14 Months!

Can you believe it? My angel baby is 14 months old! She is growing and changing faster than ever. I am happy to say that those ear tubes have been an absolute blessing! Blair has been sick a few times since having them put in and she has yet to get an ear infection. If your baby has suffered from chronic ear infections, then you know what a life changer this is. I am elated that Bug hasn't been put on any antibiotics since the surgery. I wish I could say that her attendance in school had gotten better, but Blair has gotten other viruses that has kept her out. Hoping that June is a better month!

My little snacker. Toddlers are long known for being snackers - and now I see & understand why! I am so happy when she actually eats - that I let her eat until she doesn't want to. Ok maybe that is a little stretched, but Blair is definitely a snacker. Lately I have gotten Blair to eat all kinds of fruit. She loved the blackberries at Mimi's house, eats quartered grapes and can finish a banana as a snack! We still make sandwich-type creations for Blair's main "entree." I tried to give her a piece of pizza the other day and she was not any kind of interested. Weird. Cannot be my child if she doesn't like pizza! I'll have to give that one a try a little later. I am still working on getting her to eat peas, corn, carrots and green beans. Tomorrow night we will try broccoli (again).

We have phased out bottles, but still give Blair a sippy cup of milk before bed. I have kept one emergency bottle, just in case. I am not trying to push her out of the nest, but think she is ready. She has done really well with the whole milk and I am glad that she drinks it without having to be begged / pleaded with.

I love watching Blair at this age. She is so intuitive and interesting. She has a big sense of pride when she helps us do part of the chores. They are simple things, like throwing something in the trashcan or helping to load the washer, but she understands that we all help out and that helping makes us happy. The other day she poured herself a cup of tea from her toy teapot and pretended to drink from the cup. This is huge because her previous method was pouring it straight from the teapot to her mouth. You can put that in our "win" column.

Green is still B's favorite color and we are undecided as to which hand she'll end up writing with. She switches off between the two too frequently to tell.

Blair's sleeping continues to improve. She is sleeping through most nights. On most of the nights that she wakes up, she usually puts herself back down after a couple of minutes. The more tired and exhausting her day is, the worse her sleeping. She has been taking awesome naps at school (ranging from an hour and a half to two and a half hours) and we've kept her on a pretty good routine. I wish we could keep her up later, but it doesn't work. It is a huge bummer, but I know she needs the sleep for how busy she is.

Bug talks up a storm. She loves to say "Hi!" to people - especially at school. If one of the directors go into her classroom, she is waves and tells them hi. Sometimes the strangers at the store are told hi. Blair using words - or sounds - like "ba" for ball, "muh" for more, "ni ni" for night-night, "bye bye," "go," "meh" for milk, and some others. Her face lights up when we understand her and we are able to communicate. I think she gets frustrated when we are not able to understand her. I think that once her speech really takes off, she might never stop talking!

She is now wearing 24 months but could easily wear 2T clothes. Yikes. So I guess she is basically averaging 3 months per size. I still refuse to buy clothes in bigger sizes for different seasons. Learned my lesson!

Teeth! All of Blair's one year molars have now cut through! She is still rocking 4 teeth on top, and the 2 middle, bottom ones. That now brings our grand total to 10! Half of the teeth that she will have as an adult. Today she bit someone at school - but only because the other child put their hand in her mouth. Trav and I agree that the other kid had it coming. I can tell you from personal experience that those chompers are razor sharp! I found out tonight while trying to see if any new teeth had come through. :)

Blair continues to be my favorite part of every day. I love her light, her smiles, and her love. I love the way she loves. I love being her Mom. Every part of it. ♥

Odds and ends and what we've been up to...

I realized today that I had not blogged about Mother's Day. What a wonderful day / weekend it was! Saturday we did our annual Mother's Day crawfish boil at Mom and Dad's house. The crawfish were hot and spicy and the pool was cool. Not too cool to get in, but it was chilly! Blair had a great time running around outside - between the hammock, kiddie pool (with slide!), water table and pool - she had a big day!

Sunday we mostly hung out around the house - playing and spending time together - my wish for the day. The past few Sundays we have been driving over to Terry Hershey park and taking Raleigh on a 2.5 mile walk. It is already super hot outside so we take tons of water and sunscreen. Fun stuff.

Lately Blair has been a busy bee. We enrolled her in Gymboree's Play and Learn class and it is a blast! It is a fun 45 min class that we can all do as a family. Blair's favorite thing to do (so far) is play with the balls. She carries one around everywhere. The gym is filled with different ramps, tumbling mats, slides. Here is the description of the class:

"Explore two-way communication with your child. Play environments encourage discovery, balance and coordination as parents learn to understand how their infant interacts and communicates with them and the world."

Balance and coordination? Um, we could use that. Blair is like all toddlers and takes the occasional spill. I think that this class will not only be fun, but will help with her agility.

This weekend (Memorial Day weekend), Blair and I spent Friday together playing all day. We found out earlier in the week that one of our favorite teachers at TLE is leaving the school, so Bug and I went and picked up a little present for her to remember Blair by. We skipped Blair's Gymboree class this weekend because her nose had begun running a day or two before and we didn't want to be one of "those" parents. So we decided to play at the house and after nap time we headed over to visit with some of our favorite cousins. We haven't seen Taylor, Reagan and Peyton in forever! The girls were super excited to see Blair and were surprised at how much she had changed since the last time they saw her. Blair gave them a little dose of her charm (defiance) and spunk (squawking). Bug was determined to go up the stairs and would sneak off to climb them any second she could. She is willful.

Sunday we did our weekly walk in Terry Hershey park. Oh, I forgot to mention that we are watching Ranger (Loren's sweet, human-like dog). Ranger has been visiting Raleigh while Loren and Shaun were up in Austin. We love Ranger - he is definitely like a member of the family. So anyways, we took both of the puppies on a walk Sunday morning. We spent Sunday afternoon grilling out and swimming at Mimi and Pops' house. My little bug loves to be in the water. I wish I had my camera to take pictures of her practically jumping (but mostly leaning / stepping) into the pool to Travis! Fearless! She loved getting in with me or Trav, then getting out, running around with Zoey, getting a snack, then getting back into the water. She was exhausted after a fun afternoon and we managed to keep our little milky white skinned girl from getting sunburned. :)

Today we have spent much of the day organizing, cleaning and packing. We had to move a bunch of out-grown baby clothes and bottles (all except for an emergency one) into the attic, clean out the guest room, pack (woo hoo!) and do some general maintenance cleaning. It's been nice having this extra day to hang out with Blair & T and get some things done. Our trip is right around the corner and I tell ya, it couldn't be coming at a better time! It will be great to recharge and catch up on some sleep and sun. It will definitely be hard to be without Bear. I don't even like to think about that part. :(

Below are some miscellaneous photos over the last couple of weeks. She is growing and changing fast!



Mother's Day weekend by the pool

Love this little outfit!

Headed to Blair's first Gymboree class

First trip to Chick-Fil-A

Almost 14 months!

gOoFy FaCe!

Waving to Mommy!

Sitting in a box. Kids do strange stuff.

Eating watermelon by the pool (under Pepper's careful watch)

What is cuter than a kiddo eating watermelon?

And one more!

Pepper and Blair got to be good buddies this weekend. She was always eating and dropping food on the patio, and he was right there behind her to get it!

Contemplating another dip in the pool...

Zoey and Ligia

Breaking into the hand wipes. Again.

Giving Ranger a kiss!

Blair vs. Allie

Caught Bug sitting on the boxes...

... just minding her own business.

Four day work week - I'll take it!

A Visit with Great-GranDad

Yesterday my iddy biddy got the chance to visit with her Great-GranDad that was visiting from Tyler. Look how precious these are... makes my heart melt!

Princess B

This month, Blair's class is learning about fairy tales. As one of their art projects (I love that they do art every day!), each child made a crown... and she wore it all afternoon!

One Month Post-Op : Tubes

Yesterday was Blair's one month post-op check and hearing test. She was very unhappy when they checked the pressure of her ears / tubes, but passed the hearing test with no problems. Dr. Brock confirmed what Dr. Kavin had been saying - that the tubes were in a good position and looked great. She asked if we had seen any drainage or if she'd had any infections. I told her that Blair had been sick 3 times since the surgery and had not gotten a single ear infection (and that with the illnesses she contracted, she suredly would've gotten a least one ear infection). Relief. I am so happy that the tubes are doing their job so that we aren't dealing with those ear infections!

Lately, Bug has becomed much more attached to her lovies. There is one in particular that is the front runner when it comes to babies or lovies. It is a little plush doll from Carters. She is dressed as an elf (she got it at Christmas) and she carries it around and likes to nap with her. I. Love. It. It is so unbelieably innocent and precious and it warms my heart. I am having to really restrain myself from buying her a gazillion babies.

Blair's eating seems to be picking up. Today she ate a whole banana and continued snacking. She is a huge fan of craisins. We have gotten her the blueberry and cherry flavored ones and she cannot get enough! She now readily gobbles up fruit (turns out, Mom was right about it tasting good :) ), sandwiches, chicken nuggets, yogurt, cinnamon bread and strawberry cream cheese sandwiches, and anything else that she thinks may sound good.

Her favorite color is still green and I love that.

Last Weekend

Last weekend we all enjoyed some family time while everyone was healthy. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

13 1/2 Months (long legs!)

Watching Daddy blow up the pool

Eating some juicy watermelon

Running around and holding some leaves

Silly girl!

I pray you enough

I was forwarded this email today and thought it was blog-worthy.

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, 'I love you, and I pray you enough.'

The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I pray you enough, too, Mom.'

They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'

'Well...I'm not as young as I once was, she lives so far away & has her own busy life. I have some challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said..

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I pray you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

She began to smile. 'That's a prayer that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I pray you enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'

Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Then, she began to cry, and walked away.

They say, it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.

To all of my friends and family - and most especially my daughter, I pray you enough. ♥

They say she has me trained...

And they are totally right. "They" would refer to my daughter's day care administrators and new sweet teachers. The other day, while I was picking her up from school (more on that later), I had a minute to talk to Ms. Kelly and Ms. Ricki (will refer to as "KR" for the sake of ease). I asked KR how they were able to get Blair to lay on the mat and nap - like if they weren't rocking her, how were they doing it? Patting her back? Lightly brushing her hair? Reciting lullabies in french? They looked at each other like "What?" then one said "She goes to her mat after lunch, lays down and goes to sleep." Now my turn, "What?" My daughter? I then asked KR how her tantrums were treated (me trying to gain tips on how to do this whole discipline thing with a one year old). Never thrown a tantrum and had no idea what I was talking about. "She is one of the sweetest, easiest babies." Ah. Lovely. Well I am thrilled that my little lady girl behaves during that day. Now if she would take it a little easier on her Momma and Daddy!

After my conversation with KR, we walked up towards the front of the school to leave. All of the directors we asking about Blair and I told them about my conversation with KR. In disbelief of the whole "she just goes to sleep at nap time" story, I told them, "I still have to rock her to sleep every night!" Now, in my defense (and I am sticking to it), I get very little time with my Bug during the week, so our rocking time is kind of our time to spend together. However, lately I have been trying to get her used to putting herself down and she is not having it. That's when they laughed and said I was "trained." I know I am. Blair just knows me too well and knows exactly how to get me. While we are rocking at bedtime, she will try at every chance she can get to sit up and "ask" me something in babble with these big, Precious Moments baby eyes and this cute little button nose. She looks like this little doll and is so darn cute. How can I let that baby cry in a crib?

So I guess I have brought this all on myself. Well the good news is she is sleeping through the night (for the most part), and that's a huge 'win.' If I am still rocking her when she is 26, you have permission to stop me.

Now, on to why I was picking her up from school. Well, as you might now know, Blair got the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus from school. After staying home with her for a few days (while she had the contagious rash), I thought we were past it. Last weekend, we were excited to just hang out and play. Unfortunately, I was sick all weekend. It started with sciatica pain, then led to terrible body aches and joint pain. By Sunday the worst of the pain was over and my throat started hurting. It was about this time that I realized I now had the virus. Sure enough, Monday morning - the rash came. It started on my hands and feet. With a lot of my co-workers having little children, I knew I couldn't risk them also getting this (disgusting) virus. So worked from home on Monday and Tuesday (which allowed me to pick up Blair from school).

Then on Tuesday night, Blair woke up with a high fever (103 degrees) and she threw up everywhere. We were both covered in it. After Trav helped us clean up, I slept on Blair's floor to make sure she was ok. The next morning, I called into work (again) and took her to see Dr. Kavin. After a quick finger prick to check her white blood cells, it was determined that Bug just had a virus (thankfully not the HFM again). Lucky girl got to spend all day Thursday with Auntie Loren (THANK YOU AUNTIE LOREN!!!!)! They had a great time playing and got some good cuddle time together.

Friday (yesterday), Bug went back to school. Now that I am better, T is better (he had a touch of the HFM without the rash), and Blair s on the mend - we are keeping it low key this weekend! It has been a LONG couple of weeks!