Finally making some more progress on decorating the place!



                               
                                                                                                             Kitchen window AFTER
                                                                                                                   curtain $5 (KMart)
                  Kitchen Window BEFORE                                             tension rod $2 (Hobby Lobby)

New front door decor 

about $12 for paint, letter, ribbon, and stencil 

from Hobby Lobby

Weekend Fun

We started the weekend off right with a much needed date night! We found an amazing Italian restaurant just a few minutes from our house and had a very, very delicious dinner and view. It was on top of a big hill so we had a nice view of the city/town of Parkville.  It was a lot pricier than we expected but well worth it because everything we ate was amazing! I really wanted to get dessert because I knew it had to be really good, too, but we were planning to go mini golfing and I really didn't want to be miserable, haha. 

I've been experimenting with making my own baby food this weekend...trying to figure out how to get Layla to eat more veggies. One combination she really liked was spinach and peaches! I will definitely be making more because she loved it! I pureed about 1/4 cup of spinach with an entire peach to help make it sweet and I'm so glad it was a success! Here she is licking the lid clean :) 

This evening we dropped by Kourtney and Chad's to return something of their's we had and we decided to all go to the park. After about 5 minutes we decided it was WAY too hot so we left and ended up ordering pizza and hanging out at their house. You may not be able to tell in this picture but Layla was sooo super sweaty, poor thing. 

To help cool off the kiddos we let them play in the water using Chad's homemade water sprinkler. It was perfect for them! 

We also got some family time playing in our little pool this weekend. 

Have a happy Monday! God Bless! 

Month 10

    Month 10 has been full of learning and change for Layla! She is now sleeping through the night IN HER CRIB and in HER ROOM :) She is crawling and pulling up and learning lots of new words and sounds. She has grown up so much in this last month and its been fun to watch her.

    I won't lie...its also been a stressful month because along with this growing up stuff comes attitude, resistance, and needing to keep a closer eye on the now mobile Layla. I'm definitely needing to keep myself in check and am being forced to work on my reactions to her and my attitude. I don't want to become the mom who is always grumpy or saying no to everything. I don't want to hurt my kids' feelings by my reactions or loud/harsh words. I want to be in control of my temper and in control of my reactions. And I definitely can't do it on my own! I'm realizing more and more how much I need God's strength and patience each day. Mom's who do it without him must be out of their minds! And incredibly stressed. I'm also thankful to have my family close and a husband who comes home every night. It's the simple things that can be so easily taken for granted...


Enjoy ~

Such a silly girl! 

We had our first family vacation in Wichita! We went to the zoo (Layla's first time) and I got to go to one of my best friends wedding showers. 

We got to feed the giraffe's! 

Layla passed out at the bridal shower and we were able to get her into the car withOUT her waking up and she slept for an hour on the way home. 

Finally enjoying some pool time :) 

cousins playing 

Her monkey crawl...her shirt was too long so she improvised. 

Napping

Oh boy...lots of fun around here today! Its 8:23am and Layla has been awake since 5:10am. She actually slept in a whole 10 minutes today, ha. Since sleeping in her crib and in her room she wakes up at 5am on the dot...sometimes a little before or after, but she's usually pretty spot on. Hopefully that trend won't last long.

Yesterday I decided it was time to start getting her to nap in her crib. I've had to hold her for naps in order for her to get a long enough nap. I didn't really mind, especially since our mornings have been so early so I would just nap with her. Day 2 of the transition is NOT going well. I doing our normal naptime routine and rock her for just a few minutes and then lay her in her crib. She usually cries for a while but today it only lasted a few minutes and I THINK she slept for about 10 minutes but has been crying for quite a while now. I've been in to lay her down (she stands up and cries) at least 3 times and have rocked her a couple times but nothing helps. I'm going to get her up soon because I can't leaver here there all day and she's got to eat...so...any tips on nap transition would be GREATLY appreciated! Encouragement is helpful, too :) 

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I don't get on my computer much anymore and instead I relax or clean in the evenings. During the day I'm pretty much never on the computer.

Big news, though! We moved Layla from our bed and into her crib almost 2 weeks ago and she's doing great! For the last 2 nights she has slept through the night...completely. That's HUGE for her and I'm SO proud! Of course, I had to check on her a couple of times to make sure she was still breathing because it was so unlike her :)  She's growing up! She's also super adorable sleeping in her crib. Last night when I went in to make sure she was breathing she was sleeping on her tummy with her little booty in the air :)  SOOOO cute! I wanted to take a picture but of course the flash would have gone off and probably waken her up. Not worth the risk.


I got to officially celebrate my first Mother's Day this year. I would love to say that it was a great day but honestly, it was pretty stressful, haha. Layla slept bad the night before and we switched her to her crib the night of Mother's Day and she didn't nap well that day...it was just crazy. Plus we were at my parents house all day so I think that was part of her sleep issue. Besides that, it was a good day. We got some great family photos at least!

This is my absolute favorite!!! All 3 of them are too adorable! 

This is a really good 'personality' picture, too. 

My family :)

4 generations 

My sweet girl 

I also turned 25 this past Monday. I'm getting so old! HA! But I'm already taking advantage of this new age and I just booked a hotel room under my name for the first time! Isn't that crazy that you have to be 25 before you can do that!? You can drive at 16 (which is too young, lol), go to war at 18, vote at 18, buy a gun at 21, drink at 21, but you can't rent a hotel room until 25??! Crazy.

But I had a very good birthday. Layla slept until 7am (she's been getting up between 4:30-6 since switching to her crib) so that was a great start to my day. My mom and dad took me out to lunch and then babysat Layla so I could have a little 'me' time and go shopping. Antony bought me a card that made me cry and we made half baked cookies and ice cream for dessert! We haven't gone out for my birthday yet just b/c evenings are still crazy with getting Layla adjusted to her new sleep routine but that'll come sometime. 

My Grandma and I share the same birthday so we celebrated together on Sunday. 

Just hanging out after dinner 

Look at that adorable, silly smile!!! It kills me!

Don't ask me how I did this ^ b/c I don't know, haha. I think maybe it was a collage off my phone so this is how it works on the blog??

This weekend we're going down to AR to visit Antony's family so we're hoping Layla does well on the drive down! We haven't been down there since Christmas so its been a while since she's been on a road trip. I'm hoping she'll take a good nap...This trip will determine whether or not we go to Wichita in a couple of weeks for one of my best friends bridal showers. We just booked the hotel but its not 100% yet because if this trip to AR is just awful then we won't do it again 2 weeks later, haha. So pray that she does well!!! I'd LOVE to go to Wichita!

Well, that pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks around here. Oh! We're getting new carpet in the living room on Friday! Super excited about that!!


Here's a silly picture for your enjoyment :)

Spruced Up the Bathroom!

I'm excited about all the new things going up in our home! I made these 'curtains' for the bathroom tonight and it only took about 20 minutes! AND they were free...well, the fabric is leftover from Layla's bed-skirt...but she bought it to begin with so it was free to me! haha 

I love the way it turned out. 

We also ordered one of Antony's pictures from Rome to hang up in here so that should go up in a few days!

In other news, Layla has taken a bottle a few times this week! Yay for progress! (She still nurses exclusively) 

The bedroom is still a work in progress. We're done painting but just haven't gotten it put together yet. I'll post a picture once its done! 

A New Living Room!

I am excited to introduce to you....our NEW (half painted), re-arranged, organized living room! It finally has a touch of home and we're so happy. We still need some more pictures/decor but that'll come. Unfortunately I didn't get 'official' before pictures so here are my best pictures which show how messy and unorganized it was.

AFTER!

We painted these two walls and it has a much warmer feel. Its a very subtle change but its just what the room needed. We only painted the two walls because we have to paint it back when we move out and because paint is expensive! 

We also ditched the coffee table so Layla has lots more play space. 

Layla's toys finally have some organization to them and they're not pouring out of a re-purposed diaper box. Speaking of re-purposed boxes...we have two in her corner, one for diapers and one for her dirty clothes. 

New curtains (TJMaxx)!!! Before we had a boring, short, brown curtain. Now we have pretty, decorative curtains! (The wall needs a large picture of Layla and it will be complete:) ) We also got rid of the black shelves that were in front of the window and replaced them with this storage bench (Target). Extra seating plus storage! Double bonus. 

I also organized our bookshelf (in the entryway) so its now a little more appealing to the eye :) 

We're still working on our bedroom,  the spare room, garage, and Layla's room but its all coming together!!