Seriously cute

Just something to make you laugh today. These two are so freakin' cute. They've been all over the talk shows today.

Swim lesson #3 "wet face"

Swim class on Tuesday brought us a new adventure, face in water...eeek! Needless to say, I was a weeee bit nervous about this one. Was I pushing my luck with my little girl by making her swim in a less than warm pool, doing all kinds of new and challenging things like kicking and "swimming" in the water? So far she had been so good. But, would this be too much on my baby? How would she react???

Great! We started off slow. 

A little dripping on the head, running down the back. Then...

accidentally on purpose, Momma nervously dumped practically the entire bucket of water on her head. Still, she was completely happy. A little shiver of surprise, but no fussing at all. I have the best little mermaid! We moved into the pool and continued more of the fun.

First we practiced holding on to the wall.

 Then we "motorboated". Seriously, its a song we sing going around in a circle on her belly.

Then we played with the noodles to float.

Then we make our way around the lazy river (which is our favorite part! See Skipper to the left? He was there to watch with Nana.)

I like how we both look like we're concentrating really hard!

Here we are, post wet-face and no crying!

And we complete post wet-face with a little water snuggles.

Despite the fact that in none of these pictures she is smiling, she actually did really enjoy herself. Up next tomorrow, a full submersion. OH MAN! Fingers crossed!

Wordless Wednesday

(So of course this is not wordless... never gonna happen. I just wanted to clarify, no my bathing suit did not actually have a flower randomly placed over one boob. It was just a little too much boobage in the picture for my liking so I fixed it quickly without much effort ;) Chey looked too cute not to share this one. We love swim classes)

Roarrrr

Is she not the cutest little lion to ever exist?! I just had to share this before I head to bed. Ok, now I can sleep better. Goodnight :) Roarrrrr!!

Happy birthday to me

The birthday is over and I must say, I feel no different being 26 than I did at 25. Although, so much has changed in a year. This time last year, Peapod was the size of an orange. Now, she is an almost 18 pound monkey. Last year, my husband and I spent my birthday weekend with my parents in DC. This year, my husband is on the opposite coast and baby and I are back home living with my parents. I grew up a lot during my 25th year of life. 26, I think I am officially a grownup, not just an adult. At 25 you can rent a car. At 26 you're a grownup. Isn't that how it works? (J/K) Anyways, I only got a few pictures from my birthday, a few worth posting at least.

Don't worry, that's not a forest fire, that's just my 26 candled birthday pound cake. Thanks Grandmother for counting all. 26. candles. and lighting them all...

There's nothing wrong with the picture. That is actually the smoke from my 26 candles. It was so smokey, we had to turn on the fans to air it out.

And there's my sweet Peapod ready to party! Unfortunately, she fell asleep just before the present opening began. These were the only pictures of her awake I got.

(Like the new headband I made her? She needed something flowery with her pink camo shirt from her daddy)

This kid has yet to stay awake to see a present open in her life. Remember Christmas? She slept through all the pretty paper opening then too! I'll have to remember this at her first birthday. Nap prior to gift opening.

Thanks to all of you for the fantastic birthday wishes I received in my email, over facebook, on my phone! I felt so special.

26 years wise

TO ME!!

The big 2-6 is here, and it brought snow?! Never in my life have has there been snow on the ground on my birthday. Guess that means that today is a good baby-snuggle day. I'm game! Hope you enjoy my birthday day :)

I heart babble

While these next two videos might bore some of you to death, to me, they melt my heart. She is going to be quite the talker once she starts. This is what I listen to all day long. (Fair warning: there are a few moments of some seriously loud squealing in these, so if you are at work...umm.. you might want to turn down your speakers a little or someone might think a child is getting beat. You'll see).

And, I know I said before I was going to try and remember to flip the camera around when videoing to save you some chiropractor visits, but I forgot. Sorry, again!)






Couldn't you just eat those little cheeks up? She is the absolute sweetest. Hope you enjoyed these, especially you Hubs.

Rrrrrrr

you having a good Saturday?

Skipper strikes again...

Num Num food

The solids have begun! Cheyanne was so ready for them too. I am so proud of myself however that I made it all the way to 6 months solely breastfeeding her. ::Pat on my back::

We started with homemade (brown) rice cereal. It was a hit the first day, then it quickly went down hill. I don't know if it was just because it was a new taste that made her like it, or it was the excitement of trying something new that got it down, but something changed after that first tasting. Starting night number two, in went the food and quickly back out it came. After about 5 days of trying different ways of feeding it to her, I gave up.

Yeah...that's food coming back out

I started redoing some research and found that oatmeal is also a good food to start with, so I immediately went out shopping for a new menu. We switched to oatmeal and there was no looking back. She LOVED it.

Even though half of it ended up on her face and hands, the part that made it through was a hit. Yeah, she's a messy little one.

Last night she had her first vegetable and wanted more.  I introduced acorn squash first. I love making her food myself because it makes me feel good knowing exactly what is going in. Plus, as weird as it sounds, it still makes me feel connected to her while she eats, call it breastfeeding syndrome.

 I am using this website called Wholesome Baby Food that is helpful with homemade menu ideas and how-tos. Up next, maybe butternut squash or avocados? Its so fun planning num num foods.

My little mermaid

We had day two of swimming lessons today, and this time we even had a photographer with us. Thanks Nana! Cheyanne is quite the little mermaid. That girl LOVES water. On her back. On her stomach. Doesn't matter, she loves it. It is thirty minutes of pure fun with my baby girl. Enjoy the pictures while we sleep off our busy swimming day.

A Giant Graduation

Today is the day that we've been holding our breathe for, for quite a while. He made it! And not only did he make it through these last two months of school to his tech school graduation, he came in second in his entire class. Only two points away from being honor graduate which is only awarded to one person with the highest overall score. Now, that's an accomplishment! I am so proud of my Giant Hubs.

I wish I could be in Texas today at his grad but unfortunately we couldn't make it again. Instead, his dad flew down and is pinning his wings on him RIGHT NOW as I type. I sure hope Giant Grandpa brought his camera!

The Giant leaves Texas for good tomorrow (woohoo! so long Tex) and goes to his next place of training. I wish I could share where this next place is but not yet, so let me just say, I'm not excited about it for him. Not one bit. It is going to be rough and i'll be worried 24/7 for a while. So, if you are a prayer, keep him in your prayers please for the next month. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post shortly of today's events.

I'm in desperate need

of a little change. Do you ever look in the mirror and just sigh in boredom? Yeah, that's me recently. I need a serious change. I don't know what, but I need something in the makeover area. My skin is broken out and blah. My hair is long, straight, and blah. My makeup is non-existant these days and blah. My eyebrows are looking a little bush manish and blah. My cuticles are way out of control and you guessed it... blah.

So what should I do? My hair is always the biggest decision for me. I'd say about 80% of my life has involved me having long dark hair that I have always been very attached to. I went through a short blonde phase in college (didn't we all?) and then reverted back to my comfort zone my senior year.  I've played with various shades of brown, highlights of blonde, hot pink underneath, you name it since then. Bangs. No bangs. Long. Short. Layers. One length. I've been all over the place. And, now here I am again.

so, here is what i am looking at right now.

Not the first two of Gwenyth. I meant to post just the last one.

 I also love this length of Heidi's.

 And I am also in love with this short length of Kristen's.

It just so happens that all of these are blonde. I have no idea hair color wise that I am leaning towards. Suggestions? Mom- you are not allowed to vote here as I have heard you a billion times that you love my natural dark brown.

Of course, I love pretty much LOVE every single style that Carrie Underwood wears so any of these are in the running as well if I keep it long.

While we're talking about my idolizing Carrie Underwood... can we talk about her legs?! Hail all that is Carrie's legs! Maybe I need to add leg makeover workouts to my list of changes.

So, suggestions anyone? I promised myself I won't chop off the hair yet until we get to where we're going. For the baby's sake. She loves the long hair and I don't know if she could deal with more changing right now. As soon as Daddy's home, the hair is changing. In the meantime, without a chop, surely something can be done to welcome this spring weather on this blah head of mine.

Hi daddy. It's a slow day.

I have got to remember to record horizontal next time. Sorry for the cricked neck.

Its Springtime Baby

When its sunny outside, we love to take walks outside around the farm. Here's a little of what we saw on our walk the other day. Little one and I had a serious "learning about nature" session. I wonder what her Daddy will say when she becomes Mommy's little tree hugger?

Out with the brown...

in with the color!

Pardon the nerdiness here, but does this tree remind anyone of else of a certain Harry Potter Whomping Willow? (This one's for you Cara Marie).

Back to our nature walk

My sunshine girl :)