July Re-cap

Via

Is July really over??? How is this even possible?

Here is how I did this month...

SUCCESS:

• Finish Gibson's Room... I'm going to go ahead and call this one. I did the bed skirt and honestly that it is really all I need to do. He does not really need a bumper or quilt... those are really more decorative items. I am however going to change some of the furniture around and will do a final blog post.
• Throw a baby shower for my girl Krista! done and done... you can see the shower photos here.
  
• Get Emma ready for Camp... done and done... Emma went to Camp Winshape again this year and had a fabulous time!
  
• Paint Upper level doors... DONE!!! After two year all doors are WHITE! THANK goodness 
  
• Finally take some family photos... Done! The wonderful and talented Virginia Leslie of House of Maps Photography came by a few weeks ago and we took some family photos! I cannot wait to see and share the results!

FAILS:

• Loose 5 lbs... Lost 3
• Run 3 miles w/out walking... FAIL I can do 2... and that is only because I forced myself to do it on the last day of the month... I only ran 4 times total... big old fail.
• Birch Event and Design Website... Still need to upload the photos.
• FINISH THE FREAKING PLAYROOM! I did finish one project... the playroom table. Hope to cross a few more items off the list in this room over the weekend.
  
• Finish Basement Bathroom. Need to just do crown molding and tile in here and it will be done... didn't even go into this room in the last month SOOOO... FAIL
• Work out at least 4 times a week. - Fail

Favorite Things Friday - Back to School Edition

While we still, THANKFULLY, have a month before school is back in session I have a lot of friends and family that are already gearing up for a new school year... So in a nod to them and in an effort to organize my own family ahead of time I decided to do a round-up of my favorite back to school items in the blog world!

This year Emma will be entering 5th GRADE!! How is this even possible??? Hunter will also make his academic debut in Pre-school. (for a few hours a few days a week)

This is an adorable Teacher Survival Kit. Would be a cute gift for their teachers. I will also give some home-made cookies and a card made by each of the kiddos.

Emma is easy for lunch... Just pack her a ham and cheese sub and you have a happy girl... but Hunter is a TOTALLY different story... The boy HATES sandwiches. He even pulls apart his grilled chesse! I found these Healthy School Lunch Ideas and I cannot wait to make a few. I especially think that he will be a fan of the DIY Lunchables.

I leave for work before Emma gets up in the mornings and often when I pick her up from school I find myself exclaiming... "What are you wearing!!!" With two kiddos in school this year I plan on making these Day of the week clothing hangers and picking out clothes on Sunday.

 

I will need to get a cute little toddler backpack for Hunter and I REALLY want to get this Dump truck one from etsy... but the shop owner is taking a break until October :-( I'm tempted to just get a generic one and order this the second her shop opens back up! It looks to be really well made. Or maybe I will try to make one...

 

This year I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and do the annual Back to school Interview and Photo

 

And finally one of my goals for the month of August is to create a homework station... Last year we STRUGGLED with Emma when it came to completing homework. The girl pretended that a whole subject didn't even exist and I had no clue because she did such a good job at hiding it... Lat's just say she was NOT a fan of all of the make-up work we made her do once we discovered that she had gone two semesters without doing ANYTHING for that one subject... This is NOT a problem that we will be having this year!

 

I love this station from House of Smiths and I plan to steal a few of their ideas!

 

Gibson: 4 Months

Our little guy is 4 months old!!!

 

He turned 4 months last Friday but I delayed this post as I wanted to include stats from our doc appointment... but they are not good!

Yesterday was the first visit that I was not able to make so Matt took Gibson alone... and now I wish that I had been able to go... apparently Gibson is NOT gaining weight the way that they would like him to... he went from 80% to under 20% over the last TWO months. His weight gain was a little UNDER 4 oz... When Matt called to give me the news I was SHOCKED! He takes 15-20 oz a day from a bottle while I'm at work and I feed him three times after work, before bed. I know that I have good milk production because my supply is actually OVER what he takes in a bottle each day.

Right after I got off the phone with Matt I called and talked to the nurse-on-call (because I was so worried). She said the fact that my milk production was so good made it even more unsettling because it could mean that there could be another reason for his "Failure to thrive." As a mother you never want to hear those words! I feel like I'm failing him as I'm his food source. We have to monitor him over the next three weeks and go back in for another official weigh-in with a doctor. I will also be taking him weekly for a weigh-in with a nurse to make sure that he doesn't loose any additional weight.

So that is my big update and I will keep you all posted... now for the fun stuff that Gibson has been doing over the last month.. things that would NEVER even make me think that he was "failing to thrive"...

• Feeding time has become "social hour" if I talk or move Gibson will stop eating to look up at me and smile/laugh! It is so cute... makes feeding go longer but totally worth it!
• An AMAZING sleeper still. Gibson goes down at 7:30 p.m. and wakes up around 8 a.m.
• Drools ALL THE TIME. I keep feeling around in his mouth but no teeth yet.
• Loves his toys! He will just sit and look at his toys for a good 20 minutes without fussing. He is starting to put them into his mouth as well. When he shakes them and they rattle he will just laugh and laugh.
• When he gets a bottle around lunch time (when I'm at work) he takes 10 OZ!!! His morning bottle is still 5 oz. (We will be increasing his morning to 10 also in an effort to gain... but we cannot force him to eat what we put in so we will see what happens.)
• Took TWO trips down to Georgia this month. One to celebrate his cousin's 4th birthday and one trip to pick up his big sister from summer camp! He is getting MUCH better at being in the car.
• Is such a HAPPY man! Just smiles and laughs all the time! Loves to have his neck kissed and his big sister knows just where his magic tickle spots are.
• Rolls over from his tummy to his back and can ALMOST roll back onto the tummy! STRONG MAN!
• Loves to "stand" assisted, of course. Might be time to break-out the jumper-roo

Hunter at 4 Months (p.s. - Hunter was 16.6 lbs at his 4 month appointment and Gibson is 13.75...)

Gibson:
3 Months
2 Months
1 Month

Baby Shower for Krista

My dear friend Krista is expecting her first child in August and I was so honored to host a baby shower to celebrate the pending arrival of her little man, Elijah.

Here are some photos from the event!

Guest were greeted with a custom poster that I had made just for the event

They also had an opportunity to guess when baby Elijah would make his grand appearance. We used a Cowboys calendar because that is the favorite team of his daddy! 

Special designated area for the special mama to open her gifts! 

We played the "Price is Right" game where guests guessed how much common baby items cost! A game that really seemed to put into perspective that babies are expensive! 

 And, or course, guests should only drink out of baby bottles at a shower!

Here is the dining room with yummy foods all set up... The runner going down the middle of the table is actually just a high quality wrapping paper (from Homegoods) that I folded and taped to run down the length on the dining table... 

I cleared all of our dishes out of the china cabinet and filled it with some sweets! 

Everyone loved watching Krista open up the little gifts for Elijah! Some of her facial expressions were priceless!!! 

 

Must read for every new Mom!!! Porn for New Moms

Great diaper wreath made by an extremely creative guest

Some Milkscreen so that mama can have her special juice 

 

And I had to throw in a gag gift... or rather a prank box...

Fun time had by all!!!

** Printables were done by On the Go Prints an etsy shop. I told the designer exactly what I wanted and she created custom listings for me in only days. She was so easy to work with, talented, and economical! I HIGHLY recommend using her. I know that I will be for all of my future party planning!

Thrifted Thursday #4

Today I'm going to share a quick project that I recently took on for the playroom.

We had a boring old wooden coffee table that we were not even using... so I decided to give it a  new purpose with some chalkboard paint. Now the kids have a playtable!

Anyone could find a cheap and scratched up table from a thrift store or garage sale and give it life! All it took was a quick sand and three coats with the chalkboard paint!!! so easy!

Hunter and Matt both seem to love it

Stuffed Peppers

Today I'm going to share a SUPER yummy dinner that I made last night and the best part was that it only took 20 minutes! Which for a working mama of three that is key!

I decided that this week I'm going to ONLY make recipes that I have pinned! I feel like I'm always finding yummy recipes and I NEVER MAKE THEM! so for the first night I made Sausage, Goat Cheese, and Arugula stuffed Peppers. Via
 
I did make a few tweaks however... I added more sausage & more goat cheese then the original recipe called for.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 medium Red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds and ribs removed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Package (5 links) sausage of your choice, casings removed
• 8 ounces goat cheese, softened
• 2 large handfuls of arugula (about 1½ ounces)
• Salt, pepper and/or red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1½ tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oven to 400º.
• Place the peppers on a baking sheet and set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until it browns, crumbling with a wooden spoon as it cooks. (If needed, drain the sausage before continuing.)
• Once the sausage has browned, reduce heat to low and stir in the arugula and goat cheese until the cheese has melted and the arugula is wilted. Taste and add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, if desired.
   
  
  
• Spoon the filling into the peppers and sprinkle each half with Parmesan.
  
  
  
  
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the peppers have softened slightly. Serve immediately.