18 Months

What a crazy few months it has been! October and May seem to be the busiest around here.

Before I get into all the things that we’ve done the last 3 months, here’s an update on our little sweet pea:

• She’s about 8ft tall, and weighs a ton. 🙂 Okay, seriously, she’s about 24-25lbs. And maybe in the realm of 33in tall.
• She eats very well and sleeps like a dream.. Even through house construction.
• She looooooves reading and has a great deal of empathy for those with fallen/melted ice cream (Should I Share My Ice Cream, by Mo Willems… gets her every time). BabyLit books, especially Pride and Prejudice, are her favorite and we read it at least 2-3 times a day.
• She has a great vocabulary even though we’re still learning to speak toddlerese.
• She loves water and wants to play in EVERY puddle she sees.
• We tried potty training for one whole day (this past Saturday). There were a few factors that stopped me from continuing, but it boils down to me not being ready… not Colette. I think if we stuck with it she would really get into it, but it’ll have to be a time when I have a little more patience and Cory isn’t working all weekend. It was a true mommy fail. Sure, she had a lot of accidents, but she did go in the potty once too which made the accidents worth it. We made it through the whole day but around 6pm I snapped at her when she had an accident. And that’s when I knew I wasn’t ready. I still feel terrible about it.
• On another note. Colette is completely weaned. She had her last nursing session a little over a month ago.
• She loves to go to the park and play in the sand. Every time we go I get excited about going to the beach. It’ll be a huge change from last year when she wasn’t walking yet. I know she’s going to love it just as much as her daddy and me.
• Actually she really likes to go just about anywhere. “Bye bye!”

March and April
In March, Colette spend her first night away from both Cory and me. She stayed with her Grama while Cory and I had a date night (Dinner and Cinderella!). It was definitely bittersweet knowing when we left the theater we wouldn’t see her until the following morning. We had a good time though and it was nice to sleep in (of course now that we’re trained to get up so early, we didn’t actually sleep that late).

My mom and my sister and her crew came in for a weekend as well. My sister gave me some much needed help around the yard while mom spent some quality time with the little sweetling. There was so much privet that needed to be pulled up. So. Much. Privet.

Things picked up in April. We spent Easter weekend in Knoxville. Cory’s birthday was Easter weekend as well so for his birthday dinner we went out to Louis (our favorite) to celebrate. Yum. We had a lovely Easter dinner at my moms Saturday night and Easter lunch at Cory’s mamaw’s on Sunday. Colette had her first official Easter egg hunt which was pretty exciting. (We’d been practicing at home for a week or so beforehand 🙂 )

Checking out her Easter Basket

Sweet

Sweet Daddy

Granny Poore

Playing with Nana’s jewlery

Egg Hunt!

More eggs!

The next weekend we had a portrait session for Colette with Dalton Lane Portrait Co. in Townsend. I’d love to share those with you but we haven’t seen them yet. Jessica does really great things and has a huge volume of work, so the turn around time is 8-12 weeks. We opted for the Boutique session vs the Storybook session because we wanted something simple and classic. Man, I can’t wait to see them. (Only 4 weeks to go!) Our session was at 11am and only took about 5 minutes (Crazy, right?) So we spent the rest of the day at an incredibly packed out Dollywood. Even with all the people, it was still a really nice day.

Off to the Races
April 18 was the day of the Chickamauga Chase 15k. This was what I was working towards when I hurt my knee at the end of January. Unfortunately I couldn’t get back to where I was before the injury, so I planned to do the 5k…. Then we realized we wouldn’t have a sitter.. So Colette and I did the Scenic Walk (~2miles) while Cory and our friend Jodie battled it out in the 15k. Cory didn’t train at all. The last time he really ran as the 15k 2 years prior. Yet, somehow, he managed to not die. He didn’t, however, beat Jodie. Jodie will reign victorious until next year when we will all battle again. But I’m very proud of Cory for finishing the race and not even at a terrible pace.

Since I couldn’t compete in the Chickamauga Chase, I signed up for a couple of races in May. My very first race (ever) was King of the Mountain 4-miler on Lookout Mountain. Elevation gain was 269ft and my pace was 11:41/mi. I couldn’t be happier with my results. Cory decided to run the race with me at the last minute so he definitely helped keep me going. My trial run at home a few days before the race was 5 miles and had a 387ft elevation gain. I finished that with a 12:41/mi pace. So I was very happy with 11:41 in the race.

King of the Mountain, My first race ever!

My second race in May was the Chattanooga Chase 8k. I was on my own for this one. Cory and Jodie ran it a few years ago and the only thing they could really talk about was the incredible hill. They weren’t kidding. It didn’t help that Cory and I had both been sick with congestion and coughing the entire previous week. My trial run at home was a grueling 5.1 miles, 423ft elevation gain, 13:31/mi pace. It was terrible. I felt terrible. I was definitely feeling better by the time the race rolled around and was able to finish with a 12:03/mi pace. Hooray!

I don’t have any other races planned at the moment, but I certainly plan to continue. I’m also going to add a new activity to my repertoire with my fancy new birthday present….!!

Yay, Birthday!

The Rest of May
The rest of May was pretty busy as well. My birthday, Mother’s Day, wedding anniversary…. whew. My dad and I also photographed a beautiful wedding. Oh and we went to Dollywood again. That’s a lot for one month when you factor in full time jobs.

Mom took this one after our Mother’s Day brunch. Sibling Love.

“First Look” from the wedding my Dad and I photographed.

Also from the wedding. You can see more here: Schultz Studios

Mmm fruit.

When you don’t have a kitchen you roast hot dogs on the fire pit.

Must. Cram. S’more. Into. Mouth.

AND to top it all off (And this is my favorite part…) Our kitchen remodel officially started on April 23. We have been without a kitchen for a very very long time and it’s been very rough (I mean, we have a toddler and I work from home.. so a not having a kitchen or a place to wash sippy cups is just so terrible), but we’re alllllmooooossstttt done. Our countertops are supposed to be installed later this week and then just a few little things here and there. I’m going to make a separate post on this because it certainly deserves it. I took pictures at the end of everyday and it’s just amazing to look through.

Here’s a peek at the old kitchen:

Ain’t she grand?

I’m so happy it’s gone!

OH OH OH! ANNNNND, How could I forget?! My best friend, Jill, is turning 30 this fall. Originally we planned on going to Vegas… but now we’ve officially booked…. A DISNEY WORLD VACATION! I’m so excited. I think Vegas is too adult for us anyway. I’ve already started putting together my Disney Binder with loads of information and schedules and reservations and just everything. I love Disney. I LOVE DISNEY! Jill and I went a few years ago and had a blast. It’s going to be even better this time.

We’re pretty big fans of tutus.

And here’s some more random phone pictures:

Scrambled Eggs

Elephants at Dollywood

Riding the bus to the Chickamauga Chase

Sassy Pants

Mother’s Day

Trying out Grama’s glasses

Sliiiiiiiide!

Loves the water.

Mommy/daughter day at the fresh market!

Our First Halloween

I know I said it would probably be Wednesday before I got to this post, but I had a little time and decided to go ahead and do it!

We had quite a lovely Halloween season.

The weekend before Halloween we took Colette to Old McDonald’s Farm in Sale Creek. I think we all enjoyed it. She got to pet lots of fun farm animals, go on a hay ride, pick out a pumpkin, and run around.

 

 

The next day I took her with me to scope out a local park for engagement photos for a friend and took the opportunity to snap a couple of her while I was at it.

 

And lastly, on Halloween we dressed Colette up in her Snow White attire and took her to her Grama’s church for their Trunk-or-Treat event. It was too rainy and cold to actually do the “trunk” part, so they held it inside. Colette really liked reaching into the buckets and grabbing a single piece of candy. After we would put the pieces in her little bag she would stick her whole arm and head down into it to try and retrieve the candy. She loved it.

 

Disney World!

So many wonderful things to post about. Disney World. 11 Months Old. Halloween.

I’m going to start with Disney World.

This was my family’s first official vacation… ever. My mom, brother, sister, their spouses and kids, and of course us. I think we went to the beach when I was 2. But other than that we’ve never actually vacationed together.

Saturday, we all caravanned the 9ish hours drive to Orlando which went surprisingly well. Colette only cried once, but only because she blew into a whistle and scared herself.

Instead of staying on the WDW property in a resort, we opted for one big house with a pool. That way we could all be together, eat outside the parks to save some money, and have a nice quiet place to go when we needed downtime. When we got to the house the guys went to Shades of Green to pick up our tickets and the ladies went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the week.

Sunday we hung out around the house/played in the pool for the first park of the day. Later we went to Downtown Disney. It was under a lot of construction but we still went into a few places. We got Colette’s first souvenir which was a baby Minnie plushie with a rattle inside and Cory got some Darth Vader Mickey Ears.

Monday we went to Hollywood Studios which is probably my favorite park. Toy Story Mania is where it’s at. The new FastPass+ system is neat but it does suck that you can only pick 3 things to do. That being said, we did everything we wanted to do with not a lot of wait time. Colette even had a good time. The baby care centers located in all the parks are nice as well. Hollywood Studios probably had the nicest facility of all the Disney parks because you had a private room for nursing and whatnot. Ahh, it was nice just to get out of the heat for a few minutes.

Tuesday was Magic Kingdom day. So Magical. We got up bright and early for an 8am character breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table which was the best decision I made. (180 days in advance decision…) We got to go into the park before it opened and take the photo you see below 🙂

Tuesday evening we left Colette with Nana and went out for my best friends birthday dinner at a place called Hash House A Go Go. So much food. Chicken and Waffles shown below.

Wednesday Cory, Colette and myself went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure while the rest of the family took a trip to the gulf coast for a beach day. SO MUCH HARRY POTTER! WOO HOO! We went on a perfect day. It rained a little when we got there but quickly cleared up. We didn’t wait more than 10 minutes for any ride. I love Harry Potter.

BFFs.

Thursday was Epcot day. Mmmm. Epcot Food and Wine Festival. I kept track of everything we ate and the list is as follows:

Greece:

• Chicken Gyro
• Spanikopita

Canada:

• Filet Mignon
• Beer Cheddar Soup

Mexico:

• Ribeye Taco

Farm Fresh:

• Beer Flight
• Bacon Hash
• Yard Bird

China:

• Mongolian Beef (x3)

South Korea:

• Lettuce Wrap

Japan:

• Spicy Hand Roll

Belgium:

• Waffle with Chocolate Ganache

France:

• Salted Caramel Creme Brûlée

Quite the list we have there. The clear winner was the Mongolian Beef from the China booth. The steamed bun was out of this world. We went back for seconds before we left. I also stopped in the Japan shops to stock up on Green Tea KitKats. Mmm. I think we stayed in Epcot longer than any other park and the only ride we went on was Nemo.

Friday, Cory, Colette and myself went to Animal Kingdom for the first part of the day. We took Colette on the Triceratops Spin then did a rider swap for Expedition Everest. Lastly we took when on the Kilimanjaro Safari and Colette was really interested right up until she fell asleep. We took that opportunity to head out and back to Magic Kingdom. Our first day there we only hit half the park before heading back to the house, so we hit the other side this time. We did all kinds of things with Colette including the Haunted Mansion, Dumbo, Magic Carpets, Under the Sea, Winnie the Pooh… But I have to say. Her favorite ride was probably It’s  a Small World. She danced and pointed and had a great time.

And that was it!

Everyone got along for the most part, no injuries, and overall just a really great time. My nephew even got to participate in the Jedi Experience in Hollywood Studios. Win. Win. Win.

Although I will say that pretty much everyone(except Colette and me, thankfully..) was sick the day after we got home. So that’s no fun.

Probably my favorite photo. Going straight for the goodies.

Her balloon popped, so they had to go trade it in. Cory looks thrilled.

Baby loves balloons

Family ❤

Just chillin in her stroller.

And there you have it. The next post will be Colette’s 11 month update! But I’ll be honest, it’s probably not coming til next week…. maybe this weekend if things don’t get too crazy!

6 Months

And another month has come and gone. Last week Colette turned half a year old. We celebrated with a fantastic trip to the Knoxville Zoo and by discovering 2 more teeth coming in!

Weight: 17lbs 8oz

Height: 28″

Sleep: Hit and miss. I blame the teeth. Most nights she goes down at 9, wiggles around at 3, wakes to eat at 6, then sleeps until 8:30-9. Tuesday night was terrible and she was up every 2 hours (possibly something to do with the shots she got that day as well), but the next night she was out like a light from 9pm-8am.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): 6-9 months in clothes and size 3 diapers

Diet: Mostly milk. We started giving her pureed foods once a day about 3 weeks ago… and after a week of that and her not being terribly interested, we gave her a break. We’re just now starting agin and will go full force back into it on Monday. So far she’s tried sweet potatoes, bananas, and squash. Squash made her cry. She no likey the squash.

Milestones/Firsts: She sits up like a pro and she’s so close to crawling I can’t stand it. And neither can she. If there’s something just out of her reach she gets up on her hands/or knees (not both at the same time yet) and gets sooo frustrated that she can’t get what she wants. We also have 2 more teeth coming down as I mentioned earlier! (Top front teeth!) I was changing her diaper  in the back of the car and just happened to look up while her mouth was open and there they were! She’s also really sounding out her consonants nows. The bababa’s and the dadada’s flow like the river.

Likes: Chewing, drooling, chewing, chewing, drooling. She loves to laugh at the dogs when they come around. Loves being outside, going for walks, and playing on a blanket with her toys.

Dislikes: Squash. Shots.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget: The way she’s starting to reach out for her mom. So sweet.

As for me: I’m doing great! We’re spending a lot of time out of the house when we can on the weekends which is nice since I’m cooped up all week. AND I actually read 3 books last week. (The Divergent trilogy) Every free moment, which is usually only around bed time, I had my nose in the Kindle reading because I couldn’t put it down until I got to the end.. and then there was a lot of ugly crying. A lot. I’m generally a really slow reader because I go over every detail, but I started reading Allegiant before Colette woke up Thursday morning and finished it Friday night. Probably a new record for me.

 

Our pediatrician says she looks great! (We already knew that though 😉 ) And Colette actually didn’t do too bad with the shots this month either. She wailed for about 30 seconds and then it was over. And it wasn’t as loud as it has been in the past. Poor sweet baby.

 

 

By the end of the summer, Colette will be a well traveled little girl. In June we’ll be flying solo to Michigan for my friends baby shower. (YAY! I’M SO EXCITED!) I’m a little terrified, mainly because I hate flying. I think everything else will be okay. I don’t have to take my pack-n-play or carseat and I plan to check a bag, so that’s good news! It’s certainly a plus that Lindsay already has those things and no baby yet so we can borrow them 🙂 I just have to be prepared to deal with the crying when/if it happens. The flight is roughly 2 hours, so hopefully it’ll go smoothly.

After that we’ve got 2 beach trips and then our big Disney trip. Lots to prepare for!

Here’s some photos from the last little while: (TN Aquarium, Knoxville Zoo, Coolidge Park)

 

A day at the aquarium make for one sleepy baby

 

 

Probably one of the happiest moments of my life

 

I’m pretty sure this bird just killed another bird and stole it’s feathers

First time in a high chair at a restaurant!

Easter Session

So here’s a couple of photos from our Easter set. I love them. Of course.. I love all photos of Colette.. but these are pretty adorable.

We needed at least a couple more bags of eggs for the bathtub full of eggs shot, but I still think they’re cute.

So many eggs.

 

So drooly.

 

Of course she went straight for the glitter eggs.

4 Months Old

Another month has come and gone with the quickness. I’ve decided to be a little more structured with this post, so here’s some things I know about out sweet little baby Colette:

 

 

Weight & Height: I’ll update this one after our 4 Month Well Check on Thursday. (Oh no! More Shots! 😥 )

Sleep: Colette is very good at putting herself to sleep. She generally goes to sleep around 9:30, wakes up around 6-7 to eat and goes back to sleep until 9 or 10. Lately she’s been waking up and wiggling around in her crib between 2-3, but puts herself right back to sleep in the matter of just a couple of minutes.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): Right now we’re in 3-6/6month clothes and size 2 diapers. And, call me completely out of my mind, but over this last weekend I purchased a small amount of cloth diapers. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I have never ever wanted to use them, but for some reason thought I should give them a try. They’ll be here late this week so I’ll let you know how it goes……

Diet: Still 100% breastfed. We plan on waiting until she’s at least 6 months before starting anything else. Although.. you should have seen her eyeing my cheeseburger on Sunday…

Baby Gear Love: Our stroller. We have one of the big Graco RoadRunner travel systems and we love it. When we were on our little outing in Gatlinburg a few weeks ago, we heard a couple different people say how they “are so glad they don’t have to use a big stroller anymore” or “can’t imagine pushing that thing around” (not to us, but definitely loud enough for us to hear..). But I really love it. I can put everything I need and more in it, and it’s still really easy to maneuver. I really don’t like to carry things (purse, bags, jacket, drinks) so I think we really found the perfect stroller for us. And it’s easy to take around our big yard too.

Milestones/Firsts: Rolling over! Not consistently, but she has rolled back to tummy twice in the last week. She’s trying really hard to roll tummy to back but she just can’t get over that arm yet.

Likes: Laughing, grabbing, chewing

Dislikes:…not a whole lot. She doesn’t like to be put down in her crib if she isn’t tired. But that’s about it.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget: All of it. It seems like I’ve already forgotten things from just a few short months ago. My favorite part of the day is when she wakes up and I bring her into our room for morning snuggles and laugh time. Sooo cute.

---

 

I’m really excited for warmer weather to be rolling around. (Minus mosquitoes and ticks) Colette could really use some outdoors playtime. I am a bit worried about allergies though. We took her around the yard over the weekend and she was sneezy and red-eyed. Of course all of our trees and flowers are bloomed out and we live in one of the top 3 cities for terrible allergies.. so I guess I should have expected it.

I got a new camera and lens last week that I’m super excited about. (Nikon D610 and Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens) I took a couple of shots of my niece with it while she was here. Next up are spring/Easter photos. I’m so excited!

My sweet niece, Aidan

Our peach tree blossoms. And spider web.

Our SUPERSTAR!

 

Sweet Girl

 

A Fantastic Weekend

I’m so glad we didn’t decide to cancel our weekend getaway. We had the best time in Gatlinburg and the weather was excellent. Colette  did so well on her first vacation! She only got upset twice and both times we were in the car and she was just tired/hungry. We strolled up and down the strip, visited the aquarium, shopped, had a fancy dinner with my mom and Steve and spent some quality time lounging around in our hotel room playing with the baby.

Cory and I were both surprised at how attentive Colette was at the aquarium. She quite enjoyed watching all the fishes. I also had my first experience with nursing out in public, so that was interesting. It was semi-private as it was in a dark aquarium room, but alas, I succeeded. I don’t have any issues with the idea of nursing in public, my problem lies in the awkwardness of getting everything situated. Not to mention Colette flails around like a squirrel falling from a tree. We’ll get there one day I think.

Da fisssshhhes

 

Both the aquarium and Saturday dinner at Park Grill were pretty noisy, but Colette didn’t seem to mind like I thought she would. I could probably brag on her all day. We did discover she’s not much of a fan of sleeping in her pack-n-play, she kicks at it like crazy. Just can’t get comfortable in it.

She’s officially trying to roll over now. Over the weekend is when she really started trying. And she’s so close. Just needs a little more push to get over that chubby little arm. 🙂 IT’S HAPPENING TOO FAST. I just packed away most of her 0-3/ 3 month pj’s. Moving on into the 3-6 month category. I’ll probably say that things are happening too fast in every blog post from now on.

Tuckered out

Just chillin’ in the hotel! Love that baby.

I’m finding it crazy how love and joy have evolved and intensified in my life. (I know at least one of you out there is scoffing at my mushy sentiments…) In these few short months I can really see and feel the difference in how I love, not just Colette, but Cory and all of my other family and friends. The importance of family means something different now as well. So much love.

Like I told Cory while we were walking to the aquarium on Saturday, I’m just very happy.

 

 

2 Months Already?!

Someone is TWO months old today!

Cheeeeeks!

She’s definitely filling out! And her hair just keeps on sprouting out. I can’t wait to put giant bows in it. I got a couple of new backgrounds in the mail this week. I’m pretty excited for a couple of themed photo sessions with this sweet little baby.

We also got our photos from our family session with Ashley Hodges Photography. Here are a couple from that! I love them all. She really had some of the funniest little faces.

Sweet girl

Daddy loves that baby

Aww

Cat Nap

Love her little faces!

Holidays

Christmas Eve

Time is zooming by. Christmas has come and gone and now we’re about to ring in a new year. Colette is already 5 weeks old. Where is the Tardis when you need it?

I need to update more. I knew there are a million things I wanted to write about, but now I can’t remember any of them.

The holidays have been great. I’m sad they’re coming to a close. My little babe has already grown so much, it amazes me. We had a scare on Christmas day. Well, sort of. She spit up a little blood and I calmly freaked out. Luckily the blood was mine. I noticed a little in some of the pumped milk I had from a day or so before. Whew.

She doesn’t really have any issues other than that! A little cradle cap, but nothing to worry about! She’s on more of a schedule now, with the occasional “I want to nurse every hour on the hour” days. Unfortunately the schedule include staying up most of the day.. and most of the night. The girl just doesn’t sleep. I’ve found myself sleeping in the glider in the nursery a couple of time… did wonders for the neck.

Well, I take it back .The holidays haven’t been all great. We lost my Papaw on the 17th. As much sadness as I feel, I can be happy and rejoice in the fact that he’s found his real home now. Like I told my sister, I don’t know what my granny is gonna do without that old man to nag her all the time. He will be truly missed, and like those that have gone before, (My Granny Jo, Cory’s Grandma Clara Nell, and most definitely Cory’s father…) I wish Colette would have had the opportunity to meet them as they were all extraordinary people. Again, where is that Tardis?

Now that Christmas is over, I”m ready to start planning 2014 vacations. Actually there’s not a whole lot of planning left to do. We’re going to beach in August to the beach house that Cory vacationed at with his family nearly every year since he was a baby and to Disney World in October with my family. LET’S GET EXCITED.

I’m looking forward to all the incredible things that are going to happen in 2014.

 

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Our Christmas Party Dress

Our First Christmas

Four Generations of Love

The First Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower this past weekend! This one was in my hometown with my side of the family (and Cory’s mom and grandma as well!) and my very much missed friends. I started the day getting breakfast downtown my BFF then heading to get my hair done curtesy of my sister-in-law and Douglas J. Aveda Institute. After a morning of pampering I was whisked away to my mom’s to finish getting ready while the rest of the shower was being set up. Setup is generally the most stressful part of any event, but it seems everyone made it out okay.

The shower was excellent. My mom, sister and sister-in-law turned the house into baby shower heaven.

The menu:

• Roasted veggie and orzo salad
• Lots of fresh veggies and dip
• Mini Pigs’n a blanket
• Sliders
• Mac’n Cheese Cups
• Cotton candy cupcakes
• Vanilla bean cupcakes
• Vanilla cake with strawberry filling
• Donut holes
• Chocolate dipped rice krispy treats
• Homemade butter pecan ice cream
• Pickles 🙂
• And a variety of candy to make up a lovely candy bar

All delicious like all of our family gatherings.

It was so nice to see everyone that I rarely get to see since moving south. I’m a very blessed girl to have the family and friends that I do and I can’t thank you all enough for coming to the shower!

Below you’ll find some pictures of the big event!

White Cake with Strawberry Filling

Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Dessert and Candy Bar

Mac’n Cheese Cups

Beautiful floral arrangements

Buffet table in the dining room

Veggies and Chips

Dining Room Table

DIY Bib Station

Welcome!

Handmade Wreath

Gift Table

For the homemade ice cream

Drink Station

Poofs

Me!

Gift Time

Adorable

Lots of PINK

Another of the Gift Table

More flowers

Baby’s Breath

Baby Me!

Lovely setup

Mints

Colette’s Baby Bracelet

Strawberry Filling

Baby Blanket Bouquet

Chocolate-dipped Rice Krispy Treats