The Rippys

9 months

2012-01-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Cheese! What me? Sit still? Yeah right!

Happy 9 months Alli!! These last couple months have been SO much fun! After we got past teeth and into the stage of movement, things have sure become fun! We went to Alli's checkup last week and everything went smooth. Here's some fun stats:
*She's 17 lbs. 13 oz. (32nd percentile)
*28" tall! (64th percentile)
*Crawling is super easy and I think walking is coming soon! She's stood by herself several times for small amounts of time, but then sits back down.
*She waves hi and bye, claps a lot, and gives the best hugs!!
*She does NOT sit still. The girl is more active than any kid I've ever seen. I swear she only sits still when she sleeps.
*Naps are hit and miss. More often better, but not always wonderful. She's taking 2, one morning and one afternoon.
*We've tried lots of new "foods," and have had an allergic reaction to some "cheesy munchy things," so Dr. Champlin told us to wait before introducing anything new until we go to the allergist.
*I'm sad that I have to take her to an allergy doctor, but we know it's best. Her last flare up was red and swelling all over her face and fingers and I didn't know what to do to stop it. I think she's allergic to milk maybe, I hope not though. So for now it's lots of fruits, veggies, cheerios, crackers, meats, and noodles. We stopped yogurt, yogurt melts, puffs and munchies. We go into the allergy doctor in a couple weeks so I'm excited/nervous etc. to see what we find out. Honestly I hope nothing, but at the same time I hope something because her poor skin has been so awful for so long. Dr. Champlin told us that allergies, eczema and asthma are all in the same "family group" and generally if you have one you are more likely to have another. If you think about us, pray for us and the appointment. Drawing blood and doing skin tests on a baby aren't going to be fun. She thankfully doesn't have problems breathing or anything, it's just her skin is constantly screaming red and her fingers are swollen most days so I know it has to be something she eats.
*She has 6 teeth and I think we are working on 7 and 8 because she's been drooling constantly and has been a little fussy the last couple days.
*She LOVES other kids. Especially little boys. She laughs at them and flirts with them constantly. Lord help us!
*She does great in the nursery, loves Mrs. Damitra, loves her grandparents and love, love, loves Jack! She hugs him constantly and holds onto him. Maybe one day he'll like her too!? He tolerates her, but I'm hoping he'll reciprocate the love one day.
*We are constantly told that she is such a pretty, independent baby and I sure think so too. She really has beautiful blue eyes (I know I'm biased!).
*Her hair is coming in and it's curly! These pictures don't show it, but after bath time it curls up big time. SO FUN!

Here's some pictures of our play date with Carter today. We LOVE him and LOVE his momma! 9 month fun pictures will hopefully come this weekend when I have some help to get her dressed, set in cute places, and smiling!

No Bake Energy Bites

2012-01-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

With the New Year here and everyone making resolutions, I decided once again to not make a resolution since I'm terrible at keeping them and just try to do my best with getting back into shape. Now it's not that I'm unhappy with my body, I'm actually 5 lbs less than I was before I was pregnant, but it's just that with nursing I haven't been able to "hit it hard" with workouts and I was missing it terribly bad! Anyways, my goal was to quit nursing at Christmas so I wouldn't have to worry about milk supply when I was working out hard and get back into tip-top shape. Well, I ran to Kroger and was looking at formula, I almost passed out... like literally I thought it was a joke. 26 bucks for something that'll last a week and a half!?!? NO THANKYOU!!! So I decided to suck it up and nurse for 3 more months (well just pump) and save money. Anyhoo, I decided I'd still hit it hard with workouts, but use some frozen milk on the side if my supply went low. She has dropped to 3 feedings though and I'm still pumping 3 and producing fine (TMI, sorry!) so I decided I was ready for my intense workouts again. I picked up Jillian Michaels new video "Ripped in 30" because I LOVE JM and her hardcore workouts... They are SO intense and only 20 minutes.... which is EXACTLY what I need. I need FAST, but tough, and that's what she brings to the table. Anyways, I'm in week 2 and already seeing great results and do feel like I'm going to die sometimes, but it's totally worth it. She has a diet meal plan to go with the workout for "optimal results," but I just picked some of the snacks she had because that's where I fall by the way side is snacks... a long day at work and an early lunch of scarfing food in 20 minutes makes me ready for a snack when I get home. So I've got some quick "go to" snacks for when I get home that's really made me feel fuller and not wanting to keep munching. Anyways, since I'm a CHOC-A-HOLIC, I knew I needed to include something in my day that had some chocolate. I found these on pinterest (which I'm totally not a pinterest person because I don't have time which is good because I'd probably be obsessed, but I was on it one day looking for 1st birthday ideas and came across these) and they are just AWESOME so I had to share. They are called "No-Bake Energy Bites" and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They are super easy, yummy, and a quick filler. So I thought I'd share them with all my faithful followers (all 2 of you right!?:) ).

No-Bake Energy Bites:
1 C. oatmeal
1/2 C. peanut butter
1/3 C. honey
1 C. coconut flakes
1/2 C. ground flaxseed
1/2 C. mini chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanillla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to one week. Enjoy!

Anyways, enjoy these little bites of deliciousness. Even if you're not a big coconut fan, you don't taste it a whole lot and they are semi-healthy with the flaxseed and honey. Anyways, I plan on doing a post later of this cutie
on the stats of our 9 month check-up last week and after I take our 9 month photos since I've been so crazy busy and haven't had a chance... hopefully tomorrow on my DAY OFF! Happy Sunday!

That kind of day

2012-01-07T18:24:00.001-08:00

So it's been THAT kind of day.... you know the ones where you think, I'm really glad today's almost over? Let me recap my day for you.

*Friday night Chris leaves for St. Louis for a gym meet for the weekend

*I stay up too late watching the Hog game and then have a hard time falling asleep... maybe 1a.m.?

*My super schedule oriented child is awake at her usual 7 and ready to go

*I stumble out of bed, feed her, try to play without falling asleep until nap time

*Put her down for a nap... try to get back in bed myself.... 30 minutes later she's awake and crying.... and the day goes down hill from here

*Let her fuss awhile to see if she'll go back to sleep... won't.... so I get her up... feed her early... won't let me set her down... super clingy

*Decide to take a walk. Put her in the stroller and Jack on his leash... sped through the neighborhood quickly because she wasn't such a happy camper

*Got home, tried to put her down so I could get something done (FYI, she's usually a VERY independent player and doesn't like to be held)... wasn't having it... threw a fit constantly... took her with me in the kitchen. We both sat on the floor... I cleaned cabinets, she played with her refrigerator toy.

*Came back in the living room... STILL clingy... played for awhile... nap time number 2 around the bend

*Put her down, asleep in 5 minutes, wakes back up 5 minutes later screaming her head off... go get her, tell her it's nap time and lay her back down... screams harder for about 10 minutes, falls asleep in 15

*Pop in my Jillian DVD to do my 20 min workout thinking I've got time to do that and shower since she didn't nap this morning this should be a longer one right?

*WRONG! Finish DVD, sweating like crazy, making a grocery list before hopping in shower... 30 minutes into nap, guess who's up!? Yep... screaming again

*Decide it's my only chance to shower all day so I jump in and go as fast as I can while I watch her scream on the monitor

*Jump out, get dressed, get her... she's not happy... feed her again to see if it fixes her attitude... NOPE. Get her a graham cracker... happy for 10 minutes.. then bored and wants to get down.

*Play for awhile in her room. Decide to take out the trash and recycles. Get everything out except on the way out drop a glass baby food jar (empty THANKFULLY!), but shatters everywhere.

*Sweep up the mess one handed because of my STILL clingy child. Vacuum after that... surely I got it all right?

*Shove my dinner down one handed. Play some more. Get her her dinner. Only eats her fruit and mum mums.... typical.

*Start bath, put her down in her room to play for a minute... LOUD noise... yep, there's the problem. Apparently we needed to "get it out" and fill our diaper... Clean her up. FINALLY happy and playing with Jack. Bath, lotion, PJ's, 3 books, kisses and prayers, down to bed.

*Walk into kitchen to clean up and steam bottles and pump parts. Step on a piece of glass. Blood everywhere. Pull glass out. Foot still bleeding. Get a band-aid. Finish cleaning up. Lights off in the kitchen. Sit down at my computer to type lesson plans for next week.... but before I do I'm enjoying a bowl of low-fat ice cream with chocolate chips.... Not on my diet, but if you had the day I've had, you'd do it too right?!?

*Reminded today how thankful I am to have an amazing husband who helps constantly with our child and around the house.... thank you Lord for days like today that remind me just how blessed I am.

*Now, off to enjoy my ice cream, write lesson plans, and go to bed... EARLY!!

Top 11 in 2011

2011-12-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

What an amazing year this has been! As I look over my pictures from the last year, it's so fun to reminisce over each event and how much fun this year really was. It will definitely go down in my book as the best year so far. It's brought many new challenges including parenthood, but I've experienced more love than I ever though possible. We've been so blessed more than deserve and I just don't see how this year can be topped! Anyways, here's my top 11 memories from 2011 in the order they occurred:

#1- Girls Trip to Memphis: One of my good teacher friends from school celebrated her birthday in January and we celebrated by taking a girls trip to Memphis for dinner and shopping! We ate at the Melting Pot (A-MAZ-ING!!!) and shopped at the outlet malls. We had a great time together and I am so blessed to have these girls in my life.#2- Baby Showers: As we started this year, I was rounding out the end of my pregnancy. Third trimester was in and I was SO ready to meet my sweet girl. I was SO blessed to have 3 showers that blessed us with gifts for Alli. The first shower was at school which my sweet co-workers threw me. The second shower was with the girls in my community group and friends from church. The last one was hosted by one of my favorite moms who did an amazing job making it "teacher" themed! I had a lot of family and friends from high school at that one. Baby showers are WAY more fun than wedding shower :) Not that both aren't great, but it's just so fun to see all the cute things babies bring!

School Shower

Church Shower

Family/Friends shower

#3-Carter Hefley's birth- My best friend Sarah (who was due only 3 days before me) had her son Carter at the end of March and it has been an absolute JOY to spend the last 9 months with her. We have laughed together, cried together, walked together, spend countless hours talking together, and learned so much about parenthood together. This first picture is seeing Carter at the hospital and anxiously awaiting Alli's arrival. I'm 2 days before "due date"! The second picture is after Alli was born we had our first "play/sleep" date. The last picture was over Christmas break when we had a real "play date" with Carter and had a blast. I am SO blessed and thankful for Sarah and Carter in our lives!

#4- Alli's Birth- Nothing this year topped this amazing event, but it was memorable for so many reasons. I cannot even describe in enough words the feelings and emotions from that day, but it was amazing in every way. Here's a couple of my favorite pics from that day. The first is after we checked in and I was in between contractions and miserable at this point. The second is Dr. Lawrence with Alli right after she was born. The last picture is our first "family" photo. I love my girl more than I ever knew I could love someone.

#5. Alli's baby dedication- Every year at church we do "baby dedication" on Mother's day. I knew that I wanted Alli dedicated and couldn't wait to do this at church. Little did I know I'd have a tough baby who decided to scream through the entire dedication.... oops :) It was memorable to say the least, but knowing that everyone at church was praying for us made it worth it.

#6- Jack's 2nd birthday: Poor Jack gets forgotten a lot these days, but we still love him just as much as the day we brought him home. We were bad parents and completely forgot his birthday until about a week later, but we made up for it by giving him ice cream for the first time. He's the absolute best dog anyone could ever ask for. And I promise Jack, once Alli gets a little bigger, you and I will get back into running daily!#7- Chris' Graduation!!- He made it! Chris' graduation was so great for so many reasons, but the thing that made it the best was the sense of accomplishment he felt being done. I was SO proud of him and all his hard work and the fact that he had finally finished 3 long hard years. I couldn't have been more proud when they said his name and he walked across the stage to get his diploma. This definitely goes high on my list of top things.
#8- Passing the Bar: After Chris graduated, it was right back to studying for the Bar exam. I cannot even tell you how much work and stress and time he put into this thing. He took the test at the end of July and was really preparing himself to think that he didn't pass because he said it was just "that hard." However, the day the results came out, he called me after school and it was an amazing feeling! He was OFFICIAL! Chris Rippy, JD. Now all the hard work has paid off even more because he's a partner at his own firm. God has truly blessed him so much. This picture was from his swearing in ceremony with Judge Wood.
#9- Community Group trip to Flippin- We had a great time with our community group in Flippin this year. Alli was only 12 weeks so it was "memorable" for many reasons, but we had a fantastic time as usual with such a great group of people. We are truly blessed to have such great friends that we can call our best friends!

#10- 6 year Anniversary: Chris and I went out for our 6 year anniversary and had a great time at dinner while Alli was home with a sitter. It's always great to get time away and spend together. 6 years and going strong :)#11- Lots of "firsts" with Alli: We have had a lot of "firsts" with Alli this year and it has been SO much more fun celebrating holidays. Halloween was great as we got to spend time with our neighbors and ride a hay ride around the neighborhood trick of treating. I cannot wait until she's big enough to understand it more. Another fun first was going to the pumpkin patch. I had never been so it was new to the both of us! Christmas was definitely the most "fun first" this year because now that's she's on the move it was so exciting to get up Christmas morning and open gifts and spend time together as a family. We had a great time and I'm so excited for Christmas morning next year already!

So long 2011! It was a fabulous year with so many great memories and I am so thrilled to get to make some more fun new memories in the coming year. Happy New Year!!

Christmas pt. 2

2011-12-28T19:17:00.001-08:00

Here's the second half of pictures from Christmas with the Fleishers. We had a great time with our family and are so blessed to have such amazing people that love us so much!

Christmas pt. 1

2011-12-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! We were all over the place, so I'm thankful that we are finally home to stay and looking forward to the new year, but we loved every minute of our busy time. We spent 4 days last week in Illinois visiting family and spending time with cousins, aunts,

uncles, and grandparents. Alli got to meet all her extended family that she hasn't met yet and it was so fun to see her loving on them all. She sure was a trooper considering it was 9 1/2 hrs in the car up and back, and in and out of the car and all over at different families houses. I will say I don't plan on any other long car rides with her for awhile longer, but it was definitely fun to see everyone. Here's a few pics from the trip....

Alli was not having it for the "grandkid" picture...

After we got home, it was over to the Rippys on Christmas Eve for family Christmas. Then Christmas morning was here at our house! I woke Alli up around 7ish and made homemade cinnamon rolls (next year I'm going to try the Pioneer Women recipe when I don't have an 8 month old at my feet!:) ). We read the Bible story and opened gifts. I cannot wait until Alli is big enough to understand Christmas and opening gifts... it will be so fun. However, I do think the play table I got her was a big hit! After gifts and Alli's morning nap, we headed over to my parents house for Fleisher Christmas. We ate dinner and opened gifts there. (Pics from that to come later).Then we headed home to call it a night. Overall, it was a fabulous Christmas and we enjoyed all the time with family. But most of all, we enjoyed remembering the reason that we celebrate! I think it's so easy to get caught up in the "gifts" and "food" and forget why we celebrate. I found myself getting caught up with running around and getting gifts, but I tried to really focus the last few days on why we celebrate Christmas. We are so blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

4 Generations

2011-12-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

How fun is this?! We got to take "4 Generation" pictures when we went to Illinois this week with my family. It was a fast, but long trip, but I'm so glad we went. It was great to see all our fam and catch up with them. When I have time to do a Christmas post, I'll put up more pics and tell about our time there. However, it's 10:20 on Christmas Eve and I'm tired so I'm going to bed! Hope you enjoy the pics :) Merry Christmas Eve!

Our Family (minus Jack)

With Grandpa & Grandma

8 months.... a week late

2011-12-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken for our Christmas gift for Mrs. Damitra... We LOVE her!!

We're 8 months and SO MUCH FUN!!! A good friend of mine from highschool that I caught up with over Thanksgiving break told me she really loved and remembered starting to really enjoy her little girl when she turned 7 months, and I would definitely have to say I've felt the same way. This past month has definitely been my most favorite! Alli has really been so much fun. She has always been a drama queen and moody at times, but she has been so much happier now that she is on the move. She crawls everywhere so fast and loves playing "chase" with us and Jack. She laughs SO much at Jack and loves being chased or having us chase her. She has 5 teeth and we finally got a teeth break for several weeks and she seemed so much better. We're working on number 6 so we're drooling a lot! Anyways, I just love this stage so much. She LOVES to play and play hard. I swear she has more energy than any kid I've ever known. We really have to play HARD and wear her out otherwise she has such a tough time going down for naps because she's simply not tired. I like it that we have 2 naps still, and I'm scared she's wanting to drop the 2nd one already. Some days if she takes a long morning one then she won't go down for a second one because she's a ball of energy. I cannot even explain my excitement about being off 2 weeks with her!!! We are going to have so much fun!! She still eats lots of fruits, veggies, puffs, mum mums, crackers, etc. I have yet to try some more "real food" with her... I cannot wait though. I wish I had an unlimited budget and I could shop and get her lots of cute clothes... but it's not on the Dave budget and as fast as she grows these days anyways it's almost not worth it. She loves to play with other babies, but is definitely not the best "sharer" and likes to take things from other kids.... oops, I guess she got that from her mom :) Anyways, I have love, love, loved this last month and cannot wait to see what fun new things we'll be doing at 8 months. I'm honestly expecting her to walk in the next 2 because she pulls to stand on everything, and has a couple times pushed up on her own and stood for a couple seconds. I truly think once she figures out standing on her own she'll be on the move! On a side note, tomorrow is Friday and my last day of school before break.... WAHOO!!! Happy Thursday!

The Hunt

2011-12-11T19:37:00.001-08:00

After an INSANELY busy weekend I'm now sitting down to upload some pictures. This post will be mostly pictures because let's face it, I don't have time to type! I'm exhausted and somehow I have to motivate myself to teach tomorrow.... yikes. Anyways, Alli and I spent the day Saturday running around EVERYWHERE trying to get last minute Christmas gifts. Chris has had gym meets the last 3 weekends so it was little bug and I on our own. I can say with full confidence I will not be waiting next year. Yikes. Lines were crazy, people were everywhere, and when we walked into Target there was not one cart in the entire cart area! That's right... if you wanted a cart you had to go outside to the buggies. Wow. Anyways, we shopped till we both dropped and then today I helped host a baby shower and we went and cut down our Christmas tree. Even though I was exhausted, it's always fun to go hunt around and find the perfect tree and saw it down. Unless Alli is allergic, I don't plan on going fake... there is just something about getting a real one that is just so much fun and meaningful. Anyhoo, here's some pics from our excursion. Can you believe how grown up she is!?! 8 months on Saturday!! Maybe I'll get an 8 month post sometime this week... no promises though... we didn't even get the picture this weekend. Ha! Happy last week of school for me! Whoo hoo! And happy early Christmas to me... Chris gave me my present early... an I phone 4s! I finally moved into the grown up phone world... ha!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from the Rippys! We have so much to be thankful for. It would probably take me an hour to type out everything I'm thankful for, but I'll let the pictures do the talking. We are beyond blessed with an amazing family and friends who love and support us. I am thankful for each and every day God gives us. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving full of turkey and stuffing and pie! Now the count down is on to Christmas :)

Alli checking out the Black Friday deals... :)

Nine days

2011-11-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

That's right... I get NINE days off of school to spend with Alli, Chris, Jack and doing WHATEVER I WANT!!! I can hardly contain myself!!! I never realize how much I miss having "time off" until I have it and I can see how much I get done :) Today I spent all morning and evening playing with Alli and we had so much fun. Girlfriend is pulling up and standing on everything and taking some steps forward with help from me to hold her up... so fun. She picked up a cold from her friend that stays at her daycare with her so the last few days she's been pretty miserable and night and nap sleep has been affected... but she seemed to be more herself today and ready to play. I'm hoping we are on the mend. Maybe the Vick's baby rub and humidifier are paying off? Who knows. It's probably all a scam to make you spend your money... haha. But she seems to be feeling better, so I'm hoping she can fight it off soon. This afternoon I spent a couple hours shopping with mom at Dazzle Days. Boy, do I miss shopping. Dave has sure put a dent in my shopping budget. Not that I'm complaining because we are using that money to pay off my car and Chris' law school stuff, but I forgot how much I truly enjoy shopping. I love getting good deals, but I love getting new cute clothes even more. Anyways, I got a super cute dress for myself for half price and I got Alli a super cute onesie from a store that I look at all the time and want to order from called Bella Claire Baby. They have the cutest stuff ever. Here is their website. Anyhoo, I also got myself this cute white hairband thing that is apparently "all the rage" right now... I wouldn't know because I live in my school teacher bubble, but thought it was super cute and maybe I could pull it off?! Probably not, but I will definitely try. It's like a hat/ear warmer for when it get's cold. So fun! Anyways, it's amazing how much different my Saturday nights are these days. Chris is in Van Buren at a meet (oh yes, the dreaded meet season has begun), so I spent the night playing with and putting Alli down, making myself some dinner, laundry, dishes, and for the last hour, bow making. A girl that I teach with just had a little girl and she showed me about a month ago before she went on maternity leave how to make bows. I've been DYING to know and I know I don't have much time to do it, but figured I could save A TON of money if I figured out how because girl's clothes are expensive anyways, but bows are CRAZY expensive! Anyways, here's my feeble attempt at a bow. I made one last weekend and here's the one I made tonight. Maybe after I get the hang of it more they will love better. But hey, I got the ribbon half off and have plenty to use it for other bows, so I figured I saved some money right?? Anyways, on another totally random subject, I got all my Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes finished!!!! SO fun!!! I had a blast at Target a couple weeks ago shopping for a couple hours picking out some really neat toys. I sure hope the kids like them. I got 12 boxes packed and now all I need to do is log on and print my boy and girl slips to put on the top. We're going to get to print labels so we can track our boxes and see where they go. I cannot wait! If you haven't ever done OCC before, you need to check out their website and do some. It's just so fun and I cannot wait to have Alli shop with us and get things to pack our boxes next year. Here's a short video about it... I know it starts with Veggie Tales, but watch the rest. You can go to their website here to read more about it. Anyways, tomorrow is the last day to bring in boxes to Fellowship because they'll be packing up and driving the van down to the relay center in LR I think tomorrow afternoon. I wish I had time to do a few more, but alas, time has run away again. Anyways, I went to LR for a conference yesterday which was ok, but I got to go out with all the girls last night and see Breaking Dawn! I would have to say I was semi-disappointed... I guess I was expecting better. But it was great, just as usual, not near as good as the book... or maybe my imagination?? It was fun to spend time with all the girls though outside of school and just chat... and not about school stuff. We had a great time and I'm so thankful I love who I work with. Anyways, I need to get to bed... Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll hopefully post some fun Thanksgiving festivity pictures next week.

Seven

2011-11-13T19:18:00.001-08:00

Once again I'm typing lesson plans on Sunday night for this week.... oops. I guess one day I'll be prepared. Probably not, but it's wishful thinking. Anyways, my beautiful drama queen is 7 months and I keep thinking a year will get here faster than I would like. Once again I'm pressed for time and still have things to do before bed so it will be a quick post. Little bug is crawling like crazy now... SO crazy and fun! She figured it out about 2 weeks ago and is cruising around now. She's also pulling up to stand on EVERYTHING so I'm scared walking and standing is going to come too soon too. We lowered her bed down on Friday because now that she's standing we were worried she'd get out! She's around 16 lbs and 27" long. She still nurses 4 times a day and has been eating lots of fruits and veggies. We have yet to try meat, but one day when I get time I'm going to try and make some chicken. She tried some cheese dip today (yes, what a great healthy mom I am, I know!) when we were eating lunch at El Acapulco today. Her face was hilarious. She loves graham crackers, Mum Mums, saltines, and any other crunchy cracker I'll let her have. We have all 4 teeth in (2 top, 2 bottom) so I'm hoping we are done with teeth for awhile. We had to visit Dr. Champlin last week for our rash... yes AGAIN! I think she may have had an allergy to something she ate because she had red dots all over her face and her eyes were swollen up. Poor baby looked SO miserable! I hate all this rash drama. Dr. Champlin is sending us to a dermatologist to try and figure out all the eczema stuff and see if she is allergic to anything. I'm hoping that can give us some answers. Anyways, she naps twice a day for about 2ish hours and if we miss a nap the girl won't be "making it up." She still doesn't really babble so I keep wondering when we'll get to hear her first "words." I'm pushing mama as much as I can though :) She is blowing bubbles like crazy and just being a crazy mess. I love the girl to pieces and absolutely cannot wait to get ALL week next week with her!!!! Hope you have a fabulous week... I have a 4 day week because I'll be at a conference on Friday and a movie Friday night... WHOO HOO! :)

Cows say moo!

2011-10-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

The cutest cow on the block! We were only in our costume about an hour and a half, but it was worth it :) I bought the costume at Rhea Lana for cheap, so I didn't feel too bad that it was hardly worn. But she was definitely so stinkin' cute in her costume! We took several pics, then rode on a hay ride around the neighborhood with the Upton's while the big kids trick-or-treated. We made it until about 7 and then we were ready for bed. It'll be crazy to think that in just a few more Halloween's she'll be running up to doors and getting candy to bring home. So fun!

Chewing on Will's gun... this was the most entertaining thing the whole ride! :)

Pictures with the grand's

Cutest pumpkin at the patch

2011-10-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

There are so many fun things that we get to do now that we "have kids." One thing I've always wanted to do was go to the pumpkin patch. But, I never went because well we never had kids and I knew people wouldn't think Jack would pass even though he is technically one of our "kids"... Anyways, I took a personal day on Friday since I haven't had a day off in 3 months and it was SO worth it and one of the best days I've had in awhile. I got to play with Alli all morning, then I packed her up after lunch and mom and I drove out to Mayflower to the Pumpkin Patch. We had SO much fun looking at all the animals and riding a hay ride to pick our pumpkin. She did really good until the end when it was "nap time" and then she was ready to be done. However, she fell asleep in the car and we drove home to make chicken rice soup for dinner and put up our new pumpkins outside the house. Nothing beats days home with her. We played all weekend and I wish so bad the weekend had gone slower. But, none-the-less, time continues to trudge forward. Only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving though... which gives me a "light at the end of the tunnel." I love my kids, but boy do we all need a break from each other. Anyways, we had a great time at the pumpkin patch and I know it's going to be so much more fun next year when she can run around and play on everything. Check back tomorrow (hopefully, if I'm on my game! :)) for pictures of our cutie in her Halloween get-up. I know I'm biased, but I do think she is the cutest. Even though her poor eczema is back and her skin around her mouth looks AWFUL... I promise I'm doing everything I can. However, a messy eater and a teether is NOT helping the situation at all. Her poor skin looks awful. But I'm so thankful that her body has finally healed from everything.... now if we can just get this top tooth in and become a better eater maybe our face will heal up!? Wishful thinking I guess :) Happy Sunday!

6 months

2011-10-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

How cute is this 6 month old?! I mean really :) Anyways, this post is 2 weeks late (oops), but life is crazy so the fact I'm getting it up at all should award me some brownie points! Anyways, Alli's appointment a few weeks ago showed she was 15.1 lbs (32%) and 27 in. (74%)! She's still growing like crazy and changing all the time. We are working on our third tooth now (this one's on top!) and are moving everywhere! She is almost crawling still... she made a few arches forward today and I know we are just on the edge. She's eating "food" at every meal and still nurses/takes a bottle 4 times a day. She takes 2 naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon for about 1 1/2-2 hours... sometimes 2 1/2 if she's really tired. She sleeps 7:30-7 usually and puts herself to sleep just fine. Yes, Babywise and cry it out did pay off! The girl can put herself to sleep anywhere! Yay! Anyways, she's growing and changing daily and I cannot believe we are already over half a year old! I'm taking the day off Friday since I haven't had a day off since August and I'm taking her to the pumpkin patch.... more fun pics to come from that. Happy Monday!

Someone worth dying for

2011-10-19T18:33:00.001-07:00

How is life going so fast?! I feel like I'm always posting how crazy, busy my life is.... but it's so true. I feel like I'm a hamster on a wheel spinning non-stop. The Lord has really been showing me how I need to slow down and start enjoying my life because I'll blink and it will be over. Last night we were watching a DVD from our Dave Ramsey FPU series that we're doing with community group. Dave talked about always wanting "happiness" and he said that if we're always chasing happiness, we'll miss being happy our whole life. He said we always say "If I had _____, I would be happy." He talked about how we're constantly thinking if we're "one stage ahead" or we have something certain then we will be happy. His example was that when we're in elementary school we can't wait to be in middle school because then we get to "change classes and be cool." Then when we're in middle school we can't wait to be in high school because then we can "drive and be cool." Then we once we're in high school we want to be in college because "you get to decide if you want to go to class or not and you're really an adult." Then once your in college, you're ready to be out and "have a job to make money and get married." Then the cycle just continues (when my kids are this many years old, or when we make this much money....) and he said we pass by happiness because we always think that the next "stage" will make us happy. It really hit home for me because I think I've been doing that so much in the last several months (well really my whole life)... but more recently lately. I keep thinking if Christmas would hurry up and get here then I could get more time with Alli. Or I cannot wait until next May and then we can reevaluate finances and see what I'm going to do next year. Why is it that I'm always wishing things away?? I want to start living more intentional. I want to look back and say that I had an amazing life and that even though our time on earth is short, I spent it serving the Lord and doing whatever it is that he called me to do. I want so badly to be able to volunteer at our church more and be involved in other ministries around the town. I want so badly to have more time with my family and friends. I want to be more intentional about being thankful for each day and living it to it's fullest. I know it's not an easy quest... not even close... but I think if I changed my focus and maybe made changes in my life in other ways I could be closer to it. One of the ways that I'm starting to change my focus is by doing Dave Ramsey's FPU. For the first time in 6 years (well really my whole life... but especially since we've been married) I've felt financial peace... and it's the best feeling in the whole world. My heart has been in doing more shoe boxes this year for Operation Christmas Child and getting awesome toys to put in it instead of "things from the dollar store because we were tight budgeted." FPU has helped us save a lot for it and I CANNOT wait to go to Target and take our envelope and spend everything in it getting awesome toys and gifts for our boxes!! Anyways, I know this is such a heavy, sentimental post, but I want so badly to live out what I'm feeling inside. I know God has a special plan for my life and I want so badly to know it and live it out. I'm tired of being exhausted, stressed, and simply frustrated most days. I'm giving up people pleasing because it's exhausting and all it does is stress me out. I want to do what's best for my family and what I feel God calling me to do no matter what others think/say. I want to serve others in an area that I feel called to do instead of living monotonous days working and not having time. I've been listening to the songs "Someone worth dying for" by Mike's Chair and "Trust in Jesus" by Third Day. If you haven't heard them, you can find them here and here on youtube. They speak so much to my heart and what I desire. I know life is not easy... it's not meant to be. Even though I haven't had big obstacles like loss of family members or major financial problems or the million of things we struggle with every day.... we have been so blessed.... but I want to start ENJOYING that blessing instead of constantly worrying and stressing. As the song "Trust in Jesus" says....

"One of these days we all will stand in judgment for
Every single word that we have spoken
One of these days we all will stand before the Lord
Give a reason for everything we've done
And what I've done is

Trust in Jesus
My great Deliverer
My strong Defender
The Son of God
I trust in Jesus
Blessed Redeemer
My Lord forever
The Holy One, the Holy One

What are you going to do when your time has come
And your life is done and there's nothing you can stand on
What will you have to say at the judgment throne
I already know the only thing that I can say I

There's nothing I can do on my own to find forgiveness
It's by His grace alone I trust in Jesus
Trust in Jesus"

Read Matthew 11:28-29 :)

Um... yes please

2011-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

This might quite possibly be the thing that makes my year (other than my beautiful daughter! haha).... Oh I soooo cannot wait!! I just saw a preview for it earlier tonight which made me Google the trailer. I've watched one trailer, but I hadn't seen this one yet. If you are a Twilight fan, you're going to love this. I've already watched it 3 times! I absolutely cannot wait to go with the girls to see it.... C'mon November 18th!!

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2052299801/

Look who's 6 months!

2011-10-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Look who's 6 months! I'll do a post tomorrow or Tuesday after we go see Dr. Champlin tomorrow for our 6 month appointment. However, I wanted to post the pictures I took of Alli yesterday. We did a mini photo shoot with her tutu and I wanted to take some more pics today in another outfit, but I had SO many cute ones from yesterday that I could hardly pick my favorites from those. Anyways, here's some pictures of my sweet girl. Enjoy!

Up, down, up, down

2011-10-03T19:04:00.001-07:00

Once again I feel like a crazy woman and I don't have time to sit down and post... but I wanted to get some recent pictures up since well... she's growing so fast and I'm going to blink and miss it. Anyways, I have a nice sentimental post planned out for sometime when I have time to sit down and write.... but for now it's just pictures. Alli is moving and scooting like crazy.... she can get herself on her hands and knees and rock back and forth... we are so close to crawling.... scary!! I'm not ready, but it will be fun when she does. She also does mini push-ups which I think are hilarious. These pictures don't do the actions justice! This girl makes me smile in every way and it makes each day getting up to go to work harder than the last. A couple of my new favorite songs that have meant so much to me lately have been "Beautiful Things" by Gungor and "Children of God" by Third Day.Up, Down, Up, Down...

How did I get here mom?!

With Grandma & Grandpa

I'm SO big!

Busy!

2011-09-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy busy and I've got about 20 minutes to blog before I need to shower, print lesson plans, pump and get ready for bed! Oh how life has changed. I'll try to update you real quick with things that have been going on in our lives. School is in full swing and I'm basically hanging on for dear life. Common Core is the worst thing known to man and any of you that know anything about teaching know how frustrating it is having people tell you what to do. Basically, our entire curriculum has changed this year and everything is BRAND NEW! Which means many more hours at school, more time spent researching on the weekends and less time with my sweet girl. So frustrating! It's definitely making me want to quit. We're all just spinning our wheels every day and are good to know what we're teaching the next day. The last 3 years we've been on top of things and we'd have lesson plans written for several weeks in advance. This year it's basically running by the seat of our pants. I've spent a lot of time at home trying to get work done while she's napping and my nights are just as crazy as my days. I'm so ready for a break already. Sad, but true. Anyways, I'll get off my soap box. Chris has been super busy at work which has been great for us! I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed him with this job. The main guy that was at their office left and his firm decided to do their own thing so he's now technically "partner" which is awesome. Their firm is called "Nash, Raley, Rogers and Rippy" and they're in Maumelle. This past weekend their firm hosted the "2nd Annual Cheese Dip Festival" in Little Rock. They did it last year for the first time and had such a great turnout that they did it again. Dad, Mom, Alli & I loaded up and went down to see him and try a bunch of cheese dip. We had a good time, but didn't stay long because it was right in the middle of someone's nap time. :) Anyways, I can't believe this is the last week of September. Where has the time gone?! Alli's 6 month checkup is the 10th and I'm super excited to see how much she's grown. We're full blown on rice cereal and she's finally loving it which is great! I tried sweet potatoes the other weekend and that wasn't much of a hit, so once I get my food processor I want to try carrots. I've heard most kids like those. We'll see :) I'm going to try and make my own food and freeze it if possible. So much of this would be easier if I was staying home, but I'm going to do the best I can even though I'm working. If any of you mom's have tips for making baby food I'd much appreciate it! I have NO IDEA what I'm doing! I know, I should just get a book and read, but who has time for that?! Anyways, I'll leave you with some recent pictures. I've been trying the sippy cup lately with some water to see if she'll take it and she's been pretty interesting in it. Some days she'll hold and suck for awhile and other days she seems to care less. I bet it will get more exciting when it has milk in it. I thought she looked SO big when I saw her holding the cup so I had to snap a picture. I guess my baby girl is now almost half a year old!...On Saturday, Alli and I met up with Sarah and Carter at a restaurant to grab a quick dinner together. We never get time together anymore since we're so busy at work, so since the hubbies were both gone we decided to meet up for a quick bite. Alli and Carter were much more interested in each other even though this picture makes it look like they don't like each other at all. We took like 8 pics and this was the best we got... haha Anyways, hope you all had a great weekend. We're gearing up for another week.... Lord give me strength!

5 months

2011-09-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Alli's 5 months! (a week late...) I can't believe it. Honestly, the first couple months seemed to crrrrrreep by, and I feel like the last 2 months have flown by. Part of it is probably due to me working. There are days I want things to speed up so I can be at home with her for a long time (like Thanksgiving break), but then I don't want her to grow up so fast yet! She's really grown so much and changed so much, it's hard sometimes to remember what she was like when she was a newborn. I'm not sure of weight or height because we don't go back to see Dr. Champlin until 6 months, but I'm guessing we're somewhere in the 14lb range and she's probably grown another inch or two. She's really shot up a lot this last month and is pretty much completely out of 0-3 month clothes. She can wear some 3 month stuff, but I've pretty much moved her to 6-9 months because it's just not near as snug. We've got 2 teeth and I think we're working on another one because she's been pretty fussy, drooly and have been putting everything in her mouth the last couple days. She's finally liking her rice cereal so we're doing it 1-2 times a day, just depending on how much time we have. I cannot wait to start veggies and fruits... I think she's going to like them. We're down to 4 feedings a day (yay!!) at around 7 oz at each one. Her skin is 150% better than it was a couple months ago and we are so thankful. Not sure if it was just growing out of it or me cutting out wheat as much as I can or what.... I'm leaning toward it just being her growing out of it, but it's hard to know. She still breaks out occasionally and we put steroid cream on most nights in little places, but it looks so much better and she is so much happier. Bath time is so fun... she kicks and splashes like crazy! And she's finally sitting up on her own for a little bit which has been so fun. She made it about 5 minutes the other night before toppling over. She's so ready to crawl... I think she's going to be early on that. I'm sorta hoping not, but she constantly kicks her legs, flails her arms, and tries so hard to move. We've put her on her knees a couple times trying to show her how, so I think it'll come quicker than we want! She's sleeping through the night longer which has been great. We generally go to bed around 8 p.m. and she usually sleep until 7:00a.m. when I wake her up to feed her before school. Anyways, last month has been so fun with lots of changes and I cannot wait to see what new adventures we have this month! Happy Razorback game day.... Go hogs!!

Changes

2011-09-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of changes around the Rippy household. Chris passed the bar and got sworn in at the courthouse by Judge Wood on Tuesday. Alli turned 5 months old today! And, I decided to delete facebook. It's a long story, but personal conviction told me I spent too much time on it just looking at other people's stuff just to "check in" and "know what's going on." I realized the only way I'd not spend so much time on it was to delete it. I made Chris and I a joint account that only has our far away family as friends so they can see pictures of Alli. I'm sure it offended some people, but I knew not being on it was where I needed to be at this point of my life. I need to enjoy every day and do things that are productive instead of spending mindless hours reading status updates and just being nosy. Anyways, here's a few pics for your enjoyment of Chris' swearing in. I look horrendous because it was a terribly long day at school and I ran straight to get Alli and went straight up to the courthouse, but Chris looks great, which is all that matters. I was SO proud of him. I'll post Alli's 5 month update hopefully tomorrow if I get a chance. Our days are super busy these days, but I'm trying to slow down and enjoy the moments because we're never promised tomorrow. (Read Francis Chan's Crazy Love... it'll change your life)

Poll

2011-09-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

So my dad and I were talking the other day and we somehow we got onto the subject of chocolate. I guess I was craving it and he just rolled his eyes. Mom and I agreed that we have to have some form of chocolate every day. He seemed to think that was "ridiculous." I politely told him that I think it's "ridiculous" that he golfs EVERY SINGLE FRIDAY.... GO TO WORK DAD! Ha! I guess when you work for yourself and you're almost 60 you can do whatever you want right? Anyways, so this lead me into a discussion about food addictions. See, I've always thought I was a pretty healthy eater. Yes, I need my "snack" now and then, but for the most part I choose veggies over fast food any day. About 7 years ago I gave up soda. Seems crazy to some, but I was never really "addicted" to it... I just drank it every few days or so and decided to give it up for lent one year. No, I'm not Catholic, but I participated anyways. Anyhoo, it was surprisingly easy since I didn't drink it all that often. To this day, I almost never ever drink soda. I just don't have a craving for it. I cannot describe the quenching thirst of a big glass of water when I'm thirsty instead of soda. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had one to drink. I'm also not a tea fan at all, so I really was "feeling good" about myself in the healthy food department. However, as I started assessing my food options (especially since I'm still trying to cut out wheat as much as possible), I realized that I am "addicted" to chocolate. Yes, I'm admitting my flaw right here. I HAVE to have it every day. Yes, some form of chocolate every day. And if there's a day that there's nothing in my house with chocolate in it, I resort to eating chocolate morsels that I have saved for chocolate chip cookies/pancakes. Now after dad and I were talking and he thought mom and I were crazy, it lead me to wonder, is it just me or do all women need chocolate? I know often through the school day and at lunch us girls are always thinking how we wish we had chocolate. So I started thinking, maybe it's a woman thing? I decided to take my own official poll. I'm asking all my female readers to please contribute because I'm curious and want to prove to my dad that it's not just mom and me. So, this long post to just ask the question, "Do you have to have some form of chocolate every day?" Anything will work... chocolate chip cookies, hershey kiss, m & m's (my personal FAVORITE!), chocolate milk, chocolate flavored vitamin.... the list could go on. Please leave a comment and let me know! Now, I'm off to go eat some m & m's and finish enjoying my Labor Day with my hubby and sweet girl in this BEAUTIFUL weather!!

He....

2011-09-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

PASSED!!!! That's right ya'll, I'm officially married to a licensed attorney!! We just got the results today and Chris passed the Bar!! I cannot even begin to tell you our excitement. Now he's "official" and can do things without having to have a licensed attorney sign off on them. And, it's a 3 day weekend so I get 3 amazing days with my beautiful daughter! And the weather is getting cooler, so that means back into running with Jack! I'm so thankful and blessed. Happy Friday! Now for some attorney jokes... :)

Words of Wisdom

2011-08-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

With that catchy title, you thought I'd be posting something deep and thought-provoking, but sorry, I'm not! I'm just passing along what tiny bit of knowledge I think I've acquired in the last 4 1/2 months about babies. I know a lot of people have done the "what every mom needs" list which I think is SO fabulous and helpful for new moms. However, I'm lazy and don't have the time to write it all out, so I'm going to give you my top 5. Basically, the things that I use ALL THE TIME that I think are lifesavers and couldn't imagine not having.

1. The Breastfriend Pillow- This thing is AMAZING!!! If you plan on breastfeeding for awhile, this puts the boppy to SHAME. This thing is just awesome. I use it every day still even though my child is too big for it now... It's just SO convenient. The fact that it snaps onto you makes it so easy so you don't have to hold anything... we're talking hands-free people. Now I have an idea of how to make this nifty invention even better with a few add-ons, so as soon as I design it and patent my idea, I'll let you know my changes. These awesome pillows run a high price tag of 40+ dollars, so if you're smart like me you hit up Rhea Lana and get an almost brand new one for $10! Then I just washed the cover when I got home and bam, we were in business. A definite MUST have in my opinion for every new mom that plans on breastfeeding.
2. Avent Bottle Steamer- Now I'm a big fan of the Avent bottles (sorry Dr. Browns), so you might look into a steamer that matches your brand of bottle if you're not using Avent; However, if you choose the Avent you won't be disappointed. Anyways, this bottle steamer is the best invention since sliced bread! If you're like me and you are thankful breastfeeding is now going smoothly and you want to/have to do bottles, then this thing is for you! Don't even bother registering for a "bottle brush." Waste of money completely!! You just rinse your bottles out, my Avent ones fit perfectly in this steamer, pop them in the microwave for 2 minutes, and WHAM, clean bottles in seconds! Then I hang them on the drying wrack. No rinsing/washing/dishwashering/etc.... Not to mention it kills 99.9% of bacteria. You just can't beat it. I use this ALL THE TIME as well. So, get one! I'm partial to the Avent because I have one, but I bought "the first years" brand one at Target for my babysitter and she said that one works great too. I promise you won't be disappointed.
3. Bottle Warmer- I love the Munchkin bottle warmer. They have it at Target. Super easy to use (especially for hubbies when they need things "simple and easy" hehe). Chris loves this thing. It's quick when he's in a hurry to warm up some frozen/refrigerated milk if I'm gone. Basically, definitely worth it to buy a warmer if you're going to use bottles.

4. Halo Sleep Sack- Now you probably thought everything on my list was going to be about feeding, but these things are the greatest invention ever. Especially when you're little bug gets to the size that mine is where she rolls ALL THE TIME. Swaddling blankets just don't do and these things are great because they stay on! The fleece one is probably okay if it's winter time for your child, but if your baby is coming in the summer, I would do the cotton ones. I think the fleece one REALLY exacerbated my sweetie's eczema and made her sweat a lot. Anyways, these are a definite must for any mom and new baby.

5. Diapers and Wipes Holder- So let's be honest. Your diaper bag will become your new purse. So go ahead and put away your Gucci and Coach purses because you won't be using them... otherwise you won't have a shoulder left because the weight will break your arm off. At least for the beginning, you'll want a good diaper bag that can hold everything you need. I LOVE mine, but everyone has different taste, so pick what you like. My is a Ju-Ju-Be and is fabulous for many reasons including the "mom" compartment and the memory foam changing pad (here's where you can find mine). However, when you're out (the few times you leave the house to venture out! haha) and you need to run to the bathroom real quick to change a diaper, you don't want to be lugging that massive bag with you everywhere. My babysitter gave me this thing as a gift and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. You just pull it out (it holds diapers and wipes) and walk to the bathroom with it and your sweetie. Easy, convenient, and much less hassle. This picture is similar to mine. I'm not sure where my babysitter bought them, but I did see some on Etsy.

6. Ok I had to add one more: Chicco Keyfit carseat & Snap'n Go stroller- I LOVE my car seat. Super cute (the reason to buy a car seat right?!haha) , easy to use, not too heavy (until your baby gets heavy :) ) and not too hot (she's never sweaty when I get her out, even if she's been in it for awhile). But I love my car seat paired with the snap'n go stroller. Now if you're looking for the "big travel system" of car seat/stroller combo, then I'm not your person to go to. If you can't tell by my list, I'm all about fast, convenient and durable. I had no intentions of getting a massive stroller because I wanted something quick and easy for me to use. The snap'n go is fabulous because it's super light weight and my car seat pops right out and sits in it. Then, as Alli is growing, we are almost done with that stroller and moving up to an "umbrella" and "jogging" stroller. I don't feel bad like I wasted $200/$300 for a massive stroller that will sit in my attic until the next kid. The snap'n go is just a frame and cost around $60/$70 at Babies r' us. We have used this stroller A TON, so I definitely recommend it.7. Medela Breast Pump- Ok, I know I said top 5, but I had to add this one too. It's an essential if you're going to breastfeed. This thing is a life saver. Now it didn't start out that way. I was SO intimidated by the thing. That's right... intimidated. It sat in the box on my counter for almost a month or so after Alli was born before I even opened it. Yes, I was scared. Even after reading the manual front to back, something about hooking a machine to a sensitive area and sucking milk out just made me terrified. However, once I used it the first time I wondered why the heck I waited so long!? I now have to use it every day because of working, but this thing is fabulous when you want to actually "try" to have a life after baby and go out to eat with friends or to a movie with the hubs. I love mine so I'm recommending the Medela Pump-in-style. However, I've heard great things about some of the other ones too. Anyways, this is a must if you plan to breastfeed :)

Anyways, hope that helps you new moms some! I know it's hard to decide what to buy and you have to get what works for you! But, these are some of my ABSOLUTE favorite things that I use literally every day, all the time. There's also tons of toys and other stuff we use a lot too, but these are essentials I think. Hope you all had a great week. I'm SO glad it's Saturday! I'm heading out to Rhea Lana to hopefully stock up on some fun toys and clothes! Have a great weekend!

Tooth

2011-08-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got a picture of Alli's tooth! It's been so hard because she hates it when I try to pull her lip down; However, when Chris was home yesterday I was able to master the task! I think it's coming in slowly because she seems to be fussier some days and fine the next. It's crazy to think this girl is getting teeth! When did she grow up so quickly on me?? I went and bought her a Johnny Jump-up yesterday when I was out running errands... She just LOVES her exersaucer so I knew she'd love the Johnny Jump-up. Even though most people don't recommend them because of the recalls, I felt like it's safely secured on our doorway and she just loves it. Plus I'm not one of those crazy people that leaves my child unattended in something. So if something were to happen, I'm right there to catch her. Anyways, we've had a super fun weekend and I hate to say that I'll be living for the weekends, but boy I am. My baby is so much fun that I haven't even thought about school stuff this weekend....it's been so nice! We went to dinner Friday night with my fam which was super fun, and then had dessert with Luke & Jessica at their house that night. Well, until my child that hadn't slept all afternoon and evening had a meltdown around 9 p.m. because it was bedtime and then we scooted home as quickly as we could! Luke and Jessica had the cutest cupcakes made for us though! I snapped a quick picture of Alli's because I thought it was so cute!! Anyways, hope you all have had a great weekend. I've got a baby shower today for sweet baby Corey Conner! I cannot wait to shower Erin with some fun stuff. Happy Sunday!

4 months

2011-08-13T11:59:00.001-07:00

Alli's finally down for a nap so I've got a minute to upload her 4 month pictures. Let's just say I thought as she got bigger it would be easier to get a good picture of her because she's more alert, but I think it's actually the opposite. Being more alert means everything else is cooler and more interesting than mom. She was more into pulling on her "4 month sign" and trying to slide down in the chair than actually looking at me for her pictures. Needless to say, she's a mess. But boy is she fun. Every time I read Sarah's blog about Blakely, I keep thinking that her and Alli would be best friends because they both are drama queens and high maintenance! These girls keep us on our toes. Our 4 month check-up with Dr. Champlin went well. Her eczema is starting to look better and I'm starting to think maybe it's the wheat I've been cutting out of my diet. So sad though. I mean there's wheat in EVERYTHING! I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but after we took her in a couple weeks ago because my poor baby was just covered in rashes (head to toe!), Dr. Champlin said since I'm still breastfeeding and plan to continue, maybe I should look at my diet. So he gave me a list of things that are usually things kids are allergic too and said if I wanted to try to I could cut one out of my diet for a week or so and see if I notice a difference. Well, the 2 things on the list that I eat ALL THE TIME are wheat and dairy. I decided to start with wheat since I eat that the most. I wasn't able to completely cut it out because it's in everything and I'd be eating just fruit, veggies, and meat all day (maybe sounds ok to some of you, but I like my pasta and bread!), but I've managed to completely alter my diet. Anyways, at her 4 month checkup he said I can keep trying to keep the wheat out and see if she continues to stay pretty much rash free, or I can slowly put it back in and see the results. He also recommended some new Cetaphyl lotion made especially for eczema people. I'm on my way to Walmart today to pick it up. Anyways, we are making progress and she's much happier. We can finally take baths again without screaming the whole time and changing her clothes isn't near as miserable as it use to be. She's getting her first tooth which is so cute, but all the drool and fussiness is not. She weights 12 lbs. 8.5oz and was in the 26th percentile. Her height was 25" so she's still tall and in the 74th percentile. Her head was right in the middle on the 42nd percentile. So all that to say, we've still got a loooong and lean little girl. Dr. Champlin gave us the okay to start rice cereal which we did last night. Definitely interesting. I think we're going to try it again and see how it goes. I'm really worried it may have made her more gassy... she was awake several times last night; However, since she's rolling ALL OVER THE PLACE, this kid keeps rolling to her stomach and fussing because of it non stop during naps and night sleep.... so I'm not sure what is waking her up random times at night (teething, rolling, etc.), but it definitely has made me miss my sleeping through the night baby. She's never up for more than a few minutes and can self-soothe, but I'm just getting exhausted especially with school starting. I sure hope we can get back on track soon. Anyways, Alli starts "daycare" on Monday. I'm nervous and sad, but I know Damitra will do great with her. She lives down the road about 7 houses and will have one other little girl named Marley. It's great Alli will be "in home" and that Damitra lives so close... we honestly couldn't have asked for a better situation. I'm hoping that Alli and Marley become good friends this year. Anyways, some other fun things she's been doing lately are eating her feet (yes, her feet reach to her mouth), dancing in her exersaucer, finally getting a little more hair, and having so much more personality. She laughs, smiles at both of us, definitely says "mama" when she's sad (however I know she hasn't connected it to me yet... but it's wishful thinking it will be her first word when she does!), and we are hopefully getting passed short naps.... we're finally on to about 1 1/2 to 2 hr naps. Yay! I'm not sure how much she eats since we're still nursing, but in her bottles I put 5 oz, so I'm thinking about 5-6 oz, 5 or 6 times a day. Anyhoo, our 4 month old is a blast and getting more fun each month. I cannot wait to see what fun new things she's going to learn this month!

Bath time

2011-08-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Who wouldn't love bath time with this little cutie?! Our 4 month appointment went well today... I'll get stats and a picture up as soon as we get time for a picture. This week has been crazy busy and we have Open House tomorrow night! How has school come so fast?! Happy almost Thursday :)

A mix

2011-08-07T19:49:00.001-07:00

Since it's almost 10 o'clock and I start school bright and early tomorrow morning, this post will really only be for the pictures. Lets just say that is maternity leave and summer flew by SO much faster than I ever imagined. I'll honestly say I was wishing away the first couple months since they were so difficult. If my next child is a repeat, I may be shipping him/her off to someone else for the newborn stage! haha Just kidding. But really, I am LOVING this new stage. 3 1/2 to 4 months has been SO much fun!! Laughing, rolling, playing, smiling all the time, TEETH (yes more to come on that), and an all around fun girl! Going back to school tomorrow just makes me want to cry thinking about it, so I'm trying not to. I love who I work with, so that's the only thing that's going to make tomorrow survivable. Anyways, I took some pictures from some fun events over the last week of "freedom" and thought I'd get them up before this week rolls in and I have no time for anything. Sarah and I have become such good friends going through pregnancy and new baby stuff together and it's going to be so nice to have her to lean on since we both are going through the same hard stage of leaving our babies to go back to work. We took the hubbies and kiddos and got ice cream one night when it was a million degrees outside to spend some time together. Alli and Carter actually started flirting a little. I cannot WAIT until they are big enough to know each other and be best friends.

Chris and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary!! It always seems like when summer is rolling to a close and I get disappointed, I do get excited because I get to remember another amazing year I have been blessed with my husband. He treats me like a queen and I don't deserve him. This year I honestly hadn't even really thought about our anniversary because a certain little girl takes up most of my time and mind :) However, we decided to at leave Alli at home with her grandma and go out to eat at Mike's place. We had a wonderful, yummy dinner and enjoyed our time together. Chris got me a great present.... probably one of my favorites so far! An HOUR massage at a local place in Conway. MUCH needed!!! He knows how stressed I've been with going back to school and spending COUNTLESS hours in my classroom the last couple weeks trying to get it ready for kids. Let's just say if I got paid for as much time as I've spent up there, I'd probably be making A LOT. I cannot wait to use my massage. Now I just have to decide when I want to. I'm thinking probably after I stop nursing because let's face it... when you're nursing, laying on your stomach just does not feel good on the ladies. :) Anyhoo, I better get running to the shower and then into bed before the morning rolls around. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my sweetie before heading to church this morning!!.... Oh, and her teeth... yes that's right... we are getting one small tooth in the front on the bottom! It's SO cute! But the fussiness is not :) She goes for her 4 month appointment on Wednesday... I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seat for her stats... haha So check back Wednesday (maybe Thursday, you never know with this crazy busy week!) and I'll keep you updated.

Federal Budget 101

2011-08-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've always been into politics ever since I was a kid... and now that I'm married to an attorney who loves it even more than me, I'm interested in it even more. Anyways, we all know our federal government is in a crisis basically with our spending being out of control. Whether your republican or democrat, we can all admit this. I had no idea how much we were in debt because let's be honest, everything they do is in the "billions and trillions" and who even understands that?! Especially those of us that don't even get close to making that kind of money? Anyways, here's an article that Chris sent me the other day that I think breaks things down so anyone can understand it better. It's just so sad that what is being done now is going to affect us and our kids as they grow....

"The US Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 budget into perspective:
*U.S. Income- $2,170,000,000,000
*Federal Budget- $3,820,000,000,000
*New Debt- $1,650,000,000,000
*National Debt- $14,271,000,000,000
*Recent Budget Cut- $38,500,000,000 (about 1% of the budget)

It helps to think of these numbers in terms we can relate to. Let's remove 8 zeros from the numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.
*Total annual income for the Jones' family- $21,700
*Amount of money the Jones family spent- $38,200
*Amount of new debt added to the credit card- $16,500
*Outstanding balance on the credit card- $142,710
*Amount cut from the budget- $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from their annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?

It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on it's credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).

You think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress. It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money. Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going to rehab (aka- no credit cards and overspending).

We must open our eyes and see that this budget is killing our economy. We must change course for the sake of our children and our economy in the coming years."

High Roller

2011-08-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with money, I just thought it was a catchy title. Little bug finally rolled over yesterday!! We were SO excited! She went front to back and we think she didn't even really mean to, but it just happened. She did it 2 other times and we were able to get it on camera. She has rolled 3 times this morning, so I think maybe she's figured it out now. So fun! This girl gets more fun every day!! How am I ever going to go back to school??!? She has also been laughing a lot and it is SO cute! I finally caught a few laughs on camera yesterday... I swear it's like when we would get the camera out she would just stop completely... the little ham. We go in next Wednesday for her 4 month appointment! I can't believe how much my little girl is growing up :)

4 days

2011-07-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

That's right, 4 more days until our lives drastically change. Chris takes the Bar exam on Tuesday and Wednesday (all day, 8-5), and when Wednesday night at 5 p.m. rolls around, he is DONE. COMPLETELY done. No more 3 years of law school. No more studying EVERY night. No more finals and grade stress. No more driving to Little Rock 5 days a week. No more stress.

I cannot even begin to describe in any words how excited I am. I've watched my husband stress, study, be frustrated and sad, and everything in between for the last 3 years and I finally get my "normal" hubby back. I cannot wait!! Unless you've been through graduate school, you really just can't understand all the work. In all honesty, it has been so difficult watching all our friends live comfortably financially, get most of whatever they want, and seem satisfied in life. Chris and I have been married for 6 years (in 2 weeks) and we have always been on one income. We re-budget CONSTANTLY because we always want to be living how God planned us to live with what he has blessed us with. We refuse to be in debt (well except our house) and we work hard for every penny we earn. I know now that he is out it doesn't mean we'll live "comfortably" because lets face it... law school wasn't free! But, because money is such a stress for me, it will be nice to know we're not a "one income" family anymore. Now that Alli is born, it is SO hard to have any desire to go back to work, but the one thing that's holding me accountable to going is knowing that we will be on a double salary that will help pay off school loans and get things in order so I hopefully can stay home one day.

I am just so excited to not be a "single parent" anymore. I joke with Chris all the time that I feel like one. I feel bad because I don't mean to make him feel bad, but when he has school until 5 every day and then comes home and studies all night, we hardly see him. See, most people have jobs where they work until 5 and leave the office and come home to spend the night with their family. Neither Chris nor I have ever had this. Teaching definitely DOES NOT allow this... I am constantly bringing school things home and working on the weekends. Chris was constantly coming home studying at nights and on the weekends.... so family time just doesn't happen that often. Now that Chris is almost done, he'll finally be able to come home and spend time with us!! And my goal is to not bring school stuff home. No drama with students or parents. No unfinished school work. No stress from a high-stress teaching job. NOTHING. I want to walk out the door from school at 4 and get my sweet baby girl and play with her and my hubby all night. I know this doesn't seem feasible because well life just isn't that easy, but I can promise you I'll be working hard to do it. I want to live each day intentionally, instead of just floating by in my days.

So this post is a "pre-celebration" to my hubby for all his hard work and accomplishments over the last 3 years. It's a "pre-celebration" to 6 great years with my hubby. And it's a "pre-celebration" to more family time.... a family of 3.... well 4... Jack will always be a family member and Alli's big brother as we call him. I am SO thankful for all God has blessed us with and I can PROMISE you we're doing something fun next week to celebrate him being done with the Bar! So, here's to 4 more days!!.......

We survived!

2011-07-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived! I think the 3 month growth spurt is over. Hands down the worst growth spurt yet. 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. wakings are sure not fun. However, we are back to our more normal 8 and 9 hour nights so I'm one happy momma. Anyways, Alli's eczema has seemed worse again these last few weeks and I just feel so helpless because she screams through any bath or attempt to put anything on them. Well, I pretty much lost it yesterday and bought half of Target trying to find something to put on it to make it better. After 2 bags of Aveeno oatmeal bath, Aveeno eczema cream, steroid cream from Dr. Champlin, pants to keep the cream on behind her legs, and a new sleep sack that's not fleece so it doesn't rub, I think we may be moving in the right direction. Her rashes seemed better this morning so hopefully we're making some progress. Poor baby. Neither Chris nor I ever had eczema or skin problems, so this is a whole new ball game for us. Anyways, here's hoping that all these crazy creams and changes help! On another totally random note, I'm heading back to school in 3 weeks... AHHHH! Scary and awful at the same time! The kids go back in 4. I just can't believe it. I just keep trying to wish it away longer, but no matter how much I do, it's still coming, and too quickly. Anyways, I've made several projects for myself to get done since once school starts we'll be in full swing so nothing will get done around the house until probably Christmas break or next May when school is out... haha! Call me crazy, but life is busy enough with a 3 month old! Add on a job with 23 crazy kids and parents and you've got a handful :) I absolutely love teaching... it's just going to be harder than ever to leave my sweet girl with someone else all day. I'm just going to have to pray for some extra strength this year. Anyways, I'm off topic. My list of things to do has become really long so I'm trying to narrow it down to like one thing a day. My first "job" was to clean and organize my closet. It was actually lots of fun. I know, call me Monica Geller. Anyways, I got rid of a ton of clothes I don't wear, put my maternity clothes in a box to hopefully not use for a long time, and dusted and cleaned out shelves. It all looks fabulous if I must say so myself! I finished cleaning and organizing the linen closet yesterday, and today's job is the closet in the office. I have to work quickly during Alli's 45 minute naps, but I've definitely made progress. Anyways, it sounds like bugger is up so I better get going. Happy Monday!

Just. Shoot. Me

2011-07-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Chris and I's conversation at 3:00 this morning after being up since 1 (well I had been because I was feeding Alli).... Me-"Oh my gosh, if this growth spurt doesn't pass soon I'm going to shoot myself" Chris- "You wouldn't be able to because you don't even know how to load a gun."

Thanks honey. Glad you didn't say anything like "No, you don't want to shoot yourself" or "I don't want you to die"... haha Oh man... how lack of sleep gets to you.

Dear 3 month growth spurt,
I hate you. Whoever said things get better at 3 months did not go through your spurt. My usually happy and fun baby has turned into a crying, whining mess. She hasn't STTN in 3 days and has been wanting to feed a lot and often. She won't nap at all... maybe 25 minutes at each nap cycle. Things that usually make her happy... baths, book time, play time, etc... are now miserable because she cries through them. I swear if I don't get some sleep tonight, I'm hunting you down growth spurt. Please leave me and my sweet baby girl alone so we can have fun and sleep again. Ok bye.

Too much fun!

2011-07-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

We have finally arrived at the 3 month mark! (Well, tomorrow!) I had SO much fun taking pictures of Alli and still wish I was better at editing so I could make the pictures shine and glow; However, the subject is so cute that she doesn't need editing right? Anyways, I had way too much fun Alli's 3 month pictures and she lasted much longer at being happy with all the clothing changes than she did for her newborn pics. Poor sweet girls' skin has broken out again with rash... I think she has really sensitive skin and the weather sure doesn't help any. Lots of lotion and A & D ointment has seemed to help some. She had seemed to clear up a few weeks ago and then I noticed when we came back from Flippin, her rash had come back. Poor baby! Anyways, we are hanging out indoors a lot these days because of the ridiculous heat and usually venture out only when needed, or for our daily walks with Carter & his mommy Sarah. Alli has definitely made some fun changes over the last month. She is reaching and grabbing for toys, eating her hands and drooling constantly, and "talking" a lot. She makes tons of noises, it's hilarious. We haven't rolled over yet, but I think we're close! Naps are still tough, but some days are better than others, so we're hanging in there. She's finally not fighting to go down anymore and usually takes 15ish minutes to fall asleep on a good day. However, most naps are still short so I'm hoping as she starts taking less naps they will lengthen. She still feeds 6 times a day and I'm wanting to drop it to 5, but not until she seems like she's ready. Our 8 and 9 hours nights are nice and I'd hate to drop a feeding too early and she start waking up in the middle of the night to eat. I'm trying to increase my supply for pumping more and drinking more milk to see if that'll help since my supply always goes down as the day goes along... which results in a hungrier more often baby in the late afternoons and evenings. Anyways, enjoy our photo shoot...!

Flippin

2011-06-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

If I haven't said it a million times, we LOVE our community group. There are 5 families and we all go together so well. I honestly cannot imagine my life without them in it. Chris and I absolutely love spending time with them and learning from each one of them. My favorite part of our usual summer getaway to Flippin is when we stay up until 1 or so in the morning talking around the campfire when all the kids are in bed. We laugh SO much and tell great stories... it's just so much fun. This year was a little harder for Chris and I because there was a lot Alli couldn't do. We weren't able to go fishing or do some other adventures that everyone did, but we know next year when we go she'll be walking and ready to do it all! She was a trooper for the most part considering there were 17 people in one house all talking loud and kids playing loud, so even with the over-stimulation, she did pretty well until Saturday evening. Her lack of naps hit her hard and we were in for some serious fussiness. Anyways, we had a great time with our group and we cannot wait to go back next year! Enjoy the pics :)All the kids at the visitor center minus Alli (who was sleeping)

Our whole group minus us (who was at the house with our sleeping baby)

This is what little bugger did all weekend... hang out! :)Alli got lots of love from the "big kids"

Father's Day

2011-06-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to this great daddy....

And Happy 1st Father's Day to this great daddy....

I am SO blessed!

Worry

2011-06-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

I've always struggled in my life with worry. And somehow no matter how much I try "not to," it just seems so hard. I worried all through pregnancy that something was going to happen to Alli or that she would be born with problems. I worried every time I noticed I hadn't felt her kick in awhile. I worried that she'd be born early and have lots of problems. Worry, Worry, Worry. And did it ever get me anywhere? No! It only stressed me out and showed me that I needed to truly trust God and not just "say" that I did. Anyways, I remember thinking during the end of my pregnancy that I was just "so ready for her to be out so I could see her face and know everything was ok." Well, little did I know, that even when she's "out," the worrying hasn't stopped or changed. Now I worry that I'm not doing something right or that she won't grow like she needs to. My number one worry with her has been that she wasn't at a healthy weight and that I would have to start supplementing with formula. I had such a tough time with breastfeeding at the beginning (latching problems, sleepy feeder, pain, etc.) that I pretty much had to tell myself each new day that "all I have to do is make it through the day." Since it was so difficult and I never knew how much milk she was getting, I constantly worried that she wasn't gaining enough weight. She looks so little to me and even at 9 1/2 weeks now can STILL wear newborn onesies... and I just this week switched her from NEWBORN diapers! Crazy! Well, God has a way of showing me that worrying doesn't get me anywhere but stress me out because we went in for her 2 month appointment on Wednesday and everything checked out perfect! She is in the 48th percentile in weight and the 84th in height! I couldn't believe it! I was so excited to know that she's right in the middle and that there was no need for supplementing; She's just long and lean! After 3 shots (with 8 different meds in them) and the worst scream I've ever heard from my sweetie, I scooped her up and took her to the car happy, knowing that she was healthy and that I needed to stop worrying. It just reminded me once again that I just need to trust God instead of constantly worrying! The verse that continually comes to mind that I have been constantly repeating and praying over and over the last couple months is Philippians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition present your requests to God, and the peace of God with transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord!

30th birthday

2011-06-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

My big brother Mike turned 30 this past weekend! Chris, Alli and I drove down on Friday to eat dinner with Mike and Lindsay, and Mom, Dad and Jim. It was so much fun to just hang out and celebrate Mike. He's such a great big brother that I have always looked up to. I truly cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for him and Lindsay next. I also cannot wait to see him as a daddy. He's been so great with Alli and I know he's going to be a great father to his kids one day (hopefully soon! :) ).

Bella, Mike & Lindsay's dog

Mike & Jim watching a crazy video

Mike opening his cards... when you get old I guess you don't get presents anymore :)

Super yummy cookie cake that Lindsay got him

And of course I can't end my post without a picture of my sweet girl. I LOVE it how much she smiles these days and I finally caught one on camera... thanks to my super cool big camera that takes pictures fast.

Hope you are having a great start to your week! I've got PD all day Tuesday and Thursday at school (yuck!), but after that I'm done until July. Alli has her 2 month doctors appointment on Wednesday, so if you think about it pray for us... she'll be getting lots of shots which won't be fun. Have a great week!

2 Months

2011-06-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

I read an article the other day written by a veteran mom that said life for new moms can often be like the movie "Groundhog Day." I laughed so hard. There are definitely days where I have felt that way... but it is a good monotony. I enjoy being with my sweet girl and even though Chris and I have decided she is "hard baby," we enjoy every minute with her. We finally made the 2 month milestone and we are loving every new week with her. She gets just a little bit more grown up and does more interesting things each week... between discovering her hands and feet, to tracking things as they move, to recognizing our faces, to A LOT of smiling, it's been a fun and difficult month! She is still sleeping like a champ through the night which has truly been such a blessing. Most nights she sleeps 7 hours consistently and I'm hoping we can make it 8 or 9 this next month. She also is SO happy and smiley in the mornings... that is my favorite time of day. Poor girl has developed either a rash or terrible baby acne all over her sweet face... I can't wait to go in and ask Dr. Champlin about it in hopes that maybe we can get something to clear it up... it is just so sad. I sadly had to do a lot of touching up in these pictures... poor sweet girl. She is still a TERRIBLE napper and I hope that maybe one day she'll get better. Her morning naps are usually better, but "cry it out" for the afternoons and evenings is about to kill me. I've tried other methods too, but even when I hold her and soothe her to sleep and try to put her down she wakes right back up and starts crying. I think she may possibly be going through "witching hour" at night which has definitely made evenings hard. However, she is finally nursing so much better and is SUCH a blast during wake time... it's those times that give me hope that this bad napping will hopefully pass one day. Anyways, we go in for her 2 month shots and checkup next week... I have PD at the end of the week so I couldn't get her in until next week. I'm SO excited to see her stats as far as weight and height. She is definitely getting heavier so I know she's growing! She's still in newborn diapers (the 1's are still pretty big!) and some newborn outfits... however most is now 0-3 months. She is SO long so even some 6 month outfits fit in length, but are WAY too big in width. Guess she's going to be long and lean... wish her momma was that way! HA! Anyways, she is such a joy in our lives and I cannot wait to see what new things she does this month. Happy Sunday!

Bridesmaids

2011-05-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

I remember when the previews for this movie came out. I remember thinking that I wasn't sure what this movie was going to be about, but it did look pretty funny. Well, I got the chance to go see it Sunday with my sis-in-law Lindsay, and we both loved it. There are definitely some raunchy parts (like the beginning made us question if we should be watching it) and some unneeded language; However, I think we laughed SO hard through the majority of the movie and at times were crying because we were laughing so hard. We've already decided we want to go see it again. So, I would definitely recommend it, just keep in mind that it does have its raunchy parts... so take your best girl friends and go laugh like crazy... especially at the bridal store scene!

Birth Announcement

2011-05-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's Alli's birth announcement! I had to scan it in so it's a little blurry, but you get the gist. I LOVE how it turned out! On another note, it's crazy to think that May is almost over and June is just around the corner.... which means SUMMER! Whoo hoo!

Graduation

2011-05-23T10:45:00.001-07:00

He did it!! Chris graduated from the Bowen School of Law at UALR on Saturday. I can't believe he is finally finished. These last 3 years have seemed to fly by! What is even crazier is that we've been living in Conway now for 3 years (we moved back when we found out he got into UALR)... it seems so long ago that we were in "college" and living in Fayetteville. It's amazing how quickly life goes by and how much we have grown up in the last few years. I told Chris I finally feel like adults now that he is done with school and will be starting a "real job" in August (after he hopefully passes the bar in July!) and after having Alli. We finally can't say we are just "out of college" because we're closer to 30 than 22! Graduate school is definitely not easy and Chris has spent countless hours in class and studying. It will be so nice in August to finally have him come home from work without having to study all night. On another note, I'm so thankful that he has a job and that it's in Maumelle. It's so nice that it's only about 20 minutes from Conway instead of him having a job in Little Rock and having to drive there every day. Maybe one day he'll open his own business here in Conway, but for now, this is a great start. His boss absolutely LOVES him too so that's great because she's been so flexible with Alli and has already told Chris that Alli is going to call her grandmother too. What a big year this has been for us! It's been full of ups and downs, but the Lord has been so faithful to us and we are honored with all he has blessed us with.
On another note, I went and saw Dr. L for my 6 week check-up. Everything looks good and I'm cleared and ready to run! Whoo hoo! I took Alli with me so she could see her and all the nurses kept commenting about how fun it was to get to see her since they usually get to see all the pre-baby stuff, but not the post-baby stuff. Mom came with me so she could take her over to dad's office and show her around while I was in at my appointment. She did really good considering she had missed a nap and I could tell was tired. She only fussed for about 5 minutes before falling asleep and then I had to wake her up 30 minutes into her nap to go to my appointment. I hate doing that. I'm trying to get her sort-of on a schedule, but I know how hard it is when we're bouncing around all over the place. Alli turned 6 weeks old yesterday and it's crazy how different life has been in 6 weeks! She is such a joy in our lives and even when it's tough (like yesterday when we were going through a growth spurt! YUCK!), she is worth every bit of it. The one thing that is still taking the most work is going down for naps every day without fussing/crying. I'm hoping that that will get better with time and consistency. Nursing has been much better (considering how difficult it was the first few weeks and how ready I was to throw in the towel!) and I hope it continues. Well, I better go get some cleaning done since she's down for a nap before we've got to feed again. I'll leave you with my absolute favorite picture of her. My friend Kate had recommended these "Halo sleep sacks" to put your baby in while they are sleeping when they are little. She told me how great they were because you can swaddle your baby up so easily. I absolutely LOVE it and I think Alli loves it too! We have been using it when we put her down for naps and at night, and she just looks SO cute all snuggled up in it! Happy Monday!!

7 1/2

2011-05-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, Alli slept 7 1/2 hours last night. It was A-mazing!! She has actually been a fabulous sleeper, we've been really impressed. Even from week 2 she was sleeping 5 hours straight. The last few days have been between 6-7 1/2 hours. What a blessing!! It's crazy because it's nothing that we've done... she gets all the credit for it!
On another note, I've been thinking that Alli was a fussy child or possibly colicky because she seemed to cry so much during the day these last several weeks. Last night I reached my breaking point and decided I had to figure out "what is wrong" and do something to fix it. She finally has breast feeding down much better and would always be in a good mood after (seemed content and happy) and then at about an hour and 15 minutes after the start of a feeding (like CLOCKWORK) she would get fussy and cry. I always assumed she was tired so I was constantly rocking her to sleep or putting her in the swing. This led to MORE crying until she finally tuckered out and then she'd sleep like 15 minutes then wake back up. I knew she wasn't getting "good" sleep because she really didn't sleep much in the day... just cat naps often. I kept thinking that it has to be something with her not sleeping that was making her fussy, so I sat down and re-read Babywise again... this time really trying to take everything in. Then a light bulb finally hit. She's NOT a fussy baby or colicky... she's JUST TIRED! I was spending so much time wanting to play with her that I was missing all her "tired" signals and putting her to bed too late. I'd wait until she was fussy and crying hard before putting her down which made everything worse. So, Babywise recommended putting your baby down 15 minutes earlier than when your baby gets fussy trying to teach them it's time to get ready to sleep. So, all day today I've put her in her crib awake and watched her on the monitor while she looks around for 15 minutes. Then she starts to cry (like clockwork) and we're trying the "cry-it-out." She has cried anywhere from 5-15 minutes, then falls asleep. The thing that I realized was that she needed much more sleep that I was giving her. The thing I struggle with now is missing out on playing with her a lot because she spends 30 minutes feeding and we only get about 30-40 minutes to play. It's hard knowing that I have to put her down so much, but she has seemed so much happier today. Any advice that you fellow mom's have would be MUCH appreciated! I know we're not out of the water yet and I know we'll take 3 steps back after taking 2 steps forward. Everything is trial and error, but I really hope that maybe we can get on some sort of a schedule... for everyone's sake. It makes things so much better. Her unpredictable schedule for the last 5 weeks had made it hard to go anywhere or do anything. I'm hoping that once we get her on a better napping schedule maybe both she will feel better and be happier! On a side note, since we've been at "Babywise bootcamp" today, Chris was home so I was able to go for a run... first run since the week before my delivery. It felt SOOO good! I was on cloud 9. The first mile was great, but the second was much harder... which reminded me of how out of shape I am and how much effort it's going to take to get back in shape. Even though most of the baby weight is gone (all but that last 5!), I've lost most of my muscle so it's going to take some work getting toned back up. The hardest part is trying to find time between feeding sessions and play time. I'm hoping that now once we get her on a more predictable sleeping pattern maybe it will get better. We'll see!
On another totally random note, my Mother's Day gift from Chris came in today... He got me an I-pod touch! I LOVE it!! Since I refuse to get an I-phone because I don't want to pay the extra 30 dollars a month for a data plan, he got me a touch so that I can have all the same features without the monthly bill. He was so sweet because he knew that since I'm constantly doing feedings, it gives me something to do while I'm doing that... especially at night :) He has been the most amazing dad to Alli and has been the best help. He takes his LAST FINAL EVER tomorrow!! We cannot wait!! We are going to celebrate by going out to eat in Little Rock while mom and dad babysit Alli. It's going to be so much fun! He then graduates on Saturday... I can't believe we've finally made it!

Happy 1 Month

2011-05-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Our sweet girl is finally a month old! I know I'm a few days late with this post, but I've been knocked out with a sinus infection the last couple days and have been possibly working on mastitis, so it hasn't been my finest hour. Anyways, we go back to the doctor on Friday for a weight check and I'm excited to see how much she has grown. It is crazy how much she has changed in a month! I was looking back at her hospital pictures and I think she looks so much different now than she did then. Here's a few updates from this month: Alli is still wearing her NB clothes, but is definitely starting to wear many 0-3 month outfits. She is very long so a lot of her newborn clothes aren't long enough, but the 0-3 are too wide. She's still in newborn diapers and will probably be for a few more weeks because she's still pretty small. She sleeps at least one long stretch at night that's usually 4-5 hours. She still hasn't learned to put herself to sleep during the day yet and I hate watching her "cry it out," but she fights sleep so bad. However, she has finally learned to go to sleep at night without crying (after MANY nights of crying it out before bed). She will fall asleep in my arms after rocking her, but the minute I move her to her bed she'll wake up and start crying. Even though I hate hearing her cry, it's usually no longer than 10 minutes. I'm hoping this next month will be better with sleeping and crying. Alli has AMAZING head control for a newborn and even after a week could hold her head up very well for long periods of time and turn it back and forth. She is learning how to push herself up when I lay her on my chest. She LOVES being on her stomach (crazy right?!) and loves to listen to music. She also LOVES to be rocked and held. Overall, it's been an amazing month full of ups and downs and I cannot wait to see what our second month will bring! So, Happy 1 month Alli! Grandma loving on her sweet granddaughter

A birthday and Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Happy 1 month birthday Alli! Right now you are exactly 4 weeks old! Here's a picture of her after I woke her up (or tried to wake her up!) for a feeding. Life is pretty good for her.
Poor Jack. We successfully completely forgot his birthday this year. Yes, I have always celebrated my pet's birthdays, and no I don't think it's crazy. However, with our hands full with a new baby, life has not revolved around anyone but her. Jack's "birthday" (we aren't 100% sure of the day since we was a road dump) was May 1st, so we celebrated late by getting him some vanilla ice cream from DQ. He ate it up and had no idea that it was a makeup birthday present! I love my puppy.Every year on Mother's Day our church does their baby dedication. Chris and I debated for quite awhile about whether to do it or not. We knew we wanted to at some point, but was it logical to do it with a 4 week old? Knowing her feeding schedule is still unpredictable and we have a spoiled baby that cries when she's not held or rocked to sleep, we just weren't sure. However, the last couple of days had been better with feeding and we decided to do it. Let's just say we probably should have waited. She screamed through the entire thing. She was SO tired and was almost asleep in her carrier and when we had to get her out it woke her up and she was not a happy camper. I had the privilege of holding the screamer through the whole dedication and prayer. Thankfully the little girl next to us started getting fussy too so we weren't the only ones looking ridiculous. I now completely understand and feel bad for parents who have to calm a crying baby out in public. I promise I won't ever judge again because I have been there done that now! Anyways, here's some pictures of us from the dedication. It will be a fun memory to share with her when she's older. On another note, it was exciting to be a "mom" this year on Mother's Day. I told Chris I don't really feel like a mom yet even though I am because I haven't been able to hear her say mom. All I do is respond to a crying child by rocking her to sleep (bad habit that I know needs to be broken, but it's so hard when screaming it out takes 15 minutes and rocking takes 5!), feeding her or changing her diaper. This first month has definitely not been a cake walk. I didn't expect it to be easy, but the first 2 weeks were the hardest. This last week has finally been better... we started to get into a rhythm with nursing and naps... and as I say that today has been totally off. It's like 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. However, I'm looking forward to this week and this next month. I can't believe my baby girl is 1 month today! Anyways, I've also been sick with a cold so it's been a tough Mother's day, but my sweet hubby bought me roses, cards from Jack & Alli, and got me breakfast. Even though it's been a tough first month, I'm looking forward to all the fun that being a mom will bring in the next few months and years.
And last, but definitely not least, I cannot forget my own mom. There are no words to describe how amazing she is. She is dedicated, caring, compassionate, tenderhearted and has more of a servant heart than I can describe. I never knew how difficult being a mom would be, and she has been my life support. She held my crying baby the first few weeks so I could sleep. She cleaned my house, did my laundry, went to the store, and never asked for anything in return. She has listened to me bawl my eyes out from being tired or frustrated, and offered to do anything and everything I need. There is no way I would have made it without her. Especially with a husband who only took 3 days off with me after Alli was born and then I was on my own. He was back to school and work. Then when he got home at night he was studying for class and finals, so it's been basically Alli and I learning to work together. My mom has been so great at being there for me these last 4 weeks and I cannot begin to tell her how much I love her and appreciate all that she has done. So, thank you mom for everything. I love you tons and cannot wait for Alli to know you the way I know you. And I hope that one day she and I will have the relationship that you and I have now. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Wrapped Around

2011-05-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone is wrapped around someones finger, don't you think?? I won't say which is which, but I'm sure you can figure it out. Chris absolutely loves Alli and is the best husband and father. He let me sleep in this morning and got up to take care of her... then brought me breakfast in bed! I can't tell if he feels bad because I'm up every night feeding her or if he knew how cranky I was yesterday and is trying to avoid getting his head cut off??? :)

And they're married!!

2011-05-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends got married this weekend and I was honored to get to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! Danis and Drew have been dating for 8 years and finally got to tie the knot yesterday! I had so much fun spending time with them all weekend and getting to see just how excited these two were to finally get to be Mr. & Mrs. Drew Cogbill. She looked absolutely GORGEOUS and I was so honored to get to stand next to her. It was just such a fun day and these pictures don't even do Danis justice... she was absolutely stunning. Chris and Alli came up with me on Friday for the rehearsal dinner and Alli did absolutely great. Considering she wasn't even 3 weeks old yet, I was really proud of her and how well she slept through things and how well she did in hotel and away from her mom for a good share of the day Saturday. The wedding took place at Pratt Place Barn on Saturday and even though the weather had looked like it was going to be bad, the rain held off and the wedding went off with a hitch! The reception was beautiful and we had so much fun getting to sit with Liz and Aaron and catch up with them. We also got to sit with Neil (one of the groomsmen) and his wife and had a blast getting to know them. It was such a great weekend and I had such a fabulous time seeing two great friends get married.Pratt Place Barn

Beautiful Bride

Love Liz!

Rehearsal dinner table

my sweet little girl

Cutting the cake!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T12:48:00.001-07:00

Hope you've had a fabulous Easter! This is our attempt at a cute picture. I woke up early to get Alli ready for Easter and to take some pictures before church.... and as life with newborns goes, that sure didn't happen. Her super cute Easter dress I had ready of course got peed on this morning so we were doing a fast clothing change before church. I was so bummed she didn't get to wear her new dress, but I did put her in the dress I wore home from the hospital when I was born, so that was fun! Anyways, Happy Easter! Maybe next year Alli will get an Easter basket :)

Newborn pics

2011-04-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

I'm trying my hand at taking pictures of Alli and realizing that it's not the picture taking that's so hard, it's the "getting your subject to sit still and not cry" that's hard! I tried to take some newborn pictures of Alli today since it seemed like a better day. I think she's been going through a growth spurt the last couple days and has been VERY fussy... it's been so hard. Today has seemed better, but I'm not crossing my fingers. Anyways, I tried to take some pictures of her... but we ended up screaming about clothing changes so I gave up. However, here's what I got from the small shoot I did. Now I just need some cool software to make her skin a little brighter and smoother :) Hope you enjoy the pics!
We tried for a clothing change and here's what happened.... haha SO, we gave up!

Article

2011-04-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

I came across this article today... it's so sad how true it is. Thought you might want to read it. Let's pray that this next generation will grow up with better morals and values than the last.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/19/granderson.children.dress/index.html

Biased

2011-04-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

The first photo of our family of 3!

My gorgeous baby girl with some battle wounds :)

One proud Grandpa

Our sweet little family

I know everyone is biased about their own children, but I honestly believe I have the most beautiful baby girl. Every time I look at her I think she is more beautiful. No amount of pictures will do her justice. She has the most beautiful complexion, dark blue eyes, and light brown hair. She is just perfect. I have taken a million pictures so far and I don't think any really capture her beauty. It's amazing that you can love someone so much. Anyways, I thought I would share her birth story since she's sleeping and I had some down time. On a side note, this girl is sleeping like a champ. I know that she'll sleep terrible tonight now that I said that, but the last 2 nights she has gone 4 and 5 hours between feedings at night! She's still getting her 8-10 feedings in a day, but she's learning to sleep during the night. Even though her feedings at night are long and we are up for awhile, it's worth it to get the extra hour of sleep. Anyways, back to the birth story. Last Sunday I was 8 days past due date and MISERABLE. I had pretty much given up hope that this girl would never come. I just knew I'd have to be induced. As you have read, I had a strong desire to not be because I wanted God to bring her naturally on her own when she was ready. Fashionably late, she decided to come last Sunday. I woke up around 6:30a.m with cramping. When I sat up I realized my water had broken (that or I was peeing all over myself... gross I know!). I decided to wait a little bit to count what I thought were contractions. I had had Braxton hicks, but I knew these pains felt different. Around 8 I woke Chris up because I knew they were real and this was the real deal. We started timing them and they were fast. They were about 3 minutes apart and 80 seconds long. I knew I had to be progressing pretty quickly. In 2 hours I called my parents around 10 knowing that they'd be going to church. We told them we were counting contractions and going to be heading to the hospital probably soon. The pain started to get even worse around 10:45 a.m. so we loaded up and headed to the hospital. When we checked in they took me to triage to check and see how far along I was. I was 90% effaced and 4 cm dilated. I was really excited because my goal was to get to the hospital as far along as I could so that it would go quickly there. Well, after they rolled me back to my room (I got the biggest and best room in the Womens center because I was the ONLY person in labor that day! :)) I fought through contractions for about 2 hours. The nurses came in to check and I was STILL at a 4. Two more hours passed and after Dr. L got there to check me (She was on call that weekend!) I was STILL at a 4. After spending 7 hours at a 4 I gave up and got an epidural. I hated it that I couldn't make it naturally, but nothing can describe the pain and because I was so worked up, my body was actually working against me and I couldn't progress. All the anesethiologists were out except Dr. Angel who was in surgery helping my dad (he was on call). He sent her over and she got my epidural in quickly. It was even more painful that any contraction I had felt. However, after it was in, it was amazing how much better life was. I was able to relax and enjoy the process. My family and Chris' family came back and talked with me for awhile. In 2 hours I went from a 4 to a 10 and was ready to start pushing! My amazing nurses were making me laugh the whole time and the whole process went so smoothly. Dr. L came in and I pushed for 20 minutes before Alli came out! The craziest part is that Chris got to deliver her! Dr. L asked him if he wanted to scrub in and do it (I was shocked that he did!) and he jumped at the chance. He got suited up and with one final push he got to pull her out while Dr. L sucked out the meconium that she had. She did it quickly so that way Alli didn't swallow any in her lungs. Our beautiful 8 lb. 7 oz. baby girl was born at 6:15 p.m. It was SO surreal watching them clean her up and knowing that she was MY child. Chris and I got to hold her and spend some time as a family of 3 before he went out with the sign and showed all the grandparents, aunts and uncles her name! After much excitement they all got to come back and pass her around and hold her. I was exhausted, but so in love with my sweet girl. We had the most amazing nurses that first night and Dr. L got to deliver Alli so it made the whole night extra special. The next two days were sort of a blur of visitors, no sleep, lots of pain, and learning how to live life with a baby. This week has definitely been a learning process. We've finally figured out how she likes to feed and we're starting to figure out her different cries. She is really a pretty content and happy baby and hardly has crying spells. The few she has had have been SO hard because I wish so badly I could "fix" whatever is wrong when she's crying, but I've learned that she is just fussy sometimes. She is just the most amazing thing in my life and I already cannot imagine my life without her. I know that's such a long story, but I knew one day I would want to look back and remember her birth day. Since it was so fresh on my mind, I knew I needed to write it down. I hope you enjoy all the pictures of her. I have a MILLION, but these are a few of my favorites. We took her on her first walk today (even though Dr. L said to wait 4 weeks to go walking, I just had to get out in the beautiful weather to do a slow short walk) and we gave her her first bath. She hated every minute of her bath, but we got her to stop crying after we got her back in her clean, warm clothes and rocked her for awhile. She definitely LOVES to be held and is already spoiled by both the grandparents. If you haven't had a chance, I cannot wait until you get to meet this gorgeous and precious girl. She will steal your heart for sure!First walk in the ERGO... she slept through the whole thing

It's hard being this beautiful.... She is definitely a Fleisher!
Hating our first bath!
I think this picture looks like it should be in an Herbal Essences commercial... she liked the warm water on her head.... the only part of the bath that was fun!
All clean and dry and feeling a little better
Yes, I know they say wait 3 weeks for a paci, but she LOVES to have things her in mouth and still nurses like a champ even after having the paci, so I don't feel bad one bit about using it.. she loves it!

She's Here!

2011-04-12T17:17:00.001-07:00

She FINALLY made it! Alli was born Sunday, April 10th at 6:15 p.m. She was 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long! I cannot wait to show off more pictures of her when we get into a routine. For now, here's a family photo we took as we came home today! More to come later!

Fully Cooked

2011-04-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I was hoping that the next post I would make would be from the hospital or after we were home. It's amazing how God loves to continually teach me patience because every time He does and I tell Him I've learned it, He laughs because He knows I haven't. I was reading the blog of a friend, Michelle, about waiting and it was so encouraging. Even though we are waiting on different things, she challenged me by reminding me that God is in charge and all He wants is for us to trust Him that things according to His time are perfect. I've done everything I can to try to make this girl come and I know God has been laughing going "I'm going to bring her when I'M ready, not when YOU'RE ready." I was blessed to run into a friend, Christina, last Sunday and she was so encouraging as well. She told me she was 9 days late with her first baby and that baby girl will come when God is ready. It's been so encouraging talking with people that have had a "due date" come and go. I came into these last few weeks knowing that she would probably be a few days over her due date because I never thought it was correct. However, I think I had myself convinced it would be just a couple days past.... not 4 or more. It's also been hard knowing how many excited friends and family members we have that keep "checking in." I know they mean well, but it's been so discouraging to constantly be reminded that, "no, nothing's changed and she's still not here." I'm going over to my friend Sarah's house today that had her baby boy Carter last week. I'm SO excited to get to see him again and see her. I've missed not getting to talk with her every day about pregnancy. I've also got my doctor's appointment with Dr. L so I'm curious to see how that will go. I know she'll want to set an induction date, so I'm hoping I can make it as late as possible next week. My strong desire is to not be induced so I've been praying that the Lord would bring her soon so I don't have to do that. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers... it has definitely been felt. I know that even though this waiting game has been hard, God has taught me so much through it. Anyways, I'll leave you with a Friends episode (for all you Friends lovers) that has been SO close to home this last week. It has made me laugh and cry as I've watched it many times in the last couple days. Hope you get a good laugh from it too....

Rachel overdue

Eggplant Parmesan

2011-04-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

I rolled over and looked at my countdown clock this morning and this is what I saw:
I can't believe baby girl's due date is tomorrow! Only 16 more hours according to my clock. I know majority of babies aren't born of their due date and I've honestly not been expecting her to be either, but to know that I've made it 40 weeks is crazy! I went to the doctor yesterday and Dr. L told me there were no changes again. I figured it would be this way... I was just a little disappointed. I told her, however, that my mom never dilated early with any of us kids, she just started having contractions. She said that sorta stuff is pretty hereditary, so looks like I'm probably going to follow the same path. She asked if I wanted to be induced and every ounce of uncomfortable selfishness in my wanted to say yes, but my heart was saying no. I really wanted for her to come on her own. Dr. L said that she'd let me wait until I was 41 weeks (next Saturday) and if little sister isn't here by then then we'll induce on Monday the 11th. I go back next Wednesday for a regular appointment to see if there's any change or progress. I know most doctors don't like to let you go past your due date, and honestly, I'm SO ready for her to be here, but I want her to come naturally. There are just so many more risks and complications that come with inducing that I really wanted to try and wait it out. I have mixed feelings about her coming this weekend. I really do want her to, but if she does Dr. L isn't on call so she won't deliver her. I REALLY want her to deliver baby girl, so if I make it to Monday without a baby it's a pretty good chance Dr. L will get to. She works Mon-Wed and is on call all next weekend (Fri-Sun), so it would sure be fun to have her with sweet girl. However, I am SO ready it's hard not to wish that she would just come today. Thank you for all your prayers for our family and this little girl over the last 10 months and especially few days. I'm so thankful I decided to take a few days off work early to rest and relax. I've been in quite a bit of pain and I just couldn't give my kids at school my all, and I HATE teaching like that. It has been so nice to rest at home.
On another totally different note, the reason for the title of this post: Eggplant Parmesan. Chris and I have tried just about everything to induce labor..... walking (LONG walks), spicy food (had Dragon's breath salsa with Sarah last Sunday), the Ross & Rachel way (for you Friends lovers), and everything else we can think of. Nothing has worked. I googled "inducing labor" the other day and came across this website: http://www.scalinis.com/eggplant_parmigiana_babies.htm This restaurant tells how their recipe for this meal has put over 300 moms into labor 24-48 hours after they have eaten it. Since we don't live anywhere close to the restaurant, they also post the recipe for you to make it. Well, after my disappointing dr. appointment yesterday, I hit up Kroger for all the ingredients. I figured it can't hurt. I'm going to try and make the recipe today. Now I've never had eggplant before (honestly didn't even know what it looked like), but I figured if it's covered in cheese maybe I can choke it down if I don't like it. I'll let you know if it works for us! I'm not holding my breath, but figured at this point I'll try anything. I also plan on another long walk today with Jack... figured maybe if I keep walking long enough she'll fall out. Ha!
On another totally different note, my friend Sarah that I work with had her little boy Carter yesterday. He is SO handsome! Chris and I had the privilege of seeing and holding him yesterday. It just made me that much more excited to hold and see our sweet girl. Sarah and I had plans to induce on the same day next week if these kiddos weren't here so they could share the same birthday. She ended up starting contractions on her actual due date and had him the next day (yesterday). I'm so excited to stop by up there again today and see that sweet boy. She ended up having a c-section so they're planning on staying at the hospital until Sunday. I have been hoping that our sweet girl decides to come soon so that we can be at the hospital at the same time. It would be so much fun! Anyways, I'll leave you with some pictures of Carter. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts... we'll update as soon as we get the chance with our new bundle of joy!

Exhausted

2011-03-29T04:37:00.000-07:00

I read a quote in one of my pregnancy books last weekend that said, "If how women felt at 39 weeks pregnant, was how they felt their entire pregnancy, they would never get pregnant again." I laughed really hard because that's exactly how I have felt the last 3 weeks. I've tried so hard not to be a complainer (even though I know Chris will tell you differently), but the end is SO hard. I hurt in places I didn't even know I had and I pretty much can't get comfortable anywhere... sitting, sleeping, laying down, standing... etc. I am SO thankful I had Spring Break last week otherwise I know there is absolutely no way I'd be at school this week. I've already decided I'm calling it quits early anyways because I'm in so much pain and completely useless to my kids at school which is so not fair to them. I'm going to make Wednesday my last day. I feel like it's forever away too and it's only tomorrow! We've got P/T conferences until 7 tonight and tomorrow night, so my goal was to try and get through those, then stay home and rest for my sanity and baby girl's health. I woke up at 2:30 this morning (went to bed around 11) and never went back to sleep... so if you think about me today please pray for me. I have no energy as it is, and no sleep is going to make it so much worse...on top of talking for 3 hours after school with my parents. I am SO ready for this sweet girl to be here and to be done being pregnant. I told Chris I hope that I block these last 3 weeks out of my memory when I think about being pregnant otherwise we might only have 1 kid! HA! It's one of those things that I never understood it until I became pregnant. I'll be honest, I always kinda though pregnant women were wimps. I thought I'd "tough it out" and since I was still running and working out at 36 weeks, then I was going to be fine. Well, God definitely humbled me and reminded me that I'm not super woman. Anyways, I need to go get ready for my long day today. I'll leave you with a picture of my sweet puppy dog that is still thinking the world revolves around him and is about to get a serious wake-up call in the next week.... he's SO stinkin' cute though!! :)

Organizing and cleaning

2011-03-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

When I tell most people all I've done and had planned for the week, they like to comment that I'm "nesting." I politely tell them that I'm just a clean freak and being on Spring Break (even if I wasn't pregnant) is a great time to get "big" things done. Well since I'm almost 39 weeks pregnant there wasn't much I could do on my own. Mom and I spent the day on Monday shopping in Little Rock. We hit up Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Hobby Lobby and a few other stores. My plan was to get my living room decorated for spring/summer since I haven't really had anything out since I took down all my Christmas decor. Sad, I know, but I never really had much to put in my living room. After we shopped until I almost dropped, I came home with tons of great new stuff for my entertainment center and coffee table. We spent about 30 minutes organizing and moving things around... and I LOVE my entertainment center even more now! I'm SO happy with all my purchases and my decor.

Entertainment center after (with all the new decor)... I LOVE my apples from Pottery Barn

Close up of the entertainment center

The only changes on the coffee table were the black leaf-like holder that holds the balls and plants

Today (Wednesday) was a planned day for Chris and my family. I had asked if they could help since I couldn't do much. They were so fabulous and came over early this morning to help. We cleaned out and mulched all my flower beds. Then we pulled out these two UGLY berry trees that I have wanted out since we bought the house. Mom and I hit up Plant Outlet for crape myrtle trees to put in place of the berry trees. Now I LOVE my landscaping! After all that, we swept out and organized the garage. It's amazing how having a few extra helping hands can make things go so much quicker! It took about 3 hours, but we finished and now I can put my feet up and feel good knowing that all my outdoor/indoor plans for break are finished! The only thing I have left is putting plants in my front door potters, but that won't be for awhile because I'm waiting to buy all the other flowers that I love (sweet potato vines, calla lilies, etc.) My beautiful tulips have also come up and look fabulous too. I tried to take a close up picture so you could see where they are coming up. What a busy and productive week! I'm finally going to rest and relax tomorrow! :)

Front landscaping before... pre-mulch with ugly berry tree on the right

Ugly berry tree number 2 by the garage
Here's the front landscape after we finished! New mulch, no weeds, and the ugly berry tree on the right is gone and in it's place is a crape myrtle tree!

New crape myrtle tree by the garage

Loving my tulips! I'll have to post a picture later when they are all fully bloomed!

38 weeks

2011-03-20T14:31:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little girl hasn't made her entrance yet! At 38 weeks and "no changes," I'm thinking I will go full term, if not past due date a little. We finally made it to spring break and I am LOVING my time off! It's been great to get some things done around the house and relax with Chris. I'm trying to enjoy and soak up every minute of "me" time that I can. Today is the first day of spring!! And my birthday! It's been such a fun day. Chris and I went to lunch with his parents and then we got some gelato. Then we took Jack on a walk in the beautiful weather and we're heading over to my parents tonight to hang out with the fam. I'm so excited to "plan" my weekend off with different activities. I've got a few errands left to run and I'm cleaning one different room each day to hopefully have the whole house scrubbed down before miss priss makes her entrance. I'm also going to get some plants for my outdoor planters and have some help mulching our flower beds. And then somewhere in there, I'm going to rest and relax since I know that won't be happening much in the coming weeks. I've been still feeling pretty good, but have been in a lot more pain. Little girl has definitely "dropped" so my ribs are enjoying the break, but my bladder is not. She also likes to push on my nerves, especially my sciatic nerve, so I'm trying not to bend over too much. Anyways, I cannot wait until I get to get on here and post her arrival... hopefully it's around due date! Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying this beautiful weather! YAY for Spring!!!!

Diaper bag and outfit

2011-03-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I finally got it in! Laura called me (from Laura's Family Goods) and told me that my diaper bag was in! I was SO excited that I hurried over after school to get it. It's a Ju Ju Be bag and it's got SO many great features. It has a memory foam changing pad, insulated pockets for bottles, stroller clips to hang it on your stroller, tons of pockets to keep things organized... and the list goes on! Now I have 2 perfect bags: one small one from my sister in law that's SO cute and embroidered with our name for small trips, and one big one that I can tote all her stuff and my stuff so I don't have to bring a purse! I packed her small bag this weekend with all her stuff for the hospital... I'm sure I over-packed, but I figured better to have too much than not enough. I also got my bag mostly packed except for a couple items. I just can't believe how close it's getting! Anyways, when I got home today I finally got a dress in the mail I found on Etsy that I was thinking about using as a "going home" outfit or as her Easter dress. It is SO much cuter in person... this pic just doesn't do it justice. I had to white out the middle part of the dress because it has her initials on it. I just cannot wait to see it on her! Anyways, hope you had a relaxing time-change weekend... hopefully my 4 day week will fly by so I can get to Spring Break!!

Modern and Classic

2011-03-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

Those are the two words that I had in mind when I was decorating sweet girl's nursery. I knew I didn't want all the frilly baby stuff. Not that hearts and flowers and tons of pink aren't cute, just not the style I was going for. I really wanted a classic look that would easily grow with her as she gets older. I'm mostly finished, there are a few small things I have left to add, but I figured I'd finally post pictures for those of you that wanted to see. I didn't show everything on the wall because I have her name on canvases above her crib and a super cute bow holder with her initial on it. I'm so happy with how her room turned out! Anyways, here's a peak into our little girl's soon to be world! With 3 1/2 weeks left to due date, I cannot wait for her to finally occupy this room that's been waiting for her!

This is the view of walking into her room. All the white furniture is mine from my parents house! There's a twin bed that goes with it that she'll get when she "upgrades" to a big girl bed.

I absolutely LOVE her crib and bedding. Her crib is a Ragazzi crib from Children's Furniture in Little Rock. The bedding is ALL made by my mom!! I picked out all the fabrics and she sewed everything. I knew I wanted polka-dots and stripes, so when I came across these fabrics I knew they were perfect. I loved the bright colors and I figured the crib skirt and sheets could transfer over for our second child if it's a boy. The bumper pad is my favorite because I really wanted to do a lot with pink polka dots.

Another shot of the crib
This is the dresser I had in my room at my parents house. It's amazing that neither it nor the bedside table needed any touch-ups or anything. All the furniture is in great condition for being about 15+ years old! The hamper I got at Rhea Lana last fall and the wastebasket I came across at Lowe's. The picture frames will hold black and white pictures of her that I'll take after she's born. I cannot wait to fill them with pictures of her!

I struggled with the bedside table because I didn't want it cluttered, but I ended up with a sheik lamp from Hobby Lobby that to me doesn't say "baby" as much as "classic girl." The polka dot basket I found online and the frame I got at Hobby Lobby also.

This painting was pretty much the inspiration for everything in this room. I came across it at "Holiday House" in Little Rock over Christmas and just LOVED the colors and design. It seemed to match my "modern and classic" look I was going for. The saying above it was one I found at Laura's Family Goods in Conway. Another place I absolutely love that I'll be spending way too much money at as this girl grows bigger. For those of you that haven't been there, it's like the most amazing kid's store ever full of every kid's toy that you can imagine!

I just love this verse. I saw it on a painting and had to put it in our little girl's room!

So there you have it! There's my little girl's nursery. It has been so much fun putting it together and I hope that she loves it!

New Favorite

2011-03-09T17:06:00.001-08:00

I just had to share a new obsession I found in the popsicle isle the other day. I absolutely LOVE fruit, especially the odd kinds like grapefruit (I've had 2 today!) and pomegranates. I usually pick up the Edy's strawberry popsicles because they are SO fabulous and have chunks of strawberries in them. Not to mention that they are a great "sweet tooth" satisfier without breaking the calorie bank. Anyways, I found these at Kroger the other day and have pretty much had one every night... haha! If you like pomegranates, you will love these! I do wish they had some chunks of fruit in them like the strawberry ones, but they are fabulous none-the-less!

School Shower and 36 weeks

2011-03-07T15:12:00.001-08:00

Well, I officially look and feel huge! This has been a tough trimester for me. I officially can't really tie my shoes... Yes my mom, my hubby, and my kids at school are doing it for me! I toss and turn all night because I just can't get this huge belly comfortable. I finally decided that last week was my last week to jog. I started to have pain while I ran so I figured I'd better walk from here on out. The "nesting" instinct is either in full swing, or I'm just the total clean freak that I know I am. I was up at 6:00a.m. on Saturday (because I couldn't sleep) and was cleaning my house... dusting, vacuuming, organizing, picking up, doing laundry, etc...., for 2 hours! I think Chris thought I had lost my mind! On another note, I had my last shower last week at school and got some great stuff! Then I spent all of Friday deciding what duplicates needed to be returned and what items I didn't get that I needed to order. I ordered the pack and play and the other car seat base, and I'm going to Laura's this weekend to get my Ergo carrier. I also stopped by Laura's on Friday to order my diaper bag... I cannot wait until it comes in! It's a Ju Ju Be "Be spicy" bag... it's just so stinking cute. The girls at school got me a gift card to order it because they knew how bad I wanted it. Then Friday was spent running errands (Target, Laura's, Bevy's, Walmart) for purchases and returns. Saturday, Sarah came over and we went down to Babies' R Us to get the things from our registry that we hadn't received yet and she had a couple returns. We also hit up Target for a few other things. We spent about 4 hours walking around and we were exhausted! I came back to Conway to wait in line at Rhea Lana for the "expectant mom" shopping and tried to mash through the crowd to get what I wanted/needed. Mom and I had our arms FULL of stuff and were completely exhausted when we left. However, I got some GREAT stuff for GREAT prices so it made it all worth it! I think I may hit up the half price sale Thursday night depending on how I feel. I spent all of Saturday night and Sunday going through baby girl's clothes and stuff, washing EVERYTHING (which was 3 loads of clothes!). Chris and I cleaned out my car and then we installed the car seat! It's crazy to be driving around with an infant seat in your car when you don't even have one yet... but all the classes and books said to put it in at 36 weeks.... so it's in!! Needless to say it was a crrrrazy week and weekend and I'm getting more tired by the day. I'm hoping I can keep some energy to teach my kids and get ready for this little girl. I'm SO thankful that we have spring break in a couple weeks so I can have a week to re-group and get ready for our baby girl! I cannot believe how close we are to the end!! I've got my 36 week appointment tomorrow and I go weekly from here on out until she gets here!

Here's some pictures from my school shower! I had a ton, but was too tired to post them all, so I figured a few would suffice. Enjoy!

My SUPER cute "cupcake" table and diaper cake!

Tried to get a shot of part of the group

LOVE my co-workers! Molly & I are in 1st together and Tiffany (2nd grade) was my mentor teacher 3 years ago!

Sarah and I at 36 weeks... we always get the question "who's bigger?" I think at this point, we're both huge! haha

A peak into this little girls STUFFED closet! I don't think we can get anymore in there!

A-mazing

2011-02-28T17:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had the joy being showered with gifts for our sweet girl. Mrs. Frost, Mrs. Copenhaver and several amazing high school friends threw me an amazing baby shower. I felt so honored and so loved. This girl is already more loved that she even knows. The theme was "teacher" and everything was SO cute! From the pencils, to the alphabet letters scattered throughout the house, to the apple cookies.... it was so beautiful and perfect. I had such a wonderful time! I got to spend time with family and friends which meant the world to me. I have been so blessed throughout my life, much more than I deserve, and it was so great to share in this new joy with them all. Miss Priss got some super cute clothes and some GREAT practical stuff (swings & bouncy seats) that I cannot wait for her to use. Anyways, here's some of the pictures that I took. There were SO many great ones it was so hard to pick just a few! Enjoy!

The table was SO cute!!

All the family

My amazing hostesses!

I love my momma

All the goodies!

Showered with love

2011-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I got the opportunity to "shower" a friend and get "showered" myself! One of my oldest and best friends, Danis, is getting married at the end of April and I am SO excited to get to stand next to her on her big day! She was my MOH 5 1/2 years ago and I cannot wait to watch her get to marry her best friend. I got to attend a bridal shower here in Conway for her with some amazing friends. Not only did I get a chance to catch up with Danis, I also got to see Liz & Mary... two of my favorite sisters that I've known since early highschool! Liz and I go way back and I had so much fun getting to walk up to the door to her house, like I had done SO many times before back in highschool. Liz is married and lives in OK so I don't get to see her that often, but it is SO much fun when I do! All 3 of us got to "catch up" and spend time together... it was a great day! Here's some pictures from Danis' shower... I took a TON so I tried to pick just a couple to post. I got to have breakfast with Danis & Drew (her fiance) before they left to fly back to NYC.... nothing beats a Stoby's breakfast with amazing friends.

After Danis' shower in Saturday, I had my first shower for miss priss. It was SO much fun! The girls in my community group at church hosted it for me and we had such a great time! I got some CUTE things for this little girl. She is definitely going to be stylin'! My mom and mother-in-law got to come which was so great and my sis-in-law and her momma were there too. My sis-in-law made me the CUTEST diaper cake (1st pic) and got me an awesome diaper bag that I cannot wait to use!!! There were also many other good friends and several of my mom's friends from church. I truly felt so blessed and absolutely cannot wait for this little girl to get to meet all these amazing people. Despite the fact that I look HUGE in these pictures, miss priss still is not. She was 5 lbs 2 oz at our doctor appointment on Monday, and she's in the 50th percentile. She definitely grew from her 37th percentile 6 weeks ago, so I'm hoping this isn't a huge growing trend! However, Dr. L said if I go full term we are looking at a 7 1/2-8 lb. baby!! YIKES! So much for wishing for like 6 1/2 lbs! Anyways, she and I have already made a deal that if she stays in until at least due day (preferably later), then I'll get her a super fun and big present for her first birthday! She better hold up her end of the bargain though... I've got SO much to do before she gets here! (School-wise anyways...)

34 weeks

2011-02-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

Only 6 more weeks to go... whoo hoo! I can't believe how fast February has flown by... with it being a short month anyways and all our snow days, it's crazy to think that this next week is our last "school week" of February. On a different note, I am TOTALLY loving this weather. I would be one happy girl if it stayed 60+ degrees every day. Bring on the dresses, shorts, capris, tank tops, flip flops... and most importantly, sun tan! I am SO tired of being pale white! Anyways, not much has changed since the last update. Still feeling pretty good, just very uncomfortable most of the time. I'm out of breath often too which is rather annoying when you teach. It's also making jogging not near as much fun as it usually is because even going slowly I'm sucking for air. It's definite motivation to get back in shape when this girl gets here. Plus my cute summer clothes are also a good reason :) Anyways, wow I sound like such a complainer! Sorry! On to a more positive attitude, we had a shower at school for Sarah (my friend that's due 3 days before me) and I had fun getting to help. I know she'll be my sanity once both these kids are here because she'll be up when I'm up and going through everything with me. She got some great gifts and I think she had lots of fun! I've got my first shower tomorrow which I am super excited about! The girls in my community group at church are throwing it for me. I cannot wait! Sarah and I at her shower- Carter due March 30th & baby girl due April 2nd!

Snow and Valentine's

2011-02-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

Snow days... I won't miss you. It's amazing to think that I lived in Wisconsin for 12 years and we had tons of snow and it never seemed to bother me. However, living in Arkansas has made me really a "warm weather" person and I pretty much don't care for snow anymore. It might be more fun when we have kids and they play out in it... but Chris and I are only entertained for a little bit with Jack and then we get cold and bored. Anyways, I figured I better document these snow days since it really was a big deal! We got 7 1/2"-8" of snow at our house Wednesday so we didn't do much of anything. We played outside with Jack for awhile and then came in and watched movies. We were pretty lazy that day. Thursday we both had cabin fever so Chris went to work and I went to the grocery store later in the day. By Friday we were both dying to get out of the house and see some warmer weather, so I ran errands with mom getting some little things I needed for the hospital when I pack my bag and getting a few other errands run that I never get time to. When Saturday rolled around and the sun was beaming bright I was SO excited! We took Jack on a walk (he LOVES walks and I do too... problem has been it's been too cold to go!) and then I sat on my back porch and got some sun while reading Babywise. I really don't ever read, but this was one book I had been wanting to read so I could get some ideas from it. Saturday night Chris and I were planning on going to dinner for an early Valentine's and called my bro & sis-in-law to see if they wanted to join us. They were already planning on eating at the same place we were thinking about, so we all met up at Copeland's and enjoyed a super yummy dinner. It really has been so much fun having all this time off to get things done, play with my hubby and Jack, clean our house (I did a MAJOR deep clean and my house looks fabulous!), finish a couple things in miss priss's (that's what my friend Sarah is calling her and I'm starting to like the name!) room, and really enjoy family time. I can't believe we only 5 weeks until Spring Break! These past few months have really been flying by! I'll leave you with some pictures of the last week. My amazing hubby bought me a Valentines/Birthday gift and gave it to me early... a new camera!! And not just any camera, a super huge and nice cannon camera! Since I took photography in highschool I had a really nice one, but it was film. Chris got me a new one that fits both of my lenses that I bought in highschool (my zoom and my wide screen) so I'm able to put both the lenses on my new camera body and shoot away! I have been having a BLAST taking pictures and cannot wait to get pictures of miss priss once she's here! Hope you enjoyed your snow days!Snow Fun Day 1

Snow Fun Day 2!

Valentine's Dinner with Mike & Lindsay

He's here!

2011-02-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

He finally made his entrance... and in record timing I might add! Rowin Cross Conner was born Saturday night around 10:30p.m. We were so blessed to get to meet this handsome little boy (who we're hoping our little girl will marry! ha!). We drove over to Memphis on Sunday to see and meet Rowin. He is absolutely perfect and his momma and daddy looked so proud. It made me so excited that our sweet little girl will be here soon and we'll get to hold her. Beka looked AMAZING for having just had a baby... I sure hope I look that good! Anyways, here's some pictures for your enjoyment. I can't say enough about how handsome he is and how I cannot wait to have play dates with his momma and our little sweetie.

Chris holding sweet Rowin

One handsome little man!

Proud daddy!

One beautiful family!

32 weeks

2011-02-05T14:21:00.001-08:00

I finally made it to 32 weeks.... 8 months! Only 8 weeks to due date! Yes, for those of you that don't know, you're actually pregnant for 10 months, not 9! Anyways, here's my 32 week picture. We finally finished child-birthing classes and nursing classes at the hospital. It was a BUSY January. Between classes every week, doctors appointments every 2 weeks, and other after school activities, we pretty much don't remember January. We had something going on almost every night until late. We learned so much, but are SO glad that things are over and that we can finally focus on getting ready for this little girl. I've got several showers coming up this month that I'm SO excited about!! I can't wait to get her nursery finished...I'll post pics as soon as we do! We'll probably put her car seat in sometime this month too... it's so crazy to think that she'll be in it soon. Hope you're enjoying the snow... or if your like me, praying that it will go away so we won't have any more "snow days" at school. After our taste of spring last weekend, I am definitely ready for warm weather and sunshine! Hope you have a great weekend... we're going to my parents tomorrow to watch the Superbowl with family. Can't wait!

"Getting Ready for Children" class

2011-01-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

Chris and I decided to take the "Childbirthing class" at the hospital with some good friends (Sarah and I are due 3 days apart!) to learn more about being parents. We had so much fun and learned more than I thought I'd ever want to know about the actual birth process and the first few days after the baby is born. We spent 3 hours every Monday night for a month learning everything from when to come to the hospital to how to put on a diaper! :) Shelley taught us so much and I know I won't be able to remember it all, but she helped ease a lot of fears and stress about the changes we'll have in the next 9 weeks. Anyways, I took a few pictures during the classes to remember this fun experience.

Sarah's hubby Trey wearing the "baby pack" that all the boys had to wear to see what it was like to carry 30 extra pounds on your stomach. They all acted like it wasn't that big of a deal, but they only wore it for like 30 seconds... we wear it for months!

Chris holding up our practice baby for diapering and bathing... no he won't be holding baby girl like this, I promise

Getting ready to walk through the OR

Chris caught me mid-laugh about how ridiculous we look. Sarah and I can't wait for Carter and baby girl to be best friends

Chris practicing putting on a diaper... we know we'll get lots of practice as soon as she gets here!

Maternity Pics

2011-01-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

I debated for quite awhile about whether or not to take maternity pictures. I kept telling myself "If I take my monthly pictures it'll be enough." However, in the back of my head I kept reminding myself how much I regret not taking bridal portraits... still to this day 5 1/2 years later! So after talking with Becke' (our photographer) and having her tell me she regretted not doing them when she was pregnant, I decided I wanted to do them. Boy, am I SO glad that I did!!! Becke' did an amazing job and it was so much fun to do! Here's just a couple of pictures... I figured I'd be uploading FOREVER if I put all 45 pics on here, but if want to see them all you can head over to my Facebook page. Anyways, we had a great time even though it was 30 degrees with snow on the ground. The lighting was beautiful and I am SO happy that we did them! I HIGHLY recommend her if you're ever looking for a photographer. Her website is luluphotog.com .... Enjoy the pics! :)

30 weeks

2011-01-22T08:57:00.001-08:00

We're narrowing down on d-day!! We've finally picked a name, but we're waiting until she's born to announce... sorry to disappoint you all! We figured we waited this long to decide, why not wait 10 more weeks? Hopefully it won't slip :) Anyways, still feeling great and getting so ready to meet this sweet girl!

Fun in Memphis

2011-01-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went with three of my best friends from school to Memphis for a girl's weekend to celebrate Molly's 30th birthday! We had such a great time shopping, EATING A LOT, shopping some more, and just playing together. They truly are the most amazing friends and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend to just relax and play. We stayed in Germantown where we knew we were a little "safer" and hit up the amazing Galleria Mall. I think had I not been pregnant I could have shopped for a lot of hours.... probably a good thing I am or I would have spent too much :) Shopping is definitely a favorite past time with my mom, but being pregnant has made it so not fun and depressing honestly. I miss being able to try things on and not wonder "will this fit in a couple weeks?" We are about 10 weeks out from meeting baby girl and I cannot tell you how ready I am! I knew I wasn't going to be one of those people that "loved" being pregnant, but I'd definitely ready to meet her now. It's honestly not that I "love it" or "hate it," it's just that I miss doing some things and I'm really ready to not have her bouncing around in my tummy, but to hold her in my hands. Anyways, that was a complete side note from our trip, we had a great time and I can't wait until our next weekend trip. We ate dinner at the most AMAZING restaurant if you are ever in Memphis. It's called the Melting Pot. It was AMAZING! I cannot wait to take Chris there sometime. Anyways, hope you had a fabulous weekend... I'm enjoying my day off with MLK day. We've got Childbirthing classes again tonight with Trey and Sarah. We get to tour the nursery and maternity area.... I can't wait!!

Tiffany and Amy at dinner

Me and the birthday girl!

Our table

Our amazing and delicious food!

Molly the birthday girl

We had never seen a "Super Target" and we thought it was pretty cool!

Snow day!

2011-01-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

Jack couldn't wait to go outside last night to play in the snow!

Here he is covered in snow

Looking at the neighbor dog Maverick

Me and my sweet boy!

Hope you enjoyed your snow day as much as we did! Jack had SO much fun running and prancing around in the backyard... he was crazy! We also drove in for our 28 week appt. and got to see baby girl on the ultrasound. She has gotten SO big!!! She's now 2 lbs, 7 oz and measuring in the 37th percentile... so Dr. L said she's pretty small. But she wasn't surprised because she said Chris and I are rather "small" people too... haha, so I guess that's what she expected. Everything looked great and I made it through the glucose test... not as gross as everyone had made it out to be. It definitely wasn't good, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever had. Anyways, she's still jabbing and poking my ribs like CRAZY with her feet, but she's head down and right where she needs to be, so we are thankful for that. I can't believe how fast time is flying. Anyways, hope you had a restful and fabulous snow day!

28 weeks

2011-01-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

We're officially on the home stretch! I can't believe it! I'm definitely excited and so ready to meet this little girl. Not much has changed other than that I think I look huge (haha), but oh well! This third trimester has brought new challenges of struggling to bend over and get back up, trying to get comfortable while I sleep, always feeling bloated, not really hungry but thinking about food all the time, a VERY active little girl (especially at 2 in the morning), and really getting ready to see and hold her. We started childbirthing classes last Monday with my friend Sarah and her husband Trey. Sarah and I decided after watching videos at class that our babies are ok to stay in our bellies. The women looked so miserable giving birth and seeing a baby come out is just not appealing. However, we get to tour the nursery and women's center on Monday so I am really excited about that! I've also started some physical therapy for my back. I know, I sound like a pansy, but I have had sharp knife like pain in my back for the last couple months and have just been ignoring it. After talking to Dr. Lawrence last week she suggested I go to PT for a little bit, just so they can show me some stretches and get my pelvis back in line. My PT is great and taught me a lot about being pregnant and how to try and avoid back pain. I've been working out while with her and really can tell my back is already stronger and in less pain. The hardest part was hearing what I know she would say.... no running. Which is exactly what she told me; Not until the pain is almost gone. Running is sort of like an addiction for me. It's basically like telling people who love sweet tea and soda that they cannot have it. I have actually had feelings of withdrawal from it, especially when I see people out running. However, I've had one good appointment this week and she told me if I have 2 more good ones next week she'll clear me to run. For now she told me I can walk or do some workout videos, so that's what I've been doing. I've researched and bought several videos and I can say (for all your pregnant or going to be pregnant women) that I've found a couple I actually like. Now you're not going to break a big sweat like you do running, but they do work on building strong leg and back muscles and getting your cardio in a little. I like Summer Sanders prenatal workout (you can select your workout by trimester) and Lindsay Brinn's Mom's into Fitness. She also lets you select by trimester and she has a "bootcamp" you can do after having the baby that I'm really excited about. They have seemed to be the best 2 of all the one's I've bought and done. Since I'm rather athletic it's hard doing a workout for 30 minutes and probably only burning like 150 calories, but I feel like they've been the best for all the ones I've tried. Anyways, I go back to see Dr. Lawrence on Monday for my oh so fantastic glucose test and to see our sweet little girl on an ultrasound. We haven't seen her in 10 weeks, so I'm REALLY excited! Anyways, hope you have a great weekend... maybe we'll get some snow on Sunday so I can work on long-term sub plans! Guess it's wishful thinking :)

Rowin Conner

2011-01-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

We had a baby shower for Clint & Beka Conner for their sweet little boy Rowin who is due to meet us February 12th! I truly cannot wait! We have known and loved Clint and Beka for so long and are just so excited that our babies will only be 7 weeks apart! Rowin is already on Chris' "pre-approved" list for our baby girl on boys she can date/marry. Anyways, we had a great time showering Beka with gifts and spending time with her and friends. I absolutely cannot wait to drive to Memphis in February to see that sweet boy when he decides to come meet us! Here's a few pictures to re-cap our fun times...The hostesses & Beka

Rowin and baby girl are only 7 weeks apart! (Me- 27 weeks, Beka- 34 weeks)

Erin & I!

Top 10 in 2010

2010-12-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

It always seems that as you get older, time goes by quicker. As I write this, we only have 2 days left (a little less) in 2010 and then it's 2011! Chris and I were talking the other night about how every year since we've been married, "big stuff" has happened. Whether is moving, new jobs, law school, buying a house, getting a dog, baby, etc., we have had some pretty big milestones in our first 5 years. As I went through my pictures and decided to "recap" 2010 with it's highlights, I had a tough time choosing because there were so many amazing things that we did this year. Anyways, I did my best to pick my top 10, so goodbye 2010, I can't wait for what 2011 is going to bring!!

TOP 10 in 2010
1. We had a lot of snow this year (in January and February) and had several days off school. Chris and I spent the days outside with Jack throwing snowballs and making snowmen.

2. Chris got me the best birthday gift ever! He surprised me with a trip to NYC to visit my best friend Danis! I got to spend a couple days with her shopping, eating, and seeing the city.

3. Jack celebrated his first birthday May 1st! We had cake and presents and had the "grandparents" over to celebrate. He truly is the best dog and I cannot wait for our little girl to meet him.

4. I ran my furthest race to date(in May), the Toad Suck 10k. I trained for quite awhile, but nothing could prepare me for the down pouring of rain on the last 2 miles. However, I finished in 52 minutes and couldn't have been happier. Now, it's on to a half marathon someday.

5. We have the most amazing community group and we have had some great times together. This is most of us in Flippin, AR in June enjoying a weekend away together. We had a blast!

6. We traveled in June & July to Europe (London, Paris, Krakow, Cinque Terra & Rome) for 2 weeks with my dad and brother. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had!

7. I finally got my "Dream Car," a Honda Pilot, in July! I've wanted one ever since college. I am now set for life... I don't ever want another car :)

8. We found out I was pregnant in late July... the best thing from the entire year

9. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary in August with dinner at Capriccio Grill in the Peabody Hotel.

10. In November we found out that we were having a girl!

26 weeks

2010-12-24T13:37:00.001-08:00

Wow, 2 posts in one day! I think I get an award! :) Anyways, here's my 26 week picture. I wasn't going to take one because I don't think there's much change, but I figured maybe I'd wish I had taken more after baby girl is out. None-the-less, here's me at 26 weeks.... I can't believe that I'm starting/almost starting (according to different books) my 3rd trimester!

Illinois Christmas

2010-12-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, most, well all, of my family lives in Illinois. (well, except for my uncle and his family) Anyways, we never get to see them because they are 9 hours away. Most families see cousins/aunts/grandparents several times throughout the year at holidays and parties. I've never had the opportunity to experience that though, and really do wish that I had. That is one reason why I am SO excited that we live close to both our parents. I can't imagine this little girl not knowing her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It has definitely been hard not really "knowing" my family because we only see them once a year. Since the drive is so long, we usually go at Christmas for 4 or so days and make the rounds seeing the Fleishers and the Carlsons. Even though it's hard to spend part of my Christmas break in a car traveling far, it's worth it to get to see my family that we never see. Anyways, we packed up the Honda and headed out EARLY last Saturday. We had originally planned on staying until Wednesday, but plans changed that morning. Mom had rolled her ankle the night before going down some steps and was in a lot of pain. She couldn't move it (we figured it was a bad sprain), so she opted to stay home. Dad wasn't going to leave her by herself (being a good husband:)), so it was down to us "kids" to decide if we still wanted to go. Since we never see our family, it was a no-brainer for Chris and I. Jim and Mike decided to come too, so we all piled in and headed off for the cold, snowy North. We decided to cut the trip short since it was just us kids and come back Monday (weather permitting). Even though it was a fast trip, I'm sure glad we went. I love getting to see all my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. It's nice to catch up and see how much everyone has changed in a year! They had plenty of snow waiting for us, so I got my fill of cold and snow in for the year. We had a great time and I'm so thankful that we got to see almost everyone (except my uncle's family from Minnesota, and a couple cousins)! I of course forgot my camera, because the whole "pregnancy brain" thing is not a myth. I always thought it was an excuse pregnant women used, but it's totally not. I can't remember anything like I used to! Anyways, the only pictures I got were with my phone, so they'll have to suffice. We had a great trip and I can't wait to see everyone next year!On a completely different note, when Chris and I were getting married he bought me one of those "countdown" clocks for our wedding. I always had it by my bed and thought it was such a cute idea. Anyways, after we got pregnant Chris whipped the clock back out and set it to my due date. The other day I was in brushing my teeth and Chris told me I had to "come check out this cool milestone." I came around the corner to see him holding the clock and that we only had 100 days left! I could not believe it! It seemed like the beginning of this pregnancy went slow, but it sure seems to be speeding up now. I told Chris yesterday that when January rolls around in a week we only have 3 more months to be the two of us before our lives change drastically! I got to see Kate and Reese yesterday that just made me SO much more excited to be a momma. Seeing Kate hold and love on her beautiful girl makes me so excited to get to do that. The whole experience seems so surreal until you actually see and hold that little child. Anyways, I took a picture of my clock the other day (once again with my phone so sorry it's blurry). We're finally in the double digits now!!

Splurge

2010-12-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas break is officially here and I am just loving it. My break officially started last Friday, but we went to Illinois on Saturday, so it didn't really seem like a "break" yet. Long story short, our trip got shortened and we came back on Monday. I was actually excited to get home and start my "break." Day one of my break was nothing short of craziness. Chris and I stopped downtown at Ann's Trendy Kidz to see her strollers (she was having a 40% off sale!) and see when she was getting in her spring stuff so I could register. She is pregnant and due the same day as me! I just LOVE her store and love her! After that, we headed to Little Rock to get our crib mattress that I've been putting off and eat lunch. We met Chris' dad at work to check my ears because they had been plugged for awhile and then hit up Babies R' Us to register! LONG day! Registering is a mix of fun and stressful all at the same time. I had my book, Baby Bargains, right by my side as we were picking things out which was very helpful. However, sometimes it's just hard to pick what you want! I debated for A LONG time about which car seat I wanted. After carrying them around, then making sure we liked all the features, we finally picked one. I think I'm set on it. haha I told Chris to pick one because I honestly couldn't choose. The Chicco Keyfit and Graco Snugride were the two I was narrowed down to. Chris picked the Snugride, so I guess we're going with that. It's "Baby Bargains" number 1 recommendation, so I know it's got to be good. Anyways, I'm glad I'm pretty much done registering. I'm going to register at Ann's after the new year when she gets all her spring and summer stuff in! This little girl will need tank tops and swim suits, not warm clothes :) Anyways, I was pretty set on what I thought I wanted for a stroller, and changed my mind when I saw the one that I had been watching for A LONG time was 40% off. I knew I didn't want one of the "travel systems" because they were so bulky and heavy, but I honestly didn't know what I wanted. Anyways, when we were at Ann's her Maclaren strollers were 40% off... an amazing deal for a Maclaren. They didn't have any of the colors I really wanted left and only had 3 strollers left because everyone had gone in early in the a..m, so I was kinda bummed. However, we ran into Ann as we were getting ready to leave and she told me she had one more in back that she had pulled for herself. She told me she could order another one for herself, so not to feel bad if I liked it/wanted it. Well, low and behold, it was my "dream stroller." The one I had been watching and wanting for so long. It's great too because it works with newborns so baby girl can use it as soon as we want. It also works until your child is 65 lbs, so it was a great investment. When I saw that it was the one I had been wanting, I told Chris it's what I really wanted. My amazing husband said that was fine (even though 40% off was still more than we wanted to spend on a stroller!) and we got it! I am just so excited I can hardly contain myself! I've already been pushing it around and have it set up ready for baby girl when she gets here!! I was SO excited to get one that I know I can use for all our kids and has a lifetime warranty! Anyways, here's my beautiful stroller.... the padding is reversible, so it can be either the black and white stripe or red. Yay for fun purchases!