Oh What Do You Do in the Winter Time?

It has been snowing like crazy here and it won't go away! I haven't been as fun as I could be with McKinlee, because to be honest... I've been exhausted! Luckily this girl is starting to be better at independent play. She was pretty proud of her pile of books that she put in her chair. By the way, after seeing how much she loved sitting in my niece's bouncer on our visit to Chicago, Stafford dug out our old bouncer and McKinlee has been sitting in it nonstop! 

Something else we've been getting pretty good at is pillow forts. McKinlee loves them and we love them even more more daddy comes home right in time to turn it into a pillow fight. 

We've also been able to venture out and enjoy reading time at our local Barnes & Noble. They have the cutest kids area and it's a great place to go for a half hour or so when we need a break from the apartment.

Something I was able to do for myself was my very first vendor show. I had so much fun getting ready for it and then setting it up! Sometimes I don't give myself enough credit for my little shop. I enjoy it and Stafford loves that it's something fun for me to do. I don't think he loves the mess it makes in our tiny home, but I'll get better at that ;)

And there's our last couple weeks in pictures! We have so much coming up with the holidays that it's nice to have this little break beforehand. I hope you had a great weekend!

Our 4th of July

We had such a fun day complete with too much food and plenty of sun! We're in Washington for the summer for Stafford's internship and we're staying with my parents. We went to the church for a pancake breakfast, then played, then napped, then played some more. My parents put up a little kiddie pool for McKinlee to play in and she LOVED it! Stafford grilled up ribs and some delicious chicken kabobs my mom made. We had corn on the cob, baked beans, Au Gratin potatoes, brussel sprouts, angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream, and brownies. Needless to say, no one left the table hungry. We finished off the day with sparklers and the neighborhood firework show. McKinlee liked the sparklers a little too much I think. She was pretty comfortable with holding them and waving them around. Luckily daddy was holding her and kept her flailing arms away from hair, eyes, and other important facial features. We laid out a blanket for the firework show and McKinlee was sweet enough to give everyone some cuddle time. She loved looking up in the sky and dancing to the music.
We had a great weekend and are looking forward to packing up for Arizona next week... Arizona in July... why did we do that?! Then it's off to Nevada for a short trip and back to Washington to finish out the summer. I am so grateful to spend this summer with our families! I know someday we won't be students anymore and it will be harder to get away. I'll take it while I can!

swimsuit: old, similar here / headband  

How was your Fourth? Do you have any traditions with your littles?? I love to hear what other mamas do :)

Valentine's Day Sale!

Check out our blow out sale on all things Valentine's in the shop!

We're Celebrating Black Friday!!

Happy Thanksgiving

McKinlee: 9 Months

Sweater: Baby Gap Clearance / Leggings: Carters gift / Headband: Lovestrong Shop

I feel like this month went by really fast and McKinlee has grown SO much! I think this is my favorite stage yet. She is so mobile and her personality shows through more and more each day. She definitely knows when she's doing something she shouldn't because she turns around and gives me her little smirk. It's pretty adorable. I can't get over how much she's changed lately. Slow down child!

Sleep: McKinlee has been doing great with sleeping! I'm so glad she's back to a schedule, and by schedule, I mean she naps within 2 hours of the times I say.  She takes 2 good naps a day. One around 11:30 and another at 3:30 or so. We keep her up until 9 or 9:30 and she goes down for the night. The time change did mess with her a bit, but we're grateful, because she used to go to bed around 11 and now she's back to 9:30 or 10. Stafford and I have always been night owls, but since this time change and being parents (and Stafford being in school all day) we are tired by 10! We've been going to bed before midnight almost every day this week! I'm pretty proud of us. 

Size: 
Weight: Not sure!

Height: 26 in.

We're in size 2 diapers and she is in between clothing sizes as always. She wears 3-6, and 6 month clothing mostly. She can wear 9 month jammies, but all her other 9 month things are too big for her. I have an adorable pair of pink jeggings and I'm dying for her to wear them. I probably try them on her every other day hoping for a growth spurt. Sometimes I worry that she too small, but other babies are small too. She'll catch up soon I'm sure. For now I'm just loving her cute little petite body!

 
Food: Breastfeeding is completely over this month. I'm sad about it, but I knew it was coming. The move really messed me up I think, so maybe with the next little one I can go a little longer. I think it's a good time though- McKinlee isn't really interested in it and now that she has 6 teeth I'm not really interested in it either haha. She has around 5 or 6 bottles a day and she has been eating real food more and more. About a week ago I had a mini freakout about how small she was and that I wasn't feeding her enough table food. Of course I looked at other blogs and comments and read that by this age some babies were eating chili!! Crazy. I was worried I was stunting McKinlee's growth because of my own selfish reasons- I get nervous feeding her table food because I don't want her to choke and me not being able to handle it. So this week I went to town on trying new foods with her. - Which is also said to be bad in case of allergies and allowing her to get used to new tastes. It's fine. But lately we've tried goldfish (didn't like), chopped pears, chopped carrots (didn't like), green beans (didn't like), cheddar cheese (didn't like), yogurt, Gerber puffs (favorite!), mashed potatoes, cream of wheat, and some pureed meat (didn't like). Although it looks like she's picky, we've only tried these foods a couple times, so I bet she'll like them the more she tries them. It's become more fun since I've opened up to feeding her off our plates. Yay for trying new things!

Milestones: McKinlee is a crawling machine! I am loving it! It's a whole new ball game since she's branched out of the living room and will now follow us into our room/closet/bathroom/kitchen/anywhere! She crawls into our little pantry cupboard in the kitchen and on to our dishwasher. She LOVES playing in the kitchen. I love that she can crawl because she can totally entertain herself. At the same time, she gets into everything. Ugh. Will my house never be clean again?? McKinlee also claps now (adorable!) and tries to match what we say in the same pitch. She says bah bah when we say bye bye and she can mimick the "ha" sound for hi. I'm sure we're a ways from her actually saying anything, but these are major milestones in my mind! My favorite is when she leans in with an open mouth for kisses! She pulls herself up onto anything and everything she can. She also walks along the couch/ bookshelves. It's been a pretty fun month of her exploring our new home and I'm loving it.


I am so proud of our little love bug. She's such a joy to have around. I am finally learning how she communicates with me and we get each other. She's started laying her head on my shoulder again at bed time and I LOVE that. So sweet. Anyways, I'm glad Heavenly Father has blessed us with her. She's our whole world and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Don't Forget!

Don't forget to pickup your free lace flower headband TODAY! It's the last day to take advantage of this offer, so tell your friends! All you have to do is "like" our facebook page then visit our website and click the facebook offer button. Pick your size headband and checkout! These headbands also make perfect gifts for your expecting friends!

Facebook Offer...

I put up an offer on facebook, so like my page if you want to take advantage of it!

https://www.facebook.com/LovestrongBlog

Hope you're having a beautiful fall weekend!

New Items in the shop!

Yes- We now carry rompers! We're so excited about them that we're having a weekend sale! Rompers are 25% off this weekend only..  Get yours at lovestrongshop.weebly.com.

Sunday, Funday

It has been such beautiful weather lately, so Sunday we decided to take some pictures in Grandpa's yard...

 Headband: Lovestrong Shop // Bracelet: Lovestrong Shop // Dress: Carter's

This girl is growing up too fast! Her two bottom teeth are killing me! I love her sweet little smile. Her cousins are in town now and they are all just having so much fun together.. Pictures to come.

Baby + product pictures =

While I was photographing my products this happened...

Headband: Lovestrong Shop

Ok the last two are pretty perfect.. but wow it was difficult to get them. I'm excited to be moved in and have my white comforter back. I'm starting to decorate our new apartment in my mind. This is very difficult seeing as it is currently being built so I have no pictures to go off of. If you just said "AH!" in your head, don't worry... I know. I'm freaking out a little bit. We are just going on a leap of faith and doing it. Have you ever been in a situation like this? Having McKinlee makes it a little more complicated and that's why McKinlee and I stayed behind at my parent's house. Stafford has officially started school in Minnesota and I think he's loving it. He's a guy, so no he did not say the word "love", but yes, I think he does love it. It makes me that much more excited to be there and see a new city! Stafford said there are skywalks and tunnels between buildings and the city itself is just beautiful! I honestly can't wait!