Sunday, May 30, 2010

One Year Old

Forgive my delay in posting. I'm sure you probably figured out by now we had a CRAZY weekend of family, fun, food, and friends. It was a blast but due to devoting all my time to that - the blog was neglected. It was in no way an indication of the lack of celebration for our little girl's birthday - it was quite the opposite. So....without further adieu...the actual birthday post:

A year ago today (we'll pretend I'm writing on Friday, the actual birthday) we welcomed this little girl into our family:



We were SOOOO excited to finally meet her. Especially Mommy since she was loooonnnngggg overdue. We fell in love with her immediately and also realized she was a spitting image of her daddy immediately as well. Nothing like feeling like a "surrogate mother" after surviving such physical labor to welcome her here. ;-)

Things I noticed back then:

  • Her cry was very muted. That was my first observation as they carried her to her bed. They had to reassure me she was just fine.
  • Her big toes on each foot were very chubby and had a smidgen of a tiny toenail on each of them.
  • Her belly button looked like a capital "H" (for "Hufford" I'm sure of it). Of course this was more noticeable after the umbilical cord fell off.
  • She was such a sweet and easy baby right off the bat. Rarely fussed about anything and just laid back and soaked it all in.
Things I notice now:
  • That she has such an adorable personality and is just such a sweet little girl.
  • Her cry is apparently still "muted". I've been told this by other people of course. To me it sounds loud and normal.
  • Her "H" belly button is no longer - but still just as cute of course
  • She has the squeeziest chunky thighs and chubby toes - seriously she does.
  • Her smile will melt anyone's heart - I'm not biased on this one I promise...check it out for yourself.
  • She is definitely getting into the cuddly stage. We get lots of wet, open mouth, kisses, hugs, loves, and pats from her. When it happens it usually doesn't last long but I LOVE it.
  • She is still such an easy baby - I think I lose sight of this sometimes until I observe other children and am reminded yet again.
So, what did we do for Addison's special birthday? Technically we were celebrating with a family picnic/party the following day but of course we couldn't leave her actual day of birth uncelebrated so we spent it as a family of three and enjoyed each other's company.

She got to watch Mommy clean in the morning since we were having family visiting from out of town and the bathrooms were in desperate shape. She thought it was all fascinating. Especially the vacuum. Maybe this is an indication on how often I clean around here perhaps? She's probably only seen the vacuum 3 times in her life so far...lol.


After naps we headed out to meet Daddy for lunch at Chick-fil-a. She's a big fan of the chicken nuggets. Mommy was determined to get her a balloon for her special day so thankfully a worker came through for us. Not only did he get her a balloon but a cute little stuffed Chick-fil-a cow as well. She LOVED that cow. Maybe she just recognized him since she's made friends with the grown one at each of my 5k races this past month.


After lunch we headed over to Wal-mart for her to pick out a special toy for her special day. We soon realized she was happy with anything we held in front of her so Mommy ended up picking out a push-button neon lighting wand that spins around. She was fascinated with it.


Next, Daddy went back to work while we ran last minute errands for her big party. We made it back home just in time to welcome the first arrival of the "Bell family" migration.


Amidst all the rushing around, I did make it a point to do as I promised myself and just enjoy the moment of the day. After we ate lunch I just stared at her in the back seat and thought back to a year ago. How amazed I am that she's mine (and John's of course). How much fun she is. How much I am grateful to be her Mom. And, how blessed we are to have her in our family. She has grown so much in the past year and I love that I get a front row seat to watch it all now and in the years to come.


Happy 1st Birthday Addison!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I looked like this:


Huge and uncomfortable and miserable. 1 1/2 weeks overdue. However, the end was in sight as I was scheduled to be induced the next morning. If I remember correctly, I didn't get much sleep that night. I think I actually spent more time in tears as I lay await in anticipation of it all. This was my first actual "hospital experience" (remember, my childhood consisted of so-called "home-remedies" and lots of band-aids). Couple that with my first ever "labor experience"! I was a huge pile of hormones....excited, nervous, anxious, scared, worried, but most of all I couldn't wait to meet our little girl.

And now a year has passed by and my little girl turns 1 tomorrow!! On the way home from Wal-mart today I told her the story of her birth "a year ago"....she seemed as interested as a soon-to-be one year old would be. Mostly she liked the part where I would squeal "You're turning ONE tomorrow!" She's at such a fun age now and I'm finally feeling like I've got a grasp on this parenting thing (of course I still have my days). But most of all, I am so glad she picked our family to join. She's such an easy baby for the most part. She's such a happy baby and just goes with the flow. Usually if I'm stressed or worn out, it's my own doing. She has such a CUTE personality and I just love staring at her and thinking "I can't believe you are mine!" "How can something SOOOO cute come out of me?"

People always seem to say that the years just fly by. Looking back on our first year together, there have definitely been times that it feels like it's flown by but also times where it seemed to drag a bit too. But, through it all, I've enjoyed spending it with Addison and consider myself lucky to be her Mom.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's actual birthday post.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Tomorrow I'm Gonna Eat A Waffle

**Again, stick with me on the random post title.

Welcome back to the Cincy vacation post. Time to proceed onto documenting our remaining days of vacation:

Day #3: Had us heading to our first major league baseball game as a family of three. We had bought tickets to see the Cincinnati Reds play on their home turf against the St. Louis Cardinals (my old "peeps"). No worries though, I vowed to John I would only be rooting for the Reds. As with everything else we ventured on, I was curious as to how Addison would handle a crowded stadium and tiny seats for a 9 inning game. However, I tried not to dwell/stress on it too much because if I do then she catches on to me and reacts accordingly. We were lucky enough to show up early to score Addison a free Reds jersey. Granted she won't fit into it until she's two but hey it's a free souvenir!

Enjoying the Red's game before the rain.

I didn't realize until we arrived that this game was the clencher to determine if the Red's would move into first place or not. John was very good at explaining the details of it all but I just retained the basics and was glad to hear I was at a suspenseful game. The weather was beautiful, our seats were great, and the Reds were kickin' butt. Addison even did amazing too! She actually fell asleep on me in the 4th inning - I was shocked. We kicked back, watched the game, and snacked on yummy refreshments.

Then within minutes - it started raining. :( What do we do now? My first thought was "Hurry and eat the nachos before they get wet!". However, we decided to wake up Addison and head out before the rest of the stadium joined us. It made for a small jaunt in the sprinkling rain but it was actually funny watching Addison - she was loving every minute of it. Once we got back to the hotel we heard that the Reds ended up winning the game! :D Too bad we weren't there to witness it but not sure if I was devoted enough to sit in pouring rain with a 1 year old to see it all play out. We spent a nice relaxing evening swimming at the hotel. Addison LOVES to swim and basically has no fear when it comes to water. I love that she loves it - but now need to refocus my energies on keeping an eye on my fearless baby around water. There is nothing cuter than a wet little baby in a swimming suit. Any squishy factor they had previously is magnified 100 x's in this environment.


Waiting on Mommy & Daddy to take her swimming


And, now this leads to my random post title. As we were leaving the pool John had another random statement moment that put me into giggles again. Out of the blue he says "Tomorrow I'm Gonna Eat A Waffle". I couldn't stop laughing at his randomness. We had been enjoying free breakfasts every morning at our hotel and on our first day neither of us opted for the waffle. However, apparently he wanted it to be known he was ready to partake of the waffle the following morning. And he did - and it was delicious. The End.

Also, I must mention, since Addison's bedtime is around 7:00, John and I had to get creative so we could avoid sitting in the dark hotel room staring at each other while she slept. Insert our creative genius....we finagled the pack 'n' play just perfectly into our bathroom. You had to hold your tongue just right to get it in since it was such a tight fit. We were so proud of our idea until we realized that now anytime we had to use the bathroom we had to jaunt down to the lobby. This wasn't a problem for John - he never uses it at night...me on the other hand - got quite tired of the nightly ritual of dressing myself, trying to spruce myself up so I didn't look like I was walking in my sleep, and trot past the lobby staffer to the restroom. I'm guessing the hotel staffer caught on after the 3rd night of seeing me in my pajamas at 4:00 in the morning. It was all worth it though (barely) since it helped Addison get great sleep and allowed us to watch TV until it was our turn to sleep.

Day #4: Monday brought a nice lazy day....lazier than normal...and it was wonderful. We didn't make any plans in the afternoon so we spent it shopping, lounging, and eating. Then that evening, some of John's old friends, The Madden's, invited us over for dinner. We even got another surprise once we got there and heard that Kyle Livingston and his family were coming to see us as well. They were all extremely hospitable and made us feel at home right away. Addison loved playing with all the cool toys Sister Madden would run off to find for her. It was great to catch up on old times from John's youth and see old friends in the process. In case they ever read this blog...Thanks SO much for the fun and food you guys provided. It was great meeting you finally!

Day #5: We had reserved this day for the Cincinnati Zoo since I had heard how great the children's area was. However, the rain interfered yet again and we bailed on the Zoo and replaced it with the Newport Aquarium. It was a great visit, despite the fact I think we hit it on field trip day with about 30 different schools. Addison got to pet a water turtle and Daddy got to pet a Shark. Mommy chickened out on all of the above. We got to see penguins, fish, sharks, frogs, feed the birds, and get railroaded by children at every turn. It was a lot of fun even though Addison was overtired and had a bad case of the wiggles through most of it.

Enjoying some ice cream at the famous Graeters. It was delish!

Day #6: Was uneventful. We flew home super early in the morning and Addison did great with it all. She did so well on our return flight the ladies behind us kept praising her and me. Little did they know what our plane endured on our first flight out there. And alas, we landed in Arky. We had a great trip but were definitely glad to be home. And most of all, I was glad to have my bathroom back! :D

Our little happy giggly girl on our return flight. :D

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Last Place Is The Last Loser

Today, I did it. It's been done. I survived one of my fears and hope to never relive this one.
I believe an adequate amount of time has passed. I can now talk about it without reliving it (sort of).


Ever since I started running 5k's (like a month ago being my first), I've had this fear of finishing dead last. However, EVERY 5k I've run had like a bajillion people in it so naturally, even though I wasn't fast, the likelihood of me leading the pace car in, wasn't....likely. Until today. I ran my fourth 5k. There were warning signs but I ignored them. This morning I was tired and trying to convince myself I was sick. I hadn't ran in over a week b/c of our vacation. I was trying to justify my participation fee as a donation to the cause. I ignored all of these voices and pushed forward. After all, I figured I'd regret it if I didn't run it and wouldn't regret it if I did run it. Um....this proved horribly wrong.

We showed up to the event and saw VERY few cars. The racers I did see were already sprinting down the road, jumping, stretching, warming up. These folks were fit I tell you. After checking in, I asked the lady how many registered. "Uh...I believe we have 50 registered". I'm thinking WHUH? You're kidding me right? So again I ignore the voices telling me to just get in the car and go home. After all my biggest fear could likely come true - I could be last. I pushed through it and got to the starting line - quickly scoping out the "heavier folks" that I could keep pace with and thought surely I could finish with them. (There weren't a lot of "my kind"). Most of the racers were "Albino Kenyan Runners" (as John so politely put it). So, the gun goes off, and in the words of Forrest Gump..."I was rrrunnniiinnngg". But obviously not fast enough. I managed to stay about 5 people from last for most of the race. The heat was enough to make me nautious and dizzy. But every time the "slow girls" and the cop/pace car caught up to me, I'd start running again regardless of nausea. This happened for the majority of the race. However, within the last 1/2 mile I thought...screw it, to heck with my "time", at this point I want to end the race in the vertical position. Yes, visions of me passing out were running through my head, along with visions of me jumping in the cop car and aiming the A/C straight at my face as we drove to the finish line (that one sounded tempting). But I figured if I was going to be embarassed I'd rather opt for the slightly "less embarassing" moment and cross the finish line last. So that is what I did. About 5 seconds after the "slow girls". I was DYING when I crossed it. It's pretty sad when the workers are packing up the race route signs as you pass them. :(

So, I lived one of my worst fears today and I survived. I blame my embarassment on the lack of publicity they seemed to acquire for the race. And honestly, there were NOT 50 of us....MAYBE 30 but that's pushing it. And yes, they were all the size of my pinky and likely ran for their professions. And after all, I was only a few minutes off of my best time and I blame that on the heat. Me and heat NEVER have gotten along. So for anyone afraid of finishing last in a 5k, take my advice, don't sign up with albino kenyans and don't join any race that has less than 30 people registered.

I'm almost to the point where I can laugh about this now....almost.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Those Dots Were Weird

Random title I know, but it'll all make sense after this post.

Our "tropical exotic get-away vacation to Cincinnati" has come and gone. And believe me, with all the rain we survived, it definitely felt like a tropical destination (minus the beach). Regardless, it was still a lot of fun and the perfect vacation to tote an almost 1 year old on.

So now the documentation begins...


Day one: We left Arky in a torrential downpour only to spend the majority of our vacation in one as well. Our flight was almost seamless. I've been reminded yet again that trying to plan around naps on a trip NEVER happens as perfectly as you dreamt it in your head. If we are out of our napping element she does NOT like to be forced to sleep at a pre-determined time. She proves this by fighting it every step of the way. It's best to just let her drive herself to exhaustion - and even that includes a few tears until the eyelids close. So imagine a cramped teeny tiny plane, no elbow room, and no circulating air to save our lives. Insert crying, kicking, wiggly child RIGHT as we take off. It's a living hell folks. Eventually, after multiple hand-offs between John and I, holding back the tears (mine not hers) and wrestling her flailing body she finally sucummbed to sleep for the remainder of the flight. Unfortunately for us, she was the only child on the plane and therefore no other crying babies to blame the noise on or drown her out with their own weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth. Once we landed, I was shocked to find out that our plane-mates didn't hate us after all of that. She smiled at them as they walked by and wished us luck and gave us pats on the back. Phew!

Addison & John waiting to board our teeny plane.

Addison & I waiting to take-off. Note the smiles.

So, off we go to our rental car (amazingly easy thank heavens) and head off to the grand mecca known as Skyline Chili for some dinner. Yup, Skyline ranks above any/all other travel essentials...plus I was starving! Enter meltdown #2. Addison apparently didn't get enough sleep to sustain her more than an hour and we spent the first 15 minutes in Skyline with a wailing child on a tiny changing table in a tiny bathroom. However, it was a battle of wills. I refused to leave from a place that was going to give us FOOD and she refused to be happy. John finally intervened and she sucummbed to her 2nd nap while we ate - sigh.

Next, we checked into our wonderful hotel and despite being sleepy, cranky, and fussy, we attempted to assemble the pack 'n' play so Addison could go to bed. Let's be clear - we DO have one of these at home but apparently aren't in the habit of setting up/taking it down every other day and thus spent a good 30 minutes shaking this one until something...somewhere clicked into place. Two minutes before I was about to demand a hotel staffer come in and rescue us, John finally saved the day...again. And thankfully after such a long day, we survived and were ready to put it and us to bed.

Day Two: Started out a little better but still had a few snags along the way to keep it interesting (and stressful for me of course). We spent the morning (and most every morning for our full stay) just kicking around the hotel and in no rush to leave. Most mornings it was fabulous and gave us an opportunity to eek a morning nap out of Addison (and sometimes us - it's vacation isn't it? ;-). However, Saturday morning I spent on the phone. AT&T coincidentally fried my phone before our vacation so I spent over an hour on the phone w/them explaining that NO I would not be paying for a new phone nor would I be buying a pay-as-you-go phone for a mistake they made. Of course, nothing got accomplished....not surprising. But of course I had to move onto the next phone tag with Addison's ENT doctor on call because she started leaking brown and red waxy stuff from her poor ears. It had happened before but never was it red - so I panicked and called the on call doctor and chased around a prescription in a town I'd never been to. Fun eh? And then in the midst of it all I ended up in tears. It tends to be a thing I do when WAY too much is thrown at me and despite all my efforts to tackle it, NOTHING gets accomplished. John patiently listened to my rantings/ravings and tears and alas I was done and ready for our day. (Did I mention I love that man?)

So at 12:00 we head out to Kings Island. It was hot and probably one of the busiest days to go but it was a lot of fun and Addison had a BLAST just watching everyone we passed by. She was such a trooper even through the heat of it all. We rode the merry-go-round but sadly she was a bit too small for most of the kiddie rides so we headed on to see a Snoopy show..which she danced in the grass to and again had such fun. In hindsight Kings Island probably wasn't the best destination for the two of us and a 1 year old but we made the best of it and were ready to start our vacation. Which brings me to the title of this post (alas). As we were leaving the park we decided to get some Dippin Dots and a pretzel and some water. It had been years since I had tasted Dippin' dots so needless to say all three of us were a bit weirded out by them. As we drove along on our next adventure, out of the blue John just randomly states "Those Dots Were Weird." Lol....nuff said. I don't know if you just had to be there but the hilarity of that random statement gave me the giggles for quite some time - and after the morning I had I definitely welcomed it.


Meeting Snoopy for the first time.

I almost forgot to mention, Friday night we drove around and saw all the old places from John's youth....especially the house he grew up in. It was so fun for me to see all the places and piece together all of his crazy stories he's been telling me for years. His house (along with most in the area) reminded me of Nauvoo because of the colonial style in that area. I absolutely LOVED the neighborhood. We even got to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy (his neighbor) who was out in his yard as we pulled up. He and his wife were above and beyond hospitable. Addison LOVED this part of the trip since she could crawl around their yard, play with their dog, and swing on the old swingset Grandpa Joe built back in the day.

John's old house where he spent many a night scaling down the roof sneaking out.

All in all, there were a few snags in the first two days of our trip but luckily we left those behind as we continued to enjoy the rest of our vacation....to be continued.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Thankful Mama

This post title probably would sound more fitting for a holiday like Thanksgiving instead of Mother's Day but please let me expound...

To put it simply, I've enjoyed a GREAT Mother's day (my first "official" one mind you) and I couldn't have thought of anything to make it any better than it was.

John and Addison woke me up this morning to my "Happy Mother's Day to Youuuuu" song and there is nothing like waking up to the two smiling faces of those who made me a mother to begin with. The rest of the day did NOT disappoint either. Then, John whisked off to make a yummy pancake breakfast for all of us to enjoy before church. And of course, despite the regular meanderings of an 11 month old, Addison behaved very well in church as well which thrilled BOTH of us. Especially since she had to bum along in Daddy's class today. Luckily she just slept the whole time. Yay!

After church, we came home and played while John made THE most delicious meal EVAH. Seriously folks, I will be requesting this as my "last meal" before I leave this world: T-bone steak, ribs, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and watermelon! All my favorites and all cooked perfectly. It once again reminded me how lucky I am to have a husband that knows how to grill to perfection. Yum! Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice nap and John even let me have a longer one while he got up to watch Addison. :D

And the finale to the wonderful day included a beautiful card (with Addison's handprint included!), a "Best Mom In The Whole Wide World" award, a nice pedometer/timer for my newfound passion of running, and a carpet cleaning later this week! Woot! I was equally excited about ALL of my day but let me tell you, I've wished my carpet clean for quite some time. Especially since Addison has seemed to create quite an imprint on it w/her food, etc lately.

Anyway, it was just a great day overall. I'm especially happy for these two people:

Without them I wouldn't even be a Mom. And I couldn't have picked two better people. John does so good with appreciating me every day of the year, not just on the commercialized holidays. And Addison is such a happy baby and for the most part is such an easy little girl to be a Mom to.

Ever since I was little, I always would dream of being a Mother. As I grew up, people would ask me what I wanted to do when I was older. I never had a fancy occupation picked out, I said I simply wanted to be a Mom. And frankly, there were a LOT of years of waiting for this to happen. Almost to the point where I thought maybe it wouldn't! But I couldn't have imagined such a life as this. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes being a Mom can be stressful and difficult but it definitely has SOOOO many more rewards than sacrifices. I've loved learning along the way and appreciate Addison and John for their patience while I figure things out and also their gratitude and appreciation for the things I do right.

And I also want to take a minute to thank the other mothers in my life. First my own Mom (aka Mooma):
This woman has been a lifesaver to me many MANY times in my life. She has had to fulfill dual roles as we grew up and has done amazingly well despite the sacrifices she's met along the way. And she has sacrificed MUCH for her children and still does to this day. I couldn't have picked a better Mother to raise me and I appreciate her for all the things she has taught me and shown me by her example.

And of course, I must not forget my other mother....this woman:

Not only has she raised a wonderful boy, but ever since first meeting her (and probably even before we officially met) she has loved me and accepted me. She treats me like her own child and sometimes I'm convinced she loves me more than John! ;-) Mama Jean has always been so kind and supportive to me and I appreciate all that she has done as well. I think most people associate the word "mother-in-law" with negative stereotypes but to me she has been anything but!

So, on this day I thank her, and my own mom, and my husband and little girl for supporting me as their daughter, wife, and mother. I'm honestly living my dream job every day.

Friday, May 7, 2010

11 Months Old


Alas, I was finally able to catch-up with Addison and get some 11 month photos from her. She's more active than ever now and she hasn't even started walking yet! Who knows what is in store for us around the corner. Here are pics from our outdoor mini-photo shoot today. Just prior to this, we had a little battle over lunch so she's a bit blotchy from crying her eyes out. Luckily for both of us she gets over her tantrums quickly.


And speaking of tantrums, that is definitely one thing she has learned to do at 11 months. She doesn't throw them often but even few and far between it's still not fun. I'm convinced she is testing us as she explores this new world of hers. And I've definitely had time to hone my patience skills as we go through this phase together. I'm getting to be quite a big fan of the "walk-away method".

But of course she has learned TONS more cute stuff as well. She spends her days roaming around the house and exploring EVERYTHING. As a result, her actual toys now bore her. Her fascinations include the toilet paper roll, the bathtub, the shower, and any/all kitchen cabinets. With this new territory we've had lots of opportunity to learn about the word "No" and she has done amazingly well with this. I do have to use it repeatedly sometimes but every time I say it I see the gears clicking away as she figures out what it means. For the most part she is very obedient. I try to be selective with what involves a "No" and what doesn't - so she doesn't start tuning me out.

She loves being my little shadow. I'm still learning to love it as much as she seems to. Yes, sometimes I just want my space without those cute chubby hands crawling up my leg but if I had to pick a shadow to have - I'd pick her. It's amazing how frustrated I can be one minute and then within seconds she has me laughing so hard and loving her all over again.

She loves to jabber away and oftentimes gets into her own imaginary world - which I LOVE to see. Whether it's a piece of fabric, or a cup, or a spoon, she can play for hours while she jabbers away in all her different tones. It's hilarious to sneak up and watch her before she catches on. She has also learned to read books. We have tried hard to read to her all along the way and thankfully I think we are having an effect on her. She just started picking up books, turning the pages, and jabbering while looking at the pictures. This too, is fun to watch. I hope to post a video soon for all to see her new skills in this department.

She's also my new vacuum cleaner. No matter how many times I vaccum and try my hardest to get all the crumbs up, she will hone in on a speck a mile away and start a mad crawl toward it and have it in her mouth before I can catch her. And of course, once it hits her mouth it like breaking into Alcatraz to get it out. Her six little teeth clamp down tight and she fights my swooping finger every time. It's amazing how tight those new little teeth can be.

She also LOVES to dance. Anytime she hears music anywhere, she starts bopping her legs/body to the beat. And it's hilarious because we've never really "taught" her this but she has done it since she was a baby. I guess she was just born to boogie. Last week, as I waited to start my race, John and Addison sat alongside the crowd and waited. A local DJ had music blaring to pump everyone up and I turned around in time to see Addison sitting in her stroller bee-bopping to "Let's get it started in here..." It was hilarious. She definitely has rhythm so she must have gotten that gene from her Dad and not me.

Some say the first year flies by and while I've definitely had times where it's gone slow AND fast, I wouldn't trade it all for anything. It's so fun seeing Addison's personality come out and getting to spend every day with her. I love laughing with her. If I just bust out in laughter, she'll join in with her fake laughter and we just go back/forth until it turns into real laughter from both of us. She also has a fake cough she likes to use when she wants some extra attention. She must know how cute she is and how hard it is for us to resist her. I am so thankful Heavenly Father sent her to our family and I hope we can be the parents she needs as she grows up. It's all a learning experience that I'm so glad we get to go through. Can't wait to celebrate her 1st birthday at the end of this month! It's so weird thinking back to where we were a year ago. I can't believe what this year has brought us!

This is what she spends 90% of her time doing.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Longest Day EVER!

Let it be known: Sundays are the LOOONNNNGGGEEESSSTTT day of the week. For many reasons I'm sure but mostly because we spend all our energy just chasing after this little girly...
Every single minute of every single hour from 6 am to 7 pm. (And trust me....I countdown each minute until 7:00 pm comes around.) As cute as she is, she is a MOVER!

We wake up at 6:00 in the morning thanks to our little early bird. Then we rush around and get ready for church at 9:00. Then wrestle her through all of church and fight her for any ounce of sleep we can possibly get out of her while there. Then come home exhausted.

But it doesn't stop there. Now that she crawls and cruises on furniture like crazy.....there is no stone left unturned, no plant left untouched, no miniscule piece of trash/paper left uneaten. It's non-stop really. Plus, our schedule gets so skewompus after coming home from church that we have no idea what order to do what in...is she sleepy? hungry? cranky? She keeps us guessing.

Today she decided to veto any/all naps whether at church or home. Which we owe a big "I'm Sorry" to Grandma & Grandpa Fields since they got to wrestle her during the 2nd hour of church while John and I taught our respective classes. I've learned the more I force her to do something (like sleep) the more stubborn she gets as she proves me wrong. It's a battle of wills that usually leaves both of us in tears.

But of course, with all of the craziness she gives us, within an hour of her going to bed, I miss the little stinker. Sometimes I'm tempted to wake her up and bring her out to play with me. Confusing isn't it? However, I manage to resist the temptation. ;-)