You Know You Don't Feel Good...

1) When you lay in a ball under the down comforter for 1.5 hours and you are still freezing...

2) You wake up from sleeping because your throat is on fire...

3) You almost smother the cat from throwing off the comforter because you are so stinking hot...(then repeat #1)

The sick bug hit me hard. It's not fun to be sick and have to take care of a baby. That's why my husband rocks. He took two days off of work to take care of me and H. He not only did the dishes, laundry, yard work, cooking and cleaning, but in between that he did errands and took care of Haylie. Yep, husband of the year award. I was looking through my camera today to take pictures off and I found these...

Haylie apparently wanted to lick the cat and then realized she is furry and not tasty. (To all you cat-a-phobes, she did not really lick the cat - confirmed by Justin)

Justin's attempt to keep her occupied. Let's just dump out the whole toy box! Hey, I'm not judging. It totally worked.

And finally, Justin at the end of day 2. Passed out on the floor.

It's tough being Super Dad! I think he was a bit too excited to go back to work today.

Bathtime Laughs

I'm not exactly sure how I found out that throwing water in her face makes her giggle like a little school girl, but it does.

It's the sweetest sound ever.

Friday Finds

My new love is to go garage saling on Friday mornings. It's getting cooler so the temp is perfect and I'm one of the first ones to come up to sales to get the first preview of the treasures. Some sales are absolutely terrible though. People, putting out 5 items and sitting out on your driveway does not constitute a garage sale. Give me a reason to stop. Anyway, I found this little outfit that is a wee bit too small for H, but I stuffed my chunky monkey into it anyway for church. She might only get to wear it once, but atleast I only paid $1 instead of $25 for the same amount of times she will wear it. You can tell by her face that she loves it.

But what made me the happiest I have ever been on a Friday morning was this little treasure.

I have been wanting a bubble lamp forever! They are ridiculously priced in stores so I refused to pay for one. I about broke my neck going over to grab this. No one else was even at the sale but I didn't want some lady to appear out of no where and obtain this jewel before me. I'd wrestle her to the ground for sure.

Musings of Motherhood

I didn't get to hear all of Mark's sermon yesterday on media and kids, but I was starting to think to myself that H is surrounded by TV pretty much all day. She doesn't sit on the floor and watch it for hours at a time, but it's on in the background mostly for my entertainment. Sometimes we do sit her on the floor and let her watch Baby Einstein, but I try to reserve that for desperate times only. I am going to try this week to engage more with her when she isn't napping and reserve the TV for times when there is nothing else to do (ha) or I just need a small little break. We'll see how far into the week I get. Maybe I'll start a no TV trend. I just don't want her to be relient on TV for entertainment when she has lots of toys and fun things to go explore.

Am I the only one who feels guilty about this parenting thing? There is always something to be doing better - less TV time, more time playing, more time praying, better eating habits...I could go on forever. But in the end, I guess we just have to give up and say, "I'm doing the best that I know how." Because it's true. I have felt guilty for awhile now about not bringing in any income, but I'm working past that because I'm doing the best that I can for my baby. Yes, things can be tight when it comes to the bottom line of budgeting, but that's why they have the Great Value brand, consignment stores with nice clothes and sisters who can help you make anything you want the cheapest way possible.

I'm a Loser

I was noticing by a few comments on my previous post how gung-ho people were for Haylie...the last one got my attention when I noticed my friend said Haylie WALKED?? I was confused by this until I realized that in my last post - in an attempt to hurry and write it because Little Miss was crawling all over me - I wrote she "walked" when instead she CRAWLED to the window and PULLED HERSELF UP. That was the big accomplishment...a little less exciting now that the thought of her walking is out there but alas, my world will stay sane for a few more days.

A Different Perspective

Yesterday, as she was hanging out in p.j.s and flashing me a little diaper, Haylie walked over to one of our windowsills and just pulled herself up!! I couldn't believe I just witnessed something so...big! She had a pretty big wipeout about 30 seconds after standing there and making out with the window (she's also teething), but recovered quite nicely after only a few tears.

New Look

I got a little bored today (maybe not bored...just distracted) and started re-doing some stuff on the blog and ended up redoing it all. Anyway, I just HAD to showcase what a rockstar photographer Mandy is and the awesome pictures she captured of my baby girl about 2 weeks ago. Love, love, love them all. Here are a few favorites!!

This one makes me laugh so hard...she was so happy until the very end!

A Rare Jewel

This weekend was a rare one. We had minimal plans and I liked it that way. Friday night came and we stayed at home with a pizza and watched my sister's kids. Ice Age was the movie of the night and so Eli, Justin & I watched the movie, played the games, watched all the extra bonus features, played the games some more...Eli was so into it. Evie just slept like a little angel.

Saturday morning I popped up, running late as usual, for the Pass It On kids consignment sale. How many times has Haylie woken up at 7am on the dot, except for the one Saturday I'm planning on her to do so? Oh well. Still make it to the sale by 8 am (with picking up 2 others) and got an arm-load of winter lovelies for Haylie. We then ran to our good friend Olivia's first birthday party and had fun enjoying her loving the tissue paper instead of actual gifts and refusing to eat the cupcake until she was good and ready.

Coming home, we hit a garage sale or two, and then we had the rest of the day...to do nothing. And nothing is what we did. I napped. I played with Haylie. I put off doing laundry and dishes. I read. I went to bed early.

Sunday was a morning of church, which was wonderful. We came home, sat on the porch with lunch and listened to the rain. Haylie napped. I napped. Justin napped. We watched football. We went to Financial Peace and dinner with friends. And now here we are. On the couch. Contemplating going to bed early. I'm not sure what to do with myself - two naps and not running ourselves ragged on a weekend? I'm in love.

A Lot Has Changed...

The attitude is still there, but physically, my baby has gotten a wee bit bigger!

The first picture is taken at 4 weeks, the second was taken at 9 months (9.1.10).

I just noticed that both outfits have cupcakes on them. We(I) love sweets and apparently like to wear clothes to prove it!

We went to the doctor the day before she turned 9 months and got shots. Never fun but we didn't have a reaction quite like last time. She is 16.12 lbs and is 27 in. long - the lower percentile & definitely on the petite side.

She eats pretty much anything we put in her face and can put away Cheerios like they are going out of style. She is crawling - but not anywhere fast & loves to find all air vents that will blow air in her face. She thinks they are so fun. When she gets tired, she doesn't want anyone but me but when I hold her, she wants to get down & play. She doesn't snuggle very much - she is always on the move and needs to be held facing outward. Nosy thing - just like her Mimi!

She has a temper like a demon and the lungs of a drama queen. She is starting to throw tantrums on the floor...I, for one, didn't think that would start so early. Ugh!

Justin and I love our baby girl so much! I can't believe in a few short months, we will be celebrating her 1st birthday. Someone get the tissues ready...

If you make me look at that tarantula, I will punch you in the face.

A few weekends ago, my mom and her siblings decided to plan a family reunion. We went to Roman Nose State Park and had a great time getting together. I won't even discuss that we were there for about 5 minutes before someone came up and told us there was a tarantula in the back. It took everything I had not to scream, get back in my car, hyperventilate and drive home. Spiders and I have a hate, hate relationship. I wouldn't even ask about the time I saw a spider on Haylie...

Friday Night - around the campfire. Smores & popcorn - YUM.

Haylie Brooke at breakfast. She was quite the trooper that weekend.

Aunt Barbara rocking Haylie to sleep. She got Haylie to finally take a nap. I am forever in her debt.

One way to get this girl in a good mood - take her swimming!

The clan. I love my big, crazy family with all my heart.

What is She Doing?

Happy Friday! So glad it's a holiday weekend - I'm going to stay put in Edmond to enjoy it! Finally caught Haylie when she is pooping - her face turns bright red. I'm going to start calling her Bob the Tomato.

Before & After: Living Room

Before picture of the living room: Peach Galore!!

After:

This is one of my favorite rooms in our house. We did the ceiling white, the walls a brown, and took down the fabulous valences and vertical blinds. I am on a search for red curtains to put up but am not having luck with finding 6 panels at a time (and within my budget). I also need to get new throw pillows to really bring some pop into the room. All my pillows are brown - I don't know what I was thinking. I promise I'm not scared of color.

Those are all my before & after's for awhile. Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of what we've been doing. There is much more to do but Rome wasn't built in a day...

Before & After: Bathrooms

My before pictures were the ones I stole off MLS so I think they used a panoramic lens or something. I can't seem to quite get the same effect.

Here is the before pic of the master bath:

And here is after:

Since this had lovely wallpaper, we took that off, textured & painted. We put up a new light fixture. We will eventually redo the bath & floor tile & countertops. We will put a different mirror on the wall since that one doesn't really go.

This is the "jungle" guest bath before:

Guest bath after:

Same song & dance as the master bath.

I've decided that all my decor is very neutral and I'm not sure why. I need to work on that. Get some color in this house!!