So long Conway, Hello OKCity

So much has gone on I haven't had time to think about posting on my blog. I am reminded daily, by my sister of course, that it's time for me to blog. To save you from a long blog and run on sentences (I'm a horrible writer) I'm going to use the bullet system.

• At the beginning of June we finished our kitchen with cabinet doors. As we were putting the last one up I told Joe "you know that since we're finishing up with these we'll be ask to move. Sure enough 3 days later we were told of a new position in OK
• Joe and I moved my parents out of their house and into an apartment
  
• On fathers day liz crawled for the first time
• 2 weeks later Liz and I made a trip out to Utah to see family. She really started crawling there.
• While we were in Utah, the first week of July, Joe got promoted. Which meant moving to OKCity.
• 2 weeks later I left Liz for the first time overnight and flew to OK to find a house.
• Got back to Arkansas and got the finishing touches done to the house to sell.
• Met with the realtor and got a sign put in our yard.
  
• Sunday afternoon Joe left to start his job in OKCity, which made for a very long 3 weeks.......
  
• Our house was posted on-line on Tuesday. Same day, had the realtor walkthrough and 2 house showings.
• The next day, Wednesday, we had an offer that we countered
• On Thursday we got the call that our house had sold and we had to be out in 3 1/2 weeks.
• 3 weeks later packed the house and truck, I said goodbye to my home for 22 years and headed off to a new adventure
• We couldn't get into our house in OK right away so we lived in a hotel for 1 very long week.
• Moved into our house in Edmond on August 27th and we couldn't be happier
• Liz turned 1 on Sept 9! can you believe its been a year already? (post later to come on the birthday girl)
  

So there you go. That was our eventful summer that went by so fast but yet felt like an eternity. We absolutely love being here in OK and love our new house.

When I find time I've got to post pictures of our before and after pictures of our house in Conway and then of course our pictures of our new home here in OK.

Flip! I'm 24

One of the few awesome gifts I got for my birthday!
My birthday was Monday it was my "golden" birthday. I turned 24 on the 24th. To some of you this number may seem young but for me I feel so old. 24 is what my older siblings are and still 18.

Regardless of my age Joe out did himself this year. He surprised me by taking the day off and having the entire day planned out for me. We had breakfast and then he had arranged for my mom to take Liz for the day so he could take me shopping for a swim suit and lunch. He was a great sport and helped me search for the perfect swimsuit. After a good day of shopping and lunch we came home, picked up Liz, and went swimming for the first time this year and first time for Liz. It was a little chilly but was so much fun. My parents came along and my dad even got in with the water being colder then what he likes.

We ended the day with my favorite meal, roast pot pie, and to spice things up this year we went with an ice cream cake. It was a great day and I loved the gifts I got. Even more I love that Joe is so great and spoiled me on my birthday and I loved celebrating with a new addition, Liz.

Easter and Just because pictures

Easter for us this year was extremely low key. We decided to have an "early" easter with our friends Katie, Colby, and Brynlee. It was fun but the girls were only into for about 10 seconds. Other then Easter not a whole lot has been happening with us. I just enjoy staying home with the cutest little girl and watching her grow everyday. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do.

6 month pictures

valeriekeithphotography.com

pictures I promised

6 month stats

Don't worry, pictures will be uploaded as soon as I get my camera out of my car

Weight-17.5 (95th)

height-26 (50th)

Today was our doctors appt. I was dreading it because of the shots but Liz actually did really well. Fussed twice and was done with that. We'll see how good she is tomorrow. I found out at her appt. that I haven't been feeding her enough milk and now I feel like a bad mom. I knew her poor little cheekers were going down but I just thought she was growing. I know your thinking, she's still in the 95th percentile, but she's still starving people!
We are still on frozen milk for right now but that will all end this week i'm sure and it'll be on to formula. Not what I perfer but we do what we gotta do. I am officially milk free and feel like a whole new human being. Joe and I actually went on a date for 4 hours and I didn't have to feel pain, engorgement, or even pump in the car. I however, can now hold Liz with complete comfort, I no longer have to wear a bra to bed (tmi I know), I can sleep on my stomach, shower without being in complete pain, and I no longer have baseball size knots. I don't miss any of that but again it's all bitter sweet.

A few things for journaling records of what Liz is doing these days
-sits up all by herself
-when I put her on her tummy she now autimatically gets on her hands and knees
-holds her own bottle and sippy cup
-shows favoritsm to her mommy
-still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth
-loves tv
-splashes in her bath
-eats puffs and LOVES them

We had her 6 month pictures taken yesterday at wye mountain and they turned out so good! We attempted some family pictures and Liz was the only cute one. I asked if we could just take Joe and I out of them. I looked too posed and Joe can't smile (no offense babe), boo. Oh well, we have the cutest little girl ever! I won't get them back until Friday so you'll just have to wait!

Saturday Bike Ride

Saturday was yet another beautiful day outside so we decided to go for a bike ride in little rock. We got out of the house early saturday morning and went and bought Liz a bike seat for the back of Joe's bike, got it set up and headed for the trails. By mile one Joe turned to me and said "let me know when your done". I knew he had been looking forward to going on a bike ride for days so I told him I was fine and could go a little longer, but secretly I was dying. My bum had not been on a bike seat for 2 years and I thought I was going to die. Well we kept having to stop due to Liz's helmet being too big and it kept falling in her face. By the 10th stop Joe was frustrated and we had a little bit of an argument in the middle of the trail about whether or not we should take Liz's helmet off. I of course battled it and won and we kept the helmet on. We finally found a good place to turn around and headed back and that's when I found out Joe was ready to turn around at mile one. We both thought it was funny that neither one of us wanted to seem like wimps. On about the last 1/2 mile Liz conked out. She loved the bike, I think, I just ignored the "I hate you for making me wear this helmet" look. Oh well, she'll thank me later.

I had to photoshop this picture a little so you could actually see her face. It was too cute of a picture to waste
After Our bike ride we came back to Conway and met up with my parents, Katie, Colby, and Brynlee at Beaverfork. Joe's mom had bought a kayak for us to store at our place that Joe has been dying to try out and I knew they had a fun park there. I had lots of fun again. We got to put the girls on the slides together and swings.

Again we are absolutely LOVING the weather and LOVING that it's almost spring. We are able to be so much more active. Although we keep doing thinking they'll be like old times, but it's much different with a child. More fun definately, we just can't go as long anymore.

So long, Farewell

Dear pump (aka mona),
You have been good to me for the past 6 months but it is time I must let you go. I have been instructed that if I want to get better I must give you up. This is a bitter sweet goodbye so no hurt feelings please. Thank you for such a good long journey and thanks for being there for me when I needed you. Until next time, so long and farewell.

-Your most devoted pumper.

Loving the Weather

Last weekend was our first weekend of nice weather in a long time so we took advantage of it. We woke up early and walked to the park with my dad. I had high hopes of having a great time but I tend to forget Liz is still too young to enjoy everything. She had fallen asleep before we got there so I did what every parent would do and woke her up. We slid down the slide a few times which she enjoyed and then walked around the track at the park.

Later that after noon we went to the bike trail with our friends, Katie, Colby, and Brynlee. It was really windy by that point but we still had a blast. Joe brought along his ripstick and the boys had fun riding down steep hills, not something Katie and I were interested in. We took a rest while the boys rode down the hills and took lots of pictures of the girls. We finally got our first good family picture. Joe and I aren't very photogenic so a good picture of us is rare.

We really enjoyed the weather and can't wait to enjoy the many more spring days. I love spring!

Monthly update

-We celebrated Joe's 28th birthday this past Friday. It was the second time in 5 years of marriage that I wasn't sick for his birthday so I tried to make it pretty special. He told me it was one of his best birthdays so I guess I succeeded.

-Joe's mom came down this past Saturday. While she was here Joe went with her to pick out two kayaks. One is at our house and one is with her. Now Joe is dying to try it out and he when I say he wants to try it out, I mean he wants to try it out in the middle of February. Am I the only one that thinks that insane?

-I have started walking with a friend and her little girl. I've been using the jogging stroller I got for Christmas and I love it. Lizzie loves it too.

-Lizzie is of course getting bigger and bigger everyday. This morning for breakfast I put her sippy cup out on her tray (I've been letting her play with it to get used to) she picked it up and used it correctly all by herself. Lame to be excited but I was so excited. She also drank out of a straw for the first time last weekend.

-Lizzie has been doing so good with solids. Her favorites for right now are Green beans, Squash, Bananas, Prunes, and Applesauce. If you have the Applesauce out while you're feeding her something else out she was fuss until it's time to eat the applesauce.

-Speaking of food Liz does not have a turn off mode. She would eat and eat and eat if I allowed it. I don't know when she's full. She has never turned her head telling me she didn't like something or even that she was done. What do I do about that?

-About 3 weeks ago I started putting Liz down for bed earlier and it has made a big difference. I love having about an hour or two to just lay on the couch and play scrabble. She is now going to bed around 8 or 8:30 and sleeping till 8 or 9.

-Since Liz is going to bed earlier she is only eating 4 times a day now. I have been able to cut back a pumping so I am now only pumping 4 times a day. It is glorious

-In the mornings while I pump I put Lizzie on the couch next to me to watch "her shows". She thinks she is the biggest person around and has the biggest cheese grin on her face. I never had the camera with me to capture it but it is adorable! She has also started laughing and talking to the tv here within the last couple days.

-Last one on Liz I promise. She is almost rolling over. She's done it once or twice but it's not an everday thing. She does sit it on her own for the most part. We still use pillows just incase.

Thank You

Thanks to my awesome sister that revamped my blog. I tried doing it myself and ended up deleting all the links that I follow and just about everything else. So thanks again Aubrey. It looks great.

1 year ago today

-We saw our house for the first time. It was old, dirty, and cluttered and we LOVED it and still do.

-Joe and I were just getting over the 7 day flu

-I thought I was dying and thought the baby in my tummy was gonna get the best of me

-I found out what acid reflux was. The drink of my choice for that day was orange juice and I thought it would help my throat that felt funny so I chugged an entire glass filled to the rim. 5 minutes later I was bawling in pain. Yup, acid reflux.......

I've been thinking a lot how I felt last year at this time. Everytime I think about it I get sick to my stomach. I'm just glad I have the cutest little girl that makes up for all the sickness.

The Office

...is taking over my life. We started out having season 5 and we would watch it here and there until it was finally over. I was sad when it was over but went on with life. We later found out how to get the rest of the seasons and I have been hooked. I am seriously wasting so much time awake and sleeping, yes I'm even having dreams of me and pam gaining up on Jim and Karen. Does this mean I have no life? Maybe, but for most of you that are trying to either get fit or quit drinking soda, sadly mine is to limit my watching time of "The Office". Wish me Luck!

4 month stats

(Long post just about Liz. If your not interested in reading I posted pictures to look at. And don't forget to read about our Christmas in the previous post)

Weight-15 lbs 10 ounces (90th)
Height-25 (75th)

I can't believe it's already time for 4 month stats. Our child is growing like a weed and I beg her everyday to please stay small forever and not get bigger but that is no longer the case. We took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she was healthy and happy until they stuck her with shots. She cried of course but was just fine the rest of the day. The doctor told us we could start her on solids whenever we wanted. I've been so excited to feed her solids so I had already bought everything and we came straight home and fed her her first round of rice cereal. The doctor said that a lot of kids don't like it at first and you have to keep introducing it to them. Well our beast of a child took one bite and then grabbed the spoon trying to get more.

The week before we had gone and got her a high chair so she could eat dinner with us and get used to being in a high chair. We'd been putting her in her bumbo on the kitchen table with us but she started trying to get out so we thought we better go ahead and get the high chair. She loves it and now thinks she's too big to lay down for any reason anymore. It's nice to have while I'm getting things done in kitchen I just put her in that with a few toys and we're good to go.

She's still sleeping through the night, which the pediatrician was really surprised about. I told her she'd been doing it since 2 months old. She informed me that was not normal for breast fed babies.

I'm still pumping but it's going MUCH better now that I can pump for only 10 min. instead of 20. I get excited every time I finish now and go on and on about how 10 min. is SO much easier then 20 min.

Just for journalling reasons I wanted to list all the things she's been doing.
-She laughs a ridiculous amount which we love. Her happiest time is in the morning and after we get out of church.
-She's sitting up really well with just a little support
-She wants to suck on EVERYTHING
-We finally found a binky that she likes. Yes it took us 4 months but hey we have one now.
-She loves loves loves her jumparoo Aunt Katie let us borrow.
-She lovs watching her baby einstein videos
-She's starting to splash more and more in the tub and still continues to love her baths.
-She is in mostly 6-9 month clothes
-We finally took out her newborn inserts about a month ago and so she enjoys her car seat so much more. We needed a manual on when to take those out. I thought she was comfortable but no.
-She loves to grab her toes especially while your changing her
-She can talk and talk and talk. I love listening to her cute little voice
-She has rolled over from front to back twice now. One I only saw her as she was just hitting her back and the other she waited till I walked out the front door to go somewhere.


We Love our little girl and can't get enough of her. I'm glad I'm able to spend almost every moment with her. Do I go a little crazy sometimes? Yes, but over all she is a perfect baby.




First time sitting in my high chair while everyone ate. It was my moms birthday so we made her birthday breakfast

Joe was fitting her straps after assembling it. She doesn't look too excited about it, but she's still cute.

Christmas

Christmas was perfect this year, small, relaxing, and all around fun. It was lots of first for us for Christmas. First Christmas for Liz, First Christmas in our new house, First Christmas with a fireplace to hang our stockings (that was a HUGE deal to me). Derek was able to be here this year to help celebrate our firsts along with my parents. They all came over Christmas morning to open presents and eat breakfast. Joe did a great job getting breakfast all ready for us and it tasted so yummy. After breakfast Joe, Derek, mom, and myself headed to little rock to watch blind side. We got there and was informed the movie was sold out, boo. We tried a few other theaters with no luck so we headed back home for dinner. We did something different for Christmas this year, we usually do a buffet and eat all day but this year we had homemade roast pot pie. I know your probably thinking GROSS! Trust me I was saying the same thing when I first heard about it until I had my parents. Oh my gosh I crave it EVERYDAY now.
After dinner Joe and I headed over to his side of the family and hung out with them while playing rock band. It was definitely a good Christmas with many more to come.