It's Time to Change the Baby

Remember when Little Miss was a newborn and hubs had no experience changing diapers?

SAY WHAT??? Luckily, he was a willing student and was a pro in no time.

This is one arena where I don't believe that Little Miss will be following in her father's footsteps.  She's already practicing changing diapers.  If not on her doll, Pete,

then on Huckleberry.  (She's still trying to work on the logistics with Huck.) She can get the diaper lined up, but hasn't figured out the tabs yet.  I'm finding it increasingly difficult to keep my diapers organized as they keep migrating around the apartment.  She'll probably master it right around the time she toilet trains, because that would just be the way things roll around here.

Merry Christmas 2014!

This year we were intentional about creating a calm Christmas.  We woke up to a beautiful tree with a few presents.  You can tell that we really weren't feeling the wrapping this year.  The brown shipping boxes were from us and the Happy Meal bag was from Grandma. (at least I come by it honestly)

We decided this year to try to have her pose in front of the tree before we got started.

Little Miss just came off of Hannukah, so she knew the drill about opening presents.

Unfortunately, not all presents were a hit.

I'm not sure why the tutu initially scared her, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  She was all about reading her new book with Daddy, however.

After a quiet morning at home, we loaded into the car and enjoyed a family meal in Memphis.  It's so nice being so close to half of the family.  We were able to see lots of the extended family and had a great catch-up.  We hope that you were able to do the same.

A Christmas Miracle

When I was pregnant I couldn't wait for the day until I could put my little girl's hair up in a little sprout.  Then she was born bald and stayed bald for quite some time.  Only recently has her hair begun to get into her eyes.  She's a bit old for a sprout, and she wasn't interested in wearing a bow.  At. All.  As quickly as I could put a bow in, she would just pull it out, hand it back to me, and say, 'no.'  I thought I was doomed to have a shaggy toddler, until I started talking incessantly about how if she were wearing a bow the hair would stay out of her eyes.  It must've worked because one day she didn't resist the bow and left it in her hair the entire afternoon.  Then she started asking to wear a bow when she woke up. She's now been wearing a bow for about a week and she looks adorable.

Pardon her, she was in the middle of telling us something :)  The other Christmas miracle was that Huck wore his antlers.

He wasn't very happy about it, but he did sport his antlers all through the present opening.  We hope you enjoyed some Christmas miracles of your own.

An Alternative to Christmas Shopping

Most people agree that Christmas-time is hectic.  There's end of the year Christmas parties, family get togethers and the all-important task of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list.  Many of the mamas in groups I'm in desperately asked for gift ideas for mothers-in-law, partners, nieces and nephews.  While my December was hectic due to moving, I haven't had one bit of stress about Christmas.  

A few years ago hubs decided to forgo the company Christmas party and hasn't felt the urge to go since.  This is great since now I don't have to find a babysitter, stress about what to wear or what small talk I'll make for an evening with people that I won't see again until the next Christmas party. None of our friends are hosting parties, so it makes our normal events with friends that much easier to plan.

I will say that we don't typically do a large family gathering for Christmas that many others do.  However, over the years we've had discussions with several family members that has really helped keep the gift-giving madness to a minimum.  We do parents, nieces, and nephews.  Period.  Not really close to the nieces and nephews or not sure what they'd like?  No problem- we adopted animals from NWF or bought family memberships to botanical gardens that they can enjoy year-round.  Having been a teacher with a huge supply of more candles and lotion than I could ever use, I bought some gift cards for Little Miss' teacher and special babysitter and I'm calling it done.  What did I get for hubs?  Nothing.  (Actually, I'm getting him a renovated garage for Christmas ;) Very early on in our relationship we decided to opt out of the gift giving madness at Christmas and I'd say that we're both happy with the arrangement.  

So what have I been doing with my time?  This.

Spending quality time with those I love.  I realize that this post may come across as smug and I don't mean it to, it's just that this year, in particular, has been so refreshing and relaxing.  That's what I wish for you this December, not the frantic pace and stress of trying to find perfect gifts.

Go Where the Art Takes You

Sometimes you're just in the mood for painting, and sometimes you're just in the mood for painting nude.  The benefits of having an inexplicably hot apartment that is always in the mid-70s is that you can indulge these artist whims.

Check out that tongue!  Oh, the focus.  Little Miss Frida Kahlo had a great time.  She chose her colors, mixed them differently, tried different techniques and let me know when each piece was complete by trying to turn the paper over and start again.  It was fascinating to watch.  Look at the finished products- I'm kind of in love with them.  It's hard to believe these all came out of one painting session.

One of the nice things about a small apartment is that the bathroom is nearby, making bath time to clean off all the paint quite easy.  Someone bought Little Miss a whole bunch of art supplies for Christmas.  I can't wait to see how she does with all of them throughout the year.

Peek a Boo, Take 2

The Peek-a-boo bear made the move to the new apartment, but I wondered if Little Miss was too big for it.  I turned it on to give it a spin.  Turns out it's just as intriguing now.

THEN: (Sept 2013)

NOW: (Dec 2014)

Hoodies Unite!

How to Entertain a Toddler for 10 Minutes

One of the side effects of having a toddler is that you eat your dinners early.  We went to dinner over the weekend and arrived at the restaurant 10 minutes before it opened.  What were we going to do with Little Miss until then?  Simple, let her hang out in the driver's seat.  She was happy as a clam.

Happy Hannukah

One of the benefits of an interfaith marriage is that Little Miss gets exposed to different traditions.  This year she is mesmerized by Hannukah.  It started when I put out some dreidels next to the menorah on the table.  When I spun a dreidel to show her how it worked, she lit up and asked for more and more.  

She loves watching the candles being lit each night and excitedly runs to her high chair when we tell her it's time.

(I know she doesn't look happy here, but she was really focused on the shames candle in my hand.)  

I have to get her out of the box of candles at least once a day because I'm afraid she's going to break them and I won't be able to use them.  One morning I found 2 left over candles from a past year and decided that we would make a play dough menorah so she could do Hannukah herself.

She was into it for a little bit, but I guess since there was no actual fire involved, it just wasn't as appealing.  

This year she's been unwrapping her own gifts.  She's really into the practice of it and the thinking tongue often comes out.  We've also been letting her unwrap our gifts for extra practice.  Last year she was too young to really know what was happening, but it's really fun to share some of the traditions I had when I grew up with her and have her be big enough to participate.  I'm sure hubs will feel the same at Christmas.  

Helping Daddy with Dishes

This apartment is considerably smaller than our house and we're ok with that.  One thing that we weren't able to bring over was the learning tower, but that doesn't matter because Little Miss quickly figured out how to move the chairs around and get into anything she wants.  Daddy was doing the dishes one night and she decided she wanted to get near the water and help.  Aren't they cute?

Santa?

When you have a lazy afternoon and a Santa hat, kids will play.

Oh Christmas Tree

Last year we didn't have a Christmas tree because we were moving.  The advantage to moving early was that we were able to have a tree this year.  We loaded up the car and headed to our favorite spot at the local farmer's market for trees.  They had a little Christmas photo spot:

And, who can resist a guitar playing celery stick?

We were able to find a tree and why we didn't take a picture standing next to me escapes me.  How about this?

Actually, that was Little Miss and I at Opryland, please believe me when I say that our tree is is a bit underwhelming compared to this.  However, the point is that this year we have a tree!  We chose to only bring out our very favorite ornaments and put them at the top out of reach of little hands.  The rest of the tree is covered in filler ornaments.  It wasn't necessary to do this.  Every morning Little Miss walks over and kisses the tree.  Then she looks at some of the small gold balls and kisses them as well.  She hasn't really pulled many ornaments off the tree and just leaves it alone for the most part.  I'm hoping this continues and that hopefully next year we'll be able to put out some of our other nicer ornaments. In the meantime, I love having the tree to look at- it makes the winter less dreary to me.

A New Home

We've developed the habit of moving in December.  I'm going to try to remember to commemorate how big Little Miss is with each move.

THEN: (2013)

NOW: (2014)

It's hard to step away to get the same perspective, but Little Miss has grown quite a bit in the last year.  Can't wait to see the next (and hopefully final) one in the coming months.

Tiny Homes Tour- Surprise- Happy Thanksgiving

Ok- we had a lot of things happen in a very short space of time.  I'm not sure how to break it out without being choppy, so apologies for this hodgepodge post.  A few weeks ago our family had the opportunity to see three tiny homes all in one location.  It was really cool.  Because I was balancing a toddler and a puppy with trying to explore all the nooks and crannies, I didn't get great pictures.  Uncle Jon was able to join us (he's considering going tiny someday) and it was amazing to us how big those spaces could feel.  Here are just a few pics I was able to get. 

We definitely got a lot of ideas for storage and how to live once we go small.  It's a good thing that we got those ideas because we decided that in order to save money for the upcoming garage renovation and to practice living small we would rent out our beautiful suburban home and downsize to an apartment.  While Little Miss and I were on our great Midwestern tour, hubs was showing the house and found some great tenants to move in at the new year. Right after we got back from our big Midwestern trip (literally, the next evening) we got a text from the tenants with an offer we couldn't refuse to move out by December 1.  This was November 24.  Surprise! We had just 6 days to pack up an entire house and move.  While we hadn't yet packed a single box, we had started the big downsize.  That helped immensely.  

So, while hubs searched online for apartments for us, I began gathering boxes and packing up the house.  Since it was Thanksgiving week, we were lucky that hubs was off work for 2 additional days to help.  When it came to Thanksgiving dinner, well, let's just say that it was lucky that we celebrated with Tio the weekend before.  I was trying to use up food so I didn't go to the grocery store and the wait at Cracker Barrel was 2 hours long.  We drove around looking for anyplace that was open and wound up at Steak n'Shake.  Yes, this mostly vegetarian family celebrated their holiday at a burger joint.  Luckily, Little Miss is still too young to know what she's missing and she was able to make the most of it.

Were we able to get out by December 1?  Yes, but just barely.  It was a small miracle that the tenants didn't arrive to pick up the keys until 3:00 because we had the housecleaners just finish up and as they moved in the front, we were moving our stuff out the garage in the back.  

It would be another week before we actually had an apartment to move into, so lucky us got to move twice.  Thank goodness for Uncle Jon who let us crash at his apartment for the week in between.  However, now we've landed for the next few months until a more permanent place is complete.  Whew- rambling post complete.

Food Incarnations

I was on a family vacation once when one of my aunts said that in her next lifetime she was going to come back as peanut butter.  That got me thinking- what food do I love so much and eat so often that I would consider reincarnating as?  For me, it's any peanut butter and chocolate combination.  For hubs, it's sweet tea.  For Little Miss, it's pretzels.  Girl loves her pretzels- she asks for them constantly and brings the big tub of them to me whenever she has an opportunity to get to it.

I love how she looks like she's licking her lips there.  Pretzels plain, pretzels and hummus, pretzels dipped in yogurt- doesn't matter....just be sure she has a steady supply and all is well.

This is What Happens When you Don't Take the Goodwill Box Out Immediately

Someone will unpack it for you and play with the contents.  Why, oh why won't she play with her toys????

A Midwestern Tour

It's pretty hard for hubby to get rid of his stuff because he never has time to photograph it, list it, and manage the listings.  I decided to give him a week to just focus on that and I took Little Miss for a great tour up North.  Our first stop on the big trip was Indianapolis, where we got to see Tio Daniel.  She loved sitting with him and using the remote to turn the candles in the fireplace on and off.

They were quite cozy all cuddled up in their pj's.  

Hubs and I will be going down to one car next year.  In preparation for this, we are thinking that we'll need to figure out a new biking solution to be able to fit Little Miss as well as perhaps, groceries.  Hubs has been researching cargo bikes and there was one in Indy he wanted me to check out and test drive.  Here's Little Miss in it at the shop.

The thing was a beast.  It weighs between 85-90 lbs and took me about 3 tries before I was able to even get going.  I rode it for a while and while I think that I would eventually get used to it, it really intimidates me.  I think that I still want to opt for a bike trailer.  However, that's neither here nor there...back to the trip.

We had to leave Indy so we could travel north to Chicago.  Mama had a date for the Bears game, you see.

My Uncle Mike has season tickets and my cousin Lizzie was in town, so I had to take advantage of some cousin/aunt/uncle bonding time at the game.  It was freezing and we were wearing multiple layers, but the seats were great, the Bears won, we had an amazing dinner in Chicago, and I got to spend the whole day with people I love.  It was great.

While we were in Chicago, I took Little Miss back to the dentist who performed her lip and tongue revisions.  I wanted him to reassess her lip to see if the tie had grown back.  Luckily, it hadn't and we were given a clean bill of dental health.  While we were up there, my cousin Jessamyn came with her adorable son and we all had lunch together.

We then went to Quincy to visit Great-Grandma.  We spent one morning in the pool at her home, and the next morning swimming at the hotel pool.  I don't have pictures, but Little Miss loved it and all the other people at Grandma's home loved seeing a little one running around.  I don't have enough pictures of them together.  Darn!  Somehow, the only picture I have from that leg of the trip was the play place we stopped at at some random McDonald's.  She was way too little for it, but she enjoyed just being able to walk around.

Then it was back to the farm.  She had her own little table to work and play at, or just sit like a Granny and rock.

Our last morning at the farm, we went walking at a local mall and got to play at the little toddler play area.  She made friends.

She leap-frogged a frog.

She got all her energy out because, before we knew it, it was time to head back to Indianapolis and see Tio again.  We went to Qdoba where she tried to look like him:

But the best part was a Thanksgiving meal that Tio hosted.  It was a potluck meal complete with deep fried turkey.  We didn't taste the turkey, but Little Miss enjoyed the rest of it.

You can tell that we're getting older because this Thanksgiving had a kids table.  After that, it was time to head back down South.  We really missed Daddy and it was time to get some cuddles- FaceTime isn't a long term solution.  It was a fun trip and we were grateful for everyone's hospitality and the time we got to spend with our dear friends and family.  Hopefully we'll be able to do another version soon that doesn't entail quite so much driving for Mommy.

Granny in Training

When it's cold outside, there's nothing I enjoy more than sitting on the couch with a blanket on my lap.  Little Miss has picked this up and really gotten into it herself.  She also loves being curled up under a blanket with a good book.  However, she took my 'Grandma' and elevated it to 'Granny' by choosing to sit in the rocking chair with a crocheted blanket.

Never did a Granny look so adorable.