Come around she did.  While still at the ripe age of two years and eight months old, my itty bitty gigantic baby girl had her FIRST dance recital a few weeks ago.  She woke up the night before with a fever, achy, feeling miserable and I was not sure we would make it.  There was no way I was going to force her to go either.  When it came time to leave we dosed her with some antipyretics, asked her if she wanted to try and go and she wanted nothing more.

“I get to wear my tutu costume!”

SO excited before the show

For me, the excitement of watching her up on that stage, performing a few of the moves she had spent weeks working on was going to be my shining moment.  My daughter’s FIRST performance.  Clearly the draw for her wasn’t the dancing, or the time she’d spent practicing every week for months, but it was the little pink tutu.  And whatever makes her happy, makes me happy.

So we went.  With red eyes, bright red cheeks and the biggest sense of pride I’ve ever seen in her.  My heart swelled.

Then it broke a little when I was waiting with her before her turn to dance and she laid her little sick head on my chest, obviously tired.  Why did we bring her? I started to wonder.  I shouldn’t have let her come, she’s going to get more sick.

When the time came for her group to go on stage I whispered for her the exact same instructions I whisper every week at practice, to follow the group, listen to the teacher and have FUN.  “I am SO proud of you,” I told her, “You’re going to be GREAT.”

I gave her a hug and watched her walk off with six other little girls.  Again, my heart swelled.  My eyes swelled.  (I had to remind me and my pregnancy hormones to cool it.)

Look at my BEAUTIFUL girl!

There’s really no words for me to describe to you how awesome it was to see her up there, smiling bigger than anyone else (she really was!), knowing how bad she felt that day and watching her give it her all.  After a little hiccup with her position my girl danced her little heart out.  My girl, danced.  Up on a stage.  Fearless.

I had the hardest time not just bawling the entire time.  I was so excited for her, so proud of her, so in awe of who she is becoming.  I apologize if there is any shaking in the video, I had to keep laughing and smiling to prevent from completely breaking down like the crazy emotional pregnant lady that I am.  I am telling you, my cup overfloweth.

It will go down as one of the greatest days.

See the whole set (it’s only like 20 pictures) here.

OH!  And she was totally well and fever free by 10pm that night

I had trouble uploading the photos I wanted to share in this post, so instead I threw a bunch of stuff in a video, which I think turned out better than any old photo would have.  My apologies for the length, until I can afford a new computer I am working with the limited software that came with my video camera and sometimes the editing process isn’t worth the headache.

Enjoy, and embrace your own little moments.

You started dance class last weekend, or as you like to refer to it, “dance cass!!!!!!” with the most excited voice you can muster.  You LOVE to dance, but you don’t love to listen so much.

The first week I left you in the class with two other girls, and sat outside snapping photos through the glass.  You did GREAT for about 10 minutes, until you caught sight of me.  The last 35 minutes of class you spent most of the time in my lap or running around not listening.  It was a little frustrating but more than anything I was so, so proud of you for trying. You remind me of myself in so many ways, I only hope I teach you to keep on trying, and not give up when you are scared or frustrated.

The second week I stayed in class with you, something I don’t think we’ll try next time.  Along with bribes of M&M’s and skittles and promises of a Wendy’s Frosty if you stayed with the group and listened to your teacher, you mostly enjoyed running around willy nilly, hanging off the balance bars and kissing your reflection in the mirror.  I’m most sad I didn’t get a picture of that.  Again, I felt more pride than anything because regardless of the outcome YOU ARE SO FREAKING CUTE.

Every now and then you would run over with the other kids and follow along for about 2.5 seconds before running off to dance in your own little world.  I don’t care, your time will come.  For now I just enjoy how much you love your “dance cass!!!!”, always want to wear a tutu and how super duper adorable you look in a leotard with or without the skirt.

Oh, and even though you might not excel right now at the structured ballet/tap portion of the class, you have exceeded all expectations in the creative movement portion of the class.  Your ribbon wand not only serves as a fairy wand but also as a floor duster. Always my little helper.

Your spirit inspires me in every way.  Keep on dancing, baby!

A few things I’m thinking about right now:

Annalee’s recipe for chicken skewers is to die for.  I’ve been making it something ridiculous like once a week.  It’s super easy and quick and utterly delicious.  It makes me happy.  MAKE IT.

Also making me happy is this last minute-made from leftover stuff in the fridge-sandwich.  It was really good, but don’t just take my opinion.  The fact that I got my child, a picky two year old food connoisseur to devour it should tell you that it was pretty good.

1. Heat some olive oil in a skillet.
2. Throw some diced chicken breast/tenders, chopped bell pepper and chopped onion in there, sprinkle with seasoning (I used Zatarain’s creole season) and cook through. Remove from heat and throw in some chunks of Monterrey Jack cheese until it’s all melted.
3. Throw delicious looking mixture on some kind of fresh roll from the grocer (I loathe regular sandwich bread) and enjoy.  MAKE IT.

We went to New Orleans in the middle of June  and claimed it as a vacation but really it was used as a launch pad for Kevin to abandon us again to work in Chicago all summer… not that I’m a little bitter that he’s there and I’m stuck in Texas or anything.

NO was hot, the food was (mostly) delicious, the zoo was fun and the French Quarter is pretty cool to walk around.  We never rode the trolley, and I left Bourbon Street after dark to Kevin and the rest of the gang but we had a fantastic time.  If you ever visit and need some food recommendations, I highly suggest the following, in no particular order. Muriel’s Jackson Square, Gumbo Shop, Mr. B’s Bistro.  Also, in a pinch, the Audobon Zoo had really impressive red beans and rice and crawfish étouffée.  Best zoo food I’ve ever had.

See the whole trip here.

I didn’t anticipate the bulk of this post being about food but I guess I’ve got food on the brain.  You see… 

It’s still super-duper early, I just found out a few days ago, and I know I really shouldn’t be telling anybody yet but I just could not wait.  It was finally something to write about and I know you guys will send out lots of good thoughts for me (pretty please).  I have no real reason to be but I am feeling very anxious this time around.  Maybe now that we *sort of* planned on this pregnancy I recognize how precious this opportunity is.

Plus now I can start telling you all the uber adorable things Avelyn has been saying like, “I can’t see the baby. It’s in your belly!” and “Come out Baby! Wake up!” and “I wuv you, Baby. Shh, Mommy, Baby is sleeeeeping.”  She (and I) have known for a total of 4 days now and it seems she grasps the broad concept quite nicely.  Me thinks she has the making for an awesome big sister.

So now that the news is out there, can you please keep this info between me and your little blog reading self?  We may or may not know a lot of the same people and I’m not really planning to make an announcement to the real world for several weeks.  See how special being a blogger can be sometimes?

We paid for it in full, straight out of my bank account.

Paid for it.

IN FULL.

It’s a grown up kind of exciting.

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Avelyn’s growing up too.  In fact she recently discovered that she herself had a baby.  I’m not sure what the baby did to get Avelyn to notice her, but Baby Cupcake (it’s a work in progress) just looooooves to be rocked by her Little Momma.

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I just thought we are having so much fun at bath time now that I wanted to share a few clips from our night.  And by fun I don’t mean the toys being thrown from the tub that smack me in the head, the screaming that commences on Operation Clean Hair night or the water poured all over the floor followed by outrageous laughs of glee.  I swear, she has such an infantile sense of humor.

Now, while we’re on the topic of what NOT to bring them to the EMERGENCY room for let’s talk about a few things TO bring them in for.

• If your kid is wheezing all damn day and breathing 50 breaths per minute and says to you, “I can’t breathe good”, BRING THEM TO THE ER.  Don’t wait until the middle of the night and then ask for a work excuse for the next day.
• If your kid has fallen off their bike and can’t move an appendage because A BONE is sticking out, don’t wait for your cousin’s best friend’s step brother’s niece to come pick you up and bring you to the hospital.  Call an ambulance to BRING THEM TO THE ER.
• If your baby falls off the bed/trunk of the car/out of your arms/from a spaceship and hits the ground in any fashion, specifically if it involves a bump that appears on the head, BRING THEM TO THE ER.

Well, that took a direction I hadn’t intended.  I think I might touch back on this topic later… but back to the subject at hand.  It’s mid-September, the sun is barely peeking through at 7am and swiftly falling beyond the horizon at 8pm.  Summer is going bye bye.

Unfortunately I live in Texas, and summer going bye-bye does not necessarily mean fall is right around the corner.  As a matter of fact it means nothing.  Most of my memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas involve shorts, flip flops, trips to the park and threats of death if we screaming kids dared to come indoors before the football game was over.

Today was unbelievably beautiful though, a day so perfect in temperature that I opened all the windows in the house while I cleaned and the air conditioner still never kicked on.  When we came home after dinner the house smelled… clean, fresh, spectacular.  It made me miss Chicago.  Luckily I have pictures like this: to remind me that no matter how beautiful fall is, winter always follows.  And I don’t miss Chicago in the winter.

So I bid you adieu, Summer 2009.  You were so very good to us, and filled our days with:

dancing
singing
Guitar Hero
learning to run
running
reading
dancing
eating
hiding
kissing
hugging
sleeping
dancing
not sleeping
traveling
and, did I mention the dancing?

I hope I can safely assume that our fall/winter season summer-with-slightly-cooler-temperatures-and-sometimes-rain season won’t look too different.  Because honestly, who could ever get enough of this:

*This is not medical advice.  Clearly if you think your child needs medical attention please seek it.  If it turns out your kid just has a cold and you feel stupid for coming to the ER don’t worry about it.  It happens.  And just so you know we will never, ever laugh at you in front of your face.  We always wait for you to leave.  Joking.  Mostly.

I have 12 hours, count ‘em TWELVE HOURS, of class tomorrow so in between listening to lectures that are supposed to be teaching me how to be a real nurse I should have about 11.9 hours to write down blog ideas for you.  Stay tuned.

Also, I started a review blog just for giveaways and reviews.  I only have something every few months but I thought it appropriate to keep reviews and giveaways separate from my personal site.  I got a really cool opportunity to review toys a few weeks so I hope you’ll check out my first review here.

Also also, here is a video clip to tide things over and make sure our relationship is alright. Isn’t my Hobo just A-dorable?

I might get around to writing an actual post one of these days but I work tonight and sleep half the day tomorrow.  Somehow I just can’t bring myself to spend time on the computer blogging when I have such a beautiful girl running around filling my house with laughter.  Hope you’re all having a great day.

11 daus until Kevin comes home!

I love you,
Jennifer

• I graduate from nursing school in 8 days.
• I’m moving home to live in a house with my husband and my darling daughter (and ONLY my husband and my darling daughter).
• The house we are moving into is huge which means I get to drool and dream and shop and slowly build ourselves a home.
• I start my first real job in June.
• Avelyn had a successful myringotomy and tympanostomy tube surgery and can hear again.
• Hearing means she might start talking too.
• Last but certainly not least, she may not be talking yet but she is walking as of this week. As in walking, walking.

She gets so excited when she walks that she wants to run and leans so far forward she falls. Tonight Kevin said she is walking across the entire room. She wasn’t doing that when I left this morning. But she’s doing that tonight. My itty bitty, weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces at birth, almost 28 pounds at 12 months, big baby girl is walking. And she learned how to do it with me. Thank you God that I didn’t miss it.

[Jennifer's Alternate Reality: Today in JAR, Jennifer woke up to her adorably fat little baby stroking her face with her precious tiny fingers. They talked, giggled and sang sweet songs before they put one foot on the floor to start the day. When Jennifer and her adorably fat little baby finally rolled out of bed, they found themselves in their new house, their own house, with their own things and their own food and their own furniture. The TV wasn’t blaring at their house. The house wasn’t filled with stupid cats or whiny dogs. It was filled with quiet, peace and sunshine and there was no one to bother Jennifer’s beautiful morning with her beautiful baby. It was just… perfect.]