Halfway through November

I know that being busy is a great thing but damn, where did the time go? I feel like I blinked and lost two weeks. The only reason I have the time to sit and type this up is because we are eating dinner with the parents tonight and they picked Chloe up from school. Billy is working late so I came home to let the puppy out and feed the cat. I have been busting my hump working these two jobs and last weekend was the first weekend we didn't have a wedding or some other social event to attend. What we did with our weekend was build the chicken coop and had a movie night. I also started documenting all of the sales and make my Christmas shopping list! I know it's a little early but I like to get the co-workers, teachers, and friends done in November so December's money goes to Billy and the kids. Plus, I have an elf that will be arriving with an advent calendar on December 1st so I cannot procrastinate too long!
Job 1 just informed me that my family and I will be heading to Nashville this winter. I will of course be in conferences for a few days but Billy and Chloe will have the time to explore the city. We will also get to visit with our amazing friends in Tennessee and I cannot wait for that. It will be so much fun to have the whole gang together again and they promised to show us some Tennessee hot spots and even offered to babysit one day! I have already started scouting adorable winter gear for the Princess!
Job 2 is going amazingly. I cannot believe how fast my little business is growing. I think I may even get promoted this months, well, I am working hard to get promoted I should say. I had my Big Business Launch last week and it was a huge success. I've already had three potential clients just from an hour presentation. I am so thankful for my Rodan and Fields! My skin looks amazing and I'm getting extra money and incentives! I also love reaching out to people and I am really honing in my ability to talk to just about anyone only now I am teaching myself how to switch the conversation over to Rodan and Fields instead of how adorable Chloe is.
Billy is really working on his mini-farm. The chicks are a few weeks old now and a few are almost fully feathered. The coop just needs some paint and the run and our fowl can move into their new home. Shouldn't be that much longer and we will have all the eggs we can eat!
In my planning of the return of Mintzy the elf I have come across so many events locally for the season and I am hoping to hit as many as I can. I will also try to post some of the hot deals I find. To start, PhotoBarn.com has $9 Wooden ornaments on Cyber Monday! Just type in the code ORNAMENT09 I am definitely getting one or two of these for gifts. I am hoping for a day this week or next to write up a blog about the many wonderful things in my life that I am grateful for. So, please have patience with me as I am still struggling to find the balance!

Where did October go?

Wow! That just flew right by. You know we've been super busy with everything when I haven't had time to blog about it all. We had a wonderful October filled with field trips, baking, crafting, family and friends.
We visited Harvest Moon farm and ran through a corn maze. Chloe had our map and diligently stared at it then ran around corners leading us to safety. They had awesome tire swings and I was so jealous as she was swinging on them. I seriously want Billy to make one for me. They had a petting area and we were bombarded by baby goats. Chloe and Billy were fascinated with the baby chicks and guess what we now own 6 little hens. We went out a week later and purchased our fowl, brought them home and made them a brooder. Our amazing friends donated 2x4's and some plywood and Billy is building a coop for them to move in to once they are capable of living on their own.
My very long-time friend Ryan was married last week. We both purchased fancy new attire and played like rich people in downtown Tampa. The ceremony was gorgeous in St. Anthony's Chapel and from there we made our way to the 38th floor to celebrate at the University Club. We didn't know a soul other than Ryan and his parents when we entered the church but when we left the reception we had made several new friends. Chloe spent the day with her Aunt Courtney walking for breast cancer awareness, having a play date and baking cookies.


Chloe's school had spirit week and my poor girl missed most of it because she was sick but she mended in time for the black and orange party. Thankfully, since I made her a skirt and a shirt with an adorable ghost on it.

We attended a zombie themed Halloween party. Billy and I went as zombie hunters and Billy did an amazing jobs with our costumes. He even taught himself how to use costume makeup to create scars and cuts. Chloe was a mermaid and I made her costume. I must say that I think it came out adorably and every house said she was the cutest mermaid they'd ever seen.
With the time change today has been extremely exhausting and I plan to write more tomorrow so I am keeping this one short. One more thing though, I made my first sale and signed my first Preferred Customer today!!! Not a bad way to start the month! I have been pinning Thanksgiving ideas all day so be prepared for lots of Turkeys and baking!

Anniversary Special

I didn't blog last night because it was our wedding anniversary and we were out celebrating. Our beautiful daughter went to spend the night with her grandparents and we enjoyed a four-course fondue meal at the Melting Pot. They seated us in a private booth which, was basically our own little room. We dressed up for the occasion and I adorned a navy blue and nude dress with my navy heels. Billy looked dapper in slacks, a button up and his dress shoes. It was extremely nice to treat ourselves to a delicious dinner and a very rare baby-free night.
Thinking back on our three years of marriage I am just so happy I found him. He is such a hard worker but always makes time for us. He is an amazing chef but steps back to let me bake cookies or create a side dish. He is wise beyond his years. He makes me laugh every day even when things look bleak. He's tender and yet so passionate. He gets along with everyone. He is the best father in the world and so patient. He joins me when I'm feeling adventurous, follows me when I'm feeling fearless, leads me when I'm feeling powerless, builds me up when I'm feeling nervous and holds me when I'm vanquished.
When we first started talking there were so many obstacles in the way of our relationship. I remember we were at a park, phones turned off and walking the trails. He was angered by an ex and walking helped cool him down and put things in perspective. After the walk we sat at a picnic table by the water and he told me he wanted to be with me always. We drove back to my apartment and said our goodbyes. As he walked down the hall he suddenly turned back and kissed me then asked, "Will you marry me?" I pushed him so hard and yelled, "Too Soon!". We both laughed about it for months. Then we started dating. Lying in bed and talking he was playing with my phone. He tossed it back over to me and then ran out of the room. He had made us "Facebook Official" a joke that you can't really be in a relationship unless it says so on your Facebook profile.
A month before we found out that we were pregnant he proposed again. Once again I told him it was too soon and that we would never make it. Both recently divorced I assumed you had to take some time before entering into a new marriage. He countered with the fact that our first marriages were over way before the word divorce was actually spoken. I remember kissing him and saying "Let's just play it by ear".
Fast forward 6 months and while laying in bed once again, only this time pregnant with our son Riley, he had his hand on my stomach and Riley was kicking him. He whispered, "Please marry me.". I rolled over and the only thing I could ask was "Why?!". He said, "I have so many answers to that but all I can think is because I love you and I want to marry you.". Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones or my complete exhaustion but that answer seemed to be perfect to me. I think I called him an idiot and said yes. He joyously exclaimed, "Third time is the charm!".
Three months later we lost our son. Riley was born on July 24th stillborn. I thought nothing would ever save me from the downward spiral into depression and madness that would surely ensnare me. We found strength within each other. Taking turns with the depression and the sorrow. Holding and comforting sometimes, pushing and motivating during others. We were united forever with the most painfully agonizing breaking of our hearts. To this day the loss of Riley is felt heavily in our home but we have also learned to embrace his short life and find ways to channel our sadness into positive acts for others or our daughter.
Three months later we were wed and we brought back a little souvenir from the honeymoon. The following July our daughter Chloe was born. She has been such a light in our lives. Every bad day at work disappears when you see her smiling face. She challenges us and makes us laugh. She is independent, feisty, loving, so smart it's scary, and the center of our world. Our children pin us to each other but our love and trust is the thread that keeps us together.
Now it has been four and a half years since that walk in the park and three years of marital bliss. I love him with everything I have, everything I am and everything that I will become.

Team Love

My Rodan + Fields Team just created a group where they give each newbie a task to do each day. To help us get started and familiarize ourselves with where to find information and how to contact people. I freaking love this!!! I was so excited to start my first days' task. I reached out to two people who I normally would have never contacted to try and sell them my products. After a slam-packed day at work I thought I'd come home and get it done. As usual we ate dinner together, played a bit, took baths and had half-hour of TV time. While Billy put Chloe to bed I sat myself down and got my tasks done! Whoop!!! I may have been later than the others but I'm proud of myself just the same. Billy ordered mini-facial kits for me to send out to prospective customers and after I write this I'm going to order the organza bags and boxes to package them in. It may not have been a huge accomplishment but it definitely made me break free from comfort zone and taught me that I can't be afraid to push what I believe in.



After I finish my ordering I also have a hat to knit for another order! You have to take pride in the small accomplishments in life because when you add them all up I just worked a full day, came home and had quality time with my family, worked on building the second job and will finish with completing an order for the third job. It sure doesn't sound like a small accomplishment to me anymore. Getting things done!

More Fall-stivities

We started the weekend with a LATE night Friday. Around 2:00 pm we received a call at work from a bystander who had witnessed two of our employees get in a horrific accident. We had about 8 guys heading to Savannah to work on a job and the only thing we knew from the call was that the van had gone off road, flipped, and that two of our employees were taken by ambulance. Then we found out which two of our employees it was, found the Florida Highway Patrol information and were told they were heading to UF Shands. We sent the guy we have working in Gainesville to the hospital to find out the status and luckily they were ok. However, it was nerve wracking and up until around 9:00 pm one was not doing very well. Thankfully both are now home and on the mend but my nerves were shot! I really care about the guys I work with. These particular two are very young and both have small children at home. It was enough to make me count my blessings and squeeze my family extra tight. I was also so incredibly thankful to have my guy in Gainesville who I could trust to take care of the young boys until my boss could arrive. He truly is one in a million that boy.
Saturday we met our friends at the zoo for ZooBoo! We had so much fun with our little girls, collecting candy and feeding giraffes. The girls are really starting to get along now and play together. They spent a long time toying with a fern that was growing through the fence. Billy and I met our friends over four years ago and back then we had a lot of fun partying so it's really nice to have moved on together from drinking buddies to newlyweds to parents. They are wonderful friends and I am sure they will be for many years to come. After all, we have been through quite a bit together and all without judgment or anger. It's so wonderful to have friends like that. After a long day viewing the animals we returned home to don our Gator gear. Billy picked up some wings and we sat down together to cheer on our boys.
Today we went to Target and bought an exorbitant amount of Halloween decor. We cleaned and decorated our house with flickering orange lights, ghostly banners, day of the dead statues, glowing pumpkins and so much more. For our craft of the night we decided to complete the melted crayons on a pumpkin like I had done two years ago when Chloe was so small. Back then I became infuriatingly impatient with the blow dryer technique and as you can see by the bottom right photo Billy felt the same way and busted out his welding torch. I just love these photos of Chloe. She has the funniest facial expressions and they change so quickly you have to put the camera on burst mode and just snap a ton in a row to keep up with the Princess. While at Target we also picked up a bunch of yummy treat kits to make so get ready for those stories.

On Facebook's previous memories it showed one of our first dates four years ago and we celebrate our third wedding anniversary in just two short days. I am so excited! Have I told you how much I love the Fall?!!

Pumpkin Time

Tonight we had our first pumpkin of the season. Billy and I couldn't decide between making a Halloween treat or completing a Halloween craft so we decided to get a pumpkin because it's both. There are so many decorative ideas for pumpkins now-a-days that we will likely have several displayed around the house. Plus, we can't get enough of the pumpkin seeds for snacks! For tonight's pumpkin we picked up a kit of none other than Minnie Mouse. Our daughter LOVES Minnie Mouse so we couldn't pass it up. I think it's adorable. Chloe and Bruiser assisted in scooping out the guts and then we painted it pink together. Then I cleaned all of the seeds and set them out to dry along with the pinkie pumpkin. Bath time, ghost jammers, hair and teeth brushed, always followed up with a vitamin and we were ready to make our Minnie Pumpkin. Billy punched the head, arms, and legs into her and Chloe was ecstatic. The seeds are drying out as we speak and the Princess is soundly sleeping. I absolutely adore sharing times like these with her and I believe she enjoys them just as much.
For a few recipes on cooking the pumpkin seeds please click here. It is a link to our blog post from two years ago.

Weekend Crafts

We spend a lot of time crafting in our house. Sundays are usually spent cleaning, doing laundry, running errands and filling in the rest of the time with small projects. Today we decorated the house for Halloween and completed Chloe's homework for the week.




These little ghosts were a spur of the moment project. Chloe seemed highly interested in the ghosts on our tablecloth and so I asked if she wanted to make some to hang around the house. She responded, "I love ghosts!" so into the craft room we went. I found an old receiving blanket and quartered it. Stuffed some Fiberfill in and tied off with thread. We painted some fun faces on them. I used jewelry wire to make a loop on top and hung them with yarn from the fans. I think they are cute and she walked around the house showing Billy each one, he was making dinner while we crafted.






The school often sends home a "family fun" project. They are a shape on card-stock that you are to decorate and return to the school. This weeks was a pumpkin.
I found some Halloween scrapbook paper in the craft room and glued it to the card-stock. I added my flair with layered papers then passed it over to Chloe. She chose to add stickers to it (thankfully because I wasn't in the mood for painting). She had Mickey and Minnie stickers that came with a coloring book and they were added instantly. I found the rest of the stickers in my scrap booking organizer and she picked each one to place on the pumpkin. I added her name to the top and we are all set!

Willow spent the day wondering what in the heck we were doing to the house. She stood on the counter swatting at the ghosts and hid in the spider webs on her perch.

Tips for the marketer

Here we are for Day #3!!! I had my networking meeting today and was sadly disappointed as far as the content went. The group I'm involved in is filled with entrepreneurs of all ranges and I am essentially the only one being paid to be there so for a year I have been listening to their problems and the solutions that the group comes up with. I have studied all of their marketing techniques and downloaded all of the applications that they recommend. Just waiting for the moment to start my Rodan + Fields career and fully implement my strategic plan. Now that I am fully vested in R + F, I have become eager to learn all that they have to teach me. Today they discussed nothing I could use. I thought I would share a few tricks of the trade that I have learned in the past since I didn't get my educational fix.
The first is to become the expert. We had a guest speaker who discussed a strategy that I just fell in love with. He said you should show people how to do it themselves, teach them as much as they are willing to learn, all for free. When those people you have helped need something that they can't get themselves the one name that will pop into their brains will be yours and they will come to you. Get that? The customer will come to you! I can't wait to become the expert. That's why I study everything I can find about the company, it's products, but also the different skin types and several concerns people will have.
Balancing personal life and work as far as social media is concerned can be incredibly difficult. The group discussed this a few weeks back and the consensus was split it up! I have two Facebook accounts, which, I despise but it's what I have to do. Posting a few photos of my adorable child on the business one doesn't hurt anything but do I want to post jokes with my friends or the more personal photos of my daughter? Not at all. There are some terrible people in this world and I do not want to throw out everything for them to use against me or to hurt my family. So, you split it. Post work related material along with some positive quotes for inspiration or even throw out some industry questions and get some responses. Use the personal one for photos of your baby snuggling the dog, checking-in at local restaurants or announcing your surprise vacation. Always remember that once you post something it is out there for everyone to see. People who don't even register on your radar are there to pop their two cents in. Social media has so many positive applications that can be used to connect families across the globe, boost your audience, or even just to connect with people but you must remember that there are those who only use it as a facade to insert themselves where they don't belong. So be careful.
Favorite Apps for marketing are.....PHONTO I just love being able to design my own graphics! Powered by Instagram it is user friendly and just amazing for a quick post. Periscope! The ability to live stream a video with follower input is outstanding for marketing your product. Imagine being a car salesman, walking out onto your lot and video taping the car live for all to view. Your viewers can ask questions about the car and get an answer in real time. They can request a zoom in on the mileage or what's that dent toward the rear passenger tire? I cannot wait to implement this. For my purposes I can do live product demonstrations or even an online tutorial.
I think I have hit my mark for the night and now I'm going to go prepare an educational post.

Getting Started

As I stated in the last post I have a lot going on with the career. I also have an extremely intelligent and spirited two-year-old, a spunky dog, the cat and of course Billy along with all of the extracurricular activities that surround all of us. Between cleaning the house, assisting with a non-profit, doing preschool homework (yes my child has homework), birthday parties, and romance I find that I am always playing catch-up. I am blessed to have Billy who will pick up the household slack when I'm studying up on social media tips and an amazing group of friends who send texts just to check on me or convince me to take a mini-vacation and forget about it for a day or two. I have always been a writer, starting my first journal in second grade. Taking my strong suit I think writing here about it all will help me keep my focus and after last night's post it sparked a "Let's Get This Done!" attitude and I worked until midnight. Taking the ten minutes out of my day to collect my thoughts, throw out ideas, or just get some things out of my head might make me hone in on what really needs to be done. My goal is to write a blog entry at least three times a week, to start, even if it's just a few sentences to push my Go Get 'Em Button! 

For a glimpse into our lives allow me to tell you tonight's antics. I worked later than normal as I spent the day training a new girl in our office and then had to get my own work done for the day. Billy scooped up the baby from school, hit the grocery store and we pulled in the driveway simultaneously. While Billy was doing his plumbing thing I put Chloe in her high chair with some yogurt as a snack before dinner. I sat on the couch about four feet from her to write an associate and do a bit of research before we got dinner going. I would send a message and look back asking her questions about her day. Then I came across an article about Rodan and Fields and for five minutes I became consumed with the information in front of me. I finished the article and turned to ask how she was doing. The 8 ounce cup of yogurt was covering her hair.....front and back! Of course I grabbed the camera and started recording. Billy came out of the room and we were both hysterical. Chloe explained to us that Minnie and Daisy helped her put two yogurts in her hair. She just cracks me up! Needless to say bath time came before dinner tonight and aside from her hair there wasn't much clean up at all and I'm counting that as yet another talent my child has! 

Fitzgerald's Fall

I have said it time and time again, there is something about the Fall that makes for new adventures. My husband and I started dating in the Fall. We were married in the Fall. We conceived our princess in the Fall. We started new jobs in the Fall. This year we both are on the verge of breaking out of our comfort zones and expanding our careers. When? In the Fall!
I recently started my own Etsy Shop and while I have yet to make a sale on the actual site, I have had two orders placed based on the toddler scarves that I have displayed. I enjoy knitting, there's something about making things with your own two hands that gives an instant gratification. Chloe does not like modeling knit scarves in 90-degree weather and I cannot blame her for that.
For months I have been studying, watching online videos and listening in on conference calls for Rodan + Fields. Last week my amazing husband surprised me by purchasing not just the consultant package but the next level package that came with products!!! So, I am now also proud and honored to be an Independent Consultant. He also purchased business cards and stamps, which, I am anxiously checking the mailbox for. My new business venture can be found here. I have been networking for my "day job" for almost a year and I cannot wait to apply all of the techniques I have learned with social media and my natural talent of socialization to blow the roof off of my goals.
My husband has also started a website to keep up with our multitude of adventures. We love to craft and bake and explore new places so it's more of a mixture of business and pleasure. I just need to find the time to keep up with it! Billy has some very exciting and new opportunities too but right now those are classified. Trust me I cannot wait to expand on those!
A toast to the Fall, A hope for the Harvest. The season of change. Thank you for always treating us so handsomely!

Reeping the Rewards

So, if you follow along you know I have been trying to save money. It's been a long and tedious process but for the first time in weeks I feel accomplished. It might not be much but I managed to earn $25.00 extra this week.
To begin I found the rewards section on Verizon's website. I completed as many of them as I could to earn a $10 Visa Gift Card. As soon as I reached the level where I could "cash in", I did it. The site says that it takes 2 to 3 weeks to receive my gift card but what's time when you are getting free money?
I spent my "free time" completing surveys on a website I found. I spent the evening hours answering the same questions over and over again while watching television with my husband. After 5 days of this I had built up enough points to "cash in" for a $15 gift card of my choice. I picked Target and after ordering it walked me how to load the card onto my phone for immediate access. I was beyond stoked. Since receiving my instant gift card I have already built back up to 10% towards my next one.
Now, I know I can't quit my day job and retire off of these rewards but man is it going to be nice to have that extra money for Easter or just to blow on a new toy for the baby, a dog toy for the terrible puppy or something fun for the husband. The bonus in all of it is, it doesn't take away from my time with my daughter. She's sleeping soundly while I am diligently answering off topic questions. The husband doesn't get lost either because we are still spending quality time watching our favorite shows.

Budget and Be Good! We have started taking a money out in cash from each paycheck and then not using our debit and credit cards. So far it has worked out really well. We only spend what we have in cash and therefore there's always money in our account for the bills and emergencies. The added bonus to using cash for most of your purchases is the change. Who doesn't think it's fun to store all your loose change in jars? That again is free savings! When that change is in your checking account you can see the dollar value in it. When you have fifty-six cents in your pocket that you throw in a piggy bank....you get a $50 bonus when you break that sucker open!
Last but not least, we started our garden! The four of us spent the weekend prepping our soil, cleaning out the compost trough, and planting our seeds in prep-pots! The baby and the puppy just adore being outside while we work and they even shared a picnic in the garden on Saturday. We have lettuce, beans, radishes, potatoes, peppers, onions, and sunflowers ready to grow in their freshly tilled, fenced in garden! Once the plants are growing and doing well I want to paint the fence and come up with a cute sign to hang on the gate. I also want to work on building a garden station to house everything and I am so excited to have this as a family activity!

18 Months

A glimpse into my world with Chloe being a full-fledged toddler. I posted some of her amazing facial expressions throughout for your amusement.

This look is reserved for Billy

18 months. Her vocabulary is vast. I couldn't even tell you all of the things she can say because it's so out of control. A few of her groupings along with my expert interpretations include:

1. "Daddy work Daddy home" - Daddy's at work? Daddy should be home making me food.
2. "Bruiser outside OK" - Let's take Bruiser outside. Okay that sounds like a great idea.
3. "Juuuuuuuuuuicccccceeeee! Juice? Juuuuuuuuuuuuuiccccceeeee!" Then I ask, "Do you want juice?" and she says, "Okay! Thank you!".
4. "Be nice" - this is usually just after she's hit one of us. She says, "be nice" then hugs us to try and get out of going into a time-out.
5. "No, No, No! Bruiser" - This one could be that she wants Bruiser to stop what he's doing or she wants to give him something (like food) that we have told her not to give him. It just depends on whether Bruiser is said with authority or with inquisitiveness. 
6. "Oh Mama" - Oh my beautiful Mother. You are so amazing in all that you do!

Mornings....

This is the look I get most often

Here are some of my favorite things she does:

• She loves photographs and will point at all of the ones on the wall and tell us who is in them. Though when she sees a photo of herself she says, "You!" or "Baby!". I love it.
• She adores being outside. Picking flowers, playing on her playground, kicking a ball, riding her bike, it doesn't matter to her. As long as we are outside she is a happy camper (and she's already been camping once that's how much she enjoys the outdoors).
• We spend a lot of time crafting in our house and she will color or paint right along side us. 
• My little independent girl has begun walking into daycare (versus me carrying her). Once inside she takes her lunch box and walks into her room blowing kisses behind her. A little bit of my yearns for a baby that wants me by her side but I know that her confidence will carry her much farther than having insecurities so I blow a kiss and head to work.
• She eats anything and everything. My husband is an amazing chef and he prepares some adventurous meals for us girls. Chloe will chow down some baked salmon and olives. There is a bit of jealousy when Chloe is eating roast with potatoes and carrots for lunch and her teacher is choking down a sandwich. We get a lot of notes.
• She talks to strangers. Randomly, while walking through the grocery store she will say, "HI!" to someone walking past. She put her arms out for a man in CVS to lift her up. She tells people, "bye bye". She smiles at almost everyone unless she's grumpy then they get the stink eye. She is just so incredibly social. 

  

  Girl on a mission

So, I started this blog last Tuesday and I am just now returning to finish it on Sunday night. Sometimes there just isn't enough hours in the day. Here's a prime example of how my little princess impresses me daily. I received tickets to the Lightning game from work. We originally planned on taking Chloe but as Saturday's game approached I started second guessing myself. I'm not one who cares what others think but I was worried that a hockey game just wouldn't interest an 18-month old enough to have her sit in the stands for hours on end. I called Grandma to see if she'd watch her but Grandma had a date with her friends, I knew the rest of the family was going to see the monster trucks so we were out of options. We packed her up and headed to the game with a quick stop at Chick-fil-A to fuel her up. She was of course perfect. She sat in my lap and watched the first period with hardly a whimper even when the goal buzzer blared through the arena. During the intermission we got some drinks and returned to our seats. This time she bounced from Billy to me and then back to Billy. She almost fell asleep in my lap but two of my best friends appeared on the jumbo-tron and I screamed, "That's Jeremy!!!". At the second intermission I looked over at my husband (not a sports guy at all) and realized that the smile on his face was only for me and Chloe was about an hour past bedtime and looked exhausted. We called it a night and she was asleep before we were out of the parking garage. I suppose out of past experiences with children I always assume she's going to have a melt down or just run me until I'm exasperated but she always surprises me with a sweet disposition, curious nature and let's face it she's just a really really good toddler. I definitely lucked out with that.

Serious face

Shock and Awe

We can't take her anywhere without someone stopping to say hello to her, we are constantly approached by people who say how beautiful she is and even at a hockey game I was told that she is well-behaved. Once I guy bought us lunch because he was so impressed with our little family. I just love having Chloe in my life and I am so awe struck not just at how complete strangers respond to her but how she responds to them. Every teacher at her school knows who she is and it takes us forever to walk out the door as they all want to say goodbye to her. 

I led a very cynical life for the first 29 years and I hope she doesn't follow in my footsteps. Billy and I both make an effort to experience new things at least once a month to show her to be adventurous. I can and most likely will talk to anyone around me and that's probably where she gets her social skills and the two of us are rubbing off on Billy. 

Each milestone so far with Chloe has been fun to watch, all are exciting and impressive, it has been one of the greatest things that I have ever done and I feel so grateful to have her as my gorgeous girl.

When things don't go quite as she had planned.

What I've learned of myself as a Mother

For the past 18 months I have realized my weaknesses with my title of Mommy. I hope you find that you too can reflect on your time spent training a small human while reading my list.

Baby Talk: I spent so much time cursing before having Chloe. Times when things weren't going well. Times when dropping the "f" bomb was used to give proper emphasis on my story. Now I have to watch what I say so the parrot doesn't pick it up. NOW! Now when using colorful language is truly needed to air my frustrations to my husband, tell my friends how she pooped in the tub again, or exclaim to the world that my baby is the f*cking cutest baby in the world. Now my favorite words have been taken from me and replaced with "frisbee", "coconuts", "shish-ka-bob", and "sun on the beach", which, lets be honest, don't exactly paint a clear picture. Since my daughter drops her binky and mutters, "Oh shit!" while she picks it up I'm guessing that my mouth could use a bit more Orbit Gum.

Car Seat Crush: One of my biggest anxieties as a parent stems from the car. Over the summer it seemed someone was locking their children in cars every week. I triple checked my car after dropping her off at daycare for months. Now my fears have turned to proper restraint in the car seat. The other day my husband and I were putting Chloe in my car and he was shocked at how tight the straps were. Apparently I was way over-doing it and I wondered why she told me, "no,no,no." whenever I made her become a contortionist to get the straps in place.

Sippy Cups: What rubix cube solving sun on the beach created these toddler cups? I stand at the sink for hours trying to get them clean, shoving q-tips and nipple brushes into the impossible crevices. Finally giving up on trying to dry them I have to play the world's toughest matching game and try to piece them back together. Fill them up for the screaming child and watch in amazement as six ounces of apple juice dribble down her chin, splashing on her chest, and soaking the floor. Thankfully the husband is an expert. I knew a man developed them.

Bath Fizzies (not the fun kind): Without fail my daughter will poop in the tub at least twice a week. For those who don't have kids or who aren't in the know about the level of sanitation that is required with children: pooping in the tub requires immediate child removal and a lot of bleach. When she has a diaper on she is the loudest pooper. The world knows she's going with every grunt, as the face reddens and she pops a squat. Place her naked butt in a tub and one second she's pouring water from one cup to the other and the next second a milky way floats by. She has done this so often I ask her all the time if she has to poop, she responds with "ok", and I place her tiny hiney on the toilet seat. There she kicks her feet, smiles, and says, "bath", I ask if she has to go, she says firmly, "NO!". Back in the tub she goes and I hold my breath and hope she's right. Of course, she never leaves a floater in the tub when there's two toys in there. She likes the entire tub filled with all of her bathtime toys before she will release her bowels. Again, lots of bleach!

Dancing Do-Do: I must be the world's worst dancer. Chloe has all of my mannerisms; she stands the way I do, she walks the way I do, and therefore I'm assuming she dances the way I do. She pumps her fist in the air, followed by a flailing of the arms. Then bends at the knees and shakes her butt in chicken dance style. Maybe a few spins, stomp the feet, a jump or two and then run in a large circle. I dance along with her until I'm struck with the realization that she looks adorable dancing like a fool. I do not!

TV Time: We have the television on mostly for background noise as we cook dinner, play on the floor or clean up. Chloe isn't a couch potato by any means so quit judging. If it's not on a music channel it is on Disney Junior. My husband will usually tuck Chloe into bed for the night. Hours after she's said her good nights I find myself watching Sofia the First, Mickey Mouse Club House or Jake and The Neverland Pirates, not Octonauts though I don't like that show. Billy will return from Chloe's room and says something like, "What has Captain Hook done this time?" and I snap back to reality and change the channel. He thinks it's funny. Are my days taking that much out of me that I become a mindless drone at the sound of chipper music, witty dialogue and colorful pictures that make up the Disney Junior channel or are these shows just that good (except the Octonauts)? It's hard to tell.

Those are the faults I have found thus far into my lifetime as Chloe's Mommy. I hope that was enlightening to those of you holding a sleeping infant or a reminder to those that are listening to a mouthy teenager. To everyone else, Keep your humor! I'm here to tell you that your sanity goes at the same rate your child grows. You have to laugh when you can.