My First WYHDIH Project!

WYHDIH= Watch your husband do it himself..... :)

Dan worked on the headboard almost all day on Saturday and a good part of Sunday. I had a cranky baby and didn't think it was a good idea for us to stay in the garage with all those fumes! The bed is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! But.... we have a little problem. Let me just show you:

(Please over look all the clutter on our bedside tables. I am not an organized person.)

So.... yea, you can't even see the headboard it's so low. I googled sleigh beds on the Internet and there are actually a lot of them out there that aren't high up. The headboard and footboard (haven't done the footboard yet) have slots in them to attach to rails that hold the bed up. I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't do the footboard and just find a way to elevate the headboard without attaching it to the bed maybe? What do y'all think? It's just too beautiful to leave behind those pillows!

Here's proof:

Didn't the Danman do a fantastic job?! Here is a reminder at what he started with:

 

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Our little family has some big changes coming up in the next two weeks. I have been talking about going back to school all summer and it is almost time! My last day of work is next Friday and I start school right away - on Monday the 9th. I am so ready for a fresh start and a change of scenery.  =)

In other news, a few weeks ago we met a sweet family that lives on the street behind us. My coworker goes to church with them and they introduced us because we're neighbors and have been visiting their church for a while now. The mom stays at home and has a 4 year old and an 8 month old. Her 4 yr old is starting preschool in the fall so she has been wanting to keep another child during the day. I have always wanted a stay-at-home mom situation for Caroline and this family is so very sweet. So, all of that is to say that Caroline will no longer be going to daycare. The same day that I start school, Caroline will be at the Johnson's instead of daycare! I am very excited and I'm really hoping it will all work out perfectly!

Of course that means I won't be able to check up on her like I do now while I'm at work and we are actually really going to miss some of the people we've met at daycare. Caroline has made little friends in her class and the older she gets the more the daycare workers love her. When I told them we were leaving they said "Well we don't like that.... Caroline is a preferred customer!" I thought that was kinda funny!

(Caroline is at the bottom left in this pic... eating lunch!)

Caroline is eating pretty well for the most part. Still not a huge fan of peas and I found out last night that she HATES peaches. I guess because they are tart or strong tasting. Who knows! Anyway, she takes 4 bottles a day (6 or 7 ounces each time). She eats fruit for lunch and for dinner she eats half a container of fruit and half a veggie (sometimes a whole veggie) with some cereal or oatmeal. She has really started crawling well over the last week or so! Last night I was sitting on the ground with her in front of me and every time I put her down she would crawl to me. I would pick her and rock her against my chest and say "loooove, love, love!" and then put her back on the ground and she'd crawl right back up to my lap. So sweet! With this new mobility has come a few "uh-ohs". My heart just breaks for her when she hurts herself. I guess I need to be watching her much closer now that she can travel so easily! =) Either watch her like a hawk or put her in something safe that she can't do too much harm in. We used to use a bouncy seat when I was getting ready for work in the mornings but now this walker is doing the trick for us.

That's all for now! Happy almost Friday!

My Very First DIY Project!

Our bedroom is a mix-match of old furniture and hand-me-downs and I have been wanting a headboard/footboard for our bed for a while now but it just hasn't been in the budget. Earlier this week Dan was looking in an antique shop and found an old sleigh bed for 40 bucks! Pretty good for a king sized bed, huh!? Only problem is, the finish is in pretty rough shape so it definitely needs to be refinished. We're going to start on it this weekend. I really hope it turns out well! If we don't like the way it looks, we can always paint over it, right?!

So excited about that!!

As I was feeding Caroline yesterday she kept arching backwards to look at Daddy. I thought it was so funny I made him take a picture!

And this was my view. Ha!

About an hour ago Caroline fell asleep in her bouncy thing so I laid her down in her crib. She woke up a little but I figured she would go right back to sleep. I left and went to check on her about 10 minutes later and this is what I found:

She was just sitting in her crib playing quietly! How sweet is my girl!??

And to wrap up this post I'll share one of my most favorite pics of her to date! I took it last night while giving her a bath (obviously). Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Mobile Visit, Peas, & Sitting Up Like a Big Girl!

How's that for a hodge podge title?

The weekend before last Caroline and I headed to Mobile to visit Wren. We always enjoy our time together and this weekend was no exception. Wren cut my hair and I paid her in ice cream... because, well, I'm an awesome friend like that. Then I gifted her husband Allan with a hysterical baby at Olive Garden. I'm sooo much fun to be around these days! :)

This past weekend was pretty uneventful. We had planned on going to the pool but it's been raining a lot here lately so we were pretty much lazy all weekend. We did get some cleaning done on Sunday which was nice. We're getting to the point where Caroline has a bunch of toys so we need a toy box in the living room and one in her room so we can easily clean up each day. Caroline is doing well and eating a new food pretty much every 4 days or so now. So far she has eaten almost everything I've given her... but she definitely doesn't love peas or green beans. Oh how I hope she doesn't have an aversion to green foods like I do! :(

Warning: She gags in the video below. If you can't handle that I would recommend skipping the video.



Tonight we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner & Caroline sat in a highchair for the first time! We sat her in one at another place a couple of weeks ago but she kind of slid down into an uncomfortable slouch. She did much better today and I kept telling Dan "look how big she is!!" She is sitting up so well now. It's like over night she went from only sitting by propping her self up with her hands and now she sits up without propping herself up!

In other news, the countdown is ON!! 2 weeks & 4 days left of work!! Can you tell I am elated?!? I start a week long "mini-session" at USM on 8/9 and then the regular semester starts a week and a half later. I'm going to try and take 19 hours this fall so that in the spring I'll only have 12 hours to complete.

Anyway, it's almost 10 and that means it's momma's bedtime!! :)

Dream House

This morning while going through my list of blogs I frequent I stopped over at http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com/. I love this blog for her style and decorating and over the weekend she wrote about Steven Alexander Homes. I feel like such a copy cat blogging about the exact same thing but OH how I love this house!

I have never been so in love with a house or a style in my life! Dream big, right?!

.

As beautiful as the outside of this home is, I love the inside even more.

Look at the ceiling in the dining room! I love all the greens and blues.

It looks so comfortable and I love all the molding!

 I think I've decided I want my next house to have a vanity like this

(preferably off to one side insead of centered).

Anyway, I seriously doubt I'll ever need a 3500 square foot house OR something that costs $680,000! It's always fun to dream though... and I could do something much smaller in the same style one day! :)

Random Notes & Quirks

I don't have much to blog about, but I'm going to anyway. So here goes....

1. I went to the vet's office to get flea medicine yesterday and they have a room of puppies for sale. I cannot keep myself from going in that little room and letting the puppies lick my fingers. They are irresistable!!!! God must have made puppies to make people happy. I wanted to take them all home with me, but especially the yorkie puppies! Thankfully, I am able to walk away. I have to talk my husband out of getting another dog on a regular basis. He always comes back later and says "I'm glad you talked me out of getting another dog!"

2. My daughter is COVERED in little red bumps. It started last week and has only gotten worse. They aren't itchy or making her unhappy, but it makes me so sad to see my pretty girl like that. Her daycare said all of the crawlers in the room beside hers had it last week and several of them went to the doctor. The doctor said they were "just fighting off an infection" and didn't give them any medicine. This is a very strange explanation... but I'm glad there isn't an allergy or anything I have to figure out.

3. We were planning on going to Sunday school for the first time this Sunday at a church I think we've decided to stick with... but unless her bumps magically disappear before Sunday we won't be able to go. =(


4. My friend Julie is about to have her first baby- she will be 39 weeks tomorrow and I'm planning on driving up to Nashville when she goes into labor. I met Julie when we worked at Dave Ramsey's together. She is always in a happy mood and it seems to just rub off onto you when you're with her. On my first day at Dave's we all went to lunch and she was dancing in her seat to the music at the restaurant. That is soooo Julie. I was thinking "weirdo!!"

photo taken from http://www.kimberlybarnesphotography.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I'm SOOOO excited to meet baby Graham. I'm sure I'll be an emotional wreck when I finally lay eyes on her for the first time as a mommy. They tried to get pregnant for a long time and I remember so clearly the day she found out. She and Nick are going to make wonderful parents. They have such a strong christian home and Graham is so lucky to have them for a mommy & a daddy.

5. I am addicted to those little chocolate covered donuts. I think they have about 10,000 calories in a serving. I can substitute the white donuts if I have chocolate milk to dip them in.

6. I like the smell of white-out.

7. This youtube video cracks me UP! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI I was laughing out loud in the break room at work watching it. This one is also great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEQwvaYI_k

---this post just keeps getting weirder and weirder---

8. Women with shiny faces annoy me. I want to run up to them and powder away!! (I have been guilty of being shiny before too... so I don't know why it annoys me when I see other people with this issue.)

9. The Hills is about to end for good and I'm pretty upset about it.

10. I dread washing my hair... I think because I hate blow drying it. It only takes about 10 minutes to dry it so it's so silly for me to dread it like that, but I do anyway.

11. I am SO OCD about washing Caroline's bottles. I have to wash them so well and then I have to rinse them for a long time because I imagine her drinking soapy bottles. How insane is that? I don't even let Dan wash them. I don't think he minds at all!

What are your quirks?

Caroline is 6 Months Old!

6 months ago today we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world. I was more exhausted that morning than I've ever been, but all that work was so worth the precious gift that was given to us. I was absolutely clueless about how much love I could have for one little person. Our lives changed forever that day. I know everyone says this, but time has definitely flown by. When did our little newborn turn into a curious baby who won't sit still?! She watches everything... and when I'm holding her she whips her head from left to right to see whatever is going on. It feels like just yesterday she couldn't even hold her head up and now she wants to crawl! She used to hate tummy time but now she spends much of her day on her belly scooting around.

Here are a couple of videos to show you what Caroline has been up to. When we put her on her belly she gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth... I am just waiting for the day that she takes off crawling!

4th of July Weekend

We had a wonderful very long holiday weekend. I had a five day weekend and enjoyed every minute of it! Thursday I registered for classes at Southern and that night Caroline and I drove to Brandon to spend the night with my mom. Friday we took our time getting ready (it is so nice not to be rushed!) and I even painted Caroline's toenails! Daddy did not approve so I had to take it off Saturday but it was fun for a day anyway. We're going to be up a creek when she wants to dress herself!

Saturday was our annual 4th of July family get together at his parents house. Dan's family is pretty big so we usually have a good turn out. I look forward to it every year (and not just for the BBQ!)

I love that Caroline has lots of cousins she will grow up with! I have a tiny family but Dan has provided her with lots of cousins to enjoy! :)

Sunday we went to church with Dan's parents and then sat on their front porch for most of the afternoon enjoying the day. We were supposed to go back to Hattiesburg that afternoon but my mom called me and tempted me with Bonefish Grill for dinner so I ended up staying the night. If you have a Bonefish Grill near you and you haven't had their bang bang shrimp you must do so soon! It is soooo good. My mom doesn't even like shrimp and she loved it.

4 Generations!

Here is Caroline at my grandma's (Gommy's) house before bedtime. This is her guest room and the room that my mom grew up in. I thought the bedding made a good backdrop! :)

Can you believe she is sitting up?! More to come on what Miss Caroline has been up to in tomorrow's blog post!

Octo Meme

I've been in a blogging slump lately because all I ever have to talk about is Caroline. I feel like that bores most people and is pretty self centered, but I'm going to continue even if it only serves as a journal for myself down the road. My friend Carrie did this meme yesterday and I thought it was an easy way to get a post done so here goes!

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to...

1) Quitting my job
2) Starting school in August - hopefully this will mean more time with Caroline!
3) Graduating... in MAY!
4) 4th of July weekend with my mom & Dan's family - family reunion style! :)
5) Getting off work today at 3:30 and going to pick up my sweet baby.
6) Seeing Eclipse (or any movie... I really miss going to the theater!)
7) Taking Caroline to the pool more this summer
8) Being debt free (eventually)


8 Things I did Yesterday...
1) Went to work
2) Read blogs
3) Commented on blogs (this is key people!!!)
4) Went to the bank
5) Picked up Caroline
6) Went to the grocery store w/ Dan
7) Watched a little TV
8) Went to bed.


8 Things I Wish I Could Do...

1) Be a better wife
2) Be a stay at home mommy
3) Win the lottery ( ;    this one probably will never happen, since we never play.
4) Travel
5) Cook more often - it's so time consuming!
6) Move to Nashville and take all of my friends & family with me
8) Go back to Caroline's birth & birthday and remember it all (without the pain of course!)

8 Shows I Enjoy...
1) The Hills - I miss LC!
2) The City
3) Dexter (this is sort of embarassing...)
4) 16 and Pregnant (train wreck!)
5) Cooking shows - especially Cake Boss & cooking competitions
6) uh...
7) um....
8) as much tv as I watch you'd think I could fill in all 8!! I used to love watching the OC! Does that count as one?

I'm tagging Amy, MaryAlice, Kristine, Erin, My fav Lumberjill, Erin, Sissy, and Julie. Obviously if you don't want to do it, don't! :) You won't hurt my feelings!

ENT & Squash

Yesterday we gave Caroline some squash - her first "real" food!

She makes a sour face every now and then, but I'm pretty sure she likes it because she continues to open her mouth for it. She ate it last night and again tonight... both nights she ate the whole container!

Sour face!

We went to the ear/nose/throat doctor this morning to check on Caroline's ears. She has had 3 or 4 ear infections in her short life and so her doctor wanted a 2nd opinion on whether or not she needs tubes put in. The doctor said he'd like to wait a little while longer and see if she has more infections, which is kind of what I was thinking before we went in anyway. She is really starting to be a handful! Of course she is still a very good baby... but nothing seemed to entertain her while we were waiting... and let me tell you, they took for-ever! I guess I need to start taking some toys with us!

That's all for now! I gotta go catch up on episode of The Hills from last night!

I feel like my baby girl grew up while she was at daycare today! She was so full of personality this evening while I was giving her some rice cereal. She kept looking all around (bored, maybe?) and I decided to try the airplane noise trick to see if I could make her pay attention. She thought it was hilarious!! She was laughing so hard and that usually is pretty rare for her! It made my day for sure. Then she laughed a lot while Dan was holding her and making fake sneezing noises. Whatever works, right?

So then after bath time she smelled and looked so sweet and I couldn't resist shooting a few pics of her. She could possibly have a picture for every day of her life thus far! :)

This is a big week for Dan and I! Wednesday will be our 3 year anniversary and his birthday is Sunday... along with Father's day. He calls it his birtha-versa-father's day. :) We don't usually go all crazy with gifts and stuff, but we'll definitely treat ourselves with a dinner out somewhere! I'm looking forward to that!

Catch up

I hate to say that my blog may be suffering through this summer class... but it is last on my list after family, school and housework. My class (biology) is going well so far. I had my first test tonight and I'm pretty sure I made a B so I'm happy with that. It has been really hard being away from Caroline for so long on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was a wreck the first couple of weeks.... I get home at about 9 at night and just hold and love her. She reaches her sweet hand up and explores all over my face... there is nothing like it.

A few weeks ago Caroline and I went to the beach with Gommy, Mom & Walt. We had a blast! The weather was perfect and I decided that May is the only acceptable time to go to the beach! Luckily, we went before any oil was spotted in FL. My heart just breaks over this oil spill disaster. To see such a beautiful creation ruined by human hands just kills me... and I saw a picture of a pelican completely covered in oil yesterday and I had to stop myself from crying. I cannot handle the thought of innocent animals suffering. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from our very fun trip.

Caroline did as well as can be expected on the beach. I put her feet in the water a couple of times but it was a little cold at first so I didn't want to put her whole body in and shock her. I forgot her sunglasses at home so I was worried it was too bright outside for her... even under the umbrella. We only stayed out for an hour or so at a time and got lots of naps in!

Over the Memorial day weekend we visited with Dan's parents. We had a good time and I had plenty of time to take lots of good pictures! (Dan's office got a new camera and they told us to feel free to use it at home. It takes wonderful pictures so I've been a picture taking fool ever since he brought it home!)  

Yesterday Caroline was 5 months old. So hard to believe! I pulled out the rest of Caroline's 6 month clothes  and I'm amazed at how well they fit. She is such a big girl! She rolled over for the first time (that I know of) while we were at Dan's parents house. Since then she rolls around constantly!! We started giving her a little rice cereal last week and she seems to be taking it pretty well. We're only giving it to her once or twice a day but occasionally she'll be too hungry to mess with it and I end up giving her a bottle. Here are pictures from our first meal:

I'll wrap this up with a video of her squeaking at me. She does this every now and them randomly and I think it's hilarious!!

Wordless Wednesday