Eight Months Later...

Womp womp!

I totally left this blog hanging, oh, eight months ago and for that I can only apologize.  Life kind of got crazy, with field time for the hubby, a new baby for our family, a family vacation to Florida, a deployment underway, AJ starting preschool, and so on.

I should start by introducing the newest member of our family.  We welcomed Amelia to our family on March 22, 2013 at 10:08 pm!  She weighed 8 lbs., 5 oz., and was born via VBAC after an unplanned induction due to low amniotic fluid at 40 weeks, 5 days.

If there ever were two babies who were more different from each other, my daughters are it!  AJ has and continues to be fiercely stubborn, intense, emotional, and strong-willed.  Amelia tends to be easy-going, people pleasing and relaxed.  It is amazing to me how I can have two completely different children, both from the same parents and love them both so completely.

AJ lives to entertain her little sister, which is convenient, because Amelia could sit and watch AJ's antics all day long.  Amelia loves AJ the most.  Of anyone.  AJ gets more smiles from Amelia than anyone in our family.  I can't say that it doesn't make me a little jealous, but I get the snuggles, while AJ gets the smiles.

The other member of our family has been deployed for a little while now and life at home is slowly returning to normal.  We have certainly had our growing pains since he left, and life at home is crazy most days with one adult and two kids, but I think I can safely say that we are not just surviving this deployment so far, but we are thriving.

One of the big changes, other than adding a new member to our family, is that AJ started attending preschool two days a week.  She loves it.  She was so ready to go and have interaction with other kids, a (semi) structured environment, and adults (other than me) telling her what to do.  She started two weeks ago and it has made such a difference in our time together at home.

So there you have the last 8 months in a nutshell.

Dentist Appointment

AJ had a dentist appointment this morning so yesterday I started preparing her for it.  I find that if I talk about how things will go and prepare her for what to expect, everything goes more smoothly.  I warned her that the nice lady was going to brush her teeth and then the dentist would come in and look at her teeth and count them all.

I also told her that if she was well-behaved she would get a goodie bag at the end of the appointment.  Our dentist office gives the kids a little baggie with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, stickers, etc. to take home.  This was the goodie bag to which I was referring.  After I told her this, she asked me if there would be candy in the goodie bag.  Now, I'm not sure what kind of dentist AJ thought we were going to, but I'm almost positive that most dentists don't give out candy.

So this morning we got up and I was tired (someone decided to wake up at 12:23 am and apparently I was sleep-conversing with D only 20 minutes before this), so we were rushed to get dressed, fed, teeth brushed, etc. before leaving the house.  We made it to the dentist with time to spare (thank goodness its right outside our neighborhood) and the whole way there I was talking to AJ about how she could sit in my lap if she wanted to, if she got scared, etc.

She insisted that she is a big girl and could do it herself.

If you don't know AJ personally, let me tell you that this girl can talk a mean game.  I mean, she will tell me exactly what I want to hear, when I want to hear it, but oftentimes it doesn't exactly work out that way.  So when she was insisting that she'd sit alone in the chair I figured I'd go along with it until the time came to hoist her up on my lap for the cleaning.

Imagine my surprise when we went into the exam room and she climbed right up on the chair and told me she was fine without me.  She proceeded to got through the entire cleaning bossing people around and acting like a big girl!  The dentist even commented that two-year-olds never sit in the chair alone and he was VERY impressed.

She was so well-behaved and looked so tiny in the chair by herself that I had tears in my eyes (darn horomones).  When the hygienist asked her if she wanted an orange flower balloon and she replied with "yes, ma'am," I about lost it.  I mean, she is (usually) well-behaved at home, but when we go to unfamiliar places she tends to be shy and reserved, so to see and hear her little well-manned voice made me so proud!

Boring Life and Toddler Meltdowns

Tuesday morning AJ was not wanting to wear underwear, so I let her wear a diaper for the morning and in the afternoon I bribed her to wear underwear.  Our day basically went downhill from there.  She was not happy about the whole sitting on the potty thing and she made that known (as if I needed reminding).  She sat 3 or 4 times for me (didn't go) and then decided she wanted to go outside.  After a brief lapse in judgment, I decided that it would be fine to go out for a few minutes.

Oh boy.  When the time to go back inside to sit on the potty came, a meltdown of epic proportions ensued.  She was not happy at all and the rest of the evening.  It was about this time (5:30) that I realized that I needed a few things from the grocery store for dinner, like fudge.  We headed out and of course she was a complete angel while we were out.  Figures.

I gave her a Reece's cup after she ate her dinner and she looked at it and said, "Oh my word!"  I started cracking up and so of course after that she was just trying to make me laugh and be silly.

This morning we went to playgroup in the neighborhood and AJ had so much fun just playing with all the other little kiddos that were there.  We came home and she told me that she wanted chicken nuggets, ketchup, broccoli and ranch for lunch.  She was happy because I let her get the chicken nuggets out of the bag and push the buttons on the microwave.  The best part of it all (according to her) was that I let her squeeze the ketchup on her plate (with some help).

D is supposed to be home early-ish today, which will be nice since we had a little miscommunication yesterday and I thought he was coming home at 3:30 and that definitely did not happen.  Haha!

Tomorrow my Father-In-Law comes to visit for the weekend so AJ and I are going to head up to "town" early and do some fall clothes shopping before we get him at the airport.  It finally got chilly here and I was scrounging through AJ's winter clothes from last year trying to find something that fits to wear today.  I've known for a while that I need to buy her fall wardrobe, but I just keep putting it off because its been so nice here still.  The real challenge is going to be getting all the things she needs without spending hundreds of dollars.

We don't really have anything planned for the weekend, but I'm sure we'll find lots of fun stuff to do with Grampa here!

Our Weekend

AJ wasn't feeling all that great this week and by the time Friday rolled around, we all were ready for a nice, relaxing weekend at home.  I'm glad we didn't make any real plans because she ended up coming down with some sniffles yesterday and was pretty sad.

Saturday we just stayed home, D mowed the lawn in the morning and then during nap time I ventured out to the grocery store for our week's worth of food.  D recently told me that he wants to eat healthier, so naturally I made some super unhealthy snacks for game day!  In my defense, we were planning on watching some football, and I had planned on making the stuff before he told me that, honest!

I was really considering going to the Commissary for my groceries because its much, much cheaper than our local grocery store, but luckily decided to just stick close to home.  I'm glad I did, because I totally forgot that the Commissary was having a case lot sale this weekend and I heard it was a total madhouse!

After I got home I made the snacks real fast and we got to watch the second half of the Army v. Northern Illinois game while munching on Buffalo Chicken Dip and Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce.  It was super yummy!

Today has been the official starting day of potty training, take 50.  AJ has just been having so much trouble with it, mostly because of the power struggle.  Every time we start to try it I decide she isn't ready and we go back to diapers.  Well, this time is starting out a lot like all the other times, but D and I are ready for her to be done with diapers, so we're going to really stick with it.  She has the ability to do it, but she doesn't care, so that has been our struggle so far.  Not to mention that she wants to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it.  Have I mentioned she's 2?

Cross your fingers for us and if you have any helpful tips or words of advice for us on the whole potty training a strong-willed child, please, pass them along!

This afternoon we're heading across the street for a birthday party.  AJ's BFF turned 2 last weekend and today is her party.  With potty training and the sniffles, I'm not sure how long we'll last over there, hopefully long enough for some cake!

Bloggy BFF Meet-Up!

I didn't really mention it before, but AJ and I are on a little road-trip of sorts. Its the same one we make about every six months or so, we drive from our house to my Aunt and Uncle's house, stay a few days, see all my grandparents and relatives and then drive the rest of the way on to my parent's house. We're going to be in Hometown, USA for about a week before we head back to our house to welcome the man home from the field.

Well, last time I was here I took AJ out for Skyline Chili and ice cream at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams as a Mama-baby date. This time we had an extra person on our date with us. My bloggy BFF, Moe, is back in town and she met up with us for a late lunch and ice cream yesterday! We had tons of fun, we chatted, we laughed, we wrangled AJ, we shared food!

We were both laughing because we told our significant others that we were going to meet a relative stranger and neither of them really seemed all that concerned for our safety. ;) We both said we were glad that we aren't axe murderers or something!

The three of us at Jeni's.

It was so much fun to finally meet Moe in real life, and I hope that I get another chance to come through town again so we can expand past Skyline Chili!

After eating ice cream (in the dead of winter, mind you) I realized that we were close to the neighborhood and house I lived in as a little girl (from ages 3-5) so I drove past it and took a picture of it for my parents to see. I was lucky that there was a For Sale sign in the front yard, otherwise I would have felt like a huge creep!

My old house. I promise there is a "For Sale" sign just to the left of the picture. ;)

I also have AbbyDog with me on this trip, and she has been making herself feel right at home at my Aunt and Uncle's house. So much so, that my Uncle had her doing tricks last night for a little snack before dinner.

AbbyDog doing tricks.

Abby, right at home. Jumped up and sat at the kitchen table before dinner.

We have another day here before we hit the road again. Tomorrow we are going to see my mom's parents and a cousin of mine who still lives in this area. It should be interesting.

Wordless Wednesday

What a lovely face.

Eyeballs?

A little back story for you. Several months ago when AJ was learning the names for body parts I told her that eyes are called eyeballs and now she won't call them anything but "eyeballs." This drives D CRAZY! ;)

Today after she finished her lunch I was wiping off her hands and face and she was pointing at things on my face.

She said "Nose!" as she pointed at my nose.

She said "Mouth!" as she touched her own mouth.

She said "Eyeball!" as she tried to gouge my eye out with her little razor-sharp fingernail.

I asked her where AJ's eyeball was and she pointed at her own eye. We repeated this exchange a few times and then I decided to challenge her.

I asked her, "Does PupPup have eyeballs?" to which she responded, "Yes!"

I then asked "Does Daddy have eyeballs?" She thought about this one for a minute and then responded, "Yes!"

I decided to push her a little bit further so I asked her if Grandpa has eyeballs and she quickly and very seriously responded, "No."

Me: Does Mimi have eyeballs?
AJ: No.

Me: Does Obo have eyeballs?
AJ: No.

I asked her a few more times and asked her if she was sure and she told me she was, so I guess its official., AJ's grandparents are all, according to her, eyeball-less. So, so, sad. ;)

Our Big Girl!

I briefly mentioned the other day that Miss AJ is quickly approaching her second birthday and with that comes all sorts of interesting and blog-worthy stuff, right?

Hubby and I had been debating for a few weeks when to switch her to a big girl bed. I blogged about it and asked you all for advice, remember? Well, last weekend we moved her furniture around in her bedroom but left the crib in there. The way her stuff was before wasn't going to work with the bed, so we decided that it would be better to get her used to a different arrangement before we moved her out of the crib.

The last nap in the crib (she took all her clothes off).

This past weekend, D had both Friday and Monday off, so we decided that we would take her crib apart and put the twin bed in her room. The bed has a trundle, so we have pulled that out in case she rolls off the side, but otherwise, she's just in a bed. She hasn't had any issues with falling out, which is (obviously) good. She's also been very good so far when it comes to staying in her bed and going to sleep. *Knock on wood.* We only have had one nap (yesterday) where she woke up early and got out of bed and started banging on her bedroom door. She even went right down last night with no issues.

The big girl bed (trundle is not pulled out).

We debated whether we should buy a toddler bed to transition her and in the end we decided not to spend the extra $100 since we already had the twin trundle bed. I'm really kind of shocked at how well she has done so far; I honestly expected a big struggle and I may still get it, eventually (she is my daughter, after all), but all in all, it has been rather painless.

The other exciting bit of news is that we (I) ordered the invitations for her birthday party online this weekend! Also, I may or may not have been accused of "going Etsy overboard" by the hubs. I'm not going to share the details of her party and theme until afterwards, but don't get excited because its on a budget and I'm far from Pinterest-worthy. I will say though, that I'm glad the hubs guilted me out of buying AJ a handmade birthday outfit and tutu from Etsy because I found a super-cute dress and cardigan at Tarjay yesterday morning.

Anyway, that is my little mini toddler-update for all of you who aren't bored to tears by my ramblings about an-almost-two-year-old.

Don't You Just Hate That?

Right after I promise that I'm going to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging I go ahead and think I scheduled a post for today, when in reality, I did not. For that, friends, I apologize. With that being said, let's get back to it, shall we?

We have had an exciting few days around here. I'll start with Thursday.

We've been in our house for a year now and since it was new when we bought it, we had a 1-year manufacturers' warranty that was getting ready to expire. We had walked through the house and compiled a master list that we emailed to the warranty people back in December. Thursday the first group of sub-contractors came to start fixing the things that needed to be fixed.

We had some drywall issues since our house was built in the winter. The spackle they used to mud the drywall in some areas of the house apparently wasn't able to dry completely, so we had lots of nail pops and the tape and edging on the corners were peeling a little bit. It was nothing that few extra nails and some hammer strokes couldn't fix, so they plastered it all up again and left it to dry.

On Friday Hubby came home from work (early, yay!) and mentioned that the Natural Sciences Museum in Raleigh has an exhibit on Genghis Khan (only through Jan 22) and he wanted to see it. We decided to head North the next day to check the museum out and see the exhibit. See, hubby took Mandarin for six months and is currently enrolled in an Asian culture class, so this exhibit was of particular interest to him.

D and AJ in front of a giant praying mantis at the museum.

After the museum we went across the quad to a little grill and got some lunch. We rarely go out to eat, especially somewhere that you sit down, so this was a little treat for all of us. It was a casual place that had a 50's vibe.

AJ at lunch.

The rest of the weekend we just hung around the house mostly and were lazy.

The first decent picture I've gotten of AJ in a long while.

She found some sunglasses from when she was a baby that she has been wearing around the house for the past few days. She always wants one of us to wear our sunglasses with her when she's wearing them. As soon as we get them on she holds her hand up and says, "Walk!" So we walk around the house wearing sunglasses together.

Wearing sunglasses with Daddy!

Once the weekend was over I was thrust into the life of the stranded home-bound SAHM because we had the painters come to finish painting all the drywall work the guys did last week. We also had them replace the door frame on AJ's bedroom door because there was a huge crack that they just tried to plaster and paint over. I'm sure you can guess how that worked out. Ha!

We were supposed to get our back door replaced on Monday as well because it wasn't installed properly the first time and we had a bunch of water damage to the door frame and the kitchen cabinets next to the door. Well, the door couldn't be put in yesterday because it was raining, so we had to wait until today, but its all finished now except the frame needs to be painted once the putty dries. We're having the damaged parts of the cabinets replaced later this week now that the door is fixed.

Its been kind of a pain to have to be home all the time waiting for them to come and fix stuff, but at least I know that there won't be any issues with things if we have to put the house on the market in the next few months. I guess there are perks to buying new construction aside from having a brand new house!

So that's it. That is what I've been up to the past few days. I'm currently sitting around, watching Teen Mom 2 from last week on the DVR while AJ naps and I wait for someone to come back and paint the door frame. After that we just have to get someone here to caulk the shower heads and some of the trim.

Also, D has a 4-day week this week and again next week, so I'm definitely looking forward to the 4-day weekend this weekend. I feel like there are certain months that he gets a lot of time off and then other months when we go weeks without any time off.

Going All Mommy Blog For a Minute....

I figured I'd give you all some fair warning that today's post, along with yesterday's are going to throw me fully into the realm of the mommy blogger. If that bores you, then consider yourself warned and move along. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled blogging next week.

With AJ's second birthday rapidly approaching (more on that later) I've been thinking about several things that come along with growing up, namely potty training and moving her into a big-girl bed.

I'm thinking that we won't potty train until this summer when she can be pants-less/naked for most of the day without getting chilly. She isn't really ready yet, although she has started to sit (fully clothed) on her potty when I go to the bathroom. She doesn't yet tell me when she "goes" in her diaper and she doesn't seem bothered at all to be sitting in a wet diaper. Since we use cloth diapers, they are actually wet, as opposed to disposables, which wick the moisture away from the skin.

I know that typically when a kid is potty-trained they need to be able to get out of bed in the middle of the night and go potty if they have to.

With that being said, I don't need to switch her to a big-girl bed until we potty train, but I think I'd like to get her accustomed to sleeping in a real bed for a few weeks (at least) before we start with the hard-core potty training. I anticipate the switch being difficult (mostly for me) because I have a feeling that she is going to get in and out of bed a lot before falling asleep at night. I also am not sure if I should be closing her bedroom door when we switch her to the big bed or if I should leave it open?

Any experienced mamas have advice for me? Right now we close her door completely and keep our door closed as well. She has a lot of cabinets and drawers in her room that she likes to play with and I'm nervous that she will destroy her room if I shut her in there and just hope she goes to sleep.

On the other hand, we have a great bed-time routine down. We give her a bath, get her in jammies and then read a book and put her to bed. I leave the room while she is still awake and she is usually quiet until she falls asleep, but occasionally she cries or whines for a few minutes before going to sleep. When I switch her, do I just continue with the same routine and put her in the bed and leave or should I stay with her? She is so used to us not being with her when she sleeps that I don't think she'll fall asleep if I stay in the room with her, she thinks its a game.

Finally, we have a twin bed that we're planning to use for her room eventually, but should I consider buying a toddler bed to make the transition, or will I just be setting myself up for another whole struggle to transition from the toddler bed to the twin bed? What worked for your kiddos?

HELP!

Back to the Boring...

Now that I've caught you all up on what we did over Christmas and New Year's I'm back to the boring old posts about doing laundry, vacuuming and unloading the dishwasher (ugh). Since D is back at work, I've been mostly hanging out with AJ, who is becoming increasingly independent, which makes a Mama both happy and sad.

Just yesterday I was folding laundry in the guest room (this is a hint to come visit us so I can use the guest room for something other than laundry) when AJ was playing in her playroom across the hall. She decided she wanted to go downstairs and play with her kitchen/watch tv, so I supervised her descent and then got back to my folding. It was at this time that I realized she was completely entertained and didn't need me.

After spending the past 22 months being totally and completely needed by her for every little thing, this was both a huge relief, but also a sad moment for me. I've spent the past year or so frustrated because I can't make dinner with both arms due to a clingy toddler wanting to be held (NO, NOT BY DADDY, ONLY BY MAMA!!) and now we're starting the next phase. You know, the one where she goes to school, sleeps at friends' houses and gets her driver's license. The phase where I'm not always going to be the most important person in her life.

I knew it would come eventually, but I guess I didn't think it would hit me like this. I realize that she is always going to need me for somethings (I still need my Mom and I'm quickly sliding towards 30), but now that we're out of the clingy phase, I want to go back.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

P.S. I posted new recipes on my food blog yesterday and another is going up today, so if you need some new ideas for dinners, go check it out!

The Meadow Lights

Remember a few days ago when I posted about AJ getting sick so we weren't able to go see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Gardens? Well, I think it was divine intervention or something because right after that happened I got an email from the FRSA letting us know about a different holiday light display that was better (and free-er) than the gardens. The only downside is that its about 30 miles from our house (but actually it takes an hour to get there because there is no direct route). It was definitely worth it, though!

We decided to go yesterday after AJ woke up from her nap. We knew that it was going to take about an hour to get there, and since it gets dark around 5, we left at 3:45. They didn't officially open until 5, so we hung around in the parking lot for 15 minutes until they opened. The first thing we did was walk around and look at the lights (it wasn't quite dark yet, so it didn't look too impressive) and then we went into the old country store and bought peanut brittle.

The lights at dusk.

I brought some food for AJ for dinner so she ate a little bit and then we bought our $2 tickets (each, so $6 total) for the train ride.

Let me say this: AJ is OBSESSED with trains. Every time she sees one, she drops everything to make the "choo choo!" sound and arm movement over and over again. Its very cute and hilarious. She was pumped once she realized that we were getting on the train.

AJ and Daddy hanging out before the train ride.

The train ride itself is about 5-10 minutes long, but it takes you through all the lights and its very cool because there are tons of things! They had Santa, elves playing tennis, a candy cane factory, Jack Frost blowing frosty air around, nutcrackers, farm animals, and more! I tried to take pictures of the lights, but they all suck, sorry!

My crappy phone pics of the lights from the train.

They also had a carousel and Santa was available for photos, but we already tortured AJ got AJ's picture taken with Santa this year, so we skipped that line. In case you're going to try and go see the lights, just know that both of these things cost money, so come prepared. I think the carousel was like $2 (which, whatever) but the Santa pictures were $6! It seemed like a lot to me, but I know there are places that charge a LOT more than that (ahem, the mall).

Having the time of her life with Daddy on the train.

AJ had a fantastic time and we were glad that we made the drive out to spend the afternoon looking at lights and enjoying some fun, holiday, family fun together.

The Best Laid Plans...

We had great plans for our first Saturday of Christmas Exodus. We were going to head to town as soon as Miss AJ got up from her nap, do some errands and go out to eat at Panera (fancy-schmancy, huh?), then we were going to head to the local botanical gardens to see their holiday light display with some friends.

Sounds fun, right?

Friday I noticed that AJ had developed a little bit of a cough, so I was kind of keeping an eye on it, but not too worried. Well, by the time we had dinner Friday night she was yawning all over the place, so we put her to bed early and figured that she was just fighting a cold of some sort. The extra sleep should help, right?

Well, midnight rolled around and I wake up to the sound of D going into her bedroom, she's screaming and obviously not feeling well. She ended up in our bed with us the rest of the night (if you consider 1-5 to be a full night sleep). At 0500 I took her downstairs to watch tv because she was crying non-stop. We laid on the couch and watched early morning cartoons until I finally decided to giver her a sippy-cup of milk. Almost as soon as she drank it, another coughing fit came on and then it happened.

Puke. All over the couch. All over AJ. All over her beloved blankie. Everywhere.

Oh yeah. I was kind of half asleep when it happened, but as soon as I heard it, I was up so fast, you would have laughed!

I stripped her down, took her jammies and blankie and started a load of laundry. Got the couch cleaned up, baby in new jammies and we settled back in for an uneventful day of bland foods, honey water, extra naps, and lots of snuggling.

Needless to say, we didn't go see the lights, even though AJ was feeling quite a bit better after her second nap of the day. I did convince hubby that I needed Panera after thinking we were going there, so I ran out and picked it up. ;)

I think we're going to try and go see the lights later this week once AJ feels better, since D is off work until 2012 (oh yeah, I'm so happy to finally have him around and available after this entire year of him having homework and being exhausted from work).

Christmas Pictures and Our Card

A few weeks ago we took AJ to have some professional Christmas pictures taken in hopes that we'd find one good enough to use as a Christmas card this year. We came away with some fantastic pictures and I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Here are a few of our favorites, followed by our Christmas card for this year.

The Terror!

On Monday our playgroup hosted a Holiday party so I got AJ dressed in her Christmas outfit and we headed out. I knew Santa was going to be there and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get a classic terrified-baby-with-Santa picture to display until AJ turns 30.

Really unhappy about the situation.

Still traumatized from the incident.

There is our family's first screaming baby with Santa photo! I will treasure it for years!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Paradise

We went to Florida for Thanksgiving to spend the long weekend with my family. This wasn't the first time AJ has been there, but considering that the last time she was there, she was 9 months old, she had WAY more fun this time!

AJ giving the camera one of her "looks."

AJ and her Obo taking on some waves.

The whole fam, posing for a pic by the beach (in matching shirts).

The Thanksgiving feast! Yum, yum!

AJ's paparazzi photo!

Gorgeous sunset the last day of the trip.

Me and my siblings!

Mimi, AJ and me, walking along the beach.

My dad and brother hanging around with the gator.

Paddle-boarding in the ocean!

Ma and Pa, toes in the water, a$$ in the sand!

Hanging on the beach!

Z and the hammer-head shark we found on the beach.

Our "good" family photo.

The pet gator.

Hubby and me at dinner.

C'mon! Let's get in the water!

The "bad" family photo. ;)

Building sandcastles.

Walking around by herself.

Surfing with Uncle B (one of my fave pics, and in case you're wondering, I was flipping out while this was going on).

B and M. So cute!

AJ hanging out in the cabana.

Studying her findings.

Swimming with Uncle B.

Posing with Uncle B.

Aunt A was not as lucky!

Beach volleyball.

And there you have it folks, our Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell! As you can tell, we had a great time and all came back very relaxed and rested after our fun in the sun. I have another trip planned for AJ and I in March to spend some time with my sis while she's on Spring Break, so I'm excited to go back!