Too Busy To Blog...

I've been a real slacker on my blog posts lately- we have been so busy and I've been trying to give Anniston my full attention when we have free time. I usually do my blogging after she goes to bed, but here lately Brandon and I have both been so tired that we have been going to bed super early.


The reason for the early bedtimes? Well, Anniston has had a little trouble sleeping past 4 am the past couple of weeks. She will wake up, ready to play and in the best mood, and then gets tired and ready to go back down around 7/7:30 am. I have no idea what has prompted her to get up this early. She has had a little cold the past 2 weeks so I'm thinking that has contributed some to the change in sleeping patterns. The good news is that she will sleep without waking up from 7:30 pm to 4 am. As long as B and I go to bed around 9/9:30 pm, we can get in a good 6.5/7 hours of sleep. We have tried a couple of different strategies to help her sleep a little longer, but we haven't had much luck so far. She's on an antibiotic right now so hopefully we are on the upswing!


Anniston has really started making new sounds and noises here lately. Her new favorite is "ya ya ya ya ya." We constantly say "ma ma" and "da da" and even though she can (somewhat) "da da" it hasn't been in relation to us saying it to her- until yesterday morning! Brandon and I were saying "da da" to her and she said it back to us! Brandon jumped up off the couch he was so excited. We both started clapping in excitement, which got Anniston all excited. It was truly one of those great moments that makes the sleep issue such a minor detail!


Anniston can now wave- and it is the cutest thing ever. She really gets some wrist action going and will just wave at random moments. Until yesterday morning she really hasn't ever waved back at us when Brandon or I wave to her. Apparently, this was a morning of firsts! Brandon and I were waving and saying "Hi" and she immediately waved back at us. Sigh....it made my morning!


I've been really trying to stay consistent with my running here lately. Most weeks I'm able to fit at least 3 runs in- sometimes 4. More on my running/exercising in another post...


B and I watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics Friday night and then swimming and gymnastics last night. I am so pumped to watch all of my favorite events during the next couple of weeks! It is so inspiring to watch some of the greatest athletes in the world make their dreams come true. Go USA!!!


Anniston and I went to my SIL's house yesterday for a Blessed Be The Name trunk show. I guess you could say I'm a trunk show newbie- this was the first one I've ever attended. A and I had so much fun that I'm ready for the next one! I bought her some fall clothes and then some late winter clothes too. I liked Blessed Be The Name ok- but what I really want to find is a Matilda Jane trunk show! I'm obsessed with their stuff!

That's all of the randomness I can think of for now.  And because no post can be complete without a couple of pictures of my princess.... here are a couple I have taken recently:

Hope everyone has a great week!
****note: I wrote the majority of this post Saturday and was finishing it up today. After writing about her "sleeping in" issue the past few weeks she actually slept until 6 am this morning! Talk about waking up feeling refreshed!! I have a feeling this week is gonna be great!!!!

A Little Surprise Birthday Party

This past Saturday my sister hosted a surprise birthday party for my grandmother, who will soon be turning 85!  Allie went all out on the food and decorations.  I wish I could say I had some part in helping but it was all her!  The color scheme was classic red and white.  We had potato salad, deviled eggs, chicken salad sandwiches, shrimp, and grilled cheese for the vegetarians.  She had a special cake made for her along with cheesecake bites for dessert.  Everything turned out beautifully!

Everything was all set and ready when my aunt called us to let us know there had been a wreck on the interstate right outside of Memphis and they were at a standstill.  The guest of honor was with her and so we all got a little worried that my grandmother would be late to her own party!  They were stopped for over an hour before the wreck was cleared and they were able to start moving again!  Meanwhile, the rest of the family was getting a little antsy waiting for the party to begin so we passed the time by practicing our "Surprise".  You would think we would have had it perfected by the time she got there but grandmother didn't come in the door exactly as our stand-in person did, so it through us off!  Ha:)  She was still very surprised that we had thrown a party in her honor.  She claimed she didn't remember the last time anyone had thrown a party just for her- which made us so happy we did this for her!  She deserved it.

In addition to the gifts my grandmother received, we also gave her a memory box filled with lots of pictures and a personal letter from each person in the family.  I know she will have a good time going back through the memory box looking at all the pictures and reading all of our letters.

I took a TON of pictures throughout the party.  I've tried to narrow them down to the very best ones:

 Note: Brandon and I have been trying to teach Anniston to wave so that is all she wanted to do Saturday night!  Many of the pictures came out with her hand blurry from the movement!  Too funny!

Anniston is 9 Months!

Anniston,

You are 9 months old!  Wow!  This month has flown by and you have continued to grow and develop so much during this month.  You now have 2 bottom teeth!  They are not fully in yet but they are definitely noticable. They are so cute! I keep thinking we will see your top ones come in any day now because you sometimes seem to attack your toys- they go straight to your mouth and you drool all over everything.  Hopefully they will come in soon!

At the end of last month you had just started to pull up- now you are pulling up on EVERYTHING!  You are so much more stable now.  You only have to hold on with one hand and these last few days you have stood without holding on for just a few seconds.  You have taken some little falls that have resulted in a few bumps and bruises.  Nothing real serious but it still makes me nervous!

You are not content for very long in your playpen because there is nothing in there to pull up on and it's just not enough space for you.  You try to pull up on the sides of it and peek over the top to see what is going on. Daddy and I purchased a huge gate to surround your playmat in the living room so you would have a safe and contained area to play in.  You seem to really like it.  All of your toys are in there and we have two activity tables that you love to pull up on.  Sometimes when you are cranky (teething, I suspect), or hungry you do not like for me to leave you in there.  You like for me to sit in there to play with you.  Sometimes I try to sit on the couch outside of the play area and you will pull up on the sides of the gate and look out through the bars.  You fuss a little and give me a pitiful looking face so I usually end up coming in there to play with you.  The first time we put the gate up you pulled yourself up and did a little "pull-up" and your feet came off the floor.  Kay Kay and Poppy were over here and we were shocked you were strong enough to do that!


I let you crawl around the house plenty though, so you can explore things on your own.  It doesn't take long before you are into something you shouldn't be!  In the mornings, you love to sit in your walker in the bathroom and watch while I put on my makeup.  You can manuever yourself around to open up drawers and try to grab some makeup of your own.  You are a stinker!  You seem to know what the word "no" means.  Daddy or I will say it and you will stop and turn around and look at us.  You don't always obey us but I think you are slowly comprehending the meaning of it.

You love to play peek-a-boo with me.  You like it when I hide behind a wall or door and then peek my head around and say "Peek-a-boo!"  You giggle and laugh and it's so fun!  You love to "dance" to the music you play on your activity tables.  You bounce up and down when it comes on and sometimes swing your arm up and down.

Going out to eat with you is so much fun- and easy!  Many times you have been fussy in the afternoons and when we go out to a restaurant later that night you instantly get in a better mood.  You love looking around at all the people and eating at the table with us.

We have cut out one of your bottles this month.  You now will take 4 oz of milk in the morning along with your baby food, a 4 oz bottle about 9:30 am, baby food and water at lunch, a 6 oz bottle at 2:30 or 3:00, baby food and water at 5:30, and a 6 oz bottle at 7:00 pm.  You love to eat crunchy things.  You have really been loving the different flavors of puffs I give you.  They are easy for you to pick up and you love to "chew" them.  We've also tried cut up tomatoes, avocados, and cheese.

Sleeping has been very consistent this month.  You go to bed around 7:30 pm and will wake up usually only once per night.  You have been much better about sleeping until 5 am- many mornings we have slept until 5:30 or 6 am!  Since your teeth have been bothering you lately, I sometimes put you in bed with us when you wake during the middle of the night.  I love to snuggle with you and you seem to generally sleep a little longer in the mornings when you are in bed with me.

You have become a little more attached to me during this month.  You cry or fuss when I walk out of the room sometimes and are very clingy when you are tired or cranky.  You are really good about letting other people hold you and play with you though.  You smile back at anyone who smiles at you and are so friendly!  I hope you stay that way.

We have had so much fun this month and I love spending time with you.  You are developing your own personality and I have so much fun watching you grow and learn to do new things.  I cannot imagine it getting much better than this!

I love you sweet girl!

Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy:)

WILW- Funny Quote Edition

(one)

This quote is SO TRUE- at least the Target part is.  We have not yet gone on a family vacation but I'm betting that part is true too- which is exactly why we decided to wait awhile!

(two)

 This one makes me think of my sister, Allie.  I can totally see her saying this! Ha!  Sorry, Allie, but it's true:)

(three)

This one made me laugh so hard when I read it! At work, I often see these stay at home moms, in their tennis outfits, toting around 3 or 4 kids, using their coupons to buy stuff to make an awesome, three course meal that night and acting like their life is a piece of cake.  If that is the case- then please, come on over and help me out!

Happy Birthday Sissy!

Today is my sister's birthday.  I thought I would write a somewhat funny, somewhat sappy, blog post in her honor.

To start out with some funnies....

The other day, while watching the Olympics with Brandon, Allie and I shared a rather funny story about us and our love for the Olympics. We told Brandon about when we were little, we used to get on our big trampoline outside and do flips and pretend we were in the Olympics doing gymnastics.  Then, during the winter Olympics, we used to get pillows and slide across the kitchen floor and pretend we were ice skating.  Ah, fun times!

And on to some sappy...

Thank you Allie, for being the best sister I could ever imagine.  I honestly don't know what I would do without you.  Wait.....yes, I do know:


I would be technologically challenged.
I would have no one to take beautiful pictures of Anniston all the time.
I would have no running buddy.
I would have no one to gossip with, share good news with, or complain to when I have a bad day.
I would have no one to go see silly, sappy movies with.
There would be no more "girly days"  of shopping with you, me, and Anniston.
...and, I would probably have a lot more money because of that!

Thankfully, I do have you to do all these things with!  I love you, little sis!  Happy Birthday!

• 

Monday Came Way Too Fast

This weekend flew by and I cannot believe it's Monday already!  This week is going to be tough- due to an overtime shift I took I only have one day off.  Hopefully, when I get that overtime check I will be reminded why I picked it up.

We had a pretty low key weekend.  Saturday we spent most of the day at the house.  It's just too hot to do much of anything outside.  This is why I hate the summer.  I'm SO ready for fall!

I told you I would probably have a couple more July 4th pics taken at my sister-in-law's house that I would have to share.  Sorry, but I must post more- I can't get enough of her precious face!  That, and the fact that I bought too many 4th of July outfits and I had to get a picture in them all!

 At least one of them knows how to pose for a camera!  

A new Bargain Hunt (an Essex store) opened up here in Memphis and my friend, Amanda, and her little boy, Bridger, asked us to go with them to check it out.  This place is awesome and had great discounts on name brand items.  I bought two toys for Anniston- one for now and one I'm saving for Christmas.  I paid $20.00 tax and all for both!

Meal times for Anniston are becoming slightly more challenging.  She made the biggest mess Saturday night with her spinach and pears.  All she wants to do is grab the spoon as I'm trying to feed her and gnaw on it.  Then she wants to put her fingers in her mouth when it still has food in it, then proceed to put her dirty hands on her face, in her hair, etc.  Saturday night she tried to grab the bowl from me and food spilled out on her tray. After that, all she was interested in was swirling the food around and making a huge mess!  It's frustrating but really funny at the same time.  She laughs and giggles and is so cute you can't help but laugh too.  Needless to say, I put her in the tub as soon as dinner was over.  It seriously took 10 minutes to get all the spinach out of her nose!

Sunday was Brandon's morning to sleep in so A and I headed out for an early morning run before the rain came.  It's so hot here that if we don't get out there before 8 am we just don't go at all.

I finished my pregnancy photo book this weekend and I'm so excited for it to come in.  I wasn't initially going to do one because I didn't take that many pictures while I was pregnant, but in the end I found enough and included nursery pics and some ultrasound pics as well.  I'm glad that I documented it all and it will be nice for Anniston to look back on one day.

I've gotten so many packages in this past week and finally had enough time this weekend to go through them all!  Brandon gives me "the look" when another package comes to the door- I think he gets a little annoyed at all the packages that come to our house on a daily basis.  I don't know what to tell him- I don't have time to shop in stores!  What else does he want me to do?

Among the packages were several things for A's birthday party.  They are so cute and I'm getting so excited about it!  I also had a couple of outfits and such I had ordered from Zulily, more hairbows and hairclips from Etsy, and birthday presents for my sister and my brother-and-law (whose birthdays are in just a few days!)

Sunday afternoon Allie, Anniston, and I had a baby shower to attend for one of our co-workers, Tasha.  She is having a boy and naming him Maddox Wesley.  It was fun and I'm glad we got to celebrate with her.

Sunday afternoon Brandon and I decided to get Anniston a convertible carseat.  She has really outgrown her infant one and it is getting almost too heavy for us to carry anyway.  I did some research and we decided to go with the Britax Marathon 70.  Lucky for us, I saw them at half off the retail price at the Bargain Hunt store Saturday.  We headed out there and then stopped by Babies R Us on the way home to make use of the stash of coupons we had been collecting.

We had a great weekend and hopefully this week won't be as long as I think it will.  I'm looking forward to Thursday- my one day off this week and Anniston's 9 month check up!  Let's hope these next three days go by fast!

Let Freedom Ring

Happy Freedom Day!

It's so nice to have today off with Anniston and Brandon (us pharmacists don't always get the 4th off).    After spending my all weekend with Anniston, I really missed her Monday and Tuesday.  More so than usual.  I am so happy today to spend all day playing with her!

We have a fun day planned.  Later today we are going to Brandon's sister's house for a fun July 4th get together.  Later tonight, if all goes as planned, Allie and I are going to try to have a little "girl time" and catch a movie.

I was thinking last night how much has changed in my life since last July 4th.  I remember Brandon and I waking up early last year for breakfast at Panera before heading out to some neighboorhood yard sales.  We were looking for baby things. I was about 6 months pregnant at the time. Then we had to drive across the river to Arkansas so Brandon could buy some fireworks for later that night.  I could care less about store bought fireworks but I let B have his fun because he loves to shoot fireworks.

That afternoon Allie came over to help me work on some projects for the nursery.  We went to Hobby Lobby for supplies to make the hanging flower balls and the yarn wrapped letter "A" that now hangs in Anniston's nursery.  That night we went out to Brandon's mom's house for a cookout and to watch the Collierville fireworks.  I remember thinking to myself how much things would be different on July 4th next year.  Well, here it is a year later and things are definitely different!  It's hard to believe how much your life can change in a year.

We are going to have so much fun this year.  I feel so blessed to have such an awesome husband and sweet, beautiful, healthy little girl to spend this day with.  Here are a couple of festive pictures I snapped the other day!  Sorry for the picture overload but I'm sure we will have more from later today!