My elf.

I keep getting told my daughter looks like the Elf on the Shelf..

What do you think?

6 months (a day late)

My baby is 6 months old. Seriously.

I don't know where the time went.

We did a bit of a photo shoot yesterday so get ready for a bunch...

All dressed up in her pretty skirt. 

She decided she liked the month number on the floor more than on herself...

 Yes, I think my daughter looks like the Elf on the Shelf...

I feel like she's looking at Santa...

Attempt #2 with the month sticker...

Want to know how to keep Emmalee entertained for 15 minutes....

Give her a sticker and watch her try and pull it off... she was so entertained.

I have officially LOST the monthly sticker war and it looks like they will need to be iron on transfers and not stickers anymore... 

Ps. Christmas present idea... Iron on transfer paper... ;)

Otherwise, she's amazing. We'll go for her 6 month check up on the 20th so we'll know all her measurements then...

As of now, she...

- has the greatest squeal/laugh when she's happy

- lifts her arms in the air when I walk by her if she's in her jumper so I'll pick her up

- sits unsupported for a stretch of time but is still a bit wobbly when she gets excited and throws herself back a bit...

- is still working on crawling but her knees are bending more and she's getting closer. She's started going around in circles, she just can't get her belly off the ground... :)

- still screams when we put her in her crib but we've moved her sleeper into her room and she does well in her own room by herself all night.

-has teeth coming in. You can feel them on both the top and bottom but we're not sure how long it will be until they actually pop out.

You:

- love your jumper and will spend all day in it if we let you.

- HATE your car seat when you are getting buckled in but love it after.

-really love the puppies and giggle uncontrollably at them.

- love all the fruits and veggies you've tried since the green bean incident, but peas and peaches are definitely your favorite.

I seriously wish I could just snuggle her all day.

I was looking at older pictures of her, noticing how much her hair has grown, how much lighter it is since she was born, how much her face has changed and how much she's grown.

I'm so proud of her and how well she's developing.

I love that people stop me everywhere we go to tell me how beautiful she is.

I love that even when she cries I laugh because she's just so pathetic sometimes..

And one last thing, you won't care about this unless you did it, are a doctor, or know me but as of today, 6 months and one day, Emmalee is still entirely breastfed! This is huge for me. I wasn't sure I'd be able to nurse past the first couple weeks, let alone 6 months.  We're half way to the point where she can drink milk! Like I said, unless you've ever breastfed or understand the amazingness that breastmilk can provide, it's not a huge thing to you, but to me... it's something I didnt think I could do.

So that's it. She's been here for 6 months and I love her more than I ever thought I could. <3

Christmas Trees.

Every year, David and I make it a point to go to the Festival of Trees. I LOVE this and they do it every year to benefit Cranberry Hospice. Different groups/organizations sponsor a tree and decorate it and I love seeing all the different themes.  There was an outer space one last year that was amazing and I always try and pick out my favorite for that year! The whole event has a special meaning, but I'll get back to that after a couple pictures of my favorite trees!

How cute? All snuggled up in her carriage!

My favorite tree of the year! Completely covered in fairy tales <3

A butterfly tree!! <3

 And what's this silly picture? 

Two years ago, on December 4th, David proposed to me on the top of those stairs right after we left the Festival of Trees. So this place has special meaning to us and we will continue to go every year, as long as we can. <3

Feeling inspired we came home and decorated a bit!

Our tree.. it's fake.. I'm still not sure how I feel about this...

And what was I dancing/jamming out to the whole time... 

and 

... it's ok to be jealous of my musical tastes ;)

Let's get serious.

Couple things.

One: I need to get serious about keeping Emmalee in her own room. I've been so exhausted lately that if/when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she usually spends the remainder of the night in our bed. After 2 nights of sleeping through the night, after the past month of not, we figured we would push for her own room again. She still fights the crib but we've reached a happy medium where she'll sleep in her bed in her room.  We had one little hiccup last night but she didn't even nurse, just took her bink and went back to bed.  Our hope is that we'll start the new year with her in her crib but I guess we'll see...

Two: I need to lose weight. I am actually unhappy. Like more unhappy than ever. I've always been on the larger side, well after I got boobs in middle school, but I've always felt very proportionate and it really didn't bother me.  I didn't like that I couldn't pull off some clothes/outfits but I knew how to dress my body and felt good when I went out 99% of the time.

I currently live in my sweatpants/yoga pants and tank tops with either a cardigan or sweatshirt over it.  I'm just unhappy and uncomfortable in my own body now.  My stomach pouch is terrible and I hate getting dressed. So  I will lose weight.  And no, I don't own a scale. Because I don't want to.  Its not about the number to me, its about being able to put on a pair of jeans and not have an anxiety attack because every shift I own highlights my bulging stomach. The last time I saw a scale was my 6 week postpartum appointment and I was back to my prepregnancy weight.  I was happy because I thought that would be a challenge but I've learned that the challenge is to get everything back where it was.

So here's my plan.
I will NOT be weighing myself.
I will be snagging my old elliptical from my moms house (and putting it in the corner of our room where Emmalee's bed USED to be!!)
I will be using the Zumba XBOX game David bought for me.
I will make smarter decisions when I am at the grocery store.

Maybe... just maybe, by the time Emmalee turns 1, I'll be a bit more confident and comfortable in a cute little summer dress. :)

And finally: I don't know if I want to put up Christmas decorations. Its not that I'm a Grinch, its just that I know whatever I put up, I have to take down. My exhaustion level is so ridiculous lately that I don't even want to think about adding something else to my list. Emmalee is too young to realize if they go up and its not like we'll be doing Christmas here...

That's it. I promise the next post will be more fun.

Swaps!

So one of my favorite things about blogs are giveaways! Seriously, if you try and tell me you hate free stuff, I'm going to call you a liar! However, another really great thing I've seen are swaps. Where you simply hookup with a group of other bloggers and the person in charge assigns partners and you swap! I signed up for my first one and got partnered up with Jessica who went way above and beyond the requirements of a scarf and a warm drink!

A great Merona scarf, hot chocolate (my favorite!), the easiest excuse for apple crisp and some Starbucks, which David highjacked!

Made me so happy so I'm thinking I want to do another!
With the holidays upon us, it seems like a really great time to participate in a swap!

Here's the fine print:

1. If you want to participate, email me at keepingupwiththegiffords@gmail.com by December 1st!

Include: your name, address, and blog url (if you have one!)

2. You will receive the information on who you are going to send your package to on December 3rd.

3. Shop away! I'm asking that you stay within a $20 budget, this should be fun not an extra stress!

4. Mail your package out by December 10th.

5. Enjoy when you get yours in the mail ( and blog about it if you'd like!)

Hope you join up!!

Green beans.

I had to share these two pictures because I literally cry laughing every time I look at them.
We tried green beans tonight and the response was quite humorous...

and my absolute favorite...

Honestly, if you can look at that without laughing... you need to tell me. :)

5 Months Already?!?

Now I'm going to sound super cliche but seriously, where did the time go?

I can't believe my little bug is already 5 months old!

You just started solid foods a couple days ago but you make me laugh when I move the spoon and you lunge out at it and make a little growl noise as you close your mouth. I'm sure you are going to LOVE when we start introducing fruits and veggies.

You look so tall in this picture!!

You still hate your crib. If you are completely asleep, I can put you in it and get 5-7 hours out of you in it or I can put you in it awake and you'll fall asleep on your own but only sleep for an hour or two. If I let you sleep in the Rock N Play, you will sleep all night on a regular basis. If you do wake up, it's always at 3 am and you eat and go right back to sleep.

You and the pups are really becoming friends.  You giggle and kick when they come over to you and Sable likes to roll in front of you so you can "rub" her belly.  Really, you just grab her fur and she looks at me like "Heeeeeelp". Bailey loves to give you kisses and you giggle every time she does.

Looks like we're going to have to start ironing on the month tags...

You are starting to recognize your name and look over when we call you. You aren't crawling yet but you get closer to it every day.  We'll put you on your back with your feet facing in one direction and minutes later you're on your belly facing the other way!! 

You laugh at mommy's silly "pee pee diaper" song and you know it's tubby time and kick your feet until you get in the water!

I'm just so in love with you and when you look this cute its so hard NOT to take photos of you all day!

And speaking of taking photos...

Someone got all dressed up to meet a very special man in a red suit.

We're waiting for those pictures but we did take a few before we left to go see him... 

Can't wait to share the others! 

First Solids & Veteran's Day

Emmalee has been showing a TON of interest in our food lately, grabbing at what's in our hands, following our forks with her eyes and opening her mouth as we eat so we figured even though she is just shy of 5 months, we would give it a try today!

We finally opened up her amazing space saving high chair and started her with just a bit of rice cereal! She wasn't so sure at first. but within a few minutes she was pushing herself forward and opening her mouth when the spoon would come towards her!

Looks like we'll be starting on some veggies soon! :)

And it's Veteran's Day! I actually have the day off which is crazy, but since Emmalee's favorite service member is currently in Ohio, I think... he's all over the place right now, we figure'd we would send him a couple pictures to say THANKS for what he does! One of my favorite things about my brother is that no matter how many times he is thanked, or how many times someone shakes his hand, he always says "I'm just doing what I do", just that simple. 

My family has always been extremely involved in the service, still is!, and today is a really great day to say thanks to all of them for everything they've done and are doing. 

And finally...

Today is also 11/11/11. Although I'm disgusted at how many people are getting married today, i'd like to think the day holds some luck to it. At 11:11 am I took a picture. I mean, I had to document it... it's not like I'll be around in a 1000 more years when it happens again...

And yes, I'm one of those suckers who makes a wish every time I see 11:11 and you know what I wished for today?

Nothing.

I'm sitting in my apartment with my daughter, next to my husband whose playing video games and I couldn't think of one thing that warranted a wish that special that I needed. So instead I closed my eyes and kissed the smallest love of my life, I already have a life better than I could ever wish for. <3