Little sponge

Yesterday when I was cleaning our bedroom, my little sidekick was right there with me. I saw her opening and closing the lid to the diaper genie and thought I would just leave her be since she wasnt trying to stick her hand down it or anything, and it had already been a little bit of a rough day....aka, she was happy, and I wanted to take advantage of it. Later when I went to put a dirty diaper in it, I found a clean diaper lying in the top of the genie under the lid. I about died laughing!! She is definitely watching us, and paying more attention than we realize!! That is becoming more and more evident everyday! She melts my heart everyday! And despite the frequent melt downs that occur daily now, I am loving every minute of this!!

Some updates

Being pregnant for the second time has already proven itself to be completely different than the first! I have been so nauseas! It is slowly getting better, but I keep saying that and then having really sicky days for the next three days. So I just jinxed it. But I havent thrown up very much, in case anyone wanted to know. Just a lingering sick feeling off and on all day. And for some reason it hits me hard in the evenings. I cannot really complain because I am still able to do everything I need, and I can eat most things...I just dont feel great a lot of the time. Smells that normally dont bother me, bother me know. That is probably the worst, because you cant really control that. Other than that, I am just trying really hard to not gain a ton of weight. I did really well with Eliza, and only gained 20lbs, but I am already struggling to get back on a healthy eating kick....So hopefully I wont b0low it. Plus I just want to be healthy, for me and the baby. I have not gone to the doctors yet because we are getting stuff in order for insurance. But I am almost 12 weeks along according to my last cycle, so it will be interesting to see how accurate that is since I feel a little further along. I am so excited to get the ball rolling with all that, because that is when it really seems real!! I cant wait to hear a little heart beat, and see our baby!!!

Eliza is doing great! She is getting over another ear infection, poor baby. I hate that. And what breaks my heart the most, even though it is a good thing, is how good of a sick patient she is. She hardly fusses at all, and barely pulls at her ear. That makes it really hard to even know she has one, but I have learned that if she pulls on her ear even once, she probably has an ear infection. Which was the case. So she is on Augmentin which is aweful. It tastes horrible, and I have to bribe her with Easter Candy to take it. I know that is bad, but its for the better good. Plus it gives her diarrhea badly, which causes a rash instantly. But she is such a trooper. She is getting braver about walking between things, like the couch to the coffee table, but still not trying to walk. Thats ok, I know she will do it when she is ready, and that is just fine with me. She is just cracking us up with all of her little new found emotions, and facial expressions. We just love her! Also, while she was taking her morning nap, I showered, and when I went into the room to get dressed, she started jibbering in her sleep, then rolled over and sighed with a big smile on her face. So cute!!!

Here are a few pictures to liven up this long post:

Eating her first marshmallow peep Easter Morning


Of course she loved it <3


For some reason, she loves to go climb into her carseat and just sit there.

She is so funny!!

In other news, David was accepted into the University of North Texas! I am so proud of him! He is working so hard for our little growing family. He works all day long and then goes to school til 9pm almost every night. He doesn't complain, he just does it. He is so amazing!! We are so blessed to have him!! He has applied to several other schools, and is waiting to hear back before he decides where he will be next semester. But he is taking summer classes again this year. I will be honest when I say that I secretly wish he wasn't. I know he really wants to get done with school ASAP, and I totally agree. But I hate not seeing him Mon-Thurs. I know how selfish that is, especially since I am not the one who has to do all of that work. But he also breaks my heart getting up early, going to work, coming home, showering, eating, back out the door. I am worried that he is wearing himself out. But I am supportive of whatever he feels he needs to do. He is doing it for all of us, and I only hope that I can do my part here at home to the best of my abilities.

Caught!!

Well One of Elizas favorite things to do is to get a hold of the wet wipes and rip them aaaalllll out of the package. So I have to try hard to remember to put them up high after a diaper change, and I usually end up putting them on the arm of the couch since our couches are kinda tall....but she has recently realized that she can reach the arm of the couch...which, by the way i often forget. So after changing her diaper this evening, I put the wipes on the arm of the couch and went to use the bathroom. I could hear her get the wipes down and start chewing/playing with the package, I couldnt tell exactly what was going on...but I hurried hoping I wouldnt find this...... But Obviously I was not so fortunate.....

But when I looked over by the door, she was on the linoleum....cleaning it with a wet wipe!!! Is that not the most adorable thing ever??!! how could I even think about being upset???!!!

This was one of those mother moments. A moment when you remember just how sweet and innocent these precious little ones are. Not like I really ever forget, but I am grateful for the moments that cause me to really put it into perspective. I have had alot of those lately. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father everyday for blessing me with the opportunity to be a mommy, and even more grateful that he allows us those little glimpses of what its really all about. Or more like, when we allow ourselves to recognize those moments, I guess.

Loong post warning....

Well I am obviously a blog slacker, but I have already given myself a hard enough time about it, so I won't dwell....Sorry this is going to be a long post, but stick around for the end, its good=) Alot has obviously happened since Eliza's birthday. It is like She has transformed into a toddler! Not really, necessarily, but she just seems so big! Her personality is larger than life too!! She is still just the sweetest, giving us kisses and giggling and playing...but she also has a big ol temper!! She growls and yells and has started to screech if she doesn't get what she wants. If you are saying "uh-oh"...you have no idea!! We are not so thrilled about it, but can't help but laugh sometimes. Like a week ago, she was playing with my phone because she loves to dance to the ring tones, but she was starting to one in a message so I was saying "ok baby hold on a sec, let me fix it" trying to get it from her and she grasped onto it tightly and growled and was shaking trying to keep me from getting it!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I had to laugh, without her seeing of course, and then continued to take it from her and fix it. I started trying to do some signing with her, and I wish I had started sooner. But she can do more, which is a big help, and we are working on please. As well as food, and drink. I am just trying to stay patient with this teenage attitude that has come over my one year old, and deal with it by not responding to the yells and growling demands, and helping her to calm down and "ask" nicely. It works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't, but hopefully we will be able to help her to curb her strong will for the best!! I know she will need it in this day and age!! She is so fun though!! She is my little buddy, she loves being everywhere I am! I am still struggling to get her to play by herself....a struggle since she has been crawling...but I cant blame her for getting bored in our little apartment. We love taking walks to the library, or just playing out front of our apartment building. David is working so hard both at work and school. We hardly see him monday through Thursday, But I am just constantly reminded of what an incredible man I married. No matter what his load, he never takes his stress out on me or Eliza. He always takes time everyday to spend with Eliza and I. We are so so blessed to have him!! Here are a few updates on our 1 going on 15 year old:)....

• While standing, she will let go and stand by herself for up to 10 seconds, she will sometimes take steps, but is just not showing a great interest...that ok with me for a little while longer.


• She Looooves to talk on the phone...in fact EVERYTHING is a phone! She holds up our phones, or toys up to her ear constantly and will have little conversations. she will even pause like she is listening and then laugh or "respond"...our little diva!! It is so stinkin cute!!


• She is completely off of the bottle. We started weining her off the week before her birthday and she did great! She loves milk in her sippy! I am so glad!!


• She is still a great eater..and sleeper thankfully.


• She loooves dogs!! She loves maggie at Davids parents house and Bailey at my parents house. She is just fascinated by them and thinks they are so funny. Everytime she sees a dog outside or in a book she does the cutest high pitched "oof-oof"...melts my heart!!


• She is kinda stingy about kisses lately, but usually when mommy or daddy asks she will open wide and plant one right on our lips...You cant ask for anything sweeter!

and.....SHE IS GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!! We found out the beginning of March that I am expecting and as far as we can tell I am due around November 10th. So I am about 9 weeks along. I feel like I am a little further, plus I am already showing so we are anxious to get to the Doctors!! We had always planned on having our kids close together so that they could be buddies, but thinking about how old Eliza will be (only about 21 months) is really putting it into perspective for me. They are going to be really close in age, but I know that will be good. I loved having siblings close to me, we had so much fun growing up. Eliza loves being around other kids, and I know she will be a great big sister!! This pregnancy is already different than with Eliza. I started feeling nauseas almost right away, and have this constant nauseas feeling that lingers all day...blah. But I have only gotten sick once which is nice, but then again sometimes it feels like it would be better to get it over with. I love being pregnant though!! And We are so so excited to meet this new life in November!!

Happy Birthday Eliza!!!

"It's her party ....And she'll EAT CAKE if she wants too!!" You know the rules!!! And boy did Eliza eat cake at her birthday party this past weekend!!!

I have been driving myself crazy the past month or so looking at all of her newborn baby pics. and being reminded of how big she has gotten! She is one years old for cryin out loud!!! I cannot believe it! We had such a fun weekend celebrating=) On Friday, I spent literally the whole day baking the cake, but unfortunately I had to leave about 4:00 to make dinner so we could feed the missionaries. Not unfortunate that we were feeding the missionaries, we love that....just unfortunate that i had to leave my mom to do all of the decorating by herself! She is the best!! She is so talented and she did an amazing job!!!! After we fed the missionaries, we took Eliza to Babies R Us and got her birthday presents. I know we are a little last minute. Last stop of the day; Party City to get the rest of her party supplies. Saturday morning I have a mandatory college success class at TCC Northwest, but fortunately we always get out early. And as a side note, when I David and Eliza picked me up, I couldnt help but realize that there was a huge "On the Border" cup in the cup holder...turns out David and Eliza had a little lunch date...I thought that was so sweet!!

We headed to my parents house, to decorate and get everything ready.

We enjoyed some snack foods, and then opened presents. Eliza made out like a bandit! Tons of clothes, and books and some toys (we warned everyone not to buy a ton of toys because to date, Eliza shows no interest...for more than 1 day). But she loves loves books!!

She's ready to check out the loot!

liking her new sandals from Auntie Lauren=)

Rocking chair from Grandma and Grandpa Peterson...She knew just what to do=)

After presents we moved right into the most anticipated event of the day....atleast for me=)

The cake.....My mom did an absolutely AMAAAZING Job!!!

Here comes the Birthday Princess!!

Singing "Happy Birthday"...at first she loved it...

Then she got embarrased...

For the past couple of months...since talk of birthdays started coming up...everyone has been making predictions about Eliza's cake eating experience.....

...She first had to test it out...a little on the safe side there..

But she didn't disappoint!!!!

She is just getting started....

Then Memaw surprised Tickie-tie with a birthday cake since we didn't get to celebrate his birthday the week before....

We told Dad to go sit by Eliza so we could get a picture...and she automatically went for his cake!!!

She was so funny...she went really slow, and kept looking over at Tickie-tie like "are you really letting me have this?!"

But she was willing to share=)

And of course she loooved it!!!!

forget the vanilla cake....A girl after my own heart!!

Me and my messy...chocolate loving, ONE year old=)

Memaw and Grandma...She is one loved little girl!

Grandma taking her out back to hose her down....

Just kidding....she gave her a bath=)

Laughing with Memaw and Auntie Mandy=)

The Birthday girl with Auntie "Fanny"=)

Love from Great Aunt Deanna=)

She loves "G.G."!

Sorry about the ten page post! But we had such a great day! If you have to celebrate your baby growing up, you might as well do it with everyone you love. We missed Great Uncle Tim, Uncle Glenny and Aunt Sarah and Codi. But we have tons more partying to do!! Codi is next on March 9th!

I am ever being reminded of how abundantly blessed we are!! Our families mean the world to us, we are so grateful to be so close to them!!!

I am so grateful for this past year that I have had the opportunity to be at home with our baby girl....I have been able to see every mile stone and take care of her when she is sick. I am so grateful for her! She is such a blessing to us!! We love her with all of our hearts...and more!!! She is the absolute light of our lives!!

Here's to a New Year!!

Well Happy New Year!!! I cannot believe how behind I got!! To give myself some credit, I have had this post started for weeks, but can't seem to finish it! There is alot going on now, thats for sure! We had a great Christmas and New Years! Christmas Eve we always spend at Davids parents house in Paradise, and this year they invited my family to join them. It was a BLAST!!! We played games, and ate (homemade Pasole with New Mexico chile...mmm), and even put on a nativity (one of my family's traditions since forever). It was so fun! As is tradition in Davids family, Santa comes to visit and give presents on Christmas Eve. We were all speculating on how well that would go over with Codi and Eliza...and we werent too far off. Codi actually did great! She was so cute, she just sat there and stared at "santa". Eliza on the other hand immediately burst into hysterics...and didn't calm down for about 15 mins. after the traumatic experience. Poor baby. In my haste that day, I left my camera at home, very sad about that, but fortunately there were atleast 4 other cameras present to document it all.

New Years Eve day was a beautiful sunny 70 degrees, so we wanted to do something a little different and memorable. We have never taken Eliza to the zoo, so we figured it would be the perfect opportunity. It was perfect! There were not huge crowds and all the animals were out. Eliza loved it!!!! She loved loved the monkeys...of course. It was adorable!! She was watching them play and was just giggling and growling and yelling=) I cannot wait til it gets warmer to take her again. We spent that evening at my parents house. All of my family was there and our friends Cody and Kendra. We ate alot of food, played some singstar and rang in the new year. Eliza slept through the whole thing amazingly!!

Daddy and Eliza on Christmas

Love my baby girl

Yelling at the monkeys=)

She wouldnt even look up for a picture

Our little family on New Years Eve
(Eliza was ready for bed, if you couldnt tell)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing hsuband!!!

I will update on life in an apartment, and our texas snowstorm soon=)

Big changes!!

This whole year has been full of big changes for us...the greatest was our lil munchkin. But since we have been married, we have yet to make the big change of being out on our own...until now! Unless you count the two weeks we were in Houston right after we got married, which we don't. For the past nine months we have been living with Davids parents, and it has been such a blessing! They have gone above and beyond to help us and we are Eternally grateful to them!! We are moving to Bedford which is close to where my parents live (about 15 mins.) and we will live like 5 mins. from school for David! It is going to be an exciting and challenging adventure for us I'm sure. We will have new stresses, that we have been so fortunate to have missed out on the past two years. But we have been looking forward to this day since we've been married! Who doesn't? I know that for me it is way more exciting! ha David keeps asking what is so exciting about an apartment. He is definately excited, but I think for a woman, it is on a whole different level when you get your own place. It's kind of like nesting when your'e pregnant, it just comes naturally....an innate desire to have a place that you can decorate and take care of, to be able to cook dinner for your family in your own kitchen! Come on...Exciting!! So we now have electricity in our names and an address to call our own. Ha I'm sure someday I will laugh at that statement. We are really going to miss living with his parents though, they have honestly been so easy to live with and we have had so much fun! They are so good to us! Eliza is sure going to miss not seeing them everyday...She is so spoiled!!! But I am excited to be close to my parents again, and for them to be able to get to know Eliza better and vise versa. And so aside from that excitement, here is what has been happening with our little crawler=)

Baby food doesn't really cut it enymore, so she eats table food, like whole green beans,

peas, rice, pears, some pasta...she loves it!!

While doing dishes one day, we turned around to find this! She is a big helper=)


David brought home one of her Christmas presents and when he put it down

she just sat there and stared at it for a long time

then crawled up to it and squealed and talked to it=)

She has been so good about the tree, for the most part

she will just sit and stare at it...so sweet=)

But she is already sneaking candy! We came back into the room
to find her chowin down on a candy cane from off the tree!!