Halfway Point

We are at your halfway point now and I'm pinning my eyes open so I'm not missing a moment.

Things change daily and I will soon enough be having a meltdown at your one year mark but like I wrote in your book, I will push away the 'oh my gosh where has the time gone' and the 'oh my baby is growing so fast' to high five all the accomplishments of this month.


I'm guessing you weigh around 20 to 25 lbs, you are wearing size 3 diapers, 6-9 month clothes, and are eating a bowl of cereal in the morning and about a jar of food at night.

You started sitting up by yourself one day and you have no idea what life was like beforehand.

(thanks again Uncle Mayo for the card!)

You will sit for hours and play with your toys on your mat. This has also made it more fun taking you out to eat and to the grocery. We put you in both a highchair and a cart for the first time Friday night. You loved both and you made your Mama so proud by almost falling out of the highchair trying to catch a glimpse of the table behind us! Nosy Rosy in training!

Bathtime has also become easier. Well I say that then I spend the whole time worrying about you drowning even though I have a death grip on you! You enjoy sitting up and discovering your bath toys. You are a bit more fascinated with the cup that I rinse you with which is the way it goes. The one thing you don't spend money on to entertain your child ends up being their favorite toy!

Look at all your rolls!

In this month alone you have had pink eye, a stomach bug which then lead to some fun stuff, and a major diaper rash. I didn't know how to handle myself this week with no phone call from the daycare! Of course I am knocking on every piece of wood we have in the house because now that I said that I will get 3 this week! :)

We are getting more laughs out of you these days and Daddy can get you the most tickled!

Something about him rubbing your feet or hands against his scruffy face gets you so tickled! It is so funny listening to you carry on!

Last week we had to implement "crying it out" at bedtime. You were getting to used to sleeping on me at night that when I laid you down you woke right back up. It wasn't the most fun week but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I only had to get you one night and rock you to sleep.

Last night I got the genius idea to put your doll in there with you to keep you company and it worked like a charm!

I heard two whimpers out of you and that was it. You just need someone to talk to before bed and Maison was the perfect solution!

After Aunt Jac told me I needed to stick my finger in your mouth to see if you had any teeth coming in, I found what feels like teeth. Daddy says there's not any but I swear it feels like it. You are taking your pacifier out of your mouth to chew on it a lot lately and whatever can get in there, gets in! I'm sure the ped will tell us later this week who is right. (Me!)

You have developed 2 nicknames, which I will go ahead and apologize now for them. I had nothing to do with either. It is so funny that when we tell people your name the very first thing out of their mouth's is "what are you going to call her?" Uhh her name.

Anyway, Daddy has given you the name Gee. He kept calling you 'girl' which drove me nuts because I was afraid you were going to think it was your name. Somehow Gee came out of all that and it has stuck. Of course he says it so much now I say and you answer more to that than Cecilia!

CC is the other name you get called which is the most common shortening of your name. I have no idea if either will stick and I'm sure when you get in school another one will arise.

We are having a blast cruising through life and are lovin' watching you grow and learn. Next month I'm sure holds just as many accomplishments as the ones before.

Daddy and I love you, Gee!

Shower #2: Done

Yesterday I helped host a bridal shower for my good friend and co-worker Jennifer. She is about a month away from getting married and we are all super excited for her and I was even more excited to give her a shower.

We decided to do a very simple theme using lots of whites, browns, and neutral colors. We wanted the colors to match our bride and I think we nailed it!


Here is a close up of the centerpieces. I thought they turned out really cute! In the bottom on the vase with a candle we put coffee beans. It added not only a nice touch to the centerpiece but the room smelled great!


One of the girls thought it would be cute to dress up the napkins to lay at each setting. I made the tags and she did the rest. Love them!

The cake and the arrangement for the food table.

Finished product of the table.

The bride (second from left) and the hostess.

The whole room came together beautifully and I couldn't be happier with the turn out. I think Jennifer really liked it as well. I guess I will see tomorrow at work when we chat about it!

While we were there, Cecilia made a new little friend. Jammy (third from the left in above picture) has a son about 3 months older than Cecilia. At the end of the shower we sat them down in front of each other and they were smitten from the beginning!

Is this not the cutest! They were both grabbing at each other and talking to one another. It was the funniest thing to watch! Landen would talk and Cecilia would look at him. Then she would talk and he would look at her then turn his head from side to side! I swear we sat there for 20 minutes watching them interact. We may have to get those two together again!

After the shower we had a date with Uncle Mayo (my brother) and Leslie to Skype. It has been awhile since they have gotten to lay eyes on her so we scheduled a Skpe session.

Cecilia hasn't quite got the Skype thing down yet. Brent has Skyped with his parents a few times and she can't really figure out where the voices are coming from! But I guess at this point it is meant for them to see her. Interaction will come later.

We have had a very busy weekend as usual and it only gears up from here. I think sometime in later October we actually have nothing planned. I'm not sure we will know what to do with ourselves!

Personal Day

This morning at the end of church Brent leaned over and told me he was going to take a personal day today to spend time with his girls. He was scheduled to work this weekend and tomorrow but decided that we needed some much needed family time.

I was super excited and we immediately started trying to brainstorm on what we were going to do. I told him that I wished it was pumpkin season already so we could go to Jackson's Orchard. He has never been so I pulled up their website to show him a glimpse and to see when they would have there big fall festival.

Well to our surprise they were having an apple festival this weekend complete with fried apple pies, carmel apples, and anything else apple they could make. We were in! Brent LOVES him a carmel apple!

We loaded up and took the 20 minute drive out to Jackson's Orchard. I was so excited because I haven't been in years and have been wanting to take Cecilia.

Oh it was everything I remember! Wide open spaces with apple trees and peach trees surrounding us, families enjoying picnics under the shade and people every age enjoying some type of apple treat.

We hit the snack stand first thing. To my surprise Brent decides he wants a fried apple pie instead of a carmel apple (he said it was too messy to eat in public. another shock of the day...my husband worrying about what he looks like eating!) and I decide on the apple chips with carmel.

It was SOOOO good! I'm not usually a carmel and apple kind of girl but my goodness this was heaven! It was by far the best apple I have had in a long time. I was going to get a picture of Brent's good lookin' fried apple pie but he had inhaled it before I could even get my camera out. So much for worrying about what he looks like eating!

And our girl...

sat is awe of her surroundings and enjoyed an afternoon sitting under a big tree with a nice breeze blowing up her dress.

Jackson's Orchard, you were everything I remembered.

You welcomed us with open arms.

For now we say see ya later. But have no worries, we will be back in a couple of weeks to take in all the fall festivities you have to offer.

(Too much family fun to handle!)

You've Gotta Love 'Em

So Cecilia and I took a trip to Wal-Mart today to get our groceries for the week. She was in a fabulous mood and screamed/talked the whole time. As I passed everyone they turned and looked at this unusually happy child in Wal-Mart because let's face it, there is something about Wal-Mart that turns children into Satan. It's ridiculous!

Anyway, we are passing this sweet old lady who stops us to take a look at Cecilia. She was saying what a cute baby. Aren't they lovely at this age. Just oohing and ahhing over her. We were just about to walk off when she turned to me and said what every mother hates to hear 'oh its a boy right?'

Really? Really? What part of my precious daughter screams boy? Would it be her PINK pants? Or maybe it is the big PINK bow sitting front and center of her head!

I just laughed and politely said 'no she is a girl' and walked off shaking my head.

You just gotta love old people!

Let the Showers Begin!

Over the next month I will be hosting/help hosting 3 showers. 2 wedding and 1 baby.

I love showers. Let me rephrase that...I love showers when they aren't for me. I hate sitting up there in front of everyone trying to act super excited over tea spoons that someone has clearly used for the past 40 years with cloth napkins that still have lipstick stains. "Oh my! Just wanted I always wanted. Used tea spoons! How did you know?!"

Anyway, I love the planning, the excitement, and seeing what other people get.

This weekend I helped host a wedding shower for my friend Abby. She was one of my bridesmaids and a friend forever so I was more than happy to throw her a shower.

We had a lemon theme so everything was focused around lemons and the color yellow. Here are a few pictures from the shower.

Here is the sign in table. I made lemon shaped cookies as favors for people to take as they came in. This is a close up of the goodie bag. I love Abby's monogram and it even had a lemon at the top!

Of course the yummy cake. Cake is another reason why I love showers!

We served lemonade of course and one of the girls had the idea to put sugar around the rim and add a slice of lemon. I thought the glasses were so cute!

This was the centerpieces for all the tables. I loved the way they turned out and I'm thinking my new favorite flower are these football mums. So full and pretty.

A picture of the beautiful bride to be? Yeah as soon as the party got started the camera went into the diaper bag and didn't appear again until sometime later that night. I swear I am the world's worst at taking pictures! Oh well!

With this shower down, I am so looking forward to the other 2. They are all planned out but there is still lots to do. Busy as a bee!

Unexpected Days

We have many unexpected days/moments now that Cecilia is in our lives. Some are fun and some are just down right no fun at all. A simple trip to Target can turn into 'oh my gosh my child has just blessed me with a gift (running out her diaper none the less) and the nearest diaper/wipe is in the car.' This moment turns into having to change my child's diaper in the middle of Target parking lot in the back part of the car for God and all Target customers seeing her hindend.

An ordinary Wednesday turns into a trip to Auburn to see a family doctor (ped is out of town and the others I'm not fond of) about a possible case of pink eye. I use the word possible lightly because we ended up with pink eye. And when I "we" I mean Cecilia.

Another late morning call from the daycare saying I have to pick her up for possible pink eye. I assure them yet again that her tear ducts are stopped up and that she is fine. Uhh this is different; her eye is a little red and one of the other babies has it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

This came a day after we got a note sent home saying a child within the daycare was diagnosed with hand-foot disease. To say this has been a stressful/upsetting day would be in EXTREME understatement. I'm not sure how many times I have burst into tears. Yes I realize it is just pink eye, but once you have had your child in the doctor's office every two weeks since she is born, it gets to ya. I'm sure the pharmacist thought I was a tad nuts when he looked at me as I was on the verge of tears after he told me he didn't have the drops I needed and that I would have to go somewhere else. He apologized several times and even called it into another pharmacy. I'm pretty sure I was the first to cry because they didn't have a certain medicine.

Its been a long day and there isn't enough chocolate in the house to cheer me up.

5 Months

Another month down! If I blink too many times you are going to be 16 and telling me I'm the worst mother ever.

You are weighing in around 18 lbs, wearing size 3-6 month clothes, and wearing size 3 diaper.

You are lovin' life and everyone around you! You greet everyone with a smile and have become an extremely happy baby. You only have your moments when you are really tired or tired of lookin' at one of us.

You started baby food this month and are really taking to it. Peas you love and we tried carrots this week. At first you weren't too crazy about them but by the 3rd bite you didn't mind it. Daddy says you are going to like everything since you are on the chubby side. Well shall see. You still have squash and green beans to try before we can move on to the fruits.

You still refuse to roll over for me and haven't for Daddy in awhile. You will, however, sit up for me. The other night you sat up for 6 Mississippi's! I think you will get it this next month.

You are grabbing for toys more and really trying to figure them out. You talk all the time and it is so fun listening to you. You will be in the middle of babbling, stop and I will ask you a question. You think for about a second then start up again. You are my entertainment in the car now!

We have had a bit of trouble lately with sleeping. For some reason you start crying in your sleep. I don't mean a little whimper but full fledged fit. I'll check up on you and your eyes aren't even open! I'm not sure if you are dreaming or hurting or what. Most of the time I can get you to calm down but last night you cried every hour! EVERY HOUR!!!!

So this is where we slept last night. I made a pallet for us so when you cried I could just reach over and put your pacifier back in and calm you. I'm not used to those night anymore! I had to peel my eyelids off my eyeballs when you decided to wake up for the day at 6am! It is moments like these that make me think you really hate me! :) Phew! You are wearing me out!

I only joke about the lack of sleep because I wouldn't trade any of this.

Its moments like this that I look at you and thank God that he allowed me to be your Mama. Soon enough I will be writing about your first day of school so I will take all of sleepless nights if it gives just a few more moments with you in a day.

Daddy and I love you, Cecilia Reid.