Monday, May 17, 2010

Spring Events, 2010

Just a glimpse of the day to day of each member of our family of four.

ZACH
This month was his birthday. Not just any birthday, the big 30. Have I mentioned how lame we are at celebrating holidays and birthdays? But since it was his 30th, I tried to celebrate this one as the big 30 should be celebrated. First of all, I got him a present. A present that was actually wrapped and presented to him on his actual birthday, not a week or so later. And secondly, I made him cupcakes. But not just my usual cake mix and can of frosting cupcakes. I made completely from scratch salted caramel cupcakes. Because somehow I had concluded in my head that spending several frazzled hours in the kitchen baking (that he wasn't even around to witness) showed my love far better then presenting him with equally as tasty quick cupcakes from a mix? I will admit though, the tops of the cupcakes were AMAZING. So we just ate the tops off all of them. And threw the dry bottoms away.

MELANIE
I have managed to lose only 5 pounds since having my baby. Five pounds over FOUR months. So my update will be sans any actual pictures of me. On a positive note, I finally got tired of feeling bone-numbing exhausted by 5 pm everyday and starting consistently taking an iron supplement like I've been told more then several times to do by various doctors. And you know what, I have SOOO much more energy! I can't believe it took me so long to do something so simple and I only have myself to blame. So ladies, take those vitamins!
I miss sewing and crafting. I've pretty much decided that Miss A will have to be in preschool before I get any big projects done again. But I have done little things for the many many babies born here! There's only 2 women at church having babies in June and that is an extremely slow month! Some things I've made for showers this past month....





BABY T
She's starting to occasionally sleep through the night. I'm sure she would sleep more consistently at night if I kept her days more consistent, but it's hard! I really am trying to move toward a more scheduled planned life in general, but it's so not my nature. In fact it's so opposite my nature in every way. But I know it'll be better for the kids. More on that later!
Again, she's so beautiful to me. She's started to giggle and it's the sweetest sound. She is still happy and easy going. She makes me excited for a third! In fact, if I didn't have to be pregnant to get that third one, I'd be ready for the next right now. But that whole pregnancy thing....
Hanging out on dad's shoulder.

MISS A
This past month has mostly been all about her. But isn't every day all about her? You don't know how many times strangers have said to me, "You can see who runs the show!" Is it that obvious?! We hit a really rough patch with her behavior a month or so ago, which is why I'm really wanting to move towards a more scheduled life, I think it'll help her. But keeping her busy with activities also helps her, at least to wear her out some!

Soccer. I've been dreaming of her first soccer game since she was born. I want to be a soccer mom. No, I WILL be a soccer mom. It's non-negotiable. I know these pictures make her look like a good participant, but I think pretty much this is as much as she's touched the ball all season. Oh well. She's not even 3 yet and the only one on the field in diapers I might add. We have time still. Notice in the bottom picture there is no goal or field lines or cones of any sort. She finally got her feet on the ball and took off! And kept going and going and going forrest gump-like. Which is why that ref is chasing her. She was no where near the field at that point.
The best part of soccer for kids. The snacks and drinks after.
I also take her to gymnastics to get some of her bugs out. I think it wears me out more then her since it's parent assisted and I'm assisting while feeding, carrying Baby T at the same time. But she loves it and is one brave little monkey!
And library time. She refuses to read anything but Clifford books and feels the need to hoard all of them. Which scares me because the librarians here are MEAN! Like I might have yelled at several of them once because I couldn't take it anymore....it was 2 days before Baby T was born so hopefully they don't recognize me anymore not pregnant. But they deserved it. At the exact time Miss A was stacking her Clifford books oh so high, I heard a librarian tell a little girl she couldn't get anymore books because she had too many on her table already. (she had six). My pulse went through the roof but luckily she did not look our way. Seriously, library time is the stress high of my week.
And this is what happens when she skips naptime. If I'm lucky. If I'm not lucky skipping naptime means loud screaming erratic craziness. So yes, when she's bad, it's BAD. But when she's fun and cute, she's the CUTEST! She makes me laugh all the time. I think 3 is going to be her year. It's going to be good. I'm pretty sure I said the same thing when she turned 2, but for real, this time I mean it!?
Anyways, that's our life! Nothing too crazy but we are enjoying it.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Some pretty cool people...

Some pretty cool people that have to hang out with me because they are family! These are just some MORE pictures that I took while at Rosemary beach of sisters, nephews, nieces, and grandpas. They are a good looking group!
First of all, my little sister Lindsey! Who celebrated her 21st birthday just a couple weeks ago, thankfully in better shape then last year's birthday. Isn't her hair awesome! It's growing back in super curly which it wasn't before. I think she's rocking it. Lindsey is such a joy to have around. She's probably the most helpful person you'll ever meet. Miss A would trade me for her in a heartbeat! Lindsey was here for appointments last week so we got to spend time with her and squeeze in a few craft projects.

My nephew Adam. He is a mellow kid. I know this because Miss A took toys from him several times at the beach and he just looked at her sadly and then moved on to something else. Sorry buddy, we are working hard on the sharing thing with her!
My sister Melissa's kids
SHANNON! She's a really funny girl. You should meet her. I asked Miss A who her favorite friend was a couple weeks ago and she said Shannon and Adam. I'm glad she loves them too!


My Grandpa (on my dad's side). He has some great stories.
What a great group. I'll be seeing all these people again in a couple weeks!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

3 month Pictures




Remember her? My beautiful little baby? She's been a bit MIA on this blog the past month. But she's been around and growing and getting loves and cuddles. Even though she's just a week shy of her 4 month milestone, these are pictures I took a few weeks ago at 3 months.

What's been happening at 3-4 months....

....she loves to be dressed and undressed. Without fail, every time I take clothes off of her or put them on, she grins and grins and grins. Most kids hate being messed with like this! I think she just loves to be touched and that she has my undivided attention.

....she is so MELLOW! It's still shocking to me. She's not one of those babies who never cries, but when she does, it's always for a very obvious reason that can be easily remedied. She's hungry, poopy, or simply needs to be put to bed where at most she'll fuss for 5 minutes and then zonk out. I LIKE the baby stage now!

....she's GORGEOUS! Okay, so I'm her mother, so how could I think otherwise. But if she's not I will never be able to tell because all I see is perfection when I look at her.

....her toots? Toxic. Really, they are room clearing. Sometimes I'll be holding her, staring into her huge brown eyes, when she decides to go on a toot spree and I have to set her down and run away. More then once I've made the mistake of leaning in to give her a kiss when she has a yet to be discovered dirty diaper and I have paid...dearly...

...just yesterday she started REALLY laughing and smiling. She's smiled here and there up until now, but yesterday we were actually playing and she was loving it.

...yesterday she also discovered her feet and tries to put them in her mouth. She's not quite coordinated enough, but she's close!

...she can roll over both back to stomach and stomach to back, but she rarely does.

....her cry. Although I'm glad to not hear her cry often, even when she does, it's adorable. Her little lip quivers the whole time, all wobbly and pouty. You can't feel frustrated when she cries so cutely. That's the first thing I noticed about her when I held her for the very first time, how blubbery and pouty that little bottom lip is when she cried.

....she does NOT sleep through the night. This is extra frustrating to me as I'm not the type that can fall back asleep easily if at all. She's super chunky and totally capable of sleeping through the night. I followed the whole more scheduled eat, play, sleep approach with Miss A and she slept through the night in 10 hour stretches by SEVEN weeks! I wasn't convinced if that was from luck or method, so I've had the opposite approach with Baby T, and here we are, at almost SEVENTEEN weeks, still waking up every night. But you know what? She is such a sweetheart, I'll take it.

....her EYES! They are so big and round and I'm just drawn to them. I love seeing her take in the world with them.

To summarize....we love this girl so much!