Cracker > Mom

Won't say mom, mama, mommy, momma, or even plain ol' ma. But two syllable words for foods she loves? No problem.

cra-ker = Dani's favorite food to say. Closely followed by bagel (ba-geel) and yogurt (YO-gur).

Oh, and one of Michaela's new favorite things to tell me (and everyone else) right now? "She (Dani) says everything else, but she WON'T say 'Momma'!"

Vera Bradley Outlet Sale 2011

The day before Chris left for Vegas I went on a little road trip with my friends Shannon, Kim and Lisa to Ft. Wayne, IN.  Not your typical mid-week overnight trip.  That is, unless you're Vera Bradley fans heading to their annual Outlet Sale. :)

With a $3000 (yes, three thousand dollar) limit on purchases you definitely get some crazies out to buy for their eBay shops, but for those of us who are buying for our own use or gifts it's just fun (and slightly overwhelming).

I figure you should all start your trip to the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale just like we did.  Standing in line people watching.  This lady with the rainbow hair was right behind us.  That is her actual hair and not a wig. :)

 This sale is set up in an arena with all the merchandise piled up on tables that run the length of the floor.  They give you a guide before you go in to help you navigate.

 Here we are, sorting through our stash!

With an hour to spare in our allotted 2 1/2 hour shopping time we were done!

Thanks again to Shannon for getting us the tickets and hotel room & to Lisa for being our super fab driver!

Michaela's First Dentist Visit

We had Michaela's first trip to the dentist a couple weeks back.  Well actually, it was her second trip there, but her very first appointment for herself.

The week before when I had my 6 month check up I brought Michaela along to the dentist to familiarize her with what happens at a dentist appointment.  By the time we left my check up she had ridden in the dentist's chair, watched them "tickle" mommy's teeth, and learned all about wearing special sunglasses so that the dentist's bright light didn't hurt your eyes.  Oh, and they let her pick out a special prize for being so good while she was there with me.

Needless to say the dentist became pretty popular with Michaela. :)

We went back a week later for her very own appointment and there was EXTREME excitement to go to the dentist.  Here's a little video of her laughing at them "tickling" (brushing) her teeth.  She keeps saying "ha, ha, ha!"

ROOOARR!!!

I was looking through my pictures from Easter morning and couldn't help but share these.  Dani and Chris were 'roaring' back and forth like lions. 

Here's my version of what Dani's thinking from watching her expressions in these shots.

Photo #1: "Huh, what's Dad doing?"
Photo #2: "hehehe..." 
Photo #3 & 4: "My turn!... HA! HA! HA! I'm so funny!"

Panda and Fluffy

While Chris was out of town for a business trip last weekend (Thursday-Sunday), we had an extended Girls Weekend. Michaela, Dani & I kept ourselves occupied and even mundane tasks and errands became special for our Girls Day Parts 1 through 4. :)

We had a lot of fun and even ended with a trip to Build-A-Bear where I let both girls pick an animal and dress it.

Here's the no-so-fantastic pictures from my camera phone of Michaela and her panda bear named Panda (yeah, super original). If you couldn't tell, Panda is a Red Wings fan and actually is a girl hockey player (all according to Michaela).



And here's Dani with her bunny. The funnest part of this little excursion for me was helping Dani to pick out her bunny's name.

Me: "Dani, what do you want to name your bunny? Bunny?"
Dani: blank stare
Me: "Hopper?"
Dani: blank stare
Me: "Fluffy?"
Dani: tiny smile and a hummed out "Mmm, hmm."

And that is how Fluffy the bunny came to be named. :)

Easter Sunday 2011

We started our day off with, "DAD! There's EGGS by my TV!!!" from our Michaela alarm clock at 7:15 AM.  We got about 20 more minutes of rest before we had to start our day though, because she was just sooo astounded by those mysterious eggs. :)

After finding their Easter baskets and enjoying their indoor egg hunt, we all got ready and headed off to church.

Aren't these just the cutest dresses ever?  Our friend Jen made these for Dani's birthday.  Every where we went today the girls got compliments on their adorable dresses. :)

After a delicious lunch at Twisted Rooster with Pop & Grandma Mary we came home with two more baskets of candy and treats and 2 dozen 'colored' eggs that we didn't have to dye.

Here's our dozen green and dozen brown eggs next to some white eggs that I had bought from the store with intentions of dying.  Michaela sneaked into the fridge last week & colored them with crayons instead.  Same thing, right? ;)

Small amount of quiet time (We don't need to stinkin' naps!!!) and it was time for another family get together with Grandma, Aunt Gigi, Uncle Kevin & Aunt Jodi, Dylan and Royce.

While Aunt Jodi held her, Dani scowled at EVERYONE (seriously, isn't that face is just priceless?) and Michaela got a chance to hold Royce.  She definitely loves her baby cousin, but has already forgotten how to be extra gentle with babies who look older than they actually are.

More fun, more playing and right after everyone but Grandma leaves... OUR 3rd WIND!  Yep.  Didn't even know it was possible.

All in all, a great day celebrating the ultimate gift.  Hope you all had as blessed a day as we did!

Don't. Freak. Out.

That's what I keep telling myself every time Dani is climbing a new piece of furniture. You think I'm kidding, but after discovering that she can climb up onto the bar stools for our high-top table I repeatedly find myself reciting that mantra.





These stools are just over 3 feet tall and here she is standing on one to poach leftover oatmeal from Michaela's breakfast. Climbing tall things is such a regular occurrence with Dani that I've trained myself to remain calm until I've safely gotten her down from these adventurous expeditions.

Don't. Freak. Out.

I wonder how many years I'm going to be saying that with Dani and her fearless antics?

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Michaela's First Real Haircut

Last week I took Michaela with me to get a hair cut.  She's had two other hair cuts before, but both were for only 1/2 - 1 1/2 inches just to even her ends out as her hair has grown.

This time we went for the BIG hair cut.  3-4 inches to help even it out all the way across.  Her hair is just too crazy to cut any more off and attempt something shorter. 

Super cheeeesey smile as we get started. :D

When you're too short for the chair you need a boost.  Yes, that is a box of clay pigeons.

Now we're getting somewhere...

 Showing off Hilary's super fab hair cutting skillz!

And there is the Michaela we all know and love!

Mommy Juice

I've been meaning to share this story for a couple weeks...

A couple weeks ago on a beautiful sunny Friday, Michaela and I were having breakfast together.  I was just sitting down to eat when gesturing to our glasses of orange juice Michaela asked me, "Is this mommy juice?"

"What?" I replied to her, not really understanding the question all that well.

"Is this mommy juice, or kid juice?" she clarified.

This is when the light bulb went off over my head, "Oh.... mommy juice.  No.  This is regular juice for mommys or kids."

"Yeah, cause mommy juice is for just at night."

"Mommy juice" Michaela speak for wine.  The best part is that she hasn't seen me drink a glass of wine in... seriously don't know the last time.  She just remembers things so well that it comes up weeks or months later we have to roll back through our memories to figure out what she's talking about.

The next day Chris took me wine tasting for my birthday and while I stocked up on my mommy juice selection I remembered to tell him this story.  His response? "Well, she's got your number doesn't she?"

Yes.  Yes she does.

Papa Came To Visit

I was just looking through some photos I've downloaded and came across these of my Dad with the girls.  Papa LOVES his girls, and they LOVE him!  There was a lot of giggling going on when Papa came to visit. :)

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

Our day so far...

7:30 AM - both girls up and ready to GO! GO! GO!

9:30 AM - I've already lost count of how many times Dani has needed to be pulled down from climbing on chairs, their table, the high chair, overturned storage containers, the back of the couch, shelves, the entertainment center, and anything else she can get a toehold on.

10:45 AM - Michaela uses an entire (brand new last night) roll of toilet paper and tries to flush all at once.  Luckily I stop her from overflowing that mess and flooding the bathroom...

10:50 AM - Girls' bathroom is closed up until I can go upstairs to get the plunger.

11:15 AM - During a phone call with my sister Dani says another new word.  "Gigi" is very excited to have her name added to the list of "Things Dani Says."  No variation of "Mama" is on that list.

11:20 AM - Thing 1 tackles Thing 2 to the ground while trying to give her a hug.  Crying ensues and I hang up on my sister.

1:30 PM - Attempt to put Dani down for a nap.  She's not having it and cries until rescued.  Why don't these kids like sleep?

2:10 PM - My children are whirling dervishes of destruction.  This morning you could see the floor in our living room.  Now it looks like this...

2:45 PM - Why are they so quiet???  Look towards kitchen to find that Dani had gotten a half full bottle down from the counter to empty on her pants.  It's a NO PANTS PARTY!

3:45 PM - FINALLY get Dani to go take a nap.

3:55 PM - Michaela went to the bathroom while I was putting Dani down for her nap.  Wiping herself is a skill we're still working on.  Thankfully there were clean underwear in the laundry room. 

5:10 PM - Nap time is done.  Um, that went waaaay too fast.

5:15 PM - Chris is home and lets me run upstairs for a quick shower before he leaves to go to the hockey game tonight.

6:00 PM - Unclog the toilet from this morning.  FYI: it takes about 20 flushes to get an entire roll of toilet paper down.  Thankfully neither one of them tried to touch the plunger.

6:30 PM - Time to go get some dinner.  While both girls have eaten regularly today the last meal I had was about 10 hours ago.  Chef Panera Bread is cooking dinner today.

I'm soooo looking forward to bedtime and wine tonight!

It's a good thing they're just this cute. :)

Nap Time Avoidance Tactics

Today I tried to put Dani down for her nap around 1:30 pm as usual.  She only takes 1 nap per day so I try to be fairly regular about what time she goes to sleep.

She apparently DID NOT want to take a nap a 1:30 pm today because as soon as I put Dani in her crib she started screaming and crying like... I can't even think of a good way to describe this screaming crying fit.  It was the loudest, most intense bout of screaming I've ever heard from her!

Even though it was pretty intense I didn't want to just run back in there.  I figured I'd give her about 5 minutes and if she hadn't calmed down by then I'd go back in to get her.  After 2 minutes (no exaggeration) I started to hear gagging.

Upon investigation I found Dani sitting in her crib with... you guessed it!  Puke!

She cried so hard that she made herself sick just so she could get out of napping.  I know this because as soon as I opened the door and picked her up all signs of distress ceased immediately and she took off to play.

Nap time didn't come until 3:45 pm today and she was full throttle right up until the end.  I'm just not ready for a 1 year old who refuses to nap.