Those Irish Eyes...

The Irish eyes are smiling...
...And the Irish girl is happy...
...and the Irish dress was made with love by Grandmamma Crouch, and will be cherished for many years!!!!

The Dinosaur March

Tutu Cute!

I typically try to get Lila's clothes laid out the night before so that we won't be so rushed in the mornings. One night after bath, I was holding Lila, and went over to the closet to pick an outfit.
I pulled out a dress, and asked aloud, "How about this, Lila? Do you want to wear this to school tomorrow?"
I got a rapid, but firm, "No."
Ok, then... I pulled a pants outfit. "How about this one?"
"No."
Another outfit... "No."
"Do you want to wear a dress?"
"No."
"Do you want to wear pants?"
"No."
I continue to pull out outfits... "No."
I started laughing! What in the world?? "Lila! The only thing left in your closet is tutus! Do you want to wear a tutu?"
She lept toward the closet! "TUTU!!!!"
Well...what can you say to that? I pulled out the tutus, and she grabbed them, pulled them to her face, and buried her face in them. I guess she wanted a tutu! Who am I to say no to that?? Designing the rest of the outfit around an orange tutu is kind of a challenge, but I think we pulled it of JUST FINE!

Pinky Tails

Lila's mini-piggy tails, also known as "Pinky Tails" 'round these parts, are really starting to fill in nicely! Never fear, we have plenty of paired hair accessories to adorn them!

It's obviously almost Spring. You can tell by the fact that Lila's pants are too short to stay put on her ankles. We are Very Ready for our Spring/Summer wardrobe!

Fun Filled Afternoon

After the parade, we had plans to meet up with Mike, Sarah, and Joanna. We had some time to kill in between, so we took Lila to Cooper's favorite "Alligator Park", and let her run off a little bit of energy. She LOVES swinging. I'm so glad! She was never really all that big on her infant swing, so I feared she'd never really enjoy it, but she really came around.

We ate dinner at DakShin. I have finally come to terms with Indian food, and I'm finally to the point that I not only tolerate it, but actually crave it from time to time! We enjoyed a great meal with the News, and Joanna and Lila had a wonderful time giggling, dancing, and chatting. Joanna is SO good with Lila, and Lila just loves her so much!

St. Pat's Parade- 2011

Yesterday was our highly anticipated St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade was one of the very first dates Clay and I went on several years ago, and we've made it back every year. It's a cute little tradition that I always really look forward to!
I didn't take many pictures of the parade itself, but I had to get one of the military marching band. It makes me tear up a bit every year. I'm not sure what it is about it, but just thinking about the sacrifices our military make for us to live the lives that we live...it kinda gets to me.
Lila was absolutely THE CUTEST kid at the parade, hands down!! She wore another new dress sent by Grandmamma, complete with green leggings, leprechaun socks, shamrock shoelaces, and fantastic hair accessories!
The green dealybobs didn't exactly last through the whole parade, but we had a green hairbow in for backup. Ok...so that didn't last the whole time either, but we snuck it back in.
Lila was absolutely enthralled by the parade. She loved watching and listening to everything! However, as the parade went on, the crowd kept pushing further and further forward into the street. I HATE THAT. What was once a perfect curb-side view got totally covered so that she couldn't see anything through the crowd in front of her. I wasn't about to push my baby into the middle of the street, so we finally had to let her stand, then trade off holding her for a while so she could see. She was finally just itching to get down and roam. I let her for a bit, and she darted directly to the candy on the ground! I really wouldn't have thought she'd even know what a sucker was, but Miss Thang grabbed up a handful of them, and demanded "MO!" I appeased her with some pinches off a Tootsie Roll.
We packed some CheezIts that did a pretty good job of distraction, too!

Once I got all these pictures uploaded, I realized I don't really have a single one that does justice to her whole dress, or to the stroller! I adorned her stroller with 25 yards of tulle, bows, glow bracelets, etc! It was absolutely fabulous, if I do say so myself. We'll be riding in style to school this week, so I'll try to get another picture with it in the next few days!

A New "Hat"

Just in time for Derby, someone created her own new hat today.
Using the limited supplies available to her on her lunch plate, she decided that the mashed potatoes would be a nice option. Yes, she patted her head and mentioned her "hat" repeatedly.
Yup, supplies are running short. More, please?

It's a good thing her teachers at school think she's kinda cute and funny. They had to put her in the sink and give her a full bath after this. Mrs. Kim even put in a new tiny pony tail and bow on top. Guess what she did with that bow? Ate it. I guess it stands to reason that if mashed potatoes go on your head, bows would logically go in your mouth.

Dr. Seuss Week

March 2 is Dr. Seuss's Birthday (107th this year!), and each day of the week at school is celebrated with a different fun theme! If you know me at all, you KNOW I love me a good chance to dress for a theme!

Mixed Up Monday!
Bloomers on the head (LJ came up with that idea on her own!!), polka dot top, plaid skirt, stripe pants, and mis-matched shoes! We started the week with a bang!

Top Hat Tuesday! Even Mommy got in on the action for this one! Lila couldn't decide on a hat, so she wore this one in, and took a bag full with her to share with her friends at school! They had a great time playing dress up.
Wacky Socks Wednesday!!
It's hard to tell here, but Lila wore her One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish shirt with this outfit! She also wore two different striped BabyLegs, a ruffly polka dot sock, and a green leprechaun sock!
(And for those of you who have been following Lila's sippy cup saga, YES, she is once again using spouted cups rather than only straw cups. However, as seen in this photo, and all over our living room rug, not always properly.)
Pajama Party Thursday!
OF COURSE we chose jammies with matching accessories! We wore the zebra bow under the black hat with the zebra and pink flower. That way when Lila popped the hat off, she was still appropriately accessorized. We leave nothing to chance when it comes to hats and bows!
Dr. Seuss's Birthday Party Friday!
We didn't technically have a dress-up theme on Friday, but Lila knew that she should do Dr. Seuss proud, and wear her Horton Hears a Who shirt!

We had a really fun week, and ended it all with cupcakes! It just doesn't get much better than that!

BUBBLE!

Lila has has a long fascination with bubbles. Her favorite songs have bubbles, her favorite books have bubbles...and now her favorite time of day has bubbles!
A few nights ago, we ran out of our favorite J&J night time baby soap, so I put some water in the bottle and shook it up to make foam. I believe in getting the last drop of good out of a bottle! I started squeezing the foam out of the bottle, and she got so excited!! We covered her head, filled her cups, covered her arms and legs, and had foam EVERYwhere! Now she demands bubbles every night. Just wait til I introduce her to shaving cream!!

Busy Little Cuppycake

Happy Birthday, Pop!!! In honor of your big day, we're posting pictures of the cutest little cupcake ever!
Lila, you are quite a busy girl these days. I got you some new hats yesterday (buy 1, get 3 free at a going out of business sale!!!!), and you were SO excited! You do love a good accessory! You immediately demanded that I put one on you, then you proceeded to be your typical silly self. I grabbed the camera and chased you for 10 minutes trying to get a good picture. I finally gave up, but the outtakes are hysterical, and give a nice little peek into how busy you are! We started in our bedroom, on the far side of the bed...
Playing peek-a-boo with Mommy and Daddy over the side of the bed!
...and she's off! Where next?
Dashing out of the bedroom...
Wait! She's back!!
Running around the perimeter of the bed again!
Peek-a-BOO!
Now off to the kitchen! Mom will never find me hiding behind the stove!
Heheheheeeee....you caught me!
Dash through the dining room with Mom hot on the trail! OH NO! Stopped by the baby gate!
Where to next? Run run run run.....
Back to the bedroom! Daddy will save me!
Whew... Will you just give me the camera now? Or a snack?

And, this, my friends, is why I'm so tired.

First Dog Ears!

Yes, we have finally (sort of) reached that milestone. Lila got her first set of "dog ears" this week. Also known as pigtails, but I always think of a pig having one tail, while a dog has two ears. Makes more sense to me.
It took me about five minutes to get all of those tiny hairs parted and scooped into little piles, then wrangled into the tiny pony tail holders.
And it took her about two minutes to find the bows, rip them out, then get her tiny little finger under those hairs to get the pony tails out.
But it was sure cute while it lasted!!
M'girl is growing up way too fast. I still find myself constantly battling that emotional tug between "I can't wait til she..." and "I wish was still so little...."