Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Little Crazy

Confession:  One of my guilty pleasures is watching beauty videos on youtube.  I know.  I'm a total loser.

Anyway, the other day I watched this video by Kandee Johnson.  (BTW - love her).


After watching this, I thought - you know what?  Why not?  I figured I had a few weeks of summer left, why not try something new?  So I did!  It definitely took some trial and error, but they're not too bad looking! 





I think next time I'm going to do all of them pink and just do the ring finger in houndstooth.  Ideas?  What do you think - cute or crazy?
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Friday, July 29, 2011

Growing Up

Ever since potty training LL, it has really hit me that she's really growing up.  It was like the diapers were her last little bit of baby that we were hanging on to.  In a way, this makes me excited because I really LOVE this stage that we're in.  But in another way, this makes me really sad to think that she's just really not a baby anymore!  She's such a big girl! 

We went outside last night for a little bit after dinner, and LL started playing on this little tricycle thing that my mom got her for her first birthday.  Here's a picture of her riding in in April 2010.  See how her little feet can't even reach the pedals?

She got on it last night and we realized that her feet totally reach the pedals.  We took the little peg off that she's been resting her feet on up until now so that it forced her to actually put her feet on the pedals.  We worked with her for a little while on pedaling it by herself!  She was pretty nervous and kept looking back to see if we were still pushing her, but it's a start!




My little girl is growing up!!

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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Silly Goose

LL and I are having a nice, relaxing day at home today!  We've been so busy last week and this week so far, so it's nice to just have a day at home to do nothing!  She's still in her pj's (well, the tops of them), and I'm just in yoga pants and a t - no make up, no cute hair, no bows, just comfy!  We're having such a good day so far.  I did manage to capture some pretty adorable videos of her today that I thought I'd share...

#1 - I've been going to the library and checking out books for LL.  I typically get about 4 at a time, and her favorite this time is a cute little book called "Stuck in the Mud".  She is SUCH a reader that the whole library situation really works out for her.  She gets (at least) 4 new books every 2 weeks (a plus), and I don't have to spend any money (another plus!).  And about the time that we all get tired of them, it's time to take them back and find some new ones!  So here's the video of her reading Stuck in the Mud to me. 







#2 - We were playing in her room and found an old toy phone and our old house phone in her play basket.  We don't have a house phone anymore, so when we got rid of it we just let her play with the old one.  She "called" daddy and was asking him to come and play with her.





#3- I tried to get another video of her talking on the phone, but she wasn't going to because she knew I was filming.  The stinker.  I love the look she gives me as she walks away.  :)





I hope that these put a smile on your face today!  Happy Thursday from me and my best girl!

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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Hey everyone!  I'm linking up with Jamie today at This Kind of Love if you want to play along!

I'm loving that, while all of my friends (who are teachers) are getting ready to go back to school on Monday, I still have 2 weeks left of summer.  Woo hoo for a shortened calendar!

I'm loving that LL is still doing SO WONDERFUL at potty training!  We rarely have accidents and she's doing great.  Any tips for getting a toddler to poop in the potty???   I need some!

I'm loving our new family pictures that we just had taken!  Didn't see them?  Check out the post below this one!  They're AH-MAY-ZING!

I'm loving that I got to catch up with some new and old friends yesterday.  It did my heart good to just have some girl time and get out of the house for a little bit. 

I'm loving that LL has just been saying the CUTEST things lately.  Here's what she told me after looking through a crate in the garage today: "I was just looking at golf balls, and soaps, and lots of stuff!"

I'm loving that I submitted my LAST assignment for my first (of four) gifted endorsement classes.  It feels good to be done.  For now.

I'm loving my super sweet, hardworking hubby.


What are YOU loving today?

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Monday, July 25, 2011

Family Pictures!

There's a project that I've been wanting to do in our living room, and it requires about 9 pictures to do it.  I want to use pictures of our family, but the problem is that we haven't done family pictures since last August.  I also didn't want to go to a studio to get them done because it's just so stiff looking (which is fine - for certain things).  I wanted some fun, cute, outdoor pictures with LOTS of color.

I called my brother-in-law, Gino, and asked him if he would come sometime soon and take some for us.  He's a wonderful photographer who did our maternity pictures (I wasn't blogging back then, so I can't link it), and some of my all time favorite pictures of LL.  We went to our friends' (Clint and Sarah) pecan orchard to take the pictures.  I told Gino when he edited them that I wanted them SUPER saturated with color.  I wanted them to be as bright and colorful as possible - he did a GREAT job and did exactly what I wanted.  Thanks, Gino!!  Keep in mind when looking at these (1) it is crazy hard to keep a 2 year old in one place to take pictures, and (2) no matter how early you go outside, July in south Georgia is absolutely MISERABLY hot.

Here are my favorites from the shoot!


{1}

Love it!  :)
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I think this is my favorite one from the day.
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He did an AWESOME job at capturing her personality in this one.  This is totally my child!
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{11}

I know some of you are going to ask - no, my shirt is not that cool.  It's actually just a plain shirt - the cool part is actually a necklace that I got from etsy!
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I love to see how much LL loves her Daddy.
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The best family picture of us to date.
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How hott is The Hubs?
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Another one of my favorites!
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Which ones are your favorites??  I need 9 pictures for my project, which ones should I choose?
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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Blessings

It's been a while since I've kind of updated on where I am emotionally.  Mostly, I haven't said anything about it because I'm doing pretty good.  But another part of that is just because I've had a lack of knowing what to say.  It seems like, with situations like these, most of the time people are very concerned about you right afterwards, but then after awhile they just don't want to hear you talking about it anymore.  They're just sort of ready for you to move on and get back to "normal".  That's part of the reason that I've kept silent, also. 

I still have my bad days.  I still have days where I just don't understand why this happened to me.  It's still hard for me not to think, every week, where I should have "been".  How much I'd be showing, how much movement I should be feeling, etc. 

Most days, though, I'm just happy with my life.  Happy with my precious little girl.  Happy with my husband.  Happy with my friends.  Happy with my church.  Mostly, just happy.

The other day, I was catching up on some of my blog reading, and one of the blogs caught my attention by song. Usually, I dislike blogs that play songs and turn them off quickly. I'm just one of those people who would rather concentrate on reading, and not trying to divide my time between reading a listening. This one particular song caught my attention though. I had never heard it before, but I scrolled to the bottom of the blog to find out who it was by and what the name of it was. It was "Blessings" by Laura Story. I still don't know anything about her, but I really needed that song.  If you don't want to listen to the song below, I'll also post the lyrics if you would just prefer to read them



We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering


All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?


What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?


We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough


And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?


And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise


When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home


Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?


What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?


And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?


I think that this song is a very adequate description of where I am right now.  I feel like my relationship with God has never been closer than it has been this summer.  Dealing with a pregnancy that you feel is not going right, suffering through a loss of a pregnancy, is by far the hardest thing that I have ever done.  But I agree with this song - what is the aching of this trial is bringing me close to Christ?  I in no way, shape, or form would say that losing this baby was "worth it".  And if I had it to do all over again, I would still rather have kept this pregnancy.  But if it HAD to happen, then at least I can gain a greater relationship with my Father. 

Sometimes as a parent, I have to make hard decisions for LL that make her angry and upset.  But as her mom, I know that they're best for her.  I very much know in my heart that this is what my Father did for me.  He knew what was best for me, and even though it hurt me and made me upset, it's so much better for me to cling to the hope that He knows what He's doing.  And that, just because this happened, it doesn't mean that He doesn't love me.  Or that He doesn't care for me.  It's just a part of life. 

So I'm clinging to the knowledge that I will see my sweet baby one day, but this time my Father will be there, too. 

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Friday, July 22, 2011

Random: iPhone photos from May

Again, just trying to put up some cute pics from my phone from May that didn't really get put anywhere.  You can see my April post here.

Only cool kids play with side walk chalk in their pj's.  :)

We finally got LL a pull-behind trailer for our bikes.  Taking it for a test drive with Daddy!

Ready to go!

At Jumpin' Jacks for the first time!

Brushing her teeth with Ben.

She came to school with me for post planning and hung out with another teacher's granddaughter.

Watching a movie at school.

Taking a nap in Mommy's classroom.

Happy that Mommy is officially home for the summer!

Monkey face


Swinging at the park

New shades!





Bustin' out our sand/water table for the first time.  My fav part of this picture?  Lola in the background.  That's how crazy she is all.  the.  time.


Speaking of...



First day of swim lessons!


A doughnut reward after swim one day.  :)

I'm trying to play catch-up, so June is coming soon!
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