Need Some Help, Girls.....

I am totally at a loss for what I should be feeding AG. She turns one NEXT FRIDAY, and you'd think I just might have this down by now.

Unfortunately, you would be wrong.

By the way, I have a way more interesting (No.) post about our vacation to Mexico last week.  What's that?  You wondered why I hadn't been posting?  Or you knew that because of my complete and total paranoia safety-mindedness that I must not be posting because we were traveling.

Which, when I think about it, isn't really a super stellar way of throwing off burglars, is it?

At any rate, on to my questions. 

Disclaimer: Feel free to answer, speculate, and generally throw in your two-cents whether you have children of your own, or whether you just googled answers to these questions five minutes ago.  I'm not picky.


1. When did you start giving your baby whole milk? 

2. When did you drop the pre-bedtime feeding? And do you promise that AG will keep sleeping through the night?  Because if not, I'll be giving her a bedtime bottle every night til she goes to college.

Attractive.

3.  What did your day look like when your baby turned one? (Feedings, naptimes, outings?  Collapsing onto the couch while praying that your baby would take a decent nap?)

4.  Any tips on great solid foods for little ones? AG eats some big people food, but mostly still stage 3 baby food. It's easier, and I'm apparently a little lazy. She has a bunch of teeth, and I'm sure she could be eating more foods, if I wasn't such a sissy and deathly afraid of her choking.
 
5.  Anything else I need to know? 
 
Thanks, y'all!  I'll post some pictures of our Mexico trip soon, I promise.  It basically involved John having to work (a little), while I raided the mini-bar for chocolate every morning.  And afternoon.  And evening.   
 
I also may or may not have accidentally flashed some of his coworkers during our "ride the dolphins, and OH, hey, maybe you should tell people not to wear string bikinis!" adventure.
 
Good times.

Baby D's New Look (I mean, on the blog. I didn't give AG a sassy new makeover, or anything).

Do you ever stalk read blogs, and decide that if you lived in the same city as the blog author, you would definitely be friends?
Maybe you even occasionally start talking about this person in conversations with your husband, telling him about how so-and-so did/said the funniest/coolest/most thought-provoking thing today.

(And maybe when he figures out that this is a person you have never actually met, he looks at you like you’re a total creeper.)

NOT that I know about this from experience. Because I don’t.

Except that I do.

Anyway, I’ve been reading Melanie’s blog for awhile now, and thinking: this girl seems SO sweet and godly, and I want to be just like her.

(Now I sound creepy again, don’t I?)

So, about a month ago, Melanie offered a giveaway for a free custom blog design. (Because not only is she a busy mother of two, she finds time to do these fantabulous blog creations.  It would be sickening if she wasn't so awesome.).   I read about this giveaway, and decided, well yes.  Yes, I would like to win that. And against ALL of my normally un-winning odds, I actually won.

Let me just tell you that, now, after working with Melanie on this design, I am CERTAIN that we would be friends in real life. And not just in blog life. Because she reached into my brain and pulled out EXACTLY what I would have wanted, had I been creative enough to think of it on my own.

Which I obviously wasn’t.

Regardless, if you’re in the market for a new blog design, TALK TO MELANIE. Her designs are awesome, she is beyond sweet & fun to work with, and her prices are so affordable.

Thank you again, Melanie for the fantastic design! I loved getting to work with you on this!

Athens

Dear Sherri,

Your little trip to Athens today was fun, wasn't it?  You got to re-live old memories at the ADPi house, walk around downtown, and see the (in)famous Brumby again.  Good times.

But listen.....when you're chatting with the cute, young college girls working in that adorable shop downtown, and you ask them what sorority they're in, they are NOT going to return the question.  Sorry, hon.  And don't expect them to ask what "year" you are.  I'm not sure, but it may have a little something to do with the bags under your eyes. 

And your lack of desire to try to hide them with makeup.

And the fact that you asked them where to find a Georgia cheerleading uniform for your baby.

(Btw, it's not nice to wish wrinkles and early aging upon those girls either.  Just sayin.)

I know you haven't been back to Athens in a quite awhile (due to a child who insisted upon being born during football season last year.  Diva.), but it's generally best if you don't go around starting sentences with, "when I was in Athens." 

Like, "when I was in Athens, we used to go to Mexicali all the time."  Or "when I was in Athens, we still had dial-up internet. And no tivo."  And especially not, "when I was in Athens, we only used our cell phones for emergencies, and we (gasp) didn't text our friends."

You might as well tell people that you walked 5 miles, uphill, in the snow, to your classes.

Be prepared for the college children to look at you like you're an alien from another planet.  (Or just a thirty-something.  Which is basically the same thing to them.)

Let me sum it up for you:  Just because you wear jeggings, drink Starbucks, and say things like "awesome,"  people do NOT think you're still in college.  (And probably especially because you say things like "awesome.")

Sincerely,
Your thirty-something self that gets tired at 9:30, loves HGTV, and kicks it regularly in her sweatpants.

(Hey, at least it's not a housecoat.  Yet.)

A Few Things.....

1.  Ally Grace is officially 11 months old!  Which means, next month, she'll be considered a toddler.
Coincidentally, it also means that I will no longer be able to blame things on "the baby."  Or even (shamefully) the pregnancy. 

Like this raging case of OCD I seem to have picked up, because of the pregnancy.

Or the hypothetical widening of my hips, because of the baby.

Or darn, I sure would love to come to your (insert event that I am desperately trying to get out of) but I can't, because I have to get home and feed the baby.

Regardless, I'm loving every minute of this stage with Ally Grace.  Even though she's going through what some might call a "screeching in public" phase.  And despite the fact that she's constantly got her finger in her nose, my nose, or just jabbing it somewhere in the general vicinity of my eyeball. 

But really, she's five thousand kinds of adorable, and I'll just leave it at that.  I couldn't possibly love the girl more.

2.  (I know, I know, that was ALL number 1.  Rash.)  So, I watched the show "Hellcats" last night.  It has all the things I look for in a new favorite show:

• it's on the CW
• it's all about cheerleading (hello? Bring It On, anyone?!)
• it has a target audience of teenagers

What's not to love?

3.  I came up with a fantastic combination of toppings at my neighborhood Yoforia.  Which I may have visited one (or five) too many times this week.  Potentially even immediately after going on a run.  But really, I was doing a public service by experimenting with toppings, because what I am about to share with you will rock. your. world.

Blueberries......with fruity pebbles.

Clearly I have a mature food palate. (No.)  Also, I'm pretty sure the blueberries cancel out the fruity pebbles.

4.  WHERE in the world can you find a 12 month old Georgia cheerleading uniform???  Don't worry, I'm not signing her up for cheerleading.  Yet.  But her first birthday party's coming up, and due to our inability to consult a calendar before planning important events, we may have accidentally planned it for the Georgia-Tennessee game.  Which will now be referred to as "Ally Grace's First Tailgate" by everyone that matters.

(Or probably only by us.  But isn't a baby cheerleading uniform practically a requirement here? I'm feeling scared that I might have to bust out some scissors and try to get crafty, if I can't find one that's actually made by professionals.  Or Nike.  Or just someone who sews.)

5.  And because I'd really like to end on number 5 (and, hello OCD....we're back), I'll just tell you that for Labor Day, we went to the lake. 

As per usual, we attended the Lake Rabun holiday buffet, hosted by the Dillard House.  And as per usual, we not only had the buffet memorized, we used this to our advantage to strategize our food choices, placement, and general execution.

What?  It was completely all because of the pregnancy. the baby.

Oh wait.

Yes, We ARE Those People

Voting starts today on Gerber's Cutest Kid!  Which we sincerely hope will be Ally Grace, so that we can afford to send her to college. 

(Have I guilted you into voting yet?)

Here's the link, should you be so inclined to use it.  (Please use it.)

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!  GO DAWGS!