Reminiscing.

Oh goodness.  I did something tonight that I haven't done in a long, long, time.  I went through all my old IG photos from way back when.  From way back when I was pregnant.  I know all mothers must go through looking at old photos of their little ones at some point, and for me, it was tonight.

I now have a 16 (and a half) month old baby girl.  A baby I GREW inside me and provided life for, for over ten months.  How can time go by so quickly?  When I had just had Berlyn, people would tell me to enjoy it because it goes by fast.  I always shrugged it off, like it wouldn't go by fast for ME.  I always thought it was just something 'they' say.  But now, lying in my bed, listening to my toddler stir around in her crib two doors down, I really do believe that time goes by too fast. 

I remember when I just had her and she slept next to me in her bassinet.  Every few hours she would stir around and somehow manage her way out of her swaddle.  An escape artist.  I would wake up to change her, feed her, and just stare at her.  Just me and her.  Our special time that we had together as mother and daughter.  Sometimes she would do things that would make me laugh, causing Justin to wake up for a quick second.  But he would fall back asleep, and it would be just us two again.  Days would pass, then weeks, then months.  Now it seems like the past year was a blur.  I wish I could rewind time and live through it all a bazillion times.  

But now she is older and she has, of course, changed.  She has a personality, and a way of doing things her way.  But I wouldn't change a thing.  She is my light and my reason for living.  My little bunny, my goose, my sweet baby Berlyn, I love you so much. 

4th of July!

We hope everyone's 4th of July was just as fun as ours was!  Originally we had planned to be poolside at my dad's house, but that didn't work out.  We reverted back to plan b: order in sushi while the baby napped, and soaked up all the a/c we could.  Then, I had an epitome.  I was NOT about to sit inside (on my day off) and let the beautiful day outside just pass me by.  NO.  I wanted to get out and have fun with my family!

We ended up going to my friend's parent's house to swim and have a couple cocktails by the pool.  Berlyn has slowly but surely been getting more and more comfortable around water.  The first time she touched beach water she FREAKED.  Now she is okay with it, and even more okay with pool water.  So we packed up her diaper bag with food, snacks, towels, sunblock, and a baby raft, and we were on our way. 

Of course when we got there, I had forgotten to pack her sunglasses and a hat.  Go figure, I forget something EVERY time we go somewhere!  Luckily, our friend's have nephews and one of his baseball hats was left behind for us to borrow for the day.  Also, one of the girls there offered up her sunglasses for the Boo to wear.  She does look stylish, if I do say so myself...

But, I digress.

We stayed there for a bit, played in the pool, went underwater, and ate some chips...

And then we went next door where they had an amazing pool, a jumper, powerwheels (so rad that I actually drove one. by myself.), a poolhouse with surround sound, a playground complete with beach sand, and all the food and drinks you could want.  Berlyn wasn't in that great of a mood that day since she only had one short nap before we got there, but she was a trooper. 

When we finally got home, the fireworks starting going off.  Sadly, it was Berlyns bed time so we didn't get to stay up and watch them.  That didn't stop them from going off though.  At 10 at night.  Sounding. Like. A. Gunshot.  I bathed Berlyn, gave her some milk, and put her down.  She was out before I put on MY pajamas.  I'm just thankful the firework bombs didn't wake up B.  I would have been furious!

Overall it was a good day.  It started out weird but nothing is better than spending time with your friends and playing in a pool with your baby!  ...I hope someday our pool gets fixed.  That requires a whooooole other post... I'm actually about to snap some pictures of our backyard and submit them to HGTV for a YARDCRASH... Ugh, end rant.

Next post?  Our backyard *before* pictures.  It's embarrassing to post them, but I am determined to get my backyard in shape before the end of summer.  I will post progress pictures as we move along, but for now here's a picture of something I'm not embarrassed of.

Have a great week everyone!  It's supposed to be near the 90's here for the most part... 

Can't it just be Christmas already?!

I'm Baaaaack!

Okay, so I believe the award for the Worst Blogger goes to me.  Who takes a 4 month break in between posts?  Oh, yeah... I do.  All the birthday planning really did a number on me but it's time I get back into the groove of things!  I apologize in advance for the lengthy post.

A lot has happened since Berlynny Boo's first birthday in February.  The week before her birthday she took her first steps, and the week after her birthday was when she really got the hang of it.  That meant that everything that was baby-proofed at crawling level had to be raised to walking level.  Talk about constantly worrying that something will fall on your baby's head!  She runs all the time, especially when I say "Whoaaaaaaaaa," or when I say "That's it.  I'm gunna get you!"  She loves playing games and cannot sit still.  Her favorite thing right now is when Daddy rough houses with her.  She loves being thrown against the couch, smacked in the head with a pillow, and bein held down when you try to give her a kiss.  This kid is the toughest baby I know - definitely a daddy's girl.

Berlyn has also been eating mostly "people" food with a few toddler meals thrown in the mix.  It used to be so hard to keep her food new and exciting when she was a baby.  Now she basically eats what we eat, although textures are a big thing for her.  Sadly, my meatloaf wasn't a big hit with her.  She also lost interest in some foods she used to love, like peas.  She likes to eat everything with her hands, and is somewhat coordinated with using a fork (with my help).  She likes waffles, grapes, strawberries, LOVES bananas, mangoes, pears, peaches, and pineapple.  Her other favorites are grilled cheese, chicken, avocado, broccoli, pasta of any type, salmon, and anything I'm eating.  I can just hear her little voice now, wanting a bite of my food while climbing up my leg saying "pweez!"  She drinks milk, juice, and water, with an occasional sip of a margarita (kind of kidding - she snuck a sip out of my cup once and I FREAKED out). 

She is now wearing a size 2T and a size 5 in shoes.  She is wearing the heck out of her Saltwater sandals, but I love 'em and I think it's time for another pair in a different color.  Her hair is finally long enough to put in a ponytail or pigtails (swoon!), and she has all her teeth except her 2 year molars.  She is still just below the 97th percentile for weight and height, but has thinned out a bit due to her walking/running all over the place and growing like a weed.  I swear, she could pass for a two year old.  Oh, and get this: she also knows how to ROLL her eyes.  Excuse me, who does this little girl think she is?!  I have a video of it that I'll have to upload once I can get it onto Youtube! 

In other news, I have had the pleasure of meeting two of my favorite IG mamas and their babies.  Last month Berlyn and I took a trip down to Pacific Beach to meet Natalie and her little angel Ellia.  After trying to find each other on the beach for about 20 minutes we finally linked up, and ladies, she is just as beautiful in person and she is on Instagram!  We walked around, ate some lunch, then went and laid on the beach with our munchkins.  This was Berlyn's first time at the beach and she didn't like it one bit.  She clung to me like white on rice and HATED the sand.  Since Natalie is a photographer, she took some awesome shots of the babies together and a few of her and I.  You can view these photos on my Instagram (@dbaitx)!  Natalie and I chatted (love her Canadian accent, eh) and got to know each other a bit more.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to meet those two babes, we had an awesome time hanging out! 

A few weeks after meeting Natalie & Ellia, another IG mama and I planned a meet up.  Since my husband has some time off work, he was able to go with us!  It worked out perfect since my friend's husband was with her.  Turns out they hit it off pretty good.  We drove down to San Diego and met up with Allison, Ian, and little Lemon.  They had rented an RV right on the beach so after arriving and feeding Berlyn, we just had to lotion up the girls and put on their suits.  The weather was perfect (so perfect that my husband has a sun burnt foot, ha ha) and not one thing went wrong - OH WAIT - I totally forgot about the wave that crashed into our beach setup, soaking our towels, clothes, and bags.  Funniest moment of the day!  After tiring herself out on the beach, Lemon went down for a nap and Allison and I just stayed on the beach and talked.  I had a lot of fun getting to know her in person and hate that she lives so far!  Can't wait for our meet up again at the end of this month!

I hope this wasn't a novel, but I had to catch everyone up on what's been going on since B turned one!