New one for the walls

I had a groupon for a canvas that expires today, so I ordered this one in a big one for our room!


Her eyes seem to be staying bright blue! Crossing our fingers it's permanent, but I know they can still change. Since Drew's eyes are greenish/hazel, there are no guarantees, but they are pretty light, so we will see!


That's the headband I made last week! Love those colors, and especially those little ruffle bloomers!

5 month angel face

Happy 5 months little one!


It's getting a lot harder to take these pictures since I have a mobile monster.


She sits up like a champ now, and as of this weekend she crawled forward a couple times. She hasn't figured out how to do it intentionally yet, so I won't say she's crawling, but she's moving around and it's about to get crazy up in here. Time to baby proof!


as usual, she can't get enough of those big old feet


Gosh I love that little face!

Nursery Prints

Lately I've been making some nursery prints for some of my mommy friends and framing them as baby shower gifts. I've done giraffes, birds, butterflies, jungle animals, ballerinas etc...

Here is the one I made for Leighton's room. I love this quote so so much!


I love that it's a personal touch and can be customized for their nursery colors, too. Seriously, I'm thinking about opening an etsy shop! If only I had more time...

HIghchair DIY update

I finished Leighton's antique highchair re-vamp for her first birthday!

It was a really easy DIY project. I just sanded it down to remove any gloass finish that was left so that the paint would stick. Using a sponge brush I painted on a couple thin coats of the paint. It is the Glidden brand in "sweet corn" color. I think the result turns out a lot better with a sponge brush because it doesn't leave any brush marks, and doing a few thin coats, letting it dry a full 24 hours between each coat, rather than 1 or 2 thick coats keeps it from clumping and leaving drop marks. Once I was finished with the color, I finished with a top coat of a Polycrylic finishing coat in a glossy finish. Perfect!

Here is the before...


during...


with a little helper...


and here is the after!




Clearly I went with yellow and I love it!

Someone also worked in a little playtime with dad while mom worked

Def. Mother

Love this!

In her OWN Room!

Our goal was to move Leighton into her own room at 4 months. She has been sleeping beside the bed in her Rock N Play (which is my MUST HAVE if you're going to have a baby - more on that later...I have a post with our favorite baby gear coming soon). We decided 4 months was the time to move her as the SIDS risk goes down at 4-6 months, and she's sleeping through the night, so the convenience for me of having her next to the bed is pretty much gone.

So, we pulled the trigger last week and moved her over. First night was a little rocky - she woke up at 1 and (I am guessing) got disoriented, so I couldn't get her back to sleep, and every time I did, she woke up. At 4:30 she finally fell back asleep. It was a long night. BUT...the next night, I put her down at 7:00, she woke up at 4 ish for a little nibble, fell back asleep till 9:30, um Heck yes, I'll take it! Pretty much every night since then has been about the same. I rock her till she's in a half-sleep and then put her in her crib and let her toss and turn for about 15 mins until she is completely asleep. I am scared of rocking her completely so sleep and then creating a beast that will only go to sleep with my assistance (I have mom friends who have warned me of this) and so far so good! I must say, it's sad to let go and transition to a new big girl stage, but she is sleeping so well, since it's darker and the dogs and drew and me aren't making noises to disrupt her deep sleep.

We have the summer infant baby touch video monitor, which I HIGHLY recommend, so we can keep an eye on her, and/or listen for her, AND we always chuckle at the interesting positions she finds to sleep in.



In the mornings after I hear her wake up, I let her chill in the bed for about 15 minutes before I go get her, and this is what I come to rescue.



I mean...what a happy sweet girl!

Sunday evening

There is no better way to end the week and start a new one than rocking my angel to sleep

Sunday crafting

Working on some new bows and headbands for my baldie :)



I think I'm going to have to open an etsy shop with all these supplies.

Owl head

It was cold in Gainesville last week, so bitty got to wear her favorite owl hat ONE MORE TIME! I'm having separation anxiety. Must order new owl hat for next winter like ASAP!


Loving her Mi!!!

Peanut is going bald!

Bitty was born with reddish brown hair, and it was a receding hairline/mullet if you will. Party in the back, business up front. And then last weekend, it fell out. She just became bald! So now I have a little baldie baby girl, and it cracks me up! If you look closely, you can actually see that blondie blonde peach fuzz is growing in, but I believe it will be a while before it fills in, so until then, she'll be sporting some big ole bows on that cute little fuzzy head of hers. We just ordered a whole load of new colorful bows! yippee

Chic Fil A - Healthy and at Home!

I was reading an article about the horrible ingredients in Chic Fil A's fast food. Look I know everyone loves Chic-Fil-A chicken - it just tastes different than that other fast food, but, it's still fast food, and thus full of crappy preservatives and ingredients that are just plain bad for you. The Food Babe posted her Chic-Fil-A investigation and a recipe for making chic-fil-a flavored chicken at home and in a healthier way, so naturally we had to try it.


Here's how it went down:

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts equaling about 1 pound
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup pickle juice
1 1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp baking soda

Optional: whole wheat hamburger buns & pickle slices

Directions
Marinating:

About 4 hours before or the day before – Cut chicken breasts in half making 4 similar size pieces and pound the chicken to ½ inch thick.



Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp paprika and place in a bag with 1 cup pickle juice. Let marinate for at least 4 hours to one day prior to baking.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Make dredging station:
In one bowl, combine and stir flours, sugar, baking soda, 1 tsp paprika, dry mustard.



In another bowl, whisk egg and almond milk together.



Remove chicken from marinade and dredge one piece of chicken at a time in egg bath, ensuring each side is wet and dredge in flour mixture coating each side. (Make sure you don't make the flour coating too thick - I made this mistake the first time and it's better a little bit on the thinner side)



Spray wire rack with oil or butter to prevent sticking and place each flour coated chicken piece on the wire rack with pan on bottom. Spray each piece liberally with olive oil covering both sides.



Place tray of chicken in oven and after 12 minutes, turn each piece of chicken over. Let bake for anotehr 12-15 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Take out of the oven and let rest at least 5 minutes.



We added some corn and sugar snap peas as some good old southern sides. Who needs waffle fries?!



Guess what?! It really did taste like chic-fil-a, and I felt good about eating it and not like I need an extra work out in the morning. Point for us.

It's a cookie dough kinda night

Sometimes I make cookies for no reason, and sometimes I eat more of the dough than the cookies. only sometimes, it's really hard to say how often.


My little sister makes these cookies all the time, and they're pretty stellar

Alex's Cookies
1 stick of butter
1/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (obvi more)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (obvi a little more)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c flour
1.5 cup oats
1.5 cup White and milk choc chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, soda, salt. Mix in oats and chips.

Love.

4 months

Oops these are a little late, she's a little closer to 5 months, but here we go!