PKing's 31st Birthday!

Of course we have no photos to commemorate this big event. It seems that unless there is a tiny munchkin doing tricks we don't seem to take out the camera! But it was a special weekend nonetheless. Although we traveled to Birmingham for a dental meeting, we managed to sneak in some birthday fun. After leaving Sylvie with Papa and Nana, we hightailed it north to make an eight o'clock reservation at the best place on earth, Highlands Bar & Grill. I somehow Jedi mind-tricked Parrish into thinking that HE wanted to to there for his birthday dinner. Yeah, right. It was a gift for me and he knew it. That's why I love 'em. After a treat of champagne, a delightfully cold martini, oysters, rabbit risotto, beef carpaccio, fresh fish, fabulous salted chocolate cake and french press coffee, Parrish (and I, of course) was one happy birthday boy.

We found a great hotel downtown near the dental school and got a complimentary room upgrade after I explained our last hotel experience to the clerk (ask me for details on this...I don't think I blogged about it since it was too vulgar for the written word). I also surprised myself by actually using the hotel gym, but since I've managed to lose about nine pounds recently, I've decided that I actually like working out. Imagine that. I did get to spend a lovely lunch with my bf Whit while Parrish did what he does best...talk about dentistry.

After P's meeting, we shopped in downtown Homewood (which I miss so much, by the way. I really wish Andalusia was more like that...there were so many cute moms with their kiddos shopping and getting a cookie at Savage's. Oh well.). We checked in at Cobb Lane B&B for our second birthday night. To be honest, I normally love the B&B experience, but this was not too thrilling. To the point that we didn't want to spend any time there! The room was dirty and it was a Victorian theme, translation, creepy old pictures all over the walls and dolls EVERYWHERE. We hightailed it to dinner at 26, very good food, trendy crowd. And although we intended to go out on the town, I was so tired the thought of a bar was certainly out of the question. So we settled on some bowling. And we were terrible. But at least that meant we got to go to bed sooner.

After a mediocre breakfast from an arrogant innkeeper (did I mention I wasn't a fan of the B&B?), we headed to the Summit and spent time in the Apple store, JCrew and Brooks Brothers, the ultimate shopping day for the birthday boy. I did have to twist his arm to get some new clothes...we shop for him like every five years. But he looks so good in clothes, even the new skinny men's jeans! He drew the line at the skinny jeans, just so you know and aren't worried anymore. After the longest ever visit to Best Buy (omg, I hate that store) we headed home for the Auburn game. I guess the most eventful part of the trip was being flagged down in Georgiana to sell some Mary Kay in the Fred's parking lot. You never know where or when you'll make a sale!

We sadly watched Auburn lose Saturday night and also got the munchkin back...I honestly think she'd have stayed at Papa's instead of coming home. But that's great...it means no worries when we travel. All in all we had a great weekend, complete with grilled pizzas, artichoke bread and chocolate roulage for birthday dinner. Not to shabby for a 31-year-old daddy.

This week we're still battling a cold Sylvie's had since last week. I'm thinking a touch of croup, but hopefully she'll start feeling better soon. I'm blaming it on our pre-fall cooler weather. She better, since we're headed to the Plains for the Florida game and then on to the pumpkin patch!

Holy cow, I just realized I haven't written about my experience with my animal communicator. I'll have to have a separate post just about that. No really, stop laughing, she talked to Harry and I believe every word she said. And yes, Harry will be chatting with her again.

God Bless,
Katie

No Dahcta E!

The munchkin visited with our wonderful pediatrician this morning for her two-year well check. I got her dressed and in the car without incident by telling her we were going to Nanie's house. Then, once we were buckled in (or trapped), I dropped the bomb that we were going to "stop by" to see Dr. E. This started the, "No Dahcta E!" routine, complete with finger shaking. This didn't stop until after the visit, even after she shook her little fist right in Dachta E's face. He's a trooper. BTW, we were going to Nanie's after the appointment, so I didn't technically lie to her. Just so we're clear on that.

Anyway, the munchkin weighs in at a whopping 21 lbs. 2 oz. That's still the fifth percentile like she's always tracked, while she jumped up to the 50th percentile in height (from the 25th at her last check up). Although she was pronounced totally healthy by the doctor, we are still going to check her hemoglobin and gluten antibodies, just to make sure she's tiny due to genetics and not some metabolic issue. We're also going to consult with a dietitian to make sure she's getting adequate daily calories. I did ask how you're supposed to get a two-year-old to eat and was reassured that this was an impossible feat, but we may just need to tweak what is offered to the little one.

She did so well for her exam, letting Dr. E get a good look at everything. A little pronation in her ankles, but both mommy and daddy suffer from the same thing and that can easily be fixed with orthotics later in life. Actually I think the word the doctor used to describe her was "perfect." Just as I suspected. He also confirmed my stance on potty-training...we aren't ready and shouldn't be concerned about it at this point. I really want it to be as easy as something like that can be...she is starting to tell me she has poo poo pants but doesn't seem overly concerned about it, so we're sticking with diapers for the time being.

She endured two shots brilliantly, especially when she discovered that she received an orange Popsicle, not to mention two, count 'em, two band aids. We are currently obsessed with Band aids since I got to wear one when I sliced my knuckle off on a bean can.

Thankfully we won't have to go back for another shot for an entire year, so that's great news. I really can't believe we're at that point. She'll be starting kindergarten before I know it! Right now she's really into Mary Poppins, the Little Mermaid and doing Daddy's hair with a toy hair dryer. He is so sweet to let her basically do what she wants to with him!

We're also thankfully back to napping this week, after our horrible hiatus last week. Who knows if that will last, but today, I'm grateful. Mama's about had it, and to top it off, our genius cat thinks it's fun to cry from 5 am until we finally decide to get up. Anyone want a Harry-skin rug? Comes very cheap, to the lowest bidder. Will look lovely in front of your fireplace on cold winter's night, when I'm peacefully sleeping in my warm bed without an ounce of regret.

God Bless!
Katie

ISR

Sylvie graduated from a six-week session of the Infant Swimming Resource program offered at the Wellness Center in Opp. I would highly recommend this to anyone with small kids, even if they are rarely around water. The change in her skills was remarkable, and it was totally worth the 40 minute daily drive for two months. She went from being an happy, excited swimmer to a confident, underwater swimmer, capable of floating and pulling herself up on the wall.

Of course, this wasn't quite as easy as I'm making it sound...we went through several lessons with Sylvie screaming her head off, all the while doing everything that was being asked of her. It was hard to watch at times, but we made it to the point where she willingly got in the pool, laughing and squealing the whole time. God forbid she ever have to use her new skills, but this was good for her in so many ways. I am so appreciative of her teacher, Sarah, and the people that were able to provide this service to a small town.



God Bless,
Katie

Sylvie King turned TWO!!

We had a wonderful birthday party for Sylvie at our house. I think at one point I counted 17 kiddos, not to mention all the parents. We had a gameday theme since the all-important Auburn game started an hour into the party. Sylvie wore her gameday finest (thanks, Aunt Jan) and had a ball. She did really well with all the chaos...I've heard so many horror stories of the guest of honor acting all of their two years and throwing major fits at their own party...not so with our little tiger. She had a ball. We had yummy brunch snacks, AU cookies for favors, a tiger cake and an Aubie pinata that Parrish helped demolish (who knew he had so much pent up anger...glad he took it out on the papier mache and not me)!

On that subject, the broken tiger head was in our garage for a few days, waiting to be put into the trash. Every time Sylvie would pass by, she'd say, "Aubie hurt!" and look very worried. And each time I had to explain that it was the fun pinata that we got to hit and snacks and bubbles came out. I swear it was Groundhog's Day over and over...we repeated this same conversation so many times. I was glad when trash day rolled around and we could get it out of sight! I hope I didn't scar her for life.

Anyway, we had wonderful friends and family join us to celebrate the big "2" with us and we had a great time!

Take a swing, girl!
(What a hard concept for kids who are normally told not to hit all the time!).

"Mommy, I swingin!"

Mimi, JJ and Nanie...what are y'all pointing at??

Sweet Nanie...how fun to have the great-grandmother at the party!

These next photos were taken at JJ & Ferg's house...we are so lucky to get to leave Sylvie with them while we go watch Auburn play almost every single weekend. She loves it and so do they (and so do we, as a matter of fact. After five years of marriage, I finally love Auburn football).

Pipe cleaner glasses always make gameday more fun.
I think they should sell these at Jordan-Hare.

We had an interesting week following the festivities. I came down with a roaring case of bronchitis, while Sylvie simultaneously decided to boycott naptime. Cue a very sad, tired, frustrated Mommy. Hoping it was a phase, I battled with her all week. No luck, until JJ was able to get her to nap at her house. I'm currently enjoying a nap right now as well, after an hour of reading and crying (her and me). I'm so not ready for this milestone...I think naps should last until the first day of kindergarten. I really do dread this time of day and really hope she decides to give up the fight.

Meanwhile, Parrish is coaching the six and seven year old soccer team with games twice a week. Sylvie has her two year check up and shots this week, and Parrish is about to have his 31st birthday. What should I get the man who has everything and buys what he likes for himself? It's a puzzle each year.

Hope you're all having a good fall...ready for cooler weather since it's still in the 90s down south. We'll have to schedule our pumpkin patch trip for when it's a bit nicer out.

God Bless,
Katie

Sylvie's Birthday Week

I can't believe my baby is turning two this week. It really is shocking that I have a toddler who can now carry on a full conversation with me that makes total sense (no jokes about my level of conversation here...she talks about a lot of important stuff like Barney and swimming/swinging/eating, etc. I find it fascinating).

I'm spending the week getting ready for a gameday birthday party on Saturday, as well as myriad other birthday week activities, like treats for school, teacher gifts, a special birthday breakfast and painting my bedroom (wait, scratch that, painting has nothing to do with birthday but we did manage to somehow squeeze that task into the birthday week just to see how high my blood pressure could go. That is turning into a fun sport these days...but I haven't cracked yet. Check with me next week).

Cookie Monster cupcakes for school! So funny to me.

In other news, I got 10 inches of hair cut off this week, started a children's choir at church and attended the AU vs. Miss State game. Of course the highlight of that day was our win, but the part that got my heart racing was our bald eagle, Spirit, flying straight into a luxury box during the pre-game flight. I have since then found out that the eagle is fine. But seriously, at the time, I felt like the world had ended. Poor bird...hopefully just its pride was bruised.

Here is a funny video of some new tricks. If you need help translating, I suggest hanging out with a two-year-old more often, because I understand her perfectly.



FYI...We did master the pacifier issue, and just as I predicted last post, it is a dull memory now. No requests for it at bedtime and we are all sleeping well each night.

God Bless,
Katie

First day of Little Friends Preschool

Sooo nervous, but ever stylish in her black jeggings.

Another milestone...next week she'll be potty trained! Just kidding, that might not happen until college. But we did start the Pre-3 program at the cutest preschool in town. The thing that struck me the most was the smell...pencils, crayons and a hint of peanut butter. A grown-up baby smell, much better than that of baby wipes, poo poo pants and Clorox.

Her teacher, Miss Kellye, said she did so well and didn't cry at all. She listened and followed instructions, and stuck to the teacher like glue. Even on the playground, she stood by Miss Kellye instead of playing with the other kids. What some would call anti-social, I like to call cautious. Good girl, trust is a hard lesson to learn. I'm really excited about what she'll learn this year and hope we can continue there until kindergarten. I asked what she learned today and she said, "I eat pretzels!" Snack was my favorite subject, too.

God Bless a new school year,
Katie

Another milestone reached...

Sylvie voluntarily threw away her paci on Sunday. I gave her the option and in it went. I explained that it was forever (a pretty vague concept for a two-year-old) but it still went in the trash. We've had two good nights and two terrible naps. I'm hoping that by day three we'll have it licked. She doesn't ask for the paci much, but is so restless and can't settle down. I have her a magic blanket but it doesn't seem to work. I think by next week this will all be a dull memory for all of us (I hope and pray and hope and pray and hope and pray). To be honest, I wasn't ready to give up the paci. She's had it since the day she was born. I feel like we tossed a part of her body in the trash. I cried like there was no tomorrow. The question is...will I boo-hoo at every grown-up decision she makes? I think yes.

This is what I get for being married to a dentist. How many times can you hear, "The guideline is to get rid of the paci by age two" and not want to punch your husband in the face? The guideline, my friend, doesn't have a sweet face and a shrill cry. Needless to say, I'm in a funk that I hope lifts in the next day or so. Or at least by the time my baby leaves for college.

God Bless,
Eyeore