Five on Friday-Remembering Papaw

Happy Friday! Here's another edition of Five On Friday-enjoy!

One

Tuesday I decorated our house for fall/Halloween and decided  I would be a little trickster and put the witch pictured above in the bed on Marcus' side. Well he retaliated Wednesday morning. It doesn't take much to entertain us ha!

Two

I am happy to report that Georgia Grace is eating much better as of late. She loves foods that she can feed herself. Her favorites right now are cheerios and cheese. Cheerios are necessities during church or anywhere we are where she has to be confined. She hasn't had any gagging spells and she is doing better with eating from a spoon (I'm think the rejection of the spoon was related to teething). I'm so proud of her!

Three

I read this quote this week and it literally stopped me in my tracks. It is so easy to consider ourselves "good people" and/or to justify sin. We are so far from good when compared to Jesus. A very humbling reminder that we are all given grace upon grace upon grace daily that we do not deserve. John 1:16 tells us from the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. The real question is why doesn't bad things happen to all of us? What a merciful God we serve!!

Four

Georgia Grace learned how to blow bubbles yesterday! I had to work a nutrition event last night and when I checked twitter on my way home Marcus had posted this and my heart just melted. That face. Life is so fun with her as my daughter!

Friday

Today marks the one year anniversary of Papaw's passing. I was reading my "Remembering Papaw" post that I made last year here and I mentioned how I hoped Georgia Grace would inherit some of his traits and I can confidently say that she has. She is happy, busy, and has a grin that looks just like his! He is home and watching over us. I'll cherish the memories forever.

Please remember us in your prayers today if you don't mind<3

Weekend Recap

My weekend started on Friday so Georgia Grace and I spent the day at home while daddy attended Professional Development training. Last week felt extra long so I was glad to just spend time at home doing a whole lot of nothing.

I was experimenting with different breakfast concoctions and found something that Georgia Grace absolutely loves. It's oatmeal, breastmilk, and baby yogurt (she is SO my child!). She wasn't crazy about the baby yogurt by itself and she gets bored of oatmeal but when I fed them to her mixed together it made her so happy! She clapped her hands and her feet was just a going. Mommy gets an A+ for that discovery!

Saturday we had a pool day and I did not take one picture. I must confess pool days with a baby are hard. By the time you inflate floats, lather on lotion, feed her, change into swimmy diaper and put on swimsuit you've already invested a good amount of time and you haven't even left the house. She lasted about 15-20 minutes and then she was ready for a nap. She usually lasts a lot longer than that but we didn't time it just right. It's all about timing! I'm sure we will perfect it the last weekend of the summer HA!

Sunday Eric (my sister's bf), my dad, Marcus, and my papaw took a fishing trip to Lake Malone to catch some fish for our friend's fish fry next weekend. Please note the rainbow of Columbia PFG shirts. Three unplanned, one didn't want to feel left out (papaw HA!). My dads and papaw's are past fathers day gifts so I think I did well with those gifts. The super moon was supposed to provide superb fishing conditions and it did not disappoint. The fishermen caught 76! We will be eating good next weekend.

My baby girl is getting so big. Just this weekend I found her pulled completely up to her feet in her crib AND she started waving. I love watching her learn and grow but a part of me gets a little sad when I see her accomplish new things that shows her independence and self sufficiency. Why can't they stay babies forever?!?

Georgia Grace and I hung out at mamaws while the fishermen were at the lake. She loved swinging on their front porch swing. There's not much she doesn't enjoy that is outdoors. She's showing off her painted toenails in this picture :)

Swing naps are the best naps

We think my sister is part indian (I kid) and she just got back from a week at the beach so she was dark as a tick! We had to get a picture to compare two extremes. They may have opposite color skin right now but they sure are alike in other areas. We have loved having Paige home this weekend and we are going to be so sad when she moves in a few weeks (sniff sniff). 

I hope everyone had a great weekend enjoying sweet summertime!

Changes & Favorites

We have arrived at an age where Georgia Grace seems to be changing and developing on a daily basis. It seems like everyday she is doing something brand new and our minds are blown that she is old enough to be doing that.

She still hasn't mastered crawling yet (Marcus never crawled, he just started walking at 8 months....8 MONTHS! Lord help me if that's the case) but she can bring herself up from belly to sitting position. She can also go up to all fours in a downward dog position (yoga lingo comes in handy sometimes!). And sometimes when she is sitting up and reaching for a toy, she will go back to the sitting position with one leg kicked out like a kickstand or pinned underneath her. That would be her mommy coming out in her. I sit in very strange positions. Double jointed hip problems-ha!

One morning last week Marcus went to get her from her crib and she was sitting up indian-style in her crib. What a big girl!

Her choice of toys have also changed in recent days. Aunt Shanna got her this Minnie Mouse iPhone this weekend and it has been a hit. She LOVES our iPhones so I am hoping this will replace the need to play with ours 24/7. We are one drop away from disaster I can just feel it!

Speaking of nonconventional toys, she also really loves jewelry and any other accessory you are wearing. Glasses, hats, buttons, she's not picky.

Another favorite in the toy arena is the Sit To Stand Learning Walker. The front attachment will come off so that we can lay it in the floor for her to play with since she's not ready for using it as a walker although I'm sure she would love to give it a try ha! She loves to roll the wheels and press the piano keys to make music. Thanks to fellow mommy friend Amber for mentioning this toy-it's a big hit at our house too!

And after 7 1/2 months of analyzing and observing, please meet our favorite toy of all-"The Knob"! We have renamed it "The Knob" because she is not interested in the rings, just the stacker part. She will just get beside herself excited when we give it to her. She chews on the top and bottom, hugs it, straddles like she is riding a spinning top and bangs it like a hammer. It has become a very multi-functional toy in Georgia's eyes. We have joked that our can't-leave-the-house-without item won't be a blanket, a babydoll, a plush bear-we will be packing "The Knob" everywhere we go HA!

In the nutrition department, our favorite food is potatoes. Sweet or good ol' Idaho-she loves them both! While we were on vacation I would order a baked potato and hand mash the potato with breastmilk to feed her and she couldn't get enough! At this point in time, she definitely prefers vegetables over fruit. She does not care for bananas or peaches (attempted peaches last night-a big NO. I love peaches but I tasted these and I understand her rejection-gag!) I still have several jars of baby food from the FREE sale I discovered so we will finish off those and then I will start making the rest for her. I think this will work best for us because by then I should know what she likes and what she doesn't like. Should save me time and mullah-yay for that!

She has also started drinking water from a straw (syringe style) or from a sippy. She loves water! We still make a big wet mess when we use the sippy but I know it is helping her learn the technique. And I must admit her using a sippy cup gives me some major anxiety. I just can't believe we are already to this stage. Sippy cups seem so kid-like to me.

Another big change that I am really enjoying is an earlier bedtime. Before bedtime was somewhere between 10-11 but in the past week it has been between 9-10 (one night she even slept from 8:15p-8a-WHOA!). We have pretty much cut out the late evening nap so now she is just taking a short morning nap and a long afternoon nap. Earlier bedtime equals a more rested mommy and daddy and a happier baby. It's a win-win for all of us!

If I've learned one thing as a mom it would be to embrace change. Change means our baby is growing and developing. She's exploring and discovering new things. Her nutritional intake is broadening and she's establishing preferences. It's all positive changes and something we should celebrate!

Today I'm thankful for change.

Just A List

1. We are moving right along with project: baby food. So far we have introduced sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and bananas with good acceptance (and no allergies) to all. I can say that I think she still prefers her milk over her food. She will eat it but usually doesn't finish the whole serving and gets easily distracted. So far I have bought her baby food (I happened upon a deal at Rite Aid where they paid me to take it from their store!) but once my stores run out I plan on making her food. If you remember I tried making her first batch and it was an epic mommy fail so I'm easing myself back into it. Lesson #53278590 learned! :)

2. Two evenings this week we have taken strolls and can I tell you how happy I am spring has finally arrived? A little sunshine makes any day a little brighter.

3. Georgia had her first ride on the Harley last night! Marcus' dad is a diehard Harley Davidson man so it was only appropriate that we broke Georgia in at an early age. Oh, how I will loathe the day she starts asking to ride it!

4. Yesterday Georgia and I had a girls day out shopping for beach items, accessories for her 6 month portraits, and groceries of course. Georgia slept through Walmart and Aldi-can you blame her? She was a good shopping buddy. She did get mad at me once because she didn't want to get back in her carseat to leave the store. She threw a "mini-fit" you could say. I just had to laugh about it. I'm sure this won't be the last mini-fit she throws. And I bet they all won't be minis ha!

5. We met Paige and my mamaw at CFA for lunch yesterday. The first of many trips to CFA for GGH I'm sure. She is such a big girl now sitting in highchairs at restaurants.

6. Marcus' last day of school is next Thursday. This school year seemed about a minute long. It's crazy how fast time moves these days. He is looking forward to his summer at home with our baby and mommy has no idea how she will get up and leave them in the mornings.

It looks like this weekend will provide an opportunity to give the house a good spring cleaning/organizing. I don't like to clean but I like to BIG clean if that makes any sense. It must be the feeling of accomplishment you receive after tackling that busting-at-the-seams cabinet or finally finding a place for all those rolls of wrapping paper. I'm actually kind of excited about it. We will see if I'm singing the same song this time tomorrow...

Pea-eww

We had our first experience with baby food Tuesday. If someone were to have been grading us, we would have got a big fat F.

Here is where we went wrong:

1. I tried to make her first batch of baby food and it was too thick. I should have just bought some until I was comfortable and familiar with the consistencies.

2. We fed her too big of bites. She literally gagged on the first two bites! We made them smaller after that but the damage was done and then poor baby spewed. We have it on video, we will look back and laugh at this whole fiasco!

As far as the peas themselves I think she will eat them now that we have everything else figured out. Talk about being "green" parents. We will keep trying and keep learning as we go. Georgia Grace-if you are reading this sometime down the road mommy and daddy are sorry you are firstborn and have to endure our poor parental navigation! But your brothers/sisters will be thankful ha!

We were too rapped up in the pea event to get any pictures but I took this one yesterday morning of my two hungry babies. Owen will eat anything including Georgia's oatmeal cereal. He was even trying to intercept some of the bites! And then while I was cleaning her up he gladly gave the bumbo a good cleaning for me. Such a good big brother :)

(In case you were wondering I re-cleaned the bumbo, I appreciate his effort though ha! And yes he needs a haircut.)

Silly doggy brother

So I mentioned we have a big sitting-up-on-her-own girl on our hands and here are some pictures to prove it! Within a couple of times of sitting up on her own she was doing it for several minutes straight just like it was no big deal. She seems to be a quick study and I am so proud of that. Beauty and brains :)

Last night we went to watch cousin Brennan compete at his tennis match. The weather was perfect and we were ready to get outdoors.

My little ham putting on a show at the match. She really drew a crowd with her squeals and giggles! We kept reminding her this was a tennis match and that wasn't appropriate but she is strong-willed and didn't care. I'm kind of with her on that one, sometimes you need to liven up the event! Several people have commented that she looks like Marcus in this picture.

We have also concluded that she has very small feet. No shoes that I buy fit her! These crochet baby Gap shoes were adorable but we kept having to put them back on her. Of course she took it upon herself to remove them several times but they were too big anyway. I may have a shoeless child this summer!

Tomorrow is DERBY! We love Derby. Never been but it's on my list. It always makes me proud to be a Kentuckian when I hear "My Old Kentucky Home" the first Saturday in May.

Yay for the weekend!