monday monday

i actually really like mondays.  i totally intended to get out this morning.  i had stuff on hold to pick up at the library and since we got in town late saturday night, we were out of food and in desperate need of some grocery shopping.

but none of that happened.  instead, i got a lot of stuff done around the house, cleaning, organizing, laundry, dishes, unpacking.... and a lot of playing with baby girl.  she is blowing me away with new things every day.  i really can't keep up with it all.  but i'm trying.

baby girl loves lids and caps.  if it comes off and on, she wants to try her hand at it.

she loves to pretend with a mixing bowl and spoon so i let her do that while i unloaded dishes.  she'd moved on to the great room when i looked down and saw that she'd put her spoon here since she was done playing with it.  amazing.
then she came back in and saw me putting away those pots and pans and she grabbed the spoon, handed it to me, and waited while i put it away in the drawer.  seriously?  i love this kid.

she loves herself too.  every mirror she has access to shows evidence of countless mirror kisses.  lately, she doesn't like giving us smooches, but she still freely smooches that baby in the mirror.

i am in love with this pjs.  they're from costco and the the softest thing you've ever felt.  my wonderful mother got these matching pj's for baby and her cousin skye.  they're going to look so cute and matchy when we're in atlanta for christmas!

we haven't decorated for christmas yet (aside from having our two undecorated trees set up) but i hung up a candy cane and baby was in complete awe.

in case you forgot, this is my handsome honey.

baby girl likes to put things on her head.  my favorite was two seconds after i took this shot when she walked into that arm of the sofa right there.  it was hilarious.

i know the pjs are huge but she's too tall for the next size down.  and pair that with her hair.  she looks like a little orphan baby.  if orphans wear purple snowman pjs that is.

i am in love.  she has such a tender little heart.

watching monday night football.  she really enjoys football for some reason.  i think it's because people clap so often.

so that was a bit of my monday.  we listened to christmas music all day on pandora.  we danced, we sang, we read books, we played pretend.  it was happier than an old movie.

baby girl kept doing things to make me laugh (like how she used to do sign language for thank you, but then replaced it with blowing a kiss...they're similar... and now sometimes she just makes the puckering kiss noise when i ask her to say thank you) and i never noticed it before but i throw my head back when i laugh.  so on went the cycle.  baby being silly to make me laugh, me throwing my head back in laughter, baby throwing her head back to laugh.  which of course just made me laugh even harder.  i need to get a video of it.  it is hilarious.

baby girl loves to read books now and loves for me to read them to her.  but she's very particular about which books.  we have a million but there are only a few at a time that she loves and wants to read.  she asked me to read this penguin book (it's like the monkeys jumping on the bed book) and before i even got to that page, i looked down and she was shaking her finger.  and she continued to shake her finger every time we got to the "no more penguins sliding on the ice!" part.  and now honey and i have taught her to shake her finger when she says "no, no, no!" and it is the cutest thing you've ever seen.

she goes in and out of it because everything is a stage and a phase, but right now she says no in so many different intonations to signify how she feels.  a high pitched no when we keep nagging at her, a lower more forceful no the very first time we ask her.  saying no no no no repeatedly while waving her arm.  it's all so specific to the situation.  and she doesn't say "yes" these days although that's the answer to everything we ask her.  she nods her head.  and if it's "would you like some milk" it's nodding her head while signing please.  adorable.

so anyways, she was doing all of these things and being the happiest, cutest, funnest little playmate i could ever ask for.  she slept in til after 10 and then napped from 2-5 while i showered and read my book.  she was just in such a good mood and so happy to be home after our trip which was such a relief because i got a little worried after a conversation i had with my sister-in-law, kelsey, on our way back from the airport saturday night.  she asked me about baby and her binky so i was telling her how baby really doesn't use the binky as much as it seems because she only sees us on trips and stuff and we use the binky a ton while we're traveling.  but i told her that at home, i really only give baby a pacifier at church if she's getting too noisy or during the night if she wakes up and can't go back to sleep.  or occasionally at the tail end of a really long trip of errands or grocery shopping.  other than that, she never sees it and never asks for it.  so kelsey was asking if baby girl has trouble adjusting.  because honestly, on this trip to branson, baby got it a lot because she spent so much time being confined in planes, buses, stroller, carseat, laps during shows, our small hotel room, you name it.  and she was missing naps and staying out way past her bedtime.  and she was sleeping in a pack n play which has never been a strong suit of hers.  so it totally got me worried, baby's never had trouble adjusting before, but this was our first real trip in four months and that's a long time considering how fast she changes.  but this little girl stole my breath yet again, because when she's home, she knows she's home.  no adjustment needed. she's going to sleep happily without a binky, and her appetite is back to normal (it was touch and go while we were traveling) and once again she's eating more than i do.  no telling how long this "no adjustment needed" thing will continue, but in the meantime, i'm extremely grateful.

so my day was perfect in every way possible.  my honey got home and actually was in a really good mood!  we all had so much fun as a family (even watched some monday night football) until baby's bedtime and then honey took her upstairs for bed and i finally got some groceries.  my life is really great, but today was just that much above the rest.  can i really not just bottle this up and drink it every day?  i hate that time slips through my fingers like this but i love that i keep getting more.

monday monday, i sure love mondays.