Prison

I feel like the older Afton gets, the less I document the little things she does every day. The first week I wrote down and took pictures of everything and as time went on and Afton grew older, I slowly stopped. Not altogether mind you. We got her crawling and standing, you know, the important stuff.

But the little things have definitely been forgotten more often than not.
And I don't want that to happen. The little funny things she does everyday remind me how much I love her and how the last year has been the best of my life.

So to remind me of her disdain for baby gates, I give you: Afton and Oliver in prison.
Baby-gate prison that is.
Compared to her normal cries of anger and pouting this little reach through the bars is nothing. Usually I listen to at least 5-10 minutes of crying while I am prepping dinner.
And let's face it, Oliver is her partner in crime for everything nowadays. So it's only fitting he be in prison with her too right?
Oliver also gets mad when he gets stuck on the other side as well. But his anger is more because he can't get to his food and water and less because he wants me to hold him.
And when Afton does manage to escape "prison" she's a magnet for Oliver's dog food (the whole reason for the prison in the first place).
Ahhh free at last.
In this case jail is completely necessary. We can't have cheeks full of dog food all the time now can we? Hopefully she will forgive me one day?

We like to be comfortable

I have always been a sweat pants kind of girl. I LOVE to dress up and go out but the minute I hit my doorway I am out of the uncomfortable clothes and into the stretchy pants. That's what I call them :-) You know sweats, yoga pants, any kind of stretch material pants really.

Then when I got pregnant I practically lived in them. It was a good thing I had a job at the time that didn't require me to dress up because I am pretty sure stretchy pants are about as casual as you can get.
And post pregnancy it took me a good 6 months to feel good in regular clothes again.
And lets be honest, even now my favorite non-yoga pants are a pair of "stretchy" jeans. I think you get my drift.
So it's really only normal that my daughter be comfortable as well right?
And don't worry she is learning well I promise.
Most days she is wearing her stretchy jeggings from Target. I am already thinking I should go and but the next size up just in case they stop carrying them. Other days she can be found wearing a cute onesie with some even cuter leggings.
She can crawl around, flop on Oliver and then I can lay her down for a nap and know she's comfortable. I love baby jeans don't get me wrong. But I always feel like they are digging into her cute pudgy stomach or that she won't be comfortable in them when I put her down for a nap. And let's be honest I already do enough clothes changes for the both of us, I don't need to add in more wardrobe changes for my daughter.
Future offspring beware. If you want to wear skirts and/or jeans everyday that's great but just know that our house is a "stretchy" pants kind of house.

Perfection

No one is perfect.

We are human.
We can't do everything.

It seems that many days I have to keep repeating these statements to myself.
I love to get things done. Maybe I should say I like to accomplish things.
Now this doesn't mean that I always have the motivation to get things done or the time or energy or desire.
At the beginning of the week it seems like I have a huge to do list and I just KNOW that this week I will get EVERYTHING done.
It never happens.

Last week I decided to just start small and write out a few goals:
1) Be home for my visiting teacher to come (sometimes I forget...woops).
2) Make my visiting teaching appointments
3) Work out (Yoga and Pilates at home) 4 times this week
4) Cook dinner EVERY night

Only four things.
I only completed one thing completely and that was be home for my visiting teaching appointment. Ha.
Again, I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I got anything done that week.
I made one visiting teaching appointment for Saturday and then she canceled 1 hour before. Bummer.
I only worked out once, maybe twice can't remember.
And I only cooked about 1/2 the week.

But then I thought about it and I realized... it's ok.
I TRIED to make my visiting teaching appointments.
I worked out twice, that's better than not at all. And At least I am thinking about keeping my body healthy right?
And I cooked four nights out of seven. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people that eat out four nights a week and at least we don't do that. (hardly ever)
Also Chad was gone last week a lot because he was helping his dad tile their floors. So I was somewhat of a single parent last week.

There are always projects and fun things I want to do. I have had the material to make a new pencil skirt for about 2 months now. Still not done.
I want to scrapbook and read more. Those have both been lacking lately.
I try to clean my floors (hardwood) at least once a week. Sometimes it's a week and a half before they are clean again.
But you know what? That perfect woman is just not me. Sometimes I would rather lay on the couch and watch TV than clean my floors.
Sometimes I would rather bake some banana muffins than sew my new pencil skirt.
But most of the time, my excuse is that I am taking care of Afton. And what a good excuse it is.
I feed her 3 nutritious meals a day (even if mine aren't). I give her a bath and change her diapers. I clean up after her and I make sure she has toys to play with and that she isn't pulling Oliver's ears too often or climbing up the stairs.
I play with her and make her laugh. I put her down for naps and rock her before bed.
I nurse her and love her.
And somedays I would much rather watch her laugh at Oliver or play with a box of unopened safety pins and marvel at the sound they make than do anything else.
So I am completely OK with the fact that I am not perfect. I am going to start giving myself more credit for the great mom, wife and human being that I know I am. I will stop comparing myself to other women (or at least try) and feeling somehow not good enough when they get so much accomplished and I feel like I don't. And I will be happy with a blog that is all about Afton with a few occasional tidbits about me.

Because right now a Mom is who I am and I feel VERY happy and blessed by that fact.Someday I will be perfect, but not today.

Bones and Biscuits

I bought Afton some teething biscuits this week.
Turns out Oliver thought these teething biscuits smelled pretty good and really wanted to try them. And Afton was only too willing to share. So to remedy the situation I pulled out a bone for Oliver. And I THOUGHT this solved the problem. Guess not...
Afton: "Hmm that looks pretty good..."
Afton: "Maybe I'll just try a little." (Don't worry mom intervened before it reached her mouth.)
Afton:"If I can't try your bone Oliver, wanna try some of my biscuit?"

Oliver:"Maybe just a little."

Ahh the joys of mother hood and pet ownership. Although sometimes it can be a little overwhelming having a dog and a baby to take care of during the day, especially when Oliver has to pee right when Oliver needs a diaper change and one is whining at the door and one is crying on the floor, I still wouldn't change it.

They are starting to interact more everyday and Afton just loves him. Oliver tries very hard to love Afton but sometimes the ear pulling is a little much for him. But he loves to make her laugh by running by her really fast and licking her face just as he passes. This is becoming a daily occurrence and I just love hearing Afton's little laugh.
So good news Oliver, looks like you'll be in this family for the long haul. Meaning many more babies pulling your ears and many more teething biscuits to share.

Morning Yoga with Afton

I have been trying to do Yoga or Pilates at least a few days a week in the morning before Afton wakes up. Sometimes I get in a good 20-30 minutes before Afton wakes up and sometimes... I don't.

Sometimes I make a little room on my mat for one more.

And I think she has pretty good form.

Who says babies can't do Yoga?

Getting ready for fall

We had about a week of fall weather early in October and although it got warm again we enjoyed the fall weather while it lasted. We unpacked the winter clothes and Afton donned a fuzzy hooded jacket handed down from her cousin Brielle. About 70% of Afton's wardrobe is from her cousin. We are lucky that Aunt Nichole has great taste!

We threw a beanie in the mix while watching Uncle Jake's foot ball game.

Ahhh Fall. We love you.

Finishing out the Summer

This was a great summer. I have this little girl, a wonderful husband, and a beautiful California summer to thank for that.
Afton had her first swing experience a couple weeks ago. I'll let the pictures explain how much she loved it.

(She can this cute little smile on her face the entire time.)

Goodbye summer.

Goodbye.

A birthday for Uncle Cody

My brother Cody turned 22 this year and we headed to Chevy's to celebrate.

Of course Afton was the center of attention. Not trying to brag but she IS pretty cute. Luckily Cody didn't mind sharing the attention :-)

My brother and I are only a year and a half apart and have always been very close. I love having him live so close. Happy birthday little brother!

New Shoes & New Jeans

Luckily I haven't had to buy hardly any clothes for Afton. And the clothes I have bought I probably didn't need too. But making clothes hardly counts as buying them right?
I found this really cute tutorial for baby sandals and I couldn't pass it up. So I found some cheap vinyl on sale and went to work. I thought it would be very easy and I would be done in a few hours. You know, like 2 hours, 3 tops.
Turns out it took 7+. Yeah. But once I got about half way I couldn't NOT finish them. So these were definitely a labor of love.

This is what Afton did while I sewed... Doesn't it look fun?

I also made an accompanying headband.

I just love my girl and I love making cute clothes for her. Even if she takes the headband off after a minute and loses a shoe every other minute. I just keep telling myself it's worth it.

And what is a new pair of shoes without a new pair of jeans?

Jeggings look ridiculous on most adults but VERY cute on my baby. Don't you think?