Wild Hair and Funny Faces

Alright, finally. I have been working on this video for a few days and have FINALLY figured it out. Sorry for the late post! It's almost 11 PM here. I really wanted to share this with you today because you don't really want to know about the happenings at our house in the last 24 hours. Let's just say it involved a really smelly plumbing issue and a guy named Juan from Rapid Rooter. We are on a first name basis with Juan these days, and that is NOT a good thing.

Anyhow, you may have realized that my girl has some pretty crazy hair. I try my best to tame it, but sometimes, her mane seems to have a mind of its own. While looking through all my pictures, I realized that, in addition to wild hair, my girl can make some of the funniest faces! So, I decided to put all the funny faces and wild hair pictures together on a video! I hope you enjoy it! I've watched it at least 10 times and laughed out loud each time!!

**I apologize in advance for the wacky musical editing at the end. I tried to fix it but eventually gave up! And, funny faces come first, wild hair is at the end!!

Sleepy...zzzzzz

Monday lived up to its reputation. It was long and tiresome. We are all still so sleepy from our long day yesterday. This morning we went to the water company to pay our bill. We stopped by Target and bought some Puffs (which are now scattered all over the back seat of the car). AC spent the rest of the day dragging clean dishes out the dishwasher, crawling between the couch and the wall, pulling Daddy's books off the shelf, scattering jars of spices from the spice rack all around, dumping out the dog water multiple times, eating a Post-It, eating a bug, and practicing her pinching skills. Mama is worn out!! I'm going to leave it at this and share a few pictures from today.

Happy girl after her nap!

Carrying around all the cups she can hold...I'm started to wonder about the girl and her need to have her hands full!

Keeping watch for lizards!

I'm working on something really cute for one day this week, but my computer skills are failing me at the moment. Hopefully, I can get it together soon!
Good night!!

Whew!

It's been a long day. AC must have woken up this morning and decided, "I'm really gonna make them work today!" She was a pill, to put it mildly. It all started at breakfast where AC and Daddy managed to knock coffee, Pepsi, and pancakes on the ground before we even started eating. She was determined to get on top of the table (which she managed to accomplish for a brief moment). She wasn't too contrary at church, but Daddy kept her entertained most of the time. I'm pretty sure he was exhausted after it was over. The rest of the afternoon was stressful. She whined, cried, threw a tantrum or two, threw some food, pinched, kicked, pushed, and whined some more. Bed time came early for every around here. Here's hoping that tomorrow is full of more smiles and laughter!!

Lazy Saturday

We had good intentions to get a few things accomplished today. Farmer's Market, clean out the garage, do laundry, trim the furry one's nails. None of it happened, but that's okay. There's always next weekend. We did, however, find a new pair of sunglasses for Baby Girl at a consignment store for $2.

Yes, she has my wristlet and a book with her. She is terrible about carrying around as many things as she can get in her little hands.

Baby Girl also managed to bust her lip. She tripped and landed on her chin. The result was a sliced upper lip caused by 2 little bottom teeth . Mama, Daddy, and Baby Girl were all pretty upset. We hope it heals fast!

We hope everyone had a great Saturday!!

New Boots

Today we received a highly anticipated package from the very wonderful Aunt Meg. Inside this package were lots of pretty things for a certain 13 month old girl. One of those things happened to be an oh-so-sweet dress with horses on it that we saw a few months ago in Lexington. I didn't buy it and have always regretted it! Well, when we pulled it out of the package today, we just knew we needed some fancy brown cowboy boots to go with it. "Mama's gonna keep her eyes out for just the right pair, ok?" I said to AC.

So when Daddy came home from work early (because he left at 5:30 am) and needed to take a little nap, AC and I headed to Super Target to give him some peace. We were just strolling along, eating the Target version of Honey Nut Cheerios, killing time, and minding our own business when, like destiny, we saw a pair of very fancy brown cowboy boots in a size 5!!! Woooohooooo!!! We temporarily "forgot" that Daddy has put us on a budget and plunked those suckers into our cart with a smile!

When we got home, she tried her boots on for Daddy. It was nothing short of hilarious watching her try to walk in them for the first time. I grabbed my video camera just a minute too late and missed those first few awkward yet hilarious seconds. Here is a video of what I could get with my camera of our sweet girl in her new boots. You'll notice that Daddy is trying to get her to walk to him, so he lures her over by putting her baby doll inside the famous box from yesterday. She took the bait (perhaps a little too enthusiastically) as you will see.




We hope you all had a great Friday! We would ask that you take a minute to pray for my Papaw Redmon. He suffered a mild heart attack yesterday. He is ok but could still use some prayers for renewed energy and less heartache. We love you all!

A Big Box!

Who needs toys when you have a great big cardboard box? Not us!! Today AC spent quite a bit of time crawling in and out of this big box. She even hauled some toys in there for safekeeping.

After a long day of box play, she had a sweet snuggle with Daddy before bed.

Here's what the box looked like when she went to bed...

Poor box. She spent a little time sitting on it as well. And it seems that she thinks this would be a nice comfy spot for her baby to sleep tonight. I just hope the real baby sleeps well tonight. I'm certain she has a fullfledged cold. We had several WWE matches today over me using the aspirator (snot sucker). It wasn't pretty. Happy Thursday everyone!

Bye-bye Nap #2

Baby Girl has decided she doesn't want to take 2 naps anymore, and Mama is a little nervous about this. My sleep book warned of the dreaded time between 13 and 15 months when most babies will drop 1 of their 2 naps. It says, "By fifteen months of age, 57 percent of children are taking a single afternoon nap. This is dramatic change occuring over a short time period." I have been desperately praying that she would fall into that other 43 percent!! But it seems it ain't happenin'. The line that makes me most anxious about this states, "This transition will not be smooth." Thanks, book. Thanks for shedding that obvious light on the situation. Anyway, she handled it pretty well today. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.

Instead of napping, we did laundry, played with a big cardboard box, ate mac-n-cheese and sweet potatoes, and snuggled during the grumpy spells. I don't have any pics today, but I DO have a video. I found a good one from another time in her past when she didn't like to take naps. This was taken almost 1 year ago. I will admit that a few tears escaped when I watched it. My baby girl is growing too fast. I miss her being so little bitty. Enjoy!

A Little Mind at Work

Nothing much happened around this house today. Baby Girl was free from all her mucus, so thanks for the prayers! However, she was still very crabby. I noticed a small white spot on her upper gum, so maybe, just maybe we have a tooth coming in after all. I did manage to snap a few funny pictures of her little mind at work today (during one of the few times she wasn't clinging to my leg and whining).

These pictures are in a series of steps. First up...

Step 1: Climb inside the toy bucket.

Step 2: Stand up in toy bucket.

Step 3: Fall backwards out of toy buckey in order to dump all the toys out

(she wasn't injured, no worries).

Step 4: Mission Accomplished! Get inside the empty toy bucket!!!!

Step 5: Beg for Mama to get me out so I can try it all again!!

Happy Tuesday everyone! We love and miss you!

Sick Baby :(

Well, I've got a sick baby. She isn't feeling too bad - just bad enough to make for a really long day for the mama. She's was REALLY restless last night and this morning awoke with a lot of mucus. We had a few fun moments today like a little snuggle with the brown furry dog.

Mostly we just cuddled. How could you resist a long snuggle with this sweet face?

Gotta run to Target...we need some formula. We are in the process of introducing cow's milk to AC. Since she has been on soy since 10 weeks old, her little system isn't used to the proteins in cow's milk. After she turned 1 year old, the pediatrician wanted me to start out with 1 part cow's milk/3 parts soy and work my way up to 100% cows milk. This week we are 1/2 of each. So far so good. Hopefully soy formula will be a thing of the past in no time at all. Everyone say a little pray that my sick girl feels better tomorrow!!

Happy 13 Months to AC!

Today Baby Girl is 13 months old! We can hardly believe that one month ago we were celebrating her birthday with all of you!

On this 22nd of August, we started the morning (or the afternoon, actually) with Church. We were late, as usual. Daddy dropped AC off at the Toddler Room, and he and I joined the service at the end of the opening song. Daddy hates leaving AC in the Toddler Room, so I wasn't surprised when he went to check on her after 10 minutes and returned with a certain little girl in his arms. She's got him wrapped around her finger!

All smiles on the way out

Happy 13 months, Precious Girl!

After church, AC decided to help Mommy clean using her little vacuum, that is until she discovered that it was much more fun to do this...

We hope you all had a great Sunday! We love and miss you!!

Father/Daughter Day

Saturdays are usually Father/Daughter Day around here. AC and Daddy spend the day together doing whatever it is that daddies and 1 year olds do. This morning they went to our last session at Gymboree for the month. Daddy said she was very well behaved and didn't try to steal the other kids' toys (like she did last time). When they got home, they played with her favorite toy at the moment, an Easter bunny.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing and napping.

Here is possibly my most favorite video yet. You'll see why. It was taken a few days ago (the same afternoon she "called" Daddy on her phone).

Sun, Chocolate, and Purses - What more could a girl want?

Whew! I've had a fussy girl on my hands today! I'm thinking it might be teething. We'll see in a few days, I guess! This morning we ran a few errands and the rest of the afternoon was made up of....

a little fun in the sun,

AC loves to be outside. So she strapped on her sun hat and we took a little walk (little being the key word...it was waaaaayyyyy too hot).

some chocolate,

She reached into the refrigerator while I had it open and pulled this down. I turned my back for about 5 seconds and, when I turned around, this is what I found. The girl gets it from her mama, what can I say.

and a big purple purse!

After the chocolate, we had a quick change of clothes. A few minutes later, she had found my purse. Instead of pulling out all the contents like she usually does, she decided she would throw it over her shoulder just like Mom! Eventually she got frustrated because it wouldn't stay on her shoulder :(

So we watched the Wiggles and all was okay again. Tomorrow is Father/Daughter Day. I'll let you know how that goes :) Here is a video from last weekend of AC and Daddy watching her all-time favorite..."Old McDonald"! The girl's got moves and that, I'm certain, she gets from her daddy :) To see it, click on the red word 'video' above!

Ponytails and Cell Phones

Happy Thursday! Thursday turned out to be rather exciting for us because....drum roll, please....AC got her very first ponytail!! I had to use all avaible forms of distraction to accomplish this little sprout (the Wiggles, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Barney, maybe a very small piece of KitKat bar, and a snuggly spot on my lap), but it turned out oh-so-sweet, if I must say so!

Aside from the ponytail, AC was borderline grouchy today. She is quite the sleeper except for the last week. She has had a rough time going to sleep and is waking up a lot. I'm not sure if she is getting more teeth. Both she and I have little bumps scattered around on our bodies. Mine itch like crazy, so I'm sure hers do too. About 10 days ago, she had the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine. I guess it is possible that we both have a very mild case of the chicken pox. This could make for a restless sleep, indeed.

We also played with an old cell phone today. It seems that she is watching me constantly and picking up on the tiniest of things. As you will see in the video below, it didn't take her long to learn just what that litte contraption is for.

(FYI about video: The TV is loud, sorry! The brown furry child is excited and you can hear her toenails clicking on the hardwood. We were having a bad hair day. The phone doesn't really work :))

Wrapping up the first year

We (me, the daddy, baby girl, and furry child) are quickly approaching the 'one year' mark - one year since we moved away. Approximately 1,100 miles away. We still miss home just as much now as we did one year ago.

More importantly, we recently celebrated another '1 year' mark. Our baby girl has been alive for one entire wonderful year. And while it has been magical watching her grow and discover the world this year, we miss you all terribly. So after much thought, I've decided to start this little blog. It's my way of letting you share in her daily life even though we are 1,100 miles away. We want you to be able to see her grow while we aren't there with you.


Just a few small things I think you should know:
1) I am REALLY new at this...so have patience with me as I learn to be a 'blogger'.


2) We would love for you to leave comments if you would like. However, you must have a Gmail email address. It's no big deal to create one. That's what I did...I don't use the email, except to do this blog. If you are interested, just go to http://www.google.com/. You will see "Gmail" on the top left. Click on it and you will be led through the process.

3) I oftentimes have a messy house. You will probably notice it in the pictures and videos. Don't hold it against me...I'm working on it.

4) I will never use our names (unless it's an accident) for safety purposes...the daddy tells me there are lots of bad people out there :)


So, I hope you enjoy this. We don't always do new and exciting things, but we do have a lot of fun everyday! We love and miss you all!!

Here are a few pictures from today. It was a pretty typical day. We went to the mall and TJ Maxx, just to get out of the house. Then we watched some Wiggles and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on YouTube (AC's new obession), ate some snacks, and played with the furry one. The Daddy will be back from Haiti tonight after 4 days there. We've missed him :)

Just sitting in her new chair. Thanks Nina and Papa!!

"Mommy bought these new boots at TJ Maxx!"

Fun with sisters (not sure why this picture is over there).

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!