Photo Booth

My poor little munchkin has been sick since Monday, coughing so much that she throws up.  Every time I think she's getting better, she has a coughing fit and I know that's another day she'll need to spend home resting.  This is the first time she's been really sick for more than a day and it just makes me so thankful that she has been so healthy most of her life.  My heart goes out to families dealing with chronic childhood illnesses!

We took some pictures a couple of days before T got sick on my iPhone4.  I love that this one has the reverse camera - making self portraits a snap!  It's like having your own photo booth and you can take as many silly pictures as you want!  Here are some of my favorites, put together photo booth style, courtesy of picnik.com.

I saved my favorite one for last.  I call it "WHOA!"

Looking forward to happier healthier times like these again real soon!

Linking up to Embrace the Camera with The Anderson Crew

Daycare Search - Final wrap-up

Well, after nearly 5 months (read here, and here) of searching, inspecting, crying, and desperately trying to find suitable daycare for Miss T, we have finally succeeded!

First, thanks to all of you who have helped in countless ways.  I learned a lot from you, but most of all, never to give up and never to compromise!

And you know what?  We didn't have to compromise at all!  We found an amazing in-home day care center that fits our budget and meets our standards.  Didn't think that was possible?  Neither did I for a while!

Here are the things I love about the daycare we've found:

-The home has a finished basement of two full rooms and a bathroom for the day care.  One room is painted blue, the other is painted orange!  I love it!  It's so bright and cheerful!
-There is a fenced in yard with a play set, sand box, tricycles, etc., with outside time built into the schedule twice a day!
-The area is very family friendly, better air quality than we have at our house and you can actually hear birds.  Birds people!
-The owner/provider is a lovely Filipino woman named Ms. Vicky.  Instantly, I felt very comfortable with her.  She's kind, laid-back and very welcoming.  She took to T right away and T liked her too.  Yay!
-There is some "curriculum", letters numbers, shapes, etc. and circle time everyday, but there is a lot of freedom for personal exploration too.
-The other two little girls there are only a bit older than T (by a couple of months) and they were so excited to play with her right away and were so sweet!
(as a side note, one thing I do like about living here is that T is introduced to people of different races, backgrounds, religions, etc.  One girl at the daycare is Indian, the other is African-American.  Plus, T will get to eat and try new Filipino foods!  Woohoo for diversity!)
-The commute is only 10-15 minutes from our house, though I still need to find the closest Dunkin Donuts!
-Did I mention this all fits in our budget? : )

I really couldn't be happier that we get to bring Miss T here everyday.  I'm actually excited for her, for all the things she'll learn, the opportunities to make friends and socialize, to learn how to play and be in a new environment.  I think this will be so good for T and for all of us!  I know B is happy too.  He has very strong feelings against daycare, but has always recognized my need to work.  After visiting yesterday, he told me on 4 separate occasions "Good job, Baby." That's all I needed to hear!

And now, because I can't leave you without a little bit of sunshine for your day:

Miss T is really enjoying the front camera on my new iPhone.  We love to take silly pictures together!

BTW, I'm linking up to Emily's Embrace the Camera Day.  I can't waste these sillies, can I?  Go check out other momma's embracing the camera today here!

Our first Luau

One of Miss T's bff's from church turned one last week.  So you might be thinking, "Ok, cute little one year old birthday party.  Probably a cute little bug or animal theme."  But, no.  See, M's parents are from Hawaii and they have a custom of throwing an amazing luau for their babies to celebrate the milestone of turning one.

Here's a picture of the inside of the function hall:

Yep, that's an authentic ukelele band way in the back.  They were amazing!

There was a lot going on outside too!  Water slide, moon bounce, fishing prize game, baby sprinkle pool (similar to this one, I will have to look into this for next year!).  It was amazing.

Unfortunately, Miss T was having a bad teething day.  Little girl wouldn't eat and was just so uncomfortable.  I felt so bad.  I was willing to do anything to make her smile.  Unfortunately, some of that got caught on film.

B loved that a picture was taken of me right at that moment.  Can ya tell?

Well, even the fishy face didn't cheer up poor Miss T.  We headed home soon after that.  We heard the rest of the luau was amazing and the cake was great (I didn't even stay for cake!  Me!  Can you believe it?)  We can only hope there will be more of these lovely events! 

A huge thanks to our hosts, the Spains, for inviting us and including us in their little girl's special day! 
Hau'oli lā hānau, M! (Happy Birthday M!)

BTW, I'm linking up this post with The Anderson Crew for Embrace the Camera Day (Yay! Emily is back!).  I figure this is a good one for T to see the lengths that I am willing to embarass myself for her! :)

Embrace the Camera (and the fact that I have a one-year old!)

So, it's embrace the camera day again!  I'll admit, I haven't been embracing this for a while now.  I haven't felt camera-ready for some time.  Whether it is the tired lines around my eyes or the fact that I lost so much hair between month 6 and 9 of T's life (or the fact that it's all growing back in at once and I have these funny little 12-year old bangs!), I just haven't been too kind on myself lately.  However, this ETCD I had to post. 


(link up your ETCD with Emily of the Anderson Crew!)



We recently celebrated Miss's T first birthday. 
It was a great day - sun was shining, it was warm, the house was clean...

OK, so the house wasn't too clean. 

And the grandparents almost didn't make it because Southwest had an airplane with a hole in its roof and cancelled their flight (along with 300 others!). 

Oh, and T decided not to play along with our napping plan and skipped nap #2 altogether (gave new meaning to "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to"). 

Besides all that though, this moment is one I am so glad we have a picture of.  I am truly living in this moment and enjoying this beautiful little creature that I am so blessed to take care of, raise, and love.  This was the moment T got to have cake for the first time.  Knowing how much of a sweet tooth momma has, I figured she would dive right in.  Nope.  She's definitely inherited both her momma's and her daddy's analytical side (for a synergistic effect) and investigated this sugary confection for 20 minutes!  I was dying laughing.  I couldn't contain myself!  She was just so serious and intense!

This girl really cracks me up. (Can you tell??) 

For a person that can be all too serious, OCD,

anal(ytical), routined, etc., I am so lucky

 to have a daughter that can make me enjoy life

 this much and just laugh and be silly.

(BTW, this was my best attempt lately at trying to look cute, note the 12-year old bangs!)

p.s. Huge thanks to Kliiq photography for being there with camera ready and getting this picture for us.   You know what else?  They even surprised us the next day with a huge print of this and one other picture!  You guys rock!  I'm definitely calling on you for our next milestone photo shoot!

You can also check them out on facebook too!  click Kliiq!

Embrace the Camera Day - Kisses

Guess what day it is!

I took this picture before going to work this morning. 
I kiss Miss T WAAAAAYYYY too much. 
It's kind of ridiculous. 
But with those
bright blue eyes
squishy cheeks
and toothy smile
who could blame me?

Seriously.

Embrace the Camera Day!

Can't you tell how much I adore this little girl?  Man, am I in trouble!

p.s. Check out the other camera embracers at: http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/

Embrace the Camera Day!

Like many others, I stumble upon interesting blogs through other blogs in my reader. 

Today, I found one that I really connected with.

This mom astutely pointed out
how much we like to look back at pictures of our parents
when we were kids,
but as parents,
we aren't as interested in being in the pictures as our adorable subjects! 

So with some encouragement,
I am resolving to change my attitude
and try to capture
how much I love Miss T
so that she can look back some day and see it!

With that, here are some pictures of her and I - enjoy!

The 1st of millions of pictures of our baby girl!

My little snuggle bunny...

I shall call her my squishy

and she shall by mine...

...and she shall be my squishy!

Who knew a picture in a rest stop could be so cute!

And, staaaannddd uuuuppp!