WW - Hap-Bee Halloween!

12 Months Old!

Happy Birthday my sweet little girl!

This has been the best and shortest year of my life! I'm so blessed to have you and I hope one day you can realize just how much love I have for you.

I'm feeling so many things right now. Shock over how fast this year went. Sadness that it seemed to go so fast and that you're growing up so fast. Excitement that you're a year old and doing so many neat and wonderful things. So much love that I couldn't even begin to describe how much I feel for you.

This past year has honestly been so wonderful. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without you. Lately I just hug and squeeze you even more than usual, remembering that soon you'll be too big to want me to do it. Thank God you can't run away from me yet! I rock you more at night now that every time I lay you down, I'm reminded that you are going to be too old for me to do it oneday. I just can't believe this.

I can't believe my tiny newborn is this huge toddler now. Taking steps on her own. Wearing big girl clothes. Defiantly doing things she knows she shouldn't. How did this happen overnight!?

I've been working on a video for your birthday and all I do is cry and wish I could do it all over again. All of it. The late nights, the colic, the first smiles, the first everythings. It's so hard to remember that you're still little and there are so many firsts still to come. I'm trying but I can't help but be overwhelmed with how much already you don't need me anymore. I know that every thing new that happens in your young little life is cooler and better than the month before, but I just really need you to slow down a bit for me. Please!

Ok, I realize I sound incredibly selfish and sappy, but I just don't know how to stop right now. I just love you so much and I'm overwhelmed with how much things are changing. Looking at all the old photos and remembering is bringing so much back! It's hard to look at those photos and you in person now and see my tiny infant. You're all grown up! Well, a grown up baby at least.

This past month has been a big one it seems.

You now have seven teeth and a molar on the way. Looks like a full mouth of teeth when you smile. Incredible!

You eat pretty much everything now. I'm excited to give you whole milk soon and peanuts too! Then we can pb&j sandwiches at last. Pancakes are still your favorite followed by bananas and melon. Although, you did have cake at your party this weekend and on your birthday today, so that may be your new favorite. :)

Still in size 3 diapers during the day and we just moved up to size 5 overnights.

You're in size 9 month clothes with a few things in size 12, but not much. We don't have a doctors appointment until November 3, so I won't know your measurements until then, but I'm guessing almost 19 pounds when we go. You love the food!

The most exciting thing is, you too your first steps!! Just this past weekend at your birthday party, which was awesome. You did it in front of all of you immediate family, which was so neat to share with everyone. Way to go!

You're slowly starting to stand on your own for longer periods of time, but not that long. By next month I'm thinking you'll be a pro.

You crawl on all fours most of the time now. Only took you 11 months to ditch the army crawl (which you still do pretty often too). No big deal. I just think it's cute to see you actually going around on all fours after all this time army crawling.

Your favorite toys are books, your play kitchen and home, a stuffed brown dog, and your musical instruments.

We started a toddler class last month that has play time and band time, and you just love the instruments. We have a lot of fun at that class playing and now you even have some instruments from Uncle Kevin at home.

You also are playing more independantly at home. This is nice for Mom to get some things done on her own. :)

We went to your fist cider mill and pumpkin patch this month too. You loved the tiny bit of donut you got. Not too interested in the pumpkins, next year!

I'm trying to remember all the new things from this past month and I think I got them. Still no words really. You say the da da sound, but I'm not really sure it's on purpose yet. Occasionally I think I hear a "doggie" sound, but I'm not sure on that either. Soon I bet!

Happy Birthday my love! Thank you for the most special year of my life. Truely!

I know I'm sad that this first year is over, but I really am so excited and happy for what lays in store for us and for you. You have so much yet to do and I just can't wait to see how much you love life and all the new and fun things you'll be discovering. It's going to be so great. I know it.

love you forever with the most love you can imagine,

Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - First Tiger's Game - We Won!

Wordless Wednesday - Sleeping Angel

11 Months Old!

Hopefully I'll have some more pictures I took up on the 365 blog from her 11 month photos later this week. Hopefully.

Rosemary,

You're 11 Months old! Well, yesterday. Can you believe I forgot to write on it. Guess we were just having too good a time celebrating on a lovely Sunday.

This past month has been wonderful. Busy and flew by quite fast just like every other month. We had a wonderful time though. Enjoyed the ending of you first Summer and the beginning of your first fall. Now it's sweatshirts and socks and shoes until next Summer! Good thing I love fall and Pumpkins and Cider Mills and BIRTHDAYS!

You're more and more like a toddler every day and it's been great watching you get around. No steps on your own yet, but we're in no hurry for that! You climb on everything and anything you come across. Faster and faster every day. I know those steps on your own are coming soon!

One new thing this month is that you FINALLY started crawling on your hands and knees! After over three months of army crawling only, occasionally, you'll crawl on your hands and knees. And only sometimes. You're so silly! Mom just can't wait until your clothes aren't filthy from the army crawling. :)

Your favorite toys this month are books, your laugh and learn toys, and of course anything you can touch that you shouldn't be (like tv remotes, phones and cameras). You got a new maracas and drum set that you like to play with too. I love watching you figure out how to turn the buttons on and beat on the drum so it makes noise. Too cute!

You're in size 3 diapers. You're in size 9 month clothes, but we're just switching over to 9 month pants finally. I'm sorry about the short thing. Not completely my fault...

You have 5 and a half teeth now. The top right wants to be through, and might be through a little, but you won't let me check it out for myself.

Pancakes and bananas are still you favorites but as we start trying more and more food this may start to change. Maybe. :) You could have pancakes for every meal every day I think. I finally gave you spaghetti just this past week and you loved it too! Get ready, it'll be a staple in your life forever. Glad you liked it. :)

No words yet. We're trying though! Lots of babble. Occasionally you'll throw out a dada that Dad thinks might be the real deal, but I'm still not sold on it.

Not too much else new this month. The most noticable is just how fast you're getting at moving around. It really is amazing to watch you crawl and pull up and shuffle along the couches and walls. It's so hard to believe you're able to do these things on your own! A few short months ago you could barely lift your head and now you're almost walking! My baby. All grown up.

Only one more month until you're one! It's so sad and so awesome all at the same time. I have no idea how we got this far already. It literally feels like last week I was pregnant and now I have a small adult sleeping in the other room. It's very surreal. Sometimes I just still can't believe you're here and you're mine and the next I'm expecting you to go off to college. Thank God that's still a few years away!

Thanks for another great month my love,

Mom

Wordless Wednesday - Say What?

10 Months Today!

I'll be posting more pictures to my 365 blog later this weekend when I finally get caught up!

Rosemary,

Ten Months old today! Wow!

This month has got to be the fastest month yet!

I blame this on full Summer mode. :) We've been doing so much lately. We've been out of town several times and I really think those two weeks alone let us fast forward through your 10th month.

This month you're doing more than ever! It's seriously amazing to see the difference.

You still are crawling, determined to continue on with your army crawl. No hands and knees for you! You get all over the house and fast, so I don't think it's slowing you down any! Now on top of crawling you pull up to stand on EVERYTHING! At first it was just me, now anything you crawl to you pull up on. Very scary when you don't hang on! You of course don't think you need to...

You got your first bruise from falling two weeks ago and have continued with new ones just about every other day. :) Let's hope it's not causing any brain damage!!

Besides standing all the time (which is by far your biggest achievement this month) you're just amazingly more and more like a person instead of a baby every day. You love to play and talk and investigate everything! Your personality comes out more all the time. I'm calling it now - I think you're going to be on the shy side. An observer. Quiet. I could so be wrong, but so far you just seem like that's the way you're heading. Very dainty. :)

This month your favorites are still books, your laugh and learn kitchen and home and all electronics still. Add that to the climbing and it keeps Mama busy!

You're in size three diaper now. Mostly size 9 month clothes. The pants are still 6 months shorty. :)

I actually bought you your first real pair of shoes this past week too! You just think they're ok. Harder to crawl and pull up with them on. But you're oh so cute in them!

You have three teeth and I think another one is coming soon! Two bottom front and another right next to your right one. So cute how uneven your smiles are!

You love pancakes and bananas the most. Although you eat pretty much anything we give you still. Little piggy! New nickname among the family is goldfish as we think you'd eat until you burst!

One of the funnier (now that it's passed) phases this month is when you finally started standing in your crib and couldn't get down on your own. It only lasted a week (thank goodness) as I'd lay you down for bed or a nap, you'd get up, figure out you couldn't get down or out, start crying, I'd come get you, lay you down, repeat. Poor thing! It was a rough week for all of us sleeping wise. Too cute though when you finally figured out how to sit.

We lowered your crib all the way down too. Had to after you were such a big girl in there. :)

One of your favorite things this month was finally going on the swings! You LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them! We've gone back since and it's just too cute to watch that face light right up.

I'm sure there' so much more we did and that you've learned this month, but that's all I can remember at the moment.

Another great month past my love! Can't believe only 2 more months until you're one! I just can't believe you're so OLD! Where is my baby going?!

Love you forever,

Mom

A Not So Wordless Wednesday - Last Picture Pregnant

Here we are at 41 weeks. Rosemary arrived via C-Section at 41 weeks, 1 day. Today Rosemary is 41 weeks, 2 days. Officially an outside baby longer than an inside one. Why did it take longer for that 41 weeks 1 day to go by?

Playing With Photoshop

I recently got photoshop and I've been playing around in it a bit. It's hard to figure out! Here's my photo from today for my 365 blog.



I wasn't too thrilled with the straight out of the camera version, so I attempted to do some actions on it in Photoshop. Here's a few of the edits.







My real problem is that even if I figure out how to use Photoshop properly, how do I know what the best way to edit it is? I'm just going to end up with 5 different photos of each photo. So... that's like 1000 pictures on heavy picture day... :) I think I'll just have to do one photo every once in a while.

Anyone have any tips on learning photoshop? Great websites or books?? Thanks!

Wordless Wednesday - Please Let Me Out Mom!

9 Months Today!

To see more of Rosemary's 9 month photos from today, check out my 365 blog.


Rosemary,

9 months. Let me repeat that. 9 MONTHS.

Oh my. I can't believe it. You are almost to the point where you have been an outside baby just as long as an inside baby! Pregnancy seemed so long when we were there, and now it seems so long ago. Ka - Razy.

This month has been so fun and I've loved this one more than the one before - of course.

You're crawling around like mad now. Over obstacles and around and around you go.

You love to pull up too. Uh oh. We lowered your crib the next day. You aren't pulling up on everything quite yet, mostly just lowered objects and your favorite stable one seems to be me. This isn't really my favorite phase as you're constantly pulling my shirt down to share with the world. Lets move on to the couch, shall we? :)

Recently you even began standing all on your own! We have to place you there, but you hang on all by yourself.

You went swimming for the first time this month and loved it!

We went to the zoo and you loved... the fountain? Maybe next year it'll be more fun for you.

You're still in 6 month clothing, but that's about to change this weekend. Time for some big girl clothes!

We've also moved you up to size three diapers. Such a big girl! At least to us. Your stats at the doctors today were great! Up to 15lb 6oz. HUGE! I have no idea what I'd do if you were really 22lbs. I think you're a big girl even if everyone else says you're pretty small. Petite. :)

You're still on homemade purees but you LOVE table food. And I mean LOVE. You've tried so many foods, but I think chicken, pancakes and bananas seem to be your favorites. Not that you refuse much, but you seem to get pretty excited over those. You hate cheese. We'll work on that.

You play more and more all the time. You just got some big girl toys like a bead maze and little kitchen that you love to stand on and press the different buttons to make the noises go. You still enjoy books, especially the textures. You love to turn the pages. It's pretty cute. You unfortunately are still pretty obsessed with cords, outlets, vents, remotes, phones, and more recently, my lens cap.

Still only two teeth, but you've been teething bad lately, so I expect more this month. Fingers crossed they start to pop out soon, it seems to make you pretty uncomfortable. Not the easiest on Mom and Dad either.

One of the biggest things this month was that you were Baptised. Wonderful day and I took lots of pictures so you can remember when you're older - lets add in another of course here.
:)

You also had your first Father's Day and first Fourth of July which were also pretty wonderful too. You sure are lucky!

You also got your first official official haircut at a salon. It went... ok. Lets just say it'll grow back. :)

I think that's most of the special moments for you. I love you and I can't wait to share how wonderful month 10 is with you!

Wordless Wednesday - With Daddy

Wordless Wednesday - Cuddle Time

Rosemary's 1st Fourth of July

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Rosemary's first was wonderful!

We headed over to my in laws early afternoon and enjoyed a day hanging out on the water, barbecuing, and relaxing with family.

J's parents, my parents, and all my siblings were there as well. It was such a lovely way to spend the Holiday!

I took a lot of photos with my new camera, but I haven't really learned enough about it yet to figure out how to get good fireworks shots. I got a TON of Rosemary of course.

She's the best subject anyways. :)



Hanging out at home before heading over to Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake. Little Miss 4th of July herself!



Filling up on yummy water. Rosemary much prefers everyone else's bottles to her own sippy cup - of course.



Of course most of it ends up down her chin and on her shirt.



Watching the boat go by with Grandpa (my dad.)



J and all Rosemary's aunt's and uncle's coming in on the boat.



The weather was beautiful, but a tad hot. We made poor Lucy get in the water periodically even though she makes it known she is NOT a water dog.



After Rosemary went to bed we went out on the lake for the night. Here's J enjoying a beer in the water.

J's parents lake have a really nice fireworks show and after some cruising around the lake with my family we got to see a really nice display.

This was our are only chance to see fireworks this year as we didn't want to actaully take Rosemary to see them. She goes to bed pretty early and with them starting so late we didn't think it would be a good idea to purposely keep her up late for them.



It was a great show and a perfect way to end the day!

Wordless Wednesday - Hi!

Baptised in Faith

For lots more photos from her Baptism check out my 365 blog

This past Sunday Rosemary was Baptised!

It was a wonderful day and Rosemary did so well in church and after at the party (for the most part).

Rosemary was baptised at the same church my parents go to and the same church me and my husband were married at a year and a half ago. The mass was at 10AM, so it a very early start for us being that the church is 50 minutes away.

We left the house by 8AM so we had time to stop by my parents and drop off some things and change Rosemary into her gown.

We got to the church around 9:30AM just to be early in case there wasn't pews reserved for us. I was starting to get a bit nervous about Rosemary now as she'd been up since 7:15AM and she's usually taking her morning nap by 9AM. Plus, this was her first time at church and I wasn't quite sure how she'd do with all the people and noise.

Thankfully, Rosemary did perfect during the mass! She fussed a tiny bit at a few points but was fine as long as I was holding her.

I felt a little bad that J and Rosemary's Godparents didn't get to hold her much during it, but they got in a bit of time with her towards the end. Jessica (her Godmother) ended up holding her during the most important part of the Baptism, so that was nice.

After the mass we had small party for Rosemary at my parents house who live five minutes from there. It was really nice except Rosemary was pretty grouchy by this point, so it wasn't much fun for her. I tried to get her to nap, but by the time she finally fell asleep, she only slept for 20 minutes or so. Stubborn girl wanted to be up the whole time for her party!

By the time we headed home around 3PM we were all pooped!!

Rosemary slept for about another half hour on the way home and finally went to bed around 7PM. What a long day for her! Me and my husband were exhausted so I can only imagine how she was feeling with no morning nap and a short cat nap or two in the afternoon.

It was such a special day for us and Rosemary was absolutely beautiful in her gown. :)

I'm so happy my entire family could be there for her special day and I'm glad Rosemary is finally officially part of the church too!

I was honestly surprised by how proud and happy I was of/for her as she was getting baptised. I almost cried! I realized then I am so going to be the Mom that cries at every single event in my daughters life.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my own wonderful Dad! He's the very best Man I know and I'm so grateful to him for everything for he's taught and showed me in my life. I wouldn't be the person I am today without him, his love and his great values showing me exactly how I want to be. :)

Happy Father's Day to my awesome husband J! I love you so much and I'm so glad on your first Father's Day I can say you truly are an amazing husband and father. Rosemary is so lucky she got you as a Father and I know she'll be just as grateful for you as I am with my own Dad!

We had a great time on my husbands first Father's Day.

We started the day off at my parents house with a yummy breakfast, stopped home for an hour so Rosemary could nap, and then headed out to J's parents for dinner.

Filled with family and food we had a really nice day and I hope everyone else had a great one too!

Happy Father's Day to all those great Dad's out there!

Rosemary is 8 Months Today!

To see more of Rosemary's 8 month pics from today check out my 365 blog.

Dear Rosemary,

Today you are 8 months old my love.

Another month gone, another month I say wow, how did it go so fast!?

You're doing more than ever now.

Getting into trouble every other minute it seems. Crawling all over, chewing on everything you can get those two tiny teeth on. Your favorite seems to be my tables and cords. Wonderful.

You're getting huge too!

Or at least it seems to me. My little baby girl seems to be growing at lightening speed towards a young little lady!

Like every other month so far, this month was the best above all the rest. We have so much fun together now as everday you're showing more and more of your personality. We love to giggle together and it truly is what makes my days wonderful. It seems like every day holds new surprises and experiences. I honestly wish you could remember how great this time in your life is. Guess that's what I'm here for. To let you know what a joy you are and how truly awesome this time of our lives are.

I love watching you learn new things so much - I think that's my favorite part of this month. I love when you realize something new, like the fact that we have a bathroom and you've never been in that room. It's so fun watching your face light up as you realize you can make your way over to check it out yourself. Of course you're only disappointed when Mom grabs you up to set you back 15 feet away again. Sorry girl, it's for your own good. Same thing for all your favorite plugs, cords and outlets. Already living on the edge it seems.

Here's some of the things you're doing as an 8 month old:

- You're crawling now - still just army, but you get anywhere you want in no time at all
- You've had pretty much all the first fruits and veggies and we've slowly started prepping you towards table food
- Still babble a lot - Mama is your favorite! You have started to say Dada a bit more too. :)
- You've learned to press buttons on of your favorite toys, Violet, her paws. So cute!
- Love playing with your toys - especially books! You still love all electronics, but you've moved on to cords and outlets to my displeasure
- Started being a little shy with strangers and other babies
- Love to reach out for me when you get a little uneasy
- Yesterday you stood up all alone (with the help of the chair) for a minute! We're in trouble now!
- Still in size 2 diaper and size 6 month clothes
- Still working on the sippy cup, but you're improving

Thank you for another wonderful month Rosemary.

I love you more every day and I'm so happy I'm lucky enough to be your Mama!

Not as Easy as it Sounds

I'll be the first to admit I'm not exactly the best writer as far as blogs go, but I'd really like to start sharing more personal stories on here as compared to only pictures of Rosemary or reviews and giveaways.

On several different blogs I visit, I've noticed some participate in a writing workshop over at Mama's Losin' It every week. I thought this writing workshop would be a great way to start writing on a variety of different topics I'd otherwise never think to write on.

I'm not going to commit to doing it every week or anything, but I'd love to do it as often as I can. Who knows, maybe I will continue to do it every week?

For directions on the workshop, click here.

Several posts ago I mentioned that I wasn't so crafty. Here's just one example of how true that statement is.

Learning to Crochet

It all started before I even had Rosemary. I was very pregnant and planning for the most important of events, her newborn pictures.

I knew I wanted to have them done, but what did I want her to WEAR?

Did I want to purchase a knit hat for her, or did I think I could do without?

I researched and researched and I had finally found someone on etsy who I really wanted to make a hat for me, er, Rosemary. Then I checked out the price. If I remember correctly, it was around $25.00 or $30.00 plus shipping. That was just too much money for me to spend on a newborn hat when we were already spending so much on other things that were necessary (or so I thought.)

So I sadly clicked the red x on my screen and moved forward with the planning of my new daughter without a hat of her own.

What’s this you say, I could have found one cheaper? Yeah, I know. But it had taken me forever to pick one out, narrow down colors I wanted, find the seller, etc.

You see, I was new to etsy at this time, and I really didn’t want to go through all of that selection process again. Please remember I was also very pregnant, so I was maybe over analyzing things just a tad.

I never bought her a hat, but as luck would have it, my photographer came with several different hats for her to borrow. It worked out perfectly and I couldn’t be happier with how the photos turned out.

Fast forward a few months later to winter.

I sure wished I had one of those beautiful handmade hats for Rosemary to wear in the freezing Michigan weather. I of course was still too stingy to buy one, when I had the brilliant idea that I could MAKE her one myself!

Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? This sounded easy. I'd just make all the beautiful things I wanted for Rosemary!

I believe it was either late February or early March at this time. I decide to start researching learning how to crochet. I ask my talented friend Heidi how she learned to crochet, and what I’d need to start out. She gave me some helpful hints and tips on what she had learned so far and pointed me in the direction of You Tube for directions.

I was pumped!

I could do this!

I headed out to Joann Fabrics with a short list of some supplies, and $25.00 later, I returned home with everything I’d need to learn how to crochet.

From what I'd read and heard, this sounded easy!

I purchased enough yarn to do several different hats, in several different colors and even bought a few different crochet hooks as I was sure I’d need more than one size for all the crocheting I’d be doing in the months to come.

I brought my goodies home and I stashed them in a safe place so Lucy, my dog, wouldn’t eat the yarn while I was waiting for my opportunity to sit and really go at this learning to crochet thing.

My supplies sat and sat, and about two or three weeks later I finally had a perfect opportunity to sit down and really focus. As a side note, I have really bad ADD (self diagnosed) so I needed at least a solid hour or two by myself to focus if I was really going to learn this skill.

My husband had gone out of town for the week and Rosemary had finally gone to sleep for the night so I at last had my chance.

I got all of my supplies out, loaded up the you tube videos I’d need and was ready to begin my love affair of crocheting!

So I started to watch a video. And then another video. And another.

What the heck were they talking about? I could feel the frustration building and I hadn’t even started yet!

So I took a few breaths and I decided I just needed to jump right in. I opened up my yarn and got a matching size hook out and prepared my string just as the video had instructed. I pressed play again.

Wait, what was that? I stopped the video, started it over, and replayed the first minute again. And again.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to replay the beginning of this video just to get the first knot on my hook so I could even begin learning crochet. It was awful!

Finally I got the stupid first knot on. Yes, it was stupid at this point. I should have just stopped right there.

But I didn’t.

Now on to the real challenging part, crocheting. I must have watched the rest of that evil old ladies video a million times, and I just. Couldn’t. Get it.

I’d get maybe two loops done and the freaking thing would come all the way undone! I was extremely frustrated to say the least.

After about an hour or so of this torture, I finally gave up. I was almost in tears, I was tired, I was hot, I was bothered!

I had no time, patience, nor skill to be attempting to learn crochet myself.

I threw all my supplies back in the bag and stuffed it in a corner where it sat for the next two months only to be moved one day by my husband to the basement, never to be seen or heard from again.

Yeah, I am SO not crafty.

I did however learn some valuable lessons.

One, next time I think I’m just going to make something to save money, I’m just going to buy it. I’m pretty sure my husband will even support me on this one as it was a total waste of money (and this wasn’t the first time I’d decided to do something like this).

Two, I give a huge round of applause to the people who actually are crafty and can create beautiful things like crocheted hats and blankets with their own two hands.

And three, teaching myself to do something, NOT as easy as it sounds.

Wordless Wednesday - Some Father's Day Outtakes

These were just too precious to not share. :)