Where Did June Go?

Ok.

Wow.

Have I been MIA or what?! Well, this month has been a little bit interesting. I have started to write E's 6 month post but have not finished it and now my goal is just to roll it in with the seven month post.

Part of the reason I haven't been around much is that E's sleeping schedule has been a little trying so it kind of leaves limited "me time." And when I do get a free moment, I can't always justify it with blogging. If ya know what I mean. 


So almost right when she turned 6 months, she had her little cold. That threw her sleeping way off and once she was well, she got a little better about sleep again and then reverted to not so great again. We came to the conclusion last week that it was time to lose the swaddle. We had tried a few times and it never turned out well so we always reverted back and were just clinging to the hope that the swaddle was what would allow her to sleep those longer stretches. Well, don't think that was the case. We think she began waking because of it because she is more mobile and was just trying to get comfortable.

So, after reading The No Cry Sleep Solution, I felt silly because the main focus of the book is basically what I already knew--choose a plan, stick with it and just be patient and persistent. I am not a fan of cry it out method and if you are, I am totally not judging you, I just cannot bring myself to do and don't really believe it what it accomplishes. So we are choosing gentle methods, chose a plan and since last Friday night are sticking with it. Eleanor has been moved into her own room, into her crib with no swaddle. As expected the first couple of nights were still rough, but after what we had been going through we figured it couldn't really get any worse which is why we were ready to begin trying something else! We are also committed to making sure her naps are around the same time everyday and then we will move into getting her to nap in her crib as well, once she is a little better at night.

We aren't really doing that much different but it makes us feel better to have a plan and the last couple of nights we are seeing some progress, which is very reassuring.

Anyway, other things that have been going on around here include getting ready for our Texas family to arrive this evening. They will be in town for a week and we are very excited to spend time with them, have E's uncles meet her and for them to get to know her! Hoping this rain we have been having gives us a little break so that we can go on some fun adventures into the city and such.

Eleanor and I also survived Ben's first work trip away. He was gone for four days and three nights. We missed him a lot but my mom also came to help because it was right in the middle of when Eleanor was having really wakeful nights.

We have started baby led weaning so it is fun offering her a variety of fruits and veggies and just letting her go to town with them. I know it is not quite in true BLW fashion because we aren't quite to the point where we are comfortable giving her any and everything on our plates but I think we can go about it how we are comfortable and still be successful. She is doing great sitting in her high chair at meal times and has a lot of fun.

I have quite a few DIY projects that I am dreaming up to accomplish. Hoping to redo a couple of gallery walls in the house, update some frames, hang some old windows and possibly paint them, make a couple of wall hangings, redo-ing the dining room table, painting kitchen cabinets--too many possibilities. It is nice because Eleanor is getting to a point where she can be entertained for a bit by placing her in a little standing toy we have, in the pack and play with some toys, or just crawling around after Holly in the living room. Even if it gives me 15-20 minutes to do dishes, it's nice!

So, basically this is a bit of a mish mash, but that's what my brain is these days. Thought I would try to get some stuff down about what has been going on lately so when I try to look back I can remember some bits because sometimes I feel it is a fog! Well, a fog with a cute baby!

I have also jumped on the Instagram bandwagon and seem to update that a little more than the blog so follow me @allyce_riemer

Front Door Facelift

As Eleanor and I were out watering our plants yesterday morning, I looked at the "cans" that I have had sitting by our front door for a couple of years--well, actually since our wedding since they were used to hold flowers at our wedding--and they were empty. And sad looking.

I really like them but thought they needed a little something. Also, don't mind the rose bush, it isn't staying there, we just haven't decided on it's permanent home yet. I had a few errands to run and they happened to be by the dollar store in our area so I figured I would pop in a peek at their fake flower selection. I am not always a huge fan of fake flowers but I figure that not a ton of people go in and out of our front door and obviously guests won't be thoroughly examining them, so I figured for this spot it would be okay. Actually I am not a huge fan of dollar store fakes. The ones at Michael's have come a long way and can actually look quite real.

Anyway.

I picked a few out and I still need to do a bit more adjusting but I think they look pretty good and help the cans not to look so drab.

I don't know why this excited me so much. Probably because it was a quick, easy and cheap spruce. It's the little things, people! 

Any spruces around for you these days?

A Free Moment...

Whew.

This past weekend, yes I realize we are three days into the short week, was quite the whirlwind. Here I chat all about how we stay home a lot, haven't been getting out, don't have many plans and then all of a sudden the "inaugural" week of summer comes--Memorial Day Weekend--and we are out and about and realized it will be a little bit non-stop for the next few weekends!

Friday, we were up early-ish and out and about running errands. Replacement social security card for me, emissions for Ben, Costco for the family and then home to enjoy the rest of the sunny day. My parents stopped by for a short bit around dinner time to say hi to the baby and then we grilled and hit the sack.

Saturday morning, we were up earlier and trying to time out a feeding and then nap time for Eleanor around 9ish because we were hitting the road. Our group of college friends have been going on the same camping trip since freshman year of college and since it's less than a two hour drive from home, we decided to go up for the day and say hello to everyone. The morning was great, E went to sleep in the car and then it felt like all hell broke loose because we were picking up a friend at A park and ride but apparently there was a mis-communication about which one. Well, we ended up getting lost, having to back track and listening to our whining dog. Eleanor slept most of the time but woke up about 15 minutes from our destination. Had we not been such idiots about the getting lost and such, she would have slept the whole way! Oh well. 

We arrived at the site and hung out for a few hours. We got to catch up with some friends, have lunch enjoy being outside in the nice weather and then we tried to feed and get back on the road for another nap in the late afternoon. Well, she slept the first half hour to forty five minutes but once we got off the freeway to drop our friend back off at his car she was not having it and cried the whole rest of the way home. About another forty five minutes. Awful to listen to but we made it. We played outside a little bit when we got home and I made dinner.

Sunday morning we got up a little slower, made breakfast and then headed about an hour south to some friends' house to visit with them and their seven month old baby girl. We had lunch, some yummy burgers, and played some Xbox Kinect--which Ben even got me to play the Micheal Jackson dancing game. I am NOT a dancer. But it was fun!--and then tried to time out feeding and napping again. This time it worked perfectly and Eleanor was a perfect, little passenger snoozing all the way home!

Monday morning we got up slowly and then headed over to my parents' so that Ben could help my dad slaughter their chickens they had been raising and then we had a late lunch. It was quite the experience seeing the chickens so I pretty much stayed in the house. Obviously I eat meat and it isn't about feeling bad for the animals but more the gory details. Ben and I were talking about how weird it is that most people, including us most of the time, are so far removed from their food and where it comes from. I love the idea of raising my own food whether it be a cow or a head of lettuce.

Anyway, we had lunch, my parents played with E for awhile and then we headed home to relax for a bit before having to gear up for Ben to head back to work on Tuesday.

Come Tuesday, Eleanor and I were playing around the house and I noticed she had some sniffles--I had never seen snot come out of her nose before--as well as a little cough and some sneezing more than normal. Ben let me know he was working from home on Wednesday which he decided before we knew E had a little cold coming on. Wednesday night was not pleasant, we took shifts trying to sleep with her because she was not wanting to lie down by herself so I was either nursing her or Ben had her in the recliner. It was a rough night to say the least. It was great timing that Ben stayed home yesterday and having the both of us here was so great. Ben tried to explain to me that it was good that she had a little cold and it would build her immunity up even more and even though I know that to be true I still figured I could keep my daughter in a bubble as long as possible avoid sickness a little longer.

We used Simple Saline "Baby" to flush out her nose and although it was obviously not fun to blast something up her nostril, it help a lot and we got a lot of mucus out every time. The only downfall of it is that we were only able to use it on each nostril twice and it was five bucks for the container. Slight ripoff.

Anyway, the babe did a little better last night, is on the mend today and woke up talking, laughing and crawling around the floor. Such a relief to my heart because I cannot stand it when she can't tell me what's wrong, she has a pitiful look on her face and we can tell she just doesn't feel good.

That's what's been going on around here. A whirlwind weekend, a baby that didn't want anything but snuggles from mom and dad the past couple of days and tomorrow is already Friday again!

The 4th Weekend in a Row With no Rain

Yes, I would say that is something to brag about around these parts. Ben said that to me yesterday and then we had a chuckle that even if it's fifty five degrees and not that sunny, just having no rain is something to be happy about.

This past weekend was really, really nice. A few weekends ago, I think we were feeling like we were in a rut. We hadn't been doing much on the weekends, but they seemed to go so quickly. So, last weekend, we made plans, hung out with some friends, went out to a restaurant and it was refreshing.

This weekend, we stayed home all weekend but it didn't feel like it flew by and it was enjoyable. Friday, Ben worked a half day and was home by one in the afternoon. We hung out, had some lunch and then I went to a home shopping party with a friend and Ben and Baby E had a date. I got home, Ben made some dinner and we  had a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up and got going slowly. We had the first season of Mad Men from Netflix so we watched a few episodes of that, played with Eleanor and relaxed. After a couple of hours, we both started getting antsy so we got some chores done. Nothing too exciting--vacuuming, dusting, getting some books together to give away, getting rid of some clutter, laundry, dishes cleaning the bathrooms. None of it really felt like work, though, we had some music going and were visiting the whole time. Ben, then, decided to head out and mow the lawn so E and I stayed in the house and she ate, napped and I read and watched the Kentucky Derby. It was relaxing. When Ben finished, we made dinner, had a glass of wine, watched the Spurs game and I headed in to nurse E to sleep.

Sunday morning we awoke to bright blue skies. We had known it was supposed to be nicer on Sunday than Saturday so it was nice that we had done a majority of chores on Saturday. We watched the last episode of Mad Men, made breakfast, talked to Ben's family on Skype and put E down for a nap. We headed outside and played with the chickens a bit and once Eleanor woke up we took Holly down to the lake to throw the ball for her. E got to ride in the front pack, sunglasses and all. Eleanor just loves being outside. She is relaxed and just sort of takes it all in. I love it. When we got back from the lake, we made lunch, laid a blanket out in the yard and let Eleanor roll around while we ate. We came inside for a bit, Eleanor had a little cat-nap and then we took her jumper outside and shaded her while Ben and I read. So relaxing. We came in, had a bite to eat before Ben went to play basketball and then it was just E and I. She napped for a while, woke up, played and then it was time for bed. We had a marathon diaper event before bed {3 diapers before we had a clean one to put her down in!} and once Ben got home, we got her down and she slept great again.

There was nothing major that happened this weekend. Now big event to report on. It was just an all-around, nice, relaxing weekend. At the end of each day we were relaxed, got to smile at each other and say we had a great day. I love that. I love that Baby E is so content when we are all together as a family, get to spend time outside and enjoy each other. I know we will always look back fondly on days like this as she grows and know that they laid the foundation for her loving family.

I just realized I exaggerated a little bit. It did rain on Saturday morning. But that was tolerable because we were doing chores! 

Dream Job

As Ben and I were chatting on Gchat the other day while he was at work, he sent me a link and said, "Dream job." I clicked the link and immediately knew what he was talking about.

I worked in the restaurant industry for almost 7 years. For the most part, I loved it. Obviously, in any job there are ups and downs but I did love all the ups. I love food. Ben loves food. I often, offhandedly, mention things about having a restaurant someday. I managed for the company I worked for, for a little while and while I did like some aspects, I realized that the lifestyle of a restaurant manager was not one that was conducive to being a stay at home mom. My current dream job. However, when we were in Portland last year, we experienced the food carts and sometimes I love that idea. Having a cart in a business district, busily distributing lunch and closing for the day after lunch. I make a pretty mean sandwich. Anyway.

I am about to connect the dots, I promise.

Ben and I often talk about moving to a bigger piece of land, having animals, having a garden and lots of room of our child(ren) to run around on. This isn't very realistic right now but we are hoping it will be someday. It is funny that Ben feels this way because he has always lived within five minutes of a grocery store and that sort of thing but I know he will love being a little more removed from the city.

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Back to the website I was staring at.

Essentially a farm, with cows, goats, chickens, etc. growing an abundance of produce most of which goes into a restaurant on-site. Dream job. How amazing to live your life right on your land doing all the things you love and getting to put it into a business you love as well.

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So I looked at Ben a few days later and said, "Well, what do we do to make that a reality for us?"
He let me know that we are kind of doing it. We have a garden that we add a little bit to every year. We are actually getting our chickens this year that we had thought we were getting last year. Little by little, we are leaning toward a lifestyle we dream of.

We randomly try to think of ways, most of the time we are in jest, to be able to create a business to stay home together or at least work together. The thing with starting our own business, though, is that Ben and I aren't real risk-takers so obviously starting a business requires some risk. If you know us, you are most likely smiling right now because you know exactly what I'm talking about. 


Being in our mid-twenties, we don't have set goals of what we are working toward, career-wise, except for being able to provide for our family for the lifestyle we see fit, being happy, being healthy and not having to work such long hours that we don't get to spend time together as a family. Whether that be sticking with the career Ben is currently working on, or someday, taking a little risk, branching out and trying new things.

It's always fun to dream.

If you know of a way to guarantee success as a farmer, know of a plot of land for us to obtain for cheap or have any insight into any of the above subjects--go ahead and let us know! ;)

Friday's Letters

Dear Friday, So glad you are here. Some think it doesn't make a difference what day of the week it is for a SAHM. But it does. Nice to have the Hub home. Dear Baby E, Your baby hands just make me melt. When you are eating and I look down and see your hand resting on my chest, it warms my heart. Dear Crafty Self, Get your act together and make some stuff! Dear Spring, Stop teasing us and get on with yourself! Dear March Maddness, I am excited to watch the games tomorrow and to see who ends up with the championship. Even more excited to watch the championship Monday night. Sorry to The Voice who will have to wait for my viewing until Tuesday. Dear Vegetable Starts, Lookin' good! Dear House, Can't you just clean yourself? Like, I could go to the grocery store, close up the house, press a button and you would be clean when I come home? No? Well, maybe that's how I could make my millions.

{linking to:}

A Bit of Catching Up

Holy Moly. Where have I been?! No idea. Nothing new. Tending to my home and the baby. Obviously not blogging. I was so proud of myself in the month of February pertaining to the blog but then I kind of fell out of my routine in the month of March.

The month of March has been spent (pretty much unsuccessfully) trying to get Eleanor on a napping schedule. That could be why I haven't gotten a post written. Her reaction to getting laid down in her crib for a nap pretty much alerts the neighborhood that we are very certainly torturing her. She falls asleep in our arms, we walk around, we lay her down and she won't have it. At night, we still swaddle, nurse, rock and lay her down and she is perfectly fine. Anyway, long story short, she is napping in her swing. Not ideal, but at least she is sleeping for some lengths of time during the day.

Husband has been off work for the rest of his paternity leave. One word: awesome. It is so nice that he got two weeks of leave and only had to use one week of it in December. When he used that week coupled with the holidays and such, we were in such a daze, trying to keep our heads above water with our newborn that it just flew by. Now, with our almost four month old, we are basically enjoying a stay-cation. It is seriously amazing to me how much faster I get things done around this place with the Hub home. I can bust out chores like the old days, pre-Eleanor. It is also really fun to have Hub around to see all the fun developments that we are seeing with the babe.

We planted some vegetable seeds the other day to start indoors so we will see how that goes. We did it a couple of years ago and it worked ok. Hopefully it will work better this year. Of course our future farmgirl had to be in on the action.

We most certainly enjoyed the first rounds of March Madness last weekend. We both filled out brackets and neither are doing well but that's ok. We just love watching.

We are looking forward to some nicer weather. Who knows when that is coming but I am hopeful. It has basically been just cold, rainy and sometimes windy which is not great for any type of getting out of the house. 

I am getting a little excited because I have been getting the crafting itch again. I have a few simple projects in mind that will mostly consist of using some things around the house which is always exciting.

We have been going to a few of Ben's basketball games on Sunday nights which is fun because he plays with  the guys in our vacation  group so the other babies are there, we all visit, and Eleanor has been doing really well at them. Evenings are usually our "challenging" time with her but the games keep her entertained, distracted and it actually seems like she is watching!

I am also, slowly, trying to get back in shape. It is really hard to convince myself to workout when Eleanor finally goes down for a nap, I am hungry and just want to sit down. But I am going to try. She also inherited a jumper from her cousin (2nd cousin?) which she enjoys so that could start buying me a little bit more time to do things.

Anyway, nothing too exciting around here, just the usual.

But.

Our usual is pretty enjoyable these days.

Sometimes We do Feel Normal

Ben and I have always liked to cook. And eat. We have always enjoyed a weekend or evening in with some good ingredients and spending time in the kitchen together. We joke around, we laugh, sometimes listen to music and have a glass or wine or beer.

The past two and a half months have proven a little difficult for this activity. With a newborn/infant it is hard to get the timing right, for us to get into the kitchen together. We have kind of developed a strategy of tag-teaming our meals so that one of us is in the kitchen and one may be in the living room entertaining the babe.

We are totally okay with this, obviously, and luckily our kitchen overlooks our living room so we are still hanging out together.

This past Sunday we were home all day and started the morning snuggling in bed, getting some morning chores done and watching a movie. Ben had taken out a fresh pork ham roast and we were trying to decide what to do with it. When I see a roast, I automatically think, stick it in the dutch oven or slow cooker, throw in some veggies and, yay, dinner is done! However, that gets a little boring. And we were both home so we figured we should try to be a little more creative.

Ben searched on the computer and suddenly looked up with a smile and said, "I found it!"

So he prepared the pork how the recipe said and it needed to sit in the fridge for about an hour. We went on about the day and finally I suggested we start preparing. Ben was holding E at the time so I started things but then he brought her in and set her in her Rock and Play chair and they joined in the fun. I opened a bottle of wine, Ben put on music and before we knew it, we were back in our comfort zone and enjoying an evening of cooking, family and fun. E was great for longer than I had expected and she was laughing and talking up a storm with us.

Please don't judge our Sunday lounge attire. ;)

After a bit, she started to get a little tired so I picked her up and danced around a little and she fell asleep. She being the perfect baby she is slept right through us eating so we enjoyed a quiet dinner at the same time and she then woke up right when we were finished. It all timed out perfectly and was a great end to our weekend.

Love when our lil' baby cooperates!

By the way, our dinner was a delicious feast of sweet and sour pork. From scratch. I, in bad blogger form, did not take a picture of our plate before we scarfed it down but you should try this recipe. Super easy and made with all ingredients we had in the house. Love those type of meals!

What's Goin' Down

I had a different post for today but I just can't get our comforter off my mind. Yes, that's right, I said our comforter.

I have had a down comforter for as long as I can remember. I introduced Hub to the down comforter. Where we live, it's pretty conducive to our weather for a better part of the year. I love snuggling under the cozy comforter and have always thought I wouldn't have it any other way.

Until now.

With a down comforter, one usually has to use a duvet cover. I wouldn't see a problem with this except for the fact that I can never find a cover that fits the duvet perfectly and causes the duvet to bunch or slide down the cover. What has been happening so much lately is that when I pull the covers up, I am pulling up only the cover because the duvet has slid somewhere down to the middle of the bed. Not awesome.

Hub suggested just taking the cover off and using the duvet by itself. Our duvet is white so this would be hard to keep clean and I don't think they are very easy to wash. I think we may do this for awhile, but I think it may be time to retire the ol' down comforter idea and move onto some other types of warmth in our bed.

What do people use other than a duvet?

A regular comforter?

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A quilt?

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A thin blanket and then maybe a heavier blanket?

I feel like I am at a loss.

Hopefully I will figure something out because obviously this is a pretty big problem we have.

And just to throw something else in--love these!

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Happy Friday! and Sweet Dreams! ;)

Thoughts Around Here Lately

Life sure is full of difficult decisions. Sometimes it is hard being an adult and not having someone else just go ahead and make those decisions for you. Sometimes, though, it is exciting to be in charge of your own decisions.

Ben and I bought our house in 2008. The market was at an all-time low and we thought that was the low point. However, it kept getting worse as we all know. Anyhow, we love our house. We just aren't in love with the location. Or even our state for that matter. We pledged that in five years when, of course, we would have gained some equity in our house, Ben would be at a point in his career to stay at his company or leave with great experience, and most likely we would have a child (or two), we were moving to Denver, Colorado.

This may sound random however, we had been to Denver on our honeymoon, hear great things about Colorado, like the way that Denver is a big city but you don't have to drive far to be out of the city in the beautiful mountains and who can beat 300 days of sun a year?! We also factored in that we would be just a 2 1/2 hour plane ride away from both families. Right now we are a 5 hour plane ride away from one family and have one family here. When considering this, though, we think a plane ride? Not such a simple way to have to visit family. 


We just kept telling ourselves that we obviously couldn't make a decision like that then and that over the next few years things would become more clear.

Well here we are, almost 4 years later and it feels like things have not cleared up. In fact, it feels as if things just get more complicated. We had a discussion on Sunday night about the situation. We love being near my parents because they are helpful, involved and it is nice to have grandparents close. However, both of my parents were born and raised within 30 minutes of where they currently live and even though they sometimes mention or joke around about moving, Ben and I aren't convinced that they really would. We really don't think Texas is the ideal spot for our family either even though when it is in the 20s here and 70s there it does seem appealing.

We discussed the fact that even though we don't feel like this is the right spot for us, we feel this is where we are tied down. Even though the idea of moving to Denver sounds like it would be ideal for many reasons--weather, cost of living, fun city, good outskirts, etc.--we know it would not be ideal to move somewhere with no family and no friends. We like the idea of our kids growing up with grandparents because, for the most part, neither Ben or I really had involved grandparents for most of our lives.

We are also discussing different parts of Washington than where we live. We are also picky because we need to be within reasonable commute to a city for Ben's career and we don't want to move to the middle of nowhere because we obviously want our kids attending good schools. We think about the Spokane area due to jobs there and the climate being less rainy than here. We think about south east a little bit from where we are due to it being a nice driving distance from a bigger city yet with the possibility of more land and good schools near.

Neither one of us like the feeling of being unsettled but that is somewhat how we feel. We loooove our house. The set up, the yard, how cozy we have made it so that is a positive. We aren't in a situation where we feel like we will outgrow our house, need to get out, or anything like that. We are just trying to feel out the best place to raise our family. If you know Ben or I, then you know that these types of issues weigh heavy on us. We get to points where we just put it out of our minds and think it will all work out but now we are getting to a point where we will have to start seriously thinking about things.

I just wanted to get this down because it was a conversation we had and I feel like writing about it sometimes makes me feel better. It is very surreal to be in the stage where these are the kind of issues we have. Not what we are ordering for dinner and what movie we want to see like the good ol' college days!

What big decisions has your family had to make and how do you handle it? Any advice on any of these areas to live? How important has it been/is it for you to have grandparents near your children?

A Little Cabin Fever Leads To...

Too much time on Pinterest.

Between feeling like I only have short windows with the babe and her feeding and sleeping schedule and snow that just won't stop outside, I resort to pinning. I want to get a little list going of some projects that I may tackle once I feel like I have a little more semblance of a schedule. If that ever happens. For now, I dream.

I don't have a mobile yet for Eleanor's room and it is already apparent that she really loves things hanging over her head to stare at so here are some options.

Source: ohhappyday.com via Nicole on Pinterest

 

Ribbons would be super cute, easy and I could most definitely get colors to go along with some of the colors in her room.

Source: marthastewart.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Again with the east of these mobiles and being able to interchange colors. I could use the scrapbook paper that I used for her banner to match, I already have that on hand so it wouldn't cost money for the pieces. I would just need a form of some sort to hang them off of.

Source: laybabylay.com via Joelle on Pinterest

We love animals around here so these are super cute. I don't know how capable I would be of making them but they may be just be cute enough to order. Maybe. Well, never mind, I just checked the website and they are definitely pretty spendy. Cute, but spendy!

Moving on, I would love to put together a simple wreath for spring. I don't know how I can be thinking of spring when it is a blizzard outside but I am. 

Source: thirtyhandmadedays.com via Haley on Pinterest

I don't know if I love these colors--well I like them well enough but I just don't know about on our front door--however, I love the design and they look easy enough. 

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Charlene on Pinterest

Gosh, I sure wish I could have the patience to learn how to make all of these flowers. So cute!

Source: makingitfun.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Very cute if I had leftover fabric. Or found some cute fabric on sale. I love all of these bright colors.

Well, that's it for now I guess. I think Baby E may have just given me a present...

I will get back to a more normal schedule and will have time to craft once again. However, for now, the crafting items remain in the closet and pin my life away. *Isn't it funny that we use pin as a verb now and everyone knows what we mean?*

Snow Day!

We sure get a lot of rain around this parts but usually not too much snow. I would say on average we get a pretty good dumping of snow every other year, it lasts for about 3-5 days and then it's gone. I wouldn't mind living in a place that gets a lot of snow every year but is prepared for it. You know, life doesn't stop because there is snow. That's what happens around here. So it's nice for a couple days to slow down and enjoy the white scenery but by day 3 we are all pretty ready to get back to business as usual. We have about 10 inches at my house right now which is quite a bit for these parts.

I just had to get the girl out for a picture in her first snow. My favorite little snow bunny. However, we are now, back in our warm house enjoying the view from inside!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am loving my new nail polish that my brother's girlfriend gave me for Christmas-Panda-monium Pink. I finally got the chance to paint my nails on Sunday and I must say I do like OPI. I have never bought it for myself but it goes on really nicely and we will see how long it lasts for.

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I am loving these baby smiles I have been getting this week!

Poor picture quality from my cell phone but obviously
that's the only way to catch them these days!

I am loving my coffee every morning!

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My new vacuum! Gets up all the dog hair!

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And I always love some fun pins!

Source: decorpad.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Source: potterybarn.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Source: crookedbrains.net via Allyce on Pinterest

What are you loving this week? Head on over and link up!