Pumpkin Patch

We all went to the Pumpkin Patch last week. We went on the coldest day so far. It was 57 degrees but it felt much colder! This little farm is only like 15 minutes from our house.

When we first pulled up Amelia was very excited. We had to take a hay ride out to the field. At first she didn't know what to think!

Last year we went and we didn't realize there were things to do but this year we spent $2 to buy some goat food. Amelia thought it was the best thing ever! I knew she would like it but considering we have zoo passes and feed the goats there I didn't think she would react so strongly!

Of course we had to take a photo op of the cutest pumpkin in the patch! Any time you shoot the phone at her she says CHEESE!

Then it was off to the field to find our pumpkins. Amelia helped us pick them out and really wanted to carry all of them. We picked out 2 pumpkins and of course Amelia had to carry the smaller one.

Look how proud she was carrying her pumpkin back!

We had a lot of fun for a quick trip. Although we had to pass by a bouncy house and Amelia really wanted to go up this huge slide. Too bad we didn't buy any tickets!

PS I use Google Plus and it made these motion graphic for me. Too funny

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Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? LIVE!

We took Amelia and Liam to see Sesame Street Live recently. I just happened to look to see if there were any shows nearby and there was one semi close so we decided to go.

We talked about it for a few days before we went. That morning we dressed Amelia in her I LOVE ELMO shirt (that barely fit) and grabbed her Elmo stuffed animal and off we went. Melmo is what she calls Elmo!(so cute!)

Amelia was very excited when we got there and kept saying Melmo! and Cookie! When the show started she sat in my lap in awe of what was going on. As it continued she got the wiggles and couldn't sit in her seat. It also didn't help that we were right next to the stairs and she wanted to climb them. We got her popcorn to entertain her but we did have to leave a little early because she was starting to throw a big fit because she wanted to run around. Liam was a little trooper and only got a little fussy when we had to keep switching off to make Amelia happy. I hoped we could stay the whole time and really did think Amelia would sit still better but she is my wiggly busy (almost) 2 year old.

The show was cute with lots of singing and dancing and all of the main characters. I was still confused how they got their mouths to move when they were in the costume. Especially Big Bird!

Sorry for my bad iphone pictures! Amelia is especially blurry!

She does love Sesame Street so much so that her 2nd Birthday Party is all Sesame Street. I am knee deep in planning for it. That means pinning a whole bunch of stuff and not actually doing anything yet. I have designed the invitations and a birthday banner and ordered the cake.


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A Day in the Life with 2

I have written a couple day in the life posts when Amelia was smaller here and here. They are mostly for me to look back on to see how my life was then and how different it is. Now I have 2 small children who are still very dependent on me for everything so my days are pretty busy usually!

3:00 AM Liam wakes up for his first feeding. Sometime he wakes up earlier for this. He eats and falls right back to sleep. It takes me a few minutes after him to fall back asleep.

7 am I hear both Amelia and Liam stirring. Joe goes and gets Amelia and brings her in bed with us. We watch Sesame Street while I feed Liam in bed.

7:45 We leave because I had left my car at church on Sunday so I drive Joe to work. On the way home I run (which is an oxymoron with two kids) into the grocery store to get some celery and chicken broth I needed for dinner. I go to the self check out lane which takes way longer because it wouldn't read my gift card!

0830 We get home and I bake some homemade cinnamon rolls I had in the fridge and I turn on Sofia the first to appease Amelia while we wait. I also feed Liam again because he is pretty fussy after the car ride. Amelia eats a whole big cinnamon roll.

0930 Liam is happily awake in his swing so Amelia and I do some "preschool" which really involves playing, reading, and doing crafts. I am using ABC Jesus Loves Me. It is a pretty simple things to teach that week, colors to focus on. She's not quite 2 but I thought it can't hurt to try. We sing songs, read, and I decided to let her finger paint for the first time. Amelia had lots of fun and made a mess!

10:15 Amelia has fingerpaint all over so I decide she should take a bath. She is playing happily for awhile when all of a sudden she is fussing and I noticed CODE BROWN!! I get her out quickly and clean the bathtub. Liam is catnapping still in his swing.

1045 We play with our shape sorter which means Amelia watches me sort the shapes (smart cookie).

1100 Liam is over the swing so I feed him then we all go upstairs to the playroom. Amelia has a little slide she plays with and Liam and I snuggle on the couch.

11:30 Amelia is getting more fussy so I take her downstairs and start lunch. I make her a grilled cheese and fruit but all she wants it the fruit. I put Liam in my moby wrap because he is very fussy and tired.

12:00 I put Amelia down for her nap. I come downstairs and put Liam in his sleep sack and rock him to sleep. He falls asleep and I just snuggle him for awhile and read blogs, facebook, etc.

1:00 I try to pick up the house, do a load of laundry, shower. About 2:30 I realize this is too good to be true! I really didn't know what to do with myself to have them both asleep. It really never happens this long!

3:30 Amelia finally wakes up! I am trying to transition Amelia to one nap a day so I thinks she was extra tired.  We spend 30 minutes in her room reading all of her books together. Around 4 we come back downstairs to check on a sleeping Liam.

4:30 I start making dinner. I am making Pioneer Woman Perfect Potato Soup. Joe gets home soon after and takes care of Liam who finally wakes up! I am quickly trying to get it together because I know Liam is hungry now! We trade off and I put Joe to watch the soup and I feed Liam.

5:30 After an unfortunate incident with a hot soup, blender, and my hands, I finally get a bowl of soup while Joe holds Liam. Amelia is starting to fall apart a little and wouldn't eat any dinner and was screaming to eat a whole bag of oranges. After a time out she does calm down.

7:00 We all hang out downstairs together and play. I change a dirty diaper of Amelia's and notice she has a bad diaper rash. :( I put her pjs on. Joe takes Liam upstairs and puts him in his pjs.

0830 We brush Amelia's teeth, give our kisses, read our night time devotion and prayer and I put Amelia to bed. I then take Liam upstairs and feed him. I swaddle him up and he falls asleep by 9:15. Joe comes upstairs and we watch TV and we fall asleep by 10:30.

So there you have it.  Exciting life huh?! I wouldn't trade these days with my babies home for anything and because I am going back to work next week.

 

 2  points if you read this whole post!

 

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Our Labor Day Weekend

This weekend my parents came up Friday night and left Saturday morning for Washington DC. We already had tickets for the Cubs game in DC for Monday so we planned a little weekend away.


We left Sunday after church and we stayed with the Partons. Then we met up with my parents and showed them a few things in the city.

Monday we took Amelia to her first cubs game!! I had the cutest shirt made with the cubs logo on the front and her name on the back. Amelia had a good time, especially smiling at the boys behind us. But the Cubs winning streak at the games I attended ended! They lost 2-1. boo

 

After we met back up with my parents and chauffeured them around to make sure they could see everything they could. We had a fun weekend!

Ps I posted this on my iPhone. Weird huh?

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A Day in the Life (with a 7 Month Old)

I did this post before about a day in the life with a 2 month old. Why not do it again?

Amelia woke up at 11:00 pm and finally starting this day finally getting her settled back in her crib around midnight.

She wakes up at 4:30. I take her back to our room and nurse her and get her back to crib. Around 8:45 I hear her on the monitor and she is up for the day. We snuggle in the bed, play, nurse, and change her diaper. She gets a little restless so we come downstairs and jump in the jumperoo and with our $10 garage sale block. She starts getting fussy so I set her in her crib for her first nap at 10:45

Around noon, I went upstairs to snap a picture of my sweet angel and she woke up! Oops! We come downstairs and play a little more and we nurse on the couch.

Joe brings home some lunch and then feeds her a Mango Smoothie (looks like pureed mangos!) She loved them.

We did a quick 7 month photo shoot in the living room. And then we were off. We taking Amelia swimming for the first time. We have a pool in our neighborhood but very crowded. A couple from church offered us their pool so we accepted! First we had to run to Target to quick swim diapers and a baby pool float.

The pool was freezing at first! But Amelia seemed to really have fun. She was kicking her legs and slapping the water. She did really well in her pool float too. Even Sophie the giraffe made it into the pool.

I even nursed her under a towel on a pool chair around 3 because she started getting fussy but I think she was really tired. We decided that it was time to get after an hour but she did really well, except under water. We'll get better at that!

She fell asleep in her carseat on the way home so I took her straight from her carseat and put her in her crib. She fussed for a minute and went right to sleep. She slept until 5. I think she needed to sleep longer but there was no longer in her room.

I decided since she was still fussy that we should take a walk in the neighborhood. Amelia Cooper and I took a nice walk (in the humidity) to the neighboorhood park. There was even a baby swing and Amelia had fun (even if she's not smiling). We had to leave early because some neighborhood kids were being a little obnoxious.

Joe decided that he wanted Cracker Barrel and afterwards even though it was closer to bedtime but at 6:30 off we went. She ate her Vegetable and Beef baby food and ate these banana rice husks. Daddy gave her a bath and I nursed her one more time and she was in bed by 8:15. Whew! We had a fun busy day.


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A Day in the Life

What happens on a Monday when Joe, Amelia, and I spend the day at home? Let's find out.

Amelia wakes up at 4:00 for the first time to eat. She goes back to sleep pretty quickly after I nurse her and change her diaper.

She wakes up again around 7 and we nurse in bed. She seems pretty awake so I lay her in bed with us. She falls asleep again around 8ish and wakes up at 10 when Cooper wakes her. We are up for the day.

I nurse her, change her clothes, and get her ready for the day. I let her play with Daddy for a little bit and I start picking up our bedroom. We decided that today was the day to get the garage in order. Confession time: our garage has been chaos since we moved in in June. He makes several trips to the dumpster, and we finally get the garage to where we both can park! Impressive, right?

I decided that today I was going to try to do all the laundry. Amelia helps me fold clothes in the guest room. Then she starts getting fussy so I nursed her a little and got her to nap. She napped in our bedroom from 11:30-1.

She wakes up and we nurse, change diaper, etc. Then we read some books. I started reading her Story Bible and we got through the Old Testament stories. If only I could read the Bible that fast. We did some tummy time which is like 5 minute max before she's over it. Joe got her asleep again around 2:15 but she only slept until 3. During her nap I get dinner (Three Cheese Penne Pasta Bake) ready for tomorrow so Joe can pop it in the oven tomorrow before I get home from work.

She is pretty fussy in the afternoon so Joe and I trade her off while then start getting dinner ready for tonight. I made Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, Twice Baked Red Potatoes (I got the recipe pinned on Pinterest), and Green Beans.  I nurse while Joe eats and then we trade. We decide to do her bath early tonight.

She gets her bath at 6:15 and is pretty fussy during. I calm her down and Joe runs to the store to get gas drops since Annie decided to eat all of her gas drops this weekend. There are some interesting colors in her stool outside. She falls asleep when I am rocking her upstairs.

I nurse again at 7:45 and get her in her sleep sack. Joe takes over while I shower. She layed in rock and sleep for a little bit and finally fell asleep a little before 9. As I am typing this, she is snoring next to me. So cute!

My observations from the day: we nursed like every 2 hours which she normally doesn't do. Joe has been sick so hopefully my immunities will help. She has been more fussy the past couple of days and hopefully now that we have mylicon again, she will be happier. And I have my fifth load of laundry in the washing machine right now. I didn't even finish our towels or our sheets. Luckily most of it was Joe's and he folds and puts his own laundry away.

So there you have it, a day in our life. We managed to get the garage parkable, laundry done, bedroom picked up, two meals cooked and snuggles and playing with our baby girl.




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2011 in Review

I like to go through and highlight my year in a blog post. This should be fun considering I barely blogged in 2011!

A big highlight through the Spring was the many youth events. We started a Small Group on Sunday nights, went Skiing with the youth, went to a Dare 2 Share Conference, had an Amazing Disciple Now and a fun packed Easter.

 

 

   
 I found out I was pregnant the beginning of March and had my first doctor's appointment April 6! That was one of the best days seeing that little baby and hearing her heart.

In April, the house we were renting that was for sale ended up selling so we moved in with friends in the basement with our animals and my pregnant self. It actually ended up being a great solution for us because we only needed short term housing. We are so grateful for great friends!

At the beginning of May we sold our lovely Indiana house. It was a great first house for us and really fun to make our own.

In May Joe and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary early and spent some time in Washington DC. We visited Georgetown Cupcakes where the film DC cupcakes, all the monuments,

In May we also took our Seniors to New York City. I had only been in New York City more in passing so we had a blast sight seeing. We saw a Mets Baseball game, saw Mary Poppins on Broadway and of course the Statue of Liberty!

In June we bought our house in Virginia! We went out looking one time and found this great deal on a foreclosure and knew it was for us. Hopefully I will be posting more pictures of what we have done with it so far.

I also started showing in June and had fun taking pictures of the progress. (17 and 19 weeks)

We found out we were having a girl on June 22! I had a feeling all along that she was girl.

Then in June, Joe went on a mission trip to India with our church. He was an awesome time and saw many people come to the Lord and churches started. I love the Kurta he brought back for me! I am about 21 weeks here.

 In July I started to get bigger ( here is 24 weeks)

 

In August, Joe's family came to visit us in our new home. I was very thankful that we had room to accommodate 7 more people in our house. We did all kinds of fun things like baseball games, riding horses, visiting Virginia beach.

At the end of the month, we survived our first Hurricane, Hurricane Irene. We were without power for 6 days, count em! Except after the first day I demanded a generator so after fighting crowds, waiting for hours, we came home with a generator, praise the Lord! We were lucky in that we had no damage to our house.

In September, we traveled back to Indiana to have a baby shower at our home church. Let's just say that traveling 7 months pregnant is not the funnest thing I have done! But we came back with a huge car load of blessings for Amelia

We also started getting Amelia's Nursery ready in September complete with painting and new carpet. The downstairs got whole new laminate hardwood flooring after we ripped up all of the carpet. Whew!

In October my parents came over for my baby shower at church. We put them to work getting ready for the baby. We got all the furniture put together, the baby clothes washed and organized, and the nursery started looking like a nursery!

  Also the Birthplace through a sweet baby shower for me and this was the cute cake!

The beginning of November was spent in anxious anticipation for our Baby Girl. I felt huge! Thanksfully I had a week off of work before she actually came. It was nice trying to relax some before. Here is me at 39 weeks.

 Of course the highlight of the year was the birth of Amelia Grace. You can read all about that here!

Both sets of Grandparents spent the week here visiting and loving on Amelia Grace

We also had our first major holiday just with the three of us on Thanksgiving complete with a Cracker Barrel meal.




Our lives became baby baby baby! We love it!

In December, Joe remodeled the youth room to become the Student Center. It involved knocking down several walls to create one huge room!

And Finally we traveled home for Christmas.

There we go the officially longest post ever but this is what happens when you don't blog :)

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