the weather...

forecast for sunday, october 1st...

7am 50 degrees
1pm 71 degrees

wow... 61 degrees would be alot nicer... anyone have any connections?

water, lots of water, water is my friend...

another bad mom of the week award goes to.... ME!

So, after sweet pea's nap yesterday, we went out to run some errands. First, we went to Kohl's to look for t-shirts for sweet pea and funny 80's cloths for me (for a party tomorrow night). Since 80's cloths are back in style, the second item on the to-do list wasn't so hard. I found a somewhat trendy, not too ugly sweater and a scarf on super sale. The scarf will be worn in my hair, headband style with a huge bow on top of my head, madonna style! If I only had some ankle boots with spiky heals!!!

back to the original story...

Sweet pea was pretty cranky, wanting her drink, wanting food, unable to figure out that mommy didn't bring any of that with her and we'd have to wait until we got back out to the car. Oh no... whining/squalking got loud. Oh well... we'd be done soon... it did wear on my patience though (if you remember, hubby's still out of town :)

Next stop, office depot next door. Crankyness decreased a bit b/c she was holding a baggy of teddy grahams and her drink... but still, it was there. Did I mention my patience level?

Got to the car and while I was putting sweet pea in her seat, she grabbed my car keys... yep, my car keys... we've done this many, many times. No worries. UNTIL... I shut her door and walk around the other side to my door and hear a 'click'. Huh... no... was that... couldn't be... yep... sweet pea just locked the car doors. Oh my gosh, you have GOT to be kidding. Nope, she did it, she locked the doors. Oh wait... the little red button on that keyless thingy makes the horn go... all babies like red buttons. OH MY GOSH!!! What am I supposed to do now? Did i mention that my husband is out of town?!

Sooo... I call my neighbors... tell them what's going on while the horn is blairing in the background. Oh, another thing, I'm talking on speaker phone on my cell phone becuase I can't figure out how to turn it off!!! Right after I get off the phone with Michael and Jodi, I hear another 'click'... oh sweet pea, you're SOOOOOO SMART!!! She pushed the right button and tragedy was over. Ahhhh, let's go home and get some dinner... yes... I think I need chocolate too.

On that note, there is actually no edible chocolate in my house. I had german chocolate blocks and unsweetened chocolate blocks... neither of which I can easily bake into something edible. No chocolate chips, no semi-sweet or bittersweet (awesome cookie recipe for both) chocolate... so I ended up eating chocolate teddy grahams and a mug of hot cocoa!!! It was satisfying and I've added chocolate chips and the other to my grocery list :)

have a good day!

nerves...?!

OK... I just ran my last run before sunday. An easy 4 miles... nothing spectacular. It actually helped settle my nerves a bit, which was nice.

I'm not sure why I'm nervous... I'll finish, it'll be fine, no injuries, no silly stuff... no worries, right? Then why am I so nervous? Huh... anxiety isn't treating me so great either. My face is breaking out like a junior high girl, my apetite has left the building, and sleeping hasn't been coming oh so easy.

It doesn't help that hubby is in LA right now and won't be returning until 8pm on saturday night. He was packing last night... he always packs an extra pair of underwear (wow, did I EVER just embarrass my hubby!!! HA!!! that's what he gets for leaving town right before a marathon that I've been training for for 10 months!!) and I told him to put the extra pair away, he certainly won't be needing it because he WILL be home on saturday night!!! There are two more flights after the one he's supposed to be on (I'm amazed he actually checked on this), so he says he'll be there no matter what. The last flight is a red-eye though... ugh, we'll both feel like crap!

I was going to make a list of things to think about or pray about each mile, but I didn't know how I was going to remember 26 things. Huh... will need more work on that one.

I need to update my iPod... need new tunes. If I hear 'trashy women' one more time, I may shoot something. Gwen Steffani and Mac Powell can stay but the confederate railroad must move on!

I wish more people could watch the race... I fondly remember the Maine Marathon and Amy Weisenbach doing a cartwheel around mile 22 or so... that still makes me laugh. My friend Amy Meckey ran up a hill at mile 16 or so with me. My friends Alex and Heather Cabanas were there too. The finish line was pretty cool... the people there supporting me was so special. It was a pretty small race and the one this weekend has 10,000 runners. that's alot of runners!!! If each runner has a few people watching, that's alot of people!!! Will I actually see the people that are there? The sales lady at Penzey's spices yesterday said that she'd cheer for me! She'll be there with her family and they'll all be wearing Illini orange!!! I'll have to look for them!

I never did get the cool matching top/shorts/hat race outfit either! I'm actually wearing hubby's old black basketball shorts (yes, from high school... that would be more than 13 years old?!) and a light blue adidas sleevless top with a plain white hat. Yeah, you'll really be able to pick me out of a crowd! Oh, wait, my hair will be in a ponytail! that will help!

So, that post was completely about me... so sorry for those looking for a few notes about sweet pea. I'll post again on sunday or monday - a little race report. If you'd like, say a few prayers for me on sunday from the hours of 8am until no later than 1pm (local time). Yes, that's 5 hours... that will be a 59 minute improvement over last time :) Prayer for strong, positive thoughts running through my head (my biggest problem) and no stomach problems (my second biggest problem).

new pics... and she's pretending!!!

Yesterday, I came back from getting my haircut and hubby was super fired up...

Sweet pea has a new toddler size table in the kitchen, she had gone over to 'her drawer' in the kitchen and pulled out a few things (non-knife stuff). She was at her table, stirring and playing with tupperware. Hubby sat next to her and put his hand in a bowl, put it to his mouth and said, "mmmm, yummy". Sweet pea copied him!! They sat there for about 20 minutes, making pretend food and eating it. Too cute.

Here's a picture of her and her friend sammy, playing at the table last week. Yes, sammy is in his power rangers halloween costume.







Uncle Dale and Aunt Becky found a great sit-n-spin at a garage sale for sweet pea. I had it put away because Sweet pea wouldn't sit on it, she would only stand on it (danger, danger...). Sammy taught her how to sit on it!!! She can't quite turn herself... but she loves to get turned.




Monday, we went to a park called 'chutes and ladders'... It's HUGE!!! A preschooler's dream! Sweet pea and I had fun too though. I pushed her a bit to go up stair and scoot through tunnels. She doesn't quite know what to do with the rope ladders and rope tunnels. Next summer, we're there!!! Warm weather is coming to an end though... we're trying to get out as much as physically possible since hibernation is close behind (yesterday, high of 70+... today, high of 56?!).

nice weekend... he's a really good dad!

So, I got home last night about 7pm from a weekend up north scrapbooking. Yes, as I said last post, I went scrapbooking for the ENTIRE weekend.

The state of the house was the same as I had left it, but worse. Saying that, I should tell you that I did not leave it in the cleanest condition. The vacuum cleaner was sitting in the living room, my lunch was sitting on the counter, there were clothes to donate sitting in the extra bedroom, and clean laundry was in a basket in the laundrey room (to name a few messes I left). Not only did hubby not clean up my mess, he actually added to it. I could tell you exactly what hubby and Sweet Pea ate for the entire weekend, only because all of the pans/dishes were still on the counter.

Now, you may think that I'm complaining... oh, no, I'm certainly not complaining!! Did I mention that I went away for the weekend and scrapbooked?! Ha! As long as the house was still standing and my daughter was safe and clean I could care less the state of the house. He even made me dinner, ready when I walked in the door! What a guy... have I ever told you I have the best husband on the planet?!

10 other women joined me at the retreat and we were either making cards (you should see the cards these women can make... WOW), working on scrapbooks (there are alot of 3-7 year old kids out there that have unfinished baby books), knitting and... huh, that's it! The retreat is an old dairy barn out in the country that has been converted into a nice place for crafty women to go and, well, craft. I'm already wondering when I can get back there!

For anyone keeping track (I hope you're not), Sweet Pea will be 15 months old on Sunday and in her baby book, she just took her first bath! I'm almost into her second month of life... not too bad since there were a few women there this weekend that hadn't started their 3 year old's book! Yeah, I'm ahead of the game!

Halloween Costumes already?

Busy week... sorry no posts. I actually took a few good pictures yesterday of Sweet Pea playing with her friend Sammy. Sammy's three and got a new power rangers halloween costume... which he wore yesterday. Too funny.

On the subject of Halloween. You can't wait to buy costumes!!! Did you guys know this? I guess when I was little, if my mom didn't make us a costume we were digging through closets to find something to throw together (my favorite was the 'bum'... dad's old yucky flannel, dirt on my face, etc.) Well, if you're an aware parent, you need to buy the costume of choice more than a MONTH in advance!!! I was going to make Sweet pea a costume... bought a pattern for $7.50 and looked at the fabric... then ended up at Children's Place picking something up for a friend and saw the cutest costumes for $18.00!!! Well, why would I MAKE something for $20 and many hours and anguish when I could buy it for $18.00? I went to Children's place to pick up the Chick (or ducky as we call it in this house) and they were all out! And they're all out all over the city. And, they're all out online. AND... THEY'RE SELLING ON EBAY FOR $40!!! I'll have to remember that next year - I could make a fortune!

So, sweet pea will not be a chick this year unless I get a wild hair to make her a chick costume.

I'm off to scrapbook for the weekend. Very excited to get away for a whole weekend... have fun, hubby!

See any resemblances?

I'm still working on Sweet Pea's baby album (it will be a long process... we'll have to quicken it when we have more!!!).

When Sweet Pea was born, hubby's parents and my parents brought pictures of us when we were little. It's hilarious...

First... reference picture of Sweet pea... notice the cheeks, ears, eyes, nose and mouth :)








me - the back of the picture says "august 75", so I wasn't 1 yet.








Hubby and his mom... not sure of date.











hubby and his dad... same occasion as the picture with his mom, I had to include it b/c I think his ears are more pronounced with this one!!! (I love you, sweetie!)















There's another photo of me walking that looks JUST like Sweet Pea!!! I didn't scan it in... sorry. I only scanned in the photos of me that were starting to turn red and the photos of hubby that were on Polaroid!!!

Enjoy!

stuff...

Hi all. The title here is for my mom - who titles 99% of all of her emails to me "stuff". It's cute... thought I'd share :)

Tuesday night, I usually do a hand off with the hubby so I can get in a 6 mile run before it gets dark. This past tuesday, hubby and sweet pea ate dinner, sweet pea kept pushing on the front door and backing into the front door and repeating. Hubby opened the front door and Sweet Pea walked outside, down the driveway, and headed down the street to Jodi's house!!! Hubby kept asking her if she wanted to hold his hand and she said "No", still her favorite word. She made a left one house early so hubby corrected her and she walked straight back to their playset and up the ladder to get on the slide!!! To funny! Jodi and the boys weren't even home!!! For those of you that don't know how far that is, it's about 5 houses down the street from ours. I can just picture her, swinging her arms and stomping her feet (her cheeks giggle a little when she does this - sorry sweet pea, you get that from me)... and shaking her head when she says "No" to her daddy when he tries to hold her hand.

Big girl.

(grandmas and grandpa... Christmas ideas for you only grandchild!!! just kidding)

10 years!

Well, it's official, we've been married 10 years!!!

10 years ago today I was getting my hair done with my girlfriends, eating burger king at my friend Maro's house, getting help putting on more makeup (I guess my application was a little too light), and heading to the church to get dressed.

I think I only cried twice that day (ok, maybe three times). Once when I left the dressing room and saw my dad in his Tux (he looked so nice) and once when I was walking down the aisle (the verdict is actually still out on whether or not I actually cried... the pictures proove my face was pretty contorted though).

I married who was my best friend at the time. I am still married to who will always be my best friend...

We lived in a roach infested apartment over looking a golf course (the roaches meant nothing to hubby - "but, squirt, have you seen the view?")

Less than one year later, I graduated from college and hubby spent two weeks in the hospital getting a rib and blood clot removed.

Another year later, hubby graduated from college.

1/2 year after that we bought our first house. My parents now tell us that they thought we lived in a ghetto... but I loved that house and my friends and church which were in that neighborhood. I can't say that I actually loved that neighborhood, but I longed for change in it.

3.5 years later (5.5 - 6 years total) we sold that house... after putting much of my own blood, sweat and yes, tears into it and moved to Boston to attend business school. Oh, that house was so cute! The coffee with cream room (the color of our front room), the yellow, sun filled bedroom with the closets that hubby built. The kitchen who's floor actually bounced when you walked across it. The stairs to a third floor window that went no-where (except through the window and to a roof). And no-one can forget the ceiling that fell... after we sold it... before we closed on it. It sold in three days and two couples were in a bidding war for it - I can't be the only one that thought it was a great place!

2 years after moving to Boston, we both have master's degree and have changed professions. Interesting... huh? No longer engineers... yeah!!!

7.5 years into a wonderful marriage we moved here and bought another house. We're in the 'burbs... on a cul-de-sac... two cars, central air and a garage! We've grown up so much!!!

8.5 years into it we had our first baby - amazing. We waiting to start a family yet God had a plan. God had her picked out for us for that day... he hand picked our sweet little thing and trust us to take care of her and raise her to love Him (with his help, of course)!

10 years into it - my dear, sweet husband is in Chicago for business. Huh. Oh well, we're going to Mexico next month!!! Yep folks, you heard it right, we're going to MEXICO!

If I had a scanner I'd throw in a wedding day picture. We seriously look like we're twelve! You can almost see the shotgun behind my dad's back too (just kidding).

103.1??? Yikes!

So, last night when Sweet Pea went to bed she felt a bit warm... didn't think anything of it though.

Fast forward to 11pm... crying, crying... loud crying. I went to get her and she was WARM! She was a bit disorientated, who can blame her though since she'd been asleep for 3 1/2 hours and she had a fever of 103.1! Yikes. So, I got a wet washcloth and her drink and went to call the nurseline as hubby held our crying daughter.

Called our pediatrician's office and listended to the recording... "we are closed... the hours are... the saturday hours are..." click. I didn't feel like listening to all of that so I called our healthcare provider's nurse line. WOW, what a mistake. The lady that answered went through her list of questions and didn't help much or give me a warm and comfy feeling - and I'm all about the warm and comfy feeling.

At one point she asked me if she's listless (spelling?), is she acting like a 'wet noodle'.

ME: Well, she just woke up with a 103 degree fever after being asleep for 3 1/2 hours, I think she's acting pretty normal.

NURSE: Is she eating normal?

ME: Uh, I guess so... for a finicky 14 month old that prefers anything carbohydrate on her plate.

NURSE: Does she have any other symptoms, like a runny nose.

ME: Uh, yes, she's had a runny nose for at least 3 weeks but she's been cutting her back teeth. She did start sneezing on sunday morning.

NURSE: So, she's congested and she has a fever.

ME: Uh, OK... that's not quite what I said but whatever.

ME: she is acting somewhat normal though, she did do her sign for 'drink' to tell me that she's thirsty.

NURSE: is your daugher DEAF?!

ME: uh, no.

NURSE: why did she sign?

ME: SHE'S 14 MONTHS OLD AND SHE CAN'T TALK!!!

NURSE: oh, that's pretty cool.

ME: thinking... where have you been? baby sign language isn't a NEW thing. let's just get this conversation over with so I can hang up and call Sweet Pea's pediatrician.

The nurse then recommended that I take Sweet Pea to an urgent care which normally close at 11pm. If there isn't one open, I should take her to the Emergency room. Uh, OK... We went through this long conversation about where I live and where the closest care centers are, etc. Once I finally got her off of the phone, I called Sweet Pea's Pediatrician and had a great conversation where they recommended I give her Motrin, check her temp in 45 minutes (time for the motrin to kick in), and then monitor her temperature every hour... anything at 105 or higher warrents a trip to the ER. Otherwise, call the office in the morning to make an appointment. Oh, and offer her lots of fluids.

whew... that was easy. Motrin, temp dropped 1 degree, she broke a sweat an hour later, and slept through the night and is doing great now. I'm tired, she's tired, hubby's at work :)

Smells like Heaven in the Kitchen

Ohhh, the smells of fall cooking!!! I'm making Chicken and Dumplings today... oh, it smells so good and it tastes even better!!! It makes a HUGE amount, so half will be heading into our freezer when it's done. Have you ever used saved chicken fat (from browning the chicken thighs) for the dumplings. Sounds horribly un-healthy, but tastes oh-so-good.

Have you ever heard of America's Test Kitchen? They have a TV show on PBS and many cookbooks that are amazing! We have about 42 saved TiVo'd episodes of the saturday morning show and two cookbooks. They also have a magazine, Cook's Illustrated that's really good too. I'd highly recommend anything by them, I've rarely made a recipe I didn't like. They actually test recipes many, many times before publishing them. Some of the recipes are a bit 'putsy', but worth the extra effort.

That's it, have I made your mouth water? Hubby, are you reading this... hurry home! I should get back to work now.

God designed families to have TWO parents for a reason!

OK, I have friends whose husbands travel for work quite often. I even have friends whose husbands would go on deployments for 6 months at a time. Mine was gone two nights last week, three nights/four days this weekend, and two nights coming up and I'm going bonkers!!!

Sweet Pea woke up sneezing this morning. She's had a runny nose for weeks, most likely due to those back teeth coming through... but the sneezing? So this morning, at church, I couldn't put her in the nursery. I've been hired by the church as the Nursery Director (sounds important, doesn't it) so I couldn't exactly set such a bad example and put a sneezing, snotty nosed child into the nursery now could I? So, I spent the entire first service walking around the outside of the sanctuary with her... I'm supposed to be there, working, through both services!!! But, since hubby is off shooting defensless birds, I had to go home with sneezing sweet pea. I made sure that the second service volunteers were all set and headed for the car with tissues in hand!!! Agh... this job, with my 'easy' toddler, is made for two parents!!!

Hubby has fall allergies... does sweet pea have fall allergies? Can they have allergies this young? Huh... remember that one to ask at her next appointment.

Sweet pea is a thumb sucker, has been since she started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks!!! Man, you should see her thumb right now. I expected the calous (sp? crusty bump on her thumb) on the outside of her thumb but she has a nasty scabby gross thing on the inside tip of it too! Ugh... yuck... ewwwwww.... another thing to ask the doctor. I really don't want to pay the $25 copay when it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all. She's still sucking away!

(7 weeks... my amazement!!! sucking that teeny, tiny little thumb!)

Friday night, sweet pea spent the night at my neighbor Jodi's house. I was running in a 20 mile race saturday morning and needed to be up and out the door really early... I put her to bed over there around 8:30 or so and she slept until 8:30 the next morning. She stayed in Jodi's oldest's bedroom, he was soooo excited to be sharing his space with Sweet Pea!!! The middle and youngest boys were extremely jealous so Sweet pea has to spend the night again and stay in their room! But, back to the point... she slept until 8:30!!! She's been up before 7 all week! I just must be the lightest sleeper on the face of the planet. Any squeak that she makes, I get myself up, get ready for the day, and get her out of her room. Jodi said that she woke up at 6am, fell back to sleep, and slept until 8:30!!! Then, she put her down for her nap a little after 1 and she slept until 4! She hasn't slept until 4 all week either! I think she needs to stay at Jodi's house next week too! Her husband will be out of town all week, she can handle it, what's 1 more kid when you already have 3? hee, hee. Needless to say, sweet pea was on her best behavior while being taken care of.

Sweet pea also went to her first kiddie birthday party yesterday. She crashed it too! Jodi's boys were invited to another neighborhood kid's 2nd birthday party, so Jodi took Sweet Pea with her and all of the boys. She got to hit a pinata, eat pizza, enjoy a cupcake, and get a baggy full of prizes to take home with her. It was a dinosaur party!!! Sweet Pea has little toy dinosaurs, a dinosaur pencil, and lots of candy now! Yeah!!! No pictures were taken, it won't be scrap-booked, oh well :)

Well, the house was cleaned from top to bottom on friday and it's still clean. Amazing what can happen when there's no hubby or dog to mess things up. I miss them both though and can't wait to clean up after them again!

By the way... 20 mile race is over and tapering has begun. I fully expect to put on 5-10 pounds before the actual marathon (three weeks away!!!). Mileage will be decreasing dramatically, so I'll have to watch what I eat a bit better than I have been, it's easy to eat cookies after running 7 miles because you know the calories were burned off! The 20 mile race was three loops around a lake. First loop - 1:05, Second loop - 1:15, third loop - 1:18. I finished about 18 minutes slower than I wanted and I also started out a bit too fast (fast being 'relative' here... ). I'm still learning, but time is running out. I guess my goal for marathon day has changed from 4 1/2 hours to a more realistic 4:45-5 hour finish. I can live with that!

Hubby's gone a-hunting...

So, I'm single and feel like I've been single all week... bummer.

Hubby left early this morning to meet my uncle and start driving to Minot, North Dakota.

Last night, I made him a batch of his favorite cookies to take with him.

This morning, the cookies were still sitting on the counter.

Huh?

So, I was hurt. I called him and his words were...

hubby: "what, those were for me?"
me: "uh, yeah... "
hubby: "I thought you made those for your women's bible study or something"
me: "uh, that bible study has been over for 3-4 weeks"
hubby: "oh"
me: "do you remember me telling you last night to take all of them because I really don't like oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies"
hubby: "no"
me, thinking in my head: "oh, so you weren't listening to me?"

K... I feel better. Cookies are in the freezer and waiting for hubby to get back. I will not eat them, I will not eat them, I WILL not eat them. He's sorry... really sorry and I'll think twice before making him cookies again :) He is still the love of my life and my best friend... not sure what I would do without that thick skulled, hard of hearing man of mine!

The good thing about the morning was Sweet Pea waking up with smiles... usually she wakes up with smiles...

Tomorrow, Jodi is coming over at 6:15 am (yes folks, AM) to watch Sweet Pea for me so I can run those wonderful 20 miles. She's a saint. Hubby needs to bring Jodi AND me flowers when he comes back!!!

So, she's a jealous little baby!!! (oh, wait, she's a toddler now :)

Yesterday, I babysat for a friend all day. Mikayla came over at 8:30 and stayed until 5:00... and I learned that Sweet Pea is a jealous little thing!!! She's never had a problem around other people, always done well in the nursery at church, goes to other people pretty well. BUT, put a baby in my arms and that's the only place Sweet Pea wants to be!!!

I was giving Mikayla a bottle mid-morning and Sweet Pea looked at me square in the eyes and did the sign for 'drink'. I pointed to her sippy cup and she shook her head and said 'no' (still her favorite word). She opened her hand, palm facing up, pointed it toward the bottle and said 'ga' (somehow this bacame her word for 'give me... want... etc.'). She wanted Mikayla's bottle!!! Then, she started to cry... really cry... for about 20 minutes! Then, she would back into me, wanting to sit in my lap, and she'd cry again. WOW!! It was a long bottle, so this episode went on for quite awhile. Poor, poor thing. Of course, hubby's response to the whole thing was, "well, we'll have to fix that". I'm not sure how HE proposes that WE fix that... but HE'S welcome to try! (funny, funny man).

We met hubby today at work for lunch. He hasn't been home the past two evenings and is leaving in the morning for four days so we thought a lunch would be nice. It was nice... Best Buy has a really good cafeteria!!! Sweet Pea had macaroni and cheese (she loves noodles!), hubby at meat loaf/mashed potatoes/funny looking green beans, and I had a yummy taco salad (I'm still hungry though)... all for $11!! Nice. We also got to walk around and meet the co-workers, always nice for hubby but quite awkward for me :)

Hubby leaves tomorrow to go hunting in Minot, North Dakota until Monday. He's pretty excited and he's taking the Dog!!! Shooting clay pigeons went really well... I guess all of those hours spent in front of video games has paid off?! Jake was a natural too. He sat at Hubby's feet and anxiously awaited hubby yelling "pull" and Dale letting the pigeon fly. Jake and Molly (my uncle's dog) would dart into the pond after the broken pieces (which sunk). He did great!!!

Saturday is my last long run - I'm TOO excited! 20 miles, 10 miles, then 6 miles, and finally the marathon!!! It's been a great training, but I'm so tired of spending 3-4 hours on the road every saturday morning! Now, I'm trying to figure out how to keep this level of fitness up without running 30-40 miles a week! Any ideas will be appreciated...

Can God slow them down from growing so fast???

Gosh...

So, I finally started Sweet Pea's baby album. I did the baby shower, laid out the 'what mommy looked like when she was HUGE' page, now I'm onto Sweet Pea entering our world.

Oh gosh... so tiny! (that would be sweet pea's picture, not the one of me pregnant :) . She's currently RUNNING around the house, jabbering, getting into things, playing with things, learning so much every day!!! Slow down, sweet pea... slow down!!!

Sweet pea's been talking up a storm lately. She is hilarious!!! She's using sign language and verbal words interchangeably and it's really amazing. She still signs "food, more, drink, please, thank you, all done, bath..." but says things like "cracker, raisins, tank wo, pweese, aw do (all done), dodi (for our neighbor Jodi), dada, mama, ni-ni (night night), jake, sit (jake and sit usually go hand in hand)... and many, many more! She can mimic almost anything I say and it's hilarious!!!

The one that melts my heart is thank you. She does the sign and says the words at the same time - and we don't ask her to do it. I think she hears us say it so much in the right situations and she is learning when to say it too!!! You give her something and she says 'tank wo'.

She's also cleaning up after herself. She loves to get her bath toys out of the bathroom cabinet. Then, I'll see her put them back away?! Huh? Am I already ruining my child by cleaning up too much? hmmm... can't be a bad thing, can it?

Last night, we went out to dinner and we were sitting near the door. Sweet pea proceeded to wave at everyone who was leaving the restaurant. Then the Mariachi Band came by to play a few tunes and she was gone. No more food was being eaten because she was having a blast watching those two guys play songs and sing! She also found the elephant on her drink cup and started making the elephant noise (tucking her upper lip inside of her lower lip and blowing - too funny). Daddy and I had to look for the elephant... and there it was, on her cup. We'll definately have to go back to the zoo soon.

It's a rainy sunday here and I'm craving soup again. We were just invited to Dodi's (hee, hee) house for Udon Noodle Soup... YUM!!!

We're also heading up to my aunt and uncle's house tomorrow so hubby can shoot at some clay pigeons. He's going hunting with my uncle next weekend... grouse (spelling??? It's some kind of stupid, ugly bird. I wonder if we're supposed to eat them?). He's pretty excited and he's taking the dog so I'm pretty exicted!!!