She must be crazy

I was so looking forward to today since a friend of mine had arranged for us to get pedicures (much needed), she even arranged 3 sitters to take care of all three girls while we were out being pampered for a little bit. At 5:30 this morning I hear Naomi stirring around in her crib and saying "okay mommie" repeatedly. I decide to grab her and bring her into our room thinking maybe she would just cuddle and go back to sleep. I get her and toss her in our bed and Jeff looks at her and says "hi smiley" to which she starts fake sneezing "ah-choo" and won't stop until we murmur "bless you". Then I finally say "go back to sleep" to which she says " Go Pack"... what??? I had no idea that when I said "go back" she thought I said "go pack". At this point Jeff and I start laughing and cannot stop because she is now talking to her feet, hands, and elmer. I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to have to cancel my pedicure and lunch,....which made me slightly agitated. I thought it was so cute, but I didn't want to leave the baby sitters with a crabby, high maintenance kid. I decided to give it a shot and she took a 10 minute cat nap on the way to their house. I am sure she was a little whiney and difficult but she made it through okay and I had a wonderful, relaxing pedicure and lunch! It just goes to show that when it comes down to it, I will definitely put my happiness ahead of my child's much needed rest. Mom of the year..

Dora and the Mermaids

Naomi demanded that she have a crown like Dora in her movie "Dora and the mermaids"...so I made one for her to wear around, not knowing that she would wear it every time she watched the show. She watches this movie almost once a day and there is a part where Dora wears the mermaid's crown, so right at that moment Naomi removes the crown from Quincy's head and says
"Silly Quincy, Mimi's crown" and puts it on her head. It is the sweetest little thing. Then she runs around with it on watching the show, and takes it off when Dora has to give the crown back to the mermaid. She then returns it to Quincy to have until she wants it again.

Silly Quincy wearing Naomi's crown

My sweet sick baby

Naomi has been a very healthy kid in all two years of her life. On Saturday morning as we were celebrating our mini Christmas with our friends the Grahams. Naomi started acting very tired...and all of the sudden she got very sick. It was the strangest thing to me since she has only gotten sick like that ONE other time-really ONE other time while she was asleep even, so I didn't find out until she woke up in the morning, good mom I know. Sooo we got cleaned up and tried to leave quickly before infecting my friends' kids. She was sick all day and Jeff also was sick in bed all day. Between trying to be sure he had enough gatorade, and trying to get Naomi to drink a liquid other than milk was very tiring. The worst part was that I couldn't do much for Naomi except follow her around and cuddle her when she let me. I taught her to say "my tummy hurts" when she was about to get sick, so she would say many times, "ok mommy, my tummy hurts" then get sick immediately following. She was such a tough kid the entire time (Jeff was not as tough). We watched many movies, she took many baths, and I did about 10 loads of laundry in one day (not even an exaggeration). Needless to say I will be steam cleaning our carpets at some point this week. Today everyone is healthy, Jeff is off to work and Naomi is almost back to her normal energetic self! Good thing Moms are not allowed to get sick-I am hoping I willed this virus away.

Naomi meets Santa

Pre-Santa warm up video.....


If looks could kill Santa would not be making any rounds this year! Naomi had been thinking and talking about "Santo-her name for him" off and on. She was super excited to go see him, up until we were in line that is. We kept talking to her about him and she would look at him with this look in the video- we phrase "the Santa stare down". Then as you will see when it was time to meet the man in red she didn't want any part of it. We even brought a book to have him read to her, which he was more than happy to do...but instead she sat on a horse in front of him, please note the hand in the photo- it is Jeff's, Naomi refused to let go of him hence it remained in this beautiful holiday photo!

Naomi's First Haircut

After two years of trying to grow Naomi's baby fine hair out- we caved and decided to get it cut. She was constantly pushing it out of her eyes, and yet she hates to have me actually do it for her, so we decided to bite the bullet. We weren't quite sure what we were getting into, and we were both very nervous about it. Once in there we were quickly assured that are worries were warranted! Although the place was great, and most kids would have been at ease there...Naomi is a different story. She was super excited about sitting in the yellow race car, holding the balloons, and watching Dora on the television (they thought of everything). When it came time to put the cape on, she immediately says "take it off please", so then we load up her hands with two balloons-so she cannot swipe at the stylist (which she had already done as soon as she started combing her hair). She decided to do the bangs last since Naomi was being difficult-to do the bangs it took 3 of us: One to hold her hands, one to hold her head completely still, and then one to actually cut her hair. They were all oohing and ahhing and saying how great she was- to which I know they were just being kind. The whole haircut took all of 10 minutes, and she left looking strikingly similar to how she did when we went in. She is however able to run around and not have her hair in her face now.

Pre-haircut photo

Loaded hands, sitting in her haircut car

She looks calm here doesn't she? The power of still photos!
Post picture (what a face)

New pajamas

Naomi has become very vocal about what she will, and will not wear. Anything with sleeves too tight will not cut it, as well as pajamas with feet...so when shopping for pajamas I stumbled upon these. I think I found a winner! She even has a special dance in them, check her out.

In sticking with a theme, she is playing with her barrel of monkeys (thanks for those Megs!) She also likes to have me hang these on the tree multiple times a day as ornaments.

Monkey Dance

Picking out a tree

I thought Naomi would be excited to pick out her own tree, but in reality I think I was the only one that was excited. We got to the tree place and Naomi was excited about the utility lights hanging by the trees, and that is about it. Plus it was so muddy we couldn't let her down (even though she wanted to run in the mud). Once we got home I thought-"now she will be excited to see the tree being decorated with lights and ornaments"...but once again, she took my finger and said "Mommy get it out!" when we sat it up in the living room. She kept insisting that we remove the tree from her view...but then once I got the lights on it and lit it was a different story. She finally agreed that it can remain in the house, thank goodness! Now she is giving me the reaction I really wanted which was "Christmas tree, lights on! Mommy lights on!" I thought she was never going to come around!

Naomi and Jeff getting ready for the big "pick"

This is the one!

Decorated and finally "accepted" by Naomi

this is more what I expected-excitement about the lights!(video is really dark, sorry)

No time like snow time!

Naomi greeted the snow today by running directly into it and falling...laughing and trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. It was so sweet, she kept saying "I yuv it, I yuv it"-so I think I will have many COLD days ahead of me!

I wish I had known...

about glad press -n- seal- who has been holding out on me? This is one of the most amazing products known to woman, no more getting tangled in saran wrap for me. I think my mom told me about this a year or so ago, and of course it is one of those things I dismissed and wish I hadn't.

Snacks are the way to get a toddler to comply- I always saw other moms with purses full of fruit snacks, juice boxes, suckers...no one told me until recently (thanks Sue) to pack some smarties in my purse and offer them to Naomi when I want to stretch a grocery trip, shopping trip out etc. I know these are not guaranteed to work, but they have succeeded on a couple of occasions, so they are worth knowing about in advance.

ice- the end all be all...whenever Naomi is crazy, I mean off the charts losing her mind, we give her ice to chew on. In restaurants we have people just bring us a bowl of ice, or I bring my own bowl and have them fill it with ice cubes. She will play with them and eat them for at least a half hour (in mom time that is an eternity!) We also bring crayons and play dough as back ups- we are a fun bunch to serve. Trust that we tip accordingly based on mess, noise, maintenance level... you know all the usuals!

I am sure there are many more, but these are high on my radar for right now

animal sounds

Cowboys 37 -Pack 27

We take full responsibility for the Packers loss to the cowboys last night. Naomi sported her jersey all day yesterday in preparation, but when it came time for her to go to bed she said "take it off" and Jeff and I looked at each other with hesitation. I let Jeff make the call because I know if I had taken it off prematurely a divorce might have been in order had they lost (and they did, so I narrowly escaped a separation at the least). It is a lot of pressure for a two year old, but we made sure to let her know because of her actions Green Bay is now 2 games behind Dallas, and they may not have home field advantage in the playoffs -to this she said "Milk please"- so I think she totally gets it.

Naomi did have a blast prior to going to bed because Grammie and Haypee came over to watch the game with us, she ran around like a mad woman showing off and squealing every chance she got. There were several times in the night when Grammie would say "go drape the jersey over her while she is asleep" and I am sure there were more times that we actually considered it! We have issues and are fully aware...here are some pics from the night.

Haypee and Naomi watching her "pregame"-Grammie and Naomi snuggling before bedtime

The power of Dora

Many already know about the power, the mystique that is Dora and Boots. I kind of had a taste of it before, but I think I am full throttle in it now! Naomi has this "love" for Dora and Boots that cannot compare, and I dare not try. Yesterday while watching Dora-Naomi breaks out in "cake, ice cream mommy" Ice cream mommy, ice cream pleeeeeaaasssee!" I look up and of course Dora and Boots are on a mission to get ice cream, so Naomi feels the need at 4:30 pm to have some ice cream. Great timing before dinner. I look frantically (because she is my boss) for some ice cream in our freezer, and the only thing I could find were some nasty frost bitten low carb bars. I put it in a bowl and chopped it up and she was none the wiser, she didn't seem to mind that they were probably stale, she just knew she was having ice cream with Dora and Boots!

Naomi has also taken a real liking to trying to speak Spanish which is great for me since my mother speaks Spanish, as well as my grandma. When Naomi speaks to her great grandma she says "hola, hola, hello, hello" (Dora song) we prompt her of course, but she knows what it means I swear. She also is working on her colors in Spanish, she has mastered that amarillo is yellow and azul is blue, we are working on verde for green. Lastly, today before Jeff left for work I said give Daddy a hug, and of course she didn't...then as he was walking out the door she says "hasta luego" which means "see you later" in Spanish! I started dying laughing because I believe they say this on "Diego"- Dora's cousin of course. Maybe she will be bilingual before she is potty trained!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving on my parents farm this year. My aunt and uncle were in town from Wisconsin, as well as my two little cousins, well one is little and the other is only thirteen but towers over us. Naomi loved having Bryce and Blake around to play with. She was able to spend 2 full days with them. Blake did a great job wearing her out because she was tired when we went back to Columbus. The Packers played on Thanksgiving day so she had to sport her jersey (they are 10-1 because of her). Here are some photos of her soaking in time with her second cousins! She was the smallest child and the center of attention, just as she wished. Notice a theme in the pictures here, the way to Naomi's heart is through a good book. Naomi will ignore you all day if you are not a fun kid...unless you start reading her a book, then her heart is as good as yours!

Uncle John reading Dora/Pops reading a book with Naomi

Great grandpa reading Dora to Naomi "again"

Naomi and Blake getting ready for the big game

Naomi and Bryce chillin on the couch

Thanksgiving

I am thankful that I have Naomi to make me stay young and see the world through her eyes- to get excited when the moon is out (moonie as she calls it), or the sun is very bright- she greets sunny days with a "hi sun" and looks directly into it squinting. She loves seeing her own shadow and pretty flowers. Without her, those things would normally go unnoticed. She makes me excited for each new day.

I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband who is understanding, thoughtful and genuine- oh and pretty easy on the eyes I might add! I am also thankful that Jeff is the best father in the world, even on days he is busy with work-he will plop her on his lap and read a book...in the midst of getting paged from work. He runs around the house endlessly just to hear her laugh.

I am thankful for our families, we are lucky enough to live so close to Naomi's grandparents and both sides shower her with love. I am so grateful for the times Jeff's mom takes Naomi for a day and they spend "Grammie and Naomi" time together. Haypee makes special trips home for lunch on those days so he can sneak some "mimi" time as well. I know Naomi cherishes those days and looks forward to the next. I also look forward to those days for a nice break and it allows me to get so much work done, errands run and a whole fresh energy when she returns, so thank you. Thank you for being such wonderful supportive parents to Jeff, you couldn't have done a better job parenting!

Thank you to my parents for always jumping at the chance to take Naomi for a weekend here and there, for giving her all the attention a little girl could want, for pretty much doing anything we ask of you! Naomi loves going to the farm and seeing all the animals and of course, Pops Grandma and Uncle Tent (Trent). I know Naomi feels so comfortable at your home because she gets whatever she wants there, as well as endless hugs and kisses. I thank you for being such wonderful parents and grandparents.

Thank you to my siblings for being great aunts and uncles, although we are far in distance we stay connected and I am grateful for that. Thank you for always giving me a laugh when we look back on crazy things we did together, fights we had (Sean- you might remember a few, Jamie you might also since you were the instigator and we were your puppets!), or different renditions of stories we have! Thank you uncle Trent for being the most sane out of all of us, for having the biggest heart and for being the most patient with mom and dad while growing up! ;) I have to think it is because they had "been there and done that" with all of us, but somehow you turned out on top!!

To my friends that I love and hold so dearly, thank you for making me laugh, making me cry and for allowing me to be me, and enjoying it. I look back on such fond memories of my college days and they all include the faces of the people I am still close to today.

For all of this I am so thankful. I have a great life and it is because of the people I surround myself with. Happy Thanksgiving!

Naomi's new obsession

Naomi received this awesome souped up etch-a-sketch on steroids (thanks Nicole). I mean this thing has templates, it has a nice cushion on it for travel, the works. Naomi loves it. Not only does she love drawing on it, but she has taken to bossing Jeff and I around on it as well. She brings it to us and tells us what to draw on it! So Jeff and I take this very seriously as a competition to see who can draw the best likeness of whatever it is she is asking for. Jeff usually wins as he is freakishly good at drawing from memory- and I like to have a point of reference. Naomi will grab our hands and say : Annie, then Quincy, June, Rocket, Leo (all the Einstein's), then Dora, boots and Diego. She also likes to throw the grandparents in there as well- the other day she requested Jeff draw Grandma and Pops, which was quite entertaining for me to see Jeff draw them on an etch-a-sketch! I asked that he draw me while we were making requests...it looked nothing like me- of course he didn't look up once to study my features, how could it?

I need to be an octopus

I have decided that I need 8 arms to complete my daily tasks. It was proven yesterday at the pool. It was just Naomi and I and she had a great time swimming and following the older girls around screaming at them in delight- but when it came time to leave she pulled her usual meltdown tantrum. I am accustomed to this, so I was prepared, but I over packed as I usually do, and it was very difficult to maneuver a screaming child, a book bag, 2 towels, our street clothes- shoes etc. I managed to get everything into a private dressing room for people with kids (thank God). Once in there I got Naomi to stop crying long enough to shower, but when it was time to dress she again was a mess. I dressed Naomi first, so she wouldn't freeze, and when it came time for me to get dressed I discovered I was missing my shirt- the only shirt I had! I had brought 2 of everything, except that...of course. I was sure I dropped it somewhere between the pool and the locker room, but there was no way I was putting the wet bathing suit back on, so I did what anyone would do. I zipped up my winter coat and pretended as if I had a shirt on underneath, then walked graciously (well not so gracious with a screaming kid) and retrieved my items from the floor. They were as I thought, lost on the way to the locker room. Not only was it my shirt but Naomi's winter hat as well. So needless to say I need more arms, at least until I can trust Naomi to walk on her own and not jump back into the pool clothes on and all!
I again was a complete class act with a winter coat on and no shirt. Maybe next time I will forget my pants, let's hope for the other patron's sake THAT doesn't happen!

You're Fired

Move over Donald Trump, there is a new tycoon in town. I guess it isn't enough that she is my boss but now she has to take over my workspace as well! It will be quiet in the house and I will find her on my keyboard typing away and turning the computer on and off, saying "hi light, bye light."

Happy Birthday Naomi

Naomi, I am following suit of some of my fellow bloggers and writing you this letter so when you read this one day you will know what you were doing when you turned 2!

Naomi,
It is hard to believe that you are two years old today. It seems like yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital completely clueless as what to do with you. Your dad and I would look at each other like a bunch of bumbling idiots as to what to do next. It was our mini boot camp...but now we are complete professionals.

At 2 you are such an exciting kid. You are a complete sponge and you always look before you leap, you are still a big klutz, hitting your big bean on everything...but at least you think about it before it happens! You are talking all the time, I understand your every whimper, request and whine. You love to mimic everything we say for example: your daddy was watching football and said "Oh man!" and you repeated it with the same emphasis...and I said "What the hell" and you again repeated that in the same exact tone. You love to boss Elmer around by telling him to sit, or run, or hide. He is about as good of a listener as you are, so it never happens.

You love horses, Dora (who doesn't), daddy, the little Einstein's (especially Rocket), Wonder Pets. You love other kids as long as they don't snag your toys (you are not great at sharing yet). You request to watch mooobies (movies) about 4 times a day and we turn you down about 3 of those times, then we give in so we don't lose our minds. Your favorite movies right now are baby Einstein's Galileo, Nemo, and Happy Feet. Your favorite books are: Goodnight moon, Hop on Pop, Hand-Hand- fingers- thumb. Your favorite foods are: OK, let's face it you are a horrible eater. You eat fun fruits, whole fruit, mac n cheese, ketchup with a little bit of hot dog, chips (like daddy) and you best meal is breakfast where you love "hot bites" as you call them which are french toast sticks. Oh and I almost forgot (your dad reminded me) your main food staple is actually ice. We have taken to calling it frozen water at the house because the mere mention of ice will throw you into a tailspin and you say " Iceez?" repeatedly. We cannot even spell it in front of you because it is virtually the same I-C-E.

I call you mommy's little genius because you love to learn (right now)- you can accurately tell me all your letters, as well as colors. You know many shapes including; triangle, circle, rectangle, oval, square, heart and stars. You can also count almost to 20 fairly accurately, two is your favorite number, unless I ask you your age and then sometimes you say 3, which is not correct-but oh well. But you do not like to feed yourself too often and you prefer to have me feed you, I don't mind too much because I am sure there will be a day when I try and you will say "No I do it!"

You are in a good soft place with mommy right now- even though you are still stingy on kisses, occasionally you say "cuddle mommy?" and you bring your blankie to me and we cuddle on the couch watching one of your mooobies. It is my personal favorite since you are daddy's little girl most of the time.

Speaking of daddy, you are so in love with him it is hilarious... you wake up sometimes saying "Daddy coming?" to which your dad runs up to get you the second you say it. You also request that daddy kiss your boo boos- mommy can also, but then you run to dad to have it done properly. Your preferred method of transport is on daddy's shoulders which you call "Daddy doo" because of the song we sing during the ride. When you say "Daddy doo?" we both know what you mean and daddy ALWAYS does it for you, no matter how sore it makes his neck or ears (you hang on to them like handles).

Each night your dad and I say how much we love you and we laugh at all the things you did that day. We find ourselves saying "Man I love that kid" over and over again. I am not sure we could possibly love you more, but each day that passes I think we do! We are so lucky to be your parents Naomi.
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Kickin' it with Naomi

Naomi's theme for her birthday was a western one and she had a great party. There were balloons, horses and kids everywhere. She partied like a rock star all night, and couldn't get enough of all the kids that stopped by. The weather cooperated which was very important because she had a very special guest- here are a million pictures from the party. She is one lucky girl to have so many great friends! I need to start working to prepare for her sweet sixteen, I better save up for that Range Rover now...or maybe at this rate I will have to buy her a real thoroughbred.

The special guest "Blue"

Another little guest "Squirt"
Naomi riding Blue (with Rocket of course)
Naomi very upset after having to get off of Blue- she was able to ride him about 5x and couldn't get enough!
Naomi partying with some friends in the toy box

I love being 2!!

Time to eat cake

After all the guest left Naomi kept riding her indoor horse

Deliverance-I mean Vacation

Our vacation started off by pulling up to a cabin in the woods about 1hr 1/2 away- well we couldn't actually pull up to our cabin because we don't have 4 wheel drive, the hill was that steep. We had to attempt to get up to our cabin about 5x and finally we got up there,by going off road. Once there, it literally looked like a scene out of the movie Deliverance-no joke. We had no cell phone reception, no humans could be found in sight, woods and hills everywhere, the roads leading to the cabin were a little questionable as well, I kept thinking someone was going to jump out and scare us along the way (I have seen too many scary movies).

After getting past the initial shock of being completely afraid someone was going to kill us, we had the best time. Naomi was an angel the entire time, she hiked with us-swam in the outdoor hot tub, and allowed us to watch the all day marathon of Real Housewives of Orange county...oh yeah we had direct TV at our cabin, we had cell phone reception inside the cabin, just not outside of it.
All in all it was a nice little get away with some beautiful scenery and great company! Sorry about the picture overload but it was such a nice background I had to include them.

Getting ready to tackle Hocking Hills

I think we need to work on our rock climbing skills

Naomi's preferred method of travel

Family photo- I stink at the self timer (not sure what is in front of the camera- a rock I think)

Inside one of the caves at Old Man's Cave

Naomi hot tubbing with Rocket and Leo

Some finger painting while on vacation

Disney Live

We went and saw Disney Live downtown on Saturday with our friends Murphy and Michelle. We had great seats and the girls loved it. Their eyes were glued to the characters. Of course Rocket was Naomi's favorite and when he disappeared she would say "Rocket, where are you?"- They saw: Mickey Mouse & friends, The Einsteins, Handy Manny & tools, and Winnie the pooh and friends also. It was a really good show and she was totally into it at this age. When the singing and dancing came at the end she was so excited doing her little riverdance with Murphy in the aisle. She was exhausted after the show and I had to keep her awake in the car so when we got home I could put her down for her nap (so I could have some time for me of course!). The pictures I got were pretty bad because I felt like a jerk taking pictures when I was not supposed to. What the hell? It is a bunch of kids and parents that want to mark this milestone and you tell me I cannot take pictures? OK- well considering everyone around us was taking them I decided to snap a few myself... call me a rebel.

The pre-show party, Murphy dressed as mini mouse, so stinkin' cute

My most rebellious shot- sucks huh?

Naomi and Murphy dancing in the aisles
Please note the man in the background also taking pics- if I was going down, so was he!

A good week

How do I know that this upcoming week is going to be a good week?
1. Real Housewives of Orange County is back on (Tuesday's) sans Jo but I think it will still work
2. We are spending the majority of the week in Hocking Hills for a mini family vacation- including hiking, hot tub, many movies and just overall relaxation!
3. We will come back to celebrate Naomi's second birthday bash with friends and family

I am looking forward to heading out of town for a minute!

Halloween

Daddy helping Naomi fly

Just strolling the neighborhood for some treats

One of our neighbors had a special treat just for Naomi, this little frog!

Naomi and mommy handing out candy to the kids

Naomi was such a trooper last night for trick or treat. She even put on the fairy costume we had for her, we just had to trick her and tell her it was a butterfly outfit. She put it on and we went to about 3 houses then headed back to hand out candy to the other neighborhood kids. She kept wanting Jeff to lift her up so she could fly like a butterfly and say "swoosh swoosh" (her wings making noise of course!)

Cousin Caroline visits

Naomi's cousin Caroline came into town for a short visit. They were able to play at the park as well as go to the pool together. Naomi had a good time mimicking her older cousin and hanging out with Grammie as well!


I hope this isn't a sign of the future, we could title this "the girls behind bars" and "drunk with laughter"

Naomi sharing some time with her Grammie