It All Started with a Little Skittle...

I have been dreading this day for months. I am lucky that Michael was off to help  me endure taking our baby girl to get her cavity in her tooth filled.  We arrived at 10:00 a.m. promptly and checked in; however, our appointment was not recorded on the schedule.  I asked if I could just speak to a dentist for five minutes regarding my options because I was not interested in sedation as recommended.  They ended up squeezing us in and using nothing but  laughing gas to correct the issue.  I freaked out the entire time they had her in the room; any time I heard another child cry or yell out I freaked out.  The secretary was kind enough to go and look in the room and tell me what was going on when I freaked.  After my and Micheal's 30 minutes of agony waiting for Gabby we walked into the room to a smiley baby girl who pushed out of the way to continue watching "Tangled."  She never mentioned the dentist after the visit.  When we tried ...

Bowling all by herself       Lifting 20% of her body weight, no sweat The alligator helped her roll the ball down the ally We had a ton of fun Gabby knocked down all but one pin!! She decided it was also a slide   The "walker" helping her skate Can you tell she loves him? The furthest she skated independently Look at her go Approximately one second after I shot this picture she fell forward, busted her nose and lip, and we got of the rink to clean up the blood.  She was a trooper. The finale of the day: Her Tangled comforter came in So today, as most days in the McIlroy home was a Gabby day.  We filled the day full of fun.  We started at the habachi grill (more for Mommy and Daddy) and Gabby ate more of my steak and noodle than I did.  Then we tried to go skating which Gabby has been dying to try out but they weren't open yet so we took a detour to bowling since it was $2 Tuesday....

Giving Daddy bunny ears Eskimo Kisses Truly amazed by how much I love and adore her! So this year we are not taking a true vacation, but we both took a week off of work to enjoy some family time.  We kicked our vacation off by going to a housewarming party and a wedding on Saturday.  On Sunday, we went to the Ringling Brother's Circus, which was an all day event.  We saw the animals before the show. Then we watched various "side show" performances before the show began.  Gabby even went to the center ring with a bunch of other children and learned a new dance by one of the performers.  She really seemed to enjoy the show, she never took her eyes off of the performances, except to eat cotton candy of course. The cotton candy caused her to be unable to sit still in her seat.  Michael described her as a can of soda who had been shaken up, which is an appropriate description.  We really enjoyed our weekend of making memories...

What a lovely weekend we had! Gabby and I started our weekend early Friday morning.  We traveled to meet Gabby's newest second cousin, Blakeleigh.  What a precious little angel she is! Gabby was surprisingly well behaved and didn't get too jealous when I held her.  Brandy even allowed Gabby to hold her (a brave endeavor if you ask me) and I am proud to say, Blakeleigh survived with no bumps or bruises.  Newborns always amaze me.  I don't think there is any way to get closer to God (on Earth that is) than holding a newborn baby. It's truly amazing!  We enjoyed visiting with Grandma, GiGi, Great Aunt Lisa, Brandy, Great Aunt Christine, and Blakeleigh, but Gabby declared it was time to go around 5:30.  She was excited to get home and see her Grandma, Grandpa, and Lexi. We arrived home promptly three hours after her declaration and to my surprise Gabby stayed up a few hours visiting with everyone, due to her excitement in their arrival.  The next mo...

This was my fourth Mother's Day.  It's hard to believe that I have been  a mom that long, wow! We had a lovely and peaceful day.  We ate at Freebirds, which Gabby loved because they have loud music she could dance to and we made her foil sculptures of a cat and rose.  Then we went to the mall and bought some make up I wanted.  Finally, it was time to go home.  Gabby fell asleep on the way home, which is bitter sweet, because she stayed up past 11:00 that night.  On the up side, it meant a few nice hours to relax and watch whatever I wanted to on t.v. (because Michael informed me I wasn't allowed to clean).  My Mom and Dad came over and we enjoyed a ribeye steak for dinner.  I know it doesn't sound like an exciting day, but it was nice having a day where nothing was expected of me and we could just relax for a change. Oh, Gabby and Michael gave me the sweetest gift, a few days early because Michael couldn't wait.  They painted coasters ...

 Even on the toughest days of parenting once they are asleep all is forgotten.  Doesn't she look like an angel sleeping?  It's very rare that she naps during the day so the opportunity to document her sleeping is rare.  This was a particularly trying day.  Gabby wouldn't listen to a thing I said, but she woke up with a clean slate and in a slightly better mood. Thank goodness!

Yesterday Grandma and I took Gabby for her first manicure and pedicure.  I've wanted to do this for a very long time, but I wanted to make sure she was old enough to experience that this was a special treat.  "Aunt KK" (my best friend, Kasey), told us about a place that has a special chair for little girls, so naturally that is the place we chose.  Gabrielle and I had a difficult morning due to her behavior, (she's had an ear infection for over two weeks so I am trying to cut her some slack, poor baby) so a relaxing, fun activity was needed, for both of us to unwind and calm down. Grandma, Gabby, and I arrived at the spa and chose our nail color.  Gabby settled on light pink finger nails, bright pink toe nails, and green flowers.  I decided to have them simply paint her nails rather than a full pedicure, because I wasn't sure how long her attention span would be.  She was highly interested in the water, so I suppose next time we may let her try...