A thief amoungst us!

My favorite Princess Penelope Piddle was thoroughly pooped. Seriously, it took only minutes before she was conked out cold for the night. And rightfully so! This girl was b-u-s-y today... things to do, places to see and cabinets to toddler-tornado through!

The thing is, she's a mischievous little tot. If something isn't hers and she wants it to be, there's an instant battle of the wills to see who will win the loot. And on the rare instances when she absolutely can't have something (for instance, the cat's tail), a tantrum begins and the pouty-lip emerges. Sure, she looks sweet and innocent but don't let that fool you... she has a heinous secret she's hiding and I'm about to spill...


The secret? She's a lil' thief!! At 13 months old, she's managed to steal a number of my things... things that a one year old shouldn't care less about. But nooooo, not my Fancy Pants! She wants what she wants and if mommy says no, she'll wait a few seconds and snatch it when I'm preoccupied with something else.

I learned of this thievery this morning. You see, I put Lauren down for nap and plopped my butt on the sofa to catch a much needed break. My plan was to indulge in some sort of useless TV program and veg out for minute while my Busy Body caught a few zzzzz's. The thing is, the remote was nowhere to be found. So I pry my butt from the cushions it was planted on and got on my hands and knees to look for the dumb thing. It's not there. Now most sane folks would simply change the channel by walking to the TV and changing it directly.... but not me. Never the quitter, I remove all cushions from the couch. Nada. At this point, I'm tired and annoyed, which only means one thing... someone's gonna get it. So the poor Hubster, clueless as to who lurks on the other end of the line, answers his phone. Sensing that my prego hormones were raging outta control, he quickly apologizes but says no, he has no idea where the remote is. I feel steam pouring outta my ears now. Seriously, there's three of us living in the house... I didn't touch it, our 1 year old child didn't ingest it and I'm rather sure the dogs didn't pawn it so he should know where it's at!!

Anyways, I gave up. No remote for me so I turn on the laptop. The battery is dead. So I go to get the cord to plug it in. You guessed it...it's nowhere to be found. It's not in it's usual spot and it's not anywhere obvious. Fabulous. So there I sit for the next half hour reading Parents Magazine while the remote and battery cord celebrate silently, relishing in the fact that they are so secretly hidden. Yes, I have days when I think even inanimate objects are out to get me :)

It wasn't until later this afternoon that I found the stash.... picture frames, a $25 rebate to Amazon.com, a piece of crust from yesterday's toast, and surprise, surprise...the remote and battery charger! Uh huh, Miss Pickadilly's spot was uncovered:


The jumperoo!!

Moral of the story: If you happen to "lose" something and your significant other denies knowing its whereabouts, take a second glance at the adorable cherub that smiles oh-so-sweetly at you. You might just have a little sticky-handed child too :)

Sunday with Diddle

Whoa! Did anyone notice my little pregnancy ticker thingy above?? I'm "one baby" away from delivering Mr. Jacob man! Ahhh, where did the time go?!?

::deep breath::

Alrighty, carrying on... When my grand plans of having a relaxing time at the Strutt your Mutt event were squashed by a tired and cranky girl named Lauren, the Hubster and I decided to give the outdoors another try. This time, however, we headed to the SVL park, which Miss Princess Pick-a-dilly totally digs.


So once again, the Tiny Tot and all her hoopla were loaded into the car and off we went. And because there's nothing more that I love than food at this point, except the Hubster and Piddle sometimes :), we grabbed a bite to eat first. We went to Port of Subs, which was beyond tasty and filled the craving I had for Carbs. My thrifty-nifty hubby liked it too, although I heard a few snide remarks about how expensive it was. Yes, the 5 bucks per sandwich probably broke the bank :) But to prove it's tastiness, I took a picture of the belly after Miss Glutton devoured a rather large portion of my Turkey and Provolone on wheat:


Yes she likes to eat and I think we're buying new jeans today because of it :)

Anyways, the Busy Body had lots of fun finding new undiscovered treasures and running off with them (and I do mean running!), leaving her waddling momma and poor daddy to chase after her. After about the 6th or 7th chase, I gave up. Seriously, I sounded like a laboring cow. I was huffing and puffing all over the place so the Hubster took on the chasing duties out of sheer pity for my compressed lungs.

Sticks, empty water bottles, feathers, leaves.... yeah, those were all edible delights in the eyes of my Fancy Pants. Here she is beginning to sample one of her delicacies:


And between chasing after her toddling little self and preventing her from indulging in her new savory treats, the Hubster and I had very little time to just sit and be. The first picture below is of the Hubster and Tiny Tot after she took off and attempted a great escape. That's his "I'm trying-to-smile-and-pretend-I'm-having-a-good-time-face". Haha!!


But the wonderful thing about busy, curious 1 year old's is that they tire quickly and need a break. So we took lots of 'em and most involved sitting down with a drink. We quickly learned, however, that Sippy cups are overrated and Mommy and Daddy's fountain drink is what the child had in mind. Lucky for us, we had water in our cup or there would have been a serious meltdown once her request for soda was denied.


Once she polished off the 2+ gallons of water we brought along, it was off to the swings. At first, she wasn't quite sure of them. She was fine to sit in it but the minute we swung her, she would get this pained look on her face and attempt to flee.


So the Hubster and I took turns consoling and swinging her:


and soon she was having a jolly 'ole time:


She's a spirited lil' thing, but those beautiful squishy smiles make it all worth it...most of the time :)

Strutt your Mutt

For the past week, I had been looking forward to the "Strutt your Mutt" event on Saturday. Justin and I have gone the past two years, and we've always had a pretty good time. I mean, it's a great way to get outta the house, enjoy some sunshine and look at all the looney-bins who dress their dogs up as Hot Dogs, Ballerina's and Alligator's.

But this year, I was even more excited because I knew the Piddle Diddle would love seeing dogs of all sizes and shapes. So we packed up the diaper bag, put the stroller in the Durango, and plopped the Princess in her car seat. We were off and I was positive she'd have a good time.

I was wrong. Unfortunately, the Curious Georgette decided that she didn't need a nap that morning, and boy, did we pay for that! She really didn't want any part of the event. The dogs did absolutely nothing for her, and if they happened to get too close to her, she quickly let them know that was unacceptable. She was simply cranky and annoyed at the world. Oh joy!

So, my grand ideas of having a fun-filled day quickly flew out the window. Instead, the Busy Body decided that she would call the shots and decide where we would all go. So the blanket that I brought for a mini picnic was never even brought out because we were on the move the entire time, chasing and corralling the Tiny Tot....


And when there was no further mischief to get into, she began to get bored and started to fuss (hence the Best Friend that's in her mouth!). The hundreds of dogs to giggle at, the bazillion kids that begged to be played with, the acre's of grass to romp in...nah, none of that would do. The only thing that kept the grumpety bumpety from wailing in protest was to ride on her daddy's shoulders the entire.rest.of.the.day. Poor Hubster.


So, Strutt your Mutt was a bust. We called it a day shortly after arriving and headed home so the Fuss Bucket could catch a much needed nap. Fortunately, her nap lasted quite a while and the Hubster and I indulged in a nap ourselves....Heaven, I tell ya!

Yum!

To say I've lost my ever-lovin' mind would be an understatement. Why you ask?

Because in the midst of this busy, hectic day, the Hubster dropped by for lunch and made himself a PB & J sandwich. It then occurred to me that it was Princess Piddle's lunch time and I hadn't chopped up a single piece of fruit or anything edible, for that matter, to feed her. Sure, there's always dog food lying around, which she finds ridiculously appealing, but nah... I like to live on the wild side by asking for trouble.

So this is the point where I became particularly batty:


Uh huh, and being the culinary inadequate momma that I am, the tiny tot ended up with a PB & J sandwich, minus the PB. I like to think that her lunch wasn't all that bad... I mean, it's fruit extract on whole grain bread (that has to count for something, right??) and besides, I added a few bites of peaches and a tangerine. But most importantly, the sticky, mess-making grape jelly was a hit...for her, that is. For me? Not so much because I soon discovered she thought it was most appropriate as hair gel :)

Wednesday's mom group

I'll warn ya now...I just got done drinking an entire one of these:


and my noggin is seriously threatening to quit at the moment. And I know I'm not the wittiest person to ever blog, but I like to add a bit of humor to my posts. However, tonight is not the night. Brain freeze is in full force and so you'll just see some cute babe's and their mama's...

Anyways, it occurred to me that as much as I talk about my Mom's Group friends, I have very few pictures of them. I got a few good pics at Piddle's Birfday party but not enough, so I snapped a few more on Wednesday. Truth be told, these mom's make me feel ridiculously fat at the moment because I am all "waddle-y" and pregnant. So I came up with a solution...I will post pics of them and their cute babies and leave my heifer butt outta the lens :)

Before I begin though, I apologize for not getting everyone. Some pics are chopped off, some are blurry and others were just downright too difficult to focus on because the kiddos were in action so a few kiddo's got omitted :(

Without further ado, here they are:

Here's the Princess Penelope PiddleBottom. She's the oldest, and the beggar of the group. Whenever she sees someone else eating, she wastes no time in demanding some of their food. She was, however, in a sharing mood on Wednesday, and handed me her stash of Kix's and Cheerios...although it was only because she wanted me to feed her!


And then there's Miss Grace. This child has the most expressive face I've ever seen and I couldn't help but make funny faces and try to capture her reaction. And based on the pics, I'd say I was pretty funny lookin'! But then again, maybe she was lookin' at her mama...hahahaha :)


Unfortunately because of where I plopped my butt down when we arrived, I only managed to get one picture of Colleen and Ben. It's a shame too, because he is uber cute. And those curls of his??? Priceless.


And here's Lauren's partner in crime, errr I mean partner in walking, Blake and his mama Heidi. With his devilish good looks, attractive one-armed crawl and ability to share his water bottles, Lauren is smitten. In fact, the two have had many play dates thus far... Heidi and I just make sure to put the bottles away so they don't play spin the bottle when we're not looking :)


And last but not least is the handsome red head below, Brett. This guy is cool, calm and collected... something Lauren has never mastered :) He's easygoing, adorable and has such beautiful eyes. Anyways, the first picture is of Brett, his mama Jen, Heidi in the background and nurse Lisa. The last two are of Brett and his pal Jayson. I'm bummed I didn't get any pics of Jayson and Krista but alas, here they are...


Like I said, I wish I would have taken more. But next time I promise to plop down in the middle of the kiddos to take pics of each one... although at the rate they're crawling, cruising and walking, I'm not so sure that's a good idea anymore :)

A love affair

Seriously, if the Hubster wouldn't get po'd and I was about 30 years older, I would be contemplating an affair. Why you ask?? Because I'm in love. Love, I tell you. Like the kind of puppy love where you "cross your heart and hope to die" after professing your love and devotion over and over again. Uh huh, I'm smitten.

Alright, so any guesses who the Love Muffin is? Anyone?? Fine. Because I can't contain it any longer, I'll spill... Dr. Ferber is his name. And I love him. I love him for helping me learn how to get Lauren to sleep better back in the day when she insisted an hourly nap was all she needed throughout the day. Yeah, that was a pleasant phase. But then Sarah showed me the light, lent me Love Muffin's book and I began to fall madly in love with the Ferber. Seriously, if I wasn't on this stupid budget the Hubster put me on, I'd fly to wherever he lives and plant a huge ole' kiss on his wrinkly geriatric face.

Which leads me to today... I lay Penelope Piddlebottom down for her morning nap and go about my business.... laundry, dishes, putting away the ump-teen blocks, balls and stacking thingies that the Tornado has pulled out, etc. So in between the mundane chores I'm doing, the phone rings. I always, repeat always, check the caller ID (for this very reason!) but somehow forgot to this morning (thanks Preggo brain) and took the chance of answering it anyway. Risky, I know, but that's me Miss Adventure.

Low and behold, it's a sales call. I listen to her for a moment before butting in. "No thank you" I say, "I'm not interested". But the operator proceeds with "Yes Ma'am, but you could be eligible for..." blah, blah, blah. Seriously, the woman wouldn't take no for an answer and being the kind-hearted soul that I am (ha!), I ended up pretending to listen to her as she pitched her deal of the century. When all was said and done, two minutes had passed and I finally had to tell Miss I-won't-take-no-for-an-answer that I honestly could have cared less. After hanging up the phone, I peek into the Tiny Tot's room and find this:


Yeah, two whole minutes and she was out. The length of a phone call! See... you'd plant a huge wet one on Ferber if you had the chance too :)

Park day!

Friday was SVL park day...rather, eat and attempt-to-poke-out-your-eyes-at-the-park day.

No really, I think my Penelope Piddlebottom was trying to see just how far she could push mommy before she had a heart attack from the worry and concern. The child has managed to put an assortment of non-edible items in her mouth thus far (receipts, dust bunnies, dog food, lint) so albeit gross, I wasn't all that concerned with her desire to "taste" the stick:


However, I assumed that life would be much more vivid with the ability to see out of two eyes, so I nearly fainted a few times when her eyeballs got in the way of the treasured stick:


But the look on her sweet little face prevented me from taking away her woody weapon. She would pick it up, walk around with it for a bit, and then waddle over and hand it to me. Each time she did this, I acted like it was a fantastic gift and thanked her for it. But of course, the minute I would try to grab it, she'll quickly pull it back and it was hers once again. Such a typical little girl.


When the stick no longer interested the Busy Body anymore, we headed over to the playground. My mom, being the saint that she is, accompanied Miss Diddle up and down the slide over and over and over again while my contracting, uncomfortable self sat in the shade capturing memories via camera. But the Curious Georgette decided that she didn't much need Grammy's help so she pondered the playground stairs for a minute:


and then she decided that she had to get some of that action and actually climbed up onto the stairs by herself!!!


She's such a big girl ::sniff sniff:

After each nook and cranny was inspected by the Piddle Diddle, she was utterly pooped and sat still for a nanosecond so that a picture could be taken. Sure enough though, momma wasn't nearly as cool as her surroundings, so she was off to explore...


She was so inquisitive, in fact, that the majority of these park pictures are much like the ones below. I managed to get some pretty good coverage of those cute lil' buns of hers:

See, she's even a cutie patootie from behind!