Catching Up. Again.

I can not believe it has been weeks since I have lost blogged. 

But... I can.

Time has been flying and we have been enjoying our summer and the warm weather!

A lot has happened in the 3 weeks that I last updated!

She is officially closer to being a one year old than a newborn.

I know this is obviously the case for every month that goes by, but I feel like we've officially hit the big girl mark. 

She's a restless little firecracker these days!

There's been lots of this

And this

{the mattress has since been lowered!}

And this

And this

And more teeth

And celebrating the 4th

the parade and swimming during the day 

and early bedtime for her and Friday Night Lights for us at night

Who needs fireworks?!

And a first road trip

And a waterpark

And a wedding

And yesterday, her first real pony tail

And today, pushing the stroller in her room

So....I think that's enough growing up in 3 weeks, don't ya think?!

A Moment

On Sunday when I went to pick up Adalyn from the nursery I had a moment.

The kind that you can so vividly picture in your mind.

The kind you don't want to forget.

The kind that changes your view on things.

Because Adalyn is Little Miss Restless, she is now an official member of Noah's Ark Nursery at church.

I am still trying to focus on the sermon instead of wondering how or what she is doing in there, but Adalyn is totally enjoying herself and loves watching all the other babies.

Because of the surplus of babies in the nursery they've asked for some volunteers just to be "Baby Holders".

This made me happy because currently the nursery is for 6 months-2 years- developmentally they are so different and I thought this would be a great way to make sure both age groups are being provided for. 

When I picked her up the first time she was happily playing  in the exersaucer and when I got her the second time she was content with a "baby holder".

So after the sermon on Sunday I rush head over to the nursery to get my sweet girl.

I look around the room and see a bunch of little ones playing, I see the empty exersaucers, some babies being rocked and then...

I see Adalyn.

And I pretty much do a quadruple check.

My little baby who was supposed to be being rocked or playing in baby toy, was standing up by the toy box.
 Just hanging out and looking at the toys.
No big deal.

Ummm what?!?!

Is that seriously my baby?!?

There was no one around her.

The volunteers were busy cleaning up and saying goodbye to the other kids.

{Which is totally fine, I don't expect them to be able to watch her every minute!}

But how did she get there??

There she was.

My big girl.

I so wish I got a picture of her.

I know it is an image in my mind that I will always remember.

Holding onto the side of the toy box with her chubby little hands, with her sweet little pink plaid OshK'Gosh dress, thick legs supporting her up in her pink leggings, her cute flower headband and her name tag on her back.

Standing alone in her own proud little world.

My "mama worry" was too high for me to capture it with my phone {and I am still so bummed that I didn't get it}. I was too worried she was going to fall back and hit her head since she is still new to standing while holding onto a toy by herself.

So I go over and say hi and she was so excited to see me and I still couldn't help but wonder how she got there??

Did someone put her up there? 
We recently started doing that, but why would they just leave her after doing that?

Did she pull herself up? 
She's never done that before, can she really do that already??

There was a BBQ after church and I asked a family friend who was working in the nursery if someone had put her there and she said she didn't know, but she knows that she didn't.

So it remained a mystery.

Until.....
 the next day we were at my parents' house and I could see her trying to pull herself up with the ottoman.

I could see that if she had a grip she would be able to.

So I moved her to a little ottoman with a tray-something for her to hold onto.

And she did it.

Mystery solved.

Our not-so-little baby is reaching new milestones every day.

I get a little sad that I missed her first time doing it, and that she did it on her own with no one watching and she was probably so proud of herself and I so wish I could've been there.

But it's bound to happen that I will miss milestones throughout her life.

And every time she does it now she is still so proud.

And so am I.

This was a moment where I realized I can't be in denial anymore that she is still a baby.

My baby is growing.

And she's growing fast.

She's reached lots of big milestones this month, personally I think it's too many for one month, but that's just my opinion.....

It was a very bittersweet moment.

I've been saying over and over that it goes so fast, but it was in this moment that it really hit me.
She is going to be 7 months tomorrow!!
How is that possible?!

I am thankful for moments like this to truly remind me how fleeting each stage is.

A wonderful reminder to not take any of it for granted. 

SUYL House Tour: Kitchen

Linking up with Kelly's House Tour and this week it's kitchens!
Last week I did our living room.


Since we are renting our place, we can only do so much as far as paint/style. 

I found the kitchen the most difficult to decorate as far as finding the right accent color for the yellow walls and the teal blinds. 

After testing out a kazillion different curtains I finally found some drapes at Target and cut and sewed them to make curtains for the kitchen.

I ended up doing them really quickly before the in-laws came into town for Easter and I never got to completely finish them the way I would like.

It's one of those things that's "good enough" and you never end up going back to completely finish them...oh you know like every other room in my house. 

We have an eat-in kitchen, but I am going to save that side for the 'dining room tour' and so I have time to finish it.

This is the view from the hallway- coming from the living room and front entrance.

That door on the right goes down to the garage and storage/sewing room. 

And this is why the glass is always dirty....

And this is my excuse for not cleaning it as often as I should...

I plan on making a new grocery bag holder with some of the extra fabric, when exactly this plan will be executed only the Lord knows. 

We have a few built in shelves in the kitchen and eating area that were a little tricky for my to find the right decor for, but I found some things from around the house and made it work. 

I took off the middle shelf to make more room for some bigger things on the bottom shelf. 

 I made the burlap with the "S" at our old place for our living room- I spray painted the S and frame with new colors and it's good as new!

When I was pregnant I bought one of the deals on eversave.com for a photo canvas and the picture of her at the beach is is one of the pictures I purchased and I love. love. love it. 

View from the dining area

Two of my favorite ladies getting married this year!! 

And that's our kitchen!

Equipped with a garbage disposal and dishwasher, can I get a hallelujah?!? :)

6 Month Photo Shoot

I am always taking pictures of Adalyn with my phone or my camera.

I want to capture and savor as much of this season as I can while also enjoying and embracing the present.

I have thousands of pictures of her quickly fleeting baby stage.

I am way behind on baby books and will probably need one book for every month.

{funny how times are so different than when I was younger with a few pictures here and there. Or it could just be me...my mom does make fun of me for the amount of pictures I have.} 

But these pictures are extra special.

They're her 6 month pictures.

Half year mark.

Filled with cuteness and big girl-ness.

I am pretty sure this is the last non-rainy day we have had since, which is why I knew I had to get them done that day.

She wasn't easily impressed or very smiley, but surprisingly I ended up getting quite a few goodies.

I am hoping to get some family shots too if the weather clears up this weekend!

SUYL Home Tour: Living Room

I'm a little late to joining the home tour at Kelly's Korner, but thought it would be a good chance to show our new place.

In the beginning of March we moved to a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath townhome.

We are loving the extra space, the homier feel and the quietness that this new place has!

Roxie insisted on being in the pictures, of course.

 This is the view from the front door, although most people come through the garage and up the stairs.

 We love having the bay window that let's in lots of light!

Covering the pillows with some brighter colors is on my bucket to-do list.

 Thankfully, Adalyn's new room is big enough to have most of her toys up there that way I don't have to make our living room look too much like a nursery.

My little corner

and my favorite pictures.

{Covering that chair is also on my do-at-some-point-preferable-before-Adalyn's-first-birthday list}

View from the kitchen/hallway.

Because we only plan on living here for a year or two and the room seemed so bright and open I didn't want to take over the whole room with decor so I tried to keep it simple. 


Between Adalyn's room, going out and early bedtimes we actually don't spend too much time in the living room. 

But we do enjoy the space that we have in there, especially compared to our old place! 

Weekend Rewind

So I started out by saying I really wanted to start blogging about our weekends and it turns out that's now the only thing I am blogging about. 

Not exactly what I intended on doing, 

but at least I am blogging!

For starters, check out the awesome summer weather that we've been so lucky to have.

Oh, and the temperatures have actually dropped since this was taken, so try not to be too jealous.

Friday

I picked up Auntie Ali from school and we went shopping. 

She had some money and wanted to buy some new summer clothes...you know because it's so warm now.

So she bought some clothes which then of course leads to me needing to buy some new clothes.

I basically had no choice.

We had lunch at the food court and I chose Burger King over Chick-Fil-A. 

And in case you're wondering, yes- that is a completely blog worthy fact. 

Who does that?! 

I love CFA!

 I don't know what was wrong with me, but I did it.

On the way back to my parents' house we spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.

As a kid my mom always used to save them and at this moment the baton was passed on to me.

Not gonna lie, I was freaking out a little! 

I knew that I should save it, but I am really not an outdoorsy, critter loving person like my momma. 

But it was going to die if I didn't. 

I knew I had to.

So I go into the middle of the road, stare at it for a little, shriek, get the heebie jeebies out of my system, see a car coming and decide it's now or never.

So I did it.

And guess what the turtle did?!?!

Hid in his shell. 

Duh.

No head to bite me.

No legs to scratch me.

No tail to whip me. {Actually, does the tail even go into the shell?}

So as long as it's not a snapper, they really are the most ideal kind of critters to save.

Then I did a little 6 month photo shoot since it appeared to be the only day to do so!

{I'll show more of those this week!}

Then I went to a big community Boy Scouts yard sale that I had been looking forward and it was complete chaos! Last year I went on the last day, this year I went on the first day right when it opened and it was a completely different experience!

 I got a few baby things for the lake house, Elefun to play when she's a little older and Mancala because I used to love that game {And Mr. B later informed that we already own it. Mommy brain is a real thing, you know!}

And I finished the night with yummy chinese and two maybe-if-we-don't-make-eye-contact-she-won't-think-we-are-really-begging dogs. I pretty much soak up any opportunity for free food at my parents' house when Mr. B is away or at school or any other day of the week.

Saturday

Was the big race. In the rain, of course! 

My sister's friend read a book called "Do Hard Things" and she was inspired to do a 5k/shoe drive for an orphanage in Haiti. 

There were over 200 people that attended {in the rain!}, over $4,000 raised and over 2,000 shoes donated for the orphanage!!! 

Talk about an awesome God and an amazing girl!! 

We are so proud of her!

 Adalyn wasn't quite sure what to make of the rain cover.

 Mr. B lapped us and we were determined not to come in last place! 

 So proud of Mr. B, Uncle CJ and Papa G! They all ran {and finished} their first 5k!!

I'm hoping to write about my first 5k experience in another post.

There were 30 gifts that different businesses in the community donated! One shoe company donated 500 shoes!!  Two other yard sales I had intended on going to were a bust because of the rain too, but that's okay because we more than made up for it in the raffle prizes we won!! 

We bought $10 worth of tickets and won a $140 electric toothbrush that was part of a a big dental gift basket, a $50 gift card to a delicious restaurant and a $40 gift gift card to an auto shop! 

There was no better way to enjoy the rest of our Saturday than trying to warm up in our PJs, a blanket, a delicious lunch, cuddles and a movie.

Sunday

Adalyn is registered for the nursery at church.

It's official.

And she went.

And I wasn't called.

And she survived.

And I thought about her the whole time.

And the sermon went a little over and it killed me.

But we did it! 

And she passed out right when we got in the car.

Then we went out for lunch with the fam.

Relaxed at home for a couple hours. 

Bundled up and went to a church cookout.

Went grocery shopping.

And the day went by wayyy too fast.

And today is Mr. B's dad's birthday!!