Friday, January 29, 2010

Ice Ice Baby...

All right stop, collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention...


I'll stop there. That's enough to have this song in your head for the rest of the day.

You're welcome.

We woke up this morning and I said, "Milla-Vanilla the ice is coming, the ice is coming!!"

You can see her excitement...


Opened the blinds and this is what we saw. Our dead bushes - covered in ice. That's right folks, it's the Ice Storm of 2010!!


Luckily, we went to the store and stocked up on all of the necessities. Yes, those are hot dogs. Don't judge me. When you're in the store, stocking up for the Ice Storm of 2010 - you aren't in your right mind. Logically, if you're stuck in the house for days, you need hot dogs and powdered donuts to go with your organic milk.


A new magazine for my reading pleasure.


And "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs." Amelia keeps snoozing on me. I'm hoping she will stay awake long enough for us to watch it.


Unfortunately, Alex had to go to work. It's his own fault. He drives this and it evidently gets around - despite the conditions. Boo!! If only he drove a geo metro, he could be snuggled up with his girls right now.


Hope you're snuggled up in front of the fire, enjoying a day at home too!

Love to all,

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Party at my crib!

We always have a family dinner when my parents come into town. My siblings that live near by always come and bring their kiddos. My S-I-L had us over and fixed a yummy dinner. Fried potatoes were involved. Need I say more?

While we were there, Millie invited Amelia to hang out in her crib to play. I love that Amelia has a cousin this close in age. They're a month apart. Amelia loved Millie's mobile. They laid there for quite some time...just enjoying the mobile and being together.

Millie would put her hand in Amelia's face.

Amelia would lick Millie's hand.

Stuff you could only do with your BFC (best friend/cousin).


Look at their sweet hands. I love these girls!


My Mom made these to take. They were AWESOME! If you want to try them (and I highly recommend that you do) she's going to share the recipe on her blog soon.


Speaking of yummy stuff. I had some of you ask for the recipe for this peanut butter pie. I found this recipe online. At allrecipes.com. There is no baking involved and it's so good. It ranks within the top 3 on Alex's list of favorite desserts.

Yes, he has a list.


Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crusts

Directions
Beat together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar.
Mix in peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth.
Fold in whipped topping.
Spoon into two 9 inch graham cracker pie shells; cover, and freeze until firm.

Enjoy!

Love to all,

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Took a little break...

I took a little blogging break because my parents have been in town. As soon as my Momma walked in the door, she made a b-line for this baby girl. :) She hadn't seen her since Christmas! It's always nice to have my Mom in town. She will hear Amelia in the mornings and come in and get her, which means this Momma gets to sleep a little longer. :)


My Mom had the chance to love on her grandbabies while she was here. They read books...


And more books. :)


My girl is getting so big!


She took her 1st nap in her crib on Monday! She did really well...I think she liked it. Too bad she won't get to sleep in there until she's about 16. HAHA! Just kidding. This girl has been sleeping close to 9 hours over the past few nights. Incredible!

And yes, we still use the hospital blankets. They are so big and I can still swaddle her up in them. I haven't found any that are this big. If you know of any, feel free to leave a comment. :)

I put Amelia in this onesie for the 1st time yesterday. I bought this before we started IVF. I bought it in blue and pink because I just knew that our 1st IVF was going to work and that we would have twins! :) Needless to say, I had to wait awhile to use it - but it was so neat to pull it out and let her wear it. She is truly our miracle baby! The little doll in the pic with her was made by my friend, Nitzia. It has her name, date of birth, weight & length. SO CUTE! I'm going to do a giveaway for one of these soon.


I have lots of other pics to share from our weekend, but this post is long enough for now. I need to go to the store. We're supposed to get ice/snow in the next couple of days. BOO!! I'm ready for spring. :)

Love to all,

Friday, January 22, 2010

All About Amelia - 3 months!

Amelia, we can't believe you're 3 months old!!

We can't even describe how happy it makes us to see you smile. When Daddy comes home from work, you recognize his voice and start smiling before you can even see him. You've started smiling at us from behind your bottle and paci now, as well.



You're a happy baby and love for Mommy and Daddy to talk to you. We have little conversations and you just sit and talk to us...it's the sweetest thing. Mommy tickled you and you actually chuckled for the first time yesterday!



You discovered your hands this week.



And they are constantly in your mouth! :)



I'm thinking every photo shoot in the chair is going to end like this. (LOL)



You've started laying on your playmat and seem to really like it. You're reaching out and accidentally touching the animals. I'm sure you will reach for them purposefully soon! :)



You sat in a swing for the very first time this week. I like having another place for you to sit during the day. We go from the couch, to me holding you, to the playmat, to the swing, to the bouncy seat, AND REPEAT. :)



You're a wonderful eater. You're taking 6 ounces every 4 hours. Except at night...


Because you're too busy sleeping almost 8 hours! Mommy is so proud of you!


You weigh 13 lbs - you're wearing size 1 diapers - and you wear size 0-3 month clothes.


We aren't giving you any type of cereal, but I'm sure your pediatrician will let us start trying some things after your 4 month appointment.

You're just the love of our lives and we're enjoying every single second with you!

We love you so much, sweet girl!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Random...

Totally random post...

My sister came over to see us. Amelia was hanging out in her bouncy seat. Aunt Joy decided to sit in the floor with her while she ate her sandwich. Because this baby just doesn't get enough attention.

Aunt Joy is a brave soul for sitting on my filthy kitchen floor.



I can't even tell you how many pics that I have like this. She loves to take naps with her Daddy. Seeing them together just melts my heart. I seriously don't know how Amelia sleeps like this because Alex is usually snoring so loud. It's like it soothes her to sleep. (LOL) As you can see, Amelia is already sporting some Valentine pj's. She has several pair, so I've already started putting them on her. I think the entire month of February should be the month of LOVE. All things pink, red, hearts, etc. Half the month just isn't enough. :)



We met Daddy at the mall after he was off from work. I have a dirty secret.

I love to eat at the mall food court.

You would think from this picture that Amelia is smiling because she's receiving kisses from Mommy. She's not. She LOVED the ceiling in the mall. I would get her to look at me and she would slowly tilt her head until she could see the ceiling again. Girl has a thing for ceiling fixtures.



I told you that I like to peek into Amelia's bassinet when she wakes from a nap. I went in to get her (with camera in hand). Peeked over the bassinet and there she was. Happy as a lark.



I have no idea what a lark is.

We host our home group tonight. This is our first time (since before I had Amelia) to host. They gave us a little break once I hit the HUGE mark. I'm making chicken spaghetti, salad & bread.

For dessert I made a peanut butter pie and brownies
I made an extra peanut butter pie to take over to my neighbor. It's her husband's birthday, so I thought they might like a sweet treat!

Oh, and can I just say...if you're making anything other than these brownies...


just slap yourself and promise to stop. My sis and I make most everything from scratch, but there's really no reason when you find a mix that's THIS GOOD. Seriously. They're the BEST!!

I hope you're all having a fabulous week. I'm hosting a baby shower tomorrow night, so it's going to be a busy couple of days!

Love to all,

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Our Hope Endures...

"Life so often doesn't make sense and I can so relate with the Psalmist when he wonders why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. But our hope endures the worst of conditions. We serve an everlasting, all-knowing, all-sufficient God, our El-Shaddai, our Emmanuel, our only Hope in this life."

-Natalie Grant



Love to all,

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Weekend...

I would just like to start this post out by saying...I can't bring myself to put bows on Amelia's head. I see so many cute pics of babies with bows on their heads and when I put one on Amelia - I can't stop laughing. Maybe I'll be able to do it when she gets more hair. Until then, I think she will be a hat girl vs. a bow girl. :)


Our weekend went by so fast! Alex ended up working for a little bit on Saturday, so Amelia and I slept in and just stayed at the house all day. Once Alex got home, we ordered wings and watched football...a great combo. :)


Alex and I are making a list of things that we want to accomplish in 2010. One of the things on that list is getting our finances into a computer program. This will allow us to know where all of our money is going. I'm pretty sure a big piece of the pie is going to say Target and Etsy...yikes! We actually finished that on Saturday, so there's one thing to mark off our list! We're going to work hard to get out of debt this year. It is totally possible for us to do this - we just have to make smart decisions with our money. We're going to do our best to have Amelia paid for before she's a year old! HA!


Many of you asked where I bought these cookie cutters. I bought them at Williams Sonoma. I don't think you can buy them online anymore, but you should be able to find them at your local WS. I have a set that I will be giving away in February, so if you want a chance to win a set - come back and see me!

I have to brag on my love-bug. She is sleeping SO WELL!! She is sleeping 7 hours every night. Adding the bath right before we put her to bed really seems to help. I'm praying that this child loves sleep like her Momma and continues to do this well. She's just the best baby. Seriously. We're blessed.

*she was so over pictures in this one - makes me laugh!*


Speaking of my love-bug...she's awake, so I had better go get her. :)

Love to all,

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Jen's baby shower...

This is my S-I-L, Jen. I remember throwing Jen's 1st baby shower and now she is having her 3rd baby girl! I'm so excited for her and can't wait to meet my new niece! Here are a few pics from the shower. I volunteered to do the food and since it was right after lunch, I decided to just do a few sweets that would go well with coffee and punch.

Here's Jen. How cute is she!? You can't see them in this pic, but she had on some CUTE wedge boots with this outfit!


Okay, so this is my new favorite thing. I bought these new cookie cutters and you can put any message on the cookie. I couldn't wait to use them for the 1st time and this is how they turned out - LOVE THEM! I've decided that my February giveaway is going to be a set of these cookie cutters!


Couldn't have a baby shower without Ed's petit fours. YUM!


I don't even like nuts, but I love these spiced pecans. They are more like candy! :)


And instead of doing a traditional mint, I decided to do these chocolate peppermint patties with a pink center!


It was a fun time and Jen received lots of fun stuff for little Miss Mika. We expect her to arrive any day now - Jen has her babies about 4 weeks early! :)

Love to all,

Friday, January 15, 2010

Amelia's #1 fan...



I now have to face her away from the fan while feeding her or she will just lay there and smile at it - refusing to eat her bottle.

She's got it bad.



Happy Friday!

Love to all,

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Pray for Haiti...



The pictures are just heartbreaking. Want to know how you can help? Click on the button below - there is a donation tab on this site where you can donate through the Red Cross or Compassion.




If you make a donation - head over to Kelly's Korner. She is matching donations up to $1000.

Love to all,

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Amelia Meets The Duggars!

Alex has been sick...he has a bad stomach bug. Ick. He went to the doctor yesterday and they said he's contagious, so he has to stay away from Amelia. I would just like to say right now that I admire any single parents out there. It has only been a couple of days and I'm tired. Alex helps with Amelia a lot when he gets home from work and I miss that help terribly. Of course I feel sorry for Alex...he has lost almost 10 lbs in the last few days because he can't keep anything on his stomach. :( If you think about us, say a prayer that this nasty bug will go away and stay away.

Amelia and I decided to get out of the house and run some errands yesterday. We needed to pick up Alex's script from the pharmacy, so we headed to Wally-World. I have no idea why I use Walmart pharmacy...they take FOREVER! We were in the store for an hour - waiting on scripts to be filled. Seriously. So while we waited, we did the only thing there is to do - we shopped! So anywho, back to my story. I turn the corner to head towards the baby section and who do I see right there on the pringles aisle?

The Duggars!

I stopped in my tracks and went all star-struck on them. They stopped and just smiled and waited for me to get over myself...just stood their patiently. I went over and immediately started rambling on about so many things. It's like I couldn't stop talking. So embarrassing. I remember telling them that we love their show and to please continue because it's the only clean thing to watch on tv. It really is. Jim Bob noticed Amelia in the cart and I said, "yes, we only have one child." He responded with, "well we started with just one and look at us now!"

If only I were that fertile. :)

They were just the sweetest couple...exactly like they are on the show. And they look so young for having 19 children!! Guess that's what clean livin' will do for ya. I couldn't pass up asking them to take a picture, so their daughter Jill took one for me. I told her to make sure to get Amelia in the pic too. That's Amelia over there in the cart. (LOL) So yesterday was the day that Amelia met our favorite tv family, The Duggars! I know a lot of people have different feelings about their family. I for one love them and think they are just precious.

We need to pray for their newest baby girl who is still in the NICU, she arrived 15 weeks early. I'm sure it's going to be quite some time before they're able to take her home.



Love to all,

Monday, January 11, 2010

I ♥ Faces

The I Heart Faces contest this week is to showcase a photo featuring - what-else- a face. This is one of my faves of Amelia right now. I never get tired of looking at this sweet face.