Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Toddler Town

Well, it has officially been a long time since I have posted anything.. I have thought about it more than a few times, but just haven't really been in the mood to write.  It's been a busy few weeks kind of across the board at work and at home, and with some travel thrown in for both Hunt and I we've just sort of been on the go a lot.  I just looked at Facebook to see all of the pics that I have uploaded and not posted about here, and we have been busy! There was kite day in Zionsville, feeding the ducks with friends at West Park, Zoe's birthday party, Sesame Street Live, my roommate reunion weekend in Va Beach.. A lot of time pushing HG on the swings at the playground (like cumulatively hours) and some very fun impromptu gatherings with neighbors.  

At work I have been preparing to head out to Phoenix next week where I was accepted to present some information about sports injuries at the American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association conference.  I am a little anxious about having to be in the spotlight as it were for an afternoon, but hopefully it will go well and it is certainly a nice resume addition and skill builder.  I'm starting to feel pretty comfortable with the information, so fingers crossed I will sound quasi knowledgeable.

At home it appears that the true toddler switch has been turned on and HG has turned into a little bit of a handful.  One minute she will be the cutest thing ever, and the next totally stubborn and defiant.  She is clearly testing boundaries and asserting her independence.  Teeth brushing for example is a nightly 10 minute battle of Harper "do it" which involves her sucking off the toothpaste and then brushing the exterior of her cheeks while walking around which of course is a trauma just waiting to happen and me saying AAAHHHHH and fifteen expletives in my head.  She has been announcing all week that she "is not listening at school" but then when you ask her about she recants and says "oh I listen" and "Carson and Ronan and Luca not listening".. Preeetty sure the truth is in the aforementioned disclosure.  We have, however, managed with much prodding and coaxing on Hunt's part for me to get on board with to transition her crib into the toddler bed.  I was convinced that she would never stay put in there, but surprisingly she has remained in her confines and hasn't really skipped a beat with the change (thank God!!).  I had visions of her creeping out of there all the time, but maybe she just hasn't figured out yet how easy that would be.  Current toddler faves are Candyland before bed (we may be rigging the cards to make that one go by faster..), and "Christmas Princess Mermaid" which is a Disney Christmas DVD with the princesses in little vignettes.  Unfortunately, she only wants to watch one part of and over which is the 12 days of Christmas tune princess style.  I'm sure come time for actual Christmas she will want nothing to do with that movie also of course.  Mac N Cheese appears to be fading in popularity, replaced somewhat by hot dogs.  I have recently started making green smoothies aka "green juice" which I sweeten up for her but am sneaking in avocados and spinach so that makes me feel slightly less like a shit parent on the nutrition front.  Some day one day we might get on the potty train.. there is still a lot of talk about underwears, but very little interest in actually sitting on the potty.  She did, however supposedly go once at school so that is exciting!

Last weekend I went to Va Beach to meet up with Erin, Meade, and Meredith.. It was a very relaxing way to spend Mother's Day and we had great weather at the beach.  It had been a really long time since I had seen all of them.. everyone is a little bit different in a lot of ways since we were in school together, but then a lot the same too.  It was very funny to relive some of our time at school together, and I laughed about some things that I literally haven't thought of for years.


My Mother's Day art from Harper's school this year.. So sweet.. Love having these little things they do to hold onto


A few cute pics from our time at West Park with the ducks, and of course the swings always.  We met CeCe and James and Audrey and Charlotte and had a super fun morning.. Also some cute pics from Kite Day in Zionsville with all of the above plus Zoe and Miles and Harry..

Hugs with Audrey


Toddlers running towards each other = adorable





The running is the cutest. EVER.





I borrowed Mindy's landscaping once again for the backdrop ;-)






Ok, so I feel better now.. not the most thorough work, but at least got me back in the game!  Now if I can just motivate to start working on some Shutterfly picture books too.. I get so far behind that starting become daunting.  It's going to be a busy 2 weeks, though.. I'm off to Phoenix, then Hunt to Chicago, then me off to OBX for Carson's Bach weekend! Whew.. Super excited for the Bach beach weekend, though, and getting to run around with the girls there for a few days- hopefully I can keep up!!