The World is a Playground

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

2012-01-24T08:03:00.000-06:00

The day is here. The day that is 365 days after the day our lives changed forever in the best way possible, and that our hearts grew more than we ever imagined they could. I can remember the day vividly, and I hope I always will. I never want to forget the moment I first saw you, the moment I looked at your daddy when he said "It's a girl!", or the moment you were placed in my arms.

I still am in disbelief that everything went to plan. I went into labor on my due date. Labor progressed quickly and steadily. A perfect, beautiful, precious angel, baby Isabel was born at 8:03 am on January 24, 2011.

And now a whole year has passed us. 365 days of pure joy! 365 days that I have strived to soak up as much as I could! 365 days that came and went faster than even everyone told me they would! 365 days that have taught us more about ourselves and how to grow as a family. As much as I am a little sad that the those precious baby days are far behind us, you are so much fun and so full of life and curiosity that it is a blessing and an adventure to see what is to come!

Isabel, you are nothing less than amazing and perfect, and I hope you always know that. You make the hard days melt away with ear to ear smiles, belly laughs, squeals of excitement, morning cuddles, and wide open kisses.

Happy 1st Birthday Pumpkin!

If you'd like to join me in reminiscing how we got to this day you can go here!

Get This Party Started!!!

2012-01-23T20:22:00.000-06:00

Thank you to Aunt Jessie, Uncle Jeremy, Owen, and Cooper for kicking off Isabel's birthday celebration with a special delivery!

What a lucky little girl to get these AMAZING birthday balloons delivered tonight to kick off her 1st Birthday festivities!

We have a lot planned for our little princess this week in honor of her big milestone and I couldn't think of a better way to start!

Stay tuned for what's to come!

Forget Me Nots: Month 11

2012-01-05T22:12:00.000-06:00

Dear Isabel,

You are 11 months old, which meansin just one short month we will be celebrating your first birthday! To say I cannot believe it would be theunderstatement of the year!!!!!!

Sleep: Still taking two naps, but it is getting harder and harder to get thosetwo naps out of you! Butthankfully you consistently sleep through the night and go to bed rathereasily.

Feedings: You are getting picky with what you will eat. We have to hidethings in applesauce, butternut squash and sweet potato to get you to eatthem!

Diaper Size: Size 4

Development: You have both of your top teeth and I believe some more on theway!

You are a walkingmaniac! You walk here there andeverywhere all by yourself. Ithappened all at once it seems. Oneday you were just taking a few steps and then the next you were off on yourown! You also think you can run,but quickly realize you are not quite ready for that, and neither are mommy anddaddy!

You are finally holdingyour own bottle and sippy cup!

Stats Weight/Length: No appointment until next month!

Clothing Size: You are in 12 months clothes and some 18 months.

Favorite Moment this Month:

This month was fullof wonderful memories including celebrating your first Thanksgiving, decoratingfor Christmas, visiting Santa, watching you experience seeing the lights forthe first time, and opening Christmas presents! But my favorite moment has nothingto do with all of the celebrating we have been doing, but everything to do withyou and your sweet little heart! You have started giving hugs and kisses at your own will just becauseyou want them, and you fill my heart and soul every time you come in for a bigslobbery kiss or big, hold on tight, hug!

Other tidbits:

- GrandmaVal came to visit for Christmas and you got meet miss Eva. You thought seeing areal live baby was pretty awesome. I hope she didn’t mind you poking her with excitement!

- LikeI mentioned before you met Santa for the first time, saw Christmas lights, andare a walker.

- Youcelebrated Christmas Eve on your 11month birthday.

- Youtake your baby Giraffe with you everywhere.

- Youlove pulling all of the clothes out of your hamper.

- Youlove opening and closing doors and drawers.

- Youare such a jabberer. I wish I knewwhat you were saying!

Wehad a wonderful 11^th month and I absolutely, positively, CANNOT wrapmy mind around the fact that I am planning your first birthday party!!!!

First Christmas!

2012-01-03T22:17:00.000-06:00

Christmas Day was such a memorable day! It truly was a magical experience watching Isabel Christmas morning! I was able to capture her first glance at the tree in the morning as she looked up at it and wondered just what exactly we were up to with all of those boxes underneath! Watching her open presents and have pure joy and excitement over a baby doll and looking at herself in the mirror of her new toy that I just knew she HAD to have was unforgettable!

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Linley Christmas! By this time, Isabel had the hang of opening presents, but she never got tired of seeing a new baby hiding beneath the paper! She gasped with excitement every time!

We attempted to capture Cooper and Isabel together on their 1st Christmas, but Cooper was the only one willing to cooperate....notice his name is in COOPERate...maybe this is a sign of how cooperative and easy going he will always be!

Then we did a little more wishful thinking and tried to get all three Linley kiddos in a pic...ha!

All smiles...now if we could just get them to all look the same direction!

Owen making his break, as Isabel ponders hers, and Cooper tries to convince them to not leave him behind!

As quickly as it came, Christmas day was gone, but we still had one more Linley celebration to look forward to...

Christmas Highlights

2012-01-03T21:44:00.000-06:00

I have soooooooooooooooo been slacking in the blogging world! I have to admit I have been just plain unmotivated which is sort of ironic since these past few weeks have been exciting and full of memories that need to be recorded! I suppose all of that memory making has made me exhausted, but nevertheless, it is time to get to posting! So here is brief recap of our Christmas festivities...

First up, Santa:

We had the pleasure of meeting Santa at our wonderful State Farm office. We had heard what a great experience is was from Jeremy and Jessie, and were thankful we got to take part in it this year! It really was the best case scenario for taking little ones to visit Santa. Isabel had the chance to watch Santa from afar a gradually get closer and just get to talk with him a little before it was time for the big photo op moment! When the time came, she was content for quite a few minutes before she decided she was ready to be done so we were lucky to get some decent photos and not the typical screaming and scared to death you see so often!

Then Christmas came early when my mom, Josiah, Nicole, and Evabell came to celebrate with us the week before Christmas. The weekend was over before we knew it, but it was a nice chance to get to spend the holidays together, meet little miss Eva, and share Isabel's first Christmas festivities with my mom.

Isabel thought Eva was pretty cool. She is not meant to be an only child ;)

And of course, she loves her cousin Sienna

Opening her very first Christmas present!

Then before we knew it, Christmas Eve was here and our lil princess was 11 months old!!!!!!!!

She had a blast spending time with my dad's side of the family and showing off her new walking skills!

Up next: Christmas Day!

Small Town Christmas Fun

2011-12-11T22:09:00.003-06:00

Well before Thanksgiving a saw a sign along Homer Adams Pkwy advertising the Carlinville Christmas Market. I thought it looked like something fun and different to do and I knew Jonnie had a customer there, so I convinced him it was a good idea to go! So the first Saturday of December, we packed the car to the max with Jonnie and I, Isabel, David, Alicia, Juan, and Diego to explore the small town of Carlinville! We stopped in Staunton for lunch at Cavataio's, which was tasty! Then it was off to the Market.

The weather was perfect! Chilly enough to remind you it was December, but mild enough to make being outside with little ones bearable! Carlinville is a pretty tiny town, and the market and festivities were equally as tiny! The gazebo in the center of the square was charming and very reminiscent of Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls. However, despite the smallness of it all, we did enjoy a carriage ride around the square, a trial visit to Santa, a stroll through the craft market, and a chance to hang out and get in the Christmas spirit with friends!

Here a few pics from our day!

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-11T22:09:00.001-06:00

It has been our Christmas tradition (carried over from my childhood tradition) to set up the Christmas tree and go into full Christmas mode the day after Thanksgiving. This year was no different, except for the fact we had Isabel to share it with!

We are not really Black Friday shoppers, so we slept in until Isabel was ready to start the day. THen we we went out to St. Peter's hardware, where we were sure we wouldn't encounter any Black Friday craziness to get a Christmas tree for the basement. Little did we know, they were selling like hotcakes! There were several when we walked in, and after walking around for a few minutes before grabbing a tree, there were only two or three left and the display was being snatched up too! So we quickly grabbed one and headed to the checkout!

This year we had two trees to put up along with all of our other indoor decorations. We decided to keep the upstairs tree simple with just a star and colored lights to keep Isabel from spreading ornaments all throughout the house! The downstairs tree donned all of our ornaments with non-breakable and Isabel-friendly ornaments at the bottom! We decided not to go for the outdoor decor this year, but hope to score some day after christmas deals on lights and things for next year!

Isabel helped Daddy put up the star upstairs and even tried putting on a few ornaments downstairs. Initially she wasn't crazy about the texture of the branches, but little by little she is getting more interested in the tree and testing her limits! More and more ornaments find their way tot he floor every time she's downstairs. She often gives the Santa on the front door an earful of everything she wants for Christmas too!

Another tradition we have started was spending Christmas Eve night driving around looking at the Christmas lights in town after Christmas Eve service. This year we won't be attending Christmas Eve service because our church's service doesn't begin until 9 this year, and there is no way Isabel could stay awake that long! But hopefully we will still get out if the weather is cooperative and see all of the twinkling lights!

We are starting a new tradition this year as well. With Isabel's birthday so close to Christmas, we decided not to go crazy with the presents at Christmas (which is sooooooooo hard to do!!!!!) and save the excitement for her birthday. The plan is to try to stick to three gifts: 1 from Daddy, 1 from Mommy, and 1 from Santa, and then maybe a stocking stuffer or two. It is so easy to get caught up in wanting and focusing on getting a gajillion toys, especially with all of the marketing we are inundated with, and I really want Christmas to be more for her than just "How many toys will I get?" I want it to be about family, celebrating the gift of Jesus, giving to others, and taking part in the simple things like listening to Christmas music, baking cookies, taking a drive to see the lights, and any other Christmas traditions we create along the way. I know lots of people can successfully give their kids a mountain of toys and still enjoy and embrace the true spirit of Christmas, so I am not suggesting there is right or wrong way to go about this, but this is just what we felt was worth a try for us.

I am beyond excited to spend this holiday season with Isabel and watch her experience it all for the first time!

Thanksgiving Fun!

2011-12-11T21:57:00.001-06:00

Isabel's first Thanksgiving was a wonderful, busy day, filled with great food and even better family!

We started the day with lunch at my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Ranel's house. Everyone was so excited to see Isabel that she got a little overwhelmed and clingy at first, but soon enough she warmed up and was a little social butterfly.

She didn't try much of the Thanksgiving fare since she had lunch before we got there, but she did taste some pumpkin pie and whipped cream. When that got a little too addicting, we switched to cranberry sauce which she ate up in no time!

After spending some time visiting with the family, she caught a nap in the car on the way home. After whipping up some more delicious dishes we headed to the Linley Thanksgiving dinner. Isabel was happy as ever to see her cousins Owen and Cooper!

This time she did try a bite or two of turkey and sweet potatoes, but overall she wasn't very interested in eating anything. I think the busyness of the day was starting to get to her! After another scrumptious meal, we were all stuffed!

As we were all gathered in the living room visiting, Isabel began babbling up a storm with such intent. We don't have a clue what she was so focused on saying, but Aunt Jessie caught it on video for us!

It was a wonderful first Thanksgiving as a family of three, and a special one for the Linley side who had two little ones celebrating their first Thanksgiving! We have had more than we deserve in things to be thankful for this year and are so blessed!

Forget Me Nots: Month 10

2011-12-10T23:03:00.001-06:00

**This post has been patiently waiting for weeks! Just haven't had time to add the pics to it!**

Dear Isabel,

So I know every month I mention howfast it goes by one way or another, but this has officially been the fastestpassing month of all time! Seriously it was Halloween yesterday and now it isThanksgiving! How does thishappen?

Sleep: You are still taking two naps a day. You sleep about 11 hours a night! The time change threw youoff for a week or two, but you are back on track and waking up at 7 or so everymorning.

Feedings: You feed yourself just about anything we give you that you canpick up. You have started showinginterest in the sippy cup. Youcan’t quite get it up high enough to drink out of it on your own, but you likethe idea of it I think.

Diaper Size: Size 4

Development: Your top two teeth are coming in. The top left has broken through and is about halfway out!

You are so close towalking it is insane! You cruisearound everything and take our hands to walk you where you want to go. When you get to where you want to be,you turn around for us to pick you up so you can look in the mirror or get towhatever you want. You can standfor quite sometime unassisted. Andtonight, on the eve of turning 10 months old you took two tiny baby steps tome! You are so close!

You say “baby” when youare talking to your babies or stuffed animals.

You love Itsy Bitsy Spiderand put your hands up high in the air as the spider goes up the waterspout, itis adorable! I have been singing you this song since you were just days old!

You also play pat a cake.

You mimic daddy makingraspberries and other funny noises.

You love to look at books.Your favorite book is Bubbles, Bubbles, a Sesame Street board book (Gotta loveTarget $1 aisle!). I swear you tryto say bubbles (buh, buh) when I am reading it to you. You wait anxiously for every page,looking around to the next page as I am turning them until we reach theend. You somehow know it is theend every time. I know you knowbecause you stop trying to look for the next page and then you seem to wait forme to point and name all of the characters.

You seem to “talk”/babblemore and more everyday. You havequite a lot to say even if we have no idea what it is! You love talking to your stuffedanimals. You must be telling themvery important and exciting things by the way you get so excited and throw themaround as you are talking to them. You also like talking to the baby (aka yourself) in the mirror. One dayyou will realize that pretty girl in the mirror is you!

Stats Weight/Length: You are an even 20lbs (75^th percentile), 29 inches(95^th percentile)

Clothing Size: You are in 9 months clothes, but quickly outgrowing most of theminto 12 months!

Favorite Moment thisMonth:

So many! Halloween was great and you have hadsome of the sweetest moments this month! You give kisses just because you want them and it melts my heart andmakes my day every time! Youusually reserve giving kisses just for me, which is sad for daddy, but thismonth you even gave out a kiss just for him! I think it helped that he shaved so he wasn’t soscratchy. I know you made his dayand probably whole week when you did that! Despite your lack of kisses for him, you are such a daddy’sgirl in so many ways! You think heis so funny and love playing silly little games and teasing each other. It is precious!

Other tidbits:

- Wehad some sick days this month where mommy stayed home with you, but yourecovered quickly.

- Youhad your first Halloween! You werecute as can bee just like I knew you would! You actually did very well wearing your costume and with allof the getting in and out of the car.

- Wewent on a weekend trip to Walnut to see Great Grandpa and the rest of theWalnut family. You had a greattime playing with your cousins and some new and different toys! You did pretty well on the trip up andback and were just an angel the whole weekend! Mommy really started gettingsick with a sinus infection that weekend, so being on your very best behaviorwas a huge help!

- Youhad your first overnight stay away from mommy and daddy! We went to a movie and decided not towake you up and bring you home so you could sleep. I have to say I was sad when I passed your empty room on myway to bed that night and even shed a tear! I missed you so much, but I knew that you were happy and safewith Grandma and Grandpa! I would like to go on a parents only vacationsomeday, but it looks like I have a ways to go before I can handle that!

Themonth passed us so quickly, and Christmas will be here just as quick I amsure! Tomorrow on your 10 monthbirthday you will celebrate your First Thanksgiving! I am excited to share all of these wonderful holiday momentswith you this coming month. Christmas is always a busy time, but we will take lots of pictures,decorate the house, wrap presents, see Christmas lights, hang your firststocking and ornament, visit Santa, and celebrate your first Christmasmorning! I can’t wait! Just likealways, and more and more every day, I love you Pumpkin!

Catching Up!

2011-12-06T22:07:00.001-06:00

So much to blog about!!!!! I am finishing up my class for the semester. Yes, I procrastinated like no other and am working down to the wire on this project! Once I finally turn it in and forget about it forever, I will be back to blogging and will catch up on all of the important things that have been going on like:

Isabel's 10 month Forget Me Not, her First Thanksgiving, Meeting Santa, and more!

Mommy's Day Out

2011-11-20T21:36:00.001-06:00

This post is looooong overdue! Over a month ago I had my first real deal Mommy's day out. A day where I was on my own to do what I wanted without a timeline. This summer Alicia took advatange of a great Groupon offer and bought us all a day at Glazed and Confused, a pottery painting place in south county.

So Alicia, her sister Anna, neice Kaylin, and cousin Josie started the day with lunch in Fairview Heights at TGI Fridays. Believe it or not it was my first time to ever eat there! It was quite tasty! We contemplated doing some shopping in Fairview, but decided to go ahead and make our way to the pottery place to ensure we had plenty of time and it is a good thing we did!

When we arrived we were greeted and shown our many choices for pottery items. I knew I wanted to make Isabel a Birthday Plate. Something that was her special plate to eat her cake or birthday dinner every year. So after browsing all of the options and looking at samples on the walls, I chose my plate and a Christmas ball ornament too. It was a little overwhelming, especially after seeing all of the amazing samples of work all over the shop. I wanted my piece to be cute and look nice, but I am not even close to being great at painting, drawing, or really anything all that artistic! I have done pottery painting two other times and I was less than impressed with my other two pieces, so I wanted this one to be great!

After staring at the color choices and my plate for what seemed like forever, I decided to let Google help me out! I searched images of birthday plates and found the perfect inspiration! Finally, I could get started. I picked out all of paint colors and got to work. You have to paint everything 3 times to get the most vibrant color when the pottery is fired, so it is quite the process! I found a cute birthday cake stamp to use in the middle of the plate. I painted the stamp oh so carefully, and then stamped it on the plate, but for whatever reason it did not come out even close to looking like a cake! I am not sure what happened, but luckily enough of it showed up that I was able to hand paint in the missing parts and salvage it! Whew!

They will also print out text for you to use with transfer paper to copy different fonts onto the pottery. I chose a font to help me write Happy Birthday Isabel. My font didn't come out quite as I envisioned it, but it works! Here is the finished product! I was very happy with how it turned out overall. Definitely better than my other two attempts!

Before we knew it closing time was quickly approaching and I still had to finish an ornament!

By the time I got to the ornament any creative juices I had were drained and I was at a loss for what to do with it. I started painting it white for a base color and then attempted to stamp a gingerbread man, which failed. Then I started putting dots around the top and bottom and messed up again, so thus I turned my mistake into a different dot pattern. So given I did the ornament within about ten minutes, with no real vision, I think it turned out alright. It's simple and will find a place on our tree this year!

We all pitched in to help Alicia finish up her Pilgrim Bear that was stinkin adorable, but definitely time consuming! I don't have a pic of it, but it's cute!

So after shutting the place down and then some, we headed back to Fairview for a little shopping and dinner at Qdoba, yum! Dinner was delicious and Alicia pulled Kaylin's first tooth, which is all Miss Kay could talk about the whole way home! She decided she would save her tooth for awhile because she didn't need the money! She's so crazy!

It was such a fun and much needed day out! Thanks Alicia for a great idea and a great birthday present!

Cute As Can Bee

2011-11-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

Isabel's 1st Halloween was a success! We chose a bee for her very first costume. Jonnie had the great idea of us dressing up as bee keepers about an hour before we left to trick or treat, so needless to say we did not dress up this year. Maybe next year we will get a bright idea a little sooner!

Our little honeybee made her rounds around town to visit family and experience her first "trick or treating". We started out at Aunt Jackie and Uncle Paul's house where we also got to see Aunt Jessie, Uncle Jeremy, Owen as Willy the Whale, Cooper as a handsome (I mean scary ;) little monster, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gary.

Trick or Treat!

After collecting some treats, it was off to Great Grandma and Grandpa Logan's where we saw Uncle Nathan, Aunt Sam, Sienna the Cat, and Grandpa Dave. She snuck in a quick little nap on the way there, which I thought would be a problem waking her up from, but she buzzed right back into action!

Great Grandma Logan joining in the Halloween fun!

After a few pics it was off to Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Mike's house for the last stop on the Halloween trail. After seeing all of her goodies and playing with Owen and Cooper some more, it was time for our little honeybee to turn back into our baby girl and head to bed!

Lil Pumpkin

2011-11-04T22:25:00.004-05:00

Picking out and carving pumpkins is just one of the many things I love about fall and I was beyond excited to get to share this fall pastime with Isabel this year. So a few weeks ago, we headed out Relleke's Pumpkin Farm to find the perfect pumpkins and get some photos of my lil pumpkin with all the big pumpkins! Little did I know she had other plans! When we arrived she was still sleeping in the car and was due to eat. But I hoped that she would wake up refreshed and let me get in a few pics before realizing she was hungry. Nope! She was cranky and hungry from the get go and wanted nothing to do with sitting on itchy hay with pumpkins. We took a few pictures just to say we did, but they were not anything near what I dreamed up in my head. So since she's the boss these days, we quickly picked out three pumpkins and headed back to the car to feed her and head home. The trip was definitely disappointing for her first trip to the pumpkin farm, but she is only 9 months old after all and had n o clue what was going on, so we will do better next year!

Thanks to Jonnie hauling up a section of our fence to the front yard to create our own fall pumpkin photo shoot! I believe I took over 100 pictures! Kind of ridiculous maybe, but she was just too darn cute to stop! They turned out so adorable!!!

This is my FAVE!!!!

These haven't been edited yet, hence the porch in the background of a few, but you get the idea!

All The Way!!!

2011-11-04T22:01:00.002-05:00

Dear St. Louis Cardinals,

Congratulations on being the 2011 World Series Champions!!! It was awesome watching you come from outta nowhere and take the whole thing!!! Now, please work hard to keep #5 around next year.

Love,
The Linleys

Forget Me Nots: Month 9

2011-11-04T21:56:00.003-05:00

Dear Isabel,

My, oh my, how fast timeflies! This month has been adoozy!

Sleep: You are down to 2 naps a day and one of them is now prettyconsistently an hour or more. You continued to sleepwell for the first few weeks of having formula before bed. Then you got a runnynose and that made it hard for you to sleep all night without some nasalaspirator relief. Then for a couple of nights you developed the badhabit of standing and screaming when you are put to bed after you have eatenand fallen asleep. I don’t know whathappened to my little angel who would eat and then lay down without apeep. It gets better though(insert sarcasm) not only do you do this screaming routine at bedtime, but thenyou wake up in the middle of the night and start all over. The first two nights you got away withit because we could hear you banging your head around and I was afraid youwould bust your mouth open or cause some other bodily harm during your violentrampage. So we gave you multiple attempts at getting to sleep and in the weehours of the morning after being up for over an hour battling your resistanceto your bed, you ended up in bed with us. That makes awful sleep for everyone. So since we knew there was nothingphysically wrong with you because you instantly stop screaming the moment youare picked up, the third day we equipped your bed with double bumpers,breathable on the bottom and padded at the top for protection. I felt better about letting you “cry itout” knowing you could not cause any bodily harm to yourself. You screamed to the high heavens forabout ten minutes and then you were fast asleep. This was the first time you really had to cry it out. You have had small middle of the nightcry it out moments, but nothing of this caliber! Mommy shed a tear and thoseten minutes felt like an hour, but I knew it was what was best for you and wewould all sleep better for it! (Now just a week or so after typing this, you are back to going to bed without a peep!)

Feedings: You have gradually been getting more table food or non-pureedfood. You finally made someattempts to self-feed! You ate acracker and a banana mum-mum all by yourself! Still working on the puffs, holding your own bottle, and thesippy cup, but we’ll get there!

Diaper Size: Size 3

Development: Still only have 2 teeth in there!

But the big news is………youare a CRAWLER now! You can gethere there and everywhere all by yourself!

You are very big intowaving and being walked everywhere. As soon as your balance is a little better you will be a walkingmachine!

Stats Weight/Length: Your 9 month check isn’t until November 11^th so wedon’t have any stats, but you are a growing girl!

Clothing Size: You are in 9 months clothes!

Eye Color: Officially blue.

Favorite Moment thisMonth:

Seeing you crawl forthe first time! Even better, I am about 99.99% sure it was your official firsttime! I warned everyone not totell me if you did it while I was at work, but I am confident you actually didwait for mommy to see you! I wasso proud to see my big girl discover this new milestone!

Other tidbits:

- - Youwent to Juan’s 2^nd birthday party. You liked staring at all the other kids and Diego was veryprotective of you ;)

- - Yougot your first flu shot.

- - Mommyhad her first Mommy’s day out with Alicia. I was gone almost the whole day from you! It was hard and Imissed you terribly, but sometimes mommy needs a break!

- - Youcaught a little cold or something so Mommy got a bonus day home with you!

- - Youattended Adele’s 1^st birthday party.

- - Yousuccessfully made it through a church service in the nursery without someonecoming to get you!

- - Youhad your first trip to a pumpkin patch, Relleke Farms. You were less than interested andwouldn’t let mommy take any pictures of you with the pumpkins! So we chose three pumpkins and away wewent. Luckily, the next day youwere in a better mood and we got some great pictures of you with the pumpkinsin our own front yard!

I think that covers the highlights…atleast as many as I can remember! Halloweenis just around the corner, you are going to be as cute as can “bee”!

Who Would Have Guessed?

2011-10-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

Dear St. Louis Cardinals,

Thank you for making it to the post season and kicking some major butt so I could actually watch some baseball this season! I was a little busy tending to my little princess this season and keeping track of Albert and the crew fell by the wayside. Seeing you play in October was a pleasant surprise, and even Jonnie was rooting loud and proud for you! We wish we were rich enough to see you in person at the World Series, but watching on TV is good enough for me! I'm thinking a World Series Party is in our future! Here's to becoming the 2011 World Series Champs....you can do it!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
The Linleys

Apple Extravaganza

2011-10-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

This post is a few weeks behind, but better late than never!

Fall is my ABSOLUTE favorite time of year! Other season have their perks but, everything about fall is just wonderful...the weather, the colors, the smells, apples and pumpkins everywhere, it is just perfect! I have vivid memories of apple picking with my grandma and my family when I was little. I remember being hoisted up into the trees and using pole pickers to get the apples at the top. There was a long period of time for whatever reason, I didn't go anymore. A few years ago Jonnie and I went on our own and I rediscovered how much I love apple picking! Two years ago the family apple picking extravaganza became a tradition once again! And few Saturdays ago, Isabel had her first experience apple picking too!

This year our group was bigger than ever! We had Me, Jonnie, Isabel, my Grandma Logan, my Aunts Carolyn and Cindy, Sam, Nathan, Sienna, my dad and Tina. We started off at Eckert's in Grafton. It is not quite the experience of Yates', but it did the job! Eckert's had some fun photo ops like the scarecrow and Johnny Appleseed that turned out really cute!

Isabel loved reaching for the trees and grabbing the leaves. She really is pretty happy with anything outside! Then it was time for her first taste of fresh apple! She didn't quite know what to think at first, but it didn't take long before she was in love. She and daddy shared a yellow and a red apple, and she kept coming back for more!

After getting our apples, it was time to make our yearly trek across ferry. We stopped at Hagen's for pumpkins, but we were sad to realize the pumpkins did not fill the yard as in years past! We were just a bit too early for them this year. We were able to catch a few pics with the pumpkins they did have, but we will be making another trip later to get the full pumpkin patch experience for Isabel!

Then it was onward to the old soda shop. This was a new find last year, but this year it also had changed. It was mostly a restaurant and lacked the seasonal and crafty things for sale so there wasn't much to do there! After a quick taste of a homemade vanilla soda it was back on the road and onto lunch at the River Dock in Hardin. This proved to be the same delicious food we have come to expect! Jonnie and I shared pizza and sweet potato chips with cinnamon butter...Yum! Isabel was worn out from all of the excitement and traveling and fell asleep before we paid the bill!

Although things may not have been the same as always, it is always great getting together and spending the day basking in all that is fall!

Forget Me Nots: Month 8

2011-10-02T22:05:00.002-05:00

Dear Isabel,

It’s that time again, your monthlyupdate is here!

Sleep: You are still taking naps at regular intervals throughout theday, although that doesn’t mean you always go down easy! I think you prefer to have music orsome other loud noise to get you to sleep. You haven’t changed since you were in my belly! You always loved to snuggle and sleepwhen there was a lot of commotion.

You sleep through thenight here and there, but usually you wake up once and eat. However, ever sinceyou have been taking a bottle at night, you have been sleeping 11+ hours! SCORE!

Feedings: You definitely prefer your real food over milk! You have tried just about any regularfruit or vegetable I can find in the store plus some chicken. We are trying to get you to feedyourself some soft foods like bananas and puffs but you are not reallyinterested in that. You pick themup no problem but are not interested in moving them toward your mouth. You are too spoiled I think!

I think nursing is officiallyover. You are ready to be done,you have made that quite evident. I may still pump for you, but we will see how that goes. It was a goodrun, and much longer than I ever anticipated we would make it! Initially I didn’t think it wassomething that bonded us, but every time I was away from you either in one ofmy hospital stays, at work, or recently at school on Wednesday nights, Irealized it definitely bonded us closer together, and as much work as itis/was, I am very glad we decided to give it a try!

Diaper Size: Size 3

Development: You have two teeth now and I believe you are working on a thirdalthough I can’t see it yet.

You are about 2 secondsaway from crawling! This week (oneweek into your 8^th month) you have been getting up and rocking, thenwhen you go to push off you turn to sit up. But that means you have learned to go from your belly tositting up all by yourself! Soreally any day now we are going to have a mover!

You clap, give high fives,and wave now! Daddy taught you howto clap one Friday when you two were home together. He is very proud of himself for teaching you that!

Stats Weight/Length: Your 9 month check isn’t until November 11^th so wedon’t have any stats, but you are a growing girl!

Clothing Size: You are mostly in 9 months clothes!

Eye Color: Officially blue.

Favorite Moment thisMonth:

Unfortunately ourtime together is much more condensed, and dictated by schedules these days, soI struggle to remember, or worse I am not there to witness, all of the silly,wonderful, precious things you do everyday! However, just the other night you did something you have neverdone (Except for maybe when you were a newborn), after a long nap you woke up,I came and picked you up, you laid your head on my shoulder and continued tosleep all snuggled up on my chest for another 30 minutes. I don’t who that sleepy little girlwas, but I soaked up every minute of you sleeping in my arms!

Other tidbits:

- Youare such a trooper getting ready in the mornings. Even when I have to wake you up to get out the door on time,you just smile with a sleep grin and go with the flow. I would be quite angry if someone wokeme up from my peaceful slumber, put me in a less than comfy car seat, andrushed me out the door. But youare don’t even complain, not one bit. Thank you for that. Itmakes our crazy mornings that much easier. I hate that I have to wake you, especially if you haven’thad the best night’s sleep, but we do what we have to do and you are a trooper!
- Youwent to your first wedding! It wasat the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis. It was an amazingly beautiful church and you were quite mesmerized bythe murals on the ceiling that seemed to go on forever and ever. Daddy and I joked you were searchingthe ceiling fan! For a very longCatholic Mass wedding you behaved very well! So well that we made a special stop at Jilly’s cupcakes onthe way home…oh wait you can’t eat cupcakes….well Mommy ate it for you ;)
Wehad A Linley Labor Day Celebration with a bounce house! You got to see all of your Linleyfamily including everyone from Wisconsin. You liked the bounce house, but you are too still small to really enjoyit. But you did love cousin Owen’sswing!

- Youhad you first Apple Picking Extravaganza! This year we had to go to Eckert’s since Yates was closed, but it wasfun nonetheless. This time we hadjust about the entire family there, your Great grandma Logan, great auntsCarolyn and Cindy, Grandpa Logan and Tina, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Sam, andSienna! We were a big group, butthe more the merrier! You lovedeating apples with daddy and playing with Sienna. We didn’t get pumpkins thisyear on our trip because they weren’t ready, but that’s ok, just another excuseto spend a fall day out and about!

- Youalso enjoyed your first UABC church picnic. It was a beautiful day out and a great day to enjoy worshipoutside!

I think that covers the highlights…atleast as many as I can remember! Youkeep growing and figuring out something new everyday! You never cease to amaze me at how wonderful you are! I never knew I could love someone asmuch as I love you and the family you have made us. We have lots to look forward this coming month as we getready for your first Halloween!

Curly Q

2011-09-16T22:58:00.002-05:00

If this crazy, wild hair is a sign of things to come, we are in trouble!

A visit from the Tooth Fairy

2011-09-16T22:45:00.002-05:00

Usually the tooth fairy comes to take away teeth, but in our house she has been delivering them!

Miss Isabel now has TWO bottom teeth! I can hardly believe it! They came within about 2 weeks of each other, and luckily didn't cause her too much grief. No fevers or runny noses, just a little crabbiness here or there at the very most.

Here is her new smile!

Just one tooth

Two teeth!

Not Enough Hours in a Day!

2011-09-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

Well readers, don't give up on me! I will have more posts soon! Lately, my plate has been super full with everything that goes along with starting a new school year, taking class #7 of my Master's program, keeping up with Isabel and trying to have a life outside of work and reading articles!

I have a few posts in mind, just have to find time and energy to post them!

Here's a pic of my cutie patootie to hold you over!

Forget Me Nots: Month 7

2011-08-25T21:48:00.006-05:00

Dear Isabel,

Another month has come and gone, and August was one busy month!

Sleep: NAPTIME!!! WOO HOO!!! You FINALLY decided taking naps at regular intervals throughout the day was a great idea! One day you just decided you would take a nap every two hours and never looked back! You still usually only sleep for 30-40 minutes, but at least it’s predictable and on a schedule!

However, you did have quite a few crazy nights, including two where you thought being wide awake in the middle of the night was a great idea. Mommy and Daddy did not agree! The first time you played with my phone in our bed and then eventually you let me rock you to sleep. The second time you played with the house phone in the dark in the middle of the living room floor. You are one crazy girl!

Feedings: You still eat about every 3 hours. You have had green beans, avocado, butternut squash, peaches, and bananas! You usually turn your nose up at new things, but by the second time you eat it right up!

Diaper Size: Size 3

Development: You are a babbler! You love to say mama, dada, baba and any other sound you can get out! You started doing this on August 6^th, and initially only when you were angry. But now you do it all the time! I still don’t think you identify the words with us yet, but you will!

Still no crawling. You have all the right moves, but haven’t put them all together yet!

You have your first tooth! It broke through last week and is slowly but surely pushing its way up and up!

Stats Weight/Length: At your 6 month check up you were 16lb 8 oz and 27 inches long! Still in the 95^th for height and 50^th for weight.

Clothing Size: You are mostly in 6 months but some 6-9

Eye Color: Officially blue.

Favorite Moment this Month: You had some SUPER sweet moments that melted my heart. One day after I brushed my finger across your forehead, you grabbed my hand and ran my fingers over your forehead several times, with your eyes closed in pure delight.

You also let me snuggle and kiss all over you while you just soaked it up!

And just yesterday you cracked up laughing at me over and over at just about any move I made.

You are so silly, and I love every bit of you!

Other tidbits:

· You met cousin COOPER!!! You didn’t really notice him too much, but trust me he is ADORABLE! You two will be a handful I am sure of it!

· You are now in the big tub all by yourself!

· You went on your first vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks where you got to see your MeMe Val. You had a great time playing with Sienna, and you did ok with the car ride too. It is a lot of work going on vacation with you, but it was fun and worth the work!

· You went on an overnight trip to Walnut. You had a rough trip up, but a great trip back! You got to visit with Great Grandpa and visited Avanti for the first time!

· Mommy had to go back to work :( We are getting into a routine, but you wake up at different times every day so it is hard to plan! I miss you like crazy everyday and there is not a moment I am not thinking about you, but I know you are having fun so I try not to worry about you or feel sad.

And They're Back

2011-08-12T08:48:00.000-05:00

The tears are flowing like a river this week. I knew it would come all too soon, and here it is. The end of the summer. The end of spending every waking minute of every day with the most beautiful girl in the world. The end of of the perfectly repetitious, totally predictable routine we finally got into. The end of rocking her to sleep in my arms three times a day. The end of being mesmerized and completely melted by your smile all day long. The end of the best summer I've ever had.

*Insert tears*

She is such a different little girl than she was when the summer began... she is rolling, sitting, babbling, eating fruits and veggies, and NAPPING! Think how different she will be before I get another break! I know I am lucky that I get breaks at all, but I am afraid she is going to start crawling and doing new things without me there to see it all! I am going to have to have the talk with the sitter where I tell her that she is not allowed to encourage crawling, walking, etc. unless I have told her we've seen it at home, and if she does see it then she is not to mention it to me until I tell her we have seen it. Am I crazy? Probably, but it makes me feel better!

This week was a little busier than our normal weeks with an overnight trip to Walnut and then a trip to school on Friday to get a few things set up for next week. But every other moment I've spent taking it all in and preparing myself emotionally again for the separation.

It doesn't help that this summer flew by! Thanks to the cicada invasion and a record heat streak, we didn't do everything I had hoped, but I think a low key summer was perfect for soaking up as much of my little pumpkin as I could.

They say every every end brings a new beginning. Unfortunately my sorrow has shaded my view of this new beginning. A beginning where I will only see Isabel 4 hours 4 days of the week, 1 hour on Wednesdays because of my night class, and then of course we will have our weekends. A beginning where I fear she is going to wonder why her mommy isn't there to play with her, rock her to sleep, and feed her anymore. A beginning where she may choose someone else over me or her daddy.

But when I look on the bright side, I see a beginning that leads us into the fall and all the fun that comes with it. I can look forward to watching her experience apple picking, playing in the leaves, picking a perfect pumpkin, and trick or treating for the first time.

Pumpkin, I wish more than anything that I didn't have to leave you, but it will make our evenings and weekends together that much sweeter!

Little Bundle of Joy

2011-08-05T22:50:00.004-05:00

Congratulations Jeremy, Jessie, and Big Brother Owen! Our newest nephew, Cooper Ayden, joined the Linley family August 1st! He is the littlest Linley of his generation, but a very healthy 7 lb 11 oz!

We are ecstatic to have another nephew. Isabel is sure to be a wild, although well protected ;) , little girl with all of these little boys around!

Cooper and Uncle Jonnie! I have yet to get a picture with Little Mr. Cooper, but there is plenty of time for that!

Isabel hardly looks like a baby anymore compared to him *tear*!

Cooper we cannot wait to see you grow and see the mischief you, your big brother, and cousin Isabel are bound to get into! As your daddy always says, "Life is more fun as a Linley" and watching you three and any future Linleys grow and play will certainly make it so! Welcome to the fun little buddy!

Lessons in Baby Food Making Part 2

2011-07-28T20:49:00.004-05:00

Today was Round 2 of making baby food! This time I was stocked with lots more food and lots more storage! For this batch of food, for $21, I bought 1 butternut squash, 3 avocados, 1 bag of frozen peas, approx. 1 1/2 lbs. green beans, 2 medium sweet potatoes, 4 peaches, 4 pears, and 7 bananas.

Alicia let me borrow her blender that has a "food chop" setting and it was super helpful! Especially for green beans!

I have decided to keep track of how much I get out of the amounts of different veggies/fruits I started with to help me be able to plan better each time I do this. Here is the breakdown:

3 avocados= 14 oz of puree

1 butternut squash= approx. 32 oz!!!

2 sweet potatoes= approx. 26 oz.

1 bag of frozen peas= 14 oz.

4 peaches= 14 oz.

1 1/2lb of green beans= 10 oz.

7 bananas= TBD

2 pears= TBD

After 3 hours of steaming, peeling, scooping, blending, and pouring I ended up with 14- 2 oz containers and 7 ice cube trays full of baby food. Each cube in the trays is 1 oz, so there are 7- 2 oz. servings per tray. That means I have 64 servings of food, or about a month's worth, for Isabel!!! I would have gotten even more, but had a snafu with some fruit, but more on that later! Overall, not too shabby for 3 hours work!

Here are some tips I learned from my second go around:

- Butternut squash is easy to make and you get A LOT! Cut in half lengthwise, place in a baking dish in 1 inch of water, bake at 400 for 40-50 minutes until the skin is bubbly, and voila!

- Green beans puree better if you cut them into smaller pieces and then chop in the blender.

- Fruit needs no water or formula to thin it out. Luckily I realized this before adding anything. I suspected they would have enough juice on their own and they did!

- Bananas and pears turn brown right before your eyes faster than you can get them out of the blender! I was afraid this would happen. I questioned if it somehow made it inedible. My common sense told me no, but I didn't want Isabel to get food poisoning either. Also the idea of feeding her brown bananas or pears weirded me out. So after reading online that it is still safe to eat, I just decided to mix some of the bananas with left over sweet potatoes. I decided to just toss the 2 pears and rest of the bananas since I didn't have anything left to mix them with. But next time I will be more prepared to act fast and get them in the freezer or mix them.

- Ice cube trays work great! Mine were 1 oz each and took 2 spoonfuls to fill each one. Super easy and cheaper than buying lots of other storage systems.

Along with the sweet potato/banana mix, I also mixed some of the butternut squash and sweet potato for some variety. Next time, since we have covered the majority of fruits and veggies I will make more mixed recipes and probably add some meats! I have heard and read about mixing banana and avocado since they are essentially effortless to make because they are already such soft foods, so that will definitely be on our next menu too!

Heard of it?

2011-07-25T18:28:00.002-05:00

Have you heard of Pinterest? I saw others talking about it on a few different blogs and was confused at first. After seeing several people mention it, I decided to check it out for myself.

Basically it is a place where you can "pin" things on a sort of internet bulletin board to keep track of images, ideas, products, etc that you find online. You can create as many boards for different things as you want and follow other people's boards. You download the Pin It feature onto your toolbar and then you can pin anything you find on the internet!

I have only pinned one or two things, but have done some browsing of other people's boards and there are TONS of ideas out there for anything you can imagine!

It's a time sucker which is a problem, but will come in handy when looking for new ideas for deocrating, bday parties, gifts, etc.!

pinterest.com

Forget Me Nots: Month 6

2011-07-25T11:19:00.005-05:00

Dear Isabel,

You have learned so many new things this month! You are such a different baby from just two months ago! It seems like just yesterday you were a snuggly little newborn who needed Mommy and Daddy for everything, and now, you still need us for most things, but you are getting more independent everyday!

Sleep: Naptime is still a struggle. Mommy feels like she has tried EVERYTHING!!! Babysitters seem to have better luck than me, which makes me believe my theory that you know our time is short even more! You have an internal clock that doesn’t allow you to sleep more than 30 minutes, 45 if we are lucky, during the day. I hope you grow out of that eventually! The past fews days I have been able to rock you, sing You Are My Sunshine and then lay you down on the couch successfully. Hopefully we can transition you into the crib instead of the couch, but this is progress from the swing, carseat, or my arms!

You had a couple rough weeks of nighttime sleep too. We think you have some teeth working their way up and keeping you up in pain at night. The last few nights have gone much better, so maybe things will start turning back around!

You changed your own bedtime this month too. You eat at 8 and are in bed by 8:30.

Feedings: You are a big girl eater now! You still eat about every 3 hours, but twice a day now you get veggies! You have had sweet potatoes and carrots so far. You can eat a whole 2oz container at lunch and dinner, so you must like them! We have lots more veggies to try and then some fruits!

Diaper Size: Size 3

Development: You are a roller now! You roll every which way all the time! You started rolling over in your bed at night too. At first it made you angry to end up on your tummy, but now you are used to it and sleep just fine that way.

You also are a sitter! You love to sit on your blanket and play with your toys. It is so nice to be able to put you down and let you play while I try to get a few things done! When you topple over you just roll on over and scoot around to what you want.

It is only a matter of time before you are crawling, which is far too scary! I am sure next month I will be writing about having to put the gates up!

Stats Weight/Length: No official stats yet, but I guess you are at least 18lbs and probably an inch or two taller.

Clothing Size: I still squeeze you into a few of my favorite 3-6 month outfits, but are mostly in 6 month outfits, you can also wear some 6-9 months too. We had to buy you new jammies since you are getting too tall for your others!

Eye Color: Officially blue.

Favorite Moment this Month: Your first swimming experience! I was so happy to finally get you in the pool! You were a little unsure of it at first, but eventually you grew to love it!

Other tidbits:

· You celebrated your first 4^th of July. You didn’t stay awake long enough to see fireworks, but maybe next year!

· You love playing a new game with Daddy where you hold onto his thumbs and then let go and fall onto our bed. You like to mimic his 1, 2, threeeeeeeeeee with your own high pitch scream!

· We love Pandora Radio Toddler station! We spend parts of our days dancing around the house to fun songs and being silly.

· You have your tongue going all the time and have started blowing bubbles. You think it's very funny!

· You can sit up in your whale tub now and are a splasher, so we moved your tub into the big tub so you can make as big of a mess as you want!

· You spent a few hours with Aunt Jessie, Uncle Jeremy and Owen while mommy and daddy went out. You had lots of fun eating uncle Jeremy’s hair, giving Aunt Jessie a hard time, and playing in Owen’s jumper! Silly girl!

· You are going on your first vacation this weekend to the Lake of the Ozarks!

· Cousin Cooper will be here next week too!

We have 3 weeks left together before mommy goes back to work. It makes me sad just thinking about it! So we are going to snuggle and play until you can’t take it anymore!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-20T23:44:00.003-05:00

Sweet Potatoes, Yummy Yummy

2011-07-20T23:30:00.003-05:00

Ever heard the Wiggles Fruit Salad Song? Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy... It has been burned into my memory from babysitting long ago and now it just seems to come out when I am feeding Isabel only I change to words to what she's eating!

And this week it's sweet potatoes! She is such a big girl and is so excited to be eating real food! The first couple of times, like with the rice cereal, she wasn't sure what she thought, but now she is a pro, eating 2 oz at lunch and 2 oz. at dinner!

Delicious Substitute

2011-07-20T22:44:00.004-05:00

Last week I saw this at Schnucks:

Crystal Light Margarita!

They had Appletini and Mojito too, but I've never had an appletini so I didn't know if I would like it and I didn't think I would like the mint flavor of the mojito in my crystal light, so I stuck with what I thought was the safest. Even still I was skeptical if it would be any good. Is it really possible to replicate a margarita in crystal light?

I haven't had a real margarita for a very long time since I was pregnant for 9 months and now I am nursing, so I thought trying a faux margarita was worth a try!

I finally got around to trying it yesterday and it is delicious! For being Crystal Light, it tastes surprisingly a lot like a margarita, especially with some fresh lime added to it! You could go a step further and add salt to the rim for the full experience, but I didn't have any. So if you like margaritas and can't have/don't want the alcohol, try this!

Yum!

End of an Era

2011-07-17T20:45:00.004-05:00

Friday the end of a 10+ year era in our lives came to a close....you guessed it....Harry Potter!

I remember going to see the first Harry Potter at the movie theater with Jonnie when we were just 16. Probably one of the first movies we were able to drive ourselves to. Jonnie had heard about the books somehow and had gotten one for Christmas from his Grandma Linley. I on the other hand had never heard of this Harry Potter, and had no idea the phenomenon that was about to enter my life!

Ever since then we have been faithfully awaiting the next Harry Potter to come out year after year, trekking to the theater, and then purchasing them one by one on DVD on release day. And to top it off, before every new movie came out Jonnie had to re-watch all of the previous ones again before seeing the new one! Since there were a total of 8 movies, by the end this was a lengthy marathon! I always enjoyed watching the movies once, but that's about all the HP I need in my life lol, so I usually didn't participate in the movie marathons!

While Jonnie has made us faithful followers of the movies, there are no costumes or wands in our possession and we have never waited days in line to see a midnight showing (although we almost did for the final one!).

Having said all of that Friday was a bittersweet day! We thought about going all out for the final Harry Potter and going to the midnight showing, but we decided to wait until the next morning so we could take advantage of having babysitters! We woke up bright and early, met up with David and Alicia, and were at the theater by 9am for a 10:30 show. A little overboard considering there were only 5 other people in there, but we got our choice of seats!

While it was the shortest of all of the movies, it was definitely the best! Like I said, watching once is usually enough for me, but for the first time I actually want to see this one again!

Jonnie is still a little in disbelief that it is all over, and there are no more Harry Potter's to look forward to, but I am sure something else will come along to fulfill his movie-going fix!

Jonnie only read one of the books in order to not ruin his movie experience, and I never read them, but he hopes to read them someday with Isabel, so Harry Potter will continue to live on in our house!

Lessons in Making Baby Food

2011-07-15T20:35:00.005-05:00

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to try making my own baby food for Isabel. I don't know exactly what convinced me to do it, but I had read some articles in a few of the email newsletters I get explaining the benefits like the lack of preservatives and being overall cheaper and it just seemed easy enough to give it a try.

As I was contemplating the idea, Jonnie saw a commercial for the Baby Bullet blender and storage system and said we should get it and make our own food. I hadn't told him yet I was thinking about making our own food, so I was glad he thought it was a good idea too! But, I told him I thought our blender would work fine, at least for now until we are sure it's as easy as it seems!

So a few weeks ago we bought some freezer containers for baby food storage, and it came with 16, 2 oz. containers. I have heard ice cube trays also work well, so we may use some of those too.

Isabel will be 6 months old in 9 short days and her is appetite is definitely growing, so it was time to get blending! After reading some more articles on best first foods and how to's, to get us started I bought one large sweet potato, a few handfuls of fresh green beans, and a bag of carrots. I had no idea how much all of this was going to make, so today was just sort of experimental.

Here's the step by step:

First, I baked the sweet potato in the microwave, scooped out the insides, and threw it in the blender. Then I added 2 oz. of formula to thin it out and help it blend. I just tried out different settings on the blender and decided blend and puree worked the best on my blender, but I am sure all blenders are different! After blending it for a bit, I stirred it and added 2 more ounces of formula, blended it, and it was just right! Final step- spoon into in the containers! Piece of cake! One large sweet potato= 5 1/2, 2 oz. containers.

Next up, green beans. I rinsed and cut off the ends of the beans and then put them in a Ziploc microwave steamer bag. I just used these because I had them, but steaming them on the stove is just as easy! I used the chop setting to break them up a bit and then added about 2 oz. of formula and changed the setting to puree. It took awhile longer than the sweet potato to puree these to a good consistency, but still pretty simple!

Last, carrots. I chopped up 8 carrots and steamed them in microwave. I added 2 oz. of formula at a time and stirred and cycled through several different settings until I had added a total of 8 oz of formula. Carrots definitely took the longest, but there were a lot of them! Next time, I think I will only try to puree half of them at a time to make it go faster.

So here are the lessons I learned in my first attempt at making baby food:

- To be able to pinpoint allergic reactions you are supposed to feed a baby the same food for 4 to 7 days. I did not have nearly enough green beans to do this. You need A LOT of green beans to get a decent batch to freeze. I had three handfuls of beans and got only 2 1/2,

2 oz. containers worth.

- Like I said before, carrots were harder to blend since the blender was so full, so I would definitely split it into two batches next time.

- Have more containers! I filled my 16 containers and still have half a blender full of carrots to portion out into ice cube trays.

Overall, I would call my first attempt a success. It didn't take very long, was definitely inexpensive (probably less than $5), and I have enough carrots and sweet potatoes to get Isabel started on her first veggies!

Splish Splash!

2011-07-11T20:55:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Isabel had her first dip in the pool! I have two fabulous aunts with swimming pools, but our schedules and the weather just haven't lined up. The weather finally cooperated with our plans and it was the perfect day for a swim at my Aunt Carolyn's house.

Isabel was quite the swimsuit model if I do say so myself lol.

At first she screamed and I was beginning to worry she would hate it.

So we tried the floatie and that was better for a little bit until the screaming began again.

So we took a lunch break and tried again. Success! She was in love!

Then she was wiped out!

Forget Me Nots: Month 5

2011-06-24T22:05:00.004-05:00

Dear Isabel,

I have LOVED spending our days together this past month! I wish it would never end. I cannot get enough of your big, bright, beautiful smile that lights up the whole room and your infectious giggle! I wish I could bottle them up and keep them with me forever and always!

Sleep: You have boycotted naptime since I have been home with you. Is it because you know are days are numbered until school starts again? It’s not that I want you to waste the day away sleeping, but I also know you need to rest sometimes and I don’t want you to be a crankypants. Maybe next month you will realize naps are amazing and a few little ones here and there won’t be so bad.

You mostly sleep through the night again and are usually in bed by 9 and sometimes earlier since you don’t like to nap ;)

Feedings: Your eating has finally slowed down! You have mastered eating only every 3-4 hours instead of 2! Thank heavens!!!

You also began eating rice cereal this month! I wasn’t sure how this would go. The first time you didn’t want anything to do with it, but you did like sitting in your highchair, so that was a success at least. It took me a few days to try again and you started to get the hang of it. By the 3^rd time you were a pro, and shortly after you were eating the whole bowl! Unfortunately though, I can’t say it makes you any more full or helps you sleep any longer. Maybe I am doing something wrong, I dunno, but nevertheless it’s good practice for the veggies you will be getting soon. I think we will hold off on those until a little closer to your 6^th month, but you will be ready when we do!

Diaper Size: Size 2

Development: You have also boycotted rolling over. You haven’t done it since you did it the first time! But you have been doing other things like sitting up for small amounts of time on your own, pushing up during tummy time so much that your whole belly is off the ground, pulling up from your back all the way to standing up (this is your favorite new move!), pulling hair more than ever, you discovered your screeching voice, and fake coughing which you think is pretty funny.

Stats Weight/Length: At your 4 month appointment you were 15lbs. 1 oz and 26 on long keeping you in the 50-75^th percentile for weight and 95^th for height!

Clothing Size: You can still fit into a few 3-6 but are mostly in 6 month outfits. Your dresses sometimes look more like miniskirts because you are so tall!

Eye Color: Officially blue.

Favorite Moment this Month: Your first trip to the zoo! It was hot, but you enjoyed being outside and were such a good girl. You got a special souvenir from Grandpa, Peter Panda from Build-A-Bear. It was a perfect first zoo trip!

Other tidbits:

· You celebrated your first Father’s Day with Daddy. We made him his favorite breakfast, gave him some gifts, and then spent the day just hanging out and visiting Grandpa Linley.

· We have retired Llama, Llama Red Pajama for Guess How Much I Love You at bedtime.

· You have had some peaceful moments this month where you just let me hold you and stare at your sweet face for quite awhile and you melted my heart a million times over.

· You had your 2^nd zoo trip with your friends Juan and Diego, which was much better weather, but it was quite a bit more crowded too! You rode the train, but you screamed through most of it because you were getting sleepy and hungry!

· You spent some quality time with Cousin Owen who loves you to pieces! He is so sweet to you and wants to give you kisses all the time. You should feel privileged because his momma says he is very selective with his kisses ;)

We still have to get you in the pool! I think you are going to love swimming, so hopefully the weather will cooperate so you can experience it!

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine and I’ll love you forever and always!

The Bigger the Bow the Better!

2011-06-19T21:05:00.005-05:00

There were many perks and joys about not finding out the gender of Baby Linley. One of those was saving a TON of money by not finding out we were having a girl! If I would have known we had a little princess on her way, we would have been BROKE!!! In fact, everyone had me so convinced we were having a boy, that I never even gave myself time to think about what it would be like to have a girl or think about or look at dresses and bows.

But now that she is here, I have discovered how stinking adorable and necessary bows are for every little girl! Alicia gifted Isabel with her first set of headbands and bows. Then Avanti Foods in Walnut sent down her next set of bows, and I have been adding to the collection ever since.

Most of her bows are smaller, but she has one big purple bow that she wore for the first time this weekend and it is ADORABLE!! Understand though when I say big, I just mean big in terms of her other bows. I have seen MUCH bigger bows (on much smaller babies too) for sale online, and questioned if they were too big. However, after seeing her in her bow this weekend, I think I am addicted, and I think we need more big bows! Here are pics from our mini shoot!

First Zoo Trip

2011-06-17T21:37:00.008-05:00

Last Friday Isabel had her first zoo experience. We are so lucky to have an amazing zoo so close that is FREE!

Jonnie, Isabel, Grandma Stacey, Grandpa Mike, and I piled in the van and headed over late afternoon on Friday to meet up with Casey and enjoy not only our free zoo, but also their free concert series to see a Beatles tribute group.

It was a steamy day here in St. Louis, but Isabel was geared up for the heat and was such a trooper!

As a memento of her first zoo trip Daddy and Grandpa visited the Build A Bear and created Peter Panda complete with a special voice recording from Grandpa.

We strolled around a few parts of the zoo and caught glimpses of the animals who could bear the heat. We will certainly be making a return trip when it is a bit cooler and when we can spend more time seeing all of the animals.

It was fun evening and a perfect first zoo trip for Isabel. Here are a few more pics to help Isabel remember her first time at the St. Louis Zoo!

So Big!

2011-06-06T23:42:00.004-05:00

Our baby girl is getting so big, so fast! I can't handle it! Today she had her first attempt at rice cereal. She didn't like it...she just kept spitting it out.

But, she did love sitting in her highchair. It was her first time in it as well and she looked like such a big girl...I almost shed a tear! Can you imagine me on the first day of school? I am going to be a mess if I can't even handle seeing her in a highchair for the first time!!!

We will keep working on the cereal and then eventually baby food! I don' t think I'm ready!

Here are a few pics from her first go around with the rice cereal!

Such a big girl!

Messy Faced Girl

Mom...What are we doing? Are we done yet?

Take a Look, It's in a Book...

2011-06-02T22:07:00.009-05:00

Reading Rainbow! Oh how I loved that show! Ok sorry, this post has nothing to do with Reading Rainbow, but I had to finish the song!

I have been trying to read more to Isabel. We read a little when she was first born, but once I went back to work it fell by the wayside. We are getting back to reading books everyday, and now that she is more interactive and can look at the pictures and enjoy the rhythms and voices of the stories it is a lot more fun too!

Luckily, I have more books than I even know what to do with!!! In addition to all of the great books Isabel received from the Baby shower, I also have a HUGE library of books I have accumulated for my students. I keep them at school during the year, but they hardly ever get read because we are usually too busy with other skills for read alouds. Now Isabel gets to enjoy all of the books I have been collecting over the past few years! I don't think quite as many books will make it back to my classroom this year ;)

Here are some of our favorites so far:

Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck

Manana Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul

No David! By David Shannon

The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

If I Could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond

Jamberry by Bruce Degen

This was one of my favorite books when I was little. I was so sad when most of my childhood books disappeared when I went to college. So when I saw it at Goodwill (a great place to buy books, especially old favorites!!!) I snatched it up!!!

I hope Isabel will grow to have a love of reading someday! I loved getting new books when I was little. Even though we didn't have a ton of money when I was younger, I always got to order books from the Scholastic book orders or book fairs, and I had a great collection of books. Now Isabel will inherit the books I have accumulated and will hopefully add the books that become her favorites in the future!

New Camera Faves

2011-05-28T17:24:00.005-05:00

For my Mother's Day/Birthday/Anniversary present my hubby gifted me with a new DSLR camera. After seeing shots from others' DSLRs and wanting better pics of Isabel I decided I wanted one. I honestly have no idea how to work this thing to its potential, but either way it's an improvement! I certainly have no desire in taking up photography on a serious scale...I'll leave that to the pros, but I am very excited about just having better everyday pics. I plan on taking a class this summer so I can use it properly to get my money's worth. Here are a few of my favorites that I've captured so far!

This is her crazy, rogue curl on her left side! It sticks straight out!!

These faces crack me up!

Forget Me Nots: Month 4

2011-05-24T23:25:00.006-05:00

My Little Pumpkin Pie, you are 4 months old today! Where has the time gone? In 3 short days Mommy will be done with school and have you all to myself!!!

Sleep: Your sleep is all over the place! Sometimes you sleep all night, sometimes you wake up, sometimes you go to bed at 9 and sleep until 5, some nights 10:30-3.

One night you slept with Mommy and Daddy. It was a last resort scenario. For some reason you were very unhappy at 1am and would only sleep when I held you, otherwise you were screaming. So, because I value the little sleep I do get and calling off work due to exhaustion was not an option, into bed with me you went! Not the most comfortable, but better than no sleep at all! Thankfully that is not a regular event!

There really is no rhyme or reason to you and your sleep! You don’t have a real nap routine so I hope we can work on that over the summer, along with getting you to bed a little earlier. I think you will like to go to sleep earlier since you sometimes take an evening nap, but I was just too afraid to put you to bed before 10, fearing you would be wide eyed at 4am and ready to go! But you have shown me a few times that you will sleep all night even with an early bedtime.

Feedings: You still eat quite a bit and get 1-2 bottles of formula a day. You will go to the doctor next week and you might start rice cereal this month.

Diaper Size: Size 1-2, but once those are gone we are moving up to 2.

Development: You have had more big milestones this month! You rolled over from your tummy to your back twice in just a few minutes, but we haven’t seen you do it since! You spend more time with your head up and looking around during tummy time. You chew on EVERYTHING! You go through several bibs a day because of all of your drool from chewing!!!

Stats Weight/Length: We haven’t seen the doctor yet this month, but we will update this once we have. A few weeks ago you were 14.25 lbs, so you may be almost 15 by now.

Clothing Size: You can still fit into a few 0-3, or just 3 month outfits, but you are mostly in 3-6 months clothes.

Eye Color: I think they may be staying blue.

Favorite Moment this Month: Spending my 1^st mother’s day with you and watching you smile ear to ear all the time!

Other tidbits:

· Reading a new favorite bedtime story, Llama Llama Red Pajama. It is the cutest book, and I have so much fun reading it to you every night! Sometimes when baby llama throws a tizzy, you think you should reenact the story and do the same! I tell you this story doesn’t require audience participation, but you loudly disagree.

· You giggle and laugh all the time, and it is a sound I could never get enough of. In fact you are doing it as I type this, and I love it!!!

· You got a new play gym from Alice and Bob because you love to stand all the time.

You are getting so big, and the time is just flying by! I am excited to spend the summer with you watching you explore and discover new things and soaking up every minute with you!!!

Here Comes Summer!

2011-05-19T22:28:00.004-05:00

Only 5 more school days until I am free to spend my days with my snugglebug!!! In fact, the last day of school is on my birthday! Best birthday present ever: 2 1/2 months of freedom to spend with Isabel, and I am beyond excited!

I am not exactly sure what we will do with all of our time together, but I bet it will include lots of snuggling, taking pictures galore, playing, swimming, trips to the park or around the block, watching Jonnie's softball games, some visits to Walnut, and maybe even Oklahoma (not sure if we will tackle that yet, but ya never know...we're crazy like that!), and hopefully her first trips to our fabulous zoo and Busch Stadium. Hopefully this crazy weather will start to be more delightful and consistent so we won't be stuck inside all the time!

When we are not enjoying the summer fun, I will be working on an Independent Study for my Master's program. On one hand I am kind of regretting committing myself to a summer class, even if I get to do it at my own pace on a topic I chose. But on the other hand, it will be an easy, less stressful way to get one class closer to being finished! It also gives Isabel a chance to still spend a few hours one day a week with her sitter so they stay acquainted with each other over the summer.

And way more exciting than my independent study...it's hard to believe, but before school starts again we will be meeting our new nephew Cooper!! I know how fast the summer goes, so he will be here before we know it! I am so excited to meet him and get to reminisce those sweet newborn days we experienced not so long ago, yet passed so quickly!!!

Let the countdown begin!

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:56:00.004-05:00

Last year, I was technically a mommy-to-be on Mother's Day, but I didn't know it! So this year I was very excited to get to celebrate being a mommy! Even though it is a day of appreciation for mothers, I feel like I am the lucky one, and I should be thanking Isabel for making me a mommy, and lighting up my world. She makes me so happy everyday and I cannot imagine going a day without seeing her GINORMOUS, wide open, toothless grin! She melts my heart every time! She is my little cupcake, princess, pumpkin pie, precious girl and I love her so very much!

We spent the day playing in the morning, then off to Edwardsville, where I was spoiled with a new camera :), lunch at Peel, and then relaxing at home. It was a great day!

Forget Me Nots: Month 3

2011-04-24T21:31:00.003-05:00

Dear Isabel,

You are 3 months old on Easter Sunday!

Sleep: The week of April 10^th you slept through the night for seven straight nights! Mommy even got a full 7 hours of sleep! Then mommy had to have her surgery and ended up staying in the hospital for two days and your schedule got a little mixed up, but we are getting back on track!

Feedings: You still like eating every 2 hours! If you go longer than that because you are napping then you sometimes want to eat 6 oz! You are a very hungry girl! You still get formula about once or twice a day while mommy is at work because you eat so often!

Diaper Size: Size 1 and size 1-2.

Development: You have had some big milestones this month! You laughed several times at Daddy. He can get big belly laughs out of you. It is too cute! You have found your hands and you think they are pretty awesome. You constantly have them in your mouth and are using them to grab at everything in your path. With your new found ability to use your hands, you are playing with toys and working on your coordination! You grab onto your favorite ball or bunny and move them all around. You are also sitting in your Bumbo seat and can hold your head up all by yourself in it and play with the toy on your tray.

Stats Weight/Length: We do not see the doctor this month, but we guess you are probably about 15lbs and probably 25 inches long. We will get your official measurements next month!

Clothing Size: You can still fit into a few 0-3, or just 3 month outfits, but you are mostly in 3-6 months clothes.

Eye Color: Turning more blue than gray…I think they may be staying blue.

Favorite Moment this Month: On our way home from Peoria to visit Great Grandma Linley, we had to stop at a gas station to change your diaper and feed you. It was well past bedtime and we were still an hour form home, but you were so excited to be out of your seat and face to face with us, we couldn’t bear to put you back. You had the BIGGEST, most BEAUTIFUL smile and giggles as we played with you. We threw out the bedtime rules, forgot about our exhaustion, and just played and soaked up that moment with you! We are so enamored by you and we fell even more in love with you in those moments!

Other tidbits:

· On April 17^th, you had your Baby Dedication at Upper Alton Baptist Church. We hope that you will come to know the love that Jesus has for you and that He loves you just the way He made you.

· Mommy had gallbladder surgery on April 18^th. It was supposed to be an outpatient surgery, but I ended up having stay two nights! So you and Daddy had some more bonding time! Mommy is not going to be in the hospital anymore…I have met my quota on time away from you! Aunt Jackie, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Jessie, and Owen all helped out while I was gone and while I was recovering. You have the best family ever!

· You had your first trips to the park this month too. You really like being outside in your stroller. We are going to have lots of fun outside this summer!

I may sound like a broken record, but not a day goes by that we do not fall more in love with you! We could never get enough of your precious smile and those incredible dimples. It is amazing how you look at us and we know you know we are your mommy and daddy and that you love us as much as we love you!

Going Under

2011-04-17T21:12:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is my gallbladder surgery. I am relieved to have it taken out so I do not have to worry about it. I am also nervous about the whole thing, especially now that I have Isabel to think about. I know that everything will be fine and I trust that God will take care of me, but I am nervous nonetheless.

On a happier note, tomorrow also marks the beginning of Spring Break!! Hopefully I will not be in too much pain to snuggle and cuddle with my cupcake all week!!

Please pray for a flawless procedure and a speedy recovery!

Sleeping Beauty

2011-04-17T20:56:00.003-05:00

Our little princess is quite the Sleeping Beauty these days!

At about 6 weeks she slept through the night for the first time. Ever since then it has been hit and miss, averaging 2 or 3 nights a week. But this week, we had 7 straight days of sleeping through the night!!! The earliest she has woken up is 4:30 (which is still early!) and the latest is 7:15. She usually is up somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 though.

Yesterday was the first time I have had 7 straight hours of sleep in over 3 months and it was GLORIOUS! I felt so rested when I woke up to feed her! She has always been such a good sleeper, only waking up once in the middle of the night, and then usually going back to sleep after her morning feeding, but getting several hours straight of sleep cannot be beat!!!

Also until last night, she has been dependent on her swaddler. Without it, sleep would not have gone so well for her! It has been a lifesaver. But as of late, it is more of a hazard. Now that she is more mobile in her sleep, she wiggles out of it partially, leaving it up around her neck. I am not sure if it can get tight enough to hurt her, but we didn't want to take any chances, so we have converted her to a sleep sack where her arms are free, and so far so good!

Keep it up Sleeping Beauty!

To the Park We Go!

2011-04-09T13:36:00.005-05:00

Not a whole lot to blog about these last couple of weeks. Our days usually go something like this... wake up, work, love on Isabel, go to sleep, Repeat!

However, we did finally get our first chance to take her out tot he park! It seems like all of the other nice days we have had have just never worked out, and I was beginning to think she would never get to bask in the warm spring air! But alas, Wednesday we finally made it out to Glazebrook for a stroll. I think she really liked it! Here are just a few quick shots we were able to get!

Looking forward to more days like this!

Forget Me Nots: Month 2

2011-03-24T21:19:00.007-05:00

Dear Isabel,

I can’t believe you are 2 months already!!! You are getting so big and changing everyday. I wish I could keep you little forever, but I love seeing you grow and seeing your smiling face everyday! You are such a good, happy baby and I love you more and more each day!!!!

Sleep: On March 8, at 6 weeks you slept in your crib in your own room for the first time. Now you have slept through the night several times! Now if mommy could just get herself to bed before 11:45 my sleep life would be great!

Feedings: You generally like to eat every 2 hours unless you are napping through a feeding. At 6 weeks you got your first bottle and I wrote this: You don’t like your bottle very much…it makes me feel bad for you because I know you have no choice but to take it. I wish I could stay home with you forever and feed you, but I can’t. Plus daddy would like some extra quality time with you, so please take it easy on him, and let him feed you! Well after a couple tries you took the bottle like a champ and Daddy has had lots of turns feeding you.

Right before you were 8 weeks old Mommy had to stay in the hospital for a few days with a gallbladder attack and we had to give you formula. Mommy was NOT happy about this, but you were a trooper and ate it without complaining. Hopefully it will only last one week and we will be back to all breast milk!

Diaper Size: Size 1

Development: You are smiling and talking (cooing) more everyday. You are also grabbing onto things like mommy’s hair and whatever you can get your hands on.

Stats Weight/Length: 3.25.2011 Weight 12lbs 1oz (90%) Length: 24 (75%) Head: 37cm

Clothing Size: 0-3 months…but getting close to moving on to the next size!

Hair Color: brown…some days it looks pretty light…you may become a blondie someday

Eye Color: Still grayish/blue

Favorite Moment this Month: Watching you kick and splash in the bathtub…you LOVE the bath! I also love watching you sleep in my arms

Other tidbits:

*Mommy went back to work when you were 7 weeks old. You didn’t mind too much, but Mommy had a hard time and misses your sweet little face like crazy all day long!!!! You have fun with and are spoiled by Miss Alice on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. On Wednesdays and Fridays you stay home with Daddy.

* You had some bonding time with Daddy while Mommy stayed 3 days in the hospital. I hated being away from you and hope that never happens again! Grandma Stacey, Grandpa Mike, Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Jessie helped Daddy take care of you. You had your first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s house with Daddy. Then Cousin Owen and Aunt Jessie let Daddy borrow Uncle Jeremy and you had a sleepover at our house. You had fun with Daddy. While I didn’t like being away, I am glad you got some special time with Daddy.

*Speaking of Daddy time you hit him with a triple threat of bodily function explosions one morning this month! He handled it well and you both survived, but I wish I could have seen his face when it all happened! He tells the story pretty good so I can imagine the comical scene it must have been!

* You met your new friend Diego Michael Gillean. You cried a lot, so hopefully next time you will have more fun! Daddy is afraid the Gillean boys are a future threat, but I think it will be just fine. You are lucky to have lots of boys including Cousin Owen and his future brother to look after you someday since you won’t have an older brother!

You had a pretty busy 2nd month. Thanks for being such a trooper and making things easy on us! We are the luckiest Mommy ad Daddy ever! We love you to pieces!

Back To the Place Where I Belong

2011-03-23T22:33:00.002-05:00

Home Sweet Home!!! I finally made it home Tuesday afternoon!!!

But the madness didn't stop there...that would be too easy! Sam picked me up, or shall I say rescued me, from the hospital, but when I got home I realized we had not thought this through. I had no keys, and no way to get in the garage because the outside code panel needed a new battery. So I decided that getting a new battery should solve the problem. Again, that would be too easy. Sam drove me all the way back to the store to buy a battery and all the way home again, and while the code should have worked, it didn't! So now I really was locked out. All I wanted to do was go home, take a shower, get Isabel, go grocery shopping, and go home for good, but no!

So Sam took me to get Isabel and we just had to wait until Jonnie got home, which took FOR-EV-ER! I finally made it home, but once I got there I still had so much to do like go to the store, finish lesson plans, feed Isabel, and on and on and on!

I am glad the madness is finally over and I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but it still really upsets me that those are precious days in my life I am never getting back. Times in Isabel's life that I missed that is already going by too fast. Times with my best friend and her new baby as he entered the world. I am trying to just get over it, but for some reason I can't.

I go back next week to meet with the surgeon and plan my surgery. I am hoping to have it done over Spring Break so I will have plenty of time to recover. It is supposed to be an outpatient surgery so hopefully no more hospitals!!!!!

I finally got to meet little Diego today and he is so small and light compared to Isabel!!! It also made me a little sad because I could see just how big she has gotten and changed since she was that little just 8 short weeks ago! Clearly I am very emotional right now...ahhhh!!!! Anyway he is super adorable and I can't wait to get to see him a little more, since Isabel wasn't quite cooperating this evening, so I didn't really get to see much of the little guy, but there will be plenty of time for that!

Not What I had in Mind...

2011-03-20T20:11:00.002-05:00

This week was full of things that didn't really fit the image I imagined for them.

First, this was my first week back to work. I can sum it up in a few words...emotional, depressing, and awful! The before Isabel version of me would have never guessed that it would be so hard. I didn't think I would be excited or anything, I just thought that since I always knew I would go back to work, I wouldn't be so emotional and down right sad about leaving her behind, but I was WRONG! Once I got to work and in the routine, I was distracted, the part that really got to me was realizing how little time we had together once we got home. By the time we get home, get settled, cook dinner, and eat, it's time to put my princess to bed! By Thursday I didn't cry in the morning or at night, so that is progress! I just keep looking forward to spring break, summer, and the weekends!

Speaking of the weekends, I was so looking forward to this weekend. Two whole days of snuggling with Isabel, getting our house in some sort of order (it got outta control this week!), and the anticipated arrival of Baby Gillean! All those plans took a U-turn in the blink of any eye!

After a lovely dinner Friday night with the Gilleans with Alicia having lots of contractions, I just knew Baby Gillean was going to come this weekend. What perfect timing! I was hoping it would be on the weekend so I could be there for everything, or at least as much as Isabel would allow. Think again me!

Saturday we got a start on cleaning the house and I just started feeling awful. Thinking I was just overdoing it on little sleep after a long week, I tried to sleep it off with an afternoon nap. I couldn't sleep and the pain just got worse. After about 6 hours of uncontrollable pain we decided we needed to go to the ER with what I was sure was a gallbladder attack. There went my Saturday with Isabel...it was spent in excruciating pain and the hospital.

I was admitted and kept overnight. I woke up to a text saying Alicia was in labor! Awesome for her, awful for me! I wanted to be there so bad to cheer Alicia on, see the newest Gillean, and to see if my gender prediction streak continued...major fail! I was stuck in the hospital and missed it all!!!!! However, I am happy to announce, Alicia had a successful labor and delivery and Diego Michael Gillean made his entrance at 1:06pm on March 20, 2011!!! Hopefully, I will get out of here soon enough and get to see him in person!

So now we are waiting for more tests on Monday and will determine if and when I will have surgery. I am not looking forward to that....the only bonus will be more time at home with Isabel, but I don't know how much I will be able to take care of her so we will see how it goes!

Jonnie has been such a trooper and I know it has put a lot of stress and pressure on him having to do a lot by himself with Isabel and take care of and worry about me. He is the best!!! He has already won the Husband/Father of the year award and it's only March!

This week was definitely not what I had in mind! Let's hope for a better next week!

Sing Praise!

2011-03-11T22:44:00.002-06:00

Jonnie's dad is cancer free! His latest MRI shows no signs of the tumor, only scar tissue! We are so excited by this news and ready to go full force into rehabilitating him! When we heard the news, this is the song that popped in my head:

Give thanks to the Lord

Our God and King

His love endures forever

For He is good, He is above all things

His love endures forever

Sing praise, sing praise

With a mighty hand

and outstretched arm

His love endures forever

For the life that's been reborn

His love endures forever

Sing praise, sing praise

Yeah

Forever God is faithful

Forever God is strong

Forever God is with us

Forever

From the rising to the setting sun

His love endures forever

By the grace of God

We will carry on

His love endures forever

Sing praise, sing praise

Yeah

Forever God is faithful

Forever God is strong

Forever God is with us

Forever

Forever God is faithful

Forever God is strong

Forever God is with us

Forever

His love endures forever

Forever

Sing praise, sing praise

Yeah

Forever you are faithful

Forever you are strong

Foerver you are with us

Forever

And ever

Yeah

Wonderful Wednesday

2011-03-09T21:41:00.004-06:00

Hallelujah for a Wonderful Wednesday!

Last night I did not do so well. My emotions got the best of me as my mind was plagued by the thought of returning to work, feeling anxious about her sleeping in her room, and worrying about her being able to eat for the sitter and Jonnie next week.

But today was a new day, and thankfully a great day.

One personal, small victory of the day was being able to wear my wedding rings for the first time since November! I have been waiting for this day to come, and I am very excited!

More importantly, Isabel slept well in her own room and getting up to feed her in there doesn't feel like anymore work than having her in our room.

She also took two bottles today with little to no fussing! A HUGE success. Now the next step is to get her to let Jonnie feed her without all of the screaming. That's our task for the next 4 days!

Since Jonnie had his long 16 hour day today, it was just Isabel and me all day, so we took a little shopping trip to Target to buy mommy some new clothes for work! This was my first time taking her out all by myself, except for going to the doctor. Trying on clothes is definitely more of a challenge with a baby. She wasn't super happy when the cart stopped moving, so once she calmed down a little, I tried on some things lightning fast so we could get moving again! Once we were back in the cart and cruising through the aisles she fell asleep and I was able to get what I needed without worrying about her causing a scene lol!

Everyone tells you not to worry about the dishes or laundry or housework and just enjoy your time with your baby. I have gotten sidetracked somedays and worried too much about keeping up with other things. But today, even though there are four baskets of unfolded laundry, a sink full of dishes, and a living room gone a stray, I put all of my focus and energy into spending time with Isabel. She was such an amazing, sweet baby today. It was just the day I needed. A day just for us. A day I will treasure.

Changes in Progress

2011-03-08T10:12:00.003-06:00

We tried the bottle for the first time last night. This picture paints a rosier scenario than it really was!

However, I suppose it went about as good as could be expected for the first time. We started out on a bad foot from the get go with the timing I think...it was supposed to be her second to last feeding, but she was so sleepy, she ended up napping late enough for it to be her bedtime feeding. I think she was just too tired to try to introduce something new into the mix!

All that being said, once she realized there was milk in there, she got a good start and seemed not to mind it, but it went downhill fast! Her screaming made Jonnie frustrated and probably anxious, so I ended up taking over. She did much better after the switch. I felt bad that she did better with me because I didn't want Jonnie to feel like he couldn't do it. But, I think as she gets used to it, and Jonnie realizes he will need a little more patience as she learns that the bottle is her friend, I think things will get better!

Since the bottle feeding was a little taxing on her, we didn't try the crib last night, but hopefully tonight!

Round 2 tonight!

Change is Good, right?

2011-03-07T13:58:00.002-06:00

This week is the start of lots of changes for the three of us. I go back to work in seven short days, and I am not ready! I admit it is exhausting being at home all day with Isabel, and I don't know if I would want to be a full time stay at home mom forever, but I am not ready to be without her all day! It is going to be hard and I know there are some serious meltdowns in my future, but hopefully they will hold off until next week.

In preparation for next week, Isabel is getting her first bottle this week! I have been pumping, so now Jonnie will get to feed her for the first time. She will get a bottle once a day this week, to help her make the adjustment to next week, when she will get 3-4 bottles. I probably should have started this earlier, but pumping is hard, and it took awhile to get the supply built up! I hope one bottle a day will be a good enough transition for her. She likes to eat, so I don't think she'll go hungry! I am excited for Jonnie to get to feed her. It gives me a break, and I know he has been waiting for his chance! I'll post pics of this event later!

Also, this week I am going to try to transition her into her crib at night. We borrowed the bassinet, and Baby Gillean will be here soon, so he or she will be needing it. This move is going to be harder than I thought. I am anxious about her not being right next to me in the bassinet. I know it is right across the hall and I can keep the doors open, but I may lose some sleep over this one! I contemplated using the pack-n-play, but she has to leave our room eventually, so might as well not prolong the inevitable. I can do it!

Then of course the biggest change of all is leaving my baby girl with someone else for NINE whole hours a day three days a week, and not getting to see her for NINE whole hours a day five days a week! I am glad we have someone we know and trust, and who I know will love her to pieces while we are at work, but I am still going to miss her terribly! Luckily, a week long Spring Break is in my future in April, and then a few weeks later will be summer break. Thank goodness I am a teacher! Having these breaks to look forward to makes it a little easier on me I think. But we will make it!

Wish us luck as we tackle these new changes this week and next!

Idol Time!

2011-03-02T22:39:00.001-06:00

American Idol Season 10 is in full swing! I have been watching Idol since season 1, only missing 1 or 2 seasons along the way. I was a little skeptical about what this season would be like without Simon, and considered not watching it at all. Not because I was a huge Simon fan necessarily, but just because it would be so different. Once it came time to watch though, I had to see how the new judges would do, and so far I think they are doing ok, good enough to keep me watching! I like Jennifer Lopez, I think she is a genuinely nice person, but sometimes being a genuinely nice person impedes her from being a critical judge.

Another change this year is how quickly they are getting to the top 10. I am not sure I like the way they are doing that...I think some of the people who really are good, but maybe didn't choose the best song this week are going to get kicked off without getting a chance to show what they can do. Having said that though, I think the girls are waaaayyy better than the guys. I think there are 7 or8 girls worthy of top 10, and maybe only 3 or 4 guys. I wish it was an overall top ten instead of an even five girls and five guys. It is a shame some of these girls are going to get kicked off in place of some the guys, who were pretty boring!

My guesses for who will make the top 10 and a list of who I want to make the top 10.

Probable Top 10:

Lauran Alaina

Thia Meguia

Ashton Jones

Pia Tosacano

Karen Rodriguez

Jacob Lusk

Casey Abrams

Clint Jun Gamboa

James Durbin

Robbie Rosen or Scotty McCreery...undecided...a young one will definitely make it though

My Top 10:

Lauran Alaina

Thia Meguia

Pia Toscano

Karen Rodriguez

Julie Zorrilla (even though she chose a bad song last night, I think she is good)

(but I also think Kendra and Lauren Turner are worthy competitors)

Clint Jun Gamboa

Casey Abrams

Jovany Barretto

Tim Halperin

Paul McDonald

Interested to see how my predictions and wish list plays out tonight!

Forget Me Nots

2011-02-22T10:05:00.006-06:00

Isabel is now one month old and I cannot believe it! On one hand four weeks seems like a long time ago, but at the same time it has gone so fast! Sadly, it also means we only have three more weeks together until I go back to work.

I wanted to record some of our favorite moments and things about these first four weeks that I don't want to forget!

- Holding onto her baby soft hands

- Family cuddle and play time in the mornings

- The way she scrunches up in a cozy, snuggly ball when she is so sleepy!

- Her funny, silly faces she makes when she is dozing off and sleeping

- The way she stares at herself in the mirror

- Watching her smile at her silly daddy

- Taking afternoon naps together on the couch

- Sleepy stretches

- Bath time...she loves it! She sits there so calm and peaceful!

- watching her become aware of her surroundings...she loves to lay on her changing table and take everything in, and now she is also beginning to explore her play gym

- listening to her coos and sighs

We are planning on getting a video camera soon so we can start to capture her big (and not so big) moments, so we will always have them. I know I have said it before, but even though I am excited to see her grow, I just want to keep her little! Even though she was never a tiny baby, she is already growing so fast, and is not the same baby we brought home! As the weeks and months go on, I will keep recording these "forget me nots" to look back on someday!

A Special Message

2011-02-14T15:52:00.003-06:00

Isabel says:

Happy Valentine's Day! Lots of love to all of my family and friends who have spoiled me with love, hugs, kisses, and the cutest clothes ever!

On Our Own

2011-02-07T13:56:00.002-06:00

Today Isabel and I are on our own! Jonnie went back to work today after spoiling us rotten for 2 whole weeks! We were so lucky to have him here with us that long. Most dads do not get more than a couple of days which is eaten up by the time spent in the hospital, leaving only a day or two spent at home.

People kept asking this weekend how we would do without him home. I knew things would be different, like doing more for myself, doing more around the house, and giving up my quiet bath and shower time, but I didn't think it would make me sad or emotional. I was wrong! Isabel had her first doctor's appointment today, which I was sad to have to do without him, but thought it would be a good test of how we do on our own! Before we even left the house I was fighting back tears as Jonnie was leaving and helping us to the car. I hid them well I think... Then about two minutes down the road the tears came out of nowhere again! I didn't want to look like an emotional mess at the doctor's office, so I pulled it together until we made it to the doctor.

When I got in the lobby of the medical building, I saw the LONGEST line ever and that is not an exaggeration! Apparently the building has a new computer system that caused major delays and there were 15-20 people in line ahead of us! How was I supposed to hold her stuff and her

for what was inevitably going to be quite awhile all by myself? THen of course she started crying, and people start staring, and I go into panic mode and try not to ball like a baby with her. It was hard enough to hold her car seat and diaper bag and my purse, so there was no way I could do all of that and get her out of her seat to hold her. Even though I knew it wouldn't help, I called Jonnie secretly hoping he would come rescue us. He couldn't rescue us of course, and talking to him only made me well up with tears about five more times. But again I had to hold it together so all 20 people in front of us didn't have more reason to stare at us! Luckily, after taking off her coat and unbuckling her in her car seat, Isabel calmed down and slept peacefully through the line!

We eventually made it through that wretched line and to the doctor 35 minutes late for our appointment! My aunt Carolyn works in my OB/GYNs office which is also connected to the pediatrician's office, so it was a relief to see a familiar face!

Isabel checked out great with the doctor. She is still not quite back to her birth weight yet, she weighed in at 9 pounds today. So we will go back next Monday to double check that she is continuing to gain weight, but otherwise the doctor thought she looked perfectly healthy!

After finishing up there we visited with aunt Carolyn and let her show Isabel off around her office and then we headed out. Isabel does really well in the car, thank goodness, so our ride home was great and she has been a perfect little angel all afternoon!

So after a little emotional rollercoaster this morning, we pulled it together and I think we can do this! After all we are still spoiled because we still get daddy on Wednesdays and Fridays!

Our First Week

2011-01-31T15:46:00.006-06:00

Isabel is already one week old! All of the days sort of run together, so I can't believe we have already had 7 whole days with her.

Here are some things we have learned about her this past week:

- She is a pretty great sleeper! Almost too good of a sleeper sometimes!

- She has also taken to nursing very well which is good for everybody!

- She makes funny faces and smiles that show her dimple when she is sleeping.

- She lets you know right away when she needs her diaper changed.

- She LOVES having her hair washed, being swaddled in her SwaddleMe, and the sound of running water.

- She enjoys face to face time after her morning feeding when she is wide awake.

-She is a very happy baby!

I really want to make sure that no matter how tired we are or how long she cries before getting calmed down that we don't wish away our time with her, especially during these first weeks when she is so tiny and precious. I know we have a lot to look forward to as she grows up and her personality starts to shine through, but I still just want to keep her this little as long as I can!

There is a Taylor Swift song that puts it pretty perfectly:

Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
It could stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
No, no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up

No Better Gift

2011-01-30T22:03:00.005-06:00

I have heard/read of women receiving "push presents" after giving birth and apparently there is a lot of debate over the issue. I personally don't think it is an issue worthy of debate...if a husband chooses to do it great....who doesn't like presents?....if he doesn't that's fine too...clearly he has enough on his mind!

Jonnie and I never discussed this issue and I never anticipated or expected a present for giving birth. But after reflecting back on our first week as parents, I realized that I did receive a gift from Jonnie that is truly priceless, him.

There is nothing that he could have ever bought me to show his appreciation/gratitude/happiness for the arrival of Isabel that would mean more to me than him telling me in the hospital how great I did and thanking me for everything I went through.

No gift could replace him being strong enough to put his own nerves aside to help me through the delivery as he counted out every push, rubbed my head, fed me ice chips, and gave me words of encouragement to keep going.

No amount of diamonds or jewelry would make me happier than hearing him announce "It's a girl!" and watching him stare over her and choose her name.

Even though he has been full of anxiety since bringing Isabel home, he has been more amazing than I could have ever hoped for. He saved me in the middle of our first night when we were all so exhausted from the past four days. Since he cannot help with feeding right now, he jumps right in and does anything and everything he can to make us comfortable and keeps things going around the house without me asking for anything. I am not sure why he feels so much anxiety when he does so amazing with her and sometimes knows just what she needs when I have no idea!

He is amazing, the best gift, the best partner, and the best daddy to Isabel that I could ask for in this new adventure we have been blessed to go on together.

We did it!

2011-01-27T15:53:00.010-06:00

We welcomed our precious Isabel Elizabeth into the world on Monday, January 24, 2011 at 8:03 am! I can't believe she is here, but I am very happy she is.

She surprised us all with her whopping weight of 9 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long! We would have never guessed she would be the chunky monkey she is, but we love every bit of her!

Here is a recap of how she entered the world:

Sunday, 1.23.11, I woke up at 5:30 am for no apparent reason and a could not go back to sleep. Shortly after I started having some contractions, but they faded and eventually I fell back to sleep for a bit. Then it was off to church and home to watch the Chicago Bears in the Playoffs! At 2:15, I started having contractions. Until that point, all of my contractions faded after an hour, so I decided I wouldn't even begin timing them until an hour had passed. Then two hours passed, and then three hours and they got stronger and didn't disappear when I moved around. I was pretty much in denial that this could actually be happening, especially on her due date. I denied it until my body was giving me clear signs that this was the real deal. We decided I should call the doctor and tell them the scenario to see if we should pack up our stuff and go. The doctor called us back and off we went, our last time leaving our house as a party of two!

We checked in about 6:00pm and I was a little over 2cm dilated and after an hour was over 3cm, so they moved me into a room! It was really time to do this! We decided to make our phone calls and Alicia, Jeremy, and Jessie made the trip up to keep us company as things progressed along. It was nice to have company and a distraction from the pain of my contractions. Alicia brought an exercise ball which really helped during the process too! At 11:30 I was 4cm dilated...far enough to get an epidural, but I made myself wait so I wouldn't be bedridden forever and I am glad I did.

I continued having contractions and breathing through them until around 2:15am when I finally got an epidural. I was afraid it would hurt and I would so numb I couldn't move anything, but it was actually a pretty painless process and my epidural was really great. I could move my legs, but had no pain! They checked me once it was in and I was 7cm!!!

Then at 3:30am my water broke which was an interesting experience! Let's just say I would never want that to happen anywhere else other than in a hospital! After that I experienced the only hiccup in the whole process...my water breaking made everything more intense and we soon realized the epidural pump was never turned on...this made things quite uncomfortable to put things mildly. I do not envy those who choose to go without medication, but kudos to them for being willing to experience that! After that little experience, the epidural kicked back in and I was pain free and fully dilated! So if anything good came from not having my medication for a brief period, I think the intensity sped up the process and I was able to confidently say I have no desire to ever go through childbirth again without medication!

And before I forget, I also have to say that my nurse was AMAZING! She was so calm and peaceful and really helped and encouraged me through the whole process. She answered our questions, did everything to make me comfortable, helped me through getting the epidural and surviving without it temporarily. I was a little sad that she had to leave right as I was beginning to push and I had to start with a new nurse. She was a little more old school and down to business, but she still was very helpful and encouraging during the pushing process.

After I was fully dilated, they decided to let Isabel do some of the work to lower herself down before pushing and I was able to get in a quick nap. It was only about an hour, but it felt like several, which was refreshing! At around 6:45 I began pushing, shortly after the doctor arrived and I pushed until 8:03 am when little Isabel finally entered the world!

It was such a surreal experience giving birth to her, hearing Jonnie say she was a girl, having her placed in my arms, and looking into her face. I thought I would be more emotional in the moment, but I was so exhausted from the whole experience I just couldn't wrap my head around what I just accomplished, but thinking back on it now makes teary eyed.

The whole process just makes you realize how amazing the human body is! I never would have guessed I would have the strength to so peacefully breathe through contractions until I was 7cm, that I could endure the pain, that I could push for over an hour until my perfectly plump baby made her way out, and that a 9lb 8 oz baby fit inside this body and was able to come out on her own!

Looking back on the past week I cannot believe how incredibly blessed we are! I have no idea what we did to deserve such a picture perfect pregnancy, a complication free labor and delivery, and a very healthy, beautiful baby girl, but I am so thankful for it all!

Update!

2011-01-17T20:09:00.002-06:00

So my doctor's appointment went well today. She said I am 1.5cm and 60% effaced and the baby's head is pretty tight down in the cervix, which is progress from Wednesday. She said I should take it easy if I want to make it through the week! After she said that I asked about setting a date for induction if nothing happens by Sunday. We talked about Wednesday the 26th but didn't schedule it. I will go back next Monday afternoon if necessary and have my membranes stripped (whatever that means!) which will probably jumpstart labor and schedule for Wednesday just in case.

I asked her if she is optimistic about me going on my own, and she said while she can't promise, she doesn't think I will make it until next Wednesday, which makes me ecstatic!

I was really feeling guilty about induction, and now I feel like for at least a week I don't have to worry about it, and hopefully I won't have to at all! If it comes to that next week, I think I will be so ready I won't care anymore, but for now I feel relief at the possibility of doing it on my own and very soon!

Hopefully my next post will be news of going into labor and pictures of our newest addition, fingers crossed!

Our Days Are Few

2011-01-16T23:36:00.004-06:00

We have reached 39 weeks, which means only seven short days until the due date and even if we go past that date, our days of being two are finite.

It is so crazy how contradictory my feelings are at this point! I want this baby to come out so we can finally meet it, but it is also surreal to say goodbye to life as we have known it. We have gone through all of our major life changes together as a party of two: graduating high school, going to college/starting work, buying a house, and getting married. So in some ways this is just another milestone we are taking on together. Although all of our other life changing events have been about us and we only had ourselves/each other to think about. This time, we are involving another human being. Someone is going to depend on us for everything for a very long time.

It is a little sad to put the last twelve years as we have known it behind us, but also exciting to begin this new chapter, make new memories and experiences, and grow our relationship as a family of three.

We spent this weekend as just the two of us relaxing, cleaning, and had a final pre-baby date night with dinner and a movie. I know we will have us time again eventually but it will be different.

I have a doctor's appointment today. After quite a few contractions last night, I am hoping for some progress! I was secretly hoping last night they would just keep coming and it was time to go, but am also sort of relieved that I still have a few more days! See the contradictions!!!

I am going to schedule an induction today for if baby doesn't come on its own by the 23rd. I am still torn about how long I want to wait. I feel selfish for not wanting to go back to work after this week and scheduling an induction so I don't have to. I don't want to be induced, I want it to come on its own. I think it will be better for both of us, and I don't want to wish away time, because I know it will come on its own at some point. I am just getting impatient and the thought of dealing with my school schedule after this week when all of my testing is complete is exhausting. So I will talk about it with the doctor and see what she thinks, but I am still conflicted on what to do.

I know we will never be fully ready for what is about to happen and how our lives are about to change, but in terms of having everything we need and in order we are ready. We have enjoyed an ideal pregnancy without any complications at all and for that we are blessed and greatful. Now it is time to meet this little person who has been growing for the last 39 weeks!

Planning Ahead

2011-01-11T19:29:00.002-06:00

One of my goals over Christmas break was to make some meals and freeze them for after the baby comes. I am sure we will be well fed from friends, family, and church family at first, but these meals are for when the food stops rolling in! Well, my break was way too short, and besides the busy holiday gatherings, consisted of a lot of laying on the couch! So needless to say that didn't get checked off the list.

Today however, was a snow day. An unwanted snow day in some ways, since I have testing to finish at school and this totally threw my schedule off. But, it was also a good day of rest, a chance to make those meals, and I FINALLY finished my sub plans! I have seriously been working on those for weeks and they have been plaguing my life! If we are blessed with another baby in the future, I am going to do everything in my power to make sure it is a May/June baby!

Back to the food...Sunday night I made double of the feta and bacon stuffed chicken recipe I found here and froze half of it. It was delicious! It is a Trader Joe's recipe. Not even sure how I stumbled upon it since I have never been there. It obviously calls for all Trader Joe's products, but I just used stuff from Schnucks. I LOVE feta cheese and bacon so for me there was no better combo!

Then today, I made this pasta recipe from Kraft, except I used cheese tortellini instead of fettucini. I made 2 pans of it, in case we want to try it out before baby comes. From the little taste test I took before sealing it up, it was pretty tasty.

And tonight I made this recipe also from Kraft which made enough for three meals- two to freeze and one for tonight's dinner. This one was probably the BEST thing I have ever made! It was restaurant worthy...I would pay money for it at a restaurant! It was not hard to make either, so I highly recommend it if you are looking for something new at dinner. There are two suggestions I would give though if you consider making it. One, after you flatten the chicken, slice it almost in half long ways to create a flap rather than rolling it. I think that will ensure you get the spinach and cheese goodness in every bite and it is just easier than rolling it! Second, you really don't need all of the spinach it calls for. I made it as the recipe directed and I threw a lot away, even though I stuffed them as full as I could. It made me sad to throw so much away, but I didn't think it would keep very well.

I should have taken pictures, but I am not that organized in the kitchen!

So now we have five frozen meals which will be nice when we don't feel like cooking or are tired of frozen pizza!

Snow, Snow Go Away, Come Again Another Day

2011-01-08T23:00:00.004-06:00

This forecast doesn't fit into my schedule right now!!! I HAVE to get my testing done ASAP in case this baby decides it wants to make an early entry into the world! There is no time for a Snow Day. I love a Snow Day as much as the next person, but right now is not the time! There can be twenty snow days after the 19th when my testing is done for all I care just not this week!

My fingers are crossed that this is a meteorological flop or that it is not severe enough to cause a snow day!

How many more days?

2011-01-03T17:25:00.003-06:00

Today was my first day back after break, and I think I might die.

Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I am really concerned that I cannot physically keep up with the pace of my job, which requires a TON of walking around buildings and hauling a heavy bag of materials around from building to building, for the next three to four weeks. Luckily, after this week, I will just be testing so that will eliminate the heavy bag, but will still require a lot of walking back and forth to pick up and drop off students.

After just one day, my back is in the most pain it has been and my feet look and feel horrible. I do not want to be a complainer, I really don't, but it is going to be a rough three weeks! And even though I am worried about getting around in these last few weeks, I also don't really want him or her to come any earlier than the 19th! So quite the predicament of "can't have your cake and eat it too!"

People just have that "poor thing" look on their face when they see me waddling down the hall, which isn't exactly encouraging...so I just try to keep a smile on my face and tell myself we can do it!

One way or another he/she will come in its own time whether earlier than what is my ideal, or after making me endure the pain of walking around all day past the 23rd, and either way we will survive and it will be more than worth it, even if it doesn't seem possible today!