Where I've been....

Well, I have kinda fallen off the face of the blogging world.  I became very motivated to get my house renovations done!  Rick has been so super busy with work that he doesn't have the time to help me with the house.  I just kept waiting and waiting for him to be able to help me but I finally decided that I am a strong, capable, and independent woman and I can do it myself!  Haha :)  Our TV broke almost a month ago and the part we need is shipped in from Japan.  With the big Tsunami and everything thats going on over there, everything is extremely delayed.  I am a HUGE TV buff and have really missed it.  However, it has freed up a lot of my time and I have spent it doing some very productive things!  No pictures yet because everything is still in the middle of being complete but be very excited for some AWESOME pictures to come :)

Another thing that has taken up A LOT of my time lately is my sweet little Daci.  My mom always said she thought that the saying "terrible two's" were a myth and that it was really the "terrible three's".  Well I am here to tell you that for MY child, it is definitely the "TERRIBLE two's" and I hope that means I don't have to go through the "terrible three's".  Now, don't get me wrong.  I love my doodle-bug and in no way is being a mother terrible.  However,  she sure has her moments of doing terrible things!  I think it is partly my fault though.  I jinxed myself.  I have recently been telling everyone that Daci is so easy in this stage.  She really has been such an easy little munchkin since about the time she hit 18 months.  I have been able to do so many things during the day like clean, cook, craft, etc and still hang out with my sweet pea.  It just seemed like a flip switched and she instantly knew what she shouldn't touch, what she shouldn't get in to, and what she shouldn't eat.  She became very imaginative and enjoyed playing with her toys by herself, flipping through story books and doing puzzles by herself, and watching movies.  I was able to spend periods of time doing things I needed to do without worrying what she was doing.  Well.......she turned two exactly one month and ten days ago and its like another switch flipped in her.  It was the switch that said in her tiny little brain, "I am the boss.  I don't have to listen to mommy.  I can do everything ALL BY MYSELF, without any help." and most recently "I can get into my poopy diapers and smear them all over my crib, my walls, my clothes, my face, and my stuffed animals!"  You heard me right. The little "incident" that I wrote about a week ago is no longer "the incident" its a "recurring incident".  She has now done that unspeakable deed 5 times, each time getting worse and worse.  She completely 100% knows what she is doing and it is driving me CRAZY!  Oh that little munchkin. What to do, what to do?  I know that this defying mommy thing is just a stage that they go through, but I want to be sure that the habits she is practicing right now don't become permanent behavior.  It is such a fine line.  When to let kids be kids, and when to teach them when things are not okay.  Slowly but surely I am learning and I am so grateful to be a mommy to such a wonderfully independent little child.  She is the complete opposite personality of me.  I am such a people pleaser.  I NEVER wanted my mom mad at me.  I always wanted to be perfect and not do anything wrong.  This little munchkin of mine could care less if I'm mad or not!  It is a quality that is maddening and admirable all at the same time.  I'm grateful that I have an independent child who will be able to stand on her own two feet and make her own decisions. I just wish she would wait til she is older to do it!  In spite of all the craziness of this week with doodle, she will forever be my favorite little thing in the whole world.  I love her with all my heart and I am so grateful to be a mother!



Sometimes I wish that she could be this age and not do anything naughty.....

but then I remember that there were hard things in that stage too.  Being a mommy is just hard work....but the best kind of hard work there is.  Love you, Daci!

Mystery Solved!

***See post below if you have no idea what I am talking about***

We found out that Rick's gmail had been hacked into and they were sending out Spam so his email address was reported.  This is the same email address we use for our blogger account.  Google shut down his account due to the inappropriate use (spam) and that is why our Blogger was down.  So glad that I don't have people out there that think I do inappropriate things with naked babies :)  However, it did make me sit back and think about what goes on my blog.  I don't think I will be putting any more bath pictures, I don't want complete strangers stumbling upon my blog and finding my precious Daci naked.  There are some weirdos out there!  Don't you just wish that everyone could be good, normal people?  Too bad the creeps ruin everything :)  Happy blogging!

Slap On The Wrist

So, I had a friend (Thanks, Gentry!) let me know that my blog wasn't pulling up and that it said it had been removed.  She lives in Europe so I figured something must be going on with her computer since I had just been on my blog yesterday morning.  I assured her it was okay and then went to go do my blog stalking for the day.  Low and behold my blog was gone!  I typed in my address and a warning message popped up saying that my blog had been deleted! Uh can you say panic attack?  My Blog has my whole life on it!  I always post things right away, and then when I actually scrapbook those memories, I go back and read what I wrote so I can record the little details that have already escaped my memory.  Man, I was definitely nervous.  I then typed in my Baby Bands and Bling url to make sure that was still there and it had been removed too!  All my blogs that we have under that username were gone.  Seriously all I wanted to do was cry, but then I told myself to get it together and solve the problem.  When I clicked on the link to find out why it had been removed there was a list of reasons that it could have been.  One was inappropriate content.  I didn't think I had ever posted anything inappropriate, EVER!  But then I got to thinking, maybe they thought my last post of Daci in the bath tub after her "incident" was child porn or something?????  I decided not to take any chances.  It seems like I got a "slap on the wrist" just for this time because they let me back in, THANK HEAVENS!  The only other thing that I can think it would be is that someone hacked into my account and was doing some suspicious things so they shut me down.  Either way, I have changed my password and removed the bath post :)  Hopefully that will NEVER happen again :) What would I do without my blog and my blogging buddies?! I really hope I didn't offend anyone by posting those pictures.  That thought never crossed my mind, but now I am a little embarrassed!  Forgive me if it bothered you and I will be much more sensitive from now on :)

Crazy Busy and Lovin' It!

We have had a really crazy last few weeks!  Last Monday for Family Night we took Daci bowling!  It was so much fun to go out as just our little family! You could tell that Daci felt so special and she loved bowling just as much as she did the first time!

Daci picking out her ball. She picked a different one each time she went :)

Rick helping her carry the ball to the ramp

Putting it on the ramp

Daci and I by all the bowling balls

When it wasn't her turn she would run up to the step, turn around, and say "CHEESE!"

Saying "Knocked Over!" like Gru does in Despicable Me

Rick's sister, Carly and her husband Micah and daughter Eleni moved in around the corner from us the week.  Micah's family came out to help them move and we had lots of fun with them.  One night we went downtown and went to Sprinkles Cupcakes and then the Gibsons Steakhouse.  Holy Cow! Some of the best food I have ever had!

Carly, Micah and Eleni

Daci all bundled up and ready to go downtown

Carly in front of Sprinkles

Daci and I in front of Sprinkles. Daci was being really goofy!

Gibsons!

My yummy dinner

We all left Gibson's extremely happy :)

After all the craziness, Daci got sick with a cold.  So sad!  She is a snotty mess.  This morning her hair was sticking straight up from her snot gel :)  Our TV is broken right now so she has been sitting in the office chair and watching Disney Movies on the computer to lay low.  She has been eating lots of healthy food and hopefully she will be back to herself in no time :)

Eating her banana and watching Hercules!

My Big Project

So I have spent the last two weeks working on a big project.  My friend's little girl's first birthday was coming up and I decided to do something special.  I imagined this all up in my mind and was so excited to actually create it.  I don't want you to think I'm bragging, but I am pretty proud of it.  It took a lot of time and hard work, but I think it turned out great!

I "made" most of the paper myself.  The White and Black Fleur de Lis paper was just plain white cardstock and I stamped and embossed the black fleur de lis to create my own pattern paper.  This by far took the longest amount of time.  Then, I also "made" my pink pattern paper.  It was just a solid pink, and I stamped the design across the whole thing.  I also handmade all the paper roses you see.  Its hard to tell, but I have a lot of sparkle bling on each of the pages, and there is glitter on the paper roses.  You can click on each of the photos to see them in more detail. Enjoy!

I also decided to make a banner for her room (my black, white and pink theme was inspired by her cute bedding in her crib).

The Last Few Weeks

For Valentine's Day we went to Sullivan's Steakhouse in Downtown Naperville.  Can I just say....AMAZING?!  Our steaks were to die for and I even tried a bunch of new stuff that I knew Rick would love.  We got the shrimp and lobster bisque for our appetizer and the shrimp fried rice for our side.  Rick loves seafood, and I grew up being very picky.  He has definitely brought out a new side of me :)  I enjoy trying new foods with him. (The two foods I listed may not seem that exotic to most, but they definitely were for me!)

We went to the Field Museum one weekend with our brother in law Micah and some a new recruit for Pariveda.  Daci loved looking at all the animal exhibits.

In front of the birdies

Our little family in front of the largest assembled T-Rex

Daci got pretty tired because she missed her nap. She was cranky for a while, but then she got really silly.  When we stopped to take a break she went crazy and started runny around the lobby.  She was quite entertaining to a lot of people, not just us :)

After the museum, we took a few pictures in front of the cityscape

We headed over to the Chicago Auto Show after the Field Museum.  Rick was SOOO excited for the Auto Show. It comes to Chicago every year and he went on his Pday during his mission and loved it.  He was very excited to go back

You can't really tell what is going on in this picture but Rick, Micah, and Daci got in the car.  Daci looked out the window and waved "bye bye" to me.

Daci was pooped by the end!

Micah in a hummer

Daci and I in front of some old model T's