Friday, June 28, 2013

MY BABY’S SWIMMING!!!!!

So Mother Nature was not as excited to see my baby swim as this mama was, but none the less, HG got to have somewhat of a graduation today. The rain held off until halfway through her last class, so Mrs. Melissa waved the parents on in a bit early and let them see a few moves but not before the bottom fell out of the sky. I can’t believe what a good sport Helen Grace was- I would have been running for the hills! We were able to see her SWIM ALL ON HER OWN, although we didn’t get to see the jump in from the side. We’ll have to see that over the weekend. I am crying major happy tears for my brave little fish! She toughed it out day after day, and most importantly, she is so proud of herself.

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Toohig Tidbits

Our cats have special spots that when you rub them, they start licking like crazy. HG calls these their ‘lickey bones.’

When she’s stuffed, she says, “I’m full as a wink!” (instead of a ‘tick’)

When she and her daddy were playing with Barbies and her daddy’s doll gave her some ‘tude, HG told him, “You need to change your attitude.”

“It’s yummy in the mouth!!”

“Mommy, I love you more than sugar!!” When I pressed her if she loved me more than sweet tea, she paused and then said, “No- I mean yes.”

She was showing me how to play some of her games on my phone. I blanched at one that seemed hard, and she looked at me very seriously and said, “Mama, you have to try new things.”

At Grandma’s, she was ready to go to the pool at Teddy’s, but Jeanne, Peg, and I were talking in the den. From the back door, we heard her say, “Hey, ladies!!!!”

She saw her first rainbow recently. Granddaddy, Spiffer, HG, and I were meeting John for dinner at Sweet Peppers one night, and it was halfway raining- one of those true ‘the devil’s beating his wife’ kind of times. When we got out of the car at dinner, we looked up and saw a HUGE, full arch rainbow. Stunning! HG was so excited!

Hanging out with the Baldersonsbaldersons1 baldersons2 Lunching with Courtlyncourtlyn Hunting spiders at the pool with Isaiahisaiah Mary Chris showing Ryves how to play ‘This Little Piggy’ryves   mc1 ryves   mc2 ryves   mc3 Movie date with Ann MaxwellMonsters U Silly girlshowerA reward for coming out smiling after a tough swim class on Wednesday: A strawberry cupcake (read icing) and plane watching at the airport with Spiffer & GD2013-06-26 13.59.35 Yummm….Seafood Junction….second corn on the cobseafood junction 

Update on swim lessons:  She had three days of swim class back in late May with Melissa Brown at the Coats’ house, and the last day was disastrous when Melissa made her put her face in the water. {The only correct responses to Mrs. Melissa are ‘yes ma’am’ or ‘I’ll try.’ That has taken some getting used to but is a great life lesson.} We definitely needed more time and exposure, so I signed her up for another week with Melissa in June. HG was NOT excited about going back. She has cried each day on the way there because she’s scared, but she’s dried up the tears and will calmly walk into the backyard on her own. We’ve been reiterating that it’s ok to be scared, that she’s tough and being so brave to try new things, that all we ask is that she does her best, that she’ll have fun playing with her friends in their pools with her new tricks, and that Mrs. Melissa is a mommy too and is like her mommy in the pool. She has come out of each class with a big ole smile on her face and very proud of herself. Thursday, SHE JUMPED OFF THE SIDE OF THE POOL BY HER OWN CHOICE and swam to Mrs, Melissa!!!!! Grandma was there and watching through the gate and about had a heart attack, but we all quizzed HG and she said she chose to do it (was not forced). She has reenacted it for us time after time, and she can’t wait to show us at ‘graduation’ today- that is, if this storm would roll on through! Rain, rain, go away- we want to see our baby fish show off!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Daddies’ Day

Last Sunday, we celebrated the wonderful daddies in our life! We started with brunch at a new spot for us, Bosco’s, in Midtown. The daddies enjoyed the homebrewed beer, and the mamas enjoyed the bellinis and mimosas- a perfect brunch!

Then, the Toohigs hit the pool. Helen Grace is still not interested in putting her face in the water and actually swimming, but she loves to walk in the shallow end and splash everyone (of course). Baby Addison and the Browns were there too, so she was in hog heaven. She stayed in the pool so long that she came home with green tips on her pretty blonde hair! Luckily, Spiffer happened to be at our house for bathtime that night, and she helped me with the homemade, emergency ketchup rub and then lemonade (technically lemon tea since that was the best I could manage) mix rub that we had to use to get her hair golden again. Helen Grace thought it was funny, so we just laughed our way through it! And YES, we have now bought swimmer shampoo for blondes to get us through the rest of the summer.

We are so thankful for a Daddy that never runs out of tickles, hugs, and kisses and is never too proud to bust out into a dance party wherever we feel like one needs to happen. (He will definitely be thought of as the ‘fun’ parent!)

And we are so thankful for a Granddaddy that drops *everything* to do *anything* we need help with and is always available to join baby girl for a princess tea party.

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Toohig Tidbits

Enjoying a precious bit of Dinstuhl’s chocolateIMG_6856 Her trial run of taekwondo (loved doing it- and was pretty good- but soon realized three nights a week was too much)Photo Jun 05, 5 02 19 PM Photo Jun 05, 5 03 24 PM Visiting with the goats at the vetPhoto Jun 05, 10 37 20 AM This pic was taken a second before that white one took a bite out of her dress. That went over poorly.Photo Jun 05, 10 39 13 AM Lunching with the Coats. Emmaline gives the best hugs.Photo Jun 05, 11 50 50 AMBaby Emmett was baptized last weekend, and I am very honored to be his godmother. We celebrated with Yolo and a run around in the park with Callum and Finley.photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 A spontaneous lunch with Bubba and SpiffermcalistersPool time with Baby Addison and CBIMG_0873 IMG_0916 Priss pot to the max2013-06-15 19.29.47 She’s taken to sleeping with an old picture of me at night. So random, but hey, if it works!sleepyhead

As we cuddled at bedtime last night, I hugged her tight and said, “Mommy is so glad to be your mommy.” And she responded, “And I’m so glad to be your baby girl.” Amen, sister.

Big Girl Bike

Spiffer and Granddaddy surprised baby girl with a big girl bike at their house this week, and you could say it was a hit! She wouldn’t even get off to eat lunch and rode until she was dripping wet with sweat. She made a pretty easy transition from the tricycle to this, although she’s still trying to figure out the brakes. We, of course, had to bring it home with us that night and take it for a spin around the block. It’s so cute to see her so proud of herself!

P1040294 P1040299 Teaching her the importance of brakesP1040310 Finally talked her into coming insideP1040315 

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

NYC: The Toohigs vs. Tropical Storm Andrea

Since HG has proven to be such a good traveler and she claims she can speak ‘New York’ (she must have learned it from Peggy and Grandma), she and I jumped on the chance to join John in NYC for a business trip last week. I have to say that traveling with her makes airport security so much easier. All the agents chit chat and flirt with her, help me carry things, get us to a short line, etc. The same can be said about hotel valets, restaurant managers, etc. Everywhere we went, people stopped to talk to her- made for a wonderful first impression of NYC for her!

I took a half day off of work on Thursday, and we caught a flight around HG’s naptime. She slept for a little over an hour and was a doll through the forever-long line for a taxi, even telling me to ‘have patience’ as I impatiently waited to get through a crowded gate in baggage claim. As we waited, the rain drops began to fall. Tropical Storm Andrea was blowing into town. We got to our hotel, threw our bags in the room, and headed straight to Serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate and chicken nachos for dinner (in that order). The 45-minute wait and downpour demanded nothing less than a very special, indulgent dinner. She was fascinated looking at all the crazy things hanging from the ceiling in the restaurant. We got back to the hotel right after John wrapped up his dinner meeting. I’ll never forget HG running through the hotel lobby screaming, “DADDY!!,” and John bending down to scoop her up.

On Friday, John surprised us and took the day off! With the pouring rain, I never could have made it (and still had fun) without him. First, we went to FAO Schwarz, and HG bypassed the big piano (scared her for some reason) and headed straight for the Barbie section. She quickly chose to take home a Barbie doll on a bike and never changed her mind, nor ask for anything else. It was a dream come true. Then, we hailed a cab and headed to the American Girl doll store for lunch, and she picked out a bulldog and fluffy pet bed. Lunch there was so well done- the service, food selection and presentation, the whole experience.

Later, after a monstrously long line that thankfully moved quickly (HG was such a trooper in her rain coat and boots), we checked out the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. (P.S. For future reference, once you make it in the door, there is a kiosk to buy tickets right inside the door to the left with NO line.) Helen Grace was in hog heaven and ran from skeleton to skeleton, pointing and jumping with excitement. After a few hours, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Our concierge made us reservations at Blue Fin for dinner before we went to see Cinderella on Broadway on Friday night, and we were so impressed. The restaurant was right in the middle of Times Square and just a few blocks away from our theatre, and the food and service were amazing. On the way to the bathroom, Helen Grace and I ran into the manager who asked us about what show we were seeing, etc. As we came out of the bathroom, he stopped me and handed me a card with directions to the theatre and a bag of treats to enjoy during the show- caramel popcorn and chocolate chip cookies!! I was shocked!

We can’t say enough good things about Cinderella- it was a fabulously done show, and two nights later, it won a Tony for Best Costume Design in a Musical. (Cinderella, Laura Osnes; Prince Topher, Santino Fontana; and the fairy godmother were all nominated for their roles as well). HG only had one freak out moment at the beginning of the show, thanks to a dragon and a tree giant, but once she realized it was all fairy tales and happy endings after that, she enjoyed it. The songs, costume changes, set, acting- everything- were so well done. When we walked out of the doors after the finale, the intensity of Tropical Storm Andrea slapped us in the face with a wall of rain, so we hightailed it to a cab and back to the hotel to wring out our drenched clothes.

During the night on Friday/early Saturday morning, I noticed the lights flicker and then go out. Sure enough, when we woke up around 8 a.m., we found out that the breaker room in the hotel basement had flooded and knocked out power to the whole building. At least the sun came out on Saturday morning, so we were at last able to make it to the Top of the Rock for a high level view of NYC. I highly recommend checking this place out for the amazing three observation levels and great picture-taking spots. Praise the Lord we got to see some blue sky too! We soon had to pack up our bags and catch our early afternoon flight, but HG was excited to finally get to go to the top of that ‘really tall building.’

We weren’t able to ride a subway, but she thought it was pretty cool to hear it rumble under the sidewalk. And we never made it to Central Park, so we’ll add those two things to our wish list for our next visit. She *loved* holding the elevator doors open and punching the buttons. And for my memory sake, I didn’t have time to order an ID bracelet for her, so I made a necklace with heart and number beads that had my cell phone number on it so that someone could find me if we were to get separated. Thankfully, we didn’t need it, and I sure can breathe a lot better now that we are safely home! So very thankful for a fun, first NYC trip with lots of happy family memories!

Photo Jun 06, 2 12 02 PM IMG_4172 Our view of the back of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on MadisonIMG_4175 Serendipity 3IMG_4176 Photo Jun 07, 9 35 02 AM FAO SchwarzIMG_4178 American GirlIMG_4181Photo Jun 07, 11 03 56 AM Cheers!Photo Jun 07, 11 21 22 AM IMG_4185 IMG_4188 Photo Jun 07, 12 10 59 PM Photo Jun 07, 12 46 08 PM Waiting, waiting, waiting to get in to see dinosaursPhoto Jun 07, 1 04 15 PM She was ‘fishing’ and ‘caught’ Mama’s foot!Photo Jun 07, 3 17 33 PM IMG_4190 IMG_4192 IMG_4200 Trying to decide which was harder- the dinosaur skull or hers?IMG_4204 IMG_4207 Dinner at Blue Findinner w daddy blue fin Times SquareIMG_4209 Ready for Cinderella!IMG_4210 Photo Jun 07, 10 28 24 PM Photo Jun 07, 10 28 32 PM View from Top of the RockIMG_4213top of the rock IMG_4217 IMG_4226 IMG_4229 IMG_4232Tuckered outplaneplane2