Gampa Rog visits

This past weekend, "Gampa Rog" (my dad) came to visit. He brought Layla a belated Christmas present (we haven't celebrated with him yet) -- art supplies! Paints, paint brushes, a sweet smock, water color markers and plenty of doodle pads! Thanks Gampa Rog!

Gampa also brought Layla one of those sweet wood duck thingie doos that you push and it totally looks like a real duck (I don't know how the hell to explain it, so here's a pic). Anyway, for those of you who know me, you know my eyes are about as good as Mr. Magoo's. When I saw dad pushing this duck thing up the driveway, I thought it was a puppy. And man, was I pissed! I thought, "Son-of-a! What the shit are we going to do w/another dog in this tiny ticky tacky house?!?!" When I realized it was a wooden duck, I laughed my arse off!!

All aboard the potty train!!

Oh yes... the potty train! Layla is on board and fully potty trained!! Well, I guess I shouldn't say "fully", as she still wears a pull-up to bed at night because we haven't transitioned her into her big girl bed. That's on our list of to-do's. But, other than that, she's an undie wearing, peein' and poopin' on the potty toddler (when do you stop referring to them as toddlers? Don't tell me now either, cuz I'm not ready).

We did the 3 day method, starting on Christmas Day. Yes, I said it. On Christmas. Whatev's. We had a few days of doing a whole lot of laying low, playing Mario Kart and nothing else on the docket so we thought, what the hell? Our method was to let Bean run around buck for three days. I think that she was able to tell when she had to go a lot better w/out the diaper than with. We bought a little tikes potty and put it in the living room to start, so she wouldn't have to go far when she had to go. When she said, "I gotta go potty!" we'd wooosh her onto her little pink potty and off she went. Then we transitioned her to the big potty (with one of those fancy seats that prevents her little booty from falling in) and bam! Potty trained.

Let me tell you, it's an awesome accomplishment and I'm so proud of her. I remember when she was a baby in diapers and one of her teachers at daycare said to me, "This one is going to be easy to potty train. She HATES having a wet diaper." When she said that I thought, "Great, lady. You just jinxed us." Not so much. She was right.

Geeze. Potty trained, going to school with the "big kids". What next? Driving? Boyfriend? Vegas? Wedding? Grandkids?

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Not a baby anymore

Today, Layla made the big step and moved from the "Seedling Center" at daycare (for newborns up to age 2-3, depending on when the child is fully potty trained and developmentally ready to take the next step in learning) to the church (where kids ages 2-3 up to age 4-5 go). I couldn't believe how nervous I was, and how excited Layla was. She's been talking about going up to the "chooch" for some time now (I get the feeling they really talk it up down at the Seedling Center to help ease any anxieties the kids might have about the move).

When we got to the church, I let Layla walk in ahead of me and she lead the way. We were shown to her new locker and her new room. She instantly found a friend of hers that used to be in the Seedling Center with her (Alyssa) and the two of them were off and running. There were no hesitations on Layla's part, no shyness, no clinging, no crying. She walked around the big giant room that was filled with kids of all ages (all kids gather together in the morning in a common area to eat breakfast, then break off into their designated classrooms) and wasn't phased in the least. A few of the older kids commented on her glasses and I went into full on mama bear mode, protecting my cub and explaining the glasses to the older kids. I think I was worried they were going to make fun of her, but of course, they were just curious as no one else in the school has glasses.

When I got Layla settled, I said to her, "Okay honey. Are you all set?" I think she thought I meant that I wanted her to come with me and leave, so she said, "No mommy. I not go with you in da car. I stay here." Awe. I know baby. I'm proud of you. I didn't even get a kiss when I left - I got a high five!!

I'm so proud of our little Layla, but at the same time am a little in shock and sad that this day has come. She's 2 years and 4 months old. This is one of many milestones in her life and I cannot believe how hard it is! After dropping her off, I got in my car, took a few deep breaths and tried to give myself a pep talk. "No crying, April. You have a big day at work. Lots of meetings and presentations. You need to shake this off and pull up your boot straps."

I wasn't even out of the parking lot when the tears started rolling.

Chrismas 2009

Oh yes, I'm well aware that this post is almost an entire month past due. Tough noogies. ;)

Christmas 2009 was a great one, especially since Layla is now 2 and was REALLY excited about Santa coming. Christmas morning was a blast and I swear, we were opening presents for hours. Layla Bean certainly takes her time opening presents, and after each one was opened she wanted to go into full play mode instead of continuing to open the rest of the presents that were under the tree (which was fine with us as it was so cute).

Daddy's favorite thing to see... his little girl preparing to be an athlete!


Here's naked Bean (are you noticing a trend here, blog fans?) with her new "Pink Baccuum"!

I took a picture of her right as she was throwing her baseball from her t-ball set at my face. Good arm, lefty.



Here's an awesome video of her opening her favorite gift from Santa - her new baby doll (yeah, cuz she needs more baby dolls, I know).

Future Shopaholic

After my trip to Chicago with Theresa, I gave some of the shopping bags I brought back to Layla. She LOVES shopping. She put my hat on (her shopping hat) and went to town around the house pretending she was shopping her pants off (literally and figuratively, as you will note by the picture. Yes, my kid likes to run around w/out pants on okay?)!

Watch out daddy! You're wallet is in for a hurtin as this little diva grows up!

5 Year Anniversary Trip

Let the "blog catch-up games begin"... I'll start with pics from our 5 year anniversary trip at the end of December.

We went to the Wild Eagle Lodge, in the snowmobile capital of the world (no seriously, that's what the sign says when you drive into Eagle River). SO, of course we had to rent a sled (because we traded ours in on a baby girl) and go snowmobiling in the woods of Wisconsin. The trip was fantastic and the lodge was amazing. We went 120 miles in one day on our sled (I'd say we both agreed when the day was over that we could've gone maybe about 100 or even a little less and been good with that, but by the time we started to feel like we were spent for the day, we realized we were 4 hours away from our resort. Oops).

Thanks for five amazing years of marriage babe!! I'm looking forward to many years of growing old with you ahead. I couldn't ask for a better husband and friend and thank my lucky stars for you every day!!


On the trails, at our first stop of the day.
Yep, that's me!

Chicago

This past weekend I went to Chicago to meet up with my girl, Theresa. We celebrated her 29th Birthday and the official end to our husband's 2009 hunting season.

The weekend was fabulous - lots of shopping, eating and dabbling with the vino! :) It was so fantastic to have some down time with Theresa, as it's something that we just realized we've never had, just the two of us (and we met eight years ago)!! We're always together with the boys, which is fun, but that also means that they disappear in the woods and then we're with the kids, dogs and chaos! Let's for sure make it an annual event Theresa! I had a blast.

Theresa was kind enough to lend her expertise in the technical world and gave me a hot tip on keeping up w/ my blog posts. So, ladies and gentlemen, after this weekend, checkout the old Sherman blog for some updates. And, have faith, the blog will be updated on a regular bases going forward.

Peace.