Birthday Fun!! Party #2

Last week we loaded up the car, dog and all (left Amos home though) and hit the road for Arkansas. Perri isn't exactly the most fun to travel with so long car rides are always interesting, but the trip wasn't too bad. The ride up she slept 20 minutes and was pretty fussy but the drive home she was silent and just sat quietly, sucking her thumb. I even got to sit and finish a book!! Amazing!! Now that she is weaned and we don't have to stop and nurse, we've gotten to trip down to about 8 hours. Our first ride up took over 10. Whew, don't miss that!!

Anyhow, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all the family, and then celebrated Perri's birthday on Saturday night. My mom has been a HUGE help with her birthday and did pretty much everything for it, which we appreciated SO very much!! We had planned on just buying everything but mom wanted to make it all so she made loads of chili, cheesedip, all the cupcakes and even Perri's adorable sock monkey smash cake!! The cupcake toppers we did order from etsy (my favorite web site ever!!) and I made the birthday banner but most other things were made!! Thanks mom and dad for hosting the party, we had a wonderful time!!

Get ready for picture overload...


The table




Sock monkey smash cake (made by my mom!!)


Cupakes


Birthday banner


Dressed and ready!!




Booty shot


Not so sure about this...


Trying out the monkey's ear


Tearing off the mouth.


Done with it.


After this pic, she started throwing cake in the floor.


Pretty chocolate mustache.

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Opening presents


Playing peek-a-boo with her new dress from cousin Caroline.


My sweet grandparents, watching the Arkansas-LSU game. Don't they look great?? They're 93!!!


Checking out some new toys.


A cute one of Craig, watching the game.


Craig with my Aunt Tori and cousins Charlotte and Madi, watching the game.


Cousin Daniel with my Uncle Joel, Aunt Kri and Aunt Carolyn, hanging out outside by the new chiminea.

Thanks everyone for coming to Perri's birthday party and for making it so special for her!!

Birthday Party 1 of 2.

Last Saturday, the 14th, we had a get together here with some friends for Perri's first birthday (I know, slight delay on the posting...). We had tried a cupcake with her on her actual birthday, the 12th, and it didn't go over very well. She kept spitting it out and just smeared it everywhere and ended up with a big rash all around her mouth from the icing (which was white). So on Saturday we weren't sure how'd she would react to a cupcake but tried anyway.


Think she enjoyed it? ha! But again, a rash all around her mouth. Any idea what would cause this?? Surely there isn't an allergy to sugar?


Me with the birthday girl! (And the shirt I have on... RIP. It's handwash only and somehow got thrown in the hamper with clothes to be washed and well, it's now a belly shirt. And I only wore it once!!)


Playing on the piano from Angela and Matt


Looking at another present.


Showing Charli an interesting article she tore out of a magazine.


Avery posing for the camera.


Charli and Emma. Bless you Charli for helping with Emma all night and wearing her out!!


Another cute one of Avery in her glasses we got for the kids.


Adorable Cole. Look at those eyes!!


Dora in all her glory. Emma was terrified of her and would barely get out in the yard.


End of the night. Ready for bed.

Thanks to all of our friends for coming for Perri's birthday!

Her big party is this Saturday, when we go home for the holidays!! I'll try and get that post of quicker than this one!

What's my ONE YEAR OLD been up to??

I still can't believe this little girl is one!!

So what has Perri been up to lately??

You weigh 18 lbs. 15 oz and are finally back up in the 10-25%!! Last time we were at the dr. he was worried because she was below the 5%! You are also 28 3/4 inches long which is 25-50% in height.

You have the tiniest little feet and get comments on them a lot! You wear size 2 shoes or in Pediped and Robeez you wear the 0-6 month size. Not sure what we will do when you are fully walking and need better gripping shoes. Most of those shoes start in 3s or 4s.

You fit best in 6-9 but things are getting short and you wear 6-12 too. We are having to rope up your little jeans in the waist in order to get them long enough. Too short jeans drive me nuts so she will just have to deal with me belting her up. Thank goodness for adjustable waist jeans though!

You are fully weaned and have been for 2 weeks and I am loving it!! You put up quite the fight for a while and would refuse
milk from a sippy but I was not about to deal with a bottle and then have to go to a sippy later. Now you will drink milk out of any sippy and love it!! If I even mention the word "milk" you begin signing "milk" over and over.

Speaking of signing, you sign "milk," "more," "eat/food," "dog" and "water." We are working on "please" and "thank you" but you would rather just scream than do that. I've gotten the occasional "cat" and "bird" sign but not consistently.

You aren't walking yet but stand for long periods of time by yourself and do a lot of playing standing alone. We think you could definitely walk because you've always had great balance and strong little legs but you aren't willing to try it by yourself yet!

The word we hear non stop now is "dog." Probably because our dog Emma is everywhere we go. You LOVE Emma and she loves you too. Our cat, Amos, is another story. You love him but the feeling is not reciprocal. Probably because you rip his fur out and he doesn't think that is very funny.

You are in a "big girl" car seat but we still have you rear facing. You still aren't to 20 lbs. and are happy in your new seat now so we'll keep you rear facing for a while. Praise the Lord we don't have to listen to you scream in the car all the time now! You just sit back there and look out the window and suck your thumb. It's wonderful.

You used to eat anything I put in front of you but you are now very hesitant about foods and will not put anything in your mouth without careful inspection and then sticking out your tongue and placing your food on your tongue to get a taste before deciding if you will eat it or rub it in your hair. Emma now has to go outside while you eat or you will lean over and feed her your whole meal. You find this hilarious. I do not.

Pretty much everything cracks you up and you have a very funny and playful personality. When I go in to get you from your naps I'll say 'I'm going to get you" and you'll be standing up and turn and just throw yourself down, face planting the mattress and die laughing. You do this over and over again. If I say this to you while you are playing or crawling, you will take off as fast as you can and belly laugh the whole way.

You are a big time ham when we are out and about and wave at everyone and talk to them and then start throwing your hands up and getting all excited. It's pretty funny and needless to say, we get a lot of attention when we are shopping.

There are a million other things you are up to but this is just a few. Your daddy and I love you so very much and you bring so much joy to our lives!!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Craig and I drove to the hospital, nervous, anxious, excited and scared. This was the last time it would be just the two of us and when we left, there would be an addition to our little family.


Waiting, waiting, waiting...


Emergency c-section, Craig's ready for surgery! I however, was a mess and bawled my eyes out!


Daddy with his girl


Our new addition

Ladybug then


Ladybug now



Perri Elizabeth, you are the absolute light of our lives. You have brought so much joy to us and we are so blessed and thank the Lord that we were chosen to be your parents. You have such a playful little personality and I crack up at you daily. You have quite the stubborn streak but I am told that that's a lot what I was like so we're in for it... One year ago today the world as I knew it was turned upside down and took some adjusting to but it has all be worth it and I wouldn't have it any other way. Your daddy and I love you more than you will ever know!!


*I have literally THOUSANDS of pictures to wade through and will try and get up a post soon of her from month to month as well as her 12 month stats!!

Family Picture

This past weekend my parents came down for a visit, even though Perri and I were up in Arkansas about 3 weeks ago...They said they couldn't wait until Thanksgiving! haha. We had a nice time with them that included lots of shopping and just hanging out. They had to leave Sunday morning due to the long drive, but got a few pictures of us before we headed to church.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report on. Sorry we're boring. EXCEPT, guess who turns ONE on Thursday?? Can you believe it? I sure can't!! Perri's BIG birthday party will be over Thanksgiving when we are back in Arkansas but we're having a get together this weekend with some friends. And this beauty will be there for the kids:
The one we are getting is a little different from this one, but this is the only picture I could find online that resembles it. Of course Perri has no idea who Dora is but Franco, the guy I rented it from, assured me it was "Beautiful." But then again he told me all their moonwalks were beautiful, especially the princess castle with the banner on it. I had to hold back from laughing the whole time I was talking to him.

What Do I Know of Holy?

I kept hearing this song on the radio and had to look it up on itunes. I downloaded it and can't get enough of it. It's a great song and really humbles me and makes me think... Perri seems to like it and grins at me and dances when I have it playing.

"What Do I Know of Holy?"- Addison Road (love them!)

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

(CHORUS 2)
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

Weekend Fun!!

I am loving this weather we've had here lately and am getting outside as much as possible!! It's mainly in the high 70s and at times low 80s but that is so nice from the 90s we were still having most of October!!

On Saturday we had planned on going with some friends to a pumpkin patch (round 2) but Craig and I were feeling kind of crummy and didn't want to drive all the way out there so we ended up going to La Centerra, an outdoor shopping area here, and walking around and taking some pics. As usual, Perri was way more interested in crawling around and looking at everything going on, but we managed a few good pics.


Giving my girl a kiss


Gross of me but a cute pic nonetheless!


Isn't she just beautiful?? We sure think so!

In the courtyard area of the shopping center there are fountains that shoot up all over the place and in the summer (well kids were doing it this weekend too!) kids are always there in their bathing suits (and in full clothes!) running through it. We sat and watched the water for a while. Perri was mesmerized in her daddy's lap.




After hanging out there for a while, we went home, ate lunch, and Perri went down for a good nap before heading to our friend's Angela and Matt's. All their neighbors were cooking out and taking the kids trick or treating and they invited us over to partake in the fun. Thanks guys, we had a blast!!

Perri and Angela and Matt's son, Brayden, hung out in the wagon watching the guys play basketball before the festivities began. I tried to get a million pictures of them together but they looked opposite ways or I could only get one looking! I tried!




She fell in the wagon and got stuck! ha!


Me and my little ladybug!


What a cutie!!

Craig and I ended up bringing Perri in with Matt and Brayden and letting everyone else trick or treat and we let the kids play and watched the OSU-Texas game (Craig was dvr'ring the Hog game and Matt and Ang are OSU grads). It was cold out so we just played and watched the game!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We sure did!