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....
"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......
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...."
"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.
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