Christmas 2013

"I'm Ready!"

Christmas 2013 is in the books, and what a blessed one it was! We were beyond blessed to spend the holidays filled with fun time with the ones we love.

Helping Mommy make cookies

First, Augusta and I were determined to make Christmas cookies for Santa. We made them a little early because I knew we'd have plenty left, and it gets crazier closer to Christmas. We made them from scratch and they were so yummy! It took us two tries the first time, because Augusta's helping ended with her dumping half of the batter out of the bowl. But oh well, memories were made. Chase was bragging on our finished product when they were done and I was so proud! They were chocolate chip m&m cookies, and I'll agree with my hubby that they were yummy! I made two batches over the break--they were that good! Augusta had so much fun making them too! It was all worth it!

Peek-a-boo

Our Christmas started with the annual get together with Chase's extended family on his mom's side. Pretty much all the aunts, uncles, and cousins were in attendance. With quite a few young ones there's plenty of people for Augusta to play with, though she spent most of her time with bestie, Mads. :)

Besties playing with Play Dough

Next was Christmas Eve and our family Christmas with Mims and Pa-Paul. Augusta loved tearing into her gifts, and was actually pretty hilarious bc she so had to get every scrap of paper off of each gift! Both babies were super excited about their Barbie jeeps! But the hit of the night was the play dough ice cream maker we got for Maddie. Both girls played with it all night long! 

Favorite Christmas morning pic!

The next morning we woke up to a visit from Santa Claus! Augusta's big present from Santa was a pink kitchen set! She loved it and immediately started cooking things for us! Opening presents was a bit of a challenge because everything she unwrapped she wanted open right then. We managed to make it through with a few pauses to explore new toys. 

After opening our gifts we went down to my parent's house to do Christmas with Gammie and Pappy. Alyssa and Brad came down for the holidays, so all we were missing was Sam. Augusta was kind of over opening at this point, but but she did love her shopping cart and her "fur real" white kitty! She named her Roxie because she looks like our cat with the same name. :) 

Lastly, we had our holiday celebration with our closest friends...current and past OHS baseball coaches. It was so nice to see everyone again--it had been so long! And Augusta enjoyed playing with the other littles. Even though she was the only tiny girl running around, that didn't slow her down. She enjoys excitement at her house, or maybe she just gets bored of looking at the two of us all day. But even tonight she was commenting about how no one was at her house, just "me, momma, and dada" she would say. 

So that's it for our 2013 Christmas season. Sad one of my favorite times of year is at an end...next we will be taking down the Christmas tree. Tear. 

My sweet, growing family

Getting into her stocking

The diva opening presents at Mims and Pa-paul's house

My pretty Christmas princess

Finished Cookies--sooooo yummy!

Holiday Fun!!

Holiday fun has been going at our house for awhile now!! Christmas is one if my absolute favorite times if the year, and there are so many fun things to do and experience. Especially with little miss! She breathes new life into all the fun things I remember doing or simply love doing! The ordinary moments are just made so much more special with her around. Seeing things through her eyes, it's hard to describe to someone who's not a parent, but it's just like you're seeing everything for the first time! Such fun! Here's a round-up of some things we've gotten into so far...

Blurry, but best we got on our Santa visit!

First holiday festivity was visiting Santa. We went to Bass Pro Shop where we've gone every year since Augusta was born. This year was much like last year--an epic failure! She screamed her favorite phrase "Momma, hold me!", as she squalled on Santa's lap. And we have the photographic evidence if we ever forget! Lol! 

Tree--Before we put our bigger bow on top

Next came decorating our Christmas tree. This is always an exciting thing for me. I just love having the tree lit and staring at it. This year Augusta really got the concept of hanging ornaments on the tree. She'd get one and walk around the tree saying "I'm finding the perfect spot." It was the most precious thing! She's been so great about the ornaments and not pulling them off. She loves when the tree is lit up and says it's so beautiful! My little Christmas girl! 

Three guys needed to help the tree stand up--Tori ended up jumping in there too!

As tree decorating goes, we also participated in my parents annual decorating the tree night! Augusta wasn't as into it as she was at our house, but she did enjoy going through their vast array of ornaments. It ended up being an ordeal with the tree (they always get a real tree) not being even on the bottom. MIT ended up taking four of them to straighten it. And guess what? They next day my dad said he woke up to a tree on the ground--luckily none of the special ornaments were casualties! It's back standing and decorated now though! 

After decorating our tree, our elf, Tinsel arrived! Tinsel came to visit us last year, and Augusta liked seeing him, but this year she's much more impressed. In the morning part of our routine, really the first thing we do, is look for Tinsel. Whenever Augusta finds him, she's smiles so big and says "That's silly, Tinsel!", in regards to his spot of the day! Glad we've started another tradition to grow with us! 

Another thing I love to do at Christmas time is go shopping! I don't even have to be buying anything, I just love being in the stores with the decorations and Christmas music playing. Well Augusta is definitely my child--she loves to shop. She tells people all the time she's going shopping. And when you ask her for what, she'll say "presents" or recently "presents for dada", since the two of us did that not too long ago. When you ask what she's getting dada she'll say, "Something really special." Melts my heart! 

Riding the Carousel with Daddy

No holiday season is complete without looking at Christmas lights! Another classic favorite of mine. This year Augusta really notices the lights. And she especially notices inflatables. There are two houses on our way home with yards full of inflatables. Everytime we pass, she's ready and knows to look out one window and then the opposite window to see them all! There's also another house in Chase's parents neighborhood that she loves to see as well--she names all the inflatables as we pass. And recently she's been telling me the penguin and the polar bear are her favorite animals! 

Excited to see the Christmas Lights!

Still on the line of Christmas lights, this year we ventured into Memphis to visit Starry Nights. It's a huge light display at Shelby Farms. It was our first trip and we loved it! Definitely will be back! Augusta loved all the lights...especially those that had the effects of moving. Well worth our trip, that's for sure! 

Decorating her ornaments!

And lastly, as of now anyway, we had our annual ornament decorating/Christmas goody making night at Chase's parents house. Augusta loved making and then decorating her ornaments. Putting the glitter on them was definitely a favorite. She wasn't so into the goody making--but next year I know I won't be able to get her our of it! She did really enjoy eating the chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles though! Mommy too! :) 

More Christmas fun to come as we draw closer to the day of! Be back to report more soon, hopefully! 

26 weeks!

Post title sums it up! Today marks 26 weeks into this pregnancy--so only 14 more to go until we meet baby sissy! Seems like it's still so far away, but at the same time looking at the weeks remaining it's actually pretty close!

Haven't been to the doctor since I last did a baby update, but here's what's going on according to baby development sites. Baby is about as long as a zucchini, measuring between 13.6 and 14.8 inches. She's also weighing anywhere from 1.5-2.2 pounds. Growing big and strong! Of course we don't know our little girl's stats for sure, and won't until our next ultrasound sometime in January.

What we do know is she is moving like crazy! I used to think Augusta moved a lot, but baby sissy is all over the place! I feel almost constant movement--guess she doesn't sleep much! She's also created two sore spots on Mommy's belly. They feel bruised to the touch, but it's nothing you can see from the outside. They are just her favorite spots to press and rest! She's also still causing Mommy to grow...more each week it seems. And some pregnancy heartburn has set in, luckily it's not too bad or too often. Another pregnancy symptom that's coming around is the leg cramping! I have to be careful to pull my calf muscle tight (flex my feet) when I stretch in the morning or I'll get an awful cramp--but none I haven't been able to flex out of...yet! 

Baby sissy also has a name! Calla Jane! (Not a double name, that would be the first and middle) First name is 100%, middle is sitting at about 90%. I love it but Chase still isn't completely sold on Jane. I think he'll come around though. ;)

I go back in to check on baby girl January 2! (Had to get pushed back slightly due to Ole Miss's Bowl Game) But at this appointment I'll have my hour glucose test. Let's just hope I pass--really don't wanna do the three hour version! :) 

Augusta is TWO!!

Birthday Cutie!

I cannot believe that my little miss is two! Seriously, where has the time gone? I have no idea, but I know it flew by. Like my husband said the other day, it seems like yesterday we were at the hospital waiting for her to make her grand arrival. And now two whole years have flown by...wow.

We celebrated Augusta's birthday on her actual birthday with a party. It's was Minnie's Bowtique theme (as you probably saw from the previous post) and Augusta loved it! She had a good turnout considering how thanksgiving fell so close to her birthday this year. 

Mommy slaved away and made cupcakes the night before. And Augusta surprised me by actually eating one. If course it didn't have frosting, but still! She didn't touch the ones at her party with frosting either! But there was plenty more for her to eat. 

She absolutely loved everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her. She ate it up like a big ham, smiling and posing the whole time. She attempted to blow out her candle, but in the end needed a little help from mommy to get it done. 

My little sweetie on her "motorcycle" 

She received far too many gifts! Everyone was so generous in thinking of our little girl! She has enjoyed everything, but her most favorite things have been her building blocks, her "motorcycle" (actually a tricycle), and tiny toy figures. She's really enjoying everything though! :) 

That night, when it was just us at home, she kept saying, "My birthday's all gone." We had to remind her the party was over, but it was still her birthday. She picked her dinner, and chose chicken nuggets from chick-fil-a. (Random since we haven't eaten there in forever!) But she enjoyed it! She had a "lemon juice" (lemonade) to drink, which is one of her favorites! 

Every now and then she'll still sing, "Happy birthday to me". It's actually pretty cute. She also remembers that she is two years old, and can hold up two fingers. My little smart girl! 

Now on to stats for the birthday girl! She definitely has her daddy's height gene--she's in the 90th percentile! She weights 28 pounds and is still growing steadily along her growth curve. 

She's talking up a storm, with sentences up to 8 or 9 words long at times! She's singing songs, and repeating pretty much anything she heard. Favorite songs are "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and "Jesus loves me".  She can consistently count up to 15...sometimes she'll go higher, but its usually a sporadic naming of numbers. She knows lots of shapes, like triangle, circle, square, rectangle, star, heart, oval, and octagon to name a few. (Thanks Umizoomi!) And she knows all her colors--and has for awhile. We can thank Aunt Lys for drilling her on those! 

Coloring while Mommy cooks

Her favorite activities are coloring, playing with her toys, and running around! Though she will tell you she loves to shop! ;) Her favorite tv shows are Team Umizoomi and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's getting back into being read to recently, and really enjoys "The very hungry caterpillar". She also likes her peekaboo baby book and "Goodnight Moon". Cutest thing is when she wants to read them to you! 

My girl has turned into a super picky eater! She likes chicken, Mac and cheese, Special K red berries, bacon, toast, spaghetti, and that's about all that's good for her. Besides fruits, she is a fruit addict! She'll basically eat any of them--veggies, not so much! She loves her milk and juice too, though she's gotten better about constantly wanting a cup. 

Augusta, you are such a sweet little blessing. I love watching you blossom and come more into your own each day. Your expressions are priceless! Your sweet words and displays of love are the best, especially when they catch me off guard. You light up every room you enter, and have a way of directing attention to yourself(when you want it!). I cannot wait to continue to watch you grow and change, just hopefully not too fast! Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to be this sweet angel's mommy! I love you, Augusta Kate! 

Family before the party started!

Blurry, but love them!

Opening presents with her cousin

Looking at a gift Daddy picked out! 

Well...

I guess you can say our new house has finally been "christened". Augusta has drawn on the wall!! What's so funny is it is her first time to ever try coloring on anything besides a coloring book or paper. She's never done it before! But it was just a little mark, and nothing the magic eraser couldn't handle! Memories made! 

She was coloring with us on the couch, and had been for about an hour or so. All of a sudden she started running her usual laps around the couch. Well this time she was running with a crayon in each hand. After a few times around, she stopped behind the couch and marked the wall with one of her masterpieces! Needless to say, she was told if she wanted to run she had to put the crayons up! 

And I have to give props to Chase for not freaking out when it happened. He stayed calm and didn't let it bother him like it might've in the past. Always remember, don't sweat the small stuff! Here is Augusta's art work before I erased it... (Excuse the phone shadow!)

Birthday Crafts!

Seeing as I love crafting, and I also love making special things for my little, there is no better time to craft than around her birthday! (Only problem I have with crafting is actually finding the time to do it!) This year Augusta is having a themed birthday party, and the theme is Minnie's Bowtique--or Augusta's Bowtique as it is for our purposes!

Of course I went to Pinterest for project inspiration, and I got plenty! I made Augusta's invitations on the computer and with black cardstock and pink ribbon. They aren't perfect, but my almost two-year old loves them and that's all that really matters to me! 

I also made cupcake toppers. Yes, mommy is going to make the birthday cupcakes. Let's pray they turn out alright! I had my cake girl all lined up, but with Goo's birthday falling on the weekend of Thanksgiving, she's going to be out of town. No worries though! I think they'll be adorable with these easy cardstock toppers--my own creation! 

I'm also making bows on sticks to place in vases. This is how they're displayed in Minnie's Bowtique on her tv show...we'll see how they turn out! But the plan is to have them all around the tables and counters! 

Some of the bows that were hanging around the "bowtique"

Crafts are always so much fun! But the best part of it all is seeing that face when she sees the finished product! Priceless!

Main food display (post party) Promise it looked better before--just forgot to snap a pic!

Augustaisms

Augusta is just at the cutest age right now! She's really starting to talk and express herself! And show her little personality! And with this comes some pretty adorable, and pretty hilarious, expressions. Here are a few recent ones that I want to remember! 

When her eyes are watering: "Mama, I spill my eyes!" 

"I smart baby, Geemee says that."

In response to me saying someone has a stinky/peepee diaper "Oh it's Geemee"

Singing "Jesus loves me, Gussie the baby!"

When people start talking to me: "No, it's baby's mama." (Kinda possessive of her mommy!)

When people ask for a kiss and I'm holding her, kissing me multiple times while saying "No, I kiss mama!"

Calling her pillow "baby's poony"

Calling the house "baby's house"

Referring to herself as "baby" or "Gussie the baby"

Tons more, but these are the main ones coming to the front of my mind right now! I so love this little girl!! 

Halloween/Fall Fun

Riding to pick a pumpkin

There are so many things I love about fall...leaves changing colors and falling from the trees, cooler weather, and breaking out my boots and sweaters for the first time in ages. But the things I love most about the fall are all the family activities! (Hopefully my family enjoys them too!) So here is a little peak at all the fun we've been having so far this season!

More fun at the pumpkin patch

We went to the pumpkin patch--again!! This one was a real pumpkin farm, in Blue Mountain. It's huge, and they have tons to do! Inflatables and slides for the kids. Bouncy toys, rides, and snacks were a few of the other things they had. They also have a petting zoo and pony rides. You ride a big covered wagon to the actual "patch" to pick out your pumpkin. We had so much fun on this little adventure! Augusta just seemed to love it all! Especially looking at the chickens, the bouncy slide, the giant slippery slide, and finding her "baby pumpkin!"! 

Carving and painting

Showing mommy her pumpkin

Loving the painting!!

With pumpkins comes another fun activity--decorating them! This year we tried something different, that is we painted our pumpkins. I thought this might be a little more Augusta-friendly and would let her be more of a participant than a bystander. Well she absolutely loved it! She saw the pink paint and had to have it for her pumpkin, didn't stray from it! When she got done with hers, she had to come help me with mine. Chase also did some traditional carving so we didn't miss out on that completely! 

Tinkerbell

Then came Halloween!! For Halloween this year, Augusta dressed up as tinkerbell. And she was completely precious! While we were getting ready she kept saying "I fly in the sky to Geeme's house and get my candy!" (She knew what was up! Lol!) She even practiced saying trick or treat. Again, like last year, we only made a few stops, grandparents and close friends, but it was plenty for her! Once she had one piece of candy, she was content to eat it and forget everything else! 

Cousins posing in all their messy of fun!

So that's been our fall so far! No it's November and I know this month is going to fly! Time to gear ourselves towards Augusta's big second birthday! 

More painting

Tinkerbell posing!

Big Hugs!

Red Sox win the World Series!! Yay!!!

Big deal at our house--Yay Boston!

Little Moments

This momma has been dragging to put it mildly--think it's a sinus infection, but pregnant girl is powering through!

Well yesterday I was in the wal-mart parking lot, determined to go in and get some medicine. I had my sound on my phone turned on (rarity for me) and I was going to take a picture of my safe medications list instead of bringing the whole thing in with me. Well when the shutter clicked, Augusta heard it and automatically said "Cheese Momma!" I turned around and this is what I captured!

Love this little sweetie to pieces!! Turning into such a character! 

It's a...

So yesterday we went to the doctor to have our anatomy scan done for baby #2, and guess what? We are having another little girl! So excited Augusta will have a sister to share things with and that they'll grow up together so close in age. Hopefully they'll be the best of friends! :)

While we were having our ultrasound done, (before we knew the gender), the ultrasound tech kept referring to the baby as a "she". I noticed this, but thought maybe it was just a preference thing, so as not to call the baby "it." My husband noticed as well and he finally asked the tech if it was a girl. She was shocked we didn't already know bc she said it had girl written in my file. Weird, because I've only had the one other ultrasound at 9wks. But we figured it must've been in there referring to Augusta. But she checked and it was definitely a she! No boy parts down there! 

All the baby's measurements looked great. She was right on target! Her heart rate was strong at 145. The tech did day she was stubborn, though. Baby girl was so cozy on her belly that she didn't wanna move and give her the shots she needed, but she finally did right when we were about to be done! She's estimated to be about 8 oz right now--so teeny! 

She was also sucking her thumb, which was sweet! Augusta wasn't a paci or a thumb sucker so this may be a whole new ball game! She also finally turned enough for us to get a precious profile shot! We didn't get a clear one with Augusta at her anatomy scan, so that was super exciting! 

They did have to note the placenta seemed to still be covering my cervix and hadn't moved up yet. This could be to the uterus still growing. They said it was nothing to worry about but could affect delivery and doctor would check position again before that. If it's something that could cause us to have an otherwise unnecessary c-section, please pray it moves to the position it belongs in. 

Doctor Harper was called to the hospital and wasn't able to see patients yesterday, so I should be getting a phone call from her about our next appointment and to go over all the baby's details. 

Excited for our new baby girl to join the family! Now to think of names for our little bundle! :)

**Edit: Since I took so long to post this, here is the update since my talking to Dr. Harper. She gave baby girl an A+, saying she looked totally perfect and confirmed what the ultrasound tech said about all organs functioning as they should be! She mentioned the placenta placement, but wasn't concerned about it right now. She said they'd do another ultrasound at 28 wks after the uterus has had more time to grow--with the growth and stretching, the part where the placenta has attached should move away from my cervix. Let's keep praying it does! 

Also, sorry for huge pictures! Posting from app and won't let you edit size!! 

Finally!!

Well this past Tuesday we finally closed on our house, so we are officially home owners! Yay! 

Our well water sample came back Monday and it was clear, so that gave us the go ahead to get everything done! We are so beyond excited!! 

We're unpacking and starting to get settled into our new home, or as Augusta calls it, "Baby's house." :) So life is finally starting to come together in that aspect! 

Now just to get all the little things done, like buying blinds, setting up TV/Internet, going through things as we unpack (what to keep and what to part with), and just finding a new place for everything. It's going to be a process--hopefully one that's not too long. But we are so blessed to finally be here and completing this chapter in our lives!

**Excuse the lack of photos for now! House is so not picture ready! But I'll update soon with photos both inside and out! :) 

Fall Festivities!

Our sweet girl!

Yesterday we took Augusta to the pumpkin patch at a local church. This is becoming a yearly tradition that I definitely look forward to! I think it's safe to say that Augusta does too!!

Climbing

We had talked about going to the pumpkin patch the day before. When we got up Monday morning, I asked her if she remembered where we were going today. She smiled brightly at me and answered "punkey patch!" (Her adorable way of saying "pumpkin patch") The whole day, while we were running errands or I put in her shoes to go outside, it was "going punkey patch!" 

Giving the pumpkin a hug

We finally made it yesterday afternoon. Augusta's face lit up when she saw the pumpkins. She immediately went to one of the smallest ones and claimed it as her own.

Posing

We then did the customary pumpkin photo shoot. She liked exploring between and around the pumpkins for the most part. She wasn't interested in picking a big pumpkin, so that was all on me and Chase. She did set her sights on another small pumpkin--and cried for it, so of course we ended up with that one! (It was actually pretty funny, she refused to take any more pictures till she had it, so she's pointing and I'm grabbing every pumpkin and she's saying "no that punkey" and pointing! There are like 50 pumpkins where she's pointing! Finally I tell her to get it, which she does, and goes back to take more photos!)

Pointing to the pumpkin--before we got to tears

We left with our big pumpkin and three little pumpkins and a phone full of photos! Such fun holiday memories with our family!! 

With the pumpkin she cried for

What you get when you ask her to smile!

Such a cutie

Talking to Daddy about pumpkins