the end of an era

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this little blog here and I've come to the conclusion that it is time to take a break. That may not come as a surprise to some of y'all since my posts have been few and far between lately, but I felt like I needed to post something to explain the absence and make it a little more permanent in my own mind.

Before I started blogging, I followed a TON of blogs and looked forward to reading them everyday. As you might expect based on the initial theme of my blog, most of those were home and DIY blogs. I loved reading them every day and getting inspiration from them. Once we bought a house, I was so excited to finally join the blogging world and have this little space to document all of the changes I wanted to take on with our somewhat fixer-upper. I've been around 'these parts' for about three years now and have met tons of people, introduced lots of new themes to my blog, redone my kitchen and floors, painted the whole house, done a bunch of shopping, had a baby, and had some great opportunities just because I shared a bit of our life in this space. It has been everything and more than I dreamed it to be and I'm hesitant to step away.

I never wanted to feel forced to blog and a lot of my posting would come in waves, depending on how motivated I was feeling about writing or not. Recently, the motivation has been at an all time low. After I had Beau, I thought I'd have some great new content (and I have!) but adding in the intense photography and time commitment it takes to get a decent post up has been difficult. I wanted to keep offering a variety of content but found myself constantly talking about babies. I didn't want to live each day in order to have something to blog about, but rather wanted to do the opposite. These days, I am making an effort to better myself and soak up all of this one on one time with Beau. Our lives are very simple and I LOVE it that way - but that doesn't make for good blog fodder. I want to continue these easy days without a camera shoved in his face or the stress each night of needing to write a blog post. 

I'm not completely quitting, though. This is my space and I'm going to keep everything up and looking the way it is. I'll still pop in and post about Beau for family and just to keep some of our memories here. The blog may be resurrected down the road when there are new babies, a new house, or if I just feel inspired to write. Right now, though, I wanted to let you know that I'm stepping away to focus on Beau, on myself, and on my Etsy business (which takes up a lot of time and creativity these days!). I'll miss the interaction with y'all but please know that I am still here! Send me an email or just leave a comment (because those get emailed to me) and if you ever have questions or want me to post about something - let me know! I find more inspiration and motivation to post when I know someone wants to read it. 

Thanks for the ride, y'all. See you around!

beau andrew | eight months

Here we are at eight months old! As usual, it's going super fast! Beau has learned TONS recently and he is just a ball of fun. His personality shines and we are pretty much in sync these days with our schedules. Life is so good!

Beau:

-is crawling, and he learned how to do it quickly. He is getting faster and faster every day!

-is thinking about pulling up...he will pull up on my hands and will crawl to something and put his hand up on it but doesn't do much ab/leg work...yet!

-found his voice. Like, woah. The kid screams just for the fun of it! His little "ahh's" are pretty cute though!

-likes to bounce and tap his right foot a lot. He uses his left leg to propel him when crawling but his right leg keeps the beat. He loves to bend it over and tap his left knee. It's so weird and cute! (See the first picture)

-doesn't play well with others. Haha! He has been around our friends' baby Emma a couple of times now and last week when she was over she sat up and kind of screamed in his face (in a happy way) and he burst into BIG tears every time. It was too funny! He liked to grab her face, too.

-is inconsistent with sleep. Last weekend was rough but it slowly got better and then he did a 10 hour stretch! So who knows...

-loves his Motley. He loves to pet her and crack up laughing at her. She tolerates him but is getting better and better because she realized very quickly that he eats people food. They are becoming fast friends.

-is eating pretty much anything we eat. The only things that are off limits are crunchy things (that he can't smash up with his gums) and spicy things. We usually give him table food and puffs for breakfast and lunch and then supplement our table food with a fruit/vegetable pouch at dinner. He is still working on using a sippy cup...

-has said "mama" once! He hasn't repeated it so I'm not calling it fact, but it was clear.as.day and he said it when he was wanting me. He has also waved twice but again, hasn't repeated it. We're working on it though and I think between 8 months and 9 months is going to be his sweet spot!

-barrel rolls any time he is on the bed. He is so fast! We can't leave him even for a second. He also tries to roll off the changing table pretty often.

-fusses for pretty much EVERY nap. We are on a pretty strict schedule of 2-3-4 (hours in between rest) but he still doesn't go down easily. He has the most pitiful face when I put him down but he usually falls asleep after about 10 minutes of crying.

-sleeps on his stomach most of the time. He rolls ALL over his crib all night.

-is super interested in technology. That is, he makes a bee-line for any remote control, iPad, computer, phone, or anything else resembling something technological. He also still loves water bottles.

-has suddenly started to look a lot like me. It is so bizarre how he can look so much like his dad and then switch and suddenly look so much like me. I'm always pulling out my baby book to compare and I'm convinced he's my little look alike for the moment!

-has maybe, MAYBE finally plateaued as far as weight goes. He is around 22 lbs and is wearing 12-18 month clothing. He hasn't been growing out of everything super fast like he was before, so that is good! He is still in size 4 diapers. He can't really wear many shoes because of his difference in size and his feet are too fat, but he does fit a pair of size 4 faux birkenstocks. I have a feeling we will be seeing a LOT of those this summer.

It was around this time that I realized these monthly photos won't last much longer...

...total chaos.

This month he will swim for the first time, go on his first plane ride, visit the beach, and enjoy summer in Texas! We are looking forward to lots of fun this summer with this pipsqueak!

Lazy days

Hey y'all! 

Sorry for the absence. I've done a little thinking about blogging lately and I've unintentionally taken a step back. I never want to feel pressured to post just for the sake of getting something up here and lately I just haven't had the time, motivation, or content to post! I'll be popping in here from time to time but posts may become a little more sparse around here. We'll see. 

Life has been good to us. Beau and I are in a pretty steady groove and we are having fun! My Etsy business has unexpectedly gotten busier over the last month or so so I'm really feeling creative and find myself spending my free time in the office working on various things. 

While we are talking Etsy, I'd like to ask you to check out and if you're inclined, support my cousin's new Etsy shop. She and her husband have struggled with infertility and are now raising money for adoption. Their story hits close to home as my cousin herself was adopted by my aunt and uncle. To raise money, she is selling these handmade necklaces to show your school or town spirit. If you're not (semi) local and want to support them, I'm sure she would take custom requests. Just send her an email via Etsy or leave me a comment and I'll pass it on. If necklaces aren't your thing and you just want to support them in bringing home a new baby, you can donate on their fundraiser page here. I can't imagine the emotions they are faced with daily during their struggle to conceive and I know that every little bit helps.  I also fully understand the hard work, stress, and time commitment that comes with owning an Etsy shop and creating handmade goods. So please, if you can give any amount or if you are interested in a necklace, please support them!

Moving on, here is what we have been up to the last day or so!

Friday, B and I headed to the mall for a couple of errands and ate Chick-Fil-a in the food court. He sat in his stroller while I fed him pieces of my lunch and sat with his leg up like this the entire time. So silly!

Yesterday we enjoyed the beautiful weather and headed out to White Rock Lake for a stroll. Homeboy was rocking his new faux birkenstocks and looking extra squishy.

Crazy hair, don't care.

He got distracted by the dogs:

That's about it for us! Life is nice and easy these days. I love spending them with Beau!