Texas trip

After mine and Elsie's trip to Oregon we flew straight to Texas where we met up with Edwin who drove there from NC. We spent the week with his family and his two boys, Luke and Bryce. Elsie had so much fun playing with all the big cousins and loved seeing her baby cousin Tatum. We went to a local water park with Gigi, Papa, Luke, Bryce and Dublin. Elsie LOVES playing in the water. We also had family pictures with the whole family. It was very special for us because we were finally able to get a family picture of us with the boys. 

Little sister!

Elsie loves her big brothers and they love her

Cheese!

Bryce!

Goofy Luke! :)

Pay no attention to the pasty white legs... I guess it's ok, Elsie is just a pasty haha!

Bryce surprised us and turned into quite the little fish!

The boys are always so enthralled with Edwin :) 

Lovin' their daddy :)

Haha, Dublin in the upper right corner

Kason making silly faces

Ross and Jessica, they are going to have a beautiful baby girl in a couple months :)

Elsie loves her aunty Jess

Even though we didn't manage to get many photos of Elsie with her Gigi and aunts Kaitlyn and Danielle, she loves them just as much as the rest of the family. :) We will have to work on that next time we visit.

One more

This is probably the cutest video yet.

Sidetracked...

With some videos of baby Elsie that were just too cute not to post!

This is what daddies are good for :)

Trip to Oregon

In late June I made a trip to Oregon where I finally got to spend some good quality time with my brother and his new wife. They were having an open house there, since they got married in California, so everyone could meet the new addition to the family. Speaking of new additions, I forgot to mention when I found out I was pregnant, my sister had just found out she was pregnant as well. :) I always wanted to have kids close in age with my sister. Oh and a couple months later we also found out my husband's sister is pregnant too! She is due in March. Anyway, back to the topic. While I was in Oregon, me and my husband had our second anniversary. Unfortunately he was not in Oregon with me. :( He had been out of town and wasn't supposed to be back until after our anniversary but actually got home before. It made me kind of sad and it was a little ironic but there was no way we could have predicted it. And we will have many more anniversaries to come. So aside from me being a little sad that my husband was unable to be with us, it was a great trip. It was really nice to have everyone be able to see Elsie and spend time with her and getting to know her. That's one thing we miss out on living so far away from both mine and Edwin's families. One thing I learned about traveling while I'm pregnant though, it's not for me. I ended up in the emergency room both times I have traveled during a pregnancy. Never again. Not happening so don't even ask... it was worth it though because I got to know my new sister-in-law Samantha and because we were both staying at my parent's house we had a couple late nights of girl talk. We went to the Chinese Gardens in Portland which were absolutely beautiful. My whole life living in Oregon and I had never been! Elsie had a blast with all her cousins and aunts and uncles. And of course her Nana and Papa Osborne. (The Osborne because Edwin's dad is also Papa.)

First day in Oregon Elsie immediately loved Daniel

Chinese Garden

She got up there all by herself and didn't fall off!

Lovin' her cousins

A long time coming...

In case no one has figured it out yet, I don't ever feel like blogging when I'm pregnant. Oh yeah, I had a baby since my last post! :) Well, a lot has happened since my last post. Let's see, I found out I was pregnant shortly after, made a trip to Oregon with Elsie and then straight to Texas where we picked up my step sons (whom we call the boys) and met my husband who drove from NC, spent July and part of August with the boys, had Elsie's first birthday, found out we were having a boy, enjoyed a visit from my mom, and then of course there's always the holidays. There you have it, what my mom always tries to get me to do, give the readers digest version of my usually always very long stories. :D

Ok now let's start at the beginning. When I found out I was pregnant I was taking Elsie with me everyday for about four hours to a babysitting job. She and the little girl I watched were only a month apart so it was like having a play date for the both of them every day! They had a blast together and I was able to stay in pretty good shape chasing after two crawling babies. I unfortunately had to quit because of the pregnancy. While it was a much easier pregnancy than Elsie's it still took a lot out of me and I was still sick. Although I was able to keep teaching piano out of our home which was nice to keep my mind occupied and Elsie could still have some interaction with others without us having to go anywhere.

Look how small she used to be!!!

There you have it. The first post in nine months. One down, many more to come.

Just because I can :)

I love my crazy haired baby girl so much! She cracks me up all the time and despite her digestive issues she is such a happy baby. She follows me around the house, plays in the living room with her toys, and talks all the time! All I have to do is look at her and she gets such a big grin her eyes almost disappear. She loves me but she REALLY loves her daddy. This morning when we were babysitting I asked her, "Elsie, where's dada?" She perked right up and started looking around the room. :) Now for some pictures of my happy, crazy haired baby girl!

Following me into the kitchen

Playing in the mail daddy was sorting through, she loves being nakey <3

Homemade baby food! :D

My new hobby that I love to do for my baby girl, Elsie, is making her baby food. It is so fulfilling knowing that I put effort into making her homemade, fresh food that doesn't have preservatives in it. It made me even happier when a doctor I took her to complimented me for doing so. Doctors rarely agree with what I decide to do for Elsie so I relished the moment. I started making it when the lady I babysit for read a book on the benefits and starting making her daughter's baby food. Elsie has had digestive issues since she was two weeks old and one of the benefits is that it is supposed to help with babies digestive systems development. Not only that but it's WAY cheaper! And easy! All you need to do is chop up whatever you want to feed your baby, make sure it's not on the list of foods not to feed them before a year, boil it, and throw it in the blender. I use the water the food was boiled in to blend with it so less nutrients are lost. 

Butter Nut Squash, Elsie's second favorite

All blended up!

All for this sweet little angel :)

Enjoy!