A VERY Eventful Week!

Wow...it's been quite a while since an update! Our week was absolutely wild last week, and we loved every minute of it!

Jeremy's sister, Natasha, came in to spend her Spring Break with Lorelai. She hasn't gotten to see her since she was born, so it was quite a week! Natasha got to town Monday afternoon and immediately headed to Granny & Gramps's to kidnap Lorelai for the evening. We had dinner with the Mitchells Monday night, Tash had Lo all to herself Tuesday, and I ate with them again Tuesday night while Jeremy fished with Dad.

Wednesday was a big day for Lorelai. She got to spend the day with Nanny, Tasha, and the twins! She always is in such a good mood after a day with her Nanny, but she was especially happy after a full day like that! P-Pop and D-Dar took her to dinner Wednesday night while Jeremy and I hung out at the North Wing with the students.

Thursday it was back to Nanny's! This time Nanny and Tash loaded up my baby girl and headed to Texarkana for a girls day of shopping! They told me that she sat up like a big girl in her stroller and looked around and talked quite a bit. She loves to be able to see faces and be moving in her stroller. Of course Lorelai couldn't come home empty handed! She always racks up when anybody in the family shops!

Friday was another fun day for my sweet girl. Nanny and Tash took Lo to visit Nana & Pa in Huttig. Nana got to give Lorelai her bottle and snuggle her for a little while. Lorelai has gotten to visit Nana and Pa a few times in her 3 short months, but Jeremy and I haven't actually gotten to take her yet. I look forward to our first visit with them!

Natasha headed back to Springfield Friday afternoon. We were sad to see her go, but I'm so so glad she got to come spend the week with Lorelai! Family is a huge priority for us, and anytime Lo gets to spend time getting to know family is so precious to me. Unfortunately, we were all so busy hanging out and loving on Lo that I failed to take any pictures of her exciting week. So you'll just have to take my word for it that she had a huge smile on her face most of the week!

It's here!!

I love baseball...plain and simple! I love watching games and talking about players. I love visiting the ballparks and sitting in the sunshine. I mostly love the Texas Rangers, even though they've done little more than disappoint the last few years. I knew baseball season was coming up, and I've been getting pretty excited. But I guess I didn't let it hit me that they're actually in Spring Training right now. Not until today!

My wonderful mother and I had lunch today at Pizza Hut in town. First, let me say that I find it odd that there are not 1, not 2, but THREE tvs in our tiny Pizza Hut! Why?! Okay..moving on. So Tom & Jerry is playing on the biggest tv, which, again, I find quite odd since there was no one in the place under the age of 15. And might I add that it was playing VERY loudly. So of course, my attention went there first, and of course, mom and I start complaining:) But as I slide into my seat to start eating, I glance at the back wall. And I see it...a reminder that something wonderful is about to take place! Atlanta and NYM are playing on ESPN in a Spring Training game!

Ahh...bliss! So look around. Breathe it in. Listen to the crack of the bat. It's here! Baseball season is HERE!

HELP!

Calling all professional bloggers! I decided to change my layout today to something a little more funky. I'm trying to add a few more things to make it a bit more personal, but I can't seem to find all of the fun fonts that everyone seems to be using on their blogs! I'm a newbie...so I need some help. Please and thank you! Leave your suggestions. As long as it's free, I'm willing to give it a try! I just want a nice blog...is that so much to ask?!:)

Lo & Flowers

The last week or so it has been so incredibly pleasant outside! Last week I decided that since we had a weekend coming up where we finally didn't have any plans, I wanted to take Lorelai out to Mom & Dad's to sit in the sun. It ended up being a bit overcast and pretty windy Saturday, but we still managed to get a few pictures of her in some flowers. Hopefully soon we can go to Nanny & Pappy's to take pictures in their flowers!

Still Figuring Things Out...

This blogging thing is a lot of fun for me, but I'm still learning how to do quite a few things! My sweet friend, Kelsey, as kind enough to give me the Kreative Blogger Award last week...and it's taken me this long to figure out how to post it and follow all of the rules!:) Thankfully, Ashley and Kelsey were a lot of help. So here's the award, and the rules!

1. Post the award.
Done! Finally!

2. Thank and mention the person who gave you the award!
Thanks Kelsey! Hopefully I'll get a bit better at this:)

3. Pass the award onto seven bloggers whom you think embody the spirit Kreative Blogger Award.
Skip to the bottom...

4. Name seven things about yourself that others do not know.
This should be fun! Skip to the bottom...

5. Don't forget to notify the seven other bloggers about their award and post a link to their blog.
Got it.

Ok...so 7 things you may or may not know about me...

1. I'm a terrible housekeeper. This is probably obvious to anyone who's spent any amount of time at my house lately. And the thing is, I REALLY wish I was better at it! I hate a mess, but my house never ceases to be one giant one! I have this desire to be uber organized, but my crazy schedule doesn't seem to allow it.

2. I'm afraid of tanning beds. I refuse to get back in one. Not for some self-righteous reason or skin cancer risk or blah blah blah. No, I don't lay in the tanning bed because I've been burned severely...twice. Two of the most painful experiences of my life. Never, ever again...

3. I like to paint. Not art, but walls. Stupid, I know. But I was really disappointed that I couldn't help paint our house when Jeremy was remodeling everything. They wouldn't even let me in the house if they were painting! Most people hate painting...I can't really figure out why I like it so much!

4. I really miss the ocean. I'm married to a man who loves the mountains, which is totally fine by me, because I do too! But I was raised on the beach! I need some salt water and sand in my life soon.

5. All of my friends are going skiing next week without us. That makes me sad. This is no secret, but I'm really running out of stuff to say here!

6. I'm growing my hair out. Long. Seriously...it's gonna be crazy long.

7. In making this list, I've realized I'm not very interesting. I apologize to all of my blog readers:)

Since I'm fairly new at this, I don't know many bloggers, but I do have a few that I love to follow!
1. You should check out Julie at UNTIL HE COMES. Her faith inspires me. And her kiddos are so much fun!
2. Jennifer always has something interesting to say at A Day in Jenn Jenn's Shoes. I love her honesty and humor.
3. Ashley's blog inspired me to start one of my own! I love reading about Chuck, Ashley and Karis at Everyday Blessings. Ash, I've never gotten to meet Karis, but she's such a sweet girl! We miss you guys!
4. Lauren's blog is super creative and fun. I enjoy reading your stuff, Lauren! Over the Rainbow is a really fun blog!

Honestly, that's all I follow at this point! Please, feel free to leave blog suggestions!:) Hopefully I'll get better at this blogging business as time goes on.

Glory

We serve a God who, for some reason, chooses to bless us everyday. Sometimes we don't even notice His blessings because they come in the form of things that we take for granted. Everything around us shouts to the glory of God...we just need to stop and listen sometimes. Scripture tells us that if we don't praise Him, even the rocks will cry out in praise. Shouldn't we, men and women created in His image, praise him everyday? Even for the simple things? Like the sunshine...how beautiful has the sunshine been lately?! It shouts to the glory of God! And the breeze...it's been so incredibly nice the last few days. It is singing God's glory. There are trees and flowers in bloom all around us. They are dancing to the glory of God.

My prayer is that my life would shout, sing, dance, and even be still to the glory of God. I'm not on this earth for me, my friends, my family, my happiness...I'm here to bring glory to the Father. When I forget that, I am sinning, and I deserve death. May God always be glorified in my life. I love my Savior, and my life should make that evident.

MMM Cereal!

This week we decided to start giving Lorelai cereal at night. We were hoping it would help her sleep longer during the night. She sleeps really well, but she still wakes up once to eat every night, so I usually only get 4 hours of uninterupted sleep. So far she's only had it twice, but both nights she's done really well with her sleeping. The first time we gave it to her was Tuesday night, and she wasn't too happy about it. She didn't like having to wait for every bite! We managed to get her to eat most of it, but she was still pretty messy when it was all over. She ate her cereal at 9:30, nursed for a few minutes, and was in bed by 10:30 (I know...I should put my child to bed earlier. We'll work on that next). She didn't wake up to nurse again until around 5:00 Wednesday morning, which is pretty good!

Wednesday night she didn't get cereal because we stayed at the North Wing until around 10:00. At that point I just wanted to come home, put her in her pjs, and head to bed. So she woke up around 2:30 to nurse, which is pretty normal for us.

Last night, P-Pop and D-Dar kept Lo for us while we went out to eat with Dr. Robison, so she got cereal at their house. She did MUCH better last night...they said after the first few bites she gobbled it right up! She even got mad when they stopped feeding her:) Here are a few pictures of her eating with P-Pop and D-Dar last night

She slept the same last night as she did Tuesday night...we were up again at 5:00 this morning. While that's definitely an improvement for us, I sure would like for her to sleep longer! I think the 5:00 feeding has taken the place of her 2:00 - 3:00 feeding because she goes right back to sleep when she's done, instead of waking up like she would around 7:00. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can start getting her to bed before 9:00 and weaning her off of her middle-of-the-night snack! Mommy sure would like to be able to sleep normal hours again someday!:)