Send Your Good Vibes

Just a quick note to ask everyone to send your good vibes our way. Clif has an interview today and we are keeping our fingers crossed that something good comes out of it.

Any good thoughts and prayers our way would be much appreciated.

Thanks and love to all.

She's Brilliant!

Watch this video of Ainsley spelling her name! Amazing, I know!

Ok, so she doesn't necessarily point to the correct letters and you can't distinguish I from Y...but still, pretty brilliant I think.

Sunday was Father's Day. We spent the weekend at Clif's parent's house. It was a good time and Ainsley loves her Nanny and Poppa.

Clif got a travel coffee mug with Ainsley pictures all over it for the occasion and we took him out to eat at his favorite restaurant when we got home that night.

Otherwise, we are still all recovering from our colds. These coughs are lingering and absolutely no fun. So we've all been pretty tired and boring all week long.

Work is starting to pick up which is good and bad. Good that the weeks go by a bit faster, bad that the headache is starting to sit in where it will reside for the next 6-8 months.

Hope everyone is having a quick week.

Summer Days

I love summer. I love when it's warm and you can sit outside and drink a beer or walk through a park or just drive around with the windows down. Definitely better than winter. I just feel my mood lighten as the warmer weather approaches.

We've been spending a lot of time outside with Ainsley. Two weekends ago we decided to go to Maymont. I had never been and my mom was visiting so it was something nice to do for the day. Clif and Ainsley have been a few times on play dates. So this park is huge, and right smack dab in the middle of the city. You'd never know it. We started out at the Children's Farm. They've got all the animals you'd expect to see on a farm...pigs, chickens, cows, bulls, horses, goats. Then you wind down this steep hill to see owls and eagles and bears, oh my! Ainsley liked the bears. We actually only saw one bear pacing at the wall...hoping to plan his escape I guess.

After all the animals you walk along the train tracks and then open up into the Japanese Garden, which I must say is amazing. There's a waterfall and stepping stones across the lake. I really enjoyed this part and Ainsley liked jumping across the stepping stones. The trees and flowers were beautiful. At this point we were at the edge of the park and Clif said that normally they turn back and go the way they came in. However, we decided to be adventurous and hiked up the hill/stairs at this end of the park. It was quite the hike. I carried Ainsley which made it a bit more difficult. When we came out we expected to be back at the Children's Farm but instead it opened up to a huge field with carriage houses and mansions along the edge.

So we definitely got our exercise that day!

Last week Clif had a play date with a group of guys and their kids. Who knew so many dads are home with their kids? Unfortunately, some of them are in the same boat we are, but some of them are choosing to do so. I think that's awesome. Mommies always get to stay home, I think it's great that some dads are choosing to.

Ainsley and Clif went over to one of the guys house where he had a moon bounce and a play ground and some water games. Ainsley seemed to enjoy herself.

This past weekend we went to the Children's Museum of Richmond for the first time. It was dollar night. There was lots for Ainsley to do there. They had this little make believe town with a school and a hospital and a store and a body shop and anything else you would find in town.

We also ventured away from our normal park and went to Deep Run park. It was pretty nice. We did not stay very long, Clif and Ainsley were both sick all weekend. Just a summer cold but not feeling so great. And guess what? I woke up with it yesterday. So we are all sick...don't come visit.

This week will be pretty low key since we are all feeling like crud. Maybe I'll get some pictures of our red noses :)

Broadway Here We Come

I've told you that Ainsley loves Mary Poppins and Annie. And I've told you that she sings the songs and imitates the characters. It is hysterical to watch her sing and she doesn't like for anyone to sing with her. If I start singing she'll say "No Mommy, my sing!" Here is some video of her singing "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins.

I see a Tony nomination in our future.

Have a nice nap?

So the other day, Clif went to get Ainsley from her nap - well I guess it's not really a nap if she didn't go to sleep - and she just rambled on and on about why she didn't take a nap. She had to put the baby to sleep, she had to put Elmo to sleep, she had to but Abby to sleep, her pillow fell out of her crib, etc, etc, etc. Until finally she looked at him and said "A my UP, daddy." (Translation: So I am up, daddy). It was then that Clif decided he would try harder to video tape these moments since they're so funny and I would like to watch them and I'm sure you would to.

So yesterday, Clif went into her room after she actually did sleep for a nap and this is what transpired...

I am constantly amazed at how much she talks and understands and picks up on. It's totally unreal to watch this little baby who can not do anything for herself, become this little person. I mean, just one year ago she had just started walking and couldn't say a word. Now she's telling us about movies and holding conversations and running around a playground. How does it go by so quickly? How can I spend a day at work that feels like a lifetime and spend a year of my life that feels like a blink of an eye? Seems backwards, I wish it were the other way around.

I also wanted to update you on Clif's job search. Lots of people have been asking lately, and I'm sorry to say that there really is no progress. He has been looking for 6 months now and there's just not a whole lot out there, so we are just taking it day by day. He did decide to get rid of "Recession Clif" which I am happy about. It seems a little more hopeful.

However, rather than dwell on how much it sucks that he doesn't have a job, we are trying to stay positive. I mean really, how many dads get to spend time with their kids like this? How many dad's get to be stay at home mommies? Not many, so that is our blessing in disguise.

This weekend my mom is coming to visit and we also get to see the Blakes. Hope you all have a good one.

New Pictures

We did get our camera back on Friday. Yeah! So now I have pictures to show you.

We had a very low key weekend. Nothing too exciting. Since Clif is with Ainsley all the time, I try to give him a break on the weekends, especially when I have a jewelry party to go to for 4 hours on a Saturday :) So Saturday morning after breakfast - a very late breakfast since a certain little girl woke up very late, probably because she stayed up so late the night before - Ainsley and I went to the playground and left Clif to shower in peace and read his newest Star Wars book.

Ainsley loves the playground. She's getting much more brave and just loves being there and seeing all the bigger kids play. One of her favorite things this time was to sit in this little red bucket and spin around. She didn't want to get out of the seat. She just wanted me to spin her round and round and round. Every time she did get out she had trouble walking. It was like watching a little mini drunk!

I had to bribe her to leave so I could get home and get ready for the party. So, after the playground we made a quick stop at McDonald's for a milkshake and french fries. That's probably my favorite treat. Who would of thought that chocolate shakes and salty fries would go so well together.

Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning the house and doing some yard work. We also tried to force Ainsley back into a schedule. I woke her up at 8 AM, we put her down for a nap at 1:15 pm and she went to bed at 8:45 pm. Of course she woke up raring to go at 11, just as we were going to bed...but at least it was a start. I'm coming very close to my wits end with the whole sleeping battle. It is wearing me down! Clif has a much easier time getting her down, so he may just have to be in charge of that for awhile. Granted...I have way less patience than Clif, but she is just so clingy to me lately and I think that hinders her sleeping a bit. We'll see, I'm sure she'll fall back into a livable routine in a couple of weeks, but right now I am just TIRED.

I do have one really cute story to tell you, and it's one of those instances where I wish I had a video camera aimed at Ainsley 24/7 because my telling you will not do it justice. Ainsley has gotten very into Mary Poppins. And I don't mean that she just likes the movie, I mean that it's all she asks for. And it is almost impossible to distract her from this desire unless we leave the house. It is one of my favorite childhood movies and I really don't get sick of it, even though we watched it 8, or 9 or 10 or more times this weekend. Well, Ainsley has started picking up on the songs in the movie. Not only does she sing them, but she also mimics the characters. It's just really cute. She'll sing "Feed the birds" and she'll close her eyes and sway back and forth just saying "A birds, poppins a baaa, poppins a baaa." Then she'll try to snap like they do during "A spoonful of sugar" and just like the little boy, she can't snap, so when he licks his fingers to help himself out, she licks hers. Then there's a part where Dick Van Dyke is singing with the dad and the line goes "it turns bread and water into tea and cakes" and he taps his chin. Well, she does that exact thing only it sounds more like "ba ba ba ba tea ba tates." However, my favorite thing is when she decides to tell me about the movie. On Friday night, when she was supposed to be going to sleep but not, she pointed to the ceiling and said "Mommy, a puppins a seenin, a baby a seenin, a mommy a seenin, a daddy a seenin, a nini a seenin. A dinn a time a seenin" and then she breaks into laughter.

Well if you remember the movie, you know there is a part where they have a tea party on the ceiling because they are laughing and floating. If you don't remember, you'll have to watch the movie. So she was telling me that Mary Poppins was on the ceiling, the babies (the little kids) were on the ceiling, mommy was on the ceiling, daddy was on the ceiling and Ainsley (nini) was on the ceiling eating dinner.

She is growing up very quickly - too quickly.