Memorial Day Weekend & somebody's on the move!

Somehow Memorial Day weekend already came and went! I loved having the extra day with Jeff home and we had plans to go up to my in-laws lake house. The forecast wasn't so great but we ended up with decent weather and had a lot of fun firsts with Noelle.

First time on the boat! I was dying over the teeny pink tankini and big white sun hat that she rocked so flawlessly. She was so mad when we first put her in the life jacket but after her nap she was totally fine.

My sisters-in-law noted that Noelle had "Chronic Bitch Face" when she was in this life jacket. We all couldn't stop laughing every time we looked at her because she was just glaring at us. What the heck are you making me wear, mom?

She cheered up real fast! Already driving the boat around.

We let her take off the jacket for a bit when we docked so she could eat and she turned into a little model baby after. Is this kid for real? Work those baby thighs!

Love my sweet family! We loved our first mini vaca!

I would say she is a fan of summer time and boating. All that fresh air made for good naps!

Back at the camp, she had her first bath in the big tub that she LOVED, her first camp fire (which I didn't get any pictures of), and then this happened...

My baby started crawling!!! We knew it was coming but then apparently when there was something she wanted bad enough on the floor, she went for it! You can tell we are all so excited! Jeff wasn't sure if it counted because we were setting her up by placing the spoon on the ground. You can hear my mother-in-law, "It counts! Of course it counts!"

We had the best weekend and look forward to lots of fun firsts and family time this summer!

Noelle's Baptism

I'm playing catch up a bit and sharing Noelle's Baptism today! Trust that I am better at keeping up with her baby book than I am with this blog! :)

After buying our house, I began searching for a church in our area that would make us feel welcome and ease the transition from having no church to one that we belonged in. I was looking for a true community that would make it so we would enjoy going to church on Sundays. I found that in our little church and have been so happy with it. We have lots of friends, a Pastor that we love, and have spent a lot of time learning about our faith and becoming active in our church. We were married there on April 28, 2012 and on March 16, 2014, our daughter was baptized there, by the same pastor, in front of the same family and friends. It was such a beautiful day.

Noelle wore the same dress that I wore, as well as my three siblings and some of my cousins. My great-aunt crocheted it for me and now it is being passed down. I absolutely love that she wore this and look forward to putting all my babies in it! The dress is so intricate that we decided to go with this headband by Pink Lemonade. Such a little princess!

A little blurry but I was so glad to have these pictures. She did so well in church, which is typical. It didn't seem to bother her one bit that someone just poured water on her head. Such a happy moment for us!

Our little family, celebrating on the same alter that we took our vows on two years ago.

Afterwards, we hosted a small luncheon at a restaurant. We were really happy with the food and it was nice to not have to set up or clean up afterwards.

The cake was delicious and so were the gluten-free cupcakes! Made by Cakes by Michelle.

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For the party she changed into this sweet monogrammed dress made by Plain Jane & Co.

We had such a great day celebrating with family and friends! Just for fun, here is a picture of me with my parents on February 16, 1986 being baptized in the same gown!

Hello? Is this thing on?

Hi! Um, not even going to think about the fact that I last posted in December. What the what. Let's just say that between being unsure about how much I wanted to share about my baby and grad school starting back up after a semester off.. this mama fell off the track. 

So what have we been up to?

I am...

• enjoying being a temporary Stay At Home Mom! We decided, after lots of crying, praying, budgeting, crying, and praying, that I would take the rest of this school year off to be home with Noelle. So I haven't gone back to work yet. It has always been my dream to stay home with my babies and I am facing a harsh reality that it just isn't going to happen right now. Thankfully, Jeff and I were able to make it happen for this school year and we'll see what happens, though the plan is to go back to work in late August.

• back to grad school! I took two online hybrid classes, after taking the Fall semester off. The last day of class was May 11th and I have truly never been happier to end a semester, which was the last one before my practicum!! It was so hard trying to get a ridiculous amount of work done with a child who refuses to nap for more than 20 minutes, unless she's on me, so I've been allowing that for too long just to get work done. The work load this semester? B-A-N-A-N-A-S

• working on my fitness. I'm trying to get healthy and tone this strange post-baby body. It's flabby, it's stretched out, but it's lighter than it was before I was pregnant so it's just weird. I started T25, tried a few Stroller Strides bootcamp classes, and have been making a solid effort to eat well and take a 2-3 mile walk every day with Rocky and Noelle. Mama needs to get fit!!

• fighting cabin fever like whoa. I LOVE being home with Noelle. LOVE IT. But this winter was long and I felt like the sun came out and I didn't know what to do with it. We were inside so much because you just can't take a bitty baby out when it's 5 degrees out. Well, whaddya know, she's not so bitty anymore and spring has sprung, so we're out!

Jeff is...

• coaching baseball and loving it. His team is doing really well, too! It makes for a long day, though.. he leaves for work around 5am and isn't home until about 6-7pm. 

• working, working, working! This is his busy time at work as the nice weather peaks. So grateful for such a hard working hubby!

• L-O-V-I-N-G his baby girl! Daddy is obsessed!! Those two are just about the sweetest thing I ever saw. He was MADE to be a Daddy to a baby girl. Absolutely made for it.

Noelle is...

• getting big!! She is 7 months old, I'm guessing about 18lbs, 28 inches, and has two teeth! She is still deliciously plump but she is going to be tall like her Daddy. 

• starting to become more and more mobile. She is on the cusp on crawling but she sits and scoots on her bum to get where she needs to go. She can spin herself in circles, move from sitting to her belly, back to sitting, and she does baby planks all the time, which is hilarious.

• saying Dada!! I swear she said Mama first but the little stinker says Dada all day long.

• obsessed with Rocky and Princess. OBSESSED. Thankfully they both love her, too, but she loves hard! "Be gentle!" is our new mantra.

• such a happy baby!! I could just eat her up.

• not a good sleeper. We started partially co-sleeping because she won't sleep in her crib for long periods. She starts there and ends up in bed with us. It's working for now and she is seriously the best snuggler on the planet. She loves spooning. For real.

• eating solid foods but still nursing like a champ. She is independent and likes to feed herself but prefers mama's milk still.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging more regularly now. I love this sweet online community and I'm thankful for IG and emailing/texting with my blog friends but I have missed this space.