Attack of the Cricket

So Gabriella and I were sitting here last night watching Noddy. It's the last thing we do before heading upstairs for storytime and bedtime. Lulu (our dog for anyone who doesn't know) was outside. Suddenly I hear her growling so I went to get her quickly (we had an unfortunate skunk incident a few weeks ago so I don't take growling/barking lightly at night). She was right at the back door staring at it. I thought it was odd but decided to just let her in. I open the door and in hops a huge cricket (like 4 inches long) and Lulu goes after it. The cricket is hopping all over the place, Lulu can't catch it, and Gabby's trying to figure out what is going on. I was frantically turning on all the lights, grabbed Gabby (because the cricket got close to her) and was freaking out. Keep in mind I'm still having back problems and running around, grabbing Gabriella are on my list of things not to do. I was yelling at Lulu to catch it, I wasn't desperate was I? Telling our dog to catch a cricket that she chased into the house. It ended up jumping up the wall and I took one of Ricky's shoes and took care of the situation.

This morning Gabriella keeps talking about the cricket and how it jumped on her baby, and got near her leg. Oh and it jumped on the wall by her "bertday" pictures before Mommy got it.

Crickets on steroids are not welcome in this house. To be honest, I don't like bugs at all. I'm not that brave and if my husband isn't here to kill them they are not welcome.

Now that you're all laughing hysterically I hope you enjoyed our big problem. At least it's humorous for everyone else.

The Little Mommy (at it again)

I just posted about how I have a little mommy on my hands. She likes to mimic what I do with her, with her baby dolls. She was at it again this morning. Many people know I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how I did it and I ignored it for the first 5 days or so (put on my strong mommy face and just figured it was nothing) until I got to the point that walking was too painful. Well I've been to the doctors twice now and we have been pretty grounded to the house. To Gabriella's credit she hasn't been all that naughty. The first couple of days after the doctors visit were miserable, but since then she's been good. Of course Ricky and I discovered this weekend she can sit through a movie pretty well. Not something we're proud of for our two year old, but we'll get past this. I've taken Gabriella to one playdate (not a great plan, but the other mommy was really supportive so I didn't have to do much), and to our swim lesson (REALLY bad idea, but I thought the water would help). Other than that the couch has been my friend.

Anyways, back to the point of my little mommy in training. Gabriella knows that Mommy has a "boo boo back." She's been to my doctor's appointments with me, and knows it hurts. Whenever I go to take my medicine she says "Mommy's boo boo back okay??" with the sweetest, most concerned look on her face. Well apparently it's taking a toll on her. After she got up this morning she picked up one of her many baby dolls and went to put it in a chair. I heard her telling the baby that she was at the doctors for her "boo boo back." Then I heard Gabriella say "it's okay, Mommy's boo boo back will be okay, yours will too, right?"

I think it is SO adorable that she's taking care of her babies, but I feel horrible that she now thinks that everyone has a boo boo back. I start physical therapy on Friday and let's hope that my back gets better quickly. Then when my sweet girl asks if my back is okay, I can tell her the truth and we can get back to our busy routine.

A Meme (about Sara)

Looks like I've been tagged by many people to do this meme, so I'm turning the tables and throwing in some info about myself. Just a heads up, I don't think I have 8 people to tag at the end since anyone who reads this blog has already done this. But if you haven't, please feel free to go for it! (Note after trying to complete this.. I may not have 8 answers for everything, but I tried).



8 things I am passionate about:
-My husband
-My daughter
-My family
-My friends
-Education
-Photography (I'm not very good at it, but I like to capture the memories).
-My faith
-Supporting the military



8 books I've read and enjoyed:
-My Sister's Keeper
-Nineteen Minutes
-The Lovely Bones
-The Notebook
-The Other Boleyn Girl
-The Stephanie Plum series (by Janet Evanovich)
-Queen of Babble series
-Size 12 is not fat and the series


8 words/phrases that I say often:
-I love you (Ricky or Gabriella)
-Yes sweetie, daddy's still at work.
-Are you serious?
-I'm not surprised.
-FREEZE, Gabby.
-I'm not kidding!
-SHHHHHHHH!
-What are the nice words that go with that?




8 things I want to do before I die:
-See my children graduate college
-See my grandchildren be born (if it's mean to be)
-Own a dream home
-Learn the ins and outs of photography.
-Have a fulfilling job and still be there for my family (maybe while at home?)
-Go on an amazing vacation with my husband.
-Get into great shape, and learn to stay there, while indulge every once in awhile.
-Renew my wedding vows (after spending multiple anniversaries-aka the actual date as well as years-with my husband, even one would be great).



8 things I've learned in life:
-Everything happens for a reason, even if it isn't apparent right away.
-Our parents are/were right. Just like we are right as parents (isn't that annoying?).
-Don't be afraid to take a risk.
-You're never too old to learn.
-There's nothing compared to the love to and from your child.
-Patience is a virtue (and I should try to gain some).
-Enjoy the little things in life, don't let them pass you by.
-A sleeping baby can be a rarity, enjoy it while you can :)


8 places I want to see:
-New York City (more than just a train/plane stop)
-Hawaii
-Disney World
-Scotland
-Italy
-Paris



8 things I currently want/need:
-My back to get better so I can stop spending my days sitting down.
-Ice cream.. and chinese food. See why I need to stop sitting down?
-A full nights sleep.
-To get back on track with my weight watchers/workout (or at least some activity) routine
-Some new clothes for the fall
-A new laptop, or to stop knocking this one over (if I lose all my pictures I'm going to be quite upset).
-A part time daycare/preschool for Gabriella
-A cleaning fairy to come get my house in order.. on a regular basis please.

Mommy In Training

Gabriella has discovered her love for baby dolls. She rocks them, sings to them, puts them to bed. It's absolutely adorable. She mimics everything that I do to her. Her latest thing was taking one of her babies to the potty.

I was doing the dishes and I knew she had picked up one of her babies in the morning. It got somewhat quiet (which is scary in this house). Suddenly I hear a noise from the bathroom. I went running and I see Gabriella sitting on her stool in the bathroom with her baby on her potty seat. I didn't manage to get a picture of that, but after running for the camera, these are what I did capture.

So to narrate the pictures. She took one of her wipes and was wiping baby's bottom, threw it in the potty and flushed, watched it go down, and then was heading out of the bathroom. After that she told me that baby had earned a treat. She was so sweet and honest I couldn't deny her so I gave her an m&m (our potty treat). She took it and put it in baby's mouth (just an FYI, m&m's fit perfectly in the mouth of cabbage patch dolls). Gabriella was then explaining to her baby doll that she used the potty so she should eat her treat. I decided since clearly Gabriella hadn't done all this to get the treat herself, that she should in fact go ahead and eat the treat for being such a good mommy. Gabby was amazed but did go ahead and eat it.

My little baby is trying to be a little mommy herself. Maybe she's ready for a baby brother or sister. Someday :-)

The infamous "buddy"

Gabriella loves to talk about her "buddies." Everyone she meets is a buddy. I think it comes from us saying the words somebody and everybody and she has just changed them to something that works better for her. Whenever we go somewhere and someone strikes up a conversation with her, or even just says hello to her, she decides they are her best friend. Therefore the minute they have to go home Gabriella wants to know where her "buddy" went. It's adorable to say the least, although when it's asked over and over it gets a little old.

So if you ever hear a cute little girl yelling "hi buddy" just smile and wave back, it could be my sweetheart.

On another note, never lay on the floor next to Gabriella. I did that tonight singing songs to her. Her oh so gentle response was to belly flop on top of me. You can tell she misses Daddy wrestling time!

Our NH visit.

Here's our NH update.. It may be a bit long, and full of pictures, but I just can't help it, so bear with me!! We went to NH to stay at Nana and Gaga's house for the 4th of July. Nana made Gabriella a shirt to wear on the holiday. I thought she looked adorable, but you can judge for yourself!

While we were in NH we did some strawberry picking. It was a great time and Gabriella took Daddy doll with us. The ironic part was Daddy was actually available to be on the phone at the same time. He really WAS picking berries with us. Gabby did a very good job picking the ripe strawberries.. THEN she got bored and started looking for the green and white ones. They were harder to find and more of a challenge.

Another one of our fun activities was going in "Gabriella's pool." Nana and Gaga bought this small pool for their backyard and said it is just for Gabriella. Here is her first time in it. She was enjoying some time with Nana, and then with Mommy and Nana.

I have to share this next little story. We have a two piece (actually a three piece, it has a skirt piece) suit for Gabriella. I put it on for the first time and she got SO upset that her belly was showing and kept pulling it down. When we got in the pool she finally calmed but it was hysterical watching her and hearing her say "Mommy, no tummy, NO tummy!!" Apparently Daddy has taught her very well that you shouldn't show too much skin!

These last pictures are Gabriella supporting Daddy and his submarine. It says "Daddy is my hero." As you can tell from the pictures, we miss Daddy a LOT!

I think that's about it for our NH update! We also were able to go see both Gabriella's uncles where they work but we didn't get any pictures. Hopefully we'll get some from the next visit.

Fun at the aquarium!

I'm still backtracking a little, but here's a short blog about a visit to the aquarium. Gabriella and I went before our NH trip. We have a membership so we are able to go as often as possible and is so much fun to see her reaction to the animals. One morning I took her early so we were out of the house and able to avoid the crowds. She just wanted to see the "pish" as she says (f's aren't her strong spot). Here's a picture of her looking at some of them.

One of the new things this summer is a birds exhibit where you can not only be in where the birds are flying around, but able to feed them. As uneasy as I am about this, Gabriella LOVES it. So we got our food and went in and here are some shots of her feeding the birds!

Don't let the look of the second picture fool you. She did love holding the birds, it was just really sunny in that area.

All right, that's one of our older blogs, we'll keep catching you up!