My girls

We ventured to Iowa this past weekend to visit Grandma D and run a race.

This is probably the visit with Miss M where she plays with others and is active. She got to play with E and A.

She loved E. She gave E hugs. She looked at the door every time we said E's name because she thought she was coming through the door. It was sweet. E was just as sweet to her. She tried to feed her and give her toys and take care of her.

A.  Hum.  A.  She was a bit of a different story! It wasn't that Miss M didn't love her rather it was more that A was a bit jealous of Miss M getting attention from others (except Nick - Miss M still doesn't like him).  I am sure someday they will be friends and sneak off and do mischievous things but not quite yet.

Nick.  Hum.  Why doesn't Miss M like him? We can't quite figure it out. He is jealous of Uncle Craig because Miss M loves Uncle Craig.  Could it be that we have figured out where A gets her jealousy issues!?!

Here are my girls running off to the cornfields at Grandma's house.

Miss M also enjoyed getting a ride from E around Grandma's circle.  E would put her hand behind Miss M's head before take off and stopping due to jerking of the car (or her driving skills).

E wasn't driving at this point but rather taking a break. Miss M is taking matters into her own hands and trying to make the car go.  She thinks by erratically turning the steering wheel the car will go.  

Header

I recently discovered we have entered into a new parenting phase.

The "I can't always keep you safe" phase.

It's stressful.  I am not sure I do well with not knowing what to do in situations.

A week or so ago Miss M feel off the playground equipment. Minimal damage was done.

She wants to crawl back and forth on the couch and luckily each time she's fallen off I have helped her fall off and kept her relatively safe.

She wants to climb on everything and yet doesn't have a desire to learn how to get back down.

Yesterday we went to the park. Miss M and I were doing the same things we do every day at the park.  I wasn't on my phone. I wasn't distracted. I was just watching her.

I was a half step too late.

I think she tripped and ended up parallel with the ground.  The problem was that being parallel to the ground with where she was meant that she was going over the foot and a half concrete wall...onto her head. All I could do was scream. It was horrible. I can't stop replaying the disaster in my head. My heart hurt way more than her head (or tongue).

She cried a lot.  She had blood in her mouth.

I didn't know what to do. Thankfully there was a lady at the park whom I spoke to last week and she helped me figure out that Miss M's blood was from biting her tongue and not knocking out any of those pearly whites we have worked so hard to grow.

She appears to be fine this morning but my heart still hurts.

I imagine this isn't the last of disasters.

Here are the battle wounds on her head.

Correction

We lost our power this morning. Miss M's morning breakfast usually consists of something toasted. Eekkss. What's a momma to feed her girl when the usual just became unattainable?

Since we bought all those healthy options at the grocery store the other night it was a no-brainer that Miss M would have Lucky Charms for breakfast.

I stated previously that Miss M likes Lucky Charms.

Correction. Miss M likes the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms.




She picks out the marshmallows and just looks at the cereal as though it was a nice garnish.

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Passing judgement

I have to apologize for mentally (and sometimes verbally) judging people who use the backpack harness on their children in public.

I took Miss M to the mall a week ago and wished I had a harness since she didn't want to stay in her stroller.

I took Miss M to the zoo yesterday and wished I had a harness since she revolted against her stroller. It was terrible. I held her for a little while but her 20+ pound self gets heavy quick especially when I was pushing her empty 25 pound stroller.

We will most likely not be purchasing a harness to wrangle Miss M but I understand why people buy them.  Kids are quick and exhausting to chase after especially when darting around hundreds of people in public.

Eventually we landed in the grassy area just outside the zoo.  The easiest way to get Miss M not to move is to put her in grass. She hates it. She won't walk in it and if she falls down and her hands touch it she falls apart.  It was glorious. We just sat on the towel and played and ate snacks.

We went to the park today to play.  It's fenced in.  She can't get away. She can, however, fall off playground equipment.

Miss M's new ride

Miss M got a new car in the mail a few days ago. I was pretty proud of myself as I put it all together except for the horn.  I had the hammer and electric drill out. It didn't take too long and there were no pieces left over when I was finished putting the car together.

When we were visiting Uncle Craig and Aunt Jessie, we bought Miss M a cozy coup and after Uncle Craig put it together there were a lot of parts unused. The directions were terrible but I don't think there were supposed to be that many pieces remaining. Needless to say the cozy coup stayed at their house for baby Jack.

Miss M was pumped about this car even before I pulled put it together.

Here she is on the car wanting to take a ride before it had wheels.

We have been going for walks with the car each day whether it be to the park, the store, the dog-park or around the block.  She has fun and rocks back and forth and turns the steering wheel erratically and laughs.  I am glad she likes it as much as she does as I bought it more for Andrew and I than her.

We are thankful for the nice weather. The warmer weather saves everyone's sanity since we can only be inside for so long before we can't take it anymore.  If it stays nice tomorrow we shall take our car to the zoo and see the animals.

Mother's Day at the Gym

Miss M and I pack ourselves up each morning and head to the gym. It is a guaranteed hour where Miss M can run around and play with other kids, other teachers, and other toys. She enjoys it. She doesn't cry when I leave her. There are days I go to pick her up and she runs away from me or just ignores me.  I really like the daycare workers and the fact that she likes going to play.

Today, when I went to pick up Miss M, one of the workers handed me a piece of paper and explained that it was Miss M's Mother's Day card to me.  It was so sweet. I almost cried.  It was very sweet of the daycare since it is likely to be the only thing I get for Mother's Day. The card was painted by Miss M.  When I picked her up they said she was a mess and had paint everywhere. This is why I wouldn't give Miss M paint.  I don't have the patience for it.  She still had some paint in her hair, under her fingernails, on her clothes, and on her face when I picked her up.  It was cute.

Here is Miss M and her painted Mother's Day card creation.  It makes my heart happy.

Here is a picture of Miss M and Mom. It's from a few days ago but there aren't many pictures of the two of us.  She's getting so big. And my hair is so long which is what happens when your hairdresser decides to go and have a baby!

Saturday at the Grocery Store

Miss M and I are on our own this weekend.  It's a little sad that Mother's day is on Sunday and Andrew is out of town, but Miss M and I have a few plans.  

We went to the grocery store and stocked up on junk food.  We bought Lucky Charms, Chips Ahoy cookies, chips and cheese dip, ice cream and a few other items.  I gave Miss M a few Lucky Charms tonight at dinner to see if she would love them. Of course she loved them. And like all good Lucky Charm eaters she ate the marshmallows first.  I ate a bowl of them for dinner tonight as well. I was wondering if I would still love them like I did when I was 12. I did. They were super delicious.  

I don't buy junk food and keep around the house very often (minus ice cream) but all the junk food was on sale today.  I have determined that if I end up gaining lots of weight it isn't going to be because I was pregnant and couldn't lose the pregnancy weight. I eat her snack food i.e. graham crackers and I pick at her dinner each night i.e. loaded baked potatoes.  It's ridiculous and I use her as an excuse to buy stuff I wouldn't normally buy for around the house.  Must. Stop. Eating. Miss M's food.  

Miss M, however, is eating a few vegetables lately. Her father loved pees so I gave her pees tonight. Pees repulse me. They just smell bad.  She ate them. She didn't eat them as excitedly as she does ice cream and cookies but she ate them.  

I also fed her green beans yesterday and she ate a few of them.  Progress.  

Miss M and I noticed a lot more men at the grocery store and the park today than usual.  There were probably 15 cars leaving the grocery store as we were pulling in and probably 80% of the cars were occupied by men only.  The same percentages held true inside the store. Men buying flowers and wine and calling their wives frantically asking where things were supposed to be or what things they were supposed to be picking up.  

I felt like the world was taunting me a little reminding me that Andrew wasn't around but Miss M and I had fun as she was in a pretty good mood all day. We did have a "talk" before bed where I reminded her tomorrow was Mother's Day and she needed to be nice all day and sleep in a little and take a long nap.  Hopefully she listened.  We are having cinnamon rolls tomorrow morning.  The kind from the can.  

Miss M and her Daddy

Miss M enjoys just being outside and walking up and down the sidewalks (since she still won't go near grass).

Take note

Please take note that Miss M is drinking soy milk. She even reaches for it. I don't even force it down her throat.  Miss M does not like milk. It is somewhat concerning to me that she doesn't drink milk but I suspect she'll be fine based on the amount of ice cream she eats regularly.

Miss M can also tell you how old she is when asked.  She usually sticks her one finger up her nose but I was able to catch a picture of her showing me how old she is without her finger up her nose.

Miss M also waves bye-bye these days. She really only waves bye-bye to dogs and to her water. She waves bye-bye to the water each night at the end of her bath which is how I know she's finished.

Daddy's girl

There was a time when I was Miss M's favorite. I have been replaced. She's in love with her daddy.  She pounds on the door saying "dada-dada".  She gets photo albums off the shelf and says "dada-dada". She also says "dada-dada" all day long but she knows who her daddy is when asked and especially when he's around.

She squeals in delight if he comes home while she's still awake. There are nights when he comes home as Miss M is in the middle of having a breakdown because she's tired or tired of looking at the apartment or tired of looking at me and he walks in the door and you would have never known she was in the middle of having a fit.

She wants to play with him and be his sidekick whenever he's around. This weekend they had their own date where they went and got bagels/muffins and went to the dog park while I was out running.  She loves seeing dogs and squeals at them too.

On Sunday Andrew was working from home before his flight and Miss M wanted to sit on his lap and "help". I wanted to tell him it wasn't a good idea to let her on his lap because she would just pound on the computer keys and make life difficult (annoying).  I chose to keep my mouth shut.

She didn't even try to touch his computer. She got a pencil and pretended to write on the papers in front of her.

Today I had the computer out as I was attempting to do some online shopping. Miss M proceeded to pound on the keys and step on my computer. I shall keep my computer use consistent with her sleeping patterns.

I am losing my mind

I lose a lot.

I don't just lose things like an earring from a cheap set or a flip flop or any other item which would be easy or inexpensive to replace.

I lose things like wallets, credit cards, sunglasses, house keys, car keys, phone, wedding ring, etc.

You get the point.

Things you need on a daily basis. I use these things on a daily basis thus it is amazing how I can lose them so often.

I guess you could say I don't lose them rather I misplace them.

Lately, I have been regularly misplacing my keys. It is so aggravating.  I think part of the problem is that I give Miss M the keys after I open the door and you never know when or where she might drop them.

I lost them Friday. I got my sister's keys as a back-up.  I found the lost keys behind the trunk in our bedroom.

I lost them this afternoon. I ended up just leaving the apartment unlocked when we went to the park because we needed out of the apartment and we weren't going to be gone long.  I found them under the night stand.

I came home from the park so irritated with myself.  How is it that I misplace my keys so often? Is this normal? I don't believe it is.  I was so aggravated that I came home and went to the laundry room and got a hammer and three nails and hammered the nails haphazardly into the wall.  The nails aren't level. They aren't centered. They are just hammered erratically into the wall because of my frustration.  I found the keys. I hung all the keys up. Breath a sign of relief. I feel good about this.

Ahh. The things you can do when you rent! Andrew hasn't found out about this decision to hammer nails into the wall yet. I predict he will be less than impressed with my creativity.

Miss M and I go check the mail everyday. It's beneficial for multiple reasons 1) gets us out of the apartment 2) Miss M likes to climb stairs 3) we need to check the mail. Lately we have been just sitting in the apartment lobby area. Today we sat there are opened the mail and read part of the newspaper.  An hour after we got back into the apartment I realized that I didn't have my keys. Again. I had no idea where they were. I looked everywhere. I even went back to the lobby area.  Nothing. After Miss M went to bed I searched high and low. I found them buried under the couch.

I have no idea where my keys are currently. I don't even care anymore.  I will care again in the morning.  

My mother in law has experienced my inability to keep track of items - especially keys. I don't think she's impressed. She was so unimpressed during one of our last visits that she bought me a key finder.  You whistle. Key finder beeps.  I can whistle. Perfect idea. Right?!? No. Miss M's screams are apparently enough to make the key finder go off all day long so I had to shut it off. I am strongly considering turning it back on and just listening to the key finder beep all day. 

At what point does one need to be concerned about losing their mind?

It's park time again

Luckily the weather has been nice enough to be outside again. Miss M doesn't like to swing and she can't go down a slide by herself but she loves to just wonder all around the park. Here are a few pictures from the last couple days at the park.

Apparently she needed a rest.

Animal Crackers

I bought Miss M a personal sized box of animal crackers when we were at the store recently. I probably bought them more because I always wanted them as a kid and who wouldn't want their own personal box of animal crackers in a cute carrying case. I gave them to Miss M after dinner tonight. She sat down on the floor and started munching away. I didn't pay much attention to her as we were watching Pat & Vanna (I have to see if I am the winning wheel watcher - keep an eye out for my name - nope - that's not a joke - if you see my name call me immediately!). I look over at her during a commercial break (of course) and realize that she is eating a bite or two of a cracker and then putting it on the floor and getting a new one. What the heck?!? I think she was asking for me to eat them. So I did. I think that's the danger of having a child. I buy the stuff I secretly want but wouldn't buy without a child and now I find that I eat a significant amount of whatever it is Miss M is eating. Bad news. Bad.

Blogger isn't allowing me to separate paragraphs. I apologize for the run on-ness of the paragraphs. I will attempt to keep them short but I can be a little wordy at times.

Dipping part 2

I mentioned before that Miss M likes to dip her food into some sort of condiment. She has recently started dipping her graham crackers into her yogurt. It's a healthy condiment. Well maybe yogurt isn't a condiment but it's a healthy dipping option. Go me!