Piece of cake

On another mom's blog, she posted "20 things I love about my son/ daughter". I couldn't resist to post the 20 things I love about my little peanut. (although how can I limit it to 20?)

20 things I love about Carlee:

1. I love the way she gives us random kisses and hugs

2. I love how no matter what she's doing and she hears someone sneeze, she says "bless you!"

3. I love how she wakes up and says "Mama...food!" I guess the girl wakes up hungry.

4. I love she "swims" in the bath and kicks her feet

5. I love how she cries TO brush her teeth...she'd brush them 10 times a day.

6. I love how she loves her cousins. She lights up when she sees them.

7. I love how peaceful she is when she's sleeping, paci and all.

8. I love how Carlee wraps her arms around my neck when she wants me to give her a piggy back ride.

9. I love how she rubs Casey's back when he's holding her.

10. I love when she asks me to rub her back.

11. I love how she asks for us to paint her toenails then has Casey paint his! (He'd kill me if he knew I put that, but he'll do anything for his little girl)

12. I love how she makes her little humming sound when she's tired (she's made the same sound since birth)

13. I love how she's learning new words every day.

14. I love the personality she's developing even if that includes eye rolls

15. I love how she's always smiling.

16. I love how she shows enthusiasm over something (Elmo and Abby Cadabby)

17. I love how she tells us "night night" then wants to cuddle

18. I love how she pretends to have conversations on the phone

19. I love how she loves playing "OUTSIDE!!"

20. I love that Carlee is the best part of Casey and I

Partners in Crime

Carlee loves her younger cousin Sydney (and her older cousins too for that matter). I offered to watch Sydney while her brother and sister were busy with art class, swimming lessons, and tumbling class (yes, all in one evening)! Plus Carlee gets excited when she sees Sydney so I figured it be fun for her.

Sure enough when Sydney shows up, Carlee was at the front door chanting Sydney (which sounds more like "Neh-ney".) Sydney had just started walking so she is nonstop. I forgot how they are at that age. Carlee is less than 9 months older but she will play with a toy for periods at a time or sit and "read" a book. Sydney was everywhere. But she's also so easy going and mellow. She didn't make a peep the whole night. Look at that precious face!

I love these pictures. It was fun to see them interact. I got to see Carlee act as the bigger kid showing Sydney how to do things or telling her "No, No, No, Neh-ney" when Sydney grabbed my cell phone. Carlee was so excited to have Sydney around, she wanted to show her everything. When Carlee told me "poopoo" and I asked if she needed to go to the potty, she nodded then stood there and said "C'mon Neh-ney, c'mon"! She wouldn't go anywhere without her cousin.

Towards the end of the night when both of them started to get tired, that was the hard part for me. Carlee isn't used to sharing my attention so I had both kids on my hips at one point. I don't know how moms of twins or even two young ones do it! I had fun with the two of them, but after one night I was exhausted!

4th of July

4th of July is one of my favorite times of the year. Everyone's so patriotic. Great weather. Parties. BBQ's. Good times with friends and family.

This year was no different. During the day, we hung out at home. Had a picnic in the shade under the tree in the backyard. Then Carlee played in her splash pad. Then we geared up for the night festivities. We headed to my brother in law's house for his annual bash.

We also celebrated lil Miss Sydney's first birthday! Can you tell she loved the cake?

Then the best part of the night is the fireworks show. Everyone gathered on the top of the hill to view the high school's firework show. I was excited for Carlee to see the fireworks b/c last year she was already asleep. Well, this year she fell asleep in my arms during the fireworks show. Clearly she was less enthused with them!

No longer a teen

Carlee is now 20!

Ok so its only 20 MONTHS, but still! In 4 short months, my baby will be 2!
Can I still call her my baby?

Each day she talks more and more. She surprises me daily. Just last night as she's about to go to sleep she says "One, Twoooo, Tee!" That was the first time she's done that. Usually when we ask her to count, she says "Onnnnne" and holds up her index finger and it stops there.

Her newest word is "shoes". It sounds more like "shooooz" while her lips stay puckered. She says "shoes" almost as much as "outside" now. Maybe because they go hand in hand. When she says "Outside?", before I can even reply, she's running down the hall saying "shoooz, shoooz". She knows she needs her shoes to go outside!

The last 20 months have flown by (I say this all the time)! I can't imagine what the next 20 days, 20 months, 20 years will bring!

I love you, peanut!

A few updates

I get behind in my blogging. I didn't do a recap of Mother's Day and all the cute pictures I took. Oh well. We have since gone to the river, had ballet, hosted bbq's, etc among everyday life.

Life must go on!

So a few quick updates:
*Carlee is doing better in ballet with each class she takes. I used to have anxiety of going. I feared a meltdown and having the only child act up. Now she's still the only one that acts up but she's improved as far as ballet goes. That's all I can ask for. Plus I didn't have high expectations with a ballet class for 18 month olds. This last class she actually did kicks. Now she walks around the house doing her kicks. She held the wand up like she was showed. She also tried to jump, which is the cutest thing. She grunts and her upper body moves upward as her feet never leave the ground. This coming Saturday should be fun!

*Carlee is talking more and more. (Not as much as Isabelle though- there's nothing she doesn't say!) Carlee's newest thing is saying "I dunno" in a little voice while shrugging her shoulders. Where did that come from?

*Carlee's newest not-so-pleasant tricks are tantrums. Yep, its started. The other day she didn't get her way and she laid on the ground and kicked her feet! Time outs are losing their affect. I better get a better game plan! Or this phase better pass quickly!

Another first

Carlee's first river trip! Casey and I grew up going to the river, so it was only natural that we took Carlee. We thought it'd be well before she turned 18 months but we weren't able to go at all last summer. When we had the chance for a quick little getaway, we jumped at the opportunity!
Here are the pictures of my lil' river rat in the making:

Ballet Class...take 1.

When I saw that there was a ballet class for 18 month olds, I was ecstatic! Casey's counting down the days until Carlee can play soccer or softball, but until then...she gets to do ballet! Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for her to play sports too. But really, is a soccer uniform as cute as a ballerina outfit?

We arrived at the dance studio with Roz and Isabelle ( I was hoping having a friend in the class would help Carlee's shyness). Turns out they're the only two in the class. We start out by stretching and neither of the girls want to do anything. They stared at the instructor the whole time. After stretching, we stood up and made an attempt to get them to kick, spin, flap their arms, something! Same result as with stretching...Nothing!

I'll let the pictures show exactly what they did during the class:

After awhile of doing the above, the instructor finally turned on some upbeat music to let the girls dance. As soon as she did, Carlee started bobbing her head, running around, and shaking her butt. That's my girl!!! She probably would have been more at home in a hip hop class.

We'll make another attempt at Saturday's class where there's 4 more kids in the class. Hopefully Carlee will do more than look cute. (But if not, who cares!!)