Girl Baby Shower Plans

Happy Saturday! We are enjoying this sunny-yet-cold day at home. I just wanted to quickly jot down some of the plans that are brewing for my good friend's baby shower coming up. It is going to be a girl and the planned name is Anna Elizabeth....so cute!!

The other girl helping plan make all the centerpieces so I am working on the invites. The centerpieces, by the way, are going to be cream and white hydrangeas in a square, white, frosted glass. We are going to tie ribbons around them for added color. The colors we are doing are black and white damask fabric with hot pink accents!! So girly!

Here is the invite that I  made in PS Elements.

I also felt spry yesterday and made this fabric garland out of several left over pieces of fabric I had. I think it turned out cute and we will probably use it on the bulletin board for the shower. I think next time I made one I will cut the strip about 18 inches instead of the 12 inches I did for this one.

I will be sure and take some pictures at the shower of all the other decorations too!

February Happenings

I cannot belive February is almost over! We have been enjoying warmer-than-average temperatures around here and it just makes me want spring to get here that much quicker! I haven't had much time to blog as work is really busy this time of year and we have been busy around the house. Here is a bunch of random things from this month.

1. Jonah is starting to try to talk more and attempt to say things we ask him to. He says "hot" a lot when he thinks something is hot or if he sees the oven. He says "bye-bye" really good and we've been working on "cheese", "please", "thank you", and "yes."

 Enjoying a sucker!

Playing with my camera and trying to catch moments! 

Love these 2 men!

2. I have 3 wedding showers and 1 baby shower coming up this Spring. For our little Church that is a lot! I love it even though it means some extra spending. Another girl and I are decorating for the baby shower and I am so excited for them. More details to come on that. Here is one of my wedding shower gifts I prepared for the shower this weekend. It is a utility bag from 31 Purses and some Wal-Mart towels along with a kitchen towel that I added some fabric to. I hope they love it!

3. We have started on the basement laundry room!! I am so excited about this because I am weird and actually like doing laundry. Now I will have a designated space and we are still waiting for our new washer and dryer to come in. Michael is building some wood stands for the bases of the washer and dryer and we have framed up a wall to divide the room from the rest of the unfinished basement. It still looks rough right now but I hope it will look much better after we get the new appliances, rug, something on the ceiling and a curtain to cover plumbing. Also some added furniture and folding space will come later too.

I took before pics but I can't find them right now. I will post later!





My Little Valentine

Michael and I celebrated Valentines Day with a dinner and Wal-Mart date at the Olive Pit in Paris, TN. It is a short drive to some of the best and most authentic Italian food you can find around these parts. Jonah spent some extra time and Nana and Papaw's house and took a nap while we snuck off to get groceries and then eat. We both had the special of a cheese-stuffed tortellini with chicken and bacon in a bed of olive oil. It was divine!! Then we topped it off with a chocolate spoon-cake that we shared. It was like a chocolate THICK cheese cake with more of chocolate taste than cheese. We got back in time to get Jonah home and tucked in bed.

We gave Jonah his little Valentine gifts on Sunday after Church. He loved the balloon the best of course!

Monday we took Jonah for his 18 month well-check and he was healthy as a horse!! Here are his stats.

Weight: 24 lbs even (21st percentile)
Height: 31 1/2 inches (20th percentile)
Head Circ: 48 cm (52nd percentile)

Dr. Roads said he is still petite but in proportion so that is all that matters. He told us some things to expect over the next few months. I can't believe we don't go back until his 2 year appt.!!! Does not seem possible that my baby will be 2 years old in less than 6 months!

9 To 5

I am a working Mama and when I saw that Kelly doing a Working Mom link up on her blog I thought why not join and see what other working mom's do!

My son Jonah is 18 months old and I have been working full-time since he was 8 weeks old. I worked full-time before he was born too. I work to help pay the bills and so that we can live a "comfortable" life and not have to freak about buying a new top on sale. We are so blessed though and MOST days I am happy to work and be a Mom. Of course we all have those days we wish we did not have to work also.

I work as a Pension Administrator for a small consulting firm. I basically handle all size company's 401(k) and retirement plans and make sure they stay in compliance with the various IRS and DOL laws. It is a very boring job to talk about but I get a lot of satisfaction out of it. Also, I have a bachelor's in Business: Accounting from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. I work with numbers all day and email a lot. LOL

The best part about my job is I get to do it all in the comfort of my home. My actual office is 1.5 hours away from where I live. This has been such a huge blessing! I know a lot of Mama's do not get this option at all so I NEVER take it for granted! I still have to take Jonah to childcare because the nature of my job requires a lot of focus....which you can't do with a toddler awake!

The other wonderful blessing God gave us was that my Mother (who lives minutes away) was in the position to be able to quit her job and watch Jonah everyday. I cannot even put into words how much I appreciate her for WANTING to do that and being able to!

I have told many of my friends in my same boat that I personally think it is easier to be a SAHM than to try to work and parent full-time. Of course all Mothers do a ton of work but I think just not having to even worry about a workplace or job is a huge weight off your mind. Work is always in the back of my mind even when I'm off or done for the day. I would be interested to see how other Mom's handle balancing all of that. Maybe because I work in our actual home it is harder for me to "walk-away" at the end of the day.

A Tale of Two Aprons

I just have to share this funny little story from about a week ago. I had decided to embark on my first bread-baking adventure after supper one night. I found THIS recipe for making 30-minute rolls. So I thought I could handle 30 minutes of break-making. LOL!

A couple of days earlier Jonah had went to story time at the library with my Mom. They always do a craft and they all got little aprons and painted them....well Mom painted most of Jonah's. LOL. So anyways we had a tiny little apron laying around in the house somewhere. I really didn't think he would ever use it much.

Well back to the night I was baking bread.....I started putting on my apron to keep myself from getting covered in flour. As soon as Jonah saw my red apron he started looking for his. We soon found it and he just HAD to have his little apron on like Mommy!! I thought it was too cute.....not sure how Daddy felt about his little man in an apron....but guys can cook too!!

Please excuse my hair and no makeup but I had been home all day and was not planning on having my picture taken. Oh and the messy kitchen!

The rolls turned out edible but not like they should have been. I will try them again soon though! I enjoyed the process of making them!