Saturday, December 24, 2011

Where did my baby girl go?!

So, every year for Christmas we take a picture of Lily in front of the tree. She's worn the same Santa hat since she was barely 5 months old in each picture. Tonight, we pulled out the Santa hat, placed it onto her cute little head & I realized that she won't be wearing that Santa hat next year. After 4 Christmas', she's finally outgrown it.

And I suddenly had a total Mommy moment. Where did that sweet little baby go? 3 years has flown by in what seems like the blink of an eye. I know every Mommy has moments where they just realize it's going by way to quickly. Well, tonight was one of those moments for me. My sweet little baby is now an entertaining and energetic, imaginative and very creative 3 year old. I figured tonight was the perfect night for a quick trip through memory lane. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do!

5 months, 4 days old

1 years, 5 months, 4 days old. We had to bribe her with candy to sit still for 10 seconds...

2 years, 5 months, 4 days. Growing so fast.
3 years, 5 months, 4 days old. My sweet little girl is growing up fast!
As an added bonus, here's a picture from tonight while she was decorating cookies!

What a cutie!
Looking back at the last 3 years, it's easy to see how truly blessed we are. I have a wonderful little family (complete with 2 crazy dogs & an even crazier kitty) and have so much to be thankful for. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and holiday season with their loved ones.

Merry Christmas!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Talking in her sleep...

The older Goober gets, the more she talks in her sleep. It tends to run in my family. My middle brother has always talked in his sleep. Heck, he and my cousin would have sleep-talking conversations while on hunting trips with my G-pa and Uncle. So it's really no surprise that Lily has inherited this trait.

This week it has been especially entertaining, however.

On Monday night, she started crying and whining so I went to check on her. She was sitting up in her bed, asleep, and mumbling to herself. When I asked her what was wrong she told me "I just want to see the sun!", with big tears rolling down her cheeks. I told her she would see the sun in a few hours and to lay back down. She did, I covered her up and back to sleep she went. No big deal.

A couple nights later, it's the same thing. She's crying and crying, so I go to check on her again. Only this time it's much worse. I go through the routine "what's wrong, let's lay down, it's ok" but she won't stop crying. And the big issue tonight? When I asked her to tell me why she was upset, she wails "I just want big savings!"

Oh. Big savings. I even repeated what she said to make sure that's what she wanted. And yep, it was. My daughter was crying in her sleep over big savings. She finally calmed down enough to sleep, but only after crying and mumbling for several more minutes. Over big savings.

I'm curious to see where the next sleep-talking episode takes us but I'm not sure anything will live up to the humor of big savings.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Oh the imagination of my child...

So, a few weeks back Goober and I were driving in the car, heading down to visit my parents. At some point, Lily got pretty emotional and started crying. When I asked her why, she told me her fingers were fighting and wouldn't get along. Not really sure where this was going, I asked her which fingers were fighting and she showed me her pointer & middle finger on her left hand and said that her pointer finger was mad at her middle finger because they were too close and he needed some space. Huh. Who knew fingers could disagree? Certainly not me!

I was kind of dumbfounded, so I simply told her to tell her fingers that there was plenty of room for everyone and to get along. And she did. She pointed at those two fingers and told them exactly what I told her. Then she tacked on a "No more fighting. Be nice to your friends!" for good measure. Apparently, fingers need some tough love sometimes too.

This leads up to today. During quiet time (we don't call it nap-that would create a meltdown of epic proportions!), Brandon heard Goober talking in her room. When he went to investigate, Goob told him that those same 2 fingers were in time out because they were pinching. She showed him how she put them in time out (by putting her fingers together and pushing down on her bed) and how they were pinching (by grabbing her wrist and squeezing gently).

All I can say is, yep she's my kid. Her imagination is outrageous, her creativity knows no bounds. I wouldn't change her for the world. But I'm not quite sure how I'll handle the next finger dispute...

Friday, December 9, 2011

It's been awhile, so here are a few treasures from the past few weeks...

While playing with the kids downstairs, Lily responded to a comment with "That's what she said". Wonder where she learned that?! ;)

She believes I have a direct line to Santa. She has requested that I call him at home, just so Santa knows exactly what she wants for Christmas.

She can burp like a grown man. I was shocked the other day when she let one go for close to 10 seconds. Then I gave her a hi-five, because let's be honest, she definitely gets that from me.

She has a definite flair for the dramatic. Now when she gets hurt while playing, I hear "I hurt myself. I'm not gonna make it" along with tears and screaming. You know when she's really hurt, because she doesn't say anything. But those minimal, and even fake, injuries? She's just not gonna make it.

She has been requesting "Camerica Idol" on the t.v. Apparently, she loves American Idol and can't wait for the new season.

She has been crawling up and down the stairs, groaning "Mom, turn around" for the past two days. When I asked why, she told me it was because she's Candace from 'Phineas & Ferb',  and she's trying to bust her brothers. Evidently, the episode where Candace has a broken foot really resonated with her....lol


I'll do my best to keep up with more Goober gems...I know there are wayy to many that I've missed but I hope you all enjoyed these!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Lily Anne 2-3

Click here to view this photo book larger

A Phrase or Two...

In my determination to keep up with all things Goober, I've decided to post a couple of her favorite phrases. Hope you all enjoy!

"My butt is cracking out"

"I have a watermelon in my belly"

Saturday, September 17, 2011

A Little Bit of This & a Little Bit of That...

I just realized that it's been 2 months since my last Goober post. What a slacker I've been! And I'm sure I've missed blogging about some hilariously great moments. But I'll do my best to come up with something fabulous for all you Lily fans.

Her absolute favorite activity right now is puzzles. And I'm not talking 8-12 piece puzzles for 2 to 3 year olds. I'm talking 48 piece puzzles for ages 5+. The kid is a puzzle genius. Even those ridiculously hard puzzles that have two pictures on one...you know, the weird holographic type pictures? Those are her favorite kind. And she'll sit and do them for hours. It's actually really impressive to watch her. She's is, quite literally, an amazing puzzle solver (you like my play on words here? hehehe).

Another new favorite? Somersaults. They're really not new. She'ss been doing them for almost a year. Except now she's doing them off furniture onto the floor. She lays on the arm of a chair, puts her hands on the floor, and proceeds to complete a perfect, smooth somersault. But apparently the chair was just child's play. Tonight she started doing it off the end of Mommy & Daddy's bed. Which is almost as tall as she is. This child has no fear! Talk about giving Mommy's nerves of steel a work out!

She also happens to have a memory like a steel trap. Lately she's been talking about things that happened months ago. Like when her friend Ellie colored on her arm the day before Easter (5 months ago) or when Santa came to our house on Christmas to play with her, Z, Leighton & Magaw Nita (10 months ago). She just comes out with completely random memories at completely random moments.

She loves to "talk" on the phone. She has numerous play phones that she uses constantly. She especially enjoys calling Shanna & Wes (Brandon's sister & bro-in-law). Listening to her have pretend conversations is so entertaining. You'd think she was really on the phone. "Hi Shanna. How are you? Oh? Mm-hmm. I see. Well, I have to go. Talk to you soon. Bye." Those are typical conversations. Last night, we shared at bed at my parents house and I was texting Brandon to tell him good night. The next thing I know, she's clicking away on a pretend cell phone next to me. When I asked her what she was doing, she responded with "I'm texting Shanna", finished clicking, held the phone to her ear and told Shanna "Hi Shanna. I was just texting you. Ok, talk to you soon. Bye". Really? Texting? What on earth is next for this girl?

And finally, today while she was hanging out with Papa Dale (Mommy & Nana were at garage sales all morning), she saw something on television that she evidently doesn't care for. So she turned to my dad and tells him "That aggravates me". He was pretty surprised. I mean, how many 3 year olds know words like aggravate AND can use them appropriately? I couldn't help but laugh. She really is soaking everything up and not letting a drop of it go.

So there's another glimpse into the life & times of Goober. She keeps up laughing, that's for sure! I'll do my best to make sure I capture many more Lily adventures. After all, who doesn't want to hear hilarious stories about a fabulous 3 year old?!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Say what??

Lily has been coming up with some pretty outrageous things lately. For instance, I asked her to clean up her room Monday night when we got home from the store. Her response? "No, that's your job." Say what?! We proceeded to have a discussion about Mommy's job and how it does not include picking up after Goober when she makes a mess. Especially a mess in her bedroom.

Her catch phrase seems to be "oh my gosh!" while she puts her hands on her cheeks (kind of like Macauley Culkin in Home Alone). It was particularly amusing at the grocery store. Every aisle we went down, she would find something fascinating, get really close, put her hands on her cheeks and go "Oh my gosh!". Let's just say it took forever to get the grocery shopping done with all that stopping.

Finally, while I was shopping for an appropriate outfit for my G-ma's funeral last week, Lily decided it would be funny to moon me. In the middle of Gordman's. Really?! This is my child?! I have no idea where she learned how to do this, because it sure wasn't from us! Luckily there weren't customers around us at the time, but hello embarrassing! There I was, trying to speed shop, when I hear her little voice say "Mommy, look at me!". Lo and behold, I see her little behind wiggling at me. We had another delightful conversation, this time about things that are OK to do in public and things that are OK to do at home.

She definitely has a combination of her father's humor and my humor, which should make for some even more interesting times in the future!

Friday, July 1, 2011

She Melts My Heart

Wednesday night I got a phone call that no one wants to get. After going in for what we thought would be a successful surgery, I got the news that my Grandma (Magaw Nita to Goober) was in very critical condition and that I needed to come see her because she might not make it. Of course, this upset me and as hard as I tried, I couldn't stop the tears.

Lily has only seen my cry once. It's just not something I do often and I have to be beyond upset for it to happen. So of course she was a little freaked out. It upset her at first, until I told her that Magaw Nita was very sick and that's why Mommy was sad and hugging Daddy. She left and came back a few minutes later, holding out her hand.

"Here, Mommy. I colored you a picture." She rubbed my back and looked me right in the eyes. "Don't be sad, Mommy. It's ok."

And how could I be so upset after that.  All I could do was give her a hug & kiss and tell her how much I loved her.

Later that night, she colored a picture for Papa Harold and another picture for Magaw Nita, so that they would feel better too. I am so blessed to have such a compassionate little girl in my life. She makes my heart melt.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Goodnight Moon

Two weeks ago I bought Lily a Goodnight Moon dvd. It's filled with stories and songs about bedtime & interviews with little kids about dreams and night time at their house. She absolutely loves it. One part of the dvd is the illustrated story (narrated by Susan Sarandon, of course) of Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Lily's watched this several times (occasionally at nap and before bed) but I never really figured she was paying to much attention to the story. I knew she liked the music because she runs around singing "Dream Dream Dream" by the Everly Brothers all the time now.

Well, I was wrong. Last night we took her to Toys R Us so we could get some general gift ideas for her upcoming 3rd birthday. I found Goodnight Moon in the book section and showed Lily. Who then proceeded to open the book and "read" it to me almost exactly. You could have knocked me over with a feather! It was the cutest thing in the world.

So Goodnight Moon is definitely on her birthday list.

Monday, June 27, 2011

A Bedtime Ritual

Several weeks ago we changed up how we do bedtime for Lily. And she started ending her night time routine in a new way. Now every night Lily goes through the same routine.

She drinks her milk, brushes her teeth & hair, gets pj's & a pull up on and climbs into bed.

If Brandon is home, she gives him hugs and sugar (kisses) & then it's my turn. I get my hug & sugar, cover her up & occasionally read a story to her if she asks.

But at the end of the night I kiss her forehead, blow her a kiss and tell her "I love you". To which she responds "I love you most".

Those precious words  are the perfect end to any day and so much more than I could ever ask for. How did I get so lucky?

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Goober and the movies...

I took Lily to see Cars 2 last night (she's recently developed a random fascination for all things Lightening McQueen). Since Daddy went fishing last night, I figured it would be a fun girls night. It was definitely a mini adventure. To start off with, she isn't heavy enough to hold the seat down. So she spent most of the movie folded in half, with her legs up by her ears. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she thought it was kind of funny. I really wish I could have taken a picture, because it was hilarious.

She made it about halfway through the movie before needing a potty break. Can I just say I am so stinking glad that she is 99.9% potty trained?? It makes my life so much easier. Anyway, back to the movie. We go potty, come back and suddenly she's ready to go. She kept telling me "Ok, it's over. Let's go home." This happened off and on the rest of the movie. And she also requested to go to the bathroom 4 more times. I refused, because she really just wanted to play in the arcade area of the movie theater.

I finally got her to pay attention to the movie, after she needed to sit on my lap. And drink all my soda. And eat her candy. And eat more popcorn. Throughout this time, she dropped no less than 3 M&M's on the floor (which she then tried to find-ew), the rest of my soda and over half a tub full of popcorn (which she tried to clean up-again, ew).  But she was having fun and we were sitting all alone so no one was being disturbed. I highly recommend going to see a later movie-there are less people in the theater, which means fewer people to be disturbed by kiddie antics. I will say this, Lily was the only little girl in the theater. The theater was semi filled with teenagers, adults and families with little boys. She definitely doesn't fit any stereotype's about little girls, that's for sure! lol

She did love the soundtrack and couldn't help but boogie down every time a song came on. And she loved watching the movie. I think she wished Daddy had come with us, because she was very concerned about coming home to see him. All in all, it was a great time. And she loved seeing Lightening McQueen.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Once Upon A Time-Part Two

She finally told me the rest of the story today while she was playing outside in her swimming pool. I'll tell the whole story at one time-in case you missed Part One. :)

"Once upon a time, there was a silly gumball who lived in the woods. There was a crab, who spotted a spooky ghost. The end. What a great story!"

Now, the spooky ghost was not unexpected. He makes at least one appearance in every story. But the crab really threw me. Made me want to ask who the crab was & what was his story. But she wasn't interested. She's a temperamental story teller-if she's done telling it, you're better off waiting to hear it another day. Heck, I'm lucky I got the bit about the crab and spooky ghost!

Once Upon A Time-Part One

I know I'm probably biased, but Goober is pretty creative kiddo. She loves to color & paint and her imagination is out of this world. One of her favorite things to do is tell stories (using her story telling voice, of course). She tells stories about ghosts & little girls and she loves happily ever after. Which also means that all her stories start with Once Upon A Time.

Last night's story begins,

"Once upon a time, there was a silly gumball who lived in the woods."

Now, I've been waiting to hear what happens to the silly gumball. Unfortunately Lily wasn't sure where the story was going just yet. Maybe today I'll get to hear more about the silly gumball who lives in the woods. I'll be sure to follow up with Part Two once I hear it.

Monday, June 20, 2011

TV, cameras, swimming and more...

Let's see, where to begin. Lily now has a television in her room. Now, I wasn't going to go this route until she was at least in junior high school BUT we had a television in our room that was never being used. And Lily loves to watch cartoons and movies. Usually when we're trying to watch tv too. So, Brandon took it from our room to her room. And she loves it. She watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Goodnight Moon whenever we say it's ok. Thankfully she hasn't figured out how to work it on her own yet! But I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and relaxing in my bed.


Lily has been obsessed with my camera lately. When I went to upload photos into her folder, I found a ridiculous amount of photos that Lily had taken when she used my camera. Sneaky girl!

One with Mom, just because!

Here's where Lily's picture taking comes in. I found a ton of pics of the daycare kiddos!

Friends who got ice cream with Lily this weekend.




Our weekend was pretty fun. We got to spend Saturday in Springfield with my parents, grandparents, niece & nephew (No pics-forgot the camera!), which Lily loved. She adores Zaryk & Leighton. Saturday night we got ice cream with some of Lily's favorite friends (see pics above) at Carl's House. And on Sunday, she finally got to swim in her new pool! I captured a gazillion pictures of her posing. Apparently she's decided that she has to pose and I have to take her picture. On demand. So we have lots of swimming  pics to share. Enjoy!










Yet again, she woke up before the sun. Which means it's going to be a long day with a crabby Goober. But it's sweet that she enjoys waking up early enough to tell Daddy good morning and watch him leave for work. One of these days I'll capture a pic of her watching him leave for work out her bedroom window. It's pretty adorable.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Typical Day with Goob

I thought I'd give Lily fans a glimpse into a typical day/evening with Lily Anne. No real reason, other than she's a fun kid to be around and I'm sure a few people are interested. :)

She was up ridiculously early (6:45 am to be exact).  She spent the day playing with her friends, terrorizing Dora (our kitten), taking care of her babies Belle & Ariel, and giving me birthday presents. These gifts included an old band-aid, a picture she drew, a sticker she found in the basement & one of my ink pens. According to Goob, my birthday is everyday. Such a sweetie.

After work, we had some errands to run. Let me just say, Goober is a trip to take in public. She's one of those kids who waves to everyone then acts shy when they speak to her, she has to touch every toy on every toy shelf she comes across...you get the idea. Tonight she discovered  the patio "tents" in the home & garden section of Kmart. We sat under each and every tent while it was "raining" so we could be safe & sound (her words, not mine).  We did this three times, in every single tent. Awesome.

In the midst of all this, we were trying to find a swing set. We walked around the store for awhile trying to find them ourselves. No such luck. So we set off in search of someone who could help us. Apparently, no one knows anything about the store, because they had no clue and sent me to customer service. This is about the time she found the dinosaur place mat. Yes, my child is obsessed with dinosaurs. Like a moth to a flame, she is drawn to all things dinosaur. And she had to have the place mat, so she could see dinosaurs while she was eating. Just like Dino Dan (it's a show on Nick Jr. She is fascinated by it). That's my girl, breaking those stereotypes!!

It took the staff almost an hour to tell me that the swing set we wanted was not in the store. This just gave us seemingly endless time to play while we waited. Nice, right?!

Lily kept herself entertained by "cooking" me dinner on the grills they had sitting out for sale. I had chicken. It was fabulous. She also played with every single toy in the clearance aisle that was at "Goober Level". Every single one. Nothing I did could distract her from her mission. Then she found the Dora sprinkler, which she hugged like it was a long lost friend and carried around until it was finally time to leave.

Needless to say, we left without the swing but Goob did score the dino place mat and a Goodnight Moon dvd. She's very excited to watch it.

When I told her she could pick whatever she wanted for dinner, she chose...chicken salad?! Yep, my girl loves chicken salad. When most 3 year olds are begging for chicken nuggets and those golden arches, my little lady wants chicken salad from "Carl's house" (the local ice cream shop just up the street).

In the bath, she entertained me by doing magic tricks. Which means she wraps a bath toy up in a dora washcloth, covers it in a diego washcloth, chants "abra cadabra",  pulls the top washcloth off with a flourish and a "presto!". And then unwraps the washcloth containing the toy. She repeats this about 10 times.

We finished our night out with ice cream (in our Kai-lan pj's) while watching Ni-hao Kai-lan. It's a requirement that we watch Kai-lan when wearing those pj's. Nothing else will do.

And yes, I realize that she sounds like a walking billboard for Nick Jr. I can't complain though. Her favorite shows emphasize the same things we do here at home (good manners, taking care of the environment, being nice to our friends & trying new things). It's always nice to have it reiterated to her in ways she remembers later.

And now I'm off to put Goober to bed. Sure it's late, but she had fun tonight and that's really all that matters. Hope you guys enjoyed this glimpse into a day with Lily.



 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Song About Family

Lily is a pretty creative almost 3 year old. She has an imagination that just won't quit. Whether she's climbing a mountain (the mound of laundry currently sitting on the floor in my bedroom), pretending to be a dinosaur, waddling like a penguin, helping Diego & Dora rescue animals while avoiding crocodiles or imagining that she's Rapunzel in 'Tangled', her mind is always active. I absolutely love it.

 Last night I listened to her making up a song. Nothing new for her, but this one was pretty darn cute. She sang a song about her family members.

"Papa, Papa, Papa. Magaw, Magaw, Magaw. Uncle Wes! and my Shanna. Uncle Schuyler and Nana."

Cute, right? There was more, but I lost track after the rhyming.

Good to know she loves her family so much.