So this is what its like.

To have a baby that naps! Wow! Talk about easy! I could DEFINITELY get use to this:) M has been down for about 1.5 hrs and I have gotten so much done. Love this!!

So how long does an average 6 month old nap during the day? A couple hours? I need to "gog.gle" this.

I've got the Christmas tree half decorated, laundry going, presents wrapped or shoved in gift bags, phone calls made and now I'm going to write our Christmas letter. Ahhhh, glorious naps! I just might need to have one myself one of these days;)

So proud!

Of myself for blogging every day this week! Of Miss Thang for actually napping!! She's been down in her crib for 1 hour!! Awww its glorious:)

I am going to blog every day in Dec. That is my goal. I usually do the Journal Your Christmas album in december and I'm going to this year again. I already have it made so that way I can just take some pics and journal. I. will. do. it. every.day.

On the Miss Thang ~no bottle~ front....still the same. I tried a sippy cup but she would have none of that. Jessi, I'm going to try your sippy cup recommendations as the ones that I have have a hard spout. M has taken a bottle (occasionally) since week 2 so this isn't a new thing for her. She's really good with a bottle and has them at daycare so why now is she refusing? We use the playtex drop-ins and the born bottles. She has (I mean HAD) no problem with either of them. ~sigh~ I have no problem with nursing her as I really enjoy bf-ing but I do work 2 days a week. We do have her 6 month appt next week so I'll talk to the ped too. Gasp....6 months! Holy crap! I got my 1st comment of "when is the next one coming?" this week. Seriously?! Do you not remember me being pregnant for 15 of 17 months? Yes we are having more. Right now...not so much! Soon? Probably, but not right now. Unless its an ~oops~ we are not trying!!
Cripes...I'm still trying to get my body tucked back in. Sheesh.

Miss Thang decided..... (help!!)

that she doesn't want a bottle anymore. WTH?!! She is eating Stage 1 foods for lunch and supper but gets breastmilk for the rest of her meals either from me or via a bottle. She has NEVER had problems taking a bottle. Now she won't take one from Lance, Lee or my mom. Why?? I have no idea??! What do we do now?? Any ideas?? The only thing I can think of is to try a sippy cup which I think she's way too young for but what do I know. I need suggestions and/or help!!!

Today I fed her, then went to do some Christmas shopping while my mom and Lee watched M. They both tried the bottle but she wouldn't take it so they gave her baby food at 9:45 and 11am then I got home at 1:30pm and nursed her and again at 3:30 then went to the barn to ride. Lance tried the bottle but she wouldn't take it so he gave her baby food. I got home at 7:30, gave her a bath and nursed her then bed. That seems like hardly any feedings. Granted she's eating a lot when I nurse her but still.

Any advice or suggestions? Please:)

Lovin' the Black Friday!

Ok. I don't like the lack of sleep that now comes with responsible parenting when I decide to go shopping at 3am (no going back to bed for this mommy) but I LOVE all the great deals I got. So I'm going to leave it at that and head to bed. I do not function well on 3.5 hrs of sleep. I'm going to become one with my jammies, bed and Santa Claus (the movie) on tv:)

It IS the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

To each and every one of you!!! I hope you had time to enjoy a wonderful meal with loved ones, watch some football and wrestle the crazies at Michaels for cheap cricut cartridges. Oh, umm.... I guess that last part was just me and Ember:) Boy were there crazies!! And we were NOT them;) Well maybe we might be a tish nuts. Oh well, we both scored several carts for at least 60% off. YAY!!

Anyway...Happy Thanksgiving and for all the Black Friday shoppers, enjoy and be safe! If you're going to the DL wal-mart for the cricut expression, they are all sold out:) tee hee OK so maybe they aren't but I'm not above clawing, scratching, kicking and/or elbowing! I'm just saying.....

I'm thankful for these 2.

I'm thankful for this sweet baby girl and her father. I'm thankful for the way she looks at him when he gets home from a long trip (she gets SO excited!). I'm thankful for the way he makes her laugh and giggle when he's changing her diaper or playing with her. I'm thankful for the way she smiles when she's sitting on his shoulders and tries to eat his hair by pulling it towards her not bending closer to it. I love that when he's getting his hair pulled out, he is laughing too. Plus, if you have seen Lance IRL then you know he has hair to spare!! That man has like 10 hairs coming out of 1 follicle! I ~know~ he will never be bald!

1 free hour

My babysitter/day care provider offered to drop off Miss M tonight since she is coming into town so I can have a little extra time to run errands/do chores/ect. That is SO nice of her. So I've been home for 1 hour....BY. MY. SELF! What do I find myself doing? Looking out the window or door to see if M is here yet? Sheesh! Why is that? I should be doing things that I normally do after she goes to bed or sitting with my feet up eating bonbons yet I find myself so excited for when Miss Thang is going to get here. I need to get a grip! Or valium! Or something! ~blush~

I've looked out the window 3 times in the last minute.

Hi my name is Kelly and I have a problem.

Oh well! Remind me again of what I did before Miss Thang was here? How was I "so busy"? I feel kinda lost without the little screech monkey and its only been 1 extra hour of Kelly time.

So today I'm thankful for an awesome daycare provider AND that I miss my daughter when she's not here instead of celebrating getting rid of the high-maintanence wonder! tee hee

I'm thankful for....

the last 1.5 hours of peaceful silence as sweet Miss Thang is FINALLY learning how to nap! In her crib too! Triple arm pump! Never mind the fact that I've played my ass off this morning to wear her out and Mommy needs a nap too;) Instead I'm spending NDQHA money on awards for the open and ammys. I love to shop! I ordered myself a new work saddle with my award winnings as I was able to do really well this year in spite of being hugely pregnant and not able to ride then having a new baby. Yay me:) Faith too! We wound up with Reserve Amateur All-Around too!!

Wait...how did this become a post all about me?! Oh ya, back to Makenna napping... that is DEFINITELY what I am thankful for today!

The Christmas tree is lit...

not decorated but up and on. I do have Christmas music playing too. I'm shopping for new glasses online, ordering awards for the NDQHA and have the 1st batch of Christmas cookie dough chilling in the fridge. Ahh, it's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Now before you think I've gone and completely skipped Thanksgiving, I'd like you to know that I have my list of what I'm most thankful for (which I'll be going over this whole week), the turkey is thawing in the fridge AND my Black Friday shopping list is made! That's right...Lance and I are some of the crazies that get up at 4am to go shop. There is a cricut (scrapping item) on HUGE sale at Wally so I WILL be there in line for it. Don't even think I won't elbow you out of my way if need be;) tee hee
Uncle Lee is going to watch Miss Thang...and by watch, I mean they are both going to be snoring at eachother:) Lance and I will probably be back by the time either of them stir. They probably won't even know we left! Can't wait!

I will be better!

My goal for next week is to blog every day. I've been such a slacker:)



We had a doctor's appt for Miss M yesterday. At one of our pregnancy u/s appt's, they noticed that 1 of her kidneys was slightly larger than the other and had a little more fluid on it. They kept telling us it's not a big deal and don't freak out. Seriously?! After what we went through with Lily, a little fluid on the kidney WAS NO BIG DEAL. We just laughed. So after Miss M was born, they did an u/s and saw that the 1 kidney was still bigger although just slightly. They wanted us to do a procedure where they inject dye into the bladder and watch to see if it goes back up the ureters into the kidney. Luckily it did not! So all is good there. M did great with all of it. The 1st tech that tried to insert the catheter was horrible at it (apparently) as poor M was not impressed. Finally, as she was still fumbling around, I told her that was enough. She had her chance and it was obvious that she was not going to succeed. She asked if we wanted someone else to try...I said yes (since we were there). An older lady came down and had the catheter in in 15 sec and M didn't even flinch. I was NOT impressed with the 1st lady and ~might~ have said "Hmmm, sure would have been nice to have that done the 1st time and not traumatize the baby" while looking at her. Needless to say, she left in a hurry. Now M was not traumatized but I was pissed. She was lucky I was standing on the far side of the table as I would have ~liked~ to smack her. I don't know how parents are able to go through cancer with their kids? I mean I know they don't have a choice but that would be so tough to see your child in pain. Just breaks your heart.
So anyway, all is great with Miss Thang! She wasn't traumatized (or hurt) but I think Lance and I were;)

Today we put up the Christmas tree. It's a big one so I haven't put any ornaments on it but I will tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a nice relaxing Sunday full of football, pizza and Christmas ornaments. Add in some chocolate and that sounds like a perfect day:)

I'm a....

• working
• riding
• scrapping
• shopping
• paper grading
• misted
• reorganizing
• football watching
• Christmas music listening
• furniture moving
• baby feeding
• not blog posting

machine! This week was crazy at work...I have tons to correct/grade/enter but I'm 3/4 done. I was also able to get the H1N1 flu mist due to Miss M being under 6 months old. I did that Tuesday with just minor side-effects (sore throat, runny nose) except it really seemed to hurt my milk supply. Things really decreased but I'm fighting through it and hoping to ramp the production back up. Thank goodness we have some in the freezer. I wish I had more though. Yikes!! Has anyone else had that side effect or heard of anyone with it??

On friday I had a 2 day scrap retreat with a bunch of girlfriends. We had a blast! I got a bunch done eventhough I was missing my daughter and hubby who were at home spending some quality bonding time together. Lance just got back from a 9 day work trip on Thursday nite. I packed up to go scrapping on Friday morning. Not an ideal situation but we made due. It was a local retreat so I was home both nights by midnight. Today was spent relaxing with the fam, taking Miss M for a walk, grading papers and watching a lot of football. Now if only I could have squeezed a nap in there too;)

Miss M is up to her usual antics:) She is a rolling, creeping animal loving little girl. Anytime one of our cats or dog walks by, she watches them then gets all excited and the arms and legs start flying. She LOVES to pet the cats and dog but gets so excited that she screeches and usual scares Uggs off. Maui and Teddy aren't phased by it. She loves to pet Faith too. Faith doesn't mind her noisy flailing little self either. Miss M even rode her for the 1st time with me but don't tell Lance as he doesn't know;) tee hee Faith was so careful that I had a heck of a time even getting her to walk across the arena. My mom said Makenna had a HUGE grin on her face and coo'd like crazy. That's my girl:) M is sitting up all by herself. She does tip over occasionally but I'm right there to break her fall. She is getting to be SUCH a big girl. I just can't believe how she's grown and changed. Love her to pieces.

Oh well... I'm heading off to bed now... Bring it on Monday, I'm not afraid of you! I have a fridge full of diet dew and some chocolate in the drawer so I'm ready for a new week. Tomorrow's agenda includes grocery shopping, cadi washing and maybe some new shoes for Mommy. ;)

How did you get over there?

I was carrying things in from the car so I set Miss Thang on her playmat. She rolls over and over but generally stays on the mat. So when I walked in and she is off the mat I was shocked! I immediately asked her how she did that....she responded with giggles and "talking". So I put her back on the mat and went to grab the last few items from the vehicle. When I walked back in, I ~caught~ her in motion!!! I cannot believe it! She is doing the creeping thing...she pulls her legs underneathe her then lifts her butt way in the air, twists her legs to the side and pushes her upper half forward. She was also caught doing this backwards. :/ So now I begin shopping for baby gates and electrical plug covers. Apparently M did not get the memo that she is not suppose to be mobile yet. I thought more around 7-8 months....not 5 months.

Speaking of which.... Happy 5 month birthday Miss Makenna!!!! Wow the time flies! It's been 5 months and Miss M is growing like mad and developing with leaps and bounds. Very impressive!! A whole lot less impressive is the fact that my tummy/ab area is still not where I would like it to be....I guess I can't blame it on "I just had a baby" anymore. That was such a nice excuse;) I guess I better start working on getting that less flabby! Maybe after the holidays....tee hee hee!

We had a major National inspection at work (hence the silent blog) so now that that is over with and we passed with flying colors, I can get back to our normal routine. I'm looking forward to the weekend and going to ride my horse and enjoy the beautiful weather (60 degrees).

Happy Friday everyone:)

Halloween fun!

This is going to be a picture heavy post!!

Here is Miss Thang in her ~pre-Halloween~ outfit! This is the outfit that I bought thinking that she doesn't need a costume at 5 months. Yah....right...

I don't know how I thought I would get away with not getting her a costume when both Lance and I are halloween freaks. SO...here is Miss M in her costume. We also dress up our poor dog so she was very fascinated by his bumblebee ears. (Do bees have ears?)

Miss M LOVED halloween and all the people coming to the door. With this being said, she also crashed for the night very well and quickly. That was one worn out baby!! What a great halloween:)