All Wrapped Up

I've got several pregnant friends right now. And all of them - no joke - ALL of them are having girls! 2013 must be the year of the girl! Many of these pregnant friends happen to be in my Sunday school class, and so we threw them a combined shower for these sweet second time moms. 

My job at the shower was to get the group gift (besides the diaper gift card). I take gift presentation pretty seriously, so I spent some time trying to come up with a clever way to wrap the gifts. Enter my mom...my go to gift wrap helper. 

I got the girls monogrammed pottery barn kid bath towels. The best baby bath towels out there if you ask me. To wrap the gifts, I bought Kraft paper from Container Store. Then I bought every roll of pink ribbon from Michael's (you just never know what will look right), and large pink diaper pins from amazon. For a final touch, I added the first initial of the baby's name to the bottom corner. 

I was happy with how they turned out....but more importantly, the mom's loved them and the gift inside. I love doing fun things for my sweet friends!

#ThrowbackThursday

I'm not throwing it back that far...really just an excuse to post some favorite memories of Connor!

Connor's first (and perhaps only) Easter photo shoot!

His 6 month photos back in May...the pout, I die!

One of his very first baths. I had forgotten about the days of the sponge baths, when he still had the umbilical cord (which took almost three weeks to fall out!)

The first time we captured his smile on camera iPhone. This momma was ready for a smile!

All dressed up for his first LSU bowl game, complete with football socks. #whynot

I love his expression here! He's on the buggy at school on Valentine's Day!

Practicing a little tummy time on our bed, and he was all gummy smiles!

Throwing it back to a few hours ago! Look at him pulling up to standing...it's his latest trick! So proud of himself!

He was NOT having the family photo!

Naked baby newborn photo...beyond precious!

We take monthly pics of Connor, and this 5 month expression melts my heart. 

Our little family at Connor's baptism. It took several takes to get this cute expression!

Maybe I'm obsessed with the baby? I'm okay with that! The days are long, but the years are short. I'm soaking in the blessing of being his mommy!

Children's Museum

We went to the Tot Spot at the Houston Children's Museum for the first time last week and Connor had a blast! He loved crawling around - and he did so great crawling up and down the steps, tunnels and ramps! He pulled up to his knees to give himself kisses in the mirrors. He loved the spinning wheels of baby pictures, and of course the ball pit! He lasted almost two hours before realizing it was nap time!

Everything goes in this boy's mouth...luckily, the balls in here had just been cleaned! 

I love July and all of my time off with my sweet boy!

Pigeon Ford: Family Vacation

Hey, it's me again! Doing my bi-annual blog post. I was creeping around on some friend's blogs tonight (Sam, Tiffanie, Katie, Sara...I'm looking at you) and then decided I might as well post, too.

This month we celebrated Jeremy's folks 40th wedding anniversary with a family trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Never heard of it? I hadn't either until we started planning. It's in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. We stayed in a beautiful four-story cabin with a breathtaking view. We had a great time.

Before we joined the family for the week, our little family of three spent a few days (including Jeremy's birthday and the 4th) in Nashville. As a lifelong country music fan, I soaked the country music capital in. Literally...since it rained everyday we were there. My favorite thing we did was tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. We had Carrie Underwood/The Band Perry tickets to the Opry, but we didn't last long there because the munchkin was ready for bed.

After Nashville fun, we headed to the smoky mountains and we stayed in Pigeon Forge Ford for the week. We had a really great time with all of the Ford's. We went to Dixie Stampede, drove through the park, had a picnic, and lots of other outdoor things. Connor mostly enjoyed crawling, as he was still pretty new to being so mobile. He also had fun "playing" with his one year old cousin, Dominic, as much as babies actually "play".

Here are a few pics!

Go ahead and swoon over his adorable 4th of July smocked outfit! I had the camera out while we were waiting in line at the Hall of Fame!

We went all the way to Nashville to ride the carousel at the mall. But look at the smile on his face! We were killing some time before the Opry!

With his 91-year old great grandmother, Mimi in Rocky Mountain National Park! What a view!

He loved sticking his hand in the water trough at the picnic and splashing!

Playing in his outdoor playpen his Nana and Pops brought for him. See the orange ball...that's what made him finally start crawling, instead of just rocking back and forth, reaching his arms and belly flopping!

The Ford's. And yes, we are wearing matching t-shirts. Why not? And of course they are purple & gold!

Adore this picture of my boys!

Since I've Been Gone

Hi, there. Remember me? Didn't think so, since I haven't blogged since November 2011. WOW. Time to get back in the game. So, I'll give blogging another go. You're jumping out of your seat with joy, aren't you? Settle down, folks. It's just me!

A lot has happened in a year and three months. I'll spare you all of the details (holidays, birthdays, vacations, a bad haircut, the end of Gossip Girl, etc.) and cut to the chase. We had a baby! Our lives have totally changed (how cliche, right?)! But oh so true!

We were pretty surprised when we found out we were pregnant in March 2012! What an exciting year we had in store. Preparing for Baby Ford's arrival was really fun - decorating the nursery, showers, registering, swollen ankles, classes, and just so much anticipation we could hardly stand it. It was fun to spend so much time with the hubs getting ready for this next chapter!

Connor was born November 4, 2012 and weighed in at a hefty 10 pounds and 3 ounces. Our little nugget is the center of our world. Maybe I'll share my birth story later...don't worry, it's not gory. I (obviously) had a c-section since I practically gave birth to a toddler. Yes, he was holding his head up on his own in the hospital. We call him "advanced."

This was the first time I held my baby. I just can't explain the joy that was overflowing from my heart!

I love being Connor's mom. I feel like this is what I was called to do. He is a miracle, and daily I thank God for giving us this sweet, happy baby! These last few months have been the happiest of my life. Being a mom is beautiful, rewarding, exhausting and just really, really fun. I highly recommend it. And getting to do it all with Jeremy...it just doesn't get any better.

I'll stop for now, after all, it's only my first blog post in 15 months. Don't want to get too crazy.

Love,
B

Maybe you saw me on TV?

We were those people yesterday. The ones crashing College Game Day, not wearing the school colors. But, we couldn't help ourselves when Game Day came to Houston for the UH game. We spent Friday night working on our masterpieces - signs - and I must admit, they were pretty impressive. We got lots of attention carrying our LSU signs, dressed in purple and gold in a sea of red. It was a blast!

Check us out! Our friend Jacques is holding my sign (my arms were getting so tired...)

Geaux Tigers,

B

OK, okay, I'm back...

After weeks, no months of virtually disappearing, I'm going to give blogging another whirl. So many of you, okay, ONE of you, demanded my comeback. So, here we go!

Since I've been gone, here is what I've been up to:

1. Attending as many LSU games as possible! Geaux Tigers! #1 team in the nation!

2. Obsessing over Pinterest. But, who isn't?

3. Spending every Friday night for the past 11 weeks with the SBS Varsity cheerleaders. Love my girls!

4. Baking, baking and more baking.

5. Reading. Most recent favorite book - The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. LOVED!

6. Starting a diet, stopping a diet, starting a diet.

7. Jazzercising. Don't judge. It's four minutes from my house.

8. I don't miss an episode of Modern Family!

9. Celebrating with friends in the joy of their new babies! Sara, Brooke, Misty, Amy!

10. Celebrating 30th birthdays with my sweet friends - Joy in October and Kim in November.

11. Shopping, but not nearly enough!

12. J and I took a Birkman Couples Workshop at church and leaned so much about ourselves and each other. It was incredible. If you ever have the chance to take this test, do it. Totally worth the money!

13. Not blogging (obviously). Sorry...

14. Still spoiling Charley rotten! Of course!

15. Work, work, work! Blessed to work at such a great place!

I know this was short, and contained no pictures, but hey - gotta start somewhere!

Have a great week,
B