Weekend Pics and Morning Glory

Forts and muffins, baths and giant beds to sleep in. I have to say, having a kid gives us an excuse to do some pretty fun stuff. Seeley and her papa had some great quality time these last couple of days; he made her an awesome fort and last night they had the cutest bathtime I think I've ever seen. Seeley's been hilarious as she shows us how much she understands. A couple nights ago she hoped up in our bed and tucked herself in and was ready for bed! And then she woke up 500 times through the night, but that's okay :) This morning I decided to try my hand at one of my favorite goodies: morning glory muffins. Of course Seeley took this as her cue to destroy the kitchen, which she did successfully. Oh well, homes are meant to be lived in!

Secret fort hideaway!

Pigtails! I'm beyond excited for pigtails:)

Scoping out the fort, courtesy of papa.

Ready for bed!

bathtime! Love those two.

Morning glory muffins. Raisins, coconut, carrots, pinapple, yummm!

All that in little muffins!

Seeley "helping" mama

Ta da!

Yummy yummy

Not to toot my own horn, but, toot toot!

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Video!)

I had some weekend pics lined up to share, but I figured since I can't stop watching videos of Seeley's hilarious dancing that would be better to let everyone see :) p.s. please ignore my gross scratchy voice and Wes' goofy voice in the first video. Just focus on the cuteness...

Around These Parts...

Enjoy some pictures from these past couple days! We've been out, we've stayed in, we've had fun:) I'm happy to report that Seeley had her 15 month checkup and she's incredibly healthy. She came in at the 59th percentile for weight and the 69th percentile for height! She's a tall girl with a healthy belly:)

Yogurt face! Sidenote: we really lucked out with a babe who eats everything!

Playgroup at the Jewish Community Center down the street. S decided to invade snacktime.

hey there playtime girl!

Baby on a trampoline! She was quite brave and went flying everywhere!

can't forget the cute kitty Deedle.

Lounging with mama.

baby gown at the doctor's office. Ridiculously cute!

Poor girl has nothing to play with ;)

Resolutions and Anniversaries

I'm a little late doing a post about the new year, but I figure better late than never. I am definitely one of those people that gets super excited about the new year and the idea of a "fresh start" that it brings. I love that we can create new goals and actually think that we're going to be superhuman enough to achieve all of them to absolute perfection. That said, I have a list of resolutions to share :) Twenty twelve was the craziest; year of my life and though I loved it and hope for another year of such incredible growth and love, I hope 2013 is a little calmer :) Here are my resolutions, we'll see how it goes!

1) Control my anxiety. Most of you who know me know I deal with anxiety that can be quite bad at times. I talk openly about it because I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of. I know a lot of people think having difficulty with anxiety or depression or any mental issue is a sign of weakness, but that's just not true. Anyways, I haven't had any issues in a long time but then it pops up like it always does. I woke up one morning and everything just felt...overwhelming. But honestly, I don't have the time or the patience to sink into the anxiety so I've taken some long needed steps to deal with it. One of which is medication. I have always gone back and forth, but honestly the medication has done wonders and I'm kind of in love with my crazy pills.

2) Value my relationships. I know no one's ever said this before, but when you  have a child you have to work extra hard in your marriage! It's hard at the end of the day to spend time together when we've been so busy and all we want to do is catch up on our own stuff and go to bed. But it's worth it, and just that little bit of effort goes a long way. In addition to working on my marriage, it's also important to me that I work on my friendships. I don't live in the same town as my friends and we don't talk a whole lot, but they mean the world to me. Hopefully they don't mind chatting on the phone while I'm also baby wrangling :)

Anniversary brunch (January 5) at New World Cafe with my two cuties.

Me.

Fantastic all day breakfast.

There was plenty of space and lots of natural light!

3) Stay involved with the First Book Advisory Board and The Poets Studio. I've finally found a volunteer postion and a place to work on my poetry. I tend to overbudren myself with projects and commitments; so now that I've found two things that make me fulfilled (outside of motherhood) I don't want to add anymore. I'm at the point now where I can really carve out some writing time and volunteer for something I believe in.

4) Continue to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom. I'm realizing how fast time flies and that I will absolutely look back with affection on these years when I got to be with Seeley all day. Even though I still stammer and feel strange when people ask where I work  and am often freaking out about how I'll get a job in four years, being with my girl really is the best. I just have to trust that the right doors will open at the right time career wise (eek!).

Home for the Holidays (Part Three of Three)

We are lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family and we're extra lucky that we get to see so many of them in Missoula! On Christmas day we spent the morning at Wes' grandpa's house and the evening at his uncle Tom's. Not only are they great hosts, they both just happen to live in bea-u-ti-ful houses. All in all we couldn't ask for more and Seeley had a blast :)

Playing with grandpa!

She's got the whole world in her hands.

One of maaaany gifts (thank you family!)

Uncle Nick and grandma hanging back.

Her plastic cell phone is her new favorite toy.

Grandma, Wes' uncle Tom, aunt Jill and uncle Eric.

Wes' aunt Heidi, Seeley, and a very interesting tree!

Christmas dinner at Wes' uncle Tom's house. Can I live here?

Oh yeah, did I mention I want to live here?



The one second during all of Christmas that we could keep her still!

A fresh Coldsmoke ( a local Missoula beer) and a hot fire. Perfection



Home for the Holidays (Part Two of Three)

Enjoy some more Christmas pictures! Seeley may be too young to remember it, but we'll never forget it :)

Christmas Eve with my sis, mom, grandma and brother.

She's a curious one

Hmmm. So this is snow?

I can kind of walk on it...

and I can sliiiiiide on it!

I think I like snow

Shoveling the walk with grandma

So happy Seeley got a white Christmas.

Holiday happiness.

She lost it over the wrapping paper!!

Hanging back with uncle Charles after a big day.

Love from aunt Shamara.

Home for the Holidays! (Part One of Three)

We're home, we're tired, we don't want to even look at sweets and we're excited to start the new year, which means our Christmas visit was a success! The trio piled into our car and went to Missoula for eight days with our friends and family. Traveling with a child is crazy and with Wes and I not knowing any other parents, it's yet another thing we're learning about on the fly. Luckily Seeley is really great in the car, but we did have to stop multiple time to let her wiggle outside of her carseat. As we headed toward Missoula I was both excited and nervous about flipping this girl's schedule upside down (How will we do naptime? How many different houses are we staying at? Eight days?!) but the most helpful thing I've learned about parenting is that sometimes you just have to jump in and do your best! Check out our pics below and see how we did! :)

We left bright and early. From here on in she had to nap when she could!

Our little traveler!

The girl who has everything!

We had to hit up brunch at Caffe Dolce once we hit Missoula:)

Good strong coffee=love

Nothing like a good breakfast after a lot of traveling.

We never had to worry about finding someone to feed this girl!

Cheese tortellini soup. Love being home!

Lounging and making memories.