Fall is Here!

I LOVE the fall. It is my absolute favorite season. The leaves are turning colors, the weather is cool and breezy, and there are scents of apple cider and pumpkin spice everywhere.

Fall always brings back some great memories for me.

For starters, fall is a reminder that football is HERE! I LOVE football season! I was a football cheerleader in high school and some of my best memories are during football season. "Football Friday's" were my favorite. We got to wear our cheerleading uniforms to school and sometimes we would get out of school early for a pep rally. I can still remember dancing and cheering along with the band for all those Friday night games. Ahhh, good times.

Sorry for the terrible quality of these pics- they had to be scanned in because that's how ancient they are!  And NO laughing at my hair...

These are of me and my co-captain- Senior year

Fall is also when I chose to have my wedding. I wanted fall colors incorporated into my wedding decor, so we chose to have our wedding on September 1st, 2007. Early fall, but still! Fall reminds me the craziness of the last minute wedding preparations, our honeymoon, and coming back home as a newly married couple!

 
Fall means it is back to school! I think I must be a complete dork but I love back to school time! I can just smell the freshly sharpened pencils in the air! Ha ha! I loved going on our annual "back-to-school clothes" shopping trips with my mom, my sister, and my grandmother when I was younger. I would get so excited over all my new outfits and couldn't wait to wear them to school. I also loved buying school supplies- fun pens and pencils, a new backpack, and cool folders and Trapper Keepers! I loved organizing all my folders for each different class. I'm telling you people- I could have been a professional student, easily!

Fall clothes are my favorite clothes to buy. My favorite outfit is a chunky sweater, jeans or leggings, and some cute boots. Oh, how I love me some boots! I am itching to start wearing my boots this year!

A few other random things I love about fall: pumpkin patches, watching Hocus Pocus during Halloween, hayrides, bonfires, s'mores, apple cider....the list goes on and on.

And, more recently, fall reminds me of giving birth to my precious baby girl, Anniston Ruth. September will always remind me of buying last minute baby items, having baby showers, and getting my hospital bag packed. October and November will always bring back memories of holding my teeny tiny baby in my arms, panicking over something that I wasn't sure about, having many sleepless nights, and just being a "new mother" and experiencing all the things that go along with that!

I'm looking forward to this year's fall. I hope we can make some wonderful new memories this year!

Birthday Fun

This was a weekend filled with birthday parties! We had two to attend- my friend Emily's daughter, Olivia turned 3 and had a huge bash at our local Little Gym.

I so wish I had pics to post from Anniston's first "little kids" birthday party.  Unfortunately, I was so busy tending to her and chasing her around I just didn't have the energy or time!  She had a blast!  Anniston loves little kids and she had so much fun watching them run and jump around.  When they blew up the big air mattress thingy for the kids to jump on Anniston started bouncing up and down too!  She smiled and waved at all the kids.  I hope she stays this friendly.  Once the kids when in to eat their cupcakes and ice cream I let Anniston walk around and play some.  I was too scared she was going to get run over by the crazy and hyper kids so I made her stay out of the way while they were playing.  She did so good to sit in my lap and just watch them play.  I love my sweet girl!

Tonight we celebrated Brandon's 35th birthday with his family.  His actual birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we all got together tonight and went to eat at Caraba's restaurant.  Anniston looked so cute in one of her new Tea Collection dresses.  She was her usual friendly, outgoing self tonight.  She waved at everyone around the table and then some people that were sitting close by us. She was really good for quite a few people wanting to hold her and pass her around.  She is always a little clingy to me at first but once she warms up to everyone she is super friendly and will let most anyone hold her.

Sorry for the tiny pictures- these were all with my phone and are blurry when I make them bigger.  Next time I will have to remember to use Instagram!

I'm trying to get her to use her sippy cup by herself- she can do it, but seems to always want me to hold it for her.  Tonight when she got thirsty, she would take her sippy cup and and open up my hand and put it in there.  It was really cute and hopefully she will get to where she does it by herself!

We also took a family trip out to Collierville on Saturday for some shopping.  We went to one of my absolute favorite stores- Itty Bitty Bella.  They have just started to carry Persnickety clothing and once I saw that I knew I was in trouble.  I LOVE their clothing!  They clothes are super expensive but the girly, vintage look is just so darn cute!  I ended up with a dress from Persnickety and these little boots from Livie and Luca:

I also bought these cute little shoes:

The rest of the weekend we just hung out around the house, letting Anniston play, washing clothes, cleaning up a bit, etc.  A great weekend in my book!

Today We:

-went to the pediatrician.  It seems we have been there almost every week for the past 4 weeks.  We are having a hard time getting this ear infection to go away.  Thankfully, the tubes seem to not make her ears hurt her as bad so she hasn't been too fussy.

-put on a performance at the pediatrician's office.  Seriously- she was hamming it up to everyone in the waiting room.  She was walking all around, giggling, and stopping in front of people to wave at them.  I chased her all over the place- which she loves- so that only made her laugh harder and walk faster.  My morning workout was complete...

-went to Target for a gift for a birthday party we are attending Saturday.  I figured if Anniston saw something she wanted, we would be walking away with a toy of our own, but she was too busy dancing and bouncing up and down to the music coming from the electronic department to really have much interest in the toys around her!  Seriously, this girl loves to dance!

-met Aunt Allie for lunch.  We ate at a Mexican place so I was a little limited on foods to feed Anniston.  We gave her some avocado (which she's had before and LOVES) and tried some black beans for the first time.  She was all about the black beans!  We had to cut her off because it was time for us to leave.  This girl can also put away some food!

-played outside in the grass.  It was such a beautiful day today so we just had to get outside.  Allie and I pushed her around on her little car and let her walk around in our front yard.  She had a lot of fun getting outside!

-played inside some.  Her new favorite game to play is to pretend she's giving you an object only to jerk it away from you once you reach your hand out to take it.  Then she erupts in a fit of giggles.  We played this game for at least 20 minutes.  She also has two new favorite books that she loves for me read over, and over, and over!  One is a little shapes book and the other is a farm animals book.  She loves it when I make the sounds of all the animals in the book.  I say "The End" when I finish and then hand the book back over to her.  She takes it and looks at it for a minute and then hands it right back to me to read again.  I think we broke a record today of about 6 times straight!

I had the best day hanging out with Allie and my baby girl.  It's nice to push my To Do list to the side for a day and fully focus on some quality time with her.  Here are some pics from our day:

Playing outside:

Play time after bath:

Anniston is 11 Months!

Anniston,

I don't feel as if you are my little baby anymore!  Instead, you are a mini person, talking and walking all over the place!  You are so entertaining these days.  I think you know you are pretty much the center of attention at all times and you like to ham it up!  You have such a sweet personality and I feel so blessed to have you.

This past month you have really taken off- literally!  You walk all over the place now.  You have such good balance and pretty much walk all the way from the den to your bedroom!  You have learned how to squat without sitting down and are able to just stand right back up!  We've had to invest in some baby gates because you like to go from room to room- walking and talking!

Aunt Allie and I went to get you your first real pair of shoes.  I was a little worried you wouldn't like them because you have grown accustomed to walking barefoot.  I guess you take after your Mommy because you love shoes!  You were walking around the shoe store picking out your favorites:)

You have learned new sounds and words this past month.  My personal favorite- "Mama."  The other night, you were tired and hungry so I gave you to Daddy so I could prepare your bottle.  You started crying and yelled out "Mama" as I was walking away.  It broke my heart in pieces!  That was probably the most distinctive time you have said my name to date.

I've had to rearrange several drawers and cabinets to satisfy your curiosity.  You love to open a drawer and pull out all it's contents.  The bathroom looks like a tornado hit it every morning after I finish getting ready for work.  You also love the tupperware drawer in the kitchen and your cabinet that holds all your food, bowls, and spoons.  You can pretty much pull everything out of there in 30 seconds flat.

You love to share your toys with people.  As you are pulling things out of your toy box or a drawer, you like to hand each item to me.  I say "Thank you for sharing that with me" and you smile really big.  You also like to share your puffs with me and Daddy.  It is so sweet.  Once, you tried to give me your pacifier, in which case I politely decline:)

You love to eat table food!  Any time Dad and I are eating you have to have a bite of it!  One time I was eating something I didn't want you to have and you plopped down on the floor in front of me and starting crying because I wouldn't give you any.  That was the first time I have seen you throw a little temper tantrum when you didn't get what you wanted.

You have slimmed down so much since you have started walking.  You weigh about 22 lbs and are 27 inches tall.  You are still wearing 12 month clothes and some 18 month clothes.  You are still in a size 3 diaper.

You take 4 bottles a day at breakfast, mid-morning, afternoon, and night.  We feed you either baby food or table food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Sometimes I will give you puffs for a snack- which you LOVE.  The banana and apple flavored ones are your favorite.

I can see the beginnings of your top front teeth making their way in!  Hopefully it won't be too much longer!

Your sleeping has been so good this past month.  Many mornings you have slept until 6 or 6:30 and one morning you slept until 7 am!  It was a miracle!  Mostly you still wake up once during the night but there have been several times you have slept 9 or 10 hours straight!

I am the luckiest Mommy in the world because you are my daughter.  You have such a sweet, loving personality and I honestly don't think God could have given me anyone better than you!  I love you so, so much Annie Ruth!

Happy 11 months baby girl!

Love,
Mommy

What's Been Going On...

This post will be random and choppy because I have so many different things to talk about.  For starters, I have been super busy (as always) but that's not the main reason why I haven't blogged in awhile.  The real reason?  We have been without cable and internet for 10 DAYS!!!

I mean seriously- how do you function when this happens?  And why is this the SECOND time this has happened to us in the last couple of months?  And why does it take Comcast 10 DAYS to get out here and fix it?

Because they are idiots, that's why.

I will spare you the horrible details of our many, many interactions with Comcast over the last several days.  They have probably red flagged us in their system.  Let's just say this:  Start of college football season + no cable= VERY cranky husband.  I almost felt sorry for the Comcast people that had to speak to him on the phone.  But then I thought about not being able to shop/blog/etc because of no internet (for 10 days!!)  and I quickly lost all sympathy for them.

Anyhoo- now that we are back in business our lives can return to normal.  Brandon is watching a soccer game, I am blogging, and all is right with the world again:)

In all seriousness, we didn't really miss it for the first couple of days.  Anniston has been keeping us so busy and we got a lot of things done around the house.  Then 5 days went by and then it became a different story...

Brandon and I went to stay a night in Tunica a couple of weekends ago and my parents came in town to stay with Anniston and Ruby.  We had a great time.  We shopped at some outlets, ate some great food, watched some football, and slept, slept, slept!  It was glorious.

To say that Anniston has been keeping us busy is quite an understatement.  She is walking all over the place now!  She's walking so well and loves to go from room to room, taking stuff out of drawers, pulling things off of shelves, etc.  She can have a room torn up in a matter of seconds!  I'm so proud of her walking!  Allie and I went and got her first pair of walking shoes.  They look so cute on her and  I think she likes them!

The invitations for her 1 year birthday party have been sent, the photographer has been booked, and our doorstep has a package of party supplies on it almost every day.  Things are really coming together.  I absolutely cannot wait!!!

We invited my family down this past Sunday for a little get together.  We were going to watch football and have snacks but that football thing didn't quite work out because of the Comcast idiots.  We had a good time playing with Annison and eating yummy snacks anyways!

I have so many pictures I've taken over the last couple of weeks but I'll try to only post a few...

Anniston in her new shoes...

Playing in her nursery...

Riding her new toy that Poppy and Kay Kay brought her...

Walking around at our family get-together this past Sunday...

Being extra cute for her Aunt Allie to snap a picture...

Allie and I this past Sunday...