Pigtails and Bacon

I was finally able to wrangle Perpetual Motion Toddler still long enough to put her hair into pigtails. Then, to distract her from immediately pulling them out, we went for a walk to visit the neighborhood cats and ducks.









And then Saturday morning we went for breakfast. I cringed when John let her steal his bacon, but she liked it so what could I really say at that point?

18 Month Check Up

We learned at your (infinitely long) doctor visit that, at 32.5" tall and 26.25lbs, you are in the 75% in height and weight, which I think is great considering how small you were at birth.

Here you are waiting for the pediatrician to come in.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Until finally he arrives.

Did you notice the time stamp on the above photo? No? Let me enlarge that for you:

FYI, our appointment was at 10:00am. Grrrrrr!

Moving on....

Brooklyn, at 18 months you are so much fun! You love to try to do things on your own. You run everywhere you go. You still enjoy putting things in the trash for me and daddy. You are an excellent mimic. You are so curious about everything. Your vocabulary is growing daily. You've figured out how to put my iPod on the Bose player so you can dance to Blues Traveler. You take very good care of your baby by sharing your gold fish crackers with her.



and taking her for rides on your scooter.

You LOVE Elmo. I mean L.O.V.E Elmo. Or Emmo as you call him. You love to say Doo Daa Doo Daa Doo Daa as we sing Camp Town Ladies. You think every semi truck or bus is a choo choo. Did I mention you love trains???

You have become kind of whiney and temper-tantrum-y when you don't get your way. You constantly want 'up' and I can't always hold you while I'm cooking or doing laundry, so when I tell you 'no' you gently lay stretched out on the floor and cry. You hit your head on the tile floor once during a tantrum and ever since then learned that easy-does-it. So I can't help but laugh as you ease on down to the floor and try your best to stay mad. Mine is your new favorite word. I know this stage will pass. And there are soooo many good things about you that these few unpleasant age-related things are easy to see beyond.

To end this post on a good note, I love how you ask to go night night when you are tired. I love how you snuggle your blankets in the morning. I love how you think that hiding your face makes the rest of you invisible. I love how much you giggle when you see the neighborhood cats. I love how you yell Daddy! and run to the door when he comes home.

Good, bad, happy, sad...you are so special to us. I love you with all my heart.

Viva Las Vegas.

My vacation was great. Here is a photo recap of all the merriment.


Tiffany picked me up at 5:00am in the pouring rain on Friday, so I was too tired to be sad that I didn't get to see Brooklyn and say goodbye before we left. Getting through OIA security was no problem at all...no naked scanners, no junk touching. It was the same experience as it has always been. Thank goodness. I love when you expect the worst but get the best.

The flight over was nice - got upgraded to business class for the first leg. Hello leg room!

I also took some pics of the grand canyon as we flew over. Yes, my camera lens...uh...ROCKS! (pssst, I have the best husband ever...he buys me lenses even when I don't ask for them or know that I even want them.)

We were met with champagne, roses and a stretch limo

to take us to the hotel. We traveled like the princesses we are!!!

Tiff and I saw a show (Le Reve)

toured the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop
(of Pawn Stars fame...no, we didn't see Chumlee. Dang it.)

gambled (I won some major loot!), got dressed up

ate some really good food at a french resturant in our hotel (Andre's) where I found the definition of yum....

Veal tenderloin with baked foie gras

and Grand Marnier souffle. Caution: This WILL make you slap yo momma.

some so-so food (In & Out Burger - I reeeeally don't get what all the fuss is about. It's a hamburger, people!):

El Diablo Cantina (where the margarita's make you silly!)

had some delightful cupcakes from The Cupcakery in our hotel:

We hung out with some of the natives:

and walked through many of the fancy hotels. Check out this chocolate fountain!?! For realz it starts up in the ceiling...

And these crazy cakes!

And we visited an ice bar aptly name Minus 5. (Get it? Minus 5 degrees is how frickin cold it was.)



MGM Grand stuck out to me as a potential vacation spot when I come back with my family. I mean really...who has a lion exhibit in the middle of their lobby? Only the cool people, that's who.



Speaking of cool people, I did miss John so badly. I want him to be a part of every fun and exciting thing I do. Of course I missed Brooklyn too. Thankfully John sent me many pictures and text updates of her to keep me from going crazy.

The flight home was Les Miserables. At this point in your vacation you are DONE with the anticipation and just want to be home. Not to mention AirTran seats feel like they are literally shrinking around you in flight.

Vacations are always a blast, but when I walked through the door of our apartment to John's waiting arms, I cried because I realized how deeply I missed my family. The arrangement of roses he had for me was icing on the cake.

PS I made a little promise to myself to never vacation without them again. After all, I didn't get married and have a family to go solo. In fact, I took today off to spend some time with my daughter.

Vegas Bound

So tomorrow is the big day and I'm finally getting excited about my vacation. Better late than never, right?

My friend and I have some fun things planned while we are in Vegas...a show, dinner at a fancy resturant, of course some gambling, maybe a visit to the local cupcake shop, a trip to the resort salon, a heli ride, and a crap-ton of Starbucks. Maybe we'll get really brave and ride the coaster on top of the Stratosphere. I've seen it on Discovery Channel and it looks like a pee-in-your-pants kind of ride. I'm game.

I'm taking my big camera and plan to see how the built in stabilizer stands up to the jittery hands of an over caffeinated photographer.

Jet lag? No bigs.

My biggest concern now is going through the 'naked' scanner at the airport. Nothing like having your privacy utterly violated right before a vacation. It's either that or have the junk-touching TSA goons get really friendly with your lady parts. Hmmm, let me see....I can have a dozen strangers SEE my body as I go through the scanner or I can have 2 strangers TOUCH my body. I prefer neither but guess the naked scanner is less offensive.

How to eat your first ever Oreo..

Step 1: Unscrew the lid and slobber all over the filling.



Step 2: Offer soggy cookie to mommy.



Step 3: Incredulous that she didn't want any, proceed to gobble it down, making sure to get gooey crumbs all over your face.

I need a vacation....or do I?

Either way, I'm taking one. My friend and I are going to Vegas to celebrate her birthday.

It's a girls-only trip so John and Bean are staying home. I do hate vacationing without my family. I can't help it...I'm addicted to them. Sue me! I don't mind the diapers and tantrums. I don't mind the snoring. I love it. It's part of who I am now.

And I'm sure I'll have fun when I get there but I am having a hard time getting excited about being without my husband and baby for four whole days.

I've never been away from Brooklyn over night. I'm woman enough to admit that my biggest fear is that I cry the whole flight out of town.

Be strong, be strong, be strong.

A Play Date with Markers (the washable kind)

I had a stroke of brilliance when I decided that her high chair tray was the perfect surface for test driving markers for the first time...the mess is contained to a small, not-the-walls-or-floors area and super snappy to clean.



Brooklyn, don't eat the markers. Are you eating the markers?

No.

18 Months

Tomorrow Brooklyn is exactly 1.5 years old. Wow. Did I just say that?

Let me think about this for a minute. I've been a mommy for 18 months. My feelings are similar to how I felt when I skied for the first time. There's that fraction of a second as you start down a ski slope where you are excited and confident and think Hey this was such a good idea and I'm going to have so much fun! The next fraction of a second is the Oh Crap moment when you realize the slide down the hill is much faster than you imagined and you don't really know what you are doing.

At that point it doesn't matter if you can or cannot ski - you ARE skiing and you can't turn back. The next fraction of a second is where you try to keep it together and look cool because your friends are watching and they are all excellent skiers. Then the next fraction of the second is where you decide to hunker down, enjoy the ride no matter how clumsy, enjoy the scenery despite your own girlish screams, and try not to die in the process. It's the scariest, most breath-taking ride I've ever been on but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Enough about me.

I thought it needful to post an update on Brooklyn.

Boom = broom in Brooklyn speak. She saw me sweeping and has been obsessed with the broom ever since. She wakes up in the morning asking and searching for it. Now anything with a long stick-like handle is a broom. Mops, paint rollers, walking cane...it's all a boom.



Buh-buh bum = Bumblebee...as in the bumblebee rider she got for Christmas AND LOVES.

Boon = balloon...as in, my kid goes bananas when she sees a boon in Publix. And she can spot them 30 yards away. I curse you, floral department!

At = Hat...



Ott = Hot...she sees me put my hand on her food to test the temp and now thinks that everything Ott means we put our hand on the food. That's not the message I was trying to convey.

An Sayah = Aunt Sarah. Brooklyn's Aunt Sarah wears scarves and so now in any store or anywhere that Brooklyn sees a scarf, she says An Sayah. Adorbs.

Ah Mee = Amen. She has started bowing her head when she hears us pray. Or at random times during the meal. Then she'll say "Ah Meee" over and over again because she sees that it makes us smile. I get such a kick out of this kid!

Bampa = Grandpa Art.

Appu = most fruit. Especially grapes. I don't know why.

Nana = Banana. Also Savanah, her friend from daycare.

Shosha = Joshua...one of her friends from daycare.

Brooklyn is still an excellent sleeper. She eats most things, loves her baby doll, has a quick temper, and loves to play hide and seek. She loves to ride in her wagon, to play outside, says "cheeeeee" whenever you point a camera at her, and will try anything as long as she sees mommy do it first. She is fearless, curious, independent, generous, affectionate and very social.

She makes me smile just thinking about her.

It's Been 7 Wonderful Years!

***** This post is written in retrospect. *****

We are celebrating our anniversary a few days early this year. Our potential buyers are coming down next week and hopefully we'll be signing a contract on our actual anniversary.



John cannot even half-way imagine how happy he makes me. He has no idea how much easier my life is with him in it. As I sit and try to put into words the whys of my love for him, I'm bombarded with memories of the 'things' he does. But it is so much more than things. It's who he is that makes him do the things he does.

Yes ladies, he is a dirty diaper changing pro. He cooks, he cleans, he fixes cars, computers, houses, gives awesome foot/back rubs, loves God, loves his momma, loves his daughter, puts me first in all things.

He'll watch a chick flick, picks up his own socks, and buy me oreos without them being on the shopping list. He is my calm, my funny, my adventure, the sunrise in my new day, my levy when the tide of life tries to overwhelm. He makes me laugh, makes me strong, makes me confident. He actually makes me more than I really am.

He may not be perfect (those are his words - not mine) but he's perfect FOR ME. And I thank God every day for putting him into my life and guiding my path so that John and I would meet, become friends, and later marry.

Okay, so enough of the mushy stuff.



How did we celebrate?

We left Bean with grandparents and spent the day in Orlando. The Gaylord Palms resort puts on a fabulous winter experience...ICE!



It's every scene of The Night Before Christmas carved out of....wait for it....ice!





It was incredible...one of those things you had to be there to see.





Then we enjoyed many of the Christmas events happening at the resort during the holidays. Had lunch at a fab Italian resturant and then later hot cocoa, and then even later we had some drinks in the Key West section of the resort.



It was a great day for the two of us to reconnect. I admit we did talk about the baby a little bit, but hey - we both love her to pieces so who can blame us. =)