Since I'm not working anymore, I technically don't have a "Spring Break" but Libbi is in "school".... so she does! :) We got to spend lots of quality time together this week because she didn't have school on Monday or Friday and we didn't have Bible Study on Wednesday.
We didn't do anything wild and crazy or go anywhere exotic, but I would say we still had a pretty good week. ;-)
Sunday - It was such a nice day, so we spent most of it outside. Jeffrey had the ultimate set-up going on for Libbi after church: She had a pool, water table, and lots of bubbles to keep her occupied.
Monday - I had a dr's appt Monday morning, so Aunnie Mannie and cousin Blakeley came over to play with Libbi while I was gone. Libbi is OB-SESS-ED with Blakeley....and that's an understatement. Lately, she has been all about some "babies" - she talks about them all the time and wants to see them, play with them, look at pictures of them, etc, etc. I told Jeffrey that I'm praying she stays this excited about babies when there is one at our house permanently. Anyway, we talked about Blakeley all morning until she got here and Libbi was SO excited!! After my appt, they met me at Chick-fil-a and we had lunch. Libbi was a little too concerned with the slide to eat lunch, but luckily Uncle Justin had joined us, so he took over playground duty so I could finish my lunch. (It just so happened that when he was on a "break", Libbi decided to climb to the very top and scream for me to come get her. lovely. Fortunately, the place was empty and the only audience the watched me heave my 8.5 month pregnant self up the climbing apparatus was family.) After CFA, we went to the park to walk around. Libbi had to ride with me and cried the entire for "BLA-KEE" even though I told her she would be there too. Libbi loves going to the park by our house almost more than she loves the playground. There is just a lot of open areas and she can run to her hearts content - and believe me, she does! There is also typically a vast assortment of babies and dogs - her two favorite things! We took her "bike" with us, too and she enjoyed scooting around on it.
Tuesday - We met some friends at Imaginations at Play. This was our second time there and Libbi was definitely more comfortable with the whole idea. Last time, she pretty much stuck to the water/bubble table, but now that she was no longer an amateur, she felt free to scoot from place to place to place! Don't get me wrong, she DID spend a good deal of time over at the bubbles, but she also expanded her horizons just a little more this time.
The hardest part was trying to keep her from depositing other items into the bubbles. She tried to sneak in a couple of pretend hotdogs, some crayons, a stuffed cat, and a train just to name a few. (side note - she once again refused to wear a smock, so she was SOAKING wet!). When we got home, she took a looooong nap - and so did I. :-)
Wednesday - We had a lot of catching up to do around the house. We were going to go to a playdate at the park, but I was exhausted and Libbi was all out of sorts. Thankfully, Jeffrey moved the slide into the house since the weather had been bad earlier in the week. Libbi basically played on the slide all morning long. She LOVES it! Everything and their mother's brother went down that slide - shoes, cups, dolls, minnie, daisy, socks, purses, you name it (and if she could lift it) it was going down the slide.
Libbi sported her Master's shirt in honor of our favorite tournament of the year!
Thursday - a laid back day! We went to Home Depot and had the paint mixed for Baby Tippins's room and Libbi checked out the lawnmowers.
We also went to Michael's and made a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A. Libbi was SO good the entire time which makes things so much easier and so much less stressful. She's in the stage where she wants to "WALK!" everywhere....the stroller or a buggy is pure torture. The problem with this is that she wants to run like a wild banshee as soon as she is out of the car. We're working REALLY hard on holding hands and obeying Momma and Daddy when we say it's time to go (and not having a complete meltdown). She did a great job with this on Thursday so our outing was actually enjoyable! :) We came home and played and Libbi awarded many friends/items with stickers for their good behavior as well. Jeffrey came home early and there was more playing/stickering/and sliding.
Friday - this was a really EXHAUSTING day....both physically and mentally for me. I woke up at the crack of dawn and was just SO uncomfortable that I finally ended up just getting up. I watched TV downstairs and did some laundry and a few other odds and ends from around 2:30am until 5:30 or so. I decided I could possibly go back to sleep at this point, but then Libbi woke up. I have NO idea why she woke up so early, but she was up and ready to start her day at 6am!! We laid in bed for a little bit and then I thought I could take a quick shower while she was watching an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.....
Obviously, I thought wrong. After cleaning up our "breakfast" we set out to get some things done. I was looking for a few things at Target, so we made a stop there. They didn't have what I wanted, but we did end up with juice boxes and animal crackers just to keep somebody happy. I had some m&m's in Libbi's diaper bag and was giving them to her for holding my hand and for not pitching fits. We went into Hobby Lobby to pick up something and luckily I brought the m&m's with me. They single handedly convinced Libbi to get into the buggy. :) While we were shopping around, she happened upon some Mickey Mouse stickers, so I let her have them while I continued to browse. I wish I had my camera (or even my phone - I had forgotten it!) because by the time we got to the checkout, she was COVERED in stickers and m&m's.... she was happy as a clam.....I was mortified. When we got home, I took her picture (but by this time, many of her stickers had mysteriously disappeared - so she didn't look as bad as she did at the store, but still not my clean baby that I had left with!) :-)
Libbi and I met my mom and dad for dinner at the Mexican Restaurant since Jeffrey was golfing late. When it was time to go, Libbi basically refused to get in the car with me and cried because she wanted to go to Mimzy and Buddy's House. She's spent the night over there before, but it was always planned beforehand and it was never because she DIDN'T want to go home with me. :( Of course, I cried and had my feelings hurt (don't feel bad, I'm just a wimp like that) and called Jeffrey. He kept telling me, "she didn't know what she was doing....she didn't mean to hurt your feelings." To which I would respond, "You weren't there! You didn't hear her tell me, "BYE momma!!!" and then refuse to get in the car." My mom had to stop by my house to get Libbi's stuff and Libbi didn't even want to come in the house, because she was afraid my mom would leave her! I'm sure I'm making this sound much more dramatic than it actually was, but this was the first time she chose someone else over me.... so I was a little traumatized.
However, once I was home alone in a quiet house, I recovered fairly quickly. :)
Saturday - Jeffrey was golfing again, and since Libbi was at my mom and dad's, I had a quiet morning at home....kinda. I ended up doing some cleaning and laundry, because it is so much easier to get things done without my little assistant velcroed to my side. My mom and Libbi met me at the car dealership so I could drop off my car for some maintenance. We went over to the mall afterwards and had a good time riding the merry-go-round and shopping. My mom got Libbi some new crocs that had little Minnie Mouse attachments on them and she was in hog heaven. She has been wearing them non-stop. She is so proud because she can put her "Ninnie Sheez" on all by herself. She's so funny about them, too....if the Minnie heads are turned a certain way, it really bothers her and she makes sure to turn them just so. My car ended up taking longer than expected, so my mom dropped Libbi and me off at my house and I put her down for a nap. When she woke up, she was in a mood like no other. She screamed and cried and flailed and just pitched fit after fit. I guess she woke up on the wrong side of the bed - who knows?! About that time, they called to tell me my car was ready and it would be almost $600 and they were closing in 15 minutes. I freaked out, because Jeffrey wasn't home and asked if I could pay over the phone (we've done this before and then picked up the car later). Apparently, they changed their policy and no longer accepted credit card payments over the phone. Poor, poor Jeffrey. All he wanted was a nice day of golfing. Little did he know, I would call him crying because they were holding my car hostage for $600 with Libbi screaming bloody murder in the background. (I'm sure after our phone call he was literally on his knees praying that Baby Tippins is a boy - ha!) Luckily, he is calm and level-headed and told me he would come home if I needed him, but otherwise, he would call the shop and "take care of it." And he did! He called back 10 minutes later (btw, Libbi and I were still crying) and let me know that there would be no charge for the work on my car, because it was all covered under the warranty and that they would let us pick it up that night and pay for it on Monday morning. My hero :)
He came home early and cooked out hamburgers for us while we watched the Masters and he took care of his two emotionally fragile girls :)
Sunday - We went to church today and heard a great message on anxiety (coincidence??....I think NOT!) We let Libbi play on the playground after church which is always a sort of lose-lose situation. If we don't let her play and go straight to the car, she has a tantrum. If we do let her play, she still has a tantrum when it's time to leave. Basically, we've just gotten really good at making a quick exit from the playground while carrying a flailing child (luckily, we're not the only ones this happens to...)
We stopped after church to get my car and I drove home while Jeffrey and Libbi stopped at the grocery store. I think she really enjoyed shopping with Daddy, because he let her get a chocolate chip cookie and ride in the buggy that looks like a car.
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| I wanted to get a picture of her in her cute Easter Bunny dress.... but this was AFTER her trip with Daddy and no socks, wet dress, and chocolate face was the best we could do :) |
I came home from church and put on my pajamas and didn't really move much beyond that. I don't know if it's because of the early morning and/or a combination of standing for a long time on a hard floor at church, but I was exhausted and sore. Jeffrey was great and took care of lunch, naps, and snacks so I could have some time to relax. Bless his heart, once again....all he wanted to do was watch the Master's and I think right about the time it was "getting good" I woke up from a nap, Libbi woke up from a nap and the madness began :)
She was actually in a GREAT mood today and laughed and played all day. We had a fun day together and a nice end to our Spring Break (and it was kind of fitting that she refused to put on a shirt all day - ha!)
I am looking forward to the week ahead..... Libbi goes back to "school" tomorrow, Bible Study is back on Wednesday, and we have an Easter Party on Friday!! ;-)
