Dear Laina (2 1/2 Years!)

Dear Laina,

My sweet, sweet Laina. On this very day, you are two and a half years old!! Too bad you must spend your half birthday with a black eye! (a minor preschool incident)

You sporting your bruised eye...with your baby doll "Baby Sarah"...

Where has the time gone? You have gone from my teeny tiny baby to my tall and testy toddler. You are FULL of personality these days. Still sweet and kind and a little shy. Lately you have been full of SASS and spunk and independence - typical of a two year old I guess :)


You are full of mischief, and your curiosities rarely remain a mystery ;)



You like to talk back to you mommy and daddy as well (who you have been calling "Sarah" and "Adam" - don't get me started on that, sassy girl!!!)


You melt my heart each and every day. You still love to give hugs and sometimes kisses. You still love for mommy to hold you and snuggle you. You are still a mama's girl through and through, and I LOVE IT! Just about everyone says you will eventually become a daddy's girl, and while this could be true, I'd like to think you will always be a mama's girl. My girl.


Oh how I have enjoyed my time at home with you, sweet girl. I love getting up together and "taking it easy" for a while...sometimes a long while :)

Pictured below is your other baby doll, "Hallie Birthday"...
P.S. You still love Daisy ;)

But once we get going, we REALLY get going! You are quite an active girl. Playing outside is your absolute favorite thing to do. The sunshine + My Sunshine = Spectacular Day!


I love having all our meals together and playing the part of a short order cook, filling all of your many requests - ha!


I love reading to you and playing with you and watching you learn and grow...and love.


I love love love our girl time! You are a GIRLY girl, interested in baby dolls and princesses and clothes and accessories.


Our new girly thang is mani/pedi time! You get to choose your color from mommy's plentiful stash of nail polishes. Tonight's choice was mango spice :)


More than anything, I love listening to you chatter. You are quite a funny (and dramatic) little girl! You incorporate many faces and expressions and hand gestures into your stories. The performance seeking dramatic side, you get from your daddy. At least that's the story I'm sticking to :)


Every time we lay you down to sleep, we ask you what you'd like to dream about, and I look forward to your various responses. It could be anything from the trash can to a sticker. Tonight you wanted to dream about everyone in your preschool class, no one excluded, even the boy who gave you the black eye. That's my sweet girl :)


Other cute things worth mentioning...When you come up to me (usually when you're trying to delay something inevitable - like going to bed or getting your diaper changed) and say, "Let's talk." As I'm typing this, you have managed to weasel around and climb in my lap. Being in the same room is often not good enough. You want to be right with mommy at all times. What a great pal you are!

Brushing mama's hair...

I am a little sad that tomorrow I will be returning to work full time, leaving my role as full time mommy and stepping into the role of full-time working mommy. While it was my choice, and something that I believe will be good for our family, I am sad to leave you behind as I venture about my day. Change is never easy. You will be in good hands though, with daddy for the most part for now. But it's still hard. I hope the transition is easier than I'm expecting. Either way, the thought of coming home to your smiling face will get me through each and every day.


You are my light, my angel, my doll.

I love you most most,

Mommy (aka "Sarah" - HA!)

New Year, New 'Do

Why not start the new year right with a new 'do? Let it be known that Alaina's 1st haircut (trim, actually) took place on the evening of January 2, 2012. The date is probably only important to me considering my blog is substituting as Alaina's virtual baby book. Maybe one day I'll get to Alaina's actual baby book :)


Anyway, tangles led to a trim, and we have Jessica to thank for her handiwork. Jessisa has been cutting Adam's hair for years, and she is practically the only hairdresser he trusts. So if she's good enough for Adam, she's good enough for Alaina!


We got to borrow Jessica after hours at her home nearby. Alaina felt totally comfortable there. Maybe the friendly puppy dog had something to do with that :)


Truthfully, no one can tell she got her hair cut. It's just a tad shorter and nothing different, like bangs or anything. We want to grow her hair out. But is still goes on record as being a 1st for our 1st!


You are beautiful, Alaina Brooke!!

Zoo Atlanta (May 2011)

So 7 months have gone by since our family trip to Zoo Atlanta. I'm sticking to the motto, "Better late than never." Yeah. So here goes!

In MAY 2011 Adam, Alaina & I headed down to the famous Zoo Atlanta.


Adam & I had been throwing around the idea of taking Alaina on her 1st trip to the zoo for many months. Our criteria: going in either the spring or fall, when the weather would be bearable. By the time we put our plan into action, Alaina was about 21 months, and if I remember correctly, the weather was already H!O!T! Like 90 degrees I think...in early May...yeah, gotta love the hot south. Better hot than cold, I always say :)

Look how young Alaina looks in these pics...(sigh)






A favorite moment: checking out Panda Bear...rolling around in the hay...


...and taking a much deserved nap...


As luck would have it, Adam was pooped on by a bird. He is a great target for some reason. This spring, he was the unfortunate landing of at least 2 messy bird poops!


A great reminder to WASH UP!


Our absolute most favorite moment was waiting around the gorilla exhibit in hopes to see the newest gorilla, born just the day before. Somehow I can't find any pics of any gorillas in my photos...huh...at this point, I don't have any clue if there were any or if so, where in the heck they are! All I seem to have is Alaina pressed up against the exhibit, which could be the gorilla habitat or possibily the tiger habitat. This is just one of the downfalls of waiting 7 months to blog. Whoops!


Whatever exhibit this is, Alaina looks cute nonetheless! Plus, I dug up a photo from the web that would be better than any one I would have taken. Here's mama Kudzoo with her precious newborn baby (also Willie B's grandchild).


It was amazing to see the gorillas in action, specifically the females in mommy mode. One mama had her hand practically glued to a toddler gorilla's leg. The toddler was pretty much bouncing off the walls, and if not for his mom's firm grip, he'd have been all over the place! And Kudzoo - she is a GREAT mom-illa! (I just made that up ;) Very protective, very nurturing, totally devoted.


This goes to prove that MOMS, no matter the species, have an unquestionably special role in life :)

Poke-E-Dot & Ghost

I'd like to introduce you to Alaina's two newest animal pals...Poke-E-Dot & Ghost. Here's the story on how we found them...

On one of Adam's latest driving adventures, he discovered a pasture near his parents' house. In the pasture was none other than a horse and a goat. Once Adam was spotted, the horse would strut up to the fence. Curiously the goat would follow in the horse's shadow. Quite an odd pair if you ask me, but then again, who asked me?!?


Well, Adam just knew that Alaina would love to meet these animals, and boy was he right. The two of them went out one day for a car ride, and when they came home I heard all about their trip.


Not only did Alaina meet the horse/goat duo, she named them as well! Poke-E-Dot seemed like a suitable name for the horse with somewhat of a dot pattern (I agree!).


I guess Ghost was a pretty good fit for the goat. At least in Alaina's eyes.


I guess it makes sense. After all, the word ghost sounds like goat. And Alaina met the animals around Halloween, when she was first hearing about ghosts (through her Bubble Guppies kids program of all places!) Plus, this goat vanishes like a ghost the second he steps behind big old Poke-E-Dot. HA!


It's been about a month or so since we've seen the pair, but we will surely be back soon. Something tells me these furry friends won't mind considering the attention they get every time Alaina visits.

Loving on Poke-E-Dot...



Let's not forget Ghost...



*Bonus: School bus on the premise! Alaina lights up when she sees an orange school bus. One day, Alaina :)

Happy Halloweenie

A little late, but I'd like to wish all my blog friends a sincere "Happy Halloweenie."


Halloween used to be my most favorite holiday growing up. I loved to dress up. I loved trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with my friends. Candy...mmmmm! I loved that my dad went all out to spook out our house. He created life-like crash scenes involving cars and/or motorcycles, complete with smoke and lights and his sound system. He would strategically hide in various places and wait until just the perfect time to whisper "BOO!" into his microphone, scaring the poor kids out of their minds. Evidence of a successful scare could be spilled candy all over the yard, curse words flying high and kids running in every direction opposite of our house. We always had Halloween spook stories to share once the night was said and done. Our house was THE house to come to for a good scare. I would have never taken little Alaina to our house back in the day. I'm certain Alaina would have found it to be way too "spoooooky."


This year, we involved ourselves in several Halloween-ish festivities. Mid-October, our Fab5+ group of old church friends got together at Rachael's house. Rachael went ALL OUT to decorate for fall. But then again, Rachael goes all out for every occasion, so I'm not surprised by her decorative brilliance. Go Rachael!



This was a multi-purpose occasion. First, we wanted to all get together before 2 new babies joined the party...Chelsea has since had her precious baby Eloise! Hillary is next. Of course we always get together to socialize and EAT! We also wanted to get the kids together for a costume picture like we have in previous years. Rachael lined up a holiday craft, which we didn't participate in since we had to leave early (Rah-Rah's school had a fall festival going on around the same time). And the real occasion was to get everyone together to celebrate Noel & Chelsea's good news regarding their foster child K. Chelsea walking in on the "surprise!"


Alaina also had a costume parade at her preschool. Adam was able to see come see all the cute kiddos parade around in their costumes.


Next came a visit to our neighbors' church for their fall festival. They set up fun stations for the kids. There was a bounce house and food and snacks and candy!


Too bad Alaina can't have chocolate...yeah, too bad it will all go to waste around here. Wink, wink ;) ;)


On Halloween, we got together with the Sawyer's (neighbors mentioned above) for a fun night of trick-or-treating! They picked a nearby neighborhood since ours is a total DUD!



If you couldn't tell, Alaina dressed as a GA cheerleader this year. The Belle thing just
didn't work out. Maybe next year. Addison was a poodle girl. And a cute one at that!



The girls had the best time, despite shivering and occasionally getting spooked out by a few sights along the way.


Lucky for us, Daddy is a ghost buster :)


When we returned home, we decided to stop in and wish Mr. Tracy & Mrs. Christine a happy halloween. Alaina LOVES Mr. Tracy! And his dog Abbie.


Last year at Mr. Tracy's house...

Then Mr. Kenneth & Miss Aimelie got home and we ventured down the street to visit them for a bit. Aimelie is always a hit with the girls!


Before long, the night was over and another Halloween had come and gone. But even though the holiday is gone, the loot remains!

Alaina with her "punkin patch"...



Happy Halloweenie to all, and to all a good night :)