Big Girl Room Phase One

(Her new bed, gotta love our cat making herself at home)

Well we hit a big milestone over the weekend. Sunday we took apart izzy's toddler bed/crib and put up her twin! I am so excited yet so sad at the same time. It is really starting to set in that we are done with babies, the crib is now in pieces in the basement along with all of our other baby stuff. I know I need to get rid of most of it, as it is taking up so much space but I haven't been able to yet. I know that we are not going to adopt again (unless for some crazy circumstance the Bm came to us and said she was pg and wanted us to take it) so I know that we are 99.9% sure we are done..and I really do feel blessed adn mostly complete with izzy...it just does make me a little sad.

On a happy note her bed is so cute! We put the bedspread and sheets from our neice that she no longer uses and I must say I LOVE IT! So bright and fun. We still need to repaint the walls (purple and green) and replace the carpet eventually. Izzy's grandma (my mil) is actually working on a new quilt for the bed...she loves to quilt and I felt bad not letting her make one even though the pottery barn teen one on the bed now is so cute (it does have some stains that wont come out and it is super thin) So grandma is giong to make a custom one with flowers and butterflies..and regular quilt blogs. I don't know exactly what it will look like but I know it will be more traditional than the one on her bed now which is pretty modern but I know izzy will like whatever she makes. She is also going to make it as a duvet so I can put a down comforter in it.

Izzy has been goign to bed and sleeping just fine in her new bed, she even napped yesterday in it without much of a fight. We got her a new step stool to help her get in her bed since it is so tall. She loves climbing in and out herself and reading stories in it before we go to bed. She doesn't even ask to be rocked anymore since we read stories in her bed. Stories are done we kiss her and say goodnight!

My baby is growing up, I am so proud of her

Successful Trip

Well we survived our florida trip and I am happy to report that it went MUCH better than I could have hoped. Izzy was an excellent traveler..really she could not have been better! Even with missing our flight down there due to terrible road conditions/traffic on the way to the airport.

We had a great time with Stu and Wendy and Izzy warmed up to them pretty quickly. It was nice to see them interact with her especially Stu who I would say is not much of a little kid person but he was great with her. Certain things he did would bring back some childhood memories of mine like when he asked if he could brush her hair. He was always so gentle when he brushed my hair and it was very sweet to see Izzy let him brush her hair (and of course she sat way stiller than she ever does for me :) )

I am actually sad that we won't be seeing them again for at least a year. We hopefully will get oru Skype fixed and be able to see them that way. but it isn't the same...especially since izzy does not cooperate or at least hasn't in the past. Maybe now that she spent more time with them she will actually talk to them but I am not sure. She is not a fan of chatting on the phone much let alone over a computer

I really enjoyed talking with Wendy. We would stay up late every nigth and talk for hours while everyone else was asleep. I got to hear the full story of how her and stu got to emailing and eventually meeting and marrying..it was quite a story.

I am always amazed at different of a person Stu is now than who he was when I was a child. I am sure some of it has to do with that I am grown up so I look at things totally differently but not all of it. I am so happy that he found Wendy and for the first time ever in his life i would say is happy and has truely found his place in the world. I know he really struggled with this before.

We had decent weather, not super warm, not warm enough to swim outside but still plenty warm to soak up some sun and play outside which of course izzy just loved! I don't think I quite realized how much she missed being outside.

The weather is finally starting to get a little better here, we actually played outside a bit yesterday...spring can't come soon enough!!!

Snow Day Fun

Monday we had our second snow day this winter. This was the first one that fell on a day that I don't work so Izzy and I spent the day together at and around the house. Let me start by saying I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day..between shoveling and keeping her busy (with no nap) i was pooped.

We at started the day by getting out her water table and bring teh snow inside for some fun before heading out to play in it. This was the first time I had done this and while she liked it and had fun with it, it didn't keep her as independantly entertained as I had hoped it would....(we struggle with this, she really doesn't play by herself..ever, always wants you to entertain her or sit with her etc..part of having an only child i guess)

Then we decided we would head out and enjoy the snow outside. We got buddled up and had a blast, I quickly gave up on teh shoveling, the snow was so heavy it was ridiculous. So we played and then went next store to see if her neighbor friend who is a year older thna her wanted to come out and play too. The neighbor prefered to stay in but asked izzy to join her. So we ended up spending majority of the day at their house while the dad (my friend K) and I tag team parented..worked otu well. He snow blowed, I watched the kids and then he let me run to my house to get laundry switched and a few things done while Iz stayed over there.

It was a fun day. We are so lucky to have such awesome neighbors that we love to hang out with both with kids and without. Here are some pictures.

A little nervous...

Well Izzy and I leave for Florida thursday morning. We are going to spend some time with my brother who lives there, and some of my other family that are all renting a 4 bedroom house.

I am starting to get very nervous for lots of reasons. Reason number 1, DH is NOT coming with us. He is goign to stay home and do some projects around the house(i hope!) because when we first booked this trip we didn't want to spend the extra money on the plane ticket plus he didn't want to take more time off work....so he isn't coming with us. So i am anxious about the flight solo, but I know we will be okay. My biggest concern is just being able to lug everything through the airport solo...and hoping izzy will ride in teh umberella stroller...I am going to go to the store today and buy a few new books/activites to keep izzy busy on the plane, that along with the dvd player we shoudl be okay.

Reason #2 I am anxious is there will be a little family tension. I have kind of a complicated family history, my parents divorced when i was 5...then my mom (and dad, lets call him Stu) both got remarried when I was 7. The amazing man my mom married Gerry, is who i call dad and who I work for and have a wonderful relationship with. My 1st dad Stuart, well that is where it gets complicated. He gave up his parental rights when I was 14 to both my brother and I because bascially he was sick of fighting my mom with child support amoungst other things....so he ended up moving to hawaii then austraila after meeting his 3rd and current wife....as you can imagine those events caused a bit of trouble/hurt feelings in my childhood(too put it mildly). I have since made peace with Stuart. We have discussed the events of the past and moved beyond them, however I would still not call the our relationship a father/daughter one, but he and his wife Wendy clearly love me and Izzy VERY much. My younger brother however has not made the same peace with Stu and is still angry, and resentful and chooses not to have any sort of relationship with him.

So now my grandparents (stu's parents (who my brother does have a relationship with) and Stu and Wendy decided to rent this 4 bedroom house for 2 weeks and it is located about 20 minutes from where my brother lives..... My brother has decided that he is willing to visit Stu and wendy but only out at a resturant not at the house (where izzy and i will be staying) So I am already stressed about trying to manage visiting enough with my brother and not making him or anyone too uncomfortable. That combined with knowing Izyz and I are staying with Stu and Wendy (and my grandparents ) for 4 straight nights with no DH as support or buffer I am getting stressed. At least I will have my own car so if we need to get away for a while we can...but I am just hoping it goes well and that not only cna i see my brother but that all that "bonding" time doesn't feel akward. I haven't seen stu and wendy in a year and even then we didnt' stay with them, we stayed at a hotel so we didn't seem them 24/7.....

Okay now that my blood pressure is high from typing and thinking about all that I need to take a deep breathe. It will be okay. It will work out. It is Thursday-Monday how bad can it be..and hopefully the weather will be decent, so far it doesn't look great for swimming weather but at least it will be a lot warmer than here.

Wish me luck!!!!

Valentines Day Fun

Yesterday was a "mommy day" for me and izzy and after her swim lesson I wanted to do something fun and different for valentines day. I am not really very creative and I don't do enough activities with Izzy so after seeing this craft idea on another blog i thought it woudl be a fun and easy one to do.
(finished craft, couldn't get the stuipd picture to move under the paragraph below)

So after swimming Izzy and I made sugar cookies (yes I cheated and used store bought dough that we rolled out and used the heart shaped cookie cutters). On as an aside on the store bought dough, Izzy totally called me out on it. She pointed to my kitchen aid mixer that sits on teh counter and said " You are suposed to make cookies in there, with eggs and sugar and flour"! Can you tell she makes lots cookies from scratch with Grandma?

We decorated them and then put them in baggies and took them to our neighbor friends. Izzy was very helpful at cutting out the cookies and then shaking large quantities of suger on them. Here is a picture of her sitting in front of the oven watching them while eating the piece of bologna i said she had to eat before she could have a cookie. I thought the finished cookies came out cute even though they didn't hold their heart shape all that well.


The finished cookies, each friend got a big one and a little one along with tinkerbell store bought valentines





Then later in teh afternoon after her non-nap. We made some handmade valentines for her two sets of grandparents and for daddy. This craft I saw on Journey to Josie, a while back and thought it was so cute, creative and most importantly easy. So I painted izzy's hands and then we made the prints in the shape of a heart. While I finished them with the writing, izzy painted pictures with the paints. I think they came out cute and she had a lot of fun doing it with me. I really need to make more of an effort to do more stuff like this.

3 year well check

I took Izzy to the pediatrician on Monday for her well child visit. I wanted to capture her "stats" before I forget them.

She weighed 30.2 lbs
and was 37" long

I would say her growth has slowed quite a bit from last year to this year. She used to be in the 70th percentile and now she is about 48 percentile. Doc said she is very proporationate and weighs just what she should so that is good news. She was very happy with izzy's progress.

She did say that she may have to be on teh Mirilax for a couple years even, that it won't hurt her. To just stay consistant with giving it to her, don't bug her too much about going poop on the potty and she will do it when she is ready.

She didn't need any shots, but did get her second H1N1 nasal mist. All in all it was a succesful trip to the doctor. Hopefully we won' t have to go back for a while, which would mean she stays nice and healthy!

The Binky Fairy

Well the time finally came when the binky fairy visited our house. We had been talking to izzy about this for a couple of months off and on and more often teh closer she got to 3 years old. Even though she only used it to sleep with and it never left her bed, I felt it was time for her to give it up, i didn't want it to ruin her teeth.

Well Friday she was with Grandma in the afternoon and they were resting on the couch (because ever since she turned 3 she decided she doens't nap anymore) and grandma went to give her a binky and Izzy said (i don't use binky's anymore, the binky fairy is coming) So upon hearing this I quick before I (adn izzy) got home picked up a binky fair present and wrapped it. (I was a little hesitate and almost chickened out but then decided, i should just do it)

The binky fairy got izzy a pair of dress up shoes like cinderella and a new toothbrush.

Later that night after grandma dropped her off, we told her the binky fairy came and left her a present on her pillow. She was pretty excited and quite liked the gift. I was a little nervous for bedtime but she did great. It was DH's turn to put her to bed so he read her stories like normal and then we rock with for a few minutes before we put her to bed. She asked one time where her binky was and DH told her the binky fairy took it to give to babies that didn't have any. And that was it. The only problem was when DH was leaving he shut her door (which is is TERRIFIED OF) so she freaked out and got very upset. I was worried she wasn't going to calm down without the binky but she did. After he left she wimpered to herself very briefly adn that was it. She did great again last night went to bed just fine. The only problem is she has been waking up in the middle of hte night and coming into our bed...who knows if it is the binky or if it would have happened regardless. Last night she snuck in so sneaky i didn't even wake up until DH wondered why i was sleeping so close to him and then asked me when i put izzy in our bed..it wasn't till then that i realized she was sleeping next to me and had brought down her own pillow from her bed!!!! Stinker. Tonight if she does it we will have to take her back to her bed.

Today she even took a two hour nap with no binky! First time the kid has taken a nap in a week!

Overall though the experience has been GREAT and much less tramatic than I thought...at least so far. She really doesn't seem to miss it all that much.

DH got great video of her yesterday morning, i hope it posts okay.