Shelby's First International Auto Show!

A month ago we went to the Portland International Auto Show here in...where else...Portland.
If you know me then you know I have a pretty intense love for cars and I really want to pass this passion onto my daughter. She is, after all, named after one of the best mustangs out there!

Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest car show we've ever been to but we were able to get some fun pictures.

Shelby and I admiring the Audi R8...if only a car seat would fit in there.

They had a fun kid section to keep the little ones entertained. They got to drive power-wheels around a track. It was soooo funny watching these kids try to "drive". Let's just say in the 8-10 years they have left until they drive I sure hope their coordination increases! The best part was the "cop". You know he was having a good time!

Goin after a collision.

Uh-oh...did I do that?

You're goin' too fast!

It was a pretty fun day!

3 Months Old!

I'm posting this today even though Shelby won't be exactly 3 months till tomorrow. There's actually 29 days in this month so we get to "celebrate" her third month instead of doing it a day early or day late. She had a doctor appointment today and she now weighs 11pounds 11ounces...whew! My little girl sure is growing!

Here's a cute pic of my baby! She is such a happy baby...all the time. We love her!!

13 weeks or 3 months old today!

Tummy time...during & after

During tummy time...


Shelby actually loves tummy time but if you leave her there too long she'll let ya know!


After tummy time...


Shelby is chewing me out for leaving her on her tummy time boppy for too long; haha!


Moral of this story: expect to get chewed out by Shelby if you leave her on her boppy for tummy time longer than 10 minutes. Haha!

"Just a bottle feeder"

If you want to hit a sore spot with me, tell me I'm "just a bottle feeder".

I was in the mother's lounge today taking care of Shelby and feeding her in peace and quite so as to not disturb others in my class. Shelby is known for her massive belches and sometimes over-the-top fussiness when she eats. Most of the time though she chugs the bottle and she's good to go...today was not one of those days so I made my way to the mother's lounge to take care of business.

I was minding my own business when a women and her baby walk in. We exchange hello's and she proceeds to nurse her baby. She sees me set my bottle down and asks "Oh, do you pump?" I reply with "No, it's fomula. I can't nurse so I'm thankful she'll take a bottle." She replies "Oh...well some women just can't handle breastfeeding. It's too hard for some." That's when the irritation started.

You see...it's not that I don't WANT to nurse...it's that I physically CANNOT! Trust me....if I could I would...but I can't. I try to explain to her that I actually cannot nurse and she kinda gets it; then says "Well, since you're just a bottle feeder can't you feed your baby in the back row of a classroom or something?"

"Ummmmmmmm......what?"

Sooo...am I not entitled to the "Mother's Lounge" because I'm "just a bottle feeder"? I think not! I'm a mother too and I'm pretty sure I have every right to the mother's lounge as every other mother does. So don't tell me I'm "just a bottle feeder" and that I can "simply feed in the back row".

I'm a mother too. End rant.

To end on a high note Ryan made German Pancakes for lunch...I'm happy now and am gonna go stuff my face! Yummy!

Story Time!

Daddy and Shelby are having a great conversation and story time. So cute!

I'll call her...Ellie

Many of you know I'm obsessed with cars. I LOVE them. Not just any car though; I am a muscle car girl. I LOVE me a good ol' 1969 Mach 1 Mustang. I'm also pretty into foreign cars, especially Volkswagen's, since I've owned 3 of them. My most recent VW was dubbed "sexy-fast" by my car enthusiast friends. I loved that little GTI VR6 with all my heart. 

My "sexy-fast'

Well, if you know any about this type of car you'll know that you can't fit a car-seat, let alone a human being, in the back seat. It fits 2 comfortably, up front, and possibly someone semi-comfortably in the back seat if they're sitting sideways. Since it wouldn't fit a car-seat we decided to sell it so we could upgrade to a mid-size SUV. (trust me...I tried every single way possible to get a car-seat into that car. No way no how.)

NOT car-seat friendly

Long story short we sold my car in less than a day from posting our first ad on craigslist. We have now been looking for a car for 5 months and yesterday we finally found our new "family vehicle"!! I found the ad online at Courtesy Ford's website, here in Portland. We drove to the dealership, test drove it, played the "number crunching" game for about 1 hour, then walked out the door with keys in hand and happy owners of a "new to us" 2005 Ford Escape!!

Here's Ellie!!!

She's black with amazing black leather interior. After taking her for her first trip around Portland today we discovered it has heated seats (which the dealership didn't know about) and that it has parking assist and a system that alerts you when there's something too close to the back of your car when you're in reverse. Pretty cool huh? These are all things the dealership didn't know about...hehe. 

Yup...we have butt warmers in these babies!

Plenty of leg room!

Sunroof!!!! Oh I love these!

We love our new ride! Now to make a trip up to Chehalis to show it off to family. 

Be My Valentine

Since I have to work during the day Ryan stays home with Shelby. And since I had to work today I didn't get to do my usual "fun Valentine activity" for Ryan where I come up with something fun and witty.

To my pleasant surprise when I came home from work I found this on the front door.

I came inside and found red heart doilies, chocolate hearts and fun Valentine confetti, in paths, all over the apartment. My mission was to choose which path I wanted. I had 3 to choose from.

My first path lead me to this:

Fresh dungeness crab legs for dinner!! Yummy!!!

The second path, which I had to start back at the front door for, led me to this:

A card with a 1 hour massage gift card...courtesy of Ryan. 

The third path, which I again had to start from the beginning, led me to the prettiest flower I've ever gotten:

The most beautiful white and purple swirled orchid. An orchid is my most favorite flower and I've never gotten one before...until now.

The cutest thing of all this Valentine's Day was when Ryan gave Shelby her first ever long stemmed red rose. It was so sweet. He truly makes me happy and smile with all the sweet things he does for Shelby and me. He is the best guy out there!

Oh...and to top off the day he let me go test drive a Nissan Xterra that we've been looking at. Loved it! Now to talk "numbers"...hehe.

Today was a great day! Our first Valentine's Day as a little family with many more to come!

Daddy got me all cute today!

Mommy and I struttin' our stuff!

11 weeks old on my 1st Valentine's Day!

Home Alone

Today was the first day in 2.5 months that I got to be home alone ALL day by myself with Shelby. Ryan was at a class today so it was just Shelby and I from 8-5. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous because for half of Shelby's life we have been at my parents house in Chehalis and the other half was spent here at home with Ryan and I home all day, every day. Despite my nerves things went surprisingly well!

Here's a list of some of the things we did:

* Ate
*Slept
*Pooped (well...Shelby did anyways)
*Cried//Screamed (again another Shelby thing)
*Sang songs
*Watched Little Einsteins (she loves that show; she's gonna be a genius)
*She told me stories about pretty colored puppies (I assume anyways; she seems to "talk" a lot when we talk to her about puppies)
*I taught her about her toes, nose, fingers, ears and eyes.
*Shelby got her first ride in a laundry basket full of clean clothes
*We went for a short walk in the sunshine and said hello to a few neighbors
*And last but not least I got a lovely mouthful of spit up all over my shirt...it was awesome

Yup! Overall it was a pretty good day! Ryan got to come home early from his class so we ate again and went grocery shopping. Now we're home sitting on the couch watching our little tater tot in her swing, fast asleep. Such a sweet sight. If only these moments could last a lifetime.

A-DOR-ABLE

Soooo...I've just gotta take a second here to post a few amazingly cute pictures of our sweet little Miss Shelby. She is now 10 weeks old and is just the happiest baby ever! We love her sooooo much!

10 weeks old today!!

Uhh who's adorable today? Oh ya, that's me!!

Asleep on her boppy's. Such an angel!

2 Month Stats!

Our little Shelby is already 2 months old. Time has gone so fast! 

Oh my!

Here are her 2 months stats as given by her doctor after her check-up...and shots. Poor baby!

Weight: 10lbs 8ozs - 41%

Height: 23in - 75%

Head: 15in - 50%

She's tall and skinny!

Poor thing cried herself to sleep on the way home from her appointment.
Those darn shots!

Here's a couple 2 month pictures of our cutie-patootie!

In her new dress from Mima and Pops Emrich; and her elephant from Auntie Kaeli.
Super cute!

And not to mention...super happy!