...and they say spring time is motivation to get things done

There are TONS of pictures this week. With house projects, fall family pictures, Halloween, and more - it was hard to choose which ones to post. It's been a pretty typical week for the most part - I watched Dylan most of the week days, Sam and I worked on lots of projects throughout the week, and well - Sophia is still just so darn cute. This week I have noticed some big changes in her. She is moving around like crazy...she does not sit still. She scoots, crawls (we're still not very good at this one yet), and rolls anywhere and everywhere. She starts to whine, and sometimes throws a little tantrum, if she can't have what she wants, when she wants it. Some examples are: the cat, to be fed instantly, to be picked up, etc. She also has started to really understand when she's being "reprimanded" so to speak. If I tell her no (like when she is nursing and decides to bite me) she gets a big pout lip while looking at me, and then just starts bawling. Of course I feel badly about her crying, but I have to be serious when I say "no" otherwise she just thinks I'm being funny.

Projects we accomplished this week: painted and rehung all the shutters, painting the railing and light post in the back of the house, painted the mailbox, painted the light post in the front of the house, and put up our master bedroom curtains. I still need to hem the bottom of them, but that won't take long. I also caulked the kitchen (between the countertop and the backsplash). Sam put the outlet covers back on and everything looks marvelous! We also flea bombed the house on Tuesday and mowed the lawn in the front. ...Hopefully this flea bomb was successful because I cannot stand the cats having fleas! We'll have to keep them from going on the screened in porch until it cools down and there isn't such a high risk of them getting fleas from outside. I also want to look into some flea stuff you can put in your grass.

Halloween fun: The day before Halloween, I babysat Dylan and we still managed to get some pumpkins carved before Sam went off to work. He did 1, and I did 4! They look great and I hope you'll think so too. On Halloween we went for a walk on the beach, hung the shutters and painted the mailbox and light post in the front of the house. Before Sam had to leave for work we managed to take some great family pictures on our front steps - because the weather was beautiful outside! After our mini photo shoot, Sophia and I headed to Tyler's baseball game. When the game was over, we came home so we could pass out candy to the trick or treaters. Trick or treating went from 6-8 and by the time it was over - Sophia was definitely ready for bedtime! Sadly, I didn't get to see any family for trick or treating :( Hopefully next year Sam will be home and we'll see either his parents or Kristin & the boys!

Enjoy the pictures!

The back railing and light post before...

And after!

Hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's for dinner.

Just playin' on the floor with the toys at Grandma's

Sam did the bottom jack o lantern and the spider is one of mine

My other 3 jack o lanterns...

The shutters before...

....And after!

Family picture on Halloween

She loves her daddy...

...and her mommy!

Sharing an apple with Mommy at Tyler's baseball game

Look at the wind blowing her hair lol

Just hanging out with Kristin...literally!

Ready to hand out candy...errrr eat it?

Waiting for the trick or treaters inside...the mosquitos got too bad outside

She loved standing at the door watching for kids. She'd see them and start banging on the door and making noise. She had a blast!

Her first bath in the big pink tub

Good morning Mommy!

The front light post before....

...and after!

The mailbox before....

...and after!

Wearing her new green leggings from Grandma

Finally got the curtains up in our bedroom! Check out the curtain rods - they consist of $1 dowel rods that we spray painted and finials that were on clearance for $3 at Target! Awesome!

Where did October go???

As you've probably noticed...it's not Tuesday. It is in fact past then. I did make an attempt Tuesday night to update as usual, but Blogger was not being friendly. It wouldn't let me upload pictures...and then it wouldn't let me close the tab and open a new one either. Soooo, I gave up and went to bed. Since Tuesday night we've been very busy and I haven't had a chance to get caught up. So here goes!

Wednesday: I watched Dylan again...and he was quite a handful in the morning. So, Sam being the awesome, loving husband that he is - surprised me (after he got home from court that morning) with some flowers and a card - thanking me for all I do for our family :) Aaaaah, love that man! Today was also the first day that I found Sophia KNEELING in her crib, holding onto the bars after she woke up from her nap. Little stinker. The weather was gorgeous today, so after Dylan got picked up we went to the Botanical Garden to spend some quality family time. On the way home we stopped and grabbed some Sonic for dinner. It was my first time having it, and it was pretty darn yummy! ....And I didn't have to cook or wash dishes then either! Hahaha.

Thursday: I had Dylan again today...and Sam had court again today too. Bummer. BUTTTTT Sophia turned 11 months old!!!! Holy moly. I cannot believe at how fast her first year has gone - makes me sad. Sophia started "clucking" today. So cute! I got her up from her nap and put her on the changing table. She just started clucking her tongue and it is adorable! While the babies were napping, I decided to sort through the drawer of things I had saved to put in Sophia's scrapbook (various NICU memorabilia, baby food labels, cards from people, etc). I then proceeded to sort through and chronologically organize the pictures that I had printed off for her scrapbook. The weather was beautiful again today, so after Dylan got picked up Sophia and I went for a walk on the beach. I love when tourist season is over because no one is on the beach. We sat down and I let her play in the sand for a while. She LOVED it. After the beach I did Sophia's 11 month footprints and she ate her first whole jar of #3 foods without gagging once! Awesomeness! So proud of my little girl!

Friday: Sophia, Sam, and I all took a glorious 2 hour nap this morning. Just amazing. After the nap, we went on our first family beach walk in a while. It was fairly rushed though because Sam had to work at 2pm. While Sam was working, I spray painted the dowel rods and hardware that we are using for the curtains in the master bedroom. I started to paint our front railing...but ran out of spray paint. After I got Sophia off to bed I started working on her scrapbook....FINALLY. I got the very first page done and it felt so good to get back into scrapbooking. I forgot how much I really love doing it. It is so time consuming...and it's not cheap either....but I love doing it and I love the final product.

Saturday: Today was another continuation of our busy week. After some yummy pancakes at Kristin's house, we were off to the bank, Home Depot, and to Walmart to get pumpkins! We stopped by Sam's mom's house on the way home to visit. She gave Sophia a piano/xylophone and Sophia went to town on it lol. After Sam went to work, I finished painting the front railing while Sophia napped..and it does look marvelous.

Sunday: I went to the 11:00 church service today so that afterwards, I could go out for lunch with Sam (before he had to rush off to work). Sue took Sophia after church until 5:45! Sam and I had Firehouse Subs (one of my favorites) mmmm. I then went and took my time looking around Michaels. I got a few scrapbooking items and some supplies to make a fall wreath. I managed to get home and finish the wreath all before Sue dropped Sophia off. :) I missed Sophia like crazy, but it was nice to have some time to myself too.

Monday: Today started off on a not so great note....Tommy forgot Dylan's diaper bag today. Soooo, I had to find some formula (still packed in boxes in the garage) that we got for free. Well, then it came time to feed him and his bottle was leaking out the bottom??? Still don't understand it. Sam had his shooting qualifications today and he shot a 98! That means he got a Marksman Medal for it! Awesome job, Sam! After Dylan went home I went to Lowes to get some paint for our shutters and a few other things. I also swung by Walmart to get some groceries to make my chicken chili. Mmmm mmm good!

Tuesday: Dylan got dropped off early today....6:15. Needless to say, it was a fairly long day of babysitting, but at least it was Sam's day off. Sam cleaned the garage today...and it looks worlds better. Tonight we tried out the jogging stroller that we have on loan. Sophia loved it...and I enjoyed it too!

Sitting up in her crib....waiting for Mommy to come get her

Really trying to escape

Loving the new mirror by her changing table

"Ooooh who's that cute baby!?"

Check out those top toofies

Our ugly railings before I painted them

Watching Wheel of Fortune

Using her cart cover for the first time

Sam is looking for the Great Pumpkin

We bought these three

Mmmm this is good

A new piano from Grandma!!!

The first spread for Sophia's scrapbook

The awesome painted railings AND our pumpkins and mums

The fall wreath I made

Trying to grab the camera from me

The second spread for Sophia's scrapbook

Sophia got a card from Granny!

All ready to go jogging

She LOVES Tommy the turtle

Four little toofies...

We had another busy week and some new, exciting milestones with Sophia! The fall weather is here and I'm loving the brisk air. However, I don't like that it takes more than half the day to warm up enough for Sophia to be outside. We're working around it and getting used to bundling her up in order to go for walks. I am sad that I can't really walk on the beach with her anymore. It's too hard to get her in enough layers AND have her fit comfortably in the front rider. Boo.

Wednesday: I managed to get a lot accomplished today. Sophia, Kristin, and I went to the commissary so we could stock up on groceries and baby food. After a loooong trip to get groceries, Sophia took a nap while I mowed the lawn. I then proceeded to put the first coat of sealant on our kitchen backsplash. After Sam got home from work, we continued to do some cleaning (as we were hosting dinner the following night). After dinner I put another coat of sealant on the tile.

Thursday: What a scramble. Today I did about 4 loads of laundry, dishes, cleaned all the floors and picked up the house. I baked a cake (Better Than Sex cake mmm) and made homemade salsa and creamy chicken enchiladas. A few officers and one of their girlfriends came over for dinner around 5. Dinner was a huge hit. It was fun to get a chance to finally entertain...and hopefully they will all stop teasing me about not letting Sam go out for lunch every day at work.

Friday: Today was my first full day watching Dylan - our friends' 2 month old baby. Everything went soooo much better than I thought it would. Sophia and Dylan took both their naps at the same time and were extremely well-behaved. I even managed to get laundry and dishes done while they were napping. How easy! I know everyday isn't going to be this smooth running though. I am not looking forward to the days where neither of them will take naps or are screaming. Haha. I started to put the decorative paper in the shelves on our TV console. I got one side done and it looks marvelous. (I finished the other side on Monday night.) I also got a great package in the mail from my mom! Yay!!!!! Sophia got some cute Halloween socks, a couple outfits, and some cute tights. She also got 4 books from the "If you give a..." series. We read 3 of them the following day. While I was excited about Sophia's gifts, I was more excited about what my mom sent for ME...and Sam I guess. Mmmmm toffee bars, monster cookies, and Halloween peeps! I finished the toffee bars off in just a few days. Luckily, I put the monster cookies in the freezer right away so I couldn't snack on them as easily. Thanks Mom!!!!!

Saturday: Today was somewhat lonely. Sam worked the 6am-2pm shift. He got home around 3 and had to leave by 4:30 to make it to church band practice. Kristin brought over two sisal rugs for us to put in Sophia's room...sweeeet! After Sam left for practice, Sophia and I got bundled up and went for an evening stroll around the neighborhood. She was overtired, so she went to bed early. She however still didn't sleep well. It was the first night that we turned the heat on. And let me tell you - I'm LOVING the baseboard heating. We can choose to heat only the bathrooms and bedrooms at night while we're sleeping and during the day we can heat all the common areas. It is sooo convenient! ...and hopefully saves money.

Sunday: Sophia went in the new church nursery for the first time today. She was supposedly well-behaved and they didn't really want to hand her over to us after church. Lol. After Sam played in both church services, he went straight to work until 11pm. Soooo, Sophia and I got our layers on and walked around the neighborhood before stopping at Kristin's to hang out. Sometime before Monday morning, Sophia's other top tooth finally poked through! Yay!

Monday: I watched Dylan again all day today...and thankfully had Sam's help. Sam had court in the morning, but was scheduled to be off for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as his regular 3 day weekend. I put a giant pork roast in the crockpot all day, and it made for a YUMMY dinner. Sophia even got to try some of our dinner. She had her first real "table food" tonight. We gave her some of the cooked potatoes and carrots and she seemed to like them. After we filled our bellies and got Sophia to bed, Sam and I curled up on the couch to watch "The Proposal." I recommend it. Very cute!

Tuesday: Today was the type of day I wasn't looking forward to: Dylan was fussy all day and wouldn't sleep. Sophia managed to take a great first nap and played like a good little girl...but then she refused to take a second nap in the afternoon. While it was more frustrating than any other day watching Dylan, it was still definitely doable. Sam however.....let's just say crabby babies aren't really his thing. Today I managed to get the dowel rods (which we'll be using as the curtain rods for the master bedroom) painted. I forgot to paint the brackets to hold the rods though...so I'll have to do that tomorrow. We had beautiful, beautiful weather here today. Sunny and around 70. We all went for a walk. Sam pushed Sophia in the stroller, and I carried Dylan around in the sling.

Ok, well I've got to get up early again tomorrow to watch Dylan, so I better wrap it up and get to bed. See you next week! Enjoy the pictures!

Bundled up to go for a walk

Got our rain gear on the stroller so she doesn't get wet...and stays warmer!

Got the table all set for entertaining the guys from Sam's precinct.

Check out that fistful of puffs

Passed out on our walk...

So precious!

"I got up onto my knees, now what!?"

Check out how good her belly looks after almost a year!

Tried to get a picture where you can see her top teeth coming in

mmm Monday night feast

Trying the potatoes and carrots

How can you not smile at her?!

Sophia's curtains

Guest Room curtains

Living Room curtains