Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you are enjoying it! Whether you're with family, friends, coworkers, or flying solo I sincerely hope you are stuffing your face with an insane amount of yummy food.

For Makaela's FIRST Thanksgiving we are celebrating with my brother! We started out the morning sipping on hot cocoa, because it is actually quite cold here in 'bama (who knew?!).

Soon we'll be off to play some tennis and then we'll be enjoying a slightly non-traditional Thanksgiving feast. No turkey for us!

How cute is that lil hand?! I could just eat it up, gobble gobble (har har har). And just for fun and to show the scale of how itty bitty that turkey is, I present the picture below :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Professional Family Photos

Mid-October we got our first professional family photos. I've been wanting to have a professional photo shoot forever and finally convinced Tim. We found an amazing photographer locally that had wonderful prices. We seriously hit the jackpot.

It was so hard to narrow down the choice and choose "favorites." I've been waiting to post these on the blog until I mailed out copies to friends and family...and I tend to avoid the post office like the plague, but the first batch are finally in the mail, I swear!

I will treasure these photos forever <3

....and she's off!

Look out world, this little stinker is mobile.

She started scooting backward a couple months ago, and then about a month ago she started to do the whole "rocking" thing on her hands and knees but would usually flop down within a minute and throw a fit that usualllllllly looked like this...

The day she officially began "crawling" was 11/12/13. At first she would go about a foot and then stop and sit and then go a foot and stop and sit. She wasn't totally sold on it....that is, until she realized that being mobile actually worked to her advantage.

This week, a lightbulb went off and she realized the possibilities were endless. She could now crawl over to the dog food and water bowls, our cell phone and laptop cords and any and everything else she is NOT supposed to touch; things mommy and daddy would never walk her over to.

Such a little thrill seeker...

Aside from the fact that she seems motivated and tempted by things she isn't supposed to play with, the whole crawling thing is adorable. I love the smile she gets on her face when she is proud of herself. She follows me around the house, and perhaps I occasionally play "fetch" with her...

Oh, and I can't fail to mention the time earlier this week when I caught Rocky HUMPING her as she tried to innocently crawl around the living room. That dog.....he's just not right.

Miss Makaela has a couple variations of crawling up her sleeve. One is the traditional crawl; she prefers that on carpet. And then there is the gorilla crawl, which she feels is best suited for tile or wood floor.  See exhibit A and B below...

This girl has eyes like a hawk. I'm not joking when I say if there is a piece of sand or a hair on the ground she WILL find it and she WILL eat it. 

Thank goodness I started childproofing a couple weeks ago because she is already pulling books off shelves, and opening cupboards and drawers. Nosey Nancy!!

Michigan Trip: The Wedding and a Whole Day Away from Baby Girl

Last month, while in Michigan, I was honored to be part of the most beautiful wedding. It was perfect. And magical. And fun. And gorgeous. And PERFECT.

Every detail was carefully thought out and executed. It was a dream.

I had the BEST time and will never forget it.

S and A were getting hitched and I got to be the matron of honor. I am so happy that I got to spend this day with them. I admire them and their relationship very much. They make it look effortless and seem like they truly have a BLAST together. I love it. They are perfect together and there is nothing fake or forced about it. They will still be this happy and in love in 60 years, I know this for sure.

A little bird poop on the groom right before the ceremony ain't no thang...

While I was at the wedding my dear friend M came and watched my baby girl. I've been away from Makaela before but this was the longest stretch (about 15 hours). At this time Makaela was new to foods, and was still drinking quite a bit of breastmilk. I was nervous about having enough milk for her, because as you may recall, some leaked on the plane. But I knew, worst case scenario M could always bring Makaela to me at the wedding for a quick feeding. Fortunately, it didn't come to that and there was plenty of food and milk to keep my girl going while I was away.

M was such a doll. She took Makaela swimming in the pool, took her on a walk at the beach, brought her tons of toys to play with, went out to lunch with her, facetime'd with Daddy and kept her happy all day long (all while she was teething! her first two teeth popped through 3 days later). She is a miracle worker. I never worried and knew that she was in good hands. I am so thankful for what M did. I am always blown away by my wonderful friends' kind hearts and generosity.

It was really nice to have this day be baby-free. I mean, I love spending time with my girl, but this day was for spending with my favorite bride!! We drank delicious coffee and ate yummy sweets while getting our hair did, we took a "detour" to the wedding venue which was full of laughs, we got ready in the bridal studio and jammed to old school Christina and other late 90s/early Y2K hits, and had a blast with her amazing photographers (they were so sweet, they even worked around my need to pump! haha).

Once the wedding started, the fun continued. S and A wrote their own vows, and they were the PERFECT (I know I keep using that word, but it's true) balance of funny and sentimental. They even snuck in a surprise tribute to their mamas. They made me get teary eyed in front of the whole crowd.

The reception was the best party ever. I didn't pass out or choke during my speech, so that was good. There was delicious food, yummy cupcakes, tasty local craft beers, late night pizza, smores at the fire pit, cigars on the balcony....I told you....every detail was perfection. The music was awesome and we danced the night away. That bride and groom know how to throw a par-tay.

Afterward, a giant school bus came and shuttled anyone who needed a ride back to their hotel or to the after party at Applebee's. Holla! I skipped out on the after party, but heard it was awesome. I'm not surprised.

First Time Ordering Off the Kid's Menu!

On our way back from Tim's parents we stopped at Steak and Shake. I think it has been YEARS since we've been to one. Ahh, it was delicious and I wish we had one nearby. Did you know they serve breakfast? They probably have for 10 years and I am just now finding out.

Annnnnnyway, when we walked in the hostess informed us that kids eat free on Sundays if Makaela wanted to try anything. At first I kind of ignored the idea, and then once we sat down, thought hey why not? She eats big girl food at home and off our plate at restaurants, why not order her her very own meal? Especially at my favorite price point.....free!

What a big big girl she has become <3

The mac and cheese and applesauce were a total hit. She shoveled it all in like a champ. The hat was also a huge hit...so much so that she fussed when it fell off once, and immediately calmed once it was back on her noggin. She also loved the toy car that daddy made her from the kid's kit that came with her meal. 

Another successful outing in the books. Yesssssssss.

Dog Friend

Did I also mention how she can spot Rocky's disgusting orange bone chew toy from across the room and makes her way to it so that she too can munch on it just like the dog? Uh yeah, so that's fun. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served or are currently serving. Our service women and men make the ultimate commitment and I am forever thankful for their courage and bravery.

They often miss out on special moments with family and friends....some miss the birth of their child, or spend an important birthday deployed to a foreign country... the list goes on. The fact that they so selflessly do so, often risking their lives, to protect our freedom is beyond admirable. Veterans are heroes.

I'm lucky enough to be married to a veteran.

He is strong and brave and he takes it all on while being the most amazing daddy a lil girl could ask for.  A real hero.

I'm so grateful for the life that we have. Thank you again to all the veterans out there. We love ya!

Aplin Farms and The National Peanut Festival

Whenever there are special events or festivals around here we try to make it out to them, because, well there isn't a whole lot to do on an average weekend. At the end of September we went to Oktoberfest, which was conveniently held 2 blocks from our house. We envisioned drinking fun German beers and eating bratwursts and stumbling walking home. Oddly enough, they only had ONE kind of German beer and we were more into the Deep Fried Oreos than anything. It was that night that I decided I would try just about anything fried while living in 'bama. I like to call it embracing my new home.

Then there was our adventure to Aplin Farms at the end of October. We had the most perfect Fall day for our trip there. Turns out Fall does exist (in a very mild form) here! There were tractor rides, a pumpkin patch, petting farm, country store, games, and my favorite, the sunflower fields. You could pick as many sunflowers as you wanted for free. We only grabbed one, and spent time taking in the scenery. Makaela loved the wind blowing in her hair.

This past week we explored the National Peanut Festival. It was pretty cool; there were tons of food booths - a combination of traditional fair/festival vendors and countless stations set up by local churches, boy scout troops, HS bands etc. that were selling yummy foods. In keeping with my promise to devour all things fried, I of course had to try a deep fried snickers. Tim had a deep fried twinkie. 

It was so wrong it was right. 

Little did we know we would later stumble upon deep fried koolaid (yeah...I don't know how it works either), and deep fried peanut butter cups. Call me a failure, but I was a bit deep-fried-out, so I didn't give those a try. Whomp Whomp. 

We walked around for awhile, and laughed about the hilarious art on some of the rides. This one below was on a haunted house. Why are Lenny Kravitz and 50 Cent on there? We're not sure either.

Tim even won Makaela her first festival toy. It is a just-her-size-penguin and she loves it. Thanks Daddy!

The night we were there Easton Corbin was performing which was pretty neat because you could see his show, and all you had to pay was the admission to the festival ($6). We didn't stick around for the show, but we heard it was great. 

On the way home from the ol' Peanut Festival...excuse me...NATIONAL Peanut Festival... 

....we tried out a little diner close to home called Our Place Diner. It was delicious, super clean and we loved the family feel. The owners came around to each table and chatted and were so friendly. Oh and they were SO understanding and helpful when Makaela spilled my water allllll over the table. Sigh. Anyway, we'll definitely be going back there!

First time being sick

I was pretty excited by the fact that Makaela had never been sick, especially since we don't keep her in a bubble. I should have known it would only last so long though, and naturally she started to get sick the day before our Michigan trip....and was pretty much sick on and off again for all of October. Happy 6 months baby girl!

She had a runny nose and slight cough for most of the trip but never spiked a fever. Thankfully, my friend had an awesome Vapor Plug-In that helped baby M get some good sleep while we were there. I was obsessed with this thing, and ran out and bought something similar when we got home.

Once we got home she returned to normal for a few days then all of a sudden spiked a fever. The palms of her hands, her feet and her head were seriously on fire. All the poor girl wanted to do was snuggle.

Daddy was practically tethered to the couch because she was only comfortable sleeping on him like this. Fortunately, she never developed any symptoms other than the fever, but look how pathetically sad she looked....

She really wasn't whiny during this spell of sickness, she just wanted to be held and nurse all the time. Our routine during the 48 hours that she had the fever was pretty much to give her Pediacare every 4-6 hours as needed, keeping Vick's Baby Rub on her chest (even though she wasn't congested the scent seemed to soothe her) and keeping the Vaporizer plugged in. 

It was sad to see her so miserable, but we enjoyed all the snuggles. We are so thankful we were able to put things on pause and just love on this little lady for a couple days. 

Sensory Sunday Funday: Contact Paper Window Craft

For over a month now, Makaela has been FASCINATED with playing at the window. She loves looking out it, banging on in, resting her head against it, talking to the dogs through it....you name it.

I knew a project that involved extra time at the ol' window would be a hit. I ordered contact paper, feathers, ribbon and felt buttons from Amazon Prime and gathered some pink and purple post-its that I had on hand. 

For this Sunday Funday activity, I cut a small piece of contact paper and taped it to the window so that the sticky side was facing us, and gave Makaela goodies to create a collage!

Her favorites were definitely the feathers. She must have liked the way they felt because she played with them in her hands for quite some time. The fact that everything was brightly colored probably didn't hurt either.

I demonstrated sticking items to the contact paper first, and then she caught on, although I have to say, she was more interested in taking items OFF the contact paper instead of adding stuff ONTO it. 

The items we used were small and could pose a choking hazard, but since I was doing the project WITH her I wasn't worried about her sneaking any feathers or ribbons into her mouth. 

Currently, the artist's masterpiece is hanging on the window more at mommy and daddy's eye level so we can admire it, but the plan is to get a frame or shadow box for it. I love the idea of framing kid's artwork for display. I can totally tell I'm going to be that mom that doesn't want to get rid of ANYTHING her kid brings home from school!!

This was a fun and easy project that we will surely try again at different ages. I hope she enjoys craft time together as much as I do <3

7 month photos!

Holy guacamole, our baby girl is creeping closer and closer to 1 year old. It is incredible how much babies change in 7 days, not to mention how much change happens in SEVEN MONTHS.

At her last well child check our little big girl weighed in at 18.1 pounds and measured 27 inches. That put her in the 81st and 82nd percentiles.

Makaela is OBSESSED with walking while holding Mommy or Daddy's hands. Sometimes she runs. It is insane. I don't know how her little legs have the energy to go go go all day. She has also been putting more effort into learning to crawl lately as well. I wouldn't be surprised if she is one of those weird kids that skips crawling and goes straight to walking, but we'll see what happens!

Standing alone is also all the rage these days. One day she was super wobbly (in fact, it looked like she was giving Miley a run for her money, doing some kind of goofy twerking motion) and then, magically, the next day she came in like a wrecking ball. Okay, I don't even know what that means. Bad Miley joke. What I meant to say was...it was like she she improved overnight.

Bubbles are becoming more interesting to her now too. We introduced her to them a couple months ago and she just sort of stared in awe. Now she likes to try and catch them or pop them on the ground. It's pretty dang cute.

Oh, and this month's photo shoot was funny. Well at least I thought so. The little girl was tired after a busy day, and was less than thrilled for a good chunk of the photo shoot. 

We did manage to capture some smiles, but I decided to go with a not-so smiley photo. She looks pathetically sweet, no? 

Nice job gracefully pointing your toes mid-hissy fit, ballerina girl. It's so hard being little.