Holidays With Family

First things first! Unfortunately I did not have time to post this yesterday, so we are catching up today. I hope you want to look at lots of pictures!

At 5 months old you:

• Go to bed between 8-9pm
• wake up to nurse around 4am, and get up for the day around 9am
• nurse every 2-4 hours
• love to eat w/a spoon, and have eaten cereal, bananas, carrots, and pumpkin so far
• have two bottom teeth already
• love to stand if we help you balance
• can kind of sit up by leaning on your hands
• can roll over front and back
• talk to us by croaking and squealing
• are ticklish on your back
• usually take 2 one hour naps a day
• like to chew on your feet and pull your socks off
• are still wearing size 2 diaper
• almost always cover your face w/your blanket to go to sleep
  

We began our Thanksgiving celebrations on Tuesday. Since my parents are divorced, I cooked a big dinner and had my dad over for our own fun!

You can see where I get my white hair from! I made a big ham and all the fixings and we stayed up talking late into the evening.

Then on Thursday after I got off work, I came straight home and started cooking. I made two batches of homemade yeast rolls, sweet potato casserole, and deviled eggs to take to my mom's for her big dinner at noon.

This is her (she is down 130 lbs now!!) and my stepdad Gary. We got to see a lot of family that day!

^Me and mom

^Me and my grandma

^My oldest brother Eric

^My brother Shane and his gf Audra

^My brother's 3 kids (and Bradley's cousins) Kiara, Kavin and Cameron.

You can see little B enjoyed wearing his necktie onesie I made!

Our little family all together!!

After that I went home to take a little nap, then we headed down to Elmore City to see Nick's family and have some leftovers. We stayed there for a few hours then came home and went to bed early!!

Look who is standing up on their own!!

Bradley with his grandma Penny.

Bradley's grandpa Mark and greatgrandpa Garrison.

Bradley's greatgrandma Ella who is bedridden with Alzheimers.

Bradley's Aunt Sarah and cousin Zoe (who is 10 months old).

All in all we had a fabulous holiday and lots of fun seeing all of our family.

To end with, I made these adorable pants and a matching bib this week! This is super soft flannel, and I made them a little big so that Bradley can wear them for awhile.

Making Clothes

Yes that's what I've been doing! At least just clothes for my baby that is. Speaking of the little one, here is what he is doing right now:

Since he wakes up around 7:45 every morning (which is the same time daddy gets up for school), our morning ritual consists of me bringing him to bed, feeding him, then letting him sleep all snuggled up for a couple more hours. Too cute!

Is this not the cutest little outfit you have ever seen??? I got it at my baby shower and now he can wear it when we go for walks on the cooler days. It's so soft too!

Look closely here and you can see his two little teeth poking up! They are bigger now than when I took this pic a few days ago. (Please ignore the pumpkin cupcake under my fingernail)

I was a bit sad about having to leave my beautiful green nursery behind when we moved back to our house in Norman, but these walls match pretty well. We painted these right before we moved out, so I was not allowed to paint again!

As you can see, I have the curtains up but not the valances. I have yet to figure how to get them up b/c the rod up there now is pretty high and if I take the brackets off, it will leave a white spot since we painted around them. Hmmm...

Now on to the clothes!! Who needs store-bought anyways???

This will be his little outfit for Christmas Day!! I appliqued it with some Christmas fabric, zigzagged around the edge, then hand-embroidered the words on. ((Notice the bell on the top of the tree?? Can't wait to hear it jingle!))

You gotta love the necktie onesie! This will be his outfit for Thursday.

Another hat I crocheted for him. I am making them a bit large so that he can wear them for {hopefully} a few years.

And last but not least--a pair of pants! I had a fleece blanket that I had tried to embroider on, but my machine messed up and I had to scrap the blanket. Perfect for a trial run on a pair of baby pants! I think they turned out quite well, and they are just the warmest and softest little things. A little story behind the buttons...whenever we temporarily moved into hubby's grandparents' house, we had to clean out all of their leftover belongings. Well his grandmother Ella was big into crafts so I adopted her bags of thread and a big jar of buttons! Since then, all of my sewing projects have been done using her thread and her buttons.

Now I must go begin cooking because we are having our own Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon!

PS. If you are interested in purchasing a personalized onesie similar to the ones pictured, email me at kandydpierce@yahoo.com

Preparations

I am getting up and around after working the last couple of nights. Today I have to make out my menu for the next week and do all of the grocery shopping for the meals, including Thanksgiving preparations. I am making our dinner on Tuesday afternoon, and then my mom is making a big dinner on Thursday. I am picking up an extra shift this week to get in some holiday pay, so I will be working Wednesday in addition to my Friday and Saturday.

I talked with a friend at work who also works at another facility because I am interested in applying there. He told me they should be opening up a position soon so I am going to keep my eye on their website so that I can apply for it. It is a per diem position that pays a LOT better than I'm getting now, and it's less work! Always good. I am ready for something a little less involved than my ICU. I've been there for 3 1/2 years now and I figure it's time to get out of my comfort bubble and branch out.

As for my little one...he has been quite cranky these last few days and seems to be boycotting naps. I have to sweet talk him to just take one! Thankfully he is still sleeping fine at night though. All I can think is that it is teething, but I thought it would get better after they broke through the gums. Hmmm...

Cupcakes, Crafts, and Carrots

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile! We have been unpacking and trying to appease a teething baby. But I have found time to sneak in other doings which I will show you now...

^ Pumpkin spice cupcakes w/cream cheese frosting (DELICIOUS)

^Crafted fabric scrap toys (ideas from here) for little B. The box has a bell in it!

^Daddy helping me make a ton of mashed carrots for Bradley to eat soon! I gave him a sample and he liked it.

^The first of many hats that I will make him for the cold weather.

So yes he has two bottom teeth that are now above the gum line. He has been a little cranky today but otherwise I think he has done quite well with the whole thing. As for food, I am keeping a log of the food I feed him, when I fed it, and if he liked it or not. And after I fix the sweet potatoes I bought him, he will then have pumpkins, carrots and sweet potatoes in the freezer for him to eat! He'll be pooping orange for a year, ha!

I talked to our realtor today and she knows we are going to take our house off of the market when our contract is up next month. It just isn't the right time for us now. We will make the best of it and enjoy it while we are here.

Tomorrow night some girlfriends and I are going to see the midnight premier of New Moon...I wouldn't have minded seeing it at a normal time but hey, I'm kinda just tagging along since they had already bought the tickets. Looking forward to seeing the movie though!

As for next week, Tuesday afternoon I am cooking our own Thanksgiving dinner at the house and having dad over since he doesn't have any other family to spend it with. Then Wednesday evening we are having family pictures made for the first time!! We should get them in just in time to send out in Christmas cards. And Thursday is the big Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house! Thankfully Nick doesn't have any class after Tuesday so he will able to relax a bit for the holiday. On the other hand, I am working an extra day to get in some good holiday pay so I'll be a bit tired. But that's okay :)

They Grow Up So Quickly...

I had thought that my precious little angel was teething, and I was correct! He already has his two bottom teeth coming up!!! You can feel the tips just above the gum line. And he can roll over from his back to his stomach now. **sniff** my little baby is getting big too quick.

In other news, we spent the whole day today moving back to our house in Norman. Let me just say I hate moving. But it will be nice to be back in our own {big} house in a safe neighborhood. I am having withdrawals because I haven't been able to craft in awhile, so as soon as I get my stuff unpacked I'm hitting it hard! I have someone at work who is buying a hooded bath towel from me like I made in this blog so I need to get that done by Friday. Tomorrow I'm making a trip to Michael's and Hobby Lobby (my 2 fave stores).

Right now I am finishing up laundry and then I am going to bed. We are all very tired after today and I have bunches to do tomorrow.

Fotograph Friday

Counting my Blessings Early

No pictures to post this time, just was feeling thankful now that it's NOVEMBER already and holidays are only weeks away. So I thought I would get on here and list a few things that I thank my Lord for everyday...

1. My supportive and faithful husband of **almost** 7 years--Nick
2. My beautiful and healthy miracle baby boy Bradley
3. My parents (including stepparent/in-laws)
4. Having a college degree and a big girl job under my belt
5. Having a nice house in a good neighborhood
6. Being able to say I have NO credit card debt and a fabulous credit score
7. My few but loving friends
8. Being crafty and creative enough to make things we can all enjoy
9. Being savvy with money so that we can still travel even when things are tight
10. The economy getting a bit better so that my 401k isn't suffering anymore

Those are the main ones off the top of my head right now. I absolutely HEART the holidays and after we get moved back down to Norman next week, I am so decorating for Thanksgiving!

PS. You may have noticed on the left timeline < that I updated Bradley's weight/length for 4 months--15 lb 11oz, 26 in!!! I was certain he would be around 17 lbs but I guess it just feels like it.

Happy November!

Friday before I went to work, I baked some yummy treats! Some for us, and some for coworkers. I baked cinnamon rolls....

...and banana bread...

...and sugar cookies!

Then yesterday after I got up and around, we put on our costumes and hit the pavement for some candy.

We're not quite sure what Nick was...he had on a Freddy mask and shirt, but no glove and he added a trenchcoat.

I was a gypsy...

...as was my mother. We walked to her house and got to see my brothers while we were there.

We had a very fun time, and we love making memories and traditions for our own family!