Adventures in Mommyhood!

No need to go to the movies! Just come watch Lisa and Brylee in Dollar General! Monday night, I made a run there. My mother-in-law had found some cute fall dish towels and rags for cheap. When I got there, I figured I would just carry Brylee instead of getting out the stroller or wiping down a cart. It wouldn't take me but a second to look at that ONE thing. HAH! I can't ever go in anywhere and get just one thing! Who was I kidding? I remembered Ben needed some plastic ware to take to work with him in the morning so I went and grabbed two bags. Then I found the towels and realized, "I don't want them now." I am the world's worst about that! Walking towards the front to check out, I realized I needed a dessert for a meeting at the church the next night. So I go and grab some brownies. I get to the front and see the Rachael Ray October magazine. So of course I had to get that too. So you're thinking, "that really isn't much" but keep in mind, I also was holding my wallet and phone. Not to mention a 20+ pound wiggly toddler too! It's finally our turn to check out and thankfully it didn't take until then that Brylee starts slipping out of my arms. So I thought, "what the heck, let me put her down." HUGE mistake! As I'm standing there, Brylee is clinging on to my clothes just like she ALWAYS does. Not complaining though. I'm glad she likes to stay near me instead of trying to escape somewhere. Anyways, Brylee some how begins to lose her balance. She decides that she is going to try to save herself by using MY shorts!! Ah, yes, I got half-way "pantsed" right there in Dollar General. I luckily had on a t-shirt so I DON'T THINK much was seen. AND luckily I was quick enough to grab on to my shorts and pull them back up before they reached my knees. In the mean time, trying to save myself from complete embarrassment, I selfishly let my child land flat on her back right there in the nasty Dollar General store floor! I picked her up and of course she was screaming crying all while I was trying to swipe my card all red faced wondering how much of my "wears" were seen. She finally settled down when I handed her my phone and she began "talking" on it as though nothing ever happened! As I walked out, I yelled, "Hope all of you enjoyed the show!" Okay not really but I wanted to! Hey the positive in this situation. I was able to be good birth control for the young fella checking us out!

September update

::sigh:: What a busy month we have had. I don't think I've sat down and watched one game of college football yet. My Saturday hasn't been free since August. I am not complaining at all though! It's been fun! Tiring, but fun! Here's a little update. The last Saturday in August was my precious niece, Mya's, 3rd birthday party. The next weekend, we went to the lake for Labor Day/my father-in-law's birthday. The next weekend was Habitat for Humanity and Brylee's friend, Violet's first birthday party. The next weekend, my cousin, Ron, got married which turned out beautifiul. Here's a pic of me and my bros before the wedding.

The next weekend, I helped host my friend, Audra's, baby #2 shower! She is due in November and we can't wait to meet that sweet little Hannah!
This weekend is Ben's BIG test, Brylee's friend, Reagan's first birthday party, AND my sweet niece, Zoe's, 5th birthday party. ::sigh:: Still not done! lol The following weekend, we have an old neighbor of ours getting married at the zoo. The next weekend, I am helping host my sister-in-law's "Welcome Baby" shower AND we have our friend Daniel who is getting married. The next weekend, I am going to do NOTHING!!!! At least, I'm pretty sure I'm going to do nothing unless there's something I've forgotten about! I have been needing to have a garage sale but I think I will skip that weekend and just breathe! Hope I don't eat my words ;)

This month, Brylee has officially become my little walker. She is walking everywhere! The other day we went outside to play, and as I followed her around just watching her, it hit me......"Oh my word she's not my baby anymore". Of course she'll always be my "baby" no matter how old she gets, but she is literally, not my baby anymore! She is a toddler! A couple Wednesday nights ago at church, I was told she was the oldest one in the nursery. Holy cow when did my sweet little girl become the oldest?! They also told me she is finally opening up. She hardly ever talks in the nursery but this same Wednesday night her teacher said she was responding to the questions that were being asked and everything! It made my heart melt when I heard that. One of these days I'm going to sneak in there so I can watch her "pat her bible". ::more tears::






This month as I mentioned, we had Habitat for Humanity which we did on September 11. I thought that was pretty special. How awesome it was though building a house for someone else in need. The girl was actually there helping that day which was neat. I think in order to get a home you have to put in so many hours along with a bunch of other requirements. Poor poor pitiful me "severely" injured myself too! I began hammering in my first nail of the day and "whop" right on the finger!



Here are a few pictures of us about to lift up one of the soon-to-be walls of the house. My friend Chelsea took some good pictures with her camera. I'll post some more when I can get them from her.


I can't wait to see it when it's finished. I think they said it's supposed to be complete by December. What a wonderful Christmas gift for the sweet family!

In hubby updating, Ben decided to injure himself at flag football last Sunday. Yes, they call it "flag" football but it's not!! He and his friend ran into each other and he almost got his teeth knocked out. And now his tooth is fractured and he has to have surgery. This was really inevitable! It's just not meant for him to have teeth bless his heart! One time he got them knocked out playing rugby in college, one time he dove into a pool and hit his teeth on the bottom of the floor (don't ask me!), another time a ski came up and hit him, and now this! And I'm thinking there may have been more instances than just that. Anyways, he has been going around in pain for over a week now. And maybe this sounds weird, but I am really sick of not being able to cook! He's been living on campbell's soup (which is stinkin expensive these days!), macaroni and cheese, spaghettios, jello. Pretty much anything he can just swallow without chewing. And we still have over another week of this too. He takes his board certification test this Saturday and he didn't want to get the surgery done until after that because it would hinder his studying. AND we were going to take a fall vaca to NC but now that's not looking good because he'll have to take off work for this now. At least not in October we won't. We're hoping for November. ::fingers crossed:: AND guess what!! He played flag football again this past Sunday! I consider my hubby to be the most intelligent man I know but geez, what is it with men and their lack of common sense?

Also this month we started a ladies bible study on Thursday mornings. Today was our 3rd time to meet and we have a great group of gals. We are studying one of Emerson Eggerichs' books, "Motivating Your Man God's Way".

This is the same guy that started the amazing "Love and Respect" ministry. Which by the way, if you and your spouse haven't done it, I suggest it! It will change your marriage and your outlook on marraige and your husband/wife. But this book we are studying is changing my outlook too. It's great so far and I'm really excited about it! Stay tuned for more info on that as we get further along in the study.

Happy Fall Yall! Enjoy this weather!
Lisa E

My first pillowcase dress

Here is the other pillowcase dress I made a couple weeks ago. This is actually the very first one I made! I can't wait to put my BK in it. The applique was done by Fuzzy Lemons (my sister-in-law's monogramming business). Check out her stuff! : Fuzzy Lemons or Fuzzy Lemons on Facebook

The BIG 1-4...Months that is!

First I must say, my girl looks like white trash but the cutest white trash I've ever seen in that picture. I had to get her hair out of her eyes yesterday at breakfast so I ran and got what I could. Her parts not even straight, the holders don't match, and her hair well, she obviously just woke up! Brylee turned 14 months yesterday. Yes, I actually remembered this month. I have been good about remembering her "month birthdays" but last month was the first time that I let it pass me by. I actually didn't even realize it either until like the 9th or 10th! August was just a bad month for me I guess! I was going through my August pictures yesterday and saw that I had only taken 15!! Shame on me! I guess maybe August is just not a real exciting month or something! That will be my excuse!

So wow, 14 months. Can someone please remind me where the time is going again? I don't do this often so I have a lot of catching up to do. It only took Brylee about 14 months to start walking. Kind of. She is still crawling about 75% of the time. She actually took her first steps almost 2 weeks ago at the hospital while we were waiting on her baby cousin, Gavin, to arrive. She picked a perfect day. I guess she realized she wasn't going to be the baby anymore so she had no choice but to learn. I wish I could get the video on here but for some reason my computer is not reading my phone when I plug it in. This past weekend we went to the lake and that's when she really started picking up on the walking. I guess she saw all her cousins doing it so she had to also! It was funny because all weekend she would crawl to this little ledge that leads to the table where you eat. It's a teeny tiny ledge but she would get to it, then stand up, and just stare at it. She was determined all weekend that she was going to walk off of that thing. She is such a little dare devil. She never did it but she did try to step UP on it and fell. Speaking of falling, this weekend I believe she fell and hit the back of her head on the floor...oh 76 times?! I'm just waiting any day now for the bruises and scratches all over her face so people can stare and wonder if I beat my child.

Brylee is still just a little jibber jabber. She loves to pretend that she's talking on the phone. Again, another video I wish I could put on here though some of you saw it on my Facebook. It is hilarious. And she has now figured out the word "hello". She has this little purple play phone that she will pick up and start talking away on. Every time she does it too, she sounds as though she's getting really firm and angry with whomever she's talking to. I have to tell her to be sweet to "the person" and then she'll just hang up on them without saying "bye". It's pretty entertaining! It doesn't just have to be the purple phone that she pretends with. She's used a puzzle piece, Mommy's fingernail file, remote control, her hand, her mini baby doll, you name it and she can make it into a phone!





She is now at the point where she will sometimes repeat things you say. (Look out Mommy and Daddy! No more cursing! JK!) There is this book I keep where I change her diaper so she can look at it and "read" it. It's some Bambi book that my mom got her in the dollar spot at Target because she didn't want to put it down! Anyways, I'll look at her and say "Bambi" and she'll stare at my lips and say "Babi". The other day I was trying to get her to say "I love you" She got the "I" part just fine but when it came time for "love" she just stared at my lips and it's so funny to watch her figure out how to get her mouth, teeth, lips, just right to say a word. She never did say it! The other day my brother said something to her about being hot and she said "hot". Too bad I missed that one! Her consistent words now are Momma, Dadda, Hi, Hello, bye, Nana (my mom), Dadoo (Ben's dad), baby, thank you,and bath.

She has now figured out how to take her diaper off. A while back she discovered the little velcro tabby thing that closes the diaper. I've always been around to tell her no. Most of the time it's just when I'm changing her diaper and she starts messing with it. Well yesterday, she awoke from her afternoon nap. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I could hear her talking. A lot of times, if I'm busy doing something and she's not crying I just leave her up there until I can get to her. Well that was a mistake this time. By the time I got up there she was still just talking and hanging out. Hanging out NAKED! I let her sleep in just a diaper. Something we won't ever be able to do again. Her diaper was just lying there in her crib and her sheets were completely drenched!! All the while, Brylee's just smiling at me! I couldn't help but laugh! Now had it been poop, that's a different story! I don't even want to think about what I would have walked in to had she pooped. ::gagging::

Other things:
She has 7 teeth now. 4 that are completely through.

Her favorite foods recently: ANY fruit, deli turkey, nutrigrain bars, pickles, cheese, yogurt, fluffernutters, anything with tomato sauce ie:pizza, spaghetti, bagels with cream cheese, fruit snacks (Daddy has to hide from her when he wants a bag!). We are struggling with vegetables.

She still loves taking baths, taking medicine, and getting her teeth brushed.

She shakes her head "no" though I'm not sure she completely understands what that means yet because sometimes she'll do it for no apparent reason.

She loves shoes. She will find hers and try to put them on!

She has figured out how to get Mommy soaking wet when taking a bath.

She loves stepping up to the bottom step on the stairs and hanging on to the gate Mommy and Daddy put up.

She gives kisses but is VERY stingy with them.

She has a "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Blue Clues" video that she watches over and over in the car. She's also a fan of Jack's Big Music Show.

She is now going to the nursery at church without crying.

When she's sleepy she sticks her arm up under her neck like she's trying to cuddle with it and I think it's the cutest, sweetest thing.

Her favorite song is Train's "Hey Soul Sister". Every time we play it she dances and claps and smiles real big! It's the funniest when we'll be driving along and she'll be super sleepy and in a daze and we start to play it. Without fail she dances every time!

She is a Momma's girl and I'm trying to eat every bit of that up because I know that some day it will be Daddy's turn and it will stay that way!

She is one hot mess!


Lisa E

Brylee's 1 Year Photo Book

Here I am finally getting around to blog about Brylee's 1 year book. Someone suggested months back that I do this. So here I am! I really wish that they would have had this type stuff when I was growing up. This will be so special to Brylee (and Lord willin' our other kiddos!). This is something I plan to do each year. I got the idea from my sister-in-law who makes one for each of her girls, though she gives their book to them for Christmas. I love the idea of having all the pictures in this one little book. I started working on this a couple months before her birthday. I told myself I would never do that again. I would add and work each month because it is quite time consuming. Do you think I've actually done that? NO! Though I'm only 2 month behind now. I can catch up! Here is the front:


I added pages introducing Mommy and Daddy, grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncles, great grandparents, and other special people in her life:


I added the different ultrasound pics:


Lots of hospital pictures:


Welcome Brylee Shower!


Holiday pages:


Monthly pictures:


Lots of "first" pages:




Like and Dislikes pages:




Special moments page:


Message from Mommy and Daddy page:


I made a blank page for everyone to sign at her birthday party:


And here is the back of the book:


There were so many other random things put in there but that's the "jist" of it. Couldn't add all 80+ pages!

Getting my "sew on!"

Here are my recent sewing projects. For a while now, I have been wanting so badly to learn how to make pillowcase dresses. Well guess what! I finally learned! Had I known it was going to be so dadgum easy I would have learned a LONG time ago. The first one I made I don't have a picture of (will post later) because it is getting appliqued. But it is a turquoise corduroy fabric. It's going to have an orange pumpkin with white polka dots on the front and I added orange with white polka dot ribbon. The 2nd dress (below) when I saw this fabric, I fell in love. There's just something about owls I love. Especially with the fall around the corner! (screaming inside with excitement!) I am totally not digging the "ribbon" on this. I didn't have any to go with this dress so I used some leftover fabric from the torquoise dress and made my own "ribbon." Yeah well that's 45 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I hate it!

















Hey, remember in one of my past posts about my favorite bible that I had to ghetto rig because pages were falling out?? Well, "walla!" No more tacky looking bible. I actually got it a little too big because while making this, my worst fear was that I would make it too small and my bible wouldn't fit AT ALL! I'll do better next time!













Here's a look inside. I love the cute little pen pocket!












Happy sewing!
-Lisa E

Girls Only!

Just recently, I decided to start a girls' night. I thought that all of us girls could use one night away from the hubbies, kid(s), work, whatever the case! Us women never get time to visit with just the girls without our impatient husbands hurrying us up or our children distracting us from actually listening to a grown up convo, having to step away to change a poopy diaper, having a little one eat off your plate and try to grab at everything on it etc, etc. I could go on and on! I decided one night a month would be good (though actually us women need more than that in my opinion!) to play games, eat snacks, and just enjoy some girl time! I held the first girls' night at my house last night. And what a big time we had! All 17 of us! We had a plethora of yummy food and with all the people we had, the only game we could really play was Guesstures! You talk about some loud girls! Oh, and the competitiveness! You really would have thought there was some grand money prize at the end or something! We had two girls that were pregnant and man, those girls can play some Guesstures! Especially Audra who was running all over the place and one time getting down in the floor to make a snow angel. I nearly wet myself when she did that so thanks Audra! Not sure how I would have explained that wet spot on the couch to my husband! The game stayed so close the entire time. We actually tied and had to break it so we played to 100. My team kicked butt and made it to 109. Unfortanately though, the other team had "last bat". They needed 15 points to win and in Guesstures that's hard to do because you have to pick all the hard cards. April got up there and of course had to use all 4 point cards. I knew they couldn't get it! Well by golly they completed all the cards and pulled through and kicked our butts! What a blast we all had though. I haven't laughed that much in a while! It was a much needed night for me, and I'm sure it was for the other 16 girls that were there. I actually told my sister-in-law last night that I wish we could do that once a week instead of once a month. Not sure that would go over very well with our men! ;-) Thanks girls for coming and I look forward to many more girls' nights together!

-Lisa E