Let the Renovations Begin...

We've officially started! Well, if you call buying paint samples and getting them on the siding starting, then we've started. 

Here is what our house looked like when we first bought it:

Those bushy things to the right of the picture are no longer there. We ripped them up last year and then we ran out of money...so nothings gone back there. It's still a work in progress. Also note this picture was taken in the winter time, so that's another reason for the dismal look.

Basically our house is an ugly green blob with this pinkish brown trim. I don't like it at all. So now we're painting!

Not the best picture, it's a cloudy/rainy day here.

Left side blue: Behr Mosaic Blue (siding color)

Top: Glidden Sunflower (door color)

Middle on top: Behr Misty Morn (porch color)

Middle on bottom: Glidden Pebble Grey (porch color)

Right side blue: Glidden Rich Navy (siding color)

We didn't pick out a trim color. I want it to match the new windows, which will be white, so we're waiting for those to be installed before we decide.

As of now, we've picked our siding color! We decided to go with the Glidden Rich Navy (but in Behr paint...nothing against Glidden, we just know Behr, so that's what we stick with). We were uncertain at first, the color seemed to be so light! But thankfully, it dried darker and in fact is the perfect color! Just what I was envisioning! The yellow door is also a thumbs up from us. I think it has the perfect pop. It's hard to tell now because I didn't do enough coats to show it's true color, but I know it's going to pop and I love that! I think everyone should have a brightly painted door. To me, it just says "Welcome"!

The hang up is with the color of the porch/deck. We're not going to paint it the same color as the siding, as is the case with the house now. We want something different. I want to go for a lighter shade of blue for a contrast. The hubs wants to go with either a slightly darker grey or a tan. I don't know how I feel about grey. I feel like it would be too dark and not welcoming.  I definitely don't like the idea of tan with a bright yellow door. Those colors just don't seem to go well together in my opinion. So we're going back to the HD to get two more paint samples. One of my choosing, and one of his. I tried compromising with a blue-grey, but he wasn't a fan. I guess we'll just have to see!

What do y'all think? Should we go lighter blue for the contrasting porch? Or should we go a slightly darker grey than what is pictured above?

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #3

The One Where I Wash My Diapers:

Step 1: Separate. 

Whenever I change Bug's diapers, I separate the insert and the cover and put them into the wet bag. Right now I don't bother with scraping the poo off because she is solely breastfed and it just rinses off in the wash. Which brings us to step 2...

Step 2: Rinse. 

I put all my diapers, inserts, and the wet bag all in the washing machine and set it on a complete cycle without soap with cold water. This gets all the mess off of the diapers.

Step 3: Wash.

I wash my diapers in hot water with a tablespoon of powder soap. No liquid soap used on these diapers. Side note: we don't use liquid on any of our clothes. Instead, we make our own laundry detergent and I use this as our diaper detergent.

Step 3: Rinse #2.

I re-rinse all of my diapers in cold water. This is to get any extra soap off of the diapers. 

Step 4: Dry.

I hang dry both covers and inserts. It typically takes anywhere from 12 hours to a day to dry. I'm hoping that will speed up once I get my outside clothesline up and going. Of course, it's April in Georgia which means major pollen everywhere, so I'm okay with not hanging my diapers outside...

Anyway, that's my diaper washing cycle. If anyone has any tips for when the poo changes that would be greatly appreciated!

The Quiet -- Also Known As: Alli Rambles

Bug is asleep. She actually didn't fight going to sleep tonight. Just a short bicker, but it was settled quickly. Now I'm sitting here, listening to the Braves game (Go Braves!) and looking for things for the house. 

Aren't these curtains from Target amazing?!

Is it crazy that I miss my girl right now? She's quietly sleeping in her crib just down the hallway, but I still miss her. I like her to be in my sight so I can just look over and we can share smiles. I know this is silly. I can't have her by my side 24/7 for her entire life...But I can't help but miss her when she's not with me. 

This whole being a mom thing is a new thing. A wonderful thing. It's during these quiet times that I can reflect on the wonderful thing that is being a mother (have I used the word thing too much?). I'm loving being a mother, especially a mom that gets to stay at home. I love getting to experience every day with my girl. Every day is a new day filled with new experiences for her. I love watching her discover new things. She is so close to finding her feet! I love seeing her face light up and hearing her coo. I even love her sad and pitiful faces! She seriously has the cutest sad face you've ever seen! And her pouty lip stretches for miles! It's just adorable. Then again, I am biased. 

I just love being a mommy and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Favorite Things: 2 Months Edition

1. Fisher Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym - This little play gym has kept Bug entertained for hours while I busy myself around the house cooking and cleaning (or updating this blog). The lights and sounds keep her mesmerized. Both of us just love this!

2. Skip Hop Bento Tote Diaper Bag - I personally love this bag! I can fit everything in it. Plus it's easy to tote around and it has a place for everything.

3 & 4. Lamaze Toys - Bug absolutely loves batting at these. I love the rings on #4. She swats at those and grabs at them and holds on for dear life. Plus they make noises as she hits them. She just goes to town with these, giggling and cooing. It's adorable!

5. Fisher Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker - This is a new toy for the Bug. She watched as her daddy put it together and her face just lit up when we put her in it. The first night we put her in it, she played so hard she fell asleep. It was adorable! Plus this is great to pull into the kitchen with me, so she can hang out while I cook and do dishes.

6. Alva Baby Diapers - I am loving our cloth diapers by Alva Baby!! They are so soft and adorable! I really just can't get enough of them! (I know I said there would be a post on how I care for my cloth diapers, and it's on the way!)

Bug's First Easter!

We dyed eggs with Bibi. 

Bug's Easter basket contained: bubbles, an outift + shoes, a sock monkey bunny, the Further Tales of Peter Rabbit, a rubber ducky, and her first "Bun Bun" made my me :)

Our first Easter as a family of three!

It was a crazy weekend. The hubs's family holds a sunrise service every Easter on the hill behind their house. We try and go every year. In fact, we've only missed one service the entire time we've been together and that was because we were moving. So I was religiously watching the weather to see what I needed to pack for Bug. Did I mention this was going to be her first time spending the night away from the house? I was a nervous wreck! So rain was predicted, but we were praying and crossing our fingers that everything would be okay. Otherwise, Bug and I would have to be camped out at the house while the hubs joined the family. 

So I packed everything up and we headed to the in-laws. It rained as we drove up there. Not a good sign. Thank goodness it stopped though, but not enough to have service up on the hill. It was too muddy to take the vehicles up there. So the service was moved to the arena across the street. That meant Bug and I could go! We got up before 6 and I prayed that she'd do alright. She had slept wonderfully that night, so I was hoping that it would bode for a good day. We got ready and made the trip across the street. I decided to wear her in the Infantino, and she fell right to sleep as we sang hims and watched the sunrise. It was absolutely precious to be holding my baby girl as we sang praises to God.

After the service, we joined everyone back at the house for breakfast. They were all anxious to meet the newest addition to the family. We ate a quick bite to eat and then had to run. We had to be back at our home church for the 9:30 service. So we changed and ran. Thankfully we were only a few minutes late. It was a wonderful service. We stayed for the 11 o'clock service to work with the kiddos. Then it was off to my parents' house for lunch and then the hubs's grandma's for dinner. 

It was wonderful to spend the day with family and friends. Bug was exhausted when we got home and ended up screaming crying herself to sleep. But in the end we had a wonderful Easter.

Happy (late) Easter everyone!

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: