mama's little helper

5 months!

another month has come and gone. she is five months old already! and look at her sitting up! she weebles and wobbles a bit still, but i am amazed at how well she sits up. she is such a blessing. i am so thankful for her smile, her giggles, her hugs, getting to hold her, getting to rock her, reading to her, watching her reverse her way around the kitchen in her walker, nursing her and looking into her eyes...i am so thankful.

christmas in may?

what do you do when you have seasonal clothes that you know your daughter will not fit into when it comes time to wear them?

why, you let her wear her "Baby's First Christmas" sleeper in the middle of May, of course! a good friend of ours gave us another box of clothes last week and i saw this and couldn't resist! thank you brooke for all the clothes you've given us. we can't thank you enough!

cheeseburger birds are real!

ok, so i googled "cheeseburger birds" and i'm not crazy! i found some other people who have heard this crazy bird! i couldn't find a picture though. most people's comments were that they'd heard it but not seen it. same goes for me. but if you're up in the morning, keep the windows and doors open...you may hear, "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheese!"

seagulls, cheeseburger birds, and other stuff

in the morning around our house two strange sounds can be heard. the first sound is that of seagulls...yes, you read that correctly. i don't know if they're lost, confused, or just plain dumb...but we have seagulls around our house. it's strange to hear honestly, because i can catch myself being tempted to look out the window just to make sure i can't see the ocean. it's quite deceiving. the other sound is that of the cheeseburger birds (as i like to call them). honestly, the call they make literally sounds like they're saying, "cheeseburger, cheeseburger." you'll have to come visit sometime in the morning to experience it first hand.

as for other stuff, here's some pictures of what we've been up to lately.

a visit with aunt mary

hanging out with mimi

my first mother's day

teething or not teething? you decide...

a visit from marmie...

and she crawled into elise's crib with her after her nap. leesy loved it!

"don't look now, but i think that bear is staring at me"

i love rainy days

elise and i slept in until almost 9 this morning!! what a blessing! with the lack of sunshine and steady rain coming down, it was easy to do. i sat on the couch with her this morning, just enjoying the sound of the rain hitting the windows, feeling the breeze from the fans, and loving that we slept in. i love days like this because it's so yucky outside, all you can do is be cozy inside. some pictures from today: elise is now moving around in her walker!! she's mobile!

my birthday

the best birthday gift ever...jay surprised me friday by taking the day off work to be home with me for my birthday. the weekend was going to be very busy for us, so he surprised me and we celebrated together a day early. what a gift! for him to stay home was so meaningful. i reacted with my predictable i'm-so-shocked-and-excited-that-i-have-nothing-else-to-say but, "Shut up!" (note: that was also my response when he proposed!) we took a day trip (see if you can guess the location by this lovely picture) and had a great time. quality time with him, especially when he took off work just to be with me, was the greatest gift i could ask for.

elise enjoyed the day trip as well-she slept most of the time :)

here's my handsome husband in the tree house. thank you, my love, for a wonderful day!

uncle miguel

uncle mike (or miguel as i like to call him) was in town last weekend and we had the privilege of seeing him. here he is holding his niece (and he's quite good at it too.) i'd like to take a moment to note the things i appreciate and respect about my brother. the last few years have been rough for him, to say the least. through it all though, i have seen him mature in many ways and enter adulthood. i think his appreciation for the little things in life has increased as well. he continues to try to take what he's learned and put it into practice on a daily basis. and even though there are still many tough elements in his life, he's seeking to move forward and not live in the past. i have seen our friendship grow, which i am so grateful for. he is wonderful with elise, which leads me to believe he will be wonderful with his own children, someday too. little brother, i am proud of you. keep growing and seeking truth...keep living it...keep moving forward and don't look back except to learn from your mistakes or to smile and remember how far you've come. remember the One who has brought you this far and carried you every step of the way. i love you always.