Fast forward

Hello again...it's been a while. At 15 weeks pregnant I am physically feeling great. Besides morning nausea, I really can't complain. My biggest obstacle has been exhaustion. After a long day of teaching, it's really hard finding energy to keep up with Addie when I get home. Emotionally, I'm freaking out about going through the infant stage again. I know that we will be ok and it will all come back to me but I can't stop thinking about balancing it all as well as pumping in my spare time. In fact, this time I am going to try to pump even longer to avoid spending all of our money buying formula. 

I went and picked up some paint chips for the nursery today. No decisions have been made but I taped about 5 samples on the wall. They will probably stay there for months. Because we are not finding out, I guess it just doesn't feel as real yet. I'm sure I will start panicking in the summer...

In other news, Addie is gone to Dyersburg for the week. I know that she is having SO much fun but I already miss her terribly. She's my little sidekick and I really feel lost without her. Here is a pic that I got from Nonny at Cracker Barrel on the way.

The holidays have come and gone

We had a wonderful Christmas break full of eating, traveling, opening presents, and spending quality time with family. Andrew took off of work the last week so we were able to get some things done around the house but more importantly just hang out. On a typical day, he leaves the house long before we are awake and gets home right around dinner/bath/bedtime. It was awesome having him home with us. 

Addie loved Christmas but did not love opening one present after another. Who would have thought?! She wanted to play with each toy that she opened. I guess that means we will just have to limit the presents next year...

I'm not even going to talk about the day and a half we wasted trying to potty train a child that's not ready...what a joke! At least we are learning how to parent together...I wouldn't want to be married to a "know it all," ha!

Little Rock, Greenwood, Macon, and Oxford were all visited during the two week break. We had a fabulous pre-New Years celebration with our friends sans Addie. Our blessings are abundant. Great friends, wonderful family, and a healthy child!  

Some pics from the break: 

One of our road trips

Another 

 She is quite the cook these days!

Hanging out with the dogs. (Mayes visited while my parents were out of town.) 

Soaking up some knowledge on her Leapster Explorer

 Clearly too cool to smile

 Pretty new nightgown

So much fun

Cooking with Toddy

At some point Addie will call my mom Toddy. Right now she is calling her "Mo ma" which sounds similar to Maw Maw. She hates it...which causes us to egg it on even more.

Every time Toddy tried to talk the other night, Addie did this!

 Baking cookies with Toddy

 You can probably guess who rules our family...

I don't believe this is sanitary.

Day trippin

So, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the girl who keeps Addie for us. I really do not know what we would do without her. I trust her 100% and most importantly, Addie is obsessed with her. We are SO thankful to have found such a wonderful person to step in while we are at work! We went on a little trip to visit her today and what do you know...Addie wanted to stay with her! Blessed!

From there, we Macgyvered our way to Macon (Mississippi) to see my cousins and grandparents. I plugged the iPad into the AUX port so I got to listen to the Lion King while Addie watched it. I really took in the scenery on the two hour drive. Wow, we live in a beautiful state! 

Here are some pics:

 A little jealous of the baby

She warmed up after a while though 

Granny with her 8th great grandchild 

Pretty sure he's the best grandfather around...

Enjoying this age

Addie will be two in February...that's hard to believe! This is such a fun age though. Besides the fact that she is a mini me, I love spending time with her. I'm not going to lie...she knows how to push my buttons. I have to be careful how I react and try to think back to what was effective with me. Neither one of us like to be told what to do. Well, of course this is a problem! I have to be very strategic and make her think that whatever I am getting her to do is her idea. It makes for an interesting adventure in parenting.

 This Christmas season we have decorated the tree together, thrown tea parties, baked, etc. It's been a great few days at home already! Ask me next week while I am POTTY TRAINING! To say that I am dreading it is a major understatement. Wish me luck!

 Watching as they tie on the tree

 Making memories...

 My little organizer. She sorted the ornaments for us.

 Carefully positioning the "kid friendly" ornaments on the bottom

 She grouped all of the ornaments that were the same. Hmm

Makeshift tea party with oatmeal cookies and hot cider. Yum!

Filling my spare time

I am off for Christmas break for two whole weeks! My pinterest addiction is actually starting to pay off. Yesterday I worked on a couple of "pallet" projects that I have been lusting over wanting to do. 

I am working on Addie's big girl room. We love animals. Let me clarify...Addie and I love animals! So decided to do some animal artwork for her room. I saw this on Restoration Hardware's website and swore that I could make my version of this for MUCH cheaper than $170 or whatever they were charging plus shipping. I didn't want the silhouette to be black and I didn't like the metal ties. 

Here is my version! 

How to: Andrew took apart the old pallets for me. They were old and brittle with lots of nails in them so it wasn't something I wanted to do.

I got the two side pieces from Lowes. I think they were $1.00 each. Originally I was going to put them on the back to hold the wood together but instead of making the dog bigger, I decided to put them on the front. I went ahead and painted and sanded these pieces to make them look old.

I picked out four "pretty" wood planks (some of them were split in half but it doesn't matter) and laid them out how I wanted them positioned.

I made a dog template with poster board and traced it with chalk. 

Then I put my two holding pieces on the front and screwed those in with 1 1/2 inch nail screws. I would suggest shorter screws because ours poked through the back...we just put foam over them.  

To minimize the fact that I used 1,000 screws, I painted over them again. 

Then, I painted inside of my chalk outline, let it dry, and wiped the chalk off.

All in all, it was a cheap and fun project. 

 I put it high above her bed only because she will have a big fabric headboard. We still have a long way to go with her room...

Project #2 was super easy. The pallet was already missing the middle board so all I had to do was paint it. I didn't sand it or anything before because I didn't want to lose the weathered look.

 I was going for a dark blue/gray but that's not what I got...I painted over it with a light gray.

 I am still deciding what to put in there...maybe an oversized glamour shot picture of Addie? 

Christmas!!!!!!

It's that time of year again...Thanksgiving comes and goes and it causes panic. I always freak out that I haven't ordered Christmas cards OR bought any gifts! This year is different...I am much calmer than usual. Maybe because I am doing everything online?!

There are SO many things that I love about Christmas...I mean we basically count down from Easter, right? Decorating, are you kidding?! SO much fun! One of my favorite things about "the season" is exchanging Christmas cards. I have kept the cards from years past and always go back and look at them before I send mine. I enjoy seeing families change each year. Someone got married, got a new dog, or had a child. I rip open the envelope (saving the return address) and post them around our kitchen door frame. I do look at them when I open them, but I seriously look at them everyday and notice something new. Maybe it's my lack of attention to detail...it takes me a little while, ha! Tiny prints has the most awesome Christmas cards. Here is one that I really like. 

Favorite card on Tiny Prints

Now to choose a picture! I like this one but I didn't have my flash on and I will need to doctor it...