lagniappes for Mia

Daryl and I went on a long weekend getaway to New Orleans. Spending some time in a fabulous city with my darling husband was beyond perfection, and so much needed. I'll write all about that later. This post is about the little gifts we brought home to Mia. I KNEW I wanted to get her a feather boa, but then I saw those feather covered hats...Mia's favorite was this little doll I picked up at the end, and I'm so glad I did. Oh, she dug her feather mardi gras mask (mama, i'm soooo FANCYYYY)...even wore it to school the next day. That reminds me of how all her friends at school LOVED her little doll, too. The funniest gift was the DVD of the Dragon Master Showcase...they were some b boys that performed right across from Jackson Square. They were great, so we bought their DVD. What she ended up spending the most time with, and still does, were the three New Orleans post cards. She was fascinated and wanted to know when she could go :)

Lily, how are you 6 months old?!

Darling Lily,

You're 6 months old today! Both daddy and I think you're growing up entirely too fast...your sister, however, would like you to speed it up so she can play with you. You do your fair share of playing together, but Mia has some big plans for the two of you. Until then, she'll stick to pat-a-cake and just making you laught with her funny faces or dancing all crazy ;)

You got your first and only two teeth right about 4 months. Since then, you've been working on a couple, but they haven't popped out yet. Since you're busy teething, that pretty much means you're usually soaked with drool...and your daddy and I are usually soaked, too! You talk a LOT and love to sing. Oh, and you screech at the top of your lungs just to hear yourself, then you start laughing.

Rolling to your side is how you like to hang. It was perfect this Halloween...you were a mermaid, and you just relaxed like one. Too cute. You get on your hands and knees thrusting yourself forward pretty regularly, but your primary mode of locomotion is rolling or spinning or pivoting...I'm not exactly sure what you do. I can put you down on the floor and within seconds you're facing the other direction and 5 feet away! You love pushing yourself along with your arms. That means you go backwards a lot. We often find you stuck under the sofa with a big smile on your face.

You've insisted on eating food. Mia LOVES feeding you! (you've got an awesome big sister there!) You can eat a whole bowl full. Yes, you do get super messy...a messy mutt is what Mia calls you. Mealtime buys you a ticket to the tub. You and Mia love to bathe together. You in your bumbo and Mia trying hard to resist pouring water on your head. Water is your friend. Splashing and squealing are your thing.

You spent you first long weekend with your Nana and Pawpaw a couple of days ago. Daddy and I hit New Orleans for a little vacation, while you and Mia lived it up with your grandparents. You did great and were so happy to see us. We missed you so much!

Lily, you're a happy kid who's always ready to play...or eat ;) We love you so much!

Love,
Mama

an early Sunday morn

daddy, can you jump over me?!

leap frogs

daddy time

i can't get enough of the pure joy in these pictures. i loved watching them play. they were so into each other. her laughter made us all laugh. sometimes i wish this would happen more often. it does happen, and that's all that matters. life is fast. it's fun to slow down and enjoy what we have. moments like this make my heart smile.

Cole's costume birthday party

Mia's pal, Cole, turned 4 years old and celebrated with a costume party playdate. Mia was her Super Ballerina Kitty, Lily wore her sisters kitty ears, Cole was a Spiderman, we had a mummy and Shaun the Sheep! The kids, and mamas, had a fabulous time...the cupcakes were super fab, too!!! Jenni, our entirely too pregnant pal, hula hooped....and so did I ;)

Happy Birthday Cole!

just now

i received an email from my sweet husband who's upstairs putting our Mia to bed. this is what it said with an attached photo:

Happy birthday mama

I'm thankful for breakfast

And ummm. Fooood

I love u momma

Thank u for the new house




p.s. we moved into our new house in July and my birthday was in August...i do make a fabulous breakfast ;)

halloween '09

Mia and I started Halloween off with creepy pancakes. She told me what to make, and I...um...made them? cat, jack-o-lantern, bat, witch, web & spider. Flipping that web over took some engineering! Then I piled them high. I never do that, so her eyes were a big as her plate. She ate the web and 1/2 of the spider :)




The whole fam piled in the car for a spookacular playdate. Oh this year, Mia was a Super Ballerina Kitty, Lily was a merbaby, I was the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland....daddy? He was a Longhorn fan. I prompted Mia to say 'daddy punked out' when asked about her daddy's costume or lack there of. The party was rockin! We whipped up some creepy meat 'n worms as an our offering to the snacks. I started them, but then had to get ready, so Daryl finished them up. He did a ghoulish job. Sorry. I won't do add in any halloweenisms anymore.

Did I tell you they had a pinata?! Full of.....wait for it.......CANDY! It was too much fun. Really, Lily had too much fun and she was done. Home for a nap. Then.....

We hopped on over to see our Auntie M, Uncle Joe & cousin Gwen. They hosted a super fun Halloween Open House. It was fun to see more friends all dressed up. The kids had a blast running around....chasing or being chased by Melissa. Where she gets all that energy, I'll never know. The kids LOVED it! Then she sat down for storytime. Where the Wild Things Are was super appropriate and Lily was glued glued glued to the book. So super cute. We hung out until it was time to head home for trick or treating in our hood.

Our Super Ballerina Kitty was all decked out in her cape, mask, tutu, ballet leotard, tights, shoes and leg warmers..aaaand kitty nose & whiskers, ready to hit the pavement. I'm still so amazed how shy she is not. Not only did she do the door to door thing by herself, she asked if she could pick and choose the candy she wanted!...they actually let her. You never know till you ask! I would have never done that when I was little. She's a bold brave one! A neighbor decks out their whole house in haunted house fashion. There's usually a line down the block to waiting to get in! We passed on it this year, but their boat full of pirates got me to sing a pirate song for a beer ;) I'm starting to totally dig this neighborhood! Once we did the rounds, Mia picked out 5 pieces to keep (Dots where the ones to eat on the spot)...the rest was left out for the candy fairy to come get and replace with the new Ice Age movie...she calls the 'Buck Movie' because her fav character is Buck, a crazy ass weasel! Yay candy fairy!!

***a note to our neighbors: feel free to fill up my child's bag with peanut butter cups...I...she only got one!

the photos are small...feel free to hit my flickr

Nishan at 9 months

Yes, it's been 3 months since my last Nishan installment :) I've truly loved watching this lil boy grow from a new to the world infant, to a rolling over baby, pulling up & cruisin' and now crawling! The next time I'll see him, he'll be ONE YEAR OLD!!! This was a hilarious shoot. Not only has Nishan grown physically, but man does he let his feelings be known. He did NOT want to wear the poncho a relative sent him from Peru, and you can tell :)