Thoughts and Tots (Soccer, Not Tater)

Friday, May 29, 2009

1. Abby had a meltdown of all meltdowns at Babies R Us today. So, if you were in a 5-mile radius of the Allen Babies R Us at around 11:15, yes, that was Abby you heard. :)

2. I'm an idiot. Abby had some birthday money, so I strolled over to Toys R Us to get something for Abby. I bought a cute little Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, and she was stoked. She loves to push the real vacuum at home, so I thought this was a win-win situation for me. Instead of her wanting to push our vacuum (slooooooooowly, I might add) at home, this way she could "vacuum" next to me. Kill two birds with one stone, right? I get to vacuum, and she gets to pretend vacuum. Everyone's happy, right? Wrong. That thing is the noisiest, most annoying toy known to man. This is the thanks I get for trying to be kind. Ugh.

3. In the parking lot of Babies/Toys R Us, I saw a woman unload her bags from her cart and leave her cart right there in the parking lot, taking up a parking space. She got in her car and drove off, just leaving it sitting there TEN FEET FROM THE RETURN AREA. Are you kidding me, lady?! How lazy have we become?? Well, Dramatic Me marched over to the cart just as she was pulling off, and pushed it into its proper area. I put on a nice, over-the-top, Oscar-worthy show, if I must say so myself. She could see me in her rearview mirror as I drove away. Hopefully, Lady in the Nissan Sentra, you'll be kind enough to return your cart next time so good, rule-abiding citizens like myself don't have a good parking space blockaded thanks to your inconsiderate, selfish self. Ah, I feel better. :)

4. I had a gift card to spend at a certain children's boutique in Longview this past weekend. I won't say the name of the store, but it starts with "Lollipops" and ends with "Lace." :) Anyhoo, when I walk in there, I always feel really poor. Like the people behind the counter are thinking, "Oh, what's that poor vagabond doing in here? She obviously isn't rich enough to be shopping here! Perhaps she came in here to seek shelter from the blistering sun. Surely she doesn't have the money to purchase items in here. Poor soul must have a gift card." Dangit. They figured me out. It's one of those places that if I touch a shirt, I hope I don't get dirt on it because then I'll be forced to buy it, and in order to pay for it, I'd have to sell some of my plasma. You know what I mean?

Anyway, I carefully looked around for something to spend my $50 gift card on. I know what you're thinking: $50? Wow, that's a lot! And if it were Wal-Mart, you'd be right. But at this place, it maybe would buy me a pair of lacy bloomers. That, or a pair of socks. I kid, I kid. Seriously though, they had an entire section devoted to the most adorable smocked dresses. I gasped at the price tag. $72. For a dress. For a two-year-old. A growing two-year-old. Call me old school, but I can't see paying that much money for a dress for my child. Don't get me wrong: if you have the money, go for it. But for me, $72 is a lot of money.

My philosophy is: pay more money for something that's going to last you a long time; pay less for short-term items. And to me, clothing for Abby is a short-term item. Like I said, that's just me though. So, my goal was to spend my gift card on something Long Term. I perused and perused and perused some more. Gosh, a girl can get lost dreaming in that place for an afternoon. Oh, what adorable items they had for sale. I ended up purchasing the cutest little baby doll high chair. It was the perfect gift. You know why? Because it will last for years. That's better than a little smocked dress anyway, right?


Lastly, I'll leave you with a play-by-play of yesterday's Soccer Tots. Abby did well for the most part but wanted nothing to do with one drill: kicking the ball while Mommy's foot was on top of it. She didn't like that. You all will be pleased to know, though, that she was the leader for the obstacle course as well as the final line to kick the ball into the goal. When Coach Kendrah asked for the kids to line up behind the dot, Abby was the first one there both times. Actually, I think it has less to do with leadership skills and more to do with the fact that Abby's the oldest in the class (well, second oldest by one day) and understands what Coach is asking. But I'll just pretend that she's a born leader! :)

Warming up. By the way, Papa Rick, everyone LOVED Abby's shoes. One Mom commented how "happy" they were! Abby loves them too. In the car, she said, "Papa...Abby's shoes." So, she knows they came from you with love. They were perfect!
She's got her sights set on that goal!

She scores!
Then it was time to line up for the obstacle course. First, they went down the slide. Then it was time for the balance beam...
Then they "hopped" over noodles (Abby didn't quite have that down! Perhaps by August!!), ran over hula hoops, and then walked on these...
Then it was through the tunnel...
...and once they emerged from the tunnel, they kicked the ball into the goal. Scoooooooooore!
Balloon time!
Chasing the balloon
Notice who's at the other side of the field area? Notice how there are no other kids over there? Hmmm... she isn't always the best listener! Oops! :) Either that or she's practicing to be a Number One Goalie like her Uncle Jason was???!! Sadly, I think it's the former!
Luckily she came running back to where she was supposed to be!
At the end of the drills, Coach has all the kids circle around and put their hand on a box. On the count of three, they yell, "Go Soccer Tots!" And by "they" I mean Coach. No kid yells that. They just stare at her with a really confused look on their faces. It's pretty funny actually. But, after "their" chant, Coach stamps their hands. This is their favorite thing! Here is Abby showing off her ball and star stamps.
Actually the stamps are her 2nd favorite thing. I guess that bumps the actual class down to 3rd! Ha! The racing car game in the corner has become her favorite thing to do. She likes to sit in it and drive. Forget Soccer Tots. Hello race car driving!!
Our little Soccer Tot star. Too fun.

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

Lots o' Pics. That's It.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Happy Almost June, everyone. Not too much to report on our end. Abby did have her two-year checkup on Friday, and there is good news and bad news. The good news is she's perfectly healthy and is developmentally on track. Hooray! The bad news is she's projected to be 5'10" or 5'11" when she grows up. Tall and thin. Yikes. Matt, you may need to start cleaning your shotgun. Here were her stats:

Head: 18.9 inches, (90-95th percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs, 15 oz, so basically 27 lbs (50-75th percentile)
Height: 35.3 inches, (90-95th percentile)

We are currently hoping for a volleyball scholarship. A FULL scholarship, that is. :) I also hope she does not get her mother's athletic ability. I attempted T-ball when I was young and then softball in 6th grade. I rode the bench. A lot. Sigh.

Onto the pics. A huge Thank You to Cheryl for this absolutely adorable Ballerina Dress she gave Abby for her birthday. New, cute dress=photo session in the front yard with Mommy.
















BFF Ellie and her parents came over to celebrate Memorial Day. Sure wish I had felt better (I had the crud--anyone else been sick too??) We took the girls down to the neighborhood pool, but it was freezing! They didn't want to get in too much. Can't say I blame them. So, we filled up the baby pool in our backyard for them to play in. Instead of splishing and splashing, all they wanted to do was pour water on the grass and each other. Sigh.

Bathing Suit Beauty
Love this pic
Is this not the cutest??
Oh to be a kid again...

Just a cute pic of Abby

And one of Roo and me

Abby started Soccer Tots last week, and she really enjoyed it. She followed directions well for the most part and had a grand ol' time. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow from her session and post them soon. Until then, enjoy the gorgeous weather, everyone! :)

Happy Birthday to You Two

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Huge Happy Birthday to two of my favorite females today: Abby turns two, and my mom turns 60!! Wow. Time has flown by. (I'm sure my mom would agree to this much more than I would, as 30 still sounds kind of old to me. Just keeping it real, folks.) This time two years ago, I was holding my new baby girl in my arms. And now, as I sit here and type this, I hear Abby chat-chat-chatting away in her crib. She's supposed to be asleep. (Keyword=supposed) I guess all the sugar she's consumed here lately has kept her wired. :) Ah, how drastically things change in two short years!

Abby had a birthday party on Saturday. Rainy, rainy, rainy Saturday. The party was supposed to be at the park. So, because Mother Nature didn't cooperate, everything got moved to our house. Luckily Abby's new bounce house arrived on Thursday, so in the garage it went. Bouncing, cake, opening presents and visiting with family and friends consumed the evening, and a great time was had by all. I don't have many pictures of the event but I'll definitely post more later when I get them off my family's cameras. In the meantime, this is what I've got:

The invite

The cake


The favor bags

The birthday girl

Jumping in the bounce house

Taken this morning. Officially a two year old!

Our beautiful girl
Cheeeeeeeese!

And to put it in perspective, here she is the morning of her first birthday.
Happy 2nd birthday, Roo!! (Check back for more party pics sometime next week)

By the way, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that a surprise reception was held in honor of my mom over Mother's Day weekend. Well, in Kilgore, TX, today is, officially, "Bettye Craddock Day." There's a nice write-up in the Kilgore News-Herald about her, and if you want to read it, click here.

A Pic and A Clip

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I've been meaning to update, but things have been busy here lately. Mother's Day weekend was great. VERY SOON I will post about the events of last weekend. (My mom was honored with a surprise reception for her 25 years of teaching at Kilgore College, so I plan to do an entire post on that. Hopefully when things slow down!!)


In the meantime, all I have time for is a picture from the other evening of our almost 2-year-old. I can't believe she'll be two on Monday! And here are some short clips of what Abby's been up to lately. Enjoy! :)

Moo and A Choo-Choo

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Abby started to have fever on Sunday, and she has been fairly crabby the past two days. (Of course, she still has daily doses of "The Terrible Twos," but she had been fussier than normal.) Also, her sleeping has been awful, waking up screaming every three hours or so. Tuesday's nap was cut short after one hour as I suddenly heard uncontrollable screaming coming from her room. Upstairs I ran to find her sobbing in her crib. I tried rocking her. Still screaming. I tried to sing her a song. Still screaming. I tried to read her a book. Sip of water. Rocking her some more. Still screaming. Nothing worked. This went on for 30 minutes! Finally, I turned on Dora, put her in the big, cozy chair, gave her a bowl full of Goldfish, and finally, she calmed down. Holy cow. Talk about an exhausting 30 minutes!

So, by yesterday when she still was crabby, felt warm, and had a rash on her hiney that had been perplexing me for three days, a phone call to the doctor was made. We got in at 4:00, saw the nurse practitioner (our pediatrician wasn't in the office yesterday afternoon), and she looked Abby over. Ears were clear but her throat was really red. Luckily no strep. Ulcers in mouth. A few red spots on her feet and hands. And red spots all over her hiney, which I knew wasn't a diaper rash because even with cream it hadn't cleared up. She then diagnosed her with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. Now don't confuse this with Hoof and Mouth Disease, better known as Mad Cow Disease. At first, I had visions of crazy sick collapsing cows in my head. Luckily this is not the same thing. Just a common viral infection. Whoo. I mean, I knew Abby loved milk and all, so I was relieved when Nurse Debbie said they weren't related. :) And that was that.

I kept her from MDO today, because it's super contagious, although the nurse said because it's harmless and Abby didn't have fever that it was OK, I sided with caution and we went to Party City shopping for her birthday party decorations instead. (Don't worry: I wiped down the cart she rode in!)

So, that's what's been going on with us. Never a dull moment with kiddos, is there?? I'll leave you with some pics of the past few days:

Abby Loves her some choo-choo trains, so as we were playing with her Huggies box the other afternoon, and she said, "Choo-choo," I had an idea. Some cutting, taping, and wrapping later, voila! Abby's Apple Express was created. Fun, fun! She loves to walk around the house in it yelling "Choo-choo...Choo-choo!!!!"
Here she is watching her daddy mow. This is one of her favorite things to do. And no, do not adjust your monitors. That is NOT, in fact, an 18th hole on a golf course. (That was for you, Matt! :) ) Laughing at her daddy
Happy Wednesday, folks! :)