Reflection on a Sunday afternoon

Come Friday of next week, my little girl will be 20 months old. I've stopped telling people the month age and have been saying that she's a year and a half. In the first year of her life, her age
was measured by months and now I'm going by halves and years. Ive always found it a bit ridiculous when people would say 24 months or 36 months. It's 2 & 3 for crying out loud!

I didn't realize til now how close she is to turning two. TWO! Where did the last 20 months go?! Becoming a parent is truly one of the most exciting, rewarding, difficult and happiest thing in my life thus far. I don't think anything can top this one off. I look at her and see how much she has changed. She walks, talks and does all these silly little things that melts my heart.

{this is her "say cheese" face}

She asked for help earlier this morning when her foot got caught while walking around in one of my maternity shirts that she had put on all by herself. She says thank you and please. She goes to the pantry and looks for a "nack" every night after dinner. She makes up her own songs with the words mommy and momma in it all the while dancing and clapping at the same time. She runs as fast as she can towards me when she sees me walk into her classroom at day care.

{enjoying an afternoon "nack" of nectarine}

I wonder what's next for her. She's one lovable and strong willed toddler now. She knows what she wants and will try her hardest to make sure she gets it. She is the light of my life and the best present I have ever received!

{her dress - my maternity shirt}

Please escuse the awsome quality of the pictures. These are all from my iPhone.

The most hectic day of the year

Ha! Just kidding. It was hectic but also the most wonderful day of the year. We decided last minute that we were going home to Richmond to spend (more
like visit) our families for Christmas. The snow storm didn't help because we did not want to get stuck in Richmond with J having to work the following Monday. We were supposed to spend the night but nixed that plan after we got down there.

The day started with us opening presents at home and having breakfast. Santa came and dropped off wonderful presents for the little one - a play kitchen and a new baby with a stroller. We also got her some flashcards, a shape sorter and a shopping cart. J has always been a great gift-giver and I received a new wallet and two pairs of TOMS shoes. J got a new watch, Home Alone 2 and Decoded book by Jay-Z.





We all got dressed and headed south after playing with Kayla's new toys. Her new baby sat with her on our drive home. Our first stop was at J's grandpa followed by lunch at my mom's. We then headed west and visited my mother in-law who hadn't seen Kayla since we moved. It was the when the snow started falling by the time we left her place the snow was coming down harder. After that visit, it was over to J's uncle and aunt's where his cousins were. We played with them and they took tons of pictures. We then all drove east to my father in-law's house and this was when the snow was really starting to cover the ground mixed with a bit of rain. We knew that the last stop would have to be quick so that we can get back home at a decent hour and get on the road before it got too messy.

It was almost 8 by the time we got home. There was no food in the fridge or pantry for a decent Christmas dinner since we didn't plan on being home that evening. But thank goodness for an Ihop around the corner we all had a fairly decent meal followed by lots of snuggling. We woke up the next morning to a very white day after Christmas!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thankful!

There is so much that I am thankful for this year and I can't help but feel so lucky for everything in my life.

• for my wonderful husband who provides for our family and who loves me and Kayla so much!
• for my healthy and beautiful daughter who makes me smile on a daily basis.
• for my mother who loves me and my own family unconditionally.
• for wonderful friends.
• for the job and steady income that I have.
• for Kayla's day care who takes care of her while we are at work.
• for my iPhone and iPad.
• for Starbucks and Coke. Ha!

Fun Checks

I can't even remember the last time I wrote a check. I haven't had a checkbook in years! Every place imaginable to mankind takes plastic or cash so why have a checkbook, right? Until recently, not having a checkbook was fine with me. But I guess not every place takes plastic. I go to the bank/ATM every Friday to pull money out for Kayla's day care (who does not accept plastic!!!). It got pretty old quick. Banks are awful on Fridays!

So I searched all over the internet to find the cheapest place to get checks made. I was not about to pay my bank a ridiculous amount of money for this. Thanks to Walmart Checks (who even knew they did this?!) I was able to order super cute preppy checks for less than $10. That's a steal in my opinion. Now paying for day care every Friday won't hurt as bad since I'll be writing on my pretty checkbook :)

Almost 4 nights into the week and still no take-out!

I am counting from Sunday here. I don't even want to know how much money we spend on eating out, take out and then add on my weekly grocery bill to that. It's a bit insane that I grocery shop almost every week and yet we still eat out! Madness, I tell you!

But I am trying to domesticate myself a bit more and feed my family a home-cooked meal every evening. Somewhere between giving birth to now - the cooking woman in me disappeared. I used to love cooking. I was all about it. I enjoyed the time spent in the kitchen. It gets a bit hectic from the hours of 5 and 630pm. Cooking a meal after work just seems too much some days. Kayla's been at day care all day and all we want to do is hang out and play.

This past Saturday my mom came to visit and I was able to grocery shop alone and cook dinner before J got home from work. In fact, food was done and waiting for him. I decided to make Pioneer Woman's spaghetti & meat balls. I just love her website and plan on getting her cookbook. Everyone loved the meal. I think the best compliment came from J - he said it tasted just like what you would get from a restaurant who makes their food from scratch. Kayla loved it, too and my mom even took some home with her. It was so good we had leftovers for dinner on Sunday.

I have already started looking into what I'm cooking for Thanksgiving and I even have a plan for the leftover turkey. It's just the 3 of us but I am off this year for the first time in 4 years! I am spending the day at home with Kayla - watch the parade on TV and louge and then cook a feast for our little family!

Christmas Cards

I remember getting so excited last year that I can finally send Christmas cards with our family's picture on it. But the combination of working full time and being a new mom to a 4 month old baby kinda took over my life. I couldn't keep up with an infant then but running around a toddler now is no joke. But I am determined! I looked early on for a photographer in our new town to make sure that I can schedule a session. Of course it took me till the beginning of October to actually book a session but at least we have/ had one.

I was so excited for this session and of course come the day of, J couldn't get off work early. Go figure! But we were able to reschedule for another day and my hopes for the perfect family Christmas card is still alive.

This past couple of weeks have been spent online looking for the perfect card. There are just way too many vendors and hundreds of designs out there that it's a bit hard to choose. Thanks to my Google Reader and blog-reading addiction I came across this awesome promotion by Shutterfly!

This helped me narrow down the search and who can really turn down free stuff right?! I have used Shutterfly numerous times for prints - it is super convenient because I don't have to go anywhere to pick up the prints and the quality is always good. Not only that but everything is delivered right to my front door. Shutterly also offers personalized mugs and photo wall art. I think this will make perfect presents to grandparents who can't get enough of their grandkids!

Now I have to decide which card to order.

15 months. one week late.

I am a week behind on this. Kayla turned 15 months last Monday. I came in to work that day then realized that it was my baby's 15th month birthday. It really bothers J that Kayla has a birthday every month. Haha! It's not like I go out and get her a present every month nor do I get her a cake. What scares me though is that I might be that mom who does the month age thing - 18 months instead of a year and a half - 24 months instead of two years old. That mom. I really hope not. I'm sure once she's a year and a half that the month thing will be done.

So what has Kayla been up to lately? She has her own language and is not really a fan of using her words. She likes to point at things that she wants. She attempts to say shoes all the time but it sound more like "shish". It's so adorable. She also tries to put on her shoes, too. I have a feeling that this girl is going to love shoes. She tries to jump when I say jump only her feet do not lift off the floor - she swings her arms and tried to jump though. She knows her body parts - head, eyes, nose, belly, and legs.

She eats really well. She loves the standard Cheerios and Goldfish. She loves cheese and pasta just like her daddy. She adores anything potatoes as long as they are fried. She loves broccoli! Loves!!! And she can't get enough of tuna salad. Two servings at school kind of can't get enough.

I think that she is going through a bit of separation anxiety. It doesn't matter if I'm dropping her off at day care or if I'm leaving for work and she's staying home with J. It's always filled with tears. I really hope that this passes soon. I want to be able to walk away from her feeling good that she'll be okay although I know that she eventually stops crying.

I'm afraid to even say it, but I think that we are seeing early signs of the dreaded terrible 2's. This little girl is very strong-willed and opinionated. She has outbursts when she doesn't get things her way. She would flail and fall on the floor in fits and in tears. Sometimes we just laugh 'cause it's a bit dramatic but there are days when she just can't let things go.

All in all, it's been a fun ride so far. Kayla keeps us on her toes. She brings us so much joy and gives us something to look forward to everyday. I can only imagine what the next 15 months will bring!