A Busy, Busy Weekend

We had a great weekend! On Saturday, my parents came to town and watched S while we went to the Brad Paisley concert. WHAT A BLAST!!!! We had so much fun and even splurged and got snacks while we were there - totally ridiculous price but it was yummy!

Chuck Wicks - not a big fan of him. I do like his Stealing Cinderalla song, though!


Rodney Adkins did a great job! And, of course, Brad Paisley was WONDERUL!!!!!


On Sunday, S was dedicated to our Lord and her grandparents and great grandmother were able to be there for such a special day. After the dedication, everyone came back over to our house and I made brunch. And, if I do say so myself, it was very good! (More pictures to come, but they are all on my mom's and MIL cameras)

The Family at the church.

S joining the party after her nap.

S and Grandpa.


S and her other grandpa.


S and her great grandma.

After everyone had left, the MUCH ANTICIPATED Daytona 500 came on! M and I have been waiting for months for NASCAR to start up again! We love, love to watch it:) M is a big Tony Stewart fan and my favorite it Matt Kenseth. Although neither of them won, it was a really good race! Oh, a side note, when my water broke back in October, it was in the middle of a race. Guess what the first thing M does when we get to the triage room.... turns on the race and is mad that during the drive to the hospital we've missed the end of it. I was thinking, great, I'm laboring here and all you can think about is missing a race?!?!?!

Winner - Ryan Newman

A New Toy

Stella has a new toy - her TOES!!! I can hardly get her diaper changed or dress her because she is so interested in grabbing them! I tell you, though, it makes me laugh:) And, how in the world can babies be so flexible that they can get their toes in their mouths?!?!

Guess What I Found!!!

So, last night as I was waiting for Michael to come home for dinner, I had put S in her room for a nap. Okay, that DEFINITELY did not work. I went in, picked her up and loved on her for a few minutes and then put her back down. Again, she wasn't having that. I went in yet again, picked her up, changed her diaper and put her back down. This time, she was MAD. She started SCREAMING. I gave up!!!! I went in and picked her up and brought her into the family room and proceeded to rock her. She was still screaming and as I looked down into her WIDE OPEN mouth, she has a very large mouth (escpecially when she is in one of her Mr. Hyde mood), I saw it. A TOOTH!!!!!!!! I immediately stuck my finger in her mouth to feel and sure enough, there it was poking through! I was so excited. Maybe this is why she has been so incredibly fussy all the time. So, my question for the experienced moms, does this fussiness continue until all the teeth are in, or does it come and go?!?!!?

Happy Valentine's Day

Ahhh... the day of love. Ugggg! I really am not a big fan of the whole concept of Valentine's Day. But, nonetheless, I am celebrating it anyway:) This morning, I got S all dressed up in her Valentine get up. I do love any excuse to dress her up. Poor thing!

M and I really aren't planning any kind of celebration for today. I did make him his favorite cake (from scratch, the icing too), red velvet cake, as a surprise.

Instead of going out tonight, we are going to see Brad Paisley in concert! I am SO EXCITED! I have been wanting to see him for so long. Opening for him is Rodney Adkins and Chuck Wicks. I like both of them too, so all in all it is going to be a fabulous night out on the town.

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!!:)

Here is S's Valentine dance for you!

This Weekend

Well, we got another tractor this weekend. This time it is in John Deere Green:)

Daddy and his little girl!

The "Bishop Girls"

And, we took S on her first "hiking" trip. I put that in parenthesis b/c we only hiked about a mile or so. Mostly I just kept making M stop so that I could take pictures!

4 Months Old

Today Stella is officially 4 months old! Wow! Last night our friends had their twin baby boys and I was thinking it doesn't seem that long ago that we were in the hospital with Stella. Time flies (some of the time!). At her appt, she looked very healthy. She is now 13lb 3oz(41 percentile) and is 25.25(83 percentile) in long. So, we have a tall and lean baby:) I was also told by the doctor that I could start her eating "real" food anytime b/w now and 6 months. Good grief! I can't bring myself to do it yet. I told myself that I can have until March 1 to mentally prepare for this. It just makes it seem like she is growing up so fast. I enjoy feeding her and think I may have a hard time with this adjustment. I never would have thought that when I first began breastfeeding. Also, I asked the doctor about Stella's fussy times. He said that it could be reflux from what I was describing to him. We started her on medication yesterday and we'll see if it helps. She is not a fan of the meds, though. I hope she is injesting enough being that she spits SO much of it out!

As a 4 month celebration we went shopping! We went to a HUGE consignment sale this morning and bought way too much - but had a blast doing it. Here are some of my purchases:

And, Stella has begun to make a snarling face at us. It is really quite humorous. I tried to capture it in a picture, but it does now show truly how funny it is.

On Sunday, we had our VERY brave friends, Amanda and Ryan come over to watch the first half of the game. HA, yeah, we kicked them out at half time:) We are so rude! Anyway, this is the first time since S was born (right about 4 months) that we've had people over in the evening. That is how fussy she is!! She did okay, but still not exactly an enjoyable evening. It can only get better, right?!?!

Last night was our first girls' bible study - Yay! Even if I had to leave a bit early to feed S. Actually, we hadn't even started the bible study part yet before I had to leave. Oh well, at least I got a chance to socialize a bit:) We were at a girl's house and she has an 8 month old little boy. He was in the room with us and was as pleasant as could be and so happy. I couldn't help but think of how S is at night and what a different picture our home is during the evening hours. Is it teething, reflux, what?!?! I am going to have to ask the pediatrician tomorrow. I just don't feel it is normal! Oh please let it be something that can be fixed easily!! I am looking forward to some happy days!

Oh, speaking of happy days, the weather today makes me VERY happy! It is 74 degrees outside and BEAUTIFUL! Since S was napping, I went outside and played w/ Abby and read on the back deck. I know how the door open and can feel the breeze and hear the birds as I sit here on the computer! When S wakes up, I am going to go for a run with her and Abby. Can't wait!! Ahhh... a glimpse of what is hopefully Spring right around the corner:)

What We're Up To

Here's what we've been doing the last few days:)

Ballet

Baths

Being a Movie Star

As you can see by how much her mouth is open, she is becoming quite the "talker". She is just like her daddy. It is so cute to listen to her! She's also learning to dance - I'll have to get a video of that and post it!

We're Connected!

FINALLY... our family is connected to the rest of the world. We got internet and cable!!!! I am super excited. I mean, here I am, sitting in my baby's room (we don't have our wireless hooked up yet and the modem was installed in her room, go figure!) with her asleep next to me snoring away! Geez, I hope she outgrows this snoring. Poor thing! I am so glad to be back in touch with my email and blog worlds! Now, let's hope Charter doesn't screw up a good thing!

2008

So, no internet yet! Grrr... I hate Charter already!!! Anyway, they are suppose to have us hooked up on Monday, 1/28 but I'll believe it when I see it!

2008 has gotten off to a crazy, busy start! I went back to work on Monday 12/31. My mother-in-law and mom watched Stella while I was working. While I was on maternity leave I was offered a promotion to finance manager (finance was my major in college). I went back and really enjoyed being in this new position. It was a perfect fit for me, however the timing was just not right. I feel that my place, at least for now, is with Stella at home. I missed her a lot while I was working those 2 1/2 weeks and finally made the decision to stay home for good! I prayed about what to do and feel that God intended for me to be a stay at home mom. I have no regrets about my decision at all. If I want and it is in His plans for me, I will always be able to go back to work, but I will never be able to get the days back that I miss watching my little girl grow up! On my last day at work, my friend was kind enough to keep Stella while I worked the morning and then took her to the office to say farewell to my co-workers (they had not seen her since she was about 4 weeks old). I should mention that my friend also has a 10 month old little girl and was keeping another friend's dog at the same time. BRAVE!!! Check out her blog to see pics of the girls "playing".

Since staying at home, I've started attending mom to mom at church and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. Also, we are getting ready to start up our bible study again in 2 weeks - Yay! Having these times with other ladies is so wonderful and I need it now more than ever:)

This weekend Stella and I made our first trip alone w/o daddy! We are in Atlanta visiting my parents. Stella did great on the drive down and slept practically the whole way! I am hoping for the same on the way back home!

Stella is smiling more and more and has even started to laugh when you blow pooty noices on her belly while changing her. It is so much fun to make her laugh!! She is most definitely a thumb sucker. It is impossible to keep her hands out of her mouth. She has been trying to sit up as well. By this I mean that she will be sitting in her swing or bouncer or carrier and use her stomach to pull herself forward in her seat. It is really cute to watch!

Last week stella saw her first snow. Actually, that isn't completely true. It did snow, and there was a white covering on the ground, but her mommy was too paranoid to take her out in the cold, so she never really "saw" the snow - but close enough, right?!?! What would a 3 month old do anyway if she did see snow??

Daddy's Girl?!?!