The Binky Fairy

Well, folks.  We're officially binky free!  

At the ripe age of three and a half years old, I think it was time.

Hip, hip hooray!  

(for both mommy and child)

For at least the past six months, we had made progress by only using the binky at night.  It stayed in the bed and Lois wasn't allowed to use it unless she was in her bed - and going to sleep.  This was a huge victory, in my opinion.  For so long, we had to drag that stinkin' pacifier EVERYWHERE.  And if we didn't have it, I'd panic.  Because that girl loved that thing.  

And I have to be honest...so did I.  I couldn't function without it. 

Over a span of six months, we kept talking to her about how the binky fairy was going to come to get her used to the idea that she was going to have to give up her binky at some point.  She'd always go along with it and say things like, "I don't need my binky!" or, "The binky fairy took my binky..." - and then come bedtime, she'd cry for her binky screaming, "I don't want the binky fairy to take my binky!"  I kept caving in and giving it to her, because I needed my sleep, people!    (Remember how I had a newborn?  I rest my case.)

One night, whilst Jason was away on call at the hospital, Lois was being particularly sassy.  And I snapped.  I had had enough of that little sassy-bot.  I said, "You're not getting your binky tonight!  I'm serious this time!"  Because, let's be honest, she was ready.  She was three and a half years old! She was perfectly capable of understanding that she was a big girl and didn't need it anymore.  I, too, was ready.  Simon was sleeping through the night now and I wasn't as protective about my sleep anymore.  

She understandably dismissed my comment, as if to say, yeah, right mom! hahahahahaha!!!  

And then my a-ha moment came.  She was never going to make the choice on her own to give up the binky, because she loved it.  I had to admit that I was the weak one in this situation.  So, I stuck to my guns that night.  And I got hell for it.  Absolute rage.  Absolute screaming.  Absolute madness.  At one point I thought about giving it to her, but those extra boosts of courage and patience kept coming -- and I didn't want to reinforce that if she screamed enough, she'd get what she wanted.  It was a miracle.  The good Lord was with me that night.  

But let's be honest.  It was nuts and I felt like the devil had possessed her little body.  That girl screamed and yelled for three hours straight.  Three.  Freakin'.  Hours, dude!  She finally fell asleep in the praying position in her doorway.  Then, came 1am.  She woke up again.  Screaming.  Crying. Demanding her binky.  Commence another hour of screaming.  This time she fell asleep in the hallway.  In the morning - and this is my favorite part - Lois woke up incredibly proud of herself and exclaimed in a very hoarse voice, "I slept without my binky and I didn't even cry!!"  

Ummm, "%&^**#@#^%&#$?!?!?"

Bless her heart.  I couldn't help but love her for how proud she was of herself.  All she needed to know was that she could sleep without her binky.  The next night was slightly better but still a struggle.  She asked for it.  She wanted it.  She needed it, you know?  I hadn't gotten my act together with the whole binky fairy "gift" yet, so I said something like, "I can't find your binky anywhere!  The Binky Fairy must have come and gotten it and taken it to a new little baby."  She bought it and after lots of singing and stories, she fell asleep.

The next day, I went out and bought a few things and put a little package together.  I had my friend drop it off on the doorstep and ring the doorbell so that when Lois answered the door, there'd be an exciting surprise for her.

And below are the results!

A unicorn - pure happiness here.  Pure happiness, indeed.

Reading the note from the one and only binky fairy

She also got a little beany baby kitten.

And some lip gloss...

(and notice Simon in the background...he was looking at those balloons in every picture!)

Some slinky action

She thought it was cool that her lip gloss matched her shirt!  That binky fairy is brilliant and she doesn't even know it!

It's been a breeze after that third night.  I was a little worried that she'd try to steal Simon's binky, but she has never done that - thank goodness!  About the only negative:  With her binky also went her wonderfully nice two to three-hour afternoon naps.    

 Good job, Lois!  We're so proud of you!

A New & Exciting Decade!

This past October, I said goodbye to my twenties and gladly welcomed the big 3-0!  

I was so lucky to have my mom in town to help celebrate this monumental time in my life.  I love her dearly.  Because she was here, Jason and I were able to enjoy a birthday dinner night out for our birthdays - without kids!!  

(In case you didn't know, Jason's birthday is the day after mine.  We're cute like that.)

This picture was taken at Macaroni Grill on Jason's 34th (Happy Birthday, baby!!) 

And me.  At 30 and a day old!  

I may be a little chunkier than my twenty-something self, but I couldn't be happier with my life!  :)

And my sweet husband, in celebration of my big day, threw me a surprise party!  I, like a total fool, didn't take one photo from that night.  BOOOO!  That was an egregious mistake. 

Many wonderful friends were there to celebrate with me and there was lots of yummy food.     

I have to admit I kind of knew something was going on, but didn't quite know what was happening.  The quick synopsis is this:  Jason contacted a few of my close friends about throwing a party, but I happened to catch a glimpse of an email train with the title line, "Party for Lili's 30th birthday" a few days after he'd started scheming. 

(hint:  If you're trying to be sneaky, don't title your email something so obvious...) 

So, like a good wife, I naturally acted clueless, but I secretly knew something was brewin'.  

A week later, he disclosed that he had been planning something but it had all fallen apart.  Immediately, I started to pull together a gathering at a local restaurant and started to make calls to all of our friends to invite them to a last-minute party.   (Later I found out that Jason had spent the good part of the day contacting everyone I had contacted telling them what was really going on!)  The night of my birthday, we went to pick up Deb for our dinner party out and I was greeted with a "SURPRISE!"

  Everyone was there.  They are all so sweet.

Well played, babe.  Well played!  

My sweet mom also treated me to a night away that weekend.  We got a nice hotel room, ate good food, slept in, went shopping and enjoyed hanging out together while Jason stayed home and watched the kids.  I sure married a good egg.  He's totally amazing.  And that night away was amazing, too!  Thanks, mom.  You're the ultimate best ever.

And on top of all that, I got a Nikon DSLR camera!  I've been wanting a nice camera for years and I'm loving it so far.  Now, all I have to do is learn how to take it out of auto mode and really use it.  Any one want to teach me?!?

I'm one blessed lady.  

My thirties are gonna be stellar.  I know it.

And just for some fun pictures of the family...

She's growing up so fast...

Simon started to crawl in October...in about a week, he was zipping around.  It was crazy how fast he got moving.

He also popped a few more teeth out.  

He was introduced to the singing and dancing Easter chicken.   

It was a rough go at first, but they are now good buddies.  

And he smiled lots!

This is the best age, I swear.

Lois showing off her new My Little Pony from my mom

Grammasita helped add to Lois' My Little Pony collection...

I'm not going to lie when I say she makes this mama proud!  I was a MLP collector as a little girl too.  

And a picture of my beautiful mom.  I'm so grateful for her and all she does for me and my family.  She always makes things better when she comes.  

We love you, grammasita.  

Snowy Mountain of Lemons!

Would you believe that Tucson gets snow and has its very own ski resort?

It's totally awesome.  If you drive for about a half hour up to the top of Mount Lemmon (approx 8,000 feet) you can see (and play and ski!) in the most south-easterly snow in the old US of A.  The best part about it is this: no snow removal necessary!  Never having to shovel or scrape snow off your car?  Yes, please!

In the words of Charlie Sheen, "Winning!"

Lois was so excited to go up and see the snow she could barely contain it.  As we were driving up, she kept exclaiming, "Look at the snow!!!"  It was a good morning for that little lady.  And I'm so glad we got to see some snow because we didn't see a lick of snow when we went to Utah for Christmas break. 

 Jason was trying to teach Lois how to make a proper snow angel.

Lois isn't so sure about laying in the snow.

 That's my handsome stud muffin!

 Pretty.

 love that smile.  

 "I'm gonna throw a snowball at you! Mwa-hahaha!"

 "Oh, no - I don't think so, mama!!  Hi-ya!"

 hold it, hold it...

 Look at that expression - Lois quickly making a comeback snowball...

Don't worry.  She totally hucked that ball in my face!    

She has no mercy, that little spunker.

I look all happy, but I'm crying inside.

 Lois wasn't too happy about her cold hands.

 Daddy was an excellent stabilizer on that slippery snow!

 My three favorite people.

 Edible cheeks, I'm telling you.  Completely and utterly edible.

 It got a little chilly for Simon, so we went and hung out in the car for a while.  I enjoyed taking some more pictures of his adorable mug.

 I mean, seriously?   Seriously.  He's fantastically cute.

 ...and so is she!  Shortly after this stage of "I can't smile normally" - I'm happy to report that she can actually smile like a normal human being.  Progress!

 Excuse me while i go eat him.  I have repeatedly died over this picture.  

 She had a blast!

 The rock formation at the Windy Point lookout point

It was a gorgeous day.  I love Arizona skies.  Gorgeous!

Octoberfest

October!  We love October in our house!  

Why?  

Birthdays.

Halloween.

Pumpkins!

Baking and decorating lots of goodies.

We like it around here, yes we do! 

To start off my recap of our October 2011, here's some pictures to document our first trip to the pumpkin patches of Marana!

It was like 90 degrees that day.  Whoa, it was hot in that blazing sun.  Gotta love Arizona!  

A rare occasion - a family photo!  Too bad for the belly shot.  Oops.

Oh, man.  Little spunky.

Here we are heading out to the pumpkin fields to select our very own pumpkin!  Lois is beaming with excitement...I mean...errr..

Okay.  There's the excitement!  I told you it was hot, right?  

And I was totally awesome matching my purse to the pumpkins.  I'm cool.

I think Simon was super lethargic because he was so hot.  Mr. Deadpan at his finest.

And here we are all red-faced and happy!  

We also watched the baby pigs race.  Due to the temperatures and crowds, we decided to decline all the extra fun activities that day, but I think it was hit, nonetheless!

Now some pictures from Halloween.

This is our ward's Halloween party and the costumes did not disappoint.

This cute family dressed up as Toy Story characters...you'll see a pic of the mom below.  But that little miss was Mrs. Potato Head.  So cute!  (And that's Simon's future wife, just so you know. He's only 4 days older than her.  We've got it all planned out.  I hope they're okay with it.)

Jason pulled off a fantastic last-minute Jack Sparrow.  Nice make-up job, babe!  Simon was a little scared of him.  I'm not going to lie.  So was I.

I pulled together some lameness of a costume, but it got the job done.  And Simon outgrew his costume  (a cute lobster costume to go with the mermaid!) by the time it was time to wear it, so he's sportin' a black outfit to fit in with his parents.

And sadly, Lois was sick that night with a fever, so she stayed home with grammasita!  (she was here the whole month!  It was the best.) 

Cute friends of mine...

And there's "Jesse"!  Love these ladies.

And here's Lois posing next to Herbert, our scarecrow.    Isn't she the cutest - and isn't he the ugliest?  He gave us a fright every time we opened our front door.

Lois was a mermaid, of course.  She's obsessed with them.  

And she was totally diggin' that make-up.

And yes.  It was warm enough that Lois didn't have to wear a jacket.  So awesome!

The night went as such: trick-or-treating to about 20 houses and that's a wrap!  

Happy (very, oh-so-very belated) Halloween!