Emily Ley

Dear Brady,

You are two years old, little man. It’s so strange to write those words. It seems like yesterday your mommy and daddy were getting ready to go to the hospital to meet you.

I remember getting ready in our bathroom while Daddy waited in the living room talking to Nana and PopPop. A beautiful song by Adele (To Make You Feel My Love) came on and I cried and cried and cried all by myself. Just me and you, all wrapped up in my tummy.

You were so safe and protected. No one could hurt your feelings. No one could make you cry. You were just happy and snuggly there in my belly. I cried because I knew I could never have more love for you than I did in that moment.

Boy, was I wrong.

This year you have blossomed into a sweet, sweet little boy with words and opinions and ideas and feelings and tricks and wants and preferences and the sweetest little cheeks you ever did see. You have a smile that turns any day around. You love carrots and animal crackers. You ask for apple juice from the server every time we sit down at a restaurant. You prefer showers over baths unless there are crayons involved.

You love your best friends. You like to play outside and you LOVE puzzles more than anything in the world. In fact, watching you do puzzles quickly and precisely is one of my favorite things.

You love to lay in your crib with your Mama and you love your daddy. This year, I’ve watched you become a little boy who idolizes his daddy and truly thinks the sun rises and sets in him. He is a good man, B. I hope you learn a lot from his big heart and the way HE brightens any room, too.

One of my favorite parts of this year has been the chances we’ve had to teach you not just to be a good boy, but to be an exceptional boy. You light up our hearts when you say “yes mam” and “yes sir.” But perhaps my favorite thing we’ve taught you is to say prayers. You now say the blessing before dinner even without our prompting. Your version goes… “God Great Amen.” :) It’s perfect.

I love you more than words sweet boy. This birthday has felt really emotional for me. I think it’s because I’m reminded of the struggle we had to conceive you. It took a little over a year, surgery, a few procedures and some drugs. Then on a month when we put all those things aside, we saw those two perfect pink lines. We’ve been trying for fourteen months now to give you a little brother or sister. And perhaps that’s why my heart feels a little emotional about you turning two. There were times when I thought our little family of two might not ever becoming a family of three. We learned to trust God’s pure and perfect timing and you were so so so so worth it. Worth every tear I cried and every worry I had to pray away. You, sweet boy, would have been worth waiting ten years for. And I bet your little brother or sister will be the same.

Thank you for blessing our lives in immeasurable ways. Toddlerhood is challenging but we are growing tighter and stronger as a family of three :) We love you so much, Brady Bear and my wish, for your second birthday, is for you to have a heart full of endless joy forever and ever. I love you, punkin’.

Love,

Mommy

Image credits: Top six (Gina Zeidler Photography), Bottom three (Rustic White Photography)

* UPDATE: CONGRATS TO LAUREN MANUEL: OUR WINNER! LAUREN, WE’LL BE IN TOUCH WITH REGISTRATION DETAILS!

Hello, hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We braved POTTY TRAINING WEEKEND at my house (more on this adventure later) and had fun being home with each other. Somewhere along the way I looked at Brady and realized he is a little boy. He’s not a baby and yes, he is a toddler. But he’s becoming a little boy. An all grown up little boy. Oh, be still my heart.

We have a really big, exciting week ahead. Our three part Making Brands Happen Webinar Series has been on FIRE this year! So many of you are so fired up to make what matters happen in life and in business. It makes my heart so EXCITED for what this year holds. In fact, SO excited…. that I’m giving away a SEAT to the last of our three part series! Best news is… the winner will also receive video replays of the first two webinars! (Setting Yourself Up for Success and Powerful Branding) The third in our series is my absolute favorite. Building a seamless, rich, impactful client experience is what builds brand loyalty and ULTIMATELY lasting success in business.

Here’s how this giveaway is going to work. Are you ready? It’s a FAST giveaway! You have from now until tomorrow (TUESDAY) at NOON EST to enter. This is an Instagram giveaway. Making things happen in business is about making what MATTERS happen in life. So we want to know what MATTERS most to you. None of this other stuff is important if you don’t have your eyes and your heart set on what MATTERS MOST. Post a photo on Instagram of what matters most to you. Tag @Powerfulbrand and let us know you’re entering to win a seat to our Client Experience webinar on Wednesday. We’ll choose a winner at random and announce the name tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.

REGISTER HERE! We are just so excited for this last webinar! And don’t forget, it’s not too late to register for ALL THREE! Anyone who registers for all three webinars now (save $50 by registering for all three) will receive video replays of the first two. It’s not too late!

And… the winner will also get one of these black and gold WHAT MATTERS prints from our shop. I’m over the moon about them. I’ve already framed one of both of these in our home. Now available at www.EmilyLey.com.

xo,

Emily

Today I left Target almost emptyhanded. This hasn’t happened in quite some time. You see, Target is my safe place. My place where I can go and get an iced latte (and an apple juice box) and check things off my to-do list all while enjoying a leisurely stroll with my silly, quiet baby.

And then he became a toddler.

And then he decided he didn’t like the apple juice and he wanted the milk instead. And then he wanted cookies and the oranges in the buggy and he didn’t want to wear his shoes and where was his hat and Mommy BRADY DO IT!!

What.

Sigh. So long Target. I loved that you were my safe place. But somehow you became the place I dread because of THOSE LOOKS I get from others :) It’s funny, they aren’t the “you’re a horrible Mom looks.” Oh no. These are looks from mothers of older children who smile and sympathize. We’ll survive the WONDERFUL twos (I’m going to “act the way I want to feel” here). Sometimes I think I can’t go anywhere anymore and that he’s seriously entering those “behavior blackout dates” where you just stay home and brave it out. But the more we get him into social situations and out in public, the more he grows and learns.

Teaching Brady about good behavior is challenging but it’s so much fun when you see him “get it.” For instance, when someone speaks to him, he is very, very polite. Sometimes when he meets someone new, he reaches out to shake their hand. We learned this from a friend of ours whose little son reached out to shake Bryan’s hand in Chick Fil A one day. We were floored and very impressed with this little Southern gentleman. But I smile now knowing it probably wasn’t easy for his Mama to teach him to be so well behaved in public.

Have you ever thought about how funny it is that one of the most trying times with a child is one of the most AMAZING times as well. They’re learning boundaries and patience and self control but they’re also learning WORDS! And making friends! And learning how to love :)

I’m also learning right along with Brady. I’m learning that he will always test his Mama more than anyone else as he begins to understand his role in our family and the way we behave at home or away from home. That’s hard on my heart sometimes, but I’m really grateful for good friends who cheer me on all the way.

This weekend begins Potty Training Weekend (we are gently attempting the three-day method). Brady has been “ready” for months, but we’ve been nervous. So we’re diving in tomorrow morning! We’ll be on lock down at our house, so wish us the best!

Happy weekend friends!

xo,

Emily

PS: Our experience entering the WONDERFUL TWOs was the inspiration behind our “great day BREAKFAST plates”! We’re working on bowls and mugs now too, so stay tuned!

Lara, Gina and I are SO excited (so excited!!!!!) to announce the first EVER Making Things Happen CONFERENCE. Over the past four years, over 700 people have joined the MTH movement that has really swept the nation in our creative industry. Lara started MTH in late 2009 with a simple blog post and met Gina and I at the first intensive. Since then its been full-speed-ahead. It has been such a blessing to meet so many empowered, passionate people making what MATTERS happen in life and business.

For years, we travelled and took the MTH one day intensive on the road. We loved the hustle and bustle of those adventures around the nation. As our families have grown and our hearts have widened even more, we’ve found a deep seated desire to have an even greater impact with MTH and stay closer to the families we love. This conference will combine the principles of Making Things Happen (uncovering a decisive and clear vision for exactly what you want to make happen) with the branding knowledge of Making Brands Happen (powerful personal branding to take it ALL to the next level!) in a two day format in Chapel Hill, NC.

Join Lara, Gina and I at the Carolina Inn for this brand new conference. We’re so stoked!! Seats are very, very limited in this new format and registration is open…. NOW! You can also enter to win a scholarship over on Lara’s blog here!

Hope to see you there in March!!

xo

Emily

Image credit: Middle image from Nancy Ray Photography, Bottom image stolen from Lara’s blog :)

Last week Lara and I hosted our first of three webinars as part of our Making Brands Happen Webinar Series. This one was Part One: Setting Yourself Up for Success. For all of you that know about our Simplified Planner, THAT is the point of it. In order to have a simplified life, you must set yourself up for success ten steps in advance. I’m feeling good about all the meal planning, time blocking and date-night planning I’ve been doing but one thing always remained – and that was my addiction to my iPhone.

It’s an addiction guys. It’s not funny. It’s not something to laugh off. It’s serious. It’s an addiction and it’s gross. It’s an addiction to the feeling we get when we have 100 likes on an Instagram photo (they like me!) and the way we feel when we have a new Facebook Message (something interesting!) and the way we feel when a new email rolls in from someone we don’t know (ooh, this could be good!) and the way we feel when we’re wrapped up in a text message with a friend (i’m loved / needed / etc).

Courtney Whitmore, of Pizzazzerie, said it best the other day on Instagram. It’s the “glorification of busy.” It’s the way we feel when we have TEN things going on at once. You know that adrenaline rush? We’re feeing the child, talking on the iPhone (about something uber important, of course), checking our email, stirring the pot of spaghetti and organizing the mail ALL while wearing five inch heels. RIGHT!? GET IT MAMA!!

No.

That’s gross. At least it is for me. And that’s the realization I came to during last weeks webinar. My word for this year is SLOW. I want to slow down and LITERALLY smell the roses (hubby! roses!) I want to unplug myself from my iPhone (and flip that thing monogrammed side up!) and soak up every last minute and drop of goodness. When our pup, Briggs, was diagnosed with Lymphoma last week I took a day and literally laid in the sunshine with him rubbing his giant bull mastiff belly. I text messaged Lara and said “This is horrible. Why have I never done this with him.”

SLOW.

So this weekend, my parents came to visit. I posted two pics to Instagram last night but had an otherwise social media free weekend. Lara has been doing this for a while now, but I never thought I had a “problem” with it until this weekend when I gave it a try. Do you know how many times I pulled my Facebook / Email / Instagram free phone (I removed the apps for the weekend) out to do something on it? Something I couldn’t do because the apps weren’t there.

Oh goodness.

I’m joining the social media free weekend club. And I’m also joining the put-your-phone-in-a-drawer-after-5pm club. Life’s just too short! My Mom and I saw Wicked last night (our third time each!). I surprised her with SIXTH row seats for her birthday! Her birthday is Feb 27. Mine is Feb 28 (sorry you were in labor on your birthday, Mama!) It was such a great time. There’s so so so much goodness all around us. And sometimes we are so busy glorifying the busy, the connection, the HUSTLE, that we just plain forget.

Happy week, friends!

Emily

PS: Please enjoy the random guy in the photo above. Let’s pretend he’s saying “Oh my WORD. What a GORGEOUS iPhone case. I need something monogrammed.”

PPS: Top photo by Gina Zeidler :)