big steps towards two

She's putting words together.

Heard from Lizzy's mouth this past week:

no meep (milk)
hi mama
bah bye mama
bah-bye buh-boh (bubble)--a favorite while washing her hands
hi (enter word here)--that's whatever she sees & can say, like bee, kitty, baby, etc. (not everything, but I have a feeling that's going to change)
bye (enter word here)--she said "bye house" yesterday as we left for the park. so very cute.

and a new one this morning: cay-wee...(pause) mee (carry me)--awwww, so cute.

We've been potty training too, and she did a little (1 tsp or so) yesterday. yay.
It's a painful process at times, so 1 tsp is well worth getting excited over.

I'm such a mom huh?
It's challenging, but I'm enjoying the ride.
But 45 min in the bathroom just to get 1 tsp of pee! I just gotta laugh. and of course celebrate the small stuff.

little yellow balls

This morning at breakfast Lizzy thought it would be fun to put Kix cereal up her nose. I guess they smell better than they taste. Or so she thought.

Kix is ball-shaped, slightly larger than a pea. And yes, her sweet-smelling cereal got stuck up there.

I didn't see her do it. But I wondered at how she kept pointing at her nose and saying "kix. kix." It wasn't until she was digging deep in her nostil and saying "help" that I notice the little yellow offender lodged snugly within.

Nice! Now how to get that out? Tweezers crossed my mind, but...yeah right.

Granted, Kix softens when wet, but it was definitely stuck. She can't exactly blow her nose, and she thought it was way funny when mommy was trying to teach her to do so.

Eventually she sneezed and a virtual eruption of yellow goo and snot spewed forth. There were not one, but two kix balls up there!

I would so love to know what she was thinking.
For mommy, if not so scary it would have been hilarious.
But we're laughing now.

Oh yeah, and no more kix. at least for a while. Mommy must recover.

Down wi' Diaper Duty

I just cleaned up the worst diaper duty. O. M. G. (Sorry future Lizzie if you're reading this) But I simply must ask: What goes on in her little body to produce such a huge mess?

In this case, the poor little Dora pull-up diaper didn't have a chance. As for her pants: to clean or not to clean, that is the question.

She even did the walk. You know what I'm talking about. Where the poopy kid walks on tip-toe with feet wide apart in a futile attempt to escape the load in his/her pants. Yeah, that one. (future Lizzie: breathe. I didn't capture a vid for youtube. that's right, deep breaths, one, two...)

OK, so it's not like she's an adventurous eater. She IS a toddler.
Recent staple items include:

• yogurt
• cheese
• bread
• corn
• peas
• cereal: kix, cheerios, rice crispies
• oatmeal
• pb&j
• and of course: any and all fruit

No, we're not vegetarians.

Actually, I have to limit her fruit b/c of this very messy reason. So she didn't OD on fruit in the last couple days, at least not that I'm aware.

I'm not one of those moms who busts out the wipes every time Lizzy touches something, so maybe she caught a bug?

Glad I could share this lovely experience with you. I feel so much better now.

Have Birds, Will Sleep

Thanks Heather and Belle-ah for your encouraging words. I know geniune friends take time, but does it have to take so long? (grin) Actually, I'm more disappointed with my mother's group in that I haven't met anyone who's willing to take the time to make new friends. I thought there'd be more SAHMs in the group who were ready for that. I'm happy that Lizzy and I have met a few great ladies just by going to parks and taking classes.

Speaking of classes, our Kindermusic class ended and I'm now considering getting her into a tumbling class. She just loves climbing and tumbling (sommersaults are a fave), so I thought it would be a good way to expend some energy. However, I'm a bit concerned about her climbing everything at home from sofas to cat condos to Lord knows what. Anyone have experience in this area?

Speaking of climbing...Lizzy's now in a big girl bed.

After months of wondering "will she climb out of the crib and break her neck" and "how many times will she fall out of her rail-less crib tonight" (night before last it was 3...that we know of at least), we finally said enough's enough and set her up in a twin bed. She absolutely loves it.



Of course, she can't sleep without the birds (see pic), so we hooked 'em up to her bed side rails. It's so ghetto, but they still work and she still sleeps. Everyone's happy!


This morning at breakfast she actually claimed to want to take a nap. You heard it right folks, the gal who refuses to nap actually requested one this morning. I thought I was going to fall over from shock. Of course, this afternoon when it actually was naptime, she didn't go so willingly, but we're dealing with a (nearly) 2yo here. She's not exactly reasonable, people.

I am so proud of her though. It's got to be hard to give up the comfort and familiarity of her old bed, but she's a trooper. The new bed's got more jump power, which certainly helps.

She's growing up too quickly.

As I disassembled her crib last night, I couldn't help but hope to be putting it back together soon, for our next little one. Maybe later this year, but I guess we'll just have to see what God has in store for us.

That's all for now. I've got to get off my tushie and move some muscle before the angel awakens from her blissful nap.

Oh dear...she's crying already. I typed too soon.
It's true. A mom's work is never done.

Is it me?

I haven't been to any of my mother's group functions lately. No playgroups, no outings, no meetings, etc. I haven't even really talked with any of them lately. And no one has called me either. It's weird. The group claims to be supportive, but they seem to be more clique-ish and gossip mongers. If a previously active group member (for any group) just suddenly stopped attending, wouldn't you (or someone) call and see what's up? You know, check to see if she's alive at least?

Maybe that's just what I would do.

I'm realizing that the group is bigger in theory than in practice. It's a shame. I haven't totally given up on them, but I'm not really sure if I care anymore. I have met some wonderful mothers while at the park with Lizzy. It's fun to just go and see who's there and who you'll meet--no structure, just random socializing. Interestingly, we go to parks nearly everyday and have only very rarely run into another mother from my group. What do these mothers do all day long couped up in the house? I would go crazy and so would Lizzy.

Don't get me wrong, the ladies in my current group are basically nice, but so very few are truly friendly and receptive. What also bugs me is that the president is one of those "queen bee" types that has to be loud and the center of attention at all times. At my first mom's night out she sat right across from me and spent the majority of the evening talking over everyone and trying to carry on conversations with moms clear across the room. I couldn't help but instantly be annoyed with her. Not my best attribute, admittedly, but so be it.

Ideally, I'd like to connect with a playgroup that's associated with a good church. At least we'd have the common thread of faith between us and could possibly grow from each other that way.

I don't know. I'm idealistic. Maybe that's another bad attribute.
But so be it.

I just want to make new friends with other moms in the community. Why does that seem to take so long? Are people too busy? too introverted? too selfish? too.....gosh, I don't know. What's up with people these days? What am I doing wrong? Is it me?

New Year, New Family

10 days into 2007 and I've been MIA for over a month! oops.

Lemme sum up--It was a good holiday, but our Christmas was rife with sickness. Yes, mommy had a nasty, stuffy ol' cold and so we had to cancel our xmas eve dinner as well as other fun holiday stuff. I think it is the only holiday in which I spent most of it at home, indoors. Nice, in a way, if only I didn't have to keep a kleenex box by my side at all times. (my poor nose) Anyway, I'm over it & glad to be healthy again. And at least I didn't spread it to anyone. Of course, my sniffly self DID go shopping in the last rush for presents, so some poor soul out there probably touched my germs on a shopping cart or keypad. double oops.

If you are that unlucky person, I am so very sorry. You have permission to sneeze on me.

In happier news, I became an aunt for the second time to a little boy, Nathan. Welcome to the world, little guy! Isn't he cute?

I also became a mommy to a new phone. Also very cute, and no diapers! Not great for cuddling or cooing though. Motorola better get right on that. Isn't it girly in all it's raspberry pinkness! awwwwww.....

I used to hate pink girly things. Only recently has pink creeped its way into my preference. Could it be Lizzy's neverending show of pink clothes, pink toys, pink dolls, pink EVERYTHING that has subliminally swayed me? hmmm, big question for a random wednesday afternoon. I'll leave the pink ponderance to my shrink. If had a shrink, that is. Suffice to say that pink makes me feel happy and girly. Two pretty cool things to get from just a color.

Now if I could just get it to make me feel like doing dishes or diapers, we'd be set.