Goodbye 2013!

I am a little late on this post but it has taken me a while to put all my “resolutions” together. If I can even call them that. I should really call it a wish list. Things I wish to accomplish this year. 2013 was such a great year, filled with awesome memories and exciting time. It was also one of the fastest years of my life. I met so many amazing new mommy friends and became part of a really amazing mom’s group. It has been so great watching all the babies grow into toddlers. I am looking forward to the years ahead of us and feel so lucky to have such a wonderful support system of other mothers. <3 We finished out the year with a low key family celebration at our home with drinks and a yummy dinner and bed by 10:30. I can’t remember the last time I stayed up until midnight, and it was probably a good 3+ years ago. Besides, with a toddler who wakes up at 6am, why stay up late?
Exercise. Yes, that is always number one on everyone’s list and seems to always be on the top of mine too. It’s so easy not to exercise because something else comes up, I’m tired or just lazy. I need to train my mind and body to make it a priority and fit it in. Certain things will need to take a backseat because I need to be healthy for Henry and also set good examples for him.
– Food Prep and meal planning. Part of eating healthy is having snacks and meals on hand so you’re not grabbing junk. That has always been one of my biggest downfalls; not preparing enough and then grabbing something crappy when I’m starving. And then I feel like shit.
– Working more to pay off debt. We have been so good these past few months, paying off several credit  cards and really getting our finances in shape. It makes us feel so good and responsible. We have laid out a plan for every week and hope to be debt free by summer!
– Blog more consistently, at least 3 times a week. I keep this blog to mostly update Henry’s life for our family across the country. I also love sharing certain things that appeal to me (recipes, crafts, clothes, etc). It kind of reminds me of livejournal or Xanga (anyone remember those?) but more fun.
– Document Henry in the 52 Project. A portrait each week of the year and then compile them into an album at the end of the year.
– Dental Health. I need to remember to brush my teeth every night and make regular dentist appointments, check out online when you should make the appointments. There are some nights when I go to bed without brushing my teeth. Gross. If you have cosmetic dentures, all the more reason to visit yours. Check out sites like www.durhamdental.net/services/neuromuscular-dentures/ to learn more.
– Read more. When I was single I used to read all the time. Once I got married and had Henry, other things always seem to come up, or I’m too tired at the end of the day and just want to veg out and play candy crush. I would like and try to read one book a month. After all, I’ve been in a book club since last summer and need to be a better member!
Update the house. We have been in this house for just over 2 years and there are certain things that I would still like to do. New carpet in the basement, updated curtains in the master, hang art, etc.
Bake/Make something new once a month. Whether it is a craft or new cupcake recipe, I want to get back into making new things.
I could come up with a lot more but I want to keep these to a realistic minimum. Here’s to a great 2014!

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18 Months

Today Henry is 18 months old. I have known him for 548 days. It doesn’t seem like that long but I feel as if he’s been with us forever. It’s true when people say they don’t remember life before kids. This age is so fun because he loves to play with others and interact with us more. He constantly brings me puzzles (which he wants me to watch him do. Show off) and books. He loves strangers (especially girls) and is always flirting with or trying to get the attention of a lady. Typical guy! He gets frustrated when something doesn’t go his way (ie, not fitting the puzzle piece into the puzzle) so I don’t think patience will be his strong suit. Besides some occasional, short lived temper tantrums and the fact that he still hates getting his diaper changed (he is like a wild bull), he is a sweet, loving boy and I am so lucky to be his mommy and watch him grow. 
1. Puzzles – Henry loves puzzles and can put a new one together on the first try. He is so good at matching pictures, colors and shapes. It seriously blows my mind how smart he is and how much he is learning. Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles are the best for little hands.  
2. Shape Sorters/Stackers/Nesting Blocks – Same with puzzles, he can match the shapes like a boss. The wooden stackers from Seed Factory are his favorite and loves all wooden toys, blocks and nesting stacks. For Christmas he got these jumbo cardboard blocks and he loves stacking and standing on them. I know eventually he is going to make a tower to the fridge handle. 
3. Monsters University – Since he isn’t a fan of his car seat, we play this movie on the iPad for him. He is obsessed with all the monsters and does the cutest monster roar with his hands up like they do in the movie. He even has a little Sully stuffed animal which he roars at too. 
4. Books – Still on the list. I don’t think his love of books will die down anytime soon, which I am happy about. But if I have to read Oh So Tiny Bunny one more time I just may shoot myself. 
5. Barney – Need I say more? Barney is like crack for kids. 
6. Bath Crayons – Henry loves bath time and as soon as I mention it he starts say “Bah Bah” and climbing the stairs and running to the tub. I literally have to peel the clothes off of him as he is moving. He is just now getting the hang of “coloring” and is amazed about how these crayons work.  
In six months I will have a TWO YEAR OLD! Sad face. Sometimes I wish he would just stop growing and stay my little boy forever. 

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Our Christmas

Goodbye Christmas! Just like with your wedding or the birth of a child, the excitement for Christmas is there for months and then it quickly comes and goes. I am always sad when it is over 🙁 This year seemed to sneak up on us and we didn’t get to do all the activities we wanted, but we still enjoyed our holiday season together. Christmas Eve morning we set out early to do some last minute shopping at Target, came home for naps and breakfast, then headed out to the Forum for a few stocking stuffers and lunch at La Parrilla. Henry has been obsessed with “dipping” his food lately into sauces and then eating them (or just licking the sauce off) so he spent a good chuck of lunch licking ketchup off of soggy fries. So gross and cute at the same time. At around three we headed over to my grandmother’s house for Christmas Eve dinner and family time. The main dish was my mother’s sausage and mushroom pasta that we have every year and my husband looks forward to it more than anyone. We headed home around eight, put Henry to bed and then played Santa. We had so much fun putting together his toys and laying out all the gifts. One of the best things about having kids is that you get to be one again too. 

As usual, I could hardly sleep Christmas Eve night and either could Henry, as he woke up at 5:45am. Usually I would be bummed about this but since it was Christmas, I was so excited to start opening presents.  He looked so cute when I went to get him from bed, in his Santa jammies. 

We headed downstairs and got some cute videos of Henry’s face seeing his presents for the first time. He loved the basket ball goal and was trying to put everything he could find in the basket. I think he is still a little young to understand Christmas because he really could have cared less about unwrapping the gifts. We would open his gift and give it to him and he would be really into it at first, but then he would go off and find an old toy to play with. While he was playing with toys old and new, Jan and I opened our gifts from each other and I loved everything he gave me. They were all so perfect and each one was thought out. He really does know me well 🙂 I made Henry some reindeer pancakes and he helped (or at least he thought he did) and then he went down for a nap, not even getting to finish opening the rest of his gifts. While he was sleeping, we finished our last few gifts, had a yummy breakfast (chorizo, eggs, hot sauce and avocado cooked in a cast iron skillet), relaxed with some mimosas and watched A Christmas Story. 

We headed over to my mom’s house around one for some more family time and dinner. Jan was part of the cook crew with my Uncle Randy and my mom. They made such an awesome meal and it was definitely a labor of love (over 3 hours of cooking!) I wish I could have gotten more pictures of the food but the day was so busy catching up with family and chasing after Henry consumed a lot of my day. 

I loved Henry’s Christmas outfit. This sweatshirt was found on Zulily a few months back and I couldn’t resist. After all, Home Alone is one of our favorite movies of all time. He wore it with some skinny jeans from Gap and his new blue converse. The grouch look on his face goes with the saying “Merry Christmas ya Filthy Animal.” He wore it well. 
I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and great Christmas. We are excited for 2014 and the great things to come. xoxo

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Life Lately

Lately life has been all working, running after a toddler, sleeping and repeating. But this week has been a little different. Jan and I got to do some Christmas shopping kid free at Lenox Mall the weekend before last and followed it up with drinks at Canoe. We also hit up Yeah Burger in Virginia Highlands (our first time, SO good), Tuesday night I had dinner with some girlfriends at JCT, Wednesday was our mom group Secret Santa, Thursday Henry had his Christmas Party at school and Friday we had our company Holiday Party. Our babysitter is also back in town from college and watched Henry while we went and saw Catching Fire. SO GOOD! We did not want it to end and I can’t wait for the third movie to come out. It has definitely been a jam packed few weeks filled with holiday fun. Sad to think Christmas is tomorrow and 2014 is right around the corner. Not sure where they time goes but lately I have been reminded just how short it is. Two of my girlfriends lost their mother’s just weeks apart this month and my heart is breaking for them. Life is so precious and needs to be enjoyed. I need to stop worrying about silly little things and not stress so much about what I cannot change. I am so grateful for 2013 and what a great year it was. Now for picture overload. 

{Lunch at Yeah Burger}

{Shopping at Lenox, drinks at Canoe}

{Ladies dinner at JCT}

{Secret Santa and Christmas Playdate}
{Christmas Party at Henry’s school. He still hates Santa.} 

{Sugarboo Designs Christmas Party}

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Five Things Friday

Happy Friday the 13th! I guess in December this date/day doesn’t have much of a scary meaning. And I doubt ABC Family will be playing any Halloween films. I still can’t get over the fact that Christmas is in 11 days. I think this has been one of the fastest years of my life. I hope next year can go a little slower. Last weekend we visited Seed Factory in Atlanta and there were so many amazing wooden toys for Henry to play with. He loves wooden toys, especially blocks and stackers. We ended up buying him the Double Rainbow Stacker (#3 below) and since then it’s had me more into wooden toys than ever before. Seeing how much Henry enjoys them makes me want to go chop down trees and start carving squares and pegs. Or maybe I can just browse on line and make collages. How cute is that bowling set below? Henry would have a field day knocking that over, since that is what he is into now. That and chewing on Christmas lights. Oh the joys of having a toddler 🙂
{I couldn’t stick with only 5 favorites and had to add a few extra!}

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Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekend was jam packed and so much fun, and it really put me into the Christmas spirit. Friday night we took it easy and Jan made an incredible dinner (pan seared steak with Morimoto’s famous sauce and some Bok Choy) and we watched our favorite show Grimm. Saturday we were up bright and early, as usual, to head down to the Westside to do some holiday shopping and have lunch. It was so fun to get out of the suburbs and experience city life. This is hands down one of our new favorite spots. It is super kid friendly and so unique. We stopped by the Tinsel and Twine event to get some stocking stuffers and take pictures with Santa. Henry didn’t cry this time, yay! It was the most amazing set up and everyone was so friendly. It is going on next Saturday too so those in Atlanta should check it out. Afterwards we hit up Jack Spade, Seed Factory (which Henry was obsessed with. We got him some nice wooden toys for Christmas) and Simplyput Paper. The weather was pretty chilly so it made for a good holiday vibe (it would be weird to shop for Christmas gifts in 72 degrees weather like we had on Friday). After some shopping we ate some yummy mexican food at La Fonda and then headed back home for some naps and to prepare for dinner.

We had our friends and their seven month old little boy over for dinner Saturday evening and I was super proud of Henry for practicing his sharing skills. To be fair, each time he shared a toy he would later take it back but we’re making progress! Sunday we had some other friends over for brunch with their little boy too. He and Henry are only 5 days apart and I am pretty sure they are gonna be bff’s and future heartbreakers/troublemakers. Jan and I love hosting and entertaining and it was the first time we could bust out the Christmas dishes and festive paper straws. We made a mini feast which included french toast, ham/egg/onion/pepper cups, fruit, scrambled eggs, sausage and some homemade bread courtesy of our friends. I may have eaten myself into a food coma. Since it was a rainy Sunday both the boys wore their Christmas jammies and looked too cute for words. I was wishing I had twin boys. My husband was not.

The rest of Sunday we enjoyed Christmas movie by the fireplace and I was even able to get a few hours of work in. This week I start 3 full days in the office with Henry going to daycare 3 days too. I hope he adjusts well and I hope I don’t miss him too much. Here’s to another week! 

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Weekend Wrap Up

I know mid week is a strange time to do a weekend wrap up but the past week at work has been so hectic (I have even been bringing stuff home with me to finish at night). A little crazy to say the least, but something that will soon pass so onto the Christmas Trees! The holidays are our favorite time of year. We love the 4 day long weekends and doing something Christmas themed every chance we get. I feel like our moods are better and more cheerful, and my husband and I always get along the best in December. We kicked off the Christmas season on Black Friday with picking out our tree. We always get it the Friday after Thanksgiving and decorate the whole weekend. This year we were driving by Lowe’s and they seemed to have a great assortment of tree’s at a great price. Unfortunately, when we got it home and set it up, it never fell right and looked dinky (one downside to having the trees wrapped up when shopping, you can’t see how they will eventually look). So the next morning we headed to Pike’s where we have gotten our tree the past 2 years and they always deliver. Last year was the first time getting a flocked tree and ever since then I was hooked. However this year was a no go on the tree since we didn’t want Henry eating any of the white stuff that falls off of it. Maybe again in 2014. Henry has been obsessed with pulling the ornaments off the tree and breaking the bulbs. The ornament death toll is now up to 4. Not sure what I was thinking when I decided to put glass balls on the tree …

{henry’s mini tree}

My brother and Dad were in town for the whole break and it was nice spending more time with them. On Sunday we had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then headed back to our house to smash some pumpkins with baseball bats and axes. Henry is infatuated with Uncle Max and loves being around him. He even sat in his lap while he read him a book (not shocking, it was Oh So Tiny Bunny).

I seriously cannot believe Christmas is in 3 weeks. We have hardly done any Christmas shopping. Where does the time go?

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