Quick Scarlett Stats:

Scarlett is walking! She started a little over 2 weeks ago and is going strong now! She is so cute! Her chunky little butt and thunder thighs make her look like a little sumo baby!! I lover her squishy butt!

At her one year well baby check up she weighed 20lbs 11oz (40th percentile) 28 inches long (13th percentile) Head size 44 3/4 inches (36th percentile).

She has 6 teeth fully in, and is cutting between 2-4 more! Poor baby isn't really happy right now.

She loves giving hugs and kisses and it just melts me! She will come up, grab at us until she gets our face and plant a big kiss on us, it's the sweetest thing!!

She is a total daddy's girl!! I never really understood that term until Scarlett. I think every one says their little girls is a "daddy's girl" but Scarlett truly is! She follows him around everywhere!! If he goes into the bedroom or bathroom and shuts the door, she will sit at the door banging on it screaming at him to come back out! When he gets home from work her face just lights up and if he doesn't pick her up quick she will get pissed! It's really sweet to see how attached she is to him!

She thinks a 15 min nap in the car is enough for the day....Momma thinks different!

She has slept the past two nights in her crib (in our room) from 8:30 - 7:30!!

As of Friday March 4th Scarlett was done nursing. I just couldn't do it any more, but I am glad I made it a year! It was a wonderful bonding experience again.

We are starting to read to her every night before bed, just like we do her big sis and her favorite book is Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance! She loves the animals and is really enjoying mimicking animals. We are working on dog (her favorite!), cat, bird, and frog! She will make the exact same sound for all 4 which is a sorta bark. lol. She is also starting to recognize animals while we are out, pointing and "barking."

She does not really like when big sis goes to bed. We have to block her in the living room because she will sneak off and go into Savannah's room making kissing noises like she need to give her another goodnight kiss! It's cute!

Scarlett is learning to climb! She climbs up on the foot plate of my wheel chair then fusses because she can't get down! She also has learned to climb the little foot stool that is at the bottom of Savannah's bed!! This is scary because her balance isn't good and tonight when she got onto the bed she leaned back and, had Shawn not been there to catch her, she would of fallen backwards off the bed! Kinda scary!! Gotta keep an eye on this one!

Scarlett is such a fun, smart, beautiful toddler!!

Poor Baby

It's rough going from a baby to a toddler! Poor Scarlett has had 2 falls in 2 days! She got the bruise on her cheek in my craft room. I guess she tried to grab something to help her stand up, but missed and her face collided with a ribbon box! Then, last night in the bath tub, right as I was about to get her out, she stood up using the side of the tub and her hand slipped and she hit her eye! It bled pretty good, but looks a lot better than I thought it would! And on top of all of this, she has a bit of a cold! We were up with her around midnight Saturday night because she was having a hard time breathing! Overall it's been a rough weekend for Miss. Scarlett! Here's for hoping for a better week!

Banana "Ice Cream"

A friend of mine posted THIS LINK and said she had tried it and it was a hit with her kiddos. Last night we threw a few bananas in the freezer and tonight Shawn made the girls some Banana "Ice Cream!" As per my friend and the link, it was a hit with my girls!

You should try it!

Amazing Cupcakes!

One of the blogs I follow had a post about some cup cakes called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes and OH.MY.GOSH!! I knew the second I saw the photo that I had to make them! The first opportunity was obvious....my husbands birthday, but being the slack ass I am and the fact that our daughters birthday was exactly one week after his (that would be today. lol) I told him he had to wait because there was no way we were having a cake or cupcakes 2 weeks in a row, and I wasn't going to feed my little girl week old cupcakes on her birthday!! So today I made them and was SOOO NOT disappointed!

don't you love my box of left over christmas cake mix!? ha! But as it happened, the funfetti pieces were separate so I didn't add them!

Made the cake batter per the box, filled each paper cup about 1/2 full and stuck a premade cookie dough square right in the middle of each!

Baked at 350 for 18 min. How pretty do they look!!

I think I might be one of the few people who loves frosting from a can! I mean, don't get me wrong, home made icing is delicious, but I don't have the time or energy to make my own icing! This was cream cheese frosting from a can and it was YUMMY!

This is what the cup cake looks like split open! How neat!!

It tasted SOOOO GOOD!!

Seriously, you have to try it!

Scarlett's First Birthday

Today is Scarlett's first birthday and I am not sure that it's quite sunk in that my baby is one. I mean seriously, where did the year go? I can not believe this time last year I was sitting in the hospital still in shock that I had her!

This sweet, sweet baby has brought so much joy to our family! She is a total daddy's girl! The way she clings to Shawn is the most precious thing! Scarlett has really come into her personality over the last few months! She is playful, sneaky, stubborn, demanding, silly, cuddly, and just all around an amazing little girl!

It sorta breaks my heart that she isn't a baby anymore because there were just so many things that she did that were just too cute! But, I know that she is growing up and I am so excited to see the little person she is turning into! Her and her sister are two peas in a pod when it comes to trouble, but they are also the best little girls a mommy could ask for!

Happy First Birthday my Sweet Moo Moo!

Shirt made by ME! =)

What to do??

I need some advice! I am at a loss as to what to do with all of Scarlett's "Baby" things!? There are going to be no more babies in our immediate future. I am talking at least 4 years, if ever! So, what do I do with things like the upright swing, exersaucer, bumbo, mini pack and play, and clothes??

I swore up and down I wasn't having any more kids after Savannah, so I ended up giving all of her baby stuff away and of course after finding out I was pregnant with Scarlett, I could of kicked myself. Well it's a little bit different this time because I know for SURE...like 100% sure that if..and that's a HUGE if...we are going to have another baby it wouldn't be until close to Shawn going on another Shore Duty, which won't be for another 4 1/2 years! *tear*

So what do I do? Hold onto the stuff for 4 years *incase* we decide to have another baby and it is another girl? I am thinking not. I mean, in the 3 1/2 years between the two girls births, a lot of the baby stuff changed, so I imagine in the years leading up to possibly having another baby, the stuff will change even more.

I am so overwhelmed with the amount of "stuff" in our house, that the idea of dragging all of this baby stuff with us when we move again drives me crazy!

Well if you can't tell by now, I really want to get rid of it. Would you?

Oh, and don't forget the unexpected emotions accompanying the thought of getting rid of all of Scarlett's baby stuff. It makes me very sad. VERY SAD! Not the thought of not having any more kids, that doesn't bother me, it's the fact that my sweet, cuddle, squishy, Moo Moo is about to be a year old which means she isn't my baby anymore...she's my toddler! ugh. Ok well enough of that, I'm sure I'll have a nice long post next month when she actually turns one!

New Years Resolutions

Last year was kind of my "free" year. We arrived in Nebraska to start our shore duty and I was about 8 months pregnant. I had Scarlett in Feb and things have been pretty crazy since! I don't think I sent out a single birthday card, we ate out way too much, and I have neglected house hold duties A LOT! Well, this year I have decided there needs to be some change!

Here are some of the things that I have decided I/we need to do this year.

1. I need to stop buying fabric by the truck loads. I have an absurd amount of fabric in my craft room and after realized I have run out of room/space to put it, I am done. I will only buy what I need in the amount I need when I need it! No more buying just because I think it's cute.

2. I want to stock my etsy store. I finally came up with a logo, and I am pretty confident in my embroidery skills so I really want to start selling online. Two things that are holding me back is mostly the fear of no one buying my stuff. Second is the picture taking/writing listings. I have a problem with looking at things as a whole and then get overwhelmed very easily. I just need to take it one item at a time and hopefully I can start!

3. Eating out has got to stop. Being on shore duty and Shawn being home as much as he has has led to eating out a lot. This also ties in with #1 and me "taking a year off." I am horrible at planning meals and somehow the time always sneaks up on me in the evenings and instead of cooking a meal, we go out. I am really going to try and work on this. One of the things I am going to try is to cook more at one time! We have no issues eating left overs and already having food in the fridge to heat up a few nights a week would help.

4. Our grocery shopping is a little crazy. How we keep spending $100 at the store and then complaining there is nothing to eat in the house just blows my mind!! I have decided that this weekend we are going through all the cabinets and taking inventory of what all we have. I am going to plan as many meals as I can with the stuff we already have only picking up one or two things that would complete the meal. I hope to partially clear out the cabinets of the millions of can/boxes of food that keep accumulating.

5. Of course there is the ever so popular weight loss resolution. Scarlett will be one year old in Feb and I hope to wean her from nursing around that time. I have given myself free rein when it comes to eating while I nurse and I have gained weight due to it. It's no biggie because I expected to gain weight just like I did when I nursed Savannah, but after Scarlett is weaned, I have a goal of dropping one pant size by the first of next year. It took me 2 years after I was done with Savannah to drop 2 pant sizes so I will just follow that goal again. Of course it will be a bit harder being on shore duty and having Shawn around, but I just hope that if I set my mind to it that he will follow suit and we can both loose weight.

6. Shopping. Not grocery shopping, but random crap shopping. We spend too much money on nothing. Target is a HUGE factor in where our money goes, yet I look around my house and don't see anything but crap. I am over it. There are plenty of other things we could be doing other than shopping and this year things will change. Is cleaning out the garage/bedrooms/closets as fun as going shopping? No. But they are things we have need to do for months, but spend our weekends running round to different stores. Christmas was really hard trying to shop for our girls because there was nothing that they needed. We tend to buy them too much stuff through out the year that I don't feel like Birthdays/Christmas have that special "wow, i'm getting a gift" factor. It's just another day they are getting stuff. And that stuff just gets thrown in with the other stuff that doesn't get played with. This year there will be no more buying just to buy. If there is something I see that I think I want to buy for either of the girls, I will buy it with a specific holiday/occasion in mind.

7. This year I am going to try and do better about sending friends and family birthday/anniversary cards. I don't think I sent a single one last year, but I have already gotten a wall calendar for this year and marked it with birthdays. I want to pick a day very soon and go ahead and make a few months worth of cards so they are ready to go and all I have to do is pop a stamp on them and put them in the mail.

8. I will do better this year about remembering to sew for my own kids. Last year I was so caught up in trying to sell my stuff, that I neglected to sew for my girls. This year I am going to do better about getting shirts for my girls and my SIL's kids, at least, for all the major holidays!

9. NO MORE DRAMA. I am so sick to death of the added drama in our lives that I am choosing to stay out. 2011 will be a drama free zone in this Vrabel house.

I am determined to make 2011 a great year and a year of bettering myself and my family. It is our last year of shore duty before we have to move again and I will spend it enjoying my husband and girls while we are together. I wish all of my friends, family, and anyone else who reads my blog a very, very happy 2011!! =)

Neglected blog much?

Wow. It's been forever since I have blogged! I am so far behind that I don't even think I will bother catching up. I am going to try and do better blogging this year! I have a few "New Years Resolutions" for this year so that will probably be my first blog post. Hopefully I find the time to write it soon!