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Farewell French Braids (for now anyway)

16 Sep

Today, Nia and I had an afternoon at the beauty salon.  It was so sweet.  She was such a big girl and sat so very still during her haircut and waited very patiently during mine.  Here’s how her super cute cut came out –

Loves Her Hair

Some of the people in there made me nervous because they asked me, “what made you cut it all off?” It was like I had done something wrong by having my little girl’s hair cut.  I liked her long hair too (especially when she had French Braids in) but it desperately needed some scissors and a trim wouldn’t have been enough.  I love her new ‘do and I can’t wait to watch it grow.  She’ll get to sport so many different looks!  So grown up!

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We have Communication!

15 Sep

Our little man is finally trying to speak!  It is so fun and sweet to hear him try to say words.  There are some words he says really well – “bubbles” and “no” are two that quickly come to mind.  With other words he still has a long way to go – his “thank you” is more a “de de” and his “Nia” is still a “ea” but still – it’s the fact that he’s trying!  In fact, just now he came up to me and said “Mommy. Nack? Nack?”  (He’s adorably asking for a snack.)  He just finished breakfast but how could I tell him no?!?!  He even walked to the pantry door as he was saying “nack” and tried to say “please” – “peas?”  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for baby speak.

I know other kids his age (around 20-21 months) are speaking much better and saying more words but I also know every child develops differently.  He might have been walking way earlier than they were.  (He was practically running by 12 months.)  Nia was singing her alphabet and knew her colors and shapes by now but she took a good 3 months longer to walk than him.  I was just getting worried that he would never grow out of his caveman grunts and his deafening shrieks. I’m so glad I don’t have to decipher (or brace myself for) those anymore!

Just to give you an example of some of the things he says now – I tried to get him to Nate-speak on video.  Here’s how it came out –

Oh yeah – in case you were wondering why I ask him to say “pee-pee” – well, let’s just say his daddy taught him that word and he was saying it more than he was saying “mommy” for awhile.  I see where I stand.

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Nia’s Advice to Mom

15 Sep

Sometimes, it is really difficult to get Nia moving.  She eats super slow.  She walks super slow.  She follows instructions super slow.  That’s all fine when we’re not in a hurry to get somewhere or we haven’t told her a gazillion times to do something.  That’s what was happening the other night.

It was almost time to start the bedtime routine so I told her to go potty and put on her pajamas.  She kept playing.  I told her it wasn’t play time now – it was night-night time and again told her to get pjs.  At that point, she got up from the toys and walked toward the bathroom but she stopped at every toy along the way and even took a few with her.  Again, I told her to get ready for bed.  (Of course, I wasn’t using the sweet mommy voice anymore – I was using the exhausted, haven’t I told you this like 3 times already mommy voice.)

Her response was so awesome.  She looked at me so funny and put her hands up and said, “It’s ok Momma, please don’t freak out – I’m just putting the toys in my room.”

What could I say to that?  All I could do is laugh. It’s funny too because I really didn’t care anymore that she wasn’t moving fast enough.  What was the hurry anyway?  I really do need to follow her advice more often.  Don’t freak out.
 

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Nate: The Dancing Fool

13 Sep

I don’t know what it is about certain Justin Timberlake songs – but whenever Nate hears them, he freezes and then runs to where the music is coming from and breaks it down.  As you can see, he really gets into it. (Sometimes a little too much.)

 

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Nia’s Concept of Age

13 Sep

Me – “What was your favorite thing to do at the beach?”

Nia – “Going in the big waves with daddy.”

Me – “You were so brave. I was scared because daddy took you out so far but you were very brave.”

Nia – “Yeah, that’s cause I’m 4T.  When you’re 1T or 2T or 3T* you aren’t brave but when you are 4T you are.”

*(In case you don’t know what 1T, 2T, 3T or 4T means – it’s the sizes of children’s clothes.  2 Toddler, 3 Toddler, 4 Toddler.  There’s no such thing as a 1T but Nia thinks there is since that’s the way her clothes have been labeled.)

Catchin' Some Waves

"I'm 4T!"

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Partying Like It’s 1998 (but without the hangover)

11 Sep

WOW

2 of 50,000

The pictures don’t even half capture what it looked like at Saturday’s Dave Matthews Band concert at Piedmont Park in Atlanta.  It was INSANE!  Something like 50,000 tickets were sold.  That pretty much equals a crap load of drunk people and a thick cloud of smoke from a whole lotta pot.  Andrew and I were not part of either club.  We actually only shared 3 beers between us and I think it was best that way.  I think it was far more entertaining to watch the others than be one of them.  (I did enough of that during my pre-kid days anyway.)

Andrew and I were so excited to get to go to this concert.  We love DMB and the last time we saw them in concert was in 1998.  (Yes, at that concert I was one of the drunk club.)  This time was special because we did it for ourselves.  Not to go with a group of friends or drink until we were silly –  just to be together – by ourselves.  I had a blast with my hubby – rockin’ out to the music – people watching – riding the city’s public transportation (it was a “Go Green” concert and they made it so you couldn’t park anywhere near the event).  It didn’t matter what we did – I was just so happy to have that night with him.

DMB Dorks

It’s funny how even though we didn’t have the kids with us – we still had the kids with us. My mom stayed at home with them so her kid could go out and play but since Nia was sick, Andrew and I kept calling home to check on her and wondering if we should leave the concert.  My mom assured us Nia was ok and we decided to stay but it still felt wrong to have too much fun while our little girl was yucky.  It turns out though that she and her “Honey” (what she calls my mom) had a little slumber party of sorts.  Honey let her stay up late watching “Beauty and the Beast” and when we came home, Nia was fast asleep in her princess bed and Honey was crashed out on the couch.  It was a sweet sight after an evening of the usual crazy concert ones (I’ll have to write about my observations another time) and I’m so grateful for my mom and the chance to rock out again.

Concert Couple

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Beach Memories

7 Sep

Beautiful Beach
Where to begin? I just really don’t know. Right now, two days after leaving Tybee Island, the adults are pooped and the kids are sick.  I kind of feel like a need a vacation from the vacation. It’s not to say that I didn’t have a great time – I did – at times. At other times – well, it’s just hard being away from the comforts of home. It’s so hard to write about the negatives when, looking back on it all, so many positive things happened and some of them even came out of the negatives. That’s why I’m going to take a somewhat easy way out and basically summarize the entire trip (the good, the crazy and the yuck) through my experiences.

  • Great quality time, conversations and laughs with loved ones – especially sitting outside until 1 am-ish just hours before the storm rolled in and playing games (BUNCO! RULES and Nia and I totally need to stay away from Guitar Hero)
  • Getting to visit with friends – Paul, Karen, Brian and Baby Andrew – thanks for coming all the way out to share smiles!  Miss you!
  • Sharing the beauty of the beach with Andrew’s parents and my mom – Nia loved looking for sandy treasures with her Papa Dave – very special
  • Watching Nia and her BFF Avery play like they’re together all the time
  • Getting to see how much our niece (Baby Ella) is growing up – she has the cutest little voice and pronounces words so precise – it’s adorable!  The word “yes” is especially cute.
  • Getting to see (sort of) our other baby niece who is now comfy and cozy in her mommy’s belly (the prettiest pregnant lady in the world!)
  • Screaming children (Nate) in confined spaces
  • Screaming children (many) in awesome waves
  • Leaky roof, pots filled with slimy, brown water (when we called the rental agency, they told us there was a mop in the closet! ha!)
  • Laughing about the leaky roof and the
  • No power for an hour on our first morning
  • Andrew acting giddy because we have no power
  • Soaking rain for our first two days
  • Playing in the rain (Ginger and I being carefree and braving the rough waves)
  • Taking advantage of the sunny spots during the rainy days (we didn’t miss a day on the beach!)
  • Sick children (3 children diagnosed with strep – 2 of them also have ear infections and Nia is struggling with a high fever and sore throat now – so far no strep but she still has something!)
  • Happy children – (before, during and after the illnesses) – it was so hard to tear them away from the beach
  • Bad eye luck – Ginger was forced to bury a contact in the sand (she was on her last pair at the time) – Nate the Destroyer got his mitts on Andrew’s glasses at the same time one of his last contacts was unwearable – my mom accidentally dropped her glasses on the concrete and now has two chips right in the middle of a lens
  • Getting to go on a hot date with my husband of 7 years – we’re so glad we could share our anniversary with so many people we love
  • Eating my very own crab legs for the first time – I can’t believe I cracked them all by myself!
  • Can you say yum?  I certainly did thanks to Breakfast Chef Ginger.  (Eggs, bacon, grits, sausage, biscuits and gravy – I just had me some more of ’em grits today – I’m hooked!)
  • Four scoops of ice cream that ended up hitting the table before Nia could even taste it
  • Daddy making it all ok and telling both of his girls not to cry over spilled ice cream
  • New dents for Nate’s skull – I think he hit his head something like 3 times in 3 hours.  And don’t even get me started about one table that was the perfect toddler/infant height!  3 kids had bruised heads!
  • Speaking of heads and dangerous objects – this is all I have to say – ceiling fan. Those who know what I’m talking about will understand – those who don’t – you’ll have to ask me one day – it’s just too hard to describe on here without coming across as a complete jerk
  • Being on WSAV – I thought I quit?!?!  Paul – that was all for you buddy
  • Running after Nate as he chased birds on the beach yelling “B”
  • Witnessing the immense joy and excitement the ocean stirred up in the kids – their happiness topped everything
Hitchin’ a Ride
Getting Sandy
The chase is on…
The Happy Heidels
Givin’ Hugs
Death Grip on Daddy
Waving Bye to the Ocean
Addicted
Loves the Waves

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Internet, Earwigs and a Vacation

30 Aug

We are now legitimately back online!  We’re going to have a new email address though so I will let you know what that is when we have it 100% finalized.

Anyway, as far as the vallesfam goes – we’ve been keeping busy this week getting ready to head back to the SAV!  We’re renting a beach house on Tybee and I am just so excited to hit the road and get there!  I think it’s so funny how we could have picked any beach to spend our vacation (certainly there are more luxurious and tourist-friendly areas than Tybee) but we knew going back would mean we’d get to see our very missed friends and family.  That beats clear blue water and boardwalks anytime!

I just hope the Earwigs don’t eat the house while we’re gone.  Maybe one will crawl over the alarm sensor and set off the alarm.  That would be our luck.  I’m telling you – these things are wicked.  They just won’t go away.  I’m seriously afraid how many we’ll come home to since we won’t be able to kill them as we see them.  That’s another reason I’m so excited about our trip – NO FREAKING EARWIGS.  I say that but wait – one little bastard will stow away in our luggage or something.  You don’t even want to know the wrath I will unleash on it…

I need a vacation!
 

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Some of My Preschool Observations

28 Aug
  • The backpacks are bigger than the kids.  It’s just so comical to me.  (Just wait until you see a picture of Nia wearing hers!)
  • Door to door service.  All we have to do is wait in a bumper-to-bumper line for 20 minutes and our children will be walked from the school door to our car door.
  • In some cases, the teachers don’t even have to open the vehicle’s door.  I was behind 4 minivans that had those automatic opening/shutting doors – I laughed out loud at the sight of it.  I’m not making fun of the convenience – I know they’re awesome when it comes to that – it was just like something out of a funny movie – van after van pulling up – door after door sliding open – kid after kid climbing in – door after door sliding shut.  It just struck me funny.
  • Parents have homework.  Once a week, Nia has to bring something that starts with a certain short vowel sound.  Yes, I know it’s a great teaching exercise – trust me – it’s teaching me too!  I have to rack my brain trying to think about what we have in this house that starts with the short “i” sound.  Igloo – no.  Inchworm – no.  Insect – yes but no thank you.  I finally decided on an ‘inkpen’.  We’ll see – I’ve thought about her and I making an igloo with construction paper but I don’t know – the point is – I really have to think about this stuff and I know it’s just the beginning!  I feel so dumb!  At least her starting school will give me a chance to become re-educated!  How pathetic is that?!?!

 

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Our Little Student

28 Aug

First Day of School

I wish I had more pictures of Nia’s first day of school to share with you but we’re still not up and running with our own internet so we have to keep all of our online activity short and simple.  With that said – I just wanted to let you all know that Nia (and Mommy) did super.  Even Nate handled the whole thing well.

After he and I walked her to her classroom (which I plan to do for the first few weeks of school), we ran some errands together and then came back home where we read some books and snacked. (He had Goldfish crackers and juice while I had coffee – this was the earliest I had to be up in like 10 months or something!  Talk about spoiled!)

It was really nice getting to devote all my attention to Nate. He’s always had to share mommy and daddy so I’m really glad I’m able to give him some quality one-on-one time now.  This first day though I felt like it was more like I was watching the clock – I really couldn’t wait for us to get back in the car and pick up the big sis from school.

Nia told me she had a lot of fun and her teacher said she was wonderful (I’m sure she tells all the parents that during the first week but it was still nice to hear).  Nia said she did all the typical preschool stuff – heard stories, colored/drew pictures, ate snacks, played (and she “shared the toy doggy”)…  I’m just so excited for her and all the neat things she’s going to get to do.  She even got her first sticker from the teacher from being good in class – it says “100%”  Nate even got a sticker today – his said “I visited the Post Office.”

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