8 months

How did 8 months fly by? That went way too quick. Here are my favorite pictures of my little Lily this month. You've already seen Lily's Christmas pictures, so I'll share a few that you haven't seen.

Our friends the Gaeta's have been helping us out and watching Lily on Mondays since I have had to go back to a 4/10 schedule. Luke is awesome with Lily and she loves playing over at their house with Abby, Jackson, and their giant dog Duke. Lily and Abby in matching pjs. Abby is so sweet to her. Wants to help hold her and bring her toys. Reminds me of when I was a big sister taking care of Laura.

Lily is always so wide eyed and smiley. I love that no matter how long my day is, this is the face I come home to. She's why I work so hard to be such a good mommy.
We're in trouble. Right when she turned 7 months she started to stand up on things. She pulls herself up everywhere and tries to walk around. Not quite there yet, but she's almost there!
Lily loves eating snacks. Here Lily is eating Gerber Lil Crunchies. She loves how they crunch in her mouth and she is chewing so well!

Lily turned 8 months on this day.....she was sound asleep with her hand in her pants.....just like her father. He He He.
Brad and I are exhausted from a busy work week, but Lily is happy hanging out with her daddy watching football. She loves her daddy.

Goals for 2011

I've decided not to make a New Years Resolution instead I am going to list a few goals I would like to accomplish and try my hardest to meet those goals.

So here they are in no particular order:

• Go to the Space Needle I have lived here for almost 15 years and I have still never been to the Space Needle. I know its expensive, but I want to get all dressed up and do it at least once.
• Take more walks on the beach with my husband When Brad and I first met we use to take walks on the beach all the time. Life has been busier, weather hasn't been the best to take walks, when it was warmer I was pregnant and on bed rest.....so nothing will stop me this year. We live in such a beautiful area and I want to take advantage of our beach
• Learn how to sew I know how to use a needle and thread, but I have no idea how to use a sewing machine, follow a pattern, and create amazing crafts. I just love crafts and I want to create a bunch of things. I've also been following this blog that I'm in love with. Its on this page under my favorite links. She is a mom who makes the most beautiful crafts and shares her ideas that are fun, easy, and beautiful. I have a few of her projects printed out, now I just need to sit down and do it.
• Scrapbook Lily's baby book I've been so busy this year that I haven't made time to do her baby book. I have been putting everything in a box so that when I sit down to do it I will have everything that I need. Its just finding the time to sit down and do it. Maybe I'll have some girls over and we can all scrapbook. I can get a few pages done here and there and visit with friends at the same time.
• Cut myself a little slack Since I've had Lily I have had this desire to be perfect wife, perfect mom, perfect homemaker, perfect everything. My house is clean, things are organized, husband and baby are happy, I work full time, but I am exhausted. This year I will cut myself some slack and do things for me. Find more efficient ways to get everything done and still have time to do everything else that I want to do.
• Pay off some debt This year I plan on making sacrifices on things that I want and only buy things that I need. Paying off our existing debt to lower payments and reach the goal of being debt free, well other then our house. I would love to put some money in savings for those just in case occurrences. Its a lot of work and it won't be easy, but I will strive to get as far as I can.
• Go to Europe Brad and I are pretty lucky that we'll have our best friends living in another country. Not lucky that they are going to be so far away, but lucky so we can visit them! My best friend Becky lives in Germany with her husband and Brad's best friend Daniel will be moving to Italy this summer with the army. How many opportunities are we going to have to visit Europe and stay for free with our friends! I'd like to do it this year especially since Lily will be under the age of 2 and she can fly for free!
• Lose the rest of my baby weight I have never had a problem losing weight, but with having a baby my body has completely changed. Something I am still getting use to, but not something that I want to get use to. I have 15 pounds to go to be at the weight I was before I had Lily. I love going to the gym, but I haven't made time for myself to go. My goal is to work out at least 4 days a week. I'm not sure how I'll make time to do it, but I'm just going to have to make time. I eat pretty healthy so that's not a big deal, its just working out and being active. Here's a picture of what I looked like right before I was crowned Rock Girl in 2009. Yes I'm wearing a bikini and chaps. I needed an inspiration photo and its my blog so I can do whatever I want to in it. Now if I only had the guts to post a photo of my stomach now. I might get the nerve to do it as I get closer to my goal. I loved that I was confident, I felt pretty....I would love to feel that again.
  Well that's enough goals for now. If I meet these goals I'll blog about them and make a new list of more things to do. Check back and make sure I do it. I need your help and support to push me in this positive direction.

My Little Froggy

Today was Lily's first swimming lesson at the local pool here in Oak Harbor. She loves bath time so I just knew that she would love to play in the water. Classes are available starting at 6 months, so I enrolled her in Aqua Tots. It was so affordable too! $33 for 8 classes! She wore a itsy bitsy teenie weeny bikini that we bought for her when I was pregnant. She looked so adorable in it especially with her baby belly sticking out and her little fat rolls on her legs. During the class we splashed the water and moved it around with our hands, learned how to kick, go underwater, put ears in the water, play with toys, and sing songs. It was so much fun o be able to do an activity with her and play. I absolutely love spending mommy and baby time together.

I'll post pictures soon :)

Happy New Year 2011

New Years was so different this year. We hired a babysitter which was very difficult for me. I had never successfully been able to leave Lily with a babysitter without having to leave where I was to come home and stop her from crying and put her down. So it was so nice to know that I could do that. We went to the Golf and Country Club with our friends the Gaeta's, Courtney and Luke. We have become great friends with them, so when they asked us to go to dinner with them and get all dolled up, I couldn't refuse. I haven't dressed up and been on a date with Brad in forever so I was pretty excited to wear a sparkly dress and have a double date. I wanted to go out, not too far away, but not to a bar....that is easier said than done in Oak Harbor. To celebrate New Years, you either have to go to the bar or stay home. I wanted to dress up so this was perfect. The night started with laughter since we were the youngest table by 30 years. We had dinner, played trivia and did awful (our team name was the kids table.....awesome), then the boyes played craps while Courtney and I hit the dance floor with ladies who were in the 80s. So fun.

Luke and Courtney and Baby Wyatt at 30 weeksMy Husband and I...we look fancy :)My kiss at midnight.....perfect.

Christmas Afternoon

Christmas Day we went to my folks house. The morning started with homemade cinnamon buns, opening our stockings, and opening a ton of Christmas presents. My parents were so generous. Lily got a bunch of fun toys, new food and snacks in her stocking, and new comfy jammies. I got a bunch of stuff for our kitchen and the best gift ever.....a clairasonic. Its the same brush that they use to clean your face when you get a facial at a spa. Its amazing! Brad was spoiled rotten. He got Seahawks gear and best of all a set of golf clubs that he has been eye balling forever now. I love spending Christmas day with my family...I wish my sister was here to spend it with us, but she said she'll be here for Lily's first birthday and I can't wait! My parents also told us that they are going to come to our house next year and celebrate Christmas Day at our home and then she'll teach me how to make her famous Prime Rib. Yummy. I have such amazing parents. Love you mom and dad.

Santa Baby Grandma playing with LilyFeeding Lily her ba ba

Opening her stocking Lily's special Christmas jammiesReindeer Baby

Lily's First Christmas Morning

Waking up Christmas morning 2010 was more exciting than being a little girl and running down the stairs to see what Santa brought. I can't describe the feeling of watching my baby girl look up at our tree , try to touch the lights, and crawl toward her presents. She was so adorable to watch. She would crawl over to the package rip it open and then play with the paper :) We opened gifts at our home that morning and then we were off to Grandma and Poppy's house!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we started the night having a meal over at Mom and Dad Tesch's house. It was nice to sit around the table and have good conversation. After that we took a break so that we could all go to Christmas Eve church services. As you can tell, it was during Lily's bed time.

Lily wasn't waiting on Santa Brad, Lily, and IKisses from Mommy and DaddyWhen we got back we started to open presents. Brad and I are trying to save money so we decided to just buy one gift for each couple and then gifts for the kids. So I wanted to make it a good one. We had family pictures taken a few months back by my Cousin Charrone. So we bought canvas family pictures for their homes. I think they liked them!

Grace, Audrey, and Ezra watching Lily eat her sweet pea doll with Aunt Anna

Lily got all sorts of adorable little toys and books, Brad got a few books and a belt buckle from this awesome store that we went to when we were in Hawaii from his sister, and I got an itunes gift card that I have lost! Its somewhere, I just don't remember where I put it. I also got this necklace with angel wings on it that I love, it goes with everything. Having both families in the same town is great around the holidays.

Santa Baby

We spent some time with our good friends the Gaeta's. We went over to the Christmas Village and saw the animals and attempted to go see Santa. When we walked in there was a really weird looking Santa......obviously an impersonater :) There was also a really tall frosty the snowman and it totally creeped me out. I'm not normally freaked out by mascots but this one was weird. We looked all over and finally found Santa Claus! Lily was excited to see him and even tugged on his beard to make sure he was real. Experiencing these type of milestones as a parent is so much fun. I love being her mommy. I would like to start a few Christmas traditions. One idea is to make Cookies for santa together and set out the cookies and milk just in case he needs a snack when he drops off her presents :)

Women's Tea

Our church hosted a Christmas tea so I thought it would be fun to do a table. Since Brad would never let me decorate our home hot pink for Christmas I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. I used our plates and mugs that we got as a wedding gift, bought hot pink napkins, ribbon, and ornaments....threw them in a square vase that I have as a centerpiece. I had pink notebooks for each of the guests at my table to help them organize for the New Year....told you it was a Nikki table. I also made pink cupcakes, just cause they are fun :) What do you think?

Earth Has No Sorrow That Heaven Cannot Heal

Today is the anniversary of my Poppy's death. He has been gone for 18 years now. Its hard to believe. I can still remember stories he told me or the day he sold his boat....his big smile and watching WWF with him on TV. It seems like just yesterday. Every time I go to Newfoundland I make it a point to go visit my Poppy and say a little prayer. I like to think that he's my angel and is always watching over me. I love you and miss you so much. This was taken 2 years ago. Notice the quote on the bottom of the headstone. One of my favorites, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal." I think it may be my next tattoo.