16 months old!

16 months…and a few days!

I can’t believe how quickly each month goes by. I wish sometimes I could just freeze time, or at least make it go by more slowly.

Our Annie Louise is growing and growing by the minute.

I can’t believe how much she changes physically and developmentally each month.

When she returned to Wee School after their Christmas break, her sweet teachers wrote on her paper:

"Annie Louise grew the most out of everyone over the break. She’s no longer our baby."

And this, of course, made me want to lie down and cry a million tears.

But it’s true. She woke up one morning, and she was no longer a baby.

She was a full-blown toddler.

Too busy for snuggles. Too busy to sit still for me to rock her. Too busy to sit in my lap and let me read her book. Now, she wants to hold it and “read” it to me.

And speaking of reading, her vocabulary is almost growing as quickly as she is! New words this month include:

Ball

Nurner – this is AL’s word for our dog, Turner

Pwease – or please – she used to sign please all the time, now we are trying to get her to say it

Fish – for our favorite snack, goldfish

Nack – she says this when she wants a snack

Cookie – which is more like coooooookie, so cute!

Eat – are you seeing a theme here? All our words revolve around food!

No and more commonly, no-no (wonder where she hears that from?)

Hello/hi/hey

Bye Bye

Baby – this is my favorite, because it’s more like babeeeeeee

Night night

Shoes

Boots – the child loves her some boots!

Bath

We have also started seeing more of her personality this month. And honey, we have a pistol on our hands. She’s strong-willed and has a temper like none other. When she wants something, she wants it now. We are currently working on trying to teach her patience and also trying to divert her attention when something gets taken away.

Yes, we do have a temper, but really, what toddler doesn’t at this age? It’s pretty hard for AL to tell me exactly what she wants (we are working on getting her to show us what she wants) – so, when I am not moving fast enough, she lets me know in the only real form of communication that she knows…the meltdown.

She’s also learning so much. We are working on counting to three – anytime we say one, she’ll most always following with the cutest twooooooo you’ve ever heard. Then, we’ll finish with three!

She’s also starting to sing her ABCs. Ever since she has had teeth, I have brushed them. And to keep her attention while brushing her teeth, I would almost always sing a song, and most times, I would sing the ABCs. Now, she’ll go get her toothbrush and toothpaste out of her bathroom drawer and bring it to me and says “A,B,C” – y’all, this just melts my heart. For 2 reasons, 1 – because it’s so cute. 2 – because I love the fact that she LOVES to brush her teeth.

We are also getting more and more interested in play. She got a new play kitchen from SheShe and PopPop for Christmas, and it has a little cordless phone with it. We get a lot of entertainment out of watching her with this phone. She has mastered the whole shoulder-to-ear-to-hold-the-phone-in-place move. And she just babbles and babbles. Usually, it’s a lot of “hello” – that’s the majority of the conversation. She loves to hand us the phone and for us to pretend to talk to someone. She gets the biggest grin on her face when we do this.

I will pretend like I’m on a purple play phone for hours just to see that little smile!

So, as you can see, we have had a busy month at our house keeping up with our little doodlebug!

We love you so much, Annie Louise! Every day is a new and exciting adventure with you!

Love you,

mama and daddy

The sickies.

Today, I'm at home with a puke-y baby girl.

I was literally walking out of the door, when Annie Louise thew up.

The first thoughts that went through my mind was "great. I don't even know if I have a sick day."

But this is B's super busy time at work, so there was no way he'd be able to stay home.

I've been saving my annual leave days in the hope that I might be able to attend the Blissdom conference here in Nashville. Please pray that I'll have enough leave to attend...please, oh please!

That's the thing with being a working mama - something I never thought about.

Having enough time to take off to be able to take care of my baby.

Thankfully, I work for a very easy-going boss, so there's no stress for missing days or work. And when I first started and had NO leave, there was always a family member or friend that would step in and help us.

I knew that when Annie Louise started Wee School, we would probably come in contact with more germs. I didn't know it would be round the clock.

I'm religious about cleaning. I wash everything that comes from school. I keep our house spotless.

Yet, the sickies still come! Darn you, sickies!

I know this is just a season in my life...sometimes, I just feels like I can.NOT get ahead. We had some other stuff pop up this week...heck, this month has just been hit after hit. I'm trying to keep my "chin up" as my mama says, but it's getting pretty tough.

So, even though my doodlebug has had a case of the sickies today, I have thoroughly enjoyed the extra snuggles...she's so busy now, there's not a lot of time left for snuggles.

Today, I'm not thankful the sickies...but I am thankful that I have enough time (even though it may be the last of it) to stay home with my sweet and cuddly doodlebug.

Just pray these extra snuggles don't make mama sick! That would be ROUGH!!!!!!

Okay, I'm done with my debbie-downer post for the day....

Here's to tomorrow and a day with NO sickies! And if you're a fellow working mama, give me your advice!

My 2012 goals guest post!

Check out my guest post at one of my favorite blogs, Our Love Nest!

I'm talking all about my GOALS for 2012...now go show me some love!

http://www.ourlovenestblog.com/2012/01/happy-friday-lovelies-i-hope-you-have.html?m=1

Happy Friday!

Say please and thank you!

The holidays are officially over and many of you are enjoying those fabulous gifts...

I know we are here at our house!

And I think it's very important to say thank you for all of those gifts, too!

It doesn't have to be an elaborate letter, just a simple note to tell the giver

that you so appreciate them thinking of you.

Believe me, there is nothing better than receiving a hand-written note in the mail.

Now, the basics...

I was re-organizing all of my paper items the other day,

and I decided to re-purpose an old utensil holder....into a stationery caddy!

It's the perfect item to hold all of the things I need to write my thank you notes!

Inside, I put a set of stationery for each of us -

one for LeeLee, one for B and one for Annie Louise.

I also stuck a nice ballpoint pen, a letter opener, our return address stamp

and some enclosure cards in the smaller spots.

I think it's important to teach our children to be grateful -

so even though my Annie Louise can't write her own thank you notes,

I write them for her, and when she's old enough, I'll help her write them herself.

And what a proud mama I will be!

I have to share my "nice" stationery. When I left my job at the stationery shop in August, my boss told me I could pick anything out our Crane stationery album for myself.

I don't think I have ever received a gift like that - it was almost too big of a decision!

I'm definitely a stationery "snob," so getting to pick from the best of the best was perfect!

I ended up choosing a white flat card with a yellow hand-bordered border.

I chose a bird motif for the top (as birds are my thing),

and my name is done in a lowercase script font.

It's actually the same font that I chose for my wedding invitation - so it's sentimental, too.

I only pull these out for special occasions because I don't want to run out of them!

So, have you been busying writing your Christmas thank yous? And how do you keep them all your materials organized? Do you have a method to your madness?

Do share!

Miss Era Dell's Chicken Casserole

I have to share this recipe with my readers - it's super easy and super yummy...

and I want you all to have it for your files!

A little history of this recipe...Miss Era Dell sat in front of my grandparents at their church for as long as I can remember. And whenever they had a potluck, Miss Era Dell always brought her chicken casserole.

When I got married, all the ladies at the church threw me a recipe shower. My Granny gave me a recipe book filled with all of their favorite recipes. It's one of the best gifts I have ever received...and if our house should ever catch on fire, it's one of the many things I would grab!

Miss Era Dell has since passed away, and I always tell people, when I get to Heaven, I am going to find her and tell her THANK YOU for her recipe! It's one of B's favorites, and I like to cook it when he's had a busy or tough week at work as a way to say "I appreciate everything you do!"

Anyways, here's the recipe...I hope you will make it and LOVE it as much as we do!

And if you have a recipe that's super special, let me know about it!

Miss Era Dell's Chicken Casserole

6 chicken breasts

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 sleeves of Ritz crackers

1-8 oz container of sour cream

stick of margarine

Cook chicken breasts and cut into bite-sized pieces. Spray 9x13 pan with Pam. Crush up one sleeve of crackers and layer on the bottom of the pan. Mix up sour cream, cream of chicken soup and chicken pieces. Pour over crackers. Crush up the other sleeve of crackers and sprinkle on top of mixture. Slice margarine on top of crackers. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

From my kitchen to yours....

Annie Louise gives it 2 thumbs up!

Guest post at Mommy Musings!

I'm guest posting at Mommy Musings today...thank you so much, Mandy, for giving me this opportunity!




So, head on over and show me some love!




CLICK HERE FOR GUEST POST!




Have a blessed day!

Kicking and Screaming.

That's what I'm going to be doing tomorrow on my way to work. I have had such a nice New Year's vacation at home, and I really don't want to go back to work!

This has been the most successful break I've had in months. I had things in my head for months that I wanted to get done after the holidays, and by-golly, we did them!

Woot woot!

My mom kept Annie Louise one night, and B and I were able to get all the Christmas decorations down and begin our yearly "new year's organization."

Although, I will have to admit - this year, I had some pretty lofty goals.

They included:

-organize and purge ALL closets

-de-clutter drawers and cabinets

-go through our files and re-organize

-organize my car

-go through AL's toys and re-organize playroom

I'm too tired right now to post pictures, but I wish you could have seen the pile of papers we had - going through 5 years of paperwork = a lot going in the recycle bin!

It was touch and go there for a while with B (the boy hates to go through anything...he would much rather let the mess get out of control), but he pushed through with me and by Sunday night, we had most everything finished.

Anyways, I have so enjoyed my time off with my little family. I know this is just a season in my life (being a working mama), and I'm going to enjoy it and try and get the most amount of satisfaction knowing I'm helping provide for my family.

Hopefully, I'll get some pictures posted this week and maybe, just maybe, I'll give some advice for the things that work for us!

Here's to an organized 2012!