Moms Group

Ella and I had our first Moms group playdate this morning. I joined the Rockwall MOPS (Mothers of Pre Schoolers) group and was so excited to go. We were a little late...imagine that. If daddy isn't here to get me out of bed and keep my on track I just go about my merry way until I realize I am way behind, then I have to speed through everything and usually am about 5-10 minutes late. I was only 7 minutes late this morning, not too bad!

We went to ASI gymnastics and they had a little obstacle course set up for the smaller kids and they had trampolines, ball pits, music and games galore. Ella had a ton of fun playing with the other kids and I had a good time meeting some local moms. There was one little boy who pushed Ella down. I don't think we was with our group though (there was another Mom's group there). Oh well, I guess every group has one of those kids! And it didn't phase Ella one bit! She just went about her merry little way looking cute and being fabulous! She loved jumping on the trampoline so we might have to get one in the future. I had one growing up and always loved it.

We go back on Wednesday morning for the actual Moms meeting at First Baptist Church in Rockwall, which is the church we are members of. I am hoping to get to talk more to the other moms. We were all busy wrangling our kids this morning, but the 5 or 6 moms I did talked to seemed very nice.

I took these pictures Sunday after church since Ella was already dressed up and I thought she needed a good photo shoot!



It is just getting harder and harder to take a picture of her. She is always on the move!

Bows!!!

I am sure you have noticed that there is hardly ever a picture of Ella without a bow on. And usually if she isn't wearing a bow, it is because she is still in her pajamas around the house! When she was first born I bought her bows, a TON of them. Then, I started wanting more fun bows to really match her outfits, but all the cute boutique bows were $20 or more!! So, I started making hers. I love them and she gets compliments on them all the time, so now I have decided to start selling them. This will be my first attempt to spread the word!

This brown/pink bow is 4" wide, so it is considered a Medium bow. All of the bows Ella wears are Mediums. The medium bows with more than one ribbon are $10.
This bow is 4-1/2" wide. It has the pink stitched grosgrain ribbon, a pink/white large polka dot grosgrain ribbon and a pink/white small polka dot satin ribbon. It is $10.

This is a Large bow, 5" wide. It has zebra grosgrain and purple satin. It is $12. This is an example of a Medium single ribbon bow with a pattern. $6And this is the Medium single ribbon bow, solid color. $6All bows have an alligator clip. I can do any size bow in any color combination/ solid or patterned customized to your needs! Here is just a small sample of the ribbons I have. Don't see something, just ask!

I love cute big bows and I love making them for my baby girl, so even if no one is interested I will still make them...she will just have a TON!! =)

Packed Away (For Now)

Well, I finally did it. I packed up all of Ella's clothes that no longer fit and put them in plastic totes are moved them to the attic. Her closet was just FULL of clothes and I keep buying more, so it was time to make some room. I started with the newborn clothes. The first item was the very first outfit she ever wore, the outfit we brought her home from the hospital in.

With every piece of clothing I pulled out of a drawer or off of a hanger, I could vividly remember her wearing it, if something funny might have happened that day, or some special memory I have of her in it. For example: There is a cute little onesie that is size 3 month and every time I would put her in it, she would either pee or poop on it. It never failed! It was from one of my dad's co-workers so I always intended to get a picture of her in it, but I never did because without fail, this would happen. And it's not like I would leave her in the outfit all day and at the end of the day try to get a picture, no...as soon as I would get it on her she would pee on it. Through the diaper, over the diaper, she found a way!

So many I pulled out and was just amazed at how small she was. It is hard for me to remember her being that size, but I know she wore the clothes because I have the pictures. So many clothes, so many precious memories of my baby girl. So many outfit changes in the beginning because of spit up and diaper mishaps. The outfit she wore when she was only two weeks old to my brother's church when he was ordained as a deacon. That was her first real outing. She did so good for about 30 minutes, then she got fussy so I had to leave the sanctuary and I nursed her in a Sunday School room with the door shut, but prayed no one would walk in wondering why the light was on!

Now it is all packed away. Hopefully one day I will be able to pull out those clothes and dress my new baby girl in them. I can't wait for that day!! So, now I need to do some more shopping because there is a lot of empty space!

But don't worry...the girl still has A LOT of clothes. I filled up all of the empty drawers and one side of the closet.

Our Weekend

We had a nice slow weekend here at the Calhoun house. Friday night Trey got home, we ate dinner and turned off the TV and didn't turn it on again until after Ella was asleep. We spent the entire time playing, reading, laughing and tickling. It was so much fun and I would like to try and do at least one night a week like that. Ya know, it is all about Miss Priss at this house.

Saturday morning Trey woke up and headed off to do some side work all day. We missed him, but side work means extra money, which I love! He finally got home and I started cooking dinner for a couple in our Sunday school class who just had a new baby girl. I cooked swiss cheese chicken, which is chicken (duh!), then layered with swiss cheese, cream of chicken soup and topped with herb seasoned bread crumbs. This used to be my go to meal, but I have made it so many times I just can't eat it anymore, but everyone loves it. I also took some green beans and brownies. They have a little boy named Gregory who is 18 months old and Ella just loved him! They played very well together while we were over there visiting and I got to hold their new baby girl Addison for about 1 minute until she decided she did not want me to hold her!

Afterwards, we went and ate at Kyoto (a sushi/hibachi restaurant) and there was another little boy at our table who was 18 months old and Ella loved him too! Watch out boys!! I thought Ella would be more into the show, but all she cared about was the boy.

This morning we woke up and went to church. We had been in Sunday school about 15 minuted when the nursery director came to our Sunday school class and said they needed help in Baby room D, which is the room Ella is in. So, we and two other girls jumped up and headed to help. I was thankful that Ella was not one of the babies that was upset. After Sunday school was over Trey came down to the room to get me to go to big church. Unfortunately Ella decided that since Momma had been with her all morning, she wasn't about to be separated. My friend Jamie tried to distract her so I could sneak out, but Ella caught me and just sobbed. So, of course I wasn't going to let my sweet girl cry so we didn't make it to big church. Here's my sweet girl getting ready for church. She wasn't into posing this morning!
What is this face? HA!

I was a little disappointed, but knew Ella wasn't going to give in easily. The rest of today we have just hung out and taken it easy. We did go running as a family though this afternoon. We ran about a mile and walked a mile and a half. I am going to try to do this at least three times a week.

12 Month Check Up

This morning Ella and I headed to the doctor for her 12 month check up. We go to Dr. Susan Smart at Lake Ray Hubbard Pediatrics in Rowlett, Texas and I just love her. I also like that the office has a sick waiting area and a well waiting area with different entrances. We waited for about 15 mintues and there was another cute little girl in a leopard dress with her Mother and brother and Ella was quite fond of them. She kept waving and smiling at the little boy. I tell you, we are in for it!

Miss priss got to stand on the scale for the first time, instead of laying on the baby scale. I had been wondering about that because I knew there was no way she fit on that anymore! She now weighs 24.8 pounds and is in the 90th percentile for weight. She has gained 1 pound since her 9 month check up. She was my little chuncky girl, but she is thinning out. She was measure once we got on the room and she is 32-1/2" long and is off the charts for height. My little sheet where they write the info down for me says >100%!! I have a big baby!

Dr. Smart came and checked her out and she performed well. She clapped and waved, said mama, dada, hi and bye. She did some walking, then it was time for her exam. She said she just looks perfect. I couldn't agree more. Then, came the bad part. Two shots!! She had to get the MMR and Chickenpox. My girl did not like those at all and cried hard with some big tear drops for about 30 seconds. I gave her a yogurt melt and then she was all good and we were ready to go home. We have spent the day cuddling and giving her extra yogurt for being such a good girl at the doctor.

Show Us How You Live

This week over at Kelly's Korner it is Weight Loss Tips, Diets, & Workout Ideas. Having had a baby in January, I definitely needed to loose the 28 pounds I put on with pregnancy + a few pounds I had previously put on from married bliss. (We had only been married for about 7 months when we got pregnant and after going through bridal boot camp to get in shape for the wedding, I had stopped all attempts at working out!) These are the things that helped me loose it all.

#1 for new moms only (Sorry, you just can't do this unless you have just had a baby) Breastfeed! I am a total breastfeeding advocate for many reasons, one very selfish reason is that it speeds up your metabolism, which in turn helps you loose weight.

#2 again, for new mommas (Sorry again!) Strap your baby to you in a sling, baby carrier, whatever whenever possible. I would vacuum with her attached, go walking daily, and really just anytime I was up and about I had her strapped to me. I still do this sometimes except now she weighs 25 pounds so it is a little harder on my back. The extra weight on helps the intensity of the walks though.


#3 I did this workout

I for one have never been a fan of work out videos, but my sister introduced me to this. When it comes to working out I like to run or lift weights or do the elliptical or something along those lines. I have also never really tried a video that was all that hard. This one is 20 minutes long and I was SWEATING by the time it was over. The level three is ridiculous. It is an amazing workout. Too bad my abs still don't look like that!

So, this is what worked for me. I still have about 10-15 pounds I want to loose and I will be close to my high school weight! Unfortunately having a baby completely changed my body make up so I won't be fitting into what I used to. Oh well, I think she is worth it. See...

Ella's Birthday Party!

We had Ella's first birthday party on Saturday at our house. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, their baby Hunter, my sister, her son Caleb, Trey's parents and grandmother were all here. Ella was so excited to see everyone.
This is her cake and can I tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!! I went to the Lakeview Bakery in Rowlett and they have the most amazing cakes ever! It was so hard to pick one! The bottom layer was chocolate and the top was vanilla. It was so delicious; Worth every penny (and it was a lot of pennies!!). It was so cute though I really didn't want to cut it. Here is her little smash cake. It was just perfect for her. This is the centerpiece I had in the dining room. Those pictures look familiar huh? I think yall have seen those like 50 times by now!! Oh well, they are stinkin' cute! Trey got this cute little Birthday plate from a client he did some work for. Wasn't that nice of them? I had this on the table in the breakfast room. I went to 5 different stores looking for Gerber daisies and could not find them anywhere. When I was in Wichita I saw them everywhere. Trey found these at a Tom Thumb the morning of her party.
The new chalk board in the kitchen. I love being able to write fun stuff on it. And just in time for Ella's birthday! (My father-in-law made this for me and I painted it and added the gold scroll)Ella got a lot of present and enjoyed opening them. She likes the tissue paper the best, but Dad was close by to take it so she wouldn't eat it!
She got a baby doll bed & money from Trey's parents, clothes from her Mom and Dad and Aunt Corey, books, clothes & money from her Granny and Papa, money and a cute little purse from her Gigi (Great Grandmother). We had asked everyone not to get presents because Christmas was GOOD to this girl. Instead we asked if you did want to give her something we would love a contribution to her college savings account. Well, we got presents and money. Not too shabby!
Then it was finally time for her to tear in to her cake. Well, that didn't go exactly as we suspected. Instead, she looked at it for a while, then put a finger in and tasted the icing, did that a couple more times and then got upset that her hands were dirty. She just doesn't like it when she has stuff on them. So, she was ready to get up and get washed off. I mean, we even had her stripped down and plastic on the floor...and nothing! Haha! I am actually kind of glad that she didn't like it. After that she ate a jar of baby food and was perfectly happy with that! Who would have thought?!

Here are a few pictures of our family. Somehow I managed not to get a picture of her with my sister, her Grandad (Trey's Dad) or her Gigi.

After a couple of hours of being the center of attention my little girl was over it and ready for a nap. I am going to have to teach her to enjoy the spotlight more! We had a great first birthday though and she had a blast. My sweet girl is now a one year old and I am looking forward to many more years and many more birthday parties.

New Years Resolutions/Goals

Kelly is hostessing the Show Us How You Live blog tour every Friday and this week it is New Years Resolutions. I have never really made any New Years resolutions. But this year I think I will and I would like to think of them more as goals of how I want to live my life.

1. Seems to be the trend out there, but mine is also to be a better wife. It seems like a lot of people I know have all had babies this year and I think quite a few of us feel we have neglected our husbands. I know everyone says to make sure and keep your husband as your priority, but when you have a baby who needs your constant attention it is hard to run to the door as soon as he gets home and greet him with a hug and a kiss. Usually Ella is really fussy right about that time and I am in her room putting her to bed. I need to be more attentive to him and love on him as much as I love on Ella.

2. Work out more. Uhhh! Blah! I don't want to!!! But I need to. I have lost all my baby weight + an additional 20 pounds. I do still want to loose ten more pounds though.

3. Tithe more regularly. We have struggled with that this year as we have gone from a two income household to one. We have not been tithing regularly and I know Trey and I both feel convicted of this.

I think three will be a good number for me and a do-able number as well. I wish I could take it down to two and get rid of working out, but I will keep that one on there and just think...bikini, bikini, bikini!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

One year ago today my sweet girl was born and changed my life forever! I could not stop crying when the doctors handed her to me and was just amazed at how good God is. I have never seen a more beautiful face and have never loved something so much so quickly. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20-1/2" long. She seemed so tiny and so fragile and Trey and I were so nervous. You should have seen us the first time we changed her clothes! And the drive home was hysterical with Trey driving so slow and trying to avoid any bump there was and me hovering over her. Our sweet girl fattened up pretty quickly and has the most precious chubby cheeks. We had problems getting the breast feeding thing down, but mastered it soon enough. It is pretty obvious from these pictures she was getting enough to eat and then some! After a while she developed her personality and her smile just melts my heart. She and I have so much fun dressing up and taking pictures. She is definitely a mama's girl and I can honestly say that I love that.
On Mother's Day Trey and I dedicated her to the Lord. We will continue to raise her according to God's Will and will strive to be the best parents we can be and raise her to love the Lord and one day accept him as her personal Savior. This is one of my main goals as her Mother. Before she was born my Mom told me I would pray more than I ever had before and that would continue for the rest of my life. She was so right! But because of that my relationship with God has grown. I think having a child causes your faith to grow. Watching her learn to roll over, sit up, crawl and walk has brought me so much joy. The first time she rolled over Trey and I were both there to see it and clapped and yelled and were just so excited. Grabbing the video camera and getting it turned on as quickly as possible to make sure we document all of her milestones has been so much fun. However, I also learned I do sound like a huge hick!




With each day that passes I enjoy watching her learn more and more. She now says 'Uh oh' 'Mama' 'Dada' mimics sounds like Mooo and Woof Woof, gives high fives, sugars (kisses), hugs, and is walking. She is the joy of my life and I am so blessed that she is my baby. I am looking forward to many more years!

Birthday Planning

This afternoon Ella and I went and ran a lot of errands to get ready for her birthday. We went and picked out her cake. It is the cutest thing EVER!!! I am so excited about it! I love cute cakes. So, of course for Ella's First Birthday she needs the cutest. It is so cute I really am not going to want to cut it. I can't wait to show you all pictures.

Then we went EVERYWHERE looking for a nice hot pink round cloth tablecloth. Wow...who knew that would be so hard. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, TJ Max, Kohls, JCPennys, Belk, Target, & WalMart. Finally I just came home and ordered one off the internet. I am not a huge fan of doing that because I am so picky about colors & it is hard to tell the exact color on a computer screen. Oh well, I am out of places to look!

And since everyone should have gotten their invitation by now, here they are. I just love them! I couldn't really find something I liked, so I made my own in Photoshop and I love how they turned out. Her cake is going to have all these colors on it. Isn't she too cute in her tutu? And speaking of Miss Independent. This morning when we started I could not put her down. She wanted me to hold her. Now, I LOVE holding her, but after getting her in & out of the car, walking around and shopping 25 pounds gets to be pretty heavy. I tried to get her to walk, but she wouldn't. After our third stop Miss Independent did not want to be held any more. She wanted to walk and show off her new found Independence. At JCPenny there were three boys with their mom, ranging in age from 5-9. Ella made a beeline straight for them and was just waving and giggling. OH NO!!!! She is my daughter! I tried to pick her up and leave the boys alone and she just cried! Already at the age of 11 months she loves boys. Her Dad is going to have a hard time when she is 16!

Ella's First Christmas

Well, I am just now getting around to posting pictures of our baby girls first Christmas. Our computer has a serious virus and is getting fixed next week. So, we have got my parents old computer and are using that for the time being.

Christmas did not go as planned here at the Calhoun house. My family was supposed to come over Christmas day for lunch and open presents; however, Wichita Falls had record breaking snowfall and my parents couldn't make it into town, so it was just Trey, Ella and me. We woke up and let her open her presents. She was more timid about ripping the paper than I thought she would be. She kept looking at me like 'Is it okay that I am doing this because when I do this to the toilet paper you always tell me No?'. We had such a good day and just played all day long.

She finally got into it and then started climbing on the boxes and ripping them up.

We only got her two presents this year because #1 - The girl has EVERYTHING! #2 - She is only 11 months and really doesn't know what is going on #3 - Her birthday is right around the corner. I am sure next year we will do more, but this was good for her first year. She loves the drum she got.

And look what my hubby got me. Yes, jewelery, and double yes, diamonds! It will actually go on my right hand, but when you are right handed it is hard to take a picture of your right hand with your left hand. So no, it is not a replacement for my wedding rings, it is a right hand ring. Two years ago he got me a calendar and a figurine. Last year I bought myself a pair of shoes. This year he did much better.

My parents were able to make it down on Saturday, so we had a delicious lunch and opened presents. My mom was so happy to see Ella.
Dad brought a cowboy hat to show Caleb. Caleb really likes cowboys right now and even wore his Toy Story cowboy boots.

Ella once again enjoyed jumping on the boxes. She also had a lot of fun chasing Caleb around. Now that she is walking she can get him a lot better than when she was crawling. It is harder for him to escape now!

And here is my family. The addition of the children has made the holidays so much fun. I can't wait until there are more running around!

On Saturday we loaded up and headed to Trey's parents house for another round of Christmas. Ella had a great time unwrapping peoples presents for them. Whether they knew she was doing it or not!

And here is the Calhoun family.

I stayed the week and hung out with my Mom and Dad and had a great time. Ella loves my parents and just gets so excited to see them. Trey went back home because he had to work, but he drove up on New Years Eve and we went out with some friends while my parents watched Ella.

We had such a good Christmas and had so much fun with our families. Now I need to get focused on Ella's birthday party!