leftovers

It's been a while since I've spilled my guts. I've been stuck in a Preverbal funk, and at a loss for words because of some constant distraction that has been grasping my thoughts tighter than usual.

So in lou of normal banter and thoughtfuly put together antidotes about the little, one here are the leftovers...

I've mastered the art of distracting her so I can fold and put away her laundry.


She has a fake cry she lets out about 20 minutes into a good chunk of sleep.

It's one harsh short cry then she's back down for the count! We've grown accustom to it and no longer act to comfort her unless it lasts long enough for her to take a breath and keep crying.

She has discovered her feet and is increasingly closer to being able to grab them which simply means there will be a flooding of foot-in-mouth pictures headed your way.




She got her first round of shots and I was as upset as she was.


Her first trip to the pool was less exciting than I had hoped it would be. She showed very little excitment at being in the water and was slightly less excited that bath time.



(but she did pick a side!)

Morning time in our house is not the picture perfect, leave it to beaver, mom makes warm breakfast every day, image that I hope it evolves to when she starts school but it is laid back stay in bed as long as she'll let us.


She has learned to and perfected the art of rolling over.

Whenever she is faking being upset so that Jared or I will pick her up she rolls over after a minute or two and buries her face in the blankets so that we have to either pick her up or roll her over (to keep her from suffocating) and well long story short, she gets her way!

Her 3 month photo's didn't turn out as well as I'd like but we were both impatient and not in the mood to do a photo shoot. So hey heres to imperfect parents and next months pictures being more carefully thought out.






And yes she has discovered the camera, and sporatically gets sick of seeing it!


I can feel the motivation coming roud the bend. So here's to next time, the new day filled with inspiration, perspiration and all those good things that are suppose to make one a better citizen, till then cheers!

addiston ROSE

Today is a special day, it is the Birthday of my grandmother, Rosemary Virginia Boyer. She is 88 years old today and as independent as the day she turned 28. She is the most joyfully, content, pleasant person I know. Never an ailment to complain about but always a comical antic, a fond story, or a the recounting of lessons learned.

Even though she believes herself to be under educated, She has imparted more wisdom upon me, than most people I have encountered thus far in my life, and has always done so with a shining attitude that I believe would put most people in shock. She has not had the perfect carefree life that would give her the bliss that she lives her life with. She had trials and more than a fair share of unmerited hardship growing up. She has had to work for everything that she has, and she may not be rich by the world's standards but is thrilled with what she has more so than some of the richest men in the world. She raised two very strong willed independent men. And has won a battle with cancer.

4 generations

She can bake a cake to taste with no recipe and one hand tied behind her back, constantly hums old songs sung by nat king cole and other respectable musicians from before I was born. She always has candy orange slices in a dish behind her recliner and often falls asleep to the eleven o'clock news. She watches game shows most of the day and can kick anybody's butt in almost any card game (I did beat her one time, but that was a fluke and I'm the only one in the family who can say that!) Rose, what her friends call her, Rosemary, what her sons call her, Rosie, what her family calls her. The woman who always made me mac and cheese, whose knee I sat on to watch countless disney movies, and hear stories about my grandfather (who died before I was born) she would take me to her ceramics class so that I could paint a teddy bear figurine for every holiday on the calendar and came to a dozen school plays, recitals, and concerts because she's proud of her family!

If your first name is common knowledge and your last name defines you, then what lies in the middle is the mystery of who you are, the secret of what lies within. From before I knew I was pregnant, before we found out we were having a little girl I knew my daughters name would honor this woman, the matriarch that founded the stubborn independence that runs in the family, the name that holds the key to the beauty that radiates from my grandmother.

The joy that she brings everyone who comes into contact with her is unprecedented. She has a peace that surpasses all my understanding and unbeknownst to any of us has decided to show us how to age gracefully and enjoy the little things in life. She loves getting phone calls for no reason, and will never keep you tied up more than ten minutes because she's so sure you have something more important to do than talk to her, most days I don't!

She's always there when I can't quite get a recipe right and gave me the inspiration years ago to tackle the kitchen and still cheers me on whenever I decide to cook something way out of my skill level.

If I have half the grace, pride and joy in my life when I'm half her age I will count myself among the lucky. I hope that Addiston is blessed with her sweet spirit and ability to always look on the brighter side of life.

New Bird

So Addiston had her two month Doctor's appointment yesterday and like idiots we always dress her in cute little outfits just to strip her down to "a clean dry diaper" as soon as we're taken back to the exam room. They weighed and measured her then took us back to her room. I asked the nurse if I could re-dress her, (because in true doctor's office fashion the whole building was freezing) and she said that I would have to wait for the doctor to see her, just to wrap her in a blanket. I went over to the diaper bag to grab one and when I opened it there was nothing but a pair of size 1 shoes, a changing pad and my nursing cover.

Since we had gone out of town I emptied the diaper bag to wash all the stuff that had been used. The nursing cover had to suffice. It was rather small to wrap her up properly so Jared held her while we waited on the doc, who as soon as she entered the room commented, "oo what a pretty blanket," leading me to have to explain that it actually wasn't a blanket and I was hauling around a huge empty diaper bag. She had a nice chuckle, applauded our improvisation, and went abut her business.

Addy checks out fine, in the 75% for both height and weight.

To add to the excitement and anxiety of Addiston now sleeping in her nursery this morning around six she started to stir. I knew it was my turn to go get her but wasn't exactly conscious enough to and she wasn't being fussy more just playing and squirming around so I gave her a few minutes. Well come 6:30 she still wasn't fussy but sounded a bit less content so I got up, took a second to adjust to being vertical and walked across the hall to find...

A naked baby. No we did not put her to bed that way. She managed to squirm her way out of her night gown leaving it nicely swaddled at the foot of her bed!

There's never a dull moment with a newborn! But if this houdini like undressing in her sleep becomes habit we're going to have to swap out all her nightgowns for footie pj's!
Oh and one more thing,

Great grandma Byler, her daddy's mom's mom! A wonderful woman who has 14 great-grandchildren now! And, "bakes the best bread in the whole wide world" ;)

The first night

Oh welcome back routine! My girl and I both thrive in the daily routine we have settled into and for the past week or so it has been missing from our lives.


Weekend before last we said sianara to the daddy and took our first girls only road trip (I'm sure their will be many more to come!) we set out to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Cincinnati. My parents along with myself, and Jared were all slightly worried about us two traveling the five hours each way by ourselves but we did great! She slept almost the whole way and there was barely any traffic!

We spent the first night there hanging out with Aunt Heather who is a pro with the babies and then on Saturday Great grandma came out to see her namesake. And Sunday we attended her cousin Elaina's first Birthday party where she slept most of the time!

3 year old in a 3-legged-race (don't know if it's a good idea but it was entertaining)

Meeting uncle Jeremy for the first time (sorry bout the blurriness manual focus was on)

Uncle Tim feeding her a bottle!

Last weekend we (all 3 of us) ventured the 8 hour car ride to Daddy's home! Her first time there. As always the entire weekend was laid back and filled with rich amazing food and family! My mother-in-law can cook! Saturday they had a baby shower to honor the little one and she was introduced to her amazing family up north!


This room, this perfect little girl room, full of pink and prayers for this little one. A room that we spent hours painting every little detail and then a few more hours re-painting the parts we messed up.

This perfect room with the furniture we deliberated over, matched fabrics and paint chips to. The perfect bed that she can grow up in and the mobile I spent days making. The chandelier that was searched for high and low on the internet and hung with care by a daddy precariously posed atop a 10 foot ladder.

This room that last week her daddy pointed out we rarely used except for a few diaper and wardrobe changes a day.

Well last night she got to be a part of that room, after a few nights of being back in her house and readjusting to her normal routine the daddy decided that last night would be a good time for her to sleep in her own room for the first time! I reluctantly agreed-knowing it was time but still not wanting her to be out of my sight!

She did great, (slept till 5am, ate, then went back down till 8.)

and I only shed a few tears! I hate how fast it's all going, sometimes I get frustrated when she wants to be held constantly or when she is fussy for no apparent reason. But just for a split second, then I remind myself that a year from now she'll be squirming to be out of my arms and I won't get to snuggle her whenever I want because she'll be on the move. So for now I enjoy her littleness, her dependency and the fact that before she was born and I realized how big a waste of money it was I spent $20 on a onesie!

My first true love

It's been seven weeks since she arrived, and oh how those seven weeks have flown by. She has changed our world, our lives, our priorities and coincidently our sleep patterns. Because of these seven weeks of bliss I have let my first love slide by the wayside, but last night my love made an appearance.
I give you: Lobster Corn Creme Brulee

Behold! It was fabulous!
I spent hours shopping, de-husking, simmering, straining and broiling. And oh the therapy that being in the kitchen holds for me. It is almost cathartic release of stress and emotion that I don't even realize I'm holding. Cooking is something that I began to undertake at a young age and have expounded upon ever since. The joy of being able to take completely unrelated ingredients that taste bland and odd individually and combining them to make something entirely new is amazing to me.

So last night we dined on wonderful creamy rich decadence for no other reason than I wanted to spend some quality time with my kitchen.

Oh and today I got to paint my nails for the first time since she was born! :)

:) I feel pretty