0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

About a year ago I made these quilted alphabet letters for Allie. They are seriously one of those things that she has played with over and over. She's been able to say her abc's, count and spell her name for a while, but now we are working on the sight/recognition part more. I've always meant to make numbers to go with her alphabet set, but as usual life got in the way and it's taken me a year to do it. (Hmmm, if I had a quarter for every time I said that I'd be rich!) While I made the numbers I went ahead and made a few extra letters so we could spell Sienna's name too. Allie was so excited when she saw the numbers and we've already made up a few games for her to play with them. It was a very easy (yet time consuming) project, but great for those who have toddlers around!

He...

...is the first baby of my brother and sister-in-law

...was born just two days after my birthday, June is a great month!

...was 8 pounds 9 ounces of pure scrumptiousness (yes, that is a word:)

...has two cousins who already can't wait to play with him (and dress him up!)

...has two aunts and two uncles who already love him to pieces

...is Turner James, my first nephew!!!

...is absolutely adorable, see for yourself...

11 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
My baby girl you almost aren't my baby anymore! I cannot believe that you are going to be ONE in just a month. This year has gone by way too fast. Although I am so excited to celebrate that milestone with you, part of me wants to go back in time and spend so many moments with you again. But I am LOVING the little girl that you are becoming.

You have had SO many firsts this past month! The first one that happened was that you finally got your first tooth! Well, actually teeth. Your bottom two teeth literally popped through on the same day. You definitely have had many fussy, teething days so I knew they were coming. You look so cute with your two little 'teef' (as your sister calls them:)

You also started crawling! You are totally sporting the army crawl, just like your sister did at first, but man you are fast! You can get anywhere you want to go and have literally made it to every corner of our house. You haven't quite pulled yourself up to standing yet but you make it to your knees on many occasions.

A couple of your firsts involved water, one you loved and one you hated. We took you to a splash pad for the first time at Scottsdale Quarter and this is what happened...

Not sure why you hated it so much, I'm thinking maybe the water was too cold since both of my girls (including me) like warm water. I have to say though that you did have a wonderful time, as long as I didn't sit you down in the water. :)
You also had your first swim lesson and this one you loved. You did great and had so much fun.

You are still sleeping great (actually even longer than the past few months). You are no where near giving up your morning nap and for that I am so thankful! haha I love going in to get you and you are sitting up smiling in your crib. Most of the time you have a paci in your mouth and one in each hand, it's really cute.

As for your eating habits, eh. You still love your baby food and have no problems there but as for table food you are still not a fan. We did have a breakthrough a couple nights ago where you actually ate many small pieces of pizza and mushrooms, but the next day you were back to throwing everything on the ground. It's hard to get you to even try things but I know you will sometime (hopefully when you go to preschool I won't be packing your lunch with baby food jars!) So we will continue to try, try, try!

You learned your second word...no. And now you say it all the time. It's so hard because it's definitely not a word that I want you to say all the time but you are so darn cute when you say it, it's hard not to smile and laugh.

I have already started planning your birthday party and am having so much fun. I can't wait for our friends and family to get together and celebrate what a wonderful gift you are! I love you baby girl!

Swim Lessons!

Sienna had her first swim lesson a couple weeks ago and it was so much fun. For those of you who saw her famous splash pad picture, you will be VERY surprised to know that she LOVED the pool. She did great and even went under several times. Matt was able to come and take pictures, sorry there are tons but I even had a hard time narrowing it down to these, she's just so darn cute!









I purposely dressed Sienna in the same swimsuit that Allie wore for her first lesson. They are almost exactly the same age. Allie's pictures are on the left, Sienna's on the right. Sometimes I think they look SO much alike, and sometimes I think they look so different :)

 

(If you click on the collage you can make it bigger to see the pictures better)

Bathroom Re-do

I am so excited that this project is finally complete! I've been wanting to re-do our bathroom for a while now, it was just so blah and boring and there were several things I didn't like. We bought our house 4 years ago, yes, do the math, almost at the top of the housing bubble so we absolutely did not want to put a lot of money into it. It is all builder-grade which is fine, but again, boring. The mirror especially. We actually tried to take it down so I could just put up two large store bought mirrors but that sucker was glued up there so well I was afraid it would really tear apart our drywall. I didn't want a project like that to do. So we just framed it. I can't believe what a difference it made. (And I have to say my mom and I are now pros with a miter saw!) Several months ago Matt was out of town on a very long business trip and I knew that I needed a project to do so that I wouldn't go crazy so I painted the cabinets. And over the past four months or so I have been picking up accessories either on sale or by using a coupon. Today I put the last thing up so it is finally done! Check it out...
Before...

After...
Painted dark chocolate brown cabinets and molding/frame around the mirror, new hardware, baskets and flowers.

New rug and towels. I made the his and hers signs a while ago.

New shelves and accessories

More shelves, candles and flowers

I am also re-doing our family room and kitchen - it is almost done! I am in the mood to change things up and I can't stop!!!

The Best. Birthday. Ever.

So the milestone that I have dreaded has passed and I have to say, I survived. :) When Matt asked me what I wanted to do for my 30th birthday I just told him that I wanted to do 'something' with all of my friends. I didn't really care what, just 'something'. Usually we don't do a whole lot for birthday's, but since this one was a big one for me I definitely wanted to celebrate. With help from Bri and Lindsay, Matt planned the absolute perfect birthday, definitely the best birthday I've ever had.
The day before, I had lunch with my mom, Matt's mom and my girls. I even got sung to at the restaurant :) Then I dropped the girls off at my in-laws and spent a glorious afternoon running kid-free errands (it's the little things right?:) Matt had booked us a room at the Sanctuary Resort on Camelback Mountain and I wanted to enjoy every second of it so I checked it at 4:00 on the dot. I just relaxed, read a book and waited for my hubby to get off work. He got there shortly after and we got ready for dinner. Matt planned the most amazing dinner at the Elements with my brother and sister-in-law and my dearest girlfriends and their hubbies. I couldn't believe that out of 4 firefighters/paramedics, they were ALL able to make it. It seriously meant the world to me that everyone was there. We enjoyed great food, wine, an incredible view and lots of talking and laughter. It was perfect.
The next day, Matt and I slept in (until 9:00!!!), ordered room service breakfast and literally spent the next 6 hours at the pool. The highlight - hanging out with LL Cool J at the pool. Seriously he was there! I'd like to say that he sang me happy birthday and ate lunch with us, but no, I just stared at him as descretely as I could - it's always fun to see a celebrity :)
We could have stayed there all day long but decided we should go pick up the girls and head home. We spent the rest of the evening just hanging out together, put the girls to bed, then caught up on some reality TV shows.
It seriously could not have been more perfect! I have the best husband, family and friends, I am so blessed!

The best girlfriends ever

My two BFF's

Yep, he's just the best

It was Amanda's birthday on the day of my dinner - so we both got to celebrate :)

On our way to the pool

Allie's New Trick

Allie discovered a new talent while we were in Ohio...




She takes after me, her Memaw and her Uncle Chippy - we all can pick up anything with our toes!

Pillow Re-do

I've had this pillow on our master bed for several months, and while I absolutely love the color and fabric, there was something about I just didn't like. Maybe it was just too plain so I decided to spice it up a little bit and add a white flower to it. There are so many tutorials out there on how to make flowers like these - they involve tupperware, scissors, fire and a needle. Are you intrigued??? They are actually really fun to make. Check it out...