Where's the pause button?

As I was blow drying Rea's hair tonight, (yes, I blow dry my 20 month old's hair.) a million thoughts went through my head. She's big....like totally not a baby anymore. I cannot tell you how many times a day Jon and I look at each other in amazement and say "she's so big." I want to hit pause on her little life and soak it all in.

Here are more words since I last documented. "Thank you, poo, got it, ball, water, wa (watch), bug, bite"

I had my sister's girls this past weekend (another post) and I thought she would be so little compared to them, but nope...she hung in there just like a big girl. She even ate their snacks because she finished hers first and they weren't eating theirs fast enough.

She is working on running. She gets her little feet moving just as fast as she can. She screams like a girl for sure when you chase her. Sometimes she will fall to the ground and hide her face because she just doesn't know what to do or can't get away fast enough.

I don't think this is a good thing, but she's claps and cheers when I turn the TV on. Current favorites: Olivia (mine too!), Yo Gabba Gabba! (super weird and cool at the same time), some Elmo on Sesame Street (classic), Praise Baby DVDs, Blues Clues (ehh, it comes on at the right time)

Although she is big into "boy" toys, she is now in to all things baby. Coveres the babies, feeds the babies, etc.

She is a pro at the brushing the teeth routine. (mommy brushes then Rea brushes) Well, unless she's tired then its not worth the fight.

She's pretty good at undressing herself. She gets stuck at pulling her arms out of shirts.

We didn't use or talk about the pipe at all today except for nap time and then bedtime.

She's behind on shots. I guess I will work on that next week. Ugh! :(

This is it for now. I have more catching up to do later. As I mentioned previously, Jon and I were super sick. I subbed. Then we had Julie's girls. Rea and I leave tomorrow for a super quick trip to ATL. So, I better get packed! Have a fantastic weekend...do something fun and tell me about it.

We'll talk on Monday!!!!

Makes my heart happy!

Rea girl helps dad...

make muffins!!!

Ready to help!

Or...eat?

Guess what kind...

Flashback of...glorious cookies!

I was organizing pictures the other day...such a necessary evil...and came across some good memories. I want to share the memory with you...

The week of Christmas, our sweet neighbor friends, invited us over for our inaugural cookie decorating party. Oh, it was so much fun...really! It was our type of party for two reasons. One, cookies were involved and two, it was a "private" party. Rea and I like small gatherings.

So, my friend, Jenny, had made homemade icing and had used her super cool cookie press and made 1 million little sugar cookies shaped like stars, wreaths, Christmas trees, and something else. Jenny iced them in a super speedy way. Her two boys, Sam (4) and Knox (2) and Rea dipped the cookies into a variety of sprinkle variations, and I supervised!

Rea did much better than I thought she would! She really did it!

We partnered most of the cookies from that day with other homemade treats and gave them to family and friends.

Enjoying herself...

Cool guy, Sam...


When they had had enough of the decorating, they headed outside to burn some calories.

Sweet Sam is pushing Rea...

2-for-1

I don't frequent McDonalds very often...maybe for a hot fudge sundae here and there (hold the nuts). However, if I am ever out and about at this time, I might swing through.

Let me know if you decide to take advantage this good deal!

One more thing....

I already mentioned the heart day girl that I am NOT....I did get a gift though. Want to know what makes this girl happy?!? A new office chair...100% artificial leather. Seriously! (Jon read it off the side of the box.) He put it together for me tonight and I'm enjoying it right now.

Thanks, love!

Oh "Heart Day"!

I would love to be sitting down to tell you how much I love the holiday set aside for sharing all of your love. I'm ok without the day...really. I'm so high maintenance *surprise* that I want to be told how much I'm loved by those that love me year around. I'm not a dozen rose type of girl...too predictable or a candlelight dinner...I want to see what I'm eating. I don't really need slow dancing in the living room....I have too much to say and to get down.

Instead, I'm going to tell you that the smell of death is upon my house and it arrived on heart day. I had a great day at church. I had two fantastic teams working with my kiddos, so I didn't worry about them once. Scarfed down some leftovers for lunch standing up in the kitchen. Then we hit the road with mom and dad for IKEA. Yea, that's right...my sweet husband was taking me to Ikea for the day. (Everyone in our car except Rea and I were Ikea virgins.) We conquered/endured that trip...mom and dad were so helpful with Rea and we made productive purchases. The hungry carload headed to the Brandon Mall for some California Pizza Kitchen (used to be a personal favorite). We enjoyed our time together and our meals...my usual, BBQ chicken salad. I ate way too much and still couldn't finish it, so Jon finished it off. I chased Jon and Rea to the car because it was FREEZING out. I knew I was way too full on the ride home and did not feel well. We did our normal...Jon unloads the car and I take Rea upstairs to bed. I barely got her to her room...laid her on the floor...and went straight to the bathroom! I'm going to spare you A LOT of details and just leave it at....I made numerous visits to my little toilet room. I was sick as a dog...lost 5 pounds over night. My dear husband went to work and came home early to make several visits to his toilet room.

My mom came over this morning to help me. When she arrived, I was half conscious on the couch and Rea was in her highchair with everything she could need...bib, yogurt, spoon, juice, and the TV in sight. Mom cleaned my kitchen and took Rea with her.

Jon and I spent the day in bed together, but not like you think post V-day would look like. We have spent this evening removing the smell of death from our room....two toilets are nice in the moment, but that means twice the smell removing. Its crazy how quickly that smell can travel! So, this is how we do romantic evenings. :)

I certainly do love the man in my life....even when he's as sick as a dog.

P.S. I do have sweet little memories of heart day from childhood. My dad would always do something special for us...flowers and cards for all of the ladies sitting on the dining room table. I knew year round that he loved us, but even more on this day. Thanks, Dad! (Or....did mom make him do it?!?! Mmmm) :)