busy busy

Oh my goodness. Hartley keeps us so busy! She has mood swings already! We are definitely in the terrible 2's and temper tantrums are in full swing. While they are brief, they are pretty funny. She's started sprawling out on the floor and I can't help but laugh at her. Fortunately, she's well-behaved in public (and even quiet sometimes!).

We talk about emotions a lot. She shows me her silly faces. And her sad faces.

That sad face is pretty miserable. Poor thing.

And she usually gives us a smile for the camera. Very cheesy smiles.

She still has a hard time with the hard "kuh" sound. Instead of kitty cat, we still hear titty tat. There's also tate (cake), tamera, tootie (usually this goes with tootie motnah.. cookie monster), etc. You get the idea. Oh, and muntney. You know, like Curious George the monkey.

 One of our favorite mispronunciations is strawbabies. She loves her some strawbabies!

She will be TWO on Friday! We can't get over how quickly she's grown up, especially when she tells us I a big girl! We pout when that happens.

But I will be spoiled later this week as my sister-in-law has Baby Luke pulled out. He's breech so a c-section has been scheduled Thursday morning. We're praying he turns so she can have one of those 15 minute speed-deliveries she's known for. :)

I'm excited to see how Hartley takes everything in. We've talked about Baby Luke a lot. And she knows he's in BecBec's belly. I've also been telling her we will meet him very soon. I can't wait to see her face when she finally meets Luke.

We're having her birthday party Saturday morning with family. Marshall and I have been working on her gift- a kitchen set! Our other sister-in-law Janna found a Kid Kraft kitchen at Goodwill for cheap. It needed doors and some loving. Lots of loving. Once we get it finished we'll upload pictures. We know she's going to love it! And I'm gonna love being able to cook by myself!!

wait, there's more.

And just when you thought we were finished with big changes for Hartley...

I got the itch to move our guest bed into her room. Hartley loves her "new bed."

Now I'm just having seller's remorse from selling our futon last year. The guest room is pretty empty..

23 months

Hartley Caroline

you are twenty-three months old!

My.oh.my.

I love the above picture. You are all about playing hide and seek these days. You don't fully understand the rules, but it's fun to hide from you and hear "are you, Mommaaaaa?" Your counting is improving more and more everyday! You know your numbers, 1 to 10, and sometimes I'll hear you counting to yourself. I also count with you, if you cooperate. :) You also know many letters, but you only sing "ABCD. ABCD. ABCD." At least it's in the right tune.

You hit some major milestones this past month. First with potty training, then with your big girl bed! It took a few days (and some horrible naps) but you lay down and stay down! And as we're tucking you in you say, "Momma Daddy pop." Yes, we will (if you get out of your bed). There were a few times I forgot to turn your sound machine on or not loud enough, and I heard you get out, turn it on/up and scurry back into bed.

Unfortunately, the top picture is how you "cheese." The bottom is the cute one I like to see.. with the one dimple on the other cheek. :)

And you're just plain silly. Still. You tell us we're "siddy" too. "Siddy Momma. Siddy Daddy." Your vocabulary is amazing. You continue to pick up new words everyday. One of our favorites is "heavy." You'll carry something (like a gallon of bleach.. what in the world?) and bring it to me, "It heavy, Momma!" in a very struggling voice.

You love to sing! And dance. And make us sing and dance. You've started telling me to do a lot, too. "Push" the shopping cart, the "fwing" (swing). Yesterday morning, I got out of the shower and you told me "go get dress." That was a new one.

You ask for help, but you demand to do things by yourself all the time. You hate it when we brush your teeth for you. You whine a lot. You throw tantrums multiple times a day. I know this is just the beginning of terrible 2's. We remind you a lot to use your words. You know about emotions and I try to incorporate those into understanding why you're whining, screaming, or frustrated. Whining gets old quick.

You're growing up so quickly! You are going to be a performer like your big cousin Anna- always entertaining us. You make us laugh and smile so much- no wonder we're getting more wrinkles!

Your birthday is almost here! Daddy and I are working on a surprise kitchen set for you. We hope you like it and leave me alone while I cook. :)

And because these pictures are long overdue, I'll share projects that have happened since September.

I joined pinterest a few months ago while my sewing machine was being fixed. I found a lot of inspiration and a half empty gallon of paint in our garage. Out with the yukon gold and in with fernwood green! What was I thinking with that yellow!? I love how the green and white beadboard wainscoting looks so fresh and so clean clean. I'm also still working on the alphabet collage. I've used mostly styrofoam to cut out letters and glue fabric on. If I found a random letter on clearance at Hobby Lobby (pronounced "hobby loddy" by H) I would grab it up. I think I may have found 8 at really cheap prices. A few were less than 10cents each. What what! I'd like to get a clock for the letter "O."

Remember in one of the potty training posts, I mentioned a water faucet extender thing? This is it. A styrofoam cup with a hole. Shimmy the faucet in it.. and voila. For the record- that's how you're supposed to spell voila. Huge pet peeve. (AAGGGHH.. THIS WAS EDITED)

Yup, toothpaste on one side. Potty treats on the other! Don't mind if I help myself, too.

where do we start?

It's been too long. Our computer bit the dust in early December, actually over the summer when somebody spilt coffee on it.. but that's another story. In the meantime, I was using Marshall's really old laptop from vet school. Which means I couldn't upload pictures/videos OR print coupons. Quite the dilemma.

But my hubs likes to spoil me when he gets the chance. He found a used computer which a screen bigger than our bedroom tv. It's amazing!

So be prepared for some picture dumps in the near future.

In the meantime, we'll share our Christmas events.

We had a low-key Christmas morning. Hartley loved Christmas this year- last year she had no clue. But everywhere we went, we heard "Pismis lights!" and "Nono boat!" If you weren't informed, Hartley thought Santa was Noah. In her Bible, Noah has a beard (and stocking hat) that looks strangely similar to Santa. We did not tell her otherwise.

We got her a swing set in November, so she opened a few tiny presents Christmas morning. We spent that evening at Mema's house. Hartley got an amazing Fisher Price nativity set. We will leave it out all year long. :)

Wednesday morning we were heading to Columbus to have Christmas with my family. We woke up to heartbreaking news about the Davis family, a family that Marshall grew up with and Mrs. Jean was dear friends with the mom/wife. There was a fire during the night and no one woke up (they didn't have fire alarms). We're thankful that they passed away in their sleep due to smoke inhalation. It was hard to think about anything else the next few days, especially on long drives and being away from Brooklet.

We enjoyed a brief visit in Ctown with Grandmommie and Jim before heading home for the visitation and funeral. Hartley got some fun/noisy toys- a guitar! A doctor's kit, which she calls "Docta Moore," camera, and a book so we can practice letters!

Hartley had fun with her cousins Jayden and Emma. Hopefully we'll see them at Hartley's SECOND birthday!

We rang in the new year as usual- Krystal's! For the past 6 years we've eaten Krystal's and I was tempted to quit the one tradition we have, but Marshall picked up a sackful on the way home from the funeral.

Maybe I'll get around the posting one of those end of the year surveys. 2011 was different. It was a good year, but it was tough. It was emotional.

And my resolution for 2011 was to gain weight- that didn't happen.