Daddy the hero - AKA: The Case of the Missing Bunny

If you know my children, you know how attached they are to their blankets. Puppy (Oliver's) and Bunny (Gabriella's) are a permanent fixture around our house. But I am not complaining. Those blankets are so helpful to us - they help them comfort themselves to sleep, they comfort them when we are away, and they help them when they are hurt - they are wonderful!

Yesterday was Oliver's first dentist appointment, so I took Gabriella to a drop-in daycare place called Adventure Kids (love it- check them out)! I knew I couldn't do Gabby and Oliver in a dentist office at the same time. I don't have enough arms for that! So off she went to play and have fun (with bunny in tow) while we went to the dentist. Oliver did SO awesome there! The dentist and hygienist were both wonderful to him and explained everything as we went. He opened his mouth like a pro and loved "Mr. Thirsty" (the name they gave the water sucker thingy they stick in your mouth). It was such a cute big boy experienced and I seriously loved every minute of it. My camera battery was dead when I tried to use it, so I don't have any pictures, but I do have some priceless memories. What a sweet boy I have!

So after stickers and bouncy ball rewards were passed out from the dentist, we headed off to pick up sister. We got her and all of her stuff in the car and headed for home. The golden arches of McDonald's were calling to Oliver as we passed by so I decided we could stop in and play for a bit as a special treat. We got a small snack and enjoyed some time on the playground before it was time to head home for lunch and naps.

After lunch, I laid my tired, past her naptime baby girl in her bed and proceeded to hunt for bunny and paci to get her to sleep. Found paci... but bunny was another story. I looked through all of the bags from the mornings adventures, in my purse, in the car 3 times, and in rooms we hadn't even been in since we'd been home. But no bunny - bunny was missing! Gabby was SCREAMING in her crib at this point and not accepting any of the substitute "bunnys" I was throwing at her. Times were desparate. I called Adventure Kids - no bunny there. I called McDonald's - no bunny there... although there was a bit of a language barrier going on during that call. Ahh! What do I do now! Daddy - HELP!

Matt was running errands on his lunch break so I asked him if he would drive by Adventure Kids and McDonald's and check out the parking lots and insides to see if he could find the missing bunny. I wasn't particularly hopeful thinking bunny had gotten dropped somewhere obscure and very well may never be found! I got Gabby out of bed and we waited... all the while I was having thoughts about how I was going to help my 1 year old cope with losing one of the most important things in her little world. Mommy was very sad almost to the point of tears about what I was going to do if bunny was gone for good!

About 15 minutes later, we received a call from Daddy the Hero! Bunny had been found!! Matt went inside McDonald's and found someone to help him look for bunny... and she was found in a supply closet of all places! I guess one of the people cleaning up found her somewhere and stuck her in the closet?? Regardless of how she made it there (we'll never know her whole traumatic story), she was FOUND! Joy! So Mommy and Gabby waited anxiously for Daddy to bring her home. Soon we heard the doorbell ring and as we rounded the corner to look out the front window, bunny was pearing inside the window at us as a greeting! Gabby was happy to see her, but I think more excited to see Daddy as she is a Daddy's girl and loves it when he comes home. But Mommy was beside herself with excitement to see that little pink bunny. My hero!!!

Gabby soon was off to dreamland with the help of bunny and things were right with the world again.

This all may seem a little melodramatic to some of you... but if you have kids with a comfort object like this, I know you at least will understand! Yay for happy endings... ahh...

Texas, Utah, Texas, Utah

This past weekend, our family made a trip up to Utah to visit my extended family and attend my cousin Nina's wedding. It was a fun, snowy, cold, busy, tiring, exciting, relaxing, family-filled trip! Here are some highlights:

• Seeing snow on the ground and watching it snow!
  
• Building a snowman (or really a snow blob - the snow was so fresh and powdery, it didn't stick very well)
  
• Matt and I going skiing in Park City for Valentine's Day (thanks for watching the kids, Mom and Megan). We had so much fun and loved the time we got to spend together (although our old bodies are both still very sore...)
  
• Visiting with all of my extended family - most of the time while at an 8 bedroom cabin my family had for the weekend
• Going to my cousin Nina's wedding reception after a filling dinner at Chuck-O-Rama - and getting to dress my family up for the occasion. I loved dressing Gabriella in her frilly Easter/Daniel's Wedding dress (although I guess I did not get a picture of it)!
  
• Taking Oliver to the airport and on an airplane. While he's done this countless times, this is the first time he's really been old enough to understand what was going on and was VERY excited and interested in everything we did. One of my favorite quote from him was when we got to the airport in Salt Lake ready to head home, "Mom, now take our shoes off and put them in the bucket." I couldn't believe he remembered that!
• Seeing Oliver run and play with all of his cousins - he had a BLAST with all of the kids up there!
• Matt got to go out with some other guys on a snowmobile, and even Oliver got to ride one with his Grandpa Pepe
• Finally getting to meet my cousin Misty's boy Ryder
• Taking Oliver sledding on the hill outside of our cabin
• Trying to teach Oliver about states. He knows he lives in Texas and knew we were going to Utah, but just couldn't quite grasp it. When we landed back in Dallas, I told him we were in Texas. But all he knew was we were still in an airplane. So I told him we had to go in the airport next after the plane and he said "No, let's go to Texas first." Earlier during the vacation, I caught him singing a new song "Texas, Utah, Texas, Utah" - to his own cute tune! Hence the title of this blog...
  

A feeling of accomplishment

I've completed a few more items on my 101 goals in 1001 days list (see link on the right sidebar of this page)... so I thought I would post an update:

#85 - Organize Gift Wrap - CHECK - 2/2009

For a long time, every time I have needed to wrap a present, I had to dig through a big bin of crumpled tissue paper, wadded up bags, who knows where the cards and ribbon are, etc. So I've been eyeing these gift wrap organizers from The Container Store for a while now. My sweet husband heard me and bought me one of them for Christmas and I was finally able to get the other one last week. The result = beautifully organized wrapping supplies!! I love it!



#88- Go to Canton to shop - CHECK - 1/2009

Ever since we moved back to Dallas, Matt and I have talked about taking a trip out to the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX... basically a huge craft/jewelry/clothing/art/antique etc. sale. It happens once a month, so we finally decided we just needed to put it on the calendar and go! So we finally made it on January 31st - and it was an awesome sale! We did have the kids with us so that slowed us down a bit, but it was still a great experience anyway. And something we'll definitely go back to. We took Matt's parent's with us for the shopping and then we all headed out to Longview, TX that evening to visit Matt's grandmother. It was a fun weekend!

The girls

#89 - Find a new home for our dogs - CHECK - 1/2009

Since adding another child to our family 1 1/2 years ago, Matt and I had been going back in forth talking about our dogs. We had two big, sweet, time consuming dogs. With the demands of two toddlers, we just weren't giving them the attention they deserved. So finally in January, we made the hard decision that we were going to try and find new homes for them where they could thrive. With the assistance of Craigslist, we found a good home for Nala - a family with a 7 year old and 3 year old. We sent her off to them one hard evening in January. We hated to see her go, but knew it was for the best. So as we continued to search for a home for Kuzco, we came to the decision that we would keep him and see what life was like with only 1 big dog to take care of. I'm happy to report that having one dog is much easier than two and we are enjoying him like we haven't in years. He is happy and getting walked everyday and we are happy to still have him around! So this goal was modified a bit to just find a new home for one of our dogs - but still can be checked off in my opinion!

Mommy Son Date!

Oliver and I went on a mommy son date on Saturday morning! There's not a lot of one-on-one time for just the two of us anymore, so I wanted to have a morning where I could just focus on him. Gabby and Daddy got to go out and have some fun time of their own at the pet store then the book store!

For our mommy son date, we went to one of his favorite places (and it's free too - bonus)... the play area at the Galleria. It has a jungle animal theme and if you know my boy, he has a deep love for all things jungle animal. He also is all boy and loves to run, climb and jump, so this play area is a perfect outlet for him! We met up with two other moms and friends of his there so it was a full morning. We got to ride the escalators ("up, up, up to the ceiling mommy"), watch a magic show that the Galleria hosts on Saturday mornings, have lunch at McDonalds (and get a milkshake - mommy and Oli's favorite!), play in a toy/puppet store, ride an "elervator," and get a balloon. What a fun day! I loved just focusing my attention on him and having precious, priceless conversations with him. He is at such a fun age and is a joy to be around. He is a great conversationalist when he is in the mood and is starting to ask a lot of questions to try and figure out his little world. I loved every second of our morning together and can't wait to do it again soon. Love that boy!

Here he is with his friends Jeremiah and Jackson:

The many faces of Gabby

I had some fun photographing my baby girl in the backyard today. She was all dressed up in her Valentine's outfit from Meme. Notice the short sleeves - it was a very nice weekend here in Dallas! And this girl could LIVE outside - she loves it! So she is very happy that mommy no longer tells her "No, it's too cold" when she comes up to me first thing every morning and says "side" (which means outside). She's very quickly becoming a toddler instead of my baby! She is also quite "gabby" and knows over 40 words. What a big girl! And she is very generous with her kisses! Love her!













Oliver on the other hand enjoys playing outside to some extent, but would rather just hang out indoors. So I snapped this picture of him watching from a distance.

Where's Waldo...

Mom... (because I know you'll want to) you can download these from my Picasa site here!

For you mothers out there

My friend Brit turned me on to a new blog which I am really enjoying. It's called Mckmama... and here is a link to one of her recent posts that really touched me: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/02/mother-in-me_05.html

Not every moment of every day is easy with young children, but reading this post really filled me up again and got me ready for another day with my kiddos!

Hope you other moms enjoy this as well!

Father and Son

I love watching Matt and Oliver play together. Matt is so good at bringing out the fun side of life for Oliver. What a fun Daddy! Oliver is not a fan of taking pictures so he looks very serious in most of them. But take my word for it - he LOVES playing with Dad!

Playing outside during our "ice day" last week... Oliver is being pushed along, skidding on the ice

Wearing little hats that Matt used to collect as a child - Matt found some for sale at the Canton Trade Days this past weekend

Helping Oliver get changed into his pajamas... Oliver's clothes from the day ended up somewhere a little strange. My boy likes things silly these days so this was a hit!