THE QUESENBERRYS

Simplifying life

2012-01-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

I am not a naturally organized person. My mother is, but unfortunately, I didn't inherit that. I discovered in college that I had ADD. This discovery transformed my life. Some how labeling it helped me to over come it. After each baby I've had to rediscover ways to help me stay focused, productive, and less overwhelmed! LISTS! I love making lists! I also love how this tiny piece of paper can really kick me into gear!

I also discovered this blog iheartorganizing. Love, love, love her! I'm sure it's pretty obvious since I've posted about her several times. Anyways. She gives great ideas on how to be more organized and to simplify your life! Which I'm sure we all could use more of! Plus seeing her house has given me the motivation to have MY house look like that! I have a long list of things that I need to conquer. And I'm doing it one item at a time! Here are some of my recent projects. Y'all are going to freak at the differences, ha!

Project #1: The Playroom

I'm pretty sure that the playroom is a headache for almost every Momma! Omw - I can't even describe the stress that this room caused me. It was an absolute wreck after about 5 minutes of Elle being in there. I needed storage where every toy would have a place. Plus I wanted easy clean up. Something that I could sweep in and do in 10 minutes or less every night.

Before pictures: (PS - this was after the girls had played in it. I/Joe would clean it every night which would take forever!!!)

After:

Project #2: My closet

I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves. There is no little person to blame this mess on. It's all me (and Joe).

I could never find anything that I needed. Obviously, you can see why.

Before:

After:

FYI - I got these cute bins at Wal-Mart. The cost $6 for a set of 2!

Project #3: Clean house

Ok, this is pretty general. This cleaning lists helps me stay focused on what needs to be done daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. I purchased it from iheart's etsy shop and got the frame from Wal-Mart. I'm telling y'all, I'm obsessed!

Project #4: Freezer

Sorry, I forgot to take before pictures. Just imagine a huge mess.

All items with their food group. Fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.

Sweet Sophie Grace

2012-01-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is a bit embarrassing. Soph got her nails done as a reward for not having a bottle anymore. I know, she's three. I can feel the judging already, ha! She didn't carry it around with her, but would take it at night. It always seemed like there was something preventing it from being a "good" time to take it away from her. I knew that if I didn't nip this in the bud that she would be taking it to college with her. So last Monday she stopped cold turkey. Lord help, it was brutal! She had a terrible time with it! It took me almost 2 hours every night to get her down. After the 6th night of this my choices were simple; either be bald from pulling my hair out OR figure something out fast! Soph is such a creature of habit! And schedules. The child does not do well with out structure. So we started a new nightly routine. iheartorganzing has a great free printable of a cute schedule that is fun for kids to follow! Saying Soph loves this schedule is an understatement! She has to follow it exactly. We do not deviate in the least bit! Bless her, she is such a rule follower like her Momma! The last two nights have been a breeze getting her to sleep!

Now we're working on Elle not taking a bottle. So far, so good.

It does seem strange that no bottles are needed in our house! Not gonna lie, it makes me a little sad!

She put her little hands up there like such a pro!

She didn't move for about 10 minutes because she didn't want to mess her nails up! I even had to come home and use the blow dryer before she was convinced that they were good and dry. She was so proud of them!

Baby Ellie was not such a fan of hanging out while Soph was being pampered. She is a girl on the move and does not like to be stopped. Thank God that Momma was there to keep her occupied!

Precious in his in sight

2012-01-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

Dad and Teddie got the girls a karaoke machine for Christmas. Soph loves to sing! So does my dad. Even if it is off key. Really off key. Let's just say that my dad isn't known for his singing. He's a good sport about it or else I wouldn't be putting it on here! As a little girl I loved for my dad to sing to me. It didn't matter to me that he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

Dad and Soph were having a good ol' time just singing away together this weekend! Ahhh, I just love these videos! Elle gets in on the action with her recorder. Can we say priceless??!

Btw, you can "alvinize" your voice on the karaoke machine so that is why my Dad sounds like, well, a chipmunk :).

A breed like no other

2012-01-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

Any one that has any kind of experience with Kentuckians know what I'm talking about when it comes to UK Basketball. I'm pretty sure there is not a place that has more loyal, die hard fans than UK! My stepmother is one. She looooves her Kentucky Wildcats! Her and my father were coming up this weekend for what was suppose to be Elle's 1st birthday party. Which got the ax for several different reasons! Since we weren't having a party what better way to spend the day watching UK play ball. We had such a great day! My favorite quote from the day was from a guy behind us, "We can cut off arms now, but the refs are making calls like this?" He cracked me up!

This isn't a random picture. Ashley Judd (the actress) is there some where. I adore Ashley Judd! Apparently she is a huge UK supporter since she is from Kentucky.

Let me out!

2012-01-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

We have had some yucky weather this week so we've been stuck inside for a good bit of it. Yesterday was pretty decent so I had to get us out of the house! I had a bunch of running around to do but first I took the girls out to eat. I thought it would be a nice treat. Plus we were out of everything at home so it was kinda a necessity!

The video at the bottom shows the crazy crawl Elle has been doing lately! I think she thinks that she's walking. Or at least trying. I crack up every time I see it! Hilarious!

Please notice Sophie's awkward face! At least she's smiling for pictures now, right?! It's so funny because she is not like this in real life! She's pretty shy when attention is on her. Maybe that's it.

Oh, precious Elle! She has to have her foot propped up on eveng!

*Elle had blueberries right before this so that is why she looks like she has a beard. It always takes me days to get that residue off. Any other Mommas have that problem? This morning when changing Elle I saw what looked like a nasty bruise on her stomach. I started to freak out because I knew that was a dangerous spot to have a bruise! Then I realized it was just left over from the blueberries! Thank God I had the realization before I rushed her to the doctor, ha! They would have thought I was crazy for sure!

I wanted to reward Soph for doing some things this week that I knew were tough and she asked to get her nails done. So that's what we'll be doing today. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't super excited! Pics to follow! Happy Friday, y'all!

My very own Fancy Nancy

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Soph has really been into dressing up! I love it! It hilarious to see what she comes up with! Like this ensemble! I mean the child was decked out!

Elle has been keeping us laughing too! She loves to put on a show! Soph will shy away if she knows that she is the center of attention, but Elle thrives off it! It's so fun to see the differences in the girls! Elle is much more aggressive than Sophie! Lord help, the child is always throwing something! Which is the reason she got so many balls for Christmas! And the louder the toy the more fun she thinks! People thought that I was crazy for telling them she likes toys that make lots of noise, but my theory on that is "I can tune out noise, but I can't tune out a fussing child. If it keeps her happy then I'm happy"!

I knew it....

2012-01-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Soph had her allergy tests done. Bless her heart - she is allergic to everything outside along with chicken, tomatoes, cauliflower, and pears! Although the food allergies are very slight they said. I knew that result was coming! The child has been on Zyrtec since she was 5 months old. When she was a baby her eyes were constantly red and watery. During the summer her legs are most always covered in hives from the grass.

She was a real champ during her tests! The nurse even said that she wished some boys were as brave as she was! I was so proud of her especially considering that her back looked like she had been attacked by mosquitoes (she had welts from her reactions). It was pitiful!

The doctor is putting her on a special medication that will build up her immune system. Hopefully this will help her better!

Bye

2012-01-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

Elle is actually talking a lot these days! Joe says he has been surrounded my talking women all his life! Bless him, it's true!

Elle picks up if I'm about to get off the phone with someone and will start saying "bye". Which, btw, I find pretty smart that she knows by my tone that I'm about to hang up! Anyways...I was on the phone with my Dad the other day and as I was getting off she started saying "bye". Can you tell that she is learning to talk in Kentucky?! Byyyeee

Snow Day

2012-01-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

All winter I've been dying for it to snow! Well, it did and I now remember why I'm glad we're having the warm winter we are! It wore me out to getting the girls all bundled up to go out! They were crying, I was crying - it was a mess! Not really, but I'm sure many more days of it and that would be the case! Side note - I'm sure y'all probably think I'm a frazzled mess with the way I talk, ha! I swear I'm not (most of the time)! I just like being melodramatic!

Soph loved playing in the snow! I lasted about 5 minutes and sent Joe out there!

Joe taught her how to make snowballs. What you can't see in the picture is all the snowballs on the windows.

Is it not just gorgeous?? This picture doesn't even do it justice!

Our neighbors fountain froze and I think it's rather pretty.

Btw, I have a couple more posts coming. I telling y'all it's overload or nothing with this blog!

Elle's first birthday

2012-01-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

First birthdays for the Quesenberry girls are not ones to remember. With both girls it was one of those days where you just try and survive. I know that those birthdays will come when she'll squeal with delight when she first opens her eyes in the morning. And I'll cherish every second of making her day grand and exciting. Yesterday was not one of them! But we survived, and let's be honest, some days that's all we can hope for, haha!

It was raining all day and I didn't want to get the girls (or me) out in the rain. Pinterest didn't let me down and gave me this great idea!

Elle went straight for the cake!

And loved it!

I think that I'm going to make this a tradition and make every year for the girl's birthdays. It's just so fun!

If y'all are ever needing a good vanilla cake recipe here is the one I used. It is super easy and sooo tasty!

Basic Yellow Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift the flour)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

Vegetable oil

1 stick butter (not margarine), softened

1-tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°

Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of (3) 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pans. Spray the pans with cooking spray, place the wax paper in the pans and spray the paper.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well.

Measure the 1-1/4 cups of milk in a 2 cup measuring cup….then add enough vegetable oil to bring the liquid up to 1-1/3 cups.

Add the milk/vegetable oil mixture, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

Add the eggs and continue beating an additional 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.

Cool cakes on wire racks for 15 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.

1 year

2012-01-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ellie Faye

Lover of life, people, and toilets.

If I believed in reincarnation I would believe that this child was a dog in a former life. Seriously. She crawls around carrying things in her mouth, will whimper if she wants something, and I can't keep her out of toilets. She loooves them. She lives for the moments when someone forgets to put the lid down. And it gags me every time I find her there. Seriously stresses me out!

She loves life! She loves to be around people. She doesn't want to miss anything. She loves to laugh. If someone is laughing around her she'll laugh too; she doesn't need a reason. She is a cuddler. She is a lover and a fighter.

Trying to change her is like trying to change a monkey and alligator at the same time. She's climbing me one second and flipping the next.

She's a mommy's girl.

She bring so much joy to those around her!

Three years old - a little late

2012-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sophia Grace

There is nothing that could have prepare me for all the emotions that filled me when they handed my sweet baby girl to me. I was nervous, happy, in awe, overwhelmed, and so much more. I remember being scared to death when my own Momma left us to go back home. I was completely overwhelmed. I cried and cried. I was going to miss her, but mostly I was anxious to be left alone with you. You taught me how to be a mother. I only hope that you're not too scarred from it ;).

I am so proud of you! You are smart, kind, gentle, and have such a beautiful spirit. You are passionate and care deeply for what you believe in. I can tell that already! This past year I have watched as you have developed more into a little girl than that precious baby you were. You are intent and mindful of what you do. You don't miss any details and watch everything. You think before you act. You have to be sure of whatever it is that you're about to do. I love to watch you play because everything has to be just right. You work so hard to make sure it is.

I love your giggle and sweet, delicate voice. I love how caring you are for people around you. I love how excited you get to learn new things.

I know that you will and can do anything you set your mind to.

You will face obstacles. You will make mistakes. You will do things that we would prefer you not. But that will never change the way that your Daddy and I look at you. It will never change how much we love you. You will always be our baby girl and there nothing that will ever change that.

I love you to the moon and back.

Joyful

2012-01-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

With holidays, birthdays, traveling, etc we haven't been very good at eating our veggies. So I've really been trying to get out daily requirements in. Thankfully my girls are actually pretty good at eating their fruits and vegetables, but I still wanted to make it "fun". This morning I tried to make a green smoothie. It tasted great, but was not very green. Even after almost an entire bag of spinach. Oh well. Sophie devoured it and that's all that matters! She was too cute this morning so I snapped several pictures of her. I love this child to pieces! I know I keep saying this but it's true - she is so.much.fun! Such a hoot!

Tomorrow is Elle's 1st birthday and our 4th anniversary. I think it's fair to say it's been an action packed 4 yrs, haha!

First day of Pre-school

2012-01-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

At least she is smiling :)

I told Soph to stand up straight and this is what I got, ha!

Bless her, she is such a rule follower! If there is a "seat belt", as she calls all buckles, it will be snapped!

The backpack that Aunt Sissy got her! Is she not precious in that big ol' thing??

A Big Day

2012-01-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took Sophie to pick out an outfit for her first day of pre-school. This child of mine loooves to shop. I'm pretty sure I've never seen another 3 year old like her! She was going around the store with the same excitement as Christmas day! A couple times she even told me "I need this for school!!!" I mean where did she even get that? She's THREE!!! Lord help me when she's 13!

We had such a fun morning! Elle wasn't feeling too well, but she was the trooper she always is! It was freezing out! Literally. It was snowing all day yesterday, but didn't stick much because it's been unseasonably warm this winter!

Sophie starts pre-school tomorrow. We decided not to put her in Montessori because they required her to go 5 days a week. I just didn't have a peace about it so she's going to another school that is structured in a similar way to Montessori. I was actually very impressed with the school. Probably more than I was with Montessori. I feel pretty good about her starting. I don't think there will be any tears shed, but I haven't actually dropped her off so we'll see!

I promise Sophie is a happy child! A friend of mine mentioned how stoic Sophie looks in all her pictures. Ha!

Is anyone else dying to wipe that bbq sauce off her face?? I sure am! Ha! We never go to Lexington with out eating a CFA!

The snow was actually coming down pretty hard, but you can't really see it in the picture!

2012

2012-01-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

2011 was just different. It was by far the most challenging year of my life. But I also feel like it was one of the most rewarding in so many ways. I think I will always look back on 2011 with fondness. And with some pride that we actually survived, ha! That part was a joke. I know to my core that it was God's grace that carried us through this year!

So here is to 2012 - may you be a year of peace, growth, grace, and fun! And, I'll be honest, I'm kinda hoping for some stability in there :).

A Cowgirl's Day

2011-12-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

Long story short - our Internet is down. Lord willing, everything will be fixed sometime this week. Sooo much has gone on. I have lots and lots to update y'all on! I don't have much time, but I wanted to get Soph's birthday party pictures on here for all our family that is not on Facebook.

Soph's party was last week. As I posted it earlier it was Jesse and Woody themed from Toy Story. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect party! All the kids (and adults) played so well together! Soph had a blast! The talented, Sarah Holland, snapped some pictures of the party! I sure am glad to have a professional BFF that has been there to capture all our precious moments. Not the figurines - actually moments.

These are only a few of the amazing pictures Sarah took. Click here to see the entire album of Soph's party.

Sophie's Sayings

2011-12-05T18:09:00.001-08:00

My daughter is 3 going on 13. Seriously. Y'all start praying for me now because I'm pretty sure that this Momma is gonna need it come 10 years from now. Soph has so much heart! Everything she feels she feels deeply. I can't even tell y'all how many times a day we have this conversation...

"No, I don't wanna." "Well, Sophie, I didn't ask if you wanted to. I said for you to do it. Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do." To which usually ends with her in a heap of mess on the floor. It can be exhausting for both of us.

Today was we had a "milestone" - Soph was upset with me and slammed the door on me. When I walked in anyway she threw herself on her pillows and sobbed. I would be lying if I said that I expected it to start this early. She is so little and cute that it took everything in my not to laugh and kiss her all over!

Another fun conversation was when Soph was making a mess today and I told her that she was going to have to clean up. She told me that she didn't want to. When I gave her my favorite line, "If you can make the mess, you can clean the mess." Her response was, "I'll stop here then." I about lost it! It was such a grown up thing to say!

Slacker

2011-11-30T17:51:00.001-08:00

Well, this past week I have been worn slap out once the girls are in bed. I just haven't been able to muster up the energy to post anything! The girls have been saying and doing the funniest things too! Of course, I can't remember a one of them now! To give my brain a rest I think pictures are the best way of "catch up" right now!

This picture captures Elle's personality perfectly! She is my wild one!

I was desperate for family pictures for our Christmas cards. Since my photograph/BFF left me for Tennessee I had no one to take our pictures in time. The pictures are such horrible quality that I scratched the whole Christmas card thing this year. However, how sweet is Soph holding Elle's hand?! Love these sweet babies!

Elle is into everything. Literally.

Momma's little "helpers". Soph is real into helping me these days. And what a helper she is...I'm always finding dirty dishes stuffed in random places that she has so graciously decided to take out of the dish washer and put away for me.

Baby Elle came with us to story time this week. Typically it's mine and Sophie's special time, but Elle enjoyed it so much that I think she'll start tagging along!

The.best.picture.ever. Soph likes to put make up in the mornings with me. I ran into my closet to get dressed and when I walked out I saw these beauties and about died. They were perfect. I mean she couldn't have done them better if she tried! Hello Flo. Nothing would be more spectacular than if she wore this get up too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!! I just love this time of year!!!

I'm here, I'm here

2011-11-23T17:12:00.001-08:00

Lord help, life has been crazy since my last post! I feel like my life goes in these cycles of being so busy that I don't even sit down until the girls go to bed and being uneventful. I wish life would even out instead of being a roller coaster! But I guess that's just life...and the time of year it is!

We've had some big changes here. Well, really just one...Joe has a new job. He is now a district manager for Aramark. It's his first week and he is loving it so far! Yay!

My MIL came a few days for Joe's birthday. We had lots of fun shopping and being with the girls!

Joe turned 30! Such an old man ;).

The girls continue to grow and mature every.single.day. All of the winter clothes that I have gotten Soph were huge when we purchased them and now fit perfectly. I'm getting a little concerned that come middle/end of winter she's going to grown completely out of them. Let's hope she slows down a bit.

Soph officially starts Montessori in the Spring. I have very mixed feelings about this. I know that it'll be beneficial to her and that she'll love it. But I know this is just the start of me having to let go. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Home school, anyone??

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow! It's one of my favorite holidays! I'm also looking forward to decorating for Christmas this weekend! I'm trying to convince Joe that we need two Christmas trees. So far he's not buying it. Literally. Ha!

Hope y'all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Talking Points

2011-11-16T17:30:00.001-08:00

I know I say this every time but Soph is talking more and more every day! I love it! She is such a fun little side kick! I understand that no one is going to care about all Soph is saying these days so this is totally for my memory!

- After seeing our play/swing set had been completely busted to pieces by the wind. Literally....
    "Oh no! The slide fall down. It broken. It hurt. It cry."

-  My mother-in-law is coming into town tomorrow so I was talking to Soph about it...
    "She Ellie Nana too"

- Her calling Elle "Ellie" is funny too! Although her name is Ellie no one calls her that. Soph just randomly started calling her that.

- After hitting her knee on the table...
    "My knee got beat up"

There was another conversation that cracked me up, but I think it may be a little gross to put out there on a blog, ha!

We went back to the doctor and pretty much ruled out Soph being lactose intolerant. He put her on some Zantac, but would also like for her to see an allergist in case she has a food allergy. We'll see how this goes. Poor thing has had a terrible tummy since she was born!

I need a personal assistant

2011-11-12T17:05:00.001-08:00

Ok, well, I don't see a personal assistant anywhere in my near future. Or future at all. So I guess it's just me. I would be lying if I said that my life wasn't turned upside down once Elle became mobile. This child is every where and into every thing! For whatever reason (my husband says it's my doing), my girls are pretty clingy to me. I love it, but it does make cleaning/organizing pretty difficult at times. A couple of weeks ago I was completely overwhelmed. I'm sure y'all could tell by my posts, ha! I knew that I needed to get my act together. I had to get more organized. For several reasons that I won't waste time to explain on the blog, I didn't try to get back to a schedule after Elle was born. I have to live by a strict schedule/list or else you'll find me in lala land. Seriously.

For the last two weeks I have started cleaning first thing in the morning because the girls play best by themselves in the morning. It has done wonders! I have also brought back my trusty cleaning schedule! Another break through. And then tonight I ran across this blog. And that's when I heard the angels singing.

If you love lists like I do, do yourself a favor and check this blog out! It's amazing!

And because I hate to leave y'all with out any pictures...

Another classic outfit by Soph! Please check out her little tutu tucked into her tights. Bless her.

Chatti Patti

2011-11-11T11:18:00.001-08:00

I don't know if y'all remember me telling about Elle coming up to me and just shootin' the breeze. I'm pretty sure in her mind she is convinced that she and I are having a legit conversation! Especially at the end when I ask her if she is suppose to be doing that (motor-boating). I don't care if she is motor-boating unless she is eating, at which point, food is flying every where. I love how at the end she seems to comprehend what I saw. Watch her little face. She's just too precious for words! I love this baby girl!

What?? No naps???!!!!

2011-11-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

Nothing new in the "Q" house. Soph is still doing her nightly costume changes. It's still stressing me out. This morning "slicked back willy", AKA Soph with Vaseline in her hair, welcomed me. That was a nice surprise at 6:30am. All my brilliant ideas for getting Soph to stay in her bed are failing miserably! I welcome any suggestions!

Soph has also stopped taking naps. Not that she doesn't need them. Ohhh, she needs them! Come 4pm our house could be mistaken for the wailing wall. However hard it is now maybe it's a blessing in disguise! More than likely Soph will be starting Montessori in the Spring. The only classes that the school have availability in are from 12:15-3:15. Right smack dab in the middle of Soph's naps. Sooo...hopefully I'll be thankful to be going through this craziness now instead of her getting kicked out of pre-school. Ha! She's not really that bad!

Soph at 6:30am...maybe she slipped out to the club lookin' all fancy?!

I'm pretty much over cleaning her room 3x a day! "If you can make the mess, you can clean the mess". Btw, her room was spotless when she went to bed. Apparently she's taken a midnight shift called "let's destroy our room".

Baby Elle just hanging out waiting for Sissy to finish so she could play!

I know I've said this a million times, but it seems like everyday the girls enjoy each other more and more! They just adore each other! Yesterday while Soph was having "quiet time" in her room Elle crawled back there and just sat outside her door. Sweet little thing! And despite what the picture looks like I'm not wearing jean shorts! They're gray khakis. Annndd...Soph dressed herself. I didn't have time to argue. Obviously.

What in the world??

2011-11-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what happened with the post below. I guess I hit publish instead of save? Oh well, it'll have to wait :). Gotta go finish lunch! Happy Sunday!

2011-11-05T07:09:00.001-07:00

What have I created?

2011-11-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I could tell that Soph was getting a little restless being inside all day. I was trying to get creative on what I could distract her with. Since I've been planning her birthday party I thought that maybe she could help me decide on her invitations. I've been stuck between a couple and thought she could be the tie breaker. Wrong. The child didn't like any of them. I would ask her if she liked this one. "No!" was her response. Then she happens to see one of the cupcake toppers and says, "Ohhhh, look at that! Like that one!" Haha! I cracked up! I thought that she was just giving me a typical "no" response of a two year old, but apparently she knew what she wanted. As if I should be surprised! This should be fun when she is a teenager!

Soph brought me a shirt and belt of mine that she wanted to wear. How cute is she?

Soph has been stressing me out with her changing clothes 6x a day. That is not even an exaggeration! Now she has even started getting up in the middle of the night and changing PJs. What in the world?? She has always been the neatest child. And when I say neat I mean she never made huge messes. Well that is out the window! She loves to take my clothes out of my closet and put them in different places. The other day I was putting my make up on and the girls were playing in my closet. They just kept laughing and having themselves a good ol' time. I loved hearing them having so much fun together until I turned around and saw that they (and when I say they I mean Soph) have dumped ALL my shoes out of the shelves. Lord help, I about lost my religion. I hope we get out of this stage fast!

Chit chat

2011-11-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

The girls have been cracking me up lately! I'm sure it's mostly because I'm there Mama, but they're a hoot! Sophie has been talking a mile a minute lately. I can understand her for the most part, but sometimes she just talks so fast that I can't understand a bit of it. I just get really excited with her and that seems to work! They other day Soph and I had a conversation and it went something like this. Imagine it in the sweetest, most delicate voice (that she did not get from her mama! ha!)....

Soph: "What's that"
Soph: (Answering herself) "It's a trash can. I throw up in trash cans."
Soph: "Where is the trash can? There it is"

Ok, so that was more of a monologue. And also pretty sad; she does actually throw up quite a bit. Poor thing! Btw, Soph has had more "episodes" of throwing up. We went to the dr and he has her off diary completely. We'll see if this helps.

Elle has decided to do some talking too. She thinks it's hilarious to drop/throw things and say "uh oh". She crawls around the house saying alternating between "uh oh" and "quack". All I hear is "uh oh. quack. uh oh. quack...." It's too funny!

Elle had some Southern "firsts" last week. Grits and Dumplings. It was my first time making dumplings and I've gotta be honest. They were amazing. I was shocked! My aunt and uncle are coming over for dumplings tonight and y'all know that they're not going to be nearly as good! Why does that always happen? My cooking never seems to turn out as good when I have company!

This child is the messiest eater. Period.

She loved the dumplings. It's in her genes.

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last night we had some friends over for chili and to go trick or treating. Soph once again refused to wear her costume. That was a waste of money!

Sophie and I made cupcakes, but they didn't turn out as cute as I had envisioned. I should've done the owl cupcakes like I had planned!

checking out her loot!

I guess Joe took a picture of the girls this morning. Please check out Elle peeping around her big sis!

My sweet babies!

Halloween and Night crazies

2011-10-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Halloween event at our church. Joe was working so it was just me and the girls for the first part. Soph refused to have anything to do with her costume. Which, btw, I knew would happen! Even when her best little friend from church came as a dinosaur she was adamant that she was not wearing that costume! Thankfully I did snap some pictures the night we bought it so y'all can see what a darn cute dinosaur she makes!

Daddy teaching her to saw "Roar"

Baby Elle actually didn't make any fusses about her costume!

This morning Soph came out and told me she was ready. Apparently she is channeling an 80 year old with her shoe choice.

I bet y'all can't even handle all the "awesomeness" in this picture! I'm sure Soph will be willing to give some fashion advice!

Our night time saga continues. Around 3:30 this morning I hear slamming doors. I drag myself out of bed cussing the whole time. Ha! Not really, but I felt like it! I was not even prepared for what I was about to find! A naked Sophie saying, "I poo poo." I look down and I am a scary one inch away from stepping in poo poo. Lovely. I get her cleaned up and talk to her about how only Mommy or Daddy can change her and she needs to wait for us. Then I go back to lay in bed for another two hours because I'm so awake I can't even think about sleep. Fast forward to 7:30: I walk to the girls hall and smell poop. Long story short I was cleaning up poo poo again. Not sure what in the world is going on with the girls these past two weeks. Whatever it is makes me want to cry. Seriously. It has been chaos here!

On top of this our dryer is broken. Awesome. I have clothes drying all over my house. I think that I'm suppose to learning some patience. What do y'all think??

2011-10-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last week was one heck of a week! So much so that it has taken until now to write about it, ha! It wasn't that a huge amount of terrible things happened. It was just little things here and there that had us all as wound up as a pressure cooker! If I could sum up the week with one word it would be draining. I know y'all could care less about all that happened so this is mainly for the grandparents and my memory. Some of the highlights:

- locking myself out of the house with the girls INSIDE. Joe had to pretty much shut down the branch to come let me in. Thank God I had my cell phone! And thank God they were asleep! Although if they were awake Soph could've let me in.

- Elle fell out of her highchair. This obviously was the worse! She was ok, but it scared us all! She only fell about two feet and onto her side. Thankfully she didn't hit her head! I've noticed that her highchair wasn't making the clicking sound when it locks but it felt secure so I thought it was ok. Well, I guess it wasn't locking because it just let loose. I was right there and able to get her quickly, but it did really scare me!

- Mine, mine, mine. Is all I hear. All.day.long. Sophie is still having some difficulties with sharing. Everything Elle touches Sophie tries to take it. And Elle gets mad. I swear she comes and fusses to me about it. She just crawl right up to me and fuss away like she is letting her sister have it!

- Both girls are teething and it has been a nightmare!

- Sophie has been getting "scared" lately. She says there are monsters in her closet. I don't know where she even got this from! Is it just programmed into kids to be scared of monsters in their closets? Joe says it's from Monsters, Inc., but I'm not sure. She hasn't seen that movie in ages! One night this week I was freaked out because I could've sworn I heard someone walking around our house. I open my eyes and I'm face to face with Sophie. I nearly peed my pants. She said she was scared so she crawled into bed with us. Joe thought that was fun. Not.

- Soph has discovered she can get out of her room at night. I am not a fan of this! She has also discovered that she can climb in Elle's crib. Also not a fan of this! I was woken up to Elle screaming this morning. I go running and knew immediately what was going on. Soph had turned on the light, climbed in bed with Elle, and was trying to pick her up. Bless her heart, that is an awful way to be woken up! I'm thinking that we may have to put a gate outside of Soph's door! Did I mention that this happened at 5:30am? I'm not sure about y'all, but I still consider that to be the middle of the night!

2011-10-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Elle has started playing peek-a-boo, but she missed that you're actually suppose to hide! Love her little heart!

Soph has really gotten into dressing herself. She was dressed to the nines to go see Nanny!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch down the road. I was so looking forward to it and so was Soph! Well, it was a little disappointing! The pumpkins were outrageously overpriced! I expected for them to be overpriced because we're paying for the experience as well. But even I couldn't bring myself to pay those prices! The $10 "big" pumpkins were seriously the same size as Wal-Mart's $.78 ones. There was a bit of confusion and we thought that Soph would be able to ride a horse/pony. Didn't happen. That was fun to explain to a two year old! It was crazy windy too so overall it was just an okay experience. Mama and I are going to take Soph next week to one in Lexington. We made sure they have a pony!

They did have some neat games for kids. Here Soph is racing a rubber duck by pumping water.

I love these precious, chubby feet!

Ha! Elle is trying so hard to stand up, but she just can't figure out how to actually get up. She'll just stick her rear up and kinda bounce her arms.

Big girl food

2011-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today we had Elle's 9 month check up. Along with her follow up for her ears. All clear, thank the Lord! I talked to the doctor about Elle not being interested in baby food anymore. Which, btw, came at a really inconvenient time since I had just ordered two huge cases of Earth's Best baby food. He said to go ahead and start giving her "our food"; whatever I make for us just cut up in small pieces for her to test. I came home and researched all the best finger foods for babies. After some research I whipped her up some whole wheat pasta and bananas. She didn't want it. The second she saw my chili she could barely contain herself. She was trying her darnedest to get to my food. Why is it that Mama's food always looks better than their food to kids?? This could be a great diet plan - two babies both eating my food! I went ahead and gave her some since the doctor gave me the ok. She loved it. She couldn't get enough of it! She seriously ate at least a quarter of it.

I remembered later that I wanted chili almost everyday for a period when I was pregnant with Elle. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Have any other Mamas noticed that their babies like what they craved when pregnant with them? I wanted pizza with Soph and she could eat it every day if I let her!

It started off so picture perfect!

Obviously she was not crazy about it!

This is much better, Mama!

I'm telling ya, she devoured it!

She also started juice recently. Ans she loves it.

Patience Please

2011-10-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

The past few days I have found myself having to pray for extra patience. I have had to take a few seconds before I respond to Soph. I have found myself a little on edge. I'm thinking that everyone being sick for 2+ weeks is a factor. Like everyone is drained and just ready for some normalcy. Or maybe it's the full moon, ha! Who knows! Here's to hoping for a better day :)!

Happy 9 months!!!

2011-10-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

This sweet girl turns 9 months today! This honestly has been the fastest 9 months ever! I have done an awful job of keeping up with her milestones! Like I haven't written anything down. I majorly regret this! What was I thinking??? Terrible, I know! Anywho...it's never to late to start, right?? So here is what my sweet lil' bug is up to:

- has all of a sudden refused to eat baby food. I think that she is wanting the real stuff.

- crawling everywhere!

- favorite thing to (try to) get into: anything to do with power cords, electric outlets, etc.

- squeals all the time!

- trying to pull up on things.

- says Mama, Dada, NanNa, and Hi

- takes 1-2 naps a day and sleeps 12 hrs at night

Quesenberry Randoms

2011-10-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Lord help, have things been crazy around here! I just can't seem to keep my family healthy lately! I do think that we're all on the mends. Hopefully! Some random things from our week...

- I'm pretty sure that Soph has some type of milk allergy. She has been having these stomach attacks that are awful! She will just writhe in pain! It's pitiful! I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow to talk about where we should go from here. Soph had a lot of problems with her stomach when she was a baby too, so my gut feeling is that this is milk related. I've had her off milk for a good couple of days and she has done much better!

- I also think that Soph had a touch of the flu because she was running a fever for a day this week. Bless her heart, it's been a tough week for her!

- Since she had a fever I wanted to make sure she stayed hydrated. I was pumping that child full of gatorade. One morning she came to me and kept asking for some alligator. I couldn't figure it out and then it hit me...she wanted some more gatorade, ha!

- Elle still has a ton of congestion and a terrible cough. We have a follow up appointment for her ear infection on Wednesday.

- This Mama has not gotten much sleep this week! This entire week I've either been sleeping with Elle or Soph. I'm still trying to figure out how a 35" person can leave me only a foot of sleeping space on a full size bed. Actually it wasn't too difficult to figure out. Soph sleeps from side to side of the bed. I had two little feet in my side at all times. It was like I was pregnant with her all over again. At one point she head butted me so hard I was sure that I had a permanent dent. My sister's advice would be to call the parent abuse hotline, ha! I couldn't resist, Sissy! When my sister first had my niece this was an ongoing joke. Apparently my sister didn't remember that she had already cracked that joke about 6 other times in the same conversation.

- The leaves are changing! I love how the trees look like they're actually glowing! Our neighbors have this huuge tree in the front yard and it is breath taking right now! Can you tell that Fall is my favorite season?

This picture doesn't even do it justice! I can't promise that this is the last picture I post of trees this fall, haha!

- I've always heard how different siblings can be and now I totally see it in my girls. Soph would sit and play with one thing for 20 minutes. She loved to plunder through things so I had these purses or baskets full of her toys all over the house. She would spend her whole day just plundering through them. She would take each item out, study it, and then put it down. Elle on the other hand spends her days just dumping things out and moving on to the next thing. The child is a mess! She was literally just picking up toys and throwing them behind her the other day. It cracked me up! Until I had to clean it up! Also Soph is painfully cautious. Up until a few months ago she would sit down on a step or dropping instead of stepping off. She never tried to crawl down anything. Elle tries to crawl down everything! If I leave the front door open, she's making a break for it! The child has no fear!

Sweet baby Elle, this picture captures your personality perfectly!

This child has grown like a weed! I think she looks as tall as me here! Before y'all start crackin' the jokes, I know that not very tall, ha!

- The girls are so loving towards each other lately! Elle just gets so excited anytime she sees Sophie! She'll twists every which way trying to get to Soph! It's the cutest thing!

This is my favorite picture of these two! Sweet baby Elle props her precious feet up on everything these days!

I looked up and Soph was "eating" her feet. Ha!

A picture is worth a thousand words

2011-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Soph is so sick! The plague continues! This was at story time yesterday - before I realized just how sick she was. The girls had on matching outfits but I wasn't able to get a picture of them together. This was the best I could do...

Sweet Elle hanging out

Who doesn't want to clean after a night of throwing up and high fevers??

Daddy showing Soph a thing or two about golf.

We had dinner at my Aunt's house the other night and Elle was pulling up on everything!

Pappy (my grandfather) does this with every grandchild/great-grandchild. He could never get Soph to do it. She would just keep her legs straight out. Elle loved it and thought she was big stuff!

Sweet, sweet Elle!

Elle's dedication

2011-10-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

We had Elle's dedication today. There was a lot going on so we decided to have my Dad dedicate Elle at our house. We had a simple service, nothing too fancy. Elle was sweet during the entire thing. Although she was wanting down! Sophie was taking her nap. I had put her down early enough so that she would be up, but she ended up playing in her room for about an hour before going to sleep. She's sneaky like that, haha!

I love Elle's precious face here!

Joe, Elle, Me and Mama

Dad, Me, Elle, Joe, and Teddie

Phopie

2011-09-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

Sophie has this adorable way of saying her name! She hasn't always said it like this, in fact when she first started saying her name she said it correctly, so I'm not sure where/when/why exactly this started. Mama told me the other day that I had to get it on video.

The Plague 2011

2011-09-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Elle's cold has quickly made it's way through out the Quesenberry household. I'm sure that Tylenol and Motrin's stock has gone up this week thanks to us! It's been nearly impossible to keep Elle's fever down so I took her to the doctor yesterday. Turns out that she has a double ear infection. Poor thing! The doctor said, "She wins the worse ear award for the day." Great. And I win the "worse Mama award" because I never even thought about an ear infection, lol. Sophie has never had one and Elle wasn't acting unusually sensitive to her ears so it never even entered my mind. Elle is honestly the most happy-go-lucky baby I've been around! Through all of this she has always been happy and active. It's almost strange, ha! Sophie is a bit more dramatic about things. If you would have seen me walloring around in misery from my cold this morning you wouldn't have had to think too hard about where she gets this from. haha!

The other morning we had a tornado warning and headed to the basement. Poor Elle looks miserable, but she was still smiling!

This was by far the funniest thing ever! Sophie was being sweet and wiping Elle's nose for her. A long string of snot (gross, I know!) came with the tissue when she pulled it away. Sophie started gagging! I guess she got my sensitive stomach too!

I am loving that the girls are starting to play together! It is the best feeling to watch them! There is nothing sweeter! Btw, Elle is crawling everywhere now! And putting every electric cord in her mouth that she can before I get to her. As if eating paper didn't freak me out enough!

This morning Sophie asked for ice cream. I thought that it would help her throat so I said ok. I quickly regretted this decision when she asked for sprinkles and chocolate syrup. Where did she even learn that ice cream, sprinkles, and chocolate go together? I guess it's a woman thing, ha! Who knows! She's never had it and from what I remember I've never had any in front of her. That leaves one person...Nanny (my Mama).

Sophie's sayings

2011-09-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sophie has come out with some one liners that I know she got from me. It's really made me stop and think about what I say in front her of because they're not all positive! There has been a lot that she has said but unfortunately I can only remember 3.

1) I asked Sophie to come here and she replied "I'll be right there, ok?"
2) Told her it was time to clean up and her response, "One minute."

3) The other day something frustrated her and she said, "Uggghhhh!"

The first two were so sweet and hilarious to hear her say! I say these two things to her so often! And I guess I do the third more than I should. Oops!

My baby loves to run. I swear this child IS Forest Gump. She'll run and run and run!

Through Our Rockin' Years

2011-09-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

The song that Joe and I had picked out to dance at our wedding to was "through our rockin' years" by Dolly Parton and Ricky Van Shelton. The more babies we have the more I love this song, haha! If you can make it through babies you can make it through anything! I'm sure y'all got this but the song is about standing by the person through the rockin' years..."rockin' chairs, rockin' babies, rock' a byes, and rock of ages..." here is the link if you want to check out the rest of the lyrics: "Through our Rockin' Years". I totally just did the woman's way of telling you this...Elle has her first cold. She is so pitiful! You would never know it because she is all smiles and quacks. (She is still quaking away, ha!) However, she can't sleep long before she is coughing or snotting everywhere. So Joe and I have done our share of rockin' this weekend! On Saturday night we were both so excited because we thought we would actually be able to watch the Gators play Kentucky since the girls would be asleep. This was not the case. Elle was miserable and Soph was miserable knowing that I was spending time with Elle. We're really having a time with Sophie sharing! Especially me! Joe and I were going between the both for two hours trying to get them to sleep. And we repeated this for naps the next day!

Sophie wasn't feeling too good when she woke up from her nap so we all piled in her bed and watch "Tangled". This is for sure will be one of my favorite memories! It was so much fun! You can tell that I got carried away with Instagram yesterday, ha!

Hahaha!! Sophie started feeling better and decided to show off her acrobat skills! This is the headboard of her bed. Cracked me up! Can you tell that Soph picked out her own clothes? She was so proud!

We decided it might be good for the girls to get out for some fresh air so we headed to the park. After the park we stopped at Wendy's for a Frosty.

Sweet Elle! I'm not usually a hat fan, but with her not feeling good I didn't want her to get cold. I'm sure people at the park thought I was crazy because it was only 70 out, ha! In my defense though it was windy! Btw, don't you loved my blinged out Wal-Mart sunglasses. Awesome, right? I use to love Wal-Mart's sunglasses. I seriously lose a pair of sunglasses a week so I can't go expensive. Which is why their $5 aviators and I were such a great couple! Well, they went up $.88 and feel so cheap. Yuck, Wal-Mart! No good!

Bless her heart, you look at her and tell she's not feeling well!

Visiting Elle's friends, the ducks! They would quack and she would quack! Hilarious!

Do unto others...

2011-09-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Today I had to break out the whole "Do unto others" bit for Sophie. I can tell that she is trying to sort out her feelings about the little person (Elle) that is always in her way. One second Sophie is loving on Elle the next she is trying to step on her face. Which actually happened this morning. I sat Sophie down and asked her if she would like if someone did that to her. To which she replied, "uh huh". Right. I don't think so. Anyways, she seems to have understood so we'll see how it goes.

Sophie has really gotten into dressing herself. If we're staying home I have no problem with her choosing her own outfit. The problem is that she changes outfits about 5 times a day. No exaggeration. Mama says it's payback. I say it's no fun. After cleaning her room constantly this Mama has made a new rule..."You get it out, you put it back."

Elle is exploring more and more these days. And getting into everything. This baby has eaten enough paper lately to open her own factory. I don't know where she finds it, but she always has paper in her mouth. I'm constantly "sweeping" her mouth out.

I think that Elle is getting ready to cut out one of her naps. Which is fine with me because then the girls take a nap at the same time. Yay for some free time again :)!

Sunday, Sunday

2011-09-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's impossible to get a good picture with the girls these days! I've just accepted this and it's part of why Joe has a picture with the girls looking opposite ways. However, he was a little more persistent and actually got a decent picture of me with the girls. I put both pictures up because I love the looks at the girls faces in both!

Yes, my hair is dark. Long story short...I'm not happy with it! I've already talked to my stylist about fixing it tomorrow. Here's to hoping she can! Btw, it was not my mistake this time, haahaa!

Love sweet Elle's face here!

Yay! Sophie is actually smiling!

Sophie drew this yesterday! I was so impressed!

The perfect fall weekend!

2011-09-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Not to be repetitive, but it was the perfect fall weekend! The weather was perfect and the gators won! Yesterday I had my family over for the Florida vs. Tennessee game. I don't think I saw more than 10 minutes total of the game. I was too busy running around after the girls!

Sophie wasn't very interested in the game so she watched "tangled" on the computer.

Winking at gigi!

It's official...

2011-09-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

...we have a crawler! Right now she only crawls to whatever is with in a few feet of her. It's almost like she doesn't realize there is a big, wide world out there to discover. I'll be real honest, I'm not in a hurry for her to find out! There have already been more than a couple meltdowns after her getting into her big sister's stuff! Here is a video of one of her first crawls. She is doing her namesake proud in those hotpants!

Elle also started pulling up on things so we knew it was time to lower her bed! Being the emotional mama that I am, it made me a little sad. She's just getting so big! I gotta be honest, I cracked up when I saw the second picture! Apparently Joe and I need work on our sad faces!

Y'all it chilly out tonight! I was in heaven! Especially when I walked in my house and smelled my pumpkin candles burning! Which I got at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart really does have the best candles! And for cheap! Seriously, y'all have to try them! These three little candles made my entire house smell delicious! Tomorrow I am going to go and load up on all the pumpkin stuff I can find! I love fall!

Our week in review

2011-09-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'm really starting to think that this blogger world has it in for me! Or maybe I'm just being a little paranoid. Either way I had to post all written out last night and one button was hit, and I have no clue what button it might have been, and it was gone. Like the wind. Maybe it was for the best. I was tired and it was boring.

Gracious, have both girls matured this week! Mamas out there, you know how there are just some days/weeks you look at your child and think, "Lord, you grew a foot last night!" Well, that was the week we had! Both girls seemed to mature physically, mentally, emotionally sooo much this week! Elle is not my little little baby anymore! And Sophie is definitely a little girl now. Gone are all resemblances of "babyhood". BTW, I feel like I made the word "resemblances" up. An unfortunate talent I seem to have gotten since my pregnancies.

This weekend was a whirlwind! Saturday we went to two festivals and our church BBQ. Then on Sunday we had sunday school, church, and video/discussion/dinner that night. It was all a ton of fun, but exhausting! I was ready to sit down and unwind with my guilty pleasure, Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Alright, I'm writing a book so I'll wrap it up. Here are pictures from this week...

Soph is such a natural little Mama! Always taking care of her babies.

The other morning as I was fixing breakfast Sophie gathered all her "friends" and brought them to the table to dine with her

Dad and Teddie do such a great job of sending the girls gifts to let them know that they're thinking of them. Well this last package was a hit! They send Soph a book where you can dress the Princess' up. She loved it and did it for hours! Such a fashionista!

This was at festival number 1. Better known as "country days". It's back in Butcher Town holler. Not to be confused with Butcher holler where Loretta Lynn is from. My Uncle and Aunt own some land out there. You'll never find sweeter, more giving people. Ever. You'll also never find better southern cooks! So yum!

Listening to some bluegrass.

This is my grandmother who Elle is named after. Ellie Faye and Nellie Faye.

Now we're at festival two. I'm pretty sure this was Sophie's favorite part of the day! This child loves animals!

I was shocked when Sophie said she wanted to ride the horse! This poor child is painfully cautious! If there is the least bit of danger she won't go near it! Not the case here though. She hopped right on and never even winced! I gotta say that she was quite a natural! Even the horse lady, not sure what else to call her, said it

We ended the day with some face paint!

Our life lately

2011-09-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

It's ok to have bragging rights as a Mama, right?? I hope so because I'm about to! Sophie made this the other morning and told me it was Buzz Lightyear. I was pretty impressed. I know it's not much, but I was surprised that she put the wings on, etc! She loves leggos, btw!

Is there anything sweeter than a baby in a diaper???

Well hello, Ms big blue eyes, caterpillar arms! My aunt pointed out one day how Elle's arms look like a caterpillar, haahaa! It's so true!

Her little smile is so contagious! At least I think so!

This child may look like her Daddy, but she does have some of her Mama in her too! She won't leave the house unless she has her heels and a big purse. She seriously carried this to the restaurant!

Mama and I decided we needed to make a trip to Lexington yesterday. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants Olive Garden. I was a little disappointed in the food this time! Which happens sometimes at Olive Garden. Anyways...the girls were rambunctious! I don't think that either one of us sat down for more than 3 minutes at a time! It became hilarious!

Mama bought Sophie a new slide and she loooves it! I had actually planned on getting the girls one of these for Christmas, but Mama found this for a steal at a garage sale. Please over look Sophie's pitiful hair. In one of her protests over Lord only knows what she pulled out her bow. Her hair always falls into what looks like curtains if she doesn't have a bow in!

Circus frenzy

2011-08-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Barnum and Bailey's circus on Sunday. I was soooo excited for Sophie to go. Well, I gotta be honest. It was a little anti-climatic! I got bored after the first 20 minutes so I can't even imagine how Sophie felt! All the kids around us were having melt downs so my guess is that they weren't really feeling it either!

After I got home I started researching how Barnum and Bailey treat their animals. Yes, I know that I should have done that before I purchased the tickets, but my honest thinking was "it's a huge, well known circus so surely they treat their animals kindly." I guess that's not technically the case. So I don't think that we'll ever be going to a circus again. And let me state that I'm not that big of an animal person. Please don't hate me after that statement! It's just who I am! But I don't like the idea of any thing being abused or mistreated!

Daddy and Sophie before the Circus.

Before the show they allowed people to get down and see the "acts". Joe and Sophie were able to get up close to the elephant. Joe said that Sophie just kept pointing to her dress which had an elephant on it as well. (She wore in zoo animal dress from Kelly's Kids)

All of these pictures are terrible quality!

Sophie was a champ and would clap when ever the crowd did! See the special cup she got? I'll be honest I think I was more excited about it than she was! When I went to the circus when I was little I got one and loved it! I was so excited for Sophie to have one too!

This morning I woke up to the sound of cows. I immediately knew that was not good. We don't have cows that close to us. Sure enough there were cows in the field behind our house. So we spent our morning trying to figure out how to get a hold of their owners! Our neighbors have a beautiful yard that they spend a ton of time in and they ended up eating some of their bushes. Our house also backs up to a golf course so we were nervous they were heading their next. They didn't though. Thankfully!

Sophie decided to take some pictures too!

Elle is just getting too big too fast! She loves to do big girl stuff! She is crawling backwards, but hasn't figured out how to go forward! I'm really not hurrying this along because I know my life will be much more complicated when she does! Sophie is not going to know what to do with her sister getting in her stuff!

Elle has been in a "mama only" stage these days! If she sees me, she wants me. If she doesn't see me, she's looking for me! I'm trying to enjoy every second because I know before long I'll be begging her to let me hold her! It does make trying to do things like cook dinner, clean the house, etc more interesting! And more than once we've broken out the moby wrap so that I could get things done!

Horses and Quack Quacks

2011-08-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

I swear that this blogger is trying to drive people crazy with the pictures! Why does it have to be so difficult at times?? I'm sorry, y'all are just going to have to deal with double photos. Ok, that part was my fault, but it takes too long to figure out how to delete them.

Tonight we went to the park to get out of the house! Sophie was sick yesterday and I felt like the fresh air would do her good. It was beautiful weather compared to how hot it had been today!

There had been some boys that were swinging from the handles and they were struggling a bit. They were trying with all their might to swing from one handle to another and while doing so they were making the grunting noises that comes with a physical struggle. BTW, I feel like that sentence was entirely too complicated! Lord, I'm not sure how else to explain it though! Anywho...when Joe held Sophie up to the handles she started doing this hilarious grunt/cough thing! I guess she thought that was how you do it! I love her precious face here!

This picture is great for so many reasons! 1) Joe's glasses! He has misplaced his others and these are his "safety" glasses that he uses to do yard work. 2) Joe's pose. Ok, there really isn't explaining that one! Except for the fact that he looks like he's about to attack someone. 3) This was probably Sophie's proudest moment. Ever. Hanging on all by herself.

Sophie looks miserable in all of the pictures these days. She hates having her picture taken. She's never really actually been a fan, but it's getting worse.

Like I said, absolute end of the world when the camera comes out. She was the happiest thing around until she saw it. Once she did, she hit the floor in sign of absolute protest. If she was standing you would see that she is sleeping beauty. She is loving to dress up these days. And she is becoming quite good at working those plastic heels! The girl can run a marathon in them! She did get some things from her Mama!

This is a picture of Elle crawling backwards. However, my computer went crazy. Or rather, is trying to drive me crazy.

Sophie was so sick last night! She was pitiful. It was either a stomach virus or a gas bubble. Either way it kept us up all night. This was at 4am once she started getting better. Her hair looks terrible because I wasn't about to try and fight her to brush it after all she had been through!

Mama got this horse for Sophie on her birthday and she looooves it! She'll ride it for hours (It's on rollers)! Friday she asked if Elle could get on with her. I thought it was sweet of her so I didn't want to discourage it! Mama and I were right there in case Elle were to slip. Sophie did a great job of holding her and going slow. Elle was having the time of her life! Of course, she loves anytime that her big sister shows her attention. She was eating it up!

Here is a little video of their ride!

Alright, I swear that Elle is talking! Twice she has said "mamamama" when reaching for me. The first time I simply thought it coincidence, but the second time even Joe thought she said it! Sometime with in the last couple days she started saying "quack quack". I'm sure she's just making noise, but it's hilarious! Now if I say it she'll repeat it! I was so happy when I caught it on video. Btw, she loves to be near the kitchen utensils! When I'm cooking I'll put her there and it'll occupy her for a good bit! Don't worry, I don't ever just leave her. I'm always right there! I can't promise that my meals don't have a little Elle slobber in them.

Life these days...

2011-08-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday I take Sophie to story time at the library. Mama watches Elle so that Sophie and I can have "our time". I've done this since Elle was 2 weeks old. I wanted Sophie to know that even with a baby sister she still has a place with me!

I love our library! It has the neatest area of kids! And Ms. Libby, who directs story time, has the patience of Job! Some of those kids would do me in! But she just smiles and keep on reading! Love her!

Elle has been completely out of sorts! She is getting more teeth in and they must be killing her because every couple of minutes she is fussing. One thing that keeps her attention the longest is if I put her in her swing and turn on "Praise Baby". Which has basically been the baby whisperer with both my girls. Elle never actually lays back in her swing. A lot of times she'll chew away on the bar that has the toys.

Mama bought Sophie her first Barbie. She loves it and it has been added to her pile of toys that she sleeps with. I'm not sure why but she has been in this phase of looking like a deer caught in highlights when I take her picture. She's shy and doesn't like the attention on her. Maybe that's why.

I introduced Sophie to the world of tents today! She wasn't as crazy about it as I thought she would be. Oh well. She did love the train I made out of a box. Of course. Between her and Elle I'm pretty sure I walked/ran 10 miles in my own house today.

We ate strawberries while watching "Toy Story" in our tent.

Tonight we went to my Aunt's for dinner. I put my "sesame street" chicken on hold for another night. This is what I seriously told someone I was making. I was actually making sesame chicken. You know you have a toddler when that phrase comes out of your mouth! Anyways...Sophie has been into carrying her bag which I welcome seeing as how I'm usually carrying Elle in her carrier, the diaper bag, and Soph's things. It's about time she starts carrying her weight. Kidding!

Mommy and Elle day

2011-08-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today it is just me and Elle. My family is going to Cumberland Falls, which is a couple hours away, and asked to take Sophie. Elle and I were suppose to go, but she hates her car seat right now which makes for a miserable trip! Four plus hours in the car just did not sound like fun to me! So we opted to stay home.

Allergies have paid a visit to the Quesenberry women this week. We're all miserable! I never suffered with allergies until my senior of college. Apparently Tennessee, where I went to school, has the one of the highest rates for allergies. Great. And I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Kentucky is the highest. Even better. Either way both my babies have to be on Zrytec. I hate that they're on a medicine like this so early, but I hate to see them suffer more!

A lot of my friends children started school today and I gotta tell you, I am not prepared for it to be Sophie's turn. Thank God I still have three years! But seriously, the thought makes me feel like I could hyperventilate. Seriously hyperventilate. God help Sophie's kindergarten teacher! Forget Sophie holding onto my leg, I'm going to be holding on to hers.

Alright, blogspot is being weird so I'm going to wrap this up! Here are some pictures from our week!

Lord, please, for my husband's sake let our next child be a boy. He is such a great daddy to his girls, but Lord, he has to do this at night. Soph was fixin' Daddy's hair. Notice the "ponytail" sticking up on top. God love 'em! The girls watching some movie on our computer. So sweet!

Bahaha! This one cracks me up! This is how Elle sits a lot! I love how nonchalant they are! As if it's normal to have your baby sister's foot in your face while you eat yogurt.

This isn't the best picture, but I had to snap it quick because I didn't want to leave them there too long. On Sunday morning I made banana bread and the girls helped me.

Elle discovered that the tin decor made a loud noise when she hit it. She got a kick out of that! I'm not so sure her Daddy did! Sundays are Joe's day to sleep in so he was woken up by this lovely sound. Oh well. It kept her entertained!

"Chin Up"

2011-08-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my Dad and Teddie came up for a visit. It was great to see them! Sophie kept her granddaddy busy, bless his heart! Teddie's parents live just down the road in Corbin. Well, about an hour just down the road :). On Sunday we met them all at Cracker Barrel. Elle does not like her car seat. She was not happy on the ride over! The only way she would be quiet is if I sang "Chin up" from "Charlotte's Web". Joe was trying to decide what was worse. Her crying or my singing "Chin up"!

Ha! Bless her heart, she was MAD about being in that car seat! She is the sweetest little thing, but Lord help, can she get mad quick if "provoked"!

Sophie has been wanting to wear her princess shoes every where these days. And I let her. It's not a battle worth fighting :)! I love her face here!

At least she coordinates her shoes with her outfits. Seriously. She wouldn't leave until she had her matching blue shoes.

Last Friday my Momma took Sophie over to my Aunt's for a visit. It gave Elle and I some time together which is rare! This baby is just so full of life! She always squealing, smiling, and laughing! She loves to have a good time! More than she loves to have a good time, she loves to chew on things. Everything goes in this baby's mouth! Especially shiny things! She is always trying to get my wedding rings! When she realizes she can't bring them to her mouth she bring her mouth to the rings, haha!

I'm not sure how Elle keeps doing this, but she has been getting the bumper away!

Look at those cheeks! Best sugar in the world!

Sophie came up to me the other day with this crown on and said, "Look, Momma, I a princess!" She also asked to call my sister, Aunt Sissy, to which her first words were, "I pretty, Aunt Sissy. I a princess." Nothing like calling someone to make sure they know you're pretty AND royalty, ha!

Happy 7 months, Sweet Elle!!!

2011-08-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Elle is 7 months old today! It feels like just yesterday I was begging her to come out, haha! Now she is semi-crawling and "talking" to every one and the wall paper! This sweet child of mine has brought so much joy with her! She absolutely and totally adores her big sister! Anytime Sophie walks by she tries her best to touch her! Bless her heart, Sophie is the typical big sister and doesn't have time for baby stuff. She does play with her, but it's own her terms, that's for sure!

Elle has 4 teeth and is working on a few more! Sophie was a year old before she had any teeth! She was at least 15/16 months before she had as many as Elle has now!

My friend, Sarah, was here for a couple days visiting and snapped some pictures for me of Elle. She did a great job of capturing Elle's spunky personality!

Elle is always making this face and I love it! So glad Sarah caught it!
She puts everything in her mouth by the fists full, as you can see!

Another face she has been doing a lot! I think it's because she is teething!

I don't know why, but I love love love this picture! There is nothing overall special about it. Just something about their faces that I love! Like they have their own communication going on!

Tonight I was in my closet and I heard this sweet voice singing "Jesus loves me". When I came out into the room I saw Soph rocking her Buzz Lightyear (of all things) to sleep and she was singing to him. It was the most precious sound to this Momma's ears! Then in the song she started singing, "Jesus loves Momma, and Daddy, and Elle, and Buzz, and Jesse, and Gigi, and Pappy." It just made my night. She kept going on and on and on naming people that Jesus loved :). Thankfully I was able to video tape it all! This clip is from later on and not so long! Please excuse the spaghetti sauce on her face, ha! She hadn't stopped long enough for me to give her a good wiping down :)!

Beloved Southern Clothing - at a discount

2011-08-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to some companies on Facebook that sell Southern style clothing at a discount. I think it's fair to say that my husband curses the day that I was told about them. I looovee anything smocked, boutique-looking, etc. but they can be expensive!!!! Which is why I was thrilled to find them at such a great deal! They have both boy and girl clothing, but not a whole lot of baby sizes. Sorry Elle.

All you have to do is "like" these companies on Facebook to see their sales every night. Each company has their own specifics on how to "bid" so make sure and look for their "how to bid" sections. Here is a list of the companies:

Lolly Wolly doodle
Smock it to me
Smockadot kids
Smockaholics
Smocked Auctions

Check them out! Be warned though...it requires a great deal of self-control to see their sales every night and not buy everything :)!

The "ickies"

2011-08-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, y'all, I am getting serious about this blog! I have got to get on the ball with documenting our daily lives so that I can always remember each stage with the girls. There have been so many funny things that they have done and I've forgotten all of it. Already. It's terrible really! So every night I am going to sit down and write a little about our day. I'm sure most will find it boring. Some days I'll probably find it boring, too. But when I'm 80 I know that I'll cherish the memories. Here we go...

Today we've all felt a little "icky". I think it may be allergies. Unfortunately, both girls suffer with awful allergies! I never did until I came back to Florida from college in Tennessee. I sure hope whatever is causing these ickies doesn't come back tomorrow! It was a hard day! Both girls were extremely clingy. That's not very unusual for Sophie, but it is for Elle. Which is why I always hold her when she needs it! This sweet baby does not require much! She is honestly the best baby I've ever been around. It's rare for her to cry, but Lord have mercy, when she does it's pitiful! Just breaks your heart right on the spot.

With Elle wanting to be held I decided to break out the ol' wrap for her while I was preparing dinner. She's awfully wiggly so it didn't last long though... *these captions are a little confusing. I don't have the patience right now to fix it. I'll do better next time. :)*
So I busted out the teething biscuits! This was her first time having them and I think the were a hit judging by this....

She had it every where!! Which is why we did this next (in the middle of trying to prepare dinner)....

Bath time. In the kitchen sink. This is her new bathtub for the time being. It's much easier on my back!

Isn't there some crazy saying about washing the baby with the dishes. Or maybe that was a commercial. Either way it was hilarious. And obviously true in our house ;). Ok, not really, but I couldn't help but laugh at the picture! Look at how much hair Elle is getting. It's going to be dark - much darker than Sophie's!

Understandably, Sophie is having a hard time learning to share her toys with Elle. She loves her baby sister. As long as she doesn't get into her toys. Well, Elle is getting into her toys. So we have a new rule. If Sophie is playing with something she has to get Elle a toy too. Because "it's the nice thing to do". Well, tonight Momma (Nanny to the girls) gave Elle a toy. Sophie looked at her and said, "Nice, Nanny". We all cracked up! At least I know she is listening when I talk!

That's it for now. See y'all tomorrow night!

Big girl gymnastics

2011-08-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight they started the Fall schedule at Soph's gymnastics. I wasn't paying attention to the calendar and showed up at the summer schedule time. They said that since we were there and needed to make up a class anyways that she could join the 3-5 year olds. I was a little nervous because mother's don't go with their children in this age group. Not wanting to embarrass her I reluctantly walked up to the observation deck area. She did awesome! I was so proud of her! In fact, I may ask if she can permanently move up because she enjoyed it so much!

What's new with the Q's...

2011-07-28T17:37:00.001-07:00

Well, this blog has seriously been forsaken! Life stays pretty busy, but it's the boring busy that I don't think anyone would be interested in but me. Oh well!

There have been some big milestones in the Quesenberry household this week! One being that Elle is sitting up all on her own. And second being Soph is going to the potty! Yay! She has gone two days now with out any accidents! I knew that once she made he mind up that she wanted to do it she would! Of course, the candy and singing potty sure helped!

Nothing else really to "report" on! I'll be 27 next week. Wow! When did that happen??! My freshman roommate and now dearest friend and I were talking today. It seriously feels like yesterday we were heading off to college. I think every year just goes faster than the previous!

Speaking of time flying...doesn't Sophie look SOOO grown up here?? Here we are outside of the Disney store. Her Nanny had just bought her Jesse and Buzz lightyear from the movies "Toy Story". (We have Woody at home) BTW, she is obsessed with all things "Toy Story". I mean obsessed! I've decided that I have to do her birthday theme in Jesse and Woody. I'm really not a character themed birthday person, so I promise it'll be cute and original and not matchy, matchy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It's just not me. This is random, but I've decided on a Circus theme for Elle's birthday. It totally fits her! Her personality is fun, fun, fun! The more stuff to get in to the happier she is!
I cut my hair! I should never admit this, but I wanted something easy and cute! Emphasis on the easy! I debated this for a bit because I wasn't sure if I was heading down that "mommy" road. You know the one where you end up wearing mom jeans (or sweats), tennis shoes, and tshirts all the time simply because it's, here's that word again, easier. At last, I decided that it is where I am right now! I have two small children, one of whom also needs her hair blow dried, and I need quick. I like it! And it fits my life right now!

This child of mine looooves to cook. Well, really she loves to help with anything I do! She is my little shadow!Elle is to the age where the girls are starting to play together! It is so much fun to watch them! Elle simply adores her big sister! As you can tell in this video!

Priceless

2011-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

Sophie asked for to hold Elle and while they were loving on each other I was able to snap a few pictures. I am so happy that I was able to capture this! I know that I'll treasure these pictures forever! They are framers for sure :)!

Notice Soph's little hand rubbing Elle's tummy! She is always so gentle and loving!

She is the happiest baby I have ever seen! It may sound corny, but she brings so much sunshine to anyone who is around her!

Biggest Loser

2011-06-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Joe and I both have put on some unwanted weight. So in attempt to motivate ourselves to shed these pounds we decided to make it a competition. Now anyone who knows we really well knows that I don't have a competitive bone in my body! I think I pretty much summed up my life when, at age 4, I told my grandfather that "he didn't have to get so serious" when he tried to teach me something. Being competitive is too serious for me. I needed something that would REALLY get me dedicated. Sooo...here is what I came up with...

If I reach the goal weight that we have decided upon before Joe reaches his then I get this....

The iphone 4

If Joe reaches the goal weight before I do then his prize is...

In case you're wondering, his prize would be the equivalent cost of an iphone in books. I know, what a prize, right?!

I was really just looking for an excuse to get the iphone 4 because my husband says that my iphone 3gs is just fine! Wish me luck! He's going down... :)

Oh, and he may not know it but this beauty is coming along with my prize :)

It is the new Lilly Pulizter case. Gotta love Lilly!

I prayed for what?!

2011-06-01T05:29:00.001-07:00

My husband likes to remind me that I prayed for a sassy little girl. Oh boy, did I ever get one! Last night as we were running out the door for gymnastics and I told Soph to let me take a picture of her. This was her pose. So glad I got it! This picture speaks volumes to my daughter's personality :)!

BTW - don't you just love chubby baby legs?? Soph is starting to lose hers - so glad that I have Elle's to kiss on now :)

Sisterly love

2011-06-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

Soph has, for the most part, been a very loving big sister! But lately she has been such a little Momma to Elle! The other morning she was reading to the her and it just melted my heart! I had to cut some of the video out to send it, so it starts out with Soph patted Elle's back because she had been coughing. Too sweet :)! Notice Elle's head when Soph shows the pictures to her, ha!

Summer Lovin'

2011-06-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhh...do you not just love summer?! I do!

Dad and Teddie came up this weekend! We had such a blast! Being the smarties they are, they brought Sophie and Elle a pool! And a cool one at that :)! We have been in that thing every day!

Here's to a fabulous summer :)!

Gymnastics

2011-05-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Sophie's first gymnastics class! What a great little class it was! She had so much fun! I wasn't quite sure what the attire was so this is why she was dressed as she was! Sophie is super cautious about trying new things! Especially things that have any bit of "danger" to them! I was proud of her though because she really put herself out there. Well, as much as a two year old can :)! I'm sure she'll get a little braver the more we go!

She is doing the craziest things now-a-days - look at this pose, ha!

Oh my goodness, this is so my daughter! She was so easily distracted by all the other groups there!

Gracious, did she ever love the foam pit!

She was suppose to be doing a flip here, but she wasn't such a fan!

Miss Shelby, the instructor, asked Soph is she wanted her to let go of her hands. Sophie replied very emphatically, "NO!" My girl knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say it (in a respectful way)!

My baby isn't such a baby anymore :)!

God is with Everyone

2011-05-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

**Disclaimer: This post is not directed at any specific person. I, myself, have been guilty of uttering the words that I am struggling with right now.

I'm sure everyone is very aware of the storms that have ripped through parts of the South. I see pictures and my mind can't comprehend the devastation that so many families are facing! I have seen people comment on Facebook that God's hand was on them and kept them, their families, and properties safe. I know I sure breathed a sigh of relief to know that my family in Cleveland were safe and with no damage to their houses. But in that same instant my heart broke for the families that were experiencing such anguish because they did lose a loved one or all of their possessions. It was then that it struck me how hurtful those words, "God's hand was on us because we didn't lose anything" must be to those who did actually lose things. There have been times in my life that I heard lines similar to this and thought, "Well, what's wrong with me that I did have these struggles/experiences." But the truth is that God's hand is on every person; the people that are lucky enough to have their house and all their family accounted for, the people that lost their homes, and for the mother that lost her 3 month old child. God's hand is on them! This could be any of us! I think this is Christians opportunities to get out and BE A CHRISTIAN! Serve, serve, serve these communities that have been crippled by these storms! I wish I could be there! I even thought about heading down to Cleveland to help out with Men and Woman of Action, but with two babies under two I might be more of a burden than help :)!

Once again, this post was not to point fingers. I have said statements like this a hundred times and finally heard how hurtful it potentially could be!

My own entertainment

2011-04-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

Elle has such personality! There is such mischief in her eyes already which I'm pretty sure is a good sign that this one will keep me laughing!

She makes these faces that crack me up when she sees something that she wants. I finally caught it on video. I love this sweet baby!

Easter video

2011-04-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

My Dad and Teddie sent the girls their Easter basket. I told them that I would post a video of Sophie opening hers so that they could feel a part :)!

Here she is enjoying bubbles out of her basket. If ever in doubt of what to get her you can always trust bubbles to be a hit :)!

Sophie is obsessed with Toy Story! Especially Woody! Teddie had Woody at her house and Sophie made off with him! Anyhoo...Jesse was a great surprise to find in her basket! She has slept with them both every night - they are her constant companions!

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! I'm actually posting about Easter on Easter and not two months later :)! We had a pretty laid back Easter Sunday. We went to church this morning, came home for Sophie's nap, and then went to Cracker Barrel. I wanted to make a big "to do" for lunch, buuuttt I got distracted by some incredible shopping yesterday and ran out of time to go to the grocery store. That's a good excuse, right :)?? Speaking of which - I actually found an Easter dress. Surprise, Surprise! The girls, however, ended up wearing the same dresses they wore to my Dad and Teddie's wedding. The dresses I had originally bought them didn't match my dress very well.

Here are some pictures of our day!

Sophie takes early naps, so Sundays are always hard on her. We usually don't get home too late after her scheduled nap time, but we bring her right in and put her down - no piddle paddling around - straight to bed she goes! She is NOT one of those children that can skip naps. EVER. Below you will see what happens when we push her. (For the record - her tantrums are MUCH, MUCH better! She rarely has them and when she does it's usually because she is tired! Maybe I'll post on what I feel worked to end these fits because Lord have mercy I thought I would NEVER get her out of those!)

We gave up on getting any good pictures. Ha! I didn't laugh in front of her because I would never want her to think that her tantrums are funny, but look at her sprawled out like her life was ending! So dramatic!

Both my girls are Mama's girls and looovve for me to hold them! My predictions were right - you can find me most parts of the day holding them both! Which has done wonders for my back.

There is a southern saying that goes, "The bigger the bow, the better the Mama"! Well, I must be one darn good Mama from the looks of that bow ;) - KIDDING!

Hope every one had a terrific Easter!

What a day!!!

2011-04-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest...today was tough! For any Mommies of 2+ children that may be reading this, bear with me tonight. Try to remember when all you had were two and how there were times when it was rough - even though what you have now is definitely more challenging :). With that said...a friend asked me just this morning how it was with two. I think I may have answered a little too confidently because the day only went down from there, ha! Honestly, having two hasn't been that difficult for me up until now, but it is getting tougher. Elle is not sleeping - AT ALL. She is such a happy baby, but her lack of sleep is starting to make her fussy. I have tried to get this baby on a schedule but she is having nothing to do with it. It's funny how different children can be! Sophie practically put herself on a schedule. She thrives on a schedule and can get out of sorts if she is off of it. Elle is her own little person already and she has decided not to have a schedule. Well, Mommy will be working very hard to put her on one. I need it for my sanity! Thankfully Elle is taking a nap right now - on her Daddy's chest because if she is put down she immediately wakes up - so that I can have some quiet time. I think it's time to get serious about a schedule and sleeping for Elle! Her Mommy is pretty worn out :)!

Where have I been the past two months???!

2011-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the blogging gods have been against me these past two months because EVERY time I have gone to blog something has happened! Last month I decided that it would be best to simply post pictures of our life since the last post, but even those pictures are old now, ha! Anywho...I am determined to catch up on blogging today! Be prepared for an overload from the Quesenberrys - hopefully :)!

We moved...again. This time only just down the road. Still, we found a house on Friday, moved everything on Saturday, and I had everything unpacked by the time my MIL got her on the following Sunday! What a week that was!! BTW - this is Sophie with her first busted lip. Our new house has hardwood floors. They were a bit dusty when we were moving in and Sophie wiped out coming around a corner. She was pitiful! Broke her Momma's heart!

Blake - who has been the BEST FRIEND EVER for helping us move TWICE!! That moving day was something else! Sophie busted her lip and Elle has SEVERAL blow outs. Here I am covered in poo poo and blood. I was having such a "mommy" day!

Sweet, sweet baby Elle! This child is seriously the sweetest thing! She is ALWAYS smiling! And she has recently started laughing! All you have to do is look at her and she'll laugh. I can't wait to see more of her personality develop!

Joe and I on a date night! Thanks to Momma we've had more dates in the short time we've lived in KY than we have in our entire marriage (Keep in mind that I was pregnant with Sophie with in 3 months of being married so we don't really know what marriage is like with out a baby!)

Sophie is such a daddy's girl these days! Annnddd she likes to help with whatever project we're working on! Here they are working on her new table.

Nothing sweeter than my two girls snuggling in bed with me in the mornings!

As I mentioned my MIL came to visit. The last weekend that she was here more of Joe's relatives came. This is his grandmother with Elle.

My Miss Hollywood! What you can't see is she has my bracelet on as well! LOVE this girl!

Oh, those big blues will get you a lot in life ;)

The only place she'll sleep - in Mommy and Daddy's bed!

My entire world in this photo :)

Sophie is such an attentive big sister!

One morning I walked out to the sunroom and discovered a mess that Sophie has made and tried to clean up! This girl is a cleaner. Wonder who she gets than from, ahem, Momma :)!

We've had some moments of reverting back to a baby...

Elle in her bumbo for the first time! She's growing too fast!

Ha! Can you tell he's a father of a daughter :)! Hoping for him that our next child will be a boy!

A couple of weeks ago we went to TN to help Sarah and Blake move to Chattanooga...boo! I went down a couple days early to see my Dad and friends! Here is one of my dearest friends, Ahrmin! This girl keeps me laughing for sure! Her sweet daughter, Emory. Is this child not gorgeous like her Momma???

Ha! Like father, like son, like granddaughter! My grandfather would ALWAYS take a nap on the floor like this! Notice he has hand on her...so sweet!

Sophie had her first nutty icecream (that's not the real name, but I can't think of it!) cone at Teddie's house.

Sophie has had her first experience with chalk. She LOVED it!

She also had her first trip to the movies. My Aunt, who is always taking Soph to fun places, took her to see Rango.

Soph and my Aunt leaving for her big adventure :)

I tackled at BIG project - planting flowers. I'm NOT a fan of the dirt and yuck, BUT I'm sure it'll be something I do every year! These are the before and after pictures. Quite a difference I think!

This is a picture after I planted the flowers

Thank God I'm at the end! This gigantic bird is sitting outside the office window just staring at me. It's really starting to freak me out, ha! I was going to post more, but think I'll wait for my friend to leave. See what I mean...the blogging gods are against me :)! I'll post pictures of my dad's wedding later. It was such a beautiful day!

Longest Post EVER

2011-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

Life is definitely very full these days! Lots of "brand news" going on! New baby, new job, new step mother, new step sisters, and new life in Kentucky! All of which I am grateful for!

Things are going great with the baby! She is such a happy little thing and most of the time she is content where ever she is and no matter what chaos is going on around her! Sophie has been wonderful with her! There have been a few bouts of jealousy, but that is to be expected! I have tried very hard to include Sophie in everything and to make sure that I spend time with just her as often as possible. However, there are just some times that the baby needs me and that is where I have to put my focus. It breaks my heart because I can see the confusion and disappointment on Sophie's face. I have been so proud of Sophie with how well she interacts with the baby! She is such a momma hen! Now if we can make progress with these tantrums of hers!

Joe was offered a job and starts next Tuesday! YAY! God always provides right on time! I'll go more in depth on this one in another post :)!

My dad is getting married to a wonderful lady named, Teddie! My sister and I are so pleased that Dad found someone who makes him as happy as she does and is so kind and accepting to/of us! Apparently, I am the one that set this thing in motion by mentioning Teddie to my dad several years ago. I vaguely remember this, but am happy to take credit for this match :)! I was in the same sorority as Abby, Teddie's youngest daughter, for a semester before she graduated. In fact, all three of Teddie's daughters were in DZT which is a neat thing to share! I always thought so highly of Abby which is a good thing now that we're going to be step sisters :)! Yes, in case you missed that Teddie has three daughters bringing a total of FIVE daughters between the two of them! So far there are a total of eight grandchildren with more a comin'. No one is pregnant that I know of, I'm just saying that I'm sure there will be more :)!

We are loving life in Kentucky! I thank God everyday that he made a way for us to move here! I'm even more thankful that He has lead us to a great church! It's Presbyterian and we LOVE it! The moment I walked in the reverence they had for scripture and Christ brought me to tears! There was such a peace there that seemed to bring healing to my soul immediately! I'm sure this sounds hyper-dramatic, but if only people knew what we had to endure and were exposed to in previous places then it would make sense :)! The church puts all their emphasis on outreach and our responsibility in serving the community - which is what Christianity is all about, right?

I'll leave y'all with a funny story:
The other day Sophie was helping me change Ellie Faye's diaper. When we were finished she started lifting her shirt which puzzled me, but not too much because who knows what is going through a two year olds mind! She then proceeded to try and pick her up which I, of course, didn't allow. I picked up the baby to hand her to Sophie who guides the baby to her chest. Bless her little heart, she was trying to nurse her! I told ya, she's such a momma hen already!

Ellie Faye Quesenberry

2011-01-16T13:41:00.001-08:00

Miss Ellie Faye is here!!! YAY! She was born on 1.11.11. Which is a pretty neat birthday I think! Plus it is mine and Joe's anniversary. My labor was WONDERFUL! Completely different than with Sophie! The pain was never, ever unbearable and she was out in three pushes! My doctor, who has been delivering babies for 35 years, really knew his stuff! I'm pretty sure that he is the reason that I had such a great delivery! Sorry for those who have seen these pictures on Facebook - I wanted to post them for my family that doesn't have FB.

Here I am getting ready to push...we took a picture because Ellie Faye was all on one side
and since there was no water you could see every movement she made!

The one picture of Joe and I on our 3 year anniversary!

Sweet baby girl!

When she first was born we thought she looked identical to Sophie, but her looks have really changed!

Our first family pictures

Perfectly said

2011-01-04T15:05:00.001-08:00

Ever since I first found out that I was pregnant with Elle I have struggled and worried over one thing; Feeling a protectiveness over mine and Sophie's relationship. To be very honest, I was worried that I would resent Elle for taking away from Sophie. For two years Sophie has been my number one concern. I make every single decision based on how it will effect her. Now there is going to be a new baby that needs that same kind of love and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to give it. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about Elle. but I couldn't help these emotions that I felt so strongly. I've always heard that second time mother's have these concerns and I was praying that was my case! My friend, Sarah Holland, sent me this poem that another friend of hers posted on her blog. It brought me to tears because it was exactly, word for word, how I felt! It gave me such comfort to know that I was not alone and that there IS enough love for both. I especially love where she mentions both daughter's having their own supply!

Today I was thinking about all the fun that Sophie and I will have with this new baby. I know once she has made the difficult adjustments of not being the only child that she will be an incredible attentive, caring, and protective Big Sister! She is so eager to help Joe and I with anything we need. I've watched her love her babies and care for them as if she were grown! So, here is to you, Sophie! Mommy loves you more than I ever imagined I could love! I remember the moment that I felt like your mother. It wasn't the very moment I gave birth, but a couple days later. I remember feeling that I would walk the earth to get you what you needed. I would fight for you until my last breath. I would protect you even if it hurt me. I would make sure you knew that in this world there was nothing as important as YOU! You will never share my love - you have your own supply!

I walk along holding your two year old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder, how could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you've never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, "Please love only me." And I hear myself telling you in mine, "I can't." Knowing, in fact, that I never can again.

You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I'm afraid to let you see me enjoying her - as thought I am betraying you.

But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.

But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared; just us two. There are new times - only now, there are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you - as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of her enw accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven't take something from you, I've given something to you.

I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.

I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. yes, I can love another child as much as I love you - only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you'll never have to share my love. There's enough of that for both of you - you each have your own supply!

I love you - both. And I thank you for blessing my life.

Finally...

2010-12-24T08:47:00.000-08:00

I feel like life has been crazy busy the past couple of weeks but not the "hey, let me tell you about all about it because it's been so fun" busy. It's been the mundane getting the house together, etc. busy. Althought it does seem as if Baby Elle will be making an appearance sooner than her due date. And I am not complaining about that :)! I went to the doctor yesterday and all of us were shocked at how much progress I had made since six days before. Basically, all I need are contractions and I will be considered in active labor. I'm trying very hard not to get my hopes up that she'll be here soon because labor is just so darn unpredictable! I could still go another week or more! However, if I'm going on Sophie's mood I would say that this baby will be here in a couple of days. Bless her heart, she is out of sorts! She has been especially clingy - she's always a Momma's girl, but it has been extreme lately! She wouldn't even go to "her" Nanny, as she likes to call my mother, last night because she wanted me. That was huge. She always goes to her Nanny!! I think she is picking up that her little life is about to change in a BIG way! Even more so than it already has! Oh, she has been such a trooper through all of these changes! I hate that she has had so many changes all at once, but that is life! I have tried to show her that sometimes life throws your some curveballs and all you can do is make the best of it. I haven't been the perfect example in this, but that is part of the process as well.

Sophie has been such an absolute hoot lately!! The things she comes up with are hilarious! She's just so much fun to be around and a part of me is a little sad that our time of it being just us is almost over! It has been an adjustment being in Kentucky and having people fighting to see Sophie. (Not really fighting, but stopping by, asking to watch her, etc.) Although, it is a welcomed change it has taken some getting use to! In Plant City, it was just Sophie and I. A lot of weeks Joe wouldn't even see her until the weekend because by the time he got home from work or school she would be in bed. So she was literally my constant companion! Please don't get me wrong, I am LOVING having family around and their help has been such a blessing! All I'm saying is that it took some adjusting to not having to do everything on my own.

At the rate I'm going I'm sure the next post I do will be announcing Ellie Faye :)!

Life in Kentucky so far

2010-12-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well, things have been pretty crazy - lots going on since we've been here! I have to be honest there have been many tears because it seemed at first that we were hitting one obstacle after another! Thankfully the two major "stressors" have worked themselves out and I feel like I can breath a little better now!

We found a house!! YAY! And it is seriously SUCH an answer to pray!! It is exactly what I was praying for AND MORE! We get the keys tomorrow so I'll be cleaning away this weekend :)! Joe comes up next week with all our stuff. Thank the Lord, I've been missing him AND the winter coat I left in Florida, ha!

My new doctor - who I LOVE - does a 32 week ultrasound so we saw Ellie Faye. My mother was able to go with me which was so special! I'm going to LOVE that part of living here - and many others! They discovered that she is breached. I have another ultrasound at 36 weeks and if she is still breached then they'll schedule me a c-section. I'll have ANOTHER ultrasound the day of the scheduled c-section to make sure she hasn't turned around. If she has then they'll cancel the c-section. I'm on the fence about the whole c-section thing. Obviously, I would much rather not have one, but I think that God knows the delivery that will be the safest and best for both me and Elle and that is the one I pray that I will have! I'll post some pictures of Elle. It's crazy how much she looks like Sophie and Joe! I guess we know who has the strong genes in the family, ha :)! She's just perfect! She was cracking us all up because she had her foot in front of her face the entire time! Every tech that has given me an ultrasound has talked about how active she is - not sure how to take that :)!

So long Florida, Hello Kentucky!

2010-11-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, this isn't going to be a long post - just a quicky to say that we leave Florida for our new adventure in Kentucky in less than 48 hours. There have been lots of unknowns and changed plans, lots of "are we crazy moments", and lots of confirmations that we are doing the right thing - even if it seems crazy! I'm am super excited, but also very emotional about leaving our first home. The home that we brought Sophie to, the home where I learned what it was like to be a mother, the home that has heard our dreams, our frustrations, and our fears, the home where Sophie took her first steps, the home that I poured my heart into. Little moments of sadness will cross when I think of something special that happened where I am at that moment. I think that this move is very much needed by every member in our family, but I'm going to miss our home!

No clue what just happened!!!

2010-10-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm not sure how that happened, but it just posted my blog while I was in the middle of writing. Not cool!

As I was saying....

We are in a MEGA transition stage! I've mentioned this a million and one times before, but I'm a planner. I have to know the when, what, where, how, etc of the situation! And I have to know it before it happens! I think we can all see where God needs to work in my life, ha! Well, don't you worry - He is!! What our future holds is very unknown at the time. I am having to trust God in a way that I've never had to do before! I would love to say that I've been great in this area, but truthfully, it's been a struggle! Here's to new beginnings...

Blog Official

2010-10-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's "blog official" - we are moving to KENTUCKY!!!! YAY :)!!! I think we all would know that I would be lying to say that this hasn't been my hearts desire for a long time! The fact that God made it possible is beyond amazing to me! Although it was an unconventional way of doing so we still feel like God is opening up a door for us to go there - even if just for a season. We took several weeks to pray and think about it from every angle. I, myself, wanted to make sure that this truly was God's WILL and not just MY DESIRE! I know in my heart of hearts that if it was not His will then I would not be truly content so better make sure because packing while 7 months pregnant is NOT the easiest, ha! There are some other big changes that may happen so I'll wait until those are official to tell the world on blog :)! We are definitely in MEGA +

Fall trips

2010-10-06T17:02:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Kentucky turned into a Kentucky/Tennessee trip. We were scheduled to fly home from Kentucky LATE, LATE Sunday night 9/26 and then fly to Tennessee EARLY Wednesday morning. I don't know what I was thinking when I booked that flight back from Kentucky!! Once we were there I knew it was going to be entirely too much to ask of Sophie to travel that much! So we sent Joe on home and stayed a few extra days and drove to TN with Mama. My sister was speaking at Lee's chapel so we all came to hear her. She did a fabulous job - as I knew she would!! Here are some pictures from our trip. We had the best time!!!

Does this view not eliminate all the stress you feel?? It's honestly as close to heaven on earth that you'll find! There is just something about this place that makes all my worries go away!

Sophie is a fanatic about outdoors!! She LOVES being outside! One morning while eating breakfast Sophie brought us her play clothes, shoes, and diaper. She proceeded to try and put them all on by herself, ha! I think she kinda looks like a bag lady here, lol!

My sister and I! I miss having her around so much!! I don't know where in life I would be with out her!!
It just so happened that a friend of mine was having a bday party while I was in town! It was so good to see everyone and I hate that I didn't get pictures with the others! Ha! Arhmin and I can NEVER take a normal picture! It is always awkward in some way! Bless our hearts!

These girls absolutely adore each other!!! It does amaze me how close their connection is even though they've only been around each other 4x in their life! They truly are like sisters!

Sophie had been kissing Emma, but of course we weren't able to capture it :(

Granddad and his girls!

I thought this was a sweet picture of the three of them!

My favorite quote of the week came from Miss Emma - "Aunt Sara, I want to open up your tummy and see the baby." Ha! LOVED it! The mind of babies :)!

Correction - at 4 in the morning :)

2010-09-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

We have a correction on Baby Q's name :)! BTW - I didn't get up at 4am just because of this! I've been up since around 2:30 and can't seem to get myself back to sleep so I thought I would get up for a bit! Back to the name - there seemed to be a lot of confusion going on about "Elle". People didn't know rather to pronounce her name as EllIE or L. With a last name like ours you really don't want to make the first name confusing as well! Plus, my mother informed me that Elle Faye sounded like pig latin. And it does :). Another BTW - my grandmother spells her name Faye. Not really sure where I got Fae from! I was thought for sure that I saw somewhere that it was spelled Fae. I even argued it with my grandfather, but obviously that didn't get me very far :). Anywho - so Joe and I decided that we would officially name her ELLIE FAYE. That way she can choose to be called Elle when she is older if she wishes!

I think Sophie is beginning to grasp some what that I have a baby in my belly! A couple of times I have mentioned the baby and she'll go get her fav bear and come lay it on my belly and say, "baby"! Then the other day we were looking at pictures of one of my dearest friend's precious new daughter, Annabelle. Sophie was going crazy over her then turned to me and said, "Momma baby" while patting my stomach. She is going to make a great big sister!!

I realized that I haven't been really doing what I said about "Talking Tuesdays" where I document Sophie's new sayings! It's gotten a bit hard because she says SO MUCH!!! It's unreal how much this child talks. She seriously talks 90 miles per minute! Especially in the mornings! I know many wonder, "where does she get that from???", HA!

We're still having to deal with tantrums. It's not very fun! But I'm being consistent and PRAYING it pays off. I hear it does so I'm standing on that, ha! She's the sweetest thing ever though! She's so loving and affectionate! Sophie has 7 teeth coming in and at least 3 of those are molars. I'm holding my breath to see if part of her tantrums have to do with irritability from her teeth. We'll see!

Ok, maybe I should try to sleep now! Wish me luck! This pregnancy insomnia is a killer!!! Please overlook any/all errors that this post is probably loaded with :)!

I'll leave you with some recent pictures of Sophie!

This child has to bring her animals/dolls EVERYWHERE we go!! She'll switch it up which ones she takes to be fair of course :)

LOVE her chubby, baby legs in this picture!

Fall you say

2010-09-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here in the great sunshine state we don't really have seasons. Sure I thought that we did until I went to God's country for college! There is no more beautiful of a place than Tennessee and Kentucky during Fall!! In fact, being there spoiled me and put a longing in my heart to go back when ever this time of year rolls around! I miss the crisp air, football games (college AND highschool), golden leaves, and the smell Fall in the air! I miss opening up the windows and having the fresh breeze blowing in! Which is why I am more than excited that we have an unexpected break and get to go to Kentucky AS A FAMILY!!! YAY! Any vacation time that Joe had went to finishing up his MBA so we were never able to get away unless for quick weekend trips. I am so excited that we get to relax, unwind, and clear our heads for a bit! I'm also looking forward to cooler weather! We leave tomorrow night so I'm sure I'll be posting pictures soon!

Nursery Bedding

2010-08-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

I just had to share with y'all this fabulous website that I stumbled upon this weekend! It's called JavisDavis. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this wesbite! They sale custom bedding at an incredible price!!! The best part is that they allow you to design your own bedding right there on the website. For those like me that don't want your children's bedroom to look like everyone elses yet don't have the best knack at "arranging" things yourself this is the place for you! They have fabric selections picked out and you mix the pieces the way you like! It's perfect! Go check it out! It's just too fun!

I will be getting both Sophie and Elle's bedding from here! I'll post pictures of the sets I pick as soon as I narrow them down!

Elle Fae Quesenberry

2010-08-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today was the BIG day! The day we had anticipated for 20 wks. Were we having a boy or a girl?? Well, we are having a GIRL!!!! We are just beside ourselves with excitement!! Joe was a bit hopeful for a boy - what guy doesn't secretly wish that though! I wouldn't mind having all girls! I don't know the first thing about boys and for those of you who know me know what a girly girl I am! I was a tad nervous at the possibility of having a boy! Which everyone - including one of the doctors - thought the baby was! Everyone seemed shocked when I told them! Baby girl is healthy as can be and the genetic testing we had done came back negative for any "defects". It was the most precious thing seeing her move her mouth and wiggly her toes!

About the name - we do realize that Elle Fae doesn't exactly flow. However, I LOVE Elle and it's meaning which is "God's promise". As I have mentioned before Fae was a must for the middle name because we are naming her after my grandmother who is Nellie Fae. Originally I was going to go with Eliose, but decided I wasn't crazy about it so why name her something I don't like - even if she would be called Elle. So Elle Fae it is!

Her face - let's be honest, it's a little scary looking here :)

Her sweet profile!

It's a girl!

The good, the bad, the ugly

2010-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

As a mommy I have good days and then not so good days. I have days when I feel that I am failing at the most important "job" that I will ever be given! Other days I feel like I just might be figuring this whole "mothering" thing out...I like these days the best, obviously :)! I'll be completely transparent, earlier this week I thought I could pull my hair out! Sophie is very dramatic and VERY strong willed! I know to the deepest part of my heart that these two characteristics are the ones that God will use the most! However, right now they can be exhausting! Almost everything is a battle! And, oh my, the fits that were being thrown! I was at a complete loss! I tried ignoring them so that she didn't receive any type of attention, rather negative or positive, for them. I didn't want to spank her because I believe that if you are going to spank that it needs to be saved for the most dire of times, ex. running out into the street, out right disobeying, etc. I had tried time out, but she wasn't old enough to get the whole concept of it. Sooo...I was overwhelmed! I knew that I needed to get the fits under control because if I didn't do something soon then it would become a permanent occurrence! I started time out again and so far, cross your fingers, it seems to be making such a difference! She's thrown some tantrums, but they don't last nearly as long. A couple of times all I've even had to do is mention time out and she quits pretty quickly! So the past two days have been good, productive days! I love these days, but realize that the days where I feel that I'm failing are so needed! It is those days that remind me just how utterly lost I am with out Christ's guidance in parenting (well, ALL things if we get down to it)!! I want to teach Sophie the tools to live a happy and successful life so that she can teach her kids! I want her to have love for God and people! I want her to have compassion and know that Christianity isn't about how many times you go to church - although that is very important - that Christianity is about LOVE and ACTIONS! I want her to know that she will fail, but that God's and her parent's love will NEVER leave her because of it! When I think about the weight of responsibility that parents have it is overwhelming. That's when I have to remind myself to take it day to day, and to start every one of those days praying for wisdom on how to raise Sophie! I know that my only hope for being anyway successful is by listening to God's direction and surrounding myself with godly mothers for advice! BTW - I think that it is so important to be selective about who you let speak into your life and your family! Not every church leader and Christian are good/healthy/godly parents, unfortunately!

"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

"Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

My sweet baby girl all grown up and big enough for the "cars" at Publix! Honestly, for every ounce of stubbornness that Sophie has there is the sweetness to match it! You won't find a sweeter, more loving child than her!!

Summer Doings

2010-08-02T10:00:00.001-07:00

The summer has been a pretty eventful one in the Quesenberry home! I know that I haven't been very good at keeping our blog updated, but hopefully things will slow down a bit! Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks! These aren't in order and it's driving me a bit mad! Oh well, gotta wrap this up so it's going to stay this way :)!

I usually carry disposable bibs at all times, but I seem to have ran out because I couldn't find one anywhere in the diaper bag! And what a time to run out because we were at a Mexican restaurant - a food that Sophie LOVES! A food that tends to be MESSY! So I stripped her down and let her at it :)! She loved it!

Here I am at 16 wks pregnant! I seriously am the same size I was at about 25 wks with Sophie, ha! A friend of mine did say that in the end it all evens out - sure hope she's correct!

Sarah and I at General Assembly!

My sweet, sweet Sophie!

Sarah and I at Don Pablos!

Sarah and I waiting for our boys to come get us

Sophie LOVES to play with my make up while I'm applying mine! She got a hold of my eye liner if you can't tell. Scared me to death!

Right as I snapped this photo Sophie dug her little finger into my chap stick - which is no longer!

Aunt Sarah took Sophie on her first carousel ride

So handsome :)!

Sophie got a tea cup set at the Disney store. It was a steal of a deal so of course I had to get it for her :)

We have a name!!!

2010-07-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

I can finally sleep at night because we have a name...Hooray!! I received many suggestions and all of them were great names! Lindsey Lombard Mills suggested Whitman. I liked it, but Joe wasn't crazy about it. Surprise, Surprise. However, it did make me think of another "W" name. Wyatt. I had actually previously heard this name, thought about it, and then moved on. However, this time it really stuck out to me. The more I said the name the more I LOVED it! More importantly Joe liked it as well! So I went and checked out the meaning and it means "brave and hardy". Perfect! So Wyatt Joseph it is.

Now if by chance the doctor is wrong and the baby is actually a girl then we have the names Adeline Fae or Eloise Fae picked out. We would use Elle or Ellie as a nick name for Eloise. I can't decided which of these names I like the best. One day I like Adeline better and other days I like Eloise. Joe LOVES the idea of calling her Elle so more than likely that will be the name. I guess we'll know in a couple of weeks! I can't wait to find out now that we actually have the names set! Yay!

P.S. If this baby isn't a boy then we'll still use Wyatt if we ever have one :).

........ ......... Quesenberry

2010-07-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

Goodness Gracious, I need help! I can't think of a name for this baby (which the doctor believes to be a boy)! It is seriously stressing me out! I'm a planner. I like to have everything together ahead of time! When I was pregnant with Sophie I had had both boy and girl names picked out for years! And, luckily, Joe loved them both as well. I'm not gonna lie, I am just so heart broken over the name Jackson. Nothing seems to compare to it. I had it picked out YEARS before it became so popular! I love it because it is such a strong southern name - which is a must for my babies :). My sister has picked out Henry for the baby. I like it a lot, but it just doesn't *feel* right :(. Joe and I can't seem to really agree on any names. Everything I like, he doesn't. I did tell him one time that I was going to hit him if he turned down one more name, haha. Obviously, I was just kidding. However, I was serious when I told that he needs to start suggesting some names of his own instead of just shutting down all of mine :). Anywho....does anyone have suggestions? I don't want anything too cutesy. And the name needs to go with Joseph as the middle name. Please help!

My Girly Girl

2010-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Sophie is such a little woman already! She loves her make-up, hair accessories, and babies! I love it! One of my favorite times of the day is when I'm getting ready and she is right beside me putting on her make up and doing her hair! Obviously, she doesn't actually wear make up :)!

The other morning I was in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast and Sophie came and to me to show me the palet she had made for her baby. Isn't it so sweet?! (BTW - I can see the living room from the kitchen so she wasn't somewhere that I couldn't see her :)!)

This one was my fault! I was on the computer in my office trying to get an email out real quick and Sophie found her way to my Mary Kay lipsticks in the office. I knew Sophie was being real quiet which usually means she's into something, ha! Sure enough she was! She loves, loves, LOVES her some lipgloss/lipstick!

Putting on her make up

You can't really see it but she has eye shadow ALL over her face, haha! Beautiful, darling ;)!

2010-07-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Wow...I'm really not doing so great with updating my blog! I actually have a lot to share, but just haven't had time to sit down to write about it! Last thursday I went for another ultrasound for Baby Q! The tech was a little different and wouldn't even check to see the sex of the baby...Boo! She said that the gender parts weren't even developed yet. That's not what I had heard, but I didn't argue! I knew it would be an interesting appointment when she told me that Sara(h) wasn't a popular name! Obviously, she had never been in any of my classes where there were at least five Sara(h)s, haha :)! Anywho...all that to say...no news on the baby. They did change my due date to January 13, but I think the 10th is more accurate like my doctor said. Oh Lord, I pray this baby doesn't come on our anniversary! I'm either going to be pushing this baby out on the 10th or holding it in until the 12th, haha!

I don't think I'll ever get use to what a miracle a baby truly is!

I actually have an ultrasound picture of Sophie like this as well! Precious! When I told the tech this she replied, "Not this good you don't" I was like, "Yep, it's pretty much the same picture". Haha! So strange!

"Before I formed you in your mother's womb I CHOSE you, before you were born I set you apart..." Jeremiah 1:5

Baby Q

2010-06-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first appointment at my new doctors. I am so, so, so thankful that I switched!! Although I love my previous doctors, their staff was less desirable! They weren't very helpful and when I would finally break down and HAVE to ask them for something - because I'll be honest, they made me nervous, ha! - they would act like I was asking them to fly to the moon or something because of the inconvenience! The staff yesterday made me feel so welcome and were very kind!

I was excited at the possibility of hearing the heartbeat, but they told me that I was actually going to see the baby! Seeing this baby was much more emotional then with Sophie! I think because with Sophie I anticipated every little thing! I wouldn't be able to sleep the night before my ultrasounds with her because I was so excited. Well, this baby has been some what on the back burner. I just don't have the time to think about it like I did with Sophie because I'm chasing after Sophie all day :)! So to see the baby yesterday moving with such life brought tears to my eyes! It was most perfect little being! As soon as the doctor put the wand on my stomach we immediately saw this baby shaking it's little hiney like crazy! The baby was just perfect and VERY active! The doctor thinks that it is a boy. She told me not to go painting any rooms just yet because it is still pretty early. The baby gave us a perfect shot and I could have sworn I saw some parts!! I didn't say anything because the doctor wasn't and she obviously has more experience than I do! Eventually she said, "I think I see some parts! BUT it could be the cord." My family is beyond excited at the possibility of a boy! My grandparents have 6 great grand daughters so they're thinking it's about time for a boy! I have another ultrasound on Monday that will be more in depth so we'll see if they can give us something a little more concrete! Until Monday :)...

Talking Tuesdays

2010-06-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sitting here at 4am wide awake! This seems to be happening a lot lately! I've researched a bit and they say that it is normal for pregnant women to have trouble sleeping. Something about hormones making your mind more easily stimulated. (Cue in my child who will wake up to have a conversation with herself and then go back to sleep yet has woken me up and I can't got back to sleep, ha!) Anywho...so here I am blogging at an hour that I'm sure God doesn't even like - kidding! I've decided to do a "Talking Tuesday" where I'll blog - really record - what Sophie has said during the week. I've done a terrible job of remember all the cute and amazing things that come out of her mouth so this way I'll always have a record of it! She's discovering the world and it is hilarious to watch! She brings such joy! I'll wrap this up now and onto the "talkings" of the week! Since this is my first week I'll just highlight some of the basics!

-1,2,3

-A,B,C

-Eye, nose, mouth (She doesn't seem to be concerned about the other body parts like ear, hair, etc)

-She says the names of every one she's close to (Mommy, Daddy, Nan, Aunt Dean, Aunt Sissy, etc, etc)

-Doggie (if you get called Doggie know that you are loved! She reserves that for only her most beloved of things! That, or she sees a doggie which she can spot or hear up to half a mile away!)

-She has put a lot of sentences together, but I can't remember most of them. Here are a few: Where is Sophie? Here I am; Mommy, come get me; There you are (when she find someone/something she was looking for); I go see (insert person she's going to see)

-She definitely has the word "NO" down pat, ha!

I realize these posts are going to be pretty boring for everyone except the grandparents and aunts! Sorry! It's just such a great way for me to remember every funny thing she has done! I've already forgotten most of them!

Well, that's all I can think of right now, and I'm getting sleep so I'm going to go try to hit the sack again!

**I actually waited until I was awake and coherent enough to post this! Didn't want to embarrass myself :)

The simple things in life!

2010-06-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

This past week Sophie and I went to North Florida for my cousin's graduation and to help my grandmother get ready for his party. It's always so wonderful to be around family, but for a couple days after we leave I always feel a bit blue! So I decided to write a blog of things that always serve as a cheer me up :)!

Ice cream! The perfect treat for a hot Florida afternoon!

Cookies! Yum!

Honeysuckle - reminds me of Spring in the South! As Anne from Anne of Green Gables said, I "just drink them in!"

Thunderstorms! Some may think I'm a bit crazy for this, but I love thunderstorms! Perfect weather to curl up on the couch and read a book!

The beach!

Pink nail polish always makes the "yuckies" go away!

Guilty Pleasures

2010-06-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have to admit that I LOVE watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey! I haven't gotten into the other Real Housewives, but I've fallen in love with the NJ women! Well, most of them! There is one that I think is just plain off her rocker! But, hey, there has to be one to keep the watchers on their toes, right?? I find it interesting that I like these women so much! I mean we're as different as lets say, north and south :)! I just love how they "momma" their families!! From what I see it's all about their family and I love that!! Finally a show where family is first! I also love that they're not afraid to keep each other accountable! They're just so much fun to watch!