What I love about you … week 20 & 21

week 20 & 21

I LOVE …

• Your BIG, BEAUTIFUL smiles!!

• The sweet cooing sounds you make as you drift off to sleep.
• That you are always chewing on your tongue and puckering your lips together. You make such cute faces.
• How much you love bath time!

• The dimple on your left cheek when you smile.
• That you’re are officially unswaddled and sleep so soundly on your side. We still wrap your swaddle underneath your arms so your lower body doesn’t get cold in the night.
• Sweet family pictures!

• Getting to spend time with you in the church nursery last week. The dress you were wearing is my all time FAVORITE dress from Baby Gap!!

• Your big brown eyes! They are just beautiful! And, those sweet eye lashes!

• That you’ve been sleeping soundly from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am for the past few nights. I sure hope that continues!!

I’m so IN LOVE with you sweet girl!! :)

Thankful

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today I wanted to take a few moments to jot down a few things I am thankful for…

1. A GREAT God who created me, gave me purpose in this life, and loves me through and through.

2. My incredible husband who is a huge source of strength in my life. I’m so thankful that he is a man after God’s own heart and seeks to be a Godly example to his family in all things!

3. My sweet, sweet girls. They are my pride and joy. I look at them each day and just can’t believe I get to be their mom!

4. Premier. What a blessing Premier has been in so many ways. I get the opportunity to stay home with my girls, meet and encourage amazing women, and provide for my family financially.

5. Good Health. I feel like everywhere I turn, someone’s got cancer or something else. I’m SO thankful for good health and pray for it to remain!

6. Answered prayers. Dave and I pray for our families and friends on a daily basis. Recently, my mom has been walking closer with the Lord than I have ever seen! God is being glorified in so many ways and I’m SO proud of my mom!

7. Good Friends. God has truly blessed me with some amazing friends to live life with.

8. Laughter. :)

 

and a few silly things I’m thankful for…

1. Holiday drinks at Starbucks!

2. Good sales.

3. WHITE spray paint.

4. Christmas music. Let the Christmas season begin!

Miss Finley

I had to add in one more post today about my sweet Finley Grace. She is growing so fast and has had a great week of learning new skills! I’ve been really working on rolling back to front with her. CB had started rolling back to front by now, and not that I need to compare them by any means, but I figured I’d at least start practicing with Finley! :)

On Monday of this week were were hanging out on the floor for some tummy time. She was laying on her back and I was stacking blocks next to her. All of the sudden she decided that she wanted to help me with that block stacking because she picked up her left arm, reached it across her body to where the blocks were, and in an instant she rolled over to her belly as she was reaching for that block!! I thought maybe it was a fluke so I put her down on her back again… and she rolled over again!!! I LOVE when babies learn a new skill. Go Finley!!

To top off all that rolling madness – we did some practice sitting up today. I sat her up with the Boppy around her to give her some support. After a few minutes of that, I took the Boppy away to see if she could stay sitting on her own. She did a terrific job! I wouldn’t say she is 100% stable and I definitely won’t let her try sitting on the tile by herself, but she sure is doing great!! Check out these pictures of my sweet girl…

with Boppy support

 

with out Boppy support

Don’t you just love that beautiful smile?!

 

Cori Belle thought she would practice sitting too! I’ve actually been teaching her how to stretch. She was practicing her butterfly here! :) So serious!

 

And of course, some SWEET sister love is always one of my favorite things!!

Busy Bees!

Whew! We have had a busy week! Which may or may not explain my absence from blogging! HA!

Even though we know we are moving come June, we have been itching to do some home improvement projects. Our first project that we took on a few weeks ago was re-organizing our closet. If you happen to follow me on Pinterest, you would have seen some new boards and pins of closet and office organization! Oh, how I love me some organization!

Our main reason to re-organize our closet was to make some space for Finley. Stop right there. I know what you’re thinking. “You’re putting your baby in your closet?” HA! … YES, we are! We have a huge walk in closet and poor thing just wasn’t getting good sleep in our room. She isn’t quite ready to move into her big sisters room so we decided a little nursery in the closet was our next best choice. It’s been fabulous! Little one gets some good rest in a nice, peaceful, cozy, dark space. And, we get some zzz’s as well! It’s a win, win! Here is a peak into our closet space…

 

I’m loving it! When you round the corner to the left, Finley’s pack and play is on the back wall. I’m thinking of hanging a sweet picture over her bed to really make it have the feel of a mini nursery.

Did I mention that my amazing hubby (and Lance) put in all the new closet shelving?! He is such the handy man!! :) Once the closet was installed, Dave’s next project was building a white washed distressed frame for this huge fish we have hanging in our room that we bought for our 5th anniversary. It was quite the project! First, Dave bought some wood at Lowes. Cut it to size, and glued it together to make a frame literally the size of our dining room table!

 

He then started painting it black as you can see in the picture above. Once the black dried, he put a very THIN layer of white on top. Then, he preceded to paint the frame with Elmer’s glue. Once the Elmer’s glue was dry enough to feel sticky, but not completely dry, he coated a THICK layer of white on top. To create the distressed look, he used a hair dryer while the paint was still wet to shift the paint and create cracks.

 

When it was all said and done, it looked like this!

 

Then, we hung it up on the wall in our room. I do LOVE it!

 

The next project was getting NEW carpet! Our carpet was not the prettiest thing on the block. In fact, I might have described it as disgusting! It was going on 6 years old with two kids and a dog that sheds. It had stain after stain and we couldn’t seem to get them out. Being that we are moving in June, I didn’t think anyone would want to buy or rent our place with the carpet we had. So, why not get new carpets NOW so we could enjoy them too?!

We basically had to move out of our house for an entire day to have the carpets done. All of our furniture had to be moved and when they finally finished the project around 7:30 pm, I came home to a house turned completely upside down. But, the carpets looked amazing!! It gives such a fresh new look to the house. Here is a sample, although the picture certainly doesn’t do it justice …

 

To add to the craziness of getting new carpet last Thursday, we also took a trip to the ER! Except this time, we weren’t going to visit daddy at work, we were patients! … I was putting Cori in her car seat after Mom’s Group Thursday afternoon when I heard a pop in her wrist. It sounded like a knuckle popping, but she was in immediate pain! Dave was off work so we met him at a friends house so he could take a look at it. She cried the ENTIRE way there. :( She refused to use her right arm at all. It laid by her side and she held it saying that it hurt. She went from her sweet, bubbly self, to a shy, sad little girl. SO depressing! We decided an x-ray was in order.

Dave originally was going to just take her in. Finley was sleeping and I was supposed to watch my friend’s kids that afternoon. About 5 minutes after they left, I completely lost it! What was I thinking letting my little girl go to the ER for the FIRST time with out me?!?! How could I not be there?!? I called Dave, balling my eyes out, and decided I’d meet them there. I loaded sleeping Finley into the Honda Civic and headed to the hospital. When I got there, Cori and Dave were waiting for me in the ER lobby. We went right back. VIP service! We waited for a few minutes in a room before they took us back for x-rays. Dave sat with her during the whole x-ray process and she balled her eyes out the entire time. It was so sad! During x-rays Dave said he heard another pop and as soon as all was said and done, she returned back to her normal self. She literally got up from the x-ray chair, wiped her tears, regained a smile, and skipped back into our room. Yep, it was Nursemaid’s Elbow. SO glad it wasn’t anything serious! Here is a picture of Miss Priss back to her normal self!

 

We ended our week with a NEW bed! Dave’s parents decided that it was time for them to get a new bed. Being that our bed was Dave’s bed from  high school, they thought we might want a new one. So, they offered their old bed to us. It was certainly newer than the bed we were sleeping in and we also got to upgrade from a Queen to a KING! Score! It’s super comfortable and I think it looks great in our room!

 

Whew, it was a busy week! Now onto Thanksgiving tomorrow. YUM!

I wear my sunglasses…

I was doing a little organizing in Cori’s closet yesterday and found a pink pair of sunglasses from LAST summer. Not the summer that we currently had, but the one where Cori was only 5 months old!! Man, time flies! I was looking for those when this summer rolled around and couldn’t seem to find them. Oh well.

Check them out on Cori Belle when she was a BABY!!! She was 21 weeks old here!

 

Cori was super excited about these sunglasses and immediately put them on. She pretty much wore them all afternoon and was just the most adorable little girl I’ve ever seen! That is, until she put them on her sister! And then, they were the TWO most adorable little girls I’ve ever seen! :)

 

She thought playing peek-a-boo was hilarious with these sunglasses. Like I couldn’t see her with them on! HA!

Peek-a-boo!

 

Lookin’ cool! HOW do I have an almost 2-year old?!?!

 

Then, baby sister got to wear them! Finley was hanging out in her green jeep when Cori decided that she needed a turn in the sunglasses. Is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?!

 

Catch ya later! :)

What I Love about YOU … week 18 & 19

week 18 & 19

I LOVE …

• That you are growing at a GREAT pace! We went in for your 4 month doctors visit this week and you are currently 12.8 lbs (WOW!!) and 24.4 inches long. We did have a great time at the office and even snapped some pictures of all 3 of us hanging out in the room. OH, how I love my girls!!

• The way holding your hand in the car brings you peace. Those sweet fingers wrapped around mine bring me so much joy!

 

• How interactive you are getting and how much you smile. Your face literally LIGHTS UP when anyone talks to or smiles at you. This picture doesn’t do your smile justice, but it is a cute one! :)

• Your sweet, laid back personality. You really only get upset when when you’re hungry or tired. Or, when you get a fever from shots and don’t seem to feel well – like the last two days! :( .. Otherwise,  you fit very well into your surroundings and take it all in. Could it be because your sister is like a tornado and all you can do is just watch her in disbelief?! HA! J/K, Cori Belle. :)

 

• That we broke out the "Green Jeep” this week and you seem to love it! We never got an excersaucer with Cori so we don’t have one for you to play in either. But, we do have the green jeep and it has wheels!! You thoroughly enjoyed your big sister pushing you around the house and you LOVED getting to be in on the excitement last night as daddy cooked dinner while Cori Belle danced in the kitchen. Can I just say that I  L O V E my family?!?!

• Breaking out the warmer clothes and how cute you look in a hoodie (with a bow of course!). It’s getting a little bit chilly these days!

• Those sweet hairs on your head!

 

• Rocking you to sleep at night. I always enjoy this time with my babies. It certainly won’t last forever! My rocking days are long gone with Cori Belle and I’m so glad I get to spend time rocking you! I also love how your body seems to rest in my arms as I sing, “Jesus Loves Me” to you each night before bed. Precious.

 

• Watching you taste ice cream for the first time! YUM! You seemed pretty indifferent about it.

 

I  L O V E you dear one!!

Love,

Mom

Noche de Gala

A few weeks ago David and I attended an event called Noche de Gala. It was amazing! For those of you who don’t know what Noche de Gala is .. it’s an event/fundraiser to benefit the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation. Sebastian was a little boy, only 3, when he visited Shands Hospital in need of some medication. He was accidentally given an adult dose of meds instead of a child’s dose. That simple mistake took his life. His parents, who are amazing individuals, decided that their son’s death would not get the best of them. His death would bring life to others. Out of that, the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation began with the intention to raise enough money to build a Children’s Hospital in Gainesville where something like that could never happen again.

This past July, Shands opened a newly renovated Children’s ER funded by the Foundation. It’s beautiful and a place solely dedicated to serve the children in our area! David really enjoys his time while he is working in there! At Noche this year, the Foundation donated 1.5 million dollars to renovate the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) at Shands. It’s going to be amazing!! The Children’s Hospital is still in the building of Shands, but will in it’s own way, be a separate entity, solely dedicated to CHILDREN!

Right before this was announced at the event, they showed a video of children in the Gainesville area stating what they wanted to be when they grew up. Then, the video went to adult supporters of the Foundation as well as the founders of the Foundation who explained how this hospital would provide a way to focus on children so that they could grow up and fulfill those dreams of what they want to be one day. It was really moving and made me cherish those sweet moments with my own children so much.

It was a wonderful and beautiful event! We were so honored to be invited. David was asked to be a chair on the board of the foundation representing UF since he is a Pediatric Resident. It really is such an honor for him to be a part of this amazing cause and I’m so proud of all the hard work he put into coordinating volunteers from UF to help with the event.

This picture is a little blurry, but you can see how beautifully decorated the dinner and dancing tent was…

 

The event was held at this gorgeous horse farm. I snapped a few pictures out of the car window as we drove in…

 

We had a great time and it was nice to get all dressed up and have a night out with out the kids! I don’t think I’ve worn a fancy dress like that since prom! HA! … If you want to hear more about the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, please go to www.sebastianferrero.org to learn more. You’ll be inspired!

A Visit from the North

We spent last weekend in Tampa with a few family members we rarely get to see! Casey and Rebecca have been living in Minnesota for a few years now and we only get to see them about twice a year. I think that’s going to be the hardest part about our move for Fellowship – not getting to see family as much as we’d like.

We normally see them at the beach in June and for either the Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday. This year they came down for Halloween! Casey actually had a boat show to attend in Ft. Lauderdale that they boys got to go to over the weekend, but it was nice that it fell in line with Halloween. Even though we didn’t actually get to spend Halloween with them, it was a great visit!

This was the first time all  F O U R  grandkids were together!! It was so much fun to see them running around together! We spent one morning trying to get all of them sitting together. I think I took 20 or so pictures of them on the couch and this was the best one, even though no one is looking at my camera! I think Cori and Taylor look adorable! Of course, the babies do too, but it’s always hard to capture the smiling face of a 4 month old on camera. :)

Cori Belle, Finley Grace, Jona Lily, & Taylor Ryan

 

Taylor and Cori got to eat breakfast together on the morning of Halloween before we had to head back to Gainesville. They were so sweet in their skeleton shirts!!

 

We then attempted one final photo shoot of the 3 of them on the couch. HA! Finley kept falling over onto Taylor. Taylor would try to crawl out of the way. And, Cori sat on the edge of the couch playing with Yaya’s bracelets. NO ONE cared to be photographed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did get a sweet picture of Taylor … (don’t mind Finley’s feet in the background! We were trying to get her to ride on Taylor’s back! HA!)

 

And, a sweet picture of Cori Belle …

 

Even though it was a short visit, it was so wonderful to see them! I can’t wait until the next time all the kiddos get to be together again!

Trunk-or-Treat

The girls were black cats for Halloween this year. I thought it was an appropriate costume considering CB  L O V E S cats! I don’t think her daddy will ever let her have one. Ok, I probably won’t either so I shouldn’t blame it on him! :) But seriously, every time she sees a cat it’s, “titty, titty” for D A Y S!! So, kitty’s they were!

It really was an easy costume to make – black leotards, black leggings, a black tutu that I made with a sweet tail hanging in the back, and felt ears sewed onto a black head band. Doesn’t get much easier than that! CB was sort of afraid of her black tutu when I tried to put it on her a few days prior to Halloween. We had to talk and talk and talk about being a kitty. Finally we got her excited about it and she wore it!! Wahoo! Now, drawing those whiskers on her face was another battle, but we finally convinced her that it made her look more like a kitty! Just check this sweet girl out! I do L O V E this picture of us!!!

 

We went to Westside Baptist Church for an event called Trunk-or-Treat. There were two rows of cars set up with their trucks decorated and people handing out candy. There were games to play and balloons to get. It was the perfect atmosphere for Halloween. I think I like it much better than going door to door. It certainly was a family fun event for everyone! It was also really nice to spend the evening as a family. Dave has been traveling so much lately and I really enjoyed getting to spend time with him and my girls.

 

Meow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finley did a great job just hanging out in the stroller. And, Cori had a blast! At first she was a little timid about the whole candy thing. I don’t think she quite understood the concept at first. But it only took a few car trunks for her to get it and then she was SO excited to fill her pumpkin bag with candy! We had a great time and we even got the kids home and in bed only a few minutes past bedtime! What a perfect night!