And now we're caught up!

Here's a few pictures from the last few days.  Thankfully it's warm again (sorry, I'm not saying that to be mean to my northern friends), but H.G. has SO many southern frocks, Lilly outfits and sweet little onesies to wear before she grows out of them!  She's already 14.5 pounds!  She's an EATER!  She's been eating anywhere between 32 and 36 ounces of milk a day!  And due to GERD reflux (yes, she's been diagnosed with it and it hurts if she doesn't take her medicine), she's on rice cereal in her bottle at night since three months.  I kid you not, I complain about her flying through outfits, but at least she gets a chance to wear them all as she changes clothes no less than 6 times a day due to spit ups (and drool....I'm pretty sure she's starting to teeth).  

Anyways, with this warmer weather, bring on the smocked frocks!  :-)  OH, and the big bows too of course!

 

And monogrammed dresses and rears (gotta monogram the diaper covers!)  I can't wait for her to fit in her Lilly outfits that match Lolly's.  See Lolly in the background?  H.G. has a dress that matches. 

 

This one....it's already too tight around her chunky little thighs!

 

And of course, like mommy like daughter.  We're gettin' our pearls and Chanel on!  ;)

 

Happy Friday Y'all!

Month 3 ...

January was a fairly quiet month for us.  The first two weeks consisted of my spending as much time at home with H.G. and Lolly has possible before I started back to work on the 13th.  I'm now working full time, but from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I LOVE this new schedule and even with being home, I'm quite productive and handling everything just fine.

Of course, until last week when our computer died and I got behind again.  But that's since been resolved (not sure if I told you but I worked from home the entire three months of my maternity leave.  I love my job and due to its nature, I couldn't just pick up and leave.  That and I was still getting paid!)

So here's a quick and short snapshot into January!

H.G. LOVES bath time!  It is the quickest way to calm her right before bed. 

 My parents FINALLY met H.G.!  They came down for a nice long visit the weekend before I went back to work and they got lots of snuggle time in.

Oh...and my dad, he's gone nuts.  He bought a BMW convertible.  For those of you that know my dad in real life, you'll understand why my jaw is still dropped on that one.

Mom?  Well she's loving it as she's always secretly wanted a sports car.  Specifically, a Dodge Stealth, which coincidentally, Husband used to have one before we met.

 

Lolly LOVED riding in the convertible and I have to admit, I quite liked driving it.  Husband's been trying to convince me to get one but I keep resisting due to family travel.  Maybe someday.

January 8th, 3 months old!  Chunky little monkey!  So different from Lolly who was 12 pounds at five months versus H.G.'s three months. 

Practicing sitting up while playing with princesses with big sister.  These two have SUCH an amazing bond!  On the rare occasion that H.G. is very fussy, all Lolly has to do is lay down with her and stroke her head or hold her hand and she immediately calms.  Even in the car with the holding of her hand.  When I see this, I immediately stop and have visions of Lolly at 25, possibly married, talking to her college aged little sister, consoling her about some heartache, ranting about a horrible teacher or congratulating on a great accomplishment and I can't help but say a little prayer....that they remain like this forever.  Best friends.

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

Books. What are you reading?

I'm slowly but surely getting back to reading.  I love to read but often take month long hiatus' where I don't read at all.  I stopped reading around August and didn't pick a book back up until December.  Even then, reading is now much slower going as it's hard to find time.  I do most of my reading when feeding H.G. her last feeding of the night and then before I go to bed (which is usually about 5 minutes as I zonk out quite quickly these days!)  

Here are the books I've read and the one I'm currently reading.  

Allegiant.  I re-read both the first books again before starting this one as it had been quite some time.  The jury is still out.  I like the author and I like the story line but I felt it to be a little slow and drawn out and then "hurry up we have to end it."  I did like the ending though I won't go into why here in case some of you haven't read it yet!  

I'm currently reading The Good House.  This book was recommended to me by a friend and so far I'm enjoying it and it's easy to keep up with my very random reading times.  I don't have to go back and re-read where I left off to keep up.

Ashleigh is reading Winter's Tale before the movie comes out.  It's over 700 pages so this will likely take me months to read.  She said she's only 100 pages in and she's still "not that into it" so I'll see what she has to say before starting.

What are you reading?  Follow me on Goodreads!

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Playing Catch Up...Month 2

I was talking with a friend tonight about how much I really wanted to get back to blogging, not for everyone else that has and does follow me over the past few years, but for myself, my family and most importantly, my girls.  Girls....as in plural.  That's nice.  :-)

This blog has, for the most part, always been about my growing family and for the last year, it's been lacking.  I don't have scrapbooks.  I don't have picture books.  Nor do I have the time to really sit down and actually make picture or scrapbooks these days.  But I do have time to blog and hopefully one day, I'll print out these blogs and have not just a scrapbook or picture, but actual stories that accompany our lives, so the girls have a way to remember their childhoods.  Poor Baby H, she's barely been mentioned since she was born!  

Anyways, I'm notoriously organized with my pictures.  They are always uploaded and dated into months and then stored on the "brick" (a/k/a the external hardrive....which my computer techy friend is trying to convince me to upload all twelve years of pictures to dropbox, but that's another story).  The point being, I'm organized and at least playing catch up will not be that difficult.  So, I think I left off with month 1 of Baby H, so here, I'll start with Month 2.  By the way, Baby H is now 4 months old, as of Saturday! 

Anyways....back to blogging (which Husband will be thrilled!)

Couple changes though.  Lallie is now going to be spelled Lolly.  No one has/had a CLUE that Lallie is actually pronounced "lolly" like lollipop.  It was spelled this way due to a friend and I just assumed you would pronounce it "lolly" and not some other way with a short or long A sound.  I supposed incorrectly.  And Baby H.  Well, let's call her H.G. which is short for her real name. 

So here goes the month of December which is basically, picture overload.

We started out December celebrating not only Husband's 38th birthday, but also H.G.'s baptism day on December 1st!  It was a great day however, we were greatly missing my mom and dad.  They had planned to spend Thanksgiving and the baptism with us along with my brother-in-law and his wife however, my grandfather (dad's side) died and my parents had to go to northern Illinois to handle everything surrounding that.  At this point, they had still yet to meet H.G. due to a series of unfortunate circumstances and with H.G. being so young and other relatives already in route to Florida, we were not able to attend my grandfather's funeral.  Other than that, it was a great day/weekend!  We celebrated with great friends, honorary "aunts and uncles" and of course, her Godparents, Husband's brother and wife, Patrick and Jessica.

 

 

I'm saddened to say that on December 7th, our sweet companion, U.K. passed on.  He had been failing in health quite quickly over the two weeks before and he was old by the standards of a golden retriever at 14 years old.  We miss him greatly but no one as much as Husband.  They were true confidants and soul mates.  He will be forever in our hearts as he was our very first baby and we were his forever home.

On December 8th, H.G. turned 2 months old!

 

Lolly made her debut as a ballet dancer in her very first Nutcracker!  She was a lamb (I'm not sure they had lambs in the real Nutcracker.  I'm pretty sure they had more students sign up than parts and thus, we have lambs).  Let me tell you, the Nutcracker rehearsal and performance schedule is tough, especially with a newborn!  Nevertheless, we are super proud of Lolly and of course, she had a blast!  And that's all that matters.

We took a quick trip up to Disney's Magic Kingdom and Epcot, just for the day.  H.G.'s first trip and Lolly's tenth, twelfth, I've lost count!  Christmas at Disney truly is magical (until you get soaked with rain....and you buy $42 PJs so Lolly won't be cold on the ride home and then they shrink with the first washing to the size of a two month old....again, another story for another day).

Santa Claus visited our neighborhood.  This was very exciting for Lolly!   Yes, that is an Anna dress from Frozen.  Lolly never wears regular clothes at home. She is always in one princess dress or another.

I'm so proud of myself.  I took my own Christmas pictures.  I read a book on how to use our fancy Nikon D-90, figured out what an F-stop meant (sort of) and even used a tripod!  These are the results.  The top picture was the front of the card and the bottom picture was on the back as the birth announcement.  There's nothing wrong with killing two birds with one stone! :-) 

The only issue?  Husband said "you could have at least mulched!"  Heehee.  Add it to my list of things to do!

And then we went north.  We headed to Kentucky.....in the car.....a Lexus sedan (at least it's the big one).....for 24 hours.....stopping at a hotel....with a nursing two month old.....and an antsy 6 year old.

Oh yes we did.

And it actually went REALLY well!  At the time, H.G. was a car screamer.  Every time we put her in the car seat, she screamed at the top of her lungs until she was hoarse.  And then she'd snub for an hour.  It broke our hearts!  H.G. is a very good baby and never cried unless she was in her car seat (thankfully this has now stopped).

So, we got in the car, said a very long and hopeful prayer and she was an absolute peach the entire way up and back.

Will we ever do that again?  Uh, that would be a resounding NO!  But we are sure glad we were able to go and introduce H.G. to the family and of course, Lolly had a fantastic time on the farm.

Ummmmm, I'm a Florida baby....what the heck is all this bulky stuff?

 

Lolly lost her very first tooth two days before Christmas.  What a lucky girl as apparently the first tooth is worth the most.  Who knew?

 

Oh yes....by the way, Ashleigh had her baby!  Sweet little (big) P.  I'm pretty sure I told you but he was 6 weeks early and was in the NICU for two weeks.  Goodness, if I ever wanted to be anywhere, it was then.  For Ashleigh.  I will never be able to imagine what she went through but if the string of texts tell you anything, it was extremely tough.  But he's doing great and you'd never know he was a preemie with his 20 pound weight gain by 6 months!  I was SO excited to meet him and hug my "sister" this year.  So blessed to have Ashleigh, her Husband and now P. in our lives.  

I LOVE this picture.

Black walnut cracking on the farm. :-) We brought a whole bag back for bourbon balls for our upcoming Derby party!

Okay, so I told you it was picture overload!  Next post will be Month 3 (as that's how we gauge things in life now: by how old H.G. is at that time).

Until then....

Happy Monday Y'all!

 

  

Nearly Two Months!

Wow!  We have been busy, busy, busy.  And at the great urging of family and friends who do follow this blog, I'm going to resolve to be a better blogger and post a little bit more regularly.  

Here are a few pictures from our past couple of months.

Lallie and Baby H meeting for the very first time.  Such a proud big sister and very helpful too.  Not an ounce of jealousy (yet anyways). 

One of my favorite pictures of the girls.  Lallie truly loves her little sister, you can see it in her expression.

 She never minds holding Baby H when mommy needs a few moments.  And Baby H never minds laying with her sister.  She nearly always falls asleep in her comforting arms.

 

First smiles!!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Where have we been? Having a baby, that's where!

That's right....we've been one busy household the past three weeks.  More to come soon but rest assured, Baby H arrived happy and healthy on October 8th!  We're adjusting, slowly but surely, and having ball.  Oh, and Lallie is in LOVE!  Completely smitten with little sister.

See you soon!

Pound Cake Fail, Infant Toy Re-Visit, Our Garden and Lallie's First Volunteer Experience

Good Monday morning y'all!  We had a VERY busy weekend in the SLPS household.  Saturday morning started out with an early start, heading out to our very first volunteer experience as a family.  Lallie has helped in various activities with our church in the past, but this is the first time she's been out in the community, independent of church.  We attend our local United Way's Day of Service where we were served a wonderful breakfast and then stayed (in the air conditioning for this mommy-to-be) to pack "compassion kits" with trial size shampoos, conditioners etc.  

Lallie helped sort the trial sizes, decorate bags and then fill the bags.  She had a great time and it was a great experience as a family.  AND, we were done by 9 am, so we still had the whole day ahead of us!  What a great way to start a Saturday!

Saturday afternoon, Lallie and I took it easy while Daddy worked on the yard.  Our garden was in quite the weedy state and it's planting season, so Husband spent quite a bit of time preparing it and working on our irrigation system. 

Last weekend, we picked out three mango trees (Husband is OBSESSED with mangoes) and an avocado tree.  The avocado tree will be located back here by the garden at some point as it will get large enough to help shade the house.  The gardens will be moved (I think this year) to the other side of our house on our large side lot.  It's all part of a bigger plan to fence, landscape and install a brick paver patio with a fire pit for entertaining.  Large scale yes.  Happening today?  No.  But it's definitely in the planning stage!

While Husband worked outside, I worked inside, cleaning all of Lallie's old infant toys for Baby H.  When I say that I saved everything, I mean I saved EVERYTHING, right down to the unused diaper baggies!  Thankfully I had the foresight to save it all despite all of our storage issues.  It has saved THOUSANDS of dollars!  Well, Lallie had the best time exploring her old toys (most of them were in great shape, I only had to throw out a few).

See the mirror and that triangular thingy?  Those were her FAVORITE toys from about 4 to 6 months of age.  It was quite sentimental watching her play with them all.  Of course, she got bored quite quickly but I have walked into Baby H's room several times since washing the toys to find blocks built in castle form.  =)

This mirror is seriously the best.toy.ever for young babies.  Lallie LOVED it and it went everywhere with us!  I was so worried I threw it out because I can't find anything similar anywhere and if I do find it, it costs a fortune!  Best $5.99 I ever spent.  I have loads of baby pictures with this mirror.  I wonder if Baby H will enjoy it as much.  Thankfully, it was still in great shape as well, so after a little cleaning and soaking to sanitize it, it looked as good as new.

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Last but not least, our POUND CAKE FAIL.  

Lallie LOVES the show Martha Bakes on PBS.  However, I am the world's worst baker.  No, I'm not exaggerating even a little.  I apparently beat my Bisquick biscuits into such submission that they are hard as rocks on the outside and still batter on the inside.  I'm sorry....I despise lumps!

Well, Daddy was out working on our boat, so Lallie and I just decided that we were going to try the Pound Cake recipe on the latest episode.  Simple enough right?  

WRONG.

First, Martha didn't tell me the key ingredient.  What size pan to use.  So I just picked up a couple disposable bread pans at the store.  We made the recipe, filled them up and placed them in the oven.

30 minutes later....."what is that smell mommy?"

Me:  "I don't know.  Let me check the oven."

Me: "Lallie, go outside quick and get Daddy!!!"

Lallie:  "Let me see!  Oh no!  Daddy, daddy, daddy, the pound cake is overgoing, hurry, hurry, hurry!"  Yes, she used the term "overgoing."  (Love that child).

Meanwhile....smoke everywhere!  I flip off the oven, Husband does a little quick clean up.  And I shut the oven and turn it back on to finish baking (please bake, for Lallie's sake).

(In the picture, this is after the overspill and Husband put a pan underneath to catch more drippings.)

One hour later and multiple checks.

Me: "Honey, this should be turning brown and it's still bubbly looking.  I wonder where I went wrong?"

So I open the oven door.  Guess what?  I forgot to turn the oven back on.  ARGHHH!!

So, I turn on the oven.  SMOKE EVERYWHERE!  Shut off the oven again and calmly explain to Lallie that we'll have to try again tomorrow.  After a couple little fusses, she said ok.

So we're trying again tonight, with the right size (maybe slightly oversized pans!)

Told you...I AM NOT A BAKER!!!!

But, the shining moment that healed it all and is allowing me to persevere through another baking session......Lallie giving me a great big hug and saying "I love you mommy, I had a fun time baking with you!"

THAT's what it was all about in the first place.  =)

Happy Monday Y'all!