things that make me smile

Maggie and her fabulous "going to get the mail" outfit... yes, those are my slippers. And while you can't see it she's also sporting her purse on her right arm. And, of course, what girl could leave the house without a stroller, baby doll and sippy cup? Rock. Star. 

Tyler and Maggie snuggling and laughing on the couch in the mornings. It just makes my heart smile to feel all the joy and love our little family has.

My mini-Keurig which I loooooove. A cup of decaf in the morning? Don't mind if I do. Hot chocolate at night? Yes, please!

Ok and this is not labeled under the "things that make me smile" but {inconveniently} happens to be a place to post it... all of our families have gone home as of today. We LOVED having everyone here and are so sad we don't get to see everyone more often. It was the best Christmas season!!

And our family has a little trip planned, nothing terribly exciting but we're taking Mags to see some snow! We've got our hotel booked and I need to start packing- we're so excited! Plus we realized it will be the first little vacay the 3 of us have taken as a family. We've taken road trips home and flown home and Tyler and I have gone on trips together but never just the 3 of us so we are really looking forward to this little milestone. :)

16 weeks!!

How far along? 16 weeks

Baby size:  4-1/2 inches head to heel.  About the size of an avocado.

Total weight gain/loss:  about 8 lbs 

Maternity clothes?  I've bought one maternity shirt {technically Tyler got it for me!} and a few regular shirts that had an empire waist to make room for my ever expanding tummy.

Sleep: I'm sleeping great... when Maggie lets me that is :)

Best moment this week:  Enjoying this Christmas with our little family of 3 and knowing that next year we'll be 4!

Movement:  Nothing really, I occasionally feel a hard lump and a lot of pressure with everything around that little area soft and I'm pretty sure it's the McNugget. No kicks yet though. 

Food cravings:  Still hot dogs. I was really sad when I realized we were out of onions this morning and I couldn't eat a hot dog for breakfast. I had Corn Pops instead, tasty yes but not nearly as satisfying. 

What I miss:  Nothing really...

What I am looking forward to:  My next dr. appt on January 10. 

Milestones:  Getting closer to the baby being halfway cooked! 

Pregnancy Symptoms:  I get winded walking upstairs. For real. And raging heartburn when I eat anything remotely spicy... which happens to be one of my favorite things ever. The spicy food part not the heartburn I mean. 

the next Julia Child

We did Christmas with Tyler's family yesterday... and somehow I managed to not take a single picture. Luckily, Madelon {or Gigi as Maggie calls her which I think is so presh!} took a ton with her camera so I get them from her and post a couple.

Anyways one of the highlights of the night for me was testing out a recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Tyler made sure to document it all for me :) Anna was absolutely crucial and I am so glad she helped-- I was sooo nervous haha isn't that silly? Something about Julia Child and the whole French cooking thing seemed so intimidating so I'm glad I had someone to help me experiment. We made old-fashioned chicken fricasse with wine-flavored cream sauce, onions and mushrooms. {You can find a copy of the recipe HERE although I will say the actual cookbook has it in much more detail and so it's sooooo easy to make just time intensive.} Anyways it was delicious!!! And thanks to my awesome father-in-law I now know how to cut up a whole chicken. Useful life skill? I think so.

Apparently I like to pose with mushrooms.
Ooooh and please note my little bump that I'm sporting. 

Anna,  myself, 5000 pots and pans and the book.
{aka as Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Vol. I}

Intense cooking. 

So basically it was a smashing success and I am so thrilled and ready to try a new recipe!!

Christmas and other shenanigans

Like I've already said we're having an extended holiday season... we get to celebrate Christmas three times! For someone who loves Christmas as much as I do this is a very good thing!!! We had our little family Christmas earlier last week {Santa made a special stop and came early!} and then we celebrated Christmas with my family this weekend. I got a new camera {for my birthday thanks to my very sweet husband!!} so I took a thousand pictures :) 

I think one of the highlights of the weekend was a Christmas Eve trip to San Jacinto Park where a spectacular light display was set up. It was phenomenal!! The pictures don't do it justice... ok maybe the photographer didn't do it justice but whatev. It was really, really pretty and a perfect end to an already lovely day.

Christmas Day 2010.... opening gifts with my family. My sister got Maggie Elefun and it's a hit! She's playing with it as I type this!!

 And please note her super adorable dress, a gift from Tyler's Aunt Sebrennah and her family. Ahhh I LOVE it!

These are kind of out of order, my organizational skills have been out the window since I gave up coffee {for the McNugget although I still have a diet coke with caffeine every now and then!!}

 Tyler perusing a book my parents got him.

 She was so excited-- she LOVES presents!

 And apparently so do I. This is my excited face. Thanks for the watch, sister!

And one of Maggie's coolest gifts from my parents? A pink powerwheels!

Sunday was my birthday {woot!} and it was THE best day. Tyler and Maggie brought me breakfast in bed {after letting me sleep in} and then my sister and I did some shopping. My parents took Mags and Tyler, my sister and myself saw "How Do You Know" the first movie Ty and I've seen in a theater in.... well I don't know how long! Months though. And then we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Forti's. It was a great day and filled with spending time with people I love. I couldn't have asked for a better day!!

Ok, I need to get ready. My family left this morning and Tyler's will be here in a couple of hours... I need to shower! And maybe do some laundry too :)

the great mullet debate of 2010

As many of you know Maggie sports a pretty fantastic mullet. Example A:

Because of the mullet she wears her hair in pigtails every day. Sometimes a ponytail but usually pigtails. Examples B & C:

So the question I'm debating: to get it cut or not? I LOVE the pigtails but would also like for her to be able to wear her hair down on occasion and not look all achy breaky. {Thanks for the fantastic reference, Brandy!}

Pros: She could get rid of the mullet and have more than one hair option.
Cons: I'm assuming they'd have to cut it short to even things out and then she'd have boy hair for a while. Also I have a feeling pigtails wouldn't be an option for a while which is tragic as they are her signature style.

So readers, to cut or not to cut?

happy momma

As I type this I'm eating a hot dog with mustard, dill relish and onions. And I am really, really enjoying it!! I have been wanting a hot dog for so long {I'm really not kidding} and I wanted it a specific way: dill relish, yellow mustard and lots of onions. I've tried three times to get one and every time they had sweet relish {ick!} and so I finally went to the commissary and got all the stuff and am now enjoying my perfect hot dog in peace.

Food stuff aside Maggie and I had an interesting morning. I needed to get the Ft Bliss decal for my car {so I can get on post without having to fill out any paperwork} and so I loaded Mags up made the 20 minute drive to the bldg, waited almost 45 minutes to see someone only to realize I'd left one of the papers they required on my kitchen table. Boo. So we had to turn around, get it and go back-- luckily I went to a different office and there was literally no one there and we were in and out in no time.

And what's a blog post without a picture of my little stinker... especially when she's fancied herself up with my shaving cream!

HO HO HO

Santa came early this year-- last night in fact! Our Christmas tree is dying and we figured since both of our families would be coming in we'd have lots of time to celebrate it. Plus we were just really excited to see Maggie's reaction to her gifts and to give our gifts to each other!!!

We started by baking cookies on Sunday, Maggie was quite the little chef.

And after she was all pj'ed up we set out milk and cookie {singular not plural which I have no idea why considering we made like 3 dozen but whatev.}

"Christmas" morning!! Please ignore her not matching pj's she had a diaper leak in the others so this was the best this tired momma could scrounge up at the bright and shining hour of 6 a.m.

She LOVED the kitchen "HO HO" brought her and, in fact, we could barely get her to open the rest of her gifts she was so enamored with it. I was tugging at her to get her attention because I had a massive pile of gifts in front of me and the little stinker swatted me away!!

Oh yes, I am rocking leopard pj's. Wal-marts finest at it's best. Tyler call them my Hugh Hefner pj's. I can see it.

Alphabet puzzle!

Tyler did a FANTASTIC job with my presents and because I'm a Christmas baby {Dec. 26} I still have to wait an entire week for my birthday gifts which is kind of cool because I'm used to back to back presents- makes this impatient girl a little nutty but is definitely fun! Of all my gifts far and away my favorite is the Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking boxed set-- I have wanted it for, oh I don't know, forever and I haven't put them down! I'm already 150 pages into volume I and am completely obsessed. Ooooh and my other fave gift? A NEW car! Yes, my husband is a rockstar. We traded in my old Lexus for a Buick Rendezvous with 3rd row seating and I'm in love. The space! The 7 seats! The newness of it all. Swoon. {We just got back from the dealership a few hours ago and can you tell I'm still on that "I just got a new car high"? Because I so am. Ha!}

It was an all-around wonderful Christmas. I think it was most special just because we have Tyler home. It is so fun to start having our own family traditions and to get to do it all together. It just means a lot to me. I feel so incredibly blessed this holiday season.

it's finally Friday!

Today has felt like the looooongest day ever for some reason. Maggie and I {for what seems like the first time in a while} had absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go. So we lounged. And we lounged some more. And finally got out of our pj's at a completely ridiculous hour and it was lovely.

But now? I am so ready for Tyler to come home and for our weekend to get started!!

We have some fun things in store... like finishing up our Christmas shopping, having some good friends for dinner and some intense Christmas light looking. It's not much but it's the small things that make me happy.

And a sad bit of news: our Christmas tree has officially bit the dust. While our siphon that Tyler set up worked while we were gone we underestimated the amount of water it would drink so it got empty. And now our poor tree has "sapped over" {not the official term but you know} and won't drink any water. Which means it's slowly {or not} turning brown and crunchy :( We're thinking we might do our little Christmas a little early so our tree can still be a part of it.

Maggie seems like she's finally getting over the crud that she had. She's still a little runny-nosed but not nearly as congested.

Oh and she's learning the words to "row row row your boat" the Stephanie version...

Row row row your boat, gently down the stream, if you see an alligator let me hear you scream {ahhhhh!!} 

So that's pretty exciting. Ok enough rambling -- Maggie's coloring with a new box of crayons and hello who doesn't love new crayons?!

a barrel of monkeys...

or a crib full of toys if you're Maggie! I just laid her down for her nap with five {yes, FIVE} baby dolls, a stuffed bunny that is nearly as big as she is, a golden book, a sippy cup with water and an Amazon gift card. Because really, who doesn't nap with their gift cards from Amazon? Obviously no one I know.

I really wish I was kidding.

She's in this new phase where she wants to take things with her wherever she's going whether it be the car to run errands or to her crib to go to sleep. Usually it's normal things like baby dolls, stuffed animals and the occasional books but some really odd things have found their way to her crib for nap time. Things like the foam noodle we use to leverage the car seats at the right angle or the plastic hanger that comes with Carters brand clothing or her plastic teapot. Really. And while these are certainly not things we want her to take to bed just try and take them from her. It's a battle not worth fighting an overtired toddler over.

The really funny part of it all is when she wakes up {be it in the morning or afternoon} she has ALL of her stuff gathered up and ready to take to our bed. Many a night Tyler and I've gone to bed with just the two of us and woken up with the two of us, Maggie, a few baby dolls, a stuffed bear, a sippy cup and a book or two for good measure. It makes our normally spacious queen bed a little crowded.

14 weeks and other business

How far along?  14 Weeks!  {Finally out of the first trimester!!}

Baby size:  About the size of a lemon {3-1/2 inches and weighs about 1-1/2 oz!}

Total weight gain/loss:  Do we really need to get into this? :) But really about 7 lbs. This momma needs to get back to her gym going ways now that I'm not so exhausted ALL the time!

Maternity clothes?  Rubber bands on my jeans and a bellyband to cover the fact that they don't stay zipped. 

Sleep:  I'm down to about 3-4 naps a week.  

Best moment this week:  Getting to see the McNugget on an ultrasound on Monday!!! And getting my new dr who I really like. 

Movement:  I've felt movement twice now both times it felt like a little flip. 

Food cravings:  Hot dogs with mustard, relish and onion. Yummmmm!!!

What I miss:  Not being hungry ALL the time. 

What I am looking forward to:  Jan 10th is our big ultrasound where we'll hopefully for sure find out the gender and it will be the first one Tyler gets to see. 

Milestones:  The baby's organs are beginning to function and it can already suck its thumb. 

Pregnancy Symptoms:  Just extreme HUNGER- I think I'm eating us out of house and home. Oh yeah and that whole not being able to button my pants thing although come to think of it those two are probably correlated ;) 

And here's a few Maggie pics for you. My dad took these with his iphone when they came to Waco to visit us they took Maggie and me to Peter Piper Pizza where the biggest hit by far was the train she got to "drive" herself. 


This is her excited face...

Again with the excited face.

She LOVED it and rode it no less than 15 times I think! 

happy birthday Maggie!!

Maggie turned 2 today, I still can't believe it. She is getting big and talking so much, I can't believe our little girl is growing so fast!

She opened her first presents this morning... the Graco baby doll set {stroller, high chair, car seat and tummy time mat.}

Rocking her pj's and pushing her baby in her new stroller.

She really loves the set, I am so so glad! We were getting ready to head out for some errands this morning and while I was packing snacks I told her to get ready to leave. When I walked out of the kitchen she was standing by the door with the stroller and the high chair-- because obviously we can't run errands without those. She caused quite the scene when I told her we couldn't take them, we compromised and she brought the car seat.

Blowing our the candle in her birthday cupcake :) Please excuse mine and Tyler's singing!


And these are just for my parents... opening her birthday gift from them.

Um yes those are my man hands. Cool.

If you only watch one of these videos make it this one- the last 30 seconds are great! I love how she's so over her old baby doll. And notice Tyler's awesome PT uniform {he'd just walked in the door from work!}


Happy birthday Maggie, we love you so much!!!

HO HO HO

So Maggie's new thing? Santa and snowmen are both called "HO HO's" which never fails to crack me up. To hear such a tiny girl saying HO HO in such a deep voice? Well it's just priceless.

Also priceless is this picture... she took EVERY bow off of every present under the Christmas tree and decorated herself with them this morning. I didn't think to take a picture until we were taking the last few off. But seriously she is THE cutest Christmas present I've ever seen!

When we got back in town this weekend I ran next door to our neighbors who had been intercepting some FedEx and UPS packages for us... like 5 of them. Two of which were over 3 feet tall, no kidding. Pops and Gigi {yes, G-mom has turned into Gigi since that's what Mags can say!} sent Maggie the cutest table and chairs for her birthday! Which BTW is tomorrow!!! Can you believe it, my baby is two. I can't. Where is time going?! Anyways she LOVES it, we've already held many a tea party {a necessity obvi} and coloring sessions. I can tell it's going to get a lot of use!

And amidst our tea partying Tyler and Maggie took a second to roughhouse which always gets this momma's heart racing. That's what dads are for, I guess, tossing kids around and making them squeal while momma covers her eyes and tries not to have a panic attack :)

She obviously hates it hahaha

In other news, I finally got my off post OB referral and lucky me he even had an cancellation today so we got in! I LOVE him, he is a fantastic doctor and I am so relieved to have a doctor I adore. Plus I even got another ultrasound and saw the little McNugget just wiggling around like crazy!! He got a glance of "the goods" and gave us a guess of the gender but said he wouldn't decorate the nursery just yet. We go back for the big ultrasound in about 4 weeks and then {hopefully} we'll get the for sure gender. Regardless the baby looked healthy and as wiggly as can be! The dr had a hard time getting the measurements because the little bean wouldn't stop moving. It was  pretty cool because it finally was looking like a baby, right away I saw that we were looking at the bean's back and head it was just so clear. It was a really cool experience!!

home.

This week has been good, it's so refreshing to come home... and even more refreshing when you have so many places to call home. Our little house where our little family of three {soon to be four!} dwells, my parents house and, lucky for me, my fantastic in-laws who graciously opened their home and let me and maggie make it ours too.

I've gotten to spend quality time with good friends... gingerbread lattes and a much needed catch up session with a dear friend who I don't get to see often enough. Oh and we made something like 20 lbs of mashed potatoes. For real. Shopping and gossiping with an old high school friend who I still talk to daily but almost never get to see. And breakfast tomorrow with my best friend from college.

I've gotten quality time to myself... a long overdue haircut {which looks quite sassy and ok, exactly the same but three inches shorter so it feels very rockstar to this simple momma} and a pedicure with my new fave nail polish OPI's you don't know jacques.

I think the best part of my week has been this evening though. Maggie was in a giggly, wild and crazy mood and I just wanted to grab her and hug her and tell her a thousand times over how much I love her. And ok so maybe I did but it was good. She was a dancing machine, hitting the button to make the music play and stomping and clapping and singing and cracking herself {along with myself, Dale and Madelon} up. There was just something perfect about the fire in the fireplace, the lit Christmas tree and all of her joy.

She grabbed a throw pillow and a blanket, snuggled up under the tree and told us all "night night!"

It's just been good. I hate to overuse the word refreshing but that's exactly what it's been.

updates galore!

Maggie and I have successfully made it to Waco and it is good to be back! We've gotten to see good friends, eat good food and spend some great time with family. Best yet? We're only 2 days in!

It is AMAZING how much she has grown since we moved here. She's sleeping in her pack and play and barely fits in it anymore! It makes me feel all teary eyed, I can't believe my baby girl will be 2 next week. Seriously where is time going?!

And in other big news, our family has had a crazy week. A lot has changed and we are so excited to be moving forward where we're at now. Unfortunately we won't be moving back home instead we'll be extending our time in the military. A lot led up to this decision but we are so excited and know it's the best move for our family at this time. El Paso can't get rid of us that easily ;) I have applied for on-post housing {I figure if we're going to do this Army thing we're going to do it right!} and even though the wait list is like 5000 people long. {Really! We're #208 on the list and our estimated wait time for a house is 5-6 months!} We're blessed in that even though our lease expires in March our landlords are letting us rent on a month to month basis for as long as we need. Also I got my off-post OB referral and I'm so excited to meet my new doctor and pick out at which hospital we'll be delivering.

So basically there are a lot of good things going on right now. Tyler and I are definitely learning that even though things don't go the way we plan it's not the worst thing, in fact, it can be pretty darn good!

weekend festivities!

It has been a busy weekend! Tyler and I had a Hail & Farewell Friday night, the family 2-29 Christmas party Saturday afternoon and then a little shindig at a friends last night.

The H&F had an "ugly Christmas sweater" theme so Friday morning Maggie and I were at Goodwill on the hunt for the perfect sweater for Tyler. Goodwill, as usual, did not disappoint. Tyler looked quite stylish in his ladies sweater :) And no there are no pictures, he wouldn't let me take any but I will say he was definitely channeling Bill Cosby. Then since we had a sitter anyways we took the opportunity to go to Barnes and Noble afterwards where we got a few books and I got a cup of Starbucks spiced cider {which btw is divine!}

Saturday morning found us running errands and then myself frantically cooking up a batch of Almond Roca {basically toffee with chocolate and almonds} to take to the Christmas party. The recipe can be found here at where else but the Tasty Kitchen and I so recommend it. I had never made candy before and it was so easy and so delicious!

Saturday night we went to a little get together at our friends Meghyn and Eric's where we played cards and did a white elephant gift exchange. We had so much fun and laughed so hard! It was definitely a good night.

And even more exciting? Mags and I are headed to Waco tomorrow to spend the week! We are so excited to see all of the fam.

So that is that. And yeah, no pictures. I have been terrible about taking pictures recently, but some will be coming in the next week I promise!

Bazinga!

If any of you are familiar with the TV show "The Big Bang Theory" then you probably caught the title of this post. For those who haven't seen it{namely my mom} one of the main characters says "bazinga!" when he pranks someone. {Side note, why did saying "pranks someone" make me feel old?}

Ok, so during occasionally an episode of the show will have one of the characters sing a song called "Soft Kitty" it goes...

 "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur

Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr" 

It's just a silly little song but it gets stuck in my head and Tyler? He hates it. So one night when we were putting Mags to bed instead of singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" I sang the kitty song. That night Tyler couldn't get it out of his head- it made me laugh. So the next night I again sang the kitty song-- while Tyler pinched me and I tried not to laugh. So the third night? Before I start to sing Tyler jumps in and starts up with twinkle, twinkle. {Generally what we do is I sing and he prays but sometimes we switch it up.} So I opened my mouth to start praying and Maggie starts meowing. She wanted the kitty song. I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard. And you know what? Every night since she's wanted the kitty song. When I pick her up to sing to her she starts meowing immediately.

So BAZINGA, Tyler!

And for your viewing pleasure "soft kitty" as per the show...


And last but not least some pictures of our little fashionista. Yes, she is wearing her pjs, jeans, a tutu, a dress and my belly band as a turban/hat on her head.

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... yes, I'm feeling cheesy but that's ok. This is the only semi-full pic of our Christmas tree that I could get. It's got an angel on the top you just can't see her. It's a Noble fir and the guy from the Christmas tree lot said "it's the Cadillac of Christmas trees." True story. Tyler and I about died laughing. For some reason you can't see some of our ornaments in this picture. Weird.

Maggie laying under the tree, I love it. And the only three presents we have wrapped yet although we have a closet FULL of need to be wrapped gifts.

More Maggie-tree time.

And a picture of her in what we affectionately refer to as her "Fran Drescher outfit" but seriously how cute is she?! I LOVE that leopard top ha!

I'm not sure what was up with the face here maybe she's all "ha! I got your water bottle" whatever it makes me laugh.

things I love about the holidays

Aside from the fact that December is both mine and Maggie's birthday month which already makes it my favorite month, I love....

• Christmas music playing pretty much non-stop in my house. 
• sparkly and happy Christmas decorations everywhere. 
• the smell of holiday scents {currently I'm mixing apple cinnamon and vanilla snow. fact: I like to combine different scents/candles and think it always smells wayyy better than like 5000 candles of the same scent.}
• baking delicious treats especially because I get to use my {festive} red KitchenAid mixer which I adore year round but happen to be really loving now that it's the Christmas season. 
• seeing the lights from a Christmas tree in the window- it just makes me feel all warm and happy.
• shopping for the perfect gift and even better? when I can get a good deal on it! 
• the crowds at the mall, I know it drives some people insane but I like it. seriously it's just festive. {which is apparently my word for the day. ha!} 
• most especially I am loving that Tyler is home this Christmas. I couldn't think of anything else to make it more perfect.