Princess or a Tomboy

Sometimes I feel like Payton is ALL girl. I mean she loves the Disney Princesses, and has her toes done every Friday after music. To clarify, toes done, means she gets them painted with the color of her choice and a design put on them at a nail salon. I am not sure how this happened, but I am pretty sure it all started last summer when we went to Disney and my Mom got her toes done before the trip. Payton was hooked and will throw a major fit if Friday rolls around and she does not get her weekly trip to the nail salon. She is such a hoot. She picks out her color and sits perfectly still. She also knows she can't touch them until they are dry and will start to fan them with her hands. She also always wants to wear her princesses outfits or her dresses that are tutus. She also has to have a bow in (sometimes more than one that she picks out) at all times.







Then there are times I see the tomboy in her. She loves soccer and any outdoor activity. She will literally just ran around our block. She is fascinated by all the sports Cooper participates in including, t-ball and Karate class. Not to brag, but Derek and I have commented a time or two about how athletic she may be. She has play bats and balls and loves to swing with them. Derek recently taught her how to use her baseball bat as a golf club and she has a pretty good swing for a two year old. She will also climb on everything and try to wrestle Daisy.







Either way, Princess or a Tomboy she is all Payton and adorable.

Payton's Palace

As we get closer and closer to the actual move date, I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed. There is so much to do and so little time. Our closing date is March 31st and we have a free leaseback provision in the contract. Therefore, we don't actually have to be out of our house until April 22nd. That being said, the movers are arriving on April 16th and the packing has begun.

Early last week, we had some people come by and complete some of the "repairs" we were required to make. Nothing big, but we did have to replace some sprinkler heads and dishwasher wheels. While they were there, we went ahead and had them move some stuff to my mom's house. Some of the items that were moved were the grill and the lawnmower. Another item that was removed was Payton's baby crib. The night before they were to arrive, I got really emotional. Therefore, I went upstairs and took a ton of pictures of her room. I wanted to make sure I remembered her nursery. Once we move, Payton will be getting her "big girl" furniture.

So without further ado, here are the last pictures of my baby's room.

This is what you see as you enter her room. Let's see, the curtains were made by my MIL, and the curtains were actually hung by Bryan Pearce and my Hubby. I remember Bryan saying, "Don't worry about how we got it done. All that matters is that they are up and not going anywhere." Sure enough, after two plus years the curtains have stayed put.




This is the only new piece of furniture we purchased for Payton's room, the pink chair. The crib and the dresser were borrowed from my sister. The pillow was also made by my MIL to match her bedding. My mom purchased the chair and the beautify bedding for Payton's room. Hanging on the wall is the picture Derek and I took when I was about eight months pregnant with Payton and next to that is Payton's baby/announcement picture. You can also see the easel that Granny and Pops got Payton for Christmas that Derek put together.





A better picture of the curtains and the dresser. The picture on top is Payton's five month picture.






Oh........ the kitchen set. Payton got this for her first birthday/Christmas from Paw Paw and Grandpat. I remember when she first started playing with it she couldn't reach anything. Now she is a cooking champ.







Finally, the crib with the beautiful bedding. Sorry for the quality, but it was taken with my cell phone. I promise Payton does not have pink walls. It is just the reflection and the low lighting.







I am trying not to get emotional about packing up her nursery. Regardless of us moving or not, I know that one day we would have to leave it behind so she can start her new adventures in her new room. It just makes me sad because I feel like it is the last of her being a baby.

7 Things

Awhile back, Daon nominated me for an award for blogging. Yes, because I am such a stellar blogger and I blog so often. That being said, part of the award is listing 7 things about myself that you may not know. For some reason, I am struggling with coming up with 7 things because I feel like I am an open book. However, I thought I would give it a try. Here goes:

1. I hate public speaking. I know I picked an awesome career choice as a litigation attorney. I am getting better at it, and I can handle it, but I am a nervous wreck prior to any "big" hearings/ trial.

2. I actually like being a lawyer and learning about the law. I think that is one reason why I picked law school. I have always loved school and learning new things. I love reading and writing and for the most part most of the day-to-day chores of practicing law.

3. When I was little, and still to this day, my favorite color was/is black. My mom loves to tell the story of when I was two coloring a white piece of paper with a black crayon from top to bottom. My mom said I loved black crayons and started to worry about me. Especially, when I was in junior high and all I wore was black and listened to The Cure.

4. Since I was 12, I have not had bangs. I grew them out in 5th grade and have not had them since. It is not so much a style thing as a lazy thing. I couldn't even begin to imagine myself with them or trying to fix them. I am also not giving Payton bangs any time soon. I want her hair to be all one length. It is easier to fix. When she is a teenager if she wants them then she can have them because she will be the one fixing them, not me.

5. I am the ultimate un-girly girly when it comes to hair and make-up. I wash my hair, hardly ever blow dry it, and brush it straight. It usually ends up in a pony tail by 10:00 a.m. I am also not big into make-up. I wear it because it is a necessity, but I have never been one of those girls that buy different eye shadows to go with different looks.

6. I really wanted to name Payton "Poppy June." In fact, that was going to be her name until I was about 8 months prego and Derek started having second thoughts because the lady that cut his hair said she didn't like it. Although, I think Payton is all Payton, I still wish I would have stuck to my guns and tried to convince Derek to stay with Poppy June

7. I cry when my emotions go into overload. I don't know a better way to explain it. Whenever a big moment is about to happen and I get nervous/excited/scared I just start to cry. I mean really cry. Like with heaving gasps in between and everything. The two examples I can think of off the top of my head are: (1) when my dad and I were standing all alone and I was about to walk down the aisle I LOST it; and (2) when the doctor came in my room and told me that "we" were going to start pushing. I remember I lost it. I lost it so much that the doctor asked the nurse to go get me some tissue. I also remember thinking, please don't leave nurse I think you may need to be close if "we" are going to start pushing.


There you go. Seven things about me. I think part of the award is to also nominate 7 people. However, since Daon already nominated the other bloggers I know, I will nominate two. Jaime Taylor and Beth.

Our House

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Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house it has a crowd
There's always something happening
And it's usually quite loud
Our mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down
And a mess is not allowed
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Sing along with me...... Sorry if I put that annoying tune in your head, but as I was typing this post that song kept creeping into mine. So I thought I would share.

I am typing this post because we have sold our first home. Well, I guess technically we are under contract. We close on the 31st of March. I will not go into details about the process to finally reach a sales price with the buyers because it is Friday and I don't want to get my blood pressure up. I will say this, selling a home was one of the most stressful things Derek and I have EVER been through as a couple. Being first time parents and dealing with all the challenges a new born and later on a toddler brings was a piece of cake compared to dealing with the buyers for our home.

However, now that it is somewhat official, I am starting to get a little emotional about leaving. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited about our new home. We met with the builder earlier this week to go over the blue prints and it just seems so real. That being said, I am still a little sad to leave our first home. It was the home we brought Daisy home to, and not to mention Payton. It was were I took the pregnancy test and learned that a little one would be on the way. So in order to hold on to some of those fond memories, I thought I would put up pictures of our home and share some of the good, bad and ugly memories we had there.

Our Master Bedroom:




There are the curtains, that matched my previous bedding for the queen size bed we had before we upgraded to a king that my MIL made. I think those curtains were almost the death of her. Bay windows are not easy to fit with curtains so I have learned.


Our Formal Living/Dinning Room:



When we first moved in, and almost for the first year, we had no furniture in there. One day a person came to do some work on the upstairs bath and brought his two sons along. I remember they thought we had the coolest house because they thought we had a basketball court downstairs. They said all we needed was to hang a hoop and we would have the coolest house on the block. I also remember Derek considering that option for a split second. Needless to say, eventually we inherited formal dinning furniture from my mom and bought the formal living furniture shortly thereafter. Also, please note the lovely curtain my MIL made.



The Office a.k.a Derek's Office



I have so many fun memories of hanging out in the office with Derek's Ipod blaring doing work or just goofing off. I also remember watching the 3-D video of Payton's sonogram in that office.


The Kitchen:

I remember how excited I was in 2007 when we purchased the granite counter tops and bringing tons of samples home to look at. I also remember some of my cooking experiments taking place there. However, I think my best memories will be Sunday morning breakfast. Before Payton arrived, every Sunday Derek and I would cook breakfast together.


The Family Room:

This is were we spent all our time together. It has so many wonderful memories. It is never this neat. It usually has toys all over the place, and Daisy laying right in the middle of the rug.




I know all the material possessions are going with us. However, it still makes me sad to think that we will be leaving our first home. It is the only home Payton has ever known. Since we are moving while she is so young, I wonder if she will even remember living there.

Oh well, I guess all things come to an end. Fingers crossed that the closing actually goes through. So far, all signs are looking good.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pocahontas Mulan

Who is Pocahontas Mulan you ask??? Well, before I go into details I want to clarify a few things first before I get a ton of phone calls from relatives and friends. First of all, in all likelihood Payton will be an only child. Derek and I are totally content with one child. I am not saying we will NEVER have another, but in realty Payton will be it. That being said, even IF (and that is a big IF) we decide to have another child, it will not be anytime in the near future. I think we MAY start to consider it when she is at least four.

However, the other night Derek and I were talking about how big Payton was getting and how we missed the baby stage. We also started talking about how fast she is growing and soon she will be a teenager and so forth. Therefore, we asked Payton is she wanted a little brother or sister. Payton said she wanted a sister. Derek then explained to Payton that she would probably be an only child. Payton then proceeded to sit down on the floor and put her head down like she was sad. She looked so sad. Derek then looked at me like "What the hell have you been telling her?" I explained that I haven't said anything to her, and that her teacher at school was expecting a baby in April so maybe at school they discussed babies and brothers and sisters.

Derek then looked down at Payton, who was still just staring at the floor so disappointed, and asked her if she wanted a brother or sister. Payton responded again that she wanted a sister. I asked her what we should name her sister. She said Pocahontas. Derek and I were trying not to crack-up. I then asked her, because she is into wanting to know everyone's full name and doctor's name, what her little sister's full name would be. She looked at me and said, in all seriousness, Pocahontas Mulan. Like Duh, mother.

Can you tell we are in a Disney Princess stage right now? I bought her a little twelve pack of Disney Princess books and we have to read them every day. She is also starting to use her imagination a lot. I am in awe of some of the things she pretends to do. For example, she took two of her princess books and put them on the floor and stood on them. She then looked back at me and said she was roller skating. Also, anytime anyone is sick or missing from school Payton explains to me that they have an ear infection and they need ear surgery.

What else......... let's see. She can now officially say all her ABC's and she can even say the sound each letter makes. Every night before bed time we have to sing the ABC's and letter factory. She knows her shapes and colors and now we are working on "reading" to an extent. Nothing fancy. When we read books she will point out letters I ask her to find. She only knows her capital letters so I guess I need to focus more on lower case. Also, when I say reading, I guess it is more like spelling. I spell out words and she says what they are. We only have a few down like go, stop, Payton, Mommy, Daddy. I think I am going to start spelling colors.

Other than that life is still moving forward at lighting speed.