Ryan and Casey plus 2

Christmas 2012 was amazing! We loved seeing the experience through Whitney's eyes, I think we were more excited then she was to open her presents!!   We got a kick out of how she opened presents this year by tearing off one little piece at a time asking, "what is in here??" after each one!  Of course she immediately wanted to open and play with each gift she got, but was pretty understanding when we said she had to wait.  It was a little surprising that she would lose interest in opening gifts so quickly but that was mostly due to the fact that she wanted to play with something else she had just opened :)   Whitney really had a Christmas week and opened many presents prior to the big day thanks to our wonderful neighbors!  She got a diaper bag from Jim and Priscilla which she just loves!  A crocodile, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, flashlight from her friend Lizzie and Minnie Mouse bath accessories from baby Zack! Would...

Our weekend was filled with one Christmas activity after another.  It was pretty tiring but very fun!  Whitney loved seeing Santa and even sat on his lap!   Have to share first that I bought the supplies for Whitney's Jake and the Neverland Pirate birthday party and when she saw the plates she exclaimed, "Shiver me timbers!!!!"  Ryan and I cracked up because we have never heard her say this before at all.  Obviously she heard it on Jake but hasn't said it haha:) These are after bath time on night this weekend.  This is Whitney's silly time.  We are lucky she is clothed in the first picture because this girl loves her naked time (with a diaper of course) and for some reason it always happens right before bed.  **That probably stems from the fact that I used to tell her that she could take her clothes off after dinner...haha she would ask all day long to be naked so I just started giving her a time so she would not keep asking!!! O...

I mentioned previously that I knew the terrible twos were coming and we have seen a lot more evidence as of late.  She is testing us on everything, her favorite word is no, and I've seen more tears in the past few weeks then I ever have before!  I must say though that is isn't as bad as I first thought it was going to be; perhaps we are just at the tip of the ice berg but she has been doing well with handling her own meltdowns.  She usually asks to go lay in her bed, she wants to be alone but does calm herself down without my help.  I was very pleased by this as there are some children I had in Kindergarten that could not do that...heck there are adults out there that don't quite grasp how to calm themselves:) Crocodile tears: All of the sudden we have a huge problem with personal space and pushing.  I know where she is coming from, I tend to get anxiety in social situations and don't often appreciate someone in my personal space but the only diffe...

Whit and I have been talking about going potty on the big girl potty for a few weeks now.  She is very excited to go to the store and pick out big girl undies, Minnie mouse of course, and even repeats over and over to herself, "Im gonna say I have to pee mommy, then run to the potty and go go go!!" haha:)   However we haven't really tired going on the potty just yet.  She has her unused plastic potty upstairs that she pretends to sit in but she has yet to try it.  Tonight however, she was in the tub playing her new favorite game, alphabet soup, when she declared that she needed to poop.  Ive been through this before and didn't want to clean the whole tub all by myself with a wet toddler, so I grabbed her and put her on her potty.   She sat there for awhile and said no mommy, look that way not here.....  Nothing happened and she eventually went back into the tub, where I washed her as quickly as I could....just in case:). While I was putting ...

For as long as I can remember I have spent Thanksgiving on the beach with my family. So naturally continuing the tradition with our daughter was only expected.  Whitney experienced it last year but she was obviously too young to remember it, and to be honest it wasn't one of my favorite trips.  We all had a rough time down there and it just wasn't as easy as I had hoped it to be, so going down this year was a little scary for me! My parents offered for Whit and I to spend two weeks down there with them since I am off work this year. They were driving down and were taking our luggage and even picking Whit and I up at the airport, so it seemed like a no brainer...even though I was super scared to try it all again.  Ryan dropped Whitney and I off at the airport and the two of us flew down to Tampa where my Mom and Bret were waiting for us.   She was a perfect angel on the flight.  It wasn't as bad as I thought but let me tell you, sitting in ...