the girl with the hollow leg

mae is following in her father's footsteps in more ways than one.  but, this makes her the most like her daddy...homegirl can eat! 
when cody and i were first married, i learned very quickly how much he could eat.  having grown up with three brothers, i knew they ate a lot, i just never had to be the one buying the food for them!  (props to my mom for always keeping the pantry well stocked.)  it took me quite a while to learn how to keep our pantry well stocked for my garbage disposal of a husband.  and on a budget it was even more difficult...but i have learned quite a bit over the past two and a half years.

so when i started feeding mae solids, i figured okay maybe a little thing of applesauce mixed with a little oatmeal for breakfast, and veggies for dinner.  babies don't need that much to fill their little tummies right?  boy was i wrong.  she would finish the little portions i had made ahead of time, and me being the dummy, figured she was done.  so i would clean her up and get her out.  trying to make the process of feeding time as quick and painless as possible.  and she would just cry.  so one day after i gave her her oatmeal mixed with a little apples, she started to cry, i got smart and tried feeding her some more...girlfriend pounded down the whole other serving.  i realized i was cutting her off too early.  i would probably cry too if someone tried to stop me when i was just getting into my meal!

she hasn't met a food yet that she hasn't enjoyed.  and sometimes she enjoys them so much, she eats her bib to make sure she has gotten every last drop!

i am still amazed at how much that sweet little girl throws back.  and now, i give her time to digest, and play a bit, and decide if she wants more or not.  and she is a much happier girl, which makes for a much happier mama.

Say What?

It's hard to believe that Mae has been here for 6 months...say what, how did that happen?  Has it only been 6 months?  I feel like she's always been here.  What did we do before we had her?

In honor of her 6 month birthday, I have put together a compilation of the pictures the Grandpa (Bryan) has taken over the past few months.

one week

one month

two months

three months

four months

five months

six months

we are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl in our lives.  and even though there have been some rough moments, we've enjoyed the last 6 months that we have had her in our lives.  i'm so grateful for eternal families!

No Diggity

my old school jam for this week.  thank you blackstreet.

spring has not officially sprung, but it has in the baldwin home.  i have gotten the easter baskets out, and put up the few spring decorations that i have.  over the past year or two, i have tried my hand at crafting.  nothing too big, just little things. and so for easter i decided to make a bunny wreath.  i'm actually quite proud of my creation.

 

 

cute huh?  i also made a banner for the fireplace...

 

in other news aunt mattie and uncle erich went to new york, and came home with a present for mae...a super fly bath robe and we love it, and mae loves to eat it!

 

this little lady is so blessed to have so many people who love her very much.  we're so lucky!

flashback friday

it's been a big week at the baldwin home.  mae has started eating solids at 2 meals a day, and we started her in her high chair!  she loves oatmeal and apples.  and last night was our first attempt with carrots.  and it wasn't as bad as i thought!  my first attempt at making baby food was successful.  i made both apples and carrots, woohoo!  we also bought a new car seat.  mae is officially too long for her infant car seat, her feet hang out of it, so we figured we better move up to the bigger seat. 

i thought i'd do a post with some flashbacks, because who doesn't love those?

 

wake me up before you go-go

 i'm sure that putting this song as my post title makes me some kind of dork, but i secretly love this song...or not so secretly.  and i know most people do, they just don't want to admit it!  i chose this song for the title because i've found myself singing it to mae when she wakes up in the mornings.  morning time is one of my favorites because she's always so smiley and happy. 

how could you not love that face in the morning?  i can't imagine a better way to start my day than to see her smiling! i think her bed head makes the pictures.

speaking of hair, yesterday i had her hair in a cute pony with a bow for church.  but she wiggles so much it gets pretty messy, so when we got to my parents for dinner i decided to take it out and this is what we were left with...

love it!

wizarding world

while in orlando, my parents took mae for a day so cody and i could go to the wizarding world of harry potter.  needless to say it was probably one of the most amazing things ever!  i felt like a little kid again, and i'm pretty sure cody got more embarrassed in one day than in our marriage.  but we had a blast!  we hit all the major stores...honeydukes, zonko's, olivander's, ate lunch at the three broomsticks, and rode all of the rides.  it was so amazing how they made the books and movies come to life.  and it was so much fun to see all of the kids so excited.  my favorite was the little boy in olivander's getting his wand.  he had his cape and harry potter glasses on, and he had tried a bunch of wands when his mom told him "only you can know what the right wand it", and he said "well i better try just one more".  probably the cutest thing ever.

it was an awesome day, and i'm so lucky to have a husband that loves me enough to take me, and wonderful parents who watched my homegirl so we could enjoy the day!!

 

 

trying butter beer!

hogsmeade...yes i bought gryffindor gloves

munchkin's first trip

gram (my mom) decided to take mae and i for a girls trip to orlando.  just a week to get out of the cold va for a bit.  dad and cody flew down for the weekend to spend some time with us.  we had a great time!  i was to say the least a little nervous about flying with a 5 month old.  the whole time we were waiting for to board i felt like people were looking at me with my baby thinking..."oh great, we have a baby on our flight."  but mae did great (i can't say the same for the person who brought their lap dog with them)!  she pretty much slept the whole flight both ways, i was a very happy mama!

we had a couple of cold days, but we were able to walk outside everyday, and mae loved it.  it was so much fun to see her experience all these new sights and sounds for the first time. 

i'm pretty much the worst picture taker when it comes to vacation.  i always pack the camera and say this year will be different, but it never is.  so i really only got pictures of the last day.  we sat by the pool for a while, and i tried putting mae's feet in, but she was not havin' that.  (i'm chalking it up to the fact that she was tired, and still out of sorts from being toted all over the place).  so hopefully it was just a fluke, because we'll be swimming in gram and gramp's pool this summer!

attempt #1

and #2

 

takin a nap by the pool

we had a wonderful time, and are so glad that we got to spend time with gram and gramps.  mae misses having multiple people to play with and keep her entertained (and so do i!)