January Read

To kick start my one book a month goal for the year, I started with an easy but inspiring read, Heaven is for Real.  It's about a little boy who dies and spends time with Jesus.  It was an excellent book and it even gave me chill bumps....especially when he sees a real picture of the Jesus he spent time with.

He Asked for Them

When you ask for something around here, you tend to get it....in this case, Dylan asked for bubbles in his bath and bubbles he got.

This was after I took out some bubbles...so imagine what it looked like with

 all this in the tub too.

Wordless Wednesday

Watch Natalie Grow - 11 months

One month closer to the big birthday bash. Natalie has had quite a bit of a cold lately.  Thus the droopy eyes in the picture. One day she was so congested that she could not even take a bottle without gagging. Mommy's do what they have to do in this situation, I fed her with a dropper so she didn't have to suck.  Then once it got better, I fed her 2oz every hour practically.  I felt like I had a newborn all over again.  

I am so thankful that Natalie is a happy baby.  She's really chilled and laid back. Don't get me wrong, she has moments where she does not want me to put her down and well, she is really partial to me. However she is really happy for the most part.  

I get excited thinking about what it's going to be like when she's Dylan's age.  I don't want to rush things but 3/4 year old stage is my favorite. I think that's when they really come in to their personality and begin to absorb everything. For the moment, I will soak in the baby stage as this will be my last one.  Yes, biologically we are done, unless God surprises us.  We are still open to adoption but we won't do babies, again, unless God surprises us. 

We are still having issues with eating and have an appointment scheduled for a swallow study at Vanderbilt's Children Hospital.

On a positive note, Natalie is pulling up and cruising around furniture. She loves to push her walker around and you can tell she is so proud of herself. She has even taken a few steps, but I don't count that as official "walking" yet.  Such a big difference between my physical boy who started walking at 8 months and my laid back girl. Also, she has gotten a lot better and sleeping.  She sleeps until around 5am and I give her a bottle and she usually goes back to sleep until 7am. That's on a good day. We still have bad days and we have great days too, but nothing like it once was...no complaints here. 

Now, I have to get busy with this birthday planning.  

YEA NATALIE!

This is huge for us.  I am so excited and so proud of Natalie.  She can officially eat the "lil crunchies" without gagging.  I am so happy. I love how happy she is eating them too.  Now when we go out to eat, she can at least be occupied with some finger food other than me helping crush up crackers and put them in her mouth. She can do it all herself.

 There's that little snorty face I told you about

Natalie's Nursery

Okay, so she's almost a year old and I am just now getting around to posting pics of her completed nursery.  I was waiting for the art over her crib but I couldn't quite decide what I wanted to do there.  I didn't just want to do her name like I did with Dylan so I thought about it for a while. I finally decided to do her initials using her footprints (at 9 months).

Our bedding is from PBK.  Since we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, I picked out something in case we had a girl. We would have re-used Dylan's for a boy as I love it and still do. I have to say I wish I had known Natalie was a girl as I could have invested a little more time in the nursery. I am not as pleased with it as I was with Dylan's. I am not a pink girl, so why did I do all this pink?  I really love the birds on the sheet, but was disappointed that the bedskirt was white with a little trim at the bottom, that you loose once you drop the mattress. Don't get me started on the bumper. This particular bumper was completely white on one side, so if I did it on the outside, it would be bland. If I did the white on the inside, Natalie would have nothing to stimulate her little eyes.  I called PBK to ask if this was a defect (as their pics on the site show it having both sides). They said no, but I could bring it back. Well at this point, I had already washed the sheets and the bedskirt and have a newborn at home. Oy! We kept it and I had a friend down the street sew some pink and white polka dot fabric on the inside. 

 My friend, Jill, (who does all my kids art work) painted this picture for me.  I got the idea from another artist who used flower vases and flowers with on vase being different than the others. We did birds instead....the bible verse is "do not conform to the ways of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind "  I love how it turned out.

 Here's the other side (bad coloring) The shelves are bare. I never know what to do here without going overboard.  Suggestions?  She still has another 2 years or so with this furniture until I can talk Damien into doing something different and not converting the crib into the queen it can become :)

Welcome 2012!

New Year, New Beginnings.  I don't like to make resolutions but I do try to set goals for myself. Maybe they are the same thing but I hate labels :)  Here are my "goals" for the new year :

Read at least 1 book a month ( I can't tell you how long it's been since I actually read a book. I tend to use my alone time doing chores or mindless activites like TV or  Facebook)

Do a daily devotional (just like reading I have been bad on this too. Since I have the bible on my phone with different reading plans, this one should be pretty obtainable. I just don't want to do it at the end of my day.)

Eat less. Eat Healthier.  Less processed food.

Try and make it to the gym 3x a week (would really like to shoot for 4 but trying to make it realistic here) On my gym off days, do something here at the house. Found something on pinterest : The 100 workout : 100 jumping jacks, 90 crunches, 80 squats, 70 leg lifts, 60 jumping jacks, 50 crunches, 40 squats, 30 leg lifts, 20 jumping jacks, Run for 10 minutes.

Get Organized. I want to go through every room and really decide if I should keep or get rid of things. If I haven't used it in a year, why keep it?  I feel as americans we acquire way too much stuff.  I want to de-clutter and re-organize the house (especially the kitchen cabinets)  I need a whole day to do that.

Any goals for yourself?