oh and btw, happy halloween!

It's been a while, eh? Almost two months. Nothing much to report on truthfully.

School is going quite well for Lovie. She still loves it. We still love it. Her teacher is constantly telling us how smart she is and the other day she started compiling a list of kids she wants to invite to her FIFTH birthday party (in less than two months #omgholdme). She sat there and sounded out each name and wrote down the letters that corresponded with the sound. I was quite impressed. She's also been impressing me with her reading lately. In addition to sight words and other words she knows from memorization, most of her reading is still figuring out the words with the picture, but she totally gets sounding out the words when I tell her to LOOK at the word.

It's pretty awesome. She's pretty awesome. And pretty. ;)


***
We went on vacation last week. We drove from Chicago to (near) Clearwater Florida. The drive down wasn't so fun. Lovie got carsick twice on the first day. What should've taken us 11 hours, took us 17 that first day. But the second day went much smoother. And of course the time spent in Florida was nothing shy of fabulous. Really and truly.

Now I'm generally NOT a sun and hot weather person. In fact, I hate it. But if you can get me right. on. the. ocean. I'm game. And that's what we did. We found a condo to rent that was RIGHT on the water. The view, the price, it was all just too much to pass up. We laid around in the sun and swam in the ocean the majority of the time. We also went on a pirate cruise (which I'd recommend anyone to do- especially if you have kids). On the last day, we left the condo at 10AM (checkout time) and headed to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium... home of Winter the dolphin.

This place was really and truly fabulous, and a great way to spend our last day of vacation. I have never in all my life encountered a place where every single employee was SO nice. And if you've seen the Dolphin Tale movies, you absolutely MUST visit this place with your kids. Worth every penny.


***
Next up is preparing for the holidays and Lovie's birthday (in less than two months #omgholdme). We already know where it's going to be and what we'll be doing, but I do still need to book it. I'm actually super excited about this party as it's not a jumpy house. Not that anything is wrong with jumpy houses, Lovie LOVES them and had her last two parties at them. I just think what we have planned, if pulled off, will be super damn fun and cute and memorable. You only turn five once, right? Why not make it a memorable one?

TILTW: 6.1-6.7.13

 

THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

june 1 to june 7, twenty-thirteen

 

*
No matter how hard I try (which, I admit, isn't too hard), I just don't understand people who don't enjoy a good steak every now and again.

**
Double rainbow!

***
Playing in the sand beside your near 3.5 year old at the beach kicks ass even if it is barely 50 degrees and wind tries knocking you over.

****
Playing in the sand when it's sunny out and a 20 degrees warmer is even more fun. (Thank you for no 90 degrees!)

*****
Watching your child take to something with such glee is beyond awesome. Lovie is a big big fan of swimming (whilst being inside a small inner tube).

******
Vacationing with a near 3.5 year old is so SO much fun! Looks like next time we have to extend our stay or maybe go again in the fall.

*******
Take Lovie to the bathroom before you go anywhere no matter what. Don't ask, just take her... or she may end up pissing herself and the sand she's standing on before you get to the water's edge. Or something.

********
This portable potty thing is absolutely invaluable. (But you still need to sit your kid on the toilet before going anywhere or after a long drive.)

*********
I still don't care for kid tattoos.

**********

My Home

I used to come here and gush all about her...

my Lovie.

I'd go on and on about all that she was learning and how fast she seemed to be growing. I'd marvel over her adorableness in photos I'd share any chance I could.

But then I kind of stopped.

It seemed like I wasn't getting as many comments when I gushed about my lovebug... not like I would when I made lists or tried my hand at fiction or other writing, which I absolutely love doing.

But the thing is, she is what makes me get up every morning.

Yeah, it used to be writing and getting all my thoughts down. And while that still does help today, there's so much more to me than writing. It's all about her.


I recently went away for three days and three nights. I left my Lovie in the hands of Taye, my husband (and her daddy). I knew she would be well taken care of. But a part of me was so afraid to leave. All the worse case scenarios popped in my head and I feared that I may not return home to my Lovie.

Mama, Lovie, Taye at the Wiggles show.

But then I realized this could happen at ANY moment.

I didn't just realize it when I went away; I've known for a very long time that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I feel like I've really tried living each day believing this- that tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

actual view from our room

So I went on that trip and I had the time of my life... and I missed the shit out of my Lovie. I watched kids and babies playing in the sand and water, laughing and having the time of their lives... and my heart ached to see my Lovie.

Lovie. with Mama poking out from behind at the Wiggles show.

And when my flight going home was cancelled for the day and another flight couldn't be booked till the next day? I wanted to just cry. Trying to find another flight home and get a hotel voucher for the night, the lady behind me was just wanting to get the voucher for the hotel room so she could "lock her kids up" when I just wanted to get home to my kid- to wrap my arms around my kid, to smother her with kisses.

Lovie and me at the Wiggles show

Lovie is my life. Plain and simple.

I am my own person, yes, but I'm her Mama. First and foremost, I. Am. Her. Mama. And there's nothing... NOTHING... in this world that could take that away from me. Nothing can make me feel guilty about wanting to watch her learn and grow every single day. Nothing can make me feel guilty for not wanting to be away from her.

Yes, my time away was very enjoyable... I slept in till 9AM one day! There was no diapers to change, no food to make for anyone. I laid on the beach and in the water for three straight days. The sun burnt my skin to the point that it's now grossly peeling. Cabana boys were at my beck and call. IT WAS FANTASTIC! I'm glad I went.

how we've basically spent the last several days- she's glued to me at all times. and i like it like that.

But I was even more happier to see that Lovie of mine when I finally got home.

She is my home.

TILTW: 7.28-8.3

* I'm the only person in the universe who's not going to #BlogHer12.

* That's OK cuz I'm going to #RelaxHer12. In fact, I'm on my way there right now! Holla!

* I'm also the only person in the universe who doesn't really give a shit about the #Olympics.

* That's OK cuz Samuel L. Jackson (yep, The) is on the Twitter and gives the best updates anyway so I'm clearly not missing much.

* Not too much else matters this week, except that I'll miss my sweet lovebug terribly. This isn't about guilt, it's about just wanting to be with that little girl every chance I get. But I'll come home and scoop her up into my arms and life will be better than ever.

Cheers

A week from tomorrow, I'll be here:

Paradise, if you will.

It will be the first time in four years since hopping on a plane.

It will be the first time in ten years since vacationing without my husband.

It will be the first time in two years, seven months, and twelve days I'll be overnight without my Lovie. (This one scares the shit out of me to the point of making me feel a little ill when I really think about it. I love her so friggin much and it hurts to think about being away from her so I do my best not to thinking about this.)

I'll be meeting up with my BFF/cousin. She's flying in from NYC, I'm flying in from Chicago. Two big city girls, who happen to turn 40 this year, getting away for a long weekend of doing absolutely nothing but lay by the ocean for three days... to celebrate each other and our lives. And hopefully another 40 more years together.

Cheers to 40 years!

the absolute best thing to ever happen to me in almost 40 years... so glad to be doing this trip before my
bday so i can celebrate my actual bday with her by my side. i'm such a sap. and??

Dreamsicle Listicle

10 things that make for a Perfect Vacation

1. Sleeping in- and sleeping in comfortably!
2. Room service
3. Crisp, clean air (the outdoors; in other words, keep the city life far away. unless it's Vegas. or NYC.)
4. Room must have a nice view- could be trees or a lake or the ocean (yeah right) but there must be something other than buildings to look at
5. Good food must be readily available
6. Places to explore nearby in case we want to go out
7. Place to play (playgrounds for the wee one, casinos for the big one)
8. Nothing ridiculously expensive (I know it's vacation but we still need to live when we get back)
9. Some place where my Loves can be by my side (yes including the little Love) 
10. No schedules, no deadlines 

Vacation all I ever wanted. Vacation all I ever needed!

Oh how glorious it is to step away from reality for a bit... even if it for a few days.

That was our view from our room for three days and two nights. Granted during the night, it was much darker and we were sleeping but yeah. Not too shabby eh? Well, unless, of course, this is your view every day. But for us, it's not. No, our every day view is of a street with cars parked bumper to bumper on both sides of the street and iron fences and litter. My lord is the street covered with lots of litter. I don't care if "it's the city"; it's also 2011 and it repulses me that people still drop their trash out their car windows as they drive by or as they walk by.  So being surrounded by blue skies, lots of wa-wa (and iiishies) and fresh air for a short while is just so darn refreshing... revitalizing.

I could've bathed in it.

Instead I took a ton of pictures: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

And today? Today I'm back at work while my Lovie is at daycare. Oh boy was it hard leaving her this morning. Neither of us cried but man did I want to. I gave her an extra hundred kisses before I left but.. man, was that hard.

She was awesome on our trip. Fortunately we're "go with the flow" type of people so while we're sticklers for routine as far as napping, bedtimes, etc, during our everyday life, we're also OK with letting go of that routine when needed. And vacation is a time when letting go is needed. We didn't worry about bed times or nap times. We just wanted to have fun and wanted everyone to be happy, and everything just sort of fell in to place perfectly as far as what we saw and did.

Coming back home and getting settled back into a routine, however, was a lot harder than I thought. Finally by yesterday (Sunday), Lovie was back in her groove but up till then there were LOTS of tears come nap and bed time.. and that was something I wasn't used to, nor was I expecting to be honest. I'm just thankful that we came home on Thursday (we almost stayed longer last minute), allowing her several days to get back to normal or I'm not sure how today would've gone.

Aquarium visit #1

On Thursday (click it for Tuesdays recap; click it for Wednesdays recap), it was time to say goodbye to our hotel room and our vacation away from the big city life. Oh how I hate saying goodbye to the peace and quiet but such is life for the unfamous and unindependantly wealthy.

After loading the car up with all our stuff and checking out, we stopped at a burger joint in town that's been around for like 30 years or so for lunch and then made our way back in to the city... but there was something about the day and the fact that I just wasn't ready to end our vacation so I talked the H into stopping off at our city's hugeass Aquarium.

After parking ($16 for up to 4 hours, $19 for up to 12 hours) and unloading the stroller and Lovie, we made the longass trek to the Aquarium. Fortunately it's right on the lakefront so while it was warmer inland, it was actually a little cool despite the sun beating down on us.

We made out way into the Aquarium and opted for their cheapest package- the main floor for $8 a person (free under 2). While the main floor is pretty boring, we knew Lovie would be fascinated by all the Wawa (water) and Fishies so we went with it. (And after having to pay for parking we weren't really wanting to dish out an additional $30-35/pp to see more... especially when we really wanted to be out of the Aquarium in a couple hours time, max.)

We were right. Lovie loved all the Wawa and fishes.

On our way back to the car, we took a ton of pictures as we hung out for a bit under the picture perfect skies and in front of a Big Fish and Man statue that spits out water.

And then we packed 'er up and ended our vacation with a trip back to the car and a ridiculous amount of time stuck in rush hour. Of course.

Zoo visit #1

Wednesday, the day of our 4th wedding anniversary, we woke around 830... nice and late (since Lovie was born). The weather was supposed to be perfectly clear and a high about 70 and since we're both fans of cooler weather, we thought it would be a perfect day for a zoo visit.

After breakfast in bed and a little TV watching while we got ready, we headed out.

We were right. It was a perfect day for Lovie's first visit to a zoo. And while there are two bigger and better zoos where we live, I really enjoyed this zoo for its more intimate feeling and am glad this was Lovie's first experience. It wasn't overwhelming at all and we were actually able to walk the entire park and see all of its animals in one decent visit. And there weren't gobs of people like there are back home.

Oh how I love vacation.

Beach visit #1

We left the city Tuesday afternoon and headed a wee north crossing two state borders, yet only traveling for about 90 minutes including a stop to feed a very hungry (and unhappy as a result) Lovie. After checking into the hotel at about 5PM (we even managed to enter a different time zone!) we headed to the beach nearby.

This was the first time Lovie really experienced sand and a lot of Wawa (water). She kept saying Wawa! Wawa! over and over again. (I guess learning to say Water a couple days prior really came in handy.) But she really wasn't digging the texture of the sand much. I guess she really is a city girl already.

After playing on the playground and cleaning off the sand from our hands and feet we headed to dinner in the hotel's restaurant where we were able to dine outside.

It was a really lovely afternoon and a great start to our trip.

Yummy in my Tummy

I was wanting some brown sugar yesterday for some reason... so I found a recipe for Brown Sugar Pancakes and that's what I made for breakfast this morning.

They turned out fabulous. Yum!

And the recipe makes enough pancakes for half a Duggar family I bet!

Speaking of brown sugar...

She's napping right now. When we got home yesterday she was so stuffy and coughing a bit. Poor thing. I could see it in her eyes that she wasn't feeling so well. She only ate a fruit pouch (well not the actual pouch, of course) for dinner- refused everything else. I have a feeling her throat was hurting her pretty bad. She cried when I kept offering other foods so I finally let it be, scooped her up and brought her to bed at 530. She looked up at me, then stood up, and wanted me to hold her. So I did. I scooped her up into my arms and held onto her as I swayed a bit. She just laid her head on my shoulder and let her whole body relax. I sat in the chair that's beside her crib and she continued to lay on me, molding into me. For 20 minutes we sat like that. My eyes closed but I didn't fall asleep... I don't think she did either. But it was enough to re-energize her a bit to hang out and watch a little tv before Daddy got home. Then about 640, she was ready for bed and was fast asleep within minutes not waking until 515 this morning. I gave her a bottle of warm milk and she drank it all and fell back to sleep until 730!

And today, fortunately, she's feeling a lot better already! Hoorah!

We'll take it easy today, just in case, because we have a picnic to go tomorrow for my grandmother's 89th birthday, then Tuesday we leave for our little annivacation. So hopefully the sickies can stay far away for a bit.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

And, if you ever make the brown sugar pancakes, let me know if you think they're as yummy as we do!

packing for vacation with a toddler

We're getting ready to go away for a few days to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary (11 years together)... and yes, we're taking Lovie with us (wouldn't have it any other way).

We did this last year, too. In fact this will be our third year in a row going to the same place. It's only a 90 minute drive (no more than) from our house, but it's sooo different than the city. We love it.

So it's time to start packing- or at least getting a list together.

My stuff (the H packs his own crap, tyvm):

clothes- panties, bras, tops, bottoms, socks, pj's, extras
shoes- gym shoes, flip flops
hair shit
toiletries- beyond hair shit (don't forget deodorant)
camera
batteries

Lovie's stuff (very random order):
Baby dolls- Grandma bear, Baby doll, Seahorse are absolute musts
PJs- footed, non footed
noise machine
diapers
wipes
sippy cups
shoes
clothes- shorts, dresses, tops, skorts, pants, sweatshirt
bathing suit
sun hat
sunblock
toys for the car
toys for the hotel room
toys for restaurants
toys for sight seeing
jacket
socks
prune juice
cheerios
frozen peas (I really don't think she can do without!)
nutrigrain bars
pacifiers
baby shampoo
comb
hair stuff
kid motrin
toothbrush
stroller!
books
floaters for pool
sand toys


OMG this is way more than we had to bring last year when she was itty bitty like this:

Now, we're gonna need two cars... and we're only going for two nights! And I'm sure I'm missing something...amiright? Help!

I'm back.

The Bitch is Back.

Ha! Love this song, this man- particularly live.

So our annivacation... it was awesome.  Lovie was a doll, as always.  We did have to resort to using teething tablets a couple times, but other than that, she was a dream.

She slept in the PeaPod - an in/outdoor tent for babies up to age 3. I highly highly highly recommend getting this if you travel (and if you don't cosleep).

We were a bit worried about how she might (or might not) nap since she naps in the swing and we were not about to take that along (among all the other crap we brought)... but Lovie was just awesome regarding absolutely everything. Honest to god, sometimes I really and truly do believe we have the perfect baby doll.

Goin for the gold! (first time in the pool was a big success!)

Channeling Gene Simmons

And now...

Now I miss her like crazy.

It took everything in me not to burst into tears this morning when I left her at daycare.