Welcome Little One.

Just a few days after we celebrated our Little One's birthday we helped to welcome another Little One to our family. The hubs's sister gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the wee hours of the morning. We are so overjoyed to have another little girl in the family. This Little One is their fifth, the other four all boys. Let me tell you those boys were some kind of excited when we met them at the hospital, that little girl is going to be looked after very well.

I got to take some pictures of her and her mommy and daddy. Getting the chance to capture a little bit of the wonderfulness of a brand new baby and the love struck parents is something good. It was a joy and then going back and looking over them gives me that warm fuzzy feeling.






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Isn't she beautiful?

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The Party!

With the Little One turning one, it was cause for a little party. We were not only celebrating her birthday but the fact that her Daddy and I survived our first year of parenting. I heard (or saw on Pinterest) someone say that just because motherhood is common, doesn't make it easy. That has stuck with me this year because I have felt overwhelmed at this massive responsibility more than a few times.

I am not too much of a party girl, large amounts of people tend to suck the energy right out of me, but I do love to decorate for one! So I spent some time paper crafting weeks before our little shindig. Since our budget doesn't have party supplies included in it I had to figure out how to create some cuteness out of a few dollars. Let me say that I am thankful for those 40% off coupons that JoAnns sends out! I also spread out my spending so it didn't take away but a tiny bit away from the bank account at a time.

I only used a few supplies:
ribbon, scrapbook paper, dowels, pushpins, paint, balloons and a paper bag

I already had a lot of ribbon left over from other projects and I even used some that had been attached to gift bags when I was really getting low. The biggest expense was the pack of scrapbook paper which was $19.99, but I used that lovely 40% off coupon for that! So here is what I was able to do:












Don't those cupcakes look yummy? Oh they were. My sister, who is a master cupcaketress made those for us. The sweet hubs was really into making the Little One's cake. He worked really hard to make a cake shaped like our dog, since the Little One is so in love with him.



Didn't he do such a great job? She smashed that cake to bits though!




We also had balloons on the chandelier and in the doorways in addition to her high hair, but I didn't get any pictures of those.

After the cake was smashed we went outside to get clean, it was good fun!



Our family crammed into our little house to celebrate with us, and showered the Little One with gifts and lots of love. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating this special occasion!


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One year.

What a difference a year makes. This time last year we were spending our first night home with our newborn. I do not remember that first night, heck I really don't remember much of the first few weeks at all. It is all a blur of doctors visits, spit up, sore breasts and late nights. I have been told that you forget the pain of labor and the crazy person you become when you haven't slept, showered or left the house in days. I do admit that it is hazy now, but not at all forgotten.



Somewhere between six and nine months we turned a corner and I felt like we were both getting settled and figuring out how to do this thing, at least a little bit. I am learning to go with my gut and let me Little One tell me what she needs and it sure does work better than trying to guess what she needs or giving her something she doesn't need.



She is learning the world at an incredible rate and it's hard to believe that she has taken in so much in one years time. Her personality is showing more and more and I find myself just in awe of this little person whom I had a part in creating.



On her birthday my husband was unexpectedly sad, commenting that we wouldn't get to relive those moments, that there was no going back. I had a twinge of sadness, but I am happy we made it! I am excited for what is to come. I am not ready for major sleep deprivation and all that comes with having a newborn just quite yet.


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Sharing.

The house is quiet except for the crickets coming through the baby monitor. We have one of those giraffes that lulls your baby to sleep with different soothing sounds, the Little One likes the crickets the best.

I am sitting here in the quietness wandering what to write about. I am not sure if I have ever shared why I started this little blog. A little over a year ago I started a little Etsy shop of a few crochet items. I love yarn and I love the feeling I get when I have created an item that will be treasured and loved on. I love to create in general. Creating something lovely stirs something inside me like nothing else. Now I am not wildly talented at any form of art but I love it. I do think that is one of the reasons I enjoy working with kids, they are always imagining and creating. The Etsy market is quite saturated and I thought a blog might help with getting my little shop out there. Well I cannot say that the blog has been successful at that aspect of it. However it has provided an outlet for me to share pieces of this new life I am now living, the life where someone calls me "momma".



I keep imagining different routes I could go with this little space that I have to share... I could try my hand at creating recipes, I could share in detail the steps we have taken as a family to minimize our exposure to chemicals and pesticides, I could post crafts...but so many others are doing that. I am not sure I have any thing new to add to those topics. Maybe I'll just stick with what I've been doing, sharing my experiences.


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Lazy days of Summer.

So it's been awhile. I really don't have any excuses besides it's summer and I have given into it's lazy days.
Our days have't consisted of much and we have no schedule...this makes it hard to for me to get motivated to do much other than what is absolutely necessary.
I have been doing a good amount of cooking, especially recipes from pinterest, I have way too much fun finding recipes there! My husband, mister routine, is getting tired of trying new things. If he had it his way we would eat the same 7 meals over and over.
I made this yummy pasta last week. It was the perfect summer meal, I even made my own pasta!

I have also been doing a little crafting for the Little Ones birthday that is fast approaching! We aren't having a grand birthday party, just a little family celebration but I can't help myself when it comes to party decorating!

The Little One is staying busy getting into everything imaginable and WALKING everywhere! I guess it's time to get some shoes. How is this all happening so fast?! The mister has next week off so we are planning for more laziness, and maybe a day trip to the beach! We will be soaking up this last bit of summer that's for sure!
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A Little Crafty Fun.

Yesterday the Little One and I were having one of those days. I didn't want to take her outside in the morning because the mosquitos have been so bad, and in the afternoon it was muggy and overcast so I didn't want to get the pool out. We did go out for a bit and play in our makeshift water table which ends up being a mini pool for her since she insists on climbing in it.

I was watching her play with the empty water bottle that she has been carting around ever since the Fourth of July and got the idea to make her one of those ocean in a bottle things. I just used the Fourth of July bottle, some baby oil I had gotten at a baby shower and had never used, food coloring, water and some beads I had from some long ago craft. I hot glued the top on and I was done!




This bottle has been the best toy!



This is what was going on while I was assembling the ocean in a bottle.



The completed project!



One happy baby! She only played with her new toy for about 2 minutes and was onto something else.

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The Fourth Festivities!

Yesterday we had a fun day celebrating the Fourth of July. It was the first for the Little One and think she enjoyed herself. We headed over to visit with the Hubby's side of the family. We participated in the golf cart parade that their neighborhood holds and the golf cart even won for the best decorated!









We did a little swimming and hanging out and then headed home. We didn't watch fireworks anywhere but did some sparklers at home before bedtime with the Little One. She really liked them!







Today we are relaxing and taking it easy. We are having a great summer!

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