convos with the baby

This picture was taken by one of the cousins. She took over picture taking during Dakota's party which let me enjoy the party with Dakota. I don't know the reasoning behind this look from Miss Leia...but it's hilarious.

Here's a little conversation with Leia today:

Me: "What does a cow say?"

Leia: "Meow ow"

Me: "No, a cow says Moooo"

Leia: "Moooo"

Me: "what does a dog say?"

Leia: "Meow ow"

Me: "silly girl...what does a cat say?"

Leia: "keykey keykey"

Hahaha!!!

Party pictures

 Angry Birds Party theme decor

 Cool cake that Grandma made for Dakota

 This momma forgot to pick up birthday candles...so we improvised and used matches. Making memories ♥

 Playing Angry Birds

 He's mastering it :)

 opening presents

 The Piggies...Kids had a blast!

Pin the Beak on the Angry Bird game

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy ♥

Here you are....A small collage of Dakota through the years. 1st Birthday to his 7th Birthday. It's unbelievably crazy how fast time flies when it comes to your children. 

This time 7 years ago, I was in the hospital. I didn't know if it was night or day...I just knew that contractions were coming but I wasn't making any progress. Earlier that day, my doctor decided an induction was necessary. I was only 36 weeks and 2 days along. But with High blood pressure and protein in my urine, there was a risk of pre-eclampsia. Spiking BP wasn't good. The doctor sent me straight to the hospital and had me monitored. This was around 10-11am on a Friday. My first baby was about to be here. The doctor came in around 6pm and broke my water. Pitocin started working....contractions were fierce. Due to being on meds for  pre-clampsia, I was out of it. I got the epidural as soon as allowed. 14 hours later, I felt the urge to push. It was time...24 minutes later, little Dakota Wyatt entered this world. He was so tiny...6lbs 2 oz. I couldn't believe my baby was finally here. I felt lousy, exhausted, but Oh! so happy.

Angry Birds Party Prep

There's a party coming up....Saturday is the BIG DAY! 

We are throwing Dakota an Angry Birds Party.  Jed and I got this fabulous idea to make a life size Angry Birds game. Slowly, this idea is coming together. Thanks to Pinterest, a friend donating a bunch of cardboard boxes, and a trip to Academy (sporting goods store).

I found a super size water balloon slingshot at Academy...in addition to red and yellow balls. Now, I just need to make some piggies ...I'm thinking some stuffed paper plate piggies might be exactly what I will do. I can get the kids to color the plates green....add some tape and stuffing...and graphics to the front plate and done (I hope)

This blog post Angry Birds (and Pigs) Ball Tutorial, found via Pinterest helped me recreate what's in the pictures above.

15.5 months old

Here is my recent e-newsletter about Miss Leia. This fits Leia to a T. She is experimenting with EVERYTHING right now. She pounds, squeaks, throws, drops, dumps...oh! you get the idea. Add the experimenting with her love of inhaling fruit snacks and cutting eye teeth all at the same time. This momma is running crazy. I love seeing her learn new things, but I enjoy when I put her to bed at night. This gives me time to recoup and more than likely, Leia is given time to plot for the next day.

Your baby is learning to categorize things (food items, purple items, "my" items) and also to make theories about them. Sound like science class? It is! When your baby turns a cup of water upside down to see the liquid pour out, she’s observing what happens, just as she is when she dumps over a pail of sand or drops food from her high chair. Which types of food bounce; which go splat? These advanced experiments in cause and effect also include turning knobs (time to teach "hot!") and listening for the sounds that things make when they’re pounded. 

On a different note, we had a tease of sunshine last week. It was spectacular. The kids and I went to the park. They ran, jumped, hopped, skipped, swung, and crawled. The sunshiny day was needed for all. The last 2 mornings here, we have awaken to an icy windshield and freezing rain. Definitely not the fun stuff like snow, but at least it's not sticking. 31 degrees here right now. Brrrr for this Southern girl.

...until You.

I saw this posted on a page on Facebook...Surviving Motherhood With A Sense Of Humor. Pretty funny pictures and quotes. And then you get one like this that chokes you up a bit and has you awwww-ing out loud. This was my awwww moment. enJoy.

up, up, and another month older

Leia has been my busiest toddler. Dakota and Lily both gave mommy time to do this or that. Leia, not so much. She sits and plays right beside. And if she's not playing, she has her hands banging the laptop keyboard. 

She is a climber. Up and down on everything. She has recently learned how to get off the couch when she climbs up there. Which is good, but it means now the only time she is in one place is when she is buckled in her carseat or high chair. Leia is now 15 months old and doing good. She's in the 80th percentile for height. She recently had a growth spurt which pushed her into 24 month footed pajamas...eek!! She's growing so fast or maybe it just seems fast when I know she's my last baby.

 I think she has climbed up the swing set more times than the big kids...I think I have an adventurer on my hands.

sitting with the big kids at the table having lunch

schooling after Christmas break

Kids are back in school today. Dakota has all day school and Lily is still in half day school. But ya know, the house already seems quieter. 

Leia is going to her ENT today. She was positive for the Flu last Friday and earlier this week, her ears started draining and getting yucky. The ENT wants to check them out and make sure that nothing is wrong with her ears or tubes. Hoping for a good appointment today. 

Today, Leia is 15 months old!!! Craziness. Time is flying by....does it seem to fly by faster with your last child? I think so.

She's turning into a smart one, too. She had climbed on the top bunk yesterday. I walked in there and called her name,  "Leia Marie. Get down right now. 1....." And Leia replies with "2" smiling from ear to ear. I couldn't hold the laughter back.

I guess I really do count alot when getting the children's attention. Maybe I should start counting to 10 so Leia can count higher than 2 ;)