The Castleberry Circus

The Neglected Blog....

2012-02-10T21:26:00.004-05:00

How far behind is TOO far behind! Oh poor neglected blog, why can I not keep you updated?!?!?!

M "warming up" at last week's game.... the poor thing is seriously ALL LEGS
At a birthday party and the water fountain got the best of her

Two sisters fighting over couch space and throw blankets. Baylee can get on the couch and recliner on her own, and also the dining room chairs. She's figured out how to get into M's bed by climbing on the toy box first!

Speaking of climbing, Baylee totally held her own at Pump It Up! She can maneuver herself onto the equipment like crazy. On the slides, Baylee could get herself all the way up the ladder with little assistance. McKinley? She was 3 before she could climb all the way!!! There are so many differences in these two rotten girls!!

Here's some random things I want to remember that have been in my iPhone notes for months :)

1. The girls most recent well baby visit stats: Baylee's 15 month checkup - 20 lbs 10 oz (75%) and 30.75" (90%) and McKinley's 5 year checkup - 41 lbs (75%) and 43.75" (80%). I will say I was pretty happy to see M drop in the height percentile. I mean I know she's going to be a tall girl but there's no need for an amazon!!

2. Baylee had her first long stretch of walking (as in across the living room without falling) on Sept 6th, then she became a predominate walker the weekend of Sept 9th.

3. McKinley had her best soccer game yet on Jan 28th!! She dribbled (is that what you say in soccer terms??) the ball towards the goal and really paid attention to the game. Chad and I were super impressed with how she played!!! That same night we had pizza and Baylee managed to eat 2 pieces of pizza to McKinley's one. B is definitely the eater :)

4. McKinley asked the other day if she could put lotion on my feet. Not sure why she thinks this is so cool but whatever. As she was loaded the lotion on she says, "Mommy, are you having a good time at the foot groomer??" I love the odd ball things she has to say!

5. M has master counting to 100 and knows all of her letter sounds. We got an excellent report from our first parent/teacher conference. This made for one happy mommy!!!!! She loves to color, write, and draw. She spends countless hours on the dry erase board. Her school report talked about how much she loved the art center. I find it kinda crazy she's so into art while her two parents can't even draw stick people!! She also plays "school" a lot now and of course dress up :)

6. Baylee is saying a lot of words these days: nana (banana), eat, mo (more), sissy, mommy, daddy, bye, hello, ann-bo (annabelle), nite nite, boo, sassy (paci), and NO (this is one of her personal favorites) just to name a few. If you tell her it's time to go night-night, she walks to her crib. Same with diapers, if you tell her it's time to change her diaper she goes to the changing table. She's in.to.everything. I mean, you let her out of your sight for a second and there's simply no telling what kind of damage she can do!!!

Catch Up Part 2 in Pictures

2011-12-23T12:51:00.006-05:00

McKinley's school had a parent's lunch for Thanksgiving. Notice the lunchbox, McKinley didn't want the school Thanksgiving feast! Imagine that.

My friend Chea sent the girls matching turkey shirts!

Baylee in her turkey shirt with Mommy's attempt to make ruffle pants. These pants were my 3rd attempt and well, just don't look too close!!

Eric, Emily, and McKinley rode in the parade with Grammie and the Eastern Star float. It's a wonder they made it down the road without my child jumping overboard. She's squealing in this picture, doesn't take much to amuse her!

McKinley and Emily watching the parade and catching lots of candy!

Baylee.... not too sure what all the parade fuss is about.

Decorating our car for Christmas... McKinley LOVES the Rudolph on our car. Daddy, not so much!

McKinley had her first soccer game

Baylee with yet another ginormous bruise, it's the norm for her

Having a Christmas playdate at Nicholas' house

Our crazy cat Smokie making a bed in a box that's supposed to be for Christmas lights. We had to put down him down with kidney failure earlier this month :(

Two sisters playing in their kitchen

Baylee's crazy "after bath" hair, wearing Sissy's old jammies :)

McKinley wearing those same jammies at Christmas 2007

Well, that should get us caught up to CHRISTMAS!!!!

A Whole Lotta Catch Up - Part 1

2011-12-22T22:30:00.005-05:00

Hmmm... There's been a lot of comings and goings since I blogged last! In a feverish attempt to get caught up before Christmas and the New Year, here's part one of the last two months!

Chad and McKinley both celebrated birthdays, they are 2 days apart. There was Halloween, McKinley's birthday party, a trip to Gatlinburg, Thanksgiving, and don't forget the ins and outs of every day life! Life with two kids and two working parents is hectic and nothing short of pure crazy. But.... I like to keep reminding myself that one day, sooner rather than later, these sweet babies will be all grown up and I'll be wishing for a taste of this season of life again!!

Speaking of sooner rather than later.... how is this girl 5?!?!?!?! A) the past 5 years seem to have flown by and b) if I have a five year old then wow, I'm getting OLD myself!!!

Originally, McKinley wanted to be Ariel. But, she found this SUPERGIRL in a magazine and then there was no more dreams of Ariel! I made the headband for the outfit and I got her pumpkin basket as a shower gift when I was pregnant.

My niece was Wonderwoman, these two super heroes are pretty darn cute if I do say so myself :)

Sweet Baylee taking a turn to get some candy. Not that we let her eat any of it but she sure had a blast carrying the bucket and collecting goodies! As a side note, this adorable butterfly hat is now MIA. We had it at one point in the night and then POOF, it was gone. Not surprising she'd throw it out or maybe she left it as a present at someone's house. Who knows. We had her in the stroller for a bit in which the paci also went MIA. Chad finally found it in the road after some back tracking.

The best pic I got of the two of them. I hate the ordeal to get a picture of both girls, why is it so hard to look at the camera and say cheese?!?!? Notice Baylee's blue forehead bruise? Those have become pretty common for this wild child. She is single handily the clumsiest kid ever. Maybe it's because she tries to run everywhere or maybe too, because she pays ZERO attention to where she's going. Either way, the forehead bruises and bumps don't make good pictures.

This cute butterfly is McKinley, 4 years ago!!

And this....would be McKinley now, sorting her candy out by type. OCD much. She also counted each type and knew specifically how much she had of what. Chad asked for an Airhead a few nights later and she replied, "I have three...purple and 2 reds, which do you want?" Psycho memory she has and THAT she definitely didn't get from me!

This picture just cracks me up. She had been playing around the house and next thing I knew she had her new sparkly purse, a silky dress up outfit, sunglasses, old polka dot house shoes, our Justin Bieber Christmas CD, and a big ole hairbow. Oh yeah, and she'd fixed her hair in a side ponytail/bun.

Mommy, McKinley, and Daddy at McKinley's birthday party. Baylee was anything but up for a picture so she got the boot.

And this... the little climber. I don't know what to do with a climber. McKinley never climbed on things. Baylee? She's constantly looking for something she can even attempt to climb on. This sense of adventure contributes to the blue bruises and knots her poor head accumulates.

Daddy and B at the aquarium in Gatlinburg. It was super crowded so we kept Baylee in the stroller.
And that, in pictures, is part 1 of a whole lotta catching up!!! I finally finished Christmas shopping today. Well, almost. We have one more thing to get tomorrow but that should be an easy find. Now there is an enormous amount of wrapping to be done over the next couple days!!! McKinley helped me some tonight. She was THRILLED and I accepted that my packages may have some blemishes in their wrappings this year!

Sunday Afternoon at the Park

2011-10-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

It was a gorgeous day on Sunday so Chad and I took the girls to Coolidge Park. We didn't bring any picnic supplies or McKinley's bike, but the girls still had a blast running around. McKinley loves to "walk" Baylee around. Sometimes Baylee is up for it and others, not so much. I love these two rotten babies :)

McKinley took off running (you can barely see her in this picture) and poor Baylee wanted so badly to keep up!

"Hmmm, maybe it's this bow that's slowing my down...."

Two sweet sisters taking a stroll together

Mommy and McKinley, this turned out to be such a cute picture of us :)

We rode on the carousel, which at almost 5, McKinley now enjoys. Poor thing was terrified of them for YEARS. Note to self, denim skirts are not conducive to carousel riding.

Before we got off, we got one of the girls together.

I took this of Baylee as we were riding. She was SO unsure of things for a bit. She had big tears in her eyes but after a few minutes she composed herself. I wouldn't say she LOVED the carousel but she sure did better than McKinley on her first ride! Notice her white finger tips on the pole.

McKinley played a little hopscotch....

Baylee ran around like a banshee. She loved her freedom to run, so much she had a slight meltdown when we headed back to the car and carried her.

Rotten baby #2 at dinner. We love the weather when we can eat outside. As an added plus, the people watching is GREAT for keeping the girls entertained. But who am I kidding, the people watching is pretty fabulous for Chad and I as well!!

Saturday Fun

2011-10-16T20:57:00.006-04:00

I made my first Pinterest project this weekend! I still need to get a dry erase marker, but I hung this in our kitchen. I've always been one to plan my grocery list around the week's meals. The problem is, I end up forgetting what I have in the freezer to cook. When I don't plan ahead the day before, we get home from work with no dinner and end up going out. So, my hope is I'll start writing the week's meals out and that will help me stick to it. Only time will tell if my project is useful but I'm pretty proud of how cute it turned out!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my chubby girl during nap. I love a sleeping baby, especially one with those adorable ham hocks!

Saturday we went to a birthday party for Tate, at our local zoo. McKinley was front and center for each exhibit. They had a guide take the party guests around. The zoo guide had food for the animals, which meant the animals came out for the party guests to see. The guide also explained a bit on each animal, which was quite intriging for the little ones.

Baylee spent most of the party in her stroller. I was by myself and not about to chase this wild child around! She only got fussy towards the very end, she was a trooper!

Baylee and Nicholas, strapped in their cool rides, checking out the cheetas or were they leopards? I don't remember, ha!

I couldn't resist this last picture of my big girl! It's so hard to believe she'll be 5 in less than two weeks!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T20:42:00.003-04:00

Side note to the above picture...McKinley was noterious as a toddler for putting things in the trash. We lost many toy pieces and often dug through the trash for such things as the remote. Baylee on the other hand, she doesn't put stuff into the trash... worse, she takes everything out! Eeeewwwwww!

Hmmm, that was an *almost* Wordless Wednesday and now I have an *almost* out of control laundry situation to go deal with :)

Baylee's Birthday Party

2011-10-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

Prepare for picture overload!! We had Baylee's birthday party at a local park that has a covered pavilion. We also rented a bouncy slide. It was ridiculously windy so the table clothes and table decor was a fail, it wouldn't stay on the tables. I also made a super cute birthday banner, with the help of some friends, that I sadly didn't get a picture of :(

Michael and sweet Nicholas

Mommy and the birthday girl

Attempting a shot with B and her cake

Sweet Miley and her blower

Me and my fabulous friend Allison, AKA Aunt Alli

Fabulous big sister McKinley (after she'd been playing like a banshee)

The bounce slide and Maddox going head first

McKinley running down the slide, as a side note she crashed into the end of the slide immediately following this picture

Baylee getting ready for her cake

The best family picture we got of the day

My niece Emily who has *almost* mastered the cartwheel

Emily and Baylee

McKinley with 2 of her 3 girl cousins, Kennedy and Melody

Sweet Baylee and her smash cake which as wild as she is, she really didn't dive into it like we all thought she would

All cleaned up from her cake

The famous "ugly face". Baylee makes this same nasty face all the time.... we all hate it!

Sweet Tate, him and Baylee are about a month apart

Baylee's cake, that is her smash cake on top.

Baylee and the dang ugly face with Sweet Emma

Aunt Alli with her "nieces"

Baylee's BFF Amelia. Amelia is Baylee's sitter's daughter. These two are incredibly cute together!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-10-09T10:31:00.000-04:00

This last one is SO great of everyone except me. But, I'll sacrifice and post it anyway. I hate that I'm all slouchy holding up Baylee and look prego too. Oy.

I purchased these as digital prints so I can print off as many as I want. I'm thinking of making a canvas collage to go over our couch. I'm waiting on a mpix coupon code so I can order :)

First Day of PreK

2011-10-08T10:10:00.004-04:00

So I'm a little behind on blogging, huh? McKinley's first day of PreK was September 6, 2011.

Waiting to go into her classroom:

Walking to our classroom, she looks like such a big girl to me!!

Settled in.....

Yes, I was THAT mom taking a picture in front of the school sign :)

Not sure why these pictures are all out of order but this was in the car, en route to school

She is doing excellent. We had one really bad day that warranted a note home :( But, after some serious discussion on behavior, she got a happy note the following day. Now, as long as we have NO MORE sad notes, we'll all be happy!

I had been parking and walking her in each day. Then, one morning it was hurricane raining so I talked her in to trying the drop off line so neither one of us would get soaking wet. She agreed and it went smoothly. It was super sad watching her get out and just take off into the building! The school seems so big to me for her to be off on her own. But, she's had no problems getting where she needs to be. So, every morning after that one, she has ONLY wanted the drop off line. I begged her to let me walk her in once the next week and well, let's just say that back fired on me. She had a total meltdown as I was leaving her classroom. It seems as much as I DON'T like the drop off line, it works much better for her.

Hard to believe she will be 5 in less than a month!!!!

On another note, we sold our house back on August 10th. It was listed for 6 weeks before we had a contract on it.

Then it was good-bye Scenic Circle! Hmm.. we both miss that house these days. We were there for almost 6 years.

We moved into Chad's childhood home, which had been empty for over 6 years. It's obviously an older home and we've been doing a lot of work to it. Pictures to come once well, let's just be honest, it looks a little more presentable!!! Most of the inside is almost done. But we have vinyl siding, a roof, and some porch work to do on the outside. Because we sold our home so quickly, we were in a total rush to get this one livable by our closing date. It's been a mess but we'll get everything squared away soon. The lack of a mortgage more than makes up for all the mess!!!

Baylee 11 Months

2011-08-28T20:42:00.002-04:00

I'm a week late on this post, imagine that!! Baylee was 11 months last Sunday. A few stats:

Size 4 diapers, 12-18 month clothes

11 teeth

WHOLE MILK - I started B on whole milk last Saturday and she has done excellent! She has a sippy cup at lunch and dinner but a bottle for breakfast and bedtime. I attempted the sippy cup Friday morning and she promptly threw it across the living room.

Speaking of throwing sippy cups, some little princess has developed a HUGE temper. And just in the past few days. I'm thinking she was meant to be a red head!! Along the sames lines with her temper, she has little to NO patience.

She now sleeps in her own crib, that started on August 10th. She may wake me up once or twice a night for her paci but sometimes she doesn't wake up at all.

She has yogurt for breakfast, a veggie and fruit for lunch, and a veggie and fruit again for dinner. I've been introducing table foods here and there. So far, just to name a few, she's had part of a pancake, some oatmeal, banana, pinto beans (random but her daddy gave them to her), mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rice... safe to say she'll eat pretty much ANYTHING you put in her mouth. The only thing, so far, she's rejected was a piece of lettuce with ranch dressing! This is SO different from big sis McKinley. McKinley, even before she was 1, has ALWAYS been picky. I'm really enjoying this kid who will eat anything!!

She stands on her own and takes steps here and there. So far, her maximum amount has been 4 steps. Won't be long till we have a walker :(

She has no fear... absolutely none at all!!!

She loves her paci and silky blanket

She's a climber and pretty much just a wild child!

She says bye bye, ba-ba (bottle), sis (sissy), puppy, mama

She waves, claps, does patty cake and itsy bitsy spider, and signs "more" (which is more of a clap than the real sign)

We are working on giving kisses and the sign for "all done" as opposed to throwing our cup or food off our high chair tray :)

I've tried every night this week to get a picture of her for her birthday invites, and come up with 2 that are even half way decent :( I would upload them but my internet is all kinds of jacked up and won't let me!!!! That's a story for another day :)

Vacation Day 1 and 2

2011-07-26T11:24:00.004-04:00

Yay for vacation:) It's storming this morning so I thought I'd upload a few pictures. Blogger put these in a crazy order and our wi-fi is too slow to try to change them so here you go....

Daddy taking his princesses into the ocean. This mommy HATES the ocean. McKinley loves it and Baylee, well she's still warming up to the idea.
Our Monday night shrimp boil, and it was FABULOUS! The leftovers ended up filling up half of a gallon zip lock bag, seems like we were a bunch of pigs :)

Baylee's first time in the sand. She was so amazed with it, she wouldn't look up at my camera. My $2 clearance hat has been a life saver this week.

This was Baylee last night. She was miserable at 6:00 and needed a power nap. Poor thing was out.like.a.light. All the noise around her and she didn't even move!

My diva girl on the dock after dinner.

Our attempt at a family photo. Family of 4 pictures seem to never go well! Maybe it'll come around in a few years :)

A love this little spaghetti face!! This mess is what happens when Daddy is in charge of feeding!!!

This was on our way down. We stopped for gas at 10:00 and McKinley ended up with a push pop. These are the things that happen when you take grandparents on vacation who never say "no".
My sunscreen stash for the week!! I have a slight obsession with keeping the girls covered. They get rubbed down then sprayed just for good measure!! :)

It still still storming :( We'll definitely be going out for dinner tonight after being cooped up in the condo all day. Baylee slept till 8:15, went down for a nap at 9:30, and has been asleep for 2 hours!!

Oh crazy days....

2011-07-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure if these two could get any cuter! McKinley was in the floor after bath watching TV. Baylee crawled up in her lap and snuggled up. It was SO cute. I love the fact that Baylee is getting old enough to interact. She adores McKinley. Any time you say, "Baylee, where is Sissy?" she lights up, laughs, and frantically starts looking around for her. So cute :)

Then there are the times McKinley is doing everything she can to stay out of Baylee's reach. She got in the big chair and sat on a pillow to be higher off the ground! Poor Baylee was bound and determined to get in that chair. After a few falls to the floor she gave up and went to find her toys.

We went to Nicholas' first birthday party a few weeks ago. Baylee found his swing to be fabulous! Luckily, the birthday boy was busy enough with his party to not notice the chubby girl taking up residence in his swing.

I had the girls dressed alike and thought it'd be a fabulous photo opportunity. Unfortunately Baylee was not having it. She was in a great mood until I put her in the grass. Notice the horrendous face she's making. It's like she says, "Mommy, the grass, seriously? Get me out of here!"

And again....

The little diva was, for whatever reason, in the mood for pictures. I love the strike a pose she's got going on! As if the hands on the hips weren't enough, she added the pointed toe!

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I think the girls look crazily alike in these pictures! This is McKinley at 8 1/2 months and Baylee at 9 months.

House update? We assumed the potential buyers were a no-go since we hadn't heard anything by Saturday night. But, we were wrong! They countered our counter and last night, we signed another counter! This house selling stuff is SO stressful! To top it off, if they sign our 2nd counter we will close in a little over 3 weeks! YIKES!!! We never have good timing, and I mean never. No more blogging for me today, we have a another showing this afternoon and we've got to get busy on the house we are moving into!!!!

Fourth of July Fun

2011-07-08T22:15:00.009-04:00

Holidays are always super busy for us. All of our family is in the same town so we've always got a family function planned :) Sunday we went to the lake. Can you believe McKinley likes to fish?? What.the.heck. She attempts to cast, loves to reel them in, and her pink fishing rod has been pretty lucky for her! This time she actually wanted to touch the fish she caught. Strange kid she is.... When they got back from the boat ride, she was super excited to get them out of the well and throw them back.

Monday we went to my dad's house. Every time, as in every time for the past 2 years, I ask McKinley to hug cousin Melody for a picture she chokes her. Good sport Melody manages to have a great "CHEESE" face!

A little while later, I asked them to hug again.... notice Melody keeping her distance this time! Have to say I don't blame her.

Baylee was having no part of my camera. She's entirely too busy these days to stop for a pictures.

Baylee is ALWAYS on the go lately. She crawls her goofy little crawl all over the place. She loves to pull up and thinks she has no need to hold on. Wrong. Poor kid is always falling down. I hope this isn't a sign of how fearless she'll be later in life! Now she's decided to hold anything and everything in her mouth while she goes! She'll try to put just about anything in her mouth and take off crawling across the house.

I took this the other night when she was asleep. Granted, taking flash photos of sleeping babies is not the best idea but I couldn't resist! I.cannot.believe how ridicuously BIG she looks all stretched out. The two piece jammies make her look big enough but all stretched out she looks plain huge. Oh baby days, where have you gone??!?!

Commenting Challenge

2011-07-05T22:38:00.003-04:00

So this week, I'm participating in a comment challenge from Jenna's Journey. You can read about it by going to her site: http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/2nd-annual-commenting-challenge-starts.html. My hyperlink won't cooperate so you get the whole.entire.http and all.link. :)

The deal is, you comment on 10 blogs per day for a week. You can choose the blogs from the list on Jenna's blog. The goal? You can get to know new blog friends and actually comment instead of being a blog stalker (yeah, I'm one of those).

So.... if you are stopping by as part of the comment challenge, welcome to the world of us: Chad, Nicole, McKinley, and Baylee..... The Castleberry Circus :)

Just for laughs, here's the story of our evening tonight! Our house is on the market and has been for a little over a month. We had a showing scheduled yesterday for this afternoon. Great, fabulous, exciting. Then I get a call that the people who came Friday night want to come back tonight from 7:00-8:00. Hmmm, our first 2nd showing....YAY! Only now I get a little nervous. We get home from work, piddle around, then decide to change clothes and go grab a bite to eat. In the meantime, we notice a car parked in front of our house. Interesting... then in pulls into the driveway. Chad sneaks out the back door only to run back in with, "there's 2 cars in the driveway! Are you sure they said 7:00??" I call the realtor who confirms it's 7:00 and she just talked to the showing agent about our average utility bills. Awkward we open the garage door, the two people jump in their cars and promptly fly out of the driveway. We back out, Chad waves, and the man thanks us for letting them come back. Weird encounter, what do you say to the new family who is thinking about making your house their house? Off we go to Zaxby's.

8:00, we come back down our street and there are still 4 cars in the driveway. Eeek, more awkward we turn around and go for a drive around the neighborhood. 8:10...repeat same story from above. 8:20...repeat same story from above. Now, all the neighborhood folks working in their yards and out walking are totally wondering what the heck we are doing. We continue to smile and wave. 8:30...repeat same story from above. At this point I totally have to pee. 8:45....drum roll please.... the driveway is free and clear :) Wheeewww, what a nice tour of the neighborhood we got tonight. Now?? We can't help but wonder.... do these people want to make our house their own?? So nerve racking! This girl? Not a fan of the house selling business! I'm excited to sell, I think, sad to leave our first home, and totally not looking forward to packing and moving! More to come.... maybe I'll have some exciting offer news soon!

A Post About McKinley

2011-06-30T20:42:00.005-04:00

With all the monthly posts about Baylee, I thought I'd post a little about McKinley. Who, gasp, will be 5 in only four months. How is it possible I'm about to have a 5 year old?!?!?

She is a total diva. Her picture poses are priceless. For instance.... she asked me to take her picture and this is what I got. But, she must be in the mood for pics. If she's foul, you can forget it.

She loves all things dress up, hair, and makeup. On the weekends, she's in dress up clothes before she ever makes it to our bedroom. She fixes all her doll's hair, her own, mine, and well anyone who will sit still long enough :) She carries a purse most places. It's usually packed with jewelry, lip gloss, a cell phone or two, and who even knows what else! She's also slightly obsessed with flip flops.

She loves to color and draw. She constantly asks us how to spell words so she can write them in her notebook. She can spell her name, Mommy, Daddy, and Baylee perfectly. We are still working on memorizing Castleberry but she's getting there! She has a zillion coloring books and two boxes of markers/pencils in which she uses daily.
Singing and dancing are also high on her list. She knows the words to almost any song we hear on tv, the radio, whatever! It's like she hears something once and boom, she's got it memorized and singing at the top of her lungs. She likes to watch "music" (usually CMT) so she can sing and copy whatever dancing they are doing. This can be good or bad. For instance, if you've seen the video to "country girl shake it for me" (not sure who even sings it) they have some hoochie or shall I say beautiful girls in short shorts dancing around. While this is quite amusing to watch her imitate at the age of 4, it won't be so cute at oh... 14.

We have had our fair share of attitude issues, lack of listening, poor choice of words, total lack of manners, and down right mean streaks. But.... luckily things seem to be on the uphill climb. I'm just starting to think maybe I've given birth to someone who actually DOES know how to act afterall! I still say I'm paying for Chad's raising with her. She's wild, loud, and always looking for something to get into.

She got into a rock star elementary school for PreK. Georgia has a lottery drawing for all the schools and if picked, you get your first or second choice based on availablilty. Or, you can be put on a waiting list. Praise the Lord we got picked for the school I wanted!! There is only one PreK class with 22 kids and we are one of them. This makes for a very happy mommy. We aren't zoned for this school so I'm really hoping we get to stay for kindergarten forward. We drive by now and she says, "there's my school". I love it! Her daycare has a PreK class she would have gone to if she hadn't gotten in at the elementary school. I was totally fine with that but the fact that she's going to a real elementary school in just 2 months is terrifying!!! It seems so....BIG GIRL! She is beyond excited and cannot wait, it's her mommy who is a nervous, anxious wreck! She talks about meeting new teachers and making new friends, it's absolutely adorable!!

Speaking of big, she can now climb this wall by herself at Pump It Up.

She got to pick out a new bathing suit at Target and was TOTALLY pumped about it. When we got home, I asked her to try it on.... she then proceeded to wear it the rest of the day. I asked to take a picture of her and this is what I got....

For comparison sake, I took this picture of McKinley on 6.5.07, she was a little over 7 months.

I took a picture last week of Baylee in the same dress and tried to match the poses, Baylee was 9 months.

Again with the random spacing issues, I have no clue why it does that!!!!!

Baylee - 9 Months

2011-06-30T19:34:00.006-04:00

Okay, so this post comes a little late but Baylee was 9 months on June 21st. Really?? 9 months already??

9 month checkup - 19 lb 4 oz (80%) and 29 inches long (95%)

Stats compared to McKinley? McKinley was 18 lb 1 oz and 29 1/2 inches

Wearing mostly 12 or 18 (yes, 18) month clothes. She can wear 9 month dresses still (assuming the bloomers don't cut into her chubby thighs) but nothing else in a 9 month

Size 4 diapers

Breakfast: bottle and yogurt or fruit cereal, Lunch: veggie and bottle, Dinner: veggie and fruit and maybe some puffs or yogurt melts, Bedtime: Bottle

Her bottles are still mixed with cereal but only 2 tsp now. I'm thinking I'll take away another scoop next week.

We still give her Zantac, but only twice a day now

She sleeps great! Bedtime is anywhere from 7:30 - 9:00 and she wakes up at 6:30 pretty much on the dot 7 days a week. Oh, and she's still in our room :)

Baylee has been pulling up but now she's start to "cruise" along. She's also thinks there's no need to HOLD ON once she's pulled up.

The above (lack of holding on) has resulting in 4 blood instances in the past 2 weeks: 3 busted lips and a busted nose. This is not starting a good pattern for injuries!!

Baylee jabbers constantly, I love that baby babble!!

She cries in the car whenever the sun comes through her window. Sorry kid, can't control which direction we are going!!

She grinds her teeth, a lot. That has got to be one of the most uncomfortable sounds, ever.

She LOVES and I mean LOVES her big sister. She follows McKinley anywhere and everywhere. She laughs when she comes into the room. Why? I do wonder because it seems as though McKinley aggravates the daylights out of her. But for Baylee? She thinks cKinley hung.the.moon. For me? That is pretty sweet to watch :)

She bangs everything together like a set of drums, definitely a noisy little girl.

Major dislikes: changing clothes, being told "no", having her face wiped, a cold baby wipe to her bottom in the morning, peas, stage 3 baby foods

8 teeth: 4 on top and 4 on the bottom

She is a morning person! As in, the minute she opens her eyes she's talking and giving us that HUGE smile :)

Overall, Baylee is a very happy baby! She has the biggest smile and is absolutely adorable! We've finally adjusted to being a family of 4 and these two girls are a bundle of joy! I can't believe Baylee is just 3 short months away from being 1. Craziness. This is a great age, her little personality is showing and she's very interactive :)

Speaking of her first birthday, I am totally overcome with all things birthday party. My new favorite, Pinterest, is TOTALLY feeding my obsession with said birthday party. Out.of.control. Why? Because this is the last 1st birthday I'll get to plan :)

A few things to note....

2011-06-09T21:33:00.011-04:00

Case #1 -
A) Baylee is 8 1/2 months old
B) She started crawling on Tuesday, May 31st... see below picture

A) These jammies were McKinley's. They are Carter's size 24 months, she wore them the summer before she turned 2, approximately 18 months. Hello Chubby Chubs AKA Baylee, why are you outgrowing all your hand-me-downs?

B) Baylee started pulling up on Tuesday, June 7th... one week from the date she started crawling! Really? Let's slow down on our milestones please.

Case #2 - Why is it so hard to get a good picture of 2 kids??!?!

Case #3 -

1. Watching cartoons in Mommy and Daddy's bed is always fun.
2. Friday night pizza and eating in the living room while watching cartoons makes a 4 year old's night :)

Case #4 - What baby doesn't like puffs? Mine. This is not the best pic of her "what the heck is this" face either. Apparently she has some texture issues we need to overcome!

Case #5 -Why are there random spacing issues in my posts????

Case #6 - Chad went to the allergy doctor this week for a 6 month follow up. He's lost 31 pounds in 6 months. That's pretty exciting!

Case #7 - I have upteen JBF tags to take care of before drop off next Wednesday!

Pool Time

2011-06-04T08:37:00.009-04:00

The first time McKinley ever went swimming was her first Memorial Day. I still have this picture of her on our refrigerator! She was 7 months old.

It worked out this year that we would again go swimming for Memorial Day which meant it was Baylee's first time swimming at 8 months old.
When I started looking back at McKinley's old pictures I found this one in her float:
And have almost the exact same picture of Baylee and Daddy. Baylee LOVED her float. She laid back in that thing for over an hour. Her feet were little prunes when I got her out. I love the shade top, it was a great upgrade from McKinley's original one.
McKinley had swimming lessons last year and we bought the BEST float from the YMCA. It works great. I don't know if we'll do swimming lessons this year or not, but she's doing pretty good so far! She swam around the whole pool several times. She loved to pull Baylee around in her float too.
My no-fear-of-water baby jumped right in as SOON as she was sunscreened up and had her float on. Chad asked her if she wanted to jump from the diving board and she did! I was shocked to see MY kid going off the diving board! This Mommy is anything but a water baby soI love that McKinley is doing so great.
McKinley and I the first time she went swimming
And, Baylee and I last weekend. I had to make sure Chad got her shoes in the picture, I LOVE them. I bought the bathing suit and matching hat for her. Then, at the March JBF Sale I found these adorable shoes for $2 and they match PERFECTLY!!! They might be one of my top JBF finds yet :)

Lookout World, Baylee is on the MOVE

2011-06-02T18:13:00.005-04:00

Well, we officially have a crawler!! Baylee has been SO close for several days and she finally took off on Tuesday, May 31st! The video is from my phone, it's not the best quality but you get the point :)

Last night Chad and I were in the kitchen fixing dinner while McKinley and Baylee were still in the living room. We turned around to see this....

Baylee says, "HELLO, you just thought you left me sitting in the living room!! I can come find you now!!!"

McKinley is SO not used to Baylee being mobile. Now Baylee can start paying McKinley back for some of the constant pestering!!!!

Taylor Swift Concert

2011-05-27T17:21:00.006-04:00

Taylor Swift put on a benefit for tornado victims last Saturday, the 21st. It was the final dress rehearsal for her upcoming tour. My sister and I took the girls, Emily and McKinley. McKinley's school teacher made these matching shirts:

We didn't tell the girls where we were going until we got to Nashville. They unwrapped their matching Taylor shirts and squealed, "We got matching Taylor shirts!!!!" They didn't immediately understand we were going to a concert but boy where they excited over their shirts.

McKinley LOVES cotton candy so of course we had to track down the man selling pink. She proceeded to eat it like a huge turkey leg and it was gone in a matter of minutes. I spent twice as long trying to wipe the stickiness off as it took her to eat it all! She had cotton candy all over her face... ear to ear and forehead to chin! I made do with napkins and part of my bottled water.

You can't tell much from this picture, but she's making a heart with her hands like Taylor does.

The girls managed to stay awake for awhile. We stopped outside Nashville for a potty break and some Dunkin Donuts! Mommy needed a little snack to stay awake for the 2 hour drive home! The chocolate and sprinkle donuts kept the girls going for a bit longer, then.... they CRASHED!!!

We had a great time and the girls LOVED it!!! I won't lie, I'm a Taylor fan myself, and it was a pretty cool concert! Even better was watching McKinley having a ball!! She danced non stop :)

Baylee 8 Months

2011-05-27T16:28:00.004-04:00

Wow, it's hard to believe Baylee is already 8 months old. What has the little munchkin been up to?

She has 8 TEETH!!! Seriously, she sprouts a new one constantly.

She has a bottle and cereal/fruit for breakfast, a veggie and bottle for lunch, a veggie and fruit for dinner, and a bottle before bed

I still make some of her food and some is store bought. Since she decided to boycott bottles, I'm making more of her food and mixing it with formula.

She is wearing size 3 diapers and 9 month or 12 month clothes

She is trying SO hard to crawl. I'm thinking it will be any day now.

She is an incredible morning person. She is smiling the instant she opens her eyes.

She still sleeps in her pack-n-play in our bedroom

She LOVES McKinley, she smiles and laughs at her constantly. McKinley NEVER gives the poor baby a moment's peace. I can't wait until the tables turn and Baylee is always in McKinley's business, McKinley is going to get a taste of her own medicine!!!

This little chubby girl is growing up SO fast :)

Never a Dull Moment :)

2011-05-10T18:14:00.008-04:00

I'm a little late with Easter, but here are a few pics of the girls:

McKinley hunting eggs with her cousins Melody and Emily

Baylee is trying SO hard to crawl but she's just not their yet. You can tell she wants so badly to be mobile and she gets super frustrated over it. She's getting up on all fours and rocking but that's about it.

Then, when she's had enough trying she lays flat with the most pitiful look of surrender! It's hard work learning to crawl I guess.

This is our Mother's Day creation! Yes, I'm fully aware we are anything but artsy! The "butterfly" has McKinley's fingerprints for wings. The flowers are her hand prints and the leaves are Baylee's feet. I wanted a flower with Baylee's hand but she just wouldn't keep it open long enough. We have a pottery store in Chattanooga that I LOVE. You pick from a huge variety of pottery, paint it, then they finish it off and you pick it up in a week. The bake it or whatever you do to pottery and put a glaze on it. Their prices are fairly reasonable too!

Me and the girls on Mother's Day weekend. I was in a hurry to get them and myself ready so unfortunately the hair didn't get straightened! We had dinner with Chad's mom Friday night and my mom Saturday afternoon. Then, Sunday was this Mommy's day!!

Chad got me a waffle maker and made homemade waffles for breakfast. That afternoon we took McKinley to ride her bike. That's definitely a flaw of our hilly subdivision, there isn't anywhere good to play! We bought the bike almost 2 years ago and finally McKinley can ride it!! Baylee will definitely have a tricycle first. I think that's where we went wrong with McKinley :)

Can't you tell Baylee has missed a meal or two?? She's currently obsessed with eating her feet!

When McKinley is not acting like the devil, she loves to get her picture made. She looks so cute and prissy huh? She's still quite the dirt baby too. We went to the driving range a few weeks ago. As she was attempting to put her tee in the ground, she found a WORM, proceeded to pick it up and PLAY with it in her hands. Gross.me.out. She and Chad went fishing a few weeks ago and got live worm things that live in a jar of dirt. Chad said she played in the jar forever and she came home with dirt ridden fingernails to prove it!
This picture cracks me up! Baylee jumped right as I was taking the picture. McKinley apparently thought she was going to fall into the floor because she jumped and grabbed her! Their faces and McKinley's foot in the air are priceless :)

Miss Baylee has FIVE teeth!! First she got the upper left tooth that's left of the middle tooth, odd, I know. Then the left middle tooth immediately after. A few weeks later the right middle and the one next to that came in. Now we have 4 on top that are pretty visible. The lower left tooth has come through, barely, but she's not up for anyone seeing it. She keeps her tongue over it anytime I'm trying to look.

I'm not sure why this post has weird spacing issues but I can't seem to fix it. McKinley's moment of the day.... we were sitting at the dinner table and Chad was giving her a hard time about something, imagine that, and so she says, "Daddy, seriously?" with a straight face. We both died laughing! Then, after Daddy read her a bedtime story he asks if he can sleep in her bed too. She replies, "No cause sometimes I kick"... random thoughts of a four year old.

Little of this, little of that

2011-04-20T19:20:00.013-04:00

These girls have been keeping us on our toes! This is McKinley doing a "concert" for Baylee. McKinley loves to be all up in Baylee's business and Baylee usually puts up with whatever McKinley has to offer :) We'll see how this works as they get older!! I suspect Baylee will be paying McKinley back for all the pestering!! This is a picture of Baylee last week, there's one of McKinley at this same age below. Baylee favors McKinley a lot I think. Let's just hope she grows out of the "Little Chad" phase like McKinley did.

This was McKinley one day before she turned 7 months, which is Baylee's age today. I CANNOT believe she was pulling up already. She was crawling at 6 1/2 months, something Baylee isn't really close to yet. I was shocked to see this as I was going through old pictures.
McKinley has a new thing for the 3rd row. It's not so easy to get her buckled back there but she is currently obsessed with sitting back there. So... we continue to stand on our heads in order to get her buckled. It's the little things to her :)

My little priss pot playing with the Mr. Potato. Note, she hasn't played with this thing in probably a year. But suddenly I'm cleaning out toys for Baylee to grow into and Mr. Potato is fabulous again. Baylee has TWO teeth!! She got both of them at the same time between April 2nd and 3rd. NOW, she's getting the two on the other side. Thankfully, she won't have a crooked smile. I'm not sure how she managed to get two on the top left first. Now, she's going to have 4 on top and none on bottom. Oh well! You can barely see them in this picture and you'll have to excuse the dried snot in her nose....

She's starting to scoot herself around. She's looking like, "Um... how did I get over here?" She then proceeded to dig out random nastiness from under the couch. Guess I need to clean out all those old treasures under there. Looking back at McKinley's old pictures, Chad is convinced Baylee is behind so he's been giving he crawling lessons tonight! Poor Baylee, she's looking at him like he has two heads :)

Now that Baylee is getting more active, pictures with both girls are not going so well. As in this one... she kept grabbing McKinley's hair, shirt, shorts... you name it. McKinley was trying to smile all the while telling Baylee to sit still.
Pretty sure this is the, "wait till I get active, I'm going to get into EVERYTHING" face :)

A few recent McKinleyisms:
**Why does it take two hair brushes to blow dry her hair? One for me to brush with and one for her to sing into like a microphone.
**She's in LOVE with chocolate milk, it works great for bribery.
**The attitude, oh the attitude. It's a daily battle to rid her of the back talking. Slowly but surely we'll get there.
**Pony tails are all the rage in the mornings. However, she takes it down everyday at school. Why do I even bother?? She wears her hair pulled to the side with hairbows outside school and says, "because you'll only let me wear a ponytail to school Mommy?" Hehehehehe
**She is a professional public restroom inspector...EVERYWHERE we go. I'm not so much a fan of this.
**She loves to dance and sing while watching herself in the mirror. She's taking to watching her shadow if we are outside and there's no mirror around. This is quite amusing.
**The other NIGHT in the car she asked for her sunglasses. Me, "Why do you want these, it's dark outside?", McKinley, "I need them to put on my head in my hair" So now she thinks they are a hair accessory, lovely.

We have our hands full but these two sure are a lot of fun!! There is never a dull moment, whether we are laughing or dealing with a meltdown. Fun times at the Castleberry Circus, ALWAYS :)

April 16, 2005

2011-04-16T11:36:00.001-04:00

Baylee's 6 Month Checkup

2011-04-03T19:53:00.004-04:00

Baylee got a great report at her 6 month checkup. She weighed 17 lbs 6 ounces (75%) and was 27 inches long (95%). She weighs one pound more than McKinley did at her 6 month checkup but is one inch shorter. No wonder she looks so much chubbier!

She eats 4 six ounces bottles a day, soy formula thickened with rice. She has cereal mixed with fruit for breakfast, a veggie for lunch, a veggie or fruit for "dinner" around 5:00, and cereal mixed with fruit before bed. Baylee is still taking Zantac twice a day for her reflux. It has worked wonders for her spit up.

She sleeps from 9:00 till 6:30 during the week and till 7:00 - 8:30 on the weekends. She's still sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room. I'm quite fond of this arrangement!

I scanned these pictures in from our MasterPortraits album. They didn't scan so well but you get the point!

The doctor said we could start introducing meats and a sippy cup of water. We'll see how that goes! I'm still making a lot of her baby food. I do all of the fruits and some veggies. She's not fond of my green beans or peas, at all. I made squash and sweet potatoes last week and she LOVES it. She'll eat my carrots too. I've been buying some veggies for a little variety.

The Girls

2011-04-03T19:27:00.003-04:00

These two precious faces crack me up! Baylee loves to grab anything she can get her hands on. As I was trying to take their picture, she was pulling McKinley's pigtail then her shirt. McKinley, "Baylee would you please stop and take our picture!" Then, after I snapped a few pictures she said, "Mommy, would you get her she's pulling me all over." McKinley isn't quite used to Baylee getting more active.

This is Baylee last week and then McKinley at her same age. Sometimes I think they look a lot alike and sometimes not. I couldn't find a good picture of them looking alike this time. As it warms up, Baylee will be in more of McKinley's old clothes. I'm anxious to see how they'll look alike in the same outfit! I also bought two new big sister/little sister shirts today. I have to have a new set with each changing season :)

My Dirt Baby

2011-03-30T14:12:00.003-04:00

I often wonder why this cute, seemingly prissy girl....

comes home from school looking like this:

A close up

I mean, really... what do you do at school all day?? She never looks this disasterous during the winter months when they don't go outside. It would appear she loves to play in the dirt!!! I'm now keeping extra clothes in the car in case we need to go somewhere after school. I never know what she'll look like when I pick her up! The head-to-toe dirt coupled with the fact that she sweats like a man and therefore smells AWFUL are quite the combination. We've started giving her a bath as soon as we get home!

My girls sitting together on the couch (please excuse the pink pirate eye patch)

I LOVE these little boots and leggings!! Too bad her foot is growing so fast they almost don't fit anymore :(

In case you are wondering why I'm blogging in the middle of the day on a Wednesday.... McKinley woke up throwing up all over her bed last night. Lovely huh? She's been fine today other than not wanting much breakfast. She did eat half a turkey sandwich for lunch and is now napping. Hopefully whatever was wrong has passed! Eewwww....

Operation Homemade Baby Food

2011-03-05T13:53:00.005-05:00

Yes, you read that right, I'm trying to MAKE Baylee's baby food. I wanted to do this with McKinley but never got around to it. I want to try it now just to say I did! I know it is healthier for Baylee and it's really can't be that hard, right?

I started with a trip to Earthfare. I bought frozen peas and green beans. The websites I've been reading say frozen is just as healthy and a lot less time consuming. I also bought sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, plums, and carrots. I must admit I do not eat a lot of fresh fruit and I don't eat any vegetables really. I had to read the labels on each section to even figure out what I was getting. Sad, I know. My other problem is figuring out when something is ripe or ready to be used, that's definitely still a work in progress. I also bought a Magic Bullet at Costco with a zillion attachments. It is very easy to use and can be used for much more than just baby food.

I steamed the beans, peas, carrots, and plums. Honestly, I've never steamed anything before. I bought a metal colander and used a small sauce pan. It seemed to work okay. I mixed the plums with apples. I bought all natural applesauce in a jar and added it to the plums. I really don't think my plums were quite ready yet, they are a bit tart. I've since learned there are 2 types of plums and apparently I bought the less sweet of the two... note to self for next time.

This is my carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans. She wasn't a big fan of my green beans. I'm hoping she'll adjust to the taste, we'll see.

The avocado was a complete NO GO. I used one avocado for two small servings. She gagged so badly the first time she tried it I never used the 2nd bowl. Poor thing literally couldn't stop gagging :( Then, when I tossed it and made some rice cereal with apples, she didn't want to open her mouth for the first bite. I'm pretty sure she thought it was going to be avocado again and she wanted NO part of that!!!!

Next, I'm going to make pears, squash, and zucchini. She's only tried my sweet potatoes and green beans so far. I think I'll let her try the peas for dinner :) I really like making the food and I'm super excited for how good it is for her. Chad, of course, thinks I've lost my mind for real this time!! He keeps using the Gerber I've got in the cabinet to avoid thawing out an ice cube of baby food.

Walgreens-ing

2011-03-04T21:35:00.003-05:00

So, I've wanted to get into couponing for awhile. But, I must admit it's hard to get into a good pattern of cutting coupons and watching all the sale papers. But, last week I think I got a pretty good deal at Walgreens....

For 2 packs of Huggies (about $9 a pack), 2 bottles of Aveeno Ezema lotion ($8-$9 each), a tube of toothpaste, a pack of Intution razor blades (around $8 usually), and a medicine syringe (random but the one from the pharmacy broke). All of this would have cost me around $48 and I paid $32. That still sounds like a lot but, it's $16 less than it normally would have been at Wal-
mart with only the manufacturers coupons. I've recently discovered that Walgreens and Rite Aid have "store bucks" you get when you purchase certain things each week. So, I got "Walgreens bucks" back on the diapers, toothpaste, and razor blades plus the lotions were BOGO 1/2 off. Oh, and I had manufacturer's coupons for the diapers and lotions. The key is to pay under multiple transactions. I paid for the razors and toothpaste in one transaction and got $6 "bucks" back. Then one pack of diapers and the lotions, got $3 "bucks" back. And lastly, the third transaction was for the 2nd pack of diapers (the deal was you only got "bucks" back on 1 diaper purchase). Now for a few pictures of girls :)

This is what happens when Baylee is not in the mood to play...

My big girl who wants to sit up SOOO badly

And yet another try to get a cute picture of these two rotten girls together....

This is McKinley giving Baylee a lecture and "how-to" on smiling for Mommy's camera!!!!

Baylee 5 Months

2011-02-23T21:23:00.008-05:00

Wow, I can't believe Miss Baylee is 5 months old!!!! Where or where does time go? She is getting so big and it's evident she's not a newborn anymore!!! What are you up to these days??

You are in size 2 diapers (barely though). We aren't sure how much longer you'll be wearing size 2. And we JUST opened a huge box from Costco. Mommy is cheap, I'm going to squeeze you in them as long as I can :)
You rolled over for the first time on January 26th. You rolled over twice in one night only to never do it again. Until last week, February 19th. We'd been trying and trying to get you rolling over on camera. I left you in the floor, on your back, while I tucked McKinley in. When I came out of McKinley's room this was you... on your belly!! I swear you did it when I wasn't there to video on purpose!!

You wear 6 month and 9 month clothes. Yes, you are wearing some 6-9 months and no, they aren't swallowing you whole!!! Some of your 6 month outfits are ready for the outgrown bin. Seriously kiddo, I timed you and McKinley to be born in the same season for a reason. You aren't allowed to outgrow all your hand-me-downs.
You are learning to blow bubbles out of your mouth. This is what you were doing in the high chair while the rest of us were eating dinner.
You SMILE almost all the time. You still have only 2 modes: happy Baylee and VERY mad Baylee. You go from 0-60 in seconds, with no fair warning. Unlike your lovely newborn colic days, we can now calm you down just as quickly as you get mad. Below is MAD Baylee. I had you sitting on the counter while I fixed your cereal. I got it all ready then stopped for a photo of you before we went to eat. This did not go over well, at all.

You sleep PERFECT, we could not ask for any more. You sleep from about 9:00 till 6:30 during the week (we wake you up) and around 7:30 or 8:00 on weekends.

I love comparing McKinley and you at varying ages. This was McKinley at 5 months....

And Baylee at 5 months....

I still think you two look a lot alike!!! What's also weird is I can almost always find a matching pose picture of McKinley to compare each month. Strange how my picture taking habits are the same 4 years later. And I take terrible pictures, still!! You'd think I'd get at least a little better over time.

McKinley's Thought of the Day....

2011-02-16T20:45:00.002-05:00

In the car this afternoon McKinley was sniffling.... Chad, "McKinley, is your nose runny baby?" McKinley, "No Daddy, my boogers just won't stay in." Oh the things a 4 year old will say :)

Crazy Girls

2011-02-12T09:17:00.007-05:00

What's going on in our world??? First there's McKinley.....

This picture cracks me up!!! She's always in dress up attire these days. No matter if she's singing/dancing, playing with babies, Barbies, coloring, etc... The little diva always has some get up on!! Her new thing is to play in front of the bathroom mirror. She stands on her stool and "fixes" (I'll use that term loosely) her hair and sings. It's quite amusing! Yesterday morning she wanted pigtails for school. Our conversation went like this... "Mommy, I want pigtails (as she hands me two rubberbands)", me "Mommy doesn't have time to fix pigtails this morning", McKinley "well, I guess you're just gonna have to get over it and hurry up". Gee, thanks for the words of wisdom Miss Priss!! I got a good laugh and stopped to fix the little girl some pigtails.

She continues to amaze us with her ridiculous memory. The child remembers EVERYTHING! At least a couple times each day she randomly start telling a story that happened months or even years ago! For instance, last week in the car she tells a story about her Mickey Mouse kite from vacation last June. Then it was a story about the outfit she wore to the hospital to see Baylee for the first time. And last night it was an elaborate story about a cat getting in the fenced yard with my mom's dog... the cat scratched the dog's nose and the dog's nose bled. That was the moral of the story but she explained every detail in depth!

Miss Baylee continues to get more and more interactive each day!! She's noticed her feet, her hands are ALWAYS in her mouth, she grasps and plays with toys, and jabbers constantly. She still has only two modes... very smiley and happy OR screaming at the tops of her lungs and red faced. She goes from one mode to the other in a matter of seconds. Typically she gets over the fit pretty quickly.

She gets 4 bottles a day, a veggie at lunch, and cereal before bed. She sleeps GREAT at night. She goes down around 9:00 and sleeps till 8:00 on the weekends. During the week, we wake her up around 6:00 for a morning bottle and she falls asleep in the car. She's finally starting (fingers crossed) to get into a morning and afternoon nap routine. She's also switched pacis, no more big ugly green one!!! She now takes the Avent orthodontic kind. One day for nap at Miss Elizabeth's she just decided not to take the green one anymore :)

Last night I had girls in matching shirts and tried for 20 minutes to get a good picture. Not so much! McKinley had a plastered "CHEESE" face and repeated "Baylee, seriously, would you just smile for Mommy's camera!!!" I kept saying "just one more time" and until McKinley gave up and went on about her business.

McKinley is trying to smile while saying, "Mommy, how many more times????"

This was the best I got :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T19:19:00.005-05:00

Baylee 4 Months...a Little Late

2011-02-02T18:05:00.007-05:00

Baylee was 4 months on Friday, January 21st and went for her 4 month check up this past Monday the 31st. She weighed 15 lbs 4 oz (75th percent) and was 26 inches long (95th percent). Everything checked out great, we are very thankful to have a healthy baby girl!

She rolled over for the first time on Wednesday, January 26th. Now, she hasn't done it again since!! We video her constantly when she's on her back. It's like she says, "Haha , you are trying to video me rolling over and I'm not going to do it!!"

She's developing her own personality these days. She's quite the talker and LOVES to smile. It is very adorable to watch her and McKinley interact. Baylee just loves to sit and watch McKinley. Baylee tends to have one of only two personalities most of the time. She's either very happy and playful or totally mad at the world and screaming! There doesn't seem to be much of an in between. She is very melodramatic and has a fiery temper. But, the other times she's as smiley as can be! She hates to be left alone or where she can't see the rest of us. When we eat dinner, she has to be in the bouncy right next to the table.

McKinley was also 26 inches at her 4 month checkup and she weighed 14 lbs 10 oz. Baylee has slowed down in height, she's been taller than McKinley was at previous check ups. But, she's still in the 95th percentile!!

McKinley at 19 weeks...

Baylee at 19 weeks....

I think their facial features still look very similar except for their eyes. It will be interesting to watch them grow and see how much they favor or don't favor each other in the years to come.

A few recent McKinleyisms..... We were driving down the road last week and she was trying to point out a plane in the sky. When I didn't see it she says, "Mommy, work with me here... the plane is right there!". Then I was buckling her the other morning and leaned over to put Baylee's paci in her mouth. As I was reaching to Baylee, McKinley says "Mommy, you are all up in my business!" She loves to dance, play dress up, sing, and fix the hair on all her babies and dolls. Dance class is going great, they got measured for their recital costumes last week. McKinley was SOOO excited at the sequin outfit :)

Chad's parents used to run karaoke. I had to work a few Saturdays ago and she spent the afternoon at their house. Since McKinley loves to sing, Poppy George got out the dance light, microphone, and speaker. McKinley was in LOVE!! She sang and danced for almost 4 hours straight!! She passed out that afternoon before we got out of their driveway to go home. Then for the next couple weeks, she left her guitar in my car just in case we went to Mamay and Poppy's and she needed it.

SNOW DAY and Then and Now

2011-01-10T22:59:00.008-05:00

The Chattanooga area had about 8 inches of snow today!! We NEVER get this much snow!!! Chad bought a sled on his way home Friday. By far the best $14 we've spent in awhile. Us and two of our neighbors spent a lot of today sledding down our front yard. We had our sled and they had a snow disk. The kids had a blast and well, so did the adults! Doesn't look like we will be getting out tomorrow either so... more sledding to come :) McKinley started the morning sledding with me. THEN she started going all by herself!! We couldn't believe it, I never would have imagined my little chicken daughter would be flying down our front yard on a sled!!! When we went back out after nap, she was sledding with the neighbor's son (a bit younger than her) and another neighbor's daughter (who is a bit younger). Once again, really... my daughter??? The problem was getting them to STOP on the sled. I managed the bottom of the hill for one time down, then quickly turned that job over to a daddy! They were getting SO much speed, they were almost impossible to stop!! Our BRICK mailbox was right at the end of the path, along with a large patch of shrubbery on another side, and a car parked in the rode after that. SO, you pretty much had to throw yourself on the sled to stop it. Not fun when you were the catcher, but pretty amusing to watch from the top of the hill!!

This is a video I took from my phone of McKinley going down the hill!

This was our front yard

Daddy in his make-shift snow gear... part hunting clothes, part jogging pants. Notice no pictures of Mommy as my snow gear was pretty much heinous. Cap, scarf, Chad's hunting gloves, Chad's nylon jogging pants (over a pair of my jammie pants), and boots from I think high school I still had in my closet.

McKinley loved to roll around in the snow. Not real sure why, but she did a lot of this today....

One of Chad's friends rode his 4-wheeler over from another subdivision down the road. We were sitting on the couch then looked at each other like, "what is that noise?" We look out the window to see Kevin on the 4-wheeler at our front door! Then, these two goobs rode around the subdivision for awhile. This is what they were doing down our street.... I couldn't help but laugh!

Since we are snowed in and well bored, I've been looking back at pictures. This was McKinley four years ago today.....

And McKinley this morning....

I can't believe how much she has changed!!! And just for fun, here is Baylee this morning....

And McKinley at almost 4 months....

I think Baylee favors McKinley ALOT at times and others not so much. I can't wait to see how they'll change over the years :)

This and That

2011-01-09T20:22:00.008-05:00

Miss Baylee is getting SO big!! She smiles all the time now and reaches out for her toys. Her routine: up between 6 and 8 for a bottle, back to sleep until 10 or 11, time for another bottle, not much of an afternoon napper, eats again between 4 and 6, lastly cereal mixed with prunes and a bottle before bed. She had a nasty cold over Christmas and the congestion was keeping her awake. BUT since that's gone, she's sleeping all night. This makes for a happy mommy and daddy! She still fights sleep until the bitter end, she's got a quite a strong will when it comes to going to sleep! We usually put her in the swing to go to sleep,then move her to the bed once she's out like a light.

She has a new thing about covering her face... pretty sure this is NOT recommended by the Academy of Pediatrics!!! She covers it with anything she can reach then we just move it once she's asleep. She only wants paci when she's going to sleep too. Paci and covered face... whatever floats her boat I guess.

McKinley has been in gymnastics but LOVE to dance. I started her in a ballet/jazz class last week. I've NEVER seen her so excited!!! We had gone to an open house at the studio after Christmas and she was in heaven. Then, dressed in her new dance outfit and waiting for her class to start, I thought she was going to explode. I would have taken more pictures but none of the other moms were and I was afraid to be THAT MOM, on the first night at least :)

New Year's Day we went to The Melting Pot with Chad's parent's, younger brother, and younger brother's girlfriend. We had a great time! I will admit Chad and Tyler aren't the best pair to take in public, they are a constant source of mischief!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2010-12-31T17:38:00.004-05:00

We wish you

a Merry Christmas

We wish you

a Merry Christmas

We wish you
a Merry Christmas
and a Happy
New Year!!

The Castleberry Christmas was great this year!! We had lots of fun with our families and are finally adjusting to a family of 4! McKinley has thankfully learned how to behave again, well for the most part anyway. Baylee has decided she loves us after all!! Her screaming, fussing, and crying has gotten WAY better. This makes the whole house MUCH happier :)

Chad's younger brother, Tyler, is home from Iraq and visiting the family for a couple weeks. He loves the kids once they get about McKinley's age but Baylee is a bit too young for him. He holds her like she's a nuclear bomb!!! I made him hold Baylee for this picture :)
Then, I asked him to hold her while I fixed her bottle and he ending up feeding her. We couldn't believe it :)

These two girls make me smile :) Baylee loves for McKinley to talk to her and sit next to her but she's totally unsure about her holding her!! She gets the panicked looked immediately!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-08T19:01:00.005-05:00

She was mesmerized by the stripes on her sleeper!

Castleberry Christmas Tree 2010

Our first Christmas as a family of four!!

She thought about smiling but refused to look at the camera...

Seriously Mommy, can we just go bye-bye now?!??!

Holiday Fun

2010-12-03T15:18:00.012-05:00

The girls at my mom's Thanksgiving. I got Baylee's legwarmers as a gift and they are the cutest things ever!!!

My little diva...

Take II, she got a MAJOR haircut last week!! I think it is absolutely ADORABLE :)

My niece Emily and McKinley take a pause from coloring to pose for the camera.

After our Friday Thanksgiving, we went to an annual Chattanooga event called Christmas on the River. It's a parade of decorated boats and it was absolutely FREEZING!!!

Three little monkeys loaded up in my van.... Obviously Eric was not in the mood for my camera!

Taking a break from the cold weather in a coffee shop (we were killing time between the parade and the fireworks). McKinley was dressed in multiple layers with a snow suit on top!

We also took our annual trip to Rock City's Garden of Lights. It wasn't that cold at our house, but on top of the mountain it was frigid!!! McKinley was dressed in the snow suit again!

The kids got their faces painted... one Batman, a fairy, and a butterfly :)

Mommy and Daddy atop Lookout Mountain....

Miss Baylee has had to skip some of the holiday fun in the freezing temps! She's had plenty of good times at home, including tummy time :)

Baylee's 2 Month Checkup

2010-12-02T12:31:00.005-05:00

Miss Baylee went for her 2 month checkup on Monday. This is her waiting for the doctor.....

We thought she was getting HUGE and well, we were right. She was 11lbs 15oz (70th percentile) and 25 inches long (off the CHARTS percentile)!!!! With McKinley, the doctor would always say as they were plotting her growth, "if there were 100 girls in here born on her birthday, she'd be taller than.... all of them!" And that's the exact same story we heard at Baylee's checkup. I had the nurse look back in McKinley's chart for her 2 month stats, she was 11lbs 7oz and 24 1/2 inches. So far baby sister Baylee is measuring bigger than McKinley, we'll see how that goes as they get older :)

Baylee had on a cute Santa outfit but was totally not up for pictures!!! She got 3 shots and one oral vaccine. At this point I'm pretty sure she was just ready to go!! I really should have tried for pictures BEFORE the shot ordeal....

She has outgrown most of her 3 month sleepers. She can still wear 3 month onesies and pants though. The 6 month sleepers fit great, which tells me they may not fit her through winter! She can wear 6 month onesies but 6 month pants absolutely fall off of her. Looks like she's going to be just like her sister, tall and skinny! Too bad they don't make adjustable waist pants in the 6 month size....

Overall she got a great report from the doctor. We are very happy to have been blessed with a healthy baby!! Now, if we could just get her to go to bed at night things would be GREAT!!!

What we've been up to.....

2010-11-25T10:34:00.008-05:00

Baylee was 2 months old last Sunday. Geez how time flies!! I go back to work in 2 1/2 weeks!! She's doing much better with the fussiness and SCREAMING. We've got her on soy formula and she's doing great. We've also been giving her cereal before bed. She's sleeping on average, 7 hours at night. She's been going to bed around midnight. I'm really hoping to get her on a schedule of going to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 before I go back to work. She's wearing a 3-6 month outfit in this picture, and it fits!!

Chad hung the new pictures from Baylee's newborn session up, I love how it turned out!

The JBF sale was last week, I got some really cute things for the girls this time. McKinley got a leotard, 3 school shirts (Osh Gosh and Gymboree), a dress, two pairs of school blue jeans (Gap), a pink coat for school (Children's Place), a cream Gap sweater dress, and Hello Kitty jammies... $36

Baylee... 2 Carters' long sleeved onesies, Gymboree sweater dress, Old Navy dress, red/zebra outfit, smocked Christmas dress, and diaper bag.... $55

I did better with McKinley's clothes this time, Baylee Christmas dress was $13 and the bag was $20. I also got a Graco base for $10, Christmas presents for 4 of the nieces and nephews $31, 3 toys for Baylee $10, and 3 toys for McKinley $15.

I got a Moby wrap (not at the sale though), which we LOVE!! I have a Chicco carrier (bought at the last JBF sale for $10), but B is a bit too small for it. The Moby is great!!! She'll sleep in it for hours if I let her. I can eat, do laundry, wash dishes, you name it!! It took awhile to get the hang of how to wrap it, thank goodness for directions. I've only got one of the wraps down for now :)

Baylee taking a bath in Grammie's sink.... not too sure what kind of face this is!

We had a suprise 75th birthday party for my Nanny last week, it turned out great. She was totally suprised and really enjoyed all her family and friends being there.

Nephew Eric, Sister Natalie, McKinley, Mom Grammie, Cousin Chad, Nanny, Niece Emily, Aunt Nunu, Cousin Tanner, me and Baylee....

Nanny and Baylee

Emily and McKinley

The Gem in McKinley's Nose....

2010-11-25T10:13:00.006-05:00

Yes, we were that family last week. Nothing like checking into the doctor's office with "foreign object in nose" as the problem!! It all started when McKinley was SUPPOSED to be taking her nap. She walks out of her room, finger in nose, nose kinda red with, "Mommy, I got that heart from my crown stuck in my nose." I immediately knew what heart she was talking about, it had been on her nightstand when I put her down for nap. It was a heart gem sticker. She informed me she took both heart stickers and put them together, into her nose. What the heck?? I called the pediatrician, who obviously told me to come on in. The doctor tried 3 different times to get it out, no avail.

So, they call an ENT. It is now 4:00 and the pediatrician tells me to go, now, to the ENT. They were waiting on us before they left for the day. Not only are we the family whose child has a foreign object in her nose..... we are the family making the WHOLE office stay late to see us. Nice. The ENT tried to get it out but it didn't work. McKinley was hysterical and they had her swaddled like a newborn trying to hold her down. I felt so sorry for my hysterically crying child. Next on the list? Getting scheduled to have the gem surgically removed the next morning. YIKES! What an eventful afternoon.....

The next morning, I'm up, showered and ready by 4:45 to go to the hospital. As I was pumping for Baylee, Chad was brushing McKinley's teeth. He yells from the bathroom for me. The gem had worked its way down overnight, we could now see it without a light and without her lying down. Chad pushed on the outside of her nose and used tweezers to get the gem out. YAY!!! Dr Daddy saved the day and an expensive hospital bill :) I called the hospital to tell them we wouldn't be coming in and back to bed we went.

Guess we are still struggling with the whole sibling issue! Everyone says bad attention is still attention. Oy. I hope this experience was tramatic enough that McKinley doesn't try this again!!!

Baylee's Newborn Pictures

2010-11-21T22:09:00.004-05:00

I scanned in a few of my favorites......

Halloween, 6 Weeks, and then some.....

2010-11-07T21:30:00.013-05:00

This Halloween McKinley was Snow White and Baylee was a flower. I found BOTH costumes at JBF in August. Snow White was $15 and the flower was only $3! I was very excited for my two costumes together being under $20 :) McKinley had asked to be Snow White since last Halloween. The wig was absolutely hilarious!! Baylee was not a fan of the flower. I don't know if it made her too hot or what. But, every time I put it on her over the course of the weekend, she was one unhappy camper :(

Baylee was 6 weeks old last Tuesday. What is she doing now?? We took her to the chiropractor for her colic. Most everyone thought this was the craziest thing they'd ever heard. But, we were desparate and had nothing to lose! We think it has helped her tremedously! She's still a high maintenance little thing but she doesn't have the crazy fits we can't calm her down from. Let's hope she continues to improve. She's starting to sleep around 6 hours after her last feeding now.

I love dressing the girls alike!! Chad likes to remind me they aren't twins but I still think it's precious!! I won't be able to do this forever so I'm trying to take advantage while I can :)

I attempted a family picture after dinner..... our little family of 4!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-28T14:45:00.002-04:00

One Month

2010-10-27T11:00:00.009-04:00

My post comes a little late, but Miss Baylee was one month old last Thursday. At her one month checkup she weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long. At birth, she supposedly measured 19 1/2 inches. Seeing that growing 4 inches in one month is a bit extreme, our pediatrician is guessing there was a slight error in her birth measurement.

What else has Baylee been up to? She was diagnosed with colic at her check up. She gets fired up between 8 and 10 at night and will cry for one to four hours. Crazy, uncontrollable, inconsolable screaming! It's trying on your nerves for sure. Poor girl, we just have to laugh to keep from crying. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Another sign of colic is general fussiness throughout the day, we have that problem too. :)

Baylee is wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes. She's QUITE a spitter. Her weight gain was excellent so the doctor wasn't concerned. She said I could add cereal to a bottle, the extra thickness can help spit up. However, I've got to get some larger bottle nipples before I try that again. I pumped yesterday and added cereal, not thinking that it wouldn't come through the newborn nipple. Talk about one MAD baby when nothing would come out. Poor planning on my part.

Some other random Baylee facts:

She does not like car rides. In fact I'm pretty sure she hates them.
She likes to suck on her arm, your shoulder, ANYTHING but a paci. We've tried, oh, every brand and she doesn't have a favorite.
She likes to be swaddled. Not all the time but most of the time we've got to swaddle her to get her to sleep.
Which brings up another interesting fact, she will fight sleep until the bitter end.
She's sleeping 5 - 6 hours at night after her last feeding. She's eating 4 or 5 ounces at each feeding. The doctor thought this was a lot but heaven forbid you make her stop eating before she's done, that makes for one mad baby.
She loves to look out the window. If I put her bouncy or pack-n-play in front of a window and she'll stare and look forever.
She loves her swing. She's spent a few nights lately sleeping in her swing.
Baylee is slowing adjusting to diaper changes, clothing changes, and bathes. That is, she's no longer squealing throughout the duration of them. This makes us very happy!
She loves to be held. Or should I say she'll scream if you aren't holding her. This makes it very difficult for me to get anything done. Including eating, showering, and laundry. She can be out like a light in my arms, but once I lay her down.... WIDE AWAKE. I really don't understand how this happens.
Speaking of laundry her spitting habit creates a lot of it. Which I can't seem to get caught up on.

It's crazy that you can forget how life was with a newborn. Or maybe it's just that McKinley and Baylee are TOTALLY different. At any rate, we are all surviving :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-13T20:29:00.002-04:00

Baylee is 3 Weeks Old!!

2010-10-12T19:58:00.010-04:00

Wow, it's hard to believe Miss Baylee is 3 weeks old today!!! So what is she up to these days? She's still quite the little cry baby, properly nicknamed Fussamuch still! I definitely wouldn't describe her as an easy baby either. She's very high maintenance, her way or you are going to hear about until she gets her way. She pretty much has to be swaddled to go to sleep. She LOVES to fight sleep and still doesn't take a paci very well. We are still trying different types but we've not found one that is just "the one". She continues to nurse very well. She usually goes 3 or 4 hours between feedings. A couple of times she's gone 5 hours at night. We've given her a bottle a couple of times, she also does well with them. She still doesn't like diaper changes, clothing changes, being naked in general, and especially bath time. She did decent at last night's bath, I didn't leave the bathroom with a TOTAL headache!

McKinley is still adjusting to life with a baby sister. She LOVES Baylee, we just have some behavioral issues to work through! She likes to do anything but what you ask her to do and thoroughly enjoys doing what you ask her NOT to do. She's also come down with a serious case of back talking. Day by day and with lots of patience I'm sure we'll get through it!

Grammie and Rusty took her to a craft fair last weekend. McKinley had a blast and especially enjoyed the attention. She got her face painted at the fair.....

I dressed her in the cheerleader outfit since it was the day of the TN/GA game. However, that didn't turn out to well for us. We won't be considering this her "lucky" cheerleader outfit any time soon!

Miss Baylee

2010-10-08T16:07:00.007-04:00

Baylee was born on Tuesday, September 21st at 10:12 a.m. I was induced, we were admitted to the hospital at 8:00 p.m. Monday night. Baylee weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Last photo as a family of 3

Checked in and ready to have a baby

Daddy holding his newest Princess for the first time McKinley holding baby sister for the first time

Today she is 19 days old and we've nicknamed her Miss Fussabunch! She is high maintenance and demands her way all the time. If she's unhappy in ANY way, every body hears about it!!! This is quite an adjustment for us, McKinley was SUCH an easy baby!!! Baylee is doing excellent on nursing, eating every 3 to 4 hours. This is her in her play gym....

McKinley LOVES her baby sister. She talks to her in the sweetest voice and loves to give her kisses. She took a turn for the worse at first on listening to Mommy and Daddy but she's finally adjusting pretty well.

37 Weeks - Ready to Have a BABY

2010-09-08T20:06:00.012-04:00

How far along? 37 weeks, full term!!

How big is baby? According to the Baby Bump app, 19.25 inches and 6.3 pounds

Total weight gain? 31 pounds

Maternity clothes? The only non-maternity I'm wearing these days are Chad's clothes!

Sleep? Still waking up 3, 4, or 5 times a night :(

Movement? Maniac baby is always dancing around

Food cravings? Chinese and Panera salads

What I miss? SLEEP and being able to lay down, flat, without dying of reflux

Gender? A little GIRL, Baylee Montgomery

Symptoms? Reflux.is.the.worst. and I really waddle these days

Best moment of the week? Hearing her heartbeat at our appointment

What I'm looking forward to? Bringing Miss Baylee into the world :)

Milestone? 2 or less weeks!! We are going to be induced the night of Sept 20th for her to arrive (hopefully) on the 21st (which is also my grandmother's birthday)

McKinley's New Room

2010-09-08T19:51:00.004-04:00

First night in the big girl bed!! She's sleeping in a daybed that I used to sleep in when I visited my grandparent's in Spring City.

We finally finished McKinley's new room and she LOVES it!!! For some reason, she plays in there way more than she did in the "old" room. Even though, all the toys are the same!! She loves sleeping in her big girl bed (she's been in a toddler bed until now). She runs into the old room from time to time, she's not quite used to the location change! I still have some pictures to put on the wall and I want to add a wall mirror to the back of her door. Overall, we are very pleased with how it turned out :)

36 Weeks Oh My!!

2010-08-31T21:41:00.016-04:00

How far along? 36 Weeks!!!

How big is Baby C? At our ultrasound yesterday she was measuring 37 weeks and weighing in at an estimate 6lbs, 14 oz

Total weight gain? 30 pounds

Maternity clothes? The only non-maternity I'm wearing these days are Chad's clothes!

Sleep? Still waking up 3 or 4 times a night :(

Movement? Maniac baby is always dancing around

Food cravings? Chinese and Panera salads

What I miss? SLEEP and being able to lay down, flat, without dying of reflux

Gender? Another rotten little GIRL, Baylee Montgomery

Symptoms? Reflux.is.the.worst. and I really waddle these days

Best moment of the week? Seeing Baylee on the ultrasound and hearing that everything looks great!

What I'm looking forward to? The fact that our new baby girl is almost here!!!

Milestone? 3 or less weeks!! We are going to be induced at 39 weeks!!

35 Weeks!!!

2010-08-24T18:38:00.009-04:00

How far along? 35 Weeks!!!

How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 18 inches, the size of a honeydew melon, and 5.25 pounds

Total weight gain? 27 pounds, doesn't look like I'll stay under my goal of 30!!!

Maternity clothes? The only non-maternity I'm wearing these days are Chad's tshirts!

Sleep? I'm totally prepared for those middle of the night feedings, I wake up 4 times a night now!

Movement? All the time, not sure what kind of dancing she's doing in there :)

Food cravings? It depends really, everyday is different

What I miss? SLEEP and being able to lay down, flat, I'm sleeping on so many pillows that I'm pretty much upright

Gender? A little GIRL and Chad has named her Baylee

Symptoms? Reflux, reflux, and more reflux! I'm also totally starting to waddle now :(

Best moment of the week? Realizing my big belly now turns on the automatic sinks at work!!!

What I'm looking forward to? Our ultrasound next week

Milestone? 4 or less weeks!! We are going to be induced at 39 weeks!!

30 Weeks and a BIG Belly

2010-07-22T20:36:00.004-04:00

How far along? 30 Weeks!!!

How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 15.7 inches, the size of a cabbage, and about 3 pounds

Total weight gain? 14 pounds as last week, we'll see where I'm at next week at my appointment

Maternity clothes? Um, pretty sure this belly isn't fitting into anything other than maternity

Sleep? Not so much. We got a new bed which is fabulous but I still wake up to go potty, eat some Tums, or fan myself because I'm burning up!

Movement? Baby C is a maniac compared to McKinley!! She moves constantly and likes to poke out parts of my belly

Food cravings? It depends really, everyday is different

What I miss? Nothing really right now, things with the pregnancy are going pretty good :)

Gender? A little GIRL and yes, she's still nameless

Symptoms? Reflux, heartburn, and more reflux

What I'm looking forward to? Working on McKinley's big girl room and putting her current room back to a nursery

Milestone? Down to 10 weeks or less!!

Wordless Wednesday is 28 Weeks

2010-07-07T21:08:00.003-04:00

27 Weeks :)

2010-06-30T21:02:00.006-04:00

How far along? 27 Weeks, less than 13 to go!!!
How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 14.5 inches, the size of a cauliflower, and about 2 pounds

Total weight gain? 14 pounds, so far I'm on a much better path to NOT gain the 45 pounds I did with McKinley
Maternity clothes? Um, pretty sure this belly isn't fitting into anything other than maternity
Sleep? Comes and goes... some nights I sleep all night and some I wake up 2 to 4 times

Best moment this week? Hearing Baby C's heartbeat at our appointment

Movement? Baby C is a maniac compared to McKinley!! She moves constantly and likes to poke out parts of my belly

Food cravings? It depends really, everyday is different but I'm in love with Frappes
What I miss? Nothing really right now, things with the pregnancy are going pretty good :)
Gender? A little GIRL and yes, she's still nameless
Symptoms? Heinous, out of control, acid reflux
What I'm looking forward to? Getting started on McKinley's big girl room and putting her current room back to a nursery
Milestone? Hello 3rd trimester!!

At this week's appointment I had my sugar test, my Rh factor shot, AND they took 6 bottles of blood. I'm not sure what other random things they could have done to be any more uncomfortable. Hopefully, it should be smooth sailing from here on out. My doctor also talked about the possibility of inducing at 39 weeks since McKinley was such a big baby. We'll see how Baby C is looking at our next ultrasound around 35 or 36 weeks.

20 Weeks

2010-05-12T20:17:00.015-04:00

How far along? 20 Weeks

How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 6.5 inches, 10.6 ounces, and about the size of a small cantaloupe

Total weight gain? I've even right now. I had lost 5 pounds and am just now back where I started at my 7 week appointment.

Maternity clothes? Mostly what I wear. It's easier than trying on a million different things to see if they still fit and overall maternity clothes are pretty comfortable.

Sleep? Not so much. Either I'm just WIDE awake for no reason or my crazy, off the wall dreams keep me waking up constantly!

Best moment this week? Finding out Baby C is a little GIRL and feeling her move ALL the time!

Movement? She's really active these days.

Food cravings? Pizza, Panera, and vanilla ice cream right now.

What I miss? Being able to eat anything I want. My food aversions outweigh my cravings by far!

Gender? A little GIRL and yes, she's still nameless

Symptoms? Food aversions, insomnia (at night), tiredness (during the day), indigestion issues, and headaches

What I'm looking forward to? I always look forward to our next appointment to hear the little heartbeat and know that everything is okay.

Milestone? Half way!!

McKinley wanted Daddy to take her picture since he took Mommy's.... this is how she posed!!!

The Little Gym and 17 Weeks

2010-04-20T21:22:00.010-04:00

McKinley started The Little Gym back in January. She LOVES going to what she calls gymnastics. She has improved greatly over the past 3 1/2 months. She gets on the higher equipment now with no hesitation. And, she can pull herself up and hold on WAY better than before. She still can't manage a roll over without help (she totally comes by that honestly) and she won't cross the high balance beam without a teacher helping her. BUT, we have a few more weeks in the semester so we'll see how it goes! She won't be taking summer classes but I have signed her up again for the fall semester. She's becoming such a BIG GIRL!!!!

I can't believe we are 17 weeks pregnant today. This pregnancy seems to be flying by!! Baby C is about 5 inches, the size of an onion, and about 5.9 oz. Our next appointment is May 3rd and we'll hopefully find out if Baby C is a boy or a girl!! :) Hmmm, not sure how the baby bump looks smaller this week than it did at 16 weeks!!!

16 Weeks

2010-04-15T21:14:00.003-04:00

How far along? 16 Weeks

How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 4.6 inches, the size of a avocado, and about 3.5 ounces

Total weight gain? Not sure how, but since our 7 week appointment I've lost 5 pounds. And from the size of my belly, it surely doesn' t look like I've lost weight!

Maternity clothes? Mostly what I wear. It's easier than trying on a million different things to see if they still fit and overall maternity clothes are pretty comfortable.

Sleep? Not so much. Either I'm just WIDE awake for no reason or my crazy, off the wall dreams keep me waking up constantly!

Best moment this week? Feeling a lot of movement from Baby C!

Movement? Yes, Baby C is getting pretty active.

Food cravings? Pizza, Panera, or chips and salsa. My afternoon apple is also a must.

What I miss? Being able to eat anything I want. I have far more food aversions with this pregnancy than I ever had with McKinley.

Gender? Too early to tell!

Symptoms? Nausea, food aversions, insomnia, indigestion issues, and headaches

What I'm looking forward to? Our 19 week appointment is on May 3rd and hopefully we'll see if Baby C is a boy or girl!

Milestone? Being in the 2nd trimester!

14 Weeks

2010-04-01T20:56:00.004-04:00

How far along? 14 Weeks

How big is Baby C? According to my Baby Bump App: 3.4 inches, the size of a lemon, and about 1.5 ounces

Total weight gain? I had lost 4 pounds between weeks 7 and 11. So, we'll see what kind of damage I've done at our 16 week appointment!

Maternity clothes? Ugh, yes at only 14 weeks!!!

Sleep? Not so much. Either I'm just WIDE awake for no reason or my crazy, off the wall dreams keep me waking up constantly!

Best moment this week? Not having to take my nausea medicine any! I was only taking it when I couldn't stand it anymore, but, this week I haven't had it at all.

Movement? Hard to tell. Sometimes I think I feel him/her but it's not often enough yet.

Food cravings? Pizza, pasta, or chips and salsa. I'm also slightly addicted to my morning strawberry yogurt parfait and my afternoon apple.

What I miss? Being able to eat anything I want. I have far more food aversions with this pregnancy than I ever had with McKinley.

Gender? Too early to tell!

Symptoms? Nausea, food aversions, insomnia, indigestion issues, and headaches

What I'm looking forward to? Hearing the heartbeat or maybe another sneak peak ultrasound at our 16 week visit.

Milestone? Being in the 2nd trimester!

Big News!!!

2010-03-01T20:31:00.005-05:00

We found out on January 22nd that McKinley is going to be a BIG SISTER!!!

We are very excited and blessed to be expecting Baby #2 on September 28th. I will be 10 weeks tomorrow. This pregnancy has been the exact opposite of McKinley's. I've been very sick, unable to eat much of anything, and waking up with insomnia!! The first time around I was never sick, ate anything in sight (pretty obvious from the enormous weight gain), and fell asleep anytime I sat still. I'm very hopeful at least the sickness piece will subside in the next couple of weeks.

A Few Random Pictures...

2009-12-18T23:03:00.007-05:00

This picture cracks me up. I don't know if it's the pants or the way she is standing, but it looks like her legs are 10 feet long!!!! I mean, I know she's tall, but geez.

I love this picture of McKinley and me. We were getting ready to leave and she wanted her picture taken. I don't know where she picked up that habit :) The only problem is, I had a serious root situation. Yet another reason I'm ready to switch to brunette again. So, I made this black and white to somewhat disguise the bad hair. It's still super obvious but nothing I can do about it now!
I also think this dress is super cute. However, I am the only person who does. Oh well!

We went to Christmas on the River on Black Friday night. They have a parade of decorated boats, a live nativity scene, music, food vendors, etc... then, they have fireworks. The only problem was it was SUPER cold!! Being at the water didn't help and being on a bridge over the water was even worse. We tried to bundle the best we could! The kids (McKinley and also Emily and Eric) had multiple layers and several blankets on top.

Next on the random list... hair bows. A girl from work and I got this curiosity about Gymboree hair bows and how they make the cork screw bows. After some googling, we discovered you bake the ribbon around dowels!! So, I am now in love with these bows!! I made this one to match one of McKinley's new winter outfits. The only problem was the shirt is white with black and my ribbon was black with white. I still think it turned out really cute. This was the second one I have attempted!!

In this last one she's going... "why you taking a picture of my head?". Too cute.

This year, I took McKinley to a Christmas parade near my mom's house. She had a bag to collect candy in and lots of people watching to do! It took her a few minutes to catch on to the concept of picking up all the candy people threw from the floats, but then she loved it! I should use the term floats loosely, this was the Soddy Daisy parade after all. A few examples.... a lifted 4x4 camouflaged truck with a Merry Christmas sign; a super loud muffler Mustang with a Rudolph nose; and the most disturbing.... a trailer of women from a local risque lingerie story, modeling the lingerie. McKinley's only thought, "why are they in their swimming suit?" My first thought to an answer, "they're just being silly".

That wraps up a few weeks of randomness with the Castleberry's! Chad is working a super crazy schedule and passing out in bed by 9:30. Luckily for him, and me because I'm a whiny single parent, there's only one more week of craziness! I'm almost done Christmas shopping and now have LOTS of wrapping to do. And McKinley? She's just rotten. But, a hilarious rotten at that! She spent the night with Chad's parents last Sunday. Then, Monday night she was dead serious with the following, and I quote "I peed on the floor at Mamay's, in the washer room next to the sweeper. Poppy had to get paper towels to clean it and he thought the dogs did it." Mamay tells a different story of some spilled water from the dog's bowls! Then tonight, I was trying to ask her something as she was eating... "Excuse me Mommy, my mouth is full, you have to wait a minute."

Then, there's the reindeer food. They made little cups at school for their "reindeer" food and filled it with what appears to be oat cereal. You are supposed to sprinkle it on your lawn Christmas Eve. It helps the reindeer find your house and they get a snack as Santa delivers your presents. McKinley tells me in the car as we are driving home, "we probably need a food bowl for the reindeer, not pour it everywhere on the yard. And, get a water bowl for them to wash it down." Oh McKinley.... And, the sad part is, we'll probably have a reindeer food and water bowl on the front porch Christmas Eve.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-14T21:10:00.003-05:00

For our outside decorations we did lights around the porch, window candles, a lighted wreath, and lighted garland along the porch. We had net lights for our bushes last year. But, with Chad's crazy schedule this year the net lights didn't get put up.

McKinley has a light pink tree with hot pink and silver decorations. She picked out the tree and all its decorations so don't hold it against me!

I'm super excited that we got a new tree this year!!! I have always had a hand-me-down tree. And, the past couple years you had more tree in your hand than left on the branch after you fluffed it from the box. I bought a tree at Lowe's I thought I loved. Then, I found this one at Wal-Mart. It was the same price but 6 inches taller and about 12 inches bigger at the bottom. I wanted this HUGE tree and well, I got it. The problem was my new huge Christmas tree wouldn't fit in its normal spot!! We had to do some serious furniture rearranging and the tree ended up in the corner. It is still in front of a window so you can see it from the street.

The other part of my new huge tree I failed to considered was how many ornaments it would take to decorate it!!! So, my new tree expense was more than I originally bargained for. In the end I'm happy with how it turned out. I think next year I will try the mesh stuff and maybe more sprout things around the bow.

My next venture was the ornament wreath. My girlfriend Amanda made one last year and I loved how it turned out!!! You can see her's here. I love the wreath but it was quite a chore to make!! The amount of ornaments and hot glue on this thing are unreal. Not to mention the TIME! It laid out in my floor for a week. I would glue ornaments every night!! It also took multiple trips out for more ornaments because I totally under estimated how many it would take. This is hanging on our door down to the basement.

McKinley's Birthday Presents

2009-11-16T20:57:00.004-05:00

Each year, I try to take a few pictures of McKinley after her party with all the new toys.

Her new Princess tent, she manages to now cram half her room in this thing!

Snow White crown and new Color Wonder gadgets

Playdoh! This is the first time I've let her have Playdoh at home. We make her sit at the table and so far, she's done really good at not making a mess.

New dolls for hair fixing. McKinley always plays with Grandma's hair and with MaMay's hair. So, it was totally appropriate that they both got her dolls with hair you can fix! These poor dolls have bird nest hair each night when we pick up toys. I've started spraying detangler on them just to get all the knots out McKinley creates.

New Barbie sunglasses, microphone for singing, with vacuum cleaner and tent in the background!

McKinley got so many new toys for her birthday and she loves them all! Thanks to everyone!

McKinley's Birthday Party

2009-11-16T20:43:00.006-05:00

I am a few weeks late with this but, this year we had McKinley's party at Pump It Up. They have about 6 inflatable jumpy slide contraptions, enough to allow small children to run around like crazy!

Miss Maggie Grace and her adorable curls...

My niece, Emily

Brylee... this is what happens to curly hair at Pump It Up!

Addison, who politely asked for a cup instead of drinking from the fountain

McKinley drinking the bottled water as though she hadn't had a drink in days

Pretty sure the only thought here was, "Where's our cake?!?!?!"

After the party, we had lunch with Allison and Kenny before they headed back to Nashville. I tried 8-10 times to get a picture of the 3 of us. I know McKinley refuses to look at the camera just to drive me nuts, and it works!! After oh, the 8th or 9th try, Allison refused to take anymore pictures. Can't say that I really blame her, we got the same result again and again. At any rate, this is the best picture I have of us from the day!

Grammie's Birthday

2009-11-15T21:42:00.006-05:00

My mom officially went over the hill on November 7th! In honor of her 50th birthday, we all went to eat. This is my sister (Natalie), the guest of honor (Grammie), Nanny (mom's mom), and me. Just for the record, mom and Natalie both have on 4 inch heels, they aren't normally this tall.

I tried to get a good picture of the three of us but McKinley was SUPER not cooperative so I gave up!

I figure if only 1 out of 6 has their eyes closed the picture is still a winner!

On another note, McKinley and I went to the mall this afternoon for a few things. I am happy to note she actually talked to Santa!! The past two years she wouldn't get within 10 feet of the poor man. Tonight, when we walked by he was standing out by the line entrance. She wouldn't get out of the stroller BUT she did talk to him and he gave her a little coloring book. Baby steps I guess. I'm hoping if we visit him over the next few weeks she'll actually have her picture taken with Santa this year. She wants a "big pink car" for Christmas. We keep telling her Santa can't bring the car if he doesn't know she wants it!

Halloween

2009-11-03T21:52:00.007-05:00

McKinley was Cinderella for Halloween this year. When we met Cinderella at Disney earlier in the year, all McKinley could do was STARE. She looked totally in awe, and said over and over "It's Cinderella" as she just looked and pointed. It was absolutely adorable! Cinderella's castle was also a huge item of fascination for McKinley. So, here's my little Cinderella....

My step-sister's daughter, Melody, was Piglet. Melody is only 7 months old and unfortunately, McKinley seems to think she is indestructible!!!
This picture cracks me up, you have to wonder what they are thinking! Pretty sure Melody is thinking, "Why are you so big, shiny, and in my face?!?!" McKinley on the other hand is pondering, "Hmm, are you a new baby doll?"

Sunday, McKinley wore one of her new fall/winter dresses to church. For some crazy mom reason, I feel the need to photograph her when she wears new outfits. Poor child, I'm sure she wonders why we take a picture every time she gets dressed!

Theme Days at School

2009-10-30T21:39:00.006-04:00

This week was Hallo-Week at school. Each day had a theme of some sort. My two favorites were Tuesday: Farmer Day and Wednesday: PJ Day.

For Farmer Day, I got McKinley some overalls at the JBF sale ($10 for Levi's overalls and the tags were still on them). Then, we borrowed a plaid shirt from Maddox. I think my farmer girl turned out adorable!!

And this was her for PJ day!!

You'll have to excuse the shoes. The school shoes weren't such a great look with the jammies! I should also note she was not-so-sweet at school for PJ day. Not only did she color all over one of the chairs BUT she also threw her shoes at someone!!! How embarrassing!!!!! My mom picked her up from school for church and heard the news. I hate when she gets in trouble at school, I get SUPER humiliated that MY child can't behave. We had a long talk about a) only coloring on paper (seems reasonable enough) and b) never throwing our shoes!!! I keep hearing that 3 is worse than 2. If that's the case, she wasted no time. This drama occurred on day two of the 3s!!!

Happy Birthday!

2009-10-30T21:09:00.008-04:00

Last Sunday was Chad's 31st birthday. We tried to go eat after church, but the restaurant he wanted apparently doesn't open until 4:00. Not sure WHY we didn't think to double check that before, but that's a whole other story. So, we went back for an early dinner. The restaurant is Italian, which isn't Picky-Icky's favorite type of food. I called before we went to see if pizza was on the kid's menu but, that was a no go. For some reason, McKinley will eat pizza ONLY if you cut it in little squares and give her a toothpick to pick up the pieces with. My, my child has strange eating habits!!! So, Chad and I had Italian while she had a turkey sandwich and goldfish brought from home!

Here is a pic of Chad and McKinley after dinner:

Then, Tuesday the 27th was McKinley's THIRD birthday!!! I can't believe she is 3!!!! In some ways time has flown by. But, then again it seems like AGES ago that I was pregnant and she was first born.

Here is my little birthday girl on 10.27.09:

And this was my birthday girl on 10.27.06:

Just to reminisce, here's the monkey just a few hours before she made her appearance! It's crazy to think that this was me 3 years ago. Yikes, I had forgotten how big and round the belly was.
We took McKinley to Kanpai for her birthday. And no, she doesn't eat the food, she's just an observer. We made a run through the drive-thru for chicken nuggets for her to eat during the dinner show! She LOVES to watch them cook, do tricks, and make large fires. After dinner, all she wanted was a cookie from the mall. Easy enough.

McKinley and I have always gone to the mall, she is an excellent stroller riding shopping baby. At the end of each mall trip, we each get a cookie if she has been a good girl. With our cookies, we always sit on a bench to people watch. Then, we go home! So, Chad took her to the mall (for I think the first time by himself) the first of this month to buy me a birthday present. After they shopped he said, "Okay, ready to go home?". McKinley promptly answered, "Well, no, I didn't get my cookie yet." Chad knows our cookie tradition so off they went for the cookie. After the purchase, Chad heads towards the exit, ready to leave. Not so fast. McKinley once again corrects the situation with, "We have to sit on this bench to eat." And if that wasn't enough, Chad didn't realize that McKinley doesn't share her cookie. She and I always get one each. So, he was a bit disturbed he bought one cookie to share and didn't get a single bite. The mall trip sealed the deal for Chad that McKinley is EXTREMELY spoiled. I, however, find great humor in the fact that she made Chad adhere to our cookie tradition!!

Asleep at the Hairdryer

2009-10-24T20:23:00.008-04:00

Who would have thought you could fall asleep while your Mommy was drying your hair?!?!?! McKinley didn't have a nap today, which usually means she needs to go to bed a bit earlier than normal. So, after she ate I took her right to the bathtub. We did our normal routine... we washed, she played, we put her lotion on, then we started drying her hair.

I was almost done when she starting getting all wobbly. She sits on the bathroom counter while I dry her hair, so wobbling is definitely not a safe option. Right about the time I started lecturing her that she has to sit still on the counter, I looked down and her eyes were closed!!! As I start laughing she wakes up. So, I tell her lets get blanket and lay down. At this point, I hadn’t picked up any of her toys for the night. Trying to hurry, I lay her down and start picking up her room. As I am putting up her dishes I look around wondering what I was hearing and to my surprise, it was McKinley snoring!!!!!

This is her in bed, light on, and me still cleaning up her toys!! Had I not feared she'd fall off, I would have LOVED a picture of her asleep, sitting up on the counter.

This is one of her new fall/winter play outfits. It is absolutely adorable and the best part are the coordinating socks!!! I love the way she posed for me to take a picture of her foot :)

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-15T18:45:00.006-04:00

Last Sunday, we took McKinley to the River Maze pumpkin patch and corn maze. The ground was pretty wet from all the rain but we still had a great time. These are the two pumpkins we ended up with:

McKinley wasn't too sure about the pumpkins being dirty. We were trying to get her to hold the pumpkin for a picture. But, "It got dirt on it, right there. Wash it off".

This is the painted pumpkin, she covered all that she could with paint!

Mommy and McKinley in the Corn Maze

Riding on Daddy's shoulders through the maze because the ground was dirty.

Chad and I agreed the maze would have been more fun when it first opened. There were tracks in the ground for the beaten path so it was pretty easy to find your way through. I hope we can make visiting a pumpkin patch a yearly family tradition. We'll see what happens next year!

McKinley's New Dress

2009-10-07T21:38:00.004-04:00

McKinley and I went shopping for new fall/winter clothes a few weeks ago. Twice a year we always go to the outlet mall to get her a new wardrobe for the coming season. This time, she actually said "yes, I like that" or "no, I do not want that". She's never put in her two cents before so it took a little getting used to.

So, with that, she picks a dress and leggings off the rack that SHE wants. See below...
I admit the dress is a little wild, but with the leggings and slippers I think it turned out pretty cute! Her taste didn't fair very well with Daddy, he hated the dress! I wouldn't let him tell her he didn't like it so he was spelling adjectives to convey his thoughts. He still told her she was adorable while secretly hoping I would change her clothes!

McKinley's Football Friday

2009-10-03T13:32:00.005-04:00

Each Friday is "Football Friday" at school. The kids are supposed to wear their team colors. So, this week I finally found McKinley a UT jersey, impossible to come by in Georgia! The jersey went great with her new hairbow, too. Chad is trying to teach her to chant "Eric Berry", she doesn't have that down yet. She keeps responding, "No, I not Eric Berry". None the less, our little UT fan looked adorable!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-09T21:33:00.016-04:00

For the long weekend, we drove to visit Chad's younger brother, Tyler. Tyler is stationed in Norfolk, VA in the Navy. My in-laws, us, Tyler, and his English Bulldog all shacked up in Tyler's one bedroom apartment for the weekend. Talk about crowded! There were air mattresses galore. Princess McKinley promptly claimed the bed with MaMay, the rest of us got the floor. We visited the base on Saturday, here are some of the pictures:

McKinley and MaMay

Chad, Tyler, and Mac

My baby the helicopter pilot!

All aboard!

Sunday we went to the beach. There were a lot of activities over the weekend at Virginia Beach. The beach was SO crowded we could barely move. None the less, we still had a good time.

Who knew my child would think the ocean was so fabulous?!?! She loves it!! Ignore the fact her head is cut off, action shots can't be perfect!

This was taken shortly before she pottied in the sand!! She told Chad she had to go potty but we'd already visited the port-o-toliets once. So we told her to wait until we left. The next thing we know, she looks and me, says "I have to go" and there she goes... right in the sand!! Oddly enough, she thought nothing of it?!?! She turned to ask "Knuncle Tyler" to take her to the water to wash off then went right back to playing! Oh my....

Auron the Bulldog, he was a great sport to put up with all his houseguests!

Mommy and McKinley at dinner

Weekend in Nashville

2009-08-10T21:09:00.008-04:00

We took a trip to Nashville a few weeks ago to visit my best friend, Allison, and her "new to us" significant other, Kenny. They have been dating for awhile, but this is the first time we actually met and hung out.

After lunch, we went to "Glow Golf" (black light putt-putt inside Opry Mills). Suprisingly, McKinley didn't do so bad. She did pick up Kenny's ball once, but promptly placed it in the cup! She jumped around and swung her putter like a mad women.

After golf, Allison decided she wanted McKinley to play in the sprinkler. We didn't bring her bathing suit, so my hillbilly baby is running through the sprinkler in her panties. Thank goodness for privacy fences I guess.

Before we left Sunday, McKinley did really good posing for pictures with Aunt Alli. McKinley's entire name is Allison McKinley, so my girlfriend calls her "Little Alli". Somewhere along the way, McKinley decided to call Allison "Big Alli" and herself "Little Alli". It is quite amusing!

We had a great trip! McKinley did really well as a house guest in a house where small children don't live. She didn't break anything and played (for the most part) with only the toys we brought with us. We can't wait to go back before Christmas to see the lights at the Opryland Hotel. We tried that last year, but McKinley totally crashed in the stroller!

McKinley's New Water Toy

2009-07-24T22:08:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to get McKinley a sprinkler toy. But, apparently, it's too late in the season to find such a thing at Wal-Mart. Last night, on our way from eating to the Battlefield for deer watch, we stopped by Kmart. Luckily, Kmart is the road less traveled so they had a variety of water sprinkler toys. This was McKinley tonight....

How adorable! You put water in the bottom of this gigantic ball, which weighs it down. Then, you hook up the water hose and the water sprays from a variety of openings. Not bad for $14 and a whole lot of fun for an almost 3 year old! It was all fun and games until time to go in, McKinley wasn't quite on board to put our new toy up.

Tomorrow morning, we are headed to Nashville to see my best friend and McKinley's Aunt Alli. We are all spending the night and will be home Sunday. Nothing is packed, there is one load of laundry in the dryer and another in the washer. We hoped to leave by 9:00, that will require me to be super productive come 7:00 a.m.! Not sure our original time frame will work out but we'll see.

Getting to Know Us

2009-07-10T21:59:00.014-04:00

Meet our family....

Easter Sunday

Family pictures are a struggle these days, it's impossible to keep McKinley's attention on the camera! I've decided I want a new camera, so recently, I have been boycotting my current one. Chad still believes our 5 year old camera is "perfectly fine". Nevermind how outdated it is! I'm still working to convince him it's time for a new one!

Chad and McKinley recently had their annual Father/Daughter pictures made. Here are a few proofs from the shoot.

This one is my favorite..

I love this action shot!

Too cute!!

One of my girlfriends has recently gotten into photography. She took these pictures, which turned out great! You can check out her website here, if you'd like! She also took Mother/Daughter pictures back in May. Here are a few of those proofs:

McKinley loves to have her "piggy nails" painted!

I hope this has painted a little picture of who we are. Blogging is a new venture for me, we'll see how it goes! Thanks for visiting!