Sweet Baby Berlyn

Sweet Baby Berlyn

Friday, January 11, 2013

Sweet Pea is 10 Months Old!

I FINALLY got around to capturing [and posting] Sweet Baby Berlyn's 10 month photo. It did take us some time but, like I've said before... It is so hard to do without someone else's help and with her being the squirmiest baby EVER.

I can't believe I only have two more monthly photos to take of her. It makes me sad that it's coming to an end, but I am so glad I did this! These pictures will be something she looks back on when she's older and she will either be 1) embarrassed, or 2) proud that she has an amazing, creative mother. I think it will be the latter. :)

Berlyn decided to smile for this picture. I think it had a lot to do with the Minnie Mouse doll my husband was holding above my head when I snapped the photo. Either way, I am glad I captured it!



Sunday, January 6, 2013

Happy 2013!

As I said in my previous post, my husband and I have had the past two weeks off together. We have spent quality time both as a family and with each other. I am so bummed that I return to work tomorrow, but also grateful to have a job to go to in the first place!

2013 is going to be a great year. We will be celebrating Berlyn's first birthday, watching her grow up, and spending time together as a family. Along with these give-ins, I am making some personal resolutions as well.

Tomorrow marks the first day of my new eating schedule. About a month ago I had stopped exercising... I'll just blame it ln the holidays... And I really need to get things back in order! I used to come home from work everyday and exercise to Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 or 30 Day Shred. Both of these workout videos combined helped me lose over 20 pounds on top of the 12 I lost from walking/running with Berlyn. I will be in a wedding in May so that is my motivation right there! That, and the fact that I don't want to gain the weight back that I've already lost. I was so unhappy with how much I used to weigh and I never want to be there again!

I also made a resolution to be more focused on God and my walk with Him. I have mistakenly put everything before Him and feel horribly convicted for it. I know that it can be crazy being a working mother, but I have learned that if I trust in and lean on him he will direct me in every path I take (Prov. 3:6).

I am sure going to try my hardest to stick to my promises to myself... What resolutions have you made for 2013?!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Playing Catch Up!

I have been the WORST blogger this past month.  I don't know what it is, but every time I get around to writing, I get distracted or have something else to do.  I made a promise to myself last night that I would try my hardest (as I also stated in my last post) to blog when I can, no matter what.  With that being said, here I go! :)

Berlyn is now ten months old, however, I forgot to post her nine month chalkboard picture so here it is!


She refuses to smile for any of her monthly chalkboard pictures anymore and would rather look at the chalkboard than sit next to it.  It takes many tries before we actually capture anything close to "THE one."  Once she is standing on her own it might be a little easier, but for now, the I-don't-want-to-smile-while-I'm-sitting-next-to-a-chalkboard look is all we're going to get, I guess!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I know we did!  It was a very busy week for us, but my husband and I both had two weeks off from work so it allowed us to spend some much needed time together.  We went to family holiday parties, exchanged gifts, looked at Christmas lights and called it a day!  Santa brought Berlyn some cute gifts this year!  She got a bunch of toys, clothes, books, and money!  For some reason I am unable to load pictures on Blogger right now, so I will do a separate post later with photos from our first Christmas as a family. :)

A bunch of things have changed with Berlyn in the last month or two.  She has become a professional crawler.  She crawls so fast that if I turn my head for a second she is GONE.  Luckily, we have hardwood floors and a house that sits on a raised foundation, so I can hear every move she makes!  Plus, it helps that our house is on the small side and I can shut the doors and know she won't get into anything too crazy.  She pulls herself up and has stood by herself on quite a few occasions, but she is still not comfortable standing on her own.  Because of the fact that our floors are hardwood, when she has a spill it really hurts her.  I hate seeing her fall face first into the floor and then burst into tears.  I wouldn't want to stand by myself either if that happened to me! 

Berlyn is also eating a lot of her mama's food these days.  She acts like a little puppy whenever my husband and I sit down to eat, it's pretty funny... she'll crawl over to where I'm sitting, pull herself up and do this silly dance and giggle.  If it's something that I know she'll be okay with eating, I'll feed it to her.  She loves scrambled eggs, chicken tortilla soup, and pasta.  This chick could eat pasta every day if I let her.  For New Year's Eve, my husband and I stayed home with Berlyn while we cooked a pasta Pinterest dinner (we call them Pinty's dinners for short, because we're weird like that).  The dish was amazing!  It was a combination of penne pasta, tomatoes, basil, chicken, spaghetti sauce with heavy cream, and LOTS of mozzarella and romano cheese.  It was so yummy that I gave Berlyn her own little dish, mashed up first, of course. :)

Berlyn can now drink out of a straw, too.  I bought her the Lollacup and she loves it!  It is so easy to drink from and doesn't leak like her sippy cups.  She also doesn't use the handles on the cup anymore, and I love the cup because you can take the handles off.  I put in an order for another one of these cups in pink.  Berlyn is the girliest girly girl so it just seemed fitting!  They are a little on the pricey side though, at $17 a pop, but I think they are totally worth it.  She drinks formula still, 6-8 ounces 4-5 times a day, along with 3 meals. 

My little girl also cut another tooth!  She is getting so big right before my eyes!  She wasn't that cranky, but it was a big tooth and it finally cut all the way through, thank God. 

Right now Berlyn is in love with watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Junior.  She gets so excited when the song comes on.  She likes it so much that I decided on having Minnie Mouse be the theme for her first birthday party next month.  I don't want it looking cheesy, though, so I'll have to come up with some clever twist on the traditional Minnie Mouse birthday party supplies... any tips would be appreciated!

Other tidbits:  Berlyn's clothing is size 12-18 months, but some (most) of her leggings/pants are 18-24 months.  This little string bean is long and lean.  She is almost too tall for her changing table, and her doc said she has the height of a 16 month old!  Her hair is getting thicker and thicker, and she will only wear a bow for a few minutes if I distract her.  She loves pulling them out and playing with eating them.  I painted her toes for the first time the other day and I have never seen cuter toes than hers!  She gets a tiny rash on her chin when she teeths, and I think it's from her saliva.  Has anyone else's babies gotten this before?  Also, she can now say "bye bye", "Mama", "Dadda", "all done", and "uh oh."  It is so cute hearing her little voice, I could just listen to her talk all day long.  She also does this silly little scream alllll the time.  Sometimes I'll get on the ground and crawl behind her and scream like her.  She will look back at me, scream, and then keep crawling; it's hilarious!

Be on the lookout for our holiday photos once I am able to get them up!