Mission Accomplished- NEW BLOG, PEOPLE!!

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED!

To my very few readers: Please update your links to include my NEW blogging address at Wordpress: http://sararoberson.wordpress.com/

I'm looking for a new title- any ideas?

An indoor waterpark!

This is your bathroom as two little girls are taking a bath:

These are the 2 little girls.

This is a mommy after supervising aforemetioned bath:

Yesterday Sherry and Olivia came over to do laundry (long story) and hang out. Poor Olivia had a bad cough, and evidently WAY too many cheerios. A bad coughing jag led to an unfortunate gag, and she ended up covered in regurgitated cheerios, as did my couch and even Gracie a bit. Sherry thought Olivia could use a bath, so I said throw 'er in the tub. Well, ain't no WAY Gracie was going to let Olivia "take bath" alone (better not to swim along, right?), so we threw her in there, too. Sherry got bath duty, and I got couch-cleaning duty. A pretty fair trade, believe it or not! Olivia taught Gracie the lovely art of splashing, and my bathroom was seriously FLOODED from the 2 of them. They had the best time! It's actually really nice that G has a little friend that she can do things like that with (since she'll probably never have a sibling) and that Randy and I have such good friends as Grant and Sherry to supervise each other's kid in the tub (and clean up their regurgitated cheerios) and not even bat an eye.

I know I'm really behind in blogging. I need to do the Christmas stuff and more, but Blogger is really driving me nuts. I'm thinking about moving over to Typepad, but I don't really want to pay for pro (of course I want the pro features!) and I'd like to be able to just move the whole blog over. Any ideas, suggestions for a new place to blog??

Christmas Pics

Weekend before last we had our Christmas portraits taken by Crystal Pace http://www.pacephotography.jhpace.com/. We had planned to have Gracie's 2 year pics taken the same day, but it was really cold outside and Grace was REALLY uncooperative. We got a lot of "action" shots. But they turned out really good! Below is a sampling:

LOVE the color in this one!

This is my favorite!

Christmas ball

She had a mouthful of marshmallow in this one!

A nice family shot

The fun family shot

This past weekend we attended "A Night with Elves" at Marbles Kids Museum. I was SO excited about this event, which is a fundraiser for the museum. There was dinner, drinks, live music, crafts, free-play at the museum and real snow to play in! Unfortunately, the place was WAY overcrowded, and it kind of ruined it for us. G had a good time, but dinner wasn't that great, they ran out of cupcakes/cookies and it was just hard to maneuver around and keep a good eye on the kiddo while letting her explore. I don't know that we'll go again unless they sell half as many tickets.

We're looking quite forward to Christmas- most presents are bought and wrapped and Gracie is starting to understand some of the typical Christmas stuff. She knows and says:

-Christmas Tree (kis-kas tree)

-jingle bells

-snowflake (snowpake)

-snow

-fa-la-la-la-la

-sings O Christmas Tree

-lights (and house lights)

-Santa Claus

-presents

So, she's got all her bases covered. We've watched The Polar Express, Charlie Brown Christmas, Mickey's Christmas (several different ones), Handy Manny's Christmas, and of course, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Good times.

Not much else to report. I am tracked out for 3 whole weeks! Then back at work for a week, then out again for another week for G's birthday and Grandmama's visit.

Also, I don't think I've blogged about becoming and Aunt! Our nephew Wyatt Michael was born on Nov. 30th. He's adorable, and tiny! Everyone is doing well. Congrats again to Kevin and Caitie!

First Haircut!

In the craziness of Gracie being sick, I totally forgot to blog about her first haircut! We had it done on Nov. 15, because she had these wispy little hairs around her forehead that kept getting in her eyes. We figured it couldn't hurt to shape up all the curls, either. We went to Snip-Its, and had a really good experience with them, despite a rather long wait. They don't take appointments, which I'm not crazy about, but the salon was really cute, with little kid-sized chairs and fun characters. Gracie did fantastic for her haircut. They had some bubbles for her to play with and that was all she needed to keep her distracted. Her hair doesn't look much different, but it curls up more on top of her head now (which is cute but frustrating when it won't lay down).
Here's a few pics of the experience:

Unfamiliar territory

Poor Gracie is sick! She started with mild coughing/stuffiness on Thursday, then by the time we put her in bed on Friday night she had a temp. of 102.4. By Saturday morning, my dear toddler had been replaced with a fireball- 104.3!!!! It was uncomfortable to touch her she was so hot! I called the doc and we took her in that morning. Her flu test was negative, and they drew blood to check her white cell count which was great. So they think she just has a nasty virus and there's not much we can do. I started cycling Tylenol and Motrin today which has helped keep her temp from spiking back up. I'm so hoping she wakes up tomorrow perfectly fine. She really hasn't been in a crappy mood or anything- a little more impatient and clingy, and not eating much, and she has her moments of whiny breakdown, but not too bad. Randy wasn't feeling so hot last night but seems to be ok today, and earlier today I was feeling crummy, but maybe I'm just worn out from worrying about Grace. I sure hope I don't get this crap. At least I'm tracked out this week to take care of her.
Also tonight we were shampooing our carpet in the living room (there were small colonies of nasties living in it!!) and we have a spot where the carpet meets the hardwood where the cats have clawed down to the carpet spikes (we usually keep the spot covered with a rug). Well, I came across the threshold and my feet were wet, and my right foot slipped back onto the carpet and RIGHT into a damn carpet spike! I didn't realize how bad it was cut until I saw I was leaving blood spots on the tile in the kitchen. It probably could've used a stitch or two, but it closed itself up pretty well and didn't bleed too much. It hurt like crazy!!
So, not doing too good around here. At least I got the kitchen cleaned up and the carpet done today. And I'm tracked out so I can't complain too much.

Sorry

I apologize to my few readers that I haven't been posting very often. My computer drives me crazy with its insanely slooooooowww upload times for my large pics, and I'm too lazy to resize them on the OTHER computer that has my resizing program because it takes forever to start up. And I COULD just post a bunch of text, but I know nobody cares what I have to say- you want cute pics, right??
But, I do like to document the goings-on of dear Gracie's life, for posterity's sake. So here goes.
-Singing. This is her newest "thing". She sings the Hot Dog Dance song (hot dog, hot dog, hot diggy dog, and the last 3 words: mouse, club, house!), she sings this funny thing I think she made up, which is more of a rhythm (boopy boopy bap-bap-bap), and today she made up a song about mama-dada. Those were the only words, over and over, but she was definitely singing them. lol!
-I sorry. She likes to apologize to things. If she falls over a toy, she apologizes to the toy (I sorry blocks). If she runs into one of the cats, or the sofa, or the potty, etc., she apologizes to it. Sometimes she apologizes when SHE gets hurt, and sometimes to us. She also says I sorry when one of us sneezes.
-Please. She won't say please. Won't. Makes me mad.
-Eating. She still doesn't eat much half the time. I've just given up. I offer her some food, and she either eats it or doesn't. She never turns down fruit or juice, so she's getting nutrients that way at least.
-ID. She can identify TONS of items in her books. You can ask her to find things, or ask her what something is and have her tell you. Just about any word she knows she can identify.
-Speaking of words... she must know well over a hundred words. At least. She talks NONSTOP, and is staring to link things together. You can see the little schemas in her head expanding as she assimilates and accomodates (thank you, Piaget!). Yesterday she was telling me, in multiple sentences, that she was going to play hockey, with dada, at Jojo's house (our house- she thinks Jonah owns it evidently) on the TV. Too bad there wasn't any hockey on that night.


In other news, I am excited about 2 upcoming events. Marbles Kids Museum is having "A Night with the Elves" in December, and it is dinner, drinks, dessert, REAL SNOW to play in!!!, cookie decorating, pics, and tons of other things for families. It's a fund raiser, and I'm really hoping we can get tickets. A shout-out to Sherry for the info! Also coming in December is Raleigh Winterfest, featuring a natural ice outdoor skating rink on Fayetteville St in downtown Raleigh. So cool! The smallest size skates they have are 9's, but just watch me try to get G into a pair of skates to try out the ice... =)
I have several events to blog and post pics of, Halloween included. I'll do it soon, I promise.

Zoo

I have been slack in uploading pics here in the past couple weeks. We went to the NC Zoo several weekends ago and here are some pics:

Willy the Polar Bear

Riding the carousel

Oh CRAP! There's a mountain lion chasing me!!

Heh.

Who's the monkey on whose back??

Just looking.

This may have been her favorite part: riding the big bus back to our parking lot!!

Adios, Wubbies!

Last Thursday I noticed that Gracie had bitten a hole into the paci part of her dog wubby. Lately she's taken the chewing on them, and the doggie had suffered the consequences. So, I figured, it was time to break our child's heart and put an end to the wubby addiction. When Randy got home, we cut the broken part off the dog, and cut the tip off the duck wubby. We wanted her to still have the animal part as her lovies. We left the frog wubby intact, in case of emergency. We put her to bed with just the "broken" wubby that night, and she fell asleep without incident. However... she woke up around 1:00 whimpering, then whining, the full-out broken heart crying. I was going to let her cry and see how long it took, but Randy went upstairs and after a while ended up giving her the intact wubby. Of course she went right back to sleep.
Friday night, same story, except she woke up shortly after midnight and merely whimpered for a few minutes before falling back asleep withOUT the real wubby! Yeah! Last night she spent with Grandma, so I'm not sure how it went. And tonight, she's gone to sleep just fine, so we just have to hope that she makes it through the night and we'll be well on our way to wubby-freedom!
I also recently started rewarding her for going potty with a piece of candy corn. She's finally to the point that she understands rewards, and now all I have to to is ask if she needs to go potty and remind her of the candy and she runs right for it! Twice on Saturday she pottied on public toilets and I didn't even have candy with me. So, improving there, too!
We've been working on manners, too- getting her to say "please". She'll do it sometimes. Still needs some work.
We had our second Little Gym class yesterday- what fun! I really enjoy it and I think she does too.
Not much else going on. We had Caitie's baby shower for soon-to-arrive cousin Wyatt- I made the cake and diaper cake, which both turned out pretty well! I don't feel like I've had a weekend, so I am hating that I have to go back to work tomorrow. =(

The Little Gym

Before we committed to the little soccer class with Gracie, we wanted to give another structured activity a try. Sherry and Olivia had been encouraging us to try the Little Gym, as a little girl at Olivia's daycare has been going and loves it. They offer a free trial class, so that's what we did this morning. Gracie is technically supposed to be in the "beasts" class (over 19 months), but because we wanted her and Olivia together, because G has never done a class of any kind before, and because the Saturday class combines the "beasts" with the "super beasts (up to 3 years old)", we asked if we could do the "birds" class, and they said that was fine. So, Gracie was the little oddball this morning, but we really enjoyed the class and are probably going to commit to this semester (it goes until mid-January).
The instructor told us that it is normal for the kids to want to explore the gym, and that it is fine for them to do so, as it encourages their independence, and that we should let them wander off (with supervision) if they desired. Which, of course, is EXACTLY what G had in mind for much of the class. But, a big part of the class was free exploration, so it was cool. She also told us that kids at Gracie's age are the big ones for wandering, and it is fine. The class focuses on following directions, exploration, music, play and basic tumbling skills. This morning was "backward day", so many the skills we were shown involved going backward (back handsprings on the octagon and backward rolls on the wedge).
Below are some of the pics from today:

Gracie didn't NEED to hold on to the support bars, but it sure was fun!

Olivia practicing her backward roll (with spot).

Gracie's turn


Check out Olivia on the big balance beam!

Little G

On the air track

Air track (inflated)

Waiting for the air track to inflate

Both girls (and us adults) had a good time- I think this will be a good activity to get Gracie exposed to more kids and have a semi-structured activity to do each weekend!

Teacher

I am thrilled to report that I have FINALLY officially obtained the position of TEACHER for Wake County Schools! It's about time, I know. I get to stay in the science lab, so this is pretty much my dream job. The only downside is that I am being booted out of the main building into a "modular unit" (trailer)- they need my room for a new PreK or something. I'm not thrilled about it, but at least I get control over my own heat/AC, so I won't be freezing anymore. I've been working this week to get my room packed up, and I guess I get to go through to process of re-setting up a new room, which is always fun. I will miss all of my shelves and especially my sink/countertop area. I will have my own bathroom, which is nice, but the sink is lacking in function. I'll have to post some pics when I get all set up. Just wanted to share my good news!