Miley the Monkey

More of Just Hanging with Miley

Miley has been up to a whole lot of things the past week. First off, I have to mention that she has some FAVORITE things... first favorite- Handy Manny, who would have thought that my daughter would be into a Handy Man... maybe I'm just teaching her early that she's gotta find herself a Handy guy when she gets older, like her daddy is, he can fix anything! Just like Manny! Nana got her her very own Handy Manny and every morning- still sleepy- she runs to the living room to get her Manny and then she wants to watch Handy Manny while I get breakfast ready and she holds her Manny and all his tools while she watches. Such a funny girl!


Her second Favorite is Micky and Minnie Mouse! We watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and they have a song at the end of the show that goes 'Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog...' and so she connects Mickey with Hot Dog-- that's what she calls him, so whenever she sees a Mickey or Minnie she goes HOT DOG HOT DOG.... if you can see in this photo she has Minnie Mouse PJ's-- she LOVES these PJ's- when Hot Dog comes on she'll run to her room and dig in her laundry basket and pull out the shirt and carry it to the living room and dances around with her shirt saying HOT DOG HOT DOG! It is soo funny!!! I think she needs a 'Hot Dog' stuffed animal or something!

As you can also see by the above picture- she now thinks it is is great to try on Mommy's bras and underwear- she puts them around her neck! The one day I went into our room and her and Taylor were playing in there and he was laughing so hard because he just let her dig in my underwear drawer and she had two pairs of underwear pulled over her head and a bra... I don't know who taught her that trick!

The other day Miley found some of my nail polish and brought it to me and I thought since the weather is getting nicer out I would introduce her to it and paint her toe nails. She thinks it is soo pretty- and a few days later she brought me a different color and pointed to her toes, so we re-painted them again and she looked so proud of them!

Here is Miley completely exhausted from a day of playing at the Breast Cancer Volleyball Tourney fundraiser and running around Brewsters with Maddox and Rowan!

Miley sure does have some interesting taste buds for a 1 year old. She LOVES SALSA!!! Taylor was having some of his parents homemade salsa one day and she watched him dip a chip, she LOVES to dip things and she wanted to try it, so he gave her a little taste and she kept wanting more and more and more. So, we wanted to see what she would do if we put a little on a plate for her- she was a PRO- she dipped her chips nicely and when she had a hard time getting the veggie chunks on her chip she just picked them up and ate them with her fingers! All the onions, pepper and tomatoes! I told Taylor that that is the way to get her to eat her veggies! Normally she practically gags when we make her try veggies! (Don't worry, we make her drink them, she drinks V8 Fusion to get those veggies in- we offer them everyday but she just refuses to eat them right now-- but salsa seems to be a creative way to get them in her)


She also LOVES popcorn! When I tell her we are going to make Popcorn for snack she dances around the kitchen until it's done and then she has to hold the bowl herself- so basically it is HER popcorn and she shares with us!


And just a cute picture of her reading the newspaper with Daddy. :)


And- I just wanted to put out an invite to anyone-- I am planning on going to a Children's Consignment sale on Saturday, April 4. It is at the Hasse Hockey Arena in Lakeville. Apparently it is a HUGE sale with GREAT items- all VERY clean, no stains and up-to-date styles. They will have their spring and summer collection out. It is from 9-5 and right now I am going by myself, so if anyone is interested in joining me, let me know! Miley is staying with Daddy so I can do some serious hunting for some good deals. For a first child we have to basically buy an entire new wardrobe for each changing season, I'm hoping next summer she will still fit into this summer bottoms, but she definitely doesn't fit into last summers bottoms right now so we need all new stuff. So, let me know if you are interested in joining me! :)

I Think We Are All Done Nursing...???

So- the biggest news of all- I think Miley has decided she is done with nursing. It is a little bitter sweet- bitter in the sense that we are actually all done and we don't have that time together, and for the fact that I'm still making milk but not using it, so I'm a little full, if you know what I mean. But sweet because it is exactly how I wanted things to go, I wanted it to be her decision when she was ready to be done. She was very good at asking to nurse when she wanted it, she has been signing for it for several months now and the last few months she has actually been able to say nurse, 'nur', and Wednesday night is the last time she has asked for it. We were doing 3 times a day 4 weeks ago, then 3 weeks ago we got that down to just morning and night, then last week we cut out the morning as she didn't seem interested and just wanted to eat breakfast and now we are done. Thursday night I offered it to her without her asking and she really wasn't interested and that only lasted about a minute and a half, so Friday night we were all cuddling in our bed watching a movie and I said to Taylor- OH, she hasn't asked to "N" (our code word) yet-- he said- well, maybe she is done doing it, don't do it unless she asks. So, here we are Sunday night and still nothing.

I am so proud of her and I for reaching my goal! When I was pregnant I just wanted so badly to at least make it to 6 months, then that came and went and I just wanted to make it until 1 year and then I said however long after that is just icing on the cake and 2.5 months extra is just all she needed. She is such a good eater though so I know she is getting plenty full. And with getting a full tummy she is starting to sleep better through the night, we had a week set back as she had a cough during the night that kept all of us up and it was just easier to have her in our bed, but this weekend she has been sleeping GREAT! All night and even sleeping in until 8:30, in her own bed!

Speaking of Bed-- We have a question-- is 15 months too early to turn her crib into a toddler bed? We ask because apparently she LOVES to lay in Landon's toddler bed for fun and she is really good at getting in and out of it. I wonder if she would think it was fun to be in a toddler bed and if she got up to see if she would know how to walk to our room or just play in her room. The one thing that helps me think that maybe this would be OK is that our monitor is a movement sensor one- it is supposed to be for pets so you know if a pet goes in their room (like a cat going into the crib)- but I also read that it works great for toddlers- parents put it on the floor next to the bed and it beeps when the child gets out of their bed. We would of course keep the gate locked by the stairs and with that sensor it would give us peace of mind. I know I have readers with experience with this-- is it better to wait until they are 2?? We really don't have any idea. Opinions....

And- the biggest news of all- I'm sure most have heard, but I am currently unemployed, it was a huge shock and I am still a bit puzzled by the situation, but it is what it is and I think all things happen for a reason, I have been looking to get back into the administrative field and not do so much accounting for a few months now, looking, applied at one, but didn't actively seek anything so now this just puts fire under my bum to get out there and get a job that is really made for me. I had one interview on Friday that went pretty well and they said two times in my interview that it was very strong and that I really meet the needs that are specified. They had 11 people to interview and then were asking 2-3 back for second interviews early this week. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get that phone call. It is for an administrative assistant for a school in St. Paul. If I get the job I'll let you know more details. :)

SO- I've been spending all my time with Miley and loving every minute of it, especially now that the weather is better! Last week we did go a little stir crazy being bundled up in here but we spent so much time outside this weekend and plan on doing it all week, and even better, Taylor has spring break this week so we get to spend the whole week all together! We cleaned the garage today, Taylor mostly did, I should say- and then he plans on putting up the trim in the bar, then we have to move all our bar related items down there and paint the living room and then we will have completed our to-do list for the week. Should be fun! :)

Here are some shots of Miley this week- she now takes the camera and says CHEESE- the first one she wanted me to take a picture of her and then when I got ready she decided to get mad about it-- she sure can throw a tantrum!!

Here she finally wanted me to really take a picture of her during snack time. We have a pretty good schedule down already- breakfast first thing, play time for a few hours, 10:00 she seems to get a little crabby but not crabby enough for a nap so we have cuddle time in the chair and watch a little TV, usually whatever is on Disney- Handy Manny is her FAVORITE right now, she even has a Handy Manny and tool kit toy!- Lunch between 11:30 and 12, nap right after lunch, snack when she wakes up- then we do story time, practice our animal noises, dance to some music, play again until Daddy comes home- and then we have our evening. This week we will include walking outside into our routine- and playing on the slide in our backyard! :)


Miley the Princess, I just opened up her princess tiara and wand that she got for Christmas from her Great Auntie Tam-Tam and she LOVED it- she wore her tiara through breakfast and everything! -- OH- and she was yawning in this first picture, it is tough work to be a princess! :)

Happy Birthday Taylor!!

Today is Taylor's 26th Birthday!! Me and Miley did an art project for him and we took him out to eat at Brewster's and surprised him with all his friends and family! He was really surprised too! I had told him that our mom's were meeting us out to eat and that was it... so he was surprised to see a Happy Birthday banner that was so thoughtfully hung up there and was shocked as more and more people kept walking through the door.


I just noticed that I had more pictures on my camera then I thought- so here are some things that we've been up to... playing in boxes, helping with laundry, swimming lessons at the YMCA in Hastings and making messes!!

Miley Training for the 3-Day