Lucy, 11 months!

I cannot believe it is happening. I have been thinking about Lucy's first birthday since before she was born... And now we have only one month to go before she will be ONE. What!? 11 months old? How did my baby grow up so so fast? I'm so not ready for this.
Each day is a big reminder that she is growing up from a baby to a little girl! Just since we have returned from the beach she has made two HUGE milestones! 1st big deal: We finally sucked it up and moved Lucy to her own room! Yes, her own beautiful crib is finally being used! Yea yea, gasp, "you did what?" Well, up until now Lucy has slept/napped in our room in her pack n play. She has been such a good sleeper that literally, you'd lay her down at 8 and we wouldn't hear a peep until 7 the next morning. It was no big deal. Colby and I moved around in our room as always and it never bothered her. She moved from her bassinet to the pack n play at 4 months because I wasn't prepared for her to be on the other side of the house...yet. So now at 11 months, Mommy and Daddy have bit the bullet. I won't lie, the first night was hard! Lucy cried for 20 minutes before finally falling asleep. Colby woke up every hour thinking he heard the monitor going off... Agh... Needless to say, we were all a mess. But the 2nd, 3rd and 4th nights have been a breeze. I give her a bottle then set her in her crib and close the door and she plays for a minute with her wub-a-nub pacifier then out she goes...She is napping great in there, too! Yay for being a big girl, Lucy!!

2nd big deal: Lucy had her first taste of "cow" milk yesterday!! Woo hoo! We have officially started the switch. I am giving her 1 oz of milk with 4 oz breast milk for three days to test her tolerance then I'll up it to 2 oz milk with 3 oz breast milk and so on... Hopefully by next week we will be close to only bottles of milk!! She seems to be tolerating it fine so far, the only worry I have is that she won't like the taste so we are going slow to make sure she'll take it. Fingers crossed... Next I'll have to conquer the sippy cup- she is NOT a fan.

Other milestones this month:
Lucy has FOUR teeth coming in. Her bottom middle two, and her top middle two teeth all decided to come in at once! Lucy has been a little fussy during this.. I don't blame her. She looks so much older with her teeth peeking through... :(

Lucy walks great with her push-walker. She pushes it around and around our house all day long. It sings "Rockin Robin" and she'll stop and do a little sway/booty pop dance then keep walking! Ha. It's hilarious, honest. She hasn't quite mastered the turns yet so that causes a little fit every now and then.

Lucy loves to feed herself! Meaning, she isn't as much of a fan of the Gerber baby foods, but now she wants what is on mom and dads plate! I find myself making her scrambled eggs, cheese toast, grilled chicken, vegetables and slicing fruits all day... Anything cut into little pieces works! What happened to my baby??? big food, regular milk... Wasn't she just born yesterday??
If any of you Mommas have some recipes or ideas of beginning "toddler" style foods, please pass them on.

At 11 months, Lucy is wearing 9-12 month size clothes, and a size 3 shoe! We bought her first pair of Keds a few weeks ago from Stride Rite. She looks oh so cute in shoes! Her hair has grown SO much this past month and it is starting to have sweet big curls in the back. Her favorite toys right now are baby dolls, board books, her push-walker and stacking blocks. She plays great by herself but loves when Mommy plays too! Lucy is a water baby- swimming pools, bath time, the beach- she LOVES splashing around in water!

God certainly blessed us when he choose Colby and I to be her parents. It has been such a joy to spend every day being her mommy. I am so proud of how smart she is and how she can bring a smile to a strangers face in a second. Her happy personality makes me beam. Lucy girl, I love you so much. I pray that you will do great things in your life and always love the Lord with all of your heart. Happy 11 months!!

Summer... At last!

Boy... Do I have a lot to catch up on here. I have taken a major break from blogging and I do apologize but let's recap briefly what's happened since my last post:

-First, schools out for summer!!!! This is my FIRST ever summer to not work. EVER as in... I have always worked in the summer whether it be babysitting, a camp counselor, or a teacher at our schools summer camp- I have always worked! But this year, I have the most important job of all... Being with my sweet baby girl at HOME! We have already had a blast, and I am loving every second with her. She is hilarious and growing so fast. Each day she conquers a new trick! This week it is "giving kisses" and walking with her walker- she took her first steps too! Growing up TOO fast... and just get ready if she goes to give you a kiss... It is a full open mouth, tongue out SMOOCH.

 -the first week of our summer, Lucy and I traveled to Pensacola, Florida then on to Jacksonville, FL to visit/let Lucy meet her great grandparents. Lucy finally met Lucy (my grandmother who she is named for)! plus I got to hang out with my sweet cousins and grandparents for a week. It was such a fun trip and Lucy was a great travel companion! I was so proud of her hanging in there with me for the 5 hour trip to Pensacola, the five hour trip from Pensacola to Jacksonville and vice versa for the way home! This little girl was a champ! Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Cousin Fun!

-While we were gone, Milly had a vacation of her own, the dogs got out (weird!) Thursday afternoon during the storm. Reese was found but Milly wasn't! For SIX days Milly was missing and our little family was heartbroken! Luckily, she either escaped from her "foster" home or was finally found by the animal control officer. Milly is now safe back at home with a new, concrete pen, and a new pink collar! Write it down, folks... They haven't escaped from this pen yet.. And it's been a week! Yay!!!

-I'm currently packing my little family for our next vacation- which starts TOMORROW!

We are leaving for the BEACH first thing in the morning! Yayyy!!! Sunshine, sand, a drink in my hand... Yes please! My entire family (8 adults, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 1 year old, a 11 month old(Lu!) and a 10 month old..) are going and staying in this pretty awesome/beautiful 6 bedroom house on the beach! I. CAN'T. WAIT. It is most definitely going to be wild with all of us under one roof, and we may or may not be speaking when we return but none the less... I'm excited! I cant wait for Lucy to have her cousins/best friends with her for a week! Fun!

Plus, it is Lucy's first official beach vacation!!!! We did get a little practice in during our stay in Pensacola on the way to Jacksonville and it's safe to say... Lucy is a beach water baby, not a huge fan of the sand, but  its a work in progress!

We'll post soon after our week in the sun!

Merry Merry!

Decision Made!

Update on my "T.M.I. post"...

After I had typed all my feelings regarding quitting breastfeeding, etc., I received some WONDERFUL help and advice from you.  Thanks to everyone who reached out to me and gave me your motherly advice- SO helpful! I cannot even begin to explain how much it helped.  I got my mind organized, figured out our plan of action and was set to go until... I called my sister.
I talked it all out with her (as I do every big decision.. or little decision... or just anything. ha) and went all through the ups and downs of quitting and we came to the conclusion that Lu is almost ten months... I can technically begin introducing whole milk to her at 11 1/2 months... I have about a month's supply of breastmilk left in the freezer... so if I can pump for 1/2 month more then I can go straight from breastmilk to cow milk without ever having to find the right "formula"! PLAN!
So that is what we will do... in about two-three weeks I'll begin to "dry up" my supply and move to the freezer supply! Yay! (I say yay.. but there is also this sad part to it... how is my baby SO old already?? almost Ten months?! Are you serious?)

With all of that being said and the fact that I  have mentioned she is almost ten months old several times... it leads me to the next thought for today- Lucy's FIRST birthday!~
Planning is in FULL swing as I have already contacted and seen proofs for her invitation.. it is going to be FABULOUS.  I love everything about it.  I won't let the "secret" of her theme quite yet...but our color scheme is pinks, creams, and golds... so pretty!  Yes, I do realize it is technically a party for "us" (meaning the adults) since Lucy possibly won't remember this but we will have plenty of pictures to show her one day... I mean... how many times does your baby girl turn one? HA!   :)

Colby and I are off to Memphis this weekend to celebrate the wedding of John Hise- one of Colby's best friends from college!  It will be so fun to see everyone. I am very excited for a little date weekend with my hubby... and all the grandparents are super excited for a weekend with Lucy!!

Hope everyone has a great and MERRY weekend!