Happy To Be Home

Maggie is just thrilled to be home. As much fun as she had on vacation, I think she really appreciates the familiarity and comforts of home. Her crib in her room, her regular food in her regular high chair, and most importantly her myriad of toys (we only packed a tiny selection of her toys which she quickly tired of). She also has way more space to run without someone following her to make sure she doesn't sneak up the stairs, break something, or stick her finger in an electrical outlet. I don't think I quite understood just how baby-proofed our house had become.

Beach Video

Maggie mostly looks like a tiny speck running around but it's still sweet to see her first beach fun.

Vacation Review: New Smyrna Beach

Oh, we had such a great time! There were some moments when I wished we'd bagged the whole thing (sleeping schedule disturbed, long plane rides with small baby, etc) but in the end I'm glad we went.

Maggie was a sweetheart on the plane ride down especially since a 3.5 hour ride turned into 5.5 hours after sitting on the runway in Denver for almost 2 hours! We have a great traveler so far.

It took a while for Maggie to warm up to the huge number of people.

This was her first experience with the ocean. She loved every minute of it and had no fear even after getting hit the face with ocean water several times!

Here she is playing in the sand with cousin Sydney.

We had about a day and a half of really stormy weather which was very cool. Tons of rain, lightening, and the loudest thunder I think I've ever heard.

Maggie with cousins Kayla and Ally.

Watching videos with cousins Eamon and Ciara.

Grandma & Grandpa with all the cousins.

Patrick did a couple of days of golf. I got a day at the spa. I've never done more than one treatment at a time when going to a day spa. This was an all day event with mineral pools, facial, massage, pedicure, neck wraps, and a spa lunch. THAT was livin'!!

The best beach time for us was low tide when Maggie could run around and chase the birds.

After an exhausting week we jumped on a plane back to Denver (again, Maggie was a doll the entire time) and arrived home very late Saturday night. We put Maggie to bed and proceeded to pack up Patrick for a business trip to Chicago leaving early the next morning. Now he's gone, the house is a mess, Maggie is off her sleep schedule (again!), and I can barely get this post done! Good grief.

Florida Vacation

The family is leaving for New Smyrna Beach in Florida tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I won't have access to a computer so I'll be back the following week with a vacation review!

Here's a picture of where we're staying. And if you wanna check out a 360 view click here.

Already a Shoe Lover

Maggie's latest favorite activity is to dig through my shoes. She doesn't seem to get into Patrick's shoes. Just mine.

Then she takes time to admire herself in the mirror.

She's also learned what a phone is good for...babbling. She holds it up to her ear and has full blown conversations.

Floopy

Does anyone have days when they're just so floopy they don't get a thing done? I have them regularly so when I had one yesterday I decided to just get out of the house and walk the mall. Here's Maggie pushing a mini grocery cart around the Pottery Barn Kids (poor quality phone pic).

I bought myself a frame for my bedside table. What a boring day!

A Happy Birthday for my Lovely Husband

Yesterday was Patrick's birthday. We had done the celebrating on Sunday. He did, however, get to go to our favorite Chinese place with his coworkers to celebrate. I was jealous.
While dad was out eating good food, Maggie missed him. She found one of his golf shirts in the laundry (the one she gave him for his b-day) and wore it around the house. We also played with the camera.

Maggie had a fall last night in the tub and ended up with a cut lip. So sad! It's very minor but of course Patrick and I were totally upset about it. She's totally wild and almost uncontrollable in the tub so I expected it at some point. This morning her lip is swollen but she doesn't seem in pain. It's not a great picture but you can kinda see the swollen lip:

Reusable Grocery Bags

After seeing this post from Design Mom's guest blogger, I immediately bought two (one green, one red). They came a few days ago and I've already used them for a shopping trip and they are GREAT. So cute,very sturdy, and generously sized. The best thing about these bags is that they fold into a little carrying case so they're very portable. A good choice.

Patrick thought I was silly until I informed him that I get a discount at the store for bringing my own bags--now he's cool with it.

Park in the Heat

It's been so hot lately that I've neglected my daughter's need to run around and play. I felt guilty yesterday afternoon so at 4pm we headed to the only park I know with bigger trees (shade). It was still way too hot but she had a great time.
She's also learned to tease and taunt me. She would take handfuls of sand, open her mouth, and pretend to put it in her mouth. I'd say, "nooooo....." and she'd put it down. She finally decided to follow through and below is the picture of the mud on her face from eating it.

Random Video Clips

Weekend Review: Birthday Celebration

Friday we hit the pool. I really want to get a shot of Maggie (and maybe even me) actually in the water having fun but that's hard to get when I usually go with other mommies who have their hands full too.

Saturday night I headed over to a friends home to babysit while she and her husband went on a date. It was nice. I brought a book and my knitting and just hung out. Peaceful.

Although Patrick's birthday is not til Tuesday, we celebrated on Sunday. He has a special meal he likes to prepare himself so all I ever have to do is buy the ingredients--I always feel guilty about this. He makes his BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, and salad. He also has a special cake he likes--angel food cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream.

First Date

A couple of cute photos of Patrick and Maggie. She grabbed the remote control herself, managed to turn the tv on and, if you'll notice in one picture, she was changing the settings in the menu mode for us.

We also had our first date since Maggie arrived. Our fantastic neighbor agreed to babysit and we headed out for some fun. We went to a local restaurant, Martini's Bistro, and had appetizers and then dessert (we'd already eaten mac n cheese with Maggie). It was really nice. We did come home to a Maggie that had refused to go to sleep for her sitter. Good thing our neighbor is so patient and didn't seem to mind a bit.

Lunch Bunch

Maggie and I attended the monthly Relief Society Lunch Bunch at a local park. We had never been to this park before but it looked pretty nice--older and therefore big, amazing trees.
Here she is trying on my sunglasses.

She also received a b-day present from my sister that she loves. She carried around the books all day and paged through them again and again. I read them to her and she squealed at the rhymes.

Wild Thing

Now that Maggie can walk (she gets better each day) I'm surprised that she's still so interested in her walker-toy thingy. But now it's used recklessly to say the least. She RUNS around the house at full force with this devilish look on her face and shrieks. It's kind of scary!

We also took the jogging stroller into a bike shop yesterday to repair the flat (darn thorns!) and I fell in love with this. Now, I know Maggie just barely learned to walk but is it too early for a bike???