Another lesson learned from my toddler.

This week has been Fantastic! I decided to take advantage of the fact that the doctor that I work for went on vacation, and I have been bringing Hailey with me to work everyday. It was an awesome coincidence that this week decided to be a week full of fabulous weather as well.

First thing Monday morning we headed to the office with my car full of all of her favorite toys. Leap Frog laptop, doll with all of her accessories, magna-doodle, flash cards, a basket full of books, and handfuls of markers and crayons. We also brought along her pop-up tent with the tunnel that connects to it. I thought that with ALL of this, she would be able to entertain herself for an hour or so...nope. She took one look at the charts on the wall and decided that it would be much more entertaining for her to rip them all down. So, majority of my week has been spent following her around, picking up her "little tornado's" around the office.

Yesterday I took her to the free story time for babies and toddlers at the library at Carmel. It was wonderful. She got to run up and down the rows of books with tons of other babies her age. Unfortunately the story teller was sick, but I got her to sit still for one book about a little mouse and Valentine's Day. After the running, she sat down at a table with other toddlers and did a winter-themed craft. It was adorable, but a little out of place considering the beautiful weather.

Today was the best day of the week. We picked up lunch and took it to the beach as we have been doing each day. However, as soon as I parked the car today Hailey started yelling, "Ocean! Ocean!". This was her first time saying the word and I was shocked that she was able to put the word with the place. As we were eating (in the car to avoid sand in our sand-wiches) she kept yelling "Ocean!" out the window at everyone who walked by. By the time I was done with my lunch, she was practically out of her car seat, ready to run in the sand. Once we got on the beach, I noticed a lot of other children her age playing the water...in January!! I was shocked, but it was gorgeous outside and the waves had formed little tide pools that were perfect toddler size. Before I knew it, Hailey was sitting in the sand, pulling off her pants and running for the water. Even though I wasn't prepared for water play, we both had a blast! I ended up taking off her shirt and chasing my little naked baby  up and down the beach for 45 minutes. We had so much fun!

Lesson learned. When mother nature gives you sunshine in January, run naked in the ocean!

This is a picture from earlier in the week. I wish I had taken some today, but I was having too much fun to stop and grab my camera.

Rockin' the goodwill deal

So a few months ago I took it upon myself to become the "Activities Director" at my mom's little daycare. It has been a slow process, as I'm finding out craft supplies can get expensive! But we have made some really cute little things and the kids really enjoy it. Anyway, these little craft projects have made me start craving bigger, mommy-sized crafting.

So, back in October the family and I went to The Goodwill in search of some cheap but awesome Halloween costumes. Although we didn't find any costumes, we did find this awesome little, Hailey sized rocking chair. At the time she had just learned to say the word "chair" and had entered "the chair phase" as I call it. (By the way, she is still in the Chair Phase.) So of course, we bought it. It needed some work as it was covered in stickers and a horrible pastel purple color that looked more like paint primer than actual paint. Anyway, I promised Jason that I would clean it up and repaint it by Christmas and we could give it to her as a gift.

Well it didn't happen exactly as planned, but I finally found some mommy time and turned the chair into my own little craft project.

First step: Remove ugly stickers and Clorox wipe the heck out of it!!
Step Two: Do a quick sand with Jason's electric sander.

Step Three: Long, intense hand sanding until all of the previous painter's mistakes were sanded away.

Step Four: More Clorox Wipes.

Step Five: Let sit for half an hour to completely dry.

Step Six: Paint the base color. I chose black for this step because it was a good contrast to the top coat that I chose.

At this point, Jason and I were really happy with the chair. It was such a HUGE improvement, that I was considering leaving it like this. However, the crafter in me just had to keep on going.

Step Seven: Let dry for 3-4 hours.

Step Eight: Crackle Paint (a clear paint that reminded me of craft glue) entire surface. This part was a little tricky.

Step Nine: Let dry for 2-3 hours (Paint should still be tacky wet).

Step Ten: Paint top coat in the opposite direction of the crackle paint.

Step Eleven: Let dry.

Step Ten: Enjoy :)

I had so much fun doing this little project, and I can't wait for the next one! Even though Hailey really doesn't need anymore chairs, I would love to do more. I spent around $30 for the whole project and it was well worth it! The small pillow was a gift to me from my grandfather and was actually the inspiration for the crackled texture. I think it fits Hailey just as well as it has fit me for all of these years :)

It's raining, It's pouring, but we aren't snoring!

This weekend we went to Disneyland to celebrate "Nana's" Birthday. I was a little nervous about taking Hailey to Disneyland. I thought she may still be too young, but boy was I wrong! As soon as we walked through the gates, she was getting anxious. Even through the rain and the lack of a normal nap schedule, she was in great spirits all weekend.

Our first day there we decided to rent a stroller instead of taking the chance that ours would get stolen. The rental was really reasonable and it was nice to not worry about it parked in the "stroller parking lots" while we were having a blast on the rides. Hailey's favorite ride was "It's a small world". This made Nana VERY happy because this is also her favorite ride, and possibly the main reason that she loves Disneyland. Even though we got rained on most of the day, it wasn't too cold and none of us seemed to mind. We went back and forth between California Adventures and I just wasn't as impressed with CA as I used to be. The whole park seemed to be under construction and there really wasn't much for Hailey to do. Rachel and I took advantaged of the short lines due to the rain, and had a blast on Paradise Pier. Too bad my brother was too scared to join us.

On Sunday the whether took a turn for the worst and we all decided to skip the parks and hit up the local shopping of Anaheim. Across from our hotel their was a new mall, Garden Walk, so we decided to do lunch there and some shopping. We ended up eating at Johnny Rockets, which was delicious and the chef made Hailey some balloon animals which she loved. The shopping wasn't too great so we drove around and got "lost" although my dad didn't want to admit it. We ended up finding a huge children's store that my mom and I fell in love with! The rain really started coming down, but we headed to Downtown Disney to see what shops they had there. We ended up in Build a Bear to get out of the rain and I think that I had more fun building a bear than Hailey did.

On Monday we got about three hours in at Disneyland before the rain really started coming down. My dad and I left my mom and Hailey (napping) on the train ride and ventured out in the rain to hopefully walk on to Indiana Jones...NOT. The wait was still 65 minutes! Were these people crazy?? We decided to catch up with Nana and Hailey and call it a day.

Overall we all had a great time! Rain or shine. People are just happier in Disneyland. The Christmas decorations were beautiful and because of the rain, I saw a lot of attractions that we usually miss. Having Hailey there also gave us a new look on Disneyland. Happy Birthday Momma!!