Thankful Thanksgiving

I am surprised at home much fun I had on Thanksgiving. We spent it with a friend J made at work and a bunch of their friends. I think all in all there was about 20 plus people in their house. Best part, they had a 10 month old who was crawling and sitting. She and H were LAUGHING up a storm together. It was so nice to see him really interact with another baby. There is a 10 month old at daycare, but I don't generally get to see them play together. So sweet watching them play. =)

My one and only Black Friday purchase was a pair of AE skinny jeans. I am super excited. This is my first pair of skinny jeans. And they were an online purchase so I am crossing all of my fingers that they will fit okay. Best part? 40% off plus free shipping. Way to make it easy on a girl!! I love that kind of deal.

My little ninja has learned a new sound. And it is a whiny squeal. Not mama's favorite sound. And he is starting to cry when we leave the room. That's fun. All a part of the developmental process, I know, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I much prefer his happier sounds.

At the risk of sounding like a scrooge, I am not looking forward to putting up all of the Christmas decorations. I think being away from home and the "normal" traditions that we usually participate in. And I know, I know, we should be making our own traditions especially because we have our son now but you know what? I don't want to be a grown up. I want someone else to be in charge and take care of putting every thing up. Making sure that H doesn't eat the tree. Vacuuming up all the stupid needles. Buying new decorations to replace some of the old worn ones.

All that being said, I am sure that the decorations will be up by next week and I will be sure happy that I have a real tree that fits all of our ornaments. I will be thinking how happy I am that our house looks Christmas-y and I will be in the Christmas spirit.

Pintrest will be my BFF for new decorations. I will get in the spirit!

L

7 months

My baby boy is seven months old already. How on earth has this happened?

He is 17 lbs and 26 inches long. His two bottom center teeth have come in (and two more are on their way! =( )

We are still having some troubles sleeping. For the past few weeks he has been up at 12am then 4am and of course up for the day around 6 or 7. He's my little alarm clock. On weekends we never sleep past 7am. He's just awake. Mostly we do not feed him in the middle of the night, just pop his paci back in and he's out.

I can't believe how different he is from even a month ago. My lil ninja is rolling to things he wants, picks toys out of a pile, laughs when we laugh, and is getting a little more personality on him. Some days he is a little faker =) we will get BIG crocodile tears if we move away from him, then as soon as we comes close he is all smiles. And I not talking us leaving the room, he will do this when he is playing on the floor and we sit on the couch. Lil stinker =)

I have such a happy baby. We are so blessed. That being said, he is generally so happy and go with the flow that when he has an off night it leaves both J and I worried. Tonight H has been screaming his little head off. Does not want solids, a bottle, frozen food in his mesh thing, to be held, to be on the floor. Just an unhappy babe. We are thinking his second set of teeth are coming in. Oh the joys.

While H is rolling all over the place, he is still not crawling (thank God!) or sitting yet. The crawling I can deffinetly wait for. The sitting... That needs to happen sooner rather than later. He is quickly out growing his infant carrier. And will outgrow it by length before weight. And after letting him sit in a cart this weekend... Well let's just say we are all happier and more comfortable in the carrier right now.

Oh my I have a handsome man on my hands. People stop me to tell me how handsome he is. Every time I drop him off for daycare, she is amazed by how sweet and beautiful he is. And I am not gonna lie, I think he is the cutest baby in the world, but I am partial =)

We are still doing cloth diapers while at home. And I am making a majority of his baby food. I love it. I love saving money on food and diapers. Makes me happy!!

I love my little family!!

Mid November Catch Up

So it is the middle of November and the month has already flown by.

We have passed my Dad, Mom, and Brother's birthday. It's 3 days until my birthday and 10 days until Thanksgiving.

I'm checking back in with my November goals because I feel like I'm not going to finish them.

On to November:

• Send out Birthday card/present to my Dad and Brother. Hmm... Dad check (plus he was on vacation so he didn't know his card was late) Brother....Oops! No only do I not have his phone number, I did not send a card, and all I did was Facebook him Happy Birthday. I'm crossing my fingers that I have his address so I can send a late card.
• De-clutter the garage and/or spare closet  Closet is mostly cleaned out, and we have gotten rid of all expired car seats! SCORE! 
• Re-organize hall closet with the sheets placed in the pillow case {my addiction to Pintrest is paying off!} Nope... But since Hubs is playing XBox and I have no shows on Hulu...that closet is MINE. 
• No Spend November!! Well... No spend? We sorta failed that. But we have put what I expected into savings (which will then be transferred to the credit card). So no spend... Fail. But we did WAY better than October!
• Christmas Shop!! I have checked off a few people. Mostly the kids, and a few grandparents. I'm glad we did family pictures in September, because most everyone is getting a framed picture from us!
• Finish up frames! {this is a must...it's getting a bit ridiculous that it's not finished} Fail. Oops! Still need a glue gun and clips...Home Depot run is necessary. 
• Make pears for H? {he loves them...not sure if I will be making them or not...} Fail.

Hmm... So it looks like I need to get a little more organized about Christmas to see what I still need to shop for. Plus what I want to bake. I'm going to cross the hall closet off the list tonight plus mail my brother a birthday card. No Spend November is back in place and we are going to work on the next 15 days of being CASH ONLY. Plus I am adding pears to my grocery list for Sunday and that will be one more thing checked off.

One thing I did do great at? My mama's birthday present was here and waiting for her BEFORE her birthday. All ready and waiting for her when she arrived. This is the only present so far that has made it on time. Plus having my mom here was a birthday present for me. She entertained H, got up with him all weekend for all of his middle of the night feedings, went shopping for my birthday with me, and I just generally had the best time with her. I love having my mama visit!

Also, last time I posted I was feeling pretty uninspired in my home. J and I talked it over, and we will be making some changes. Josh announced on FB that we wanted to sell our couches (a sectional and a love seat). Within a day we had both sold. The sectional for $400 and the love seat for $300. We will be taking this $700 and buying just one couch and we have decided to go with Ikea. And I have no idea how I found this Tightwad Chic, but this lady is an Ikea genius. She gets all of her big (and small) purchases from Ikea in the "as-is" section at about 50-75% off. Um... Hello! That is exactly what we need for our living room make over! I am so excited to have found Tightwad Chic and her Ikea tips. Too bad she hasn't posted since 2009... I'm hoping they still have their as-is section!!!

Recently J and I bought a new printer with our credit card point. We were super stoked to finally be able to print at home. We finally receive our printer, hook it up, and find out the the processing system on my Mac (that I bought just over a year ago) is too outdated to work with the printer. So we fork over the $30 to upgrade to Leopard something or other only to find out that now our system is too updated to be compatible and the printer company will be coming out with a upgrade soon....Ugh!!! Still no printing going on in this house. 

So that's it folks... I am getting on with my November goals, am super excited for our new couch (and then our new chairs), one day I will be able to print things on my sweet new printer, and November is flying by WAY too fast. 

L

Design Star I am not...

With all this pintrest-ing I am doing I find myself looking around my home (or closest) and wishing that my life looked a little more put together. That things were a little more classy and less...we are just out of college and can't afford crap. Mind you, we are not broke college students but we certainly feel this way. We have a 4 year old couch that we would love to get rid of. When we bought it, I loved it. I did not however realize that this couch would be nearly impossible to clean. The cushions don't come off, so you can't just throw them in the wash. Also, apparently there is a type of microfiber that you cannot wash with water. And should you need to clean anything off your couch, the water in anything will leave very sweet water spots.

We also have 2 lamps in our living room because there is no overhead light. The only overhead light comes from out "dining" room which kind of flows in to the living room area. These 2 lamps hardly put out any light. With is being dark when we leave for the morning and also when we come home from work,  it would be nice to have a little light in the area we spend the most time in.

So along with our couch that is driving me crazy, we also have some very Wal-Mart Special furniture. Mainly two short bookcases that have been screwed together to make behind the couch shelving, and a squares within a square shelving unit holding a bunch of junk. The one thing that we still really like in our living room is {another} Wal-Mart Special entertainment center. And no, it is not real wood, it is fake wood laminate, but it looks nice and is holding together for now.

I know that we need to get rid of stuff. But I have a hard time either finding a place to store, or just tossing out things like photo albums, books (not good books, but like Christian "chick-lit"), little odds and ends such as nail files, polish, cords, mini lotions, and other random stuff. Also a collection of Friends DVD's that I haven't even touched in YEARS. I have a hard time figuring out what to do with this stuff, and I am sure that anyone reading this would probably be saying "Throw that crap out, you freaking hoarder!"

My goal is to make a decorating budget. New couch, chair, storage, and DECORATIONS. Pictures, picture frames, a lamp that actually puts out light and storage. Something functional and practical for our growing family with a "soon" to be mobile toddler (that day is coming sooner than I am prepared for!!).  But I would also like it to be pretty. And I am not sure that I can accomplish everything I am wanting and needing on an ikea budget.

All suggestions and comments are welcomed! I have no idea how to make my dreams come alive.

L

Emergency Preparedness

For the last two years I have been hearing of CRAZY storms that are hitting the Eastern Coast. Lots of snow, power outages and craziness. And while the pretty new reporter is telling me that there are people with out power and will not have power for days I find myself thinking...What if this was my family? What would we do? How would we stay warn? What would we eat?

And you want to know my answer? Um... I don't know.

And so this leads me to believe that I should have a plan. I should figure out what we need, and get it together. And the planner in me tells me that I should have a spreadsheet and probably a checklist.

So while I may not have those answers today... I am putting it on my November goals. By November 30th I will have a plan. And a spreadsheet!

Love,
L

November Goals

Oh November you are a crazy month. Not only is it birthdays for every member of my immediate family, but it is also Thanksgiving, which leads into the Christmas season and then New Years. This time of year FLIES by and I am just not ready. So I am going to continue with my goals in hopes that it keeps me on track...

Here is how I did in October:

• Take Hyatt's too small clothes to the pregnancy clinic  DONE! =)
• Sand, paint, and finish my thrift store frames (thank you pintrest!)  Uh... Partially done. Sanded and painted. I just need a glue gun and clips and I am SET 
• De-clutter the downstairs of my house and DO something with the crap.  Uh... I got rid of an expired car seat. And I cleared off the top of the dryer so there is somewhere to set the car seat and diaper bag out of the way every day. I'm gonna say fail on this one. 
• Stay on top of the finances because there won't be as much money coming in.  Done =) Great month!
• ENJOY all of the extra time I have with my sweet baby.  DONE!! I so enjoyed our special alone time. I was very tired, but he is so fun. Months 5-6 are awesome! Love =) {minus teething}
• Make apples for H  DONE =) Super easy. I am so glad I am making most of his food. I really enjoy it and while I don't think he can tell, it is good for him too!

So my easy goals were just that...Easy. I can probably attribute most of the de-cluttering and not finishing my frames to not using my time wisely... Darn you Psych... Catching up on old episodes is really cutting into my spare time!!

On to November:

• Send out Birthday card/present to my Dad and Brother. Plus make sure gift and card is ready for Mom's visit. {Uh... Dad's is going to be late...Not off to a great start! Thankfully it will be there when he is back from vacation...hopefully.}
• De-clutter the garage and/or spare closet {get rid of expired car seat for sure!}
• Re-organize hall closet with the sheets placed in the pillow case {my addiction to Pintrest is paying off!}
• No Spend November!! As prearranged with J - if it isn't in the budget it will have to wait. Minus the extra money that will be transfered to savings and then I have plans... =)
• Christmas Shop!! While I am buying all these birthday presents buy for: Mom (XMAS), MoLaw (BDay and XMAS), D (Dad's new Fiance), plus possibly a few small things for my besties. Oh! And the grandparents. {Already have ideas in mind!}
• Finish up frames! {this is a must...it's getting a bit ridiculous that it's not finished}
• Make pears for H? {he loves them...not sure if I will be making them or not...}
• Emergency Preparedness Plan {I love me some spreadsheet action!}

Since last month didn't go so fabulous I am going to stop there. And I am feeling a bit type A with how excited I just got over crossing things off...

L

5 Reasons Why My Life is Just a Little Crazy

 Life is just nuts here!! So should any one be feeling neglected, don't worry! You aren't the only one. I think the only people not neglected in my life right now are bald. (AKA my adoring husband and adorable son) Sorry =)

5) I talk on a phone 8+ hours a day. And while I love it, I have no desire to talk to anyone after work. (Not counting husbands)

4) As soon as I wake up until I lay my little head in bed, I am moving or doing something.

3) If I am not doing something like cleaning, or playing, or getting crap done I will soon have a noisy and or fussy baby to attend to. This is especially true should my phone ring. You can bet your bottom dollar I am not going to get thru that phone call with out something happening and having to hang up.

2) If I happen to find myself with 5 minutes of spare time, it is probably not going to be spent catching up with someone. It will probably be spent shaving my legs because I don't have time to do that on a regular basis.

1) Speaking of, oh man is it hard to shower these days. One day, I will be able to actually take a bath again let alone shower with out peeking out to make sure the little guy is still where I left him. Hello life with a little rolly polly bald man. (P.S. I am talking about my son, not some weird guy!)

And Bonus: We have no real friends here (or not many people we consider good friends) and no family. So for the most part is it all J and I all the time. This means no breaks, no time out, not getting away from the regular craziness of grown up life. And that is working for now. I am not complaining, just stating the facts! =)

I love my crazy life.
L