What's going on around these parts...

Figured I would throw you a little bullet point post to speed you up on what's going on in our busy world.

First let's start off with Emma.

• She is officially crawling, for real.  Hands, knees and going wherever she wants when she wants.
• She thinks she is independent and can walk (but she can't).
• She is in size 3 diapers.  They are so big and I'm amazed that my baby is big enough to fit in them.
• She is hooked on Sesame Street lately.  Her bff is Elmo.  Sorry Mickey.  She's found a new love.
• She loves to climb (on the fireplace).  It's making this momma a nervous wreck.  Even with bumpers and a blanket on it I freak out.
• She's so healthy.  She has yet at almost 8 months old to get sick.  No colds.  No ear infections.  No tummy bugs.  Nothing.  I guess the breastfeeding for several months paid off.  That and getting her out of the house all the time.  I think she's built up a great immune system.  Should I knock on wood right now?  Yeah, probably.  *Knock Knock
• She is almost out of all 6 month clothes.  She has a few things that she can still squeeze into.  She's my little chunky monkey.
• Her sleep schedule has changed some.  She's now asleep at night by 8 or 8:30 and is awake every morning at 7:30.  I can't believe she let me sleep until 9 or 9:30 for MONTHS and now all of a sudden she wakes up earlier.  Boo.  She is taking about two naps a day at an hour and a half to two hours a piece.  Sometimes I can squeeze in a 30 minute evening nap.
• She is almost saying dada.  I can't tell for sure though because for some reason she whispers it.
• She has found her tongue.  She copies me by sticking it out.
• She is eating Puffs and Yogurt Melts now.  It's the cutest thing to watch her pick them up and put them in her mouth.

As for the rest of us...

• We are leaving for the beach in 8 days.  Wooo Whooo!
• We are having a new air conditioner and furnace installed Monday.  Thank the Lord.  We bought this house two years ago and it's needed one since then.  I'm ready for a cooler house.
• I changed birth controls twice recently.  I was on Yaz, then Natazia.  Both pills.  Hated them.  Was forgetting to take them and decided we did not need another little Emma crawling around so I switched to Nuvaring.  No need to worry to take a pill everyday and I'm loving it so far.  No babies for us for AWHILE.
• Dustin is working a LOT lately.  I'm a tired momma.  He's worked 7 out of the last 8 days.  12 hour shifts and mostly traveling out of town.  Talk about feeling like a single parent much of the time.  It's tough.  Now I know what I mom went through when we were little (my dad was a truck driver and only home on weekends).  I'm so thankful for vacation coming up.
• My birthday is in 7 days.  I will be 25.  Half a century, OMG.  What happened to the care free days of being 18? Since 21, time has flown by.  I have no idea where 22, 23 or 24 went.  I am looking forward to celebrating at the beach though.
• I'm also looking forward to presents *cough cough Dustin :)
• My mom makes me a home made carrot cake with cream cheese icing every year...Yum.
• Due to a busy summer we haven't been to church as much as I want.  I miss it and can't wait for traveling to slow down so we can get back there.
• My house is always dirty...I feel like being a stay at home mom it should always be clean and the laundry should be done but it's almost opposite.  The more I'm home the more dirty it is.  I can never keep up with it.  That might have something to do with a moving child.  She's into EVERYTHING.

Well that should about catch you up on us.  Crazy, hectic, busy life.  

Do you have a spouse that travels a lot?
If so how do you deal with it and keep busy?
What new stage is your child in right now?
Leave a Comment and Share!

What Seven Months-ish Looks Like.

Wow, is time flying by or what! Little Miss is over seven months old already.  Not really sure when it happened but she is turning into her own little person.  I already miss the early days.  The days of peacefully sleeping all day, sweet little dreamy smiles, looking around in awe and figuring out her surroundings, little baby clothes, newborn diapers and the cuddling..oh how I miss that the most.  I may be missing all these things terribly but I really am enjoying this new stage.  She is so much fun.

Let's see what's new shall we...

• I'm pretty sure my baby is preparing herself for the army already.  She is scooting on her belly EVERYWHERE.  Baby proofing is already in the process.  Fireplace padded, CHECK.  Getting our dogs groomed tomorrow so that Emma can no longer pull out chunks of their hair, CHECK CHECK!

•  She says momma! Well, I'm sure she doesn't get that I am momma but she says it so that's all that matters. It sounds about like ma ma ma ma ma and she says it the most when she's eating so she probably associates "momma" with "food".  She's a smart one already folks.  Also, no dada yet.  I'm sure if he started whipping out his wallet she would start saying it.  Her only sounds so far are ba ba ba ba ba, ma ma ma ma, baby gibberish that I cannot understand and ear piercing shrieks.

• She has one sweet little toofer and more are coming.  She has been a little crabby lately and I'm positive it's those teeth bothering her.  I have to say I'm ready for those bad boys to come in already.  However, that one little snaggle tooth shining is just the sweetest.

• She is still sleeping through the night (knock on wood).  She is usually asleep around 9 if we aren't out somewhere (sometimes it's 10 or 11) and awake between 8 and 9 the next morning.  I am one lucky momma.  I can't believe I have a baby that sleeps.

• She loves to sit in a cart while shopping or in a high chair at restaurants.  She thinks she is so big.  She sits there smiling and just waiting for somebody to stop and say how cute she is.

•  Naps these days are rough.  I shouldn't complain, she sleeps 12 hours a night.  I only wish she would take a long nap everyday that way I had a little free time during the day.  The cat naps are killing me.  Twenty minutes here and thirty minutes there are better than nothing I suppose.

•  She's around 18ish pounds now.  My chunky monkey as I like to call her.  She's in 6 to 9 month clothes.  Some 6 month clothes are starting to get a bit snug though.  She's also a fat roll away from a size 3 diaper.  Oh those rolls....they are precious I tell you.  I think she also stores things in there for the winter. Fat babies have to eat ya know.

• Emma has the best personality right now.  She's really starting to come out of her baby skin.  She loves people but sometimes will tuck her head into me when a stranger comes up to her to tell her hello.  She's really not shy so I think it's just a game to her.

• She sits up on her own now.  She still wobbles sometimes but is starting to catch herself and adjust.  She still topples over sometimes though.  She is also pulling up onto things now.  She started making her way towards the fireplace and pulling up on it.  Hence the baby proofing in bullet numero uno.

My big beautiful girl.

Do you have kids?
If so, what was your favorite stage?
Are you baby proofing?
If so, what are you doing to make your bambino safe?
Comment and share!

"Down by the creek bank by the old holler log..."

Most of you are probably scratching your head right now wondering where I came up with the title for this post.  You probably don't get it because it was a song I sang in our Children's Choir at church when I was ten.  Man, did I love that song.  I wish you could hear me singing it right now.  You would probably point and laugh but that's ok because I don't mind accepting my inner cheesiness.

From my title you may have guessed that this post is about creek banks and if you did, you would be correct.  This weekend we drove to my old hometown to visit some family.  We stayed at my sister and her sweet boyfriend Jed.  It was such an amazingly relaxing weekend.  We slept late both days, lounged in our pj's for hours and made a trip to Jed's family's property.  They have a set up at their creek for campers and tents.  It's really awesome.  It's the same place we went for my sister's 21st birthday.  It was nice to go back and enjoy some time with the people we love most.

We arrived Friday afternoon and relaxed with my sister until her boyfriend got off of work.  We ate some delicious Mexican food for dinner and headed back to the house.  The night was filled with great laughs, fun games and some great mother daughter time.

 Mom and Daughter Facials? Check!

Letting Jed get in some practice for fatherhood someday? Check Check!

After just arriving at the creek we realized there was a massive wasp nest under the gazebo.  You see it was raining so it was our only shelter from getting wet.  Emma, myself and my sister hung out in the truck while my husband tried to dispose of this:

There was actually two of these.  I swear there were 20 wasp in it.  Every time Dustin got close I kept singing "My Girl" in my head.  At one point Leeha even rolled down the window and sang it to him.  It was a pretty intense situation until we were able to get some Wasp Killer.  I'm pretty sure we wasted an hour of our day just ticking off some pesky wasp.

After the wasp problem was under control, we fed our chunky baby.

Hair cuts were given.

Some of us changed into our bathing suits but forgot to change our shoes. This is my step dad.  You know you are so jealous of his sense of style.

I decided at some point during the day to get creative and use this new app on my phone called Retro Camera.  I found it thanks to this post from Kat.  Love her blog.  I'm always finding new things because of her!

Me and my best, Erin.

  I spent the rest of the weekend taking cool pictures on my phone while lounging at Jed's.  Emma enjoyed crawling around on his carpet.  She can't get around as good on our hardwood floors.

Auntie and her girl.  

Cuteness that is Tuck Tuck.

Bailey Girl.

I told you once before I'm a picture taking fool.  I wasn't lying.  Nine times out of ten my blog posts will be accompanied by pictures.  I just think it makes posts so much better.  It really lets you see a glimpse of our lives.

So far 2011 has been a fantastic year.  Non stop and I love every minute of it.

Do you have a creek near by?

What has been your favorite trip so far in 2011?

 Comment and Share!

Snapshots From My Droid

Just a few random shots that have been stuck in my phone.  Enjoy!

*Warning.  They are mostly going to be of Emma.

 How did my baby go from this little...

To this BIG! No more blanket to hold her up and she bounces up and down.

From learning to hold her head up, to this...

  Hands and Knees People! Almost crawling!

 We recently visited some friends in Lexington.  Emily's son Sam wanted to take a cat bath like Emma had earlier.  I don't think he realizes he's outgrown the sink.  Btw, how adorable is he?

Sammy boy was absolutely in love with Emma.  He wanted to hold her every five minutes.  Check it out...Emma is almost as long as him.

 Bath time with mom.

A little R&R at the Salyer Pool.  Can't forget the corn hole.  We are all obsessed.

My sweet baby at the beginning of summer.

 Me and my best friend Emily.

Sitting in the cart all by her big girl self.  How the heck did this happen?

This Fair is No Fun Mom!

So.....

We took Emma to her very first fair two nights ago.  It did not go over well.  I had a feeling as the day went on that she may not do well.  She didn't nap well that day and was just plain crabby.  It didn't change once we arrived at the fair.  As soon as we walked through the gate she started screaming bloody murder.  Every little thing was scaring her.  Normally, she would have loved it.  Not really sure what got into her.  Let me set the scene for you.  It was seven trillion (yes trillion) degrees outside.  It was so muggy you couldn't breathe.  It was very loud.  It was hot.  Oh did I mention that already? It was a lot of smells all mixed together (corn dogs, sweaty people, smoke and dirt from the figure eight race going on, did I mention sweaty people?).  Because of all these things and Emma's terrible mood we had to carry her the entire time.  She was NOT having any part of her stroller.  Why didn't we just leave you ask? Because the tickets were ten bucks a person to get in and by gosh we were going to get our ten dollars worth.  We are retarded, duh.  After the sun finally went down, the heat subsided a very teensy weensy small bit.  Do you think that really made Emma any happier? Umm no.  I'm still kicking myself for even staying that long because we were only torturing ourselves. We rode all of ONE ride (which was a little worrisome since it was sitting on ply wood because the ground wasn't even).  We ate one very large, nasty corn dog, we drank five hundred bottles of water and one coke.  Dustin downed a funnel cake in about 2.5 seconds because I was about to have a nervous breakdown with said fussy baby.  We played one game (the duck in a pond game, everyone  is a winner so does it even count?).  We watched one round of the figure eight race (Emma was not a fan of those loud cars).  We attempted to ride the carousel with her but they wouldn't let her ride.  36 inches or taller they said.  Boo.  We did however get to spend time with my parents and some great friends of ours.  They have a baby boy that is three weeks younger than Emma.  He loved the fair.  He even slept for half of it.  Lucky lucky lucky.  I wanted to trade babies for the night.  I guess overall it was a good night with great company.

 Wow Mom.  Dim the lights please.

 Thanks Mom.  Hey Gage, wanna play with some grass and not the bad kind if ya know what I mean, my momma has told me to always Just. Say. No.  She's teaching me young,

 

See Gage, isn't this fun?

 When do you think our mommies will let us go on a date?

  My dad says I'm never going to date boys but I think he's just silly.  I will just bat my eyes and he'll give in.

I think my momma is going to be the strict one.  It's ok though Gage, I'll just sneak my dada's phone and call you later :)

Baby Food Try Take One

This past week I attempted my first round of baby food makin'.  I was worried it would turn out terrible but I shocked myself.  It was actually SO easy and quite delicious if I must say.  Such a fresh taste compared to the processing of the jar foods in the grocery store.  Emma has really enjoyed it so far.  The only problem I'm found so far is that since I freeze it, it gets a bit watery when I thaw it out.  I just add a little Mixed Grains or Rice Cereal and it's good to go.  So far I've made Carrots, Squash, Green Beans and Zucchini.  This coming week I'm going to make Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Peas and maybe some Beets.  I'm also going to attempt fruits next week.  I'm thinking they may be a little more difficult.  I'm going to try apples and pears for now.  It's really affordable too.  Much cheaper than the almost $1 per jar at the stores.  Just a bit time consuming, but so worth it.

 Nom Nom Nom

 Zucchini anyone? Her favorite so far.

Do you make your baby's food?

What are your favorites to make?

Leave a comment and share! 

Catch Up Post, Yada Yada Yada

So once again I find myself having to constantly catch up on my blog.  Summer has been so incredibly busy for us.  Busy but so fantastic.  It was really been a whirlwind but I wouldn't change it for anything.  I love that Emma is at an age where we can really be out and do fun things.  She is a great little traveler and loves being around people.  First to catch you up on...Fourth of July festivities.

P.S. I'm typing this post while trying to watch 127 Hours with Dustin, chat with my bestie on Facebook and make sure to listen for a sleeping baby if she arises, so if this post is sporadic I apologize in advance.

Any who, where was I? Oh yes.  Fourth of July.  We had tons of family and friends over at our house for a pool party.  It was perfect weather and great time spent with the people we love most.

P.S.S Speaking of people I love most and friends, I have a post coming up about loyalty and what true friendship is.  Stay tuned for that one.

Again, Sidetracked! Back to where I was.  The Fourth was spent socializing, playing corn hole, horse shoes, swimming and lots of amazing food and fireworks.  I have to say it's probably the best Fourth I've had in so many years.  Emma did a great job being out in the heat.  We kept her cool in the water and under a shady umbrella when she wasn't eating or napping.  So proud of my big girl!

This past weekend, for the first time since Emma was born I stayed away from home.  For two whole nights.  My sweet husband stayed home so that I could have a fun filled girls weekend in the mountains.  How amazing is he? I surprisingly did better than I thought I would.  I only cried twice.  Once when I pulled out of the drive way and once the first night I went to bed.  It was such a relaxing, much needed getaway.  I really did come back rejuvenated.  Two days of rest with out having to constantly be tending to or worrying about Emma.  Not that I didn't worry about her while I was gone, because I did.  It was just time for me.  I haven't had that since January.  I can't say thanks to Dustin enough for allowing me to go on that trip.  Also, to be with two of my dearest friends in the world was priceless.  We had a ball.  So many laughs.  We cried from laughing so hard several times.  Love both of those girls so much.  Unfortunately, we were missing a member from the trip.  My older sister was supposed to go with us but ended up staying home with her kiddos.  So understandable but we missed her a lot.  Hopefully, the next girls weekend she will be able to attend and be apart of the fun that was had.

 On the road to Gatty Town.

 My delicious dinner at The Peddler Steakhouse.

"We're the three best friends that anybody could have, we're the three best friends that anybody could have, we're the three best friends that anybody could have, and we'll never ever ever ever leave each other!"

A few days after returning back from Gatlinburg, it was time to take Emma to her six month check up.  I am not sure why it was scheduled after she was already six months old but it was a little harder than her other appointments.  She got two shots this time which is much better than the normal three or four but the shots really got her this time.  Fever for 24 hours, chills, body aches...the whole shebang.  Poor girl.  Other than the terrible shots she is growing like a weed.  She is 16.1 lbs and 27 in long.  I think she's going to be tall.  She's pretty much perfection.  See for yourself.

 Striking a Pose

 NOM NOM NOM

Big Baby Blues

Well, that's all folks.  For now anyway.  I promise to blog more when I find the time.  Time slips away from me so fast these days.  All you momma bloggers out there, I don't know how you find the time to blog everyday! I'm impressed.  Keep blogging and I'll keep reading (and commenting when I find an extra minute in my day!).