Kendall

I haven't been blogging because I'm really into a book, "Vanishing Acts" by my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. Here is a line that I really like and relate to:

When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to
yourself again; yet after giving birth you realize that the biggest part of
you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and
disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to
keep her close enough for comfort.

Brian weighed Kendall yesterday and we were worried that she hadn't gained enough weight so I made an appointment with her doctor today. Brian also wanted to talk to her about Kendall's sleeping habits (short naps, still waking in the night). Turns out she is maintaining her tenth percentile in weight so no worries there but she said I shouldn't feed her in the night when she wakes. Sadness. Teaching her to sleep independently is the hardest thing I've had to do as a mother, quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done!

Back to my book now.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well Kendall has officially had her first Christmas. Here is just a sampling of the pictures taken (130ish total!). We had such a wonderful time with each of our families. Kendall did really well in the car, amazing considering she spent about 35 hours in her carseat. She is all set for new toys now so she'll be occupied for some time. Nights were a little rough and I'm happy to have her back at home in her own bed with the hope of that returning to normal.

In Pensacola Kendall was fascinated by watching her cousins Kelly and Patrick. I like to imagine them playing together as they get older. I think that Kelly will be able to teach Kendall some new tricks and they'll certainly be able to expand her vocabulary :)

In Ohio she never lacked for kisses!! She was able to get lots of love from her Great Gram, Gram and Pop as well as her aunts and uncles. She was a good baby and loved showing off tricks of her own. Only one time did she decide to have a bit of a temper tantrum and her poor Gram and Aunt Kim were stuck in the backseat feeling helpless.

I'm trying to get things back to normal here with the suitcases unpacked and laundry already going. My studio is a bit of a mess but in the good way that I love. Gram gave me lots of her old ribbons and scrapbooking things that she won't be using and my mom also passed on some cute old buttons and trims so I am going to be doing some organizing over the next couple of days.

10 hours!

We made the ten hour car ride with Kendall and are having fun in Pensacola. It's in the 50's and they keep complaining that it is cold, sheesh. Kendall is loving her Memaw and the small black doggy that pays her absolutely no attention. Off to brave the Target madness now.

Merry Christmas

Signing out until after the holidays. Have a safe and blessed Christmas!
Ashley

I love...my soft bed

I feel I have been a poor blogger lately and tonight will not be an improvement, ha. I'm exhausted I cleaned all day, finished decorating my Christmas cookies with Alex (lots of fun), cooked dinner, and prepared for my Bible Study tomorrow. My bed is calling my name or maybe that is Brian.

I love:
*Gingerbread men that wear ties (see far right cookie)
*That all I have to do is LOOK at Kendall and she laughs
*The anticipation of visiting family
*Wrapping presents

There are so many more things but I just can't think clearly at the moment. Must...go...to...bed

Christmas album

Kendall and I did some running around today. I bought some yarn so that I can knit during our drive to Florida. I also picked up a few Christmas gifts for Kendall, it is easy to shop for her at this age she actually played with the toy as we shopped and by the time she opens it for Christmas she will have forgotten all about it! Tonight I did a little work on her first Christmas album, these pictures are of the outside cover and the first page. The first page has the picture of her on Santa's lap but the photo lifts to reveal the journaling.

All I Want for Christmas....

Saturday Fun

I had a fun night. Alex and I started some Christmas baking! We have sugar cookie dough made for tomorrow and we made a really yummy peanut butter cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. Tonight Lorie, Dani, Alex, and I all went to see the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours" it was really cute. I could definitely see some parallels between Brian and I (minus the 18 kids). He was the structured one that made schedules and liked the bathroom sink perfectly clean and she was the artsy, messy one that squeezed the toothpaste in the middle.

Come Play Scrapbook with Me

Okay, something new here at the Paper Chick. This is going to be fun, I want you to play scrapbooking with me! There is a new website where you can take virtual classes for a fee but they are offering a free class since it is new. Go to this site, click on "classes and workshops" scroll to the bottom where it says "Give Us A Try" and click on the words "Virtual classroom". You can download a supply list & step by step instructions on how to make a little tin accordion album about you! I'm going to do it, hope you join me.

http://bigpicturescrapbooking.com/

New Haircut

So I like it! Really, it's kind of hard to tell until I can get in there and play with it myself so I'll know better tomorrow morning how much I really like it. Brian is still learning the fine art of complimenting his wife but there has been an improvement. He did say it was "cutie" (after a lot of probing) but then he had to add that it "wasn't great before" since it was at an in between stage. Thanks honey, a whole lot. Kendall got to spend the afternoon with her faux grandma (Lorie) and her gang and she'll get a repeat of the evening on Friday when we go to Brian's work Christmas party (think I'll look silly if I take the camera, ya probably).

For some reason I couldn't post the pictures last night, so here they are. I styled it myself this morning and I made it a little more "flippy" in the back. I don't think that I gave Brian enough credit last night he did tell me that he liked it. :) Kendall had a rough morning we were up so early that I have already showered, had breakfast, washed clothes, folded laundry, and have Kendall down for her first nap. Poor little thing had an upset belly this morning, evidently that is what happens when you hold your #2 for a week! The doctor says not to worry though he thinks it is normal, she isn't fussy until it comes out and then she wants that diaper OFF!

We're supposed to have up to 7" of snow today so we are going to stick around the house. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have my day's to do list that includes both housework and fun stuff. I have supplies to make Kendall a little "First Christmas" accordion album. I'm going to put the album together now and then just add the pictures from all the season's events. I also borrowed the first season of Lost since I have never seen it. People are talking about it a lot lately and I want to know what all this fuss is about.

Maybe peas are an acquired taste.

Look, a Cute Binky!

Here are a couple pics from Sunday morning. I pulled out one of the old binkies to see if Kendall would take it and amazingly she did (for a very short while). Actually, I think that it is too short because it keeps popping out of her mouth. She even sported a stylish ponytail for a little while!

I have a haircut appointment tomorrow and I'm one of those people that gets really excited over haircuts. The anticipation gets my blood flowing and when I get home I like people (Brian) to make a big deal out of it (hint, hint honey). My least favorite comment is, "I can't tell you got it cut." That comment is right up there with, "Don't you have another pair of shoes (or purse) just like that?"

Office Envy

I'm really wanting to organize my studio. I've been browsing the 2peas website looking at other peoples space and I have to keep chanting to myself, "Do not covet your neighbors studio space, do not covet your neighbors studio space." Note: in Boston after I would park my car and start the one mile trek through the three feet of snow to our apartment I would have to chant, "Do not covet your neighbor's driveway." But, back to studio spaces. Here is one that I really love...
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=696960
However, my husband doesn't want to paint the walls or put in a nail for a shelf so I think that this won't be a possibility. I've given him until Christmas (well really until we know for sure that we won't be moving) and then I am going to start painting.

I'm so exhausted, Kendall has had two bad sleeping nights so I have been a complete grump today. Tomorrow will be crazy busy with lots of errands to run but hopefully we'll have a good nights rest tonight to prepare for the mayhem, ha.

Love that hasn't Faded

Today is the anniversary of my dad's death. I stayed busy today so I didn't really think of it but tonight as I was nursing Kendall before putting her to bed thoughts of him kept going through my mind. I was thirteen when he died and I realized tonight that when I think of him it's almost like photographs in my mind and I can't remember many "videos". I sometimes wonder what he would think of me as an adult. How would he and Brian like one another, would he sing "Hound Dog in the Window" to Kendall, would he be proud of the adult that I have become? I think that when you are young your parents are just these adult figures in your life and you don't really know them. I hate that I didn't get to know him from an adult standpoint. I do know that he was very hardworking, strong, and he was proud. I remember that he loved steak, he loved big glasses of ice water, that his feet were really smelly (maybe Kendall takes after him a little), that he told the same joke every time we passed a round building and the one memory that always makes me smile is that anytime that "Faded Love" or "The Tennessee Waltz" was playing he would pull my mom out to dance.

So the next time you see a round building think of this...."Did you know someone died in that building? He ran himself to death trying to find a corner to pee in. ha, ha, ha" And he ALWAYS laughed at his own jokes.

Friday Fun

I had a great day today. The Bible Study gals (almost all of them)came over to make cards and we had a blast just creating and chatting. Here are a couple pictures from the day...
Afterwards I was really exhausted but we had a yummy dinner, I took a hot bath, and then I curled up on the couch with a nice mug of hot tea and watched one of my favorite movies with Brian, "You've Got Mail." I have two favorite lines from this movie and they both come from Joe Fox played by Tom Hanks. The first is in the very beginning of the movie when Joe and Kathleen are exchanging emails, Joe writes: "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." I think this appeals to me because of my love of school supplies but it just creates this vivid picture in my mind of long, yellow pencils that are tied together with a beautiful ribbon. The second line that I really really love is at the very end of the movie when Joe and Kathleen have become friends and she is about to go to the park to meet NY152 and he is telling her how he wishes they had met under different circumstances and says, "I would have asked for your phone number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling and asking, "How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie (pauses) for as long as we both shall live?" How sweet is that? It's just so honest, maybe I like it because saying that makes him vulnerable. I imagine him thinking about how hurt he could come out of this situation but he knows that if he doesn't say it he may always wonder, what if??

Big day of art fairing tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Zippy

Just one really quick post. Remember how I wished I had gotten the one sock wonder picture...well after nap time we were running out to do some errands and I caught this:



Also, I just received these pictures today, they are from last February at the cabin. Guess which one of us isn't pregnant :) Hard to tell, huh?

Have to go watch Survivor now.

Sense of Wonder

This is the first time in a very long time that I took a picture that I can not wait to scrapbook (however, it's going to have to wait until after this weekend).

I was nursing Kendall in her room and I happened to glance out the window and see all of this snow! We ran downstairs grabbed the camera (luckily Brian charged the battery last night) and plopped her on the front porch. This was her very first time seeing snow and I caught it on film! So excited. What you don't see is that one of her socks had fallen off in the crib so she has one bare foot...I wish I had taken a picture of that too. Now it's less than an hour later and all the snow has melted. What a special moment!