She was SO itty-bitty!

This week I have spent some time packing up all the clothes that Belle can no longer wear. It has been bittersweet. I cannot believe how fast she is growing. Belle is still very tiny, but packing up the preemie and newborn clothes I was reminded of how tiny she was when she first came home from the hospital. I decided to do a some comparison pictures. It is not too much to compare since she is only wearing 0-3 month clothes right now (even though I see 3-6 month clothes in our near future).

This is Belle's preemie sleeper and her sleeper she wears now. I also included the diapers she was wearing when she was first born with the one she wears now.

Look at the itty-bitty onesie and pants. Hard to believe that all of these clothes were actually big on her at the time.
The gown on the right that she wears now is still on the big side.
It will be very interesting to take these pictures at one year and see how far she has come!

Photo Shoot and a Video Too!!

Belle was in a really fun mood the past few days, and I got out the camera and started snapping away. There were so many to choose from but these are some of my favorites.

Mark and I were playing with her on our bed after her nap Sunday. She was being so silly. I love how she keeps looking back at the camera as if to say "are you getting this all mommy?"

Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition

I would like to give a GIANT thank you to Jennisa. She did such an incredible job and I love the way everything looks. I recommend you all to go sign up for her waiting list. She just reopened it and upped her prices slightly. Believe me she is completely worth it. I joined the waiting list the day I started my blog and I am so happy with the results. Her talent is worth the wait.

So go sign up! www.onceuponablog.org

Cute Video of Belle Playing

This is a cute video of Belle playing the other night. My favorite part is when Mark asks Belle if she can roll over and then repeats it again slower. Maybe that will help her to understand us better :). Seriously though, it is so fun watching her change and grow.

Father's Day, 5 Month Birthday, and More

WARNING - Long post ahead!

Happy Father's Day to Mark, Happy Grandfather's Day to Pops and Gramps, and Happy Great-Grandfather's Day to Papa-Razzi.

We had such a wonderful day. Belle worked hard all night in her sleep to make a card for her daddy. She had it waiting in her crib when Mark went in to get her this morning. She is very advanced in her coloring and cutting skills. She even decided to sleep in this morning to give us an extra hour of sleep. Sweet baby! After church, I treated Mark to a lunch at Swallow at the Hollow - AMAZING BARBECUE. We headed home after and had dessert (a Reese's Cake from Cold Stone) and opened presents. Belle and I gave Mark the picture below framed with Belle's footprints in pink on the matte. I also gave Mark some cuff links to have Belle's initials and date of birth engraved in - I wanted to make sure he liked the style first.

Mark, you are the love of my life and have been such an amazing husband to me. Watching you become the father of our daughter has made my heart just swell with love. You are such an incredible father to Belle, and make our family such a priority in your life. I love to see the way that Belle responds when you come in the door from work, and how no matter what she is doing she turns her head the second she hears your voice. She is already such a daddy's girl. Thank you for all the sacrifices you make to put us first in your life. You lead our family to love the Lord and glorify Him in all that we do.

Belle and Daddy on the beach in Saint Simons

This weekend, my sister-in-law had her baby shower in Texas. She is expecting twins that are due in September with a scheduled C-Section in mid-August. I was unable to go to the shower since Belle and I are travelling to Dallas when the babies arrive. Allison had seen this adorable twins quote and wanted to know if I could make a shadow box frame for her. I tackled this project head-on and loved how it turned out. I can't wait to see it hanging in the nursery!

Belle turned the big 5 months today. It is so hard to believe that she is 5 months old. She is changing so much right now. Her personality is really starting to blossom. She is an incredibly happy baby but has quite a temper on her. My favorite temper story was this afternoon I was changing her clothes and she just let out a blood curling squeal. I looked at her and tried to figure out what was wrong. Since I wasn't messing with her clothes she stopped squealing and not a tear in sight. Every time I went to take off her clothes she just squealed and squealed. What a stinker! Every morning when we go to get her out of her crib, she just smiles and smiles. We love to lay in bed and listen to her playing.

We have definitely started the teething process. I haven't seen any pearly whites yet, but we could have buckets of drool. She also gnaws and gnaws on her hands -- I am surprised she still has fingers left. The toes have even found their way into her mouth as well. She is really grasping and pulling things towards her. Belle wishes so badly she could crawl. She has the motions down, but just can't coordinate it all. She can sit up for a few seconds without support, but her little bottom doesn't provide her much to sit on. She just kind of rolls side to side. The giggles and laughs are precious and I could listen to it all day long. There is lots of "talking". She "talks" so much after 5:00. I think it is because Mark is home and she needs to tell him all about her day. I have started Belle on crib naps. It has been really hard at times but right now our persistence is paying off some. I can definitely notice a better nap pattern and happier baby when her naps are over. I know their will still be ups and downs as she adjusts. I cannot wait to see what her half-year birthday holds for her.

Five candles for the birthday girl! We forgot that we had to take her cake picture so we used the leftover Father's Day cake -- shh don't tell her. I also promise the candles are not as close as they look.

Look how big I am getting!
Mmm, I heard one of these piggies was eating roast beef. Can I get some too?

Working so hard to get those toes in the mouth!

Check back later this week. I have some big surprises coming up for the blog. I have a cute video to post of the peanut this week. I will also follow through with telling you all about my new workout -- p.s. I lost 4 pounds this week. For those of you who made it this far -- Thank You, you are a true blog reader/stalker!

One Year Ago

This post is a little late.

One year ago on June 5, Mark and I found out we were pregnant. After 7 months filled with disappointment, we were finally expecting. I took the pregnancy test because I just wanted to show myself that I was not pregnant that month and move on. Much to my surprise, when I went back to see my negative result, there was a very faint and I mean VERY faint second line. I still didn't believe it. I called Mark and said "I think there is a chance we might be pregnant, but I am not for sure". That night at work I asked one of the doctors on call for my practice, and she said to give it two days and retake it. Like any of you who know me think I was actually able to wait two days. That very next morning we got up and took another test.

This past year has been an incredible experience. The Lord's timing was so perfect in everything. We are so immensely blessed to be parents to this little girl. Our daily prayer is that we can raise her to love the Lord and further His kingdom.

Stay tuned... tomorrow I will post about the awesome workout I am doing!

Rules are as follows:
Link to the person who tagged you
Post the rules on your blog
Write six random things about yourself
Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog
Let your tagger know when your entry is up.


1. I never set out to be a labor and delivery nurse. I went into nursing school with a passion for neonatology. In fact I contemplated going to med school to become a neonatologist, but after seeing that it required years and years of residency I decided it wasn't worth it. When it came time to pick our practicum for nursing school (like student teaching) they didn't allow you to do your practicum in the NICU. I had a bad experience in pediatrics clinical, and so I thought L&D would be the next best thing to the NICU. I absolutely fell in love with L&D for many reasons. I had a practicum instructor who was relatively young and had such a passion for L&D. In fact she just finished going back to school to become a midwife. I also fell in love with it for Northside. We are also such an incredibly busy and challenging L&D unit (18,000+ babies per year). Now that I have been doing this for 2.5 years I don't see how I could ever find another area I loved so much.



2. When I graduated from college, Mark and I were completely set to move to Washington, DC. We had scouted out apartments, jobs, churches, etc. When it came down time to decide, we felt like we were trying to put together pieces of a mismatched puzzle. It just didn't make sense to us spiritually and financially. I won't say that we don't have days we wonder "what if" but overall we are happy to be living in Atlanta. Maybe one day down the road we will relocate, but for now this works.



3. The first time that Mark asked me on a date I thought it was a joke. I had just graduated high school and Mark had been in college for two years. In my eyes at the time, he was way out of my league. Our parents were friends and so when he asked me to lunch I thought his parents had put him up to it. I never responded and after 6 months of emails, text messages, long instant message conversations, and phone calls I finally realized it was no joke.



4. Whenever I laugh too hard my thumbs go numb. I would love to know why this happens, but I just can't see myself going to the doctor and asking them "do you know why my thumbs go numb when I laugh too hard?". I am sure I would gets some great laughs or hey, even be written up in those lovely medical journals. I think my favorite numb-thumb story is when Mark, Justin, Allison, and I were playing pool and we all were laughing about something while I was trying to take my shot. The pool cue just rolled right out of my hands and onto the floor. This made us laugh even harder. It has become quite a family joke. Whenever we are in hysterics everyone holds there thumbs and asks me how my thumbs are doing.

5. I hate seafood and I have absolutely no clue why. I can't even remember when it started. I am not one of those people who has a legitimate allergy, I just don't like it. I have been paid $50 in the past to try it. I have tried it and it doesn't even taste bad to me. I think when it comes down to it that I have some sort of complex about large bodies of water. I don't really like to even get in the ocean. I don't like the thought of those fishies swimming next to me, so I guess eating them doesn't sound much better.

6. My lifelong dream is to own my own bakery. I love baking and would do it all day long if I had the time and the extra 50 lbs. to gain. I already have a color scheme and different name ideas for the bakery. I think this might be a family gene or something since my mom's cousin owns a fabulous bakery/restaurant in Nashville called the Puffy Muffin. Maybe someday I can have the money and time to accomplish this, but for now I will just dream!

I tag: Allison, Ashley, Graham, Keri, Missy, and Sarah - yep in alphabetical order too!

St. Simon's....Take Two

This trip can be summed up in three words as compared to our first trip...SO...MUCH...BETTER! Belle did so great on the ride down, and we only had to stop to feed her. We got down there and unloaded the car and took Belle for her first walk on the beach. Last time we went it was pretty windy and she SCREAMED every time we tried to go out to the beach. Here she is all loaded up in the Baby Bjorn and ready to go. She loved it this time and couldn't take her eyes off the ocean. There was just so much for her to take in!


It is always hard to be in a new place because the routine gets just a tad bit off. We had Belle's room at the house stocked up with everything that is a part of our routine. As you can see in the picture below Belle just absolutely loves bedtime. Seriously though, are those pajamas not the cutest thing you have ever seen? She actually did really well at night and only woke up once the first night and then slept 11-12 hours the next two nights respectively.Belle has a really hard time taking naps even at home. We know naps are a challenge on vacation. The tried and true way to get at least one nap out of Belle is to go for a drive. She actually took one nap in her crib but woke up early and was cranky. We took her for a drive that afternoon to get a good afternoon nap. We showed her all of our favorite parts of the island. When we got back we took Belle for her first swim. Unfortunately since Belle is still in size one diapers I cannot find a swim diaper that fits (moms if you know one let me know please). We just threw the swimsuit over her diaper and went for a quick swim. She was very curious about the whole thing. Here is Belle all ready to get in the water. I mean SO cute. I loved that my child pursed her little lips for this picture.
Getting ready to hop in with daddy. Lucky for her, the first swim was in a heated pool that we set to the same temperature as her bath. This picture reminds me how petite she still is. Loving the water with her daddy. She just kicked those legs and stared at the turtle fountain as if it were magic.
Day three, we woke up and went to church in the morning. St. Simon's Island Church of Christ is a sweet little congregation. They loved getting to see Belle. She did not have her best church experience and we ended up hanging out in the hall most of the time (they meet in an elementary school). At least there were some bright pictures for her to look at. We came home and went for another swim. That evening we went for another walk on the beach. I think the below pics are actually from the beach walk on Day two -- oops.

A little of the local wildlife in our neighbor's yard. If you look close you will see the bunny.

Just hanging with my daddy.

Checking out the ocean -- SO curious about EVERYTHING!

Sleepy girl heading home.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am going to ask for your encouragement this week as I try to get motivated and committed to losing weight. I am joining Weight Watchers this week because it is the only program that will factor calories for breastfeeding mothers. I really want to do this so I can create a healthy lifestyle that Belle can see when she gets older. I want to do it more to get healthy and losing weight will be the bonus. I will probably keep you all up to date to hold myself accountable.