Attitude with a Capital A.

Miss A. 27 months old. That sounds so weird to say. She's a toddler with a vengence. Let me start off by saying that her Mommy has always had an attitude, has always been stubborn, and has always had a short fuse. Mix that with her Daddy's awesome sense of humor, goofiness, and well - temper - she is quite the firecracker.

She is quite the mannerful little girl though. She always, ALWAYS says please and very rarely doesn't say thank you.

Snuggles. Oh yes, I love em. She is a lover bug. Dev and I have always been that way, and have continuously snuggled with her since day one. I love that she has inherited that love. Makes my heart melt.

She knows 3-4 colors by heart; yellow is her favorite. Blue, green, and sometimes she remembers pink and red. She can count to three and we are working on furthering those numbers. She has her father's attention span though. 10 seconds, TOPS.

Her sentences are coming together more and more every day. She'll spit out thoughts like she has been able to say them forever. I alway repeat what she says because sometimes its a little jibbery and I want her to learn to say them correctly. However, the jibberish is totally cute.

Potty training. It has its good days and its bad. We are not keeping a diaper on her throughout the day, only when we eat and when she is sleepin. This morning, she woke up totally dry. Thats a huge milestone. Her little panties float on her. It is to-die-for.

She'll repeat everything you say to her when its time for bed. "I love you! Sweet Deams! See in mornin! Ni Night!" I. love. it.

Bugs are a NO NO. Daddy had an episode with a snake on Easter and she has not forgotten about it. And since then, she will NOT walk in the grass. I am determined to nip the prissey-ness in the butt!

She is LOUD. And when I say loud, I mean sometimes (ok, many times) we have to tell her to lower her voice.

Bird watcher for sure. Sitting at our screen door in the morning and singing "CHEEP CHEEP" is a favorite thing of ours.

Farm animals are her favorite. Especially "Moo's". We love the Slate Run Historical Farm. We have already been there once this spring and plan to make many more trips!

She loves her little brother. And it makes me so proud to be a her mommy.

Faith, Storytime, and a BIG GIRL BED!

Alyvia's Poppy and Daddy built her a big girl bed for her second birthday. I helped paint! It has been done for a few weeks now, and I may have delayed having it delivered because I was not {and I still dont think I totally am} ready to not put MY baby in her crib anymore. Well, Saturday we went over to my in-law's to help rearrange/plan where our furniture would be going when we moved in, and Devon asked his Mom if she could follow us home with the big girl bed. I bit my tongue - I know deep down it is time. She is going to be a big sister and she cant sleep in her crib forever {or could she?!}! Devon was nervous about it - I had a feeling she would adjust pretty well. And she did! She has slept the entire night, all 4 nights we have had it! Two nights ago she woke up startled, but when back to sleep within 20 minutes. I have the urge to snuggle up with her in it every night. Thats allowed, right?! Daddy says Mommy is "too big" to sleep in it with her. BOO :(

Between potty training (most days), talking like she's 13 years old and sleeping in her big girl bed, I have had an emotional week internally. She is growing up...

I am sad to say that we haven't been to church in a while - but I 100% believe the reason why is acceptable; He knows I have faith in Him- we talk every day, I thank him every day, cry to him every day and ask him to keep opening doors for our family. I listened to a sermon online posted by the church that I was attending and it "rubbed me the wrong way". Not the whole sermon, but a statement that was made more than once that I don't agree with. And I just haven't been comfortable with going back yet. That doesnt mean that I dont continue to read, pray and talk to him; I do. Every day, more than once. And I 100% believe He will continue to be there for us.

Last night, Devon and I took Alyvia to Storytime at our local library. She LOVED it. They sang, danced, read a few books, and crafted. I am sad that it was the last evening one for a while, but I am going to try my hardest to get her to morning sessions whether her Daddy or Granny take her. I love how social she is. She walks up to every little kid, greets them with a smile and an up-beat "HIIIIIIIII!" with a little giggle. She is getting better with sharing, but its something we still need to work on. As well as her little attitude, but I have to admit, sometimes its totally cute and I cant help but laugh :)

Counting Down!

We have a lot of huge events coming up in the next few weeks...and I am so excited!

Devon will be taking the written test for CFD in a little over a week! And soon after, he will be taking Deleware's written test as well!

Mason (thats our little guy's name!) will have a baby shower in his honor in 3 weeks! A co-worker is throwing it for me, because she is such a phenomenal person and I love her to pieces. I know, I know, it's our second child...but it's a BOY and I love everything about celebrating babies. So I was so thrilled when she said she and another family friend wanted to throw me a shower anyway :)

In just 4 weeks, my SIL will be taking maternity photos for us! We didn't have any done with Alyvia (sad face), but her photog business has grown over the past few months, and she takes photos for us all the time. It'll be more of a family session, embracing the fact that our family is growing <3

5 weeks from this weekend, we will be in Myrtle Beach with some good friends of ours who live there! Devon and I haven't been on vacation since Oct 2007; we wanted to take the time to do something special and fun with Alyvia before her lil' bro got here. Oh I can't wait!

The week of June 19th, my hours will be reduced and I will only be working 20 hrs a week. Financially, yuck. Motherly, yes! I will hopefully only be working 3 days a week (2 eights and a 4) and I will get to spend more time with my Love Bug before we add her little brother to the mix! I have mixed feelings about it, but everyday I get more comfortable with it. God has a plan for us.

The first week of July, we will be moving into my in-laws until I finish up school/get a job, and hopefully sooner than that Devon will be full time with one of the departments! All the while looking for a house to buy.

WHEW!
(that was in case any of you who DO read the blog get confused with what has been/will be happening!)

More prayers answered.

I wanted to post about this before I forgot! Devon will be testing for Deleware FD in June and he also takes the Columbus FD written test in 2 weeks! Please continue to pray that he does well on both! We are hoping for Deleware because he can "get on" quicker with them, and they make a little more money. He says good things about them and I know he'll do great.

I will be starting a program to become a MAA (Medical Admin Assistant) right after the baby gets here. Im shooting for end of August. If I do it full-time, I can finish in 3 months. But between 2 kiddos, working and school, Im shooting for finishing in 6-7 months. Its cheap and job possibilites are everywhere. Speaking of work - we got word a few weeks ago that beginning June 19th (our one year wedding anniversary) our hours will be reduced to 1000, from 1880. OUCH. But just a few days before that, I prayed that an opportunity came that would allow me to spend more time with my kids. And Im taking this as a blessing in disguise. We will make it work, which is why I have complete and total faith that Devon WILL get a poistion with Deleware :)