Layla's first swear word

Yep. She did it. She swore. She's only 15 months old, her vocabulary to date consists of mama, dada, Hudson (not pronounced perfectly, but that's what she's saying), all done, no, uh oh, mmmm (when she's eating) and some other random stuff. Now, we can proudly add, "Damnit" to her vocabulary. Note to self: stop swearing.

On Saturday night, Jake had some friends over to watch football and partake in some holiday "spirits", when the topic of Layla's first swear word came up. The guys were wondering if she had said a swear word yet, and if so, which one. I told them no, she hadn't but that I thought maybe we had witnessed her saying, "G. Damnit" a few times in recent weeks. She heard me say that, turned around and looked at everyone in the kitchen and as clear as day said, "Damnit". The guys blew up with laughter, which only reassured her that saying that word was the bee's knees. Crap. Double crap.

No more swearing in the Sherman house. Shit.

Just tell me when it's Christmas!

Mama mia... this has been one whirlwind of a week. This past weekend, Jake went hunting on Saturday (AGAIN) and got his third (AND FINAL) deer of the season. Congrats on a great season babe. On Sunday, we had Christmas at my cousin Quinn and her husband, Jamie's house. It was great to see everyone, and Layla had an absolutely amazing time. I think because she had her very own party hostess - Jada. Jada is almost 5 and was having a great time escorting Layla through the house, showing her fun toys, wiping boogers off her face, etc. Little baby Emma (Jada's younger sister), who's six months younger than Layla, was a bit overwhelmed with all the commotion, but is as cute as ever. Layla still has her beat on the "chunk front", but darn Emma is cute. Things started to get a little confusing with all the little girls with names that end in "a", but we managed to stutter through the night.

Monday, I was hit with the flu like a ton of bricks. And when I say "hit", I mean "HIT". I didn't even make it home from work... had to throw up in a bag, pull over at a gas station to throw it away and pray that I wouldn't have to stop again. Jake was a doll, picking Layla up from daycare on Mon night and taking care of her all night long. Layla didn't even know I was home because we didn't want her near me. By 3:00 a.m., Jake was dashing across the house, trying to make it to the appropriate vomit receptacle. He was slammed with the flu and I felt terrible. I stayed home from work on Tuesday as well, because I still felt like death and wanted to disinfect the house from top to bottom to prevent Layla from getting the bug. No such luck. We were called yesterday afternoon to pick Layla up from daycare and Jake spent the day as Mr. Mom. She hasn't thrown up (knock on wood) but has a fever and is very sleepy. I'm home this a.m. with her, and Mr. Mom will be coming home for the afternoon shift. We're not sure whether she still has that fever or not, but in an effort to keep her on the mend, and, to "not spend the holidays dead" (note Christmas Vacation quote), we're taking the safe route.

This morning, I woke up and looked at Jake and said, "I really have no idea what day it is." And I didn't. When he told me it was Thursday, I about passed out. Thursday???? December 18th??? Come on!!! I'm not ready for Christmas!!!

With all of that said, I'm going to need someone to give me a call on Christmas Eve, to give me, I mean Santa, a heads up on getting the toys put under the tree.

Soooo sleeepy.

Oh, and CONGRATS to Jason and Jaimie Schultz. Their baby boy, Mason James, was born yesterday!!!

Christmas prep

Bean Pie leaning in for her close up when I asked her to "smile for mama!" :)

Shovely Joe, racked out with his eyes open last night after a HUGE snow day with dad. He helped Jake shovel all day long and was BEAT.

Another, "I'm ready for my close up, mama" moment. Can you see that booger in her nose? Yum.

It's not going in our yard, Russ. It's going in our living room. A preview of the Sherman family Christmas tree... This is before the angel or ornaments have been put on... but at least we started it. We got distracted making chili for Jake's Central Middle School Christmas party tonight.

This is another attempt at a smile for the camera, however I think it looks a bit devilish, don't you? Awww... our little devil.


And, last but not least, a video clip of our chatty little girl. The lighting in this video sucks. Sorry. Didn't realize how dim it was until I watched the video this a.m. Next time I shoot her on video, I'll have Jake stand behind me with his deer shiner. Geeze.

If you can't say anything interesting...

...don't say anything at all! Okay, so I think the real quote is, "If you can't say anything NICE..." but you catch my drift. I'm trying to excuse myself for being such a bad December blogger. I haven't posted an update since Dec 1st and haven't taken any pictures of Layla since before then, I don't think. Bad blogger mama!!! Things have been a bit crazy (nothing out of the ordinary, just work, life, lack of sleep type stuff) so I haven't motivated myself enough to chase the little one around with a camera lately. But, I promise, tonight I will.

My very own Clark W. Griswold (a.k.a. Jake) got all of our Christmas lights up this weekend (yes, in the cold windy storm we had) and went out and got our family Christmas tree (Layla and I didn't go because I had already run all over town with her that a.m. and she had had enough of the wind in her baby blues). Jake takes the Christmas tree thing VERY seriously, so has not allowed us to decorate it yet since the branches haven't fallen into the "perfect position" yet. Tonight, we'll decorate the tree and then follow our annual Christmas tradition by watching "Christmas Vacation". We LOVE LOVE LOVE that movie and can pretty much recite it word for word. Props to Jake's family as well (parents included), as they can quote most of the movie as well. So, I promise to take pics of the tree, and our little beepa trying to rip all the twinkly lights off of it. ;)

This weekend was a big shopping weekend for me. Ruh roh. I picked up Jake's gift from Santa (a muzzle loader, yes, I bought a gun and there is one long hilarious story that goes along with this that I will save for an upcoming post) and got all of Layla's gifts from Santa as well. I also coordinated one of my coworker's surprise baby showers that we held for her yesterday and was responsible for buying and wrapping all of the gifts. So with the gifts I bought for Layla and all the gifts I bought for my coworker, I pretty much bought out Babies R Us and made a total scene. It was a sight, that's for sure.

Today, as all of you are reading this in the Southeastern WI area well know, we are completely buried in snow. Jake has yet ANOTHER snow day (jack ass) and the snow is continuing to fall. In Hartford we got over a foot of snow already. This isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow sometime, so the commute home tonight should be awesome. Good thing I have a GIANT family bus of a vehicle. The thing is magic in the snow, I tell ya.

Happy Tuesday everyone. Enjoy the snow! Please no hate mail or blog posts about the lack in pics. They're comin!

Happy Thanksgiving, a few days late!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, a few days late... Sorry for the lack in posts and pics. We traveled to the North Woods for the holiday and Jake spent some time in the woods while Layla, Grandpa and Grandma Sherman and I hung out and played with everything under the sun in the Sherman house (thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for letting us completely take over your home and destroy it)!

Lots to be thankful for this year... especially the fact that Jake is home with us to stay, no longer has to go away every month for Guard drill and we no longer have to worry about a possible 2nd deployment. Whew. Also, of course, we're thankful for this being our second Thanksgiving with our gorgeous baby girl. Layla keeps us busy every second of every day, that's for sure, and seems to learn something new all the time. She definitely understands every single word that comes out of our mouth, which is hilarious, and she's stubborn as they come when it comes to nap time and bed time (thanks a lot, Uncle Jeremy... we hear she inherited her sleep habits from you)!

I should've been spending time over the weekend snapping pics for the blog, but completely neglected my camera, and the computer. I think I simply needed a break from technology. After we returned home from the North Woods Jake and I laid low for the weekend, played our hearts out with Layla, and I cleaned the ever loving CRAP out of our house. I even got on my hands and knees and scrubbed all the floors (which I've done before but this time I had just changed all the light bulbs in the bathroom and it was in my face how badly we need to replace that disgusting floor). I couldn't believe how much flippin laundry we had either. I started laundry on Saturday, did it all day Sunday and we still have 1 or 2 loads left. How does that happen? Please someone tell me.

Today, Jake has a snow day (no fair). So, I tried to shoot from the hip with an impromptu "honey do" list but couldn't come up with anything better than "finish the laundry", "scrub the tub" (that's the one thing I didn't get to yesterday) and "schedule the basement construction" (the last thing to complete is the bathroom and a few doors and Jake says he's got a "team" constructed to help with this at the end of the month). I just have to do a little nudging to help him PLAN, as "PLANNING AHEAD" doesn't really exist in his vocabulary.

So that's the latest and greatest with the Sherman fam. I'll get back on the picture train soon and will post some snaps asap!

Move, Biatch, Get out tha WAY!!!

To quote one of my favorite "Luda" songs, "Move, Biatch, Get out the WAY" was my motto driving into work today. I have a question... does the "left lane is for fast drivers" rule still apply??? I thought it did, so stick to the left lane religiously on my commute. Anyone who has driven with me knows, I have somewhat of a "lead foot". When I used to drive the Honda (moment of silence in its honor please), I would FLY and weave in and out of traffic like Mario Andretti. The Envoy has proven to be a little more difficult to do that with, but, if you can imagine, I make it happen.

Today, on the way to work (not with Layla in the car... I abide by all traffic rules with our little Angel in the car, trust me), I managed to come into contact with (not literally, don't flip out) about 38 different drivers who were sure that the left lane is now for lame slow ass Sunday drives in the sun. NEWSFLASH - the left lane is for those of us who are constantly on the go, who have a slight to moderate case of A.D.H.D. and who straight up just enjoy driving fast while blaring some sweet Christmas tunes, or, straight up ghetto beats.

There. I feel better. Tell your friends... if they see a blue(ish) Envoy hauling up on their ass, they'd be wise, to MOVE, BIATCH and GET OUT THA WAY!!

Sorry family...

Dud's & Bean and After Bathtime

These two hardly ever leave each other's sides anymore. It's either Hudson following Layla around because she's carrying her Snack Trap of goldfish crackers that she consistently digs into and shares with him, or it's Layla following Hudson around to give him a kiss or to pet him or use him as a balancing support system.

And here's a quick video of our little walker. She has made the full transition from a "new walker" to an "all the time walker". She's hilarious and always wants to carry something from one place to another. She is very determined and stubborn about this walking thing which is good and bad. It's good in the sense that I truly need to give my back a break from lugging her around, but bad in that when it's time to get ready for work and get her ready for daycare, it's really hard to chase her down and get her to sit long enough for a new diaper, clothes and shoes!!!