Update

Our days are super full right now with my new job and the new school year so instead of blogging I have been  heading straight to bed instead :) Stopping in for a minute to document some of my pictures from the weekend and this week. I absolutely love my new job but with all new things there is a learning curve so I am exhausted at the end of the day. Each day is getting easier and I'm getting a little more efficient. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

 

Friday I made my last official trip home from my previous job and I got behind an Amish buggy (that is a common occurence) so I thought I would take a picture. This has been the "traffic" I have had to deal with for three years. I know I won't miss the commute but I will miss seeing the beautiful countryside.

 

Friday night we went to our friend Thomas's 5th birthday party. It was a shark theme and Georgia Grace wasn't sure about sticking her head in the shark's mouth ha! It rained on and off so we didn't swim but still had a lot of fun!

 

Saturday was pictureless highlighted with sleeping in and being lazy. It was just what we needed.

 

Sunday after church we came home and were playing outside when I heard her crying. She had her first wasp swing ;( She was pretty upset for two minutes or so but then she was fine and never talked about it again. Poor baby girl.

 

Sunday night we went to a fish fry at Chris and Gina's. This child has turned into a little singer. She knows almost all of "Jesus Loves Me" and the Frozen songs of course. She makes up her own songs too. I hope she is always comfortable expressing herself!

 

Monday was a big day for me. It was my first real day of dropping Georgia Grace off at Grandmomma's. Daddy usually has the honors but since I am working just a few blocks away I can do it! And I even get to go eat lunch with her too :) I've got it made as a working mom.

 

My blogging may continue to be sporadic until everything settles down a little bit. Even though I'm busy, I'm thankful for the new opportunity I have and the more time I will have with my family.

Check-up and A Recipe

Happy Friday!

Here's just a few pictures I wanted to share today before the busy weekend that's ahead of us.

GGH received a plush Olaf as an Easter present from Aunt Shanna and Uncle Jake and he is a new favorite! I love this sweet picture of her napping with him at Grandmomma's. He goes lots of places with us. I'm afraid snowy white Olaf may take on more of a muddy snowman look before too long ha!

Yesterday I took her to her 18 month well baby check-up. This was my first time doing it by myself. We started out great. She even let them weigh her on the standing scale which was a first. But it all went south when they started the exam. She squalled and screamed and got so worked up she gagged and threw up everywhere. It was a nightmare. Her Ped said he wished he had a special cure for the gagging but there isn't one. Sigh. Trying to be glass half-full, her exam was normal and she is still meeting or exceeding her developmental milestones. He was very impressed with her talking skills and vocabulary. She remains very petite (21 pounds, 30.5 inches, 10th percentile) but she is proportional. We are going to try to decrease her bottles in order to increase her food intake. It will definitely be a gradual weaning process. Pray for us.

In the picture she had thrown up on her pretty eyelet ruffle socks and these were the only ones in the bag so we were a sight. I had vomit on my pants and Toms. It was a stinky ride home!

*Another one of the three of us from Rachel's Canon

Last night we took Nathan and Rachel a hot meal for supper since I remember from experience the last thing you have time to do is fix dinner. It was also a great excuse to Ro-Ro again because we were already having withdrawals :) I fixed a pork tenderloin, roasted red potatoes, green beans, biscuits, caesar salad and a strawberry crunch cake. They greatly appreciated it and raved about the dessert so I decided to post the recipe because it's so darn easy and yummy. This is a recipe from my mother-in-law, I'm not sure where it originated. 

photo source

Frozen Strawberry Crunch Cake

Ingredients

1. 1 box Nature Valley Honey and Oat Granola Bars (save one pkg for the top) crushed
2. 1/3 cup brown sugar
3. 1/2 cup flour
4. 6 tablespoons melted butter
5. 1/2 cup sugar
6. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
7. 1 lemon, juiced
8. 4 ounces cream cheese
9. 1 1/2 cups freshly chopped strawberries

Mix first 4 ingredients and press mixture into a 8 x 8 glass baking dish. Mix rest of the ingredients and spread over bottom crust in pan. Sprinkle the 1 pkg crushed granola bar on top and freeze.

A birthday party, Derby, wedding shower and cookout are on the agenda for this weekend. Hope everyone has a great one! 

Georgia is 1 1/2!

When Georgia Grace turned one I decided to conclude my monthly updates for her and switch to doing them every quarter. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that we have been a family of three for a year and a half. We are halfway through year #2 and are having conversations about preschool, what her extracurricular activities might be and when to start potty training. I could settle for a slowdown.

Georgia-you are 18 months old!

• You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 3 diapers and a size 5 shoe. You really enjoy being barefoot. You don't particularly like getting dressed each day or having your diaper changed. I'm hoping that's a sign of an early potty trainer.
• You have 13 teeth. Your bottom canines just started popping through a week ago. Your upper right lateral incisor has yet to come in so you have a three tooth smile right now :)
• Your favorite thing to do is to be outside. You would stay out from sun up until sun down if you had it your way. This summer is going to be a fun one!

• You can say your name, most family member's name (no Gammy or Aunt Paigey-I think you might be a little stubborn ha!) and places we go frequently. You know a lot of animals and their sounds. You are saying 3-4 word sentences ("I get my bow" is my personal favorite to date).
• You like to meet new people and have never met a stranger. You pretty much like everyone except your pediatrician and his posse. We have been joking that you should run for office because you smile, wave & "talk" to people everywhere you go.
• You love to "go go". You like to be entertained and enjoy a change of scenery. You like riding in your carseat (because that means you get to "go go"). Strolling is also a highlight of your day right now.

• You sleep 9-10 hours at night (in your crib without any wake ups through the night) with a two hour nap in the middle of the day. We still rock you to sleep every night minus a few nights you were tired enough to just lay down. I realize these moments are fleeting so I am giving myself some grace and enjoying the little bit of baby that is left.
• Your most mentioned features are your arched eyebrows and abundance of hair. I know I am a biased mommy but you are beautiful and perfect just how God made you!
• You eat three small meals a day and like to "graze" all day long on snacks. You like to try what everyone else is eating and you eat better for us if we feed you off our plate instead of giving you your own plate. We try to make meal time fun because you are not a big eater. And yes-you are still taking your milk bottle. Giving myself even more grace on that one ha!
• You are into everything and make 13914813 messes a day. You are curious and busy and strong-willed. As tiring as you can be some days I am blessed to have a toddler that is full of life and energy.
• People are thinking that you look more like your daddy now. You have a cheeky smile that lights up a room and a sweet, bubbly personality to match. 
• You LOVE boys. You gravitate towards them when you are with your peers. And you are a complete Daddy's girl.
• You are starting to enjoy reading books and baby flash cards. Touch and feel books are your favorite.

Life as your mom for the past year and a half has been everything I dreamed it would be plus so much more. I look forward to all the milestones we will reach in the next three months. As I watch you transform from baby to little girl I am reminded of an excerpt from one of my favorite poems-

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Song for a Fifth Child-Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Happy 1 1/2 years to our sweet Georgia peach! We love you with all we have!

Birthdays and Bonnets

We had a pretty great weekend over here full of fun and exciting things. The weather was perfect, our schedules were manageably full and we saw first hand just how smart our sweet Georgia Grace is.

She was ready for a bottle Sunday afternoon and I said "Let's go get a blanket and then we can have it." I told her to pick out her favorite and as she is leading me to her nursery she picks one out from her armoire display just like I told her to. Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church I said, "We need to brush your hair. Where do we do that?" and she walked right into the bathroom. The fact that she has learned the meaning of words and can identify those objects makes me a proud mommy!

However, there was one moment this weekend I was not proud of. Friday started off exciting as Georgia Grace created a masterpiece on Grandmomma's hallway. This is her first (and hopefully last) crayon-on-the-wall incident. I cannot believe my child sometimes! She had never been told to not draw with crayons on the wall so they just sat her down and told her that we do not do that. It wouldn't be fair to punish her for something she didn't know was not acceptable. I hope that does the trick and we do not have a repeat offender!

They were able to get it out with baking soda and a scrubber thank goodness. Those walls are not strangers to crayon marks, I think her Daddy may have made a mark or two...

Saturday we went to a birthday party for our AKK twin friends Kypton and Erica. They had a Super Heroes/Frozen birthday party. It was a big party with mostly 3-5 year olds and Georgia Grace thought she was as big as the rest of them.

The sweet birthday boy and girl! Before Kypton left AKK on Friday he said, "Be sure to bring baby Georgia to my party". Does it get any sweeter than that?!? I'm so glad she gets to grow up with these two sweet kiddos.

They did an Easter Egg hunt at the party and my dear friend and hair conoisseur Cindy snapped this picture of us. Georgia Grace found a tootsie roll during the hunt and stuck the whole thing in her mouth! Some of it came out later (on her pretty clean outfit) but you could tell she enjoyed it while it lasted. She gave it her signature #1 sign :) Such a fun party for everyone! Spring birthdays are the best!

After the party we were playing out in our front yard when Ma and Pa drove by and invited us to go with them to Garcia's. We never pass on a trip for Mexican! GGH tore the chorizo dip up as evidenced by her mouth and top :) I think it's her new favorite food. She loves salty and spicy things. Another trait like her Daddy.

Sunday it was just Georgia Grace and me while Daddy was hunting so we got up early and got dressed for church in time to take a few pictures in our Easter bonnet. I wanted to get a few more wears out of it so we jumped the gun and pulled it out a Sunday early.

Be still my heart. I know I am biased but she defines perfect in my book. And I'm hearing more and more comments all the time that she is looking more like her Daddy. I think he's pretty perfect too :)

We were so honored that she was chosen as a Beaufort Bonnet baby! They used a couple of the pictures I took Sunday for an Instagram advertisement celebrating the Masters weekend. I put her in the green smocked golf dress Gammy and Gran Stan bought her before she was even born. It was the perfect Sunday to wear it!

My cousin Kimberlea snapped this of her at church Sunday and I absolutely love it. Candid snapshots of my girl are my favorite. She was the biggest ham ever during the service.

Happy Monday friends!

Out & About

Spring has sprung and we feel like we have been let out of a cage. What a long, brutal winter we just had. I have already promised you will not hear any complaints from me on the heat come the middle of July. And I'm sure my loved ones will hold me to it. We haven't been settling down inside the house until dusk and my nights seem longer and more full already. Extra sunshine is good for the soul.

Georgia Grace is also a big fan of the sunshine (and not a big fan of coming in from the sunshine). Grandmomma texted me Monday to tell me she needed some tennis shoes. Of course she does. Why haven't I bought her a pair to play outside in? She has been wearing a pair of hand me downs from a boy cousin until I could find her a pair. It's probably a good thing she's not old enough to care they are for boys, she's just worried about playing her little heart out :)

Uncle Jake and GGH burned off some energy before dinner on Monday night. I know the former football player in Jake was proud of her ball choice.

She had her first official boo-boo Tuesday afternoon at Gammy's house while we were there for supper. She was running to meet Daddy on the pooldeck and fell and skinned her knee. Thankfully Gammy was able to make it all better with some kisses and a bandaid. She cried for just a bit and then she was over it. I think she is going to be a tough girl.

It was a legit boo-boo no doubt about it. Might as well get it out of the way right off the get-go.

Since this week is Marcus's Spring Break I made plans for us to go to a furniture tent sale in Nashville on Thursday. This was our first time shopping for furniture since we bought a few pieces (we used a lot of hand me downs) for our current house 5 years ago. It was a lot of fun and we had some success! They are holding it for us until we need it which is so nice and then they will deliver it to us in Kentucky. Love that!

And then we went to maybe my favorite store ever-Cost Plus World Market. Oh good gracious they have everything for decorating your home. Marcus escaped with just a small bill but you better believe I will be back in the future and the bill won't be near as small :)

Tomorrow we are celebrating my birthday a few days early with a trip to Keeneland for some horse racing! I am so excited!! Except for the weather forecast, that has me everything but excited. I'm so pumped though I don't think even coldness could dampen my day! I have the sweetest husband for planning this birthday trip for me!

Have a great weekend! And go Cats!!!

Thursdays With Mommy

Per the usual I had the day off Thursday and the best part was that it was not a day of appointments, obligations or a to-do list. My daily planner had no writing in it for Thursday February 20th.

Those are the best Thursdays.

My girl and I slept in (10:15-what?!? The latest she's ever slept), waited for daddy to come visit us on his lunch break and then headed out for a little lunch and shopping date. I thought she was looking extra adorable with her new transition to spring outfit and another ponytail :)

It was a windy and warm day that did an excellent job of giving us spring fever. The afternoons of stroller rides and playing in the yard are close.

Our first stop was Qdoba to meet my sister and brother-in-law for lunch. They hadn't seen her ponytail in person or heard some of her new words so they were excited about all the newness. We just got a Qdoba close to us so I was glad to try it out for the first time. It was excellent as always.

Our next stop was some shopping at Duck Duck Goose. I have never shopped this consignment sale but other mommy friends were excited about it so I thought we would give it a try. It opened the day before so I could tell there wasn't as much merchandise but I found a few new pieces and added some hairbows to our collection.

I didn't take our stroller so after about five minutes GGH was ready to get down and roam. And that's exactly what she did. She was walking up and down the aisles and underneath the racks! When did she become old enough to do this?!

She is so big acting here lately. She said her first three word phrase this week:

"Dada go school"

Such a proud moment (especially for Marcus). And I also discovered she's cutting her top first molars. These milestones are coming so quickly.

And of course we had to stop at the grocery to shop for ingredients for supper. Georgia Grace doesn't get to go shopping much because I normally go after work but she really loves it. Riding in the cart is like a treat to her since it's such an infrequent thing. And she's always such a good girl and super observant.

And it looks like I have started a new tradition of taking her picture every time she grocery shops with me. October and November 2013 and February 2014. I plan on taking her picture here from now on since I mindlessly started doing this. I think it will be fun to look back at how much farther those little legs dangle!

Happy Weekend friends! I'm hoping this hint of spring weather sticks around.

It's Time

Less than an hour from when I posted Wednesday I received a call from our pediatrician. He had Georgia Grace's chart and after reviewing it for a brief period he simply said, "It's time".

I received a call from the ENT office that afternoon as well and they scheduled her pre-op appointment for the very next day. Dr. Knox, a colleague of mine that I respect and trust, will be performing the surgery and I am very much comfortable with him and his ability. He has been an ENT for 30 years and has worked at Kosair's. I without a doubt know that she will be in good hands.

The pre-op went really well. She was a total ham out in the lobby. I haven't had a chance to dress her up since Christmas since we haven't got her out much so I jumped on the opportunity. So much sass I can't even stand it. I think she somehow could sense that this was a good thing and she was excited to be a part of it.

The ENT office is located in my hospital so I couldn't miss an opportunity to show her off to my boss and the other admins that were in the office. "Aunt Marian" came up to see her of course. They talked, played pattycake, and were twinning in their matching animal prints. We sure do love our Aunt Marian!

Surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday. I so appreciate our pediatrician for bumping us up in line due to our semi urgent need and for the ENT office that reworked some schedules to get us in so quickly. Tubes are inevitable at this point so the sooner the better.

I know I will probably be a ball of emotions come Wednesday but right now I am just really happy about it! She has suffered enough and we are ready for restful nights and to say goodbye to ear infections. I have a calm, confident mentality about the whole event and I am very thankful for that. The procedure was thoroughly explained, the timeline was identified, and all questions and concerns I had were answered.

So we're waving the flag of surrender and succombing to what we hope will provide relief and comfort to our precious baby. By the way,  I just love love love the flag pictures they send me of her from when she spends time with her AKK friends. And I can't believe she will be a full-time AKK preschooler this fall. I know she's ready, I just  hope I will be.

I'm hopeful this is our first step in transitioning to a new season.

Catch Up And A Snow Day

This week hasn't offered any spare time for blogging so I'm sitting here multitasking on a Friday night cranking out a blogpost and watching the UK/Baylor game. We are in the middle of "Ice Storm 2013" which created another 4 day weekend for me-yay! 

Right now we just have ice with a little snow on top but it looks like more snow will be on the way Sunday. I don't think I can ever remember it snowing THREE times before Christmas! Kentucky weather, you get the most unpredictable award.

Speaking of predictions, we finally got to found out the gender of Baby Ross and it's a....

We can't wait to meet Roman Henry Ross!!!

I am just sooooo happy for them. Rachel will be a perfect boy mom. And oh my goodness Georgia Grace is going to be surrounded by the fellas! I think she is happy about that ;)

Party of six! Roman will be the perfect addition to our crew. 

The reveal party was so fun and these two bonded like always. I saw first hand how children think other children's food is better. We seriously had just fed her before we left the house and she insisted on trying to eat all of Abbott's food. But he returned the favor by drinking out of her bottle ha! These two are true entertainment.

I have stopped doing my monthly posts (tear) once we hit the 1 year mark but I still want to document our firsts when they happen. This really isn't a big deal to anyone but  me probably but I bought Georgia Grace's first pair of big girl shoes. I had to shop in the Toddler section instead of the Infant section for the first time. It made me all sentimental. I don't know when her foot grew to a size 5 but here we are. My sweet baby is turning into a little girl.

Another purchase I made this week is this coat rack for Georgia Grace's room. All of her coats needed a place to live and I thought this one from Hobby Lobby was darling! The side drawer pulls are perfect for her winter hats with the velcro strap under the chin. I've already got it mounted and full.

Our snow day consisted of playing, eating, wrapping presents, watching a Charlie Brown Christmas, eating, online shopping, and more eating. Winter weight here I come. It was a cozy, wear-your-pjs-all-day fun time! Maybe we will be making snow angels by the end of the weekend.

Stay safe everyone!

Five On Friday

One

We have our first turkey handprint artwork. This may be my favorite children's craft of all time. I can't wait to watch that hand grow year after year. 

I found this picture on Pinterest and I feel like it needs to be recreated by the Harrison family. I just love it and I could display it every season.

Two

Tuesday night we went over to my mom's house to watch the UK game (which come to find out was blacked out in our area-bah humbug!) and mom wrangled GGH for me so I was able to spend an hour of uninterrupted time on Pinterest while we listened to the game on the radio. It was a really awesome hour. I have missed "Pie-interest" as my FIL calls it :)

I am swooning over white kitchens. The only thing I have told Marcus that is a definite for our new house is that it will have a white kitchen.

Who am I kidding? I have told him hundreds of definites for the new house :) Must. Stay. Off. Pinterest.

Three

Ebates. I love Ebates! I started using this site a couple of years ago and I have probably made $100 over the course of time. It is super simple. All you have to do is sign up here and every time before you make purchases online go to Ebates and click on your store and you will earn cash back!

Every quarter they will mail you a check for your cash back.With the holiday season and Cyber Monday coming up, now would be a great time to join. You can thank me later! Can't beat free money. 

Four

I received my first text from Georgia Grace this morning. They grow up so fast!

Five

I spent the day yesterday Christmas shopping and running errands with my favorite girl. I can't brag on her enough for how good she did! She did try to run away from me in the mall once and threw items I had placed in the cart out of the cart at the grocery store but she was happy while she was doing all of these things! She is rotten.

She waved at everyone and tried to talk to most of them. She stole the show everywhere we went. Who could resist a super cute waving smiley baby in a fur vest and winter hat?

This picture is a pretty big deal because Georgia Grace has never been one to give herself her own bottle. It's so funny because as soon as she gets it to her mouth and we help her she let's go and let's us feed her. Sippies too. Total diva move! :) But I thank she has finally reluctantly given in to doing it herself.

We ended the trip with a stop at the grocery store (Aldi) and I had to take a picture like I did last time. There is only 6 weeks difference so not a lot of change but her hair is longer and she looks more girl-ish instead of baby :(. I love my grocery shoppin' Georgia!

Happy Friday y'all!