Scary Stuff

I'm catching up on things today since, #1- it's my day off, and #2- I've not been feeling so great over the past couple of days.  I worked this past weekend, and on Saturday I noticed my foot starting to hurt.  Sometimes, it hurt so bad that I had to walk with a limp!  When I got home that night, Brandon and I inspected it.  Turns out, two of my toes had swollen up and were bright red. We also noticed a tiny puncture wound/marking right in the crevice between those 2 toes.  Obviously, I had gotten bit by something.  No big deal, right?

On Sunday morning, my toes were swollen even more and it hurt even worse to walk.  We have a clinic inside my store at work, so I thought I would get to work early and have them check it out.
The NP confirmed my suspicions that she thought I had been bitten by something, but thankfully she said it didn't look like a brown recluse bite.  Whew.  She started me on an antibiotic just in case it was anything poisonous.  Later that afternoon, I started feeling really bad, with chills and muscle aches.  I walked back over there and had them check my temp.  Sure enough, I was running a fever.  I felt bad the rest of the night.  Yesterday morning was better, until I got really nauseous on my way to work and then got sick as soon as I walked in.  I was getting a little scared at this point.  Messing around with a bite mark that you don't know what it's from is serious business!  Especially when you have fever, nausea, vomiting, and muscle aches.  I knew that the antibiotic would cover me in this case, but I was still scared!  I ran fever again most all of yesterday at work and sat with our little space heater directly on me. Then I started getting pains all down the leg of the bite mark.  It was horrible!

Luckily, I started feeling better last night and have felt pretty good today- almost completely better!  Thank goodness!  I've heard so many horror stories about people being bitten by stuff and having to be hospitalized that it scared me!  If I had not felt better today, I was going to have to go in for some blood work next.  I'm just glad it was me and not Anniston!

I'm so glad I felt better today because I got to spend all day with my sweet girl!  We had such a fun day, too!  We hit up Home Depot this morning for some paint samples.  Annie enjoyed "painting" the shopping cart with a paint brush while we waited for our paint to be mixed.  Then I took her up to Kid's Play since it was toddler day.  She had a blast, as always.

About 10 minutes before I was about to tell her it was time to leave, she came up to me and said, "Mommy- I hungry!"  That's really the first time she's told me that all on her own without any prompting from me.  Since she was hungry and I told her we would go get some lunch, she didn't fuss when when we left.  I'm guessing she was thinking about the food!

While waiting on our food at one of our favorite lunch places, Newk's, she practiced her silly faces that she just learned how to do.  This is one of her best ones:

Later, after nap, we ran up to Target to get a few things and then Allie came over.  She loved getting to play with Allie!  Before bed, we read a book and watched her new favorite cartoon- Caillou.  It comes on the Sprout channel, and for some reason she LOVES this show.  I will admit, it is a good show for her age right now.  She sat in my lap and stroked my hair while she got sleepy.  I hugged her tight and asked her if she had fun today.  She responded by shaking her head yes and then threw her arms around my neck.  I'm SO thankful I felt better today so I could have this day with her!

Back to School Prepping

I cannot believe that summer is almost over.  Anniston has less than 2 weeks before she starts at her new daycare.  I absolutely love back to school time- does that make me weird?  It means that fall is right around the corner, catalogs are previewing their new fall lines, and it means back to school shopping time!  One of my favorite memories growing up was when me, my mom, Allie, and my grandmother would go on our "back to school" shopping trip.  We would make an entire day of it and get all sorts of new fall clothes and shoes for school.  We used to have so much fun and I always couldn't wait to wear all my new clothes to school.  I hope to start the same tradition with Annie once she gets old enough.

We went by Anniston's new school today to drop off some paperwork.  This was the first time Anniston has been and she seemed to love it!  She took Allie's hand and led her into any empty classroom full of fun toys so she could play while I talked to the director.  Then we walked over to where the kids were watching a magic show so we could meet her new teacher.  Anniston loved the magic show (the magician had a bird) and almost didn't want to leave.  She is going to have so much fun here.  One thing I love about this school is that they have so many activities, both during the day for the kids and outside of school for the parents and kids.  I already have marked on my calendar the dates for the back to school picnic, the fall carnival, the mommy and muffins day, and the Christmas program.

I'm probably going to be that annoying parent that went overboard on the back to school essentials.  I have her 2 new lunch totes, a new backpack, personalized labels for everything, and I'm currently on the search for her a new blanket for nap time.  I love the new lunch accessories I bought for her too.  I went with laptoplunches.com for the bento style lunch containers.  Although we haven't used it yet, I absolutely love the product!  I bought extra containers so I can use different configurations, depending on what I pack for her.  Some of the containers are microwave and dishwasher safe, and it also comes with it's own set of little silverware.  This is the set I bought for Annie:

I also bought these special write on labels so I can label what needs to be refrigerated and microwaved. You can write on these with a dry erase marker and reuse!  Super excited about these!

These are the regular, dishwasher-safe labels I got off Etsy.  This pack even has some to put on the inside of her shoes!

via Sticky Monkey Labels

We have an open house to attend week after next to meet the other kids in the class and the teacher, so that should be fun!  I'm sure you will hear more about the new daycare and the fun events we will be attending once Anniston starts!  For now, we are enjoying these last couple of weeks, relaxing and playing around the house because it's about to get BUSY- but a good kind of busy:)

Weekend Happenings

We didn't get too crazy around here this weekend- we mostly just hung out around the house and spent time together just the 3 of us.  I've got a crazy week at work, so it was nice to not have too much planned.

We ran some errands around town Saturday morning- the hardware store to pick out some paint samples, the pool store to look at floats, and Five Guys for some yummy burgers and fries.

We picked up several paint samples in what I thought would be some good neutral grays or "greige" as some people say.  We have lots of rooms that we want to paint in our house and I'm starting with the entryway and living room. Once we got home and I put them on the walls they turned out to be waaaaay too blue.  Frustrating.  None of the chips looked blue-gray in the store.  I guess I'll go back to the store to try again.

Later that afternoon, Annie and I went grocery shopping.  I have to say, I'm so proud of myself for going to the actual grocery store more.  Anyone who knows me knows I HATE grocery shopping- I will go to Target and buy all that I can from there and then send Brandon to the grocery for anything I can't buy at Target.  Lately I've been doing much better about going.  Probably because I'm cooking more (yet another thing I'm quite proud of myself for!)  I've been meal planning, cooking things to freeze, and grocery shopping!  Wow- I'm almost like a normal person!  It helps that Anniston LOVES the grocery store.  We enter right into the produce section and she loves seeing all the fresh fruit (she LOVES fruit.)  I did find out that I will never, ever go to the grocery store during the day.  I usually go bright and early when no one is there.  I get so irritated having to maneuver my cart around inconsiderate people, off in their own world and not paying attention to anyone around them.  This is why I never went in the first place.  Well that, and the fact that there is nothing "fun" to buy.  At least at Target you can browse fun stuff in the same trip you get your food.

We went out to dinner later that evening and then called it a night.  I was really bad at getting pictures this weekend, so that's why I don't have many to share.

Sunday morning we took Ruby and Anniston to the park.  We let Ruby run free all over the place, did some swinging, sliding, and A LOT of walking.  We were tired and sweaty after about an hour and came home to eat a Popsicle.

After lunch, I turned on Yo Gabba Gabba for Annie to watch while I cleaned up the kitchen.  I found her 15 min later like this:

I tried to put her in her crib to finish out her nap, but that didn't go as planned, so she barely napped for the day.

After finding B's phone at the bottom of the pool Sunday morning, we had to make a trip to the AT&T store to see about getting him a new phone.  Rice was a no-go- probably since it had been sitting in chlorine all night long.  My mom and dad were in town, so they stopped by to play with Annie and B and I headed to the store.  Luckily, it didn't cost him much for a new one and he walked out with a new waterproof otter box phone case.  Wise choice.

I also cooked some hot dog corn muffins for Annie to try out this week:

Pretty fancy, eh?

Oh, and Annie became an official All-American climber this weekend.  She can climb up on our bed by herself now.  She wanted up on the bed (to jump, of course) and I said no.  5 minutes later, I hear, "I did it, I did it!"  I turned around and she is jumping on the bed.  Holy cow, I almost had a heart attack.  She also hiked her leg over her crib for the first time and attempted to climb out.  I also found her standing on her bench trying to look at the pictures that are hanging above it.  She's all over everything!!!  Let's hope we make it past this stage without any major falls!

That's enough rambling from me about our non-exciting weekend!  It might have been low-key and boring, but that's exactly what we needed!  It was great.  Happy Monday!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Linking up today for What I'm Loving Wednesday!


one.  It's nearing back to school time, my friends!  Even though Annie isn't "technically" in school, she will be starting a new daycare in August.  I've been having so much fun preparing.
Check out the super cute new backpack I got her.  I ordered a matching lunchbox, too, but it hasn't come in yet.  

two.  It's consignment season!  Although I've technically only been to one consignment sale (and I only shopped, I didn't consign), I'm going all in on the Sweet Repeats sale coming up this fall.  This sale only takes and sells high end brands and I've already started sorting through Annie's clothes and getting them ready.  I'm hoping to score some super cute Janie and Jack, Tea, and Matilda Jane stuff!

three.  I've currently been on the hunt for some cute artwork/prints to jazz up my bathrooms and I've scored big on Etsy!  I recently ordered this print for my guest bathroom that's off of the playroom.  The only difference is that mine is a different font and done in navy, since I'm going with navy and mustard yellow in my bathroom.  

via AldariArt

I also order this one for my downstairs guest bathroom. Obviously, it's done with our monogram. It sits in a frame on my floating shelves.  I LOVE the sleek, modern look of these typography prints!

via Gathered Nest Designs

four. I love how Anniston has started asking questions here lately.  It's really cute.  She will ask "What's that?" and point to all kinds of random objects.  Over and over.  And over.  Her new favorite question is, "Mommy, what doin'?"  Then when I tell her what I'm doing she will chuckle and say, "Yeah, ok."  And she won't stop at that one.  She will ask what I'm doing (while I'm still doing whatever I was doing 5 minutes ago) over and over.  It's just too cute to be annoying.  I love my little girl!

That's all I have for today.  Annie and I are lounging around the house today with the sniffles, so we are going to rest up!  Happy Wednesday!

Some Days Off + Annie Meets Dora

I took a personal day this past Thursday, so that along with my regular scheduled 3 day weekend gave me a little mini vacation.  I have so enjoyed spending the days with my sweet girl.  I feel like summer is going by so fast and I want Anniston to get to enjoy it before the cold days of fall and winter set in.

Thursday morning Allie and I dressed Annie up and headed down to the Collierville Square for another one of our "themed" photo shoots.  I cannot express how much I love that my sister is a photographer.  I have so many sweet photos of Anniston and our family because of her.  Pictures of the shoot will be coming soon!  I think it turned out really cute!

Afterwards, we took Anniston to Kid's Play here in Germantown.  It was our first time going and Annie loved it! They have toddler days on Tuesdays and Thursdays so it was nice not to have to worry about any big kids running over her.

Friday morning was spent swimming and running errands.  I quickly found out that Anniston would much rather have her Daddy in the pool with her than me.  She did ok, but she is much more adventurous and not as timid when he is there with her.  We still had fun though.  We cleaned up and headed to Hobby Lobby afterwards to pick up a print that I had framed.  I scored this fabulous piece of art at my work's new store grand opening back in March.  A local artist was there giving away signed prints of his work.  I love that it's of Memphis and the colors work perfectly in our playroom.  I waited until Hobby Lobby was doing 50% off custom framing so it didn't cost me much money.

Friday night we had tickets to the special character dinner at Kid's Play.  Every month they do a different character and this month was Dora.  I was beyond excited to take Anniston!  We had a couple of friends and their kids going too, so it was really fun for us, too.  I think Annie had the best time playing with all the kids.  When Dora first came out she stared at her and said "wow."   I pointed at her backpack and Annie replied by pointing to it and saying "There's map!"  (She had the map stuck into her backpack.) All the kids got to go up and meet her and have their picture taken with her.  When it was our turn, Annie didn't want me to put her down, so I ended up holding her for her picture.  She buried her head in my neck but would peek out occasionally to look at Dora.  She never cried but sometimes characters dressed all out can be a little overwhelming.  After that, we got to eat pizza and watch the kids play.  Annie wore herself out!  We got to take some balloons home, which she loved.  She called them "boons" and was intent on holding them all the way home.

Saturday morning all 3 of us got out in the pool.  Anniston did so much better since Brandon was out there with us.  I think she must really feel safe and secure with him- which is a great thing!  Later that night, Brandon and I enjoyed a date night while Annie went to spend some time with Bebe and Papa.

Sunday morning we went to church.  This was the first time we left Anniston in the church nursery and it was a little traumatic.  She did fine when we dropped her off but was having a major breakdown when we went back to get her.  The service ran late, which I didn't realize until after the sermon was over.  It was past time for her lunch (I had her snacks packed, though) and it was nearing her naptime.  This church doesn't have an early service, or we definitely would have gone to that one!  The nursery workers were different than the ones that were there when I dropped her off (and told that she had snacks in her bag.)  They said she had been playing really well until about 5 minutes before we came back.  She was sobbing and looked so pitiful.  She clung to me and continued sobbing into my chest.  I was so upset- I was fighting to hold back tears, too, but I didn't want to upset her more.  When we walked outside, I asked her if she was hungry and she said, "Mommy hungry" in the most pitiful little voice.  I checked her bag when we got in the care and all of her snacks were left untouched.  Granted, she can go 1.5 hours without a snack, but not when it's nearing or past her lunchtime.  She was stuffing crackers in her mouth the entire way home.  I felt like the worst mother ever.  She was fine by the time we got home, but it took me longer.  I think I was just as traumatized!  Lesson learned going forward!

Here is her walking into church:

Sunday afternoon my parents came in town to swim with us and Anniston.  We all had a really fun time hanging out by the pool.

It's back to work today but I'm so glad I got so much time off work to hang out with my family!

Five on Friday

one.  I have officially picked a theme for Anniston's 2nd birthday party!  If you know me at all, you know I am NOT a procrastinator.  I love starting early, so that I don't feel pressured to get things done and I can sit and think on ideas over the next few months.  I'm really going to try to keep it simple and not go all out.  But sometimes that's so hard because I LOVE planning her birthday parties!  I'm not going to reveal the theme just yet- but here's a sneak peak!!!

two.  My bathroom shade is up!  Yay!  I love the look of a roman shade and I'm so happy with the fabric!  Pics of my finished guest bath coming soon!

three.  Allie and I took Anniston to Kid's Play for the first time yesterday and oh my did we have fun!  It's toddler day on Tuesdays and Thursdays so the other kids there were about Anniston's size and age.  They have 2 bouncy house things, a little train set, and plenty of other toddler-friendly toys.  I was so proud of my little girl!  She played so well with everyone and wasn't intimidated by some of the other "bigger" boys that were there playing where she was.  She just jumped right in.  It was a blast and a great way to entertain her on my days off when it's way too hot to play outside.

It was hard to get a clear pic because she was moving so fast:(

four.  How fun is this Mickey Mouse cookie cutter I bought on Amazon?  I'm hoping the fun shape will be perfect to cut out her sandwiches that I send for her lunch to her new daycare!

five.  Let me tell you- my child knows how to pout when she doesn't get her way.  Is this not the saddest face ever??  She was tired and hungry and wanted her paci- which I didn't give her because I'm trying to only give it to her at night.  She mostly does really well but this time she broke out the sad face on me:(

Linking up today with Natasha and the other girls!

My Sassy Look

Recently, Allie and I had a little photo shoot downtown- but instead of Anniston being the subject, this time I was!  I have to admit, it was pretty fun to get all fixed up and put on my "sassy" look.

4th of July Festivities

I was lucky to get 4th of July off this year.  It doesn't work out that way every year, but I'm glad it did this year!  We had Brandon's entire family over for some barbeque and pool time.

Note:  I apologize ahead of time for the picture overload!

To start, let's compare last year's 4th to this year.  Look how much my baby has grown up.  Sniff sniff:(

Here is Annie posing before everyone arrived:

I wanted to make it super easy on myself, so we catered out from a local BBQ shop.  Brandon's nieces had so much fun swimming and practicing their diving, and Anniston had a blast watching them.


I did attempt to be a little festive even though I barely cooked anything:

I apologize for some bad/blurry pics.  Snap and go is all you got time for sometimes!

Mimi and all her grandkids.

 

 

Annie posing in her swimsuit.

 

 



Annie and "Bebe"

 

 Annie shooting some hoops with Daddy and Neely.

 

Great food, great family, great time!





All About Annie- 20 months

Anniston is doing so many new things and growing up so fast that I thought it would be fun to do a post all about her at 20 months.  Kind of like the monthly updates I used to do. These are just little things that I've thought of that I want to document so here goes some major randomness along with some photos I've thrown in the mix. 

--  Annie has started saying "morning" when I go get her from her crib every morning when she wakes.  Half the time I don't even say it first.  It is the sweetest sound in the world.

--  She LOVES Dora the Explorer right now.  She has this huge purple backpack (that's more like a suitcase) that she drags around everywhere saying "Ba-pa" for "backpack."  She gets this from Dora when they sing the backpack song.  I took her to Target a couple of weeks ago to see if they had any backpacks that were more her size.  Lucky us, they had a Dora backpack.  She has carried that thing around with her everywhere, filling it with books, toys, you name it.  We went to eat at Chick-fil-A after our Target trip and she insisted that her backpack be right beside her while she ate. 

She also loves to put her backpack on when Dora does:

--  One of our favorite games to play is "tickle Daddy."  We wiggle our fingers and creep up to Daddy saying "We're going to get you!" and then we tickle him to death.  Of course, he fake laughs and goes along with it, which Anniston thinks is the funniest thing. 

--  Anniston can recognize and say about 80% of her letters, including W, F, P, K, B, R.  "R" is her favorite.  I think she likes to say it.  She will even go up to words that she sees written out and identify the ones she knows.  We work on them a lot, especially at bath time because she has those foam letters that stick to the tile. 

-- We are trying to work on colors too.  She's not so good at those yet.  It's really funny, because every week everything will be a different color.  For the longest time, everything was purple.  Now everything is green.  Sometimes she doesn't want to work on her colors and will shake her head vigorously  and say "no, no, no."  I think she gets frustrated because she doesn't know them and she doesn't like that.  Unfortunately, she is going to be exactly like me in that aspect.  I always hated not knowing or learning things quickly in school. 

-- Anniston said "I love you" for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  A little hard to understand, but I know what she's saying.  She will say it and then throw her arms around me neck.

-- Every night before bed, Annie and I go upstairs to her room and rock before bed.  I sometimes read her a story, sing to her, or just talk about the day.  When she starts to get sleepy, she will sling one arm up around me neck and want us to just cuddle cheek to cheek.  Literally.  If I try to pull back a bit (sometimes I think she will suffocate!) she only tightens her hold on me even more.  I sit there and just think about how lucky I am and how I want to remember this forever.

-- She has really started to reach her terrible two "tantrums" in some ways.  When she gets mad or frustrated about something, she will fake cry and scrunch her nose up.  Girl can really scrunch that nose up, too.  I took a picture just to prove it:

 
-- She also loves, loves, loves the "animal" song right now.  Old McDonald is what normal people call it.  She loves for us to choose the animal and then she will say what sound it makes.  Over and over and over we sing this song to her.  If I try to sing a different one, she will just interrupt me chanting "animals, animals."  Whew, I am ready for that phase to be over with:)

-- Miss Annie is SO girly.  She loves to sit at her little princess vanity and brush her hair, she loves to wear bracelets and necklaces, and she loves shoes!  One day, I was filing my nails and she was just itching to have my nail file.  I finally went and got another one for her and she came and sat down right beside me and started filing her nails, too.  Well, sort of.  She was trying, anyway. 

I love my baby girl so much and the times just keep getting better as she gets older. 

Thank you, Allie, for this picture:)  I love it!

Girls Day + Weekend Stuff

Brandon has been in and out of town for most of this past week, so Annie and I have had lots of girl time!  Last Wednesday night, Allie came over and we decided to try to watch our first Disney movie (well, Anniston's first Disney movie.)  The pick?  Tangled.  Fitting if you know my daughter at all.  The girl is seriously obsessed with hair.  When Rapunzel let down her hair for the first time, Anniston was mesmerized.  We didn't make it through the entire movie, but she did watch a good bit of it. 

Brandon was back in town Friday and we went to his sister's 40th birthday party after work.  We totally shot the bedroom routine but it was worth it because we were all having so much fun.  Anniston even slept a little later Saturday morning and took a good 3 hour nap to compensate!

Brandon woke up at the crack of dawn to head to Jackson to go fishing with my dad.  A bunch of his college buddies were all meeting up in Jackson later that day for a little reunion so he was away for the rest of the day and night.  Anniston and I found plenty to do though!  We headed out that morning to Home Depot for paint samples (hopefully the kitchen will get painted in the near future!), Target, and a little shoe store for her some "back to school" shoes.  I know, I'm starting early but my friend told me about these shoes and how great they were to play outside in.  Sometimes her sandals aren't the best for that.  Anniston LOVED them!  She insisted on wearing them out of the store and then preceded to check them out all the way to the car!

After a quick lunch at Newk's we headed home for her blessed 3 hour nap!

After nap, I told her we were going to the "teddy bear store" AKA Build A Bear.  She had so much fun picking out her bear and hated when it was time to go:(

Then we went to Baby Gap because they were having 50% off all their shorts.  Anniston is already such a little shopper.  She sat in her stroller, sipping on her water, and when I held up 2 clothing choices and asked her which she liked best, she would point to the one she wanted.  We make a great team:)

To kill time before dinner, we walked over to Barnes and Noble.  She had the best time looking at all the books (she LOVES books), playing with the train set, and walking around on the little stage they had set up in the children's area.

We ate a quick dinner and headed home.  We were both exhausted from our full day!  It was so much fun spending the entire day together just us two.

Sunday morning my parents came into town to spend some time with Anniston and help me with a few things around the house.  Poppy (aka my Dad) hadn't seen her in awhile and she was so happy
when she saw him get out of the car.

Waiting on Poppy and Kay Kay.  Sorry for the bad iPhone pic:(  Doesn't she look so grown up here??0

They did a little swinging outside, played on her playground, and took her to Yolo's that afternoon.  I, in the meantime, got my bathroom shade and my bathroom shelves hung up, organized the playroom a little, and did other little jobs around the house to prepare for our party for the 4th.

AND I still have one more day off work to have fun with my sweet baby girl!