Pumpkin Patch 2016

Ready for a barrage of late October posts?

Okay, well, really there's only two. But whatever.

We made a trip to the pumpkin patch this year in our neighborhood like we have the past 2 years. I always try to hold out for the non-sweatiest day (Florida life, ya know) and the day we landed it was in the morning and wet out. Not sure it was the best combination, but it was still better than full sun and humidity.

So Robbie was a genius (I literally started typing that word out with a "j"...) and had us bring our newly borrowed wagon to carry our pumpkins. Because last year we struggled to get back to the car with a newborn, a toddler, 2 large pumpkins and my large camera.

So Skye rode on it to the patch...how flipping cute are they?

Finn was hilarious, as he ran past all of the pumpkins and headed right to a patch of dirt to dig into with his mini-excavator.

We eventually mosied around getting wet feet and picked some pumpkins. Here's the rest of the pics.

And lastly a dark family pic. I only attempted this once, but Finn's cheesin smile. And Skye's worried face... :D

And oops...we didn't carve them...a-gain. But they looked pretty on our fireplace. Skye also loved tossing some little ones we bought from the grocery store at us quite forcefully.

Sweet children. :D

Skye's Birthday Party

A little late of a post but here's baby girl's first birthday party.

For her party I decided on a few reusable and free decorations to be the feature. First ordered this cute "happy birthday" garland from Land of Nod. It's a thick glittery paper so I'm hoping to use this over and over again. I then made that pink dot garland by punching out the pink dots and then threading them with a needle and thread. It now hangs in Skye's room above a painting. I'm a big fan of garland, especially in kid's rooms. Finn has one with a whole bunch of colors and it's just feels fun. And the best part? Free.

My only other purchase, besides the food, was this adorable cake stand. I'm finding that I love to bake. There's something that makes me feel so "mommy" when I bake for my babes. And I just find it enjoyable. I made these banana cupcakes. I really made them because 1. I made them for Finn's first birthday (tradition?), and 2. I had old bananas. :D They were tasty. I bought these cake toppers from Land of Nod. Loved the little birds and it made me think of my friend which is where Skye's middle name came from. 

I then dipped some pretzels in white chocolate and sprinkles. That was a total last minute thing but it actually was suuuuper easy. And made cookies the previous night.

The baby girl was in good spirits but I knew she needed to nap. She just refused to earlier that day. She ended up falling asleep on Rob's shoulder while we all had lunch. He then laid her in the crib and she slept for an hour and a half! Hah. Our guests were practically held hostage. :D

Once she woke up, we did presents and cake. She was very interested in her presents. Finn too. He was sweetly given a few gifts to buffer his first "it's not my birthday" experience. He did alright, but had to be talked to a little. :)

We're so thankful for a year with this little girl. Who sleeps through the night mostly. She's a gift to our family. Truly. Thankful for all my family and friends who love on this girl (and Finn!) like their own. It is such a gift to us as well. 

Happy first birthday, Skye!!

12 Months - Happy Birthday Skye!

Happy birthday our precious baby girl...

Things we don't want to forget about this adorable stage you're in:

• You sneakily climb everything. We caught you scaling Finn's steps that he uses in the kitchen...to see you standing and reaching for things on the counter was quite a shock, lol. When we put Finn to bed, you've started crawling away to his toy fish tank sitting on his play table, and last night after singing a song to Finn I glance over and you're sitting on top of the table to look at the fish. . . :D
• Love how when you're excited to see your brother or one of your little friends, you crouch down behind them and lean your head to the side to get in their face, usually followed by a squeak. It's probably one of my favorite things you do...it's ridiculously cute.
• Your favorite toy car from Finn's car stash is the purple shiny one.
• You can eat as much as your 3 1/2 year old brother! (yeah, he kinda eats like a bird, but still...)
• When you get sassy, you curl your tongue. Usually it's when you aren't getting your way and you can swat or pull mama's hair in the process. :D
• Our nicknames for you...tulip, tulip tree, Skye pie, tootsie pop
• Mama's songs that she makes up for you (sung to the tune of Barbara Manatee...) "Oh my tulip tree! You're the one for me. Made from up above. You're the one I love." 
• How you hold on to my hair when nursing or falling asleep on my shoulder
• How much you giggle when daddy tosses you in the air
• How you still have no teeth. We're just soaking up that gummy smile, and the freedom to not get bit whenever we have to fish something out of your mouth. :))

On her actual birthday, I took off work and we all spent the day together.  We started with a doughnut.

Which she destroyed and practically had to have a bath afterward. After that we headed to the mall so I could buy her her first pair of real shoes. She also was graced with the goodness of chick-fil-a for the first time. It's safe to say that she can eat more than her brother. Get it girrrrl.

We then headed to a new bounce place. Well new to us. It was fun. Lots of kids because it was a hurricane day (some people get snow days, we get hurricane days) but it was fun. Skye loved the little house with a door. And her and I later went into a little bounce "house" which she giggled as she kept falling all over the place.

Finn was running around while Robbie kept his eye on him. He looked to the be the sweatiest kid in the place. :D

That evening we had pizza, which Skye inhaled. (please be my good eater!)

I can't believe she's one. I definitely thought back to our first day(s) together. Getting to know each other and falling into a rhythm at home. With all of the hard work that goes into the every day, I'm in love with this girl and so thankful she is in my life.

Happy birthday baby girl. We love, love, love you.

Eleven Months!

Oh, our little peach. Sigh...

How can she be eleven months already? This past month has been super fun watching this little girl learn how to WALK! It's still slightly shocking when I catch a glimpse of this little tiny person walking around, I love it. She's still a super happy smiley little light. I'm so thankful for her pretty easy going personality. Not that she doesn't have some attitude and sassy-ness sometimes, but she's the sweetest. 

Here's some of her likes/dislikes:

LIKES

• WALKING - can't stop this girl, she's worked hard and continues to work to make this her main form of self-transportation. We love when she gets super excited about something and walks really fast.
• Smiling - she's a happy baby, we also love how she kicks her leg out when someone is talking to her...we call it her flirty leg.
• Eating - green beans, blueberries, puffs, pasta, bread, she loves to eat. 
• Playing with Finn's toys - I was talking to Rob about how different it is with your second. For Finn we just had baby toys for him to play with in his room. Skye has her toys and also race cars, puzzles, a tractor, dinosaurs, and all sorts of other things that she loves to play with. She still likes her stuff too, but we tend to play more in Finn's room.
• Pushing anything across the floor - this always cracks me up, she'll get something like a dish towel, and push it from one side of the house to the other just riding it out as it tends to give her extra speed. It's hard to explain, but she loves doing this.
• Mama and nursing - had to throw this one in there, because she does love her mama. But she also is very happy with daddy too. But girl loves to cuddle up and nurse. I can't believe we went this far, but it's been working well. She also loves to grab a handful of my hair with her free hand. It's sweet. Painful sometimes when she's sassy, but sweet. :D

DISLIKES

• Diaper changes - yep, just like Finn (and probably a lot of babies out there??)
• Missing out - it's been the hardest thing establishing a nap schedule for this girl because I think she has major fear of missing out. Her naps are typically short and she's just ready to get out or her crib and join the party. 
• Not eating - I just had to include this because it's the saddest thing when I make homemade cookies or eat ice cream with Finn and she's can't enjoy it just yet, but we do have treats for her that are especially hers. And seriously, she loves green beans like nobody's business. 
• Growing teeth - hah, what I mean by this is that baby girl is still TOOTHLESS! But she can chew like a pro with her gums. I seriously love that we get these extra months of toothless grins (and avoiding getting bit is pretty nice too)

Skye's Nursery

I find it funny that the completion of Skye's nursery goes hand-in-hand with her sleeping through the night. Makes sense though, right? :)

I didn't want too much time to pass before taking pics of this girl's room. It was different decorating over a long period of time, but I really like how it all came out. There's one more picture that I want to change, but overall, I'm happy that it's mostly done. And before it changes or got worn, I wanted to take some pics to remember it by.

We made a lot of the things in her room. I knew I wanted geometric shapes for her mobile so my sweet talented origami-folding husband got to work on the paper I chose and created these beauties. I painted the mountain-scape picture above her changing table and the cute little bunny on another wall. A friend painted a picture that says "with brave wings she flies". I drew a peach on a chalkboard since I find myself often calling her that. Peach, tulip, tulip tree, Skye-pie, schmoo,

I updated her baskets and she has her own bucket of books like Finn has in his big boy room. The cloud pillow in her crib was something I've been wanting to buy for years from Land of Nod. A number of things are from there but it mostly was an inexpensive update to make this room her own.

I'm still of the belief that decorating kids rooms is one of the most fun things to do. I'll be taking pics of Finn's big boy room soon as well. :D

Ten Months!

(catching up on old blog posts I typed up in the past - had some picture uploading issues)

Yep, this sweet little girl is 10 months old.

There's so many things I don't want to forget about this stage that Skye is in. We love how she can crawl super fast when she really wants to get something. She loves to crawl into Finn's tent and giggles the whole time and then collapses on her back in the pile of pillows and cushions. She's mastered waving, she loves to eat, she loves pulling things off of tables. She loves finding every spec of randomness on the floor and the proceeds to put it in her mouth. Her temperament is so precious and sweet. She's such a smiley little girl. Have I mentioned the noise she makes when she's excited? She does a very loud inhale noise, it's hard to explain, but it's her thing. Probably freaked us out at first, but it's like her way of showing excitement, it's so cute. She also does an adorable thing with her leg, like when she gets it's excited when you're talking to her or something, she'll move it around. I call it her flirty leg.

Can't believe you're 10 months already sweet girl. I love watching you grow and I just love the joy and sunshine you bring to our family.

Oh and I love how you're sleeping through the night all on your own. Thank you for that, sweetness. :)

Nine Months!

(catching up on old posts that I typed in the past - had issues with uploading pictures)

Let's take a moment to appreciate that our baby girl is finally sleeping!!!!!

Yes, after much prayer and patience (and lack of sometimes) our girl is sleeping better and better each night. It's like it's finally clicking for her and mommy (and daddy!) couldn't be happier. 

We just got back from her 9 month checkup and she's weighing in at 17.1 lbs. She's 2 lbs heavier than her brother was at this age. She's such a joy to our lives, I just keep wanting to freeze this awesome stage she's in. 

We love you so much, tulip!