me, my girl, and a movie

High time for a Girl's Adventure!

My lovely friend Amber invited Lily and I to come along with her and her daughter Harper to a local cinema which was showing some of the older Disney movies on Saturday mornings for a reduced price. A girlie outing with our dear friends seemed like the perfect little opportunity for some quality time with my girl. 

Now that I am no longer pregnant or sick and feeling pretty recovered from the birth, I was keen to spend some one-on-one time with my little lady. After her first week of school last week, the poor darling was a wreck over last weekend. I think the emotional (and  physical) stress of a new school full of new people for full days had really wiped her out and she was a bit of a mess by Friday! And although she is completely enamored with her sweet baby brother, I am sure the recent changes to our family and her little life also played a part... that is a lot of change in just three weeks for a little person to cope with. 

I had wondered how long it would take her to adjust to the toll of full-day schooling but am relieved that this week, even though she went for three days, she seemed much more settled and able to cope and was back to her usual cheery self. Nonetheless, a mother-daughter outing seemed like just what we needed... as I have to admit with a new baby to care for, handling her emotions as well also took its toll on me!

The night before I tried Miles on his first bottle of expressed breast milk and he drank it like a champ, which meant I could leave him home with  Daddy and Eli today (boy's day!!) so I could just focus on hanging out with Lily. By the way, pleased to report all the boys did just fine on their morning flying solo!

Do I even need to say how excited Lily was at the idea of an outing to the movies (first time ever!), including cafe lunch afterwards, and her dear friend Harper?! Yeah...she was over the moon!

Happy squealy scrunchy faces are the best.

 

Kids were encouraged to dress up for the special screenings and this is the
outfit Lily chose! 

A fluttering little fairy...

Two old friends catching up on the  latest goss in line at the cinema!! Too funny...

Scampering up the stairs....

Eagerly anticipating the start of the movie....

The movie (Mulan) was just-ok... a little bit battle-filled for me and my girl's taste. However she and Harper were happy to giggle and share snacks through the boring/heavy bits and Lily got through her first full movie session just fine. We topped off the outing with a delicious lunch afterwards (indulgent!) and the little girls' eager chatter was matched only by Amber and I also enthusiastically catching up and swapping news!

Giddy chit-chat at the cafe afterwards...

Lily and Harper split a strawberry milkshake... what a treat!

Two fairies have a little play before our magical adventure comes to an end...

 

My favourite bit? The long and quiet car rides just talking with my daughter. So much of the constant chatter in our home takes place between siblings -  it was lovely to have time to talk just with her - about school, the baby, the rubbish tip (we drove past), children without mummies and daddies, and what ever else came to her mind... 

Oh, she is growing up. 

Right before my eyes and yet somehow it's still surprising. Her once chubby baby legs get longer and leaner, her vocabulary explodes, her world view expands, and her questions struggle to keep up with her limitless ideas. Much of life with children is made up of teaching, training, caretaking, developing character and so on...  Days like this are simply for getting to know each other better. And I love getting to know this heart - her tender little heart. As her mother, I yearn to know more of what I already love. I want to know her better so I can love and raise her better and show her all the more how loved by God and her parents she is. So very loved.