Last week we lost an amazing man, my Pap Paul. The kindest man he
was and I have nothing but fond memories of him. It’s no secret that I love taking pictures,
editing them to my liking. What
surprises me though is that in the moment of taking photos I often do not
appreciate the true beauty and meaning until a reason comes along to make me appreciate
it. Casually I snapped photos during a
late August visit with Grandma Robbie and Pap Paul unaware that I would
treasure these last photos of Pap and my babies more than anything. The joy on his face is clear. We will miss him so very much.
 |
| Always smiling, always called me Stacie Jo. In turn, Parker Sophia is affectionately called Parkie So ) |
With Kris in France it was a girls trip to Ohio for half of the
week. With a little help from boarding
for Syd, and a lot of help from Elsa and Anna (what DID kids do in cars before
DVD players?!) and even more deep breaths and silent cursing of the wind and
rain, we drove down to Grandma’s then spent time in Columbus with my
parents. While not the happiest of
times, the girls of course brought their smiles and goofiness to the
table.
After a long week we’re all back home. And I’m back to my sporadic blogging ;)
Teagan
Baby girl is now 18 months old! (she was early into her 17th
month when I started this part of the post, but I’m in the middle of my own
personal hell—tax season—so the posts come when they can).
 |
| Babe is constantly asking for "hat and bits! hat and bits!" (boots). Sometime she asks for shoes and yes, she does know the difference ;) |
Likes:
-Pouches: or “powsh!” as Teagan calls. Breakfast she wants a
powsh. Lunch, more powsh. Snack and dinner, powsh and more
powsh. I buy four Costco sized boxes of pouches at a time and between T
and her big sister, that barely lasts a month. It’s all fruit and veggies so
fine by me.
-Blanket rides: one by one I’ll pull all blankets and body
pillows off the bed, T & P lay on them, and then I drag them all over the
house. This is sure to result in giggle city.
-Sleeping: having a child who sleeps all night long is a luxury!
18 months in and I still don’t take for granted the fact that we can lay Teagan
down in her crib, alone, and she will stay put all night long. Pumpkin
doesn’t even make a peep when she wakes up in the morning. If it wasn’t
for the video monitor we’d have no clue when she’s up to start the day.
-Talking: OMG is this girl a little parrot! New words include:
Buckeyes (seriously!), a pick up (pick up), Ni Nee (Sydney), behboom (bedroom),
brush (wants to brush her teeth)
-Toothbrush: Teagan is obsessed to the max with brushing her
teeth. I literally have to hide the toothbrush from her because if she
sees it, she wants her teeth brushed. Surprising since I subject her to
Tom’s strawberry flavored toothpaste. I accidentally put that on my toothbrush
one night and practically vomited on the spot.
-Mimicker of Parker. P
screams, T screams, P jumps off the ottoman, T jumps off the ottoman (the
ottoman is now in hiding). P sits on the
couch to watch Frozen, T sits on the couch to watch Frozen. Then rolls off and wacks her noggin…we’re
still figuring things out J
-Daddy. Or should I say, 100% over the moon obsessed with this
man. “A pick up, Daddy,” is often heard and
boy oh boy, if Kris is paying “too much” attention to Parker, we will all know
it. Teagan will yell “na ni! (not nice),
proceed to yank Parker’s hair, then jump into Kris’ lap all while grinning over
her triumph.
Parker Sophia!
-Lego Duplo love—Parker is able to build Legos all on her own by
looking at the instructions. Over and
over and over again. With no help!
 |
| One of her Lego masterpieces on the right You go girl! |
-Frozen love—since the DVD/Blu-Ray release date last week, we’ve
watched Frozen about six times. Yep,
six. Don’t judge, it’s amazing. Plus we were stuck in the car for 12 hours.
With Frozen comes a lot of pretending; Parker is Elsa, the older sister, and
Teagan is Anna. Parker drapes a cape
around her neck, yells “Anna! I’m coming to save you,” and off they go running,
laughing, loving life.
-True Love—recently we purchased Beauty and the Beast. Parker doesn’t like the Beast. “He’s mean in the first part.” So I explain
to her that yes, the beast is mean but Belle helps him find true love in his
heart. “Parker,” I ask, fully expecting
the answer to be me, Kris, or Teagan, “who do you have true love for?” The
response?
C, her forever friend (that happens to be a boy, details schmetails) at school.
We.are.screwed.
-Imagination city--from Barbies to stuffed animals, Parker makes up elaborate stories and we play. It's so very fun to see her create fun all on her own.
-"I can do it myself!"--Parker has always been a do-it-myselfer and that is still going strong. If breakfast is cereal she will pull the ottoman to the pantry (see why the ottoman is banned??), open the door, use the pantry as a stool, pick her box, grab the milk from the fridge, pour it all in a bowl, and munch. If we're going somewhere you dare not to help her putting on her outside gear.
I ask Parker what kind of women we are. What does she say? "Strong women." Atta girl.
-Calming down--have I mentioned this? I'm not quite sure. If so here it is again. Parker is great at self soothing now so we've really cut down on wild tantrums. When Parker is losing her cool we'll ask her if she needs to take a minute and calm down. 9 times out of 10 she will say yes, retreats to our room (still bedsharing), and she will lay down with her paci (still...) and take some time to herself.
We tried time outs with her for a brief period and it was a disaster. Have I mentioned that she's strong willed? Because she is. This child refused to stay seated in our time out location (red couch). After a handful of ineffective attempts, we switched to self soothing and it's really worked out the best for all of us.
Other happenings
-P's first dentist appointment is this week. Do you think the dentist has an open bar for the adults? If not they probably will after Thursday morning.
-Disney dining reservations are made! So far we've blocked our dates and times at Cinderella's Royal Table, Chef Mickey's, Akershus (princess city), and Hollywood & Vine, aka Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins.
-We've decided to move within the next two years, prior to Parker starting kindergarten. Nothing insane, we're staying in Michigan. Actually more that likely in the same town as the downtown, the feel, the amenities, all of it is fab. And while we love our home and all upgrades we've spent time and money on, our eyes are set on one of the best school districts in Michigan. The school districts in MI are much different than Ohio. In our town alone there are four separate districts. We've been pouring over test scores, statewide rankings, and the housing market. Two years might seem a while off but it could be sooner and I like to be prepared :) We've even spent some family afternoons touring new construction, driving through fun subs with pools and playgrounds, and getting the feel of the neighboring lake community. We have learned a lot in this long process!
If you made it this far you deserve a medal. Adios all!
-"I can do it myself!"--Parker has always been a do-it-myselfer and that is still going strong. If breakfast is cereal she will pull the ottoman to the pantry (see why the ottoman is banned??), open the door, use the pantry as a stool, pick her box, grab the milk from the fridge, pour it all in a bowl, and munch. If we're going somewhere you dare not to help her putting on her outside gear.
I ask Parker what kind of women we are. What does she say? "Strong women." Atta girl.
-Calming down--have I mentioned this? I'm not quite sure. If so here it is again. Parker is great at self soothing now so we've really cut down on wild tantrums. When Parker is losing her cool we'll ask her if she needs to take a minute and calm down. 9 times out of 10 she will say yes, retreats to our room (still bedsharing), and she will lay down with her paci (still...) and take some time to herself.
We tried time outs with her for a brief period and it was a disaster. Have I mentioned that she's strong willed? Because she is. This child refused to stay seated in our time out location (red couch). After a handful of ineffective attempts, we switched to self soothing and it's really worked out the best for all of us.
Other happenings
-P's first dentist appointment is this week. Do you think the dentist has an open bar for the adults? If not they probably will after Thursday morning.
-Disney dining reservations are made! So far we've blocked our dates and times at Cinderella's Royal Table, Chef Mickey's, Akershus (princess city), and Hollywood & Vine, aka Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins.
-We've decided to move within the next two years, prior to Parker starting kindergarten. Nothing insane, we're staying in Michigan. Actually more that likely in the same town as the downtown, the feel, the amenities, all of it is fab. And while we love our home and all upgrades we've spent time and money on, our eyes are set on one of the best school districts in Michigan. The school districts in MI are much different than Ohio. In our town alone there are four separate districts. We've been pouring over test scores, statewide rankings, and the housing market. Two years might seem a while off but it could be sooner and I like to be prepared :) We've even spent some family afternoons touring new construction, driving through fun subs with pools and playgrounds, and getting the feel of the neighboring lake community. We have learned a lot in this long process!
 |
| All we do, we do for you. |
 |
| How could we not :) |
If you made it this far you deserve a medal. Adios all!
