Between my birthday, Faith's birthday and Halloween its just been GO GO GO.
I won't lie, I felt a little guilty about Faith's birthday. I did make a pretty decent birthday cake, something I haven't done in a few years...
but the decorations I'd planned and my hopes for trying to make the day seem much less like every other day seemed to be thwarted at every turn. Jeff kept reminding me that she was only turning one and that she wouldn't remember it...in hind sight, I wish I would have stopped worrying so much and would have allowed myself to drink in little moments of the day more.
In the end, I think she had fun eating cake off of my fork (we did let her get messy by trying to encourage a cake smash, but, true to form, my little diva HATED getting her hands dirty. She managed to eat so much icing off the top that the sugar made her gag and after that she cried and begged to be cleaned up.) and thoroughly enjoys her new little piano toy. Its not as annoying as I was worried it would be. She chooses her moments to play it and moves on to something else.
All in all, its been a wonderful year getting to know my Little Diva. Its so funny how much you can learn about someone who can't even talk yet. She is so expressive and its fun to see how much her looks can say. Yesterday we took her for her 1 year well child exam. The nurse shyly asked if we would allow Faith to have a lollipop. We'd let her lick them before, but never just full out given her one. I, of course, said yes. After getting poked, everyone deserves a little prize, right? 4 shots later, it was funny how fast her tears were gone when we opened the lolly and put it on her tongue. It took her some time to figure out that you hold the stick and the colored part is the tasty part (let's just say she got VERY sticky) but she started to get it like a pro by the time we were out the door of the pediatrician's office. Of course, since it was her first lolly and I didn't want to sit in the back to supervise to keep her from biting off the candy and choking or getting everything in the car sticky, we had to take it away while we drove to our next destination...The look, coupled with the alligator tears that formed in her eyes, was priceless. I should be ashamed to admit it because she was so CRUSHED, but I was amused and giggled as I got into the car. Her look said it all:
"You just let them put 4 of those sharp, pointy things in my legs, and that REALLY hurt. You give me this delicious thing to make me feel better, but now you're taking it away?!?! WORST DAY EVER!!!!"
Never fear, she only cried for about 30 seconds... and then was over it. However, the smile we got when we got to the grocery store and gave it back to her was just as priceless. We had tears again in the grocery store when we had to take the last bit of it away because she was down to mostly the stick and I didn't want the now sharp candy to be bitten off and choked on...that would have been fun (NOT). Again, 30 seconds of discontent and she was over it. I'm grateful that our work at home not giving in to her random temper tantrums (yes, she's already started having them) has helped her to realize that tears are fruitless and that the mamma and daddy's wills will be done! (We can only hope that this realization sticks and makes the Terrible Twos not so terrible!)
My birthday was next on our list of fun. It totally ended up being one of the best birthdays I've had in a while, and was filled with completely unexpected surprises.
The biggest surprise came the day before my birthday. Jeff asked if I wanted my present a day early. I was a little taken aback because I thought we had agreed that I was getting my haircut as my present. I told Jeff that if he had gotten me something else that I wanted to wait so that I had something to look forward to, but he was insistent that I get it that night.
Jeff brought in a box. I opened the box to find a box for the fancy pants camera that I've been wanting for months! Its basically a point and shoot with all the functions of a DSLR ...and then some. Not only does it do what a DSLR does, but it will do it at the touch of a button...I don't have to sit and mess with ISO and aperture to get certain affects (I can if I wanted to...), for example, it has settings to automatically blur the background of images, and to shoot fireworks...I just have to go to the menu and select the setting I want. My camera also can automatically photoshop out blemishes, can shoot with just one color and the rest in black and white(meaning those fancy pics in black and white with one color (like a red rose) highlighted won't take tons of time in photoshop to produce), and will wait to take a picture when you click the shutter until all the people are smiling, or will wait until all CHILDREN are smiling...I'm still learning how to use all the settings because it really does SO MUCH...the honest to goodness truth is, I don't need to be able to change lenses with this camera because besides the nifty menu settings, it also has a lens that is the equivalent of 3 DSLR lenses...
I was shocked and almost started crying when I saw the box. This camera is NOT cheap. In fact, it costs as much as an entry level DSLR. I was thinking we wouldn't be able to afford it until January...and even that thought was disappearing as Jeff was talking about us moving into a different apartment and using his extra paycheck to pay for that...needless to say, I wasn't expecting to get it any time soon.
Of course, Jeff being Jeff, he couldn't just give me the present, get me teary-eyed and leave it at that...I sat for a few minutes to soak it in, and then I picked up the box to pull out my new toy...it seemed awfully light, but I didn't think much of it...I opened the box to find.... my old, crappy camera staring back at me...
Thinking that Jeff had played a cruel prank and hadn't really gotten the camera, I told him I hated him (of course, he is proud of himself for that...) Then Jeff said, "Do you not like it? Well, maybe you want to see what the Munchkin and Boo Boo got you." He pulled out a camera bag...which had my camera in it.
He then explained how we were able to afford it.
Jeff got a second job fixing audio/video equipment by contract. Instead of contracting for an amount, he asked that they purchase my camera before my birthday as payment for his services. His bosses were happy to do it. They offered to get me a more expensive DSLR, but Jeff knew that this was the camera I wanted and said that he wanted me to have what I wanted (I would have been happy with either of them, but I am happy that he stuck to his guns. Yes, I could have had a more expensive camera, but I wouldn't have had all the fancy features to play with and figure out...LOL). I just have to say, that I seriously have the sweetest, most thoughtful husband in the world. Yes, the money for his services would have been nice since we have 3 hospital bills we are trying to pay off right now, but he knew we would have the money to pay our payments and wanted to make sure that I got something that I'd been really wanting for a while instead of settling for what was practical like I normally do.
Jeff then informed me that I should have the girls ready by the time he got home from work the next day because he'd already found a babysitter for the girls and we had to drop them off to go on a date...I was dumbstruck and, of course, asked my signature question, "Are you sure we can afford it?" Jeff said, he was sure. He also informed me that I was STILL getting my hair cut on Saturday. I asked my signature question again, he laughed and said, "I wouldn't say that you could if we couldn't."
I jokingly said that he should really spoil me and use one of his PTO days to stay home on my birthday and snuggle with me...Jeff decided that was a good idea too.
In short, I was thoroughly spoiled. We spent the day doing everything and nothing. We went to the park and tried to do a photoshoot with the girls. Of course, it was right before Faith's naptime, and Phillie decided to be hungry, so it didn't work out so well, but I did get a few good shots...
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| parenting is hard work...LOL |
Later, we dropped the girls off with the Bloods (thank you again to all of them for loving me and my family enough to watch my girls at bedtime!) and went to dinner at a place we hadn't tried before called the Elephant Bar. We actually enjoyed the ambiance quite a bit. The food wasn't AMAZING, but we liked it enough that we want to go back and try some other things on their menu. The restaurant is located in an outdoor shopping complex called The District. For those of you from Southeast Idaho/Northern Utah, or familiar with Salt Lake, it is somewhat like the Gateway Mall...it seems to have mostly high end stores that WE wouldn't really shop in, but it was fun to window shop. Of course, they did happen to have one of my favorite clothing stores on the planet, Downeast Basics. I usually walk past a Downeast, drool over the clothes in the window, and keep walking because in general it is a little more pricey than I like (you're talking to a girl who sometimes thinks that Ross Dress for Less is too expensive...) Jeff surprised me again and made me go in the store...and then told me to try on the things I liked. I had a small moment of glee when a size 10 dress fit (it was tight, and Jeff had to zip it up for me, but it fit)...He then made me pick my favorite thing I tried on and he bought it for me. I walked out with a VERY cute wrap around mustard yellow gingham print shirt. ( I will also say that clothes shopping with my husband is always a pleasant experience. He always gives me an honest opinion, so if I'm struggling to pick something out, he always knows what to say to make me feel confident in going one way or the other. I love you babe.)
We thought about seeing a movie, but realized we hadn't seen the previews for ANYTHING that was in the theater, so we had NO CLUE what any of the movies were about. We laughed a little about it as we walked out of the theater and headed for some cheesecake and to get the girls.
Our ward Halloween party came next. We went shopping for stuff to make our costumes on Thursday night (the party was Saturday). Jeff didn't disappoint and had some really good ideas for how to make the costumes easier to make and cheaper. We were Mr. and Mrs. Pacman and Faith and Phillie were the ghosts.
I hand sewed the little handkerchief style dresses for Faith and Phillie on Friday (since I don't own a sewing machine...) and then made the T-shirts by attaching the felt pieces using an iron on applique fusing sheet. The way the T-shirts turned out was Jeff's idea. I was going to go to Goodwill and try to find a black t-shirt for each of us, but Jeff thought that may be a tall order. He suggested we take advantage of Jo-Ann's sale and get a white T-shirt for $3 and some black felt to go with the yellow I was already planning on purchasing...in the end we spent just under $20 cumulatively for all costumes, making each costume cost about $5. SCORE!
Of course, I need to show you my new 'do!
The picture makes it look shorter than it is...it actually still reaches my shoulders on the sides. I do wish the bangs were a little shorter and a little more angular, but I figure it will make them easier to trim when the time comes (since I will have to do that myself).
Well, motherhood calls.The Notorious Pacifier Bandit (a.k.a. Little Diva, a.k.a Faith McKynzie) has struck again and I now have two crying children (because she always gets scared and cries when Phillie cries...)
Happy Halloween darlings! Hugs and Loves until next time.
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