MC's 1 year professional photos

While we were in Indiana last week, the girls & I drove to Muncie to not only visit friends, but to also have MC's 1 year pictures taken by our photographer there. We had used her several times before, and I knew that when we would be visiting around the time of MC's birthday, I knew I wanted to use her again to capture this time. 

 I love these photo card collages that she creates!

MC's first outfit was a pair of overalls that I purchased from a Facebook page, and forgive me, but I cannot think of the name of it right now. But, she was having an auction, and when I saw these, I knew that MC needed them!

We met the photographer at the Minnetrista, inMuncie (we've had pictures there before), and we started off in the children's play garden. 

 Theere was the neatest little circle of letters, and when I saw them, I suggested we have MC's picture made with the "M", however, the "M" was missing! Out of all the letters, the "M" was just gone! Thankfully, the stakes pulled out, and we just turned the "W" upside down!

MC was a natural, and Megan (the photographer) did a fabulous job!

Our next outfit, was her actual birthday party outfit. I brought the banner that I had made for MC's party, as well as her party hat that my mom made. 

 I also brought the 'puff' headband that she wore on her birthday. Her outfit is a Mud Pie brand, as is the headband. 

 And, for a more simple look, we added the bow. Yes, y'all, three hair accessory changes in one outfit! What can we say, we love hair accessories!

Finally, I changed her into a smocked dress, that I purchased from Rhea Lana's consignment sale!

 We ended up with over 77 images, and I honestly don't think i'll be able to choose my favorite! They all turned out so well, and I'm just so pleased with Megan's work (the photographer that is!) I really hate that we are living so far away now!

Bye y'all!

MC's Birth Day.

Yesterday was MC's 1st birthday. I was kind of sad that I had to work, and we're also busy packing (have you heard we are moving again?) but I still wanted to celebrate her day as much as possible, even though, she has no clue what the big deal was!

She had a typical breakfast of blueberries, and cheerios before going to daycare today. Pardon the thanksgiving bib!

 She wore a "birthday girl" shirt, that G also wore on her 1st birthday. I'm glad I saved it and that both girls were able to wear it on their special day. I had to show G a picture of her in the shirt on her 1st birthday! G was a bit jealous that MC was getting to have a birthday!

Thankfully, my work day was light, and I was able to pick MC up around 2:00 this afternoon. We came home, and I had a surprise in the mail- her professional pictures that we had taken last week in Indiana! I'll have to upload a few, but there were 77 fabulous photos, and I have to narrow it down to 3 to have framed in her room!

I picked up cupcakes before we came home and bought each of us a different flavor! MC had a vanilla cupcake with pink buttercream. G had the strawberry. I had chocolate, and DJ had peanut butter cup.

I spent part of our afternoon packing, and MC decided to play in our bookcase! She is definitely getting in to cabinets, and we are going to have to childproof the doors in this next house, or I have a feeling I'll have a mess on my hands.

After dinner, we ate our cupcakes!

 MC cautiously dug in - I think she remembers throwing up her birthday cake a few weeks ago!

These next two pictures are a classic example of a baby's mood changes, or maybe just a females mood changes! She was so fussy after dinner tonight, and I think it was because she wanted more food, but she ate an avocado, banana, puffs, and some sweet potato! This girl just loves to eat though!

I thought she'd be happy again when she got her cupcake, but she randomly started crying again!

And, then she laughed and giggled!

It was such a great day, and I hate that we have been too busy packing (& preparing for family to visit us this weekend) but I enjoyed my time with my tiny thing. And, I think she had a fabulous birthday!

MC is 1!

Megan, it feels like yesterday when you arrived. This year has been crazy, and we've survived, which I think is just a miracle in itself. I remember every detail of your birth, and how your sister was so excited to finally meet you. I remember how excited daddy was to introduce you to Gretchen. I remember your first bath, and that first night in the hospital. I wanted to just enjoy every minute we had together. 

We brought you home, and a few days later, daddy had to go back to Oklahoma, and I was so sad that he would not have those first two weeks with you. I remember the pain and joy of breastfeeding you those first few weeks and just praying that you would sleep. Once we figured out that you enjoyed being swaddled it was as if we had some peace. 

We finally moved and were together as a family, and I was so overwhelmed. 

We finally settled into a routine. Those first few months were a struggle of getting use to having a new person to take care of, living in a new town, and traveling to visit family. You also had reflux, and I remember that you would eat, fall asleep, and wake up screaming within an hour. It was just the most heartbreaking thing ever. The summer went by so fast, and when August rolled around, I did not want to leave you to go back to work, and i'm so thankful that I was able to find a job that allowed us to spend as much time together as possible.

We had to travel with me in the back seat, because you would just scream and cry, you hated the carseat, but thankfully, you have grown to tolerate it. 

I loved taking you to football games, and you had the cutest outfit! Gretchen dressed as the cheerleader, but I loved having you as my little butterball football! 

You finally rolled over at 4 months of age, and I was thankful that you weren't in a hurry to reach your milestones!

You were a spider for your first Halloween, and just looked precious!

Soon after Halloween, I started sleep training you, and since then, you've slept through the night!

You started cereal around 5 1/2 months old, and you were just so ready to eat food! You had a cracker on Thanksgiving (along with some baby food), but I remember watching you eat that cracker, and it just made me so sad, that you were wanting real food. 

I took you for your 6 month check up, and the next day you had 2 bottom teeth. At 12 months, you still only have those two teeth!

Around Christmas, you began to army crawl, and you did that until you were 11 months old!

You also learned how to wave bye bye around 7 months old, and then you began standing within another month!

Between January and February, you were at the doctor every other week. And, i'm so not kidding on this. You had the worst allergies and always had a cold. It wasn't a fun time, and once you felt better, it was like a you were a new baby. You were just so happy. It was easy to tell when you were sick, because you just cried and wanted to cuddle. Daddy told me that I always wished that Gretchen would cuddle, but she never enjoyed it. He said that I got my wish with you, because you love to cuddle. 

You always enjoyed tub time, and once you could sit up well enough, you joined your big sister in the tub! She was so excited to have someone to play with. Tonight, you just splashed and played in the tub, and had so much fun!

Around 10 months of age, you started signing "dog", and then you started saying dada, bye bye and dog. Finally at 11 1/2 months, you could say mama!

We had your birthday party early, and you loved your cake! Sadly, you ate so much of it that you threw it up later that evening!

When we went to Indiana last week, I was so proud of you in the car. I knew you had come a long way since last summer, when I had to sit in the back seat with you holding that paci in your mouth!

At 12 months of age, you weigh 17 lbs. You have only gained 1 lb in the last 6 months! I was honestly getting worried, that you wouldn't ever get past 16 lbs! You are crawling on all 4s, although, you still army crawl. You pull up on furniture and you cruise around it. You wave, give kisses, and your smile and laughter are contagious! You love food- all of it. You are not a picky eater, and even though you only have 2 teeth, you eat table food.

You love your big sister. You are sensitive and your feelings get hurt easily. But, you're happy, and I think you want to make other people happy. You love to explore, and you love baby dolls. You reach out for them and give the babies a big hug.

I'm just in shock, that you are a year old. You'll always be my little baby, my tiny thing. I just feel blessed that God has given us you, and that we've somehow managed to survive the crazy year we've had. Happy 1st Birthday Meggie!

Pool Time!

We arrived around noon on Monday to the hotel, and DJ had to head out to catch his golf game. I think the girls were ready to arrive and be out of the car! 

After getting our bags a little settled and MC's pack-in-play set up, we went to eat lunch at CFA. Then, we walked around one floor of the mall just to get some more energy out, and went back to the room to take naps. I told G that she didn't have to fall asleep, but that she had to at least lay down and pretend she was asleep, so MC would take her nap. Thankfully, all three of us took a much needed nap!

After our nap, was pool time! I was excited to get G in the pool again, because I'm really hoping that she'll be better at swimming by the end of summer. DJ is dying to get her on ski's!

 My mom purchased their pink swim suit cover ups at the end of summer last year at Target. We monogrammed their initials on them.

 Thankfully, the pool water was warm, and MC didn't mind being in the water at all!

G had fun swimming around, and I got MC out of her little boat a few times so she could splash the water. She pretended to eat it, and then would give me a little bite. It was too cute! We stayed about an hour in the pool, and then had pizza for dinner!

Road Trip! (& some tips)

I know I posted a few pictures from my iPhone last week of our road trip to Indiana, but I thought i'd post a few more and try to go into some more detail. 

I think I've learned pretty well on how to keep the girls entertained while we are traveling. We travel so often to visit family, that G does so well in the car anyway! But, i'll share a few of my tips.

~ Eat at your house, clean it up, and leave. You don't want to leave and then stop within an hour because you or your kids are hungry.
~ Pack a travel snack bag. I used lots of travel containers, and emptied out cereal boxes, brought fruit snacks, oranges, yogurt & breakfast bars. We also packed a cooler for drinks, and I had sippy cups already filled. Make sure that everything is within reach.
~ I let G choose toys for the trip. I wanted her to choose so she would be interested in them. She was allowed one bag. She chose a few books, potato head (all the pieces fit nicely inside), a small magna doodle, and a doll.
~ I also let her choose about 5 DVDs, and we recently purchased a new one that I saved for the trip.
~ I purchased a few goodies as surprises along the way. One was a tinker bell coloring book and another was gummy bears. Our hotel was near a mall, and I told G that she could pick out three types of candy the night before our trip back. At random intervals, I would give her the candy bag for a few minutes, and then take it away. That way, she didn't eat tons of candy at a time, and it continued to be a treat.
~ Make sure your kids potty at every stop. When filling up with gas, get them out of their car seats and let them walk. I made a game with G and had her take giant steps, march, anything to get her legs moving. We let MC crawl around in the back (watching her of course and being there so she couldn't fall out.)
~ MC hates the car, but we recently purchased her big-girl carseat and head rest DVD players, which I think really helped her. We also brought her favorite sleep toy, to provide comfort in the car. She had a paci clipped to her clothes and to her carseat, so she couldn't loose one!

 Thankfully, they'll sleep at least for one hour! Although, MC slept longer than that.

 Here are the girls playing in the back of the car while we are taking potty breaks and filling up with gas.

At some point in the trip, I realized it was Mother's day, and that we would be going through St. Louis. We happened to be in St. Louis for DJ's convention on my very first Mother's day, so I thought it would be neat to stop and take pictures.

Plus, it was good to stretch our legs again. At this point, we had traveled from Joplin to St. Louis without stopping, and I think we were all ready to get out of the car!

After this stop, we drove two more hours to Effingham, IL and spent the night. We should've stopped right past St. Louis to at least eat, but if that was our one mistake, then it wasn't a bad one! We ended up eating at Ruby Tuesday, and I do recommend it while traveling, or even with young kids. It's not a typical place we eat, but I can add on a salad bar, and share my meal with the girls, and the three of us still have plenty of eat. The girls enjoyed cucumbers, grapes, cheese, eggs, and mini pieces of ham.

I also don't make them go to bed as soon as we get to the hotel. After all, they've been cooped up in a car all day, so we either swim for a bit or just play in the room. This evening we face-timed with DJ's mom, and the girls didn't get in bed until around 10:30, but I also knew there would be more car time in the morning, where they could rest, and that we would be having naps once we go to our destination. I try to be flexible with the schedule during our travels, but also try to keep meal and snack times consistent. We can always catch up on sleep when we get home!

Gifts to our Mothers

I didn't want to post these before Mother's day this year, because my mom reads my blog, and I didn't want to spoil the surprise! 

In January, we visited DJ's dad and he gave me a few old cabinet doors that he no longer needed. I brought them home, and despite DJ's lack of faith, sanded and painted a door for each of our mother's. 

 I loved my mom's reaction, because she visited us a week before we gave her her gift, she had an idea of what she would be receiving, but she didn't know what it would say. I love the saying that I picked out for her, "where cousins go to become best friends", because I do hope that my girls and their cousin, A, will be best friends running around their grandparent's land! 

DJ's parents live on a lake and we love to visit them in the summer. I found this idea from Pinterest, and thought something like this would look great on their deck or in their game room. We personalized it with a few things that we enjoy at their house along with the typical lake festivities!

I didn't get a pictures of the board we gave to DJ's mom. We gave it to her this past week, when we saw her in Indiana, and I just didn't have time. Her board said, "Grandkids make life grand" and had "Nana" written underneath with all of the grandchildren's names printed.

Happy Mother's Day (late) to our mom's! We love you!