or cleaning. Because chores are like weeds. They really have a way of choking the good times out.

Somehow even though I've got lots of weeds in my life, they haven't managed to choke out our moments. I just step over the dirty laundry and give my daughter a hug. I can pull weeds later.