Don't Leave Me

My parents have been visiting the Princess almost every evening. They play and run for an hour which is lovely because she has been sleeping REALLY well. It is so cute though. When it is time for them to leave, the Princess runs to the front door, extends her arms and says no. She tries to block their way out because she doesn't want them to go home. We all laugh. The funny thing is, she figured that out on her own. Suffice it to say, grandma and grandpa (who she now calls nana and papa because it is easier for her to say) have a hard time leaving.

Well, Thanksgiving is coming up quick. I am excited to see my extended family. We are renting a larger building since my parent's house is too small and our house is not quite ready to host a large party. My responsibility: to cook the Tofurky. If you have not tried it yet, it is very good. You have to cook it with the recipe on the box or check out other recipes on the website. Yummy! In fact, since I am the "coupon queen" here is a .55/1 coupon. (Not much, but hey, it is something.)

If I don't get to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all, I want to say it now! Plus it is Gratituesday today. I am so grateful for this new house, a husband who is home with us, and a great family (which includes my lovely, smart, cute, funny, exasparating daughter) and a loving God who always seems to bless us when I know we don't deserve it.

Hospital? Yuck! Poo-Poo? Yay!

Well, my godson Kaleb got into a pretty serious accident on Sunday. They had to rush him to the larger hospital in Seattle. He wrecked on a 4 wheeler and hit his head pretty hard. The helmet fell off and he fractured his skull. He also broke his collarbone and cut his leg pretty bad. He had to have surgery today to clean the leg and cut away dead tissue. The doctors keep saying he is a lucky little boy. The swelling in his head and eye is going down and he is walking now. I am so thankful that nothing worse happened to him. Please remember him and his family in your prayers.

We have gone down to the hospital 3x this week. I brought the Princess down each time. Luckily I have my mother with me to help watch her. What a handful! I have brought down toys and lots of food. (Unfortunately not as much healthy food as I would like, but "junk" food seems to work better.)

What is it with toddlers and elevator buttons? She runs as fast as she can to push those buttons. Also the waiting room has a water dispenser. With or without a cup, if the Princess can run that little spout, she is ecstatic. (Not me.) What can you do?

Not only is she running everywhere but I am very mindful of disinfecting her hands every five minutes so she doesn't catch any bugs. Everyone in the waiting room is entertained by her. She is quite the little entertainer. Very cute! She also is the most affectionate child. She gladly hugs everyone and sometimes kisses as well. (Yep, the hand sanitizer is working overtime.)

Good news (amidst the bad) is the my Princess went poo-poo in her potty (as I type this the song is in my head, you know the one)! I was so proud of her yesterday morning. She actually acted surprised. Next time, before she sits on her potty chair I MUST fill it with water. It was not fun to clean her potty chair after the poo-poo. (If you catch my drift.) It is all a learning experience.

This post is linked up to We Are That Family's Works for me Wednesday meme.

Me, Myself and Eye

The Princess is starting to confuse the words me and mine. It is actually kind of cute. You can say, "Who wants a smoothie?" and she will reply, "mine". She is starting to say "me" a lot now too. When she sees photos of herself or when we are doing laundry and she sees her own clothes. She points at her self and proudly says "me". And no she does not say "I" at all but she does say "eye". :)

She cannot say "grandma" or "grandpa" so we have changed their names. My parents are now: "nana" and "papa". Those she can say clearly.

Oi! This girl has so many bruises. Mostly on her shins but also her arm, back, and cheek. I cannot believe how many times my Princess falls. She seems to be a pretty tough girl though. She does not cry, when I would think she would. She gets back up and continues running. That is her speed right now. Not walking - running! If you don't keep a close eye on her she will run away - fast! Well, I guess it will keep the weight off (me) this holiday season, so I should not complain. :)
Frugal Friday tip of the week: Don't pay for a gym membership. Run with your children. Play hard, eat well, and sleep enough. :)

For more Frugal Fridays head over to Life As Mom.

ABC - Easy as 123

So I am not doing a good job at keeping this blog up. With the time away from the internet and the move I have gotten out of my blogging groove. But, things happen daily that I always want to blog about. I just need to get back to it!

One thing that has stood out this week is my Princess saying her ABCs. It is so cute! Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes when I think how big she is getting. (I know? Corny, right?) She is currently repeating the letters after me, not saying them on her own. I do catch her pretending to say them though. And when she sees words written somewhere she pretends to read those too. She does have a hard time with the letter "w" though, completely skipping that one.

We have been counting to five a lot lately too. I have been showing her my fingers while counting. So she often pretends to count things too. Her blocks (which she lines up in a perfect straight line) get "counted" while in the bathtub. I truly take joy in watching that.

Being with family really has expanded her vocabularly. Words she was not saying very well are starting to come out clearly. She is also starting to shorten words, almost like she is getting lazy about saying the whole word. I know she can say the words because I still hear them every so often, but she refuses. (Is this normal?)

We joined the library here in town today. The town is small - around 5,000 people so the library is quite small but we are excited nonetheless. I was able to check out Finding Nemo (an absolute favorite with the Princess), a lift the flap book, and a book about cows today. Where we live, we are surrounded by farm land. So when we drive to do some shopping (which has been frequent due to the move), we see cows galore. She LOVES cows.

I will have to post pictures soon of our new house. I have not gotten around to taking any yet. (Which is strange, since I love taking pictures.) I need to get back into my normal routine here!

This post is linked up to Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday meme.

Toddler Refusal

So the Princess has a favorite word besides "mine". Of course, that word is "no". I hear it multiple times per day and nothing I do can stop it, at least it seems. So of course I was not surprised by the email I got this week from Baby Center. This stage is right on track and it is called "toddler refusal". I do take some small bit of comfort by the fact that other parents have gone through this stage too, and it passed. But only a small bit of comfort, otherwise I am just annoyed. She does not just say, "no" but "noooooooo" in a really loud voice (usually considered a yell). So any advice? Does anything really work for a 22 month old? I am starting to think nothing does.

On other news, we are having a great time in our new home. We are almost unpacked and we are sleeping at night so well. It is like a great vacation. With my parents in the same town, we have so many opportunities to take advantage of their babysitting skills and food. :) We are beyond happy right now.

One other item of excitement to me (maybe not to all you) is the fact that my brilliant child is jumping with two feet ahead of schedule. She is very coordinated and she can run pretty fast. Maybe she will be an amazing track star.

We are also trying to decide about the H1N1 vaccination - leaning towards getting it for her just a bit scared. Any advice in this area?

We've Arrived!

Well I spent my 31st birthday cleaning my house and driving 6 hours on our way to Washington. We arrived safely after a two day trip yesterday afternoon. What a great present though: moving to my home town, with a wonderful family of my own, in my own house! God is so good! And to top it off, my parents flew down to drive back with us. My husband and I drove in the U-Haul truck and my parents drove our car with the Princess! Who could ask for more? I dreaded the drive home (14 hours) with a toddler, and I never once had to endure it. My mom sat with her, played with her, and watched Disney DVDs all the way home. Yep, I know, I have a great family. Now, if only all my boxes were unpacked, life would be perfect right now. :)

We don't have internet at home yet, so I will keep this post short. In due time, I will be posting about how difficult it is to have a toddler who does not listen. Don't worry, I will come back with a vengeance. (Begging for all of your words of wisdom.)

Blessings!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Family

For more Wordless Wednesday head over to Two of a Kind and link up!

Frugal Friday: Special Dinner at Home

We wanted a special dinner tonight. For no reason. Just felt like it. But instead of going out for dinner, and spending way too much, we decided to make a fun dinner that we'd all enjoy. So at Trader Joes, Tyler saw something great - Pumpkin pancake mix for $2.99. Now those of you who know my husband, know he LOVES pancakes. So to kick off the fall season (it feels like fall now), we decided to have these pancakes for dinner. We also decided to let our Princess help make them. As Tyler added the ingredients, she happily stirred the mix together...and stirred, and stirred, and stirred. You know what? Those pancakes were perfect. We all loved them - it was dessert for dinner, truly.

For more Frugal Friday head over to Life As Mom and read great tips and link up!