A True Girl

A few weeks ago I read a post on my cousin's blog about her darling little girl who just loves girly things....especially shoes. She went on to tell how her little girl is in LOVE with a certain pair of shoes that are just too small, but still wanted to wear them anyway.

Well, little did I know that in just a few short weeks my little girl would all the sudden start showing these same girly attributes towards shoes.

Yesterday, when getting Alayna ready to go to lunch with my mom and sister, I asked her if she would like to wear her pink boots. She promptly shook her head, went over to the drawer of shoes, grabbed her white, sparkly shoe, walked over to me, turned around, sat on my lap and held her foot up so I could put it on.

I new that these shoes were pretty tight the last time she wore them and I was pretty sure with the thicker socks that she was wearing, they wouldn't fit. But I tried anyway. It definitely wasn't going to happen....especially with those socks. With several inches of snow on the ground and definite winter weather outside, these shoes just weren't an option.

After trying to convince her (several times) that these shoes were too small, I finally got her to wear her "pretty pink and brown shoes with the jewels." Oh, and I forgot to mention that I hid the white, sparkly ones in hopes that she would forget about them this time.

Fast forward to today when we were playing in her room. She opened the drawer of shoes. And the same scenario occurred. Almost exactly. Except this time I gave in, took off her socks and shoved her feet in the shoes. (Never mind the large indent that will be present from the strap when I take those babies off.) She didn't complain and LOVED looking at her feet in the full length mirror.

Apparently beauty knows no pain. Right?

Although I can't say I haven't done the same thing. I will admit there have been a few times I have shoved my feet into a too small pair of shoes just so I would look stylin'.

Here they are in all their glory: The sparkly princess shoes with no socks.

I don't think we will be walking outside much.

Now on my to do list: Go to Target and by larger white, sparkly shoes.

14 Months Old

Alayna is another month older and once again, she has learned so much.

I feel like these posts are just getting longer and longer.

But I will try to condense and make it as painless as possible.


I officially have a Daddy's Girl on my hands. And I am totally ok with that. After spending all day with me, I don't blame her one bit for hanging out with Daddy as much as she can. Dan, on the other hand, has moments where he just wants to be left alone, but 99% of the time LOVES the Alayna attention.

Alayna is getting better at communicating. She consistently signs more, eat, drink and all done.

She also is mastering nodding and shaking her head which is really nice, except for when the answer to everything is no.

The word that she says ALL the time is still "hi". She loves to tell complete strangers in the store "hi". And her new favorite thing is to walk down the aisle in Sunday school, pat the people sitting closest on the leg and say hi. That sure keeps everyone distracted. But it is dang cute.

She has become incredibly picky over this last month and basically lives off of Mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cereal.

Along with the picky-ness comes the "I can do it myself" attitude. She is constantly wanting to feed herself with a spoon, which she is surprisingly good at for her age.

Peekaboo is a favorite game. She loves to do it back to you, only she doesn't quite cover her eyes. Just envision her putting her hands over her cheeks, and pulling them off fast while you say peekaboo.

She is becoming more brave. While taking her bath, she will stick her face in the water several times, pretending to blow bubbles like Daddy.

The biggest change (for me) is the transition to one nap. Yep, I have a one nap baby. I am so sad. Believe me, I tried to hold on to that second nap, but she would have nothing to do with it.

Even though she takes one nap, it is still worth it when I go in to get her and she is running in circles around her crib, smiling and jabbering away.

We also had another first this month....falling down the stairs. Luckily she only suffered from a bleeding, fat lip. But we survived. Both parents and child. It was bound to happen at some point considering her interest in stairs has really increased.

Lastly, (whew) Alayna has learned how to "bump" hands (some people say pound fists). You know, where you make a fist and "bump" the other person's fist. Anyway, she is good at it and it really is quite cute.


Now onto the fun part. Pictures!

Sportin' the beanie inside. She loved wearing her hat.


"I am so happy to wake up from my nap, but I have one question. Has anyone seen my binky?"

Layna loves her Uncle Adam.

Another year has gone by

since I married the best guy in the whole world.

That makes it five years that we have been married.

It seems almost weird that we have been married that long.

I have been able to spend the last 60 months, 260 weeks, 1825 days, 43,800 hours, 2,635,000 minutes, 1,58,100,000 seconds being married to my best friend...and there really isn't anything better than that!

Then:

Now:

Quarter of a Century

That's how old I am today.

Kindof weird to think about.

I think I prefer to just say 25.

It's the hubby's first day of school so I am chillin' at home with Alayna.

Dinner with the hub and present opening to come later this evening.

Happy Birthday to me!

The Big 3-0

I want to wish this handsome man a Happy Birthday!

We sure love you!

I never get anything for free

but today, that changed.

It all started when Alayna and I came home from running errands to find three packages on our doorstep.

Two of which, were things that we were expecting, but the third was a mystery.

To make a long story short, we ended up with a Ginsu 14 piece stainless cutlery set for FREE!

I know, I can't believe it either.

Oh, and before you think that I just kept it without trying to give it back...think again.

I really did call my beloved Target and told them the situation. That I had a package that was addressed to me, that was not mine, and guess what? They told me to keep it and to have a Merry Christmas.

As if I didn't already LOVE Target enough, I love them even MORE!
And I had to check. These puppies price in at 60 bucks!

I Just Can't Stop...

making these.

A few more hair accessories for my collection.

Now, maybe my sister will have a girl and she will be set.

Merry Christmas

I was able to finish and send these bad boys out last week.

Whew.

Another thing checked off the to do list before we move in a little over a week.

Anyways, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas early!

Proud

I just had to give a shout out to my awesome husband.

He received a letter in the mail this weekend, letting him know that he got the scholarship that he applied for!

Not only was it the only scholarship that he qualified for, (apparently 99% of WyoTech's scholarships are for people who are 18 and just graduated high school.) but he was granted the maximum amount! (Every little bit counts. Especially, considering the tuition isn't what I would call cheap:)

Yea! Good job, babe! I am so proud of you.

Random-ness

Our Thanksgiving was great.

Fun was had.

Crafts were made.

Rock band was played. A lot.

Movies were watched. Including New Moon. Dan was kind enough to go with me even though I am pretty sure that movie was not top on his list.

Yummy food was eaten.

And as usual, I did not get the camera out very much. One of these days I will remember and get tons of pictures to document all the fun.

Although I did get documentation of this:
One morning Dan went into the bathroom with a goatee and came out with this handlebar mustache. I was mortified to say the least. I'm sure there are people out there that can appreciate the handlebar mustache, but I will tell you, I am NOT one of them. I think Alayna's facial expression says it all.

I was thinking he was just being funny and was going to shave it off after everyone saw it and we got a few pictures, but no. He wanted to have it the entire day and would not shave it off until the next morning.

I made sure to let him know how much I disliked it, and how I just could not take him seriously with it, thinking he would just go and shave it off, but to no avail. He would not budge.Now, on the normal side of things....Alayna had fun playing with her cousins and running around the house.

Here is Ashlyn and Alayna, getting a massage from the "Massage Chair".

Dan and Jace just chillin'.

And I just had to end with this cute little girl giving us a pose.