Piggies

Maybe someday she'll have hair...

Ready, set, GO!

They started on our house!  Yay, yay, yay!  :)

Well, this is the beginning of our new house and we were so excited to see those piles of dirt when we drove out there today!  They are supposed to be pouring the slab on the 16th.

I took this picture of where the house will be from the back corner of our lot so you could get some perspective on how gloriously big our backyard is (for a subdivision, at least).  

I love the smiles on their faces! :)

Umm...can you say Dustin's daughter?  She totally has his hair!

We love our little piece of dirt. :)

Hello, Spring!

Up-the-back-er.

If you're thinking a post with that title can only end in tears, you'd be right.  The story goes like this (fair warning-it's a novel).  My Mom and I went to Phoenix last week to visit my grandparents.  My grandma is retiring as a kindergarten teacher this year and had us come to get some books and toys from her classroom that she wanted us to have.  While we were sorting through the books (which were like a dream come true to get...everyone is invited to our house to visit our "library" and read kid's books when we move in!) Mikayla starts grunting.  If you know Mikayla, when I say grunting, I mean GRUNTING (the type where I, being a super Mom, worry whether the veins on her bald head are going to burst from all the pressure). As soon as she's done grunting I begin to change what is the most horrendous smelling diaper EVER.  When I'm almost done, I realize that some of the poop has traveled up her back.  Not a rare occurrence around here so I proceed to clean it up.  And then it hits.  I realize that this is not just a normal 'ol up-the-back-er diaper.  The poop was up to her NECK.  How the heck does that happen in a period of 3.4 minutes and how did I not notice it before that point?  Yikes.

I strip her down and then my memory kicks in.  As I was laying in bed the night before I randomly thought "I need to make sure and pack a change of clothes for Mikayla tomorrow".  Being the super Mom that I am, did I jump out of bed and put a change of clothes in the diaper bag?  No.  I then realize I am in BIG trouble.  I am at a school, in Phoenix, with no clothes for my child.  My Grandma then points out that she has a whole toy chest full of dolls and doll clothes and maybe one of the outfits would fit Mikayla.  Now, if Mikayla was still in her 1st percentile/failure to thrive at 6 months stage, then I'm sure any random doll outfit would fit just great, but we are now in the 80th percentile/chunky monkey at 13 months stage.  Luckily for us, there was one random real live baby outfit in there that we could actually fit over Mikayla's 99th percentile sized head.  Forget buttoning it up or the long sleeves actually going past her elbow, but it covered her up in the important places.

She looked like a pioneer/Amish baby gone terribly wrong.  It was HORRIBLE.  The worst part?  We had to go out in public to get lunch.  Now, if we'd gone to see our trusty old friends at Taco Bell I wouldn't have been so embarrassed by the situation, but it had to be a soup and sandwich place.  One of those nice only open 'til 2 kind of places.  Oh well, bring it on.  On go the tennis shoes circa 1987 with the tall white socks.  On goes the polka dot jacket to try and hide the extent of the horribleness.

In the meantime, I go to the bathroom to try and rescue/clean her clothes.  You know those facets that you have to push every 2 seconds to keep the water coming and have zero water pressure?  Ya-those were the type in the bathroom.  Let me just tell you, those do not work for cleaning clothes covered in poop.  You know those sinks that have the drains mostly covered with a metal piece that has tiny little holes to let the water go through?   Well, let me tell you from personal experience that poop does not find its way down the drain very well with those.  Just thought I'd warn you in case you were ever desperate and thought you'd give it a try because of lack of better options.  Don't waste your time.

We get to the restaurant and my Mom gives Mikayla a packet of strawberry jam to play with.  I remember thinking I needed to watch Mikayla so she didn't bite through it.  That's the last I thought about it.  Yep.  Jam.  Red jam.  Everywhere.  Why not?  It added to the outfit, right?  Don't forget the straw wrappers, animal crackers, etc. that were all over Mikayla and the floor.  Mikayla was crabby at that point and fussing.  Every lady in the room on a lunch date with all her friends kept looking at us, including the lady sitting a few tables away with the very well-dressed, complete with matching headband, baby who kept trying to get her baby become friends with Mikayla when I was so desperately trying not to let us be seen.  I was embarrassed.  We were a sight.  What can you do besides just laugh and laugh, though?

*Addendum:  Dustin just reminded me that I missed the cherry on the top part.  I look over when my Mom was holding Mikayla to try and keep her from crying to see that my child's diaper is only covering 1 cheek.  I mean, only kind of covering one cheek.  The whole restaurant could see her butt cheek hanging out since her pioneer dress was all the way up her back due to stickage of the jam.  I didn't know you could get such a bad wedgie from a diaper.  No wonder all the ritzy ladies were staring at us.  My Grandma looks over and says, "I think her new nickname is going to be half moon."  Nice.  Real nice.

We gave Mikayla tangerines straight off the trees (that's what pioneer babies eat, right-home grown food?!) the whole way home.  Just to add to the nastiness of her face.  I wish I would've taken pictures of her with all the nasty jam, etc. on her, but here are a few to document our day.  Admit it-you wish your kids looked as stylin' as my kiddo.

Trust me when I say that these pictures do not even begin to come close to doing justice on the day. :)

"Snow!"

We got snow in Southern AZ!  I know, those of you who live somewhere cold can probably barely see the snow in these pictures, but Dustin and I were super excited for Mikayla to have her first (and possibly only) pictures of her in the snow.

 Snow and jammies!

When I packed for us to go visit Dustin's parents it was hot outside so we didn't have ANYTHING warm to wear.  I brought shoes for Mikayla, but forgot socks.  At least I packed a jacket for her while Dustin and I froze in our short sleeves.  Mother of the Year award coming my way soon, I'm sure.

She was too busy playing with a little cap and didn't even notice the "snow" until she tried to crawl off.  Notice the booger in her nose?  Like I said, Mother of the Year. :)

Cheese!

Her new favorite face.  It gets her attention and she likes that.  She squints her eyes and wrinkles her nose while grinning from ear to ear.  It's a keeper.

And, finally, some "real" smile shots.

Some of her other newer tricks that I'm loving right now are:

 -Snapping

-Pointing at anything and everything she wants and fully expecting to get what she wants when she points for it (we're just waiting for the above mentioned snapping to occur when she wants something)

-Saying "hi" (pronounced "aye")

-Waving her arm across her face whenever we say "peeuuu" as if something really smells terrible.

-Barking back at the dogs when they bark ("bah-bah" while blowing out her lips)

-You know that sound that the donkey on Shrek makes with his lips?  Ya, well, she does that and it is so funny because she totally sucks in her lips as far as she can and blows them out really hard to try and make the sound.  Sorry, kind of hard to explain that one.

-Signing "all done" when she's finished eating

-She's still fascinated with sniffing and since she's been sick she's gotten really good at sniffing boogers in and out of her nose the past few days.  She's also rediscovered her fake cough again and does it any time someone else coughs.

-I love when she is stressed, scared, tired or trying really hard not to be cranky because she starts running through all her "tricks" and uses them as her coping mechanism to help put on a brave face.

-Sticking food halfway out of her mouth while she laughs and laughs until someone acknowledges her.

-After 12 months of living on this Earth she has finally discovered that her legs do in fact go together and do not have to be spread eagle all the time.  She crosses them at her ankles and it is adorable.

This is not the cutest picture, but it shows her doing her little snapping trick that she is really proud of and her chunky legs finally getting to meet each other and be lady-like for the first time.

*More random picture posts below...

Be Mine

Mikayla's Valentine's Day dress.  Doesn't this dress just make you feel happy?

My Valentine.  I love him. :)

Do I really talk on the phone that much?

Seriously, how do they catch on so fast?!

The blind leading the blind.

My sister had eye surgery done and had to wear these goggles.  She requested a picture with Mikayla and her sunglasses so they could be matchers.

Just add boots.

 Dustin got Mikayla dressed for church on Sunday. 'Nuff said.

 I'd mentioned putting her fluffy socks on.  The boots were added at no additional charge.

We settled for boots, but no fluffy socks.  It was pretty stinkin' cute.

Brand Spankin' New!!

We have exciting news!  We are building a house!  Yes, that's right.  A BRAND NEW house!!  Can you tell we are excited?! 

The floor plan.  My favorite parts are the den (which will be our play room) and the pantry!  I think you can read what it says if you click on the picture and make it bigger.

The outside view

And, our lot.  Our lot is a 1/4 acre!  It is so big compared to all the other subdivisions' backyards that we have looked at.  I love the mountain views from the lot, too.  If you click on the picture you can see there is an area of raised dirt extending beyond the utility hookups on the right side of the screen.  That elevated portion is one side of the property line, then it goes to the back wall and all the way up the left side of the picture.  I hope that makes sense.  Dustin probably should've written this part.

This morning we got to go pick out all the interior stuff.  We are getting granite counters and oak cupboards! I can't wait for our kitchen!  Now on to the dreaming about paint, furniture and everything else girly while Dustin dreams about how to lay out his work bench and what to do with the backyard!  

Saturday Fun

Dustin got a kite for Christmas and we finally got around to trying it out on Saturday.  The weather was absolutely perfect!

  

 Mikayla was a natural pro at flying kites, just like her Dad!

"The" Face

This is "the" pooping face.  I finally captured it in it's completeness...the bulging vein and all.  Sick and wrong?  Yes.  Enlarge for full detail.

Suggestions...

O.K. all you moms out there-I need ideas.  I feel like Mikayla and I do the same thing day in and day out.  What kinds of things do you do with your kiddos during the day that they like?  Mikayla is only 1, but I'll take any ideas I can get.  I made Play Doh yesterday thinking it would be so fun, but she just ate all of it.  The dogs wouldn't even eat it so I'm not sure why she liked it so much (I think I'll try peanut butter Play Doh next time).

Also, what are some good meals and snacks your kids like?  We have a menu that lasts us about 2.5 days before we start repeating.  We need some fresh ideas!  

Don't be afraid to leave a novel for a comment with all your grand ideas.  I would LOVE it. :)

Rednecks?

Does going on a tractor ride through the neighborhood (with paved streets and almost no dirt to be seen anywhere) with a dog running behind you count as redneck?  Does it still count as redneck even if it's really cute and fun? Just checking.

First ride in a big girl car seat!  She was pretty nervous and didn't move at all, except for moving her eyes back and forth between my Dad and I to see if everything was o.k. and she sang to herself the whole time for comfort.

 You might have noticed these shoes in the car seat picture.  If not, here's a closer look.  They are my old shoes that one of my Mom's co-workers gave me on my 1st birthday.  That makes them almost 24 years old!  Yay for Keds!