Inara's 18 Month Checkup

Yesterday we went to the doc for Inara's 18 month checkup. She loves the Lego table they have in the waiting room. She played there for a bit and seemed very happy. Then she started walking down the hall and must have had a flashback because the crying started and didn't stop for pretty much the rest of the visit. I think she remembers the nurse too. Nurse=pain from a shot! She practically climbed up me the whole time the nurse did her measurements, etc. So Inara weighs 23 pounds 14 1/2 ounces, putting her in the 45th percentile, and measures 32 inches, putting her in the 50th percentile. I got her calmed down until the doctor came into the room and all hell broke loose again. He said she looked fantastic and told me I was doing a great job considering how good her checkup was. It might be small, but it really means a lot to me to hear such a compliment from a doc because there are many days that I feel like I'm not doing a good enough job. I'm sure lots of moms feel this way, but some days just seem harder than others. She calmed down again once the doc left but screamed bloody murder when the nurse came back for the shots. I seriously HATE taking her to the doctor any more and wish I could have someone else do it once in awhile. It's so not fun for either of us.

My biggest question for the doctor was about Inara's weigh because she eats soooo much at many meals. I feel like her belly is too big and protrudes out way too far. When I brought up those concerns to the doc, he checked her belly to see if he felt anything out of the order, but he said he felt nothing. He then pointed out that her height and weight are perfectly matched, so there is no concern that she is overweight for her age. I guess I'm just always worried about that because of my weight problems through the years. I then asked him how much should I give her at a meal. He said let her eat until she's full. I swear she never says she's full though and I have to stop the food because she'd keep eating. He said that as far as portions that she can have as many fruits and veggies as she wants, but to limit her starch, carbs and protein. He said with all her climbing, running, etc., that she's burning her calories off pretty fast considering she's in the 45 percentile for weight. He also said she just might have a great metabolism. That's the best news. So overall, besides the screaming fits, her doc visit went very well.

In case you heard, we did have a blizzard yesterday and had snow all day long. It was so awesome! I love watching the snow falling. Winds got a little crazy at times, but we were indoors the rest of the day, so no concerns for us. This morning, Shawn and Erin went out to shovel the driveway and I had hoped to take Inara out to play in the snow. I've come to realize she's just not that into the snow yet. I know she's still pretty little, so maybe next winter she'll show more interest in playing in it. Instead, she and I stood in the garage and watched Shawn and Erin shoveling away. We must have gotten at least a foot of snow yesterday, so they had their work cut out for them. I took pictures and hope that someday Shawn won't have to work and can post pics for me. He's been working like a slave lately. I'm beginning to feel like a single mom. Just kidding honey. All I can say is I can't wait for my parents and Michael to come visit in a few weeks so I can actually get an extra set of hands to help out once in awhile. It's been a long time since I've had a helper, so Pop, pack up the car and head out here soon!

Happy Spring everyone!

Inara's newest obsession

For the longest time, all Inara ever wanted to watch on tv was Imagination Movers and an occasional episode of My Friends Tigger & Pooh. Well, this week she has become obsessed with Curious George. Last week I turned on an episode for her, and the girl was glued. Well, as glued as an 18 month old can be. She generally watches about 10 minutes of a show uninterrupted. Then she'll start wandering around the house, playing with toys, visiting mommy, and will venture back into the tv room to watch a couple scenes here and there. For Movers, she would run into the room when they sang a song, her favorite parts of the show. She really seemed to enjoy watching Curious George, so I recorded a couple episodes. Now, after nap, she has a new routine. She asks for cracker, which means she wants a snack. Then she walks into the tv room, points to the tv and says, "Ah ah ah peas." How can I say no to the cutest monkey sound followed by a polite please? It's so cute! However, today in the car while running errands, she started with her "Ah ah ah" and was rather sad when I told her no George in the car only at home. Don't know if she realizes George is not on command everywhere we go. Still it's pretty cute to hear her monkey sounds at all times of the day.

Happy 18 Month Birthday

Is she really 18 months old now? Holy cow. That seems so crazy to me. But then I watch her and see how much she has grown and know she is definitely a year and a half. So what's new in Inara's world you ask. Lots! We've got quite the active schedule lately now that I'm doing StrollerFit Mon & Wed. Then we have My Gym on Thursdays and tumbling class on Fridays. I'm glad I enrolled her in tumbling again because she really loves it. I'm bummed that we don't have any of the kids from the previous class because we seemed to have had a great group of kids and parents. Hopefully, this class will get better. Here's a pic of Inara bouncing on the trampoline. It's hard to believe she once hated this apparatus. She still hasn't figured out how to bounce or jump but is getting better at bending her knees. She does love to fall though, which is what she's doing in this picture.


She sure loves mommy! My new psychology to help me through those days that I can't go anywhere without her glued to my side is "I guess I'm just awesome!" She can't stand to be without me for long periods of time. I'm beginning to forget what it's like to go pee without an audience. I attended a MOPS meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers), and she actually did pretty well in the nursery considering it was her first time in such a setting. I stayed with her for the first 15 min. Then got called in about 15 min later. She was in the nursery for about an hour all together when one of the teachers brought her to me because she wouldn't stop crying. Needless to say, I had to sit with her on my lap for the last 45 min or so. Again, guess I'm just that awesome. I've started looking into preschools for the fall. We're considering putting her in a class for one day a week. Figure that will help her socialize more with kids and learn it's OK if mommy isn't right by her side. Plus, it would give me a few hours a week to get some things done without my shadow in tow. Oh how I wish my parents were here to help with Inara more. I'm so jealous of Lisa's cushy situation with mom & pop living down the street. Here's a pic of Inara giving me a kiss. I got her to start holding my cheeks when she gives me a kiss. It's so cute!

Given how much she loves me, it's no real surprise she's starting to follow in my footsteps. She is quite the little helper. I can give her some junk mail and ask her to throw it in the trash, and she's happy to help out. She loves to put her sippy cups in her cupboard after I take them out of the dishwasher. She has also been known to get a towel and sweep her crubs onto the floor after snack time. She also LOVES helping mommy with laundry. Whenever I'm in the laundry room, she comes running in and begs to help out. So I'll hand her wet clothes, and she puts them in the dryer. Then when they're done drying, she loves to help pull them out and put them in the laundry basket. I can't wait til she can start doing the chores all on her own. Here is a picture of her helping mommy dust. She loves to watch me clean, and with this little cavegirl in the house, I've got messes to clean up all day long. (Note the shaggy do she's got going on. I'm trying to let her hair grow to one length without bangs. Not sure how long I'll be able to take the shaggy look though.)

This does not mean she dislikes daddy. Quite the contrary. As soon as daddy is home, she frequently blurts out hide, hide, hide. She and daddy play hide and seek every night, most often in the basement. She thinks this is the greatest game in the world. She also loves to hide in the hall closet or better yet, to close the door on mommy or daddy so we have to hide. We also hide in the tent that has become a permanent fixture in the front living room. Shawn has also starting a row, row, row your boat game with her. She sits on his lap and they sway side to side as he sings row, row, row your boat. Then the boat crashes and Inara falls to daddy's side. Laughter erupts. And the game starts again. I love that daddy is teaching her how to crash boats.

Another song and game Inara loves is Wheels on the Bus. She never tires of this song. We sing it throughout the day, and daddy now sings it when he gives her a bath. She's gotten good at doing a lot of the hand motions to accompany the song, such as pointing to her nose for the horn on the bus part, moving her hands side to side for the wipers go swish, swish, swish part, etc. She also likes I'm a little teapot and puts one hand on her side for the handle and leans over for the tip me over part. I really love teaching her such songs because they allow her to be interactive. Plus, it's so cute watching her do the motions.

A big way Inara has blossomed lately is with language. She's really starting to try to say a ton of new words. She calls out daddy a lot during the day, so I'll ask her where's daddy and she'll respond, "Daddy work." Yes, a 2 word sentence! Another word game we play is where is NeeNee and Pop. I'll ask her where's NeeNee and Pop, and I'm teaching her to respond with OC. I figured California may be too tough for her right now. However, she does say avocado pretty well. When we're in the car, she loves to point things out like bicycle, truck, dog, cow...Yes, we have been known to see a cow grazing on the side of the road once in awhile. She also calls out for crackers and wawa when we're in the car. She sure does love her snacks, which is what crackers refers to. Throughout the day, she frequently whines for me to pick her up, so I've taught her to say, "Up please." What's so cute about this is whenever she says please she points to herself and smiles. It's so funny. I thought it was time to start teaching her manners too. We're working on saying please and thank you, but more importantly, since she's such a gassy girl and toots all day long, I'm working on getting her to say excuse me after she toots. I figured since we're out and about so much, it's only polite for her to start excusing herself after letting one rip. I know she'll hate me when she gets older for sharing this one with the world. Just remember Inara, mommy is awesome!

Guess we picked a pretty good place to live

Money magazine listed the Top 100 places to live and Highlands Ranch was ranked #12. Woo hoo! I was so excited to see my new hometown listed. I'm tellin' ya'all, we do have a lot to offer, particularly good home prices, great schools, lots of parks and walking paths, and a relatively safe neighborhood. Heck, I guess anything seems safe now compared to the crazy stuff we experienced back in Huntington Beach. Other good news, Ft. Collins, CO was listed as #2. Guess when we went there last weekend, we didn't get to see the appealing areas, but I have heard great things about it. I was surprised to see Irvine ranked at #4 given the median home price is $650,000. Would be nice if we could live there, but too bad we'd never be able to afford a house. Here's the link to see the list.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL0836410.html

Here's our new dining room set

Sorry it's taken me so long to post the pics of our new dining room set, but here they are...finally! This is the table set up with the leaf so you can see how big it is. We also bought the buffet, which I absolutely love. I put nearly all my pewter serving platters, serving utensils, and placements. I also put out the Mikasa vase we got as a wedding gift on the buffet. It's far enough out of Inara's reach and we can showcase it finally.

My week with the girls

Saturday, Feb. 28 my girlfriends Sierra and Elizabeth flew in to for a visit. Sierra's brother in law lives in CO and her niece's 5th birthday party was scheduled for March 7, so Sierra thought what better time to come see the Tomlinsons and invited Elizabeth to join her. I'm soooo thrilled they came out. Sierra was out last July and Elizabeth was out in Sept for Inara's 1st birthday. It was perfect timing having them come into town because I've been homesick and knew this week would be tough since it was going to be my one year anniversary of moving away.

We pretty much just hung out at the house Saturday night and did lots of talking. Sierra is expecting her first baby and we all couldn't be happier. She and her hubby Mike have been trying for quite a few years, so this baby is a total blessing. I hope Elizabeth wasn't bored cuz us girls did a lot of baby talking. Plus, it was good for Sierra to see Inara and how tiring she is; a total joy but an exhausting one too.

Sunday we took a trip to Lakewood to shop at one of the outlet malls around here. We had a blast and I introduced Sierra to Motherhood Maternity, an expectant mom's dream store for maternity clothes since they aren't outrageously priced. That night we went to Kristi and Thane's new house for dinner since Monday was Thane's birthday. The girls got to see the new house and, more importantly, meet the newest Tomlinson, baby Jack. It was so cute when Elizabeth told me she and Sierra were sad because Jack is the first Tomlinson baby they didn't get to be there for the birth. They were in the hallway waiting outside the door with me when Avery was born, and they were there for the long haul when Inara was born. Poor little Jack.

Monday was a lazy day. The girls got to play with Inara all day long and Inara loved every minute of it. From the moment they got here, Inara was warm and affectionate and gave lots of hugs. I was so happy to see this. I was a bit worried she may be shy around them, but she was thrilled to break them in quick.

Tuesday Barb offered to watch Inara so us girls could have a day without baby in tow. We decided to go to Downtown Denver and walked around the 16th Street Mall. We had lunch at Paramount Cafe and hung out at Hard Rock Cafe chatting for about an hour with the manager of the store. He was super nice and told us all about the Hard Rock pins he designs and the charity t-shirts they are selling right now. And we discussed our favorite concerts. He told me I MUST see a show at Red Rocks. I'm so going this summer!

Wednesday the girls, Inara and I met up with Kristi and her two and Eetung and William at the Wildlife Experience in Parker. Inara and I haven't been there yet, so I thought this might be a fun outing and not too far from the houses if the kids got feisty. The kids loved this one room where you can simulate an avalanche. Then we played in the toddler room where the kids put on costumes, put on a puppet show for us, and colored for quite awhile.

Inara and I took Elizabeth with us Thursday to our usual My Gym class while Sierra packed her bags since her hubby was coming to get her that afternoon. Elizabeth had a good time watching Inara run around like a crazy woman, but she was rather pooped by the time we got home. Ahhh...now the girls understand why I'm exhausted every day and fall asleep on the couch at 8pm every night. Mike got to see our new house and was impressed with the man lounge that Shawn has started putting together in the basement. He's got his new TV finally and now goes down there to play XBox and other video game systems. Yes, he hooked up old systems like N64 and Playstation. I can still hear the noise upstairs, but definitely not as loud as before.

Friday was Inara's 1st tumbling class for the new session. There was a subtitute teacher for that class whom I was less than impressed with. I'll see how class goes this week before I decide if we're going to drop the class. That afternoon Elizabeth was pooped and needed a nap. I so know why. Unfortunately, I had Inara to watch, so no nap for me.

Saturday Elizabeth, Inara and I drove up to Ft. Collins for Sierra's niece's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was a 90 min drive, which I was worried about since Inara's not one to sit in the car for very long. The ride out there wasn't too bad. We had fun at the party since Inara LOVES riding the rides at CCE. However, she got scared when the costumed Chuck E. Cheese came up to say hi to her. And this is why I am in no hurry to take Inara to Disneyland. I'm guessing I'll be up for taking her when she's closer to 3 or 4. The drive home was not as pleasant since Inara didn't eat much at lunch and we ended up pulling off the road to feed her. She refused the food I tried to give her, so we got back on the road and listened to her cry for a bit. She finally ate some of the crackers/snacks I brought with me. She didn't nap at all on the way home. I had high hopes of a quiet ride home. Oh well.

Sunday I took Elizabeth to the airport where she met up with Sierra and the rest of her family. I was really sad to see them go. This week was awesome having my BFFs here. I got spoiled having someone to talk to all day long besides a 17 month old. Plus, at dinnertime, the girls kept Inara busy so I could cook without a child wrapped around my legs screaming to be picked up. Now that was a wonderful break! Since Sierra is pregnant, I've already talked to Shawn about going out to CA for 2 weeks this summer. I can't miss the baby shower. Our trip to Oregon may be pushed back to next year now. Just depends what we can afford. But I absolutely have to be there to celebrate Sierra's little one. And now we will be able to schedule trips to see a lot of other friends as well. Hey Saiki family, will you guys be up for introducing Kate and Inara this July or August? We can't wait to see our CA friends and family this summer. Thank you to Elizabeth and Sierra for coming out to see us. I miss you girls already!!!