She's already more coordinated than her mother...

 ...because, I may or may not have fallen on my butt just looking at the ball.

This kid, though, she's a superstar.

And I could totally be a soccer mom.

Announcement!

So, no big deal or anything, but if you're looking for me today, I'll be over posting at the greatest blog in the history of blogs, Style Lush.

Seriously, I've been following this site since it was launched, and I love it. It's where I sent Steve for my Mother's Day present last year. It's where I found the idea for my own mother's present. It's where I picked up my current lip gloss, mascara, and blush obsessions. It's where I discovered a great growth chart for Brigid, a congratulations present for a friend, and several birthday party decoration ideas.

Like I said...love.

So, when Jennie emailed me last week to ask if I'd be interested in writing for the site, I closed the door to my office, did a little dance, and called Steve to squeal like a little girl for a few minutes. And then I told Jennie yes.

So, feel free to stop by and say hi!

Rant against...

...sippy cups!

Oh, for the love, I hate sippy cups. I will be beyond happy when I can toss all sippy cups, forever. Because sippy cups?

Well, they suck.

For starters, they all leak. All of them. But the ones that leak the least amount? Those are the ones that require 25 pieces that have to be taken apart every time you wash the cup. And of course, since you have to take the cup apart to wash it, you have to put it back together again before you use the darn thing.

And when you're getting ready to spend the weekend away from home, and you don't want to just throw a bunch of pieces into a bag and hope for the best, because your husband still won't let you forget the time you forgot to bring the bottle rings with you when you went on that one weekend away from home? And even if he would let you forget it, the fact that your bottle rings now outnumber your actual bottles 2 to 1 because you had to run out and buy a whole new pack of them to feed your poor kid reminds you as you pack all of that stuff away?

Well, you have to put a ton of cups together, and that's just no fun at all. In fact, I think my thumb is still sore from snapping all of the pieces together, over and over again, and that happened three days ago.

So, short story long (as is my wordy, wordy way), I am on the hunt for a less complicated sippy cup, preferably one that includes a straw. Any thoughts?

Layin' down the law...

I know I’ve been relying on cute little toddler pictures to get me through the last couple of weeks of my online baby booking, and I’d like to say that I will get back to the whole ‘using words to tell a story’ part of this blogging thing…

…but I would be lying.

For one thing, I find my child irresistibly adorable, and I can’t help myself. I have to post as many pictures of her as I can, so that someday I have someplace to come back to, where I can remind myself that yes, this obnoxious teenager who is currently residing in my house was, at one time, the cutest stinkin’ baby on earth. I like to think ahead, you know.

For another, I actually started this blog as a way to keep my family updated on Brigid’s development, because I am TERRIBLE at the communication thing, and four months after the fact, I’d finally get around to telling them that yes, in fact, Brigid has learned to walk, and didn’t I mention that to you when it happened? Oh…no? Huh. It’s a mystery.

And while my mom and dad do think my story-telling is wonderful, they’d sell me to the gypsies in a heartbeat if it meant more pictures of their granddaughter. And I would make an awful gypsy.

So, they get their pictures.

And finally, my schedule for the next couple of months? It. Is. Ridiculous.

Here, let me lay it out for you…

This weekend, Steve’s aunt and cousin are in town. Next weekend, we have my parents (YAY!!!). Then there’s an off weekend, before we head to Florida for a couple of days. Then, it’s Easter, a bachelorette/bridal shower weekend, Mother’s Day, a wedding, a free weekend, and another wedding. And then it’s June.

And while I am excited for each and every event that is coming, there are certain things like laundry and housecleaning and sitting on my couch watching trashy television that will need to be fit in there somewhere. So, I will take lots of pictures. I will post them all here. I will add a sentence or two when I feel up to it.

And you will like it. I hope…

Rotten

Last Friday, the weather was beautiful, and despite my desire to stay inside and watch basketball all afternoon, I didn't think it was right to do that to Brigid.

So, I packed up the stroller, flipped the game audio on in the old iPhone (just because ND was playing at the time, and I didn't want to completely miss that...), and carted B off to the neighborhood playground.

When we got there, she made a beeline for the jungle gym, where I helped her up the steps to the top of the slide, while I stood at the bottom, waiting to catch her when she slid down.

And then...I waited. And waited. And watched, as Brigid started to slide down, before pulling herself back to the top position, giggling like a loon.She did this three or four times, before finally ignoring my directions of 'sit down, you goof!' to stand up and make a break for the stairs on the far side of the gym. When I jumped up from the end of the slide to go catch her before she took a header off of the stairs, she grinned evilly, sat back down on the slide, and took off on her own.

Of course, without me there to stop her, she kept going right off the end of the thing and landed on her butt in the dirt. And she thought that was just hilarious.

And I did, too, until I realized how remarkably easy it was for my 18-month old child to play me. I knew that there would come a time when Brigid realized she was smarter than her mother, but I did not really expect it to hit quite so soon.

I've definitely said this before, but it's worth repeating...I think I may be in trouble with this one.

Transference

Steve (after a successful Sunday spent updating Brigid's spring wardrobe): Do you think maybe you're channeling all of your shopping energy into buying things for Brigid, since you gave up shopping for yourself for Lent?

Me: Um, maybe...

 

He may be on to something, no?

I think Brigid is Irish for ADORABLE!

We took Brigid to a little St. Patrick's Day festival by my brother-in-law's house last Thursday evening, because it was 80 degrees and sunny outside, and we are just a family who loves our holidays. If you say, 'let's celebrate!', we say 'when can we start?'.

I don't even think it matters what the holiday actually is, honestly. If there's a party, I want to be there. And I want to take Brigid with me.

Well,  most of the time, anyway.

(Please excuse the tennis shoes plus skinny jeans combination...daddy handled the dressing, while mommy had to work a little later than was planned, and just met everyone at the festival. 

Skinny jeans and tennis shoes. Huh. 

We don't quite have daddy trained, yet, it seems...)

I will say, though, style problems aside, Steve is much, much better at getting smiles out of this kid for pictures than I am. This seems like it might be a problem when I take Brigid by myself for Easter pictures in a couple of weeks...

I don't know that I've ever seen this child as happy as she was sitting on the grass, listening to music, and holding her balloon, while I was on one side feeding her pizza and Steve was on the other with her water. I think she would have stayed for much longer, if it hadn't already been so late. She was in such a good mood, in fact, there was no crying in the car on the way home.

And that? NEVER HAPPENS!! Unless Jack Skellington is somehow involved, that is.

There's no denying that my child likes her parties. She is going to be so much fun this summer!

NOM!

I promise, Brigid is actually kissing the dog, not trying to swallow her whole. My house may be a wild animal kingdom, but we do feed our child pretty regularly. We try not to leave her to fend for herself that often.

Although, as many times as Riley has nicked food off of B's plate, she probably does owe the poor kid a bite or two...

Am I too old to wear my daughter's clothes?

I don't mean her actual clothes, of course. Obviously, there's a bit of a size issue there. But something close to what's in Brigid's closet? Is that allowed?

Because I absolutely want this dress...

Dress: Gap Kids

Leggings: Target

Bow: Hobby Lobby
And be sure to check out Kimberly's site for other trendy tots!

Lessons from the weekend...

1) I may be a slightly lazy/weak person. 

Steve was sick this weekend, and I was on my own with Brigid for TWO STRAIGHT DAYS! And it was actually three straight nights, considering Steve went out for a few hours on Thursday evening to watch basketball. And that's not a lot, right? I mean, people do more than that all of the time. And yet...

EXHAUSTED!

Seriously, I was in bed by 8:30 on Saturday night. I could say I was thinking ahead, planning for the time change that was coming, but...no. That had nothing to do with it. I was just really, really tired.

*hangs head in shame*

Moving on...

2) I know nothing about kids. Still.

Last weekend, while Brigid was running a temperature/refusing to eat/chewing on everything/just being generally cranky, Steve at one point looked at me and suggested that maybe we had some molars coming in. I scoffed at this suggestion. SCOFFED, I tell you!

Molars are an 18-month thing. And Brigid has been behind the generally accepted schedule regarding every tooth in her mouth this far into her life. So, of course, it wasn't molars. Those wouldn't be coming in for months!

Hey, guess what Steve showed me Sunday afternoon?

Oh yeah, both sides.

I. Am. Clueless.

3) Steve is as excited about going to Florida as I am.

Considering he drove about an hour (round-trip) to hand deliver the check for the condo we're staying in on our long weekend, I'd say we're both ready for a vacation.

Did I mention that the place we're staying is within a mile-ish of both my favorite doughnut shop on one side and my favorite oyster bar on the other? Because, yeah, it totally is.

4) Pedicures are good.

Do I really need to elaborate on that one? I think not.

5) It's never too early to push your child into her chosen profession.

Dr. Brigid has a nice ring to it, right?

Reason #267 why I am not NEARLY nice enough to my husband...

Driving in to work this morning, my thought process was the following:

I think today is going to be a DAY. I don't know why, but I just feel a little...off. It's not supposed to be above 50 today. And it's all wet and gross out right now. And I'm tired. And I still don't have my written offer for my new job, which means I'm still stuck doing my old job, even though I am MORE THAN READY to start the new one. And now I probably won't make the 3/16 start date. And that sucks.

Maybe a Jimmy Buffett dance party is in order to set this day up right.

Well, that doesn't seem to be helping at all. The ocean sounds aren't making me feel better, they're making me want to go to the beach. Hey, that's not a bad idea at all. Didn't I move to Georgia because I'd be closer to the beach? It's a totally legitimate long-weekend destination. For the love, I NEED THE BEACH!

And when I got to work? I called my husband and said just that. His response?

Splash Resorts in Panama City Beach.*

We're shooting for April.

I can't wait.

*Ordinarily I would be against this, as I am not a big 'high rise on the beach' kind of person. I prefer secluded spots, where there aren't a ton of people around to bug me while I'm trying to relax. But I am also very realistic. And for an April long-weekend trip to the Panhandle, with Brigid in tow? The place that's walking distance to my favorite doughnut shop and attached to it's very own Alvin's Island is more than perfect for me.

Monkey Says What?

We don't use words in our house. We prefer to communicate through noises...

My mom always said I lived in a zoo...

Please ignore the crazy in the corner...

So, Brigid woke up a little warm on Sunday morning. But she always wakes up a little warm, because she is a sweet and snuggly little baby, and that's how they wake up. So, I didn't think much of it.

Then, she kind of refused to eat for most of the day. And I started to get a little nervous.

And when I went to get her undressed for dinner (Because, yes, my kid eats dinner naked. It's self-preservation, really...I can only handle so many items of stained clothing, after all.), she felt even warmer than she had earlier in the day. So I took her temperature, under her arm of course, because I was not about to subject her to a thermometer in any of the more recommended places, if I didn't have to. And it came back a little high at 99.4. And after fighting her way through a couple of bites of dinner, Steve took her temperature a second time, and it came in a little over 100.

So, we broke out the big guns, and took the thermometer to places we didn't want to have to take it. And Brigid was not pleased.

Not that I blame her. At ALL.

It came in somewhere over 101, and the freak out officially began. I twittered, I googled, I considered calling the pediatrician.

And Brigid looked at me like I was an idiot, as she ran naked and giggling around her bedroom.

So we gave her some Publix-brand-Tylenol-substitute, put her down in some short-sleeved pjs, and kissed her good night. I asked Steve to check on her before we went to bed. I considered waking her up to recheck her temperature and give her more medicine. I thought about taking her sleep sack off of her.

Steve checked on her and said she was sound asleep. He said that I was maybe overreacting, and that Brigid was probably fine. He said he'd take her to the pediatrician in the morning if she still had a fever.

He called me the next morning after Brigid woke up, and she was fine. He took her temperature periodically throughout the day, just to be sure (to the point that when he pulled out the thermometer before her bath last night, she ran from him with a look of panic on her face), and it was fine. She ate like a champ. She went to the car dealership with him. She admired the vroom vrooms, and made jokes in the car on the way home.

Moral of the story? I am crazy.

And Brigid is going to hate me when she gets older.

What do you do when the weather is nasty?

Why, you go to the mall, of course!

I'm really amazed by my kid, sometimes. I swear, I was blessed with the greatest and most wonderful child in the history of children. Not only was she a total trooper through an extended shopping experience at Macy's (who happened to be having one of their ONE DAY SALES! and who can shop quickly at a one day sale?), she was perfectly pleasant through our food court lunch (I swear, anybody walking by would think we were feeding our kid the WORST. LUNCH. EVER. because the only thing on her tray was Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and french fries, but she had fruit, too, I promise. She just really, really likes her fruit and managed to shove it in her mouth quicker than I could get it on her tray.), she hung in during our trip to the American Girl store, and she didn't destroy anything while we were at the Disney store. Then, even though she'd skipped her morning nap and was beyond overdue for her afternoon nap, she happily stayed awake for the drive home, before sleeping the afternoon away in her room (I had big fears of a twenty minute nap in the car, followed by a cranky afternoon), allowing Steve and I to watch one heck of a Notre Dame basketball game without too much interruption.

And THEN! She slept until almost 10:00am on Sunday morning.

Seriously. We must have been very, very good people in a former life.

And if you're reading this post through a feed, make sure to stop by my actual site today, to check out all of the changes that took place this weekend.  A HUGE thanks to Kimmie at Blue Paper Lanterns for the redesign. She is BEYOND amazing!

Bedtime Bunny

Last night, Brigid was in a rather picky mood when it came to her bedtime story. I offered up her usual options, waiting for her to settle on one, but book after book was met with a shake of the head and a push back to the book basket. When I pulled up a book called Bedtime Bunny, she finally granted me a smile, while she snuggled against my chest, waiting for me to start reading.

Now, Bedtime Bunny is part of a set. When I finished the book, Brigid turned to the back page, where there is a list of the four books in this little series, including pictures of each front cover. She pointed to one in particular, Butterfly Kisses, which is the only other book of the series that she has, and which she made me read to her over and over again when I put her down on Tuesday night. Trying to avoid a repeat performance, I attempted to impress her with her options once again, but she continued to fuss at me and point to Butterfly Kisses instead.

I ignored her and tried to read something else. She ignored me and kept pointing. It was a battle of wills, to the highest extent! I was adamant! We were not reading Butterfly Kisses AGAIN!. And then...

Yeah, this next part might not surprise you at all, but....I totally gave in.

I opened her book, and we read it together, with Brigid making splashing motions at the fish, monkey noises with the monkey, and shushing sounds for the baby. When I'd reach the last page? She'd flip right back to the front. We read this book for TEN MINUTES! And it is not a long book, my friends.

I learned three things last night:

1) It might be time to invest in some new books.

2) Apparently, opinions form early in life, or something.

And most importantly?
3) It is really, really hard to say no to a snuggly toddler.

I am doomed.

The Month that Was - February

February was a good month. We celebrated a couple of birthdays (And if it wasn't clear at the time, for my birthday, Steve had every post I wrote in 2010 printed out into a pretty hefty little hardback book for our library, like a family yearbook or something...and it's amazing! And also, I expect one every year, now...), hosted a party, and made some new friends.

Brigid developed a love of reading and a crazy obsession with my closet that leads to both of us trying on all sorts of clothes that she's picked out of the piles. She's starting to talk a little bit, but even without words, you can actually have an entire conversation with her now. She legitimately understands almost everything I say to her, and she reacts accordingly, and I'm not going to lie, it freaks me out a little bit. When did she become old enough to process what I'm telling her?!?!?

As if that wasn't enough, she started eating with a fork this month. And the two handed, intensely concentrated stabbing of every bite of food she takes? Beyond adorable.

Sure, she had her toddler moments, but she also had her sweet little Brigid moments. And I don't think I'd give up either one.

So, thanks for the good times, February, and here's to a March that's just as fantastic!

Big News!

For me...

I interviewed two weeks ago for a management position within my current group at work, and I found out today that I got the job! It's a two level jump from what I'm doing now, with all new responsibility and quite a few new challenges, and I'm ridiculously excited and surprisingly nervous all at the same time.

My tentative start date for the new role is 3/16, and I CAN. NOT. WAIT!

For Steve...
Steve is planning our new backyard. And he seems to be enjoying it just a bit too much. When I post pictures of our grotto, modeled after Hugh Hefner's own little hideaway, don't be surprised

For Brigid...
Apparently, Brigid learned a new trick today. She was put down for a nap this afternoon in just a diaper, because we've had 70+ degree weather for a couple of weeks now, and since I've refused to turn on the air conditioner in FEBRUARY, it gets a little stuffy in the house sometimes. And everything would have been fine, except that it appears that when there is easy access to the diaper, Brigid would prefer it not stay on.

So it did not stay on.

And my mother-in-law was greeted with bare baby tush sticking up in the air (because Brigid sleeps with her legs tucked under her, of course) and damp sheets.

I kind of wish I'd been there to see it...

Gotcha!

I don't know what it is about Brigid and pictures. She went through a phase a couple of months ago where, whenever the camera came out, she'd ham it up like a little nut, resulting in a rather large number (link to one of those picture posts) of squinty eyed, scrunchy faced, cheesy smiled pictures that were maybe the cutest things I'd ever seen.

I loved that phase!

But now? When the camera comes out? She runs. Or hides her face. Or starts crying. And I don't get it.

I mean, she knows what to do. The other day? She posed and smiled the sweetest little smile at me, while I PRETENDED to take pictures of her, because her impromptu photo shoot took place when I had neither camera or camera phone on my person. And this went on for TEN MINUTES!

When I'm standing in front of her with the actual camera?

THIS!

Of course, the beauty of digital cameras is that I can take a zillion of those pictures, just to end up with five like this...

It probably goes without saying, but man, I love this kid!

Onesie: Old Navy

Skirt: Made by Kimberly!