My lil creeper

Well, its official....Hattie is starting to creep. Not crawling, but really really trying.  She does this weird turn to her right while she is sitting, starts grunting, gets her right leg up under herself and bounces a couple of times then face plants. After that she rolls around and screams. When ever I can get the dog to lay down a little ways in front of her she gets so excited and tries her best to get over to him and pull his ears. Thank goodness he is so laid back and could care less what she does to him. For now anyways he loves her....especially in her highchair where he knows he'll get some type of goodie. Oh, and she has two teeth coming in up top...which means she keeps her lips sucked in at all times now. When she laughs she looks like a vampire! It is so funny to see her gummy smile turn into a little tooth garden.

So I have found something I'm good at. Vacation packing for a baby. Its an art form and I have accepted my calling. This will be our second trip traveling with Hattie coming up and I am ready to go! The secret to my success...LISTS!! I made a very detailed list and then cut that in half. I'm mean come on, shes going to be in a onesie or a bathing suit for the week so I didnt go nuts with clothes. Mainly just food and toys and that type of thing. I just have to pack a couple of last minute things that I can't pack till right before we leave, but it's all ready. What's impressive is that I packed it all into like 3 bags. Very proud of my newfound skill. Now if I could just figure out how to pack mine and Dorian's things a little better, we'd be all set.

5

5 more days people!!!! 5 more days till the beach! I am so excited for a week at the beach in Panama City with my family. We are going to the Sandpiper Beacon Beach Resort. The rest of my family has been there, but Dorian, Hattie and I have not. My siser Angie and I have been counting downthe days now for a while.  =>

Only bad thing.....we are leaving at 3:30am on Saturday morning. I dont' do mornings very well.

My Weekend

Whew! What a busy few days I have had! I was very lucky to have a 4 day weekend this past week and I used every available moment there was too.  I am kind of mad at myself though. Guess how many pictures I took this weekend?? 4, yep I’m a slacker.

Saturday was my nephew’s 6^th birthday party. Let me tell you, five crazy little boys running, screaming, playing and swimming all day is pure crazyness. But he had a blast, got lots of toys and lots of money. I’m going to steal a couple of pictures from my sister….

Here is TJ with his remote controlled truck he got for his birthday.

Here is his awesome “dirt track” cake that he asked for and was made by his aunt Jo Kathy. Let me tell you, that was one amazing cake! I could have eaten all the icing on the whole cake but I somehow refrained from doing so.

Okay, so honestly on Sunday I didn’t have any plans, but I really did have house work and food shopping to do. Got the house somewhat clean and then headed to Bi-Lo. I’m super lucky that Hattie is such a great little shopper. She loves to sit up in the cart now and check everything and everyone out. And of course everybody oh’s and ah’s over her, and of course I eat it up. I was very proud of myself for saving $40 at Bi-Lo!! Woo Hoo! I’m not an “extreme couponer” but I love to get a deal. I bought 6 rolls of Bounty paper towels for $2.67. They have “Cars” print on them, but I could care less! I’m going back for more today.

Monday we went to Tina and Kevin’s for a 4^th of July party. Tina and Kevin cook and grilled a TON of food. Dorian and Kevin are firework junkies and they shot off fireworks for more than 2 hours. Big fireworks, not the little piddly ones either. Who needs downtown Greenville fireworks when you have Pelfrey-Furmanek Fireworks Extraordinaire?  We had a great time with lots of friends we have not seen in a while. It’s always great to catch up when we all get together. This year’s party was definitely different than years past when I just hung out with everyone and had a few adult beverages with no concerns or worries. Now I had to feed the baby, entertain her, change her and try to get her to sleep with all the noise and commotion going on around her. She’s a social butterfly so she didn’t go to bed till like 10:30pm!!! Finally got to see some fireworks and have a few drinks, hung out with the girls and then we headed home. Here are a couple of firework pictures I stole from my friend Priscilla’s Facebook page. How in the world I did not take pictures of Hattie and Hazel I will never know. It was their first 4^th of July for crying out loud!! Bad mom, yes I know.

On Tuesday I finally got to meet Paisley, my long time and one of my best friends, Amanda’s new little addition. I was sick with that awful viral infection when she was born and she was in the NICU for a few days so I did not want to chance getting her sick at all so I waited till I was 100% before visiting.  She was born June 24^th at 8lbs and 3oz. I could have the weight wrong, but that’s close enough. She is such a cuite pie. When Amanda handed her to me I was thinking there is NO way Hattie was ever this small. Then I realized that Hattie was a full pound less than Paisley. They grow so fast and you don’t realize it until you see a newborn again. I got to spend an hour or so with Amanda and we chatted about the babies and life and all that good stuff. Our conversations have really changed from like a year and a half ago!! She and I have had some strange conversations in the past. I’m so happy for Amanda and Jason, they are going to make great parents! Oh and just a little fun fact for you…Amanda’s due date was 9 months to the day from their wedding day. Ha ha haha!!

My New Gadget

So I got this great new gadget the other day from my wonderful Dad and Stepmom. It’s a Flip Video and I absolutely love it! I’m still figuring out a few things with it on the computer but it is super easy and I recommend that everyone get one. It records in HD and comes with a nifty HDMI cable too. All you have to do is plug it in to your computer, and !!presto!! it downloads the videos automatically. My only problem…..Hattie will not do one cute thing for me to record. As soon as I turn it on, she freezes and stares at me with this weird blank look on her face. Makes for very boring videos. I’m trying to figure out how to upload the videos on here, but it is only giving me the option to download them to youtube first. I have lots to learn.

Here is my picture for the day I thought I would share. This is Hattie and her absolute favorite person, my nephew TJ. She LOVES him so much. He plays and plays with her and she never gets upset when he pulls on her arms, squeezes her cheeks, makes really loud noises in her face, etc. TJ is a wonderful first cousin. And they get to grow up 5 years apart. Which means he will know all the boys she’s going to try to run around with later on when she is older and he can look out for her.

Okay, so maybe she does get upset at times with him.

I gotta say, these kids are hilarious to have around.

My First!

Well, here I go! This is my first blog! Woo Hoo! I have had numerous friends and family members ask me to start a blog since almost all of my family is out of town and also lots of friends have moved away over the years and everyone wants to hear all about Hattie now that she is here. Not sure yet the direction this blog is going to take, probably just me rambling and venting about life.

So this past week/weekend was my first real taste in dealing with a sick baby. Hattie got sick on Monday and just went down hill after that. And of course I had to get sick on Thursday. Needless to say I had an amazing weekend. I think what made it so bad was that Dorian was at work all day Saturday and Sunday and it was just me...all alone...all weekend. And I had my first experience with liquid baby poo.....even more horrible. It was on her, the bouncy seat, the floor, the dog (don't ask) the changing table and me! I don't have the words to tell you how awful it was. Just writing about it makes me sick to my stomach and makes me shudder. But I'm glad to say we are doing much better today! Hattie still has a wicked cough that keeps her up a lot at night, but last night seemed better. She only got up once last night at 4:30am. I guess she thought it was time to get up and play. I fed her and made her go right back to sleep, which of course didn't happen. So we played....at 5 in the morning. Big shout out to the creator of the Baby Einstein videos!!! I strapped her in her seat and stuck her in front of the tv (yes I know, great parenting Shauna) and dozed off on the couch till I had to be up in like 25 minutes. Lots of coffee later, I think I'll make it through the day. Icing on the cake...I'm off tomorrow. =>