Pizza!

Mitch went to Chicago again and this time he brought home 8 pizzas! I didn't think he'd go for it when I suggested that he check a suitcase (it's free) and fill it up with pizzas to bring home, but he thought it was a great idea and followed through! Yummy!!! He was worried his co-workers would razz him when they found out what he was doing, but they all thought it was a great idea too. Some of them said they'd do the same next time. We are a little embarrassed to admit how much money we spent on pizzas — but can't they count as food storage?

A few nights ago, Mitch had to wake up to 2 a.m. to go to work for a missile launch. The next day he took the scouts skiing. He was so tired afterwards and fell asleep, on the couch, at such an early hour that I will spare him the embarrassment of recording it here. Thankfully he's caught up on sleep now. Just in time for his test tomorrow. (I'm sure he'll do fine.) He amazes me.

Here are a few pics of the things Layla and I do during the day:

• I make us some oatmeal: Layla's has raisins, bananas, and agave, while mine is sans bananas. (I bet my mom is gagging right now, ha, ha.)  Layla wolfs it down and then says, "More oatmeal!" I remind her to say please and then I usually have to eat something else because by the time she's done, she's eaten half of mine and I'm still hungry. 

• We make up really silly games, like "drop the pillow on the baby" and laugh our heads off.

• Layla wakes up from her nap, this particular day with one sock on her hand, asking me to put the other sock on her other hand. She wore socks on her hands for a good hour, even while watching her show.

What a silly girl!

I am just getting over another case of strep throat. Pretty sure that makes 6, if not 7, cases for me since Layla's been born. Thank heavens for antibiotics! The good part of this is that I had time to finish reading Frankenstein, which I loved and totally recommend. It's quite different than what movies and plays make it out to be. It's better in my opinion.

"Girly-ness"

Growing up, I was never really a "girly-girl." I didn't play with barbies or dolls all that much, and I'm sure my mom would have loved it if I had been more into makeup or clothes, but to be honest, I just didn't care. (Looking back on some of my high school pics, I wish I had cared just a little more. Ha, ha!) But in reality, clothes, make up, etc. just weren't important to me at the time. I probably care more about that stuff now than I ever have before. Not sure what changed? Maybe now I actually have the time and money to spend on it? However, I definitely do not go shopping on a regular basis, I do not follow trends, and when I do go shopping, it's usually at Target. I always feel there are better things to spend my money on than clothes. And I am all about comfort over fashion. But don't get me wrong; I do enjoy buying some new clothes and makeup now and again. Everyone needs that sometimes.

Anyways, I recently had a couple of interesting conversations with friends and my visiting teacher about raising little girls. I think that some girls are born more naturally "girly" than others, and I also believe that the mother plays a role in how important makeup and clothes will be to a girl, especially during the teenage years.

While I do not want Layla to care so little about her appearance that she looks like a slob, I also do not want her to care so much that her appearance becomes the only thing that matters to her or the only thing she has going for her.

So, my question is, how do I raise her to be somewhere in the middle? How do I teach her to care about her appearance enough, without it being her sole focus? I want her to realize that other things, such as school, church, family, talents, etc, are much more important than how she looks. How do I teach her that she can dress very modestly while still being cute? How can I teach her not to care what the other girls are dressing like, especially when they are dressing immodestly or in very expensive clothes? Peer pressure can be killer for some kids.

I think my real issue is that I know I can force her to dress modestly and inexpensively, but I want her to understand why that's important and to choose it for herself. To decide that she will value the most important things over looking a certain way. How does that happen? Is it something that is taught or just part of one's personality?

I know I can be a big example to her in this area ... but let's face it, your mom is not exactly the coolest, best dressed person when you are a teenager. (Actually, my mom has always had great taste, but you know what I mean.) Even if she truly respects that I dress modestly, will that be enough of an influence when she's 16 and wants to wear a strapless dress to prom and I tell her no?

I really hope that she will grow up to understand the importance of dressing modestly, and most of all, that inner beauty, being a good person, faith, family, education, etc. matter much, much more than one's physical appearance.

Also, I must add that while Layla is young, I do LOVE dressing her up super cute when we're going somewhere. (But when we're home, I don't care and I rarely even do her hair. I know, gasp! But hey, you try doing an energetic toddler's hair!) Also, I dress her in tank tops and two-piece swimming suits. She's not even two for Pete's sake! But, I realize that at some point I'll have to stop buying her anything that I wouldn't want her to wear as a teenager. The hardest part will be the two-piece swimming suits ... I love them (for me too) and have always thought that while some are very skanky, others are not. Guess I better decide and stick to my guns.

 And now I'll get off my soapbox. Thanks for listening.

Ramblings

For about one day, Layla was calling Mitch, "Big Daddy." It was hilarious. Until she decided to call me, "Big Mamma." Okay, that was actually funny too. But thank heavens those names didn't stick!

At church last week Mitch took Layla out in the hall during sacrament meeting to run around. They came back and sat down and later I decided I would take her out. So, I grabbed her hand to start walking out, but she protested and said, very loudly I might add, "Mamma, sit down! Daddy, hand!" Geez, bossy! I promise she really does love me and thinks I'm tons of fun, but apparently Daddy trumps me on some things — hanging out at church being one of them.

One thing I love is when Layla tells me she wants to cuddle. She'll say, "Cuddle, Mamma" and snuggle up real close. It's my favorite thing. I have to cherish it because it's sort of rare. She's not really a cuddler, just for a minute, maybe two, right before bed or naps.

Poor Harvey. Layla is a lot stronger and bigger now, so she can really do some damage. He's so good about it (luckily for Layla's sake!). She always touches his ear and says, "Tickle!" Of course, just touching anywhere near his ear makes it twitch, but she thinks he's moving it because she's "tickling" him. She laughs her head off every time. I love it.

Layla is super ticklish almost everywhere, but especially the bottom of her feet, her ribcage, back, and tummy. Pretty much everywhere. She's ridiculously ticklish on her thighs, but only my mom seems to have the  magic touch for that tickle spot. Try as we might, neither Mitch nor I can make her laugh when we try to tickle her legs.

On Monday our friends had us over for BBQ. They slow-cooked ribs and made their own BBQ sauce! It was so yummy! We were very impressed. BBQ anything is one of my very favorite things to eat.

On Sunday my grandma Ruth had us over for Valentine's dinner (a little after the holiday, due to scheduling conflicts, but that's okay!). Of course it was delicious, and Layla loved the little gifts she got. Thanks, Mom, for the Dora book. (Slight sarcasm.) We have to read it about 4 times a day now.

We've been amazed at how much Layla's speech and vocabulary are improving. She can pronounce more and more words correctly and she knows so many words! Seriously though, the girls talks NON STOP. If she's awake, and not eating, she's talking. It's crazy. Quite funny, but exhausting. I am impressed though at how much she picks up every day and how well she can express herself. Of course, we force her to tell us things; we don't let her just point or whine. And she's pretty good about saying, "please" and "thank you." She still needs reminders, but she's getting it.

Still working on potty training. We'll get there eventually.

Still reading "Frankenstein." Loving it so far. Can't believe the author was only 14 when she wrote it! I'm a pretty quick reader, but I don't have tons of time to dedicate, so it's taking me longer than normal.

Sit up and push up challenge is over this week. I'm glad Mitch is always on board with these things, because he's always much more dedicated than I am, so he motivates me to keep going.

That's all for now. Wow, I had more to say than I thought!

Download

Sometimes I feel like I have to download my brain onto my blog. I feel that there are things in my head that I know I'll forget unless I write them down so I can read them later ...

We went to the Dew Tour last weekend. Neither of us had been to anything like that, even though we live so close to several ski resorts. I'm glad our friends, Jeremy and Sue, invited us so that we could experience it. I've seen this type of thing on tv, but that does not do justice to how much air those crazy snowboarders actually get. They are insane! I cannot even imagine how it must feel to be upside down, so high up in the air. Talk about an adrenaline rush! The only downer to the day was that Mitch said if we had to walk over any snow, it would be "hardly any." Now, Mitch is rarely wrong about things, but he was wrong about this and it irked me. I wore shoes with practically no traction and fell right on my butt! I should have know better. But other than that, it was fun.

Excuse the photo quality. Phone camera. 

Layla and I also went with Sue and Ryleigh to the Gateway Discovery Museum, a.k.a. "Layla's Version of Heaven" this week. I didn't plan on buying a pass, but Layla had SO much fun I decided we'd better. We're excited to use it some more!

I thought Layla and this little boy could pass for brother and sister.

This is the ONLY pic I got of her smiling. She was WAY too busy to stop for a picture. We tried to get one of her and Ryleigh together, but that never worked out either. Next time. Also, I would like to note that Layla originally had two purple bows in her hair, but ripped them out in the car and I didn't find them until the next day. She's still adorable though.

After seeing Layla with the water table, I suggested to my parents that they buy her a smaller version for her birthday. (We're getting her a tricycle, or something like it. She'll have lots of toys to play with outside this summer.)

This is the expression she had in most of the pics. So serious! She was so busy, running around from thing to thing. 

Layla had so much fun there, we decided to take Daddy with us and went again today. We went to dinner at Jason's Deli afterwards. It was a fun family date. Layla cracks us up and we love hanging out with her.

Potty training was going so well, and then I don't know what happened, but it seemed like we were going backwards for several days. Like she lost interest or something. Now she's going one to two times a day on the potty, but she doesn't always tell me when she needs to go, so we're still working on it. I'm not sure what step to take next, or if she just needs more time or what. Suggestions, anyone?

So, if I eat sugar too close to bed time, I have really random dreams. Not necessarily dark or scary, though some are, but most are just random and weird. Last night was no exception. I dreamed that we were going on vacation with my family to somewhere cool, like Lake Powell or Hawaii, but my mom wanted to stop in Missoula, Montana on the way to see the monkey farm. (The monkey farm doesn't really exist.) So Mitch and I were the first ones to get to the monkey farm and there were all different kinds of monkeys everywhere! I felt claustrophobic and like I couldn't get out of the monkey cage we were in. One monkey peed on Mitch's head and I got so mad I punched the monkey right in the gut! But in real life ... I punched our headboard. It hurt so bad! It woke me up and I realized what had happened. I couldn't even laugh about it at the time because I was upset that my hand hurt so bad. This morning Mitch asked me if I hit my hand on the bed during the night. Apparently it was so loud I had woke him up! He laughed his head off when I told him about my dream. So random.

I'm sure I'll sleep better tonight because ... we got a new mattress! It's a memory foam mattress, which we've recently discovered make all the difference in the world. It did cost us a pretty tax-return penny, but it was a penny well spent! I did some research on memory foam mattresses last week, and so we knew approximately how much we'd be spending — it wasn't a total splurge/impulsive decision. We've been talking about getting a new mattress for months now, ours is really old, and thought we'd find some good deals for President's Day. We decided to check out Furniture Warehouse on "Road Redwood" first since they're going out of business. We had fun trying out all the mattresses, but when we first laid on the one we ended up buying, I totally got the giggles. Seriously, I was crying from laughing so hard, and one salesman told us to "behave ourselves." I don't know what was so funny ... it was more like I was so happy and the mattress felt like I was laying on a cloud — made of marshmallows — that all I could do was laugh. Of course Mitch started laughing too and agreed that it was the BEST MATTRESS EVER!!! So, we took about 20 minutes to think it over and price check it, and then we bought it. We ended up getting about 40% off the regular sale price and it has a 20 year warranty. It was extra convenient because we had just dropped Layla off at my parents' to sleep over while we went to the Jazz game, so my dad was able to pick up the mattress in his truck and bring it and Layla back to us this afternoon. And now I can't wait to go to bed! Oh, and the Jazz won last night. Wahoo!

What else is on my mind? I recently found this online:

This is the exact same rule we try to follow for Christmas gifts to Layla. (Well, minus the "1" part. We probably buy more than "1" of each category, but it still helps us rein in our spending and spoiling habits.) I first heard of this from a friend, but for some reason seeing this in writing makes me feel validated. We decided together that we don't want to completely spoil our kids for Christmas, but instead try to focus more on the true meaning of the holiday. Of course, we will buy them presents and do the whole Santa thing, but we'll try to keep it under control. Anyways, I was just happy to see that someone had a made a little sign thing stating the rule we are trying to follow.

Coldplay still has not released a tour date for Salt Lake City. I'm a little bummed. Keeping my fingers crossed ...

Our sit up challenge is going okay. We're on 400 now. We skipped the 350 week. Just seemed like it wasn't a big enough jump from 300 to 350. Also, we don't do straight crunches. We mix it up a little, just as long as it's 400 reps of some sort of ab exercise. I still stink at push ups. Seriously, it's sad. At least my arms are more toned though.

I was followed by a random dog, a blue healer, today during my morning run. I finally called the number on her tag, which was the vet office, and was told that she was a "frequent." So then I was annoyed at the obviously irresponsible owner ... if this happens frequently, why doesn't the owner put her number on the tag, not the vet's?  The vet did give me said owner's number and I had to leave two voicemails before she called me back. Meanwhile, the dog had been following me for 1.5 miles! I finally stopped at Maverik, deciding what to do, when the owner called me back and asked if I could call her mom because she wasn't home. What?! You call your mom! I was so annoyed. But, being the nice person that I am, I called her mom and waited until she came and picked the dog up. My run ended up taking a good 20 minutes longer than planned. But at least the dog didn't get kicked or taken to the pound. I was highly tempted to do both. Don't worry, I didn't. The worst I did was yell, "Go home, Dog!" really loudly.

Yesterday I pushed Layla in her stroller while I went running. It was the first time I could convince her to be okay being in the stroller with the weather guard on it. Looks like this:

She hated it when I tried before. It's clear, so she can see out. I'm not sure why she hated it so bad, but she had a lot of fun today! She talked nonstop the entire run. Before our run, she wanted Mitch to sit on her dinosaur and Mitch said, "No, Daddy is too big." So for the rest of the morning, she called him, "Big Daddy." Totally hilarious. At one point during our run she said, "Mamma, dog," and I said, "Yes, that's a big dog," and she said, "Big dog, big Daddy." Oh man, I'm loving the things she's coming up with lately.

The biggest thing that's always on my mind lately has to do with Mitch's work and school. We still haven't heard anything on the other jobs. One starts mid-April. I do not want to find out in March that we have to move across the country in April. What I want to hear is that his work found some other funding to pay for his school. I hate not knowing what will happen. It's driving me nuts!

Well, those are all of my thoughts for now. Gotta go get ready to sleep in our divinely comfortable bed!

Day of Love

Sometimes I think that Valentine's Day is overrated. Why do we need a special day to celebrate the ones we love? Shouldn't we do that every day? But, regardless, I have found it to be a good excuse to do something fun and out of the ordinary.

Since we had already celebrated last weekend we opted for a yummy dinner and dessert at home on the actual holiday. I warmed up the last pizza we had from Chicago (hopefully we can get more soon!) and made an eclair cake for dessert. Mitch LOVED the dessert. I tried to pick something that he would like, and I was glad that he enjoyed it so much. I decided to decorate and busted out our pink tablecloth from Layla's 1st birthday party and set the table really nice, including the candy I had bought Mitch (Pepto Bismal mints and conversation hearts, two of his faves. I'm not sure what the Pepto Bismal mints are really called, I just know that's what they taste like. I think they're nasty, but he and my mom both love them.)

Of course my sweet hubby brought home some flowers — he bought me yellow tulips and a little flower/tree thing that is really pretty. He was extra sweet and even thought of Layla; she got a single, pink rose. She kept telling us to smell her flower, while making the most hilarious face by scrunching up her nose.  I wish I could have got a picture of it! Taking good pics with/of Layla (where she is actually looking a the camera, let alone smiling) is nearly impossible these days. But she's cute no matter what, right?

Layla and I spent a few minutes that day making Daddy a homemade Valentine.  Layla scribbled on colored the heart and thought it was super fun while she was doing it. She was so very excited to give it to Daddy when he got home. It was adorable to see her run to him and hand him the Valentine with a big smile on her face. She gets excited when Daddy comes home anyways; she always laughs and squeals and says, "Hi, Daddy!" but this time she was extra excited since she had something to give him. So cute.

Random side note: If you click on this picture and make it bigger, you can see the dimple in Layla's left cheek. It's becoming more noticeable lately, and it may be the only physical characteristic she got from my side of the family, besides being tall. My mom has 3 siblings, and 3 out of 4 of them have dimples. Of course, the tall gene and the dimple gene both skipped me, but maybe I passed them on to my kid ...

I feel so blessed to celebrate a day of love with my two Valentines! I told Mitch today that I feel like our home is a little sanctuary away from the world — no matter what's going on around me, and even on days when it seems like everything is going wrong, I know that I have a loving husband and daughter; a nice, warm home; and all the love I could ever need. And that is worth celebrating. Happy Valentine's Day!

Catch Up

Mitch was in Chicago last week and he brought home some authentic Chicago pizzas. They are delicious and I am so glad he went through the trouble of shoving them in his suitcase. We missed him while he was gone! Layla and I spent one of the nights at my parents' house, just to break up our week.

Layla LOVES to go outside and my parents' house to see the dogs. It's funny, she'll drag you out there to see them, but she gets nervous when the dogs start jumping and act excited. (In her defense, I swear they could jump over the fence if they tried hard enough.) When she gets scared about the dogs she doesn't cry, she just pulls her arms in to her body and makes this face:

She had a blast and even learned to say "Jordan" and "Tenley" though I must say, I loved it when she called him "Dudin" since that's been his nick name for as long as I can remember. (I'm not sure why these pics are all appearing blurry, but if you click on them they will be clear.

I forced her to take a picture with me, even though she wanted to "run around!" as she constantly says lately.

It was fun and Mammy even watched Bug while I went to the Family History Library downtown. I'm trying to find information on any relatives on my maternal grandfather's side, past my great grandparents. It's a complicated story, but basically I am at a complete loss as to where to go next. I know I need to find Rosa Calder; she was born in Jamaica and was a servant to the Calder family, who were from Europe. She most likely worked in the Calder's kitchen on their plantation in Jamaica, and she took on the Calder's last name. The problem is that I can't find any concrete information. All I have are stories that my grandpa's cousin wrote, but unfortunately he doesn't know exact names or dates (though he did mention how tall Rosa was, especially for a woman. Maybe that's where the Earles get their tall genes from?)  I'm hoping some records for her will become available soon! If they do, I might get so excited I'll jump on the bed with Layla!

If they don't, I might get really mad and throw a tantrum like Layla does, by opening my mouth super wide and fake crying. Here's Layla's best example, and it might be worth clicking on this pic to make it bigger, so you can get the full effect of the terrible twos. She did this at the store yesterday. Not cute.

We had a Relief Society activity recently where we discussed dating ideas for married couples, with the idea that you need to continue "courting" your spouse, you know, to keep the marriage strong. It was a good lesson and I was reminded again of what a great marriage Mitch and I have and how lucky I am to be his wife. I think we do a good job of "dating during marriage" but it was nice to get some new ideas. They handed out a list of 50 date ideas — I think I'll have us go down the list and do each one. I threw this pic in just cuz I love her little smile:

Since Mitch has school tonight, Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate early. Mitch surprised me with a little get away to Park City (and Layla slept and G&G B's). We were able to get a free room with Mitch's reward points (I guess him going out of town does have one perk), and we even had enough points to get an upgrade! Our room was awesome ... it had a full kitchen, a separate bedroom, and a fireplace. It was right on Main Street so the location was awesome. We treated ourselves to lots of food, a movie, ice cream, and shopping. Mitch got a new leather coat that looks great on him. It was kind of a splurge, but he totally deserves it. He never buys himself anything and rarely lets me buy him anything, plus, he's been wanting a leather coat for quite some time. I'm glad he loves it.

We had fun celebrating Valentine's early. When we went to pick Layla up afterwards we realized we had not taken one pic of the two of us during our get away. We decided to snap one at Mitch's parents house, but we didn't know the timer was set to take 6 pictures right in a row. So when the camera kept going off I started doing funny poses. Mitch just stood there and laughed. Here's one of the better ones:

The other day I found Layla praying. Sometimes we'll catch her with her arms folded, head bowed, mumbling under her breath. This time she mumbled, then said, "Mamma, Daddy, prayer, a-MEN!" It was awesome! It makes me so happy to see her learning how to pray, even if she does yell "amen" at the end. Too cute.

Shit Down!

Layla adds an "h" to the word "sit." She's cussing a lot these days. "S#it down!" or "S#it, Daddy!" It's hilarious! (Never mind that she is not obeying her parents and throws a mini-tantrum during this video.)

She's also saying "thank you" more and more, without being asked. What a good little girl!

Date Night!

It was date night last night. We ate at the Red Iguana ... we had kind of a long wait, but it was worth it! (We went to the second location where the wait is usually shorter.) The whole night I told Mitch I wanted tamales and rice and beans, my most favorite Mexican dish ever. They didn't have tamales on the menu and I was disappointed. Luckily for me, they had them as a special though ... with rice and beans! Perfect! We ordered and then I was told that they were actually out of tamales. Bummer! Anyways, I still got some yummy food, with rice and beans of course (it must be the Panamanian blood in me that makes me crave rice and beans). I couldn't believe how much Mitch ate: his entire combo plate and he helped finish mine. Sometimes he can really shovel it in.

After dinner we went ice skating at the Gallivan Center. It's outdoors, in the middle of downtown, and there are colored lights strung all around. I love it. I remember going there as a kid, but I probably haven't been there in 20 years and Mitch had never been, so it was like a new experience for both of us. We're definitely not the best ice skaters ever, and I am a TOTAL pansy, but I kind of overcame my fear of falling on the rock-hard ice and bashing my teeth in (wouldn't that be awful?). In fact, neither of us fell at all. Yay for us!

Layla had a fun sleepover at Mammy and Bopa Miles' house. While there she went poo poo in the potty! Not her little princess potty, but the big, regular potty! So proud of her!!! She also learned three new words: doggy, Tenley (Jordan's girlfriend), and Jeremy (a family friend). Here's to more date nights to come!

Help Momma

It was "clean the house day," as I like to call it, and Layla was quite the little helper. I kept asking her to "help Momma" and gave her small jobs to do. She got the biggest grin every time I told her "Thank you! What a good helper you are!" She walked around the house saying, "Help Momma!" while doing her best to be of service. She honestly seemed so excited when I asked her to do something, she would even run to do it. Literally. If only it would stay that way forever. Here's a list of the chores Layla helped me with at 22 months old:

She helped me dust.
I gave her an extra rag and she dusted our bed and her toy box. She kept saying, "Dusting!" the whole time. It was so funny to see the places she thought of to dust ... places I'm sure I've never dusted in my life! I guess being short means you dust places that tall people don't.

She helped me vacuum.
She got out her pink vacuum and followed me around while I vacuumed. She even ran her vacuum hose over the couch, just like Momma. I wish her vacuum really worked, she would have saved me some time! I asked her to vacuum under our bed, but apparently she doesn't understand "under" because she used every ounce of muscle she had to lift her little pink vacuum onto our bed and vacuumed the duvet cover. So funny! I actually felt bad letting her struggle and grunt while getting the vacuum up there, but it was so cute and funny I just stopped and watched.

She helped me sweep.
She used the dust pan and small broom while I swept the kitchen. She kept saying, "Sweep!" over and over again. I asked her to sweep the tile "by the door," meaning the front entry way, but when I looked over, she was sweeping the door instead of the tile, so apparently she misunderstood. Cute, nonetheless.

She helped me make dinner.
She pretended to make soup on her play kitchen, in the kitchen, while I made dinner. I consider that helping me because she kept herself occupied so I could focus on cooking. I decided I need to make her an apron so she can be even more like Momma.

She voluntarily helped me clean up a mess.
Tonight I accidentally dropped the (glass) jar of salad dressing. Immediately after it happened, Layla said, "Momma, mess!" Yep. Momma makes messes too. I had to mop the floor (second time today), and while I was doing that, Layla came in with her pink vacuum to help me clean up. She's turning into an awesome little helper!

Before I Forget ...

... let me jot down a few things so I can laugh at them years from now. (Actually, most of these make me laugh now.)

Layla figured out that Daddy's name is Mitch and Mamma's name is Lacey. The three of us were eating dinner last night when Layla looked at Daddy and said, "Mitch." At first we thought she said something else, like "milk" because we couldn't believe she had actually picked up on his name. But we were wrong. Little Miss Smarty Pants must have heard me call him Mitch and put two and two together. We told her my name, which she pronounces as "Yacey." Thankfully she still calls us Daddy and Mamma though. Much cuter — and more respectful — names for a child to call her parents.

Yesterday I let Layla go crazy playing with my bucket of 100 cookie cutters. You should have seen the mess she made! Mitch would have died! He didn't know about it though, because I cleaned it up right before he got home. If he only knew the things us girls do while he's away ... Whenever Layla makes a mess, she says, "Ohhh nooooo! A mess!!" in a very dramatic voice. It makes me laugh every time.

Layla is certainly my little buddy lately. I love it. She is so much fun, and exhausting! I love the random hugs and kisses I get through out the day. I love when she wraps her arm around my leg, rests her head on my thigh and makes her kissing sound. I love when we just look at each other and laugh. She has a pretty awesome sense of humor.

I don't love the tantrums she is throwing lately. She opens her mouth as wide as it will go (seriously, you should see it, super funny!) and then cries, only no tears come out. Total Faker. Then she runs away from me. And I let her. Once she's over it, she comes back.

We went to play group yesterday. She didn't want to leave. Every time I told her we needed to go home for lunch she ran away from me. Today we went to the library with Sue and Ryleigh for story-time. It was a total bust. Layla lasted about 20 seconds and then just wanted to run around the entire library, with me chasing her. I finally got her talked into sitting at a little table and looking at books. That didn't last long either, but it was sure better than running in the library! We had fun, even if she has no interest in sitting still. I did hear her tell Ryleigh, "Mine! No, no!" which I am not happy about. That's the first time I've ever heard her say that. I realize that every kid learns this eventually and goes through this phase, but WOW did she sound like brat! We'll have to work on correcting this behavior stat.

Yesterday I watched a show called, "Shark Men." Have you heard of it? It's a documentary, a very interesting one, about a group of guys trying to prove why there are great white sharks off of Guadalupe Island near Mexico. They capture great whites, take blood samples, and put tracking devices on them to do their research. Now, you must know that I have an insane fear of several things: heights; a mountain lion attacking me while I'm hiking, which could totally happen; bears, also attacking me while hiking or camping; a brown recluse spider biting me, which is very probable considering that mosquitoes and spiders LOVE me; and ... being eaten by a shark. So naturally, this show intrigues me. I was captivated! I'm just not sure if watching it will help me get over my fear or make it worse.

I started reading "Frankenstein" on my Kindle. I love my Kindle! Thanks again Mom and Dad! It sure makes reading more convenient. And I've been reading a lot more thanks to Layla's potty training. While she sits on the potty, I read and wait for her to finish. Two days ago she only went in her diaper twice, once while napping and once just a tiny bit and then she told me she needed to go on the potty. It was such a successful potty day! Yesterday ... not so good. We were O for 2. Today, she's doing okay. I'm sure it will take time, but boy am I sick of hanging out in the bathroom! At least I haven't had to clean the carpet, yet.

I went to another ballet blast class this week. Last time my hips were super sore the next day, but I also ran 3 miles the next day. This time I didn't run the day after class, and my hips aren't sore. So, apparently it's the running that is causing my hip flexor tendinitis. Okay, I haven't been officially diagnosed with that, but I'm pretty sure I have it. I'm taking a short break from running to see if I can prove my theory. If I'm right, I'll be really bummed. Running is like my therapy, especially in the winter.