EVERLY'S 2 YEAR PICTURES... AND AN ANNOUNCEMENT!
August 28, 2016 • MOTHERHOOD
We took a little road trip to a beautiful peach farm tucked away in the country of Bowling Green to meet up with Katie Meek of Paige Logan Photography for Everly's 2 year pictures. It is so fun to look back at all the pictures we have done with Paige and see how fast Everly has grown. The pictures Paige has captured for us are some of our favorites we have of her.
This was our first time working with Katie and we absolutely loved her. The heat was miserable, but we all pushed through and had so much fun. Katie was able to capture a TON of beautiful photos. I had such a hard time narrowing down my favorites to feature here. Everly had a blast playing with the peaches and flowers. Her personality and happiness really shines through in these pictures.
And finally, we are so excited to announce Everly is going to be a big sister next year!!!
Thank you so much Katie Meek with Paige Logan Photography for these beautiful pictures! You captured our little girl and her personality so perfectly. We will cherish these forever. EVERLY'S BIG GIRL BED TRANSITION
August 25, 2016 • MOTHERHOOD
I had zero intentions of transitioning Everly to a toddler/twin bed this year. Ever since she was a baby she has been a dream when it came to sleeping at night. All I would have to do is help her put on pajamas, brush her teeth, read a book, kiss goodnight and I could lay her down wide awake. She would put herself right to sleep. Our family was shocked we had such an easy little girl. And she would stay that way all night until about 7:30 the next morning and wake up in the best mood. There were even some mornings I would have to wake her up to avoid being late for work. The crib was working perfectly, why mess with her routine?
Wellllll then we got the bright idea to go on vacation in July. We didn't bring her pack and play with us since she had out grown it. The condo had two bedrooms. So we thought she could just sleep in the second bedroom and build a pillow fort around her so she wouldn't fall. We had been on vacation several times with her before. She was easily adaptable. And she slept in her own bedroom at home. This would work, right? She slept in the full size bed like a champ all week. No harm done.
Until we got back to Kentucky... Night one at home we laid her in bed and she immediately started crying. Which wasn't unusual. About once every other week we've had to let Everly cry it out before. But about 20 minutes later we hear a loud thump. Chad and I look at each other and suddenly we hear little footsteps and her cry getting louder coming around the corner. Into the living room walks our 23 month old. First time she had ever crawled out of her crib. After giggling about it I let her stay on the couch with us and fall asleep watching TV. I put my sleeping toddler to bed and forget it ever happened. Until she woke up crying again at 6 am the next morning. When I went into her bedroom she was half way over the rail trying to climb out again.
Same thing happened the next night. Tried letting her cry it out. A few minutes later she climbed out of her crib and came walking into the living room. She woke up crying again in the middle of the night, out of her crib and into our bedroom. Chad finally took a blanket and just slept in the floor of her room that night to keep her happy and keep her still.
After three nights of this nonsense Chad and I thought maybe the bed in Florida is what she was missing. Maybe she was ready for a big girl bed? So I go online and order her very own twin size bed in her favorite color - pink. A couple weeks later it finally came in. She helped us put it together. Asked us fifty times "that my bed?" "Yes! This is your new big girl bed! Do you like it?" Her response was yes every time. We took her to pick out sheets. We jumped on the bed. Read books in the bed. Got her SO excited about her new bed. She took a nap that afternoon. We thought we had this alllll figured out.
Then night time came. We kept her bedtime routine the exact same. When it was time to lay down- meltdown. "I don't like that bed." "I don't like that bed." She cried every single time I laid her down. But I was determined to make her stay in her room. It took me 30 minutes of constant back and forth until she finally gave up. I was sweating and my hamstrings were cramping from leaning over the bed to lay down my 30 lb toddler seventy-five times. About five hours later in the middle of the night our crying toddler comes into our bedroom wanting to get into our bed. I refuse to let that happen. So I lay her back in bed and lay down on the floor next to her bed until she falls asleep.
The next day I tell Chad it's his turn to fight the fight. He goes back and forth a few times trying to get her to put herself to sleep. But then decides it's easier to lay down with her until she falls asleep. Middle of the night comes and she's up again. Crying. Wanting to get in our bed. (I hope my husband isn't the only dad with zero patience in the middle of the night.) He shouts "Everly! If you don't want your bed then lay down on the floor!" The crying instantly stops. She drops to the floor and immediately goes back to sleep. I am in shock.
When I wake up the next morning there she is, still asleep, next to our bed on the floor. No pillow. No blanket. She looked like a pitiful orphan.
The next night I guess it's my turn. I lay her down in her bed and it's instant meltdown mode. She requests to sleep in our bed. I let her know that she can't do that. She has to sleep in her room. Meltdown times ten. So I ask her if she wants to sleep in her bed or on the floor. She immediately requests the floor. Oooookay... She has a soft little fur rug in her room that I've actually laid on several times during difficult nights. So I lay her pillow on that. Let her curl up into a little ball and tuck her in with a blanket. She goes right to sleep.
And every single night since it's the same thing. She sleeps on the floor. Usually she'll make her way into our bedroom during the night. But she'll lay right down on our floor and go back to sleep.
Some mornings it's a treat to figure out where she ended up that night. In the picture above she is actually under our bed.
So, this is how our big girl bed transition is going. She wakes us up once or twice during the night usually to ask us a random question or go potty. So there is no more sleeping through the night for any of us. But it's usually pretty easy to get her to lay back down and go to sleep... as long as it's on the floor. Once in a blue moon she'll sleep through the night in her own room. But I guess as long as she's happy and not in our bed, I don't mind where she sleeps. Of course I would prefer she sleep in her own bed. So I am open to suggestions if any of you experienced moms have any!
EVERLY'S 2nd BIRTHDAY PARTY
August 23, 2016 • HOLIDAYS, MOTHERHOOD
It blows my mind that our baby girl is two years old. It seems like we just celebrated her 1st birthday! But this year we celebrated her special day her absolute favorite way- with fruit! Two-tti Fruity to be exact. I found this theme on Pinterest. It fit Everly so perfectly I knew instantly this was going to be the party for her. Fruit is about the only thing I can count on Everly to eat anymore. If I put a donut and an orange in front of her, she will go for the orange every. single. time. Whose kid is this? But in addition to that, I just loved all the bright colors and thought it was so fun for a 2nd birthday.
My favorite Pinterest inspiration came from Pizzazzerie. This is where I got almost all of the party ideas. She threw the perfect two-tti fruity party. She posts all her credits and resources on her site if any of you are interested in throwing a similar party.
Every time someone would ask Everly what she wanted for her birthday, her response was always "my party". So Momma had to do it right! Here are some pictures from Everly's special day. I think she had an absolute blast.
Her cake was one of my favorite things from the party. Dalisha's Desserts came through once again. Every time we need a cake I choose her. She made our wedding cake and every single birthday cake since. It is always as delicious as it is pretty.
Everly did so well opening her presents. She was so excited with every single gift she received and wanted to open each one immediately and play with it. With every gift she opened she politely turned around and thanked every single person. It was the sweetest thing ever.
Happy Birthday my sweet Everly! I hope you look back on these pictures and see what a special and loved little girl you are. You are the light of my and your daddy's world and we love you more than anything.
BEACH VACATION
August 5, 2016 • TRAVEL
We had such a blast at Daytona Beach last month. Every year my family vacations at Daytona for the 4th of July and it is always one of the highlights of our year. The vacationers included my grandmother, her husband, my aunt, uncle, mother, Chad, Everly and myself. We always rent two condos on the same floor and it is so nice and convenient. Chad and I love vacationing with extended family as it means extra hands for baby duty.
Last year was Everly's first trip to the beach and she did so well with the sand and ocean. I knew she was too little to remember it this year so I was anxious to see how she handled it again. Turns out she still loves it. She sat in the sand and dug holes and put sand in and out of her buckets for hours. She kept dragging Chad and I out to the ocean every few minutes too. We even saw a couple of manatees! But it was all fun and games until the salt water got in her eyes. Then she was over it. Time to go to the pool.
We got her a Puddle Jumper and let her float around the pool without having to hang on to us and she became so brave in the water. She would get in and out of the pool over and over so she could jump in all by herself. She even let Chad throw her in the air a couple of times without catching her. She would go under water without fear and thought it was so funny to try and blow bubbles. And by blow bubbles I mean opening her mouth and drinking the water. Gross.
On the 4th we watched fireworks in all directions from the beach while we lit sparklers. Everly was amazed by it all. I think she had a blast.
Overall we enjoyed a lazy week of lounging on the beach, and finished the days with dinner out together and card games at night. On top of it all, the weather was absolutely beautiful. No schedule. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. My favorite.
We took this picture on the boardwalk last year. So fun to see how she's grown. Joe's Crab Shack was our favorite place we ate dinner, which is where she acquired the Minnie in the picture that she refused to let go of.
These donuts were amazing. Highly recommend Donnie's if you're ever in the area with a sweet tooth.
We decided to drive through the night again as it seemed to work really well for Everly last year. This year wasn't quite so easy. She woke up about five/six hours into the trip at 3 in the morning and WOULD NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP. It was two hours of screaming/crying fits. Poor Chad was exhausted from driving through the night and we had just switched places so he could rest while I drove. Our patience was pretty thin at that point. So Chad opted to continue driving while I got in the back to try anything possible to calm her down. By 5:00 am she had finally gone back to sleep. So I drove a couple of hours to let Chad get some rest. Everly woke again for the last hour and a half of the trip and we entertained her with donuts and candy. But other than those two hours, she did really well for the 14 hour drive.
The drive home was a little worse. She was up a lot of the night, though not quite as upset as she was the trip down. Once morning broke and we stopped for breakfast she PUKED all over herself and her carseat. Lovely. We thought we were done for. But thankfully she didn't get sick the rest of the trip and was overall pretty well behaved.
But we had a fantastic week and treasure the time we got to spend with our family. We can't wait to go back already!
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