sewing projects

I have decided.

I will sew myself a dress.

Before this year is up.

I have so many sewing projects I need to finish by Christmas. This is just adding another big project to the list. Sometimes I am ridiculous. I work best under pressure. I gave myself a deadline to make babygirl's birthday outfit. Wouldn't you know, the night before my deadline.. I had an adorable outfit completed.

Once again... sometimes I am ridiculous.



FB flashback

No photos today.. but a written flashback will do! =)

I love that Facebook shows you the status that you posted a year ago on that date. This made me smile..

Ashlee Carter

is loving the weather today.. this is appropriate temperatures to be fat for just a few more weeks =)

• • 
    

    Joe Hartman especially when u have a 9lb kid inside you.. :)
  • Ashlee Carter ‎9 lbs? good God man! i'm not THAT fat! and neither is she!! idk why you think i'm gonna have a beast of a child??
  • Joe Hartman Lol Okay 8lbs :)
  • Ashlee Carter my guess is 7 because Riley and I were both 7 lbs, but I'd be happy with 8 too. If she is any bigger he isn't gonna let me have her naturally so I don't want her bigger than 8 mister!
  • 
    

    Joe Hartman Well I cant change how big she is.. lol 
  •  Tarrah Holland Ur mean kassidy was 9ibs 4oz and I only Gained 25lbs and she wasn't a beast of a child she was perfect but I did have a c-section
  • Riley Carter yeah 9 lbs is a big baby. were shooting for 7. I dunno what would happen if we had a 9 lb baby. I might have to start breast feeding to give the fatty all the milk she wants...

I seriously was so angry that people kept telling me I was going to have a big baby. Now that I think back on it, I'm not sure why! I can only maybe guess that I was offended that people were joking about my baby. Making fun? I honestly can't answer why. I just know I would end up so upset and angry whenever people joked about me having a big ol' baby!

planning, planning

I seriously cannot FATHOM that my babygirl is going to be

1 YEAR OLD!!

in just one month. =(

This is seriously so depressing! I miss my little munchkin! She is growing up WAY too fast. Hubby and I have started buying items for the party with every paycheck, this way it isn't so stressful at the last minute. We have purchased a few small presents for her as well. It is so fun to walk up and down the toy aisle and see what catches her attention and what she likes. Then obviously, she plays with it in the package until we buy it and get in the car. Then is disappears... forever haha, just until her birthday. I'm sure in another year or two I will be going the long way in the store just to avoid the toy aisles.

school buses

All these moms are so excited that it is finally the beginning of the school year.

I hate it.

I haven't been to work on time once this week! Stupid school buses. ;)

I'm sure once I have school-age children I will be counting down the days until school starts again.

about me A-Z

A quick about me
From A - Z!

A. age :: 22

B. bed size ::queen

C. chore you hate :: dishes! yuck!

D. dogs :: yorkie, and yorkie/jack russell mix 
E. essential start to your day :: caffeine

F. favorite color :: pink

G. gold or silver :: silver

H. height :: 5'4

I. instruments you play :: none at all. i like to sing though!

J. job title :: Certified Medical Assistant

K. kids :: babygirl

L. live :: midwest

M. maiden name ::sorry, that's private

N. nicknames :: I don't really have any nicknames...

O. overnight hospital stays :: surgery when I was 3, and then not again until having babygirl

P. pet peeve :: repetitive noises

Q. quote ::

Don't let anyone tell you who to be.

R. righty or lefty :: right

S. siblings :: 2 older sisters. 1 younger brother

T. time you wake up :: 7 on workdays. whenever babygirl is up on weekends

U. university attended :: Harrison

V. vegetables you dislike: all of them? 

W. what makes you run late :: hubby

X. x-rays you’ve had :: foot, ankle, chest, teeth

Y. yummy food :: pizza

Z. zoo animal favorite :: red panda

preparations..

I've been busy..

Preparing for babygirl's big birthday bash! Just 5 more weeks!!

Now the only thing left to decide is whether to have her party the Saturday

before her big day or the Saturday after...

Flashback Friday

One year ago on August 14, I had my baby shower. I was 33 weeks pregnant.



We were so very blessed at our shower.
There were over 50 people who attended!

Zoo Day

   Two Thursdays ago we took babygirl to the zoo for the first time. Let me tell ya, we only went because we had a gift certificate. The three of us got in for just $6.00. If we didn't have a gift card it would've been $26 to get in! Kids under 1 year are free. I think the zoo has majorly ridiculous pricing. Hopefully the zoo doesn't become one of babygirl's favorite things.
   Here are some shots of our day.

 It was awesome how close this pelican was to the fence.

However, it wasn't awesome that babygirl wouldn't look at the camera!

 Storks.

When it comes time to have 'The Talk' with babygirl, we are going to show her this picture

and tell her that all the babies come from the stork at our local zoo. ;)

My two babies

exhausted after walking the zoo

Fall

   Fall is my favorite. I like summer, I really do. I love going swimming and playing in the sun. I love walking barefoot in the grass. But.. Fall is my favorite.
   I love waking up and having to throw a sweater on in the mornings. By lunchtime it is warm so I am back in short sleeves. Once the sun goes down, sweatshirts are needed again. Fall = bonfires.
   Bonfires are seriously my favorite! I love the conversations that happen around a fire in someone's backyard. Fall is the perfect time for cookouts. You can have dinner on the grill in the sunshine and then when the sun goes down, sit around the fire and eat some smores.
   I love having a fall baby. Being preggers in the summer wasn't really all that bad. I would love to have another fall baby. Although, I think babygirl will be one of the older kids in the class because of when her birthday falls. That stinks... I just thought about that.

Family night

   Hubby and I had our first date night(in). After my Technology post, we decided to make Friday nights into our family night. Last Friday was our first one. It was fun! When the clock hit 8pm, we put away the computers and cellphones, turned off the tv. We played together in the playroom with babygirl until 9 when she was ready for bed. Then, he and I played some games for about an hour and then snuggled in bed to watch a movie together.
   It was so nice! We had a lot of fun just focusing on each other and not having any distractions. I am looking forward to making this a routine in our family. I'm sure once our kids are older, they will probably hate us for it ;)

Day 15-My Shoes

These are my

FAVORITE

shoes!

Baby girl and I getting ready for church on Sunday.

blogger break!

I am having writer's block! 

So I am having a small break. 

At least a week.

Sorry Joe ;)

With great expectations..

How frustrating.

Hubby and I have so many dreams, expectations, hopes and plans for the future. There's so much we want to do for ourselves, for our family. We lay in bed at night talking about things. We dream together. We hope together.

Now it has come down to a waiting game. Just a few more days. We'll have an answer. A simple yes or no. It is so frustrating that so many hopes and plans can be crushed with a two-letter word. No. So many late night dreams and visions can be smashed...with just a no.

And so the wait continues... just a few more days. Then we will know.

Yes or no.

Something new

August 7 - Photo Challenge

Day 7 : something new

My love for these AMAZING crackers! I first tried them on vacation a few weeks ago. 

Now I can't stop thinking about them.

You would think I was pregnant...

Childhood memory

I normally don't post on the weekends but I wanted to post my pictures for the Photo Challenge

August 6 :

Childhood memory

 This teddy bear was given to me by my mom when she was going on a trip somewhere. She and my dad used to go on trips every year through my dad's work. My siblings and I HATED it! We hated being away from our parents. 

I know I was pretty young when my mom gave me this bear and she told me that I could hug it whenever I missed her. The bear would keep me company until she came home. 

I kept a few stuffed animals that were special to me so that I could give them to my kids in the future. I love going into babygirl's room and seeing her play with toys that brought me so much joy.

Flashback Friday

Another Flashback Friday. These are quickly becoming my favorite posts.

This was October 2008. I had just found out I was pregnant a few days before. We went on a spontaneous road trip to a big city about 2 hours away from where we live.

We love driving 40 minutes just to go to

Waffle House. YUM! My favorite

Yes I do live in the same state as Gary Shirley from TeenMom.

And heck yes I wanted a picture with him!!

There were a few different cameras going.

Overall, it was a really fun day and who doesn't love an excuse to go to WaffleHouse? 

Hubby, if you are reading this.. (cough--hint--cough)

Coffee

I became a mom and started drinking coffee..


No, really. I did. I used to hate coffee! I thought it was the nastiest thing out there! I even worked in a coffee shop and never once had anything. Sure, I would try small sips from time to time. I never could get used to the taste no matter how much flavor or creamer there was in it.

Then I had a baby.

I'm not quite sure what happened or what changed. It probably would've made more sense if I randomly started asking for coffee while pregnant. You know how that is. Pregnant women have weird cravings sometimes. But I just woke up one morning and asked for coffee. It was winter so I started with hot coffee. A caramel latte or mocha here and there. When I went back to work once babygirl was 7 weeks, I started stopping by the gas station almost every morning and grabbing a cup of coffee. When the months starting getting turning warmer I had a few frozen coffees.

My love is iced coffee.
An iced caramel mocha latte.
Get me one of those and you'll be my favorite person ever.

I find myself scraping for change or hoarding the single dollar bills to be able to get my morning coffee fix. I have seen a few recipes for iced coffee going around on blogs lately. I told hubby about this. He said, "Well can't you just pour some coffee over ice and add some milk?" HA! If it were only that easy.

Babygirl's toofers

Teething bites.

haha. I like that little play on words.. See what I did there? Did ya? 

Ok, good. 

   Back to the whole teething thing. When babygirl was a tiny babygirl and got her first teeth at just 5 1/2 months, I really didn't even notice! My brother pointed them out one day and I hadn't even known she was cutting teeth! That was....awesome. Ha. Most parents groan and dread teething. I had no knowledge that my baby was even getting teeth.
   Last week was another story. Oh-Em-Gee. I wanted to rip my hair out. Babygirl was AWFUL! She had four teeth total and now #5 and 6 are coming through. She is a wreck. I'm not sure why these ones are bothering her when the first 4 didn't. It's not her molars or anything.
   This girl didn't let me sleep for four days in a row! I was so frustrated, so tired! Every morning when I was awake for the day, I would feel like the worst mom ever for getting so upset that she wasn't sleeping through the night all week! It really is true that you run on adrenaline when you have a newborn. I seriously wasn't this tired when she was new to the world! In the three days that we were in the hospital for her birth I slept a total of 6 hours. Yet, I've felt more tired this week than back then. So odd.
   I'm not sure if it's just the dramatics or what. My child is SO beyond dramatic, it's not even funny. She loves to show out at home. I'm not sure if she does this just for me or if she does it also for her grandparents and daddy.

 

All I know is that we have 6/32 teeth. 

That is so depressing. 

 But they're so darn cute




Photo Challenge
August 3 : photo of clouds

Reading our bedtime story

Technology

Technology is an incredible gift. We have come so far and advanced so much due to technology. 

Yet it is also a problem. 

   On our vacation a few weeks ago, we were sitting in a Cracker Barrel having breakfast. My dad randomly started laughing. I looked up from my iPhone with a 'what the heck?' look on my face. We were all so disconnected. My dad, mom, brother and myself sat at the table waiting on our food to arrive. None of us said a word to the other. We all had our phones out and we were in our own little worlds.
   Next time you are in a restaurant, look around. Look at how many tables are silent while the diners are preoccupied with their cell phones. It is rare anymore to have a normal conversation without a cell phone somehow being involved.
 

I decided with dear hubby that every Friday night that we were home together, we are technology-free. After dinner and babygirl is put to bed, there are going to be no cell phones, no computers.

Just us. 

Together. 

Spending time with one another. Knowing us, it will probably be spent on the couch or in bed watching a movie. As long as we are together and spending time enjoying each others company, giving our full attention to one another. Just shutting down and being together is a much needed thing. Especially after children come into the picture, as we have recently learned.

I challenge you to:

Don't forget to shut down and spend time with your loved ones every once in a while. It doesn't hurt to unplug and disconnect from technology. Remember who is most important to you and that it takes face to face time to truly connect to one another. 

My parents are better than yours..

   Seriously? Is it August already? Where has this year gone?! Wasn't it nice being a kid? Summer was always awesome! School was out and the world was yours. Sleep in late, stay up late. Carefree.
   I couldn't wait to grow up. I always said I couldn't wait until I just had to go to work everyday and not worry about school. Things would be so much better, so much easier. HA!
   Some days I wish I could reverse 7 years or so. Life really was easier. It was easy to rely on your parents for everything. I was so blessed as a kid. Some would call it spoiled, I call it blessed.
   My parents always wanted better for us. They expected us to be better than them. They held us to a higher standard. We were all required to graduate high school. That is something my dad never did. It was never an option for us to not graduate. Life is hard for kids who give up and drop out. Nowadays some jobs are even too hard to get with just a GED. A lot of places are requiring an Associates degree from college just to be hired.
   I am so proud of my dad. He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and had some rough teenage years after losing his father. He eventually went on to get his GED at age 30 while he had a wife and 4 children. Today, I view my dad as a very successful business man. He turned his life around and wanted better for himself, better for his family. I can't remember a time where we struggled or had to do without. Ever. We were taught that family is most important and always put first. Friends may come and go but family is forever.
   I am so thankful for parents that love and support us. Even today, when we are all grown and married with our own children. I know I can always rely on them.

Thank you for pushing me.

Thank you for asking only the best from me.

Thank you for always loving me.