Books I'm Reading

This is a book Chris checked out from the library and I LOVE it! I've been enjoying reading it so far because I've been able to apply it to my own life. I want to be able to teach WC about boundaries in a loving way so she will succeed as an adult! One good point this book has pointed out is that as a parent, you have to be able to look in the future and decide how you would like your child to turn out. Then you can parent and instill those qualities in your child to prepare them for their future!  I hope I can look back at WC's childhood and pat myself on the back. Of course I know there are things that I wish I could do differently, but overall, I want to have no regrets on raising WC! I didn't know that this was a Christian based book and and love how it references scripture. I want to be able to teach WC and discipline through scripture, so she will know how she is supposed to behave!

Here is another AWESOME parenting book I've been reading. It focuses on the "Attachment Style" parenting and the Sears' explain why this style of parenting works best for them. There reference many scriptures and I agree with just about everything in this book. I wish I would've found this book when WC was a baby! It covers so many things and I'm glad I purchased my own copy to keep for reference!

This has been my choice in nonfiction reading lately! I wanted to delve into Christian fiction and my friend Melissa Williams loaned me this series called Mark of the Lion by Francine Rivers. It took a few nights for me to get into the story because it was set back in the Roman Empire days and it was hard for me to keep all the characters straight with all their weird names! It's a story about love and dedication to the Lord!!

Picnic with a friend

This past week I took these two precious kiddos to Aullwood Garden and then had a picnic afterwards! This is Lucian, our neighbor, and I've blogged about this sweet boy before! They are moving in a few weeks to Japan. :( Sniff Sniff. WC absolutely ADORES him and follows him around and copies everything he does.  Lucian is sure to tell everyone that , "I go in airplane in sky to Japan with momma, daddy, Dook, and Aries (the dogs) in June." It's precious! I told his mom that I am going to hold him for ransom here in the States until they send me a little Asian kid of my own :) ha!

I'm Overwhelmed...in a good way!

As most of you know, WC was a very hard baby. The first year was rough for us.....it was tiring staying home with a screaming baby all day and then my marriage was hurting because of that!

Well today was one of the best days with WC so far. Late this afternoon she played and played with her daddy. She hasn't really been a fan of him....just a big time momma's girl. So watching them play was so sweet and made my heart melt. They played Buckin' Bronco (where the kid lays on your shin and you bounce them around) except that WC was on Chris' thigh and we was bouncing around all crazy and WC squealed and laughed so hard. My stomach was hurting from laughing so hard and those two!

Then she started playing with her baby dolls like little girls do. The things we were doing weren't things we taught her....I guess she was just mimicking us loving on her? Not sure... She was loving on her babies with blankets and passies and giving them milk from her sippy. It was so sweet how she was cuddling them up close! Then she asked for the fleece blanket and we lined up her babies and she laid by them so I could cover them up. Sweetness......

I never had the opportunity to rock WC as a baby. She didn't like to be cuddled and was even more stimulated by the rocking and the attention. Tonight was only the second time ever that she let me rock her to sleep. I love humming hymns and playing with her hair. After she fells sleep, I looked down at my 15 month old and was so overwhelmed at how big she was and how fast she is growing up. Playing with baby dolls...loving her daddy....repeating everything we say. And then looking at her long body limp in my arms passed out from exhaustion...I couldn't handle it! But at least we get to start this experience all over again very soon with the next baby!

I wish my family could experience all of this with me...but thank goodness for the internet!

Birthday Party at Orchardly Park

William Saville had his 3rd birthday party today at Orchardly Park in Oakwood! It was a pirate theme and the decorations and food were great! We were singing happy birthday to him here and he got a little shy. However, he was NOT shy when it came time to eat the cupcakes!!

WC had a lot of fun exploring the slides, sandbox, and play equipment. Orchardly park is always a fun new experience for her!

Dining Out

We had a blast! It was so much fun getting dressed up and acting "refined" for the night....even though we got to bang on the tables with spoons instead of clapping and people had to take shots from The Grog.

My husband was such a gentleman!! He definitely "swooned" me and made me feel special by pulling out my chair, refilling my drink during the social hour (water of course) and was making sure I was ok and felt fine. So sweet!

I can't wait to do this again!

I'm 15 Months!

I'm 15 Months Old!!!

Yesterday, WC turned 15 months! I can't believe she's almost 1 1/2!

Here she is covered with pnut butter! She was licking the pnut butter off of the crackers :) Messy girl! She jabbers up a storm and her vocabulary is growing everyday! She is such a copycat and has the silliest personality! We love you Whitley Claire!

Dining out on Friday

Four years ago, Chris and I attended our first "Dining Out" with the Air Force. It was after he was commissioned and our first formal military event! I wore this beautiful teal dress with diamonds on the halter top! I call it my "Barbie Doll" dress!

This Friday, we will be going to another Dining Out! I have been wanting to go to one of these since our 1st one 4 years ago! I love to get dressed up :) Being pregnant this time around, I wasn't sure if my "Barbie Doll" dress would fit, but low and behold!! I zipped it up and pranced down the stairs to show Chris. Well...he wasn't thrilled at how tight it was and how much my belly was poking out. It wasn't my belly that offended him, it was the tightness of it all!! Maybe someday I will be able to wear this awesome dress again!

I have a few other dresses I can wear that I've worn as bridesmaid dresses. This one to the left is a dress I wore at Dana's wedding over a year ago. I was 6 weeks prego with WC! I zipped this one up...wait...back up... NO I didn't get this one zipped up. My belly was wayyyy too big! So that one was hung back up in the closet!

I do believe this dress on the right will be the winner. It's GORGEOUS! This is a bridesmaid dress I wore in Megan's wedding! I got it zipped up and my belly on shows a little because it's flowy :)

I can't wait to post pictures of our Dining Out! I'm excited to see Chris in his "Mess Dress" and it will be an evening of fun and refinement. Or at least I can act refined :) Tee Hee

Little Miss Martha Stewart

I took it upon myself to make WC some blackout curtains! Since it's not getting dark until after 9, the past few nights she's been having a super hard time going to sleep. Last night I went to JoAnn's and found the PERFECT fabric to match her bedding and wall color! I'll have to take pictures another time because the Princess is currently sleeping...and might I had that it is completely dark in her room!

I decided not to go with the vinyl. Just because it was 10 bucks a yard and I am cheap. So I bought 4 yards of black fabric and just doubled it. It worked just fine! The front of the curtain is brown with turquoise flowers and I am so surprised that it matches spot on!

All I did was sew the wrong sides together, then pull the right side out, sewing the little hole together. I haven't figure out a way to easily take on/off the curtains, so for now they are saftey pinned to her little sheer drapes that are draped on the blinds rod :)

I spent about 15 bucks total so big pat on my back!

Newport Aquarium

Last week we went to the Aquarium in Newport, KY (about an hour away) with the Pikes and had a blast! This was WC's 2nd time to go, but the first time was not so fun for her. She was a grouch the whole time! She loved the birds, penguins, and the frog exhibit.

Chicago

Last weekend, we spent a long weekend in Chicago with my cousin! They live in Lincoln Park, a neighborhood in downtown Chicago. We were busy running the kids to baseball and soccer, but WC got a chance to play on the bazillion parks that were around town! We also went to a FREE zoo. Let me say that again. A FREE ZOO. I had never heard of the such! WC loved looking at the gorillas, ducks, and otters!!

Taylor was such a good little helper for me while Hayden was playing soccer. Taylor led WC all over the playground!

Hayden is showing WC the Otters here! You can see him...that's his head ducked down. Not the Asian kid :)

                                    They loved on WC all weekend. They were so nice to her!

She kept calling the gorillas "da" and then pointing to them. It was so cute :)

Orchardly park

Finally I am getting to blog about something! I feel like it's been forever, but we've been so busy and blogging is the last thing I feel like doing!

Last week we went to Orchardly Park with a few friends and it was the most AMAZING park I have ever seen.  They had a huge sandbox that was built in the ground and a water park (too bad it was just a little too chilly for it) and lots of fun things to climb on! I hope to go back, but it will only be for special occasions since it's about 30 minutes away!

There were tons of kids there and WC had fun watching all the older kids run around showing her the ropes :)