"Oh by gosh by golly, it's time for mistletoe and holly..."

My sweet Husband made me a couple of Christmas cd's with music by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra two of my favorite singers of all times. One of the songs begins as above and I have had it stuck in my head for weeks now. Truth be told, it has been "time for mistletoe and holly" for a while but I have been pretending that it is "so far away". Since I have procrastinated in every way blogging has not been my priority for the past few weeks. But I had to tell you all about Bunny's very first experience with Santa Claus.

Daddy Dearest and I got REALLY excited about Christmas a little early this year. And by REALLY excited I mean, we had the tree up, decorated and stocking "hung by the chimney with care" by the middle of November. Now, I realize that isn't anything compared to some of those that begin decorating their home with lights in OCTOBER but it is early for us. That being said, that decorated Christmas tree sure looked bare without ANY presents under it. So, I had to get in gear and begin shopping for those "treasures" that all the shoppers hurry home with as the song says. In all the hustle and bustle we made our first trip to see Santa Claus and went to Toy's R Us so Bunny could "see" all the toys.

Now, speaking from a first time parent/ultra procrastinator's perspective...I do not ever, EVER want to step foot in that place again in the month of December! There were people EVERYWHERE!!!! Kid's running around, kid's hanging out of the cart/buggy, kid's throwing unbelievable fits for a toy that Santa was PROBABLY bringing thing anyway! And I am sure there were Parents dashing down the isles knowing that their kids were a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off. You know how it is...your child is great for the moment but you know it is only a matter of time. I may not know about the kid's running around but I KNOW about the ticking time bomb. Sometimes you can almost hear each tick, tick, tick. I have to say that Bunny did great! But there is plenty of time for the above examples to be our child.
This is Bunny's outfit that Mrs. Tyler gave her! From the moment I held the outfit up she was all grins and wanted the pom poms in her mouth. She also loved the fur trim! She was the most adorable thing in it!

Anyway...We went to a nearby mall to visit Santa. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. There were many families there with multiple kids in each. They all had their turn climbing into Santa's lap and telling him what their little hearts desired most for Christmas. As Bunny's turn drew closer she decided she was hungry. After fixing (yes, that is a technical term in the South) a bottle she drank happily until there was one family of three kids left in front of us. YEA!

Then it happened...that all too familiar smell that inevitably comes at the most inopportune times. Yes, Bunny had made a job. Thankfully Daddy Dearest was there to "save" our place in line and we made a dash (kind of like the parents in Toy's R Us) to the restroom. I was worried that Bunny would cry when we sat her with Santa or have a fit (which she does periodically believe it or not) but I never even THOUGHT about this happening. Makes for a fun story though. We ended up letting the family behind us go before to make sure we would have enough time for the bathroom trip.

Bunny was getting tired at this point. You might not can tell from the pictures but I thought she just might snuggle up with Santa and take a nap. This too had never crossed my mind as a scenario that might take place. Below are some pictures of her sitting in Santa's lap. She couldn't take her eyes off of him at first. It was so funny! Even Santa got a good chuckle out of it.

So then the big guy took out the trusty book to read. She loved it! And it worked...

long enough for them to snap a picture, then it was back to Santa...

Then the day's business seemed to have hit all at once and I thought she was going to go to sleep right there.

That is until they gave her the balloon. This is Bunny's very FIRST balloon. She didn't even smile like this while sitting in Santa's lap!! Oh my goodness, she absolutely LOVED it!!! I mean, just look at that face. It says it all! And now, a week later and considerably smaller than it started out, the balloon isn't too far away from where ever it is she finds herself in our house.

She would talk to it and sing to it and about it! She was enamoured with it!!!

And that was our trip to see Santa Claus. It was exciting for us to see Bunny experience that! We are so looking forward to Christmas morning with her!

Shmorgishborg...

Just Playing...

Well, a lot and nothing at all has been going on since the last time I wrote. Bunny has been playing the day away as she normally does. Here we are in her room...

I will spare you the actual footage but right after I took this picture I decided to take a video of her playing and "talking". She chose that exact moment to do a "job" for me. : ) I don't know why it is but I have wanted to catch that "work" on video and finally got the chance. It is just the funniest thing though!!!

These legs are made for walkin...

Bunny's new favorite thing to do is to hold our fingers and walk! Nope, STILL not crawling but I will get to that later. She loves to hold onto our fingers and let us pull her up to stand. She has been doing that for a while but one day she just started taking a step after I did that. HOW does she know what to do!?! It was the most amazing thing!! It was like a light bulb came on and she just KNEW what those legs were made to do. Here she is with Daddy Dearest walking up and down the hallway...

She is so funny when she walks. I feel like saying "Mother may I?". I feel as if I am playing Mother May I because those new legs are still learning what a step is. Sometimes she will take HUGE steps like the one below.

Sometimes she will take "baby" steps as you might guess and sometimes she will take "scissor" steps. Lately she will pick her leg up and fling it out and down just like a soldier. Too cute!

Too cute NOT to put on here...

Teething...

Yes, Bunny is officially teething. One of her front, bottom teeth has broken through the skin and the other is on its way. I think I have tried for two weeks to get a picture of this tooth to no avail. This is the best one I have gotten and you can barely see that little tooth.

I know some of you guys out there think that Bunny doesn't cry. I can't tell you how many times I have heard "I have never heard her cry". I am here to set the record straight! She does INDEED cry! More so now that she is teething than before. I do have to say that I found the tooth as a result of a HUGE fit she threw and was NOT like her. I do see where people might think she doesn't cry because she is a FANTASTIC baby that has spoiled me rotten I have a feeling, BUT she does cry! I have thought many times about having a complete post of pictures and video of her crying. One day...

STILL not crawling...

Yes, Bunny just might skip the crawling stage. She does not like to be on her stomach at all. She will reach for toys and eventually end up on her stomach but she has yet to figure out how to pull those knees under herself. Bunny looks as if she is practicing sky diving as the picture below shows.

This is what she has done for MONTHS when she gets on her stomach. She has been rolling over for months now but will stay like this for a while. It is the funniest thing. Her new thing is to roll over and begin fussing until one of us sits her back up. I know, what you are saying or thinking...I just need to let her cry and figure it out. And I have tried. The crying gets to me though. I have even tried putting her on her stomach while I am in the shower or blowing my hair dry. That has been the best approach for me. Bunny is such a good baby though that she either finds something else to do in the position she has found herself in or she gives up...

I mean, could you watch your child just get so exhausted and frustrated that she just lays her head down and looks pitiful!?! I know, I have a lot to learn about this parenting thing but for right now...this is will just have to work. I'm not trying to rush her crawling or push her to because I am well aware that crawling brings on a whole new set of issues for ME. It certainly beats walking up and down the hallway for hours a day hunched over. So, no crawling, sitting herself up or pulling up right now but I will keep you posted.

Thanksgiving...

We had a busy Thanksgiving time (we spread it out over a couple of days) this year. We had Thanksgiving lunch with my family on Thursday. And Thanksgiving with Daddy Dearest's family on Saturday. Bunny did her walking thing most of the time at both places. I was so thankful for family to trade off with to save my back a little pain.

The Iron Bowl...

The day after Thanksgiving was the great Iron bowl game. Our last game of the season and we were there all day getting our last tailgating in until next year. Bunny's Grandy made her so many ADORABLE Orange and Blue outfits this year that we had a whole week of orange and blue flair! This was the newest little outfit...

She was such a trooper ALL day! Here we are posing one more time at the tailgate! What a great football season it has been!!!

We decided to take Bunny to her first Iron Bowl game. Here she is with Daddy ready to sneak in the gate. Yeah, you read that correctly. I'm not going to get on my soap box here but she is supposed to have a ticket. Ridiculous!!! With these two attached it was successful!

I don't know how but she fell asleep during the first half of the game despite so many fans ROARING, Daddy and I included. Poor thing was surrounded by Alabama fans too! She did great though. It was the first game that she made it all the way through! What a game it was too! There is NOTHING like it anywhere else! WAR EAGLE anyway!

Well, there you have it...your Shepard's Pie of Diaper Duty! I will do better about updating next week! I pass by the computer enough on all of our walking up and down the hall. I will have to just type a little every time I pass the computer! Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We are REALLY looking forward to Christmas!!!!

Meet The Seas

Meet The Seas…they are a branch of The Sims family tree…Mr. Sea, along with his Father build multifamily housing, i.e. apartment complexes.

The Sea family BUILD the Apartments that The Sims family now lives in. Just in case you aren’t familiar with The Sims family they were the movers and shakers of Sim City. They went on Hot Dates and were Unleashed and Livin' Large in this City until they settled down and got to Makin' Magic on Vacation which led to a family. This family went on extravagant World Wide vacations and Safari's and had tons of Pets too until the economy crashed and they had to begin Apartment Life. And thank GOODNESS for builders like the Seas that build FANTASTIC apartment complexes in the Southeast. I mean just LOOK at TRELLIS. It is the amazing NEW apartment complex that they just finished in Savannah, Georgia...

It has some amazing amenities that The Sims will thoroughly enjoy like an AMAZING clubhouse that is filled with computers, pool table, TVs, a bar and a GRAND workout facility and tanning bed!

This is Mr. Sea, as you can tell there is no rest for the weary…He is always fixing something or inspecting something.

Outside of the clubhouse is a beautiful pool. I'm sure The Sims will spend a lot of time here!

There is even a car wash station at this new apartment complex. I mean, how spoiled are The Sims going to be!?!

Just to make it EXTRA special there is a pond with a small walking trail and beautiful surrounding landscaping. Complete with huge trees and Spanish moss that is so prevalent in Savannah, Georgia.

And the apartment building themselves are just BEAUTIFUL and there are so many!

All these amenities make Mrs. Sea wonder who in Savannah, Georgia WOULDN’T want to live here! Of course, she knows how much hard work and dedication it took her husband and His Father and others to build this amazing new apartment complex that The Sims as well as many other new residents enjoy so much! They have put heart and soul into a small piece of land and made it into such a great place for those people to call home. One can tell how much love went into building this property from the ground up. They should both be extremely proud of themselves! Mrs. Sea sure is!

What do the Seas do after the apartment complex is complete? Well, they move onto the next one! And they put just as much of themselves in the next property as they have this one. But before that happens one more thing is done…they put their stamp on it…

Just in case you can’t tell what that is…it is The Seas initials carved into a tree. It has become a Sea family tradition to carve our initials into a tree on the property after the job is completed. That is the official stamp of approval and completion.

All silliness aside, I am so very proud of my sweet, hardworking and oh so dedicated husband for doing such an AMAZING job. I just wanted to find a fun way to telling you guys about what this wonderfully talented, super hard working and oh so knowledgeable husband of mine has accomplished! I had not set foot on the job site in almost a year until the Grand Opening last week. I had seen a few pictures here and there of the progression but was not prepared to see the completed product. It is truly a place I would love to live. They should definitely be proud of what a great job they have CLEARLY done. Daddy Dearest works so very hard in EVERYTHING that He does. I am one BLESSED and THANKFUL girl to have this guy!

Living vicariously through your children...right or wrong?

Now, I will be the first one to say (not speaking from experience) that living vicariously through your children seems like it could put a lot of pressure on them. That is if you are wanting them to become the doctor that you didn't become or to make the grades that you didn't make, etc.. I mean, life is short! Let kids be kids!!! Face it, forcing your unfulfilled dreams to be their burdens might give them an expensive seat on the therapy couch. BUT...What if...that vicariousness is something FUN!?! Does that make it any better??

Growing up, I dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating ONE time! The one time that I went I was a Pound Puppy. Oh yeah, hair in pig-tails for ears and all. My family just didn't do the Halloween thing. Why? I'm really not sure. Maybe my Mom can jog my memory. I'm not bitter, it just wasn't how things happened in our household. So...now that we have a daughter I want Halloween to be something she gets into and has fun with IF she wants to. Doing FUN things for holidays that I didn't do growing up is how I am choosing to live vicariously through my Bunny. At least it is a little less stressful than being expected to make nothing less than 100's or going to Harvard. Until the day she can tell me she wants to or not, AND as long as we can come up with a "happy" costume we will dress her up for Halloween.

I do NOT want Bunny to dress up as a demon or anything like that. I wouldn't allow that. After all it will be OUR money that purchases the costumes. Not to open a can of worms but the old (please add the whiny parent voice and shrugging shoulders as you read) "Well....I really didn't want to get that for him/her but that is what he/she wanted." excuse is just that...AN EXCUSE! HELLO...YOU ARE THE ONE BUYING IT!!!! I am not just referring to costumes here. More so the clothes that kids wear but costumes are definitely included. Anybody hearing me on that!?! Okay, please excuse me as I pause to step down from my soap box and continue.

So, right or wrong and wanting to live vicariously through my daughter when it comes to dressing up, I chose a Ballerina for our Bunny to be for Halloween. This little Ballerina danced her way, gracefully I might add, through the annual Hill's Halloween party!

And boy did she make an entrance from stage left! The above pictures were the first of many we got after being there for just two minutes! Who knew that late afternoon nap would come in SO handy! She is definitely working it! She even found time to pose for a picture with her parents between scenes!

After a brief intermission, the prima donna ballerina was summoned to go on with the show...

She loved being in the lights...not the spot light so much...the string of lights. Here she is in the spider web with Daddy Dearest. She was mesmerized by this! Of course she wanted those little lights IN her mouth. Not so sure how the Christmas lights will fair on the tree. : )

For the finale, Bunny gave her two favorite audience members (Daddy and I of course) a private encore performance in which she was trying so hard to make a leap that she was sticking her tongue out.

She tried but was too tired to do anything else but eat and go to sleep dreaming of her performance. As did this Mommy whose dreams of being a ballerina came true if only for ONE glorious night of living vicariously (right or wrong) through this precious Ballerina dancing gracefully through her heart. I don't know if I will be able to stand it when she starts tap dancing her way through this heart of mine. I think that is known as the teenage years. We have a while before we are ready for that.

The Country Mouse and City Mouse

Here, is the face of one conserned, and confused little girl...


She was probably wondering a lot of things. The first of which was probably "Why in the world is Mommy even BOTHERING trying to take this picture on her own, she should know now that it NEVER works!". Practice makes perfect right? The second thought that probably went through her mind was "What is that smell?". So began our trip to the Pumpkin Patch last week. We began our trip by taking a hayride to the pumpkin patch and barn. Now, I have to tell you, I am old enough (that is the best way I could put it in order to make myself feel better) to have been to a pumpkin patch but alas, I have NEVER been. I was so excited that I...I mean Bunny was going to get to go!

I digress...We were kindly helped out of the hayride (such sweet little men that worked there) and were let loose on the pumpkin patch/petting barnyard. I have to tell you growing up in a small town and around horses, this "Country Mouse" felt at home in the barnyard, which was our first stop. Bunny on the other hand...not so much a country mouse. The first place we went was the barn to see the horses. This was the reaction from Bunny...

This "City Mouse" just looked at this sweet little pony like it was a big dog. Since we have a big dog, not as big as a pony but big to Bunny, she wasn't impressed. So...we move on...to the goats...

This was her ONLY reaction.

Then we go to the stall that has BUNNIES, which I just KNEW she would love. What isn't to love? They are small, fluffy and cute! Before I even sat her on the bail of hay she starts poking her bottom lip out and fighting the urge to cry. SUCH a girly girl already as a friend of mine would say. : ) This...was the best picture I got...

After I realize that she isn't diggin' the pettying barnyard I decide it is time to move on to the pumpkins. She was so excited as we walk around all these pumpkins that she just kicks her legs and tells me all about it as only an 8 month old can. We walk around and find the pumpkin we WOULD have taken home (long story) and just took a picture with it. Bunny was more interested in the grass beside her than the pumpkin that I...I mean SHE thought was perfect.

This Country Mouse walked around and told the City Mouse all about the pumpkins and what one did with pumpkins for Halloween and how we would get one and carve it and put it outside our door. I told her about how much fun it was to carve the pumpkin and roast the pumpkin seeds. Things that this sheltered girl didn't find out until COLLEGE because I NEVER carved a pumpkin until then. Again, I digress. Then a friend told us that there was a BIG pumpkin that we should see. So the City Mouse thought we should get a picture with it.

After the excitment wore off, the City Mouse was ready to climb back in her car seat and head back to the...well...city. But in order to do that the Country Mouse had a few more happy moments on the hayride with City Mouse and friends.

Lots of fun to be had by all...Country and City Mice alike. This Country Mouse felt right at home and hated to go but loved the drive back in the peace and quiet that you can only find when the City sleeps.