Singing lady

Well, it is time to make a post all about little Sallie Rose. There is so much to say about her, but I will try and keep it to the highlights.

First off, she loves to sing. She sings Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, I love you (Barney song), Barbara Ann (Beach Boys, I think), Skina ma rink?, and so much more. It is one of those things that makes my heart hurt when she starts singing. We'll be riding in the car and she just starts singing Twinkle Twinkle little Star. Most precious thing I have ever heard. The best part is that she doesn't quite know how to say the words, but she knows the tune and rhythm and just makes up words. I have tried and tried to get it on video, but she wants to grab it every time she sees it. She loves to sing and of course when we are done she says "more please".

She can count to about 16 and knows most of her ABC's. It is kind of the same with the ABC's as it is singing. She can sing along to the tune, but there are a few letters that are only mumbles. She reads a few words. Yes, she reads. Her Daddy bought her the "your baby can read" videos and she can read. No lies here. It is a little creepy to me, but what the hey, nothing wrong with your 19 month old reading more than you. Right? Next, the two of us will be lying around reading US Weekly together and I can tell her all about what not to wear and do. It will be very educational.

Sallie Rose still loves to dance, not as much as before, but she does. She is a little more into hopping than dancing. She does like to tap dance. I think she got that from Sesame Street.

She sleeps so well now. We got back from Texas in April and she sleeps so great. I am not sure what happened, but I never have to get up in the middle of the night anymore. Thank the Lord, literally. I am so grateful. I love to sleep!

She is definitely having some trouble with defiance, but overall her tantrums are pretty minimal. She does have a hitting problem, but we are working on that. We do time outs and hand restraints. I have smacked her bottom (very lightly) a couple of times and she seems puzzled. I am not going to lie people, I will be spanking, not often, but there will be some spankings in Sallie Rose's future. I got spanked and look how well I turned out. I have never been in jail, please I was never even sent to the Principal's office. I have never....well, I guess that about sums it up. I rarely even got spanked, unless Sara was involved in my afternoon and then she would get me to do something to Tara and then there were spankings. I digress....back to Sallie Rose.

We are swimming, sliding, picinicing, going to Summer Camp, church nursery school, running, loving, kissing, and so much more. I have enjoyed her so much lately. She finally is showing some affection to us and we are soaking it all in. She loves her Daddy. Soooooo much! On a side note: the other day I was changing her diaper and Kevin was "assisting" and she said her name, said Mommy and then called Kevin Daddy Rose. It was so adorable. I cried of course. When she says her own name it is really sweet, but Daddy Rose, precious. I guess she thinks that is every one's middle name or maybe just Kevin's.

Who knew?

Who knew that quitting your job would make for such a stressful week. My week started with the relief of knowing that my life was going to start to slow down a little. Well, that definitely was not the case last week. I told my boss that I needed more time off and of course he begged me to stay. Ok, there was no begging, but he asked me nicely to stay part time for a while to finish out some projects and then to consider working from home on certain things. I said sure.

Well, then all 3 of us got sick. Sallie Rose had been a little sick off and on, but as of Monday she was the big green booger producer. Then, I followed in her foot steps and began coughing and blowing my nose. Kevin followed shortly after. Then, Kevin's Mom got sick and had to go into the hospital for a few days. Kevin stayed with her one night and saw her everyday she was there. She is home now and feeling better.

I had tons of call for rentals, yeah! However, that means lots of talking on the phone and scheduling appointments, getting rentals cleaned, residents notified to pick up their undies and then actually taking people around to look at each rental. Exhausting. But we are thanking God for the calls and praying for leases to be signed.

We had a birthday party on Saturday for Sallie Rose's best friend, Andrew. I think they might be more than friends, but I haven't told Kevin. They see each other 3 or 4 times a week. His babysitter and Susan get together for play dates. The party was fun and Sallie Rose definitely enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

Sunday of course was Mother's Day. Kevin let me sleep in until 8:30 and then made me waffles. It was nice, but we were all so tired and cranky. I sent Sallie Rose to Church with Kevin and I went and picked up Ms. Virginia, my 98 year old friend, and took her to Church. After Church, I went to Target by myself, got Pizza Hut bread sticks and a coke and went home. That was my Mother's Day gift: being by myself to do nothing for 30 minutes. We did make it downtown after naps for shopping and playing. It was a good day, but Monday rolled around again and I wished I had done more relaxing. Maybe this weekend?

No, this weekend we have a garage sale at Susan's, Sallie Rose's first swim class, and a going away party. As my annoying Mom always said to me in high school, "you can sleep when you die". Ugh...I hated that phrase.

I have a lot to update on Sallie Rose, but I will do that in a separate post.

1 Month Ago

Wow, I am not even sure where to start. It has been a month since I have written or posted pictures. I guess I have just been busy. I will try to summarize the last month and then give an update on what is going on within the next month.

First, Kevin and I went on our first ever Mommy/Daddy get away alone in 18 months. I can't believe we have never done this. That's what happens when you live 3 states away from all of your family. You have limited parties of whom you would trust your child's care with. Susan is our main person, and she watches Sallie Rose every day during the week, so we hate to burden her with it. Sweet as Susan is, she said she would keep her and we went and it was well deserved and overdue. It was fun.

Next we went to Texas for a long weekend. Last minute, but also really needed. I needed to get out of town, see my family, and get Sallie Rose used to seeing her Texas family. She did fine, although she was apprehensive a little still. The time will come when I have to pull her away screaming and crying.

Last and for the present. I am giving my notice tomorrow at work. Why you ask? Well, a lot of reason, but the main one being that I have a lot of responsibilities here at home and I can't work 6 full days anymore like I have for the last year. I am tired and I want to spend more time with my family. No, my job at the office is not demanding. Actually, quite the opposite. It is boring at times and very draining on my creative juices. So, what will I do with my time you ask?

1. Be a part time stay at home Mom who works while the baby girl sleeps.
2. Run 12 properties and 40 something residents (and all their crying and whining)
3. Work on my architecture website, link to come soon, and start studying for the 7 tests that I must take to call myself an Architect.
4. Pick up architecture/interior design work as I can find it. Seems to come out of no where most of the time.
5. Do a lot of volunteer work for Urban Hope, which I sit on the board for
6. Paint artwork, furniture, and anything else that I can get my hands on.
7. Get inventory ready for my retail space that I will hopefully open sometime next year, as well as have my Architectural firm in the back of.
8. Spend time with Kevin and Sallie Rose on the weekends. Kevin has never had a weekend off since I have known him. We are hoping that since I will be doing 90% of the property work that he will have weekends off again. Yeah!!
9. Travel to see my family, in laws, friends, and things

I haven't told many people that this was coming, mainly because I wanted to make the decision on my own without a lot of opinions. I didn't want to hear that I was giving up my career for my husband's properties. That is not true at all. I will be going back to where I first started with my love for art and design. I will use my experience that I have gotten for the last 4 years and break free from sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day. No one knows what is best for you and your family other than the Mother herself. I made the decision and I am really excited about it. Last year was the hardest year I have ever experienced and this year will be better, because I am making it better!

Gotta get to bed now. We have a sick baby and I have a feeling she might be up a lot tonight. She threw up 3 times in the car as we were driving home from Target. Not the best parenting moment I have ever had, and it was really sad to see.