Hello, hello!!

  I'm back!! At least for today.... I can't believe I have not blogged since the week before Thanksgiving.  But honestly, it has been a nice break.  The holidays were so busy, Connor was (and still is) keeping me busy and I just lost my motivation to do it.   I have considered shutting down my blog completely, or making it private but every once in awhile (like today) I get the urge to do it again.  So, here I am.    SOOOOO much has happened in the past 2 1/2 months! I know I am going to leave out a lot but I am going to attempt to tell you about the most important parts.  And I apologize now for the randomness and babbling that you are about to read :)   -  The last time I posted was when Connor was turning 7 months.  Now he is a week away from being 9 mo.  9 MONTHS people.  This is crazy....and exciting....and sad.    - Thanksgiving was a lot of fun.  Connor got to meet his great grandma (my Granny) for the first time and his great grandpa (my husband's PeePa).  We spent time with my family for a few days then went to Oklahoma City to see some of Chris's family.  We drove to OKC....so it was Connor's longest trip in the car (8ish hours) and he did great!    - Mama and Daddy had their first overnight trip away from Connor, at the end of November.  My parents watched Connor for us and we headed into Houston for a friend's wedding, then a night of celebrating my husband's 32nd birthday.  We had a hotel and had dinner at Seasons 52 (one of my favorite restaurants ever).  The next morning we had brunch at our old favorite spot, Backstreet Café.  I missed my little man so much but it was fun having 24 hours to ourselves.    - December was filled with play dates, holiday parties and get togethers and lots of sickness.  Connor and I were both sick off and on all month long.  We flew for the first time with Connor at the end of the month.....we went to NC for my step-dad's surprise 70th birthday party and to celebrate Christmas with family there.  Connor did so great on the plane coming and going! Christmas was a blast with him too....he got so many fun, new gifts!   - January was filled with more play dates and lots of other things to keep us  busy.  We started construction on our outdoor kitchen, I joined the MOPS group at my church, we celebrated our friend's Casey and Morgan's wedding and my husband spent a lot of time during the weeks traveling for work.    -  Now it is February 11th.  Holy cow.   This year is flying by!  We had our 5th annual Super Bowl party at our house and had 70 people here.  YIKES!!! We made it a kid-friendly party this year so there were about 25 kids and babies running wild in our house.  Pure craziness but so much fun!  Connor had his first trip to the ER a little over a week ago.  He woke up around 4 AM coughing and gagging and it scared me so my husband and I took him in.  He was gasping for air and his cough was just awful. :(  After some tests and chest xrays they determined that it was just croup and bronchitis.  So, we have to do a breathing treatment on him a few times a day now.    And more on Connor and what he has been up to.....   * He is crawling!  Everywhere.  He is all over the place and into everything these days.  He loves to play in the pantry and in the fridge.  If he sees me in the kitchen and the door to either of those are open, he is there in 2 seconds.  He also loves door stops, daddy's shoes, the basket of diapers and pretty much anything else that isn't a toy.  And he pulls up on everything, without any help.  Baby proofing is in the works!     * He said his first word a few weeks ago!! " Uh-Oh" is officially his first word and it is adorable when he says it.  Once he said "mama" but never has done it again.   We are working on it though ;)     * We are still 100% breastfeeding! A little over 3 months until we hit our goal and the weaning process starts.  But, I have to be honest, I have moments where I think I am done.  For no certain reason.  But then I always change my mind.  I don't think that I am emotionally ready to be done.  Whenever I think about quitting I get all sad and can't imagine that part of his life being over.  Plus, our other major problem is that he won't take a bottle.  He hasn't taken one in about 2 months, until this week.  I have managed to get him to take a couple....praise the Lord!!  So, now that I am making progress, I am going to make sure to keep giving him 1-2 bottles a day so that he stays familiar with them.      *  He is not really a fan of food.  Purees or table food.  90% of the time he wants nothing to do with purees....he cries, turns his head, swats at the spoon or grabs it and throws it on the floor.  So, I have pretty much given up on those.  A few weeks ago we started going more of the Baby Led Weaning route (BLW) and he does much better.  Not great, but much better than purees.  We will give him "sticks" of our food....carrots, squash,  peppers and other foods, and he will usually gnaw on them or suck on them.  He usually doesn't have much interest in Puffs or Mum-Mums.  For awhile he seemed to like them ok, but now he wants nothing to do with them.  Ughh..  I always joke that he isn't even a year old and already has eating issues like a grown woman does :)   * He is in size 4 diapers, and 9 or 12 months in clothes.  But he LOVES just playing in his diaper.  He is happiest when he is practically naked :)   * Sleep-  Still going to sleep between 7:30-8 and usually will sleep until 4-5, wake up to nurse then go back to sleep for an hour.  But the past week he has been waking up 3-5x a night and not napping very well.    * He has 4 teeth!  The 2 on the top are just poking out of his gums.....and they definitely were way worse when they came thru, than the bottom ones.  Whew....it was a rough few days around here! But things are starting to get back to normal for our little guy :)     And that is a really short version of what life has been like the past couple of months. I will leave you with some pictures :)  

 

 

     

A Baby Sprinkle & A Holly-Jolly Christmas!

I hope yall had a very Merry Christmas! I know I did! I just can not believe it is over and now only a few short days away from the new year...this year has flown by.

Me and a few of my best friends helped host a Baby Sprinkle for one of our best friends, Sarah a couple weekends ago. She is pregnant with Baby Boy #2 so we decided to throw her a little Baby Sprinkle and Holiday Dinner! Sarah has been one of my best friends since around 5th or 6th grade and her sister even married my little brother so we are family now! Here are a few pictures from the sprinkle:

Baby Cooper will be here in just about 6 weeks!! :) I love him already!

I had to work last Monday and Tuesday but then was off until today. Chris and I flew to Georgia on Tuesday night to spend a few days with my Dad, Step-Mom, sisters and other family. We had a great time seeing my family and celebrating Christmas with a couple big dinners and great gifts. I definitely gained a few pounds while we were there...

My step-mom always has a fun game or activity for us to do before opening gifts. This year we were divided into 2 teams and our teams has to dress me and one of my sisters up as Santa and whoever looked closest to Santa won...annnnd WE WON :) HA!!

My niece and I after decorating our gingerbread house.

Me and my Dad :)

Love my dad's house at Christmas!

Got to see my Granny in Atlanta before we flew home on Friday.

Before heading to the airport we made a lunch stop at The Varsity in downtown Atlanta! Best hot dogs and orange slushies ever!

Friday night we flew back to Houston to spend the weekend in The Woodlands with my Mom, Step-Dad and Chris's Mom. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were in town also so we got to spend alot of time with them.

I love him :)

He loved sitting in this pot!

My sister-in-law made these for us!! I LOOOOVE them!

Christmas Eve Service at Crossroads

Pretty sure he is the cutest 1 year old out there :)

My husband definitely won HUSBAND OF THE YEAR AWARD for these gifts!! He got me the Pippa bag I have wanted for months and Tory Burch loafers I have had my eye on too! I told him we did not need to do big gifts for each other this year since we are about to be moving but he clearly did not listen. I think I will manage to forgive him though :)

And this is what I got him for Christmas. I found an artist in New Hampshire who specializes in watercolor home portraits and thought he would love to have a painting of our first home together. He bought this home on his own and is very proud of this house...we are going to miss it so much once we move out but now we will always have this to remember it! I had it framed and ordered a little plate that says "Our First Home" on it.

This year was so special because it was our first Christmas together since we got married! We are so blessed with such great families and so thankful for the time we got to spend with them all. I hope you and your families had a safe and happy holiday!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Merry Christmas, friends!! Wishing you all a blessed and merry day with your friends and family! xoxo

Exciting News & A Few Updates

Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I had some exciting news but could not share it yet??? Well..... I can finally tell you- WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!! WHOHOO!!

We actually sold it on Saturday, December 3 but our realtor advised us not to tell everyone yet just in case the guy buying it decided to back out during the 10-day option period. So, the option period is over, we passed the inspections and the appraisal went well and there is no sign of the buyer backing out! As of now he is planning on closing on January 7th so we will move out on January 5th & 6th...EEEEK...that is less than 3 weeks! It took 1 month and 3 days for our house to sell. We got very lucky and feel very blessed because we know so many people out there have had their houses on the markets for months and maybe years. This was part of God's plan and His timing was perfect and we could not be more excited! :)

We head out of town tonight and will not be home until Sunday night, then we have friends coming in town for NYE weekend so I have no clue when we are supposed to back up our entire house and be ready to move in less than 3 weeks.

Tonight we are flying to Georgia to spend a few days with my Dad and family there, then we will be with our families in The Woodlands over the weekend! It is going to be a busy few days but I love getting to see all of our family during the holidays so it will be fun.

Last but not least, here is an update on our NEW house in The Woodlands! I am loving the process of building a home. Seeing all of the stages of it getting built is so fun. Last week our cabinets got put in and they painted the walls. And the finished the stone & brick on the outside of the house. I am most excited about the granite we chose and I can not wait to see it once it gets put in. I will share more pictures next week but here is our house as of this past Sunday, December 18th:


This will be my last blog post for a week so I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!!!

{A Festive Treat- White Chocolate Dipped Candy Canes}

Over the weekend I helped host a baby shower for one of my best friends and I made these for favors since it was a Christmas themed baby shower. They are perfect for favors or little treats for co-workers and friends and they are super easy!


What you need:
-Candy Canes
-White Chocolate or Almond Bark
-Assorted Sprinkles
-Wax/Parchment Paper



Spread out the wax paper on the counter. Melt the bark in a large bowl in the microwave. Unwrap the candy canes and put to the side (this was the hardest part... Candy Canes are not that easy to unwrap without breaking!). Dip the curved part of the candy cane in the melted bark and use a spoon to cover about half of the candy cane. Lay it out on the wax paper and sprinkle the wet bark with sprinkles, then let dry.




Thank you, Pinterest for another great idea :)

All that sparkles...

There is something about this time of year that makes me want to wear sparkles every day, paint my nails with sparkly polish and get dressed up in a sparkly cocktail dress & sparkly heels for a party! Here are some of my favorite sparkling finds for the holiday season:












Have a sparkling Friday and weekend! xo