Sugar & Spice

Just a couple pics to share. Today I told Cailyn that I could take pictures of her all day, she makes me camera happy- who wouldn't be with a face like that?!

Tummy time! She is getting increasingly stronger in her neck and back and is always scooting herself right off the blanket.

That's Mr. Octopus she's mean muggin', she loves tubby time and will stare at him the whole time with those same big eyes.

Love, love, love these leggings on her chubby little kickers! I broke down and bought her some rainbow striped legwarmers last week. All I can say is....friggin' adorable.

Playing with her newest toy- the Bumbo chair. This picture is a little misleading, usually when she's sitting in it she has this confused/annoyed look on her face, but she was happy to play this morning!

She is so much more interactive now with her smiling, cooing, and playing. It's fun, but I just feel like she's too grown up already, we're trying to enjoy every minute of it.

Read more...

I Need a Sugar Daddy....

Haha, when I was an education major at Iowa State I definitely thought, 'This school is FULL of engineers, surely I will marry one of them and be able to stay home with my kidlets and be a trophy wife.' EH! God had other plans and another amazing man in mind for me, someone who wouldn't let me be a lazy pile. (Not saying stay-at-home mom's are lazy, just saying if I were one- I would be) Anyway, so since I am not fortunate enough to stay home with my sweet little stink pot all day, I shall share how the first couple of weeks back to work have been.

The new school year brought several changes to the Early Childhood department of the Des Moines public schools- another new assessment tool, changes in administration- that means I have another new boss, and more checklists of stuff I have to do with my students. It's exhausting really. I am very grateful that I am employed somewhere and that they offer great health insurance for me and my family, but I do believe I would like to look for a new position that is closer to home. I drive almost an hour each way to go to/from work and after having Cailyn I just hate that I am so far away from her during the day.

So far my students are doing pretty well, they're just so young. I have one little gal who turned 3 TODAY! You can imagine the challenges that are encountered when trying to teach young 3's and then ranging all the way up to newly-turned 5's. We shall see how the rest of the year plays out- each group of students is so unique.

Jerod seems to be really loving the new schedule (except that he has to do recess duty this year, heehee) and the lengthened class periods. He says the new middle school gymnasium is really big, but I think he would prefer to be at one building instead of having to drive back and forth for class periods. I'm jealous of the extra sleep he gets each morning and the 1 minute drive he has to get home after work!

Here's to a new school year and funny kids that keep us going back for more :)

Read more...

Moose turns 2 months!

"Who is Moose?" you may be asking. That is Jerod's pet name for Cailyn- long story short it's from an old Enterprise car rental commercial that he loved and they used to play almost non-stop during March madness. Now it has become a term of endearment for baby girl- I'm sure she'll come up with a name for her Daddy when she gets bigger and they'll have a special thing to share :)

She is 2 months old today and had another big weekend of firsts and new visitors. Her first Cyclone/Hawkeye rivalry game was this weekend- she sported her State gear on Friday and her Hawk gear on game day- I'm happy to say the Cyclones pulled out the win- Jerod says it's because the Hawkeye defense sucks, I say a win is a win! With the big game came friends from out of town and they just couldn't get enough of her :)

2 months old and so sweet- we get lots of smiles and she is always "talking". She has rolled from her tummy to her back twice (we think they may both have been accidents but we'll give her the benefit of the doubt) and is becoming a pro at pushing up onto her elbows and looking around. She's downing at least 4 oz a feeding, if not more, and loves to take naps and baths- we call them tubbies. She is a fan of all things soft and fuzzy and likes to watch college football with Daddy.

Her first West Marshall football game- a success, but we hope they turn down the speakers next time, the announcer was SO LOUD!! We also only stayed until half time, the Trojans were shutting out the other team by several touchdowns and it was bedtime anyway.

Sporting her Hawkeye tee and her new curly bow. This tee is supposed to be a 12 month size, but it must run a little small- however she is also a little big and wearing 3-6 mo clothes comfortably.

Playing with our friend Tori while we watched the rivalry game on TV Saturday- she's so sweet we just can't get enough of her :)

Read more...

Labor Day Laziness

We hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Labor Day weekend. It was nice to be able to spend an extra day with Cailyn before having to get back to the daily grind. We didn't do too much- took in the first Saturday of college football, tidied up our yard a bit, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

A successful trip in the stroller! Success to us means only screaming for a couple of minutes and mostly just looking around at the trees and the sky- yay!

A quick pic before Jerod took on the long overdue task of mowing the lawn, you could have baled hay in our front yard!

Feeling the grass on her toes, Cailyn seems to LOVE being outside, she's so quiet and just takes it all in :)


Happy week to you all!

Read more...