Yes, I forced her to sit in front of the Christmas tree!

I hate to disappoint our blog readers, but this may be the closest thing you get to a Christmas card from us this year. I'd like to be one of those Moms who is really on top of things, getting cute outfits and picture cards to send out. Not so much. (see post below regarding child who won't cooperate with camera). And really, I'm ok with that. I did take Becca to the doctor this morning because she has an ear infection. See, we're good parents.

We are going attempt some nice family holiday pics this weekend on the downtown square since the weather's supposed to be nice.

This is our model child. She knows how to sit still for pictures!

Becca was afraid to stand by the Christmas tree, so I told her to sit in her chair. I think she just does not like getting pictures made, because she just LOVES the Christmas tree. She even tells it "night night" and "bye bye" at the appropriate times. Totally cute! And that blue ornament over her shoulder is one they made for us at Mothers Day Out--I'm going to hang it on the tree till she's 30 and embarrassed.

Branson trip--December 2008

We made our annual December trek to Branson a few weekends ago. I won't say that we had a horrible time.....but let's just say it wasn't the best time ever. Wow. There was quite a bit of crying, cursing and throwing fits and I don't just mean from Becca! While we absolutely love that our child operates on such a strict schedule, this time it proved to be complete torture. I guess we thought it would be ok to keep shopping and eat lunch right on through naptime....duh. She didn't want to sit still, didn't want to eat and definitely didn't want to ride in the stroller.

And how dare we even think of sitting her in Santa's lap! We thought we'd hit the jackpot when the most beautiful Santa was waiting for us in the Bass Pro Shop without a line! Duh, again. Not having it. None of it. We have a nice little picture of a crying Becca clinging to her daddy's neck while he was practically sitting in Santa's lap. We should have just stayed in the condo and napped.

Oh yeah, we all needed a nap since Miss Priss decided that she refuses to sleep anywhere but her own bed. We spent at least 2 exhausting hours each night trying to get her down. I think I'm gonna have a panic attack just rehashing it now....


This is a Becca-sized cubby hole next to the front door of our condo.

This is when we stopped for lunch right at naptime. Nice photos, right before the meltdown. Funny, some lady sitting next to us even commented to us how good Becca was being at the table! Well, we decided her children must have been complete hellions if she thought ours was good!

Here is the newest and youngest Victoria's Secret window model. She sure thought she was funny.

And this concludes our Branson photo shoot. Notice there aren't very many. Sorry I didn't think to grab the camera when Becca was laying on the floor kicking and screaming. Also, no Christmas-themed pics, either. I want to know who really gets their 1 1/2 year old to sit still for pictures? Really? Liar.

Daddy's little helper

Oops! Lee caught me napping with Fergie. She's not getting any less love or attention since Becca came along.

Here is Becca helping her daddy with a minor home improvement project. He was changing our door knob. Look how quickly she figured out how to use a screwdriver!

We'll post some pictures from our Branson trip later. It wore us out! We took Becca to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop, but she wouldn't let him hold her. And she cried! Oh well...

Happy Thanksgiving and other randomness...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We sure had a busy and fun time the last few days. We stayed in Fayetteville and got to visit with lots of the Bramell/Pugsley family. Of course, there was a lot of cooking, eating and card playing going on. Here are some pictures from the festivities.


This may be my favorite picture from the whole holiday. It's Becca with her Uncle Bernie, who is Lee's brother from Tennessee. How sweet!

This is a picture of Lee's mother and her kids (but not all of them!). Dennis was here earlier in the week, but he had to leave before this picture was made. This is Rob, Lee, Francena, Ben and Bernie. Another sibling there, and they wouldn't have all fit on the couch!

And here is a picture of us all (Fergie included, of course). Toby was in Little Rock at the Razorback game, so he missed the picture, too.

Last weekend, Becca finally let us put pigtails in her hair!! Yay! Granted, they aren't the best looking pigtails ever, but we got them in. Big victory for mom.

Don't let the innocent face fool you!

What a big girl!

I don't have any pictures, but I wanted to tell this story. I took Becca back to Baby Bookworms class at the library this morning. Parents and babies sat in a circle around the room with the librarian in the middle, who led us in songs before reading a story. In the past, Becca has been very clingy to me at this thing.

Today, I was so proud of her!! During the songs, she ran around the room to point at all the other "babies," some her own age, of course. She would giggle then run back to me, throwing herself in my arms so proud of herself. Then during the story, she went right up to the front of the circle and stood with her little hand perched on the librarian's knee the entire time. It was the cutest thing ever!

After story time, the librarian puts out a plastic tub of board books for the kids to read, play with, carry around, slobber on, etc. Our little bookworm managed to bring me a stack of 6 books before I finally cut her off. Enough already!! Lee said this morning that he is going to build her a bookshelf to support her habit.

The transformation has begun...

This is our sweet little Becca dressed in her jammies. This is the good girl who minds us and reads books all day long. This is her sweet face.


This is Miss Independent Becca. Miss "how-dare-you-tell-me-no." If she doesn't get her way, this is Miss Mean Face. Just try to look at her and not laugh. I dare you.


Oh, dear. It is true. We have somewhat of a drama queen on our hands. She is wanting to do everything by herself already, including use the spoon, which does not have a great outcome--especially with oatmeal and applesauce. The good news is that Becca keeps us laughing most of the time. And, her vocabulary is moving right along. New words: "good girl" (which actually sounds a bit like "doo doo" but who cares), "bath," "meat" and "apple."

I also got the potty out a couple of weeks ago for her to look at. The first few times we sat her on it (clothed even), she had a hissy. But now she will sit on it and smile. Still no potty action, but at least she's not afraid of it.

Sorry it has been so long since we blogged. Had a rough couple of weeks. We'll do better, though. Enjoy the new festive look of the blog. Until next time...

Our little ladybug...

First off, let me say I know what you are thinking. Yes, I know that we have to stop it with the ladybug insanity. But isn't she the cutest ladybug you ever saw??

She loved being dressed up; she never fussed or cried about her costume at all. Not like last year, when all she did was cry! We trick-or-treated to about 4 or 5 neighbors' houses, which was a lot of fun. Once Becca figured out that holding out her pumpkin got her something, she had no problems at all. We were happy that Becca's friend Madison and her daddy joined us on our jaunt around the block. Madison lives on the street behind us and she is Becca's first friend! Maddie is about 4 months older than Becca and they love to play together.

We came home to hand out our candy at home. I'm sure Becca loved this part more than walking around the neighborhood! She ran to the door each time the bell rang and after awhile, she greeted the kids with a warm "hi!" Before the night was over, she was handing out the candy like a pro--so cute! She didn't want to drop it in the pumpkins, she wanted to put it in the kids' hands.

So, without further ado....here she is!