Puppy Love

First things first...it did not rain today!!! We managed to get out of the house, but we didn't go too far. Just to Publix. We needed a few groceries. I've learned that if you go to the grocery store during the day, you will most definitely encounter several sweet old ladies that love to dote over a baby girl. And the baby girl loves it. She pulls out all the stops for them. You know...waves, toothy grins, bye-byes, and an occasional clap. She was in desperate need of some old lady lovin' after being stuck in the house with me for the last 2 days. The remainder of the day was spent playing with things she has uncovered in the clutter from the move. However, her most favorite things to play with today happened to be of a canine nature.

A few days ago, we went to Babies R Us. This sweet pink puppy was sitting on a display at the end of the aisle. AC went wild for it as soon as she spotted it. She hugged and kissed it and couldn't stop giggling. There was no way I was leaving that store without this dog. I dug through my purse and found 2 coupons (because stuffed animals this big aren't cheap), and a few minutes later, we were strolling out of the store with a big pink puppy in our cart. (She is carrying around a bag from the grocery). The poor yellow duck has been neglected since Pink Puppy came home.

Another puppy that gets lots of love from AC just happens to be real. It has been so wonderful watching my two girls form such a sweet bond. I can only imagine how much they will grow to love each other over the years. It makes my heart happy just to think about it. We are raising a dog lover, and that makes me and the daddy very, very happy. AC and G really loved each other this afternoon.

This dog has been wonderful with the baby. She is so patient and loving. She will let AC take food from her mouth (gross, I know), pull her tail, pinch her ears, and sit on her and bounce up and down. She takes it all in stride and keeps loving my baby girl. AC is one lucky girl. We love and miss you all!

Cabin Fever

We might be suffering from a very mild case of cabin fever. It rained all day. Again. The weatherman says we got 4.12 inches of rain today. We NEED to get out of this house. We have played with every toy, eaten all the snacks, watched too much tv, and now we are so restless. My girl doesn't like to be stuck in the house with her mama for very long. She is way too social. Doesn't Mother Nature understand that there are lots of people out there that need to be waved to and smiled at by a sweet little girl? I didn't take many pictures today, but here are a couple.

My big girl playing with my phone.

Pigtails!

Hopefully the rain will stop soon and we can venture out for a while tomorrow!

Funny Girl

Thanks to Tropical Storm Nicole, we were stuck inside all day. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, blah, blah, blah. The worst part of it all is that today was only the first day. More rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week, so much so that the county is making all the arrangements for flooding (lowering the levees, filling sandbags, etc.). And I'm no meteorologist, but I'm guessing the humidity was around 100% today. But we didn't let all this get in the way of fun! Here are some of the things our crazy girl got into today.

FYI: My child does wear clothes. She may not have any on in these pictures, but she did get dressed today. I promise.

Right after breakfast, she managed to weasel her way into the refrigerator. She found what she wanted and, one by one, took it across the kitchen, into the living room, and placed it on the treadmill in a perfect line.

This all started before I could get the other pigtail put in.

This is her finished work. Right after I took this picture, I walked away to find the lens cap for camera. Within the 60 seconds that she was out of my sight, she took the ketchup (2nd from the right) off the treadmill, unscrewed the lid, and tried to taste it. When I came back, ketchup was smeared all over my nice, clean carpet. I totally freaked out. Ask my mom. She was the poor soul that answered my phone call at this moment. Thank goodness it all came out. The refrigerator is officially off limits to everyone under 4' tall.

Later she found one of my headbands. I put it on her and she loved it. She walked around like this for about 2 hours. It was hilarious.

One of her 6 month pictures is resting on the window. It is the only place I can put it where she won't mess with it until I can get it up on the wall. She discovered it today and spent a few minutes staring at herself.

"Gosh, Mama. I was a cute baby, huh?"

And finally, my favorite. I got my first piece of artwork from AC today. She did it all on her own (except for the brown on the bottom left...I was showing her what to do). I'm a proud mama.
Much love to you all.

The Daddy's Home!

It's been 9 long days since we saw the daddy last. He's been in New York City for work, so it's just been the girls around here. He was supposed to be gone for 3 more days, but that got cancelled! Woohooo! We are just so happy he's back! AC and I met him at the airport this afternoon.

She wanted to push the stroller around while we waited for Daddy's plane to land.

She was very interested in the little old man who was restocking the luggage carts.

Soooooo happy to finally see her daddy!

Hangin' out with Daddy when we got home. Yes, that's a bottle she has. I'm not as motivated as I should be to get rid of them. Soon, though. Very soon.

Here's to hoping things can get back to normal around here. The last two weeks have been exhausting in every way. We love and miss you! Please continue to pray for the daddy's brother!

Pumpkins

It's hot here. Really hot. And it will continue to be really hot for about 6 more weeks. Then it will turn from hot to kinda hot. The first day of fall is only a day on the calendar here. There are no colorful leaves falling off trees, no jackets, no frosty mornings, or hot chocolate. But we don't care. We are sojourners in this place, just biding our time until we get to come home again and experience fall for real. Until then, we will still celebrate! So today we bought some pumpkins! I decided to buy the craft pumpkins from Michael's instead of real pumpkins for several reasons. Let me tell you, our girl l.o.v.e.d these pumpkins!

I'm still working on a Halloween costume! We hope you had a wonderful weekend!

This and That

Hi everyone! I apologize for the absence. Our newly installed internet went out on Wednesday. Fabulous, not. After at least 10 phone calls and one no-show repairman, we are up and running! I should be back to the daily blog for sure now!

It has been a really long and stressful week for our family. I'll spare you all the details because it's all over and next week WILL be better. It has no choice. You hear me, Next Week...you better shape up! The one thing I will ask is for prayers. Prayers for the daddy's brother. He is currently serving with the US Army in Afghanistan. It is a very turbulent time in this war zone, and we felt that firsthand this week. Pray for his safety and speedy recovery. We love you, J and are so very proud of you.

Here is what the baby girl has been up to for the last few days.

We ate a little chocolate, discovered some runaway hangers, and went swimming!

A little recommendation to start off:

If you are a brownie lover like me, I highly recommend you go to the store ASAP and pick up a few boxes of these. I have been eyeing them for a while, but when I saw them on sale at Target, I finally bought one. INCREDIBLE! They are 100 times better than those other (Duncan Hines, maybe) single serving brownies.

A little girl I know also thought they were pretty good!

Later in the day, she discovered one of her many obessions hiding in a tub in the garage.

A few hours later, we sang, "Rain, rain, go away. Come again next year.!" It has rained for 5 straight days. Enough already. Notice the water standing in the corner of the patio. The seller of the house was supposed to add a drain. Didn't happen, evidently. Add it to the list.

And today. Today we went to our friend Melissa's house. Melissa was our realtor and has been an angel to me the last few months. I'm not sure how I would have made it here without her. She has a pool and AC got to take her very first swim. She was very excited until she saw a few fancy rocks over next to the fence. You know how my girl loves rocks. She didn't get back in the pool for more than a minute after she got her hands on those gems.

Checkin' herself out in the glass!

AC and Melissa


And my favorite picture this week! Love this sweet girl more than imaginable! Look how big she is. Slow down with that growing, little one. You are making your mama sad.

New Tricks

It seems that the change in surroundings has caused my girl to get creative in her explorations. Here are the things she attempted today.

Couch Climbing

She has discovered that if she crawls over the arm of the couch, she can get to a much more exciting spot.

Getting her balance

Success! You should know that she stood here for all of 5 minutes and danced (without music). She was so very proud of herself. Too bad I moved that table as soon as she went to bed!

Refrigerator Rearranging

She makes a beeline to the refrigerator every time she hears it open. Things are much lower in the new refrigerator and she can easily pull them out. Notice the sour cream and yogurt lying behind her. Those came out first, along with the black thing (the furry dog's leash) which must have been hidden in there earlier.

Purse Finding

Today she happened upon a box with all my purses in it. If you know her well, then you know she LOVES purses.

"Which one should I choose?"

"I'll just take them all."

This purse-carrying-activity led to a total meltdown when she couldn't keep them all on her arm. I had to put them in the garage so that she couldn't see them. Out of sight, out of mind.

And...Happy 14 months to our sweet girl!

What We've Been Doing

The last few days have been really busy for us. As of 4 o'clock today, we are completely out of the other house. It feels good...until I open my new garage door and see all the junk piled up. Maybe by this time next year I'll have it all the way I want it.

We are really enjoying our new house even though it is a mess. We have more room and it is just much nicer than the rental house. Here are a few pictures of my girl over the last few days. And yes, she is wearing the same outfit a that she wore a few days ago. Don't judge...I haven't found the box with her clothes in it. That's on my list for tomorrow.

Watching Daddy mow. We LOVE our big patio!

Watching some ducks on the water.

Spaghetti face on our first night at the new house. A big mistake on my part.

My clean floors got very, very, very dirty.

After the spaghetti, AC got a quick bath in the new sink.

Playing in the empty cabinets while Mama cleans the old house.

I can't wait to post some pictures of our new house, but it is a disaster right now. Maybe in a week or so! We love and miss you all!

Be Back Tomorrow

Hi everyone! We just got internet up and running at the new house! I exhausted and about to go to bed, but I'm back to the daily blog tomorrow! Sorry for the absence! Check in tomorrow.

Moving Day 2

Well, we survived Day 2. No pictures today. The daddy wouldn't let me stop long enough to take any! He was determined to get this all done today. We didn't. But we did manage to get Baby Girl all set up in her new room. She's restless but will adjust in a few days. She is used to sleeping in different places with all the traveling we do. Tomorrow we have to pack up the kitchen, turn in the Uhaul truck, start unpacking, and get rid of the wasp's nest (from which 2 wasps stung the daddy and AC laughed harder than she has in her life at her daddy screaming and running through the yard). Happy Friday everyone!

Moving Day 1

It's been a long day. We've just settled back in at the rental house for one more night. Daddy got a jump on things early this morning. By 7 pm, he and his friends had moved just about all the heavy stuff. We still have quite a bit left, but tomorrow should get it. The good news is it was a cool 85 degrees today and NO rain!!!!! Here are few pictures of the day.

Happy girl on the way to Uhaul!

For every book I put in the tub, she took at least 2 back out and stacked them up.

Needless to say, we gave up on the books after a few minutes!

A quick shot of the new house! More to come soon!

Daddy taking a break to snuggle his girl!

Goodnight all! We're exhausted. We love you all!

Playing Dress Up

We are officially homeowners again! We start moving tomorrow. Wish us luck! In other news, our girl is fascinated with her mom and dad's clothes and shoes. Last night she tried wearing Daddy's shoes, and this morning she begged me to put my shirt on her. It was pretty funny!

Aside from playing dress up, she has been quite a handful today. The transition from 2 naps to 1 nap isn't going smoothly, just as my book stated. She was pretty cranky all morning. The house closing was at 3:00, and she was excited to get out of the house and see our realtor, Melissa, who she adores. This happiness only lasted about half an hour and she became grumpy once more. I just pray she cooperates the next few days so that we all don't lose our minds!

The Beginning of a Busy Weekend

We close on our new house tomorrow! I can't believe we are moving again! This will be the 5th time we have moved since we were married 4 years ago. Here is how it goes: Moved to Georgetown, moved to Nicholasville, moved to Meade Co., moved to our rental house, and moving to our new house this weekend. To say that I'm dreading the entire process would be an extreme understatement. The fact that it is still close to 100 degrees here and it pours rain almost everyday this time of year (monsoon season) makes me cringe at the thought of hauling all of our belongings across 4 cities. And this time we don't have Bob! He's a moving machine!! We couldn't have done it without him last time. We love you Uncle Bob!

Because tomorrow is closing, we did a final walk-through today. It was SOOOO clean, which I'm thrilled about!! We had lunch with Daddy afterwards. A 2 year-old girl sat in the booth behind us and she and AC had fun trading sugar packets. She was not very enthusiastic about pausing for a picture with her mama.

Then we ran to the outlet mall (which just happens to be about 2 miles from our new house...woohoo!) to pick up a little birthday treat for our sweet friend Christian. He turns 2 this weekend and we are sad that we have to miss his party. AC spent the rest of the afternoon just playing with her toys and a stray pink highlighter apparently.

Recently she has started to try to comb her own hair, use q-tips in her own ears, put on her own shoes, etc. I'm guessing that maybe she mistook the highlighter for a q-tip! Who knows?!? Last night I found my ipod covered in orange crayon! Maybe I should stock up on Magic Erasers for the new house!

The next few days will be very hectic, and it is possible that we may have a lapse in internet service, so I'll apologize now if I don't get a chance to update you all! I promise to catch you up once we get settled! We love and miss you all!

Sneaky Girl

I realized today that Baby Girl is capable of much more than I assumed. At about 1:30, I quickly went to the garage to put a load of laundry in the dryer. In south Florida, it is very rare for a washer and dryer to be inside the house. The garage isn't that far from the kitchen as this is a small house. But it must have been far enough. When I came back to the kitchen, this what I saw.

The dishwasher door was shut, or at least I thought it was. She must have reached in from the side and pulled it open. Then, as you can see, she crawled right on up there and started pulling out the silverware. I guess it is time I start looking for a way to baby proof the appliances!!

I think we may go to Toys R Us and buy a new toy tomorrow. It seems she needs something to keep her from getting bored! We love and miss you! Oh, and have fun in Arizona, Mamaw and Papaw!!

Rainy Day

It rained pretty much all day. We went to church and that was it. Everyone took a long nap, had lunch, watched some football, and did laundry. Boring, but nice at the same time.

A quick pic before church

AC's favorite thing to do these days. I'm not sure G feels the same.