10,000???

How on earth? 10,000 views to little miss Lily's blog! How did she get so popular? Must be because she is too cute! LOL. It will be fun when she gets bigger to explain how I started this little blog about her so friends and family could watch her grow and what a hit it was! How exciting it will be for her to read all the posts and comments from everyone! A perfect recap of her life for her to read. Times sure have changed huh? We can now document our childs' lives via the web. I still think its good to have something tangible such as a baby book but this blog helps fill in the gaps and may be filled with more day to day goodies rather than just a general recap.

Thanks to everyone who has been visiting and watching Lily grow. She and I BOTH Thank You!

Here is a couple photos of my growing girl from "Instagram".




~Whitney

Randomness...

Been a bit since I have posted so I think I will just fill this post with some random stuff that I think..thats been happening and whatever else I come up with :)

Here you go....


1. You know you are a parent when the text I get from Dan last night says "Poop". Thats all it said! I was laughing. Yes...we have to discuss Lily's poop! Cracks me up.

2. Baby Wipes pet peeve. I finally figured out how the baby wipe companies make so much money...Cause its IMPOSSIBLE to pull out just ONE baby wipe. Nope...2-3 must come out at once. So you are holding your baby's legs juggling a diaper trying to get a wipe and 3 come out. ANNOYING! Someone really must fix this problem. I thought it was just me till I saw it happen to one of my clients. So its NOT just me! Dumb things.

3. Lily is almost 3 months and night time still kinda sucks. We are luckily down to just one feeding sometime in the middle of the night (from 3am- 6am) which is GREAT. But there are still rough nights. I am praying they will end soon but I hear we wont be sleeping good for the next 18 years! Yeah for us :) ha ha

4. My clients are cracking me up. They are ALL requesting I bring Lily to their appointments. Which I both love and hate. Love it that everyone wants to see her and honestly its easier on me if on the quick appointments I can just bring her...no need to find a sitter. BUT....Going to work is like a Mini Vacation :) So I dont want to bring her! ha ha Just teasing....I dont mind most days...Depends on what is happening at the appointment :)

5. Date night? Whats that? I think we might be in need of one. But honestly I think we would fall asleep if we tried to go out. Guess Date afternoon? LOL

6. Dan and I are so Thankful for our good friends Dave & Nancy. We are not blessed with having our families close by so Dave & Nancy have graciously stepped in as another set of grandparents for Lily. If it werent for them we would NEVER have a break. We couldnt thank them enough for taking care of Lily from time to time so I can work...or we can run quick errands. Oh and about that Date night??? ha ha ha ha.....Just teasing. Thanks to the both of you for all your help! Lily is very lucky to have so many people that love her.

7. Instagram anyone? If you use the app you can follow blisswhitney. I will post pics of Miss Lily and other randomness. In fact the two images I have posted here are from that app. Its fun!

8. Dinners have been going semi okay. I kept the dinner menu up perfectly the first week and then got sick....big bummer. But I will be getting back on it soon. Dan has ate my dinners with no complaining and I think he might have even liked it! LOL. Or he just liked the fact it was ready when he got home? Either way....its worth the effort and I will post some of the success dinners. I just need to remember to take a pic of the finished product.

9. Which reminds me...MOM's DO NOT GET SICK DAYS! Ugh! Getting sick sucks...getting sick AND taking care of a little one...MAJOR SUCKS. You think you have patience...and then you get sick...its all over. Thankfully Dan helped a ton and fed her in the middle of the night several days in a row (we usually take turns) so I could try and get better quickly. Its hard to get better when you are stressed, not sleeping and not eating good, etc. Oh well. Lets hope I can stay healthy now.


I guess thats my random recap of stuff for the day. I am sure I have more but lets stick with what I have here for now!

Posts are always better with pics...so here is two photos I took with my instagram app!




~Whitney

Simple things...

Its funny how the simplest things can just melt your heart once you are a parent. Dan and I enjoy so much our weekend mornings watching and playing with Lily. She coos and smiles and just makes us happy. Even if we have a rough night she makes it very hard to be upset! ha ha. Hard to be mad at something so cute huh? Yesterday Dan and Lily were snuggling in the hammock in our backyard...It made me melt. For one its a sight I never thought I would see...Dan snuggling with a Baby? ha ha. But to see how happy it made him made it even better. I didnt have my camera on me but I snagged a quick iphone pic just to share the sweetness. Dont judge the pic! LOL

Love my sweeties...



~Whitney

Lily's 1st 4th of July

We didnt think a firework show would be that entertaining for Lily this year so we decided to have a BBQ at our house for our friends who didnt mind missing the firework show. Now we still got to hear booms until late hours of the night but we didnt actually watch any fireworks. I am not sure Lily liked all the booming. It was a bit of a rough night getting that little girl to sleep and mommy was not feeling too hot. Bad combination. How do mom's get sick days? Oh yeah they dont. Dan stayed home to help today (thanks honey) so lets hope I am better as quick as possible. I think the lack of sleep and craziness over the last few days has finally caught up to me. I just need some good sleep and relaxation I think. We will see how it goes.

Here are a couple cute photos from yesterday's celebration.

Lily...(4th of July outfit from her Grandma)



Lily with her Aunt Destiny!



Lily with her "Adopted Grandparents" Dave & Nancy...



Lily with her 4th of July Buddies...Esme & Ellerie

Happy 4th!

Lily says Happy 4th of July!

Dinner Calendar

After the advice from a few people I finally put together a dinner Menu for us and am officially testing it out to see how it goes. I printed a calendar from Ical and made dinner plans for the month of July (and part of June). I left a few free days and only planned the weekday dinners. Once I made the menu I worked on the grocery list for the 1st week. I am hoping that this will help with our grocery bill and NOT wasting food. We dont go through food fast enough and we tend to just buy something because it sounds good at the time and then never end up eating it. Also food items such as salad fixings go to waste too fast. So plan is in action and I am hoping I can stick to it. I have the monthly calendar in the front of a binder that I made with Recipes also in sleeves in it. But for fun I hung this board up in our Kitchen with the weeks menu. I have made little cards with "Whats for Dinner". On the back of the card it has the recipe if needed or the page number where to find it...and what is "needed" for it. I will reuse the cards and this should make the grocery shopping list a lot faster. We also thought the board would give us a little flexibility if we wanted to swap cards on a day if something did not sound good. The other goal in all this....I want to be able to cook and have dinner ready by 6. Then our evenings can be spent having family time with Lily not trying to cook after Dan gets home and trying to decide what to eat. Thanks to everyone who has emailed or contacted me with fun recipes. I will post results! Also I will still take more if anyone has any? Trying to not eat the same thing every week is also a challenge :)

Here are a couple of pics of the board I hung in the kitchen (iphone pics...not the best quality)..







~Whitney

My New Mini...

Finally :) Here is the photos of my new mini! I am loving the new car so far and now just need to work on selling our old mini. I will be sad to see it go but at least the new one still has the same look and feel as the old mini. Plus of course the new one fits Lily...That of course is important! Dan and I like to fight over who gets to drive MY new car :) Okay....its "technically" Our car...but its MINE! LOL









Sorry for the iphone pics...but its what I had on hand :)

~Whitney

Lily's Baby Book...

I know many of you know that I own a photography studio as you are friends, clients and family that are reading this. But in case you didnt know I specialize in photographing babies and kids. And one of my most favorite things to do is design baby albums for a baby's first year. So of course having Lily means I finally get to design a baby album for me. My baby albums are a little different as they include a lot of text or "story" of the baby's first year. Including a letter from Mom and Dad to the baby. They are very sentimental and so special. For Lily I received this awesome Baby Calendar from a good friend, Connie as a gift. It has been so wonderful to have. I have been using the calendar to make sure I keep all of Lily's information documented. Once we hit a year I will be able to go back through the calendar and create Lily's Story. Its so much more difficult to go back and try and remember everything. Its even harder to try and write stuff down or remember to write it down. This calendar gives me space to write/fill in as well as stickers I can use to put on special dates. Here are a couple pics...and of course a HUGE THANK YOU to Connie for the perfect gift!

2 months old...

Lily is already two months! We have a doctor appointment this thursday and I will post her "stats." She is a big girl and we are guessing 12 lbs. But we will see. Lily is working on sleeping through the night and we had a record breaking 8 hour stretch between feedings (slept about 7 hrs). We are getting really close. Now if she can just push it a little longer AND keep it up. It seems like we will have one good night and the one not so good night...but I know she is working on it for us. Its amazing what sleep can do. It makes you feel like a whole new person. Looking forward to that first official sleep through the night! Fingers crossed its soon.

I have a few fun posts coming up...I still need to post new car pics and I have been working on a dinner calendar that I will post soon. I have appreciated the dinner recipes and feedback from the previous post about dinner. I am still open for more if anyone else wants to share? We are going to start the new dinner menu this week so I will share how it goes. Being a mom, working AND taking care of house stuff is a challenge but I am trying to find us a family routine. I am SO Thankful for Dan who is more help than any wife could ever ask for. Dont want his head to get too big...but seriously...he rocks :) Love you honey.

Here is a quick photo I took yesterday for her official 2 month pic!




More Soon...

~Whitney

Just because...

Thought I would post a pic from yesterday just for fun!



More Soon...

~Whitney

New Recipes...

Cooking Plus Whitney? Not really a good combo :) Dan is the cook in the family. But to be honest during the week it is so hard for him to cook. He gets home around 6 and by the time we eat it seems like its 8pm. It would be better if I already had dinner started so we could eat at a decent hour. I think Dan would fall on the floor if Dinner was on the table when he got home. LOL. I am not much of a "housewife". He wouldn't know what to do. So I was thinking if I had fun new recipes to try maybe I could get dinner at least started? The other tuff part for me is deciding on something FOR dinner. I am way too picky which means we seem to eat the same thing over and over again. I pretty much eat chicken or shrimp or pasta. No red meat. I am looking for some of you to share some fun new recipes? You can post a comment with a link to one? Or put it in a comment. Or email me? Anything! At one point I was having recipe parties where everyone brought a dish and the recipe. It was a blast. But the days are getting away from me now. Oh...and my only other request is its something easy? Or at least not too complicated? I even have a crock pot if anyone has something for that?

Any ideas would be great! If I use one Ill post a review :)

Thanks in advance to my wonderful blog stalkers!

~Whitney

Homemade Baby Food?

So I am curious. How many of you actually attempted and succeeded in making your own baby food? I keep seeing this green machine when Dan and I are out shopping and I am trying to decide IF I would really do it? I thought maybe after having to buy food I would decide it was worth it? I think its like $150.00 and I know the baby food that they need is only for a short time. So is it worth it? Is it a pain? What do you guys think? Here is a pic of the Green Machine we keep seeing :)



Part of me wonders if its like re-usable diapers. Its a happy thought but unfortunately not for me. I am proud of those who use or have used cloth diapers. It is a good thing.

Hmm....The decisions we have to make :)

~Whitney

Dan's 1st Fathers Day...

Still seems weird that Dan and I are parents. He asked yesterday when can we give her back? Or when do we get paid? Only kidding....But it is weird when you think about the fact that this little girl is ours....for good. Dan is such a good Dad and takes very good care of BOTH of his girls. We had a nice family day on Sunday running around the mall and spending some quality time together. Dan only wanted to have a good old fashioned BBQ and to get to CHOOSE the movie for the evening. Easy enough. Thank you to my wonderful husband for the man you are. Lily and I are VERY lucky to have you....and she says Love you Daddy :)

Here is a quick shot of our little peanut...




~Whitney

Diaper Lottery

I just want to say I am SO THANKFUl for the diaper lottery that my shower planners had for me! If you dont know what that is...The invite to the shower said for each pack of Huggies Diapers a guest brought their name went into a drawing for a prize. I think just about everyone that came brought diapers...plus we had a huge diaper tower that my friend Jessica made. Here we are two months in and we still have not had to buy a single pack of diapers...AND we still have plenty. I think we might make it to 3 months with the supply we have! Thank you to everyone who played the game. I know buying diapers is not the most glamourous gift but it is the most needed and we are very Thankful. And for those of you that have not had a baby shower...Be sure to pass this idea along to your shower planner! ITS AWESOME!

Here is a pic of the HUGE diaper pile we received...



~Whitney

Mini for Lily

Dan and I picked up our new Mini a couple days ago. For those of you who dont know I have to sell my poor little mini cooper since I can not fit Lily in the backseat. Its sad....However Mini released a brand new four door Mini Cooper/Countryman. Dan and I ordered it 3 months ago and have been patiently awaiting its arrival. While we were picking it up we saw a Mini for Lily! Of course HAD TO HAVE IT! I know it will be awhile before she gets to enjoy it but how CUTE! I will post pics of our new mini soon. But here is Lily's....





~Whitney