Just some random happenings from...

JANUARY!

Yikes! Yes, I am that behind in my blogs. 

Granted there was more to January than just what is in the post, but here is some randomness. 

I went to a Delta Zeta alumni dinner. It was mostly younger girls there, but I did get a chance to catch up with my friends Angela and Katie. 

Back in the day - my sorority days, that is - we had calendars, actual calendars that told us which shirt to wear on which day to which event. You know sorority girls, we had to match. Well, now they have Turtle Texts. Our mascot is the turtle - make sense now? 

It totally makes sense. The communicate by a phone text tree. I won't get in to why this is so cool to me. That would mean admitting how old I am. 

We celebrated Lola's SIX YEAR adoption anniversary with some puppy cookies. 

After a total of almost 8 years with Big Brother Big Sisters, I had my last day with the agency. That's right. I left Big Brothers Big Sisters. It was a hard decision to leave all of my friends, my comfort zone and a great place to work, but I followed my heart to Cook Children's Health Foundation. 

By now, you should all now how dear to my heart Cook Children's is. This is where all of Carly's doctors are. It was hard to say goodbye to all of my sweet, sweet  friends. But having been at CCHF for almost three months now, I know that there is where I am supposed to be. God put it on my heart over a year ago that I needed to be here, and He was right.

It's hard not seeing this lady every day, but we call each other all the time.

I asked Mary to "kick me out". I think she secretly liked it.

And Carly visited the dentist for the first time. If you need a GREAT family dental practice and you are in the Keller area, I recommend Just for Grins. They are AMAZING!

She did very well. The doctor recommended flossing 2-3 times a week, but that isn't good enough for Carly. My little sweetheart has to floss EVERY night. And then mommy has to floss for her, too. Quite the over-achiever.

And then this was just a silly picture that I wanted to share. Carly loves to stick food on her fingers - raspberries, noodles...whatever. She thinks it's hilarious and so do.

Happy January...three months later!

April To-Do's

In the past, when I have posted my monthly to-do’s, I normally update you on the last month’s to-do’s. Well, I think it’s time to start over. I have been terrible about completing my to-do’s. I have been even worse lately about actually…oh, I don’t know…posting my to-do’s – or any post for that matter.
So thus begins a new to-do list, complete with a promise to try my hardest to complete it. (Did you catch that loop hole?)

1. Make a summer wreath for the front door

2. Paint a canvas for my office (I’m thinking chevron)

3. Change my ringtone and text alert on my phone

4. Use (or at least book) the groupons and living social deals that I have purchased

What are you going to do this month?

Shame on me

If there were a list where all the names of naughty bloggers were kept, I would be on it. I would be on the TOP of it. Has it really been nearly THREE MONTHS since my last blog entry?! Sadly, it has. Shamedy, shame, shame, shame on me.


I do hereby promise to update my blog by the end of April. You will soon know all about our trip to Las Vegas, Carly’s third birthday, Carly’s behavior chart, the latest news on Carly’s therapies, my new job, Freddy’s new job and more.

Stay tuned, blogger friends. I promise I haven’t abandoned my blog. I just neglected it for a while.

'Nastics

When Carly concluded her episode of care for her physical therapy with Cook Children's, her AWESOME therapist suggested that we enroll Carly in a gymnastics class. She said that it would not only provide good, therapeutic physical activity, but it would also give her the chance to be around other children, watch them in gymnastics and then try to imitate them. She was right. And, as a bonus, Carly LOVES it!

Each class starts with trampoline time. When we first started back in September, Carly wasn't jumping - she wasn't even thinking about jumping. Now she tries so hard and is so very, very close. I imagine that it will probably happen in the next month or two.

Her friend Laine is a great example to Carly.

This girl can JUMP!...and seat-drop, and doggie jump and jump tuck...

Carly especially loves to show off her skills to Coach Nicole.

BTW- Coach Nicole needs a medal. This girl is beyond patient and so, so, so, so good with kids.

The second station is circle time. There is always a new song with instructions and also a cool prop.
Carly's attention at this station has increased tenfold since we first started.

Then there is the rope over the foam pit. Carly used to not be scared of it. Coach Nicole and I would hold on to her and swing her out over the foam pit. Her muscle tone comes in to play on this one. Currently, she can't hold herself on the rope very well. A few weeks ago, she was holding on really well on her own, so Coach Nicole sent her flying over the foam pit. You should have seen the look of terror on her face! She immediately let go and started freaking out.

Since then, I can barely get her to even touch the rope. When it comes time for her turn, she shakes her head and her little hands and says "no, no, no, no. done, done, done, done." I am not sure how to make her overcome this fear.

Laine, on the other hand, LOVES to soar over the foam pit. She just won't let go and drop in to it yet. It is so funny to watch her because when she swings out, she looks at every one of the moms to make sure we are all watching her. Then, on her third swing, we all shout at her to drop and she just grabs the rope tighter and smiles. Little stinker!

The final station is floor exercises. This station requires the most amount of work from the mommies. Here she learns the basics - out, together, out, together...

forward rolls - which she is amazing at- ...

"cartwheels"...

Bear crawls - another exercise that I have seen great improvement in over the last few months -...

The bars. Carly is not a fan. She let go once and fell on her head. Ever since then she hasn't liked them much, but she will occasionally just hang on them or TRY to flip.

And there are several other floor exercises, too. They change them up each week.

And here is Carly with a few of her gymnastics friends - E and Laine (I can use Laine's name because her mom blogs about her).

We love us some 'nastics!

Park Date

Also over the holiday break, Carly and I met up with our sweet friends K,K & their mom...K at the park.

I have decided that (unless thier mom blog sand uses thier names) I am going to refer to all of our kid friends by thier first initital. You know, for a little bit of privacy on this crazy thing we call the world wide web.

Carly loves playing wth the K twins. They live just a few streets away and are just a few months younger than she is. It is so fun to watch her get excited about playing with her friends! Especialy since she used to not like anybody except me and Freddy.

You know me - I had to take this opportunity to snap a few pics of my cutie and her cutie friends!

Suckers!

We love playing with the K twins!

Here's hoping that I can choose Carly's friends for the rest of her life based on how much I like their parents!!!!

January To-Do's

Looking back at my December To-Do's...

I tried the (skinny) Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks. It wasn't for me.

I did clean up my ipod (thanks, Charlie, for the help) and I organized my photos, but not my digital picture frame...yet.

This month's to-do's:

1. Cook a butternut squash recipe

2. Re-purpose the sugar mold I bought in Canton SEVEN years ago!

3. Re-decorate the wall/table in the entry way

4. Make a new wreath for the front door.

What are you doing this month?

The zoo is closed

Also while I was on my two-week break from work...We made plans with Rachel, Morgan and Jonah to meet up for an afternoon at the zoo. Did you know that the zoo closes at 4:00 p.m. on week days during the winter? Neither did we until about 2:30 when we were already on our way there.

So we opted for Trinity Park in Fort Worth instead. We could all rode the mini train together and then the kids played on the playground. It was a beautiful day and made for a great visit with friends.



Best Friends and their babies.





Jonah did so good on his first train ride!





We stuck the dads together. They looked kinda funny.





The Conoly's




Jonah took Carly for a ride in his truck



We had some spills...

And some near-spills...

But we all had a good time and I even managed to get a few cute pics.

After playing at the park, we headed to Pappasito's for dinner.

Jonah put the chip basket on his head.

Not to be shown up, Carly put a crayon on her head. Ha!

Side note:

After you become a mom you resign to the fact that your clothes will forever be covered in...stuff.

You never really know what all it is, do you? 

When we were leaving the restaurant, Carly grabbed Jonah's hand and they walked through the restaurant and parking lot like this . Doesn't it just melt your little heart?

And since I couldn't get Blogger to move this picture, please enjoy this picture of Jonah as a parting gift.