It's my 30th birthday! {and Ra broke in my blog}

 I broke in the old blog to wish bestie the best 30th birthday ever! ;)

Happy Birthday to the very best wife, mommy, daughter, sister, nanny, best friend I know. Your 20's will not have held a candle to what your 30's are going to bring. We love you so much!  Join us in telling Pam Happy 30th Birthday!  You guys can check here and see what Durham had to say yesterday.  Any excuse to show off that sweet face. xoxo, Ra

what we've been up to!

 As random as my posts have been lately, this one will not disapoint. haha.

I made lemon cupcakes with a lemon pudding filling, and lemon butter cream frosting for my girls at work as a treat during their floorset the other day. The hubs and I each had to sample some before hand, just to make sure they were ok. They were awesome.

I had ordered Durham a monkey hat back  the beginning of January from one of the girls on my pregnancy/birthmonth board and it just came in the other day. I love, love, love it!

Chris ordered this jumper on Amazon (after reading review after review to make sure we were getting the best one) and Durham loves it!! His feet don't touch the floor yet, even with it on the lowest setting, but that does not stop him from making it bounce just enough to get the music going. We recommend it! Here on Amazon.

I saw this book recommended by another blogger (I'm so sorry, I don't remember who) and I bought it for $6 on my Kindle Fire. It's called Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic. Get it on Amazon here. She's got 5 kids, ages 5 and under and the book is such an encouragement to mothers. She's so honest about her mothering experiences and reading this book has really helped me realized that I can try harder to be in the moment, not constantly thinking about what needs to get done, and what's still left on my to-do list from the previous day. go get it.

Durham's got cradle cap. bleh. We have to wash his head with a special shampoo and use baby oil all the time. He's so darn cute, so I don't mind.

no explanation necessary. haha

I have managed to stay on top of the house. If you know me in real life, I'm kinda OCD. I usually think of it as a blessing and not a curse, but it was causing major stress for me when I was preparing to go back to work... just HOW was I gonna get everthing done and still have all the time I wanted/needed with Durham, the hubs, my job, and some time for me. Well, I've been back for two weeks now, and I can tell you, it's not that bad! We pick up every night, wash a load of clothes every other/couple of days, and I do most of the big cleaning and organizing on the days that I don't go into work until lunch time. Sometimes when Durham's in a 'snuggle me' kinda mood, I'll do chores with him in the sling. best of both worlds for me. I wish I could wear him to work like that! haha

He's moved up to size 2 diapers. How did this happen? I want him to stay little forever.

Look how much bigger they are than the ones!! The left is a '1' and the right is a '2'

ps. target diapers are the bomb.

and some more randomness from my cell phone...

1. loving his jumper

2. play mat time

3. all that jumping can wear a baby out!

4. he's learned that if you pull the lady bugs string, it will sing a song! it's so cute to watch!

5. our explorer has been in 'the shop' for a while having some work done, I am so happy to have it back because I forgot to bring the back seat mirror with us. I love looking back at him in the car. (don't worry, we were in the CFA drive thru this time)

6. our two favorites. Starbucks and Target.

7. for lent I decided to write 40 letters in 40 days. it's going good so far. and I threw in a couple random acts of kindness too. :)

8. girlscout cookies! Hubs and I both like Samoa's the best!

 9. mommy pile. family snuggles while watching TV, does not get any better.

10. look how big this baby is getting!

11. sometimes a tummy sleeper. He's rolling over now, tummy to back too!

12. walking in the park. Days that the hubs and I are both off work are worth a million dollars.

That's it. Hope you all are doing wonderful! I am so thankful for this little blog these days... I already feel like time is just wizzing by us so quickly, and I want to remember everything.

3 months

I can not believe that our baby Durham is already 3 months old! Time is moving too quickly and he is already growing up so fast!! I just love him and I want to eat him up! He is such a sweet baby, so snugly, and funny. He laughs at himself, the ceiling fan, his giraffe, anything. It is so fun to start to see his little personality start to develop now too.

Here are a few pictures of our sweet baby at 3 months

and a comparison shot

Address Subway Art (without a silhouette)

I actually DO have a Silhouette... but, I'm not that good at using it. In fact, bestie and I were just saying this week how underutilized it is. ::sigh:: I've done a few things, mostly cut out paper for banners, or crafts, but I don't have any vinyl, and I'm not sure I have the patience it takes to learn on my own.

When I saw THIS TUTORIAL for some amazing address subway art on pinterest from The House of Smiths I just knew it was gonna be my next project. The hubs and I have quite a few addresses in our address book. I was a military brat, and although we didn't move quite as much as some military familys do, we did our fair share. And then I hopped around from place to place as I went through my 20's. Chris's parents still live in the house that he grew up in, something that is hard for me to imagine because we moved so much. Their address and their home has a special place in our hearts and I love looking at pictures of the boys there when they were young. Chris moved away and bounced from college to college moving all along the way. We have 14 addresses between us, including the one we live at now.

So here is a quick run down of how I made this hand-painted looking subway art:

I bought a really thin piece of plywood at home depot from the scrap bin and had them cut it 2'X3'.

Primed and painted it with some left over paint I had from our master bathroom redo.

I created a .jpg of our addresses in Picasa, put it on a thumb drive and had it printed out 2'X3' at staples for less than $4.

Took a piece of chalk and rubbed it across the BACK of the paper one or two lines at a time. 

Flipped the paper over and positioned it over the board.

Traced the outside of the letters with a pencil, this will leave a faint outline of chalk.

I used a white paint pen to trace over and fill in.

It does not look perfect, but I love the uniqueness of it. Love, love, love it!

my first day back

 

I knew today was coming, I've been thinking about it and preparing for it for a few weeks now. Today is the day I went back to work. I know that many moms do not get the opportunity to stay at home for 12 weeks of maternity leave, and many don't have family close by that are willing to keep their baby while they work. That is why I chose to have a thankful attitude today. I did cry the entire drive to work, but once I got there and got distracted by customers and products I did OK. I only called to check on him a few times, and the day went by quickly. Once I got home I caught up with the hubs talking about his day and my day, and then snuck in Durham's room and scooped him out of his crib and we snuggled. It was the sweetest snuggles I've ever had. 

1. starbucks and my lunchbox making the trip beside me

2. work!

3. sweet sign from my girls

4. pictures of my turtle and cards on my desk

5. my mom gave me this before I left... it was filled with brownie-hugs!

6. my favorite little 3 year old and his awesome momma brought me a special surprise

7. my first post pregnancy outfit. New jeans and top from Target (thanks hubs)

8. rocking a necklace my SIL gave me for christmas. Durham's birthday and our wedding anniversary.

8. the mom pedicure. when you paint just the toes that show in your peep-toe shoes.

hands down, the best part of my day!