30 minute snickerdoodles

Today has been a rather long day. My sweet baby girl's gums are bothering her so bad. She slept for a total of about an hour and a half today. She was happy when she was awake, when her gums weren't hurting her. She looked so cute today in the dress my Nanny and Paw Paw gave her! We didn't go anywhere today, but she has so many cute Christmas outfits she has to wear before Christmas day!

She is so cute! She pulls up on any and everything, especially her activity table and walking toy. But she will pull up on you if you are close enough to her. I know she wants to walk so bad she can't stand it, and she will move her feet while holding your hand to get where she wants to go!

Nick ran to get us lunch and then to the store. Allie and I played with her toys, but her favorite thing to do is to call Daddy. She just stares at the phone and will squeal. She loves to hold it and hear him talk to her. I just love how much she loves him!

 she is also a pro at hanging up on Daddy!

She is completely a Mommy's girl. Don't get me wrong she loves her Daddy to pieces, but when it comes to sleeping she needs her Mommy. She went as far as to push Daddy's arm away and reach for me tonight when he was holding her. 

After laying her down at 7:00 she woke up every 15-30 minutes. I baked cookies in between running to her room to bounce her back to sleep. Nick made us sausage biscuits for supper, so while I ate he took over going into her room. When she would make a sound he would go in there and she would scream till he left! She was looking for me and was highly disappointed when it wasn't me that walked in the door. He even said she would look and see it was him then crawl to the other corner of her crib as fast as she could! Once 11:00 came and she was still awake we decided we would try taking a drive. We drove down 75, which typically puts her to sleep. Tonight she squealed happily and talked the whole way! When we got off Nick asked if we should just go home and let her play. I asked him if my grandparents road was close (it's a very poorly paved road & it never fails Allie falls asleep every time we drive down it). He said it was and the minute we turned onto it she fell asleep. 

 success!

We drove the long (and kind of scary!) way home and let her get good and asleep only to wake up the minute we walked in the door. I fed her and she fell right back to sleep!! Yay! Here's to hoping she sleeps well tonight.

Tonight I made chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies. So tomorrow I will bake the peanut butter cookies, make candy cane bark and chocolate covered pretzels! So excited, only 2 days till Christmas! Hoping for a good night's sleep. Night!

christmas lights

Today my mom came over to play with Allie so I could bake cookies. Sounded like a good plan... but my sweet girl's gums were hurting her so bad, so she was wanting Mommy when she was awake and didn't nap well at all. I was able to get the dog cakes I was making done, but no cookies. I'll try again tomorrow! The good thing is I can see the tooth that is trying to come through. It is her top right tooth in the front. She has been hurting so bad and it's so true that when they hurt you hurt because I almost cry myself when she is crying in pain. :( Makes me so sad. Grammie (my mom), Allie and I did put the glitter ornaments on her tree today and she showed Grammie all her ornaments. She even tried to put an ornament on her tree! Love her!

This month I stole an idea from Pinterest and have been doing the 25 days of Christmas with Nick. It is a really neat idea. You make up something for each day counting down to Christmas, write them on a note card (or print them out and back with scrapbook paper like I did) and they get to pull a card each day. Some of the days I have written things I love about him and others are days when we do things or go places. We have Wii bowled, played DDR, he got to pick out and open one Christmas present and tonight we went in our pajamas to look at Christmas lights! 

I hate that it is blurry :/

 

We fed and bathed Allie so she'd be ready to go to bed when we got home. We were going to go to one of my friend's houses first and show Allie the lights, but she fell asleep right after we pulled out of the subdivision! So we went to O'Charley's and got food to go. Never knew that if you ordered to go (which we do all the time) that when you go to pick it up if you call them they will bring it out to your car! Since we were in our jammies this was perfect! We got teriyaki sesame chicken (which is delicious if you have never tried it!), loaded potato soup and a bunch of rolls. My Hubby LOVES bread! We then headed back to Heron Bay to look at lights. If you haven't heard about or seen my friend's house and you live in Henry County it is very much worth going to see. Their lights are incredible! You pull up in front of their house and tune to the station listed and their lights dance to music. I could just sit there for hours!

We came home, I fed my sweet girl and laid her down. I hope she sleeps well tonight, she was so exhausted today. Going to snuggle with my Hubby and watch The Grinch and go to sleep! We have another exciting day tomorrow filled with baking cookies, cleaning, laundry & hopefully seeing Janna & Bryan! Feel better Aunt Janna, Allie need to see her godparents!! :)

36 weeks

Today my sweet baby girl is 36 weeks old. We are less than a week away from celebrating her first Christmas. I can't believe how fast the time is going. I am so very grateful that I get to stay at home with her and experience everything that she learns and does for the first time. She is growing and changing so fast. It took her less than two weeks to master crawling and less than a week to figure out how to pull up on things. She now stands in her crib and talks when she is awake, like she's been doing it forever! 

She looks so cute standing there waiting for me to get her!

My dad called me this morning and told me that my mom was in an accident. Praise the Lord she is ok and wasn't injured. She is a little sore, but I am just so very thankful she wasn't hurt. People are in too much of a hurry this time of year. I asked Nick today if Christmas came on the same day every year and if everyone knew that. He said not everyone shops the day after Thanksgiving like we do. I understand that, but I just wish people were more polite and cautious this time of year.

Today I went and saw Chelsea to get my hair cut. I haven't had my hair cut in about 5 months, so it was well overdue. I just love Chelsea and enjoy chatting with her. She curled my hair, which Nick loves. After that we came home and I baked dog cakes while Allie took a nap. I am making cakes this year for all the dogs in our life. I usually make cookies, but the cake looks like a wreath, so I thought it'd be cute. And our dogs approved of it when I made it for Bella's birthday in October, so I am sure the others will love it! Poor baby's gums are still bothering her and she has been needing me more than usual. I have to say I love it. I love to cuddle her, hold her and know I can make her stop crying just by being there for her. Yesterday for her 3rd nap she would only sleep in my arms. I just ate it up!

I haven't had a picture like this in so long!

She is all snuggled in for the night, so Nick and I are cleaning and watching Teen Mom 2.. one of my guilty pleasures!

a weekend of family Christmases

This has been a busy, fun weekend spent with family. On Saturday we drove down to LaGrange to my Nanny and Paw Paw's house. Allie slept the whole way there. She had a very good 2 hour nap. When we got there it was a little overwhelming for her. I have a very big family and all of my cousins are starting to have babies too, so there are even more people there now. It is a lot of fun, very loud, but fun. The food is delicious and there is always plenty of dessert, especially the ambrosia. My Nanny makes the best! This year we did a baby gift exchange between all of our little ones. It was fun and neat to watch them all open their presents. Next year is going to be even more fun! I love seeing all my cousins, since we don't get to see each other throughout the year as much as we would like. Allie got some toys and a really cute dress I can't wait for her to wear from Nanny. :) She slept the whole way home and was so exhausted she also went to bed early.
Sunday we got up and didn't get ready in enough time to make it to church, so we headed to my Granny D and Papa's house early. Allie was so sleepy and had not taken a nap since she woke up, so she was a little fussy when we got there. Again the food was delicious. My Papa makes oyster stew and it is delicious!! I look forward to it all year. I was able to get Allie to sleep, so once she woke up I ate me a big bowl. Allie got some great gifts today. She got a walking toy, The Elf on The Shelf, stacking rings, a baby doll and her very first ornament from Granny D and Papa. She loves the stacking rings and baby doll.
This past weekend completely wore her out. And bless her heart, she is cutting teeth and has been in pain. It breaks my heart for my baby to hurt. So we ate supper, took a bath and went to bed a little bit earlier than usual.

baking cookies with Grammie

Today was my Papa's birthday, so my mom, Allie and I went out to lunch with him at Chevy's in the square. It was really good! 

 Momma, Allie & Papa

 So sweet!

 I love that Allie is looking at him

Allie was so cute! She sat in her high chair, with her cover of course, and ate her lunch while we ate. She squealed and talked and entertained everyone that was in there. She was so good! Especially since it was only the second time she has ever sat in a highchair at a restaurant. 

 We then walked to the square and took a few pictures. It was so nice outside today, not at all like December weather should be! 

 precious!

After lunch Allie and I went back to my mom's house to bake cookies. She is starting a tradition with Allie. They are going to bake sugar cookies, or as Nick calls them "cut out cookies" every Christmas. I cannot make these, I loose my patience way to easily when they don't look perfect. Allie had so much fun with her Grammie and Mommy took waaaaaayyy too many pictures. But I cherish them all.

 Allie and Grammie in their aprons

 Allie chose to make a star shaped cookie first!

 Grammie pushed them into the dough and Allie picked them up

 love these chubby hands

 putting them on the cookie sheet

 grabbed the dough!

 she had such a tight grip

 and she was not letting go!

 then she dropped it on the floor: a treat for Nobis

 we washed our hands

 and played with everything in the sink!

 love this girl so much!

 we took a break to see Nobis: Allie loves him!

 Grammie and Allie's first sugar cookies!

I know my mom and Allie both had so much fun and I can't wait for next year. Allie will love it even more. I am so thankful to have such involved parents and Allie is the luckiest little girl!

errands

Today was a fun, errands running, it's 70 degrees outside and it's December?? kind of day. Nick, Allie and I needed to finish getting a few Christmas presents and pick up a few other things. So after breakfast and Allie's nap we left and went to Target, Michael's, Marshall's and Petsmart. We then ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We bought Allie a toy while we were there. She doesn't have very many age appropriate toys, which I am SURE will change after Christmas! Each year I make dog cookies for all of the sweet dogs in our life. This year I am making dog cakes! I tried it out when Bella turned 5 and our dogs loved it! I mean they eat lint, so them liking something isn't really a good indication, but I think all the dogs will love them! We got Allie some new baby food and I can't wait to see if she likes some of the new foods. She tried pumpkin apple at supper and she gobbled it up! 

Tonight we went to one of my sweet friend Rhiannon's house for dinner. It was so good to see her, her Hubby and Logan. She always makes the most delicious meals and tonight was no different. We had a delicious soup that had the yummiest veggies. I still need to get that recipe from her! We brought a cookie cake from Ingles. It was so good, Nick's favorite. It was so sweet to see Logan interact with Allie. When we went to leave he gave her a hug, then he turned and said, "I want to give Allie another hug!" So sweet! We didn't stay over there late, but my sweet girl was so tired she fell asleep on the short 15 minute drive home. Not even a bath made her happy, she was ready for night night. 

She is now tucked into bed and Nick and I are watching Last Man Standing and You Deserve It. Then we are going to get in bed before midnight. 

Emerson

Today was a difficult day for me. Today we should have been celebrating our angel baby's 1st birthday. In April 2010 Nick and I lost our first baby. It was the most difficult day of my life. I will never forget that day, or the days before. Nick and I were overjoyed to learn that we were pregnant. No matter how long you know you've been pregnant it isn't easy. We only knew for a few days. We were already so in love with that baby and it was crushing to lose him/her. I don't wish that kind of pain on anyone. God has taught me so very much through that experience. I have always been a little scared of Heaven, go with me for a minute. The thought of "forever" has always scared the mess out of me. I have this out of body experience when I think about it too long and begin to panic. Now I have something to really look forward to. I get to meet, hold, hug and kiss my sweet angel when I get to Heaven. He has also allowed me to comfort others who have experienced losing a baby. I wouldn't have had the words to comfort others without going through it myself. Being able to help others and tell them what has happened and what helped me has made me able to relate to so many friends. I will say that it has gotten easier, however I always think about that baby. When we went in for our confirmation visit when we found out we were pregnant with Allie one of the first questions they asked was, "Is this your first pregnancy?" and it hit me again. Because I had to say no, even though there wasn't another baby there with me. 

So today I was looking at a page on facebook and saw a picture of a little girl and her name was Emerson. I like this name and have tried to convince Nick that if we have a boy we should name him this. He so far hasn't gone for it. I never thought about it for a girl until I saw this adorable face and long blonde hair. I met Janna to get my nails done today and I called Nick on the way there and asked him what he thought about naming our angel Emerson, since it went for a boy or a girl. He loved it. So today we celebrate our angel Emerson's first birthday. We love you so much and cannot wait to get to Heaven to meet you! 

Allie is continuing to amaze me every day. For the past two weeks we have been letting her drink a little bit of water after she eats. She loves to drink out of the sippy cup although she doesn't get the concept of sucking or holding the handles. I just hold it and tilt it up to her mouth. Well today she grabbed both of the handles and put the cup in her mouth, all by herself! 

I just love her to pieces! I am so thankful God allowed me to be a mother here on Earth!