1.17.16

We started this week out with piano lessons. It was a rough go. Someone decided not to nap, and had huge fits because I wouldn't let her use scissors without me by her. It was a day that could have easily ended at noon. Ugh! Looking back though I had to be grateful that I captured this moment that day. She insisted that she play "Child of God" on the piano and that I open up the song book for her to do it.

We had her well child check this week as well. It went well. She is totally on track for everything. Sometimes its hard to get her to brush her teeth, but I told her that the doctor needed her to...and that was enough. Hopefully it'll continue to be :)

I went to visit teach a friend this week. Her daughter and S are less than 3 weeks apart. They have really gotten to be good friends. It was suddenly very quiet and the girls were in her friend's room. That should've been our first clue. Holy Moly. Massive amounts of coloring all over the walls. Plus, on themselves. She made herself look like a cat...I'm not sure how she pulled that off. She totally took it in stride, and the girls both helped to clean it all up. Thankfully we haven't had a redo.

A friend recently had a baby and I know how exhausting that is (at least the no sleep part)...especially during the winter when you can't take the baby out because of RSV. We have tried to have outings or have her over weekly so her mom could get a little break. These girls have so much fun together. The great thing about having friends over is that they rediscover toys they haven't played with in a while, plus there is a little play buddy.They were both in dress ups for about 3 hours. It was pretty cute!

We spent a good chunk of one morning just painting. She looked at me at one point and said, "I paint a pretty picture for daddy." She worked and worked. She added lots of different colors. We just put on some fun music and had a great time!

For Christmas Brett gave me a "certificate" to go dress shopping with him. We were all sick for a bit after Christmas, so it has taken me a bit of time to feel up to this outing. 

Anyway, I thought Friday would be a great night to do it so we headed to a local mall. After we found the dress I left Brett to pay and asked him if he was ok if I ran to another store in the mall to see if by some off chance Brad (S's birthdad's dad) was working. We were SO lucky! His wife also stopped by while we were there. We visited for at least 20 minutes, and he learned that S loves "Inside Out" so he got his for her. She was so excited the next morning when she came down stairs for breakfast. I had taken them out of the packaging and had them out on the table. She pure squeals of delight were fantastic!

I am hoping to get these weekly Sunday pictures...the one day that we are all ready at some point in the day for sure :) Some pictures I get of her are the normal happy kids shots, others are a weird smile...I guess that's just the stage that we're at!

5.10.15

We have been taking walks/jogs most mornings. Some mornings she requests to see Nana and Papa (we pass their house on some routes we take) or stopping at the park. Since we had some great weather at the beginning of this week, we took full advantage of spending some time at the park. I love the happiness that swings bring to this kid!

We had cousins come play for a few hours one day this week. Having three little ones made me want to take them all outside for a bit. You can see the somewhat ominous clouds in one of the pictures. We actually started to get rained on on our way home, but the girls were all troopers. 

Often when we go to the park I hear the phrase, "Mom, by you!" I love these moments with this cutie! She's not going to want me by her side forever. I'm taking advantage while I can and enjoying these small everyday moments with her.

We had to run out on several errands one day. I'm not one to typically grab something sugary for her, but asked the teller at the bank for a sucker for her. She was so happy and content to just be my little buddy getting things done.

Lately (at least the past month) S has been requesting "silver one(s)" at meal times. This morning she discovered that she could see her reflection in the back of the spoon. She made lots of faces at herself and watched them in her spoon. I loved watching her discover new things!

Friday we took S's birthmom, Crystal, out to lunch for birthmom's day. Birthmom's day is officially Saturday....but as you'll soon see, our Saturday was WAY to busy for fitting one more thing in. S has a biological half sister that is 9 months who came along with us. We went to Kneader's and had a nice chat. Sadly, I neglected to take any pictures.

Saturday was a very busy day around here. I had a RS brunch that I had to be at to help with my church calling. We had to leave before it was really over to be able to make it to my cousin's sealing (recently adopted) in Bountiful. The family then met up at my sister's home for a mother's day lunch. While we were there my sister, Cami cut and colored my hair. It was perfect for me. I always tell her that my qualification is to be able to put it in a ponytail...which is still totally do-able...and its cool for summer. As soon as we got into the car to come home S started asking to go to the store. No store in-particular...she just wanted to go somewhere. Brett asked where I thought she would like to go. I suggested The Sweet Tooth Fairy (local cupcake shop). As soon as we walked in she ran up to the display windows, turned to us, and started repeating "Wow. Mom, see! Wow!" I made me happy to see how excited this experience made her. It was the perfect choice!

Mother's Day around here was super nice. We enjoyed family time together. Brett took care of cooking for the day. He took time with S after her nap to make a craft for me. She loved it as much as I did. She turned it into a boa and took off running. I love that we have her little hands that I get to keep just for me :) I've made these for her birth parents in the past, but never for us. I'm glad Brett did!

Birth Family Time

We have had very lifeless balloons kicking around the house since S's birthday. She discovered from her aunt and uncle who watched her Saturday that if you pull back at the knot and let it go, it will fly a pretty good distance. She would bring all of them to me, then tell me the color to do first. She wanted to do it over and over again, but was continually covering her eyes and plugging her ears to the sounds!

She is becoming such the little mom. She takes this baby with her lots of places. She says "change him" when she thinks he needs a diaper change...followed by "wipe him, clean, diaper". She gets out the changing mat and wipes to change him. 

She said "baby walk" the other day. She helped him start walking, but then said that he needed shoes. So, she put hers on him and continued to help him walk.

 She really loves the Duplo train that she got for Christmas. I would be willing to say it is one of those things that we play with everyday. She'll often grab my and with the other wave at me saying, Play, play!"

This is one of the easiest, cheapest, and funnest activities I have found on Pinterest. You use craft foam and cut out snowman pieces. All you need is a little water to get them to stick to the window. We first did this on Thursday, and she is still loving it!

We were also lucky enough this week to be able to get together with S's birth dad. We met at a mall where they have an indoor playground for kids (not kowing what the crazy weather around here would be like).  They played together for quite a while, and really enjoyed each other. His dad and one sister came too. They brought Christmas and birthday presents for her. We had wanted to meet up over Christmas, but with my grandpa's passing it made it impossible. 

This had a Minnie on a bike. As soon as she saw her she kept saying, "Mouse, mouse!"

"Meow. Pink. Soft."

Totally engaged in her book. Books are her favorite :)

Playing with "mouse" at home. She's now referred to as "Mimm Mouse"

Visit with Birth-Mom, Crystal

 This week I started working on this project for our ward for Christmas. It was a lot of work, but my brother and his girl friend were kind enough to come and help me. I was SO grateful!! It would've taken me days to get done what the three of us did in one night :) I think they turned out pretty good!

We spend a day up helping S's great-grandma (my grandma). With grandpa passing she had a lot of things she wanted to go through. My sister's family also came to help which I really appreciated because it gave S someone to play with. We were there until after 4:30 and stopped to say hi and have dinner with other cousins on the way home. S didn't get to have a nap, and was out cold within 10 minutes of getting in the car :)

I stopped  a few places looking for Christmas items this week. I found this gem while I was out. I LOVED the chapter book for years, and always read it to my students when I taught public school. I found this as a picture book, and was thrilled to get it for S. I hope she loves it as much as I did.

We had a huge change in temperatures this week. S asked me to turn on the fireplace have have blankets on more than one occasion. Then I, of course, had to sit there with her and enjoy the fire :)

Sometimes dads are just so much more fun than moms. Brett came home from work early on Thursday with donuts and we made hot chocolate and sat by the fire. I had started dinner earlier in the day, and was finishing up homemade bread for dinner when Brett got home. It was a pretty great end to our day :)

We have been working on learning colors for the past little while. I love this toy I bought while teaching preschool. You use giant tweezers to sort colors into bowls. We killed many birds with one stone: sorting, coloring, and fine motor skills. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she was able to use the tweezers. 

We were able to see S's birthmom, her husband,  and half-biological sister on Friday to have lunch together. S absoluetly loves babies. She kept saying "hold her, hold her" during lunch. I love that we were able to catch some of the cute moments with her!

S with her birth-mom, Crystal.