memories of firsts...

where did the month of january go?! february is upon us and i'm hopeful that things can only get better from here… which brings me to my "memories of firsts on the first" post:

today, we have our FIRST stomach bug of the year and my sweet FIRST born is the (un)lucky recipient. bless her heart, she also had to experience sickness of that kind for the FIRST time at church today. and of course, it just so happens that i was taking all three girls to church by myself this morning. isn't that the way it always happens? we walked into the front doors of the building and walked right back out about five minutes later. i'm sure the FIRST time visitors and members alike really appreciated what they saw FIRST thing upon entering the church. thankfully, they're a forgiving bunch ;) 

i'm praying that poor libbi is not just the FIRST to have the bug, but the LAST! 

here's to a happy, HEALTHY, love filled month…. happy february FIRST friends!

UPDATE: laney is now the FIRST one to follow in libbi's footsteps. Victim #2....

to see more "memories of firsts on the first" posts click HERE.

oh, libbi...

so many times throughout the day, i find myself just shaking my head and saying, "oh, libbi..." haha. that girl is such a mess.

one of my favorite things about her these days is her vivid imagination. she can come up with all kinds of characters and scenarios; and you better believe she puts on some oscar worthy performances.

half the time i have NO idea where she even gets some of her "material" so i'm caught somewhere between laughter and confusion. (it's also a GREAT reminder that little eyes are ALWAYS watching and little ears are ALWAYS listening).

the other day i was in the kitchen fixing supper and she rode by on her scooter (olivia style) and asked for a piece of cheese. i had just put the last slice on the macaroni and cheese i was preparing and so i told her we were out of cheese. she looked at me in shock and said, "no more cheese?! what a CATASTROPHE!"

huh?! where did she learn THAT word?!

she loves to have babies in her tummy and she's convinced that when I was a little baby, i was in HER tummy. she tells me this often. she'll play and ride her scooter with her baby doll tucked safely in her shirt. she says that her "baby's not ready to come out until she's big like yay-knee."

and i'm not really sure what's worse: the fact that she's a 3yr old pretending to be pregnant or that while doing so she looks like a 3yr old that could use a good underwire.

we were running into a store the other day to pick up a few things. we walked past the aisle that held all the "undergarments" and libbi stopped in her tracks. before i could usher her along, she grabbed a bra and yelled out "i know what this is, momma! this is so no one see's you boops." and then she proceeded to hold it up against her and say, "i like this pink one. i can wear it on my tummy just like this..."

she loves to say, "it's fine" and "i don't mind."  but she doesn't always use them appropriately. she'll often say, "can i have a snack? i don't mind." or "i can have chocolate milk with my supper. it's fine."

libbi has called laney "yay-knee" for awhile now (even though we still call her laylay) but here recently she's taken to referring to her as "my sister" (except she can't pronounce her r's). for some reason it's just so funny to me when she calls her "my sister" when she's talking to me. she'll say, "momma, my sister wants to come with us." or "daddy, can my sister have a turn, too?" one day jeffrey was playing with laney and he said, "you're a little stinker!" libbi was quick to reprimand him, "she's NOT a stinker, she's MY SISTER!" :)

libbi knows all of our full names, but for some reason she pronounces her last name different from the rest of ours. If she's saying my name, jeffrey's name, or laney's name she pronounces our last name as, "tippins." but when she says HER full name, she's ALWAYS "libbi jane Pitt-tins."

she has a slight flare for the dramatic (i have NO idea where she gets this!) ;-)

the other day she had to go to time-out and upon sitting down, she yelled out, "i need to get out of here, THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE!" needless to say, it didn't work :)

libbi has been in her "big-girl-bed" for a few months now. the transition was very easy and she's done really well....for the most part. she's about 50/50 for naps these days, but she still has a mandatory "rest/quiet time" even if she doesn't sleep. most days she uses this time to read, sing, play with her baby doll in her bed. other days she uses this time to try on every speck of clothing she owns and "surprise" me with her fancy outfits. 

{a libbi orginal outfit}

{another libbi original outfit...and for the record, her bloomers are on backwards...we don't typically emblazon her name across the front ;)}

we also went through a phase where she would strip her bed. after a few days of this, i finally said, "libbi, WHY do you keep taking the sheets off your bed?!" to which she calmly replied, "oh, sorry momma. i just 'fought you wanted to wash 'em" it's so nice to have such a helpful daughter ;)

some days when she actually naps, i find her in the strangest places.... but, hey - whatever works, right? ;-)

yes, she IS asleep under there....

what's that they say about marching to the best of your own drum? :)

i'd say she's got that one down.

and finally, one of my all-time favorite things is when she says (to me), "i love you big so much. you my best girl in my whole life." ;-)

and i have to say, i love her "big so much" too ;)

sleeping in a box...

Libbi is still in her crib. yes, i know. she is 2.5, but y'all don't understand. She is wild. i mean wiiiild. And honestly, she can climb out of her crib. easily, in fact. but for some reason, by the grace of God, she just chooses not to. (*knock on wood*) :)

i'm convinced that once she moves to a big girl bed we will: 

A) never sleep again 

B) end up in the ER with some kind of broken bone

C) have to remove all furniture from her room and pad the walls

D) wake up to her sliding down the stairs on her mattress

E) all of the above. 

i'm not kidding. she sleeps like a rock in her crib, but that's after she does her jumping-singing-talking-trick performing-routine. seriously, there are some nights that she goes to bed at 8:15 and at 10:00 she is still in her bed jumping and talking to herself. it's insane! 

And unless she's suuuuper tired, we pretty much go through the exact same routine at naptime. she goes down for a nap around 1:45 and some days it's close to 3 before she finally settles down and goes to sleep. 

I'm downstairs during her afternoon routines and it literally sounds like our ceiling is going to cave in. I usually don't intervene unless it starts to sound dangerous. There are many days that I will go upstairs and find her without her clothes, (only once has she been diaperless, thank God!) the sheets will be off her bed, books everywhere, etc. She takes pride in how far she can throw her blankets. It's not unusual to find her lovey's on top of the lamp or across the room in her closet. 

One day last week, I heard the usual jumping, song and dance routine. I even heard a few loud bangs, but nothing too out of the ordinary. About 30 minutes in, she starts yelling my name, "momma! momma! mooooom-maaaaaa!" It's always a little unnerving when I'm summoned upstairs. especially because i have no idea what i'm going to find when i open the door. 

that day, i peeked into her room and immediately went downstairs to get my camera. the scene in her bedroom was definitely worthy of documentation. 

believe it or not, this was all done without ever leaving the comfort(?) of her crib. 

and what was sweet little libbi doing, you ask? 

hmmm....can you see her? 

yep, she was IN A BOX, in her bed. 

and pretty proud of herself, i might add.

and just like that i decided right there on the spot that she just might sleep in a crib until she's five.

i rest my case.

the little things...

Libbi is changing so much every day and she is becoming more and more of her own little person. It's so much fun to watch all the new things she does and hear all the funny things she says.  I feel like at this stage in her life, it's not so much the big milestones that we're marking (sitting up, standing, walking, etc) it's more of the little things.  Little nuances and sayings that may not be just right, but they're so completely Libbi. These "tricks" are not like the skills that we worked at and practiced until she'd accomplished them. It's more like little things that have just become so much apart of her that it will be hard to pinpoint the exact moment that she outgrows them. In my mind, I know she'll all too soon learn the correct way to say things but in my heart, I know that when she does, I'll honestly be sad! It will mark another stage of growing up and those stages are happening all too fast these days!

Libbi loves to hide anywhere she can (most of the time she's not very conspicuous with her hiding places...) but she is especially into making sudden appearances from her hiding spots. Each time she jumps out she yells, "HERE ME HAM!!!"

For some reason she says, "ha-woke" instead of "hold" So when she wants me to pick her up she says, "ha-woke me, momma!" Or if she wants me to carry something for her (i.e. her collection of junk that goes EVERYWHERE with her - even to bed) she says, "ha-woke 'dis and ha-woke 'dis."

Speaking of her collection of stuff...here is the current list:

baby

baby's bottle

cat (happy meal toy)

strawberry shortcake

stretchy spider

a set of 'noculars (so she can "see far 'way") these were an old kindergarten sample that i had in one of my kindergarten files. who knew she would like them?!?

an elmo board book

a dog that goes with a set of stacking blocks

4 monsters, inc. books

2 (yes, TWO) sets of teething keys

and I know I'm forgetting a few.

She carries all of them in a halloween bucket, except for the baby and her bottle. Those stay in her arms at all times.

The baby's bottle is one of those cheap little bottles that looks like it has liquid in it, and appears to empty when it's turned upside down. I can't tell you how many times she tried to drink the "juice" from the bottle and how many times she said, "it's broke, momma...it's not workin'!" because nothing was coming out of it.

When she knows she's about to get into trouble she starts saying, "yes ma'am, momma. yes ma'am" over and over. I guess she thinks that will help?

(her hiding spot...she added a pillow so she'd be more comfortable)

There is nothing sweeter than when she says, "Lay-Lay" (which sounds more like "yay-yay")  and of course we all call Laney, "Lay-Lay" now because of Libbi.  She says, "I yove yay-yay sooooo much!" at least 50 times a day....and then looks around to make sure somebody, anybody, heard how sweet she was being - ha! :)

I'll definitely be sad when she starts saying, "Laney" instead of "Lay-Lay."

She loves to roll right over by Laney and let Laney "get her." Of course, she then tries to scoot away and makes sure to tell Laney, "no ma'am lay-lay! no get my hair!!"

She frequently (as in 3/4's of the day) gets in Laney's face and says, "My name Bibbi Jane. I like you toes Lay-Lay" haha! sometimes it's "I like you hair." or "I like you eyes" etc, etc, etc.

We fight over triangles many times throughout the day. She LOVES to say, "triangle has TWO sides! TWO sides! TWO sides!" At this point, I'm pretty sure she knows it has three, but she also knows that by saying a triangle has two sides she is driving me batty. :) If I tell her a triangle has three sides, she will chant "TWO sides!!" over and over. :-)

Finally (for now, because I could really go on and on) Libbi has a sweet tooth like none other (except for maybe her momma!) so Halloween was seriously the best thing that has ever happened to her. We let her have a piece of candy each day and it is the highlight of her day. She has a VERY hard time limiting herself to one piece (and it usually ends up in some sort of dramatic falling out). She's a sneaky little thing, though. She will choose her one piece of candy, eat almost the entire thing, and then proceed to tell me that it's "yucky" and "i no yike dat canny." Which means that she thinks she should be able to choose another candy to eat. sneaky, sneaky, sneaky!

Oh, how we love this sweet, sweet girl! :)

it's not you, it's me....

we've been dealing with a break-up of epic proportions here at the Tippins House.

there have been tears shed, hearts broken, and bedtimes postponed...

but I *think* we've weathered the storm....

It was around this time last year that things were going so well for y'all. You were so happy together.

There was nothing that the two of you (and a "love-love") couldn't get through together.

You truly went through sickness and health, good times and bad...you were in it for better or for worse.

We began to worry when you started spending a little too much time together so we decided to intervene and set limits.  You seemed to accept them with ease, until your little world was rocked.

we gave you some time to realize that a break-up was the best choice, but it became pretty obvious that you weren't going to come to that conclusion on your own.

so we made the decision for you.

Because we love you.

and because we don't want to pay out the wazhoo for orthodontia down the road.

we are SO proud (and pleasantly surprised) of the way you have handled it. the first few days were rough, but you seem to have turned a corner.

Break-ups are hard. Especially when it's a relationship you've had since birth.

Believe me, it was hard for us, too. We felt like we were losing a member of our family. It was like watching our baby turn into a little girl overnight!

Since the breakup, we make sure never to mention your "Ex" by name.

You've started carrying around a lot more stuff (I guess it's only natural that a breakup comes with baggage though, right?!) ;-)

Tonight, you are sleeping with: 4 Monsters, Inc. books, 2 Strawberry Shortcake books, 2 loveys, a toy dog, a set of plastic keys, a baby doll, 2 blankets, and a seahorse that plays music. But, you're asleep and that's what counts. :)

Thankfully, we know that bigger and better things are in your future. You'll look back on this as a stepping stone. And I'm sure you'll be able to smile about it....hopefully with a mouth full of straight teeth. ;-)

songs and numbers...

Just a quick video of Libbi Lou for your viewing pleasure....

a few things of note:

*yes, she is wearing Christmas jammies. We live in the south y'all and the temp dropped below 55 last night. So naturally, we break out the festive fleece jammies. :)

*She starts out praying for Blakeley - her sweet little cousin who has had the stomach bug :(

* I love to hear her say, "eleven" - it makes me smile every time.

*ignore her exorcist voice that rears it's head at the end...we're battling some nasty croup.

*finally, in case you were wondering(?) worried(?) I was not ignoring Laney while filming Libbi. Jeffrey was holding her, she was just fussy and is fighting that awful croup, too. Guess that's one of the disadvantages of having more than one baby...they share germs. :)

Have a great Thursday! :)

oh, libbi....

I feel like we say, "Oh, Libbi!" quite a bit these days. She is so funny and says and does things all the time that make us laugh. Most of the time I don't even know where she comes up with half of it (which is kind of scary) but she is a mess, that's for sure!

Here are a few of my favorite Libbi stories/sayings as of late:

She made a firefighter hat a school. She wore it the entire way home (upside down) and insisted that she needed her "eyes" to go with it. Who am I to argue when she wants to accessorize???

She has recently become obsessed with the movie, "Monsters, Inc."   It just so happened to be on the Disney Channel one morning and J recorded it. We have watched it no less than 500 times since then. I found a set of old board books that someone had given us that feature the main characters from the movie.  She loves to go through the books and name each character, "Mike....Sully....Randall...and Peek-a-Boo!" (that's what Libbi calls "Boo")

Every day she requests to watch the "Monster Moo-bee" and she must know where her "monster books" are at all times.

My parents had a life-sized, stuffed Sully in my sister's old closet at their house. (I have no idea why?!?!)  I asked my dad to bring it over for Libbi. We weren't sure if she would like it or if it would scare her.  My dad put it out on the front porch and then rang the doorbell.  When she saw it, she immediately clammed up. She said she didn't want Sully in our house, she wanted him to go see Mike - ha! She kept saying, "Go see Mike!"

The other day I put her down for a nap and I told her I was going to take a shower while she was napping. She then proceeded to say, "take a shower. you stink, Momma!" niiiice.

When we went to the hospital for Laney's surgery, they let Libbi pick out a toy for Laney. I guess they usually let the patients choose toys, but since Laney was so little, they let Libbi do it for her. She chose a set of plastic keys and proudly presented them to Laney. She then promptly reclaimed them as her own. I have no idea why, but she is so attached to those keys. Y'all, they are a teething toy! She carries them everywhere with her. She sleeps with them, she takes them in the car, she cried when I wouldn't let her take them into school. Bless her heart, she tried her hardest to use them to crank up the "Car" buggy at the store the other day. She goes around the house saying she's "locking up" and pretends to lock all the doors. Laney has yet to play with those keys.

Another item she's been attached to lately is a baby doll that her great granny sent her in the mail. I don't know if it's because she got to open the box and found the baby in there or if it's because it was a surprise present from Granny B, but that baby has been her siamese twin for weeks now! She has to have her baby and her keys with her no matter where she is going or what she is doing. The baby says a little prayer when you press on it's stomach.  The first few nights she slept with it, I think they were having church in her crib, because we kept hearing the baby "praying" over the monitor.

If that baby is out of her line of sight, she yells, "mah Baaaay-beeee" in the most southern drawl you've ever heard.  She is a sight carrying around a baby doll, a set of keys, and four monster books. When it's time to go somewhere, she'll say "I got allllll my stuff! my stuff heavy! i got alllllll my stuff!" and she is SO proud of her "stuff." :)

She's very concerned with "Lay-Lay's boo-boo" and wants to check it constantly. It was so sweet, because the morning after Laney's headwrap came off (early, since she ripped it off in her sleep!) Libbi saw her and said, "Jesus made Lay-Lay's boo-boo ALLLL BETTER!!!" and she was so excited! Bless her. 


She's a mess, but she has the sweetest heart.

We just love our sweet, funny, crazy little girl!