Morning

We have a pretty awesome routine down in the morning:

Papa leaves for work.

Miles and I sleep in.

Kid eats a banana every morning with eggs, cereal or oatmeal.

I make my rounds throughout the house to draw the blinds, straighten out the couch, pick up toys.

Miles watches cartoonies.

Mom catches up on computer stuff then joins baby on the couch.
By this point Miles has tried on a billion hats, made a mess of his breakfast, thrown his books around and turned on the record player while watching t.v.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Feeling festive

 Well, I'm pretty sure this is everyone's favorite time of year. Am I right!? Holidays and sweaters and all things pumpkin! It's been some time since working on any crafts for my home, so I whipped up this wreath to greet the first days of fall and I LOVE it! I've never made one before and to be honest I always thought wreaths were a little "old lady-ish"  but seriously, I'm a changed woman! I can't wait to make one for winter too. I didn't want to go too crazy with Halloween decoration but I love our spider garland and Miles had fun putting the bats on the windows. Holiday's are so much better with kiddos! I can't wait to celebrate Halloween with him this year. Last year he was just on the verge of walking and even though he had the coolest strong man outfit, he was still just too little to enjoy the holiday fun but this year is going to be so much better with my big boy!

This & That

Camp Wolf is pretty much consuming my brain these days and as it should be because we are set to launch in a matter of WEEKS! Cristin and I have been working our buns off to make this happen. It's pretty surreal that a tiny dream is now becoming a really exciting reality! Besides CW business, I have been day dreaming of Autumn, cool weather, layers of clothes and fun holidays. Is that crazy to be wishing for these things when we have that weather pretty much 9 months out of the year here in Portland!? With thoughts of fall comes the reality that my little pal's second birthday is in four months and I know that time is going to FLY by. Lately, we've been working on Miles' room, making it geared more towards him and less about my office/storage space. We recently got a big boy bed for him and even though we still plan on co-sleeping, we wanted to introduce him to naps on it to eventually make the transition easier. I'm so excited about painting his walls and adding new art and shelves! I'll be posting a DIY tutorial of felt pennants I made for his walls soon. I haven't been working on too many crafts lately so having to re-due his room is an excellent excuse to surf Pinterest for fun, affordable room ideas.

A steady home

Well, we are back home and happy. I'm missing my family terribly but I absolutely love being home with hubby. It has taken me a good week to start feeling back to normal around here. I promise you that I finally just unpacked our suitcases tonight, blahh. Two naps a day, bananas and peanut butter, thrift shops, post office, dinner prep, dad's home around 6, catch up on our fave shows, bath time... it's all pretty basic stuff but I'm thankful to have a routine somewhat back in action. I know I haven't been keeping up on the blog lately and frankly I've felt a little lackluster towards the whole blogging world over the past few months. Since Instagram keeps me vaguely up to speed on what my favorite mama bloggers are up to, I feel like my time has been more directed towards mellowing out with Miles at night and getting to be early instead of being on the computer till 2 (Ahem, like tonight!). I have a few awesome DIY plans for next week, fun projects too! Plus, our vacation photos!!

Around the house

Oh hey! It's been a while since we did a little house tour. Not too much has changed over the last few months but I thought I would share where me and boy spend most of our time. 

 I know our house is pretty cluttered with "stuff" but that's what makes this place our home.

 I love our plants corner! Steve takes really good care of all of our greens and surprisingly Miles doesn't mess with them.

Read on for more photos.

Back to reality

Hey ya! We are back in Portland and really excited to be home with papa! Spending time with my sister and girls was so much fun but being away from Steve for that long was pretty tough on all three of us. Miles and I started feeling funky toward the end of our trip and I was really worried that he was going to have a difficult time on the flight home but thankfully he crashed out immediately and woke up mellow the last 10 minutes before landing. Thank you, Lawd! Fortunately, I'm feeling much better now thanks to extra sleep and vitamin C and for my little scout, he still has a pretty snotty nose but the last few days we have been recharging with naps, movies and needy cats. Rough! Finally today I started to sort through M's winter clothes (really just his 12-18 month stuff) and boy oh boy does that child of mine have way to much stuff! I started buying clothes for him when I was pregnant and as the crazy frugal thrifter that I am, I was able to afford and hoard bins of clothes for him all the way up to 2 years old before he was even born. One little kiddo doesn't really need 7 jean jackets, about a billion cardigans and 12 OshKosh overalls... for starters. My goal for this weekend is to thin out his wardrobe (just a wee bit) and price new merchandise for my mall space and hopefully some of Miles' clothes will end up there too. Next week Ill post photos from our trip, share all of our awesome thrift finds and talk about what it's like to travel with a little one.

Thank you everyone who entered last weeks giveaway! Rachel Laveen is the winner.

In with the new!

 I'm a major nut for rearranging and accumulating things for my home and luckily since I thrift shop so often I usually find awesome things on the cheap! I have actually been on the look out for a cool booster seat for Miles but was avoiding Etsy and other online shops because of high shipping costs. Last week I made a quick pop in to my space at the antique mall and because the wee one was sleeping I made a fast run through to check out the new merchandise. Well what do you know, I found the sweetest seat at an even sweeter price for my boy and let me tell ya, he loves it! The wood and leather are super easy to clean because these days there is cracker and cookie mushy stuff on everything.
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 Two Sundays ago while driving to work I passed a yard sale by my house with this super radical lamp on the lawn. I was so annoyed that I couldn't stop and snag it before anyone else could but luckily when I came home that evening my sweet hunk of a man bought it for me. He even found a good spot for it next to our bitchen' religious art. It unfortunately didn't come with a shade but thankfully I had this cool fiberglass one given to me by a girlfriend just waiting to be used. Check out the awesome light inside the green base!
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While my mom was visiting last month she stopped into my neighborhood Goodwill and found this awesome wood folding divider for $10. Sadly, it's missing two top pieces but never the less its pretty dang cool. Miles has been getting into everything lately including our plants. Remember these fun plant stands I scored? Well, my mischievous boy kept pulling them down so to save the headaches papa moved the screen in front of the stands to help divide the plants from the kid. I thought instantly he would try to knock over the screen (only a matter of time) or pull the stands from underneath but luckily he hasn't been interested. I'm sad that I cant enjoy my pretty plants right now but at least this way they still get plenty of sun.
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The winner to last weeks All About Heidi giveaway is Janelle! Thank you everyone who entered!

Views on a Thursday night

Our home is extra peaceful tonight. I don't know if its because over the last few weeks our house has been filled with family and noise but whatever the reason is I sure am loving this place right now. Miles went to bed tonight around 8 which is earlier then usual so I just sat with him in bed and read my book while nursing a headache. Papa was at a friends house catching up with his buddies so I took the opportunity to just lay still next to my sleeping son and enjoy the silence. Usually once Miles goes to sleep I seize the moment by cleaning up the home, finish left craft projects or catch up on emails but tonight I really just wanted to be still. The wee one woke up around 12 AM with a burst of energy ready to p-a-r-t-y! He was such a goof. I swear this kiddo laughs at everything! So for about 30 minutes Miles and I cruised around our home snacking on carrots and baby pinwheel crackers till he fell asleep in my arms. Man, do I love being a mom! At the ripe old age of almost 8 months old (!!!) Miles is just a super happy, growing, beautiful boy who REALLY makes me a complete person.

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Its been a little over a week since Steve and I got married! FUN! Ive got to tell you that the planning and preparing was not so fun. Both our families arrived a few days before the celebration to help improve our backyard for the party. They were all such wonderful help not to mention the company was great! Ive got to say that in situations like these I become a complete freak with details. It can be a little daunting when your the only one out of everyone who sweats the little stuff. The reverend was scheduled to arrive at our home at 5:45 to marry us at 6 so Steve and I left our home 30 minutes before the ceremony to take photos in our neighborhood. After the photos we headed back home and ended up waiting around for what seemed like FOREVER. I called the reverend 6 times to find out what the hell was going on because truthfully at this point I was starting to seriously worry/panic/freak out- still no answer. I felt  heartbroken! Why was this woman doing this to us!? We had worked so hard on writing such a beautiful ceremony and our backyard looked perfect and our families were here and we were all dressed up... I wasn't really sure what to do. She was over an hour late. In a normal day one hour goes by fairly fast but on your wedding day to be one hour late feels like eternity! Im sure I was a total wreck during those moments because its pretty much a blur to me. I know we took family photos during that time and eventually my mom ushered me into my room for some alone time with Miles while I fed him (that actually helped my nerves). When the reverend finally arrived she apologetically told us that she had the times misunderstood and that her phone wasnt working. Still that was lame. I wasn't happy and my mom was furious but thankfully she was here now and we were just so excited to finally get married. During the waiting time, our photographer-friend told us that her husband (whom Steve is good friends with) was ordained and would be willing to come down and marry us if needed. Hell yes! He was awesome and arrived super fast with their sweet daughter in tow. What a good friend indeed! Even though he didn't end up marrying us, it was still so cool to have our friends join us for the party.

    Besides the waiting, the rest of the evening was an absolute dream and the ceremony was beautiful thanks to my darling husband, loving family and supportive friends.

DIY time!

 HELLO! Thought I would come back from a week long brake and share a pretty cool DIY with you foxy friends. For my baby shower my sister had our friends and family write special notes to Miles, papa and me on parenthood tips and messages of love to baby Miles. I finally thought of a super easy and cute way to display our special notes in the kiddos room by tying them to a small branch I found in our backyard. You could easily clothespin photos to the branches or hang jewelry off of them as well! Here are a few more ideas I came across on Pinterest 1 2 3

By the way- One week as a married woman!!

Color pop

I scooped up this brass wall basket from my mom's home last year during an estate sale she was having. This brassy baby has been extra useful at night for my phone, Nook, diapers, binkys...stuff you need at arms reach at 3 in the morning! Since painting our walls a more dramatic shade I really wanted to bring in more pops of bright colors and I figured pink would do just the trick.

Hey, baby long legs!

These barkcloth curtains are super cool. They help brighten the room a lot and the print is way funky!

Happy Home

 I picked up these hairpin leg plant stands for $10 last week at a flea market. Seriously, such cool finds!! Ive been needing a little motivation to change around my living room and these did just the trick. I only focused on rearranging half of the room during bubbies nap but I am so happy with how it turned out. Moving the large plants away from the front windows opened the living room up a lot and exchanging an unused chair for a more comfortable lounge chair made so much more sense. Miles and I are loving this bright space for our morning reading time!

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 Before

Home is where I want to be

These three buds and myself hung out in bed till almost 11:00 yesterday morning! Honestly, the entire day looked a lot like this and it ruled so hard. There are some days that I just don't want to run errands all day schlepping baby in and out of the car and with the return of rain this week I leaped at the opportunity to stay dry in our warm home. Proudly we only left the house once to Trader Joes to pick up rosemary bread, oatmeal soap bars and chocolate pretzel yum yums (obviously this was an important TJ trip) but other then that we parked our asses in front of the TV and watched The Holiday and Rango with frequent snoozing and playing breaks. Tonight when papa came home he kindly removed my armful of Miles and shared sweet laughs and beard pulling with baby. The rest of the evening we ate great food, listened to records and backtracked on a few missed episodes of Mad Men. All in all it felt damn good to be indoors with my wee one doing as little as possible for a change.

 Monday Miles and I went to Home Depot for more paint, Babies R' Us for a shower gift, Target for picture frames and shitwedon'tneed, picked up lunch from a burrito joint, ran through two thrift stores, came home priced merchandise, played lots with babe and then hair color appointment from 6:30 to 10:00. My days look like that way too often and I would like to better manage my to-do lists so that I can accomplish my chores throughout the week instead of jam packed running around everyday. Tuesday felt too sweet to not happen more often.

 

Around the house

I bought these old wooden milk crates from Craigslist weeks ago to display my boots and bags at the mall space. I ended up bringing the extra ones home that we used as end tables next to the couch and beside the rocking chair. Their a really rad magazine and record holder and with the added shelf we can store smaller books or knick knacks. With one left over I gave it to papa and he nailed it to the wall and used it as a painting easel (brilliant!). These crates were an awesome find and make for cool looking affordable side tables.

Change

Once I had my baby babe and put my job on pause I realized that Miles and I have waaay to much time on our hands now. We sing and dance to records, go for ice cream walks, thrift shop, rearrange our home and a little in between. During the winter time our house plants need a little extra TLC so I move most of them to bright window sills around the house for maximum love. We're pretty fortunate to have great big windows throughout our home but the living room is where most of our not so healthy plants end up going. After we took the Christmas tree down a while ago I wanted to move a few things around. I took out a chair that nobody sat on, moved around the plants and made a switch for the rocking chair which we use the hell out of. A small number of changes but I like it!

Before

(read on for After)

Monday Mornings

Steve's family took off today to head back to Idaho. It was a lovely visit and really special to see them with their first grandbaby. Also let me just say having four extra hands around the house to love up and hold baby M was delightful! I took a nice long nap both Saturday and Sunday just because and it was magical (even though I had a baby on my chest for one of those naps..still!) I think today I may head out to a few thrift stores I don't usually make it to and I may just have papa watch the babes while I run my errands. Things are certainly getting into a smooth groove around here and we're loving it! Our home is really mellow around winter time and having Miles join our lives has held no exception. The cats are extra lazy and seem to forget about how much they hate each other in agreeance to share the bed at night. Theres talk of having a dog join our family this summer but for now we have our hands full with a baby and two stupid cats.

Nation wide thrift store finder is AMAZING!

This butter dish makes me so happy! Yup, a butter dish folks!

Loving these boots.

Such creative business cards.

Four new favorite blogs 1 2 3 4 

Papa and my next project!

I sort of have a baby boy shoe obsession going on... Alright and a big boy one too.

Adorable DIY valentines.

Overload of cuteness in this online children's magazine. 

This mama is amazing! 

What a beautiful wedding. Swoon! (make sure to check out part two of it)

Happy Monday friends.

Hi, Hello!

Hey guys! I miss it around here. Lots of sweetness is happening around my home lately. Miles is changing every day and weighs almost 13 pounds and is 24 inches long now! Say what!? Yup, hes a biggie. Its sort of funny because we actually had a hard time getting him back up to his birth weight for the first three weeks. I started obsessing over his eating, not to mention the lactation specialist had filled us in that I have thrush. So because my poor boobies were in pain and were medicating we had to formula feed him half of the time. Once we started formula he gained weight in no time and I could start worrying about the next thing to happen...you know its the truth, that's how our new mommy brains work! If I can brag for a moment and say that Papa and I are so very blessed to have radical child. He is a wonderful sleeper, enjoys the car, LOVES to eat and rarely cries (but totally does fuss, hes not a robot baby!) Hes having a hard time not sleeping on my chest at night so our goal this week is to be repetitious with him laying on his back in my arm nook. Not only is he just too heavy to sleep on me now but its becoming a real pain on my neck and back. 

Miles, papa and I are heading to southern California to show off our wee one to friends and family the beginning of March. We cant wait for sunny days and family love! Papa is staying for a few days but babe and I are going for almost two weeks, Hell yes vacation! 

For some reason music wasnt a huge part of my life during my pregnancy and its very unlike me. So lately Ive been picking up a few records here and there and am really loving music time at home with M. We dance around the living room and he smiles when I sing terribly off key to him. I cant wait till hes a little tyke and we can sing our favorite songs together! Now ya'll have to know that I am way out of touch with pretty much all new music so our jams usually consist of Thin Lizzy, The Stones, Nina Simone and lots of 70's southern rock. Miles sure doesn't mind. 

(Read on for a major picture overload)