happy halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Love,
A sweet little lamb on a serious sugar high (thank you daycare).

project 365: week 43

Sunday, October 23rd:

Lately BG is obsessed with being "outdide". Seriously, we hear that word over and over millions of times a day. This day we were running around in jammies all day since we were all sort of under the weather but BG had other plans. So she picked some clothes out and "outdide" we went.

Monday, October 24th:

I got the proof's back for BG's school pictures. Yep, we'll be ordering these. That smirk? Slays me.

Tuesday, October 25th:

I pulled out a basket for BG to make a "crib" for her Dolly. She wants to take it to bed with her now and then it goes off in the middle of the night, freaking us all out. I thought this was a better option. Til BG decided she'd sleep in that "crib" with Dolly.

Wednesday, October 26th:

The view around our house this week.

Thursday, October 27th:
Oops.

Friday, October 28th:

The little one wore her adorable Braylabee's creation to school on Friday. I thought long and hard about letting her wear it because I didn't want it messed up. But a cute outfit is supposed to be worn so she wore it. Of course she gave us quite the work out while getting her dressed...

Saturday, October 29th:

BG and I rode up to the pumpkin patch Saturday afternoon to look at the little "pumkins". She insisted on wearing her "pumkin" outfit again. Successful purchase.

my wish.

A few weeks ago, they sang a song in church that really, really got to me.

As the mother of a little girl, raising her to respect herself and be proud of being a daughter in Christ is HUGE to me. In this day and age, I can't even tell you how terrified I am to let her out of the house. Ever.

My wish for her, is that this song will be a model for her life. I highly recommend you listen to it. If you make it through without getting a bit choked up, I'll be shocked.

the most wonderful time of the year.

I pretty much cannot believe that it is time for Christmas cards again. Didn't we just do this?!?

But it is. Thank goodness for Shutterfly.

I've used Shutterfly for my cards for years. For Christmas, Halloween, BG's birth announcement; they're my old standby because I heart them.


I pretty much loved our card last year. How could I not with such an adorable subject?!

I just started looking at all the designs they have for this year and holy wow. Which one will I ever pick?!

While I'm over there, I really should work on BG's first year photo book. And you know, start her second year. Those photo books are amazing. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Bring it back home girl..

The good news? I have three codes for 25 FREE cards for three lucky readers. What do you need to do?

Simple, no hoops. Leave me a comment with what you are most looking forward to for the holiday season and that's it. I'll pick the winners on Tuesday the 1st.

sometimes i wish there was a manual...

I think I've mentioned that we really have been struggling in the sleep department here lately.

And if I haven't and you're dying to hear about it, well then follow me on Twitter because I know I've whined talked about it incessantly over there.

BG is an excellent sleeper. So when she's not? I cannot deal.

The last few nights she's been screaming her head off at bedtime. She doesn't want to go to bed and then when she does, she's not happy about it. Not only that, but she wakes up multiple times screaming at night. Once you go in there, she latches on like a spider monkey and will not let you put her down.

I mentioned this at her eighteen month appointment just two weeks as well as her tendency to pull on her ears and scream at getting her hair rinsed in the tub.

Everything looks fine my ped told us.

So no biggie. So why the screaming??

It's gotten worse in the past few days. So much so that at one point I yelled out "just let her scream! I've got to get some sleep" (yea, not proud but I was exhausted).I've spent a lot of time with her in the bed with me or sitting up sleeping so she can lay on my chest. It hasn't been ideal but at least it helped. Then yesterday, she woke up screaming her head off at four am.

I had a meeting that morning so I had to be up early but not that early. So I pulled her into bed with me. She wasn't having it. We tried to feed her; not having. Tried to get her dressed; not having it.

At this point, my Mama's intuition was kicking in. Something was not okay.

Mr. P made the remark about her having some "separation anxiety" but at this point I knew it wasn't that. We checked her temp. Normal.

While I got her dressed, she cried. She cried while I got her some milk. She wouldn't stop unless I was holding her to my chest.

I finally got her settled on the couch with her blankie, Wubbie and some cartoons. I hurriedly got dressed and made plans to go to my meeting and then leave early.

I left her at the front desk at school with the head teacher while I ran to the meeting (I would NEVER have left her if she had a fever or seemed contagious, but that was not the case. She just wasn't happy). I called to check on her as soon as it was over and they said she was just sitting by herself in a corner.

I knew something was up and flew to pick her up.

I made her a doctor appointment while I drove. I halfway thought I was overreacting. But I was out of ideas on what could be bothering her. I was stumped.

When I picked her up, she was a barrel of energy and greeted me with a big 'ol "Mommy!!". I was so confused. Where was my lethargic kid?

Well, she showed back up.

At the doctor, she sat in my lap and just looked around with those sad, sick eyes. How did I miss something?? What was going on with my kid??

A double ear infection. That's what.

As soon as the doctor told me how bad it was, my heart sunk. How had I missed this? How had I let her scream for over a week? How did I not know?!?

I felt like such a Mom fail as I walked out of there. But I just didn't know.

There were none of the "signs". She was checked two weeks ago and given a clean bill of health. She had no fever, wasn't pulling on her ears; how would I have known?

She slept all day yesterday. And just one day of meds later, she's feeling better. And we're all sleeping again. Thank goodness.

I'm licking my wounds over my horror at not knowing this. I know it happens. I just feel bad.

You know, they really should make a manual for these kids.

happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to our favorite uncle!!! We love you Uncle Marine!!!

paint and pumpkins oh my!

Last year we let the little one paint a pumpkin for the first time.

Well obviously it was her first time but it was also a first for the hubs and I.

The activity got rave reviews, so we pulled it out again this year.


Little priss wasn't sure about the paint on her fingers at first, but once she was okay with it; it was on.



After about five minutes, she was done. And I have the paint splatters on my kitchen counters to prove it.
Such a fun little activity. Although the little one has yet to let me take her picture with her work of art. Shy artist perhaps?

Or diva?

Yea. That.

little friends.

I've only said it three million times, but it bummed me out so, so much that we moved at a time when all my friends and I finally had kids all around the same age.

But... we did.

And it sucked. But then? We started making friends here and growing a life here and all of sudden; there's little friends again.

Yay!

Last month (whoa, behind much) we did head back down to Savannah for a birthday party of one of BG's little friends and it was a blast. Although BG and her bff, Kathryn, kind of did their own thing the whole time, we still managed to get the the three girls together for one picture.


BG and Kathryn spent most of the afternoon running around and playing. K is three months older than BG and it is so fun to see the dynamic. When BG is around K, K is a force to be reckoned with and my little one takes a backseat. She plays and all, but she's more quiet and reserved to K's full out rambunctioness.

Then there was Mac's party...

I've had the opportunity to get to know Anne pretty well since we've moved up and here and I am beyond thankful for her friendship. She is just so easy to be around which I love and any time we get to hang out, I find that hours have gone by in what felt like a minute.

It also helps that her Mac and BG get along.

So Mac's party. We had so much fun and I saw a total different side of BG. Where she had been reserved at Gabby's party, she was the opposite here. She was loud and crazy and ran around a bit like a chicken with her head cut off.

You know, a total doll.

I really think it was because she was just having such a good time.

With her pal Hudson

Such a good time in fact, that she didn't want to leave and made herself right at home with Mac's entire family. She does know how to work a crowd.

Thankfully the birthday boy was amazing and even went out of his way to let her play with all his new toys after he opened them.

A true Southern gentleman for sure.

I almost couldn't get BG to leave. I'm pretty sure she had decided to up and join Anne's family. At one point, Mac took off down the hall yelling "Mimi, Mimi!!" and BG took off copying him. And then for the next two days, she walked around looking for "Mimi!" no matter how many times I told her she didn't actually have a Mimi. That was fun.

You ready for her again Anne??

I am so thankful for these little friends of hers.

I'm also pretty darn thankful for their Mama's who are amazing friends to me.

project 365: week 42

Sunday, October 16th:

I wanted one decent picture of me not covered in spit up and what not. So after church, Mr. P and I attempted a "photo shoot" while the little one napped.

No bueno. This was the best I got. Nice sun flare over the boobage. I love him anyway.

Monday, October 17th:

How cute are these two? For real.

And how cute is BG's shirt?! Her bff, Kinley, has great taste. Thanks K!!

Tuesday, October 18th:

She watches tv in odd places..

Wednesday, October 19th:

Homegirl came out the other day wearing her Dad's hat and sunglasses that she found. She is an absolute riot.

Thursday, October 20th:

Crazy hair at the end of the day.

Friday, October 21st:

Baby Girl does this little chin jut smile when you ask her to "show me your smile". It is so, so funny.

Saturday, October 22nd:

We went to another pumpkin patch on Saturday (don't you worry, there will be a full recap) and I had to snap a picture (okay several) of my sweet girl in the corn maze. Afterwards I realized that we are way overdue for that first haircut milestone. Yikes.

i'm new at this.

Sometimes I forget that Baby Girl is just eighteen months old. She is so smart in some ways that I forget that she has only been on this planet for just over eighteen months. That's not a very long time.

She's new at everything.

Everything is new, everything is different, every day has a new first.

There are times when I look at her and cannot for the life of me figure out what I'm supposed to do. When she's screaming for what appears to be no reason, when she's throwing a tantrum or when she's asking for something in some language I don't understand.

I adore motherhood. No wait, I adore being a mother to Baby Girl. She's awesome. She's the coolest person ever. But I don't always know what I'm doing. Most of the time I don't actually.

But I'm figuring it out. We're figuring it out together.

We're new at this. We'll get it eventually.

number 2

I am obsessed with thoughts of number two. I cannot tell a lie.

I am talking about the second child y'all. I hope we're all on the same page.

Back when I was pregnant with BG, there were a number of pregnant bloggers with me (hi y'all!!), as well as a few coworkers and some dear friends. It was a total blast to go through pregnancy with all of them.

Now most of them are on number two and let me admit; I am so not there yet.

Truth?

I'm not sure I ever will be.

I think about having a second child daily, if not multiple times a day. When I pack up clothes that BG has outgrown, I put them aside for the "next one". I haven't gotten rid of baby gear and I sometimes plan out nurseries in my head.

But....

I am not one hundred percent sure that I ever see a second kid in our lives.

Amy posted a blog today that really got me thinking. In the video on her blog, a lady was basically saying how her first child was her favorite and in a way, she felt her second kid took away from her first. While I personally think that lady is crazy cakes, I also get it.

I do think there's something special about a first child. There's so much anticipation and the focus is all on that pregnancy. More than likely there are multiple showers and tons of new clothes. Not so much with the second one. So I guess actually, the first pregnancy is what is so special.

Do I make sense?

At this point in my life, I can't even imagine dividing attention between two children. Does that make me a bad parent? No. Does that make Moms with multiple children better mothers? Absolutely not.

I think if that mother in that video had given as much thought to number two that I do, perhaps she wouldn't be on Anderson Cooper talking about her preference for the first one. I just hope that second kid never sees that video.

As of right now, I am perfectly content with BG. And just BG. I want her to have the world and currently, I have no desire to have to divide between two (or more) kids. I heard of a friend with an IUD that ended up pregnant (scary!) and I panicked thinking "oh gosh what if that were me?!?". If that doesn't say I'm not ready for number two, then I don't know what does.

Am I dead set on never having another? No. If I were, I'd get rid of the baby stuff. I want BG to have a sibling one day. I think. See, so not ready. Will it be disastrous if we don't have another one? No.

Currently this little dynamic of three that we have going on is my idea of perfection. I cannot see it changing. I can't even imagine another kiddo in the mix. Only the Big Man upstairs knows if that will change. But right now, I can say that she's my favorite. For now.

(almost) wordless wednesday

**This picture was a complete oops, but for some reason I love it. She just makes me smile.**

pumpkin patch 2011

Last weekend (I think), Mr.P and I decided to take BG out to a local pumpkin patch for the day. Last year was her first visit and we had a total blast, so I had high hopes for this year.

I was not disappointed.

We somehow managed to pick "Clemson Day" to show up so the tiger was running around taking pictures with the kids. Of course we had to get BG's. Nevermind the fact that she is not a fan of costumes.


Unfortunately because of the lack of rain this year, the corn maze is barely a foot tall and a total bummer. But they had these "mini mazes" set up that the kids could go through. Of course my child ran around like a total crazy person in there. She was pretty proud of herself.




Seriously? That smile slays me.

The petting zoo was a bit lacking (as in "no petting"), but BG did like getting to check out the brand new baby pigs.


We met up with Tiff and her family for the hay ride and pumpkin patch. The kids had an absolute blast picking out pumpkins. I'm so glad to have a little playmate here in town for BG. She just loves Timothy!

It didn't take long for BG to pick out her very own pumpkin.


Such precious kiddos.




She wanted to hold his hand on the walk back to the farm.


They had so many fun activities there for the kids. BG and I found this monster slide that we have course had to go down. She wasn't sure about it until we got back down to the bottom. Then she couldn't stop laughing!

BG and I rode the cow train again this year. As we waited for it to start up, she started to get a bit upset. But the minute it started, she couldn't stop giggling. She laughed, she carried on, she waved. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Not so cute? The tantrum she threw when it was over. We let her ride it one more time and the lady driving let us sit up front. BG absolutely loved it!

Quite a difference huh?

After her second ride, it was time to call it a day. We had such a good time (as evidenced by the eight million pictures I took!). She is at such a fun age where her enjoyment of things is so fun to watch. She just gets so excited and it's hard not to have fun with her. I think before the Fall is up, we'll definitely be taking another trip out to the pumpkin patch.