Playing Catch-up!

As you may have noticed, I 've been a blogging slacker over the past few weeks. I finally sat down this morning and caught up on my blogging...I think there are 3 new posts! Please make sure you scroll down to see each one of them! Hope you all have a great week!

Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Here are some pictures from our day:

Arden in her class at church!

Sitting in a high chair at Casa Blanca...she is still a little small for it, but with the help of a few blankets we make it work!

Arden's Easter basket

Really?! This is for me?!

What am I supposed to do with it?

This is fun!

These eggs are yummy!

Thanks for my pretty dress G.G.!

YAY! A picture of Mommy and me!

My family

I love my Auntie April!

5 Month Update

I don't have any stats this month because she doesn't go to the doctor until 6 months, but I thought I would share a few things about Arden and of course some pictures too!

• Arden is such a curious baby! She is always watching and listening to everything around her. If she has to choose between playing with her toys or listening to someone talk, she always chooses the latter. I think we have a nosey girl on our hands ;)
• She can roll from her back to her tummy...and then to her back again! YAY!! She still doesn't do it often (I think she knows if she cries long enough, mommy or daddy will come rescue her!) but at least we know she can!
• When she is playing on her play mat, she tries to pull up using the toys that hang down. It won't be long before she is pulling herself all the way up!
• She can sit for a few seconds without any support! Again, it won't be long before she is doing this completely independently :)
• She LOVES to eat! Right now we've only introduced cereal and applesauce, but she absolutely loves them both! She gets really excited when she sees the bowl we use, and then gobbles the food right up! We are about to introduce some veggies and more fruit--hopefully she will love them too!
• She still sleeps great! AND, she has started taking longer naps--which is so nice for mommy! I'm glad we are finally starting to get on some sort of schedule!
• Arden loves to give and receive kisses! She will grab your face and give you the biggest kiss! Just watch out--she squeezes your cheeks pretty hard! Oh, and it will probably be a wet kiss too :)
• If you want Arden to smile, just sing "Jesus Loves Me" and you will almost always get a big smile from her! This comes in very handy when trying to take pictures, and she is fussing!
• She loves to play Peek-a-boo!
  
• Arden is VERY ticklish! You can feel all her muscles tighten when you start tickling her--the longer you tickle her, the louder she laughs. We really need to get this on video soon!
• She loves to talk in the car! Geoff and I will be driving down the road, talking to each other, and then all of a sudden Arden decides to chime in! We aren't sure what she is saying, but she definitely tries to make sure her voice is heard. Sometimes, she even yells! It is so cute--we laugh so hard every time!

We are so thankful to have Arden in our lives. She is truly a blessing from God and we thank Him for her everyday.

What a happy little girl!

hmmm, that cereal sure looks good...

...I wonder if I can reach it!I got it! Now what do I do with this box daddy?"Go State!" Our little Spartans!Watching the Spartans is a family event!She loves her swing! She can now reach the mobile so it has become her new toy! Every time I try to take a picture of her playing with it, she stops and smiles at me :)I'm sure you all were wondering where on Earth I got such a cute outfit for her?! Well, since you asked...her Nonna (my mom) and I made it for her! April and I decided we should learn to sew, so Mom is teaching us. We've started making burp cloths and bibs for baby shower gifts (I will have to post a picture of those later) and then decided we wanted to make a few outfits for our babies. Mom definitely did all the hard parts of this outfit, but I promise I did do some of the work! Thanks Mom for all your hard work! It definitely turned out so cute!

Nashville--Arden's first overnight trip!

I mentioned in a previous post that we took a trip to Nashville in mid-March. Geoff had a business meeting there, so I decided Arden and I would tag along. We were only there for 2 nights, but it was good practice for us since we will be traveling to Dallas and Boston with Geoff later this year. I was worried how Arden would do sleeping in an unfamiliar place, but she did great! The first night was a little rough, but the second night was a breeze! The only challenge we had was not not being able to bring all of her toys (i.e. the exersaucer, bouncy seat, etc.). She doesn't like to do one activity for very long right now, so her play mat and bumbo seat weren't enough to keep her occupied for very long! It really wasn't a big deal though and I'm sure it was good practice for our next two trips--we definitely won't be able to take many "extras" then either!

We didn't do much in Nashville besides eat at some great restaurants and relax! Arden did experience a swimming pool for the first time! I wasn't able to take pictures of her in the pool because I took her while Geoff was in a meeting and we were the only people there, but I did take one of her in her cute swimsuit:
Of course I didn't take many other pictures while we there (I know, I'm a slacker!) but here are a few that I did get:

The only picture we have together...and we had to take it ourselves!

Arden and Daddy at Centennial Park

Relaxing in the hotel room

This is how I occupied her so I could take a shower. If you are wondering what she is looking at, she is watching T.V.!!! Our little girl loves to watch T.V.!!!

Pray for Tuck-Tuck

Please pray for my dad, Arden and Silas' Tuck-Tuck, this morning. He is having back surgery at 10am to repair a herniated disk. He has been in a tremendous amount of pain over the last several weeks and I know he is looking forward to some relief. Please pray that the surgery will be successful and that he will have a fast recovery.

Applesauce

Arden has been eating cereal for two weeks now and is doing a great job! She loves it so we've started feeding her cereal twice a day in addition to her bottles. I decided this weekend that I wanted to introduce applesauce to her and this is the reaction I got:

Priceless, I know! Funny enough, she ended up eating almost all of the tablespoon I had for her, but this is the face she made with almost every bite! I know she will hate us one day for taking these pictures of her, but I just couldn't help but take it and share with all of you! Hopefully, our next few encounters with applesauce will be better!

So I don't leave you with that pitiful image of Arden stuck in your mind all week, here's a cute picture I took of her during our trip to Nashville (more on our trip to come):
Have a great week!

4 Things...

4 jobs I've had:
1. 2nd grade teacher
2. Office Manager @ Carpet One
3. Space Camp Counselor
4. Director of Education @ Sylvan

4 movies watched over and over:
1. Pretty Woman
2. Conspiracy Theory
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Rush Hour

4 places I've lived:
1. Huntsville, AL
2. Searcy, AR
3. Kernersville, NC
4. Harvest, AL

4 shows I watch:
1. American Idol
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. Friday Night Lights
(I could list a million more---do you think I watch too much t.v.???)

4 places I've been:
1. London
2. Antigua
3. Bahamas
4. Vancouver

4 people who e-mail me regularly:
1. Steph
2. Geoff
3. Cani
4. Facebook notifications :)

4 favorite things to eat:
1. Vegetables
2. Mexican
3. chocolate
4. potato chips

4 places I'd rather be:
1. Hawaii
2. Antigua
3. London
4. Any beach :)

4 things I look forward to this year:
1. Going to the beach!
2. Traveling to Boston and Dallas with Geoff and Arden
3. Seeing old friends on our trip to Dallas
4. watching Arden grow!

4 people to tag: (I wish everyone would do this because it's fun - but I'm limited to 4 people)
1. April
2. Steph
3. Dasha
4. Shelly