Friday Letters

Dear Bug, thanks for sleeping like you did! You gave us a scare around 12:30 (your angelcare alarm went off), but you didn't even wake up for it! Clearly you were fine, just sleeping hard. You woke up an hour later and wanted your paci, but after that you slept through to 6:00. And thank you for waking up when you did! Daddy was going to be late if you hadn't have woken us up! Dear Hubs, Thank you for making it possible for me to stay home with our bundle! We love you so much! Dear Weekend, Please don't beat us up. You're going to be busy, filled with family and celebration, so please go smoothly. Dear Weather,  Please stay warm. Rumor has it you're going to cool down again. I'm not okay with that. Bug needs to get outside! Also, please don't rain this weekend! Sunrise service will not be my favorite if you decide to rain. 

Dear God, Thank You for sending Your Son to the cross to die for my sins. As I listen to my daughter coo and see her smile, I understand more and more the significance of what You did. The sacrifice You made. I couldn't imagine losing my daughter, willingly losing my daughter.So thank You. Thank You thank You thank You.

The One Where My Dreams Come True

Well, it's official

I'm now a stay-at-home-mommy!

When the hubs and I started dated we did the usual "family talk." The first thing I said is that I wanted to stay at home and raise our kids. My mother did it and I loved that growing up. I wanted the same thing for my kids.

And now I have joined the league of women that is comprised of stay-at-home-mommies!

Bug and I on my first official day as a stay-at-home-mom. 

It took a lot of prayer and a lot of God. Okay. It took a ton of God. All God. We've been working for the past year to trim down expenses and the hubs has been trying to take on extra work so he can make up my salary. He was almost there when Bug came into the world, but we weren't there just yet. We had 12 weeks  to see if I had to go back to work for the end of the school year. I honestly didn't want to. I couldn't even fathom leaving my little girl with someone else, even if it were family members and only for 6 weeks. The thought killed me. I didn't want to miss her first giggle or the first time she rolled over. I couldn't bear it.

Two weeks ago, another job came open. It was honestly all God. He was orchestrating everything to give us that extra push to get me home. I'm crying write now as I think about how He worked to make my dreams come true. 

It's not easy being home though. Now the hubs is bearing the entire financial burden. He has to provide for us. But, as he's told me multiple times, he wouldn't have it any other way. He wanted me home with our girl as much as I wanted to be home. Yes, he's working 14+ hours a day and yes it's hard on us...but it's worth it. And we fully believe God is orchestrating a way for the hubs to be able to spend more time with us. God has already made it to where the hubs gets to be home with us on the weekend! 

To help out, we've switched to cloth diapers in hopes of saving money on that. Also, we've limited our driving to one car. This saves money on gas for us. I do get the car once a week to make a grocery run or run other errands. And if there's a pinch, my mom comes by after work and watches Bug while I borrow her car. So far it's worked out great and saved us a lot of money. I'm thinking about couponing as well (any couponers out there with any advice?) to help with grocery costs. We've also refinanced our house, that's where we're getting money for the renovations, to help reduce our monthly payments. 

Being a stay-at-home-mommy means that we won't ever have nice things. We don't have cable TV, we don't have nice cars, we don't go out to eat, we don't have all the luxuries, but it is all worth it. To both of us. We feel it is important for me to be home. We feel that God is calling me to be home. Even though it's going to be tough, we know that God is going to provide for us as long as we listen to Him and follow where He leads us. 

And now for cuteness:

More on the Paint Front

So I may have jumped the gun with the whole "going brown" thing...I'm leaning toward different colors. We're having a hard time finding something due to the color of our shingles. They're this odd brown color and not the easiest thing to pair another paint color with.

I like this color combo.

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I'm really loving this navy blue! In fact, this is what we're leaning towards and as of now our #1 choice! I can't decide though if I want to stay with that awesome yellow or go with an amazing red. Yes, this means I'm sacrificing my TARDIS blue door (I'm having mixed feelings about this).

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I like this color as well, and with this color I can still do my TARDIS door!

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Does brown go with grey?

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Such a hard decision and it has to be the first decision made before the windows get installed. We might  be going to the HD this weekend to get samples. Unfortunately we won't be able to paint with those samples tomorrow because of a certain thing called rain and cold damp weather. 

I've started a Pinterest board with all my ideas on it. Hopefully I can get some organization to all these renovation thoughts floating around in my head.

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #2

Well, we're a week in with this whole cloth diapering adventure. How am I feeling?

I'm still loving it!

We're doing cloth the majority of the time. The only time we switch to disposable is if we're going to be gone for the day. This past Saturday we made a day trip to South Carolina, so we made the trip in disposable. But Sunday, when we went to church and small group, we made the trip in cloth. They did spectacular! 

Like I said, I'm still pretty much smitten with these things! I love that they seem to be so much softer on her bum.

her first time in camo!

Plus I think they just look cute on her bum!

I'm still getting the hang of the whole caring for them thing, so give me another week and next week's post will cover the diaper's care!

Is that not the cutest cow bum you've ever seen?!

2 Months! and St. Patrick's Day

Bug turned 2 months on St. Patty's Day!

Well, Bug passed the 13 lb mark! She is such a chunk and I love it! Also, she's starting to roll over! Or at least try to. She made it all the way over once while we were laying in bed, but typically she just makes it to her side and can't quite go the whole way. 

We also have a mover! 

I found her halfway off her mat! I just love the look she's giving me! So adorable!

She's still in 0-3 month clothing, but can also fit into 3-6 month! I put away all of her newborn clothes...and cried. But I found some really cute summer clothes that are 3-6 month that I'm excited for her to wear, so it made it all better.

We've also started transitioning her to her crib. So far she's spent two nights in there. It has altered her sleeping a little. The first night she woke up every 3 hours, but last night her long stretch was 4.5 hours. I'm thinking she might be going through another growth spurt. I am ready for her to get back to her 6 hours though! ** I'll do a whole post devoted to transitioning **

This was at our 2 month check-up. She did awesome! Then came the vaccines...She got her first shot. She screamed...I cried...It was not pretty. Of course, I think it hurt me more than it hurt her. We got home though and I decided it would be a day of cuddling. So that's all we did. Cuddle. I thoroughly enjoyed my day of cuddling! All she wanted to do was sleep and I was a-okay with that! I love having my Bug sleep in my arms!

Today my girl is back to her old self and just as happy and smile-y as can be! 

Dear Bug, I am just loving our time together! Each day you do something new! Even though I'm sad to see you growing up so quickly, I'm loving each new stage! You're no longer my newborn baby, but you've grown and are developing your own personality. I love that you're a little stingy with your smiles. It makes them so much more special when you give one. I love kissing your cheeks and "talking" with you! 

It's been such a great ride, Bug! You fit our family perfectly and I'm so excited to see you grow up!

Gitchee Gitchee Go (it means "I love you!")

Mommy and Daddy 

A Contest for the Bug! and a switch to Bloglovin'

Okay...so there's this photo contest going on on Facebook (of course). The picture with the most "likes" wins a free photo session!

So if y'all could help a girl out that would be great!

Just click here and like Cynthia Sparks Photography. Then find her album "Contest | Full Session Giveaway" and look for this adorable picture:

and "like" this picture! We would really appreciate it! I mean who couldn't vote for such an adorable face? I may be biased though.

Thanks in advance for the votes!

Also, as everyone knows, there's a big hoopla going on with Google Reader and how it will be leaving us (tear) so I too am making the switch to Bloglovin'! So you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin!

Home Work

I'm excited to announce that the hubs and I are starting to renovate our house! Y'all have no idea how excited I am about this! There's a whole lot I'm planning on doing with this little old house. 

Here's the list:

• new windows
• painting the exterior of the house
• redoing the guest bath
• redoing master bath
• finishing the basement, including adding a bathroom
• fixing the deck/fence

I can't wait to document the renovations! The first thing on the list is painting the house so that we can get the windows installed (squeal!). I'm so excited! 

Here are the forerunners for colors:

behr chocolate sprinkle

behr sweet Georgia brown

behr castle hill

The trim will be either white or cream. I'm so ready to get rid of the awful pink tinted trim and this horrible green color! Note: green is not a horrible exterior color, just the green that is our house is.

But most importantly whatever color our house is it must match my new front door color:

behr sapphire lace 

also known as TARDIS blue!

What color do you think is best for the exterior of the house and what would go best with my new door color?

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #1

I've decided to chronicle our adventures in cloth diapering our firstborn...

My personal favorite: her ladybug (or Minnie Mouse) diaper

Today we embarked on a journey...a cloth diapering journey. I always said that we would cloth diaper in hopes of saving money, plus it makes for an adorable baby bum.

A friend of mine told me about Alva Baby diapers. I immediately checked them out and saw how inexpensive they were...This is doable, I thought. After talking with the hubs, I picked out 25 and hit the purchase button. 

On their website, it says that it'll take 3-4 weeks for the diapers to get here. Good, I thought, that'll give me more time to prepare. Low and behold though, they turned up about a week later! It felt like Christmas opening up and looking at my new selection!

It took me another couple of days to actually wash them. I justified this with "researching" what the best method would be for pre-washing and caring for my diapers would be. But boy was I confused! There was so much debate on how to wash and how not to wash, and what detergent to use and not to use. Many methods contradicted each other and ended up just confusing me more than I already was. 

I eventually decided to just wing it. I knew what "not to do" and just made sure that I strayed away from those things. 

So today is our first day using cloth diapers. 

It's a learning process for me. One that I'm willing to work on and find the best method for us.

How cute is that jean bum?!

I'm excited about this journey that we're on! The hubs is anxious (more nervous) about learning the techniques of cloth diapering this weekend. 

I am proud to say that these diapers contained their first major poop! Typically this poop would have been a blowout in her disposable diapers, but the cloth diaper contained it! I was ecstatic! It's the little things.

Oh Baby!

Today I'm over at Homegrown and Healthy writing for their two weeks of Everything Baby series. I wrote about my initiation into Motherhood...They are also having a giveaway for some awesome things Baby! There are lots of prizes for our readers...Maybe one of you will win ;) I sure do hope so!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My week in Instagram

Trying the Bumbo for the first time. She loved it!

She fell asleep while playing.

Sleeping soundly

She's getting so big!

Keeping warm while it was snowing outside.

Snuggle time with Mommy.

I just love that hand!

I asked Daddy to watch her while I showered. I came back and they were both back asleep!

I love this blue eyed beauty! I wonder if her eyes will stay blue or if they'll change later on!

Feel free to follow me @ awood009

Sick days

This weekend was a rough one. The hubs was down with a stomach bug and I was left taking care of him and the baby girl. Now this was our first bout of having sickness in the house with a newborn and I was completely conflicted with what to do. Normally I don't let the hubs being sick bother me and I typically go about normally. But I've never had a new baby to worry about. 

So I played single parent for the weekend. It was rough. The first night the girl and I spent the night in the living room. I "slept" on the couch. I use the term "sleep" lightly. It was a rough night. Though the girl slept, I did not, and then I woke up smelling like dog (that's where my dog typically likes to lay when we're not looking). So the next day I cleaned up the guest room so that we could get to the bed and sleep in there. The second night the girl decided not to sleep, so I didn't either. 

From Friday morning to Sunday night, I barely got any sleep. Maybe 2 hour snatches here and there. Most of the time I was running here and there taking care of the girl and the hubs. To help me out I got out the Bumbo and gave it a try. 

She loved it. Thank goodness!

The hubs is now on the mend and back at work. But it was hard when he was down for the count. I didn't know what to do. I hated having to divide my attention between the two and I hated even more that he couldn't hold or be near our girl. Most of the time I made a mess of things and became completely overwhelmed. Luckily, the girl made gave me lots of smiles to help calm me down.

 It seems that the girl and I have avoided the illness (knock on wood) so we're going on as normal now. I've started a deep cleaning of the house so that we can continue to avoid sickness...speaking of which, my girl is sleeping, so rather than write this post I probably should be cleaning. Priorities right? 

My Week in Instagram

Morning cuddles are my favorite! I cherish these moments with my girl!

I just love her!

Her chubby little legs!

First nap in her crib...it was harder on me than it was on her!

Sleeping beauty :)

Exhausted after a long day of running errands.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram @awood009