Miley...Then and Now

Miley on June 22, 2008

8 pounds 2 ounces, 21 inches

Miley on June 22, 2009

17 pounds 1 ounce, 27 inches

Miley on June 22, 2010

(a sneak peek of the photo shoot our talented friend, Darci, did for us last night!!)

24 pounds 10 ounces, 33 inches

(25-50 % for both, from her doctor appointment today)

Can you believe how much older she looks from this time last year?? I know I can't!

Letter to Miley

I am copying my sister, Gelsey, here and writing a letter to Miley on her 2nd birthday. Thanks, Gels, for the good idea!

Dear Miley,

I cannot believe it has been two years....two years since you were first placed in my arms, and looked up at me with your curious little eyes. In some ways, it feels like you have been with us forever, but other times it feels as if these last two years have gone by in a flash. You are growing up so fast, but you are still my little baby. If you can, I would appreciate it if you could slow down a little bit on the growing up thing. :)

Independent is one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about how to describe you. You are 2 going on 20 and fight fiercely to do everything for yourself. You try to brush your teeth by yourself, and become upset when I try to help you. You like to "buckle" yourself into your carseat, wash yourself in the bathtub, push carts, and many other little day-to-day things that sometimes I wish you would still let me help you with! You are not afraid of anything - you will go down big slides, put your face in the water while swimming or in the bath, climb on anything you can reach, and you will run around in new places trying to take it all in. Occasionally, you will check to see if Mommy and Daddy are around, but then you are back to doing your own thing. You are still as curious as ever. You love exploring, pointing things out, and saying "Dat?" to ask me what the names of them are. You can't get enough of this game, and I love that I get to teach you all of these things.

I can definitely tell that you are approaching the "Terrible Twos," but most of your tantrums have to do with what I said above. You are stubborn, like your mom and dad, and you just want to do your own thing, and you don't want us to get in the way of that! Most of your tantrums are easily taken care of with hugs and kisses, and the occasional time out, but afterwards you move on and are as happy as ever. As hard as this age is, I think it is *maybe* a good thing that you are fighting for what you want. I hope this is a characteristic that sticks with you throughout life, and helps you with many important decisions. Fight for what you believe in, buggy, but maybe try to help me out when it has to do with me getting you the wrong snack or something. :)

It is a good thing you are so sweet most of the time, because it doesn't make it so bad dealing with the said tantrums. You dish out hugs and kisses like it is nobody's business. Most of the time, we ask you to come give us a hug or a kiss, but there are a few times where we will be playing and you just run up and give one of us a great big, bear hug! Those are definitely my favorite. You also love to hug and kiss your friends...so much so that you are a little overbearing for them at times. You are such a little lover. You are always trying to hold someone's hand (your friends, or babies at church) and like to walk around while clutching hands.

You are talking more and more everyday. It is amazing to see the difference between last year and this year. I think this is such a fun age, and I love getting to hear the cute ways that you say your words. It is so nice to be able to communicate with you more. I can ask you a question, and you can answer with a definite "Uh-huh" or "Mo (no)". You love saying "Hi" and "Buh-bye" to everyone we meet, and we often have many strangers saying hi back when we are out and about. A few of my favorite words or phrases that you say are "Pwease (please)" "Bwiss (bless you, always said when someone sneezes)" "Buh-bo (bubble)" and the few names that you know so far.

Within the last couple of months, you have definitely become GIRLY! You like to watch as I put your bows in your hair everyday (and you like to point at your bow holder and say "Bow" to make sure I remember to put one in!). You are never without a bracelet, and if I would let you, you would want to wear all 5 of the ones you own. You love to pick out which one you wear for the day, and want to make sure that there is always one on your wrist. You recently had your toenails painted for the first time, and you made sure to point them out to anyone who would listen. You have a daily game of pulling out every single pair of mommy's high heels and trying them on and walking around the apartment in them.

You are getting more and more into imaginative play, especially with your baby doll. We can no longer leave the house for any reason without your baby and doll stroller in tow. You also try to feed your baby, give your baby drinks, and you like me to wrap up your baby in a blanket, and then you will sweetly hold her and rock her. It melts my heart to see you being so caring and loving to your baby. You will also take little toy cars and say "Vroom vroom" as you drive them around. And you also love your little toy purse (or one of mommy's real purses). You carry it around, and will always make sure to put on the bracelet that comes in it.

We have been very lucky with you, because you are not a picky eater! You will generally eat whatever you are given, which makes life easy for this mama. The only thing you have an aversion to is milk, and we are hoping that we can help you overcome that soon. :) You love any and all fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, watermelon, pineapple, etc.). You also love cheese, oatmeal, daddy's crepes, beans (any kind...black, pinto, kidney, you name it...), meat (hamburger, chicken, ham, turkey, etc.) and many, many other things! You also of course, love the occasional treats you get like ice cream or cookies from the bakery when we are shopping.

We are also lucky that you are a good sleeper. You go to bed everynight around 8:00 pm, and you wake up in the mornings between 7:00 and 8:00 am. You take one nap in the afternoons that usually lasts between 2 and 3 hours. You usually don't fight us too hard about going to bed, but I think now that you are older you are realizing that it is more fun to be up. However, it usually just takes reading you a few books, snuggling for a while, and giving you your lovey to settle you down. You lovey, oh your lovey. I don't know what we would do without it. Your lovey is your little purple security blanket, and it comforts you if you are ever upset or sad about anything. Whenever you have it, you pop your first two fingers of your right hand in your mouth and you are as content as can be. While you are sucking your fingers, you sort of rub your lovey under your nose. If we are snuggling at bedtime, you will sometimes hold it up under my nose, or daddy's nose, as if to say, "See? It feels so nice!". We love that you have something like that to make you feel safe and secure, and make sure we have it with us everywhere!

You love being around other kids and love playing with anyone who will give you attention. You get so excited when we go to your cousins' house, that often when we pull up in their driveway you are squealing with excitement and trying to get your carseat unbuckled. You love running around after them, and you love that they give you so much attention when you are with them! You best friend is Jack, and if you even get the slightest clue that we will be seeing him, you spend hours saying "Gack" over and over and over. You will even say that if you THINK we are going to see him, even if we aren't. You two sure like to play together, and you occasionally have little fights over toys, but you kids are two peas in a pod and love hanging out together.

You are the apple of your daddy's eye. It is so sweet to see how he interacts with you, and how much he loves you. You have him wrapped around your little finger, and he would do anything for you. You also think that your dad is pretty cool. You love watching for him to come home in the evenings, and will always run up to him with a big hug when he walks in the door. You love to dance with him, have him throw you on the bed, and play anything you can with him.

As for me, I can never express how much I love you. You have shown me a whole new kind of love, that can only be felt by a mother for her child. I can't remember what life was like without you. You bring so much joy and fun and energy into my life, and I love every little thing you do...every smile, every word, every laugh, every inch of you from your long hair to your little bitty toes. I am sad that you are growing up, and are not so much my baby anymore, but I am excited to watch you grow and change into a kid, a teenager, and an adult (just not too fast!).

Your daddy and I love you to the moon and back, and we hope you have the very best year being TWO!

Love, Mama

Twins vs. Rockies!!

Last night I got to see my two favorite MLB teams, the Minnesota Twins, and the Colorado Rockies, play....EACH OTHER! Now since they are in different leagues, this doen't happen all the time. I haven't seen the Rockies play since 2006, so it was fun to get to see them again. Plus, Cameron and I hadn't been to the Twins new stadium, Target Field, yet, so it was a great way to check it out for the first time!

We had awesome seats...we were one section over from home base down the third base line, and 11 rows up. And if those seats weren't good enough, we also had suite tickets. So we got to enjoy the game from both spots.

We ended up bringing Miley with us, because our baby-sitters (Cameron's brother and SIL and their fam) were feeling a little under the weather. I was a little apprehensive about bringing her, because it is never quite as enjoyable watching the game while trying to entertain a toddler. But we were pleasantly surprised at how good she was and we made it to the top of the 8th inning (I think it helped having those suite tickets because she was able to run around a little up there!)!

The view from our 11th row seats.

The view from the suite.

The Twins ended up winning 2-1, but I would have been fine with either team winning!

It was fun to get to experience outdoor baseball again, and we had the perfect weather for it! I hope we get to go back to another game again soon!

Kids Koncert

Today for playgroup we met at a park for a Kids Koncert. They do quite a few of these around here, but this is the first one that Miley and I had gone to. I figured she would love it, because the girl will dance to anything that even slightly resembles music, and I was right! She had a ball. She was dancing all over the place with her friend, Jack. They were like the little groupies that were standing right at the stage for part of the concert.

The band was called "Sticks and Tones" and they played a lot of covers...mostly oldie type songs (Beatles), but some newer ones and some kid songs as well.

I definitely would love to go to more of these types of events, and I think Miley would agree!





I posted a video for you all to see her busting a move....

In the first little segment, she is being kind of a bully to Jack (sorry, Cecia!).

In the third segment, if you look close to the stage you can see Miley and Jack hanging out up there...too funny!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Winner...Again!!

OK so I have seriously gotten into entering blog giveaways for cute things that I happen to stumble across. If you know me, you know this is one of my reasons for blog-stalking...I mean, who can resist free stuff, right??

But since I have already won something once (if you remember this post), I figure my chances of winning something again are pretty slim. Because let's be honest. I just don't win things.

So imagine my surprise when I WON something again!

I follow this fellow MN mom's blog, and besides having some cute kids, she is also always doing some kind of giveaway!

I won a personalized minky pillow for Miley from this Etsy store, Beyond Weddings!




I cannot wait to get this sweet little pillow for Miley. I am thinking green with pink writing...or maybe pink with green writing? What do you all think???

My 15 Minutes of Fame??

Anyone who knows me knows that I love me some celebrity gossip. In all forms. People, online sources, you name it.

But my particular guilty pleasure is Us Weekly. I am not too ashamed to admit that I have a subscription to this trashy mag delightful piece of weekly reading.

Now, as many of you know (and yes, I know there are some fellow readers out there) there is this lovely portion at the end of every magazine:

Along with my weekly magazine, I also check out usmagazine.com daily to keep up to date on all celebrity current affairs (no pun intended??). Every week they have a new "fashion disaster," if you will, that us commonfolk can try out our best humor on, and create your own one-liner making fun of the said celeb. They then take the "best comments" (their quote, not mine!) and publish them in the magazine.


Well, if you haven't already guessed, this week I had my own little joke published in this highly acclaimed magazine! This was the first week that I had ever put a comment online, and so I can say I currently am 1 for 1. That's a winning record people. I didn't know I had such a knack for humor/journalism/celebrity knowledge. I mean, I think I am going places with this*. :)

(Yes, the comment with "Wendy" by it is really mine!)


And now let's be honest, the coolest part is that I can say I have been in Us Weekly. You would think I was famous or something.

*But don't worry....I won't quit my day job. Yet. :) For the record, I am actually kind of embarrassed by my comment. I wish I had worded it differently.

Mom's Little Shopping Buddy!

Coach purse and all. :)

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day relaxing in the morning, and then we went over Don and Cindy's (Cam's brother and his wife) house for the afternoon. We played games (bocce ball, ladderball, etc.), had a great barbeque, and just enjoyed being outside since the weather was perfect!

We had so much fun hanging out with the fam, the Ferrins, and the Ostvigs. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday!

Most of these pictures are of Miley and Jack, but hey...they are pretty cute subjects! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

We were BUSY this last weekend for the holiday. We had perfect weather up here in MN, and definitely took advantage of it!

Friday marked the start of Cameron's summer hours at General Mills, which means half days on Fridays. Many of Cameron's coworkers had either taken the day off, or decided to work from home on Friday morning, so Cameron followed suit and worked from home for a few hours. Even though he was working, it was nice to have him around, and really felt like he had the whole day off.

That afternoon we went to check out the sales at the outlet mall that is not too far from us with our friends, the Ferrins. Last year we did the same thing, and found some killer deals! We were expecting the same thing this year, but came away pretty disappointed. The sales were OK, but nothing fabulous. We did manage to find a few cute things for Miley (Nike Shox, anyone??) and I found a couple things for myself. Even the shopper (insert sarcasm), Cameron didn't buy anything for himself. We came back to our house, and hung out for a while, making late night #1 of the weekend (12:30 am!).

Miley and her BFF, Jack, getting ready for bed and showing off their new shoes!

Saturday was another fun-filled day. We had a relaxing morning, and then hit the pool that afternoon with the Minnesota Clark Clan 1.0 (we are version 2.0). It was HOT outside, and the water was kind of cold, so Miley wasn't digging it too much, but we still had fun. Despite the fact that Cameron and I both came away with sunburned backs!

Saturday evening we got together with some friends for a barbeque, and to watch basketball and a fight (well, Cameron watched basketball and a fight while I came home and stayed with Miley so she could go to sleep). We had so much fun hanging out, and enjoying what Cameron calls the "Best brats he has ever had!!" This however, made for late night #2 of the weekend (around midnight for me, between 12:30 and 1 am for Cameron!).

Sunday, we stuck to our normal routine of church, and then dinner with the Minnesota Clark Clan 1.0. It was nice to have a laid back day, and let Miley get a good long nap! That evening, we Skyped with the Oregon Clark Clan, and stayed up laughing and talking till about midnight (late night #3). We were pretty exhausted at this point, but hey...that's what holiday weekends are for, right??

Stay tuned for our Memorial Day fun...a few too many pictures to cram into this post!