Time for a change...with your help

Maisie has been home now for over a year and though I love, love, love the giraffe header that Julie made for us over two years ago, it's time for a change. My dilemma though is what to call the new blog since our "Journey" to Baby Shanahan is complete and the blog is more about Maisie and our lives with her. So my dear, creative readers I'm asking for your help in naming our soon to be updated blog. Please help us out and leave all your wonderful suggestions in the comments so that our blog name can go from boring to fabulous along with our soon to be new look. Thanks!!

Pottery painting part deux

Back in November just before Kathy left for China, a few of us gathered for some pottery painting as she wanted to make a birthday plate for Chani and a beautiful one she made. Unfortunately the plate had a little accident and a replacement plate was needed. So today Kathy, Trixie, Lisa and I gathered again to enjoy lunch, sans children, and then enjoy a fun afternoon painting pottery. Once again Kathy's plate looks lovely as do Lisa's and Trixie's. My bowl on the other hand...well we'll see, maybe after it's fired it will look better than expected.

Tiara girls

At 7:32am the phone rings and I hear, "What are you doing?", "I can't take another day like yesterday", "What are your plans today?" and my response, "Do you want to come over and play?" Seems that LiLi had a rather rough day yesterday and in hopes of a better one today along with some adult conversation, Deb thought that a little playtime for LiLi with Maisie would help. So I put on a pot of coffee and Deb picked up some bagels on her way over and the girls played.

There were fancy shoes, Princess dresses and tiaras, tea carts, baby strollers, kitchen playtime, bagel munching and now that Maisie's kitchen also sports a washer & dryer and microwave there was some clothes washing and lots and lots of play microwave popcorn.

Best of all though was the sweet cuddle time to read Thomas the Tank Engine. It was enjoyable and there was no crying, fighting or complaining. In the end, for some odd reason we decided to measure the girls and LiLi was right at 35-inches and Maisie was 34 1/4.

Oh what to do next? We had such a good morning going we decided to take the girls out for lunch. We all piled into my car and we headed off to a Chinese restaurant so that Maisie could have her noodles and LiLi could enjoy her fried rice. Both girls were good at lunch and on the drive but coming home it was getting close to nap time so Deb did all that she could to keep the very tired Maisie awake and we made it home without her dozing off. Of course once I put her down for her nap she wanted no part of it so its been a little rough, but finally she sleeps...Ahhhhh...

No, no, no to snow, snow, snow

Today, for the second time in less than a week we've experienced snow. According to the frenetic weather forecasters, who were enjoying 24 hours of continuous on screen face time, we were in for a "major" snow event with a record breaking snow fall of 1-3 inches expected. Starting yesterday, dozens upon dozens of flights were cancelled, the scroll screen at the bottom of the newscasts listed just about every activity possible as cancelled too.

When the snow started this morning, Maisie was delighted to watch it fall and was desperate to go outside. We told her that after her nap we would take her out and by the time she did wake, the snow had stopped falling.

We were so unprepared to take Maisie out in the snow as evidenced by the fact that we don't have gloves, boots or even a scarf for the poor little girl but as it worked out, none of those items were needed. When we took Maisie out to experience the "major" record-breaking snow fall, she wanted nothing to do with it. The photograph shows the one and only step she took in the snow and then she wanted up, up, up. I made a snowball for her but she had no interest in touching it and though she loved watching the snow fall from inside the house, once outside she was not into it at all. Once again I can say, "that's my girl" as she enjoys the snow as much as I do, from the comfort of a warm house and not in our backyard.

Our hearts go out to friends Stephanie & Jason who suffered a terrible loss. Please keep them in your hearts, thoughts and prayers as they mourn the loss of their beautiful son Samuel.

Off the wall

Just over twenty three months ago two things happened; Atlanta experienced its last snow fall prior to last night and a package from Julie appeared on my doorstep.

Unbeknown to us, Maisie at that time was just shy of four months old and living in Chongqing but to us, she was still just a hope and a dream for our future. I still remember opening the package from Julie and dancing around the kitchen as the giraffe and giraffe print dress were just beyond cute and I dreamed of the day that our little girl would wear the dress. In fact I've loved the dress so much, it has decorated the wall of Maisie's nursery for all this time. I can't believe that here it is almost two years later and my little girl is wearing her giraffe dress for the first time and she's just as cute in it as I had imagined all those many months ago. Julie has spoiled us many times over the years and given us many things to smile about but for some reason seeing Maisie in this dress just made my heart burst today. Big hugs and thanks Julie and Tess, I'm so glad that you are both friends and part of our lives.

*Just as a side note, it started raining last night just after I took the piccie in the previous post and the rain continued all night. Just as I had predicted, by the time I went out this morning to take Maisie to Mother's Morning Out, all the snow was just where I like it...somewhere other than my backyard.

Yeah, you can stop laughing now...

Yes you know who you are, Tiffany, Julie, all my friends up north and everyone else who knows my loathing of anything white and cold falling from the sky.

It's snowing in Atlanta and according to Deb, who stopped over with LiLi & Ian for a quick play date this afternoon, the grocery stores are heaving with people in panic mode stocking up with bread, eggs, milk, ice cream and whatever else they need. I mean it's important to stock up because I'm sure all their cupboards are bare and we are expecting maybe up to 1/2-inch of snow so they may be house bound until...gee, tomorrow morning!! Yes, I know I'm being sarcastic but even though I don't like the snow, I grew up in New England and 1/2-inch of snow doesn't make a New Englander blink let alone slow them down or send then to the grocery in panic mode.

As far as tonight, I had no where that I needed to go and now that Maisie is tucked in tight and sleeping, I'm happy to cuddle up on the sofa with a blanket and the heat of my laptop to keep me warm and just pretend that the white stuff out there doesn't exist. The good thing about living in the south is that most likely by the time I have to go out tomorrow, all the snow will just be a distant memory.

Hooray!!

Gamma & Gampa bought this cute sweater for me when we were in Aruba and it's finally cold enough in Atlanta to wear it. Even though Mama isn't too thrilled with the cold weather, I'm a happy girl, hooray!!

Yep, she's my girl...

I couldn't quite figure out what Maisie was doing, putting her little pink phone down her sweater. Over and over she would place the phone in the neckline of her sweater only to get frustrated as it would fall to the ground each and every time. Nope, couldn't figure it out at all until light dawned on Marblehead here and I realized how I walk around so much of the day...Yep, she's my girl!!

Happy third birthday LiLi

This morning Maisie and I attended a lovely princess birthday party for LiLi. All the little girls looked adorable in their fancy dresses and extra cute after visiting the make-up table where they could have their nails polished, receive fancy sticker earrings and glittery stickers for their face or hand.

We all enjoyed some yummy hors d'oeuvres and then delighted in the delicious and beautiful cake that Deb had made for LiLi. Check out the cake, is it beautiful or what!! Both Maisie and I had a wonderful time. Happy third birthday LiLi.

Life is pink

Back oh so long ago when I started decorating Maisie's room, Eammon had one request, no pink paint. He didn't think he could live with seeing pink everyday and since pink paint was never in my plans, it wasn't an issue. What poor Eammon failed to realize was that even without pink paint, his life was about to become pink, very pink. Between the clothing, fun furniture and accessories our house is awash with pink but because Eammon sees how happy Maisie is with it all, I think he's become quite accepting of the pink.

This morning Maisie played dress-up and danced around in front of her mirror amusing herself and being cute for the camera.

 

We then had playgroup at our house but because I had Elizabeth and Kathy here, both with their fancy shmancy cameras, I only took a couple of piccies and for some reason only got pictures of Eliza and Maisie. Sorry Kathy, didn't mean to leave out the very cute and photogenic Chani.

I've now nicked a couple of photos from Kathy's blog so I can show all three cutie patooties.

Maisie then decided that a nap wasn't on her agenda for the day so needless to say Mama is beyond tired. Now that Miss Maisie is sleeping, finally, I'm ready to do the same as we have a busy, busy day tomorrow. Pretty pink filled dreams to all of you.

Mirror, mirror upon the wall...

Maisie's dress-up compulsion is taking its toll on my back as she L.O.V.E.S to look at herself over and over and over in the mirror. Also, a short little looksie isn't enough, oh NO, she has to makes faces, look at herself from different angles, steam up the mirror, kiss herself...well you get the idea and I'm sure you can see why lifting her up a few hundred times per day would make my back hurt.

So, the princess now has her own princess mirror which we made and installed this morning. Yesterday we went out and purchased an inexpensive white framed full-length mirror, paint (which Maisie chose herself) and a few hundred crystals. Last night I painted the frame and then this morning she and I applied all the crystals and even a rhinestone monogram. We then hung the mirror at the perfect little girl height and Maisie gave it a test run before we headed out for our play date with Rachel and Alexander

When we went to leave the house for our play date, Maisie had no intention of giving up her sparkly yellow shoes or her tiara so she was quite the fancifully dressed gal when we stopped at Trader Joe's and then during our first hour or so at Rachel & Orla's home. Orla made a nice lunch for all of us and the children had fun playing, before we knew it, it was time to head home for naps!! As soon as we arrived home Maisie looked at herself in the mirror and said, "hi Maisie"...just too cute.

We have a couple of errands to run this afternoon and we'll see what outfit, shoes and hat or tiara she'll chose to wear out of the house. Her dressing up and wanting to wear the clothes out of the house is one battle that most of the time I don't care to engage in and if the little girl is happy it makes my life that much easier. She gets lots of looks and smiles when we're out but she's just so darn cute, she gets them no matter what she wears. In addition it's been in the mid 70's so at least I don't have to worry about having to dress her up warmly.

Princess Maisie

Maisie loves dressing in one of her dress-up gowns or walking around in her princess dress-up shoes and beads but because Mama was too busy to get all that out, Maisie resorted to just wearing one of her crowns today.

We've been having a good week thus far. Yesterday we met up with our library play group friends and it was so fun and amazing to see how all the children have grown since we last saw them in early December. After nap time I took Maisie to get her hair cut. Last time she chose to sit in the fire engine but yesterday the police car struck her fancy. Once again Maisie was a star at the salon, yeah haircuts!!

Today Maisie returned to Mother's Morning Out and had a fantastic day, not one tear was shed!! She came home with a bag full of treats and gifts as her teachers had held all of her Christmas gifts for her as we had been away on vacation for most of December. One of the gifts is a Trader Joe's Advent Calendar which contains 24 pieces of chocolate. Interesting thing about the chocolate though, when reading the nutrition facts the serving size is 12 pieces, only 2 servings per container. For some reason it just makes me giggle. You are to get one chocolate per day but if you really go crazy and can't wait to count the days until Christmas or you receive the calendar after Christmas and know it won't last until next year, you can't really do too much damage with twelve days of chocolate equaling a serving.

This afternoon we ran a couple of errands and in the dollar bins were some small magnadoodle type toys and since we destroy and lose these on a regular basis the dollar ones work best for us. Maisie destroyed her last one in early November so having a new one today is a treat, one that kept her busy for a good hour!!

Cook Maisie Cook

A little ways back Eammon bought a tub of cookie dough from one of his office mates for some fund-raiser and today I decided to defrost it and make some easy cookies with Maisie. She had lots of fun scooping up the dough and squeezing the scooper, each time saying squeeze, squeeze. We then watched them bake in the oven and after a taste test Maisie declared that the cookies were yummy.