Year in Review

 Okay so, yeah, it's been a year since I posted anything so I figure I should probably get caught up! Here we go!

When Pheebs was 7 months old (October):

                                                   Willi, Heidi and Sophia came and visited

We had family photos done,

 and we used Michigan as our 5th State when we went to Josh and Lindsay's wedding  with the Cameron's.

At 8 Months: Phoebe took her first steps this month. and I got my hair cut

At 9 Months (December) we had two of our Christmas'

We went to the Blank Park Zoo with the Curtis'

Went to Disney World and saw most of the family in Florida for Christmas!

Had our 5th Anniversary at Cheddar's in Florida!

 At 10 Months (January): Phoebe was a fuzzy snow bear, she started walking, and she officially got dedicated at church! My Sweetie lost his job and registered for nursing classes!

11 months (February): Pheebs tried out her sled and snow outfit!

In March Phoebe turned 1!! We had a big cupcake party for her and Aunt Ashley took some great pictures of her.

She met Calvin, Sarah, and Jess, and Jenny came to visit!

In April we had Easter family pictures taken.

We went to Maine as our 6th state for 2.5 weeks in May!

 In June- we spent a lot of time at splash parks and tried to survive the heat.

So that's our last year in a nut-shell...I know i skipped a lot, but those were the highlights!

6 months- Already??

The last 6 months have flown by...in some regards. Some days I feel like I've always been a mom and we've had Pheebs for forever- other days it seems like I was just in the hospital having her. She is growing up so fast and I try to treasure every snuggle time, every giggle time, and every feeding time. When I cuddle and watch her as she's nestled against my chest, my heart swells with love and pride for our little Phoebe.

Some recent milestones are:
-She has two bottom teeth
-She reaches out for us
-She's growing back blond and brunette hair that fell out
-She's eating solid foods once a day
-Peek-a-boo is her favorite game
-She has taken quite a few confidant steps while holding onto one finger of each of my hands
-Whenever we come out of her room after naps, she looks around to see if people are here.
-She smiles and laughs whenever people are over to our house.
She sleeps about 10 hours or more at night, a 2 hour nap in the morning and a couple of shorter naps in the      afternoon.
She loves drinking water straight out of a normal glass. 
She smiles and giggles at friends and family on Skype
She loves watching us do anything- from making            supper, to cleaning, to playing cards- she will sit          contentedly and just watch us
Whenever we say "Phoebe" she knows we're talking       about her and she looks at us and smiles
She loves playing with herself in the mirror
When she's really tired she just sticks her head in my       neck and zonks out; she loves to be all cuddled          up and warm - just like her mommy.
She is almost sitting by herself
She loves peek-a-boo


To celebrate her 6 month-day (and a good excuse to eat some cake) I made her a double-layer chocolate cake, and we had Joy, Mely, Ashley, and Lawrence over.

 We also gave her bananas for the first time- we figured she should have SOMETHING sweet on her day. She was a little wary at first (she hates Peas) but gradually she warmed up to them. 

 Joy and Mely even brought Pheebs a present! A sweet pink boat for the bathtub and some bubbles!!

 The girls had a lot of fun ripping up tissue paper!

 And Phoebe gave Aunt Ashley some evil looks.

 This one cracks me up every time!!!

 Then outside for some fun swing time!

 Mely loved it!

 And Phoebe loved it to. She was soo tired by the end of the day but loved seeing everyone.

She is such a blessing and God is teaching me so much through her.

Date night and State Fair (8/16 and 8/28 )

It was our 56th monthiversary and my sweetie surprised me by setting up a babysitter for Phoebe and taking me out. We dropped Pheebs off at the Michaelson's and went to Texas Roadhouse and Dairy Queen. Although it was under 2 hours it was SOO nice to just relax and be able to hang out with my best friend and love of my life with no other distractions. He's so much fun to be with and the conversation always flows easily.


That Sunday we went to the Iowa State Fair with the Michaelson's. We haven't been in a few years so we figured it was time to go again. We went on half price day and the received a free admission ticket so we only had to pay 5 bucks to get in instead of 20.

Again, I love the hustle and bustle of places like this. I love people watching!

And of course the food always smells amazing!!

Ashley had to get some mini donuts and a gyro.
She said the gyro was absolutely delicious!

Fried Potato Spins- delicious!

Phoebe was very enthusiastic with the fair!

The food truck serving mutton and all things sheep related right outside of the sheep barn.  You can be eating your sheep burger and listening to the sweet, sweet baaing of the sheep in the background.

We had a great time!