Happy Birthday to a sweet 2 year old!!

I am at a total loss for words today and kind of teary. I just can't believe the last 2 years have gone by as fast as they have. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was telling Chip we were finally pregnant. Both of us were so excited and could not wait for that 9 months to fly by so we could meet our child.

Well, here we are celebrating a 2 year birthday today. I'm so glad it fell on my off day. I spent Sunday night after Karlee went to bed decorating the eating area of our kitchen. I wanted Karlee to wake up knowing it was her special day.

The view from Karlee's doorway.

Checking out the big balloon!

A princess tiara for my sweet princess!

And, the rest of the day has been spent sliding, sliding, sliding! We finally have Karlee a playset of her own so we don't have to venture next door anymore to slide and swing. Since it's so cold out, we will add the sand to the sandbox when warmer weather comes around. I think the picnic table that's on the back will be used for lots of coloring and painting too when the weather changes.

I think the smile says it all!

The story behind the playset: I told Chip he had to have the entire thing ready to use by the day of Karlee's birthday. So, Chip called in the reinforcements of his employees and put together the center part at his office. I had in mind that I didn't want Karlee to see it until the day of her birthday. What was I thinking?? Around 7:30 in the morning on Friday, Karlee heard voices and went running to the window in the dining room. She instantly saw her Grandaddy and started calling his name. She didn't really notice what was going on until I finally let her go outside. She then wanted to slide before the slide was even attached! I convinced her to come back inside and we would slide later when it was all finished. We ate a quick dinner and Karlee was let loose. She played until just around 8:30 when I made her go inside for bath and bed. I told Chip that his questioning if the timing was right for this big playset was now answered!!

Karlee is telling Paul and her cousin Michael to hurry up!!

A little horsing around

Karlee had RSV and strep last week and was extremely sick. After being couped up in the house, and since she was feeling so much better, I thought some outdoor fresh air would do her some good. I just had no idea that it was going to be so darn cold because the weather man was dead wrong on Saturday.

Karlee, my mom, my Granny, and I headed to Montgomery Saturday morning to watch my cousin Maggie perform at the State horse show. Her drill team from River Run Farm in Birmingham was the special entertainment at the show. Karlee adores Maggie, age 10, so I knew she would love watching her ride horses. I had to prepare Karlee that Maggie would have paint on her face and wouldn't look like herself. I wasn't sure if it would scare her that Maggie was painted like a skeleton for the routine.



Well, as you can see, no scary moments at all. Karlee knew it was Maggie and went right to her. My Aunt Andrea wanted to get a picture of Karlee on the horse. I looked at the big thing and thought, "Chip is going to kill me!!"





After that thought left my head, I was snapping pictures too and my mom was the one freaking out. When Hollywood took a step, my mom was grabbing Karlee to get her off of him. We got back in the truck to go inside the Coliseum to watch the show and Karlee thought we were leaving. She wanted to ride the horse again!!

Maggie's team performance was amazing. The age ranges on the team was 8-18 and you would have never known. They all were so in line and perfect. No wonder they have won so many awards with the routine. I really wanted to stay and watch the bare back routine but it was almost 1:00 and Karlee was starting to get stir crazy. Oh well, maybe next time. I already know that we will be attending more shows when they are close to our area. Karlee loved it!!

Haircut #2 and a new "look"

Karlee and I took a trip to the beauty parlor this morning to have Karlee's crazy hair shaped up. Lately, it has looked like a tattered flag in the back with random long pieces hanging down her back. It just looked ratty all the time and it has been driving me crazy.

Karlee totally surprised me with how good she was while getting her hair cut. The terrible two's have started slowly creeping into her body! I had my purse loaded with books, snacks, and even suckers (Karlee has only had one in her lifetime). I never had to pull out a single thing. She was playing with the penguins on the smock and laughing every time Lindsey made a cut. She even said "look mommy, hair fall down!" She was rewarded with a trip to Books A Million and got to pick out a few new books. Lord knows we don't need any more toys in this house, especially with a birthday coming up a week from Monday.

Sweet Lindsey took the bottom part off and evened up the back and sides. The bangs are still growing out so we left them alone. I'm so happy to have a little girl whose hair looks brushed and not like she just got out of the bed.




**Notice the necklace. This is a new phase we are going through now too. Whenever mommy wheres a necklace, Karlee wants to wear a necklace too. I just let her pick out whatever she wants**

The hairdo is not the only thing changing around here. Karlee has a new look that she gives me when I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do. She will do it on cue now when I say, "Karlee, give daddy the look." Doesn't she look vicious with the squinty eyes?

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Mommy's new hobby

After taking an A-line jumper class back in the fall, I finally had time over the holidays to sit down and practice what I learned.

I just couldn't resist this helicopter fabric when I saw it.

A birthday present for cousin Lila's first birthday!

The dresses are fully lined. I've toyed with the idea of adding a ruffle to the bottom but haven't gotten brave enough to attempt it yet. Maybe I'll try with the next one. My free time is about to be gone with tax season starting but hopefully I can find an hour and two here and there to whip some more out.

Lights On! Lights Off!

Well, Karlee has found a new toy in our house.

"Almost got it!"

"Still not quite there!"

"Oh, just step up one more step and I got it!"

The lights in the stairway have been flicked on and off repeatedly ever since Karlee figured this out. I may need to stock up on light bulbs!!

Lots of indoor play

The weather the past few weeks has been down right frigid. Nights in the teen's and days in the 30's and below. Trying to find things to keep Karlee occupied as been tricky to say the least.

We've been painting a lot




playing with playdoh




and just plain acting silly!




I hope all of you are staying warm!!

Pass the corn, please!

Karlee loves corn more than anything else. We have always cut the corn off the cob for her. All of her teeth are now in (except 2 year molars), so I thought she could handle taking on the cob. At first, she didn't bite hard enough and handed the cob to me and said "Do it, mommy." I handed it back telling her to bite really hard and showed her how. Well, it only took showing her once. One big bite and she took off. She was making lots of chomping noises and juice sucking noises. It was hilarious. I just had to take a picture so I would have that memory.



Sorry if this post bored you. It's mainly for my memory!

23 months and a whole new attitude!

A peaceful child reading to herself and being really good!! Where did she go??????

One month shy of 2 years old, Karlee has a theme song: Patti LaBelle's "New Attitude!" I know it's just the 2 year old coming out in her, but, Lord help me, it is really testing my nerves!! She has always been independent but nothing like the last few weeks.

One night at dinner, she all of a sudden decided she didn't want to sit in Karlee's chair anymore. She wanted to sit in "other chair." I kept telling her "No ma'am. You need to sit in Karlee's chair because it was special and only hers." She was having no part of it and kept pushing her plate away. I finally said "If you are not going to eat, then get down and go in the living room. Mommy and Daddy are trying to enjoy their dinner." So, she got down and disappeared for a brief moment. She came right back in the kitchen and got up in the chair at the end of the table and said "eat mommy." I finally gave in because I knew she would wake up in the middle of the night and be hungry. At least she was eating.

All went well the rest of dinner and Karlee pretty much cleaned her plate. Then the next "new attitude" kicked in. The Everything is Mine stage!! I picked up her plate to put it in the dishwasher and she had a major breakdown. "No mommy. It's MINE, MINE, MINE, KARLEE'S. Stop mommy." You would have thought I was taking off her arm or something. I probably hear "no, mine" at least 100 times a day. Everything in the house has become hers and nobody is supposed to touch anything. I mean ANYTHING!!



Then, like a light switch, she'll be the loving, sweet, laid back child I know. I was cooking breakfast the other morning and couldn't find Karlee. I picked up the camera because whenever she's missing and it's completely quiet, I know I'm going to find her doing something. Well, she had gathered pillows from the living room and our bed and made herself a comfortable reading corner. When I walked in, she just said "hey mommy" and went back to flipping pages in her book (upside down!!).



The worst "new attitude" I'm dealing with now is Karlee wanting to be "nicked" (her pronunciation). She'll just randomly take her pants and diaper off and play completely in the buff. This particular night we had removed her shirt at dinner. I went to the potty and Karlee followed me to sit on her potty like she normally does-with diaper on. I turned off the light and Karlee wanted to stay on the potty. The next thing I knew, the diaper was thrown out the door. Chip just started laughing!! Karlee refused to put her diaper back on and took off to her play corner. Guess what I was doing not 10 minutes after these pictures were taken. Yep! Cleaning up tee-tee. And, this past Monday when I was putting up groceries, she came running in the kitchen saying "change mommy, wet". Her entire outfit was soaking wet from the waist down. She had unsnapped her pants legs, removed her diaper, tee-teed and poop-pooped in her play corner. I see potty training in our very near future!!




And, like a light switch again, she'll be back to normal Karlee. She wanted to wear a necklace like mommy on New Year's Day so I found her one that matched her outfit. She wore it all day and never played with it. She would just show it off when someone told her she was wearing a pretty necklace. While my dad and I were frantically watching the Auburn game, my mom called out and said "Allyson, bring your camera quick!" I ran to the bedroom and found Karlee in my old doll bed amongst my old baby dolls. It was absolutely adorable and made my mom and I laugh really hard. She has been found in this doll bed a lot lately, especially around nap time. She'll just disappear and we'll find her lying in it.

I know this phase will pass and she'll be out of the 2 year old craziness. Then, it will just be another phase that will take it's place. I'm just sitting back and trying to capture pictures of everything so I can show them to her kids one day and say "See what your mommy put me through. You need to do these same things to her so she'll see what payback is!!!!"