just when i think she can't possibly get cuter...

i'm proved wrong, wrong, wrong. mary's hair is getting so stinking long now. and you know what that means...mommy can finally do something with it. our little baldie has beautiful long-ish locks of red (bordering strawberry blonde) hair. i went out and bought little hair ties. at first mary was apprehensive. you want to do what with my hair? but after brushing it all back in a cute ponytail, she's discovered how much she loves getting her hair did. now she comes to me with one of the cute tiny elastics, head bowed down so i have better access. the only cuter things than mary ponies is mary piggies. observe:

"where's all my hair at?"

"oh there it is!"

now what goes better with new hair than new shoes? always the connoisseur of fine foot fashion, mary discovered some beautiful heels given to me by gma koz. she's already learned how to strut her stuff on the proverbial cat walk too.

last week, brent and i had wednesday off together. we decided to take a trip up to thanksgiving point so mary could visit the petting zoo. we arrived and of course mary needed a diaper change from all the power drinking she was doing in the backseat. she was not thrilled at the ide aof me changing her in the bathroom. she threw an all out hissy fit, crying and kicking and carrying on, until she realized resistance was futile. still, those big tears had rolled down her cheek. brent got an especially sweet shot of me wiping away her temper tantrum induced tears.

afterwards, we decided to head indoors to cool off just a bit. it was hot outside. ugh. so we took a detour by the ice cream shop and got a banana split for all three to share. i didn't realize how big the thing was. mary, seeing deliciousness in sight, had only one thought running through her head, "mine."

after eating ourselves silly and probably consuming an entire day's worth of caloric intake in one go, we needed to burn off some of the sugar and such. mary took that to heart, running ahead of us, trying to pick the flowers...yeah not such a good idea...and generally not wanting us to slow her down. i tried to take a cute picture of mary and daddy passing under one of the foliage covered arches. mary wanted none of that. boosome of you may know, and some may not, but i took my bridals at thanksgiving point. pearson's photos had a pass to go and shoot up the scene. in general, i wasn't the biggest fan of my pictures, though i'm not sure it was because of the man behind the camera or the woman in front of it. one shot did please me and that would be the picture of me dipping my toe in the stream right before you reach the "hidden falls." in case you haven't seen it, here (and this is being shown for a purpose, not because i want you to stare at me in my wedding dress)
remember what that rock that i'm standing on looks like...got it in your mind? get ready for it...

i had to convince mary it was ok to actually touch the water, because she wasn't a fan at the idea of coming anywhere near it. in fact, she actually screamed bloody murder. she got over it, obviously. i only wish the angle of the picture had been the same as my bridal, for the full effect; though there were no blooming branches this day. too bad. still, mary and me dipping our toes in the water is pretty sweet, if you ask me.
after the toe dipping, mary was enthralled by the water. she kept stopping on bridges and getting excited when she saw the water falls. silly girl

well...we got sidetracked in the gardens. mary loves flowers. a lot. she sees one and yells "flower" (just not so clearly) and leans in to sniff, making the cutest little snuffling noise you've ever heard.

i tried to get mary to sit down with me in the shade, because like mentioned previously, it was so stinking hot. nope. she was having none of that. so more sniffing/too-close-for-comfort picking ensued.so we never made it to the animals. darn. though we are planning a return trip. this time, we'll have to avoid the gardens at all costs!

Ode to Doggie

I promised this was coming. Now I'm delivering.

~ODE TO DOGGIE~

Oh carefully constructed bits of polyester and cotton that make up your existence, where would we be today without you? Did you know, from the first time held close to a tiny babe, that you would be cherished? That you would be so well loved, you'd be hardly recognizable in later days?

When first you were unwrapped, there was an instant connection. It's clear to see:

Even still, the bond was not evident until several weeks later, when a rather cantankerous Mary was in need of comfort. You were close at hand, Doggie, soft and small and warm; a perfect little snuggie for the tiny one.

Even here, you were already more loved than when we first got you. If we had any idea just how much Mary would come to depend on you, Gma and Gpa Lub would've gotten a few of your "brothers and sisters" to help ease the wear and tear on your poor blanket body.

You were there for all of Mary's hardships: gas, teething, upset stomach, diarrhea. Not once did you complain, even when some of the bodily fluids as a result of Mary's illnesses got on you. Such a stoic, compassionate doggie you are.

Now after nearly two years, you are well versed in trial and tribulation. From being accidentally lost in Walmart to being dragged on the dirty ground, you have taken a beating. And your body shows it. That doesn't matter to Mary though. She still needs you to sleep at night, and to comfort her when she's upset. If you are not there, Mary is ill at ease.

Here are just some of the precious moments you have shared with our little girl.

Thank you, Doggie, for being the strong presence that you are in Mary's life. Truly without you, we would all be lost. We hope to have many more years with you and your easing presence on our daughter.
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ok, sorry for the sillines, but doggie *is* a huge part of not just Mary's, but both Brent's and my, life. And I seriously do not know what will happen when the thing finally disintegrates during the spin cycle of our washing machine. *fingers crossed* she outgrows him before that happens.

Later this week (hopefully by tomorrow) I will have a "real" post for you. One involving piggies and posies (or some kind of flower anyway).

blarg...I stink at the updates

I don't have a very good excuse for the lack of updates this time. No more sickness or anything, I've just been a major procrastinator. Sorry. I'll try and make up for it by supplying a lengthy post. Does that make up for it?

Recently, like a little over a week ago? I got my hair "did." Remember when I said I was going to go blonde, blonde, blonde? Well, that fizzled out. I just can't keep up with it. My hair grows too fast and it's too expensive to do every 6 weeks or so. Instead of blonde, I went dark, though there are some blondes and reds underneath that peak out from layers in my hair. Here's a pic:
Dark suits me better, don't you think?

It's been so hot lately. I'm not sure exactly how bad, except for when I look at my laptop it says it's 104 degrees. Ew. Ugh. Yuck. It's so hot, it's hard to stay outside long enough for Mary to play. However, yesterday we went outside to wash our cars. We had a lot of fun, except for Mary who yelled when we tried to splash her (though later she was having a ball running through the sprinkler...go figure). Brent and I got burned. I laughed at him at first because I saw his back and told him he should've used a stronger SPF (as if SPF 15 is really anything). Well, later that night as i changed into pajamas I noticed how red I was. And worst of all, the tanline from the back of my swimsuit is just awful. The ties that go around my neck are not thin. So there is a big white spot at the top from them. Good grief. I would've taken pictures...but, as previously stated, I was in a swimsuit. Me in a swimsuit does not equal good photo ops. Also, it was just a dangerous idea to have something expensive and electronic near water, especially when Mary is concerned. That thing would've probably ended up in the bucket of soapy water.

So instead, here's a video of Mary being her normal charming self: yelling at me for trying to videotape her...along with pushing Daddy off the couch.

Sometimes Mary feels gracious in sharing her couch. It happens when she is feeling particularly lazy. Either Brent will be sitting on the couch and she'll squeeze herself in between him and the couch, or she'll crawl up there. That is the best part because she will bring doggie and blankie up with her, lean back ont he pillows then pull blankie over her legs so she can fully relax. A lot of times she ends up patting the spot next to her telling one of us to sit next to her. Which brings me to...

Mary is talking. A lot. You may not believe it because she's pretty tight lipped whenever she's around people. I swear she's trying to make me look bad as a parent. Here are some of the new things she's saying:
sit
love you
yo babba (that means yo gabba gabba)
blankie
paci (aka her binky...this scares me as we had been trying to ween her off the blasted thing)
"a bite" (said when she wants to eat something or if she is trying to feed one of us)
please/thank you
goodnight
toes, nose, eye (while pointing at said body part. she's so smart!)
juice
popsicle (tho that sounds like oskle or something...good thing I know her special brand of baby talk)
wow wow wubzy (which saddens me because I HATE that show with a passion)
Dora/Diego
brush (she loves "brushing" her teeth)
hmmmm I know there are more that I just can't think of at the moment.

Mary has reached the point where she can climb into the tub, albeit very slowly and hesitantly. This makes things extremely difficult when I'm trying to get the bath ready for her. Or when she walks into the bathroom and decides for herself that she needs to get in. Mary is just a super fan of baths. She's also a super fan of running around naked after the bath. Here she is naked, loving Daddy

That's all for now. I think next post will be a tribute to Mary's favorite thing ever. Be on the look out for Ode to Doggie.