Just Call Me Super Nanny. . .

. . .because I totally just did the potty dance!  Tonight, we had tee tee in the potty.  (You know when I was writing my senior thesis for English class, never did I imagine that those words would come from my brain to be 'published' for all the world to see!)  But, hallelujah, no cleaning up the puddle in the living room because we had tee tee in the potty!!  I'm not sure that Cora fully understands what happened, and to be truthful, I'm doing more of a potty sampling than actual potty training.  BUT, we had tee tee in the potty!! Perhaps we will only have one kid in diapers at a time. . .wish me luck!

It's Almost G-Day

(That's gender day for this here household.)  Tomorrow is the big ultrasound.  I'm excited to see the little teddy graham again.  I'm especially excited to see if I need to start checking out more boyish fabrics or if it's going to be more pink and ruffles.  I've already felt sweet baby moving around.  Baby likes to move about when I'm trying to settle down. . . a lot like some other sweet baby I know!  So, I hope we get lots of happy kicks and punches tomorrow.  Vamos a ver.  Stay tuned!

What I Learned Today

1. A 15 pound wienie dog and a 70 pound bruiser of a dog get equally terrified by a swiffer sweep 'n' vac.
2. Large dogs have large, wet noses.  This is only disconcerting if said large dog places said large nose in your slumbering countenance early in the morning.
3. If you dream that Demi Moore is your obstetrician, you will wake up equally frightened and confused - especially if you are awakened by a large, wet dog nose.
4. A two year old can watch the same 30 minute farm animals video an infinite number of times in the same day.  A 32 year old mommy reaches her quotient at about 6 times.
5. If you watch the same farm animals video all afternoon, the songs will become the soundtrack to your brain.
6. If your potty training child escapes the bathroom before she tinkles, she will promptly run into the living room, squat down and take care of business.
7. If said potty training child tinkles in the living room, she will have time to grab her giant purple ball and throw it smack in the middle of lake tee tee while you try to decide whether to first clean the mess or to turn off the bathwater (left running with the expectation that the little tinkler would go from potty to bath, not potty to living room.)
8. A puddle of tee tee and a giant purple ball can make quite a mess when combined.

Now, who says being a mommy is boring??!

It's My Birthday!

Go Melissa!  Go Melissa!  It's your birthday!  It's your birthday!  (Yep, I went there!  I'm cheesy like that!)

So, today is my 24th* birthday.  It's been a lovely day!  I actually got to begin celebrating on Monday when John treated me to a spa afternoon - facial, 1 hour massage, and foot treatment.  It had been 6 years since my last professional massage, and I had never had a facial.  Omigoodness! It was heaven.  Anything else that happened this week was just icing on the cake after that.

Today, Cora and I met Eliana and Susy for breakfast at  La Madeleine - yum! Then, we went to a very dangerous place (for two fledgling seamstresses), JoAnn's Fabrics.  So fun!  Cora may or may not have a brand new dress hanging in her closet due to this sinful shopping trip.

And, finally, because I can not be expected to cook or do any work on my birthday, John picked up some yummy Mexican food for dinner.  We had planned to go out to eat, but sweet baby girl was decidedly not so sweet today, so we didn't want to attempt eating out with our little sourpuss.  That was fine by me, though.  We got to relax and enjoy our food!  And, on top of that, Cora became a true Texan.  She had her first queso and salsa.  She loved both, but like her momma, she loved the queso the most!

So, the dishes are piled in the sink, the bathrooms didn't get cleaned, but I don't care! Cuz, it's my birthday!!

*edited for content

Naptime Crafts

During naptime on Friday, I decided that I desperately needed a sewing fix.  This presents a slight problem. . .being naptime, any craft project to be done was limited by my supply of on hand materials.  I scrounged around for quite a while until I came upon a cute little yellow jersey knit pillow case.  Score!  I pulled out ye olde bag o'ribbon where I located some precious pastel striped ribbon.  And, by an extremely fortuitous coincidence, I happened to have some yellow thread.  A-woohoo! One pillowcase dress coming right up.   Making the dress itself was remarkably easy.  I measured the pillowcase to the size I wanted and cut it off at the top.  I ripped the side seams down to make armholes and stitched those up.  Then, it was just a matter of making a casing for the ribbon.  Voila!  One pillow case dress. (Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the process because I'm lame like that!)   The problem was that as I looked at it, I thought it was way too plain.  But the lightbulb went off once again.  Out came the stash of random buttons.  I thought I would scatter the buttons along the bottom hem.  Y'all, that was a lot easier said than done.  You see, I like me some symmetry, but this project was just screaming for randomness.  And, that randomness took me about an hour to perfect!  (Can we say control freak??!!)   So, I hotglued the buttons to the dress before I sewed them.  I absolutely did not want to risk bumping the dress and having to spend another hour getting them back in random, perfect order.

I think the dress turned out just darling if I do say so myself.  If I can find the other pillowcase, I'm thinking of making another dress for my 10 year college reunion.  (For those of you who may be calculating, I started college at 14! ; )  

While I was busy working on my project, Cora was busy working on a project of her own.  She decided to give her Pennydog a bath. . .in Miles' water bowl.

Who's supervising that kid?!  Good thing the 'beans' in the beanie baby are not actually beans.  We'd have a nice sprouted wienie dog on our hands.  Fortunately, Pennydog dried out, and all is well!

Not So Wordless Tuesday

I really don't know what to say about this picture.  I'm not sure what Miles was doing.  I think he may have gotten tired of being a rug and decided to try to be an art installation.  (We call him our rug because he's so calm and laid back.  He loves to lounge in the cool air conditioning.)  We loves you, Miles!

Pink or Blue

I am a bit of a control freak planner.  For anyone who knows me well, it is not a question of are you going to find out the gender of the baby; It is a question of when are you going to find out!  My friends, we find out a week from Monday!  I'm on pins and needles over here.  I can say with conviction that I do not have a preference as far as the gender of the baby.  I have always pictured myself with a boy and a girl, but I would dearly love having 2 sweet girls.  The logical side of me screams out that another girl would be so much easier logistically and financially, but I would love for John to have a little boy to take to football games and to work on cars.  However, Cora lurves herself some football.  Then, there's the fact that if it is another girl, this will probably be our last pregnancy.  If it's a boy, we may go for a third kiddo.  But, if it's a boy, my cute cottage guest room will be a distant memory - the girls could share a room. . .  See, people, this is what goes back in forth in my head all day!! Momma needs to know!  Regardless of the gender, there will be a lot of changes to the household.  I'm already looking for Cora's big girl bed and bedding.  I have an idea of how I want her room to look, so there are some big changes for her on the horizon.  Now, I want to know what you think.  My friend, Natalie, assures me that it is a girl based on a book that she claims is highly accurate.  She has the written record to prove it.  What do you think?  Boy or girl?  Take my poll on the sidebar anytime between now and next Monday.  I'll have the reveal post up first thing Tuesday.  Pink or blue?

Wordless Wednesday

Monkeymonkey

Cora has been the unfortunate victim of my lunch rut.  For the past two weeks, she has pretty much eaten a sandwich, yogurt and fruit for lunch.  She never complained, but I started to feel bad about forcing her to eat the same thing over and over.  Fortunately, inspiration rained down in the middle of the soup and pasta aisle.  microwave shells and cheese  It was like the angels were singing!  Today, I asked Cora if she wanted to have chicken and macaroni to which she replied "Monkeymonkey, yeah!"  May I abashedly admit that I have stopped calling it macaroni in favor of monkeymonkey?!  In the middle of her meal, she looked at me with a big smile and said, "Monkeys are yummy!"  Stinkin' adorable!  For the record, she finished all of her monkeymonkey.  I think she appreciated the change in culinary scenery!

On another culinary and vocabulary note, the other night got dinner from Schlotsky's.  Cora had her usual cheese pizza.  In the middle of the meal, she randomly replied "Hold you, pizza?"  What can I say; we love our comfort food!

Isn't It Sew Cute?!

(Couldn't resist the pun!!)  Eliana's talented mom, Susy, surprised Cora with this adorable shirt for her birthday.

Cora doing her sportswear catalog shot!

Work!  Turn to the left!  

I think that Cora has a little Heidi Klum in her.  She's not much of a portrait, smiley picture girl.  She'd rather give you a supermodel pout or an action shot.  Ha!

When John came home from work to see Cora in her outfit, he actually commented on how cute she looks.  I would say that's pretty high praise for my "guy's guy" to compliment a cutesy pink swing top.  If you like this top as much as we do, you can support a talented stay at home mom by getting your little sweetie a shirt or other cute item at Susy's etsy shop - Sew Susy Sew.  Thanks, Susy!

House Guest

We have a house guest!  Cora is beside herself with joy.  I think we will have one sad little girl when he has to leave.  Do you wanna see him?

It's Miles, our dog nephew!  He's staying with us for a couple of months while his family (my brother's family) moves back to Texas from Alaska. It's a little different having a 70 pound dog around considering our usual underfoot companion is less than 15 pounds!  But, so far, he's been a model house guest.  Very quiet (unless someone comes to the door).  Very obedient.  Very sweet.  I think Penny may be picking up some of his good habits!  (I just hope her bad habits don't rub off on him!)

Penny seems to be adjusting pretty well to having her cousin here.  Miles was here a couple of years ago while his family rode out Hurricane Ike.  He was younger and more playful then.  Penny seems to be a little confused as to why he won't chase her.  But, they get along great. We're glad you're here Miles!

Bubbles!

In addition to the kitchen goodies, Cora got some bubble toys from Mema and P-pa.  Big hit!  Cora's daddy happens to be a really good bubble blower.  Naturally, much bubble joy has ensued!

Look at his amazing bubble form!

Bubble amazement.

Bubble head

Bubble fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday Party - Finally!

So, it turns out blogger and picasa were actually playing nicely when I accused them of having a schoolyard tussle.  The (shocking) truth is that John had changed the setting on our camera and blogger did not like pictures in that format.  Apparently, I'm not the technological wizard that I've been claiming to be!  So, it was really no surprise (although it was still aggravating) that I had trouble getting the photos my dad took of Cora's birthday from online picasa to my laptop picasa.  (After the 27th time of attempting the transfer, I finally got the goods about 42 seconds ago.)  There is probably a way to put pictures from online picasa into blogger, but see previous technological wizardry statement!  So, for anyone who is still reading after that scandalously boring anecdote, may I present Cora's 2nd birthday party.

This year Cora helped prepare the cake.  I made the mistake of telling her that we were making cake.  I say mistake because child has no concept of time.  She did not understand why we could not have cake at that moment.  Imagine her tears when I had to bodily wrestle the batter laden whisk away from her before she ate the yummy albeit probably salmonella ridden gooey batter goodness.  So, here is my little baker.

I asked John what kind of cake he thought I should make for Cora.  His response, "I don't know.  Why don't you make the kind of cake you like?"  I could not love that man more!  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting coming up!  Cora helped Mema put the sprinkles on the cake.  (Well, really, Cora helped Mema put the sprinkles all over the kitchen!  Penny was pretty pumped about that!)

We opened presents first and then ate cake.  Her main present from John and me was a play kitchen.  Mema, P-pa, Yiayia and Dado accessorized it for her.  So, Cora has a kitchen, plenty of food, shopping carts, dishes, and pots and pans.  

Much cooking mayhem ensued.  Not sure where she learned to be so messy when she cooks!  That's her boiling bread.  She must be making bagels.  ; )  After cooking, we ate some cake.

What do you think of mommy's favorite cake, little girl?

Mmm, mmm,

good!

2 Year Well Check

Cora had her 2 year well check this past week.  sigh  Now, when people ask how old Cora is, I no longer say a certain number of months.  It's just plain old 2.  And, besides that, Cora knows how to answer how old she is by herself.  sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset  Anywho, please forgive my moment of melancholy.  The two year check-up went great.  Cora weighs a little over 25 pounds and is 33 3/4 inches tall.  She has more than quadrupled in weight and almost doubled in height since birth.  Amazing!!  Everything seems to be checking out great.  There were no issues to report.  We did, however, learn that Cora is getting PLENTY of grains and fruit - as if we didn't know that. ; )  She's a fruit and cracker kind of girl.  We need to try to get more protein and vegetables in her.  We offer both to her, but she just doesn't really care for most meats and vegetables.  I think she gets the meat thing from her mother.  Not sure why she doesn't like vegetables, though.  Anyway, we are so thankful for a good report.  (And, for no more vaccines until age 4!!)

Best Seat in the House

The other night, John and Cora were playing in the living room while I finished up the dinner dishes.  When I peeked into the living room, this is what I saw.

Cora and Daddy chillaxin'.  So cute!  I took the opportunity to take some closeups while she was relatively still and contained.

Her thoughtful face.

A smiley face - sort of!

We were working on smiling for the pictures.  You can see we are not quite there, yet.  But, we'll keep practicing.  I love how wacky her hair looks in these pics.  Like mother, like daughter!

Fourth (of July) Festivities

Can I admit something right here? In all of Cora's 3 Independence Days ('08, '09, and '10), we had never taken her to see fireworks.  When Eliana invited us to celebrate the 4th with her family, we decided to take the plunge. Susy and JW were great hosts.  They fed us burgers and had everything planned out for a fun outing.  We got to the park around 6.  Though it was a bit hot, it wasn't crowded yet.  That meant free reign at the bounce house!!  Cora was unsure at first, but soon enough, she was jumping and bouncing like a little kangaroo.

It was still quite a while until the fireworks started.  So, we filled the evening with dancing.  Sweet Eli likes to dance with her baby.

We ate lots of snacks.

Thanks for sharing your goldfish and blackberries, Eliana!

We took family portraits.

Yes, we are rocking the Old Navy t-shirts!  Can't beat $5.  Cora made my shirt a little more colorful with an Icee pop.  Thanks, darling!

And, finally, we watched the fireworks.

Cora was not impressed by the fireworks.  She dropped like a marine in artillery fire.  I tried to hold her, but she wanted to be flat on the ground!  She did eye the fireworks a little out of the corner of her eye (from the safety of the ground).  But, overall, she would give them a thumbs down.

Miraculously, both girls lasted the entire evening.  Although, by the time we got back to the car, Cora had climbed into her carseat by herself and was begging to "go nigh-nigh!"  Thanks Smith family for a great 4th of July!