Down south

We survived!  S was actually really good both ways.  Even though it was just the 3 of us, the car was packed full of "stuff" to keep S entertained.  It was a good experience to figure out what works and what doesn't.    Books, coloring, new toys, movies, iPad, stickers - you name it, we tried it.

It was a quick weekend, but we had a great time.  It was great to see what is around my parents' place so that we can plan our next trip better.    During our short trip, we went to Valley of the Gods, Gooseneck, and Monument Valley National Park.  Locals get into the park for free and get a discount at the restaurant (woo-hoo!)

Mike did most of the driving (all except 1hr) and I sat in the back with S for the majority of the trip.  I think total we only had 15 minutes of crying.  Not too shabby.

Easter Weekend

Mike and I have not been down to visit my parents yet at their new home in Monument Valley.  They are lovin' it down there.  My dad had always wanted to return to the rez and serve the Indian community more directly and be closer to family - a return to his earlier days when he was a doctor at the local clinics.  When he hit retirement from the fed govt, they decided it was the perfect time to go back west.  It's almost been a year and Mike and I still have to make the drive.  We would've done it by now if we weren't dreading a 7 hr drive in the car with S.

Well, this weekend we are finally making the drive!  It was a little impromptu... the partner at my firm said we are going to try and close early tomorrow, Mike has been missing the desert, it's Easter weekend, so viola!

Wish us luck!  I am going to try and put together a new activity each hour for S to keep her happy.  We'll see how it goes...

Need a laugh?

 Sometimes after work I like to relax and get a good laugh in.  pintrosity.blogspot.com usually does the trick.

seriously?

i laughed for like 5 minutes....

20 months!

Holy moly.  I can't believe that S is 20 months old. She runs EVERYWHERE.  She also has the most hilarious laugh.  She's a good helper, whenever I'm cleaning, she asks for a rag to scrub the floor and cupboards too.  I'm continually amazed at how much she understands.  She picks up and throws things away when I ask.  

She has a lot of different words, including "no," but she actually doesn't say it that often.  One of my favorite parts of the day is putting her to bed because she still lets me cuddle with her in the rocker.  She is such a great sleeper, goes down at 8pm like clockwork and stays down until I wake her up, usually around 7:40a or so.  On weekends, she's been known to sleep in until 8:30a.

Sometimes I feel like she is still such a baby, until I actually see a baby, and then I feel like she is sooo old!

Playroom progress

 My old office/S' future playroom looked like this for a few weeks:

Even after our drywall guy put up a drywall ceiling, it still took awhile to get the ceiling and walls painted.  But it's slowly coming together... 

The wall color is a lighter shade tan the previous Tepee Brown.  It's amazing how much lighter the back room looks with the new wall color.  Now I need to get the decorations up on the wall, clean up my bookcase, and possible get a new rug... stay posted.

Uh-oh.

S is becoming more and more independent every day.  She runs all over the house and will even entertain herself for awhile.  Unfortunately, while I was picking up in her bedroom, she entertained herself with a Sharpie.  This is the end result:

Ahh!  Can you belive it??  I kinda feel bad because my scream made S start crying.  I knew Mike would freak out if he saw the floor, so I did a little googling and found out that baking soda is used to remove permanent markers... So, I put S to work:

 And viola!!

If only there were a similar miracle trick to remove the ink from the bag... I'm not sure which is worse, purple marker or damaged leather.

Happy v-day!!

These are my two valentines.  Love em.

I like to think that S looks like me when I was little, but sometimes I see soo much of Mikes in her. I feel so lucky to have married the one guy that I could never live without and I'm very grateful that we have such a beautiful daughter who really keeps us on our toes these days.  She can be a handful, but when she is in a good mood, she really makes your day and you can't help but want to hug and kiss her.

Mikes and I went out to dinner early to celebrate (our babysitter is back from maternity leave-yay!). Tonight we made dinner at home and jumped in the hot tub. Not too shabby.

Hope you had a great day and were able to spend time with your loved ones!