The morning after...

Jed and I needed a "healer" this morning in the form of caffeine -- I promptly sent him to Starbucks and actually got a caffeinated coffee. I almost never drink caffeinated coffee, in case you care. I almost never drink regular old drip coffee from Starbucks either. It was serious.

Avery decided that she was still hungry when I finally finished getting her hyper self ready for bed last night and had brushed her teeth and read her her 42 library books. This process took me almost an hour, and all my efforts were for naught as she decided to pull a "turkey/cheese" maneuver on me and tell me she was hungry only after we'd gone through the entire bedtime routine and I was putting her into the crib. Make no mistake, this is a tactic to get out of going to bed that doesn't usually work, but she ate so little for dinner, I actually caved in and fed her more.

Then she proceeded to wake up several times until about midnight, when she finally fell asleep. It was a long, long night... the chunk of cake in this picture might explain why she was AMPED all evening... and the hand shoving that fork into her mouth belongs to my mother. Don't worry, she'll get what's coming to her.


Anyway, enough of that -- our morning was just as amped and filled with a plethora of new stuff to entertain Avery for at least an hour. The she remembered that she had a brand-spanking-new copy of Cinderella on DVD, and she begged and pleaded until I caved once again and put in Cinderella. On a side note, I am a total suck and teared up just a little bit during the opening scene when Cinderella sings "A Dream is a Wish" because I always sing that song to Avery and when it started, Avery shouted, "That's mama's song!"

Avery absolutely refused to do anything without her poodle backpack on for most of the morning. I decided to document it for Jed's aunt and uncle (who sent it from AR), and what better time than when Avery was brushing her teeth? (also known as mostly sucking off the toothpaste and really only licking the bristles)


We finally got the backpack off and dove right in to dollhouse mania. Avery showed Ainsley the ropes and made sure the people sat ON the couch. When I tried to move the man, I think she fell over and had a mild heart attack. Notice Ainsley getting devoured by the blue bean bag from 1982.


When I finally peeled Avery's little fingers open and dragged her screaming from the playroom, I got her dressed so we could go to the in-laws and celebrate PapaZ's birthday (it's the same day as Avery's -- tomorrow). While I got ready I had to bribe her with streaming video on Google of her friend Marylin (thanks a lot for that idea Windy... add more videos and quick!) and then she sat like an angel for about 10 minutes so I could brush my teeth and drag a comb across my head.

Someone remind me next year to have the birthday parties earlier in the day so that the sugar/toy/party high wears off earlier and doesn't make my evening a living hell!

She finally did settle down at the in-laws' house and is now (deep breath) sleeping again -- hopefully for the entire night.