New Skills

For a long time now

I have felt that Miss L

was so content with her life

that she was choosing

to not learn any new, normal baby skills.

For months now

I have said

she is an 8 month old

trapped in a 4 month old body,

then

she is a 9 month old

trapped in a 4 month old body

then

she is a 10 month old,

you get it.

I kept saying that because

she had no teeth,

she didn't roll over

(at one point she learned how to roll

from her tummy to back,

but then she forgot)

she didn't crawl,

she didn't scoot,

she couldn't sit up from laying down

or pull up on anything.

You see why I kept calling her

a 4 month old?

Add in the fact

that she just barely

grew out of her 3-6 mos clothes,

and she could have passed for younger.

Well, this week she has advanced!

For the last several weeks

She has been working on

rolling

from her back to tummy.

And she got her first tooth in,

it only took 11 months.

But she's also

FINALLY

learned to sit up on her own.

I didn't realize it

until one morning

when the babe

was supposed to be

sleeping

but I kept hearing

these scratching noises

coming from her room.

I went in

to discover this.

Her love and admiration for

the wall.

Not only was she sitting up

but she was trying to pull up

on the railing.

Apparently,

she's tired of not being

her age.

Let's just say we went

from the bed in the highest position

to the lowest position

that day.

Seriously,

we didn't lower her bed

until she was 11 months old.

I hadn't thought

how weird that was

until now.

Camera trained

Babies are a lot like puppies

As parents we get to have fun

training them to do things

that we find amusing.

Some people train their kids to dance

to specific songs,

(I know few ESPN lovers

who haven't sung that song to their kids)

others to sing,

some to make funny faces,

the list goes on.

Well, some where

at some time

we have trained the baby

to smile

whenever she sees our camera.

Seriously,

She hit her mouth

on the filing in cabinet

and began to cry.

I lifted up the camera,

and she did this.

Don't you love these eyes?

Heaven knows I do.

Her Mother's Daughter

For anyone who has asked me

"What is your favorite food?"

You will know the answer is

potatoes

in any form.

I decided long ago that potatoes

were the perfect food.

They can be boiled,

mashed

fried,

once baked,

twice baked,

au gratin,

or funeral.

They go with a variety of toppings

from simple butter or ketchup

to smothered in sour cream, cheese and bacon

(as a side note,

doesn't everything taste great

smothered in cheese and bacon?)

Frequently when dining out

I will order a salad with a side of fries

or a side of veggies and a side of fries

or the cheese fries with a side of veggies

are you seeing a pattern?

Much of what I order

revolves around the side I get.

Well, we recently went to McDonald's

Where my friends lovingly gave Miss L

some french fries.

And did she love them like her mom?

You tell me...

Yup, that fry dangled there

being gnawed on

for 20 minutes.

She never even needed to touch it.

That mouth was not letting go

of that greasy, salty

goodness.

Big Helper

Every morning G Man wakes up early

it's inevitable.

He is old enough

and now independent enough

to get himself dressed,

play for awhile

and if hungry, find a snack.

On New Year's Day

Miss L woke up

in my opinion,

too early as well.

The bummer,

she is neither old enough or independent enough

to even get herself out of bed.

Enter my awesome three year old.

He went into her room

to entertain her

until The Man or myself

could get our behinds out of bed.

(For the record it was The Man

who ended up getting out of bed.

Because he loves me.

Oh how I miss him)

This is what the man walked into.

Happy New Year,

a little late.

Flowers

This post is mostly for the Man.

He had to hear about the saga

that was me

planting 150 flowers

and mulching our flower beds.

So he wanted to see the finished product.

I told him

planting 150 flowers sounds way cooler

than it actually looks.

At least when those flowers

are divided

between 4 good sized flower beds.

Alas,

here is the finished product

and I am quite pleased

with myself.

Surprise Pictures

First you need some history

The Man's birthday was Christmas

It was a sad birthday this year.

It should have been awesome

because he was celebrating the big

3-0

but...

I had to get my house on the market,

get him moved in 2 weeks,

and mentally prepare myself for single parenthood.

I felt like I was in survival mode.

Well, I didn't want him to feel neglected so...

I came up with a plan.

For the first 30th day

(December 30th)

of his 30th year,

he was going to receive 30 of something.

Now what should that something be?

Again, he was leaving us

for who knows how long,

so how about 30 pictures

of his three favorite people?

I came up with this plan on Christmas Eve,

6 days before the 30th.

I called my friend and photographer

Stephanie

and made an earnest plea.

Please take and edit our pictures in 5 days

so I can implement my plan!

And guess what?

She did.

Isn't she awesome?

This is probably my favorite shot of the whole day.

It captures my kids.

I also like this one.

Little Guy

is trying to make

Miss L

smile.

What a sweet heart.

Me and my little guy.

I don't get many of the two of us.

The ladies of the house.

I think we're pretty darn cute.

We miss you Man!

Can't wait to see you.

We love the zoo

We especially love

that we could go

on New Year's Eve

in short sleeves.

Crazy!