this girl...

my rambling, jarbled (is that even a word?) post about my little girl and why i love her so much.

i never, ever want to forget how life with sutton right now. i'm having a little (ok, a lot) bit of anxiety over the realization that in less than 6 days i will be a mom to three. under the age of three. holy crap balls. i'm trying to savor each and every moment while it's just the three of us. or, just the two of us when john is at work. sutton is literally the coolest person i could ever pick to hang out with. she loves to help me do everything...from taking a bath to bringing me toilet paper. it's amazing when your kid is old enough to go grab you a roll of tp! i've been sending her on so many "errands" these days that i should probably start paying her. i can't help it. growing two babies is tiring. once in awhile she is too busy to help. her favorite saying is, "in a minute." or, if she is trying to prolong the ineveitable like bedtime, or getting out of the bath she says, "just one more minute, k?" she has the cutest little personality and is constantly cracking us up, especially now that she is talking. she is quite the chatterbox.
i never want to forget anything about her personality at this age. she will be 2 years, 8 months on the 22nd. she has started to look "older" the past few months-more like a little girl than a toddler. our day usually starts out with her yelling, "goodmorning!" from her room and i yell it back, and then she says, "i coming!" and i love love to hear the little pitter patter of her feet as she gets out of bed and runs into our room. and yes, we made the transition into a toddler bed exactly one month ago and she has been perfect with it. she never, ever tries to get out of bed, even when she is fighting sleep. she is perfectly content with looking at books or playing with her minnie mouse figurine that grandma bought her. when she goes to bed/nap she has to have certain (and very specific) things in her bed with her. this list includes; minnie mouse, "owl blankie", her biscuit book (a book about a dog) and goodnight ohio book, her "chrispmas" baby doll, about 78 binky's (yes, she still has one at nap and bedtime) and a sippy cup with water. (writing this list makes me realize we might be creating a monster) i am just so happy that she is so obsessed with her bed and thinks it's the coolest thing ever. she always asks for warm milk in the morning and she drinks it in bed with me. john is usually out running when she wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30, sometimes 8:00 if i'm lucky, and we lay in bed and chat about our plans for the day until he comes home. then she likes to hide from him under the covers, all while giggling uncontrollably. i love her laugh. sometimes she will watch a minnie show in the morning but she usually just wants to get right down to playing with her toys. it's pretty amazing how creative she is and i am constantly having to put away my decorations, pillows, kitchen appliances and measuring cups. she still loves playing in her kitchen with her fake food and "making dinner" for us. she is still fascinated with bottles, lids, locks and keys. she also loves her baby dolls and will try to make anything she finds into a "binky" for them....ie, wrappers, string cheese, headbands, etc.  lucky girl is getting a new baby doll with real baby doll binky's for christmas. she is going to flip! she is a good little errand runner, although she refuses to ride in the front of the cart and whenever we go to target she has to ride in that big, dumb cart that no mom can ever successfully drive. but, i love her so i oblige. the other day we ran out of cereal and she said, "mom! need to go target and get more." think we go to target too much? ha! she loves it just as much as i do. maybe the popcorn has something to do with it.
she still takes great naps which i appreciate even more these days, now that i am 89 months pregnant. it's my special time.  it's not uncommon for her to sleep 2.5 to 3 hours and sometimes i even have to wake her up after 3 hours! she loves going to nursery at church and is constantly singing either "sunbeam or jingle bells". she is the ONLY girl in a nursery full of boys and she can totally hold her own. i love watching her confidence and social personality. she has a good sense for people and it's amazing how she is naturally drawn more to some than others. that goes for adults and kids. i think she is getting excited for christmas and will have a better understanding of it this year. we have been doing the elf on the shelf and she loves to run and find "elfie" each morning even though she acts scared of it and doesn't dare touch it. she is obsessed with the pentatonix version of little drummer boy and it isn't enough to just listen, she has to watch the video on youtube. over and over. we've been having a lot of christmas music dance parties these days. onto another exciting new development. we are slowly, but surely making progress on potty training. we did the whole "naked at home" thing for a while and once she got that down, we bought her big girl underwear and she loves to wear them around the house and has only had one accident. well, she did pee in her closet once (hahaha) but that was in the very beginning so it doesn't count. and she did confess right away..."i pee my bedroom, mama". oh nice, thank you very much sutton. she says, "my pee coming!" or, "my poop coming!" and runs to her princess toilet and goes. so, at home, she is 100%. the problem is when we go out...she doesn't like to go in public bathroom (can you blame her?) and part of it is my fault because i do still put a pull-up on her which i'm pretty sure she considers a hall pass to do her business in. if you ask her if she pooped or peed in her pull up this is what you'll get..."stop talking me." "don't say that." "stop looking me." so, needless to say, she knows whats up. if i wasn't so pregnant with twins i would be more proactive about making her wear underwear out in public, having some accidents, and then learning the hard way. there will be a time for that. just not right now. i have to pick my battles these days!
sutton loves her yogurt drinks, cereal (daddy just bought her lucky charms for the first time and she says, "i like this part." any guesses which part she was talking about??), quesadillas (it's not uncommon for her to ask for one for breakfast), any sort of cheese, warm milk, apple juice, hamburgers, french fries, scrambled eggs, avocados, olives and "baby" oranges. those are just a few of her favorite things besides the obvious fruit snacks, suckers from the bank, chocolate...
i can say this over and over, all day long...we are so blessed with her spunky, goofy, charming and happy spirit. she finds joy in everything and has the best disposition. i can't wait to watch her become a big sister. fingers crossed she loves these babies as much as we love her!