insta-jam #12 (june 2013)

I just like to keep everyone in suspense waiting for my instagram photos, since we are halfway through the month again before I’m posting the ones from last month!

Sleeping; more sleeping (but doesn’t she look like a giant?); Jax; sleeping with his head under the couch (weirdo…)07162013instajam1“Helping” me clip coupons; how many sleeping pictures do I have?; see previous; practicing his tricks.
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Food!; she’s so obsessed with my hairbrush; smiling sleeping dog; he follows me wherever I go and then falls asleep.07162013instajam3 He’s always all over my exercise mat (or under me when I’m trying to do push-ups!); I made cookie bars, muffins, and pulled pork all on the same day when my in-laws came to town!07162013instajam4These two are always right next to me (and I love it); MORE sleeping (but she is precious, isn’t she?); chewing on an Easter egg; taco night!
07162013instajam5Ta-da!

insta-jam #11 (may 2013)

Now that we’re more than halfway through June… Yep. I’m a slowpoke, but that’s okay. Better late than never! I won’t write captions for all of them since they are pretty self-explanatory (aka my baby is CUTE and I take lots of pictures of her. Haha).

Baking too much; a bath in the sink at Grandma’s; playing with some plastic cups; and one of the last photos I have of my sweet Maggie just two days before we said goodbye.instajammay2013_1 Smiles; frozen keys for sore gums; waiting at the pond for a photoshoot; giggles.instajammay2013_2

She loves panda; I love these “Wendy’s fakeout” homemade chicken sandwiches; being cute; big beautiful eyes.
instajammay2013_3Juni (in motion!)
IMG_20130517_102337 One of the few “fun” baths we’ve ever had.IMG_20130516_214134 Rolling over on the changing table; grabbing toes; eating some yogurt for the first time; and cuddles.instajammay2013_4

The night we brought Jax home (look at that tail wagging); less-than-perfect mint chocolate cupcakes I made for a barbecue; chocolate chip cookies with my buddy; and Jax always trying to sit in my lap.instajammay2013_5

Beautiful; sleeping all crunched up in the corner of her crib; making her laugh is so easy; and letting Jax cuddle in our bed when Daddy isn’t looking.instajammay2013_6

Sheep that didn’t run when we walked up to them; my first walk with a baby AND a dog; enjoying the swings; and a hot, tired puppy.
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insta-jam #10 (april 2013)

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1: She’s always SO happy when she wakes up in the morning and after her nap!
2: The original caption for this one was “Fact: anytime you think your kid’s outfit is really cute, she WILL pee/poo/barf on it.” This was her second outfit of the day and it was still relatively early in the morning.
3: Silly smile.
4: Her toe obsession continues!
042013instajam1: Chinese date night with my buddy! We love sharing some General Tso’s!
2: I finally painted some frames and put photos in them! They’re on the wall now, but I’m still not sure I’m completely satisfied with the layout, so no picture of that yet.
3: We went to surprise Michael at work on his lunch hour one day! We had a nice little walk, and this little sweetie loved seeing her daddy!
4: Exersaucer fun!042013instajam_1 1: Homemade pizza!
2: Playing at grandma’s with a toy phone (funny enough, she’ll probably never even see a real phone like this since most everyone has cell phones now)!

IMG_20130415_150330She fought sleep for hours, and finally she took a nap. Love my sleeping angel!

insta-weekend

We arrived at the Irwin house late Friday night, after driving through a storm that could only be accurately described as a “waterfall”. Thankfully, we were safe and only a little wet.

This big GIANT frog seemed to want to escape the rain, too (wait… don’t frogs like water?) because he kept jumping at the glass door on the deck. He was nearly as big as my foot!IMG_20130419_223658

Saturday morning was Michael’s bike race, and then we came home for a short while before dinner. Scrappy was happy to see us!IMG_20130420_163920We went out to New York Deli for dinner! (I might have dared Michael to hug the Statue of Liberty…)PHOTO_20130420_180908 I had a gyro, and it was definitely one of the best I’ve ever had here in the States. (Look at that HUGE glob of Tzatziki sauce! Mmmmmm.

PHOTO_20130420_182607You might think your belly is full, but there’s always room in for ice cream- it fills in the cracks, as we always say 🙂
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We saw the most beautiful sunset while we were waiting for the ferry.20130420195049783Kaya even went walking around on the ferry for the first time! It was quite windy though, so it was short-lived.
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I love my little family!

insta-jam #9 (march 2013)

I’m not doing much better with finishing these insta-jam posts, am I? I guess I’ll blame my cute kid for the overwhelming number of photos that keeps intimidating me from doing it!

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Seriously… do you think I have enough pictures of her sleeping? These are all after she’s fallen asleep nursing. She’s just too sweet and I can’t resist.04092013instajam1

1: Toe-grabbin’ pro.
2: Five seconds out of the tub aaaand she’s grabbing her toes again.
3: Cracking up because I was pretending to eat her toy keys!
4: Goofy grin.
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1: Caught red-handed… (or thumb-handed?) with her thumb in mouth!
2: Eating her octopus…
3: Eating her keys…
4: Happiness is a thumb and your teddy bear.
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1: No explanation needed… she’s beautiful.
2: This was one of the first days in FOREVER that it was warm enough to go outside. Just look at that excitement!
3: Another sleeping picture?!
4: Ohhhhh the cuteness is killing me.
04092013instajam31: We modpodged the temple onto a canvas for the wall!
2: Late at night… not sure why we took this, but this is real life, people. Messy-hair-don’t-care and a big pile of (clean) laundry behind us waiting to be folded. (That’s probably what I should be doing now instead of blogging… whoops).
3: I’m crazy, she’s silly, and I think we make the perfect pair.
4: She couldn’t stop cracking up over the word “pasta”!

Ta-da! March!

insta-jam #7… finishing off 2012

Well, I guess I’m just a little late on this… but I wanted to put these photos up here anyway (plus, Kaya is super squishy and little in all these… so I don’t see why I shouldn’t share the cuteness)! Between getting a new phone and then just having a ton more phone pictures than ever (which might have something to do with having a super-photogenic baby!), I just didn’t get around to it.  So here you go… late October through the end of 2012!

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1 & 2: Sleeping (obviously). I love those smooshy cheeks!
3: She loves this little snail that hangs above her seat. Nowadays she’s strong enough to rip him right down.
4: Blowing bubbles while smiling! (Now THAT’S talent!)
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1: First snow of 2012… just a small dusting.
2: More sleeping.
3: First bottle ever! This kid has always taken a bottle like a pro- she isn’t even picky about the temperature and has even had one ice cold!
4: Homemade cookies. Mmmmm.
photogrid2012_3 1: Nap buddies. This is back when she would only nap if I snuggled her. I’m both happy and sad that those days are already gone.
2: Sleeping again… she did a lot of that!
3: Bundled up in her little bunny-ear suit!
4: Talking to daddy first thing in the morning.
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1: Asleep in the carseat.
2: Asleep in her Halloween shirt (are you noticing a theme here?)
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1, 2, 3, & 4: Sleeping, crazy, tired, and fun!IMG_20121106_0748331, 2, & 3: Morning snuggles and tiny little toes.photogrid2012_6

1: I went to a baby shower one Saturday morning, and when I came home, there was a Halo party going on.
2: My practice run of the fondant dog I was making for my aunt’s birthday cake.
3: Kroger actually has really good ice cream, and I was super excited to try this “cupcake party” flavor!
4: Giant Christmas tree at the mall!

photogrid2012_71: Funny face.
2: Tired of shopping with mommy.
3: Asleep on the way to church.
4: The Thanksgiving onesie I made for her! (Remember how those plastic eyes are NOT a good idea…)

IMG_20121118_190847 1 & 2: Thanksgiving lunch at Michael’s work!photogrid2012_81: She really started to like reading books!
2: Cuddling with her little doll on the way to church for the last Sunday in 2012!

One more insta-jam and I’ll be all caught up… stay tuned 🙂

 

insta-jam #6

It’s been waaay too long since we had an insta-jam post (seriously, the last one was for August)! I think that instead of doing monthly ones, I’m going to switch to numbering. Then I can write them whenever my little heart desires (and I won’t have a ridiculously large number of photos all at once…)

Hmmm, where to begin? How about with the birth of the sweetest little girl ever?

1: Kaya on the morning she was born! So very brand new.

2: She was actually born with a slight fever, but after that, her temperature dropped and she had to wear two hats and two blankets to get warm.

3 & 4: Chubby cheeks!

1: Showing off those big blue eyes, even at the hospital.

2: Kaya loves sleeping with her hands up by her face.

3: Check out those serious eyebrows!

4: So sleepy… eating is hard work!

1: Early morning cuddles with daddy!

2: She makes this face every time we burp her! I love it.

3: Her first Halloween card (from Auntie Joyce)!

These are two of the approximately one million hilarious faces she makes.

Smiles are so priceless. Right before I took this, I told her to say “hi daddy!” and she smiled so big.

1: I love getting drawings from my Primary kids (if you looked at my refrigerator, you’d instantly know this)! This one has a baby bird saying, “mom mom mom”, and then the mama bird is saying “kid kid kid”. So thoughtful, and I think it’s extra cool since we call Kaya “Baby Bird”, which then leads to Michael calling me “Mama Bird”.

2: Halloween socks I got from Target for $1 apiece! I am crazy about holiday socks, but all my old ones were getting holes in them, so I’m glad I saw these!

3: Jeffrey tried out some of the hair bows I made for Kaya…

4: There’s been a whole lot of football-watching going on around here. I’m never too interested in it, but I do get disappointed when the Hokies lose.

1: Our neighbors brought us dinner after Kaya was born, including this HUGE tray of cookies- M&M ones, gingerbread, and even chocolate-covered candy corn. Mmm. I think they lasted about a day. Oops.

2: I tried out a new crockpot recipe: Cuban Street Tacos. Michael really loved them, but they were a bit too citrusy (is that a word?) for me.

3: My homemade buttermilk biscuits. Now I just need to master homemade mac ‘n cheese, and I can open my own Cracker Barrel!

Kaya and I went to visit Michael at work for lunch one day (please take note of the spit-up on my sleeve)! It was fun to show everyone the baby and see Michael’s new cubicle. He always loves to see us.

This past Saturday, we had a date night at Cookout! So unhealthy but so delicious. Michael was sad that I didn’t take a picture of our milkshakes- he had mint Oreo and I tried something new called caramel fudge, but it was not quite as fudgy as the name lets on.

(Okay, this one technically isn’t an instagram photo, only because there was no way for me to crop it into a square and keep both our faces in there. I like it, so I’m including it here anyway!) I love snuggling with my baby, waiting for Michael to come home. This was after church on Sunday. I took this picture and e-mailed it to him while he was gone, titling it “your girls miss you”.

insta-jam for august!

This might be the last “insta-jam” that doesn’t include any pictures of a cute little munchkin! August seriously flew by, and I’m guessing that September will too…

1: I tried some more crockpot recipes, including homemade chicken and dumplings! Mmmm. It turned out so delicious! I definitely think the crockpot is going to be my new best friend once munchkin arrives and I don’t have time to stand over the stove.

2: Our friends ding-dong-ditched us some cupcakes… don’t worry, we ditched them some cookies in return!

3: We house-sat/watched a family of kids for a week, but just at nighttime. There are five girls in the family and two of them were eager to paint nails, so I let them do mine! They were pretty creative, as you can tell, and my toes actually turned out even wilder than my fingers.

4: Michael got a new tablet, so I got the “old” one. And what was the first thing I did with it? Change the wallpaper to horses, of course! I am loving using the tablet instead of my old old brick-of-a-computer.

1: This wouldn’t be an insta-jam without some cute animal photos, so here’s Juni enjoying her pink zebra-stripe hut. I’m glad she finally figured out that she’s supposed to lay under it,  not between the back of it and the wall!

2: Parsley is a special treat for a piggy!

3: One morning, Michael decided to get up early for a bike ride before work. It wasn’t even ten minutes after he left when he called me, and of course I panicked, thinking he had gotten hurt. Instead, he told me he had found this puppy, and she kept following him and laying down at his feet if he stopped. He asked what he should do, and of course I said… bring her home! She looked like she’d been outside and walking all night, so we gave her a warm bath and called the phone number on her collar. Her owner came to get her pretty quickly, but it was fun having a puppy for a few minutes!

1: Michael had his 25th birthday! I surprised him with a banner and balloons already hanging when he woke up.

2: Michael got his new tablet. He’s been waiting and waiting and contemplating which one he wanted, and picked the Nexus 7. It was sort-of-an-early-birthday gift and I’m glad he is so happy with it.

3: We went to Macado’s for his birthday dinner, and he got a “Cowpoke” sandwich (I’m not even sure why it’s called that, since there is chicken and bacon on it, but no beef)! I got my usual chicken caesar sandwich.

4: A few days after his birthday, Michael’s side of the family came up to visit. Now, it wouldn’t be a real visit if we didn’t go out for Chinese- that’s pretty much tradition! I’m not really sure what Kevin is doing, but at least it didn’t get us kicked out of the restaurant!

insta-jam for july!

Well, the insta-jam last month was HUGE, and this one is so small! Consistency is not my forte.

1: Homemade pulled pork sandwiches! It was my first time trying to make these, and they turned out sooo good. Mmmm.

2: I made my first sheet cake- red velvet! It turned out delicious! We were also out of muffins for breakfast, so I made those on the same night. I was a baking-machine!

3: I’ve been stocking up on basic things by using coupons, and my how our food storage has grown! It makes me feel good to look in our pantry and know that we could survive for a little while if there was some natural disaster or something.

4: M&M cookies we made together using this recipe. They turned out so good and it made a whole lot of dough for just two people, so we ended up freezing some of it and having cookies another night!

1 & 2: Michael took me out to this Chinese buffet that he went to with some people from work. He kept raving about how good it was… and he was right! It was seriously the best Chinese buffet I’ve ever been to. Mmm.

3: Sometimes running can make a pregnant lady’s body sore… and a bubble bath can feel sooooo good. I was actually taking quite a few bubble baths the week before we found out we were expecting, just because I felt so sore after my runs, even then! (It was also January, in the mountains… and FREEZING! so a warm bath felt heavenly)!

4: I surprised Michael one day by visiting him for a “picnic” at work on his lunch break. He was so happy to see me, and it was fun to see his new workstation, since I haven’t been there since he went full-time.

insta-jam for june!

I took a LOT of pictures this month. That just means my life is super interesting, right?

1: We were having some beautiful June weather, so we went out for a walk one night. Of course, it started raining, and Michael didn’t have a jacket so we ended up waiting awhile under a tree!

2, 3 & 4: We stopped at the playground on our walk. I’m glad we’re both such big kids… but swinging while pregnant does not feel so good. Don’t try it.

1: Breakfast time for piggies! They are always so happy and alert when I greet them in the morning.

2, 3 & 4: Just plain cuteness! I love those Juni lips.

1: My first ever oven-roasted chicken. I even made gravy! It was so easy and delicious and definitely worth buying the whole chicken. We ate it for about a week I think!

2: Homemade stir-fry. This was a new recipe for me, too! I was so proud of myself for actually cooking some real meals this month (for some reason, I am just not easily motivated to cook during pregnancy. It’s so weird because I used to cook all the time before). I’m sure Michael appreciates anything that isn’t frozen pizza or hotdogs.

3: A wild bunny we saw when we were out walking! At the end of our walk, we saw a run-over bunny and I busted out sobbing because I thought it was the same one.

4. Panda came camping with us. I guess he was scared of the dark since he was hanging out by the lantern!

1: New sunglasses because my pink and purple ones broke.

2: Cheap clothes I got for munchkin. I’m super excited about those little overalls!

3: The free Target beauty bag I got in the mail. Yay!

4. Michael learned a hard lesson: never send a pregnant lady to the store alone, because she WILL come back with donut holes (not like he minds)!

1: As you already know, Kroger does not have rainbow Twizzlers, so I “settled” for this red pack of Starbursts instead. They were so good! Mmm.

2. The next morning, I woke up to this love note on the kitchen counter.

3. I fell and hurt my knee pretty badly. Michael came home early from work to take care of me, since I couldn’t even put any weight on it, let alone clean it and wrap it myself (we actually didn’t even have many first-aid supplies, so he had to go buy some. Lesson learned)! I’m so grateful for my buddy who is always looking out for me.

4. One morning I woke up to this surprise- a cute game on the tablet! It’s called Kinectimals and Michael knew I would love it, so he downloaded it before I got up and then woke me up to surprise me.

1: I surprised Michael with freezie pops! Who knew you could get a big box of them at the Dollar Tree? He was thrilled!

2: We went out for milkshakes, and ended up getting an extra one for free because they messed up my first one. YUM!

3: Poor Michael studied for HOURS for this network intrusion exam he took at work. He passed, of course!

4: We got a piano! Michael was and still is so excited about this and I can’t wait to hear him play more often.

1: Balloons my mom got for the double baby shower we had with cousin Nicole!

2: After years of hearing about this place that Michael’s grandma used to take them to for ice cream, we finally got to go! It was delicious and worth the 3.5 year wait! Haha.

3: Lelia and Jeff are kind of weird, but we let them have ice cream with us too.

4: We had two HUGE storms. One of them hit while we were out of town at my parents’ house, where it wasn’t nearly as bad. A lot of people lost power and a lot of trees have gone down. What a mess. I’m grateful that our power didn’t go out though, because my pigs would have been pretty hot without the air conditioning.