The Last Days of My 20's...

I will spare you all my grumbling about turning the big 3-0. I won't complain about the fact that I think being 30 sounds waaaaay older than 29. I won't be sad that I won't get carded as much when I buy alcohol (or spray paint - which has happened A LOT!) And I won't admit that I just bought the entire line of Olay Regenerist skincare in hopes that starting now will preserve my young skin longer...yes I believe magazine articles that say this works!

I'm not just sad that I am now going to be in my 30's, I'm sad thinking how could it possibly be better than my 20's??? I mean, really, a LOT of amazing things happened in my 20's...

I got engaged to and married to my very best friend

Graduated college

Became a certified teacher

Moved half way across the country with my new hubby and got to spend two years traveling and watching baseball games (just about) every day

Was a bridesmaid in many, many of my dear friend's weddings

Watched many, many friends have babies

Watched my brother get married to a wonderful friend of mine

Had my dream come true by not having just one but TWO beautiful baby girls

Went on vacations to Hawaii, Aruba, Canada, Tennessee, Chicago, Texas, Nevada, Utah, California (most of these places, multiple times)

Bought our first home

Bought our second home

Worked at several jobs (including working at two amazing local resorts) and met some fabulous people, many of whom I am still in touch with today

Became a Godmother to a beautiful little girl

And I'm counting on becoming an aunt for the first time (Baby T is due on my birthday but I think he'll come early!)

Trust me, I don't think that it's all downhill from here. I definitely have had many trials that I certainly do not wish to re-live. But God has blessed me with this incredible life that I have and I know that is not going to stop. I look forward to all the amazing things that I know are to come in my 30's (and 40's and 50's etc) So I thank the Lord for these first 30 years of my life and can't wait for the next (even though I now feel like an old lady :)

For nostalgia's sake, here are two pictures of me (and Matt) at 20! (Well, I was 20, Matt was 21 - old man!)

10 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
Today we celebrate your 10 month 'birthday'. These past 10 months have gone by so fast, I swear you were born just yesterday. You continue to be such a joy in my life, your daddy's life and in our family's lives. I am so blessed to have you as my baby girl!

You are not crawling yet but I still say you are sooo close (I know I said that last month too but really, you are CLOSE!) You can definitely get to wherever you want to go by rolling, scooting and pushing. Most of the time you are totally content with doing this but then sometimes you get so frustrated when you are on your belly that you flail your arms and legs like you are swimming. I know that you'll be one of those babies who aren't crawling one second, and then the next you are all over the place. Selfishly I like the fact that you can't get all over the house yet so you take your time girl! :)

I'm so thankful that you continue to be a fantastic sleeper. The first few days after we got back from our trip to Ohio you were up pretty early (like 6:30) but you quickly went back to normal. I LOVE that you are such a good sleeper - it's amazing! And now you are mostly always sleeping on your tummy.

We have started to introduce finger foods to you at each meal (besides puff's and o's - cheerios). So far you've had small pieces of banana, avocado, cheese, peas, yogurt melts and a ritz cracker. And so far you've refused and spit out banana, avocado, cheese, peas and yogurt melts - everything BUT the ritz cracker - you gobbled that thing up! (My girls sure do love their carbs!) So, we'll keep trying but we're taking it really slow, it seems you aren't quite ready for finger foods yet but luckily you continue to love your purees.

You went on your first real trip last month all the way to Ohio. You were so wonderful on the plane rides - you slept in your Moby wrap, played and smiled at just about everyone. You had so much fun with your extended family and they all (of course) just loved you.

You also went in the pool for the first time with daddy. I'm sad I missed it and didn't get any pictures but I'm so glad that you got to experience a first with just your dad. He had so much fun and said you did too. I know you are going to be a water baby just like your sister.

YOu continue to have the sweetest personality. You are still very attached to me but when you are with your grandparents or dad, you do great. When we are out and about everyone always comments about how happy you are - you LOVE to smile when someone smiles at you. And the person you smile at the MOST is your big sister - it's the cutest thing ever.

Sienna bug, I love you so much and enjoy every second that I get to spend with you. Just looking at your face reminds me of how very blessed I am!

Sienna's First Bike Ride

Matt came home from a bike ride the other day and said to me 'come on, let's take the girls'. I have to admit I was very hesitant, I thought it was a disaster waiting to happen. We bought one of those bike trailers right before Allie turned one and took her on many rides, but in the beginning, she didn't sit very well in the trailer. They really aren't made for 'babies'. I remember as we would go along, she would slowly slouch over to the side until she was almost lying down. But since this girl was the happiest baby in the world, we would look back at her and she would be smiling away. Sienna is a different story. Not only is she younger than Allie was at this point, she's not the most 'go with the flow' girl out there. I was afraid she would hate every part of it. But Matt talked me into it and I'm so glad we gave it a try...she LOVED it! I tried to secure her a little more with a towel wrapped around her and also Allie was there to help her out. The girls looked so adorable all strapped in next to each other. We rode a few miles to a park, played for a while, and then rode home. I see many, many more bike rides in our future :)

What is round on the sides and hi in the middle???

OHIO!!!!

(Please excuse this obnoxious joke from my childhood :)

Last week my mom, the girls, and I traveled to Ohio to visit some of our amazing family out there. We had such a wonderful time. We spent so much time (but of course not enough) with my great aunt and uncle and a bunch of cousins. We shopped at an oulet mall and indoor flea market, ate, traveled to Amish country (which is fascinating), celebrated my great aunt's 75th birthday, ate, worked outside in the yard, played, relaxed and did I mention we ate? A lot. When we were in Amish country Allie and I got to sit in a real Amish horse-drawn buggy, definitely a once in a lifetime experience. And we enjoyed the wonderfully cold and rainy weather...such a change from the heat and dryness of home. I love going back there and seeing where my mom grew up and where I would go to visit often when I was growing up. The girls were both total champs on our LONG travel days. Allie watched movies on our portable DVD player (a God send!) and Sienna slept several times in my Moby wrap. I was so worried about our travel and so thankful they did so good! Our family made us feel so loved the entire time we were there, we already miss them! (And can't wait to go back again!)

I took a ton of pictures so here's a slideshow of the best ones :)



***Oh and the quote of the week came from my precious 2 year old...she did NOT want to take a nap one day and was crying, in between breaths she said the following to my mom..."Memaw, I want to go home. Where's the airport???!!!" We all still can't stop laughing!

A Little Snack...

Hmmmm, that looks good...

Almost, almost...

There we go, YUM!!!

Nesting Boxes

A very good family friend of Matt's side gave me an amazing sewing book when I was pregnant with Sienna. I spent hours looking through it picking out what I wanted to make. But unfortunately as it goes, I had little time while getting ready for Sienna to be born and had little time after Sienna was born.
Well, now that both girls are a little older, I feel like I have no more excuses. And to be honest another big reason I put off making something from the book was that I was totally intimidated by it. I do think I'm a decent seamstress, but my projects are pretty simple and pretty easy to create. The projects in this book are amazing but very complex!
Unfortunately my soon to be nephew has been my guinea pig for some new things that I've done lately so I decided I might as well give something in the book a try for him.
From a young age, Allie loved containers - to stack on top of each other and stack inside each other. So that's what I made for baby T, nesting boxes. They are very stiff, so they can be stacked, but very soft so they can be knocked down and not cause any loud noises or bruises. I searched and searched for fabric but I couldn't find enough that I liked so I decided to make them out of mens dress shirts (bought at Goodwill and yes I washed them, twice:) I think they turned out pretty cute and hopefully my sweet nephew will like playing with them :)



(I hope I made you proud Leslie! I promise I will be making more things from my awesome book!:)

Easter!

We had such a fun Easter this year...
Both girls woke up about the same time so we brought them downstairs to open their baskets...

Our little Easter bunnies...


Then Allie went on an Easter egg hunt around the house...


Allie was so excited when she found that there were surprises in her eggs...

Ready for church...this is the best we got due to all the teething going on around here, it is rare to get a picture without fingers in the mouth :)

After church I got everything ready for dinner while the girls napped and Matt went on a hike with his middle brother. We had all of our family over (15 people!) for a wonderful Easter dinner and then spent the evening outside in our backyard enjoying the wonderful weather...

Memaw and Dodad

Grammy and Aunt KK

I was continually reminded all day long of how blessed I truly am...
blessed to be married to my wonderful husband
blessed to have two amazing daughters
blessed to have so much family so close to us
blessed to have a God who would send His ONLY Son to die for me so that I may be forgiven
God is sooooo good!

What to Wear???

1 pair of pajamas
rainbow tutu
pink princess dress
purple cheerleader outfit
butterfly wings
gloves
pom poms
princess heels
tiara

I have a feeling this is what my kid is going to want to wear to her first day of preschool!

9 Months Old!!!

Sienna Faith,

You are nine months old today! I can't believe that you have exceeded the amount of time that you were in my belly. Those were nine great months (aside from the morning sickness, puking, fatigue, reflux, discomfort, contractions, etc, etc, etc. haha) But these past nine months have been even better!

You are totally mobile now. Not with crawling, but with rolling. It is your new favorite thing. You roll all over the place and also, rotate all over the place. You are definitely trying really hard to crawl. If a toy is out of your reach you stretch so hard to get to it, try to roll to it, and then get REALLY frustrated if you can't get it. But I have a feeling it's going to happen soon. You still love to sit up and play with toys, you are losing interest in your excersaucer but you'll tolerate it for a while and you LOVE going on walks and swinging.

You are sleeping and napping great. 12-13 hours a night, a two hour nap in the morning and 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. You went through a phase for several nights were waking up in the middle of the night crying (which I blame on teething) but luckily you are back to normal. You continue to wake up so happy, talking and playing in your crib until I come and get you, I just love the smiles I get when I walk into your room :) Your paci also buys me some time too, especially since some mornings you will find it, put it in your mouth and fall back asleep! You also started sleeping on your tummy now. I'm surprised it took you this long but you are still a bigger fan of sleeping on your back.

Again, still no teeth. Your sister was almost 10 months old when she got your first tooth so if you take after her then this will be the month. I know things are moving around in there because you have had many, many 'teething' moments so I am just waiting for them to pop through.

You continue to eat great. You get fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, fruit and/or veggie for lunch and a meat meal for dinner. You aren't a fan of the meats (maybe because I'm not making those meals. I love that you love my cooking/pureeing:) but you tolerate them. And boy are you loving your PUFFS! They are by far your favorite part of mealtime and you've mastered getting them into your mouth. You've also had several mum mums which you devour as well.

You've learned to play peek-a-boo and love it. It's so cute to see you hold a burp cloth or blanket up over your face. You will also put your hands above your head when we say 'sooooo big' (well, that happens about 60% of the time!) You love being interacted with (you are not a fan of being alone!)


I love you my sweet baby, you bring so much joy to my life!

This is what teething, a daddy who has been traveling a lot and a lack of sleeping due to the discovery of rolling all over a crib look like....