Where are we?

CHARLESTON, SC!!!! YEA!
Actually we're at Folly Beach but we'll be venturing into Charleston AND taking a day trip to Savannah! I'll try my best to throw in an update here and there, but mostly i'll be sleeping and relaxing and playing with a certain little string bean in the sand!

Why yes my toddler puts two unrelated words together....

When your kid goes in for their 18m check up one of the things they ask is "Do they put two unrelated words together?". Nite nite does not count. Uh oh, does not count. So i had to say no, she doesn't put two unrelated words together. Until last night.

So Kinsley can only have her passy when she is in bed for nite nite. She cannot have it in the car or around the house, even in the wee hours of the morning. What she has taken to calling "THAT", thanks to my neighbors son, is only for Nite Nite.

So, as you can guess my days are full of the whiny chorus of "THAT, that, THat, THAT". Until last night when a new verse was added, "NEED THAT". Yep out of her sheer desperation she now puts two unrelated words together. Sadly I cannot reward her with what she so bady wants, until Nite nite, and I tell her that, so then another chorus was added "NITE NITE". She would happily sleep ALL DAY in her crib just to have her beloved THAT.

Eh, at least it's not her thumb and I CAN take it away! Child services might frown upon me taking her thumb away~ hee hee

HELP!

I'll be going on vacation starting on Saturday... anyone want to guest post for me while i'm gone? It can be anything! Recipes, your kids, your non-kid life, your favorites, decorating, fun drinking games.... anything!
let me know!~

Pee Pee in the Potty! AGAIN!

This is Kinsley's potty chair. She LOVES it! Sits on it before she gets into the bath every night. Normally doesn't do anything but LOVES sitting on it. Well one night something DID happen! And when it happened the chair makes music! It's all VERY exciting! I start dancing around clapping and singing Kinsley's praises, Northern Cowboy comes in and is singing her praises, so then Kinsley starts clapping for herself saying YEA!!!!
This morning Kinsley woke up with a DRY diaper. I had already decided we were going to start being more routine with the potty so i took her in there right away and you know what? Music again! YEA!!!!! It was a very exciting morning for us!

Other big news? This thing:

ONLY for Nite nite now. No more around the house or in the car (unless we are going on a 10 hour journey to Charleston, like we are this weekend). Kinsley wasn't so happy about it at first telling me "NOOOOO" and signing it at the same time (you know in case i couldn't hear her yelling it). But luckily it was quickly forgotten between Potty YEA's!!!! and grapes! Cross your fingers for us!

And finally, Kinsley had her 18month appointment yesterday.
Height: 34" that's the 97 percentile
Weight: 23lbs that's the 25-50 percentile

She's a string bean! And very tasty!

POO POO!

Yes this is what Kinsley likes to yell while we are shopping. In between the squeals for DADDY or MAMA or Hellos to the Mannequins she likes to announce to the store and anyone else that she either has or needs to Poo Poo. It's not like when she says this we can take her to the potty where she'll poo poo, even though we had success one day for pee pee on the potty, she just likes to talk about it. Except for the fact that she becomes VERY distressed. I'll ask her "did you poo poo in your diaper Kinsley?" and she'll start whining/crying POO POO like it's really upsetting her, so I'll check, and NO it's not there. I'll tell her there's no Poo poo and she'll go on with her day like nothing happened.

Also dramatic about Boo boos. She has a boo boo on her knee. It's been there A WHILE. It's scabbed, healed, re hurt and scabbed up again. But EVERY.TIME. she sees it she points to it and starts CRYING that she has a boo boo! Drama Queen much?

Oh this stage is to say the least entertaining... and i LOVE IT!

What is this world coming to??

Have you read the article about the woman who got charged with a Felony for spanking her child?

Seriously?!?!? There was no belt involved and no bruises made!

I understand that everyone is not on the spanking bandwagon, but honestly it's a personal choice! Just like to breastfeed or not to breastfeed. No choice is acceptable or possible for every family. Some children need that pop to remind them of what is wrong. I remember when my parents spanked me... OH did I NOT want to misbehave. Granted, I WANTED a spanking over being grounded but while it sure didn't feel good, it was over with, being ground felt like it would NEVER end.

Society wonders what's going on with our kids today... Why are they so disrespectful? Why won't they listen? Why don't parents have any control? Because the state is slowly taking away any control parents DO have. Next it'll be e felony to take away their TV or x-box.

There was an episode of Southland that the hubs and I watched

This kid called the police about his Mom spanking him. The cop asked if he had a bruise. Did she hit his face. Did he bleed. Once the kid said No to everything he asked why the Mom did it, the kid said he did something he wasn't supposed to do... at this point the cop had it... he then "explained" to the kid how lucky he was to have a Mom that cared enough TO discipline him and that if he called again he would arrest his Mom, take her away and send him to a foster home where he would never see his family again... The kid preferred a spanking.

I wonder how we're supposed to be parent when we're always worried that child services is going to come and take our children away. In my house growing up, if you didn't eat what Mom made for dinner then you didn't eat... think that's a felony too? And people wonder why kids are brats today.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all of the Dad's and to OUR Dad. Chris you're the best father Kinsley could ask for and it is so amazing to have you in our lives.
Thank you for being you and we love you!

She a blessing, a very sassy blessing

Kinsley is a wonder, always has been and always will be. She will forever be my first born and the first grand child on BOTH sides of the family. She brings joy to everyone she's around (except that toddler who's passy she kept stealing... whatever).
She's 18 months old. I haven't done an official 18m post because her appointment has been delayed until the 22nd so i don't have stats. But I'll give you what I do know!

Words
Momma                                      Mouth
Dada                                           teeth
Mommy                                       movie
Baby                                           cheese
Milk                                             banana
Juice                                            grape
biscuit                                          bath
peas                                             peepee
please                                          poopoo
thank you                                     booboo
no                                                potty
oh no                                           bow
uh oh                                           all done
yes                                              shoes
eat                                               socks
snack                                           cow
dog                                              sheep
cat                                                fish
lion                                               Jackson
Elmo                                             Annie
Grandma                                       AJ
Papa                                             Yaya (her friend Olivia)
Sasha                                            Kiki (her friend Olivia calls her that so now she calls herself that)
Sadie                                            Mine
Stella                                            Hat
walk                                             Bubble
sit                                                 Yuck
water                                            Hot
slide                                              Help
nite nite                                         AMEN
eyes                                              up
nose                                              outside
book                                             rock
that                                                phone
hello                                              bye bye


I know there's about a million other ones too but those are the ones we hear the most. I won't dull your brain, or mine by trying to write each one out the way it sounds when she says it... lets just say some of those words you might not know that's what she's saying. Like Stella, she calls Soosha... yeah i don't get it either.

Kinsley can go up and down stairs alone, in fact the baby gates are GONE! She always goes down on her tummy.
She likes to sit on her potty before going into the bathtub. She doesn't do anything, except fill it with unused toilet paper, but she enjoys acting like she does. She will also watch you potty and then announce to everyone that you're "All Done".
Kinsley insist on going "OUTSIDE" every evening when we get home. Some days i just want to be done and inside but we go outside so as not to encourage a TV habit that I know is coming anyway.

She will still eat pretty much anything. Love?
Hot dogs                                        Mac and cheese
Peas                                              Cheese burger
French Fries                                  Banana
ANY pasta                                    steak
corn                                               Potatoes
broccoli                                          cheese
yogurt                                            cookies

But really she eats whatever we do. Fish, green beans, whatever.

Kinsley can run, walk, do forward rolls, climb up rock walls, basically she's ALWAYS on the move. And She's awesome. She dances and sings and ALWAYS takes care of her Baby (BAAbe) dolls. She still has a passy... she calls it "That" (I thank my neighbor for that one). She stopped bottles long ago and happily drinks milk from sippy cups. She eats extremely well with a fork or spoon and will try to clean up after she's done.
She knows how to use a phone and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she's dialing actual people. Papa is her favorite phone buddy.
She loves to give hugs still and run away from you naked.
But her biggest love in life? SHOES! The girl gets down right GIDDY at new shoes! LOVES trying them on and walking around in them. It's pretty awesome! Chris is in trouble!

That's K in a nutshell. She's awesome. Never fights me to go to bed.... just sometimes to stay in bed... lol. She's loving and Sassy and sneaky and cute.

You can't have her but I'll loan her out if you need a KK fix!

Hey y'all

I'm so sorry, there's so much going on in our lives right now and honestly, i don't have the energy to update you, but i will! promise! Just give me time.
Here's two adorable (in my very proud Mommy opinion) videos of Kinsley

Yeah she loves Elmo and I don't know how this started! I mean I figured Sesame Street was bound to be a love since i shove it down her throat every morning when she wakes up too early, but JUST Elmo? She DEMANDS ELMO. We get in the car and she wants Elmo, we wake up, ELMO, we're going to bed, ELMO. You get it. I've tried to throw on other shows just to test the waters but the kid wants ELMO. What kind of magical hold does this furry red puppet have on children? AND, HOW does he obtain it because seriously, if i could calm a screaming child with just the mere mention of my name, i would bottle that stuff and sell it for A LOT more then Sesame Street is charging (i hope they don't get any ideas!).

Our little furry friend isn't that bad though. He encourages movement, exploration, and learning... that's better then encouraging the kids to just sit there like a bump on the log. So he'll stay... if for no other reason than I'm scared Kinsley will kill me in my sleep once she's in a toddler bed.

Remember when....

I told you FOREVER ago that I was going to start working on fixing up my house and you were all like YEA we LOVE makeovers. And then you were like, WTF Erin, Great job at NOT following through AGAIN, because you never got an update?!?!

Well it wasn't because I wasn't making over things, NO it was because I was terrible at getting photo proof of it!

So here I would like to show you, the dinning room!
I have to find my before pictures BUT here's the after! The before was a blank white box with a crappy cheap chandelier.

I know, i should have dressed it up with some place settings... but honestly i was happy that it was just clean for y'all! I'll do fancier later~

Now here is one project, that I haven't decided if I'm done with it yet. I recovered the UBBER Ugly lampshades with burlap! These Lampshades are larger then normal chandelier shades so we were having a REALLY hard time replacing them... so I recovered them! I love the look with the wrought iron (that needs dusting, YIKES!). The reason they might be unfinished is i think i want to add a ruffle of burlap at the bottom... we'll see!

I really feel like they go well with the relaxed feel of my dinning room! No? (ignore the patch on the ceiling we need to paint!. Now if we had some crown molding it would be PERFECT!

Have you noticed that WONDERFUL Wayne's coating along the bottom? Oh yeah! THAT was my Valentines gift from the hubs! Sang right to my fixer upper heart! He installed that with the chair rail and I SOOO love it and love him for doing it! TOTALLY makes the room!

We also continued through with the Sandstone color we started in the Den. The Wall y'all aren't seeing is behind me and is chocolate brown!

We received a hand-me-down dinning room set from my parents. It was great except for creaky chairs that were covered in black leather fabric... YUCK! So I glued some (need to glue more!) and recovered them in this!

My heart gets all happy when I see this fabric! So pretty and calming!

Well that's what we've been up to! What's up next? Painting Railings white, repainting the kitchen, and distressing our cabinets! FUN!!!

Brace Yourselves!

There's about to be a WHOLE lot of pictures and as a result a WHOLE lot of sexy!

So Northern Cowboy and I took a weekend to get away! It was just he and I. The babes was tucked safely at home with the Grandma and I knew she couldn't be happier with the situation. So where did my boyfriend and I go?? RICHMOND! I know in many minds that was a womp womp... but NO it's really and ZARUMMMM!

See for Christmas I got Cowboy the Nascar Experience... easily affordable thanks to Groupon. So we made a MUCH NEEDED romantic weekend of it!

Here's how it all went down.
Drove to Richmond and checked into the Hilton Friday Night.
Woke up nice and early on Saturday for his "Experience".

Here's where we're driving through the tunnel, hubs mentioned that I should get a picture because not many ever get this opportunity! Oh that just turned on Paparazzi mode... I'm sure the hubs regretted this!

Coming through the tunnel!

IN THE SPEEDWAY!

Please go this way Mr. Race car Driver!

Me: Quick Hon, turn for a pic.

NC: Woman, You don't need to get a picture of EVERYTHING

Me: oh but i DO!

This is his "oh dear lord, she is getting a picture of everything face" while secretly LOVING that I am!

I wanted to ride too but they said there wasn't any room, booo

Oh here comes the S.E.X.Y!

See he does claim me!

Having his "crew chief" make sure everything is okay.

Sliding in

Going over the race! Swooon~

Time for the wheel and helmet... DANG that's a good looking man... you're welcome for sharing!

There goes my Bad Ass! Well I guess it's HIS Bad Ass but I own it now, the ring on my finger says I do!

"Thanks man, Good run, Now i need to go and talk to the press"

Here's a video for your viewing pleasure!

After all of that excitement we went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, then out to explore Richmond. We stumbled upon a few fantastic stores (that were Monogram overloads, LOVE!) and a Plantation, then it was back for a nap and an AMAZING BALLS dinner... Seriously go to Tarrrants (sp?) AMAZING!

The next day we slept in, stopped to do a little outlet shopping and then we went home to have ice cream with the cutest little girl in the world!

Awesome

NOTHING says awesome like a baby being able to tell you the EXACT moment they poopoo'ed in their pants.

Oh No, Poo poo momma!

Oh and don't worry, that doesn't mean she wants to be changed, just wanted you to know she was sitting in shit and loving it!

weekend update coming soon!

Memorial Day weekend, the good stuff

So i already told you part of what we were doing on Memorial Day weekend, but we ALSO got some good time in with the family! And my daughter was not short on her surprises and sass!

So our first evening there we went to the Park after visiting my "Uncle" (I'm going to call Eddie my Uncle because unless you know us and our relationship it's just easier) to help Kinsley get some of her sillies out after being in a car all day.

We started with the slide, it got mixed reviews.
Then I went to the swing. I wasn't very hopeful since i already knew she wasn't in lurve with other swings. Basically it looked like we were torturing her... so out she came and RAN over to the big kid swings.

So "like a good mother" i sat her on my lap and gave it a try... yeah that went well~

So my much wiser older brother decided to sit the little turd on the swing and let her fall off make her own decision about it.

See this look? I had to include it. That's her "I'm so much smarter than you and I'm going to get my way and DO IT MYSELF" look...

And she mostly did... turd

And she LOVED it!

I would like you to not the determined look and the placement of her feet. Yes it was my child's sole purpose in life at this moment to kick her Uncle in the face on every up swing... bless her little heart, i didn't even have to teach her that! She already knew what to do! Future playgrounds, beware!

As we've already established, my kid has hang time

This was a tall slide, I was actually a little worried sending her down it. There was a big bump in the middle... I just knew she would catch air and bang her head and forget I'm the Momma and walk slightly to her left for the rest of her life if i let her go down alone!

I got over it though, and she loved it!

I stayed at the top and brother was at the bottom. She would go down, run around, he would lift her up and i would throw slide her down again... and again.... and again...

The next day Kinsley found some Steller shoes to dress up in... God this child has a door to my heart! PINK HEELS!

All that walking builds up an appetite, enter baking with Sasha!

On Monday night she developed a fever, threw up in the middle of the night, and still had a fever the next morning. So this is us at Urgent Care. They really weren't completely sure what was going on... ears were a little red, blah blah. We got drugs and went home.

This is where my photos end. Funeral = no pictures. I mean Kinsley still had TONS of fun and looked as cute as ever, even with 103 degree temp... but really who is going to take pictures saying "Look how cute my kid looked in her funeral dress". Okay you're right, I would, but i forgot and well that's that.

Kinsley, despite being my willful daughter was a blessing on a very hard weekend. Hope y'all thanked a service member this weekend!

I told you about the Zoo Right?

Okay I mentioned going.... Here's where I'll tell you about it.

As soon as we walked in Kinsley was greeted by an AH AH AH, or to those who are not up to their animal sounds, that is a Monkey. Well it's an Orangutan, but we're working with a 17 month old here people!

She was VERY excited by this... I was too, how else was I going to convince her that walking around in the blazing heat with rude people in questionable clothing was fun? She doesn't know how to make fun of people yet so animal entertainment was a must!

The pigs (and NO i don't mean the two having a wrestling match in that woman's too tight pants... the REAL ones) were a big hit!

Or maybe they were Picanys, or something that i have no clue but looked like a pig to me!

And to K.

After we drug her away from the OAH OAH (you will find ALL animals sound alike, only SLIGHTLY different) we got to see some very entertain prairie dog type things.

After seeing the ..... and the .... (we don't have sounds down for elephants and frankly she REALLY wasn't that iimpressed... I mean SHE could lift up her foot for MONTHS now! and the Panda, while fun to point at, just sat there eating in front of us without offering a taste to a very hungry girl, so we moved on)

We got a pretty darn cute pic of the the three of us! (notice the stellar cropping, removing the gut belly!)

We saw the IONS (Lions) which i didn't even know she knew what there were but she was Roaring like she was doing a mating call so apparently she has learned something at school!

And we also visited the farm, to touch a cow and then decide she REALLY didn't want to touch one... I understand, i would rather eat them too! I mean i practically ate an entire herd while pregnant with her, they probably smelled it on me!

And then it was homeward bound. We saw lot of animals, many of which aren't worth mentioning. We bought her a stuffed Orangutan that she promptly threw on the ground. And we sweated large patties of meat bullets. All in all a perfect day with a very happy toddler! No 2 minutes after we strapped her into her car seat she was asleep. And the rest is History!