Weekend Rewind~Summertime Already!?!?

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous!  I seriously think I could take an entire year with weather like we've been having & simply travel to the mountains for my snow fix & the beach for my hot, hot fix!  80s, sunny, & a slight breeze...yes please! 

We spent Friday evening with my parents so they could have some Elyse time.  They were out of town for most of the week so my mom didn't get to fulfill her babysitting duties. 

They did bring home some fun goodies for Elyse including these fun socks!  Apparently they are supposed to teach her to recognize and discover her feet. Of course she would rather just look upside down & backwards at the college basketball that was on the tv...this girl loves her some college basketball!  I think her daddy is just hoping that she loves watching baseball just as much!

Saturday was a busy day around our house.  Most of it involved this hole being dug in our garage...don't worry it was for a good reason, no problems with our house.  Hubby also got started on taming the jungle that managed to grow up around our house in only a matter of 10 days!  This is abnormally warm Spring combined with a good soaking rain made for some crazy tall grass! 

I also took advantage of the gorgeous weather & snapped some photos of our gorgeous tulips that are in full bloom!  I wish tulips would bloom all summer, the colors are just absolutely beautiful & vibrant! 

Saturday night my parents took Elyse to their house so Mommy & Daddy could have a date night.  We went out to a nice meal @ Longhorn Steakhouse...one of the newest restaurant additions in our area.  It was a delicious, relaxing meal & we even mostly achieved our goal of not making the entire conversation about our Baby Girl.  This is certainly easier said than done as most of the time I can't hardly even remember what our lives were like without her! 

We finished up the evening with shopping for Elyse's Easter basket & her Easter dress.  We got her some cute things & while I still haven't bought her dress, I'm pretty certain of which one I'm going to buy.  It's so hard to make decisions about a 3 month old's Easter dress, I can't imagine what it will be like in a few years when she has an opinion of her own!  ha! 

Sunday we headed to church and then came right home so Hubby could finish up the yard work.  I worked in the house while Elyse took 2 really good naps!  She had been a little fussy the past several days, and honestly hadn't been sleeping very well.  I think she just needed to play a little catch up!  In between her naps we grabbed her hat & headed outside for some Vitamin D! 

Being outside with her is so much fun!  I can't wait to spend the summer days with her splashing in the water & getting our suntan...with high quality SPF of course!

Pinterest...It's What's For Dinner

A couple of weeks ago, I made the resolution that each week I would make at least one dinner recipe from my growing Pinterest index.  Honestly, what good is it for me to find so many yummy recipes and never try them out?!?  Sure, I've heard of plenty of Pinterest fails, but I was wanting some new recipes and this was the perfect way to begin. 

This week ended up being a complete success thanks to my fabulous pinning abilities & I had 6 different recipes that were absolutely delicious!

Monday Night: Chicken Enchilada Pasta

This was delicious but made an absolute ton of food.  I think I still have another 2 meals worth in the fridge waiting to be eaten.  I'd definitely make this again, but I think I'd cut everything at least in half.  It wasn't totally & completely healthy, but it wasn't the most unhealthy thing I've ever fixed either.  It got a thumbs up from Hubby. 

Wednesday Night: Blackened Tilapia, Salt & Vinegar Chips, & Baked Kale Chips

I didn't make tacos with the tilapia, but I used the blackened rub to make some wonderful tilapia filets.  This is such a mild fish and I nice change from chicken, beef or pork...plus it cooks super fast in a hot skillet so it's a really fast meal.  Another thumbs up from my mostly anti-fish Hubby. 

I have a new found love for Salt & Vinegar potato chips so I had to try this homemade version.  They were super duper easy & very yummy.  I'm always looking for new wasy to fix red potatoes and I think this method will definitely make it into the regular rotation. 

Of course I had to buy into the Kale Chip fad.  While it's not absolutely terrible, it's not necessarily my favorite roasted veggie.  I'd still prefer roasted asparagus or broccoli but I won't be letting the rest of my bag of kale go to waste, so we'll be eating this at least once more.  It has a good flavor, just not my absolute favorite; however, it is a nice option for a different veggie.   

Thursday Night:  Lasagna Roll-Ups, Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

I had some leftover spaghetti sauce in the freezer so I decided to whip these up as an alternative to regular lasagna.  We love lasagna in our house, but it's so much work for just the two of us.  These roll-ups were the perfect solution!  Big enough for a single serving and I even had a couple left over for later.  I'm thinking next time I'll make enough to freeze for future meals.  Thumbs up for sure! 

This wasn't the first time I'd made these Garlic Cheddar Biscuits (aka Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits), but Pinterest reminded me how easy they are!  These were delicious and I definitely cut the recipe in half...there was no way Hubby & I needed to eat 15 of these in one sitting! 

As Hubby said, Pinterest has been great for us...I can't wait to try many more new recipes!  

Luck O' the Irish Weekend

We had a pretty fabulous St. Patty's day weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous--it felt more like the middle of May instead of the middle of March. I honestly can't believe it's still technically winter until tomorrow!

 

 

Friday evening we met up with our pastor Tony & his wife Dana. Nick & Tony had signed up for the Shamrox 15K on Saturday morning so of course they needed to "carb-up" for the big race. Of course carbing-up meant eating a huge amount of pasta for the guys and I couldn't let them think they were the only ones eating pasta...so I had my fill of delicious bread & pasta as well! Oh how I love Italian food!

Our little Lucky Charm!

I've said it several times before, but I love that we have such a great relationship with the leaders in our church. There are three pastors in our church who share the leadership duties and having a true friendship with one of the couples has been such a huge blessing.  I feel so much more connected with the church & their leadership and it's so great to get together to fellowship instead of just seeing the pastors once a week on Sunday mornings. 

 

 

Saturday Elyse & I pretty much had the day to ourselves!  Nick left early for his race, so Elyse & I took advantage of having no plans and went back to sleep for awhile.  There's just nothing better than cuddling with my sweet baby girl! 

 

 

Nick came home mid-morning with some yummy donuts in has hand!  We worked around the house for the rest of the morning & then he headed back out the door to play golf with one of his friends from high school.  Yes, I get the "Awesome Wifey" award for encouraging him to take advantage of the beautiful day & do something he loves so much!  Don't worry...I have a full spa-day coming up soon! 

 

 

I didn't do much during the afternoon other than picking up the house & working on a few projects here & there...it was just nice to be able to work around the house with the windows wide open & the sun streaming in! 

 

 

Elyse & I loaded up in the car to meet up with Nick & his good friend Blake for dinner at one of our favorite local pizza places (I feel like I say this a ton...but we love our pizza!)!  The Pizza House is located on an old historic street that honestly used to be a little bit of a scary place to go...but they've revitalized a lot of the area and we love the pizza & atmosphere there!

We came home for the evening & still had time for a nice walk around our neighborhood...it was the perfect end to a perfect day! 

On Sunday we headed to church & had a quick lunch at home before my brother & his wife came over to see Elyse.  She was her normal happy self & even had quite the conversation with Uncle Nick!  It's so amazing to hear her try and talk to us every day!  I just love her little coos & giggles & oohs & ahs!  A few of the members of our small group were going to be out of town so we cancelled the study portion and decided to just gather together for a cook-out & some fun fellowship! 

I was in charge of dessert & turned to Pinterest for some inspiration!  This slightly modified version of Rice Krispy treats was a hit! 

It's a Fabulous Friday!

The weather seriously could not have been more gorgeous this week. Combine the extra hour of daylight and the May-like temps, honestly think it's made me feel so much more productive & have more energy!

*We ate dinner at home 4 nights in a row this week! Woop Woop! We also did picnic to-go for lunch a couple of times with sandwiches & chips brought from home. This certainly helps out with the "eating out" budget & also the calorie intake. I've also decided that for lunch there's not anything much better than a good sandwich on fresh bread with fresh deli meat & cheese. MMmmm...

*I've made it a goal to try a new recipe for dinner from Pinterest one night a week...last night's was for sure a winner! Mongolian Beef served with brown rice...DELICIOUS!!!

*We've gone for a family walk every night this week as well. Elyse really seems to enjoy it and just lounges in her stroller as we walk a couple laps around our subdivision.

*We had Elyse's 3 month photos taken this week and they are absolutely fabulous! Here's a sneak peek from our photographer! All photos courtesty of Turner Creative Photography.Seriously, how did we get lucky enough to have such a beautiful baby girl!

*I've done the 30-Day Shred 2x this week in addition to our mile long walks at night. I really need to make this more of a priority and do it at least 4-5x a week...Daylight Savings Time really kicked my butt early this week, so I have a goal of getting up early next week before work!

*Elyse slept from 10-6:30 on Wednesday night & 10-5:30 last night...I really hope we're starting to transition into a more consistent sleep-through-the-night routine!

It's supposed to be another absolutely beautiful weekend! I hope you're all able to enjoy it!

Elyse Love ~ 3 Months

Weight: As of the official 2 month appt back in February, Elyse weighed 9 lbs 14 oz and was 23 inches long! I would say that she's definitely over 11 lbs now and continues to grow in length! We'll have to do the scale test soon to see exactly how much she's grown, but our little girl is definitely starting to get a few rolls on her thighs & arms and those chubby cheeks are just irresistible!
Clothes: Elyse is still in size 1 diapers, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to last. They are definitely starting to get quite a bit smaller so an upgrade in the diaper department may be coming sooner than I thought. She is still wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing, but will be moving into 3-6 month fairly soon. I most likely won't be buying any more 0-3 month unless it's simple onesie playclothes for this crazy early summer we're having! Thankfully we have a lot of hand-me-down 3-6 month clothes that we can hopefully break into!

Food: I really couldn't ask for a better eater. She went through a growth spurt a week or so ago and is now eating between 4-5 oz everytime she takes a bottle. I have to assume that she's also getting that much when I nurse, because of the quantity I pump at work. I'm so thankful that she's eating well both from me & also from a bottle!

Sleep: We still aren't sleeping through the night every night, but we are OH SO CLOSE!! She is sleeping from about 9:45 to 4:30-5:00 and then goes back down until around 7:30. She still naps very well, but she's shortening them up & stays a happy girl. I'm waiting for the consistent night-time sleeping but with an exclusively breastfed baby, I'm pleased as punch that she sleeps for 7-8 hours without interruption!

Activity: This girl is going to be mobile before we know it! She has the ability to roll over, but certainly doesn't want to do it all the time. She also kicks her legs & moves her arms like crazy which is absolutely adorable. It won't be long before we have to keep an eye on her every second because of her being able to move on her own! I think Daddy needs to get those cabinet locks installed...and fast!

Personality: Elyse has become much more vocal this month with a wide variety of sounds instead of just soft or loud cry. She also has these "squawking" noises that are meant to get your attention. I just listening to her talk & coo & goo at us, it warms my heart that she wants so badly to communicate with us. Her smiles are also becoming much more frequent and her full-face grins are simply perfection.

Likes:

~Pacifier--Thankfully she still doesn't require this for sleep, but I won't pretend that she doesn't nap sometimes with it. There are just certain times when nothing seems to soothe her except for her binky.

~Her hands--If she's tired those hands go straight to her mouth and she tries to shove in as many fingers as she possibly can. I just know she's going to gag herself one of these days and at this point she's not sucking on her thumb, she's just exploring with her hands.

~Movement--She has become so much more alert this past week or so and so she loves to look at anything with movement.

~Bathtime--We are bathing her every other night & this is definitely special father/daughter time. She will give Nick these huge grins as he gives her a good rubdown! I can't wait until she can actually splash & play in the water!

Dislikes:

~Middle of the night diaper changes--She rarely cries like she does during a diaper change in the middle of the night. I certainly don't wake her to change her, but most of the time I do clean her up if she wakes to feed. She absolutely hates this even though she doesn't seem to mind diaper changes any other time of day.

3 Month Milestones:

*Rolling over from front to back: 2/21/2012

*First Day in the Crib @ Gigi's: 3/13/2012 ( I think this was more of a milestone for Gigi than for Elyse!) ha!

Springy Weekend Rewind

I hope wherever you live you were able to enjoy some gorgeous weather this weekend! We had a beautiful day on Saturday followed by a nice rainy Sunday. After our crazy week, Hubby & I were both just looking forward to a weekend of no plans and time to recover!

Friday evening we spontaneously decided to stay for dinner with my parents. They were having hamburgers & homemade french fries for dinner...how could we pass that up? And let's be honest, Papa & Gigi are never going to pass up an opportunity to spend more time with Elyse, so they were happy for us to stay!

Saturday morning Hubby & I were on the schedule to work so Elyse got to take her morning nap at Papa & Gigi's house. After work we headed home and got caught up on a few things around the house. We also took advantage of the beautiful weather & went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. I'm sure Bogey was glad to be out of the backyard for a bit...and he certainly needs to lose some of his winter weight! ha! He's a chubby guy!

Saturday evening we headed out for a family dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant Maria's. I also stopped by Hobby Lobby to pick up a few things for a photo project I'm working on (since I finally ordered some of our maternity photos & some of Elyse's newborn photos). We finished off the evening with a trip to Andy's for a chocolate shake! Hubby & I shared so that makes it not quite so bad...right?!?

We had a typical Sunday with church, lunch out, naps for all, and small group! It was a rainy, cloudy Sunday so we all took advantage of it and napped during the afternoon. This was especially nice with Daylight Savings time taking effect. Of course you won't find me complaining! I'm so glad for the daylight later in the evening!

Hey, Hey It's Friday!

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm about ready to put this week in the record books and begin a new one! It's been a crazy week at our house with Hubby getting caught by the flu bug and it seems like everything has just been off.


However, that doesn't mean there haven't been a few things worth mentioning...


~I received a belated birthday/present to myself yesterday in the mail! It's my new Coach purse and I'm super excited to carry it. It's the perfect size and color combo for spring/summer. Plus I've fallen in love with cross-body bags and this has the perfect canvas strap for me to use if I have to carry both a purse and a diaper bag.
~Elyse's overnight schedule has just been completely crazy this week. For the most part she's still only waking up once in the night but there's really no rhyme or reason as to when she'll be waking up. One night it was 4:30 am, then 5:30 am, then 2:30 am, then 3:30 am...seriously child, what happened to your routine?!? I'm thinking a growth spurt may be the culprit, or at least I'm definitely HOPING that this is a phase and she'll go back to her normal routine.

~Hubby stayed home from work again yesterday as he still wasn't full recovered from the bug. We were already schedule to be short-handed at work so Elyse & I got ready & came down to help out at the office for the day. I guess that might be one of the negatives of working for the family business, but it really wasn't a huge deal. We certainly didn't want to be hanging out with a sick daddy all day!

~Elyse finally rolled over for my mom yesterday afternoon...it was a slow motion roll and she only did it once, but at least she knows that Hubby & I aren't making it up. She's also SO close to rolling over from back to front, watch out world...our baby isn't going to be laying still anymore!

~The weather was pretty awful yesterday, but the spring-like weather has returned and it's supposed to be close to 80 by Tuesday of next week! I think we're planning to fire up the grill this weekend for our first burgers & fries of the season...oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

~Elyse will be 3 months old next Tuesday! WHAT?!?! How is that even possible?!? We've also got her 3 month pictures scheduled for Wednesday and I'm so excited to get her dolled up in some cute outfits!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone, hope it's wonderful!

the "bug" has arrived

well, one of my worst fears has been realized. Hubby has been hit hard with the stomach virus that seems to be making it's way around our small group and our family. While I only seemed to catch the 4-6 hour version about 10 days ago, Hubby managed to catch himself a longer version as we're well into 12 hours of sickness.

I called our doctor, and really the only answer they have is to keep fluids in your system to avoid dehydration...it's just a nasty virus that has to run its course. Ughh...At this point I'm just praying that Elyse & I manage to avoid this awful bug! It's been hard on him and I just hope and pray that it's almost over and he can begin his road to recovery.

Thankfully today was a work day for me so Elyse & I were able to get out of the house and try and find a germ-free zone. You can bet that I have a date with the bleach & disinfectant wipes tonight. I realize Elyse has already been exposed, but I'd love nothing more than to keep her from catching this nasty bug!

Weekend Rewind~Family Time

This weekend was all about spending time with family. Nick & I have been blessed with an incredibly large support system of family & it's always great to spend time with them.

Friday night we had dinner with Nick's family and everyone got to love on Elyse! After dinner we headed back to our house so Elyse could show off her rolling over skills...of course, she got stage fright and decided to keep her performances a secret for a while longer. She has still yet to roll over for anyone except for her Momma & Daddy!

Saturday we ran to Springfield and took care of some errands. I had some birthday money burning a serious hole in my pocket so I took advantage of a Banana Republic online sale to purchase some fun new clothes! I'm still working on getting back into pre-pregnancy shape, but it's so nice to have some new clothes that I feel great in!

I also splurged a bit and bought a small Coach purse to carry when Nick & I are able to go out without Elyse. I certainly don't need to carry the entire diaper bag when she's not with us! The purse I picked out hasn't even been released yet, but I'll have it on Thursday! It's the perfect plaid print for the Spring & Summer so I'm super excited!

Saturday afternoon and evening we spent at home just relaxing. Nick's parents came over on Saturday evening, and once again Elyse failed to show off her skills. Silly girl, do you like having a secret talent that you don't show to anyone?!?

Sunday was a typical day with church and then lunch at home. During the afternoon my parents and brother & SIL came over to see Elyse. They stayed most of the afternoon even after Elyse fell asleep for her afternoon nap. Uncle Nick decided he needed to wake her up quite a bit early which threw off her sleep schedule for the rest of the evening...Uncle Nick, don't you know you'll pay for that one of these days?!?

It's supposed to be such a spring-like week...sunny, windy days followed by a chance for rain later this week. I can't believe it's already March!