"Where are the black-eyed peas ma?"
It may be a new year but she's still the same ol Hal. Just new tricks and crazy tendencies to bring us into a fun-filled new year. I can't believe mid-year I will have a two year old. Something tells me she's already practicing to fit into the role of a "terrible two".....take for instance her obstinate personality....
"I will wear these boots today mom. And I will go naked as well."
I guess we could replace the word 'obstinate' with 'passion'. Sounds better, right?
Well my passionate girl and I kicked off the new year by saying farewell to Riley. Papa Bill pulled in the driveway at 8:00 on New Year's Day dressed in his orange and ready to hit the road to the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ. I'll admit that Riley was a bit aprehensive about leaving for three days but I basically kicked him out the door. I've been begging for him to have fun on the trip. I told him if the tables were turned and I had had the opportunity to go watch OU play in any of their past Fiesta Bowl appearances I would've gone in a heartbeat. I think that helped convince him to leave, throw away his worries and have FUN!!! Hallie waved goodbye to the boys as they pulled out of the driveway and blew kisses with a few tears coming down. She was sad but that soon changed when I promised her a wagon ride. She had to bundle up though because I'd gladly turned the heat down a bit. Ya see, Riley is notorious for keeping our house at a blazing 80 degrees at all times. Holy smokes we about burn everyone out of our house. The first thing I did was go straight to the thermostat and turn it down. Hal dressed accordingly.....
"It's chilly in here mom. When does dad get back?"
She was singing a different tune after taking the big daddy chair for a spin after her wagon ride....
"You mean I can watch whatever I want???"
It was the longest I've ever seen her sit still in one place. A whole two minutes....
"This episode of Wonder Pets is captivating"
"Do you think God is watching me mom??"
Hal was worried about her absence from church that morning. She can blame it on me. I was feeling like dog doodoo. I could not get my headache to budge and my neck and back were stiff. I made an executive decision to put life on hold for the day. We stayed in our pajamas almost the ENTIRE day.
"I have no shame. This is the life"
"This, on the other hand, is a little less comfy"
As you can see above she helped a LOT when I decided to unpack my boxes full of scrapbooks. Whew, what a relief. I don't know if I've shared this before, but I have a love for my scrapbook collection that is almost disturbing. I felt like I've been punishing then by keeping them taped up in dark boxes all this year. Well now they have a much nicer home in my "girl closet". What's this closet?, you ask. Well it's my dream closet that will house all of my crafting, scarpbooking and girly items. Woohoo!!! Hal wasn't understanding the importance of this though....
"I really don't get it. It's just a closet...."
Nanny, the lone church-goer, was a saint and stopped by bearing Mucinex and a lot of love for Hallie Grace. They had an impromtu tea party. I would've made some crumpets had I known we were having a party....
"Mom, since you are boring today how bout Nanny stays with me and you go take a nap??"
Boring??? What??? The medicine brought me out of my hazy daze a bit later that day so after Hal's nap we decided to do a little garage saling......
In our own garage. Lol!
"How much will ya take for this deer here?"
The silly goose was adimate about putting on her coat, scarf and purse. I just happened to be bringing in boxes from the garage and Hal brought her little bargain-hunting self out to see what was going on....
"Um, excuse me. Why are we selling this???"
It turns out that seeing her old toys in the garage pile was not a good idea so distraction was the best trick I had in my arsenal. We had to get out of the house and took a quick stroll over to the park. Not the best thing for a cold/sinus infection, I realize this, but I think keeping her locked up indoors would've been worse for my headache that going outside. ;) She thanked me in her own silly sort of way with huge smiles and her squeals of delight while I pushed her on the swing.....
That evening we had some special visitors who were in town for a family Chrismas. A Christmas celebration that my dad, sister and I missed out on. My dad was home sick as a dog, I didn't want to spread my sickness and Bailey was out of town for her birthday. Aunt Alta, Uncle David and cousin Kara swung by after the Spaeth Christmas was over that evening at my Aunt Betty's house. They came bearing some wonderful gifts!!!
Hal was intruiged by her Elmo book set....
"Just my size."
And don't even get me started on how much she loves her Zoo Talkers zoo set.. I joked with Kara, who is a vet student, as she tried to help put the zoo together.....
"Is there a vet in the house??"
"This gorilla looks ill from swinging on this vine"
It took four of us to put it together but we got it done fast and efficiently and Hal gal got to playing.
I loved having them over even if it was for just a short time. We can thank them for Hal's new favorite toy!
I woke up on our second day of 2012 feeling like a different person. In a good way. The headache was no longer haunting me and it was perfect timing because my girl and I had a busy day planned. It was a very last minute plan put together which surprisingly had me feeling spontaneous. I guess as spontaneous as a control freak like me can get. Our first moment of spontenaity was breakfast at Subway in our pajamas. I guess I should be more specific. When I say "we" I just mean Hallie. I was dressed appropriately. But so was she. I assured her that it was acceptable for children under two to sit on top of the table and eat in their jammies. She happily obliged....
"So why haven't we done this before??"
January 2nd just happened to be Aunt Katie's 26th birthday. Hallie wanted to stop by and start her day off right with her favorite Sonic drink and a birthday card. She may have also wanted to see this little sweetie....
She was totally digging Carmen's new spread of toys and actually sat and played in the same spot for a good ten minutes. Unheard of.
"Yo Carm, you hit the jackpot with all these new toys! Why haven't you told me about them?"
Hal played with Nanny for a short while while I ran some errands. The mommy taxi arrived shortly to pick her up and I was toting snacks for our trip to Enid. She found them sooner rather than later....
I heard some smacking going on in the backseat and looked back to see that she had dug her "nana" out of the bag beside her carseat. The more I look at this picture, the more I realize that the "nana" may have seen better days. Yuck. The stop to clean up banana mess was our first out of many. We had only driven 0.3 miles. It was a rather challenging drive over which led to many abover mentioned roadside stops. It took some improvising....
"You need to eat baby"
I gave her a set of her own responsibilities with her hungry baby doll. This didn't last long so we moved to the next option...
"Woah, it's like a big screen"
She kept pointing frantically at the DVD screen so I desperatelly handed it to her. Besides pressing the pause button about 10,000 times it kept her somewhat occupied for the last fifteen minutes of the trip. Naptime was calling once we got to Lisa and David's house. She was in a daze....
"I am regretting my choice not to nap during that drive"
But not for long.....
They're so alike it's kinda scary!
So why were we in Enid?? Well, the new year had a bit of a rocky start in our family. We found out that my grandpa, who is 80, had fallen and broken his hip early on New Year's Day in the wee hours of the morning. He had surgery early Monday morning and we wanted to go visit him at the hospital. Also on our agenda: Lowes and Hobby Lobby. Let's just say after a day full of spending my gift cards I left Enid with an entire car full of fans, light fixtures, an area rug, wall hangings, and other misc items for only $40 out of my pocket. I was one happy shopper!!!!!! Lisa, Dara and Bailey joined me at Hobby Lobby for some shopping of their own. Hal brought the entertainment....
Lisa and Dara jumped at the chance to watch Hallie while Bailey and I went to visit grandpa. He was in quite a bit of pain and was a man of few words. But I'm sure he appreciated having family around so that he wasn't alone. Meanwhile back at the house Hallie was ruling the roost as usual....
Lisa was a sweetheart and fed this hungry momma and baby before we left town. Hal entertained us with her dancing skills and just her general silliness. We made one last stop by Gman's house so that he could tell Hallie bye. He stood as far away as possible so that he wouldn't get Hallie sick. She gave a wave of understanding. After much badgering we finally convinced Gman to get some real medicine and visit the doc. Thank goodness he finally came to his senses!
One silent, thought-collecting ride home later I found myself undressing and pajama-ing a child who was dead weight. I took my sweet time with this process because I was honestly in heaven watching her fall asleep on the changing table. I honestly am not sure that my heart could expand anymore than it did in that moment.
This is what only a 15 minute nap looks like
Some precious mommy/daugther time was the perfect start to a brand new year. I'm sitting here patiently awaiting Riley's arrival home. I can't wait to see the look on Hallie's face when she realizes he is home in the morning.
Don't blink, more shenanigans to come soon! Oh and I've got to tell you about Riley's trip (I'll have to raid his phone for pictures to share!)
No comments:
Post a Comment