Recent Happenings

Here's what has been up with us.. according to my iPhone.. Lots and lots of playing outside! 

Maelee got a lawn mower for her birthday and loves it! Just like her dad!

We love our backyard days..

 First time in the swimming pool for the year! YAY!

Picnics by the pool!

 Going on long walks to Zeppe's is fun but we have to stop to let Maelee stretch her legs! Maelee's first drinking fountain experience.. Gross!

 Wearing Nana's shoes is fun!

We have also had some splash pad play dates with friends! I haven't taken any pictures yet, but next I will for sure! Maelee loves to play at the splash pad, especially when she has friends with her. 

 So.. we finally did it.. We took the bink away! I wanted to wait until we got back from Seattle to do it because I wanted her to have it for the airplane ride, so a couple weeks after we got back we did it. Let's just say it has been rough. Right before bedtime she asked for her binky so I said okay and went to go get it and brought her back a broken one. She was not amused and started freaking out. I was just going to let her cry it out and did for a while but she is stubborn and three hours later it was late and we were all tired. I gave in and rocked her to sleep. I never realized just how attached she was to it and how much comfort it brought to her, even if it was just sitting next to her. All she ever really used her binky for was to fall asleep and then she would let it fall or take it out. So about a week and a half of me rocking her to sleep, and telling her stories, and singing all of her favorite songs for at least an hour until she fell alseep, I decided I couldn't do it anymore and was going to let her cry it out again. I also forgot to mention that she would wake up once a night to look for her binky and it wasn't there so she would start crying.. I realized that I became her binky and she wanted me to rock her when she woke up. I just couldn't do it anymore. Another reason I didn't want to let her cry it out is because we live with Jesse's parents and I thought it would be rude to just have them listen to her cry, so I didn't. So the next few days were better, she would fuss for a few minutes and then fall asleep. Finally, two weeks later (longest two weeks of my life) she is doing good and is back to her normal self. She has wanted her own pillow for a while so we went and bought her one and she loves it, I think that helps her too. 

This was the morning after we took her binky away.. She was exhausted!

Her Brown's Sydrome really shines through when she is tired, so after we took her binky away it was so obvious a lot. If you ask her to do her "Crazy Eye" she will just do this. She thinks it's funny. I hate it. 

More sleepy pictures...

 I have also been trying to get her interested in using her potty.. but she is terrified of it and wants nothing to do with it so I don't force her. The other day I noticed she was trying to go in her diaper so I made a huge deal about going in the potty instead, so she did! I have never been more proud of poop! She got to eat some M&M's and put a sticker on her potty chart and we celebrated! We danced and hugged and cheered!! That night before bed she also peed in her potty. She still isn't ready to be full on potty trained in my opinion so I'm not going to force her.. but at least we are making progress!!

Sometimes we ride along in the car when Jesse gives quotes on people's yards, which usually takes about 40min! We get bored, thank goodness for the iPad! 

 Lately, she loves to put things on her head, she gets pretty creative, this time it was a baggy. She also had a balloon that had popped that she told me was her pixie dust and then she would sprinkle on herself and twirl around the room and say "I'm flying like a princess" I adore her. 

Also, Jesse and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We didn't take any pictures, and just did dinner and a movie, but it was fun to just get to hang out together which never happens anymore. Happy anniversary to my best friend. We have been through so much together in the almost 10 years we have been together and I am thankful for the good times and the hard times. I love the life that we are building together and am excited for the future. Thank you for working so hard for our family, not only are you teaching me to be passionate about what you do, but you are teaching your children what hard work means and you are a shining example to them of doing what you love and loving what you do, and also believing that no matter how hard something might seem to achieve you can do it if you put your heart and soul into it, no matter what anyone says. Not only are you a great provider for our family, you are an awesome dad who loves his daughter more then anything. Thank you for being my best friend and just loving me for me and accepting my faults. I love you so much.