the giant cupcake

I am in love with all things cupcake, so I decided that MC needed a cupcake picture with her cute cupcake sweater & her ridiculously large cupcake hairbow beside the cupcake.

This cupcake as you might have read about it before was made by my friend Tiffany. Didn't really turn out as I planned. Maggie Claire really didn't want to have her picture taken & she was tired. But looking back, these pictures make me laugh really hard. I thought you might enjoy them! and please laugh, because they are started out really cute, but then I realized this is ridiculous!

I hope everyone has a very fun filled Tuesday!

"This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

1 month old

Happy 1 month birthday to my sweet baby girl!

Maggie Claire is 1 month old now, and she is just doing wonderful! She really is such a good baby! She loves to eat & sleep, and we are so thankful for that!

This weekend she had her first bottle, and did great! She has now had the bottle for 2 of her feedings, and both times she drank 3.5 ounces. We are very excited about her taking a bottle. I am so lucky to be able to pump & save up for us to be able to go on date nights & leave her with family while Mike & I go to small group or do ministry events together.

I'm not sure exactly how much she weighs, I'm thinking a little over 10 pounds.

She is eating every 2.5-3 hours, making 8 feedings each day. I have started to let her stretch at night at 4 weeks old, she normally will give me two 4 hour stretches, but last night she went 5 hours! She is on a feed, wake, sleep routine during the day and at night it is just feed and back to sleep. I was impressed with her sleeping 5 hours last night & looking forward to her sleeping through the night by 7-8 weeks old. I don't think we'll have any problems getting her to do that, she LOVES to sleep & I think she gets that from her mom & dad. hehe. :)

Her absolute favorite thing to do is take a bath! She loves it when I give her a bath, especially when her body{not her head, don't worry} is under the water, She coos and smiles the whole time! She likes wearing her headbands & hairbows, I think she just knows that there's not a choice, when it comes to that! haha. :)

MC sleeps well just about anywhere. She likes her carseat, crib & bassinet. She has slept in her bouncy seat & swing before, but I don't think she prefers them, I will normally put her in those when I'm taking a shower & I'll put her in the doorway where I can see her if I need to. I'm thinking she will start to like her swing more as she is getting older. This week, when I think about it, I'm going to get out her play gym and lay her underneath it during her waketime. I don't want to over stimulate her too much, so we'll see how that goes! :)

That's just about all the updates for her 1st month! We are just head over heels in love with maggie claire, and are enjoying life with her. I am so blessed to be her momma!

Maggie Claire's birth announcement

Floret Rose Baby Announcements

Shop custom birth announcements at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

oh what fun...

Yes! Christmas is right around the corner, so I am definitely already thinking about Christmas cards! I have been making photo Christmas cards ever since Mike & I started dating. People thought I was crazy giving out Christmas cards with pictures of me & my boyfriend on them But, I guess I just knew that we would be together forever, so now I love looking back on them every Christmas! This will be 5 years of doing Christmas cards together, and this year is extra special because we are now of course adding Maggie Claire to our family Christmas cards! Oh, I can't wait! This year I am thinking that I will be using Shutterfly's Christmas cards because of the great selection that they have!

Here are a few that I really like:

This is one of my favorites. I love how the brown looks so elegant and unique. I also love how the message of the card is Christ centered, exactly what Christmas is all about! Shutterfly has an entire collection of religious Christmas cards that are great to remind people what Christmas really is about! I also like how you can use 4 different pictures. I might have trouble picking 4 pictures to use though! I think the classic beach family pictures would look perfect in this card, if that's your style!

This is a fun Chistmas card and is one of shutterfly's flat stationary cards, which I really like because they are not printed on photo paper, which in my opinion makes the cards look more elegant! I also like how the "merry christmas" font is on top of the photo. Too cute!

These holiday story cards are also another option that I am liking! I've never done a letter that goes along with the Christmas card, but I think this is a great idea because you can tell all your friends and family everything that has been going on throughout the year! Plus, you can put 3 pictures on it! How cute!

Well, those are my top picks!

Have you decided where you are going to get your Christmas cards from??

november first.

hello november!

This is my absolute favorite month of the year, and not only because it's my birthday month, but I am just in love with the weather! Plus we are getting ready for all of the holiday festivities beginning with {my birthday is the day before thanksgiving} Thanksgiving and then coming soon there after... Christmas! I have already been looking at the Christmas decorations at Target and Walmart! hehe. Oh yes, and I remembered that I bought a mini pink Christmas tree last year before I even knew I was pregnant, and I can't wait to put it up in MC's room!

And now for some pictures of maggie claire... don't you just love the jean skirt?!?!

On Friday was Rocktoberfest {fall festival} at our church, and I dressed MC up as a ballerina. My friend Allison gave me this bathing suit with a tutu attached at one of my baby showers for MC, and I put a long sleeve shirt & leggings on underneath it for the festival, and there is her halloween costume! {It's really a 9 month suit, so there is room to grow for next summer} She was the cutest ballerina there...

My nephew Jack was a firefighter, and Tate was a dalmatian! They were so cute together! oh, and Tate... he was just too adorable... every time I would look at him I would just giggle because of how cute he looked in his dalmatian costume!

Me & my little ballerina!

Maggie Claire got to meet her aunt Brittainy this weekend too! It was Brittainy's birthday this weekend, so she came home from school in Florida to see everyone, celebrate her birthday, and meet maggie claire! {Brittainy is Mike's sister}

That's just about all the excitement going on around here! It's kinda crazy being a SAHM because there is so much to be done around the house... the laundry is piling up, there is baby stuff every where, there are dishes that need to be cleaned & put away, but all I have energy to do while MC is napping is sit on the couch in my pjs at 3:30 in the afternoon and blog. Well, at least I did take a shower today! :)

happy Monday everyone!

3 weeks old

Today my sweet baby girl is three weeks old, and I just can't believe it! She is already growing up so fast, and I just can't get enough of her! I seriously could {and I do} just kiss those sweet cheeks all day long! Her cuteness makes up for having to get up multiple times throughout the night to feed her! hehe.

I took this picture of her today, and I just love it! The sweet bracelet and all! :)

I'm thinking this should be her birth announcement picture, what do you think??

Earlier this week we went for her 2 week checkup, and I am such a proud momma!

MC weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and is now 21.5 inches!

She gained over 2 pounds in 2 weeks and grew 2 inches.

I guess I'm producing some high calorie milk! :)

2 weeks

Happy 2 week birthday to my little sweetie pie,

Maggie Claire!

MC has been doing great nursing, and I am constantly working on giving her a full feeding so she will be stay full until the next feeding time, and she actually loves to eat- and I am so thankful! She pees and poops a lot and I am also thankful for that too! :) Yesterday we moved her up to a size 1 diaper- and it actually worked out perfect because we ran out of newborn diapers just in time for her to move up! I can't wait until her next doctors appointment on Tuesday to see how much she weighs, I can already tell she is gaining weight and changing so much!

These two weeks have been very exciting, and we are definitely trying to still figure everything out. It's been challenging but I am so thankful for friends and family helping with everything! We are trying to get Maggie Claire in a routine, which has been challenging but I just keep praying that we will make the right choices, and for the Lord to give us peace about any challenges that we encounter. We started her on a feed, wake, sleep cycle, sometimes its good, others... not so much, but we are still working through it!

It was a great day today, and since it has been 2 weeks after my surgery, I am now allowed to drive again. YAY! so our first outing.... of course was a trip to Target, and possibly a drive through to sonic for me to get a raspberry sweet tea! two of my favorite things!

Of course, while we were at Target I was just taking my sweet time... browsing through the clearance racks.... I snagged 2 new shirts for under $10 each. Gotta love Target clearance! Then I went checking out the shoes. I found these, and now I know what I want for my birthday!! Aren't these just the cutest things ever? I'm in love with the pink roses on top and I know they are screaming my name! hehe. :)

{FYI: they have them in black too!}

It was so nice to finally get out of the house, and MC slept the entire time we were out, so that was nice! Tomorrow is Friday, which means, Mike is off work, which means, family day! So excited- I am going to look forward to Fridays so much more now because we get to spend Fridays together- Love it! :)