Time Lapse Giraffe

I'm just going to leave this right here.

3 days

3 months

6 months

1 year

18 months

2 years

Two years old

Oh boy is she ever two.

The Vitals:
30 lb (with all her clothes & a full belly)
35.5 inches

She's leggy and yet still has some of the baby softness, especially in her hands and feet.

Highlights:
The Talking! Some of my favorite words right now: co-wees (covers), tay-maile (tomato), may-pup (makeup) She has ALL THE WORDS and is repeating everything, also constructing her own sentences. She picked something up off of J's nightstand, looked at it and said, "This is Daddy's." What?!? Yes, it is, but...whoa.
Singing! She sings to us. Real songs. Identifiable songs. BEST.
Running, "jumping," spinning. She's pretty clumsy when she's walking, but she loves to dance.

Skills:
Um... see above. She likes to "drive" my car, and check the mail. She can and does feed the dog. She fetches stuff.
With her step stool (that she almost doesn't need), she will turn the lights on & off

Works in Progress:
Actual jumping. With two feet
Counting. Mostly it's 1, 2, 9. Except if she's throwing something. Then it's "One, Tree, TROW!"
Listening? She'll figure that our eventually, right?

She likes:
Winnie the Pooh, books, disassembling things, cooking, her blanket, putting on makeup, purses, vacuuming, dumping things from one container to another, snuggling, bath time, showers, singing, spinning, dip, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, nuggets, pasta in pretty much any form, her big girl bed (which is actually a toddler day bed, but it was her big present today and DUDE! she was so happy!)

She dislikes:
Not being able to do whatever she wants whenever she wants it... just like every other human.







I like:
All the communication, and when she spontaneously runs up to hug me, her laugh, when she takes my hand to lead me around, how fast she's learning, her curls-which are still just at the back of her head, but slowly taking over as the front gets long enough to reach the back, pigtails!

I dislike:
Tantrums, just like every other human

She is such a little mimic, and it's sometimes startling to hear the strange habits I have coming from her mouth. Like the fact that I tend to give her simple directions in threes. When I tell her to pull her blanket out of her crib, I say "pull, pull, pull." And thus, so does she. She tells me she'll be right back when she leaves the room. When she bumps into something or falls down, "I sorry." When Garrison cries, "I coming! Is Ok Garrison. I coming!" Yeah. Yeah, it's... yeah.

Her party was great, but I only have pictures from before everyone arrived of the cake & food, because both my phone & camera were non-functional. So, once everyone else's phones send me the goods, I'll share.

You guys. She's great. I don't know how I got so lucky. I mean, we have days. Days where I just flop into bed and wonder how I'm ever going to make her into a functional member of society. I get exasperated and have no idea how to handle the ultra-mega-meltdowns. I get mad when she's willful. Then she does something sweet or helpful or cute and it gets me through that moment. She's as smart and sweet and adorable as a two year old.

Irish lass

Matchy matchy

Unimpressed toddler

This actually happened. Famous silhouette

totally ladylike

Fashion-forward!

 ``

Sweet little ham

PJs at TJs 2014

A weekend in Phoenix with 20 some odd lady friends was exactly the get away I needed. When I found out I was pregnant with Garrison, I didn't think I would be able to go this year. Then I thought maybe I could handle it--after traveling with a toddler I thought an infant would be much easier (spoiler alert: I was right!). But then J got laid off & finances were dodgy, but he got a job, so I decided to register. Registration opened at the exact same time as my pre-registration appointment at the hospital, so as soon as it was over, I was frantically PayPal-ing Kelly. Thankfully Medical City was quick and I snagged a spot.

Kelly explains it much better than I will, but I love that this party is completely nonexclusive. EVERYONE is invited. You don't have to have a blog, or Twitter much, or know anyone in particular, or like certain things... well, I suppose you really should like hanging out in comfy clothes with snacks. But beyond that, it's an open invitation. But it's small. Which makes it so much less scary. You can wander around talking to everyone easily.

I'm sure I've said all this before.

So on Friday, Garrison & I headed to the airport. Other than a gate change that required taking a shuttle to a whole new terminal 10 min before we were supposed to board and then a 30 minute delay, we had an uneventful flight. I got my rental car without hassle & went to get a bite to eat & buy a car charger for my dying phone. And also some diaper cream. Switching G over to disposables for the weekend led to a horrible rashy booty. 

But G was fussy so I stopped for a diaper change. Oh. Oh boy. Now, back seat diaper changes aren't new to me, but this baby had a blow out, and apparently I was changing things mid-blow. Yeah. It was messy. Thank goodness for leather seats, ok?

Then I shopped, picked up Kammah, we drove through rush hour traffic to the party house and... well, hung out & chatted. Low key. Good food. In bed by 11. Oh yeah, it was rad.

Saturday was more of the same. Donuts for breakfast, shopping, Red Robin for lunch, trip to Ulta, then prepping for the party.

Muumuu & make-up.

Kelly had a makeup artist come & teach us tricks. She helped make sense of highlighting & contouring. First, the bronzer she choose was way darker than I would have imagined would work on my pasty face. Then she said to imagine an E & a 3 on each side of my face, starting at my hairline, then under my cheeks, then under my jaw. Ok, it was so simple. I tried once I got home & boom! I have cheekbones! 

So it was just a nice, quiet weekend with friends. Some people that I only get to see at this party. Some friends I see all the time. And people that it feels like I see all the time because we tweet all the time. I met some new people, and re-met folks that I haven't seen since the one time I met them in Austin at the only Blathering I've attended. And I wasn't pregnant! Everyone was so wonderful & welcoming to Garrison, which is one of the things that I've never really appreciated about PJs before, because I haven't needed to take advantage of the "bring a baby" (well, not on the OUTSIDE) clause. But everyone was willing to hold him so I could go stuff my face, or pee alone, or play with make up, or gaze longingly at the cake. 

This weekend is still one of the highlights of my year. I hope Kelly continues to do it for a long, long, long time. 

Four?! months

This one snuck up on me. I've been so focused on ignoring the fact that Eleanor turns 2 in 4 days that I nearly missed 4 months.

The Vitals:
16.2 lb in a freshly clean diaper & empty belly
Long. Very long. I haven't been able to hold his squirmy self down to measure, but I'll get official numbers from the doctor next week.

Highlights:
North Texas Irish Festival. A couple of birthday parties. A cold or two.

Skills:
Laughing! The best thing in the world. His first laugh was on St. Patrick's day, which is exactly one year after I found out he was joining our family, so that was neat.
Puking! On everything! Still!
Sitting up in the Bumbo
"Standing" on laps
Grabbing things (with about a 50% success rate)
Shoving any & everything into his mouth
Being naked

Works in Progress:
Rolling over--oh how he wants to do it, but is still a quarter turn short.

He likes:
Snuggling
Singing
Grabbing fistfuls of hair
Drooling
Watching Eleanor

He dislikes:
The itchy forehead rash that causes him to try to maim himself on a daily basis

I like:
Giggles & smiles
He recognizes me & smiles when he sees me. He likes me. Dude.
That he's still a mostly immobile lump that I can just lay down & expect him to stay put
That he's learning to do stuff every second and become less lump-like by the minute
His birthmark

I dislike:
The mysterious thing in the middle of the night that causes him to lose his wee little mind for 3-5 minutes

He's so big and bright-eyed and beautiful. I'm so lucky to have him.