I Miss Autumn

September is probably my least favorite month in AZ. In my brain it is the month of back to school shopping, warm days and cool nights and watching for the first leaf to fall. In Phoenix, however, it means 109 degree days and still very warm nights. Halloween is really when it starts to get nice. That is probably why it is such a big holiday here. Everyone is out celebrating the season change and kids can wear costumes that don't have to be fitted over snowsuits to go trick or treating! But that is still 2 months away, so I must be patient. 

Last week, when we asked Indigo what she wanted to be for Halloween, she said "Tangled Princess." This week, however, it is all Tinkerbell, all the time. So we'll see. Either will be cute. I need to figure out if I have to coach that night or not. My one class is full of 6 year olds - and I imagine they will be heading out door to door and won't want to come to the gym. The Xcel team also practices. They are older (for the most part), but that means they have lives and those lives might include some sort of Halloween activity. So we'll see.  It would certainly make things easier as a parent if Halloween was always on a weekend! 

David and I went to Jerome, AZ this weekend. We had a nice time. Lots of funky shops to browse in and we had a beer lunch and a wine tasting. We stayed the night in a little inn and drove home on Sunday. It was nice to reconnect before work and life get busy this fall. Indigo had a great time with Auntie Leigh and family. They love her so much and she has such a great time with them. 

I am declaring Indigo officially potty-trained! She had one accident while brushing teeth about a week ago. I think she just couldn't switch gears fast enough when she realized she had to go. And Monday she had an accident in the morning at daycare. She was not happy about going to school because she hadn't seen us much this weekend, so we didn't make her go at home before leaving. That was a mistake! But overall, she is doing really, really well and I don't miss the diaper stage AT ALL!

Our most fabulous tenant is moving out this week. She found a bigger house to rent for her last two years of med school. I am so sad! She did help us find a new tenant. He's perfect and the lease starts on the 1st. The only problem is, he hasn't paid the deposit yet or sent the lease back! I'm trying not to freak out, and I know we can still rent it to someone else (maybe not until October at this point), but he could at least let me know if he's changed his mind! Or, he's all set and packed up and just hasn't sent the lease back and hasn't spent the energy to assure me that he is still coming. I'm hoping that is the case! We are getting the water heater replaced tomorrow - it rusted out and we are putting in a new patio door. So it should be very nice should this guy move in. 

We think our next door neighbor walked away from her house on Monday. She had told me previously she was trying to sell, but was likely more underwater than we are. I don't know what will happen to her house. Another neighbor is moving out this weekend also. He was living free at his sister's condo, doing work on it, but now she's decided to rent to a paying tenant. So 3 new neighbors next month. Should be interesting!

That's about it for now! I just wanted to write a post because my friend just had a baby on Saturday! Hopefully this will give her something to read quick between feedings and diaper changes and playtime with her 2-year-old! Congratulaions, T! 

(p.s - I can never find the pictures that get downloaded to the computer. I need to start filing new ones. So this post is text-only tonight!)

She Makes it Look Easy

Since my last post, Nuk-Dog has stayed a thing of the past, Indigo has successfully completed potty training, saw her first movie (Monsters University - she is hooked on the silver screen), started using the big potty all by herself and transitioned into a toddler bed! I'm going to jinx myself by saying she did it all with style and very little drama. It's like she looks at each new thing and says, ok - I'm ready. Let's do this! I love her so much. 

I had a sleepover at the gym on Saturday night. David texted Sunday morning and said Indigo woke him up (from her crib) saying, "mommy, daddy I have to go potty!" so she waited until he got her out and she went. Last night, she went to bed in panties and woke up dry. Yay!

This morning David took the front of her crib off so she has a toddler bed now. She pouted for a bit and then realized that it was pretty cool. I bought a pool noodle today (thanks Pinterest!) to use as a buffer so she won't fall out. I added a nightlight and put the little potty in her room in case she needs it. I was concerned she would not stay in bed but she passed right out.  I do worry about nap time though. If we don't transition her to nap in the right way, sometimes she screams from her crib. Now she will have access to her room, which could be trouble. But, we'll just have to teach her that she needs to stay in bed and maybe it will all work out. 

Amanda, Dan and baby Lydia are coming to visit in September. My mom is coming in November. I'm looking forward to both. Not sure what we have planned. Probably a lot of hanging out watching the cousins get to know each other. When mom is here, the Desert Botanical Gardens are having another Chihuly exhibit which will be cool. They integrate the glass with the desert scape and it is very beautiful. 

Other than that, life is pretty normal. I am so blessed!

Farewell Nuk-Dog

I've read that parents sometimes attempt to choose a "lovey" for their infants. They buy something special and put it in the crib (as soon as it's safe to have toys in the crib). Sometimes they buy back ups just in case one gets lost and a bed-time meltdown is imminent. We did not plan on having Nuk-Dog in our lives. He wouldn't have been my first choice of lovey for Indigo. 


Nuk-Dog entered our lives as a hand-me-down from my friend Emily. Her son had used it as an infant. He's one of those "wub-a-nubs" that you can place on an infant's chest while they are sleeping so the nuk stays in their mouths. I can't quite remember how old she was, but she was toddling around her room and peeked in the bag from Emily, pulled out Nuk-Dog, popped him in her mouth and there he stayed until about a week ago. 

He got lots of comments, our Nuk-Dog. He was practically part of the family. In my pre-paranting plans, I never included a nuk past 18 months. No way. I didn't want to screw up her teeth and I didn't think toddlers needed a nuk anymore. But he made her so happy. And it was kind of cute. And she would give him up when asked. She played with him. He was her friend. And yes, we bought back ups. What started as one free hand me down turned into a total of 6, I think. 

I tried to wean her from him. I thought she might like the "dog" part of him without the "nuk" part. One of them had a split in the nipple, which she didn't care about but kind of defeated the purpose. So I cut it off so he basically became a beanie baby. WELL, in her eyes, I had basically decapitated him. She was actually scared of the deformed dog. She threw him away and when I gave him back, she turned him around, looking for the "rest" of him. Needless to say, he went into the closet. 

Auntie Leigh and family were helpful in weaning her. Nuk-Dog just didn't get used at Auntie's house. And she was fine with that. But we were too soft and he was too cute. Until last week....

She had lost him in the night and Daddy couldn't find him in the morning. So he just said, Nuk-Dog's gone. And she was ok with that. I found him later and put him away for good.  

Mommy is sad. It means my baby is growing up and no longer needs her first friend. But I'm glad it wasn't a battle to give him up, and it was definitely time. I just couldn't bring myself to take him away so it all worked out in the end, I suppose. 

We had a great weekend at home, full of little moments and fun times. We just love her so much. She is such a joy to have in our lives. We are so blessed. 

Life Just Gets Busy

I mean to blog more often, I really do. I read the blogs that get update daily or even a few times a week but life just gets in the way. I guess that's a good thing, that I do try to take in the moments as much as possible. It just all goes by so quickly. David worked a dance show this weekend and wasn't around Indigo for two days and he swears she got older and is talking more!

David turned 40 in May. I managed to pull off a fun surprise party. My sister-in-law Erin made fabulous decorations and my aunt and some friends helped with the food. Everyone had a great time and he was TOTALLY shocked. The next weekend, we took a little road trip and saw Canyon De Chelly in NE Arizona. It was beautiful and Indigo was a great companion. She's not a very good roommate, though. She won't go to sleep if we are still awake watching TV. So unless we get a suite or leave the room until she goes to sleep, we are stuck on her schedule. But since I am a cheapskate when booking hotel rooms, and leaving the room for a drink at the bar seems slightly unsafe, we just take advantage of the extra sleeping hours. 

She loves singing in the car. Her favorite song right now is "Me Party" from the latest Muppet movie. She also likes "Mahna Mahna" and we have to wait for a certain part where we dance. It's silly but super cute. She still asks for "Call Me Maybe" and I think of Auntie Erin every time because she was with us last year when Indigo started singing it. 

Potty training is still a work in progress. She'll be really good and then the next day pee her pants 3 times. So we're still working on it. She's doing well at daycare. No more biting. She likes her teachers and she is learning her letters and numbers. I want to work a little more on them with her but it is hard to steer a toddler where you need them to go. She does like the lacing beads I bought her. She makes us necklaces all the time now. She also likes to read now. I read "Go Dog Go" and then she reads it back to me. It's amazing what she remembers. 

We've managed to see 3 movies recently and they were all good. Iron Man 3 was amazing! The new Star Trek was great and we saw Fast and the Furious, which is just silly fun. Waiting on a few more this summer and into the fall. It's just hard to work it all out to see very many and makes going something a little special. 

See why I don't write much? My life is pretty boring. Just family, work and coaching. But it's a wonderful life and I love it! How could I not, right? 

David worked a ballet today and I brought Indigo. She was mesmerized by "Peter and the Wolf" and then spent the next 20 minutes twirling. We may have a dancer on our hands!

Ahh...mazing

I know all parents think this about their children, but seriously, Indigo is amazing. I think I've mentioned before what a crappy babysitter I was. A girl even broke her arm on my watch once...sorry Elizabeth! Seriously, if the kids didn't want to play Barbies, build Lego or watch movies, I was tapped out. But now, I could brush her hair for an hour (not that she lets me), I could push her in the swings or slide at the park (if she wasn't sending mom and dad back to the car!). It's just incredible to hear her converse with us, learn how to recognize letters, learn to count (in Spanish, no less) and just become the person she will be! 

She turned 2 and moved to the next room at daycare. The teachers said she was ready to start using the potty so we've been at that for about 6 weeks. So far, it's pretty good.

iPad -limited photo options

I'm pretty impressed, but we still need to be prepared for many different scenarios. The best one is when she takes off her clothes, pees in her crib and then complains about it. David's next to-do is to convert the crib to a toddler bed and we'll try leaving the potty seat in her room at night. 

We had to have a conference at school because she was biting kids and got sent home one day for the safety of others. They implemented a few new practices with her during the day and she's been keeping her pacifier so her mouth is occupied with something other than an intrusive arm and its been going really well. 

She's been spending lots of time with family. David's cousin got married so a bunch of his family came to town. It was so great to see them. His mom and his uncle and aunt stayed with us which was great. She's been spending time with my family too....and we got to go meet Baby Lydia! She is so sweet and my sister and husband are fantastic parents.  

Spring is in full swing here. I'm enjoying the few weeks before it really heats up. Nothing is really planned for the summer. I'm hoping we can slow down the pace a bit - but who knows. David is not so much win the work-life balance at times. So we'll see what happens. 

I haven't abandoned the blog. I just hadn't updated the computer with pictures and life just got I'm the way at times. But it's good,  it's so very, very good!

Too soon she will be 2

This was supposed to be a Christmas post. Then a New Year's post. And now it's an almost birthday post. Indigo is amazing. She had a wonderful Christmas. David's parents came to see us and she had a fantastic time. She got so into the presents and spent 3 days opening them! I tried to set David's expectations on her focus on Christmas day. He LOVES Christmas and was hoping she would have the stamina to open all her gifts at once. She wound up taking a nap and opening some more later in the day and then the last few the day after that! So it was a long and wonderful Christmas. I'm so glad David's parents could share it with us and with Indigo! She loves Grandma and Pop-Pop. 

New Year's Eve was also fun. We met Emily and Tito and their family for dinner and Zoo Lights. Dinner was terrible but we still had fun. And I thought she would be out like a light as soon as we got to the zoo (right at her bed time), but she LOVED it! She ran around with 'cousin' Eli (she calls him Eye-Lie) and had the best time. It was great to hang out with friends and start the new year together. 

Since New Year's, I've been on baby watch for my sister and she had a little girl last Saturday. Her name is Lydia Joan and I get to meet her on Friday! I can't wait. I'm flying to MN with Indigo for Lydia's baptism. I am so happy for my sister and her husband. They will make fantastic parents. And my mom is throwing a little birthday party for Indigo. We don't have anything much planned this year. She is only 2 and has lots of birthdays to come that she will remember much better than this one. So I'm just planning some small things with family this year. 

It is so strange that she is almost 2. I'm no longer a new mother, and it's so hard to count her age in months these days, so the 'newness' has really worn off. But it is so much more now. She is such a person and she is such a huge presence in our lives. All the time, David and I ask each other what we did before her and neither of us can remember. We were once better friends (with other people). I'd like that to be one goal of 2013 is to reconnect with our friends. I also want to work to enjoy all the moments. Soon, the baby-speak will be replaced with spelling words and two-sentence texts. I have a video to upload but it's from the bath so I need to crop a little! So, until then I'll post a shot from church a few weeks ago. She is looking so grown up, it kills me!