Happy 2nd Birthday!!

We celebrated our little one turning 2 a few weeks ago and in true fashion I am now just getting around to uploading pictures and catching up on all the details. She had a Winnie the Pooh party because she has been fixated on that movie and all things Pooh for months. Go figure as soon as the party was over she seemed to get some closure with Pooh and now we are on to the next thing…

Owl Cupcakes

The Backson from the new Pooh movie.

Same smile here..so cute!

Quick family photo

Playdough station

Her Birthday cake that turned into a community cake with kids. So fun! All the kids seemed to love the idea they could just dig in with a fork and have fun!

So much blue frosting= blue poop the next day

This little girl is so much fun to be around but this age is very challenging as well. As more of her personality emerges it becomes encouraging to see her likes and what she is willing to try to do but it also brings more independence and defiance as well. I can't get to upset about it because what kid is perfectly behaved? She is so sweet and here are a few things she does that just makes me smile:

1. When she sees another kid fall down or someone coughing, she will go up to them and bend down to look them straight in the eye and ask them if they are ok. It's so sweet that she shows concern.

2. Sometimes when we are about to get out of the car, she holds onto whatever item she is playing with and says, "Take it with us? Pleaaaase mama." When I reply, "Sure we can take it baby" she just lights up and is so excited I am letting her take it with us.

3. We only have to show her something once and from then out she wants to do it herself and says her name "do it do it". Lately, she wants to float on her back by herself with no assistance.

4. Anytime we eat a popsicle she proceeds to lift my shirt and rub her popsicle on my belly saying, "baby have some." Then she will smile and look at me and say, "baby likes it." It's so cute and so cold!

5. If she sees that Daddy or I have a boo boo, she then shows us that she has one as well in the same spot on her body.

6. She loves to dance and anytime music is on TV, the radio, etc she stands up extends her hand and says, "Mama dance?!" meaning I must get up and dance with her. We have frequent dance parties in her room. She turns on her radio and we spin around or do dancing lunges (her favorite). She likes to tell me to "Watch this! Watch this!" Then she does a trick, or flip or whatever.

7. Her new favorite movie is Lilo & Stitch. While at Ikea the other day, as we were nearing our 3rd hour in the store I decided to pull out the kindle and let her watch it. Well it got to the part where Stitch almost dies (Stitch has a Glitch movie) and they think he is dead so everyone in the movie is crying. She started crying as well and got really sad about it which caused me (preggo hormonal mama) to cry with her and hug her. I was just so amazed with how much she understood about emotion and how it caused her to feel sad. Crying party is aisle 7!

8. Her new thing is to tell the dogs, some stuffed animals,her favorite blanket and on occasion her parents that she "I wuv you".  It's the cutest thing and so nice to hear her express her love!

Currently 30lbs, sleeps in a toddler bed, and haven't attempted potty training yet.

Introducing my NEW blog and more...

Like many moms out there, I have many great habits and a list of not so great habits. This new blog habitmom.com is all about my journey as a mom and the habits I create through fitness, nutrition, and family along the way. I hope to encourage and inspire others but mostly set a great example for my own little family.

With that short introduction, I am excited to announce I have a new workout partner!! This person is going to keep me motivated, determined, and exhaust me all along the way but I am up for the challenge! Together we are going to be forming a Healthy, Active, Balanced lifestyle or what I like to call, HABits. This is the whole premiss behind my new blog; HABits. We all have them and we all have the power to change them. Through motivation, determination, and repetition we can create a habit. My idea is to share my journey specifically my goals and what motivates me to keep or strive for maintaining better habits. If you know me, you know I love fitness and like everyone have my ups and downs with achieving those goals. Over the next 6 months I have an amazing motivator that will allow me to share my fitness journey as I watch the scale go up, slowly lose sight of my toes, and become more rounder than usual. I am happy to share….

Little Spoon #2 due November 2014!! Stay tuned to my new blog HERE for my pregnancy workouts, nutrition, and more. I will be keeping this blog but it will become more about family updates here and there and more private.

Easter 2014

This was the first year that our little girl was old enough to hunt eggs and understand the concept of Easter a tad more than last year. The night before Easter we dyed eggs which was the quickest event ever! She kept tossing every white egg she could grab in a color as fast as she could. It was entertaining but left no time to even take a photo. I let her play with the plastic eggs before bed and she was hooked. She carried her little pink basket everywhere and wanted to take it to bed. I told her she could have one egg in bed but the basket needed to stay next to her bed. After I tucked her in, I went to shower. When I looked at the monitor again this is what I saw…

When she woke up on Easter she grabbed her basket, which I had moved out of her bed later on during the night, and went to the living room. She was really excited to look for eggs and when she saw her Easter basket she started calling for Mama. I went out and must have scared her because this is the photo I got when she turned around.

I let her eat whatever goodies she wanted and later we did an egg hunt in our yard. She loved to find an egg, open it, eat the jelly bean, and toss the egg. She had a TON of jelly beans that day.

We went to an Easter party later that day with her friends and had a blast. I am convinced we need fake grass in our yard. That deep green color is amazing! 

Stealing bites of Daddy's ice cream

Adventures in the Toddler Bed Transition

Two weeks ago we converted our little girls crib into a modified toddler bed (or whatever they are calling it). She has a small rail that still keeps her in the bed but a small opening that she can get in and out of. We were prolonging her crib life as long as possible and enjoy her being contained in one safe spot however, she started trying to get out of her crib by balancing on the rail on her belly. This was happening each time she woke up and she even started stacking her blankets and animals to get a step up. So, we bit the bullet and made the conversion. I was so anxious about this transition because my toddler would be free to roam whenever she wanted and I was not ready for this! I did my best to read up on as much material and advice that I could find on tips to keeping your kiddo in their new bed. I hate going into any new situation unprepared and without a game plan.

We started with the "Nanny" method in which we put her to bed and each time she got out and came out of her room we walked her back to bed in silence until she stayed and fell asleep. Some nights this took 45 minutes, some nights it took 10 minutes. Lots of tears and dedicating our entire evening to bedtime was rough. As it turns out, putting her to bed at night was much easier and less painful then putting her down for a nap during the day. Getting her to nap is currently still a struggle for me. Last week she was tired and all signs pointed towards her sleeping but she pushed through being tired to play or to keep coming out. There were three days where she woke up at 6am and finally fell asleep for a nap at 4pm (noon is her normal nap time), pushing bedtime way back! I would try to get her down for several hours with no luck like we had at bedtime. I would have loved to kept her awake beyond the skipped nap and then put her to bed early but no nap with an early bedtime leads to a 4am wake up. I couldn't handle that! After a few hours of no luck, I caved on our nanny method and rocked her to sleep. She hasn't wanted to be rocked to sleep since she was 1! She was beyond tired, restless, and super cranky because she needed sleep so the rocking and hugs from mama worked. This is not a long term solution but I will take it for now and use it when I have to because I need that nap time for me time!

I think the big difference between bedtime and nap time is the light factor. During nap time, her room is dim but she can still see all of her toys and is distracted by them. At bedtime, its pure darkness. No temptation of toys! Also, we have discovered that if Daddy puts her to bed she is more likely to listen to  him telling her to stay in bed and she must lay down. She comes out WAY less with him on bed patrol than with me. Yup, I am a softie here and have found this is better for Daddy to handle. I have no problem turning over bedtime to Daddy because it's another 30 minutes of me time I get to have. Yay!

I can't say I haven't been tempted to put that big crib rail back up with all the lack of sleep that went down last week. Since she has this new freedom, she is also waking up about an hour earlier (6am now) in the mornings. On several occasions, she has gotten up in the middle of the night (due to 2nd yr molars making their way) and come to my bedside, lightly whispering "hi" causing me to jump out of bed in confusion. It's these times that I am thankful for a Kindle that I can play her favorite Winnie The Pooh movie and let her snuggle next to me for a little bit. I can't be to upset with the 6am wake up because she greats me with a smile and says, "morning". It's great to wake up to that happy face. Plus, when she awakes from her naps she runs to me with open arms saying, "Mommy!!" and seems so excited to see me and hug me. I love that. Guess it's not all that bad right?

Needless to say, there is no going back to the crib days so just gotta keep pushing forward and staying consistent! From what I hear, everyone has this struggle so it's bound to happen at whatever age we had chosen for the new bed. Any tips? I suppose our next transition will be potty training. How long between new bed and no diapers should I wait??

Cruise Tips

We have now been on two Carnival Cruises and I am by no means an expert cruiser but I can share some tips and tricks that we picked up along the way that have saved us money. First off, we booked our most recent cruise two years ago. We put down a deposit and paid it off over two years. Yes, the deposit was non refundable but we were able to bump our trip out an extra year so that was not lost. A non refundable deposit is scary but it was also a great way to commit to a trip and force ourselves to budget and work towards this vacation. Talk is cheap and you can always talk about a vacation you want to take and plan but until you start the process you will never go. The fact that we could pay for it over time made it appealing and exciting as well.

What Happens on a Cruise?

So you book your vacation and choose what places you want to visit. For us, we went the Caribbean route. So we boarded the cruise from Miami on a Sunday afternoon. We spent Monday at sea traveling to the first destination, Jamaica. Tuesday, we docked and could get off the ship at 8am but had to return on board by 4pm. Our ship left that port Tuesday evening and we awoke Wednesday morning at Grand Cayman. Then Thursday, we awoke in Cozumel. Friday we spent the day and night at sea leading us to docking back in Miami on Saturday morning.  

When you arrive at the cruise terminal with all your bags you get tags on them, tip the bag man who insures they get to your room and proceed to actually checking in to get on board. Once you are on the ship you can go eat or go to your room or wander the ship. During the lunch hours they had a buffet and for dinners there was a more formal sit down dinner. You had the option of assigned dining in which each night you had early seating (6pm) or late seating (8pm) and were paired with the same people each night. Of you could do free seating in which you showed up to dine between the hours of 6-9pm and were sat with different folks each evening. We liked the late dining because after a full day on the islands we liked to come back, grab a snack, and take a nap. Then we would wake up and have a few hours before dinner. We did assigned dining on both cruises and will not be doing that again. The first cruise we were paired with a really nice couple in which we really enjoyed talking with and eating with each night. This last cruise, we got paired with two other couples and we just didn't jive. If you don't like the folks you have to sit with, you end up not wanting to go to the dinners. Each morning they had several breakfast buffets and had one big dining room open for a sit down served breakfast or brunch. We enjoyed a bit of both depending on when we woke up and what we were in the mood for. 

Each evening, usually while you are out eating dinner, your room is cleaned and they leave an itinerary for the next days events happening on the ship. There was always plenty of entertainment to include: comedians, bingo, dance parties, deck movies, contests and shows. They also tell you when you can get off the ship once we dock on the island and when you are to be back on board. It's usually a good 6-8 hours you get to be on the island before having to return on board. 

You can choose to book excursions before you even sail, book them on board or book them the day you are on that island or destination. These are the big money makers but are also really fun adventures that you typically won't be able to do anywhere else. The ship offers sanctioned excursions but once you dock you will notice there are local folks offering excursions as well. Carnival recommends you choose theirs because if your excursion runs late or something happens they will hold the ship for you. So it may be a bit pricer but it's worth the fact knowing that big boat won't leave without you! We didn't do any this trip because we just wanted to go to the beaches and play it easy. Our first cruise we swam with dolphins and did the Atlantis Waterpark in the Bahamas. That was really fun, really pricey but totally worth the experience!

Food and Drinks:

The big thing everyone talks about on a cruise is all the fab food. Well, yes the food is everywhere, all the time so you never go hungry. It's all included in your vacation except for a few speciality restaurants  that you can choose to make reservations at and pay a bit extra to go there. You don't have to book those restaurants before you actually cruise so you have the option to look at the menu on board and decide for yourself. 

As for drinks, black coffee, milk, water, and tea are all included and you can find it everywhere on the ship. If you want any sodas, you have to pay for them and it's not to cheap. Same with alcohol, wine, beer, and fancy coffee. I think we paid $5 a beer, $7.50 for a margarita and $3 for a vanilla latte. To help ease the cost of our beverages we did the following things, which Carnival allows:

We each brought a bottle of wine in our luggage and on board. You are allowed one bottle per person. Only wine though, you can't bring a bottle of liquor or any beer. We also brought a 12 pack of cokes and a 12 pack of water bottles on board. You are allowed one 12 pack, less than 20oz bottles or cans per person. Since my husband drinks a few cokes a day, this saved us mucho money! The water bottles were for us to take on the island so that we always had water and were not having to pay for it on the island. The ship water was fine and filtered so never any worries there. I also packed a handful of the Starbucks instant vanilla latte coffee because I knew I would want a taste of home and it's super hard for me to down black coffee with cream and sugar. These instant packs were great and served me well with my vanilla coffee addiction!

Tips and Gratuity:

This is another cost not included in your booking fee. When you cruise you have a room key which also serves as a credit card in some sense. You buy drinks and whatever else you want on board with it and the last day of your cruise you get a bill and pay for it with your real credit card. Each cruise line charges differently but our ship had an $11.50 gratuity charge per person, per day. They divide that up between the stateroom person (person who cleans your room at least twice a day), dining room service, and alternative services (kitchen staff and other board staff). Besides that, each drink you buy has an automatic 15% tip added with your choice to add on it that or not. I think these folks on the ship more than deserve all these automatic gratuity charges so we didn't have issues with this policy. I know these auto charges had to be put in place because many guest would never tip so I understand. But, if you have never cruised or haven't read all the FAQ's you will probably be surprised to see these charges! We always plan for extra money to tip our specific stateroom person, our waiter and anyone else that we felt we appreciated how amazing they were! We typically tip this extra cash the last night. Before we leave town we bring a few extra envelopes to be able to hand out to those folks. This is pretty common to do. These folks work super hard and most of them work for 8 months straight before they get to go home to visit family. They are from all walks of life and are all so polite and nice no matter how crappy their day is. 

Packing:

The most essential things that were worth packing were:

Pain relievers: Any meds you may need like Tylenol, Benadryl, bandaids, etc take! Or you will pay a pretty penny for them on the cruise when you need them.

Sunscreen

Beach Bag: I personally like the ones with a zipper to feel a little more secure about my belonging when walking around the islands.
 
Water Bottle: We filled ours up during the day to have water on hand in our room and we took our personal bottles on the islands so we didn't spend money on bottled water.

Watch: There are no clocks in the rooms so this helped us know what time a day it was on the ship and on the islands

Dress Shoes: 1-2 pairs max that match multiple outfits so you can save space and hassle in your suitcase. Don't overpack with shoes, it's a waste!

Extra baggies:  Or a small waterproof container that you can take on the islands with you so your ID's and cash don't get soaked in the water if you choose to take them with you.

Carry On: I like to pack a day or two's worth of essentials in my carry on in the event that my luggage gets lost and I need stuff to wear/use until it arrives. Never hurts to packs your must need things in your carry on.

20-22 Months

Dear Little Spoon,
  You are just two months away from being two, which makes you a full on toddler pretty soon.  I LOVE this age. I love each day with you because something new always happens and we have so many fun adventures, from building tents, to reading books side by side, to saying "cheers" and smashing our PB&J sandwiches together. In the last two months you have changed drastically. I noticed it more because I spent one full week away from you on a vacation with Daddy and came home to a whole new kiddo! You are so sweet and show me love each day in different ways. I love watching you discover new things and love seeing how amused you are with the games I make up for us to play. You are easily amused, easily distracted, and easily captivated. You love to practice all the words you know by reciting them over and over. Lately, you love to listen and look for planes in the sky and big trucks on the road. Both noises stop you in your tracks and you look around to find the plane or truck to point to it and tell me, "pane" "ig uck". Each day you are saying more and more new words. New words I swear I haven't said but maybe you have picked up from TV, books or Daddy?

As of last week we moved you into a modified crib/toddler bed. It's not a full on toddler bed but you are able to get in and out of it freely. We had to convert your crib because you were attempting to balance on your belly on your crib railing to get out. You were able to get a few toes up on the rail as well which doesn't surprise me. You have always been limber which I think you got from being so crammed in my belly for so long. You have transitioned really well to your new bed and I am so proud of you for adjusting well. The first two days were your most testing days but you learned quickly! When you wake up in the morning you go sit in your little chair, cover your legs with your favorite blanket and look at books. This is the cutest thing to see you do and I love that you play quietly and study books. Then, you come get me or like this morning I woke up to find you on the couch with a snack and your water ready for me to turn on the TV for you!

You are trying more new foods but you still have your favorite go to items. You LOVE muffins and so I continue to make mini sized homemade ones with healthy substitutions to keep you full and happy. You still don't eat meat unless we sneak it in something and you seem to only like roasted veggies if any. Breakfast is still your biggest meal which is fine by me because I feel there are more options and variety to give you for that meal. You have never been a milk drinker and now only consume the occasional weekly "coffee" that I get you from Starbucks (organic vanilla milk). You ask for water and will drink it all day.

You still love to snuggle with me and cuddle up to me when we watch a movie or read books. I love this downtime with you and love how sweet you are to me. You are a very good listener and don't throw a lot of fits. When you do have a meltdown or a fit I ask you to calm down so we can talk about it. You usually do and we have a chat about what's going on. You do really well with me telling you why we are doing things the way we are doing them. You react better to positive reinforcement or incentives than to negativity or harsh discipline. I have noticed the more stress free our house is and the more laid back I am towards the things you do, the better you react to them. You really are a wonderful, well behaved kiddo. We are very lucky and I will do my best to continue to shape you into a happy positive little person!

Favorite Sayings:
Oh my
Oh dear
Oh mon (man)
Oh sh*t (only heard you say this a few times, eek!)
Hooray (accompanied with one arm raise to when saying it)
All gone
ZoZo coffee (when mama gets Starbucks, you get vanilla milk in a Starbucks cup, your "coffee")

Favorite Things:
Blankets (must have several to sleep with)
Winnie the Pooh movies (obsessed!)
Dr. Suess, Their is a Wocket in my Pocket
Dr. Suess, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? (we read both of these nightly and I catch you looking at them yourself in the mornings when you get out of bed).
Carrying Mama's Keys wherever we go
Library story time. You love the teacher and always make your way to the front of the class to dance, look at the book she is reading or just smile at the teacher.
Playing outside
Playing in a whole, in the dirt, outside
Anything that involves water. You help mama water all the trees and Daddy's greenhouse plants

Funny things:
Whenever you see an older lady with short grey hair you say, "MeMa, MeMa!". Then you make a sad face and say, "ohh" when that lady walks away. Just today you saw an interview on TV with the Long Island Medium lady and said, "GiGi! GiGi!". This made me laugh because you must associate the blonde hair with your GiGi and grey hair with your MeMa.

I went to Kohl's last weekend and bought you a few clothes on clearance while you stayed home with Daddy. When I got home, I opened the bag and showed you the clothes I got you. You picked up a pair of PJ's, held them up to yourself and said, "cute". I just about died hearing you say this! You love your clothes already don't you?!

You will break out in the Winnie the Pooh exercise dance in a store, at the park or anywhere you feel like it. You raise your arms high, then touch your toes all while saying, "up..down..up!"

Family Sunday Coffee

Before nap time I told you if you stayed in your bed and took a good rest, when you woke up you could wear mama's necklace. You did it and so you got to wear it!

Pooh bath toys for being such a good big girl in your new bed.

Feeding and chasing ducks but mostly eating the bread I brought for the ducks when I wasn't looking.

First night in your new bed started with smiles but tears and sadness soon followed. First night was the hardest. 

Happy to be outside, in the dirt, in a hole.

Our evening walks are mostly you pushing stroller, dancing with your shadow, and holding hands.

First pedicure. Mama and you had a at home pedi day and you refused socks the whole day so you could see your toes!

                                  

Once I said it was perfectly okay to paint your toes and hands, you went for it! 

Got to play with couple week old lambs .

You got sad and upset when Daddy said he had to put the Toad back to bed.

You climbed out of your bed to get your favorite Dr. Suess books and then got back in bed and hugged them until you fell asleep.

Your smile and hugs make mean everything to me.

Baby Shower Bliss

This past weekend I did something exciting! I hosted a baby shower for my good friend. I am linking up with Dateless in Dallas and Showered With Design today on the weekend recap.

My friend is due any day with baby #2 so this party was just in time..whew! Yes, I was a bad friend and didn't plan it sooner but hey cut me some slack, it's my first baby shower hosting gig. Back when I was pregnant with my daughter we enrolled in The Bradley Method class in which we attended each Saturday for many weeks. It was at this class that I met a group of fellow pregnant women who have become such good friends to us. We met about 2 years ago and these ladies and their families make our life full and happy on a regular basis. They are some amazing mama's and daddy's I am thankful to get to call them my pals. Our kids are all around the same age so we share many playdates and outings. It's been so fantastic to have other mommy friends (and one stay at home Dad) in our lives. Well a few months ago a few of us talked about what we could do for our friend since she was pregnant with her second child (the first of our group..yay!). We came up with the idea to give her and her family a bunch of frozen meals to enjoy once the baby came as our shower gift.  I offered to host the party and everyone brought their frozen meals to the party. These other women are fabulous cooks so I can't say I wasn't tempted to steal those meals for myself!! 

Originally, I only wanted to do a few decorations to make it more shower like but then I got to thinking... even though this was their second baby, this baby still deserved a great party and needed some fab decor. Since we had just returned from our cruise I only had 5 days to find/make decorations and clean my house. I think it turned out pretty cute and I really enjoyed making this table festive. Her nursery colors are coral and mint so I wanted the party in those colors. BEAUTIFUL colors and an amazing combo but sooo hard to find here in our little town! I did the best I could with some paint, washi tape and a glue gun. It all worked out and we all had a great time!

Oh and check out the preggo lady in the last picture. You can't even tell she has a bump going on! She is all belly, that lucky duck!

Baby's Nickname is "Buds"-Not actual name! 

Washi Tape LOVE

We forgot a group picture but snapped this quick one before the preggo and her tot left.