Growing Pains

February 4, 2011, we lost the diaper. July 22, 2011, we lost the pacifier. I knew these experiences would be difficult - I didn't know they would be more difficult for me than my sweet baby girl. I mean little girl.. sigh. Sophie is quick to correct me these days.

"No, Mommy. I not a baby, I'm a Big Girl!" Generally followed by, "I can do it by myself" or "No! Let me do it!"

Every morning she joins me in my morning routine.

"I need lotion Mommy" and "Mommy, I has to have odorant too."

It's pretty awesome to see her learning, growing and discovering things on her own everyday. The hard part, for me anyway, is that everyday she seems to need me less and less. And eventually, hopefully a good 16 to 18 years from now, she won't need me at all.

I know this is a sign of being a successful parent, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's a bizarre feeling - I'm super happy that she's a social butterfly, a smarty pants and loves life, but part of me wants to snuggle her to death and never let go. I'm becoming the crazy, over-attached mom I never wanted to be. And she's only two!

Talking about her 19-year-old daughter, one of my good friends said, "You have to learn how to participate in their lives instead of controlling their lives."

I'm more than a decade away from that era in my life, but it's good advice. Especially for me, since I'm missing the baby days already.

Luckily, there will be plenty more firsts to experience with my little one. Along with losing the diapers and pacifier this year, Sophie has also had her first pedicure with Mommy and Gran and she has been to the big screen three times. She will finally eat something other than macaroni and cheese and her little conversations make me smile every day.

The happy moments definitely out-weigh the sad. I will always have sweet memories and a life to look forward to with my family. I cherish each moment with my baby chick and hubby and I feel incredibly blessed.

Two going on 20!

Anti-Foodie

Realizing that toddlers are picky eaters, I still believe I have an extreme case on my hands! The tiny tot that resides in my house is demanding, stubborn and full of flavor!

I'm beyond the point of frustration. I'm standing at the gates of anti-foodie exhaustion. What the bleep am I to do? Maybe your input can help my sitch. But first, let's go over a little history here.

As a newborn our little tiny would not breast feed. For three weeks I tried to no avail, all the while pumping milk. After three weeks, an exhausted Mommy reluctantly decided to switch to formula after her supply started to dry up. At least Sophie would drink formula, although it was tough getting her to drink the minimum amount required each day.

At nine months old, the girl would eat anything that was pureed. Anything. It was a small success and I was happy. Though this made it even more difficult to get her to drink her 24 ounces of formula per day. But she had some chunk on her legs which made me feel like I was doing something right.

Finally in our transition to all solid food, Sophie decided she had an opinion. She started narrowing the foods that she would eat. Even if they were the same foods she had eaten previously in pureed form. And yes, I tried giving them to her again in pureed form... no dice.

So here we sit. Sophie's breakfast options are wavering at three, lunch options are virtually nil and dinner is down to three. We generally dice up what we're having for dinner in smaller pieces for Sophie's plate. And we've tried making a separate meal for her if we suspect she won't like what we're eating. In hindsight, that was a dumb idea. My toddler, unbeknownst to her, cannot thrive on strawberries and macaroni and cheese alone.

What's a Mommy to do? Any suggestions? Even funny stories about other toddler food tantrums would make me feel better about myself as a mom. :) I'll leave you with this cute pic for inspiration.

Picture of the Day

Gotta find those sales!


Reading the paper with Daddy.

Hot Pink Is For Girls

Maybe there has been some confusion among the masses lately regarding colors that little girls typically wear. I never thought I would be like this, but I’m getting pretty annoyed with people calling my daughter a “fella” or “little guy” or “handsome”. She’s such an obvious diva! Hence the pink, glittery clothes and the white, flowery sandals.

Today Sophie was dressed in something similar to what she’s wearing in this picture.



Specifically, she was wearing the same hat as in the picture, a pair of hot pink plaid pants and a t-shirt with glittery pink lettering on it. To complete her ensemble were a super-cute pair of white sandals with little flowers on the straps. Um, hello… if you lack the ability to notice this much detail in close range, you shouldn’t have driven yourself to the grocery store.

I realize my daughter has very fine, blonde hair that’s not fully grown out yet so I go to great lengths to make it very obvious that she is a girl. To add to my frustration (at other people), my little sweetheart is petite and has dainty features. So out of one’s 50/50 chance to guess the correct gender, why do they look directly at her hair and think, “Well, it doesn’t have shoulder-length hair, so it must be a boy.” And then they go on to say, “What a cute little fella you got there.” Forget that the “fella” is wearing hot pink from head to toe. Argh.

So then I wonder, “Do they really think I would dress my little boy like this”? That is, if she were a boy. Bunch of crazies.

Change of Heart

If you've been around me recently, you would know that I'm pretty settled in to being the mother of one... and only one. However, something is happening. Something is changing in me. Is it my biological clock? Is it God? I don't know. But what I do know is I have this undeniable desire to have another baby... but just one more. Two kiddos would be the end of the line.

I'm not saying I want to jump in the bed right now to procreate. I'm just saying that the desire is beginning to fester. I think of many, many holiday seasons from now and I see Christmas mornings with more than one child tugging at my pj's to get out of bed. I see siblings running to find the first Easter egg of the hunt, and I see Sophie having a baby sister or brother with whom she shares a bond that only siblings share.

Maybe this is the culprit of my new found desires...



Sophie LOVES Josiah (for those who don't know, a baby boy that I keep during the day). He's a little bundle of sweetness... most of the time, and Sophie misses him when he's not here, even though her favorite words when he is here are "mine" and "no".

On the mornings when Sophie and Jojo go to Mother's Day Out, Sophie asks for him before we leave the house and she announces his name when we arrive at his house to pick him up. She kisses him at least five times a day and loves to give him hugs, pat him on the back when he's trying to burp, and push him in the swing when he's trying to sleep. All this to say, I think Sophie would love a little sibling. She'll always have Jojo, but if they get married then who would be her brother? Haha!

Word Girl

Our Little is learning so many words so fast these days. She's a little parrot, spouting off cool words that she hears everyday. It's neat to hear her hear a word and copy it for the first time. Then over the next several days she perfects her new word.

Recently she's been picking up what I call command words, like "more," "milk," and "out". This confuses me because I assume that whenever she uses one of these words, she wants what she is requesting. However, when she says, "out" while in her high chair and I begin to remove her from the high chair, she grabs fistfuls of food like I'm depriving her of her meal and looks at me like, "what do you think you're doing lady!"

What's a mom to do? Though confusing at times, it's still precious to hear new little words come out of her sweet, syrup-kissed mouth. A new favorite of hers: "No!" That one is fun. Especially when it comes out with a southern drawl. Imagine a little Paula Deen yelling, "no" about twenty notches higher than her regular pitch and you've got my daughter.

On her vocab list as of today:
Daddy, Mommy, Nanny, Papaw, Grandpa, cracker, cookie, out, milk, more, I walk (the only word she uses "I" with so far), why, water, no, book, Jack, Mable, Jojo (for Josiah), home, bath. That's all I can think of for now, but a quite extensive list in my biased opinion.

Here's a fun picture of my little Word Girl in utter protest of coming inside on a cold winter's day. Daddy was outside hanging Christmas lights and she insisted that is where she must remain. She had no interest in being inside with Mommy even though Mommy was making yummy Christmas cookies. Daddy's girl.

Sophie is walking!

I'm a little behind the times, but I still wanted to share this video from Christmas Eve. Sophie started walking all by herself like a big girl! And I caught it on tape! It was a perfect Christmas present for Mommy and Daddy.

... three weeks later to present time, Sophie's doing a great job walking. We took her to the mall yesterday and the girl walked through the whole mall by herself. Mommy and Daddy guided her direction, but otherwise, she did it by herself. So exciting!