Changes

I have once again done a terrible job of keeping up with this blog... but I do have a excuse... we're moving! I'm actually not too excited about it since we are moving from our house to a apartment. I want to make sure that the next time we move, it's for a long time! Between trying to keep up with Kaylee and trying to pack and take care of a bunch of other things I have been so exhausted that when I do have time to post all I want to do is go to bed!

We are moving this weekend so I'm hoping that next week I can get caught up on a few posts and get back on track! The only thing that I'm looking forward to about moving is being forced to reorganizing everything and decorating a new space. We are going to do Kaylee's room a little different than what it is now so I will have to post pictures of the new place once we get moved in!

So that's all I have for now, it's past my bed time... and I have a long day of painting ahead of me tomorrow (I've grown to hate painting) before we come back home and pack everything up on Thursday to move Friday!

Our Wedding

After looking at everyone else's posts today on their weddings I decided to join in! Usually I only post about Kaylee because this is her 'virtual baby book' but I guess you could say our wedding was an important part in her life... even though she wasn't exactly thought of yet :) Fair warning... this is probably going to be a long post because the story of what happened before and right after our wedding is pretty funny... plus I'm probably going to get carried away with the pictures!

At first we had planning on going back home, to Tennessee to get married. Daniel and I took a trip home one weekend and looked at several different churches. We decided on one in downtown Nashville that I absolutely loved. It had a huge organ and when we were there, the organist was practicing and played 'Here Comes the Bride'... I got chill bumps!

We were on a budget with the wedding and once we started getting quotes for the flowers to use at the church and at the reception area, I realized there was no way we could afford to do the wedding and reception the way I had envisioned it. On top of the money issue, I was tired of trying to plan a wedding 500 miles away and second guessing myself on every little detail... I think it was my mom that mentioned having a wedding on the beach and after all of the stress, I agreed. That was probably the best decision I made! I pretty much let go of all the details of our wedding. I had a picture of how I wanted our cake to look and told my mom to handle that and planned out a simple bouquet for myself and maid of honor. I had already picked out my wedding dress back when I was planning on getting married in a church but decided to stick with that dress after spending hours thinking to myself that it would never look right.

Looking back, if we would've stuck with getting married in a church, it would've probably been incredibly stressful. We decided to get married in Sand Key park in Clearwater Beach, Florida. To save money, we decided to get married on a Thursday, July 17. Not only was it cheaper to book the photographer and the people who setup the wedding area during the week, but we knew we had to come home that Friday because Daniel had to leave that Saturday morning to go to a race. First of all, let me say that I am terrible at putting things off! Our plane was scheduled to leave Raleigh at like 6:30 am... Raleigh was 2 1/2 hours from where we were living and I didn't start packing until around midnight, the night before we were leaving. I finally made it to bed around 1am knowing that I had to be up in a hour to get ready to leave. And that's where it all started going downhill.

I never heard my alarm and woke up at 4:30. I remember running back in forth panicking, knowing that we were going to miss our plane and we didn't have the money to reschedule our flight. Thank goodness we were flying Southwest and they put us on the next flight out around 10 am for no charge. But there was one little thing that was bothering me... our original flight was going to be a nonstop flight. The one that we got switched to had a layover in Nashville where we would switch planes and actually be getting on the same plane my maid of honor was going to be on. I didn't tell Daniel, but apparently while I was oversleeping, I had a dream that the plane my maid of honor was on crashed on the way to Florida... GREAT! I tried to just forget about it since we had so much else going on. We made it to the airport and I called my mom to tell her that instead of just arriving in Florida, we had missed our flight and were waiting for the next one.

When we made it to Nashville we were told we needed to make sure there were still seats on the connecting flight, so we rushed over to the counter to check in. Of course, since everything else was going wrong, when Daniel pulled out his drivers license to get our new tickets, it broke into 3 or 4 pieces! It was about 30 minutes past the time that the plane was supposed to take off, when they announced that they had discovered something wrong with one of the engines on the plane and were having to get another plane for us to get on. That's where I panicked... and decided it was probably a good time to tell Daniel and my maid of honor about my dream.

After at least an hour delay we were finally on our way to Clearwater. The forecast was calling for rain that day and the next and when we got there it wasn't looking good. Somehow we missed the rain and were able to go by the courthouse to get our marriage license and then spend the rest of the day hanging out. It really was just like a vacation for everyone. We all went out to eat at a restaurant on the beach and then went back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits and spent the rest of the day and most of the night in the ocean and the hotel pool.
The morning of the wedding we all spend some more time in the ocean and the pool after going to Ihop for breakfast...and getting sick. I don't know if there was something wrong with all of the food or what, but every one of us who ate there got sick! After we finally recovered it was nice to relax since our wedding wasn't until that night right before sunset. I had made an appointment for my maid of honor and I to go get our hair done. We left the hotel for the hair salon and actually saw Hulk Hogan and his daughter ride past us on scooters!
I kept thinking we had plenty of time, but after we were done at the salon and we got back in the car, I realized I only had a little over an hour to get back to the hotel, get dressed and make it to the park to get married. We rushed back to the hotel and I literally had to jump into my dress and rush out the door.

When we got to the beach I had a issue with my dress because somehow some of the stitching that was holding the tulle up on the front of my dress had come undone and I had to hold the front of my dress up as I was walking to keep from tripping all over it. The ceremony itself was great and it all seemed like it happened so fast.

The company we hired to setup the ceremony area did a great job. I loved the colors and the little details were beautiful.

We decided to write our own vows and I'm so happy that we did. I really thought I could hold it together while reading mine... I had practiced reading them and had no problem. But of course...

I cried... lol! We finished up the ceremony with our first kiss as a married couple :)

A kiss right after walking back down the aisle

After the ceremony we walked down the beach taking pictures until the sun set.
Once the sun had set we got in the car and drove back to the hotel for me to change dresses before walking next door to a restaurant where we had our reception at.

It was nice just having a more casual reception because we didn't have to worry about decorating anything. The restaurant had a buffet and after everyone finished eating we finally were able to cut our cake!
Of course, I got him good with the cake... And then he tried to get me back!
We had shared a hotel room with my maid of honor the night before and had a room reserved for our wedding night a few miles away. We didn't make it to the hotel until around 9 or 10 that night and it was terrible! When we walked up to the door to our room it looked like someone had tried to use a crowbar to get in...and honestly, they probably had because it took both Daniel and I hitting the door with our sides to get it to open. Once we got inside, we both just got a creepy feeling. A lot of light bulbs were burnt out and there was a door that connected to the room beside it that had been left unlocked. We opened the door and saw trash everywhere. It honestly looked like someone had been killed in there! The room had an upstairs where the bedroom was. The bed was actually sitting on wooden boards. We looked in the bathroom and while it was big, there was mold in the shower. We decided to go back to the room we had stayed in the night before but first Daniel needed to use the restroom. I sat on the bed terrified the whole time. The hotel wasn't some hole in the wall, it was a Holiday Inn that actually had good reviews.

We left the hotel and hotel and headed back to Clearwater Beach. Instead of spending our wedding night with just the two of us we picked up my maid of honor and headed to McDonalds for a late night snack (and we honestly think that the guy working the drive through window had probably killed someone in the room that connected to ours, lol)!

We stayed up late that night just hanging out and then woke up the next morning and rushed downstairs to the restaurant on the beach below our hotel to have an early lunch before spending a few hours in the pool. Our little vacation really did go by way too fast. We left the hotel and stopped by the courthouse on the way to the airport to get our marriage certificate.

Not only was it a great trip because we got married, but it was so nice to relax and spend time with friends and family!

10 Months

Another month has gone by baby girl and this has been a month of changes! You have grown up so much and changed so quickly... you are no longer a little baby anymore. You are also getting cuter every day and I just don't know how much more cuteness I can stand! Here's whats been going on this past month:

• Just like last month, you are still in size 4 diapers. The size 4 Pampers are getting tight on you but the Target brand diapers still fit pretty good.


• Your have cut back to just three 8 oz bottles per day. You have one about an hour after each meal.


• You are eating solids 3 times per day now. Just recently I started giving you Cheerios for breakfast to feed yourself before I give you either fruit or yogurt. You have started eating thicker foods this month including pasta which just 2 months ago you wouldn't eat. I'm still making your food for you. It's nice knowing that you are eating fresher foods and I know exactly what is in what I give you.


• You have figured out how to use your sippy cup! Right now I will give fill it with 1/2 water and 1/2 white grape juice and give it to you after supper. You sit so quietly in your highchair and watch tv while you drink. You are still using the beginners sippy cup but my goal for this month is to first get you to use your sippy cup more than just once a day and then to get you to start using the larger sippy cups I have got for you.


• Your clothes fit you pretty much the same this month as last. Your 12 month clothes are still pretty tight but I feel like your weight is evening out and you might be thinning out a little bit!


• You are still my perfect little sleeper at night... sleeping between 12 and 13 hours. I'm not sure why but here lately you will go to sleep and then wake up not long after and sit up and start quietly crying. All it takes is for me to go in and lay you back down and give you your paci and you go right back to sleep. You have been doing this several times each night and I'm hoping it's something you will quickly grow out of.


• You are still taking 2 naps each day. Sometimes they are as long as 2 hours and sometimes they are only 45 minutes. I've noticed it all depends on how long you're awake before I put you down.


• You now have 4 teeth on the bottom and 1 tooth on the top! I haven't noticed any others that look like they are coming in right now so hopefully you are getting a little break from the teething!


• You have done great with the reflux this month... we really haven't had any problems with it! I pray that by your first birthday this will all be something in the past and we wont have to worry about giving you medicine everyday anymore!


• The biggest change that I've seen in you this month is your ability to get around! You crawl everywhere! You have got pretty fast at crawling too! You also can pull yourself up on anything and have started walking yourself around the furniture.

I have slacked on taking pictures of you this past month. I have taken quite a few on my phone but they just aren't as good as the ones with my camera. Here are some of my favorite from the past month:

I saw this picture and thought to myself... where did my baby go?

I swear I'm not over feeding you... there's only like 2 oz of food in each bowl!

Your shirt says "I whaley love you"... you are too cute with your hair pulled up!
My little sleepy head

You are my silly little baby!

I love you precious girl! You are going to be a handful but I'm looking forward to every minute of it!

Love,

Momma

Mothers Day Weekend Gatlinburg trip

Ok... so I'm fully aware that Mothers Day was like a month ago but I needed to go back and write about Kaylee and I's trip to Gatlinburg that weekend. Where did the days of sitting here blogging while Kaylee laid in the floor (in one place) playing with her toys go? Oh yea... she figured out how to get around :) So now my days are spent sitting in the floor playing with her(translation: trying to keep her from busting her head on the tv stand or the corners of our tables) and trying to take a nap whenever she decides to take one.

Anywho... back to work... so instead of my mom driving all the way here to NC to see Kaylee (she comes up once a month), we decided to have a Mothers Day weekend in Gatlinburg. Kaylee's great grandma (my grandma) also came up along with Kaylee's great uncle (my uncle). Of course, the problem with waiting a month later to write about the trip, I can't remember as many details so this post will be mostly pictures.

The first day we were there (we arrived around 2 or 3) we sat in the hotel room and played with Kaylee until it was time for supper. Then we walked down the street to a restaurant where Kaylee decided she wanted to try everything we were eating. Afterwards we walked around looking at the different stores and Kaylee eventually fell asleep in her stroller.

The next day (Saturday), we went walking around again. I was dreading this because if Kaylee doesn't get her naps she gets soooo fussy and usually she won't take a nap while you are holding her... but then this happened:

She was completely out of it! So then I figured... as soon as someone picks her up and we start walking again she will wake up....

Nope! That poor little baby... all she wanted to do is sleep while we were dragging her around town! While we were there we went out to eat at several different places. I don't know if she is already after my money or she just likes my wallet, but anytime I take her shopping with me or we go out to eat, if she is fussy and all else fails, all I have to do is hand her my wallet and she is completely happy!

That Saturday Kaylee's grandma, my mom, decided to take her swimming in the hotel pool. She had bought her this new little baby float but I almost think that Kaylee would've rather been swimming by herself! Instead of playing in the water, as usual, she tried to drink it all (this is why I hate bath time because she does then same thing then).

When she was out of her float she actually tried to kick...now if I can just get her to keep her face out of the water and get her some little arm floaties she will be ready to go!

We woke up Sunday morning (Mothers Day) and all went out to eat for a nice breakfast before driving back home. It was nice to get away for the weekend and for Kaylee to be able to see her family. We are looking forward to going back to Gatlinburg in August to celebrate her 1st birthday!

My little girl is growing up!

I'm really... really... slacking on posting on here. Today I realized just how much I'm missing writing down so I better get caught up. I still have other posts from several weeks ago (including Kaylee & I's trip to Gatlinburg on Mother's Day weekend...which was forever ago...) but since my brain can only handle things day by day, I wanted to get caught up on Kaylee...what she is up to... and how much she has changed!

About 2 weeks ago she finally figured out how to crawl! It wasn't until I decided I was brave enough to sit her on the hardwood floor downstairs that she finally got the hang of it! I swear that girl is going to give me a heart attack...she will sit up on her knees (sometimes on one knee with the other leg kicked out to the side) and will decide to act like she is going to slam her face on the floor...only to catch herself with her hands once her forehead is about 2 inches away from disaster! She will start out crawling on all fours and then go into a army crawl.

She got her 3rd tooth back in the middle of May (13th) and her 4th tooth came in last week (May 28) when we were back home in TN. Then only a few days later (June 1) her first tooth on the top finally broke through! She has been a little fussy here lately because of the teething and has slept a lot more than normal.

Last week (well, the week before that... May 22nd to be exact) she started pulling herself up onto the furniture. It really seems like everything changed so quickly... she went from just sitting in one spot playing with her toys, to constantly crawling around and pulling up on things. So far she has pulled herself up in her bed(which she has been doing for a long time), the ottoman, our wicker chair, somehow... the corner of the wall and my favorite... she will crawl over to me when I'm sitting at the computer and grab my chair with one hand and the desk leg with the other and just stand here and look at me! It's the sweetest thing but I'm always so afraid she is going to fall and hit her head.

Just recently (last weekend while we were back in TN), Kaylee finally started taking her first steps! It started with her Grandma holding her hands and has progressed into her holding onto things while taking steps!

It is crazy how much she changed within less than a month! I have been working on getting things together for her 1st birthday party and it seems like time is just flying by. She is getting more and more talkative and has a great sense of humor! The sweetest change in her over the past few weeks is that she has went from screaming anytime I tried to read her a book to grabbing books on her own and opening them up for me to read to her. She will sit in my lap and turn each page when I ask her to and it just melts my heart!

I can already tell her 10 month post is going to be the longest yet!