Bland-uary

There are few things in the world I just hate. Snakes, scrubbing toilets and Mary Poppins are definitely on the list but the month of January is just a few notches away from joining them. It's such a bleak month and the cold slap of reality blows in with the North wind. Whether you're exercising more, eating better or going back to work or school, it's time to buckle down and "get real" as Dr. Phil overuses. If you know me at all, you know I don't like to get real. I like to plan for my next vacation, be spontaneous or play up some mundane thing in a day to make it exciting so January is a real drag for me. However, I do have something new to celebrate in January and that's Birdie's birth! We've had her almost a year and it's just hard to believe. That being said though, with Beatle, I wasn't ready to leave the first year. When she turned one, I was totally nostalgic. With Birdie, I'm ready to party! :) She's been a good baby but we have been loving her blowing kisses, saying "bye-bye", pointing to things she wants and WALKING!

She took two steps when I was on the phone with my mom one night and I thought I could count those but then she didn't do anything else for a few days. We were doing our Christmas before we left town and I had the video camera out, Birdie just stood up and took 4 steps and hasn't looked back since. I didn't tell my sister that she was walking yet so the first night we were in Oklahoma, we grabbed some dinner and Suzy was just chit chatting. Timing couldn't have been better; she was just talking to me about my previous blog and how Birdie hasn't started walking yet. Her mouth flew wide open, sandwhich in hand, when Birdie took about 8 steps toward me. It was awesome! :)

Christmas was fun in Oklahoma. Beatle's asked that we quit calling it "Home" because it confuses her. Loading our prizes in the Matrix was harder this year, with an extra seat taken in the back by Birdie but we managed. I'm sure we looked like hillbillies but Brent reminded me as we were driving through Norman one day, Birdie's tights drying out the window as a result of a leaky diaper that we're just running AR's name through the mud driving around with our Arkansas tags. Haha! No one has to know that our country roots sprout from Oklahoma.

Here are some Beatle-isms from Christmas: One day she wouldn't answer me when I was asking some questions and I finally said, "Beatle, answer me!" and she said, "Sorry. My answering machine is broken." I told my brother that those are statements that make parents want to laugh and whoop their kids all at the same time. On Christmas Eve, she set out the milk and cookies and dusted her hands off and said, "There. The dirty deal is done." And then when we were chit-chatting too long she said, "Chop-chop people! Santa is on his way!"

BR and I took a quick vacation and left the girls in OK while we went for a day of snow-skiing in NM. One day, you exclaim. One day is better than none and getting in over our heads financially for more. It may not make sense to others but we had the best time! We needed that time with just the two of us--we jabbered for those 9 hours of interstate with NO interruptions. It was great!

When we got back, I swear Birdie had chunked up in those three days! It was so funny! I commented that I must be starving her and my mom, in typical Nana fashion, said she thought I was. I quipped that she could just stay with my mom then and mom jokingly said, "No, no, no. (nervous laughter) She looks good thin." :) My mom's house was completely wrecked and she kept going on and on about how she didn't know how I did it all. (She did it too once upon a time!) Birdie is at a very busy stage but it was really nice to have some appreciation for the hard work I put in every day.

I hope to blog more in January. This month is so boring, what else am I supposed to do??? :)