Thank Goodness

This is going to be another update about me.

I know, two in a row, can you believe it?

Anway, I think a little while ago I mentioned that I was having some health issues, which included me having to get shoe inserts. Well, I also was having some blood tests done where a couple of doctors thought I might have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

After getting poked with a needle several times, and visiting a Rheumatologist, I am proud to report....

I do NOT have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Phew.

As it turns out, I am healthy as a horse. (whatever that means.) :)

It's ok to be proud of yourself every now and again

There are lots of times as a mother that you just can't help but be proud of your kid(s).

And there are less amount of times that I feel that same proudness of myself.


But this post is about one of those lesser times.


I will say it. I am proud of myself.


So, I entered a contest. An exercise contest.


And a few weeks ago I found out I was 1 of 9 semi-finalists out of 200 people

While, I did not win, I am still flattered that my essay was picked.


If you are interesed, you can read my essay here.


It talks about my journey of going from this:

Yes, it's ok for you to silently comment on the massiveness of my belly. Because well, it was...massive. I didn't really grasp how large I was at the time, but now I look back and man, I was big!

To this:

You should feel loved because I normally wouldn't post a picture like this. :)

There is still work to be done, but I just wanted to let you in on the accomplishments I have made so far. :)

Nursery

She did it.

Alayna stayed in all of nursery without any tears (except for at the end when other parents were picking up their kids and their kids were crying. I'd like to call it, "sympathy tears").

Once we walked her in the room, she never looked back.

The teachers said she seemed a bit stunned to see so many kids her age in one room. :)

I have to admit I am a proud mama.

Now, if only she will do this good next week....

What I have been doing in my spare time

I have been crafting quite a bit lately. Surprise, surprise.

Alayna is constantly wanting to "help" put on my makeup, so I made some just for her. All you need is some nail polish and an old makeup compact.

She picked out the colors and away I went. When I first gave it too her, she squealed with delight and then said, "Thank you!"

I just give her a brush and the makeup and she starts putting it on immediately.

I recently have learned to crochet. It has been one of my goals for a long time, I just have never done it. So on our last trip we made to Utah, I stopped at Quilted Bear and purchased a couple baby blankets to crochet around.

I figured if I spent the money it would motivate me to learn. And it worked. With the help of a crochet book and my sister, I finished my first blanket and am on to the next. I am hooked. You can bet, some of my spare time is spent crocheting.

Anyone having a boy?

I realized this year that I just don't have very much spring decor so instead of buying some, I decided to make one.

And as if Alayna didn't have enough decor in her room, I made a magnet board so we can hang pictures up to our heart's desire.

That's all for now.

18 Months Old

A year and a half ago this little girl joined our family. And ever since then, time has flown.

Tomorrow is her first day of nursery. We are hoping she walks right in and doesn't even know we are gone, but we are preparing for the worst. Just in case.

These cheeks seem to be getting bigger and bigger.Along with this pot belly. :) As you can tell she is still eating well.

We have a had few issues this last month that may involve a food allergy, which we hope we can get under control soon. Right now she is banned from eating yogurt and we may have to start her on lactose free milk. I hope it's not that severe, but only time will tell.

Her vocabulary has EXPLODED this last week. I was starting to get a little worried that she wasn't talking as soon as she should, but last Friday, she just started and hasn't stopped since.

Here are some of the new words she is saying: rain (wai), ahdah (mama, or we think this might be Erica. She is around so many people that call me Erica, that I think it is actually what she is calling me...or at least that's what it sounds like), issa (Karissa), Bama (grandma), bampa (grandpa), sah-sah (Sarah), oh no, wow, oh yeah, baby (bebe), wee, ticka (tickle), ou-si (outside), hot, sat (that)

She is also signing a lot more.

Here are a few of the new ones: asleep, cry, bubble, hot, cold, outside, rain, wind, cloud, tree, grass, wait, again, up

Alayna now tells us when she is tired by signing "asleep" or night-night as we call it. It has been soooo nice. I wish little babies did that.

She also is throwing away her diapers now, which is quite handy. She does it without me even asking her and occasionally she will throw away wrappers or other pieces of garbage. Surprisingly, only a couple of times have I found things in the garbage that don't belong there.

Books had become a thing of the past, but she has just decided recently that she enjoys them again. She LOVES reading any book she can get her hands on. Here she is reading to her baby.

Notice the cheesy smile. I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot of those in the future.

Alayna has also discovered some things I am not so excited about.

She has discovered the toilet. Up until now she has done a great job of ignoring it and not lifting the lid, but more than once I have found things that don't belong in the toilet. Such as my comb. But we haven't had any occurrences in last few days, so lets hope that the talks we gave her worked.

I may be thinking a little too positively.

If the top drawer in the bathroom is not closed all the way, she can reach the diaper rash cream and put it on her face like she is applying a little makeup.

Lastly, here are a few pictures of Layna in her Easter dress from Grandma and Grandpa L.

She definitely was thinking she was hot stuff. Once it was on, she kept holding up the sides and twirling back and forth.

I think she is pretty dang cute as well.

This is the way...

we take care of our baby.

First we tickle her by saying, "Ticka, ticka, ticka" over and over again. Then we give her a nice big hug.

And last, we give her kisses.

Can you tell who helps me take care of the two "real" babies that we babysit?

My life is complete

After months of feeling somewhat left out due to the fact that my daughter doesn't say my name. In fact, she didn't really address me at all. It has been all about "dada" around here.

We have finally figured out what Alayna calls me.

Ahdah.

She had been saying this over and over through out the day, but I thought it was in reference to something she wanted. I just didn't know what.

But then, it happened. I was in the bathroom with the door closed and Alayna was knocking on the door calling, "Ahdah, Ahdah."

My life is complete. I have a name.

Who cares if it is not mama. It's close enough, right?

It was bound to happen

Like a good mom, when I give Alayna a sucker I tell her she has to sit down. There is no walking and eating a sucker. Heaven knows what will happen if she were to fall with a sucker in her mouth.

Well, on this particular day I was having to constantly remind her to stay sitting (which doesn't happen often when eating a sucker). I was cleaning the bathroom and was running out of patience. So I did what any mom would do.

I put her where I could keep an eye on her.

I knew she couldn't get out of the sink and she had to stay sitting. So in the sink she went.

Boy, did I think I was clever until the following occurred:

Alayna looking at me with a look that says, "Mom, you're really going to let me sit up here all by myself?"
"Cool. I'm going to check this place out." (Notice her right hand.)

Oh no. It didn't take her long to figure out what to do.

Yep. She turned on the water.

Here she is feeling a steady stream of water, quickly soaking her clothes.

Fine. I'll just let you have at it.

Which seemed like a great idea until she did it again. I wasn't thinking about the fact that she was turning on the cold water. I don't think she was thinking about that either because...can you guess what happened next?

Needless to say, we promptly got out of the sink and dried off.

17 Months Old

Finally we are back in business. Our computer is hooked up and I am ready to get back into blogging. I have a list of posts that I am behind on and this is top on my list since Alayna is practically 18 months old.

Oh, how this little girl has seemed to have grown up over night. I can't believe all the things she is learning. Here are a few of those things:

• She loves waving bye (or dye as she would say) and has gone through a phase where she waves with her hand fully extended over her head. Unfortunately there is no documentation of this, but I assure you, it really is quite cute.
• She insists on walking everywhere. She is a big girl now.
• As mentioned in my previous post, she is getting all four of her canine teeth right now. I think the end is in sight. Hopefully.
• She is jabbering all the time. In fact, a lot of times I will find her talking on her play phone. The conversations goes something like this: "Oh (hello), (then lots and lots of jibber jabber), ha ha ha (laughing), (close the phone).

She still is officially the messiest eater EVER! I practically need to bathe her after every meal. I don't know what's worse, getting food all over her clothes and having to change them if we go anywhere or letting her eat in nothing, but her diaper and literally having to wash her from head to toe.

Here's the proof:

Any form of chair has become an interest as well. Regular chair, bouncy chair, car seat, it doesn't matter she will sit in them all. If they have a buckle, even better.

She also has been infatuated with babies. It's a good thing we have two babies that come regularly to our house. And yes, she LOVES to mother them.

So anyway, we love this little 17 (almost 18) month old!