best. commercial. ever.

i love this commercial. everything about it. the beauty. the innocence. it stirs something deep in my soul. for all you new mothers out there, all the seasoned mothers, and all of you with the heart of a mother, we are all truly blessed to be able to experience life and love with little ones. they are truly little miracles. praise the Lord.

growth. restoration. change.

while each of these concepts are closely related, growth, restoration, change, they all vary slightly in how they present themselves. i find myself relating to each of these throughout my daily life. i am being faced with the reality of growth, being that next week i will be turning 27. just two weeks ago the Lord reminded me of many promises.... and this remembrance is the catalyst for restoration. in the obvious ways [being a mom], change is something that i have become most familiar with, both unexpected and welcomed. throughout this monday i have found precious examples of each of these.

growth:

[our herbs]

[my son practicing sitting up]

restoration:

[25 dollar craigslist find....before the restoration]

[8 dollar thrift store find...before the transformation]

change:

[my sister-in-law took the mason jars that we gave away as our favors at our wedding four years ago and made them into redneck wine glasses. awesome.]

i am learning to embrace the growth, appreciate the hard work that goes into the restoration, and smile at the changes.

forgive me

please forgive me, for i am long overdue for a new post. i could blame it on my crazy life, the dirty dipers, the hungry husband, but i will actually blame it on my camera. i have been meaning to post pictures of the baby shower gift. my nice digital camera [gift from my wonderful father] has been giving me some problems [by problems i mean not working]. i am usually really good with technology [not meaning to brag, but i am a media specialist=)], but this was giving me the run around. the last time i used it i depleted the batteries. so i charged them up, put them in the camera. nothing. so i charged some others i had, put them in. nothing. i went to walmart, bought a brand new charger and batteries, charged them, put them in the camera. nothing. charged the old batteries in the new charger. nothing. new batteries in the old charger. nothing. well tonight i sat down to finally write this post and tried one more time [old batteries]. worked...finally. i will chalk it up to this....i blew out the space where the batteries go [high tech...right]. i was able to take reasonable pictures of my latest projects and now now, a week later, posting these pictures.

here is the gift i gave to my friend last weekend. she is having a little girl and the bedding is this cute pink and red flowered print. i made a matching car seat cover and changing pad/diaper/wipe holder. [excuse these pictures...they were taken with my little point and shoot, being that my other camera was inoperable *see above paragraph if you missed this]

[the final package]

the diaper/wipes holder opens up to a changing pad [it has the flower on it]. the car seat cover attaches onto the car seat handle. i received one of these and fell in love. [again sorry about these terrible pictures]

here are a few projects i did this week:

I found this pillow online and had to make it. this blog has recently become one of my favs:

Cluck Cluck Sew

a summer tote. it is large and just perfect for all my junk [well actually only about 20% of what i carry around with me is mine...the rest is for the baby]. i loosely followed this pattern:

Summer Tote

i am sorta obsessed with this flower. i found a tutorial online and have been going crazy. this was my first flower. trust me there will be plenty more to come.

i made my first craigslist purchase this week. i found an antique dresser for 25 dollars! although one of the legs is broken, it was still worth the money. i have grand ideas for the dresser and am thrilled to get started on that project. before pictures will be up soon [as long as the batteries cooperate]. i also bought an end table at a local thrift store today. 9 dollars with tax. i love good deals.

tomorrow our baby will be 12 weeks old. wow. it just seems like yesterday i laid eyes on him for the first time. we recorded his birth, and i am so thankful for having that moment on record [ it is tastefully done....PG rated]. i love watching it. i love that i will always be able to remember. i love that i will always remember my first words after he was born "thank you Jesus". it is so special

12 weeks ago

today: he found his feet. he sat there for maybe 20 minutes wiggling his feet and staring at them. he realized that he was the one moving them. i love watching him learn and grow.... best part of my day.

saturday

preface: this post will not be in the usual font that comprises the rest of my blog. it is late....i should be asleep... i can't figure out what is going on....i don't care.

while we had such a busy day today [i think Loudon and i spent a total of three hours at home today], it was nice to spend time with friends and family. this morning was spent at a friend's baby shower. i handmade her presents [i will put pictures up tomorrow]. it was so refreshing to spend some time creating something for someone. i love being behind my sewing machine.

the afternoon was spent with family [kendall's sister and her boyfriend]. the conversation was rich and incredibly pleasant.

this evening was spent at a healing prayer service our church just began last week. you know when you hear a message and you are thinking "ok God, i get it, you are totally speaking directly to me"...yeah that happened tonight. i listened, i prayed, i cried. it was such a beautiful evening. the thunder and rain outside added to the refreshing environment of prayer and fellowship inside. the Lord gave to me Psalm 66. the last part is my favorite:

Come and hear, all you who fear God,

and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

I cried to him with my mouth,

and high praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened.

But truly God has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

God is so good...even in the midst of struggle. he is teaching me to believe and not to fear. to choose faith and not so easily listen to lies. i fear way too much, but He still loves me and is so patient and willing to walk through this struggle with me. i love my daddy.

you know how music makes the mood for a moment. well, as we were driving to dinner after the prayer service, this song made my drive. the air was crisp and everything just felt alive after receiving some much needed rain. the sun was setting and the smell of the earth was so invigorating. i had to drive with the windows down. Loudon was in the back just cooing away. anyways, this was the song that made the drive. i saw this band a few months ago and have recently gotten into their cd. enjoy:

dinner, which began around 8:45pm was the perfect ending to this saturday. a handful of my friends went and enjoyed some incredible sushi [this is the one thing i missed the most while being pregnant. i am so thankful that it is back in my life]. we had a hilarious waitress who adored Loudon [i mean who doesn't?] kendall and i spilt 45 pieces. yes, you read that right. we love us some sushi. furthermore, don't get in the way of a nursing mommy and food [totally serious...have any of you seen me eat lately?....scary]. after our bedtime routine...Loudon was out as soon as his head hit the mattress and kendall and i settled onto the couch. the karate kid was on tv [one of kendall's favorite movies]. i admitted i had never seen it [not on purpose...just so happened i made it 26 years without ever catching it]. i planned on heading to bed myself about an hour ago, so we dvr-ed it [however, i am still awake....blogging]. i plan on watching it tomorrow, as well as posting some pictures of the baby shower gifts i made and my incredibly precious son.

the good, the bad, and the ugly

the good:

two weeks ago my sister, Loudon, and I took a trip to Angel's Antiques in Opelika, AL. i saw this clock and fell in love with it. jaima, my sister, convinced me to get it. when i am about to make any sort of purchase i ask myself "am i going to regret not getting this?" if the answer is even 25% yes, i go for it. i love the colors, the design, and the feel of this clock. for 17.00 dollars i am very pleased with the purchase. i haven't decided where to put it in the house yet, but it is on my list to get done this week.

the bad:

while this is maybe one of my favorite pictures of Loudon to date, it seems as if he was having a bad moment. i love that bottom lip. he is a pro at sticking that thing out, and i secretly love it everytime, even though i know that it means he is not happy about something (i sorta feel bad about that). we took our first road trip this weekend up to atlanta to visit some of kendall's family. loudon's aunt kk is holding him here. he had just spit up on her and we were laughing about it. obviously he was embarrassed and not appreciative at our laughter.

the ugly:

we had our two month check up last week. to be honest, i was a bit nervous. we have had feeding issues and sometimes i wonder if he has been getting enough milk from me. i was scared that the pediatrician would not be happy with Loudon's weight gain or something. i hear of infants younger than Loudon weighing over 12 pounds or something and i wonder "should he be that big?". well, he weighed in at 11 pounds 2 ounces, two whole pounds bigger than his birth weight. the doctor was very pleased with that and all was well. then came the shots. those nurses have it down to a science. they get on each side and poke at the same time. everything is over in less than 15 seconds. well, he cried. i held him and kissed him and by the time we were in the car, he was asleep. the worst part was taking the band-aids off. they were cute snoopy ones, and taking them off meant I was the bad guy who was going to make him cry. i ripped the first one off. he looked at me for a second, then that precious bottom lip came out and then the crying. then we repeated two more times. i hated seeing him in pain, but i knew that it would be short-lived. while i have only been a parent for 10 weeks....God, the father, has shown me so much about his heart for me, his daughter. each day, in multiple circumstances, he reveals a little morsel of his character to me. he cares for me, for us, so much... so much more than i care about my little boy....wow.

evenings

its 11:05 pm. the dishwasher is slowly lulling me into sleep. i have come to cherish these few moments of the day when the kitchen is finally clean and all of my boys are nestled in their beds dreaming away. the first few weeks of life with Loudon i dreaded nighttime. i knew the night would be comprised of trying to nurse, failing, bottle feeding a screaming child, pumping, boiling and sanitizing pump parts, trying to get him back to sleep, trying to sleep myself, and then waking up an hour and a half later to do it all over again. when Loudon would cry, i would cry. everyone said it would get better, but i had a very difficult time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. it finally came, about two weeks ago. while some days are still difficult, i am able to see the beauty of life again. these days, i shed tears over how precious my son is, how he looks in my eyes and smiles for me because i am his mother. these days, i no longer dread the nighttime, but enjoy the serenity and peace in the stillness and quiet.

i watched an episode of a baby story today. i cry everytime the baby is placed in the mother's arms. i love remembering that moment. i love remembering the labor and delivery that i had. while i was in labor for 16 hours, and i delivered a 9 pound 2 ounce baby naturally, it was absolutely perfect. i am so thankful to the Lord for the beauty of it all.... labor, pain, life, tears, and in the end, smilies.