Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hayden's 9 Months!



I feel like these months just fly by!  Hayden is getting more personality everyday – she definitely knows what she wants!


She finally broke the bottom 2 teeth.  They are so cute – I love those first few baby teeth that come in.  When she had her 9 month check-up, her doctor said that her top 2 will be in soon.  They are puffy, but haven’t gotten close to the surface yet. 


She’s scooting around, but not crawling.  She will rock back and forth on her knees, but then just go back into the sitting position or she will fall on her stomach.  Once she is on her stomach she reeaaacchhhess as far as she can for something without actually moving.  Then she spins in circles or moves backwards which gets her in a different spot on the floor.  She really would rather hold onto your hands and walk. And when she finds something she can pull herself onto, she’s all over it.


Hayden still sleeps with us every night.  We've talked briefly about how we are going to start the transition, but we haven’t made any moves.  The past few nights, she’s gone to bed really easy as usual but then she wakes up 30 minutes later and wants to stay up until I head to bed. Which, let’s be honest, isn't really late – about 9:30-10pm.


I’m still nursing, and I’m pretty sure my supply will do until she’s a year, but it definitely has gone down since about 2 weeks ago.  So now, I nurse the same amount every day, but I’m down to pumping only once while I’m at work.  I don’t really like this fact, but then I think I’m only a few months away from her being a year – and I still have a good amount saved in the freezer.


Her personality is so fun!  She gets mad if you take something away form her she is playing with.  She definitely doesn't move to another toy like Hadleigh did.  And Hadleigh is usually the person taking things from her ;)  She loves loves loves her big sister (unless she’s taking things from her) and still thinks she’s the funniest person.  She doesn't like to lay down, unless she is tired or sleeping.  She still is pretty attached to me, so if I’m in the room and she wants to be held…it’s me.  {it’s the boobs I think}
Stats from the Doctor
Weight: 19 pounds 11 ounces (65%tile)
Height: I forget her height! It’s 90%tile though
Head: 99-100%tile




Hayden’s Daily Routine

Nurse her around 7am – sometimes she wakes up, sometimes she goes back to sleep

Nana comes at 7:30-8am

Eats some cereal & fruit

She takes a morning nap somewhere in here

Has a 4-5 ounce bottle (has a snack if she wants)

She will play

Has a vegetable for lunch & water

Takes her main afternoon nap

Drinks a 4-5 ounce bottle (snack if she wants)

She will want to nurse for a little snack when I get home from work

We feed her a vegetable, fruit, & drinks water for dinner

Bath (every other night)

Then around 8-8:30pm I nurse her to sleep!




Monday, April 29, 2013

Weekend Shenanigans

Daniel had class this weekend, so the girls and I went into Ashland for the day on Saturday.  My Aunt was in from out of town, so we went to my parents early to hang out.  That evening more family and friends showed up to celebrate Kelli & Chey before they move to Charleston, SC on Wednesday.  Craziness! 


Hadleigh had such a fun time running around with the boys, while Hayden hung out with mama.  Hayden didn’t want anything to do with anyone else other than Daniel or I.  Mom & Kelli were able to hold her for a little bit, but not for long.  I love being loved, don’t get me wrong, but it would be nice {just a little} if my daughter could be held by someone else for longer than a couple of seconds.  I know she’s at the age where anxiety kicks in, but she’s always been like this.  Attached. So I’ll soak it up cause I know I’ll blink and she will be almost 3 and running around not paying any attention to me.

Hayden and Hadleigh had too much to do and look at that no naps were had on Saturday.  Hayden didn't even nap but for 30 minutes!  So, Sunday rolled around and they were both up by 7:30am.  WHAT?! I thought for sure they would sleep in after their busy Saturday. Nope. And boy were they grouches!  So we stayed around the house all day – which was best for everyone!



Cara Box Reveal





Cara Box


The reveal is finally here!!  I had so much fun getting to know my partners this month – and it doesn't stop here – I’m happy to have found friends across the country in both J

You can head over to Wifessionals to get the low-down on the Cara Box.  It’s an amazing idea, so you should definitely head over to her blog and sign up for next month.  This month the theme was “Go Green” since Earth Day takes place in April, so it was fitting.  I was a little nervous about the theme at first.  I do my part on going green in some aspects, but I’m not overly natural/green/organic – so I was afraid I wasn't going to know what to get. 

Let’s start with the Cara Box I prepared.  I was teamed up with Ashley over at DashingTales.  She is so sweet and we have a lot of the same things in common. Plus her husband’s name is Daniel too (fate, I know)! Go check her blog out! Of course, I was so worried about getting her box out in the mail, that I didn't snap a picture of her contents. So this picture is courtesy of Ashley.




     Rainbow Cookies from Ukrops – our {former} local grocery store’s bakery.  They are amazing and have the color green in them.  I wanted to put a little something from Richmond in the box and who doesn't love a good cookie?!
            Green Sharpie – who doesn't love sharpie’s too? And it’s green. Done and done
            2 recycled material notebooks - Ashley’s favorite color is pink, so I incorporated that with a pink notebook. 
    Green Dog toy – For the doggy child in her life J
           Teal Earrings & nail polish – I wanted to throw in some girly items, and even though teal isn't technically green, it’s close enough.
    Recycled Avery Label Stickers – I just thought these were cute, and Ashley loves to organize, so I figured they would come in good use.
    Clothespins with stamped saying on them – I stalked her pinterest and found that she had pinned something similar.  So I went the craft route and crafted her up some


My other partner was Kaara over at In the Kitchwith Kaara.  She’s so nice and I’ve learned so many interesting things about her – she’s a goat mama! I can’t wait to learn more about her recipes, house renovations, and animals. Go Check her out too!  Kaara did such a great job with her box which was so thoughtful.


   Vegetable Seeds -I had told her Daniel and I wanted to start a garden this year, so she sent me several vegetable seeds to get us started! So sweet!
A re-usable bag.  Can never have enough of those!
   Meyer’s hand soap.  A new product I’ve never tried, but I’m sold!

        Burts Bees lip balm and cocoa butter – two things I use everyday J
        A teal mug. I love coffee and our kitchen has teal aspects in it, so it’s perfect.
        Fun designed towels, so we can be more green and not use as many paper towels (which she had no clue, but we use a TON of paper towels)
        A coffee mug wrap (is that what you call them?) It’s way cuter than the cardboard looking ones, so it’s a win for sure!



I had so much fun this month and I can’t wait to participate again!


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Sunday Social



Did you sleepwalk as a child?
No!  But…my sister did.  The stories crack me up – although now that I’m a mother, I’m not so sure I’d laugh in the moment.
Did you ever try to run away or sneak out of your house? Run away?
I sure did!  I tried to run away one summer day when we were at home with our babysitter.  I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. I have no clue why I wanted to run away, but I did.  I didn’t pack anything, just took my yellow blanket.  That’s all a gal needs, right?  Anyways, the babysitter ended up calling my dad, who worked right in town, so he was home within minutes of her calling.  By the time he showed up I was already running down the block. Hahaha. I only got a block away.  I don’t remember the talk he gave me, but I do remember cuddling with him on the couch afterwards. Daddy’s have a way to make things better (moms too – don’t want to leave her out!)
Did you have any imaginary friends?
I don’t remember having an imaginary friend.  I don’t think I had that wild of an imagination J
Did you ever go toilet papering?
Toilet Papering? No. Forking? Hell yes!  In high school, my girlfriends and I, had this grand idea to fork another group of guys (one who happens to be my hubby now) yards.  It was 7 or 8 of us all together.  We got our friend’s mom to agree to let us borrow her mini-van, so we could all pile in together.  We bought a bunch of plastic forks, and we all dressed in hoodies.  This was some serious business – we needed the hoods to be sneaky, and the pockets to hold the forks.
We drove to the first house and wrote “seniors” in one yard (we were seniors and the boys were juniors).  We went to the next yard and we didn’t have enough time to write anything clever, so we just randomly stick the forks in the ground. 
The 3rd house we went to never got forked because the guy actually came out and caught us, so naturally, we kidnapped him to help us with the next house.  The next house was Daniel’s – we needed help as his family owned an electrical business, so as soon as someone started down the driveway – a bunch of lights came on.
We parked the van at the end of the driveway and walked the rest of the way.  Lights came on, but we still proceeded.  We forked the yard with success and ran down the driveway. So silly, but that night still gets brought up in conversations.  We still remember our inside jokes from that night – love my girls!




Sunday Social

Friday, April 26, 2013

H54F



High Five 4 Friday


  1.    We will be spending a lot of time with these boys this weekend.  It’s Kelli’s (my sister) fam’s LAST weekend here in Virginia.  Hasn't hit me yet – it will definitely be weird not having them 15 minutes away.  The boys & girls are going to miss each other so much!

2.    Guillaume Lorentz. DO I need to say more?! I just stumbled across this video this week (from a friend on Facebook) and I’m obsessed.  Is it scary that in my head I totally think I could dance like that? Haha.



3.   Josh Kelley & Katherine Heigl & daughter Naleigh – cutest family ever. Another video I stumbled across this week is this one.  And again, I’ve had it on repeat this week at work. So sweet - not only the song, but the video too.




  4.   Hayden is the big 9 months this week! (as of 4/24) I cannot believe it!  Her 9 month post will be up in a few days J She is getting so big!



I know that's only 4 for this week, but that's all I got!
xoxo



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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

First Things First


I'm linking up with Halie again this week!
First Things First


1.   First thing you would do/buy if you won the lottery
Freak the freak out! I’m sure I would check the numbers over and over just to make sure it was actually true because, let’s be serious, I don’t win things.  Then I’d tell Daniel and we would come up with a plan – who we would tell, if we were going to take the lump sum (umm yes), and if I could quit my job immediately (ha!).  We would definitely go the anonymous route if Virginia allowed it – I don’t have a clue if they do.
We would pay off our mortgage, my student loans, and the cars (or get new ones).  We’d put money aside for the girls and their education. Boring responsible adult things…


2.   First person you call when you get amazing news
Daniel. Hands down. He’s my husband and best friend. We’re a team, so my amazing news is his amazing news. 

3.   First thing you do when you've had a bad day
Come home to Daniel and the girls, immediately get in my pjs, and think about how great a glass of wine sounds but never actually make it to pour myself a glass. Too much to do when I get home, so I forget about it.  Then when I remember I reallllyyy wanted that glass of wine, I’m too tired. Mommy Problems.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Outside Shenanigans


This is kind of a weekend recap…sorta.  Last weekend and this past weekend were really nice here in Virginia, so we took advantage and got the girls outside.  It’s a nice change since it has been cold.  Anything to get that energy redirected! Whew!
Last weekend we took them to Wayside Park again (you can see another trip here).  We stopped at Subway before we went to get some lunch so we could have a little picnic.  Daniel and I ended up eating in turns because Hadleigh wanted no parts of sitting still. Imagine that?  Hayden was having fun looking around and picking at the grass around her.





We also got to play just in our own yard.  Hadleigh was very vocal about needing to wash her car, so we got out the sponges and water bucket and let her go at it!  I’m thinking she definitely has her daddy’s cleaning genes. Hayden and I hung out and waited for her to finish and then we went to a nice walk – only to come back and play some more outside.





This past weekend Daniel wasn't feeling well, so I took the girls to another park down the street from us called Three Lakes Park.  It has a small nature center, playground, and…wait for it...3 lakes!  Kristy and her two girls, Lily & Bo, came and met us there.  We all saw the fish, turtles, snakes, and bugs before heading outside to play on the multiple play areas they had.  Lily & Hadleigh love getting to play with each other – I’m sure sometime soon Bo & Hayden will be playing too J We will be going back for sure!




Friday, April 19, 2013

H54F



High Five 4 Friday






1.  I get to see this pretty lady tomorrow at her baby shower! She’s the cutest pregnant (even though I know she doesn’t feel cute)! And today happens to be her birthday! Happy Birthday mama! I love you so!
2. In addition to seeing above, I get to see all these ladies too (plus a few others who are missing in this picture) SUPER EXCITED! We’ve all been friends since elementary school , so I love getting to see them all at once.
3. Daniel and I bought a kid size toilet this week. Yep. We needed a new toilet for the kids bathroom, so we decided to get a kids toilet – make sense!  We’re hoping Hadleigh thinks it’s super cool and will magically start to go pee on the potty. Don’t crush our dreams.
4. I’ve of course my week has consisted of these 2 sweet faces, so no High Five 4 Friday would be complete without them! Love them to death!
5. I'm loving my nails this week, but it's time to move to another color...I'm thinking yellow? We'll see next week!


Have a great Weekend!!

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Lets get Real about Postpartum – Part 4


Lets get Real about Postpartum Part 4
Sleep

Oh sleep. You know that thing that you don’t really know anymore after you have kids? You’re acquaintances but you don’t really know it as well as you used to. 
Now, that’s not to say you don’t get a decent night’s sleep once your kids sleep through the night, cause you do, but it’s still not as good as it once was.

The first couple of months are so foggy because you’re up all hours of the night – whether you’re breastfeeding or not.  I actually think it’s probably worse if you’re not breastfeeding.  The act of actually getting OUT of bed, heating up a bottle, and then finally feeding your child versus plopping you’re baby straight to your boob. Either way, you’re up a lot in the middle of the night.  It’s a roller-coaster to say the least.  SO many things throw them off schedule – I swear, as soon as I said to myself “I think we’re finally on a good schedule” something came through and rocked my world.  Teething, growth spurts, separation anxiety, extra comforting, not feeling well…anything really.

So many people tell you to “sleep when the baby sleeps” in the beginning.  It’s a great idea, and sometimes you do.  But other times you take that opportunity to...SHOWER or EAT…you know those daily necessities? Yeah, those.  Other times, you want to catch up on your e-mails or a phone call with a friend, or a trashy reality show, or laundry and dishes...the list could go ON and ON.  But the advice still sounds better to sleep when your baby sleeps – and really it’s true.  But I think most don’t do it on the regular.

We have done things so different with each girl.  This is our experience and how we have chosen to do things.  I’m in no way saying this is the right way or the best way…it’s just our way.

Hadleigh was in a bassinet and then she was in her crib.  We rocked her to sleep every night, but other than that – she slept in the crib for the most part.  She would occasionally sleep with us, and if she woke up in the early hours of the morning, we would just bring her in bed with us.  No big deal.  Once she graduated to her big girl bed we laid with her to make sure she fell asleep since we, as parents, weren't 100% comfortable just leaving her alone in the big twin bed.  We had rails up on both sides, but it made us feel better to lay with her.  Sometimes I wish we didn't start this routine because it can be a looonnnggg process some nights. 
We usually don’t have Hadleigh nap because it makes for an easier bedtime.  She has so much energy, if she naps, she wants no parts of bedtime until 10ish. That’s even if we start trying to get her to go to sleep at 8 or 8:30.  She will lay in her bed (with us) talking, singing, moving all around…anything to keep herself awake.  Most nights, I end up falling asleep in the bed with her waiting for her to fall asleep.
When Hadleigh is not feeling well, we always have her sleep with us.  It makes us feel better and we know it makes her feel better – cause who doesn't like extra snuggles when they don’t feel well?  We also let her sleep with us if she asks.  We’re not real strict on the co-sleeping thing ;-)

Hayden was in the bassinet, but not for long.  She didn't like lying flat on her back from pretty much the beginning – and she projectile vomited after I fed her there for a while, so I didn't feel comfortable laying her on her back either.  This isn't recommended by the label on this product, but I put the boppy newborn lounger in the middle of Daniel and I in bed, and she slept like that for a few weeks.  At least until she was bigger and wasn't throwing up as much.  Then, we transitioned off the lounger (partly because she was getting too big) and she just slept with us in bed.  There were a few weeks where I started to put her in the crib. She did fine with it, but would wake up in the early hours of the morning, so I would just bring her in bed with us.  Winter came, and she was stuffy a lot, so I kept her in bed with us.  We like co-sleeping and just haven’t tried putting her back in the crib.  This might make for a hard adjustment into the crib when that time comes, but we will cross that path when we get there.

Hayden will be 9 months in a week – she sleeps through the night on most nights, but will still wake up to nurse every so often. Last night she was up at 3:30am to have a nursing session.  No big deal.

Every child is different, has different needs, parents are different; parents have different needs – do whatever works for you!  I know people have their opinions about the way we parent when it comes to sleeping, but as long as you and your significant other are confident in the decisions you’re making – then it’s the right thing for ya’ll – and don’t worry about what others have to say! 


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

First Things First!

I'm linking up with Halie again this week!


First Things First

First movie you went to without your parents
This question is taking it way back! I could totally tell you the answer to this question if I was at my parents house because I kept *ALL* of my movie ticket stubs growing up.  I’m kind of a pack rat when it comes to memory type stuff like that.  I really have no idea.  I could throw out a movie just to answer, but it wouldn't be accurate.  Now I want to go to my mom & dad’s to find all my movie tickets!

First sport you played (either Little League-style or in school)
Gymnastics.  I started pretty young, but only did it for a few years.  I tried softball for 2 years (I’m not even sure why I did it for that long).  I was h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e at softball. Ask my bf Kristy…she will 100% agree with that statement J  Then I started cheering in 6th grade and I found the sport that I was good at!

First major injury
I broke my leg when I was about 4 or 5.  Let me set the scene for you.  I was at daycare and we were all outside playing on the playground.  A few of us were playing on the tire swing (my story might be one of the reasons there are no longer tire swings on community playgrounds...ha!) and it was my turn to push.  Remember how the pusher would run in circles and then jump on at the last second to enjoy the ride as well? Yeah, I did that, but the speed of which I pushed was extreme (helllooo muscles) and my legs ended up sliding off the tire.  I still was holding on to the chains. {Picture a little blonde 5 year old flying in the air, hands on the tire swing chains, legs flying in circles} Fun ended when my leg hit the wooden pole that the tire swing was hung on. Yeah. That happened.  To top things off, when I got my cast, I wasn't strong enough to hold my weight on crutches, so I had a walker. I wish I had a picture on my computer right now of this.  Hilarious!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Side-by-Side Comparison


So, my awesome hubby mentioned that my previous post on our kitchen reveal would have been way better had I put side-by-side comparison pictures together for everyone to see (instead of clicking on the links) Where was he before I published?!  Maybe he has just nominated himself to be my proof reader before each post.  Congrats babe!

Here’s his advice at work!
Whole kitchen view from nook:




The microwave area:


The glass hutch area:



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Kitchen Reveal


The wait is over!  I didn't mean to drag this out as long as it did, so I’ll get right to it.
Again, to see the posts from the beginning follow here:






I’m loving how things turned out.  Looking back at the before pictures with that yellow…whew! Thankfully the red is there now!  We actually chose this tile within minutes of being in the tile store. They had it on part of the floor in their showroom and we were in love!






 TO-DO LIST
  • Paint sunken room & nook gray
  • Paint kitchen walls red
  • New tile in kitchen
  • Paint kitchen cabinets white again (they're currently glossy and horrible)
  • Get new light fixtures for hallways, above the sink, and over the island
  • New Hardware for cabinets
  • Build cabinets beside fridge for a slide-out drawer trashcan & recycle
  • Decorative adds above cabinets
  • Wall-Art
  • Incorporate a chalkboard somewhere
  • TV for sunken room
  • Couch & Chair & side-table for sunken room
  • Bar/buffet for sunken room
  • Rug for sunken room
  • Art work/ decorative for nook & sunken room
  • Corner Cabinet for nook
  • New stools for kitchen
  • Paint current black stools red and put them in nook for the other part of the counter
Stay tuned for light fixtures and a stool update!