My Baby!

I am taking offense lately to the speed at which Gabbie
is growing up. I realized last night that we have less than four months until she turns two. 2! How can my baby be almost two? Then I had to work hard at not crying because Aaron would have made fun of me for it.

She does all kinds of new things lately, and is becoming much more aware of herself and her body. She is obsessed with all things diaper-area related. She lets us know if she has tooted or points out if one of us does the same. She will disappear for a while and the reappear suddenly, gleefully announcing, "poop!". The other day I walked into the family room to heck on her because she was being awfully quiet, and there she was, laying on top of her changing pad on the floor, a diaper in hand, patiently waiting to be changed. Methinks that potty training will happen sooner than later.

She also likes to narrate whatever we're doing - getting dressed is a chorus of, "shirt! Pants! Socks! Shoes! Hat!". She parrots everything we say, even the bad words (oops- should probably start watching my mouth - especially since the unfortunate dammit incident).

I can't believe she's getting so big. Except for the newly emerging tantrums, I want to freeze time and keep her my baby, not my big girl. I guess I'll let her grow up, though, since I don't have a choice and she keeps getting more fun the older she gets.

Life always gets in the way

So, yeah, it has been a while since I posted. I really don't know why I haven't; I think it's lack of motivation paired with not much to write about, and my standard excuse of being really busy at work. Which is true.

Anyway, in the meantime I went to Chicago, ate some amazing food (next time you're in Chicago, splurge at Green Zebra - I had one of my best meals ever there), and was the recipient of the world's fastest pedicure:

I swear I was in that chair for less than 10 minutes, whereas my friend here in town got a pedicure that same weekend at the salon where I get my hair done, and it lasted 90 minutes. Next time I'm headed there instead.

Gabbie is as cute as ever and adds more words and skills every day. Here she is feeding herself yogurt.

Gabbie in pigtails is the cutest thing I've ever seen, so she gets them pretty much every day.

And with that, I have to run off again. I'm in the middle of making brioche, and the first rise just finished. 

The Top Five Things I Would Rather Be Doing Right Now

5. Sitting in a coffee shop with a chai latte and a good book.

4. Napping under a mound of heavy blankets.

3. Sitting at home with a cup of tea and a good book.

2. Sitting at home drinking this and reading a good book.

And the number one thing I wish I were doing right now:
1. Sitting on a beach, drinking a mojito, and reading a good book.

If you couldn't tell, it is freaking cold and gross outside, I do not want to be at work, and I have a couple of good books at home waiting for me, not that I could sit quietly and read them because I have a husband and a daughter who have needs that are apparently much more important than my need to sit and drink something warm (literally or acoholic-ly) and read one of my books. I have also had a headache for the past couple of days and am thinking that either copious amounts of caffiene or alcohol (or both) will be the surefire cure. Also quiet. Quiet would be nice.

Also, a house that doesn't smell like smoke would be nice too, but since Aaron nearly burned down the house this weekend our house has smelled a lot like smoke (it is getting better) and that might also be the cause of the headache. It's a kind of a long story, but just know that it's not a good idea to accidentally shut the flue when you have a roaring fire going. Just a tip.

Somewhat relatedly, the front corner of my living room smells strongly of vinegar. One of the remedies to a smoke smell we found online was to set out bowls of vinegar. So, after Gabbie went to bed the other night we set out a few bowls to see if it would work. She didn't bother them at all the next morning, but beelined straight toward one the second we got home in the evening and spilled it all over the floor. Our carpet has a somewhat thick pile and so it holds on to any and all liquid that gets down into the fibers like it's been through a recent drought and doesn't know when it will see liquid again.

When I saw what she was doing, I cried out,  "No! No! No!" and she freaked out mightily, dropped the bowl, splashing herself with vinegar in the process, and came crying to me. She doesn't like to be in trouble, not one little bit. I told her she wasn't in trouble, and gave her a few kisses on the head, but no way was I going to cuddle up to something that was covered in vinegar, so I took her to the bathroom, stripped off the vinegary clothes and then gave her a big hug. She had a rough weekend, what with all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors going off for a while, and a newly stinky house, and stressed-out parents and what-not. So after the vinegar incident, we cuddled and made it all the way through Skippyjon Jones for the first time and then read an entire other book after that. Even though I scared her into the cuddling, it was really nice. I might (but probably won't) have to try that more often!

Christmas: Never Late Than Never

So Christmas happened recently, and it was busy but wonderful.

We got to dress up in fancy clothes:

(This is the best photo we got of her in her Christmas outfit, but trust me, she looked even more adorable than even this.)

We opened up presents, and were so busy opening and then playing with them that no one ever looked at the camera:

We put bows on our heads:

We got teddy bears that were bigger than some of us:

And then Aaron did this:

He won't shave it off because he knows it bugs me. And I deal with it because I love him. It's the little things.

It was a wonderful Christmas, even if it did fly by and we travelled all over the state.