9 Months Old and Finally Back to Blogging...

I love this picture of Daisy with my good friend Melissa. M happened to have a cute baby apron that matched hers. She put it on Daisy and handed Daisy a mixer and whalah the cutest pic ever! Below: Melissa also loaned us a super useful baby travel chair and it was such a lifesavor!! Daisy really enjoyed it too...as you can tell:)
Joey and her Daddy hanging out at Great Grandma and Papa's house. She got spoiled with lots of presents as did we and we all enjoyed a ton of delicious food! Thanks so much Grandma and Papa!!
Daisy meeting her Great Papa Martinez for the first time.
Daisy and her GG (Great Grandma Marshall). They too met for the first time on this trip. Daisy loved her GG!

Today my sweet little Daisy Love is 9 months old on none other than New years Eve! Happy Nine months to our darling little girl. Joey and I are both blown away at how fast the time has gone with our child. In just a mere three months we will be celebrating her first year of life and our first year of having a child and managing to stay sane through all of the lively changes and adjustments. lol.

Some things that have changed since her 8 month post
-She eats just about anything and everything (in small amounts) but the funny thing is she is still very picky about picking up slimy foods or brightly colored vegies with her own hands. I can spoon feed her just about anything thankfully. She enjoys cheese, eggs, all fruits, beans, rice and so on..and sweets unfortunately.
-She is crawling like a pro now and is pulling up on everything and will stand with assitance. In fact she is more interested in pulling up on all of our dangerous end tables, armoires, dressers and chairs than playing with her loads of amazing toys at the moment. I have to watch her like a hawk all the time, which is beyond exhausting because she is very prone to face planting while attempting to pull up on things right now. Perhaps Daisy needs her own empty room with nothing other than toys so I can get things done and she doesn't smash her face? lol
-She is struggling with separation anxiety again though we have only run into an issue twice since Joey and I have only been on a couple of solo dates in the past couple months (we need to work on this, clearly!). She tends to cry pretty much the entire time we are gone. This is unfortunate for us, for her and for those watching her. I hope it passes quickly!
-She wears 12 month clothing
-Has babbled mama, dada, bye bye
-Has 8 teeth but, I believe she is working on 1 or 2 more at the moment (crazy!!)
-LOVES giving kisses with an open mouth. She also enjoys kissing magazines with baby faces and mirrors while looking at herself. It's too cute!
-Wiggles is still her favorite show
-Cries whenever I walk out of a room if it is just me and her at home. Drives me crazy but, I know it's only because she loves me:-).
That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure more will come to me as soon as I publish this post!

I'm a tad unsure of what to even write in this post as I have far too much to catch up on... In the past 19 days I think I only posted one blog entry! That is an all time record of absence for me. I missed blogging tremendously while I was out in California but, internet breaks were in very short supply and by the end of each busy day with family and friends I was almost always too pooped to do anything other than crawl into bed after my munchkin fell asleep. It was such a blessing to be with all of our loved ones during the Christmas season and even more special that we got to introduce Daisy to everyone who had not yet met her!

I will be posting a slew of pictures over the next couple of weeks and updating you all on our very uninteresting lives that you missed out on:-). I lost a memory card full of videos and pictures of Christmas while eating at a restaurant one afternoon. I was devastated and it took me a few days to get over the ache of losing memories because if you know me at all you know my brain will not store the memories for me. The restaurant was not able to locate the tiny memory card so I had to surrender my grief to the Heavens and be thankful that I had so many pictures from before and after Christmas to share and I am...very thankful that I have what I do. Stay tuned for adventures of flying with an infant, eating delicious California cuisine, lots and lots of visitors, Christmas fun, highlights and lessons learned from our 2010 Christmas trip!

Happy New Year's Eve!! We hope you all had a wonderful 2010 and we pray that the new year of 2011 is full of new adventures, blessings and challenges that will strengthen you and build you. God Bless each of you!!

My resolutions: (For the record I never make resolutions at the start of the new year as they tend to set me up for failure but, the things I have already been working on and setting in motion might as well be called resolutions:-)

1. Eat out minimally (one because we need to spend less and two because I need to eat better)
2. Think Positively
3. Get plugged in to a mommy and me playgroup to get both myself and my daughter more socialized
4. Me and the hubs want to get more plugged in to a bible study and in to our church
5. Praise God always on good days and bad and spend time with Him everyday!

Babies Love Starbucks!

I have not had internet access for much of this trip so I apologize to all of our family who so enjoy seeing their Daisy updates every morning. I have loads of pictures and lots of stories to share about the flight, this trip and my little Daisy bean but, for now I thought I would let you enjoy one of my favorite videos of Daisy too date. I was at Target waiting for my warm Starbucks drink and it must have been the festive music, the happy people or just Daisy being Daisy but, she was too cute!! By the way..this was when it was still warm out which is why she has no socks or shoes on...this video is a handful of weeks old now.

We hope you are all enjoying your Christmas week! It is very special being here in California with both of our families. Daisy has already gotten some sweet gifts from her Great Grandma and Papa and we are loving the chance to reconnect with so many people..not to mention eating at all of our favorite places. A diet will certainly be necessary when we get home to North Carolina. NC friends and family we miss you too!

We pray that the joy of the Lord is filling you this season. I'm so thankful for Jesus and his sweet, simple birth. For His gift I am most grateful. Be blessed everyone. xoxo

Flying

It's been a whirlwind of packing over the past two days. Clothes and things for 3 people for 16 full days in California adds up quickly even when I try really hard to keep it light. We are very thankful and happy that we get to visit everyone in CA this Christmas!! Such a blessing! We are pretty confident that flying will be a handful with Daisy because we know our kid. She will not sit still for even a second now. She is so squirmy and wants to crawl everywhere. It will be an adventure to say the least but, once we are there let the fun begin!

Doesn't Daisy look so happy sitting in our suitcase:-). I think she knows that we are about to embark on a fantastic voyage to see lots of people who love her. Let the journey begin...oh, and since we will probably not be sleeping much for the next few days there will be very little blogging. We'll see you all soon!

Daisy's First Christmas

A lot of these pictures were taken with the flash on too strong and were unfortunately overexposed; however, when I accidentally pressed the delete button and lost several other Christmas pictures on my camera before I had a chance to download them, I realized how priceless a picture is regardless of it's exposure...perhaps a lesson the Lord wanted me to chew on. Thanks for the near death experience! ahhhh. I'm was so bummed about the pictures I lost but, the ones I have make me so happy and capture our evening very well!

One of the pics that was delted was one that showed that Daisy's shirt says, "My Grandma spoils me." Very cute and very true! :-)

Do you see all of those presents? 99% of them were for Daisy:-) Yes, she made out like a bandit! Here she is hanging out with her Uncle Mike.

Daisy was having a great time hamming it up on Great Grandma Bailey's lap as you can tell

"Mom, when do I get to open my pwesents? I'm tired of waiting."

"mmmmm, wrapping paper is delicious!"

Daddy proudly showing off Daisy's first tea set that sings and teaches. So cute.

Auntie Jess and Auntie Kathy enjoying the Daisy Christmas Show

Blurry or not this picture is the real deal. I was that excited for Daisy. It's so fun to be a parent at Christmas (and all the rest of the time too of course)!!

Our Family Photo

Okay, so this picture cracks me up for a few reasons...look at my expression. Is that the look of someone excited about Barney sing along DVD's or terror stricken?? ahhahahah. Just kidding. I actually was excited about the sing along videos (Joey wasn't because he is not a fan of Barney) but, somehow this picture captured both me and Daisy in a funny pose. Look at her face!! What a crack up!!

Our sweet angel baby

Auntie Jess and her sweetie pie

Jess and her boyfriend Noah hanging out with Daisy

Another great Daisy face:-) Too bad I wasn't looking in the right place. Sigh. lol

Let the toy playing begin! The serious face here is a prime indicator that Daisy is tired. She smiles a bit less and wants her pacifier and blankie when she starts fading. She did great all night though!

She got this really cool car that she can ride on or stand and walk with. She LOVES being pushed all over the house on it and on her giraffe "car." I have a really cute video to post later of her riding the car around the house.

See those three bottom teeth? Well, now she has at least one or two more breaking in and making her miserable this week.

Grandma loves her Daisy very much!

Daddy doing what Daddy does best. Putting things together and making his little princess happy:-)

Isn't this Giraffe cute.....or is it just that my hubby is so cute?? I dunno:). That wraps up the pics

We had a delicious prime rib dinner with all of our family out in NC. It was such a blast to have everyone together. As I have said before, I really love having a lively, full house! Daisy got so many presents and so many fun things to enjoy for a long time to come. Thank you everyone for spoiling her. She held up great the entire night and especially wanted the wrapping paper as often as she could get her hands on it.

Daisy is crawling like a champ now...in just a matter of two weeks and drumroll, she is able to go from a crawling position to a sitting up position now too!! This is all happening so fast I just don't know what to do!! She is also pulling herself up on things but, is not strong enough to full stand just yet...VERY close! She is incredibly active. It's insane! lol. She does still cry when she rolls onto her tummy at night in her crib because she never learned to sleep on her stomach and for whatever reason she chooses to forget how to roll back to her back at night so she screams bloody murder until someone goes in and turns her back over. Hopefully that will stop by the time she turns 18!! hehe

Daisy you are such a big, happy girl!! You loved your presents and the attention that was lavished on you this Christmas! You smile for everyone and give kisses like crazy. What a sweetie pie you are!

Love

I have to give all credit to my hubby for capturing one of my favorite pictures ever with Daisy since she has been born. I don't even know why I love this shot so much but, it just speaks volumes. I love my little Daisy boo to pieces and I think in this picture you can see my love for her clearly and you can see that she feels the same way about me:). hehe. Plus, could she look any cuter holding her snowflake ornament?

Love: the Christmas lights twinkling behind Daisy and her beautiful smile

Love: these two shots of Daddy with his little girl. Daisy was so excited to show us the cable that we finally let her play with. Her expression cracks me up...and look at those 7 teeth. Whew!

Too cute!

My sleepy faced girl in her Moose Christmas jammies and first 12 month outfit too. What a big girl!

Favorite Christmas Movie: Elf but, I love them all for the record!

Favorite Christmas Song: That is a tough one because I like several. O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manager, Mary Did you Know, Jingle Bells, Joy to the World.

Favorite Christmas Tradition: We have quite a few and now with a child of our own I hope to start some new ones very soon for our family. As a child we did a 25 day candy chain with a bible verse and a candy in each chain. I loved tearing that open and eating my candy each morning before school and reading a verse that told the story of Christ and His birth!

Another favorite is that we Grandkids always got to open one present on Christmas Eve night from my Grandparents and it was always our jammies to spend the night at their house in. There are 6 girls and we often all had matching jammies and my older brother was the only boy at the time so he had his own. We wrapped presents, watched Christmas cartoons and hung out with our entire family and stayed up late. We kids were SO excited about Christmas. It was a blast!

Also, my family always opened presents on Christmas Eve morning because we usually spent most of Christmas day at my Grandma's house. I loved having two full days of Christmas every year and will probably do this with our family as well!

My husband's family has a really fun tradition of going to a movie on Christmas day and I really like that tradition a lot. It's so fun to dress up in your new Christmas clothes, As soon as our kiddos are all old enough I will definitely bring them along and that gets me very excited!!

Favorite Christmas treat: I like just about anything sweet so I can't pick a single treat (hey, that rhymed!) but, I do love the sugar cookies that can be decorated with frosting and sprinkles and are all in shapes of Christmas things! I want to make some with Daisy next year!

What Christmas Means To Us: If you haven't yet picked up on this by reading our blog, Jesus means everything to us! Christmas is a very special season because it is fun for everyone and in that fun I hope to always make sure that my daughter and future children take time to focus on what I believe is the true meaning of the season. Jesus was born on this Earth as the son of God to save us all from our sins. His life, death and resurrection were all priceless gifts that He freely gave us. He is the ultimate gift giver and in celebration of that we give gifts to each other. We will read the bible story of Jesus and his birth each year and maybe even bake a cake to celebrate Jesus' birth so our kids will better understand who the holiday is really about.
Thank you for your gifts to us King Jesus!

Up To

Nothing like a lovely Christmas wreath to give a festive touch to an otherwise blah storm door

We got our first snow this week. A light snow but, so beautiful! And Daisy's first ever!! So special!

Daisy had her four pack friend, Lila over for a late night hangout this past Saturday while her parents were at a work dinner. The girls did great together and it was fun for me to see Daisy interacting with another baby. Lila is such a sweetie pie.

Evidently they both wanted their pacifiers in at the same time too...

Daisy got a package in the mail from Grandma Lulu and she was very excited to rip it open...with her mouth of course

And inside were these adorable My first Christmas jammies for Daisy (of course)...I had been looking everywhere for some for Daisy. It was such perfect timing and was a very thoughtful gift! Thank you Lulu!

showing off some of her moves

She loves her basket of toys

Most mornings I sit Daisy next to her basket of toys and she enjoys pulling them all out and showing them to me or chewing on them. She is so cute with her pooky morning face and always checking to make sure mom and the camera are nearby...yup, still here baby girl!

hmmmm....what have we here??

Love you Daisy my sweet girl!

Tomorrow we celebrate our family Christmas here in North Carolina. Exciting huh! I'm going to try and make sure that Joey and I get in more of the pictures since we so seldom do. We'll see how that works out! lol. Can't wait to share the moments with you all later this week and then we are off for California. Whew!

Daisy is crawling like a champ for the most part the biggest problem we are facing is that she is throwing up horribly from all the effort she puts into crawling since it is still such a new exercise for her. A good ten times a day or so. It's wearing me out cleaning up after her and I'm sure she isn't enjoying it much either. It is neat to see her improving on her crawl though and tiring to keep her out of harms way. hehe. This little girl is growing up so fast I just can't believe it!

It is FREEZING here in North Carolina. Even when our heater is on and I have warm clothes on my feet feel numb and my nose is always cold in our house. I think this is the coldest winter I have experienced yet to date in NC. The wind is making it brutal. I've had to go out in it twice now with Daisy and it is just miserable out. I would definitely stay inside all winter long if I could figure out how to do so! lol. As you can tell, cold weather is not my thing...at all!

I've got nothing else. Hope you are all enjoying this festive time of year with the ones you love!

Thanksgiving Recap

I just love these pictures of Logan, Austin and Daisy watching a Christmas movie together on the laptop on the floor. It was really early in the morning and I stuck Daisy in the middle of the boys for a picture and she was far more interested in looking at me and the camera (big surprise right:) haha, than watching the show. I just love her pooky sleepy face and how cute she looks in between the big boys. Yes, it made me think about having more kids..someday (no I am not in a hurry for another baby) and how special moments like these are with my friend and her kids!

This one especially makes me smile:) Both boys looking at Daisy and her grinning ear to ear! hehe

Black Friday Joey's mom called and said she had an early Christmas surprise for Joey. It was a wonderful surprise for Joey and for me! A miter saw and a " man's grill," as Joey calls it. I get to enjoy amazing grillin' and now my hubby can get to work on some chair rails and crown molding some day:). Such a blessing!! Thank you Cindy!! Also, a special treat was that along with Cindy came cousin Daniel, Aunt Kathy and Grandma and Grandad again. It was a fun morning!

Our Family Thanksgiving picture thanks to Elissa who took this for me:). Daisy went to bed for the night shortly after this was taken. Unfortunately she can only hang until around 7ish now. She didn't eat a whole lot of Thanksgiving food..just rolls and a little mashed potatoes...she just wanted to sleep! Thanks Grandma Lulu for the perfect holiday bib!

Happy first Thanksgiving sweet Princess!

Austin really enjoyed hanging out in Daisy's exersaucer. It was cute to see how much he enjoyed it! Logan wanted to get in too but, we figured he might be a tad too big now. Logan is going to be four next year and Austin will be two...holy cow, where did the time go??

Me and my bestie, Elissa and our kiddos. Elissa is currently pregnant with her third precious bundle due later March of next year. They are waiting to find out what they are having and as most people know...surprises kill me. I'm DYING to know what she is having so next year will be quite exciting for all of us!! Elissa's hubby, Mike is serving our country overseas in Iraq until next year and we missed his company very much but, it was an absolute joy and honor to have Elissa come to our home with her kids and carry on our Thanksgiving tradition of spending this holiday together...I think we have spent 4 Thanksgivings together now?? Hope to have more too! Love you Elissa friend!

These pictures were all taken by Elissa and I'm so happy that she snapped a few of Daisy since I slaced. Daisy is such a crack up and she loved her outfit and musical zoo present from Auntie Elissa but, she especially loved the boys little etchasketch...so I bought her one for Christmas..shhhhhh

Yes, I could kiss her face all over, slober and all. Love her chubby cheeks and those dark eyes:).

My sweet pregnant friend Elissa getting a rare moment to sit and sip coffee while the kids and my hubby watch Toy Story 3. I think we all got pretty sucked into the cartoon quite honestly..except Elissa who has probably seen it a kajillion times already:). I look forward to when Daisy is old enough to enjoy watching an entire cartoon. I'm really behind in seeing them and am eager to watch them with her!! :)

The boys watching the show and staying cozy on the couch. It ws a chilly weekend in NC!

Joey's family and my friend Elissa and her boys joined us for Thanksgiving at our house. It was SOOOOO wonderful to have a lively and festive house for the holiday!! I enjoyed every second of it all. The meal was quick and easy to prepare, the food turned out great, the company was wonderful and I felt like I was bursting at the seems with food and joy:). I didn't take many pictures of us eating or cooking...something I need to get better about. Maybe this Christmas I will work on that but, not likely as we will be out of state visiting family in California!! Yippee!!

We actually will be celebrating our first big Christmas this Wednesday believe it or not. Since all of us NC family are flying out to CA we decided it would be easier to celebrate here than to ship all of our presents to CA only to have to ship them right back. I am super excited!! We will have about 10 adults and little Daisy all hanging out at our house, exchanging presents and enjoying another yummy meal together! I can't wait!! Just hope the hubs recovers fully from his flu by then. He has had a brutal sore throat and cough for over a week now...I'm praying and praying that me and Daisy don't get it right before flying to CA next week.....noooooooo. I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful festive season!! It is going by so fast already!!