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Friday, October 30, 2015

Home Projects


Since we moved into our new home--I have been hard at work to get everything ready to host my family's Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations this year. I know that the holiday season will be fast approaching (since Halloween is tomorrow!). Once it starts--I will have very little time to get everything ready for the holidays and P's SECOND birthday party in January.

So there are a few rooms that I have been working on feverishly and I am ready to share them with you. I am certainly no decorator, but I think these projects turned out pretty perfect!


1. P's Nursery
Since I have never really shared P's nursery on the blog--I decided this would be the big one for sure. Her room was the first to be completed in our new home. This was obviously out of necessity. It needed to have everything set up to be ready for her to sleep in each night. It is a room we all spend a lot of time in playing, sleeping, rocking, and reading.

 I was insistent upon getting blackout curtains to help her sleep, and I think that they have served their purpose pretty well. P actually has 4 blackout panels and then an additional 3 black out panels behind those to further block the light. It is DARK in her room, and I LOVE IT!


The other wall houses her changing table--whose days are numbered as I am anxiously awaiting P to show me that she is ready to potty train. It also contains her nightstand with all of her books and her rocking chair. The rocking chair was the one my mother used to rock me in. I just love things that are sentimental like that. The picture over her changing table is the printable I made for her birthday last year that details all of her stats. The wood monogram was a gift from Piper's Aunt Michelle. I spray painted it with gray chalkpaint spray paint to match her room.


The other side has her crib with her name over it, and her dresser with her bow holder.


She actually has two bow holders for all of that hair.

2. The hallway gallery wall
Upstairs we have this huge wall in the hallway that is actually visible from downstairs. Therefore I knew that it needed to be filled up quickly. It is the first thing you see when you walk in our house. I want it to be inviting. So--I hopped on Pinterest to look at a lot of different gallery walls and the best ways to do them.

I grabbed a roll of wrapping paper and traced the outline of each frame and where the nail would go for each one. Then I labeled it with what picture it was. I grabbed my painters tape and laid the wall out in a grid like pattern. I think it definitely looks good when you walk in. What do you think? We still have some pictures to print out and put in frames at the top.


3. My coffee nook

These are all over pinterest everywhere you look. This piece was actually an old hutch. We removed the top of the hutch (it is a shelf in our garage now where we leave our shoes and such). We painted the bottom and I believe that it is a beautiful pop of color for our eat in kitchen.


4. My office nook

I don't have a whole room as an office, but we have a very large bedroom with a perfect spot for a desk. I actually love the desk being in our room. I think it adds more character in the room that has a tendency to feel TOO big at times. This desk was previously our old kitchen table. My dad sanded it and painted it with grey chalk paint. I think it turned out lovely. Now, I just need a picture for the wall above it.

That's it for now. Tonight, we head to P's Trunk or Treat. She is going to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween. I hope actually participates this year. It is going to be so much fun! I couldn't get a good picture of her in her costume, so this one will have to do.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Sharpen it up!


In life there are times where you find yourself fighting to stay on top of it all. Moments where time seems fleeting and your attention is stretched between a million different people, activities, and moments. For me this has been true since school started.

I find myself, mentally, physically, and emotionally stretched thin between all of the things that need to be done and the things that I want to do. Prioritizing effectively is not one of my skills and as I have gotten older this has become more apparent to me. Since I re-entered the classroom, added Cheerleading Coach to my resume again, along with my most important jobs of being a wife and a mom--some days there are just not enough brain cells to make it all run smoothly.

I am not one of those women who has it all together. I don't claim to have great organization skills and it is EXTREMELY scary how little I remember dates (especially since I teach history). Lately, I find it hard to remember what the date is--is the it 14th or 15th? Is it Monday or Tuesday--Please god, let it be Friday. Add in late night cheerleading practices, weekend competitions, the occasional make-up job on a Sunday--and there is nothing left up there but one exhausted subconscious just trying to hold on for dear life.

Is it a personality flaw? ADD? Pregnancy brain that just never went away? I don't know--but I need some mental sharpening quick! I mean, stat!

Have you ever experienced this feeling: you are talking to someone and you know exactly what you want to say. The word you want to say is in your head, but you cannot physically get the word out. It is there and you can say it perfectly, but it gets stuck up there somewhere and you just end up awkwardly pausing until it magically unsticks itself. It's like being held prisoner to your own mind.

I used to experience this every once in awhile. But now it happens daily, and sometimes multiple times a day. I know what I want to say, but it takes me several seconds to be able to get the exact wording out. It is humiliating and is starting to scare me a bit.

Whatever the reason--I am really trying to be more present in my everyday life. I'm trying to concentrate more on my words and sentences. I am trying to write down my tasks for each day of the week. Along with important dates--so that way I don't forget something really important because I don't realize what day it is. I never had to write things down in years past. I just remembered in my mental calendar. Well, those days are long gone. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Anywho--I read up on ways to exercise your brain--yes, you heard it right. So I am going to start trying to do a few of these suggestions. In fact, I am doing one right now.

1. practice deep breathing--how often do you really take deep breaths. I never do, but I am going to start trying to give that brain more oxygen.

2. Journaling--see, y'all are helping me right now!

3. Use your non-dominant hand for every day tasks--like brushing your teeth or hair. It forces you to concentrate more.

4. Learn a new skill or hobby--I'm working on this one

5. Get outside, and get moving--this one is going to tougher, but it is good for me, so I will have to try.

How do you keep your mind sharp?

Happy Hump Day!

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Sassy Mc-Sasserton


I currently have in my possession a 20 month old going on 15 year old. She is the sassiest little girl I ever did see, and I have a love/hate relationship with this fact for sure.

Last week J and I both had a week off of work. It was great in the sense that we took that time to move into our new home, but it wasn't very relaxing. It did, however, allow me plenty of alone time with my girl, P.

One of the not-so-secret heartaches about me going back to work and being a coach again is that there are days where I only see my daughter to put her to bed at night. It is a tragedy--I truly believe that. I have gone from one extreme in my life to the other, and sometimes I am hit by crippling guilt. What have I done to my baby? Will she forget me? Will she still understand how much I love her? I could cry just typing about it.

Insert last week and I could not wait to spend some time alone with my girl. About 5 minutes in I was worn out. O-M-G--there is no way I could have worked from home another year. Home girl would have burnt the house down around me as I taught my class. That sweet, beautiful little girl has the power to make me tear up with amusement, only to want to smack her bottom five minutes later. Her mood swings are like a teenager. She is up and down and round and round in just minutes.

P has recently taken to my old American Girl Bitty Baby. Which is awesome, because I am a sentimental schmuck and I eat these types of things up. She calls her, "baby" and she rocks, feeds, changes, bathes, and tucks Baby in at night. She is such a good mommy to Baby, and I know that she is just imitating me and how I mother her. Which is so flattering I just want to burst with pride. So last week, P had fed Baby in the high chair, and then forgotten about her and left her in the kitchen (not a very good mommy, P). About 20 minutes later she was upset that she could not find Baby in her play room. I coaxed her on to look for Baby. She looked in all of the toy bins, on each side of the couch, and in Baby's bassinet. Finally, I said, "I think baby is in the kitchen." Then my 15 year old, I'm sorry, my 20 month old gets this look of anger on her face. She turns pink, narrows my own green eyes back at me, points her chubby little finger towards the direction of the kitchen and yells, "GO GET MOMMA!"

My first reaction was to laugh at her, but knowing that that would only encourage her, I said, "no, you can go get Baby." She smiled and then happily complied with my request.

There are countless other incidents from the week. She can throw a tantrum down with the best of them, but you can't help but love that little pig-tailed beauty.

Since it has been awhile since I talked about her. P weighs in at 29 whopping pounds. She is the largest in her 18 month class at baby school. Her favorite food is Moe's chicken burritos. She can count to ten, recite the ABCs, knows all of her body parts, and can sing a mean Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She still LOVES the Wiggles, but she will watch Mickey Mouse Club House and Handy Manny as well. Her new favorite toys are her legos and lego table. She had her first ear infection two weeks ago, and it is back with a vengeance this week. She loves to dance, sing, read, hug, and give kisses, and is all around just the best thing since sliced bread--boy, doesn't she know it.

My overall consensus is that if you don't have yourself a little girl--you need to get you one of these. It makes the world go round and everything in life just make sense. Love her to pieces!

Happy Hump Day Y'all!

Monday, October 5, 2015

To Those Who Wait...



Apparently good things come.

Two and a half years ago my husband and I made a decision that forever changed our life. Since we had gotten married we had talked about moving out of the south Atlanta suburbs to the north Atlanta suburbs. We were seeking better schools for D and who ever else came along... eventually. One day my husband noticed that there was an opening in one of the best schools in the country. One that was an hour away from our then residence. It was the holy grail of jobs in the best public school district in the state. Upon mentioning it to me--I encouraged him to apply. I mean--why not? They probably will fill it in house with someone that knows someone. A few days later he got an interview. Not long after that he had a job offer, and then we were struck with a very tough decision of what to do now.

We made the decision to move our entire lives to North Georgia. The next day after my husband accepted the job--I found out I was pregnant. AND the stress just compounded from there. We had a very quick turnaround selling my home and finding a place to rent (since we weren't sure which area we wanted to live in yet). At the time it felt like we didn't know what the hell we were doing--and looking back we definitely didn't know what the hell we were doing. So while we were happy--we started hoping for a time when we could find our forever "right now" home.


Well--I am happy to announce that I am writing this blog from that home. AHHHH! I can't even contain my excitement.

SOOOO..... I know you are all mad at my absence. Most of you didn't even know that I was missing, probably, but I noticed. I missed you and I missed sharing my life with all of you. I just couldn't write a bunch of posts while secretly hiding all of these amazing changes in my life that I just wasn't ready to share with the world. I believe in jinxes. And I didn't want to talk about the house until it was mine--completely!

Also, in news--I have entered the classroom again! YIPEE. This is something that I had been aching for over the last six months. It was a very hard transition that encompassed many tears by me (and many more by P). Nevertheless, I have made peace with the guilt of making by girl go to baby school so that I can work. I am so thankful for my time teaching from home. It gave me the ability to spend every waking moment with P. Those are moment most mothers do not get, and I will and would do it again--if I have another.

I am also coaching cheerleading again! This is something that I really enjoyed 6 years ago when I first started teaching. I am learning, however, that it is a totally different thing when you have a toddler that you already feel like you never see. It takes up a lot of time. BUT--I have a great group of girls and guys (we are COED).

So good things come to those who wait and those who wish, and hope, and pray for them. I always believed that we would get to this place. While it took a lot of discipline, hard work, and even some tears. My husband and I built a house that we can be proud of and that P will hopefully spend the majority of her childhood. It is a good time in our lives.

So stay tuned as we journey into making this house a home. I promise not to keep any more big secrets for awhile, and to try to communicate with you a little more. As long as you keep on reading.

I love you all today!