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New Year, New Toys!

Since Lovie's birthday falls a mere 4 days after Christmas and days just before the new year, she'll always have a bunch of NEW stuff to ring in the New Year.

Big 2012 hits include...


The Shopping Cart (Christmas gift from Grandpa)

yes those are balloons- leftover from her balloon birthday bash we created for her on Thursday.

The Laptop Computer (Bday gift from Gma and Gpa)

this thing annoys me. really. she turns it on and then it talks and repeats the same damn things over and over again. and she has no clue how to operate it so it just repeats over and over again until it shuts down. i'm glad she likes it and i'm sure once she learns how to work it better she'll like it even more, but in the meantime... argh.

The Jack in the box and Spinning top (from Santa)

The drum (Bday gift from mama and daddy)

Anything crayon/coloring related (Bday gift from mama and daddy)

i actually had to hide this already. it's a small, portable easel with paper on one side and a dry erase board on the other. 

the dry erase side is with CRAYONS that work on the board or paper. 

it's very cool but it gets old having to wipe it clean every 20 seconds.

(not pictured are these animal crayons and huge thing of paper my cousin gave her for her Bday)

The Kitchen (Christmas gift from mama and daddy- this got 2 hours of non stop play on Christmas day but hasn't been touched much since... except for the phone, she's constantly looking for the phone)

 

Puzzles (from Santa)

 Baby doll bed (Christmas gift from Grandma)

That's about it. She got a couple other things (like a sit and spin, an Ernie doll, etc) that she likes just fine, too. But she didn't get inundated with merchandise. Thankfully. That said, we do still have her kid birthday party for her in six days so I'm not really sure what that will leave us with. I really and truly hope that people limit their gifts to crayons or something small if they get anything at all. We're just looking forward to getting all the littles together to play (being held at a little kid gym)!

What kind of loot are you looking forward to playing with this year?

New Year's Eve

I was gonna do a 2011 review of my blog but... it's just gonna take up too much bloody time, frankly. And I just don't think anyone cares that much.

So instead, enjoy a video I made for Lovie's 2nd year:

2011 was another great year for us. My sweet girl grew so much and turned into quite the little girl (sniff, sniff she's definitely not a baby anymore). And I couldn't ask for anything more.

Here's wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2012!

Waking up to balloons

December 29, 2011

I still haven't recapped our Christmas and that makes me sad- because it was AWESOME- but I couldn't really touch on it until after Lovie's birthday.

My girl turned TWO yesterday.

My big girl.

My sunshine. My love. My life.

Originally I wanted to do something special with her but because she loves going to school, we decided to just let her go to school and then celebrate there and after school. So yesterday was damn busy for me.

It actually started on the 28th when I spent nearly 2 hours blowing up balloons to cover the floor of Lovie's bedroom so when she woke she'd see something- a room full of balloons- she hadn't seen before. Something to make her day more special, you know? After the balloons were done, I spent another several hours on the computer trying to finalize her 2nd year video- which still isn't finished.

When we woke on the 29th, Lovie was surprised by the balloons (I do have some pictures just no time to get them off my camera) but pretty much over it as soon as we left. Then it was all about donuts because I told her we would stop to bring in donuts to school- for her birthday. So the entire car ride in to school on slick roads consisted of singing about Donuts! Dough-nuts! Dough-nuts! It's time to get the dough-nuts! Over and over again. We sang about these donuts so much that by the time we were driving home after a busy day at school, she still remembered the song and started singing it! =D

I left work early to pick up the cupcakes I was bringing in to her school for their afternoon snack.

Check out the cupcake toppers I made- by hand- for $1.99 (cost of lollipop sticks):

One side with Ni Hao Kai-Lan character, other side with Lovie's 2

Then I met my mom at her school at 3 where Lovie and some of the others were just waking up or still sleeping. She woke up quickly once she saw us but was a bit whiny (she likes to snuggle after waking from a nap until she's ready to get going) and stuck to me like velcro until everyone woke up and it was time to get the chairs for snack. Then I told her that she needed to help out with the chairs and sit down for her snack so that we could all sing Happy Birthday to her.

At first she was really happy and excited about the cupcakes and the Kai-Lan characters (it's one of her favorite shows- she even says Hello, Bye, and Thank You in Chinese). But then we started singing to her after lighting a little 2 candle and she was like, WTF:

hehe she cracks me up!

Once we got done singing to her, she blew out her candle like she'd done it a hundred times. Then she spent about half an hour sticking her finger in the frosting and then licking her finger.

She's never been much of a sweets person, but I'm glad she at least enjoyed the frosting.

After she was done, we left daycare and went home. Lovie watched a little TV while I tried getting most of the balloons out of her bedroom and into the front of the house and her playroom. I ended up taping a good dozen to the walls just to get them off the floor.

When daddy got home, he brought her a hot dog and fries of which she chowed down on. Then we lit a candle on a small piece of cake I picked up when I got the cupcakes, sang happy birthday to her, and she, once again, blew out her candle like a pro. She opened all her presents and played for a bit then got her PJ's on, drank some milk while watching a little TV before heading to her bedroom for some stories and bed.

She was asleep by 8 (Mama was asleep by 815) and today she's home with daddy while Mama "works."

And there you have it. A run down of Lovie's 2nd birthday. I'll probably post pictures from our little party at home at another time, but until then, just know it went really, really well.

And we still have her kid party coming up next Saturday, January 7th! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Happy Happy Birthday

Happiest of Birthdays to the sweetest, cutest, most wonderfully awesome little chica I know. My Lovie. The past two years have been nothing shy of amazing and somehow manage to get more and more awesome with each passing day.

Thank you for making all my dreams come true and changing my life two years ago. Thank you for making me complete. Thank you for you.

I cannot wait to see what this next year has in store for us.

I love you more than words could ever say.

Mama

you're only a day away

1 more day till Lovie's the big TWO.

To celebrate, I'll be posting a favorite photo of Lovie from 2011 every day until the 29th- her 2nd birthday. This was anything but easy to decide on. And I'm sure I'm leaving out so many wonderful (to me) photos but for the sake of sanity, here's my number 1 favorite from the year:

This was taken on the very last day of July in the park about 4 blocks from our house. Lovie was barely 19 months old. It depicts her beautifully I think- her smile, that face, her sweetness... her. And tomorrow she'll be two. It's really crazy to me. She's changed SO much this year, yet she's still my itty bitty girl who quiets when I softly sing to her, who studies my eyes when I change her diaper. I miss the coos and the absolute need for me at all times, but I really REALLY love playing with her, talking to her. I adore watching her grow and learn every single day. And her love of life is so contagious. But still... she's TWO tomorrow. And time just isn't slowing down one iota!

2 more days till Lovie's the big TWO.

To celebrate, I'll be posting a favorite photo of Lovie from 2011 every day until the 29th- her 2nd birthday. This was anything but easy to decide on. And I'm sure I'm leaving out so many wonderful (to me) photos but for the sake of sanity, here's my 2nd favorite from the year:

Yes, technically these are two photos in one but so be it. My game, my rules! ;) The top one of Lovie and me was taken by me in April. It's one of my favorites of us together and I make it a point to have a lot of Mommy and Me photos of us. I was so tired, it was probably 8 in the morning, I still had mascara on from the day before, I wasn't showered, our hair was just thrown back... but it's us: Lovie and me. And that's why it's my 2nd favorite. And tied for 2nd is the bottom photo of Lovie and her dad taken just last month in November. She was fussing a bit after napping and daddy went to check on her and after a while of silence, I went to check on them both and this was what I found. It just doesn't get much sweeter than this.

3 more days till Lovie's the big TWO.

To celebrate, I'll be posting a favorite photo of Lovie from 2011 every day until the 29th- her 2nd birthday. This was anything but easy to decide on. And I'm sure I'm leaving out so many wonderful (to me) photos but for the sake of sanity, here's my 3rd favorite from the year:

This was taken back in February and I just adore it. I adore her face, those cheeks, those lips, those eyes. I adore her Yeah?! look. I adore the fact that the tippy top of the head of her baby doll she was glued to for a couple months after receiving it is in the photo. I just adore HER! And I cannot believe in three short days, she will be TWO!

December Favorite

I can't even say enough about why this is my favorite photo of December. It was just taken yesterday, Christmas Eve, and every time I look at this photo or just think about it, I well up. That there is my dear grandmother whose first name happens to be Lovie's middle name. Oma means the world to me; she's the most amazing woman I know and probably ever will know. She's also been very ill and has pretty much given up on life and claims to be ready to die. I've come to terms with this- as much as it pains me. I have no desire to lose my Oma, but I'd much rather her be in peace than live in misery. And right now, she's pretty miserable. Unless Lovie is around. That smile... that's how I see Oma in my head whenever I think of her. I don't see a women who is rail thin and suffering. I see a woman full of SO much life and SO much love. And that's how Lovie will remember her, too. Because of photos like this. Because of the stories I will share when I tell her why her middle name is what it is. Because that's who Oma is and always will be.

{participating in the Paper Mama photo challenge}