a cupcake picnic

i had to document this for my future musings...

joybird has quite the imagination and is ALL about the pretend play. the other day, she thought up this grand idea that she insisted on carrying out. she runs into the living room saying "mama mama, up up!!" literally grabs me by the neck and pulls me to my feet, then drags me into her bedroom where she had spread a "picnic" blanket of sorts. she pointed and patted the ground to show me right where i was supposed to sit.

next, she went to the other side of her room and started carrying, one by one, all 4 of her chairs and placed them in a circle around me.

i'm sitting there thinking, where on earth is she going with this? after all 4 chairs are in a circle around me, she leaves the room and grabs all her favorite friends and places them on certain chairs. THEN, she leaves the room again, saying "piper, piper!" turns out, piper wanted nothing to do with this little picnic she was preparing, so she heads back and proceeds to give everyone a cupcake and a beverage. i'm serious. she walked around feeding everyone, including me. she even took puppy and tiny over to her play kitchen and washed their hands.

at one point, she kicked bunny out of his chair and placed me in it. and then, she pulled up her pottery barn big girl chair and decided that her and puppy were going to be the guests of honor (always-- since we now carry out this cupcake picnic at least twice a day)....i always know where we're headed when i see the blankets being spread and hear the chairs being drug across her room.

and today, when the picnic was over she said, asked for her diapers and diaper cream. so i handed them over and she decided to put diaper cream on all her little stuffed friends.

trey got invited to the picnic last night, was served two cupcakes and felt super-special. HA!

pictures below to capture the moment: this girl is out of control!

oh, and sometimes, she pulls out her bedtime story books and reads to everyone. she really enjoys feeling like a little-mama. obviously. i can hardly wait to watch her in the big sister role. she was made for it.

in other news, she's still fascinated by piecing together her own outfits and putting them on all by herself. i have to get pretty creative with my words in how i advise helping her. since she, clearly, won't let me do it.... she's gotten really good about understanding "no, that's the wrong foot joy", "that's on backward turn it around" i'm being serious when i say i am not allowed to be hands on. she wants to do it ALL.BY.HERSELF.all.the.time!! ahhhh! she is HIGHLY motivated by accomplishment.

the plus side, she's gotten really good at mastering these skills. and even better, she can dress herself while i'm getting dressed or doing other things...which is going to come in exceptionally handy here in two short months.

we don't always get it right. seen below. and several times a day, she'll waltz on out of her room with a complete outfit change.

she's really into the layered look right now. and that green shirt (above) is a common base layer. there is an apple on the front that, for whatever reason, tickles her fancy.

and why not sport the happy turkey day 2010 shirt on new years day 2012.

sometimes she tries to "color-coordinate" ;)

yellow leggings that were not meant to go with a backwards yellow top...and red socks. but she did it herself and she is oh so proud!

18 months!!

i guess, almost 19 now...

but, i do realize it's been quite sometime since i've posted a what we're doing/stats kind of blog.

so here we go:

we had our 18 month well-check yesterday and much to my surprise...

our little joybird is in the 56th percentile for height and 33rd for weight!!!! can you believe it? trey and i aren't the tallest of people and our little bird is tracking ABOVE average! It makes me so happy. she does get plenty of z's and, as you well know if you've hung with her, PLENTY of food.

her communication has kicked up a notch. she's building her little vocab daily with dadda still being one of her favorites. ella is rapidly climbing the charts...anytime we get in the car it's ella ella ella ella ella ella all the way until we finally see her. anyway, she has a handful of words and another handful of attempted words. it's so fun when she comes out with something new!

she's going through a serious "do it myself" stage. she has to be the one to buckle herself into her highchair, carseat, stroller (and don't even mention "do you want me to help you"..she does NOT want your help!) she tries to change her own diaper, and everyone else's diaper. be careful, she is known to come up to grown adults and try to lay them down and change their diapers. yikes!! after she's attempted to change puppy, bunny, baby, and tiny's dipes, she comes after me and i have to say "joy, mommy wears big girl panties, i don't need my diaper changed. thanks". she, of course, has to dress herself and put on her shoes...all by herself. and lets out this big gasp of excitement, sometime coupled with clapping, everytime she accomplishes something.

below = changing monkey's diaper and a failed attempt at putting on her shirt.

she's starting to get picky about what she wears. so i've kind of been letting her pick out her own clothes. i'll tell her, "go put on a pair of pants and a shirt. and i'll walk in her room and she'll be putting on a pair of pants and a shirt. typically, this size 6-12 month sing.love.dance tshirt with sparkles that she just can't seem to get enough of (pictured above)...and of course, her favorite skinny jeans.

things she enJOY's doing at home--

puzzles, coloring (she loves to color and write her name with our help), pretend cooking, pretend feeding piper, puppy, tiny, bunny, baby. changing all their diapers, changing all their clothes. pretending to put on mommy's make up, blow dry her hair, jumping up and down on the couch, asking "up, up, up" to get on the bed and jump (she's seriously going to be that little monkey that fell off and bumped her head-- i can feel it coming). rearranging all items in the refrigerator, playing chase and hide-n-seek with piper, throwing her ball, or running with it and playing keep-away, pushing baby around in her stroller, trying to put piper in the stroller, stopping off to the potty for a "potty-break", people watching out the window, reading books, asking mommy to read her books...reading to puppy, she sits puppy in her lap, puts a blanket over both of them, and reads to him (she's basically copying what i do)...seems to be a common theme.

she's really into MUSIC, dancing, the d*mn itzy bitzy spider song....every time it ends, she says "again!" so i typically repeat it several times, and when i'm over it and say "no, lets hear a different song", she marches over and pushes the ipod back button herself.

this video sums up a few of her favorite things... dancing, eating, taunting piper with food, and jumping on the couch.... and please note her attempt to count her fingers at the very end. ha!

her personality:

super affectionate...wants to hug and kiss everyone, and loves to be cuddled and held, unbelievably determined and focused...will sit and work toward accomplishing tasks with such patience until she gets it...it blows our mind. and i just love watching her light up when the mission is accomplished. she looks up at me with these brights eyes and waits for my affirmation.

she loves to please! she will pretty much do what we ask her. and always feels so good about doing it right.

oh, and did i ever show you this little gem? taken soon after i found out we were pregs

and this is what she put on for church a few sunday's back....trey and i were getting ready and we look down and, there's joy.

hair tie on the wrist. check! panties around the waist. mom's gold flats. dad's hospital no-slip sock. lovedancesing size way-too-small tshirt. CHECK!!

last sunday she made a little friend in nursery. we couldn't separate these two. they ran around the gym holding hands for about 10 straight minutes.

and then joy attempted a hug that turned into a tackle so i swiftly stepped in and played that mom-card...that i find quite hilarious because, at this stage in the game, there's this awkward learning curve of being a first-time-mom where you're like "how the h*ll am i supposed to respond in all of these situations??!! kids stealing toys, not wanting to share, learning to take turns, joy attempting to change other kids diapers!! what?!?! and your on-display before all these other moms and it's typically involving their kids too... the whole thing is kind of hilarious to me.

anyway, that's a wrap. 18 months and climbing fast. before we know it she'll be 2!!! and before that, we'll have evelyn in our arms. oh my goodness! time is flying and i can barely keep up!

signing off,

mama jules

we like to potty, we like, we like to POTTY!!!

one november morn, i decided to introduce BIG GIRL panties to my little lady. she put them on all by herself and immediately felt like a million dollars.

while brushing her teeth, and watching the morning passer-byers briskly make their way to work and school, she decided "i think i need to go potty"....

so off she went, down the hall with puppy in-tow....

i mean, pups does NOT want to miss this moment.

and there she sat. waiting for a trickle. and by golly, a trickle it came!! and a serious party to follow!!!

and, of course, puppy needed to go potty too.

**** don't be fooled****

we are, by no means, potty-trained. in fact, this whole thing might have been a fluke. she's really good about telling me that she just went potty, but still working on the "i'm about to go" ;)

"she'll geeeeeeeeet it" (that's for you clutch and meej!)

GYMNASTICS!!

joy and i like to hit up free-trial gymnastics sessions around town. we went to san antone last weekend and signed up for several free-trials while we were there. she loves the gym although i've not committed to the idea of actually paying for it.

i've even pulled the whole "well, we've been here once before but her dad is the one we really need to sell and he wasn't here last time!" ha, they buy anything and always let us in. unethical? y'all know i live on the edge with my freebies.

ANYWAY, we invited grant and kimber last weekend and here are a few pics!!

VIDEO BY, the one and only, NONNIE!!!!!

potty training

the other day joy and i went out and bought her a big-girl potty. she always follows daddy or i to the bathroom and "goes through the motions" so i decided, with evy on the way, we might as well introduce the idea.

never thought it would go down like this, but as you'll see...she is far more interested in training puppy than training herself.

apparently, we opened up a can of worms because all of a sudden puppy needs to potty, wipe, apply diaper cream, and wear a diaper?

and also, she is now so fascinated with her toilet that when any and all guests come over and use our bathroom, she thinks that she needs to be in there sitting on her potty with them. it's proven to be quite awkward as she bangs on the door the whole time they are doing their business, begging to join in on the fun (sorry, uncle clutch!)

bumble birdie

halloween 2011 was even more enjoyable than 2010. bumble bird was all over the place this year and made it so much fun! we get together with all of our austin bff's and it is quite the event! i love seeing joy running around with all her little baby friends. they are all so adorable!

trey decided that he wanted joybird to be a bumble bee this year. so, one night we pinterest-searched bumble bee's and i found this cute little bee dress that we decided was a must have.

of course, nonnie decided that we could "do it ourselves" for next to nothing.... did you forget bird project 2009? i'm no seamstress...and neither is she, but she has a way of figuring anything out and making it amazing.

joy and pcg were quite the spectacle on campus, as you can imagine.

in no particular order (thank you, blogger)...halloween 2011--

HER NAME!

Evelyn Grace Guinn

i just love the name evelyn!! sounds classy, rings nice with guinn, fits perfect with grace....and happens to be one of my most favorite favorite relatives-- martha-evelyn waldrop. if you grew up with me, you know grandmother martha quite well. she was one of a kind. loud, wildly entertaining, hilarious, and so much fun. she was a model in her day. she had great legs and great hands. who would ever think-- great hands. they were so great that she was seriously a hand model. i remember at her funeral-- saying my goodbyes, and all i could think was "oh my gosh, those hands STILL look amazing".
anyway, she'd be the first to tell you that she was special. in her old age, she would tell me that i better pray i got her great gene's because, "if you'll notice (while looking around the restaurant) my skin doesn't sag like these other old ladies"...and of course she had the "most desirable white hair and not that nasty gray".
anyway, we all loved this lady beyond words and i am so thrilled to carry on a little piece of her!

so there we have it. joy avery and evelyn grace. joy and evy. LOVE!

another GUINN GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh how i LOVE little guinn girls!!!

opening the envelope at dinner.

can't believe my eyes. so so so happy about another girl and to bring little joybird a tiny bestie!!

due march 12.12 !!!

and then of course, the next morning we got to break the news to joybird. she was just thrilled. ;)

bookworm birdie.

i don't know what's gotten into this girl but all she wants to do is read books these days. i will sit and read the same book over and over again and she just begs for more. she's really started getting into the longer books with more of a story and you can see the anticipation build with each flip of the page as she knows what's coming.

this book was seriously made for birdie. as you know, she is obsessed with my shoes. she puts them on herself, and spends a large portion of her day picking out shoes for me, hauling them across the house, and the putting them on my feet. anyway, this story is amazing. it'a all about this little girl named birdie (perfect) who has this little white side-kick dog named monster (double perf...we sub in pipes, of course). so the story goes, that pipes and birdie decide to ask birdie's mom if she can wear her mommy's big girl shoes. in the end, they decide that barefoot shoes are best of all and that she'll have the rest of her life to wear summer peep-toes and strappy highheals.

LOVE IT!

joy seriously searches the house high and low until she finds this little gem. sometimes when she gets that "on a mission" face and starts rummaging through all her toys-- i know with certainty that she's looking for piggy. her favorite page is the page where piggy plays hide-n-seek with mommy outside. this is where joy learned what trees were, and how to count.

i recently discovered "if you give a dog a donut". soon to be a real hit around here i'm sure.

oh my gosh! if i have to read hop on pop one more time i might lose my mind. she likes to read this one over and over and over. trey decided to speed read it to her and she LOVES the fast version. sometimes when i'm reading it to her normal pace she'll hop out of my lap, grab her book, and take it over to daddy so he can do it right.

an oldie but goodie.

loves this before bed. and has to point out everything in her room as i say it. goodnight lights, points to the lights, goodnight brush-- points to her brush.

read and sung twice through, per demand everynight before bed. i like caroline church's style.

and sometimes she just sits and reads all her books to herself. although, apparently getting under the blanket is a must and can prove to be quite the task.