First haircut

After several months of cringing at the sight of Taylor’s baby-mullet, I finally decide to buck-up and get my girl a haircut today. Her first-ever haircut. And while I’m sure that most mother’s just cut their own kids hair for the first few years of their lives, the thought of getting my two year old to sit still while I wave scissors around her face made me cringe even more than looking at the party on the back of her head. So I made us an appointment with the stylist at the salon that I go to, stuffed my pockets with snacks and, of course, brought my camera.

Last picture of shaggy-haired Taylor:

And while I knew she was ready for her first haircut, I was a bit anxious to see how she would handle sitting still and letting a stranger touch her head. But she did awesome. We only needed two packs of Dora gummies to get us through it.

First blow-out:

And here she is, our little mullet-less beauty queen:

Gorgeous!

Birthday hangover

Well, it’s five days after Taylor celebrated her big birthday, and things are just starting to settle at the Famous Amys house. I cleaned out her closet to make room for all of her new, adorable clothes, took a round of baby-toys up to the attic to create space for all of the Dora loot she acquired and brought the remaining cupcakes into Childwatch yesterday. The only party residue we really have left are the Dora balloons, and those I am either gonna have to kill with the scissors after T goes to bed, or I can just let her drag them around the house until they wither away to nothing. Sorry, Dora – It’s going to be a slow death for you. Payback for plastering your face on every commercial product known to man.

And other than dealing with a few official two-year old tantrums, our week has been spent detoxing from cake and ice cream, soaking up the gorgeous spring weather, taking hot-laps on the new trike and bringing Taylor to the pediatrician for her two-year check-up. The appointment was on Monday, and I was overly relieved to find out that we didn’t have any shots this visit. Because mixing a birthday hangover with a few vaccinations sounds like something even Lindsay Lohan wouldn’t be able to handle.

And even though I had enough Dora gummie snacks stuffed into my pockets to feed a small army – Thanks, Steph! – I was shocked at how well my little peanut handled the visit. Such a big girl! Literally. Taylor’s new stats are 33 ½ pounds, 35 inches long, keeping her right up there in the 95th-percentile of kids her age, which is where she’s measured since birth. And, for that matter, it’s the percentile that I have always landed in. So my daughter and I share another thing in common – Consistency. And a deep love for vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and dry-roasted peanuts.

Everything else checked out great at the visit. We have one super-healthy girl on our hands, and Dr Childers was pretty impressed with how good her motor skills are and how well she is talking. Every visit we have to fill out some sort of survey-thing to let them know how well she’s developing, and in the Speech section there was a question about whether or not she’s putting words together and if she is able to communicate what she wants, and, if so, what sorts of things does she say. And I laughed out loud. And then I wrote, Give me a Dora snack, No, Ruby, this is MY room, I want to go outside, and Let’s go to the park. Oh yes, Doctor. The princess is very good at communicating what she wants. Another thing she has in common with her Momma.

Taylor turns two

It is probably going to come as no surprise to you all that my spoiled little peanut didn’t just celebrate a birthday DAY, and that she was granted a whole weekend of presents, cake, ice cream and more Dora the Explorer gummy snacks than one tiny person should be allowed. Which basically means we had one happy toddler on a wicked sugar-high for three days straight.

And who better to help in that spoilage than Chris’s parents and brother. Or, as T calls them, Grampy, Grandma and Uncle Ronnie.

We started the big day out with some rather delicious pancakes whipped up by her Dad.

And then we moved to singing and presents. She wasn’t too hot on the Happy Birthday song.

But she was on fire when she started ripping off wrapping paper.

And then she got her big present from Mom and Dad, a bubblegum-pink, Schwinn roadster tricycle. And we were so jacked to give it to her, and we wanted it to be a total surprise. BUT then she opened the door to the garage right before we started opening presents and she saw it and blurted out, My BIKE! And we totally try to play it off and kept saying, What are you talking about? You must be seeing things. Open another present. And she just kept saying, My BIKE! Give me my BIKE! And so we did – Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

And then that afternoon we celebrated with all of our friends at a – you guessed it! – Dora the Explorer themed birthday party. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Or nicer friends and happier kids for that matter. We have one blessed little girl.

And the rest of the weekend was spent trying out all of her new, awesome toys – I think we now technically own about every Dora present known to man. And we also just sat back and enjoyed our time with the extra Amys family members we were hosting. Being that we live so far away from everyone, it’s always a treat to have family come into town and help make any event even more special.

In summary, it was an amazing weekend. And today Taylor was definitely nursing a nasty sugar-present-Grandparent hangover from all the partying. And while I was pretty much smiling the entire weekend, there were also brief moments of sadness that my baby is not a baby anymore. Ack! It seriously makes my heart twinge a little bit. I mean, I love her now more than I could ever have imagined possible, but I am totally going to miss my cheeky, squishy little baby. But that's okay, because this is the most fun I've had in ages. And she still has some pretty kissable cheeks.

Two years old

Happy, happy birthday to my precious Taylor! Two years ago today, this little peanut graced us with her presence.

And life has been nothing but exceptional ever since. Absolutely extraordinary. And this past month set the fun-meter pretty high.

And while I usually use my monthly milestones post to detail all of the new, exciting and not-so-exciting things that Taylor had amazed us with the previous month, today I am mostly going to reiterate how this little being has changed my entire life. My entire self. And while there are still lots of little glimmers of the person I was before I became a mother, every second of my life is now dedicated to nurturing, protecting, educating, entertaining and trying to understand this adorable, squishy girl whose cheeks beg me to kiss them at least four thousand times a day. How could I not be a better person?

And, yes, of course she tests my patience. And makes me pull my hair out and forces me to mutter, Seriously? on a regular basis. But she is who she is. And, honestly, 90-percent of the attitude she throws me is just sass, which is HILARIOUS.

And the other ten-percent is just good, old fashioned RAGE.

And I know I’m biased, but she’s pretty much the cutest, smartest little kid I know. And fun. I don’t know how many times a day Chris and I will stop what we’re doing, look at the other and say, I mean COME ON! How cute can one person be?

So. Two years of motherhood down, forever to go. Two years of putting someone else’s needs so far in front of my own I can barely see them. Two years of changing diapers and making sure to always carry snacks and a change of clothes everywhere I go. Two years of having my job go from nine-to-five, to wake-up-to-nap to nap-to-bed-time. Two years of having this little piece of heaven look me in the eyes and make me smile every day. Two years of being able to squeeze her thighs and hear her erupt in a laughter that would make even the saddest person chuckle. Two years of being absolutely amazed at the amount of food one tiny being can eat. Two years of her making me a better person. A happier, healthier, more patient person. A Momma. Thank you, peanut. Happy birthday.

It's only rock 'n roll but we like it, like it, yes, we do

Easter weekend roadtrip

This weekend Taylor and I made a quick trip down to Birmingham so I could host my sister’s bridal shower and spend some time with my beloved Blackwell family. It was a super-short visit, with T and I getting into town around noon on Friday and then coming back home yesterday morning. But even though we were in town for less than 48 hours, I am amazed with everything we got done and were able to do: Shopping, house warming party, bridal portraits, wedding shower. Being Lib’s only sister and Matron of Honor – Man, that makes me sound OLD! – I had been prepping for her bridal shower for months, and after wrapping up all the last minute details Friday afternoon, picking up the food on Saturday morning and then setting up, I was obviously elated to have all my planning come to head and be able to throw her one awesome party. And I think she had a lot of fun too. And you’ll have to check her blog for some images of the event, as I was too busy drinking champagne and trying to keep Taylor from opening all of her presents to take pictures. But just trust me, it was a good time.

And after the party was over and all of her lavish gifts were loaded into her and Dirk’s new, fancy house, we had just enough time to rehash the day over a bottle of wine and get a good night’s sleep before I had to take off again. So it was a whirlwind of a visit. But it was a lot of fun. And here are a few of the pictures I got of the trip:

And after making the nearly six-hour drive back yesterday, Taylor and I jumped out of the car and changed into our Easter threads to celebrate the afternoon with Chris, who had spent the morning calling me every five seconds, Where are you at? Are you almost home? Hurry up!, and he also helped the Easter Bunny hide some treats for our girl. And while last year she was too little to grasp to concept of hunting for eggs and presents, this year she mastered the art of collecting candy and toys in her basket. Oh, and she was super cute about it too, which was probably a direct result of the amount of jelly beans she consumed.

Taylor’s first-ever golf lesson:

So, as you can see, it was an action-packed weekend, and with Chris’s family coming into town this Thursday and Miss Thang’s big birthday on Saturday, I am expecting the Famous Amys family to be riding a wicked, sugar-filled, party high this week and weekend as well. Stay tuned.