Girl Clothes

I think I mentioned that I was going to a big consignment event a while back. Well, I figured I should post the new outfits that L got just so you can see my great deals! There is an even BIGGER event next weekend. My friend Michelle and I are hitting up this one the night before it opens to the public, for the "first time moms" sale. Lucky us, our kids are under 1 (for a few more weeks) so we get to shop early! Notice that my bargains from the previous sale mostly still have tags!! And, most of them are Gymboree or boutique brand!

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You are 11 months old! Which is pretty much a year old..which is pretty much TOO old!! You are getting big so fast! You are very long and I have already started dressing you in 18 month clothes. Last time I checked, you were 23 pounds!

You still do not have any teeth! Everyone asks about this. "Any teeth yet?" Nope. Granmommy said we are going to have to get Uncle Wayne to make you some dentures! HA!

You are crawling and cruising on furniture, but not yet walking. Sometimes you will stand for a few seconds but once you realize you are standing, you sit down.

You take 4 bottles a day and eat three meals a day. You finally decided you liked pasta with cheese. Daddy is the one who lets you try the good stuff. He gave you a little sip of his frozen Starbucks drink and a french fry (which you didn't seem to care less about). But the REAL good stuff is coming when you get BIRTHDAY CAKE in just a few short weeks! If you are anything like me, you will LOVE cake.

You wake up around 7:30 each morning and play for a little while in your crib before I come to get you. You take a few naps a day, but you think you are in charge of when you take those and how long you sleep. But, I have pretty much dealt with this since you were born. You like to make your own schedule. So somedays you take long naps, and somedays short naps. I guess as long as you take naps, I am okay with it.

You still love going to gymnastics once a week and I always look forward to taking you. You smile and squeal most the time you are there!

You love to clap and now you are waving too! Somehow the sign for "more" has changed and now instead of signing it, you clap instead. I think you just plain like to make noise :) You also made the sign for milk this month! You had just woken up and I was changing you. I guess you were really hungry and knew it was time to eat.

We love you so much little girl!

Bloggers Block

I've sat down to blog Lorelei's 11 month post numerous times. I've also sat down to try to blog in general numerous times. But, as you may have noticed, I haven't been successful. It seems I have fallen off the blogger bandwagon. Blog writers block if you will. But, good news is I think I have identified the source of the problem. I love reading other blogs. So much so that I feel like everyone else's blog is more interesting than mine, and I don't have anything possibly as interesting to write about! Like, do you want to hear about my latest and greatest money saving techniques? Probably not but I'm about to tell you anyways...

I made a wish list for Lorelei's birthday. I haven't finished it but I am working on it. Then, I started shopping for the items on the list. Only, I didn't just head out to the store and purchase. I am buying most items used. Chasing down the Little Tykes Rockin Puppy at Once Upon a Child, only to find out it wasn't for sale yet. But, not to worry, I found it on Craigslist and met the puppy's previous owner today. Blue Puppy for $15-check! Little People Noah's Ark-check! Found it at Once Upon a Child (OUAC). Pottery Barn bookcase? Why pay $150? Found it on Craigslist and going to get it tomorrow. Adorable Baby Gap dress? Check. OUAC. Drum? Check. OUAC. Maracas? Check. OUAC. And to top it all off, this weekend there is a bi-annual children's consignment event. I can hardly wait. Rob says it sounds like a "cheap-skate convention" to him. He just doesn't appreciate my skills :) Now I know this isn't really "news" to anyone who always buys used...but I can't help but feel oh so proud of myself when I save a little money. Just clean the toys, wrap them up, and TA DA! A birthday that costs half as much as new.

So, that is all. Until I come up with the next "exciting" story to blog about...

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,
You are 10 months old!

In the past month...

You have started eating all kinds of table foods. You get really excited about waffles. Other than that, we don't get much feedback from you other than weird, "what did I just put in my mouth" and "what do I do with this" looks. And you don't even like macaroni and cheese!! Girl, you don't know what you are missing. You tried to sign "more" for the first time this month. I almost cried, I was so excited! It was the cutest thing the way you put your hands together and tried to move them to make the sign.

You also pull up on everything and crawl...fast.

Your Daddy had his first Father's Day, but he had to work. So we went to bring him lunch to his work. You went to the lake for your first 4th of July and you saw your Granmommy, Grandpa, Bug, and Great Poppa. The next upcoming holiday is your BIRTHDAY!

You love to give kisses. Very slobbery, but I still love them.

In the next few days, you will be going to spend time with Granmommy at the lake and then time at Mimi's house. This will be the longest we have ever been apart from you. We know you will have tons of fun with both Granmommy and Mimi.

You are a precious gift from God and we thank Him for you everyday. We love you, Lorelei Hope!

Mexico!!

We are home! We spent this past week in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was beautiful, relaxing, and a wonderful getaway. We are so lucky to have both my mom and Rob's mom to split the time keeping our sweet Lorelei. We know she had tons of fun with them, but we missed her so much. Here's how the week went:

Monday: Flight to Cancun. Arrived at resort, ate lunch, went to beach. Went swimming in pool and then napped on the beach under a palm tree. Amazing! Palm trees on the beach! Back in hotel room at 5pm and took a nap until 7pm. Tried to get up and get ready for dinner but I was exhausted so we ordered room service and went right back to sleep. I slept basically from 5pm till 8am the next morning. Now that is the story of a tired momma!
Tuesday: Beach all day! Massages on the beach that evening. Funny thing was that I had a lady massouse and Rob had a gay man massouse! I thought he would be so mad about that, but the second we walked away from the beach when the massages were over he kept telling me that it was the best massage he has ever had! bahahahaha! A massage on the beach was absolutely the most calming thing, ever.
Wednesday: Snorkeling Excursion!! I had never been snorkling and I thought Rob hadn't either (turns out he later told me he had, but didn't tell me because he didn't want to make me feel bad.) We snorkled in 3 locations-an ocean area, a cave, and a natural pool. In the ocean area, we saw a manatee!!! Apparently, that is very very rare-and only 4 people in all the groups saw it, and I happened to be one of the lucky ones! Then, we went snorkling in a cave. The water was absolutely freezing, but seeing the rocks and depths of the cave was incredible. Then, we jumped off a cliff and ziplined into a natural pool and snorkled there!
Thursday: Slept another 14 hours, sleeping in till 11am. Then went to Fifth Avenue to see the touristy shops. Thursday afternoon we swam in the ocean and layed around on the beach.
Friday: Breakfast and then HOME to our sweet Lorelei :) It is so much easier to come back from vacation when you have a little one at home waiting for you!

I have to say this trip left me with two questions. 1. Why in the world have we not gone on trips like this before? Rob had to keep reminding me of the answer to this- We got married young, and have spent the past 3 and a half years establishing careers, family, and paying off debt! and question 2. Why in the world have we not been to Mexico before? It was a super easy place to get to, the staff was very friendly, it's all inclusive food and drinks, and the beach was incredibly relaxing.



We can't wait for our next get-away!

Productivity Issues & An Update

What IS my problem?! I feel like I have tons that I want to do and never get anything done. Take tonight for example...Rob is working 16 hr. shift so he won't be home till after midnight and Lorelei is asleep. I have never had so much time by myself. I have tons of ideas of what to do racing through my head, but haven't implemented a single one! I think I might have a small case of ADD or something. I can't focus on one task long enough to get it done. When we were packing up our house in Lubbock...oh man. Rob had to practically babysit me. I was so overwhelmed, I would just walk around and around, moving something, packing something in one room, pack something else in another room, back to the first room. I think I must get really overwhelmed, as I am now with all my "free time" choices, and have no idea where to start!

Cricket Update: Still here. They went away for a while and now they are back. Apparently the complex did a huge spray or something to kill them all and then all the rain washed the spray away. So, hello again crickets. The other night we were on the couch watching tv and out of the corner of my eye, something went flying through the air. Yes, my dear friends. It was a cricket. Then, we killed 3 more before bed. ew. ew. ew.

Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,

9 months!!
Here is what you can do:
-Crawl...everywhere!
-Pick up and eat little puffs and cheerios
-Pull up to stand
-Say "dadadada" and "mamamama" We can't tell if you are for sure saying momma and dada, but I do know that when you want me to come and get you, you say "mamamama"
-Sleep around 12 hours a night in your crib
-Weigh 19.15 lbs (75%) and are 29 inches long (95-97%)

Firsts:
-First time to swim in the pool!! You loved it!
-First time to swim in the lake.
-First trip to the zoo!
-First time to pull up. (You first did this in your crib when you had thrown a wubba-nub overboard and wanted it back.)

Your doctor told me to start feeding you table food. So, you have had an eggo dipped in pears...which you didn't particularly like. I don't know if it was the eggo you didn't like, or the fact that I was making you feed it to yourself. I would guess you just wanted to be feed, because eggos are yummy. You have also had a little tofu mixed with wheat germ. I have pureed some turkey breasts, so those are next! You still don't have any teeth. You chew on the sippy cup instead of sucking on it. You take 4 bottles a day, none of which you will hold yourself :)

Girl, you don't miss a minute of life. This is why sometimes you refuse to nap, and instead play and squeal in your crib. This is also why if you sleep in the car, the minute we stop-you wake up and look around because if you continued sleeping, you would be missing out on whatever we were doing. This is also why whenever you sit in your stroller, you sit way up at the end, hold on to the snack tray and squeal all through the store. People must think you rarely get out of the house because of your extreme excitement! We pass lots of other babies snoozing in their stroller, but not you. There is just not time for naps in strollers when there is so much shopping to be done!

I can't believe you are already almost one year old. September seems like yesterday. But, we are blessed that you are growing, big and strong. We love you, little miss!

Love,
Momma & Daddy