Adventure Week

Last week was Thanksgiving week, but I like to call it Adventure week! Bryson took the week off before he started his new job. So we took advantage of the time off and went on a few adventures!

First stop Bluebell Creameries in Brenham, Texas. I have been wanting to go on a tour for years!!
They only do tours during the week, so I'm glad we finally made the trip I mentioned to B why didn't we do this in college? We totally could of had our friends skip class and make a day trip of it! haha!
We had a great time exploring the gift shop and the tour was about 30 mins and very interesting! And we got a free scoop of ice cream at the end! I tried the newest flavor Spiced Pumpkin Pecan and Bryson had the Mocha Almond Fudge, while Violet enjoyed tastes from both of us! And they give you these free hats to wear, I was more than okay with wearing mine for the rest of the day!



Second adventure was the Wortham Theater Christmas Tree lighting!
Every year the Houston Ballet puts on this event for people of all ages to enjoy and its the kickoff for The Nutcracker. My friend Kim works for them and invited us to come out. We enjoyed a few choirs, watching cute little kids dance around to the music and The Nutcracker characters/Ballerinas were there to take pictures with you! My family has made many many trips to see The Nutcracker since I was little so it was neat to see the ballerinas up close! Violet loved the Rats, I thought she was going to cry. But she put on a huge smile and started to pet them!

Our last adventure was at Saint Arnold's Brewery.
My sister, her hubs Matt, Bryson and I really enjoyed the place. It was lively, yet chill at the same time. You pay $7 get a half pint glass with 4 drink tokens (someone messed up and I was lucky and got 5!) and go on a tour. Our tour guide was the actual Owner himself! Bryson said it was a much better tour than the other one he went on. So we had a few drinks, we brought in some snacks to much on and then went on the tour and drank some more. It was waaay to early for me, so I only used one token and then drank their fantastic (free!) root beer the rest of the time!

Things I have learned

Taking a look back I can NOT believe that Violet is 9 months. I was giving her a bottle today and got a little teary. Usually I give her a bottle and she lays on the floor or in her highchair, holds the bottle and drinks it all up. But I sat down in the glider, cradled and fed her. She is huge! (she is in the 95% for her height!) Her feet were touching the arm rest and she did not want me to hold her bottle. (I love her little sassy personality ((sometimes))....I know when shes two I will not like it as much :)In only 9 months I feel like I have learned so much about her and looking back remembering the really tough times and sweet times! Here are a few I'd like to share:

Breastfeeding- Violet was breastfed for 7.5 months and started to very slowly wean at about 6 months. She has now been on formula for 2 months and is doing great! In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing! (I seriously recommend reading books, asking for help, taking that help, and try try again!)Its a lot of trial and error I'm so thankful I was in the hospital for 4 days after V was born due to having a C-Section. We had a lot of help from the baby nurse and lactation consultant! (PS- I think La Leche League offers free help...I know LC can be very expensive when you are not in the hospital!) I remember while nursing in the hospital and once at home re-reading about "how to breastfeed". If you are able to breastfeed, it an amazing experience!! Physically its amazing how God created your body to produce milk to provide for a child! I had some hard times when I was engorged at the beginning and cried bc I was so uncomfortable. Or nights when you wake up and have soaked through your shirt/sheets/towel because you are leaking :) Or times when I missed a feeding and became rock hard. It's all such a learning experience. And after a while your body adjusts and so does your baby. You learn how to position the baby, that your nipples will not be sore forever, that if you did formula you would still be getting up in the middle of the night, what to eat so your milk doesn't make the baby gassy, how to use your breast pump while traveling in the car on a road trip, how long to nurse for, that your boobs will go back to normal size, how to nurse in an airplane/public (with a nursing cover), and so much more!

Sleeping- Violet was a great sleeper from the start. We had to wake her up to feed her! After she was 1 month, the doctor said she could start sleeping through the night and let her wake up on her own to eat. AMEN! finally a little more sleep! Sleep is another thing you have to teach babies to do. I was given the book BabyWise by a friend and it helped soooo much with techniques on how to get your child to sleep, eat and play!! We didn't follow it to a "T" but pretty much adjusted it to our own needs/thoughts/routines. But from about 2 weeks, Violet was on a schedule and did pretty well. We've had a few rough patches were she was waking up 45 mins after we put her down at night and had many trial and errors on how to fix this problem. Since she was born at bedtime we play this Fisher Price Tender Lullaby and it really helps to calm her and gets her in the sleep mode. But once again you live and learn. One of the sweetest moments is when V does go to sleep easy and I can just continue to rock her in my arms and stare at her!

Crying- Babies cry. A lot. We were given the "happiest baby on the block" DVD and finally got the chance to watch it a month after V was born. Dr. Karp gives you the Five S's to calm and soothe your child. IT IS AMAZING!! They really work!! V is usually a happy, easy going baby, but sometimes she is having a rough day and well these Five S's don't apply to a 9 month old, but they sure helped ease our anxiety has new parents. You eventually learn what each cry is, if they are hungry, whiney, tired, or just throwing a fit.

It is crazy to think how hard is was at the beginning, especially being a first time parents. We were both unsure of things and a little nervous. Presently we feel like we know what we are doing and can handle things much better. I had a girls weekend early this month and was confident that Bryson and Violet would be just fine together! And they were! We are both so thankful that our first child is easy, sweet, funny, and happy baby! We'll start praying ALL our kids will be ;)

Shout out

I'd like to give a special shout out to my wonderful wonderful (did i mention wonderful?) husband Bryson!


I have been a bit under the weather this week (allergies or a cold?) and he has been really taking care of me and V! Thank you! He has this whole week off before he starts his new job and even though I'm a little sick we are still having fun! I'm so proud of him for providing so much for our family! He is a really good Dad and you can see V brighten up every night he comes home from work. It is the sweetest thing! Thanks B for all that you do! Love ya!

New Treat

I have a new treat!!


Pomegranate!!
Bryson pick a few up at the grocery store the other week and we have been eating them on everything; yogurt, with our cereal, in chicken salad, by itself, on ice cream....They are delicious, super good for you (no, really they are a superfood), and full of antioxidants.

If you haven't tried POM products, you neeeeed to! They are so tasty and make me feel healthy. This one below is in our fridge right now!

Yum!

crockpot

This morning I got my beloved crockpot out and added these items to it:

-pork tenderloin
-onion (sliced)
-1 can of cranberry sauce
-1 cup BBQ sauce (I used Stubbs)

And turned it on for 6.5 hours. I stole a bite two hours ago and it was delicious! I'm going to serve it with rice and green beans. Can't wait for dinner!

Excitedness

I feel like I'm at a loss for my reg. blog posts (not that I have to have regular blogs but...), my book is taking forever to read due to a mobile/active baby and well I like lists. So here you go.

Things I'm excited about:

1. Woke up to cold weather today
2. Bryson's NEW job!!
3. Moving to an apartment/house/something!!!!
4. Finding a Church
5. Friends having babies
6. Being a mom/Violet is a lot of fun
7. The Holidays + seeing family
8. Violet almost walking...this should scare me :)
9. Christmas lights
10. Dancing to Willow Smith's "whip my hair"

Productive

Things I did today while Violet took a nap.

First nap: 1 hour 45 mins

-Organized 9 months of clothes. I have been putting this off for the past couple of months. Babies grow at an alarming rate! When her clothes got to small I had been literally throwing them in her closet and well the pile I was making was really big by this point so I got to work. And then scrambling going through boxes picking ou the next size. Thankfully my little 3 year old niece Ashtyn let us use her handmedowns of baby clothes, so we have quite a supply. But the trick is to keep on top of putting the too small clothes up and getting the new sizes out. It's tricky.

-Computer stuff: facebook, gmail, twitter, read blogs, uploaded pictures

Second nap: still sleeping but currently going on 2 hours

-Took a 45 min nap
-Folded and put away clean laundry
-Rocked Violet back to sleep longer
-Wrote this blog
-Checked on Dinner in the slow cooker

**Disclaimer:These naps today are abnormally long today. I give credit to growing and her two front teeth about to come in any day now.

Missing

With 90% of our belongings in storage sometimes I start to miss the most random things! The other day while I was rocking Violet for her nap I started to miss our Pyrex set. I know. strange, right? But I do.

I miss how they fit perfectly in our shelf in Austin. I could not reach that shelf and had to use a step stool to reach them. I loved the colors of the lids. I loved that we used them a lot especially to make hummus and tabouli. Oh the good ole days. At least I know they are safe and sound. They were able to rest for the past 8 months and sometime in the near future will be ready to do their job.

Weekend in Paris

This past weekend Bryson and I headed to East Texas so see our friends, Melinda and Ryan get married.

The wedding ceremony was about 20 miles outside of Paris, in a little tiny town called Woodland at the church Millie grew up in. It was perfect fall weather for an outdoor wedding. Millie looked BEAUTIFUL (I loved how she accessorized to make her dress her own) and arrived in style in a old 1940ish car ready to walk down the aisle. The ceremony was at her parents barn, yes a barn and it was awesome. There was a little country folky band playing, twinkle lights up, a photo booth and a delicious home cooked bbq dinner! It fit Millie and Ryan perfectly! Did I mention they were engaged for only 4 weeks!! I dont know how they did it, but everything was perfect and so them! Congrats you two!

It was a wonderful trip! The drive was so pretty because the tree leaves had fall colors on them...And there are a lot of trees in East Texas! Our Austin "family" was at the wedding and it was such a great time to catch up with them. Bry and I talked later at how normal, comforting, loving, and fun they are, we miss yall! Bryson and I had a little adventure of our own while we were in Paris:


I had a great time celebrating the marriage of sweet friends, spending a total of 10+ hours in the car (really, it was a lot of fun!!) with my funny, intelligent, and charming husband, exploring tiny towns, being baby free for the weekend but also coming home to that cute little face!