* for family, first and foremost. For my husband and partner and best friend, who has helped me build a family and life and all that a girl hopes for since childhood. For choosing me to be the mother of his kids. For his patience and gentle spirit and kind soul. And of course for my kids, my two favorite people in the whole wide world who have shown me new depths and greater heights to every emotion under the sun.
* for our families. Mine and John's. And all the love and warmth and support that we still feel from them even those at times like this they feel a million miles away. We miss and love you all.
* for my heritage. For everyone who is before me that had a faith in Christ strong enough to pass it down to their children and teach them about Him, so that the Message would one day reach me, and my family, and theirs....
* for Jesus. For the peace and joy and salvation that I have experienced in having a personal relationship with Him. For a friendship that has been constant since day one, that remains just as strong no matter what else is happening in this world.
* for the priviledge to live in a country, and be from a country, where I am free to worship who and how and when I choose. I hear stories of people sneaking pages of a Bible into countries and delivering them to desperate hands who just want to read one page of what they already know is true. I am thankful that I do not have to hide in a attic to pray, or meet in underground places to have fellowship with people who believe like I do.
* for the wonderful friends I have made in this lifetime. For memories I have with so many of you reading this, and for all the fun and good times ahead. For the seasons and ups and downs in life that have revealed to me what true friendship really is, and who mine are.
* for fun things and all my favorites. That I am able to indulge every now and then in things I love. That I live an overflowing life, in so, so many ways. But more importantly that all the "things" I have or blessings in life, I am so thankful that I have been raised not to take anything for granted, that I recognize what to be thankful for, and I take the time to do that (or try to) every single day.
For me, Thanksgiving is a lot more about WHO I should be thanking than about WHAT I am thankful for. And because I know that "Every good and perfect gift is from above" I will remember today where and who it comes from. God, thank you for a life abundant. For my life and all the good in it. For all the gifts I have been given, those I know and see and those that have not yet been revealed to me. For the comfort in knowing that they are all from you. You truly are the reason for every, single season. Amen.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Baby Boy is Three Months Old!
Oh, Mav, time is flying with you! You are such a fun, easy baby! You rarely cry, you sleep great, nurse like a champ and smile for almost anyone. You are growing so big, you turned 3 months old yesterday, and although you are well into your 3-6 month clothes most of the time, I have already put some 6-12 month clothes on and they fit! Last week, you rolled over for the first time. You seem to love tummy time and holding your head up, such a big, strong boy you are. You DO NOT like sleeping on your stomach yet, which is different from your sister. At this age, I think she was already sleeping on her belly at bedtime. I have tried with you, and you protest. You do love to be swaddled, and I have actually been able to swaddle you a few times this month and set you in the crib awake, you will fall asleep on your own, most of the time without a peep. You adore your sister and everything she does, she makes you smile all day long.
Bedtime with you is fairly easy. You have a bath around 7:30 while your sister has her shower. You do love your one on one time with whoever is bathing you, and you let whoever know by goo-goo-ga-ga ing through it. You love to kick and splash in there now. After bath, you love a little footrub, we put you in your warm cozy pj's, have a big nurse, and got to bed. Right now, you sleep from about 8 pm till anywhere between 1 and 3 am. One night, you slept till 4 this month, Mommy wants more of that please! Anyways, when you wake you, Daddy usually goes and gets you and brings you to bed with us, you nurse again and sleep snuggled into my side. I love having you there, you snuggle right in and fuss when I roll away. You are all warm and cuddly and your smiling face is a treat to wake up to. I am am trying to enjoy this time of sleeping together because I know it won't last much longer. Once your rocking chair comes I will probably start doing what I did with Tula and just rock you back to sleep in your room when you wake at night. I guess we will burn that bridge when it gets here. You still love your swing, and would sleep forever in it. It use it as a cheat if I don't have time to snuggle you or need you to sleep longer. But time has flown so fast with you I also am forcing myself to use it less, I know that those special moments of snuggling with you before you drift off are so precious, I am trying to get in as many as I can. You do like to be home for sleeps though, in your room for naps, so we have had a couple outings that have had to been cut short to bring you home to sleep. Luckily, we bought an ergo this month. Thanks for the great idea Auntie Kaisha! I never thought we would use one, with Tula I loved my Moby. But Mav is a little heavier and this is so much easier to carry him. Way more comfortable for me, and he can nurse in there discreetly and sleeps wonderfully in it. It has been a lifesaver, and I wish I would have bought it sooner!
Maverick, you are so fun to be around. You light up a room with your ginormous smile. You are a happy little baby and I feel blessed to have such a wonderful little man in my life. I am sad that the whole "fourth trimester" part is done. You are for sure not a newborn and I will always miss and cherish those times with you. I know now, more so after my second, how fast they go. But I did feel like I was able to truly enjoy them. And now that you are doing all the fun, happy, giggley stuff, I look forward to a lifetime of sharing smiles with you. Love you baby boy!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tula and the bottle
Since the beginning of time Tula has never liked the bottle. I have never tried giving her formula in there, it has always been just breastmilk, and for whatever reason, it makes her gag. Always has, and apparently always will. John was trying to give Mav a bottle today and Tula wanted to run around with it a bit. She tried it and gagged instantly, which is why in the video she is kind of trying to avoid the bottle like the plague. So weird that breastmilk is so gross to her in a bottle. I have no idea why. Makes for a cute video though...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Umm.....
So this was my day. It started with a nice relaxing morning. We hung out and took it slow, and met up with a few friends at a park for a little while. We stayed just long enough that Tula fell asleep on the car ride home, which is kind of a nightmare right now because she doesn't transfer to her crib well and so naptime gets all screwed up. I figured I would just get home and wake her up from her carseat, give her some lunch and let her play for while before putting her down again. She was playing in the pantry and I took Maverick upstairs to feed him and put him down. I was just finishing up with him and I heard her crying. This sort of whiny "help me" cry. I came running downstairs and this is what I found...
It was actually cute enough that I had to run upstairs and get my camera before rescuing her from the disaster she had created. There was balsamic vinegar EVERYWHERE! I should have known better, I left one full, unopened one on the bottom shelf. In my defence, I think I didn't think she could lift it. Well obviously it was too heavy, cause she dropped it, and not only was she standing in the middle of a huge puddle of black liquid, but there was shattered glass in there as well. Luckily, because it broke with the liquid inside, the glass all stayed in one little pile and I could see she wasn't standing in it at all. She wouldn't move the whole time, wouldn't even lift her feet off the ground. Tula does hate being dirty, and having her feet drenched with this funny smelling black stuff was no exception. I picked her up and took her to the sink and took off everything from the waist down, minus the diaper.
I started to clean up, which was a complete nightmare. The vinegar had leaked under everything that was on the floor, so I had to take that all out and wipe it down and then do the floors. When I first got down on my knees to start cleaning, Tula came up from behind me and started patting me on the back. As if to tell me it would all be okay or something. The whole cleanup took about 2 hours, though there were many pauses in there where I stopped to think of who I could call to rescue me. THESE are the times I wish my mom lived right down the street. Of course Tula wanted to help, I gave her a rag and after it was all cleaned up and I was just washing with soapy water I ever let her get her rag a little wet and help. After cleaning up the pantry floor, I was inspired to finally clean out the whole thing, which I have needed to do for awhile now, so that took even more time. I was at the whole thing from about 1 till 4:30. And Thank God, Mav slept the entire time for me. Tula, on the other hand, ended up not napping at all. Her first day ever! And we actually didn't have any meltdowns! Daddy got home around 5 and the house looked as though nothing had ever happened, I don't know if he would have believed me if it wasn't for the pictures. If only he would have seen it while I was cleaning!
One more cute thing. When Mav woke up and we went to get him, I put him in his bouncy chair upstairs and left them alone for a minute to go downstairs and finish. When I came upstairs, Tula had gotten into my file folders and found some pictures of herself. There were a few papers and other things on the floor, it was a mess. But look where she put this picture. This is exactly how she had it.
What a day. They can drive you crazy and melt your heart in one breath. And I wouldn't change it for the world.
It was actually cute enough that I had to run upstairs and get my camera before rescuing her from the disaster she had created. There was balsamic vinegar EVERYWHERE! I should have known better, I left one full, unopened one on the bottom shelf. In my defence, I think I didn't think she could lift it. Well obviously it was too heavy, cause she dropped it, and not only was she standing in the middle of a huge puddle of black liquid, but there was shattered glass in there as well. Luckily, because it broke with the liquid inside, the glass all stayed in one little pile and I could see she wasn't standing in it at all. She wouldn't move the whole time, wouldn't even lift her feet off the ground. Tula does hate being dirty, and having her feet drenched with this funny smelling black stuff was no exception. I picked her up and took her to the sink and took off everything from the waist down, minus the diaper.
I started to clean up, which was a complete nightmare. The vinegar had leaked under everything that was on the floor, so I had to take that all out and wipe it down and then do the floors. When I first got down on my knees to start cleaning, Tula came up from behind me and started patting me on the back. As if to tell me it would all be okay or something. The whole cleanup took about 2 hours, though there were many pauses in there where I stopped to think of who I could call to rescue me. THESE are the times I wish my mom lived right down the street. Of course Tula wanted to help, I gave her a rag and after it was all cleaned up and I was just washing with soapy water I ever let her get her rag a little wet and help. After cleaning up the pantry floor, I was inspired to finally clean out the whole thing, which I have needed to do for awhile now, so that took even more time. I was at the whole thing from about 1 till 4:30. And Thank God, Mav slept the entire time for me. Tula, on the other hand, ended up not napping at all. Her first day ever! And we actually didn't have any meltdowns! Daddy got home around 5 and the house looked as though nothing had ever happened, I don't know if he would have believed me if it wasn't for the pictures. If only he would have seen it while I was cleaning!
One more cute thing. When Mav woke up and we went to get him, I put him in his bouncy chair upstairs and left them alone for a minute to go downstairs and finish. When I came upstairs, Tula had gotten into my file folders and found some pictures of herself. There were a few papers and other things on the floor, it was a mess. But look where she put this picture. This is exactly how she had it.
What a day. They can drive you crazy and melt your heart in one breath. And I wouldn't change it for the world.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
What have I gotten myself into?
So today my super sweet husband came home from work with a "present" for me. He had went to home depot and bought all the fun stuff that I want to plant in my new garden that he is building me. Basil, tomatos, peppers, eggplant, and on and on. He has built me this awesome, huge garden that I begged and begged for under the condition that it would be MY garden and I had to take care of it. That was fine by me, I figured you plant the seeds, water them, and pick the food. Maybe pull a weed here or there. So we are trying to finish up the yard and deciding what trees to plant and I was on this Arizona Gardening website and chat forum looking for tree info when I came across a post titles "Pests and more pests". I clicked on it and I shouldn't have. This is what it said:
Hey all,
I'm from Seattle but I now I live here in Phoenix and container garden from a balcony. Anyway, I thought the number of garden pests in Phoenix would be few but they are much more of a problem here for me than they ever were pack home in the Pacific NW.
I have spider mites on my bananas, fungus gnats everywhere, aphids on my hibiscus and rose, and I'm sure they're aiming for the tomato!!!!
I have used insecticidal soap and have had good success and will use ladybugs soon but does anyone else have such a pest problem here?
I about crapped my self. I didn't think of this.
And here are a few of the responses:
Does anyone know how to get rid of the "green capitellars" on my basil? They are the ones that are on the underneath of the leaves and leave black droppings? They are moving to my tomatoe plants and doing the same thing! I have everything growing in pots on my patio. I go out everyday and pick them off by hand. But I am sick of them! Any help please!!!!
Pick them off BY HAND?!?!?! Good grief! Black droppings????? Kill me now......
my az. mesquite tree has long string like things coming down from the leaves and small branches. They also have small green things in the strings that look like bugs or leaves. Are they bugs and is this normal for an arizona mesquite tree to do this?
long string like things?
*shudder*
And basically no solutions just a bunch of other people chiming in about disgusting bugs, pests, etc that they have in their garden. I am in way over my head.
In the words of Miss Tula Belle "Uhhhhhh- Ohhhhh"
Anybody looking for a part time gardening gig? Can I call my exterminator when I see these pests? Is that allowed? What am I going to do? Crap....
Hey all,
I'm from Seattle but I now I live here in Phoenix and container garden from a balcony. Anyway, I thought the number of garden pests in Phoenix would be few but they are much more of a problem here for me than they ever were pack home in the Pacific NW.
I have spider mites on my bananas, fungus gnats everywhere, aphids on my hibiscus and rose, and I'm sure they're aiming for the tomato!!!!
I have used insecticidal soap and have had good success and will use ladybugs soon but does anyone else have such a pest problem here?
I about crapped my self. I didn't think of this.
And here are a few of the responses:
Does anyone know how to get rid of the "green capitellars" on my basil? They are the ones that are on the underneath of the leaves and leave black droppings? They are moving to my tomatoe plants and doing the same thing! I have everything growing in pots on my patio. I go out everyday and pick them off by hand. But I am sick of them! Any help please!!!!
Pick them off BY HAND?!?!?! Good grief! Black droppings????? Kill me now......
my az. mesquite tree has long string like things coming down from the leaves and small branches. They also have small green things in the strings that look like bugs or leaves. Are they bugs and is this normal for an arizona mesquite tree to do this?
long string like things?
*shudder*
And basically no solutions just a bunch of other people chiming in about disgusting bugs, pests, etc that they have in their garden. I am in way over my head.
In the words of Miss Tula Belle "Uhhhhhh- Ohhhhh"
Anybody looking for a part time gardening gig? Can I call my exterminator when I see these pests? Is that allowed? What am I going to do? Crap....
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tula is SIXTEEN months old!
This month has been one of those months that I would have had to post multiple times a day to remember or journal all of the changes Tula has made. She is just a little sponge right now, soaking up everything that is going on around her and figuring out how to incorporate it into her own little world. She seems to really just "get" things now, more than ever. A few months ago, it was exciting watching her learn and do one step commands like "put this here" or "go get that" or whatever. But it's totally different now. She tries to tell me things, or she gets the humor in something, or she does things she knows will get a reaction. It seems sometimes like she is thinking steps ahead, and it is just so fun to watch. Seeing her little brain develop and grown, and her personality as well, has been so fun this month. Here are a few examples of how much she amazes me:
- Yesterday she got a ball that came in the mail. her first ball. She was so excited, we took it out of the box and I said "Let's go to the park and take your ball." So we walked across the street to the greenbelt and brought the ball and played. Today, I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk, she looked at me and nodded her head yes and said "Ball?" and then went to go find it. Finds it, picks it up and stands by the door waiting for me.
- When we walk across the street to the I make her hold my hand. It's always a fight. Today, I said, "Tula, you hold my hand or we are going home" and she DID IT! No porblem. She must have really wanted to go play, but I really didn't think she would understand that consequence and she totally did! I was shocked (and happy) that it actually worked.
- Tula has figured out ghat when packages come they are usually for her. If I know FedEx has come by and delivered a package, I will wait till she is around and ask her if there is a package to go look out the window. If she sees one, she gets so excited and I let her out, she runs out, grabs it, and immediately carries it back inside for John or I to open. She cannot wait till the tape is cut and she can dig in to the box or whatever it is.
- If we are downstairs and she poops and I ask her if she is poopy and wants a diaper change, she will go and lie in the spot where I normaly change her diaper (if she is in the right mood, this is) and wait for me to change it. It's hit or miss, but the fct that she has done it for me on more than one occasion tells me she is smart enough to know what she needs to do, and sometimes cranky enough that she just feels like giving me a hard time or something. There are also plenty of times she is poopy and literally makes me chase her around the first floor, running to catch her. That is apparently hilarious when you are one.
- The other day she fell under her red car and was stuck while playing in it downstairs by her self. I was upstairs and heard her yelling for help, when I came down I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she was all jammed up in there. I told her to hold on a second, Mommy needed to go get a camera and it was funny or something. Anyways she waited for me to come back and sort of posed for some pics before "asking" for me to take her out again. That same day, I took the camera back upstairs and she hopped on her zebra and was standing on top of it. I said "Don't move, stay up there' Mommy wants to take a picture" just as she was getting down, and she got back up and waited for me to come back with the camera and get a few pictures. She is a poser, which is great for her camera loving Mommy!
-She doesn't just sit in her car anymore. she likes to turn the steering wheel and say "vroom vroom" when she gets really excited. I love how dramatically she shuts the door behind her when she gets in there. as though she is off on some big adventure. Her imagination seems endless right now.
-Cooking. Tula and I started cooking a little bit together this month. The first thing we did was banana bread, and we mixed it all up and put it in the oven and she went for a nap. I explained to her that when she got up...blah blah blah...you kow. Anyways, when she woke up we went down and looked at it and ate it and she thought that was pretty cool. She loves "mixing", made pancakes with Auntie a couple times and help Grandma with baking while she was here. But in her own play, she has figured out that cooking has ingredients, so instead of just walking around with one of her little mini pots and pans with a mixing spoon (probably one of her fave toys right now) I will see her pouring different things from her cupboard into there and mixing it, then "tasting", pouring more, mixing, etc. She is a little chef, and loves for you to "taste" what she is cooking too. This month Tula's lifelong dream of getting to play with the mustard container and lemon juice container came true. They were both empty enough for me to wash out well and put them in her cupboard for her to play with. These were the two things that as soon as I opened the fridge she would go running for. I try and remember when something is empty to wash it for her and let her use it for play, she loves this idea and all her new cooking stuff has provided countless hours of entertainment for her already.
-Nodding head "yes". This one is cute. She figured out no right away but yes just started and I am in love with it. When she wants something and I ask her, she nods yes with the biggest, cheesiest smile ever.
- "Stinky" The garbage is stinky and we plug our noses when we take diapers out there and she gets to throw them in. She plugs her nose and tries to say "stinky" like Mommy and thinks the whole thing is rather hilarious. I especially love it when she makes me stand over the "stinky" garbage forever with the door open waiting for her to drop the diaper in just so she can keep repeating the whole thing.
-Tickling. Tula loves to tickle me right now and says "tickle tickle tickle" like I do when she does it. What she doesn't realize is that her tickling hurts sort of, its this poking, scratching thing. But she thinks she is doing it to me like I do it to her and finds it so funny. She likes to tickle Mav too.
- "Vagiba." This is her word for her "parts". She kept touching herself during diaper changes so I told her that it was called a "vagina" and she tries to tell me all the time during diaper changes. I think I am going to think of a cuter word to call it.
Vag-i-ba is kind cute though. She acts like she is telling me when she does, like she knows and I don't or something.
- Airplanes a big deal and points to the sky and says "oooohhh" every time she hears one, even sometimes from inside the house. It's so random, sometimes we can be outside and the loudest one will go by and it won't even phase her, other times we can be inside and she tells me and I wonder how in the heck she could even hear it.
- Itsy bisty spider is our favorite song and she knows some of the hand motions and tries to do them with me as I sing. She especially loves the end part where I clap and say "Yay" after the song is done. This is very, very exciting and she loves to clap for this.
- "Uh-oh" is constant. If something drops, a loud noise, she is looking for something, Mav cries, anything and EVERYTHING is "uh-ooooooohhhhh"
- Her fork. She has pretty much figured out the fork and bowl. The spoon is different. I still spoonfeed her her cheerios and milk in the mornings and yogurts at lunch, only because I don't want to have to clean up the mess. But she gets the fork and even seems to be starting to understand the bowl and that the food stays in there and is not to be dumped all over her tray. Yay! This is a big step and I am excited to being a little bit closer to cleaner, easier mealtimes!
- Tula got her first "big girl" brush this month, her hair is finally too thick to use a baby brush on anymore, and she loves to brush her hair after bathtime.
Okay, so that was more than a few but basically it's been a big month for Tula and she is just changing so much that it's hard to not want to write down every little thing she does.
A few other "firsts" for this month:
- Tula went to the nursery at church for the first time. She seemed to like it, I basically just took her in there and gave her to the girls and walked away, I couldn't even say goodbye because I wouldn't have been able to leave if she would have cried. I did peek in on her and she seemed okay playing, they told me she was perfectly fine the entire time, so I feel better having that done and over with and we can finally start going back to church a little more regularly knowing that we won't have to think of ways to entertain and keep quiet a one year old for an hour.
- Tula got to have her first "sleepover" at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Scottsdale. Mommy and Daddy and Maverick got to go out for a nice dinner just the three of us and sleep in a little while Tula had fun with Grandpa and Grandma. Apaarently, she slept well and never even seemed phased about being gone from us over night. Unfortunately, her first sleepover was also her first big "owie". Tula feel at Gma and Gpa's friends' pool when they took her swimming. She was getting out and slipped and hit her lip on the side of the pool and got a great big fat one. I guess there was lots of blood, so I am kind of glad I wasn't there for it because I probably would have freaked. I know they are bound to happen and my parents felt bad about it, but it really did lok awful. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I still trust you with my baby and know that it must have been just as awful or you to see it as it would have been for me. The wonderful thing about grandparents is knowing that they are the only other people, possibly in the world, that love your children as much as you do. It was a first, and I am glad it happened under the care of someone who loves her as much as you guys do.
-Oh, here's a big one. We tried chicken! And crabcakes! And turkey! And salmon! And porkchop! Yep, I finally decided it was time to let Tula try meat and guess what? She hated all of them! I have been giving it to her at mealtime if it works for her to eat what we are eating but not really pushing the subject. Frankly, I could care less if she wants it or not and don't realy see it as an important part of her diet so I am not worrying about it. I guess I will keep offering it and when/if she is interested she will start eating it. For now, I guess she is a self proclaimed vegetarian.
- We tried peanut butter. The first time she ate it, she liked it so much she was actually licking her fingers off. But the next couple times, it wasn't so much that she didn't like it, just that she like playing with it more. And when she started rubbing it into her hair, that was it for me. So we haven't tried it since. I bought her the peanut butter Ritz Bitz and figured those were less mess. She can try those a few times till she aquires enough of a taste for it to actually eat it instead if making it into a facial mask.
This months favorites (yours and mine, in no particular order):
Scrambled eggs with cheese. The beautiful weather and walking outside. The day we made a blanket fort together and hung out inside it with Darla. Puzzles. Doing flips with you up on my knees, you are going to be a little gymnast I am sure. Sadie. or should I say "Sayyyyy-deeeee" You love her and saying her name over and over and over. The way you like to sneak up on me from behind when I am on the floor and "get me". The fact that you are finally, officially down to one nap a day. It's making planning the days so much easier, and if you and Mav sleep and the same time Mommy gets one nice, long break. The pumpkin spice muffins at Costco samples and you signing "more" till I did the walk of shame and asked the guy for seconds. I swear he thought I was lying when I blamed it on you. Watching you reading to Maverick. Your kisses. This month you came started coming up to me for a kiss from time to time and it makes my day. Anthills. You are obsessed and I have finally resorted to just letting you sit on them and play with them thinking that one day you will get bit and figure it out. But you haven't, so love you straddle them or sit on them and run your fingers through the sad and watch all the ants go crazy. I have begged you not to but to no avail so I am sure this time next month I will be posting about your first bug bites.
What a month it has been! We had lots of family around, and lots of fun! Daddy has been hard at work building you and Mav a backyard to play in this winter. Grandpa and Grandma were here most of the month and we got to see them lots. Everything, everything we do we do for you guys and I never thought being so totally willing to do absolutely anything for another person could feel so good. We want the world for you and Mav, you have brought a world of joy to us that we never knew possible.
Some of my favorite pictures from this month:
- Yesterday she got a ball that came in the mail. her first ball. She was so excited, we took it out of the box and I said "Let's go to the park and take your ball." So we walked across the street to the greenbelt and brought the ball and played. Today, I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk, she looked at me and nodded her head yes and said "Ball?" and then went to go find it. Finds it, picks it up and stands by the door waiting for me.
- When we walk across the street to the I make her hold my hand. It's always a fight. Today, I said, "Tula, you hold my hand or we are going home" and she DID IT! No porblem. She must have really wanted to go play, but I really didn't think she would understand that consequence and she totally did! I was shocked (and happy) that it actually worked.
- Tula has figured out ghat when packages come they are usually for her. If I know FedEx has come by and delivered a package, I will wait till she is around and ask her if there is a package to go look out the window. If she sees one, she gets so excited and I let her out, she runs out, grabs it, and immediately carries it back inside for John or I to open. She cannot wait till the tape is cut and she can dig in to the box or whatever it is.
- If we are downstairs and she poops and I ask her if she is poopy and wants a diaper change, she will go and lie in the spot where I normaly change her diaper (if she is in the right mood, this is) and wait for me to change it. It's hit or miss, but the fct that she has done it for me on more than one occasion tells me she is smart enough to know what she needs to do, and sometimes cranky enough that she just feels like giving me a hard time or something. There are also plenty of times she is poopy and literally makes me chase her around the first floor, running to catch her. That is apparently hilarious when you are one.
- The other day she fell under her red car and was stuck while playing in it downstairs by her self. I was upstairs and heard her yelling for help, when I came down I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she was all jammed up in there. I told her to hold on a second, Mommy needed to go get a camera and it was funny or something. Anyways she waited for me to come back and sort of posed for some pics before "asking" for me to take her out again. That same day, I took the camera back upstairs and she hopped on her zebra and was standing on top of it. I said "Don't move, stay up there' Mommy wants to take a picture" just as she was getting down, and she got back up and waited for me to come back with the camera and get a few pictures. She is a poser, which is great for her camera loving Mommy!
-She doesn't just sit in her car anymore. she likes to turn the steering wheel and say "vroom vroom" when she gets really excited. I love how dramatically she shuts the door behind her when she gets in there. as though she is off on some big adventure. Her imagination seems endless right now.
-Cooking. Tula and I started cooking a little bit together this month. The first thing we did was banana bread, and we mixed it all up and put it in the oven and she went for a nap. I explained to her that when she got up...blah blah blah...you kow. Anyways, when she woke up we went down and looked at it and ate it and she thought that was pretty cool. She loves "mixing", made pancakes with Auntie a couple times and help Grandma with baking while she was here. But in her own play, she has figured out that cooking has ingredients, so instead of just walking around with one of her little mini pots and pans with a mixing spoon (probably one of her fave toys right now) I will see her pouring different things from her cupboard into there and mixing it, then "tasting", pouring more, mixing, etc. She is a little chef, and loves for you to "taste" what she is cooking too. This month Tula's lifelong dream of getting to play with the mustard container and lemon juice container came true. They were both empty enough for me to wash out well and put them in her cupboard for her to play with. These were the two things that as soon as I opened the fridge she would go running for. I try and remember when something is empty to wash it for her and let her use it for play, she loves this idea and all her new cooking stuff has provided countless hours of entertainment for her already.
-Nodding head "yes". This one is cute. She figured out no right away but yes just started and I am in love with it. When she wants something and I ask her, she nods yes with the biggest, cheesiest smile ever.
- "Stinky" The garbage is stinky and we plug our noses when we take diapers out there and she gets to throw them in. She plugs her nose and tries to say "stinky" like Mommy and thinks the whole thing is rather hilarious. I especially love it when she makes me stand over the "stinky" garbage forever with the door open waiting for her to drop the diaper in just so she can keep repeating the whole thing.
-Tickling. Tula loves to tickle me right now and says "tickle tickle tickle" like I do when she does it. What she doesn't realize is that her tickling hurts sort of, its this poking, scratching thing. But she thinks she is doing it to me like I do it to her and finds it so funny. She likes to tickle Mav too.
- "Vagiba." This is her word for her "parts". She kept touching herself during diaper changes so I told her that it was called a "vagina" and she tries to tell me all the time during diaper changes. I think I am going to think of a cuter word to call it.
Vag-i-ba is kind cute though. She acts like she is telling me when she does, like she knows and I don't or something.
- Airplanes a big deal and points to the sky and says "oooohhh" every time she hears one, even sometimes from inside the house. It's so random, sometimes we can be outside and the loudest one will go by and it won't even phase her, other times we can be inside and she tells me and I wonder how in the heck she could even hear it.
- Itsy bisty spider is our favorite song and she knows some of the hand motions and tries to do them with me as I sing. She especially loves the end part where I clap and say "Yay" after the song is done. This is very, very exciting and she loves to clap for this.
- "Uh-oh" is constant. If something drops, a loud noise, she is looking for something, Mav cries, anything and EVERYTHING is "uh-ooooooohhhhh"
- Her fork. She has pretty much figured out the fork and bowl. The spoon is different. I still spoonfeed her her cheerios and milk in the mornings and yogurts at lunch, only because I don't want to have to clean up the mess. But she gets the fork and even seems to be starting to understand the bowl and that the food stays in there and is not to be dumped all over her tray. Yay! This is a big step and I am excited to being a little bit closer to cleaner, easier mealtimes!
- Tula got her first "big girl" brush this month, her hair is finally too thick to use a baby brush on anymore, and she loves to brush her hair after bathtime.
Okay, so that was more than a few but basically it's been a big month for Tula and she is just changing so much that it's hard to not want to write down every little thing she does.
A few other "firsts" for this month:
- Tula went to the nursery at church for the first time. She seemed to like it, I basically just took her in there and gave her to the girls and walked away, I couldn't even say goodbye because I wouldn't have been able to leave if she would have cried. I did peek in on her and she seemed okay playing, they told me she was perfectly fine the entire time, so I feel better having that done and over with and we can finally start going back to church a little more regularly knowing that we won't have to think of ways to entertain and keep quiet a one year old for an hour.
- Tula got to have her first "sleepover" at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Scottsdale. Mommy and Daddy and Maverick got to go out for a nice dinner just the three of us and sleep in a little while Tula had fun with Grandpa and Grandma. Apaarently, she slept well and never even seemed phased about being gone from us over night. Unfortunately, her first sleepover was also her first big "owie". Tula feel at Gma and Gpa's friends' pool when they took her swimming. She was getting out and slipped and hit her lip on the side of the pool and got a great big fat one. I guess there was lots of blood, so I am kind of glad I wasn't there for it because I probably would have freaked. I know they are bound to happen and my parents felt bad about it, but it really did lok awful. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I still trust you with my baby and know that it must have been just as awful or you to see it as it would have been for me. The wonderful thing about grandparents is knowing that they are the only other people, possibly in the world, that love your children as much as you do. It was a first, and I am glad it happened under the care of someone who loves her as much as you guys do.
-Oh, here's a big one. We tried chicken! And crabcakes! And turkey! And salmon! And porkchop! Yep, I finally decided it was time to let Tula try meat and guess what? She hated all of them! I have been giving it to her at mealtime if it works for her to eat what we are eating but not really pushing the subject. Frankly, I could care less if she wants it or not and don't realy see it as an important part of her diet so I am not worrying about it. I guess I will keep offering it and when/if she is interested she will start eating it. For now, I guess she is a self proclaimed vegetarian.
- We tried peanut butter. The first time she ate it, she liked it so much she was actually licking her fingers off. But the next couple times, it wasn't so much that she didn't like it, just that she like playing with it more. And when she started rubbing it into her hair, that was it for me. So we haven't tried it since. I bought her the peanut butter Ritz Bitz and figured those were less mess. She can try those a few times till she aquires enough of a taste for it to actually eat it instead if making it into a facial mask.
This months favorites (yours and mine, in no particular order):
Scrambled eggs with cheese. The beautiful weather and walking outside. The day we made a blanket fort together and hung out inside it with Darla. Puzzles. Doing flips with you up on my knees, you are going to be a little gymnast I am sure. Sadie. or should I say "Sayyyyy-deeeee" You love her and saying her name over and over and over. The way you like to sneak up on me from behind when I am on the floor and "get me". The fact that you are finally, officially down to one nap a day. It's making planning the days so much easier, and if you and Mav sleep and the same time Mommy gets one nice, long break. The pumpkin spice muffins at Costco samples and you signing "more" till I did the walk of shame and asked the guy for seconds. I swear he thought I was lying when I blamed it on you. Watching you reading to Maverick. Your kisses. This month you came started coming up to me for a kiss from time to time and it makes my day. Anthills. You are obsessed and I have finally resorted to just letting you sit on them and play with them thinking that one day you will get bit and figure it out. But you haven't, so love you straddle them or sit on them and run your fingers through the sad and watch all the ants go crazy. I have begged you not to but to no avail so I am sure this time next month I will be posting about your first bug bites.
What a month it has been! We had lots of family around, and lots of fun! Daddy has been hard at work building you and Mav a backyard to play in this winter. Grandpa and Grandma were here most of the month and we got to see them lots. Everything, everything we do we do for you guys and I never thought being so totally willing to do absolutely anything for another person could feel so good. We want the world for you and Mav, you have brought a world of joy to us that we never knew possible.
Some of my favorite pictures from this month:
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Pre- Meltdown.....
These were the last photos taken of Tula before she freaked out in the Apple store at San Tan and reminded all the super cool, laid back young people in the store why NOT to have children. It was one of those things. We were in there with Tiffany, she needed to get something, and while she talked with a sales guy we went to the back to look around. They have a table set up for kids with Macs with kids games on them, and she pretty much thought this was the coolest thing ever. A computer that looked exactly like Mommy's, that she could reach and touch and click the mouse and everything. She went crazy pushing all the buttons on the keyboard. Tiff was done and about to leave, I tried to get Tula to leave and she wasn't having it so I told Tiff to take Mav and we would catch up. I figured I would be a cool mom and give her another 5 minutes before we were done because she was having so much fun. Besides, if I give a little, that means she will too, right? HA Well, finally, after asking her nicely more than once, I told her it was time to go. Still nothing. So I picked her up and started walking for the door. She did the whole "arch the back and scream" maneauver that would make people think I was abducting her. So embarassing. Anyways, it was the first of probably many more but I figured I would make a note of it because I happened to have a picture of the "before". The most annoying part is that as soon as we were out of the store (and away from the audience) she was totally fine. Like, what's up with that?
Tula, Mommy brags about you all the time and of course you are still my sweet angel but this time you really got me. I will confess, I was SLIGHTLY embarrassed. More than anything, I was upset that people in the store probably thought you were a little brat and I just wanted them all to know what a doll you are. Please don't be mad at me for sharing a few of your teeny tiny imperfections with the world wide web. You are my Lovie Dove, no matter what.
Happy Halloween!
This halloween was possibly one of the most fun nights we have had with the kids together since they were born. We dressed them up as a cowboy and a cowgirl and they looked adorable. Neither of them minded being in their costumes, probably because they were more like regular clothes than most, so that worked great. I learned my lesson from last year and trying to stuff baby Tula into that pea in the pod costume that they just don't "love" dressing up as much as we love doing it to them. So we did the cowboy/girl thing and it turned out perfectly. Tula had her little boots and buckle and of course her favorite cowboy hat, with a red western shirt and the tiniest Levi's jeans I have ever seen. Maverick wore a brown plaid western one piece with boots and a hat as well. He was sort of hunched over and sleeping in my arms (I just carried him around while we trick or treated) and everyone laughed that he looked like a drunken cowboy when they walked past us. Tula was too cute for words. No one walked by her without making some sort of a comment about her costume and of course how tiny she was. She marched out of the house on a mission and seemed to get the whole trick or treating thing right off the bat. I thought it was so strange how someone who had never tasted or even really seen candy before could be so excited to be getting so much of it. Her all-time favorite thing about the night was "knocking". She loved going up to people's doors and knocking and waiting for them to open it. In fact, there were few people who had lawnchairs in the front of their homes and just sat out front handing out candy, Tula still insisted that we walk up to their door and knock. She would point at the house and make that little fist with the knocking motion, how could we say no? She also loved handing out the candy when we got home. After she had knocked on a few doors, I guess she got it and knew why the kids were coming to ours so she would go with Grandma and help put the candies in the bags. It was funny, you could tell the kids were annoyed that this little baby was taking forever to give them one candy bar and there we were taking a million pictures and standing around watching her like it was the cutest thing ever. She was trying so hard though! Too cute!
Luckily, she had no idea what was in the bag or really any interest in what was in the wrappers. She liked taking all the candy from our bowl and filling her bag, and then going back and forth, putting them back in the bowl, but didn't try to eat anything so we left it at that! Tula celebrated her second Halloween and still no candy! Wonder if I will be able to get away with that one next year?
Grandpa and Grandma M came down from Scottsdale for the night, Auntie Jenelle, Tony and Auntie Tiff were all staying with us for the week from Calgary and joined in on the Halloween fun. Tula had an entourage. And between myself, Grandma, and her Aunties, it looked like she had the papparazzi following her too! Jen and Tony even dressed up as cows for Tula and Maverick....very cute, thanks guys! We had so much fun celebrating this holiday and sharing such a fun time with you all! Having you guys there was a treat!
A couple of pics from our fun night.
Luckily, she had no idea what was in the bag or really any interest in what was in the wrappers. She liked taking all the candy from our bowl and filling her bag, and then going back and forth, putting them back in the bowl, but didn't try to eat anything so we left it at that! Tula celebrated her second Halloween and still no candy! Wonder if I will be able to get away with that one next year?
Grandpa and Grandma M came down from Scottsdale for the night, Auntie Jenelle, Tony and Auntie Tiff were all staying with us for the week from Calgary and joined in on the Halloween fun. Tula had an entourage. And between myself, Grandma, and her Aunties, it looked like she had the papparazzi following her too! Jen and Tony even dressed up as cows for Tula and Maverick....very cute, thanks guys! We had so much fun celebrating this holiday and sharing such a fun time with you all! Having you guys there was a treat!
A couple of pics from our fun night.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)