11 Months In

Yup that's right. Today marks 11 months for my little bean (who actually isn't so little anymore). Are you as shocked as I am that it's already 11 months! Gahh! I wish I could stop time! And although if I had it my way I would keep her a baby forever I am really enjoying watching her grow.

She's gotten pretty sturdy on her feet, walking all over the place. One of her favorite activities is sneaking away to see how fast she can make it up the stairs. And trust me she's fast! She loves to climb, she gets into her chair and actually sits in it like a little lady. One of her favorite new toys is the toilet. So fun, right?! Ugh it's so gross and our bathroom door doesn't close tight so she can just push it open, and believe me she's a sneaky one. Her current favorite word is "Ba!" She says it for everything and all the time. She loves to play with balls, her baby and of course mom and dad!

 She loves her baby!

So far this fall we've gone apple picking and we're headed to the pumpkin patch this coming weekend. It's so fun now that she can walk around and move on her own. She really likes to explore and see everything there is too see.

 Hangin' out with dad!

 Auntie Rachel

 Uncle Matt

 We love this place!

 First apple cider!

 First cider doughnut!

She picked out her own pumpkin, she thought it was a ball but she loved it!

And now that she is 11 months old I am starting to plan for her birthday party. My baby's first birthday party. I can't believe I'm writing that. Now don't get me wrong I love to plan a party but this one is a little bitter sweet.

Let the party planning begin!

So let me get your thoughts on this. I'm leaning very heavily towards asking people to not give presents. Obviously she'll be getting something  from us, grandparents and her aunts and uncles, but because Christmas is right around the corner and we live in a two bedroom flat we really don't have a ton of room, and I really can't tell people not to get her stuff for Christmas so that's why I'm leaning towards no presents. That being said I don't want a lot of crap taking up space. And let's be honest how much of the stuff that they ever get, let alone for their first birthday, do they use or even keep for that long before it breaks or before you're giving it someone else to get a little more love. So my plan was to put on the invitation something along the lines of "please no gifts, if you'd really like to give her something you can make a donation to her college fund." Now I'm not asking for $100 for everyone, I'm simply saying if they want to give they can, and it doesn't have to be a lot. Even $5 is fine. I don't really care. My whole thought process was well college is pretty crazy expensive as of now so I can only imagine what it will be like when she's old enough to go. But of course I googled this lovely idea because when you're unsure of something you always google it, right? Well that's my go to. Anyways, a lot of the answers I saw to this question was "No, you can't ask for money, that's tacky!", and I get that. But I'm not telling people that have to give money it's just an option. Ok so what do you guys think? Yay or nah? Really I want to know your thoughts.

Onto other news she still only has two teeth. No clue when she'll be getting the rest in. Sleeping habits are getting better, or maybe I'm just putting my foot down. I refuse to feed her during the night/early morning because I know she doesn't need it. She's usually pretty good about taking her paci and going back down but some nights it can be a fight. Not going to lie, sometimes I do give in if she's not feeling well or she's been fussy, but for the most part in her crib she stays. Since she's getting close to a year I'm trying to wean her off breastfeeding. Hoping to get her down to just morning and night and she can nurse until she's ready to stop.
She's a really good eater, I do still give her baby food only because the doctor said having baby cereal would be good for her because o f the iron in it so I usually give her that with whatever fruit or veggie we have left. But other than that she can eat pretty much anything and she loves it.

Here's some recent pictures, well that's a lie some might be older because I missed her 10 month check in.

 This is how Nella takes a selfie. 

 I'm a sucker for holiday wear, she probably has at least five Halloween shirts. This one might be my favorite. "Don't scare me! I poop easily!"

 The three musketeers!

 She really loves to read! Haha

My girlfriend did a little photo shoot with her son and we got in on the cuteness. I mean really, how could I say no!

Jam session with dad!

 We recently went to Violet's 3rd birthday and we got to hang out with Miss Ivy!

 We also got to visit with Miss Sadie!

The girls have gotten so big!

 So big!

If this doesn't scream fall I don't know what does. 

And here's some stuff from her 10 month:

 Getting into trouble!

 Best friends!

 She makes the best faces!

 In September we made our way to Massachusetts to meet the newest Francisco. Baby Colton

 He's pretty cute! 

 Giving kisses

This pictures just shows how big she really has gotten. In the left picture she is 4 months old and in the right 10 1/2 months old. She just looks so grown and I can't get over it. I can't believe my little peanut is getting to be such a little lady. I hope everyone is enjoying their fall season! Keep an eye out soon for some yummy recipes coming your way!

Parties

Alright first off when you get an invitation to a party weather it be a birthday party, a baptism, an anniversary party most of the times there is some sort of RSVP. Weather it's to RSVP an answer to weather or not you're going or now some people put "Regrets Only". RSVP stands for a French phrase, "repondez, s'il vous plait," which means "please reply". Now don't get my wrong, I get it sometimes we forget (I do more often than I would like) but for the love of pete when you get an invitation write down the date and respond to the sender! My biggest pet peeve about throwing a party is that more often than I'd like pretty much no one responds. Usually about two or three days before the party I'm sending out mass texts to see if people are coming. Then when I get a general head count I go and buy food and still some people don't show up! If you don't want to come then don't say you're going to come. Simple as that! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not some crazy party Nazi. I realize last minute things come up, people get sick. I get it stuff happens but don't be an ass and just not show up. It's just not cool! I'm spending money on food for x amount of people and if you're not coming that's more food that I'm going to end up getting rid of, aka throwing money down the drain. It really ticks me off.

Ok, I'm done. Sorry for all the negative posts lately but I need an outlet and I'm pretty sure my poor husband is sick of hearing me complain so this is it. But I did throw an awesome party for my little bean about a month ago now. We finally got her dedicated at our church. If you don't know what a dedication is, it's similar to a baptism except we're simply saying as her parents we will do our best to guide her on the path to God. She has a choice when she's older when and if she would like to get baptized, after she's come to know Jesus and learn about him herself.

After the church we had a small gathering at my aunts house. I made pretty much everything. Our church service was at 9  and lasts for an hour. So the party was at 11. I didn't want anything to heavy so we went with brunch food. We had bagels, a fruit platter, chocolate covered pretzel sticks, some muffins and of course a cake. I made everything but the bagels and drinks. I think everything turned out super cute and was so happy that everyone was able to make it. Trust me I know getting up at 9 am can be tough.

Here's some pictures from our bean's special day. Unfortunately I don't have any of the picture my sister took for us yet because she hasn't edited them but hopefully I can get those soon!

 All the prep work. I did these a couple of days before so I wouldn't be going crazy.

 Her cake, not to shabby if I say so myself! 

 Cupcakes, we always have to have some cupcakes!

Chocolate covered pretzel rods, so yummy and so easy! I had to get a picture before they were eaten!

Hopefully I can get the pictures my sister took up soon! I wanted pictures with of course Scottie and myself, but also with both sets of grandparents and her God-mommy. Unfortunately her God-father was unable to make it, he lives in Seattle so getting here can be rough. But here's some of her 9 month pictures we took! I love them, they capture her personality perfectly and all that she can do right now!

I love these so much. I think this was my favorite photo shoot to date. I love her with the pearls and showing off that chubby belly. I love the pictures of her crawling and on the moving and standing, they are just amazing! My sister did such a good job! 

Getting crafty

In my down time I've been doing quite a bit of painting. My girlfriends and I about a month ago had a craft day which was super fun. We decided to do some paintings, one of my friends is moving and wanted to make some new stuff for her place. We went to Micheal's and picked up some canvas and paints, got some stencils and other odds n ends too. We looked up some inspiration on Pinterest and I found this sweet alphabet picture. They had it on two pictures but I decided to put them all on one. It ended up taking me four days to complete but it turned out amazing so I didn't mind!

Inspiration:

My painting (I absolutely love the way it turned out! It took forever but totally worth all the hard work!):

I had Nella make a painting too! I just used some tape to tape down a pattern and had her go at with some paint once I was down. She loves to paint! I'm hoping she'll be crafty like Mommy! Here's what hers turned out like (Love this too!):

I also made her another canvas with the bible verse that we used at her dedication. I wanted to have it so she has it as a reminder as she gets older. This was my inspiration:

Because we only used "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" I just didn't paint the beginning part. But I used this picture as a guide for how to write it and with the leaves and plants around the words. Here's what mine turned out like:

You'll have to wait for a picture because Nella is asleep and it's hanging up in her room!

I also have had my eye on a sign similar to this:

Again I had an idea in my head of what I ultimately wanted it to look like, but I used this for the idea of what  I wanted the writing to look like. I added a few things and this is what I came up with:

Sorry the picture's so crappy, but it's now hanging on our wall and I was too lazy to take it off! But you get the main idea of what it looks like without having to get up close and personal!

I've also been doing a few small projects around the house. Maybe someday I'll get to organizing the basement but until then I'll settle with what needs to be done upstairs! Nella will be getting a kitchen for Christmas so I had to make some room in her room for it to fit in and for her to be able to play with it. I ended up switching our dressers and taking her changing table out. My dresser is long so it fits her changing pad on top so it works as a changing table too. I just sanded it down and re-painted it.

It turned out like this, and I absolutely love it!

Well that's what's been going on around our house! Have you been working on any projects lately?!