Shop Till You Drop

Wednesday was all about shopping. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother, baby, and I piled into the car and headed to the Williamsburg outlet. We spent the afternoon avoiding the rain showers and searching for bargains. Grace started out in high spirits which slowly deteriorated to boredom and apathy. But despite that, she was still a good sport while the grown ups did their shopping.

Her first time in a 'big kid' stroller. She loved it! And in case you can't read it, her shirt says, "Born to Shop."





Although she enjoyed the stroller, even that wasn't enough to keep her occupied towards the end. I had to Bjorn her until she eventually fell asleep.

Shopping with a baby in a Bjorn proved a little problematic when it came time to try things on.

"Mom, are you DONE yet??"

Mommies Night Out

Ten ladies, a swanky seafood restaurant, and a famous band, Nickelback, dining at a nearby table made for a memorable mommies night out.

Tonight was my first night out with the girls since Grace was born. It's not that I haven't wanted to go out; the opportunity was just never there. But if I had to be honest, I wasn't quite ready to leave my precious baby with anybody for more than an hour at a time. The only other times I left my baby with a sitter, I was either just down the hallway working out or 10 minutes away in case of an emergency. And besides, I am exclusively nursing and my baby refuses to take a bottle. She needs me.

I was nervous about leaving Grace, but I wasn't going to miss out on a mommies night out with some great friends. Besides, I was leaving her in good hands- Lola. The whole night out, I resisted the urge to call home and check on the baby because I knew that if I heard her crying in the background, it would ruin my night and make me want to rush right home to comfort her. And I was worried that my baby was starving because she does not take the bottle, although I left one for her just in case.

I made it all the way to dessert before I broke down and called. I held my breath waiting for a report of inconsolable crying, but instead was told that she was doing fine and even finished the bottle. I was so shocked that I had to repeat it and when my girlfriends heard the news, a round of applause erupted from the table. I had just finished telling them how she NEVER takes a bottle and that's the main reason I can't leave her with anyone.

It was a bittersweet moment for me because although I was happy she was doing well, I was sad she didn't need me as much as I thought she would. I could feel the tears welling up and wanting to overflow with that thought, but I tried to hold it in. I don't think my girlfriends were fooled though.

Now that I know she can make it without me for a few hours, it opens up a whole new world of freedom. Honey, get ready for our date night!

I had a blast on my night out, but I sure did miss my baby girl. In all the craziness of making sure I had everything ready for her few hours without me, I forgot to bring the camera to document my first night out.

I can't think of a better sound than that of her sweet giggles.

One Great Sunday

I went to church this morning with my family in the same church Mike and I were married in. It was nice to see some old friends and introduce them to Grace.

A Sunday afternoon nap with the baby, my parents coming home early from the restaurant, and an evening visit from my friend Michelle made for one great Sunday.

6 Months

My sweet girl is 6 months old today. I could cry thinking how quickly the time has flown by. One day I'm holding my tiny newborn baby and wondering how I was ever going to make it through her babyhood since she refused to let me sleep for more than a couple hours at a time. Now she's transformed into an easy going, friendly baby and I've become a master of multi-tasking.

Grace loves to be around people, especially other kids. She loves blowing raspberries, especially when her mama is feeding her baby food. She loves to smile. She often talks herself to sleep. She is still a morning baby- content to babble and play by herself until her mama is coherent enough to get up for the day. She is starting to sit up by herself, but even when she face plants, she's so good natured that she won't even cry.

I know I'm a lucky mama to have such a sweet and happy baby. She brings me so much joy. I thank God every day for all his blessings, but especially for letting me be her mama.

I'm still exclusively nursing and poor baby gets so sweaty under the Hooter Hider sometimes that she ends up with this crazy hair.

Playing with Uncle Josh.

Today she sat up by herself for her longest stretch so far- a minute and a half!

I got this onesie before she was born, but it was way too big for her. I put it on her today and realize that it's now almost too small on her.

Lola and Lolo came home early from the restaurant on its busiest night to bring a cake and celebrate Grace's birthday.

Old School Friends

I have been friends with this group since junior high and high school. It's so much fun to think we go back that far and now here we are hanging out with all of our kids running around the house.

Here's my long time friend, Joe. He was a good sport for stopping by a house full of ladies and their babies, after driving from Richmond, just so I could see him. The last time I saw him was my wedding day three years ago. I got a little teary eyed seeing him tonight because he's been working so hard at losing weight and has lost over 150 pounds. He looks absolutely fantastic and I'm so proud of him!

Here are all of our babies, ten in all! Twelve if you want to count the two that are still in their mama's bellies.

Open Wide

For weeks now, I've been trying to introduce solid foods to Grace, but she wasn't thrilled with anything I offered. Rice cereal, nope. Bananas, sometimes. Rice cereal and bananas mixed together, hit or miss. Applesauce, nope. Pears, not at all. Peaches, absolutely not.

The only thing I had left to feed her this morning was sweet potatoes. I know it's not breakfast food, but I was determined to continue getting her used to eating solids. The girl ate it all up! I know it looks like most of it ended up on her bib, but she actually opened wide whenever the spoon came near her mouth. Progress!


Hanging out with Bryce the cutie pie. Isn't that smile just precious?

Beach Bum

When I lived in Virginia Beach, I loved summer because it meant spending my days lounging on the beach. I was a beach bum and I was okay with that.

I've been home for over a month now and today was the first time I went to the beach. I've been dying to take Grace, but I was intimidated by the logistics of bringing a 5 month old. Babies require a LOT of stuff and I wasn't sure if I could carry her and all the stuff I needed for the outing.

Thankfully my brothers and my dear friend Glenda agreed to go with me and help me lug all the stuff. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. And other than a couple incidents with chasing the beach umbrella that fell over and blew away, our beach day went very smoothly.

Glenda and I have declared Wednesdays our beach day until I have to leave in August.

Grace and I with her Ninang Glenda and Sadie.



She wasn't too sure about the water.





But she warmed up to it eventually.

Grace and her Uncles who look like twins in this picture.

This happened a couple times. Thank goodness Josh was a good umbrella catcher when it blew down the beach.



A little bit of 'Stinky Face' at the beach.

Almost Sitting

Grace is almost sitting up by herself. Although most of the time she'll get distracted and topple right over. Like in this picture when she was trying to get the camera.

Smiles

When Grace's three month portraits were taken, I blamed her lack of smiles and subsequent horrible pictures on the photographer. I was optimistic that her six month portrait experience would go much more smoothly.

The photographer today was excellent. She had the patience of a saint and made all kinds of strange and silly noises to get the baby to smile. Or at least stop crying. But it made no difference because little Miss Virginia Grace was still short on smiles.

Thankfully our photographer didn't have any other appointments following our morning one so she patiently spent the next few hours (yes, HOURS) trying to get some decent shots of Grace. We had to stop several times for diaper and outfit changes, nursing sessions, and even an hour long nap. But in the end, her persistence paid off and we ended up with some great pictures. The photographer is even entering one of the shots in a baby photography contest!

Although my optimism about Grace's 6 month portraits dimmed after the first 20 minutes we were in the studio, the end result proves that you should never lose hope. There's definitely a pattern of improvement so her first birthday portrait session should be fantastic.

Last Time, It Was a Dog

A few years ago I had a crazy dog, a puggle named Layla. She was a cutie, but she was out of control. She almost failed out of dog obedience school. I honestly think the only reason she got her certificate was because the trainer felt sorry for me. One of her favorite activities was destroying my stuff by chewing them to shreds- her bed (she went through 3 of them), my all-time favorite dressy sandals, and books.

Apparently my daughter has something in common with that wild dog. While she was napping on the bed this afternoon, I read a little more Twilight. I didn't think twice about leaving the book on the bed when I left the room. But maybe I should have because when I went in to check on her, this is what I found:




Sweet baby, books are for reading, not eating!


Grace and Grandma hanging out at a baby shower this afternoon.

Traffic Jam

Even a giant M&M can't help when you're stuck in hours of traffic.

On Saturday, all the Augustines piled into mom's car and headed towards the Outer Banks to go outlet shopping. What should've been an hour and a half long drive turned into four and a half hours of being stuck in practically standstill traffic. Note to self: NEVER attempt a trip to the Outer Banks on a Saturday during the summer. We didn't even make it to the outlet mall. At the rate we were going, the mall would've been closed by the time we got there, so dad turned the car around and we were back home in a little over an hour.

We ended up having dinner at Cracker Barrel and shopping at a TJMaxx in Chesapeake. We drove a total of 6 hours to shop at TJMaxx! But that's okay because it was quality family time together. And there's no better test on how well a family gets along than being stuck in hours of traffic in the same car.

We stopped by at a roadside farm stand to buy some fresh fruit.


An adorable rocking chair at the Cracker Barrel. Again, the only thing that stopped me from getting this chair for Grace was the fact that we're only visiting. So darn irresistible!

I Love Target

It's a good thing we're only visiting right now or else I would've bought this cute little faux leather wing chair for Grace today. The amazing things you can find at Target! Oh, how I love that store!

Other than a quick trip to the DMV where we watched some guy get arrested and then a Target excursion, the rest of the day was spent at home. We were home for two seconds before the rain started pouring down. I spent the rainy afternoon reading while my baby napped. What a fantastic Friday!

Look at that angelic pose! She's normally on her stomach when she sleeps so this was a rare treat for me to see her sleep on her side.

We miss you, Daddy! Three more weeks to go...

Take Me to the Movies

It was a sad day when my brother Carl stopped working at the movie theaters years ago. It put a stop to my free movie days. And I love going to the movies. So much so that I still continued going to the movies despite the soaring price of a ticket.

I knew that once Grace was born, my movie going days were over. At least for a little while. But because Uncle Josh desperately wanted to go see the new Harry Potter flick, I risked taking a baby to the theater. I was so nervous, especially since the movie is almost three hours long. I am the kind of movie go-er that gets annoyed at any kind of disruption to my movie experience. I certainly didn't want to BE the disruption if Grace decided she was not into Harry Potter.

I sat next to the exit, ready to bolt at any sign of fussiness. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. When she wasn't sleeping, she was fascinated with the movie. She even laughed at the appropriate times! Maybe my girl will be a movie lover like her mama.

Sorry, Daddy, this was the only picture that was taken today. I forgot to bring the camera to the movie theaters to document Grace's first movie experience.

Shop Till You Drop

When I was in Japan, I couldn't wait to get back home so I could do some proper shopping. No more ordering on the internet and waiting weeks for it to arrive. No more praying that the outfit will fit. No more hassle of returns by mail. I can now walk into my favorite stores, pick out something nice, try it on, and buy it if I like it. Instant gratification.

The reality though is a bit unexpected. The past few shopping trips I've gone on, I've come home either empty handed or with just a couple things. Not really the shopping spree extravaganza I was imagining.

I don't know what my problem is. Maybe I'm overwhelmed by all the choices I now have. Maybe because I still don't have my pre-pregnancy body back, I don't want to buy too much at this size in the hopes that I can get into something smaller soon.

But despite this unexpected obstacle, I still enjoy going out shopping. So when my mother-in-law suggested we spend the afternoon shopping, I was all for it. The Augustine girls had a fabulous time looking for good deals and we went home with some cute new things. Even me.

Grandma couldn't resist getting Grace this cute new shirt.

Here's a view of the back- a cute little cut-out with a red bow.


Grace still refuses to take a bottle, but she's warming up to the sippy cup, and seems to love the glass. She thinks she's such a big girl now!