Insta-Friday...

Our Week in Instagrams...

A much needed date at home with The Hubby...

Pizza, PJ's and Friday Night Lights Season 1.... Perfect.

Pretty girl in Allora Handmade.

Morning Coffee while baby plays... It's how I start my day.

Finally back to normal after a bad reaction to her shots this week.

Picture Project Weeks 25-28!

Time is just flyyyying by with our Sweet Girl! I feel like I've said that before, but seriously... I can't believe that she's SIX months old! She's still the tinyest little thing, but acts like such a big girl! She was scooting faster and faster and flat out crawled Friday across the floor! She can even get herself sitting up again after we put her on her tummy! She babbles all the time and squeals and laughs... such sweet sounds! She's started saying "Da-da Da-da" over and over... we know she doesn't know what she's saying yet, but it sure is adorable! Her new discovery is that she can open and close her right hand and she does it over and over, accidently making the sign for "milk." It cracks us up! She had a baaad little spell of keeping Mama and Daddy up all night for a few weeks, but seems to be getting back to her old self. She gobbles up every new food she tries... Parsnips, Rutabegas, Spinach, Brocolli... crazy girl! I'm just glad we won't have a picky eater on our hands! She now falls asleep on my shoulder and needs lots of cuddles in the morning and before she goes to bed at night... LOVE this. We're just soaking up every moment of this adorable stage of baby... so fun and will be gone so quickly! We ADORE our little girl.

Insta-Friday

Here's a peek at our week in pictures...

A Childhood Dresser turned Entertainment Cabinet!

It's been SEVEN months since Bri and I landed back home in Missouri... Since Lovebug came shortly after settling into our apartment, the decorating (aside from the NURSERY) has been severely lacking. The worst offense being the bench to our dining room table as a make-shift TV stand until right before the Holidays. Seriously... It was hideous. Cords everywhere and a sad table that only seated two, making a dinner party real classy...ha.

I'd been looking for an an old buffet or dresser to transform at local antique markets, when I remembered the old furniture in my parents basement from my childhood. A seriously outdated dresser from Ethan Allen... Solid wood, great shape.... Sold. Well actually it was free... Which made this one cheap project! Here's the before:

Bri and I quickly headed to the hardware store to snag the following:

Piece of pine hardwood 3/4in
3M Sand block
Medium grit sand paper (100)
Paint (we used Behr premium plus)
Min Wax Polyurethane
Micro foam roller
Fine paint brush
Drop cloth
New hardware (ordered HERE)

The color we chose was a country blue... pretty dark with a grey tone to it. We color-matched a rustic shelf from my parents house that I loved.

My wonderful parents blessed Bri and I with a date night to tackle most of this project and we gladly took it!

We borrowed a palm sander from Bri's parents and went to town on that dresser. We used the sand blocks for the detailed parts. Here it is after....

After a really good wipe down, we hauled it up the 3 flights of steps to our apartment and got to work painting. It took 2 coats to get the even look we wanted and then we let it dry 24 hours.

Then I spend about 30 minutes sanding off the edges and making it look nice and worn on all sides,
before applying the polyurathane. FYI... that stuff smells. We did this in December in Missouri, so naturally we had to freeze ourselves out with the doors and windows open... ha. We really liked the look of the low-shine sealer over the flat paint. Here's the final product after putting on the new hardware...

We're really happy with how it turned out! Have a great weekend y'all!

Insta-Friday...

So I recently got an iPhone. I LOVE my iPhone. It makes it super easy to blog, Pin, Tweet, Facebook, take amazing pics, and surf the web, read books...all while rocking my sweet girl for hours or while waiting in the long line at Trader Joes. I can also edit my pics. Y'all KNOW I don't have oodles of time for that right now (see previous post) So it's such a handy little thing. I could go on, but y'all would much rather flip through pics of this crazy-cute little Lovebug instead!

I'm linking up!

What I Want for 2012

I know I'm really late on the whole "Here are my goals and resolutions for 2012" post, but folks, I'm just plain WIPED. When I sat down and started thinking about all that I want to accomplish this year, and what I want to change, etc, I started to feel very , very overwhelmed. Am I expecting too much of myself? Do I have too many goals? I honestly wanted to run to bed and hide under the covers...which is where I suppose it all starts. Our little Lovebug has been going through an "I don't want to sleep at ALL" phase for the last month. I've talked to several people... I know that it will pass, that babies do this. We'll survive. Her phase just came at a very bad time for this Mama. I was just starting to feel like myself... I wanted to start sewing again, blogging more, trying new recipes, decorating, etc. Well, this tired Mama is barely making it through the daily stuff like dinner, cleaning, laundry, errands... before crawling to my bed bone-tired at the end of the day, only to be up with our girl most of the night.

WIDE awake... laughing (at Mama's exhaustion) 1am.

Every morning, while I drink my coffee and Lovebug plays, I read blog after blog of Stay at Home Mamas with 4+ kiddos, who craft, and sew, and make sweet memories, all while recording it on their beautiful blogs almost EVERY day. They also take time to do daily photos of their kids, pin a few things, tweet, and run an Etsy shop. HOW do they do it? Seriously HOW? Does is somehow get easier with more than one kiddo?

Passed out... sitting up... NO paci... exhausted.

I KNOW that "Comparison is the theif of JOY", but folks, this is what I want for OUR family, for MY life... to have the time and energy to do MORE than what's getting done.

This is what I want for 2012...
1. Be in constant communication with God... He's listening, so I'm gonna get talking and ABIDING!
2. Eat Healthier-LESS SUGAR. (Totally addicted + my body type = BAD)
3. Get walkin' girl! (The baby weight ain't gonna fall off on it's own)
4. Get out that sewing maching at least once a week... I've got the crafting/sewing bug BAAAD!

5. Catch up on Hannah's Digital Scrapbooks and keep current on them!

6. Blog more... it's been a drought since Lovebug was born!

7. Stop Pinning and MAKE something! It seriously stresses me out having a zillion pins and nothing made.

So LET'S CHAT! Anyone else feel overwhelmed by all you want to accomplish? Any advice from other Mamas? I wanna hear from y'all! For real.

I'm still IN LOVE with this beautiful girl, tired or not.



A Quick and Easy Sew: Paci Clips

Our sweet little Lovebug needed some stocking stuffers in time for Christmas so I finally broke out the sewing machine for the first time since she was born! She's just recently become attached to her pacifier and the fact that it gets dropped 5 times at lunch on the dirty restaurant floor, had me heading to the craft store quick!

Here's what I used...

Grosgrain ribbon
Clips (I found mine HERE)
Snaps (and a hammer)
Thread (and a sewing machine)

I cut 10in strips of ribbon, and looped the clip through one end. I sewed a straight stitch at 1/2 in and then serged over the straight line. I hemmed the other end of the ribbon at a 1/2 I'm an then made a one inch loop where I had my Hubby hammer in the snaps. Stick a paci on one and you've got a pretty cute way to keep baby happily within reach of dear paci.

I have to admit, she looks pretty cute!

Have a great weekend!








P.S. I'm linking up to the parties over there --->

Picture Project Weeks 21-24!

Whew... what a wonderful year 2011 was! We were blessed to move home from San Diego, just in time for the arrival of our sweet Lovebug... and all the fun we've had with her since! She is really growing up so very fast! In the last few weeks, she sits up for a bit before laying back down and reaches for everything! She's doing her own little version of crawling... more like scooting and is soo fast! I'll turn my head for a second, and she's licking our floor lamp or entertainment center! Hilarious child. Spending the holidays here with all our friends and family and our baby girl was so special! She brings so much joy to our lives and it made each tradition and each moment that much richer. Her sweet giggles while Daddy's tickling her and her sad noises that mean she wants Mama... they bless me. She reaches out for us now when she's tired of being social, and her face lights up when Daddy walks into a room! On New Years Eve we added some fruit to her cereal... prunes and then peaches. Apparently it made the cereal even more delicious, since she willingly dove for the spoon each time! She blows bubbles when she's playing and makes lots of happy noises. She got a pink and purple jeep for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa and loves to honk the horn. We're just loving this active, playful stage and looking forward to what's next with this sweet little girl!