Pearl and her Mommy

Long time, no post.

2009-03-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it? Life has been stressful for the last few months, and when I get stressed I tend to hide. Things are looking up, and I'm emerging from my bubble.

Pearl is growing up so quickly. The other day I was watching some of our videos and started to cry. It was a mixture of happiness that she is a healthy, smart, and delightful girl, and a little bit of sadness that my little bean is now a little girl. Soon she'll be 16 and a whirlwind of emotions! It's going by so fast!

Pearl's updated list of words: duck, quack, mama, dada, nana, bumpa, mimi (mimsy), woof, apple, owl, ball, bad bed, baby, bubble, and more I'm forgetting. She has stopped giving kisses to us, but will heap tons of kisses onto inanimate objects. She loves brushing her teeth, washing her hands, having a bath, and putting cream on. Mimsy certainly taught the girl to moisturize at an early age, her skin will forever love her.

Pearl loves to clean, give the girl a cloth and she will clean anything. She likes to pick up the dog dishes after they have dinner and will ask for a cloth (in her gestures), then proceeds to wipe the floor. When we change her clothes she has to check herself out in the mirror. Sometimes I catch her strutting up and down the hallway, looking at her reflection the whole time. What a hoot!

Here are a few photos from the other day. In a couple of them she is enjoying some chicken which she kept dipping in ranch dressing that was on my plate. She would just suck off the dressing and dip the chicken back in. Little goofball Pearl.

You're So Vain...you probably think this blog is about you!

2009-01-26T00:20:00.000-08:00

Pearl has discovered that she is one cute little girl. After she gets changed into a new outfit she will go and look in the mirror. She smiles and admires herself, as she should, adorable bug that she is. Mimsy put an elastic in her hair with plastic flowers the other day. Since then she will bring the bag of them to me and wants one in her hair. Not a problem, I love playing with her hair. We're such girls!

I'm a Model and I Do My Little Turn on the Catwalk

2009-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Pearl received oodles of clothes for Christmas! One of my favorites is the NCMC outfit from Nana and Bumpa. She looks so, so, so...sporty!

Nana requested a photo of Pearl in her pink Converse that were a fabulous gift from Aunt Bobbie. Here she is in all her glory.

Two random shots for the day: Pearl falling asleep in the car after shopping, and sitting on her Dad's knee, it's her favorite spot to watch a little television and snuggle.

The Joy of Socks & Odd Things as Hats

2008-12-31T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...what's in that plastic bag on the back of Dad's chair? I'm going to crawl up and get it, whatever it is. Maybe Mommy won't notice. Ooohh, soft and squishy, I'll pull them all out and put them on the floor. One goes here, one goes there, this is fun! Mommy, will you put these on my feet?

This is soft and squishy too. Um, Mommy, why are you putting that on my head? You're lucky I love you, I'll forgive, but never forget.

Milkmaid

2008-12-30T01:03:00.000-08:00

Today Pearl learned why it's not a good idea to grab for cups on a table. I was sitting on the sofa, heard a quickly drawn in breath, turned around, and found this...

Poor little bugaboo was dripping in milk. We got the floor and toys cleaned up, then plopped Miss Pearl into a bath. I tried so hard not to laugh at her, I failed miserably.

Pearl Pictures of the Day

2008-12-27T22:56:00.000-08:00

We're going to give the PPotD another try. Pearl does many amusing things in the course of a day, so it shouldn't be hard getting some of it on "film". We'll give you a few this first day, do we ever get sick of pictures of the monkey?

Our first photo is after breakfast. No, those aren't cold sores, jelly was the culprit. Pearl just loves her some PB&J!

Mimsy handed some jingle bells to Pearl and she thought they were fantastic. Off she toddled, shaking the hell out of them. She did try them out for taste, but quickly came to the conclusion that it was better to play with them.

One first this week was Pearl's first bandaid. She had a little sore on her leg from her one of her many tumblings on top of toys. Little Pearl kept trying to pick at it, so Mimsy fished out a Hello Kitty bandaid. I believe we'll have another Hello Kitty fan in the household now.

We will leave you with a lovely water baby. Pearl enjoys her bath time like no other. I do believe she inherited my love for the water, she doesn't want to get out. I dream of the day we'll have a bathtub here again, then she'd have a whole "ocean" at her fingertips.

Festive Family

2008-12-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's fun to watch the neighborhood come to life with christmas lights every year. Drab, ho-hum houses spring to life with their owner's take on the holiday. Clay did a beautiful job hanging twinklers here, blue lights have always been my favorite. Nana and Bumpa sent us a little tree, all decorated, and we have placed it in the front window with a penquin topper. Sorry for the blurry photo, we all know mommy's hands shake.

Of course Pearl is already trying to pull it down, but it's managed to stay upright so far. She is fascinated by the balls and ribbons, but the best part is....

...the box it arrived in! We put her blanket and a few toys in there and she was like a pig in poop! You can't quite tell from the photo, but she was dancing to the theme song from Family Guy. Pearl likes to boogie. I then futzed around with the camera settings and got this picture of miss thing. It's a strange exposure, but I like it.

We leave you with a poor quality photo of the Queen of the Links. Pearl donned her royal jewels and strutted her stuff, at least until she got all tangled up and begged Mimsy to rescue her. Poor monkey!

A Day of Ducks

2008-12-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

Pearl, Mimsy and I had a girls afternoon out. I showed Mimsy where Clay's new restaurant is, we made a quick stop at Starbucks for a frappuccino, and then headed down to Lake Lily for some duck watching and to get a little exercise. It's high time this couch potato sprouted some limbs and got out. The lake looked lovely, the Christmas tree was floating next to the fountain.

I've been going to Lake Lily since I was a little kid. My grandmother used to live across the street and would take my brother, sister and I to the art festival they hold there every year. It's a great "duck lake", it seemed like they had a population explosion! There were quite a few babies, and we even found some eggs.

After we walked around the lake once Pearl was set free from her stroller. It was her first time coming face to face with a group of ducks. She loved them! It was amazing to see her being so fascinated with these feathered creatures. Pearl would slowly follow them around, a huge smile on her face, and started making kissing noises at them.

After the duck excitement wore off we went exploring. Pearl was finding all sorts of goodies on the ground. We found a snail shell, a tiny plastic pig, sticks and some mulch.

Our last stop at the lake was the garden club. Pearl loved the flowers, she touches them and lights up with a big smile.

We stopped by Minnehaha park on the way home to show Mimsy where Pearl usually goes. When we came home we were treated to a beautiful display of Christmas lights. Clay was a busy elf while we were gone, the house looks so festive! It was a wonderful day.

So much love to give

2008-12-07T22:36:00.000-08:00

It's pretty wild to watch Pearl changing and growing. A couple of weeks ago she would pick up a stuffed animal, carry it around for a while, then toss it on the ground. Things are changing in the plushie department. Pearl now bestows heaps of love to her "babies". She will pick one up, hug it, makes her kissing noise with it up to her lips. Pearl also insists that others give the object of her affection lots of kisses too. Shoving the helpless stuffed thing into your face, she makes the kissing noise and will only take it back when you've placed smooches on it. Making two animals kiss is also a favorite past time.

Here is Pearl in all her glory, loving upon P-Earl.

Monsters, monsters everywhere!

2008-12-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

Everyone run for cover, the Pearl Monster was unleashed today. Poor Pearl was grumpy and weepy, maybe some new chompers are trying to bust through. Who knew that a BPA-free plastic spoon could be a potential lethal weapon when in the hands of a 14 month old? Not me, that's for sure! The scooping untensil was flying, hitting various members of the family in the head, temper tantrums were had, just all around gloominess for most of the day.

Our little beast is asleep in her crib at the moment, we'll see how long it lasts. There are short bursts of protest that emit from her mouth, possibly when she wakes planning her next method of madness while dreaming. Boob was of little comfort, the poor overworked girls even withstood some torture.

As a result of it all I got frustrated, irritated and annoyed. The Mommy monster crawled out and reared it's ugly head! Shooting daggers out of your eyes at your offspring feels wrong, but they flew none the less. I had visions of Pearl strapped to a huge spinning disc, and I the blindfolded thrower of sharp objects.

Tears flowed from my eyes, my stomach felt sick, how could I even let such thoughts go through my head? Then Clay reminded me that all parents have bad days, all kids have bad days. The fact that I got mad and irritated doesn't make me a bad mother, it makes me a real mother. It's just sad that what makes me human can also make me feel like such a monster.

Beware of the flesh eating girl. She may be smiling,
but turn your back and she'll pounce!

Busy Bees

2008-12-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

We've had quite the week here at the old Ponderosa. Pearl's Bumpa came for a visit, making the journey from cold Michigan! We spent Thanksgiving hanging out at the house eating, a day in Titusville where Bumpa swam at the beach and we went exploring, made a trip to Wekiwa Springs, and then to Pearl's favorite park.

It was great watching Pearl bond even more with her Bumpa. He taught her where her nose is, now she will point out yours if you ask her where it is. She gave him lots of kisses and smiles.

Pearl's firsts this week: kissing a boy, sipping from a straw, trip to the springs, alligator sighting, trip to ihop, coloring with crayons, hot fudge sundae tasting, seafood tasting.

Blogging about my monkey!

2008-11-08T00:47:00.000-08:00

Miss Pearl is so special she now has two blogs being written about her! It's almost 4 in the morning, I'm feeling loopy and out of it, so I'll kick this thing off by posting one of my favorite recent pictures of Pearl.