How do I have an almost 3 year old?!

It's hard for me to write this....like, hormones raging for some unknown reason. Why does 3 seem like it's going to be so hard? I can't remember life without her....seems like she's been a part of our life for ever. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Hubs and I got to the hospital at about 4am, and when they checked us in and put me in the bed, I asked the nurse if I was going to be going home without a baby later that day, and she looked at me and said "Sweetheart, trust me, you will not be leaving this hospital without a baby, I can promise you that!" I will never forget that, because 3 days later, I was being wheeled down the hallway with a full car seat in my lap. Best feeling ever. We were finally taking our baby girl home with us, after 9 long months of her being an "inside baby". She was ours, forever!
And, now....2.5 years later - She's so smart, knows ALL of her ABC's in order! She can count to 20.....sometimes higher. She usually skips 17, and she usually says 21 before 20. But she knows her numbers! She is a pretty good drawer....well...for a 2.5 year old. LOL! Day Care says that she's one of the best with a writing utensil in her class. She can draw circles so well, and she loves to draw suns! She knows the letters that make up her name. We just started working on saying her full name. And she loves saying Makayla! (her middle name) She says Makayla Seed, Chloe Makayla Seed! And then she claps and says Yay Chloe!
She is a very independent girl! She had to do everything on her own, and if I do something for her, she HAS to undo what I did and do it herself. For instance....when she goes potty (yes, she's pee trained...not poop yet) she has to get up on her stool and turn the light on. I'm so glad that she is no longer wearing diapers during the day, because the fight we had trying to put her diaper back on after she'd pee was just ridiculous...she would try to do it herself....failing, obviously, and that would just turn into a meltdown. Panties are just so much easier. LOVE IT! We will probably buy one more box of diapers, because she still won't poo on the potty, but starting tomorrow night, she's going to be in pull ups at night. That makes me so happy. It's one of those things that you never think is gong to happen as a Mommy to a new baby....but when it happens, it's just a sigh of relief. When I picked her up from Day Care the first day she wore panties and didn't have any accidents, I almost fell to my knees. I was just sooo happy! We've been almost a week with NO accidents! Sunday, we had a TINY accident in the car, but she caught it, held it and let the rest out when we got home! I was SO PROUD OF HER!
She weighs about 29 ish lbs, no idea how tall she is. I'm guessing maybe about 32+ inches? Maybe....she's short. She's wearing size 6.5-7 shoe. She's in 3T pants and 3T-4T shirts...depending on the brand. She's got Mommy's hair, and it's annoying. For both her and myself. I usually just pull the front back into a pony on the top of her head or piggytails on the top of her head because she's got a MAD cowlick, and her bangs just DO NOT cooperate at all. Girlfriend is going to have some issues when she's a teenager and she's trying to get ready. I know I still do!
She says just the silliest things sometimes. If I'm going potty, she will come in and say "Mommy,you go potty? GOOD Job Mommy!! I so poud of you!" She melts my heart! I swear!
She's my mini-me. I swear, she looks just like me. Side by side comparison, you really cannot tell the difference. She's going to be a heart breaker. I'm so proud of her everyday and I love her more and more with each passing hour. I miss her everyday that I leave her to go to work, and it's brings me so much joy when I see her big bright smile at the end of each day. She's my pride and she's me whole heart.

SO WHAT! Wednesday!

This week I'm saying SO WHAT! If:

• Chloe still needs to poop in a diaper. I don't care. We've mastered the peeing.....one step at a time!
• Chloe's 3rd Birthday is in 3 months and I've yet to make ANY kind of plans....
• I stayed home with Chloe on Monday to take her to the Dr after we already took her to Urgent Care on Sunday only to hear the same thing from her Pedi.
• I've been a giddy Momma in the mornings now getting Chloe dressed in all her spring/summer clothes!
• We've had to give Chloe allergy medicine and she's been sleepy at night....which makes me happy!
• I'm happy to go to talk to my manager today and tell her I need to miss our mandatory meeting in June for Andy's graduation ceremony!
• Somehow, someway I managed to gain like 2 lbs over the weekend....good Lord, what is wrong with me?!
• I always seem to get a little nervous about people babysitting Chloe while we go out for the night...no matter who it is. Not sure why. But once about an hour passes and I don't get a phone call, I feel a lot better....and I have alcohol in me. That helps too! LOL

Head over to Shannon's blog and tell us what you're saying SO WHAT! to this week!

Potty Training

This is just sort of an update of sorts.

2 weeks ago on a Friday when I went to pick Chloe up from Day Care, they told us what if we wanted to just go for it and jump in with both feet, just to bring her to school in a diaper with underwear over them, and they would take her diaper off and just go from there. So, that's what we did. Nervous, but hopeful.
By the end of the day when we went to pick her up, we learned that she had 2 accidents, 1 poop and 1 pee. Not bad....a lot better then she'd done at home. So we took it in stride and did the same the next day....and by golly! She had 0 accidents. But she didn't poop at all. So, she had peed on the potty all day! So that was great!
Day 3 at school with no diaper went a little bit differently. She was in this stage where she just wanted to hold it all day, and she had 1 accident. They said that was completely normal, so we just went with it.
This past weekend.....SHE DID GREAT! (still no poops on the potty) but she didn't have 1 accident! We spent most of the day out and about, and she had no problems going potty in the public restrooms! So she's been amazing. Saturday she was having issues with pooping....she would try and try to go on the potty, but she just wouldn't do it. So finally we put a diaper on her, she pooped, and then went back in underwear. So we just have to work on that.
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but to say that she's 99% potty trained I think pretty much sums it up! She's done great, and as long as we keep working on the poop and keep on her, I think we will get it in no time at all!!

SO WHAT! Wednesday!

This week I'm saying SO WHAT! if:

• I said before that Andy and I were going to start working out....and we haven't yet. Well, that all changed TODAY! We woke up at 5am, did P90X, and it was....well.....tiring, but I feel great!
• I'm still reading the 50 Shades books....I know, I know, that's so 2012, but give me a break. I'm on the last book, AND I've been too busy to read. LOL!
• I might have some exciting news to share....but no details yet, until I know for sure. *NO, I'm not pregnant*
• I'm chopping my hair and going blonde tomorrow! Eeeeeeek!!!!! This is what I'm doing...and I cannot wait! I'm so overdue for a new do, and it's going to be awesome!

• It took a new big girl bed for Chloe to completely forget about her fear of going to bed. She now falls asleep in bed with no issue! We're working on the whole leaving her awake to fall asleep now. We're taking baby steps.
• I really don't have anything else to say SO WHAT! to....

Head over to Life After I "Dew" and tell everyone what you are saying SO WHAT! to this week!

Best things about being a Mommy

It was December 4th 2009 when our world turned upside down. In a good way. That was the day we found out that we were pregnant. We had been trying for 3 months, and at that point I thought it would never happen for us. I know that 3 months isn't a long time AT ALL, and I know that a lot of people never get that and sometimes it could take year. But, 3 months seemed like an eternity for us. So, on that faithful day, when I finally got those 2 pink lines, I was sooooooo happy! It was the best day of my life. And then August 20th 2009 we welcomed our little bundle of joy into this world. It was seriously the best, most memorable day of our life. She immediately became the love of our life and we couldn't imagine life without her.
Being a Mom is the most rewarding jobs anybody could ever have. It's not a job that you have to interview for, it isn't a job that you can prepare yourself for. It just happens, and you just do it. You learn as you go, you learn from your mistakes and you grow from them. When we got pregnant, we had no idea what to expect. And then the Dr's told us that we could take this little human home with us?! What were they thinking?! Did they know what they were doing? Did WE know what we were doing?! Well...I guess we did something right, because now, almost 2.5 years later, here we are! We have the best girl anybody could ask for! She's so smart and so sassy and she is a girl who knows JUST what she wants. She's independent, but at the same time, she is such a Daddy's girl.
Some of the things that I love best about being a mom:

• When I wake her up in the morning and pick her up out of bed, she wraps her arms around my neck and just holds me and snuggles her head right under my chin....just precious!
• When she wants you to pick her up she stands right under my feet, puts her hands up and said "I hold you!"
• When you ask her what she wants to eat, no matter what meal it is, she wants pancakes.....
• For breakfast during the week, she always wants "cereal, WITH milk!"
• Every night, we do bath and jammies, and go downstairs for some milk and 1 episode of "bickey" (MMCH) and when they start the hot dog dance, she turns to me and said "utstairs, Mama" she knows it's time for bed, and she's ready!
• She is so independent, and she has to pick her shoes every morning! And she puts them on by herself, most of the time! She loves it!
• She loves our cat. Her and Shadow have becomes pretty good buddies. She likes her to sit on her lap and pet her.
• She's so stinkin smart, I just can't take it. She can count to 20, she knows her ABC's pretty well and she just blows my mind every single day.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to add another baby to our life, some day. But, not right now. We are so content with Chloe. We love watching her grow and learn and become a little lady! She's just amazing in every single way, and we couldn't be more in love with her.

Chloe and her Big Girl Bed

We got the mattress delivered on Thursday and we weren't sure as to when we wanted to get the whole thing set up. We weren't sure if we were just going to put the mattress on the ground so that she could get up and down on her own, because we knew that it would be way too high for her. So, yesterday, we just went with it and set it up. Bed frame and all!

She was so excited to get her new bed. She kept running and jumping around saying "So Excited!" "Big Bed!" She loved helping Daddy take her old bed down. 

Once we had it all set up with the sheets on it, she didn't waste any time jumping in and laying down telling us to leave and close the door. She wanted to go nuh nite!

So, here is the view looking in from the hallway.

View from the corner with all the stuffed animals.

I'm absolutely in love with her new room set up, and I know she is too! Looking forward to getting it painted so everything matches.

Dream Lite

Yes, this thing has been our God Send! I told you all before that since Halloween, Chloe hasn't fallen asleep in her bed at all. She refused to lay down. So I just took it as it was and would let her watch TV on the couch and fall asleep in my arms and then would carry her upstairs. Well....Husband and I were both to the point where we were just done with that. She needed to get back in her bed. So, Memaw bought her this Unicorn thing for Christmas. I had been looking at different options for different lights and things that she could sleep with, but hadn't actually bought anything yet. So, when she opened this thing up this past weekend, I thought, well....it will either work, or it won't. So let's try it!

Saturday night we put her in her Jammies at Memaws house before we left to go home. It's about a 5-10 minute drive home and she almost fell asleep by the time we pulled in the driveway. So I took her inside, took her coat off and we took her upstairs to her room, Dream Lite in tow.

We put her in bed, and at first she sat right up and started fussing a little bit. I turned on the Dream Lite and showed her the starts and lights on the ceiling and told her to lay down and count the stars. So, she did that, and literally fell asleep instantly! I blamed in on the fact that she was super tired. It was after 8pm and she didn't nap that day (or any day that she's home with us).

Onto Sunday. Again, no nap....so around 7:30-8-ish, we put Mickey on the TV and gave her some milk so she could relax a little bit after her bath. Half way through Mickey her eyes were starting to get heavy. So we grabbed Lovey and took her upstairs. Again, put her in bed and she sat up and didn't want anything to do with bed. So we did exactly what we did the night before. Showed her the stars on the ceiling and she instantly laid down and snuggled up to her Lovey and pressed the button on the Dream Lite a few times until I said, "Ok, time to close your eyes" Tucked her hand in her blanket and she fell right to sleep! I couldn't believe it. Was it really this easy?! Has this really been the answer we've been looking for? It's been almost 2 months since we've been able to put her in bed awake and this is all it took?! Omg, I was dumbfounded and happy and excited all at the same time! FINALLY!!!!!

So, Monday night rolled around....we did bath, Jammies, Milk and Mickey, just the same as we always do. Monday is usually a late night because she actually naps at day care, so we got through an entire episode of Mickey, and then we told her it was nuh night time and she grabbed Lovey and we went upstairs. Laid her down, and she really didn't even fight this time. Took a little coaxing, but for the most part, she laid right down, pressed the button on the Dream Lite a few times until I tucked her arms in, and within 10 minutes, she was OUT! Andy and I snuck out, closed her door and BOOM! DONE! This Mamma is one happy camper!!!!!!!

I know it'll probably be a little while before I will be able to leave her still awake, but I'm ok with that. We will take baby steps. This is better then it's been in almost 2 months, so I'll take it!

Thank you Dream Lite! Best $30 ever spent!!!

Big Girl Bed

Just under a week ago I said that I wasn't ready to turn Chloe's bed into a Full size bed. But the more I think about it, the more I think it would be just fine! She's been doing GREAT in her toddler bed! She's been in it since she was about 18 months, or so.....and well, changing her to a Full would mean we get new bedding AND that we get to FINALLY do her bedroom. So that really makes me excited!!
So, here's what I'm thinking....

We already bought a hot pink hamper for her room, so that's done....and all her furniture is white, so it's going to be perfect!! We bought a really cute wall hanging with the "dream" definition on it. So the "theme" of the room will be zebra but with pink and green accents. That's only because we already have her cubby thing with the pink and green drawer things in it. So we're not going to change that.

I think it's going to be great! And I cannot wait! And we're still going to paint her room....only now that we're going to do the zebra, I might just do pink and white instead of the pink and green....that might look better.

2nd Birthday Recap

This is just going to be a photo dump of sorts. I think the pictures really do tell the story! So, here you go! Enjoy....

Cutest Minnie Cake I've ever seen!!

Cutest Girl I ever did see!!!

"Ooooooh"

Being Silly!

Yes, she asked for a fork!

Um....Mommy, I'm not sure I'm liking this...

Yep, Not happenen

"Hands......." Obviously she doesn't like being dirty!

Oh, wait! Maybe this is fun.....LOL!

"Hmmm....that's interesting."

Yes, Mommy, Daddy, you can just open my gifts for me! I'll just chill here and watch

It's JUST my size, guys!

"Pitty!!"

Horse drawn carriage ride in Frankenmuth

"Chloe, look at Mama and say Cheese!"

My "Minnie" Me: Chloe 23 Months

My Chloe girl is almost 2, and I can hardly believe it! I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. How I woke up at about 1 in the morning and just laid in bed counting my contractions until about 3am because I didn't want to wake Hubby in case it wasn't time yet. 

I remember how Hubby called the nurses and told them I had been having contractions 7 minutes apart for the past 3 hours, and they told him to tell me to GET IN THE SHOWER and get my BUTT to the hospital!! 

I remember how Hubby made me my favorite sandwich, which consisted of wheat sandwich thins, salami, hot pepper cheese and mustard. We gave the cat kisses and told her that we would be bringing her sister home soon and jumped in the car and arrived at the hospital around 4am.

And then I remember the whole day being full of contractions, my Mom, painful contractions, and giving birth to my sweet baby girl.

And now, she's 23 months old, and I can't tell you where the time has gone. This past year has been AH-Mazing! Chloe has been learning and growing so much lately! She's just a sponge, and she is so happy! We bought a new house and girlfriend loves her new room! She loves all the space she has to run around and play in. And she loves the fact that we're so close to our besties Will and Cassie and their twin 3 year old girls! 

Chloe and Shadow (the cat) get along pretty well now too! Shadow kinda hates to love Chloe. Chloe will run and chase her, and Shadow will run from her. But when Chloe is sitting, Shadow will rub against her and purr. And Chloe just gets a kick out of that and laughs and says "awwww, Sadow"

Girl has been in a todder bed since she was like 19 or 20 months. She loves it! She's only fallen out about 3 times, and every time she's gotten right back up in it and went right back to sleep! She's always been an amazing sleeper, and I'm so grateful for that! Couldn't have asked for a better baby....Ever!
This week Chloe left the country for the first time! We drove through Canada to get to Maine. That was an interesting 20 hour drive.....but we made it, and we're having a blast!
Chloe has been loving the beach and hanging out with her friends Caitlyn and Alexa. We have just been relaxing and having a great time on our family vacation with our besties Will and Cassie and their twin girls! It's been great, and of course I don't want it to end!
I can't believe that my girl is going to be 2 years old in 1 month! It's just crazy to me, and she's growing and learning so much, and I can't wait to see what the future brings for her! She's Mama's baby girls. Always and forever. No matter what happens with our family in the {FAR} future, she's always the one that made me a Mommy! And I will forever cherish that with her!