cleaning house

It's never ending, especially with a baby and a dog! Some of you may know that I am a neat freak and I cannot stand for things to not to be in there place. I hate going to bed at night knowing that there are dirty dishes in the sink or a pile of unfolded clothes on the couch. It absolutely drives me crazy! However, I am learning that with a baby I cannot always have a spotless house. There will be toys (both Avery's and Bailey's)  scattered throughout the house and I have to be okay with that. For a while I would spend Avery's nap times picking up all of the toys off of the floor, only to bring them right back out when she woke up. What was I thinking?!!? I no longer feel the need to constantly be picking things off the floor; though after she goes to bed at night I do try to straighten up a bit.

Our house is also all tile.... no carpet, just a few area rugs... and I never knew just how difficult it would be to keep it clean. Of course, I try to vacuum and mop once a week, but now that Avery is scooting all over the place, I have learned that my once-a-week floor cleaning is just not enough. Avery literally scoots all over our house and when I go to pick her up she is covered in dirt, dog hair and who knows what else... It's so frustrating because Chris and I do not wear shoes in our house in hopes of not tracking in a lot of dirt and germs. I know Bailey tracks in a lot of dirt, but I can't keep wiping her paws every time she comes in from outside- not with a baby in my arms!  SO, I've been completely grossed out by all that Avery picks up on her outfits as she is scooting around in our house but am NOT ok with having to lug out a huge vacuum cleaner every single day. I am proud to say that I have discovered my new favorite cleaning device. The Swiffer Max! Seriously, it.is.amazing. It literally grabs everything right off the floor like magic! It's so much lighter and even gets the job done quicker (and better) than the vacuum cleaner. Obviously, I can only use it on the tile, so I still have to keep up with vacuuming the rugs on a regular basis, but now I can rest assured knowing that the floors are clean enough for Avery to scoot around on!!

Now on to laundry. Does anyone else feel like that is ALL they do? I am usually pretty good at staying on top of all of our laundry, but that typically means having to do a load-or two- each day (or maybe every other day). I can't even imagine how much laundry I will be doing when we have another child (no, that is not an announcement). This week I have fallen behind and am trying to play catch up in one day. This is what my living room looks like-- and there is still a load in the dryer, washer and I'm not even going to THINK about washing Bailey's beds and toys today!

at least I have a great helper!!

SO, cleaning the house is a never ending process. I am learning that I cannot keep our house spotless- a house is supposed to look lived in! It's ok if the sink has a few dishes in it when I go to bed... There are so many other more important things in life than trying to keep our house spotless. Avery will only be this age once and I don't want to miss a minute because I'm stressing over the messiness of our home. Plus, it just takes 5 minutes at the end of each day to tidy up the house enough that I don't go too crazy!

In all seriousness, I count it a true blessing to be able to stay at home with Avery and spend her nap times cleaning and cooking. I'm so blessed to be able to do my dream job- a stay at home mom!!! I really do have the best job in the world! :)

A Different Point Of View

Avery has discovered that she can pull the bumpers down on her crib for a better view....

Avery learning to walk with Daddy

Avery is so mobile these days and wants to be on the go all of the time. Here she is practicing her walking skills with Daddy on July 12, 2011. I didn't think to grab the camera when she first started on her journey from the living room to our bedroom, but I was able to capture most of it!

Please excuse our messy house... I don't really have the time or motivation to keep it spotless like I once did pre-child! :)

Avery makes Micah cry

Avery and Micah have been around each other several times and have always done great together. Well, the weekend of Avery's dedication was quite a different story. Every time Avery would "talk", Micah would start to cry. Seriously, he did this all weekend long. We made several attempts to catch it on camera, but this is the best that we got....

a heavy heart

Last night, Chris and I received a devastating email that an entire family in our church had been killed tragically in a plane crash on Saturday evening. The father, Fred, was piloting the plane when he lost one of the engines and tried to make an emeregency landing in Alabama. Fred, his wife, and 5 of their children were all killed in the crash. They have a 16 year old daughter who was not on the plane. Please pray for their family and for our church family and Niceville community as everyone learns of their passing.

We never knew the Teutenberg's, but knew Fred's face as he played the bass guitar every Sunday morning in our worship service. From everything that we have been told, he was an amazing man of God and will be terribly missed. Praise the Lord that he (and prayerfully, his family) are now in the presence of our God.

Life is so short.

Please continue to pray for those left behind.

4th of July weekend

Chris had a three day weekend so we took the opportunity to go up to Douglasville and spend the weekend  with his parents. We spent both Saturday and Sunday on the boat at Lake Allatoona- even Bailey and Holli got to experience the fun! The weather was absolutely beautiful, a little hot, but still so nice. Avery is such a water baby and loved floating around in the water with us. She also really enjoys riding on the boat; she is full of giggles and it even puts her to sleep sometimes. :)

Bailey is not so fond of the water.... Chris would have to pick her up and jump into the water while holding her. She is not a graceful swimmer as she tries to climb on top of the water rather than swim in the water. It's actually quite hysterical. The way she enlongates her neck to keep her head from getting anywhere near the water makes me think of a swan- not the gracefullness of a swan, but the long neck! She didn't last too long on Saturday. That night Christopher and I bought Bailey a life jacket. We tried it on her and she completely froze. It's like she forgot how to walk! We couldn't wait to try it out on Sunday and we were STUNNED at the difference it made. Bailey actually swam with her paws under the water and even tried to play fetch in the water. We couldn't believe it! (Ed caught it all on video, so I'll post it when I get it!)

Avery and Grandmommy hanging out on the boat

Both Bailey and Holli are petrified of the water. They couldn't stand it when we were all in the water and they were left on the boat! 

Napping on the boat on Saturday, July 2nd

hanging out on Grandmommy and Poppy's new living room furniture

blurry, but cute!

Bailey learning how to swim with a life jacket on!

Family picture on the boat! Happy 4th of July!!! :)

July 3rd... wearing her patriotic bathing suit and refusing to nap!

As soon as we started our ride back to the car, Avery fell asleep- what a sweet picture of Avery and her Grandmommy

Monday, July 4th, was our travel day, but before we got on the road back to FL we made a stop in Newnan to see our friends, Mario and Katherine and to meet their precious 4 week old, Colin. It was so great catching up with them and I'm so glad that we got to meet Colin while he was still in the newborn stage. He was SO tiny and looks just like his daddy, Mario. Avery has a little bit of hair envy-- the boy has a head full of dark hair! Seriously, he is so cute! 

Chris and Mario were in PT school together... here they are 2 years later with their kids!

We made it back home before all of the 4th of July festivities, but honestly, we stayed home. Avery was exhausted and truthfully, so were we! We put Avery down for the night and then we watched the New York fireworks on t.v. then went to bed ourselves. Next year we will make it a bigger deal since Avery will be older and will be able to enjoy it.


We had such a wonderful time getting to relax and spend time with Ed and Cheryl. It's always so nice to go home and we always enjoy going out on the boat. It's one of our favorite things to do! :) Of course, the weekend went by way too fast, as always, but we are so thankful for the long weekend and time with family and friends.

Can't believe I don't have any pictures of Ed.... I do have video of him though- I'll post that soon!