26 & 3

26 years new :)

3 years since he asked me to spend the rest of our lives together :)

My 26th birthday was spent alongside my sweet baby girl, my momma, and my husband (who is away this month and wasn't supposed to be here but was!)

*Someone* needs their hair did...Reg, where ya at?!

I'm officially old. Ha. No, I'm totally not. However, 26 is 'over the hill' for your 20's!

25 was a wonderful year for me - I became a momma! And we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! I certainly have much to be thankful for and can only hope 26 will bring wonderful things our way as well.

How did I celebrate 26? Just a little Dunkin Donuts, play time with my kiddies, hanging with the momma (whom I congratulated for becoming a 4th time momma to one amazing child 26 years ago!), bothering loving the studious hubby, receiving beautiful flowers from Maggie & Trey, filling a few Etsy orders, eating a yummmy dinner at Bonefish, a few Sweetwater 420's, Carvel cake of course, and some fun little gifts. It was great.





And you know how I know I'm a big girl these days?! Nothing to do with the fact that I'm a wife, mother, etc. BUT, I drank an iced coffee AND tried a mussel today. Ha..things I don't ever do. That's some big girl status right there.



Today certainly made up for my could-have-been-better kinda day yesterday that may or may not have included going to renew my registration only to move out of state in 30 days, getting hit in the DMV parking lot right on baby girl's side right where she was sitting (she's good, no worries), missing my number at the DMV, having to rewait with another 40 people ahead of me, being told I couldn't renew it because it's registered in another county (I kissed some major ass and got it done), all the while sweating my ass off!

Spending my birthday alongside my little family today was just what I wanted.

And one other fun fact about May 1st? We got engaged on this very special day 3 years ago on 'Top of the Rock' in NYC. It was a fan-flippin-tastically beautiful day and an even more beautiful evening! I was completely surprised, taken back, thrilled, and happy/nervous/excited all at the same time and wish I could remember more from that whirlwind moment! For someone obsessed with photos and capturing moments, it's rather ironic that both of our phones AND our camera batteries were all dunzo at the time he asked me to marry him! And truthfully, I kind of like it that way!

There were no interruptions to our celebratory moments! No phone calls, no 'wait I need a picture' moments, nada. Just raw emotion and love and tears and celebrations between none other than the 2 of us in a beautiful setting with views of Central Park, the Hudson River, and the entire 360 degree NYC skyline from 70 floors above during sunset. It was over 8 years from the moment he had asked me to be his girlfriend to the moment he asked me to be his wife. And today, that was already 3 years ago! I certainly don't need photos to remember what it felt like to know we were excited to spend the rest of our lives together as husband and wife.

A celebratory day indeed! Cheers all around. And special thanks to everyone in my life who makes it so very special :) I'm surely loved and hope you all feel it right back atcha! :)

Cheers to 26..

Goodnight Moon!

Little Friends.

This past week we celebrated with an old friend. There was, however, nothing to really celebrate -- aside from the fact that it was just simply that time to catch up, reminisce, and gaze around to examine just how our lives have evolved from where our friendship all began. So to us, that's celebrating.

Celebrating friendship! And how that friendship has evolved from younger wild days to babies laughing and screaming together, breastfeeding, and sharing mommy stories. Oh goodness!



And celebrating how our little ones will grow as friends any time we get together to pick right back up where we left off.





These friends of ours -- oh, the places we've been! The things we've seen, have been through together, and have spoken about only happen in a friendship like this. And that includes all of the absolute craziness and ridiculously stupid things we have done together. The college life will do that to ya! Those times just add a little piece of flair to the masterpiece that makes up our friendship.



To witness each other's lives transform into families has also been one of the many pieces of flair that add depth to our masterpiece.



How fun it is to reflect on those times -- drunken nights, memorable vacations, Florida State graduations, engagements, career paths, marriages, pregnancy announcements, and the births of our children whom are still on the way. Baby girl #3 on the way for those folks! And to think of how our future visits with them will go will only be more memorable and crazy as our families expand to add more craziness to the mix. Oh Lawdy, they will be full of excited parents, NO tequila, happy-to-see-each-other-kids who will eventually bicker about nothing that matters, and all of us creating memories. With some of the biggest steps in life taken alongside these friends, there's no turning back now!



Yup, I'm sappy. And sentimental. And somehow I'm able to bring those qualities out of them once in a while in between our crazy, sarcastic, and faux southern-speaking antics.

Hopefully, our babies will feel the same about each other, minus the drunken times and faux-southern accents. Gotta teach them babies right! ;) (which means teaching them better grammar than that last 'sentence')



We're still in the middle of some of life's biggest milestones -- and it's safe to say we are all excited to see where each other end up. And in between our life milestones, we watch each other's babies reach milestones.







Although our lives are strutting along in their own crazy separate pathways, there are so many similarities that keep us moving along together.

Like our hubby's being some of the busiest men we know (yet they still make time to catch up with each other). And we both get lonely at times, so visits to each other are essential. Which is exactly how this past week brought us together. And even though they can be some of the busiest men, we are proud wives, and thankful for all that our hubby's do for us and our babies. Shout out to you wonderful Daddy's :) Even with her husband miles away (and mine leaving soon), she still spoke the words of how "lucky we are to have great husbands who are such good Daddy's." We really are :)


She already gets excited for Daddy to come home from work :)



Cheers to old friends, good friends, and little friends!

Mommy & Me | Baby & Me

25 years may separate these photos, but the love couldn't be any closer.

"A daughter is a gift sent from above to cherish and forever love."

Baby E {5 month photos & favorites}

Baby E turned 5 months old on 4/13/13. HOLY picture overload this post will contain. You know how I am with my disclaimers ;) But seriously, my lack of posting between months 4 of 5 of Baby E's little events leave me no choice but to post 'em all right here! So enjoy..a look at her fun little life between months 4 & 5..

Is it just me, or does having to retire those soft, teeny tiny favorite outfits at a rate of about five per day make everyone else just as sad? Those sweet little outfits -- the ones I spent hours washing with perfectly scented baby detergent, followed by neatly folding or precisely hanging each one while drifting off into sweet thoughts of my soon-to-be newborn modeling off each beautiful piece -- they make me so sad each time I realize and say "well, that's the last time she's wearing that outfit."


Speaking of clothes, the shirt in this photo above was the shirt that the hospital put on her the day she was born :)

But as with most good things that change, it opens up doors to bigger and better things, all while remembering the past. Well, that's how I try to look at Baby E's ever-changing little life. With each wonderful phase transitioning into the next, I realize just how fun it is to tuck away her wonderful past tendencies in my memory jar to welcome her new characteristics and qualities that bring out her unique personality. And this will be a life-long lesson to remember. She will always be changing, no matter how small and sweet I want her to remain. But the change certainly brings good!



We are loving the little personality our newly 5 month old is taking on.



She is full of love, laughs, energy, and -- if we're being honest here -- gas! Ha..what baby isn't?! But honestly, her smiles and laughs are the absolute best. I can't explain to you the feeling it brings to both J and myself when her eyes light up followed by the biggest smile her little lips can make. It's truly amazing.

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Before I overload you even more with my little beauty's beauty, let's jump to the...

5 MONTH FAVORITES ::


1. Graco High Chair
2. Oatmeal to Go - For Momma!
3. Munchkin Spoons
4. Jumperoo
5. Gerber Rice Cereal
6. Ameda Purely Yours Pump
7. Kidco Go Pod
8. Sophie the Giraffe
9. Remote Control Toy
10.Wrist Rattles (we have cupcake and heart rattles)

Some of these favorites were repeated from previous months, but that's just because we still use 'em like crazy!



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5 MONTH STATS:: We don't know :( No doc. appt this month





MILESTONES::
{Scootching} She's learning to make her way around. She moves backwards these days, cause she's cool like that!

{Responding to her name} Seriously..how is she this old already?! Yup..just say her name and she'll turn to look right at ya.

{Stretching those feet to the mouth} Haha...definitely not a milestone you'd see on a baby expert's chart, but hey, she did it, so why not mark this one down?! Haha..Every diaper change or back time on the play mat, those feet curl right up so she can play with them, and she's recently gotten the toes in the mouth a few times. Way to go, Baby. ;)

{Rolling, holding the bottle, talking/babbling lots!} Same of these as last month ;) However, I think she decided to get a bit lazy on us and realize rolling 24/7 isn't that cool because she doesn't roll from her belly to back as much these days. She seriously used to wind up for it. It was hilarious.

{Playing with toys} She's actually 'playing' with toys these days. As in, they don't just sit there and look cool on the floor. They are actually moved and scattered and thrown all over the place from none other than her. :)





SLEEPING::
About 10 hours a night. And she's officially begun to sleep un-swaddled. Sad story. It does take her a little longer to fall asleep without being completely swaddled though. She used to go right down, but now she decides to move her arms a little and kick those legs like crazy before actually going to sleep. Once she's sleeping, she's good to go. Oh, and she's become quite the side sleeper.









EATING::
Still breast milk. And, I'm happy to say that breastfeeding officially stopped hurting like hell right after she hit 4 months. That. Took. Long. Enough! Andddd, she started eating rice cereal. Our big girl ;) She seriously hated it at first. Like made her repeatedly gag. So I didn't force it. Took about 4 or 5 tries before she started liking it..and now we're good there. (Unless she is really hungry and getting angry -- then she just wants her bottle!) We'll start actual baby food at some point this month.



MISC.::
She celebrated 2 holidays in between 4 and 5 months..woohoo! St Patrick's Day and Easter. :) All these little holidays made me realize just how awesome being a Mom is and having kid's for holidays makes them that much cooler!

Leave it to Grizz...Oooh, what'd we get, what'd we get?



Baby girl got seriously spoiled by us, her grandparents, and her aunts the Easter Bunny ;)

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She got to visit Daddy at the hospital a few times. Cutest little doc at the hospital, by farrr ;)



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Baby E hadn't seen her grandparents since Christmas. J's parents came to visit over Easter so she got to spend a while with her grandparents, having fun, hanging out, relaxing all cool, shooting some bball outside of a school.

She loooved laughing at them, and especially sticking her tongue out.







Yay for Grandparents! And she gets to see her other Grandma (my momma) when she comes to visit in a few weeks. Woohoo!

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We spent a day in Piedmont Park in the ATL..beautiful weather, by the way!




And, maybe more importanly, look who officially became BFF this month...



There she goes, scootching off her playmat! Grizz was trying to tell her the deal...

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Perhaps you can see why I've been a bit slow to post lately. There have been mucho (wonderful) things going on, in addition to launching the new items in the Etsy Shop and filling orders. It's been a great & busy month around here.



And as you can see, Baby E is certainly growing by the minute and filling our lives with pure pure joy.



She is such a sweet girl. I'm assuming we are not the only parents in the world who don't stop talking about how incredibly amazing our child is..? Someone shed some light there..haha. We can't stop telling her how wonderful she is. Nor can we stop talking about how beautiful she is.

Pretty sure we could all just burst with love around here. We love, love, love our little family and our five month old is only making it better by the day for us.

I don't think I'll ever stop thanking God for our little blessing :)



Happy five months, sweet baby of mine!