Girls Trip

I went on my very first overnight girls trip since I became a mom a few weeks ago.  This was kinda huge for me.  I've never been away from Hadley for more than the amount of time that I spend at work during a day and I've never been away from Mallory for more than one night.  Also, ever since I was in the hospital for Hadley's birth, Mallory will not spend the night away from home.  Even with her grandparents.  We have tried several times and she always ends up coming back home around 10:00 pm. 

My soon to be sister-in-law decided to go to Savannah, GA for her bachelorette weekend and while I was very excited and very much looking forward to the trip, I was nervous at the same time.  We ended up with 12 girls going on the trip and I think we all had a blast.  We were there St Patrick's Day weekend and Savannah really goes all out for the occasion.  Basically, the town was one big party all weekend.  Perfect for a bach weekend! 

The whole group at Wet Willie's

With the bride to be

Since there were 12 of us and the crowds were so massive, we each had an assigned buddy to keep up with to make sure no one got lost or left behind.

Me and my buddy, Kelly.

How cute is she?!

Future Mrs. Andrews

We spent Saturday morning at the parade.  It was by far the largest parade that I have ever been to and it is tradition for all the girls to wear bright lipstick and kiss the servicemen on the cheek as they are marching in the parade.

It was a great trip and I really surprised myself at doing so well being away from the girls.  I only teared up one time after talking to Mallory on the phone.  We did face time each night so that helped out.  I got to see them and they got to see me.  Patrick surprised me as well and did good with the girls while I was away.  He even made it to church on Sunday with both of them...on time!  I can't even get there on time!  I think it was a good getaway for us all.  I definitely need to plan a girls trip or take a vacation just me and Patrick at least once a year...while I love nothing more than being mama to my girls, it was nice to have a break too!



Real camera pictures

This is really sad, but I am getting pictures off of my camera for the first time since before Christmas. 

Baby Bugs at six months old in October

Little puppy at Halloween

The best pic I could get of them at the same time.  My puppy and pig :)



 And this one just makes me laugh.  Poor Hadley.

At the Christmas parade

These are some pictures that my parents took for their Christmas card with the girls on their farm.  I am just now looking at them all for the first time and I loved them.

Christmas Eve

February

10 months

Back to Halloween

Preschool Thanksgiving program

Picture overload.

Pictures in this post go back to New Year's.  If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, chances are you have seen all these.  Or you could be like me and are not getting on Facebook or Instagram very much any more and missed some of these.  Either way...here is a catch up of sorts in pictures.

My girls on New Years Eve at the Garren's house.

 The girls are starting to play and interact more each day.  There is an app by Fisher Price called Giggle Baby that Hadley loves and it is something that Mallory can help her with.

Kinston has a fairly new froyo place and we freaking adore it.  Mallory and I went on a Saturday after her friend Brinkley's birthday party.  It's always a nice treat to do something one on one with her once in a while.

How cute is she???!!!  She is changing so much with her looks.  Also - we finally got blinds as you can see in the background!  Merry Christmas to me :)

Our first (and probably last) trip to Chuck E Cheese.  It was for Carter's birthday party and Mallory loved it!  She had also asked me to do her hair for the first time ever so I straightened it with my flat iron.  I feel like it made her look so much older.

Can we say sassy?  She said, "Take my picture, mama."

The end of January, Buggy got very sick.  I took her to the Dr because she had a cough that would not go away and they scared me to death.  Gave her a breathing treatment, sent her to the hospital for chest x-rays and to be tested for RSV and they told me she could be hospitalized.  Luckily, all her x-rays and tests came back better than expected and she just had to be on breathing treatments and an antibiotic for ten days.  That was not fun and my poor baby HATES that breathing machine.

Feeling much, much better and waiting on her supper.  She loves to eat and Mallory doesn't care if she eats or not!

In February, Ashley, my parents and I did Cupids Crawl 5K in Greenville.  I never thought I would say this, but I love to run.  It has helped me lose all my baby weight plus 10 more pounds in ten months.  I feel better than I ever have.  Signing up for races is a great way to stay motivated.

Here is Ashley and I after finishing the race.

My little Valentine's.

Valentines Day 2013

Buggy at 10 months old.

One word - Adorbs.

Patrick and I attended a Pimp & Ho Party in February.  It was for our friends who are getting married and it was a lot of fun.  Probably one of the most fun nights out as a couple since we have had children.  I think the pimp & ho party should become an annual tradition.  Patrick had bright red shoes too.  It was hilarious.

Mallory wearing a dress that my mama smocked and sewed for her.  My mom is also working on Hadley's outfit to wear to her birthday party.  I wish I was as talented as she is.

Mallory told me she wanted to wash dishes.  Well come on girl, what are you waiting for?!  She was soaked when she finished but did a really good job.

We just got dance recital costumes last week.  I die.  She is tapping to Country Girl Shake it for Me.  I can't wait for May to get here.  This is right up Mallory's alley.

Such a happy girl all the time.  I could eat her up.  Speaking of that phrase..that is something that I tell both of the girls frequently.  Well, yesterday morning we were sitting in church and Mallory leans over and whispers in my ear, "Mama, I could eat you up."  Precious memories right there.  I could have cried, it was so sweet.

Yesterday afteroon, playing on the back porch.  Mallory was pretending that her and Hadley were puppies and their names were Sparkle n Shine and Little Sparkle.  I do not know where she comes up with this stuff.  She has an imagination!

Also, Mallory wants to wear short sleeves or sleeveless all the time.  The first thing she says when she wakes in the morning is, "Can I wear short sleeves today?"  I do not understand why but it is the reason why she is dressed like it is summertime in almost every pic.  As long as we are inside and are not going anywhere, it is a battle I choose not to fight.

Patrick and I at a wedding Saturday night and probably the best pic we have had taken of the two of us in years.  Yes, years. ha!

Beautiful wedding and a fun night!

That's the first two months of 2013 in a nutshell!

Hadley AKA Buggy, Bugs or BUSY

It makes me sad that Hadley is almost nine months old and I have barely blogged about her in her short little life.  She has changed so much and is developing the cutest little personality. 

For some reason, blogger isn't letting me upload pictures but here is a list of what she is up to these days:

• Eating like a champ.  She loves baby food and will eat it all.  Anything from sweet potatoes to spinach.  This is one of the many ways that she is so different from her big sister.  Mallory never liked baby food and I'm not sure she ever ate a whole container in her life.  It makes life so much simpler though that Hadley loves it and is not picky about it.  She is eating baby food or cereal/oatmeal for three meals a day and has just started a "snack" of puffs in the last two weeks or so.  She does really good at picking them up and putting them in her mouth.  She also really likes these baby rice cakes with apple or carrot flavoring and some little baby biscuits (or cookies) that I found for her.  Girlfriend loves food like her mama!  I stopped pumping in late December so she gets mostly formula now and she transitioned right into formula without missing a sip of the bottle.  My goal was to breastfeed her through 2012 so we met that goal and I am still feeding her a little at night before bed or if she wakes up in the middle of the night. 
• Sleeping is pretty good.  Some nights she sleeps through the night and some nights she will wake around midnight for a feeding.  I am so thankful that she is a good sleeper because I have never known what that was like before Hadley!  She had always gone to bed really early...about 8:00 is the latest she stays up and she wakes up usually around 7:00 am.  She sleeps in her crib and loves it.  She really will not sleep anywhere except her crib.  She lays on her little lamb cover which came off of her bouncy seat because as a newborn she always napped in a lamb rock n play or the lamb swing.  She would always turn her head to the side and hold onto the lamb's ear.  When we transitioned her to the crib, my mom had the idea to put the bouncy seat cover in her crib, as it would be familiar feeling to her and she could still hold onto the lamb ear.  Worked like a charm and she still sleeps on top of it.  She takes two naps a day.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon.   
• After being THIS close to crawling since right before Christmas, she finally started scooting around and dragging one leg a week ago.  Then two days later, on 1-13-13, she got the hang of it and is crawling away like a big girl.  Her only interest though is crawling to the nearest thing that she can pull herself up on.  She wants to be standing up all the time but just hasn't figured out how to move those little feet.  When I say little feet, I mean it.  Mallory has always had way too many shoes, so of course all those shoes have been passed down to little sister and they are ALL too big.  Even though she is almost nine months old, her feet are tiny and I am pretty sure she is still in like a size 1.  I think I will ask her pedi about that next week... So for now she just wears socks.  I will try to sit her on the floor though and those little legs go stiff.  Just let me stand up mama!  She is busy all the time, which is her newest nickname I have dubbed her with. 
• We have another very vocal little girl.  Hadley is saying Ma-ma, Da-da and we think she is saying Bye-Bye and Ba-Ba (for bottle) as well.  She has been saying ma-ma and da-da for a few weeks now.  I'm not sure which she said first because the first few times we were like, did she really she just say a word.  It's hard to tell in the beginning if they are just making noises or if it is a real word.  Of course, Patrick says Da-da was her first word, but I'm not convinced.  She loves attention and any time that anyone talks to her, she will give you a big grin showing off those two tiny teeth at the bottom.  Her first tooth popped through on 12-28-12, with the second one coming in about two weeks later. 

I think that covers all the major stuff.  She weighs 19 pounds and is pure sugar.  We can't get enough of her!

Christmas 2012

We had a sickly Christmas this year.  Mallory has been sick since late Friday afternoon. My girls are hardly ever sick, but when they do get sick it is always on a Friday afternoon.  I've just recently switched pediatricians and their new one has been closed now for the fifth day in a row.  Nice.  We aren't off to a good start...let's hope things improve. Despite Mallory being sick along with my mom, aunt and grandaddy, we still managed to have a good Christmas.  I mostly took pictures with my big camera (which will probably never make it to the blog), but here are the few I took with my phone. 

After Santa made his drop-off

It was a dog and horse Christmas for Mallory.  Who cares about princesses and baby dolls??  Not this girl.  This is her Chihuahua puppy with its REAL collar and leash from a REAL pet store.  Girlfriend is obsessed.

Sweet Hadley just took it all in and was a good girl the whole day.

By noon, both of my girls were asleep. 

 One of my favorite gifts was this pot.  It is a very rainy day today so I can't wait to go home and cook soup or a stew in it tonight to break it in.

I am back at work today and things are pretty dead.  I can't wait to get home to my girls and play with them.  We hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!