Eden's Big Week

But first, some pictures of Eden from LAST weekend because I think they're really cute:

Two Friday evenings ago, Eden's little cousin had his 1st birthday party.  He HATED his hat, but Eden was more than happy to wear it.

The following day we went to another birthday party, and there were go-karts!  Eden became pretty obsessed with them as soon as she saw them.  I didn't think the place would allow Eden to ride them, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.  To my surprise, they let us!  We started out slow because I was pretty terrified that she was just going to fly out at any moment, but once I realized she was safe and strapped in tight, we went fast - like really fast.  She loved it and cried when it was time to get out.

 

Then last Sunday afternoon, Eden had a blast painting pumpkins.  It occupied her for the majority of the afternoon.  She took her work very seriously.

 

When she was finished, I put the pumpkins on the front porch.

I asked her to sit next to them so I could take a picture, and she plopped down right in front of them and smiled so big!  She was so proud of them.

A few days later, she went and sat back down in front of them.  She just kept smiling at me, so I guess she wanted me to take another picture of her.  I got my phone, took a picture, and then she hugged each one of her pumpkins.

 

Okay, so on to Eden's big week.  Eden had a big week because she went to preschool!  I'm filling in as a long term sub right now at FA for a teacher who had to have surgery.  When they asked me if I could do it, my only concern was Eden.  The school said she was more than welcome to stay over at the preschool for the two weeks while I teach.  I didn't necessarily want her there everyday.  It's a big adjustment.  So we worked it out to where Eden stays with my Granny on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Eden goes to preschool on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  I LOVE that she's right there at the school with me on those days!  I don't have any classes after one, so I go get her, and while I grade papers and get things ready for the next day, she has the run of the school.  The students and other teachers spoil her rotten.  I'm always so concerned that she's going to bother them, but they are always so excited to see her and are so good to her.  The students ask me a thousand times if it's time for me to go get her because they can't wait to see her.  The other day she stayed in Stacy's room during sixth and seventh grade art while I worked in my room.  Stacy showed her her sticker drawer, and the girl was in heaven.  Literally hundreds of stickers for her to play with.  I kept offering to take her out of the room, but Stacy and all the kids begged me to let her stay with them.

They tell me that she is doing just wonderful at the preschool.  Her beloved Momo (from volleyball practice days) is there, so in the mornings one of the preschool teachers will come up to us, ask her if she wants to go see Momo, and she gets all excited and happily goes with them.  On Thursday she took her very first field trip.  She went with the two and three year old classes to the grocery store.  On a bus!  They said she loved it.  She sits and eats with the big kids at lunch.  She dances around like the other kids during music time.  I can't believe she's so big already!

After doing pretty much EVERYTHING with her for over a year and a half, it's so weird for me to think about her doing all of these things without me!  I'm only away from her in the mornings, but I miss her so much!  I admit though, I love being back in the classroom. 

Volleyball season is over now, and I have one more week subbing, and then our lives will go back to normal.  Also, I have new respect for working moms.  It is HARD to get up early, get ready, get Eden ready, have her lunch made, my lunch made, her bag ready to go, dogs fed and be out the door before seven!  And as much as I love teaching, I forgot how tiring it can be.  I am EXHAUSTED when I get home in the afternoons.

Yesterday we went to a cook-off.  Dustin's steak won first place, and Eden ran up with one of our friends to accept their team's award.  So cute.

 

Okay, it's 8:30, and I'm seriously going to bed now.  I gotta get rested for this week!



Eden - Twenty One Months

I took only one picture this morning.  I snapped that photo, Eden got off of the chair, and a dog immediately jumped onto it, getting his muddy paw prints all over it.  Grrrrrrrr. 

21 months.  Wow.

Eden is continuing to discover the world around her, and it's so fun to watch.  She's starting to realize that all those fun things we read in books all the time are all around us in the real world too.  Which means it takes us forever to read a book.  I'll try to read through "Goodnight Moon" for example, and it goes something like this... We open to the great green room.  Eden sees a lamp on the page.  She points to the lamp in the book and then to the lamp on her table.  Then she sees a rocking chair.  She points to the rocking chair in the book and then to the rocking chair that we're sitting in.  She can say that word, so then she starts shouting "CHAIR!  CHAIR!" (but it sounds more like "CHAH! CHAH!").  Now she sees a cat on the page.  She points to the cat in the book and then to our cat who is usually lounging at our feet.  "CAT! CAT! CAT! MEOW!"  And it goes just like that all the way through.  It takes us like fifteen minutes to read a simple board book.  But it's so exciting to watch her discover things.

She knows all her colors and can identify them when you ask her to, but she can only say "blue", so if you ask her what color something is, she'll tell you "blue" no matter what.

She still loves doing all of her animal sounds and can tell you what a bird, fish, chicken, cow, cat, dog, duck, sheep, horse and monkey all do.  Monkey is my favorite.

She is the sweetest little girl and loves to hug and kiss.  She gives the best hugs.  Dustin especially loves her hugs.  It's the first thing he asks for when he comes home from work in the afternoons, and she can't wait to wrap her little arms around her daddy's neck.  She wants to hug and kiss everything that she loves.  She randomly comes up to me throughout the day and motions for me to get down so she can kiss me, and then she throws her arms around me.  She hugs and kisses the dogs, the cats, her stuffed animals, her baby doll, her books, her rocking horse, her humidifier (because it looks like a frog), her sheets of stickers before she takes the stickers off, etc.  Tonight she was eating a cupcake at her cousin's birthday party,  and after a few bites she went in to HUG HER CUPCAKE, and I had to whisk the plate out of the way before she smashed her head into the icing. 

Oh, and she still loves balls.  By far her favorite toy.  Always has been.  And now she can catch the ball when you toss it to her.  Way to go Eden, way to go!  (clap, clap)

She loves to  hide.  Under blankets, in closets... And when you say, "Where's Eden?", her little voice comes back "gone-gone". 

She still prefers the outdoors, and she loves to pick flowers and smell them.  She also loves rocks.  She hoards them.  We take the wagon down to the gravel road and come back loaded down with rocks.

Okay, I think that covers all my favorite things about Eden at 21 months old!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

FAIR TIME!

The fair coming to town brings me almost as much joy as Christmas morning.  Always has.  Always will.  If only the fair were somehow about Jesus, and then it would win.

Dustin took off work yesterday, and the three of us spent the entire day at the fairgrounds.  Just like we did last year.  Just like we will every year.  Until Eden grows up and wants to go to the fair with her friends instead of us.  (tear)

We went to the parade yesterday morning, and Eden faithfully waved at every single float, car, truck, horse, whatever that went by.

After the parade, I immediately walked to the curly-fry stand.  Dustin immediately walked to the beer barn.  Eden got her first taste of fair curly-fries.  (She loved them.  Duh.)  As soon as I was done with my curly-fries, I ate a corn dog.  Once I got my cravings for fair food out of the way, we could move on.

Next up... the carnival.  We played games and won stuffed animals and got into an argument with a carnie who tried to cheat us out of more money.  Good times.  Eden played too.  She went fishing and won herself a duck.

It's her new bath friend.

She visited the Junior Barnyard.

 

 

 

And I definitely think that she needs a miniature horse.

We walked and walked and walked around some more and let Eden take in all the sights.  We had ice cream and sno cones and more beer for Dustin.

We showed Eden all the show animals.  Dustin showed animals in 4-H growing up, and he wants his kids to show animals as well.  I never showed animals - I couldn't bear the thought of raising an animal and then having to sell it and have somebody eat it.  But since it's important to Dustin, and if Eden is interested in following in his footsteps one day, I guess I'll go along with it.  So I came up with a plan.  After looking over all the animals yesterday, I decided that Eden should show lambs.  And when it comes time to sell, I'll just have my dad buy it.  And we'll choose a pasture for all of Eden's lambs to come home to each year.  It'll be just like we live in Ireland with a bunch of sheep around.  I'm really looking forward to buying some baby lambs for Eden to raise now.  I'm not sure how Dustin will like my plan, but he should just be happy that I'm on board with Eden showing an animal at the fair.

We also stopped by the country store so that I could stock up on homemade pickles.

We had the BEST day.  I'm already looking forward to next year when maybe Eden will be tall enough to ride a few rides!

Dustin and I are planning on going back to the fair on Saturday night with some friends so Eden will be having her first sleepover at my dad and Susie's house.  EEK!  Actually half a sleepover since I am planning on going to get her at 2 am when we get home.  Baby steps.

Life Lately

Some good friends of ours got married on September 21st.  I was really excited about their wedding.  I bought a new dress.  I got a pedicure (a rare occurrence these days).  Dustin was out of town for work, but my mom and Mark were in town for the wedding, so I had the luxury of taking my time on my hair and make-up that day while they entertained Eden.  I put on my heels and walked out the door feeling like a million bucks - it was a far cry from my usual yoga pants and ponytail.  We arrived at the reception and were there for mayyybbbeeee five minutes when Eden suddenly projectile vomited all over herself, me and my mom.  I stood there for a second, just stunned.  I had vomit all over me - literally dripping off of me and running down my legs.  Others sprang into action.  A friend took Eden from me and another girl took me into the bathroom and helped me clean myself off.  Friends mopped up the floor for us, we stripped Eden's clothes off, and I walked back out the door smelling like puke and holding a naked baby.  Eden was now running fever, so Eden, my mom, Mark and I all went back to my house where I put on yoga pants, put my hair in a ponytail, scrubbed stains out of my brand new dress and took care of my sick baby girl.  She was sick for an entire week.  It was the first time she had ever thrown up, and she had no idea what was happening.  It terrified her.  It was the saddest little thing, her crying every time it happened.  We laid on the couch all night one night, watching Tangled over and over again, and I held the trashcan for her every hour when she needed it.  For a week, she looked like this:

 

I laid right with her all week long, and we watched Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Tangled approximately a thousand times each in addition to approximately one million episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I hated, hated, hated seeing her feel so bad, but I did enjoy having her lay and sleep on top of me all week.  It took me back to when she was first born, and I spent every afternoon laying on the couch with her asleep on my chest.  After a week, she finally got rid of her fever, but it took her another week to start acting like herself again.  She was so lethargic and took three naps a day.  I was actually more worried about her that week than I was the week she was sick!  She was just so unlike herself.  I took her to Granny and Pops' one afternoon, and she just kinda laid around their house and then came up to me and told me "night-night".  So I took her home, and she went straight to sleep. 

 

She got a little bit stronger each day, and finally after two long weeks, she was back to her feisty, happy little self!

 

Texas finally has some cooler weather, and we've started going riding around in the pastures in the afternoons and evenings when Dustin gets home from work.  I realize that might sound really boring, but it's not - it's wonderful.  We roll down the windows, enjoy the beautiful weather, and Eden has her very own zoo.  We see horses and cows and birds and rabbits, and she points and tells us first what they are and then the sounds they make.  COW!!!  MOOOOOOOOO!!!

She is still obsessed with stickers.  Not a day goes by that she doesn't ask for some. 

One evening I had her sitting on the kitchen counter while I made a cake, and she took all the stickers off of the lemons and put them on her tummy.

A friend of mine's little girl had her 1st birthday party on Sunday.  I LOVE this picture that we took:

I grew up with those girls; they were some of my closest friends when I was younger, and I can't believe that we not only all had babies within a year of each other, but that they're all girls.  The girl to my right became my best friend on the very first day of kindergarten when we bonded over our same The Little Mermaid lunchboxes.  We remained close all throughout school.  She was there for it all, including the night we met Dustin.  If Eden and Brooklyn become best friends one day, then they'll be the third generation to do so because her dad and my dad were best friends too.  The girl to my left went to elementary school with us too, but she and I didn't become really close until we got to jr. high, and we had lockers next to each other and the same homeroom every single year until graduation because we had the same last name.  I met the girl on the far right in 6th grade, and she was one of my best friends throughout jr. high and high school, and we still get together frequently for play dates as our daughters are only two weeks apart.  I enjoyed so much watching our girls play together at the birthday party.

The other night I went into Eden's room to check on her (as I do numerous times every night since I am still afraid that she's going to just stop breathing), and I found her sleeping with her arms up by her head. 

Usually she sleeps on her stomach, and it made me so happy to see her like that because it reminded me of how she used to sleep when she was itsy-bitsy.  Unless I had her in a swaddling blanket, she slept with her arms up by her head, and even when we would see her in ultrasounds, her arms were up by her head.

 

There are a thousand reasons to love fall in my opinion, but at the top of my list is how cute Eden is in her footie pajamas.

photobombed by Luna

 

I'm so happy my sassy little girl is back to her old self.  And just in time for the fair.  Which is where you can find us tomorrow.