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...

My First Mother's Day

Mother's Day. A day I have often thought about but never experienced in its capacity until this year. And it was such a blessing!

Six months ago I was given the most precious gift from God-my sweet Georgia peach! What an amazing half of a year it has been. I now know the love of a mother and understand what it means when my mom would tell me, "You will understand when you have children of your own someday".

 This baby is my pride and joy. She makes me want to be a better mom. I love my husband better because of her. I work and provide for my family because of her. I seek God's Word and guidance daily because of her. Even though many days I feel inadequate, overwhelmed, or just plain exhausted with my motherly duties, I know the Lord trusted me to serve in this role. Can I get an amen?

I have loved getting to experience all of the "firsts" with these two.

I also was able to spend Mothers Day with the women who molded me for motherhood. These ladies are Proverbs 31 women to me.

My husband (& daughter) spoiled me this year with breakfast in bed which featured two of my favorite things: oatmeal and milk! I am such a mono-eater he knew there was no point in preparing an extravagant meal for me ha! I love that he knows that about me. But the sweetest things on the tray were the two cards from my Georgia Grace. She made them with AKK kids and they are SO sweet and special to me!

And to commemorate my first Mother's Day Marcus gave me a silver locket with Georgia Grace's picture in it. The perfect gift for the perfect day. I will be the first to admit I am not the best at accepting gifts because I am tight financially-strict but I am learning to appreciate these acts of love. We all have our crosses to bear ha!

My day ended with me feeling loved, needed, and appreciated. All very important things to be a healthy mom. Thank you to everyone for the heartfelt gifts and for making my day special.

You will notice in the top left-hand corner of the collage a ring that spells MOM. My Mamaw Embry gave this to me yesterday. She has wore it for many years and I am honored that she has passed it down to me. I am thankful for her renewed health after a trip to the hospital last week. God is good!

 I hope all of you motherly figures had a great day celebrating YOU! Happy Mothers Day!

WKU Finale

Today my brother graduated with his Bachelors Degree from WKU! He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a double major in political science and economics. He was also president of SAE fraterntiy. We are so proud of him!

Georgia, Cody, and Cody's sweet sweet girlfriend Sarah. We have loved getting to know her over the past year and we hope she sticks around! (hint hint bro)

The whole family. We are all sun-grinning like someone was paying us to do it. But we got the picture ha!

Georgia lasted the first 1 1/2 hours of graduation and then she got restless so she and I watched the rest from the TV screens in the hallway. And then she crashed while Eric was holding her (should have got a picture-SO precious) and slept the whole way home. She had a rough morning so a nap was much needed. She's a trooper though. I doubt many 6 month olds have been to two college graduations!

Cody and his melting cake :)

Mom and Stan had a cookout for Cody after the commencement. It just happens to still be WINTER here so we had to move indoors after sunset. It was nice not having to fight the graduation crowd at the restaurants.

We will sure miss this guy when he moves to Wichita next month but we couldn't be more proud or excited for his future! He's just an airplane ride (or a LONG car drive) away---and since he will be working in the aircraft industry maybe he can get us a deal! ;)

Stand up and cheer...For this is dear old Western's day.

Goody Goody Harrison

I'm praising Jesus for a healthy baby! She's back to her normal self with no fever and loads of energy. Her fever was gone Wednesday night, she slept through the night and woke up feeling like a million bucks. I think a good nights rest (and prayer) was just what we needed. I'm a happy relieved mommy!

Since she was feeling good and we had already planned it, I took Georgia to school Thursday to see daddy and meet his students. Marcus says he gets asked daily when they can meet her so we didn't want to delay any longer!


Georgia Grace meeting Mr. Harrison's class for the very first time. I didn't know how she would act-I thought she might get spooked at 23 little faces staring at her but she didn't. She just stared right back and would flash her dimple grin! And daddy and daughter matched without even planning it which was perfection.

He took her around and introduced each student to her. He has two classes of students so she met close to 50 students! She was very observant and enjoyed being the center of attention. Just like her daddy. ;)

One of his students said, "Kaitlin, you know how Georgia's initials are GGH? Well, we have given her the nickname Goody Goody Harrison! Do you like it?" He seriously has the sweetest kiddos. That melted my sappy heart!

His students were very well behaved and loved us coming to visit. He comes home with little gifts and letters that his students have made for her all the time. We have kept them all for her to enjoy one day. What a blessing each and every one of them are to our family!

Thursday night we headed to the ballpark for my cousin Payt's senior night festivities. I don't know how you can look that beautiful during a softball game! Plus she's beauty and brains so she is the whole package. We are so proud of her and praying for this next chapter of her life.

She wants to be a kindergarten teacher and I know a year 2018 kindergarten that we would love for her to teach!! That is just crazy to think about. I didn't get a picture of them together after the game because baby mommy and daddy were hungry and we had a dinner date with the Ross'. But Georgia sure enjoyed Payt's balloon and sleeping the game away on Aunt Ash :)

When we get to Garcia's (one of our favorite restaurants we visit way too often) the Givens family walks in so I had to get a picture of Georgia and Abbott on their "first date" ha! Georgia was trying to make eyes with him but Abbott was too busy eating ha! This will be a picture we can pull out of the archives for a good laugh!

Now it's time to buckle down for a jam-packed weekend with the highlight being my first Mother's Day! I'm so thankful I get to celebrate this day with the ones I love so much.

Check-Up and Photo Dump

Tuesday was Georgia's 6 month well baby check-up. I have really started dreading these since our last shot experience was a whole lotta yuck.

We have one healthy baby girl! Just for my records, she was 15 pounds (25th percentile) and 25 inches (30th percentile). She's mini-sized :). I was concerned when the nurse told her weight but our pediatrician reassured me she was proportional and following her growth chart perfectly. We got the ok to start solid foods so we will gradually start introducing one food at a time. She's had peas and green beans and like both of them. Still not crazy about the baby food thing but I'm sure that will change as she gets use to it.

Then came time for the shots. There were only two this time and I held her and the nurse went very fast. She cried much less this time and was over it in 2 minutes. Thank you Jesus! Oh, and she loved the loud paper. She would have unrolled the whole roll if we would have let her!

Now just a photo dump. This was at Aunt Rachel's and Uncle Nathan's house. She's sporting her golf attire Rachel made her!

Doing a little bedtime reading :) We have started reading to her at night before bed. She loves flipping the pages. And eating the pages.

Y'all, it doesn't get any cuter than this. Oh I could just eat her up! This is her favorite way to sleep. And notice she's laying the opposite way in her crib ha!

Bathtime is so much more fun when you can sit up and splash! Gram gave her a bath in her jacuzzi tub and she had a ball!

Well she has handled the shots better this round but still symptomatic. She had a 100.1 temp this afternoon and has just felt yucky. I gave her some Motrin and she felt much better then. She has slept quite a bit so I'm praying she will just sleep it off. I bought her some new shoes and gave them to her tonight hoping they would make her feel better ha! I could just die over them. I'm sure I've enjoyed them more than she has.

Hoping tomorrow she is back 100%. This is hard on a mommy!

Derby Days

The most exciting two minutes in sports was this weekend and although we weren't at Derby, we still had fun celebrating at our old Kentucky home. Marcus fixed some burgoo and some mint juleps for our family. He also had a Derby party for his students on Friday which is a tradition that he has started. The girls get to wear big fancy hats and the boys can dress up in their "Sunday best"! The kids have a ball.

I couldn't wait for Georgia Grace to wear her horse cardigan that I bought while I was pregnant. It was a little big so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she can wear it as a 3/4 sleeve sweater next year ha! It was rainy and cold Sunday (yeah, we are totally and completely ready for true spring weather...ugh) so she got to wear her card again Sunday over her dress. I really wish they had one in my size! That's how much I love it.

And Georgia got a new toy this weekend! Her Great-Granddad Larry made her this bottle spinner contraption that is modeled after one that he made for her daddy 24 years ago. She liked spinning it and beating it with her hand. You will notice in the background there is a Diet Mountain Dew option if she gets tired of the RC :)

Sweet baby Marcus playing with his bottle toy.

And a big happy birthday to Great-Granddad today!!

We have a full week of Bible Study, 6 month well baby check-up (absolute dread), and hopefully a visit to MES for GGH to meet Marcus' students!  

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!