A little of this; a little of that....

First, a little Christmas decorating...

So glad our decorations are easy to get to (and might I add- very well organized :)

Alright! Here comes my helper! 

So happy about Christmas!  (this was right after she woke up)

She was having fun with all this "new" stuff

Now, a little mid morning snack... 

I made some fresh blueberry puree yesterday and wanted to try mixing with plain yogurt...

It definitely needed some sweetening

She loved it! YAY!

I'll leave you with a little adorableness....

"Forever in Blue Jeans"

Sunday Funday

I can't tell you how glad I am that this week is over....  I came down with a cold on Thanksgiving, yes folks thats right, on Thanksgiving morning I woke up and could barely even swallow; my throat was so sore. Then I had to get ready for work, yes (again) you heard right- work. on Thanksgiving. Then as Im walking out the door, my head hung low as I leave my hubby and smiling baby girl, Shane yells out "you didn't forget your clip on tie did ya babe?" Um, yeah- kick me while I'm down why don't ya.

Of course it wasn't a surprise or anything about me working, I knew I was going to be scheduled so we planned our family Thanksgiving dinner for Tuesday.  I would complain but work was so busy and I made great money.  So yeah,  sick as a dog on Friday, feeling a wee bit better on Saturday and much better today.  I worked the morning brunch shift then headed home for Sunday Funday with the fam. I couldn't wait! Finally, we get to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. And enjoy this beautiful weather...

We had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant then headed over to the beach....

chew, chew chew

us

checking out all the kids running on the beach...

I just loved the way her little leg was tucked under

she was a little skeptical of the sand at first but it wasn't long before she was crawling in it 

we love showing her new things :)

Hi baby

oops, I cut off the S and H

look at our big girl!

weeeeeee!

The beach was great, the weather was perfect.  Savannah got to crawl in the sand for the first time, we walked the beach a little and we all had a good time.  Looking forward to more Sunday Funday's :)

She took the words right out of my mouth...

Ok, don't laugh...but every so often I do a little reading online about "being the best mom I can be".  Of course most of the time I go by my own motherly instincts but I also like to read what other mom's are doing and what they have to say.  It's so incredibly important to me that I am the best mother I can be.   I always knew that when Shane and I had kids that I would put my heart and soul into them.  That they would be my #1 priority and this would be the most important job of my life.  And now that she is here, I want that even more.  I owe that to her.

So anyway, I came across this blog post and I swear it was like seeing my own thoughts written by someone else.

What Being a Good Mother Means to Me

I have written before that I am sad when I leave Amber at home one day a week while I work and that it bothers me to not have her with me.  I have been considering why that makes me sad and I think a lot of it has to do with my views on being a good mother to my little girl.  I do not think there is any one correct answer to the question of how to best go about being a good mother, as there are many ways for being a good mother.  That being said, I do believe that there is one very important key to being a good mother and that is time.

When I talk about time, I do not mean we need more time, though as mothers I think we all wish we had a few more hours in the day and a few more hands to use during those hours.  When I talk about time, I mean that being a good mother means investing lots of good quality time into your children.

I get teased on a semi-regular basis about wanting to take my daughter everywhere with me.  I do not like leaving her at home with babysitters, even family.  I like having my daughter with me as much as possible.  I want to spend time with her, I want to interact with her.  She is my responsibility.  I chose to bring her into my life and I should take the time and be with her.  *( i think I have actually said this exact paragraph to Shane before)

Don’t get me wrong, being a mom is hard work and all moms need a break from time to time.  I think particularly since so many modern moms are working full time, taking care of their children, and have so many other responsibilities, etc, that some time away from our children occasionally is important for our own sanity.  I enjoy my night or two a month that I get away for the evening with friends and have no child responsibilities.

But, those rare nights out are all I want.  To me, being a good mother means spending a high quantity and high quality amount of time with my daughter.  I am bothered when I see other parents out there, leaving their children with babysitters two, three, four evenings a week.  How could you not want to be home with your children, playing with them, teaching them, laughing with them?

Yes, being a mom is hard, but I signed up for this job.  I knew it was going to be tough and I knew there would be days that I would want to run screaming to my room and just hide.  But that is not how it works.  I truly think that for me the key to being a good mother is to be there for my child as much as I possibly can.  I will have time to myself when she’s out of the house and grown.

Savannah's Talking

This one is so cute, I just had to share it. {Please excuse my annoying voice}

Doctors and Shots....again

Yesterday Savannah had her check up plus her 6 month shots (we're a month behind). Once again we had to wait 30 minutes to be called back then everything after that was a wait.  We are so lucky that Savannah is such a good girl, I think she waited more patiently than we did.

So I have to brag a little .....the doctor was so surprised to hear all of Savannnahs achievements.  First she was surprised to hear that she is sitting without support and crawling (ahem, she's been doing that for 2 months now) then to hear that she has been pulling herself up for the past 2 weeks..well she was shocked.  She said that's what 9 month old babies do!

I know it can be annoying to listen to parents who think their children are genius' .....ok, majorly annoying.  So then you'll be happy to hear that I do not think our child is a genius ....how about an over achiever? A fast learner?  Smarter than most? JUST kidding!

We're just proud parents that's all.

"See the fishys"

She really wanted to get her little paws on that picture

love this one....(that mirror was clean before little missy arrived)

"smile for daddy"

"No, No, Savannah"

Those just might be her first words......

the purpose of the ottoman is to block the dogs bed which is full of the
dogs toys, sure enough she squeezed her way through...with a doggie toy in hand

"No, No Savannah" 

No, No, you can't play with the dogs leash missy!

Now what are you up to?
Notice my new Vac n Steam?! Loving it, great for keeping
the floors clean and sanitized.  Since she's crawling everywhere I like to keep
them super clean and this thing does the trick!

Busted! She's loves when she can get her little hands (and slobber) on my phone

The only picture I didn't get was with her other favorite NO NO, the remote.  Since she loves it so much, I gave her a remote from an old TV that we don't use anymore.  She wanted nothing to do with it.  

7 Months Old!

Little Miss Savannah turned 7 months old on Wednesday the 16th, it's getting really hard to keep her still for her monthly pictures....

you're so funny, mommy!

she spotted the tag 

how do I get off this thing?

i had to do it...

I know I say it every month but I'll say it again...wow! 7 months old already.  She is growing so much and learning something new every day it seems.  She truly amazes her dad and I, we still just sit and watch her every day. She'll crawl across the floor, stop and sit for a minute, look at us and laugh then crawl back.   We may not say anything to each other but I know we are both thinking the exact same thing.  "God, I love her"  It's so funny to think that someone who has been in your life for such a short time can make it so you couldn't think of one single day without them.  We couldn't imagine our lives without this little girl, and why would we?  We've got it all...and we are not taking one second of it for granted.

1st Over-Nighter

Well it happened.  Savannah spent her 1st night out with mema & papa Saturday night.  I made it through pretty good I must say. Savannah did well also, although she did wake up scared after they put her to bed. She woke up crying and screaming so papa called Shane and asked him to come over ( I was still at work) to calm her down.  It scared them seeing her so upset.  We figured she probably woke up and didn't know where she was, so shane calmed her down and got her to go back to sleep. She was fine from then on.   We got there bright and early to see our little over nighter.  We couldn't wait to see her, she was smiling and happy as can be.  Mema and papa did a great job and loved having her over.  I think 7 months old is good age for her 1st over night trip......although to be honest, we probably could have gone another 7 months.  We can't get enough of our little munchkin.

waiting for mema & papa to pick her up

Employee Day at the Beach

So I haven't really talked about it but I did get a job serving at a country club.  I've been there for about a month now and it's going really well.  The money is good and I know it will only get better as the snowbirds come down.  The hours are working out too, 4-5 hours a night and I'm usually home by 9-9:30.  So I still get all my days with Savannah and Shane gets to spend the nights with her.  Then on my 2-3 days off, we all spend it together.  It's amazing how much I miss that little girl when Im not with her.  But I know that Daddy is taking good care of her and they are getting in lots a great bonding time.

Anyway the club had "Employee Appreciation Day" down on the beach.  I was excited to bring Shane and Savannah to show off my sweet little family.  She was such a good girl and everyone thought she was a little sweetie....

daddy and savannah 

just funny

cute

sweet

Savannah's been a Busy Girl!

Since we first saw Savannah standing in her crib last weekend, she has been pulling herself up on everything. We've also noticed some new sounds coming from her so we figured why not start practicing "ma-ma" and she's getting there! She's just moving right along and we are enjoying every second of watching her grow and learn.

Our beautiful girl.....

Yeah, she's pretty Awesome!

little miss awesome

lil' cutie

love love love her

From crawling to standing in an instant!

When I peeked in on Savannah yesterday she was standing in her crib...

 wow....this is all happening so fast!

1st Halloween

We had planned on taking Savannah to the mall with Tony Laura and Anthony on Halloween but  unfortunately I ended up having to work last night (more about that later) so Shane went ahead and took her without me.  This was his first trip out without mommy- he did great.  Not that I was ever worried or anything. He does such a great job with her that I've never worried about how he would do without me around.  He follows the routine and does everything just as I would, Good Job Daddy!

They were really pushing for us to dress up at work
so last minute I became the bumble bee waitress

SO cute! 

So so cute! Made the tutu myself! 

Savannah and Tigger

Getting lots of good treats........for mommy

Happy 1st Halloween baby girl!