Dog Party

John, Rebecca, and I went to Chattanooga yesterday for Mae's Dog Party.  The party was at Denise and Rob's new house. The party was a lot of fun, and of course, Denise thought of everything.  It amazes me that she just moved into a new house, is pregnant, and is still able to throw a birthday party that puts Martha Stewart to shame.  

She had dog ears and face paint for all the kids.   (Rebecca refused the face paint.)

The kids ate doggy treats (pretzels, goldfish, and raisins) and bone-shaped sandwiches out of dog bowls.  Denise made dog cupcakes that you would have thought a professional made. 

Here is the birthday girl, Mae, blowing out her candles.  

My niece, Carrie (in the stripes) singing Happy Birthday.

 

While the other kids were eating and playing doggy games, Rebecca was doing her own thing.  She was not too fond of all the kids running around, so she spent some time double-dipping.

She spent some time swinging with Nannie.  

She spent some time playing with Mae's birthday present from her parents.  

Mae named her Cupcake.  

Rebecca loved Cupcake as long as Cupcake was being still.  As soon as the puppy moved, Rebecca would scream.  

We did get Rebecca to try a cupcake,

 

but she didn't like it.  

What is wrong with her?

You Expect Me To Do What?

The other day Rebecca had Ari over to help her do some work in the water table.  It started off great...

until Rebecca decided she was too good to finish up the work.  So she put on her sunglasses...

blew us a kiss...

sat in the grass, and watched the cool people driving by the fence.

It's a good thing that Ari is a hard worker and got the job done.  

The Story of the Lovies

Rebecca loves her Lovies.  

Bubbie the bunny rabbit was a baby gift from Cliff and Kristen Hicks.  It has Rebecca's name on one ear and her birthdate on the other.  It is super cuddly.  That probably explains why it was the first thing that I left in Rebecca's crib for her to love on at night.  Bubbie stuck, although her given name did not.  First I named her Bun Bun, but Rebecca changed it to Bubba.  Bubba later became Bubbie, and that is where we stand now.  

Monkey was the table decoration at Rebecca's first birthday party.  Soon after that, Rebecca decided that Monkey needed to join the party in Rebecca's crib.  

Yellow Blankie was made for Rebecca my John's grandmother.  She knitted all of her great-grandchildren blankets, and many of them have loved their blankets to shreds, literaly.  Mammaw, as she was known, passed away a few months before Rebecca was born.  I feel very blessed that Rebecca was able to get a blanket from her, and Rebecca is working on the shredding part.

Pink Blankie was made by my mom, Nannie, for Rebecca.  It is super soft!  I was always worried that Rebecca would be cold with just Yellow Blankie covering her, so I added Pink Blankie to the party.  Rebecca took to it like it has always been a member of the crib. 

Pillow was added the most recent because Rebecca was suffering from a cold.  I put it in her bed to prop her up a bit, and the rest is history.  She loves her pillow.

And that is the story of how Rebecca got all her lovies.

Water Bug

Rebecca had her first swim lesson today.  It went fantastic!  Just like she has always been, she could not wait to get in the water.  Bahama, her teacher, could not have been better with her.  She had a basket full of water toys that they played with on the steps.  They played ring-around-the-rosy.  Rebecca swam on a noodle with Bahama only holding on with one finger.  They practiced climbing up the side of the pool and jumping in the water.  They practiced laying Rebecca on her back and sticking her ears in the water.  Rebecca loved every minute of it and was really sad when her 30 minutes were up.  Bahama said Rebecca was definitely a water bug and that she could have her swimming from point A to B in 6 classes.  

I tried to get a picture of my water bug, but the lighting in the pool house isn't ideal for picture taking.  This is the best I could do:

Say What?

Rebecca has become quite verbal over the past few months.  I can almost hold a conversation with her, when she will talk to me.  She definitely has selective hearing and is not good with talking on demand.  But when she is in the mood, she can talk your ear off.  I have tried to come up with a list of my favorite sayings.  I know I am missing a few, but this is the best I could do.

A few of my favorite Rebecca sayings:

Uh oh!  What happened?

Milt!  Milt!  milk

Oh, there it is!

I love Momma!  

Go park swing!  This is what she calls her swing set.

How bout this one?   She says this when she is picking out a book to read.

Dips  grapes

I don't know either.

Mommy, come here!  or Mommy, sit down!

Snuggle?

I need.... such as I need to watch Little Einsteins.  I need to go outside.  I guess it is time to start working on the difference between wants and needs.

And one that makes me cringe and laugh at the same time:

Oh my gosh! 

It makes me cringe because it is not something you really want your 21 month old to be saying.  It makes me laugh because my niece, Carrie, says this all the time.  Unfortunately, Rebecca did not pick this up from Carrie.  She probably got it from me.  I am pretty sure I say this all the time, and I do not even realize it.  

Sanibel Entertainment

Sanibel, Finally!

As promised, I am finally blogging about our trip to Sanibel.  We had a fantastic time with John's family.  There was only one small hiccup that I will get to shortly, but first our trip in pictures.

Here Rebecca is getting ready for the beach.  I put on her top, but she insisted on putting on her bottoms.  Yep, they are inside-out.  

Playing with Papa in the ocean.  This girl LOVES the water.  She would run straight for the water and not stop.  Even when she would go under the water, she would get up and keep going.  She could not get enough!

Rebecca started running a fever (103.3) the third day we were there.  This shouldn't be a suprise.  The same thing happened last year we were in Sanibel and in Jamaica.  So far we are 3 for 4 on out beach trips.  

At any rate, we went to the walk-in clinic on the island.  The doctor, who wore a surgical mask while he examined my baby, said her throat was infected after only looking at it for 2.2 seconds.  That made sense since Rebecca was not eating, and would hold her throat and cry when she did eat.  We got some medicine, and were sent on our way.  Within 36 hours, Rebecca was back to normal.  

Here she is chillin' with her aunt and cousins.  

poor sick baby

Eating breakfast overlooking the bay.

Rebecca fell in love with taking showers while we were in Sanibel.  There were times I would find Rebecca playing in the shower without the water.  

Rebecca didn't hoard all her love for the beach and ocean, she loved the swimming pool as well.  This is one of the few times we could get her in some type of floatation device.  She wanted to be free, and she wanted to dive right in.  

Once she wanted to keep walking down the stairs into the pool without anyone holding onto her.  After several attempts to distract her from this, we just let her go.  Of course she went right under.  I scooped her up, expecting her to scream and cry.  Did she?  No.  She laughed.  

Pigging out poolside.  

One night we drove to Captiva to one of my favorite places, The Mucky Duck.  I love this place.  It is a restaurant that is right on the beach.  The food is okay, but the ambiance and view are fantastic.  

Here Rebecca is coloring with Mimi.

Here she is jamming out to the one man band.  She was the only one dancing.  She's not scared. 

Here she is playing the ring game with Daddy.  She is trying to throw the the ring, which is attached to a string, onto a hook that is attached to the tree.  

After dinner at The Mucky Duck, we drove through The Ding Darling Bird Sanctuary, or as we called it when we were young, The Ding Dong Darling Bird Sanctuary.  It is a great place to see all kinds of birds and even alligators.  We did not see many birds, but we did see one alligator on the side of the road.  

Since we were not on an official road and since we were only going 5 miles an hour, we took Rebecca out of her car seat so she could see out the window better.  John sat in the back seat with her while I drove.  

We should have known better.  She did not want to sit in John's lap in the back seat and look out the window.  She wanted in the front seat so she could push all of the buttons or she wanted to crawl out the window.  Here she is pitching a fit because we would not let her have her way.  

Swimming with Papa.

Playing on the beach.

When we were little and would go to Sanibel, we loved going to Jerry's (the grocery store on the island) to see the birds.  Rebecca loved it, too.   This bird, Jerry Jr., talks.  He said "Hello!"  Rebecca wasn't too sure what to think about him. 

Deciding what to eat at the Island Cow.  

Cheese!

Surf's Up Dude!

Just a quick peek at our trip to Sanibel.  I promise a detailed post later when we finally settle down.