Wednesday, August 31, 2011

10 Day You Challenge, 7 Wants

Howdy Y'all!



Here we go again with another day of the 10 Day You Challenge - today's is 7 wants.  I probably could have filled this up with 1,000 wants before Harper came in my life and now it is hard for me to complete a list of just 7.

7.  I WANT to visit all 50 states in the US.  I am over halfway there, but I have a lot of random ones I would still need to visit to accomplish this task.

6.  I WANT to adopt another baby - however, my bank account has to recover from the first one before we can do that again.  :)  After the disrupted adoption, my husband and I weren't sure if we could go through with 1 adoption, but our adoption of Harper went so smooth that we will certainly do it again.  We could get a little Anderson next time or a sweet little girl that could wear all of Harper's clothes.

5.  I WANT some handpainted Longhorn Toms.  My bestie, Laura, told me about a lady that handpaints them and I totally need some of these!

4.  I WANT a full week of nights of uninterrupted sleep.  I never knew how much I took this for granted before Harper got here.  I keep seeing the preview of the new Christina Applegate sitcom and I totally understand!



3.  I WANT Harper to grow up knowing she is loved so much by our family - as well as she is unconditionally loved by her birth mom too.


2.  I WANT to find Harper a cute, cute Halloween costume - but I am coming up short.  Someone please help, where can I find something cute?  I really like this Raggedy Ann costume, but I can only find it in toddler.  The baby version is not as cute because it is the bunting bag and I really like the leggings on the toddler version.


1.  I WANT to figure out how to please both sides of the family for Holidays, but I feel it may be impossible.  How do you spend Christmas with both sets of families when they are a thousand miles apart?  I have been stressing about this and I don't love that!

That is about it for tonight - next up is my six place.  Stayed tuned tomorrow!

Toodles!


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

10 Day You Challenge, 8 Fears

Howdy Y'all!

It is day 3 of the 10 Day You Challenge and it is all about fears tonight - now you are going to see how neurotic I am.  :)


8.  Snakes!  Ugh, I don't like anything about these creatures. I don't want to see them in a magazine, book, on a movie, on TV, etc.  They give me the chills...I despise these animals!

7.  Frogs!  Something about a frog freaks me out - I think it is the slimy feeling of them or something.  I am not sure, but yuck!

6.  Getting a paper cut on my eye.  Okay, this one may sound really crazy, but for some reason when I am dealing with papers close to my eye, I cringe thinking about what could happen.

5.  Failure.  I don't like to do it...at all!  I pretty much live by this motto.  I know failure happens sometimes, but I don't want it to happen to me.  :)


4.  Hot Beverages.  Yes, I am 33 years old and I am still afraid of coffee, hot chocolate, hot cider, etc.  I don't know how to drink it and I burn my dang tongue EVERY time!  Boo, big boo!


3.  Flying.  I don't love it and I don't think I ever will.  I like to be in control...just ask my husband.  HA!

2.  Being chased and not being able to get away.  My college roommate, Kaylyn and I had several instances where we thought we were being followed at our apartment or being chased by a death row escapee.  Each of these times, we fumbled with the keys, dropped phones, etc.  Of course, we were never in any danger, but I am afraid I would act like this if someone ever chases me for real.

1.  Now that we have a baby, I fear that someone would happen to one of us and Harper will have to grow up without us.  I want her to grow old with us and know how much we love and care for her.  Speaking of Harper, here is a picture just to make you smile.  I took this one about a week ago and I love it!


If you don't think I am too neurotic with my fears, come back tomorrow to read all about my wants.

Toodles!

Monday, August 29, 2011

10 Day You Challenge: Day 2, 9 Loves

Howdy Y'all!



It is day 2 of my 10 Day You Challenge and tonight's is soooo much easier!  How can I narrow this down to just 9 loves?  I guess I will try!

9.  I love water!  I know it sounds silly, but it is the only drink that I just want all the time.  I am not a coffee, tea or soda drinker.  On occasion, I drink juice...but normally it is just water for me.  Not the tap though!  After going to college in Huntsville, TX where the tap water is awful - I got hooked on bottle water!  This happens to be my favorite brand (and yes, I can tell them apart!)


8.  I love Apple!  Nope, not the kind you eat (I actually do really love those too), but I love the Apple company.  We currently own 5 Apple products, but I am embarrassed to tell you how many we have owned through the years so I will just keep that to myself.  :)


7.  I love purses - but in particular, I love Tano purses.  They are a little pricey, but come in great colors and last forever!


6.  Toms Shoes are amazing!  They are so comfortable on your feet - they would be a great vacation shoe.  But, the best thing about them is that every time you buy a pair, a pair gets donated to a needy person somewhere around the world.  See - sometimes it does pay off to go ahead and buy another pair of shoes!



5.  I really love to travel, but I have a serious love for Walt Disney World!  I want to grow up and work there one day.  :)  The only drawback to it is the humidity - my hair doesn't look great in that weather!





4.  Speaking of traveling - if you ever make it to a city that has a Crumbs Cupcakes, you must try it!  I love these so much and I am actually thankful they don't have one near.  If you want to splurge, you can order them online and have them shipped to your house - it is a little expensive because I speak from experience.  ha!


3.  I love the Texas Longhorns!  Hook'em Horns!  I can't believe college football starts on Thursday.  I can't wait.  We have already started the brainwashing early on Harper - you gotta do what you gotta do when you live in pig (Arkansas Razorbacks) country.


2.  I love my friends!  I am not sure how I have been blessed with so many great people in my life.  I am not going to add any pictures here because I don't want to offend anyone that I might leave off.  You all know who you are.  I love you dearly!

1.  And, last but not least, I love my family!  This includes my parents, siblings, in-laws, animal family, nieces, nephews, etc. - but of course it includes Tony and Harper.  I love them so much!  There is so much love going around, it is crazy.  :)




That is about it for tonight!

Toodles!


Sunday, August 28, 2011

10 Day You Challenge: Day 1, 10 Secrets

Howdy Y'all!


I found this idea while I was blog hopping this weekend and I thought it was a cool idea.  I really don't know why they would have started with secrets because that is just too hard to come up with 10!  But, here it goes...

10.  I don't love to fly.  I love going on vacation - but, I hate flying.  I know that it is safe to fly and accidents rarely ever happen, but I think it is something about the lack of being in control that freaks me out.  Honestly, I should know that I am not control of any of my life, but I guess I like to think I am.

9.  I can't watch a scary movie at night or by myself or while sitting next to a glass door.  Silly me!

8.  Sometimes I feel like the world's worst friend - and I think it has come about since getting Harper.  She makes me forget about texts and phone calls that I am supposed to return.  I do love all of my friends, but I have a special girl on my mind so you will have to forgive me.

7.  Now that I am older, I have to admit that my parents were right almost 100% of the time when I was growing up.  I can't believe that I am saying this!

6.  I am terrified of tornados - especially after being so close to Joplin, it has now increased to deathly terrified.

5.  I am never without my phone.  My husband laughs about this - if I go upstairs, it goes upstairs...if I go outside, it comes outside.  IF I ever forget it, I feel completely useless and naked.  What would I have ever done with it?

4.  On that note, I love Apple products.  Between the two of us, we have 5 Apple products - 2 iPhones, 1 iPad, 1 MacBook and 1 iMac and I love them all!  I swear, if they keep innovating - we will keep buying!

3.  If I had to do it all over again, I would have never gotten an Accounting degree - I would have instead gotten an industrial engineering degree.  Too bad my high school counselor didn't educate me (or any of my classmates) on the different options we had.  She was terrible!

2.  After knowing them for 10+ years, I still don't think I act like myself around my in-laws.  I love them to death, but they are pretty quiet and reserved and I am not like that most of the time.  I always describe my family as loud and Tony's family as reserved.  If his parents saw the real me, they may be shocked!

1.  And, last but not least, I wish I had another job.  I love Walmart - I can admit that, but I wish I owned a bakery or something.  There is something calming about baking a cake.  I guess for now I will just have to continue baking them for the people I work with.

Well, day one is over and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  If you have read this far, I will reward you with a picture or two of my sweet, sweet Harper.  This first one is one of my favorites so far and the second one is of Harper using her Bumbo chair for the very first time.  Look at that head control!  :)



Toodles!


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life: Baby Showers

Howdy Y'all!

I am blogging today to link to Kelly's Korner and her Show Us Your Life Series.  The topic is baby showers and they are top of mind for me since I have attended two of my own this year and hosted my sister's and my college roommate's shower less than a year ago.

Here are some pictures from my sister's shower - it was held in Texas at the church she attends and it was HOT!  Other than the temps, I thought the shower turned out great - she had a great turn out and got lots of things for my adorable niece Ava Grace.

Here is her diaper cake - it is my first and only attempt at a diaper cake.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.  If you ever want to learn how to make one, there are step-by-step video's on YouTube which make it pretty darn easy to pull one of these off.


Here is her table - I love the idea of a clothes line.  I stole this idea shamelessly from my friend Laura's shower.  I had the onesies made and I think it adds a personal touch.


I found this cake idea on one of our local bakeries website and then my mom's friend made it for Ashley's shower.  I think it is the cutest idea.  (And, note - if you are visiting my blog from Kelly's Korner or new to my blog, the little gnome in the picture is my traveling gnome and she shows up in lots of random pictures!)


My beautiful sister and her table.


Here is another idea that I stole from Laura's shower - it is called a blessing ring.  You can decorate a front and back cover to the ring and then it is a place for the mom-to-be to keep all of the cards in one place that she received for the baby.  And, really this idea could be used for wedding showers, birthday parties, etc.  Isn't it all about stealing ideas for your own use?


Me and several others threw my college roommate, Rebecca, a baby shower in January of this year.  I apologize for the lack of photos (I did steal two of them from her shutterfly account).  HA!  I did make her a blessing ring as well, but didn't get a picture of it.  Sorry.

Note: Again for those of you visiting from Kelly's Korner, I need to explain something before you all get a little confused.  My husband and I adopted a beautiful baby girl in June, but we were supposed to adopt one in March but the mom changed her mind after the baby was 3 days old.  So, you will see in these next two showers that one is for Kinley and the other is for Harper.  Kinley is the sweet baby girl that we don't have and Harper is our little angel now.

My wonderful friends Laura and Rhonda in Northwest Arkansas threw me a shower for Kinley in February of this year and it was so cute.  They used the colors of our nursery and I loved it.  Here is the cute little baby shower invite that Rhonda had made to match the decor.  I spiced it up for a scrapbook page/baby shower sign in.


Here is the table at Kinley's shower with the adorable diaper cake.  This was also Rhonda's first attempt and she did GREAT!  I loved that she used the fabric from our nursery on it.


I love petit fours!  They are just the best!  Luckily I was able to actually eat a couple of these because I opened gifts for over two hours and I was afraid they would all be gone.  But, never fear, I was able to eat some and take home extras too.


Here are my beautiful hostesses - I love these girls.  They are simply amazing!


And, I got my own blessing ring too.  I plan on changing the name out to Harper and keeping all the cards together.  I really just love the idea that you can keep all the cards and the sweet notes from people that you have received.  Normally, these would have just been thrown away...such a great idea!


Because of what happened with Kinley - I told my friends in Texas that I didn't want to have a shower until after we brought Harper home and we knew she was going to stay with us forever.  It all worked out perfectly.

Isn't this cake adorable?  My sister kept this cake a secret from me for months - and that is huge because she can't keep a secret to save her life.


Cute little clothesline - I love the skirts, bloomers and socks!


The awesome food table with the diaper cake and cute Harper picture frame.  My mom gave me a Bible verse to carry around with me while we were waiting for sweet Harper and my friend Crystal had the Harper frame made for me and it has the Bible verse on it.  Too sweet!


They also had a candy bar and cake pops.  If you have never had a cake pop, you are really missing out. They are so delicious!  And, if you notice the piggy bank in the picture, that was for the guests to start Harper's college fund.  I love the idea.  Too cute.


And, last but not least are my beautiful hostesses - I love these girls for throwing me and Harper the most amazing shower.


I hope you all enjoyed the tour of all the babies showers I have attended/thrown during the last year.

Toodles!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hit Me with Your Best SHOT!

Howdy Y'all!

Today was a day that I would guess most parents dread - Harper's first shots.  I was excited about going to the doctor to get her measurements because she is such a big baby, but I didn't want her to have the pain of shots.  This is the picture that I call the "calm before the storm".  I think she is adorable without all the clothes and bows - and those cheeks are just as squeezable!


Today Harper weighed in at a whooping 13lbs, 12 oz (98th percentile) and was 24.25 inches long (97th percentile).  You can't say we don't feed her.  :)  I am just happy with a beautiful healthy baby.  If she keeps growing like this, we may never repeat an outfit because we will grow out of them faster than we can wear them.  ha!

The doctor gave her a clean bill of health - and said that her kidney ultrasound looked normal.  If you don't remember this, we had this done because of an ear pit that she has - these basically look like an ear piercing which is a sinus cavity that didn't close up properly.  From the last time I mentioned it on here, I have had many others tell me that either they have one or their kids have one.  Long story short, it has turned out to be nothing and Harper is healthy!

The poor baby had to have 3 shots and an oral vaccine today.  She was actually crying most of the visit at the doctor's office because she was tired so I really didn't notice any additional crying because of the shots.


Harper was so tired that she feel asleep before we left the doctor's office parking lot.  I love her grumpy little face.


My sweet angel has been sleeping off and on all day with a little fussing here and there.  I decided to work from home this afternoon so I could monitor her after her shots - and I am glad I did.  I am glad I was the one that got to calm her when she got fussy.  I miss it during the day.


Tonight she is almost back to her old self - I love getting smiles from her.  It just about melts my heart.  I love this sweet girl so much!


Toodles!





Saturday, August 20, 2011

Harper Aline is Two Months Old!

Howdy Y'all!

I can't believe that Harper is two months old.  Time really flies when you are having fun.  Honestly, it feels like she has been in our lives forever, but on the other hand, I can't believe it has been two months.


This month, we had a couple of firsts...

We saw her first real smiles...and they are so adorable.  I love it when she breaks them out.  At first, she would only do it when we played with her cheeks - and now she does it when we talk to her.  She loves the sound of our voices.


Big Smiles!

Harper also started going to "school" this month - it was hard for me to drop her off the first day, but they treat her well...and probably spoil her a little too.  I drop her off in the mornings and Tony picks her up - almost every day she is being held when he picks her up.  I understand, she is irresistible.  :)


First Day of "School"

She slept through the night for the first time this month too...too bad it is not a trend she has followed.  She averages once a night each week that she sleeps through the night - but the other nights aren't bad because she is only up once.  She is quick about eating her bottle and going right back to bed.

We started taking a few walks at night since it has gotten a little cooler (except for the past couple of days).  Poor Harper didn't have a clue what the outdoors was because it has been so hot to go outside.


Harper also got her first dog, Landry Kate, and they are so cute together.  Landry is so gentle with her and I think they are going to be great friends!




She is still eating about 4 ounces at a time - every four hours.  This hasn't really changed since she was about 5 days old.

Harper loves to swing!  She loves go on walks.  She is beginning to love her activity mat.  And, she loves her family.  And, we LOVE her!  She is so special to us.

Happy two month birthday Harper!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much.


Two Months Old!

Just for comparison, here is her one month photo too.

Toodles!