Story Time

I'm thrilled that a bookworm like me has a daughter who enjoys reading books so much. She constantly brings me books and asks to sit on my lap for story time. Even though Mike is away, he found a way to join in on Grace's story time by recording himself reading to her.

One look on her face and you can see that her daddy's efforts did not go to waste. She loved it!

Short and Sweet

Arrived safe and sound in Virginia Beach.

Too exhausted to write anything else. And this is the only picture taken of Grace today- helping Lola sweep the floor.

Lola to the Rescue

Grace and I are headed to Virginia Beach tomorrow. It was a trip that came very close to not happening. My bestest friend, Josyl, was supposed to fly down here and keep us company on the drive, but unfortunately, the poor thing threw out her back and is unable to move at the moment. A plane trip and a 12 hour plus car ride would've been impossible for her.

I called my parents to let them know we had a problem. There was no way they weren't going to see their grandbaby for Easter, so my dad booked the next flight to Jacksonville for my mom and she arrived safely this morning.

Our road trip to Virginia Beach begins bright and early tomorrow morning. I'm going to set up the DVD player for Grace, just in case, but I really don't think she'll need it now that her Lola will be keeping her company.

An Off Day

I've said this many times and I honestly mean it: I love being a stay-at-home mom. But it's not always sunshine and roses, and when you have to leave the baby cry room because your child is crying so much, you know you're having an off day.

Today was Palm Sunday which means it's a very crowded mass. Grace and I got to church a few minutes early to ensure a spot in the cry room. But soon, because all the pews in church were filling up, people without children started coming into the cry room to grab a seat.

It got very full in the little room, and this is when Grace decided she wanted to run all over the place and say hello to everyone. When I wouldn't let her do that, she threw a fit- whining, screaming, and inconsolable crying. Halfway into the mass and she was in full on melt down mode. I tried everything to get her to calm down, but it was all useless. Those with children were looking at me sympathetically and those without were looking quite annoyed.

On the one hand, those annoyed people should understand that they are in a CRY room, but on the other hand, I didn't want us to be the reason for people not to be able to worship properly. So I snuck out the side door and spent most of the rest of mass outside. I was tempted to just walk to the car and leave- I was that frazzled, but it was Palm Sunday and I didn't want us missing out on it either.

The rest of our day was spent at home because she wore me out at church. I didn't have energy to go anywhere else and risk another melt down. I tried to pack for our upcoming trip to Virginia Beach, but Grace wouldn't entertain herself no matter how hard I tried to persuade her. She wanted my undivided attention at all times. Until she went to bed for the night, I didn't even get a chance to eat except for the random Cadbury Mini Eggs that I grabbed from the candy bowl as I chased her around the house.

My normally sweet girl was a cranky little thing today. But I guess we all have our off days. This was definitely hers.

Running away from me in the middle of changing her.

A Big Ol' Basket and Two Eggs

I woke up extra early this morning to make some pancakes for breakfast. I was so excited about the egg hunting and I wanted to make sure Grace had a good breakfast in her before the egg gathering.

I also had a pretty pink dress all ready for her to wear, but at the very last minute, I changed her into some capris because I wanted her to be able to move quickly and with ease in order to gather up the maximum amount of eggs possible. With our practice session yesterday, I was sure she would do great.

When we got there, it was pretty crowded, but thankfully, her age group got to go first and parents were allowed to help them. One of the things I love about being a parent is that you get to participate in all these kid things again. Nothing like living vicariously through your child.

She was having a good old time people watching and I kept trying to point out the eggs on the field and reminding her that they go in her basket. Finally they blew the whistle and the egg hunting began. After much coaching from me, she reluctantly picked up one egg. All the while, other kids were scooping up the eggs around her left and right, and if I hadn't helped her out by picking up another egg for her, she would've ended up with only one. She thought watching the other kids was more fun than picking up the pretty eggs.

Oh well. I was only kidding when I said yesterday that she'd only end up with two eggs at the egg hunt. It turned out to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Grace did indeed end up with only two eggs. But she had a great time and that's all that matters.

Next year, I'll start training a little earlier than just the day before.



She didn't much care for the Easter Bunny either.

A Little Practice

As a kid, one of my favorite things about Easter was the egg hunting. Last year, we took Grace to an Easter Egg Hunt, but because she was only a couple months old, it was really just a photo opportunity. I'm so excited that this year she'll actually be able to participate.

Tomorrow morning we're going to an egg hunt, so in preparation, we spent some time outside practicing for the event. I threw some eggs on the grass, gave her the basket, and told her to gather them all up.

She stared at me like I was crazy. I had to demonstrate a few times before she finally got it. Even then, she didn't want to put them in the basket, but held them in her hands. I fear we'll only come home with two eggs tomorrow- one for each of her hands.

14 Months

Today marked fourteen months since this girl came into our lives. I've never worked so hard, slept so little, or worried so much.

It's been the best fourteen months of my life.

And it just keeps getting better and better. I say prayers of thanksgiving every day for being able to live such a wonderful life filled with love and laughter.

Happy 14 Months, Virginia Grace Copon Augustine!


We stopped by a bakery and picked up a strawberry cupcake to celebrate.

Rough and Tumble Girl

I didn't have anything in particular planned for today so I was super excited when the Baggetts invited us over for some afternoon play time. Grace loved hanging out with the boys and showed she can be quite a rough and tumble girl. She put her hands in dirt, tried out their trampoline, and attempted to get a basketball that rolled under the truck. She had several falls but without a single tear.

I'm glad she's the kind of girl who is happy playing with her dolls but can also hold her own with a couple of active toddler boys. I'd like to think that even if she grows up petite, she'll still be able to take care of herself.

Turner, Grace, and Eli

Must Have Accessory and Hucks

I bought Grace her first pair of sunglasses when she was just three months old. We were taking our first family vacation to Saipan and they were mainly for picture purposes. A year later and those shades are now Grace's must have accessory. She asks me to put them on her all the time and then giggles when I do. Such a little diva!

Grace's vocabulary is growing everyday and while I may be the only one who can interpret her words at this point, it's still pretty exciting. Her new one is 'huck', also known as a hug. She comes up to me saying 'huck' and that's my cue to wrap her in a big bear hug. Then she'll take my face between her little hands and kiss one cheek with a big 'mwaah' and then turn my face so she can get the other side too. Very Italian. She may not look it, but the girl does have some Italian blood in her.

I don't ever want to forget these sweet moments.

Because I Miss Him

My goal today was to reorganize my clothes in the closet and drawers. When we moved here, I just shoved them all in haphazardly without any particular order and I haven't had the time or the motivation to do anything about it. It took me a good part of the day to get it done, but my closet is now organized by color, in the order of the color spectrum. I know, a bit anal, but I think it looks prettier that way.

In the process, I had to move around some of Mike's stuff and for whatever reason, touching all his clothes and remembering the last time he wore that shirt or wore those pants made me really miss him. So I went ahead and reorganized all his stuff too. I didn't organize it by color though because, really, everything is pretty much orange and maroon.

During the big closet re-do, Grace was left to entertain herself, and she did a pretty good job of it. She somehow learned to take her pants off and had a ball climbing in and out of the suitcase I left out for her to play with.

Not a very exciting Monday, but at least it was productive. I never thought I'd ever say that folding and organizing Virginia Tech and Tommy Bahama t-shirts would be fun, but it was. Only because I miss him.

Sunday Homebodies

We made it to church this morning and I thought I'd try to stay out of the baby room today. Grace had other ideas. We made it about fifteen minutes into the mass before I had to drag her in there. She had a fabulous time.

I have no idea what the priest's homily was this morning since I was too busy doing damage control. She repeatedly tried to take the book from the little boy sitting next to us (usually I keep a small book in her diaper bag for her but she gave it a bath in the toilet bowl so I had to throw it out). She tried to eat the snacks of the little girl in the pew in front of us. And she almost pulled down the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. Twice.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. The rain prevented us from doing anything but being a couple of homebodies. We made the most of it. She took a long afternoon nap and I cooked up some filling to make my mom's vegetable lumpia. I opened and started eating a bag of Easter candy, Cadbury Mini Eggs, meant for Mike's Easter package. We watched The Princess Frog movie. She watched it for a good thirty minutes on the couch with me before she got up and started playing, which meant she really liked the movie if she stayed still for that long. After dinner and her bath, we ended the night by watching a little bit of Life- a new TV series about animals of the planet. We probably watched a lot of TV today, but it doesn't really count if it's Disney and the Discovery Channel, right?

We enjoyed being a couple of homebodies today. Here's hoping to more sunshine this week!

Celebrating Spring

The moment I've been waiting for arrived today- the first official day of spring! I wanted to celebrate by doing something special, so right after breakfast, Grace and I ventured out to enjoy the beautiful weather at the Jacksonville Zoo.

Apparently, every family in Jacksonville with young kids had the same idea. The place was packed! But the zoo is so big and spread out that it really didn't matter. We saw plenty of animals up close and despite what it looks like in the pictures, Grace loved every minute of it. She screamed with delight whenever she spotted the animals I pointed out, and went absolutely crazy if it was an animal she is familiar with from her favorite book, Dear Zoo.



Even I had a great time, although I had to carry her in one arm and try to maneuver the stroller through the crowds with the other arm for most of the day. It just got too tedious to have to take her out of the stroller so she could see every time we came to a new exhibit. I was very impressed with the zoo. The crowd was huge, but the way the place was designed, everything flowed well. They even had a children's play area and spray ground that we didn't have time to check out today.

I was extremely tempted to buy us family passes for the year. (I've been tempted quite a bit lately, haven't I?) But with Mike gone for most of the year, I thought it would be better to wait until he got back.

I can't wait to go back again. It was the perfect way to celebrate the beginning of spring.

On the Go

I learned my lesson yesterday and postponed any and all housework until after Grace and I got out there and enjoyed some of that sunshine. I was afraid we'd miss out on it again if we waited too long to head out. After breakfast, I didn't bother cleaning the kitchen or the floor and quickly got dressed and left the house.

I found a huge children's consignment sale, but I couldn't tell you if there was anything good there since I spent all of my time chasing after Grace. There wasn't enough room to bring a stroller in and she refused to be held in my arms after she saw all those random toys scattered everywhere. I was hoping to find some kind of activity gym, but all they had were things for wee little babies. I left that place hot and sweaty without a single treasure to bring home.

To make up for the bust on the consignment sale, I headed straight for Old Navy. The warm weather put me in the mood for some summer clothes shopping. Leave it to Old Navy to make a woman feel good. They must have changed their sizing because the size I normally wear was too big! I was fitting into numbers that I never thought I would fit into ever again. I know you shouldn't focus on the number, just the fit, but it's hard to do that sometimes. Thank you, Old Navy, for making a girl feel skinnier than she actually is! It's great marketing if you ask me. I wanted to buy everything I tried on, if only to have that size in my closet again. I didn't though. It was good enough for me to know I fit into smaller sized clothes.

The rest of the day was just as wonderful as the Old Navy experience. I made one of my favorites, Shrimp Fra Diavolo, for dinner and I had Grace bathed, in bed, and the house all clean by nine o'clock. A fabulous start to the weekend!

Tempted

According to the weather forecast, today was supposed to be a cold and rainy day, so I was super excited when we woke up to lots of sunshine. Before we could go out and play, I wanted to take care of some silly household chores first, that way we could come back from our day of playing to a nice clean house. I wouldn't have any energy to tackle those chores once we got back from an afternoon of fun.

When I finally finished all my to-do's, Grace got cranky and I knew she was ready for a little nap. Three and a half hours later, the child was still sleeping, but the rain clouds had moved in along with the chilly temperature. By the time she woke up, there was no hope of us going outside anymore. We were stuck inside. Again.

Yesterday after an exhausting day of preventing Grace from falling from various pieces of furniture that she managed to climb, I emailed my financial advisor (AKA my husband) to see how he felt about my temptation to invest in an indoor acitivity gym for our little gymnast. I know I've complained about how our living quarters are quite tight right now, but I found a couple that were small enough to fit even our humble space. I'm willing to sacrifice the clutter to give Grace an outlet to burn off all that energy. Especially on days like this when we can't make it outside. An activity gym would be such a life saver for mamas who are doing their best to entertain busy bee one year olds. It's either that or a sibling, but a toy is cheaper and much easier to obtain right now.

I was hoping he'd say go right ahead and give in to whatever my little heart desires. Instead I was advised to resist the temptation. Easier said than done, but after being reminded that we're trying to save up for a family Disney vacation later this year, I very reluctantly agreed.

The temptation is still there, but for now, I've conquered the urge to give in to it. We'll see what tomorrow brings....

School Bus Activity Gym

Climb & Slide Castle

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Our St. Patrick's Day was cold and rainy, but it was happy nonetheless. Grace had a follow up doctor's appointment this morning and her ears are infection free and she has gained a pound. Her pediatrician even said she's getting some cheeks on her. Those avocado smoothies I've been making for her must be working!

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home enjoying the treats we baked up yesterday. One unexpected side effect of Grace's Operation Weight Gain is that I end up eating any of her leftovers. Not good for my Operation Weight Loss.

She also conquered another thing to climb- the coffee table.

My little mischievous leprechaun.

Coming to give me a big hug. I can't get enough of that sugar!

Lots of Laughter

This girl kept me laughing all day long. I can't say this enough: I love, love, LOVE being a stay-at-home mama! I can't imagine missing out on all this fun. We chased each other around the house, played with all her dolls, read all her books, and did a lot of baking- carrot and pineapple whole wheat mini muffins (healthy for her) and chocolate chip coconut pecan cookies (not so healthy for me).

The house isn't as clean as I'd like right now, but it smells delicious.

Even this little bathroom incident this morning had me giggling. I try so hard to make sure she doesn't have access to the bathrooms because I fear moments like this. I guess I need to try a little harder. This was her favorite little book too, but there was no salvaging it after it took a swim in the toilet bowl.

Grocery Day

Today was supposed to be grocery day. I spent a good part of Grace's nap working out the menu for the week and making my list. Normally this is actually fun for me, but without Mike here to cook for, it's just a chore. Especially since I try to find things that will be just as good as leftovers since there's only me, and sometimes Grace, doing the eating.

When Grace finally woke up and we were ready for some food shopping, I had a change of heart at the menu I put together. Nothing on the list seemed very appealing to me. I re-surveyed the contents of my pantry and freezer and decided I could still make one last emergency meal.

One of the things I ate often growing up was torta, a Filipino quiche-like dish where you just throw together whatever you have in your fridge, saute it, put it all in a baking dish, pour some beaten eggs over the whole thing, and stick it in the oven. Thirty minutes later you have some home cooked goodness that you can eat with rice and ketchup.

I realize it may not sound very appetizing, but it's comfort food to me so I loved it. And it turns out Grace loved it too. I had already fed her dinner, but when she saw what I was eating, she asked for a bite. And then another. Finally she asked to sit on my lap where she proceeded to eat half my meal.

Grace is still climbing up on that bench. If I don't hear toys being played with and it gets all quiet in the house, I know she's climbed the bench again. She knows how to get up, but not down. Not that she cares since she seems to enjoy her little perch and stays up there until I finally have something else to do and put her back on the ground.

In the first picture, I caught her happily singing to herself. In this picture, I asked her what she was doing up there and she gave me the shoulder shrug.

Beach Day with Friends

We got invited to join our dear friends, the Baggetts, at the beach today and there was no way we were turning that down. First of all, it's the beach. Secondly, it's the Baggetts- they're loads of fun.

Amazingly, Nellie and I managed to visit with each other while we chased her two boys, Turner and Eli, and my girl around the beach and did our best to prevent sand throwing in each other's eyes. I got my exercise for the day trying to keep Grace away from the water. Any chance she got, she made a bee line straight for the water. I thought she would stop as she got closer, but the girl is fearless. She would have dove right in had I let her.

After the beach, we hit up a playground for some snacks and more fun. Our goal was to sufficiently tire out the kids so they wouldn't notice going to bed a little earlier because of daylight savings. I'm hoping Nellie had better luck than me tonight. It's nearly ten and my child is still wide awake. Still, it was a wonderful day of fun with some wonderful friends.

Great Day

I was cleaning up in the kitchen and when I went to check on her, I found her sitting on the bench just like this. She was just as quiet as can be and swinging her legs back and forth. How she got up there, I have no idea, but that smug expression on her face just cracks me up.

We had a laid back, awesome Saturday. We slept in till 9, had a pancake breakfast, and then headed outside to soak up some of that sunshine. Grace took one of her rare long afternoon naps. When she woke up, we headed to Target, my favorite 'don't really need anything but it's fun to walk around' store. Of course, I can never walk out of Target without something. Today it was a bathroom scale because I want to check on the progress of Grace's Operation Weight Gain.

We ended our outing with dinner at Chick-fil-a. And because I now have a bathroom scale and can no longer use the ignorance is bliss excuse about my weight, I just ordered a salad. I did sneak a few of Grace's waffle fries though.

The only not so fun part of the day happened in the play area. Usually if there are a lot of older kids in a small play area, I don't let Grace go in. But this particular play room had a tiny section just for toddlers so I went ahead and let her go. A little boy about three years old came over and basically bullied her away from the equipment she was playing on. I held my tongue and convinced Grace to play on something else.

Once she was happily playing again, wouldn't you know that little boy came over to where she was. This time he grabbed her wrist and pushed her down! I had to remember that he was just a little boy so instead of blurting out the inappropriate things running through my head and doing bodily harm to him, I managed to just tell the little punk not to push because it's not nice and he needs to share. I'm thankful it was me there and not her daddy because heaven knows that man probably wouldn't have censored himself, three year old or not.

When we got home, it was a bath and cuddle time on the couch reading all of Grace's favorite books. A perfect ending to a great day.

Trying out the bubbles she scored yesterday from Toys'R'Us.

Slurping up the avocado smoothie I made for dessert- all part of Operation Weight Gain.

Cheap Thrills

When I woke up this morning to gray skies and the drizzlies, I realized we were in for day two of rainy weather. Much to my surprise, the sun started to peek out a little in the afternoon so I was desperate to get out and go somewhere.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where. My first thought was the mall since there's a children's play area, but I'm a little leary about going there so soon after Grace's illness since I'm convinced that's where she picked up whatever bug made her sick for a week. After that thought, I had nothing, so I googled 'kid friendly activities in Jacksonville'. But all the suggestions I found were either outdoor related or cost money. It was still too wet for any outdoor activities and I really wanted to find some free fun.

Then it hit me. Toys'R'Us! What kid doesn't like going to Toys'R'Us? We'd look at all the toys and maybe try out any stuff they had on display then go home after having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, all without buying a thing.

I should've known better.

All the toys she looked at, she wanted, and if I didn't give it to her she would start screaming. At one point our cart had a Little People's Farm play set, a Little People's Noah's Ark play set, three board books, a pack of crayons, a life size puzzle of Hello Kitty, two stuffed animals, alphabet blocks, some bubbles, beach toys, and a bouncing ball.

There was no way I was going to get all that, but I had a little trick that has worked like a charm before. When we go to the store and Grace gets attached to something I have no intention of buying, we put it back on the shelf and say 'bye-bye' to it. She'll wave and sometimes even give it a flying kiss and that'll be the end of that. I was confident it would work just as easily today as it has before.

It didn't.

She cried and cried as we put all of the toys back. I was only slightly embarrassed at the cry fest since I'm sure lots of kids have had meltdowns at Toys'R'Us. It's just hard when it's your kid and no one else's kid is acting up. I finally gave in and bought the mini bubbles, beach toys, and bouncing ball since we could get use out of those things.

In the end, my free afternoon of fun actually cost $8. Oh well.

Rained In

All the rain today meant I got to catch up on laundry and cleaning. But the moment I got the living room all tidied up, I found Grace's room to be a disaster. And then I got that all clean and the living room is a mess again. It's a vicious cycle. I really don't know why I bother. And my attempts to get her to help me clean aren't working yet. She just stares at me when I sing the clean up song and for every toy I put in the basket, she runs over and takes out two.

But even so, I had a great time hanging out with my girl today. She gave me plenty of hugs and kisses to more than make up for all that mess she made. We've got this thing where I say, "Baby, can mama have a hug?" Then she'll run over to me as quick as she can and give me a big squeeze while putting her head on my shoulder. It gives me such indescribable joy.