Splish Splash, Lyla's taking a bath!

Another video of my baby girl!

My friend Kelly used to teach swim lessons and so she was giving me some pointers to get her well acquainted with the water. Well we haven't had any problems at all because she *Loves* her baths. But one of the things she mentioned was to pour water over her head and face to get her to hold her breath. So I started with just a little bit of water and she loved it so I started pouring more on her. So now she does this adorable little batting of the eyes thing and then follows up with a huge smile! Ahh she melts my heart! :)



Also, I need some advice. When do you consider your baby to be saying their actual word? Lyla says mama a lot but whenever she wants me to pick her up she holds her arms up and says mama. I walk into a room and she claps and says mama, looks at me and says mama, etc. Does this constitute 1 first word milestone? Or am I being an over ambitious and over eager mama? I'm going with a little of both but please feel free to share! :) Happy Thursday! Yay for almost being a 3 day weekend!!

A night on the town

I'm not a big drinker nor do I go out very much at all. I'm probably what most people will call the party pooper. Staying awake past 11 pm isn't my idea of fun. Totally a loser I know. But occasionally, I do love a margarita (or a lot of margaritas) or other speciality drinks (Mojitos, Summer Brew, Sweet Tea Vodka). So I arranged a little girls night for a few of us gals. We headed to a much loved Mexican restaurant and we may have had a pitcher (or two) of Margaritas! Mmmm! Tequila! Since Lyla has been born I've only drank probably less than 5 times so one or two (or three, etc) were plenty for me! After we ate and talked ( very good conversations about boobs, stripper boots, and sex tapes to name a few) 3 of us headed to a brewery for just a few more. Well this is when the party pooper set in for me. I did enjoy my lemon ale beer but I was hitting my point of going to bed. I either have to be up socializing and moving around or else I get tired, very tired!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Sweet baby love

I've been doing lots of little movies lately, hope ya don't mind. This video I find to be EXTREMELY cute. Lyla is saying Mama over and over again. I think she may be close to context but not quite there because she mumbles it a lot. But I still love it. Oh she's so sweet!

Things are a little crazy around the Rodger house this week. We (mostly Sean) are painting our house! Plus it is Sean's birthday week! He'll be 32 on Saturday even though he says he's 30 again because he wasn't going to go past that... Pretty sure that isn't going to happen for him! :) Happy Monday!

Stalking Part 1

I stalk just about everything...blogs, website, one-a-day deal sites, facebook, my e-mail, etc. The Internet is the best thing EVER. I use it for everything. Honestly, everything!!! Swagbucks or Google is my best friend. I probably stalk blogs more than anything. Sean thinks it is strangely weird, but I enjoy it. I'm a curious george and just like knowing things. Even if it is about a stranger that lives 2000 miles away. I enjoy it and that's all that really matter. At least that is what I tell him.

So I thought I'd share some of my favorites sites. Consider me kind. Also consider yourself warned. You may fall in love with some of these sights and start checking them daily...or multiple times a day, either or.

Here's my favorite kiddo one-a-day deal sights...

www.mamabargains.com - I've gotten a few things off of here, including some Riley Roo shoes for Lyla. They are normally $35 a pair and I got them for $13 a pair. Wahoo to me!

www.babysteals.com - I've gotten the most of this website including my Ergo baby carrier and a snack carrier/organizer for the diaper bag. Love them both and saved at least 50%.

www.kidsteals.com - For when Lyla is older mostly, but they have some cute things. haven't bought anything from there yet, though.

www.kid.woot.com or woot.com - Same as above.

www.btrendie.com - Kiddie things at cheap prices - very nice things too. If you want to sign up shoot me your email and I'll send you an invite. You'll get $10 credit! :)

www.zulily.com - Another kiddo store where you can get awesome things for around 50% off. Love it! If you need an invite, let me know!

More coming soon! :)

Happy Tuesday!

Lyla's 9 month appt went well! Our little bug weighs in at 16 lbs 10 oz. So she just about gained 2 lbs in 3 months. She's in the 10th percentile for weight and at 26 1/2 inches tall she came in at the 20th percentile. And the girl still has a big noggin!:) Oh, I love her! She checked out well but the doc said she's a little behind on her mobility since she isn't crawling yet or scooting around. I think she's just a laid back baby and she'll get there sometime. I never crawled so she may be just like her momma! :)

We took some video's tonight and thought I'd share. Ignore the annoying baby voice and me saying her name over and over again to get her attention! :) She's practicing her selective hearing. That my friends, she gets from her daddy!

Happy 9 Months Lyla bug!

Time is just going to fast. I'll admit it... tears were shed this morning. I'm sad that she's 9 months already. She's getting way to big, learning a ton of new things and growing and growing. I looked at some pictures of us bringing her home and I just couldn't believe it. I hardly remember her being that small.

Now look at her in her 9 months of gloriness.

You weigh around 16 lbs (I'll update tomorrow after her appointment).

You are wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes but I've started moving you into 6-9 months because 1. the clothes are ADORABLE and 2. the 3-6 month is mostly winterish.

You are still in a size 3 diaper (still in cloth diapers at home)and you still wear newborn size shoes.

Your hair is starting to get a little bit longer, but it is still definitely very thin. You also are still good at letting me keep a bow in your hair! :) Hoping that lasts!

Your eyes are still a dark blueish-green.

Every time you sit you cross your ankles.

You just recently learned to clap the right way! Before you were banging your hand on your leg to clap and now you clap both hands together.

You still sleep about 10 hours a night and normally get up around 6:30 a.m.

You fight naps like they are the worst thing everyday (definitely didn't get that from mommy). You cry before we even lay you down but it is only a matter of seconds before that thumb in your mouth and you are out!

You still take about 3 naps a day. 1 30 minute nap in the morning, around a 2 hour one after lunch and then another short one in the evening.

Your favorite person in the world is your mommy though you do love when your dad plays with you.

You still are not crawling or even really moving much. You are good with the rolling over but again that isn't something you do much either.

You love to stand and walk holding on to our fingers.

You are starting to get the idea of moving from sitting to a crawling position, but aren't just quite there yet.

You are a great eater! You love all foods and are eating 98% table foods. Mommy hasn't made baby food in quite sometime. Your favorites are sweet potato fries, cheese, and broccoli, rice and cheese. You will eat anything!!!

You still drink breast milk and hoping you continue until a year.

Reesie is your best friend (actually any dog is your best friend) and can make you smile all the time! You also love playing pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo.

Your favorite toy would probably be your stacking rings, stacking blocks, Caty the Caterpillar, or our cell phones.

You love baths and now take them in the regular bath tub and not the sink anymore.

Since you aren't moving yet, you are starting to figure out this scooting thing to get you places. Doesn't get you far, but you are working on it.

You started throwing mini-tantrums. You will bang your feet on the floor and arch your back.

When mommy leaves the room you like to whine,whine and whine until I come back. Nope, not spoiled at all!

You are just like your daddy and love being outside.

You are also working on starting to pull up on things.

You have the cutest laugh I know!! You also have quite the personality and are starting this thing where you lower you head when people talk to you, acting like you are shy. Then you ham it up with a big smile!

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Happy 9 months Lyla Ainsley! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know (at least until you have kids of your own). We want nothing more than for you to be healthy and happy!!! :) Thank you for all the joy you have brought into our lives! We love you!

The weekend.

We were supposed to paint our house this weekend but that didn't end up happening due to the weather forecast. There was a 60% chance of rain and so we decided not to do it. Well wonderful mother nature did not drop 1 stinking drop Saturday. So much for accurate predicting. It was still a good thing we didn't do it though because of the humidity plus there was some rain today. We are going to try and do it this week and this weekend so we'll see how far we get. Hopefully we aren't spending out 3 days weekend plus Sean's birthday painting! Any volunteers out there?!?!

So instead I planted flowers. I should make mention that I don't have a green thumb AT ALL. I've killed my flowers, every year for the past 3 years. But I've decided that this is the year. This year I will water my flower and keep them pretty! :) I planted a lot of Gerber's because they are my absolute favorite flower (my wedding bouquet was all Gerber daisy's too!). I just love them! I still have the front flower bed to plant and I'm thinking of doing window boxes in the front as well but I'm waiting to do both until we are done painting.

And this picture is to show proof that I do outside work. Honestly, not a big fan of it. I don't like to sweat and don't find joy in doing outside work. But I did it without complaining and I *glowed* and got covered in dirt. :)

And this...dog. She used to be our baby. Everyone told me that she wouldn't be our baby anymore whenever Lyla got here. I argued left and right and told everyone that I wouldn't let that happen because I loved her. Um...yeah. Every person that told me that was correct. She's be demoted. And every time she does something to make more work for us or does something she shouldn't, she gets demoted even more. The only plus is that Lyla absolutely adores her. She is definitely Lyla's best friend. She's recently decided to start digging holes along the fence line and is royally pissing Sean off. Royally. We still love her, though. (Sometimes).

And we also got Lyla a little kid Adirondack chair! We got 1 in turquoise and 1 in a green color! They are sooo adorable!! She's looks like a little mess in these pictures. And notice the picture where she only has 1 sock on? Yup, she tried eating the other!

So all in all, a good weekend. It was kinda strange not taking pictures but it was a nice break to catch up around the house! I also rearranged Lyla's room and cleaned up my craft room. both of those were outta control! Once they are how I like I'll post pics (if I remember).

Have a great week!!!

Because she's cute...

Doesn't she just melt your heart. She looks cute even in super dirty shoes! :)

Hungry girl

So apparently the "cool" thing to do in the world of babies is to eat socks. Yup, you read that right, sock. Lyla has this fetish with taking her socks up and eating them. Why she does it? Not quite sure. But she likes it.And for the record, she does eat real food. This would be evident by the sweet potato smeared all over her face! She's a lover of those sweet potato fries.

Happy Mother's Day!

Oh what a day. I was so excited to celebrate my first Mother's Day and it indeed was a great day. I woke up this morning to a gift from Sean and a gift from Lyla. Sean got me a gift card to go make a charm bracelet at a local store. The gift from Lyla was extra special. Sean had a little picture book made of pictures of Lyla and I since she was born. Not going to lie... there were definitely tears shed.

Being a mom is the absolute best job I have. I never tire of it. I love getting to see her grow and reaching each new developmental milestone. She brings more happiness to myself and to our family, more than what Sean and I ever anticipated. We knew we'd love the heck out of her, but never did we think it would be this much. Her laugh makes me smile, my heart happy and also brings a tear to my eye. I always knew I wanted to be a mom and I feel especially blessed that I can finally call myself just that. I look forward to many more Mother Day's with my family.

And of course I can't forget to wish my mom and mother-in-law a Happy Mother's Day as well. Thank you mom for everything you have done for me over the years. And thank you Brenda for shaping Sean into the man and Dad that he is now! Happy Mother's Day to you both!

What a silly girl. Oh, how I heart this girl!!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms and moms-to-be out there!!!

Holy Bananas

Well, I must say participating in my first blog hop was a success. I had a whooping 198 people stop by! Very exciting I must say. So if you are back for a second time, welcome. I hope you keep coming back, and back, and back! :)

I love blogging. I really do. Even if my hubby makes a little, or a lot, bit of fun of me. I 99.9 percent of the time blog to remember what is happening in our life right now. I hope to make yearly books out of this blog as long as I continue blogging or until technology invents something new. And as a random thought... I must get better at blogging. This whole juggling life, a baby, a full time and a part-time turning full time photography business doesn't leave much time to blog. But it is something I need to start making some time for since, 1. I like doing it and 2. I don't want to forget little everyday things.

Another part of me blogs because I'm a bit of a stalker. I love looking at other people's blogs either for parenting advice, craft ideas, photography idea, decorating ideas, etc. Get my drift? The blogging world is a pretty great place (whether my hubby likes it or not). I kinda dig it to tell you the truth! And if you are a follower or a blog stalker and you keep coming back to mine, then I think that's great. Even if you want to stalk me. Because I may probably stalk you too! In a total non-creepy stalking way of course.

Tomorrow is going to be a pretty great day. A day I've been waiting for for a long stinking time! A day that has much more meaning now that I ever really thought. And day that has me loving my mom even more now that I'm one myself!

*Another random thought. I have Friday Night Lights on a DVR right now that is begging me to press play. I am using a ton of self control right now to not push it and watch it. I could just watch it and then act like I have no idea what is going on when we do get a chance to watch it together. It is our absolute, with out a stinkn' doubt, favorite show in the world. So I'm pretty proud of myself for not be sneaky wife right now!!!

Show us your life - Kelly's Korner

I've never posted in a blog hop, so today's a great time to start since I love baby names. I actually have an infatuation with naming everything. Lyla's toys all have names (Hadley the sock monkey, Ellie the elephant, Katy the Caterpillar, etc) and I take it very seriously when it comes to naming pets (middle names included). Weird, I know! I swear we went through a lot of names since Sean and I have been together.

Once we found out we were pregnant, we immediately started thinking of names...ok. So maybe I was way more into it then Sean. I had many names turned down. Here were a few of my favs for girls.

-Hadley (probably my all time favorite)
-Carson
-Gracyn
-Ella
-Julia

Lyla was actually named after Lyla from Friday Night Lights (any fans? The new season starts tonight! Yay!). Lyla is a super cute cheerleader off the show. Now, that isn't why we named her that, even though it be great if she was a super cute (oh, she already is!) cheerleader in the future. Sean immediately loved the name and I shortly followed.

Her middle name was changed a time or two. At first she was going to be Lyla Quinn. We both really liked that name but towards the end (um, maybe when I was 36 weeks along) I just wasn't digging it. So we chatted about a few more names and Ainsley (pronounced An-sley) it became! We love the name and it totally fits her!

Sean became infatuated with a boy name early in the pregnancy. He thought of the name Kolston and it has been his #1 boy name since the beginning. I highly dislike it. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone the name because he swears we are using it if we have a boy next. Not so much his luck, if you ask me! :) He loves that it is unique. He actually looked it up on facebook and there was only 1 other person on there with that name and he lived in Hawaii. So he was sold right then and there. A few of my favorite boys name are Cohen, Colson, Graeson, Tate and Greyden. Will we use any of those in the future? Who knows... maybe if I get my way ;) But knowing myself, I'm sure my *favorites* will change a million times before we have another one!

Thanks for stopping by! If you want to join in or are looking for more baby names, head over here!

Blessed

Oh my... I'm way behind in the blogging world. But I have a great reason. I'm beyond crazy busy! Which right now, really is a great thing. My photography business has really taken off which is leaving me with not a lot of time or blogging or stalking blogs even. Hopefully as I get things organized I'll find some time! Anyways, life is great and I'm so thankful for that. About a week or two ago I was in this crazy funk and thankfully it has gone and passed and I'm realizing just how extremely blessed I am.

Until I have time to post stuff (which I have a lot) enjoy a picture of my favorite little girl!!!
(Yes I know her face is incredibly dirty. This was at supper time and she is just too cute - whether her face is covered in snot or not! :) )