Blog Slacker

I have been slacking on the ole blog because I said in my last post that my next post would be more beach pics and quite frankly, I haven't had the patience to sit down and watermark them (which I try to do with any pic that shows R's face).  Well, I will post them eventually, but for now, here is just a random post.

First, a few "Roryisms"

She got a Snow White dress up dress the other night from Target.  I let her put it on before her bath, while we were unloading groceries.  She comes prancing in the kitchen:
R: Mommy, I am Snow White, have you seen the Second Drawers?
L: Second Drawers?....Do you mean Seven Dwarfs?
R: That is what I said "Second Drawers"
L: No, I haven't seen them.

At Emma's skating birthday party, Rory put on a pair of toddler skates (you know, the ones that go over the shoes).  She was having a blast!  It was time to go, so I told her we needed to leave
L: Rory, the party is over, lets go give them back the skates
R: No, I am not ready yet...I am weel-wee good at this skating.
L: You are really good at it, but it is time to go
R: But I like it...I put my skates on and I say 'WOOOOOO' (high pitched squeel)

She is MAJOR into pretending.  Lately, she talks about getting married, all the time.  Kevin is SO not thrilled about the shift in conversation.
R: When I grow big, I am going to wear my marry dress and marry Daddy.
L: You can't marry Daddy, I am already married to him.
R: But I love him, I want to marry him.
L: He loves you too, but you will have to find your own boy to marry.
R: One day, I will find my boy that God has for me and we will be married.
L: Yes, that is true
Kev: Stop talking about this Rory, you can't date until you are 35.
R: I am almost 3
K: We know.

After measuring her waist and ankle for some pants that I made her, she wanted to measure me.
R: Let me see your foot Mommy
(Hold up my foot)
R: Hmm...16.  Let me measure your leg
(she uses the measuring tape to my knee)
R: Just what I thought...30-10.  Let me measure your bottom.
(she runs behind me)
R: Wow Mommy...60-2-11....Wow, that is big.
L: Thanks for the vote of confidence Rory
R: Sure Mommy, no prob-um
----------
Other news.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are fast approaching.  Wow, like really fast.  I have got to get on the party planning for Rory's Birthday, and fast!  I have the theme and location, but I haven't taken pics for the invites or done anything of the planning variety...gotta get on that.

Rory wants to be a pink Jessie (aka Cowgirl) for Halloween.  I bought cheapo jeans at a consignment sale because she doesn't own jeans, and wont for as long as I can hold off on them, and am attaching cow print to them to make chaps. I also bought at the consignment sale a white button down boys shirt and I painted it similar to Jessies' from Toy story. I am not sure I like the shirt because it is SO stiff from the paint on the shoulders, so she may wind up in an appliqued shirt with it, we will see.  So far, so good.  Her pink boots and hat will be super cute with it. 

We contemplated taking Rory to see the Rockettes Christmas show in Nashville this year...then we found out that it is $80/person for all 3 of us.  I don't think that I can stomach paying $80 for Rory to have a seat, when she is going to be in our laps anyway, besides the fact that I think that $80 per person for both Kev and I is a bit steep too! Unless we can find discount tickets...not happening.  YouTube, here we come!

Glad that it is cooling off outside.  Rory has a lot of cute fall clothes that I am excited for her to wear...bring it on Mother Nature!  Rory is bringing all these Fall themed things home from school and I am LOVING it!  They are going to the pumpkin patch later this month and we had to send 3 T-Shirts to school for projects over the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.  Can't wait to see what my little Monet comes up with!

Speaking of school...Rory is LOVING IT!  As in, begs every day to go.  She has made a lot of friends and when asked who her friends are, she names off a bunch of girls.  I asked her if she had any friends that are boys...she said "No, boys are gwoss."  Kevin started clapping.  Her teachers did say that she plays on the playground with all the boys, jumping off stuff and climbing and stuff...doesn't surprise me. Thrilled with her preschool and THRILLED that she is loving it!

The Beach

Ok, so here is the first of 2 beach posts.  I will do the other one with the pics that I made on the beach, hopefully, tomorrow.

This is the first morning that we were there and the water was still really choppy from the Tropical Storm that had just passed through.  The weather the whole time that we were down there was beautiful, no rain, barely any clouds.  Just perfect.

My Mom and Tim went with us and it was SO nice to have another set of eyes to watch Rory on the beach.  Luckily, this year, she wasn't as interested in the ocean and didn't bolt towards the water at every chance that she got. 

Rory and Gee, walking and looking for seagulls or as Rory calls them "little fellas."  She kept chasing them saying, "here litta fellas...Rory won't hurt ya"

Rory and Daddy playing in the sand.  She LOVED the sand and loved even more wrecking any structure that we made out of it. 

This guy and his family were staying in our condo and he was out on the beach every morning fishing.  He caught about 25 catfish (I had no idea that catfish were in the ocean) that he kept throwing back (or maybe 1 catfish 25 times?) and then all of a sudden, he started calling in our direction saying that he thought that he had a small shark and asking if Kev or Tim could help him pull it in.

We all went running in his direction and needless to say, it was not a shark, but a 30lb Redfish.  It was HUGE.  Clearly, he didn't throw this one back!  Mom and I both made the comment that we felt terrible for the fish when it was laying on the beach dying.  I know, I am a wussie, whatever...

We also went to Tacky Jacks one night.  Due to the time that we were down there, there was NO ONE there so we got great tables and immediate seating in the restaurants.  I snapped this pic of my tanned baby while we were waiting on our food.

No beach trip is complete without a pic of a beach sunset.  If you look close, you will see a crane standing on the beach.  We think that he had a nest somewhere around our condo because he/she was out every morning and every evening while we were there.  Mr. Crane was clearly used to people too because he would get really close to us if we were sitting on the beach.

If I had taken the time to edit this, you could see him better.  Oh well!

One morning, Rory got up and said that she wanted to go to the beach and build sand castles before her breakfast.  So we put some clothes on and headed on down.  It was a bit cool in the mornings since the storms had brought a bit of cool air with them. 

My girl was really happy to be getting in some beach time, even before breakfast!

Look at those tiny feet! 

Rory and her "diggers" which is what she called the shovels.  She sat on the beach this morning for probably 35 minutes, in the same spot, and just played.  It was lovely.

WE also went to the Zoo and on a Dolphin cruise.  The Zoo there is very small but really, lovely.  You can buy a $2.00 cup of food and then feed the animals as you go along (well some of them at least).  It is very kid friendly and Rory LOVED it.  We got there not too long after it opened and the animals were very active and knew what the cup of food looked like, so we got to feed a lot of them.
These are deer and reindeer.  They had found this space in the fence where they could fit their noses. They were so sweet and gentle!

This fella was hungry I think.  He didn't roar, but we did get him on video 'talking' or whatever you would like to call it.  It made your chest rattle.  Glad he was behind a fence.

More feeding deer.

One of the few pics from the Dolphin cruise.  We did a Groupon for a glass bottom dolphin cruise before we left.  Rory was not a fan of the boat at first, but she kinda warmed up to it.  We didn't see many dolphins, again mostly because of the storms, the water was a bit churned up and not as clear and calm as it usually is.  We did see some, but just didn't get really close.  No matter though, we had a great time!

More beach baby photos.  She had 2 swim suits and wore them both most every day since one was generally always wet.  Somehow, I only got pics of her in 1 of them, and it is the same one as last year.  Oh, well.

We spent a lot of time in the indoor and outdoor pools too.  It took Rory a good day to get used to the puddle jumper, but once she did...look out! She had no interest in letting anyone hold her.  Of course, we stuck right by her, she is much more confident in her abilities than we are.

After a few days in Orange Beach, Mom and Tim went home and Kev, Rory and I drove to Fairhope to meet Kevin's family for the weekend at The Grand, just to round out our week long holiday. After a week with 4 adults, Rory was thrilled to see her cousins. 

The kiddos spent a lot of time at the pools and we even drove back to Gulf Shores on Saturday so that the boys could go to the zoo too since they had not ever been.  Our 2nd trip to the zoo was in the late morning, early afternoon (probably around 11ish) and the animals were not interested as much in food since they had already been fed and really wanted to take naps in the sun.  The Zoo doesn't take long, maybe an hour, so we had lunch at LuLu's and then headed back to The Grand, for more swimming.

Dark, horrible pic!  But I wanted to remember Rory and Brock laying on the bed after swimming, watching Blues Clues while we waited for room service pizza to show up.

Crazy monkey boy Brock.

BeBe and all her 'Grands.

Our last night on vacation. We sat on the balcony and watched the sun set over the water again. 

When you are at the beach and witness this fire on the water at sunset, you can't help but be amazed at the wonders of God's creation!  There is nothing like witnessing it with the 2 people that you love the most.  It was a spectacular vacation!



MIA

I haven't forgotten about beach pics, as promised.  I have been SUPER busy both at work and home.  They are coming, I promise!

First Day

I mentioned yesterday that Rory was starting 2 day per week MDO this week.  She was SO excited this morning, I had trouble getting pictures.  I got a few at home, but once we got there, forget it...she was too excited to be bothered.  She met one of her classmates in the lobby, and they immediately hit it off. The school provides the kids with the same bag.  Each class has it's own design...Rory's class was crayons, so when I spotted another crayon, I pointed Rory their way, and she and her new buddy were fast friends.

My big girl, getting excited to be going to big girl school!

 I am hoping to take a picture with this bunny on the last day of school too,  I know my big girl will look like such a baby compared to her end of the year picture.

 I have quite a few of these...very nice Rory!

 Little Miss Independant wanted to hold her lunch bag.  I have yet to get it embroidered...whatever, maybe this weekend.

 At school.  I was hoping for this cute, in front of the school pic...not so much.  She was so excited and just kept running around.  Oh well, this is our story, our first day experience and she was SO excited, and I am thrilled that the pics reflect that!

   She cried a bit when we left, but other than that, she did really well! 

She was glad that Kevin was there to pick her up, but she had a good time.  I asked her if she wanted to go back and she said 'Yes, but not today'

She refused a nap after school and then promptly fell asleep on the couch at 7:15.  I changed her to jammies, and tucked her into bed without waking her.  My sweet big girl!

Some posts on the beach are coming soon!

10 on Monday

This is a just a quickie post.  I am going to do a post (or 2) on our beach vacation this week. For now, here is a 10 on Monday.

1. We just got back from a week at the beach.  We stayed 4.5 days at a condo in Orange Beach and 2.5 days in Fairhope at The Grand Resort and Spa.
2. Rory packed her beach bag today and told her Daddy that she is going to the beach.  He told her no, that we would have to go another time.  She told him very firmly "I am asking you 1 more time, take me to the beach!"  Not much of a questions huh?
3. Because of the tropical storm that passed through the beach the previous weekend, there were TONS of shells on the beach...we brought home probably 60 or so...not kidding!
4. Rory starts preschool tomorrow.  I am so excited I can hardly stand it.  She is pretty excited too!
5. This past Friday was my Dad's birthday.  Loved spending it at the beach.  I don't know why, but I feel so much closer to heaven at the beach..is that weird?
6. I am back at work today...BOO!
7. I am going to the grocery store tonight to get stuff for Rory's lunch...do you know how hard it is to find a lunch box for a toddler?  They are all HUGE, I finally found 2...I got one of them and I am going to order the other one next week. Never hurts to have a spare.
8. We have had major regression on the potty training front.  Hopefully she will pick it back up soon!
9. I am having trouble thinking of 10...apparently my brain is still at the beach.
10. Yeah...read #9.

:)

Monday...Monday!

The weather has been SO pretty this weekend.  We have had a good time playing and enjoying being outside without nearly having a heat stroke.  I have a few pics to post, nothing major.

I got a call from the MDO program that we have had R on the wait list for this past Wednesday and they had a spot open for the 2 day a week program.  I am not going to post where she is going, for security purposes but I am SO excited!  I know that R is going to LOVE it!

I came home and told her and she got so excited about getting to make new friends.  We have orientation tonight and she has meet the teacher tomorrow.  She is going to LOVE it! 

This next pic has all kinds of issues, but it is so "Rory" right now.  She is sassy!
Yesterday, before church, we were ready a few mins early so I told her that I wanted to take a picture of her in her dress.  This was my 3rd Easter dress and I had yet to really get a good pic of her in it.  I did get a few good ones, but this is BY FAR my favorite picture.  Anyone who knew my Dad, should recognize this look (minus the finger in the mouth)

Here we go, this one is better! 

Well, that is all for now!  Hope that you guys have a good week! 

The Potty Training Post

 Ok, so this post is a long time in the making, and it may not help anyone, but whatever, I figured I would write it any way.


Prior to the actual potty training, I:

• stocked up on M&Ms
• Got a bunch of cheapo potty prizes for Rory to pick from when she went potty
• Got lots of cute toddler panties
• I also put an old shower curtain liner over the couch with a quilt over it
• Made sure that we had lots of clean towels  
• The froggy potty was in the middle of the living room in the middle of a few layers of beach towel
• Had a lot of high water content snacks and of course her regular 50/50 water/juice 

 

 (ignore my streaky mirror, this was taken the night before potty training bootcamp, the flash makes it look really bad!)

We talked up potty training all week.  Every time I would change her diaper, I would make a big deal about there only being a few diapers left.  On Thursday and Friday we counted down until her diapers were going to be all gone.  I told her (a lot) what a big girl she is and how little babies wear diapers, but now she is a big girl so she was going to get to wear big girl panties beginning Saturday.

We also bought a new toilet seat for the hall bathroom.  We were going to buy one anyway, but I found (at Home Depot) a toilet seat that has a toddler sized seat that flips down and stores in the lid.  It is awesome by the way!
DAY 1
Saturday Rory got up and we took her diaper off and put her in big girl undies.  I told her that when she needed to go potty, to tell me.  Then I gave her orange juice instead of milk for breakfast.  For the rest of the morning, I sat her on the Froggy Potty about every 15 minutes and had her sit there until she asked to get up. When she got up, I would reset the kitchen timer for 15 minutes.  This seems extreme I know, but I had to get her to go once on there so that we could make a big deal of it and she could get the 1st prize.  We had a lot of "HOLD IT! RUN RUN RUN..." moments, but finally, she peed.  I made a big deal of it, let her choose which M&M she wanted and pick out a prize. (Of course I took a pic...that's right, I took a pic of her sitting next to a potty with pee in it)

 After she went the first time, it seemed to register with her that she needed to go in the potty.  She did really well the rest of the day, we did have accidents, but she was trying, which was all that counts.
DAY 2
I had prepared myself for regression on Day 2.  It didn't prepare me though.  The morning of Day 2 was horrible.  You would have thought that it was the 1st and she had never heard of a potty.  This lasted for about a couple of hours or so and then she picked it up.
The rest of the day went pretty well.  She had some accidents, but nothing major and she decided that she didn't like the Froggy Potty and would rather use the big potty.  Fine with me!  I hated cleaning it out anyway!  We kept it in the living room anyway, just in case she wanted to use it, or she was near it and couldn't hold it to get to the big potty.  For the most part though, she went to the hall bathroom.
 

DAY 3
Day 3 was pretty good.  We even took a little trip to Target in big girl panties.  I figured that it was some place that R was comfortable, they have tile floors and we know where the bathrooms are.  I stressed the fact that if she went in her undies that we would have to come home, so she needed to let me know if she needed to go.  She did and we hurried to the bathroom and she went.  She was so glad to finally get out of the house, I think that me saying that if she went in her pants we would have to go home, was a bit of motivation.  We kept the trip short, and she got to pick a prize for not going at Target, so that was good too.

She does have a bit of fear in public restrooms on the giant seats with the open fronts.  I remedy that by me sitting on the potty, all the way towards the back (I am fully clothed, sounds gross...whatever) and she sits between my legs at the front. Sounds gross, but it works and she doesn't feel like she is going to fall in since she can hold on to my legs and her back is against me.  For a week or 2 if we went some where, I put the Froggy Potty in the car and we did have to use it once or twice, but now just reminding her not to go in her pants and to tell me so that we don't have to go home has worked.

I did put her in a pull up at bedtime, some theories say not to put them in a pull up at all, but I did and still continue to.  She doesn't have night time control yet, and I don't stress over that.  Night time control will come with time.  Poop was a bit more challenging and we still struggle a bit with it.

That is it...if there is something that I have forgotten, let me know and I will fill you in. 

Friday Quickee - Conversations with Rory

This will be a quick one, but she has been SUPER funny lately!

In the car on the way to eat with some friends of ours.  I called Kevin to tell him that we were going to O'Charleys (Hello, kids eat free!).
R: We are not going to O'Charley's, we are going to Ruby Tuesdays.
L: We are going to O'Charley's Rory, maybe we will go to Ruby Tuesdays another time
R: I am not going to O'Charleys
L: Okay
R: Wets go to Nellie Friday's
(***get it, RUBY and NELLIE...our dogs!)

We are trying to get her to go Poop in the potty...it is our last hang up that she isn't really consistent with.  For whatever reason, this is her thought process on Pooping.
R: Mommy, those fishies are hungry
L: What fishies Rory?
R: Those fishies in the Ow-Shun
L:O, OK.
R: I have to Poop in the potty to feed the fishies, they are so hungry
L: Rory, do you need to go potty
R: Yes, let's hurry!
-----She goes, and hops off the potty
R: YAY!  Mommy, those fish are so happy...they aren't hungry anymore!
L: Super!
(This is totally gross, but if it gets her to go, I don't care what she calls it and we have since aquired a new "Code Phrase"...I need to go 'Feed the Fish' has a whole new meaning)

Rory has gotten 2 of the Llama Llama books, they are SO cute, if you have toddlers, RUN and get them. 
Rory knows all of LLama Llama Red Pajama and 'reads' it to her self all of the time! 
I was fussing at her the other day and she busts out with this one:
R: Mommy, you listen to me...you stop all this Llama Drama and be patient for your Mama
(I almost lost it by the way...hard to scold her when she is being super cute)

After getting out of the tub the other night, she is following me into her room, all wrapped in her towel.  I turn around when I get to the bed and she is not there.
L: Rory...where are you?
---Silence
L: Rory, come here please
---Silence
L: RORY
R: (from far away) Rory is not here right now
L: Where is Rory and who is that talking?
R: This is Princess Belle, call me sweetly pweese
L: Princess Belle, where are you, come here please
-Rory tip toes in
R: Oh dear, I seemed to have gotten wost (lost), and I am naked...oh my

R drops juice sippy and a little spills out
R: Uh Oh, well that was unfort-nat (unfortunate)

Rory talks to Baby James

My cousin Caroline had her baby today.  Welcome sweet boy!  J@mes Edw@rd Klingler arrived weighing a hefty 8lbs, 5oz and was 19" long.  He is a cutie and Rory is excited to see him.  She told me tonight that she wanted to talk to him, so I recorded this on my phone for her.  I have no idea why it is sideways!

Wordless Friday