Woo Pig Sooie

Yesterday, we took Neely to her first Razorback game & it went surprisingly well. First, let me say that I think it is CRAZY that we have to buy a ticket for her. We paid $20 to have her sit on our laps the entire game. UGH.

We MUST get better seats next year. I keep trying to convince myself that I love our seats since they are on the 50 yard line in front row in the upper deck & we get lots of leg room but I HATE walking up all those ramps. Here are a few photos from the game:

Neely was so good at the game. Luckily we sit by really nice people and they played with Neely during the entire game. We left after the 3rd quarter because Arkansas was TERRIBLE. Here is Brad in the Baby Bjorn. He thinks it is so dorky, but Neely loves it and it is the only way she will let him carry her when I'm around.

She was exhausted when we got back to the car.

Since we were in Fayetteville, we met Kris at Tim's Pizza. Yum Yum. Obviously Neely likes it as much as we do.

We made Kris take some family pictures of us on the square. The city does such a good job on their flowers downtown.

Go Hogs Go

Just thought I'd share some of Neely's 9 month pictures...

Measurements

I am so sore. No I am not kidding. I am SOOOOOOO out of shape. Last night, I showed Brad my route and explained my "system". He told me at most, I ran 1/10 of a mile at a time and maybe a third mile total. My response: SHUT UP. I'm still proud of myself. I took today off to let my muscles rest. :)

About 10:00 last night I decided to start working on my curtains. I pulled the first panel out and it looked a little short, so I measured it and it was 113" long. Not the 118" that was on the front of the package. So I pulled out the rest of them to see if maybe I just didn't understand the concept of inches.

Here is the end where I lined them all up.And here's the other end.

Hmmm. Something must be wrong. Not 1 panel is 118" long and no 2 panels are the same length. PERFECT! My concept of inches is just fine.

I recovered my breakfast room cushions today. The one on the left is the new fabric. I LOVE THIS FABRIC--it makes me so happy every time I look at it.

And just because she's cute... Here's a picture of Neely swinging at the park.

And just to let you know, I am 0 out of 5 on my to-do list for this week. PERFECT!

Kidding Myself

Last night, when Brad and I took Neely for a walk, I told him that I was thinking about starting running. And he laughed. Not that he didn't have reason to. I have not run since 7th grade. Even when it is raining, I don't run to my car. I HATE TO RUN. So what possessed me to go for a run today, I don't know.

I took a final swig of my Dr. Pepper, put Neely in our jogging stroller (I bought it for Brad) and started out. I decided that I would try to run 1/2 the time and walk 1/2 the time. I told myself that I would walk for 5 minutes and then run for 5 minutes. HA! So I walked for 5 minutes and then ran by 5 houses. Then I walked again. So then I started walking by 6 houses & running by 6 houses. Then 7 houses. You get the drift--except never did I run by more than 8 houses. Thank god no one was outside. It was SO embarrassing.

By the time I got home, Neely was asleep and I was hyperventilating. No Kidding. But I'm not giving up.

Accomplishments and Lofty Goals

Neely has been having a really hard time with teething the last couple days, so after church and lunch we came home and stayed home. She is usually such a happy girl, but when she's fussy, she's fussy. I feel so bad for her. But, I took advantage of having Brad at home and got a couple things done around the house.

The first thing I got accomplished, was getting the fireplace taped and prepped for painting. My fireplace is one of the things in my house that I don't love. It is just TOO WHITE. My interior designer recommended that I "age" it a little to soften it. She recommended using Ralph Lauren Glaze in Tobacco, by painting it on and wiping it off. We'll see how that goes. I have a feeling that I am going to be repainting it a nice creamy color in the end.

The other thing I accomplished was finishing cleaning out the 2nd spare bedroom that is going to become Neely's playroom. Brad is so sick of me finding more things to put in the attic. But, someday I might need all this stuff. I also taped all the trim off so we could paint that room too. We have NEVER painted in our entire life, but we're going to give it a shot. Again, I have a feeling that this isn't going to work and I'll be calling Pete the Painter.

I have a lot of goals for this week. I thought I'd put them out here to make myself more accountable. 1. Finish the panels for my living and dining room 2. Glaze the fireplace 3. Pack up the baby stuff that I have piled in the hall (then have Brad put in the attic) 4. Convince Brad to paint the ceiling in the playroom 5. Finish putting the locks on the cabinets. As I write this, I realize I'll probably only do about 2 of these, but oh well.

Everyone have a good week!

Crawling, Eating, and Pulling up

Everyone told me to enjoy Neely before she was mobile. Now I know what they were talking about. She has a new favorite toy...
On Friday, we had lunch with our friends Kristy and Byron. Don't you just want to squeeze his cheeks? I know I do. Byron is 4 months older than Neely, so I get to ask Kristy all the questions I have. Right now, I am stressed about what to feed Neely. I am so BORED with baby food.
Today we did our weekly family trip to Fayetteville. My new curtains FINALLY came in, so we picked those up...I am so excited. I am going to work on finishing them this week. We ate lunch at McAlisters and then went to my favorite place...Target. And a picture showing off her newest skill--pulling up. Notice all the UGLY babyproofing stuff. I swore that I wasn't going to buy this stuff, but again I EAT MY WORDS. I would feel so bad if she fell and bumped her head on the bricks and the gate keeps her from the dog food.

Sleeping, Playing, and Decorating

Neely is FINALLY going to sleep on her own. I've found the key to getting this to work is to put LOTS of stuffed animals in the crib when I put her down. She usually plays for a few minutes and then folds herself in half and falls asleep. After a while she gets laying flat, but I think it's too funny. Here she is a few minutes after she fell asleep for her nap.
On Wednesday, we met with a playgroup that we just joined. There are 6 babies in it and they are all between 8 and 10 months and they are all only children. It's been fun getting the babies together and visiting with the moms. The great thing about this is that when we leave Neely is EXHAUSTED. She took a 2 hour nap on Wednesday!!!
Today we went to Kindermusik and then to our Sunday School class playgroup. This is always a fun day because Neely gets to hang out with a bunch of kids and I get to get to know my class members better. Neely took a nap for an hour and a half today. PRAISE THE LORD!While Neely napped today, I worked on recovering my dining room chairs. They were an ugly brown fabric to start with & I covered them with a really textured lime green fabric. The picture doesn't do them justice, but I love them. Brad said he really couldn't tell the difference. Boys.

Tonight I start Bunko. I've never played before, but I'm really looking forward to it. Brad will be putting Neely down for the night for the first time. Keep your fingers crossed it goes well.

So So HOT

Our air conditioner went out on Saturday evening. I am dying. We have had the air conditioner repairman at the house for the last two days and it looks like it is going to be TOMORROW before it's fixed. I am trying hard to keep a good attitude, but it's not working very well. We keep the thermostat on 68 ALL the time & 80 is unacceptable to me.

We had a busy week last week. On Tuesday, we went to lunch with my friends from work--Tracee and Lisa. Here we are after we had dinner at Chick Fil A on Thursday. Isn't her outfit cute? Brad said that she kind of looked like a clown. :(

On Friday, Neely turned 9 months old. I can't believe it! Look at how much she's grown...

9 Months

6 Months

3 Months

1 Month

Today we went to a new playgroup at Barnes & Noble. There were several babies that were between 8 and 10 months old. Neely had a really good time & I was able to meet a few really nice moms.

Tomorrow is Neely's first day at Mother's Day Out, so I have a bunch of things planned while I'm baby free.

I used to be smart

Tuesday was a day I've been looking forward to for a couple weeks--Neely's first day of Mother's Day Out. I put her bag together Monday night and made a list of all the things I wanted to get done while I was baby free. I was super excited about my upcoming day.

I woke up with the alarm at 7:30 and got myself and Neely ready. We headed to the church. When we got there, there were only about 5 cars in the parking lot. I realized that this was either a real crappy Mother's Day Out program or I had messed up the date. Since I was already feeling embarassed, I called the church from their parking lot and found out that it doesn't start until NEXT Tuesday.

Pregnancy brain never ends.

Labor Day and Crawling

On Friday, we packed up the car and headed to the promised land of Blytheville. I LOVE to go "home". I know that I will never move back there, but I love to visit. I love how everyone knows everyone and you always see lots of people you know when you go to Wal-Mart.

It's a 6 hour drive to Blytheville. This is Neely as we head out. She stayed happy until about Mountainburg. :(

On Saturday, we went and had lunch with "Aunt" Sandra.
Saturday night, we headed to Wal-Mart. I wasn't able to get a good picture of Neely's new Razorback cheerleading outfit.
On Sunday, we went visiting. First, we went to see my Great Aunt Ethylen. She just adores Neely and wants to hold her all the time. Neely will tolerate being held for about 30 seconds.
Next, we went to visit my grandmother. Neely is her first great-grandchild. I wish I would have taken a picture of all the pictures she has framed of Neely. Here's a picture of the 4 generations.
And since Brad never gets in the pictures, here he is with my grandmother, Neely and I.

Lastly, the most exciting (and nerve wracking) news... Neely is really crawling now. I can't keep her still. She is so proud of herself. I have spent the entire day chasing her around the house. Now, I wish I would have listened and started babyproofing BEFORE she started moving.

Good TV

This is my favorite time of year. Yes, I love the cooler weather, the pumpkins on front porches, Razorback football season, and all the typical fall stuff, but the real reason I love this time of year is that good TV is back on!!! 2 of my guilty pleasures started this week and I am so excited. Brad is not happy. Both of these shows are extremely cheesy. In the especially cheesy parts, I pause the DVR, look at Brad and say in my most serious tone: "This is such good TV". He hates me.

My first guilty pleasure is Greek. First let me say that I can not believe that this comes on ABC Family. This is not what I will be watching with Neely. EVER. If you haven't watched it, it's about stereotypical Greek life. And, there is nothing realistic about it. At all. I can't explain why I love this show. Maybe it's because it makes me want to go back to college, but who knows?

My second guilty pleasure is Gossip Girl. The season premiere was tonight. Another one that's not for the kiddos. I swear I don't think there is anything on TV now at night that is appropriate for kids (especially not this). This show follows a group of prep school kids that live in New York City. A lot of dating and partying goes on, but not any school work. This show definitely doesn't make me want to go back to high school (nothing does). It does amaze me what these kids in high school do though.

Now you know that I have the taste of a 13 year old in picking out my tv shows.

We had a great trip home over the weekend. I'll post about that tomorrow.