We started cereal!

Today, we decided to try giving C some cereal to see how she would do. I had a feeling she wouldn't take to it right away and I was right. She did good though! I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast. It's only been 5 1/2 months and so much has already happened. It's amazing how much growth takes place in the first year. Before long she's gonna be crawling then walking all over the place then talking and telling us no all the time. I so much look forward to all of those things to come but I try to take in every moment now because I know it won't last long. She's my sweet little angel!

See more pictures and a video here!

So proud...

Most of you already know that Josh is a runner. He's been running since middle school, continued on through high school and college and has steadily stuck with it to this day. When we got together and up until the beginning of this year, he would get on a routine of running a certain amount of miles and/or days a week but then get sick or tired, take a break for a while, then eventually get back into it. But this year has been different. His New Year's resolution was to run every day. He got to 19 days I think, got sick, and had to take a break. This time it wasn't for long. He has really been committed to getting in shape and training. So far this year he has run in a marathon relay and a half-marathon.

Today, Josh also ran in the Lovejoy Country Run 5k! Dwayne, one of our best friends, ran as well. It was put on by Luke's Locker and benefited the Lovejoy booster club. It was such a fun time! They had a live band, a raffle, face painting, and a pancake breakfast. There was a great crowd and hundreds of runners participated...aged anywhere from elementary up to 70+!

So about the race...Josh does a full recap on his blog but ultimately he WINS his age group and brings home a medal! Wa Hoooooo :) He got 8th overall! AND I bought us 3 raffle tickets and we won! It was a gift basket full of Lovejoy stuff which was pretty cool.

Josh would probably say that he has a long way to go and could have done better but I can't be more proud of him! I admire his passion for running and his dedication! It is something he LOVES to do and it's wonderful to see the one you love do something that makes him happy! Somehow he always finds time for it before or after his long days of teaching and coaching. I love my husband so much! Great job today!

Here are some pics of the day :)

Focused before the race!

Getting ready to start!

Dwayne and Josh after the race!

A proud wife and daughter with our champion!

Josh's medal!

CeCe enjoying the day!

Me and C having fun together!

Family Reunion

Today we left East Tx and headed to Hutchins for a Truett Family Reunion. My mom's brother, Steve, left a LONG time ago and finally made his way back home with his wife Dee. If I met him before today, it was when I was really young and I don't remember. It was so amazing being a part of this special day! Everyone was all smiles and it seemed like not a day had gone by since they had all seen each other. It was fun to hear them all cutting up and telling stories. These kind of moments are priceless.

(Andre, Grandma, Steve, Dianna, mom)

(Andre's popeye/bitter beer face......so silly!)

Wedding Weekend

Our friends, Sue and Weston, were married yesterday in Canton, Tx. It was a fun time! Sue looked absolutely gorgeous! We had a great time catching up with friends and enjoying the evening of just Josh and I. Josh's aunt and uncle live about 15 miles away from Canton in Edom so we spent the rest of the weekend there. Josh's aunt, uncle and mom watched CeCe for us! She definitely tested their patience with excessive crying but all came out ok! Before we left, Josh and his mom got some fishing in. He actually caught a fish! As always, we enjoyed our weekend in East Tx.

blogs blogs blogs

Ok people I can't ever get anything done! Like the many tv shows I watch, I have TONS of blogs I love to read and it's distracting me from doing the things I NEED to do. I keep putting my school work off because I HAVE to keep up with what everyone is doing. I'm usually better at managing my time but it's getting ridiculous. I'm so ready to be done with school that ANY little thing can keep me from doing it. UGH! Then I get stressed and overwhelmed until it gets down to the last minute and it HAS to be done. Good thing I work well under pressure otherwise I'd be such a mess (more than I already am).

I guess that comes from growing up in a big family and always having so many things to do that everything got done at the last minute. I wouldn't have had it any other way but it has definitely made me who I am......procrastinator! Yep, I'm one of those people! I wait until the very last minute to do most everything. And it really does add so much more stress to my life. Every time I try to get things done early it never happens. I just think 'well, I'll work on it tonight' then it turns into tomorrow, then the next day, then the next week. It's terrible. I definitely need to work on it.

I'll start tomorrow...ha!

p.s. keep blogging friends....it's too fun!

Here we go!

So we are about 4 1/2 months along on nothing but momma's milk! YAY! I plan to exclusively breastfeed (EBF) for the first 6 months then start introducing solid foods. Although starting solids (usually rice cereal) around 4 months is ok, breast milk has all the nutrition babies need. Well, today Babies R Us was running a really good sale on baby food so we went ahead and bought C's FIRSTS so we'd be ready when the time comes. We have peas, sweet potatoes, apples, and bananas! Tasty! Well at least I hope...I haven't tried them. Almost there...can't wait!

Not So Fun Times

MOST of the time C is such a joy to be around. With her sweet little voice, her cute smirks, her funny faces, and those chubby cheeks, you can't help but just love and squeeze her all over. EXCEPT for when she has those days where she is not so lovable. Those are the days I think go away Kekelia (her alter ego) and bring me back my sweet Cecelia. So what do I do when this happens? Stick her butt outside. For some reason (and I think this is true for most babies...all people for that matter) a change of scenery is all they need sometimes. So on this day, which happened to be really nice, I put her in a laundry basket lined with pillows and a couple of toys and we sat out on the balcony. It worked! Her mood changed instantly. Tony went out there with us and we had a blast! I got my CeCe back!

Fun Times

I am truly blessed and fortunate to have a husband that works REALLY hard to provide for us so that I can stay home with our CeCe. She is such an angel. We have such great fun together! I love being able to spend so much time with her especially in these younger months when she's changing so fast. I just love her to pieces.

April's Shower

Last Sunday, I helped host April's 2nd shower before little Maverick arrives. It was so much fun! We had TONS of good food and she got lots of fun mommy/pampering gifts along with more cute stuff for that boy we all CAN'T WAIT to meet.

For the activity part, I put together an unfinished Scrapbook to document Mav's first year. Everyone helped decorate a page! I think it was enjoyed by all. There were so many pages that it didn't get completed so Debbie (April's mom) is gonna finish it up. Can't wait to see the finished product!

We had a great time but TERRIBLY missed one important person...ERIN...we LOVE you! Time to move home :)

Surprise

Josh had a track meet to go to in Austin this weekend (Texas Relays) but wasn't able to leave with the team. He had to stay behind to take the Middle School track team to a meet. This was Thursday night. Their first race was Friday morning and Josh didn't want to have to wake up and make the trek super early so his plan was to leave after the meet which meant leaving somewhere around 10ish. I didn't want him to drive by himself so we all packed up and went with him. Our good friends, Jenni and Justin, let us crash at their place (thanks again guys!). We ended up getting to Austin at about 2am. We get there and Josh looks at the schedule again so we can plan out the day. TURNS OUT that the team doesn't actually run until Saturday morning. I thought... are you kidding me??? We made that drive with a 4 month old and a puppy in the wee hours of the morning for nothing. BUT it ended up working out because C slept the entire time which made the drive super easy. And we didn't have to mess with traffic.

Friday morning we all got up and went to breakfast at the Waterloo Ice House! It was delicious. I had the Hill Country Breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and biscuits). Josh had an omelette and the Balthrops had some breakfast tacos. After we were done eating, Josh headed over to the track meet. C is too young to be able to go and sit in the stands for hours on end, especially in the sun, so we decided to head down to Canyon Lake to surprise my parents! It's about an hour south of Austin.

side note: My brother was going to my parents with his fiancee, daughter, and our other niece to help paint their house. My mom had invited us to come too but I told her we couldn't because I was hosting a shower on Sunday (which I did). And when I declined, I had no intention of going to Austin. end side note.

So we headed to the lake. I got a couple of miles away from their house and called my mom to see what they were doing. They had been eating breakfast. We chatted until I showed up on their driveway! I honked until they came outside (still talking on the phone). My mom was so confused then realized what was going on and got super EXCITED! They had no clue! Sneaky huh?!?! I LOVE surprises....especially when I'm doing the surprising! My mom is always good about giving you the PERFECT reaction too. It makes it so much fun!

Anyhow, we just hung out outside and played the rest of the day. My brother and his crew showed up later that evening. C and I headed back to Austin early the next afternoon to meet back up with Josh and the Balthrops. We waited until about 8ish for C's bed time to head out which worked out great because again she slept the entire way. We got home a little after midnight. It was a quick, fun trip!

(me & C)

(miranda, C, alyssa)

(me, C, alyssa, nathan, amy, woody)

(miranda)

(alyssa & miranda)