Our 8 month old...can you believe it?

Sweet E turned eight months old today. Here's a few things she's up to

• Loving all fruits and veggies, carrots and pears seem to be her favorites
• She wears large six month clothes and nine month clothes.
• She weighed 16.1 pounds at the doctor two weeks ago.
• Eating "snacks"-We tried puffs about two weeks ago, but she didn't really care for them and I didn't think she was ready for them. I read about Baby Mum-Mums. They are rice rusks. I got the vegetable variety. I am bound and determined for her to make better food choices than I ever did. She loves them! I tell her they are "cookies".
• Still scooting everywhere backward
• Using different tones when saying dada...we know when she's mad!
• She said "hey!" they other day when I said it to her. I'm not sure if she meant to, but it was cute nonetheless.
• Going to her first official "playdate" with friends Bella, Sylvie, and Braylen
• Shopping for new spring clothes. She is an excellent shopper! I think she just loves to ride in her stroller and people watch. I'll have to make a separate post about this later. I am in L-O-V-E of her new wardrobe! We got to shop lots of homeshows since she will be able to wear 12 month clothes soon.
• She sits in a high chair when we go out to eat now and flirts with the boys....seriously! I had to go buy a high chair cover that I can wipe off and a placemat with suction cups. She also likes to chew on the table!
• Pulling socks off and chewing on them while riding in the carseat or stroller, so they're wet by the time we reach daycare
• Wearing SHOES!! I got her first pair of shoes about two weeks ago. I thought they may help keep her socks on to avoid the wet sock issue. I chose the all white L'amour Mary Janes style 3008. They are very flexible, but have texture on the bottom for when she begins to stand. At first I bought the Robeez Camellia, but they were WAY too wide for Everly.
• She's never turned away any food other than rice cereal. I still use the Beaba Babycook to make all of her food. It's worked out extremely well for us. So far E has had carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow and red apples, green beans, zucchini, pears, and avocado. I'm going to make broccoli and cabbage this week. I know, no bananas? I wasn't quite sure what to do with them! After a little research I found out just to puree them, so she'll have those this week also. I add a little rice cereal to lots of her veggies and oatmeal to her fruits. She is a wonderful eater.
• Her favorite toy at the moment is the Vtech Sort & Spin Blender

Every day just gets better and better (and more fun too!) with our sweet girl

Whoa Horsey!

I know I said I always wanted a horse, but I am a little terrified of mine! He is so tall! I can't get on him by myself and I'm afraid if I fall I'm going to break something. Not to mention he is totally in L-O-V-E with Babe the other horse we take care of. She was penned up on Saturday and we got Gabe out to ride for a little while. All he wants to do is RUN straight back to her. I'm so inexperienced with horses I didn't know what to do. I just hung on for, what felt like to me, dear life! I told Brett I didn't know if I was a horse person, but I'm not giving up! I was so sore the next day, so it must be good exercise or extreme tension! Here are a few pics, feel free to laugh! Also you can see what E was up to while we rode.

Mommy's Girl

Last week E was not sleeping well. She has been sleeping through the night since about four months old. After a couple of nights ending up on the couch with her we knew something was up. On Wednesday she was running a slight fever at daycare. We checked her Thursday morning and no fever. We still wanted to take her to the pediatrician just to make sure she was alright since the weatherman was predicting snow and it was almost the weekend. All they could say is nothing is wrong...right? So B (thank you Jesus for a wonderful husband and dada) took E to the doctor that morning (I have to teach a third grade class on Thursday mornings).This was her first time in the "sick" side of Dr. E's office. She was diagnosed with an ear infection. Brett went by the pharmacy and brought her home and took great care of her. I was able to come home early that day and you can't help but love on a sick baby. Well...I probably held her too much and let her sleep on me a little too long. She became a little bit of a mommy's girl over the long weekend. She is totally fine if I am not around, but if I am in the room she cries until I get her. When we are here alone I can't put her down to do anything! I am so glad that she needs me, but I like my little independent lady.

Sunday afternoon I was able to put her on her nursery floor while I cleaned out her closet once again(by by small six month clothes...tear). While on the floor we tried out this riding toy her Great Great Grandmother Everley got her for Christmas. It's really low to the ground so she can pretty much touch. She loved to be pushed back and forth on it! Seeing her on this makes her look so grown up! I'm not ready for that...I need to look on the bright side. Every day is more fun, adventurous and sweet with our girl!

E is feeling much better now, but still on antibiotics. I'm having to wean her from her "mommy's girl" attitude by letting her cry a little more and it seems to be working. She's starting to play with her toys a little more and cry a little less.

Snow Day in LA

I'll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves. I've got lots of housework to catch up on! Friday it snowed in our neck of the woods(as in very near the Florida line). We are in LA(lower Alabama). No one ever imagined that the weatherman was right when he predicted snow. Boy oh boy was he right!! We had between 5 and 6 inches total. Our day included sitting on the couch watching the largest snowflakes fall while I held a sleeping baby (she has an ear infection-her first trip to the sick side of the pediatrician's office), B getting off work early and us heading to the farm to check on all the animals, getting stuck in the mud in the dually, sledding on a trash can lid, being pulled behind a four wheeler on an old tractor fender, and capturing a few treasured family memories in E's first snow.

We hope you enjoyed your weekend. Happy Valentine's Day!

It's a boy!

he he...not a boy like you think...a gelding. I have always wanted a horse. A few weeks ago one of B's co-workers asked Brett if he'd like one. Hello!!! of course I was like yes!, but we had to go visit him to make sure he was really sweet and ridable. I was scared of him when we went to visit! He is the tallest horse I've ever seen in person. I don't have a clue about how many hands he is or anything. I just know he's tall! So Saturday B and I loaded up in the dually (her name is Candy) and pulled the cattle trailer to Geneva. He didn't give us any problems loading up. The caretakers told us all about him. His name is Gabe. I love it! We have another really old horse that we've been taking care of for several years. Her name is Babe. So now we are proud horse owners, but we really know nothing about caring for them. We know we'll give him a good home and it shouldn't be too hard to figure the rest out. So without further ado, here he is Gabe Mack!

Sorry about the shoddy photography. My camera battery died right after this, so this is the only picture I have so far.

Had to share!!!

Oh, this makes me so excited! If you are a fan of Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Land of Nod or lots of other expensive furniture have I found a site for you! This site provides free, yes free!, plans to make those items yourself. I am HUGE fan of bargains and finding this makes me almost want to giggle out loud (I am in the TU library...these young college students would think I was a weirdo!). She has everthing from headboards to bookshelves to console tables to play kitchens!!! I can't wait to make this


for Everly one day! How exciting!! A pink kitchen! I've seen it in Pottery Barn for about $500 for the whole thing. I think I could make this one for about $50. Take some time to check it out. It's called Knock Off Wood. With a little work you could save big bucks!!

Simple Pleasures

I just started reading Kelly's Korner about a week ago. Today she had a post for fellow bloggers to write about their simple pleasures. Here are mine...I know most of you can guess who they involve!

Watching Everly SIT up and play with her toys.
Hearing my favorite or good oldie on the radio.
A chocolate cake batter waffle cone from Bruster's.
Tickling Everly on her feet and belly and hearing her giggle!
Riding with Sweet B in the afternoons to feed cows.
Swinging...I love to swing!
Laying on the beach and hearing the waves crash.
Lemonade or a Diet Dr. Pepper from Sonic...it's the ice!
Cooking...anything. I love to cook!
Looking at my wedding set, it makes me smile
Relaxing with Brett
Tyler candles
Pedicures with hot pink polish
A good, lazy rainy day (movies, books)
Naps, oh how I miss you!
Surprises (good ones of course)
Looking at old pictures over and over
Reminiscing (hence the Mack Flashbacks!)
Strolling Sweet E. I love to push her in that stroller :)
Talk Radio (Faith Radio, Rick & Bubba, ESPN Radio, NPR-Dick Estell Radio Reader)
Singing silly duets with Brett

So what are your simple pleasures?

Mack Flashback-Mathnet

Yes, I'm a nerd! Does anyone else remember the show Mathnet? I used to love it when I was little. Funny thing is, I've never liked Math!
Mathnet is a segment on the children's television show Square One, of which five seasons were produced (1987-88, 1990-92). This parody of Dragnet featured detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department who solved mysteries using their mathematical skills. There were two main characters: detectives Kate Monday (Beverly Leech) and George Frankly (Joe Howard). Mary Watson also had a regular role as the duo's technical analyst, Debbie Williams. Later on in the series, Kate Monday was replaced by Pat Tuesday (Toni DiBuono) one season after the show's setting moved to New York City in the third season. James Earl Jones played a recurring role as the chief Thad Green. He also briefly appears in season 4 and indicates he knows Pat Tuesday. When the duo was transferred to New York, Captain Joe Greco (Emilio Del Pozo) became their leader and undercover NYPD officer Benny Pill (Bari K. Willerford) became their semi-regular backup support. I got the bit of information below from Wikipedia...reliable, I know!

Each segment of the series aired on one episode of Square One, a production of the Children's Television Workshop aimed at teaching math skills to young viewers. Five segments made up an episode (one for each weekday), with suspense building at the end of each segment. A Mathnet comic briefly appeared in 3-2-1 Contact magazine, also a CTW production, but the magazine eventually stopped featuring Square One content.

Both Mathnet and Square One went off the air in 1994 (it ran as reruns until then after the final 1992 season was completed), reappearing from 1999–2003 on the cable television network Noggin, a joint venture of Nickelodeon and CTW.

You can find lots of videos of Mathnet on Youtube. I didn't want to post one, because most segments are about 10 minutes long. I remember getting so excited when the little dramatic music played. Oh how I love the internet! Now people don't think I'm crazy when I remember all the little details of my childhood.