I'm making an effort to thoroughly document her childhood

Rest assured I got some major eye rolls when I pleaded with Adam to spend a Saturday having our picture made in Rome, GA. If memory serves me (which is highly unlikely seeing how I couldn't remember the bagel I put in the toaster this morning until it almost caused the fire alarm to go off) he gave me the whole speech about how it was prime fishing time and how many things around the house he could have gotten done that day. But being the good man he is he loaded up and only rolled his eyes one more time during the trip. Plus I felt sure that I was going to meet Earl and Pearl and there wasn't a chance that I was giving up that opportunity.

I love every last picture. Maybe it's because I adore the subject.

19 months old

She was 19 months old Friday and I am certain she gets more precious everyday. (Except when she gets really mad and slaps at whatever is in her path.)

Weight: 20.8lbs

Height: 30 1/2 inches

Size 3 diapers. Size 3-4 shoes and mostly 12 month clothes.

Sleeps like a little angel. And snores like a grown man. One morning Adam went to get her after she woke up and he said as soon as he turned the corner she pointed to the floor and said "paci." She keeps close tabs on her pacis. Anytime we ask her to throw something away she happily runs to the garbage. Except the paci. We will say "throw your paci in the trash" and she always says "nooooooo."

Since we cut back on milk she seems to be eating more. She particularly likes to have a strawberry milkshake most nights with her daddy. And at any given moment she runs to the freezer and calls for a "pop pop" (popcicle). She also likes cantelop and honeydew melon.

She loves to play with seat belt latches.

Can climb up on anything. Including bar height stools which is exactly what she did one day last week while I had my back turned slaving over the stove.  

Helps clean up her messes

She loves "Sixie" and "Au-ie" (the dogs) and calls for them every morning.  

Will only leave a bow and/or rubberband in her hair for a few minutes

Her newest word is "be-cut" (biscuit). And by buscuit she means cresent rolls. She started telling us "wuve wou" (love you) and it is so sweet! She can pretty much say whatever we tell her to say plus a lot of things we don't understand.

Most mornings she points to the potty and says "poop". She likes to sit on the potty and get toilet paper, pretend to wipe, and throw the paper in the toilet. I don't know the first thing about potty training. I don't even know at what point we should begin working on that, but I have a feeling she might be ready by summer? Is that an ambitious goal? She will be roughly 20-21 months by then. I really need to do some research. I'll get right on that as soon as we figure out how to lose the paci.   

Adam's Aunt Janet sent me this picture from Sunrise Service and I laughed so hard. It looks bad but I don't think she even cried. I don't want to point any fingers but her daddy let her slip right past him at high speeds which resulted in this face...

In the afternoons she calls us into her play room and pats the pillows that are in the floor which means we are supposed to sit down and play. Then she will feed us with her spoons or make us drink from her play cups. She even got MeeMaw in there one afternoon. (Please ignore the mess. I have decided to let the playroom become what it will until somebody falls. Then I run in there clean it up and give her a speech about picking up her toys.)

Yesterday she got really quiet and when we found her she had almost destroyed a whole roll of toilet paper. Adam called her by her first and middle name which caused her to make this face and back up against the door.

She LOVES big trucks. Adam has taught her to call them "big big" because that's what he and Uncle G called them when they were little. Saturday afternoon we ate at Mellow Mushroom and all the big trucks on the interstate got her so excited. When I get my phone out and hold it up and says, "cheeeessseee" which is what she is saying here. She must not have gotten my previous memo about not talking during pictures:)  

My new TV addiciton

Please tell me ya'll are watching this new show Duck Dynasty on A&E? If your not I beg you, please. You will thank me later. Wednesday nights at 9.

The kids at school started asking me a couple of weeks ago if I was related to the Robertson people on Duck Dynasty. What? Duck who? No. No relation. 

Except last Wednesday night we stayed up WAY past our bedtime to watch an episode.  And yes. As a matter of fact there is a relation.

Before the first scene went off I was hooked and ended up watching 3 episodes. Which, by the way, I regreted on Thursday morning at 5:00 when Reese started calling for me. Apparently "the weather turned off," as one of my students told me one time, and it was a warm and toasty 59 degrees in our house that morning and our baby was protesting.

Anyway. Ya'll. I LOVE this show. It is hilarious and I LOL-ed more times than I can count. I first suspected Adam's people could actually be related to them when Willie said he was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I thought Adam made up that saying. Then when Uncle Si mispronouced "scientific" by saying "scien-fic-tic" I knew without a shadow of a doubt  these people couldn't be further than 2nd cousins to Big Daddy. There is a long standing speech impediment with Big Daddy. Next time you see him ask him to say one of the following: Opelika, pilgram, or penguin. And then call me when you get done laughing.

In completely un-Duck Dynasty related news I am so happy to report that the paint people took mercy on me and fixed my paint color. Well. I wouldn't go so far as to say fixed. Let's just say the color in the room I showed you will not be the color of my walls. My walls will be leaning slightly more toward blue as opposed to the green in the picture. But I'm okay with it. Did you know that Lowe's has a "you'll love your paint color guarantee"? Me either. But when the kid behind the counter told me about it I might or might not have confessed my undying love for him. He is now one of my favorite people.    

Speaking of my favorite people.

She wears my shoes every chance she gets.

And she wants her hair pulled into a pony tail every time she finds a rubberband laying around.

I ADORE her to the point it scares me.

Hippity Hop Hop

Adam got to be off on Friday and guess what he did with his day? Got up and left the house at 3:30 AM to go fishing in Guntersville with Big Daddy and Uncle G. You better believe that I threatened his life if he woke our baby (or her mother) up at that hour. Before I even got to school he text me this picture.

And I love that he got to go fishing all day because fishing is the true love of his life. I let myself believe that I am a close second, but I have never been naive enough to think I come in first. You know how I know? Thursday night when he was gathering his fishing rods and his assortment of worms there was a sparkle in his eyes that only appears when he's heading out to the wide open water. I haven't seen that sparkle for anything concerning me since the day I gave him a gift card to Bass Pro Shops.

Saturday after doing some yard work I made a decorating mistake of epic proportions. I saw this picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago and y'all it spoke directly into my ear.

Isn't it lovely? I WANT our bedroom to look like this. Add a bed, of course. And a dresser. So we had been looking at paint samples for about a week which is roughly 2 months less time than it normally takes me to pick out paint. We bought 2 gallons of paint only to come home and discover that it is, hands down, the worst paint color in the history of paint colors. When the lights are off it glows in the dark. Seriously. It glows. It is a $60 decorating tragedy. Here's to hoping I can go back and plea with the paint people to PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! let me return it or make it darker. And I plan to take Reese when I go because they were all "she is so cute" and "look at those big eyes" when we were there on Saturday. If I can get her to blow them a kiss and bat her eyes I feel certain my chances of saving our bedroom walls are so much higher.

We came home Saturday and dyed eggs. Reese forcefully dropped each egg into the dye, but I am proud to report that we did not have stained fingers for Easter Sunday.

This is what a long day of yard work will cause you to do...

But let me back up to last Wednesday night. We took her to church for her first Easter egg hunt. I have not idea how, but she knew just how to hunt Easter eggs.

 Do any of you other mothers look like this in your pictures? Mouth open slightly because I am saying something along the lines of "Reese look at daddy!" "Reese say cheese!" Note to self: don't talk during future pictures.

 Then she had to take an egg hunting break to snack on some "pice"(ice). She loves to crunch on ice. And look at that face. That's the face of a girl who means business about her ice.  

 This was the best I could do to get a picture of Reese and her church besties.

 Sunday morning Adam got her up at 5:30 for the Easter bunny and to get ready for Sunrise service. She couldn't even open her eyes.

 Then she caught sight of the basket that the good bunny left and she was so excited.

We go to Big Daddy and D.D.'s for sunrise every year. After we had Reese I had my doubts we would make it that early, but according to Adam it isn't Easter if he doesn't attend sunrise services with his people. Reese enjoyed the festivities this year because she got to play on the playground.

 Uncle G, which she loves and adores, pushed her on the swing. Here's to hoping he never has a baby of his own because I don't think she would handle it very well.

 Last year I spent hours picking out her Easter basket. I mean I looked and looked and then looked some more to get just the perfect basket that I wanted her to have every year. Why doesn't she appreciate all my hard work? She wanted to carry around every single WalMart plastic basket she came in contact with over her cute monogramed one.

 With her cuz's Jaycie and Brooklyn which I have big plans of being babysitters in the future:)

 We had lunch and an Easter egg scavenger hunt at my parents house. I have a feeling that all the momma's are going to shoot me down next year when I try to implement another scavenger hunt. I might have made it a little too hard which required parents to get involved. And you know what momma's don't want to do after eating a big Easter lunch? Go on a scavenger hunt.

 I would like to take this time to make note of Jolie's obsession with shoes. Particularly high heel shoes that belong to me. The first place she goes when she gets to my house is the closet to drag out the highest heel shoes she can find. She always tells me that they "almost fit me" and "I bet by next year I'll be able to wear these", and "when you get done with these I can have them, then Andi can have them, then Reese can have them." Oh how my heart will break the day she decides that I'm not quiet as cool as she once thought.

 Andi found the $5 prize egg this year. Then proceeded to sit down and eat no less than 4 boiled eggs. Rumor has it that Brandon ran around picking up eggs, shaking them and if they didn't have money in them he put them back. What happened to wanting to find the most eggs? That just confirms my belief that money is the root of all evil. It has even tarnished the Easter egg hunt.

I am so sad that I didn't get a group picture of all the babies together. One of the babies will be 16 this summer and I just can't believe it. My Daddy told me a couple of weeks ago that he was going to retire and ride his grandbabies around on his Kabota all day. All I know is he better hurry up because half of them are almost grown. Tear.

Spring Break

I'm back. Sadly, the vacation is over and as of yesterday morning Reese protested by wrapping her legs tightly around me while doing the ugly cry when I tried to load her up for daycare. I told Adam I was not going back to work. And for 2.5 seconds I meant it. Apparently it had just slipped her mind how much fun she has at Mrs. Liz's because Adam said she was fine when she got there and started playing with Addison. 

We started off our week with Reese's 18 month check up. I'm not kidding when I tell you that as soon as we sat down in the well baby room she sneezed. Twice. And the looks I got from the other parents? Just what you'd expect. One little boys daddy gave me the stank eye for so long that I felt compelled to assure him she was not sick. She weighed 20.8 pounds and was 30 1/2 inches. She is in the 20th percentile for each.  While we were there I discovered that I'm the mother of the year because I pretty much let her drink milk at her discretion. Dr. C. notified me that she should have around 18 ounces of milk a day. She had already had that much by her appointment. It was 10:15 AM. So we spent the rest of the week cutting down on her "mook" inake and she was not happy about it. In theory less milk would make her eat better, but that has not been the case. She, a lot like her mother at a young age, is not a good eater. If I remember one thing from my childhood it was my daddy's endless concern about my eating habits. It all worked itself out in the end because let me be the first to say that, in adulthood, big momma has zero problems with her appetite.

I had 2 projects planned for last week. First, and most importantly, I had big plans of taking my house back. Baby toys had started running so rampant that we hardly had anywhere left to sit. So I cleaned out our extra bedroom, called in my sister to paint, and relocated all the toys into 1 central location. The second project fell squarely on Adam's shoulders. He was to build Reese a play kitchen. I know what you're thinking. Why didn't we just buy one? Because that would have been too easy. Plus I like to see all those tools I've bought him over the years put to good use. And I love nothing more than the tirade he goes on when he mismeasures and tries to figure out just where he went wrong.

Everytime I saw him measuring twice, cutting once I would silently pray that she would actually play with the kitchen that he was working so hard on.

Prayers answered. She loves it. The Easter bunny was going to bring a tea set for her, but she found it and whinned until I opened it. I can't even begin to count the tea parties we had last week. She has stacked and moved those plates and cups for hours on end. One night she stayed up until 9:00 playing and was so tired. A plate wouldn't stack just her way and she got so mad that she threw it against the wall. When she proceeded to slap the wall I knew it was time to intervene. Have I told y'all about her temper? 




















So the kitchen set isn't 100% conplete yet. It still doesn't have a faucet and it is missing a microwave and stove knob, but maybe this weekend we Adam can pry it away from her and finish it.

Anytime Adam plays with my hair she shakes her little hand and says "no, no, no, no." He told her that he'd been playing in my hair before she was even a twinkle in our eye and he wouldn't be stopping now.

Most of the week we spent "at-side." She pretty much touched everything she wasn't supposed to including splashing all of the dogs water on her shoes.  

We also did a little fishing one afternoon. She loved to touch the "pish"

And that pretty much wraps up the week. Except when I cut the grass one day and witnessed with my 2 eyes a murder. I am still not mentally prepared to discuss it, but just know that Autie is called a "Rat Terrier" for a reason. Adam said it should be "rat terror." It was vicious and I may never recover. She is earning her keep and I'll leave it at that.

You probably just want me to shut up about this already, but I've started running. I might have mentioned something about it 3 or 30 times. If you've read the blog for any period of time you are aware that I get on kicks of fitness. But lets don't confuse fitness with health. My eating habits have not changed nor will they change. Over my cold body will I give up fried food. This week will be week 5 of Running Elena. 

But please, hold your applause.

I don't love running. It is painful and not in productive ways, but Adrianne and I are running a 5k in 18... count em 18 days. Two Saturdays ago I met a couple of ladies that we go to church with at 6:15 AM and ran 5 miles with them. My legs just quievered when I  mentioned it. One of my coworkers runs with me after school a couple of days a week and Adrianne and I have been running on Sundays. I would SO have quit 4 and a 1/2 weeks ago if I didn't have somebody to run with. And Adam doesn't count. In the past when I have ran with him he spends part of the time judging my running posture and the other part complaining that I asked him to go with me. And I am not even going to mention the time I asked him to play tennis with me. If he had hit that ball over the fence one more time we would have gone through the big D. And I don't mean Dallas. Oh, and the 2 times we rode bikes? He was sore in places I can't even talk about on the blog and I swore right then I would never stoop to asking him to be my workout partner. One afternoon Adrianne and I pushed Reese 3 miles. I was THIS close to leaving her on the side of the road and continuing our run when Adrianne took one for the team and pushed her for a while. It was the most painful 3 miles of my 5 week workout life. But Reese never seems to mind the run...



I am still waiting to feel that "runners high" I have heard so much about. As of today it still hasn't showed up, but I'll let y'all know if it ever does. At this point it's either trying to be fashionably late or

non existent. I'm going with the latter.