Friday, February 24, 2012

A Little Morning Magic

The morning is my favorite time of the day, a close second is when Taylor walks in the door around 5:00!

Our mornings are pretty much exactly the same every day....ok...it IS exactly the same every day! And they are just so special to me. Its the most routine, planned out part of the day. It goes a little something like this...

At 7:00 Leighton wakes up, I give her a bottle ( sometimes Taylor does this also..like on the weekends ) then i feed her breakfast.
Then she spends time in bed with daddy while I clean bottles, make coffee, make and pack Taylors lunch for the day, start laundry, and do dishes.
She watches him get dressed, they roll around, blow raspberries, have pretty much the best time ever. I absolutely love making sandwiches in the kitchen and listening to her CRACK up...she doesn't laugh like that for me...or anyone else, just her daddy :)

7:45 rolls around at its time for Taylor to go to work and leave us for the day. We almost always stand on the front porch and watch him go, I wave and say "bye-bye" like 200 times, I can't wait for her little chubby arm to wave to him!!

Then we go back to the bed, change a diaper if we need to, then settle in with some books. I think i read like 10 books each morning, she loves it, i love it too :) Pretty close to 8:10 we head to her room, put lotion on her hands and face, brush all that lovely hair haha...then i turn the lights off, pick her up and sing "you are my sunshine" she holds my face in her hands while i sing and smiles the biggest smile you've ever seen. Its something i will never ever forget. Then I lay her down, pray for God to be with her while she sleeps, keep her comfortable, to block her ears to all the sounds that might wake her..like birds, cars, trains, me breathing ;) and walk out...

She then sleeps for the next two hours. Those two hours are the most wonderful ME time!
Most of the time I grab some coffee and head straight to my computer. I blog, Facebook, Pintrest, research stuff ( for the nerd and hippie in me as my sister would say haha )
then when I'm all internet-ed out...yes its a word ;) ..I go to the living room, catch a little Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today Show, then read in my Bible. Reading the Bible is still new to me, sometimes I get lost really fast..ive decide to read two chapters a day, anymore than that and I forget what I just read. Its a learning experience! haha! Im almost done with Luke, so any recommendations on what to read next would be great!

Anyways, during this time I don't get out of my pajamas, put makeup on, do any extra cleaning, i just let it all be. I love it...its perfection :)

I was telling Taylor yesterday that Leighton is actually getting older..I KNOW she's getting bigger, trust me my back reminds me every day, but I can now see her getting older! It used to be just little things every week or so that reminded me she was growing up. Now I see it every day. Reaching for everything, making faces that reflect how she's feeling, responding to her name, making sounds when I ask her questions, pushing things away, etc. My baby is growing up, she doesn't feel so "baby" anymore. I knew it would eventually happen..and I'm excited and sad at the same time. Someone please tell me to get a grip haha!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

6 Month Love




Leighton turned 6 months old over the weekend! On the 19th to be exact. It still seems unreal to me that she's been with us for HALF A YEAR. I love this little girl so much...heres what she's up to!

Weight/Height: Still don't know, her 6 month well-check isn't until the first week of March, we will find out then. Im guessing 17lbs though! Wearing some 6-9 month clothes, but pretty soon will be exclusively 9 months! My healthy healthy girl :)


Motor Skills/Milestones: This is totally different than her 5 month post. She reaches for everything, grabs everything, shoves e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. in her mouth. Still just doing the fist grab, but she will use her thumb and first finger when she's playing with somewhat that has small pieces attached, and if theres a tag on something she WILL find it. Sitting is probably our biggest milestone this month! She's actually very good at it...but when she realizes she's all alone, or when she gets bored/tired...she just falls. Hopefully she will figure it out soon that just doesn't work haha! We did have one incident where she hit her head on the coffee table, it was rough, more on me than her haha..of course! Were now using a high chair, its the Chicco version of the one i showed in a previous blog. She loves it. At first she just wanted to play in it and chew on the sides (duh) but she seems to be getting over that now! One of the more annoying habits she's picked up is spitting, she sticks her large tounge out just lets it rip. One day she started doing it while eating..BIG no no, i don't want her learning incorrect eating habits early on {yes, I'm aware she's a baby, but this is the perfect age to start teaching them!} she used to stick her hands in her mouth when she ate, i would pull them out and say in my best "mom" voice..NO NO, no hands in our mouth when we eat. So i tried that when she spit her food out....no such luck. She just smiled that huge smile and i had to turn around so i wouldn't laugh! Well her favorite aunt Erin was over yesterday and using a little...force...(no we didn't beat her haha) there is no more spitting while she eats! Thanks Aunt Erin :)
Her first straw trainer sippy cup comes in the mail sometime this week, can't wait to start working on that!! So BIG girl. If you want to know why were using the straw cup instead of a regular one, just google cons to sippy cups. Don't feel like going there today! :)
Im positive we will have a crawler soon also, she's been pulling her legs up under her during tummy time. She crawl/scoots all over her crib..i give it a month or so before she's got it figured out.


Sleep/Independence: Praise the good Lord my baby is back! Literally, THE DAY she turned 6 months old a light switch went off in Leightons head and my napper has come home! YAHOO! One night i decided to keep her up until 7:30 instead of 7:00, it seemed like her early morning wakings were due to too much night sleep...shes just not a 12 hour sleeper, she's more on the 10.5 11 hour end, and thats fine with me too! So we tried it, and she slept till 7:00 the next morning. That morning I kept her up for 1 hour 15 minutes and put her down for nap...she slept 2.5 hours! I went grocery shopping during her next nap and she slept 2 hours while I was gone! So we are on day 4 of 2.5 morning hour naps, 2 hour afternoon naps, and 1.5-2 hour evening naps! We are so happy....and so is Leighton :)

Our schedule as of now:

7:00-Leighton eats
8:15-Leighton naps
10:30-Leighton eats
11:45-Leighton naps
1:30-2:00-Leighton eats
3:15-3:45-Leighton naps
5:00-Leighton eats
7:30-Bottle, then bed :)
10:00ish-dreamfeed

I know i said we were going to drop the dream feed, but i decided to keep it until our schedule was back on track...im sure we will drop it soon! :)

Eating: still going well despite the spitting incident! haha! she had a reaction to pears, so add that to the list with apples.going to talk to her pedi about it at her next visit! avocados are still her #1, butternut squash is the only thing that comes close. little vegetable lover. she still takes 5 bottles a day around 5 ounces each time, eats three meals of vegetables and fruits. PRAYING she will catch onto the cup soon and bottle feeding will become a thing of the past!

so far we've eaten:

avocadoes
organic oatmeal
butternut squash
sweet potatoes
peas
bananas
apples-rash
pears-rash

tomorrow-green beans :) I'm sure she will love them!


All in all 6 months is looking pretty sweet from where I'm sitting! Will it always be perfect? no. Will it always schedule out nicely? no. But my happy napping little girl seems pretty content in this moment, and thats all that matters :) Everyone always says that after the 6 month mark things start moving really fast, i can't imagine, i feel like 6 months was so quick, any faster and I'm going to miss something for sure! Good thing my sister has a tiny little one i can cuddle haha!

Enjoy the show...the rolls are thinning out ( you may not be able to tell but i can! )











I'll Take That..

Several of the Bloggers I follow have posted some "favorite things" posts in the past day or so, so I thought id join in on the fun!



1. I bought this skirt at Target several weeks ago, right now I'm OBSESSED with all things high-low !! Cant wait for the weather to warm up, and for me to get a little tan, so i can wear it!

2. MY Photography web site...its still not TOTALLY finished, I need a self portrait, who's up for the job??

3. Ive liked these rings from Etsy for awhile...I think I need a T and an L to stack, we can add more sweet initials later :)

4. Ive decided that boyfriend jeans are THE hardest article of clothing to find that fit well...its near impossible. These look promising, although i found them on Pinterest, and of course the link is invalid..just my luck! The search continues!

5. Are these not the prettiest sandals you've ever seen? These need to make it into my closet ASAP.

6.Essie
makes the best nail polish, its always so thick, no need to apply 3 coats! This color is perfect for spring!

7.Leighton has the original Sophie and she loves it, but this one is smaller, has handles, and the perfect textured tethers on the side! PLUS it comes in neon colors AND its vanilla scented instead of that weird rubber smell...i think her 2 month old cousin Hollyn definitely needs it! Bonus? its only $10!

8. Mrs. Meyers clean day dish soap...LOVE this stuff. A. You can get it at Target...score! B. Its all natural C. The lavender scent is amazing!!

9. My sweet husband got me this wallet for Christmas and I'm looooving it. I can fit everything in it, even my lip stick, throw it in the diaper bag and go! Mine is actually more of a camel color..i couldn't find the original link.

Monday, February 20, 2012

V-day and More



this is basically a picture dump. a little lot of Leighton, some of family..just a mix of everything!

About 2 weeks ago we had a REALLY warm day! Leighton got to sport some summer duds (this is from our friend Natalie..good job Nat she looks adorable! )





I swear she's not as chubby as she looks here, weird angle or something? Daddy took the pics..we will blame him ;)

Leighton has also started sitting on her own, I think we got a little OVER confident in her "sitting skills" and let her sit alone on the carpet one day....a little TOO close to the coffee table, and of course, she fell and hit her head. She cried, I cried, Daddy hugged and shooshed and saved the day. So needless to say i hover over her now haha.





of course we celebrated V-day. we got our cousin shayne a lil-sumthin, and our daddy some chocolates and a card, we also spent some time with Leightons favorite person in the world, her aunt erin. seriously, she's obsessed :)










Taylor and I also celebrated 3 years of marriage. Seems pretty short compared to the 10 years we've been together! We were talking about how we never split up, we were never the "on-again" "off-again" type of couple. Once we decided to be together, that was it! :) it probably sounds cheesy, and totally cliche, but i knew we would be together forever when i first met him...i don't think its cheesy though, i think thats God :)

We had a low key night, dinner and wine, then home to watch a movie. So beyond in love with this man, he could not be a better husband, provider, spiritual support, or father! i can't wait to see what the next 10, 15, 20, 50 years brings! LOVE LOVE you..




I'm going to try and do Leightons 6 month photoshoot tomorrow, i think its too windy today, so stay tuned...alot has changed in her little world! :)



Saturday, February 11, 2012

6 months too early?!

call me crazy. call me bizarre. i don't care.

i like to think I'm organized, timely, passionate! either way, my little girl will be one in 6 months, and i think its TOTALLY acceptable to start planning her party :) ha!

if you know me this should come as NO surprise, i mean i bought my wedding dress BEFORE taylor asked me to marry him, so this is completely complimentary to my personality haha!

it should also be no surprise that it will be themed. i LOVE a good party theme! even if its just a color theme..ill run with it!

it took me about 5 minutes to decide what i wanted to do for her birthday. its August, its HOT, its a bunch of little children. and i don't want to spend a lot of $ SO we decided to use our neighbors wooden car port, its wooden and super cute, plus it will be super decorated ( of course ) so you won't even be able to tell what it once was :)

the theme? "50's Beach Bash"

cute 50's styled swimsuits, a little soda hop station, red and white fabric to create a cabana tent, little plastic swimming pools painted red and white scattered in the yard. little cat eye sunglasses, big floppy hats, sunblock and sweets party favors..oh I'm just getting started! heres a little photo inspiration..from interest of course..


i think one of these would be perfect for the girl..only i REALLY want to find one in yellow..




glasses...if i could find some for cheap i could do party favors for the girls with them!









a little ice cream soda shop set up like this would be perfect...and these cookies are kind of fun, they need a little tweaking..







well thats all I've got so far, good thing I've got 6 months to get the details all ironed out. :) what do y'all think?!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

on the light side

leighton is a light sleeper. this should come as NO shock to me...everything wakes me up. leighton can make the smallest sound in the middle of the night and I'm wide awake, its also VERY hard for me to go back to sleep. sadly my little chub has inherited both traits from me. maybe the next kid will sleep like a log like their daddy? i can only hope!

when i say light sleeper, i mean anything will stir her. the wind blowing to hard, a dog barking, cars driving by, me cooking ( our house is very small ) even birds chirping to loudly...even though i will say the birds outside the house are the loudest most obnoxious birds I've ever heard in my life!! i think they must be mutated from eating the food from the dumpster behind the elementary school across the street...poor things haha!

my sister recommended to me a big box fan. her daughter shayne has always slept with one, and she never hears anything going on in their house, and its about the same size as ours..so I'm thinking I'm going to head to her casa tomorrow morning to borrow hers for the day and see if it will be worth the $ first...she doesn't know this plan yet, i haven't asked, i just assumed it would be ok, hey..what are sisters for? haha!

right now she has a sound machine, on the loudest setting it will go, I've been in her room while its on, and i know the things i hear would wake me up, so i guess i can't blame her! ya know what i love? when people say "well, she will just have to get used to a little noise" really? well lets trade places for a month while you try to acclimate my 6 month old...i mean come on.

wish us luck with our box fan adventure :)

you know what stinks? the weather! the wind, the allergies, the cold. blah..just blah! I'm ready to go on walks everyday, to get a jogging stroller, to put my gloriously chubby girl in a swim suit and sit in a plastic pool in the yard! please spring...hurry up!!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

a little revelation

so this might be the most random blog I've ever written...theres no good "flow" to it so ill just get started...it is what it is haha

3 days ago on Facebook i mentioned i wanted a Bible, I've never read through one, and i wanted one to call my own..to highlight, underline, etc. and possibly one day pass on to Leighton. SO my super awesome mother in law Deb got me one, along with highlighters and everything! she's the best :)

ok on to the next point. haha i told you this would be all over the place.

i had this plan for my 45 minute napper, to keep her up 1.5 hours in between every nap and she would eventually catch on, it seems like a good plan, but something in my gut..or wherever your mom intuition is..was just telling me no. SO the night before last i was saying my prayers..and it went a little something like this.

me: "God, thank you so much for today...thank you for your continued blessings on.."
God: "LUKE"
me: "ummmm ok ill start in Luke tomorrow! thanks! ...so anyways thank you for taylor, and the hard work he does to support our family..."
God: " go back to what worked before, start over"
me:....dumbfounded

isn't it AWESOME when God talks to us? its even better i think when he interrupts us so we KNOW its him! i hadn't known where to start in reading the Bible..from the beginning? at random? well, apparently it was in Luke! I've already highlighted a TON of things!

and as far as the whole "go back, start over" that was about Leighton. Go back to before things started to go wrong, before the holidays..before all the sickness...the rolling..etc. so thats exactly what i did! yesterday i kept her up for one hour and 5 minutes in the morning...she took at 1 hour 45 minute nap! she wiggled a lot, but she slept through! the other two naps were a failure, I'm slowing adding 5 minutes per wake time every day until we hit that sweet spot...God is guiding us, theres no other hands id ever feel more capable in! today has started off just as good, i kept her up for an hour and 10 minutes, and we are 30 minutes away from a 2 hour nap!

i don't want people to get the wrong image of our lives. we are not hermits, we don't stay home all day every day so leighton can nap. there are days we miss a nap, we go shopping, we go on walks, we visit family. but i think its very important for her to have a schedule thats solid and set, so on the days we do miss naps we can bounce back the next day. if you have a baby that doesn't nap well and regularly don't you notice how lethargic OR the opposite, how hyperactive they are? do they wake in the night still if they're past 4 months old? well rested babies don't do that..and i want my baby well rested. I'm not crazy, I'm not anti-social or anything like that...i just want whats best for my little girl.

that motherly intuition..its something i tell ya! God knows how to create moms thats for sure :) I'm so thankful for the word of God..and for hands of friends and family who continue to poor out love and support for our sweet family. thank you thank you.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Lets Get Real Here..

so i think theres a part of us thats not being honest.

at some point we have to get "real" with one another.

whats real? we all love our babies, kids, children etc. but there are days, sometimes weeks, or unfortunately months for some, where the frustration can seem overwhelming.
and we never really talk about it? we all say..."oooo she was a little fussy late week, but she's just so sweet...etc" when we REALLY want to say, " OMG she drove me NUTS last week, i had no clue, still don't, what was wrong and i wanted to just get in bed and pull the covers over my head"

we don't "get real" because were afraid to sound like bad mothers. were afraid others will judge us on our lack of "compassion" and "tolerance" and "faith".

you know what though? i think it would be nice to know that I'm not the only one sometimes, that there is SOMEONE out there who's feeling the same way. that I'm not surrounded by support in the loving moments, but completely alone in the struggles.

so lets do it..lets GET REAL. let talk about it ALL....the joy, the love, the precious moments...AND the pain, the misunderstanding, the confusion. its ALL part of mother hood, its ALL part of our day to day...and were denying ourselves the truth if we say to each other ..EVERYTHING IS JUST PEACHY...all the time.

so whats my real moment?

Leighton won't nap...she naps for 45 minutes...on. the. dot. and wakes, plays, then cries. 70% of the time she goes back to sleep...but other times she won't. its frustrating. this girl used to take a 2 hour nap no problem, she actually took 4 of them. then she dropped the last nap around 4 months which is normal. then her wake time extended slowly, then we were slammed with holiday interruptions, 2 colds, a growth spurt, solids, and RSV. somewhere in that 2 months span i lost leighton. i don't know what she needs anymore, and its is frustrating to say the least. she still sleeps through the night, thank the Lord ( because God is good all the time, even if we don't get it ) but lets be HONEST...we want our kids to nap. kids that nap are happier, they learn better and quicker, then focus intently on things, then strive to reach goals sooner, their overall health and demeanor is better, studies even show sleep deprived babies tend to lean towards learning problems, i.e.: ADHD, ADD etc.

SO we are in the process of nap training this week. we will not be going ANYWHERE that interferes with nap time. HERE is our goal..since i can't read Leighton, she will read me, it all lines up with "Parent Led" raising..which i firmly believe in..and were gonna do this until i get my baby back!! :)


7:00am wake, 5 ounce bottle, 2 1/2 TBS oatmeal, 2 TBS bananas

8:15-8:30am nap 1

10:30-11:00 wake, 5 ounce bottle, 4 TBS butternut squash, 2 TBS sweet potatoes

12:00-12:30 nap 2

2:00-2:30 wake, 5 ounce bottle

3:30-4:30 nap 3 (this nap is always shorter for her )

5:00-5:30 wake. 5 ounce bottle, 4 TBS avocados, 2 TBS peas

6:30 bath, massage, PJS, books

7:00 bottle..however much she will take, around 3 ounces most of the time
( she's ready to drop this last feeding, but we can't do that until she has extended to a full 4 hour schedule.)

as of right now we aren't doing the dream feed anymore, if she begins to wake early, like 5 am, i will re-introduce it until we have everything perfected. upon which I'm sure she will change it up on me :) sweet baby.

so there. i got real. be praying for us.

now its your turn!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A Girls Girl

Ive decided mornings will be "blog" time for me, along with coffee, reading, pinterest-ing, and devotionals. :)

Leighton is a girl. Well, obviously she's a girl, but i mean she's a girly-girl. She's dainty ( despite her girth haha ) she doesn't like to be tossed, shook up, loud noises, sudden movements etc. She's the epitome of what i think a girl should be. Which is very bizarre because i was NOT a girly-girl.

I was about as tomboy as they come! I wanted to be a daddys girl, i wanted to play softball, watch football and basketball and pretend i knew what was happening. My wardrobe consisted of Jinco jeans, long boy shorts, soccer tshirts...actually any GUYS shirt, tennis shoes and tall socks. sick. it makes me so crazy just thinking about the way my mom let me leave the house. But with two ( i have an identical twin sister ) girls to get ready every morning who can blame her.

My sister Erin was the quintessential girly girl. She wore her hair curly, she loved plaid skirts, with knee high socks, baby doll shoes and sweater vests. She was juuuuuust precious. She played power rangers with her friends during recess, she, of course, was the pink ranger. They ran in circles giggling and traded stickers for amusement.

I was the captain of the kick-ball team, boys lined up to be picked by me. Recess was normally met with some challenge from some poor soul who thought they could beat me in a race around the track. Girls? who needed em'. Erin and I pretended to not know each other during recess, we were both embarrassed of each other....how ironic is that?

Now i am VERY different. Shopping-is what I'm best at. Getting dressed is FUN for me. Im as girly as they come, i hate when me feet are dirty, i can't stand a messy house, but i still am not a fan of pink..leightons nursery is navy and white. Needless to say she will probably never have a pink princess room haha!

Only the future will show what kind of girl Leighton will grow into. Im praying a good mix of both, but mostly girly...a little sticker trading is good for everyone :)