Bah-Bye!

No, the title isn't in reference to my blog, although it has been awhile and I probably had you wondering!  We are still here, and "Bah-bye" just so happens to be Casey's favorite phrase these days.  She not only says it to anyone who might be leaving, but also anytime someone puts on a jacket or grabs their keys, when we walk out of a room, to every car that happens to drive by when we check the mail, to her toys as we are putting them away, to the draining bathwater...you name it, it gets an enthusiastic "Bah-bye!"  She has even been known to say it to one of her therapists who was trying to get Casey to go down the stairs, when what Casey really wanted to do was go up.  And no, it was not time for that particular therapy session to be over!  To further emphasize her understanding of the word, just the other day during our Speech therapy we were trying to get her to eat some fruit from a fruit cup that she was showing no interest in.  After several unsuccessful attempts to coax her into eating some, she calmly grabbed a piece, pulled the fruit cup toward her and plopped it back into the container, all while looking at us and saying "Bah-bye" and giving the fruit a corresponding goodbye wave.  Speech was pretty much over at that point, because her therapist and I were laughing hysterically and she knew she had won that battle!

Not only is it her favorite phrase, but "Bah-bye" has also been a pretty fitting theme for our lives lately.  Our biggest goodbye has been that we MOVED!  While it was a little bittersweet to bid farewell to our first home as a married couple and also Casey's first home that we waited for four long months to bring her home to, we had definitely outgrown our little house.  Of course it was a lot easier to get over the sadness when we realized just how amazing it was to have multiple spaces to move and play in (like a designated toy room!), a house with closets and storage galore, a huge yard, and on and on! I can't say that I miss the 30 minute drive to get to work either!  We still have a long way to go as far as having this house fully furnished and decorated, and other than one little minor incident that sent me to urgent care (you would think I would be used to the ridiculous ways I manage to injure myself by now, but I'm still amazed.Every.Single.Time.), we are loving our new house!  Even better, we sold our old house in just under two weeks after putting it on the market, which was such a relief to not have to worry about having two mortgages! 

Just a little over a week after our big move, we packed up and said "Bah-bye" to Texas for my Spring Break vacation and headed on a road trip all the way to Wisconsin to visit Brian's grandmother.  It was a loooong drive, and there was definitely a moment or two where it might have been pointed out that we were a lot closer to home than to our destination and it wasn't too late to turn back, but we pushed (and at least one of us cried and screamed) on, and we had a really great trip.  There was still tons of snow on the ground and it was very cold, but since Casey was still in isolation for RSV/flu season, we mostly enjoyed staying inside and visiting and catching up with family and friends.  And eating.  There was lots of eating!  (Eating that my waistline has still yet to recover from).  Brian and I also celebrated our 3rd anniversary while we were on the trip.  It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years since our big day, but then again it is incredible to see how much our lives have changed and how blessed we have been in such a short time.

When we returned we also found out it was time to say goodbye to one of Casey's therapists.  Our Physical Therapist felt that Casey had more than met all of her goals, since she is now not just walking, but cruising, and so our therapist decided we no longer needed her services.  We were sad to lose her, but we are so very excited about how quickly Casey progressed through her goals since we started physical therapy just over a year ago, and what that means for her development.  Just one more preemie milestone she has overcome.

More than anything I feel like over the past couple of months we have said "Bah-bye" to our baby girl and hello to a toddler!  Lately, I find myself looking at her and thinking how did she suddenly turn into such a big girl?  It is really remarkable when we think about where we were 20 months ago with our two pound little miracle.  We are seeing her grow and development in so many areas.  She is saying so many new words every day, and her comprehension is just incredible.  She is on the go all of the time and is getting into everything, but then every so often she will just spontaneously walk over and sit in your lap, or stop to give you (and every dog, cat, baby doll, or beloved toy) a hug, and she loves to give kisses and "eskimoes." And wow does this girl have an opinion about things these days. She knows what she wants, and she is not afraid to let you know about it.  We are just starting to cautiously come out of isolation, so we ran into a store the other day and she spotted something sparkly at the checkout.  I made the mistake of handing it to her and quickly realized she was NOT going to relinquish it without a fight.  Needless to say, we left aid store the new owners of a glittery plastic bracelet. Not my proudest parenting moment, but I decided that the $1 bracelet was not worth the stares that her meltdown was about to cause if I tried to pry it from her deathgrip. She is going to keep us on our toes for sure! 

Here are some of the pictures from the last two months. Unfortunately, most of these are cell phone pics because I stashed my camera cord in a super safe place while we were moving...it only took me almost two months to come across that super safe place again, so at least there are a few decent pictures mixed in that I just rescued from our good cameras.

Wisconsin Family Photo

 

Going out to check out the snow.

 

 Someone was less than thrilled to be in her snowsuit!

 

Daddy trying to show her the white stuff.

 

We got to visit with some of Brian's college friends and their adorable little boy.

 

 Hanging out with Grandma Casey.

 "How big is Casey?"

 Showing off our monkey faces

 

 Mommy got in on the fun, too! Cute, right?

Visiting with Brian's cousin, Rebecca

 

This was a photo that Daddy texted me when I ran into a gas station while we were on the road.  Apparently they were having a little too much fun with the blanket while I was gone.

We saw quite a few of these on our road trip.

 

Last photo in front of her first house!

 

We were sad to say goodbye to the decals on the wall in her old room.  Someone had to give them a proper goodbye kiss.

 Exploring all of our new storage.

 

 This girl loves her pink ball!

 

So much so that she also gives it spontaneous hugs and kisses!

 

 "Look ma, no hands!"

 

One of her other favorite things to do is to plug her ears and yell.  Not really sure where she learned this one.

 

 She was not so happy about trying out her barrettes.  We are trying to tame all that hair!

 

 Our new house has stairs.  We spent a lot of time those first few weeks trying to keep her off of them or following closely behind when we lost that battle.  Thankfully we finally installed the baby gates on the stairs.

 

 Saturday morning play time in our PJs.

 

Enjoying her donuts!

 Caught red-handed trying to steal food out of the pantry!

 Casey loves to rub her food all over her hair.  In case you were wondering, this is what pizza hair looks like.

 

 We had several really warm February days, and decided to go for one last swing at the park by our old house before we moved.  She definitely loves to be outside!

 

Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought.

 

 

 

Giving her lamb a few snuggles.

 

We were very serious about Easter!