It was the best of times and the worst of times

Okay maybe not the worst of times but I have been MIA because my computer has been in the shop for a week!!!! I now know what an alcoholic or smoker feels like trying to kick the habit. Seriously though it did allow me to get my priorities in line with quality time. Dang Facebook! But here is the kicker after picking up my computer and paying $50 to be "fixed" I returned home to hear the same noise and it still not working. So I called the shop and she tells me that noise is the keyboard so all I really needed to have done was replace the KEYBOARD!!! FOR $10!!!! Ahhh I hate these life lessons!

Speaking of life lessons Carsyn has been learning lots of new things lately. Most of them to the embarrassment of her mother! Oh yes we have now entered the stereotypical phase of 2 year old that is portrayed in movies etc. For instance (yes I am aware this is not lady-like behaviour but how do I get her to stop) she is now obsessed with Pooting and Burping which she finds hilarious. So whenever she does it she starts laughing and says Poo Poo Poo. This conundrum however has helped to teach her to go #2 in the potty because she has gone on her own several times this week. Also as with most children this age learning body parts etc she now knows what breasts are so while in Church one day last week she started grabbing mine saying "Boobie Boobie Boobie" in a much too loud voice! I tried to avoid eye contact with anyone while quieting her down.


Carsyn's vocabulary expands daily but currently her favorite word is MESS! And she will intentionally make a MESS so she can say "UH OH MESS TOWEL" Twice yesterday she intentionally dumped her food onto the floor. Oh yeah- Time OUT! But seriously I think I hear the word MESS about 1000 times a day! Besides dumping food she can tear apart a room in 30 seconds flat.


Preschool was much better this week. One day we actually had no tears! The other days she still cried when I dropped her off but did not when I picked her up. Maybe she is getting the hang of it. I have felt guilty these past 2 weeks since I have had no obligations but after next week I will be busy busy with fall portraits so it will be necessary. Thank goodness the seperation anxiety is getting better.


Knock on wood- Carsyn has slept through the night every night this week! WHOOHOO!

Carsyn attended her first Southern Miss football game last week with me and Nonny. Daddy had to work of course. It was a great game despite the 100 degree weather- honestly I bet those VA fans thought they had entered HELL! I took Carsyn since it was an afternoon game and the irony that USM was playing VA (for those who do not know that I lived in VA as a child and my BFF from childhood was always a VA fan) was too much to pass up. I had a custom outfit made by my friend Dawne Taylor and I have to say she was the cutest cheerleader at the Rock. Keturah, us USM fans would like to know what was the song the VA fans sang and held hands after each score? Quite interesting? Carsyn made it to the 3rd quarter and was definitely a trooper! I think I had had enough before her- seriously it was like 100 degrees! The hottest game I have ever attended! Glad the Eagles pulled out the win though I sure didn't want to have to eat my words to Keturah! ;0 SMTTT!

21 months

Carsyn turned 21 months at the end of last week. I have read that at this age some children reverse to baby behavior and/or become less cooperative. Well Carsyn is definitely proving this theory to be true for her. At 18 months she was so content and independent and now its as if she wants to be a little baby again. She doesn't let me out of her sight, she screams bloody murder at Preschool (when she would run right in and play at MMO), she does not take the initiative to go potty anymore, she is waking up more and more at night, etc etc etc.

Her little brain is on overdrive, however, speaking new words every day. Her new most repeated phrase is "MOVE" not in a nice way- I was like where did she hear that and then I heard myself saying it to the dog. Whoops- I am so not a good role model. I don't like seeing my bad traits being mimicked by my child.

Also her little vocabulary is on autopilot repeating a word/phrase OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER until she gets what she wants or gets in trouble. I know this will soon be replaced with the WHY phase OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

Last night she had Danny and I in stitches as she went into her room got out the changing table mat and brought it to her baby doll then went and got the wipes and a diaper and attempted to change her. :) Maybe her maternal instincts will be better than mine....

It seems my mommy-radar has been "off" lately. First we had the incident in the car last week on the side of the road with #2 then one morning last week she awoke at 5:30 (after waking several times during the night) and I was too exhausted to get up so I let her cry until 15 minutes later and discover she had a dirty diaper- Dang it!

Can someone provide me with a mommy brochure with all of the answers? I would appreciate it.

Carsyn, I am trying my best sweetheart. Please bare with mommy and know that I love you and I will try not to cause you any detrimental harm before you are 18.

2nd day of Preschool

Well the drop-off went as I expected- A screaming clinging fit. Yes as I turned to run out of the room tears welling up in my eyes the director stopped me in the hall and said " you can call to check in on her if you would like." But I didn't. I knew she would stop. When I arrived to pick her up she was already waiting in the hall with the others. When she saw me she started yelling Mama and started tearing up. I think the chaos that is involved during pick-up time causes her some anxiety because they told me that she is okay until then.


Also I figured out the mystery behind her milk fit the first day. It seems as though at snack they only offer milk with the goldfish and we all know Carsyn will only drink milk out of her milk cup. So she probably went all morning from 8:20-11:20 without anything to drink. I asked the director if she could have water instead and she said that I would have to write a note because they are federally mandated to drink milk? Or I could send her milk cup (which I thought would cause a bigger stir with the other children), but I don't want to do that. She needs to be like the rest of the children. I would love if they could wean her off of this dang cup.


I had no idea this Preschool transition from Mother's Morning Out would be this difficult for her and myself! We LOVE Miss. Jan and she loved us! We were spoiled! Not that her preschool is a bad school (her daddy went there...27 years ago ;) ) but it is soooo much more structured. They did "make" a craft the 2nd day which was a family tree. I tried to make a big deal out of it. Here is a picture of her proudly displaying her art.


I hope this will get easier...I know it will.

1st day of Preschool

Today was Carsyn's first day of Preschool at Centenary where she will more than likely go 1/2 days until 4 yr old kindergarten. I wasn't really too worried about it- Carsyn has been going to Mother's morning Out for several months so I didn't think it would be too different. Last night we had meet the teacher- the realization that this was in fact school hit me. A big handbook, car pick up line, and party sign up sheets confirmed it! OH MY!

Last night (or morning shall I say) when Carsyn woke at 3:30 I prayed so hard she would go back to sleep quickly so that she would be rested for school. She did go back to sleep by 4 and slept until 7:30. Great yet we were rushed to get out the door in time. Instead of going thru the car line I walked her into school to her class. As I handed her over I waited for the cries but just as she said "MAMA?" I took her off not looking back. Quick like a band-aid! A fellow mommy-friend called to tell me she saw her and she was not crying so I felt pretty secure that she would be fine.

I showed up about 10 min early to pick her up and the choas did not help my nerves. When I arrived to her class the director was holding her and she had tears in her eyes and was saying Mama Mama MAma. They said she had been fine until just right before I got there and apparently someone said Mama and it sent her into a fit. She looked pitiful and clung to me like a koala bear when I picked her up. My thoughts of her sippy milk cup being a pacifier were confirmed when she started saying milk milk milk when we got in the car. She is napping peacefully now but I have a feeling she won't let me out of her sight today.

Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly....

Here are some pics from our morning

Labor Day weekend

This past weekend we traveled over to my mom's house in Hattiesburg for a visit. We rode over on Sunday morning and arrived in time for lunch with her and my dad who drove over from Kiln.


It is so funny to me how Carsyn now recognizes places- as we turned onto her road she started shouting NA NA NA NA (Nonny). Also the other day as we entered the driveway of my inlaws she saw Pop's truck and was shouting POP POP POP. And every time we drive up to the furniture store "DAYDEE DAYDEE."



So back to story...after we ate we went to the Party store to look at a costume I had seen online. My dad actually wanted to come with us...amazing what grandchildren will do to a man. He enjoyed trying on the costumes himself. I did not like the cat costume so we then went to Gymboree at the mall to look at their costumes. Again I was not impressed with the costume nore the $35 price tag. I know that Carsyn will more than likely not keep anything (ears, hat, etc) on her head at his age so why waste the money. Next we went to Belk where they had THE CUTEST "Halloween" outfit. I will refrain from the details so not to spoil the pictures but I believe this will definitely be our "costume" which is great because she can where it to school too for her party festivities.


We left and headed to Laurel to meet my cousin Adam's new baby Aiden. Due to the swine flu precautions my cousin Allison (his sister) was not able to come with us and bring her daughter Gracie as planned. We had intended on taking some shots of the cousins together. So I only took a few shots of him but he was conched out and I could have probably put him in a ton of adorable newborn positions but I didn't want to stress the nervous new mom out!


So onto the night where Carsyn did fairly well sleeping only waking once and quickly going back to sleep. I, on the other hand, did not get much sleep once she got in the bed with me with her feet in my stomach. When we woke the next morning we got dressed and met Allison and Gracie to head to D'Iberville to Kangarooz. Gracie was beside herself with excitement and Carsyn as well. My child LOVES LOVES LOVES the slide! And she says it OVER AND OVER AND OVER! While Carsyn is still a little too young even though they have a toddler section she still had a blast. Of course she wanted to go on the BIG SLIDE like Gracie but I tried to climb up and I couldn't make it carrying a 30lb weight. I swear I don't there is much difference between those contraptions and an army obstacle course! I did manage to make it up the medium slide and go down it with her. Her laugh was priceless!


On our way back home (Carsyn only having a 30 min nap on the way down) both the mommies passed out asleep (Nonny driving of course!) and the children wide awake! So our story takes a terrible turn here. After dropping off Allie and Gracie, Carsyn and I made our way to Mccomb. She was fine for the first 20 minutes but then she started screaming. I thought she was just overtired but she never stopped. So then I thought the seat belt was too tight and was bothering her but after loosening it she still screamed. Then I just thought she was being bad and wanted out of the car seat. And so goes the mommy guilt. After threatening her with discipline I decided to pull over on the side of the road to see inside her diaper. When I got the diaper off I could see the problem- she needed to go #2 and it was not coming out...so to spare the details...I had to assist her. It was terrible I tell you! TERRIBLE! And who felt like the worst mommmy on the planet on the side of the road not knowing my child was in pain! She soon calmed down and we started our trip home again. Only I had to sing "The itsy bitsy spider" over and over and over and over and over again until we arrived home 40 minutes later!

So our week

So our week was not a great one...After the last post our "strange" phase continued. Pretty much from last Thursday to Wednesday of this week was just odd. I hate when I can't say "OH this is why this is happening." There is so much unknown when you have children.



Carsyn finally did start sleeping back through the night around Tuesday- around the same time I put the humidifier back in her room. It seems to help immensely. Does anyone know if the warm mist or cool mist is better? I have the warm mist and her room feels like a sauna when I go get her in the morning. Now that it is getting fall that will be fine but I suppose I will get cool mist for next summer?



On Wednesday Carsyn and her daddy spent a wonderful father/daughter afternoon together while I went to Hammond with a friend for a little mommy R&R! A note to all future mommies- let your husband help and learn from his mistakes. I wanted to control everything and it has taken me 20 months to where I just let him do it his way. Daddies will never get the confidence to do it on their own or the desire to want to help if they constantly hear "That's not right." Coincidentally this exact article was in this month's Parenting magazine, go figure?



We have enjoyed lots of fun with our little playgroup that has formed. We have about 5 girls all about the same age that play together. AND I am super excited about our new play place called Wiggles and Giggles that we shall visit sometime next week.



We head to Hattiesburg tomorrow to visit Nonny and meet baby Aiden (my cousin's new son). Possibly on Monday we will head over to Gautier to try out the play place there called Kangaroo's. Look for some fun pictures and sweet newborn shots next week. I am bringing the heavy artillery to take some "real" portraits.



Also next week Carsyn transitions from Mommy's Morning Out to actual 3 day 1/2 day preschool! We meet the teacher on Tuesday...I will post lots when we return!


This is the sweet girl I missed the past few days...I foundher like this in her bedroom yesterday morning....notice the runny nose that we have had for a week that has been one of the reasons her spirits have been dampened.