A little lady and a bug.

I love technology. It is sad to admit, but I would be lost with out my phone and laptop. I have learned so many awesome things with the help of my trusty iPhone. However, it is nice to be reminded what life was like without this crazy gadgets and gizmos that I have grown to love.

For instance, I was attempting to check my school e-mail, when all of a sudden I heard my one and a half year old start laughing like a crazy lady. I looked up to find her squatting in the kitchen looking at her hand. 

She then got up stuck her hand out, yelled,"Cool, Mama", and ran over to me.

When she got over to me I quickly noticed what she was so excited about. She found a lady bug.

When the lady bug started to crawl up her arm she squealed with delight! "Wooooooowwwwww!" and "Cooooollll!" were the only words she could say as we watched that little lady bug crawl around on the two of us.

We probably played with that darling little lady bug for a solid ten minutes before she fell and quickly flew away. It was a wonderful reminder that nature is the worlds best entertainment.

I don't think that there is any app or television show that could have amazed my little chick more than that lady bug. And it made me so very excited for the weather to warm up so that we can actually spend time outside. 

I was so busy watching her watch that darn lady bug that it never even crossed my mind to pull out my phone and capture my little Sadie and her "a-dee bug". I guess somethings are just too special to photograph!

The {Little} Bitty Mermaid

My child is obsessed with water. She is often found splashing in Daisy May's water dish. I have caught her splashing in the toilet. And she comes running into her bathroom like wild women when she hears water running in her tub.

After doing some research I signed her up for swim lessons almost a month ago. Yesterday was her first session!

She is the oldest (20 months) of the three kiddos in her class. And she was not a happy camper when we had to take a shower before entering the pool. After screaming "Nooo" 5,000 times during the shower process, we got in the pool.

I kind of expected her to freak out (she was being quite the drama queen before we left the house). AND she never been in a big pool before, just her little 3x3 kiddie pool.

The instructor, Miss B, became her bestie right away. Everything was "Woooowwwww, coooollll" or "Weeeeee". Her favorite thing about swim class was when we threw a rubber duck and she had to "swim" to get it. We sang cheesy songs like "This is the way we wash our hair, here at the YMCA" while splashing water on our children.

After swim class, we got some lunch and made our way home. Little bitty got a bath and then she took a three and a half hour nap! Hallelujah! That hasn't happened in a long time!

I can honestly say that I never thought that I would be one of "those" parents that have their one and a half year old in any type of lessons. But when you have been stuck in the house for this long, due to winter weather, you will do anything to get out of the house for an hour or two! Haha!

I am looking forward to next Tuesday! Hopefully we learn some fun new things in class. And make some new friends. I am just looking forward to warmer weather. Then we can bug the Daddy-man to put up our real pool that way my little mermaid can work on her newly acquired swim skills.

Tiny Crafter

Sadie has turned into quite the little "helper" over the past couple of months. She now is the proud owner of a toddler sized broom and dust pan (which she uses often). She also has her own mini squirt bottle filled with water to she can "help" momma clean.

Her newest obsession is sitting up on the counter while I cook. She is not a happy camper if she does not get to participate in some way or another.

After much consideration I finally broke down and decided to let her try and do something in the arts and crafts department. Girlfriend loves to color, draw on her Magna Doodle, and get wild on the chalkboard wall.

Since she loves drawing and doodling so much I figured that we would give painting a try. We went out and purchased her first set of paint. I opted for Crayola brand washable paint for kids since I wasn't sure what she was going to try and paint. I have heard plenty of crazy stories about children painting walls and furniture!

The little painter's studio.

This afternoon I  taped down two large sheets of paper off of our giant roll (shout out to my father-in-law for having paper connections) and got my stock pile of toilet paper tubes that I have been hoarding (I  saw a post on Facebook where someone had taken toilet paper tubes and bent them to look like adorable little hearts and used them to paint). After making our hearts I got my little lady dressed in her painting shirt and let her go to town.

Toilet paper tube heats.

Sizing up the work space

She was very cautious at first, but once I did a little demonstration she caught on quickly. Making little hearts kept her occupied for a few minutes. That is when things started to get messy!

Painting away.

The hearts actually turned out to be really cute!

This is when things got wild (don't mind my giant feet in the corner).

Little bitty decided to paint her knees and then she made sure to paint my right arm. The painting operation got shut down promptly after she started to try and paint the wall and closet door. After a quick bath and tossing the paper from the floor the house was back the way it was earlier.

She didn't get nearly as messy as I thought.

I would say that it was a successful first attempt at letting my 19 month craft. Everyone had fun and we have some fun "Sadie Art" to help us remember the memories that were made on our kitchen floor on a Friday afternoon. I can wait for the weather to warm up so she can paint on the deck and not inside where all of the "pretties" live.

Fresh Powder

At 7AM I sleepily peeked outside and I couldn't help but let out a squeal of delight. It snowed over night. And it was still coming down at a nice and steady pace. Most people that I know cringed when they saw the snow this morning. But not me! I L-O-V-E snow. Winter is my favorite season. I can only hope that little miss Sadie loves it as much as her Daddy-man and I do!

The first big snow usually causes people to panic when they get out on the roads. And this year was no different. It took Sadie and I a good forty minutes to drive to our local Meijer to load up on diapers (they were on sale and I had mperks rewards cash that was burning a hole in my pocket). On a normal day it would take up to 15 minutes (at the most) to make the trip. We attempted to take the highway until traffic came to a stop. After patiently waiting for a few minutes we pulled a u-turn and hit the back roads.

I am obsessed with Sadie's little foot prints!

After our adventure to the store we made it back home and decided that we should probably go play in the snow. Getting Sadie bundled up in her snow clothes did not take as long as I thought it would! Once she was dressed I couldn't help but laugh at her. She looked like she couldn't move. It reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story.

Last winter was fabulous! We got slammed with snow. There were several different occasions where basically everything was shut down due to the weather. It was AWESOME!! However, Sadie was only 6 months old so she didn't get to enjoy as much as we did. So today she got to have her first real encounter with snow.

When I put her down she was very cautious. She insisted upon holding my hand for the first few minutes. After she got comfortable she was off to explore. She had a blast. She thought it was the best when she would stop and fall down face first into the snow. We didn't stay out too long though. Her gloves were soaked after about ten minutes. We are hoping to go back out once the Daddy-man gets home. Our fingers are crossed that it snows a ton more over the next few days!

Feeling O-L-D

I have come to the conclusion that I am old. In less than two months I will be 26. I know, I know, that is not really old but I sure feel like I am an old lady.  The other night my husband and I were watching TV and a commercial for the AMA's came on. When it was over he looked over at me and said,"I have no clue who any of those musicians are....". Then I began to laugh because I was just thinking the same thing. 

Since I have been feeling like time has started to fly by I looked through some storage containers of old photos that have made there way into our extra bedroom. And looking at them made me laugh (and still feel old). 

After look through those photos I hopped on Facebook only to find a notification that my baby cousin Emily turned 21 today. I am willing to admit that I am in denial that she is 21. I feel like she was just born!

You see, when I was 4 my Aunt Shelly (my moms youngest sister, and Em's mom) babysat me while my mom worked. My mom would drop me off at my Aunt Shelly's and my cousin Erica (I am only a few weeks older than her) and I would hang out in our jammies until it was time to get ready for school. My very pregnant Aunt would then takes us to pre-school at the church that was only two blocks away from her house. 

After school was over we would make the short walk back to her house.  Eat lunch and then we were spend the afternoon playing and causing trouble. I remember one day we were being really REALLY naughty and my Aunt Shell told us if we kept it up the nuns were gonna come take us away and spank us with rulers. Another day I ate too many pudding cups during snack time at school. She picked Erica and I up from school and we went to Big Lots. On the way to the store I puked pudding all over her back seat. She deserves an award for dealing with two crazies while being pregnant.

When Em was born our attention turned to her, rather than playing. I remember her not wanting to sleep/nap when she was really little. My Aunt tried everything to get that girl to go to sleep. Then one day we discovered that she would fall asleep if the song "Hero", by Mariah Carey was playing. You can bet we played that song a thousand times. When she was old enough to eat solid food, Erica and I realized that she would make funny faces when she was eating. We took it upon ourselves to feed Em onions, the faces she made were hilarious!

When she got older some one made up a story about her having a twin sister that lived in the basement, her name was Eleanor. Whenever we would hear weird sounds coming from the basement we would always blame it on ol' Eleanor. It seems like just yesterday Em (and Eleanor) were born. So, in honor of little Em's birthday here are some lovely photo's that I found during my "old lady" pity party.

Erica, Em, and I on Halloween. 

 

 

 

Me, Amber, Erica, and Em (in front). This before my brother graduated HS in 1999.

Erica, Me holding Shane, and Em. This is from 2001, shortly after I finally was allowed to get a puppy.

Em and I. Judging by my shirt, this is from 2003.

Me, Aunt Shell, Erica, and Em at my 16th Birthday party. It blows my mind that this was almost 10 years ago (and Scottie 2 Hottie was totally there).

A Typical Indiana Halloween

For those of you that don't know, we live in the great state of Indiana. If you have never been to Indiana then you may not be aware of how crazy the weather can be (especially around this time of year). Last Monday it was around 75 degrees outside. Which means we rocked shorts and played outside in the leaves all day long! I can never remember there being nice weather on Halloween when I was a kid. It gave me hope that Sadie might just get a Halloween with wonderful weather!

The wind blew almost all of the leaves off of my tree. AND it began to sleet.

My dreams for a wonderful warm Halloween were quickly dashed. When Sadie and I woke up we peeked outside to see that it was rainy, cold, and WINDY. (SIDE NOTE: We live about 30 minutes from Lake Michigan and the waves there were 20 feet high.) Which meant that we ate Halloween Peep's and pancakes for breakfast. We also had a vote and ended up staying in our pajamas for majority of the day.

Chillaxin' after breakfast. She got her mind on her candy, and her candy on her mind.

We had plans to go out and visit Aunt B and all of our other friends at the SBCC until we heard about the crazy 40 mile an hour wind gusts on the news. So we stayed home and continued to be lazy. After lunch we played with the Daisy dog and watched some Halloween toons. And then we looked outside and there was almost a white out. Yes, it SNOWED! We were pretty pumped. After a quick call to the Daddy-man (his work is about 15/20 minutes south of our hood so weather is often varies) to tell him about the snow. We sat and watched it for a good 10 minutes.

Everything was dusted with snow!

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready to go trunk or treating! It was only 30 something degrees out by the time trunk or treating was suppose to start. After two layers of clothing it was time to put on the costume and take a photo!

The lone Halloween photo. It was too cold for photos outside.

I am glad with out decision to go trunk or treating at a local church, rather than the tradition door to door business. It was just way too cold for all of that! It only took about 30 minutes to hit up all of the trunks. Which was perfect Sadie was over it by then. She had a hard time moving with all of those  layers and a big ol' winter coat on. Even though it was a long and cold day it will be fun to tell her about the year she was Pebbles Flintstone and how determined we were to go trunk or treating!

It's the little things. (Like peanut butter kisses!)

Last night I had the chance to sneak away from my little Sadie Laine and the Daddy-man for a few hours. While I had a great time catching up with friends and family at dinner, I missed them boat loads. My friend Katie and I carpooled, and on the way home we got to talking about how fast our girls are growing. Her youngest daughter, Avery, and my Sadie were born 8 days apart. It is crazy that they are already 16 months old. Talking to her made me realize how quickly time has flown by, and that I need to spend less time stressing about silly things and more time focusing on my not so little baby.

How is my 7lb 9 oz girl so big already?! Puppies are her favorite.

Today I did just that. I didn't worry about the fact that my house looks like the toy box threw up inside of it. Or that the bathrooms need to be scrubbed down. That will all be there later. I needed a big dose of Sadie Laine today. She woke up super happy this morning with wet jammies. After a quick wardrobe change we made our way out to the living room.



When I sat her down in the living room I realized she has grown a lot! The pants that fit her nicely a few weeks ago now looked like they were cropped. But golly she sure looked cute. Her hair is barely long enough to put into a clip but long enough to be messy after a good nights sleep. She was full of shenanigans during breakfast! The girl refused to feed her waffle to herself. Instead she threw back her head and opened her mouth for me to feed her. I couldn't help but laugh at her! She reminded me of a little baby bird (she would have been pumped if she got to have gummy worms for breakfast).



After her first nap it was time for a snack. She ate one Nilla wafer and then attempted to feed the rest to her beloved Daisy May. Daisy is grumpy and ignored her, which resulted in Sadie running around the house waving Nilla's and yelling, "Daze, Daze, Daze....." (Daisy) in a last ditch attempt to get Daisy's attention. Then it was time for me to fold some laundry. Sadie had to help, folding laundry is her jam.



After lunch there was a unanimous agreement that Monsters University needed to be watched. As the movie started Sadie  plopped down on her little pink couch and watched the movie for a good 45 minutes (that is the longest she has ever stayed still for a show/movie). Then she needed to sit by me and give me 581 kisses during the rest of the movie.

What a cheese ball!

It is now 4PM and she is taking her second nap (she has to have energy to chase the Daddy-man when he gets home from work). I am still in my pajamas. And I am fine with it. Spending time with my little and enjoying her is totally worth it. I need to remember to slow down and enjoy the little things in life more often. You can't get any better then Monsters University and peanut butter kisses from my favorite little lady!

She was a messy eater today!