Life with Sweet Peaches

My birthday, and other things

Heidi — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:33:16 +0000

It’s been busy around here, getting back into a routine after several weeks of nothing-ness over the holidays. Molly started back to school, then got sick. We’re currently potty training {which deserves it’s own post…}. My school semester started back and Sweet Birdie’s Nest is rockin’. And I celebrated a birthday!

I enjoyed a two-week celebration, including a girls’ dinner at Cantina; a much needed mani/pedi with Jessica; lunch; dinner with Jim, Molly and my mom; drinks with Jim, Meredith & John; a weekend in Asheville; and a family dinner to celebrate mine and Jackson’s birthday. {And the fun’s not over – I’m looking forward to another dinner out on Saturday to celebrate mine, Caroline’s and James’ bdays this weekend and a get-together with Lauren and Sarah on Friday!} I’m definitely feeling the love this month!!

Jim and I had a blast in Asheville. I was very hesitant to leave Molly for some reason, but very much enjoyed the weekend away with my husband! We left Charlotte at lunchtime on Friday, checked into the The Blake House Inn, grabbed a snack, then headed back to the inn for a massage. After the massage, we headed into downtown Asheville for a yummy dinner and then had hot chocolate at a very hip chocolate lounge. It was SO cold, but that’s exactly what a I wanted! We had a leisurely Saturday, wandering around downtown Asheville. We did a little shopping and a lot of eating. And we got to talk to each other without constant interruptions or picking up of random objects off the floor. I was ready to head home on Sunday, though, to see my Peach!

A HUGE thank you to my mom and dad for keeping Molly so we could get away for the weekend!

I’m hosting a Junior League meeting at my house tomorrow night {watch Sweet Birdie’s Nest for details and pictures from the event} and I’ve been working on some projects around the house that I hope to share soon. And hopefully I’ll have a good report to share about Molly’s potty training!

Playdates and resolutions

Heidi — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:48:06 +0000

Molly has really been enjoying our playdates recently; it’s so fun to see her interacting with other kids. Even though there isn’t much playing happening yet, you can definitely tell there is recognition among friends. Lately, Peaches has had fun playing kitchen and dolls {and in the toilet!} with Addison; coloring and farm with Graham; and tea party {dinner party?} with Rae.

Over the Christmas break, we had Graham over for a few hours one morning and I was able to get these adorable pictures while they were playing.

Playdates have been a little touch & go recently as Molly has developed a bad habit: pushing. It’s mortifying for me and certainly doesn’t make her friends *want* to play with her. We’ve been working really hard on not pushing and when 2012 rolled around, we made it her New Year’s Resolution. No pushing in 2012! We talk about no pushing about a zillion times a day and I make a really big deal when she plays well without pushing. So far, so good. We’re five days into the year and so far, no pushing! That’s a stellar track record, as far as New Year’s resolutions go, isn’t it?

So, you can imagine my horror yesterday morning, when we were talking about no pushing and she said, “No pushing. What about biting?”

I almost fell through the floor. After an emphatic “No! No biting!” I wondered if I should tell her that I’d rather her push than bite? I am keeping with the no violent behaviors for now, but if the biting starts, you can bet I’ll pray that she goes back to pushing!

The things she says…

Heidi — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:22:47 +0000

Things are always so interesting around here, and Molly keeps us laughing with her sayings and responses. Her teachers say she’s a real jokester at school, too.

Some of my favorite Molly-isms of late:

The other day, Jim asked Molly for a hug.

She thought for a moment and replied, “Fist bump or high five.”

————————–

There’s a random picture of Molly on the dining room table {I had moved it for Christmas decorations and now need a new place to put it.} At dinner tonight, Molly said, “Is that Molly?”

Jim replied, “Yes, that’s you.”

Molly exclaimed, “She’s SO pretty.”

———————

Molly loved Christmas music this season. We sang a LOT of fun songs, including “Jingle Bells,” over and over again. Then {this seems unrelated, but keep reading…}, Nana and Pro gave Molly a Belle doll for Christmas.Molly oohed and ahhed over the pretty princess and we told her the doll’s name was Belle. A while later, we heard Molly talking to her doll.

“What did Molly just call her doll?”

“I think she’s calling her Jingle,” my mom said.

———————-

That girl cracks me up. I love her.

Christmas 2011

Heidi — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:05:24 +0000

We had a very fun and busy holiday season! We enjoyed lots of great time together as a family; I am so grateful Jim was able to take some time away from work. Molly and I are going to miss him dearly when he goes back to the office next week!

The week before Christmas, we had a cookie decorating party on Tuesday and celebrated Jim’s 36th birthday on Thursday. Molly and I took Jim out for burgers for lunch, and Nana kept Molly so Jim and I could go out to a nice dinner to celebrate.

We visited Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas lights {will post *cute* pictures in a separate post!} and took Molly to McAdenville, aka Christmas Town USA. She loved it and has been asking about it ever since.

Jim and Molly decorated more sugar cookies on Christmas Eve and we went to the carols and candlelight service at church. Then, we dressed Peaches in her Christmas pj’s, put out the reindeer food and cookies for Santa, and read the Christmas story before putting Molly to bed so Santa could visit.

And what’s the best part of baking? The bonus, of course!

My parents went to church with us and stayed for baked ziti, salad and sugar cookies.

On Christmas morning, Molly woke up around 7:30; we opened gifts here and then went to my mom’s house. Beverly, Ben, Jackson, Benjamin and Addison also joined us for breakfast and gifts. My dad always makes eggs and sausage, and it wouldn’t be Christmas morning without sausage balls! We came home for naps all around and then headed back to my parents’ for dinner. Christmas night dinner has always been my favorite: We always have a good spread of yummy sandwiches and snack foods. This year we had bbq sandwiches, ham delights {a personal favorite!}, sausage balls, chex mix, buffalo chicken dip, mac & cheese, baked beans, and parmesan bacon dip.

We also had cupcakes and sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus after dinner.

On Monday evening, we all went to my Grandma and Grandaddy’s for dinner and then on Wednesday, Jim’s parents came to visit to wrap up the Christmas celebrations.

My little family had a wonderful Christmas season. I am so fortunate to have a loving husband and a beautiful, sweet baby girl to celebrate with. It meant a lot that Molly enjoyed the story of Jesus’ birth and searched for nativities all over town. She loved looking at Christmas lights and our Christmas tree. Seeing the holiday through a child’s eyes – MY child’s eyes, at that – brings a new meaning to the holiday. I wanted this to be a special time for her, and I truly think it was a magical two weeks. She was excited to “hang out” with us, ate too many sugar cookies, stayed up too late and was incredibly exhausted, which made for some trying times; however, the fun and sweet times outweigh those more difficult moments and I hope we were able to create some wonderful memories and beginnings of lifelong traditions for her.

The fear of…Santa?

Heidi — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:30:17 +0000

I did not make a special effort to take Molly to see Santa this year because 1) I remember last year’s reaction and 2) she isn’t very fond of strangers {or sometimes even people she knows}. However, last night we made our annual trip to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas lights and it just so happened that Santa was there. When I asked Molly and Addison if they wanted to see Santa, they both said yes and trotted off in that direction. Molly took one look at him and ran out of the room.

Addi was a bit more curious, so Santa lured her to him by tossing candy canes at her. She would inch closer to pick up the candy canes until finally she was right in front of him. Beverly tried to plop Addison on Santa’s lap, but Addison started crying. So then Beverly sat on Santa’s lap and Addison sat on Beverly’s lap. {I have the picture to prove it – will have to post tomorrow!}

An aside: Does anyone else think the whole sitting-on-Santa’s-lap deal is a bit creepy? I mean, he *lured* Addison to him with candy, he’s dressed in costume, kids sit on his lap all day and he too eager for Beverly to have a seat with him. I mean, really. Weird.

So anyway, we enjoyed a lovely evening in the gardens, chasing after Molly and Addison. You would have thought that Molly had never been allowed to run free before; she was all over the place! I was literally huffing and puffing at points trying to keep up with her. She also had two big spills but seemed more upset about her broken candy cane than the actual fall.

At the end of the night, we were hanging out while the kiddos checked out the trains and Molly and Addison continued to run around. Molly was testing her boundaries and kept going farther and farther away from the group. At one point, she went around a corner and all of a sudden I heard her shrieking and saw her running full-steam towards me. Jim was across the room, laughing, and then we saw Santa walk around the corner.

She had caught sight of him walking towards her, tossed her milk cup and took off.

This morning, I asked her if she wanted to wear her Santa dress and she emphatically said no. I didn’t make the connection to last night’s experience until just now…

I wonder how much it is to hire a Santa year-round to ensure that she doesn’t run away from me in stores and parking lots? It might be worth the investment…

Is there a recording contract in her future?

Heidi — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:32:55 +0000

It’s highly unlikely that any child of mine will ever be able to carry a tune, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy belting out a song every now and then, right?

Molly’s class performed two carols for the Young at Heart group earlier this month, and tomorrow is her class party/performance. This girl is ready! She has been practicing all month, multiple times a day, even during nap time.

Enjoy your own personal performance. {Just in case you can’t tell, the first song is “Away in the Manger” and the second is “Jingle Bells.”} I pretty much tear up every time I hear Peach singing “Away in the Manger.” She is so sweet and I seriously am in LOVE with her. But don’t be fooled by the sweet girl singing in this video – I thought our neighbors were going to come through their window watching a difference kind of performance {of the tantrum variety} from Molly this morning. But I digress; that’s a story for another day.

Without further ado…

Why are there no animals at this farm?

Heidi — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:07:35 +0000

Last Saturday, Jim, Molly and I rode with my parents to the mountains to get our Christmas tree. We told Molly we were going to a tree farm and then I immediately regretted that, realizing she’d want to see cows and horses and sheep and ducks. And a barn. I was able to quickly interject that the farmers only had time to grow trees and that there’d be no animals. Luckily, she accepted that.

M was such a good traveler, tree picker-outer and winery guest. {Yes, that’s two times in two months that I’ve taken my two-year-old to a winery.} After we picked out our trees and wreaths, we drove a little farther up the mountain to have lunch at a cute little cafe where we almost got into a scuffle with an older woman about a table. No blood was shed and we got the table, so all was good.

We finally found the perfect tree:

And if fit perfectly in the middle of our family room. Ha! {Ok, it was a *little* bigger than we originally planned.}

Then Molly was a great helper, putting all of the ornaments on the same branch.

When she finally accepted that branch would hold no more ornaments, she was happy to tell me where to put the ornaments.

The stocking are hung and the tree is decorated…now I just have to get to the rest of the decorations!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heidi — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:59:32 +0000

Molly is very excited about Thanksgiving. More specifically, turkeys. She runs around saying, “Gobble, gobble.” She’s also very excited about wearing her pumpkin dress tomorrow. (Funny side note – last night I was folding laundry and Molly’s reversible Shrimp and Grits pumpkin/santa jumper was in the clean clothes. I told her she had one more day to wear the pumpkin side and then we’d reverse it. At this point, I flipped the dress inside out and showed her the Santa face. Molly looked perplexed and said, “That’s not a pumpkin.”)

At school, Ms. Becky and Ms. Michelle asked the kids what they were thankful for and wrote the responses on feathers. Molly was thankful for ‘cookies.’

I am thankful that we are healthy and that we have a warm home and food to eat. I am thankful that Molly gives hugs and kisses to me everyday. {I am also thankful that she sleeps well.} Finally, I am thankful to have a kind, supportive husband who always want Molly and me to be happy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guest Post – Time flies when you’re having fun!

Heidi — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:26:38 +0000

This is Dad’s second guest post – Things have been a little hectic since MJ turned 2. Unfortunately the SweetPeaches blog has been the reluctant victim. If you follow the SweetBirdiesNest blog, you can tell that there is a lot going on in the shop with a lot of cool new items being added for customers every day which keeps Heidi busy along with her “regular” obligations like training for a marathon. We’ve gotten a few requests for a new blog post, so I figured I would try another post to the blog.

Peaches has developed quite the weekly schedule with school, play dates with friends, birthday parties and just being 2. She’s become quite the independent sassafras – which is great, but time-consuming. It is a lot of fun to watch her independence, unless you need to be somewhere soon. She loves to do things on her own like putting on her shoes, getting her milk cup from the fridge, helping “clean up.” She’s also started “reading” her own bedtime books to us, which is a delight (even if it takes 20 extra minutes and the story is a little different than the printed words).

So what else has our Sweet Peach been up to the last 2 months?

2 year doctor visit (stats as promised)
She’s growing up! She dazzled Doctor H with her vocabulary and her observation skills.
Weight 28 lbs, 6 oz
Length 36 1/4 inches

Fresh drinks for Mommy and Meredith

Fresh drinks for Mommy
Heidi is training for a marathon with her friend Meredith; on Saturday mornings when they ran the long training runs, Molly and I met up with them to replenish the water/Gatorade supply. Molly would get really excited every Friday night to “take Mommy fresh drinks tomorrow.” Along the way, she would point out every red/green traffic light as well as the numerous runners, bikers and strollers as we looked for Mommy. After we took Mommy the “fresh drinks,” we would typically go to the local gas station to get free refills in a promotional cup. We have 2 cups, so we got Mommy Gatorade and Molly would get an Icee. I think that she loved going to give Mommy fresh drinks for the Icee just as much as seeing Mommy.

Peaches and Paci

Pacifier wars
The day of Molly’s 2 year doctor visit, we decided to try to get her to stop using the pacifier. She only uses it at night and during naps. Doctor H told us that he would like Molly to stop using it by age 3, so we used it as motivation to stop cold turkey. We told her that she was a big girl now and big girls don’t use Paci’s. The first night was rough; she screamed for about an hour before she finally was too tired and fell asleep. The next day she didn’t nap. This cycle continued for 2 weeks until we all were exhausted and Daddy finally relented and gave it back… Since then, we’ve gotten a lot of ideas on how to break the habit, so maybe we’ll try one of those in the coming months.

Molly at Bald Head

Vacation to Bald Head Island
Over Labor Day, we took a family trip to Bald Head Island for some R&R. Molly had a blast riding in golf carts and playing on the beach. She looked for shells on the beach, played with her cousins and built sand castles. On the last day, she even wanted to get in the water.

Cousin Wrigley was born
Uncle Jon and Aunt Alisha had their baby on August 19. We can’t wait to meet him when we go visit in November. Congrats to the proud parents!

Birthday parties
Molly has quite the group of toddler friends that have celebrated birthdays lately. We’ve attended fun parties for Uncle Ben, Aunt Beverly, Addison, Devin, Griffin, Rae, Samantha, Violet, Jane and Sutton. Once Molly started to understand that we were going to a party, she started requesting cake before we left the house!

Molly’s trip to the golf course
Heidi went away for a weekend to a baby shower so Daddy had a bright idea to take Peaches to the golf course to see what she would think. We bought a short putter for her and off we went. She was so excited to go in Daddy’s car to the golf course to see Pro. Once we got there, she focused in on the golf carts. We went to the putting green and she immediately wanted to pull all the flags out of the holes and replace them. She wasn’t so interested in putting any golf balls. We went inside and had a snack of Orange Crackers (Lance peanut butter crackers) with Pro for a nice morning at the golf course.

Doughnut!

Doughnuts with Dad at preschool
The preschool has an annual “Doughnuts with Dad” event where the Dads come in to have breakfast with their kids. Since Molly and I both love doughnuts, it was a fun morning – even though it was pouring down rain.

Which hand should I use? Both!

Molly’s Easel
Molly’s Grandparents gave her an easel for her birthday and she loves to color and use the chalkboard. We’ve used a whole pad of paper already with Molly’s art and added a new roll of paper. She hasn’t decided which hand she likes to draw with, so for now we’ll consider her ambidextrous.

Growth spurt
Recently we’ve had a brush with fall weather and the temperatures have dipped into the 60s during the day. While we felt we were prepared for the cold snap, we quickly realized that 24 month pants were just a bit short and snug for our growing kid. We’ve also made 3 trips to Nordstrom to pick up Toms shoes in different sizes because we couldn’t figure out how she kept stepping out of them!

Potty Training (Candy training?)
Peaches also started potty training recently. What I did not realize is that potty training is bribing your child to sit on the potty and attempt to go. Molly has figured out the system and will ask to sit on the potty – but before she even is seated, she is asking for candy. The concept has been mildly successful, but the candy-to-actually-going-potty ratio is about 20:1 right now. I have to admit, I am scared for stage 2 – underpants. Can’t we fast-forward to 100% potty trained?

Showing Daddy pancakes

Just one more picture for fun – we made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner tonight and Molly loved them. Hopefully she will like the leftovers in her lunch tomorrow!

We’ll try do a better job of updating the blog in the coming weeks/months! I better be careful or I will “earn” myself a job of full-time family blog post author!

Friends and Cupcakes

Heidi — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:43:02 +0000

Molly has become good buddies with a boy in our neighborhood, Graham. We see Graham and his mom Jessica regularly for playdates, at My Gym and Starbucks, and this summer, Graham was in Molly’s class at camp. It’s so cute to watch Molly recognize her friends and call our their names when she sees them.

Last week, Jessica and Graham came to our house to play one afternoon. Molly was waiting at the door for them and when Jessica’s car pulled up, she ran into the kitchen yelling Graham’s name. She was SO excited he was here! Jessica brought cupcakes so we could celebrate Molly’s birthday a few days early, and the kiddos had a lot of fun eating the cupcakes and making a mess.

Thanks again Jessica and Graham for that special treat!