With a mom who LOVES scrapbooking, blogging, and writing stories, and a dad who’s a graphic designer and a crazy talented artist, this little girl never had a chance to be otherwise.

She’s loved to draw and paint and work with play-doh ever since the moment she could.

Her most recent favorite thing to do is go out in the garage and mess with Mommy’s scrapbook stuff.

Don’t get me wrong…I love watching her go through my bins and drawers of things, all the while saying, “Oooooohh…what else in here???”

But let’s be honest with ourselves.

She’s confiscated stamps and stamp pads and stamped all over the garage and herself.

She’s dumped my containers of glitter more times than I can count.

She’s gone through my stickers and peeled them off one by one and used them all over the place. She’s “reorganized” all my little letters and embellishments and half the time I don’t even know what’s where, or if it’s even usable.

It’s pretty frustrating, but I’m proud of myself for continuing to allow her to use some of this stuff, with boundaries of course.

She’s just fascinated with it all, and I want her to know she’s welcome to use some of Mommy’s stuff – everything can’t be DON’T TOUCH IT! – you know? I want to encourage any and all creativity that she has!

In the name of creativity and encouragement, I’ve started a little “scrapbook box” for Avery when we play in the garage. Anything she really likes of mine – or anything that’s no longer, ahem, salvagable for my own scrapbooking purposes – goes in this box.

When we go to the garage to get our scrappin’ on, I pull out her box of paints, glitter glue, paper scraps and other fun things, and we “scrapbook” together.

It’s adorable.

Her new favorite thing to “use” is of course, my beloved Cricut. Oh, Lord. She turns it on and off, plays with the little cutting pad, and tries to stick paper on there. She’s content because she doesn’t know she’s not really using it.

She thinks she is, and that’s the cutest part of all.

So, she turns the machine on and off, and pulls the pad out and puts in back in. And all the while, she’s got my glue and is dumping pools of glue onto little random scraps I’ve provided. She stacks these strips of paper up until it’s a little tower of paper.

She makes these for people she loves. Sometimes she adds special stickers when she’s done. Sometimes she stamps random designs. Sometimes she busts out her glitter glue and brushes the top of her creation.

We have glued paper piles all over the house. I have no more glue right now…I need to buy some for both of us soon. I think I will also pick up some safety scissors and some kid-friendly materials to go along with it.

And when you ask her what she’s doing? She says, “I scappinbookin like Mommy.”

Oh, where has the time gone??

The bed is so pretty, and will fit the toddler mattress. This transition is coming not a moment too soon.

Two nights ago, Avery pulled her first (and hopefully last) Houdini.

I was finishing up some laundry, Mikey was lying in bed trying to get his sleep on (while I’m running around the bedroom folding clothes and making piles on his feet, ha ha.)

Avery was screaming in her room over her frustration at Lights Out, and the fact that there were only about 13 books in bed with her instead of the usual 14 books.

Terrible parents, us. I know.

So anyway, it’s 10:30, and I’m finishing up, and Avery’s screaming/whining/fake crying finally stopped.

Thank goodness, right?

Silence in there for a few seconds, as if she’d gave up since it wasn’t bringing us in there.

Next thing I hear is “NO, MOMMY. No!”

As if she’s stopped screaming only to begin yelling at me for being a horrible mom. I turn at the sound of it…and…

She is STANDING in her DOORWAY.

Blanket in hand and giving me the “I’m like, sooo mad” face.

I was so startled!

I said, “Oh, my God! What are you doing out of your crib?”

Mikey immediately says, “Get her back in bed now. Don’t let her see that you think this is funny!”

LOL. He knew I’d think it was funny before I even did.

Now, that’s funny.

So I scooped her up and put her back in bed, and she started wailing all over again, mainly because it was probably hard to get out.

You guys, I’m telling you I didn’t hear a THING. I was standing only feet from the hallway. It was like she materialized out of thin air, out of that crib and into the doorway.

The funniest part?

Is how she was cussing me all the while not moving outside that doorway.

Like she knew she wasn’t supposed to be out of that bed, and she was still working through her amazement at being out. Like she was in the safe zone or something.

Oh, Lord. How funny. I’m cracking UP just thinking about it again.

OMG it’s hilarious to me.

And then?

Last  night I asked her to show me how she climbed out of the crib. I figured it couldn’t hurt since last night was her last night in it anyway…and she wouldn’t show me. All she wanted to do was tell me about it. She said,

“Well, I climbed out of my bed, and, and, and, then I had my blankie and and and you SAW me.”

I said,

“Yes honey I saw you out of your bed, but how did you do it? Show me how you did it.”

Avery said,

“Mommy you SAW me in the door and I said NO MOMMY and you saw me standing in the door.”

That was as far as it went.

Too funny, OMG Mikey was right…I find this entire situation HILARIOUS and just precious. I feel like we handled it well though, overall.

All’s well that ends well I guess. I certainly don’t want to have any more crib escapes, so I am thrilled that the timing is perfect here. She’d never even really given it much of an attempt until now.

I can’t wait to show you all pictures of the new Big Girl bed all set up!

I am so excited.

In past years, we were planning it in the summer/fall for the next year, but this year everyone was busy with things and Spaz wasn’t able to get all the money/commitments/spots filled, etc…it’s a LOT of work to coordinate this many people with money and all that…but Spaz came through for us AGAIN. I’m so grateful to him for being able to patch together our trip just weeks out from our traditional Valentine’s Day weekend.

This house won’t be the EPIC MANSION that we enjoyed last year with 30 people, but in a lot of ways it will be BETTER. There’s only 20 going, which will make for a more intimate setting. We are headed to SNOWSHOE, WEST VIRGINIA!

Whoo HOO!

It will be our first year up there. And, this house is cozy and cute and it looks like Mikey and I will be shacking up with my sibs for the weekend in a giant bedroom filled with bunk beds. HA! so that will be actually pretty fun. All around, I’m looking forward to this trip so much…and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it almost didn’t happen for us this year.

Thanks again Spazzie! You’re the BEST!

*********************

2.   So, of course as soon as ski trip plans start floating around, Mikey and I have to worry about another detail: Who will keep Avery for the weekend?

After some talk and planning it turns out SUPER ALLIE is coming to the rescue! Avery will be excited. Allison is excited too, and has wondered if she is up to the challenge. I told I know she is. She can do this. I will leave her a  huge binder of information and they will be fine. Here’s to Auntie Allie!

*******************************

3.   It’s just amazing to me how we’re able to carry on whole conversations with Avery now. I mean even though I’m a part of them every day, it still blows my mind. I don’t think it ever stops when that’s your kid, you know?

A good example.

We were having breakfast and getting ready for the school/workday, and Mikey couldn’t find his car keys. He was looking all over the place.

Avery was eating her cereal and watching a cartoon.

Mikey: Avery have you seen Daddy’s keys?

Avery: Oh yeah, they’re in your coat pocket.

Mikey: My coat pocket? Which one?

Avery: Your brown one. I put your keys in there yesterday.

Sure enough? Mikey goes over to the coat rack, checks the pocket of his brown coat, and there are his keys.

She turns her head around in her seat and yells across the house, “You find ‘em, Daddy???”

Unbelievable! She’s two!

She was a baby like FIVE minutes ago. Now she’s saying words like “yesterday.”  

Meanwhile, I’m still trying to figure out what happened to it.

 *****************

4.   Around October of last year, we had a Flip camera casualty. We’d only had it for a few months. I gave it to Mikey for Father’s Day last year; my friend Steph hooked me up and I was super excited to receive it.

Mikey and Avery were doing the usual  morning routine where she brings her cereal to school in a litle plastic cup.

(Just like Daddy, mind you…oh, the two of them eating cereal, riding down the road. Sigh I just love it. Anyway I digress…)

Avery dropped her cup by accident and it landed in Mikey’s front pocket of his work bag. All the stuff in that front pouch enjoyed a milk bath that day…including two jump drives and the precious Flip, which was full to the brim with priceless videos.

Ugh, I was sick over it. We laid the Flip carcass out and tried to take it apart and dry everything, but to no avail.

So for Christmas one of the only things I asked Mikey for was to have it FIXED.

The Flip people were fantastic. All they asked for was the original box (check) and the proof of purchase (check check.)

They not only sent us a replacement Flip, but also included a rechargable battery pack  so we don’t have to go through infinite amounts of batteries.

I am soooo happy about this. The only thing that stinks is that we couldn’t keep the customizable front plastic cover. I’d chosen a precious picture of Avery walking in our backyard. Now it’s simply white.

But, it WORKS. So, that’s what matters!! Yay for the resurrention of the Flip!!

*****************

5.    Also…today is BIG GIRL BEDTIME DAY! Avery will be making the transition from crib to big girl bed tonight, as will we all.

I am so excited. Lots to do!

Happy Friday, all!

We found over Christmas this past year she would cooperate very much, since Ralphie brought a little treat to a good little girl who helped get dressed and ready for school.

Of course, Ralphie went home on Christmas Eve, and so we’ve reverted back to spotty cooperation on weekday mornings.

Mikey came up with a great remedy for that.

Each morning, we play a game with Avery called, “Who’s In Your Chair?”

Avery guesses to see who has been sitting in her breakfast chair, and then gets all excited when she comes out to the kitchen and sees who’s in her Chay-uh!

For a couple days, Minnie Mouse was sitting in her breakfast spot, about to eat her cereal. She thought this was so funny!

Here’s Mr. Polar Bay-uh in Bookie’s breakfast chay-uh.

Great job, BOO for coming up with a cute and creative morning game to keep our baby focused on moving forward in the mornings!

She walked all around the house for the entire weekend and would yell, “SAY CHEESE, GUYS!!!”

Snap, snap, snap!!

She probably took 300 pictures in all throughout the whole weekend.

I love the angle on these ones. Look how low to the ground these are! :)

It’s especially cute to make funny faces at a budding 2 year old photographer! She laughed while she took these shots. And some of these came out pretty clear! Good job Bookie!

Hi Tootney!!

Here’s Mom posing for a quick while unloading the dishwasher before dinnertime!

This picture struck me as funny – I asked Avery to take pictures of things she liked, and here we have a picture of the carseat.

Our little photographer and memory maker-in-training. Following right along in my footsteps! I love it!

I was actually really impressed overall with her…as I always am of course. God she’s so smart. She knows how to turn the camera on and off and switch it over to see the pictures she just took.

Most of the pictures she took she held the camera still, too…some at first were crazy blurs and streaked from swiping the camera all around as she snapped away, but she learned quickly what to do.

SAY CHEESE GUYS!!!

I’m thinking that a little toddler-appropriate digital camera might be in order for her birthday, judging by how much she enjoys taking pictures.

My future SIL Court came in, and she had needed to go to the museum to obtain credits for school. What an awesome thing to do! None of us had ever been, and it’s free, so why not?

Avery was all set for the trip.

Joe drove us there.

Yay! We’re here!

My Dad, his fiancee Becky, and her daughter Kaleigh also met us out there, and then even my good friend Leslie and Avery’s good little buddy Emily came to meet us too! We had a great little group!

We brought the stroller even though we knew Avery wouldn’t stay in it for very long.

It worked out, though, because we used it for all our stuff later on.

Courtney pointed out the big panther to Avery…

And Avery kept calling him Baby Jaguar..from Diego on Nick Jr.

RAWWWRRRR.

You could see all of downtown from the top floor!

Here we are putting our heads into the mouth of the T Rex. Daredevils, us.

Avery liked this little Japanese display because of the flip flops in the front. She loves flip flops, and was excited the little Japanese girl had some!

Avery liked the momma and the baby possum.

She REALLY liked this alligator, too! :)

I got her to stand under it after convincing her it wasn’t alive anymore.

Pause for a family photo op!

AHHH! Watch out, Joe and Court! You’re about to get eaten by a great white shark!

There were real fish in this display. Avery was fascinated, especially with the turtle that kept swimming up to the front of the glass.

There were lots of interactive buttons for Avery to push.

Here is the skeleton of a blue whale.

It. Is. ENORMOUS. It took up the entire top of the floor.

Avery liked to walk around and explore on her own. So proud of my little curious monkey!

Here she is checking out the bugs in one of the arthropod display cases. Ewwww…

Avery and Emily had a BLAST chasing each other behind and around some of the rocks in the geology section, and had so much fun looking at stuff together. So glad they came with us!

I had an amazing time at the museum with my little girl. I cannot wait to do it again soon! Next up, History Museum?

Yeah! :)

We started out the night with a great tradition…sushi with Kelly and Mike! This is the third or fourth year we’ve done this, and it’s something we really look forward to as our last meal of each year.

Me and Mikey…

Mike and Kel…

The sake…always a welcome guest at our table…

And the guest of the hour…the SUSHI!

GAH that’s making me hungry just looking at it…LOL.

Then it was off to Kevin and Aleshia’s for our annual New Year’s Eve party. We got a picture of some of the girls…

And then played a little beer pong.

It was Kelly and Mikey against Mike and me, for our first game.

Kelly and Mike were UNDEFEATED for like eight games.

Mike and I lost our first game. BOOO. I realized yet again that I SUCK at beer pong. Seriously, I should practice at home or something.

Then we took a few sips of some homemade wine. Delicious!

Time for a little shot to warm us up…

MMMM! That’s so delicious and smooth!

We danced the night away. It was a smaller crowd than in recent years, but it still was incredibly fun.

HAPPY 2012!!!

We counted down with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark and Lady Gaga dressed in something predictably ridiculous.

Here’s the gang who rang in the New Year with us. We figured out how to work the timer on my camera.

Happy New Year, guys…it was a blast. Late nights…fun people…dancing, enjoying a few drinks and appetizers…I hope we never get too old for this stuff.

January 27th.

It’s a Friday, so it will give us all the weekend to get accustomed to the new situation.

I mean, I feel kind of bad that it’s taken us this long to get her situated in a big girl bed…she’s the last of her friends to make this leap, but I’ve always heard that it’s best to keep them in the crib for as long as you can.

Well, the time has finally come for us to move forward onto the next chapter.

There’s a lot to think about and plan out before we just do this. Nana and Poppa bought Avery this adorable Disney Princess bedding set for Christmas that will be perfect for her new toddler bed.

Avery loves it, too!

So, new bedding, check. Now the problem of getting her to actually stay in the bed, once the confines of the crib are removed.

I’m just not comfortable with shutting her door.

First off, she opens doors better than I can, so we would have to put a child proof thingy on the handle. I don’t like that…her not being able to get out if she needs to.

Second…she doesn’t like her door shut anyway. Seriously, it scares her. We’ve kept her door open even with all the commotion out in the main part of the house since she became aware enough to know better. And she sleeps soundly, so good enough.

Third, even if we got past all that and shut her door, this neurotic mom would NEVER be able to sleep knowing she’s in there all hours of the night, unattended, free to climb the bookshelves, tear apart her room and draw all over the walls with marker…etc. The MAIN reason though is Avery’s fascination with sockets. She has plugged and unplugged things before although I’ve said ENN, OH, lady.

And she laughes in the face of childproof socket plugs.

So, yeah. No door shutting for us, thanks.

I thought maybe putting a baby gate up in her bedroom doorway? That way she’s still confined, but not cut off from the rest of the world, unsupervised in the dark.

This will probably be what we’ll do, although I wish there was some way to rig up a baby gate to cut off the hallway to the rest of the house, but still giving her access to our bedroom? I know it isn’t a great idea, but what if she’s scared? What if she wants to come lay with me?

And right now, we have the luxury of going out to the garage while she sleeps, knowing that she cannot go anywhere. What if after the little lion cub is out of her cage, and she roams the house while we’re in the garage or something?

SO I guess babygating her doorway is actually the best idea…

Oh, I don’t know. This is going to me a MUCH bigger transition for us than it will be for her, I’m sure of it.

I tried to explain that Titi was Mommy’s sister and Uncle Joe and Uncle Danny were Mommy’s brothers, etc…

She mentioned her little buddy Harper, and I said that baby Alex was Harper’s brother, and Harper was Alex’s sister.

She thought for a moment and said, “Mom, I think I need a Brother toooooo.”

I said, “You do?”

She said, “I doooo! I need a baby brother too, like Harper.”

HAHAHA!!

I agree, baby. I agree.

Then when we got home, Avery told Daddy what she needs, too.

Out of the mouths of babes!

My friend and Nabe, Beyke (who is due March 1^st for a little BOY!) was over the other night.

Avery is fascinated with Beyke’s swollen belly and the baby sleeping inside.

After a few minutes of discussing the baby, Avery went into her room and put a baby doll up her shirt. She came out and said,

“Mom, I have a baby in my belly.”

!!!!!!!

Oh God, the stuff of nightmares, amiright??

LOL – the absolute last thing I ever want to hear out of her mouth for at least another 25 years or so – AFTER a wedding please God – but we laughed and laughed. The precious innocence and simplicity of a child’s thought process. Oh, what a little punkin.

I wish I’d gotten a picture.

Hopefully this will be the year that Avery will get her baby brother!

Here they are…

**********

Get more sleep

Ha ha. Even I have to laugh at this one. If I didn’t scrapbook at 11pm and blog at all hours of the night, when else would I do it? :P

Seriously though…I am going to try and go to bed at a decent hour at least on the weekdays. As I get older I’m realizing I cannot hang in there the way I used to, when I’d go to a party until 4am then make it bright-eyed and bushy tailed to my 8AM class.

Those days are gone my friend.

I feel (and LOOK!) better with SLEEP, and so I will find time to get more of it.

**********

Get to work earlier/do more OT

The funniest part of the resolution above, is that almost all of the ones below it directly conflict with it. If I do all these other things, I will not be getting more sleep, in fact I will get less sleep than I get now. Perhaps a better resolution would be invent a time machine, or better yet a time stopper….

If I were to invent such a thing I wouldn’t have to get to work earlier or do more OT…we’d be rich!

But I am way off topic here. Talking nonsense.

Since my maternity leave in 2009, my leave amount at work has been dangerously low. It takes a while to bank up considerable amounts of time, so in order to take another maternity leave, say a year or even two from now, I would have to start thinking about banking time, little by little, now.

**********

Be more romantic

This one speaks for itself. Couldn’t we all use a little more romance in our lives? :)

**********

Keep in touch with friends

This one is an ongoing one I’ve had for years. Thankfully with Facebook it’s MUCH easier. Thank you FB. I always resolve to keep in touch with old friends as well as friends in my current circle, because they’re all equally important to me.

I believe that when people come into your life they leave footprints on your heart, and can actually have a hand in helping shape you into the person you are today.

Therefore, I always resolve to keep those that have changed my life just by being who they are, in my life as much as possible. You know you who are…I love you all.

**********

Quit smoking

I’ve discussed this before. I only smoke when I drink and I’m being social, or scrapbooking. Either way, it isn’t at all consistent, not to mention stinky, disgusting and hazardous to my health.

So far, so good…trying to find other things to do while scrapbooking…honestly that’s been the hardest. But doing well!

It sounds kind of harsh to say…but every time I think I want a cigarette I imagine that particular cigarette could be the one to cause cancer. So far it’s been pretty effective.

Ugh, so gross. Cigarettes. I love you and hate you, hate you, hate you.

**********

Continue to find a little time for ME

I think I’m well on my way to finding a nice balance here. Between fun book club meetings, occasional small group scrapbooking with Vickie and Amanda, and regular girl’s nights…I don’t feel so socially unplugged anymore.

This year I’ve made some really good friends.

Some I’ve just met, some I’ve developed deeper connections with this past year, and some I’ve been close with for years… but all in all I’m pretty happy with this aspect of my life!

**********

Catch myself up on scrapbooking

I recently printed out pictures up to May of 2011. I know this might make people laugh, but this is the closest to current I’ve ever been. It’s damn exciting to me, and I have hope that I will be fully caught up by the end of the year. Courtney is helping me organize and get caught up, and she’s also taught me that I don’t have to print out everything all the time. (Duh, you might say…) Either way, here’s to FINALLY having current pictures to show! :)

 **********

Stop being late to EVERYTHING.

I am consistently ten minutes late to almost anything I do. By the end of the year, I want to be consistently five minutes early to everything I do. Come on, it’s fifteen minutes we are talking about here.

How hard can this be?

**********

Answer my phone more.

Everyone is always busting my chops about this. Ok, fine. I’ll resolve to do better.

**********

Continue to blog more regularly. 

WRITE. MORE.

For me, the combination of these is like my own brand of Lexapro and Xanax. They’ve been crucial stress relievers for me…something about putting my thoughts on paper-virtual or tangible- is so cathartic for my soul. I really believe that stories and memories almost tell themselves sometimes…they bounce around in my head and heart until I put them to rest on this blog or in my albums…

I am hopeful that this will be the year that Mikey and finally write and illustrate children’s stories, the way we’ve always said we would.

We’d be so good at it!

Now…if only we could invent that time stopper fiiiiiirst…

******************

Anyway, there they are…I guess we will see how I do!

What are your resolutions for 2012?