Getting ready for Spring

On Saturday we went to the Eggstravaganza in El Campo.  It was really windy and trying to get a picture of my little mover and shaker is next to impossible but it was still fun to see family and friends with their kids.  I don't think we are going to have a problem with Elizabeth Easter egg hunting... she took off like she knew exactly what she was doing.  It was so stinkin' cute!  She picked up her eggs and put them in her bucket like she has been doing it all her life or something.  I tell you, kids crack me up!  She is doing some of the funniest things lately!  I love watching her grow and learn new things... now only if she would start talking!  Enjoy our pictures from the eggstravaganza...

She was absolutely terrified of the Easter Bunny

Mommy's camera is just too slow to catch that pretty smile 

She did love this Easter bunny though... 

"EGG HUNT!" 

"Humm... this one looks pretty" 

We saw Brooklyn... 

We saw Paislyn...

"Do you think my tractor is sexy?"

We are so ready for Spring and warmer weather... Lets pray it comes soon!

Catchup/photo dump

So it has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog.  I have been 1.) busy and 2.) just plain tired!  I have been falling behind in lots of mommy-to-do's lately and I hope to do a little catch up.  So, here are some pictures of what we have been up to the last six months...

First we had FALL!

We went to Brookshire for a little Fall fun...

Daddy and Mommy went to watch the Ricebirds play in the State game! 

Then came Christmas... and we had lots of them! :)

Just a little fun at Grammy's house...

Elizabeth's first pigtails... 

Hanging out at Brooklyn's first birthday...

I hope to do a better job of keeping up with Elizabeth on here.  I want to keep a better log of everything she is doing.

Mirror, Mirror

This week has been a real downer for me.  Not that anything is wrong, but it has just been one of those weeks.  I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday and I only have to work a half day! 

Many people look in the mirror and do not like what they see.  This is me.  Right now my biggest enemy is starring me down in the mirror... all I see is fat, fat, fat.  I feel it every time I walk into the closest, every time I open the pantry or fridge, and every time I go to the bathroom and have to see myself.  I know that I am overweight and that I really need to do something about it.  Every diet has failed me or should I say that I have failed every diet.  I often have very good intentions of working out and then I get home and I have to take care of my number one (Elizabeth in case you didn't know) and my own nutrition and exercise fall to the wayside.  I just don't know what to do anymore.  Why couldn't I have just been born with the skinny bones!?!  I see so many skinny people at work, walking down the street, well you know, just about everywhere I go.  In my mind one day I will be like that but then that hamburger smells so good or that candy just can't be passed up.  I need motivation.  You would think that my motivation would be my daughter but even that doesn't seem to help.  I want to be healthy and happy for her and my husband but still, I don't know where to start.  Endorphins make you happy... and I believe that food is my endorphins because I just can't walk away.  Am I an addict to food?  I have a feeling that my bad eating habits are already rubbing off on my daughter and that literally scares me to death.  I hope and pray that she gets her daddy's genes.  So I could go on and on about how much I hate my body and wish I could just take a magic pill to make it better, but I know deep down that I have to do it.  I have to be healthier.  Let this be heard again, I have to be healthier!

So to top of the week, I am working on our tax return.  (Yes, you read correctly, our tax return from 2011.)  Just another reason I am so down in the dumps this week.  I loath the IRS.  I think we pay way too much in taxes and this sucks.  There, however, is nothing I can change about that.  So, I will file my return tomorrow and go on my merry little way...

Greg is on a business trip this week so it is just me and the munchkin today and tomorrow.  She is what keeps me going day in and day out.  I really think I took for granted how much Greg helps me around the house.  He may not be there with us physically but he does help me by washing dishes, washing clothes, and just the general clean up.  With a toddler running around, it is hard to do this by myself in the evenings and I definitely feel the pain and he has only been gone one day! 

So I will leave you with a smile...

Happy 1st Birthday!

I have not written on the blog in so long... actually it has be exactly one month.  One whole month of our little Lizzie went by.  It makes me want to cry because I feel like I just don't remember this last year like I should.  But, like they say, time flies!

Some of the things about Elizabeth at one year:

• has officially mastered drinking from a straw... now she can drink from anything... love it!
• such a silly monkey that climbs on everything in sight... my mom gave her a step stool and she will put it against the couch, climb up, and then slide off on her belly, then repeat... over and over and over.
• still working on the feeding situation.  It is frustrating sometimes but she is getting better.  I still give her a mix of table food and baby food.  She eats everything we give her.
• Still drinking formula, but mainly in the morning.  She does not want her night time cup at all anymore.  The transition to milk has been tough with her not taking to it (she is on Soy formula) so for now we will give her the toddler formula.
• loves to dance.  Everyone should have the opportunity to see this angel dance because it will make you laugh so hard.  They must be doing a lot of dancing and singing at school.
• very stubborn (I have no idea where she gets that from :) haha).  She knows what she wants and will let you know what she wants also.

There is so much that I can't remember right now but she is the love of my life for sure.  I can't imagine life without her.  I hope and pray she grows into a smart, independent woman like her mom! :)

So, since I don't have my camera but I do have my phone, I will share with you Elizabeth through photos this past month.  (Plus, photos are more fun to look at!)  We have been super busy and now with her birthday party tomorrow, we are completely stressed!

If you don't remember, on my last post I was talking about the first football game... here is Elizabeth ready for some football with her first pony tail!

Enjoying her morning milk at Granny's house while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (her favorite)

 Granny bought her a big girl bed for her house... Elizabeth was trying it out. 

We only let her take naps in it right now.

 Daddy was teaching her how to drive the car.

Daddy and his baby girl... so sweet.

Enjoying her some snack at Granny's... she is so smart.

 Playing with the cousins'

Hello FALL!

I swear she is a monkey... she climbs on EVERYTHING!

An early birthday present from school... her "friend" bite her... really do your "friends" bite you?  I hate when they call and say that.  The same girl... week after week.  Basically they tell me that they are too young to do anything about it at school.  Really?!? So, you are just going to let my kid keep getting bite?  Can you tell I was upset about this?

Today is her birthday and she could care less.  It is so sad and happy at the same time.  I can't believe how fast time goes by.  She does not like to take pictures these days so this is the best I could do at school.

The Texans Virus

Elizabeth really put us through the ringer last week with her sickness.  As a parent, I absolutely hate seeing my baby so sick and then the worst always run through your head of maybe something else could be wrong.  Luckily for us, our little stinker is feeling 1,000 times better.  Greg says she came down with the "Texans Virus" because it started right after watching the Houston Texans game.  Everyone, please take that up with him! :)  Saturday the 25th of August was just a relaxing day, just hanging out with some family, not doing a whole lot.  When we were leaving Jason and Kathy's house after watching the first half of the game and Elizabeth was feeling warm but it wasn't too bad.  Sunday morning is when all hell broke loose.  After a pretty rough night Saturday night with her not sleeping well (because of the fever) and waking up crying, she had her morning cup of milk and almost immediately it came up all over Mommy.  If you have never seen a little baby throwing up like that, consider yourself lucky because it was absolutely heartbreaking.  I would start crying every time it happened because I wanted to make it better and couldn't.  She would look up at you with those sad little eyes, crying, and it just seemed like she was asking why it was happening to her.  You could tell that she wasn't feeling well and she was just completely out of it all day long but we were able to keep a little swallow here and there down her so she wouldn't get dehydrated but she refused to eat and drink and she continue to vomit all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  She also had a low grade fever that we could not get to go away by medicine.  We had called the doctor on Sunday and she told us just to keep her hydrated and she would see her on Monday morning.  The doctor found that she had an ear infection and told us that she probably just has a virus on top of that.  They gave her a shot of antibiotic and sent us home with our still very sick baby.  By this time all of us were so exhausted...

Tuesday morning I had to go into work for a meeting that was rescheduled from Monday so Daddy stayed home with the still sick baby.  Monday night was another rough night of waking up crying and fever.  If only we could get that stupid fever to go away!  It really started to spike on Monday evening and Tuesday with the highest reading at 104 degrees... I was very worried she would have a seizure from the fever like Emily (a good friends' little girl) did last Christmas.  By Tuesday afternoon, we were at our wits end and after talking with the doctor once Elizabeth started vomiting blood, she advised us to go to the ER at Texas Children's Hospital.  Once we got there, they basically told us the same thing the doctor did but they wanted to get something stomach since she hadn't eaten since Saturday night.  They gave her some nausea medicine and another antibiotic shot and sent us on our way.  Oh yeah, she had also gotten thrush again.  What more could this little baby go through!?!

The ER doctor told us to follow up with our pediatrician on Thursday to see how things looked and if she needed to continue on any medicine.  Wednesday morning our little Elizabeth was feeling so much better and besides being very weak, she was getting around and playing a little.  Well, our little angel decided to test us again by developing a rash all over her body on Wednesday night.  Luckily we already had a doctor's appointment on Thursday morning so on to something new...  the doctor just said the rash was just part of the virus working its course.  Someone needs to do something about that virus because it is one mean sucker.  The rash didn't bother her too bad, but she did look like she was trying to itch her head and stomach.  She managed to lose almost three pounds (a whole lot for her age) from being so sick so now we are trying to fatten her back up. 

I am happy to report that the virus is gone and I am pretty sure the thrush is gone too.  This week we are working on not giving her a paci so we don't have to worry about that thrush anymore.  We will see how that goes! :)  We did a pretty good cleaning of the house to try and get the germs out from the three of us sitting around for over a week.  We tried to explain to Elizabeth that she is not allowed to do that again or anytime soon because it was very though... we know it wasn't her fault but it was still very, very tough to go through.

The poor sick baby with lots of wild hair.

 The rash... yucky.

So, since I talked about her sickness, I have to do a quick update of how we are doing... in we, I mean me and Greg.  We were very, very exhausted last week and I think by Thursday Greg was getting delirious.  So we had decided that since Elizabeth was doing much better, we would go out just the two of us on Saturday night... but Greg got a phone call and was told he had to work.  Instead of canceling our "date night" my mom came up on Friday night so we could go out to eat.  But between the time of deciding to go out on Friday and the phone call Greg got to work, he was really upset and was talking crazy.  You know how you get when you're so tired and you think EVERYTHING is SOOOO funny... this was him and it was kind of annoying... anyway... he is talking to me and he is like "so, I was really looking forward to taking you to Long John Silver's to eat, I can't believe we can't go." as he continues to babble on and on, and then after a minute, I said "really, you were going to take me to Long John Silver's because that is so romantic!"  We both started laughing so hard we couldn't breathe!  I know that might not sound too funny but he said he thinking Red Lobster and not Long John Silver.  Honestly I have not eaten at Long John Silver and over 10 years... where the heck did that come from!  Luckily he did not end up working on Saturday night so we had a nice relaxing weekend to catch up on some sleep and plus it was a holiday weekend! 

Today is Elizabeth's 11 month birthday.  My how time flies.  Oh yeah, and we mustn't forget that it is opening game for the Cowboys.  Football and Photo shoot tonight!  YEAH!

Have a blessed week!

10 months

So I haven't posted anything in forever because I have been so busy.  I found out a couple of weeks ago that a girl in the next office put in her two weeks and I had to learn her job.  From the time I get to work at 6:30am to the time leave at 4:30, I am constantly busy!  In the evenings, I just love playing with my baby girl so I never get a chance to post anything.  Then there was the lost camera situation.  I was flipping out but I found it and all is well.  I didn't want to post anything until I could put some pictures up with it. 

So our baby girl is already almost 11 months but I thought I would put up her 10 month pictures.  She is now doing so much stuff that I don't even know where to begin.  She has been walking now since about 9 1/2 months but she is a pro at it and now we run and climb on everything.  She is still wearing her 9 month clothes but I am slowly starting to pull out some 12 month clothes.  She is constantly pointing at anything and everything.  Greg read it is just her way of learning so now we have to tell her what everything is.  She definitely knows what a deer is (and it will probably be her first real word) and will find it and point to it.  She also knows who mama and dada are (of course!).  We have successfully gotten off the bottle.  We are full blown sippy cup now and she can drink from just about all her sippy cups (different kinds) too.  She is doing so well on table food and will eat anything we put on her tray.  At 10 months, I told the school that she could start eating their food and it has been a pretty easy transition.  Since Daddy is not home in the evenings, I rarely cook but now I have to start thinking about what we are going to eat and such.  I have been just giving her the Little Graduates meals and she will eat those but I think she prefers our food to that "box" food.  Elizabeth is now a babbling little lady.  Even though I can't make out any actual words besides "bye bye" and "dada", I am sure she will be saying lots before long.  She knows bye bye and will walk up to the door and wave at you when she wants to go outside.  It is funny but when it is not time to go outside, it is also a struggle!  Just watching her play with all her toys and listen to her music, I know she learns so much from school.  Just yesterday I caught her "driving" her car around the house.  That is something I didn't think they learned until later on.  She was on her hands and knees... wheeling the car around.  It was so cute.  She can completely do the "Patty Cake" song... from clapping, to rolling her hands, to throwing it in the pan!  REALLY!  She also loves and I mean LOVES books.  If she gets cranky, just start reading to her and she gets all excited.  She will flip the pages for you and point at all the characters in the book.  If you are missing anything in our house just look in the kitchen cabinets.  She has started taking things out of the cabinets and putting what doesn't belong in them.  So far we have found shoes and cups in the pots and pans cabinet.  Smart little cookie... of course I think she is smart for her age but I really don't know if all babies do these things or not.  I am just not around enough babies to know!

I do know that I love her so much and am truly blessed to have such a wonderful, playful baby.  I guess I need to quite calling her a baby already since she is walking... on to toddler hood!  Trying to get a picture is near impossible even with two people but she was in a good mood so we got some pictures of the green eye beauty!  (Who, everyday, is starting to look like mommy!... OH NO!... I hope she inherits Daddy's skinnyness!)

 "I'm sexy and I know it..."

 "But MOM!"

"Do you see the deer?"

 Walking... and walking... and walking...

 This picture looks like Daddy got his little boy... where's the bow?

We are also busy planning the big first birthday bash.  I am excited and sad at the same time.  I was pulling out pictures of the little baby that came home with us and it makes me cry.  I honestly can't believe how fast she is growing up.  It honestly feels just like yesterday! 

In other news, we went on a really long trip to Dallas a couple of weekends ago.  Elizabeth did pretty good in the car, I was very proud of her.  We did a little shopping and a lot of sweating! :)  Here is Elizabeth enjoying a drink of Daddy's nice cold drink...

"Mom, I really don't want to take a picture... I busy here."

I hope to keep up better with our growing girl so I don't forget all the little things she does.  So I will leave everyone with a happy, green eyed girl... have a wonderful week!