House Stuff + A Fancy Car

Even though we've been super busy around here lately, things have been good. We finally found a house that we think is going to be perfect for our little family for the foreseeable future, and it actually looks like things are good to go! And, now we're in the final countdown for being out of our current place - one month! It's so bittersweet. I absolutely love this house and it will always be so incredibly special to our family. But I do love starting fresh in a new house. My emotions are all over the place!

One of the best things that went on lately - aside from finally finding a house!-  is actually thanks to this little ole' blog, actually. We have been driving all over the north part of the Dallas area looking for a house for what, almost two months now? And I won't lie, it was starting to get super old. But luckily, I was contacted a little while ago by GM to see if I'd be interested in participating in a vehicle loan program that they offer - umm, are you kidding? So for an entire week I got to drive around in a brand new GMC Terrain Denali. That certainly made me a little happier to be driving all over the place.

It. Was. Incredible. We've been talking about getting an SUV lately, so this was seriously perfect timing. But, I may have been a little spoiled. This car was seriously amazing. Not only was it nice to look at, but it was super fancy on the inside. The number one thing I care about in my car is if it has navigation, because I like to be able to just get in and go...no planning my route out beforehand. My current car has a nice little navigation system, but this thing takes it to a new level. If there's a McDonalds or a CVS or whatever on your route, the little logo will pop up on the screen showing you where it's at. I don't know why, but I thought this was the coolest thing ever. Maybe I'm easily impressed?

A loved it because it had a super smooth ride and all kinds of horespower or something like that....I can't remember exactly what he said, you know all that "manly" talk. The backseat was super roomy, plenty of room for Grayson's "big boy" carseat we recently bought, and when we went to get groceries A was impressed because there was a little net thing where we could put the eggs. Haha, now that I'm writing this, apparently we're both easily impressed!

So now I really really want to buy a brand new SUV , and since I'm getting a new house I kind of have a feeling I won't be getting one anytime soon. Oh well, I felt pretty fancy for the week I drove it around!

Other than that, honestly not too much excitement in our lives. Grayson is being adorable and hilarious and precious basically 24/7, A is working like crazy, and I'm trying to keep everything straight with all of the house insanity. I'm crossing my fingers that soon we will be settled in a new place, everything will be all nice and neat and organized like I like it, and I'll be back to blogging and working and being a mama like usual, and not too much else.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. This is the first weekend in a looooong time that we WON'T be house hunting, and I am beyond relieved. I can't wait to just do a whole lot of nothing. It sounds so glorious.

10 Months.

Even though I'm taking a bit of a break from regular blogging at the moment until we get this whole house situation figured out, I couldn't let Grayson's "birthday" go by without recognizing it. It's so hard to believe that he's already been here for 10 months...time is going by in a flash these days. I can honestly say it's been the best 10 months of my life, by far. It's amazing how much joy this little guy brings to the lives of everyone around him. He's such a blessing! 

Oh. And it literally is impossible to get him to sit still for a photos now. I was getting frustrated, but this is just such a great idea of what he's like these days.

My baby boy,

Here we are again celebrating another month of life for you. The past month has been my favorite, just like I've said every single month before. The older you get the more fun you are - I seriously can't get enough of your crazy little personality. I just sit around and laugh at you all day. And you're getting to the age where you think it's hilarious to make people laugh, so we're having a fabulous time these days. So adorable.

You suddenly seem to have crossed over into big boy territory in the past few weeks. I feel like my little baby has almost totally grown up on me and has been replaced by this adorable boy with a silly personality. You giggle and laugh at the funniest things, and you are happy almost all day every day - unless I'm changing your diaper or making you get in the carseat, that is. 

You are crawling around like a crazy man these days, and if anyone comes to get you and you don't want to be got you are a quick little guy. You're also walking around holding on to things constantly, and you're one-handing things a lot of the time. You've let go and stood for a couple of seconds unassisted before you realize what you're doing...I'm thinking standing and walking won't be too far away. 

You still haven't technically said anything, but your baby talk is hilarious. It's becoming much more defined, and it sounds like you're speaking a foreign language. You still do a lot of "mamamama" "dadada", and I swear you know what you're saying, you're just too stubborn to actually say it on command. You're also a big fan of squealing and screaming - you like to have contests with your dad to see who can yell the loudest. When you yell you do a full body shake with your hands balled in little fists. One thing we've known about you from day one is that you are intense. 

Just in the last week or so you've started doing a couple of fun new things that everyone thinks are so adorable. You will now wave "hi" or "bye bye". Especially to yourself in the mirror. Pretty much anytime we walk by a mirror now you smile so big and wave your little hand up and down. You also will slap our hands when we say "give me five!". You can make the clapping sound every once in awhile and think it is so much fun. 

You're getting really good at doing things when I show you...but a lot of the time you would rather just learn things on your own. Two of your personality traits that seem to be shining through already are independence and impatience. I'm hoping we can figure out how to work on the patience thing soon, because your daddy and I neither one have much, and we definitely hope you don't follow in our foot steps on that one! But we're also pretty independent, so I'm glad you've inherited that one. 

You understand the word "no" for sure now. We're about 50/50 on whether you listen to it. Sometimes you immediately stop what you're doing - draw your hand back quick or drop whatever you have. And sometimes you bounce up and down really fast and then keep doing it. It seems like anytime you're doing anything "bad" you bounce up and down really hard. Not sure what that is, but it's pretty cute. Makes it more difficult to be upset with you.

Right now you are loving food. You completely and totally refused anything pureed, pretty much from day one, and really didn't have a ton of interest in eating for the most part. But oh my goodness, the last few weeks you suddenly seem to be starving. You went from wanting just a couple of bites of whatever it might be and being done to absolutely devouring whatever we give you. We pretty much give you whatever we're having, as long as it's baby-friendly. A few things you've really enjoyed lately are rice, edamame, sweet potato fries, and beans. And you love to drink water. I'm pretty careful about only giving you healthy things, but you do get the occasional french fry or hamburger if it's what we're having. I'm wondering if you'll be weaning yourself from breastfeeding soon, because you're showing less interest all the time, unless you're really hungry or sleepy. 

You still do so many things that melt my heart. You love my hair - I think it's your security blanket - and if you start twisting your little fingers in it and laying your head on my shoulder I know you are about ready to drift off. You've also started holding on to my fingers and hand more often, like when we're in the car. You actually linked your fingers through mine like we were actually holding hands a couple of days ago and I swear it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. You climb all over me all day long like I'm a jungle gym. About 90% of the time that I'm on the floor you are on my lap, wrapping your arms around my neck, twisting and turning. You give me open mouth kisses all the time and it is so adorably sweet. I remember seeing babies do that in past and thinking it was kind of gross, but I swear it's the most precious thing ever when you do it. 

This month you got FIVE teeth, all within a few days, and you handled it like a champ! There were just a couple of days where you had a little fever and were fussy, but for the most part you were your happy self. It's been probably three weeks since they started popping through, and you still seem to be having a lot of pain. We don't like to give you much medicine, so you get the homeopathic teething gel a few times a day and tyelenol if you really seem to be in pain. You bite EVERYTHING right now though, and I can't blame you. I can't imagine how bad it must hurt to have all those tiny teeth attacking your mouth at once!

Your favorite things are playing tug of war with Addie (she actually plays with you sometimes now!), getting into everything you can get your hands on, opening and closing things (toys, drawers, lids, etc.), eating, taking a bath, wrestling around and goofing off with Daddy, making silly noises and making us laugh, and being a daredevil. You still hate diaper changes and having your clothes changed, and you especially hate your carseat right now since you've spent so much time in it going to look at houses!

You are an absolute doll of a baby, and you make me happy all day every day. I think you are seriously the cutest, sweetest, funniest baby in the world, and I absolutely love the little boy you're becoming. I'm trying my best to cherish every single second with you, because I can already see how fast it's all going to go. You are my favorite. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Mama

I'm Still Here!

I haven't abandoned the blog world altogether, I swear. Just A LOT going on in my little world at the moment. The house search thing is about to blow my freaking mind…we have now put an offer on three homes, and not gotten a single one of them. I'm telling you, the market around here is NUTS.

So basically my days consist of taking care of Grayson, working a little on my writing gig, looking online for new houses to pop up on the market, and going to look at houses when A gets done working for the day. That's it, that's all, there's nothing else in my life right now. But there is about to be a loooooot of packing thrown into the mix, because it looks like our house is sold! So to say that blogging has been a bit of an afterthought is an understatement.

I love you all dearly and absolutely love blogging, but right now it's just going to have to take a backseat :( My poor little brain simply can't come up with anything fun or creative that isn't house-related. So until we find something and have it under contract, I'm making no promises for anything too exciting around here.

So pleasepleaseplease wish us luck! We have a fourth offer in and I am hoping and praying and crossing my fingers and toes that this is the one. Unfortunately I just found out today that my absolute dream home went with another offer, so this one really needs to work out or I might just lose it. The good news is this one is apparently A 's dream home, and I really love it, too. I'm just still pretty devastated about losing out on the other one.

So Happy Friday! I miss you all and hope to be back full force soon!

My favorite Instagram pics from the week - if you aren't following me, do it here! 

LoveLoveLove.

Happy Valentines Day, loves! I hope you're spending this day with someone special, whether it's your man, your mom, your pup - just whoever it is that you love.

I have to be honest with you…I've never been a huge Valentines Day fan. It seems just a touch ridiculous to go over-the-top with looove one day of the year. But it is nice to have a good reason to get dressed and go out to dinner and maybe get some flowers or chocolate covered strawberries….maybe? I guess we'll see if A has any tricks up his sleeve, won't we?

This year I get to celebrate with not only my hunky husband and my sweet little pup, but with my precious little man who will be enjoying his very first V-day ever!

So Happy V-Day once more…hope it's a great one. And if you're anti-Valentine's Day, then Happy Friday!!! Pretty sure that's worth celebrating, too.

Style Inspired - Zoe Saldana

So I've noticed that the people with the style that I like the most, I don't seem to know a whole heck of a lot about. Maybe because I'm getting old and out of the loop on who's cool and all that. Anyway, I can think of a few movies that I've seen Zoe Saldana in, and I've always thought she was gorgeous. And the girl's got style. The kind of cute and casual style that I just love to love. And she's also got very slim, toned legs that I would kill for…legs like hers just look so good in pants.

Plus, didn't she date Bradley Cooper? I'm thinking I have a love/hate relationship with this girl...

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See? Love. I fully intend on copying - ahem - taking inspiration from several of the above outfits since I have similar pieces in my current wardrobe. That's the kind of style mama likes…the kind she can create with the stuff she's got in her closet. 

Don't you guys just love it when I refer to myself as mama and type in third person? I do.

Not really, it was kind of weird, so don't expect that to stick. So yeah, any Zoe fans out there??

If You Read This, I Apologize.

Happy Monday all you beautiful people! I have been sitting here staring at my computer screen for a solid five minutes trying to come up with something interesting or fun or fascinating to tell you today…and I got nothin'.

I suppose I could tell you about my weekend. Alright, if you insist.

So A got home from several days spent in another state for work late Thursday. Then I spent alllll day Friday writing like a mad-woman in my sweatpants…working from home with a baby who wants to be thisclose to you at all times is a bit of a challenge. My wonderful mom is here to help me out and was watching him, but he's a bit needy, that one. About 4 hours worth of work literally took me from 9:30 until almost 5. A and I planned on having a date night Friday night, but we both decided we would rather eat pizza and stay in our sweats and go to bed at like 9. It was great.

Saturday we got up and looked at a billion houses while we had SIX showings on our house. We found a house that I seriously thought was 'THE ONE". I kept dancing around and pouting and stomping my feet and saying "Wah, I want this house!". It was charming, I'm sure. We said Ok, someone has to put in an offer on our house like NOW, and then we'll offer on this and it will be ours and it will be glorious and wonderful and amazing and yaaaayyyy! And then we stopped at a gas station in between houses about thirty minutes later and our realtor came inside and told me that the house we wanted had multiple offers on it.

And then I threw myself on the floor of the Quick Trip and cried.

Just kidding. But I wanted to.

So we kept looking at houses and I was sad and negative and A and I bickered like the entire day…my mom had a blast with us, let me tell you. And A said never ever will we again sell a house because his wife is straight up cray and he can't deal. Not in so many words, but that's what he meant. So we just went to have mexican food at Chuy's (duh) and I had myself a Texas Martini and somehow my troubles just seemed to slip away….tequila is magic, I'm pretty sure.

So then Sunday we showed our house three more times and we went and ate more mexican food and I had mimosas and this whole process might just turn me into an alcoholic…kidding again! But really…small amounts of alcohol do wonders for stress relief. And then A got on a plane and left us again, which is sad for me, but he loves his job and gets to sit on a plane watching movies for almost three hours twice a week, and sleep in a king size bed by himself four nights a week, so I'm happy for him. Meanwhile I get to sleep in a king size bed with a dog stuck to my left side and a baby stuck to my right side and about six feet of empty space that no one seems to want to use.

So now it's Monday. And this is literally the most rambling, random blog post of my entire life. But welcome inside my brain at the moment, this is what you will find. I hope this week brings lots of exciting news for my little family, and I hope it brings you whatever it is that your little heart desires.

If you made it to the end of this post, you're a champ. Here, I'll reward you with cute Instagram pictures of my baby, dog and husband. You're welcome.

Inspired.

Do you ever feel so inspired by so many things that you just get overwhelmed by it all and become somewhat paralyzed? Ha. That's kind of where I am in life right now. For some reason all of the sudden I'm noticing all of the amazing, beautiful things in this world that I want to learn and see and do and experience…and it fills me with all of this joy and hope and warm goodness….and then I just kind  of freeze up and don't do anything because there are so many things that I don't even know where to begin. 

I'm feeling so inspired for this little blogging space of mine. I have so many ideas for what I want to do. But I feel like I need a full day, or even a week, to sit down and do nothing but brainstorm and outline and gather my thoughts - and what mama of a 9 month old has that kind of time? Not this one. So I've just kind of been dropping the ball and posting less than normal because it's so much to take on that I don't know where to start.

I'm feeling inspired by my new freelancing gig. Like I said last week, it's so nice to be using my brain. It's so nice to be contributing financially more than just a tiny bit here and there. It's so nice to have to meet deadlines and to hear feedback on my work and to see a finished product that came out of my very own brain and to feel proud.

I feel inspired when it comes to my home. I have been a pinning fool over on Pinterest. My home decor board is pretty legit these days, plus I've started several new ones, like my home office board, that are all kinds of fun. I have all of these amazing ideas for what I want to do to our house. But I feel kind of stuck, because if we are going to sell then I don't want to waste my time here. But if we end up staying, there's a lot I would love to do. So I'm just kind of at a stand-still here.

I'm feeling inspired when it comes to motherhood, and what kind of mother I hope to be. I see Grayson growing and learning more and more every day, and I want to really begin to mold his little mind into all that it can be. I have so many projects and games and activities that I want to do with him. But I feel like I never have the time to prepare them. And I'm always a little worried that I should be doing more to really help him learn, rather than just play and count and sing our ABCs.

I feel inspired to start creating things. I love DIY projects, I love learning to sew, I love taking something old and making it beautiful. I have a garage full of things that I have salvaged or bought to fix up and potentially sell. My mom and I have talked about so many things that we want to do in this area….but there never seems to be any time.

There are so many things that I want to accomplish in this life. So many things that I want to learn and see and do and create and master. I'm hopeful that somehow I'll find the time, that I'll make the time. It's so easy as a wife and a mother to put everyone else's needs before your own. My days are consumed with thoughts of keeping A and Grayson and even Addie happy. At the end of the day, after everyone else is settled in and I feel like I've done what I should, then I allow myself to think about what I would like to do. It's crazy how an entire day can slip by and at the end of it I can realize I didn't take more than five minutes to do something I wanted. Of course my days are filled with playing with a baby and a dog so I obviously enjoy them, but I rarely get any "me" time. And we all need it.

So I'm going to make it a point from here on out to find time in my day for me. Nap time should be my time, it shouldn't be my time to fold laundry and clean the kitchen and mop the floor. When Grayson goes to sleep it should be my time. It shouldn't be when I feel like I have to get everything done that I didn't accomplish that day. It's never going to be perfect. None of it. So I'm going to try my hardest to take those fleeting moments and start chipping away at some of the goals I have for myself. I think it's time.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Blogs- Part 1

One of my favorite things about blogging is discovering new blogs to follow and getting to know my fellow bloggers. I've "met" several ladies over the past couple of years who I just love, and I know if we had the chance to meet in "real life" we would be amazing friends. Since I love keeping up with the lives of these ladies, I thought I would share them with you so you can follow along as well. I had to break this up into at least two posts, because there are so many great blogs out there written by just the sweetest women. I just couldn't narrow it down! Seriously, if you're looking for some fun new blogs to follow, these girls are great!

Kristin at Mama & Mou

  

I adore Kristin. She's hilarious, she has the CUTEST little girl, and she is just as obsessed with Britney Spears as I am....maybe even more so, which is impressive. I mean, what's not to love?? She recently switched things up over at her blog, and now she has a full-on mama blog with SO much helpful info for new mamas and mamas-to-be. She has always been insanely supportive of my little bloggy, and I heart her for it!

Ariel at Dreams to Do

I seriously feel like Ariel and I are kindred spirits or something. She's one of those people who will post something and the entire time I'm reading it I'm nodding my head thinking "Yes, exactly! That's exactly how I feel!". We're both big dreamers (hence her blog name) who always seem to be searching for our purpose, and now that we're both mamas (I've been following her foooorever), we have even more in common! She has been super encouraging to me on so many issues, and she seems to always give me great advice when I need it. Soul-sister, I'm tellin' ya!

Ruthie at The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart

Ruthie is one of those rare "bigger bloggers" who is super down to earth, crazy sweet, and just all around wonderful. I started sponsoring her maybe two years ago, right before she was on House Hunters (have you seen it? She's adorable!), and since that time we've consistently kept in touch. She had a precious little guy of her own just a few months after Grayson was born, and it's been so fun to watch little Ford grow up. She's such a sweetheart!!

Sarah at Tucker Up

Even though I've followed Sarah for a long time now, she and I recently have become really good bloggy friends because we are in basically the exact same situation. She and her hubs are selling (actually just sold!) their house, and are house hunting like we are. Even though that immediately would give two people a lot to chat about, the best thing about it is we live within about 15 minutes of each other! And we're both looking to move to the same area! I had no idea how close we were, and we actually randomly ran into each other at lunch the other day! Now we have decided coffee dates must happen :)

Bridget at Life as Bridget Knows It

Bridget is just one of the sweetest bloggers around, and I love chatting with her about our little ones! She also had a baby boy just a couple of months after Grayson, and little Turner is just the cutest! I love, love, love having all of these mama friends who are going through the EXACT same things at the same time - so nice to know you aren't alone in all of it! She's also super inspiring: she's a fabulous mama, works full-time (like, insane hours), and makes AND accomplishes all kinds of crazy goals for herself. You'll love her :)

I hope you guys go visit any of these ladies that you don't already follow! You won't regret it, promise ;)

The Bug

In my last post I mentioned that Grayson had been throwing up on Thursday night....well, he kept it going throughout the night until right around 1 AM. Poor guy came down with some kind of stomach bug I guess, and even though the throwing up only lasted that night, he's still been having tummy troubles for several days. The great thing about that baby is that he is pretty much happy no matter what. Aside from the times he was actually getting sick, he's acted no different. AND, he's teething! Two of his top teeth have broken through, and two are right on the verge. He's such a champ! Still, seeing your baby in that condition is no fun for a mama. Broke my heart a little!

Friday we luckily didn't have any showings on the house, so we stayed in and just let him rest, which I'm sure was needed. I also got to experience de-vomiting a house for the first time - let's just say, I'm not a fan. Most definitely NOT a very glamorous side of motherhood.

Saturday we had a couple of showings on our house, so we went with our realtor and looked at a few and then went to visit A's parents. When we got home A started feeling kind of gross, so he decided to go to bed around 9. At some point he made the mistake of saying something along the lines of "You can't catch anything from a baby!", probably when I said "I hope you aren't getting Grayson's stomach virus!".

Well, I think you all know what happened. He was in bed alllll day Sunday. I felt awful for him. Luckily he's not one of those guys who acts like he's dying when he's sick, so he wasn't demanding, but I still tried to take good care of him. Luckily my mom got here Saturday night to stay with me while A's traveling, so she was able to watch Grayson quite a bit.

It seems like Grayson and A are both almost back to normal, and I'm hoping and praying that I side-stepped it somehow and didn't catch anything. I've sanitized just about every inch of the house, so I should be good.

It has got me thinking though, how do you handle more than one sick child? Like, that has to be the most miserable thing EVER. I'm exhausted, and I didn't even really do that much more than normal. I can't imagine two or three kids throwing up and cleaning up that mess, having to comfort them all....it just sounds so hard! Hopefully when I have more than one they just miraculously will never be sick, like ever, but somehow I doubt that...

OH, and here's one of my favorite pictures ever. Both my poor sick guys. I love it.