Category: SAHM I am

Easter is upon us and so is the opportunity to learn about the famous bunny who brings us baskets full of goodies. I’ve been attempting to teach Tatum about who is this famous bunny along with how it plays into the resurrection. I don’t want to take out the ‘fun’ of it all, but I do want her to understand WHY the whole darn thing exists! Just like Santa, we keep it all in perspective. So, I took her to the Easter bunny puppet show at our favorite Puppet Theater in downtown Phoenix. She couldn’t wait!
More importantly, it was a day after her big flu, so she was definitely ready to  be well and wear her new purple flip-flops to boot. (hey, she’s a girl, and it’s all about the shoes, right!?)

So we arrived to the theater right on time..

Got our seats…

And we proceeded to watch the show. The premise was that Sally, a little girl in Lost Canyon, AZ, was writing a letter to the Easter Bunny saying that she had NEVER gotten an Easter basket before. She did live in the boonies of AZ, so he must have forgotten her. The turtle mailman went to deliver the letter to the Easter Bunny, and he enlisted the help of Jack Rabbit, the cousin. Through the delivering of the basket, the bad guy, the Bobcat, stole the basket and then Jack was to recreate this nice basket from scratch. He enlisted his prairie dog and roadrunner friends, and they made lemonade out of lemons, making a whole new BETTER homemade basket for Sally. Jack went to deliver it to Sally, and the bobcat showed up again to steal it! Jack outran the little devilly bobcat as he was stuck by a cactus. Sally got her basket and all was happy on the Lost Canyon front.

Tot got to meet the puppets, but more importantly she waited her turn patiently while the other children stormed the puppets with gusto. Her patience paid off as she got a personal picture with Jack and the prairie dog. Kindness always wins..

We always have so much fun there! With no nap today, and our fun lasting all day, we ended with a swim and some fro yo.

More to come on our lessons about Easter… Stay tuned!

She knows enough to tell me that she felt terrible today. Even her “Artie Dootie Doo” shirt didn’t seem to help. Blah, mommy!

The prior evening, she woke me up countless times for various requests. “Mommy, the machine is too loud; mommy, my diffuser turned off; mommy, where is my baby; mommy, you forgot to do my nose; mommy”….NO!!!!!! (I would think). So after realizing she felt like a hot pocket, we spent the morning at the doctor. The waiting room was packed with coughing and sniffly kiddos. She told the nurse, “I’m drinking my water.” (cute!)

The nurse swabbed her nose, and when the doctor entered, he share that she tested positive for the flu. With a 102 degree temperature, I knew something was wrong. So….the gym was out of the question; the puppet show was  a no; play dates…nope. Plan B? MOVIES!

I put on Veggie Tales Easter Carol for her, and it seemed to work for a bit. Her mood was not the same today, and all she wanted was to cuddle and read (which was wonderful) But….Poor Tot. 

 

She tried to crank out a smile, but no go.

There were many moments in the day, when she would cheerfully look at me and say, “I love you, mommy.” MELT. 

My child does know things, and she knows how to comfort herself when she feels awful. Baby!

Get well soon, sweetheart.

 

What a fun use of Q Tips. Who knew!?
It only gets better and better every day. My heart bubbles over with just being with her.

OOH, how is the view from up there, Tot? For me, it’s awesome because I’m not carrying her or holding her hand as she dawdles! We are on our way to the Diamondbacks Spring Training game at Talking Stick! Now, driving only 3 miles to get there is one bonus. The other bonus was having Doug with us to keep her engaged.

When we first arrived, we found our seats and realized they were directly in the sun. Wooh!  It may only about 85 degrees now, but with the sun beating down upon us, it felt more like 100! Plus, man that sun is wickedly terrible for Tot’s and my skin even with layers of SPF!So we made the best of it… and then waited for the new pitcher, Greinke to pitch. And also for Goldschmidt to hit a homer!!

After a good 6 minutes of baking, Tot was hungry! Luckily I packed 5 different snacks and figured I’d stagger them. BUT, after each little baggie, I’m still hungry, mommy.

Ok, first, let’s find a seat up higher out of the sun.  Much better. Now where were we…oh yes, I’m still hungry, mommy.

Well, she had her freeze dried corn, apples, cheese stick, and freeze dried peas. Drink your water, Tatum. Hmm…not going for that.

So, kindly, Doug bought her a Gatorade. Now the Gatorades are about the size of her whole body, so how was I going to teach her about portion sizes. Well, taking it away from her after she drank half. Well, that was like stealing meat from a dog. Viciously difficult.

Back to the game, DB’s had hit 3 homers and the game was ON! We had found some shady seats up higher and were out of the sun, so our bodies were nice and happy. I stuck a Xylitol lolli in Tot’s mouth hoping to have that last a while.
Thankfully, Doug swept her away and took her to the mini-field where she could hit some t-balls and run bases. Meanwhile, I chatted with the elderly usher who kindly let us sit in the seats above.

When Doug and Tot returned, she was nice and pooped.

We headed out about the 8th inning, and called it an afternoon. As Doug said, “I call this 100% success!”

And so…since the last drawing I did for Tatum was a giraffe, I asked her what she would want next. I’ve done words of wisdom , Tatum flowers, and  She picked the babies and Coti (fail!), and so now she wanted Minnie and the gang. I found a cute picture of them in a baseball book with all the characters. However, it was really small, and they were wearing baseball gear. The colors were all off, and I did not want it that tiny. So I proportioned it up, changed their outfits and VOILA! (Well, not really voila..more like “voi”laaaaaaaaaaaa (days later)) Getting the lines just right and the expressions perfect was the trick. I found it was all in their eyes!

I enlarged it at the copier and framed it today! Here you go my darling! (I am using the same frame and matte from IKEA. Makes it easier and they all match!)