Mad Hatter Party

Tonight was date night for Luke and I and babysitter night for Leah.  Jessica, who babysat for us a few weeks ago, spent the evening with Leah while Luke and I went to a Mad Hatter Party hosted by Leah's daycare family!  It was so much fun!  The party started at 6:49 pm, and everyone had to have a hat to get in the door.  We met so many fun new people tonight!

When we got the invitation for the party a few weeks ago, I had no idea what I was going to wear as I don't own too many (none) crazy hats!  Luke, on the other hand, was so excited!  He won this hat a couple of years ago for winning a tri-tip cook-off.  I thought I had thrown the prize hat away, but he had it stashed away in his office closet.  Tonight seemed to be the perfect night to debut it!

We were being silly the other day and were wearing our hats around the house so Leah thought she needed to wear a hat too!  We got her Texas cowgirl hat out for her to wear.  Tonight we put it on her again and had Jessica snap a quick picture before we headed out!

Just a Normal Friday Night

Just a normal Friday night in the Hendricks house!

We had a very special visitor join us for dinner!  It may be the end of February, but Santa just happened to be in town and wanted to "ho, ho, ho" for us during dinner!

Leah found this hat in a drawer in her bedroom and insisted on wearing it to dinner!  She kept saying "ho ho ho Santa" while she ate!

Now, on a more serious note, a new world record was set in this house tonight!  Luke has now officially stacked 16 blocks!

After dinner we all played in the playroom!  Leah recently got a new bed and toys for her babies, but she sometimes she gets a little confused as to who is the mommy and who is the baby!  She even seems to enjoy the baby's pacifier!

Leah then worked very intently on her Mr. Potato Head!  She LOVES these things!

So this is how we spent our Friday night!  Sometimes the best memories are made doing absolutely "nothing"!

Brush, Brush, Brush

I had absolutely no intention of taking Leah to the dentist until she was 2; however, on Friday afternoon Pam just happened to take a good peek in her mouth and noticed that her top four teeth seemed to be stained right along the gum line.  I absolutely panicked!  I was sure her teeth had rotted away and that she was going to need to be put to sleep to have her teeth capped!  I couldn't call the dentist until Monday, so I spent all weekend googling for answers.  The answer was no to all of the obvious questions:

- Does she go to bed with a bottle?
- Does she drink milk after she brushes her teeth before going to bed?
- Did I take a certain medicine while I was pregnant?
- Has she fallen or hit her mouth in a way that might have caused her teeth to bruise?

No!  No!  No!  No!  We even called Luke's college roommate who is a dentist in Iowa and he asked the same questions and then gave us the various scenarios:  stains, decay, bruising.  All weekend I was a wreck just thinking about it!  One thing we did do; however, was brushed the heck out of her teeth MANY times a day.  Luke would brush while I would hold her mouth open.  She did not like it at all, but it needed to be done!  I called first thing Monday morning and scheduled an appointment for today.  Needless to say, her teeth looked perfect this morning and the dentist even said so!  I had to point to where the stains used to be because we brushed them away!  She won't get her first cleaning until she's 2 so we scheduled that appointment while we were there.  I was so impressed with the dentist's office.  We saw Dr. Grandpre at Kids Care Dental Group.  The office was super cute, the toys were very clean (this is a big deal to me) and everyone was so awesome with Leah!  There were even hidden tv's in the ceiling!  They wanted her to feel super comfortable so they let her roam around and touch any and everything she wanted!  I was hesitant because I'm the mom whose child is not allowed to leave the shopping cart but they insisted!  I thought there was absolutley no way she was going to open her little mouth!  They had me sit on a bench and wrap her legs around my hips.  The dentist then sat with his knees against mine and then we laid her head back in his lap and he went to town with his spy glasses!  She didn't enjoy this but he was able to get in to see everything he needed!  He was impressed with all of the teeth she already has (I guess she's ahead of schedule in the teeth growing department) and he said we should expect four more sets!  She has absolutely no decay, no cavities and no stains!

To make a long story short.....Luke and I have lost our Mommy & Daddy of the year awards for not brushing her teeth good enough!  All of the stains have disappeared and her teeth are now picture perfect after a few days of vigorous scrubbing.  We have always brushed her teeth but never really scrubbed as hard as we have this week.  One night her gums even started to bleed while we were brushing!  Sorry baby girl!  She can't use real toothpaste until she's 2, so I guess I just assumed that her teeth couldn't really get too dirty if books just recommend using water and a toothbrush!  She used to LOVE brushing her teeth, not so much anymore!  We always let her do most of the brushing and we would just scrub a little here and there.  Not anymore!  She now despises the act and, to be quite honest with you, so do Luke and I!

Mommy lesson learned:  brush, brush, brush those teeth!  The dentist said to use real toothpaste twice a week and to continue using the baby toothpaste for all other brushings.

Sorry no fun pictures from the dentist!  They did take our (she didn't want her picture taken without Mommy) picture for a super cute appointment card for the refrigerator (if only ours held magnets), but our scanner is out of commision so you'll just have to trust me that it is super cute!  I need a third and fourth arm to keep up with her, our stuff and take pictures!  Next time!  She did look so cute, though!  She was wearing a little red/leopard outfit that Nana got her and all of the ladies in the office were calling her a little diva!  We had to unzip her jacket a couple of times to show off her entire outfit (by request of course)!

Because she was such a good girl, we immediately headed to Toys "R" Us after the appointment to buy a surprise only to find that they didn't open until ten!  We were so bummed!  We headed home instead!

Also, I just have to get this in writing.....anyone who knows me knows that I am NEVER EVER early anywhere.  In fact, I'm usually (always) running late!  Leah's appointment was at 8:30 this morning and I had she and I up, dressed, fed, TEETH BRUSHED and at the dentist by 8:00 ALL BY MYSELF (Luke left the house long before Leah and I even thought about getting out of bed)!  I was so proud of myself!  Of course, I called Luke right away because I had to tell someone!  I may not get a Mommy award for brushing her teeth good enough, but maybe I'll get one for getting her to the dentist early!

Business Dinner

Luke has the VP of sales travelling with him this week!  Earlier in the week, he asked Luke if "his bride" would like to join them for dinner one night!  Absolutely!  Well, tonight was the night!  Pam was gracious enough to keep Leah for us until 8!  I don't generally dress up for work unless we're having an event, but I dressed to kill and went to join the boys in their suits for dinner at Scott's Seafood on the river.  We had a great dinner and the VP had WONDERFUL things to say about Luke!  I know how hard he works, but it's so awesome for it to be acknowledged and I know Luke appreciates hearing it so much!  I have to say, though, the highlight of the evening was this.....as we were leaving and saying our goodbyes the VP said to me, "Stephanie, he {Luke} sure is proud of that little girl!"  Awwwwww!  I'm guessing Leah has been the topic of many conversations in that car!  What a proud Daddy (and wife)!

A Day at the Park & A World Record

Today was absolutely gorgeous outside!  Leah and I took advantage and headed to the "pawk" after her nap!  She is such a dare devil!  She made my heart jump more than once!  She likes to go down the big slide just as much as she likes the slide that's more her size, which I'm totally fine with, but today, instead of going down the big slide, she wanted to jump down to me from the opening to the twisty fireman's pole thing that was WAAAAAAAY above my head.  I very calmly got her down as I was standing on the ground.  Then, she did it again!  Needless to say, it wasn't much longer after this that we headed home!  Other than her scaring me to death TWICE and not wanting to hold my hand on our walk back home, we had a great day at the "pawk"!

Here are a few pictures I snapped on my phone!

It was so nice out that we decided to grill barbecue chicken instead of having the taco soup that I had on the menu!  I'll save that for one of the rainy days we're expecting for the rest of the week!

Before I go on with my next story, I must set the stage!  Leah has this toy that has lots of little blocks, one for each letter of the alphabet plus a few extras without letters!  It's tons of fun!  You can drop the blocks in one side and then push a button to spill them all over, put the blocks on top and it will make a sound for that block and light up and spin and so much more!  You can even play "plinko" with the blocks, just like on The Price is Right!  Anyways, here's what it looks like just in case you're totally confused!

So you think it's just the Olympians who are setting world records these days!  Think again!  While I was out running errands during Leah's nap today, I got an e-mail from Luke informing me that he had set a world record in block stacking!  He claimed that he successfully stacked 16, but since the picture only proves 15, I guess we'll have to record the current record as 15 stacked blocks!  Way to go, Honey!  You sure know how to make a Mama proud!

Girls Night x 2

I've been a lucky girl this week, getting two girls nights!

The first was on Tuesday when I went out to dinner with a group of girlfriends while Leah and Daddy hung out at home!  We went to Roxy which was really good!  The S'Mores Pie was out of this world!  We had so much fun that we decided we need to do it once a month!

The second girls night was tonight!  I got to spend the evening with my favorite gal pal, just the two of us!  Luke has an overnight in Fresno so Leah and I have the whole house to ourselves!  I wonder what trouble we can get ourselves into!  Tonight after her bath we were in the playroom playing with the blocks and she suddenly jumped up and took off running through the entryway towards her room saying "book, book, book".  I called after her from the floor where I was cleaning up the blocks as she ran and assured her that I would come read her a book as it was 8:15 and time to go night night.  At this point she had stopped in the hallway and was waiting for me.  When I caught up to her she kept saying "book, book, book" and took off running towards the door.  That's when I figured out she wasn't saying "book" but "park"!  She wanted to go to the park in her jammies before bed!  Too bad sista girl!  Obviously, we've spent alot of time at the park this week!  We've had fantastic spring weather!  I can assure you, however, that we never went to the park in the dark before bed!  Silly girl!  Instead, we went and read her book of choice for the night "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"!  When we get to the pages with all of the letters, I ALWAYS sing the abc's while pointing each letter out!  So when we got to this page I started pointing and singing and she immediately took her pacifier out of her mouth and shoved it into mine.  I gently removed it, gave it back to her and started pointing and singing again.  She put the pacifier back in my mouth.  I gave it back to her again and tried once again to sing but only to be greeted with the pacifier in my mouth.  Now, I know I wouldn't make it to Hollywood on American Idol, but seriously Leah, is Mommy really that bad of a singer?  She usually likes it!  I decided that it was time for night night so we moved on to our next little routine and turned down the light and I rocked her while I sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  She was very calm for a little bit and layed her head on my shoulder while I rocked and sang and then she suddenly lifted her head up and decided she needed my nose, pinching and pulling it as she was saying "nose, nose".  She then decided she needed my "mouth" and "teeth" and then she got her best idea of the night.  She thought her fist needed to be in my mouth.....all of it, fingers, knuckles, palm and fist!  I was pulling my head away from her as she shoved her fist as far down my throat as it would go laughing and laughing.  I finally got the fist out of my mouth only to have it shoved right back in.  That's when I decided it was time for someone to go night night.  She didn't object at all and went down without a fight!  I haven't heard a peep so she must be having sweet dreams!  I wonder if she's dreaming about the park or shoving her fist down Mommy's throat!

Here's a little sample of how sweet Luke is! 

Leah and I discovered this little note on her fridge this morning after Luke left for work:

Disney On Ice

This afternoon, Luke and I got votes from Leah for Mommy and Daddy of the year!  We took her to see her love as of lately, Minnie Mouse, at Disney on Ice!  This was the Worlds of Fantasy tour so we got to see Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald, of course, along with the gang from Cars, The Little Mermaid, Lion King and even Tinker Bell!  Leah did AMAZING!  She danced and danced and danced in the lobby to all of the music, pointed out Minnie everywhere we saw her (on popcorn buckets, posters or for sale at the ever expensive souvenir stands) and watched the program for a little over an hour!

I ordered her a Minnie outfit on etsy a couple of weeks ago to wear for the big show.  It was a little big, but I made it work since there was no time to order a different size!  She received several compliments (and even one on her diaper bag)!

Before the show started, we went to visit the princesses, but Leah wasn't into them at all!  She much prefers the mice!  There was loud music playing and tv's everywhere showing clips from the show over and over, so we hung out and let her dance in the princess pre-show area until time to find our seats!

We had the best seats imaginable!  We purchased the cheapest seats (way up high) because we didn't know how Leah would do.  They turned out to be on the very first row of the upper deck with a wall in front of (versus the backs of people's heads for Leah to bother) and a wall to our left so that Leah had full rein of our little area.  She was able to stand and dance or walk around a little without getting in anyone's way or us worrying out her falling down stairs!

We had been telling her all weekend that we were taking her to see Minnie Mouse!  I had gotten a little nervous, though, because Minnie wasn't advertised in any of the previews so we were beyond thrilled when Minnie started the show.  Luke's exact words were "I don't know who's more excited {about seeing Minnie}, us or her!"  Leah's little face just lit up so much that I started to tear up!  There is nothing better than to see your baby so excited!  She loved every bit of it!  The show lasted for a little over an hour before an intermission.  We walked around during that time and then just sat in some seats off to the side.  We let Leah make the decision as to when she was ready to go!  Let's just say we beat all of the traffic out of the parking lot!  I feel like we got our money's well worth, though, just seeing her little face light up when Minnie took to the ice!  I didn't think we'd even make it as long as we did and we could have made it longer if there hadn't been an intermission!

I was so proud of Luke and I for not spending a dime on the outrageously priced drinks, food or knick knacks!  I do have will power!

Ready to go see Minnie Mouse!

Dancing in the lobby!

Someone was totally not into the whole princess pre-show! 

It was more for the older girls to enjoy!

Section 202, Row B, Seat 10

Mesmerized by the lights, music and Minnie!

Sitting with Mommy for a minute!

Are you having as much fun as I am, Daddy?

I don't know who had more fun!

Totally not our seats, but I wanted a picture from this angle!

These were our "after intermission, sit for 5 minutes" seats before we left!

We ended the evening with dinner at one of our favorites, Centro, in downtown Sac.  Leah was a trooper here as well and ate her fair share of chips and salsa!  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect family day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fantastic Valentine's Day with our little love bug, boogies and all!  Leah woke up this morning with a little cough and runny nose but soon found her Valentine goodies from Mommy and Daddy.....Valentine jammies, heart bracelets and a Magna-Doddle!  The Magna-Doodle has been a HUGE HIT!  We've been drawing Minnie and Mickey Mouse in preparation for a big surprise tomorrow!

I love to draw pictures on my new Magna-Doodle!

Wearing her bracelets and trying to put her new jammies on! 

She got one leg in the pants!

I had to work at the winery today for an event but I got a wonderful surprise visit from my two loves!  They came walking in carrying a dozen red roses, a card from both Daddy and Leah and a little tin of Hershey's kisses!  Leah walked in carrying a Mickey Mouse card from her that she picked out all by herself and the kisses like such a big girl!  She was dressed so cute in her fancy Valentine outfit that we got her pictures in and the most asked question of the day was if Luke dressed her all by himself!  Luke said he got asked the same thing at the grocery store this afternoon!  The answer is YES!  My husband is AMAZING!

Visiting Mommy at work (and YES, Daddy dressed her all by himself)!

Tonight after the girl goes night night, Luke is grilling ribeyes and lobster tails and is making cheesy hashbrowns (a yummy Iowa thing), roasted broccoli, sauteed mushrooms and garlic french bread.  Dessert is a surprise so I have no idea what to expect!

Fresh from the bath and all ready for bed in her new jammies!

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!

Web Cam Fun

We are totally addicted to Skype!  Tonight we talked to Nana, Papaw and Aunt Kelley, Grandma and Diane and Rachael, Tom, Brandon and Micayla!  Then, after Leah went to bed, Luke and I played with the web cam!  Can you guess which one is the "real" Luke?

Day of Hearts

It's not Valentine's Day just yet, so we're calling today the Day of Hearts!  This is the only day this week that Leah will be going to daycare, so she wore her Valentine attire today!  I must say, she looked heartfully cute!

"Okay, Mom, it's time to go deliver my Valentines!"

We took Valentines to all of Leah's friends at daycare today.  I found the cutest little Fisher-Price heart shaped Doodle Pros (Magna Doodles) for all of her friends!  I hope they enjoy!  Happy "Day of Hearts" from Leah!

Oprah Would Be So Proud

Anyone who's a fan of Oprah (ME!  I am so dreading the day when her last show rolls around!) knows how much she loves (or at least promotes) Skype!  Well, Oprah, guess what!  We here at the Hendricks household have become Skypers, and we LOVE it!  We Skyped with Aunt Rachael and Uncle Tom on Sunday and then with Grandma and Grandpa tonight!  Nana and Papaw are in the process of getting a webcam so they can become Skypers too!  What a great FREE way for our families to get to "see" little Leah more often!  I can't believe we haven't Skyped sooner!

Babysitter

Tonight Luke and I headed out for a Super Bowl party with friends and Leah stayed home with her very first BABYSITTER!  Leah and Jessica had a wonderful evening together!  I was overly prepared, of course, and left very detailed instructions for everything, but she did great!  We've never gotten a babysitter before for a couple of reasons:  1)  We don't know many eligible babysitters.  2)  I'm super picky about who I'll leave Leah with.  3)  The thought of leaving Leah alone with someone other than family makes me a little nervous.  Tonight totally changed all of this!  We will definitely use Jessica again!  She's 21 (I didn't want a teenager) and works at one of Luke's furniture accounts.  She babysits for one of the store manager's daughters all of the time so she had great references and lots of experience with another little girl just a few months older than Leah.  She had met Leah a couple of times when Luke took her to visit the store and when she went with Daddy to deliver cookies at Christmas.  When Jessica got here today, Leah was sleeping, but I think this worked out better!  If she had've been awake, we would've had to sneak out to dodge a possible meltdown!  Jessica said that she cried just for a minute when she woke up from her nap and that was it!  They spent the next several hours playing, reading books, putting the monkeys to "night night" (Leah's new thing) and eating dinner!  Leah was in a fantastic mood when we got home, dancing and being silly.  She even gave Jessica a kiss before she left!  All in all, it was a fantastic evening for Leah and Jessica and also for Luke and I!  I see monthly date nights in our future!

P. S.  I won $40 in a football pool!!!!!

18 Month Well Visit

Today was Leah's 18-month well visit with Dr. Sherman.  Luke and I had a bet going as to how much she would weigh.  He was betting 28 pounds and I was leaning towards 26.  I told the nurse about our bet and she placed her own wager with 23 pounds.  Here are her current stats:

Weight:  23.8 lbs (50th percentile)
Height:  31.5" (60th percentile)
Head Circumference:  47 cm (60th percentile)

It's obvious who won this bet!  Leah did so good standing on the big girl scale for the first time; however, she wanted nothing to do with the height scale so we had to lay her down on the table to measure her with the baby chart.  She really didn't want anything to do with this either but the nurse was able to get her height all the while she was crying to get up!  She was perfect after this!  She had to get three shots in her arms today and only cried for a brief little bit after the second shot and then again after the last one but was all better just in time to get to pick out two stickers.  She shed more tears having to get in her carseat when we were all done than she did getting her shots!

She does have a mild case of eczema (her poor sensitive skin with her hives and now eczema) that we need to make sure to keep putting the Vaseline lotion on but other then that he said she is just PERFECT!  (We already know that, but it does make my day to hear someone else say it!)

Reading a magazine to pass the time!

Yes, Minnie got to go with us!

I just had to show off how cute she looked today (as I was keeping up with her, carrying all of our stuff and trying to take a picture)!  Sorry they're not the best pictures!

Three battle wounds!