Yay Day!

 There are two things that contribute to this story.

1. Alice is ready for a dog. She has been BEGGING for a new dog for MONTHS. Every time she sees a dog or hears the word dog or passes the dog aisle at any store. She. Wants. A. Dog.

2. Surgery recovery means no "intimate" situations allowed until cleared by the doctor which is usually at the six weeks mark. My Beloved being the funny man that he is counted six weeks on our kitchen calendar and wrote "Yay Day!" It should be noted this is a calendar that Alice has never paid attention to a day in her entire life.

Now to the story.

A few nights ago, Alice comes running in to our room all excited.

Alice "MOM! Why did you write Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet day!?? Does that mean we're getting a dog?!?"

And I immediately start laughing and say, "Daddy, Alice wants to know why you wrote Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day?!"

This is his doing, let him handle it.

Him...."I wrote that because that's the date Momma is supposed to be completely healed and can get back to her normal routine."

Me "Yes, that's the day I can move my weighted blanket all on my own." (I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs.)

Her disappointment was palpable. 

The date has a paw print on it, for crying out loud.

The next day we're in the car when Alice announces from the back seat, "I told Mrs. Ashby about 'Yay Day'."

Lovely.....just lovely.

Me "What exactly did you tell her?"

Alice, to me "I told her you wrote that on the calendar."

Me "No! DADDY wrote that!"

Him "I'm not sure that matters at this point."

Me "Did you tell her what kind of surgery I had?!"

Her "No, she didn't ask."

I have read ZERO parenting books but I am confident this kind of situation isn't in there.

And I know what you're thinking, "I know what you will be doing that day!!" 

NOPE!!!! My post op check is at an undisclosed later date so Yay Date will not happen on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day. We will also not be adopting a shelter pet on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day either. 

So, boom! 

Until next time.....

A ready heart

CAUTION: This is the end of Father Christmas. Keep the small eyes away.

For years, Alice has been asking about Santa. She does this at the most inopportune times usually following the other fictional characters we've slowly unmasked. I wrote about it here.

My response is always the same, "do you really want to know or do you want to sit with it?"

Her response is always, "I'll sit with it."

We know her head knows what her heart isn't ready for.

This year, her heart was ready. 

After we got home from Christmas at my mom's something was said and I asked, "who do you think Santa is?"

She said, "I think you and Dada are Santa." 

The ONLY question she had was if Santa was ever real. We talked about where the idea of Santa came from and she was content with that.

We talked about all her previous gifts and how Uncle Travis, Nana, Aunt Tami and now Aunt Meghan get to stay up and set everything up. We laughed because Daddy's job is to make sure Alice gets to sleep so he is always truly surprised on Christmas morning.

Alice "so when I asked Santa for a Barbie house...."
Me "Santa got the Barbie house she knew would fold up and fit in your messy room."
Her "fair."

She also asked if we kept her letters to Santa and I honestly don't know where they would be if I did. I do have this year's though because it was super last minute and quite cute.

We also discussed the elf. This year I did a few extra things since I knew it would probably be the last year. Her sweet Music teacher made tiny cookie sheet cookies that I left out like Meyers baked for her. She took it to school for lunch and when she told her friends where it came from, her friend Isabella quickly told her friend Alex not to say anything. Bless her heart. 

I also let her know next year, she can move them. 

"Slay." she says. 

"But nothing involving any kind of food!!" - me, clearly seeing the ideas forming.

"Oh man...." 

It was a calm discussion where we laughed and shared the backstage memories. She knows to hold the magic for the younger kids and what a huge responsibility it is because kids deserve the magic of Christmas. Period.

The best part? Because we waited for her heart to listen to her head - no one cried. 

Letting her carry the magic a bit longer until she was ready to let it go didn't hurt her or us.

Christmas next year will be a new kind of magic SHE will get to create. 

And won't that be something!

Until next time....

A New Smile

Well, it finally happened. Her smile will forever be changing. 

Let's start at the beginning....

We have been talking to Alice about how her teeth would eventually fall out for larger teeth. Usually she just changes the subject which mostly suits me fine because I DO NOT handle mouth related anything very well. 

Travis popped his tooth out in a Walmart checkout lane once and I nearly fainted.

Nope!

Nonetheless, it's happening and we all need to be prepared. 

A few weeks ago we were at dinner and Alice mentioned her classmate lost her tooth while at school today.

Me: "that's exciting! How do you feel about losing your teeth?"

Alice: "when I yose my teeth, I'm going to put them on a teeth neckyace!"

Me: *eyebrows at my hairline * "this is your father's influence....." (Seriously.)

A few weeks later she came home and said she cried at school. When I asked why, she reluctantly told me it was because her tooth was loose and she's scared. 

We talked about how it's normal and how there is nothing to worry about. It's one of her little bottom teeth and she will not let ANYONE near it. Nope. We never actually saw it wiggle.

She comes home a few days later terrified because her friend told her her tooth was going to fall out on Valentine's Day.

Some time later we were asking about her tooth and the teeth necklace was mentioned again. Again, I questioned this plan. This time she says in frustration, "it's a yittle neckyace with a treasure box! The nurse puts your tooth inside!"

Oh, thank goodness.

Me: "oh! If you lose a tooth at school, you get a little necklace to put your tooth in! That makes way more sense!"

My Beloved: "honestly, I'm a little disappointed...." SEE!!

I am ALL FOR her losing her tooth at school. YES, PLEASE!!!!

I could tell the past few days her little tooth obviously looked a little more out of place than normal. She has been super careful to eat on the opposite side of her mouth.

We're finishing up dinner last night and she suddenly says, "MY TOOTH!!" and sure enough, she's holding her tooth, right next to me.

We quickly calm and congratulate. When she gets a bit shaken, I say sweet, calming things while holding a napkin to the bleeding spot. My Beloved takes the tooth and we all pull ourselves together.

As we were walking out, my Beloved announces, much to the dismay of our daughter and to the confusion of the other guests, that we just lost our first tooth. Alice may never recover. Or eat Mexican food again.

I handled it well and I didn't get emotional until we were in the car. 

My little baby lost her first tooth, y'all. We were just lamenting on growing them last week, I swear!

We decide losing a first tooth should be celebrated and since she is still shaken, we decide a new LOL doll might do the trick. And it did. We stressed this is only for a first tooth and she is currently working on how to negotiate that rule.

We got home and called all the family - this is a HUGE deal!

Many moons ago we received a very lovely Tooth Fairy pillow made by Daniel's Granny. In a moment of clarity, I suggested we put the pillow next to her existing fairy door in the living room so the Tooth Fairy can just share that door with her fairy, Nixie. This means the Tooth Fairy did not forget!! HOLLA!!!

She has many teeth left to lose and her smile will be changing for the next few years.

And I'm thankful she got through her first year of school pictures with all her teeth. ;)

Alice and her new LOL Pet

I am also trying to decide if now is the time to start filling out her baby book. There is a page for losing teeth! Probably there is a page of growing teeth but I skipped it. Maybe I can just staple the middle pages together and tell her not to worry about those. "Nope, not important! It was birth facts and then your teeth fell out! That's it!" 

Or maybe I'll just burn the book before she finds it......probably that's best.

Until next time.....

Good, Better, Best

Some Good

After being completely deflated when the college discontinued the program I was in, I took the summer to hang with Alice. During that time I did some research and we looked around and concluded that there are still lots of jobs in Medical Transcription. So I started to look in to other options in regards to training. I found an online program through CareerStep that trained you not only on the transcription part, but also on the editing part. Most transcriptions are being done by computers now, however, someone has to edit what the machine gets wrong. At the end of the training, I will be trained in both. 

So I enrolled. It's all online and work at your own pace. I started in September when Alice went back to school and I am already halfway through. The first half was mostly review from the classes I had already taken. Now I've started the transcription part. It isn't too hard. It's just A LOT. I have a gazillion audio files to get through and I feel like I am making zero progress. I'm working on it while Alice is at school so I have not dedicated the amount of time I should be dedicating to it. (Like right now when I should be doing school but instead I'm blogging. I'm pretending it's warming up my fingers.) My goal is to find more time on the weekends to get through a few. I would LOVE to be finished by the summer. My goal date keeps getting pushed around as I better understand what work needs to be done. This goal date isn't any earlier than what it would be if I was continuing classes at the college so I'm trying to be okay with it. 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel - I just can't see it yet. Hopefully I'll see it soon. 

Feeling and Looking Better

We are still doing our diet/exercise program. I'm down 15lbs. I am elated. My Beloved is down more and looks fantastic. While at my check-in appointment with my new Hematologist, he noticed I had lost quite a bit of weight since my last visit. He asked what we were doing and what my goal weight was. I told him I don't really have a goal weight - I just don't want people asking when I'm due anymore. He has an app that figures what your target weight should be and I am apparently 5lbs away from being considered in the 'normal' weight range for my body. BOOYAA!!! I haven't weighed in at "normal" for years! He went on saying that it's a range - 155 could be the top, 140 was still considered normal so I could get down lower. I told him it didn't matter - "you had me at normal." 

We look better, we feel better, and we're dedicated to keeping up with it. Thanks to Pinterest, we have tried lots of diet recipes that have really been tasty! So that's helped. I still give Alice something else or at least the non-diet version of what we're having. She gets regular noodles and white rice, lucky kid. 

The Best Most Recent Example of How We are STILL Unqualified Parents

When Alice gets overly exhausted, it is almost impossible to get her to go to bed. She sobs for hours in protest. HOURS! On January 1st, she was so unbearable, we finally put her on a mat on our floor next to our bed. She finally went to sleep. The next day while my Beloved was picking the mat up Alice came in, looked at it with incredulity, and said, "wus that?" Dada replied, "it's where you slept last night." 

Alice - "nuh uh! I syeep in my own bed!"

Child.

This past Sunday, she had another bedtime meltdown. This time, Dada offered to lay on the floor next to her bed until she fell asleep. He does this occasionally when Alice is inconsolable. We have a pack-n-play mattress that slides out from under her baby bed and he lays down until she falls asleep and I wake him up to come to bed. Only Alice decided to lay on the floor with him. 

She FINALLY fell asleep on the floor. The last time we tried to move her from the floor to her bed and that was the wrong decision. Wrong, wrong, wrong. So we looked at her and said she could sleep on the floor.  

At almost 4am, I awake to her crying. I get up, switch the hall light on, open her door, and can't see her. I can hear her crying, "Momma, I stuck! My head!" only she is nowhere to be found. 

Somehow the child had managed to get under her baby bed. Lord, have mercy.

I call for Daniel and proceed to lift the bed. 

My poor groggy husband comes running around the corner to me lifting the baby bed and the groggy child emerging from under it. "What the heck?!" Yep - 'what the heck' about sums it up. 

We get her back to bed and everything settled. 

And the dog who was barking like a maniac last week because the wind blew - slept through his kid crying for help. Didn't even leave his bed when His Man jumped out of his. Stupid dog. 

So that's what's going on here. Maybe when I'm done transcribing my fingers off, I'll have more time to blog. We'll see!

Until next time......

A Very Merry Christmas

Every Christmas since Alice has been around has been just so magical. This year was no exception. This is the first Christmas that Alice really understood what was going on. She was excited to decorate, she loved the Christmas lights, and the anticipation of presents was palpable. (We spent so many days going to different houses for presents that now every time we are set to go somewhere, she asks, "I get presents?!" Not this time, kid.)

Christmas Eve, we were at mom's for the candlelight service and our family gift exchange. It was a ball, as usual! While at Nana's, she received a cash register and a little wooden make-up set that she ADORES. Now we are either being made over or getting a "keck up". 

We usually spend the night at mom's, however, this year, we came home and brought Aunt Tami and Uncle Travis with us. (My mom works Christmas day - babies don't know it's a holiday.) We got up, found what Santa brought, ate breakfast and opened presents. It was lovely. This was also the first year that Alice showed any interest in opening presents and every present, she reacted with, "oh wow!! I wub it!!" and hugged it to her. So precious.

Santa brought her lots of Play Doh, panties (her reaction was priceless), a turtle toothbrush holder, a Frozen microphone, a pink book, and Dada made her a lap desk.

Everything but the panties were her most "paborite EVER!" 

Christmas day, we headed up to Huntsville for Christmas with Papa and Mawmaw. She gave everyone a make-over with her new play make up set and we talked to Uncle David's goats.

We had a fantastic Christmas with the ones we love. We hope you did too.

Until next time.....

The Dada's Worst Nightmare

*This post is totally TMI territory. This is your warning.*

As parents you constantly play the "what if" game in hopes that one day when the 'what if' presents itself - you have a plan of action already in place. 

What if.....she runs a fever for too long?
What if.....she eats a staple? (DONE!)
What if.....she throws up?
What if.....she poops in the tub?

Sometimes this works in your favor and when a situation comes around, you spring into action and everything works out! However, there are some that you are never prepared for. Ever. No matter how much planning you do. 

That brings us to this week.

On Sunday, Alice woke up and crawled into bed with us. As she was laying there, I heard her start to gurgle and immediately knew she was going to throw up. "Daniel! She's going to throw up!!" We get her sitting up and she throws up a little. Lovely. We get her to the toilet but she's done. She didn't eat much the day before so all she threw up was stomach acid. She immediately asks for milk. I KNEW this is NOT what she needed - at all - but the fit was so spectacular that I said, fine. She did good for about an hour. Then she spewed all over the living room. 

The Dada springs into action! We get the bucket under her chin until she's done and I get her changed while my rock-star husband cleans up the living room. She didn't throw up again, however, every time she got her hand near her mouth, we jumped up - "are you going to be sick?!" Her response every time - "No, I good." Yeesh.

And then there's last night. 

The Dada gives Alice her bath while I clean and get things ready for the next day. As soon as I turn the sink water off, I hear my impatient husband say, "TIMBERLEY! Can you please come here!" Yeesh, hold your horses! I was doing the dishes!

I get to the bathroom and he's kneeling next to the bathtub with his hands up like he's surrendering. "I was doing to the dishes. Is there something wrong?!"

"YES! She has POOPED in the TUB!"

I look over the side of the tub and sure enough, there's a big turd. My immediate response was to laugh. He did not think that was a proper immediate response. My second response was to ask if I could go get my camera. Again, he did not feel this was an appropriate second response either. 

Apparently our child managed to place some in his hand with her question of "wuss at?" before he figured out what was going on and became completely unglued. We get her out and sit her on the counter wrapped in a towel so Daniel can clean the tub. EVERYTHING was scrubbed. While the decontamination was going on, Alice and I discussed where poop goes. It's dirty and it goes in the toilet. To make her Dada even more crazy, she thinks it's cute to say it goes in the bathtub. I'm not sure he's ever bathing her again until we've confirmed she's gone poop already. 

Oh, the joys of parenting!

Now for the part where I brag on the Dada. Y'all, he's not big on germs. He's not Howie Mandel crazy but he prefers clean. He's a dedicated hand washer. He cringes when she puts things near her mouth. A little part of his soul dies when he catches her licking things like the wall in a store or something equally disgusting. And yet he has handled this kid SO WELL. He hasn't fainted or died yet and he still willingly gives her hugs and kisses. I am so proud! Alice won the Daddy Lottery. Bless him.

It took some time to settle after Poop Gate; it rattled the Dada quite a bit. I tried to tell him this is something that happens ALL the time!! It's totally normal.

And then I said, "I know it's cliche but.......$#*$ happens!" 

He didn't find that amusing either. 

Until next time......

Editor's Note: this was published with permission by the Dada. 

The 3rd Year

Happy birthday, Alice!

Today you turn 3.

3! 

This birthday snuck up on me. It seems I was telling people you had just turned 2 and then all of a sudden one day I had to tell them you were a month away from 3. It goes by so very fast. 

I know I say this every year, but you have grown SO MUCH! 

You are talking so much more. You LOVE to help with things - "Momma, I help!" Our favorite thing to hear from you is "I wub you!" We wub you too, kid.

You are bossy and sweet and sensitive. You have an imagination that brings us so much joy. You play with purpose and wonder. The world is full of magic still.

You still love to dance! Our kitchen was meant to be your dance floor so keep dancing, kid. 

You no longer like to be called 'baby' because you are "Ayice". This breaks my heart a little. You will always be my baby. Always. However, you look less and less like the Little Bitty we brought home and more and more like the Little Girl you are becoming. 

Everything is the best thing ever except when it's the worst thing ever. 

A balloon is all you need to make you smile. 

You love your kitchen and spend lots of time playing "cooking show". You love Play-doh and Princesses and your new baby doll, Baby. 

Even though some moments are tough and we still don't know what we're doing - we are confident we won the Kid Lottery because we just think you are wonderful.

Our hope is that you never doubt for one tiny little moment that you are loved. You are loved beyond measure, my child.

Love always,
Momma and Dada

PS: You threw up for the first time on your third birthday. I just wanted to remind you in case you ever forget and this is probably the only baby book you're ever going to have. Sorry, kid. 

A Tisket, A Tasket

Let me start by saying that it cracks me up at the things my Beloved gets worked up about. For this story, it's her Easter basket. 

For Alice's first two Easters, we didn't do too much. We used a small felt frog basket I found in the dollar section at Target; however, this year she needed a little bit larger one for her school's 'Egg Hunt'. We started looking at the beginning of March since we had all month. Our first search was unsuccessful and then March fell apart so we didn't get the chance to look again until the weekend before Easter. This meant we only had 4 to choose from because Hobby Lobby was through with spring and setting up for Christmas again. I jest....a little. The options were diminished regardless. 

Every time I suggested a basket, my Beloved said it wasn't big enough. He wants this basket to be the one she has for years to come. Fine. We find a plain yellow basket that meets his size requirements and might be sturdy enough to last until she's in college, we'll see. But it needs something so I pick out some ribbon and spend a few minutes adding some color. I only burned off two of my fingerprints with the hot glue gun. I'm not sure why I try to craft.

After looking at it again, we decide it's too big to take to school. Her class only has 4 kids including her in it so she can just take her frog basket. 

While we're looking for the basket, we have to get candy which I leave up to the Dada. She NEEDS a chocolate bunny and candy corn and jelly beans and so on. We also pick up a bubble machine, sidewalk chalk and Popsicle molds. I picked up some stupid grass (I loathe Easter basket grass) and load up the basket. I leave a lot of the candy out thinking Daniel got the candy for himself. 

Him: But the candy corn carrot is for her!

Me: She doesn't need candy corn.

Him: but it goes with the chocolate rabbit! Get it, it's in the shape of a carrot!

Me: Oiy vey

So I add the candy corn carrot but I leave out the jelly beans.

Him: But those are for her too! Easter is all about jelly beans!

Me: Uh, I'm pretty sure Easter is about our Lord and Savior dying for our sins!

Him: Try telling the jelly bean people that!

Yeesh.

I load the basket up and show him. 

Him: It looks good! But shouldn't there be more grass? You know, coming out of the sides and stuff?

Yeesh. Again. 

The day before the egg hunt, I decide to get her frog basket ready only I can't find it anywhere. I tore up the house looking for it. It's been on the same shelf for MONTHS until the day before the egg hunt. When Alice gets home from school, I ask her if she can find it. She brings me every frog from her room except the basket. So she went to school with a Sesame Street bucket she got from a friend's 2nd birthday (thanks again, Henry!). I still can't find that frog. 

She didn't really care what was in the basket and got grass all over my grandmother's house. But she was happy!

We LOVED the bubble machine....while it lasted. I'm not sure what she did to it but it only blows one sad bubble at a time now. 

Oh well. 

So, Happy Easter! a little late....

Until next time......

Wait for it....

I've had a moody few weeks, I finally vented to my Beloved on Friday. School is taking up so much time (as it should) and I feel like housework is piling up and I'm back to being overwhelmed. And this time of year, I get gloomy. I used to be a part of big exciting things and now I'm not. Now I do the same thing every day. (This is NOT a cry for validation or encouragement or 'at-a-girl!' It's just something I deal with.) 

I feel like I have nothing to share. I tell him,  "I WANT to blog but I feel like I have NOTHING exciting to write about."

And God laughed. 

This morning around 2am, the battery in our our Carbon Monoxide alarm died. It's plugged in to the wall, why does the battery run out?! And why can't it run out during the day?! This is the third time this has happened. The first time was HILARIOUS but it loses something in print. It must be reenacted in person. Trust me. My Beloved jumps out of bed, rips it from the wall and runs the screaming thing into the garage and removes the battery. By some miracle, the child sleeps through it.

However, when she did crawl into our bed around 7ish, she failed to understand that the Dada's pillow is much better suited to support a toddler head so instead she attempted to sleep on my head. On. My. Head. There is no sharing with her. 

Later while Daniel is out raking leaves, I clean up. As I'm putting on mascara, in walks our naked child. I'm talking - NEKKID. She not only managed to get her jammies off but she got her diaper off too. She was kind enough to put it in the Diaper Genie. She was so proud. I put a new diaper on her and finish my process of getting dressed only to have her bring me her shoes and repeat "outside!" over and over again. In nothing but a diaper. 

I finish getting ready and I step out in the garage to ask my Beloved a question. 2 seconds. Maybe 5. I come back to the door and our toddler has managed to lock the deadbolt. 

Yep.

She is stuck in nothing but a diaper in the laundry room. We are locked outside with no keys and no phones. I'm pretty sure I'm out of the running for Mother of the Year. There's always next year.....

The Dada attempts to open ANY window but it doesn't work. Alice did SO good but eventually the fear set in and she got upset. There is nothing worse in the world than watching your child be upset and not being able to reach them. Dada eventually broke a window and saved the day. 

Luckily, Atticus had requested alone time in the front of the house so he was nowhere near the broken glass. And Alice was tucked safe away in the laundry room so she wasn't in danger either. 

ALL of this before 11:30am. 

My Beloved worked to get all the glass up while I distracted Alice in our room with a Ring Pop. I'm out of the running for MOY anyway, why not?! 

It never fails. Listen, new parents. You rock along and things get easier and you get complacent and you think, "we got this!" and then BAM!!!! You get locked out. Or a child who couldn't reach the counter YESTERDAY all of a sudden hands you a knife they can now reach. And it's like they can read all the warning labels that say "Keep out of Child's Reach" and they collect them for you - "look what I found! What kind of parent are you?" And just like that you're reminded you know nothing. And it's a miracle everyone is still alive. A MIRACLE. Trust me, don't get comfortable. It never lasts...

So there's another milestone we reached. Another note for the baby book. But really, I haven't written a thing in her baby book since before we brought her home. I'm really not holding my breath for that Mother of the Year award. 

The first thing we did after everyone was ready to go was make a few house keys to hide in the garage. Yep. 

As we're standing in the kitchen later, I say to my Beloved, "well, now I have something to blog!" 

Until next time......

Picture Not So Perfect

I'm a stress-er and I'm also a sometimes perfectionist. I get something in my head and I'm sad if it doesn't look JUST how I imagined it. And I'm also crazy so I try to do things like family photos. 

I try to get them early so I'm ahead of the game. Last year, I had outfits and a location and camera and then a sick kid. So we scratched that and just snapped a quick picture of our snotty child at the last minute under our tree. Fa la la la la. 

So this year, I had another plan! We've had a few cute family shots taken throughout the year but Alice has grown SO MUCH that I wanted a more recent one. Thanksgiving day before we ate, I asked Travis to take our picture. Alice apparently thought this was the dumbest idea ever.

Here's attempt number 1.....

....which led to this...

So we took a second to regroup and repose. 

It didn't help.

THIS is the one that made the card. Yep.

 

Hey! I work with what I got, people! And I figured you could use a laugh this time of year. And honestly, it's not all pretty sunsets and smiles and giggles. Sometimes it's tantrums and tears. 

The above picture was cropped quite a bit. Below is the original. Uncle Travis needs a lesson in framing a shot. Bless him. 

I added a few sweet pictures from a time when you could tickle a smile out of the child. Those days are gone. Lord only knows what next years card will look like. And trust me, I'm saving one from every year! One day, when she's much older and hoping to impress some young man, we'll pull them out and "remember that one time you REFUSED to smile and threw a big ol' fit during a sweet family moment?!" Oh, it's coming! And it's going to be beautiful. 

Until next time...

Santa, Baby

Long before Alice was born, I saw THE CUTEST Santa picture!! It was of a very tiny sleeping newborn and Santa holding his finger over his mouth like "shh!" SO. CUTE! So, I HAD TO HAVE IT! And our girl was due RIGHT AT THE PERFECT TIME! 

And then Alice was born two and half months early and we were super paranoid about germs so we didn't get anywhere near a mall her first Christmas. So much for that.

So the next Christmas came around and I knew she needed to see Santa. (Disclaimer: I KNOW she doesn't NEED to see Santa, like she doesn't NEED to stand in Bluebonnets. But as her mother, it's my job to subject her to such things.) 

I'm a Santa snob. I won't settle for just any Santa - the beard needs to be real, he needs to have rosy cheeks and he needs to have a real belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly. And I said I would NEVER take her to Bass Pro shop; I want a Santa in RED, not camo. 

We took her to three different places and there was no Santa! Moody Gardens Festival of Lights - two different times! Both times - NO SANTA!! It was comical really. My Beloved will tell you it was NOT comical because he married a crazy person and that's mostly true. We tried one more time before we gave up. 

A second Christmas and still no Santa. What kind of mother am I?!

So this year, we had a plan! We had to go to Katy to pick something up and we were taking her to Katy Mills Mall and she was going to finally get the chance to be traumatized by Santa!! THIS WAS THE YEAR! We got to the mall around 5:30pm and walked the ENTIRE mall before we found the Santa stand......empty. Apparently Santa doesn't come to work until 7:05pm. Y'all. 

Luckily, attached to Katy Mills Mall is a Bass Pro shop.......yep. 

This is as close to Santa as the child would get. She had a death grip on Dada and she was not letting go. At least she isn't screaming! And she managed to keep the bow in her hair! Granted it's on the side of her head you can't see. And the girl taking the pictures thought she was so cute she gave her a stuffed animal. Now she's carrying around a cat that's half her size.

It stared at me all through dinner....

But, I can at least say she's met Santa!

Until next time......

And just like that....she's 2

So....we attempted a Sheep picture for month 24 (that's 2 years, folks!). They ALL look like this.....

Yep. This year might be a little exhausting.

Today, we celebrated. We decided to keep things very small. We had dinner and cupcakes and some family. And it was perfect. We splashed in the pool. We LAUGHED. We played. We opened presents. We ate cupcakes.

And we loved on a little girl who brings us so much joy. A little girl who lights up a room with her little grin. A little girl who waves bye bye when she leaves a room. A little girl who LOVES animals and marshmallows and books and colors.

She had our complete attention for the entire day. And that's what it should be about.

Two was a little bittersweet. One was exciting! It's the FIRST! But two means she's growing! And while I am SO proud of that, I miss the tiny little thing we brought home. However, I am SO excited to see what this next year holds for our girl. And it's an honor to call her ours.

Can you believe she's 2?! Yeesh.

Until next time....

My Little Pegasus

Last week, we FINALLY left the house. We ran to the store and then to McDonald's. (I know, I know - I'm a horrible mother for giving the baby McDonald's. I've noted your judgement and will take it in to consideration the next time I'm sitting in the drive through line.)

In her happy meal, she got a My Little Pony. It's adorable. She LOVES it.

Seriously - look at that face!

She carried it around all afternoon. When the Dada got home - she was all too excited to show him. He takes the little toy from her and says "aw! You have a little Pegasus!"

Me - "No, it's a My Little Pony"
Him - "Ummm, it's a horse with wings - that makes it a Pegasus."
Me - "Oiy vey"
Him - "Listen, she will be the only little girl in Kindergarten who knows what a Pegasus is."
Me - "And she'll be the only little girl in Kindergarten who DOESN'T know what a My Little Pony is!"

Again - oiy vey.

As he's examining it closer, he notices the little sticker mark on her back hip. He exclaims "is that tramp stamp!??!" 

Me - "Oh my gosh! It's just a sticker thing! Think of it as a brand."
Him - "Do they all have these?! Have they ALWAYS had these?! This is why young girls get tramp stamps!"

Oiy. Vey.

Lord, help this child and her cray, cray Dada. 

And Lord, be with her future teachers. I have a feeling we're going to be hearing from them a lot.

Until next time.....

18 Months Already?!?

I took this sheep picture on her actual monthly milestone.

She was surprisingly agreeable! 

Today, we had her 18 month well baby check up. We've spent the week with "naps are for chumps" attitude so guess who fell asleep on the 10 minute drive to the doctor? Yep.

So I sat in the car while the Dada checked us in. 

When she woke up, we headed in and found the Dada filling out our paperwork. As we're waiting, he asks "how do you spell discernible?" 
Me - what on earth are you filling out?!
My Beloved - don't worry about it! How do you spell it?
Me - *incredulous look*
My Beloved - fine, I'll look it up on my phone.

Turns out he was filling out the 'are there any concerns with your child's development' and he answered "she does not have any discernible words." (Side note - apparently his phone lied to him about the spelling and he spelled it with  'able' and is now very put out and embarrassed.)

We go to a teaching facility so we get to see a resident before we see the doctor. Today, we saw Dr. Carey who is so super precious, he doesn't look much older than his patients and he seems to like Alice. 

Alice has started to not enjoy sitting at restaurants so in an attempt to distract her, I've put together a 'busy bottle' for her. It's an old water bottle with a few puffs and some pipe cleaners in it. I dump them out and she puts them back in and then screws the top on. And (for now) it works! So that kept her busy while we talked to the doctor. 

I'm pretty sure the little puffs triggered our discussion on choking hazards. Oopsie.

She is doing great in regards to her growth. She is up to 21.8 pounds and is 30.5 inches tall! Such a big girl!

The doctors don't seem to have any concerns AND she didn't need any shots! HOLLA!

Tonight, we got to have dinner with the Nana and she played with her bottle again.

I hope it keeps working.....

Until next time....

The 'O' Word

Some words are now banned at our house.

Outside.
Go.
Bye bye.

Unless you are about to do any of these things immediately with our girl - DO NOT SAY THEM. It will be a dark, dark day if you mention outside and then have to tell her you're not really going. DARK DAY. And you'll end up outside anyway. So just don't.

If the weather is nice, we walk up and down our street. 

Sometimes she holds our hand and walks on her own. She likes to walk because she can pick up treasures.

Some days she rides in her tricycle. We got adventurous last week and took the dog with us. It was exhausting. We survived though!

When we're at the Nana's - she can explore! Our backyard is home to a dog so I can't let her run around by herself but at Nana's - it's FREEDOM! 

In this picture, she is attempting to pick up an ant. Yep. God is laughing. 

She is in a big ball phase right now so it was also a chance to play ball with Mamaw.

I left her with Mamaw the other day while we were helping with a shower and came home to this...

There is dirt under her nails, in her pockets, around her mouth and she was covered in tangerine juice. But at least her bow was still in her hair! 

Again. God is laughing.

God gave us a strong willed, dramatic child who LOVES all things outside. And He's REALLY enjoying it. ;)

She also does not understand the word "freezing" and completely rejects this as an excuse for not going out.

Yeesh.

While walking with the Dada the other day I snapped a picture. I have one just like it with me and my dad. I got a little emotional. 

On one of our walks I asked my Beloved if a walk counts as exercise if you don't get your heart-rate up. He said no. That's just stupid! Just going outside should count! Seriously. ;)

Until next time....

Basketballs and Balloons

It's been a busy month for my Beloved. He had several events yesterday that kept him busy so when Alice woke up from her mid morning nap, we decided to pick up lunch for the Dada. He had an event he had to break down in the arena so we got to eat lunch and afterwards watch the basketball players practice. 

Alice likes basketball! 

After lunch, we checked on a different event and then took a stroll around campus. 

While walking around, Alice picked up a big crunchy leaf. When it was apparent she intended to eat said leaf, the Dada asked for it. She broke off a corner and proceeded to give it to him ....piece by piece...

Silly baby.

There is an early college high school on Daniel's campus and last night they had a dance! My Beloved needed to make sure they had everything they needed so we stuck around and played with their balloons.

She had a ball and it was so much fun to watch. This was technically her first High School dance! ;)

When the dance organizer showed up, so did two high school students to help finish set up. Within 5 minutes Alice walks up to one, takes her hand and proceeds to walk her out the door.

Seriously, someone needs to have a "stranger danger" talk with these high schoolers! Just walking off with some strange baby! They don't know her motives! They don't know where her hands have been! Had she had candy - they probably would just taken it, no questions asked! Yeesh. ;)

Alice walked her to the outside door and pointed as if to say "you can totally let me out, it's okay." Double yeesh.

This morning Daniel had to be at work very early and Alice decided she needed to be up too. She's asleep now and my alarm is set to go off in 10 minutes. Today might require two cups of coffee. Maybe three.

Until next time....