Listen to those Birds Chirp

Spring Break rocks.  Although Daddy still did homework every night, the stress in our home was momentarily reduced.  The sun {and birds} also poked around for a few days.  Daddy pulled out the scooter. 
Bliss will soon realize that birds aren't as joyous when white polka dots start to appear on our cars.  Although, this results in more frequent trips to Green Gorilla, of which, we've made a rule that you can't go to Green Gorilla unless the baby is with you.   
Cause it's fun.  
Until then, we love searching for birds out of Mom & Dad's window, while laying on their bed.

Bliss did have a bout of the stomach flu, and it appears that 4 teeth are coming in at the same time.   
Such is life.  We've still had lots of fun.  We went on a walk just about every night.  Two of these evenings resulted in a very tired little girl falling asleep in her stroller on the walk home.  The first night we walked to Village Inn for dinner, and stopped at Shopko on our way back to grab a cuddly toy for miss sicky pants.  She chose a Sing-A-Ma-Jig, which I'm sure we will regret once she learns to push the belly herself.  Right now she prefers to snuggle with it, and put her finger in it's mouth.  We've often played with them while grocery shopping {short-term-toys}, so when we spotted one on the clearance aisle, we said we'd buy it if she noticed it.  Noticed she did, and we brought that pink, annoying, troll-looking-thing home.

Mom's willpower was thrown out the window when Dad requested we walk to Charlie's for some ice cream Wednesday night.  {But lets seriously face it; I have very little willpower here.} 
Next stop:  Payless, cause we were being spontaneous.  We tried on every pair of size 4 and 5 toddler shoes, ran down every aisle, and left empty-handed.

Not like Summer is ever non-fun, but this summer  
we are going to tear it up.

Both of us are scheduled for a GMAT prep course in July; otherwise, we are school free for the first Summer in 7 years.

It's another milestone, my friends.  Feel free to congratulate us.

Studious

I have to really sneak in order to catch moments like these.
Part of our nightly routine is a bubble bath.  
While the water is filling, we usually run around naked, and tease Daddy while he does his homework.

Cone

Unfortunately, we live seconds away from Charlie's Ice Cream.
Dad's flavor:  2 large scoops bubblegum, which is really 4 normal scoops, a not to be confused with 2 small scoops.  Sometimes he'll splurge and get huckleberry.
Mom:  Child size swirl cone, or as Dave would say, "twist".

Bliss gets a fair share of both kinds.  Especially when Mom is feeling fat.

My Love

Her scrunchy smile, her giggles.  They never get old.

Barbies like Milk, too.

Daily I'm taken back at what a smarty pants Bliss is.

Although she doesn't love doing it, she'll kiss her friends;  Meaning the dolly, stuffed zebra, and images in her storybooks.

Just yesterday I taught her what to do with a deodorant stick.

"Wee" is associated with any kind of ride, or spinning movement.  Like spinning in circles.

She loves to share her food, and has learned that it's kind of fun to give the dogs her snacks.

"More" means pretty much what it should, but occasionally she'll use it in a way like "give it to me".  For example, she pointed at her shoes last night and said, "more" because she wanted us to put them on her.

She put on my slippers last night.

She still has an obsession with eating lotion.  She is becoming more familiar with body parts, so I try to have her "put the lotion on your toes" in order to distract her from licking it off herself.  It's working.

If you ask her where her button is, she'll flash you.

So far she is good at sharing.  She gives everything drinks, and pacifiers.

 

She has also learned how to get a drink of bath water from her Barbie's hair.

Spud

Bliss has two teeth, but she is so done with baby food.
This has made things a little difficult.  She wants what we eat, no matter what.
She is also finicky when it comes to us feeding her.  She likes to feed herself.
So we let her go for it with a bowl of mashed potaoes at Juniper Takeout.

In between playing, she got a few good bites down.  Mom and Dad were all grins.
It was adorable.

2 Amigos

Not 3 minutes after unpacking Bliss's Valentine car seat, I came around the corner to find them both waddling around in the box.  Yet another example proving that I'm the "dull" parent.

I won't even mention the tunnel crawling and cave building.

Race Car

I always begged my mom for the race car cart, but she always said "no".
Always.
So my immediate reaction when Dave started putting Bliss into it was, "no, eww."  
After he gave me a glaring, "why not?"  I lightened up and decided to be a cool Mom.
After we put it through a Clorox Wipe car wash, we strapped her in and went on our grocery shopping way.
She LOVED it; used both steering wheels and all.  
I'm proud to say that I will now be searching for that cart for our weekly, Saturday visit.

You know that it holds 4 children?  Two in the front, two in the back.

And I've thanked the Lord every day since, for not being that Mom.

Streaker

Bliss got new shoes last week.
She pranced around the store when we tried them on.  She was quite upset when we tried to take them off.
So we left them on.
She often requests that you put on her shoes and socks.  She will find them, and bring them to you.

Valentine's Sled

Grandma took Bliss sledding on Monday.
My heart sank a little because I've been wanting to do this all year, but it's difficult with busy schedules and a lack of snow.
When she sent these pictures to my phone, I wished I could have beamed myself over there to play.
I love my little Valentine.

Barbies

I've been wanting to switch up Bliss's bath toys, but in an attempt to save pennies, we've been playing with household items.  Empty bottles, toothbrushes, straws . . .

She seems to love them all the same.

I saw some mermaid barbies for 50% off clearance.  They came in a pack of three. 
I bought them.

As soon as I got them out of the box, she wanted them.  All three of them.  If one was dropped, she'd carefully bend over to get it back into her hands.  She walked around the house with them for a good 20 minutes, holding them like a bouquet of flowers.

Daddy likes to dive bomb them into the water, so that's what she does.  Stands up, reaches them up high, and drops them.

You'll notice we no longer have her bath chair.  She goes wild in the tub.  Back and forth, up, down, splashes, and throws stuff.  It's kind of a party.

She thinks it's super funny to take a gulp of water, and, oddly, she (sometimes) thinks it is even funnier when she chokes on it.

Super Market

Bliss LOVES going to the grocery store. 
She likes to talk to everybody, kick her legs, eat coupons, and touch everything.

On the way out to our car, we bundled her in the blanket, like a mummy.
She thought it was HILARIOUS.  

{Love our weekly family shopping trips}

Practice makes Perfect

Crazy how only one week can improve your skills . . .

We've been practicing every night.
Not saying that she doesn't eat them anymore, and that I don't appreciate the pretty blue scribbles on our entry floor, but she's grasping it. 

Superbowl

I've been trying to find an excuse to make these "Burgers & Fries" for like 3 years now.  Father's Day passes, and I've never used the cute templates, but I though this year's Superbowl would be a perfect event to don this creation.  I will totally make them again.

In the last little while, Bliss has learned to draw.
She prefers pens and Daddy's homework.

In an attempt to get his assignment back, she threw a fit, so Daddy made a late night mad dash to Walgreens for some art supplies. 

She preferred to eat the crayons and hit the dogs over the head with her new Sesame Street coloring book.