Where did she get THAT?!?

Tucker is starting to really develop her own little personality. I mean, I guess she's always had a unique personality, but now that she's talking (constantly) and walking (everywhere) there are particular traits that are really starting to stand out. It's fascinating to see her develop - to imagine what these traits will be like when she's 4, 10, 18, 25. And I, as I'm sure most parents in complete denial about their own ridiculous characteristics, sit and wonder, "Where did she get THAT?!?"

For instance, yesterday when we were leaving daycare, she was walking down the hall and popped into every single door and boldly waved and said, "Bye bye!". She even walked into the manager's office as if she owned the place, planted her feet, looked him square in the eye and said, "Bye bye!", turned around and walked out. (She's only 19 months, so this is hilarious to me!) And I thought as she asserted her control and importance in this place where she spends her days, "Where in the WORLD did she get this social-butterfly-ness from?!?" (Stop laughing, mother!) I mean, seriously!!! I'm not like that AT ALL!!! No one has EVER waited on me to say goodbye to 50 people as we left somewhere. And Drew? NOOOOOO, he's as quiet as a mouse - never talks to anyone! (Seriously, mother! Stop laughing!) I mean, she must have just grabbed this outgoing personality from THIN AIR!

And this morning, after we got dressed, she asked, "A Tuh-ter's Tote" (Where's Tucker's Coat?). So we walked to where the coats are and I picked up her warmest brown suede coat to which she replied, "No," shaking her head. I stood in confusion for a moment and then had a thought. Maybe she was not just confusing "yes" with "no" or "coat" with "milk". MAYBE she was having a strong opinion about something. So I picked up a different coat and showed it to her to which I got a RESOUNDING, "YESSSSSSSSSSS!" My 19 month old already has strong opinions?!? And has no problems expressing them? WHERE could she possibly have gotten that? Drew and I are both just kind of "go with the flow" kind of people - never having strong opinions one way or the other - never feeling the need to demand our way. (Ok, now I can hear you ALL laughing.)

It suddenly hit me! This child is going to be... (insert ominous dum-dum-duuuuuuuum!) LIKE US!!!!!!! I mean, I always hoped she'd look like us and be delightful, intelligent people like we are (haha!). It never crossed my mind that as a 2 year old, she would also be an opinionated, strong-willed, social, goober of a person like we are! Man, we are in TROUBLE!!! :)




By the way, Kelli is hosting Free 4 All Fridays at Random Thoughts of a Supermom! It's a SUPER cute travel mug that I've been talking myself out of buying for months now, so I'm pretty excited about the chance of winning it. :)

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

A Spattering We Go

Hi, All! Today I'm going to do what I like to call a Spattering. (This just means many dis-jointed topics/pictures/videos/thoughts.)

The first thing is maybe the MOST random. Those of you who read regularly probably know how much I like to show off my consignment sale finds. Well, T's finally getting into one I bought last fall and I wanted to show you! When I found LINEN PANTS (a REAL weakness of mine) made by ANN TAYLOR LOFT (only my FAVORITE store IN THE WORLD), I freaked out I was so excited!!! We FINALLY fit into them and wore them today! They are ADORABLE!!! (My cute subject matter, however, refused to be still this morning.)


Agenda item number 2 - Tucker is now into labeling things by their owner/user. Her favorite things to identify are shoes ("Mama's shoes", "Daddy's shoes", "Tuh-ter's shoes") and "Mama's juice" (which is what she calls my big water bottle because it's a bottle and she sees me fill it from the fridge water thing and shake it - which is how I make her juice - pour juice, add water from the fridge, and shake it). The FUNNIEST thing she has recently adopted in her labeling is her catching onto our team colors. For those of you who don't know, Drew and I are avid fans of rival teams. :) I am a die-hard Bama fan (born, bred, and alum) and the hubs is now a die-hard LSU fan after his two years getting his Masters there. So, I wear red A LOT and he wears purple A LOT!!! In T's mind, this means that anything red is Mama's and anything purple is Daddy's (including a bunch of purple tulle she found this morning in its pre-tutu stage). Imagine her confusion the day she found in a pile of laundry a purple shirt ("Daddy's!"), carried it to Daddy, to hear him say, "Nope, that's Mama's." She put that down, grabbed D's red sweatshirt, carried it to me saying, "Mama's". Poor thing! haha!

Third spatter - Yesterday, one of my posts included the fact that noone can make Tucker laugh quite like her Daddy. Last night, I was reminded of one ammendment to that statement. TUCKER makes Tucker laugh as much as Daddy does. :) haha!
*I apologize for the quality and angle of this video, but I was trying not to impede the action and laughter with my camera phone.*

(Also note that she's laughing at her tilting her head back and forth - yep, that's all it takes!)



Last item on the agenda? An excerpt from my inner monologue when the alarm went off at 5:45am this morning:

Good Leslie: "No snoozing. Must get up and exercise!"
Evil Leslie: "Just SLEEP IN! You can ABSOLUTELY do the video later on today in all your free time."
Good Leslie: "No, just get up now. You'll never get to it later on today. You always say that and never do."
Evil Leslie:"Yeah, but THIS TIME will be different. Get the sleep and worry about exercise later."
Good Leslie: "Remember how good it felt yesterday to think all day that your exercise was already done for the day? Just get up."

It continued for a while, but I did get up in time to get the video done before time to get the family going! Weirdest things so far? My calfs are the sorest part of my body even though there's no exercise specifically programmed for them, I have had cramps in my FEET all day, and the area between my big toe and the one next to it on my left foot fell asleep for about 30 minutes. Thanks, Jillian! :) haha!

Ok, consider yourself officially spattered! :)
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

3 in One Day!!! Lucky, lucky readers!

So I've been trying to blog almost everyday in an effort to do more than just post pics of T. :) However, posting 3 times in one day is just NUTS, but here I am doing it. :-Dhaha! My reason for posting a THIRD time is I wanted to show off something I made this weekend. I've been sewing some very simple things for T for a while now (thanks, Paige and Mama for your support and knowledge), but I've pretty much only made pillowcase dresses/tops and basic pants to match them. I decided (mostly because upon viewing one of my most difficult outfits made so far, Drew said, "It looks good. Are you ever going to make anything DIFFERENT?!?") to try something different. Now, I'll just say that the reason I like pillowcase dresses is that I don't have to use a pattern. Patterns stress me out! They make it not fun for me. I began thinking I would make the basic pillowcase dress, but change the top so it didn't have ribbons (at my mother's suggestion). However, the day I was going to try it, Tucker had on a little jumper dress that was sort of like overalls at the top and I decided I could probably make something like that using that dress to look at and for measurements and thus still not need a pattern. I went into the project fully expecting I might have to just trash it, but it actually turned out pretty stinking cute. It's a teensie bit too big, but she can wear it now with it a little roomy and continue wearing it for a while as it tightens up. :) I don't expect it to be sold in stores anytime soon, but I am pretty proud of myself for trying something new AND glad that I have a new something to sew in my bag. :)

L&S,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays...Almost

My wish for all of you is that you have both someone in your life who you can make laugh like THIS and someone in your life who can make YOU laugh like this. For Tucker, Daddy is the ONLY PERSON who can get THIS kind of laugh. He is her good-time guy for sure!

L&S,

Leslie

OUCH!!!

Like many people, I'm sure, I made a goal to do some serious bad-habit fixing this year. Most importantly, I want to fix some bad eating habits and get back to exercising regularly. It's a little bit about my confidence, a little bit about my looks, but it's most importantly about fixing my bad habits before I pass them onto Tucker. I would love for her to learn nothing but good habits so that she doesn't spend her whole life battling food and weight. Soooo..... the first thing I did was set a short-term goal, and I'm going to put it here, out in the universe, actually written down (or typed out) as added encouragement for reaching it. I set the goal of losing 10 pounds before the weekend I go to the parents' for Blast from the Past (February 27th). That was 10 pounds in 2 months, which is a TOUGH goal, but not so daunting that it's impossible. I'm trying to be realistic, but also TOUGH.

I've started by subbing in some of my favorite healthy things for some of my favorite not-so-healthy things, which has been good, but I have learned many times over that for ME, diet is not enough. I can maintain with diet, but I can't LOSE unless I exercise regularly. So I began reading about and hearing about (from friends) a workout video called "The 30 day Shred". From everything I read (and I read a great deal) and everything I heard, it is INTENSE. It's only 26 min including warm-up and cool-down, which means it's relatively easy to fit into the day (which is always my biggest problem). There are 3 different levels - start with 1 and work your way up. You're supposed to do it for 30 days and see BIG results. (The package says, "Lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days," but those kind of comments always strike me as hilarious because "up to 20 pounds" just means you won't lose more than that. Zero pounds lost is included in "up to 20 pounds", just FYI. haha). One of my friends said she lost 6 pounds in the first week, though, so I figured it's worth a shot.

It's done by Jillian Michaels (from "The Biggest Loser"), and I have to admit, I'm NOT a fan. Her trainer style is a large part of the reason I don't watch that show. I'm not a fan of being belittled and put down as a motivation tool, nor am I a fan of cocky people, and all of that basically sums her up, so I was a little weary of that part of the video (and though she's not mean in the video, she definitely shows that cocky side). However, I found that even with that, I like the video.

Wondering where it gets the name "The Shred"? My guess is it's called that because it literally SHREDS your muscles into pieces in the first 10 minutes of the video. :D haha! It kicked my big ol' batookus!!! (There's actually even an exercise she calls "butt kickers", which is basically running in place, but you pick your feet up enough to kick your own butt.) It is HARD, but the good thing is it's done in cycles (which I like). You do 3 minutes of strength training, switching between one move that targets one muscle (arms, pecks, back usually) and then one doing arms and legs together for 3 minutes. Then you do 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. And there are three cycles of that 3, 2, 1 pattern. So, even though your muscles are exhausted at the end of each section, you're only doing it for 3 minutes at the MOST, so you figure, "I CAN do this for 3 minutes no matter now hard it is."

So there's the goal and the process so far. I've done it 2 days in a row (One of those days I couldn't sleep the night before and still did it. The second day, T woke up at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I was sleep-deprived both times and still did it. ) I am COMMITTED to not missing any days for this 30 day program. We'll see how it goes. I'll put updates occassionally as I go. :)

Love, Shipoopies, and EXHAUSTION,
Leslie :)

Meme... Tuesdays???

Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? Maybe "Tardy Tuesday" is better? haha! Sorry, guys, but it was a holiday from work yesterday and I took full advantage of it. :)

I'm back today with a play along game. It's desert island time. Answer the questions on my blog and then if you wish, post them on your own blog and comment to let me know you've done so. :)

If you were stranded on a desert island...

1.) What food would you miss the most?

2.) What three music albums/cds would you most like to have?

3.) What 3 books would you take along?


*Find my answers in the comments section.*

L&S,
Leslie

Do Not Attempt or Allow Somersaults

As part of my resolve to reach my goal weight, I'm trying to create easier ways to get some action in my life. I have the treadmill and I do enjoy using it, but that generally means getting up at 5:45am, and since I don't generally get to bed until midnight, that's a time of day I don't enjoy. We're working on the bedtime and as a result the getting up to the treadmill time, and I have a few videos for days when it's too cold to go into the garage. But I decided that I needed something that I can move on while watching TV, because I'm realistic. Some days I won't wake up at 5:45 and I will want to watch some mindless TV in the evenings. So I got one of THESE:

I'm sure at this point, those of you who know me are expecting a "Leslie busted it off of that mini-trampoline" story, but you are wrong. (Though, let's be honest. It's probably coming in the near future.)

I got the trampoline out of the box and began putting it together one night when Drew was still at school and was quickly stopped in my tracks when I read THIS warning in the instructions (in all caps and bold): "ALWAYS USE TWO OR MORE STRONG PEOPLE TO UNFOLD OR FOLD THE CIRCUIT TRAINER TRAMPOLINE. FAILURE TO USE TWO OR MORE STRONG PEOPLE MAY ALLOW THE RAILS TO SPRING BACK INTO THE FOLDED POSITION AND STRIKE SOMEONE WHICH CAN CAUSE SERIOUS BODILY INJURY OR DEATH."

I immediately put the trampoline down. That is NOT a story I want told at my funeral! "How'd it happen?" "Well, she was putting a mini-tramp together, it snapped closed and killed her dead right there."

While I was waiting on Drew's return so we would have "two or more strong people", I decided to read more of these fabulous instructions and warnings. Here are some of the real gems from the "Trampoline Use Instructions".

*Do not attempt or allow somersaults. (This thing is maybe 2.5 feet in diameter.)

*Do not allow more than one person on the trampoline at a time. (Again, 2.5 feet in diameter)

*Use trampoline only with mature, knowledgeable supervision (at which point, Drew said, "Are you sure YOU'RE going to be able to use it without me here?").

*Do not use the trampoline as a springboard. (I don't promise to never use it as a springboard onto my couch, but I'll try.)

*Learn fundamental bounces and body positions thoroughly. (???Are there mini-tramp training classes that I missed?)

*For skill training, contact a trainer certification organization. (Apparently there ARE mini-tramp training classes I missed out on. Who knew?!?)

*Avoid bouncing when tired. (I have to be mature AND full awake?!? I'll NEVER get to use this thing!!!)

*Keep objects away which could interfere with the performer. (Performer??? I hope to never have an audience while on this thing.)

*Do not use when trampoline is wet or in windy conditions. (So in the moment when my living room ceiling falls in on a rainy, windy night, that is NOT the moment to hop on the mini-tramp and work up a sweat. Got it.)

Here's wishing you a safe, healthy, bouncy day!

L&S,

Leslie

Oh, My Little Goober

Here's two videos of the little goober being herself. :)

In the first one, she is doing all the things one of her littel books instructs. The last page (because you can't hear over my laughter) says, "Hands up high and wave goodbye." She anticipated and when Drew says, "Hands up high," she skips that and just says, "Bye Bye!"




I think T sensed we were taking the tree down finally because I caught her, for the first time, just staring at the tree - walking around it, taking it in - finger on chin like she was really thinking hard about it all. Then we delve into some animal noises and body parts. We've got some new body part names down pat that are pretty funny. :)




L&S,
Leslie

Kablam! Kaput! Kaplooie!

Picture the scene.

It's Atlanta, just after dark. Snow/ice came on Thursday. It's now Monday and there's absolutely no change in the ice or snow. (This is a first for me. Our snow/ice never lasts more than 48 hours.)

I had just picked T up from daycare, driven to Sonic (healthy, I know) to get us some dinner, gotten home, carried T, my purse, and the bag of food inside.

I'm on the phone with Nan yacking about this and that.

I leave T inside while I run (insert an ominous "Dum..dum...duuuuuum!) outside to get the two drinks that I couldn't possibly carry at the same time as the baby.

T, of course, is SCREAMING and crying at the door with her constant fear that I'm going to leave her at the house by herself (not sure how this fear developed) as I RUN outside to grab these drinks, picking up the pace because of her crying.

I successfully get both drinks without pausing my conversation or dropping my phone. I walk to the rear of the car to lock the doors back. (For those of you who don't know, my stinking back door doesn't lock with the button, so I have to lock them with the key at the back door.)

And that's when it happened. That same dad-blasted spot of ice that caused my near-splits in heels on Sunday got me in my big, rubber-soled, "snow-shoes" as well.

Down goes the phone - BAM! - to the concrete. Down goes my butt - BAM! - to the concrete. Down goes the LARGE cup of fruit punch - SPLASH! - to the concrete (and my pants, and my phone). (Miracle of miracles, the Route 44 Cherry Limeade - my personal crack cocaine - did NOT spill, which is GREAT since I needed it to help heal my wounds and ego when I got back inside.)

So here I am sitting in ice and VERY COLD fruit punch, digging my phone out of the liquid, listening to my baby SCREAM from the door. And, of course, the fruit punch caused the parts of the driveway that were more snowy than icy to become much more icy, so now I'm surrounded by ground that my shoes WILL NOT grip. So I have to flip over to my knees and crawl to the grass so I can get back on my feet.

I'm WAAAAAAY past trying to act all non-chalant in case a neighbor witnessed it. Even if they weren't watching, I'm sure anyone close by quickly turned their attention to me as I yelled my way down to the concrete and ice. Time to tuck tail and RUN back inside -- well, carefully snow-walk as quickly as possible without busting it again back inside, anyway.

The negatives of this story? MAN am I sore! I fear my phone will go kaput very soon with some hidden fruit punch in the wrong place. My driveway is now frozen red. My courderoy pants AND underwear are now red.

The silver lining? I was NOT holding the 19 month old when I busted it. No one had a camera on me when I busted it. I did NOT spill the cherry limeade (yipee!!!). AND, I have a fabulous snow story finally. It only took me 30 years. :)

L&S (and icy safety),
Leslie

Meme Monday

(If you want to read MORE "Not Me Monday" entries, go to MckMama's site. )

Time, once again for "Not Me Monday", folks! Do you remember how it's played? It's your chance to confess all your "mommy sins" without all that pesky guilt. :-D haha! Ready?


I did NOT become a complete hermit during the days of ice that wouldn't melt here in the ATL. If you saw some lady enter her home Thursday morning after a quick stop at the store for chili (to eat while watching Bama win the National Championship) and not set foot past her mailbox again until Sunday for church, it was NOT me. I assure you I would never become quite THAT much of a hermit.


I am also NOT the gal who was SOOOOOO determined to take T on a walk in her new wagon (thanks, Santa) while it was snowing (just barely even a sprinkle), that I took her looking like THIS...


I am most assuredly NOT the kind of mother who would drag her kid SCREAMING in irritation because she couldn't find her hands ("Ah hand? Ah hand? Ah hand?") through her built-in mittens, just so she could have some FUN. (Do you SEEEEEE the fun?)

I'm also NOT the chick who almost did the full-on splits THREE TIMES yesterday in her driveway when she got home from church. Nope, I'm smart enough to AVOID the ice patches that are still covering my driveway when wearing HEELS, so I would NEVER do the slip, slide, fall, grasp the car bumper before you TRULY hit the ground, stand up and walk away non-chalantly only to repeat it all twice more thing. Promise. :)

What did YOU not do this week?

L&S,
Leslie

Number THIRTEEN!!!

In celebration of Bama's National Championship, I thought I'd share our latest version of "What does an elephant say?"

Roll Tide!

L&S,

Leslie

Are YOU Ready?!?

Tucker's ready to ROLL with the Tide! ARE YOU?!?

ROLL TIDE!!!

L&S,
Lesie

Worldless Wednesdays

WOAH!!!!!

L&S,

Leslie

A Decade

I realize it's a bit late for a New Year's reflection post (aren't those supposed to be what we're toiling away doing on New Year's Eve?), but as I was reading other peoples' "reflecting on the past decade" posts, I realized just how much of an adult I've become. (Laugh all you want to, those who know me, but keep your snide remarks to yourself. tee-hee!) What I mean by that is this: (Andi, I can hear you clear as day in my head mocking that sentence saying, "I need a noun somewhere in there, Leslie." ha!) In my head, it seems that when I say, "Ten years ago, I was..." it should include the words, "Elementary School" or "playground". Heck, at the VERY LEAST, it should involve high school, but alas, it involves NONE of those things anymore. Ten years ago, I was living on my own (with much blessed help from mumsie and popsie, of course), more than halfway done with college, being a refuge for all my poor friends with horrid roommate situations. (I got TWO roommies by offering a safe-haven from ridicuous roomies.)

I realize to some of you, this is probably laughable as you say, "Ten years ago my kids were older than you are now!" and I'm sure that's very accurate and one day I'll say the same thing, but for ME, this is a major milestone. I have just finished what is probably the most eventful decade of my life. I'm sure all decades in one's life (before this one and after this one) are filled with many things, but I'd say the decade I've just completed must have the largest number of MAJOR events one can live through.

In the past ten years I graduated college, got my first job, moved to two different states (and back again), got my first paycheck, paid my first rent check (and many subsequent ones), got MARRIED, had my first (and PLEASE tell me NOT my last) career change, lost my sweet Anna, bought my first condo AND house (at separate times, of course), turned 30, and had my first child. That's ALOT (or "a parcel of land" for my father's sake) of important moments in a life for one ten year span, and that doesn't include all the tiny mundane things that seem so momentous at the time.

And I must say, even with all the disappointments and heartaches, it has been an AMAZING decade. God has brought so many wonderful things into my life. I have learned so much about myself, this world, and God. I have changed so much about myself, how I view this world, and how I connect with God. My life is NOTHING like what I imagined 10 years ago, and yet I can honestly say (cheesy though it may sound) that it is beyond my wildest dreams. God has blessed me over and over and over and continues to do so.

I hope that all of you can look at the last decade and see how FANTASTIC it has been (despite any suffering that is there) and I also wish you all a new decade beyond YOUR wildest dreams.

L&S,
Leslie

Meme Monday

Alright, guys! I'm back in the regular swing of things, thus my blog will return to normal posts as well. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and vacation surrounding it. :) The Bowers family had much fun, relaxation, and JOY filling our time.

Today, we're going to share our weekly plan for the first full week of the new year with "This Week I Will Be Mostly..." Ready?

This week, I will be mostly...

~eating cabbage soup (jump-starting the weight loss with a fad diet, then keeping it up with regular exercise and healthy eating).

~starting an exercise routine.

~FREEZING!!!

~trying to get my brain wrapped around work once again.

~beginning more research into returning to school.

~making invites for a friend's baby shower

~doing a million different needed things with pictures - blogging them, printing them, getting them ready to scrapbook, and figuring out some new photo organizing/editing software I got for Christmas.

~missing my husband as the first 3 months of any year are always filled to the hilt with things away from the house for him. :(

Man, looking like a busy week! How about yours?

L&S,

Leslie

Another Sign of Parentdom

Yep, this is us at 11pm on New Year's Eve. We do have champagne in hand, but we're in our jammies, bundled under blankets, watching other people party while we have our own private celebration of our 2009 and anticipation of our 2010. Old though it may appear, it's a WONDERFUL life, and I'm so glad it's mine!

L&S,

Leslie

A Preview

I will upload all the Christmas pictures sometime this week, but until then, a preview of how fabulous our Christmas was...

L&S,

The Bowers

Remember THIS? It took me a while, but I FINALLY got the picture. West family, remind you of anything? This has been my final sight before closing my eyes for the last month and every night it has brought back a flood of memories from Christmases past - all of my Christmas memories for so many years had a tree JUST like this glowing up the hill (from Munner's, where so many of my memories center). Ahhhhh......

L&S,

Leslie

Merry Christmas!

Hello, all! Wanted to throw out a little Christmas gift before leaving town for a few days. (Secret, hidden meaning: "I won't be blogging for at least a few days.")

Last year I shared one video from "A Colbert Christmas", a funny Christmas special in the style of an Andy Williams (tracked laughter, cheesy music, and fake sets). If you get some time over the holiday, I recommend you go to www.comedycentral.com and search for "A Colbert Christmas" and watch it in its entirety. Until then, though, here are some of my favorite songs. :) (You MUST listen to the lyrics. They're hysterical!!! Also, please remember it's all meant to be tongue-in-cheek.)

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211033/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--jon-stewart

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211029/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--feist-sings

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211037/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--colbert-costello-duet

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you have a blessed holiday full of good food, quality time with family, laughter, and relaxation!

L&S,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - My First Movie - "Charlie Brown Christmas"

L&S,

Leslie