My Cup Runneth Over

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Randomness

* Gracyn must have been reading my blog and was getting embarrassed at being called the 'best baby ever" so she decided to throw a wrench into it all and start waking up 2-3 times a night for the past two nights. I know I am spoiled and most parents of infants are often up at least 2 times a night but Gracyn has spoiled me big time with only waking up 1 time a night since she was a week old. So needless to say I am a little more sleepy these days. I am praying this is just a phase, or because she has a little bit of a runny nose and can't get comfy when she sleeps. Either way I hope it goes back to 'normal' soon.

* I have no idea when it happened but I am officially a coffee addict now. I have never been a huge coffee drinker. Of course I would indulge in a few lattes throughout the year, especially in the peppermint mochas at Christmas time, but coffee has never been a staple in my life. Fast forward to October and I seriously can not go a day without a coffee. And its not all about the caffeine either because half the time I have decaf. So strange to me. I have memories of when I was young and on Christmas mornings my parents would make us wait to come out of our rooms to see the presents until they had a brewed cup of coffee in hand and I remember thinking "Coffee could not possibly be a bigger deal than Christmas!" Now I get it.

* Avery went to a birthday party the other day and for party favors they gave little plastic Strawberry Shortcake figurines and immediately when I opened the package up it sent me straight back to my childhood. I had completely forgotten about that fabulous strawberry scent that goes along with Strawberry Shortcake! She was definitly my favorite when I was little and its so funny to see Avery play with her now. And I even found some episodes on the DVR for us to watch- they are really cute! Now Avery will say "Strawberry is my berry berry favorite!"

* Do you guys have big plans for the Superbowl? You would think that we would, seeing as how our entire lives seem to revolve around football, but I think we are going to take it easy this year, which I am really excited about!

* Have you all discovered the awesomeness of Groupon or Living Social yet? I know I am probably waaaaay late to this game and all you smarties have already discovered the amazingness of these two sites long ago but I have been a little busy birthin' babies so I am just now jumping on the bandwagon and woooweeee I love the deals I can find! Just yesterday I paid $59 for a $130 giftcard to an Aveda salon. And last week there was a deal for a $20 amazon giftcard for only $10. Seriously???!!!! I can't say I completely understand how it all works or why in the world you are able to get such deals, but I am a believer!

* Speaking of online deals I am also a HUGE fan of Amazon Mom for diapers. If you combine it with the 20% coupons that are in the Parenting magazines the diapers are SUPER cheap. I got a 248 extra-jumbo pack for Gracyn for only $28. Plus you can't beat the free two day shipping. Love it! (Can you tell how excited I get about getting a great deal!!! It's the little things people)

Well I hope you all have a relaxing, fun weekend. We are looking forward to spending some much needed quality time with Daddy since he has been in Alabama for the past week. Happy Friday everyone!!!!!

My Ballet Babe

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sweet Little Valentines

Sweet Alli got these matching shirts for the girls and although I have put them in coordinating outfits (remember the Christmas jammies?) I actually have not yet dressed them in matching outfits.........until now. The looked so cute and I see lots more matching outfits in their futures. They can kill me for it later.

I know everyone knows this but getting a good picture of BOTH of the girls is nearly impossible. First you have to prop Gracyn up correctly so she doesn't topple over. Then you have to make crazy noises so Gracyn will actually look your direction. And then you have to get Avery to stop saying "Mommy stop making those noises. Gracyn does not like that." long enough to smile. As you can tell I never got a smile out of Miss A in these, but at least I got one where she is looking at the camera.
And I got a smile out of Gracyn here while Avery is planning her next move.

We had a crazy busy weekend filled with playdates and birthday parties and of course I didn't take a picture of any of it. But the girls behaved perfectly and had a great time so thats all that matters. I am taking advantage of how portable Gracyn still is. She will sleep almost anywhere, anytime if you are holding her. I know here pretty soon we will start to try to get her on a more normal schedule, but for now its working out pretty good.

Perfect little Gracyn has given herself a bedtime of around 6:30 and has decided she is old enough to roll over during the night and sleep for 8-10 hour stretches for the past two nights! Woohoo! Of course I am crazy and I still woke up at 2am wondering why she hadn't woken up yet. Gracyn has also really started to 'talk' alot the last day or two. And by talk I mean a really loud, high pitched scream. She really wanted to 'talk' to me at 5am this morning but I bribed her with a little meal so she would fall back asleep. She also has giggled a few times. Not very consistently but enough to make my heart melt. I am going to try to catch it on video soon.

Honesty

I have to be honest and say I was having a hard Mommy week this week. I just need a break and won't be getting one for a while. I am easily frustrated and exhausted at the constant needs of the girls, which is no different than normal but for some reason this week I just was having a hard time. And then this happened.........

Sleeping Beauty invited me to a tea party in the middle of the morning yesterday. I have to be honest and say I started crying. I am so grateful for my time at home with the girls and for little reminders, like tea parties on a Friday morning, to let me remember that these moments are fleeting and I need to stop, breathe and just be present in the moment, which in this moment meant passing the sugar to Sleeping Beauty.

South Florida Fair

Last weekend Matt had both Saturday and Sunday off (which never happens) so we went to the South Florida Fair. Now my expectations weren't too high because nothing compares to the Texas State Fair but it was actually pretty good. It wasn't too crowded, was fairly clean, and actually had a lot of rides that Avery could ride on.

Good thing Daddy doesn't get motion sick like Mommy does, so he got to ride all the spinny rides with Avery who was pretty fearless with the rides.

In the "Old Towne" section where they played with bubbles, played in hay, did hula hoops and threw bean bags. Avery blew bubbles for like 45 minutes.

And of course the main reason I always want to go to the fair- the FOOD! It did not disappoint! Avery got a giant corndog, I got a pulled pork sandwich and corn, and Matt got a gyro. But they had all the normal fair goodies and it was pretty good!

Just relaxing on the balloon ride

And of course Gracyn was a precious angel the whole time. She either just stared around at all the lights and sounds or slept. She makes it seem so easy!

It was such a fun afternoon and such a fun thing to do as a family. We were there about 3-4 hours before the girls starting melting down and there was a lot we didn't get to see (the crafts booths!) but we plan to go back every year.

Who Me?

Who did you say rolled over all by their self today? Me? Are you sure?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rolling

I just wanted to have it recorded for my records that Gracyn rolled over by herself today! She rolled from her back to her belly going both directions, although she prefers to roll to the right. Way to go G!

Update

- I don't want to jinx anything but I 'think' I may be the proud momma to TWO babies who sleep 8+ hours a night- both in their OWN beds! Yes ma'am I am one lucky girl. (And special thanks to Robin who gave me the courage and motivation to actually attempt to get Gracyn sleeping in her crib already- thanks Rob for tolerating all my crazy-lady text messages over the past few days!) But Gracyn is now napping easily in her crib all the time, as well as putting herself to sleep with little to no problem at all. woohoo!

- Avery has honestly turned into a really big girl over night. She will say things like "Mommy, wait what did you say?" and "Ok Mooooooom (said in a really long irritated teenager-sounding tone)." and "I really don't think I want to eat peanut butter and jelly again, what about something different." and other really appropriate thoughtful sentences that just make me scratch my head and wonder exactly how two years and ten months went so quickly

- I have been up to me ears in laundry. Honestly I don't know how any of us have any clothes to wear because it is all currently sitting on my bedroom floor, nicely folded, just waiting for me to put it all away. This pile on the bedroom floor began before we left for Houston and has just been growing and growing since we got back because I really don't have any problem washing dirty clothes, but putting them away seems to be a big chore for me. So instead of sucking it up and putting it all away I have been using our little laundry floor pile as a makeshift closet and plucking our daily outfits out of it. Lazy, yes I know but all I can say is at least the clothes are clean, right????

- I know this is random but I was at lunch at Chick-Fil-A with some friends of ours after a playdate and she was astonished that you could turn in the toy that they give you in the kids meal for an ice cream cone. I thought everyone knew this trick but in case you don't know it I thought I would share because I know my sweet little toddler much prefers ice cream to most of the toys they offer. So next time you are at Chick-Fil-A and get a sub-par toy, walk right up to the cashier with that toy and ask for a ice cream cone and voila!

- Gracyn update: this little lovely continues her run as 'best baby ever' as she easily adjusted to sleeping in her crib during naptimes. In the past week she has begun to eat every 4 hours and is still napping after every feeding, usually getting sleepy 1-1.5 hours after I feed her. So when she starts to get a little groggy I lay her in her crib where she puts herself to sleep and sleeps anywhere from 45 min- 2 hr. She has been trying to make her bedtime around 6ish, which is awesome in some ways because I get to do bedtime routine with Avery (bath, books, endlesss hugs and kisses) and then when Avery goes to bed I am able to relax baby-free for a little bit BUT the 6ish bedtime for Miss G means that she wakes up hungry TWO times during the night (around 1am and around 4 or 5am) and I have been super spoiled by this perfect babe because we have only been waking up once per night since she was about a week old. So I'm not sure what to do about this because I like having some free-time in the evenings but I also like only having to wake up once (or less) during the night. I know, I know I can't have my cake and eat it too. I'll just wait it out to see what happens I guess but overall Gracyn is honestly the perfect little baby. She easily adjusts to whatever we do and wherever we go. She naps easily in the carseat and in loud places. She rarely cries and is always giving smiles and coos out to anyone who will make eye contact with her. She just makes me heart melt. AND she is completely enamored with Avery. When Avery walks into a room and Gracyn hears her, Gracyns eyes start to search the room until she finds her big sister and she just watches Avery, most likely amazed at all the energy that Avery has on a daily basis :-)

- Avery update: She is such a good girl and like I mentioned earlier she has been acting so old lately. It's so funny. We are registering her for school tomorrow and although school doesn't start until August (can you believe you have to register in January for a preschool program that doesn't even start until August- craziness.....but I digress) I am excited at the thought of her starting school. She is just so ready for the social interaction and learning. She actually will probably start school in the summer with the summer program which is a little less scheduled and will be the perfect introduction to the school day for her. She is still loving her dance classes and has been curtsy-ing around the house for the past week. She is just so fun and hilarious- yesterday she said "Mom (I have no idea where and why she started calling me Mom instead of Mommy) I think it's time for me to eat something delicious." I think she was trying to ask for a dessert but still it was the funniest thing. Haha. Love her to pieces. She also continues her run as 'best big sister ever' as she is always wanting to hold Gracyn and helps me when I change her diaper. She still hasn't shown any signs of jealousy or acted out in any way which is amazing to me. I am beyond blessed

Growin' Up

Look who's big enough for the Bumbo now!




And look who's most excited about the reappearance of the Bumbo.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just Yummy

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Houston Pictures

Since we were in Texas for 10 days I have a HUGE amount of adorable photos of our trip and since I am too busy right now trying to get Gracyn to sleep anywhere besides my arms (please pray for us!) then I thought I would throw an insane amount of pictures in here to occupy your time. Hopefully I will be baby-free during naptimes soon so I can actually blog, or wash my hair, or feed my toddler, or put on actual clothes instead of yoga pants- you know important things like that :-)

Grandma and Gracyn

Julie riding her bike like a rock star

On New Years Day- rough night the night before?????

Nana reading to Avery

Grandma and Papa John's new puppy Kaci- adorable!

Bob and his boys

The ladies!

Papa makes the best pillow :-)

Julie helping me out with Gracyn

On the day of the last Texans game of the season- Avery was such a good cheerleader and the Texans won this game!

Grandpa got to meet Gracyn for the first time

This picture cracks me up because Great-Grandma A is so tiny that she makes Gracyn look like a toddler in this picture! Ha!

Avery putting on another concert on Papa John and Grandma's piano

Daddy and his baby

Parker checking out Gracyn

The girls eating their Sprinkles cupcakes

Dancing Queen

As part of her Christmas gifts from her parents Avery got a session of dance classes at the YMCA. This little girl has always liked to shake her booty (do y'all remember this hilarious video?) so we knew she would have a ball in an actual dance class.

Well she missed the first class since we were still in Houston but yesterday was her first attempt at dance lessons. Also let me just say that I made the mistake of telling her that she was going to begin dance classes today this morning, when her first class wasn't actually until this afternoon, because all morning long and through her entire naptime she kept saying "Mommy I think it's time for dance class now." Hahaha! I think saying she was just a tad excited is a gigantic understatement!

The class lasted 45 minutes and it has to be the cutest 45 minutes I have ever seen in my life. Of course I teared up a little bit at the sight of 13 little three year old girls sashay-ing and curtsy-ing around the room. I mean, when did my little girl get old enough to be in dance class?

Gracyn is Three Months Old!

What You Did This Month- 3 months old

Weight: not totally sure since we don't have a doctor's appointment this month but I would guess somewhre around 12 lb

Length/Height: ????

Head Circumference: ?

Diaper Size: Size 1

Clothing Size: 0-3 months but starting to rotate a few 3-6 month clothes in also

Sleeping Habits: This is still a little hurdle for us. If I put you down for a nap in your crib you will only sleep about 30 minutes, but if I hold you then you will take a really good 1-2 hr nap. Still napping in between every feeding. After your 9pm feeding then you easily go down into the pack and play and sleep a solid 6-7 hr stretch making it so that I only have to wake up once a night.

Eating Habits: Exclusively breastfed every 3 hours. I still am not giving you as many bottles as I should be but I really hate to pump............

Milestones: It seems like you really got so much bigger over the past month. Your face and body has begun to round out and you are such a talker! You love to make eye contact with people and put a big grin on your face and just talk and talk. Its probably the cutest thing ever. You are able to bring your head up and maintain it about half way up while on your belly, and you are scooting around in a circle somehow because you end up in a totally different position in the morning then how I layed you down at night.

Likes/Dislikes:

- You sleep easily in the carseat and stroller. You obviously like movement when you sleep, which is why I think you like for Mommy to hold you during the day while you sleep.

- You are honestly such a happy baby. You only cry when you are hungry and you are always giving huge smiles to anyone who talks to you.

-You have started to take a pacifier a little bit.

Gracyn- You are such a good baby and you love to cuddle up and coo at your mommy, daddy and sister. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful new addition to our family. This Christmas season has made us so appreciative of our beautiful growing family. We love you sweet girl.

High on Houston

At the last minute we planned a family trip to Houston for the week after New Years. Matt was going there for work so we decided to tag along, which worked out perfectly because he was able to fly with us both flying there and back! The girls did SO good! Gracyn just slept the entire time and Avery watched the DVD. I think I may have even gotten in a quick nap!

About to take off

Sidenote: Everyone keeps telling me how Avery looks exactly like me.......well if I didn't agree before then there is no doubting it now. Check out this picture! Both Avery and I have our heads turned the same way, smiling the same, eyes the same- hilarious!

Gracyn helping Daddy pass the time on the flight

Matt had to travel back and forth to Corpus but the girls and I stayed at Eric and Jenny's house in Houston for the whole 10 days. I told them they are brave to let a newborn and a toddler have the rule of the roost for 10 days! We flew into Houston on New Years Eve so the whole family came into town to celebrate and visit with us- it was so fun to see everyone at once!

Great-Grandma A meeting Gracyn for the first time

My mom and Steve drove in from Dallas and stayed the weekend with us in Houston. Thanks again for making the trip y'all!

Family Picture

The Brothers

Cousin Julie and Gracyn

Avery put on a "concert" for everyone while we were there. There are no words.

:-)

Uncle Drew meeting Gracyn

We were so lucky to get to see lots of our friends while we were in Houston. Melanie and Josh drove in for a night and I finally got to meet sweet little Paxten!

Mel and Gracyn

The Houston Winstons were such AMAZING hosts and they just loved on our kids for the entire trip. It was so nice spending so much time with our family- I wish we lived closer!!!

Hahaha- pouty face Avery

We drove up to College Station to see Matt's parents house one day. Everytime I go to College Station I am amazed at how much has changed since we were in school there. I swear there are like 50 new restaurants there now------ maybe it was a good thing all those yummy places to eat weren't there when we were!

Avery shooting hoops on Grandma and Papa John's sport court

Matt and his Momma Julie

Alli and Allison came over one day and it was so much to catch up with these cute little preggos! I am sure its not surprising to anyone who has tried to get a picture of even just one toddler but this is the best picture I could get of these three busy little toddlers! Griffin, Parker and Avery ran each other ragged and played chase the entire time so they were hard to catch to take a picture.

Overall it was an amazing trip. Gracyn is still so young that she adjusted easily to the new timezone and she continues to keep up her run as the best baby ever. And Avery did so well especially since we were busy visiting all our families. Both kids slept well, ate well, and were super sweet to all our family members. It was such a fun trip!

It was so good to see everyone! And a huge THANK YOU again to Eric, Jenny and Julie for opening your home (and pantry!) to our crazy brood for the past 10 days. We had an amazing time! Love you all!!!!