Monday, January 31, 2011

Armed and Dangerous

I FINALLY took my concealed carry class this weekend.  I say finally because I was supposed to take it oh about 18 months or so ago.  Then I found out I was preggers and well, you know how that goes!  So a friend of ours who also happens to be a Sgt. at my husband's PD was teaching the class and said it was supposed to be a primarily female class.  One other police wife signed up with me...and about 7 other MEN.  Ugh, what happened to the women?!  Of course then we were even more determined to kick butt!

The class was super boring, but it was nice to have a friend teaching it.  The range part was of course the fun part.  He took the 2 women and 2 of the guys in first and we smoked both of the guys (not literally).  Definitely a great feeling!  I was proud of my shooting, I can do better but it was pretty darn good for not shooting in almost 2 years!

Friday, January 28, 2011

9 Month Update

Today was Peyton's 9 month check up.  Wow, I really can't believe she's almost 9 months old (on the 3rd).  It's crazy to see how much she has changed in the past 9 months, I get all choked up just thinking about it.  She's turning in to such a little girl and sometimes it just makes me want to cry!

She's right in between the 50th and 75th percentile in height, weight, and head circumference.  She weighs 19lbs 10oz!  I'm glad her height has slowed a little (she was in the 90th percentile at her 6 month appt) because she was going through pant sizes with a quickness!

A few things about her at 9 months....
  • She's talking up a storm, she says "mama" all.the.time.  She also says a version of "I Love You" that will make your heart melt.
  • She loves to dance...to anything! 
  • She gives the most adorable sloppy kisses!  She opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out a little then leans in and gets you right on the kisser
  • She's still a Mama's girl all the way
  • She has 6 teeth (#5 and #6 literally just started poking through last night) 
  • She still goes to bed at 7pm and sleeps until 6:30am or so
  • She's still napping at 10am and 3pm for 1.5 - 2 hrs each 
  • She's a mover and a shaker and is on the go 24/7...crawling, standing, "creeping" around the furniture
  • She loves to eat and has 3 meals a day.  She mostly eats table foods now and we let her try pretty much anything.  She likes hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pasta wheels, green beans, peas, bananas, peaches, pancakes, waffles, and of course puffs
  • We're working on sippy cups, and she's slowly getting better with them although she prefers to chew on the spout.  She'd much rather drink from an "adult cup" and she's not bad at it, but it can get a little messy!
It's hard to believe I'm already planning her 1st birthday party!  We're actually going to Peyton's friends 1st birthday party tomorrow.  We had a pregnancy pact at our church (ok not really, but it sure seemed that way) and about 6 of us were pregnant right around the same time.  Jackson was one of the first born, and we're excited to go to his party tomorrow. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Grammar Lesson for the Day

I'm a little bit of a grammar nerd (well and a little bit of a nerd in general, but I digress).  This week I've been noticing the same errors everywhere (work, email, Facebook) and they're driving.me.crazy!  So this is my little grammar lesson for the day.

1.  To vs. Too
     Too is like saying "also".  For example:  "Are you coming too?" vs.  "We're going to the store"

2.  There vs. They're vs. Their
     There refers to a place, or is used with the verb be (is, am, are, was, were)  - "Look over there" or 
    "There is a car"
     They're is a contraction for they and are.  "They're coming to the party" 
     Their shows possession.  "We're going to their house" 
    
3.  The spelling of DEFINITELY...there's no "A" in definitely!

Thanks, I needed to get that off my chest!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Toofuses!

This weekend was nice, I racked up an awesome summer wardrobe for Peyton at the Kids Exchange.  But nothing super exciting to report.  Except...Peyton's top 2 teeth finally came in!  I know that doesn't sound exciting, but if you're a Mommy that is dealing with or has dealt with teething, you know how rough those days leading up to a tooth cutting through can be!  Peyton handled these 2 pretty well, but for the entire weekend she was attached.at.my.hip...literally.  She wouldn't let anyone else hold her, if Edwin took her she would start fussing and say "Mama, Mama, Mama".  I saw and felt them this morning, and this evening I guess the rest of the teeth were cutting through because she was bleeding a little.  Teeth 5 and 6 on the bottom are not far behind, she's been working on all 4 of those for a while now.  That's about it, I'll leave you with the cutest little girl ever (I'm a little biased)!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Busy Busy Week

The past week has been absolutely insane...and it's only going to get crazier!  One of my coworkers is leaving and her last day is next Friday.  When she announced that she would be leaving, my boss offered me her job duties and then once her position is posted I can apply for it.  They're changing up the position a bit so I can keep some of my current job duties and roll it all in to one position.  So for now I'm learning the new job while doing my current job, and it definitely makes for some crazy days.  But I'm excited, I feel like it's something I will enjoy and will give me some great experience (not to mention a new office and a raise, woo hoo).  Also Edwin has been working working and working, so we haven't seen too much of each other this week.  Thankfully he was able to take off Saturday night, so we can spend some quality time as a family...AFTER I do major damage at the Kids Exchange of course! 

We've been planning our Ocracoke beach trip with some friends of ours.  We picked a week, a house, and paid our deposit....soooo exciting!  I can't wait to take Peyton to Ocracoke this year.  She was a little too small last summer to really enjoy the beach (see below), so it should be a lot of fun this year.  It's hard to believe this was her just a few months ago!





That's really about all I have going on right now.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's only Thursday and I'm already exhausted! 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Shopping Anyone?

Monday was a holiday, so we decided to run a few errands.  We did some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, and proceeded to the check out line.  Edwin was loading the cart and I was holding Peyton while I waited to pay.  I slid the debit card, punched in the pin #, was reaching to select "no cash back" and in the blink of an eye Peyton selected "$40 cash back".  Ok, no biggie I'll just cancel it on the next screen...NOT!  As soon as the next screen popped up, Peyton hit "OK".  I swear it was like she knew exactly what she was doing.  Edwin and I both yelled out "Peyton, NO!", she looked right at us and gave us the biggest grin.  Baby girl is learning early!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

BePe Baby Slippers

I wanted to do a quick promotion for these awesome slippers I bought for Peyton.  We have hardwood floors and area rugs in our kitchen/dining/living areas, so when Peyton gets off the rugs and tries to stand up she slips and slides.  Those little gripper socks always come off, so I bought 2 pair of these slippers.  The toddler sizes (shown here) start at 6-12 months and have the no slip bottoms.  They also have elastic around the top so they stay on extremely well and come in a ton of different colors and patterns! 




Tuesday, January 11, 2011

8 Month Pictures

I finally have my pictures uploaded from my camera, so here are a few 8 month pics of Peyton because I know you're all just dying to see her....








Monday, January 10, 2011

Weekend Recap

Well we made it through the first week of Edwin's new schedule!  It's definitely going to take some getting used to, but every shift change requires a lot of adjustment.  There's a lot less time together every other week/weekend, but it makes us appreciate the time we do get together even more. 

The weekend wasn't super exciting, but it was nice.  Saturday I actually had to wake Peyton up at 8:20am because she was STILL asleep, and I didn't want her schedule to be too out of whack.  Of course I was up at 7am regardless.  I thought I'd get a jump on making bottles and getting some chores done before she woke up because she "never" sleeps past 7:30am.  I did all of my chores and even had time to lay on the couch for an hour and watch TV.  We did some grocery shopping, played, cleaned...the usual. 

Sunday Edwin was off, which was so nice.  Peyton slept in until about 7:45am, which I'm really starting to get used to!  Edwin woke around 11am and Peyton woke from her nap around 11:30am and we got everyone ready and headed to the outlets.  We met up with Edwin's parents and ate lunch at Cracker Barrel (yummy) then did a little damage at Carter's.  Peyton fell asleep in the car on the way home which always means the afternoon nap will be either non existent or extremely difficult.  Basically she falls asleep in the car and gets about 20 mins of sleep in and when we get home she feels like she had a full nap.  So I started the battle of the 2nd nap when we got home and I failed miserably!  After trying for about 30 mins, she sat up and gave me the biggest grin in the world.  I didn't help the situation by making a funny face and for whatever reason she got a huge case of the giggles.  Every time I made the face she did a belly laugh and after 10 mins was laughing so hard she was snorting...and so was I.  I could tell her teeth were killing her, so I gave her some Ibuprofen and admitted defeat. 

I assumed the night would be rough, but we had so.much.fun!  Peyton spent a good 30 mins crawling around the house while I crawled behind her and "chased" her.  She would crawl as fast as she could and squeal to get away from me.  So after a good dinner, a nice bath, and lots of playing she went straight to bed at 7pm and barely moved all night.   

That was our weekend.  I have TONS of awesome 8 month pics I've taken with our new camera, but our home Internet still isn't hooked up and Edwin has had the laptop at work.  I'll get them downloaded this week and post a few!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

One Crazy Night!

Last night was a crazy one to say the least.  I'm in the process of getting used to my husband's new schedule (he's back on shifts again) that just started this week.  So of course a new schedule has thrown a wrench in our finely oiled machine.  It's always tricky to figure out a new routine when Edwin's work schedule changes or he's out of town for work.  Usually as soon as we get comfortable with something, it changes all over again.  It's even more difficult to figure things out when there's a baby involved!  Basically every other week and most of the weekend I'm pretty much on my own with Peyton.  I love the quality time, but it can make for some exhausting days after working a full day. 

The past few days Peyton has been taking some LONG naps.  I'm not sure if it's a growth spurt or what, but she's been frequently taking 3 hr naps in the morning.  Yesterday she napped 3 hrs in the morning and then another 1.5 hrs in the afternoon.  I had to wake her up when I picked her up at 5:30pm! 

She was loads of fun last night...and then it was time for bed.  Peyton goes down around 7pm or 7:15pm every night.  I'm very lucky because bedtime is always  usually easy.  She has a bottle (and Ibuprofen these days), I rock her and we cuddle, I hum Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, she lays her head on my shoulder and sighs, then I put her in the crib and she gets situated and is out for the night.  Then there was last night!  She didn't scream or fuss...as long as I was holding her.  She immediately put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes, I put her in her crib, she popped up and started wailing.  Basically we repeated this process until 8pm!  I've only done CIO a handful of times, and I don't have it in me to let her CIO for long periods of time but last night I had NO other option.  I finally had her asleep and was walking out of her room around 8pm when the phone rang, she popped up and started screaming, I was trying to rush to the phone because I could tell it was an important call from my MIL, it was total chaos.  In the end I had to tell her I loved her, put her on her tummy, kiss her, and leave the room.  She climbed up and down and cried for "Mama" (which really makes it worse now that she can call for me) for about 20 mins before she FINALLY exhausted herself and went to sleep.  Luckily the rest of the night was fine, she didn't wake once like usual.  I'm putting the blame on teething.  I don't think she was in any pain because of the Motrin, but she's extra clingy when teething are trying to break through and I think that's why she was so restless as well. 

I was exhausted by 8:30pm!  On top of all of that my MIL was calling to tell us that my FIL had passed out and was refusing to go to the hospital...he's such a guy.  Edwin was on his way home from work and walked in to a house filled with an exhausted wife and a crying baby and felt helpless because he had to turn around and leave again.  He called 911 and sent an ambulance over to check his Dad out and when he got there they headed to the ER.  Edwin finally got home close to 1am and they still had his Dad in triage.  We're praying everything will be fine, as of an hour ago they were monitoring him and trying to figure out what exactly happened. 

Tonight I'm hoping for a calm peaceful evening with my little girl, followed by our USUAL bedtime routine! 

Monday, January 3, 2011

8 MONTHS OLD!

My princess is 8 months old today!  I know I say this all the time, but where has the time gone?!  I can't believe we will be celebrating her 1st birthday in just 4 short months.  I'm starting to get really excited about this summer (yes already) and taking Peyton to Ocracoke Island for a week.  It's our absolute favorite vacation spot and we try to go every year.  I can't wait for Peyton to experience it, and she'll be such a fun age this summer. 

Here is a little bit about Peyton at 8 months old....
  • Makes "raspberry" noises all the time.
  • Dances constantly...especially when we go out to eat and they're playing music.  She even dances while she eats, it's hilarious.
  • Gives hugs and kisses.  Her kisses are so cute...they're these open mouth, slobbery kisses and she licks you a little bit too (kisses only a Mother could love I'm sure).
  • Says a version of "Mama".  Now I'm sure she doesn't know what it means yet, but it still melts my heart.  She only says it when she's crying and she lets out an exaggerated "MAAAAMMMMMMAAAAA".
  • Walks while holding on to furniture.
  • She's WIDE open 99% of the time, she doesn't like to be confined or restricted for any extended period of time.  Time in a stroller is limited as she'd rather be up at "adult height" seeing everything around her.  She's on the go constantly and I wouldn't have it any other way! 
  • Naps around 10am and again around 3pm.
  • Goes to bed between 7pm and 7:30pm and sleeps through the night until 6:30am or 7am...lately we've been getting some 7:30am wakings on the weekends.
  • LOVES music.
  • Has 2 teeth and is currently hard at work on 2 more bottom teeth and her 2 top teeth.
  • Eating Stage 3 foods, but prefers anything we're eating.
  • Loves pancakes, hot dogs, banana pudding (thanks to Uncle David), and ranch dressing we recently discovered.
  • Bath time is her favorite part of the evening.
  • Favorite shows are Special Agent Oso, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Handy Manny.
I don't have any "official" stats for this month since we don't have a doctor's appointment again until 9 months, and I'll post some 8 month pictures once I download them off our new awesome camera we just purchased (thank you Becky for the help!).