My swimming beauty

In mommy and me classes only this time, it was daddy and me :-)

What I am loving today

- I am loving this picture of hubby and I from the wedding we attended in June. We had a blast.

- I am also loving Nerds! My current favorite candy.

- I am loving my toe nail design. It makes looking down a little dreamy cause it reminds me of being on vacation on an Island. 

- I am also loving this picture of JOE and I. That's my girl!

What are you loving today?

An unpaid day, a climbing baby and a new dish!

It was a pretty good weekend for us. We had a lot to do and thankfully, we were able to get to a lot of it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures because there was so much going on.

On Saturday, we took JOE to her swimming classes. She is doing so great. I feel bad that next week Saturday is the last class. I think we might sign her up for more classes cause she seems to enjoy it.

After class, J went to help his friend move while JOE and I did some shopping. I picked up some items for her birthday from hobby lobby. I figured the sooner I start making the items, the better. That way, I am not too stressed or overwhelmed right before.
I also managed to catch my child climbing the stairs! I put her down and went to the kitchen to wash some bottles. I turned around and she was on the second step making her way up to the 3rd! I of course smiled at her and proceeded cautiously. She smiled back and thankfully, didn't get too excited. I guess now we have to practice stairwell safety.

On Sunday, I taught in the children's ministry. I do that the last 2-Sundays of the month. The kids are so much fun. I enjoyed attending the children's ministry when I was a kid and have a lot of fond memories from it so I feel like this is my way of giving back. The kids really are so sweet. One did have me laugh out loud for the first time. We were talking about Queen Esther and her fasting to save her people.  After we go over the passage, we often ask the kids questions to see if they understood what was discussed. They also get a price for answering correctly. The price is often something small like a ring pop.

Anyways, I asked the kids "what was queen Esther trying to do when she fasted?" and one of the kids put up her hands very confidently. She responded in no uncertain terms "she fasted so that she could save the black people!" I laughed out loud cause of how confident she was at answering the question. Cute!!!

So, as a result of the sequestration, I had an unpaid leave on Monday. It was the 4th of the 7-days my agency got. It was a bonus day off for me so I made good use of it. JOE's nanny taught me how to make grape leaves and Kebbe' Arass (fried meatballs)! They turned out pretty good and very yummy! I made some jollof rice (nigerian rice with tomato sauce) to go with it. YUM YUM YUM!!! The fried meatballs were so delish, they were all gone within 2-hours. Oh well...will make more another time :-).

 

Happy Hump Day!!!

Love...

I love taking pics of JOE and her dad together. Watching them playing or cuddled together really makes my heart swell with love.

I never understood when my mom used to tell us "you are my joy" or when my dad said to me once "having you is like watching my heart walk outside my body." Now I understand.

Happy Thursday everyone. Just one more day before the weekend!

A 10 aiming to be an 18 again

I read this article yesterday and it got me thinking. Why are people so cruel and why does the way a couple look bother other people so much that they have to say something negative?

I have always enjoyed working out. Even through my pregnancy. I took kickboxing the Saturday before I had  my baby. But after JOE arrived, things have been quite busy. I find that I am not as eager to workout anymore. I am now more interested in spending time with my daughter or getting sleep when I can. I still "workout" but not like I used to. I take a step class on Tuesdays but Mondays and Saturdays, I go for long walks. When it gets too cold outside, I'll start doing TaeBo in the basement. With that said though, my goal is to be back to my hour-glass figure before we start trying for another.

So when I read the article above, I was really disappointed that folks feel that way way when they look at other "mismatched" couples. J loves to workout too but like the guy in the article, he has ALWAYS encouraged me. He never makes fun of me and always has a kind word to help give me the boost I need. But J is one of the lucky ones. He has what I call "skinny genes." He eats like a horse but doesn't gain weight. I eat 1/3 of what he eats and gain 10-lbs immediately. OK...maybe not 10-lbs but you catch my drift.
Reading the article made me wonder if that's how folks view us. I have always loved my curves which was more hour-glass but since having a baby, I am much curvier and I feel more zero than an eight. I'd like for J & I to go from a 10 to an 18 again.

In reference to this statement from the article "[Together] They look like a number 10", I sent the below to J. The comment made me laugh out loud because of the way I've been feeling lately about my body.

As you can see...my hubby sure does have a sense of humor even when I am trying to get him to admit to something I (not him) am feeling :-).

2 Parties, a Spa and a DIY...

It was a busy but fun weekend. We had quite a bit packed into the weekend and I honestly don't know how we managed to do it.

On Saturday, J, JOE and I went for our Saturday morning walks. It was HOT out but we still went because we enjoy the time together spent catching up.
After we got back, we headed to JOE's swimming classes. JOE did AWESOME in the pool. I am so proud of her! She really is getting a hang of it. I can't quite figure out how to upload videos. Any tips? I know a few people have used YouTube. I don't have an account and really don't want to set up one. Thoughts?

After swimming, we all came home, got cleaned up and I headed out to run some errands while J took care of JOE. I also stopped by a nail spa to get my nails done. I really like how their turned out even though they didn't last.

On Sunday, we went to Church and then went to a 1-year old and a 2-year old's birthday party. 2-separate parties. The 1-year old's party decor was awesome. Here are some pics from the party. Unfortunately, since I had to pump and we had another party 45-minutes away, we left early. But that didn't stop me from taking pics before I left :-).

Yesterday, I decided to practice on my sewing machine again. I purchased some squares from Walmart and made the orange and brown dress JOE is wearing in the pic below. Total cost for materials was $1.94. Total time spent making the dress was an hour. I think she'll get 2-wears out of it because she is growing FAST! I measured her last week before I did the cut and already, the dress is somewhat snug on her!

Hope you had an awesome weekend! Here's to an even more awesome week!!!

Daddy/Daughter Love...my <3!!!

Back of the dress.

My little model! Front of the dress.

Crawling in her newly minted dress.

My aqua nails. They lasted a grand total of  24-hours before they started to chip. Won't be going back there!

Foolery: Things I have seen this week that made me go...hmmm

So its been a "normal" week for in. In other words, no day off and a regular work schedule. While pumping in the evenings, I often use my iPAD to read up on stories I have missed during the day.

Here are a few of the things I have read that made me go hmmm...

I actually saw this curler on TV and then read it online. I mean, SERIOUSLY? This thing is quite huge. Imagine trying to pack it to travel with! I will rather stick with my regular curlers or curling iron thank you very much!

ABC news did a segment on it to see if it really works and surprise (sarcasm), it doesn't! Here's a link to the report.  

In other news, are folks for real? These parents' kids were taken away from them due to alleged abuse. Also, they are the same ones who have named their kids after known racists. In anycase, they showed up in court for a hearing to try to get custody of their kids back and this is how they showed up. REALLY? I mean, come on! Here's a link incase you are interested in finding out how things went.

Then there is this interesting one. A man took a picture of a rabbit he saw. This was actually a little sad. This rabbit has a form of the HPV virus. There was a Discovery Channel show about a man with HPV who developed warts around his body that made him look like he was growing tree limbs. He is often termed the Tree Man. When I saw this rabbit my first thought was that's a "Tree Rabbit"!

Incase you were wondering, "foolery" is a term I borrowed from my baby sister. She often refers to foolish things people say or do as "foolery". I like it cause I feel it is a milder term :-).

How was your week? What are some of the things that have made you go hmmm this week?

Birthday Preparations...I need your help!

I have officially begun the prep-work for JOE's 1st birthday party.

I cannot believe it is right around the corner. As in less than 4-months away! Gosh...I'll have a one year old! When did this happen? I am excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because she is growing up so fast and nervous because she is growing up so fast. Make sense? Well, I want her to grow of course but the faster she grows, the more I realize she'll be more independent of me. Anyways, I am starting to babble.

So JOE's birthday is going to be a jungle themed birthday party. Like I have said in my previous blogs, I am not OBSESSED with Pintrest. I have been pinning things away for months and I guess now is the time to start working on these items.

I have pinned the following items for the menu and also for decor. I need your help to come up with catchy "jungle themed" names for these items. Some of the items, I have assigned names but am open to suggestions. I plan on making place cards for everything. Similar to these -

Food place cards

Jungle Vines (Green Twizzlers)

Rock Balls (chicken nugget balls...these might end up being BBQ meatballs)

Tiger Tails (Cheetos)

Volcano (chocolate cakes with colored icing)

Jungle Twigs (Pretzel sticks)

These will just be cookies on a platter

Wild Mushroom (marchmellows & apples)

Forest Dwellers (Options of PB&J, Jelly, Nutella/Banana and Cheese sandwiches)

Tiki Huts (These will be shorter hot dogs wrapped in croissants and topped with cheese)

Cake...still undecided

Ants on a log (celery, peanut butter and raisins)

Animal Kingdom (Party favors with animal crackers)

DECOR IDEAS:

I plan on making something similar to this. I need to get on this one cause I think it'll be time consuming.

Hubby's friend paints murals. We have asked him to do something similar for the kids to take pictures. We will include pictures of each kid in the thank you note we send out.

These will be animal print balloons. Saving the idea of using the cones for future birthdays :-).

So go ahead and give me some name ideas.

8-months of pure joy!

My princess turned 8-months earlier this week. She is such a  joy to be around. She is definitely a social butterfly, very inquisitive and very smart. Last night, we spent the evening running around the love-seat in our family room. She quickly caught on that after she turns around, we would crawl around and get behind her. We did that a couple of times and she caught on! She decided to stay in the middle of an area and look both ways to "catch" us. Of course, once she did, we'd get the biggest laugh from her. It was just so cute!

So here are her stats:
Height: 28-inches
Weight: 17-lbs as of June visit to Pediatrician
Skills/Milestones:
- She is a FAST crawler!
- She can pick up food with her pinchers (thumb and fore finger)
- She says dada often and mamma every now and then
- She can pull herself up from the ground and no longer needs something to grab on to. As long as she has something supporting her, she'll do it. My little spider girl :-).
- She can walk along furniture as long as she has something supporting her
- She has taken a step here and there without holding anything. So far so good.
- She now knows when I say "NO!"...she is slowly but surely, starting to test boundaries though...I think she thinks her smile will make me forget
- She is strong-willed and can be quite determined
- She "tries" to sing but also LOVES to dance when music comes on. Her legs are definitely getting a good workout :-).

Here she is getting rid of her bib cause apparently, its not cool enough for her.

Bib off, now time to tear up the sticker that used to hold the monthly count number.

No that THAT'S done, time to try to steal the camera from mommy...

By the way, the art behind her (above her changing table) was done by hubby. Pretty good huh?

Long weekend festivities

The weekend went by too quickly! I thought we'd spend most of it indoors relaxing but as is typical of our weekends now, most of it was spent doing different fun activities.

On Wednesday, we were given a 2 hour early dismissal so I came home and hung out with baby girl. Here she is making her cheesy face while I was trying to watch a movie 😄.

We were playing peekaboo. She loves that came and it always gets her smiling I think it's cause she is so curious.

On Thursday, hubby and I went for a walk. We also celebrated her first July 4th. She enjoyed her walk so much, she slept through it :-).

We are getting a patio put in but since it wasn't ready, we used the George Foreman grill for our burgers and hot dogs. They turned out quite yummy!

On Friday, while hubby went to help a friend move and JOE was out, I decided to finish up my first DIY sewing machine project. Here is a dress I made for J. It isn't the best but it is wearable. I think I need to view a few more You Tube clips to get a better handle of the sewing machine. The thread kept breaking. THAT in itself was frustrating and annoying. But it is done now :-). Perhaps I should read the manual it came with. Hmmm...perhaps...

Here she is trying to get up the stairs. So glad she isn't coordinated enough yet to climb the stairs. We are still debating on whether or not to put a gate here. We have one at the top of the stairs and I slipped on it this morning. Almost broke my neck. Not sure it is safe for adults!

In the midst of all the festivities, my baby girl turned 8-months yesterday! I can't believe how quickly the time is FLYING by! I love her so much and now can't even remember what life was like prior to her. I truly do feel blessed to have this happy baby in my life. Even on her worst days, she's still smiling. Love that about her!

Turning 8-months was quite a milestone. JOE made her first trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. We had a blast. She enjoyed looking at the fish and tapping the glass. My social butterfly wanted to chat with them but they weren't very chatty!

Here she is being carried around by her dad.

We went with JOE's second cousin (hubby's first cousin). Here are the dads carrying their babies. The baby on the left is a couple of weeks older than JOE. We think they'll get along great once they are older. For now, they were both kinda figuring out why there was another little person in the mix :-).

We found Nemo! Yay!!! I was more excited than JOE. 

Sleeping shark! Yes I know...turn off the flash next time :-). I just got so excited, I didn't want to miss the shot.

And here we are. We have matching hair styles. Yes, that was done on purpose. I braided one side of my hair and left the others side alone with some waves. Then put one side of JOE's hair in a clip since she wouldn't let me braid it :-).

After all was said and done, we went out for frozen yogurt. YUMMY!!! Now, that's how I like to cool down. Its been sweltering HOT here.

Long day and good baby equals sleepy baby. Overall, an awesome weekend that went by too quickly. 

Hope you had a nice weekend!