Baby Owl and the Angel :)

What a fun time Bridget and I had playing with Lauren and Tenley last week! B was her crazy self, and precious Tenley was a calm little cucumber simply content to watch B jump from one awesome toy to the next. Welcome back, bouncer!

 

Can’t you just see how sweet she is?? Such a peaceful little presence…

 

Thank goodness my doodle slowed down just long enough for a picture with Lauren :)

Tenley said a lot of “ooo’s” during our visit, and here’s a pic of her cute mug when she says it:

 

A side note: Tenley just celebrated her 1st birthday and though we couldn’t make the party in person for the big event, we got some much needed treats to take home thanks to a B near-meltdown complete with frantic signing and “eat!” screams. Ugh. But aren’t these snack bags cute???? Love them!

Tenley is already and owl lover, making it an easy transition into Chi O someday :). Though B doesn’t always act like it, I just know since she’s my angel she’ll become a Pi Phi Angel as well if I have anything to do with it! Go Greek!

Meet me…the prude?

Ok. So is anyone else totally put off by movies these days that are made for an educated adult audience (please don’t confuse these with adult films! hehehe) and all the unnecessary language and sex? I mean, puhleez! Wow. I’m pretty sure my mother just took over my body and willed me to type that. How many times did I hear her complain about that very same thing when I was a teenager? Yikes.

Well, it doesn’t change how I feel about the whole thing.

J and I have always been a movie-going couple. We both enjoy the whole movie experience: the show, the treats, the talking about it afterwards, the all-encompassing entertainment. When we were first married and totally broke (well, I thought we were broke…little did I know!), we’d always find a way to sneak in a Studio Movie Grill visit almost weekly to see a flick at least one of us was interested in. Action, drama, animation, comedy… “movie” or “film”…we loved it! As you can imagine, those days are mostly gone now that Bridget has joined the Adamo Team. Sure, we manage a movie night every now and again, but I’d say we’re averaging one every 2-3 months. I’ll take it! That being said, we opted for a NetFlix membership about a year ago to help me with my late-fee issue (no further comment).

NetFlix is delightful, though Jonathan is we are notorious for falling asleep during everything that starts after 6pm. Tonight was no such night. Score! Imagine my surprise when he a) agreed to watch “The Kids Are Alright”, and b) stayed awake for the whole darn thing. Sure, I’d added it to the list with little excitement, but I’m always drawn to the Oscar nominees and I love me some good Annette Bening (Jonathan hates Julianne Moore). I’ll say this. It IS good. Good acting. Good story. Funny. Endearing. But man, there is just too much sex for me! Am I a prude? Perhaps. But all I can think about is how distracting and unnecessary it is to the plot. Why does nearly every R movie have to have it in some form or another? And if its not sex, its horribly distracting profanity instead. Ugh. I’m sick of it.

[side note: our last movie date was to see “Black Swan” and I loved it. I was warned by its designation as a psycho-sexual thriller (what does that even mean?), so I was prepared for the worst. It totally wasn’t that bad in that area! Alas, I don’t know if there’s an R movie out there that doesn’t have a little bit of the “personal stuff” in it. But all in all, “Black Swan” was pretty awesome if you ask me.]

My mother would be proud. I, too, will obviously become one of those mothers that shelters her kids from the overly indulgent world of the entertainment industry (well, I won’t shelter them completely…but they certainly aren’t seeing a PG-13 movie too soon!) until they are old enough to at least be sneaky about seeing it without my knowledge. I can only hope my Bridgie grows up to be a little like me in this department. If that happens, my life will be a lot easier! I won’t hold me breath…

Lovable Leggings!

 

Aren’t these just the cutest things you’ve ever seen?? Okay, so I guess Golden Retriever puppies are cuter, but these leggings aren’t bad!

I saw this tutorial on a favorite blog of mine, Baby Night Night Botique, a few months ago. I ran out to Target and grabbed a couple pairs of women’s knee-high socks and hurried home to make them. I even got the same pair that the tutorial uses! And…finally got them done now :). Yes, it took a little more time reading my sewing machine manual (I’m teaching myself, remember? Thank the Lord for instructables.com!) but I managed to still finish the whole project in about 30 minutes. Any novice seamstress who can feed an item through a machine could do this in 5. And they look adorable! Here’s the tutorial. Her stuff is always adorable and many of her tutorials are very doable, too. The only thing I changed with this one was the ribbon color and placement (I had pink, but wanted these to be more neutral so I went with shiny silver and placed the bow at the bottom so I could actually see them as she scampers from room to room), and I also learned the hard way that I needed to turn the sock inside out (or just make sure the cuff touches the same side as the sock when sewing – rights together, or wrongs together). I love that with sewing you can almost always start over if you have a nice stitch cutter handy!

They fit B perfectly, are very comfortable, and most of all…they stay in place better than any other leggings I’ve ever put on her. Wahoo!

I had so much fun making them that I dragged her to Target this morning to buy a few more pairs! This time, it took about 20 minutes to make all 4 of these. I’m excited to try the two pairs on the left because they’re a bit longer…my long-legged beauty will need those soon enough!

I got these pairs for $5 each at Target. I think I can find them cheaper somewhere and after racking my brain for ideas…..DUH! Forever 21! The cheapest accessories ever. I’m thinking it could be a gold mine for future baby leggings :). Let me know if you try these at home. I just think they’re awesome!

Queen of Quiet Time

Here's my lovely at our last Village class again. She's listening to the "quiet time" music (this time it's actually a story being read aloud with calming background music) and is completely mesmorized.  The end is my favorite part of this video ;). Of all the things she's learned through her time in Kindermusik, quiet time skills are by far the most obvious and very much appreciated by Mommy! (let me know if it doesn’t work…I had a bear of a time uploading it and ended up going the youtube route this time)

Here's how to do it: put on some calming music (preferrably instrumental at first, then you can venture into other pieces with text as your baby is used to the process), find a quiet spot (lean on a wall, lay down on the floor or couch), put out something safe for baby to play with (or practice this in his or her playroom) and just chill for a bit. When baby comes to you for stimulation (which he or she certainly will!), just quietly redirect him or her and continue to relax. DON'T try to force baby to do the same! This is a lesson in Mommy's needs, which in turn, will teach baby how to relax as well. Did you know relaxation is a learned skill? Who better to teach baby than Mommy?! Give it a try and let me know how it goes. It's never too early to start, but it will only get harder as baby gets older...

Quiet time is designed to help Mommy teach Baby that there are times that Mommy needs to relax and baby is welcome to relax with her or quietly busy him or herself as he or she pleases. As both a KM mom and teacher, I have seen the power of quiet time blossom before my eyes in babies week after week. It's a skill that will continue to help our little ones throughout their lives as they learn that they cannot always expect to be stimulated by others. Man, can I think of quite a few kiddos I've taught over the years that could have benefited from a lesson in Quiet Time!

Waving goodbye to the “Village” :(

Bridget and I shared our last baby music class together last Tuesday. The baby class (0-18mos), aka “Village” in Kindermusik, is no longer developmentally appropriate for her so this Spring semester brings us “Our Time”…just a month early. She’ll be nearly 17 months old when we start in a couple weeks and I know she’s going to thrive in this lesson format, though my heart will always beat strongest for Village. It’s where she can I shared our first Kindermusik experiences, its the time that marks the end of my public school teaching career, and it introduced me to even more amazing aspects of my angel’s unique and adorable personality. Who doesn’t love the age 8-12 months??

Julie and I were just talking about what a special time that quarter truly is. Crawling, walking, talking, laughing, exploring, eating…so many big steps are taken during this time and we loved every minute. When I was having a bad day this past week, I found myself wandering through old Facebook pics of Bridget to brighten my mood. I stumbled across these two gems. Look at Abby’s face in the first one!!!:

Ah, it really does happen so fast. You know I was reaching for the Kleenex box, but at least doing it with a smile when I gazed at my sweet noodle doodle here.

Back on track: we’ll join the 18mo-3yrs class called “Our Time” and it will be fabulous for her. It’s still Mommy & Me, but there’s less carrying around of her, more instrument exploration (if possible, considering how much is done in Village!), StoryTime, and more dancing. I’m actually excited about seeing how much faster she starts learning new skills now that she’ll be the youngest in the class again as opposed to one of the oldest. I could go on and on about all the observations of skills she’s aquired that I 100% attribute to her time in Kindermusik, but that’ll be another post :). Here are some shots of her during our last Village class last week (and one from her first day of class during my practicum this summer!):

Again, so glad those days of wearing bibs 24-7 are past us…

Who is that big girl and how did she grow up that fast????!!!

 

You’ll notice that she’s a bit of a toy hoarder. Maybe I need to lay off watching “Hoarders" for a while…:)

  

She and Ella getting into trouble. Ella just turned one and her sweet Mama, Paige, found out she’s expecting again! I’m so sad to leave class with some Mommy/Baby pairs we’ve been with for a year! I can always hope they choose the same time as us when it’s their time to move up, too :)

Ball throwing and hoarding:

 

I think she’s only supposed to have one of these…

At least she attempts to share :)

Another good thing about moving to Our Time is the change of classtime. Village is scheduled from 11:30-12:30, which I picked back when she was taking two naps. OT is 9:30-10:30am. Duh, Anna. She moved to one nap two weeks into the semester and is ALWAYS ready to sleep around 11:30. Oh well. One day a week we push it back an hour or so and she makes it, but I’m sure you can imagine all the creative moves I come up with on our 20 minute drive home to keep her from crashing out in the car, eh?

She and Ella taking center stage again:

 

This little boy in the green shirt is the other one who’s moving up to Our Time. His mom, Lindsey, and I are joining the same class. At least we’ll know one person! (Miss Vanessa was teaching this class ‘cause Jeanie was out of town…we drive out of the way to come to Jeanie’s class!)

 

Going, going…

   

GONE. :)

These three started this way during quiet time and stood like zombies for a good 10-15 seconds (and most of you know that’s an eternity for a toddler). I got my camera out just in time to catch this video…my girl is so tired!!! 

Starting to voice our opinion about sleepiness…

  

But she managed to let Mommy get this special memory for our us as she just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Love you, baby girl!

Daddy’s Helper!

Is it possible? Can I actually be blessed with not just one, but TWO handy people in my little family? Oh, a girl can dream….

 

p.s. this hole in the wall is initially courtesy of puppy Penny when we attempted to leave her inside during work hours and she ate the doorstop, which we never replaced. Then it was my problem when I apparently opened the door hard enough too many times and eventually popped a perfect doorknob shape into the drywall. God bless a Honey-Do List!!!! (even if it takes months for stuff to get done)

From sleigh bells to wedding bells!

Sure, you may remember me posting over Thanksgiving week about my older sister, Betsy, shopping for her wedding dress (she’s getting married in August):

  

Well, my younger sister, Mary, got engaged on New Year’s Eve (if you know me, its no shock that I’m a middle child)! Wahoo! Mary has been with her adorable man for over 8 years (they started dating the same week that Jonathan and I did…and we’re about to celebrate our 6th anniversary!) and we could not be more thrilled that they’re finally taking the plunge. They’re big day is scheduled for January 14, 2012 here in Dallas (Betsy’s is in Atlanta). Since she lives in Chicago, she and Matt made a trip down here to celebrate the engagement and find a reception site (the Four Seasons). She also decided to go dress shopping and once again Lulu’s Bridal Boutique was our one-stop shop! Love that place!

  

She was the most efficient dress shopper I’ve ever seen (Betsy wasn’t bad either, though!). Quickly, it was narrowed down to two. My opinion was: “well, this one is going to have people saying ‘wow! look at Mary’s dress!’ and the other one is going to have them saying ‘wow! look at Mary!’”. They were totally different designs. Needless to say, she picked the “Look at Mary’s dress” one and its beautiful! Plus, she thinks it makes her non-boobs look way bigger…Betsy and I always told her we thought she was adopted!

  

Since its a Winter wedding, the white feathers mixed in with lace and beaded roses will just be stunning. Both ladies picked pretty dramatic dresses and I love living vicariously through them now that I’m an old married mother. It’s FABULOUS! Having both of their weddings happening at the same time offers double the reminder of just how long ago that time was for me. Imagine how much all of your lives have changed since your engagement day and wedding planning days! Shocked? I know!!!

Imagine my incredible shock when I heard (and you can always hear here before you see her and I love that!) a dear friend of mine step into the tiny boutique with her beautiful daughter! I couldn’t believe it! Linda is one of the closest friends I have from my Carrollton Elementary days and I have truly enjoyed chatting with her for hours about wedding planning now that her only daughter, Ashley, is engaged to be married in September.

No only did I get to help Mary choose a gown, Ashley asked for my opinion on her’s, too! And you know I made them meet up in the hall for a double bride pic for the blog….:) (though that wasn’t one of Ashley’s favorite dresses and Mary had also just tried that one on!)

 

Since Betsy didn’t actually buy her gown from Lulu’s until the day after we shopped together, Mary and I didn’t get to see the bubbles. My mom and Lisa, who helped both sisters choose their gowns, couldn’t wait for us come to the front with our bride. They turn on this hideously hilarious bubble machine and simulanteously play (way louder than necessary) “Here Comes the Bride” so the whole house can hear! My mom had mentioned Betsy’s bawling when she bought her dress and the two of us just figured…typical Betsy. We obviously didn’t understand the power of the bubbles. Everyone in that damn place was crying (Linda and Ashley, too) and Mary was bawling. It was great! the first two pics are before they started the music…

Her Matron of Honor, Sarah, came with us. My Aunt Martha did, too!)

This is when she lost it…adorable…

As I said, its been so much fun planning the weddings and brings me such joy to know what wonderful places both of my sisters are at in their own lives. They’ve both been through hard times and never seemed to have it as “easy” as me growing up. It wasn’t much surprise that I got married first, and since I’ve always done so many things in my life by the book, fate always knew I’d have a child not too far behind taking those vows :). It’s so nice being able to see them both in loving and comfortable times in their lives knowing the journey ahead of them, though difficult in its own ways, just gets better and better. This is just one major stop on the road to many more milestones for them that I get to share. It also makes me wish they’d both move back home so we could spend more time together! I’m so glad for my friends who have so much of their family nearby. Ah…even more reasons for me to be thankful for this new year and all the fun visits I’ll get with my sisters. Here’s to 2011!!

(And I can’t resist putting up pics from my wedding time!)

Look out, vow renewal ceremony!!! :) (seriously, I want to do one of those someday)