Colonial Williamsburg!

Our trip to Williamsburg over the weekend was great.  We left home around 2:00 on Friday and arrived at the hotel and got checked in around 4:00.  We met some friends for dinner at a really good BBQ place.  It was yummy!

Saturday we did our timeshare tour and went to the outlets to do some shopping.  Neither of us were really in the mood for shopping so we mostly walked around and it was nice getting Marissa out in the stroller.

We went out for sushi Saturday night and it was delicious.  We called it an early night with Dairy Queen flurries and went back to the hotel room to relax.

Sunday we packed up and headed to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around and site see.  We didn't have a lot of time, but it was beautiful outside and Marissa seemed to enjoy our morning stroll.  We then headed to Michelle and Mark's for brunch and ended up staying for a few hours to talk and enjoyed a Sunday afternoon beer.

Carriage rides in Colonial Williamsburg

At the end of the lane is Williamsburg Inn, where every president of the United States has stayed.  The presidential suite costs $27,000 a night (per our tour guide)...don't you love how tax payers money is spent?  Queen Elizabeth also stayed here during her visit to Williamsburg.

An old well

Marissa watching daddy pet the horses

The kiddo's got to play and Marissa came home with a few goodies from Michelle.  She loved this toy, so Michelle gave her one to take home with her.

Marissa and AJ

AJ blowing kisses to Marissa before going to take a nap

It was really nice catching up with friends.  Danny and I talked about how beautiful Williamsburg is.  We both joked about how we would like to move there... :o)

All in all, it was a great weekend!  It will be nice to relax this upcoming weekend and have no plans on the calendar for the first time in several weekends.

Weekends are for PJs!

We had a good weekend at my parents house, minus Marissa not wanting to go to sleep on Friday night.  She was up until 1:30 in the morning and nothing seemed to be making her happy.  She didn't want to be rocked, laid down, didn't want to eat, nothing!  It made for a long night, but she finally went to sleep and was back on track by Saturday night.

We didn't do much, mostly just hung out and played with Marissa and there's a good possibility that we stayed in our pj's most of the weekend.  My brother came down too, which was nice.  My dad didn't get home from his "dig" until late Saturday night, so he didn't get to see Marissa until Sunday morning.

We stopped on our way home to see a good friend of mine, Sara.  She was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding, she and her husband, Drew, had their first child, Isaac, on Valentine's Day.  He is 6 weeks old and so tiny!  It truly amazes me how fast they grow.  I got to hold him for a bit and I couldn't believe how much Marissa has grown physically and mentally in 7 short months.  It almost gave me baby fever (though Danny would argue that baby fever never went away)!

Marissa LOVED this rocking chair, she was actually rocking herself. 

Being nosy about something...

Always biting her bottom lip now, teething - maybe?

Can't forget Sadie, too!

It's been a crazy week so far and it's only Tuesday!  Come on weekend!

"WHO" Percentiles

I found this handy little chart today on the CDC website that has weight and length-for-age percentiles for breast fed (BF) baby girls.  This is called a "WHO" chart.  The pediatrician's office combines formula fed (FF) and BF babies charts all into one.  So the results can be a little skewed.

The WHO chart that I found actually shows Marissa's weight percentiles to be higher when compared to other BF baby girls.  On the FF/BF chart, she is currently in the 38th percentile but on the WHO chart she is actually closer to the 50th percentile range, which I think is great!  Her current height on the pedi's chart shows her in the 66th percentile range but on the WHO chart she is in the 75th percentile.  So I think she's doing well on momma's milk!  Not that her scores were bad on the chart the pedi uses, but this reflects a little bit more accurate information and compares her to other girls her age that are BF. 

As a mom, you often wonder if you are feeding your child enough, are they getting everything they need, are you producing enough milk?  I've noticed that the other baby at Marissa's daycare is formula fed.  He drinks 8 ounce bottles at a time, whereas Marissa only drinks 6 ounce bottles at a time (and sometimes it's like force feeding her to finish that).  I started questioning myself and wondering if I should be giving her more.  So I did a little research about BM composition.  A lot of what I have read indicates that BM actually changes over time (I had heard this from lactation consultants but had never done any of my own research on the topic).  The fat content increases which provide all the nutrients your baby needs to grow, without having to add additional ounces (like FF babies).  But many women start to believe that they aren't producing enough milk, so they subsequently start to supplement with formula.  I found a lot of this information to be helpful and informative.  Of course, if Marissa needs more ounces and if she is showing she is still hungry, I will give it to her, but it does help to kind of understand what it is my body is doing.  And that it might actually be doing what it's supposed to be doing!  Whew.

::Disclaimer - if I need to give her formula, I will, but it's more of a last resort for me, just because she is doing so well right now that I don't want to mess anything up.::

It's easy to second guess yourself and I am constantly struggling to ensure I'm making enough for Marissa; I often measure my worth in ounces.  Unfortunately, a lot of things come into play with milk production, like: how much rest you have gotten, how much water you are drinking, your monthly cycle, stress, your diet, how often you pump/nurse, etc. etc.  I guess I have a hard time when people make passive aggressive comments about Marissa needing more food because she is BF.  It's hard to not take comments like that to heart.  There is such a thing as over feeding a baby.  Just seeing her numbers on paper and seeing that her growth is right on track gives me a little more assurance that I'm doing what's right for us.  People who have never BF long term don't really understand, I guess. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is I have a love/hate relationship with BFing.  I will be happy when I can ditch the pump, but it will be bittersweet when Marissa is weaned.  My plan right now is to make it to at least 1 year.  Before I had Marissa my plan was to make it to at least 6 months.  Here we are at 7 months, I've reached my initial goal and each month that I can continue to BF is worth the internal struggles I go through.  :)

In other news, we are headed to the Valley to see my parents this weekend!  It's been a long over due visit, so I'm excited.  I may also stop in to see a friend and her baby who was born on Valentine's Day.  Hopefully I don't get baby fever again. :o)

Crafting It Up!

Over the weekend I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for Marissa’s 1st Birthday. I got all of the paper I need to make the invitations and decorations for her party. We are doing a pink lady bug theme! I was originally going to keep the details hush, hush…but since I’m making most of the decorations, no one can really copy me since they are unique and handmade!

I’ve started on the invitations and I like how they have turned out. The wings open up and the party details are inside. We are keeping her party small, just close family and friends. I’m going to do food, cake and ice cream. Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can be outside on the back deck, but if not, we can mingle inside, too.

The invite:

Inside of invite:

Sign that we will hang on the back door:

I am also planning on making a high chair banner, food labels, a Birthday Banner and some other decorations for around the house. 

I know it seems a bit premature to be planning already, but I know with Spring and Summer coming we will be busy and I won’t have time to devote to sitting down and getting everything done. I might as well do it while I have time so I’m not stressing at the last minute. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m OCD and like to party plan and do things early!



This weekend we are heading to my parents. My dad is on a “dig” and I don’t know if he will be back while we are there or not. He found a Confederate States Belt Buckle this week, which is pretty big! I can’t wait to see it and get all the details on his big find. He has been going on these digs for a few years now and this is his first time finding a buckle like this. For those of you who don’t know, my dad is an avid civil war relic hunter!



We are going to take Eli and Sadie to my parents for a few weeks. My parents have a huge yard where they can run and play, so we’re going to let them stay there to get some exercise and live the farm life. We will be picking them up on Easter weekend when we come back up to my parents. Since we will be going to Williamsburg in a few weekends, this will help us from having to find a dog sitter while we are gone.

Marissa will be 7 months old tomorrow! Where has the time gone?



Weekend Getaway!

Some friends of ours just bought a timeshare in Williamsburg, VA.  The timeshare has a referral program and they referred us for a free weekend stay.  We are going down April 8th - 10th and I'm so excited!  We have to attend a 1 hour seminar on the timeshare/resort (where they will inevitably try to convince us to buy a share).  The weekend is free, whether we buy the timeshare or not, which we aren't.  We're using this as an excuse to get a FREE weekend away and have a little fun!  Our friends who bought the timeshare went down with the same intention as us, a free weekend, but they ended up loving what they had to offer and went ahead and purhchased.  They said it was a bit of an impulse buy, but they are still happy with their decision.  We will not, I repeat, not be impulse buying a timeshare.  Sure it would be nice, but we're focusing on other things right now.

For one, I just upped my retirement contributions.  I had been meaning to for awhile and I finally got around to it.  I think Danny and I are making great decisions for our future, which feels good!

Danny and I are also talking about some remodeling or starting some projects around the house.  We would really like to either a) build a car port attached to the side of the house or b) start to finish off the basement.  Both would be nice, but we're trying to figure out which would give us a better return if/when we go to sell our house.  The extra living space would be nice, but part of our yard on the side of the house (where the car port would go) is starting to wash out from rain, the dogs and just normal wear and tear.  We kind of feel like we should get that taken care of before the problem gets worse.  But then we might be running into part of the deck and we're not sure if we would need to remodel the deck in order to make the car port work.  Decisions, decisions!  Danny's dad knows a contractor that built his garage/car port combo and he's going to talk to him to see if they could come out and give us an estimate.

I also would really like to put ceramic tiles in our kitchen (mom, if you are reading this...you are up for the job, right? hehe).

We would like to get new countertops in the kitchen and update the cabinet hardware.

So many things we want to do!

So Many Pictures, So Little Time

I took over 100 pictures this weekend and I want to share them all!  I just don't have enough time, so this will have to do...

I love, love, LOVE this photo!  These two are my whole world!

How cute is this dress?

One of my favorite spots, the rocking chair on the front porch.  

Sitting in the grass for the first time!

Trying to eat a leaf.  Silly girl. 

Daddy's girl.

Already showing her the playstation remote...oh boy!

Love baby feet.

Daddy and Marissa

Not too often we get pictures together. :)

Sadie Bear giving love to Marissa.

Marissa and I went to the park in our neighborhood.  She was having so much fun swinging!

Weeee!

Every time I said "weeee" she would give me one of these faces!

She didn't go down the slide, this was more or less just a photo op.

Attacking Eli Gator!

That's all I have time for tonight.  I've been up since 5:30 am, need some much needed beauty rest!

Clap, Clap..Clap Your Hands!

Marissa has learned how to clap!  We've been playing Pat-a-cake and she seems to have caught on.  I love watching her learn new things.  We are still working on waving and Peek-a-boo!

Today my friend Sophie came over for a cloth diaper tutorial.  Hopefully I was able to answer any questions she had and is a little more comfortable with moving forward into the cloth diaper world.  I counted my diapers today and I think I have almost 50.  My addiction is worse than initially realized.  It's all for a good cause, right?  And we *might* have two in cloth at some point, so I'll need that many.  Right?  Right??  I'm trying to justify my addiction, can you tell?  I got on a custom Working At Home Moms (WAHM) cloth diaper list.  I'm hoping to find the perfect diaper for Marissa's 1st birthday! :)

Today has been a lazy Sunday.  Lazy Sunday's usually involve Food Network and me running to the grocery store to get some goodies to satisfy my cravings.  Today it looks like it's buttermilk onion rings and air heads that have my mouth watering.  MmmMmm!

Marissa is still saying "Dada" a lot.  It's her favorite (only) word and she says it all the time.  It's truly adorable, though I am still slightly jealous that she hasn't said Mama yet.  I have now had two people tell me an old wives tale...

The old wives tale goes that if your first child's first word is "Dada" that means your next child will be a boy.  If your first child's first word is "Mama" then your next child will be a girl.

The cool part about this is we will get to put this old wives tale through the test!  Our friend's Mickey and Jeremy have a little boy, Hunter.  His first word was Mama.  Since Marissa's first word was Dada, we will see if our next child will be a boy.  I know Mickey and Jeremy would love to have a little girl and we would like to have a little boy.  So time will tell if this old wives tale holds any truth.  I know it's silly and most old wives tales are just that, tales, but it's still fun to think about!

Yesterday I took Marissa to the park in our community.  I took a few pictures of her swinging and I will post them later.

....Off to the grocery store!

Happy Spring!