Blogger app

Soooo I'm just now discovering blogger has an iPhone app... Who knew! So I'm trying it out. My sister, David, and baby boy max are visiting. We're having a great time visiting. Stay tuned next week for a post on our trip to a fun fabric stores! Have a great weekend and Easter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES

Happy 30th birthday to the best husband and dad in the whole world!!

Hadley loves her daddy

We will be going out to dinner (JUST THE TWO OF US) to celebrate! We have yet to be on a real "date" and Sam's club doesn't count haha since Hadley was born. I am not really comfortably leaving her because she can be a handful and then there's the whole feeding stuff. We are really excited to get out! My sister and her husband (and of course Max) are coming for a visit so they are giving us some babysitting woohoo! He's also getting an R/C airplane, like he needs anymore :)

bringing back a preggo pic

I remember back in the day celebrating his big 21st birthday, seems like just yesterday :)

New neighbor

We had a new guy move in across the street from us. We had met him briefly when he first bought the house but he was having some renovations done to it. It's been a month since closing and he's finally moving in. We had been so wonderfully greeted when we moved in here so we wanted to keep up the tradition. I looked on pinterest for an easy recipe for a dessert and found this one.

Ingredients:

1 Box yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1 Small box instant vanilla pudding
1/4 Cup water
3/4 Cup vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 Cup chocolate chips. I used 1/2 cup holiday mini M&M's and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake mix, pudding, water, vegetable oil, eggs and chips or M&M's in large bowl.

Pour the batter (it's going to be thick) into a greased 10x13 baking dish. I sprayed my dish with nonstick cooking spray which worked well.

Bake your bars for 20-30 minutes (I took mine out at 25.)

It may look sort of raw in the middle but if the edges are just golden and starting to get crispy, it's probably perfect.

I got Easter M & M's to use but I didn't pay attention to the bag and they were like gigantic huge eggs. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be ok. I haven't tasted ours yet but they smelled delicious and it was SUPER easy.

mine which looks no where near as good as the recipe picture
I didn't take a picture of the presentation we brought to the new neighbor

So if you're looking for a quick dessert, look no further! I managed to make the whole thing (minus part of the cooking) during one of Hadley's very short nap sessions.

Hadley's chit chat

It's Friday wooohooo! We are looking forward to finishing up the kitchen cabinets (actually we just have the drawers left). The weather is supposed to be stormy so we should be able to stay inside and finish some tasks without feeling bad that we aren't outside. Hadley talks all the time so I wanted you all to hear it too. She's so funny and cute :)

Have a great weekend!

more like mom or more like dad?

So I thought it would be fun to see who everyone thinks Hadley looks like.... I've heard both, one more than the other but I won't sway you. These pictures were taken around 2-7 months old of James and myself and I'll put Hadley's 4 month ones in so you can do your comparing. How cute are we all as babies :)

I believe I am on the right in the pictures below. The Christmas picture I'm not so sure of. I'm sure most of my readers know by now that I am a twin, but just incase you didn't, that's why you see double.

I just knew my brother Chris would feel left out if we didn't include him in this photo collage :) I actually think I'm on the left in the Christmas photo. 

So what do you guys think? 

Meet my new vehicle!

Hopefully she's a keeper! I couldn't see getting a brand new from the factory car because of how much value it really loses. I don't drive a lot and Dave Ramsey says no :) I kept teetering with the idea to go new because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted used. I finally explored other options and looked into farther away car max's. Turns out they'll transfer cars pretty much anywhere (to another car max). If it's further away they charge a small fee (which they waived for us for some reason). Our nearest Car Max is about an hour and a half away which is why I didn't originally explore this option. James said he wouldn't mind going to get it so then it became an option. Our little Miss. Hadley couldn't make the drive because she hates the car seat. So James rented a U-haul trailer bed and off he went!

The transfer took basically the same day we called and it was ready the next day. They originally told us it could take 7-10 days but I guess they had a truck going our way. So meet my Chevy Equinox! I decided I just really kept coming back to the look of this one so it's what I got. It passed all the Car Max's inspection and James even got them to put it up so he could look under it. I want to have him take it to a mechanic here for more of a thorough unbiased opinion. We have 5 days to bring it back for any reason. I just watched a 20/20 where even though the Car Fax background check came out clean they still found issues (it was not at Car Max's though). So I've convinced James we HAVE to get it checked out more and he agreed.

It's a 2012 Gray Equinox with black leather inside. It has 14,000 miles on it and is great condition. I saved probably around 5-7,000 dollars buying used. One feature I didn't know it had was that you can auto start it with a button on my remote! It also has heated seats (which I knew) and other top notch features. James was impressed! We took our first family drive in it this weekend and everyone approves! Oh and best part about it, we have been saving up for a new car for me forever and this is all paid for baby! woot woot!

So the big question is, what should her name be?!?! I haven't had a long time to drive her so I feel I can not make a real decision yet. We came up with my last car's name while experiencing how she drove. So I'd love to hear suggestions but committing might take a couple more drives! Like it or what?

Hadley's 4 month update

I was going to start writing this post the other day but never got around to it. I think back to what I was going to write and realize how different things are now in only a matter of a couple days! It's crazy how just when you think you have it going one way, she switches and now you're going a different direction. I'll elaborate more in the sleep section...

Stats:
23 3/4" Long (75th percentile!)
12 pounds 14 ounces (25th percentile)
40 cm head circumference

my tall skinny gal :) The doctor was pleased with her growth so we're happy, too.

Personality:

Hadley is one happy baby until she's not haha Overall, she is such a smiley happy gal and I just love when she talks to me. She usually gets a good hour- hour and a half of happy time after eating until she's tired and ready for a nap (then she can lose it).

Eating:
My happy long eater has taken a turn. The past couple weeks she's grown VERY fussy while breastfeeding and sometimes I have to fight her to eat instead of cry. I really don't know what that's about. I see milk so I think she's getting enough? She used to eat a good 45 minutes or longer if I let her, but now she grows fussy after 15-20 minutes. She's eating every 2.5-3 hours still. The doctor said it's recommended that breast fed babies wait until 6 months for any type of "food". It's a fairly new recommendation. They believe they can get all their nutrients through breast milk. That being said, he said if we want to experiment a little bit that there'd be no harm as long as we're not replacing feedings. So we'll see.

Sleeping:
Well the dreaded sleep issue. I was so excited to post about this the other day because we had Hadley sleeping in her crib for naps AND at night. She even did a couple 6-7 hour stretches followed by a 3 hour a couple nights. Then BAM someone switched my baby again. She's still in her crib but waking every 2-3 hours!! NOT COOL Hadley. Seriously can't believe we're back to this. They talk about this "4 month wakeful" and I read about other November babies going through similar things so all I can hope for is this is a phase that she will grow out of QUICKLY.  On a positive note, we can get her to go down for bed super easy now around 8:30-9pm so that's a plus...... oh and she's still swaddled, I'll be making a swaddle for her to use for the rest of her life because it really calms her :)

I'm going to have to turn off flash and get a darker marker next month, oops.

Developments:
Hadley continues to giggle and smile all the time. She loves eating her hands still and has recently found her FEET. She loves grabbing them. She hasn't quite rolled over yet, but she's working on it. I'm not in any hurry for that because then it means no more swaddle! She tolerates tummy time more and chats all day long. I wish I knew what she was saying because she sounds like it's pretty great news. She grabs for toys and sticks them in her mouth.

cute outfit courtesy of Missy and Chris! (it's monogrammed on her booty)

Sizes:

Pampers size 2 diapers

clothing she can still fit in 3 months but 3-6 months fit best

and Hadley said that's a wrap mom with a gesture :)

Family Room Ideas

So I need some opinions. I spend a lot of my day/night feeding baby Hadley so I'm on my phone occupying my time. I am loving the houzz app that has design ideas. I also spend a lot of time looking around my house and showing Hadley different things (it's boring being a baby). So I haven't hung up anything in the living room (family room, same thing in our house). The couple that owned the house before us had painted their master bedroom a dark navy blue. I really do like that but the room is on the smaller side so it sorta made it look smaller. We had it repainted gray and love it. The couple kept and labeled all the paint they used and it's in the garage. I have been thinking about what if I painted the inside of the book shelf to add a color of pop in the very neutral living room. I do not want to paint the whole thing due to too many other colors going on in here. What do you think? OR I could paint it the gray color we have from the bedroom but I think navy's an IN color these days and it all started because of these curtains I saw from the West Elm catalogue (they do also come in gray though).

Here are some room inspirations I found after I thought about my idea. I took these from my phone and I didn't feel like cropping so sue me :)

this one is more like what I'm wanting to do minus the rug and more navy color in the book shelves.

this is my actual book shelves

The other issue is, I don't know where to put the curtains or how many I want/need. This is where you all come in! This is our messy living room (that's all James' stuff on the table for the record). The previous owners had curtains up where there are the rods right now (which could be throwing me off). Those windows do have blinds on them. The door has no coverings at all and there is a house behind us that MAYBE could see in but it's not a huge concern but may sway your decision? I'm thinking I want two sets of curtains to really get the navy blue coming out but maybe not? Where do you think I should put them? Over the door and over the right window? Leave the rods where they are? Just over the door? none of the above?! The book shelves that would be painted are right by that big window on the right. We are going to move that green/brown mirror over the fireplace to the hallway so don't let that sway any decision (feel free to suggest what you think we should put over the fireplace now.

This is the previous master bedroom color so it's a deep navy.

So what are you thinking? You liking the navy, or could always do a gray instead? This living room needs your help, don't let it down. 

Hadley's 4 month old!

Another month has past, crazy! We've had a pretty good past month. We've really got our routine down. I will update with the usual monthly updates on Friday because we have our 4 month appointment on Thursday. So for now we can celebrate her 4 months of being out of the womb by some pictures and video. Last year at this time, I found out I was pregnant with our precious baby Hadley!

we have to bounce it for her but she loves it (she's still a bit small for it)

We went to a consignment sale and got some outfits

Here's a video of Hadley talking it up. She still loves her baths and LOVES chatting it up. She's just so cute :)

Hadley's new accessories

So I was able to get out without Hadley AND go with my mom and sister to Hobby Lobby. I missed that place! No, we don't have one of those in our small town in MS. I'm not kidding you when I said I haven't spent any money here because there's really not much in terms of shopping. We went to town! Furniture was on sale for 30 percent off (that's as high as they go for furniture) and we saw pink! I was worried it was be too fluorescenty, but it looks great! I haven't settled on actual placement yet.

I will use the back left as probably book holders. We LOVED the picture because it really marries the color scheme going on. 

I mean seriously, how cute!! 

Love this recipe

Thought I'd share. I pinned it a while ago and just always make it. It's delicious! especially on those cold nights!

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2011/03/chicken-tortilla-soup.html


stay tuned tomorrow to see the new additions to Hadley's room.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy birthday to the best mom and Gi Gi out there! Love you the mostest :)

photo from november (thanksgiving)

Hadley update and roman shades

Hey there,

We're back in Mississippi! Hadley did WONDERFUL on the car ride back, due to the fact that we left at bedtime! She cried the entire 5 hour drive on the way to my sister's but on the way back, she cried all of five MINUTES! I could not be more relieved. I'm not kidding you when I say that when she cries (screams) it was BAD. We are sad that we are without company, but we are happy to be back into our family of 3 routine. Some Hadley goals, I'd really love to get her sleeping in her crib at night..... she has done wonderful with bedtime. I don't know what clicked in Georgia, but she has not fought sleep since. We've even got her in bed at 8:30ish EASTERN time zone.... I don't know why the sudden change, but we're curious to see how central time zone pans out. That being said, her sleeping through the whole night (yes in her swing) has pretty much stopped. She did a couple times with the early bed time, but now wakes 1-2 times. I'm ok with that if she doesn't fight bedtime.

She also got her first cold in GA too. My poor baby girl was so stuffed up and congested with a terrible cough. Luckily, she's on the mend. That may or may not have had something to do with her waking up at night a bunch more times, we'll never know. Hadley has gotten WAY more vocal. I mean as I'm typing this she is going CRAZY "talking". She also grabs things all the time on her activity mat and is tolerating tummy time a lot more, which is great! Still no rolling but that's ok.

Anyways, on to my real reason for posting today. I wanted to say I love Etsy. Seriously, it's the best thing since sliced bread. I just wish I had unlimited funds to shop it. It also makes me wish I was more talented. My mom gave us her sewing machine (in exchange for our elliptical) so maybe that will inspire me (most likely James).  I am going to have someone on there make us a roman shade for our kitchen. I picked out great material that may or may not match the current wall color but we'll work with it. Take a look!

swatch

here it is in pillow form- looks a bit lighter

James is still working on the cabinets, turns out, they take a while :) That's all for now. Oh and I bought a bunch of hot pink accessories for Hadley's nursery (stay tuned). I am looking forward to warmer weather (random thought).