ALL ABOUT ME FROM A TO Z

DON'T FORGET TO GO AND ENTER MY CHEESE! GLORIOUS CHEESE GIVEAWAY!

CLICK HERE!

I saw this on another blog recently and it has been a while since I have done something fun like this.  So here we go!

age - I am 29.  I turn 30 this year.  Hard to believe.

bed size - Currently, a full at my moms house.(palms face) Normally, a king.  Cannot wait to move to Starkville and have all of our things back out of storage.

chore you hate - Emptying the dishwasher. I loathe it.

dogs - We have one dog. Lena who will turn 10 this February.

essential start to your day - Umm...I know it should be breakfast but can I say the Today show?

favorite color - Green

gold or silver - I am really liking gold more these days.

height - 5 feet 4 inches

instruments you play - I used to play the piano.  I never learned to read music.  I am dying to take lessons again!

job title - Stay at home mom, and Lacey family co chair.

kids -Elting Caroline

live - life every day grateful for the things that I have.

married - For 7 years this May.

nicknames - Mal

overnight hospital stays - Only when I delivered Elle.

pet peeve - Tardiness.  I am always on time if not early.

righty or lefty - Lefty

siblings - A brother and a sister.

time you wake up - I wake up and get Elle out of her crib in between 7-7:30.  

university attended - Mississippi State University. Go Bulldogs!

vegetables you dislike - Collard greens. They stink!

what makes you run late - When my two year old throws a fit about something when we are headed out the door and refuses to get in the car.  It has only happened a few times though.

x-rays you’ve had - Dentist, knee, ankle, stomach, sinuses

yummy food - Mexican is my fave. It has to do with the tequila and the cheese dip. Killer combo.

zoo animal favorite - Elephants. Elephants all the way!

CHEESE! GLORIOUS CHEESE! GIVEAWAY!

If you know me at all then you know one of my favorite things in the entire world is cheese. I love all kinds of cheese but one of my favorite varieties is goat cheese.  That is why when I was approached to try out some of the MontChevre products I was excited.  

They were so nice to overnight some amazing products to me and now I am giving away the same gift package they sent me! Here is everything you will receive minus one fabulous Four Pepper log that my mom and I snacked on the other night. I have also been really enjoying the cheddar cheese sticks!

 The crumbles are perfect for salads and the logs and Brie's are perfect for entertaining. Anyone throwing a dinner party anytime soon? This cheese gift box is no joke!

It is not often that I do a giveaway or promote a product on my blog but when MontChevre also let me know what they were doing with the Ghana Initiative I was really impressed.  This company is just amazing! Be sure to read about the good they are doing and look for their products in grocery stores!!

TO ENTER FOR THIS AMAZING GIFT BOX OF MONTCHEVRE CHEESE JUST 

LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST.  
(you don't have to be local to win.  MonteChevre will overnight a cooler to you 
with lots of ice packs that insure the cheese arrives in perfect shape!)

I WILL DRAW A WINNER ON FEBRUARY 6!

TRYING TO STAY BUSY

BE SURE TO CHECK IN TOMORROW.  

I WILL BE GIVING AWAY A HUGE GIFT PACK OF CHEESE. 

YES CHEESE! MORE DETAILS TOMORROW!

Elle and I are trying really hard to stay busy to make the days go by faster in Hattiesburg. It is really helpful if we get out and try to do a fun outing every day.  On Friday the weather was gorgeous, definitely did not feel like January.  Elle and I ventured out to Hattiesburg's tiny little zoo.  

I have not been to this zoo since I was very young myself and had very low expectations because Memphis' zoo is so amazing.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Elle and I had great time.  It is a very small zoo but perfect for Elle's age.  They had a great train that went around the entire zoo so it was  pretty long train ride.  They also have a carousel and a jump house and of course some animals.  Not a whole lot of animals but enough to spend a few hours there playing and exploring.  Elle and I had a great morning together and she took a great nap that afternoon.  Isn't that always a sign of a successful morning.

 She looks a little peeved here but she loved the train ride and has been talking 

about it nonstop since that day.  We rode it twice!

 A little picnic lunch with the peacocks.  Elle thought they were so funny!

 Feeding the ducks was definitely a highlight.  We did that twice too.

She chose this horse, Pinky with the pink bridle both times we rode the carousel.

And I have to include this picture for memory purposes.  She is in a stage where she has very specific requests for bedtime.  Baby dolls, loveys and other friends and likes to wear shoes to bed.  I have had to go in after she is sleeping and move some of her things into a corner of the crib so that she can sleep comfortably.  I went in to peek on her the other night and this is how I found her.  I just melted. So sweet.  Also, in the morning when she wakes up in the morning she lays in her crib and talks and sings.  I hear "eeeeeiiiiieeeeiiiooo" over and over.  And then finally she says "mooooooommmmma open the door!" So I get up and go get her at that point.  I have to put these kind 

of things on the blog so I will remember them.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Oh my darling Elle.  You are two and you make me laugh and surprise me every day with the new things you do and say.  I am so incredibly lucky to have you as a daughter and I know your daddy feels the same way.  We are so proud of you and look forward to the challenging but totally amazing days that will come during this next year.

To celebrate your birthday we threw you a party in December before we moved so all your closest friends could celebrate with you.  But on the actual day/weekend in January we traveled to Memphis to see your favorite aunt, had a play date with your best friend Loftin and enjoyed some birthday treats like cupcakes, donuts and pizza.  Don't worry not all at once. Then it was on to drop your Daddy off at the airport for Las Vegas market. Because in case you have forgotten you decided to make an early arrival while he was at the market two years ago so he will always have that furniture market around your birthday.

You weren't too sad because when we came back to Hattiesburg CeCe  arrived home from her week at Disney World and brought you a brand new Snow White doll that you are very excited about combing her hair.

It was great birthday sweetie.  I think the cutest thing you are doing and really the only recognition that this is/was your day is when you are asked how old you are, you exclaim 2! all while holding up three of the cutest little fingers.  Gosh we love you so much!!

WE DID IT!

Tuesday is Elle's second birthday and she is still rear facing!  I am that crazy mom who is still talking to her through a mirror strapped to the back of the headrest and almost wrecking the car trying to hand things over her seat while her little hands reach up over her head.  

We are taking a trip this weekend and we will be turning her around for the trip.  I am so excited! She won't know what to think.  I just can't imagine turning to look at her and having her right there.  It is going to be so much easier.  Zulily had a sale the other day on car organization accessories so I purchased a basket sort of thing to put her books, toys, sippy cups and snacks in when we are traveling and then a ipad holder that you can strap to one of the front seats so she can watch her movies and things.  

I am excited to turn her around but I want to assure anyone reading, having her rear facing was not hard at all.  Did she fuss her car seat? Yes, of course she did. But it was because she was bored and wanted out of the car on our road trips.  I don't blame her.  I wanted out of the car too.  Were her legs scrunched? No, not really.  She did have to bend them a little (as you see in the picture) towards the end but she never acted uncomfortable. 

And just because. I took this picture leaving her follow up doctor's appointment from her being ill last week.  I did get her a flu shot at this visit.  I felt so bad because she was in such a good mood and had just had that huge shot last week.  But she only screamed for a second and then it was lollipop time!

SLEEP UPDATE

So you might remember this post from a few weeks ago where I was desperate to fix Elle's sleeping habits. She was waking at all hours of the night, not settling unless one of us slept in her room or sat outside of her door, sometimes not even under those circumstances.  Our entire family was miserable.

Let me tell you what I did.  I bought Moms on Call: The Toddler Years.

I follow Moms on Call on twitter and have seen a lot of people I follow conversing with them.  Lots of those same people sang the book's praises so after speaking with Laura Hunter, one of the author's of the books and a pediatric nurse to boot she recommended buying the book and then following up with her with any questions.  You can also set up a paid plan to have the Moms on Call "nurses" at your beckon call for phone conversations and for any and all questions you have. I thought I might need this after reading the book.  I was worried I would need a big pep talk.  More on that in a sec.

The book is great! Perfect for a busy mom who doesn't necessarily have a whole lot of time to jump into a whole long drawn out discipline book.  It covers sleeping, eating, discipline and some other things.  Basically it was exactly what I needed for Elle right now. The techniques are simple and familiar and after you read a short chapter on how to implement the technique then there are cheat sheets at the back that I actually printed out to have as a quick reference and for confirmation that I was following the right steps.  These "techniques" are not out there.  Most of them simply tell you how to follow your motherly instinct and toughen up a little for your child's sake.

For Elle and her bad sleeping habits.  It was all our fault pretty much.  We were the ones that initially showed her that certain behaviors result in us doing the things that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. We needed to take the reigns and show her that her antics weren't going to work anymore.  Taking the reigns was really simple thanks to the book.  A bedtime routine which we were already doing along with a sleep pep talk, (You are going to sleep great tonight.  You can do it!) a sound machine and then DO NOT GO BACK INTO THE ROOM FOR ANY REASON. The not going in the room was the hardest part.

The book warned that for stubborn toddlers this process could take up to two weeks.  I thought for sure that would be us.  The first night was rough, she cried off and on all night.  The second night, maybe cried twice and by the third night, slept through the night!!!

I even thought for sure that packing and moving would throw us into another sleep deprived whirl wind.  But now if she wakes and cries at night which she has done maybe twice since we started this whole process we don't go in there and she knows she needs to just go back to sleep.  Our entire family is feeling so much better!

The book has also helped me feel way more in control of discipline and how to start on the very long journey of raising a well behaved and polite little girl.

For my friends who have babies or are pregnant they also have a newborn, and baby books along with web seminars that you can purchase online.  I never used these with Elle but after the success we have had with this I will be using them for the next baby for sure!  Here is the website!

Moms On Call

ADJUSTING

Well we are doing our best trying to adjust to not living in Memphis.  I have to say it has been a little difficult for me.  I am homesick and don't feel settled because I know we are just at my mom's for a little while and then we have to move again.  I am ready to move into what will be OUR home for at least a year or so. I never anticipated missing my house.  I was so ready to get it sold by the end of the whole thing but now I am missing it a lot.

I am also missing Elle's little school a lot.  I was so happy when I called a great preschool here and they had a spot for Elle two days a week.  So I take her on Tuesday and get her settled in to her new class and she is loving it and I go to fill out paperwork.  I am pulling out of the parking lot to leave when the director comes running to tell me she had looked at Elle's age wrong and she was to young to go.  So we had to go and pull Elle out of her class and I had to take her home.  It made me soooo sad. Lots of tears.

It didn't help matters that we had a doozy of a week.  My mom came down with a severe case of bronchitis the Sunday that we got here.  So she slept for three days.  Then Elle came down with a fever virus.  A day after her feeling puny I noticed that her eye was drooping and made the mistake of googling that and freaked out. I made the pediatric clinic that had never even seen her before squeeze us in for an appointment.  Elle had another ear infection plus a fever virus and that had given her Bell's Palsy which in some cases can be permanent.  After a HUGE shot in her leg we came home and she passed out on me.  She was so pathetic.

Thankfully, after a couple days at home where she felt pretty bad she was feeling better.  And since it had rained every day since we have been here (uggg) I decided Elle and I could be mall rats for a morning.  We needed to get out of the house.  We were going bonkers. The mall here is very small but we enjoyed just looking at things and walking around.

You love the one in front of the lingerie right?

We are glad to be wrapping this week up.  Even now we are dealing with side effects from all the medicine that Elle is on, some painful.  Kenny has been super busy in his first real week of his new job.  It has just been crazy.  We have a trip to Memphis planned for the next weekend so I plan to make this coming up week better and then I am looking forward to seeing my sister and friends in Memphis.  I need a girls night for sure!!

IN THIS CRAZY LIFE

So I realize I haven't really explained why we sold our house, where we are going and what our family has in store for the future.  So here it is!

Kenny got a promotion!  He was given a territory with his company, Ashley Furniture.  I am so proud of him because he has worked for this for several years.  For a little while we did not know which territory he was going to be given but we put the house on the market in preparation for a move.

Around Thanksgiving we found out that the territory would be MISSISSIPPI! We were so excited.  We were given the choice of where we wanted to move, regardless we knew we would be much closer to friends and family.  Ultimately we chose to live in Starkville.  Living in Starkville has been something we talked about for years now.  We feel like Starkville offers enough to do but in a small town environment.  Not to mention how much we love our school and it still feels like home to us.  PLUS, we figure we will be getting LOTS of visitors around football season.

In November we accepted an offer on our house and we just closed on Friday.The day after Christmas we started packing and we did not have much time.

We found a large condo we are renting in Starkville but cannot move in until March so we packed all of our things and put them into storage in Starkville and moved necessities to Hattiesburg. Yep.  My husband, my daughter and I all moved home with my mom.  Should be interesting.  Kenny is going to be so busy and traveling a good for work so I am sure the time will fly by.

So here are some pictures of the chaos we have been living in.  I am soooooo thankful to friends who invited Elle over to play several days allowing me to pack child free.  Elle doesn't seem to be too phased by all the chaos and may have even enjoyed it a little.  We moved her crib and all her toys to my moms so I don't think she realizes we are gone from Memphis for good.  That is fine with me.

Boxes and boxes and more boxes.  We had such a tiny little house,

I seriously do not understand how we have so much stuff!! 

We had storage unit that we used one of my mom's friends old vans to 

move all the stuff to our house.  Kenny was objecting to having his picture taken.

 We had a fantastic New Years Eve with our friends.  Kenny and I were having such 

a good time we didn't want to leave so we put Elle and Lizzie to bed.  Elle was so exhausted 

she fell right to sleep.  This was her first time in a big girl bed.  Might have to design a big 

girl room for her new room in Starkville.

 This is the picture I sent my friend Lindsay when she was asking me if Elle wanted 

to come play with Loftin.  So pitiful.  Look at that mess!  I gladly accepted.

 The movers trying to fit all of our things onto the truck.

 Unloading into storage took fooooooorever.  It was cold and I was exhausted. Moving really stinks.

Friday morning we closed on our house and had to stop by to grab a few things before heading to Hattiesburg.  We used the time to walk through the house and reminisce. We all cried.  Elle mostly because she was tired and fussy. Ha! 

So there it is! We are going to miss our friends and family in Memphis but are excited to be opening a new chapter in our family's lives.