The adventures of Rebecca and Madeline

I am in denial

2011-07-06T18:32:00.000-04:00

Rebecca is getting old beyond her years.

For instance, the following

#1 She asked for her own cell phone

Over the weekend I was explaining what she should do if ever we get separated out in public or she gets lost.

I explained how she should find a policeman. If she can't find a policeman, find a mommy with kids and tell her that she lost her mommy & ask her to call a policeman.

We practiced telling the policeman her name, her mommy & daddy's name and where we live. I explained that with this info the police could find us and our phone #s.

She then says "Wait, Mommy, I'm not done. Instead... you could give me my own phone. And you could put your phone number in it." And the grand finale: "And it would just be for emergencies"

Aren't I supposed to have another decade before I have the "your own phone" convo?

The very next day after the phone convo

"I think when I am five I am going to ask for a TV in my room. I think when I am five that would be good."

Yeah, when you're five it'll still be a no. Nice try, though.

Tonight

Rebecca wrote my grocery list for me.

I helped with the spelling of a few things but she wrote it all herself.

Granted, it was all in mirror image, but STILL!

I am in denial.

2010-08-22T20:41:00.002-04:00

Madeline is saying the sweetest words I've ever heard.

"Love you!"

A few nights ago at dinner, the three of us (Rebecca was having a sleepover at Grandma's house) were sitting around the table. I was trying to teach her to say "Please" when she was wanting something and she finally got "Cheese, please!" down pretty well. It was so sweet, the scrunched up nose and wrinkley face that she'd make when she said it that Brian said "Oh Madeline, I love you". She paused for a moment then broke into a grin and said "Love you! Love you! Mama? Love you!"

She's also now saying "Cheese please" every time she wants anything.

2010-08-22T20:35:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I took Rebecca into the grocery store to grab a few quick things while Brian kept a sleeping Madeline in the car. As we were rounding our way through the freezer section and past the beer Rebecca stopped dead in her tracks. I turned around and said "Come on, Becca, keep up with me" She stood completely still and stared at someone hidden from me behind a display case. "Rebecca," I hissed, "Come on! Don't stare. Let's go!"

She turned to look at me with wonder and excitement showing on her face. Then she blurted out something unrecognizable. I asked her what she'd said and she said "Mama! Come here! Look!"

I finally walked over to prod her along and realized what she was looking at.

She whispered again to me "Mama! That man! That man has a TAIL!"

There was a man restocking the beer display with a feather dusting brush in his back pocket. Because he was squatting down it was sticking strait out of his pocket and indeed looked a bit like a tail.

Rebecca excitedly kept whispering "A tail! Mommy he has a TAIL!"

As I pulled her along towards the checkout, trying to explain it was a brush not a tail, she shook her head.
"No Mama, I saw. That man had a tail!"

2010-08-22T20:32:00.002-04:00

The other day I was getting the girls ready to leave for daycare when Rebecca stopped short, looked at me with a puzzeled expression and said "Mama? But.... if Santa Claus as fingernails, why is he named Santa CLAWS".

I tried to give a very simplistic explanation that some people have last names that sound like other words. She looked at me for a moment then said "I don't know about that, Mama" in a cynical tone.

2010-05-25T15:06:00.002-04:00

Who would have thought that hearing Mama would be the 2nd sweetest thing Madeline's ever said?
This weekend she started saying "Becca". Or rather "Gah-kah".
This morning I said "Madeline can you say 'Becca'?" and she looked at me and smiled slightly and said "Gahkah!" then gave this little look like "Check it, I'm so stinking cute and I know it. Go me!"
I never thought anything would top hearing her say Mama, but this very well might

Madeline at 10 months (+5 days)

2010-04-26T10:32:00.002-04:00

My big girl! I can't believe how quickly she's growing.

On Friday March 26th we got home from work and were playing in the living room after dinner when she started crawling. We clapped and said "yay Maddie!", she sits up on her own and starts to clap for herself. Then she crawled over and started pulling herself up to her knees on the furniture.

Later that night we noticed that on top of all of that, she popped 2 of her new teeth!

She now has 2 bottom teeth and 3 top teeth all the way through. She's cutting 2 more (at least) on the bottom and 3 more on the top all at the same time. Poor little bird!

She slept through the night for the first time about 2 weeks ago, but that was a one-time occurance. Greatly appreciated, none the less.

Now, in the last few weeks she's graduated from kinda-crawling to full on crawling. As of last week she is walking along furniture a bit and can briefly stand on her own without holding on to anyone or anything!

This weekend while visiting with some of Brian's family she ate a good third of my T-bone steak! I couldn't believe it! She would chew, swallow and yelp for more!

She did it!

2010-04-26T10:13:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I was changing a particularly gross toddler diaper when I decided something needed to give. We got cleaned up and then I said "Rebecca, starting tomorrow, we are done with paper diapers. It's your choice, you can use cloth diapers again like Madeline does, or you can start using underpants all the time."
She said "underpants!" I explained that would mean she would need to use the potty every time she had to go. She looked at me for a moment and said "Yeah, I don't want to do that."
A few minutes later I was loading the dishwasher when she walked up and said "Mama? I thought I wasn't ready to use the potty all the time, but I think I am."

So the next morning we got up and packed up her paper diapers and put them away. I bounced around like a mad woman excitedly saying "You're such a big girl! What a big girl!" then reminded her that she needs to let mommy and daddy know when she needs to go potty.

She went the entire day without an accident. She skipped nap that day, she was kind of freaked out about the idea that she might wet the bed, but I wanted to see if she could do it. By nighttime though she didn't even bat an eye about going to bed without a diaper. Never once did she ask for a diaper.

It's been about a month (we started on March 28th) and she's only had a handful of accidents! I'm so proud :)

At one point during the first few days of this Brian and I were doing the excited-parents thing telling her how well she was doing, what a big girl, etc and she gave us this look that I could only describe as "These people? OMG need to chill." complete with a slight eyeroll. Apparently we need to turn it down a bit.

2010-03-11T08:50:00.002-05:00

This morning Rebecca was singing to her self, then turned to me and said "Mama listen to my song!"

To the tune of Micky Mouse (you know, M-I-C-K-E-Y etc etc)

Em-i-ly, Q-R-I, M-O-U-I-P

2010-03-10T09:13:00.002-05:00

Madeline started waving about a week ago. Kind of. Sort of. She gets the concept of waiving, but her hand sort of twitches down at her side and her fingers wiggle about a quarter-centimeter. LOL

We had her at the doctor this week for her first illness (:( ) since she started coughing and having some wheezing. Just as I'd expected the doctor diagnosed her with RSV and Bronchiolitis. He explained that the majority of children with a cold have RSV, they're just not all diagnosed with it unless they come in with wheezing. It apparently isn't that big a deal until they start having major breathing problems. He gave me the scary signs to watch for and in trying to ease my mind explained that "most children get through this fine, you just might need to hospitalize them and give them oxygen sometimes". WHAT?!
Thankfully it doesn't look like we're anywhere near that. She's had this for 3-5 days and she's already starting to sound better. She's in great spirits. Half the time you'd never even know she's sick, she's all smiles and giggles.

Rebecca & Madeline's first "argument"

2010-03-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

This morning Madeline was laying in our bed and Rebecca climbed in with her. Rebecca was talking to her when Madeline started saying "noooooo. Nooooooo" (I'm sure it's just babbling, but it sounds like a really emphatic Nooooooo)Rebecca chimed in.
It went like this:

Rebecca: Hi Maddie! You can play with my penguin if you want to
Madelie: Noooooo
Rebecca: Yessss
Madeline: Noooo
Rebecca: YES!
Madeline: Nooooooo
Rebecca: YES! :huff:
Madeline: Giggle. Noooooo. Giggle.

LOL. I was dying.

Rebecca's birthday

2010-02-21T11:43:00.010-05:00

Ok, so it was 2 months ago. I'm playing catch-up.

The weekend prior to Rebecca's birthday we threw her a birthday party for her daycare friends.

My mom won the use of her old apartment complex clubhouse and kindly gave it to us for the party. Rebecca requested chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (that's my girl!) and pizza. She had such a great time!

She looks like she's having a great time, no?

Isn't it just the cutest ever?

2010-02-21T11:38:00.003-05:00

Rebecca adores the big sister/little sister shirts. It was a sad, sad day when Madeline outgrew hers. Unfortunately that happened a lot faster than I expected and I don't think I ever got a photo of them together in them :(

But look how cute!

Helper Day

2009-11-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

A few months ago Rebecca started saying a phrase we couldn't decipher while she was coloring. We'd ask her to repeat it several times and give up because we just couldn't figure it out- a rare occurrence for us when she's talking.

Finally, FINALLY, after weeks, maybe months, of this happening we figured it out!

"Whaddada wonnonna heppa day" = What do you want on your helper day?
Otherwise known as: Daycare's Special Helper Day

Every day one of the kids in daycare is the "special helper". They get to pick what they have for lunch and snack that day. The pick an activity and book before nap time. Apparently, in the 2-5 year old world it is a big HUGE deal! And Rebecca was trying to play "helper day".

Now that we figured out what she was saying and wanting to do, it has become her absolute favorite game to play. She'll ask 'Whatta you want on your helper day?" and we'll answer what we want for lunch. Chicken nuggets and spaghetti are the front runners, just to please her.

Ladi dadi we like the potty. 'Cause that's how we roll.

2009-11-06T14:26:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week the universe decided to sucker punch me, Mommy-style. 2 big milestones for my girls in one day.

Madeline has been rolling over from tummy to back occasionally for a couple of weeks- she was about 17wks the first time. Then, on Monday night she was playing on the floor with Brian while he was talking to Mike (his brother) on the phone and said "honey, have you seen her? She's all the way rolled onto her side from her back. She's so close!" Then, poof! Over she went! Naturally it was right as I turned my head away. Poop.

Speaking of poop, about 2 minutes later I realized that Rebecca had been sitting in the bathroom for quite a while. I called out "Rebecca, what are you doing?" and I hear "Nnnnn-::grunt grunt:: nnnnothing!"

Then about 30 seconds later, she yelped out "I pooped! I pooped in the potty!"
Yes! for the very first time! Yay! One less human-like turd for me to clean up out of a diaper!

She's been doing a great job using her potty for going pee. It's been a good 2 weeks since she's actually used her diaper in the evenings for going potty. She's been great about just getting up and using her potty on her own when she needs go to. She's been waking up in the mornings pretty much try for a few weeks also. And on the weekends she usually wakes me up by standing as close to my face as possible and leaning to stage whisper "Mommy! I need toilet paper! I went PEE!"

While I'm not in a huge rush to hurry her into potty training (that would require my using public restrooms far too frequently which horrifies me) it's exciting and bittersweet to think about her being through with diapers.

It seems like everything is happening overnight for both of these girls. Just a few weeks ago Madeline was sleeping all the time, eating constantly, then sleeping again. Now she sleeps, eats, plays, and eats more. But she's starting to have that emerging personality that I can't wait to see more of.

Couldn't this wait until you reach the age of 3, at least?

2009-10-16T12:20:00.003-04:00

A few days ago Rebecca was laying down for bed and reached up and took my face in her hands. "Mama?" she asked me. "My baby sister Madeline was in your tummy yesterday?" (She's got the concept that yesterday means before this moment, and tomorrow is in the future, but the actual concept of time, not so much)

I explained that Madeline was in my tummy a few months ago, but now she's out and growing up to be a big girl, just like Rebecca. She paused for a moment then said "You just... squished her right out!"
She's remarkably close on that one.

Then last night we were doing the bedtime routine again, and once again she took my face in her hands and said "Mama? How'd Madeline get in your tummy"

Seriously? Could we have the birds and bees talk when you're a bit more mature. Like 3? I paused for a few seconds, trying desperately to think of how I wanted to answer this question. I don't want to lie to her or mislead her, but she obviously doesn't need to know any kind of detail. So I finally settled on "Mommies and Daddies can sometimes make babies and they go in Mommy's tummy". Not exactly what I wanted to say, in hindsight, but it works.

How in the world do you explain this sort of thing to a 2 year old?

Twinkle, Twinkle

2009-10-16T12:17:00.002-04:00

This morning as we were driving in to daycare/work, Rebecca looked out the window and said "Mama? Where's the stars?" It was a pretty cloudy morning so I explained that the stars were there, you just can't see them through the clouds.
We drove on a while, then suddenly Rebecca bursts out "Mama! I found the moon! AND a star!"
She went on to ask me the star's name. When I said I didn't know, she decided he looked like a Freddie. And Freddie was going to sing a song. Twinkle, twinkle little star, just like him.

As we drove on the sun started to come up. She pointed out the sunrise, the pink and orange colors in the sky, then wistfully called "Bye Freddie! See you tonight!"

I love her so.

baby wearing

2009-09-06T11:13:00.004-04:00

camel ride

2009-09-06T11:06:00.003-04:00

This is Rebecca's camel friend, Sassy.

As she was walking down the steps after her ride, she looked at me solemnly and said "I had a very nice time on the camel, Mom." Naturally this was exactly one second after I had turned off the video camera.

Zoo day!

2009-09-06T10:52:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago we took a mini-vacation down to Grand Rapids for the weekend. We spent most of the time taking the girls to the zoo and we had SO MUCH FUN!

Rebecca loved seeing all of the animals. Madeline loved sleeping in the moby wrap and sling. Brian and I loved hauling crap in the stroller. Ha :)

Penguins- I swear I liked it more than Rebecca did. I'm a dork.

Isn't she just too cool for school?

Smiling baby

2009-09-06T10:16:00.005-04:00

Madeline's first camera smile
Her first smile was for me on my birthday- best present ever :)

DRAMA!

2009-09-04T21:44:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Rebecca was walking down our front steps as I was getting Madeline into the car. Suddenly, Rebecca was leaning against the car sobbing.

I rushed over to her and surveyed the situation. I didn't notice anything wrong. I ask her what her beef was and she cried back "My leg just almost broke off!"

Ha. I asked her what happened and she said the same thing again. So I asked if she tripped on a step? No. Did she trip on a rock? No. Did she trip at all? No.

All I could deduce was that her leg almost broke off. But why, we'll never know.

She's so conscientious

2009-09-04T21:26:00.004-04:00

Last weekend Brian and I woke up to hearing Rebecca open her bedroom door (a trick she had learned the day before). She opened the door, looked out and could see that we were still in bed since the house was completely dark, then closed her door. Then a beat passes and we hear a quite voice "I'm ready to get up Mooooooom".

Then, the following day we were up at the cabin when she wanted to play with the "Dora spinner" (A sit and spin that plays Dora sounds. Aka the bane of my cabin existence- that freaking song gets stuck in my head for daaaaays). I was nursing Madeline and Brian was out putting up tree stands, but Becca wanted the spinner out. I told her to go ahead and grab it from the toy area behind the couch. She stared blankly at me for a moment, then asked again for me to get it.

After a moment I realized that she didn't want to go to the toy area since she'd have to go past the wood burning stove, which we've told her before not to touch since it's hot.

After realizing this was the problem I assured her that I was telling her that this time it was ok, the stove wasn't hot, it wasn't on, and she could just grab the Dora spinner and come back to me.

She dropped her head and burst into tears. "I can't Mama! I can't go back there because of the stooooooove".

I'm so glad she listens to us. Sometimes. When she feels like it :)

See this look?

2009-07-24T19:58:00.002-04:00

The look of worry, confusion or concern? That's Madelines standard look. I call it the wrinkly forehead look.

Madeline, ultimate fighter?

2009-07-24T19:45:00.003-04:00

Put 'em up!

July 4th

2009-07-23T13:05:00.004-04:00

On 4th of July weekend we went up to the cabin to spend some time with Brian's aunt and uncle, visiting from Alaska.
Rebecca adores the cabin, it's one of her favorite places on earth. Uncle Ken taught Rebecca how to play baseball!

At one point he asked if she wanted to throw it instead of hit it and she replied "No, I just want to baseball it" with a slight life of her bat.

Becca the Big Sister

2009-07-23T12:59:00.002-04:00

She loves being a big sister!

Introducing

2009-07-23T12:21:00.000-04:00

Rebecca is a big sister! Madeline Olivia entered the world on Father's day, Sunday June 21 at 3:43am!

Rebecca loves her. She's fantastic with her- gentle and sweet. She loves giving her hus and kisses.

Proof that my child is smarter than me

2009-06-05T12:11:00.000-04:00

I have contended for a long time now that Rebecca is smarter than I am. It's ok. I'm good with it. She's brilliant. But does she really have to prove it all the time? Little showoff.

She's recently discovered the wonder that is Dora the Explorer. Unfortunately this also co-incided with Brian discovering that season 1 & 2 of Dora is available on Netflix's Watch Instantly feature. So Saturday mornings, it's All Dora, All the Time. (Ok not all the time. But dude, that little girl that voices Dora screams everything she says. 24 minute episode = 5 years in Laura Time)

Rebecca has been cutting all 4 of her 2 year molars in the last 2 weeks and she's miserable. This morning she woke up screaming in pain, saying "owie owie" (which is possibly one of the more horrific ways you can imagine to wake up a mother). I went into her room, rubbed her back, then rocked her for a bit while she slept- something we haven't done in months and months. I got all nostolgic and misty. She went back to her bed for about 2.4 seconds before the screaming started again. I finally realized she was not about to go back to sleep, so we got up and changed her for the day, then lay on the couch for a little bit and watched Dora.

As she lay there, I continued to get ready for the day. That is, until I was stopped dead in my tracks by hearing my 2 year old repeating words in spanish. Not only repeating them, but using the exactly perfect correct inflection. "Abre!" (which if my Reject memory serves, that means open?) 4 years of spanish in high school and I can't roll my Rs that well. Then later on, she repeated Abuela (Grandma)and when I asked her who Abuela was, she told me "Dora's Gramma". Duuuuuude.

I know that Ben, our daycare provider/Angel from heaven Chris's husband, speaks spanish around the kids, reads them books in spanish, etc. But dang! I'm so impressed!

So I learned 3 things this morning. 1) That my child speaks better spanish than I do 2) Dora, while obnoxious, apparently actually can teach children a little something and 3) I have to figure out how to e-burn this post entry before Rebecca reaches teen years and can use it as ammo against me with "See!? You don't know everything!"

Such a big girl

2009-05-26T22:34:00.000-04:00

Rebecca is very proud to tell you, she's a very big girl. As of a month or so ago Brian turned around her carseat to face forward. We put it off until now because we feel it's safer for her to face rearward as long as she fits. The time has come. She has reached her (crappy) carseat's height limitations for rear-facing.

We made sure to talk it up how she was going to be facing forwards now because she's such a big girl, isn't it exciting!

The first morning I went to put her in her carseat in my van, I opened the van door and she stopped short. She looked at the seat, then at me and goes "What happened here?" LOL. (Now where would she have heard that? dum de dum.....)
I put her in the seat, explaining how Daddy had turned her seat around like we'd talked about.

As I drove into town Rebecca, as usual, sang to herself her made up songs. This time I turned the radio down to get a better listen. I could see her in the rear-view mirror head bopping from side to side to a beat. Then she bust out "La la. La la. I'm facing forward! I'm facingfooooorward". I about drove off the road laughing.

Then, as we were getting closer to town, she suddenly yelped "Mama! I can see your windshield! And it's RAINING! And you have WIPERS on!" It suddenly had occurred to her that she could see what I was seeing!

She's so proud of herself.
She loves showing everyone she can think of her Big Girl carseat and how it faces FORWARD.

Her newest accomplishment relating to the seat: leaning all about stoplights. She loves to point out to me that the light is red right now so I have to stop, but when it turns green it's my turn to go again. And she'll watch for it. As soon as it's green, I'm to GO GO GO! The little backseat driver. (Who, did you hear? faces FORWARD!)

Big News

2009-04-19T19:39:00.000-04:00

It seems comical that we're just now announcing this on here, but Rebecca is due to be a big sister in approximately 8 weeks.

Baby #2's estimated arrival date is June 13th, meaning Rebecca will be almost exactly 2 1/2 when she becomes a big sister.

We decided not to find out the sex of baby #2, just like we did with Rebecca. Picking out names has been harder this time around, mostly due to me. I keep finding names I love, then telling Brian and he'll agree. We'll have that name as The Name for That Sex for weeks, or in one case, months. Then I suddenly decide it would be a crime to name a child that, yuck how could we, and we're back to square one. I'm pretty sure we won't have names solidified until we actually see and meet him/her.

Rebecca is already is so excited for the baby. Several times a day she, unprompted, gives my belly a big hug and lots of kisses. She strokes my belly and talks to the baby. She tells me "Mama, when the baby comes out, I'm going to look at it". We'll ask her, when she says this, if she's also going to help us hold it, change it, play with it, so on. She'll look very serious for a moment, then say "yes, but I'm going to look at it". I think the suspense is hard for her too :)

This is me, falling off the face of the earth

2009-04-19T19:35:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, right... Rebecca has a blog. Hey, how about that.

So anyway, it's been a good 4 months since I posted last. Whoops.

I'm here now. It's the thought that counts, right? Good.

We've a few updates that need to be made (obviously, since it's been 4 months)but I think they each deserve their own separate posts.

2008-12-15T07:04:00.000-05:00

Her newest favorite game: "tent". Brian took one of Becca's blankets and draped it over the top of her crib while we were playing to make her a fort, or as she calls it "My tent!"
Now any time she sees this blanket she pulls it around asking for 'My tent?! My tent?!"

2008-12-15T06:56:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Rebecca and I were hanging out at home. She'd just asked for her jammies off when she took me by the hand and said "I get dressed."
She took me to the dresser, pulled out her shorts from the summer. Then to the closet and asked for a shirt. I started looking threw them when she pointed to the shirt and sweatshirt she wanted. She pulled me through the house picking up items as we went, then asked me to help her get dressed. The result? I have a fassion diva on my hands. Purty, ain't she?

2008-12-15T06:41:00.000-05:00

A few months ago we took Rebecca up to the cabin for the weekend. It was post-hunting season so we wandered through the woods for a while. She decided the dirt path was just much too dirty, so naturally she cleaned it up.

Halloween

2008-12-15T06:21:00.000-05:00

This year Rebecca dressed as a ballerina. She was adorable, but unfortunately didn't want to stand still for photos. This is the only photo we got where she's smiling. She had a great time, despite what our photos show.

2008-12-15T05:49:00.000-05:00

We're back!
I had the blog shut down for a while b/c of some formatting issues. At least for me, photos were showing up fuzzy and weird and the layout was getting all spazzy. It should, should being the operative word, be working now. I think.

Since it's been, oh, like a decade since I've updated I'm going to have a barrage of updates coming in the next few days.

Dancing Queen

2008-09-23T09:39:00.000-04:00

Dancing with Daddy :)

Pardon Rebecca's toys everywhere. That's her new game. Empty everything then go onto something more fun.

Baby, you can drive my car

2008-09-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

Beep beep! Beep beep! Yeah!

My baby is 21

2008-09-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

Months, that is.

I can't believe that in 3 months time she'll be 2! That went WAY too fast!

In honor of her "birthday" I want to take a moment to reflect on the things she's doing these days.

- This morning she busted out her new phrase "Darn it!". I about died laughing. Thanking the heavens we're very careful about our own language!
She loves airplanes and helicopters. One flew over head as we were getting out of the car. I pointed at it, then said "oops, it went behind the trees so we can't see it anymore. Darn". She looked at me, cocked her head and said "Yeah. Darn it!" LOL

- She loves to sing. Most of the time it's her own little songs in her own little language. But the other day I was listening to a book on tape in the car in which one of the characters sings a lullaby. Later that evening, after only hearing the lullaby once, Rebecca was playing with her baby and singing. I finally realized she was singing the lullaby! I'm so proud :)

- She is very opinionated. She likes to pick out her own clothes and is NOT happy when you pick something for her she doesn't want to wear. I foresee many days of mismatched clothing in our future and I'm just fine with it!

- She's ridiculously, mind-bogglingly smart. She has an amazing memory and talks up a storm.

- She can count to 3. And likes to randomly throw in the number 6 when she's counting. So it usually goes like this. "One.... two.... three..... six.... two.... six..... one.... two.... three"

- She's starting to learn what "one" and "two" mean. She can tell me if there are one or two barrettes in her hand. One or two socks on her feet.

- She knows several colors. Right now she can correctly identify pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and white.

- She loves music and loves to dance.

- She walks around on the very, very tips of her toes. Not on the balls of her feet, but on her actual tiptoes. Brian calls her our little ballerina. I'm starting to have visions of the NY City ballet...

- She's such a happy, smiley girl. Rarely is she tantrum-y or fussy (unless she's cutting teeth or sick. Then all bets are off)

- She tells us when she needs her diaper changed. Typically she'll take our hand and walk us to the changing table and say 'Diaper please. Diaper is yucky."

- She loves books. She has parts of a couple of her books memorized.
She'll sit down with Sandra Boynton's Moo Baa La La La and flip through the pages.
She'll see the picture of the cow and say "Cow says moo" then the sheep "Sheep.... BAAAAA" then the pigs "La la la. No no! Oink!"
Which means "A cow says moo. A sheep says baa. Three singing pigs say la la la. " No no!" you say, that isn't right. The pink says Oink all day and night". Turns out I have it memorized too.

- She sits at the table without a booster seat most of the time now. She just sits on her knees and eats. If we're having something particularly messy or hard for her to reach then she'll sit in the high chair. But she prefers to sit in the "Chair! My chair" versus in the "Seat"

- She is a GREAT eater. This child packs away more food than I could have imagined. And yet she's still a SKINNY little girl. She's not picky. She loves fruits especially. She could (and has) eat her weight in blueberries. The result is not pretty.
The only 3 things we've ever come across that she really dislikes are peas (I don't blame her), plain yogurt (again, I don't blame her) and cottage cheese. Otherwise, she'll chow down.

- Her favorite food is probably tacos.
This morning on the way into work she had a stuffed puppy in her lap. I could hear her talking in the back seat so I asked her what she said. She replied "Puppy is eating tacos". Then she proceeded to make "Nom nom nom" eating noises. She cracks me up.

- She loves having her photo taken. When she sees the camera come out she gives a big grin and says "CHEEEEEEESE!"

Rebecca's first crush

2008-09-08T11:18:00.000-04:00

Rebecca has a first love. We're shocked that she's fallen so hard for a boy at such a tender young age. But none the less, she has. And we're thrilled with her choice.

The man in question is.... Harry Potter.

I'm not joking. Brian was home with Rebecca for a couple of days recently and had been watching Harry Potter while she napped. When she woke up, it was still playing and she pointed and the TV and said "Boy! Glasses!" She sat transfixed for quite a while.

Now I must point out, we don't generally let Rebecca watch TV. For one, she's never been interested. Plus we don't have cable. What would she watch? My Sex and the City DVDs? Um, no.

Anyway, over the next several days she'd point to the TV, grab the remote, press buttons and say "Boy! Glasses! Where's boy?!" So Brian would succumb and put in a Harry Potter DVD. She'd happily sit, playing with her toys, all while pointing at "Boy! Glasses!"

This weekend I started teaching her the characters. Now she knows "Boy!" is also known as "Harry". His friend is "Ron!" I didn't think she'd be able to master "Hermione" just yet so for now she's just "Girl".

I hate to remind her that Harry Potter in fact grows up. I'm not even going to consider letting her know (just yet) that (SPOILER- If You haven't read the last book and you intend to, stop reading now) he later in life marries Ginny Weasley. I don't think her little 1 year old heart could take it.

So for now, we're in the midst of Puppy Love.

What do you think? I think they make a cute couple.

Bathtub crayons- A gift from the heavens above

2008-08-21T22:50:00.001-04:00

Seriously, these things are MAGIC!

We bought them a few weeks ago for Rebecca since she loves to color and bath time had been a fight for a few days. They're a Godsend!

I finally have a way to wash her hair without her screaming. I make Brian draw elaborate portraits on the top of our bath wall while I pour water VERY quickly through her hair. Yesterday, I even got to condition it for the first time in about 4 months. Yay!

Considering we have a consistent ebb and flow of "I love the bath! I hate the bath" I'm hoping that these will make the I Love the Baths much more common. If not, I'm moving to bath markers!

Quick! What's the number for Mensa?!

2008-08-21T22:37:00.001-04:00

Rebecca's such a little smarty pants. I have to brag on behalf of my child for a little while. Because, hey, it's my blog. I get to do that sort of thing here!

First, about 2 weeks ago she demonstrated her ability to label colors. She brought me one of her new bathtub crayons (more about those in another post) and said "Mama! Pink crayon!" and it was. I was beaming with pride. Until, of course, Brian pointed out that perhaps it was a coincidence.

The next morning I was pouring her some milk and selected a straw for her in her cup (as requested, she's so demanding sometimes! LOL). She reached in, picked it up and said "Mama, purple straw!" Or I suppose more like "Muh-muh, puh-buh stwaw". She's brilliant.

Then a couple of days ago we were reading one of her books (Sandra Boynton's Hippos Go Berserk- great book. V. cute) and I was reading "ONE hippo all alone. Calls TWO hippos on the phone" Rebecca kept repeating the numbers as I read them so I set the book aside and just counted the hippos with her. She'd repeat One, Two, Three... then loose interest.

The next morning I was putting her shoes on. These shoes are so cool, they're hot pink with little green turtles all over them (Tuuur-tles) and we were counting the turtles. We got to 6 and she'd ask me to start again. About a half an hour later in the car I hear her in the back seat singing to herself. It went like this.
"La la. One. La la. Six. Six one. Two. Three Six. One. Three. Threeee. La la."

Apparently the number 6 stood out to her?

Now she's up to being able to count One..... Two.....Three.... if prompted. But she thinks that at 3 you're required to jump in the air, jump off a chair, do some sort of silly move. I dig the way she thinks.

Our daycare provider Chris (another truly brilliant woman) has a saying which I paraphrase as thus "Children are brilliant. It's the adults that are too stupid to figure out how brilliant".

Case in point: This evening Rebecca was finishing up her dinner when we found a bunny sitting by our back deck. She LOVES bunnies. Absolutely adores them. So I got her out of the high chair to go see the bunny. As it hopped away we went inside saying "Goodbye bunny".
We reach the table and she says "All done! All done! All done!" so I assume this meant that she was.... all done?

I set her down and started to clean off her sticky fingers when she got very upset "No! No Mama!" After several tries to figure out what it was she wanted, I finally said "Becca, what do you need?"
She looked me square in the eye and said "More cheese, please!" with a huffy look like "Geeze, woman, what have I been saying all along?"

It turns out "All done" was actually "All gone". As in, the bunny is gone, now woman, where's my cheese? See? I'm just too stupid to figure it out :)

Going to the fair

2008-08-06T15:31:00.000-04:00

We have an annoying commercial that plays in the last week of July and 1st week of August around here with a farmer-style man singing "Going to the fair! Going to the fair! Going to the Northwest Michigan fair!" in an annoying fake twang. Which is dumb, since we live in MICHIGAN. We have no twang.

But, I digress already- We took Rebecca to said fair!
We tried to go on Saturday evening, got all the way into the fairgrounds to park before we realized "Hey. The fair isn't here yet". It didn't open (partially) until Sunday. Whoops!

Take two- after a fun/tiring boat trip Sunday morning with on my brother-in-law's boat (MIKE! as Becca says) we took Rebecca to the fair. Again. This time they were even open!

The only things that were really open were the food stands and the animal portion (also known as the entire reason we went to the fair: animals for Becca. Carnie food for me. Don't judge)

She LOVED it! We took her through the cow stalls no less than 3 times. Each time we'd hit up a new animal she'd make the appropriate animal noise.

Strangely enough, her favorite of all the animals was the rabbits. She kept yelping "HOP! HOP!" at them as we walked past the cages.
She was so excited when we finally found a rabbit that actually would hop in 85 degree heat!

After we sweltered in the animal stink for a while we hit up the french fries stand (Mmm Gibby's fries. Best. Food. Ever.) then headed for home.

We're considering taking her back again sometime this week before the fair closes down for the year and hopefully this time we'll remember where our camera is so that we can take photos.

A milestone I wasn't excited to reach

2008-07-29T14:24:00.000-04:00

Rebecca's first temper tantrum. Ah yes, toddlerhood is here.

Over the weekend (on my birthday no less) we were strolling around the mall killing time before we went to dinner. Rebecca is usually great at staying with us and holding our hands while she walks. This time, she had other ideas. She kept trying to walk on her own, run in front of us, lag behind, etc. Well, if the mall had been nearly empty I might have been more flexible on this, as long as we were right with her, but it was 5:00 on a Friday evening.

Brian and I reminded her "Rebecca, you need to hold our hand when you're walking". After several determined "NO!"s from her, she slowly crouched down, then even slower lay on the floor (ewwww mall floor!), then cocked her head as if thinking "How did this go, again?" and kicked her feet and pounded her hands a couple of times.

She looked up at me to gauge my reaction. I said "Are you done with your fit now Becca?" to which she replied a perky "yep!". She then got up, held both of our hands and walked politely the rest of the way.

I could tell if I was trying to hold back laughter harder or if Brian was.

Little booger.

Rebecca's newest toy- Fun for the whole family

2008-07-15T21:30:00.001-04:00

We got Rebecca a tunnel last weekend and thus far she loves it.

She plays in it all the time.

George loves spending his time in there, too.

Sometimes, even Daddy gets in on the act.

Life's a beach!

2008-07-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

Just over a week ago we took Rebecca swimming at the beach for the first time. We weren't very sure what to expect since most of the time this girl HATES the bath. She hates the water on her face, hates the whole darn process (accept, mind you, the part where she plays with a boat.... ahh the simple life).

We geared up, slathered with about 45 cans of spray sunscreen (we're white as white can be, so in the sun we turn to solid red) and traipsed down to the sand. Right away Rebecca started pointing out the things she saw. "Ball!" (a buoy) "Rocks! (the sand) "Boat!" (a boat, obvs). We held her close and slowly walked into the water. Since it wasn't very deep I kept kneeling down so that her feet would get a little splashed to get her used to the water. She clutched onto my shoulders with a look of abject fear. Then gradually, as we splashed her feet, she started to grin.

At least I think she was grinning. It was hard to tell under the hat and sunglasses.

After a little playing in the water we took her up to the sand with her bucket and shovel and taught her how to build, and thus knock down, sand castles.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T11:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a low-key 4th for us. Brian's brother Mike came over to hang out and have dinner. Rebecca, as per usual, followed him around and every time he'd move out of her view she'd yelp "MIKE!"

Mom and dad are chopped liver when he's around :)

We decided to be brave (or stupid, depending on how it turns out) to try to take Rebecca to the 4th of July fireworks downtown.

The show started off with a new addition this year with the Blue Angels doing a few flyovers. They did a dusk "after-burner display". I'm not entirely sure what that means in real life but in my mind it means "Extremely loud planes flying low with flames showing against the night sky".

I should probably mention now that I HATE loud noises so the planes are not my favorite thing, cool though it may be.

Rebecca thought they were so cool! (and so Mike and Brian, but I didn't say that) After she got past the very loud noises she was digging it. She would point at them in the sky, grin, and say "Plane! Airplane!"

We found a great seat right on the beach to watch the fireworks. We were amazed that there were so many open spots right there to sit considering it's crazy busy during Cherry Festival. As soon as the first firework went off we realized why. Yeah..... we were sitting right near a huge tree and the fireworks were shot off directly behind said tree. Dang. We did a mad dash to find a different open spot to sit where we could actually SEE the fireworks. Novel concept.

Thankfully it wasn't too difficult. It only took a moment to find a seat right behind where they were shot off.

Rebecca loved the fireworks but not nearly as much as she loved staring at the bunch of balloons inexplicably tied to a tree behind us.

Considering we were up and in town until 11:30 we expected her to crash out when we got in the car. On the contrary, she was wide awake the whole evening/night and sang to us as we were driving home. She did great and she had so much fun!

Paci-free: Day 5

2008-06-22T19:43:00.001-04:00

It's going pretty well. MUCH better than we expected, really.
That being said, Rebecca is cranky! We're not certain if it's because she's going w/o the pacifier or if it's something else all together. She does great all day, she rarely asks for it and we can easily distract her when she does. The only hiccups we've run into is nap times.
This morning she went right now for a nap without too much protest. But her naps are still all funky, not scheduled at all, which is very unusual for her.
So for the time being we're just making everything up as we go along.

We did have a good time today wandering around Lowes. Brian needed tools for work and Rebecca needed to get out of the house!
She made it very clear that she wanted to walk around ('Mama! Down! Walk!!' pretty much says all I need to know, right?)... that is until she found an abandoned shopping cart. She took a turn pushing it around backwards through the ceiling fan aisle then asked to go for a ride in the cart. I strapped her in and wandered around that area.

I just *happened* (errr... yeah... happened) to come across the bathroom lighting section. I've loathed the lighting in our upstairs bathroom since we bought this house 4 years ago. 1) It's ugly and 2) The lights get SO HOT that even during the coldest times of the year I swelter when getting ready in the morning. When I found the lighting fixture I've wanted for years on clearance for $33 I decided to take it as a sign from above.

So after 4 long years of waiting I finally have my pretty new light fixture. It's in a box in my hallway but it's still mine!
Just in time for us to sell our house!

Greatest Mommy Moment so far

2008-06-19T11:19:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, while I was home on a vacation day with Rebecca, I said "I love you" and she responded with "Luffoo"

Heart.... melting.... *sob!*

this morning topped even that

As I was changing her diaper I was singing a made up "Good morning, I love you" song and she said, as she patted my shoulder "Mama, luff ooo"

I have the sweetest daughter in the WORLD

Paci No More

2008-06-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

Take 1

After Rebecca's doctor's appointment yesterday Brian and I were discussing Rebecca's newest sleep habits. We've never had any trouble getting her to sleep. She's always been one to lay down in her crib quietly until she fell asleep.

Until 2 weeks ago. We're not sure what changed- if it was new teeth cutting, new cognative developments, or just plain old toddler stubborn-ness but suddenly our healthy sleeping girl has decided that sleeping is for babies, and darn it! She's a big girl!

She started refusing to go to sleep, taking the Cry and Throw the Paci to See if Mom and Dad Will Come In approach.

After talking to the doctor about this, and deciding that it sounds like this is actually just a normal 18 month development/phase, we figured out a plan of attack.
While I hate the term Cry It Out (otherwise known as letting the child cry themselves to sleep) we decided that, much as we loathe to admitt it, this is probably the best plan for us. She's old enough, and smart enough, to know cause and effect. And lately the cause and effect was: She cries, we go pick her up and let her play for a while before trying to get her to bed again. In hindsight that's clearly stupid. LOL. Of course she'd rather play with us rather than go to bed. We're fun people, after all :D

Over dinner we talked about how we were going to do this and realized that now would probably be the best time to break her of the pacifier habit too. We'd rather not help her learn to sleep on her own again, only to break the paci habit and start over AGAIN in another few months. Our original plan was to have her off the paci by 18 months at the latest anyway. Soooo.... last night was night #1.

It actually went pretty well! We did our normal bedtime routine of quiet playtime, then dinner time, the the bath, then right down into the crib for bed.

We laid her down, sans paci, and said "Time to sleep. Good night" and left. She let out a whimper, then silence. Brian and I just stared at each other in shock. Holy crap. It worked!
She did great! Not a peep out of her all evening!

She woke up around 3:30 crying and asking for the paci. After about 5 minutes I turned to Brian and said "So, should we go in there and lay her back down or something, or just let her cry until she falls back asleep?" Hmm... I decided to try and lay her back down. I didn't want her thinking we'd abandoned her, or left her alone with only George for company or something. ..

Turns out, going in was NOT the right choice! LOL
She looked excited to see me for about 3 seconds, until she realized "Hey, wait a second. Pick me up woman!"
I laid her back down, said "It's sleep time. Good night. I love you" and left. The crying then turned to mad, angry, pissed off screams! Whoops.

Thankfully it only took another 5 minutes or so before I heard her lay right back down and go to sleep. During that 5 minutes I was thinking of every possible scenario that could happen if I were to drive to the hospital and beat the snot out of the L&D nurse that gave my daughter a pacifier without my permission! None of them ended without me locked up so I decided door #2: just going back to sleep, was the best option.

This morning was great too. With all the weird sleep for the last 2 weeks she's been getting up when she hears the shower turn on for me. The earlier I got up, the earlier she wanted to get up too. I have to tell you, it's hard working out at 4:30 am. I nearly fell asleep on my Pilates mat. How many calories does THAT burn?

But this morning, not a PEEP out of her until 7:30. That's my girl :)
I even got a nice little surprise. But that's a post for all it's own!

18 months old!

2008-06-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

As of 6/16/08! What a big girl!

We had Rebecca's 18 month doctor's appointment yesterday.
She weighed in at 19.8 lbs and 31 inches tall. She's finally back on the charts, weight wise! 10th percentile, my little growing girl!

The doctor said that everything looks great. He was impressed with how well, and how much, and how clearly, she's talking!

I'm so proud :)

New diapers are here!

2008-05-21T22:20:00.000-04:00

I ordered 2 of the new BumGenius Organic diapers. They're an all-in-one style which is great, but they're also a one-size diaper. After trying the first two I ordered enough to outfit Becca until she's potty trained, I liked them so much! The inner layer is organic cotton and oh so soft.

They look almost identical to the BG 3.o pocket diaper from the outside. The inside, though, is different than any other diaper I've seen. The "stuffing" or absorbant layer is on the top like a doubler rather than stuffed inside the diaper. It's sewn in so scattery people (*cough cough* me *cough*) can't loose it. When it's in the small position and medium position the doubler layer can be folded to lay flat. I really like this since it can be folded over in the front for extra protection for boys, in the middle for girls, or in the back for a back sleeper. Or anywhere in between. Love it.

One difference I have noticed from the BG 3.0s is that this diaper seems to fit bigger (although I believe they have about the same size range according to cottonbabies.com). Rebecca fits comfortably in the middle and large sizes of the 3.0 but the large size of this diaper is still much too big for her. I'm actually really happy about this. It means it should fit her for longer! How this would work with a tiny new baby is another story.

Here's Becca (and our coffee table) modeling the new diapers

The diaper snapped in the small position

The inner layer folded in the small position

Showing the inner layer sewn in on the ends but movable in the middle

Snapped to the middle size (which Rebecca is using right now)

Folded in the middle position

Snapped in the large position

And folded (or rather laying flat) in the large position

Rebecca showing off her new diaper

And this is what happens when I say to Rebecca "Becca, sweetie, show off your new diaper".

Rebecca's way of saving the environment?

2008-05-03T07:45:00.000-04:00

No napkins, just use your Earth Day shirt! Also known as 'what happens when Becca eats spaghetti'!

2008-05-03T07:44:00.001-04:00

Big girl bath tub

2008-05-03T07:37:00.000-04:00

Rebecca has graduated... to the big girl bath tub. We decided that because she's getting so tall the ducky tub from a few months ago isn't going to cut it for much longer. So into the bath she went. It went pretty well. I was expecting she'd be slipping around but she didn't at all. She liked that she had more room to splash around. Naturally this meant that mommy got soaked!

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-22T21:20:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: This is posted about a week late. Earth Day was last week and I apparently forgot to post this. But I figure the message is the same whether today or next week or next month. So here goes.

To quote a John Denver song (please don't judge me, I like John Denver!) "Celebrate Earth Day every day!"

I like to think that we're a fairly "green" family, what with the cloth diapers, the organic foods, etc etc but today of all days is a good day to stress the importance of the health of our planet. There are so many things we can do that are simple that cut waste and better our environment. It was pointed out to me early in the day that it's not really helpful if everyone takes a "green" approach one day a year. So try, in honor of Earth Day, to find small steps you can make in your own life to reduce your environment impact.

To mis-quote another musical legend, it IS easy to be green! Sorry, Kermit, you had it wrong :)

Park it, baby

2008-04-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we took Rebecca to the park for a few hours. We went once last summer but she was still too little to really "get" it. She had a BLAST this time around. We went on the slide, the climbing.... things (what are those called???) and the swings.

It was crazy busy there, people everywhere, but it didn't seem to phase her one bit. Thank heaven we've finally got warm weather around here! Michigan winters can get too darn cold for too darn long.

The next day we went to Moomers, a local ice cream shop, for some ice cream. They have a platform overlooking the cow pastures so you can see and thank the nice cows that gave the milk to make the ice cream. Rebecca loves animals so this was almost better for her than the ice cream was. Although, I swear, this girl ate half my cone!

Rebecca's Easter egg hunt

2008-03-28T09:48:00.000-04:00

We originally only hid one egg since we didn't think she would be all that into finding eggs. Turns out we were wrong. I ended up running around the house in front of her "hiding" eggs for her to find. She had so much fun!

We got Rebecca a couple of board books in her Easter basket along with a Sandra Boynton book/cd called Dog Train. It's a rock & roll cd for kids and it is HILARIOUS. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Bad little blogger

2008-03-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

It's been like a month since my last post.

But I have good reason. Honest.

Last week Wednesday I got a call from my father in law that Brian had a work accident. He didn't know much information but there was talk of 20+ stitches and surgery. Thankfully he ended up only need a couple (well, 7) stitches and no surgery but he didn't escape without what I am sure will be a nasty scar on his thumb.

Easter weekend was busy but great. We met up with some of Brian's friends from high school, Josh and Megan. We hadn't seen them since their wedding in July 2006 so it was well overdue seeing them. We had such a great time catching up and introducing them to Rebecca . We didn't quite get Josh to agree to change a poopy diaper just yet but we're working on it :)

Saturday evening we had dinner with my dad to celebrate Easter. We went to Freshwater Lodge. The food was amazing, as usual.

Sunday morning we had brunch with Brian's parents (Mmmm waffles) and lunch with my mom's extended family. Rebecca then decided that she'd had enough fun for one weekend so we headed home for her to take a very long, two and a half hour nap while Brian and I watched the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. (By the way, I give it much better ratings than the 2 movie, if anyone cares).

This morning I got another one of "those" phone calls from Brian- he had a minor car accident. The notorious Michigan roads were icy and slippery (spring? ha) and he slid into another car. Thankfully it was very minor and no one was injured. Well, no one other than Brian's truck which is now resting peacefully in a body shop waiting to be fixed.

Now that it was involved in a crash, albeit one without involved (thank God) we are now in search of a new car seat. It seems like just 3 months ago that I was shopping for car seats for Rebecca .... oh wait....it was.

Rebecca stars in The Apprentice

2008-02-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

You're

FIRED!

Go Gordon Go!

2008-02-25T10:11:00.000-05:00

I'm over a week late on posting this but Rebecca wants to share the Dayton Race/Jeff Gordon spirit with everyone

What's that? It's Dayton day?!

I'm so happy! I love NASCAR!

I'm beside myself with excitement!

What do you mean we don't get to go watch it? That makes me sad!

Oh well, that's ok! We can cheer for Jeff Gordon at home!

Go Gordon Go! Yay!

George approves the Graco Snugride

2008-02-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

One of these things is not like the other

One of these things just isn't the same....

"Why must you disturb me, human?"

My mom says I'm corny

2008-02-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

What do you think?

When life hands you lemons

2008-02-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

eat them!

I've got my mind on my money

2008-02-01T07:48:00.000-05:00

We're starting Rebecca's shopping habbits early

I'm going shopping! Yay!

I'm ready to go! I've got my bag handy and everything. Are you coming?

First I'll need some money

Oh my gosh, it's gone!

Oh, wait, no there it is.

Mommy says I'm the best little shopper around.

You wanna bet that's true?

Put you're money where your mouth is!

I'm trying to!

Mac & Cheese please!

2008-01-27T10:43:00.000-05:00

Rebecca's first (home made) Mac & Cheese. Yum!

Also her first time using a fork... to varrying degrees of success.

"Hmmmm.... let me see...."

"Mama said I need to poke the food with this thing"

"and then put it in my mouth"

"I don't know"

"Oh, heck, I'm just going to use my hands!"

We're in a bit of a pickle

2008-01-23T10:09:00.000-05:00

Last night, while dining on our high class meal of Grilled Cheese sandwiches, Rebecca had her first pickle!

"Hmmm. I don't know about this thing."

Crunch!

"What the mother of crap did I just eat?"

"Oh! Maybe I do like it!"

"Yum! Thanks Mama!"

Rebecca's first ER visit

2008-01-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Very scary :(

Last night we ended up taking Rebecca to the Emergency room. She woke up from a nap with a big swollen lip and cheek. It looked a little bit like she'd had a stroke at first.

I called the nurse on call at our pediatrician's office and went through her symptoms. I was told that I needed to get her to ER immediately, have one of us sit in the back seat with her, cell phone in hand, ready to call an ambulance to meet us if she stopped breathing, started drooling, or started having trouble swallowing.

We got to ER and they got her right in.
On a brief side note, I'm so impressed with the ER staff from last night. They were quick, efficient, helpful, and very friendly. The opposite of what is usually expected from ER.

The doctor determined that it looks as if, during her nap, Rebecca bit her lip with two of her brand new teeth hard enough for it to swell up like crazy.

Apparently she had the classic symptoms of an allergic reaction so it's good that we got her in so quickly. Thank God it was something so simple.

We were sent home with orders to give her her first Popsicle. I'll let you know how that goes :)

Cloth diaper cutie

2008-01-11T21:31:00.001-05:00

We got our new cloth diapers this week and I LOVE them! I'm so excited. They've proven to be very simple and easy. Rebecca seems to like them

Rebecca finally cut her top tooth that she's been working on for weeks. She's a much happier baby now! Good thing she takes good care of her teeth! :)

Rebecca's baby food freezer stash is getting a little low so this weekend will be Operation Baby Food. First up we'll make carrots, then apples, then we'll see how the spirit moves.

Baby legs, part II

2008-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

I wasn't attacking George. I promise!

Wait, George! I'm not done yet! Come back!

Big weekend

2008-01-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

Saturday was Rebecca's first day in her Big Girl Carseat!

We got the Alpha Omega Elite in Bella (brown and pink) by Cosco for my car. We got the same seat but with the Sophia design (gray and pink) for Brian's.

She seemed to think it was pretty comfy.

We spent a fair amount of this weekend with family which was really nice.

Saturday evening we went to Brian's parents house for dinner. Spaghetti, another of my favorites! Rebecca ended up eating more of it than Brian and I combined! That girl can really have an appetite when she wants to.

After dinner she hammed it up for the camera for a while.

Sunday night we went to my mom's for dinner. She killed us with some AMAZING brownies with caramel, cashews, chocolate, the works. Death by fabulous brownies- not a bad way to go.

This weekend I tried my hand with a sewing machine for the first time in years and made some babylegs (check out babylegs.net). I had so much fun!

Rub-a-dub dub!

2008-01-04T10:56:00.001-05:00

Baby in her brand new tub!

We bought Rebecca the inflatable ducky bath tub from Target a few nights ago. Wednesday night we gave it a go and she LOVED it.

If you press the beak of the duck he quacks. Rebecca kept grabing it's facing and bopping it with her hand to try and make it do it again.

That same night Rebecca got to try Mommy's favorite food: Beef stroganoff. She loved it as much as I do. 'Atta girl!

Happy New Years!

2008-01-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

Happy 2008!

Our New Years Eve was very quiet but nice. Brian and I traditionally stay in together and "jammie up" as we say. This NYE was no different. As soon as I got out of work we changed into jammies, ate fabulously terrible-for-you food (hot wings- mmmm) and watched movies once Rebecca was in bed.

Today was Rebecca's first day back at daycare after nearly a week and a half off. She was very excited to see Chrissy and the gang this morning as I dropped her off. It was harder for Brian and I since Brian's been home with her all week long. Lucky guy!

We're very (im)patiently awaiting the arrival of our new cloth diapers. We decided on the BumGenius All-in-ones (AIOs). They have gotten great consumer reviews and seem to be very simple and idoit-proof for us.

We've been using gDiapers which I've been very happy with, although the AIO I think will be even simpler.

We took Rebecca to Don's Drive-In over the weekend for her first bites of cheeseburger, fries, and strawberry milkshake. After a year of Mommy food (homemade baby food or breastmilk) it was quite a treat for her as you can see.