thoughts on motherhood | another sappy post

With the combination of Mother's day, our progress on the nursery, hearing the tales of new moms and reorganizing our closets (and thus hanging up lots of tiny baby boy clothes), I'm finding myself in a new state of pregnant mommy blissfulness. This is one of the first times in my pregnancy that I've felt anxious and yearning for the birth of this sweet thing inside me. I'm starting to picture his face and the little things he'll do. I'm getting excited to share that bond with my baby that only occurs in the wee hours of feeding time. I can't wait to hold him and hug him and kiss him outside of my body! During church on Sunday he was rolling around (as he often does) and at the first feeling of movement, my mind just thought "I love you!" instantly, without thinking. It's amazing how this baby is bringing all of the "feels" out of me, and we're just starting this journey. I'm going to love being a mom. I can't wait!

Enough of the sap, now onto the celebration! I loved the opportunity to spend time with my mom and to honor and celebrate and think on all of the moms in my life on Sunday. Thank you for all that you do! I'm about to have my eyes opened to everything it takes to do 'the hardest job on earth'. Love to you all!

We had Pioneer Woman's meatloaf...if you haven't tried it, find the recipe on my 'tried and true' Pinterest board and make it NOW. I never liked meatloaf until I had this one, and it's heaven! (just have lots of time to cook it because it takes longer than the instructions say)

Happy belated Mother's day to all of the moms out there and happy Monday to the rest of us!

Friday things

Happy Friday folks!

One of my favorite bloggers April at A. Liz Adventures is usually who I team up with for Five on Friday, but she is taking a break for the summer so I’m inclined to as well! I’ll still post from time to time, but it’s going to be SUPER random! Hang on!

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     We took our nephew Noah to the park last Saturday and made the drive for the promises of this one in Allen. It was pretty cool! It was accessible so it had a HUGE playground flanked by lots of swings and a splash park. It was within a sports complex so there was lots of wide open space and the weather was perfect! We got in some cardio playing tag and hide and seek, too! ;)

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     I had an impulse Craigslist moment on Tuesday and ended up finding and buying a dishwasher. It is a used KitchenAid Superba dishwasher in stainless steel. YES it works, and it fits perfectly. We are slowly transferring all of our appliances to stainless steel (hello, resale!) and this made a big difference in the look of our kitchen! Mark and I both think it helps ‘define’ the space more. (design nerds)

(bad iPhone pics taken at 10pm - I'll take more with my real camera this weekend!)

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       All of my friends and coworkers know about my constant struggle with my hair. It has a LONG troubled history and I’m always lamenting the fact that I can never get it to grow to my liking. At work this week I was talking about even at my longest, my hair has never gotten super long. To prove it, I pulled out the pictures of my hair in high school to show the girls at work. Brace yourselves:

 

This was the longest it has ever been, and those are NATURAL curls. Yep, I used to just shower, apply gel, and let it air dry and that’s what I got. 10+ years of heat and a flat iron has all but destroyed my pretty curls. Now I get kind of a mix of curly, tangled, and frizz.

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-      I’m going out on a limb and trying some DIY things to let a bit of my creativity out so I swung by Joann’s to pick up some fabric this week. I came home and put together this little reversible pillowcase. The floral was confirmed as ‘grandma’ by 3 out of 4 people (I was #4 of 4) but I think it came out pretty cute. I’m thinking about making more and possibly selling them? I was inspired by this pin:

 

So I have a question for you, then. Is this something you would ever consider buying? What other types of patterns/prints/solids/trims should I try out? How much would you spend on a pair of pillows like this? Would you be more likely to buy them if they were monogrammed? Think how cute they could look in themed kids rooms or guest rooms. They could add a little spunk, class, or personality to any bed! I need your thoughts, people! Thanks in advance!

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That’s all the random I have for today. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a happy weekend! 

Traditions - Happy 4th of July!

I went to look for July 4^th photos from the past on Facebook and I was met with allllll of these below. So yeah. I'm over sharing a bit today. 

July 4th (or 4^th of July if you like saying it that way) has always been a HUGE deal in my family. It is one of the major holidays for us, on par with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We probably have the most set-in-stone plans for July 4^th over all of the other holidays.

Growing up we always did the same things: Arlington Parade in the morning with donuts, lunch at Chili’s with all parade attendees, swimming (first at my aunt’s house, now at my parent’s), and fireworks at night. Once my sister started dating her husband, we joined in on the large soiree known as ‘party at the Redman’s’ that involves fireworks, way too much food, and lots of people. It’s usually the highlight of the year! Then about 6 years ago my sister ruined it forever (jk Angela) when she broke her ankle while 5 months pregnant at the party. The Redman’s got a little gun shy about the hordes of people and general chaos, so now it seems to be a smaller party every other year or so. We then replaced the party with a night at Concerts in the Garden in Fort Worth. 

Phew. Just thinking about all of those plans overwhelms me!

Now that we are older and a solid 1 hour drive from most of those festivities (which take place in Arlington and some back country town called Rendon), we have to choose our events. We’ve opted out of the parade the last few years and will do so again this year. Mark and I are changing it up a bit and I’m excited to let today be a relaxed but super fun day to celebrate our independence. Whatever we do, we will celebrate in style! I hope you get to spend time with family and friends on this great day!

Happy fourth of July!!!


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Five on Friday: 2014, volume 8

I'm rounding out my week with five on Friday! Today I'm linked up with Darci.

 This week it's a random compilation of all the things I was doing when I wasn't blogging over the past month and a half. Happy Friday!

-one-

My sister granted all immediate family members the 'right' to watch her kids for a few weekends in the spring due to some travel plans, so Mark and I took one of the first shifts in late March and had Audrey and Noah come spend about 48 hours at our house. We started off big with the plane museum, Chick fil a, and the park. By the end of the weekend we were playing in the front yard in our jammies and keeping it casual. We had a fun time and the kids were on their best behavior, so it all went well. I'm not going to mention the fact that I haven't gone a day without severe back pain since then...

-two-

We rang in Luke, Mason, and Griffin's birthdays in mid April and had a funny moment when Mark attempted to take all of the giant balloons from the party back to Andrea's house. They lasted like this for about 2 minutes before he got above 15 mph. Then they simultaneously took flight! It was a funny moment!

-three-

I had the rare opportunity to meet my sister in the middle of a weekday when we had Good Friday off in April. She was running late so I ducked into Nordstrom Rack to see if I could find some birthday gifts. I struck out in the birthday department but got super lucky in the women's shoes! I waffled between these two pairs:

buy them here, but not for the steal of a deal that I got them for! :)

reviewed by another blogger here!

...and ended up coming home with both. :) At under $65 for both, I'd say it was worth it!

-four-

I mentioned this little guy on Instagram a few weeks ago. It hasn't changed much since we brought it in the house, but I have big plans for some shelving and a coffee bar here! I scoured craigslist for a good 6 months before I pulled the trigger on this $100 beauty. :)

-five-

Last and certainly the most frustrating, I dropped my phone a couple weeks ago. I had JUST harassed my sister's mother-in-law about her bulky Otterbox case and bragged about the fact that my little case from J. Crew offered all the protection I needed. Not so, my friends, not so. 

I dropped it on the tile in my office's lobby and it must have landed weird. It still totally works and luckily the damage is mostly on the black case part of it, but it was a sad day for us all. My contract expires soon and I haven't decided if I'll get it fixed yet. Oh well!

It feels good to be back and I'll start updating you all on house projects next week! Happy weekend!