Stay at home Tuesday!

All in all we had a terrific Tuesday. It could have something to do with this.....

Ok, maybe a lot to do with that

We were on a mission to soak up every last drop of sunshine we could. Good thing I have a partner in crime who loves being outside as much as I do. I have a confession though. Sometimes Tuesdays are stressful. Ok, glad that's off my chest now. I am convinced that Hallie has a conspiracy going on where she conjures up a plan every Monday evening to morph into a different child on Tuesdays. I picked her up on Monday from daycare and Miss Emily said to me "your girl is just so good." Really???? My girl? Are we talking about miss sassy pants Hal? Riley and I have come to terms with the fact that she reserves her sassiness for us at home. Sassy to the max she was today. Whew! Today was one of those days where my patience tank was running on 'E' from the get go. Ya see, Riley is the admin on call this week. What does that mean? Well, it goes a lil something like this......he gets phone calls at all hours of the night about silly problems that can't be fixed until morning. This is followed by a barage of employees texting/calling in sick with the stomach bug. What it boils down to is no sleep for baby, no sleep for momma and an early morning for dad. I have a new found respect for people who are on-call 24/7. Me and sleep are way too good of friends. I think I'll go back to my plan of secretly silencing his phone. But the phone wasn't what woke Hallie up. She was having a problem that I still can't quite figure out. The lil squirt kept wetting her diaper. I mean like over and over and over. It's very rare for her to wake up in the middle of the night....once in a blue moon do I have to get up to check on her but last night was strange. She couldn't get settled and had a different kind of cry going on. Made me worry of course so I laid awake through her on again/off again crying in between diaper changes and giving her medicine until almost 3:00 am. Commence hospital phone calls around 5:00 and you get one cranky momma.

I wanted to grab my big magic eraser and erase the night and start all over (with much more sleep of course). Hallie's big smile and refreshed lil face helped get the morning started off right. She was in a cartoon trance from the get go as I'd already flipped it to her favorite channel on my way to grab her out of the crib for breakfast. She usually isn't a big fan of scrambled eggs so I served up her regular breakfast while I cooked up some eggs for me and a little extra for her in case she was in an egg mood today. She scarfed down her Cheerios and fruit and moved on to attacking my breakfast. She was quite generous though and gave me two bites of egg. ;)

"How very thoughtful of you mom"

From that moment on she had a very full belly and went into a Mickey trance.....

"Mickey....mickey....mickey"

We did some much needed cleaning around the house....

We stopped by to visit Aunt Katie at work and dropped in to pick up some stuff at my work....

"Got any candy for me today???"

Had to have the purse of course ;)

We did some Mrs. Potato Head assemblage when we got home before Riley came through the door.....

"Are you sure this isn't for 3-year-olds mom?"

Who needs Mrs. Potato Head when you have a really cool dad home for lunch?????

Crawling like a baby seemed to be the cool thing to do this afternoon....

Riley heard through the grapevine that someone was making homemade pizza for all who wanted to join a crazy momma and a semi-cranky baby. I guess his appetite must've been pretty big....

Riley had a dentist appointment to get to after lunch so Hal wanted to join him in some last minute teeth shining.....

"Let me show you how I do it...."

"Really mom? Teeth brushing picture? Really?"

This next part of our day was just super duper oozing with sweetness and hugs and kisses and laughs. Oh my, oh my how I live for these moments....

How can this not solve everything?? ;)

The girl even wanted to lend a hand sweeping off the back porch...

"Is this one of those magic brooms like I saw on my cartoon?"

"Guess not. Manual labor it is"

"...a lil hard work never hurt a baby"

She couldn't stop smiling. Seriously. Could. Not. Stop. Our acrobatic dog only added to the non-stop giggles. Emmi was kind of puzzled about how to actually play with her toys....I haven't played fetch with her for quite some time. Her excitement level was through the roof and it was pretty contagious....

"Do my eyes deceive me? Or is that really my toy you are about to throw?"

"Just so you know...you've made my entire month."

Little miss stinker requested to wear her jammies for her nap so I gladly put them on her thinking it might make her more comfy thus add to her much needed nap she was about to take....

....or was she?

Not really. She had other plans in mind....

"I'll see ya a bit later mom. I've got a puzzle that isn't gonna put itself together."

Why she gotta be so darn cute? It's hard to say no.

After a not-so-adequate nap the only option for Hal’s happiness was to go to the Hal G Park. There were actually other kiddos to play with this trip. Not that my shy girl got up enough courage to play with the older kids but she sure stared a lot and gave a few smiles. The wagon brought back home a temperamental gal who needed a snack. Mom to the rescue. We filled the gyrobowl with plenty of fruit and off we went to downtown to run some errands. I love having the ability to park one place and get out to go four different places without having to drive. We made our four quick stops and crossed things off of our list left and right. My most anticipated stop was to a decorative store that had just received in a new shipment of furniture pieces that I was dying to check out. Hallie was my chair tester. Actually I didn't even pose her for this picture. The ladies in the store were having too much fun with her and made her sit there so that we could make the chair look even more appealing in the picture I was about to send to Riley....

"He still won't like the chairs mom....not gonna happen."

As we left the store Hallie spotted something that was pretty hard to miss.....

She shot up her pointer finger and starting leaning out of my arms. It really didn't take much convincing considering I had a special place in my heart for this particular playground. As a child I can remember coming to visit my grandma and spending Saturday mornings downtown shopping in Woodward. My cousins and I thought that this playground was a mecca or something...the best playground ever built. Lol. Well, it's not quite the same as it used to be and it's seen better days. However, Hal is seeing it through the eyes of a child and I really can't blame her. I remember how magical it once was. I guess at least they've spruced it up with some confetti......

"How thoughtful of them to celebrate my arrival"

While we were playing a friend from church drove by and told me I had better be taking pictures for the blog. No problemo...I've got this covered. Here ya go Selena...these are for you! ;)

"This could use a little bit of dusting"

This playground was non-stop hands on supervision considering there were about ten potential places for her to fall and break her arm....

"So not cool mom"

I caught on pretty quickly that she was tired of my hovering over her. She actually may as well have given me the hand because she kept trying to escape me. Nonetheless, she had a blast at the new unexplored playland.....

"Back it up mom...I'm a professional player"

When we pulled in to the driveway I realized God had sent an angel to our neighborhood and she was at our front door. A Girl Scout with her little order form ready to sell me some yummy goodness. I prayed for this and my prayers were answered. God sent us a Girl Scout.  And she will be bringing me two boxes of calories in a week. Hehe. I dreamed of the goodness of GS cookies on our way to our next stop. We were “surprising” Nanny with a pizza party at work for her big birthday tomorrow. I told her that her real presents would have to wait until her actual birthday which she was thrilled about because it only means she will get to see her Hal gal tomorrow too. Papa brought the pizza and Katie and I brought the entertainment…..

One Hal comin' right up.....

...and one Carmen comin' right up!

"Should I do some tricks now?"

"Is this one good enough?"

Hal was just a little ready for bed jumping back and forth between bouncing off the walls happy and crying on the floor mad. She wanted very little to do with her dinner (probably because she'd been dining on fruit all. day. long.) We said goodbye to everyone and headed home. Back at the ranch we got into our jammies and squeezed all three of us in the big papa chair for some relaxing and books before bedtime. This of course followed a nice long session of singing about the monkeys jumping on the bed…all the while jumping on the bed of course. No worries, my daughter is not jumping on a regular height bed. Remember, we are still slumming it on our mattress on the floor. Throw in a lil Ring Around the Rosie and a rousing game of throw the belt around the dogs neck and we had one very tired munchkin. The exhaustion had finally caught up to her and she gave no protesting about falling asleep tonight. Thank you Lord for a peaceful end to the day. The grown ups are now posted up on the couch getting ready to start the movie “Drive”….sssssshhhhhh, Riley still doesn’t know that Ryan Gosling is in this movie too. I suckered him into a RyGuy movie last week which he actually liked. Hopefully this one ends up the same! Let the drooling commence…..

Happy Tuesday y'all!!

The Best Laid Plans

........often go awry.


My oh my. Why I somehow let optimism overcome my soul and make me believe that my plans will play out like they are in my head I'll never know. This, my friends, is why I am an eternal pessimist. If you truly expect the worst then there will be nothing to be disappointed about. Ok, I kid a little. But just a little. I had this grand plan to make a Sunday dinner for the family. This may not seem like a big deal to most but for me it's a rather large undertaking considering I am not known for making what you'd call "complete meals". I am amazed at how people prepare Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts all by themselves. I thought I'd give Sunday dinner a shot. I bought this big beautiful brisket while shopping the other day and thought I ought to share it with more than just the two of us (not counting Hallie...she seems to be a little herbivore as of late). I had everything planned out Saturday night and figured I would be able to make it to church and Sunday school and still have everything ready just in time for lunch. I marinated the meat yesterday evening and popped it in the oven right before we went to bed. Riley was worried about me burning the house down. What he needed to be worried about was the nasty stomach bug that had him in its sights. The darned bug must've been lurking around our house since it left my system a few weeks ago...watching and waiting to choose its next victim. Victim #2: Riley. Just like me he woke up in a stupor around 2:30 and he got up feeling sick when all of a sudden I heard a bang, bang, THUMP. It was the sound of my poor guy passing out on the floor. Gave me a heart attack!!! I found him lying there face down with this confused look on his face. From that point on he had a pretty rough night. But I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself now...let's start from the beginning of our weekend at home.

Friday night was a fun one for Hallie. For her parents, not so much. Riley had a work dinner we had to make. I'm all about making new friends and getting out of the house, but on this particular night I just wanted to play with Hallie and rest. We are blessed with wonderful babysitters and I have a feeling that Hallie looks forward to having younger, more energetic playmates on hand. Cassidy was a doll and watched Hal while we were at dinner. This girl is amazing let me tell you....she cleaned Hallie's playroom and straightened up her toys. Are you kidding me?? Her momma must've taught her well. Hallie was a giggly mess when we got home and she rode with us while I took Cass back to her house. I think she's found a new friend. Oh but who am I kidding....I guess she's not a new friend after all....they go waaaaaaaay back.....

All the way back to 9 months old

I spy a teenager in a crib ;)

I think the stomach bug attempted to come after me late Friday night when I suddenly felt like I my body weighed a thousand pounds and my head started pounding. Sleep didn't come easy because my stomach was driving me crazy. I woke up feeling sluggish and found very little energy to leave the house like we'd planned. Hal and I were going to make a quick trip to Enid to look at furniture. I've been itching to complete the living room and find some side tables and lamps. Saturday seemed like the perfect day to do some shopping. Not gonna happen. No how, no way. I was pretty bummed because Saturday morning is usually my super-powered, full of energy moment when I feel like I can take on the world and win. All I wanted to do was go back to bed. Instead we stayed inside in our pajamas and played every bit of the morning. I was mostly an observer and picture taker. ;) I can't remember a time we just sat and played for that long...I'm still trying to figure out who had more fun. I adore this baby girl.....

Have you ever seen a blue-eyed red head???

Puzzle time

"Mickey!"

Riley got home from his morning at work and took over as her play partner. Playing chase and wagon rides galore....she was sufficiently worn out so we put her down for a nap around noon and put ourselves down for a nap too. I was hoping to wake up feeling back to normal. My plan worked and I woke up feeling great. I kept thinking she'd wake up any minute seeing as how we'd napped for so long. The minutes (and hours) kept ticking by and we found ourselves dumbfounded when the clock showed 5:15 and she was still snoozing. I thought for sure she was in there chatting with herself but I found her snuggled up with her lamb looking so peaceful. The sleeping queen finally got out of bed at 5:30 and had an extreme amount of energy to burn off. While Riley worked on hanging some new light fixtures around the house Hallie used her energy to help me grocery shop. As a reward for being such a sweet baby at the store we went to play with cousin Carmen. Carmen was getting a sponge bath when we arrived and we were happy to find a sweet nakey baby rolling around on the floor. Hal sat back and took it all in for a bit. She finally spotted Carmen's toys and got busy playing with Aunt Katie while I got to practice on Carm's sitting and squatting. The cousins said goodbye and we made our way home to start prepping for Sunday dinner. Riley grilled out some steaks while Hallie played with our surprise house guests: Nanny and Papa stopped by. I couldn't help but laugh as she waddled to the door squealing with excitement and began banging on the front door and waving. She was ready to play. And so that's what they did. Riley had finished the steaks and Nanny had a great idea to kidnap Hal so that we could eat just the two of us. Full bellies of steak and cheesecake...happy campers were we. ;) Nanny returned with our snuggly and tired baby and couldn't help but rock her to "sleep" with some books. She was pretty zonked as she carried her to bed. I couldn't help but creep around the corner to get a picture of them reading last night....

So you already know how early, early Sunday morning went...I'll tell you about the rest. I woke around 7:30 after a restless night of worrying about Riley and trying to get comfortable on the less than accommodating oversized chair in the playroom. I really didn't know it was possible to contort by body the way I had trying not to roll over on the dog while keeping my body at just the right angle so that my head would stay in the corner of the chair to keep my feet from hanging off. Pure comfort. ;) I had already set the table and made it all pretty for our lunch but knew that there was no way that Riley would feel up to company by lunch time.

Begging for some food

After some quick planning I decided to keep Hal occupied with snacks, cartoons and toys while I cooked up a tornado in the kitchen. The brisket was "resting" while I whipped up some potato casserole, deviled eggs and a cherry pineapple dump cake. I felt bad for Riley and Hallie because all he wanted to do was sleep and all she wanted to do was love on her daddy. By the end of the morning he had been gifted an entire bedside table worth of binkies, cups, shoes and other random items that she thought he needed. I think she knew he didn't feel well because she was extra super quiet this morning and played so well on her own. The girl knows when church day is here because she brought me her church outfit that I'd laid out the night before. She was ready for some nursery playtime. I hurried and got myself ready, pulled the dessert out of the oven, checked on Riley one last time and we loaded up in the car. Problem is we weren't going anywhere. Because my car wouldn't start. This had happened earlier in the week while Hallie and I had gone on a very random late evening shopping trip for some ingredients I needed to make a late dinner. Riley to the rescue that evening. This morning, not so much. I didn't even tell him what was going on and swiped his keys and loaded up in his truck and off we went.

"Mom? Is everything ok?"

Ironically we made it fifteen minutes early to church. Go figure! The message was refreshing and new. Thought provoking. I ducked out right before the final song to go get all of the food and take it over to Nanny and Papa's house. No dropped pans or spills on the way over which I considered a success. Dinner transfer across town was a success. And so was lunch. We missed Riley and Grandma Ida though. But we had plenty of entertainment from Carmen and Hallie. Hal thought that walking around in her diaper with a wet rag on her head was a lot more fun than eating. Carmen sat and munched on Papa's hand which led to a very interesting end to the prayer before lunch. Instead of an "amen" we got an "ouch, owwwwww!!!!" Pretty soon after she set her sights on something else....

Looks like someone's having a nice little snack ;)

 "But her arm looked so tasty, Papa"

I wanted to keep the house as quiet as possible so that Riley could rest in peace. Papa stayed with Hallie while she napped at their house and I used the free time to go for a looooooooooong run. I'm feeling the effects now. I think my joints are still in shock and haven't ran that far in about five years. Anyone have a spare wheelchair because I may need it tomorrow? ;) Our sickly fella spent the afternoon posted up on the couch drinking what water he could and resting. Hallie was back home with us and we were getting ready for a much promised trip to the park. We found Riley in the garage getting ready to go somewhere....I was a bit confused as you can imagine. Where the heck does he think he's going and how far does he think he's going to get down the road before he feels like garbage again? This is why I feel lucky to be married to this man....he was leaving to go buy a new car battery for me. I'd completely forgotten that my car was not in running condition and I sorta would need it to start in the morning. He somehow made it back feeling okay, put the battery in and then felt the effects of getting off the couch. Hal and I left him in peace and had an absolute blast at the park. Her new favorite thing is to crawl up as fast as she can with me and then slide down by herself before I can even get back down to the bottom to catch her. She would just look at me and scrunch up her nose and laugh as if to say "nana nana boo boo." She was also pretty pumped up about finding one of her binkies lying in the rocks at the bottom of the slide. She must've left a spare one behind the other day for an occasion such as this.....

"I planned ahead mom. You've taught me well."

By the time I got back to the house with my red cheeked girl Riley was feeling better. Dinnertime, bathtime and reading left me with a very floppy and tired baby girl in my lap who was perfectly content flipping through pictures and videos on my phone for a good fifteen minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes. I guess if I want some good snuggle time I ought to whip out my phone....Lord knows I've got plenty of pictures on there to keep her occupied.

My two babes are sleeping away right now. So here I sit finding myself feeling both incredibly blessed and incredibly frustrated at the same time. The planner in me is disappointed in the way this weekend turned out whereas the momma in me is incredibly content. The wife in me hopes that my other half wakes up tomorrow feeling 100%. And finally the pessimist in me is being cautious about saying sayonara to Mr. Stomach Bug...I really hope he will stop lurking in the shadows and leaves for good this time.

Everyday's a Hallieday

Or should I say everyday's a Pauladay?! It's a good thing that we have become accustomed to change (and lots of it) because this week brought about another change for the Fanning family. Well I guess the change is mainly just for Miss Hallie. She is now a full time daycare gal! After 15 months of Thursdays and Fridays being reserved for Nanny, the girl is saying bye bye to Nanny Days and hello to Paula Days. Nanny is starting a new job next week and will be on call all day. We tossed around the idea of trying to make it work with her new schedule for awhile but I am leaning towards having a steady schedule for Hal. I'm a planner, what can I say? :) She had her first full week at daycare and surprised me with how well she did. I was shocked to see that she didn't come home in her usual daycare coma. She's been known to play so hard that she's ready for bed once we get home. We call these her "Paula days" when she can't stay awake long enough to eat and her eyes are struggling to stay open as she takes a bath. Miss Paula is my hero for making a fulltime spot for our girl....I think I was in secret panic mode when I found out Nanny days were going away as I wasn't sure if she would be able to keep her fulltime. But all is well. This momma just needs to have a little more faith. Although I think I might have to start paying extra in order for Paula to feed our little horse...I hear that she's been known to eat her meal and then steal half of Paula's meal too. ;) Here's a rousing game of peek-a-boo that Miss Paula captured this week....

So I've told you how Hal did with her first week, but I haven't told you how Nanny did. Not good. :( She missed her so much that it brought her to tears just thinking about it. We tried to cheer her up with pictures but it was a tough day for Nanny. They've had a fun 15 months and we were blessed to have our Nanny days for as long as we did. I'm definitely going to miss her coming to the house and saving me some time with dressing and feeding Hal in the morning. She has kept us functioning and our household running for the past year and I tell her all the time that I don't know how we will ever show her how much we appreciate everything she does. Hal is going to miss playing all morning with Nanny in her playroom and going to the park....not to mention Nanny's yummy lunches and seeing Papa come through the door to eat with them on his lunch break. Most of all I'm going to miss Nanny texting me pictures of my girl all day while I'm working. Nanny knows she's welcome to come kidnap our girl whenever she wants her!

Just taking an afternoon nap in Nanny's backyard

Church mission work with Nanny

Guess who's catching up on her sleep after a busy week??? The sleeping beauty is now going on a five hour nap! EXCUSE ME?!?!? Unheard of. I've gone in to check on her twice now and I can't bear to wake her....she's snuggling her lamb so tight and looks way too content to be bothered. Watching up on some zzzZZZzzzzZZs is fine with me. Here's to a new routine, a new normal and a happy baby!

P.S.-  I might just let Nanny adopt Hal on the weekends from now on!