Top Two Tuesday!! Top Two Favorite Simple Pleasures!!

Top Two Tuesday is hosted by Taylor at The Undomestic Momma. You can see Taylor's Top Two picks and many other Mamas and Ladies HERE!!

This week's Top Two is your Top Two Favorite Simple Pleasures!!

(found this on a random search on flkr: found HERE)

1. My first Favorite Pleasure is two parted:

My absolute best favorite simple pleasure is seeing our little pumpkin first thing in the morning at the start of a new day! There is nothing that could top that to me!  I LOVE it because she always has this huge smile on her face, and is usually being silly and bouncing around/playing in her crib, talking to her little animal friends, clutching her silkie/blankee.

She usually bounds up against the railings and reachers her little outstretched arms at me, and does a little knee bend dance, and sometimes,says "up." Then, she usally asks me to grab her silkie too if she doesn't have it in hand, and a stuffed animal or two. She'll lay against my chest with the blankee and cuddle in with a stuffed animal, and gives me a big tight squeeze.  I LOVE IT!! 

And when I have to wake her up to take her daycare it breaks my heart to see her rub her little eyes, and to think that I dragged her out of a peaceful dream/sleep. Sometimes, she'll pick her little head up, then lay back down becuase she's too tuckered out to get up right away.  If I stayed at home, I'd let her sleep as late as she wanted!

I don't have a picture of this, but I should probably take one sometime.  But it's my favorite moment of the day!

The second part of my simplest favorite pleasure is putting our little pumpkin to bed at night.  I LOVE holding her and rocking with her in the rocking chair, and giving her her milk.  I love her excitement at reading stories before bed, and learning the animal sounds, names, and signs. She just signed monkey last night!

About a year ago, I designated a corner in the nursery for reading. I put a shaggy rug, pillows, and stuffed animals there. She loves to run over there, and lay on the pillows and blankets, and snuggle up with me and read a book. She drags every stuffed animal over to the corner to join in story time. We have a big painted wooden storage unit in the nursery with cubbie holes. I put woven baskets, pictures frames, and stuffed animals in each cubby.  The two bottom cubbies contain baskets of books, so she can reach them. She can actually reach the two above those too, and she always runs and grabs the stuffed animals off those shelves to join us. Then, she will grab my hand and point for me to grab the stuffed animals on the higher shelves too. We kiss our stuffed animals each night before bed.

I LOVE when she goes down easily with no fuss. There are times though when she's too tired or not tired enough and a little fuss/tanrum ensues. But, it usally doesn't last more than a couple minutes, thankfully!  I LOVE when she falls asleep in my arms, I could stay there forever just holding her, watching her!  But, I love that one on one close, personal time with her where I'm not distractedly cleaning, picking up things, doing laundry, doing dishes, cooking, or running around crazy and distracted.  It's the only time that I can devote my whole self to her, and having that time with her is so important to me.

2. My Second Favorite Simple Pleasure would have to be snuggling with the hubs.
Whether it be watching a movie on the couch, waking up in the morning before you actually have to get up for the day, in the evening before you fall asleep, or on a lazy weekend day afternoon when we've just put the pumpkin down for a nap. The best part of it is that I have gotten him interested in it, and he'll ask me if I want to "snuggle, cuddle" which is what I call it.  He thinks that he is doing ot for me, but I think he secretly just likes to cuddle with me. Ha!

And, I will also cheat here, and add a couple of my other simple pleasures:

-Laying in bed on rainy days, listening to the rain on the roof.
-I love the feel of a cool breeze.
-I love warmth/heat when you're cold, and cool/cold air when you're hot.
-Taking a walk on a beautiful day.
-I also LOVE CLEAN SHEETS like Tay!!! This in part explains my LOVE of hotels bc the sheets are always so pressed, tight, and clean, and it feels like you are the first person to lay in them ever!
If I had a maid/nanny, I'd ask her clean the sheets daily bc there's nothing better than clean sheets! The other thing I lve about hotels is not having to clean up after yourself, though I still do, and the hubs thinks I'm nuts!
-I LOVE towls fresh out of the dryer, so soft and warm, fresh, and clean.
-I love the smell of chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven.
-I love the smells of EVERY season.  Flowers/Dew in the Spring, Babrbecue in the Summer, burnt brush/leaves in the Fall, and the "cool" clean air smell in the Winter.
-I love the first drink/first bite of food when you're thirsty or hungry.
-I LOVE really, really GOOD food or wine.
-I love listening to music, or a familiar smell.
-I LOVE the sound of Nikolina's laughter.
-I love finding money I didn't know I had.
-I LOVE finding a great buy on something I want.
-I love goign out of my way to help someone, talk to someone.
-I LOVE spendign time with my immediate family and extended family.
-I love living life through a child's eyes.
and
-I LOVE LAYING IN THE SUN ON A LAZY SUMMER AFTERNOON (with a cool drink and a great book)!!!