Today's my Bloggie-Birthday!

One year ago today I set up house here in blog-land with my very first post that you can read here.

That same day, I made another post that you can read here.

Oh those pre-baby days! With Charlie's birthday fast approaching (April 9th) I'm feeling all nostalgic and remembering what life was like this time last year. I was doing all kinds of crazy things like scrapbooking and sewing, anything to keep myself occupied for the weeks (and weeks!) of pregnancy still ahead of me. Its so nice having this blog to be able to look back on and remember those precious days leading up to Charlie's birth! Thanks to those of you who have stuck with me and read and leave comments! Of course, most of you are related to us and you have to keep reading and commenting- otherwise you won't get all the Charlie pictures and updates. :) Happy first birthday to my blog. :)

And while I'm on the subject of birthdays- there are two other much more important (real) birthdays this week that I could not forget! My father in law on the 23rd, and my dad on the 26th!

Happy Birthday! We love you both so much!

A Few Updates

1. I decided not to cut his hair. Thanks to your comments, I realized that I was really not ready to do it... especially after hearing that some of you regretted cutting your baby's hair for the first time! Its certainly not hanging in his eyes and I think it can wait a little while longer. Its just so darn cute right now! :)



2. I *think* the Furminator is actually working. I'll probably need to furminate her a couple times a week for it to do any good... but anything is better than the hairy mess we had before. Thanks to those of you who commented and helped me figure the thing out.


3. Finally, thank you so much for all the kind comments on my last post! Since staying home with Charlie, my house has become somewhat of a project for me (since it is what I look at all day) and it was so sweet of you all to leave those nice comments! By the way... did anyone notice? The Nester herself left me a comment and said I was an "A student." Wow! If only she could see my house right now. That whole de-cluttering thing? Umm, yeah, about that. A little difficult to maintain! :o)

10 Minutes to a Room You'll Love

So have I spoken of my love for the Nester around here before? She has some great ideas for a lazy, cheap, decorating wannabe like me, and I am constantly drooling over her blog.


Recently she has posted a series on "10 Minutes to a Room You'll Love" offering quick, easy tips to making your home a cozier, tidier, homier place using things you already have or can easily/cheaply find! And with a motto like hers "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!" I am SO on board.


So here are the few things I did around my house based on her suggestions (and I didn't go back to see all of your exact words, Nester, so forgive me if I'm a little off- I'm hoping I got at least the general idea) I say, as if the Nester herself will actually read this!!! Oooh I hope she does, I think I will just die. :)

1. Bring the outdoors in: these are my little mossy balls I made for some candle stick holders using foam balls, moss in a bag, and a hot glue gun! True Nester style.


2. Make the Bed/Use Pillows: I know mom, you're wondering why I listen to the Nester and not you all those years... but even before this post, I've been making my bed... I get it now... everything just feels better when the bed is made.
3. Use Lamps instead of that overhead light: ahhh just feels cozier, like you want to snuggle up and read a book.
4. Use a lamp in the bathroom: I like the coziness of the lamplight, but does that cord look a little scary??? At least the soft lighting distracts a little of the mess of all my products in the basket above it.


5. Use fabric in the bathroom- OK I know this sheer little thing just barely qualifies as fabric, but it was all I had... and its definitely better than nothing!
7. Use something pretty in the kitchen- We don't have an actual dining room, just a breakfast nook off the kitchen. I've tried to pretty/cozy it up the best I can and I LOVE my new chandelier my hubby got me for Christmas.
8. Open up the blinds/use natural light- we've never had blinds on this window but I did have a sheer curtain over the middle that I finally got rid off- everything's just brighter now, I love it!

9. Use Fire- I absolutely love this candle... its called "Fresh Cotton" and its from Wal-Mart! It just has the freshest scent in the world and my husband loves it too. Don't you like how you can see the perfectly good, unused fireplace in the background? Well because of our crawling little boy, this is the way we use fire now. :)
10. De-clutter everything. My dresser had become the landing spot for basically every piece of jewelry and hair thing I owned. Now it is all neatly put away and added to it a lamp for some ambiance, and a sweet note from my husband in a frame and voila! Much better.



Now check out the Nesting Place for more ideas on creating a room you love in 10 minutes!

Furminated!

The deed is done. She has been furminated. What? You don't read my blog religiously and you don't know what I'm talking about? ;) Click here.

It came in the mail yesterday and as soon as the package was open we were on the back porch... me hard at work, her cowering with her tail between her legs.

I don't think she liked it very much. And I'm not sure what I think about it either. After about 10-15 minutes this was all I got.
That's a far cry from the picture on the website, which actually is kind of disturbing. Okay, really disturbing.

So we'll see. My plan is to vaccuum really really well today and see if there is any less hair on the floor the next day.

Oh yeah, and Charlie had raspberries and blackberries yesterday for the first time. Yum!

A Poem for Love

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height...
Because you made me chocolate chip pancakes with turkey bacon to my delight.

I love thee for the roses, beautiful in red and pink...

I love you because you love me even though I left a bunch of dirty dishes in the sink.

I love you so I gave you raspberry kisses in the shape of a heart...

And you let me eat like half of them- I know we'll never part.

But mostly I love you just because of who you are...
This life we live is love to me and I pray you're never far.


The way you live, the sacrifices made,

The honesty, patience, through it all you've remained...

Close to me and I ever grateful you're mine.

So love me, my love, and I'll love you forever 'til we die.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To Cut or Not to Cut

Apparently we have hair issues at my house...

Before large wind gust:

After large wind gust:

I know, I know... he needs a haircut. But if I cut it, then he'll look like a big boy and I'll have to admit that he really is a big boy that's going to be one in two months!!!! So really, I want to wait until he's one, but should I do it before or after his party....and before or after one year old pictures? I know, of all things to concern myself with, this is hardly a serious issue... but c'mon, its all that precious baby hair... and he worked hard for that stuff! Remember this around 1 month?
So those of you that have any opinion on the issue or had this decision to make with your own kiddo... what do you think?

Oh and one more pic, just because it was funny... sometimes when we're walking I like to pick up those little house flyers in the yard of houses that are for sale... just out of curiosity (we're not planning on moving or anything). So yesterday I gave one to Charlie, and he sat there like this for the rest of the walk "reading" the paper, jabbering the whole way... it was hilarious.

Guess what I ordered today...

The FURminator! Has anyone used this handy de-shedding tool before? I hear it really works wonders. We shall soon see... Daisy ended up spending the whole week with Paul's parents (oops) and is coming home Saturday. Before she even walks in the door we are going to furminate her... it has been SO nice living the hair-free life. I hope it works!

My 10-Month Old

My, my time flies. Here's the little man on his 10-month birthday... smilin' sweet despite a little fever. Poor little guy can't get a break! Its not really slowing him down much though, he is on the go! So much has changed since just in this last month... he's growing out of all of his clothes, crawling all over the place, pulling up, cruising, clapping, and waving. In just two short months, my baby will be one.

A Hair-Less Weekend

No, I'm not shaving my head. I'm shaving my house. Sort of. You see, the day we moved into our house, we also brought home this tiny furry black bundle... that quickly turned into a big bouncy furry black horse-like dog. And those lovely shiny black hairs didn't just stay on her... she has shared them over and over with our entire house. I find them everywhere. In our bed (no, she's not allowed up there!), in the sink, on Charlie's face, on my plate. I mean, how does that happen??? How does her hair just go everywhere like that??? And as much as I vacuum and send her outside, Daisy seems to drop about a million hairs as soon as she takes a step back in. I don't know how she is not bald!

But for this one weekend, we are hair-less. She is spending the weekend with Paul's parents to be out of the way for our Girlie Weekend (while the guys are camping). I have just vacuumed everything, and I was relentless. She won't be home until Sunday and until then we have a hair-less house. It is a beautiful thing.

While I'm here, here's a few pics from our trip to the Houston Zoo yesterday. What gorgeous weather it was!!! Absolutely perfect.

Hey at least I don't have this big hairy thing rolling around on my tile.

Or this one, though he was awfully cute!!

Here are a couple from today... its getting harder and harder to get a good picture of this little boy on the move!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

The Camping Trip

This weekend is Paul's annual camping trip with his old college buddies. And he, of course, takes on the responsibility of preparing all of the meals and snacks and drinks for this yearly event. As the boys *ahem* men have matured, so have Paul's cooking abilities and tastes. Over the past few years they've gone from burgers and hotdogs to red beans and rice and pork tacos with guacamole and mango salsa. No kidding. But their snack palates have remained the same. So Paul continues to buy the same old junk *ahem* delicacies each year. I went with him to HEB last night and have to say I was embarrassed to be pushing that cart around. The one with fresh mangoes, limes, avacadoes, poblano peppers, eggs, milk, and orange juice... as well as "chips galore" cookies in chocolate and key lime flavors, four bags of potato chips/cheese puff variety snacks, the biggest package of chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies I have ever seen outside of a daycare, and five boxes of cans of soda.

Here you can see everything in our little kitchen, where it will sit until Friday when it will be taken to the sacred campsite. And you can see how I daintily pushed them aside to get to my coffee pot this morning. And can you imagine how those two packages of oreos have been calling to me all day? No, I have not opened them! I bought my own snacks for the wives and girl-friends that will be spending the weekend here. But still the oreos... they're calling me.

Want Some Chocolate Cake?

I'm always in the mood for chocolate cake. Really. Its probably my favorite dessert. So when I saw today's Wiki-how on my google homepage was "How to Bake Cake in a Mug" I decided to check it out. Paul got on board too when he saw it only took 3 minutes in the microwave and we had all the ingredients! I won't go through all the details, as you can check it out here (complete with pictures!) But here are a few of our own pics...And because what would a post of mine be without a pic of Charlie...here he is after saying goodbye to Daddy through the window this morning. :)