My Lens On Life

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Driving down the road...

I looked down while driving down the interstate the other day and smiled to myself at what I saw!

Paci rings and hair bow bracelets... such is the life of a mommy! (of little girls, anyway! :-)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Menu Monday... and a picture or three

This week's Menu plan is pretty sparse! We have a busy week with some photo shoots and Pampered Chef-ing for me and a rehearsal dinner and wedding this weekend! So, we are flying by the seat of our pants for change, but I know our meals will include:

Italian Sausage Stuffed Pasta Shells

Chicken Salad

Barbecue Chicken

and

Pasta with goat cheese and walnuts

And just because, a few pictures from my phone of our little ladybug in her little ladybug ~~outfit~~ outfits!

Found that thumb again! She works hard at it, with serious concentration every day! We keep popping in that paci, which she also loves, but often spits out in favor of "practicing" with her hands! She'll try to steady the one hand with the other, but can never seem to get her thumb and fingers to uncurl! But every now and then she'll get it! lol. And when she doesn't after LOTS of trying and LOTS of drool, she'll get frustrated and cry for her paci again! :-) It's pretty funny!

She went with me to my Pampered Chef Open House! I swear I would have made a million if I had just charged a fee to hold her! Everyone held her at some point - it was pretty funny and as you can see she didn't mind one bit! She is such a social butterfly!

...and another swing shot! We LOVE her swing because she LOVES her swing! :-) It's a beautiful thing... and so is she!

Friday, March 9, 2012

The Best Big Sister

Ava Grace has had so many posts lately because she's growing at lightening speed! I just realized the blog was in desperate need of a Lily update! Rest assured, big sister has NOT gone unnoticed or neglected at home! :-) Before Chris and I even conceived Ava Grace we spent a lot of time talking about our future family and what a careful balance it needed to be! While I was carrying Ava Grace we spent as much or more time talking about Lily and preparing with her as we did for Ava Grace. We didn't (and don't) want either of the girls to be jealous of each other or feel that they get the short end of the stick. We go to great efforts to make sure that we each spend quality time together as a family and that both girls get quality one on one time with each of us! :-) Lily is one special little girl.

She is the single most kind hearted and tender hearted little person I have ever known! She thinks of other's feelings and is considerate beyond her years.

She is also very creative!

Here we are playing "show" ...imagine a mix of American Idol and America's Got Talent... with lots of American Girl dolls! Me, Chris, and Ava Grace are the judges... Lily's the host... the girls and boys are the contestants! It's a running game... this week is round two! I can't wait to see what acts we see Thursday night! ;-)

Lily is also a reader. We try to foster this love of reading by providing lots and lots of books! She loves being read to and reading out loud to us and also reading to herself! On school nights, she reads before bed each night! (On weekends she gets to watch a movie on her TV). Some of her favorites are The Berenstain Bears, Junie B Jones, Cam Jansen.... and right now she's working on The Boxcar Kids.

(Lily reading with her Mimi)

If there is one thing that Lily loves to do most, it's laugh!

I can't tell you how many times we hear, "let's be funny!" or "let's laugh" or "make us laugh daddy, you're so funny!!!!" :-) And boy do we laugh! Sometimes so hard it requires a hasty trip to the potty! LOL Lily likes to tell stories to make us laugh, and she is turning into a very talented story teller! :-)

Lily is growing up so fast too! It's hard to believe that she is already 7 (and three quarters)! She is quickly developing her own tastes! Grandmommy took her shopping to let her pick out stuff to decorate her own bathroom...

...and she did so good! See the lamp? The towels and rugs match the colors with bright pink, green, and blue dot rings! She likes to pick out her own clothes too, and this year has decided the doesn't really like jeans. She likes skinny jean leggings okay, but not actual blue jeans. Her favorite "look" is either a dress or a cute skirt with leggings with a matching top and hari bow for her side ponytail! It's fun watching her develop her own sense of style!

She is the most loving little girl in the whole wide world and everyone that meets her quickly learns how special she really is!

Ava Grace sure is lucky to have such a great big sister!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Just because...

Just because my last post had pictures from TWO WHOLE WEEKS AGO...

...I thought some more recent pictures were in order!

Ava Grace LOVES to snuggle in our bed in the morning after her breakfast! As you can see, she doesn't last long after that morning bottle. Just long enough for a diaper change and some snuggles and it's back off to sleep for a morning nap after she shares a few smiles.

Speaking of smiles....

...they are coming a lot easier these days! She's one happy girl (when her acid reflux leaves her alone)!

And yesterday she giggled in her sleep! I hope that means she'll be giggling at us soon. She started smiling in her sleep first, so maybe the same is true for her laugh!

I just know that's one sweet smile... and it's all that it takes to brighten my day!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Red in the face...And Menu Plan

I have been meaning to post this for two weeks. I told a couple people I would post the pictures, plus I wanted to document, but as you moms out there know, life gets crazy busy!

A couple of weeks ago when we thought Ava Grace had a cold, we took her to the pediatrician. We also thought she was having some pretty serious baby eczema! These pictures were taken a couple days before we went to the doctor - before the "eczema" got to it's worst!

(Ava Grace still frantically works at finding and sucking her thumb {and fingers}, and on this day found her thumb for a few moments and sucked happily until her arm involuntarily ripped it from her mouth, lol)

After our visit from the doctor, we found out she didn't have a cold after all... or eczema {it was a nasty rash - check out that forehead and those red cheeks - remember this was "mild" compared to what she looked like when I took her to the doctor}! She has a milk protein allergy - really it's just a sensitivity that she will outgrow! The doc changed her to super duper expensive formula, but says in a couple months we can probably ween her off of it and back down to the less expensive formula after her little digestive system develops a little more!

Even when she's red in the face, isn't she a little cutie!

FYI: I have an obsession with outfits with ruffles on the butt!

What a little cutie we have!

These pictures are when her smiles were still a work in progress, lol

It's funny, because it's only been two weeks since these were taken and she smiles SO MUCH now and has more hair and smooth face now!

After I took these pictures, she began to drift off and I decided to try a little art project...

Do you know how hard it is to get an infant to open a hand long enough to get paint on it... and then to get it stamped? Yeah... harder than I thought! I'll be trying again for a better one soon! Getting all the paint off her hand and out from between her fingers was even more interesting! Haha!

And, I know this picture looks weird, but I had to take a picture of that soft little head! It's one of my favorite parts of her... especially when she's on my shoulder and nuzzles her little fuzzy head against my cheek! So sweet!

Now...

For Menu Monday (on Tuesday) {again}

There are a couple repeats from last week... had to tweak last week's to accommodate our busy schedule! ;-)

Tuesday:

Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes Gratin and Green Beans

Wednesday:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Fingers with Pasta and Marinara

Thursday::

Roasted Chicken with sweet potatoes and green beans

Friday:

Pasta A La Betsey

Saturday:

Craft Brunch with the girls!

Burgers and Potato Salad for dinner

Sunday:

Pasta Primavera

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Daddy's Girls

These two cuties have their Daddy wrapped!

The little one loves to sleep with her daddy...

...even when she visits him at work!

Who ever dreamed that Daddy's desk would end up being a good napping spot!

But the BEST place for a nap is not on Daddy's desk...

...it's ON Daddy!

Whenever Ava Grace is really fussy and can't seem to get comfortable, Daddy snuggles her up and that does the trick!

(Notice the paci handle flipped up! It's how she and her daddy roll! lol)

And as for the big one?

There's never been a bigger Daddy's girl that this one! She just can't get enough of her Daddy and he can't get enough of her! I never get tired of playing with them both, or watching them play! I've seen Chris play everything from dress up to American Girl doll school! He's such a good Daddy! And she's such a good girl!