what a difference...

On this day last year, I was enjoying all of the baby shower bliss that comes with having your first child. It was such a fun day for me, and I felt so loved and grateful for all the lovely ladies that showered my baby girl and me with SO much!

 On the very next Saturday, my Temple girls gave us even more love and showered us once again with lots of itsy bitsy baby gear and even more fun!

As much fun as those beautiful days were, I'm thankful to be right where I am on this ordinary Monday morning. Playing with my baby girl and sneaking in the occasional hug and kiss when she allows it. She's the light of my life, and I'm grateful for ALL of her...her sass, her spunk, her slobber, her sweetness, and even her tears. Being her momma is more than I could have ever dreamed up or imagined. It's simply THE BEST!

What a difference a year can make, huh?

weekend via my iphone

We had a great little family weekend, and it was just perfect!

Lots of fun with plenty of relaxation on the side.

Rob had a powerlifting meet Friday, so we went to visit him at work before he had to leave for the afternoon/night. Jaqs loooves riding around on office chairs!

Us girls had a dinner date with friends that evening since we were on our own. Baby sported her Juicy tracksuit and looked darn cute doing it if I do say so myself ;)

J let us sleep in on Saturday, and we pretty much spent the rest of her waking hours playing! We had lunch out and did some shopping, but that was about it.

The most exciting event of the day was when Jaqs took TWO steps ON HER OWN! I'm not sure she even knew she did it, but I know we're right on the brink of having a full time walkin-girl. One week ago she could barely stand on her own or walk behind her walker without crashing, and now she's a pro at both! Proud mommy & daddy over here.

My sweet pea is growing, changing, and learning every day, and it's a blast to watch!

We had dinner at a friend's again on Saturday night, and Jaqs had big fun playing with someone else's toys!

Yesterday was a PERFECT weather day, so we spent quite a bit of time at the park doing what we do best...PLAYING. The girl doesn't tire of swinging, and I don't blame her!

 I hope your weekend was as fun and restful as ours!

spring lovin'

In case I haven't already made this clear...dressing a baby is SO MUCH FUN! 

I would seriously rather shop for Jaqs than myself any day. With the temperatures getting warmer every day, I've had the itch to start shopping for Spring & Summer. When I saw thaty Old Navy was having their 'Kid-Tacular" event PLUS an additional 20% off online, I figured what better time than to start finding some Easter basket and birthday goodies for my baby girl?!

Not all of these are from ON, but here are some things I'm loving!

Striped flutter one-piece /Gap Dot Romper /smocked denim romper / Cross Front Bubble/ knit dot romper / Old Navy Scalloped Trim Bodysuits/ Old Navy Scalloped Trim Bodysuits / Old Navy Scalloped Trim Bodysuits / T-strap bow sandals | Gap / Glitter-Jelly Sandals for Baby | Old Navy

Can you tell I've got a little romper obsession going on?? LOVE, love them!

Where are your favorite places to shop for your littles?

happenings + random update

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a puny baby on our hands the weekend before last. She spiked a fever one evening, and went from bad to worse in a matter of hours the next day. The pedi said she had an ear infection, so we all suffered through that over the weekend, but thankfully my parents were here to help! On Sunday morning, Jaqs woke up with a new tooth in her mouth, and suddenly, there was relief from the crankies! Naps and sleep in general was still difficult to come by, but thankfully she is 100% back to normal now! Praise the Lord!

 This was the only way to get anything done...poor baby! If she wants to be constrained, you know she doesn't feel good.

Also over last weekend, we got word that Rob's uncle had passed away. We had to make an impromptu Abilene trip to attend his funeral and be with the family. Since we had already hoped to see Rob's cousin who would be in Abilene the NEXT weekend, Jaqs and I stayed there while Rob came home to finish his work week as to avoid 2 road-trips with a baby that doesn't enjoy sleeping in her car-seat ;)

My dad was also working while we were there, so it was just the girls. Jaqs and Grammie had so much fun together, as always!

 I also got to have an unexpected girls' day with my bestie Julie! Of course, we forgot to take a picture together, so we took a couple of selfies, and Julie sent me this:

 HA! We had to have proof that we both got dressed in REAL clothes, right?! Love that girl.

For the first time in 10 (whoa) years, Rob and I were apart for Valentine's Day, but I still had our girl, so she was both Grammie's and my Valentine! We went to visit her at work, and we had a lunch date, too :)

We received these beauties from Daddy that afternoon!

 Jaqs got herself a REAL crib at the GG's house...what a lucky girl! Think she was excited about it?? What a little acrobat!

 The little toot found her camera & had it in bed with her one afternoon. Good thing it's mounted on the wall and out of reach at home!

SATURDAY was the day we got daddy back! Jaqs had to get 'fancy' for lunch and errands with the girls before daddy came, so she had a little baby bracelet stack going on ;)

Rob came in after his powerlifting meet in Temple, and we were so excited to see him! We went to visit with his family then brought baby home for bed while we went out to dinner with everyone. Can I just say that eating out without the girl in tow is about 25x easier? Ha! Thanks, Grammie!!

best we could get out of several tries ;)

 Rob's cousin Kathy and her husband Mike are making a cross country move and made a stop in Abilene to visit everyone, so we got to have a fun night with them since my mom had the pea, and it was so much fun! After dinner, we took them to the classiest place in town, Guitars & Cadillacs! Where else? Mike is ALL about Texas and wanted to experience it all, so we did what we could to deliver! 

 Love, loved getting to catch up with them and wish we could do it more often!

 We had to get one last NFC lunch in before we left...

 It was delicious as always, and we got to spend a last bit of time with Rob's sweet grandparents :) They love that baby, let me tell you!

Also before we left, my dad got to have a quick visit with J. He came in the night before we left, so they got to have a quality evening and morning together! Play-mates, these two!

Now we're home again, home again and getting back into the swing of things today!

I think I'm all caught up on 'lately' now...whew! 

Kudos to you if you hung around for this one :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy day of love, friends!

We keep it pretty low key for Valentine's Day these days, so I'll mostly be spending my day covering this sugar baby in kisses! Doesn't get much better than that!

********

Things have been cuh-razy in the last week, so I'll have to update on that very soon!

Let's just say, ear infection + teething = misery for everyone involved. We're all on the up and up though, so we can get back in the swing of things and back into our routine...yippee!

Back soon. Love, love!

10 months!

This is a tough pill for me to swallow, but baby girl, you are TEN months old! DOUBLE digits? It's so hard to believe that we are this close to your 1st birthday (which I'm in total planning mode on!). Your daddy and I think you're the most amazing, most adorable, smartest, and sweetest girl around. It's a privilege to be your parents!

such a doll face

my happy girl!

can't get enough!

mommy's funny!

At TEN months old:

• You're back to being our great night sleeper which we're so thankful for! You go down for the night between 7 & 8 (depending on naps) and sleep for 12-14 hours.
• Naps have been a little crazy in the last week, but generally you log about 3-3.5 hours of daytime sleep, broken into 2 naps.
• Last month I said you were choking on finger foods, but that has been the biggest change this month! You now eat pretty much all finger/table foods. It was like a switch just turned on from one meal to the next, and you're all about eating whatever I have. So proud of you, big girl!

• You have also decided that you can suck the packets of baby food down yourself now! I was feeding one to you when we were on the go one day, and you started whining to have it, so I gave it to you, and you sucked it right down like you knew exactly what to do.

• You've also been doing just fine with your bottles again. You take three 6-ounce bottles and one 8-ounce bottle before bed. I'm nervous to start the weaning process on those, but hopefully you will just let us know when you're ready!
• Somehow, you still only have your 2 bottom teeth. Your top ones are taking a sweet forever to come in, but your gums are so bumpy & white that I know they just can't be far. Not to mention the faucet that is your mouth! Oh, and then there's the whiney days where you don't want to do much but be held and gnaw on my fingers. Poor girl!

• You are an expert crawler, and you're getting faster and faster! You are still pulling up on everything, and you're cruising on the furniture now, too! I feel like walking is going to come sooner than I want it to, but you're daddy {thinks} he's ready!
• You can stand on your own for a few seconds at a time, too!
• You go through phases of only wanting to play with us and being able to entertain yourself. Right now, you're doing a great job of entertaining yourself for small chunks of time, which is great.

• You LOVE being around other kids. You're the youngest kid in our friends group right now, but you do your very best to keep up with them!

• You now say "Uh-Oh!" all the time and even use it in context at times :) You think it's fun to drop stuff from your high chair and say "Uh-Oh!" so we'll come pick it up for you. This game is a whole lot more fun for you than me! You can also 'say' mama, dada, baba, hah-hah, boo and an array of other sounds I can't really make out.
• You jibber-jabber all the time, and you still motor-boat constantly, too.
• In addition to parroting sounds, you're now parroting expressions also. It's so adorable and makes us laugh each time :) Oh, and if you hear someone, ANYONE cough, then you feel like you need to fake cough, too! That might be your favorite trick.

• When we say "YAY!" you clap your hands so proudly! You also clap when you're finished with your food. I guess that's your symbol for "all done!"
• We switched you over to your big girl car-seat (still rear-facing) this month, and you seem a little more comfortable there even though you're still no great traveler ;) I've just accepted that you will never be the child to sleep through an entire road trip at this point! I kind of get it; I can't ever sleep in the car either.

• You wore your first pony this month! I've already written about this once before, but it's so dang cute that it's worth repeating! You even let me add a bow in if you're distracted by something else...score! I hope this trend continues. Momma wants her bow-head baby!

• You are starting to show signs of separation anxiety. You want to be right where I am most of the time :) Still no stranger danger though...you'll let anyone hold you, but never for very long!
• If daddy doesn't pick you up within 30 seconds of walking in the door from work, you are sure to let him know that you don't appreciate it! So sweet.
• You definitely know your Grammie & G-Pop. We have always face-timed with them, but now you get frustrated with it because they can't hold you. It's so sad! You just turn the phone over and over trying to get them out of there!

• You have become my little running buddy this month, and you seem to really enjoy getting out and getting some fresh air in your new stroller.
• You are also my shopping buddy...you reach for EVERYTHING you can while you're riding in shopping carts. I have to watch where your little sticky fingers are going at all times :) Luckily, we haven't had any accidents yet!
• You have been a park junkie in the last few weeks! We've been having awesome weather, so being able to swing and slide at the park in January/February has been so nice. You love swinging and will do it for quite awhile! We have to enjoy all we can before the 100+ degrees make their way in.

• You are obsessed with our phones (which we don't let you play with) and the remote controls. Such a techie baby ;)

this one wasn't staged! relaxin' on the couch for half a millisecond ;) 

• You hair continues to lighten, and your eyes are most definitely still blue!
• You are still weighing in right at 19 pounds, and you are about 29 inches tall.
• You are mostly in 12 month clothes, but we can still squeeze you in some 9 month things as well.
• Your feet have grown, so you're in between sizes 3 & 4.
• Still wearing size 3 diapers & in 4's at night.

Jaqsy girl, I sure hope you know how loved you are! We absolutely adore you, and we would give you the world if we could. You have made me love in a way that I would have never known otherwise, and I'll always be thankful that YOU made me "mama." God really outdid Himself with you! You are one of a kind :)