Monday, February 13, 2012

Nature themed baby shower

First of all, my girl is 4 months old today!  I seriously can't even believe it.  I will have a detailed post coming after her doctor's appointment next Monday.

About a week ago, four of my friends and I hosted a shower for our friend Katie.  She is due in early March with her sweet boy, Eli Thomas.  We have already arranged Blakely and Eli's marriage ;)

We had the shower at my house.  I enjoy hosting showers but, let me tell you, it is much harder to do with my little one and my injured mother staying with us.  I was pretty stressed the week leading up to the shower.  There was just so much to do!  Not only did I have to get my house presentable but I had to get me, Blakely, and my mom presentable as well.  You might not think that would be a lot but, trust me, it was.  It took two days to get all three of us showered, hair dried, hair fixed, clothes picked out, clothes cleaned, and clothes on!  It was craziness....

It all turned out wonderful though and Katie had a great time.  She got lots of cute stuff for her little one.  We sort of did a nature theme.  Eli's room is blues, greens and browns.  She has a couple of tree decals on his walls so that is where we got the idea.  Katie and her husband both love the outdoors so we thought it was a great theme for her shower.  I thought I would share some pics of it with y'all! 


This was set up in the entryway


This was a wishing tree that I made.  I just gathered sticks from my yard, spray painted them brown and then stuck them in a vase with decorative rocks in the bottom.  I thought it turned out great!  


These were the wishes for Eli cards that Sarah made.  Everyone filled one out and hung it on the wishing tree.  




Sarah and I made these twine wrapped letters.  We bought the cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby and then got the thick twine and wrapped them.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  They turned out really cute but with one drawback.  The twine smelled like cow manure..not cool.  I sprayed them with some vanilla spray every hour for like 2 days and that helped a ton.  I think if you got the small jute twine you wouldn't have this problem...but it would take you longer to make.  


Party favors...seeds for the guests to plant.  


Diaper cake.  We had a lady make the cake and then we decorated it.  


Burlap bunting...also got this ides from Pinterest.  This turned out so freakin' cute and it was so very easy.  We just cut the burlap into triangles and then painted the letters on with stencils....then painted the polka dots.  We hot glued the triangles on to the thick twine that we used to wrap the letters.  

This was the arrangement on my kitchen table.  I ordered all of the flowers because I am super tight with the owner of the best flower shop in town.  And by super tight I mean he did my wedding and he totally understands what I like.  Anyway,  I love hydrangeas and I knew that is what I wanted for the shower.  This was the big arrangement and it had green, white, and blue hydrangeas, with white roses.  I had him tie a piece of burlap around the vases with a green ribbon....keeping with the theme.  

coffee table


Food table in my dining room.  I did two flower arrangements in here and Sarah and I bought the balls and the tree at Hobby.Lobby.  Burlap for the table runner.  



"acorns"  Got this from Pinterest as well.  


 These were "mushrooms".  Mozzerella cubes topped with halved grape tomatoes and covered with Italian dressing and feta cheese.  


Petite fours with leaves and E's on them.  Petite fours are a tradition at our showers.  We all have had them at our wedding showers and baby showers.  


These were "birds nests".  Sarah made these and I swear she put crack in them...I could NOT stop eating them.


Jenny made this cheese ball in the shape of a pine cone..so cute and so yummy as well!



My living room... 


My living room again.  My poor mom was propped up in the recliner because of her ankle.  She was such a trooper.  I know it was painful for her to be in the recliner that long but she did so so good!  


Me and the mommy to be


me and my BFF(do they even say that anymore?) Sarah


All of the hostesses.  Tina, Jenny, Sarah, me, and Courtney.  Courtney is pregnant and due at the end of April.  I am hosting her shower at the end of March.  It was going to be the beginning of March but I just had WAY TOO MUCH on my plate so I moved the date.  I already have so many cute ideas for her shower :)

 The hostesses with Katie.  


We all had a a great time celebrating the new mommy to be.  I am so glad I did it yet so glad it's over!  Now it's time to plan the next one!


If you can't tell...I am absolutely addicted to Pinterest.  I mean seriously.  I have gotten so many cute ideas from there.  I am about to start searching for ideas for Father's Day for Lonnie.  Let me know if you want to follow me!  


Happy Monday y'all!  





Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Another poop post...because I know you love it :)

So I'm assuming you all read this post about our pooptastic adventure to Hobby Lobby.  Well, since then, every time Blakely poops, it flies out of her diaper like crazy.  Every.Single.Time.  And when I say flies I mean flies/explodes/rockets straight up and out.  Most of the time it makes it up to her neck but on other underachieving poops it only makes it halfway there.

I am so done with changing her clothes 3 times a day.  We have been using Pampers Swaddlers from the beginning and they have worked great.  Literally like one blowout the entire time.  We are in size 2 and those were working fine until recently.  Also it doesn't even have to be a huge poop...just a normal poop and straight out of the diaper it goes!

For your viewing pleasure...



I'm not sure why I feel the need to take pictures of this but I do.  I always send them to my husband at work.  I'm sure he loves me for it :)

So, how have I decided to fix this little problem??

Here's how...


Cloth diapers people!!!

I figure if I am washing shit out of clothes multiple times a day I might as well be washing it out of diapers and saving money and the environment while doing it.  And a decrease in blowouts would be oh so awesome!

I just bought four different ones to start with....I wanted to see if I even liked them first.  
Here is what I got...
Bumgenious 4.0 (pocket diaper)

Bumgenious Elemental (all-in-one diaper)

FuzziBunz Elite (pocket diaper)

Happy Heinys (pocket diaper)

Planetwise wet/dry bag.  This is a medium one and they say it holds 8-9 diapers.  I figured I would start with this and if I end up going cloth full time I will get a larger one.

Bumgenious odor remover and Rockin Green detergent (that stuff smells AWESOME!)

I did some research on cloth diapers while I was pregnant.  I thought they sounded awesome and I knew I wanted to try them but I wasn't sure if I could do it.  I told myself that I would wait until she was 3 months old.  I wanted to give myself some time to get settled in as a mom and that would give me the best chance at success.  The disposables were working so well that I kind of just put cloth diapers on the back burner.  BUT, once we started having blowouts more than once a day I started thinking about it again.  I finally decided to just jump in and try it!  I have pre washed all of them and I'm hoping to start in the next couple of days.  

I'm pretty excited!  I might hate it and I might love it...I have no idea!  Any advice anyone has for a cloth diaper virgin would be greatly appreciated!!!  I'll keep y'all updated...

Sorry for so much poop talk lately :)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Jumperoo


What are you putting me in, daddy???


 Wait!  Don't leave me here!!


 Ummm........


Mommy?!?  Do I like this thing?!?


 OMG I LOVE IT!!@$>!?$!!&#%#(!$&*!!!&!@$%!^#!!


So yeah, she loved the thing.  She is still a wee bit small for it but I stacked up some blankets under so she could touch the floor.  

I think she is growing up too fast.  All of the sudden just yesterday she started having no problem at all holding her head up for a long time.  She also started trying to sit up and cries unless she is in the sitting position.  If I lay her down flat she starts doing crunches to try and sit up.  Also, since yesterday, she loves to be standing on the floor.  We can just hold her hands and she does great.  OMG....how did all of this happen so fast?!?  I am going to go cry now....

Tagged!

I was tagged in this fun little survey by Stephanie...thanks girl!



1 - Post the rules
2 - Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you. 
3 - Create 11 new questions for the people you tag.
4 - Tag people and link them to your post.
5 - Let them know that you tagged them.


My answers...
  1. What is your favorite thing about blogging?  There are a few things actually.  I love the support I get from my fellow bloggers...amazing community!  I love that this is my little journal and I have a place to document the life of my family.  And I love the great people I have met through blogging!  
  2. What is one thing that makes you unique?  My birthday is on St. Patrick's Day.  It has always been a super fun birthday and no one forgets it ;)
  3. Have you lost someone close to you?  I lost my grandmother when I was 17...we were close and it was very sad.  My uncle passed away in 2010...that was hard as well.  My husband lost his father almost 7 years ago and I can't even imagine the pain of losing a parent...it makes me tear up even thinking about it.  
  4. Were you named after anyone?  My middle name is Ann and I get that from my grandmother...my mom's mom...that is her name.  Kelly is totally original :)
  5. Tell us about an embarrassing moment.  On our first date I got locked in the bathroom at the bar!  We went to dinner and had such a great time that we went to a bar after to have another drink or three.  I had to pee like crazy so off I went.  It was a single bathroom...no stalls.  When I tried to leave I couldn't get the door open.  I calmly tried over and over.  After a few minutes I started to panic.  I certainly didn't want to be in the bathroom forever on our first date...what the heck would he think?  I started banging on the door so someone would open it but no one could hear because the band was so loud.  I calmed myself (because I had a mild panic attack!) after about 10 minutes and focused on how the hell to get out.  The door handle was one of those that was a lever and you push down to open it.  Well I finally just pushed it up and the door flew open!  I felt like a dumbass.  He never mentioned it...I was in there about 15 minutes!  this has given me a huge fear of public bathrooms.  
  6. What did you want to be when you grew up, and did you accomplish it?  Well I actually wanted to be the person at the gas station that washes your car windows.  So, no, I didn't accomplish that dream!
  7. Why did you start your blog?  I was going through my third IVF and I wanted/NEEDED a place to talk about my feelings.  I also wanted a place to document everything...I have always kept a journal but a blog is so much easier.  
  8. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?  Most of them actually.  I am so not a neat freak but if anyone can bottle up that freakiness I would take it in a heartbeat!  I'd say I hate doing the dishes the most...GAG!
  9. What celebrity do you think you look like?  I've been told I look like Kendra from The Girls Next Door.  I don't think that I do (have you seen her boobs?) but I think it is because she is sporty and I am too.  
  10. What songs are included on the soundtrack of your life?  Oh gosh, this is a tough one...hard to narrow it down!  I'll just give you some artists!  High school-anything gangsta rap...Jay-Z, Bone Thugs in Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Mase, Dr. Dre.  College-little bit of rap...Eminem and Ludacris...but mostly jam out stuff like Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, and Widespread Panic.  In my twenties I have stayed with the jam band music but with a little Adele, Lucinda Williams, and Jack Johnson.  I also enjoy some older stuff like Janis Joplin, CCR, Eagles. But, BY FAR, Dave Matthews Band is my all time favorite.  My husband took me to see them on like our 5th date...I knew I would marry him then :)
  11. What story does your family always tell about you?  They always tell the story of how I screamed my head off all the way home from Six Flags one year (like a 6 hour drive).  
Here are my questions for you!
  1. If you could go anywhere for a week, where would you go?
  2. What is your favorite app on your smart phone?  If you don't have a smart phone, what the hell is wrong with you?  ;)
  3. If you were going to redo one room in your house which room would it be and why?
  4. What is your biggest insecurity?
  5. What are the top three internet sites you visit?  (saw this on another one and thought it was a great question!)
  6. Do you have a hobby?  What is it?
  7. If your husband could buy you anything what would you want from him?
  8. When is the last time you drastically changed your hairstyle?
  9. What was the last vacation you went on? Tell us about it.  
  10. When was the last time you cried and why?
  11. How do you stay organized?  
Here are the blogs I am tagging...ENJOY!
  1. Adam and Julia
  2. sitting in a tree
  3. The Chronicles of Violetta Margarita-just got her BFP...YAY!!!!
  4. Calmly Chaotic
  5. Crossing my fingers but not my legs
  6. Gonna do it for baby
  7. The Johnson's Journey
  8. True Confessions of a Shopaholic
  9. B & R plus 1...more
I tried not to tag anyone that had already been tagged.  If anyone else wants to answer please do...I'd love to read them and learn a little bit more about my peeps!!!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Just dropping in...

to let you know who we root for in this house :)  

Well two thirds of this house anyway....Lonnie could not care any less about NFL football!  But don't worry...I'll be sure to raise my girl right ;)




Happy Super Bowl Sunday y'all!  Hope you have a great one.  I know we will.  We are going to chill with some good friends, enjoy a few adult beverages, and cheer Mr. Brady to the win!  Go Patriots!  



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Happy Hour

So this is what you were thinking right??



Well that is not the happy hour I am talking about.  Although, I do thoroughly enjoy that one as well!  Some days it even comes way before 5...depends on the level of fussy ;)

This "happy hour" is completely different and it comes at a totally different time.  I call the first hour that Blakely is awake in the morning happy hour because that girl is so smiley and giggly that first hour.  I feed her first thing and then we talk, play, laugh, and kiss for a whole hour before we come upstairs and it is always my favorite part of the day.  I let her play in her crib for a little bit before I go in but then when she finally sees me she just lights up. It makes me feel so good!  

I have never been a morning person in my life but knowing I get to play with this sweet girl makes me look forward to 730 each morning.  Don't get me wrong, it is still hard to roll out of bed BUT once I see that pretty smile I forget how tired I am.    

This happy hour makes me feel like I am doing a good job as a mother.  I'm not sure why.  I guess because it is our special time together.  Even though we spend lots of time together during the day, this morning time is different.  It is just me and her, in our jammies, hanging out.  It's our little thing.  I like to think that she looks forward to happy hour as well :)

Sometimes we just snuggle...


Sometimes we giggle...


Sometimes we laugh...


Sometimes we smile at mommy's funny faces...


Sometimes we chew on our hands... (most of the time!)


Sometimes we just concentrate really hard on figuring it all out...


And on super awesome days we fall back to sleep!


Every night when I go to bed I can't wait to wake up and enjoy our happy hour together.  I love this sweet girl more than words can even express.....