baby shoes!

Shoes. Baby shoes. They're irresistible. They're also unnecessary, especially for a certain 1 year old with no interest in walking. Hartley alternates between 2 pair of shoes right now, pink ones with dots and brown ones with little flowers. She really needed more options.

Shoes cost money though. And I don't like spending money on things I can learn how to make using cheap or pre-owned materials.

So I made my own. I love the internet [see Erika, we pay for internet now and I can blog all the time..]. There are a ridiculous number of blogs with sewing tutorials. Like. Ridiculous. It took me a few tries to figure out how to attach everything, but I finally did it! I made my own child some shoes. Makes me feel like a real Proverbs 31 woman.

We had to scratch the ribbon. Little did I realize how much Hartley has chunked up.. her feet barely fit into these. I'll have to make some larger ones.

The girl loves shoes. Especially the taking off part. And then chewing on them. Maybe these will be a little harder to pull off since they're so tight.

She also enjoys sticking out her tongue these days. We read a book about babies and one of them is "silly." Whenever she sees "silly baby" she pulls her tongue out with her fingers.

Don't you love these?! It makes me want to jump off birth control and have another one.

Now that I've got a better idea of how to sew them, I can make more! Wouldn't they be sweet shower gifts? I know my preggo hormones would make me cry when I opened these.

I even made them Daddy-friendly.. i.e. I didn't sew right and ended up with TWO left shoes...

So this is how I spend my Sunday afternoons. We put the kiddo down for a nap- I sew, Marshall plays with his wood. Or some kind of carpentry stuff.

Hartley's Birthday - the PREvent

I still can't believe Hartley is almost one! We decided to have a small, family party. We'll save the big bucks for another year. Like when she gets married.

Marshall's photo, Amanda's editing magic

I did, however, want to decorate. I have never really planned a party, so I wasn't sure how this would go. But, I'm really excited with how I was able to decorate very inexpensively.

I created her personalized invitations using already owned ribbon, buttons, and rhinestones. I simply created a design I liked on a piece of paper. Along with my best friend, Mr. Scotch. Not the drink.

Then I scanned it and added some font lovin'. Snapfish had their 99cents prints deal going on, and my mother-in-law and I "split" the package. They were free. :)

I found some great bargains at Hobby Lobby. Scrapbook paper was 6 sheets for $1. I managed to make her banner, paper globes, and other decor with the paper. Again, I love you Mr. Scotch. I wanted to display her monthly photo shoots, too. We went banner style again and strung them along with some of the scrapbook paper flags.

The most expensive purchase included 2 pink tablecloths ($12) from Big Lots. I made my own yellow table runners with fabric from one of my Grandmommie's projects. I'm sure she's really proud of me. :)

I thought the tables needed some sparkle, so I busted out all the glass jars I could find. Tied coordinating ribbon and popped in a tealight candle. Hartley was really helpful with this task. She even hit the put-the-shape-in-the-hole milestone! Considering the round tealight went through the round jar mouth..

We'll be having Little Caesar's pizza, cupcakes, and a few other snacks. Hartley's cousins have swirly straws waiting for them. I think I'd like to get a little extra something for favors as well.

Hartley's Grandmommie found her birthday outfit. I've learned that white is not the best color for babies- and that's all I could find for birthday shirts. But Momma found a pink shirt and we've layered it with a onesie.

I made her birthday hairbow. Unfortunately, we're at the stage where she just pulls it out as soon as I clip it in.

I'm really excited about her party. I went pretty neutral with colors so we can use the decorations for years to come. And I can use the pink tablecloths for Valentine's Day, Easter, and my birthday!

Speaking of Valentine's..

Her Valentine's Bow. I saw another bow that I liked, so I may attempt another..

So, it's birthday week around here. And I have my emotional moments. Often. Hartley is in another stage- pulling everything out of drawers. This morning she pulled out one of her hooded towels (that she hasn't worn in a few months because it's too short).. and I flashed back to this memory...

One week old.

Tear.

a video

Marshall and I can't understand the jibberjabber that is exploding from Hartley's mouth these days. She's talking, but we have no idea what about. We do know a few words and talk about them regularly.

Baby, Bellybutton, Byebye (I have no idea why it's going so quickly)

And lots of high pitched squeals and giggles.

my day. my boring day.

On Tuesdays, we get our weekly Penny Saver. I look forward to these. A lot. I get my new Bi-Lo circular, Marshall gets Lowe's and Sears, and sometimes there are Hobby Lobby coupons! Not this week. Boo.

I decided to be ahead of the game and print out my grocery coupons last night. That way, on Wednesday morning, all we have to do is eat breakfast, get dressed and head to town.

We can beat all the old people to Bi-Lo. I can get everything I need and not have to stand at customer service for 15 minutes waiting for rainchecks.

Hartley likes wearing my sunglasses

Welp. We haven't had a flake of snow fall, unlike the rest of Georgia, so I was unaware that all produce would be out of stock due to lack of mobility elsewhere.

Bummer. My shopping trip failed. I did not get the 4 bags of apples I wanted.

Hartley and I went home after a brief trip to visit Daddy at work.

Hartley sticking out her tongue (just a little in this one)

This afternoon I worked on table runners for Hartley's birthday. I got 2 $6 tablecloths at BigLots and wanted something to jazz them up. So I spent a few hours sewing. It's very relaxing. Unfortunately I didn't have my house clean in case company showed up. Apparently (according to a Singer sewing book from the 1940s) you should be dressed to the nines, have your house tidied, and your hair did before sitting down to sew.

And this evening, after a very yummy steak quesadilla dinner, I ironed in front of the tv.

Hartley looks so much like her Daddy here

Recap- early morning grocery shopping. Sewing. Ironing while watching tv. I'm officially an old woman.

since last week..

We've had a busy week of painting, weaning, teething, and party planning. I'm sure you've missed us!

Hartley is 11.5 months old now. I've been planning her birthday party since Christmas. Hobby Lobby has a lot of party decorations and paper products.. and they have 40% off coupons available online. So we've gotten most of the supplies for her small family party. We've spent maybe $5. I found some gifts for her months ago, so technically they should be considered free since I can't remember what they costs!

This is a pretty good representation of her mullet. It's getting so long in the back!

She's been making a lot of silly faces lately, too.

Two weeks ago I tried weaning. Hartley would not take the formula I offered. Marshall tried giving her some, but she also refused with him. We quit trying for a week. I attempted it again last Tuesday. We used a different brand and she gobbled it down. We officially started weaning and it's gone quicker than I thought! I did have my emotional moment the first time she took the formula. The week before I got so aggravated when she didn't take it. But when she did drink it, I cried. I was partly jealous she chose the formula over me.

I got emotional again last night.

You see, I don't make much milk as it is. I knew that it wouldn't take long nor would it hurt that much. In 1 week we dropped 2 nursing sessions. It was time to move on to the bedtime session. I wasn't uncomfortable at all, so I went ahead and let Marshall give her a sippy cup (we quit the bottle months ago!). When I finally went to bed I started feeling a little full. And that's when regret kicked in.

Was I really ready? Was Hartley ready? Everything happened so quickly. Could I turn back and reverse the milk supply?

I made sure to cuddle extra close with Hartley this morning. I don't know if that was the last session or not. I hope not. Maybe we can continue with the morning session for another week.

Hartley has been doing great, aside from teething. I feel like this tooth will. not. come in. I didn't take a look this morning, but considering how often she woke up crying last night I thought it may have cut through.

I feel like she's making progress with communication. I know we have a long way to go, but the past week has been an interesting and very funny one.

I thought it sounded like she was trying to "uh oh" and sure enough, she was! It's more of a "uh.. uh" sound. A few days later she was shaking her head and saying "nuh uh." I had no idea I said those things so often, but she sure picked up on them. The funniest part is when we were in Hobby Lobby and I realized she was saying "uh oh." We spent a good 15 minutes saying it to each other.

She's been saying "dah" and "mah" a lot lately. But her "dah" is more of a question. I wonder if that's her way of saying "what's that?"

She knows where her bellybutton is. But that's about it. We're working on other parts of the body. Mainly poking her babies in the eyes.

For awhile I was worried she wasn't cuddly. But she has definitely become a little love bug. She's content sitting on the couch and reading books with us now. She comes to me for hugs and kisses throughout her playtime. Hartley continues to say "baby" (at least her version) and enjoys kissing her baby dolls, stuffed animals, pictures of babies/animals, and her Mema. :)

Marshall and I painted our living room and hallway in the past week, too. It's been overcast around here lately, so I haven't gotten good pictures that represent the true color of the paint. Maybe I'll get around to it next week.

And for the record, we did not get any snow yesterday. Unlike the rest of the country. Boo.

sweet Hartley

We've got a copy cat on our hands! Hartley has been mimicking us a lot lately. 

courtesy of Mollyanne

Although she doesn't say a lot of words (byebye, dada, mama, and bellybutton), she tries to make a lot of different sounds and motions. (I'm serious, she really tries to say bellybutton.. and she knows where to find them!)

She's been doing great with signing "more." And just last night we made the arms-up-touchdown motion once and she copied us!

Hartley continues to click her tongue and bark. I really think she's been trying to say "uh oh" as well. We read Moo, Baa, Lalala a lot and she's started saying "lalala" after us. It's really cute.

She's still trying to get a tooth through; I know as soon as it cuts another will start. So our days are still rough. Her naps are extremely disrupted. Our schedule is very off.

And Sassy is eating a piece of a puzzle...

happy new year.

I sound very excited, huh? We've continued to have some rough days. I thought it would get better but it only seemed to get worse. Teething continues. I think she's working on two now. Videos will make it better!

Hartley got rhythm from her Daddy! She loves dancing.

Hartley started signing "more" and "all done!" Yay! She's really enjoying "more" right now. I gave her some Motrin for the teething pain and she kept asking for more. I also give her little bites of chocolate.. and she asks for more. What have we done?!?

She's finally saying "mama" now. She started a few months ago but quit because she would much rather be blowing raspberries and snorting. I'm excited because it's more than just saying "mama" but wanting her Momma because she's tired or hurt.