Show Us Your Life: Halloween Edition

I dressed up every year as a child and "trick or treated." However, my mom would have most of those pictures, so sadly I can't include them. Mostly I was a 50's girl in a poodle skirt practically every year. I liked it so I stuck with it. It was more about the candy then the costume for me! HA! My mom always made our costumes which makes them extra special...perhaps one day I too could learn (don't hold your breathe though :) ).

Anyway as a dog mother I felt that I should dress my fur baby up. So here is Tuck on his first Halloween! (Lovin' every minute of it by the way ;) ).
P.S. That is NOT my costume those are my work scrubs! We don't dress up currently since we have no place to go!

Halloween 2006

And here is fur baby #2, Toby, in the same costume a few years later. (I am cheap and it wasn't like we were really going anywhere!) He did much better in it than Tuck. Tucker was just glad he didn't have to wear it this year. He thought 2 years was enough!

Halloween 2008

If you look closely you can see they have on festive scarves that they wear for the whole month too!

Now this year I finally have someone to dress up and hopefully be able to take trick or treating next year! Halloween is fun and I sort of miss it...kids are so great in helping you get out there and re-live your youth!!


I think she is the cutest Minnie Mouse ever!!
I just used what I had and made little mouse ears to attach to her headband. We aren't planning on doing to much but seeing the G-parents, aunts, uncle, and cousin since we are usually past out and in bed by 7pm, but it will be a fun start to holiday season!

Happy Trick or Treating everyone!
BOO!


P.S. Chad dressed up as a Nerd today for school. I wasn't able to get a picture of him before he left this am :( So you may check back later and see if I can get one uploaded!

Eat Your Heart Out...

That's right ladies he is ALL MINE! I am one lucky girl!

And NO he didn't get dressed in the dark. It was Clash Day for spirit week at his school. Looks pretty good right! ;)

Show Us Your Life-Fall Decor

Well it is time for Show Us Your Life again. I sort of missed out the last few weeks...

Anyway I really excited to see how others decorate. It always gives me really good ideas to try or dream about doing! HA! I grew up watching my mom decorate the house for all the seasons and she always does such a lovely job...probably should just post her pictures. :) Now, that I have Leighton I want to do more and am going to start slowly collecting things to put out but for now this is all I have and I wanted to share it because I think it is so cool!

My pumpkin snowman. I LOVE this. My little sister knows how much I heart snowmans (mens?!). AND how much I love fall. One year for my birthday she carved me this pumpkin and I LOVED it, but was so sad because as all pumpkins do it rots and you have to throw it out.




The next year she and I got together and bought fake pumpkins from Micheals and made this everlasting snowman for me!

And my other lil' pumpkin

So like I said I have a few knick knacks of fall stuff but no overwhelming fall decor to share...maybe next year! But I am ready for when it comes to Christmas!! :)

Hey I am 8 months!

Hey everyone I am 8 months old today! I am getting SO big (well, not really since I am still a "shortie" as my mommy says...something about only being 24.5 inches tall still, but it only makes me cuter.).

Here is what I have been up to this past month (or should I say into :) ).

I like to greet mommy after my naps like this.

But when I was first learning I would sometimes get stuck and mommy would have to come rescue me! Thank goodness she was there to help! I still fall and go "boom" a lot but mommy says I just need more practice, so I have been practicing pulling up and standing on anything I can reach...nothing is off limits. I am the baby gotta love me!

I am a good kitchen helper. I want to learn to be a good cook like mommy. The food she makes me is yummy and I love ALL of it!

Here I am "helping" mommy in the BIG kitchen.

I really like to watch the pup pups outside. I wish it wasn't so cold so we could go out and play! I miss my swing! :(

Daddy helps mommy by giving me a bath every other night. I like to pull up in my tub so mommy and daddy have to keep a close eye on me!
"Hi! Mommy, I see you!!"

Mommy Edit: She is starting to reach her hand out whenever you say "Hi" pretty sweet.

I love to look at the pretty clothes mommy dresses me in everyday...I am not convinced I don't have a twin? So I kissed her since she is pretty cute! ;)

Mommy says I am such a good little shopper and helper. I tried to help mommy put up the groceries but couldn't reach the cupboard to well.

Well, that is all I want to tell you, but mommy says I left some stuff out so she will fill you in!
Love ya!




I think she did pretty good for her first post. But I haven't blogged too much lately so I am just going to get it all in now!

My little Big girl is into EVERYTHING! She learned to crawl forward (finally) on Sept. 22! And life will never be the same. She is also pulling up and walking around the furniture...yes, walking! As if crawling wasn't enough we are about to embark on walking. I give it a month before she is full blast...but then I thought she would crawl faster then she did, we shall see.

I had to include these pics to show how little she is still.
When she was born this was the outfit we were going to bring her home in. It was 3-6 months I was thinking it would be a smidge big but she would grow into it quickly. However, when she came out at 6#10oz 18.5 inches, my mom went out and got the NB size. Which as you can see STILL didn't fit and the picture lady had to tape her in it to take the pics!
Well here we are at 8 months and can finally wear our coming home outfit...crazy right?!
Sorry for the trip down memory lane, but sometimes you need that.

We are still a super good eater. We are eating more and more finger foods and I think she is really enjoying feeding herself! We got our pincer grasp going and loves to stick fuzz and even dog food in our mouth!! (Thankfully, she hasn't swallowed the dog food yet! GROSS!).

She still doesn't have any teeth yet! A little werid, but hopefully they will all come in at once and fast so we can just get it over with. Perhaps, my little reward for 5 months of colic, yes?!

I am loving watching her little personality and smarts develop. She is so sweet spirited and loving. She always is crawling over to me and giving me hugs or to boot Toby out of my lap. She knows family faces and is a pure delight to take out and about...we love to shop people! (To bad she isn't Melissa's daughter ;). She is figuring out that some of the toys are the dogs and she actually gives it to them! That cracks me up!

Leighton is still being a great sleeper and naps are getting much better. Takes 2-3 good ones per day.

PURE CUTENESS!

Look at that face?! I am fast forwarding to when she is 14 and well...we may be in trouble :)

Happy 8 Months Baby Girl!!!

The Little Ones...

...are always the mean ones. At least that is what my sister always says after several years of working in childcare.

I think these are just love pats. ;)

"I LOVE YOU Landrey!"

I think Landrey is thinking: "Mommy, make her stop!"

Lo really does LOVE babies, she just has a strange way of showing it! :)

The day our world turn...

PINK!!!

1 year ago today we found out we were having a baby girl!
I knew all along she was a girl. It was a feeling I had so strong from the beginning.
When the sono tech said "and it is a girl." I remember asking her to repeat it because I wasn't sure I had heard her right.
We both were so excited. Either way we would have been excited, but finally confirming what I knew all along and being able to call her by name was amazing!!!

Oh Lo I love you! You have changed my world for the better!!!

The things daddy says...

This may be a new edition to my blog.

Set scene:
Tonight at dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs.
Chad pulls back from the table, looks down and sees he has spilled sauce all down his shirt.
We both sigh.

Me: "Seriously, Baby Leighton has no food on her clothes."
Daddy: "Well, she has a competent adult feeding her, I don't."

Show us your life: Baby Edition

On Kelly's Korner she does a weekly "Show Us Your Life" this week's edition: Baby gear.

Top things I couldn't not have survived without! (in no particular order)

1. Swing. Oh, how this saved my life!!!! I remember thinking I didn't want or need one when registering...but thought if someone got it for me great if not no biggie. I am so thankful my mom and sister got this for me! It was the ONLY way Leighton would sleep for nap time during the 1st four months (had to stop using it then b/c she kept wanting to sit up and get out!) We wanted one for every room just b/c we got tired of lugging it up and down the stairs when she was a newborn. At night she would sometimes sleep in it as our make shift cradle.

2. Cuddle sack. I don't think they sell these anymore :( mine is from my baby days. Seriously Leighton LOVED it...again re-created the warm womb like environment...helped my colicky baby sleep, well, like a baby! It also had a heartbeat simulator but that didn't work anymore :(

3. All in one carseat travel system. I felt like this was the cheapest way to go instead of buying all the different parts...can save you close to $50-$100. Plus, the one we got is supposedly one of the safest. According to Baby Bargins (another must have when shopping...really gives you the nitty gritty on baby stuff...kind of like this post!)

4. Baby 411. My dad got this for me and I refer to it all the time for what ever crazy thing I think may be going on with my baby! It tells it to you in plain language and eases your fears.

5. Sheet/changing table savers. A MUST unless you like changing dirty sheets in the middle of the night! ;)


6. Medela Breast pump. Great for nursing moms who want to pump "painlessly" and quickly. I know there are a lot of pumps out there that can hurt...I honestly didn't mind pumping using this. It also had a backpack w/ it so you could discreetly take it with you.
Nursing tanks could not survive without this item...I practically live in them! They keep you covered in all the right places while you nurse!

7. Bouncy Seat. Again something I didn't think I needed/wanted but so glad I received as a gift! Now Leighton did NOT like this at first. But once she got to be about 2 months it saved our backs from hauling the swing up and down the stairs. We just left the bouncy seat up and the swing down. Both kept her fairly happy depending on what level I was on. (Please note: My daughter was extremely colicky...so very little made her happy!)

8. The womb aka the sling. Now while this felt like a bit of a waste of $15 (only b/c I didn't use it like I should have and she out grew it fast) it really helped keep my colicky only wants to be held 24/7 baby calm and happy, while I got stuff done. If you could only get one I would probably recommend going w/ the baby bjorn style just b/c it grows with your baby longer.

9. Barenaked Boppy Pillow (this way you can change out boppy covers for different babies or if they get dirty). Now this is a great investment for nursing moms. I didn't really like it at first because baby girl was so tiny she just slid through the hole. But as she filled it out more it became nice to help hold her while she nursed and I typed on the laptop! HA! My hubby also liked to put it around his waist to hold her...not sure why?!? She also sleep in the boppy while we were at the hospital in bed w/us (we had a family bed)...and yes I know it says not for sleeping but we did it anyway! Also great for babies learning to sit...helps catch them when the topple over.

See daddy's love it too!

10. Bath seat. My kitchen sink isn't big enough to give my baby a bath. Plus, I just think a bath place should be not where I throw dirty dishes. This grew with her until she could sit up on her own and take a bath.

11. Play mat. Babies just love these and I just put ours away like 2 days ago and just went with the toys strewn about the floor look! HA! (Leighton will be 8 months on Tues.)

Lo at about 7 weeks

Lo at 5 months

12. Shopping cart cover. I am not a germaphobe, but when you see how much your little one wants to put in their mouth you will want to get one! Plus they are soft and cozy for baby to sit on instead of the cold metal hard shopping carts. They also covert to a high chair cover which again is nice.

13. Exersaucer/walker. Leighton has loved her exersaucer she plays in and out of it. It helps give them a safe place to be while you work. Ours also converts into a walker once she starts walking...so I think that is a bonus but since she isn't quite walking yet I do not know.

Trying to show how it comes apart to turn into a walker.

14. Bumbo. I liked it helped her be near me and sit up. She didn't use it long b/c I had forgotten about it and then within the next month she started sitting on her own. But it use to keep her contained while I worked. (until she would try and throw herself out of it!)

See these things can go anywhere!

15. Space saver convertable high chair. As you can see I love stuff that duels...it saves tons of money and SPACE! This easily straps to your dining room chair, you can take it w/ your to grandma's for the holidays. AND it goes from newborn all the way up to toddler!


Things I could have survived without (but nice to have):

Pack n Play. Alot of new mom's use this as their bassinet in their rooms. Are room was too small for it. And I ended up using the swing for nap times. I think it will come in handy for traveling or going over to grandma's and giving her a safe place for naps...but overall I can probably survive with out it.

Jumpin' Johnny. Leighton never really got into it. I tried countless times with no success.

My number 1 advice is this: ALOT of my stuff I got 2nd hand or borrowed! I TOTALLY recommend this if you can find friends to let you try some of this expensive stuff out before you buy. So often (ok ALL THE TIME) what works for one baby doesn't work for yours...or what you think you can't live without you can! I feel totally blessed to be surrounded by such generous ppl who have graciously let me borrow toys, equipment and clothes! THANK YOU!

And if you are a mom out there out of the baby days stage...think about offering some of your stuff to women you may know that are about to have babies or just had them! It will bless them tremendously!