Birthday Weekend

 I had a great weekend!  It all started on Friday when all of my friends at work celebrated my birthday with all sorts of goodies from cupcakes and chic-fil-a biscuits to breakfast for lunch and cake!  After work, I picked up Gracie and headed home to take a nap.  I got a call from Matt “saying” he locked his keys in his truck at the gym and I needed to come and let him in.  Well, lo and behold, in the floor board of his truck, this is what I found:

Then Matt and Gracie took me out for my birthday dinner at Olive Garden….it was so yummy. 

Saturday we all slept in.  I got the sweetest wake up from Matt and Gracie telling me happy birthday.  There is nothing sweeter then hearing your little one tell you “Happy Birthday Mommy.”  She also sang Happy Birthday to me every time we ate a piece of cake.  Too cute if I do say so so myself.  We actually did nothing but lounge around the house until we had to get ready to go to my Commander’s Appreciation Dinner.  All of our command is turning over this summer so he wanted to have a dinner to recognize some of the employees.  I actually received the “Liaison’s Choice for Employee of the Year” award.  I was nominated and chosen by all services for my overall skills and customer service.  It was great to receive the award.  It was also great to get dressed up and spend the evening out with Matt.  We never get a chance to do that often so it was fun. 

Today we did much of the same as yesterday with the lounging around after staying up so late last night.  This afternoon we took on a major project of planting flowers in our flower beds we have on the side of the house.  Planting flowers with a 2 year old is interesting to say the least!  She either wanted to pick the flowers or put them into the dirt too early.  One time she actually took the flower out of the dirt.  Ha ha….I loved every minute of it! I look forward to many years to come planting flowers with my little girl! 

I love this picture!

These are a few pictures taken over the latter part of the week.  You gotta love a little girl with crazy hair, who makes silly faces, who loves to do push ups and sit ups with her daddy, and can make your heart so happy it is just overflowing with love!  I love this little girl!

   

This day will always be special….

There was a girl….

 

who met a boy…..

they fell in love, got married….

found out they were having a baby….

she stole our hearts right away,

she is our precious baby girl,

who makes our lives filled with love and happiness.

 

All of you know how we struggled for years to have a child.  Three years ago today, I heard the words “you are going to have a baby.”  They were words I never thought I would hear.  Matt and I are a very blessed to have this precious little girl in our lives.  April 23rd will always be a special day to Matt and I.

Grace Anna, you are loved so much, you bring sunshine into our hearts, and no matter how big you grow, you will always be our little girl.

A funny story

So, I have been in a major conundrum the last couple of weeks about an event happening at work.  We are have a semi-formal event but most people are wearing church wear/cocktail dresses and the such.  Also, I have nothing to wear to the wedding in May so I have been very unsuccessfully trying to find something that would be dressy enough for the thing this Saturday and appropriate for the wedding.  Last night I went to look for something realizing I only had 2 or 3 days to really get it together.  Well, I took Gracie with me.  I was trying on a dress completely unaware of what Gracie was doing.  I turned around and she was naked from the waist down.  Apparently, she thought since mommy was able to “change clothes” she was able to too.  I thought to myself “no big deal, I will just get her dressed when I am done.”  The next thing I hear is Gracie peeing on the floor.  Yep, she peed right in the corner in the dressing room.  I know did not know what to do.  Side note:  One of the blogs I follow has a “Not me Monday.”  This is for those moments that you need to acknowledge as “nope, I didn’t do that” moments.  Well this is my “not me moment.”

• I absolutely did not get myself and Gracie dressed and leave the dressing room leaving behind a pee spot on the carpet in the dressing room.  Nope not me, I did the responsible thing, uh huh, sure did.  :)  Yeah, I sure didn’t he he!

Well, I did find a dress that is not as dressy as it could be but way more appropriate the wedding.  I hope that I am not too under-dressed for the dinner, but honestly at this point I am just tired of dealing with it!  I promise to have pictures!

Being a Mom of a Two Year Old

Top three words that come to mind:

1. Challenging
2. Rewarding
3. Fun

This is simply the toughest thing I have ever had to do.  Even when Gracie was a wee little 7 lb baby, it seemed natural.  Your motherly instinct comes into tune and you just do what your baby needs.  Now, when they come into the toddler years, it is a little person who has their own thoughts, reactions, and personality.   Gracie has learned how to push buttons…especially mine.  In the recent weeks I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am not the perfect mom and no matter how hard I try, I am not going to be the perfect mom…it’s just not possible.  However, I can be the very best mom that Gracie needs.

So are you wondering where this is coming from?  I am in new territory.  Being mom is something I always wanted.  I knew it would be hard, I knew it would be challenging, I knew it would be rewarding.  I did not know to what extent all those statements would be correct.  Nothing is more affirming then reality hitting you in the face.  My daughter is becoming a pro at making me so frustrated and in the same breath make me laugh so hard, discipline is worthless because the moment is gone.  However, the whole thing is getting better.  Time outs don’t work for Gracie yet, but quite time with a book to calm her down works.  I am hoping this isn’t just a thing that Gracie will figure out a way to get around it.  She is totally my child…I was always great about going around things to make sure I got the end result I wanted.

Well, now that I have had my “mommy moment” (it’s been awhile) I will leave you with a variety of pictures from the weekend.  It was a nice relaxing weekend for us here in El Paso.  I had some friends come over on Saturday and Matt took Gracie out for some daddy/daughter time.  They went swimming, to the Disney store, out to Chuckie Cheese, and even ice cream. (And all of you were thinking I was the one that spoiled this little girl.)  Sunday, we vegged.  We have been on the go constantly since Jan. 1st it seems like, and we all needed a down day. :) It was all too soon, Monday reared it’s ugly head again.

In this picture, you can almost hear the words “Harley did it.”  She was throwing a fit because Harley took her egg from her…yes, an egg left over from Easter.  Silly girl!

  

This is making her Grandpa Mike proud, she loves loves loves Cheetos!  I know they are patiently waiting to share a bag of cheese puffs together!

Planting grass seed…she really wants a nice backyard to play in this summer.  As you can see, we are not having  good luck.

These 3 pal around like they are of the same species…they even fight like sisters and compete for mom and dad’s attention!  But in the end, they love each other!

“Really mom? We are going to take a picture in the car?”

And just because she is cute! My lil’ model!

Gracie knows a good number of her animals.  She will look through a book and name them along with their sounds!

Right now we are all about cats.  I wonder if she is going to be able to talk her daddy into getting her a kitten? Time will tell!

Our Weekly Swim Time

Swimming has become a weekly event in our house.  It is a great time for me and Matt to get a work out in while Gracie gets to play in the pool!  Gracie LOVES it.  She loves to be in the water.  She throws a complete fit when we have to leave.  We got her some arm floaties to see if she would like them. As most toddlers do, she was only interested in them for about 3 minutes and then she wanted to be free.  I am looking forward to when the kiddie pool on post opens so she can stand in the pool and not have to be held on to.  Although, that could be interesting.  She is going to have a blast in Jamaica (which is less then a month away).  I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time in the water!  But you won’t here the 3 of us complaining!

This is my favorite swim picture so far!  You can see how much fun they are having in this picture.  The look on Gracie’s face is pure cuteness and let’s face it…ornery!

 

PS This post was supposed to be posted on Friday, I am not sure why it didn’t post, but I am sorry.  I promise I am trying to better at getting more posts up!

Our life is always changing….

Being a military wife, you face a lot of things other wives don’t.  Not that is a better or worse thing, it just is what it is.  There are times when you may not know what is around the corner or you are waiting on an answer that may very well change the course you are on.  That is where Matt and I have been for about a month.  Over the last 6 or 7 months we have been trying to decide what the right thing to do when it came to getting out of the Army or staying in. I won’t get into all the back and forth details we discussed time and time again.  But I will you that we have finally made a decision and Matt heard back on the answer we had been waiting for. Last month Matt applied for a specific job.  He had to submit a packet to the Department of the Army to see if he was the right material and he was!!!!  This new job will be a nice change of pace and a constant challenge for him, which he will enjoy.  He is going to be a “Career Counselor.”  It simple terms, when a soldier wants to re-enlist, Matt will be the one that will coach the soldier on their options and help them decide what is a good course for them.  Matt is super excited about this new opportunity.  He will be able to receive promotions quicker and be able to have a little more stable day (or at least we hope so).  We will be staying here in El Paso for at least another 2 years which is fine.  So that is our exciting news!  It looks like the Army is going to keep another good soldier for another 11 years!  I am so proud of my husband and all that he has done for our family and our country.  I love my man in uniform!

 

PS Don’t forget to look below for this week’s update on our little miss Gracie!

Man oh man….

Gracie is always keeping us on our toes.  She is differently a two  year old…with that comes the temper tantrums, the whining, the “no” and “mine” phase, and my favorite, the silliness that comes with  having a 2 year old.  We had a very busy week this week.  I had errands to run every day after work which was great because Matt and I were able to car pool…however, that meant I wasn’t home until 5 or 6 each night.  Of course, that meant that we had to fly through our evenings just to stay on our routine which wasn’t easy at all.  Gracie is coming up with the cutest things.  She is singing all the time.  Her favorite right now is her ABC’s.  Check out the video:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

She has also been spending a lot of time naked.  As soon as she gets home, a piece of clothing comes off one by one.  Sometimes it is all together, sometimes it is over the course of the night, but by the end of the night she is naked as a jay bird.  Today she almost ran out of the garage stark naked after her daddy.  This is why I don’t have that many pictures this week. 

We have been going swimming at least once a week (I have to justify her having 5 swimming suits some how right!?!) to get prepared for our trip in May.  She is has no fear of the water.  As a matter of fact, she is so courageous, she likes to “jump” off the side into someone’s arms. 

I tried to go and do some springy type pictures today, but she was too crabby.  As you can see in the second picture so we are going to try again sometime this week.

Well, it was kind of a boring week except for the news you have already read.  It is yet again another weekend come and gone.  Hope this week isn’t as busy as last week!

Happy Easter

I love Easter.  It has always been one of my favorite holidays.  It is a time for renewal.  It is a reminder that Jesus Christ died for us, then rose again.  Every thing is springing growth, flowers are budding (every where else but in El Paso), grass is green (every where else but El Paso), and I am reminded of the blessings I have in my life.  How can you not be excited about all things that come with spring?

We celebrated Easter differently then I had hoped.  I had the whole weekend planned (Matt is always telling me I set my expectations too high).  Friday I had an appointment, so I decided to take the rest of the day off to spend with Matt.  It is very rare that we are able to do this, so we went to the movies.  We saw “Bounty Hunter” which was way cute!  We really enjoyed our little time we had together. Then he sent me to get a pedicure while he took Gracie home to play.  It was great to take some time to get lost in a book and be pampered!

Saturday did not go the way I had planned it.  Not one bit.  Matt went to the gym and I decided to run to Michaels to get some supplies for my spring pictures I was planning on taking later that day.  I woke up with a headache and took 2 Motrin.  Well, my headache turned quickly into a migraine.  Then as if things couldn’t get worse, my wallet flew out of my purse and I didn’t realize it right away.  If you remember, I got my wallet taken out of my purse about 6/7 months ago.  I was so frustrated.  Luckily, a woman found it and contacted me, so I got it back without further problems.  Needless to say, I came home and took a nap. Pictures did not get taken, eggs did not get colored, backyard egg hunt did not happen, and I was in pain.  Not the way I had it planned. 

After I woke up, we got ready to go to a birthday party.  We were not able to eat due to a long line and a 2 hour wait is not sufficient for a little princess like Gracie, so we just hung out to talk for awhile then we headed home for a night of relaxation.

Today was a much better day, but still didn’t go as planned.  I woke up with a migraine hangover so I wasn’t feeling my best.  We woke up late, so we didn’t make it to church.  But we decided to make the best of it and went ahead and had an Easter egg hunt for Gracie outside.  We then went for breakfast since I have not made it to the commissary for ever.  I was finally beginning to feel better so we kept our reservations at a yummy Mexican restaurant in Old Mesilla.  We met our friend Rob and the boys rode their bikes while Gracie and I followed in my car.  It was a very nice lunch.  Afterwards, we have been relaxing at home.  It has been a nice weekend with a little drama…that is exactly what we are used too! 

Well, I will leave you with a bunch of pictures from the last two days and wish you a great start to your week.  Monday has rolled around yet again.  Happy Easter to you from the Cunningham’s!  Remember the real reason why we celebrate this wonderful holiday!

Some of my favorites from Saturday night!

“Look Mommy, water!”

This is her attitude face…we are seeing it A LOT! 

Gracie loved her peeps, as a matter of fact she shared some with Daisy and Harley but she ate most of the box herself!

   

So sweet….I love this little face!