Just So Random

We got our pictures back from the photographer and they are really great! I can't believe she was able to get so many good ones because Brianne was not a happy girl that day. I will post a few once we get the CD in the mail (the ones online all have Proof across them). I am actually hoping to use one of the pics with Bri in her purple hat on our Christmas card this year too...

Last night was a long sleepless night fraught with worry for me. For whatever reason Bri had the one bright red, slightly swollen looking ear thing going on again. And her little cheeks were red and flushed looking and I don't know what causes that! It's driving me insane because I automatically assume it's some form of allergic reaction to something and then I start going through everything she has eaten, drank, touched all day, it's exhausting. We are going to the doctor next week for her 18 month well care visit so I am going to add this to my ever growing list of questions for the doc. Personally, I'm still leaning toward some sort of milk or dairy allergy...

Sam's bridal shower is in 2 days yay! Tonight I have to make one final trip to Michael's for some last minute cake supplies and then I'm going to bake the cake so tomorrow night it will be all ready for frosting and decorating. I am actually excited about doing this one, I just hope it turns out good and is a nice surprise for the bride-to-be (which is why I am still not disclosing any info on it until afterward!). And I still have to go shopping for her gift... there's just never enough time!

And it has been confirmed, my sister-in-law, her hubby, the girls (Tara and Olivia) and my mother-in-law are coming up the weekend of the 8th and we are taking the girls to the Zoo for their Hallzooween festival! I am super excited about going back to the zoo but especially with Bri's cousins and the family and the fact that it's Halloween, it's gonna be a blast! Bri hasn't seen her cousins since June so it should be interesting to see them all together again, especially now that Olivia is older (8 months). I still have to get Brianne's halloween costume and I'm still stuck on what she should be. I guess I should see what the weather will be like for next weekend that way I can get her one that she can wear to the zoo. But right now, these are my top 3 contenders:

Minnie Mouse

Little Red Riding Hood (probably my fave too)

Little Sailer Girl

But can someone please explain to me why all the toddler and little girl halloween costumes are so skimpy? I mean come on! Halloween falls in autumn, which is usually cold, and they are LITTLE GIRLS for crying out loud! Howe bout making some costumes that will actually cover them? And some of the pictures of the little girls posing in their costumes are just not right. That is all I am saying on that right now (but I'm sure there will be a revisit when Brianne is old enough to pick out her own costume).

Wordless Wednesday

"A Daughter Is... ...your greatest source of pride and your greatest hope for the future... The happiest moment of your life was the day she was introduced to the world." - Bette Meschler

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect daughter... Brianne is just the sweetest, most well behaved, smartest, cutest kid ever and I feel so blessed to be her mommy. Even though she did bust my lip open with a stainless steel coffee cup Sunday, which was of course unintentional (at least I hope it was). Yesterday afternoon when we picked her from daycare you could tell she wasn't feeling 100% but she never complained. She is always so happy to see us walk in there and it literally makes my day. No matter what crap I have to put up with at work, her smile erases all the bitterness of a bad day.

I tried to get some pics of her cute outfit yesterday but for some reason when we got home she was in the mood to run and that made it difficult to capture Her Royal Cuteness on "film". But here are the best shots I was able to capture. She loves her new shoes too! She didn't want me to take them off her yesterday, and this morning when I got her dressed she ran to her Chucks and brought them to me. I told her she was wearing different shoes today but she disagreed. I wonder where she gets her stubbornness and that defiant sense of independence from, hmm...

This morning I woke up early because I wasn't feeling so good so I took some cold meds and laid on the couch for about a half an hour before I could even move. Then I decided to surprise Brianne with a brand new Barney episode from Amazon! So I downloaded a couple new Barney's from Amazon straight to our Tivo so they would be all ready for her when she woke up. I think she was happy with my surprise too.

And today I ordered her flower girl shoes (and Olivia's too) and little "pearl" jewelry sets for the girls (necklace, earrings and bracelets, even though neither of the girls have their ears pierced yet). So my little shoe prodigy got 4 pairs of new shoes in a matter of 2 days!

And I was shocked to learn that Olivia, who is nearly 3 I believe, and Bri wear the same size shoe! I hope to get her flower girl dress this weekend too so I can see if we need any alterations. When I try it on her I will most certainly take pics to post as well.

October is just around the corner people! I am so excited because that means 'tis the season for SCARY MOVIES!!! I am a zombie movie junkie too and cant' wait to start my zombie-movie-thon! And I need to get on the ball and find something to wear to Sam's bachelorette party... Time's a running out! Which reminds me, I'm seriously angry that the JC Penney closed at Tri-County Mall. I had a $50 gift card to spend on Sunday but didn't know that the JCP was gone from the mall... That's my mall people and I was never informed. I feel that there was a failure in the communication department. Don't let it happen again!

DIY Monday - I'm a slacker

We didn't do any DIY or artsy projects this weekend. Just too much other stuff going on. But I have so many cute ideas right now (including our stained glass piece, a pumpkin rattle, and another Halloween art project) so we are going to try to get to a couple of them next weekend. But don't hold your breath because Sam's shower is Saturday! I can't mention specifics but I have a totally neat idea for her shower cake and I will post all about it in an upcoming Monday DIY (including pics).

Pictures, Runny Noses and Shoes

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world." - Marilyn Monroe

We had quite a busy weekend! Friday I was unable to post because I had to leave my laptop at home so Brianne could watch Barney with Memaw and Pops (our DVD player is still on strike and refuses to play all things Barney and I haven't bought a new one). Bri came down with another cold Friday too, great! I guess we are in for another long long winter (and this morning I woke up with a sore throat). I just hope that she has outgrown the breathing problems because I don't know if I can take many more late night trips to Children's Urgent Care for breathing treatments... And with this cold Bri has lost her appetite which is totally unheard of for her. But luckily, so far, it's just mostly a runny nose and cough ~ knocking on wood now!

Saturday we had picture day with Tricia and that didn't go so well. We had arranged to meet at a park but as soon as we got there, it started raining and it was cold and just an all over yucky day. Add to that the fact that Bri fell asleep only 10 minutes before we got there and was super unhappy about being woken up, and even more unhappy about mommy putting fancy shoes and headbands on her, add in a little rain and a couple of not-too-familiar women with cameras; well that there's a recipe for disaster is what it is. Brianne was having no part of posing or smiling or leaving mommy or handing over blankie. So, the handful of pics we were able to get include me and yes of course, blankie. There should be a few smiles though because we found a really pretty water fountain that we could walk out too and Bri loved playing in the water. And some super nice stranger with a dog helped get us a few more smiles. He saw how upset Bri got when he walked by without stopping and so he came back and let us pet his dog (and I'm pretty sure the dog will be in some of the pics too. Too bad I didn't get his name...).

I tried changing Brianne's outfit at the park after we got some pics in her first outfit but that just caused even more of a meltdown. The photographer had set up a wicker basket and pumpkins and fake fall leaves for her next outfit and I don't think she got even one in that setting. But since Tricia is so spectacular, she only charged us for half a session and this way we can just reschedule. We are going to try to do family pics in October sometime with Jason's sister and her 2 little girls so that should be fun...

Yesterday we went to the mall and met my parents there. Brianne got to play in the little play area and had a blast! She was moving so fast that the pics turned out blurry (but these were taken with my crappy phone camera too so what do you expect?)

And after trying several hats on her, which she was very happy about, we did some serious shoe shopping! Her feet are getting so big that she has literally outgrown every pair she owns so she has to wear 1 of her 2 pairs of sandals so her toes can hang over (see the pic above) and since it's getting cold, I thought some new shoes were in order. Besides, her mommy has oh, about 1000 pairs of shoes (probably closer to 500 but still, I have alot of shoes) so I figured she needs more than 1 pair too right? I think I mentioned in a previous post how I was eyeing a pair of pink Chuck Taylor All Stars for her, well, I got em! And they are so flippin cute on her! She also got a new pair of white Stride Rite mary janes and a cute pair of hot pink t-straps with orange flowers on them. This morning she was rocking the Chucks and was all punked out in a black tutu, stripey shirt, black skull and crossbones socks and of course the pink Chucks. I will get a pic of her in the outfit tonight, she was grumpy this morning (stayed up till nearly 10 last night).

Oh and before I forget, I have to share this. Jason bought Bri a whole bunch of stuff from Baby Gap online last week! I think it's the first time he ever bought her clothes himself! And he did really well! A cute outfit, 2 pairs of PJs and a whole bunch of new socks (cute ones too). So let's hear it for Daddy!

Sorry, one more thing and I'll stop typing... I have to post how cute it was this morning when we dropped Bri off at daycare. Jason carried her in and I walked over to her little cubby to restock her diapers and desitin. When I was over there I heard one of the little girls say "hi bee-ann" and it was the cutest thing ever! So when I turned around Bri was standing there, leaning up against her daddy, and the other 5 or 6 kids had all gathered around Bri, forming a semi-circle in front of her and they were just all staring at her. Her little BFF was staring at her shoes, then handed her a book. One little boy walked over to me and kept pointing at my welly's (I was wearing my houndstooth rain boots this morning with a skirt) and was saying "shoes?". Then all the kids gathered round me and were trying to touch my boots! I don't know who was more interesting this morning, Bri or my boots!

Barefoot In The Rain

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has nerver danced in the rain" - Author Unknown

Lately our evening routine consists of Brianne and Jason playing on the back deck while I get Bri's dinner ready. Though she doesn't like to exclude me from the play and every few minutes she will run in the door and grab me by the hand and lead me outside. But yesterday it started raining, just as we went outside. We all came in and Brianne ate dinner and as soon as she was finished, she ran to the back door. I kept explaining to her that it was raining but either she didn't understand or didn't care, turns out it was the latter. I opened the door to show her how everything was all wet and that there was water falling from the sky in the hopes that she would lose interest... She did not.

At first, she just kind of knelt down and reached her hands out into the rain. Then she reached out and splashed in a puddle. She immediately stood up and said "Yuck!" and wiped her wet hands on my pants. She did this 3 or 4 more times, then she got brave. She took one step out the door and stood there for a moment, then ran back inside. Then she took 2 steps out and ran back in, then 3 steps, and before we knew it she was out in the middle of the deck spinning in circles in the rain. My little princess was officially dancing in the rain! She kept coming back inside for me and taking my hand, trying to get me to go out and dance with her. But of course, as an adult, I said "no baby, mommy doesn't want to get all wet" but eventually she lured me out. And I'm glad I caved because the last time I danced in the rain was too long ago to even remember. She is bringing out my inner child, and I love it!

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain!" So, can you remember the last time you danced barefoot and care free in the rain?

Wordless Wednesday

...My Jimmies

This is going to be a short post (because frankly I have been super busy and my hands already hurt from all the typing I've done today). But I just wanted to share with you that I had another mommy-freak-out episode last night and ended up dialing the on-call pediatrician. Remember how I mentioned Brianne had a few hives pop up on her Sunday? Well last night the poor baby got real red, mostly on her face and ears, but it started to spread down her neck and chest. It wasn't hives, and it wasn't heat rash, I don't know what it was. First, she didn't want to eat dinner. That worried me because she loves to eat. Then, after drinking some milk I noticed her left ear was super red (and I thought it looked swollen even though Jason said it wasn't). So I tried to pay it no mind, but then after we were playing in the kitchen sink (what can I say, she loves water) I noticed that it had spread to her entire face and her other ear.

I know I'm a worrier, and this goes back to the post about how anything that could affect her breathing makes me worry more, so I panicked. I dialed up the pediatrician and left a message, basically asking what the correct dose of children's benadryl to give her (we have some on hand from her last case of hives) and when the doc called back she calmed me down and told me all the things I wanted to hear - that she wasn't having an allergic reaction, that it was probably due to the virus leaving her body, not to give her any benadryl, and to watch for difficulty breathing, swollen eyes or lips or hands. Well see, there's the problem right there. I can't trust my own brain. As soon as she said what to watch for, I started imagining her eyelids were swelling, and do her lips look puffy, is that a wheeze when she exhales?

Needless to say I didn't sleep much last night but Bri had no problems, go figure. She "slept like a baby" and was totally fine this morning. She didn't even cry when we left her at daycare. She started too, but we distracted her with a puzzle and then some other kid started crying and she held her tears like a big girl and said bye to us. Could this be the start of the end of her separation anxiety? We can only hope.

18 Months Stats

"How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it is June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" - Dr. Seuss

Saturday Brianne turned 18 months old which is mind boggling to me!
So, here are some stats on the ever growing Sweet Pea! (I was feeling rhyme-y today)

Weight: ~31 lbs (will find out on the 7th at her well baby visit)
Height: 32 in (this is also a guess)
Clothing size: 24 months - 2T (check out her new dress below, it's so cute!)
Shoe size: 6
Favorite food: Grapes, Club crackers and cheddar puff corn
Milestones: Climbs steps by herself now (she holds the banister though). Plays Ring Around the Rosies, knows all the gestures for "If You're Happy And You Know It", she's getting really good at using her fork/spoon by herself, and can do her shapes puzzle all by herslef.

New words: Meow, careful, "I pooped", diaper, airplane, Barney
And here is a video of Brianne after she ate her yogurt all by herself... She is saying "good" over and over again because before I started filming I asked if her yogurt was good. And please disregard the mess in the background of this picture...

DIY Monday - Modern Art Collage (And Other Stuff)

What a weekend we had… There was a whole lot of DIY going on, though most of it was wedding related and not so much centered around Brianne. Saturday was quite productive, on many levels. Brianne and I finished our collage and I’m quite proud of it. She arranged and rearranged her pieces of painted newspaper on several different colors of construction paper. But in the end, she really liked the black paper. We got a little messy with the glue stick though and the pink paper ended up sticking to the black paper but it gave it a nice effect I think. She also decided that she needed to color on the collage, though you can’t really see that in the pictures, but it’s black paper. How we created our modern art collage: Brianne painted on newspaper with 2 different paint brushes – one regular and one sponge like. We let it dry and then I cut it into various shapes, some regular and some irregular. Then I laid out several sheets of colored construction paper and let Bri dive into the paper and shapes.

After she arranged the pieces on the paper,

I used the glue stick to permanently attach them and voila, instant modern art, and here is our finished product. I like how the center has kind of a star shape too.

We had such a busy morning arranging, coloring and gluing that Brianne passed out, right in the middle of the floor, while she was playing picnic. See, her toys are all still surrounding her, and you can't see it here, but she even had a little plastic orange slice in one hand.

Our other DIY projects this weekend were done at Sam’s house, the bride-to-be. I, along with her MOH Sarah and Anna (fellow bridesmaid), helped finish her invitations and I spray-painted some picture frames and plaques. There was no hot-glueing moss to anything this time so that made us all happy. Everything was going swimmingly until Sam tried on her wedding dress. I won’t go into details but we ended up at David’s Bridal frantically shopping for a new dress. But it all turned out great! Sam ended up getting the dress of her dreams and the ladies at David’s were all wonderful! They even let her exchange her dress (because they sold it to her pre-altered and stained). I’m so happy for her too and the new dress is just gorgeous!

Yesterday was spent mostly in the house with a sort of sick, grumpy toddler. She didn’t sleep well Saturday night and I don’t think she was feeling too good either. And for whatever reason she broke out in hives yesterday morning – only 4 hives, but still, that’s enough to freak mommy out. I was racking my brain trying to identify what she ate or drank that was new, or if we used new soap or lotion or detergent but we hadn’t done anything differently or tried any new exotic foods. After her nap (that was much too short, hence the grumpiness) the hives never came back, so it remains a big mystery. But I of course am still worried. My brain is wired to take something simple like a few hives and turn it into the potential for anaphylactic shock and urgent 911 calls. Anything that could potentially affect her breathing really gets to me, I guess after seeing her stop breathing and turn blue so often in the NICU (and at home) left a mark. Hopefully in time those horrible memories will fade some and I won’t be so afraid her turning blue again, but we’ll have to wait and see I guess.

We didn’t get around to doing our stained glass piece this weekend, but I really hope to get to it next weekend. We have some busy days ahead with pictures and bridal showers so I hope we can still make time for our projects. And I think we decided on a Halloween costume – a ladybug. I found a super cute one for a reasonable price and I’m going to just get it and be done with it. I mean, why spend a fortune on a costume when she will probably only trick-or-treat to 2 houses and then be done. Plus, I want to get one now so she can wear it for her pictures next weekend and to Hal-zoo-ween at the zoo when we go there with the family.

And one bit of good news for this Monday morning post – my husband being the genius that he is, was able to recover the lost pictures on my laptop!! I am so happy about that! Thanks Jason, you are still my hero! Oh, and I am going to post Brianne's 18month updates today too, better late than never right?

The Great Eczema Battle Continues

Since Brianne was about 5 months old we have battling eczema and to date, we are losing this war. She has terrible eczema on her ankles and it just won’t go away, no matter what we try. She gets flare ups on her wrist, behind her knees and the arm creases in front of her elbows too but her ankles are the worst. And it itches, as eczema tends to do, so she scratches at it, constantly! She has developed this like nervous habit of scratching her ankles all the time, even in her sleep! We have tried Aquafor, Eucerin, Cortisone creams (both prescription and over the counter), California Baby Calendula Cream, adding bleach to her bath water, Aveeno Eczema Therapy cream and Wash and it just won’t go away!

Now before I go on, I just want to clarify that most of the above mentioned lotions/creams/ointments do help the eczema, but once they start to clear it up, Bri will go on a scratching frenzy and make it worse again. She has scratched it so hard she has drawn blood, on numerous occasions. That’s when I smother her ankles in Bactriban or Neosporin and cover them with giant bandaids (that always manages to pull off within an hour of my applying them). If only I could get her to stop scratching, but how? I can’t watch her while we are all asleep, or when she is at daycare. It’s very frustrating to get it to clear up then wake up and find open wounds on her!

But, I think I may have earned a point in this battle last night. One small little victory in the grand scheme of things does not necessarily mean there is reason for a celebration, but it is just that: a small victory. I ordered a bunch of goodies from diapers.com (which I love by the way! If you have kids in diapers or on formula, you should for real check them out but they also have toys, movies, books, dvds, clothes, bath essentials, etc. and almost always free shipping and discount coupon codes available) and we tried several of those goodies last night.

First, Aveeno Baby Soothing Bath Treatment, which is these little packs of all natural colloidal oatmeal that you sprinkle in the tub. It advertises that it is good for eczema and other rashes, even poison ivy and is supposed to stop the itching and soothe the irritated skin.

We also got the Aveeno Baby Cleansing Therapy Moisturizing Wash, which is recommended by the National Eczema Association.

And the Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Moisture Cream (which I like way better than their Eczema Therapy Cream, for some reason the Soothing Relief seems thicker and creamier and seems to stay on longer).

So after her oatmeal bath, new creamy body wash and new lotion, I put some hydracortisone cream on her ankles and guess what, she didn’t scratch at all last night! And this morning, her ankles seemed softer and way less red then they usually are. Score 1 for mom!!

Tomorrow is Brianne’s half birthday too, and she will officially be a year and a half old! Can you believe it’s been that long? I can’t, not at all. I have several updates on her too but I will save those for tomorrow.

And our weekend is going to be busy as usual. Tomorrow is DIY Party #3 at Sam’s house. We are going to be helping her assemble her wedding invitations yay! It’s getting close! And Brianne and I are going to work on our modern art and attempt the stained glass piece as well. Will have updates and pics on our DIY Monday post.

Separation Anxiety Anxiety

Brianne will be 18 months old in 2 days, so when can I expect this separation anxiety she has to go away? It just makes it so difficult to leave her at daycare each morning when she clings to my leg, and cries when I try to walk away from her or when she reaches for me when Jason puts her down. It’s killing me! No matter how good our mornings are, no matter what mood I am in when we walk into daycare, I leave there feeling anxious and upset and usually with tears streaming down my face (thank god for water proof mascara!). Basically, it ruins my day and makes me grumpy all the time. I hate seeing that look on her face every day, that look of sadness and abandonment. And it makes me wonder what thoughts are going through her head when we leave her there. Does she really think we are abandoning her? Does she think we don’t want to spend time with her? Does she think we may not come back for her?

And as if the anxiety and sadness weren’t enough, I worry, still, constantly! I know mom’s worry about their children, that’s just how it works. But my level of worrying doesn’t fall within the realm of healthy worrying. For example, this morning Bri woke up with some red bumps on her face. After close inspection, and confirmation from Jason, the bumps were determined to be simple mosquito bights. But they are in the most inopportune locations – one above her eyebrow, one under her eye, two on her forehead and later we discovered 2 on her legs. Now, logic and reasoning tells me that there is nothing to worry about. We played out back yesterday evening before bed, there are mosquitoes outside, Bri is low to the ground and oh so sweet, she got bitten. But there is this panicked, crazed voice in the back of my head saying, what if they aren’t actually mosquito bights? If they are mosquito bights, what if she gets west nile virus, or meningitis from them? What if it’s an allergic reaction to something? What if it’s measles? What if they are spider bights from a poisonous spider? Do the teachers at daycare think they are bruises and they are calling children’s services on us right now? Will other people see the bumps and think we have ~bed bugs~ (said in a whisper) at home?

I have noticed that my level of worry does seem to decrease as Brianne’s age increases, but when I think of the future I see a whole new flurry of activities that will cause me to come full circle back to this state of unhealthy worrying – bike riding, sports, dating, driving, moving out, and these are just a few of the infinite number of things that could and probably will cause me to worry. See, now I am worrying about being worried! Argh! Even at work, when I have a million things on my task list, nothing I do seems to distract me or take my thoughts off Brianne. Which again, I expect that too is normal of a mother that is away from her children. Maybe my worrying about anxiety and worry is typical “new” mom behavior and I’m getting myself all worked up for nothing…

Now, in an effort to lighten this post up some and lift my spirits as well, here is a picture of Brianne sporting her first ever pig tails! I couldn’t get her to look at me, she was way too preoccupied stacking cans of cat food in the cupboard, but I love this picture none the less. And as the mother of a little girl, I have had grand visions since she was born of fixing her hair into girly ribbons and pigtails. Now that her hair is finally getting longer, I am ecstatic!

My intent was to end this post on a high note, however, after the past few hours I find that impossible. I am just going to state for the record that I HATE computers!!!!! Every picture I have taken since February I had saved on my laptop. Now, they are all gone. GONE! I have tried everything I know and still the files/folders can not be recovered. Jason is going to try to work his magic tonight but I have accepted the fact that they are all gone and will not shed another tear over it…

Honey, I think I Broke the Baby!

Yes, I realize that may be a little harsh, but last night I certainly felt like a deserving recipient of this badge. Allow me to explain...

We (and by we I of course mean Jason) make meals for Brianne in advance and stock pile them in the freezer for future consumption since she eats way earlier than we do. Yesterday I pulled out a spaghetti and meatballs for her, one of Bri's favies. I put the container in the microwave for a reasonable amount of time as usual and when it was done cooking I put it in one of her cute bumblebee bowls so it could cool. While it was cooling she started getting antsy, so she and Jase started grazing on some crackers or cheddar puff corn, you know, something with absolutely no nutritive value. And since I didn't want her to fill her tiny tummy full of junk, I hastily intervened and put her in the high chair. She was anxious and hungry and shouting at me, so I sat her bowl of spaghetti on her tray. I didn't realize she already had a fork in her posession and when I turned around to get her milk, she decided to dive right in.

When I turned back it was too late. She had already crammed an entire meat ball and some pasta in her mouth. I could see that she dug right into the center of the pile of noodles too and there was steam coming from the empty spot. I looked at her and she started to turn red, and then she started gagging and coughing. I knew from CPR class that as long as they are coughing you should just let them, so I tried not to panic and let her cough. She stopped coughing and was getting redder so I did what any normal person would do in this situation, I panicked. I shouted "Jason I need help!" and he came running in and saw her and calmly placed a finger in her mouth and scooped out the offending meatball saying "wow, this is still really hot". Brianne was breathing again but was still getting redder because she was screaming and tears were streaking down her face. And this wasn't just crying, it was the silent, sobbing, body shaking crying that so breaks my heart.

I got her out of her chair and apologized, a million times, for not being more observant and setting a plate of scolding hot food in front of her. After about 15 minutes I tried getting her to eat again and she absolutely refused to eat any more spaghetti. She did eat her peas, then I gave her a yogurt, you know, something cold to soothe the scolded tongue. Then we tried the spaghetti again, still a no go. She led me to the cabinets and pointed out the applesauce, so I gave her some. Then a nutri-grain bar, then some more cheddar puff corn, then more milk. I think she sensed my guilt and decided to use her powers of cuteness in my moment of weakness, to get away with something she knows she couldn't have otherwise. Blast her cuteness!!

Wordless Wednesday

Learning To Have Fun, The Toddler Way

"It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how!" - Dr. Seuss

Our house is a mess... But, as anyone with a toddler knows, that is life. There are toys and clothes and books and DVDs strewn across the living room and it's like trying to manuever through an obstacle course or running the gauntlet. With every step you take you hold your breath and pray that you don't impale yourself with a straw sippy cup or peirce your big toe on a Smurf. This is like living on an alient planet as I am an organized person, everything has a place and every place has a thing! I have never been a friend to clutter so the state of our house used to cause me to lose sleep. I am trying to become more tolerant of the mess though, maybe I need to find some sort of 12 step program? Organizers Anonymous maybe?

So this weekend I made it my mission to at least go through Brianne's closet and drawers and purge the clothes she has outgrown and put away all the clean laundry she can actually wear. Brianne wanted to help me. She loves helping Mommy and Daddy these days. She can't rest until she has thrown away her dirty diaper after I change her. Anyway, Bri was very helpful in emptying her drawers of old clothes. All I had to do was open one drawer and I suddenly found myself in a tornado of clothes! She had flung out every item of clothing in the first drawer in a frenzied 3.9 seconds and then was on the next one! Before I knew it all drawers were empty and we werere standing in a one foot pile of baby clothes. Great, that was easy!

However, when it came time to fold the clothes in the basket and put them away, she disagreed with my technique. I was being much too reserved with the folding and stacking and color coordinating. She showed me that the most efficient method was to grab the clothes by the arm load and cram them all into a single drawer. Aha! Epiphany! I have been doing it wrong all this time! A chore that I thought would take all day only took us 10 minutes, and it wasn't a chore at all! We were done with work and play could be begin, even though Brianne made the work into play. (I did of course go back later and fold the clothes and organize, color coordinate, and stack them neatly in the drawers...)

And when we were all done, Brianne showed me that laundry baskets make great forts to!

DIY Monday - Handprint Cont'd and Collages

This weekend was so busy that we were left with very little time for arts and crafts. But, we did manage to finish painting the salt dough handprint, and that led to an idea for another project. I know that I gave hints last week of our project, but that one required more time than we were afforded this weekend, so that one is on hold until next weekend...


Salt dough handprint, part 2:

Our hand print plaque that we made a couple weeks ago has had ample time to dry and harden, so we moved on to step 2 this weekend. We decided to paint it pink to match Brianne's room, but I'm not so sure I chose the right kind of paint. If you remember way back before Bri was born, we passed out blank canvases for family and friends to each paint one letter of Brianne's name? Well, we used the same color pink from that project to give everything a cohesive look. But those were acrylic paints and I do not suggest those for salt dough painting, just an FYI and mental note for future reference. (However, the acrylic paint was super easy to clean up. After it dried on her hands and high chair, we just peeled it right off) Oh, and did I mention yet that Bri loved painting!!!

Here we are getting all set up

And here she is painting away

She loved painting so much, she decided to keep painting long after she finished the hand print, which is my inspiration for our next project.
And here is the finished hand print. I used a sharpie to put her name and date on it as well. But you could always write that on the back if you didn't want it to be visible.

When we finished the hand print, Brianne kept painting all over the funnies section of the Sunday newspaper.

And I already knew that I wouldn't be throwing it away because it is her first painted masterpiece. But I had planned to just stick it her scrapbook when I had an idea... I let it dry then I cut the newspaper into a bunch of smaller peices, all different shapes and sizes.

Next weekend we are going to make a collage out of the cut up painted peices! I have some different colored construction paper and a glue gun and I hope that the finished product will resemble some modern art masterpeice! And since Bri loved painting so much, we will probably break out the colored tissue paper and paint some more first and then we will have more colors, shapes and textures to add to the collages.

So depending on our time constraints next weekend, we hope to finish the collage and at least get started on our Frank Lloyd Wright inspired faux-stained glass (did you figure out our project from my hints last week?).

The Day I Married My Best Friend

"I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all." - Lord Byron Two years ago today I married the man of my dreams and we set off on a whole new adventure together. And what an adventure it has been thus far! But I think after the two whirlwind years we have had, we have proven that we are in it through sickness and health! I love you Jason and without you I Know I could not have survived most of the trials and tribulations of the past two years. Thank you for always being there, for being my shoulder to cry on, my best friend and for being such a wonderful father to our beautiful little girl. I look forward to our future together, and know that no matter what lies ahead, we will survive it.

Happy Anniversary!

As Promised...

A picture post! And there are alot of pictures so considered yourself forewarned!

Look! Plane!

Gone?

Where did it go?You can't catch me!!

Taking our order at Frisch's

I can do it!

Lovin the swings!

Blowing daddy kisses bye bye
What can I say, she doesn't like wearing pants



Cracker time!

Daddy want a cracker?