I finally did it.

I ordered prints from vol.25. She's having another BOGO sale and this time, I refused to miss out... especially since she was raising money for a new camera. Me of all people couldn't NOT help with that!

Check out what I got:

These are for Carter's room... if I ever get around to actually moving him in there.

This one is just because... I love it.


And finally! For the kitchen! I think they'll look awesome with our new paint colors. Assuming we actually move back into the rest of the house, that is.

Floors

Well that went over like a lead balloon. Moving on!

Here are pictures of our floors which are finished save but one board. One measly board. But, that's not enough to keep us from celebrating! Next up- trim.

Playing Favorites

I have 265 subscriptions on my Google Reader and man does it make life easier. But, who is to say enough is enough? In honor of that, here are my top 10 favorites- the ones I read first every time. In return, share your favorites with me.

These three women are my favorites. I never can remember which two already have their babies and which is pregnant until I read their post, but they never fail to disappoint.
Quarter Life Crisis
She Likes Purple
She Just Walks Around With It

Oh Me, this girl sure can write. She's funny, sassy and thoughtful.
Girl's Gone Child

Take funny women, add kids and get endless entertainment
Amalah
Not That You Asked

It help that I've known her since kindergarten, I guess, but she takes beautiful pictures of her adorable (and precocious- Jacob!) kids.
voz.kiz

Photographer blogs I dig:
Jasmine Star (I just want to hang out with her)
Jessica Claire (She's planning her own wedding - a wedding photographer's wedding = delish!)

This one. Oh, this one. Her son (same age as Carter) died last month or 6 weeks ago from (all they can determine) SIDS. It's sad. It's heartwrenching. It's changed the way I mother.
Gorillabuns

Time keeps on slippin' into the future...

Why do I expect people to read this thing when I NEVER WRITE? Maybe I need to go on a binge where I post ever day for a week or a month or something. My life doesn't have an "off" switch anymore where I have 'downtime' (which is why I mainly end up posting at work). I managed to work on a few pictures yesterday in between playing and nursing since I know they're a hit. But first, a few highlights.

Carter will be FIVE MONTHS OLD on Wednesday. That just blows my mind.

We are BEYOND blessed to have such a happy, healthy, beautiful baby. I give thanks daily. This life is amazing.

He still has YET to roll over, except the (fluke) at 3 months.

We left him for the first time Memorial Day weekend. We went to Baton Rouge for a wedding and he stayed with Papa and Nana (C's parents). He was an angel (of course!) which made being away bearable. I only called once, but Dad called about 15 times to check on him.

Last week we had a six day poop standoff. Thankfully it ended at daycare (the day I bought "supplies" to remedy it) and not at home.

I keep saying we're going to try cereal and then we get busy and time slips away and we don't. Maybe next weekend.

He's officially teething and his finger is his favorite teether. I try to give him other (frozen) stuff, but nothing works as good.

He's also a part-time thumb sucker. Cutie-patootie.

Many apologies for not organizing a Dallas lunch when we were there this weekend. We got a late start, had a rough drive there and back and barely had time to get a visit with Heather and Cori.

He loves his toes... if the boy's on his back, he's guaranteed to have his legs in the air grabbing those toes. Double cutie.

The picture of Carter and daddy was the sweetest thing I think I've ever seen. It's a little blurred because it was so dark first thing that morning, but who cares. I love those boys.

Oh- the bouquet and sole picture of me is from my first Mother's Day. I am loved.

Our flooring is 99.99% finished... we were one board short. Isn't that the luck? We need some for scrap anyway, so another few boxes will be purchased. It looks divine. I'll take pictures and post them someday... sooner rather than later.

The goin's on

Since I'm convinced people only care about the pictures I post, here are some of what we did this weekend. (Token baby picture included)

Sometimes things are best done the "redneck" way. Like carpet removal. Yes, that's a chain wrapped around the carpet and yes, that's a four-wheeler dragging said carpet from the house.

















This used to be parquet flooring installed by the previous owners in the foyer. Not anymore... not since my husband used a JACK HAMMER to demolish it.












We layed underlayment. Tater Bug helped.













Then we started the floor. Hopefully we'll finish this decade... better yet, this week.

Happy Monday to me!

(I'll write about my first Mother's Day later.)

I went to a baby shower for C's cousins a month or so ago and all the ladies had necklaces that either had their childs name or picture or something on them. I felt left out. Of course, some of their jewelry was big and gaudy which is so not me. I got home that afternoon and did a search on Etsy to see what I could find and bookmarked quite a few sites, but kept coming back to one I loved called sTuck in the coop.

Fast forward to a week or so ago- the artist posted a contest on her blog for a $25 store credit and guess who just found out she won? That's right, this girl! And what did I choose?



Of course, it will have Carter's name and birthstone (garnet). I'm so excited I could just pee. Speaking of pee (and if you follow me on Twitter you already know this), the phone rang last night as I was in the middle of changing his diaper on the bed. Since he likes to "air it out" sometimes, I left him with a clean diaper under his butt "just in case" and ran to take C the phone. When I returned, my happy baby was still laying there with the clean diaper under his butt- and pee all over the bed. All over the side, the bed frame and the floor. My sweet little pisser that he is, all I could do is laugh. And to make it even better, we have no spare sheets for our bed. I bought C the ones we have now for Christmas a couple of years ago after tiring of his Walmart scratchy sheets. Looks like I'll be buying some more in the VERY near future, like TODAY!! ORDERED!

Wow, I derailed my own post didn't I? It wasn't supposed to be about ME or my BABY (AGAIN, anyone?), but about sTuck in the Coop! Go shopping, girls!

As if I needed reminding...

My child is perfect. Bet you didn't see that coming, didya?

Yesterday was Carter's four month check up (and shots- booooo). He weighed 14lbs 10.5oz and measured 25.5 inches long, both of which put him smack dab in the middle of perfection on the growth chart (50th percentile). Take that, tongue tie/jaundice double whammy! His noggin, however, measured 17.5 inches which landed him in the 90th percentile. My child is clearly destined for big things... like hats. The doc said everything looked great and he was developing just perfectly. (Duh) We also got the go ahead to start trying rice cereal and then baby food. I knew it was coming, but my little baby is growing up. Call me crazy, but I think I'm going to try and delay it as long as I can. And when that doesn't work, I'll just cry.

Baby Fat

Decorating

When we bought our house back in July, I knew we would be doing some work on it. I didn't know exactly when that would be, but I did know that I didn't want to decorate it twice. So, now that our walls are done, I'm dreaming & hunting for what to put on them.













Today, I learned that Vol. 25 is having a buy two get one free sale! I've had my eye on the kitchen series for some time, so now might be just the time to get my butt in gear! Just look at the whimsy and color!



My only hesitation is that since my kitchen walls aren't the soft, lime green with white wainscotting I had originally imagined I hope they match!

Check out some of her other precious prints:

Etsy=Love

This is on it's way to me...

Rebound

This is going to sound silly, but sometimes I forget that I'm a mom. Let me clarify by saying, I KNOW I have a kid and I can't forget that, but the title is what I forget. Like routine questions when you meet someone new- "Do you have any kids?" My first reaction is to say "Nope! Not yet" but uhhh, I do.

Mother's Day is coming up and I'm trying to decide what to do for my mom and MIL. I forget that for the first time in my whole entire life, finally I'm included. Last Mother's Day, I had just found out I was pregnant and no one knew except C. I'm fairly certain a snide comment was made about how I'd never have children and I remember it being very hurtful knowing I was carrying a teeny baby in my womb. I thought, "Just wait til next year!!!" And now, here I am. A walking, talking M.O.M.

I've got stories and pictures and circles under my eyes. I've got pee'd on clothes and drooled on shoulders. In fact, just this morning, I got snotted on for the first time. (It was gross, trust me) I've got tubes of dirty diapers from the Diaper Genie and poopy clothes from daycare. All of that and the cutest, sweetest baby in the world.

I don't want to discount my life before the baby, because I had a really good life, but man. This is the good stuff. This is what I've been waiting for. This is... it.

Struggling

This is my life now. It may be boring to most, but it's all I've got.

Everyone knows I'm breastfeeding. I've been pretty blatant about it on this blog and in real life. Sure, Carter's had formula when I had nothing pumped and we were on the go, but for the most part, he's a boob baby. When I went back to work, I didn't think anything would change. I'd pump while he was at daycare and it would be just like him nursing. Wrong.

Breastfeeding is a supply and demand business. The only way to truly increase supply is to demand more. That said, I'm dealing with supply issues in week three of being back. I guess maybe my milk is adjusting to the demand (or lack there of) and my output just keeps getting lower and lower. I've gone from pumping three times a day to five. I've gone from no herbal supplements, to -potentially- four kinds of pills multiple times each day. The feeling of knowing my child may not have enough to eat tomorrow is terrifying. It's horribly stressful and it's just plain not fair. In addition, the thought of quitting, of weaning him and giving up- well that's just plain unacceptable. I've worked so hard to get where I am (ironically enough, now that it's down the tube!) The thing is, I'm afraid that's what is happening without me even knowing.

So, here I sit. Stressed, but trying not to be. Afraid, but putting on a brave face. While the world keeps on spinning, I feel like I'm struggling just to keep my head above water.

I also changed the title of my blog... somehow it's just more appropriate.

Paint, take two

So I promised pictures, but I forgot. We scrapped "Light Sage" in the kitchen and are going with the hall color, Olive Gray. The Light Sage was just too light... almost teal or aqua and I felt that, although I could've lived with it, I would be really limited in what colors I could accent with. So, with nothing more than a text message, the decision was communicated to the painter and when I get home today, it'll be done. ALL done. No more workers in my house, except my husband.















I'm going to try and take tomorrow off so we can hunt for flooring. Our weekend is going to be so busy with Easter activites, so it's really our only day to get anything house-related done. Daycare is closed and I'd already lined up my mom and sister to keep the tooter, so it should be pretty painless. As if.

Let there be PAINT!

So, I knew the painter was coming today and that we had to pick paint yesterday, but C called yesterday around noon and said I had to pick paint by 4:00. That means, I had to make ALL the choices BY MYSELF and then prepare myself to tolerate the "I can't believe you picked this awful color" for the next 20 years. (It'll take me that long to put my son down.) Along with the help of my co-worker, below is what we chose. I wanted khaki colors and C wanted olive colors, so me, being the pleaser that I am, tried to pick colors he would like. Greens really were a better choice than browns because we have chocolate leather furniture and, eventually, wood floors. Talk about brown overload! Fingers crossed that it looks nice. Please oh please let it look nice!