Where did the last 10 months go?

My little princess is 11 months old.

Suddenly she looks like a little girl. She walks. She talks. She has a ponytail. She knows who her daddy is. She throws fits. She eats table food. She is not breastfeeding anymore. She has an opinion. She loves babies. She wears 12-18 mo clothing. She can pick up "heavy" toys and carry them. She says thank you when I give her something, without prompting. She loves (more like is obsessed with) Elmo. She is content to play by herself. She has friends. She drinks cow's milk. She wears size 4 shoes. She is a big girl now.

Her personality is coming out more and more and I love to be the one that sees it first. What a blessing it is to be this girls mother. I still don't have words to describe it.

My favorite part is seeing her with her daddy. The older she gets, the better it gets. She loves him. She asks for him. She misses him when he is gone. I love that.

Never in my life did I expect motherhood to be this good...and I expected it to be good.

lessons from a 10 mo old

Things that may happen when you paint with a 10 mo old:

she may put your iPhone 4 in the roller pan...which is better than the paint bucket.

she may decide her toy fire truck needs a new paint job and put it in the paint bucket.

she may want to listen to the same song over and over and over again...or at least she may have figured out how to put your iPod on repeat.

she may try to finger paint...not good when the color you are using is dark brown.

Ways to avoid the above from happening:

paint while she is napping.

create a playpen by shutting the laundry room door to the house and putting up a baby gate in the doorway to the garage.

have someone watch her while you paint.

Lesson learned.

A reason to get the carpet cleaned...

Scott and I went today to do the final (or what we thought would be the final) walk through on the house we are purchasing this week. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

We walked in to find beer bottles and vodka on the counter as well as two black trash bags full of empty beer bottles and pizza boxes.

But, that wasn't the worst part. My poor mother-in-love walked out of the master bedroom and announced that there was vomit on the floor! Yep, that's right. A wonderful little move in present.

There was another little pile in one of the other bedrooms. The same room that the window was cracked about 1.5 inches. We are assuming that was their escape route.

Our realtor stated that this was a first for him. Most people that break into vacant houses do so to steal appliances, not throw a party.

I hope it was worth it to them. I hope they had fun getting drunk and puking up their pizza.

At least the carpets will be freshly cleaned when we move in...

My purse

It's pink and brown with polka dots. It carries things like diapers, wipes, a change of clothes (sometimes), medications of sorts, pacifiers, sippy cups, snacks, my wallet and Burt's Bees, and occasionally a dirty diaper.

One day I'll have a grown up purse again. In like 10 years.

the last couple weeks

I had the flu, a stomach bug, bought a house, and my girl has started walking. In a nutshell.

Sickness overcame me for way too long. So thankful for health. Also, very thankful that my girl didn't get it too bad. Only symptom of the flu that she had was a fever. it lasted a couple of days and went away. Only symptom of the stomach bug, was some slight diarrhea. I would much rather have had both of those.

Scott and I found a house we fell in love with. We put in an offer, had the inspection, and we close in 2 weeks. February 15th. The best Valentine's day present ever. EVER! It will be great to have our own house again. We have so appreciated being able to live here to get out of debt and are so thankful to have parents who would let us, but it's time.

I can't wait to have a garage, my own office/work space, kitchen, fireplace, bedroom, closet, etc.

Oh yes. Elle is walking...some. She is still a little shaky and would rather crawl most of the time, but she is getting more and more confident. She started at 9 1/2 months. I think that makes her a genius. Plus, the fact that she has a whole list of words she can say. Please and thank you, up, down, dog, and kitty. She also makes a motion for all done (hard to explain). She doesn't however say Ma Ma or Da Da on a regular basis. Those have been a little more difficult for some reason. She can say them, but she says Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma... or Da Da Da Da...

She is getting big, fast. She is going to be 1 year old very soon. VERY SOON! Especially with all the excitement of moving into a house. Yikes. We are going to be parents of a 1 year old!

Very random, but it was my life the last two weeks.