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!! 

Making This Place Home

    We've been busy around here lately and I haven't updated in a while. Sorry! We're making lots of changes to our townhouse and are finally making it feel like home after being here for almost a year. Since we've decided to renew our lease we got permission to paint! We started in our bedroom today and so far we love it! I will post pictures once its all finished. We are also going to paint our living room which I'm really, really excited about! Who ever decided that rentals should be boring and white? Not a fan.

   Along with painting we're going to do some mega organizing. Our place gets cluttered way to easy and way too fast so we're hoping that by adding some different furniture and some new decor that it'll help spruce things up a bit.

   New curtains are coming! (As soon as I find them). We're possibly getting new carpet in the living room! Pictures and maybe some shelves will go up in the half bath and the spare room will be useable and not just a junk room. This will all take lots of time and work but we're so excited to finally feel organized and at home. 

   It's been a busy month around here! We celebrated Antony's birthday this week, have been preparing for Compassion Sunday, and Antony started his new job! Layla is also working on crawling and pulling up and loves to roll around the floor!

Antony's Birthday

   Tuesday we went out to dinner with my family to celebrate Antony's birthday! We ate at Olive Garden and had a good time celebrating and eating amazing food :)
 

   Wednesday was his actual birthday but it wasn't the best day :/ Antony got in a car accident that morning on his way home from work so that just made for a crazy day. He is fine and didn't get hurt, thank goodness! But it didn't make for a very good day...
   That night we both went to youth group at church (he goes every Wednesday to record). I spoke at youth about Compassion and encouraged the kids to get involved. Some of them were very interested but, of course, we told them they needed to talk to their parents before deciding for sure to sponsor a child.

  Thursday I made him his birthday dinner - steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans! And for dessert we had brownies with reeses cups! VERRRYYY good! Unfortunately we didn't wait long enough before putting the candles in so they melted in the brownies :(  Despite the wax, they were still, good! Ha!

Compassion Sunday

   Compassion Sunday is this week! I'm really excited to see how it turns out and I'm praying lots of people respond. I'll be speaking at church briefly about Compassion International and will have a table set up with pictures of children in need of a sponsor. Be praying with me that the church responds well.

Layla
   She's a growing girl! Actually..her growing has slowed down significantly, haha. But she's learning so much these days and is very close to crawling! She's such a happy little girl and loves her mommy and daddy. Her favorite song is Jesus Loves Me and it makes her smile or calm down 99% of the time.

AF Photography & Design

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Busy, Busy, Busy

   It has been super busy around here lately. Last weekend I helped my sister out with her big garage sale and was able to sell some of our stuff, too! This week the in-laws visited and I've been preparing for Compassion Sunday at church. Layla is also fighting a cold and has another tooth coming in. Lots of crazies around here.

Garage Sale

   The garage sale was a huge success. It was really busy Friday and decently busy Saturday. I sold most of the stuff I took (just a small car load) and Kourtney and Chad were able to sell a huge chunk of their stuff, too.
   The kids were all so good during the sale! Kolton pretty much kept himself busy playing with stuff in the garage and stuff we had out for sale :)  Layla fought sleep big time but was able to take a good nap in my Ergo, thankfully! Despite her lack of sleep, she was perfect. Macey was also really good and took a couple good naps and played with Layla and Kolton when she was awake.
   My Ergo saved my life that weekend, especially Friday morning! It was so busy at the sale and it was just us 3 girls (me, Kourtney and my mom) so we were running around everywhere, making deals left and right. If I hadn't had Layla in the carrier I'm not sure what things would have been like. She probably would have been abandoned, honestly, ha (unintentionally, of course!). Saturday the husbands were there to help so that was very nice.

Compassion Sunday

   I'm hosting Compassion Sunday at our church this year and I'm so excited! Compassion Sunday is a nation-wide event arranged by Compassion International. The purpose is to help children around the world get a sponsor so they can have an education and receive health and other benefits. Compassion partners with locals churches in the child's neighborhood and that church teaches them about Christ, provides them with an education, food, clothes and other needs they may have. I have sponsored a boy for 12 years now and had the chance to meet him 2 years ago and it was an awesome experience!

Pray that the church will respond well and that lots of children will become sponsored this month! April 21st is the official Compassion Sunday. I have about 100 packets with pictures and info on children ready to be sponsored and I would love to run out of them! 

In-laws Visit 

    Antony's parents and sister came to visit Tuesday and Wednesday and we got to celebrate Antony's birthday while they were here, too. Plus we got our Easter baskets! 

Layla loves her new duck from Aunt Rhea and all the fun stuff that Nana and Papa got her. Especially the crinkly giraffe! 

  We had planned to go swimming at the Y but Layla woke up with a runny nose on Tuesday so we had to cancel those plans :/ But Rhea is coming up again next week so we might try again! 

Random photos for your enjoyment:

Layla loves to stand at her toy like a big girl

Playing with cousin Macey at Grandma and Grandpa's. These two are so cute together! 

We found mommy's camo hat

Silly girl just waking up