monday! monday!

{1. back to work}

On friday, I went back to work{not full-time} to fill in for someone. I actually enjoyed working, making some money, and seeing all of my co-workers!

I sure did miss my sweet Maggie Claire though! I went home during my lunch break and was able to feed her for one of her feedings, but Mike gave her a bottle for her afternoon feeding. She did great at home w/daddy despite the fact that she is a total momma's girl! Since Mike doesn't work on Fridays, I am able to fill in if they need me while Mags stays home with daddy. :)

{2. milk trays}

My mom found these on the clearance isle at target. They are Sensible Lines milk trays to freeze breast milk by the ounce. You pour them into the trays and they freeze one ounce at a time. I thought they were pretty cool b/c I usually pump more than what Maggie Claire will drink, therefore... they might work for me so I won't waste the milk by freezing it all together! Has anyone else ever used these?

{3. blush}

I am seriously addicted to blush. I wear it everyday, and can never have enough. I get comments all the time saying "oh wow, you have rosy cheeks!" haha. Maybe they are trying to tell me... "you have too much blush on!" oh well! Maybelline's pinch o' pink is my absolute fav. My friend April always tells me "you gotta have your blush." hehe. My other go to makeup necessity is mascara. I have blonde eyelashes, so mascara is a must! :) I don't ever wear eyeliner though. I use to wear ALOT of it in highschool. I just kind of stopped one day though. Does anyone have a favorite eyeliner that they wear that I should try?

{4. valentines brownies}

Ohhh yes... I bought some of these goodies this weekend. I am such a sucker for holiday snacks. The seasonal section at Target gets me buying something everytime! I haven't opened them yet. It comes with 5 brownies in there, I thought that was such an odd number. I guess Mike and I will have to split the last one! haha.

{5. come on summer!}

You heard it... We are ready! Maggie Claire has her sunglasses and we've got our charleston county beach/park pass! This weekend made it to 70 degrees here in Charleston and it was wonderful!!!! I am looking forward to the summer more than I ever have before!!!

Happy Monday everyone! :)

pack-n-play time!

Our dining room has turned into a great place for the pack-n-play to go! We rarely ever use our dining room table- we normally eat on the couch together, so I decided to see if the pack-n-play would fit in there... and viola! It fits perfect! Don't you just love how I color coordinated it too!? hehe.

I ended up turning it the other way, so Maggie Claire could look out the window better, but it works out perfect! I wanted to start training her to like the playpen, so that when she gets mobile, I can put her in there for "playpen time" while I take a shower or do other things around the house w/out her getting into everything!

Maggie Claire is enjoying some tummy time! She is doing SO MUCH better on her tummy, she loves all her toys {especially her light up ball from uncle Ron, Aunt Marla, Ryan & Morgan}!

Happy girl! She was really smiling/giggling for the camera when I was taking these!

In regards to a highchair, I'm thinking about the graco mealtime in little hoot. It's on sale at Target right now I think until february 5th. I like how it reclines, has different height adjustments, it matches our kitchen stuff, the price & I've been pleased with all of the graco stuff I have so far. :) What do you think??

totally target

As some of you may know, I am in love with shopping at Target. When I find coupon deals at target, I get pretty excited. Well, this week there was a diaper deal going on. I have so many diaper coupons that I've collected over my entire pregnancy from different places, and I scored big this time! I got these 3 packs of diapers and a pack of huggies wipes all for $13.50! The packs of diapers ended up being about $3.80 each! {I don't have the receipt near me, so this is the estimate} I was able to stack a $3.50, $2.50, $2.50, $2, $.75 off coupons to get the good deal! Lesson- never throw away coupons that aren't expired- I've had so many of these for over 6 months!

Lately my preference of diapers for Maggie Claire is Huggies, especially the pure & natural- I love those! The sale this week at Target was $8.99 for huggies diapers, and if you bought 3 you would get a $5 gift card! I already had target gift card money left over from Christmas, so I ended up not having to pay anything out of pocket, and I got $5 gift card. It was a win-win for me! :)

I snapped a picture of Maggie Claire while we were in line waiting to checkout. Then I compared it to her first shopping trip to target when she would sleep the entire time I would go somewhere!

Here is her at 2 weeks and 3.5 months. Oh, slow down baby girl- you're growing up too fast!!!

Don't you just want to take a bite out of those sweet cheeks?!?!

Have a fantastic weekend! :)

I'm back: miscellany monday :)

I didn't realize that I haven't participated in miscellany monday ever since I've had Maggie Claire. It's time to get back in the swing of it!!! Link on up @ carissa's lowercase letters

1. sisterhood mornings

I started going to a women's bible study on Thursday mornings at my church this past week. It felt so good to go worship with a bunch of ladies and hop into a group! My group is starting off studying one month to live by Kerry & Chris Shook. I am super excited about it & I'm looking forward to fellowshipping with a new group of ladies! I have always done small groups, but I am normally a leader of a small group for teens, so I was a bit nervous going on Thursday & the funny thing was that I think I was the youngest person there out of over 100 ladies that came! Talk about having a lot of people to look up to... I am so blessed!!! Have any of you read this book?

2. warm weather please

I know I say this every year, but all I can think about it going to the beach this summer! March, can you please hurry up so I can go to the beach and catch some rays with my sweet baby girl?? Thanks. :)

3. baby jeggings

Maggie Claire got her first pair of jeggings from her Oma. Yes, they are so cute I just cant stand it!!! I can't wait to pair them with more outfits & some boots!!

4. high chair

I am looking for a high chair because before we know it we will be introducing solids to Maggie Claire and we need a good one! I need your advice on an affordable high chair! I would really like a chicco polly high chair, but it seems to be a little pricey. We do have one, it is a wooden restaurant style one from pottery barn. I just don't think it's that practical for our house for maggie claire. I'm going to probably bring it to my moms house and leave it there for when we come over b/c it would work over there!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday!!!

surviving & loving it! :)

I found this post that I never finished & posted from a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to delete it because I wanted to have it to remember how I felt some days! Also, just so everyone knows that being a parent isn't always fun & games. I started writing this the day after we didn't have a good day...

"So the other day when Mike and I were talking, we were talking about parenting & how its challenging & hard. {Can I get an amen?} I just reminded myself that my goal right now is to take care of this sweet baby girl and love her to pieces. Bottom line= survival mode. Sometimes we have great days, sometimes, not so much. Yesterday was one of those days... Maggie Claire kept waking up from her naps early & she was fussy. I was trying to take down the Christmas tree & "undecorate" the house. I kept getting frustrated because every day we have something going on, I feel like half of Maggie Claire's naps are taken in her carseat and I just want to give up."

I love that this my life right now. Yes, a lot of people just think that I sit around and take pics of Maggie in her cute outfits all day... reality check... yea right, I wish! But I do snag every opportunity I can to take pictures of her!

Speaking of... last night was her first time in an exersaucer! I snapped a few pictures! She seemed to like it, I just couldn't believe how big she looked! She liked looking at all the toys, it was too cute.

I really am enjoying my sweet baby girl. This stage is really fun & she is so happy! She really is such a good baby and I can't complain at all because we are soooooooo blessed! At least she is taking naps & sleeping through the night! I couldn't imagine her not being able to sleep and cry all the time... I would lose my mind! :) I also love that she will smile at just about anyone! :)

Also, do you guys like my new header? I replaced the preggo picture and added a few of Maggie Claire. I love it! :)

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other."

Ecclesiastes 7:14

this is the life

Today we went for a little family walk & I snapped a few pictures. This one is my absolute favorite, I can't wait until the spring & summer when I can take more pictures outside of Maggie Claire! She loves being outside {just like her momma} and she loved being on the walk outside.

She just chilled in her stroller and was soaking up the fresh air! It was such a nice day to be outside, even though it was a little chilly- the sun warmed us up! Gotta love a sunny day! :)

p.s. today forever 21 opened up in downtown charleston! I can't wait to go next week and check it out! I have been waiting for one of these stores to come to Charleston & it finally has! Did any of you locals go today? I know they were giving away gift cards to the first 400 people to come through the door, I heard it was packed!

3 months old!

Happy birthday to my little wiggle worm who is 3 months old! {since January 7th} Time is flying by! I couldn't get any pictures of her smiling yesterday when I was trying to take some... she just kept looking at me like I was crazy and them when I would put the camera down she would smile... figures! haha. I did a little sequence of poses of her squirming... I'll get some more later and hopefully she'll be in the mood to smile for the camera! :)

Maggie Claire is growing like crazy! Her three month stats are:

13 pounds & 25 inches long

She is doing so great! She finally started sleeping through the night consistently a few weeks ago, and that has been so nice! She was so close for the longest time, and then I just made a few adjustments to her routine, and volia! she's sleeping anywhere from 8-9 hours at night, and I'm hoping that will extend soon!

Maggie Claire has been talking {cooing} a lot more lately, especially when she is playing with her toys. She giggles too, it is so cute! She loves observing things around her and she likes watching me & Mike, and whatever we are doing. She loves her blankets and when I have them next to her she always holds on to them, it's really cute! {basically everything she does I think is cute, so I'm sorry if I say that too much!}

Here's the sweet smile & the chubby face! :)

Exciting News! MC has finally taken a bottle without a fuss! yay, yay, yay, yay, yay! I went to work at the church the other night and Mike gave her one and he said she took it like a pro! Then the next two nights, my mom and Mike's parents watched her and they both said she did just great- without fussing! I was so worried that she wasn't EVER going to take a bottle, but with persistence she did it! :)

This month Maggie is still loving her bathtime & playmat. She still likes the swing, but it seems like not as much as she use to. I think she is growing out of it. We did try the bumbo last week, she's almost ready for it, but not quite! She is doing really well holding her head up when people hold her, but she's not so thrilled about tummytime. We are still working on it! She likes it better if she does it on the couch so she can see more & she's higher up.

This month she also has found her fingers. I catch her sucking & chewing on all of them all the time. It's really cute... I can tell she is going to start teething soon! :/

Notice the little drool/spit bubbles in this picture... she is such a doll!

I am so thankful for this little blessing that God has given us!!! I just love love love to squeeze her and kiss those cheeks- all the time!

"Give thanks to the LORD for he is good; his love endures forever!"

Psalm 107:1

baby friends

I wanted to do an updated post with all of my preggo mama friends with our babies! Whitney Courtney & myself get together pretty often and have breakfast or lunch with our girls, but all 4 of us don't get together very often b/c Abbey moved to Charlotte after she had Annabelle. This picture was taken last week when Abbey was in town for New Years Eve. We got together that weekend for breakfast and had so much fun catching up! We had breakfast at crackle barrel, and we got some pics of us & our sweet little girls! :) Here we all are!

Whitney & baby Gemma, Courtney & baby Gentry, Me & baby Maggie Claire, Abbey & baby Annabelle

This is us when we were all super preggo, actually this was just 2 days before Whitney had Gemma!

Whitney, Abbey, Courtney, & myself

Here was our first preggo mama get together when we all had just found out we were having girls! I think I was 16 weeks here!

Courtney, Whitney, me & Abbey!

I love all of these girls and I am so thankful that we get to share being moms together! It's so nice to have friends to relate to! Tonight the three of us that are in Charleston are all starting in our 2nd parenting class that is offered through our church. Can't wait to see all these moms & babies! :)

2010 blog year in review

I went through my blog last night and I thought I could highlight some of the things that I shared with you guys in 2010! :)

{I think this is the first post I've done that there has been no pictures!}

January-

* we celebrated the new year in St. Louis visiting family and then traveled in car halfway across the country to Tulsa, OK where we visited one of my very best friends. On January 31st, surprisingly we found out we were pregnant- we didn't tell anyone though until I went to the doctor! :)

February-

* I decorated my house with all of my adorable valentines cupcake findings from my fav store, target. My car got broken into after having a flat tire and leaving it on the side of the road overnight. On February 28th, I announced I was pregnant to all of my blogging, twitter, & fb friends.

March-

*the shopping begins for the little one when I went to the charleston repeats consignment sale, still not knowing if it's a boy of girl yet. We did the thorn for the 2nd year in a row. I laid out in the sun for the first time (my therapy). I confessed that I ate way too many cookies & being pregnant makes me more hungry than ever.

April-

*Easter. My nephew Jack's 2nd birthday. We celebrated Bethany's pregnancy with baby Tate throwing her a baby shower in my apartment. Beth Moore conference- so long insecurity! I got my first big baby gear item as a present- my stroller!

May-

*Found out that I was going to have a girl & announced her name will be Maggie Claire Surratt! My friends and I started our preggo mama lunches. My nephew Tate Cohen was born on May 23rd! Mike & I decided to go on a last minute cruise for our babymoon before I got too big preggo to do anything.

June-

*We missed our cruise ship- sad, sad, sad day! We never got our money back. We went to Atlanta instead of the Caribbean. Elevation summer youth camp. Work. Work. Work.

July-

*enjoyed shopping for shirt & dresses with embellishments: my fav fashion find of the summer. Talked about how much I love pink toenail polish, but I ventured out and did a aqua for the summertime. Shared my obsession for sonic happy hour drinks. My grandma turned 78 & all my family got to see me pregnant at her birthday bash. My new baby nephew peed on me. Mike went to Guatemala & my mom & I painted Maggie Claire's room orange sherbet.

August-

*New blog design. Celebrated our 2nd anniversary together and didn't go anywhere, but I did talk Mike into going to the beach with me. My baby shower{s} have begun. My belly kept getting bigger and bigger. We found a snake in my inlaws backyard. Maggie Claire's room is finally getting all together- the curtains are hung! :) I got a giant knitted cupcake.

September-

*I revealed Maggie claire's closet & shoe collection- kinda scary for a little girl who wasn't even born yet! I went paddleboarding 9 months pregnant. Had professional maternity photos taken. My last baby shower & met my blog friend Hilary. My last month working! :)

October-

*Maggie Claire was born!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Being a mom is amazing. I did weekly updates for her first 3 weeks & blogged about some of her firsts. She was so tiny & oh so sweet! :) Life can't get any better!

November-

*Maggie Claire was a ballerina for halloween & I shared the pretty pictures of her- so adorable! Sent out MC's birth announcements & celebrated her 1 month birthday! Took pictures of MC & the giant cupcake. Celebrated a birthday party for Mac (MC's future hubs) & went to MC's first wedding. It was my golden birthday- my first birthday as a momma. Super excited about the holidays!!! Happy Thanksgiving & we went to the festival of lights as a small group!

December-

* found a sparkly Christmas ornament dedicated to my blog. Took Maggie Claire to see santa claus with her cousins. We celebrated Maggie Claire's 2 month birthday. She got her first shots {sad face}. I shared my Christmas decorations with you guys & my favorite picture of Mike & MC. Merry Christmas! We spent lots of time with family and found out we get to go to California for vacation next year to visit Mike's parents! :)

2010 was amazing. I know 2011 will even be better watching Maggie Claire grow up to be one year old & grow together even more as a family as three!