THE LACEYS

FOTO FRIDAY

2012-01-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

Just a little girl and her dog.

LOW KEY AND FANTASTIC

2012-01-23T08:00:00.002-06:00

We had a fantastic weekend with the main event being our little family of three plus an Aunt Annie celebrating the absolute love of our lives birthday. Yes! She is one. And I will say it because I don't care if it is cliche. I cannot believe it. I am so sad. And it is not because time is flying by so quickly (but it is) and it is not because she is growing up so fast. (which she is) I think I feel sad because we will never be at this point of our life again. We will NEVER be new parents again. We will NEVER just have one newborn again. We will NEVER have a brand new experience every single day like we did this year. And that makes me sad.

Not too sad though. Because Elting has brought us so much joy. I never really knew JOY until we had her. I knew happiness. I knew love. But this is so different and I am so grateful for every single hard second of it. If you are ever reading this Elting. We love you so much!

Friday and Saturday we relaxed at home and watched movies. We watched Hangover II Friday night. It was the same movie like everyone has said but still funny. And Saturday we ran errands to pick up some small gifts for Elting for her birthday and went out to lunch and some quick Las Delicias for dinner. Elting had her first chicken quesadilla and I was so proud because she seemed to lurve her some Mexican food just like her mommy.

For Elting's birthday we decided to do a very low key affair this year. There was talk of the grandparents coming in town but we are going to see my mom very soon and so we decided to just let everyone stay home. We decided to take Elting to the Memphis Zoo in her favorite thing ever. (if you have a baby get them the Push2Step car)

The weather was very humid and I am actually pumping this blog post out on Sunday night because we are about to have terrible storms. So just in case we lose our power I have this done. My hair did not cooperate to say the least but here is a picture of our little family on the day she turned 1.

Daddy and his very serious little girl. Ha!

Aunt Annie with her niece. So happy she came with us. Elting adores her. Sometimes even prefers her over me.

I love this picture. That is all.

Birthday presents for the birthday girl.

Birthday girl with her presents. We only got a few little things toy wise and then bought her some books. We love getting her books. We write in them to tell her what the occasion was and books are also what we buy for her as a souvenir if one of us goes somewhere. Annie was so nice to get her some neat beach things for our trip this summer. Elting has asked for some fun toys to play with in the sand.

She also asked for a cute hat to protect her little hairless head from the sun. She was a bit fussy from all the excitement. She wasn't loving it so much but she will come around.

Instead of a cake, we went with a girly pink cupcake. You should of heard the debate over whether to light the candle. We decided against it.

She really hasn't had a whole lot of sugar. A bite of a cookie or cupcake here or there. She enjoyed the cupcake. Did not come close to finishing it though. She like the cake way better the icing.

Happy Birthday my darling girl. Thank you for giving us the best year of our lives!

SEATTLE OBSESSIONS

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

So there are a couple things that are staying on my mind from my Seattle trip. You don't know me at all if you are surprised that they are both food related.

The first, this ice cream shop called Molly Moon's. Yall! I am not a huge ice cream person but this place was out of this world good. What made them so awesome were their unique flavors ( all organic of course). Susan and Andrew took me the first night I was there for dessert. Where I got a scoop of balsamic strawberry. Sounds weird but that balsamic mixed with the strawberry ice cream is crazy good. Oh my god! My other favorite flavor was the maple bacon. I love salty sweet.

I was so crazy about this place I insisted in going every single day. I was eating this ice cream in the freezing snow and did not care. By the end of the weekend there were serious jokes about Susan and Andrew packing this stuff in dry ice and shipping it to me. Which I would just die if that could really happen!

The other yummy treat which I was able to pack some in my bag is Midnight Oasis Drinking Chocolate. It is from a swanky chocolate shop in Queen Anne called Chocolopolis. Since it was cold we were pumping this stuff through our veins the entire weekend. This is like no other hot chocolate I have ever had. It is made from really dark chocolate so it is not overly sweet and it tastes really chocolate-y and not just sweet. I brought a can home and decided to make some last night. But before I did I panicked that I would never get to have it again once I finished our tin so I made sure I could order some online before I made my first mug. Disaster diverted, you can actually order it directly from the chocolate shop.

WALKING THE STREETS OF SEATTLE

2012-01-17T20:54:00.007-06:00

Hi! I just arrived home after a jam packed weekend with good friends and some sight seeing in the great city of Seattle. I have never been that far west and loved the city. Not to mention I was able to celebrate Susan and Andrew's baby that is due in February with a wonderful baby shower!

It is kind of funny because I arrived and then it started snowing. Surprisingly, Seattle does not get a whole lot of snow and by the time I left (which was just in the nick of time) they were expecting a "historic" snow storm. Seattle as a city is so different than anywhere in the south and I loved it. People walk everywhere, the style of homes is so different, food makes an effort to be healthy at ALL time and is organic most of the time. Despite it being F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G I we had a great time and Kenny and I are already planning a trip back to visit together so we can go to the Gorge and maybe do some of the surrounding vineyards and outdoor activities.

This is closer in real life but this is the view from Susan and Andrew's Queen Ann neighborhood. We never went to the space needle but I did not feel the need because I saw it flying in and you see it everywhere as you drive around the city.
All bundled up for a little shopping/sightseeing in Queen Ann. It was so cold. I was kicking myself for not bringing my brand new Hunters. I did not have appropriate shoes for this weather ha!
Pic in the snow!
We stopped in this little pub that had the absolute best food! I had a spicy chili and cilantro tuna melt on sour dough bread and I just have to mention it because it was probably the best tuna melt I have ever had. Just to let you know I pretty much ate my way through this Seattle and this weekend.

Susan's mom is a wonderful cook and we cooked dinner at home a couple of nights. We stopped at a grocery store to buy ingredients for a Red Snapper and seafood stuffing dinner(it was amazing) and the cute couple decided to pose with a honey dew since that is the size of Baby John in her tummy!

Celebrating at their baby shower that was so fun. I enjoyed getting to meet all of their Seattle friends and the shower was beautiful.

On the last day I was there, less snow meant we ventured downtown to go to Pikes Place Market. First, I hit up Beecher's cheese. Famous for their mac and cheese which Oprah listed as one of her favorite things one year. I bought some cheese and cheese curds to take home. I loved the place because they set out all kinds of cheese to sample. So I sampled!

Obligatory tourist picture with the fish mongers that throw the fish. The seafood was just ridiculous.
I sent this picture to Kenny because he loves crab legs. He couldn't believe the size or that I didn't buy any. $30 a pound is crazy, right?
Before leaving the market we stopped at one of the little restaurants in the market with a water view and had clam chowder. I have only had clam chowder out of a can (hangs head in shame) and this soup was so good. The sour dough bread was delicious too.

By Tuesday I was so ready to get home to see this little girl. She and her daddy had been getting in A LOT of quality time and I received so many pictures of her looking this happy. So thankful to Kenny for letting me have some girl time.

DO I HAVE TO MAKE UP MY MIND?

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

For a very long time I knew that I wanted to name a little girl Elle. Then that turned into Elting because I like the idea of being able to incorporate a family name and I wanted to have a different name. After a year, we are still calling her both names. You have probably noticed this in the blog and if you know me in real life. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to why I might call her Elle or Elting at that moment.

But people have asked in the past and I had a close friend ask me the other day. So what are you officially calling her? And I didn't have an answer for her. Is that normal. For us to call her both names? Will she be confused in the future?

What is even more sad is that on top of Elting and Elle, I also tend to call her other names like Ellie Bellie, Bug or Elles. The good news is she does look at us and respond when we call her name. No matter what we call her. Should we just let her get older and let her choose? Gah.....I don't know.

HURLO

2012-01-09T11:36:00.004-06:00

I enjoyed getting back into our normal routine last week. It was so nice to have some days at home after all the traveling we did over the holidays. This weekend was more of the same. Friday afternoon I met up with my friend Lindsay and her little boy at Shelby farms and we pushed the babies around in their little cars. It was so cute and they loved it. Our weather has been crazy warm for January. Saturday, Kenny and I ran errands together. We shopped some bikes because are considering gifting two to ourselves to celebrate our anniversary. We were also trying to figure out what we are going to do for Elle's birthday cake. We swung by the grocery store and bought things to make fresh guacamole for dinner. I have actually never made guacamole on my own before and it turned out really well. I grated the onion so it wouldn't have to much chunky onion and omitted cilantro since we are not cilantro fans. Then we picked up some food from a local Mexican restaurant here. Dinner was delicious and we watched the Saints game and the Mississippi State basketball game. Saints won. Dawgs lost. Still a fun night at home.

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Susan for a little lunchy, a stop by Dinstuhl's candy and then we went to see the movie Hugo. It was in 3d so I had a horrible headache by the end but it was okay. It is getting a lot of Oscar buzz so I am glad I saw it.

Starting yesterday I am back on team fit! We are going to this beach this summer and I want to be ready. I downloaded My Fitness Pal on my phone and I am going to start trying to be more aware of what I am eating and exercising again. Last night I made one of Skinnytaste's recipes. Anytime I make soup I always double the recipe because I just go ahead and freeze half. This soup was really good and somewhat easy to make.

Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup

Stuffed Pepper Soup
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 1 1/3 cups soup, 1/2 cup rice • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 261.2 • Fat: 4.8 g • Carb: 37.5 g • Fiber: 4.7 g • Protein: 17.6 g • Sugar: 6 g
Sodium: 606.3 g (without salt)

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked brown rice
1 lb 95% lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely diced onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot or dutch oven, brown ground meat on high heat and season with salt.Drain fat if any, reduce heat to medium-low, then add peppers, onions and garlic.Cook about 5 minutes on low heat.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Serve about 1 1/3 cups of soup in each bowl and top with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice.

Makes about 8 cups.

CHRISTMAS IS FUN WITH A BABE

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Elting got some really cute things for Christmas that I wanted to share.

I've already mentioned this but she got her first American Girl doll. It is the Bitty Baby. Much more appropriate for a small child but still great quality. She loves it and I am sure it is her first of many American Girl dolls. We will definitely be making the trek to the actual store to buy a doll and have lunch with her doll at some point when she gets older..

Her first tea set...
This tea set might just be my personal fave because of all the cute sounds it makes. Sometime she talks in a British accent and it makes the the neatest pouring sounds. I love it! Elting doesn't quite understand the idea of a tea party just yet but that hasn't stopped us from playing tea party with her and she loves playings with the little pastries. I think it is a must have for any little girl!

Her first set of Toms.
Because what little girl doesn't want to look super cute in her purple and hot pink Toms and know she is giving a pair of shoes to someone in need.

The start of her Disney movie collection....
She received Fox and the Hound, The Lion King, Dumbo and another one I cannot remember now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEARS, GO DAWGS, PHEW.

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

LONG POST AHEAD. I have spent less than a day at my home in the past two weeks. We have been all over the place! Come back later this week to see some posts on some of the fun things we received as Christmas gifts. We were so blessed.
We are home from a whole lot of traveling. Things are starting to return to normal but I am exhausted and my house is a wreck. The Wednesday before Christmas we headed to my mom's house to spend some time with her. My sister joined us on Friday just in time to accompany Kenny to a movie (Sherlock Holmes) and we all went to a yummy dinner at my new favorite restaurant in Hattiesburg, Tabella.

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed watching Christmas movies and just relaxing before we got ready to go to Christmas Eve service. My church's Candlelight Christmas Eve service and my mom's chicken enchiladas for dinner afterwards are my most favorite tradition. Kenny and I really wanted to include Elting in the service and have her with us for it the entire time. But of course she did not nap all day which is unusual for her. Luckily, she did great with the help of the church program and some cheerios. She loved the pretty candlelight at the end and it was so special to have her with us this year. After church it was home to eat and bedtime so Santa could come.

All the girls before church. Not sure what Elle is doing in this picture ha!

Mommy and Elle's first Christmas.

Christmas morning. Packages sorted by recipient.

Daddy and Elle's first Christmas.

Elting receiving her first baby doll from her Aunt Annie. More on this later this week. She loved it!!

On Christmas Day it was on to Fairhope to visit Kenny's parents and to spend a few days. We opened more presents,relaxed and had a wonderful traditional meal.

Monday, we got out and did a little shopping downtown Fairhope. I love that his parents retired to Fairhope because it has really fun shopping and so many things to do. Kenny's mom work in one of the shops part time and we stopped by to say hello to everyone. They all wanted to see Elting.

Elle and her Grandpa at The Cat's Meow.

We also stopped by to see Kenny's aunt who is recovering from having a stroke. She is doing so much better.

We headed home on Wednesday and made it finally that night to only to find that our water heater had busted and we had to replace it STAT. It truly was a blessing that our pan was strong and no water leaked in the house.

Thursday, Kenny and were off again to the Music City Bowl to watch our Bulldogs play and take the win!!! I actually didn't take that many pictures. But the first night we were there we did run into some Bachelor/Bachelorette Alum. Here we are talking to Craig from Ally's season. I liked him.Kenny and I were thrilled at our back to back bowl game wins and had a great time in Nashville with our friends. Many who we don't get to see all that often.

By the time New Year's Eve came we were on the road again and totally exhausted. So we ordered in sushi with my mom and my sister and watched movies. We watched the guitar drop on Beale Street's broadcast and were in bed soon after. I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's.

I am excited for a low key January where we don't have a whole lot planned. A chance to catch our breath for sure.

TREATS

2011-12-22T10:12:00.006-06:00

This year I thought it would be fun to make some homemade treats to give to friends and neighbors for Christmas. So where did I turn. Yep! Pinterest. Are you even surprised? Both of the things that I made were extremely easy to make but I tried to package them in a festive way.

Cinnamon Honey Butter - Yall! This stuff was crazy good!

( I tripled the recipe)
2 Sticks of Butter room temperature
1 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 Cup of Honey
2 Teaspoons of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and beat with hand mixer.

Mixing it all together

I put it into these cute little mason jars.

Then used a festive fabric to give it some Christmas spirit.

I also made easy peasy Rolo Pretzel Turtles. I love Turtles and these were so fast to make and also had the salty sweet combo I love.
Rolos
Pecan Halves
Square Pretzel

Place the rolos on the pretzels and place in oven for a few minutes until rolos are soft. Pull them out of the oven and immediately place pecan halves on rolos. I then popped them in the freezer for a few minutes to let them harden up.

Treats ready to go out to friends and neighbors. Merry Christmas!

WHAT I WENT WITH

2011-12-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

You might remember that I was on the hunt for a new bag. I had worn my current one out. I found several that I liked but ultimately ended up going with this one.I like it because it wasn't as tote-y as some of the others I was looking at and I also liked it because it was a a little bit edgier with the braided embellishments.

I love it and have already started carrying it since Kenny was so sweet to gift it to me for Christmas.

LACEY FAMILY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Lacey family Christmas was this Saturday. We did it early but Santa came to see Elting anyway because she is always a sweet girl.

Reading the Night Before Christmas for the first time. Obviously those are our "Christmas" pajamas and we are getting as much use out of them as we possibly can. You WILL see them again.

Helping Santa by putting toys together. This was right after I seriously did the ugly cry at the opening sequence of UP. How in the world that is a children's movie is beyond me.

Santa's spread! It looks so cute. Elting's stocking is wrapped and under my mother's tree because I asked for a family set of Christmas stockings that match for Christmas. So Santa just put out all her stocking stuff with her big gifts. Our presents to Elting were under the tree.

This car was and still is a hit! She L-O-V-E-S it! We took her out for a drive on Sunday and she hangs on to the steering wheel and everything.

This ribbon was pretty fun too.

Ignore my greasy hair and my pajamas. I was also modeling one of my gifts from Kenny. A down vest. Elting also was very pleased with her music table.

Kenny is in his pajamas too but I love this picture. Lena just came and sat next to him. She is getting to be an old dog.

What a mess but she was loving it!

After Christmas morning was over, I cooked a yummy breakfast and we just spent time relaxing as a family. We haven't really been doing a whole lot because Elting has been sick with her first "yuck" and it seems to be lingering. Runny nose, cough and extreme fussiness. She is also cutting her first tooth so that could be contributing to the general lack of happiness. Whatever it is, Kenny and I are praying that she gets in better spirits before this coming up week. Mommy and Daddy are worn out!

We did get out for a little bit on Saturday afternoon to grab some Five Guys, (I'm obsessed. It's like crack) some yolo, and a red box. We watched Larry Crowne. I HATED it.

One last thing...

Saturday was baby bird's birthday. Happy Birthday Annie!!

A STARRY NIGHT

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

When the Starry Nights event returned to Shelby Farms three years ago we started an annual tradition of going with our wonderful friends Tracy and Joe. Every year we go to dinner and then we all pile up in the car, listen to Christmas music and enjoy all the pretty lights.

Last year I was pregnant (not knowing she would be here sooner than we thought) and while driving through the farm Tracy and I talked about how next year we would have Elting in the car with us. So last night was kind of fun seeing it come to fruition.

We had dinner at the Half Shell and then we were on our way to see the sights. This year they added some fun things and then also put a little stop in the middle of the drive where you could stop and have hot chocolate, roast smores and see Santa. We took the opportunity to take some pictures of course.

The girls. (p.s. my daughter does have on pants. They were just pushed up. Don't worry)

Our little family.

The Shearins.

Flash didn't go off but still a cute pic.

And look who we ran into when we were loading up into the car again. It's Aunt Annie!

It was a great night and who is to say how many passengers will be in our car next year as our families continue to grow and the tradition continues.

WISHING YOU...

2011-12-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

(click to enlarge)

A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Because I think everyone has received their 2011 Lacey family Christmas card I want everyone else to have a peek! The lovely Susan at J Press Designs designed them for me and I love them. I love how the pictures highlight Elting's first year. (she's growing up so fast) I also love how they look folded and standing up. See blurry iPhone picture below.
Don't you just love Christmas cards!

CHRISTMAS MOVIE AND A RECIPE

2011-12-14T07:52:00.004-06:00

Monday night I might have forced Kenny to watch 12 Dates of Christmas. It was one of the movies they played on the Disney Family channel's 25 Days of Christmas. It was really good. Kenny didn't even really complain too much. Although, he does enjoy anything Christmas.

Mark Paul Gosselar was in the movie and in my opinion has aged pretty darn well. He was my first celebrity crush. I wrote him a fan letter. Anywho, watch the movie if you see it on. It is cute.

That night I also made a new recipe that Kenny just loved. It was from Pinterest of course and insanely easy. Crockpot Buffalo Chicken. Kenny loves anything buffalo-y so it was a hit! Here is the recipe!

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

3 lb. bag of frozen chicken breasts
1 bottle Frank's Wings Buffalo Sauce
1 packet Ranch Dip Mix
2 TBSP butter

Put frozen chicken, wing sauce, and ranch dip mix into crock pot.
Cook on low at least 6 to 7 hours
Using two forks, shred chicken & return to crock pot.
Add butter.
Cook on low for an additional hour.
Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS TRADITION

2011-12-12T08:55:00.005-06:00

Kenny and I have had a tradition these past few years to take a little overnight trip to Nashville during the holiday season. We go and stay at the Opryland Hotel and see the sights and just enjoy being together. You can see our trip last year in this post. Last year's trip is one of my favorite memories of all time. The entire weekend was wonderful and then we woke up on Sunday to snow falling from the sky. We went and ate at the Loveless Cafe for breakfast and over a wonderful breakfast we watched snow fall from the windows and Christmas music was playing. I was pregnant with Elle and it was just so magical.

This Saturday we woke up and got ready to head to Nashville again. We were so excited to be able to bring Elting with us this year. Once we got into town we headed for downtown Franklin to meet some friends at Puckett's Grocery. It was delicious. Then we walked around because they were having Dickens Christmas Festival. People dress up in period costumes and walk around the streets. There are booths and people roasting chestnuts and mulling apple cider. It was all so fun.

After walking around for a while we headed to our hotel to warm up (because it was freezing) and let Elting nap. We actually decided to not stay at the Opryland Hotel this year and chose to stay in a hotel more centrally located.

Saturday night we went to a fabulous Mexican restaurant on a recommendation of a friend called Sopapillas. I had a cucumber margarita that was to die for and the food was so good. After dinner we planned to go see the lights at Opryland Hotel but instead chose to drive through the neighborhoods of Brentwood. They were having a luminary night and the lights on these homes were amazing. We drove around a for a long time just marveling at the time it took for the people to decorate like that.

Rolling around in the hotel bed Sunday morning.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to our favorite breakfast place in the ENTIRE world! The Loveless Cafe. It was here that I finally pulled out my camera because I had neglected to take pictures all weekend.

Someone is excited about her first trip to Loveless Cafe

Daddy and Elting waiting on their breakfast.

Yum! Pancake!

My meal! I love their blueberry pancakes. And I didn't even make a dent in it. I had the leftovers for dinner Sunday night.

It was another great weekend. I am so glad we do it ever year because it really puts us in the holiday spirit. Plus having Elle with us this year just made it that much more special.

This week I will be busy putting together Christmas happies for my friends, having a Starry Nights date night, another holiday tradition with our friends Joe and Tracy and then we are doing our family Christmas Saturday morning. I can't wait for Elting to see her "Santa" gifts and to give Kenny his presents.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

You must go out and get Michael Buble's Christmas cd. It has been playing on repeat non-stop at my house. It might be my favorite Christmas cd to come out since Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas album in 1994.

And if you have a few dollars to spare Justin Bieber's album Under the Mistletoe isn't all that bad either. I might be embarrassed to say that given my age but I happen to know a certain mother (my mom cough cough) who is loving his cd too.

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUSE

2011-12-05T08:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday morning, Kenny and I went to Vineyard Vines for their "Breakfast with Santa" event. We thought we would let Elting have a little dry run meeting Santa and we needed to do some shopping for Christmas presents. When we arrived we went ahead and plopped Elting on jolly old St. Nick's lap.

This was the result...
Poor thing. She was TERRIFIED! Blood curdling scream. Which Kenny was like "get her, get her" and I was like "Omg! We have to have the picture." Ha. Santa's face is priceless.

But the store was so nice to print out this picture and put it on a cute card for us to keep the memory forever and ever. To me it is much more memorable than if she just sat there. Funny enough, every time she saw him or got anywhere near him for the rest of the time we were in the store she started screaming. Yikes. Maybe next time she sees Santa they will be old friends.

The rest of the day we relaxed at home and watched the SEC Championship. On Sunday we got up bright and early to rake the huge amount of leaves in our yard only for it to start raining the second we got out there. So our yard still looks like poo and I spent the day watching the Hallmark Channel, cooking, preparing materials for Christmas happies I am making and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

I cooked/baked two different recipes from Pinterest yesterday. One was awesome and one was just okay.

First I baked. I am not much of a baker. I do not have a Kitchen Aid Mixer (sad I know) and our oven doesn't cook very consistently so I always get nervous. But this Eggnog Poundcake was easy peasy and yummy if you love Eggnog like I do.And for dinner I continued my love affair with my crockpot and made Chicken and Corn Enchilada Casserole. Going to be honest. I had high hopes but to me it was just ho hum. Kind of bland and mushy.

JUST A FEW MORE

2011-12-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

Molly at Good Golly Photography got all of our proofs up to view and I just had to share just a few more of my faves! We are so happy with all of them. So if you are in the Memphis area give her a ring! Be sure to tell her I sent you.

NOW THAT I'M FEELING NORMAL AGAIN

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

I am not really sure how to put this post into words. I feel normal. Hooray! Not sure when the normalness came back. But for a while after I had Elting I felt strange and so unlike myself. I really can't say if it was just a raging case of hormones, baby blues or maybe a smidge of postpartum depression. But looking back it was something.

The best way I can describe it and I have already said this, I just did not feel like myself. I felt sad. I felt overwhelmed. I felt depressed. I felt exhausted. I felt different. I felt disconnected. I felt lonely. I felt anxious. I felt insanely happy. I felt tremendous love. I felt like a mommy. It was odd to feel so sad and so happy at the same time. I am sure that is what hormones do to you.

It really was some of the happiest days of my life but I was also off my rocker. I never ever felt any ill will towards Elting but I did have crazy crazy worries. Like the time I was convinced at two weeks old that she was autistic. I am laughing out loud right now just typing that. Yes. I thought my two week old was autistic. And I bawl cried for two days and had my best friend who is a RN reading medical journals to reassure me that she was and is indeed just fine.

I also felt so different from my friends. I felt like we had nothing in common. I couldn't really talk to them because I didn't know how to explain how I was feeling and the experiences that were happening to me. I was afraid that I would never care about the same silly things like tv shows, books and cooking again.

But here I am. I do care about silly reality television shows, and I just checked out another Young Adult series from the library and I do feel connected to my friends again. I enjoy cooking again and I feel like my marriage is strong. I feel normal.

Looking back I know I did not feel normal because my whole world had turned upset down. I went from being a wife to being a mommy and a wife. I quit my job. I wasn't sleeping. It was a crazy time so it is only natural I was a feeling a little crazy.

I have some girlfriends who are close to having babies of their own. And I can only hope that I can be there when they feel weird and unlike themselves. Because feeling that way after you have met the love of your life has to be NORMAL right?

WRAP IT UP IN MAROON IN WHITE

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

There are a few things getting wrapped in maroon and white around our house lately!

My friend Tracy has been taking crocheting lessons from her grandmother (so sweet right?) and crocheted Elting this precious little maroon and white hat for this winter. Thanks Aunt Ta Ta!

And this Christmas we decided to do a Mississippi State themed tree in Kenny's office. We have collected enough ornaments through the years.

DECK THE HALLS AND GOLDEN TROPHIES

2011-11-29T08:00:00.002-06:00

Friday morning while my mom and sister Black Friday-ed it up. Kenny and I decorated the tree with Elting. I say this every year but I just love pulling out the ornaments and talking about them. Kenny and I give each other an ornament each year and they are so special to me.

We sat Elle down and let her play and she watched while we decorated and we listened to Christmas music. It was a great morning. The amount of packages is puny because I sent half of them home with my mom to go under her tree for Christmas morning. We are a little worried about getting everything to fit in the car for Christmas travel.

On Saturday, my mom and sister stayed in Memphis with Elting and Kenny and I headed to Starkville for the Egg Bowl. I cannot believe we went knowing it was supposed to pour the entire time. And pour it did!

The only reason we went in the first place and stayed for most of the game was because our seats were covered. So we were not getting poured on. But the wind still blew lots of rain our way. So the poncho (gifted to me by my nice lady friend sitting next to who I got to know over the season) was totally necessary.

And the Bulldogs were triumphant yet again! We smeared them! The game was a whole lot of fun! Now we are bowl eligible.

SNAPSHOTS OF A HOLIDAY

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

My family and I had a great holiday. My mom came in town and we cooked at our house. We were sad Kenny's parents weren't able to make the trip. Kenny's aunt is in the hospital and they decided to stay down there. We missed them!

Elle hanging out in her jumperoo waiting on the Thanksgiving meal to be ready.

Kenny and Annie decided to put up the tree so the lights would be pretty while we ate.

Our little family on Elle's first Thanksgiving.

Aunt Annie and Elting

CC, Annie and Elting (see all of our boxes in that corner. Christmas presents. I have them all wrapped now.)

Just a little Thanksgiving playtime.

Watching Daddy carve he turkey.

Elting had Thanksgiving dinner too. Since she is eating mostly finger foods these days she had green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes and squash casserole. Yum!

THANKSGIVING WEEK IS HERE!

2011-11-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Kenny and I had a low key and fantastic weekend that included a Saturday afternoon date with a couples massage, mexican food, margaritas and the Mississippi State football game. Despite having lost if I could recreate that date once a month I would be a happy happy girl. We were home by six to put our little girl to bed and then were in bed early.

Sunday night I made this easy and delicious recipe from...you guessed it! Pinterest! Seriously go make it. And it is moderately healthy depending how much cheese you add.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
4 cups Cooked Brown Rice
¾ cups Frozen Corn
15 ounces, fluid Can Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt (or Sour Cream)
4 ounces, fluid Can Green Chilis
½ cups Salsa
1 cup Low-fat Cheddar Cheese, Plus More For Topping
2 Tablespoons Fresh Cilantro For Garnish

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for cilantro and mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure the yogurt and cheese are stirred in throughout the entire bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and top with extra cheese if you would like. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Thanksgiving week is here! Yippee! My mom is coming into town today so we can cook and get ready for the big meal. We are having Thanksgiving at our house. I have to say, I am equally excited for leftovers on Friday while watching the LSU/Arkansas game. We are totally going for Arkansas in this house. Would love to see them sneak in and get in the championship game. We will also be trimming the tree Friday night.

Then it is on to the Egg Bowl on Saturday. I love the holidays!

FOTO FRIDAY-CHRISTMAS CARD EDITION

2011-11-18T08:00:00.001-06:00

Because you haven't gotten to see a single picture of Elting this week. I mentioned last week that we had our Christmas Card photo session with the wonderful and talented Molly, with Good Golly Photography, (like her on Facebook here and see more of her work) We got to see the sneak peak yesterday and I am thrilled with the results. Cannot wait to see the rest and choose the pictures we will use for our Christmas card.

Speaking of Christmas Cards! My friend Susan at J Press designs will be doing our card again this year. She always does the best job and I love that the cards are unique and there is a very small chance that anyone is going to have the same design as I do. Which is a risk you take if you order from one of the online companies. She is so easy to work with and if you have an idea of what you want, she can make it happen! Go check out some of her designs she has already created for this holiday season here!

TAILGATE GOOD EATS

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

Brought to you by Pinterest of course! As I mentioned yesterday, we had some seriously good eats on Saturday. The two things that I made were from Pinterest and so incredibly easy.

I made Pizza Puffs.

It is a recipe from a great blog called Plain Chicken. They were gone pretty quickly. Here is the recipe.

Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
adapted from Everyday Food
(Printable Recipe)

3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
2 oz mini turkey pepperoni, (about 1/2 cup)
4 oz low-fat sausage, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, sausage and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

I also made these Crescent Jalapeno poppers. Another easy recipe! Check out the recipe here!

A couple other of my favorite things we had on Saturday was a shrimp dip made with cream cheese, canned mini shrimp, Heinz cocktail sauce and mozzarella cheese. You just layer it up and serve with fritos. Yall! It was good!

And a recipe that I absolutely have to hunt down are these things that my lovely friend Rebekah made. They were little mini corn muffins topped with home-made pimento and cheese and bacon. Oh my lord! They were awesome and so very pretty. They would be perfect for a party!

TAILGATING WITH FRIENDS

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

After our wonderful shower it was time to head to campus for a LONG day of tailgating. Since we had so many in people in town there was a ridiculous amount of food. More on that tomorrow. I promise.

Hanging in the chair dubbed the love seat. It is actually two chairs connected with a cooler arm rest in the middle.

People lining up to ring their cowbells at Alabama fans passing by.

So funny to watch. All in good fun of course.

Little Wilson (same age as Elle) was tired from all the festivities. I wish Elting would sleep in our arms like this.

Getting ready to go into the game.

And the game was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. It was so windy. And I was not prepared. I accidently grabbed my warm socks instead of my gloves and I had no shame in putting those on. By the end of the game the nice lady next to us had shared her blanket and ear muffs with me. It was miserable. I will be way more prepared for the Egg Bowl.

SHOWERING AT THE TEA ROOM

2011-11-15T08:00:00.003-06:00

So when we decided that some friends and I wanted to host a baby shower for my girlfriend Megan on the weekend of the Alabama game, we had no idea that we would have such a hard time finding a venue. Little unknown fact (at least to us) absolutely NO restaurant in Starkville will make any kind of reservation on a game weekend. No room rentals no table rentals. Nothing. Someone told us about Three Generations Tea room and a lovely conversation with Paige (think little old lady) followed and we booked!

It really was perfect. Paige told me she does all the cooking, all the decorating and we would just need to show up. This was ideal for us since we were all coming from out of town and had no where to host/cook/decorate/ that was convenient.

The Three Generations Tea Room turned out to be quaint, and a little quirky. And as far as the decor went very "old lady" but we had the BEST time just chatting over coffee tea and brunch served by Paige out of tea cups that we were told to pick out from her very large collection. She instructed us to pick one that matched our personality. So cute!

It really was one of the most relaxed and fun showers I have been to. I think Megan enjoyed it and Baby Martinez (gender unknown???) got so many cute and great things.

The table all set for the guests and mommy of honor to arrive.

The serving table. Love the decor.(wink wink) Most people thought that stork was a flamingo!

Along with designing the invitations, Susan at J Press Designs designed this Wishes for Baby Martinez card that matched the invitation. Everyone filled them out while we sat around and talked and then we read them aloud. Some of the answers were funny and some were incredibly sweet. Either way. It was such a fun idea and will be fun for the baby to look back and read.

The hostesses with the mommy to be and modeling our gifts from her. These fabulous cowl scarves. I love it!!

Megan showing off some of her new book collection. Mine was the Giving Tree. I loved that book as a child. Our group of friends like to do books in place of cards.

This picture is a little dark. But thought it was cute of Meg sipping forming her tea cup.

Megan modeling her new diaper bag and other accessories.

Guest of Honor and all the attendees. Not sure why the left side of the picture is so dark.

Cannot wait to meet Baby Martinez and find out if it is a boy or girl. When we polled all the girls we were split exactly down the middle.

BULLDOG BASH

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned on Friday that we were headed for Starkville this past week for an extremely busy weekend in Starkville. We arrived in Starkville that afternoon. Our friends Megan and Patrick brought two of their friends along originally from Ohio. They wanted to see campus so we ended up walking over from our condo to campus and toured the ENTIRE thing. I have to say I loved it though. It was a cool afternoon and the leaves are beautiful right now. I finally went in the new Union and saw buildings I haven't seen since I graduated. We are always on campus for games but we usually hang around tailgates and there are people everywhere. It was nice just being there on a normal day. We even stopped in for some Mississippi State ice cream at the bakery.

Friday night Starkville was hosting Bulldog Bash in the Cotton District. There were so many people there. The condo we rent is on University where the event was being held. Making for amazing people watching. The headliner band was The Avett Brothers who were great. There were so many people in the streets it was kind of hard to get anywhere close to the stage. It also ended up being really really cold and windy. So were were pretty bundled up. After a while the girls ended up in one of the bedrooms talking where it was warm. It was still such a fun night.

Bundled up on the tailgate, trying to stay warm and people watching.

Hanging out just talking where it was warm!

FOTO FRIDAY

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

HAPPY 11-11-11!!!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week. I do some work from home for Kenny, his boss, and some other guys and I have been super duper busy this week work wise. On top of having some outings with Elle. We went to a music class for children and also went to our local bookstore's story time. I really liked it and plan to start meeting a friend there each week. We had our Christmas Card photo shoot on Wednesday with Good Golly Photography. I will be sure to share the pictures when I get the sneak peak. So see, very very busy!!

Kenny and I are also headed out of town this weekend to Starkville. We are playing Alabama (yikes!!) and I am throwing a baby shower for my friend Megan and her baby who is due in January. On top of that today is Bulldog Bash and our condo is smack dab of the middle of the Cotton District so that will be so much fun. So look forward to lots of fun posts next week!

Saw this on Twitter after the LSU/Alabama game. Read the caption. So funny and sad all at the same time. Maybe we can pull off the upset. Ha!

Grocery Shopping with mommy for tailgate yummys! I will share the recipes next week.

Waiting on story time to start. Horrible picture of me. Had to put this one in because she was making a face I have never seen her make before.

Picked this book up for Elting yesterday for our nightly story time. I loved this book as a child and can't wait to read it to her.

IT'S THE MOST...

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Kenny and I had a great weekend. But I didn't really take any pictures and I won't bother to fill you in and all the details. I have something that is bothering me. I need to get it off my chest. Sorry if I offend anyone.

Okay look, I love Christmas as much as anyone else. Yall, I seriously love Christmas. I love everything about it. I love the music. I love the movies. I love the parties. I love the gifts. I love the shopping. I love the wrapping. I love the traditions. I love the decorations. I love the time spent with family. I love the candle light service at church. I. love. it. all.

I DO NOT LOVE THAT WE AS IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE STARTED CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER. I DO NOT LOVE THAT WE HAVE STARTED CELEBRATING IN NOVEMBER.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING???????????

I like Thanksgiving. A lot actually. I like the food. I like the parade. I like the pretty fall leaves. I like the cool weather. I like watching Mississippi State beat Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. Why is there a need to completely skip over it all and get right into Christmas? Christmas is almost two months away and already I am hearing jingle bells on commercials and there is a Christmas tree up at the grocery store. Christmas is saturating everything.

Christmas is so much fun. I get it. But I feel like we are having it forced on us far to early by retailers and it cheapens it a little. I guess that is who I am ultimately mad at. If you want to put your tree up in October and start listening to Christmas carols then that is your choice. But the commercials that make me feel anxious because I haven't finished all my Christmas shopping already just make me really angry.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. I will be putting up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and will start listening to my music then. Until then I will be planning my Thanksgiving menu.

RIDICULOUSLY EASY MEAL

2011-11-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

Dear Pinterest,
I heart you.
Love, Mallory

Kenny has been sick this week. So Tuesday night I decided to make him some warm soup that also might help his sinuses with a little spice. The morning while throwing the soup ingredients in the crockpot, I was on Pinterest and saw someone had pinned a recipe for Red Lobster biscuits. Kenny loves Red Lobster's biscuits. I mean, really, who doesnt. So I decided to make them to go with the soup. It seriously was one of the easiest meals I have made in a long time. So I have to share the love and the deliciousness. Here you go!

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 can of rotel, 1 can of corn, can of black beans (drained & rinsed), 2 frozen chicken breasts, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 packet dry ranch dressing, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon chili powder.

Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook 6-8 hours. Shred chicken, and enjoy! I did add a can of veggie broth because I had it already and wanted it to be a "soupier" soup. I added half the can at the very beginning and then the other half at the end.

Red Lobster Biscuits
1 pack buttermilk biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, about 1 1/2cups)
1 1/2cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oregano
3/4 tsp garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray cooking sheet with non-stick spray.
2. Put biscuit mix, cheese and milk in a bowl and mix well to form a sticky dough.
3. Using spoon, drop lumps of dough onto cookie sheets 1.5in apart. Bake for 10min.
4. In a bowl, melt butter and mix with oregano and garlic salt.
5. When the timer goes off, take them out and brush with butter mixture and bake 5min at 400F and another 5-6min at 350F.

TRICK OR TREAT

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up and looked around my house and thought, "who am I?" Our house was a mess. (for us at least) Dirty dishes in the sink. Full dishwasher, laundry hasn't been done, Elle's clothes strewn about her nursery. And we have zero groceries. We have been so busy or out of town that I had to get back on track today. But it has all been worth it.

Last night we met up at our friends house before we walked over to their neighborhood block party. After the party we strolled through the neighborhood and let the older kids trick or treat. We took Elle to a few doors. But it does feel a little awkward when you ask for candy and people know its for you because your BABY is incapable of eating it. I mean Elting doesn't even have any teeth yet.

After we trick or treated we were cold and hungry so we headed back for gumbo, french bread and I made pumpkin spice and chocolate chip muffins for dessert. It was nice and low key and a perfect fall evening.

Family picture on Elting's first Halloween.

Some of the girls

The boys...and Burt(one our friends wore a costume ha!)

WE WERE BOTH YOUNG....

2011-10-31T10:34:00.004-05:00

Alright so maybe we weren't the youngest people there. Maybe even the oldest group of girls there that without kids. That did not stop us from having the best time!

You might remember this post here. So my love for Taylor has been around for a while. When my friend Kristen told us she was buying tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to go the answer was a huge YES!!

Taylor Swift puts on a large production show geared towards her younger fans but it was extremely entertaining and made singing along to all her songs even better.

Umm yes we did decide to take a picture in front of one of these backdrops. Ha!

Sisters!

Friends! And totally the two that were singing every word the loudest.

Waiting for Taylor. We are such nerds!

She came out and sat on this little tree prop for 3 or 4 songs.

The tree was literally right in front of our seats. We were excited!

For encore this balcony was lowered from the ceiling

and she rode it around the entire arena. It was very high. She is a brave one that Taylor.

Taking a bow.

It was such a fun night with my friends and sister. And I have no shame. I would go see her again in a second. Looking forward to her next album already.

ZOO BOO!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Friday night we headed to Memphis Zoo's event Zoo Boo. It is hosted by LeBonheur Children's Hospital. My sister Annie decided to tag along with us. It is nights like this that I am so thankful we live in a city that is large enough to have fun events like this.

Elting was a little lamb and I personally thought she was precious. I could be a bit biased though. It ended up being a very chilly night. I prefer Halloween to be cold though, compared to past years where it could be in the 90s. We rode the Haunted Hayride and the train and stopped at all the trick or treating stations. Elting was exhausted by the time we left but it was such a fun night.

FOTO FRIDAY

2011-10-28T07:51:00.002-05:00

Story time. Every night. After bath. Before night night. Something I always want to remember.

IT'S FALL YALL

2011-10-27T08:41:00.005-05:00

Last week Elting and I traveled home to spend some time with my mom while Kenny was out of town for market. I love going home if Kenny is out of town because it is an extra pair of hands, someone to talk to and we go eat at all my favorite places in Hattiesburg. My mom is thrilled when we come because she loves getting to see Elle.

This weekend there was also a really big charitable consignment sale called Duds and Doodlebugs. It is huge. It takes up an entire arena and has everything from clothes (tons of them) baby gear, toys, strollers, you name it! I found a bunch of really cute things for Elle. I was shopping for bigger sizes for her. Can't believe I am already thinking about clothes for her when she is 2.

I love buying gently used clothes for Elting. I want her to have nice things but I just absolutely cringe at paying a lot of money for something she might wear for 3 months. So ebay, consignment sales, and brand sales are my friend for sure.

We got back in town in time to celebrate Kenny's 30th birthday on Tuesday. Since he had been out of town for business he took the day off to spend with us as a family. We did some shopping at his favorite store (Vineyard Vines duh!)

Kenny tagged along with us to Elting's 9 month checkup and then we went to the pumpkin patch. We decided to forgo going to the big pumpkin farm this year and instead visited the neighborhood church patch. We still picked out a very nice pumpkin and took some really cute and obligatory pictures. It was such a great day together.

FROM BOY TO MAN

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today is a very important day. Today my husband turns 30. Yes 30! That is big my friends. Big. We started dating when he was 21 and I was 19. Babies. In the time we have been together I have watched him turn from a college kid to a man. A man who who works insanely hard to provide for his family and a man that is the BEST father and husband. Elting, Lena and I are so lucky to have him as part of our lives.

Happy Birthday Kenny!!! We love you.

THE GREAT BAG SEARCH

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

So I want a new bag for my Christmas present from Kenny. We have decided to just do one nice gift and then stockings this year. And then of course spoil Elting to death. So I want a new purse. I have been carrying the bag I have now for a long long time.

Pinterest has been the best for this search because I can comb the Internet and collect all my wants into one Pinboard and then visit that board over and over and over and really be happy with the choice.

These are my top three...for now. Criteria: tan, leather, cross body option maybe, large

Any opinions out there?

FAMILY OUTING OH SNAP!

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny already had a daddy/daughter outing to the zoo but we decided to go as a family. The weather has been so nice and we also wanted to go ahead and buy a zoo membership. Needless to say, it was a great little outing. Going on a week day afternoon definitely has benefits. Not crowded at all. We even went to the Sea Lion show.

Elle actually did pay attention to some of the animals. She liked the things that moved a lot or the really big animals. So penguins, polar bears, seals, elephants and giraffes.

With our membership, it is really nice to know we can now go anytime we want.

Kenny and Elting at the Sea Lion show. I love this picture.

The Elephant exhibit. My personal favorite.

Petting zoo.

She loved the penguins.

MIMOSAS AND FOOTBALL

2011-10-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

We were so lucky to have Kenny's parents come to Memphis and spend time with Elting while Kenny and I got away for a little weekend with each other, friends and football. Friday night we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, The Grill for some of their famous cheeses sticks and steak on a stick. It was such a nice dinner. We talked and had drinks and delicious food. Aaaahhh adult time! Later we met up with friends at a bar for drinks before going to bed somewhat early.

Mississippi State's game against South Carolina was at 11:30 AM which makes tailgating and such more difficult. It has been a long time since we had a game at the time. But the weather was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. And we got to the tailgate around 9. We had made the decision that mimosas were definitely in order. That was a great idea. They were perfect.

The game was an exciting one. We were sad that we did not win but Kenny and I had such a great time!

A little self potrait with Kenny's new iPhone 4s.

After our sad loss, we headed back to the tailgate to eat and hang out.Isn't my Bff, Megan the cutest pregnant girl ever! Cannot wait to meet Tiny in January. They are not finding out what they are having and I am going crazy with anticipation.

Saturday night we walked from our condo in the Cotton District across the street to Bin 612 for you guessed it more drinks and some dinner. It was a good time because we ran into people we knew and got to catch up. After we left the bar we just hung out outside the condo and people watched.

Sunday morning we woke up for City Bagel of course before getting back to Memphis to let Kenny's parents get home. It really was such a fun weekend together.

P.S. So those yummy sliders that I spent time making before going to Starkville...caught on fire. Twice. Like flames. It was bad. The oven at the condo's oven is really old and not sure what happened. But the first pan caught on fire. I moved the racks around and thought I would just take the other pan but those caught on fire to. Funny thing is, even though they were black on top they did not taste burnt at all. Everyone insisted I still bring them (so embarrassing) and what do you know, every single one of those charred sliders got consumed. Thats how good they are.

HUM A HAPPY TUNE

2011-10-14T08:00:00.003-05:00

So I'm up. I've been up since 2-ish. Elle started fussing and I thought I would try just letting her fuss it out. Didn't work so much. She ended up hysterical and with Kenny and I both awake and trying to calm her down. So after an hour I picked her up out of the crib cuddled her and was changing her diaper and started humming to her. Once I put her back down in the crib I stood over her not touching her and continued to hum This is the first thing I hummed.

We saw Moneyball tonight...last night, whatever. It was so so so good. I was on pins and needles the entire time because I know nothing about the Oakland As. What a great story. Even if I did not particularly enjoy looking at Brad Pitt as much as I used to. His haircut was bothering me. Anyway, the girl who plays his daughter sings that song and she was excellent and the song is catchy.

After that I had to turn to the ol' standby, Adele's Someone Like You. I hummed the ENTIRE song. Including the bridge. Ha! By the time I was finished and I must say I think I sounded pretty amazing, Elle was drifting off to sleep. FINALLY!!

Then I climbed back into bed.(Kenny was already snoring) I couldn't get back to sleep. Ugg. Lately, if I wake up, I'm up. I lay there thinking about things I could be doing like blogging. Now I will pay severely for not having any sleep today. Yuck. Would this be considered insomnia?

We are looking forward to a fun weekend of MSU football. Yay! I think the weather is going to be fantastic and maybe, just maybe we can pull out a win against South Carolina. I know with the way we have been playing this is a long shot but I still love my Dawgs. For the tailgate I am making

these
and these

TERRIFYING TELEVISION

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Lately I fiind a lot of "horror" movies to be kind of hokey. That or I am to scared to watch them anymore because watching the movie The Strangers has ruined my tolerance for them. That movie is crazy scary. "Is Tamra home?" Tell me you know what I am talking about??

Anyway, I was really suprised after so many hokey horror movies that a television show of all things could be so spooky and scary. The show is American Horror Story. Did anybody watch it? The series premiere was on last week. Kenny and I turned off all the lights and watched it together. And boy did it deliver. We are totally hooked. Parts of it were weird and maybe a little crazy in the head. Can't wait to watch this week's episode. Wednesday Night on FX.

WEEKEND RECAP

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny was out of town a good bit of this past weekend going to a concert and for business. But he and I did take Elle to the zoo last week together and I need to do a post on that.

On Friday morning I met up with some friends at Memphis Botanic Gardens for a stroll and to let the babies crawl around at My Big Backyard. It is a little old for Elle but we enjoyed being outside and seeing all the pretty flowers and oh my goodness she is going to love love love the children's section when she gets a little bit older.

When we got home from that Elle was wiped out and I was beat to. I ended up sleeping when Elle was napping for both of her naps that day. That is unusual for me. I thought it was just allergies and being out in the heat. On Friday night, Elle and I went to my friends house for margaritas and fajitas. It was a fun low key night.

On Saturday I woke up feeling like poo. This was my first time to be sick since having Elting and let me tell you having a baby and being sick is H-A-R-D. Thankfully, Kenny arrived home Saturday night because by Sunday I was to sick to even get out of bed. And now, Monday, I have still spent the day in bed. Kenny has been so amazing and has been taking care of Elle all day every day the past two days and letting me stay in the bed and try to get better. We have both decided that it is better for me not to kiss her or hold her and that part is killing me. But I would hate for her to feel as terrible as I have felt. I am truly blessed to have a husband who is able to move his work schedule around and be Mr. Mom for a couple days and Elle has absolutely loved all the time with her daddy. Can't wait to get to those cheeks tomorrow though!

Despite being sick I did manage to make dinner last night because I had already done the preparation on Saturday. I found this recipe on Pinterest for a Spinach, Chicken Pasta Bake and it so good! We are eating leftovers tonight and I am excited. I am hoping I will be able to taste it more tonight. Here is the recipe. I definitely recommend it. Tasty and easy!

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake
8 oz uncooked rigatoni
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion
1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts
1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese
½ t salt, ½ t pepper
1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare rigatoni according to pkg directions. Spread oil on bottom of 11x17 in baking dish; add onion in a single layer. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to large bowl, set aside.

Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels. Stir in rigatoni, spinach, chicken, & next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl. Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

FOTO FRIDAY

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

The other day the weather was so nice. So Elle and I were playing with toys in the backyard when Daddy came home. So we hung out as a family for a little bit before dinner time. As always these pictures were taken with an iPhone. So pardon the blurriness.

NEW FAVE ALERT

2011-09-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

While I wasn't really planning on picking up a lot of new shows this fall, the exact opposite has happened. On top of the huge amount of reality television I DVR (which is the only way I can keep up with it all) I am actually watching a lot of comedies and dramas.

To name a few of the new ones:

Up All Night

New Girl

Terra Nova

(yes I am serious) Husband wanted to watch this one. He so rarely asks to watch a show so we always watch if he requests something. Poor thing though. EVERY SINGLE TIME he picks a show it gets cancelled. Sometimes halfway through the season. I joke with him he is the kiss of death for shows. Ha.

But my absolute new fave is Revenge!

My sister told me I needed to get on this bandwagon right away after last week. So I watched the first episode on Hulu and then the new episode last night. I am seriously loving it. I hope it stays as stellar as it is. I tend to love shows in the beginning and then after a couple of seasons I stop believing the plot lines and get tired of them. (Greys Anatomy cough cough) So fingers crossed. Loving all the pretty people and that it is based in the Hamptons.

MOMMY STRUGGLES

2011-09-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

I struggle with talking to much about being a mom on this blog. It is not always exciting to read about some one's kid every single day. But at the same time, this blog is about my/our life and if I am not talking about being a mom then this blog isn't our life. So I thought it would be interesting one day to look back on this blog and see the things that I was battling with on a daily basis and maybe my few readers might identify with my struggles (silly they may be)also. So here goes.

TV.

Yep. Huge inner battle for me. It is definitely not a secret that I really really love tv. And sometimes the trashier the better. However, I WILL NOT allow my kids to watch trashy television or movies. When Elle reaches the age where she has even the slightest clue as to what is going on the television, it will never be on anything that is not age appropriate for her. This week I am making a point to have the tv off most of the day while she is playing. I normally have it on for me but I read something recently that the tv being on doesn't let them completely pay attention to their play. So bad. I guess.

But that brings me to my other problem. Allowing your children/baby to watch television or not or how much . You read all of these things that say that tv hampers development and is over stimulating. And I think that is true to a degree. But we watched television and I know lots of kids that watch tv and are great kids. When it comes to letting Elle watch television and movies I find that my wanting her to watch things is nostalgic. I grew up watching Sesame Street and still enjoy watching it with Elle. I cannot WAIT to watch The Little Mermaid with her and Beauty and the Beast.

Right now she is still very little. But I will say that Kenny and I will watch Sesame Street or Barney with her. Kenny likes to watch Mickey Mouse Club with her. She might watch a half hour to an hour a day if any at all. Always educational and age appropriate. But is that to much. Ugg!!! I go back and forth.

So there it is. One of my daily/mommy guilt struggles.

RELAXING AND A WOOPS!

2011-09-24T20:44:00.007-05:00

Kenny and I decided at the last minute not to go to Starkville for the game. After last weekend we weren't going to try and take Elle in again. We will try again for a day game if we have one. But right now it is just not a good idea when the kick off times are PAST her bedtime.

Anywho, I have to admit I was pretty pumped to be staying at home and relaxing. Looking at our calendar, Kenny and I have not been at home at the same time during a Saturday in months. Craziness!

Saturday morning, I had an appointment at a local spa for a pedicure and a Swedish massage and I could not wait. I was finally going to get to use the gift certificate that my coworkers gave me as a shower gift. I never got to use it because I went into labor on the same day they gave it to me. Wop wop wop.

So the pedicure is great and the massage is freaking amazing. Oh my gosh it was good. I love love love massages so much. (Side note: the massage therapist told me I hold all my stress in my butt. So weird) I get up after the massage is over all woozy and feeling great, walk to the counter to pay with my gift certificate. Give the gift certificate to the girl at the desk. She looks at it and says, "umm this is for the XXXXX Spa?" What the heck!!!! I was at the wrong spa!!! Seriously??? I cannot believe that. So I laughed it off and gave her my credit card. Cringing inside because I had totally not planned on spending $150 that morning. Gah Mallory!! Attention to detail!! Attention to detail. Had I even read the gift certificate? Yes! My brain just does not work anymore. So the spa was wonderful this morning and I still have a gift certificate to use. I deserved a little pampering right?

Since we had planned on going to Starkville for the game I had this adorable little outfit made for Elle so I had to let her wear it when we went to a restaurant to watch the State game. We won but my Dawgs have some serious work to do. Yikes!

Tortellini Tomato Soup

Sunday I made monkey bread for breakfast which Kenny and I decided that I can no longer make because it is so good and so bad for you and we could not stop eating it all day. And then for dinner I made this Tortellini Tomato Soup that I pinned on Pinterest. It was really yummy. I of course doubled the recipe and it made a TON. So I froze some for another quick dinner.

TO DIE FOR QUICHE!

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

For the little Baptism brunch we had at the house after the service last week I made two quiches that were sooooo good. This was my first time to ever make a quiche and boy were they delicious. I was pretty proud of myself.

The first quiche was a spinach and gruyere quiche. I found it on this blog. Here is the recipe.

Spinach Gruyere Quiche
Serves 4 -6

Ingredients

1 9-inch deep dish frozen pie crust
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup thinly sliced shallots
4 large eggs
1¼ cups heavy cream
pinch ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere
1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and wrung free of water*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove pie crust from freezer and thaw until just soft enough to easily prick with a fork, about 10 minutes. Prick bottom and sides all over with a fork. Bake on center rack until fully cooked and lightly golden, between 10-15 minutes depending on the brand. (Keep an eye on it...if it puffs up while cooking, gently prick it with a fork so it will deflate.) Set aside and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

2. Heat butter in a small saute pan over medium-low heat. Cook shallots until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Do not brown. Set aside to cool.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, heavy cream, nutmeg, salt and cayenne pepper.

3. Place cooked pie shell on a baking sheet (this makes it easy to move in and out of oven). Spread shallots over bottom of cooked crust, then sprinkle grated Gruyere over top. Scatter spinach evenly over cheese (breaking up clumps as best you can), then pour egg mixture over top.

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes until custard is set and top is lightly golden. Serve hot or warm.

The second quiche was a Ham and Bacon quiche similar to one that I had at a friends house. It was equally delicious. The two together offered a great variety for everyone.

Ham and Bacon Quiche
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup baked ham cubed
1 cup bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup onion chopped
1 cup Swiss cheese shredded
6 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 – 9" pie shell unbaked

Oven Temp: 425º reduced to 350º
Recipe Cooking Time: 1 hour
Pan Type: quiche pie pan

Quiche Recipe Directions
Preheat your oven.
Bake quiche pie shell at 425° for 8 minutes. Reduce oven to 350°. Layer the quiche pie shell with the cheddar cheese, ham, bacon, parmesan cheese, onion and Swiss cheese.
Beat the eggs until frothy, add milk, salt, pepper and beat again. Pour eggs over the ham and bacon pie filling.
Place ham and bacon quiche onto a cookie sheet and bake until set. Let quiche stand 10 to 15 minutes before cutting.

CHILD OF GOD

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we had Elle baptized in the church I grew up in and by the minister who was my youth director and also married Kenny and I. Our sanctuary is under renovation so they are having the service in the newly renovated fellowship right now.

Kenny's parents drove up from Fairhope and Elle was so blessed to have a lot of her family there for this great day!

Getting Elle dressed in one of the preschool rooms.

We were so nervous that Elle was going to scream at two things. The water and then Eddie taking her because she is having some stranger anxiety but she did great. Even sat through the rest of the church service quietly. Yay!

Elle, Kenny, me and Eddie

We did not have a baptismal gown in the family so I had one custom made for her by this seller on Etsy and I absolutely love it! She did such a fantastic job. And she also asked that I send her the slip back so that she can embroider Elle's initials and baptism date. We will continue to do this as the gown is passed around and down through the family and I love that thought.
Had to include this picture because my mom's TV died and my uncle just was not having it so he surprised her with a new one before we went to church Sunday morning. So of course Kenny had to check out some Sunday football on it when we got home. Priorities people!

My mom and I prepared a simple brunch of quiche and strawberry goat cheese salad for everyone. My aunt brought this amazing caramel cake all the way from Atlanta that reminded me of Minnie's caramel cake in The Help. It was so good and I am going to share the quiche recipes with you tomorrow because it was my first time to make quiche and they were awesome.

MEET THE FAM

2011-09-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

I interrupt the regularly scheduled programming to announce that a picture of Elting was featured on my favorite baby blog today!

Spearmint Baby

On with the show....

On Friday morning after stopping at City Bagel for lunch (of course) we headed to Hattiesburg. My aunt and uncle were coming in town from Atlanta. This would be the first time they met Elting, their great niece. It is still kind of weird for them to hear us call her Elting because the name is my mother's maiden name and their last name. And it is an unusual name, especially to hear it used as a first name.

One of my mom's best friends, Susan and her husband, Dennis, were kind of enough to host all of us at their house for a shrimp boil. Dennis is from the coast and bought the shrimp that day. They were incredible. I am so sad because I am realizing I did not get a picture of Susan and Dennis. But the dinner was so much fun.

My Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike and Elting were good friends by the end of the weekend.
Had to include this picture from Saturday morning. This was my high chair as a little girl. My mom pulled it down from the attic and is going to keep it at her house for us to use. It is still to big for Elle but it did the job. She will have plenty of time to grow into it.

BABY'S FIRST GAME

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh we have been so busy and I have so many things to blog about. We headed out of town this weekend for our first home football game against LSU and then headed to Hattiesburg where all of our family came in town to see Elting be baptized. So since there is so much to talk about and so many fun pictures I am going to break it all up into separate posts.

First off STARKVEGAS BABY!! We were so excited to take Elle to her very first game and it was a biggy. The bulldogs were facing off against LSU. After our sad loss against Auburn we were hoping for a win!

On Thursday we woke up and a cold front had moved through and it turned out to be very chilly. All the things I had brought for Elle "just in case" it was a little cool I ended up putting on her. Everyone was supposed to wear white and luckily I had brought a pullover because by game time it was freezing! My BFF Megan who is due January 8 with her own little baby. Cannot wait!

One of our silly attempts to get Elle to nap at the tailgate.

Sisters!

Not sure what to think about this tailgating business.

We were anxious to see how Elle did at the game. The answer...not so great. We had a lot of things working against us. Kick off was at 7:30 and that is PAST her bedtime. So she was exhausted despite our attempts to try and get her to nap at the tailgate. Ha yea right! And the game was so loud, even though we had ear plug in her ears. She cried the entire first quarter and then we left. We ended up watching the game in the Alumni Center where it was very warm. Elle ended up staying up the rest of the game and playing, having the best time. We were sad we did not win. But still so excited for the rest of the season.

All bundled up in her tights that were waaaay to big, turtlneck and coat. It was cold!!

She fell asleep while we were walking off campus to our condo. So sweet. Poor tired baby.

THE SONG

2011-09-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

Does this happen to yall.....you just become totally obsessed with a song? Every once and a while there is a song that has me listening to it on repeat, looking up the lyrics so that I can sing every single word right along with the artist. You listen to the radio just praying that song will come on so you can belt it out. Kind of reminds me of when I was in 7th grade and I would call the radio station and request The Fugees Killing Me Softly and wait for them to play it. Then I could quickly hit record on my boom box and have it on a cassette tape. YES!

This is THAT song for me right now. I know everyone feels this way because Adele is just huge right now. Never mind that, this song makes me wish just a smidge that I was back in my angsty heart broken days so I could pretend this song was about "us."And do not even pretend that you didn't do that!

Oh well, I will settle for literally belting it out to myself on a daily basis during our morning walks. People probably think I am bonkers.

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE- HOORAY

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I stepped on the scale and miracle of miracles I saw the pre-baby number on the scale!! The pre-baby number!! And then a couple days later it was 2lbs under the pre-baby number!! I am beyond thrilled. Those last 5lbs had been stubborn suckers. I still want to continue to lose and would like to lose at least another 10lbs.

So what have I been doing? I owe it all to that wonderful jogging stroller. I walk everyday at least 3 miles but usually 4 or more. After my Labor Day weekend binge the weather was so nice that I walked up to 8 one day. With the walking I have found that I can pretty much eat what I want in moderation and continue to lose weight.

I will be sure to keep all my devoted readers updated on my progress. (wink, wink)

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

2011-09-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny has been out of town a lot lately for business. And I am one tired out momma. So when our friends Joe and Tracy invited us to their lake house for the holiday weekend we were excited to go. Only thing was...we didn't feel right about asking my sister to babysit the entire weekend. Kenny, wanting some daddy daughter time proposed that I head to the lake and spend some time with friends and he would hang out and keep Elle for the weekend.

Our entire family had the best weekend! I headed to the lake with Tracy Saturday morning to meet Joe and his parents and our girlfriend Rebekah and we were out on the water by that afternoon. Kenny loaded up Elle and took her to the zoo for her first time. They had a great time and I got lots of pictures!

Seeing Mommy's favorite. The elephants!

Panda bear was just passed out right next to the glass. Kenny had to get a picture.

After the seeing all the animals and even catching a sea lion show, Elting was worn out.

Back at the lake a little tropical storm named Lee was putting a damper on our plans of getting a good tan. When we woke up Sunday morning we could tell we weren't going to see the sun that day. So we spent the entire day snuggled up inside eating, watching girly movies, eating some more, drinking, eating and watching more movies. It was a smidge disappointing for everyone else because it was the last weekend of the "summer" but it was PURE HEAVEN to me to do absolutely nothing. At one point on Sunday I was in a recliner and felt drowsy so I rolled over and took a nap. HEAVEN I tell you.

We also played beauty parlor. Tracy had watched a YouTube video on how to do fish tail braids so she practiced on my hair because I L-O-V-E for people to play with hair.

Not a bit of make up in this picture and we wore yoga pants and tshirts all weekend.

Despite having gained a few pounds from all the junk we ate. I came home from the weekend feeling the most rested I have felt in a very long time and grateful for some down time and girl talk. And it was a HUGE bonus that I knew my little girl was so happy to spend so much time with her daddy. She is obsessed with him and totally smitten with him. It is so cute!

She looked this happy in every picture Kenny sent me this weekend.

BOYS OF FALL

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year and I could not be more thrilled. Kenny and I are so excited to be season ticket holders again for this football season and are loving all the excitement surrounding Mississippi State right now!

Life is about to get so crazy with all the traveling for home games plus everything else we have going on. We are planning on taking Elting to a lot of the games and seeing how it goes. I am praying that if we are laid back about it all that we all can have a good time. We could be totally out of our minds.

This past Thursday night the Bulldogs came to our hometown to give a beating to the Memphis Tigers. So Kenny and I went to the game with friends. Of course we had to make sure Elle was sporting maroon and white for her first game ever. And of course we had to get a family picture of this momentous occasion.

The game was so so so hot and kind of slow because the Tigers didn't put up much of fight. In typing this I just realized that we will be playing the Tigers for three games in a row. Memphis, Auburn and LSU. Hopefully we win against all those kitty cats!

GO DAWGS!!

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER

2011-08-17T08:34:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. And my new age makes me feel old. Because it so close to one that really makes me feel old! Sorry if that sounds ambiguous. I just still feel like a kid, or least a college kid. Ha! But I am not a college kid. I have a child of my own. I am a grown up!

However I will say that when I was younger and I thought about the future and this age my life is exactly where I thought it would be. Happily married, babies, a home, friends, jobs, family. It is a good life. A life where birthdays shouldn't be a depressing thing but a pat on the back and a chance to step back and appreciate everything our little family has achieved.

So it is only appropriate that yesterday was a great day. Elle and I met up with a close friend for a fabulous patio lunch. My sweet little elderly neighbor brought me a happy along with farmers market veggies and a birthday cake. I am having a veggie night! Can't wait to slather those maters with some mayo and cracked pepper. Kenny sent me flowers. Everyone I care about called me to wish me a happy birthday. Then ended the day with drinks, a delicious dinner and desserts with girlfriends on another patio.(Even blew out a candle in some creme brulee!) And finally came home to thank my amazing sister for babysitting and letting me go out with my friends and kissed my little girl good night. Outside of Kenny having to be out of town yesterday for business and not getting to spend the day with him it was one of the best birthdays I have had in a while.

FOTO FRIDAY

2011-08-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Apologies for the blurry picture. But these two were just looking so sweet in their matching pink and of course my iPhone is what I had. Love this picture though!

WALKING ON SUNSHINE

2011-08-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

So during my unofficial blogging hiatus I decided that Elle and I needed to try and get out of the house more. She likes being out of the house and it makes me feel better to. So I decided to start going for a walk everyday. Only problem is it so hot out right now. So I feed Elle in the morning and then we get ready and go before it gets to hot.

For a while I was just pushing Elle in her car seat and her snap and go stroller and it was fine. But all this walking helped me break my weight loss plateau!!! My body just seemed to want to keep those last 5lbs but now I am 1lb away from pre-pregnancy weight and I of course want to keep losing after I hit that pre-pregnancy weight.

So it was time for something more long term when it came to strollers. I had gone back and forth on purchasing a jogging stroller but my birthday is in a few days and literally the only thing I could think that I wanted (besides sleep, relaxation and some me time) was a jogging stroller. Times have changed!!

Looking at strollers I could not justify the price of the BOB stroller so I ended up choosing this beauty. The Scwhinn Turismo Single Stroller with the swivel wheel. My mom and sister graciously gave it to me for my birthday. And I am obsessed. I love it so much!!!Compared to the snap and go I was pushing it is like walking on air. It moves and turns so easily and Elle is much more comfortable and cooler. Even Kenny seemed impressed by the sheer amazingness of this stroller. When it gets cooler I hope to go out a couple times a day.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR - INSTALLMENT 1

2011-08-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

I am saying Installment 1 because I am sure there are bound to be more instances where I try and beat myself up for something I did or didn't to. Elle has a long life ahead of her so stay tuned for more installments and feel free to laugh at me like I have learned to laugh at myself.

Yesterday I had Elle down on the floor and on her mat for some play time. I will sitting right next to her piddling on the computer. I was handing her toys and talking to her while she played.

I must of looked away for a second and then my phone rang and it was my mom. Leaning over to grab my phone and say hello I see it...

A HUGE HUGE SPIDER ON ELLE. HUGE! She had spit up on her outfit earlier so I had changed her into this little pale pink cotton onesie. And the stark contrast of that sweet little onesie and that wretched spider just hanging out on her belly. So I have my phone to my ear with my mother on the other end and I am fa-reaking out.

Luckily I managed to think fast. I grabbed a stack of post it notes nearby and brushed the spider off of Elle and then squashed it. I immdiately stripped her and checked all over her body for any bites. And thank goodness there were not any.

So now I am just having these horrible flash back images of that spider on her. And yes we get our house sprayed and our house does not have a bug problem. I have no idea where that spider came from and I shudder to think how long it crawled around near her.

The funniest thing about it. When I looked down and saw that spider she looked right back up at me all doe eyed with those big blue eyes and smiled. Had absolutely no idea that nasty old bug was on her.

WEEKEND UPDATE AND SNEAK PEAKS!

2011-08-08T16:27:00.007-05:00

Yea I know July 22 was a looooong time ago. Anywho! Kenny and I had a fun weekend. He has been out of town so we wanted to be sure to spend some quality time together and with Elle.

Friday night we ordered pizza in and snuggled up on the couch to watch Source Code. And it was good. So good I actually stayed awake for the entire thing which is highly unusual for me.

On Saturday my lovely sister was nice enough to babysit her niece and let Kenny and I go see a movie. We chose Horrible Bosses. Everyone had been talking about how hilarious it was. And to me it was just okay. I think part of the problem was I was sitting next to some much older people and they kept shifting uncomfortably because the movie is extremely vulgar. So that made me self conscious to. Does that ever happen to anyone else?

On Sunday I went for a long hot walk (more on my walking to come. I ordered a jogging stroller AND I have broken my losing plateau!!!) and then Kenny and I went for late lunch/early dinner before coming home to watch all of our Sunday night TV.

So we were so excited to see our sneak peak of Elle's six month photo shoot by the fabulous Molly at Good Golly Photography was posted last night. I love the pictures and cannot wait to see more!

PAINTING WITH A TWIST...AND SOME WINE

2011-07-22T09:16:00.006-05:00

Last night we had a girls night to celebrate my friend Tracy's birthday. We decided to switch things up and doing one of those painting classes where you go and all do the same painting and drink wine. It was so much fun!
I do have to say I am seriously unartistic. It can be the simplest task and I will mess it up. I try and blame it on my left handedness. So it is funny in this picture that we are smiling and the instructor is down there working on my painting.

Sorry for the blurry picture but I had to include the one of all our paintings. It was so fun to see how they all turned out. As poorly as I thought I did, I woke up this morning I kind of liked my painting. I definitely want to do this again.

After the class was over we were leaving i.e getting kicked out ha...and it was POURING so we ended up sitting on the patio for an hour or two talking and finishing our wine and letting my hair frizz.

BAD BLOGGER! BAD

2011-07-20T08:58:00.007-05:00

I know I have been a horrible blogger. Kenny and I have been busy plus I need to try and take a break from technology/social media. I have a problem these days where I am staring at my computer 24/7. Before when I was in a office all day I did all my work and web surfing there and when I came home I hardly even opened my laptop. But now that I am working from home I am having a hard time drawing a line as to when the COMPUTER NEEDS TO BE SHUT!!!

It is something Kenny and I have talked about and both need to work on. I will start posting again regularly. I love keeping this blog up to date and I know our family checks it often for updates on Kenny and I and to get peeks at Elle. So since it has been a while here are some pictures for the family and friends to get their fix.
Won't be long before she really will be riding her furry sister around.

Aunt Annie and Elle hanging out in their most patriotic colors to watch the USA Women's World Cup game.

We had Elle's 6 month photo shoot (pics to come) so we put this little robe on while we waited on the photographer.

We went to lunch afterward the photo shoot and she was worn out!

And Kenny and I are so thrilled that Elle is really starting to belly laugh. I took this video last night and it just cracks me up.

I HAVE TO DISAGREE

2011-07-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

I started thinking about this article tonight while I snuggled my freshly bathed daughter, giving her her bedtime bottle. This my favorite part of the day. She smells so delicious and she is so tired that she drinks her bottle quickly and usually falls asleep in my arms allowing me to place her in the crib, give her kisses and then tiptoe out of her nursery.

I remember reading this article right around the time I had returned back to work. The article basically says that parents exaggerate the joy that having children brings them to make them feel better about the financial cost of having children.

A study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that parents create rosy pictures of parental joy as a way to justify the huge investment that kids require.

Six months in, I cannot even imagine this to be true. In the last six months Elle has brought so much joy to our lives that it is even hard to describe. I find myself tearing up all the time out of happiness and love. I find myself smiling ALL THE TIME because I know she is watching me and I look at her for even a second she will smile back at me with her open mouth grin that she does. There is so much laughter in a house with a baby. Whether it is Kenny's reaction to something gross (ahem) that she has done. Or we have found yet another way to get her to do her rare belly laughs. Or she hits another milestone that we have been working so hard for her to hit. The only word that can describe it is joy.
And no amount of money, (though children ARE expensive) would EVER outweigh the amount of happiness that Elle has brought us in the six months that she has been in our life.

So bring on the tutitions and the clothes and the diapers and the cars and the ballet lessons. It is so incredibly worth it!!

FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND

2011-07-05T09:37:00.008-05:00

Our little family had a great long weekend of hanging out, watching the Casey Anthony trial closing arguments, a movie date and then a Fourth of July BBQ with friends. It was one of the weekends that did not seem to fly by. It went by slowly.

On Saturday, Kenny and I just hung out around the house and then we grilled out that night. After we ate we all loaded up and went to Cheffie's for some gelato. I love their gelato. I was telling someone the other day that when you have a baby you can't have any spontaneous dessert runs. We put Elle down no later than 8 pm so if a YoLo urge strikes you can't really go out and get it. So Saturday night we planned on eating early so I could get my fix.

On Sunday, we watched the closing arguments for the Casey Anthony trial in the morning. Then my lovely sister was gracious enough to babysit for us so Kenny and I could have a date. We are so lucky to have her in the same city. We went to brunch at Bronte in the Davis Kidd bookstore and then we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Kenny loves those movies. I thought the third one was horrible but this one was much better.
This one had gorgeous mermaids. And I have to say the whole mermaid storyline made me really enjoy the movie. After our date which was heavenly, (Man! We miss going to the movies so much) we came home and Kenny grilled out BBQ baby back ribs and grilled corn. It was delicious.

This weekend I also made my first round of baby food. I made carrots and sweet potatoes. I calculated that I saved around $15 dollars compared to the price of jarred organic baby food and it is better for her to. Score!

Monday afternoon to celebrate the holiday we went to our friend's parent's house to have a potluck celebration and then go see fireworks. There was so much food. And so many kids and adults. It was a lot of fun. Elle was so busy watching everyone she ended up falling asleep in our arms at one point so we let her nap in the car seat. Once it got dark someone had bought a bunch of bottle rockets and sparklers so all the kids (with parents) were having fun shooting those.

And do not get excited. I am NOT four months pregnant as it might appear in this picture. I need to not arch my back and poke out my food belly in such a way.

After the party we were all supposed to go and watch a firework show but Elle was up past her bedtime and honestly Kenny and I were a little beat so we decided to call it a night.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend as well!!

WE NEED A TOUR BUS

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last week we hit the road for Elle's first trip out of town and for her to meet some of her extended family. Kenny's parents were just itching to get her there. My father-in-law had never even held Elle. They came up for the birth but since she was in the NICU they left after a couple of days and only Kenny and I were allowed to hold her then. Luckily that was remedied this weekend!

Elle and her Grandpa

We stopped in Hattiesburg because there was no way we were dumb enough to keep a five month old in a car for 8-10 hours. So Elle got her first sink bath. We decided not to bring her little bath seat so this was the first of many sink baths.
My mom's kitchen looks so yellow in this picture.
She is redoing it right now. It is about to get repainted.

Then it was onto Fairhope. Kenny and I talked about it so much this weekend. We are so happy his parents retired in such a nice town. It is close to the beach, there are cute little shops and restaurants and time seems to slow down when we are there.

Kenny's Aunt Sandy came in town from Georgia to celebrate her birthday with everyone and also to meet her great niece. We had gone to the yacht club for drinks when she arrived into town to meet us. I love this picture even though for a baby who smiles ALL THE TIME Elle always looks so serious in pictures. I decided to put a little nautical dress on her. And it was H-O-T. So ignore the glisten on all of us.

Great Aunt Sandy

We walked around downtown Fairhope and shopped and ate lunch. It was a lot of fun and then it was back to the house to cook out and more family to come over for Elle's debut.

Elle's Great Aunt Lilidale could not wait to get her hands on Elle!

Some of the ladies in the family.

On Sunday, Kenny's parents were nice enough to watch Elle and let Kenny have a little time together. We talked about going over to Orange Beach but ended up going to the pool in their neighborhood for a few hours. Then we went and ate lunch at a place on the water called Fly Creek Cafe. This was our view and it was heavenly.

After lunch we went and got Elle ready to go for her first swim. All ready to go.

She loved it! But it wore her out. You can see how sleepy her eyes were getting in these pictures.

The next day it was back on the road and then we stopped in Hattiesburg again for a little more time with CC (my mom) and then back to Memphis. We were so glad to be home but arrived home to find that we did not have any power. Yuck! Luckily it came back on today. So here I am blogging for you!

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-06-22T09:31:00.003-05:00

Alrighty! Sorry for my weight watchers absence last week. We will just pick up where I left off.

So since last Weight Watchers Wednesday I lost...

2.5 lbs

So 3.5 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

17.5 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

YAY!!!

And I am so going to make this. I saw it on Gina's Skinny Taste. It's pretty.

Red, White and Blueberry Trifle
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 14 • Serving Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 169.1 • Fat: 0.4 g • Protein: 2.5 g • Carb: 38 g • Fiber: 3.0 g • Sugar: 16.5 g
Sodium: 102.8 mg

Ingredients:

10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes*
2 pints strawberries, sliced
2 pints blueberries

For the cream filling:

6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk (I used Borden Eagle)
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix
12 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.

Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a 14-cup trifle dish. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread (I piped it using a plastic bag and cut the corner off). Top with a layer of strawberries. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then addmore blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern. Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour.

*I only used 10 oz of a 16 oz cake.

WEEKEND RECAP AND FATHER'S DAY

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny spent the weekend white water rafting in West Virginia.

Kenny headed to West Virginia for a guys rafting trip. He went on this trip last year and almost died. This time they were going to be doing a Class 6 so I was really nervous and needed distractions to keep my mind off it. Luckily my sister was moving into a new apartment closer to her new job and my mom was in town.

On Friday since my sister was working my mom and I ran errands, got pedicures and hit up Toys R'Us. Elle needed some toys since she did not have any.Then we went over to my sister's house to help her unpack.Elle had fun rolling around on the floor.

HAPPY 1ST FATHER'S DAY KENNY!!

Sunday,after he survived the trip, Kenny spent most of his day driving home but arrived just in time for me to cook a huge meal of his favorites. Shake and Bake pork chops, green bean casserole, homemade macaroni and cheese (recipe that I made up, coming soon) and then Better Than You Know What Chocolate cake. This was my first time to try that cake but I always heard about it and Kenny loves anything chocolate.

I also surprised him with having Sirius radio installed in his car because we had not replaced it since he got his new car and then I also framed a picture that we both love from Elle's newborn photo shoot. And finally he carries single keys around all the time and it drives everyone crazy so I had a key chain made with a tiny little picture on it from a seller on Etsy. It is so cute and sweet and small enough that it is not to gooby.

Anyway, it was so nice that we were able to celebrate Father's Day with Kenny. He such a fantastic daddy to Elle and she absolutely adores him.

TONYS

2011-06-14T08:25:00.001-05:00

I love to watch the Tonys. I try my best to watch every year so I can see what new shows I am interested in. I love seeing all the different performances. It always gives me goosebumps. I know that is totally nerdy.

The musical that really caught my eye this year is The Book of Mormon
The music was really catchy. I was texting with my old coworker that I always talked theatre with and she let me know that I could download the soundtrack on Amazon for $1.99. I was ridiculously excited about this. I have already bought and downloaded the soundtrack and burned a cd. Can't wait to listen to it all!

Another play that I thought looked good was Sister Act. Based on the movie of course.

And how great was Neil Patrick Harris. I was cracking up during his number with Hugh Jackman.

Elle was hanging out with me watching the award show before she went to take her bath. I would love for her to love theatre as much as I do. I can dream right.

WEEKEND UPDATE

2011-06-13T10:50:00.001-05:00

Kenny and I were so excited to head out town to spend time with our friends Joe and Tracy at their river house. They have a pontoon boat and it is so incredibly relaxing just to go out on the water and hang out in the sun.

We could not have asked for better weather! It was partly cloudy which gave us a little shade every now and then.

Joe wanted to make this drink called Five Alive to take on the boat. He said he grew up drinking this as a kid. I had never heard of it. It's a fruit juice concentrate and you mix it with rum. It is delicious and very refreshing when it is hot outside.
They also had this really neat raft that you can anchor off of the boat and it collect water in the middle of it so you stay cool. It was so fun. We met up with some people and hung out all day.

The boys ended up getting kind of silly towards the end of the day. So we headed home to grill out and watch movies. Then of course head to bed early. The sun and water will really take it out of you.

On Sunday, we headed home to see Elle and Kenny went to the PGA golf tournament for a little bit! It was such a great weekend!!

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-06-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Let's just get this over with because I was a bad weight watcher this past weekend. However, I didn't gain. I just didn't lose either.

So since last Weight Watchers Wednesday I stayed the same. (Better than nothing)
0 lbs

So 6 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

20 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

Looking forward to results next week! Sorry this post isn't more exciting. So here is a really cute pic of Elle and Kenny I took yesterday. I had to go water the plants so I set her in her Bumbo in the office to spend time with her Daddy.

WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR THUMBS?

2011-06-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

Green? Mine are black. I DETEST yard work. I get no pleasure out of it. Cooking, food, yes. Planting,outdoors,flowers, no. My mom however does enjoy it a great deal. She has been itching to get her hands on our yard since we moved in. So she offered to re-landscape when were on our cruise while she watched Elle. We'd foot the bill she'd do all the hard labor. Of course we said yes.

We yanked up all of our bushes. Remember these before pics?

Drumroll please!
AFTER:

She even restaged our little front door stoop. I am still waiting on some of the flowers in my pots to bloom.

Kenny are so pleased and are so thankful for her hard work. In return I am working really hard at keeping everything alive. I go out every other day and water the plants and then on the other days I am attacking any grass that is trying to grow back or any sneaky weeds. And in 100 degree weather. That is plenty of "yardwork" for me!!

P.S. Our bushes sat at the end of our driveway for at least a month and a half waiting on the City of Memphis to come haul them away. Kenny had to make countless calls. Monday morning this is what it took to get it accomplished. So funny!!

WEEKEND RECAP

2011-06-06T07:44:00.004-05:00

We had a fabulous weekend spent with friends and getting some individual grown up time to. On Friday night we were supposed to meet up with our friends Lauren and Michael and their little girl Shelton. But Shelton was tired so just Michael came. We all ate at Las Delicias and it was delicias. Sorry, couldn't resist.After we left the restaurant Kenny and I headed to a new little Mexican ice cream shop on Summer Avenue called La Michocana. I had heard about all their homemade fruit paletas. I got the chile mango and then bought a strawberry one to take home. The chile mango was okay but the strawberry one was amazing and because of that I will be going back. Kenny got some pine nut ice cream which was really good also.

On Saturday, I met up with some girlfriends to have lunch and then we went to see Bridesmaids. Yall! That movie was so funny. I laughed so hard I cried several times. I was so thankful Kenny stayed home with Elle so I could have a break and some girl time.

That afternoon/evening we loaded up Elle in the stroller and hit up the Greenline which is an awesome walking/biking/running trail. We walked it down to the High Point Terrace area and stopped in for dinner and some drinks. Then went to Cheffies for some gelato. Yes! I ate my way through this weekend and as of yesterday started officially counting points again ha!

We walked home in the sunset, bathed Elle, bottle and put her to bed. It really was the perfect night. I told Kenny these were the kinds of nights I envisioned when I thought about us having a family. SO nice

On Sunday, Kenny had an early tee time with three of his friends. After they were done playing we went to see Michael and Lauren's new house and then grabbed some lunch!

And because all my pictures were of food today here is one of sweet little Elle. Who has managed to grow out of all of her 3 month clothes in one day but is still is a little small for the 6 month sizes. So we are making do.

RATTLE RATTLE

2011-06-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Elle has definitely discovered her hands. Right now she is just sucking on them and sort of batting at things. I cannot wait until she really starts grabbing things and understanding everything those little fingers can do. In the meantime I am placing different toys in her hands right now.

One of Elle and my favorite rattles is this one. It was mine when I was a little baby and was given to me by my aunt and uncle. It has a jingle bell in it and I like that it is sentimental. I think it is sweet.One of my mom's best friends, Susan, is an artist who makes beautiful jewelry and she gifted to me this bracelet. It is called a rattle bracelet and is gorgeous but also so clever. The idea is you can wear it and then also take it off in situations like church and let the baby play with it like a rattle. Here is her website Susan Carruth Jewelry.I love the little blocks with Elle's name spelled out. I know it will be a piece that I can pass down to her for her children and also get so much enjoyment out of wearing.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

2011-06-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

So the more and more I think about it, the more I am convinced. I think I am going to make Elle's baby food. I never thought I would be one of those moms. But it seems really easy and to me the benefits are huge. Plus I like food and to cook so this would just be something fun to do.

My two main reasons for wanting to make my own baby food:

- The food is more nutritious. The vitamins and nutrients remain in the food.

- It is cheaper. Considering we had to go the formula route pretty early on, it would be aweseome to save a little in this new phase.

Only problem. I really really want this baby food maker. It practically does it all for you. It steams, blends, defrosts and reheats. I am SOLD! The price tag is a little steep though and my birthday isn't for a few months. And I mean really. A baby food maker for my birthday. That is just sad.

Anyone have any experience with this fine piece of machinery. Or know one that works just as well for cheaper? I would love any and all opinions!

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-06-01T09:17:00.003-05:00

So my hiney is a little sore... FROM FALLING OFF THE WAGON. So post cruise I have not climbed back on the Weight Watchers wagon very well. This tends to be my MO. When I am motivated, I am motivated. And when I get unmotivated and stop watching what I eat then it is hard for me to get going again.

So since last Weight Watchers Wednesday I have gained
1 lbs

So 6 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!!!!!! Ugg this is so frustrating for me!!!

20 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

Hopefully next week will be better.

SOMEWHERE WITH YOU

2011-05-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny and I had a really low key weekend. It seems like everyone we knew was off at the lake or the river but it was so nice to relax. We did get away for a date night Thursday night to go see Kenny Chesney. Kenny loves Kenny Chesney so I surprised him with tickets.

He was playing at Snowden Grove and of course the night we go to an outdoor venue for an outdoor concert it is chilly outside. But I just brought a jacket and it wasn't too bad. The concert was a lot of fun and there was spectacular people watching.

The rest of the weekend we hung out at home and went for a walk on the Greenline. We stopped in for some gelato at Cheffie's while we were on the Greenline and it was delicious. And Monday we grilled ribs and watched movies.

And ate up every second with this little girl. Love her more and more every day!

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-05-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

POST CRUISE EDITION
DUN DUN DUN

So what you have heard about cruises is true. They feed you to death. There is food available to you 24/7. And while I honestly feel like I did not eat all that much I did drink a lot of calories. Traveling for business I felt like we socially drank more than we would have if it had just been Kenny and I. But oh well. I enjoyed every sip of those Pina Coladas and now I must pay the price.

So since last Weight Watchers Wednesday I have gained
3.2 lbs...Wop Wop Wop

So 5 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight

19 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

One of the post vacation problems I have been having with staying on track is my body got accustomed to the larger amount of calories so now I am S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G all the time. Making it harder to be accountable. I am trying.

The week before the cruise I did make this Baked Spaghetti Recipe and it was excellent. So good I was kind of nervous I had not counted the points right on it. It taste a lot like Lasagna only with spaghetti noodles.

Baked Spaghetti
~
12 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
1 lb 96% lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups no-sugar-added spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu No Sugar Added Tomato and Basil Sauce)
4 cups 1% cottage cheese
2 1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Here is what I used and it worked great!)
~
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. In a large skillet, brown beef, onion, and garlic. Drain fat. Add spaghetti sauce and heat through. Meanwhile, combine cottage cheese, 2 cups, mozzarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan. In a 9x13 casserole dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, layer 1 cup of meat mixture, half the spaghetti, half the cheese, and half the remaining meat mixture. Repeat layers. Dish will be very full. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and add remaining cheeses. Bake an addition 10 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.
10 servings

WOOPS!

2011-05-24T12:04:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I woke up thinking I would take Elle to her physical therapy appointment, run some errands and stop by Chick Fil A for a sammy and some sweet potato fries and head home. Such a nice little day planned.

Not so much.
I backed into a concrete pole in the parking garage leaving Elle's appointment. I cannot believe I did this much damage!!!

Ugggg! So the car is in the shop now and I am driving one of these now. Freakin Fantastic!

CRUISIN TOGETHER

2011-05-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

I was mysteriously absent from the blog last week because Kenny and I were on a boat sailing around the Bahamas. Last week was our five year anniversary (still cannot believe that it has been five years) so when were invited to go on a cruise through Kenny's job it was perfect timing. We traveled with a group of around 25 people that we knew so it made it a lot of fun.

The port we left from was Miami. We stayed at the Hotel Clinton in South Beach which was right next to DASH!

The Sunday night before we left we walked around South Beach and ate dinner on Ocean Drive. I decided I am NOT a fan of Miami.At.All. Never want to go back there unless I am getting on another boat. One night was more than enough for me.

Monday we boarded the boat. This was Kenny and I's first cruise so we were interested to see if we were going to like it. This was the perfect opportunity because it was just a four days. The first day we stopped on Grand Bahama island and Kenny and I have been there before on Spring Break so I stayed on the boat to lay out and read. Which was my main goal for this vacation. To totally veg out, read books, and sleep.

The second day we ported at Great Stirrup Cape which is a private island owned by the cruise line we were on. So you just hopped on a little tender boat and they took you over to the island for the day. The water was GORGEOUS! I did more relaxing and reading.
Despite me slathering on 50 SPF every hour I was in the sun, I still managed to get sunburned. I think there is nothing I can do because I so rarely get sun and I am so fair skinned these days.

On the third day we ported at Nassau and took a catamaran to the middle of the ocean to snorkel. I love to snorkel but have no desire to go deeper or to scuba dive. Snorkeling is easy and is just fine by me.

After our sailing trip we went for lunch at Senor Frog. Ummm so I have never been to a Senor Frogs. There was some excellent guacamole and excellent people watching there.

Every afternoon our group would meet up on the boat and have drinks. It is here where I had many the pina colada which will make for a very depressing Weight Watchers Wednesday but we were on vacation so oh well.
Kenny and I had such a good vacation but were so anxious to get home to Elle. We missed her so incredibly much. When we turned on our phones back in Miami we started getting so many adorable pictures from friends and family who had spent the week with her.

More posts to come because not only did my wonderful mother keep Elle all week while we were gone but she also re-landscaped our yard. So before and after pictures this week!

BREATH DEEP

2011-05-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Because I pretty much have to squeeze my eyes shut every time I back out of the driveway. The sight of my house makes me wantto hyperventilate.

Before:

After:

It had to be done though. Over half of our bushes shriveled up and died after the drought last summer and it looked bad. This will all be landscaped soon but until then I am just praying I don't run over any trash cans or hit a light pole backing out with my eyes closed.

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY WILL BE POSTED ON THURSDAY!

GRADUATION AND A FABULOUS MOTHER'S DAY

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a huge weekend for our family. First off my sister, the career student herself, GRADUATED grad school with a Masters in Speech Pathology. Hooray!! And she landed a great job right here in Memphis to boot! We are so excited she will be here to continue to watch her niece who loves her grow up and well...for the free babysitting!

My mom arrived in town Friday so we could all celebrate. I cooked dinner and we all just hung out at home. However, Kenny did declare it to be not just Mother's Day but Mother's Day weekend and gave me my first gift from he and Elle. A gift card to Anthropologie. He knows me so well. I have purposely not stepped foot in that store since I started showing a preggy belly because this girl loves a cute new dress and I just would have been torturing myself. We are going on a trip here soon and I can't wait to pick out something new to wear.

On Saturday we all (including Elle) loaded up in the car to attend a reception for the graduates. It was fun to meet some of Annie's friends. It was so funny because we were all sitting listening to a speaker and Kenny was holding Elle and she might have been doing some kind of smelly unladylike things and Kenny was getting so embarrassed. Nobody knew but he was so worried. After the reception we grabbed some lunch at Trolley Stop Market and it was delicious.

Saturday night my extremley helpful friend Mollie agree to watch Elle so we could all four go out to a really nice dinner. Annie loves Italian food so I made reservations at Pasta Italia on the Collierville square. We had so much fun having drinks and talking. We also got a good laugh heading out of the restaurant when my mother ALMOST slipped and took out a little display table they had sitting outside. Luckily, she caught herself.

On Sunday, my mom headed home and Kenny, Elle and I went to the Majestic Grille for some brunch and a mimosa for Mommy. Before we left Kenny and Elle surprised me with Garnet stud earrings. Garnet is Elle's birthstone and the earrings were absolutely perfect. I like very simple jewelry and I would have picked these out for myself. They mean so much to me already and will always make me think of my first Mother's Day.After brunch since we were downtown we of had to act like tourists so we loaded Elle up in her stroller and went and look at the flood. It is supposed to crest tonight and hopefully it will start to recede very soon.

When we got home our friend Wilson came over to pull all of the bushes out in the front of our house because they died and we are about to re-landscape. Pictures to come in later post.

But Kenny made sure that I did not lift a finger all day and wanted me to just sit and relax and spend time with Elle. It really was such a special day and I can't wait to celebrate being Elle's mother for years to come.

And of course Happy Mother's Day to our moms!

My mom

Kenny's mom

FRIDAY FRIDAY

2011-05-06T08:38:00.006-05:00

The other day I got an email from my work bff Susan with an image attached. The body of the email said thinking of you...

This was the attachment
She DID spend 8 hours a day with me for over 3 years. I think she knows me pretty well. (i.e. spent every day with me when I was a neurotic maniac of a pregnant woman) Miss her!!

And because she hasn't made an appearance lately. Here is Elle!
Elle watching the news. She is VERY concerned about the Memphis flood.

TWEET TWEET

2011-05-05T08:25:00.002-05:00

After tweeting on Twitter for over a year now I have decided I really like it. Besides being able to banter back and forth with people I have never met (ha!) I feel like I just am in the know.

Want to know if a movie that just came out is any good. Chances are someone on Twitter has seen it. Want to cook something yummy. People are always taking pictures of food and tweeting recipes. Not to mention you hear breaking news like the death of Osama Bin Laden loooong before the news announces it.

Mostly the people I follow are personal in real life friends or people whose blogs I read or people who live in Memphis. I only follow a few celebrities because I find that their tweets are often just plugging one of the products they endorse. But there are a few celebrities that I enjoy following like Dane Cook, Lady Gaga and Ann Curry.

Twitter really is a catch all for anything and everything. Plus it gives you something to do when you are in a waiting room, standing in line at the grocery store...you get the idea.

Tweet! Tweet!

P.S. If you want to follow me I keep my tweets private but send me a request! Mal_C_Lacey

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-05-04T08:31:00.005-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted since last Weight Watchers Wednesday. Things have been crazy here in Memphis. My sister is looking at having to evacuate from Mud Island due to the flood and it is Memphis in May and we had friends in town starting Saturday night until Monday morning. I will try to be better.

This week I lost...

1.8 lbs
I am totally excited about this except for it might have been a little more if not for the Mexican food and the Hueys visit.

So 3.8 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

17.8 lbs to go to reach my goal weight! So slowly but surely I am wittling down these numbers.

Last night I made another Gina's Recipe. Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets. They were very easy and I would compare them to Chick Fil A nuggets. Plus I did several chicken breasts and it made a ton. I served these with some mashed potatoes and broccoli.

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

This week I lost...

2.2 lbs

YAY!!!!!! Finally some results. I owe it all to actually watching what I eat and making smarter decisions over the weekend. I did not give in to the temptation of a big Easter Sunday Brunch which is what I was dying for.

So 5.6 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

19.6 lbs to go to reach my goal weight! So excited this number is finally in the teens!

Sesame Soy Meatballs

Last week I made this recipe and it was so so so good! I served the meatballs over white rice. It is a Cooking Light recipe that I saw on someone's blog. Husband definitely said it was a winner and the portion size was huge. I will make it again for sure.

Alright well I am writing this post on Tuesday night and it is time to get get my shoes on and put my i.d. in my pocket and pray a tornado doesn't hit our house yet again. These storms have been so crazy and are relentless.

Why do I feel like Glee will probably be one big weather report tonight. Boo.

EASTER WEEKEND

2011-04-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

We had such a great long Easter Weekend. On Friday we took Elle to see the Easter Bunny. I find all Easter Bunnies to be a bit creepy but I felt like we just had to have a picture. She is so little and this is her first holiday. So we dressed her in her little smocked Easter dress and she slept through it. But then she woke up. These pictures just make me laugh!
After the Easter Bunny we all ran errands and went out to lunch together. It was a fun day as a family.

On Saturday I met up with my friend Susan for lunch and then we went to see Water for Elephants. It was really good. I have a hard time liking movies after I have loved the book. And while I still feel like the book was one thousand times better than the movie; the movie was still really good. It was a very pretty movie with the circus scenery. Reese and Rob both looked gorgeous too.

Saturday night Kenny and I took Elle and grabbed some dinner at Huey's and watched some of the Grizzlies game. We won! One more game until we advance in the playoffs. Huey's is next door to my favorite yogurt shop Yolo so we stopped by there to. Ha!

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny came bright and early. Elle had her first Easter basket. It did not have to many things because not being able to eat candy really puts a damper on Easter Baskets. But he did manage to get her a few things. She liked it! Kenny and I had some little happies to.
We decided to forgo church because we were not comfortable putting her in the nursery just yet and we knew that church would be so crowded. So we spent a nice day at home and went for a walk on the Green Line in the afternoon then grilled out for dinner.

It really was such a good weekend and makes me so excited for more holidays as a family.

ROUTINE

2011-04-22T08:00:00.002-05:00

If I have learned one thing from having a baby it is that I NEED A ROUTINE!!! I NEED A SCHEDULE!! Let's be honest. I have always been a smidge obsessed with time and being on time. But I never realized that in order for me to feel sane I needed to know what is coming next.

However it is so hard to really and truly have a routine with a baby. In the beginning you might as well hang it up. Its not going to happen. You have to give a newborn what they need and when they need it which leaves you exhausted and flying by the seat of your pants. But as the weeks go by things are getting better. We are falling into a "routine." I am doing some work for Kenny and his boss so I am trying to work in work tasks along with baby tasks. Things are getting manageable. And I am regaining my sanity. So here is a look at our typical day.

5:00 AM- Elle wakes up for a bottle
5:20 AM - Elle goes back into her crib to sleep for a little longer
6:30 AM - Elle starts to stir and fuss over the monitor so I bring her in the bed and we cuddle and she goes right back to sleep
8:00 AM – Bottle
8:30 AM – Work emails and tasks
8:30 – 9:45 AM – Elle usually lays on her Baby Einstein mat which she loves and talks to the little star that lights up and plays music and bats at the rattles and we do tummy time. She's cute. I sit next to her and do work if I have any.
9:45 – 11:00 AM – She goes down for a nap and I rush to take a shower and get dressed for the day. This is also when I make the bed, straighten up the house and do small chores. I am always rushed because she is only napping for around an hour right now.
11:00 AM – Get Elle dressed for the day, Bottle
11:30 – 1:30 PM We go to lunch if we have a lunch date or we load up and run any errands that I need to run
2:00 PM – Bottle
2:30- 4:00 PM – Naptime and work for me
4:00 PM – Elle wakes up from her nap so more playtime and tummy time. Then I will put her in her swing so she can see me or her Lamb chair while I prepare dinner and make the bottles for the night and next day
5:00 PM – Bottle
5:30 PM – Check emails and wrap any work up
6:00 PM - Kenny gets home and daddy-daughter bonding time and we just hang out
7:30 PM - Bath time. Kenny is in charge of bath time and getting her ready for bed while I get dinner ready.
8:00 PM - Elle gets swaddled, fed her bottle then in the crib she goes with her Sleep Sheep. It is rare if she makes a sound after we put her down.
8:30 PM - Kenny and I eat dinner, watch movies or TV
10 PM -Head to bed so we can do it all over again tomorrow.

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-04-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

So umm slow and steady wins the race....

AND DANG IT MALLORY STOP WORKING YOUR HINEY OFF DURING THE WEEK ONLY TO SABOTAGE ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK AND WEIGHT LOSS IN THE TWO DAYS CALLED A WEEKEND!!!

I lost this week. So I am not totally down. But I know my loss could of been a lot more had it not been for the mexican food and electric green margaritas. The other problem with drinking is I always want bad food the next day. Alchohol just isn't worth it.

Weekly Progress

.6 lbs lost.

So 6.4 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

20.4 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

2011-04-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

I was a little behind in getting my birth announcements out but better late than never! Plus I wanted to be sure everyone got theirs in the mail before I posted it online.

My friend Susan at J Press Designs did such a great job. And we have Elle's 3 month photography session coming up in the next couple of weeks with Molly at Good Golly Photography.

WEEKEND UPDATE

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Kenny and I had a great weekend with some one on one time and Kenny got to go see his favorite band in the entire world. Widespread Panic. He has loved them since high school and has been to A LOT of shows. And because we have been together so long I have been to A LOT of shows. It is funny because I am not really that big of a fan but I do enjoy spending time with Kenny in this way because he just loves it so much! I figured after we had a baby that I would never go to another WSP concert but not the case.

Saturday morning my sister came over to babysit and spend some quality time with her niece and we hit the road for Pelham, AL. The band was playing at the Oak Mountain venue. When we got into town we checked into our hotel and then were going to do some tailgating with friends. Our friends weren't there yet so we took a detour to 2 Pesos Mexican Restaurant. It was happy hour. Yall! This place had the most electric green margaritas I have EVER seen in my entire life. I think they might have glowed in the dark. The picture does not even do it justice. Ha!!

After enjoying our extremely green and extremely strong margaritas we met up with everyone else before the concert started. It was a beautiful day and tailgating is always fun.

The concert itself was fun but on Sunday morning I was up early and ready to come home! My sister had sent me this picture on Saturday and I was ready to kiss those cheeks.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

I started reading Spearmint Baby Blog when I was pregnant so if you are with child you should go visit. I love it! She always has great giveaways and I am not really a lucky person so I was so happy to find a email in my inbox letting me know that I had won a Kokpax Carrier!

Kenny and I did not register for any carriers like this, nor had we bought one. The carrier lasts until they are 2 or 35lbs so we will get lots of use out of it. I had to give three fabric swatches choice and these are the ones I chose. I will be happy with any of them! I will be sure to give a follow up review once we start using it!

STILL RAGING

2011-04-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I was getting Elle ready for bath time/bedtime and I layed her in her crib so I could run her bathwater. I turned on her mobile which she is OBSESSED with and hit one of the buttons so it would play music.

The mobile was playing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire by Bach. This song reminds me of wedding processionals.

I came back to get her and she was so happy looking up with her big blue eyes, cooing, kicking and smiling and that song was playing and I started thinking about her wedding. Crazy right? That one day I would be sitting in a front row of HER wedding and this song would be playing and I would be watching the bridesmaids come down the aisle and then my little girl in her wedding gown...

And I started to cry. I knew that this was one of those moments that I would remember. That little mobile managed to connect the here and now to the future.

I was still crying when Kenny got home a few minutes later.

We were both in agreement that I am still a bit hormonal.

WEIGHT WATCHERS WEDNESDAY

2011-04-13T10:23:00.003-05:00

So now that I am home with the baby after being at work for three weeks I have decided that I do so much better controlling my eating when I am at home. At work I would eat bad things to break up the day or out of boredom. At home I am always moving and doing something and sometime can't find the time to eat.

After a horrible week of eating last week. I am back on track this week and even EXERCISING TWICE A DAY! I know! I can't believe it either. But Kenny and I are going on a cruise in May and it is officially go time!!

I was so scared to get on the scale this Monday after last week but I did and surprise...This week I lost:

.6 lbs I'll take it! It's not a gain and I am expecting good results next week with being on top of my point counting and exercising this week.

So 7 lbs to go until pre-pregnancy weight!

21 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!

I feel like those numbers have been the same for a while. But I am trying to get the healthy lifestyle going and its better than not worrying about it at all.

I started using my Couch to 5k app every morning and that app is just amazing. I love it because it tells you exactly what to do and even lets you listen to your music while you run/walk. If you don't have it! Get it!!

I do Couch to 5k in the mornings around 5:30 AM after I give Elle her morning bottle and then I have been taking Elle in her stroller out for evening walks. I am sore. I am out of shape. But I already feel so much better.

PAST COUPLE WEEKEND UPDATES

2011-04-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

I never got a chance to talk about my fun weekend last week because we were out of power.But Kenny was out of town at market so I called in the best Aunt (Annie) in the world to do a little babysitting so I could take a trip down to Jackson, MS for a craw fish party with friends.

I drove down Saturday morning and we could of not asked for a more perfect day. Not to mention my friend Joe has his craw fish boiling down to a tee. They were so delicious.

I missed Elle so incredibly much and woke up on Sunday bright and early to get back home to spend the day with her.

Last week was my last week of work and this weekend was been spent at home celebrating this new change in our lives. Friday night we ordered sushi to go and caught up on some of our shows. It was a glorious night! Saturday and Sunday we spent running errands, grilling out and watching the Masters, watching movies and spending family time with our little girl.

This picture was taken on Sunday. She had such a rough day. Kenny was feeding her (in his Masters green polo of course) and she projectile vomited EVERYWHERE!! Everyone had to change clothes. Then her little tummy was bothering her. So she was knocked out.

YOU KNOW WHAT IN A HAND BASKET

2011-04-06T09:09:00.004-05:00

Yep. That is right. My week and my DIET have gone to H-E-double hockey sticks in a hand basket.

So it is Weight Watchers Wednesday and I got nothin! Except that I have probably gained. I know as of Sunday I had gained a pound which I was expecting after eating a ton of craw fish and eating all sorts of bad stuff with my girlfriends on Saturday. Post on the fun time we had to come!

Then Monday morning Memphis had a ginormous storm and our power has been out ever since. My mother in law is in town keeping Elle this week since it is my last week of work and now she is keeping the baby at the hotel during the day in stead of our house! I was stressed that we were going to lose all of our food in the fridge, not to mention all of the frozen meals I had made. So we moved all of that to a friends house yesterday. Kenny and I have been schlepping all over town just trying to find a place to lay our weary heads. I know, I know, I am being sooooo dramatic. But not having power and an infant and a mother in law in town makes everything very inconvenient for everyone involved.

And I have been stress eating. Because everything is so crazy and because it makes me feel better. I know everything will be fine in a few days. They are predicting our power to be back on by Friday and that also is my last day of work. So I plan to start fresh next week and will have a full update then.

I will give you this amazing recipe for a Weight Watchers Spicy Meatloaf though! I made it last week when my mom was in town and it was so easy and delicious! I doubled the recipe and froze one. Kenny also enjoyed some of it on a sandwich the next day and said it was tasty.

SPICY MEATLOAF
Ingredients
1 spray(s) cooking spray
1/2 pound(s) raw lean ground beef
1/2 pound(s) uncooked ground turkey breast
2 large egg white(s)
2 oz cornbread stuffing dry mix, (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion(s), chopped
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp Durkee Ground Cumin Seed, or other brand
4 oz canned green chili peppers, diced
8 oz canned enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a broiler pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix beef, turkey, egg whites, stuffing mix, onion, chili powder, cumin, chilies and half of enchilada sauce together. Shape into an oval with your hands and place on prepared broiler pan. Cook for 1 hour, top with remaining enchilada sauce and bake for 5 minutes more. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.