turn your blog into a photo book!!

I came across the BEST website today! (well 2, but ill get to the second one in a minute). I love blogging...more for myself but also for anyone out there who is listening :) I love recording things that are going on in our lives- its such a GREAT space to record thoughts, feelings, and my favorite- pictures! I think scrapbooks are beautiful and creative- but I have no patience for them. none. I tried digital scrapbooking once, loved it, but couldnt find a printing house to print what I had created. So...in talking with a friend today she told me about BLURB. (www.blurb.com) Maybe you have heard of it, but its PERFECT! It literally uploads your whole blog and puts it into a photo book. It took seconds to upload every single blog entry I have made. Incredible!! It uploads everything I have written and all the pictures for that particular post. I can edit what I want and change fonts, colors, etc. then it gets printed into a photo book for me. I think hard back- 40-80 pages is around $35. What a DEAL!! I cant wait for Hannah to one day read this blog but what if its not here, or we have moved onto some other type of technology and blogs are of the past. Now I can record the whole thing. Genius! Im in heaven!
The second site I found for anyone out there who LOVES headbands for little girls or has a baby shower gift to buy- its called www.girlscrochetedheadbands.com I bought 17 (yep- 17!) headbands last night online. They are the 1.5 inch wide crocheted headbands. I clip bows and flowers into them. My total: $12!!!!!!!! That included shipping. Each headband was 4o cents!! Every color you could want! They also have all kinds of flowers to clip onto the headband for around $1-$2!! I was heaven then too!!
I hope you all find BLURB and the headband website just as fantastic as I have!!

pictures

I absolutely LOVE pictures. We have so many pictures in our house- we need a bigger house. To me- pictures tell a story. They capture moments you wont forget but they let others see those moments as well. When I go into peoples houses and only a few pictures are up-I wonder where they display their favorite moments. For me- they are all over our walls, in photo albums, and covering our fridge. I have always been someone who loves pictures. I have boxes and boxes of pictures under beds and in closets. Life goes by too fast and pictures are the best way to keep those moments forever. When we were planning our wedding I knew we were going to devote a big portion of the budget to a photographer. After the day is over....pictures are all you have. Luckily we had the BEST photographer so we have SO many amazing pictures. Jeremy and I will always remember that day, but he was able to catch so many moments we didnt see. I would LOVE to be able to take amazing pictures. Its one thing I wish I could do. I have a brand new camera- a pretty good one...but the person behind the camera has to have a little knowledge of what they are doing...Im trying though!

We had Hannahs 3 month pictures taken yesterday and I know they are going to be so adorable! The pictures were at 2:30 and she was awake all morning...I knew that might not be good. Usually she takes a good little nap but not that day. She was happy and playing all day....then 2:30 came- and she was ready for a nap. So lets just say she wasnt in the mood for pictures. She was a little fussy and did not want us putting big headbands and outfits on her! She might not have been all smiles but at least she had her eyes open! So maybe by her 6 month pictures she will have her eyes open and she will be smiling!!

Our photographer was so patient with us....Im sure shooting babies isnt the easiest job. But I envy her- think of what a GIFT it is to be able to take the most beautiful pictures of your own children. Maybe I should sign up for a class or take some photography lessons. I do know one thing- I have a pretty adorable subject- so even if they arent perfect...we will always have those pictures. 3 months have passed so quickly I am SO thankful I have all the pictures that I do...because we cant get those moments back.

Here's my little chick! (we tried to have our own photo shoot!)

She must have been redeeming herself with all these smiles!

tummy time!

just a few shots of tummy time before her pj's went on!
looks like someone is starting to like it?!

3 months old!

Our precious girl is 3 months old!! I cant believe it! Its crazy how much she has changed in 3 months- I know the next 3 will hold lots of big milestones! She is so fun right now and such a sweet sweet girl! We have been blessed with such a GOOD baby!! She sleeps good, eats good (obviously) and is a total cuddler! Well-for now! I know soon she will be on the go and wont slow down! (If she's anything like me!) She weights almost 15 pounds and doesnt show any signs of stopping! She eats 5 ounces about 6 times a day. She sleeps from about 9:30 or 10 to around 5:00. I can handle that! She wakes up to eat at that time but only takes about 3 oz...so Im thinking soon she will sleep through that feeding. Fingers crossed! We have a pretty good routine down in the morning which is great because it allows me to get ready. She either sleeps or plays on her mat the whole time I get ready. For anyone out there with little ones or soon to have little ones I highly reccomend it!! We couldnt live without it! We borrowed a swing and she likes it ok- mostly because it has lights on the top but if she is full and clean she could lay on her baby einstien mat until she puts herself to sleep!! It lets us get things done and makes for one happy baby!! I cant wait to see how she changes in the next few months- right now she just laughs and smiles up a storm!! We are pretty sure our next one...will be a handful!!

Here she is laughing at Jeremy (dont mind the creepy noises he is making but he found that she just loved it!) It really starts around 20 seconds but I cant edit it...one day Ill figure it out!

play ball!

Hannah and Jeremy at her First softball game!

Granmommy and Hannah staying warm! It was a chilly night!

They Won! She must be a good luck charm :) (Actually the other team was pretty bad!)

random ramblings

Not a whole lot is going on with us…we like it that way! We had a great relaxing weekend….Friday we just stayed in and went to bed early…oh and Saturday we went to bed early too. I see a pattern here! Saturday Jeremy picked up a truck load of mulch and had enough for all of our landscaping! It beats buying 50 bags- we just got 2 big scoops! My mom and I ran errands and went over to one of my labor and delivery nurses’ house for some interior design stuff and we got lucky- she had her baby scale with her! So we got to weigh Hannah (I was really excited about this because Hannah doesn’t go back to the doctor until her 4 month appt.) She weighs….14 pounds 11 oz!! WOW! I was excited to know this because as most moms buy their baby’s clothes by the months (3-6, 6-9 etc.) I have to look at the weight :) So Im sure we will be moving into 6-9 month clothes this summer! We went over to my parent’s house for a cook out on Saturday night and to watch Thunder over Louisville…but didn’t quite make it to watch the fireworks. We got home and were all asleep before they started!
Sunday we headed up to Owensboro to see Jeremy’s family and then headed back that night. Monday came way too early! It’s amazing how precious our weekends are with a child. I can’t get enough of my time with her. It just goes to fast. By the time we get home from work, wash bottles, make dinner, do laundry, and clean up dinner…its bedtime! And Im even going to bed later than I used to! I like to be in bed around 9:30 or 10:00…when I was pregnant, it was lights out at 8:30 or 9:00!!
Hannah has her 3 month pictures this weekend I can’t wait for those- Im hoping she will have her eyes open in these!
She is growing like a weed these days and SO much more alert and really laughing and smiling! She is so fun!! It’s so fun to get her excited!! She is close to rolling over and even though she doesn’t love tummy time (my mom calls it torture time!) she really scoots around and gets her legs up and moving!
She is gaining something and losing something else…she is really starting to lose her hair! Poor girl! She still has a lot on top- its like two inches long! But she is really losing it on the sides. She might end up with just hair on the top! Ha! And she might possibly be gaining a TOOTH!!! We noticed how much she had been drooling in the past few weeks and my mom made the comment that she might start teething early. Well I didn’t think it would be this early! I noticed in Owensboro how much she was drooling so I looked in her mouth yesterday and OMG I saw a white dot on her gums. Its small and could possibly be a tooth! But we could be WAY off and it may not be at all. But that would be something if it was! Guess we better stock up on Tylenol and Orajel!!
She seems to be doing great at daycare…they love her! We are so happy with where she is at so that makes it easier to leave her. It’s nice to have some sort of a routine. I know when I was on maternity leave we just shopped and lunched so much that we had no routine!
We are going to have our first night away from her for the KY Derby! Not too far away- my mom is going to watch her for the night. This will be our 3rd annual trip to Trackside with Blake and Courtney and my sister is joining us this year too! We love Trackside and love that we have kept this tradition up! Then we will head back to our house to cook out and have one full night of sleep…Im taking bets on how early we both wake up and run over there to get her! Being a mom is absolutely amazing. When that little girl smiles at me first thing in the morning, I forget about all my worry and even how tired I am! In that moment- Nothing else matters.
Jeremy starts softball this week and I am so excited to take Hannah to see her dad play. I used to take Ruby but I definitely can’t handle them both! Hopefully Ill have some cute pictures from the game! I wish I could make a miniature baby shirt like Jeremy’s baseball jersey and get her a baseball hat! We just might have to!

I told you this was going to be random!!

we made it!

and by we...I of course mean I made it! Hannah probably didnt notice that today was my first day back to reality! We had another smooth morning- smooth enough that I was able to stop by Starbucks before work! I did so great...believe it or not...I didnt cry!! I started to feel like a bad mom when everyone at work was like- "you didnt cry? I balled like a baby"...but to me- it just means that motherhood has made me stronger than I thought I was. I never thought I could make it through 33 hours of labor- check, watching my daughter get shots- check, dropping her off and leaving her for 9 hours in the hands of strangers- check. I realize those things are just the beginning of hard things moms have to go through but I dont give myself enough credit. At one point I did have a moment of panic like, "what if someone drops her? what if they dont give her enough attention? what if she's hungry? and many more "what ifs" but I realized, they do it everyday. I do have complete faith in them and know she is already loved and taken care of! So back to drop off...I talked to the ladies in her room, I kissed her several times :) and laid her in her little bed and went on my way! I stopped by Starbucks for a dark cherry mocha (my new favorite treat!) and headed to work! I was even 10 minutes early!!! I think we are sleeping in tomorrow...we will get up at 6 instead of 5:45! When I got to work I was completely ready to face the day. I am ready to get back into the swing of things and meet with clients about what has gone on for the last 3 months. When I got up to my desk- expecting voicemails and emails- there were all my wonderful co-workers...with Panera breakfast, juice, fruit and TONS...I mean TONS of pictures all over my cubicle of my beautiful daughter. It was the BEST thing to come back to! My mom had a little part in it...she dropped off about 25 pictures that they put up all over my desk! As well as a beautiful bouquet of flowers! We laughed and shared "mom" stories and talked about what I had missed the last 3 months. We picked up where we left off! I couldnt help but turn around every few minutes and smile at my girls face! Today there was a 6 hour continuing education class for my life and health license (I needed the hours desperately!) so that was a nice surprise. Instead of diving into emails I was able to get back into the swing of things by listening to 6 hours of disability and long term care insurance...not sure which one was worse! Ha ha! 4:25 couldnt get there soon enough and I raced out the door to see my girl sleeping away!! They said she did GREAT!! Slept and ate...what she does best! I only called one time to check on her and Jeremy called once too! Lets hope tomorrow goes as well as today. Hate to say it- but Im already ready for the weekend :)

and here we are...

12 weeks later. I cant believe how incredibly fast this time went. I still remember every detail of January 20th (well-except those blocked out by staidol!) and I have absolutely loved every single minute of the last 12 weeks with Hannah. We have had so many firsts- her first smile, the first time she slept through the night (yay!), her first laugh, our first trip together and now....her first trip to daycare. If you had asked me 12 weeks ago if I thought this would be hard- I probably would have said Im sure it will be. But I really didnt think hard about this whole daycare thing until a couple weeks ago. I have to pay someone else to play with her all day? I know, I know- do I want some cheese with this whine? Im clearly not the first mom to go back to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave but it is so hard to leave your baby with complete strangers!! I am so thankful we have picked such a great place to send her but no one knows your baby like you do. I am such a control freak I want to write a small novel for them about all her quirks and why she does certain things and probably when they can expect "that diaper" but they will begin to learn about Hannah just as we have and they will learn to love her too :) I will just have to tell them- if she rolls over/sits up/walks or talks....I dont want to know about it! I would be heartbroken to miss it. So they can lie all they want :)
Today we did a dry run of daycare- I woke at 5:45 (YIKES!) fed and changed her and was in the shower by 6:20 out the door by 7:10! Pretty good for our first EARLY morning! Hopefully once we get into a routine we can both sleep a little longer! I did the dry run to see how long it would take me in traffic and what the morning drop off routine was like. It ran pretty smooth! I headed to the grocery store, ran some errands, got a pedicure and couldnt wait to go back and get her! It was easier today knowing I could go back at any time. Tomorrow is another story. Im sure I will call several times! When I picked her up she was doing great. It definitely helped with my anxiety. I know she will be well taken care of- Im just gonna miss this girl!
Wish me luck tomorrow- I know the anxiety is much worse than it will be. Ill get back into the swing of things and pick up right where I left off. Working for the weekends takes on a whole new meaning!!
Really- how can you leave her??

Airplanes and Earthquakes!

We had absolutely the BEST trip to California! We saw alot of family, visited our old California favorites, had TONS of laughs and even had an Earthquake!!

Hannah ready for the airport!

Happiest girl on the plane!

Landed in CA! Look how much stuff it takes for 4 of us!

I first have to start off by saying how amazing Hannah did on the plane. At one point someone looked over and said- I didnt even know there was a baby on the plane! Thats how quiet she was! She was sleeping, eating, or smiling on all flights! What a trooper! We dragged that precious girl everywhere- and she didnt fuss at all! We had a slight problem with the bottles on both flights- apparently the air pressure on the plane caused a leak in the bottles and spilled milk everywhere! It was messy! And we had to throw away a couple bottles. So next time- we will know better!

We arrived on Monday morning around 11 am in CA, after being up for almost 12 hours we were exhausted! The time change takes a little getting used to- but we had the rest of the day to enjoy! We headed to In n Out burger-our first stop, then to get manicures and pedicures! It felt great to relax! I had so many extra hands for Hannah I was able to relax and catch up on celebrity gossip through my entire pedicure!

Auntie Meg & Aunt Kel first get their hands on Hannah!
Our Favorite!
The two Hannahs!

Tuesday we shopped some more, grabbed lunch and then met some of my moms side of the family for an awesome dinner at a barbecue restaurant. Some of the best BBQ we've had! In California to say the least! My moms cousin has a 4 year old daughter named Hannah with brown hair and blue eyes just like our Hannah! She is so beautiful! Im not so sure our Hannah will keep her blue eyes though!

Wednesday the girls were going to head to Disneyland and I was going to stay back with my mom and Maureen but after much thought and with the help of my two babysitters I decided to join in! When it comes to Disneyland-Im like a big kid! I just LOVE it! I have some of the best memories from Disneyland- especially with my dad. He would ride roller coasters with us until the park closed. We would run through the Splash Mountain line- ride it and run right back through! Splash Mountain is my favorite ride at Disney- but you get pretty soaked so the girls would only ride it with me if we wore ponchos! Ha! We still got soaked though! The neatest part of our Disney trip was Club 33. Walt Disney created Club 33 as an exclusive restaurant for members. Membership is $10,000+ a year and there is like a 10 year waiting list to even become a member. Really you just get a really nice meal! Megan works for Allstate and because their corporation is a member they can get tickets. So we had our exclusive lunch filled with steak, shrimp and a dessert bar then headed out to the Happiest Place on Earth! I will say by 8:00 we were ready to go! We sure can't do it like we used to! I missed Hannah anyways so I didnt mind leaving :) I absolutely love that the 4 of us girls can just pick up like old times. Lindsay and I grew up next door to Megan and Kelly. Im the oldest, then Megan, Lindsay then Kelly. They are our second family and couldnt be more thankful for them! They are always such amazing hosts when we travel out to CA because they are so sweet to take us to our old favorites. Even if that means 3 trips to In-n-out (yes I should never eat red meat again!) or letting us have their cars to travel to San Diego or Kelly giving up her bed for me (she knows how much I love her bed so she is so sweet to sleep on a blow up bed for me!) We LOVE them!
Thursday we did a little more shopping- and headed to our old neighborhood pizza place. It was delicious! We drove by our old house and our old elementary school. Its funny how small everything seemed. We moved back to Kentucky when I was 10, so alot had changed!

Friday we headed to San Diego to see my grandparents on my dads side. We have the best memories from their house- The Stocking tower at Christmas, searching for the Easter Bunny, and boat rides on the lake. They are 86 and 92, so meeting Hannah was such a joy for them! I am so glad they were able to meet eachother! Saturday we had family over to Grammy and Bumpahs and caught up like old times. We didnt miss a beat! My Grammy and Bumpah are such neat people- Bumpah was a pilot for American Airlines and retired 33 years ago- and Grammy is the most beautiful soul, inside and out. I love listening to their stories. Bumpah was telling us that his American Airlines employee number is 1056- they are now in 6 digits! When he tries to use his AA number the system doesnt recognize it because its so small! We love hearing how flying used to be- they served steak in first class!

Grammy & Bumpah!
The view from their backyard!


Sunday was also a big day- it was Easter (we were able to dress Hannah up for some cute Easter pictures), we had an EARTHQUAKE!, and Hannah rolled to her side from her back! Grammy and Bumpah were the first ones to see it! And no, Hannah didnt roll from back to side because of the earthquake! Ha! My mom and I were sitting on the couch, Bumpah in his chair, and Grammy in the kitchen. I was feeding Hannah and noticed a slight rumble. Living in CA we had plenty of Earthquakes- I remember getting underneath the kitchen table or getting in bathtubs or doorways. This one started out slow and at one point my mom and I looked at eachother and I said- we're having an earthquake. My Bumpah noticed his water shaking and Grammy held tight in the kitchen. CA has so many earthquakes they are usually small and somewhat unnoticeable. Not this one. I grabbed Hannah and headed for a doorway- I was scared the Angel figurines would fall from the shelf above. My mom was so calm and cool about it- but after the quake picked up she headed for the doorway too. It was SO shaky! I cant believe nothing fell. It lasted for about 30 seconds which is pretty long! We turned on the news after it was done and they were reporting a 7.2 earthquake in Mexico. San Diego is about an hour from the border so we really felt it!

Bumpah and Hannah! How Sweet :)

My little Easter Bunny! We have to dress her up and take these pictures while we can :)
After the earthquake we were watching Hannah play on her mat. I was in the bathroom and mom was in the kitchen. Bumpah said to my mom, "Does she normally do that?" My mom asked what- and he said, "Roll from her back to her side!" WHAT? No she has NEVER done that! So my mom snapped pictures and I was able to see her on her side when I came out. I cant believe I missed it, but it was pretty neat that they were able to see it!
Sunday was a HARD goodbye! I dont think I have ever been able to say goodbye without a few tears. Its so hard being 2000 miles away. But we have great memories of our trip together and some beautiful pictures too!
I rolled to my side!

Monday we headed to some outlet malls and did alot more shopping! We bought so many clothes and received so many baby gifts we had to check another suitcase. My mom is always prepared though- she always packs an empty suitcase to bring back goodies!
Our trip was amazing. I absolutely LOVED sharing Hannah with everyone and everyone fell in love with her too. How can you not? I love that I was able to share another generation with my Grammy and Bumpah. I know they were so glad to meet her too! Leaving is always hard but it felt good to be home! I think Hannah agreed- she slept 9 straight hours! We both needed a great night sleep!
I go back to work on Tuesday- Im trying not to think about it. But I have alot to do before then! For now- Ill unpack and smile at the time we had. Jeremy was sure glad to see his girl at the airport!