Photo Fun: Day 9 - Fresh Fruit

Although berries will always be my first love, I have been craving lots of oranges since I got pregnant.

Photo Fun: Day 8 - Sunset

Photo Fun: Day 7 - High Angle

Apparently High Angle = Huge Stomach and Midget Feet

My prego physique does look bad in real life, but not this bad. Yet.

Photo Fun: Day 6 - Books

We always have a bag of books checked out from the library. This is our current stash. 10 for AJ, 2 for me.

My rule for AJ is to always have 10 books checked out. Even if she doesn't want 10 while we are at the library (though that rarely happens), I grab a couple extras until we get to the magic number. That way, I always know how many I need to round-up on the due date.

Photo Fun: Day 5 - Breakfast Today

I had big plans for homemade gluten-free waffles this morning, but A.J. woke up throwing up, poor thing. So this is what I got instead:

Photo Fun: Day 4 - Clouds

Since there's not a cloud in the sky today, I have nothing to photograph. So I'm cheating a little. I took these photos last week when we were having crazy tornados. These were right above our house, you could see the clouds spinning. A few tornados touched down in the area, but luckily we escaped without any damage.

Last Day of School

Today was A.J.'s last day of Kindergarten. WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Not because she's home. In fact, I am ecstatic that she's out and we can spend the Summer together. I've missed her! Plus, this is the last Summer it will just be the two of us, so I want to make the most of it. But I can't believe how quickly the year went by. My baby's growing up WAY too fast.

First Day of Kindergarten:

Last Day of Kindergarten:

Pics from her graduation program (for grandma and grandpa): Her class sang "You Are My Sunshine" and the whole grade sang "What a Wonderful World". I feel like I've already sat through my share of boring, cheesy programs, but this one was actually really cute.



A.J. and her teacher Mrs. McGinn:

Photo Fun: Day 3 - Hands

It's already so hot outside! I have a feeling we'll be going through lots of these this Summer.

Photo Fun: Day 2 - Your Favorite Shoes

Who said I have to have one favorite? I would say this is my favorite ROW of shoes...

Photo Fun in June: Day 1 - Self Portrait

I rarely follow-thru on anything, especially when it comes to my blog. So I thought I'd try to change it up a bit and see if I can complete this 30-day photo challenge. We'll see.

Here's the list, you can join too!:


Here we go: Day 1 - Self Portrait (Whenever AJ hears a camera click, she magically appears and insists on being in the photo. In this case, I think she improved it, especially since she was wearing magical gift wrapping bows which give her special powers.)

Outnumbered

He's a boy

I'm a girl

She's a girl too

Even she is a girl


And today we found out...

IT'S ANOTHER GIRL!

Craig doesn't stand a chance. ;)

And I was like Baby, Baby, Baby Ohhhhhh

Wow. Four months since my last post. I can't even do quarterly. Shameful.

HOWEVER, this time I feel like I have a legitimate excuse. Exactly 8 days after my last post, I found out I had one of these growing in me:

It took precisely 7 more days before I turned into this:

Throw in a few early complications which = short-term bedrest and I could have posted four months of "What I Wore Wednesday" that look like this - everyday:

But that doesn't make for good blogging now, does it? I am slowly staring to feel good again- a little better everyday. I still have the occasional really bad day. Mostly I'm just queazy and run-down. And moody.

However, today is monumental for me - 20 weeks! I am officially halfway through my pregnancy. I wasn't sure I would even survive this long. Don't get me wrong. I am thankful for the opportunity to have another baby. After a trying miscarriage and a year of random health issues (more on that another time) we weren't sure this would ever happen for us again. That said, it's been brutal. This little kid inside me has been slowly poisoning me, and took me to the brink of death. Then maybe it realized it needs me so it can finish growing, so it has started backing off a little. Can't wait to see the tortures it brings once it's out. Thank heavens for my supportive husband and wonderful friends who rallied to help me through. They brought flowers, cooked meals, even cleaned my house. A.J.'s been a little trooper too. I'm sure she misses her old mommy. Love you all!

PS-Since the baby was uncooperative at our last appointment, we still don't know the sex. Hoping we will be able to find out tomorrow - stay tuned.

Chalkboard Vinyl

For Christmas, we gave AJ this chalkboard vinyl decal for her room. BEST GIFT EVAH! She loves it, and spend lots of time in her room "practicing her sentences". I love the delightful little artwork she creates when she thinks no one will see it. Like this:

Did you know...

...you can have happiness delivered right to your front door?

It comes in a box that looks like this:

It's wrapped in heart tissue paper:

My heart is pounding:

{{is it just me, or do you also hear a chorus of heavenly angels?}}

Back view - yum! {Plus, it draws attention away from the rest of my backside ;)}

Even the bottoms exude joy:


Happiness, in fresh supply here.

Problem Child

AJ got in trouble at school today. She came home from school with a note from her gym teacher, Coach Barber. The note included - and I quote - "lack of self-control" and "excessive talking".

As part of her standard punishment, (yes this has happened before) I make her write an apology letter. Check out the awesomeness:



Try to enforce consequences after a sweet apology like that! Sometimes being a parent is hard.

Too Cute To Eat (almost)

Do you like those little Baybel cheeses? They are a favorite snack around our house, but I never thought to cut the wax into little hairstyles. I thought these were too cute!

Found here.

It's a Book

This is funny. In a world where technology has completely taken over, I am glad my daughter still likes to read.


Craig - This does NOT mean I don't still want a Kindle for our anniversary. I love real books most, but I wouldn't mind a book I have to "charge-up". :)

Hell Has Frozen Over

This is the post I never thought I'd write. We got a dog. Me. A dog owner. I swore it would never happen. I am not an animal person. I am definitely not an animal-owning kind of person. I think the best pet is a neighbor pet. And even then it's iffy because they can still bark and crap on your lawn.

But AJ begged - for years. She and Craig would take trips to the local shelter to visit. And on one particular visit in September, we found a great dog and I relented {gasp!} And now I have to admit, she has even charmed me. The non-animal-loving-semi-germaphobe-I-am-not-picking-THAT-up me. And I love her.

Her name is Dixie. She's a long-haired Chihuahua. She is just over a year old. She fits in my purse. (Although I'm not the crazy carry-your-dog-in-your-purse-lady...yet)

The first night we brought her home, she snuggled up with AJ and slept with her all night. AWWWWWW...


In the morning AJ was anxious to give her a mini-makeover. Baths are easy since she fits so nicely in the kitchen sink:



And of course, what makeover is complete without a manicure?



Notice the matching polish...


I really can't complain. She's not a yapper, as most little dogs are. She just wants to sleep on your lap all the time. And she lets AJ drag her around like a stuffed animal - poor thing. But I have to say, I'm glad the newness hasn't worn off for AJ as it often tends to do. She still can't wait to get home from school and see her and wants to play with her all the time. I think that little dog was just the extra dose of love we needed around here.

Costume Caper

Dressing up is AJ's number one favorite thing to do. We don't buy her toys, we buy costumes. But what I find so funny is that she will put on a costume, and then go about her day as if nothing's out of the ordinary. Here are a few things I've caught her doing:

Dusting as Batman (I think?):

Working on the Computer as "Spiderman":


Crocodile browning hamburger for dinner:


And just so CPS doesn't come a knockin', she LIKES to do all those things. I am not a child slave driver. Maybe if I could figure out a way to have her take a bath with a costume on, it wouldn't be such a chore!