Snaggletooth Monster

My poor little Evie has the most unfortunate teething pattern of all time, and I think it is absolutely hilarious.  Well, not the misery part, that's not funny for anyone.  But where those teeth choose to come in is quite funny. 

With Lyla everything was very patterned and logical - two middle teeth on the bottom, then two middle teeth on top, then the two directly next to those on top, then on bottom, and so on, and so forth.  Evie started out that way - two middle bottom teeth first.  And then it quickly went downhill from there.

When she started teething again I kept looking at the gums on top, but out of nowhere the third tooth came in next to her 2 on the bottom.  When she started teething AGAIN I expected it to be the fourth tooth on the bottom, and then I found a tooth poking out on the top, and not even in the center.  I mean, talk about a snaggletooth.  I also found out at that point that she was getting 2 more on top, which have since come in. 

So now she has three on top and three on the bottom, but she's still missing one of the top middle teeth.  I predict all sorts of braces and headgear in her future.  ;)

I've spent a lot of time trying to get good pics of that elusive snaggletooth, it's a lot harder than you'd think.  Here are some of my attempts and eventually a few of that little tooth in all it's glory.  :)

- K

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's weekend Ryan is in Vegas so us girls celebrated on our own.  I set out their treats this morning, and all they really cared about was the chocolate - go figure.  Even Evie Sis is a little chocoholic these days.  It was a fun, low key day which included a trip to the pharmacy for Lyla.  She came down with pink eye.  But I guess if you're going to get something on V Day it may as well be pink.

I forced the girls into another of my silly photo sessions this week.  It's funny, I feel this need to continue these photo sessions because I want to capture their cute little stages, and to be able to look back at all the fun times we had.  The irony being that none of us have very much fun.  I swear as soon as I set them down to take a picture it just immediately triggers the biggest meltdowns.  Luckily I'm one half of where they got their stubbornness from, and so I persevere.  :) 

- K

Three Years Old

The first time I held my little Lyla Rose in my arms so much in me changed and a big piece of that was a new found appreciation for how precious time is.  I knew I had been catapulted into the best moments of my whole life, and I quite honestly didn't want any of those moments to end.  I would stare at that baby girl and I wouldn't want to blink for fear of missing something, I could barely even contain tears when someone else held her.  I wanted to freeze time and live in that warm, snuggly, brand-new-baby-smell world forever.  

The day after we got home from the hospital with Lyla we took her to her first doctor's appointment.  The first stop was to undress my tiny little baby and get her weighed.  As we were doing that this sweet mom with a couple of kids, about 3 and 5 years old, came up to me.  She was oohing and aahing about my little babe, and saying things like "it feels like yesterday that these guys were that tiny".  I couldn't make eye contact or respond in the slightest, knowing I would just start bawling.  To me, in that moment, I wanted to die before I wanted my baby to grow up into those big kids.  And then, here we are, I blinked and I have one of those big kids of my very own.

Each year that has passed has been easier for me to accept the fact that she's getting bigger, mostly because she somehow seems to be more fun with every day that passes.  I still cry at times because I love every single stage so very much.  As I pack away clothes or toys or holiday decorations I think about the memories that were made with each item and it makes me sad that those moments are gone.  Because each moment with that girls is my very favorite moment, and moving on feels like losing them a little bit.  I know that I will forever look back at these years as the best time of my life, with my babies tucked under my little wing, protecting and nurturing and loving them with every bit of my heart and soul.

I am so in awe with the girl my little Lyla is becoming.  She is so fun, loving, energetic, curious, and just plain sweet.  She is a constant chit chatter and becoming quite the little actress with her new obsession with Frozen (she's definitely not an early adopter).  She's a tough cookie and can take quite the lick and keep on ticking.  She's not much of a rule follower, much like her dad, and prefers to question "why?" rather than just quietly doing what's she's been told.  She's got a little sass to her, and I love every bit of it.  It's hard to reign her in at times, but I know without a doubt she'll be able to channel her energy, passion and curiosity and pave a path of nothing but success, just like her dad.

We threw her little third birthday party on Saturday.  We had a rockstar theme since she is the ultimate performer these days.  She sang and danced the night away, so I think it was a success.  :)

Cheers to you, precious girl!  I love you to pieces.  I guess you can go ahead and keep getting bigger, just don't ever stop giving me those sweet Lyla cuddles.

- K

 

Don't mind my half bedazzled 3.  Let's just say I am a procrastinator and also not a very good rhinestone estimator.

 

Snuggles with her nanny, Joan, or Goan-Goan as the girls call her.  :)

 



 

This "aftermath" picture cracks me up.

Even Kev got all partied out.  ;)

Lyla Rose: The Cat Whispering Night Owl

The other day as Lyla was cuddling Carlos, (or Car Car or Carkey or Cark according to Lyla), she said to me "I really understand cats."  She's kind of right, the way she loves on that Car Car, but mostly she's lucky to have the sweetest kitty around.  He love, love, loves that girl.  Somehow he endured her baby torture and now almost can't stand to be without her.  If she's cuddling on a couch with a blankie, he's curling up in her lap.  If she gets banished into timeout land, he almost always sneaks in before the door is closed.  If you can't find him, he's surely curled up on Lyla's pillow in her bed.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever the way those two have become best friends. 

It's not quite as cute when he sneaks in her room in the middle of the night when we have to go in and get her back to sleep, then starts meowing uncontrollably when she finally is back to bed.  Which is happening WAY more often than it should.  I'm not sure what is going on but we are having a tough time getting her to bed at night AND getting her back to sleep when she wakes to go potty.  She likes to claim that her tummy isn't tired anymore.  These toddlers are lucky they're so darn cute.

A few nights ago we were going through the nighttime shenanigans of Lyla not wanting to go back to sleep.  She ended up turning her light on in her room and Carlos noticed so he started crying outside her room.  Her door is right across from ours so I was peeking to see what would happen.  All of a sudden the door opened up, just a crack.  I could barely see her little eye looking through the crack, taking it all in.  She finally opened it a little more, just wide enough for Carlos to slip in, then quickly shut it.  I looked over at our monitor and Cark had jumped right up onto her pillow, so she grabbed a book and started reading to him.  It was so darn adorable, like they have this little secret book club together.  I guess she really does understand cats.  :)

- K

Barbie Dream House

Saturday was the last day of January so Ryan was at work from sun up to sun down...and actually even longer than that.  L, E and me got to have a girls day, which included visiting dad at his new office and going to the Mall of America for their Barbie Dream House exhibit. 

L is quite the homebody and often opts for staying home over doing absolutely anything else.  The idea of getting dressed is apparently just too overwhelming.  But when I mentioned visiting the Barbie Dream House, she was sold - hook, line and sinker.  And she's never even played with a Barbie!

We didn't get to the mall until late, and signed up for the 6pm tour.  We probably had 8 other people on the tour with us, and if you ever doubted she takes after her dad, you would have been a believer at this place.  She was in full blown performer mode - running around like she owned the place and singing the songs they were blaring on the speakers (that she had never heard before) at the top of her lungs.  Our tourmates couldn't help but be smitten.

Going in I knew she'd appreciate a pink sparkly house, but even I was impressed by how much she loved it.  At the end of the tour they had this whole stage and catwalk and backstage area where the kids could put on dress up clothes and get their hair and makeup done, then appear on the stage all done up.  They didn't explain it beforehand, but Lyla quickly disappeared behind the stage.  When I finagled the double stroller back there to find her I was just as quickly pushed back out.  Apparently she had it all under control.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love raising girls?  :)

The whole thing was such a blast.  Afterwards we stopped at A&W for rootbeer and cheeseburgers.  I figured I'd give Evie Sis a couple bites of my cheeseburger, but the reverse actually happened.  Lyla demolished hers as well, and in the middle of stuffing her face she exclaimed "this is a happy dinner!"

We had the very best time.  I'll remember that mama-daughters date forever.  I swear it was like soul food.

-K