Toddler Trouble

What my life looks like with a toddler:

That's my make up bag. Most days, spilled out all over the floor. 

My kitchen cabinets... I find things in all the wrong places! Little puzzle pieces in the shelves of my refrigerator door & measuring cups all over the floor.

She loves to take the tupperware lids out and step on them so they stick to her feet and when she walks around... it never ends. And most of the time, I just laugh at whatever contraption she comes up with that gives her so much joy for the following 15 minutes.

Today, it was stepping in a small cardboard box and trying to walk. And stepping on my sewing measure tape so it sticks to the bottom of her feet... it cracked her up to walk around with it stuck to her. So random, it makes me laugh! When she's not getting into every cupboard she can open, she's running through the house like someone is chasing her:

Love this face:

 Such a happy girl:

 She's getting so fast!! This face makes me laugh (eyebrows Kell):

 This day was particularly cold and ugly outside so I dressed her up yellow to add some personal sunshine to my soul. Oh how I'm missing that CA sunshine these days...

Some sooooometimes when I actually want to get something done, we do this:

Yes, I will admit, Disney Junior saves my life on quite a regular basis. It's hard to come up with new things to do INSIDE with this bitter cold weather! But don't worry, we get our exercise... walking downstairs to watch shows in the basement haha.

Pathetic, I know - go ahead and judge me, but soon I'll have 2 babies under two and then who knows what kind of mom fails will be on this blog... as Zach comforted me: just do what you gotta do! It's all gonna be ok! :) 

I love this crazy toddler of mine so much, no matter HOW exhausting she is!! Most days, I can barely walk to the bedroom at night my legs are so tired, but I guess half of that accounts to the growing gremlin inside me... I keep wanting to fast forward time until I don't have to be pregnant anymore, but really, I guess I should prepare for how tired I will be AFTER this baby comes! Yikes. Wish me luck...

Just Lately...

In the last couple of weeks, we've had time to visit Zach at work (crazy bed hair an all!)...

Play with his "work toys":

Taste them:

Love these two!

It was such a long day, she even crashed on the way home - she never does that! 

I hit 25 weeks and officially said goodbye to the last of my non-maternity clothes :( no more squeezing in without ruining them later... 

Thankfully, a good friend lent me a bag of cute maternity clothes to hold me over! I've been so fortunate to always have handmedowns because maternity clothes are expensive! And what seem to me like a waste of money... 

I've also entered the stage of "nesting". Something I never had the chance to experience with Georgia as we were in temporary housing when she was born. In this case, nesting means spending money on a crap load of Target and Ikea organization goods and apparently mint is mandatory as well. No one can beat their prices!! 

I really did get so excited to finally organize all the paperwork and keepsakes from Georgia's pregnancy & birth that had been sitting around in piles for the last year! As well as get squared away for all the new baby's paperwork and even our household bills & receipts were all filed neatly away into the cutest file folders ever! I never thought I'd see the day when I would get organized... thank you Pinterest! Found this awesome pin that inspired me, down to the very file folders: http://www.unoriginalmom.com/best-baby-shower-gift-ever/

I also kept on my "pregnancy diet".... ugh I really just don't hold back. Ever. We waited in this ridiculously long line for the infamous Waffle Love food truck in the crazy freezing cold weather only to get to front of the line and find out they had RUN OUT of dough. Uuuuuugh. No waffles & biscoff for me. 

But it's ok because we hit up Sweet Toothfairy to satisfy our need for sweets where I ended up with chocolate cookie ice cream allllll down the front of my belly. Classt. Then we went to Waffle Love the next week at TEN AM when it opened, in even more freezing cold weather. But I didn't even care because it was AMAZING!! Here is my crystal sugar encrusted waffle with Biscoff cookie cream smothered on it and loaded with strawberries and a mound of whip cream:

I love that they don't skimp at all! It was covered in berried and whip cream. No need to spread and portion!

This lady has started feeding herself: 

And has endless adorable handmedowns from her Auntie Kell Bell, complete with matching tights:

She actually barfed all down the front of this and smelt SO bad the entire 3 hours of church that Zach was asking to take her home for an outfit change, but she looked so dang cute, we just left her stinky!! Everyone wanted to know where they could get this cute outfit but sadly, it's no longer on the market. Thanks again Target & Kell!

We picked a sunny day to meet up with friends at the park but again, it was relentlessly COLD! No snow but bone dry and COLD! So I bundled her up in the warmest outfit I could find: 

Her faux fur P coat from Nana!! She belongs in the streets of New York with this outfit people!! 

It was hilarious and adorable at the same time. She looked like a mini grown up in the huge coat with little legs sticking out. Seriously cracked me up especially being a new walker and stumbling around in those cowgirl boots. 

Charlie, Georgie, and a random photobomber:

I forgot how much she loves the swings!! 

It is such a shame I am a wusse and have no idea how long it will be before I can brave the cold again...

Seriously, a million smiles just like this even though her hands were icicles: 

Made me so happy!!

This park is awesome. It has several separate playgrounds within it, two sets of swings, and even this weird outdoor game center where you can play games with friends, touch the lights, and dance to music! She loved it.

Daddy left us for a long work trip - FOUR days!! He never travels that long. It was just us two:

 This face: 

After we finished FaceTiming ignoring daddy... ah my little ginger :) 

Eventally, Daddy came home and resumed saving my life. I can't imagine what life without him would be like!! We tried to find fun things to do... Scheels.... 

 (any new ideas are welcome)

And despite some pretty consistent two naps a day, she still woke up like this:

Crazy bed hair and extremely grumpy!!

Haha I can't resist smiling at it either...

She looks like such a little boy....

Nothing a quick play date can't solve:

Our friends have the coolest toys!! Ours always pale in comparison... she cried when I had to drag her out.

 Socks. Zach's socks. 

They are overtaking my house. They can be found everywhere! But mostly in front of the sofa and by the bed. He may be a life saver but he definitely leaves a messy trail. :)

We had more time for baking and experimenting: 

Lemon tarts! They were amazing :)

Made this delish and easy peasy fajitas dinner for the first time and loved it so much, it might become a regular!

We are filling our home with warmth and yummy food and silly nights together... Georgia is cracking us up on a daily basis now, learning new tricks and providing us endless entertainment now that she is up, walking, and always on the go! But we sure miss sunny CA, beach days in January, and family & friends back home. Sure wish May would come a little faster...

The Sick Bug

Sadly, this little baby came down with a nasty fever a couple weeks ago. 

It climbed over about 2 days and got all the way up to 103 but thankfully it broke the next morning. I kind of secretly loved the side effects that came of it... hanging out close to Momma and letting me tickle her neck. 

She let me cuddle her while watching shows, she fell asleep in my arms, and just wanted me to hold her all the time (kind of hard with a pregnant belly, but I loved it all the same). She didn't want to eat much so we made lots of healthy smoothies to help keep her hydrated and full.

 And despite feeling hot and tired all day, she still had lots of smiles to hand out with just a plain old box and an empty wrapping paper roll!

She had so much fun just climbing in and out of it. 

And she looked like a million bux! She's so dang cute, I wish I could wear her outfits.

 Her sick follow-up appointment was all clear... no infections. Such a happy baby!!

Oh wait.

Funny thing, she was WAY more sensitive after the fever broke in the following recovery days... so many tears at the drop of a hat!! This picture was taken after she exploded into tears from not being able to open a book. Other incidents included frustration at the slippery wood floors when walking with socks on, whenever I put her down, not being able to get inside the box, not being able to get out of the box, etc... the list went on. At least she was back to taking 2 good naps a day! 

With all our weekend plans cancelled, we had lots of time to do productive/crafty things!

Thanks to a certain special cousin who was looking for good bows for her new baby girl, I was on the hunt and couldn't find any so I tried my hand at the hot glue gun again to see what I could come up with. And I finally got the process down. It's even free of hand sewing! So easy and fun.

 Next up, this table:

That table is actually a picture off the internet in new condition. The table I received from my sweet sister in law had marker drawn ALLLL over it and wood slats missing from each chair (thanksfully she kept track of them all as they came off) and was basically a hot mess. I wasn't even sure I wanted it but it was in the mix with a bunch of other things she was passing on to me so I just stuck it in my basement and forgot about it... Then I got to thinking about the new baby and getting his room set up and realized that most of G's furniture would have to be transferred to the new baby room so very soon, she would have room for a toy box and more play furniture! So I very quickly and messily threw this spray paint job together and came out with this: 

I must say, I LOVE it. I did a quick crappy job, but I know it'll get lots of wear and tear over the next few years anyway. I bought pink spray paint at Michael's craft store, used some old wood glue we had lying around to put the wood slates back on, and slapped some gold vinyl sticker decals on the top for fun! I bought those gold dots to put up on the wall in G's room but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I can't wait to get the baby room set up and move this table into G's room! She's getting so big! 

I also had plenty of time to make this totally disgusting looking but completely addicting treat:

ooey gooey messy chewy chocolate peanut butter rice krispie treats mmmmmm! I don't normally like those flavors but I couldn't stop eating these... they are so addicting!

And what did Zach contribute in all these going-ons? ... I did say WE... but I guess his productivity consisted of spending money (a real shocker in itself) at the Nike Outlet on a new running getup and then pretending to run:

Finally some gear to show off his ultra sexy chiseled legs. Seriously, despite being covered in hair, he has GREAT legs guys. A real winner! I can't say what happened to them in this picture: 

Something is definitely wrong with the perspective! Haha.

That's all for our sick weekend... :)

We Have A Walker

This babe started walking ON the day she turned 13 months! (Yes, I steal Zach's man robe on occasion every morning) We had been practicing with her at night going from me to daddy, just a few steps, so I was totally shocked to look up from my breakfast that morning and see her walking from one couch to other (about 10 steps) and then even more shocked to see her come walking right over to me in the kitchen, at least 15 or more steps! She did it a few more times and then again at night when daddy came home but eventually got tired. 

The very next day looked like this:

Following me around and wanting to walk everywhere! She has pretty good balance even for being on kind of slippery wood floors.She was a pro by the 3rd day:

I love that her little hands are on her belly as she's turning corners and walking with such determination. She never looked back! I love it so much. She loves loves loves to walk and almost never crawls anymore unless it's to get somewhere to pull herself up again. Even then, she was pushing herself up onto her feet within 5 days. I love to hear her little feet roaming up and down our halls, exploring anything she can. I had been waiting so long for her to start walking, I was so tired of carrying her everywhere and not letting her crawl around in public where it's dirty. Now that it's finally here, I had a moment where I said goodbye to my baby and hello to my growing toddler! So sad those days are over sometimes - I remember when she would sleep all day in my arms as a newborn and I realize that the times she falls asleep in my arms are few and far between now. But she brings me new joy every day! I love her so much and can't wait to see what this year brings us.