No! I'm not ready for this.

It is official at 19 months and 3 days. Karlee has started climbing out of her crib. It all started Friday at nap time. I rocked her and read a book as usual then put her in the crib. I bent over to pick up her laundry basket to do my normal Friday Karlee washing while she napped. As I stood up, I saw her. Those little arms used every muscle they have and then there she was about to go head first over the crib rail. I grabbed her before she went all the way over. We had a very harsh talk that involved showing her the "sad stick" and back in the crib she went.

I made it down stairs and into the laundry room. Then....."Boom" ...."Whaaaaaaa". I knew exactly what had happened before I even opened her door. She had a successful attempt at climbing out of the crib. She just has not learned how to gracefully do it without falling head first. Check out the carpet burn on the forehead (finally still enough in the bath for me to get a picture of it)!! I'm just thankful she didn't break her nose or any other body part by the dead weight fall.

She did not attempt the climb during the night last night. But, nap time today she had one attempt. I stood outside the door and watched through the video monitor. She laid there for a little bit and then up she stood. As I saw two feet leave the mattress, I opened the door. She smiled at me and laid back down. I held up the "sad stick" and told her I would use it if she tried to climb out again. No more attempts after that!

Her crib converts to a toddler bed and then into a full size bed. I'm definitely not ready to put her in a big girl full size bed but the toddler bed may have to be made soon. Why can't time just stop for a little while? She's still my baby and babies belong in cribs!

Trash Woman

Karlee has for some reason taken an interest in trash. She wants to take her and anyone else's trash to the trash can in the kitchen. She wants to throw her plate away when she finishes eating (paper plate of course), nutrigrain bar wrapper when she's done with it, even leaves that track in on our shoes. This is not a bad thing except when everything she picks up off the floor she considers trash - even the TV remote!

All the way up on her toes!!

Another Parkway Year is Here!

Well, today was the start of the school year at Parkway Preschool. I was overly anxious about how Karlee would react to a new class and teachers. I felt like she had finally figured out the whole school thing by the end of the year last year. She has seen her backpack for the past week and wanted to play with it. Being the crazy mom that I am I wouldn't let her play with it so it would be clean for the first day of school. Today I finally let her have the backpack and Karlee loved it. She walked all over the driveway with it on her back until it was time to get in the car. Then she held it in her lap blowing kisses to it the whole way to school. I think she thinks it's Dora's backpack since that is her obsession right now!


















To my surprise, all went well when I dropped her off. I think it was thanks to sweet little Rolley Len! I swiped the room pics from Christy's FB page. Thanks for the pictures!

And this is what they were doing when I walked out of the room. Playing like they didn't care mommies were leaving them for 3 hours.

Karlee fell asleep in the car on the way home and only laid in the bed for about 10 minutes before waking. We ate lunch on the back porch to absorb this beautiful weather. Karlee finally went down for a real nap around 3:00. She is so off her schedule today.


I wish she could tell me how her first day went. All she has said was "Play", "Slide", and "Color" so I'm assuming they played, went to the playground, and colored! I want to know the juicy details of how did she act with the other kids, did she cry much during the day, and were the other kids nice to her. I guess those questions will have to be left to when she can have a conversation with me and tell me everything.

Sunday Safari

Sunday afternoon, Chip and I decided it would be a waste of the gorgeous day to not do something fun outside. So, in the car and down the interstate we went to Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari. Saying that Karlee loved it is an understatement. She wanted to touch, feed, and talk to anything and everything that walked up to our car. She wasn't afraid of the slimy, slobbery mouths that kept sticking their heads in the car like I was!!

It took a minute to tell Karlee that the food she was feeding the animals was for them and not her. She thought "Animal gets a bite, Karlee gets a bite." We had to hide the cup of food and only give her pieces when the animals came to the car. There is no telling what was in those food chunks!

She loved riding in the front of the car and kept crawling between me and Chip whenever the animals came to both sides of the car. She especially loved helping daddy drive during the non-animal feast times! She hung her head out the window when we were driving screaming "animals animals". It was fun to tell her the names of the animals and have her repeat it back. Buffalo was my ultimate favorite of the day.

It was a great learning experience for Karlee and truly showed her love for the outdoors and animals. Actually getting to touch and feed them rather than seeing them in a cage was amazing to her. Her eyes were wide the entire day and full of excitement. Now, my car on the other hand, did not like the trip. There is so much animal slobber on the side windows you can hardly see out of them. A trip to the Goo Goo is in my future!

A little side note. Be careful if your back is turned to the window you are sitting beside. You may start to feel a little wet something in your ear!!

Chip feeding the giraffe

Petting the cows nose and getting a little lick in return!

Calling for the animals

Saying hello to the deer

This cow mooed in the window - check out Chip's laughter!

Leaving a little slobber on the window!

Feeding the elk

These two decided to come a little bit farther into the car!

1st trip to the beauty salon!

Karlee had her first haircut today. I was shocked she sat there the whole time. She kept turning her head to see who was talking beside her but me reading a book to her stopped that long enough for a quick trim. She had some wild long strands growing down the sides of the back that finally had to go. We were told the trim would make it grow thicker and faster so I felt better about the first haircut. I always thought if I had a little girl, that I wouldn't cut her hair until she was about 3. Well, so much for that thought. Live and learn!!

What the hair looked like before the haircut

Sweet Lindsey making the first cut

The after picture - still has curls but no crazy wild strands

Haircut?????

Well, at a baby shower yesterday, my good friend Kara (a hairdresser) told me it wouldn't be a bad idea for Karlee to have a shaping in the back of her hair. Her hair is sort of growing in a V-shape down the back. I'm so torn on the fact of cutting her hair. I want it to be long with no bangs. But, Kara said it would grow much faster if I shaped up the back.

So, take a good look at this hair. I'm making an appointment to have it "shaped" some time this week.

Loving her daddy's ribs!

I think it's safe to say that Karlee loves ribs, especially when they are cooked by her wonderful daddy.

Fun in the Sun, Sand & Waves

A sand crab!!

Erin reading all about weddings to Karlee!

Karlee found a seashell.

Our little swimmer!

Floating with Granpa.

Chip, Karlee, my parent's, Adam, Erin, and I vacationed in Gulf Shores last Thursday - Sunday. We had such a great time. I was really worried about Karlee's hurt foot before we left but she was a champ the entire trip. She fell the Monday night before we left and cracked the growth plate in her right foot for those out there that have no clue what I'm talking about on the hurt foot.

We divided our time between the beach and pool so Karlee could get off her foot a little while swimming. She didn't seem to mind though because the condo had 3 pools and one was a fountain pool that Karlee absolutely loved.

It was a nice vacation with my family and everyone enjoyed spending time with Karlee. We even got to see my uncle Mac, aunt Donna, and Ashton from Louisiana. They were staying just a ways down the beach from us.

So many memories were made and we can't wait for another family trip.

Saving Money!!

I've been looking for Karlee some new hooded towels for bath time. She has completely outgrown the 20+ Gerber ones I received as shower gifts. I received two really nice ones as shower gifts and have been looking for more. Can you believe all the ones I've seen are $35 and more? That's highway robbery!!

I refuse to pay that for a towel. With a little online help, I spent the stormy Sunday afternoon making my own. I figured it couldn't be hard to do. It's just a washcloth sewn on to a regular towel with some cute decorations on it. I decided to use a hand towel rather than a wash cloth to make it bigger and last longer (remember her head is in the 97th percentile!!).

I added a little ribbon and $7.00 later .....

I'm just anxious to see if it holds up in the washing machine!!

Check out http://jennross.chattablogs.com/archives/2008/09/making-your-own-hooded-towel.html for great instructions. The only thing I changed was cutting the hand towel in half. I just sewed the whole thing on to have a bigger hood.

Happy sewing!!

Sweet Karlee

Being "gentle" with the flowers


Figuring out which pine cone to pick up


Karlee's way of feeding the baby!

Afternoon with friends

Chip, Karlee, and I headed to the Dilworth's lake place after nap time on Saturday afternoon. Karlee swam with the boys and had a great time. I slid one of the puddle jumpers on Karlee to see how she liked it. I haven't bought one this summer because I thought it would be too big for Karlee's tiny arms and waist. Well, to my surprise, Karlee liked it. She was able to swim by herself (I was beside her the whole time) and she thought that was so much fun. She kept swimming back and forth between me and Chip smiling the whole time. Guess what! I ordered one online so we will have it for our beach trip at the end of the week. Love the end of summer sales!!

We took a boat ride after dinner and the kiddos enjoyed the cool breeze after the rain. An ice cream for everyone after the boat ride topped off a fun day. It sure is fun to see these kids play together. It's so weird to think that shortly there will be a fifth child added to the mix... Holland Dilworth.

Thomas showing Karlee how to swim with the puddle jumper


Boys being boys!


Karlee swimming all by herself


Jenny keeping a hold on the little ones (I just had to post this, Jenny!)


Barrett guiding the way home!!