Pictures from Grandma's Party

My wonderful cousin took some photos while we were in WI for my grandma's 90th birthday party last month. I have a great family! :)

  
 One of these days I'll post about the whole weekend. And Easter. And Rose's 3rd birthday party....

tonight, I made a connection.

I've been realizing recently (as in, for the past few months) that I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I used to. I still enjoy it, and I still feel motivated to keep this digital journal of Rose's early years. But somehow I just haven't found myself logging in to Blogger nearly as much as I used to.

It remained a mystery until tonight.

Tonight, I logged on to my VA account from home for the very first time in the past 8-ish months, using the same "citrix" gateway access that I used to use every. single. night. when I was at TEP. And for the first time in a very long time, I had an insanely strong urge to blog.

Aha!

Suddenly the pieces clicked into place: I used to spend SO much time on the computer when I was working at TEP, and blogging became a pleasant outlet - I could work for awhile, blog a little bit to get a break, then get back to work again. But now I haven't NEEDED that outlet in the same way that I used to. Instead I tend to fill my evenings with baking, reading, quilting, or watching TV.  All things that do NOT involve me logging on to a computer, and thus no need to take a break by updating the blog.

Huh.

So, while I still love this blog and value having this outlet, I'm realizing that I might as well accept that I'm just not blogging as much as I used to, and that's OKAY.  I have a running list of all the things I still need to catch up on (Easter, Rose's birthday, Gigi's birthday, Mother's Day...) and I'll get there eventually. But for now I'm enjoying my computer-free evenings at home. :)

New blue (natch) hat!

Prom 2015!

P.S. I have no intention of returning to my TEP ways of logging on my computer each night. Tonight was an anomoly because I have a big presentation to give on Thursday (with the slides due tomorrow) and wanted to look over it one more time before my busy week starts up! Have no fear - I certainly learned my lesson about work/life balance, and have no intention of returning to my old ways!

3yo medical appointment

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

Three years
weight: 32# 12oz (71%ile)
height: 3'3.75" (96%ile)
BP: 86/50

A clean bill of health! She did awesome at getting her vision and her hearing screened for the first time (apparently most three year olds struggle with these?) and she's right on track for her development. :)

annual birthday questions

Rose's annual birthday questions. These are from her 3rd birthday (2015).




Favorite color:    blue and green and white and red and purple
Favorite toy/game:     playing with baby things
Favorite food:     mac and cheese
Favorite drink:     moose hair (?!?)
Favorite movie:     Happy Feet
Favorite TV show:     Caillou
Favorite song:     Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Favorite book:     You are a LION (yoga book)
Favorite outfit:     blue and white
Best friend:     Eden and Asher and Evan
Favorite holiday:     Christmas and Easter
What I take to bed each night:     a cat (not really)
When I grow up, I want to be:     a diamond
I'm afraid to:     monsters
I'm proud of:     ??
Something I do really well:     cookie monster
This makes me happy:     an Easter bunny
This makes me sad:     a cow hit me
Favorite time of day:     movie time
Dream vacation:     ??
Favorite thing to do with Mommy:     play with her
Favorite thing to do with Daddy:     play with him

Parent Appreciation Day

Yesterday was Parent Appreciation Day at Rose's school. What a lovely surprise to get this card when I dropped her off!

for some reason I can't get the photo of the front of the card to load?!

They also posted all the "thank you" notes from all the kids in the hallway. It was so cute - "thank you for painting on the easel with me," "thank you for playing cars with me" - things like that. And my personal favorite: "thank you for taking me fun places like the grocery store."

 :)

When I'm overwhelmed...

...I make lists.

It works until I feel overwhelmed by those very lists!  :)

Rose-isms: morals

Rose is starting to developing a pretty strong sense of right and wrong. Once she knows what our household "rule" is, she doesn't hesitate to enforce it for me and Mike also. Two recent examples  happened at the dinner table earlier this week.  We were eating chicken caesar salad (i.e., Rose gets mostly croutons and we have been teaching her that you have to "try" everything, such as the lettuce and the chicken) and Rose noticed that I didn't have any croutons (because I hate them, although I've never said that in front of her) and she promptly informed me "you have to TRY them, Mommy!!"     Shortly thereafter, Mike's phone rang and he got up to answer it. She yelled out, "NO, Daddy! You have to stay at the table until everyone is done eating!!"

She is very emphatic when she knows/thinks she is right!

On a similar vein, she is also starting to try her hand at lying and at evading detection by her sly parents. She sometimes tries to tell me that has already washed her hands, when I've been standing right next to her for the 30 seconds since I asked her to do so and clearly she hasn't done it! Yet she is totally straight-faced and I would fall for it if I hadn't seen with my own eyes that she is not telling the truth.

She also likes to tell us to "go away - go someplace else" when we ask her to stop doing something - as if it will be okay for her to continue to do it once she is no longer in our sight.  Like the other day when we were coloring together and I reminded her that we don't put markers in our mouths. Her response was "go away, Mommy! Go someplace else."

And mine was "nice try, schnookums."   :)