We're Baaaaaaaack!

YES! We are finally back - with more blogs to follow. It has been a CRAZY couple of weeks for our family and moving.

We were all set to move on FRIDAY THE 13th! Of course, here in Buffalo it has barely snowed all winter.....BUT, we had to wake up to a snow storm that morning! We hired movers to come move all of our stuff (big items) from our apartment to our house that morning. I had everything planned. I let Noelani sleep in a bit, and was going to take her to daycare so that we could move everything and get her bed set up before she came home that day. About 5 minutes after waking up and looking out of my window, I knew it was going to be a problem. It was a complete white out. Not even 2 minutes later did Antoines phone ring, and the movers cancelled. They wouldn't be able to come until the next day.

That brought us to Saturday - which meant Noelani had to skip dance. I don't like doing that because she loves it, but there was no way I would be able to handle all of the moving and arranging someone to take her. I needed help, cause Antoine had to work and couldn't take off!

Needless to say, this Saturday will be 2 weeks since our move and we are having Noelani's 2nd birthday party!

Because we had to wait an extra 2 weeks to have her party, I took her to Candy Kids Spa the weekend of her birthday so she could do something special. The following week, we went to Disney on Ice.

Here Noey is starting to get her pedicure

Getting ready for a candy facial

AND, after a manicure!

This Candy Kids Spa was seriously the cutest place EVER! She had such a ball, and we will definitely be going back again!!!!

This past Saturday, we went to Disney on Ice. This was also another birthday gift in addition to the Candy Kids Spa. Mommy & Daddy took her. We were front row rinkside. Noelani was SO excited when I told her she would see Mickey & Minnie and the princesses!!

I made a Princess Tiana bun in her hair, and threw in a tiara headband that I got her at The Childrens Place around Christmas time. Nana had bought her some princess tattoos and she found them earlier in the day, so we put one on her cheek.

Her auntie bought her some new princess sneakers, that she HAD to wear. So here she is all dressed up and ready to go!!

She had no idea what was about to happen! She kept saying "open" pointing at the curtain they were behind. But OH MY GOODNESS, when Mickey & Minnie came out, she LOST her mind! I have never seen her so excited. She was screaming and jumped all around!!!! I had to grab her by the back of her hoodie because I literally thought she was going to lunge over the side of the ice rink!

Safe to say she had a good time!! She picked out a "T-Belle" cup (aka Tinkerbelle), that was filled with a snow cone. Don't let the picture decieve you! She barely ate any (for $15!!!!) before it dumped on the floor, and she was left with about 2 inches of PURE sugar juice!!!

This Saturday will be her birthday party and we are so excited! I've had ALOT to do in order to get the house ready....but it will be worth it once she gets to hang out with her little friends and celebrate!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Noelani!

*This is the picture I'm using on her invitations for her party*

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!!!! I cannot believe that it's already been 2 years. The time has just FLOWN by! I cannot even remember life without you in it. 

You are SUCH a big girl now. You talk like crazy and are just the most lovable little girl in the world. You are seriously the most laid back little girl I have ever met in my life. To say you deal well with transition, that is an understatement! 

Some things about you:

• You have been in a big girl bed now for about 8 months and have NEVER given us a problem about it. We switched you to it one day and you never looked back. You are such a good girl and sit in there and call for Mommy & Daddy until we come get you (unless of course you sneak books and shoes which are next to the bed)
• You have been pacifier FREE for almost a month now! 
• You can recite your ABC's and count to 13 without my help!
• You must sing "Twinkle Twinkle little Star" 100 times a day!
• You also like to count backwards "5...4...3...2...1 BLAST OFF" is what you always say!
• You L.O.V.E to dance & listen to music
• You are such a good helper - we are moving right now and whenever you see me carrying stuff to the door, I look behind me and you are carrying something haha! Or if I want to vacuum or sweep, you also like to help
• You are such a people person! You make friends in an instant
• You love books - and would make me read to you all day long if I let you
• You are using simple sentences now like: "Help you", "I broke it", "Noey love puppies", "Jazmin come here", "Stand up", "How are you?", "Who's there", "Where is it?", "I love you" - the list goes on and on! 
• Your Dr. even said that you are such a good talker!
• You aren't potty trained yet, but you are trying! You always tell me "Go potty"...you try it sometimes at daycare.
• You LOVE to play with your baby dolls!
• You are OBSESSED with princesses. I secretly love it cause I was a princess girl too when I was younger :)

You have so many wonderful qualities, there is no way in the world I can list all of them!

I am so lucky to be your mommy & I love you so much!!!

Due to our move, we will be having your birthday party on the 28th. BUT, this weekend I am taking you to "Candy Kids Spa"  and then next weekend we will be going to Disney on Ice!!!

MOVING....

FINALLY!!!! I haven't blogged in FOR.EV.ER. But, once we move and have everything settled I promise to get back to blogging!
We finally got our closing date : 1/10/12. That means, two days before Noelani's 2nd birthday, we will be home owners. For her 2nd birthday she gets: A HOUSE....lol well, we all get the house, but she will get a brand new bedroom (shhhh don't tell her!) ;)
I'm redoing her room for her in princess theme. This girl is obsessed...I mean OBSESSED with everything princess. Daddy found her 7 of the 10 following dolls, and I obsessively found the other 3. These are called the Disney Animators Collection dolls. They will be put on shelves in her room for her birthday as well. FINALLY, we will be going to Disney on Ice - Treasure Trove. I somehow got the tickets presale and got front row rinkside for her. She will probably pee her pants lol!!! She is sooooo in love with everything Disney. Mickey, Princess - you name it!

My mother and I went to Michaels and Hobby Lobby to see what crafts/items we can make for her room, and I think we have some really cute things we are going to do :) I didn't want to do the "premade" Disney princess room, but stick with more of a pink & purple "princess" theme (except the dolls above). I couldn't find any bedding I liked, but then I found a reversible pink/purple toddler bedset that will work perfect!

I'm so excited to see her face when she gets to see her new room!!! 

In the midst of this, I am trying to plan her 2nd birthday party!!! The theme is "Look WhoOo's Turning Two". I have about 2 weeks to plan the whole party after we move. Why didn't I pick princess theme? WELL...I'm sure I will have enough of those birthdays in the years to come. Wish me luck!!!!

As I type this, my little princess is asleep in her bed, holding her princess Tiana wand......

Who has the addiction?

What a year can change. Here are various shots of my "binky queen":

*Last years Christmas photo shoot*

*What I will miss the most - see below*

*My BABY*

And, just like it began, it's over. My baby is over IT. Her binky is no more. I don't know if I had the addiction or her? Funny isn't it? I don't think I'm ready to accept that she is a big girl!!! The first time I ever saw my munchkin, there she was - sucking away on her little binky. I remember coordinating every pacifier with her outfits. I remember swearing I would never nickname a pacifier a binky haha! Funny how things change when you have your own children.

On friday night, we watched a Tinkerbelle movie. I had been wanting to wean the pacifier for months, much to my dismay. my husband has been arguing the fact since she was a year old, and I always had one excuse or another why SHE needed it (but now I realize it was me who was addicted). After the movie, I told her Tinkerbelle will be coming to take the binkies for another little baby, but will leave her a present for being a good girl.

I will miss her cute little face and dreamy eyes as she sucks away on that thing. I will miss her little "baby" sounds she makes and the little sucking noise she makes with it.

As hard as I thought this would be, that night, she cried a little and Antoine went in and told her "You're a big girl so no binky now". She called out for me (the SUCKER) a few times - which I ignored so I didn't give in. She fell asleep!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!

The next day she didn't ask for it ONCE! She whined a little at nap, but slept for 2.5 hours! That night, she went right to bed without asking for it!

At daycare yesterday, I took the 2 pacis with me so I couldn't give in and tell them "just give it to her if she cries". She napped there just fine. Last night, she didn't even ask for it.

SO, ladies & gentlemen, as sad as it makes me - I am about 99% sure we are over the binky phase. Everyone told me, she will give it up when she's ready. I sadly admit she must be over it.

I guess her dentist will be proud of me!

My main reason for giving up the binky? She's starting to get the lovely "curve" in the roof of her mouth that binky babies get....and I do NOT want to be the cause of that!

I will miss my binky baby....now if I can get the courage to throw away the tin container that houses all of them.........

We LOVE Play-Doh

This girl LOVES....I mean LOVES her play-doh. It wasn't until maybe a month or two ago that I figured she was ready for it. She's pretty good (usually) about putting stuff in her mouth now and so I figured it was safe at this point. Last week, I had 5 days off of work and figured we would spend one full day of doing NOTHING. By that I mean, no tv, no running errands, just lounging in our pj's all day. The first thing we did that day was pull out the play-doh (while still in our PJs).

SIDENOTE: Yes, as you can see, my child has a slight obsession with Dora in the background there.

This literally kept her busy for at least an hour! We made a snowman, tree, I brought out the cookie cutters, and we even made "jewelry" as you can see below:

Daddy had to work that afternoon, and he came home with a surprise for Noey. He bought her a Cookie Monster play-doh set (AND Santa might just be bringing her a jumbo pack of play-doh and an Elmo set). Daddy spoils her (even though he doesn't like to admit it!), they were supposed to BOTH be for Christmas, but he caved and gave her this one early.

She was in her glory. In fact, when it was time to clean up, she was sooooo sad. She had big crocodile tears and didn't want play time to end. One cute little thing she does when she plays with ANY craft, whether it is coloring, or play-doh, or just plain concentrating on a puzzle, is she smacks her lips hahaha! She has this little lick she does and smacks them together almost like shes ready to drool hahaha! I guess it's just her "concentrating" hard on something.  

At any rate, I cannot wait for Santa to bring more play-doh. She absolutely LOVES it, and I have found it's a new way for me to get stuff done in the kitchen (cooking dinner and washing my dishes!!!)

Thanksgiving Post

So here it is, our Thanksgiving post....way late. Noey had daycare the day before Thanksgiving, so I wanted to let her wear her headband we got at a craft show. A few weeks earlier, the day we got our house inspected, my sister and I went to a craft show. I left with 2 headbands, a ring for Noey, and 2 Christmas gifts. The little turkey headband I just couldn't stand it - too cute!

This is what she wore the morning of daycare. She was battling a terrible cold - which I ended up catching by that night:

I asked her to say cheese.....and this little girl is TOO MUCH - she had to pose for the camera: 

The turkey headband - see isn't it stinkin' cute?!?!

As I said, I caught her cold and really usually enjoy getting together with family and holidays. However, I wanted to do nothing but take Sudafed and lay in bed. BUT, when you are a mom, you cannot do that! SO, instead I decided, we were going to dress comfortable and relax. Noey wore a sweatsuit and I just wore a warm hoodie! We started off by going to my mother in laws house for a couple hours, and then ended up at my mom and dads. Here she is being entertained by my *wonderful* sister and mother - thank goodness for days like these where I can veg on my moms couch and have them play with her!

My dad opted for deep frying the turkey this year. With my mom having surgery, she wasn't too happy about the idea of slaving over a stove while balancing her cane. Myself & my sister both have in laws to visit, and while we were going to plan dinner if we couldn't do it at my moms - we ended up not having it. My dad deep fried the turkey in the yard, sporting the hat below, so of course Noey had to wear it haha!

 Noelani & Auntie Amanda:

 Noelani & Daddy reading books:

 She was curious about the whip cream...SO I had to do the old fashioned "spray it in your mouth"!:

And that was it! I didn't even have the energy to go black Friday shopping until the next morning. I went home miserable, went to bed and then when Noey woke up at about 6am, we went shopping! I actually lost my voice the next day and after a couple of shopping hours, it was home and to BED for a nice long nap for both of us!

Thanksgiving EVE....

Yes, I'm that behind! I haven't even caught up to Thanksgiving yet! Anyway, I always want to make sure I "make time" for my daughter, even though I work full time. This means, no matter HOW tired I am, I will push through our evening so I can create memories for her. I always make sure to send a snack for daycare for holidays/events. My mom always did this for my sister and I, and it's something I plan on continuing as Noeys mommy. 

I did however, have to work late that day, and knew I wanted our snack to be something fast! A few days earlier, a friend of mine had posted "Hershey kissed pretzels" and so I decided to make those. I always include Noey in everything - and YES she washed her hands first haha! She did more eating than helping anyway! Below is a picture of our mess!

To me, Thanksgiving somehow represents the start of Christmas to me - maybe because I know BLACK.FRIDAY is the day after. I bought this little kit at Target (best.store.ever!!) a couple of weeks earlier. It is to make a countdown calendar for Christmas. I know she doesn't understand it quite yet, but I knew she would have a ball making it. 

As I said before, I always make sure I have time for her. So, after making our snack for daycare, I gave her a bath, and put her pjs on her. We had dinner and proceeded to do our craft afterwards.

Noelani LOVES crafts. She is a VERY busy child and so I always try to let her do some type of art project each night. That can be anywhere from coloring, to a more detailed activity like this one. We have a bucket of art supplies and anytime I see something in the store to make, I try to pick it up. I think it helps her with her creativity AND motor skills. 

We will have a lot more of these little projects in the near future - Christmas is my FAVORITE and there always seem to be a lot of cute little things for the kids to do out in the stores.
HOPEFULLY.....I can blog about our Thanksgiving next time!