Halloween + 30 days of Thanks

Another month has come and gone. It's crazy that this year is almost over but the best part of the year is still to come: the holidays. I love this time of year because it's all about what I love most, family. I'm already counting down to Thanksgiving and have my holiday Pinterest board full of yummy recipes to try. And don't get me started on Christmas. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday and I'm looking forward to it even more than usual because we'll be in the new house. I've bought all new Christmas decorations and already let Nick know the first thing that's going up is the tree. I could go on, and on but I need to rewind to the most recent holiday, Eli's first Halloween. He was a cuddly lion and a cute one at that. The lion suit didn't last very long, which I expected, so before we went trick or treating he changed into a friendly skeleton.

Being bashful with Daddy.

Cute as can be.

Mama Lion & Baby Lion.

Hey there Bones.

The Joseph Gang

I've never been a big fan of Halloween. I can't recall one Halloween that I actually enjoyed myself but having a kid has changed that. I had more fun this year dressing up with Eli than I ever have before and I know as he gets older, it will only be more enjoyable.

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This month, I'm joining on the thankful bandwagon and decided to do the 30 days of Thanks. I rather do it on here than Facebook because I'd like to look back on it next year and see if my thanks have changed. So bare with me on this rather lengthy post because I have 7 days to catch up on.

Day 1: I'm thankful for my son. He is the constant light in my life and my biggest blessing. He is better than anything I could have ever wished for in a child. He is healthy, happy, smart, funny, charming, and beautiful. I never knew that I could love someone as much as I love him and couldn't imagine a world without him in it. Every day is a new adventure with him and I'm looking forward to the many adventures we will have together!

Day 2: I'm thankful for my husband. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to how thankful I am for Nick. He is truly my best friend and loves me even at my worst. He is the most loving, caring, loyal, funny, handsome and ambitious man I know and I am so proud to be his wife. I am thankful for his dedication to our family to ensure a life of comfort, peace and happiness.

Day 3: I'm thankful for God and his unconditional love. My spiritual relationship has thrived since I've had Eli because I know now how God loves me. It hasn't been an easy journey but I'm thankful that God never gave up on me even when I have.

Day 4: I'm thankful for my family, new & old. I've always been very close with my mother & sister but when I got married, I gained a whole new family that loved me as their own. I'm thankful for their love and support through our roller coaster of a year. I wouldn't have survived a wedding and a new baby without all of them.

Day 5: I'm thankful for my mom. She is my best friend and always has been. Now that I am a mother myself, I have a new found love and respect for her and how she raised me. My mother worked hard to provide for us against all odds, and taught me to always have an open mind and love everyone I meet. I admire her loving and carefree heart & spirit and hope that I am just as much of a positive influence on Eli as she has been on me.

Day 6: I am thankful for my best friends who love me for me and keep me sane. I would not be who I am today without your love and support. Thank you for all the late night phone calls and the crazy adventures...I'm sure there will be many more to come!

And today, Day 7: I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom. I always knew that I wanted to spend those early years at home with my children but never thought I would end up the opportunity that I have today. I get to spend every day with my son, teaching him, loving him, watching him grow and never missing a single moment. I'm thankful that my husband's job allows me to stay home and make my dream come true!

More days of thanks to come!

"Mod-itional" Kitchen Inspiration

You know you've grown up when all you want to do is watch HGTV and shop for home goods. My mind has been swarming with ideas for the new house and I've driven Nick mad with all my decor talk. So I decided to unleash it here instead for the sake of my sanity and my marriage.

I've also become a big fan of garage sales (another sign of me getting old) and was thrilled to come across my new kitchen table at one this weekend! I've been searching for a farmhouse table for the kitchen but they are hard to come by and can be very expensive if bought new. Our current table is so nice that we rarely use it so a resale find is perfect for us because it's already worn in and will withstand children (or so I hope).

Tada! Our new table:

{Same colors but oval instead of a rectangle.}

As soon as I saw it, it was fate. I haven't quite sold Nick on it but I'm hoping it will grow on him. My plan is to sand it down and reseal the natural wood table top. I really want a natural finish so I'm going to skip staining it. Then I'm going to change the hunter green to black. I thought about white but I don't want it to be too country and I don't think Nick will go for anything too colorful so black it is.

These are some of my inspirations:

I love the mixture of new & old, modern & traditional (or as HGTV would say "Mod-itional") and bringing in the farmhouse table does just that. Our new kitchen has dark espresso cabinets making it feel modern but the tan granite counterops and the addition of the farmhouse table will put the traditional in "mod-itional". (I really like that word, can you tell?) The table came with four chairs that I plan on painting black as well. If I had the choice (and the money), I would love these metal cafe chairs but they are ridiculously priced, $1,000 for ONE chair!! I know I have expensive taste but that's just wasting money. What I really love about them is the industrial style and how they contrast with the farmhouse table.



But since I plan on using the chairs that came with the table, I decided I would bring in the industrial feel with these alumnium bar stools from Target that are a similar style but at a much more affordable price.



 I also wanted to add a bench for additional seating and to add to the casual dining feel. Target wins again with this farmhouse dining bench that goes perfect with the table. I'd like to add a fun fabric + cushion to the bench and paint the legs black to match the rest.

That about sums it up, for the kitchen at least. I really like the direction I'm going in but we'll see how it all turns out once these ideas are turned into a reality. Or remain a fantasy...that all depends on what Nick thinks of my "mod-itional" ideas.



A Mother's Struggles + 7 months

7 months ago this little man came into this world and changed my life completely.

He gave me the greatest purpose of all, being his mother.

Motherhood is just like any other journey, it has its ups & downs, its peaks and valleys.

In the last few weeks there have been more valleys than peaks. With Nick gone and the two of us sick, it's gotten the worst of me.

I've felt frustrated, anxious and defeated often.

And as awful as it sounds, I've felt resentment towards my husband for not being around, even though he's gone working to provide for our family. These feelings have only made the distance harder on both of us and caused a lot of unnecessary arguments.

I'm not proud of it but that's the truth.

I've let these emotions eat at me and then I'm left feeling guilty and selfish.

My saving grace has been fellow mommy friends & bloggers and knowing that I'm not the only one.

Every mother struggles, new & old, because being a mother or parent is not easy.

It's supposed to be hard. Your life no longer revolves around yourself, instead around your child.

You have to become selfless, patient and full of unconditional love.

Your choices & actions mold him into the person he will become.

It's a huge responsibility but also a blessing as well.

And the last thing I want is for my son to learn resentment, anger and selfishness from me.

All these emotions have caused me to stray away from my spiritual relationship as well.

I've felt under attack and haven't attended church in weeks.

Again, not proud but it's the truth.

I know God doesn't want me to feel these things because he has given me the blessing of becoming a mother and an angel of a son.

I believe this because in the last week I've heard several stories that have really put things in perspective.

There are women out there who have lost children, struggled to have children and those with children fighting to live.

I should be grateful because not only was I able to have a child, but a healthy, happy and beautiful baby boy.

When I look at him, all those feelings disappear and I am in awe of what a blessing he truly is.

I know I can't overcome these negative emotions without acknowledging them and turning them over to God.

So I am openly admitting my convictions, for the sake of my own conscious but also in the hope that it might reach someone else who has been feeling the same.

I know there will be days when it will be hard and I will feel defeated but there will be more days that I will be grateful and happy for this journey of motherhood & everything that comes with it -the good & the bad.

Because in the end, the good always trumps the bad.

Life as of lately

It's been a whirlwind of a month. It feels like September came and went. I'm not complaining though because that means we're only closer to moving into the new house and it's finally my favorite time of the year...fall! I love everything about fall. Boots, scarves, layers and pumpkin spice lattes.

So far the weather has been absolutely beautiful so I have a feeling this fall is going to be heavenly. I'm not in much a writing mood so I'll just post a few pics of life as of lately.

The house is coming along beautifully. It's really starting to look like an actual house. Within a week it went from slab, frame to roof. I'm glad I got to see all of the stages because it's going to make for a killer scrapbook. As of now, the expected completion date has moved up to beginning of December so we will for sure be spending Christmas in our new home!

And this little man turned 6 months. He's officially crawling, grabbing, spitting, and I'm pretty sure I've heard him say "momma" at least once. I can't believe it's hardly been half a year! Time really does fly. I love the stage he's in right now though. His personality shines through everyday. I'm so lucky to spend every minute of every day with him so I never miss a beat.

I don't think I could ever love something as much as him.

Lots of love in my life lately. love, love, love.

And before I go... Eli's Halloween Costume:

Can you imagine my little babe in this adorable costume? Pretty much the cuddliest lion you've ever seen.

 I can't wait for professional pictures this month!

A Sick Baby & My Worst Nightmare

The past few days have been rough. Eli has been vomiting and barely eating, which is really unlike him because he is my child and loves to eat. The week before he was diagnosed with reflux, similar to an adult's heartburn, he gets a burning sensation before spitting up. A friend of mine thought he had it at 2 months but I dismissed it thinking it was normal for babies to spit up but then he started crying more often before spitting up and I knew she was probably right. (Sorry Kristin.) We went to the doctor, confirmed it was reflux and went home with new medicine. 3 days later, Eli starts vomiting like crazy and lost his appetite completely. As a new mom or parent period, this is your worst nightmare. Your child is in pain, you don't know what's wrong and there's nothing you can do to help. So after church Sunday, Eli threw up yet again and I lost it. My heart was aching with worry, not knowing what was wrong or what I could do to fix it. To the ER I went looking for answers. After 3 hours, they said he probably had a reaction to his reflux medication and to keep him hydrated until we went to the pediatrician. Then came crisis #2. When we picked our pediatrician, I was in the delivery room and the nurses needed a name. Nick ran next door and found the pediatrician next to my OB (turns out it was the same one he had as a child). After he was born we just stuck with it because we didn't really know another pediatrician to go to. After the reflux incident and my doctor blaming me (!) for not mentioning his symptoms earlier, I knew it was time for a change. I called my friend Kristin, because she had a similar situation and she recommended her pediatrician, Blue Fish Pediatrics. So we broke up with our original pediatrician and tried out Blue Fish. I'm so happy we did because I love our new pediatrician. In our first visit, I learned so much more and felt more confident then I ever did at with our previous pediatrician. She explained reflux to us, told us it was unheard of to have a reaction to Prevacid (his medication), and that he would outgrow it within a few months. Turns out Eli's symptoms was really a stomach bug and explained that when babies are sick instead of pushing the virus out like we would, their stomachs spaz and come up. She put my nightmare to rest and said he would be back to normal in a few days. Praise the lord! As soon as we got home, Eli's appetite had returned and he hasn't thrown up since. I'm sure my uneasiness only made his symptoms worse, so I'm glad I got some peace of mind. The whole experience was a blessing in disguise because we wanted a pediatrician closer to our new home and it's only two exits away! Still, having a sick baby is no fun and I'm happy to have my baby back to normal. But at least we got a fantastic pediatrician out of it!

{My babies}

All is well.

Patterns & Colors

It's thunderstorm central in Katy, TX tonight so I decided to pour myself a glass of wine and redo my blog design. Pretty happy with how it turned out. I've been slightly obsessed with the background pattern, and the color gray (since I'm redoing our bedroom in gray + yellow) so both reflect the current me. Since Nick has been gone I've spent a lot of time watching HGTV, SVU marathons (guilty pleasure) and living on Pinterest. 2 out of the 3 have given me lots of ideas for room/home decor, and I can't wait to put those ideas into action. The two things I'm drawn the most to is:

Stripes & Gray

I'm thinking about doing a striped bathroom upstairs (the only place Nick will let get away with it) and a striped accent wall in Eli's room. I'm doing gray in the Master bedroom and possibly the guest. The guest room is debatable because I want to do a whole house color scheme, but Nick and I can't agree on colors.

I like:

The only problem is both these palettes feature variations of blue and Nick can't quite get past the color. The story behind that is because our bedroom is sea foam green but looks more blue -and we hate it. So I'm still trying to sell him on the dark teal blue color. Particularly this one:



The room is painted in Martha Stewart's Plumage.

I realllllly want this color in the study or dining room. But for now, it will just exist on my idea boards until we get closer to moving in or Nick approving the color. Hopefully the latter comes first. Still working on my idea boards, they change daily so when I get around to making up my mind I'll post. Now off I go to daydream more about patterns, colors and my new house.

Building Our Home: What Goes Into a Home

The most overwhelming part about building a home is choosing what goes into a home. Kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets -what color for the cabinets, what kind of wood? wood flooring - real or laminate? Counter tops - granite or silestone? Faucets - chrome or brushed nickel? Things I've never even thought of before have been dominating my thoughts for the past week. Since we signed the purchase agreement on the house, we've been going over a pricing sheet for every possible upgrade we could make on our home. The whole process was a bit overwhelming because there is so much to choose from and you have free reign to do whatever you want. As long as you can afford it. And with our taste, we are always drawn to the most expensive stuff but we had to be realistic and compromise. After several lists, google images & some serious 'sleeping on it'...we made our final decisions, all of which I'm very proud of!

Interior.

Exterior.

Overall, I'm really proud of what we chose. I have complete confidence that all of our decisions will produce the most beautiful house I could ever dream of. Everything is very cohesive & gives you that warm, welcome home feeling. Plus we were able to get pretty much everything we wanted and stay within our budget!! (Yay! *pat on the back*) Don't get me wrong the experience was definitely fun, challenging at times, but fun. I mean who wouldn't want to decorate their house from the inside out? But I have to admit what I'm looking forward to the most is the decorating!! Now the hardest part...waiting!!

But before I go,

Happy 5 months to my little man.

love him to pieces.