Christmas has come and gone...

Apparently, I have a knack for only blogging on/about holidays. I really need to change that! I guess it's because I figure that nobody reads this anyway, so why waste time writing? So Christmas has come and gone...it was pretty awesome, even though Courtney was a little overwhelmed by everything and was a bit fussy here and there. We had a blast at my Aunt Pat's Christmas Eve party (which we go to every year...I've never missed one since I was born!). Everyone thought Courtney was just the cutest thing (which she is!). Christmas morning, she was more interested in the bows on the presents than anything else...they went straight to her mouth!

My little Courtney girl is growing up. She now can pull up to standing on her own, and crawls. She's starting to 'babble' a LOT, and says (what sounds like) 'la la la la' a lot. I'm sure she'll be talking before we know it! Still no teeth yet, but I'm sure that will also change soon. I think she's teething, she's getting cranky pretty often (and she's normally a very, very happy girl!).

She's still not sleeping through the night. She wakes up at least twice, typically up to six times a night. She refuses to sleep in her crib, but she's too big for her little sleeper bed that she's been in since she was two weeks old (seriously, she can climb out of that thing! And she's not very comfortable in it anymore). She has been sleeping the best when sleeping in bed with us...which I don't mind at all, but Clint isn't too fond of (he likes to hog the bed to himself). This mama is very tired...I get very little sleep, and she doesn't like naps, either! I hope this all changes very soon, I hate the fact that sleep - or lack thereof - is controlling my life.

Clint's medical insurance through his job starts in a few weeks, and I plan on taking her to the doctor to see if the doctor has any suggestions on how to get her to sleep better at night.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Christmas! These are from my parents' house on Christmas morning:

  ^me with my little princess!

Clint on Christmas (the big present was a toolbox!)

My mom held Courtney and helped her open presents.

 me, opening a present!

Thanksgiving!!!

So,  another Thanksgiving has come and gone. This one was special, however, because it was Courtney's first Thanksgiving! And we had something extra special to be thankful for...HER! This time last year, I had no idea I was pregnant, let alone almost 4 months! And if you would have told me that next year on Thanksgiving I'd have a 7 1/2 month old daughter, I'd flat out have called you crazy!

We gathered at Clint's parents' house for dinner last night, and oh what a dinner it was! His mother cooked an awesome feast. Turkey, ham, stuffing (best stuffing I've ever had!), etc...and PIE! Mmmm...pumpkin AND lemon ice box pie. His mother is an awesome cook. Clint's brother Charles and his wife, Kimberly, came even though they already had a huge Thanksgiving lunch at their house (glad they still made it!). Courtney sat in her new high chair, and sadly, started getting fussy a few minutes into dinner (actually, she started getting fussy BEFORE dinner). We traded off, I think everyone got a turn holding her (she was only happy when being held!). It was a great time had by all. And I made myself sick on pie (as always) and had a 20 minute nap on the couch.

On the way home, Courtney was really fussy and screamed the entire 20 minute drive back to our house. I'm pretty sure she was just sleepy and wanted to be at home in her bed, not in the car seat. Overall a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving (in spite of the crying in the car). And now...looking forward to CHRISTMAS!!

Can't wait to put up our Christmas tree, I'll definitely be posting some Christmas blogs! I know I've been slacking on my blog writing, but it's hard when you have a cute lil baby girl that occupies most of your time!

BTW, for those of you that saw my strange post about Christmas cards that I had up for a while, it was a promotion for Shutterfly...and I earned 50 free personalized Christmas cards for doing a blog about them! I have since taken down my blog post, because I'm not a big fan of promoting companies on my blog...although Shutterfly is a great company that I have used many times. I AM happy about the free Christmas cards, that's for sure!

Grandma and Courtney sitting next to the fire:

Oops...

I've been so busy that I forgot to blog! Well, it's been over a month, time for a new post! My little Courtney girl is still growing like a weed. No crawling yet (thank goodness) and no teeth, but make no mistakes...this girl is growing fast! She is a smart one! She now thinks that everything in the world is a toy, and she must play with it! We've got our hands full already. Recently, she started tipping over glasses when I would try to take a drink (I had a few wet shirts), pulling things off the computer desk that we thought were out of reach, typing on the keyboard, and chewing on her toes. Ok, so the last one probably isn't a sign of intelligence, but it's so darn cute! She even slept in her big crib! For those that don't know, she's been in her small, inclined bed (Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper) since she was about three weeks old. That bed helped out SO much with her reflux problems!!! But now, she is out-growing it...which means it's big crib time. We're getting a small mattress pad to help her sleep better (the mattress crinkles and keeps her awake right now) and hopefully she will finish off the transition with ease. She's been having sleep issues lately. She's never slept through the night, but lately she has been waking up more than ever. She also sometimes won't go to sleep unless I rock her. Last night, she cried for an hour straight unless I picked her up and cuddled her (even Daddy wasn't good enough, apparently).
Anyways, guess that's all for now...I'll blog more later.

Fall...

I'm so happy that Fall is finally here! I was so sick of the hot, humid summer. Summer in Texas can be brutal! I think we had more days over 100 degrees than we had days under 100 this year. We are planning on taking Courtney to the park tomorrow, as long as something else doesn't come up. I think she'll like looking around and getting some fresh air! We went the day before yesterday to visit my Aunt Pat. She gave us a beautiful baby shower when I was pregnant, but she hadn't met Courtney yet. Courtney had a great time over there, and got to meet a dog for the first time (actually, two dogs!). Clint is still loving his new job, and might get into store manager training very soon (yay!). My mom will probably be having some (somewhat major) surgery really soon, and I'm worried about that. I'm sure she'll do fine with it, but I know she's not happy because she won't be able to pick up Courtney or hold her in her lap for over a month. I think we decided that Courtney isn't going to get a Halloween costume this year, but she will dress in a pumpkin t-shirt and cute Halloween leggings! We just don't have the money to buy a costume. We are going to hand out candy though! Anyway, here are a few new pics of our princess (who is getting so big!).

A change

This may come as a huge surprise to most of my friends online, but I'm just not that 'into' music. Actually, that would probably come as a surprise to a lot of people. I used to be. For years. Sure, I still listen to music, and I still love music. But I don't really care to learn anything about the people who created that music. I learned that the hard way. For years, I was downright 'obsessed' (someone else's term, not mine) with the Beach Boys. I still love them and listen to them all the time! But anyway, I searched and tracked down just about everything I could about them. And then, once I had everything I could find...I realized, 'Why did I do this?' It wasn't really what I wanted. I bought all these items and spent all this money just so I could say, 'Hey! Look over here, I have a huge collection!'. I spent years of my life learning about other people's lives. It honestly almost ruined the music for me. I probably would like many of my favorite bands more if I didn't know everything I do know about their personal lives. I now know who did what drugs, who slept with whom, and who got arrested for whatever. The music was so much more innocent before I knew all that stuff, and it's taken me years to realize that I don't need to study their lives to enjoy it all. My friends that I used to chat music with probably think I've forsaken them, but truth is, I just don't have anything to talk about with them. I'm at loss for conversation. I don't care to chat music anymore, it honestly bores me. It's a huge shame, I guess. Music brought me so much happiness through the years, so I guess it has served its purpose. I don't know why I changed. It happened before I got pregnant, so I know it wasn't because of my child. I haven't told anyone online yet, I honestly was afraid they would be disgusted with me. I spent over 15 years of my life in search of everything rock and roll. What now? Well, I could get new hobbies. Or I could just enjoy life as it comes. Anyway, just had to get this off my chest. Hopefully my dad won't be too disappointed in me. He loves music, and it's always been something that connected us.

Judgement

Why is it that mothers always seem to feel the need to judge other mothers? I've run into quite a few women online who are downright rude about the choices I make for my daughter (and the choices other mothers make, as well). Yes, I formula feed. I couldn't breastfeed. I ran out of milk about 3 weeks into it. So sue me. What, am I supposed to let my daughter starve, rather than feed her the dreaded 'poison formula'? Whatever, ladies. Get your heads out of your behind and grow up. There was actually a group of women recently who boycotted Old Navy for selling a baby onesie that said, "Formula Powered" (a take on Formula One racing). Are there really people out there who are so bored that they just HAVE to create a boycott about something so dumb? I don't care what a mother feeds her baby, so long as the baby is healthy and happy and growing properly. Anyway, now that I've spoken my piece about that...on to other things.

Courtney figured out how to play with ALL the toys on her Exersaucer now! She can flip the pages on the 'book', turn the flowers and make them shake, take the toy cake apart, etc. She really enjoys playing with it, and she learns so much from it! She also rolled over a few times yesterday, which is nice...because she rarely rolls! Still hasn't rolled from back to tummy, we're working on that.

I'm still trying to decide what to do about Halloween. Costume for Courtney? Or not? No, we aren't taking her Trick or Treating, but it would be super cute to have her all dressed up when we hand out candy! There are some SUPER cute (and fairly cheap) baby costumes out there. We're going to have so much fun with the holidays from now on!

Here are a few new pics of my little princess...just being cute.

 

 

So goes another day...

Today was a sad, sad day. My computer decided to reject my memory card reading drive. That means no more pictures until we get it fixed! I took a super cute video of Courtney and Daddy last night, and can't even share it with anyone. Sure, I can upload pictures and video at my parents house since I go over there several times a week, but it's not the same. Oh well, we need a new computer with this next years' tax return, anyway...this just gives me one more reason to buy one. So yesterday, I made Courtney get her first boo-boo. I am the absolute worst Mommy ever. I dropped my little girl!! Granted, she didn't fall far...and accidents do happen, but I made her hit her head on the changing table and she got a little red skinned up spot on her nose, and a little bump on her forehead. She screamed and cried until she almost got sick, and I did the same. I can't believe it! I'm always so careful with my little princess, I don't know how it happened. I guess even perfect mommies make mistakes, I'm just glad she's ok. She forgave me within an hour (and most likely forgot about it after her nap), but I'm still scarred for life! On the upside, Clint should be getting his first paycheck at his new job this week! I'm so thrilled that we will actually have money in the bank again! Courtney really enjoyed Clint's day off the other day, they spent a lot of time together. She loves her Daddy!

Here is a pic of Courtney and Daddy playing around the other night: