Stuff

Well, it's official...Lauren is WALKING!! I don't mean a step or two here and there, I mean 20-30 steps each time! Yeah, and I thought I was busy chasing after her when she was crawling! There is no greater site than seeing her waddle her cute little butt across the living room ever so slowly and then eventually topple to the floor as her clumsy self trips over a toy. Seriously, it's the cutest thing.

On another note, I know I've mentioned the love affair Miss Piddle has going with her bears but this picture proves it:


Look at that face! You can barely see her eyes because she is SO happy to have it with her. Of course, the Hubster isn't too fond of having bright neon fur embedded in his hair the rest of the night but like me, he's a sucker for his smooshy-faced happy daughter. So the bears wins every time and he continues to pick the fuzz outta his hair like a pruning Monkey :)

And because she looks so stinkin' cute in this outfit, I had to share. We recieved this outfit from Grandma Apps a few days ago, along with a pink and red stuffed dog. Of course, the dog didn't measure up to her beloved ratty bears but this outfit made the cut. It's a Strawberry Shortcake set with matching Capri's...adorable! Thanks Grandma Apps!


And then, as usual, Miss Busy Body couldn't contain her curiosity any longer so she was outta there! When you can walk these days, you simply don't have time for the "momarazzi" to be taking pics...there are more dire things to do, like climb on the barstools, splash in the dogs water andrip open mommy's new Parenting magazine! Anyways, here are a couple more....albeit, on the move:


And this is my clue that the photo shoot is officially over, as is this entry :)

What happens when daddy "watches" Lauren..

Alright, this will be a quick post as there are many things to do today; amoung them: grocery shopping, pick up Sears' portraits, do some laundry, and attempt to get Miss I-don't-wanna-nap-anymore to sleep today...

But anyways, I HAD to share this. Every morning at 6:30 when Lauren decides she's up and ready for the day, my sweet husband gets up with her so that my sleepy, prego behind can sleep a teensy bit longer. He gives her a bottle when she wakes up, changes her diaper and then they come into the living room where she plays and he eats breakfast. He's SO awesome, but I won't get into that right now because there is something much more hysterical to show...

So as I'm laying in bed this morning, Justin is hopping in the shower. Usually Lauren plays with her Intellitainer exersaucer thingy while he showers and she is pretty content with that routine. But then I hear whining and frustration, followed by the opening of the shower door... bad news. Moment's later, I hear Justin say "Diddle, what are you doing??" This totally piqued my curiosity so I get my half-asleep body outta bed and find this:


She is in the shower, completely clothed and SOAKING wet (notice the hubster's feet?)!!! I happened to catch her when she was in the middle of standing, hence the look, but before I took this picture, she had the most mischevious grin from ear to ear!!

She was quite proud of herself, and Justin apparently was too because he kept saying "She wanted in!" Ummmm, she wants to drink outta the dogs water dish and play with the toilet bowl scrubber but I certainly don't let her! Duh!! I guess it could be worse though... she could have ended up bathing in the toilet or something because "she wanted to" so at least I got a semi clean baby this morning, eh??

Ahh, gotta love 'em!

Wednesday

Ahhh, my Busy Body...

Between industriously emptying the contents of drawers, cabinets, and book shelves on the floor, chasing the cats around the house, joyfully unraveling rolls of toilet paper, and sliding the tablecloth (along with the a Yankee candle atop it) from the dining room table, Miss Piddle Pot decided to sit still for a nanosecond so that mommy could snap a few pics yesterday. Sure, she looks exhausted (heck, I was exhausted and I only monitored her while she ransacked the joint!) but I was happy to just get a shot while her little buns played in place!


Miss Lauren and I were very busy girls yesterday! We went to Mommy and Me in the morning, where she proudly showed her her newfound walking ability! I think she took a few steps here and there, and then promptly fell to her knee's so that she could confiscate the other babies toys (because crawling is much more effective when you wanna steal toys quickly!). After Mommy and Me, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed home for a powernap, mommy included! It was fan-freakin-tastic, if I do say so myself. And at 4 pm, we left to go to a Discovery Toys Party at Anne-Marie's casa where we played, ate and chatted. Plus, I only managed to spend $30...amazing considering that the Princess "needed" every one of those brightly colored, fun toys :)

Meet Buster!

Alright, so he's not nearly as cute and "Princessy" as the adorable little girl in the photo above, but he's sweet and handsome nonetheless!! Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce the newest member of our family, Buster Brown:


We adopted Buster about a week ago from a rescue that took him in. Unfortunately, his last owners saw nothing wrong with allowing their much larger dog to beat up on him over and over again :( They also didn't see a problem with not feeding him regularly. And because of these two factors, poor Buster was extremely underweight and had a large, angry abscess forming on his rear leg where his previous "companion" tried to take off a chunk. But luckily for my little man, this rescue took him in, got him medical treatment and fattened him up a bit.

Now he's living the good life here with us. For being as neglected as he was, he sure is fitting in well. He's been great with Lauren, great with the cats and surprisingly, even great with Quin. He's quickly figured out the doggie door and only ventures outside when he has to go potty...the remaining part of his day is spent doing this:


Lounging! And no, he's not hiding... he's "nesting". He'll spend the better part of an hour scrunching up the blankets so that they're all cushy and comfy and then he'll proceed to snuggle up under the blankets. This dog loves the couch and the warmth and comfort it provides him.


He has alot of the same mannerisms that Ellie had, which is so much fun to see. He reminds me of her SO much and I can't tell you how nice it is to see a little black and white dog running around the house again, attacking the dog toys and terrorizing the cats :) He's not my "bunnies" but I like to think he carriers a bit of her personality in him!


I mean, c'mon...how can you resist that sweet little squishy face?!?

Valentine's Day!!

Ahh, Valentine's Day...a day where the whole purpose is to show love, recieve love and give affection. What's not to like about this romantic, sappy day?!?

So yesterday morning when I woke up, I walked out into the kitchen and notcied a very yummy Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake on the counter for me! You see, I have been talking about getting one of these cakes for the past few months because I have been craving them like crazy. But I never bought one because I simply couldn't justify buying a whole cake for myself, since Justin isn't too impressed by them. But there it was, a Valentine's Day cake with frosting, chocolate cake and Chocolate Chip Ice cream. It was delish!

Written on the box was a note from Justin, proclaiming his love for me :) So it wasn't a card but I could have cared less because he told me what he wanted to say...it just happened to be on the box. Can't blame the guy for being frugal, can ya??


And my Valentines gift for the Hubster was a V-Day picture of his adorable little girl, loads of candy and a card, complete with a Love Note that would make Dr. Laura proud..haha!


So Princess Diddle and I hung out all day until her daddy got home. We were planning on going to a local Teppan Restaraunt for our dinner because not only is the food sooo tasty, but they cook it in front of you which entertains our Busy Body. And an entertained little girl = a dinner her parents can actually enjoy :)

Unfortunately Lauren missed the memo that said we were planning on leaving at 4:30 pm and she napped until 6 pm. And 6 pm on Valentines Day means you'll have to wait a couple hours to finally eat. So we nixed that idea and headed to La Casita...cheap, tasty and very little wait!

After we arrived home from our Mexican feast, I snapped a few pics of Cupid herself, along with the Pink doggie that her Grammy bought her that day:


She enjoyed her Valentine's Day, as you can see below. It's probably because she wore pink ALL day (what Princess doesn't??) and she got a nibble of my ice cream cake :)


Oh, and here is Miss Lauren's very first Valentine! It's from 5 month old Ben, a friend of hers at Mommy and Me (notice the Reese's for mommy?!?):

And here are a few more pics of the Brown Famalia:


And let's not forget the newest member! Here's Baby Brownie at 5 months:



Such a fun day! I love my little clan :)

SOOO big!

This is one of Lauren's favorite things to do these days:


She lifts her arms really high above her head, and lets them fall to the ground. It's called the "SO big" game and every time I shout it, she gets this huge, smiley grin on her adorable lil' face.


But then of course she's done playing Mommy's silly game and she's off!

Next stop? The pantry where there are loads of items that are too irresistible for my Busy Body not to investigate:
Just another crazy day in the life with my Princess Piddle!

Too cute for words!

It's amazing what a little sleep will do for ya... Miss Lauren had a very nice, loooong nap this morning which was apparently just what she needed! When she woke up, she was chipper as ever, babbling, snuggling, dancing, etc... Who knew a few hours of rest could make such a difference when you're a cranky babe???

Anyways, in light of Miss Fancy Pants' new-found happiness, I took a few pictures of her because she was lookin' so dang cute! Here are a few of my faves:


Yeah, I should be doing something much more productive right now, but I thought a few Lauren pictures might brighten someone's day :)

Monday happenings..

Miss Fancy Pants has cut another tooth today and she is beyond cranky!! Therefore, my morning has consisted of entertaining her, consoling her when she gets frustrated with one of her toys, feeding her breakfast, keeping her entertained some more, consoling once again, and then again, etc...you get my point. I HATE teething....why, oh why, can't she remain toothless for the rest of her life? Surely we could use dentures one day instead of dealing with the extreme crankiness we've got goin' on over here...ugh!

And although it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of joy to be had today, we had a ton 'o joy yesterday!! Lauren was in a great mood (thank you long naps!) so we went went to the mall, had Miss Busy Body's 11 month pics taken, and then out to dinner when Justin got home. And because race season is quickly approaching, the Hubster went to "bang on the car" for a bit later that evening while I bathed and fed Lauren for bedtime. Anyways as I'm walking out of Lauren's room, in walks Justin. Mind you, he went to work on his race car in his dress slacks that he wears to work. So I'm thinkin' that he would do things that didn't involve grease, motor oil and filth. Boyyy, was I ever wrong because he sauntered into the house, looking like this:


Yep, that's his 'guilty' face in the first pic because he knew that once again, those pants weren't gonna come clean and I'd have another dust rag to add to my collection! But after a good shower, lots of soap and a few handfuls of degreaser, Justin joined me in the living room and we began researching double strollers (yep, we're that exciting these days!) You see, Lauren's travel system is nice and all, but it won't hold two kidlets, one of which will be in a infant seat. So after doing a whole lot of researching, we bought this one:


It's called a Sit N Stand Plus Travel System. Basically, it will hold 2 children, with or without the infant seat. Lauren can either sit in the "stadium" back seat or when she wants, she can stand on the platform in the rear section, as it easily converts. It's a one-hand fold system (which will be extremely convenient), and includes a 5 point harness, cup holders for mom and babies, a removable front child tray, 2 position reclining seat, removable and washable plush seat pad, extra large storage basket for the diaper bags (or for shopping purchases!) and it's ultra compact when folded. We also bought the infant seat that matches and it's wonderful as well because it included the base, has a 5-Point safety harness, head impact protection foam that exceeds federal requirements, one-hand base release lever that's located at the foot-end for easy access/balance and the best feature is that it can hold an infant up to 22 lbs rear facing, which is safest.

I am SO pumped that we bought it, although I did have to do a little pleading and begging because this puppy wasn't cheap! But with an infant and toddler in tow, this stoller will certainly come in handy. So babe, if you're reading this, thanks again for "allowing" me to splurge on this :)

More Princess Party plans...

So, less than a month before my baby girl turns one! ::sigh::

But the invites have all been sent out and the RSVP number is quickly rising!! There will be the entourage of family, pals of mine, buddies of the Hubsters, and diaper clad kidlets all in attendance and I am oh SO excited about that! I thought my home was a nice size, until I looked around and started trying to figure out where everyone was gonna sit!

We've decided to do a BBQ for Miss Princess Piddle's Birthday extravaganza. There will be burgers, hot dogs, potato/macaroni salad, chips and dip, drinks and of course, cake!! We've picked out the cake already and we're planning on getting a full sheet for our guests, as well a miniture version for my Fancy Pants, so that she can dip her fingers, face (and toes!) into it if she likes :)

Oh, and her Birthday dress is being purchased today! It is bee-you-tee-ful and totally fits her Princess persona, complete with pink bows, a frilly underskirt and a big #1 on the boddess to announce her new age. I looked at a few dresses and while there were certainly more affordable ones to pick from, they simply weren't as "Princess-y". But being the frugal Frannie that I am, I asked Justin which one he'd prefer to get her (the pretty but pricy dress or the more afforable but not as pretty dress) and he insisted on the more "foofy" pretty dress, despite the cost. He has such good taste...or rather, he knows what's good for him :)

Anyways, after addressing and stamping all the invites, I realized that I had just enough to send to local guests. This totally bummed me out because I wanted to send some to our extended family in Texas, Florida and Washington :( But being the computer whiz that he is, the Hubster edited the invite so that I could post it on here for everyone to see. It looks a little bare because the address and phone number have been deleted, but it will give you the jist of what it looks like:



Isn't it the cutest invite imaginable? Or, rather, is it the cute face in the invite that makes it so darn sweet?? :)

Lauren is starting to WALK!!!

Yep, her achievement list is getting rather long these days! This is a new "trick" she learned today. Such a great big girl she is!

Splish Splash!!

Wanna know the best way to get your shower, tub, sink, toilet, walls, ceiling, and floor sparkling clean in a matter of minutes??

Borrow my child!


Within minutes, rather seconds, of being in the tub, I gaurantee you that Lauren will have splashed water into every single bathroom crevice...some you didn't even know existed! I found out this bit of info last night because after almost 11 months of bathing in her infant tub, Miss Princess Diddle got into the "big girl" bath last night!! And boy did she have a blast!


Who knew that such a small little thang could make such a soapy, wet mess???


And just to reminisce while I have a minute since her royalness is snoozing, this was back when Miss Princess Piddle Pot fit comfortably in her infant tub:


My goodness, where did that little ball of babyness go??? Someone bring her back!