Christmas is All Around Us

I don't have pictures to show for our Thanksgiving.

Reese got a GI bug a few days leading up to Thanksgiving so we had to cancel our plans with Joe's family. We were really looking forward to spending the holiday in Tulsa with his parents and his sister and her family, but sometimes "that's the way the cookie crumbles" I guess.

We stayed home, Joe cooked a turkey, and my mom shared some of their Thanksgiving goodies with us, so we did get to feast just not the way we would have most liked too. Some highlights of the day were vomit and diarrhea watching The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and being with the two people I love most. I truly do have a lot to be thankful for and (joking aside) I do need to always remind myself of that.

By Friday Reese was feeling much better so we headed out to our annual Christmas tree spot.

On the way there I told Reese we were going to a tree farm. She responded, "Farm? Sheep! Baaa!" I said, "That's right we're going to a farm, but not that kind of farm." She was so excited. She kept making sheep sounds in the backseat. It was cute.

Here she is checking out the Christmas tree selection with Elmo's help (of course).

Reese posing by the big bear sign.

She looks so small in comparison.

This girl was happy to be feeling better and in true Rocky style...

Ran,

and ran,

and ran!

While still taking breaks to walk while holding Daddy's hand through the tree farm grounds.

It was a great time (as always) at the Martinbird Tree Farm.

After getting home from the tree farm the real work began. See, I like to get the whole house decorated for Christmas during Thanksgiving weekend. For one I have Joe's help and two I like my house to be Christmas"tized" for as long as possible. 

Our real Christmas tree decorated.

And our four artificial trees decorated.

Yes, if you added we have five Christmas trees total. 

Call me crazy.

Let's see...there's the Snowman Tree,

The Santa tree,

The tree divided (OU/OSU),

Boomer Sooner!

and the Angel Tree.

Hey! My Aunt Pam has 30+ Christmas trees in her house each year, so please no judgement on my measly five trees!

We also put up a Christmas Village and 

I decorated my Grandma Carol's old chest and filled it with Christmas movies.

Needless to say there was a whole lot of decorating. 

Christmas is all around us. 

I'm loving it!

Library Visits

Growing up I remember my Grandma Betty, my dad's mom, taking my sister Kate and I to the public library by her house. She would take us there for story time and to check out books. I loved every bit of it. I especially loved the smell of the library. Everyone knows the "Old Book" smell--right? Well, whatever that smell is I love it and smelling it brings me back to those special memories I have with my special grandmother.

I take Reese each week to the library. We've visited 3 or 4 in our area, including the newly renovated Southern Oaks Library which I used to visit with my Grandma Betty. Our favorite library is about 15 or 20 minutes from our house, but it's worth the drive because it has the best children's area.

On our most recent trip we walked into the children's area and found a professional photographer taking pictures of all the children playing and reading. They asked permission to take Reese's photograph and said they'd sent it to me if it turned out.

Well, a few days later they sent me this

The most beautiful picture of my beautiful daughter doing one of her most favorite things--Reading.

I love my beautiful reader.

She makes me burst with pride.

It's Potty Time

Reese has been somewhat interested in the potty lately.

Maybe she sees other kids using the potty at M.D.O.? Maybe it's her new favorite Elmo's Potty Time DVD? A DVD I have watched too many times already and I'm sure I'll watch it many more. Those minutes of my life I'll never get back, but it makes her happy, so I tolerate it.

Whatever has sparked her interest--I am totally encouraging this potty thing!

Let's see--so far I have purchased some pull up style diapers.

I ask, "Reese, do you want to wear these big girl pull up diapers so you can practice using the potty today?"

"NO!"

I have also purchased some big girl underwear or "undies" as Elmo calls them.

"Reese how about wearing these big girl undies with Belle or Minnie on them?"

"NO!" (with a pointed finger in my direction this time)

"Umm, ok," I respond.

See, I am not going to pressure her to use the potty. I want her to be ready and committed and wanting to use the potty otherwise we might be potty training forever. I say this now, but who knows what I'll feel like if she's still not potty trained a year from now.

Despite her resistance for wearing pull ups or undies she will occasionally sit on her floor potty or use the Sesame Street toilet insert to sit on the big potty.

What does she do on the potty? Well currently...

She wipes her nose with toilet paper. Her non runny nose that is.

She tears toilet paper into smaller pieces and puts it into the potty.

She also smells the (clean) toilet paper. She's been on this smelling kick lately.

All these examples to say--She not using the potty on the potty!

What do you call the "business" you do on the potty? I mean as adults we excuse ourselves by saying, "I need to use the restroom." Or we just go without informing those around us what exactly we'll be doing in there. However, when you're dealing with a child you need to explain things about the potty and calling the "business" is part of it.

I always thought most of the world called it pee and poop or number 1 and number 2, but boy did I get an education while watching the Elmo's Potty Time DVD. Apparently, wee-wee and woo-woo are quite popular. So are wittle, tinkle, dukey, poo-pah, poopy, pee-pee, boo-boo, stinky and the list goes on and on. Hearing all these "business" words disturbed me. I mean I was like--what is Elmo going to say next?..."Elmo needs to take a DUMP!" or "Elmo needs to take a sh*t!" Thankfully, the DVD's target audience is toddlers so it never happened.

Speaking of being disturbed. A good friend of mine used this DVD when training her son to use the potty. We were talking about the DVD and she said Elmo's dad was what disturbed her the most--not the "business" words that were used. When she said this I thought--I don't remember Elmo's dad being creepy, but then the next time I watched it--Yep! She was indeed correct. He's a total creeper.

Maybe I'll have to start discouraging the watching of this video? Maybe I'll wait and see if Reese says, "I need to dukey Mommy!" before making that call. I don't know. Maybe it's not that bad. Maybe it's just me. What do you all think?

Reese has been hiding from me lately when she poops. It's like she knows it's not socially acceptable to poop in the same room someone else is in, so she excuses herself. Sometimes I'll follow her--if I think she's about to poop--and when she starts to swat I'll say something like, "Reese let's go poop on the big girl potty." She 99% of the time says, "NO!" and goes ahead and poops and then I chase her around the house until I catch her and then hold her down while I change her. One day she surprised me though and said, "Potty!" and ran as fast as she could to her potty. I thought YEEESSSS! This is it!

Well, Reese went into the bathroom, pointed at her floor potty, said, "NO! NO!", ran out, swatted, grunted, pooped, pointed to her diaper, said, "POOP!", and raised her hands so I could pick her up and change her.

I guess you could say I'm her poop b*tch based on this incident. I've always wanted to be someone's poop b*tch.

Scratch that off my bucket list.

There's never a dull moment with this girl and her potty moments. Really my day would be so boring without her to entertain me, challenge me, exhaust me, and well you get the idea.

Maybe It's (not) Potty Time after all, but boy It'll be exciting when it is!

Halloween 2012

Happy (Belated) Halloween to all!

I sure had a fun evening.
I just love this time of year.

Reese was Elmo.
She wore her costume all night for 5 whole minutes.

Reese loves her some Elmo.
It was a no brainer choosing her costume this year.
I just wish she would have worn it longer.
But that's a toddler for ya--Totally unpredictable!!

Even Nana's "nudging" did no good.
"Are you sure you don't want to wear Elmo Reese?"
"No."
"Let's put on your Elmo."
"NO!"

"Look Reese! Nana is going to wear Elmo then!"

Reese couldn't have cared less. All she really seemed to care about was waving to kids. She'd say

"Hi" 

"Hi" 

"HIIIII" 

She was so excited to greet all the children who came to our house. Quite the hostess she was. We were going to take her trick or treating to a few houses, but she was so happy greeting all the kids we just let her be. Kinda like we let her be in her Elmo t-shirt and leggings and stopped mentioning her Elmo costume.

We (ok, me) planned a whole Halloween house theme based solely on Reese's love for Elmo.

We were SESAME STREET LIVE at the Sanders' house this year!

Big Bird and Oscar showed up
(or Grandma and Papa Sanders)

and so did Bert and Ernie!

(Uncle Bryan and Kyle)

The Count and Grover were there, too.

(Nana and Papa Don)

Daddy was Cookie Monster and Momma was Snuff-a-luff-a-gus. Snuffy is the red headed step child of the Sesame Street gang and I loooove him! Totally under rated in my opinion. I mean he's a Wooly Mammoth people!

The Sesame Street theme was cute even if we were without our Elmo mascot for most of the night.

What I loved seeing most was Reese interact and love on all her favorite people.

I also loved seeing her reaction to meeting our neighbor who dressed up as an Elephant.

It was a great Halloween night.

I love my little family.

Especially my sugar high,
(first Ring Pop experience)

non-Elmo costume wearing,

full of life

little girl.

Mommy Guilt Monday, I mean Wednesday

I had somewhere very important to be on Monday, so the Mommy Guilt Monday post got neglected until today! I hope you don't mind that I unload some of my current Mommy guilt on a day other than Monday.

(1) For starters...I feel guilty this blog has become a "Mommy Guilt Monday" kinda blog versus a "Let me show you cute pictures and tell you cute stories about my child" kinda blog. Man I stink at this blogging.

Well, from this day forward I promise to make more of an effort to blog about all the things Reese is up to nowadays. And boy let me tell ya--she is up to some pretty cute things!

I will now show you some adorable pictures of my adorable daughter. Pictures I meant to blog about and never did. Mother. Of. The. Year.

This is a picture of Reese's first pedicure. Well, it wasn't quite a pedicure. It was more of a quick polish job--i.e. there was no massaging or soaking of feet involved (in other words she got cheated).

Basically, she saw me painting my nails in a Thunder blue (for the Playoff Games--I told you it was awhile back) and she wanted hers done, too. 

I might add that on this particular May day we stayed in our PJs all day, made a floor pallet in the basement, and watched Disney movies all day. It was heaven.

I've been meaning to (also) blog about Reese's sleeping habits. For awhile Miss Reese was waking at 5:45 a.m. Ouch! That was a rough patch. The "lack of sleep culprit" (or 2 year molar) is more than half way in and we are all thankful she's sleeping better and in less pain now. Only 3 more molars to go!

I wasn't always a nice person by the end of a 5:45 morning wake up call kinda day. Reese is now waking at 7:30-7:45 every morning and I am a much happier Mommy, Reese is a much happier toddler, and well--Joe is happy to come home to a happier household. 

This is a picture of one of Reese's favorite sleeping positions at the moment. Hey, whatever works.

I (also, also) intended on blogging about how much Reese enjoyed swinging at the park. Well, I never got around to it and actually there was awhile where she couldn't stand to swing (don't ask me why because I don't know) however now she is a swinging maniac again.

(2) I feel guilty about "Reese projects" that have yet to be completed.

Take her baby book for example...here it is. 

You're looking at it correctly. It is currently a pile of papers and pictures in the box her baby book was purchased in. Does anyone else have their child's baby book in this condition? Someone just needs to lie to me and say I'm not the only one. Honestly, I have no motivation to put it together. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nil. Well, you get the idea. Maybe I like the idea of doing a baby book for Reese more than actually doing it. At least I have this blog to show her someday. 

And...what about her first year monthly photo frame that's hanging in her bedroom? Well here it is.

 

Do you notice anything missing? 

Yep, according to this Reese never turned a year old. Geez. Why can't I put a stinkin' picture in there? It's just one little picture and then the frame is complete. Well, I don't know. At this point it's kinda comical. I mean she's almost two. I will get to it someday just don't ask me when. I feel guilty enough about it as it is.

(3) The last Mommy Guilt reveal for the day is...I feel horrible guilt when Reese gets hurt. Reese falls a lot. It's a toddler thing. I get it. It's the big falls and boo-boos I feel guilty about. 

Take the latest black toe nail incident. Reese wanted to go into the restroom with me and although I didn't necessarily want her in there with me sometimes we Mommies don't have much choice in the matter. So as I am (ahem) using the potty Reese decides to reach for a jar candle (which she hadn't been able to reach before that day) and dropped it on her foot. I felt terrible. Absolutely horrible. This was a month or so ago and that stinkin' toe nail is still black. It's like it is sticking around to say, "Hey remember when you let your daughter pull a candle on top of her foot...yeah...you're awesome at the mothering thing."

Reese has a new boo-boo, too. She pulled the dishwasher door on top of herself a few nights ago (the spring broke). Talk about me having a near heart attack. Wow! That was scary. Luckily, she kinda caught herself as she was falling and only walked away with a small bump on the back of her head.  Can you see it? Poor thing. I was literally right there when it happened, too. Even when you're a step away you can't always protect them from a dangerous situation.

I am so thankful Reese (and all children really) are so resilient. This picture was taken on the same night as the dishwasher incident. 

Is it just me or is this naked, bathing baby girl the cutest thing ever?

You can tell me the truth. I know she is.

Mommy Guilt Monday 3

Thank you so much to all those who reached out to me after my last Mommy Guilt Post. Apparently it is difficult to leave a message on this blog and I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to fix that. I'll try to figure something out.

I am beyond thankfully there are many other Mommies, besides myself, experiencing Mommy Guilt and are willing to share it! Some of my favorite Mommy Guilt responses were: having to leave your child at the bus stop because you couldn't take them to school, traveling for work (but kinda enjoying the break away from it all), ignoring their nighttime calls (for water or another hug/kiss) because of exhaustion and need for quiet time, letting the T.V. babysit your oldest while the youngest and you nap (FYI: this particular Mommy is 8 months pregnant with an almost 5 year old and 3 year old--hey, no judgement from me), having to drop your oldest off at school while the younger two get quality Mommy time at home, and the coffee before anything else in the morning came up time or two.

Well, I hear ya Mommies! Phew. This Motherhood thing is tough. Just remember, as one Mommy who responded pointed out to me, Good Mommies feel guilt because they are thinking of their children first. That comment made me feel a bit better and I hope it does the same for you.

Well, thanks again for sharing. I urge you continue to share something new every Monday with me.

Speaking of sharing...I'll start...

(1) I feel Mommy Guilt when I tell little white lies to Reese. They are little (which makes them harmless right?) and usually for her own good or to divert a meltdown, so I do it. For example, while Reese was at M.D.O today I decorated my house for Fall. Man I love Fall. Totally off the subject, but it's true. Anyways, so I made a "Candytropolis"--or at least that's what I'm calling it. Basically I decorated my entire dining room table with containers of Halloween candy. See what I mean.

It seems like a bad idea--building a "Candytropolis" with a 20 month old living in the house--right? Well, I've always wanted to make one of these and since I had the time today I did it and without really thinking about Reese wanting to eat all of this candy. So, when she came home today I almost immediately heard her squeal at the sight of all this colorful goodness. To tell ya the truth Reese hasn't experienced much candy in her short life, so to her it could have looked like colorful (anythings) sitting on the table. I used her lack of candy knowledge to my advantage. I said, "Oh yes! Aren't those pretty? Look at all those colors! We can smell them, but we can't taste them." (LIE! LIE! LIE!) I let her smell a few (which didn't actually have a fragrance) and then put her down. She smiled and ran off to the other room. In her absence do you think I did nothing but smell these pieces of candy? No! I'll confess--as soon as she ran out of the room to play with her toys in the living room--I devoured a mini Butterfinger, a mini Twix, and a mini Milky Way bar (the key word here is "mini" people) and all this happened before she had a clue what was going on.

Man! I am going to bed tonight with a load of guilt for doing this, but it was sure tasty. Plus, my blood sugar was low. It was medically necessary.

(2) I have Mommy Guilt when Reese doesn't know how to do something. Of course, I know, there's ALOT she isn't able to do yet because she isn't developmentally ready for it, but that's not the "stuff" I'm talking about. Ok, let's see...for example, I took Reese in for her 18 month check up and the nurse asks, "Can Reese stack at least 3 blocks on top of each other?" I say, "We have blocks at home, but she's not that interested in playing with them, so Ummm...I'm not sure." (In my head I'm thinking--I should be encouraging her to play with blocks more! I wonder if she can stack 3 blocks?) Or how about the time when we were eating lunch with another little girl Reese's age who ate applesauce with a spoon--extremely well I might add. (In my head I'm thinking--I should have introduced her to a spoon sooner! I shouldn't be so worried about her making messes with utensils--after all that's the only way she's going to learn! Bad Mommy!) I'm not really this crazy about Reese's development. She's going to learn some things faster than others and some things at a slower pace and that's fine by me. I just can't help but feel like it's something I'm doing or not doing when she hasn't mastered a certain skill that most can do.

Does anyone else ever feel like this?

(3) The last Mommy Guilt reveal for the day has to do with the way Reese eats. See, Reese used to eat really well. She ate a variety of foods and a lot of them. Well, the older she gets the more resistant she's become towards food. This is a normal stage for toddlers--I know-- and she's exerting some of her independence, but it's still frustrating at times. Here's the thing: I don't push food. I refuse to. When she says, "All done" almost immediately after starting a meal I respond with, "Make sure you get enough, because we're not eating again until (x, y,z)." I don't want to encourage her to clean her plate, because I want her to have control over her eating in some regards. If she's not hungry--she shouldn't be forced to eat just because it's dinner time. I still feel she's a good eater, just not the great eater she once was.

Figuring out what to pack for Reese's lunches has been interesting since her M.D.O. is a "peanut free zone." I was asking around about what lunch items would be good to eat cold--besides a PB & J and lunch meat (which Reese doesn't always care for). Someone suggested chicken, so we stopped at Chick-fil-a and picked her up some nuggets. I packed them for her in today's lunch and apparently she loved them and ate everything else really well, too. One of the teachers was telling me how well she liked her chicken nuggets today and as I'm smiling I'm thinking Shhhh! Don't be so loud! I don't want the other mothers to hear that I packed fried chicken in my child's lunch today! Oh, well you do what works.

Like what worked today (for me) was buying these mini Red Velvet cupcakes.

If you look closely the package says these are "Two bite" cupcakes. I assure you this must be a misprint, because I inhaled one of these mini cupcakes in a single bite. Do you see a theme in this blog post? I do, too! I have a sweet tooth. I may need help with my sugar addiction. I use sweets as a survival tool for Motherhood.

And no--I am not pregnant.

The end.