Today's reason I am excited to turn 26

Recently, my mom came into town and brought with her my birth certificate for me to keep. I was briefly glancing over it when I noticed something that just went all over me. All of my life my mother has told me that I was born at 7:06pm on July 15, 1988. Well, in actuality, she only got most of that right. She blames it on the fact that she went through 36 hours of dry labor only to end up having to have a C-section. She says she was so delirious by that point that she didn't know which way was up, much less what time of day it was. Yes, I have heard about this birth experience more than once.

So today's reason for why I am looking forward to my birthday is because this year I get to do something for the very first time. I get to celebrate my actual time of birth, 7:06 A.M. It seems like a small detail, but I always believed I was a night baby. And everyone would always joke that that is why I absolutely hate mornings and always stay up way into the wee hours of the morning. Well, I guess we were all wrong. I am actually a morning baby!

The only bad part? I have no idea how I am actually going to make myself get up that early in the morning to be able to celebrate the actual moment of my birth! But I better figure it out since I have been off by 12 hours every other year. This is my first year to get it right!

Have you ever found out something about yourself that surprised you? Share below!

Playing catch-up

Time to play catch-up. I've been pretty busy the last week and a half and I have not done my blogging! Shame on me. So lets pick up where we left off last time.

My first Mother's Day has now come and gone. It was a pretty big deal for me, especially since I never expected to be celebrating it so soon. But the day let me realize just how excited and thankful I was to be celebrating the fact that I am Mommy to the best little girl in the world. I started the day off by working in the nursery at church. Ella stayed home because she was too tired to be woken up so early. :) sleepyhead. We made fun arts and crafts for the kids to give to their moms, and it was exciting to know that I have that to look forward to in the future. I came home to KT getting himself and Ella ready to take me out to lunch. He had to work that evening so we had to have our dinner at lunch time. Outback was yummy, although Ella decided she would make sure everyone in the restaurant knew she was there by doing her screaming for no reason antic. It seems to be a permanent habit she has picked up. After lunch KT took me to a plant sale (yes, I really said plant sale) and Books-a-Million. He knows I love books and, much to my surprise, has actually been paying attention to me when I have been talking about how I want to garden. Hmmph. So we did some looking around and then had to come home for him to get to work. Ella and I spent the night playing until she passed out on me and then, with nothing else to do, I passed out too. The next morning I woke up to flowers and a card from KT and Ella. He has this habit of only giving holiday gifts either very late the night of the holiday or the day after. No clue why, but I have accepted it. And that day we went and got me some tomato, cucumber, and oregano plants. So I am now officially a gardener. And judging by the size of my plants, I am a pretty good one at that! Oh crap, I just realized I forgot to water them today...I'm sure one day won't hurt...right?? :)

Okay, so Mother's Day was a success. I got flowers, cards (all of KT's family sent/gave me cards which was super sweet!), phone calls/texts from family and friends, plants, and dinner. And then KT surprised Ella and I by telling us on the Friday after Mother's Day that he was taking us on vacation! We were pretty excited. He picked out Chattanooga and told me to find a hotel I liked and figure out what activities we would do. I took this very seriously and planned us a fantastic trip. Did I mention he decided this on Friday and we were to leave the next morning?? Yep. So by I 'planned us a fantastic trip', I mean the best trip I could in the few hours I had. But the trip deserves its own post full of tales of exciting adventures and pictures! So be sure to check that post out! And if you have Facebook and want to see even more fun pictures, then click here.

We also had Ella's doctors visit this week. Today she weighed in at 16lb 8oz and measured 27 3/4" long! Although last week we were told she was 16lb 15oz (but they didn't strip her so that could be the cause of the difference) and 26" long. Now I am just not sure how the measurement became so different. I am pretty sure my child did not grow almost 2" in a little over a week, so there must have been an error on someone's part. We are going to measure her ourselves and see what we come up with. Either way we have a good sized baby! Our poor baby had to get more shots today and it seems that for the first time she may have had a reaction to them. She had her lunch around 12ish and by 3ish she vomited twice. :( And she ran a low grade temp of 100.9. She hasn't ever had a temp or a reaction to the immunizations before so can't say for sure that that is what caused it. I, being a first time mommy, of course called the doctor and the nurse said it was normal. But she did have to get medicine for the first time today, and she took it like a pro! She seems to be doing fine this evening, so hopefully everything has gone away. I am very happy about the fact that she has never been sick, and I do not plan on having that change now!

Well, now that you know every detail of what has happened to me in the last couple weeks...I am sure you are bored out of your mind. After the Chattanooga post I promise to get back into more meaningful topics. Until then, hold yourself over by reviewing any posts you may have missed! Like learning how to become a guest writer, Ella turning 6 months old, or just seeing how it all began.

By the way, we are getting to stay in our current apartment for a couple more months so fingers
crossed for good luck on our job search!



Ella loves to play with receipts..really. 

Ella's Six Months Old!! And new pictures!!

Yesterday was a big day for Ella! She turned 6 months old. I was so happy and sad at the same time. I can't believe that it has already been half a year since we were blessed with the best baby in the whole world! It has gone by so quickly that I am almost sad to already reach this milestone. The past 6 months have truly been the best of my life. Everyday I fall even more in love with my amazing daughter. (Even though it has been six months it still sounds weird to say "my daughter", but it's a good weird!)
Since KT had to work that afternoon, Ella and I decided to celebrate with a mommy-daughter day. We went to McAlister's first for our lunch date, then to make Mother's Day cards for both grandmas, nanny, and auntie at Target, and then we capped the day off by meeting up with Jania and James for ice cream and a photo shoot on UA's campus. I'd say it was a pretty good day. And by the smiles and laughter coming from Ella throughout the day, I'd say she agrees. There are some pictures below from our day out for her 6 month birthday and just some pictures of Ella that are cute!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so hopefully we will have another great day together as a family tomorrow. Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mommies!! By the way, I say mommies need way more than just one day out of the year to honor all of the hard work that goes into raising kids, having a career, and taking care of the household!!

Sitting with Saban!

 

 Sitting with Saban again! (Btw, I didn't realize I couldn't rotate the

pictures until I already uploaded them and now I don't feel like

re-doing everything to fix it. LOL. Sorry!)

 

 In front of the stadium! Sorry again! LOL.

 

 Ella sitting beside me at McAlister's being the best baby in the world!

Such big, beautiful brown eyes!

 

 "I'm six months old!!" Seriously, could she be anymore adorable??

 

 Just chillin' on the couch like a big girl!

 

 Eating some yummy Cold Stone Creamery!

 

Loving her new exersaucer!

 

Sleeping on her daddy's chest! :)

 

 

These pictures make me smile. Tomorrow I will do her official six month pictures like I have been doing every month. If you missed last months pictures, you can see them here. Also, I am still looking for guest writers, so contact me if you are interested! Don't be shy! Tomorrow I will let you guys know how my first Mother's Day goes!