Addiction...

...thy name is Ben&Jerry's Cherry Garcia Fro Yo. I cannot resist you. Ever. And I know the first step is admitting the addiction, so here goes.

It started out very innocently. I was looking for a low-fat dessert and there you were in the frozen section...only 3 grams of fat and 160 calories per serving. You were full of cherries and chocolate, my two favorite things. I thought, hey, why not give you a try. YOU WERE FANTASTIC. And in the beginning, I would only have a half a serving. Then it quickly became a whole. Sometimes, though, I could not stop and I would have both servings. The cherries were just too good. I would promise to only dig a few more out before I put you away, and then before I knew it, you were completely gone.

I started buying two or three of you at a time so I would have back-ups. I started snacking on you in between meals, instead of just using you as dessert. I knew I was being bad, but I didn't care.

Recently, I hit rock bottom. When Bub the hub started his new night class, and I didn't need to make a big meal, YOU became my dinner. That's when I knew that something needed to change, but I was resistant. And then it happened. The final straw. Lil'bub found you.

Leave her alone! She doesn't know any better!! She just sees me devouring you ALL the time and thinks that's ok. It's NOT. So now I know what I have to do. We are OVER. I'm sorry I have to do this. More sorry than you'll ever know...but I never want to see you like this again.

School Update

Lil'bub has been in school for almost SIX days now. And I have missed her every minute of it! Big surprise huh? Although she has cried everyday when dropped off, she has been happy every single time I picked her up! I don't think I could ask for much more than that at this point. She is definitely getting used to her teachers and new friends. I am trying to get used to returning to the house without her...so I have mostly been cleaning the house like a madwoman, trying to focus on different things. I am still thinking about her 99% of the time though, and I wonder if that will change with time.

I DO SOOO enjoy getting her dressed up in the morning to go. She's even letting me do her hair a little more. I'll end this with two photos from this week, lil'bub all ready for school!!

yellow with bows!

first jean shorts and ponytail

School Daze

We both survived, can you believe it? I know...you probably can. You probably have been wondering what the big deal was. The fact is I really did worry myself sick over this. Thursday morning came and my stomach was doing flip flops. Lil'bub was pretty amused that I was running around the house like a mad woman, getting things ready for her to go. Otherwise she had no idea what was coming. So I packed up her little bag to the brim with all her favorite stuff...

and packed up all her food in this adorable new lunch bag...

and packed up the car with everything we needed...started the car, and then realized I should probably put the munchkin in too. Ha! I would've remembered her eventually, right?

where's mom going?

We arrived nice and early so I could talk to her new teacher, Ms. Sonia, all about how lil'bub likes to do things. There were really cute signs to welcome us. Only four babies in her class! It's a fantastic ratio--two teachers and one volunteer teacher for all four kids.

Avery was whining and crying pretty much from the moment we got out of the car. I guess she felt a vibe or something. I know most of you won't believe this, but after one of the teachers gently told me that I "could go now, she'll be ok," I actually left and didn't cry! One of the other moms (who WAS crying by the way) told me I really had it all together. I'm totally serious! Of course, I spent the rest of the day moping around the house, but no matter! I was not the sobbing mess that I expected to be.

I did, however, have my phones around me every minute of the day, just in case they had to call me for any kind of reason. No calls though! And then, when I went to pick her up, I got the sweetest surprise of all. She was so happy! It's hard to express how wonderful my heart felt when I walked in and she was with her three new friends, talking and smiling. I had to give Ms. Sonia a hug...I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm nuts.

I even got a little report card that said she did really great for her first day. I get these little reports everyday too! AND SHE FINGERPAINTED!!!

what do you think? the next Pollock??

Here she is on the ride home. You can draw your own conclusions ;) but I feel much relieved.

Holding It Together

ok, so I want to start this off on a happy note....

and it really doesn't get much better than pigtails!

Doesn't it make her look like a little lady? She is not a huge fan of me messing with her hair, so I have to do it in like lightning speed, which usually means they are in two crazy different places on her head...but these actually look somewhat even!

OK, now I need to share that I have been majorly freaking out because tomorrow is Avery's first day of SCHOOL! And for many reasons, this fact is making me extremely nervous and emotional. I have been really weirding out Bub the hub by suddenly bursting into sobs every now and then when I realize that this is really about to happen. I know it sounds silly, but it's a very big step for us.

As many of you already know, lil'bub has been through quite a lot in her short life. Of course all of the surgeries were necessary for her survival, but they also meant that she would need a lot of therapy to recover. Instead of trying to juggle the many different therapists and appointments, we have found a wonderful school that will do all of that for her. We are also hoping that consistent school will help Avery get better about her stranger anxiety! That's a biggie.

Meanwhile, I just can't believe that tomorrow morning I will be dropping her off at school and...walking away. We have been like peas and carrots since the day she was born! And we have been through some pretty tough stuff. I cannot imagine what my days will be like without her. I am so scared that she is just going to scream her head off all day. Not to mention be incredibly confused and upset that I left her :(. I'm going to have to change the subject now before the tears come again. Repeat: this WILL be for the best, this WILL be the best....

How about some cute photos from the other night when Aunt Ali made Avery and me a belated birthday dinner?! It was delicious and fun.

turning on the smile when
she see the camera

birthday brownies made with love

loving the brownies

Or maybe some random shots?

what? is there something on my face?


ewww, boys!!
(no not really, Calvin Gentry is a doll :)


too early, mom...

Now it's time to go get all the stuff ready for munchkin's school. sniff, sniff.

More Vacation Shots

Oh boy it has been hard to find the energy to blog this past week. Bub the hub started this really intense class in preparation to take a test for his Professional Engineering degree and lil'bub and I have had to tough it out on our own for awhile. And the class doesn't end until October! whew. I'm trying not to dwell on that. My hubby is such a wonderful help with the munchkin, and we miss him very much when he's away. OK, ok, enough with the pitiful, here are a few photos from our vacation that I haven't shared yet.

our really cute condo on the beach

relaxing in the shade

relaxing in the sun

considering the sand

pleading eyes...no more sand mommy!

flyaway beach hair!

I will have a lot more time to blog tomorrow. Avery has a very big milestone coming up at the end of this week and I am FREAKING OUT. But right now we have to run to our swim date, because you know this tan is not going to keep itself up.

Baby Crack

If you are a relatively new mom, I think you know exactly what I am talking about with the title of this post. I had read and heard a lot about this so-called "baby crack" for awhile before we tried it. And I am really kicking myself now for not using it earlier. For everyone else, this is what I am referring to....

The Baby Einstein DVD's!!

My neighbor let me borrow a few, and WOW I can't believe how much lil'bub loves it. Apart from Spongebob, nothing ever really holds her focus for very long. These DVD'S, however, keep her rapt attention for the entire length of the video. The first week or so she just stared silently, but lately she has started smiling at certain parts, and making little sounds and talking to it. It's so fun to watch her reactions. It cracks me up.

So anyway, I was reminded of writing about this because of a certain resemblance today of my own munchkin to this DVD logo. We had another very long Tuesday, which involved two therapists and a trip to the hospital for a scheduled EEG. Other than making my baby scream, an EEG means one big thing to me: crazy, tangly, dirty, GLUEY HAIR...

Do you think she looks like Baby Einstein?

Actually, her hair turned out a little less gluey than previous EEG's, but still totally dirty, messy and crazy looking. Did I have the energy to wash it today when we got back? No! But back to the DVD's, they really are wonderful. She practices sitting and getting stronger (and being quiet), while watching this crazy baby addicting stuff on the big screen.

I'm pretty much dying to know how these people figured out what would entice babies the most, because they show the most random stuff. It's a lot of puppets and bright photos and toddlers saying silly things, all with classsical music in the background. I imagine that something like this took years of researching. I see little babies and t.v.'s lined up in a lab room with tons of techs recording their exact responses to various baby stimuli. It's just that good.

So as I have previously mentioned, the roadtrip to get us on vacation did not go exceedingly well. Or well at all actually. Avery got a cold the night before we left and was very stuffed up and just plain mad about being in a carseat that long. We tried just about everything we could to make her happy and not much worked. EXCEPT thank god we took the portable DVD player with the Einstein videos because otherwise it could have been worse, if that was even possible!!

This is one of the approximately 11 times we played it! Do you love that she helped hold it in place? She knew what she had to do, ya know. And did you notice the other thing that helped save her (and us) from completely losing it?? Yep, it was a balloon from SONIC!!!

quick note for the future:
balloons=endless toddler amusement

I have lots more vacation photos but I'm too tired to post them. Tomorrow!

Temporarily Unavailable

It's not technical issues!! We are on VAAAACATION!!
Enjoy some photos of our vacation FIRSTS...

--first five minutes of road trip--
(perhaps the only smile we saw the whole time)
((yes, it got that bad))

--first nap--
(about 10 minutes after that last photo)

--first thing we saw upon entering room--
(relaxing began)

--first mission...first much-needed drinks!--

--first vacation meal: crab cake burger--
(Yum)

--first vacation dance--
(there have been many more since)

--first Florida gator sighting--
(ick)


--first vacation nap--

--first reaction to the beach--

--first beach kisses--

--first cool vacation storm--

lovin it!

Party Girls

It was lil'bub's best friend Leila's first birthday on Saturday, so we got all dressed in our party attire. Both girls looked like little princesses! We had a wonderful time and Laurie was a fabulous host. I just wish we could have taken a well-rested baby to the party instead of no-nap Avery!

She usually takes an early morning nap, but I think I might have gotten her a little too excited about the party, because she was totally not interested in napping at all. Well, that's kind of an understatement because the girl was BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS! So of course she had a meltdown in the middle of the party. Thankfully, I was able to revive her with a little strawberry birthday cupcake and we stuck it out to the end! She crashed as soon as we got in the car, as we knew she would.

All dressed and ready to go

oh wait, let me put on a little lipstick :)


Practically bouncing out of her carseat
with excitement on the ride there

Here's the birthday girl in her first party dress

Avery bouncing on daddy

Getting mid-party sleepy on mom

Leila having her first bit of cake
with mom and dad

Revived by birthday cake!

Here is the dessert table and presents...
our gift is the cute princess one of course


Fuzzy shot of the girls laughing together


Post-nap happy party girl again

Bub the hub is home all next week for vacation. We have to get just a few therapies and one dr. appointment out of the way and then we can relax at the beach. Can you believe it's already August??