Lennon is 10 months

Yep. She's 10 months old. May, 11th. 

... and come to think of it we missed her 9 month post!

Oops! Here is her 9 month post too.
Lennon is 9 Months!

Our little girl is growing up so fast... 

1. She has 1 bottom tooth and is teething on the top two at the same time. 

[Teething tablets are our new BFF!] The top tooth just came in this morning!!! 

2. She is pulling herself up on everything! Couches, chairs, mommy, daddy... You name it!

3. Her name FINALLY auto-corrects in my phone. That made my day!

4. She said "mamma" only once but hey, who's counting!?

5. She's standing up in her crib in the morning if you don't come get her in time...watch out world, she's ready to walk!

6. She's pointing at things that she wants.

7. She is mocking everything someone does. [Uncle Matt taught her how to bang her hands and cups and toys on the table when she wants something... So now it's all she does.].Thanks, Uncle Matt.

8. She plays with the dog, Lucky. They are best friends. 

9. She waves "Hi" and "Bye" to strangers at the mall and while we are taking a walk. Old folk love her!

10. She had a slurpee for the first time ever & loved it!

11. She likes to play in the grass!

12. She says "Baaa" while playing peek-a-boo! Or, peek-a-baaaa!

13. She dances to music. Josh Groban is on right now, she's actually singing and bouncing up and down. This is priceless.

In just two short months my little girl will be 1 and then it's all over from there. This morning she was in her room saying, "dada-yayayaaaa-aaaaaaa-bbbbbaaabbaaaa-da-aaaaaa"! It's the sweetest sound in the world!

Our 10 month photoshoot!

Oohhh... Camera?

Hmm... What's this?

... I'm done with pictures mom!

Lennon is 9 months

Lennon is 9 months old

She is finally pulling herself up on things but ends up falling over right after anyway! She has a bottom tooth!!! She is always chewing on things!

This month we started baby proofing the apartment! We put the pack-n-play in front of the kitchen door, the exercauser to fill the gap, the ottoman in front of the entertainment center and the toys in front of the cold air return so she doesn't get into anything... So what's she do? Well, she crawls under the exercauser to get o the kitchen, reaches her tiny arms into the hole of the gap to grab the ps3 remotes from the entertainment center and when she can't manage to sneak her arm in there she butts her head into it thinking that will move it. Smart little girl, I tell ya!

So, 9 months have been a journey!

Of learning and loving, exciting milestones and memories.

Walk/Run Essentials [with a baby]

This summer is going to be ammmmmazing.

 

1. Our backyard is the soccer township soccer complex!

2. It's gawwwwgeoos sunny, 80 degree weather in May!

3. We live in a safe neighborhood with friendly neighbors.

4. I can literally walk out my door onto the track

[which is about a mile all the way around]!

5. Lennon is here...

[last year at this time I was almost 9 months pregnant!]

& happy, healthy & absolutely loves taking walks.

6. We got a jogging stroller... FO'FREE.

Can't beat that! [Thanks Amanda!!]

So we decided to get in touch with our healthy side... [More like find our long, lost friend healthy side]. We are going to make it a ritual every night to take a jog with Lennon. She loves it and we get in shape!
WIN-WIN!

Here are some essentials when running/walking
[with a baby]

1. A good pair of kicks.

 

2. A good stroller [with cup-cellphone-key holders]!

3. Lots of toys to keep baby entertained.

4. Sunblock for Miss Lennon

Sunblock, toys, water... ready to go!

5. Her cute hat to block that little head from the rays.

6. iPhone playing your fav. Pandora station & headphones [handsfree is a must]!

 

AMAZING SONG.

Headphones & Shades

7. House keys! [Almost forgot those!]

8. I.D! Never leave home alone without it. Lets face it... It's a scary world out there. You always want to have identification handy and not in a purse/wallet that's visible and easy for you to leave behind. [I put mine in my shoe].

9. Pepperspray! It's a must have in my book & goes everywhere with me. Keeps you safe, keeps someone or something that may attack you away. Seriously, I am afraid of big dogs and this will keep them from eating your leg!

 

10. Of course my handy-dandy pocket knife... [For the same reasons as #9].

11. Sippy with water and ice to keep cold for the little one.

 

12. A water bottle for mommy.

& we're off!

... Oh, wait.

13. The paci. We got all the way down the road to realize we had no paci & I never leave the house without one. So, add that to your list. [Turn around & grab paci]!

& we're off!

"I'm ready to go MOM!"

Too sunny for Lennon! Hello Kitty sunnies are the best!

Lennon hanging out watching all the kiddos play soccer!
She had that leg up the whole time!!

Lennon and I walked and jogged for over 2 hours & accomplished 4 miles tonight! The soccer complex was packed with kids playing soccer games, families jogging and puppies running with them! Everyone that walked past us smiled and waved and Lennon waved back! It was a nice evening to relax, clear my mind and listen to some country music. I got to chat with my BIFF and my mom for a while about wedding details all while getting a good workout in the sunshine. Lennon and I relaxed when we came back home and took a bath!

 

Mommy & Lennon pooped out after the long walk!
But, we had so much fun!

 

We cuddled & now its bottle, blog and bed!

I'd say it was a pretty great night.

 

 

Some tips when going for a walk alone

 

1. Always take your cell phone. Never leave home without it!

2. Always tell someone where you're going & keep in touch periodically.

3. Make sure it's never at dusk or in the dark & if you start your walk during daylight hours make sure you plan ahead enough time to make it back home before dusk.

4. Take water!

5. Don't forget the essentials listed above.

6. Have fun!

My Fabulous May Day [in pictures]

A beautiful day,

A beautiful baby girl,

A happy mommy!

 

...and it was my day off!

What more could a girl ask for?

Well, it's been a rough night last night,

It was a rough morning but...

 

Lennon slept in this morning,

and so did mommy.

It was perfect.

I woke up with the breeze blowing in the window,

and the sun was shining!

 

Lennon woke up in a great mood!

She was smiling from the moment I grabbed her

from her crib.

 

Lennon wore the cutest little outfit today!

A light pink onesie with elephants on it,

and a jean skirt with ruffles on the bottom!

 

Of course, when I told her that we were going to Nana's

she was ready to go!

 

I dropped Lennon off at Nana's and I was off to my appointment!

But... I had to stop at Starbucks first!

 

Mocha Frappuccino?

YUM.

 

Seriously, TODIEFOR!!!!

Go get one right now.

 

So, I had an idea in mind when I went to my hair appointment,

This Pinterest idea was my inspiration...

 

But... A few things first.

1. I don't have long hair like that

2. I don't have perfect waves like that

3. I don't have light hair, it's really dark!

 

So, here's what you do...

1. Call a good hair salon

2. Pick the best highly recommended stylist

3. Spend 3 hours at the salon

4. Sit there... let her work her magic

5. Magic done

Foils, Foils and MORE FOILS.

Seriously... MORE FOILS!

and my amazing stylist...

and that delicious Starbuck's Frappuccino.

Seriously, GO GET ONE. NOW.

 

3 hours later...

with a lot of mints, starbucks, girl salon chat

and making new friends...

Here are the results!

 

Summer hair & Mommy's happy

What a great relaxing morning to help with the chaos that's been going on.

This is exactly what every mom needs once in a while.

A little TLC, coffee and a smile goes a long way.

And it only took 3 hours!

So, then Miss Lennon and I spent some quality time together,

doing what we do best.

 

Retail Therapy

& we found some really great deals!

[Have I mentioned LOVE having a girl?]

 

So, since Dad was at work all day we found this and HAD to get it

Her dad really is TOTALLY awesome!

 

& since Lennon has a few shirt from Gramps already,

I thought I needed to get her one from Grandma GG.

Isn't it adorable??

 

[FYI - Children's Place. HUGE SALE]

 

Seriously

I bought Lennon shorts, skirts, tanks, tees, leggings, headbands, tights.

This girl is going to be the CUTEST kid this summer!

 

Lennon & I had a great day together

We went to the mall, I got an outfit, she got about 5 outfits.

We went to pickup my gorgeous Bridesmaid dress for my BIFFS wedding,

went to buy Lennon sunscreen and then $20.00 later,

came home and we were going to take a walk...

but Lennon fell asleep!

 

So, I am blogging and Lennon is sleeping.

It actually turned out to be a great day :)

 

XOXO

Challenge the Pest

Today was a challenge for me...

Mentally,
Emotionally...
& throw PMS in the mix and you're just screwed.

Well, I've always been the woman to accept any challenge given to me. Especially now since I have been blessed to be a mother I face more challenges than ever before but this one is one I have never been faced with. A challenge with a pest. The human kind of pest. This challenge brings me to my end. The end of my patience, my strength and my hope.

My biggest hope and dream in life is to be successful in all that I do. When I am not successful it hurts, it kills me. Today I reached that point where I began to feel as if all my hard work wasn't paying off... Why do I have that one little pest of a thing in my way challenging me every day? A pest in the workplace causes tension. Drama. Stress upon the stress that's already there.

This pest gets worse every day. Pushing boundaries, pushing the rules to the breaking point, and worst of all pushing my damn buttons!

This pest is the challenge and it's truly getting to me. I've never let anyone get under my skin before and this is one sneaky son.of.a.bitch!

I cried the whole way home...
How do I handle stress? Not well.
Usually a glass of red wine and a blog or two... Confiding in my fiancé, but he doesn't care about work drama, or cuddling with my Lennon, who didn't fall asleep until 10:00 because she was so overly tired she cried herself to sleep?

It's everywhere. This pest needs to go.
I need to find a happy place...

I need a vacation.

Good news... This weekend was the last one I'm working for 1 more month. Wooooo!

Done. End rant.
Maybe Monday will be better.

Written in Ink

So when I was pregnant I was obviously thinking about baby names. Boy names... Girl names... All until one night I had a dream (you can read about in previous posts), and realized what I wanted to... No, what I needed to name my baby!

But, I wasn't the only mind that mattered here. I had to include my boyfriend. I tossed around a couple of ideas but all along I had the gut feeling that I had to name him or her the name in my dream.

Well, I got my maternity pictures done when I was 25 weeks pregnant and I decided that I would do a little something extra for when she was born. I decided that "just in case" I needed a belly picture with the baby name next to it. I'm not a fan of photoshop so I just went for it!

Well, it was written in ink on a cute postcard with flowers on it and I held it by my belly. I was confident that someday that picture would come in handy!

Well. Thank goodness I did because her name is Lennon, it means the world to me and I don't care who doesn't like it! :)

So, here are a couple of the pics NO ONE but Miss Katie, my photographer, has seen.

They will definitely be going in the nursery!

Too Fast

In life everyone is always waiting for the next move, the next step. You wait all your life to watch your child crawl for the first time, get their first tooth, take their first step.

Well, when that time comes there's no camera around its not like the movies. Theres no drumroll, no balloons, clowns singing songs or children laughing in the background. It's you, your child and the love of your life sitting next to you, and that's okay. That's more than okay, it's actually perfect.

Lennons 9th month in this world has been outstanding so far! She has only been 9 months for about 11 days now but she sure is lovin' it. She has learned how to stand up all by herself, she has learned how to wave better, say buh-bye, play peek-a-boo all by herself and she got her first tooth today!

She has been learning and growing so much lately, I just can't stand it. I have waited so long for these first moments and she is flying through them. I wish I had a camera attached to my head at all times!

Tonight I took Lennon for a walk with some great friends! Our neighbors and dear friends Justin and Stephanie and their kids and one of my best friends Jes and her hubby Nik and their son Mason. We walked around the soccer complex, watched the boys play soccer and the little ones loved Lennon. She sat in the stroller loving the outdoors and watching the boys and Cayla play soccer! I realized tonight as I watched my daughter interact with little kids that she is growing up too fast. We took her back inside and she pulled herself up on the walker, stood all by herself and played all night.

My little girls baby "firsts" are almost gone. She's crawling, standing, teething, has a tooth, waving, talking, laughing, loving, kissing, throwing toys, the whole dang nine yards. She is loving growing up and I am loving watching her but I just wish she would slow down a bit so I could enjoy watching her crawl around.

My sweet baby girl is getting so big!!