4 Months

Sweet Julia is 4 months old today! Really? No stinkin' way! Here's the latest about my absolute joy:

• Poor girl is losing her hair. (As am I. Hate this postpartum stuff!) And that black hair is turning dark brown. If she ends up bald - I. Will. Cry.
• She's gotten better in the car, until the last 2 or so days. Not her fault though. Mommy was just dragging her all around town.
• Sleep: You never know what you're gonna get. There was a night last week that she woke up every single hour. Can I get caffeine through an IV, please? But she also gave me a full night's sleep too. Most nights, she gets up twice. She also is beginning to want you to put her in her crib and not be rocked.
• She laughs so easily! This is good medicine for my soul. She's beginning to watch Audrey wherever she goes and she usually has a big grin on her face doing so.
• She has found her feet! She holds onto them like they were made of gold.
• I finally started giving her tummy-time. She doesn't like it, so I was not making her until a couple of weeks ago. Maybe next month I will post that she rolled over.

5 Question Friday

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then click on the button above and link up! No blog? You can answer the questions in the comments section if you want to play.

1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it?

2. Do you dream in color?

3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller?

4. If you could have anyone's (celeb or other) voice as the

guide on your GPS, who would it be?

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot?

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1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it?

I had a lovely yellow gingham blanket that I took with me everywhere! I remember sucking on the corner of that thing. And I remember how traumatic it was when my mom took it away from me to wash it. How dare she! I haven't a clue where it is now. My 2 year old has a taggie that she is pretty attached to. Unlike me, my child actually asks me to wash her taggie.

2. Do you dream in color?

How do you people know this? I try to remember dreams but it is so hard! I can remember some events vaguely, but I can't picture it in my head. No clue! And I must say, there is nothing like the dreams you have while pregnant!

3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller?

I'm 69 1/2 inches tall, or 5' 9 1/2". It's an okay height. I'm taller than my husband, though. In fact, I'm the runt in my family and the giant in his family. Clothes are difficult to buy. I probably should do that whole tailoring thing, but you have to buy stuff that's actually too long, right? So that's the hard part. GAP does tall stuff, but it's online. I like to try on clothes before buying. I'm anxious to see how tall my girls are going to be. They have a grandmother under 5 foot and an uncle that is, let's just say, VERY tall. (He reads this and may not want me sharing his height.) Here's a picture showing the height difference between my brother and me.

And here's one of my husband and me. I'm wearing flats and not standing up straight.

So, you see, it's all relative. I don't mind being taller than my husband. This is how God made me and He knows what He's doing.

4. If you could have anyone's (celeb or other) voice as the guide on your GPS, who would it be?

I know who I wouldn't use! Nicholas Cage has the most ANNOYING voice! I'm sick and tired of people selecting him to play roles in movies. I will not see a movie with him in it - just because of his voice. I wouldn't mind Meg Ryan. She's cute. Now who is going to buy me this Meg Ryan GPS thingamajig?

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot?

RETURN, RETURN, RETURN! I've done it with a toddler who is scared of parking lots, while holding a baby in a HEAVY car seat, while it was pouring rain. You can do this people! It's just common courtesy.

Embrace the Camera Thursday

I have seen quite a few people do "Embrace the Camera Thursday" and I want to jump on that train! I love my little ladies and I don't want to be absent in pictures. I want to hear them say one day, "Look how long your hair is!", "What were you WEARING!?", or (fingers crossed) "You look like me!" But I also want to here them say, "Dad! You had hair!" Haha! So, I may try to snap a picture of Michael too. We'll see how that works. When he's home, it's quite busy with dinner, baths, and bedtime. Aww! I would love a sweet picture of Michael putting Audrey to bed and reading a Bible story to her! I'm gonna like this. I hope you enjoy it too.

UPDATE: Picture of Michael and Audrey at bedtime. You can see the love Audrey has for her "Dada."

Sprinkles!!!

If you live in the Dallas area, you should go to Sprinkles! They are also located in Houston, Chicago, the west coast, and other places. Check out their website HERE.

THE BEST CUPCAKES EVER!

I convinced Michael to spend $6 to get two cupcakes the other day, and I thought it was very worth it. I won't be doing that all of the time, but oh how I wish I could! So moist and delicious! I had the Dark Chocolate and the Black and White. I know that the Red Velvet is amazing, so that will be my next try. And when Audrey is not with me, I'll try the Peanut Butter Chip. And I am wanting to give the Key Lime a shot too. Wow...this could be dangerous!

You Dallas people can find this place at Preston and NW Hwy (Southeast corner).

Top Things This Mom Loves!

When it comes to baby products, I think a lot of things are overrated. BUT, there are some things that are just life savers. I'm gonna pull an Oprah and do "My Favorite Things." Sorry that I won't be able to supply my audience with one of each.

GLIDER: Wow, have I loved this glider through the last 2, almost 3 years! My mom bought me this glider and I had no idea how much I would use it. My favorite memories of holding my sweet babies are when I was gliding away in this. I have fallen asleep many times in it. I also use it for the monthly pictures of the baby. It is very nice to have in Audrey and Julia's room and not have to travel in the middle of the night to nurse them. Ah! I love it!

CARRIER COVER: I received this from my friend, Jenny. It has been great! It would be even greater during the winter time when it's cold. During the summer months, I leave it unzipped so it won't trap the heat. I use it to shade the sun, wind, and rain. I think it makes Julia feel more secure. It also makes a sound barrier when entering loud restaurants. The kind I have is made by Kiddapotomus.

ANGELCARE MONITOR: For your peace of mind. I love how I'm no longer worried about SIDS. If Julia pulls an ultra long nap, I don't feel the need to check to make sure she's still

breathing. My grandmother lost a son at 2 1/2 months and she was so worried about Julia. My mom told her about how this monitor will sound an alarm if it doesn't detect movement for 20 seconds. Imagine how her life would have been different if she had had this back then! I moved Julia out of our room faster than I did Audrey because I wanted Julia with this monitor.

TOMMEE TIPPEE: I absolutely love these sippy cups! I found them only after Audrey turned 2. They do not leak at all! I bought a couple more after awhile, and those leaked. I researched and found that there was a slit in the valve that needed to be opened. Those new ones work now. I can't wait to try the sippy cups for younger kids as Julia gets older. I believe the only place to get them are at Babies R Us. LOVE THEM!

BEST ADVICE: My friend, Abbe, told me to dip Julia's pacifier in sugar water to get her to take it. It works! I didn't do it for a long time, but the child needed help settling down at times.

These things were at the top of my head today. I'll post again if I think of more.

E-Mealz

When it comes to cooking, I'm still trying to learn how to do things. After almost 5 years of marriage, I found myself in quite a rut every weeknight. Grilled chicken, spaghetti, hmmm, what else do I know how to cook? Not much.

I had seen this website called E-mealz.com. They give you recipes for 5 meals and a grocery list to go along with it. The items you buy kind of go with every meal, so you're not wasting much food and you're saving moolah.

Then a friend of mine, Laura, tried it out and really liked it. I just had to see what it was all about. I joined ($5 a month) and have enjoyed it ever since. I'm cooking things I've never cooked before (or even tasted before) and we're not bored at dinner time.

Here's what we're having this week:

Tender Chicken Parmesan

Roasted Veggies Loaded Baked Potatoes

Mexican Casserole

Tortilla Chips

Grilled Chicken Salad

Garlic Bread

Broccoli & Ham Rolls

Hot Muffins Grapes

BakedRavioli

Italian Salad Garlic Cheese Bread

A Whole Bunch of Random

I soooo want to be a better blogger, but life has run me down lately, and I can't think straight, much less type straight. ???? You see what I'm talking about?

Quick update on me. No more rash. I was on the prednisone for about a month and I never want to take that bad boy again! I was just fine taking it, but the withdrawals are awful. First, it made me exhausted! On the days Michael was home, I'd sleep the majority of the day and I would still feel like I could sleep another 8 hours. Then I began to notice these crazy lines on my nails. You could peel my nail, but that is gross, so I won't go on. I know that nails tell a lot about one's health, so I was concerned. Lastly, I had horrible joint pain. It was all on the right side of my body. It would come and go in my knee, hip, shoulder, and elbow, but it was constant in my wrist. It kept me up at night and brought me to tears. Again, it hurt to hold Julia. A few days ago, I started taking Licorice pills to jump start my adrenal glands and help my joints. So far I feel a thousand times better! I can't wait for all of this to be a distant memory.

Michael: He has been out of town a lot in the last month or two. I'm glad he's home for awhile now. He was also recently promoted. He has worked so hard and I'm proud of him and the way he commits to things.

Audrey: Love this silly girl of mine! She keeps me laughing and has done so well with Julia joining the family. She will begin preschool in about a month. You can't mention school with her getting excited about a backpack and a school bus. She's going to be so sad when she figures out that I'll be taking her to school! We went to the Rangers game last night and she did so well. The only bad moment was when we were driving away and she started to cry because the sun had gone "bye-bye." This morning she said hi to the sun and clapped. So funny!

Julia: Won't say too much here because she's about to turn 4 months and will require an entire post for herself. She's just wonderful and I'm so happy to have her in my life.

Pictures:

Bought some bows from K-K's Bow-tique and LOVE them. Click HERE!

The Perkins cousins!

The Hall Cousins!

College Roomies with some of our children.

Love and miss these girls!

I'm kind of wanting to have Alice Cullen's hairstyle. Thinking my hair is too thin and this will take too long to fix, but I LOVE it!

3 Months

I can't believe my baby girl is 3 months already! She is just so cute! She smiles so much! She likes to laugh and squeal too. I finally convinced the cutie that a pacifier is a good thing. Since then, she's been a hundred times easier to soothe. She hasn't been as good as she was with sleeping through the night, but that's okay. She'll figure it out soon. I've read so many books about this and everyone has a different opinion on how to correct the sleeping problems at this age. I believe that babies just figure it out, no matter what the method is. She also has grown a dislike for riding in the car. That's the thing that is the hardest. The car had been no problem and we took advantage of it! I was looking at Julia this morning and was blown away at how long she is. Wasn't it just a short time ago that she was less than 2 feet long? I'm sad that the time is flying by so quickly, but I'm really more of a toddler mom anyways.