Twenty Months Old

This photo sums up this month! (check out that devilish grin)

Baby girl,

Woah. Do you realize that the older you get the older I get. With that being said, please slow down. k? You are in the twenties for cryin' out loud. This is big time. It truly does feel like just yesterday I was sitting on our back porch in Mustang rocking you in the chair wondering if you could be more perfect. Well, I still think you are quite perfect....but you've added a few not-so-perfect behaviors to your list this month. I would characterize this month as "trying"....as in trying to get you to listen to me. I guess this phase is to help prepare parents for the terrible twos. They are upon us. I'm just gonna go ahead and get this bad behavior junk out of the way first so that I can write about all of the fun and good things that you have been up to. But bare with me because heeeeeere we gooooooo........

I'm writing this in a very exhausted state of mind....and honestly it's a been a bit difficult to sit down and really get started. I typically start your monthly updates a lil ahead of time but I haven't found the time to on this one. Well I really haven't found the time to blog at all lately to be honest. Now this is the part where I'm going to be brutally honest: I don't have a whole lot to blog about because 75% of what you've been up to lately is whining. Is that too harsh? Girl, you love to say the word "no" but you sure don't like to hear it. The word no immediately cues a stage 5 meltdown. Your face turns a violent shade of red, your lip quivers, your little fists ball up and you stand there wailing. It's great fun. We have been to meltdown city way too often lately. What on earth is up with all of this whining? And could you please explain the whining while I'm holding you? And the whining while you are eating dinner? And the whining while you are riding in the car? You have been attached to me about 99% of the time this past month. No, I mean literally. You like to stand at my leg and hug it just to make sure I won't go anywhere without you. While this is something that usually makes my heart go 'pitter patter', it also makes me very inefficient and downright slow about getting chores done around the house. Have you ever tried to walk with a thirty pound weight on your leg? I usually cannot leave the room without you hollering "mommmmmmmmmaaaaaaaa!" and chasing after me. Just the other day I was leaving of an evening to run an errand when I happened to spot you wailing at the side patio door watching me drive away. Of course I did what any pushover mommy would do and I went and loaded you up to go with me. Or sometimes when we are in the same room you are still not content unless I'm holding you. This is usually conveniently when I'm in the kitchen cooking and obviously in need of both hands. On the bright side, I about a month away from becoming a pro at one-handed cooking/baking. Speaking of this baking business you are very interested in helping me. And by helping of course I mean sticking your hands in the batter, rubbing it on any surface you can reach and occassionally stirring....

I enjoy watching you try out new skills simply because I get to see your sweet little smile telling me you are proud of yourself. You are mommy's excellent stirrer. I wouldn't ever hire another stirrer but you. ;) Promise.

You are officially in the "me me me" phase. All of a sudden you started spouting off the word "mine." Everything is yours according to you though. There in lies the problem. Your dad and I have dinner after you go to bed because otherwise we wouldn't have any food to eat after you got done with our plates. I also stopped going to Sonic often because you seem to claim my drinks before I can even take that first refreshing drink. I have to sneak behind your back and drink my grape Propel because you have a serious addiction to them. Although most of the time, no matter how sneaky I am, you will find a way to get your little hands on my drink....

"It's inevitable mom. Give it up!"

Is it so bad that I don't like sharing. This is precisely why....

It ends up as a receptacle for your snacks

So I'm guessing by now you are tired of hearing about the pre-terrible twos, am I right? Ok, ok...I'm ready to move on as well. Enough about all of those not-so-sweet moments because there were PLENTY of these kinda moments to balance it out.....

"Seeeeeeee!!!!! I'm not so bad!"

That right there is my happy girl I know and love. When you aren't shouting "NO!" and "MINE!" here are a few words that I love to hear you shout. You've added quite a few to your list this past month: car, me, mouse, soap, couch (sounds like cow), butterfly (sounds like by), phone (sounds like fo), that (sounds like dat), drink (sounds like dink), food (sounds like foo), there (sounds like der), remote (sounds like mote), cheese (sounds like deese).

Your dad taught you how to play the "who wants to" game. For example: "Who wants to watch Mickey!?!" You respond with a resounding "MEEEEEE" with your hand raised high in the air. Other times you will dramatically point to yourself.

Much to the delight of your aunts and your Gman, you are able to repeat each of their "names" "Bee", "Ky", "Kay-ee" and "Gee." I think it's the most adorable thing in the world when you say Aunt Katie's name. It's the most difficult one to say by far but you have managed to give us a couple spot-on attempts. Your little voice goes up really high when you say the end of her name. We are still working hard on saying Carmen's name. You've already got the 'car' part down so you're halfway there, girl. The dogs names are becoming part of your vocab lately too. The funny part is that I think they have been rolling off your tongue for quite awhile now but we are just now understanding what you've been saying all along. You and your dad holler out their names together.....your version usually sounds something like this: "Ewwwwwwwcy!" (for Lucy) and "Emmmmmmmmm!" (for Emmi). While the names Nanny and Papa have been easy for you to say for awhile now, they sound even more clear and precise now. You can pick out family members in photos when asked and you can of course name momma and dada in photos. In fact, looking at photos has become quite a popular activity lately. We sit at the table (you in your big girl chair, of course) and we flip through pictures. Wanna know which ones make you the most excited?? The pictures with your dad in them. Followed closely by the snapshots of yours truly.

You are one smart little stinker. I've been thinking back about what you were doing last month and my how things have changed in such a short period of time. You are not intimidated by anything. In fact you face all challenges head on. You can crawl up into the car on your own, up to the dining room table on your own, you've come eerily close to crawling to the top of a bar stool, you can climb over the side of your wagon, etc etc etc. You are a climbing maniac. Maybe that's why you get so excited when you see a monkey in one of your books. Speaking of monkeys, you have become a pro at all of your animal noises. You can make the noise for each animal as we turn the pages of your barnyard book without me prompting you. You oink, neigh, quack, bark, meow as well as "ee ee, ah ah" like a monkey, rawr like a lion and growl like a bear. You can identify Cookie Monster (cookie) and Elmo (Ehmo) when you see them. You are able to find all of the pictures in the "First 100 Words" book when I say the word and ask you to point. However, you are a bit confused when I ask you to point to the tv. When I finally help you find it you usually have this puzzled look on your face like "that big box thing is NOT a tv mom!" and you proceed to point to our tv on the wall. I guess they need to update their book, huh?

You still get a thrill out of bossing around your doggie friends. You tell them to "go!" and "no!" quite often. I've had to run interference on a few occasions when you were kicking them and laughing. Not really the sweetest behavior I've seen and not something I really want to become a habit. The good news is that they must be very forgiving because they don't seem to mind you at all. Either that or they have just accepted that you are, in fact, in charge of this house.

Giving Emmi hugs

Your sleeping habits haven't changed much which is a blessing as usual. Since daylight savings time you have been trying to get back on track with your bedtime routine. I think we've got it figured out now and your new bedtime is usually right around 8:30. Hallelujah God almighty, you even like to sleep in now! This means I am able to shower and get myself dressed and ready in the morning before you even stir!  On weekends you have started a trend of sleeping in until 8:30. Your dad and I had no trouble following your lead. You keep on getting up later, alright girl??? ;) One of my favorite parts of the day is when I go to your room to open the door before I go to bed. I usually shine my phone light on your to see what crazy position you have yourself in and what toy you are curling up with each night. I have to fight the urge to pick you up and hold you while you're sleeping. But of course I don't because every mom knows not to wake a sleeping bear. ;) I do have one sleeping question for you though.......I see other children who pass out on the floor, randomly fall asleep on the couch or just fall alseep while reading a book at night......will you ever do this? I really don't think so. Your energy is endless. When you aren't running in circles you are bouncing from seat to seat on the couch or climbing up to the table or chasing the dogs around or climbing up on our bed or.....well, you get the picture. Some mornings are more chipper than others. Here's one of your non-so-chipper a.m. wake up calls...

All this talk of monkeys reminds me of just how accurate the saying "monkey see, monkey do" is. I think I've mentioned before how you were trying to swipe my card at the grocery store one day by yourself while I was holding you at the checkout. That made me scared for our future. ;) Now you can be found pretending to slide my card, press the buttons on the pad and then use the electronic pen to "sign" the screen. Very scary. ;) You remember everything! You know which bathroom drawers items belong in, you know where everything belongs in your room and you try your best to help me put laundry away. Sweet girl....you have no idea how much I'm going to take advantage of this when you are older. You shall be my laundry helper.

Some interesting tidbits about you that I must mention: you are terrified of thunder, lightening and the sound of my new kitchen timer. All three of these noises make you jump and look at me with terror in your little eyes. So does some of the things I feed you for dinner but that is a whole 'nother story. ;) As if you weren't uninterested enough in riding in the stroller, now you would so much rather push the stroller yourself than ride in it. I can't seem to convince you that it's awesome to ride while momma does all of the pushing. You are able to use your big girl fold up slide on your own now. Several times I've caught you being brave and sliding down head first. Even your toys get a turn going down the slide before you....yes, even your jack in the box needs a good slide every now and again.

You are adventurous. Some would call you brave. And tough. When you fall you get right back up and take off again. You don't back down from a challenge. You love to climb, crawl, run and lately we've been practicing jumping. This may be the highlight of the month for me....watching you jump, that is. Oh my, it's a riot. Well maybe it just is to me since I'm your momma. I stand up and show you how to jump on the count of three and then tell you it's your turn. "One, two, three...jump!" Your little feet can't actually leave the ground yet but it's hilarious watching you try. I clap and you are proud. It's a good balance like that. ;) Here is one of your dare-devilish stunts you've been pulling a lot lately when you aren't bouncing up and down on your seat while I'm pulling the wagon.....

"Baby overboard!"

A girl that loves nature

Climbin' cutie

You are the queen of the grazers. By that I mean that you like to eat snacks all day but are uninterested in actual meals. Grapes, fruit snacks, strawberries, goldfish, cheese sticks and kiwi are your favorite snacks. When it comes to dinnertime I have found myself having to trick you. Here is one of my sneaky "you better eat this because it has mac n cheese in it" meals......

Tuna, peas and mac n cheese. You just picked the pasta out and ate it. Greeeaaaat.

But alas, you continue to stick your nose up at dinner and just snack. The other day I found you waltzing around the house with this bag of grapes (someone (me) forgot to close the fridge door)....

"Nothin' better!"

So now it's time to share all of those boring tidbits that you probably won't care to read about someday. You are wearing 18 month size pants and pajamas, 2T t-shirts and tops, size 4-5 shoes and 2T dresses. You are still in a size 5 diaper. The last time you officially weighed at the doc was over a month ago so I'm not too sure about your weight but I'd guess that you are nearing the 30 pound mark seeing as how you've shot up vertically this past month. You've gotten a few comments about looking "taller." Hehe. You keep on dreamin' girl...you were destined to live life as a shorty!

Weird ALERT!! I'm tellin' ya girl, you do this incredibly strange thing when your dad comes home from work. We are usually either playing in the living room or in the kitchen getting ready for dinner when he pulls in. I always announce loudly "Daaaaad's home!!!!" Here's the weird part. 99% of the time you let out a ear curdling scream and run to me to pick you up. And I don't mean scream in a good way. You continue to scream and act sad until he walks in the door and calls your name.....then all is well. I guess I'll never know what that is all about. But for now it secretly makes me giggle. ;) You seem to bounce back and forth each month between being mommy's sweetheart and daddy's tomboy. This month I would definitely characterize as mommy's little diva, er, I mean sweetheart. ;) Of course with a little bit of that tomboy stuff thrown in the mix as well.......

Taking the ol' Stang for a spin

Lady-like just went right out the window here

So here's the deal. You are loud. You do and say things you shouldn't. You make messes. But all of those things make you a toddler. And you are my toddler. My baby. At the end of the day you come running into my lap and lay your head on my shoulder and listen as I read to you. You smile at me when I'm getting you dressed and when we read your favorite part of a book. You love to be tickled and have your hair played with. You look at me when you want answers to questions about your surroundings. You come to me when you are scared and let me hug you. You let me do all of these things because you're mine. I've been comtemplating lately what it really means to be a parent. What is the best way to raise a child? Do I follow a book? Do I follow my instinct?  It's my job to teach you right from wrong and good from bad. And what a job that is! God has bestowed upon me a huge task in rearing you in his way. He created you in his likeness and now it's my responsibility to continue his creation the way he had planned. A tough job but I'm up for the challenge. Just one more thing....go a little easier on me this next month, will ya baby girl? ;) 

I love you x 1,000,000!! 

Love,

Your dear ol' mom

Settling Right In

Wow. I've been a blogging slacker lately. Shame on me (wrist slap). It's kinda hard to back up a whole week and write about what's been going on. Yes, even wordy ol' me. Since my tiny lil brain can't even begin to recall what we did last week I'll just give a synopsis. It involved lots of this.....

Zombie girl had some pesky allergies following her around which led to much fussiness, yucky eyes, sore ears and an overall "not a happy camper" kinda Hal. I think the allergies combined with being sleep-deprived since the time change left her weary and worn out. She put on a happy face most evenings though....but come morning time she was not budging from bed. There were a few occasions where I had to pick her up asleep out of her crib and put her on the changing table to get ready for the day. And so began the wiping of the yucky allergy eyes and all of that fun mommy stuff. ;) Very, very few pictures were snapped by my camera last week for one reason and one reason only.....work was BUSY. Imagine that!? I traded in my Tuesday off for a short day on Friday. This worked out well because Riley also took most of the day off. All three of us home early on a Friday??? Unheard of! Aunt Kylie was a saint and watched Hallie for us on Tuesday and Friday morning since she was home for spring break and Miss Paula was out of town. So about Friday.....it was lovely. I spent some time getting caught up on paperwork while Hal napped, made a run to the grocery store and finished up some projects until she woke up. Then PLAYTIME was ON!!!!

I think Friday was the most beautiful day we've had in quite some time (well, that's until Sunday's gorgeous weather rolled around). There was absolutely positively no way that we were staying cooped up indoors. No sirree....

There was another reason that I thought Friday was pretty stinkin' cool. I'll give you a hint: it has something to do with an empty bedroom and a furniture-deprived momma. Yep, you guessed it. Our furniture was on its way!!!! My little helper made sure to clear the room and vacuum before the truck arrived....

"Will I still be able to jump on the new bed?"

We were ecstatic to say the least. Even Riley was thrilled. It's not very often that he gets outwardly excited about something. Hal was waiting. I was waiting. Riley was waiting. Heck, even the new pillows and sheets were waiting......

The time came and they emptied the truck, assembled the bed, placed the pieces in their places and all was right with the world.....well.....kinda. I cringed as I heard him say "ma'am, we have slight problem." Oh sheesh. The comical part is that earlier that day I had told Riley that I was fully prepared for them to forget a critical piece of our furniture. Oh they did alright. The middle supports and legs for the bed didn't make the trip. Kinda important. I laughed it off on the outside but was pretty bummed out on the inside. We now had an actual bed. Not a mattress lying on the floor. I had decided that we would slum it once again for the next week by pulling our new mattress on the floor in front of the bed. But Riley had other plans. That man is full of ideas I tell ya......

Collecting brick. Bound and determined to sleep in that bed.

He collected some bricks from the backyard, washed them, dried them, carried them in and with a little bit of help he had rigged up some supports. Wahoo!!!!

Jack of all trades

At this point we just needed someone to test it out. Why not the tiniest member of our family????

"It feels sturdy to me"

I slept like a rock Friday night....and I think it's safe to say that Riley did too. Hallelujah! Best night of sleep in fourteen months. Heck, actually two years. With pregnancy, having a newborn, sleeping in temporary houses on temporary beds....yes, it was easily the best night of sleep I've had in two years. This extra chipper mood and energy resulted in turbo mommy on Saturday morning. I felt like I was Mrs. Jetson flying around space getting things accomplished left and right, making my favorite people happy, filling their bellies with food and getting some exercise. Well, that is until we spotted the park.

"let me outta here!!"

She hit the jackpot at the neighborhood park that morning when she spotted a toy dump truck left there by the neighbor boy. She's not accustomed to playing with "boy toys" so I showed her how convenient it is to load the truck with rocks and dump them out. What a novel idea, I know.

"Coolest invention ever..."

She was so over the park after about two hundred seconds. By that time the dump truck was old news and she was not in the mood anymore. Back home we rode. I prepped some food to take to the church for a funeral while Hallie cuddled up on the couch with some milk and some Mickey. That always solves everything, doesn't it? She soon requested my presence on the couch and I had no problems with that whatsoever. She had already managed to turn my heart to mush by lying her head on my leg and patting me on the foot over and over and over. All of the ooey-gooey lovey-doveyness was great and all....but we were wasting daylight. I wanted to be outside! I just had to convince her that the park was a lot more fun than Mickey on the couch. She gave it a valliant effort that Hal did....

 

"Mom, how long do we have to stay??"

I took her across town to Crystal Beach park for a change of scenery. She was less than impressed.

I can spot a fake smile from a mile away. ;)

Within ten minutes she was all droopy-eyed and ready to head home....

"Go ahead and pull the car 'round ma"

I guess home didn't quite do the trick. Still an unimpressed baby girl. We had plans to hit up the expo in town with Nanny, Carmen and Katie but I had a feeling it would not end well. Hal was poking at her ears and was permanently attached to my side. Here is my super duper enthusiastic little lady and I outside with Riley before naptime....

She inhaled lunch while in a daze, changed into her nap attire, donned her bow and my shoes and proceeded to be a diva. Shocking, I know.

Despite my best efforts to convince her that naptime was cool and fun and all of her friends were doing it...she just didn't care, ya see. Here's your first peek at her newest obsession.....

"I just love grapes and I don't care who knows it!"

That's grape Propel #1. She can hunt those bottles down like a hound dog hot on a raccoon's tracks. Not even twenty wet diapers a day can keep her from partaking in her favorite drink all day.

She has no shame ;)

Propel #2

Finally after downing her weight in grape drink she settled into her crib for a nice long nap. This meant I settled in for a nice long rest on the couch. Psssh....yeah right. My lovely, manly man, non-stop yard-workin' husband put me to work. And work we did. Woah. I never realized how much of a workout bagging limbs and leaves could be. I have this thing against sweating. A nice long run? Sure, bring on the sweat. But working in the yard? Nope. Give me a fan and a constant supply of cold drinks. You can probably tell how thrilled Riley is about my pansy attitude. I did manage to sneak away for a bit to do some organizing inside. In particular I worked on setting up our temporary make-shift office. We went from a make-shift bedroom to a make-shift office. But hey, it's progress people! We are making PROGRESS. Progress inside and outside. When you have this guy in your yard big things are sure to happen.......

Man on a mission

He worked literally the entire day. The front of the house got a big makeover. Trimmed bushes and trees, sprayed for weeds, pulled up old plants and chopped down some small trees on the side of the house. I was on bagging duty was Riley was on manly man tool duty. This meant he was bathing in testosterone while he operated the chainsaw and bush trimmer. After I took this picture he began beating his chest screaming "me a manly man." Ok, maybe I just made that up but I'm sure he felt like Tarzan.

Oh wait, that was the next day. Here's my Tarzan swinging from the trees....

What's that method you got going on there honey??

The munchkin awoke in a splendid mood so we took a trip to Walmart to pick up a few things. And by pick up a few things I mean get Hallie some new toys. Yeah, yeah, I know...like she really needed anymore. But she definitely couldn't live any longer without this....

Her highness rode around the store like this. Hey, whatever keeps her happy and content. While I pushed her around the store I couldn't help but have one of those "I'm so happy you are my daughter, Hallie Grace" moments. She was sent here to this earth to make me laugh. I'm just sure of it. ;)
The doggies were out of food which meant we needed to stop at Hallie's favorite store, Atwoods. For real. She loves this store. Instant good mood. Instant good behavior. And it just so happened to be her lucky day. Chick day!!!!

"How many can I have??"

She kept letting out loud (very loud) quacks for the little chicks to hear. Cuteness overload. I managed to pry my baby chick away from her new friends (without a baby chick of her own I must add). She wasn't too happy with me but all it took was the cashier handing Hallie our receipt and all was well with the world....

"I bet dad would've bought me a chicken...."

But baby girl, momma bought you this fun chair, reeeemmmmeeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrrrr?????

"OH YEAH!"

We had to test it out inside and outside. Just to be sure. ;)

We spotted Mr. Inch Worm in the garage and decided it was high time we see if her legs had grown enough to manage him on her own. I'll let you be the judge.

Method #1: push Mr Inch Worm

Method #2: carry Mr. Inch Worm

Method #3: BINGO! Her toes touch!

Why not celebrate?!?! How about yet another grape drink?? Why not?!

Propel #3

This next picture just makes me giggle. We were getting ready to load up in the wagon for a ride to the park when we looked over to see her doing some funky things with her hands. She stood for a good minute wiggling her hands and arms in front of her face and watching in awe of what she was doing.....

She must get this from her dad.

So after her talent show was complete and she got a well-deserved standing ovation, we found ourselves on a bench at the park doing this....

Propel #4

Much to my delight my sweet baby can now smile on command. Not that they are all genuine smiles but I seem to be a fan of any smile she decides to flash. I'll take it!

"Will this do mom? Or are you going to keep taking my picture no matter what?"

Well duh. I kept snapping. I just couldn't help it.

We headed back to the house and met up with Riley. Our dysfunctional gang of five leashed up, wagoned up, and tennis-shoed up for a family walk around the block. Oh dear. I decided I'd sacrifice my arm by holding the dogs while Riley pulled the wagon. I'm not really sure which one was the better choice. Hal ended up jumping ship....literally.

It's becoming quite a habit.

The dogs didn't think I was moving fast enough. My arm is still intact but only slightly. ;)

Pre overboard Hal

Post overboard Hal

Riley got the dogs and wagon while I gave my hip a workout by plopping a 30 lb baby on it. Oh, that girl.

I must say it was a spectacular Saturday. Just perfect. Except for one little thing........a went to bed with a goopy, yucky, drainy, swollen, red, itchy and painful right eye. Yippee. I've never had an eye problem so I thought I had just trapped some dust and particles in my eye from all of the yard work. After digging around in my eye and doing everything short of ripping my eye out of its socket I decided to hit the hay early. I woke up in the middle of the night my eye matted shut. Peeeeerrrrrrrfect. Just perfect. We didn't go to church because frankly I felt that I looked like a freak. I missed a friend's wedding shower around the corner from our house because I thought I'd spare them my shrek eye.

Riley dressed Hal on Sunday which meant she was in her best tomboy attire.

Overalls...check.

And you can't forget the frog boots.....

Nanny surprised us by stopping by bringing gifts with her. She wanted to add to our bird sanctuary in the backyard so she picked out this adorable bird feeder that sticks in the ground and a hanging red bird feeder along with some cute little butterflies.

Hal took a very, very, very long and much appreciated nap while Riley and I did some more spring cleaning inside and out. I finished clearing out some closets and painted the iron gait outside while Riley cleaned out the gutters that hadn't been tended to in quite some time. Gross. I'll paint a gait anyday as long as I don't have to dig out slimy black leaves. I wrangled Riley (gooey black leaf slime and all) in for dinner and the three of us devoured some hamburger casserole .

"Cahm" and "Kay-yee" came on over to have a looksy at our bedroom and to take a stroll in the pretty evening weather. In case you are wondering, those are Hallie's pronunciations of Carmen and Katie. Pretty cute to hear her say. We are still practicing on family names and she's getting better everyday. Carmen was looking adorb in her little sun hat and those legs are getting chubbier each time I see her. More legs to love! It must be from all of the crawling and standing she's been workin' on. The girl's got it goin' on....

"Wellllll, I don't like to brag but...."

The two little ladies treated their mommies well on our walk around the neighborhood. We couldn't have asked for a more relaxing walk. We spent some time after our walk hanging out in the driveway with Uncle Riley. Cousin Hallie showed off her tip-toeing skills, chair stacking skills and her running in circles skills....she's pretty good when it comes to that. Tonight proved that her sharing skills are also getting a little better. Here's a shot of Hal looking on as she shared her chair. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

"Please let me know if she starts to tip me out of this thing, k?"

Another great weekend at home in the record books. Now that it's warming up I fully expect to have stellar weather weekends like this all the time. Is that too much to ask for? I didn't think so.