FOTO FRIDAY

Sorry for my absence this week.  Elle and I have been loving Kenny being home. We are both just so much happier when we are getting to spend time with him.  We took lots of a long walks and Elle was so happy to have him back doing bath time/bedtime routine.

This weekend Kenny is taking Elle for a little daddy daughter weekend in Fairhope to spend some time with his dad before he has a surgery and my mom is coming up to help me do some more work on the house.  It will be a fun/productive weekend for all!  Here are some pictures from our week!

Getting ready for a breezy walk at Shelby Farms.

 I cannot get over how adorable Toms look on baby feet.  Obsessed.  Now I just wish they would stay on a little bit better.  We had to do a 20 minute back track looking for one on our walk when she threw it out and then a good Samaritan sat it on a something thinking we would see it.

We had a play date on Thursday with my friends and all their little boys where we played outside.  I need someone to have a little girl STAT!  Elle is definitely outnumbered.  She seemed fine with it though. She was loving the dirt.  Me-not so much.  She might have been the dirtiest out of all them when we left. It was straight into the bathtub when we got home.

 Look at those brown legs and red cheeks.

 Still wearing that bow though.  Can't give up all the priss.

 This was Elle's first ever Popsicle.  (Only a mother would care so much)  She loved it.  And yes that is dirt on her Popsicle.  A little dirt consumed never killed anyone.

A LOT OF NOTHING

A whooooooole lot of nothing.  So much nothing that I am seriously about to go insane.  I can't remember if I mentioned last week that Kenny was out of town.  He gets home tonight after being gone for a full week.  During the week we managed to stay pretty busy.  I had a lot of projects that I was doing around the house and I also had people coming in to do work on our house so the week went by fast.

Then the weekend came.  And we were so bored.  Elle and I that is.  Bored! Bored! Bored! I was trying to avoid spending money since we are doing work on the house so shopping or going out to eat was a no go.  It was kind of cold and rainy a lot of the time.  At one point we went over to my sister's house so I could let Elle go through all of her drawers and crawl around her apartment for a change of scenery. She did have a lot of fun making a mess.  See picture below.

On Sunday, Elle and I took a stroll in her pink caddy to the park for some swinging action.  I made the mistake of letting her crawl around the playground for a little bit but I was worried she was going to hurt herself so I tried to put her back in her car.  HUGE FIT! Quite possibly the worst she has ever thrown and it was in front of a ton of people. I felt like a horrible mom and was sad that our trip to the park was ruined.  So naturally I cried the whole way home.  Completely normal ha! 

So now it is Monday and Kenny is driving home as I type this and gah I am so excited to see him and I know Elle wants to see someone/anybody else besides me.  I have had a horrible case of mommy guilt today.  Just anxious.  Worried that I am not doing a good enough job of entertaining Elle and keeping her stimulated.  Without sparking a working mom/stay at home mom debate sometimes I think she would like daycare so much more than staying home with me.   She would have more fun toys to play with and lots of kids to be around.  She will start PDO in the fall and it can't come soon enough because I know how much she is going to enjoy it.  I love her so much and I am so incredibly grateful to get to spend the time with her that I do.  I would never trade it in.  I am just having an off day and felt like writing a stream of consciousness blog post.   

I find any time I have a really off day like today we have a really amazing day the next day. So off to find some story times to attend and check the weather for a nice long walk tomorrow.  Thanks for letting me ramble.

A WEEK IN THE LIFE

As told by my iPhone of course.

 Nap time bottle snuggles with daddy before he went on a business trip. He was sad about leaving.

 Lena girl. Let her snuggle with me in the bed for a little bit 

because the maids were coming in the morning.

 This is what she does when she is unhappy or sometimes I just catch 

her laying like this quietly.  It is so funny.

 Dinner for one. Made this Fontina Cheese Sauce with some premade gnocchi for myself.  

It was delicious.  Click the link for the recipe.

 She wanted to feel the grass underneath her knees.

(Don't you love our bald patches.  Thanks Lena.)

 Enjoying this book.  Might not be getting through it very quickly because of a certain 

other risque book that everyone is talking about that I am totally embarrassed to say I am reading 

on my Kindle so no one can tell that I am reading it.

 We are making improvements to our small little master bath.  Elle was not sure what to think of this.

Enjoying the nice weather and burning off some of that gnocchi I was going to eat.  But that is besides the point.  Look at how much hair it "looks" like Elle has!  Yay!  Maybe now people will stop asking me what her bows are holding onto.  Hair people! Hair!!!

IT'S MY ONE THING

(She was so little in this picture and this is her bucket seat. 

 Eight month's later though, she is still facing the same way. Ha!)

I like to think I am pretty laid back mom.  I also like to think that I am pretty non judgemental when it comes to choices other moms makes.  Although my friends, Kenny and I aren't totally sure where this laid-back attitude came from since I usually am a complete control freak, I am loving being more easy going.

I think it comes from knowing deep down that Elle will be okay in the long run regardless of how long I breastfeed or whether she eats an occasional meal bite of processed food that isn't organic.  I have faith that Kenny and I are good parents and hopefully that will be reflected in Elle one day.

But there is one thing that I have a strong opinion about.  The one I don't really talk about to other people because the guidelines just changed and there are lots of various opinions that everyone is entitled to have because they deserve to make choices for their children just as much as I deserve to make my decisions.

Rear facing car seat until two. Unless I change my mind which is always possible,  (Nothing is ever for sure when you have a child and the second you swear you won't do something you end up eating your words.) I want to keep Elle rear facing until she is two.

The deciding factor for me was watching the videos that show crash tests with car seats rear facing vs. forward facing.  I am not going to post one on here because you can google them if you are interested in coming to your own opinions.

Elle is also very small in weight, length and has a large head.  Irrational or not, I feel like that head on her little body needs some extra support in a situation like a car accident. I am also not the best of drivers.  While I haven't totaled a car  (oh my goodness let me knock on some major wood) since I was 19, I have had LOTs of fender benders with stationary objects like poles.  Plus, I live in Memphis.  I can't trust the other drivers in this city. Ha!

Am I annoyed with the rear facing thing?  Yes!  Do I wish I could turn her around and be able to see her and hand her things easier?  Yes! Is she fussy or throw absolute tantrums in her car seat sometimes? Yes.  But for now I am sticking to my guns.  This is my one thing that I feel strongly about.   So sorry Elle just keep smiling at me in that mirror we have set up for you.

Note:  Please know I do not judge you if you don't feel strongly about rear facing. Elle might literally be the only child I know who is still rear facing at her age.  Which might make ME the crazy one.  I pray this blog post did not come off preachy or holier than thou.  I am neither of those things.  Just trying to keep things interesting on this old blog and thought maybe someone might have never considered looking into it more.  

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- Does it bother anyone else on Glee that all the Glee clubs that they compete against in Regionals/Nationals are more legit types of Glee clubs and then they get up there and there is only like 10 of them and then one person will sing the entire song.  They are nothing alike and we are supposed to believe that they would even be in the running to win.  I really like the show though. :)

- I kind of have baby fever.  Probably won't tomorrow and then it will be back on Thursday.

- Elle scared the bejesus out of me last night.  She likes to lay her head down on the floor when she is unhappy or throwing a fit and she decided to try that shenanigan last night in our bathtub during bath time and inhaled water.  I was trying to stop her from doing it as she did it. She totally freaked out!  Like gasping and gurgling, eyes bulging, coughing screaming.  I of course pulled her out soaking wet freaking out and subsequently became soaking wet too.  She was fine.  But seriously.  It scared me!

- I saw some of those Biggest Loser contestants chowing down on Subway sandwiches and now I want one so incredibly bad.  But Kenny isn't here and I can't go get one.  What is your go to sandwich there?  I have always liked the cold cut trio with pepperjack cheese.  It is like the most fattening sandwich they have.  At this point I would settle with a turkey with pepperjack cheese and lots of veggies. I just want one.

- Have yall seen Duck Dynasty?  I really like that show. Except for they touch/catch frogs waaaay to much for my liking.  I am T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D of frogs or toads.

- I really like that Goyte song.  Rest of their album, not so much.

- I get kind of excited for Tuesday nights because that is the night 16 and Pregnant comes on.

- And I tweeted this yesterday but I am just really annoyed.  What is so magic about Magic Erasers?  They don't really work unless you put A LOT of muscle into it and that makes me think that scrubbing with anything would work okay.

Alright, those are my meanderings.  Until next time!

BANANA SPLITS AND DINOSAURS

After this week I realize I like to take pictures of three main things.  Food, Elle and Elle and her daddy. Funny enough, these are the things I always am interested in seeing when people tweet pictures.  

Kenny and I had a fantastic weekend.  We tried to spend lots of time together as a family because Kenny has a market coming up and we are going to miss him!

Friday night, thanks to my wonderful sister, Kenny and I went on a date.  We went to an Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella.  We have been going to this restaurant for years but I discovered a entree they have which is hands down my favorite meal in all of Memphis.  Gah! I could eat it every day.  Who cares if I am 300 lbs. After dinner we went to see American Reunion. (there weren't a whole lot of new movies out)  But it was funny enough and did a good job paying tribute to the original American Pie.

My favorite meal ever- Kobe Beef Brisket with Parmesan Gnocchi with 

shitake mushrooms and pine nuts.

Saturday morning, Elle and I went to our friend's little boys birthday party.  It was great place for a party and all the kids had the best time.  Elle particularly enjoyed the ball pit.

She found some books! Her favorite past time.

Saturday afternoon we went for a little family outing to run some errands and decided to stop for some frozen yogurt.  We like taking Elle for ice cream because she loves it and it is soft enough for to eat easily.

Daddy and his girl.

She liked my gelato spoon.

Sunday, it was so pretty outside we decided to go for a stroll at the zoo.  An amazing dinosaur exhibit is at the zoo right now so we decided to see what it was all about.  It was extremely neat.  Elle loved all the dinosaurs because they follow you as you walk, spit water at you and make noises.  She didn't want to get too close though.  We tried to get her to touch the one in the picture below and she got really scared.  Poor thing.

Keeping an eye on that dinosaur.  Love this picture.

We thought this one was a little violent.  The injured dinosaur was still "alive" 

and was breathing and moaning.  It was all so realistic.

After the zoo we stopped in at a little restaurant called Cafe Eclectic in midtown for some lunch.  We decided to all split the banana split and we all throroughly enjoyed it.  

What a fun weekend.  I am loving this weather so much.  It just calls to you to come outside and be out and about.  Already dreading the scorching heat of summer.

FOTO FRIDAY

Have a great weekend! We are redoing our master bath here in the next week or two. We demoed last night.  It might be the ugliest bathroom on the planet and why we have waited this long to be make improvements, I have no idea.  But you can look forward to the before and after pics and the big reveal!

FUNK

The last few weeks I have been in a funk.  I have been short tempered, unmotivated, tired, sluggish.  Yuck!  But you want to know what was the cause of this funk?  Because I know EXACTLY what it was.

My eating and exercising habits.

I was doing really well.  Exercising daily, really watching what I eat but then I got off the wagon for a couple weeks and instant bad mood.  I mean instant.  As much as I love food and I love eating whatever I want, I can no longer do so.   I started over again this week and already I am feeling better.  Its not even about weight anymore.  It is about how I feel.

Now if I could just get to the point where exercise becomes something that I don't sacrifice after a busy day.  It should be the first thing I want to check off my To-Do List because obviously it affects my overall well being.

BIG EASTER WEEKEND

We had the best weekend.  Low key but lots of  enjoying the Easter holiday. We watched Masters coverage all day and then Friday night Kenny and I stayed in and I made foil pack chicken and we caught up on Tivo. A few years ago this would of sounded like the most boring day and night but it was heavenly.  

Saturday, Kenny went to the driving range in the morning and then that afternoon we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Memphis Botanic Garden.  Elle preferred the Easter Bunny way more than Santa.  We even managed to get a semi decent picture.

Elle also took part in the under 2 Egg Hunt.  We really didn't have high hopes in her ability to hunt and gather eggs.  But Kenny gave her a big pep talk before the start of it and despite her not being able to walk she did really well.  She was throwing those eggs in her basket like a champ.  Kenny decided that he is going to start training her for next year's hunts.  Next year the eggs will have candy in them.

Getting focused.  You should of seen the amount of children and parents 

line up around the perimeters of this egg hunt! It was very Hunger Games-esque.

Getting those eggs!

Going through the loot! We got lots of stickers, some coupons for some 
Free Kid's Meals and a little slinky that has been the most popular prize.

On Sunday, we went to 8:30 church service and then to brunch.  After we arrived home we couldn't wait to let Elle see what the Easter Bunny brought her.   I think the Easter Bunny felt like a mix of necessities and fun things were the way to go this year.

Grainy cell phone picture of the girl's all ready to go.  We decided to all wear pink!

Elle's Easter Basket: Little English hanging bag, Princess sippy cups, bubbles for the summer, crayons, stuffed bunny, and Little People toy.

Kenny's Easter Basket: Apple TV, candy

Elle was super excited about the bubbles.  

The Easter Bunny brought me new tennis shoes! I love them!

Sunday afternoon it was all about the Masters.  Keeping with Masters traditions, I made homemade pimento and cheese, egg salad and we had tea and lemonade to make Arnold Palmers.  We were really rooting for Phil Mickelson but were pleased with a win for Bubba.

I capped off the weekend with a TWO hour nap on Sunday afternoon.  I probably could of slept until the next morning.  It is amazing how much better I felt afterwards though!

FOTO FRIDAY

Sorry for my lack of posts here recently.  I am in a little bit of a rut.  To be honest all I want to blog about is how cute and amazing and wonderful my little girl is and let's face it, nobody wants to read that all the time.  So to suffice here is a huge Foto Friday.  I recently started using Instagram and I am loving it.  I always thought it was just a way to put silly filters on your pictures.  I didn't realize that its ANOTHER form of social to check on my phone when I am bored.  So yay!

Looking forward to this weekend.  Easter, Easter Egg Hunt, the Masters, family time!

Kenny worked from home one day after being away and missed Elle (and me ;) like crazy while he was away.  So we spent the entire day with him!

 Having a little Holiday Ham for lunch.

 Stinker

We even tagged along with Daddy to the driving range.  It was fun even though mosquitos ate me up.  I hate mosquitos.  They adore me and my sweet blood.

 After the driving range we were all hot and sweaty and decided to stop for Elle's favorite treat these days.  Watch the video to see how much she enjoys them.

 Elle holding her daddy's hand during her bedtime bottle.

 She found her diaper bag that still had everything in it from us traveling last week.  It was a treasure trove.

We got soaked after music class yesterday so I just thrrew a little tshirt on her.  She was playing in the laundry room.  Little heathen child.

Oh and by the way feel free to follow me on instagram.  My username is mallorylacey

WEEKEND RECAP

Sorry this weekend recap is a day late. Elle, Kenny and I have all been on the road. Kenny had to work at an event this weekend so Elle and I headed to Hattiesburg to spend some time with my mom. (CC as Elle likes to call her and has learned how to say) Elle was so excited to find some new toys there. She was loving this dollhouse. I might of had a good time playing with it too.Friday night, I headed to Jackson to meet some friends for a fun get together weekend. We just took it easy Friday night and went to the Bulldog for some drinks and then went back to the hotel.

On Saturday, my friend Rachael was so gracious in hosting our annual crawfish party. This year we were to wear a old greek tshirt from college. The older the better or a good story was demanded. I decided to sport this one from 1998. I was so close to winning the prize for oldest tshirt but Rachael had one from 1992. Dern!
I was terrible about taking pictures. So I had to steal a lot of Megan's from Facebook and she brought Francis! He is three months old now and for a lot of people this was their first time to meet him. So since all of these are her pictures you can get your Francis fix too!
This picture was taken very late at night so I was looking a bit rough. But I was so happy to see Megan and of course Francis. He is so cute! I can't wait for football season because then we see them almost every weekend and this year it will be babies/toddlers galore!
Rachael and Francis!
We had big plans of going out after all the crawfish were boiled but ended up staying in and sitting around talking about it. So fun and relaxing.

While I was having fun visiting my friends, my mom was having a great time with Elle. She took her to our church Easter egg hunt and took my grandmother out to lunch. I came home to Hattiesburg to spend Sunday night with my mom and I think Elle and my mom were equally exhausted.
Sunday night my mom and I ordered sushi in and watched the American Country Music Awards. Monday it was time to hit the road for Memphis. Elle was asking for her daddy. We missed him. Now I am sitting here watching the Championship basketball game with Kenny. I am winning in my bracket competition! But now I have to root for Kansas because I picked them to beat Kentucky. Gah! I like to root for the SEC. Sorry, money wins out this time! Ha!