Smiling Through the Rain

I'm about to make a really lame excuse for not blogging the past week and a half, and you can feel free to judge me all you want for it.  :)  Because it's not that the past week has been busy, but this upcoming one will be and I've been concentrating on that.  You know, doing mental checklists of everything I need to get done to prepare while not actually doing anything at all to get it done.  This week I have my annual PA conference and I'll be gone to Tulsa Tuesday night through Thursday, which I'm super excited about.  It's great to see all of my classmates and this year, it will be nice to have a small break from my normal responsibilities.  Plus, I LOVE staying in hotels.  Especially ones with pools.  :) Then, one of my college friends will be in Friday night so we're having dinner with him (he was a bridesmaid in my wedding) and his fiance.  And after that, we leave for our cruise on Sunday!!!   We're going to Jamaica, H...

I'm delayed in adding these 1st year photos because she didn't do quite as well as we'd hoped! You might notice a complete lack of smile, or even personality in general.  :) She liked this chair.  It was the only thing she liked. Great shot of her adorable tutu. Beautiful face.  Even if she does hate taking pictures. At least she put some effort into this one with the finger.  I'm surprised she didn't use the middle one! I love the colors of this picture even if she is a bit put off by being in it. Picture taking is NOT fun for this family.  Paisley hates it.  So much that we have left with a child in tears and adults having panic attacks.  And it doesn't matter if we take her to a portrait studio or outdoors (like we did here), she just doesn't want to be herself for pictures.  And most of the time, she cries.  So, enjoy these.  They are most definitely the last professional photos that we'll have done fo...

I have to admit that I've been a terrible blogger since Paisley was born.  She definitely consumes a HUGE part of my day and then I like to enjoy my free time ( aka: 5 minutes ) by taking a rapid bath, brushing my teeth, eating, picking up toys, etc.   But I still love to follow everyone's blogs!  My problem is that alot of my blog friends have stopped writing altogether since having their own babies.  So, I'm on the lookout for some new blogs to follow. I love to follow some that also have babies so I can relate and get advice.  I love having others where a baby just hasn't happened yet.  Those are the most important to me so that I can remind myself every day how lucky I am to have Paisley and to encourage someone who may need it.  And there's nothing more exciting than a pregnancy announcement! So, if I'm not already a follower, leave me a comment.  I'd love to start stalking following you!  :)

This week I started back to the gym.  Or I should say that I tried to start back.   But you might remember that Miss Paisley never much liked the gym nursery.  She'd always decide to need to nurse or poop every time I'd put her in there.  Which always resulted in me getting drug away from my exercise class or machine to tend to her.  While disgustingly sweaty and with a heartrate of 160. But it's been 3 months.  She's much more confident these days and doesn't mind strangers at all.  I know she loves playing with other kids and can walk around now.  So, this was going to be much better.  Let's face it, the milk factory shut down 5 months ago and she poops like once a day.  Surely we could make it through a step class. The dropping off part was easy.  She actually took off across the room and began playing with a toy like it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen even though it's one we have at home that she ignores.  F...

Baby fever .  Girls always talk about it.  Especially when they see a tiny newborn outfit or hold a baby in the hospital or realize that their own kids are getting big.   But I have to admit that I just don't get it .  I remember when my friends told me they were pregnant before we even thought of trying and I was so disappointed.  Not because I was jealous, but because I was so not there yet.  Of course I was happy for them, but no baby fever set in.  Baby showers never pulled on my heart-strings and I wasn't one to "ooh" and "aah" over stranger's babies.  Just not my thing.  Kind of like Tupperware parties or musicals. Now, when I was at my low point in trying, I felt tremendous sadness at the sight of anything baby.  A poopy diaper at that point would have made me cry.  Now it's usually the smell that makes me tear up.  :) But to be quite honest, I did not looooove the baby phase.  I didn't love th...