I'm back!

We got home from Cape Cod yesterday.  We had a great time but it was definitely exhausting!  We sent Blakely to my mom's (Gran Di's) house for the afternoon.  She hadn't seen B in 2 weeks because she was in Florida the week before we left.  Lonnie and I are so worn out so she's having fun over there while we relax.  He's watching a movie and I am going to catch up on blogs until I fall asleep.  

I have so many posts to catch up on!  We tried to stay disconnected while on vacation so I am behind on my reading.  It was kind of nice not to be on FB every 5 minutes or on the computer.  I did have my phone so if you follow me on Insta.gram then you've seen some pics for sure ;)

I have a ton of posts in draft that I really want to finish.  Hopefully I will be able to do that this week.  I am, of course, going to photo bomb you with vacation pics and I still have to finish up her 10 month post and she's 10 1/2 months now...Grrrrrr....

I am also in full on birthday party planning mode now that we are back.  I need to pick out invites this week and get those ordered.  I can't decide on an outfit....she might need more than one?  We really aren't having a huge party but it sure is going to be cute!  Mostly family will be invited and then some of my friends as well.  I can't believe she is almost one.  She is looking more like a toddler every day.  She can stand up without holding on to anything for a long time and she cruises all over the house.  Her top two teeth can be seen when she smiles and it makes her look so grown up.  

Having this huge milestone coming up has been making me think about trying for #2.  I'm definitely ready but I'm trying not to get my hopes up just yet.  I'm going to call the doctor soon and set up and appointment so we can figure out what all we have to do to get set for our frozen embryo transfer.  I would like to have the transfer around November or December but I doubt that will happen.  I'm sure she will have to be weaned (which I am about to start working on) first and then you know nothing ever goes fast there.  So, I am thinking maybe it will happen by the first of the year...we will see.  Please, oh please, let the FET work.  I really don't want to have to do a full IVF again..although I will if I have to.  

Anyway!  Here is a pic from vacay to hold you over...because I just know you are all dying to see them ;)  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  

IT'S CHLOE'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Happy Happy Happy 1st birthday Chloe!!!  

Blakely and I would LOVE to be there to celebrate with you.  I know your Mommy has planned such a fun party for you and you are going to have wonderful time.  Your Mommy and Daddy love you so very much and I know you fill their lives with so much joy.  Enjoy your day sweet girl!!!  Since we can't be there Blakely wanted to send you a picture!!

We hope that you have a great day and hopefully one day we can celebrate your birthday with you!!  

Travel questions!

**Blakely wanted to thank everyone for all the well wishes.  She is feeling better now.  We went to the doctor and she had strep!  UGH!  But she seems to be on the mend...eating better and no fever yesterday or today.**

So I need ALL of the "travel with a 10 month old" advice y'all can give.  We are headed to Cape Cod in a couple of weeks.  This will be her first flight.  I'm not so much nervous about the flight, more about the packing and what in the heck do I need to bring?  I want to pack lightly but don't want to forget something that I will wish I had.  

This will be our first trip with just the three of us.  We couldn't be looking forward to it more.  The name of the game is relaxation.  We are taking a couple of day trips to Marth.a's Vineyard and Nan.tucket, but other that that we will just be hanging out, eating, drinking, and enjoying each other.  

In September we are going to Los Ange.les.  Lonnie is from there and he has quite a bit of family there.  We are going for vacation but also so they can meet Blakely.  Lonnie's mom will be coming with on that trip.

SOOOOOO please help!  We have already booked these flights and we didn't purchase her a seat.  The more I think about it the more I think we might regret that decision.  Too late now though.  

A few questions that I have...

How do I check the car seat?  Do I just take it as is and they put a tag on it or do I need a big bag over it or something?

We aren't planning on taking the pack n play.  We were going to have her sleep with us (which she doesn't do at home) or see if the hotel has a crib.  Are we crazy for not taking it?  

What toys should I bring for the flight?  Snacks?  

I would like to take some breast milk.  I've read that you can carry it on they will just have to check it or test it.  How do they "check" it?  I will need to have frozen ice packs with it to keep it cool.  Are those allowed?  I can't find anything about that...it mostly just talks about formula.  

Do I just need her birth certificate?  

Will they let me put her in the Er.go while we are in the air?  I feel like she will nap better this way.  

If you can't tell I am starting to freak out a little!  Lonnie and I love to travel and we travel great together.  But this is going to be totally different!  I feel like we are going to be those people at the security checkpoint that everyone is rolling their eyes at!  Help!  

Do you have a post about travel tips?  Please leave it in the comments!  

Week in review...

Hi bloggies!  It's Blakely here.  I just wanted to let you all know what a great week I have had!  I love when Mommy AND Daddy are home with me all day!  

Saturday we went to Sloopy's pool with Gran Di and Jenni.  It was so much fun and I ended up with crazy pool hair.  

On Sunday, Mommy let me get really messy with my dinner!  I love putting my food on my head.  It makes Mommy giggle every time.  

Monday we went for a walk downtown.  I loved riding in my new stroller.  We ate at a cajun restaurant and I got to eat off Mommy and Daddy's plate.  Daddy also let me drink water out of his glass a bunch....I'm getting better at that.  

Tuesday Mommy went to see Hannah to get her hair pretty.  I think she looks a little crazy.  I got to hang out with Mrs. Juanet while she cleaned our house.  I love helping her fold clothes and dust.  

Wednesday was a big day!  First I got to eat a whole banana.  I'm too big now for Mommy to cut it into pieces...

After my nap we went to the Mid Amer.ica Museu.m.  Daddy wanted to see something they had there.  

I can't wait until I am older and I get to play with all the fun things they had there.  

Daddy had a meeting that night so Mommy gave me my bath.  She let me play nakey in the bathroom first...my favorite thing!!!!

Thursday we took a boat ride.  I love going on the boat but why do they insist on putting that contraption on me....it makes me so HOT!  

But we got to see some baby duckies...that was my favorite part.  

Friday I got sick :(  Mommy and Daddy are so worried about me.  I'll probably be going to the doctor in the morning.  I have a high fever and I really don't want to eat.  I hope I feel better soon.  But for now I will just snuggle up with Mom and watch the Olymp.ics!  

IT'S FRIDAY!

Y'all....  The Oly.mpics start tonight!!!  I LOOOOOOOOVE the Oly.mpics!  Can you feel my enthusiasm?


Luckily I am married to a man that loves them as well.  The summer ones are our favorite although we do enjoy winter as well.  It is totally on my bucket list to go to the Oly.mpics someday.  


I think my favorite event is the gymnastics.  I like swimming and diving as well.  I always have to close my eyes a little on the diving because I am nervous they are going to hit their head!


Do y'all watch?  What is your favorite event?


Lonnie is off next week...couldn't be more excited about that.  He has been working so hard lately and is super stressed.  He really needs some down time.  We plan on watching tv, sleeping, and going on the boat.  That's about it....should be fun!


And now for some random fun phone pics from this week!

• I finally picked out my mommy necklace.  I went back and forth a zillion times unable to decide exactly what I wanted.  But I finally settled on this...

Etsy shop here

The pea in the pod is perfect.  I have called Blakely pea pod from the beginning...not sure why though?  She is probably going to think that is her name.  Jokingly, people will ask me if that is what they are going to call her in school and I say yes...First name Pea, last name Pod.  :)  When we have another baby I won't get another pea in the pod because that isn't why I have that charm.  I will just have to get a different charm for whatever we call that baby! I love it and so does Blakely!

• I actually got some mommy time!  My MIL came on Wednesday to watch B while I did whatever I wanted.  I decided to get a mani/pedi with Sarah.  

This is what I went with....very hard decision!  

• Blakely will now give kisses.  It is the sweetest damn thing ever.  I know she loves me but when I say "kiiiiss Mommy!" and she leans in to give me a kiss I nearly die every.single.time.  

• I bought B a few new hats for our upcoming trip (more about that later).  They are a little big but still ridiculous amounts of cute.  My future gangsta baller....  

• Can someone please tell me how my child got this big?  I can't even believe it!  She takes up most of the crib!  

And AND she has been sleeping through the night for the past 5 nights....WOOOOOHOOOO!

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you all have fabulous weekends!

Nine Months Old!

**I have no clue why the spacing and font is so off on this post.  I have tried to fix it 12 times...Blogger is being weird!**


Blakely turned nine months old on July 13th!  Of course I am a bit late but it just wouldn’t be right if I actually got the post up on time :)

This is how she felt about getting her picture taken this month...

This has been a pretty crazy month.  I think it has been the hardest month on me and Lonnie so far.  But for Blakely it has been a great month of discovery and fun!  

Firsts this month:

First time spending the night at Nana Bob’s house.


First time playing with bubbles..she giggled every time!

Blakely cruised for the first time on 7-2-12.  She is getting better at it everyday.  She will cruise the length of our coffee table and she will also go from the table to the couch.  I just got used to her crawling...I am not ready for walking!

First 4th of July


She has learned how to give fist bumps/high fives.

First time wearing her Ni.ke Sh.ox from Aunt Sarah!

First time sleeping with the bumper in her crib.  She kept getting her legs stuck and it would wake her up.  I thought this was our sleep problem so I put the bumper in.  It didn't make any difference...she still didn't want to sleep!  I found her like this the first day it was in.  

First time taking a bath outside!

Feeding:  Blakely has eaten many new things this month.  Over the past week or so I have started just giving her what we are eating for dinner.  For example, I made a roast with potatoes and carrots the other night so we just gave her some of that.  Or Lonnie made a southwest chicken salad so we gave her some of the corn, black beans, and avocado from the salad.  I was really looking forward to doing this because we can now have family dinners all together.  It is important to me that she eats what we eat for dinner when she is older.  I certainly don’t want to be making dinner for Lonnie and I and then making something else for her!  She still gets some purees but it is getting to the point where she wants to feed herself most of the time.  She usually gets cereal with a fruit (usually pears or blueberries) for breakfast.  Lunch has been the hardest thing for me to figure out what to give her.  Sometimes she will have a little pasta with a veggie or some cottage cheese with a veggie.  Then dinner she will eat what we eat (unless it is pizza!) or leftovers from dinner the night before.  I think her favorite food right now is cottage cheese...she loves that stuff!  I love it too because she can feed herself the chunks for I can mix it with anything and she can eat it from the spoon.  

We are still breastfeeding.  I have her down to about 5 feedings a day.  We went down to five when she started eating 3 regular meals a day.  I have weaning on my mind.  I am going to continue to nurse her until 12 months but I am researching how the heck to wean.  I mean I have no clue how to do it.  I know you cut out feedings but I just don’t know which ones or how much she needs to be getting even if I am cutting them out.

Sleeping: What can I say?  Sleeping is pretty awful.  After 8 monthly posts about how great she was sleeping I totally deserved to have this one about horrid sleep...I know...kicking myself.  I really don't even want to talk about the sleep situation but for documentation sake...here goes.  She started waking up multiple times at night screaming when she hit 8 months old.  The hardest part is that is isn't just a whine it is full blown hysterics.  She was doing this 6ish times a night but now we are down to about 2-3.  Progress.  I am reading a ton about baby sleep so hopefully her 10 month post will be all about my awesome sleeper ;)

See...this is what happens in the crib ;)

We did A LOT of this this month.  The best part about the bad sleep?  She has become a total snuggle baby.

  

I am so thankful that Lonnie has been helping me this month in the middle of the night.  When she was a newborn and waking up every 2 hours to eat he never got up with me (except that first week...he got up every.single.time that first week).  There was nothing for him to do.  I would feed her, change her, and then pump.  He slept upstairs and we slept downstairs.  When she started sleeping 9-11 hours at night when she was about 8 weeks old, we moved back in together.  But since this sleep regression he has been AWESOME.  Like I don't know what I wold have done without him.  He went in and rocked her so many times.  I am so thankful for him!  He has also kept me sane recently :)

Clothes:  She is wearing 9 month clothes.  She can wear some 12 month stuff...depending on the brand.  


Diapers:  Still doing the cloth diapers....I NEED to stop buying them!  We do cloth about 50% at night now.  I don't do it every night because I only have 2 night diapers.  So if I don't wash them early in the morning then they aren't dry by bedtime (I don't put them in the dryer).  I still have quite a few disposables that I need to use anyway before she outgrows them.  


Hair:  Her hair is getting so much thicker and longer.  It is starting to go over her ears a little bit.  I wonder if she is going to have any curls.  I mean my hair is naturally INSANELY curly and Lonnie has curly hair as well....how could she have straight hair??  But so far it is completely straight.  


Eyes:  totally blue...


Weight:  18lb 10oz


Height:  I forgot what they said at the doctor so I will have to update when I find out!


Doctor Appointment:  Blakely had her 9 month check up this morning.  He said she was perfect!  She is right in the 50th percentile for height and weight.  He definitely answered some of my questions about weaning and giving her whole milk.  She had to get some blood drawn to check for anemia and she didn't even cry!  She just kept trying to grab the little thing the blood was in.  Her next appointment is when she turns a year old...WHOA

What's this?

Oh I can eat it!

Quick smile because Daddy walked in..

Off I go!

A few other things:


Now that Blakely is very mobile, she has discovered lots of new things in our house.  She loves playing in her closet.  

But I think her favorite room is the dining room.  We chase each other around the big table and all the chairs.  She LOVES it...lots of giggles when we do that.  

Blakely is in.to.every.thing.  I mean everything.  I can't take my eyes off of her for a second.  She gets into the cabinet in the entertainment center and pulls everything out...in about 1.5 seconds! 

It has been SUPER hot here lately so we have been spending most of our time inside.  This gets old.  I bought a pool and we have been hanging out in that outside some.  I got one big enough for me to get in as well!

I love how she has a crooked smile.  When she smiles really big her jaw tilts to the right and it is so very cute!  She also looks just like her daddy when she smiles really big...her eyes get really squinty.  


For the first time, I have had a few people tell me Blakely is starting to look like me this month!  Since the day she was born everyone has said she looks like Lonnie...this stressed him out LOL!  Maybe she will look like me after all ;)


When she gets really excited she tenses up her whole body really quick.  For example, if she is trying to squeeze one of her duckies to make it squeak.  She squeezes her hand around it but tenses up her whole body and not just her hand....way adorable!  

Pea Pod,
What a wonderful month you have had sweetheart!  You love exploring the world around you and getting into new things everyday.  I love watching the world through your eyes.  I know it will only get better but I can't imagine life being any better than it is right now!  I have already started planning you big first birthday party.  It is going to be so much fun!  I know you won't remember it but there will be plenty of pictures.  Daddy asked me if we needed to even have a party for you.  I told him he was crazy if he thought our girl wasn't getting a party.  He will learn ;)  Happy 9 months baby girl!  Your Daddy and I love you so very much.  


Love, Mommy

memorable moment monday

If you follow me on Ins.tagram then you have already seen this photo.  But here is my memorable moment.  How in the WORLD does she sleep like this?  I mean she is literally folded in half.  

Crazy girl.....