Nakita Grinie

Well, my mood is 100% better than it was earlier in the week. Thank you for the pep talks, girls!

This post is going to be a bit of a hodge-podge and probably long. You see, this is going to be my last post before the move.....and who knows when I'll be able to post again. I know, I know, it's a sad time for me too because I'm going to miss my blogging over the next few days! I promise to give an update on my [mental] condition as soon as we have internet and of course I'll be snapping pictures left and right while the movers glare at me, questioning my sanity. I'll just tell them that I'm a blogger and they'll totally understand, right?

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and I have a few thoughts:

When I think back about the past Valentines Days I've spent with Nate, I can't help but smile. I wish my scrapbooks weren't packed away somewhere because I'd totally pull some pictures from each year. Instead, I decided to use engagement pictures to illustrate our love. What? I figured you'd be sick of the wedding pictures so I'm using the OTHER trusty pro photos I have. That's okay, right?

2003: Our first Valentines Day. I was a senior in college, Nate was a junior and we were only dating for a few months. We were one of those "disgustingly obnoxious couples" who were totally infatuated with each other. Kind of like this:

To make a long story short, we cooked dinner for each other in my little campus apartment. We were STARVING and not the best cooks. We decided on lasagna which seemed easy enough but it posed quite the challenge. I remember calling both of our moms multiple times through the night for moral cooking support. After what seemed like hours, it was finally done so I pulled it out to cool. But good old Nate decided the cheese wasn't "toasted" enough and when he went to put it back in the oven the inevitable happened. I heard a few loud profanities and a crash from the other room. Sure enough, the whole pan slipped out of his hands and landed promptly on our disgusting college floor. We were so starved that we scraped off the top layer [untouched by the dormitory grossness] and ate it anyway. What romance!
2004: I was in Grad school and Nate was a senior. I THINK we went to our most favorite restaurant ever....Olive Garden. We totally burnt ourselves out on this one because now we boycott the place but for awhile there we were OG junkies. After our dinner we went to a few local bars to celebrate with friends. Again, so romantic, right?!
2005: We were both done with school and working. I lived in my single apartment and Nate lived with Charlie. I'm pretty sure this was the year that Hannah and I made dinner for our boyfriends----who are now our husbands, solely because of our awesome cooking skills. It was really fun and they choked down the steaks like champs. True love, I tell you!2006: Now Hannah and I lived together [again!]. This was during my "if he doesn't propose soon I'm going to kill him" phase of life. So when he got us reservations at The Tap Room---where we had our first date---I prepared my hands with a nice manicure. Surely I'd get my ring at dinner, right? WRONG. Nothing. Not one little "you are the most amazing person in my life" speech. I was bummed and probably a delight that night. Little did I know he had a plan and bought the ring a few weeks later. Poor Nate. He puts up with so much.

2007: Engaged and still living with Hannah. Is it bad that I can't remember what we did last year? I'm fairly certain we went to dinner at Sidney Street Cafe---which is the best restaurant EVER, and especially in St. Louis. Yes, that's it---we went to Sidney Street and gorged ourselves on food and drink until we thought we'd puke. Now THAT is a sign of a good night:)
2008: This year we'll be moving so we can't do anything special. I'm kind of sad about this but we decided to postpone our celebration until we are settled into our new place. I'll let go of my tight wad tendencies for one night to show Nate my love:)
Please note that most of these pictures involve us laughing together because that is what we do quite often. He makes me laugh when I'm in a bad mood. Brightens my bad days with a silly face. Nate understands me when I don't even understand myself. He knows when to let me vent and when to shut me up. Most of all Nate loves me despite my flaws. I am eternally grateful for my wonderful husband and I'm fully aware that I should tell him this more often. I love you, Nate! Thanks for being my Valentine for six whole years!
Can't wait for us to be the cute elderly couple, married for 50 years, so I can use this Some Ecard:
Sorry if you are gagging right now, but I had to do it. Enough of the sappy stuff, okay?

Valentines Day is also Mom's birthday, as I mentioned before. She doesn't look a day over 30 and gives me hope for aging gracefully. Of course I'm a horrible daughter and didn't even send her a card this year.

Love you, Mom!

A final Valentines thought: although I'm in a loving marriage right now and don't really mind Valentines day, I know a lot of single girls out there feel a bit jaded and annoyed by this Hallmark holiday. I really can't blame you because Valentines day can totally suck if you endured a recent heartbreak and have disgustingly happy couples thrown in your face. In that vein, I was listening to my I-pod the other day and stumbled upon some AWESOME break up songs. They are more like "break up/I'm so over you/you are nobody without me" songs. They make me want to belt them out in my car while nobody is watching [okay, I admit I may scream the lyrics even if the car next to me notices. I just don't care.] I don't need these break up power weapons anymore but I'd like to share my list, in case any of you need some ammunition. Of if you just want to sing really loud in the car.

~"Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
~"Tomorrow" by Avril Lavigne
~"Forget About It" by Allison Krauss
~"The One" by Vanessa Carlton
~"Fast as You Can" by Fiona Apple
~"Wheel" by John Mayer
~"Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" by John Mayer
~"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" by David Gray
~"No Need to Argue" by The Cranberries
~"Circle" by Edie Brickell
~"Every time" by Britney Spears [don't kill me for this!]

So that's it. A mega post for something to tie you over until I settle a bit. Wish us luck on Friday and send some unpacking love my way!

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Another monthly update for my girl?

I feel like there is nothing new to report this month after reading her last month's post, but that probably means this will be extra long and rambling;)

The biggest change for Cecelia this month is that she is now officially sharing a bedroom with Truman. We kept her in the crib for now but hope to move her into a twin bed in the next few weeks. It's not that she is busting out of her crib just yet, but she is definitely getting pretty tall for it. She seems to hit her head on the top and sides of the cribs all.the.time, just like Truman did at this stage and she now tries to crawl into the crib from the outside. If she wasn't going to have a baby brother who could use this crib in a  few more months, we might push the big bed transition a little bit more but probably not by much. Truman moved to a bed at 22 months and I feel like CC is probably ready, too. It's just that she is our wild child who doesn't always follow the rules so we might have to get creative with double big time railings on her bed or something. We will see.





But so far, CC has loved being in Truman's room. She will say, 'Tru Tru?' in the morning when she wakes up and I'm sure they both appreciate having each other so close in the middle of the night when they are up to no good, calling out for us multiple times. Oh, baby girl. Do I really need to pull the band-aid off and get rid of your nuk all together? Seems like that stupid thing is both the ultimate soother for you at night but if you lose it you will not happily search around for one of the three in your crib with you. Sigh. I don't know---you do like to suck on the nuk when sleeping. I just wish it didn't fall out of your mouth so much, I guess. And getting it down to JUST using the pacifier in the crib has gone better than expected, so maybe it's time to bite the bullet and ditch them forever. I did want to be done with them by age two---just worried the nighttime shenanigans will be detrimental to my health before anything gets better (and then worse again with a newborn).

(will miss her nursery so much!)


Cecelia will go down at the same time as Truman now, usually around 7:30 pm or so. Getting her to sleep in until 6:30 am has become a task and she is waking up a few times from 3 am on crying out. I wish I could just ignore her cries and let her figure it out, but that means another beast will wake and then we have double the trouble. CC naps alone in the crib from about 12-2 or sometimes longer (sometimes less). She loves that nap most days though and had one really perplexing day this month when she refused a nap on me. It was horrible. I pray to God she continues to nap until nearly four years old, like Truman has done. He only dropped his nap because we kind of forced it, in the name of an earlier (dual) bedtime, too. But sister is very very different than her big brother in a lot of ways. This we know by now.



CC is a fantastic eater (ahem, different than Truman). She seems to have a palate for spicy foods that blows me away since mild salsa is usually too hot for me. She's not a fan of raw veggies unless they are dipped in ranch or sour cream or any other condiment. Sister loves to dip random foods in random condiments, actually. Luckily this doesn't make me want to gag quite as much as it did in my first trimester---but come on! Tangerines in ketchup? Gross!

Speaking of gross, she had her first stomach bug this month. Poor baby. Poor mommy. Blech.



Little Miss Independent still likes to take charge of certain activities---like coloring, for instance. She does NOT want my help in opening or closing markers. And yet she will get super frustrated if she cannot remove a cap but prefers to freak out instead of letting me help her. We've definitely had a few more semi-scarring tantrums from baby girl this month, now that I think of it. One night in particular was horrible when I attempted to get her pajamas on for her, and she demanded to wear her filthy clothes instead. She was not pleased with me winning this battle and proceeded to cry a torturous scream for at least 5 minutes. Could NOT calm her down. This happened when she was overtired, too, but there are also mornings that she gets really angry at me for changing her diaper and getting her dressed for the day. Oh, boy. I still brace myself for a different experience with 'the terrible twos' with this child.







And yet, Cecelia is the sweetest, most thoughtful little girl. She gives kisses to people unprompted--me, Truman, Nate, her grandparents, Erin, the list goes on. She loves to talk about the 'bay-bee' in my belly and I'm hoping she presents her loving side to the baby when he comes. My mom brought a little gift for Dizzy's new baby, and upon hearing the word 'baby' Cecelia grabbed the gift bag, walked up the stairs (with us close behind since she DID take a major tumble down our stairs this month), and went right into the nursery. I told mom that 'she thinks this gift is for OUR baby,' and sure enough---she said, 'baby' and put the bag down by the rocker. OMG. That child melts me more often than she frightens me. ;)



CC loves Truman but she also loves to push his buttons. A lot of times I think she gets under his skin meaning well, as she tries to 'help' him with his puzzles by throwing the pieces across the room when he denies her that assistance. She's been on the receiving end of his frustration a few times this month and thankfully she is a TOUGH little girl. But we are definitely working on playing nice with these two because she can hold her own, but only for so long against her much bigger big brother. Lucky for us, they really do play wonderfully together about 75% of the time. Their favorite game is currently 'bridge' when they get all of the couch cushions down from the couch and make bridges with them to the ottoman. This activity results in tears from one or both children about half of the time, but it's been a long winter so we are a bit desperate.



Although CC is very independent and pretty awesome at playing alone for a good stretch of time, she still has clingy moments when she only wants to be carried around by me. I think this relates to being tired but sometimes I feel clueless about WHY she has these phases of neediness. A developmental milestone? Two year molars? General anger towards life? Just needing mommy? I don't mind, really, but it's the times when nothing I do is 'right' for her and she is STILL fussy even when I hold her and console her that are difficult. I'm glad she is in a great phase right now---having GoGo here for a week surely helps Cecelia's attitude. I haven't seen this child smile more than when she is with my mom. They are becoming best buds in no time and we all love it---except for when it comes time to say 'goodbye' again. Won't think about that just yet.



We are really into an 'Ariel' stage with Cecelia now, and she pronounces it 'Eel' which is extra hilarious. She has Ariel socks and an Ariel night light and an Ariel cup in the bathroom for brushing teeth. She doesn't actually care about TV at all yet, but that Little Mermaid is still a friend for CC, I suppose. Sometimes she talks about Elmo, too, but Ariel is her bud. Speaking of talking, CC is still a chatterbox at home but very much the observer with other people. She repeats pretty much any word we say and initiates conversations at home, but not so much to strangers. Truman gets really excited sometimes and will say, 'Mommy, CC knows how to say 'bus' now. And she can say 'truck' and 'car', too.' Pretty sure she has known and said those words for a long time now but it's cute that he picks up on certain vocabulary words as 'important' ones to know.

Something that is notable from this past month: I did not pull out my nice camera ONE TIME. This is a new record and it makes me sad, but at least I've still been snapping away with the iPhone. February has been a quick month it seems, and our CC is edging her way to being two years old! I can believe it though, since she really does act older/more mature than her years most of the time.



We love our girl more than words, and knowing that she will be the only girl sandwiched between two boys makes her extra 'special' or something. And I think the tutus and pink frills will only be amplified from here on out. Can't help it.

(enormous V-day tutu and matching doll outfit)


You're the best, Cecelia. Love you! xo Mommy