Us Lately

So, I know it's a little late, but I thought I would share about our Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful, and everything a  holiday should be.  Filled with food, laughter, football, more food, and family.  We spend the morning cooking the last of the casseroles, and the rest of the day playing with the kids and eating.  Only a slight mishap when we mistakenly sprinkled cumin instead of cinnamon into the sweet potatoes.  We were able to scoop enough of it out that they turned out great!  We may have created a new recipe.  My nephew Grady had made pilgrim and Indian hats at school so we put them on he and Blakely and had a good laugh!

My mama with the grandkids.  This makes me laugh!

Jeff and I spent the rest of the weekend lounging around and watching movies and cuddling with our girl.  We decided NOT to go out shopping for black friday.  We decided that there was nothing that we needed that badly to have to go out and deal with crazy shoppers and long lines.  I was totally not in the Christmas mood up until Thanksgiving, but then all of a sudden I got really excited about it.  I finally turned on the Christmas music and got out the decorations.  I need more.  It's kinda sparse.  I guess I realized that this was Blakely very first Christmas and I want everything to be perfect for her, even if she wont remember it.  She'll have no idea that it's different than any other day, but I will.  I want her to grow up with traditions and memories.  Also, we have my family coming into town this year.  I'm so excited to see them!!  They will all be meeting Blakely for the first time.  I will be camera ready!  I will leave you with these.  My life, my loves.



How sweet is this?!



30 days and counting

With Turkey day behind us, it's time to focus on the next big holiday Christmas!!!  I love everything about this holiday.  It's the only time of year that I like the colors red and green together!  I love the Christmas cards, the shopping, the music, the decorations, the food.  Most importantly being with my friends and family throughout the whole month.  There is nothing like it.  This year, we are not able to fly out to Utah (We usually go every year to celebrate either Thanksgiving or Christmas) to visit my in-laws.  I am lucky enough to have fantastic in-laws.  I love them all to pieces.  Seriously.  This year it's even harder not to be out there with them because this past May, we welcomed our first precious baby girl into the world, and we want everyone to meet her.  Of course my mother and father in-law have been out to visit her, but the rest of the family...and believe me there's a lot of them, have still not been able to meet her.  

That's where shutterfly comes in!  This year we had our family photos taken and are going to be making a family Christmas card by Shutterfly (look here: Holiday Cards ) to send to our whole family! Go to Shutterfly to find your Christmas Cards.  I loooove the holiday design we picked out.  So classy and elegant.  It's called Pine Cone Toile Christmas Card.  I have used shutterfly before and am always so impressed with the work they do.  I get everything on time and exactly how I ordered it.  Plus, their website is super easy to use and you can change and edit your order until it's just right.  Perfect!!
I love shutterfly so much that I'll probably be using them again for my daughter's first birthday....only 5 1/2 months away!!  I'v already been scoping them out and they're all so cute!  Check them out here: Birthday invitations .

So here's to our friends at Shutterfly!  Thanks for making it so easy to send our love and Christmas wishes to family and friends that are here and far away!  Marry Christmas!!

Thankful

This is what I'm thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

hello nature, you're pretty.

The little bean sprout and I take walks almost everyday.  We have girl talk and just enjoy the beauty around us.  So easy to do when the weather is gorgeous and there is a crisp cool breeze in the air.  Gotta love Georgia in the fall.  It's times like these I feel blessed.  Close to my creator.  Peace.  I think about my family.  Man, I really love my family.  I can't wait for the holidays this year.  Sadly, we are not going on our annual trip to Utah to visit with Jeff's family.  BUT we are going to have some of my family in town and I simply can not wait to see them.  Until then I will enjoy my walks with the sweetest little girl I know! 

Jeff is about to be home, so I will leave it at that.  I love Wednesdays.  I get to have dinner surrounded by my loves.  Oh yeah, and tv on Wednesday nights is awesome!!

Rainy day, quiet house, sleeping baby

I love it when it's quiet.  It's usually doesn't last long, with three dogs and a baby somethings always making noise.  I'm just sitting here thinking about what I want to do today.  I should work out.  Maybe if I just get dressed in my work out clothes I'll feel more motivated.  I should clean too.  It's such a mess, how does it happen so fast?  I also should find a good recipe to make for Jeff.  You see, we had a conversation the other day about cooking.  I admit, I'm not exactly Betty Crocker.  I've put a pizza in the oven before with the cardboard still on the bottom!  Who does that?!  Anyway.  Jeff comes from a family of some pretty amazing cooks, as do I.  I know he is longing for some delicious home-cooked meals.  So where did this talent get lost on me?  The point is, I'm going to try really hard to be more adventurous in the kitchen.  I own it to my husband and daughter.  Now that I have put it in writing maybe I'll be more determined to do it.

6 months

Yep, it's true.  6 Months  My life is offically going in warp speed.  I can honestly say that the past six months have been the best in my life.  I know I gush about Blakely all the time, but she totally deserves it.  Every word.  Jeff too.  I can't begin to explain how much closer I feel to him and more in love.  I thought that was impossible considering we've been together for 10 years. 

So the little miss has had some major firsts this past month.  I'v blogged about a few of them, but here's the run down...
first tooth
first time eating solid food
first time sleeping in her own room (don't judge...I know it took a long time)
first time rolling over
Not to mention all of the places she's gone for the first time.  Basically, she's already a grown up!  No, not really.  She's still our little baby that loves to be snuggled and held and rocked.  She says "Mama" too.  Now, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know that's me, but how long do I have to wait until I consider that her first word??

Since we have offically started teathing Blakely has not been sleeping through the night like she used to.  Ugh, so tired.  I was majorly spoiled with a child that is used to be a great sleeper.  She has started waking up every 2-3 hours wanting to nurse (probably just to be soothed, not necessarly fed)  but with that new tooth, if she decides to bite down.... OUCH!!!  Nothing like a tiny jagged bone clamping down on you to wake you up!

I love you my sweet girl!

What a week!

Well the little miss and me had a wonderful busy week.  It all started last Friday actually.  We went to visit my friend Sarah and her adorable new baby boy, Brett.  She is such a cute new mommy and Brett is still just a tiny little bundle!  He is just precious and looks so much like his daddy.  It was such fun visiting with them and hearing more about his birthday.  It made me think about Blakely's birthday and how long ago that seemed.  I miss holding a tiny newborn.  It's a good thing I have friends that have and are having babies so I can get my fill, cuz my baby is huge now!  

Monday rolled around and I went to visit more old friends--the Mrs. Nelson's.  Katie and Carla are long-time buddies that I had not seen in FOREVER.  They are best friends and married to brothers, it doesn't get more perfect!  Carla just got back from her honeymoon and made a ridiculously stunning bride.  Katie is pregnant with her first baby boy and has just the cutest little belly ever!  We talked about pregnancy and L&D and I probably scared them to death with all of the gory details...what are friends for?!  Seriously though, it was so fun to see them again.  I'm not sure how we let so much time go by, but I'm glad that I'll be seeing more of them...we already have our next "date" scheduled :)

Wednesday, Blakely and I went to Athens to participate in UGA's Psychology Infant Lab for a study on visual recognition.  She basically just watches a TV screen and they track her eye movements to see if she prefers new images to old ones.  What is so cool about it is that I used to run the same lab when I was a student there.  Kind of a full-circle moment for me!  I also visited some of my friends from the vet I used to worked at.  I really miss Athens and all of the awesome people there.  It was also really fun to show Blakely where she will go to school one day :)

Friday, my sister-in-law, nephew, friend, Blakely and I all loaded up and went to the ZOO!!  I love the zoo!  It was C.O.L.D.  I had to bundle Blakely up like a little burrito.  I made her a hat just for the occasion, it's adorable.  What was so great about going when it was chilly out was that there was no one there and all of the animals were feelin' frisky and running around all over the place.  It was so cute to watch my nephew, Grady, stare at all the animals.  Blakely didn't appreciate the zoo as much as the rest of us, but she still had a blast.  She's a happy girl no matter where she is!  Here are a few pics... enjoy!



My happy girl, having a blast at the zoo!





I love the way Blakely is staring at Grady and his sucker!



I ended this busy week doing what I love most...hanging out with my husband and baby.  Jeff is just the BEST.  He's a wonderful hubby, he's always making me laugh and always seems to know exactly what I'm thinking.  But most af all he's an amazing father.  There is nothing that warms my soul more than to see those two together.

    

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween!!  It's so fun.  I have the best memories of this particular holiday all throughout my childhood!  So last year for Halloween Jeff and I were expecting and we thought a good way to tell people, my mom mostly, was to carve it in our pumpkin.

Pretty cute, huh?!  Well, that was last year.  We don't have any big announcements this year so a regular 'ol jack-o-lantern will have to do.

I blogged earlier this month about my inspiration for Blakely's Halloween costume.  I just love the way it came together!  She's my sweet little lamb!!

We had a great Halloween weekend.  Despite Georgia's terrible loss to Florida.  I love spending time with my family!  There is nothing I'd rather do.  Hope you all had a great weekend too!