Full of Thanks

I/We had a {lot} to be thankful for this year.

This is the number 1.

Lyla and her scrunchy nose.

She brings so much joy to Sean and I. She adds so much to our little family.

We are both so thankful for our jobs. Jobs that help us live the life that we are blessed with, food on the table and a roof over our head.

I'm thankful that I now get to have a job that I {love}. Truly love. A job that makes me a much happier person. A job that allows me to spend more time with Lyla, which is a huge blessing itself.

Our families. They have been by our side this past year as we balanced life and parenthood for the first time.

I'm thankful for our life. Sean and I are blessed with being able to experience a lot. From travels, to KU games, to hobbies, we are each able to do what we love. What is even better is that Lyla is here now and we can experience these with her as well.

Our friends. We have a wonderful group of friends that we can make memories with. From trips to impromptu BBQ's and lake trips, we love our friends.

Sean and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and lots of food! Unfortunately, sometimes you only think about what you are really thankful for once a year while we all need to be thankful for what we have and maybe what we don't have, every.single.day. The moments of everyday life pass us quickly and most moments get taken granted for.

Life is good.

If we had a boy...

He may look something like this.

Minus the earrings of course.
This is why a bow is necessary at all times.

And pink. Lots of pink.

At least they'd be cute!

We have a full day ahead of us and off we go. Errands, orders to delivery, a little shopping and then home for me to design 92 bagillon cards. Yay! Then tomorrow, gobble gobble!

I have a ton to be thankful for this year!

A good day...

Today was just one of those days. A good day.

We had Lyla's last class for this session today. She got to make her 2nd art project and it is CUUUTE! Gail (the teacher) painted her palm and thumb and Miss Ly did not want to take part. So we managed to get that on the hankie and then I painted the rest of her fingers. Such a cute idea and one I want to do each year. Probably til she's 20....think she'll let me?!

After class we came home and Lyla napped while I caught up on all the important things in life....blogs, dontcha know! Ok, and I picked up the living room some too, I suppose. Then I got ready for a career fair at our local high school. t was excited to be asked back again and got to meet some new kids. I ended up taking Lyla with me and she was a hit and did SO good. She sat in the chair next to me, flirted with some boys, ate some cheerios and was just overall good. A nice proud mom moment. Towards the end she got a little antsy, but nothing bad. She's such a sweet girl!

You think I look stunning? Oh, why thanks! :)

After that, we headed home where I proceeded to view a pizza commercial on TV and decided I must.have.pizza for supper. So that we did!

And now I have a predicament. See the picture of Lyla above. Notice there is no high chair cover? Well, one day I let it dry out on the deck and Sean's good ol' dogs decided that it just looked to delicious not to eat. So that they did. Now we are left without a chair cover. And after a little researching, I can not find a chicco cover anywhere. Ok, so maybe I haven't looked that hard, but where I have looked, I haven't found answers. And what I have found, do not look promising or it is plaster is Pooh. Uck. No thanks.

I've also found some info saying that only the chicco covers fit the chicco high chair and that the universal ones don't fit. True or not true? Anyone know. While my sewing skills are super stellar, they are not stellar enough to sew a cute cover. So any ideas would be appreciated. Not sure Seany boy would be keen on buying a new high chair. Those darn dogs. ;)

Life

I'm feeling overwhelmed. I would have thought that I'd be less overwhelmed since I wasn't working 2 jobs anymore. On the plus side, my business has skyrocketed and I've had more client inquiries than I ever thought I would. Con side: I feel like I can't catch my breath. Then there is this cute little girl that completely melts my heart and there is no way I can say no to her when she brings me books to read all.day.long. Except her attention span last 3.2 seconds and she's up and off to the bookcase once again!

Anyways, so life has been crazy lately, as I'm sure every one else's is as well. Seany boy surprised me and put up Christmas lights outside last week while I was gone. But other than that, there's no Christmas spirit in our house yet. I'm just not feeling it, and not sure why because I love every aspect of Christmas. I kinda skipped over Halloween "cuz I just wasn't feeling it" so I'm hoping Christmas won't be the same. I think our game plan is to decorate next Monday for Christmas. I am, however, looking forward to decorating Lyla's Christmas tree. Last year was zebra print, this year is black, white, and teal! Love it!

Lyla's last day of her HRC class is tomorrow. I had to miss last week since we were out of town so it's kinda sad that it is already coming to an end. That is one thing I wish we had more of in this town. Not sure what Lyla and I are going to do after this. We may do a painting class at the HRC and story time at the library might not be to far off in our future as well. I've been looking for some type of programs/preschool ideas to do around our house. You know the music, game playing/teaching type things. Basically something similar to the class we've been doing! Anyone do something similar at their house with their kiddos? Love any ideas or links to get me started.

And I leave you with a picture of Lyla and I the other day!! Cheers!

Lyla {15 months}

Happy {15} months, sweet girl!

- You are finally 20 lbs!

-You are wearing 12-18 month shirts and 12 month jeans.

-You are still in a size 3 diaper and wear size 3 or 4 shoes.

- Most exciting thing is you are finally walking!!!!

- You can follow simple directions really well i.e. Go to mommy, give to daddy, go get {this}, go put this here, etc.

- You can say hi, bub bye, yum yum, mommy, puppy, duck, thank you. You also make a lot of sounds for certain words like up and more.

- You've started using the signs for more and please.

- You still sleep from 8 until 8 or 8:30 and take 1-2 naps a day.

- You love dogs! Every time you see a dog you get all excited and start giggling. If you are in a bad mood, the best way to distract you is by getting you to play with Reese.

- You are in a "hitting" stage now and so we are working on that. I'm hoping the "biting" stage is behind us, but I'm not so sure quite yet.

- We've started time-out with you when you do naughty things or have full blown tantrums and they work really well for you. So well, that now when we tell you no and hurt your feelings, you go to your time out spot on your own. The first time you did this, daddy and I could not stop laughing!

- You love music and books and love, love, love to dance! You have started bringing us books to read, but your attention spans lasts about 2 seconds!

- You make this cute scrunchy nose face whenever you smile!

- You have10 teeth and love to brush your teeth. You point to the toothbrush holder every time morning and night!

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You are so much fun at this age but a lot more work than you've ever been! Majority of the time, you are a complete joy and make your daddy and I laugh, over and over again! We love you!!!

And we're back....

And couldn't be happier. 5 days away without routine is a bit much. Miss Lyla DID not sleep and in return I did not sleep which equals not much fun!

But overall, we had a great trip! Crossed a few things off the gift list and got a few cute things for Lyla and I. Yup, Seany boy didn't get anything. Not that I didn't look for him something, I just didn't find much! Sorry, kid. :)

So in a random catch up.... this is what happened the past few days. I totally didn't take but maybe 3 pics the whole time. 2 fun things happened while we were there.

- We got a good amount of shopping done. Lyla got a few cute things as did this mama. It was nice spending time with my brother and SIL as well. Thanks for letting us crash at your house!!

- It was my brother's birthday while we were there and Kelci also had her 20 week sono. Unfortunately, they didn't find out what they were having but the baby is doing good and that's what is important!! We did a few old wives tale things and with those, my guess is that they are having a boy!

Lyla was a pistol while we were shopping and I realized she was so much easier to shop with last year when she was 3 months old. She must get better though because there are a TON of shopping trips in our future!

So we are trying to get back on track and into the swing of things!

Crazed Addiction

I know I've mentioned this about a million times, so this will make it a million + one, but I {love} having a girl. I was made to have a girl! You know I'm all about the cuteness and well, having a cute baby makes it all the better! :) And now that Lyla is finally waddling around, she looks even cuter in her outfits. Yes, outfits. I give you this...

I am loving putting together outfits for her. We are heading to Wichita for our annual girls shopping trip and so I was packing lyla's clothes today. I loved putting all of her outfits together for the next few days. Since we'll be out and about, we have more of a reason to dress up! I laid out her outfits, then coordinated her bows/rosettes, jackets and shoes! EEEkkkkk! Loves it!

Truth be told, I really hope we have another girl next. Sean says I just want a girl next so we'll try again since I want 3 or 4 kiddos and he only wants 2. And well, that's kinda true too. But really, I'm loving all this girly-ness and everything that comes with it! All the cuteness now will make up for all the drama that will be there in the upcoming years, I'm sure!

rock {chalk}

This is a tad bit on the late side, but better late than never, right?

We went to the KU-Texas A&M game on October 23rd. This time Miss Kayla and Tyler(who is the biggest KU fan ever) came with us as well! We started off meeting my brother in Salina to drop off Lyla. She got to spend time with Kev and Kelci, which was sweet! And from what I hear she got to do a lot of fun things as well! Thanks for watching her, you guys!!

We then met up with Kayla, Tyler, and Jonathan at Red Robin for lunch (yum-o) before heading to Lawrence for some tailgating! We are pretty cute, aren't we!? :)

Can you pick out Tyler? He's the ONLY one without something KU.

The boys had to have a football to tailgate with so before we got to Lawrence we had to make a wal-mart stop for a football. Boys will be boys. So Miss Kayla had to show the boys up of course! Great form, love!

Aren't they just a bunch of sweetum's? So cute!

This also happened to be Kayla first KU game! Unfortunately, they lost. They've been horrible this season.

We ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter and headed for dinner at BWW's. Kayla and I then headed back to our hotel while the boys went and drank for a bit. The next morning, Sean and I headed to Wichita to meet Kevin, Kelci and Lyla at a bar and grill to watch the Steelers get another win! After that, a looonngg drive home! Overall, great weekend! So glad that Kayla and Tyler were able to come with us! Love you guys!!!

Sleeping like a baby...

It took her about 5 months, but thankfully this little girl sleeps perfect just about every night. Very, very rarely have I needed to get up with her. Which means this mama gets a good night sleep every night! :)

This is one trait that Lyla got from me. Sleeping. She would still take 2-3 naps everyday if I'd let her. She normally wants to go back to sleep around 9:30 (after she got up at 8) then down for a nap around 12:30 where she sleeps for 2 hours.
Sometimes we take the morning nap, most mornings not. This morning she did and she looked so cute sleeping...in her Halloween jammies! :)

She also sleeps just like her mama except I don't suck my thumb!

Now, miss thing did not get her afternoon nap until about 4 and she was miss cranky pants. And even with a nap she is still miss cranky pants. Oi vey. I think she'll spend the evening with her daddy.

Mama, will craft. More to come!

Time change

Oh my, I'm tired. I was super excited for a lot of sleep last night but I'm exhausted right now!

So this is quick, but Happy Anniversary to my brother and SIL! Hope you guys had a wonderful first year and that the 2nd year is even better!! Yay for babies!

Love you guys!

Good Morning

This little girl followed the Daylight Savings Time rules and I couldn't be happier! She slept til 8 new time and that meant this mama got 11 hours of sleep....HEAVEN!

After the day Sean and I had yesterday, we needed sleep!
Do you remember this outfit? It actually used to be a dress for her and now it's an adorable shirt! I love it with the little jeans!

Daddy and her are headed off to church while mama heads to work for a bit. I'm taking next week off so I have 13 sessions between today and Saturday! Yikes!

Here's to a wonderful day and all the cuteness that comes with it! :)

My little helper

Isn't this sweet girl so adorable?

Especially with a tutu?
While I was redoing her room, she did a good job of keep herself preoccupied. Her favorite thing...her books. She's really gotten into books lately. When she wakes up from her naps, she points right to her bookcase and we read another book.

If this girl becomes a basketball player like her daddy hopes and dreams...think she'll wear a tutu when she does it to please her mom?

I just love tutu's

Overall, she's a great helper. Great at making a mess where I just cleaned, that is! :) If you give her a rag though, she does love to wipe things off. Looks like one of her chores will be dusting! :)

Um, Oh my!

What a mess! This is everything in Lyla's closet! I completely took EVERYTHING out and started all over.

And her room looks amazing! Probably better than when we first got it ready for her!!! It feels good to get rid of stuff we just had sitting around. I {heart} organizing!!!

I'll post a final pic once I finish a few things.