Raina 101

• Favorite artists/songs (or "Raina kongs," as she calls them): Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Jason Mraz, Mylie Cyrus, Five Chinese Brothers (that one is from Chris' collection). The others are not from my collection...just what's played on the radio in the car!

• What she'll say if you ask her where she went today: "The zoo." Runner up: "Mall."

• Favorite food: "Mall pizza."

• Favorite thing to do with Daddy: Dance.

• Favorite thing to do with Va-Va: Play "bowl and water," a.k.a. wash dishes.

• Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba.

• Favorite movie: Wall-E.

• Favorite toy: Trains.

• Favorite words/phrases as of late: "Raina come." "Raina try, too." "Raina help." "Too" in general, meaning "also." "Kitty mess in kitchen." (Thanks, Chloe) Generally followed by "Va-Va wash it." (*sigh*)
  

• Favorite tune sung by Va-Va and Daddy: Happy Birthday (always to her friend Mikayla and sometimes herself).

• People she calls when playing pretend phone: First Mom-mom, second Gramma, third Daddy.

• Her newest blush-worthy "obsessions": Demanding "powder on butt." And anything having to do with "boobies"...counting boobies, pointing at boobies, touching boobies. I've been mentally preparing my apology to the first stranger to become victim of this fascination with boobies.

• Most adult thing she does: Demand privacy when she's pooping.

• Favorite article of clothing: Her "pretty tights." She always wants to "Show Daddy!" after I get her dressed in the morning.

• Something I wish she'd learn to do: Lick her fingers after eating Cheetos. That's the best part, but she insists that "Va-Va wash it." Yes, I give her Cheetos. What of it?
  

• What she thinks is in Va-Va's belly: "A boy."
  

Newest pics:

Hangin' out with Daddy, learning about football.

Hangin' out in front of Daddy's work, waiting for Daddy to come out.

Newest vids:

Picking Daddy up from work...

We've started training her...

Fun at the farm...

More fun at the farm...

Pics for the fam

It's been a while, and so much has gone on around here. I'm knee-deep in cake batter while I try to practice my mad-hatter cake skills before Raina's b-day, so I don't have the time to do a proper blog. Here are a few pics to hopefully hold the grandparents over until I can put up an insane amount of vids :)

Here's Raina trying her hand at pumpkin painting. We did this on a day where we were stuck inside because of the weather. VERY rarely do we not go out SOMEWHERE in the morning. The painting time started off very well...she was very excited...but about 20 minutes into it, there was nothing but screaming and tears. Severe cabin fever must be hereditary.



We went to a farm one weekend...one that had a tractor ride and petting zoo and pumpking patch and all sorts of other neato stuff. The petting zoo was BY FAR her favorite attraction there. She got up close and personal with goats, a pig, a rabbit, ducks, and chickens. We brought home 2 pumpkins (which I'm still in the process of "decorating") and a batch of apple cider that made both mom and dad a little, um, yucky in the tummy. Raina, too, for that matter! But it was good :)








Here she is at her friend, Mikayla's, 1-year b-day party. Since that day, she has become quite enamored with the Happy Birthday song and insists that we sing it all the time (with Mikayla's name!).


That's all for now.

It's official: Bye-bye, baby. Hello, toddler.

So I decided Thursday that I was going to perform an experiment on my baby. Operation Big-Girl Bed was to take place during Friday's nap. Now, by big-girl bed, I mean taking her crib mattress and putting it on the floor. Nothing too fancy. Don't bother asking me why I decided to do this. I have no clue. It's not even like I've really been concerned about where baby #2 is going to sleep. Sure, I've given it some thought, but I haven't felt rushed to kick Raina out of her crib. To tell you the truth, I was just curious as to how she would handle the experience.

I started her Friday by talking up the big-girl bed and getting her help with setting up her mattress on the floor. She was quite excited with the whole process. While we went out shopping that morning, we made quite a big deal about all the pillows and blankets and anything else bed-related that we saw at the store, just getting her even more stoked for her afternoon nap. By the time nap time rolled around, she was READY, informing me herself after lunch that it was time to sleep. I took a few videos of the moments leading up to and after her nap.........

Here she is showing me how she was going to sleep. Not quite the traditional position, but oh well! She ended up staying in this position for her entire 2-plus-hour nap.


And here she is right after waking up...

Anyways, SUCCESS! I never dreamed that the experiment would go so well...that she would STAY in her bed for over 2 hours and sleep. I think I was more excited than she was. It was mere minutes after her waking up before I was on craigslist looking for a toddler bed. By 9:30 that evening, I was pulling the van up to the house with a Little Tikes car bed in the back :) Chris was in charge of baby duty that evening while I was out, and he told me when I got home that Raina got very upset and cried when she was put in her crib and not the big-girl bed for the night. I could not wait for her to get up in the morning so we could put it together.

Fast-forward to this morning...

I told her right after she got up that there was a present downstairs for her. It was in pieces in the dining room and hard to tell what it was, but when I told her it was a big-girl bed that looked like a car, she was all "Upstairs! Go, go!" She wouldn't even eat her breakfast...I had to bring it upstairs to her room and force her to nibble on it while she watched me put her bed together. Her squeals of excitement woke daddy up (who was supposed to sleep in), and with his help, we got the car bed set up and the crib taken down. Was she excited? You tell me...

While Daddy took her out to Starbucks and to a friend's house to play, I did a little more baby proofing and re-arranging. Bye-bye, crib!




I'm thrilled to pieces over the whole experience. It's always neat to see her get so excited about things. Daddy, on the other hand, could probably use some counseling. Like with the passing of the bottle and waking paci, he expressed some resistance to the change. It's hard seeing your little girl grow up...but very fulfilling, too :)