Busy day and its only 1/2 over!

The ironic thing about my grandpa's passing is that we now have more time to do "normal" things. Of course, we will be planning Grandpa's memorial service and making a video for it (which will most definitely take a lot of time!) but we are now somewhat "free" to go throughout our day.

We all woke up at 4:30 AM when we heard the news and, unfortunately, no one, including the babies, could go back to sleep.

To pass the time before they were able to go back down for a nap, the twin and I took the kiddos to the putt putt this morning (no...we didn't play a round with them--we took them to see the safari animals on the course).

clearly, they're thrilled


she learned how to make an elephant noise.


she says, "brrrrmph" So cute!


Now we're working on the hippo noise

Monkey wants to know--do YOU know what noise a hippo makes? Because we certainly don't!

After a nap, the twin took Little R to Whole Foods while Monkey (or cutie face or Baby C...i can't decide what to call her!) and I went for a fun swim in the pool--she LOVES swimming and we've swum every day this week right after her nap and before lunch. Its good timing...sadly, no pictures as i'm the one playing with her in the pool but we hope to get some soon because her bathing suit is SO cute :)

After lunch, we took the cousins to a playground in Florida. The one oversight is that there were NO TREES or even any artificial shade so the swings and the play equipment was quite hot. Monkey didn't mind, though, and loved getting a ride on the babyswing:



They are now back down for their second nap and I think I might join them!

Sad but Happy News

The fabulous man who came up with the moniker "Cutie Face" for our daughter (and now our blog!) went to his eternal home very early this morning.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Then when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this scripture will be fulfilled:

"Death is swallowed up on victory.
O death where is your victory?
O death where is your sting?"

Repost: Going to Florida

I'm sorry to keep doing this to all of you who read both of my blogs but we're running out of town which means I'm running out of time :-o so i'm reposting from Monkeys on the Bed!

-------------------

Hi friends,

Well, my sister has outdone me again and posted:

1) about Baby C's first year
2) about Baby C's first birthday party

and

3) about all the gifts she made for Baby C

Maybe you didn't click on any of those links...but you MUST click on the last one to see how talented my sister is!

And now to more serious things...

I won't be posting much at all (or even responding to emails or getting on Twitter!)

My mom and I, Baby C, and the twin and the cousin are driving down to Florida today.

We are going to be with my grandpa and support my grandma for at least a week

I'll miss you, Bloggy Land! But we'll be back!

Blog Title finally coming into play!

You may remember from my first post that I mentioned that we wanted to name our blog "cutie faceS" (plural) because we wanted the blog to grow with our family....

well, as hinted at in the post title...

Cutie Face #1 will have another little Cutie Face to contend with in 6 months!

Unfortunately, the wee one was displaying typical second-child behavior (or so I hear!) and being difficult. We couldn't get a good picture even after 10 minutes of probing! So no gender news yet but here is the "best" picture we got at 12 weeks, 4 days:

And to give you an idea of what cooperative Big Sis, Baby C looked like at 12 weeks 6 days...

Yeahhh...looks like this one will be fun or at least really really good at hiding!

More details to come, for sure, but right now this tired mama needs an N-A-P!

Meeting an old/new friend

Baby C met one of my oldest Georgia friends for the first time last week. We had lunch at a nice Thai restaurant and I finally remembered to snap pictures that mean something (not just 1000s of random pics of C!).

She loved the G-man and constantly gave him smiles, straight from the get-go! No warm up for her.

Thanks for having lunch with us, G! We hope you come back to Georgia again (permanently!) soon!

GroBaby...Model...?

One of my new favorite diaper brands (GroBaby) holds a weekly picture contest on their Facebook Fan Page. I decided to see what C could do at the end of the day...turns out she is quite hilarious...but maybe not model worthy!

click on the pic to see the hilarious face she is making on the far left



I love these diapers! Especially because they SNAP!

Adultnapped!

Hi friends! J stole me away from my baby, my apartment, and my computer...and all for a wonderful cause!

He surprised me with a 6th-anniversary trip back to the North Georgia Mountains.

In case you read both of my blogs, I don't want to copy and paste...but just in case you only read this blog, here is the link to our mini-vacay:

Adultnapped at Monkeys on the Bed!

I ❤ my husband!

Friday Night Date Family Night

J and I typically have date night on Thursdays. It was a long-established tradition that started when he began working for his consulting company. He usually travels Monday-Thursday, coming home Thursday night. We would celebrate his weekly homecoming by going to our local sports bar, Taco Mac! (So much history with the Mac--I even went into labor with Baby C while there!)

Anyway, Taco Mac is family friendly and we used to take C in a sling (J would wear her!) or in her carseat--she slept the whole time! We finally stopped taking C when she stopped sleeping through our dates.

We kind of missed having C with us, though, so we've recently established a tradition of walking ~2 miles to a very family-friendly restaurant in Candler Park--Fellini's.

J loves their pizza, i love their salads and C...well, she loves just about everything about it! And...of course we have photographic evidence to prove it {what first child doesn't have pictures chronicling every minute of their day?}

the fountian is clearly a favorite of C's and ALL the other kids!



well, most of the time:



C also loves it because she can kid-watch. She stares and waves and smiles at them all night long



and, even though we take her after she's already eaten dinner, she always helps me eat the copious amounts of cheese (that I can't eat!) and olives (don't worry--she doesn't choke!) that come on my salads

These Shoes are Made for Walkin'!

The kid* is about to walk away from me at any moment.

She has taken three and four and five steps at a time but feels much more confident plopping her cute plushy cloth diaper bottom on the ground than continuing on with her bipedal forward motion.

She has also gone barefoot 99.9% of her life (much to my mother's chagrin when i plop her down in a public place). I always think of the sign "No shirt, No shoes, No service". Often Baby C can be found wearing only her aforementioned cute plushy cloth diaper--hey, its hot in Hotlanta!

Regardless!

Once she becomes fully mobile on two feet, I know my mom I am going to want her in shoes outside of the house. So I did a little research and figured out that leather soled shoes are best as they let the baby's toddler's (i have to remember that she technically is a toddler!). We own a few of those leather-soled shoes but nothing else substantial enough to last more than a few months (what with scuffs and stuff!).

So I read more reviews and decided to go with those (^) UMI shoes. They consistently receive 5 stars and people use them for early walkers and say that they'll hold up. We'll see. i'll let you know. In the meantime, if you have shoe thoughts for new walkers, let me know!

in the meantime, Baby Toddler C had fun playing "girly girl" and loved on her new shoes. I don't know where she gets that from--certainly not me (and I'm not being sarcastic! the only shoes i get excited about are running shoes!)

*The kid really isn't a "baby" any more! But I don't know what to call her! Little Monkey? Cutie Face? Suggestions needed! Please! Comment away!

PS Sadly, no video...yet...i kind of sort of lost my camera...again...hence the iPhone pictures :(

Cool Pool

Alright everyone, I'm just jumping in and will start posting BACKWARDS from today until I gradually catch up with life...but i don't really know what that means as then i'll have to keep posting BACKWARDS because, instead of posting current events, i'll always be play catch-up.

Meh. Whatevs.

Today it was raining 90% of the time. We need that rain! It was also very cooling. But, limiting. Baby C and I were stuck inside for that 90% of the day. I could have taken her in the jogger with the stellar clear plastic rain cover we own but I, unfortunately, do not have a clear plastic rain cover for myself :-o

So we waited.

The beautiful thing about waiting is that everyone else was waiting, too, and must have just written off the day as a "wash" (ha!). Which is why I decided that, when the sun started peeking through the clouds at 4 PM, Baby C and I should head to the pool.

and that we did

and no one was there (okay, fine, there were approximately 6 kids in the pool. And lifeguards. Don't forget the lifeguards). SUCCESS! yes!

We got there 45 minutes before the pool closed and the dude you pay to get into the pool (uhhh--does he have a name? the Money Taker?) let C get in for free! woo hoo!

C and i stayed in the pool for the entire 45 minutes so i didn't get a chance to take a picture until after she was out of it. I will say that I have a little flirt on my hands--she l-o-v-e-d the male lifeguard and would just BEAM at him and do her pageant wave. Oh my. THIS is why I wanted boys!

Here is the little charmer herself, being placated for the run home by her almond milk. Yum.

also more evidence of the lack of people at the pool. I like the rain trick. So far we're three for three!

Monkey kisses

I have so many pictures that i take and then think, "oh this will make a fun post!" and then...well, as you know, that "fun post" never materializes.

So, instead of procrastinating, i'm just going to jump straight in and post a video that Baby C and i took for her Uncle Noah yesterday.

Maybe this will be motivation to start posting away! :-o

Prayer Request!

I'm reposting this from my Monkeys-on-the-Bed! Blog in hopes that I cover everyone!

----------

It was SO amazing and encouraging to read all the Twitter tweets and blog posts about how people all over the world were (ARE!) praying Baby Stellan and his MckFamily.

He is doing much better than yesterday but prayers are obviously still needed!

After reading about Stellan, thinking about Stellan, and praying for Stellan all day yesterday, I was amazed by the power of God and His people.

This morning my Dad called me and the twin to let us know that our Grandpa is not doing well at all today. He, like Stellan, has extremely extremely low hemoglobin and ALL of his counts are going down. This comes a day after he was stabilizing.

We KNOW that God is mighty and in control. We KNOW that God can heal our grandpa or chose to take him home. We KNOW this. While we pray for healing we also pray for God to be glorified and for His will to be done, whatever it is.

We ask that you join us in praying for our grandpa. He is a man of integrity, the father of 5 wonderful children and 12 incredible grandchildren (okay, i'm including me and the twin in that list but you get the gist). If you find a minute, please consider praying for healing for our Grandpa.

Thank you!

Put to shame!

While the twin has posted like 100 blog posts in the last 10 days, this sad neglected blog has sat lifeless and void of updates.

I hope to change that.

One day.

Soon.

I hope.

I just have to find my camera cord.

And time in between everything that life brings every single hour of the day.

But one day soon. There will be updates.

Promise, cross my heart (we just saw "Up"--which is such a sweet sad little movie--and they use that quote a lot)

Zoo, part 2!

Two things you should know:

1) J and I are Bank of America card holders
2) I rarely ever check my Spam folder

On Sunday, I decided to check my Spam folder just for kicks. Two pages into it I found a slightly sketchy looking Bank of America email. Much to my surprise, upon opening it, I found that Bank of America was continuing with their "Museums on Us" program. The "Museums on Us" program allows you free access to quite a few museums in larger cities throughout the USA. Last winter, we went to Fernbank and the Atlanta Botanical Garden for free. Good times!

I thought that they'd only be offering those two aforementioned museums again but my curiousity got the best of me and I clicked to see what was up for grabs. WHOA! They had free passes to Zoo Atlanta, The High, and the Atlanta History Center! Wait! Zoo Atlanta!? nice!

Look no further then a reason to finally visit the zoo with Baby C! Realizing that it was already Sunday (last day of the weekend) and nearly 3:00 PM, we got ourselves ready and ran out the door, hoping to get in 1.5 hours of Zoo-Time.

Let me tell you, it could not have been better--it was only 78 degrees, had just finished raining, and was the end of a long holiday weekend. So, there were NO crowds, hardly any other visitors, AND an incredibly cool day for the summer in Hotlanta.

All in all it was a great experience. C loved visiting the Budgies and J and I were enthralled by the Gorilla Center they have--it is HUGE.

We snapped lots of pictures but then, sadly, my battery died about half an hour before we left. Oh well!

Here are the highlights:

Click here to view these pictures larger

{We're leaving for Kansas today but should come back with lots of stories and really fun pictures! Stay tuned for next Tuesday!}

Sniff sniff...my baby is 11 months old TODAY!

Hard to believe that 11-months ago at 1:54 PM, J and I first laid eyes on this...

and our hearts were irrevocably gone...

❤ ❤ ❤

Here is Cutie Face 11 months later....

sporting the cutest little bubble romper from Whimsy Couture!

❤ ❤ ❤

While we may have celebrated her birthday early...



it was only in pictures and only for an I Heart Faces entry...

❤ ❤ ❤

and it certainly isn't making it easier for me to come to grips with the fact that I nearly have a one-year old!

Wordless Wednesday: first visit to the zoo

a sneak peek into Baby C's first trip to the zoo

...more to come tomorrow!



for more WordLESS Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom
and
for more WordFUL Wednesdays, visit 7ClownCircus

4th of July: Recap and Repost

Its been a week since I blogged on Cutie Face! Sorry everyone! I have some fun pictures to share with you this week, though, so I'll try to post at least every other day!

That being said, I wanted to repost my Patriotic Edition from Monkey's on the Bed...

You may remember from my past posts months ago that I LOVE to run! So much so that I love running with 55,000 of my closest friends (as my Dad puts it!) every Fourth of July. YES! 55,000 people vie for a spot every year to compete in the world's largest 10k...the Peachtree Road Race. Since I was running, most of these pictures are from my cousin, a budding photographer, or her mom, my aunt. I would LOVE to include race pictures from the newspaper but that would obviously be a copyright infringement. Feel free to check some out here!

Since 55,000 people is a lot of people to run, the wonderful people behind the race, namely the Atlanta Track Club (the ATC), must organize it down to the second. They place people on ability and race experience in one of 9 time groups. I run competitively for the ATC and, with a prior race time, was able to score a very low bib number--putting me right behind the Elite runners! The twin was right behind me, followed by J, in time group 4, and my cousin and her friend in time group 6.

All in all, it was a great race! I managed to run fast enough to win a hat and a finisher's mug--woo hoo! bonus!

Here is what the finish line area looks like when about 50% of people have finished:

Here is my official Finishers Certificate:

My parents watched Baby C for us and met us at the finish line--definitely motivation to cross that line quickly so we could be reunited with her! (Doesn't J look thrilled?)

Me, Baby C, my dad, and the cousin, Sweet Little R

For the first time racing, J and I lived close enough to the finish line to walk home--now that is a bonus! We hosted a brunch for our family immediately following the race. My Aunt and Uncle brought fabulous bagels from Panera--thank you!

The twin and her husband kept the mosquitos at bay for the rest of us--why is it that mosquitos tend to fixate on certain people and ignore the rest? Sorry A&B!

J and I with Baby C, enjoying lots of carboyhydrates post run.
I'm sporting my new favorite hat and C is sporting her new fave bow:

J loving on Baby C.
Isn't her bow incredible? The twin made it! Check it out in her Etsy Store!

After the fam went home, we relaxed (read: SLEPT!) and then geared up for another BBQ, this time at my parents' house. Dad set up the sprinklers and C's cousin, R, took right to it...

Lil' Miss R is lucky because she now has cousins from her daddy's side that live in Atlanta! They came over to join the fun...here is Mr. L showing R how to enjoy the sprinkler to the max:

Baby C, unfortunately, slept through all the fun but we know she'd have crawled through the sprinklers had she been awake! Instead, she woke up and was fed...and looked confused about the whole thing:

a little sampling of our carnivorous feast



and the famous flag cake (my mom went with raspberries this year--so much easier than strawberries!)

All in all, the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays because we get to race, relax, and relish our family. And, of course, we get to eat lots of wonderful picnic food, especially the prized Flag Cake!

SPECIAL NOTE: Last year, we celebrated the wedding of my cousin to his beautiful bride on 07-04-08. July 4th is special to him for one more reason: he is an Army Ranger. Thank you, to my cousin, who proudly and BRAVELY fights for the honor and glory of our country!