Exciting Announcement

Hi!!! Thanks to all of you for your kind words regarding our move! We're in the midst of inspections and negotiations and we a praying every day for things to work out! Meanwhile...I have an exciting announcement!

Earlier this year, I secretly applied to be a contributing writer for the Columbia SC City Moms Blog. I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid I might not be chosen! BUT...I was! I am so happy to announce that I will be writing for the Columbia City Moms Blog! I am so excited about this opportunity to connect with more readers on a subject that is so near and dear to my heart!

My first post is up today so head on over and check it out!

Thank you all for reading and following us on this crazy journey! There is so much more to come!

Life Lately: Big Updates

Hi! I'm just popping in really quickly to give you an update on our life lately! Things have been CRAZY, hence my spotty (at best) posting...

Around Christmas, Adam and I decided that in 2016, we needed to look into moving into a house that would give us a little more space. We absolutely LOVE our house and have lived here since we were married...with Adam living here alone for the year that we were engaged. So A LOT has happened in this house!

Well, a little less than five weeks ago, Adam and I decided to go ahead and start interviewing realtors to put our house on the market this spring. We found a realtor that we LOVE LOVE LOVE, met with her four weeks ago and put our house on the market two weeks ago!!!! We were kind of thinking we would wait until March or April, but our realtor said, "why wait?" and so we took the plunge!

Fast forward to last week...we received an offer on our house...and then went under contract...made an offer on a house we love...and then went under contract and here we are!?!?!?!?!

We are working on paperwork, looking forward to inspections, and slowly starting the packing process.

We are excited and sad and alllll of the emotions about all of this. This has been our home for almost seven years and we have poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this place! We still have a lot to get through before we close and we are saying lots of prayers that all of our inspections go well and things move as smoothly now as they have been!

Amidst all of this chaos, Chandler has decided that it's time to walk! She started off by working on standing on her own on about Tuesday, on Friday she took her first wobbly steps, and by Sunday afternoon she was speed walking around our kitchen! We are so proud...and maybe a little petrified about how we are going to get everything done with a walker! But overall this is just a really exciting time for us! 

Proud little angel! Now...to get through inspections and get our house packed up! I'll pop in as often as I can during this crazy time! Wish us luck! 

Any tips for packing and moving with a toddler on the move?

Toddler Books

We love to read at our house! Admittedly, Chandler really loves to take the books off the shelf or chew on the books just as much as she enjoys reading, but hey...at least she's playing with books, right? (Or at least that's what I keep telling myself...)

In the past several weeks, we have really noticed Chandler beginning to understand us and understand the stories that we read to her. She has gotten quite the little opinion as well. She won't hesitate to let you know when she doesn't want to read a certain book...her favorite method of showing you is to slam the book shut on your hand repeatedly until you get the message. Toddlers can be such a delight, can't they?

Some of her favorite books right now are:

The Going to Bed Book
by Sandra Boynton

Belly Button Book
by Sandra Boynton

The Napping House
by Audrey Wood and Don Wood

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

Giraffes Can't Dance
by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

I Love You Through and Through 
by Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak

What are some of your favorite toddler books? We welcome a little change up around here, because I mean we've only read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom like a million times this week!?!?!

Mom Jeans

Yep...Mom Jeans...

Let's not get it confused with these...

I have discovered the perfect "mom jeans". In the last year or so, J. Crew introduced their High-Rise Skinny Jeans and y'all...I. AM. HOOKED.

I currently own four pairs and I'm seriously contemplating buying more...let's bear in mind that I LIVE in jeans these days and I also live with a toddler...hence the reason why I need so many.

Side note: why is it that your toddler wants to give you a hug when she is covered in spaghetti...but not when she is clean?

If you're looking for some good high-rise skinny jeans, these are the ones! They come just below my belly button and really hold everything in. And truly, they don't look like mom jeans. They are trendy and let's say mom-friendly...'cause no one wants to see your crack when you're on your hands and knees picking up toys!

I just got the black and the sanford wash for Christmas and they are awesome! I HIGHLY recommend them...and great news...the sanford wash jeans are on sale!!!! 

Check it out!

What are your favorite "mom jeans"?

Bittersweet Birthday

This week is truly bittersweet. Our baby is turning one. I want, more than anything, to watch her grow up to be a beautiful, kind, smart, funny, outgoing, faithful young woman...but I also miss our baby. I miss the sweet baby snuggles. I miss holding her in my arms while she sleeps. I miss our one-on-one time when I was nursing her.

These past few weeks she has flown through the milestones. She breezed through the transition from army crawl to real crawling, going from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting. She is pulling up on whatever stable object she can get her hands on, and she is cruising around the house with her walker. I miss my baby.

But though I miss my baby, I am in love with this toddler. I love her smiles and her giggles. I love the way she sticks out her little booty when she pushes her walker. I love that as soon as her walker starts playing a new song she has to stop and dance to the music. I love that when she really likes a song she "sings" along. Our sweet girl can clap her hands to the beat and has that cute bouncy baby move down pat. 

She is eleven months and four weeks old...our baby is a toddler. We are so proud of her. Proud of her progress, proud of her big smile and her happy attitude. We love our sweet girl and while we miss our baby, we are so thrilled to watch this little angel continue to grow up. Friday is a bittersweet birthday. Our baby girl will be one, and we will have officially survived the first year. Cheers to many many more birthdays! We love you sweet Chandler!