Tis the Season to Decorate

Do you notice anything different about my blog?

Yep, that's right, it is decorated for Christmas. Yea!

I've never decorated my blog for Christmas but decided this year would be a great time to try it. Let me be clear I didn't decorate it my friend Tricia did. You all should know by now that Tricia does all of my graphic designing because she is great at it.

Oh and guess what? My friend Tricia is decorating other people's blogs too. Double yea!

Go here to visit her Christmas design blog and if you're interested she has some great Christmas designs for sale. I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted. I love them all!

Tricia doesn't just do holiday blog designs she also designs photo cards. This is probably my favorite thing she does. I've always liked having a card that no one else has and so it makes sense to have her design them. She does a fabulous job and I can't wait for our photos to come in so I can have her design our Christmas card.

If you haven't already picked out your card you should let Tricia make one for you. They are VERY reasonable (I print mine at Sam's, cheap and ready in an hour) and so cute.

Oh and if you get a blog design or card design from Tricia please come back and let me know. I'd love to see them!

Don't forget to check out AdornmentsbyWendi for fun Christmas gifts (see the post below).

Adornments

I wanted to share a fun etsy shop that I love. I asked my friend, Wendi, if she cared if I blogged about the things she sells because I know she has great items that would make perfect gifts.

AdornmentsbyWendi is a wonderful shop with the sweetest jewelry and jewelry hangers. I love everything listed. It is a great price too which makes it even better. If you need to get a gift for someone who "has everything" or you want to buy something you won't see on 358 other people then go check out her things. I have bought jewelry from her before and it has all been great. I've included pictures of a few things you can find on her site but there is so much more. Go check it out because you will not be disappointed. If you have questions about what you see send Wendi a message! She is so sweet and you'll love talking to her.

Her jewelry hangers can be custom (color, size) so keep that in mind when you're looking.

I LOVE this one.

One thing I love about her jewelry is it makes a statement without being obnoxious. Make sense? It's fun and sweet.

I hope you will all go see what she has because I know you will really like it.

Turkey Day and the Day After

Our Turkey Day didn't go quite as planned. Instead of doing a little traveling and lots of visiting family we ended up just going to Josh's Granny's house for lunch. Sadie still wasn't feeling great so we decided just one stop was the best idea for everyone. I didn't get many pictures but we had a good time. Sadie did really well.

She smiled and played the whole time. When we got home she played some more.

This is Sadie's play spot. She loves looking at all the ornaments on the tree. So thankful she isn't mobile yet because she just admires them from afar.

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned on Facebook a family tradition she has with her family. The morning after Thanksgiving the kids get Christmas pjs and a Christmas book. I thought it was such a fun idea so I decided to do it with Sadie.

Sadie played with her books for a while. She loved them.

After her morning nap she and I headed over to see my friends Katie and Laura. They were both in town for Thanksgiving so it was so good to see them and their babes. I miss these girls a lot! I wish I could see them all the time. They just get me and that is priceless.

I hate that I didn't get a picture of Laura! I was a little crazy today.

Colson is just relaxing and taking his milk.

Katie and Sadie

Sadie loved playing with boy toys. Here she is chewing on a car. Nice.

Braysen was so good and sweet the whole time. He just played and played.

Katie, Brock, and Colson

This was the first time I got to see Brock and he was so sweet.

I wish we could have spent more time hanging out but I'm just so thankful I got to see them.

Currently I'm watching the Arkansas/LSU game. It has become obvious at this point in the game LSU deserves to be #1. I'm a proud hog fan and I'm glad to be in the SEC.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

After my post on Sunday I had planned on posting all week about everything I'm thankful for. Unfortunately sickness entered our home and blogging just wasn't a high priority.

I am very thankful this year.

Of course I am blessed so much to have a wonderful husband and a very supportive and loving family (who is NUTS over my daughter). This post in no way is to minimize how thankful I am for these people. I think it will come as no surprise, however, for you to read a post about what/who is so special to me this year.

2011 will always be the year I became a mommy.

Not only did I become a mommy I have the sweetest baby girl in the whole world.

I'm so thankful for God's provision of her and His protection over her. I do not take her for granted.

(This is the only picture I have of her in her "gobble" shirt so forgive the picture quality)

She has taught me so much over the last 7 months and I know there is much more to come.
Sadie, I am so very thankful for you!

Something else that is very special to me this year is my job.
Every year I'm thankful for employment because I know so many people want a job and don't have one. This year though, I'm especially thankful. I wanted so badly to be able to stay home with Sadie but knew we needed some income for health insurance. God took care of us big time. He provided the most wonderful job for me and I never have to be away from Sadie.
I love my job and even if Josh and I didn't need it I'm not sure I would give it up.
I'm so thankful for it.

Before I go I can't leave without saying how thankful I am for friendships. I've needed my "mommy support group" this year. I would be lost without them. It's also been so wonderful to be refreshed by friends who are at a completely different place in life.
Friends are important and I'm thankful for everyone of them. I haven't even met all my friends (thanks to Twitter and Blogland) but regardless I cherish them.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Sunday

Today began our week of Thanksgiving fun. We had church this morning with our little turkey. She wore her turkey dress (which she will also be wearing on Thursday because I want to get wear out of it).

Tonight we had our first of several Thanksgiving celebrations. This particular celebration was at church. We took Sadie to her first church dinner. She did great. I left my camera at home *tear* and the ones I got on my phone didn't turn out very well. Let's just say she enjoyed being passed around. She was sure to flash her smile to everyone who would look at her.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to say how thankful I am for our church family. Since Sadie was born I've had much more of a back seat role and I've missed being at so many things and seeing so many people. Don't get me wrong, my new role as mom is the best and I wouldn't change it for anything. Our church is so loving and encouraging. They love us and the really love Sadie. Josh and I couldn't be happier with where God has us right now. He has been so good to us.

God is good. That's all there is to it. More than a great church I'm thankful for my salvation. I feel like this relationship has also changed since I've had Sadie. I've been lazy and unfocused and it has really crushed me. I'm thankful God is faithful to me even though I'm unfaithful to Him so many times. I don't deserve it. I want more and I'm glad there is so much more for me.

Picture Perfect

A few weeks ago while we were in Fayetteville for a wedding Sadie had her picture taken at the University of Arkansas. My sister's friend Amy is a photographer and took the pictures. She did a great job! She was VERY easy to work with and Sadie loved her (or maybe it was the squeaky toy Sadie loved but still).

You can see the entire session here.
There isn't much sweeter than seeing my pretty girl in a smocked Razorback dress. It's picture perfect.

Go Hogs!

New Schedule

Since Sadie was born I've worked VERY hard to get her on a schedule. My goal was to get her to eat every three hours. She started out having 7-8 bottles a day then at 5-6 weeks she had 6 bottles a day and at 13 weeks she went to 5 bottles a day. Recently I've wanted to change her schedule a bit and drop one of her feedings. I was really nervous to do this because it would mean she would now be eating every 4 hours instead of every 3. I went ahead and gave it a try 2 weeks ago and she has done GREAT! Her first bottle and last bottle are still the same time as they have been so that has been a big help. I also give her 3 meals of solid food every day to help as well. I have had to be very careful with this because my chubby baby does not eat much.:) If I give her too much solid food she won't take her bottles. She still only takes the minimum amount of formula every day so I want to make sure she gets it all.

With this new schedule I also had to re-work nap time. She used to take a morning nap, cat nap around 12 and an afternoon nap until her 4 o'clock bottle. Since she was no longer having a bottle at 4 I wasn't sure how it was going to work. Luckily it has gone pretty well.

New Schedule

7/7:30- 6 oz bottle

8:30- breakfast: fruit & cereal

9/9;30-nap (sometimes it is 30 minutes other times much longer)

11:00-6 oz bottle

12:30-lunch: half a container of a vegetable (2nd stage)

1:00-3:00 nap (I will let her nap until 4 if she is tired)

3:00- 6 oz bottle

5:30-dinner: half a container of a vegetable and sometimes some fruit

7:00 6 oz bottle

7:30 Bedtime

She also gets 2 ounces of juice most days but she doesn't really snack. Like I said if I give her too much food she won't take her bottles.

I'm still working on getting things perfected (ha, as if that's possible) but I'm so glad I switched. It has made it better on everyone.

7 Months

November 13, 2011

Sadie!!!! You are 7 months old!

When I look at these pictures I see more of a little girl and less of a baby. I can't quite wrap my mind around this yet. You're so grown up to me. :) I think you've really changed a lot this last month.

(The pictures our out of order, oops!)

Your looks have certainly changed. You started out little bitty then you chubbed up and although now you're still chubby you seem to be thinning again. You sure are cute no matter what though.

Here are some fun things about what's going on with you these days.

You wear several different sizes in clothes. A lot of 3-6 month clothes still fit you but you also wear a lot of 6 month things too. Most of your fall clothes are still a little big and they are 6-9 month.

You wear a size 3 diaper

You now get 4 bottles a day plus three meals. You don't snack much but you get some prune juice and water every morning.

Your mind is more advanced than your body and you get frustrated easily. You know what you want but you can't always get to it.

You don't show many signs at all that you'll crawl any time soon. I asked you to wait to try it until after Christmas so I hope you do just that.

You love to play on the floor with your toys and you still like your jumperoo. You even like your swing at night when it is time to "wind down." You'll take cat naps in it.

You sit up really well on your own but you get lazy from time to time and fall backwards.

You now sleep full time on your stomach. It stresses me out a little but at least we have the Angel Care monitor.

You go to bed around 7:30 and usually wake up around 7. You've slept in this week so I'm not sure if this is your new thing or just a fluke.

You take two naps now and sometimes a cat nap or two as well.

You got your first cold this weekend. I guess I should be glad we made it to 7 months.

You still don't have a tooth and I'm not sure you'll be breaking one for a while.

You talk all the time. You say something very close to "momma" and you do it at appropriate times so I'm telling myself you're saying it. You use other sounds a lot like da, ba, and na.

You smile and laugh all the time too. You have a new smile where you squint your eyes, puff up your cheeks, and keep your lips together. I love it.

Your reflux seems to be much better. PTL. You still spit up some but not much and you don't act like it ever bothers you.

You are still such a good baby but you do get more frustrated when you can't crawl to what you want. Other than that you are normally only fussy if you are tired.

You are SO nosy. If someone is in the room you need to know what they are doing at all times. You hang onto every word that is said to you as if you know what people are talking about.

Sadie, you're the sweetest baby in the whole world. I look at you every day and still can't believe you are mine. You would think after 7 months I would believe it. You change and grow every day and I would love to keep you this age forever. When you smile I feel my heart melt and tears swell up in my eyes. Your daddy and I love you more and more every day. You have made these last 7 months the best time of our lives.

You are our favorite!

Turkey Dress

I finally finished the turkey dress. I originally planned to make one for Sadie, show it on the blog, then sell one like it. Well a sweet blogger bought it before I even finished Sadie's so I made the first one for her. Trust me the colors are MUCH prettier in natural light (I took this before the sun was out) and the name shows up better in person.

It's a reversible A-line jumper dress. It has brown pom-poms on the bottom but it is hard to tell that on a black back ground.

I plan to make Sadie's dress this weekend and I can't wait to see her in it. I also can't wait to see a picture of Hannah in her dress. Thanks, Jennifer!

I Like to Sew

By now you all already know I like to sew. I liked to sew before Sadie came along but now I really like it. There was a short period of time where I made things and sold them. It was a lot of fun but it was also very overwhelming. It actually made me not like sewing very much so I stopped doing it. I think the problem was I wasn't really prepared for interest in the things I was making so when I was bombarded with orders of the SAME item it became time consuming and boring.

I've been hoping to ease back into this "business" for fun and just to make a little extra money. I have thought a lot about how I wanted to handle it so that it wouldn't end up like it was before. For now I think I have a way to keep things fun and not overwhelming.

Right now I have several sewing projects lined up for Sadie and gifts for friends. When buying fabric and supplies for these projects I've bought extra with the intent of making some to sell.

For example, today I am making Sadie a reversible turkey dress. I will have enough fabric to make one more like it and I plan to sell the extra one. I will post a picture of what I make and if anyone is interested they can let me know. Make sense?

In the future I might post a picture of shirt, pants, jon-jon, or whatever and say that I am selling 5 of these. The first 5 people requesting one will get one. From time to time I will take custom orders on things but not everything will be custom.

I figure by doing it this way I can still make Sadie cute things, I won't get bored making the same thing 50 times, there is no pressure for anyone to purchase something from me, and I won't be overwhelmed.

I'm excited to get back in the swing of things. I've missed it. In the near future I hope to have a separate blog where I can post what I'm making so be on the look out for that. Tricia, guess who I will be asking to help with this?? :)

Come back in the next couple of days if you're interested in a Turkey dress size 6-12months.

Weekend Recap

Not to be misleading but there really isn't much to recap about the last couple of days (garage sale and sinus infection pretty much sum it up) so I'm really recapping LAST weekend.

Last weekend Josh, Sadie, and I hit the road to Northwest Arkansas for a visit. We stayed at our friend Lizann's house. When we got there I was worried Sadie would be a bear because she was so tired. She was the exact opposite.

Here she is playing with toys. She LOVES this squeaky bunny.

And for those of you wondering, Sadie sits up really well on her own but sometimes when she's tired she'll fall back for no reason. I decided to bust out the boppy for times like these. :)

Our friends Heather and Daniel came over for a visit.

It was a fun, relaxing evening.

That night, however, was not so relaxing. Sadie went to bed but woke up screaming 30 minutes later. She has never acted like that at bed time. It took me a while to think teething might be the problem but 20 minutes after motrin she was a new child. Luckily the rest of the weekend she was a great sleeper.

Friday morning we met up with some friends for lunch. It was a mini-blogger meet up.

Laurie, Leah, Niki, Lauren, Whitney, Me & Sadie, Amanda & Lela, Jennifer & Jillian, Kelly & Hollis

Lauren was in town from Florida so several of us got together. It was such a fun time.

I was worried Sadie would be a bear since she barely slept the night before but overall she did really well.

After lunch I dropped Sadie off with Josh to nap and I went to see my BFF Katie. I don't know why I didn't take her picture.It was so good seeing her. She does my heart good!

Later Friday night my friend Shannon stopped by to see us.

Shannon is such a good friend. She drove the 3 hour drive to see Sadie the day after she was born to only turn around and drive back home shortly after. She's a good friend. I'm glad I was able to see her on our weekend trip. There is just never enough time though.

On Saturday we all got up and went to the U of A campus so Sadie could have her picture (with my sister's kids) taken. The trees were gorgeous and the weather was perfect. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

After pictures we gathered our things from Lizann's house and headed out for the main event of the weekend.

(Thanks again, Lizann, for letting us stay.)

Josh's cousin Ashley was getting married. We've been looking forward to this wedding for a long time. The wedding was on campus at the University of Arkansas and it was beautiful. My pictures are random. I wish I would have taken more but I didn't.

This is the only decent picture I got of Ashley and Sara. Sara looked beautiful. I'm so happy for she and Ashley.
Our friends Holly and Justin were at the wedding too. Holly is pregnant with Sadie's friend, Lily Beth. We are very excited about her arrival in February. Sadie can't wait to play with her.

Josh's cousin Logan and his wife, Crystal

Josh's mom and sister with his aunt Diana and her friend.

Josh's aunt Darlene, cousin Tanner, and his wife Amy

Josh enjoyed playing with the kids while we waited for pictures of the bridal party to be finished.

Josh and I stayed at the reception for a little while then headed home.
We had such a great weekend with friends and family. I hope to go back and visit NWA very soon!

K is for Coffee

Well, Josh and I finally decided to take our morning coffee to the next level. We've been wanting to buy a Keurig coffee maker for a long time. We always talked ourselves out of it because of the money. At this point we honestly feel the money will be worth it. Josh and I both usually just drink one cup a day so it is perfect for us. Plus on nights when Josh studies he likes to have coffee to help him stay awake. We've been getting lazy and getting Starbucks and that clearly is costing us a lot more than we should be spending. We decided to get ourselves an early Christmas present.

We are very excited about it. I'm sure most all of you already have one so tell me about your favorite K cups. Also have any of you ever bought the iced coffee K cups? I've been all about iced coffee lately so I'd love to try it out if y'all recommend it.

Big D