Happy Birthday Abby!

We went to Abby's Tinkerbell birthday party on Sunday. Finley had a blast!!! They had a treasure hunt, face painting and fairy wings. Happy Birthday Abby! We love you!

Sam at 5 months

Sam, you are such a big boy! You can sit up unassisted for about 5 minutes, but usually you have your trusty Boppy behind you. You can scoot and roll wherever you please. You reach for EVERYTHING and when you get it, it goes straight into your mouth. Your sleep has been a little off lately. I blame teething. You go down about 9:30 and are up for the day around 6:30. You were going strong through the night there for a while, but now you get up around 1 or 3 or both :(  We started rice cereal. You're getting the hang of it although you may be like your sister and just never have a taste for it. You still despise the car seat. You recently screamed all the way from Huntsville to Cullman without stopping. That was a fun day. You love to talk and sing in your own baby language and you love for me to hold you so you can touch my face and let me nibble your fingers. It makes you laugh out loud! You adore your sister and you light up when she comes into view. Sometimes she gets a little rough with you, but you always take it like a man. I think you're going to be tough like your sister. You love to kick and rock your bouncy seat really hard. You like to swing and take strolls outside. You have started napping in your crib and as soon as you start sleeping through the night consistently I'll move you in there at night. For now, you're still mommy's bed buddy ;) When you smile at me it makes me so happy I think I'll burst! We love you buddy man!!!

Height: will update later
Weight: will update later
Diapers: size 3
Clothing: 6 month is snug, 9 month is big

Sambo aka Bitty-man

My little man is almost 5 months old! I'll have a 5 month post later, but I had to share what might be the cutest picture of Sam ever taken :)

Weekend in Birmingham

We had a great weekend in Birmingham! We helped a friend celebrate her birthday with a surprise party. We went to the zoo with the grandmothers. We visited Brandon at the fire station. My dad came to see the kids and we ate at all our fave places we don't have in Huntsville.

1st day of school

Finley had her first day of school today! She was really excited to go and I had no problem dropping her off. Her teacher seems really sweet and the kids are closer to her age. Last year, she was the youngest and even though I think it was to her benefit, she was a little intimidated because the teacher said she was always VERY quiet and that was hard to believe. Bitty man and I went on a leisurely stroll through Target, then came home and he took a nap while I got a few things done. I'm so glad I decided to send her 3 days a week instead of just 2. I love her, but she wears me out :) She is averaging about 400 questions a day and every morning she wants to know what we are doing that day. Heaven forbid we just hang out at home!

Sewing school

Here is what we learned last night...

-French seams
-Sewing and clipping a curved seam
-The quarter inch quilting seam
-Creating your own cording (this takes too long, I don't think I'll be creating my own cording)
-Corded seam

Fun stuff! Next week is our last class :(

One other thing we learned...sewing machines are expensive. They taught us on a $1600 machine so of course now everyone in the class wants one. Very sneaky...

Point and flex

Here is a picture of Finley right before her first dance class. I missed it because of sewing class, but I am anxious to take her as soon as the class is over. Joey was Mr. Mom :) The parents are not allowed inside the studio so I really don't know how she did, but she said she liked it. All I know is she sure does look cute in her leotard ;)

I told her to strike a ballet pose and this is what she did. Haha! Finley also had gymnastics last week. This is her 2nd season and I hadn't planned on doing gymnastics and dance, but she really enjoyed it and once I saw the Fab 5 at the Olympics I just couldn't resist. Who knows? She could be the next Gabby Douglas!

Sew fun!

I decided a few weeks ago that I really wanted to learn how sew. I asked my mom if I could borrow her machine. She brought it up and it sat on my dining room table for a week. I walked past it, but never had a chance to sit down and try to use it. I posted a picture of the machine on Facebook about how all I needed now was to learn how to sew. I got several responses from people saying they learned on youtube. I was sure I wasn't going to be able to learn that way. I knew if I tried it, I would be running from my desk where the computer was to the dining room table where the machine was at midnight because that's the only time I would be able to concentrate. A friend of mine suggested we take a class together and that sounded like the perfect solution. 3 hours to myself with no kids didn't sound too bad either ;) Creative Sewing in Huntsville offers a 4 week beginning sewing class. It's once a week for 3 hours. You use their machines and they don't just teach you how to sew a stitch. The course is very involved and I am loving it!!! The first class we didn't sew at all. We learned how to use our machine and we learned about different kinds of fabric, thread, needles, sewing implements, etc. Last night was our second class and we sewed the entire time. I think everyone was grateful we got to use the machines. 

Here is what we have learned so far...

-What fabric and thread to use for different kinds of projects
-Everything you could possibly need to know about needles, pins, rotary cutters, scissors and seam rippers
-Seam finishes-Pinked
-Sewing a plain seam
-Pin basting for stitching
-Pin basting for fitting and matching
-Stitching seams which cross
-Grading seams in the hem
-Trimming and grading seams
-Seam finishes-Zigzag
-Seam finishes-safety stitching

Next week we move on to french seam and curved seam. The teacher says that once we learn to do a french seam that is all we will ever want to do. I'm already eyeing a pattern I want to use for my first project :)

For each lesson, we get a handout and then we demonstrate the skill using muslin. We have a notebook we keep everything in so when we get done we have a reference.

On the first day of class we got a pin cushion, glass head pins, our thread and bobbin and we sewed, what was for some of us, our very first stitch :)

My grandmother had a pin cushion just like this one except she had it on a bracelet. I hope I will be as talented as she was although I'll try to steer clear of making coolots for my grandkids...she meant well ;)

Nom, nom, nom

He likes it!

Our getaway

Joey and I decided we needed a relaxing getaway. We have both been working really hard! We left Finley and Sam in capable hands and headed to our favorite beach destination, Rosemary Beach. It was WONDERFUL!!! We ate out every meal, got some sun and read our books on the beach, kayaked in the ocean, slept in, took naps and shopped. We even carried on entire conversations without interruption! Can you believe it? I didn't take my blow dryer because I didn't want to waste one minute doing anything like that ;) We missed the kids so bad and were rushing back on Sunday to see them. Reality hit me like a bus today, but that's okay :) I only took a few pics while we were gone and they were not of us (no blow dryer), but here they are...

(On a side note: Props to those moms who pump. I did it for 4 days and let's just say it's not my favorite thing to do.)

 I thought I would make the truck picture black and white and frame it on Sam's wall.

Mirror, mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the cutest one of all? I just can't decide :)