As the Forest[e] Grows

21 weeks!

2012-02-01T13:15:00.001-05:00

I still can't believe I'm over halfway through this pregnancy. It has gone by 10 times faster than being pregnant for the first time so I'm trying my best to take in every moment & kick [even though I know we'll have at least a couple more after this, God willing :) ]

Here is our little Vincent measuring right on track & weighing in at approximately 13oz :)

still definitely a boy!

How far along? 21 weeks.

Total weight gain: 10 lbs.

Maternity clothes? All bottoms, yes. I can still wear some normal tops, but I hate stretching them out so I'm slowly transitioning to maternity tops too.

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Sleep: Pretty good.

Best moment this week: Seeing baby Vinny on the u/s yesterday.

Miss Anything? Having a glass of wine (or 3) every now and then.

Movement: Tons of kicks now. I can see the movement from the outside already.

Food cravings: Breakfast food any time of the day... eggs, turkey bacon, grits, biscuits, pancakes... ok you get the picture.

Food aversions: Red meat doesn't bother me anymore. Just any Italian food with red sauce.

Gender: Boy.

Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Honestly, not much. The only thing that reminds me that I'm pg is the growing belly & the constant movement. Can't complain!

Belly Button in or out? OUT. As you can clearly see in the bare belly shot below HA :)

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Looking forward to: Finding a newborn photographer. I've been searching for about a week now & the 2 people I loved are booked already (and I thought I was getting an early start!). If anyone in the Atlanta area has recommendations for a newborn photographer let me know... I'm incredibly picky so that's what is so hard!

4 hours of sleep

2012-01-31T13:44:00.000-05:00

last night. Why? Well Gianna has been coming into our room for a while now early in the morning... usually around 3 or 4am & frankly we're too tired (most of the time) to get up and put her back in bed. So I thought she was starting to get a cold yesterday morning... runny nose, bad cough, not eating much, the normal for her when she's getting sick.

Last night she was so tired she couldn't even stay awake for story time before bed. She climbed into our bed whimpering that she didn't feel good around 2ish. Hubbs got her a sippy cup full of water & I helped her blow her nose. She chugged her water within minutes so we got her more, thinking she was that dehydrated. A few minutes later she started moaning & blaaaaaah.

Puked all over us, the sheets, her stuffed animals she had brought with her. And again, and again. Before we could process the fact that our room was covered in vomit we literally sat there letting her do it in our bed. That's how out of it we both were! I ran her to the bathroom (she threw up again before we could reach the toilet) and then she vomited a few more times in the toilet. Poor girl :( We all had to jump in the shower at 3:15am to wash off.

Then it was time to throw stuff in the laundry, mop the floors, clean the toilet, try to soak up the wet pukey spots in our bed. Basically we slept MAYBE another hour of uninterrupted sleep in the plain mattress and a sheet to cover us (I couldn't find the extra blankets or other fitted sheet).

My poor baby spent the next hour moaning in our bed while I tried to bring her 104 degree temperature down with some Tylenol & a cold wash cloth on her forehead. Yes, 104 DEGREES! Of course I called the on call physician & they said she was fine & to wait it out until the morning so we have a doctors appointment in an hour. I have a feeling she has an ear infection so we'll see. She had a flu shot so hopefully it's nothing more serious than a little bug.

We have some pics of little Vinny & I will post those tomorrow, along with the 21 week belly, but until then here are some photos of a couple weekends ago riding the bike she got for Christmas :)

We bumped into our neighbor & her dogs... Gigi was more than delighted as you can see!

Busy week.

2012-01-30T18:05:00.000-05:00

And I really have no excuse for taking a week off blogging, other than admitting I've been too lazy to do much on the computer lately :)

But today is my birthday so I thought I'd share a few pics from our quick trip to Atl this weekend from our birthday lunch with my inlaws! Hubbs, sis-in-law & my birthday are all within 7 days of each other so we usually celebrate birthdays together every year if we're together.

25. Finally in my mid twenties :)

Gigi & her aunt making silly faces at each other

Of course making her "cheese face"

My 2 SILs & MIL

(don't know if you can tell, but my boobs have already grown AT LEAST 1 full cup size... I was trying my best to sit up straight here because my boobs were hanging over my belt sitting on the belly in every pic... not cute!)

Woke up this morning to this...

...and these. Plus Hubbs ordered me a dozen Georgetown cupcakes (anyone watch that show?) so I'm sure my weight gain this week will be a little more than previous weeks :)

I have my "big ultrasound" tomorrow so I'll be back on Wednesday with my 21 week belly pic & new pictures of Vinny!!!

24.

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to my incredible Hubbs!

of course Gigi helped make the mocha cake Daddy requested :)

Sometimes I forget we're still so young with everything we've been through together so it's nice to know we still have MANY more years to come!!! Love you, Papi!

19 weeks.

2012-01-18T14:42:00.001-05:00

And I've never felt better. I don't think I felt this good when I was pregnant with Gianna until I was at least 26 or 27 weeks.

I have lots of energy (most days), not sick at all anymore (just don't let me smell pizza or anything Italian), I'm staying active at the gym 4-5 days a week (really helps with not feeling exhausted the rest of the day)... overall I'm just a happy pregnant lady :)

*Just have to say - these over the belly maternity leggings are the most comfy things in the world. They are "Be Maternity" at Target. Just thought I'd share for anyone in the market for some good maternity leggings!

It's going to take some getting used to shopping for a boy though. I have no problem at all stuffing a shopping bag full of goodies for Gianna, but I've only bought a few necessities for Vincent so far (a couple of onesies, comfy sweat pants, and an ADORABLE pair of shoes). I hate to say it, but... boys clothes are so boring to me. I think it's just because I'm so picky. I don't like all the cutesy outfits with trucks or teddy bears or dinosaurs on them. I've found plenty of things at Baby Gap that I love, but I'm trying my best to refrain from spending that much on baby clothes this time. I'm sure once he is born I won't be able to help myself... I mean... his style needs to match his big sister! :)

Any of you mamas of boys have any suggestions for where to buy cute boy clothes?

How far along? 19 weeks.

Total weight gain: 10 lbs.

Maternity clothes? All bottoms, yes. Still wearing normal tops.

Stretch marks? None new.

Sleep: Pretty good.

Best moment this week: Just feeling Vinny all the time :)

Miss Anything? My normal sized boobs/nipples.

Movement: Lots more everyday!

Food cravings: Sandwiches again. Extra pickles.

Food aversions: Red meat (with the exception of burgers) & anything Italian... including pizza.

Gender: Boy.

Labor Signs: Haven't had any BH contractions for almost a week.

Symptoms: A little bit of heartburn.

Belly Button in or out? Pretty much out. A whole 9 weeks earlier this time!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Looking forward to: Going to my friend's baby shower next weekend in ATL :)

Date night...

2012-01-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

For daughter & daughter :) Saturday, Hubbs took his little girl to see Beauty & the Beast 3D. Here is a pic he got of her... happy as a camper with her own small popcorn & 3D glasses... legs crossed like a little lady of course.

Beauty & the Beast is her absolute FAVORITE movie right now. Hubbs & I know the movie completely by heart now (Hubbs would rather not HA!). She got a Princess Belle dress up outfit from Santa for Christmas & she has a Princess "squinkie" set & just carries the beast around all day saying she is going to marry him :)

So imagine her surprise when the "real" Princess Belle was standing inside the theater waiting to greet all the anxious little ones with complimentary magic wands. I'm so sad Hubbs didn't get a picture!!! He said she was just in total awe & speechless (for once). Belle wanted to talk to her & she just stood there staring. She took the magic wand, gave Belle a hug & continued to stare as they walked into the theater. She was certainly not expecting to meet Belle that evening... so exciting :)

Something Hubbs has told me before Gianna was even born is that he wants to take each one of our kids on their own private "date" once a month. Just one kid at a time with Daddy... whether it's a movie, or ice cream, or a park trip, or dinner (when they get older). We both know he is going to be incredibly busy working for a big law firm so it's nice to know that our kids will still get to have a very personal relationship with their daddy.

I feel so lucky to have such a devoted husband & father, and a healthy/happy little girl and baby boy on the way. I'm just in a thankful mood :)

I will be back tomorrow with my 19 week belly & updates. Holy crap. I'm nearly halfway through this pregnancy already!

Little Love's Designs - [Giveaway Winner!]

2012-01-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Candace!

CandaceJan 11, 2012 12:01 PM

I like Little Love's on FB.

Please reply to this post or email me with a current email address to claim your prize :)

Thanks to everyone who entered & hope you had a great weekend!

18 weeks!

2012-01-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

How far along? 18w 2d.

Total weight gain: 9 lbs. Blahh. I had only gained 6 by this point with Gigi & I hadn't done any more exercise than lifting Sonic burgers to my mouth at least twice a week. I've been continuing to workout 4-5 days a week... at least I'm keeping healthy so I'm trying not to pay attention to the scale numbers much! (as hard as that is for me)

Maternity clothes? Yep. The tank top I'm wearing in the picture is maternity & is already about 2 weeks away from showing skin. I loathe Old Navy maternity tops. Still wearing most of my regular shirts, but all pants & leggings are maternity.

Stretch marks? None new.

Sleep: Getting up to pee once (sometimes twice) per night, but good other than that. I did break out the Snoogle a few days ago though... I missed my sleeping buddy. Hubbs did not :)

Best moment this week: Hubbs feeling Vinny's kicks!

Miss Anything? I satisfied a bit of my sushi craving for a cooked roll. I do miss a good glass of wine lately though...

Movement: Feeling lots everyday! The flops have turned into official kicks and I can see the little thumps from the outside now. Definitely the BEST part of pregnancy :)

Food cravings: Mexican food and any type of chip. Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles w/ onion dip... and I was really wondering why I'd gained more weight this time around??

Food aversions: Red meat (with the exception of burgers) & anything Italian... including pizza.

Gender: Boy!!

Labor Signs: Been getting BH contractions a few times per week since about 15 weeks. Hopefully nothing more than that for a loooooong time.

Symptoms: Nausea is gone! Heartburn was terrible a few weeks ago, but haven't felt any for a while now. Only real annoying symptoms right now is needing to pee every 25 mins & that sharp pain in your ute when you sneeze or cough. I can deal with that.

Belly Button in or out? Flat. Sometimes it looks out though... it won't be long!

Wedding rings on or off? On. Never had to take them off last time so I'm hoping I have the same experience.

Looking forward to: Our next u/s in 3 weeks... can't wait to see Vincent again!

I think I've pretty much evened out at this point with the belly compared to the first time around... I don't think I look 4 weeks ahead of what I am anymore thankfully. And yes, I'm wearing the same pants in both pics haha... I missed my maternity jeans!

18 weeks (Gianna) 18 weeks (Vincent)

Christmas a little late.

2012-01-11T09:18:00.000-05:00

I know today is supposed to be my 18 week post, but I forgot to have Hubbs take my belly pic before he left for school so we'll just do it tomorrow morning. Until then, I'll hold you over with some Christmas break pics. I'm getting so bad at taking pics when I need to... I got ZERO of Gigi & her grandparents, aunts or uncle. Grrrrr

Christmas Eve right before we left for church

Notice Gianna is wearing just a basic white flower in her hair. Not my choice. I ordered a gorgeous burgundy, velvet hair bow to match her adorable shoes (ordered with plenty of time to ship on time) and they would never respond to my emails when I asked what the status on my order was. I didn't end up receiving it until we got back to Nashville just barely... and still no reply by email. First & LAST time I order from these guys. She still looked pretty darn cute though.

I made my favorite christmas cookie dough for Santa, gingerbread, and Gianna helped me roll & cut them out :)

She snuggled up with our chihuahua, Sampson, on the couch while we waited for the cookies to bake.

Then we set them out after bath time: cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer

Happy girl excited for Santa to come!

Christmas morning... she ran straight to her dollhouse & played for about 30 minutes before opening the first gift! Best gift for her ever... she is entertained for hours a day by this thing.

a new baby stroller. she got her other one on her 1st birthday from a family friend & we had to replace it. gianna didn't understand when she was that little that the stroller was ONLY for her dolls, not her :)

Noni & Grandpa got her a big girl bike! She has been great on her tricycle & was peddling to fast for the little pedals to handle with her long legs so this one is perfect for her.

Papa (my dad) got her 1st American girl doll... a Bitty Baby. She is in love.

Santa brought her a Princess Belle dress up outfit... she had to put it on immediately. And she still insists she NEEDS to wear her "boo-full Princess Belle dress" (beautiful dress) everywhere we go.

Nana (my mom) got her a Bitty Baby bath tub & some outfits for her baby

We did something different this year for Christmas dinner... my sister in law's fiance brought over his deep fryer & we fried the turkey... most delicious turkey I've ever had!!!

Hubbs, Gianna & Uncle Jeff

We got nervous when we pulled it out & saw black skin LOL. But turns out it was perfectly moist inside & the skin was the best part!

The ladies stayed in Christmas jammies all day... and Gianna passed out after a day full of playing with new toys & a delicious Christmas meal.

And that was our day :)

My good friend in Atlanta has a farm & we finally decided it was time Gianna rode a horse for the first time. I'll post pics & a video after my 18 week post!

Don't forget about the giveaway below!

Little Love's Designs - [Giveaway]

2012-01-09T07:01:00.001-05:00

I've been MIA from the giveaway world for a while so I thought I might start back up slowly, but surely. :)

You might remember Little Love's Designs from a review/giveaway I did around this same time last year. Her shop has grown & so has the creativity in her designs! Vinny might have to have a few crocheted hats since I'm not allowed to put a headband on him huh?? This might take some getting used to ;)

I mentioned this last year when I reviewed LL Designs... one of the things I love is that if there were a couture baby hair accessories line this would definitely be part of it. Without the high end price tag. Perfection.

I thought some of you might be excited to be getting 20% off your order for 1 week! Use coupon code: MRSF2012

The winner of this giveaway will also win a $25 credit to use towards anything you see in Little Love's Designs :)

How to enter the Little Love's Designs giveaway:

*Required entry: Visit Little Love's Designs and post one of your favorite items. (1 entry)

Extra entries:

1. "Like" Little Love's on Facebook. (1 entry)

2. Become a public follower of my blog, if you aren't already. (1 entry)

That's it! This giveaway begins today, January 9th, and will end in 1 week from today, January 16th. This giveaway is open to the US only. A winner will be chosen at random using random.org. You must respond within 48 hours to claim your prize or another winner will be selected.

Good luck! I'll be back with lots of Christmas pics tomorrow!

*I was provided an item from Little Love's Designs in exchange for this giveaway.

It's a...

2012-01-05T16:21:00.001-05:00

.......

..........................

.......

And we are thrilled!!!! Gianna is so excited to have a baby brother & Hubbs was grinning ear to ear as soon as he heard "and here's the penis" HA!

I always wanted a little boy, but I honestly only pictured myself ever popping girls out. It's going to be weird trying to find things to keep him occupied that don't involve Disney princesses or playing with makeup ;) Everyone in our family is beyond excited to have a little boy added to the family.

We've also had his name picked out since we were still dating in high school...

Vincent Joseph

"Vinny" or "Vince" as nick names

We are finally back in Nashville after a long Christmas break & I'm glad to be back at home. We only have 4 more months here (really?? has time gone that fast?) so I want to savor every last bit of this city as I can.

I have lots of pics from our break so I'll get those all up in a couple of posts. I'm just going to skip the 17 week post & move into 18 weeks next Wednesday.

Ahhh I can't believe we'll have a girl AND a boy in just 5 months!

* If you haven't yet, check out my sponsor, Lovella Bowtique in my sidebar. I know I will be cruising through that site quite a bit now that I know what we're having for little things for the little man :)

16 week belly

2011-12-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

No bare belly this week because of the outfit I was wearing & I wanted them outside. Didn't want neighbors to stare ;) But I definitely feel bigger this time around than I did with Gianna... I really hope it evens out & I don't turn into a whale by the end of all of this!

The verdict is in...

2011-12-29T09:14:00.002-05:00

And we still don't know if we'll be buying blue or breaking out the pink again... we only know this baby is stubborn already!

We went to the ultrasound clinic last night, feeling like 5 year olds on Christmas Eve, and after 20 minutes of trying to get baby to cooperate she could NOT tell us the sex. We were so disappointed. BUT we have another appointment scheduled for next Wednesday so hopefully we have better results then.

First, S/he was curled up in a little ball, and then when s/he finally spread out a little the umbilical cord (and hand!!!) was covering the goods the entire rest of the time. The u/s tech (whose 2 1/2 yr old daughter was ALSO named Gianna... how random?!) told us she was completely 50/50 and couldn't even lean towards one sex so she recommended we come back. Obviously this baby didn't want us to know yet so I guess we can wait another long week :)

So until then Ill just check in with the weekly survey. I took my 16 week pic yesterday, but I had my camera set to RAW & Hubbs computer won't allow that format so I will just post the 16 & 17 week pics together. Unless anyone knows how to convert it?

How far along are you? 16w 1d.

Total weight gain: No idea. Haven't weighed myself since 14 weeks, but I'm sure Christmas dinner played a part in the weight gain for the last week!

How big is baby?: The size of an avocado & about 4 1/2 in.

Maternity clothes: All bottoms, yes. Still wearing normal tops, but I have worn a couple of my smaller maternity tops without looking silly.

Stretch marks?: No new ones.

Sleep?: Starting to get more uncomfortable & I can't sleep on my stomach anymore without feeling pressure. I think when we get back to Nashville I'll be breaking out the Snoogle!

Best moment this week?: Feeling baby more!

Movement?: Feeling lots of flops & just started feeling actual thumps this week. I'm actually feeling him/her everyday at least once a day for a minute or two :)

Food cravings?: Random things. Mexican food, cheetos, pickles, watermelon & carrot sticks. I almost took a picture of my snack plate the other day... cheetos, pickles & watermelon on 1 plate. Weird combo no?

Food aversions?: Italian food. Don't even let me smell lasagna or pizza. Just yuck.

Labor signs?: A week ago I started feeling some braxton hicks already! I was getting them a couple times per day (not painful, just could feel tightening) so I called the Dr (I get freaked out easy) and she told me that is normal in a 2nd pregnancy to feel this early. I was also dehydrated because as soon as I started drinking tons more water they went away. Baby, stay put for at least another 21 weeks!

Belly button in or out?: Getting very shallow.

What I miss: Why do I want sushi so badly? I only ate it everyone 3 months or so pre-pregnancy, but it's all I can think about lately.

What I'm looking forward to: Hopefully finding out the sex next Wednesday if baby lets us!

Milestone: Nothing new this week.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/holiday season! When I get back to Nashville next week I'll have lots of pictures from our Christmas :)

A whole new story...

2011-12-22T13:18:00.000-05:00

We took Gianna to see Santa yesterday & it was a completely different experience from last year. Anyone remember this?

Christmas 2010

She wanted nothing to do with the guy.

This year she was talking about seeing Santa for days on end... going on about what she would talk to him about & how his reindeer were doing & what gift she was going to ask him for. She actually talked his ear off while sitting on his lap & it took some loud noise makers for her to actually take her eyes off him & look at the camera.

No smiles this year either, but we at least had a happy little girl full on wonder!

And of course I had to get a few shots on our back deck with her Christmas outfit before we headed to the mall.

I really can't ask her to smile because this is what I get... HA!

And... I'm also 15 weeks 1 day pregnant today... which means in less than 1 week we will know what lies within the belly!!! I'm still thinking boy. Especially after the extremely vivid dream I had 2 nights ago about giving birth to a boy. Next Wednesday we'll know for sure :)

We are leaving to Atlanta for tomorrow to spend Christmas with my inlaws so I'll be a little worse at updating [I'm sure you're asking yourself if it could get any worse huh?? ;) ] But DO NOT worry... I will have my 16 week post (belly pic & all) up on Wednesday & Thursday morning we will have the verdict on the sex so stay tuned!

14 weeks

2011-12-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

And the attack of the giant nips has arrived. Seriously, I forgot how huge they got when I was pregnant with/nursing Gianna, but YAY... dinner plate nipples are back!

How far along are you? 14w 1d.

Total weight gain: Still up 3 lbs.

How big is baby?: The size of a lemon.

Maternity clothes: Ok I'm officially wearing leggings & maternity jeans only. They are just much more comfy at this point! Still wearing normal tops though.

Stretch marks?: No new ones.

Sleep?: Waking up once to pee, but still sleeping great.

Best moment this week?: Feeling baby wiggling around!

Movement?: Yep... probably once or twice every other day at this point. Only for a couple minutes at a time.

Food cravings?: Still sandwiches with pickles & avocado. And plain pickles (I know so cliche). And the weirdest thing... Cheetos. I swear I haven't eaten a cheeto since high school, but they're all I can think about lately. Regular or flamin' hot. Or both together :)

Food aversions?: Italian food & red meat. Unless it's in burger form.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: In, but I think it might pop about 10 weeks sooner with this pregnancy than it did last time. It's getting scarily shallow.

What I miss: Still missing sushi.

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out the sex in less than 2 weeks. Squeeeee!

Milestone: Feeling movement.

I know these are extremely blurry... sorry!

Let the guessing begin...

2011-12-14T09:13:00.001-05:00

Hubbs & I, being the extremely impatient people that we are, decided to find out the sex of the baby early again. So in 2 weeks from today we will know for sure :) I added a poll to the left sidebar... start guessing!

My guess is boy. I don't have that strong intuition either way though like I did when I was pg with Gianna. With her I told everyone who asked "it's a girl... it just is." This time I will be surprised either way. My reasons for thinking boy are strictly from Old Wives Tales:

Heartbeat at my 13 week appointment was in the 140s... Gigi's was always in the 160s.
I'm carrying MUCH lower than I was with Gianna. I don't know if that's because my ute has already been stretched to its max or what. I'll show you a comparison shot tomorrow to show you what I mean!
Not much acne this pregnancy. I felt like a pubescent 13 year old during the 1st trimester with Gigi. This time I've had a couple of breakouts, but nothing to freak out over. They say girls steal your beauty & G definitely did during my 1st tri!
Craving salty stuff. Although I craved nothing but meat & cheese my 1st pregnancy & obviously that had nothing to do with the sex.
Chinese Gender chart says boy.
Wedding ring test says boy.

Gotta love those "old wives" right? Hubbs is positive that these combined with the Chinese gender chart are foolproof HA :) We shall see very soon!

*Editing to add: I've gotten this from a lot of you so I thought I would add it in here. Do I want a boy or a girl? Honestly, I would love to have another little girl for Gianna's sake. I never had a sister & I think it would be great for her to have a sister close in age. We want 4 kids so I'm sure we will have at least 1 boy in there somewhere so I'm not worried about that. Hubbs is hoping it's a future quarterback of course so if we find out it IS a boy I will be thrilled either way!

And here are some pics of the G to enjoy until my 14 weeks post tomorrow. I'm actually 14 weeks today (instead of my weeks starting over Thurs it will now be Wed). My OB told me my due date was actually June 13th when I was in last week so hey... I'll take a day earlier!

Sweater, tights & skirt: Baby Gap

Boots: Target

Playing with her "pony tails"

13 weeks & NT scan

2011-12-09T09:03:00.000-05:00

So long 1st tri... yay for 2nd tri :)

I had my NT scan yesterday & it went well. Gianna & I got to see the baby in a more human like state (as opposed to the 8 week u/s) and I passed the scan/blood test with flying colors. Here is our little babe growing strong!

So crazy how much they change in just a few weeks.

I'm going to skip the bump pic this week & do it every 2 weeks until I hit 16 weeks... that's when there was more of a difference week to week when I was pg with Gigi. I will also skip the quiz & go straight to the excitement for this week...

I felt baby move yesterday!

I thought I had felt a little something a couple of days ago, but thought it was probably too early to feel anything (even though I could feel Gianna at 14 weeks, which is pretty early for a 1st pregnancy). Well there was no denying these couple of little flops yesterday & it gave me a perma-grin for the rest of the day :) I know I probably won't be feeling him/her everyday consistently for another few weeks, but it's still reassuring to feel the little one playing around every so often...

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T12:55:00.001-05:00

Somebody got into Mommy's eyeshadow yesterday!

It feels like Christmas :)

2011-12-05T09:40:00.001-05:00

I love wearing big sweaters with a mug of hot chocolate in hand. I love the services at church during the month of December, gingerbread cookies, candles that smell like Christmas trees, the happy music, cozy Uggs, busy shopping malls & trips to see Santa Claus.

Hubbs has been very busy this last month studying for finals so it was just Gianna & I making it feel like Christmas in the house yesterday. I lit my favorite candle in the whole world...

and I baked sugar cookies & watched this excited little girl decorate in any way she wanted...

she might have eaten half the sprinkles before they made it to the cookies, but we were both happy :)

sugar high?

We ate our yummy cookies, drank hot cocoa & listened to Christmas music while we decorated the house & the tree. I love the holidays... especially with this crazy 2 year old. Kids honestly make the holidays 20 times more exciting!

Now I need advice... Santa has done all his Christmas shopping for Gianna, but now I need ideas on what to do for Hubbs from Gianna. She made him a mug with her foot print on it for her 1st Christmas & we didn't do any gifts for each other last year. I kind of wanted to do something that would always be a special memory, but I don't know what we could do that won't sit there for years collecting dust. What are you guys doing for gifts from the kids?

12 weeks

2011-12-01T12:11:00.002-05:00

1 week till 2nd tri!!! I couldn't be more excited. Then the exciting part begins... waiting for movement, finding out the sex, and getting the big belleh :)

Here is the 12 week bump shot. I honestly think I look smaller than I did at 10 weeks. I'm sure having a nice poop had something to do with that.

One thing I've done differently this pregnancy is working out. I could count the number of times I hit the gym being pregnant with Gianna on 1 hand. This time around I made it a goal to get a good workout in at least 3 times a week. I'm used to going 5-6 days, but I'm proud of myself for making it 3-4 times lately after being sick & tired all the time. I'm not killing myself at the gym like I used to... I'm just trying to stay healthy & strong... hopefully it will show during labor & after I give birth.

Here is the 12 week survey:

How far along are you? 12 weeks.

Total weight gain: Up 3 lbs.

How big is baby?: The size of a lime (about 2 1/2 inches)

Maternity clothes: Sometimes I'll whip out the maternity jeans. They are just much more comfortable at this point & nobody knows what lies beneath my shirts.

Stretch marks?: No new ones.

Sleep?: I'm waking up once a night to pee already, but other than I can't complain.

Best moment this week?: Celebrating Thanksgiving with the fam :)

Movement?: Not yet.

Food cravings?: Sandwiches with LOTS of pickles & avocado. And lunch meat. I know I'm not supposed to eat lunch meat, but make sure it's plenty heated up before I gobble it down.

Food aversions?: Any Italian food.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: In.

What I miss: Sushi!!!! I've been really craving a good slab of raw tuna dipped in soy sauce. Yumm.

What I'm looking forward to: Still excited to finally start feeling someone in there!

Milestone: That will come next week...

Where has this week gone?

2011-11-30T08:40:00.000-05:00

I never even did an 11 week post & now I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow. Which means 1 more week of 1st tri... woot! I will get Hubbs to take a belly pic tomorrow morning... promise :)

So Thanksgiving was fun, but hard. I felt pretty sick a lot of the time... ya I think I'm immune to Zofran because it has no effect on me at all. Boooo. But we ended up staying an extra day because I didn't want to leave the fam so quickly. Especially my sisters in law. I always forget how much I miss them!

I barely got any good pictures either. I was so upset when I looked through my camera & out of the 60 pics I took these were the only presentable ones. Gianna did NOT want to cooperate at all either (totally not surprising). She hates getting her picture taken now & usually has to be bribed with some kind of sugary treat, but even that didn't work that day. We did get 1 good shot of us 3 for our Christmas cards so at least we accomplished something!

Gigi loves her Uncle Jeff (he will be her official uncle after my sis in law's wedding in march!)

The only pic I got of G smiling like this. When I tell her to smile she gives me this cheese face that is funny, but her eyes are always completely closed HA :)

And the Christmas card... (click to see bigger)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Now I'm off to Christmas shop :)

Planning ahead.

2011-11-22T10:17:00.000-05:00

Over a month before before Christmas & Gianna already has her Christmas outfit. But I have a good excuse... I had a 60% off coupon for Gap & I could only use it on 1 day so I took home a $50 dress for $19! We've done a different color every year... red the first year, green her 2nd time around & we chose gold for her 3rd Christmas.

This is actually in the "baby girls" section & it only runs up to 18-24 months (Gianna is in a 2T). They weren't carrying the matching toddler girl dress in the stores around me so thankfully I have a little peanut that can still fit into the smaller size :)

I couldn't decide what color shoes would go with the dress besides a metallic, but I found these velvet ones in deep red at Old Navy & thought they were the perfect contrast. They look adorable on!

I haven't found the perfect hair accessory yet, but I'll probably try to find something to match the shoes. Let me know if you've come across anything that would go :)

I know we skipped ahead to Christmas, but what are your plans for Thanksgiving? We originally planned on staying in Nashville to celebrate on our own (it's that time of year for Hubbs... finals), but we decided to leave tomorrow morning to celebrate it with my ILs in Atl. It will be a quick trip & we'll be coming back Friday morning, but I'm glad we'll be with family. That also gives me an excuse for some photo shoots... I've been so sad that I haven't been taking many pictures of Gigi lately! I'm hoping this no energy thing lets up in the next couple of weeks.

I probably won't be back to update on 11 weeks until Friday so I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

P.S. Thank you all soooo much for all the awesome ideas to relieve my constipation issue. I ended up trying Dulcolax (ok'd it with my OB first) last night so we'll see if anything happens today. Praying & praying I get some relief soon HA

10 weeks. (+ 3 days)

2011-11-20T15:32:00.004-05:00

This pregnancy already feels like it's going by so much faster than being pregnant with #1. Which is awesome because I'm already so done with the 1st trimester.

The biggest difference between this pregnancy & my previous is the constipation. O.M.G. It is awful. I swear I think I pooped more while I was pregnant with Gianna than I did before I was pg. Now I feel like I'm 20 weeks pregnant sometimes just because of the poop baby I'm carrying around. If anyone has any suggestions, (besides Metamucil or fiber cereal... hasn't worked for me & I've been using/eating both like a drug addict) my ears are wide open!

How far along are you? 10 w 3 d.
Total weight gain: About 4 lbs. That's more than what I had gained with Gigi at 12 weeks! I feel bigger than I did with her at this point already. I'm hoping some of it has to do with the constipation issue I mentioned earlier LOL
How big is baby?: The size of a kumquat & weighs a little less than a quarter of an ounce.
Maternity clothes: Not yet. Although, I'm ashamed to say I may or may not have worn my maternity jeans to Breaking Dawn last night. Don't judge... my pants are already getting uncomfortable & I needed to make room for popcorn :)
Stretch marks?: Just the ones I got from Gianna. Boobs are still just as mauled as they were before!
Sleep?: Great. A few more weeks left of tummy & back sleeping!
Best moment this week?: When Gigi asked me if she could talk to the baby. ::sighs:: So adorable watching her put her face up to the belly button (since that is the only way the baby can hear of course)
Movement?: Not yet.
Food cravings?: Clementines & cheese (quesadillas, apples with cheese slices, cheese fries... I think that kind of cancels out the healthiness of the clementines eh??)
Food aversions?: Most meat, except lunch meat. I craved burgers & steaks being pregnant the 1st time & now it makes me sick to think about. Also, anything with too much seasoning, garlic, onions, etc really makes my stomach turn too. I love that stuff normally!
Labor signs?: Let's hope not!
Belly button in or out?: In.
What I miss: Feeling good & energetic everyday. I also miss taking a good poop.
What I'm looking forward to: Feeling movement & finding out if baby #2 is a boy or another little lady :)
Milestone: I'm 25% finished with the pregnancy & baby is now officially a fetus!

Kind of embarrassing, but I was just noticing that I look very close to how I did being 14 weeks along with Gigi!

Today is a big day.

2011-11-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

I feel like a 14 year old girl, giddy with excitement. Why? Ummm it's time for vampires!!!

Seriously, I never get excited about movies, but I am a total Twihard. And of course I bought my tickets weeks in advance :) So tonight I am leaving the kid with Hubbs & having a girls' night out for dinner & Breaking Dawn!!! Ahhhh!

I know I missed my 10 week post yesterday, but I still haven't gotten a chance to take my first "belly/bloat" pic so I will probably post it tomorrow. Baby F #2 has officially graduated from an embryo to a fetus :) I'm 25% of the way done... and I must say it really HAS gone by much faster with the second one!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and those of you who are going to see BD... enjoy!!

Potty training = SUCCESS

2011-11-15T10:22:00.000-05:00

My baby is officially a little girl... waaaa! But she'll always be my little girl, especially while she's still wearing Minnie Mouse underwear (which may just have to last until she reaches high school, eh?)

Remember this post where I was confused as to why she wouldn't poop in the toilet? Literally 48 hours later she was peeing & pooping in the toilet like a pro. I honestly did nothing different. She just decided randomly that she was sick of diapers... woot!

So she has been officially potty trained for about a month now. She wears big girl underwear all day, including outings to the gym, park, shopping, or wherever. The only time we use a pull-up is at night because she still wakes up with it wet. It's so nice seeing how much money we've saved... I haven't bought a pack of diapers/pull-ups in well over a month!

She gets to pick out her undies everyday, which makes her very excited :)

One thing that has been a HUGE help is this little number:

If you are a germaphobe, like me, then you have probably been dreading the day your kid is potty trained & needs to use the Walmart toilet. ::shudders:: I tried holding Gianna over the toilet, or lining it with an entire roll of toilet paper, but those toilets are just too big for little bums so they end up touching every part of it anyway. I keep this little foldable seat in my bag in a ziploc & it's awesome for public toilets! I just clean it when I get home & it makes my life much easier.

*I'm totally not trying to promote this thing, but I just thought other moms out there might love this thing as much as I do :)

9 weeks!

2011-11-10T08:54:00.002-05:00

And it started with these...

notice how faint the first one is... Hubbs thought it was negative at first glance.

And my new due date is June 14, 2012. That's exactly what I thought it was going to be since I was charting, but I thought I'd go by my LMP until it was confirmed by my OB. So I'm 9 weeks today!

So far this pregnancy has been different, emotionally & physically than my first pregnancy:

I'm dead tired all day. Maybe I just don't remember being this tired with Gianna because I didn't have a toddler to chase around back then!
I'm not sick ALL DAY LONG like I was the first time around. BUT, I'm sick in the afternoon & evening & cannot keep anything down after lunch time. It's so awful that I caved & asked for Zofran at my first appointment on Tuesday. Still haven't picked it up (seriously that's how lazy I am!) so I don't know if it works yet.
My boobs hurting was the first sign of pregnancy this time. They started getting sore around 5dpo so that's when "I just knew" I was pregnant. Which is why I was so impatient & tested at 9 dpo!

Emotionally: I still don't think I've taken some time to soak in the fact that I'm actually pregnant with another baby. When I was pregnant with Gianna everything was about me being pregnant. I thought about it 24/7. I browsed through Project Nursery 5 hours a day. I was a "regular bumpie" on the bump community boards & was chatting away from 9am-5pm. When we both got home, Hubbs & I dreamed about what life would be like once this little one arrived.

This time... I feel like I'm so busy loving on Gianna & making sure she's taken care of that I still don't believe I'm pregnant. A couple weeks ago I mentioned something about my first OB appointment & Hubbs said, "I keep forgetting you are pregnant!" Ummm sad huh? Don't worry... he is now reminded of my pregnancy every time he comes home to leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches for dinner :) Hey... a sick, pregnant lady has to rest! Seeing our little babe on the ultrasound made it more real for both of us though :)

heartbeat was going strong at 170 bpm... way faster than Gianna's ever was!

I think when I start to feel him/her & start showing it will feel more real. I can't wait to start feeling those little nudges... because that (to me) is the BEST part of pregnancy. It's a constant reminder that you are growing an actual life inside of you. I really am soooo excited to add another baby to our family & to give Gianna a sibling. I just can't wait to find out what we're having!

Our families are so excited to have another grandchild. It's the 2nd on both sides so it's still a new & exciting thing. When my ILs came to visit we went to dinner (the pregnant lady was craving cheese fries from Longhorn) and pulled the ever popular picture surprise.

"Everybody say 'Gianna's going to be a big sister!'"

I decided I will start taking belly pics at 10 weeks. There isn't much to see (besides the massive bloat of course!) but I loved looking back at all my early pictures the first pregnancy. You think you are getting so big at 15 weeks & then by 38 weeks you think, "was I ever that tiny?!"

Pumpkin Patch.

2011-11-07T08:04:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. I'm totally skipping past the real stuff everybody is interested in... deets on the pregnancy! I promise I'll get to that tomorrow. I know if I don't post pumpkin patch pics now then I probably never will. I'm having my first appointment & ultrasound in the morning so I'll be able to post our first photo of our new little one :)

I finally get to show off the little Halloween top I made Gigi. The back "b" is also painted on using the freezer paper & the pumpkins are sewn on.

Skirt: Walmart

Tights & socks: Baby Gap

Boots: Target

She was in the middle of a "mooo"

Adorable donkey!

Gianna got to "milk" a cow & this was probably her favorite part of the trip! We sat there for almost 30 minutes letting her milk away before we had to pry her fingers away.

I will update when I can tomorrow after my ultrasound!

*If you haven't checked out Lovella Bowtique recently... do! I've been drooling over the bedroom decor looking at ideas for another nursery :)

Ok fine.

2011-11-02T18:04:00.001-04:00

I know some of y'all had an idea already :)

Due June 8, 2012

*Please do NOT say anything on Facebook yet if you're friends with me. My parents won't even know until they receive this picture in the mail... probably when they get home from work tonight! I just couldn't contain the excitement any longer :)

November 1st.

2011-11-01T22:53:00.000-04:00

Crazy??? I can't believe another year is almost over. Halloween is 364 days away & Thanksgiving is only about 3 weeks away. Yay for the holidays... my favorite time of year :)

Halloween was so much fun this year because Gianna was old enough to enjoy the trick or treating part. Last year she totally enjoyed it & we got a kick out watching her confusion/amazement as people kept handing her candy after candy.

This year was different because I prepped her with reading Halloween books & she was completely prepared for the event. She is an expert at "oooooo"-ing like a ghost & she had so much fun guessing what people were dressed up as. She excitedly exclaimed "trick-or-treat!" when another neighbor would open the door, but we did have to [continuously] remind her that she could take 1 treat only. She was grabbing handfuls at a time HA :)

Gianna's "best friend" came over to share the trick-or-treating fun with us & the girls totally tore up the street.

*to answer a question from my last post... yes EVERYTHING is hand made by me. leggings, skirt, antennas & top included :)

I'm lucky I have a daughter who loves to have her hair & makeup done. Of course we only get to indulge in the makeup part when we're playing around at home or on Halloween, but it's so much fun! I sprayed her hair with silver glitter hair spray.

I attempted the sequin eyes that I posted about here, but the eyelash glue wasn't working out too well so we used already sticky gems which turned out just as cute. I let her put on her own silver lipstick!

Noni & Grandpa came to visit for a couple of days over Halloween... Gianna loves her grandparents!

Gigi & her friend, Laura... she was a peacock. We made the girls' costumes together!

Let the fun begin...

Gigi wanted a "nice pumkim." This is the one she "helped" me carve.

I think my pumpkin carving skills got a little better this year. My attempt at a Georgia "G" last year wasn't so hot, but I think I did a pretty good job with the bulldog... if I do say so myself :)

I can't wait to read blogs & look at all your awesome costumes!

Happy Halloween :)

2011-10-31T20:50:00.003-04:00

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

Love -

Gianna, the alien

I love Fall.

2011-10-26T09:18:00.000-04:00

But I've been so lazy lately with picture taking so I have nothing of the beautiful leaves or anything.

These are from a few weeks ago just hanging out in the morning in our jammies & just now saw them. Oh the days when I'd snap shot after shot of absolutely nothing. We need a photo shoot!

One of my best friends from Utah came to visit us in Nashville this past weekend. We had a good time catching up & showing her around the city... and took zero pictures. We're horrible! I felt bad because I wasn't feeling 100% great so we went to bed no later than 10 every night (with the exception of 1 night... we made it to 11... party time LOL).

We're planning on going to the pumpkin patch [finally] this weekend. We've had things going on every weekend until now so I know it's totally last minute (and we already have pumpkins), but Gianna has to have somewhere to wear the shirt I made her right ;)

This year will be fun because she will get to do the fun things like enjoy a hay ride. And I can probably bribe her to give me some good photos by dangling some fudge over my head. My inlaws are also coming to visit on Sunday so they can be here for Halloween... so we will have lots of fun pictures after this weekend. I'm excited to be with family for a couple of days!

How to get a kid to poop in the toilet.

2011-10-19T08:52:00.002-04:00

Seriously how? I think Gianna is either embarrassed or scared to NOT do it in her diaper. I've tried leaving her alone on the toilet when I think she's going to do it so she can have privacy, but nope. I would say she is almost completely potty trained.

She wears big girl undies all day at home & we've only had one pee accident in the last couple of weeks. I put a diaper/pull-up on her only when we leave the house or at night time.

Or when she has to poop. I know I'm a sucker. She literally asks for a diaper when she has to poop & I give in after trying for 15 minutes because I've cleaned up poopy underwear & it's not pretty. Any suggestions?

Anyway... here was our day yesterday:

We gave each other pedicures :) [I know I have terrible toes, but I had to share my daughter's lovely work]

We played with play-doh. Gianna asked me to make her a princess. I know, I know... I'm a play doh genius.

We had a play date with a fellow blogger & her son, Sam. Adorable???

And I just found this from a couple of months ago & realized I never put it up. I just can't resist her when she has curly cue piggy tails :)

P.S. Don't forget to check out my sponsor, Lovella Bowtique! They are always adding new, adorable things :)

Where have the last 2 1/2 weeks gone?

2011-10-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

And what have we been up to?

We've gone to the Farmer's Market & picked out our pumpkins...

And even got to take pictures with some pumpkins on steroids...

We've been to the park a dozen times... Daddy has even been able to come a few times this year. Yay for the last year of law school being a little more lax :)

We've chased down some squirrels...

And finally finished Gianna's Halloween costume! Which we won't show off until after Halloween. It actually turned out really cute... for someone who had never sewn anything before. Thanks for the help, Candace :)

I know I say this every time I take a blog break, but it was much needed. Sometimes I feel like it's more of a job than something fun to do & taking a break once in a while helps me get more of my thoughts together so the blog isn't full of just "so today I took a dump... and it was really nice." Know what I mean? ;)

I also have to apologize if you have written me emails within the last 2 months. Yes, that's right. That's about how long it's been since I've checked it. And to be honest I'm putting it off because I'm just imagining how long it's going to take me to respond to the hundreds I have! That is my priority this weekend though... sorting through emails. And I promise I WILL get back to you, but I can't promise how long it will take :( Sorry!!!

Boo!

2011-09-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

I'm becoming quite crafty lately... thanks to this little site I just discovered called Pinterest. Ever heard of it ;) I am OBSESSED.

I wanted to make this little girly ghost top I found from Etsy via Pinterest. Adorable & simple enough to pair with Gianna's black skinny jeans & a cute orange headband. I thought it would be perfect for our annual pumpkin patch trip.

Here is how it turned out!

And instead of it costing me $26 (plus shipping) it only cost me $5 for the plain white tee. This makes me happy :) I just used freezer paper to trace & cut out the design, ironed it on the shirt then used fabric paint to paint it on. The original top was appliqued with black fabric, but this was easier & gave the same effect. Now I have to do the back of the top... I'll post it when I'm done!

26 months old.

2011-09-26T18:07:00.001-04:00

And since I've been in a phase of looking through all Baby Gianna pictures & videos, here she is at this time last year. She is such a big girl, it's unbelievable.

Oh wait, I can't go by months anymore can I? :-( But since I haven't given you an update on what Gianna's has been doing/learning lately... let me summarize favorite things right now:

Counting. She actually loves to learn so it's been fun teaching her different things. She can count perfectly from 1-16!
ABC's. She looooves to sing. She is singing the ABCs for about 1/4 of the day HA :)
She sings Twinkle Twinkle.
She is learning to spell her name. She says, "G-I-A-N-A... Gi-nana!" so that's pretty good... we're working on getting the 2nd "n" in there.
I will ask her where certain letters are on her alphabet board (where is the g... where is the k, etc) & she will point to the specific letter. We're still working on it, but she's got over half of the letters down.
She is learning the sound for each letter right now & she has got over half of them down... which I'm so impressed by because I still feel like she is so little!

We have been watching this Leap Frog video called The Letter Factory and it has been awesome. We watch it together 1-2 times per day (it's about 40 mins long) and we sing the letters & their sounds together... that way I still feel like I'm helping & it's not all the video's job :) I totally recommend this video!

She has started going pee-pee in the toilet almost every time she needs to go, unless we're out. She feels like since we're out & about she can go in her diaper & doesn't tell us. She's only gone poop 2 or 3 times in the last couple weeks in the toilet so we're still a ways away from being completely potty trained.
She has started picking up funny phrases or just random things from shows or movies. Her current favorite is "no touchy!" from Emperor's New Groove. And she tries to catch birds (or squirrels, and airplanes for that matter) on her finger because "Snow White does that!"

So here is a video of her singing the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle & doing a few of her letter sounds. If you are bored that is... it's 4 mins long :)

I call this her movie star hair. This is how it looks when she wakes up after I put it in a high pony tail when it's wet & she sleeps in it.

Top: Old Navy

Black jeans: Baby Gap

Shoes: TOMS

Headband: Etsy

Halloween time.

2011-09-21T17:04:00.000-04:00

I know it's still over a month away, but brainstorming ideas can never start too early at the Foreste household :)

I had 3 ideas in my head & searched for some cute costumes all over the internet that fit the pictures in my head. Here are the top 3:

1. Oompa Loompa. I know it's not cutesy & girly, but I thought she would look so cute with big green hair & Snooki style bronzing... not to mention the poofy pants.

2. Minnie Mouse. Because I can only imagine the cuteness of big ears, big polkadot dress & painted black nose.

3. Futuristic girl from outerspace. No idea what to call it because there is NO costume out there for what I'm looking for.

The winner (for now) is... girl from outerspace! That's if I can make the costume in time. I saw an idea in a Martha Stewart Halloween magazine & thought I MUST recreate this in a miniature size. I found these silver leggings, which will go perfect. Now I'm going to attempt to make a silver lame' leotard (with the help of my amazing mommy friend) with some sort of purple mylar material for a Jane Jetson style collar. I'm going to use the same shiny mylar type fabric to make a short skirt that sticks straight out (hoop skirt style).

She is going to wear her little silver Toms & my inspiration for her hair came from Gwen Stefani... and I will spray it silver of course!

I decided I'm going to spice up her costume with a tiny bit of makeup. Because when else can you go all out on a kid, but Halloween?? This is what we're going to aim for... pretty sequins around the eyes & some silvery/pinky lipstick.

I'm so excited & it's not even my costume :) This is the winner as of now, but we'll see if we're able to pull it off with the sewing machine. Now it's your turn because I'm always up for some more inspiration... what are your ideas for costumes this year?

Never ever have I seen...

2011-09-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

Ever played that "Never ever have I [blank]" game? Well I'll start.

Never ever have I seen a person fall asleep standing up. Until Saturday.

I walked into Gianna's room to check up on her during her "nap" and this is what I found. No... not the mess of toys everywhere. I'm talking about the little toddler draped over the ottoman.

Yes, she is seriously fast asleep. Snoring and all. But don't worry, people, she didn't forget to put her new TOMS on (on the wrong feet, but hey, she was tired!) before she fell asleep!

I didn't even know this was possible! I let her sleep like that long enough for me to get a couple of photos (of course I want these memories!) and then I put her in her bed. Little ladybug!!! She was too tired to make it to her bed after reading her books HA!

happy college football watching

2011-09-17T13:50:00.000-04:00

Gianna loves watching football with her daddy... as soon as she sees football on TV she says, "goooo bull gaws!"

So goooo dawgs (we better win since we're not even playing a D1 team... we've been embarrassed enough)! And good luck to your team! Unless your playing us in the next few weeks ;)

It's here... it's finally here :)

2011-09-16T15:21:00.000-04:00

Nordstrom in Nashville had their grand opening this morning at 10am. And Gianna and I were there 30 minutes after they opened their beautiful glass doors. And it was already a mob scene, which is probably an understatement. It was like Christmas season... times 2 1/2.

Gianna was up from about 2-4:45am last night because she started getting a little cold yesterday. She couldn't breathe out of her nose so we let her "sleep" with us during that time. I say "sleep" because whenever we've tried this she takes it as a slumber party pass... she dances around on the bed & jumps on my bladder as we both try to ignore the tiny foot pressing into our jugular [it's her favorite thing to do & she takes turns with each of us... so thoughtful :) ]

So despite the rough night, we still made it to the grand opening. We only stayed about 2 hours because Gianna's nose was bothering her again.

But that was just enough time to pick these up for G:

And enough time to pick these up for Mommy. I've had my heart set on some TOMS for a while... perfect for errand running & trips to the park :)

The silver ones for Gigi are sooo adorable on her & go with everything. Including the Halloween costume that I want to make for her...

which I will share with you next week :) I'm still not positive, but this is the current frontrunner. I'm excited to share my ideas... hope everyone has a great weekend!

She's a big kid now.

2011-09-14T08:02:00.002-04:00

And this is her new set up:

Because she finally started climbing out of her crib & it scared the toots out of me. We have hard wood floors throughout the whole house so I could just imagine hearing her little head landing on the floor during a crib escape gone wrong. Toddler bed it is!

I'm actually surprised it took her this long to climb out. Like I said in the post below... she is such a climber! She is actually doing well at night in her big girl bed. She's pounded on the door a couple of times since she realizes she now has that option, but after 2-3 minutes I hear her jump back in bed & she's out for the night. I actually get about a half hour more of sleep because she sits & plays in her room for a while before actually calling my name... win win :)

Remember how Gianna called it quits on nap time? Well as of a couple of weeks ago I've decided I'm not giving up. Not yet. You are 2 years & 1.5 months, child. And you start throwing fits around 4:30pm because of how exhausted you are.

Well this is what her bedroom looks like after a "nap":

Babies, books & toys... oh my! It looks like a tornado went off every afternoon. And this was taken yesterday (a good day). I put her in her bed for a nap & she just plays & reads for an hour or so (I put the "or so" very loosely) before Mommy guilt takes over me.

I know I'm not the only mother of a toddler that needs "me" time or chores time so fess up.

::prepares self to be thoroughly embarrassed::

One of the best parts about having a family?

2011-09-13T18:38:00.000-04:00

Having family days. Just us three. No interruptions... just us... Which Wich sandwiches... and some old bread to feed to the geese.

We went to Centennial Park on Saturday to get out of the house & do something as a family. It was PERFECT weather [high 70s/80ish] so we grabbed some lunch & nabbed the best picnic table in the park overlooking the little lake. Gianna couldn't wait to feed the ducks & geese.

This is her "cheese" face. I say "say cheese!" and she looks over with this face for approximately .08 seconds. Hilarious, but frustrating when I want to get a sweet picture of her pretty smile!

She is such a climber. I walked into the kitchen the other day to her climbing up the handles on the fridge!

I know it's still early, but when you're me it's never too early to start planning Halloween costumes! I have a couple of ideas for Gianna. I'm figuring this will probably be the last year where she will let me choose her costume for her so I wanted to make it count. I will share my ideas in the next few days :)

Lately...

2011-09-07T15:23:00.002-04:00

Since Mrs. F seems to have so many other important things to worry about other than blogging... I suppose I should explain what we've been up to in the last couple of weeks?

"Hand Foot Mouth Disease" for Gianna
Football season... aka watching the Dawgs get their asses handed to them (I'm sure it's only the beginning)
Fall shopping (for Gigi)
~~Patiently~~ awaiting the grand opening of Nordstrom Nashville (I think I just peed a little)
Play dates with Gianna's BFF, Laura (less than 3 months apart). Seriously these girls love each other & I love seeing it!
Dinner parties & BBQs... the last ones of the summer ::tear::
Planning to TTC Baby Foreste #2 ::sqeeeeee::
Mrs. F getting healthy
Watching our "baby" become a real little girl. And here's a little video to show how big she is getting if you have a few minutes to kill.

So let's explain everything, shall we?

Gianna got "HFM" about 8 days ago now... it started with what I thought was a diaper rash gone wrong. It turned into little blistery bumps & I noticed them forming on the bottom of her feet & a couple on her hands. I had her in the doctor's office within 2 hours of noticing this & he diagnosed her with having "HFM." She had a very mild case & thankfully it never got worse than it was that morning I spotted it. It's a virus spread through infants/young children so I know she got it from the gym. All I could do was keep her away from other kids for 7 days & hope it's not spreading around!

TTC baby #2. It's so on. I've got my ovulation kits ready & my alarm clock set to a very early 5am every morning, with my thermometer within arms reach of the bed. Bring it on. And wish us luck :)
[If you are Facebook friends with me... keep this info to yourself... please & thank you!]

Getting Mrs. F healthy. I'm going to be honest with you. I only ended up going to 2 therapy sessions after I shared that infamous ED post with y'all. Why? I second guessed whether I really had a problem, yet again. And what did that lead to? Losing another 10 lbs over the summer. That's why it's taken me so long to post an update on that issue. Nobody wants to admit defeat.

Since Gianna's birthday party, I'm happy to say I've gathered up every ounce of strength I have & slapped myself in the face a few times. Which has led to me reaching a healthy weight with the help of doctors, Hubbs & myself. I never stopped exercising & I actually started eating real meals. Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

13 pounds. That's how much I've gained. And that is extremely hard to see, but I'm at a healthy weight now & most importantly... I physically feel the best I've felt in a very long time.

I'm no longer lightheaded every 5 minutes. I don't go to bed with pounding headaches. I don't hear my hollow stomach screaming at me all day long. I have more energy to chase Gianna around the yard. The only thing that's been hard is the mental part of it: watching the number on the scale get higher & higher... seeing my "ED clothes" fit tighter & tighter... learning to accept myself the way I'm supposed to look. AND LOVE IT.

I've put my scale away & haven't weighed myself in a week (stop laughing, people, because that's a record for me!). I'm focusing on keeping myself healthy & stress free... after all... we are TTC very soon so I want the best environment for our future babe (and of course for my own well being).

I'm not going to sugarcoat my story & shout from the inter webs that "I love my body now & I'm so proud of me!" It's not that easy. Hell... even some women without EDs can't say that about themselves! I am proud of myself. But I'm still learning to like what I see. I haven't always been this way so I know that part of me will come out of hiding sooner or later. And when that day comes... I think I just might shout it from the inter webs.

Don't forget to check out my sponsor, Lovella Bowtique, on the right side of my page!

How adorable

2011-08-26T09:26:00.000-04:00

is this baby bunny??

Hubbs nearly ran over him & his little brother with the lawnmower. They were hiding out in a burrow in our front yard so Hubbs picked one up to make sure he was ok.

We went to check on them last night to make sure the mom had come back for them... and we found them dead :( We were so sad. Hubbs thinks the mom either was killed herself, or smelled that her bunnies had been messed with so she never came back. Gianna kept saying "oh cute! bunnies sleeping!" How do you explain death to a 2 year old?? We just let her think they were taking a long nap.

And I admit... I am a bad blogger. I am going to try my best to change that. I know once we are TTC (2 more months... squeeeeee) I will try to update 5 days a week to document my 2nd pregnancy, but right now I feel like my life is so boring HA :)

Home tour... As promised.

2011-08-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

And Hubbs doesn't just walk around shirtless all day. He had just gotten back from the gym ;) I love our new house & I'm actually sad that we only get to spend 10 months here!

It's done.

2011-08-18T10:12:00.002-04:00

The 2nd to last part of her babyhood is gone. And it wasn't terrible actually.

I took some of your advice & did the "cut the tip of the paci" trick. We laid her down in her crib after prayers & she turned over to grab her tete, stuck it in her mouth, and got this disgusted look on her face. She took it out to examine the damage. Looks at me... looks at Daddy... looks at me again... then back to her tete.

Gianna: "Tete broken?"
Me: "Oh no! I guess it's broken." ::spoken in absolute shock of course::
Gianna: "Ok... I fick its." Translation: "I fix it."
Me: "I don't think we can fix it, Gigi, I'm sorry. We have to say bye-bye to tete."
Gianna: ::lays down with a bottom pouty lip & snuggles with her lamby::

As soon as we left the room... TEARS. Lots of them. But they only lasted 5 minutes or so. It made me feel terrible.

Yesterday for her nap she asked about her tete & I reminded her that it was broken & so it went bye bye. She got the pouty lip again & shed a couple of tears for 2ish minutes this time. Last night she asked about it again & she reminded herself that "no, tete broken." No tears. She goes straight to bed.

Success.

Thank you all for the great advice :) Now we just need to work on the last part of babyhood... potty training (not going so well so far so that could be months away!).

We are hanging the last of our pictures on the walls today so I will do a video tour of our new home tomorrow!

The paci fairy.

2011-08-16T10:03:00.001-04:00

So now that Gianna is 2, I know I have to start thinking about how to rid her of her paci... or "tete" as she calls it. I've thrown all but 1 of them away. And I only give it to her during her naps (yes, she started taking them about 4-5 times/week again!) & at bedtime.

I've heard about the "paci fairy" who comes & takes the pacis at night to give to little babies who need them & replaces it with a little goodie, but I feel like she is waaay to young to understand that right now. So what are my other options? Cold turkey? Mommy & Daddy "lost" it?

Any suggestions to rid Gianna of the tete for good? Suggestions please!

Anyway, we are completely unpacked & settled into our new house. Woot woot :) I absolutely LOVE our new neighborhood & the house. I am planning to give y'all a video tour this week. So for now I'll leave you with some pictures of Gianna & my parents during our visit to SLC...

Nana took us to Build a Bear to so Gigi could make her own... she chose a puppy & picked out the outfit too!

Dress: Etsy

Shoes: Target

Hair flower: Katelyn & Co

Giving puppy a pep talk before they go down the slide

Gianna & Nana (and Delilah!)

This was on her actual birthday... we took her to Mimi's for breakfast

I got her a special birthday pin & she made sure to point to it & say "my birday!" every time someone walked past her :)

She had a pretty princess balloon too

Then we took her to Toys R Us to pick out a little toy. She found this cart & filled it with everything she could find. I'm sure the employees loved us since we didn't buy any of it.

Top: Baby Gap

Skirt & sandals: Target

Headband: Lovella Bowtique

Later that day we sang Happy birthday & had some cake.

See that fuzzy green thing in the corner of this pic? That's what she ended up choosing out of the hundreds of toys at the store. It was only $8 & it's a little creature with just feet, hair & no hands that comes with a brush & hair accessories LOL! It's the most random things that kids are amused by.

Later that week we stayed at Papa's house & played a lot in the backyard.

Stay tuned for that video tour!

Packing up.

2011-08-10T12:38:00.000-04:00

And I'm sitting here on my computer looking at videos & uploading more pictures. Productive.

But since I won't have internet in Nashville until Friday (hey... that beats the 2 weeks sans cable/internet at both my parents house!) I needed my last web fix. And I leave you with this short clip of Gianna on a carousel for the first time. I remember what it was like being so enchanted with these things when I was little :)

So I will be back on Friday, but before I go I wanted to share a few photos I took of my BFF, Mrs. D's, almost 1 year old! Adorable baby girl.

I'm still working on getting this center column widened (or just getting rid of one of the side ones) so that I can fit these horizontal photos in without it being cut off. So for now you can click on them to see them bigger!

I'm sure I'll be back on Friday! Knowing my OCD about clutter & things not being where they should be... our house should be completely unpacked (photos on the walls & everything) by tomorrow afternoon LOL.

More birthday pics.

2011-08-08T16:13:00.001-04:00

Hubbs & I took Gianna to the same park where I had some of my maternity photos taken so I could take some more "2 year old" photos. It was the first time we'd been back there since she was a 31 week old bump in my belly... CRAZY how fast time flies. She went from this...

to this happy little girl! No more baby... at least that's what she tells us :( I tell her "you're mommy's baby" and her response is, "I not a baby. I ananna!" Ananna is what she calls herself. She can say "G" but for some reason she doesn't like to put it together for her name!

And I thought I'd throw a video in here... singing to the birthday girl :)

............................

We're finally going back "home" to Nashville on Wednesday & I couldn't be happier! I'm just ready to be back in our own house, unpack our 10,000 boxes & settle in our new home. For 10 more months before we have to pack up & move AGAIN.

I'm actually loving Nashville now & I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm slightly disappointed we will be moving back to Atlanta next June. I love that we have Hubbs' family here, but I just love the city of Nashville.

To be honest, I think my parents' divorce situation has made me become more independent & I'm liking being in our own city now. It's sad to say, but I didn't enjoy my time in Utah much this time (besides the party & seeing all my friends) & it's the first time I couldn't wait to leave. It was the first time I'd been back to SLC to visit since their divorce so it was the first time that I really had to split our time & make sure everyone was happy.

My parents made it pretty clear [just through their actions] that they weren't ready for me to visit. Someone was usually getting their feelings hurt because I was with the other parent & I sort of felt like I was being put in the middle at times. There were lots of tears [on both ends] & I just didn't feel that closeness that I'd always felt when I visited home. I had my feeling hurt by BOTH parents, and I know they didn't mean to.

Basically, what tore them apart happened around Gianna's 1st birthday. And I felt like Gianna is being punished because "her birthday will always have a separate meaning." Ouch. That hurts. I apologize that my child's date of birth happens to be around that same time.

Ok, I'm totally venting now. But I definitely won't be visiting any time soon, unless one parent asks me to. I feel sad, but I know things will be ok someday. Maybe not in the next month or year, but things will brighten up. I have faith. And right now, I'm just looking forward to taking care of my family & myself. *Recovery update post coming soon

Gianna's 2nd birthday!

2011-08-03T18:09:00.003-04:00

We're back from the dead :) And FINALLY done with all this party stuff. Phew. I'm exhausted & (I can't believe I'm saying this) soooo ready to be done with party planning for a long time!

All in all, it was a stressful few hours before the party, but it was a success :) Gianna was SOOO happy to see all her favorite Sesame Street monsters surrounding her & even happier to be playing with the dogs & kiddos that showed up.

One thing I will say: I do NOT recommend a park party!!! Unless you are keeping it VERY simple (i.e. balloons, a cake & food) or you have lots of help & someone who doesn't mind staying to watch everything while you go home to get the birthday girl/boy ready.

The party started at 11am & my mom & I were at the park by 7:45am setting up decor, etc. It was incredibly stressful making sure everything was up & ready on time & then I still had to go home & get myself & Gianna ready... as well as load up the food/cake, etc & pick up the pizzas on the way. I could NOT have done it without the help of my mom. She actually stayed with the stuff while I went home to do all this after we set up. Fun party, but stressful. Keeping it at home where you can set up the night before is so much nicer!

We decided that next year we're just going take her somewhere fun and just do some good old fashioned cake & balloons. Yes, it's going to be a struggle for me as we near Gigi's 3rd birthday to ignore my urge to scour websites for theme ideas. But I'll hopefully be very pregnant by then so that will be a good reason to save money & keep myself stress free :)

And here is "Gianna Street"... enjoy!

{click on any horizontal photo to see it bigger!}

All printables (including invitations) were created by Silly Me Design. She did all this custom for Gianna & I couldn't have been happier with the process!

Colorful Izzes were the drink of choice for the adults, since alcohol was prohibited in the park. Hello, Utah LOL ;) The kids drank Capri Suns.

Straws are from Hey Yo Yo.

Green paper cups are also from Hey Yo Yo

Pizza was the easiest food to serve... and lucky us... it also happens to be Elmo's favorite ;)

Every table had a different color tablecloth with balloons in Blume Boxes as the centerpieces. I forgot to get balloon weights to put inside so I used water bottles & filled the boxes with lavender tulle.

Sorry about some of these pics... it was so bright outside!

Instead of buying more cake stands, I used pretty plastic plates & put plastic white bowls under them (upside down) to make a cheap cake plate! You can see it better in the first pic of the dessert table.

The fondant cupcake toppers were made by Parker's Flour Patch.

I bought plastic 90¢ buckets from the party store to hold the kids' favors. I just stuck paper characters on the bucket to match the color. The favors were "take & toss" Sesame Street sippy cups, silly bands, a Sesame Street activity book (from the dollar bins at Target) & crayons. I made all the party hats from pretty card stock & pom poms. They all had the child's first initial underneath a character.

Banner made by AnyGoodIdeas.

Here's the birthday girl! I didn't get very many good pictures of her in her outfit so I'm planning a little trip to a local park before we go back to Nashville to get some 2 year old shots :)

Polka dot paper plates, green utensils & yellow napkins

My best friend, Mrs. D, her hubby, sister & adorable baby Claire!

Letter "G" & number "2" cookies made by a cookie jar

My amazing friends & sig others (that I miss too much!) from high school

Gigi with one of my best friends (who is pregnant yay!)

My best friends (minus Mrs. D)

Gianna with her Nana (my mom)

I was in love with the cake... so sad to cut it! I used a hat box I found at Hobby Lobby as the cake stand. The Elmo/Abby toppers are from Sweeten Your Day.

Paper bags to fill with goodies from the dessert table. The tags said "Thank you for visiting Gianna Street... here's a special treat!" I just folded the tops over, punched some holes & used pretty ribbon to tie them.

Sweet little Claire will be 1 in a few weeks!

We were supposed to have like 8 kids (including Gianna) and only 3 showed up. Oh well... birthday girl still had a blast!

Bloomers were from Custom Clothes for Kids

Custom headband: Maya J Accessories (gorgeous stuff & such a fun person to work with!)

Elmo shirt: Bella Grace Creations

Tutu: Paisley & Posies

Converse: Zappos

We had an Abby Caddaby Pinata!! Too bad the oldest kid there was Gianna so the adults ended up breaking it open haha :)

The girls were just staring at him trying to figure out why he was so sad!

My other BF stole the cookie plate... the pregnant girl always gets an excuse!

Gigi opening her presents

She pulled this little baby back pack around for the rest of her party!

Our yummy lemon cake...

Happy as a clam with her baby & lollipop

Letting the balloons go at the end of the party

Hope y'all enjoyed the pictures! Don't forget to check out my sponsor Lovella Bowtique! They just added some new items... like the onesie stickers that Gianna used during her 1st year :)

Running around like crazy.

2011-07-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

That's what I've been doing. All week. Trying to get last minute party items together before we leave for Salt Lake TOMORROW. I can't believe Gianna will be 2 in 1 week from today. And her party is 5 days after that. Mind boggling much??

So now that I finally think that I have free time (the monster is actually napping... praise the Lord!), I now realize I have TONS to pack before our 7am flight. I know right? Sounds like a dream to wake up at 4am & leave by 4:45! I hate traveling without Hubbs because it's not much fun trying to keep Gianna occupied on a 4 hour plain ride. At least in a car she falls asleep, but not on a plane with hundreds of people surrounding her. Not looking forward to it so wish me luck. I haven't done this by myself since right after her 1st birthday!

Well that was my boring update because (wouldn't you know it) Gianna is shrieking for "orange juice!" through the monitor. At least we got an hour nap in today :)

It's official.

2011-07-13T15:56:00.001-04:00

Little Miss Gianna has officially given up that whole napping thing. That was soooo 1 month ago. So that is why this mama has lacked in the blogging department. Her nap time used to be my ME time. My time to catch up on laundry. Or Teen Mom. Or blogging. Or laying down for 10 minutes without a munchkin tugging on my head saying, "No night-night, Mommy... up!"

Guess those days are gone. Which is good & bad in different ways. Yes, I'm a teensy bit grumpier right now because I don't get time to myself during the day. BUT Gianna is at the best age right now. Everything is so much fun with her & her chatting up a storm keeps me happy & sane (totally different from being home alone with a newborn all day). We have found new things to do since she's given up naps... like riding the carousel a million times at the mall. I pay 2 bucks for unlimited rides... woot!

We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom the other day & got to sit in the big tree booth. Gianna loved it :) I know this is an awkward shot of both of them, but Gianna was in the process of wiggling out of Daddy's arms to crawl back in the tree.

Don't worry, Hubbs was right next to her & there were no cars in this parking lot that could come by & hit her while she was frolicking through the street!

And now it's down to business. Party business that is. I've been working hard trying to get the last minute details down because it's only in a couple more weeks. Eeek. I know a toddler's birthday shouldn't be this stressful, but I think having it at a park is what's most stressful to me right now. I can't decorate the night before like I did last year. I can't keep all the food in the fridge until the last minute. And I can't put Gianna down for a nap right before the party so I can get everything done (we'll have to have Hubbs stay at my mom or dad's house during the set up so I can focus!).

But as of now... I'm not giving away any more details. I want it to be a surprise :)

P.S. I accidentally deleted the last 7 comments in the 4th of July post instead of publishing them! I'm so sorry if your comment was deleted. Feel free to repost :) I was trying to delete a snarky comment & ended up deleting all of them.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T14:10:00.001-04:00

We certainly had a happy one... we hosted a BBQ for our good friends & spent the majority of the day in the pool with fruity (may or may not have been filled with bourbon) drinks in hand :)

Gianna made a new little friend. She was 5 years old, but the sweetest little girl ever, who couldn't have cared less about Gianna being less than half her age. They played in the pool, drew with sidewalk "cock," played with bubble guns, and made things out of Play-doh. The adults enjoyed some good food (yes, I slaved away in the kitchen all morning for 15 adults... never cooked for that many people at a time before!), spiked palm springs punch (thank you, Sandra Lee), and a good game (or 3) of beer pong. By the time everyone left at about 5:30 we were too pooped to go anywhere to see fireworks... but it started pouring rain for basically the entire night so that gave us an excuse to skip the show. Gianna never knew any better... she was still amazed by the bubble gun :)

I tried a new recipe for potato salad & I think y'all would appreciate the link. It was THE BEST potato salad I've ever had... give it try for your next get together!

Here are some pics I took of Gianna yesterday morning. This first one is a [before] picture of her looking at a bug on the ground...

[click to make larger]

and here is the [after] pic when it crawled on her hands Haha! She is such a girl... screaming & saying "eww gross bug!" "off hands!"

My favorite of the day... too bad I chopped her hand off :( I still have lots to learn!

Top: Baby Gap

Shorts: Old Navy

Headband: Princess Couture Designs

Caught her mid-run!

My little sweet pea... exactly 3 weeks away from turning 2 years old. HOLY CRAP.

Photo Card Creations - [Giveaway Winner!]

2011-07-05T13:21:00.000-04:00

Congratulations, Simply Sara!

Simply Sara said... 19

I am a follower of your blog!

You have won a $50 credit to Photo Card Creations :) I will email you with the address you provided.

Thanks to all who entered... hope you had a fabulous 4th of July!

Playdates

2011-07-01T14:11:00.001-04:00

We've actually been having quite a few & it's been great... for both of us! Yesterday we spent all day swimming with our new friends (we met on the bump pre-Gianna). Her sons are 7 years old & 6 months old so it was a huge age gap for all 3 of them, but we all had fun.

I also met a fellow young mommy at Hubbs' 5 year reunion & we really hit it off. It's so nice to meet someone with the same interests, who is also at the same place in their life as you are. We decided we had to have our girls meet so we met up at the park for lunch & play time. Gianna LOVED baby Charlotte!

Charlotte is 10 months so she isn't walking yet, but that didn't stop Gianna from giving her smooches, trying to feed her & taking away her toys (we're working on that whole sharing thing). They had lots of fun swinging together...

Shirt & leggings: Baby Gap

Shorts: Target

Headband: Lovella Bowtique

Gorgeous baby huh??

I've actually found 3 new mom friends since I've been here. So exciting to me, considering how hard it usually is for me to meet other moms around my age. Woot!

Well, I hope everyone has a great long weekend & awesome 4th of July!

Photo Card Creations [Giveaway!]

2011-06-27T13:50:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend & and I hope to make your Monday more exciting too :) I worked with Photo Card Creations last year & one of you received an awesome giveaway prize from them. This year they are back & ready to give again!

Photo Card Creations is a leading online retailer of premium custom photo cards, announcements & invitations. They specialize in wedding, baby & holiday cards. They offer hundred of card designs & a variety of paper types to choose from. Their cards are printed on the highest quality paper using leading edge printing technologies. With a professional graphic designer personally handling each order, they offer a more hands-on approach to customer service than most competitors out there! This Fall, they will be adding over 50 new products & introducing a new user friendly, online card preview system, which will allow customers to upload their photos & customize & view their cards online before placing their order. You can preview some of the new card designs here. I love when sites make our lives a bit easier :)

Some info about the new feature: The online card preview system will allow their customers to completely customize (this includes zoom/ reposition photos, converting to black & white or sepia, or choosing background and/or photo border colors), view & approve their cards online before ordering. You can customize text, font style, ink color & font size. One of the best parts... your cards will be shipped to you approximately 3 days later!

Well if anyone is in need of some thank you cards, birth announcements, etc definitely enter this giveaway... one of my readers will win a $50 coupon code to use towards anything on their website! (will expire 1 year from date of drawing)

How to enter the Photo Card Creations giveaway:

*Required entry: Visit Photo Card Creations & tell me what your favorite product is in your comment. They are actually going to be using this info to determine their most popular products & which ones they should discontinue to make room for their new fall products so your answers actually mean something :) (1 entry)

Extra entries: Make sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry!

1. Become a public follower of mine. (1 entry)

2. Grab my button & add it to your page. (2 entries)

3. Blog about this giveaway & link back to my page. (3 entries)

This giveaway begins today, June 27th, and will end next Tuesday, July 5th. The winner will be selected using random.org. The winner must respond to my post within 48 hours or I will select another winner. Good luck, everyone!

Quick... first movie you think of looking at this picture:

2011-06-23T15:56:00.000-04:00

I think of that scary Chucky movie with the red headed doll.

In my last post I told you Gianna's been banging on the door during nap/bed times & hasn't been sleeping well. Well I forgot to mention that she has actually been falling asleep against the door (Hubbs or I always have to slowly open the door so we can push her body away to transport her back to her bed) & this is what I found last night when I went to check on her before I went to bed myself. Ummm creepy!

I honestly looked down & jumped backwards because it freaked me out! I thought it was her doll's hand at first. But when I heard heavy breathing right against the door I realized Gigi had fallen asleep against the door again.

Oh dear. Can't help but laugh though :)

Letter to Gianna,

2011-06-22T14:44:00.001-04:00

My darling Gianna,

I love to see that smiling face & energetic personality every day. But there are no newborns in this home... therefore you should not be developing the sleeping patterns of a newborn.

The past 2 nights you have refuse to go to bed before midnight & wake up while it's still dark outside (umm hello, 5:45am). I lay in bed with you to soothe you, tickle your back & play with your hair to help you fall asleep (which I haven't needed to do since you were about 7 months old) and you still think you don't need sleep. You insist on jumping on Mommy's head, playing with only 1 or 2 hairs of mine at a time (which most of us know is painful), and having full on conversations about crayons or Cinderella.

You also haven't taken naps for the past 2 days. And you're only getting about 6 hours of sleep at night. Please don't tell me you will be taking after you Father's sleeping habits :) Our morning wake up call (again... hello 5:45am) is you banging yourself against the door since you haven't mastered turning door handles yet.

So I have one thing to say... you WILL sleep at least 11 hours through the night (as we've done so well before for the past 16ish months) and you will NOT be allowed to give up your daily nap until you've reached the ripe old age of 3. Thank you, Gigi. Love you, ladybug :)

xoxo Mommy

P.S. Yes, I know I was spoiled with a good sleeper so I don't need any side eyes my way. I just want my sleeper back!

Done!

2011-06-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

We left yesterday bright & early to finish packing our house so we could transport everything over to the new house. The men had such a Happy Father's Day (note sarcasm)! Good news is that we finished it all by 6:30pm. We still didn't get home until past midnight, but we're finally done. Now the thought of unpacking will haunt me until we get back to Nashville in early August. Along with the fact that we will be doing this all over again in LESS than a year. Yuck.

Can we please be settled in one place for more than a year?!

We promised to make it up to the guys next weekend. FIL is going back to England next week (along with MIL) so we have to put on a good Father's Day for both him & Hubbs!

One more thing... anyone ever heard of a 5 year high school reunion??? Me either. Well we went to Hubbs' 5 year reunion on Saturday night & it was the weirdest thing ever. Especially since it was in his old high school cafeteria, where they were serving us alcohol. And nothing changes that drastically 5 years after high school right? I mean... most people are just starting their careers or still in school. Nobody was married (Hubbs & I are the exception... and maybe 1 or 2 more people). And 1 girl had a baby.

I think if my high school had a 5 year reunion it would be totally different. A lot changes for a Utahn 5 years after high school. 75% of my graduating class is married & probably 50% has at least 1 child or is pregnant. Crazy how different it is in different parts of the country.

So who has had their 10 (or 20!) year reunion? Who has had a 5 year reunion (if your school is as weird as my husband's)? And who thinks they are a waste of time?

"Cock"

2011-06-16T17:09:00.000-04:00

Get your minds out of the gutter, people... this is one of Gianna's current favorite outdoor activities. Sidewalk chalk! Or in her words "cock!"

Dress: Target

(click to make bigger)

I love summers. It's so much easier keeping busy with a curious child playing outdoors than it is in the freezing winters. I know I'm from Utah, but I have never liked the winter. Or snow. Unless I'm snow boarding... then it's cool, but once I'm done than the snow can go away :)

Gianna & I have been playing with chalk, swimming in the pool pretty much everyday, riding on her new tricycle (early birthday present!), and catching dragonflies on our fingers (total girly girl... she loves watching them on my fingers, but if they land on hers she freaks out & says "eww gross!"

So back to moving. We didn't reach our goal of packing everything in a day. We got to Nashville around 9am & packed literally all day (I had no idea we had that much stuff) until 8pm before we finally decided it was time to head back to Atlanta. We still have 1 bedroom to pack & a few things from Gianna's room. So we are all going back on Father's Day (I know... fun Father's Day for FIL & Hubbs right?) to finish packing & transport everything to the new house. I promise I'll make it up to you next weekend, Papi ;)

I finally found some birthday shoes for Gianna. I went the complete opposite direction than I was going with the other ones I posted for y'all. We went from sweet & girly mary janes to punk rock converse. Check these out:

They look red, but they're actually hot pink with turquoise laces. I'm so excited... they look adorable on her! And she is wearing it with a rainbow colored tutu... can't get any cuter.

Moving. Again.

2011-06-12T22:22:00.000-04:00

So, I don't know if I've shared this, but I've moved a lot (in my opinion) in the last 5 years. 6 times to be exact. And that's about to become 7. Because we're moving to this little beauty :)

It's only about 5-7 minutes away from our current house so it should be easy (as easy as moving can be anyway) to move everything from our place to the new house. There are 2 main reasons for this move:

1. This is actually our cousins (remember where we spent Thanksgiving?) house, but they have moved to Arizona, where Hubbs cousin Travis will be starting medical school. Their house was destroyed in the Nashville flood last year so it's completely rebuilt from the ground up. They are having some issues with how the house was rebuilt (it's not completely level) so they will be dealing with lawyers for a while to be able to sell it, so they practically begged us to rent it for them since we're family & can't really sue them ;) So we're renting from them for a year.

2. Our current neighborhood is scary. Period. The house is adorable, but the surroundings are not. We've had about 8 break-ins on our street alone in the past year, and a couple months ago a woman was raped in her yard at night down the street from us. Ya, I think that alone was enough for us to want out of our 2 year lease. Thankfully our landlord found another renter within days of us asking about possibly leaving so we're good to go. Our new neighborhood is full of young families & a 5 minute walk from a gorgeous park so I'm excited!

So Gianna, MIL & I are leaving to Nashville bright & early tomorrow morning to pack up EVERYTHING in the house. I'm hoping the numerous empty boxes & a few DVDs will keep Gigi occupied for a while so we can pack up in just one day. Hubbs & FIL are going on Saturday to actually transfer everything to the new house.

Be back on Tuesday with some new pictures with sidewalk chalk & playdates!

Lovella Bowtique [Giveaway Winner!]

2011-06-11T10:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I know I'm a little late on this post... but congratulations, Mrs. T!

Mrs. T said... 44

voted for her in top baby boutiques

Please respond to this post with your email address (or just email me) to claim your $30 store credit to Lovella Bowtique! Thank you to everyone who entered & hope y'all have a great weekend :)

Can you tell me how to get...

2011-06-07T13:14:00.002-04:00

How to get to Gianna's 2nd birthday partyyyy

(click to see bigger!)

Ummm... it's perfect! I had the custom invitations created by Silly Me Design on Etsy & I'm in love. I gave her my vision & some inspiration & she put it together perfectly.

I was having such a hard time finding the invitations because I am SOOO NOT into cheesy character themed things (seriously, I'm surprised I went with this theme in the first place!). I finally found a plain polka dot Sesame Street invitation using all the colors in our color scheme so we decided to keep it based around the polka dots & just add some more oomph.

And here is a sneak peak at Gigi's outfit:

This was also tough. I couldn't decide if I wanted her to just wear the colors or we should keep with the characters on this one. Elmo won. He always does with Gianna :) I showed her two outfits [not like she knew what I was talking about, but I still needed that extra push HAHA :-) ] and of course the adorable fabric Elmo tank top was the best choice. And what could pair better with an Elmo top than a rainbow colored tutu?

And I saw these precious red peep toes at [where else?] Baby Gap yesterday.

And I totally would have bought them, but when I put them on Gigi she starts saying, "ouchie booboo feet!" Yep. They make toddler shoes that don't fit on chubby toddler feet. Boo on you, Baby Gap shoe makers. Please make shoes that are meant for chubby feet because I have yet to see a baby foot without a little extra padding on the top & sides.

They fit perfectly in length, but they were cutting off her circulation all around the top! I totally had bad Mommy thoughts of making her wear them for pictures ::insert evil laugh... muahaha:: but my senses told me maybe I should find cute shoes that actually fit the poor thing. Bad Mommy.

And here is my current DIY project.

I would love to make one of these signs for the dessert table, but since I haven't practiced carpentry in a while (note sarcasm) I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions? (I could buy it on Etsy, but since Hubbs would have a heart attack if I spent $39 on this stupid thing I decided to attempt my own)

This one looks a lot easier so I might have to scale it down & deal with making a wimpy looking sign HA :)

22 months...

2011-06-06T17:23:00.001-04:00

1 week & 4 days old! I know I'm late on this one. And I usually have an excuse. And this time is no different, except it's a good one. I've been party planning for a little one who is about to be 2 years old in less than 2 months.

Please tell me where this little one went??

And now she's making creepy "cheese" faces at me. Crazy how they change in less than 2 years!

So here are some 22 month stats:

Knows all her colors (blue, yellow, red, pink, white, black, orange, purple, green) except brown, gray, silver & gold. If we ask her what color something is she will tell us the correct answer!
Saying sentences. Some of them we aren't completely understandable to other people, but Hubbs & I get her words :) Her current favorite phrase is "I gotta get ____" (insert whatever she needs... like water, crackers, crayons, etc). I'm blaming Hubbs for the poor grammar LOL!
She can count from 1-10 & then skips to 13 & 14. That's where it stops... which is pretty good for a 22 month old no???
Still won't do anything on the potty, but still likes to sit & wipe everyday ;)
Weighs about 24 1/2 lbs. Little one!
She is getting a little 'tude these days. I can't even begin to describe. Terrible twos began a few weeks ago. Bring on the tantrums & screaming at mommy!
As loud & wild as she is, she still loves to cuddle with Hubbs & I at night & always says "I luv ooo" when she is tucked in to bed. Melts my heart :)
Does prayer hands & says "amen" after meal time & bedtime prayers.

That's all I can think of right now, but all I can say is she is getting so big. I can't believe my baby is a "big gol" now about to be 2 freakin years old. Hello baby fever! This fall can't get here soon enough... I'm ready to start cooking another one :)

Munching on a flower from the garden.

She quickly realized it wasn't as tasty as it looked.

I swear all the smiling ones I get are out of focus. Maybe I get so excited that she is actually looking at me (let alone smiling) that I start shaking without knowing haha

Party planning is going well. I already have her birthday outfit & invitations purchased... now it's on to the decor & DIY stuff, which is the fun part :) Stay tuned for more party planning stuff this week & a sneak peak of her outfit & invitations!

P.S. Thank you those who responded to my previous post about pics not uploading. I ended up just logging out & logging back in & it worked!

*Don't forget to enter the Lovella Bowtique giveaway if you haven't already!

Ugggh

2011-06-06T15:12:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to upload pictures this whole weekend & blogger keeps saying "server rejected." Anyone have any advice or have had this happen to them? I don't want to post Gianna's 22 month post until I have some 22 month pics to show for it :)

Lovella Bowtique [Review & Giveaway]

2011-06-01T17:54:00.003-04:00

This adorable "bowtique" was started by a stay at mommy who, like me, has an incredible love for little girl accessories. Felicia's little Etsy shop has now grown into a beautiful website filled with stunning hair accessories, pettiskirts/ birthday wear & even nursery decor! Don't worry, all you mamas with boys... there is plenty for you to drool over too :)

[click any horizontal photo to see larger]

Of course I jumped at the chance to put Gianna in one of her little rompers & some headbands :) I'm in LOVE with flower & rosette headbands right now & they have plenty of unique ones to choose from. Lovella Bowtique's hair accessories all have such beautiful detail & fabric... and they are still within a reasonable price point [a huge plus to most mommies].

I adored this romper because it's different & so girly. It comes in a variety of colors & she sews the straps on the inside so your little one can go strapless too (and it still stays up!)...

[straps]

[strapless]

[lace petti romper detail]

I'm excited that one of my readers will win a $30 store credit to Lovella Bowtique!

How to enter the giveaway:

*Two Required entries: Visit Lovella Bowtique and tell me what your favorite item is. (1 entry)

AND "like" Lovella Bowtique on Facebook here. (1 entry)

Extra entries: Make sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry!

1. Vote for Lovella on Top Baby Boutiques. (1 entry)

2. Subscribe to Lovella's blog. (1 entry)

3. Follow Lovella on Twitter. (1 entry)

4. Sign up for the newsletter. (2 entries)

5. Become a public follower of mine. (1 entry)

6. Grab my button & add it to your page. (2 entries)

6. Blog about this giveaway & link back to me. (3 entries)

This giveaway begins today, June 1st, and will close in 1 week from today, June 8th. The winner will be selected using random.org. The winner must respond to my post with a valid email address within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.

So in all you could have 13 chances to win so start entering :) Good luck, ladies!

I received some items from Lovella Bowtique free of charge in order to give a proper review of the products. This in no way altered my opinion of the items... I only post reviews on shops/products I love!

Turtles & ice cream.

2011-05-31T09:20:00.000-04:00

We had a nice long weekend playing with this little guy...

click to make bigger

Noni & Grandpa almost ran over him on their way home Saturday so they went back to save him... which made for a very happy toddler :)

Ok, we really didn't "play" with him.

1) Because Mommy was scared of what kind of germs the turtle carried & that it would bite Gigi.
2) It was more fun watching him walk around the grass anyway.

We fed him lettuce & ham, which he quickly devoured.

And watched the dogs smell him out.

Here is a video of Gianna & Grandpa playing with the turtle. I don't know why youtube makes a perfectly clear video so blurry!

Sunday we went to Cold Stone, where we all shared a "gotta have it" sized bowl of oreo overload. Gianna was in heaven.

Watching the lady make our ice cream...

Nom nom.

And lastly... I would like to congratulate my beautiful sister in law on her engagement!

Took this picture while we were at the beach of her now fiance :)

I love you, SIL! Can't wait to help you plan your big day!!

Just what we needed.

2011-05-25T13:58:00.000-04:00

Last night, Hubbs took me out to an amazing dinner that overlooked the Chattahoochie River. The food was great & the location was even better.

our view from our table

We sat outside & because it was a Tuesday night it was pretty private. This was exactly what our relationship has needed lately. We stayed there for about 2 hours sipping our wine, holding hands, and just talking about random things. I felt like we were dating for the first time in a while. It's HARD (I'm sure most married couples would agree) keeping up with a husband/wife relationship once a baby joins the mix, but it's fun trying to keep things alive. Like driving to a sex shop & giggling like teenagers at all the unfamiliar objects & edible undergarments. True story. Hey, I said we're trying to spice things up ;)

So here are a couple of pretty much the same pictures. The first two are terrible... I wasn't ready for the first one and my fists are clenched so I look pissed off... & Hubbs was almost closing his eyes in the second one. Blah.

Dress: Victoria's Secret Pink collection

Black heels: Nordstrom Rack

Saturday was so much fun! We took Gianna to the park in the morning for a couple of hours, came home & ate lunch together, put her down for a nap, Hubbs & I laid out by the pool, and we took Gianna to her first trip to the movie theater... Rio :) She sat on her Daddy's lap, ate popcorn & stared at the giant screen amazed with everything. She LOVES to watch movies now so we thought it was finally the perfect time to take her.

about to walk inside her first movie

Top & shorts: Target

Sandals: Stride Rite

Headband: Lovella Boutique (more on this adorable shop in future post!)

When the previews first came on Hubbs & I got a little worried about how she would behave in the movie. When one of the little animals was falling off a mountain in the first preview she started shouting (loudly) "Oh no, oh no!! Fall down!" And when the movie started & she saw the first bird on the screen she started chirping HAHA :) But after the first minute she was silent throughout the entire thing. She was such a happy girl.

Happy 3 year anniversary...

2011-05-24T09:25:00.000-04:00

to my amazing husband & best friend. I'm so thankful to have had you in my life for the past 8 years & I'm excited to be able to have you by my side for the next 50+!

(15 & 16 years old)

I love you now & forever. Thank you for a wonderful 3 years of marriage!