Georgiana's day out with Thomas!
G loves trains. I mean really truly loves them. Somehow I came across the Day out with Thomas thing and bought the tix some time ago. Of course, G needed a super cute Thomas themed outfit to wear for the event :-) Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a girly Thomas outfit?? I'll tell you, its tough. I was lucky to find someone on etsy to make it. Then I ran across the crown!! Yeah, so fun!


G was such a little trooper waiting patiently for the train to come. The Thomas thing is really cute but, honestly, once you get on the train and its starts moving, its kind of like being on a bus. G didn't care. She smiled for the entire 25 mins of the train ride while bopping her little head along to the Thomas music they had piped in. She was in heaven.


The train museum where they hold the event is very clever. When we got off the train we were forced to walk through the retail tent in order to get back to the stroller parking area. G was so funny. When she walked into the tent and saw the rows and rows of Thomas stuff she went a bit nuts. She started grabbing the stuff and shaking and hugging it and laughing and laughing. OMG I thought I was going to die it was so funny. I've never seen her respond to a retail experience in such a way!


I was also surprised that G was willing to stand by the character guy Mr. Topham Hat. He's pretty big and kindy creepy. But she liked him. We looked at him from a distance for awhile and I asked her if she'd like to shake his hand and she said "yes." She saw that painted on smile and proclaimed him to be "happy"

It was really a fun day. And, because I know you're wondering, the answer is yes, G wore the hat ALL day. She wouldn't take it off! My girl does love her accessories! So, so cute.

All decked out with in her Thomas gear and shades and ready to go!

They had this little fake train and G just loved sitting in it. I think even if we hadn't taken a ride on the real train she would have been just as happy.

Here she is holding hands with Mr. Topham Hat

Luckily we were well prepared and brought our own whistle with us. G pretty much blew that thing for the entire 25 min trip.

G inspecting the available wares. She's a very discriminating shopper apparantly :-)

Waiting for pix with Thomas. She's such a little cutie!

Daddy and G with Thomas

Mommy's turn!

G in front of a very old rust train something or other.

In the petting zoo. The tent top must have been red causing the pix to have this overall red tint. Before I print them I'll have to figure out if I can get rid of some of that. Hmmm, photo shop.



Ahhh, she had a tough day. Sweet little Thomas the Train princess.

22 mos old!
I meant to post this the other day, on the 7th, when G was exactly 22 mos old but I've been really under the weather. I haven't had to miss work or anything but by the time we get G to bed in the evening I've been EXHAUSTED and crashing out without having energy to post. So, here we are just a few days late.

22 mos is a huge milestone for us because as you may or may not recall, we met G when she was exactly 11 mos old. Until this month, we'd always missed more of her life than not which I accept as just being the way it is but still, it was kind of sad to me. 22 mos old marks the crossover. We've now known her more than half her life! She is such a beautiful, precious girl. I cannot even imagine living my life without her in it.

G's personality continues to develop. I remember when we first placed in her daycare I was sooo worried that she'd be squished because she seemed so timid. Well, that timid girl is a thing of the past --I'm not even completely sure she ever existed. She's not pushy but she definitely seems able to hold her own.

G is funny and fairly outgoing although naturally a little suspicious of new people. She can also be a bit mischievious. G really enjoys her little friends from daycare and has begun telling us things about her day in the evening. For instance, a few weeks ago at dinner G said "Preston, time out" so we started asking her about it and she repeated it several times telling us "Preston, naughty." The following day I asked our babysitter about it and, sure enough, Preston had gotten a timeout the day before! Too funny.

G's language has been steadily improving. She now regularly uses 3 word sentences and will often use as many as 6 words to convey her thoughts. "Georgie doesn't want to do it, mama!" is a fav of hers :-) Her pronunciation has REALLY improved which is nice. Last month I had written that G would say "grink" for drink but just a day or so later she figured it out and withing just a few days her overall speech became at least 50% more clear! Its been super helpful for us obviously.

G can count up to 11 now but for some reason often skips over 6 and says 7 as "second" which cracks me up. She's been getting a little more successful on her attempts to sing along to the songs I sing with her like "hush little baby," the abc song, etc. Her favorite song is still "The Muffin Man" which she likes for me to replay in the car over and over and over. I think our record was like 13 times in a row before she stopped saying "Muffin please" as soon as the song would end--uh, yes, I counted cuz I was wondering when the agony would come to an end.

G's been cutting her last 4 teeth which has been really tough on her. Three of them have finally broken through but there were several weeks there when she had a fever, chewed on one of her fingers until the skin started to peel, and drooled like crazy. Yuck right?

Anyway, that's a little summary on G right now. She's so darned cute, I could just go on and on about her but I'll stop now and we can get to some pix!

Like most moms, I love gymboree clothes. I really love their new Holiday Panda line especially the panda shoes. I couldn't quite rationalize spending $30 on a pair of panda shoes though. I mean, how many times can a girl wear panda shoes, right? But then, gymbo had their 30% off sale and I could no longer resist. G loved the shoes so much she put them on right away and didn't want to take them off. She wore them all day in the house occasionally breaking out into a little jig and saying "panda shoes." She even took a nap in them!!! When she woke up she saw my camera and said "picture, please" which sounds more like "pichur peese" --never one to pass up a photo opportunity, out the front door we went to get pix of G in her new shoes.

I love this picture!!!


G's in constant motion:




Close up of the uber cute "panda shoes"


My beautiful happy girl!

Bumble BOO!!!
Georgie had a fantastic first Halloween! This was not without planning on our part. She hasn't been napping the greatest the last few weeks. I can attest that a no nap Georgie is not a happy Georgie by about 5 pm. Even with daylight savings time ending, it doesn't get dark until around 6. The last thing I wanted to do was have G whine her way around the block being a grouch. So the plan was to get her up and out and good and tired so she'd be ready for a nice long nap. And it worked!!!

We did an early morning trial play class at My Gym which is kind of like Gymboree, I guess. Even though is was parent participation, G was a little apprehensive being in a new place. She loved the trampoline and the ball pit which was a first for her. We got kind of a hard sell to sign up at the end. I'm still thinking about it but having to commit to every saturday morning is a little limiting.

Anyway, then we hit the local Chick-Fil-a which G calls "the play place." She played and played. Plus, they were having games and crafts for Halloween so she enjoyed that. By the time we left, she was bushed! We got lucky and she took a fantastic nap!!!

G loved trick or treating! We'd been practicing door knocking and "trick or treat" for a week or so and it seemed like she really had the hang of it. Each house we'd go to we'd say "knock on the door" and she'd say "nooooo" --mommy would knock. When people answered the door we'd say "say trick or treat" and G would just provide the homeowners a mute stare! She was really good at grabbing the candy out of the treat bowls and stuffing it into her bumble bee candy basket though! After she was forced to stop taking handfulls of candy we'd tell her "say thank you" --again mute stare. Mommy and daddy would say thank you, the door would close, we'd turn toward the sidewalk and G would say "trick or treat, thank you!" Cracked me up each and every time she did it!

We had to skip any houses that anything even remotely scary. G is a complete fraidy cat. If she saw something that didn't look right to her she'd say "scary, nooooo" and shake her little head back and forth as hard and fast as she could until we got past the scary house. She's truly a little chicken.

We just did our street so we were pretty much done in about an hour which was right about the time that the big groups of kids were really hitting the neighborhood. G then spent the next hour and a half or so helping to pass out candy which she LOVED!!! G wore her costume and every time the doorbell would ring she would get this HUGE look of surprise and excitement on her face and run to the door as fast as her little legs would carry her. So cute!!!

In between groups, G sat on the floor and rearranged the candy by taking it out of the bag and putting it into the bowl, then from the bowl to another container, then stacking it on the floor, etc. At the end of the evening she was so tired and so happy. Yeah, success!!!

Happy little bee

Getting ready to go out

G loved wearing her costume

I loved the wings. The black maribou was so fun!

G playing with the candy

See the tongue?

BUZZ, BUZZ...
Today was October picture day. G looked as cute as can be in her little bumble bee outfit. She's still pretty uncooperative at the photo studio but we were able to successfully bribe her with some mini marshmallows. It was kind of a frustrating experience since they had no record of my appt which I made 3 weeks ago and the 15 mins that they quoted for printing the pix turned out to be over 40. But, I guess it was pretty worth it.

Yesterday we celebrated Casey's 19th birthday. It was a very low key affair, just family dinner out which is what he wanted. Its hard to believe he's 19, it doesn't seem possible.

Then tonight, my mom and I went to the first of our 2009/2010 season musicals. It was a tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with music and dancing from the 30s and 40s. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to it much but it turned out to be very nice. I found myself singing along a bit to "Someone to Watch Over Me" which is one of my all time oldie fav's. Plus, its always nice to spend a little mom/daughter time.

Here are some of the proofs from our studio visit. Again, sorry for the watermark. The real ones always look so much better but you get the idea.

Little Miss Bossy Boots
Let me just say, Georgiana is a beautiful and sweet little girl. For the most part she's very kind to other kids and very gentle with pets. However, she can be a bit bossy when she's sees someone stepping out of line.

Bobby had to work yesterday morning so G and I had a mommy and daughter shopping trip to the mall! We hit all our fav's including Baby Gap, Naartjie, Gymboree and Children's Place and got G some super cute things for the fall season including a pair of silver shoes she latched on to and wouldn't let go! My girl loves the bling!!!

Anyway, G likes going to the Gymboree store the best because they have the TV area which she loves. I always let her sit there but keep a close eye just in case there's a bratty kid. But guess who's kid was the bratty one yesterday??? Yes, my dear sweet little thing that's who. Another little boy, about 2 or 3 was very nicely sitting in one of the chairs when G decided she didn't want him sitting in that chair or something and she started telling him "NO, NO" and pointing her finger at him. I made her stop. Then she was standing up in front of the TV and the little boy was saying "I can't see, I can't see" to which G responded by laughing. I told her to sit down and then had her say "sorry" to the boy which she did but only in a whisper.

This isn't her first attempt at controlling others. A few weeks ago we were in a shop and G was looking at things. She started to go back by the dressing rooms and I said "no, no honey" stay with me. A few minutes later another little girl, perhaps 3 or so, started walking back there and G said "NO, NO!" while pointing her finger at her.

That finger pointing thing I've seen before, she does it to the cats when they touch her toys and she doesn't want them to!!!! I'm not sure where she gets that. It can't be me, can it??

Maybe I can just blame it on all on the babysitter. ;-)

Here are some pix from this last week. Bobby picked up this cheapie tiara and wand set at the store for like $2 cuz he thought she'd like it. He was right! She points to it and says "crown please" and then has us put it on her head. Let me repeat, I'm not sure where G is getting this princessy type behavior from??? hmmmm. ;-)

21 mos, seriously??
I can't believe that today G is 21 mos old. Where does the time go?? Our little girl continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She uses lots of simple 3 word sentences now "I'll get it" "Thank you momma" stuff like that. Her pronunciation is pretty good for some things and not so good for others. She always says "grink" for drink. We've tried practicing "duh, duh, duh, drink" but she always replies "duh, duh, duh, grink!!"

She's still a great eater with her favorite foods being grapes, scrambled eggs and lasagna. Honestly though, she eats most things and is constantly hungry. She generally has a ziplock bag filled with cereal, gold fish crackers and craisins. Georgie's been off the bottle completely for about a month or so. She didn't really miss it too much.

She continues to make progress on the potty training. She's been doing really great for a little over 3 weeks or so with very few accidents. She has her last 4 teeth coming in and has been teething like crazy. Can you say DROOL!!!?? Yuck!

She's still a fantastic sleeper. We have developed a nice bedtime routine that she loves: vitamins, bath, brush teeth, lotion and comb hair, story time (usually 3 board books of her choosing), songs (Hush Little Baby, I Love You So Much, etc), then sleep! She likes her routine a lot! She's in bed asleep by 8 pm every night and starts to wake up anywhere between 6:45 and 7:30 am. She also takes a nap from about 1-3 most days.

G's growing steadily. She wears mostly 18 mos or 18-24 mos sized clothing and a size 5.5 or 6 shoe. She still loves choo choos and has been dragging around a picture of Thomas the Train she got in a video for the last 2 days. She's started trying to sing along with me when I do the ABC song, she counts ahead of me to 5 and knows some letter sounds. We've been working on colors which she's getting pretty good at. She always knows green, pink and yellow but she's not quite as consistent on most other colors. She knows her right and left everything foot, hand, ear, eye, etc. She likes to say rhyming words: dog, frog, wog. Her favorite song is Do You Know the Muffin Man.

Georgie loves to help! She helps by taking the cats their food plates and bringing them to me to wash when they're done. She helps daddy take out the trash and really enjoys helping to shake the bag open to put a new one in. She likes to wipe things and pick up while we sing "clean up, clean up."

She still loves the Ni Hao Kai Lan cartoon (she watches an episode almost every day). She's not terribly interested in most toys but does like her books and puzzles, kicking a ball, going for walks to collect rocks, leaves and seed pods (which she stuffs into her pockets) and playing with her stuffies. Her favorite lovey is her stuffed frog which she drags around the house with her pretty much all the time. G loves to smell flowers, splash in her bath and search for bugs in the yard with daddy.

She's just awesome!!! She's happy, talkative, noisy as can be and in non-stop climbing, giggling, screaming, jumping motion!!!

Here are some of the many faces of Georgie

This was the first day we got her hair into a pony tail!! She loved it and kept walking around saying "pony, pony" over and over and over again.

On a ride with Daddy at Skandia. She loves to wear her "gasses"

With her new dolly. She's stuffing a rock into her pocket so it doesn't get lost, too funny!

This is what G looks like when she laughs which is pretty much all the time... unless she's made. Then, its kind of the same face except, you know, angry :-)

Pumpkin patch!!!
I've been so excited about Georgie's first Halloween. We didn't meet her until December so we missed Halloween last year. I got her an uber cute pair of spooky overalls and a matching hairbow and went in search of a pumpkin patch to take her to. There was a neat one we used to go to when the boys were small but, alas, they built houses there and now its gone. We thought we would try the Irvine Regional Park. It was GREAT! They had a nice pumpkin patch, lots of photo stands, a straw bale maze, a not so scary haunted house, and a pony ride. And because all of Georgie's destinations require it, a choo choo!

It was a long day and Georgie had so much fun!!! She was the star of the pumpkin patch in her little overalls. Cute, cute, cute!! Georgie started out kind of whiney and clingy. I'm not really sure why but she didn't seem to have a lot of interest in the pumpkins and if she got even five feet away from me, she'd start whining and grab my leg. Ugh. So, we pressed on and rode the train andthe ponies, which she loved!! There's also a really nice little zoo inside the park with some bears, a coyote, several owls, and a wonderful petting zoo with lots of nice, calm goats for Georgie to pet and brush. Later in the day, when she was tired and a little silly, we went back to the pumpkins and then, she really liked them and had lots of fun!!! She's such a fickle little pickle my Baby G.

G checking out the train:

In the straw bale maze. The bird is fake but G liked to pretend it was biting her! Too funny!











G really liked the giant pumpkin!

She liked scratching the pumpkin which I really shouldn't have let her do. But on our first attempt at the pumpkin patch it was nice that something made her happy.



Georgie at the petting zoo. The goats were so nice. They had a no feeding rule which seemed to cut down on them attacking the kids.







Pumpkins, part 2: look how much happier she is!