2 months from a year--10 months old.

Our little Grace just turned 10 months old, how can time possibly fly by so fast? At what point did she already grow up in to a little person? A little person that is 100% attentive, and responsive, and opinionated? I wish I would have been able to notice the exact moment. One of the things that I constantly aim to do as a Mommy is to live in the moment. She wants to eat a french fry---okkkkay. She wants to climb all over the puppies after they've just gotten out of the lake--okkayyy. She wants to stay up 2 hours past her bedtime--okaayy. As much as I hate admitting it, I can't control it all. Dangit. Really, I can't? Ugh. Oh well. Grace wins this one. It's so much more of a free feeling, and I love being this way. I know that I won't always be carefree, because I'm still me. I'm a control freak. But, I feel that as these 10 months have passed, I've slowly gotten a feel for what I can chill out on, and what I need to be stern on. I know that Dan and I will constantely be challenged raising Grace, but as long as we continue to raise her as a confident, happy, little (not so little!) girl--she will grow up in to a confident, happy, respectful, grown woman. And I'm going to stop thinking that far in advance. After all, she's ONLY 10 months old!

Wow, hello 26!

First off, why in the heck am I blogging on my birthday? Oh yeah, because it's just another day--that just happens to be the day I was born! My day has started off wonderfully so far, Grace let Mommy get an extra 30 minutes of sleep this morning,I had a better-than-normal cup of coffee, the dogs aren't being too nuts, my Mom and Leslie are coming in to town so Dan and I can have a date night, and I actually had enough basil to harvest it and freeze it. (Sorry, I'm such a big dork when it comes to plants!) Anyways, while enjoying my coffee and listening to Curious George in the background I had some time to reflect on 25, which was by far my most life-changing year of my life.

Being 25 has been wonderful, it marked a  quarter of a century of my life. Well, assuming I'll live to 100? Eeek. Okay, let's not think THAT far in advance. Anyways, so during year 25, I've learned a lot about the person that I am...more so, the person that I'm becoming. I'm a Mommy. I'm the future wife of Dan. I'm a daughter. I'm a friend. I have really tried to keep all of those things in line, and really cherish my relationships with people this year. It's been crazy hard, but I manage! With all of those in mind, I've also learned of the type of person that I want to be! I have done things this year that I never thought I could have successfully done. My biggest challenge has been being a mother. Of course it comes "naturally", but everything is definitely not natural. I went from being an insecure, out-of-her-element mother--to being confident, and being able to trust my instinct and trusting the fact that I actually know what's best for that little human being that we're raising. Regardless of all of the hard times (the few months of ZERO sleep, being away from friends and family, and just the daily challenges in life) I have realized that 25 was an invaluable year. I have learned lessons and have taught myself so much. With all of that said, bring it on 26!



She's 8 months old...wow.



There's no way she's 8 months old. Nope, no way. She can't possibly grow this quickly. Hm. Am I in denial? Look at that little sweetheart!

7 months--a little late! :)

12.6 down! 5 more to go!

Well, as many of you know--I started doing Weight Watchers a couple of months ago. It's been a very interesting experience. In a sense, I LOVE it--because now we constantly have a fridge full of fresh veggies and healthy snacks...but I don't love it because I LOVE to cook. Let me rephrase, I love to cook with butter, and pasta, and cheese. All of which are things that I would never lose weight if I continued eating them the way we did. During my pregnancy, I gained almost 60 lbs! (Granted, a big chunk of it was water weight, but 60 none the less. Yikes.). When we moved to Austin, my partial-italian man got me addicted to sweets and to pasta. Ugh. It tasted sooo good. I still may or may not have dreams about strawberry shortcake icecream from Cold Stone. :) Anyways, after trying on all of my pre-preggo summer clothes...I knew it was time for a change. Not a temporary change, but a lifestyle change for our little home. So, that meant me enrolling in Weight Watchers and both of us working out. I can now say that I am 5 lbs. away from my goal weight of 140 lbs, and I couldn't be happier! I've struggled trying to find a workout plan that I really enjoy because some of the times I have to have Grace with me, and others Dan can watch her. So, I started the Couch 2 5k running program and have been doing it for 3 weeks. Today was the first day that I had a pretty tough time completing my workout. Previously, the longest stretch I had run was for 1.5 minutes. This week, they bump it up to 3! Are they trying to kill me? Joking, but as some people may remember. I'm the short distance sprinter. Well, I was. I'm talking highschool time. Yikes, that was a long time ago. Anyways, 3 minutes of running in a hilly neighborhood pushing a 20 lb. baby and a jogging stroller. No bueno. Oh well! Because guess what?! This girl DID IT. Woohoo. I was really dreading this week, because I felt that it'd be the most challenging for me. But, I did it. And I'm a bad ass. So, anyways--I think this is the first post where I haven't rambled on and on about Grace. Hey, this Mama still matters. Right? Dan and I are on a track of a healthy lifestyle, and I only hope that Grace will always see us like this. Being conscious of what we put in our bodies, and how we take care of ourselves. Hopefully this summer we can run a race as a family. Hm, sounds like a short-term goal for me! Like I said, it's a lifestyle change. I'm dedicated to giving my family the best, and while financially I can't really do that, I can educate myself and help to guide my family in to living and being as healthy as possible. So, there's my schpill for the day. I know Dan probably doesn't read this--but if you do, I love you and can I please have these shoes for finishing week 3? :D

 Okay, if Dan isn't reading it--then Dad, can I please have these shoes for completing week 3?
I also have to throw in a new picture of Grace and I that I just love. I adore her sweet smile, but sometimes seeing her not smile is just as sweet!

Happy Good Friday everyone!

Summer in April?

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to one of Dan's co-workers house in New Braunfels and enjoy their beauuutiful little oasis in their backyard. Grace also got to swim for the first time! It was the cutest thing because the water was a little too cold for her at first--then before we knew it, she was splashing around in her floatie. Adorable! For all of your North Easterners, can you believe we are already swimming? It was almost 90 that day. I predict a HOT summer again! Thank the Lord I won't be pregnant this time. But, we need to enjoy these days now because before I know it--it'll be too hot to let Grace play! I predict many a day like this in our near future. Here are some cutie-pie pictures of our little family! :)

You want me to do what?... With a 7 month old?!

FLY FOR 8 HOURS?!

Oh lordy. I can feel the anxiety brewing now, and it's 3 weeks away! We're going to Boston for 9 days in April for Grace's baptism, and we are oh.so.excited! However, not so excited about the flying. We went previously in November for his sister's wedding, but that was when Grace was just a little baby! She was only 3 months old--and still loved to sleep on Mommy. Now, that is so not the case. I'm sure if she's sleepy enough, we'll get a little bit of sleep out of her. Oh gosh, okay. Anyways, so here I am--planning (doing what I do best!) for our trip. Making sweet Marianne a nice, extensive, list of goodies that Grace needs for our stay! So, what have you been up to lately? We've had all kinds of things going on! Mommy is having some sleepless nights (growth spurt/learning new things?), baby is crawling (backwards), and Daddy is torturing the dogs. Of course, Daddy is doing much more--but that's the first thing that came to my mind. As far as my sleepless nights, I'm actually okay with it. I'm surviving! Grace has started rolling over on her tummy, and enjoys sleeping that way. Unfortunately, she will wake up and can't roll back over! I'm not sure why, because that's what she learned wayyy earlier. Maybe the bed is too squishy? (Squishy the right word? Hm..) Anyways, it's pretty funny...because I've heard that babies practice their new skills while they're sleeping. And boy, is she practicing them! Once again, I'm going to go on a rant of how special it is to watch her grow. She's so funny! And has such a funny little personality, it makes me laugh. Somedays, she'll just be super calm and content and happy (maybe gets that from me?) and then other days she's also super happy, but hyper!, and loud!, and verrryyy expressive (must be from Daddy!) She truly is just a nice little blend of both of us, and I couldn't be prouder! So, last week I had several friends call me and say "well, hello Ms. Suzy Homemaker!"--turns out they had been keeping up with my little adventures lately, which include embroidering and cake-baking. I LOVE it! Both of them! When I was baking that damn cake, I was seriously obsessing over it. (Crazy, much? I think so!) Seriously, I would brainstorm different ways to make it work. And FINALLY! I came up with this...this little beauty is pretty much what Grace's baptism cake will look like. So proud, and not too bad for a 3 week baker!

Had to sneak in a little bit of this cutie pie! Love her!

Xoxo, have a great day everyone!

Crystal