Nama

Saturday morning, my MIL made a quick visit into town and we had a lot of fun.  M loved seeing her Nama!
We got to do a little Christmas shopping on Saturday and it included a trip to the American Girl doll store.  I think I had as much fun seeing all of the dolls and clothes as some of the little girls in there.  Nama bought M a "bitty baby" for Christmas and she loves it! She was giving it kisses when I held it close.

Nama brought M a pony

Nama and M

AR v. LSU and Traditions

Thanksgiving is always at my parent's house, but as we get older and start a family of our own I really wanted to start some of our own family traditions for M and future babies.

I decided that every Thanksgiving evening I will decorate the house after M goes to bed so that when she wakes up on Friday morning the house will look and smell like Christmas. I know she is to young to understand or even realize what is going on, but I felt the need to start this tradition now.  Then, on Friday morning the whole family will go tree shopping.

We also decided to host an annual Battle of the Boot watch party.  Traditionally the game is always on the Friday after Thanksgiving so I thought this would be perfect! Even though our hogs lost we had a wonderful time cheering them on.  I think the kids may have had the most fun playing football with the guys.

M's 1st Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, so to keep it short and sweet I'll separate our holiday into multiple posts.  This Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for.  Our world has completely changed this year and all for the best.  We had a great1st Thanksgiving with M.  The hubby smoked his first turkey and it was wonderful, we had tons of delicious food and a wonderful time with my family.  Madison tried a few new things at her Thanksgiving meal, turkey and mashed potatoes, and she loved them.

Just a few of the things I'm thankful for this year.

• A healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl that brings so much joy to my life
• A husband that loves, supports and stands by me everyday
• Loving families
• Wonderful friends
• A roof over our heads

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

The Week Ahead

I am so excited about the week ahead and it has me in the best mood! As much as I love structure and planning, I love tradition.  Pretty sure they do go hand in hand. Tonight we must get all of the holiday shopping taken care of: Thanksgiving turkey and breakfast ingredients, and of course, Razorback watch party necessities.  I'm so excited to celebrate M's first Thanksgiving and I have a few new traditions in mind to start!

On another note, M's appointment with the Orthopedic specialist is tomorrow morning.  I'm a little nervous, but am also 99% sure there will be nothing wrong.

M now has a swing in the front yard and she is loving it, although this picture doesn't really show that!

1st time in her swing

Busy, Busy

 We are so busy these days with the day to day life I just can't keep up with my "hobby" of blogging.  The football season has officially been over for the Hubby for 2 weeks, and it is so nice to have him home early on weeknights and all weekend.  I can tell it makes M really happy to have us both home to spoil her rotten. M is starting to make more and more sounds, we now say "dada", "lala" (which we interpret into Laura), and I'm pretty sure she is calling for Bella sometimes, but no mama- but she is figuring it out and it is so sweet to hear her beautiful voice.  These weekends have been spent hanging out, watching the razorbacks, and enjoying the weather. I just love this time of year!  I can't wait to celebrate Thanksgiving and start decorating for Christmas- only 1 week away!!

Fun note: M loves the remote and phones, so I may or may not be teasing her with them so convince her to crawl. :)

1 Year of Pink

I realized that it has been a year since finding out we were having a baby girl.  As much as I prayed for a healthy and happy baby I had secretly hoped for a girl.  A year ago it all became so real that a sweet little baby girl was joining our family.  Poor Brent is destined to be surrounded by women, but we had "known" all along that it was a girl, so he was prepared.  All things white and pink have filled our life since then and I have loved every minute with her.  I will never forget how nervous I was going into that appointment, and I really don't know why but it was a very defining point for me.  Our sweet M  has filled me with so much love and has forever changed my life for the better.

Golden 8 Month Birthday

Our Sweet, Sweet girl is 8 months old! It's really getting hard for me to accept that fact.  Last night I could have cried thinking about how little she was when we brought her home from the hospital and she slept in her pack n play next to our bed and how I will never get that time back.  I know one day we will have another child and I will get those experiences again, but they will never be with her.  It just reminds me to cherish every day and to live in the moment.

Our M girl is up to the following this past month:

• Such a love, she hugs and kisses and smiles when we walk in the room
• She talks and talks and talks
• She is trying to pull up and its only a matter of time.  Right now, she pulls up to her knees and will hold onto something while kneeling
• She is trying so hard to get on all fours, I'm sure it will happen soon as well
• She is still so little, hubby weighed her at home this weekend and she came in at 14lbs, only a small gain since 7 months, but she is active, happy and always full when leaving the table
• She eats 3 full meals a day, and nurses/bottles 6 times a day
• She is starting to make chewing motions with her mouth more and more
• Sleeping has been a real issue this past month.  She has not slept through the night and I am very tired.  She wakes up at least once if not twice a night and then is up for the day by 7. 

We celebrated her first Halloween and in this coming Month we will celebrate her first Thanksgiving.  I love seeing these holidays in her eyes.

Halloween with M

We have been so busy living life, I have not had the time to write about it.  I had a wonderful long 4 day Halloween weekend with my baby girl and it was so wonderful.  We took the Hubby some lunch at work, shopped and most importantly celebrated her very 1st Halloween!  This of course included pumpkin carving, the first fire of the year in the fireplace, and Trick or Treating family and friends.  Around 5 I got her dressed in her costume and off we went to my parents house to "trick or treat" them.  Before I could even get M out of the car her Mimi, PawPaw, and aunts and uncles were standing outside with all of their cameras.  I feel so lucky to have such a warm and loving family.  M is one lucky little girl and is always surrounded with so much love.  Her first Halloween was a major success.  She did not know what was going on, but she loved the attention.

She looks so big here!