Lately.

Hello, strangers!

 

 

No, I didn't fall off the face of the planet. We've just been busy living life! To illustrate this point, I have successfully figured out how to upload my billion iPhone pictures to my computer (you think I would know how to do this by now) and wanted to share a few of them with you all.

 

 

I'm MUCH better at Instagram these days. MUCH. Most of my pics are of Parker Reed, but really, can you blame me? He is SO stinkin' cute.

A recap of our week in Instagram pictures (from left to right, top to bottom):

1. My baby is adorable in his monkey hat at a home football game. Go Westerners!
2. Lunch at school with dad. We do this often so that Bryan and Parker can get in some time together.
3. Ha, okay I made a "Coach's Kid" onesie for the first football game. Parker was ENTHRALLED with everything about the experience. He is his father's son.
4. More football. We do lots of football in our family.
5. After our trip to the pumpkin patch (no pictures) I got crafty with our pumpkins. LOVE them.
6. Parker after a meal of cereal! YUP. He's eating big boy food. Or wearing it, whatever.
7. AND he's a complete pro at sitting up on his own! I find this hilariously cute. My little old man.
8. Mom had some fun in the dollar bin at Target. So Parker got some new ears. :)
9. We went to the South Plains fair as a family--accompanied by my mom and sister. Two Words: Fried S'mores.
10. Parker loved his first fair experience but was a little....overstimulated (to say the least).
11. My sister and I went to JAB fest. Texas country at its finest! Loved every minute.
12. I spent this week at LCU (our Alma Mater) doing floral arrangements for the events during Inauguration Week for our new President. It was good to see everyone! (I only managed to get one picture though.)
13. Aunt Julie was with us all week. And Mr. P looks great in a Rangers cap.
14. Parker the ghost. He is SUCH a blankie boy. It baffles me how much he loves it.
15. At Spanky's eating burgers and fried cheese. We found an ode to Parker.
16. Practicing the art of standing. Parker is a pro (as usual).


....so my life is lots of baby, lots of football, lots of family. Lots of friends too, but I guess that's not apparent in my pics....I promise I have friends. I will work on that one. :)))

Anyways, if you want to see more of us, you can follow me on Instagram @katyleigh725.

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Time to go, I can hear my sweet boy growling for me in his room. Nap time is over!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.


 

Four Months!

 

 

My sweet, sweet, happy boy is FOUR months old! Time flies--way more so when you have a baby.

 

P.S. This post is two weeks late-- the pictures were taken on time, but what can I say, I'm a slacker at actually getting it up on the blog. Apologies.

 

Second P.S. This post was ridiculously long so I condensed it for everyone's sake. The long version is going in the baby book. :)

 

Length: 26.5" (97th percentile)

Weight: 16lbs 10oz (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17 inches (90th percentile)

 
• You wear 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9 month clothes since you are so tall.
• You have rolled over tummy to back several times this month!
• You have rolled over back to tummy once.
• You LAUGHED for the first time this month. Great belly laughs!
• You started teething a bit this month. You suck your hands, drool a gallon a day, and have two little buds for your bottom center teeth. You're still not too bothered by it though, which is good.
• You still nurse very fast! You eat 5 times a day right now and take about 8 ounces at each feeding (I think).
• Your record for sleep so far is 11 hours! I was shocked the first time you did this, and actually had to wake you up, so I know you could have slept longer. Most nights though, you go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 8am. So you sleep 10 hours pretty consistently with 3-4 two hour naps during the day. You like to sleep :). Maybe that's why you're so happy!
• You growl when you are upset. You very rarely ever cry, but you will growl or grunt when you are tired, hungry, or frustrated at something. It's really funny and strangers always think you are pooping. ;)
• You love hearing funny sounds and you love to see other people laugh. You've gotten to where you are pretty good at imitating them too!
• You are SUCH a ham and love the camera now. You definitely know when to smile!
• You like to flirt. I don't know how I feel about this :)
• You love to burrow into my chest when you are tired and also do that when you are feeling bashful. I think it's pretty adorable.
• You are really liking touch and feel books these days since you can reach out and touch them.
• You love people. No one is a stranger. Everyone gets a smile. And I love that about you :).
• You still do not like to be off of your schedule.
• You traveled most of this month. And you were a travel champ! You went to Denver, Monroe (LA), then drove through Missippi and Alabama to get to Altanta, then drove back to Monroe, then drove to Lufkin (TX), then drove to Houston to fly to Lubbock. Yes. Exhausting. But SO fun :). We LOVE our family!!!

 

Have an awesome Monday. I will be here drowning in the large amount of laundry that needs to be done :).

Paint Projects and Giveaway Winner!

 

Hey hey! I know I said I would announce the winner of the Stella & Dot giveaway yesterday, but what can I say, life happened and I just didn't have time to sit down and write a post. My sister and mom just left after spending a fun Labor Day weekend with us. They were supposed to leave yesterday, but their car broke down at the beginning of the trip--which was actually a great thing because it meant that we got an extra day together! Turning lemons into lemonade.

 

Anyway....this is what our house looks like right now....

 

 

 

 

Notice anything different?? I decided I was tired of living in a "Peach Crayon" and that it was time for a change. It's amazing what being in your house all day everyday will make you see. We went with the Valspar match of Benjamin Moore's Camoflage--a very light gray-green color that I saw on Centsational Girl.

 

My whole house is now officially a shade of gray, green, or blue. And I like it. We still aren't done, but I'm hoping we'll knock the rest of this project out tonight. Right now though, the house is a mess and I don't even care.

 

I'm really great at making my home a constant contruction zone.

 

Also....I'm thinking of painting the cabinets. Yes. I know. I can already hear the gasps--What??? Pretty white cabinets?! Why on earth would you change them?? Well, because I live in Lubbock. And it's dusty and dirty and I am NO good at keeping them clean (I promise they look much cleaner in the pictures than they actually are). What do you think?? Suggestions? I like the white more now that we have the new color on the walls, but I'm still tempted to change it. I was thinking two-toned...dark on the bottom, light on top.

 

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Now onto the fun! First, I want to thank you all for participating in the Stella & Dot trunk show and giveaway last month! I did the drawing via random.org and our luck winner of the stunning Leona necklace is...

 

Brittany Fullwood!!

 

Congrats, friend! Catelyn Penick, the stylist for our trunk show will be contacting you to receive your necklace.

 

Have a wonderful, wonderful week, everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

Football Season Begins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night we made the trek to Canyon, TX for the first game of the season. Parker was in awe of everything going on and we both had a blast. Some of the highlights of the evening: LHS scored 3 touchdowns in the first half, I nursed Parker in the middle of the football stadium (talk about being out in the open), the power went out so we had to evacuate until they got the lights back on, and we got to see dad down on the field for the first time! (He is usually in the press box.) We are so proud of Bryan and while we are bummed that he is gone so much right now, we are so happy that we can be included in the many things that the team does during the season.

 

Our trip lasted until around 2am last night (after a fun pit-stop at IHOP with some of the other wives) and I just can't seem to get going again today. Ever have those days that just "get away" from you? Yeah, that's me today. ;)

 

 

My sister and mom are driving in from CO and will be here...well, any minute. Fun Labor Day weekend ahead!

 

 

AND...today is the LAST DAY of the Stella & Dot trunk show! Be sure to check it out. And enter the giveaway! I will announce the winner Monday.

 

Happy weekend!

 

 

 

Family Organization Binder

So, lately, I have been on somewhat of an organization frenzy. One of my obsessions has revolved around the new fangled thing called a Family Organization Binder. I've been seeing it all over Pinterest and have slowly but surely been working on my own version for our family.

The basis of this idea is to have a place to put all of your important files, documents, budgets, menus, to-do lists, cleaning schedules, etc. for your family. Genius, right? I jumped on it because I think it would be pretty awesome to avoid going through a million files, folders, drawers, bins, and notebooks to find everything my family and home need to run successfully. I'm not the most organized housewife/mom on the planet (at all), so fingers crossed that this will help. ;)

A few of my favorite sites/blogs I have found to assist me in the never-ending process of putting this binder together can be found here, here, here, and here. I also used this master spring cleaning schedule as inspiration for part of the cleaning section of our binder.

I will also go ahead and say that all of these sheets and lists will be in page protectors so that I can write on them with wet-erase markers. Here are the sections of my binder (as of right now).

1. Schedules/Calendars: I put daily, monthly, and yearly goal/to-do sheets in this section along with separate monthly calendars. I also made a sheet for workout ideas since I always see them online and forget what they are 3 seconds later (that may be on purpose ;)).

2. Meals/Groceries: I have grocery lists for Sam's and United, as well as weekly menus in here. I also have some page protectors for recipes that I find and a few more to hold carry-out menus. Baseball card holders are in there as well for coupons. (Although I'm terrible at remembering to coupon.)

3. Family Information: Important documents (SS cards, birth certificates, etc.), important information, important dates and birthdays, instructions for babysitters/house sitters, vacation planners, things to do/see as a family, and files for each family member will go in this section.

3. Medical: In this section I plan on having a log to record illnesses, medications, and doctor visits, as well as a sheet with questions I want to remember to ask at the doctor's office. A small but important section ;).

4. Financial: A monthly budget will go in here, as well as a record of past monthly budgets. I want to put savings goals for various things in here as well (vacations, home renovations, etc.). I'll also stick a few page protectors in here to hold important bills that we need easy access to. Oh, and important files/account information for our bank accounts.

5. Home/Auto: This is my favorite section! Included in here will be daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly cleaning schedules (it will be a miracle if I can keep up with it though HA), a home maintenance log/checklist, auto maintenance log/checklist, a sheet to write all of our house projects/ ideas on, and a few (hundred) page protectors to store my many magazine tear-outs. Oh, and I want to put important documents that pertain to our house and cars in here too.

6. Contacts: Phone numbers, addresses, and emails for all of our family members and friends, as well as for our doctors, dentists, pharmacy, various repairmen, hair stylists, banks, church, etc. I will also keep our mailing list for Christmas cards in here too. AND baseball card holders for the many business cards I collect.

7. Twenty Three Oh One: This is all things for my Etsy shop and of course, the blog. I want to put a to-list for the shop and one for the blog, blog idea sheet, design idea sheet, timeline, calendars, important contacts, inspiration photos, and account information for my Blogger, Paypal, Etsy, and Goodsie accounts. I will also put a business budget, order and payment tracker, and buyer email list in here.

So yeah, this is me trying to be Super Mom. ;)

 

If I manage to get this done by Christmas, it will be a complete MIRACLE. That being said, once I do get it all together, I really think it will be SO great for our household. I'm about 1/3 of the way finished, as of today (traveling all the time is not really condusive to completing this project haha). Writing this post has re-motivated me to power through! I SO hope that I will be sharing completed photos and details of our binder in the near future.

 

 

 

Do you have anything like this for your family? What are some great tips that you can share on how you keep your household up and running?

 

 

 

Little Moments.

Just wanted to drop in one last time while we are on the last leg of our "Tour de Parker".

Soaking up those little moments with precious family members. It doesn't get any better than this, in my opinion.

Hope you all are having wonderful weeks. Enjoy your families!

Last Call: Stella & Dot

Hey, hey!!

We are still loving life on the road, but can't wait to get home to daddy at the end of this week. I am very proud to say that Parker conquered another TEN hour road trip today from Georgia back to Louisiana. AND he laughed for the first time. I am one happy momma.

ALSO....thank you for the new book recs! Definitely have Gone Girl up next on my list--I've heard about that one a lot. ;) You guys are so great to me! Now back to my reasoning for this post....

I wanted to entice you all with a few pretty pictures from the one and only Stella & Dot today.

I am loving these Lindsay Bangles--perfect for stacking.

And I'm thinking I could wear these Felicity Hoops every day of the week. (Don't you just love when you find a piece of jewelry like that?)

And hello! I think this Bahari Necklace just became a necessity in my book. Can you say "Statement"?

What are YOUR favorite pieces from Stella & Dot?

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Just a happy reminder: The Stella & Dot trunk show is open through the month of August so head on over and shop your little heart out!

Also, enter to win the stunning Leona Necklace by leaving a comment HERE. Giveaway will be open until August 31st!

Have a wonderful day, ya'll!