Girls and their dolls.....and their tractors....

Can you tell I got some time to myself?

P took Isla on some errands this afternoon so here are some pictures! He bought me a tripod a couple weeks ago so we were playing with that yesterday and I actually got a picture with me in it! The Winston picture is from the 12th--I hadn't even had a chance to download them. It's getting pretty challenging to get a posed picture of her with the bear. In the past few weeks, Isla has REALLY gotten in to pretend-play, especially with the "kids" in her room. Pooh is just one of her kids who moves from the rocking chair to the bed to the floor to the chair....





This post took 2 hours to finish. Guess who realized one of his errands would be next to impossible with the pint sized protege?

One more week....

And I will be unemployed for the first time since I was 16 years old. Hopefully I'll end up working part-time but for now, I'll have plenty of time to devote to projects around the house and spending time with my baby girl. Our daycare doesn't do part-time enrollment until they turn 2 so for the next 6 months I'll be able to take her there everyday, go to the gym, work on projects, then pick her up after nap time. I figure she'll probably be there about 5-6 hours a day when I'm not working--much better than 10 hours! We're going to have library afternoon each week--I introduced her to our wonderful public library a few weeks ago and she loved it. And I'm going to get a pass to Discovery Playhouse so we can go there one afternoon a week. Grandma's one afternoon, grocery shopping one afternoon....

Then when she turns 2 and I'm (hopefully) working 2 days a week, she'll probably be at daycare all day 2 days a week, then spend an afternoon each week with Grandma so Momma can clean the house. We'll go to storytime at the library, play at the Playhouse, go on picnics in the park.... I never expected to want to be a stay at home mom, but right now, it's my dream job. (Good thing I finished that Masters Degree before she was born! HA!)

I have a long list of projects that I've been writing for weeks (I gave almost 6 weeks notice at work). Now that we're done to just a few more days of work, I'm revisiting the list, trying to decide where to start. We've lived here a little over 4 years now. I've been used to moving every few years and purging as I packed. We have no plans to move so I need to do a thorough cleaning and purging. A big garage sale is in my future. Plus my dad is wanting to go set up and sale at a flea market so I'll go with him and do that a time or two this fall. I've also told him I'll help him clean up a rental house he has that will be vacated in the next week or 2. And I need to finish the makeover on our kitchen. And I have a huge pile of things I want to put on eBay. And self-study projects I want to work on--learning how to use my camera better, Photoshop, bow making, things to sew.... And there are 2 or 3 big ongoing projects at church that I'm interested in. And cooking! I miss trying new recipes instead of just throwing something quick together. And I've joked that I want my dad to teach me how to put in our bathroom downstairs--may not be a joke!! I've wanted to learn how to do more DIY projects around the house for a long time. He taught my brothers how to build houses--he can teach me how to install a toilet!!

But for this week, I work. Patrick is making dinner for us Monday night for my birthday. Tuesday afternoon I have to take off early to take Isla for a test. Then one of the girls from work is coming over to look through outgrown baby clothes and a couple of us are going for sushi. Wednesday my brother and I are taking each other to lunch for our birthdays (his is Saturday). Nothing is going on Thursday and Friday is LAST DAY!!

More aaaaaahhhhhhh.....

I hope you can sing the aaaaahhhhh properly to get the full affect. Really, I need to record Isla saying it and post that on here. If we get on to her for being too rough (especially towards Speckles), she pats toward whatever she was being too rough with and sings aaaaahhhhhhh.

We had our 18 month well baby check this week. Baby girl is finally up to 20 pounds. Hanging on to her growth curve. Our doctor asked if she's using 15 different words and I said she is. The next morning she erased any question about that. In the first 15 minutes she was awake, she told me she wanted "egg," then to add "cheese," and put it in "dat bowl." When I handed her dat bowl, she told me "hot" and started to blow on it. She asked for "milk," told me about "dog" while she was eating and her "shoes" on the kitchen table. Yes, the shoes were on the kitchen table. We actually had to put her shoes on over her footed pajamas. (The shoes are croc-like so very wide). She also told me when she wanted "down." She peppered a few "no's" and "mine's" into the conversation too. So many words in such a short time.

After her bath last night, Isla again wanted the shoes on over her footed pjs. Daddy didn't realize this when he put her to bed. At 5:45 this morning, I awoke to a couple babbles, then "Shoes. shoes. shoes." I looked in the monitor and she was laying on her side, one shoe on, trying to get the other shoe back on over her jammies. "Shoes. Shoes. Shoes."

My heart melts....

She doesn't say momma very often, but today when we'd ask Isla what my name is, she'd say "mine." Sigh. Aaaaahhhhh.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

When I ask Isla where momma's little baby is, she sing-songs "aaaaahhhhhh!" Sometimes she'll put the side of her face up against me as she says it. If I'm handling her, I'll cradle her as I ask. She smiles as she gives her sing-song response. Thursday night before bed she crawled up on my lap, laid into a cradle position in my arms and said "Baby? Baby? aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

I love that little face....

Gardening.....