Mother's Day :: (over) Two Months Late

I meant to post about Mother's Day in May, you know...around the time that it happened.

And then life just kept happening. Kind of like I thought this summer I'd print photos, make Harry's first year scrapbook, and make a "family video" of Harry's first (and going on second) year.

And none of that has happened (yet). I'm trying to think positive because there's still about a month left of summer...but I'm also okay if these things don't get done.

Anyway, back to Mother's Day! I tried Stitch Fix for the first time and absolutely LOVED it! I am hoping to get another fix for my birthday next month :)

If you don't know how it works you can click here for more info, but basically you pay $20 to have a stylist choose five items for you based on an extensive profile that you create by answering their questions about your body type and style. It's actually really fun to fill out.

The $20 you spend goes toward whatever you decide to keep. So you get your package in the mail.

SURPRISE! It's so much fun to try on these surprise items. It felt like Christmas morning! :)

You can try them out with accessories and other items in your wardrobe. You then have three days to decide what you want to keep and what you're sending back. They provide you with a bag to ship it in (postage already taken care of) so you just pop what you don't want back in the mail and they only charge you for what you kept.

If you love all five items you also get a 25% discount off the total. I loved 4/5 so I decided to just keep my top three and send two back.

Here are a few photos from my fix :)

I LOVED the green chevron dress (and it has pockets...so fun) and the lace top on the bottom right. The blue top wasn't my favorite straight out of the box, but once I decided to keep it...I ironed it and paired it with some coral cords, and I LOVED it! It turned out to be one of my VERY FAVORITE SHIRTS. I love the top right shirt, but not on me...it just fit me in the chest kind of funny, and the bracelet was gorgeous but I didn't want to spend too much so I settled on my three favorites.

These pictures look funny to me, but I forced Josh to play photographer right when I got my fix. I wish I would have taken better photos, but oh well.

I highly recommend trying it out! If you hate it all (which I doubt you will) you do lose the $20 styling fee...but I wanted to try it once just to see, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it turned out. 

If you end up wanting to try it out, click this link to tell StitchFix that I referred you and I'll get a $25 credit (that's a good deal right?!) :) They also have a blog, pinterest and instagram so you can follow along and get ideas for being more creative with your wardrobe. So fun!

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Harry sent me flowers at work for Mother's Day, which completely made my whole week!

 (thanks Josh for being so thoughtful!)

This year we went out to eat with both sides of our families, including both great-grandmas!

It was so nice to enjoy a long dinner with everyone we wanted to see on Mother's Day, and not have to leave one celebration early to meet up with the rest of the family.

Here's my sweet little family! I am truly one VERY blessed mama!

I wanted to take a photo of Harry with each of his grandmas. So sweet! :)

Grandma Matt :)

Grandma Lamb :)

And both great-grandmas!!!

Gigi (my grandma) on the left, and Great-Grandma Matt (Josh's grandma) on the right!

It was a wonderful weekend spent with the best moms, grandmas, and great-grandma's around!

Letter: 1.5 years

Dear Harry,

Today you have been part of our family for 18 months. From the moment we found out I was pregnant with you though, we knew life would never be the same.

I was just looking through photos from the first few days after you were born and I came across this photo of us touching noses. I thought I knew in that moment how much I loved you, but it was only a glimpse of what was to come!

In the past year-and-a-half you have brought so much laughter into our lives. Now that you are a toddler, and no longer our little baby, we are getting to know your personality so much more. Most of the time you are sweet, observant, silly, and happy...but there have been moments lately where you have shown us that you're testing us to see if "no" really means no, and we're trying to be consistent in teaching you what it means to obey your parents. I'm sure there will be many meltdowns in the coming months as you try to communicate, and also push back to figure out our boundaries...but I am eagerly awaiting it all!

When you were just tiny, I used to cry because I couldn't bear the thought of you growing up and changing. I loved you just the way you were and didn't want anything to change. But now you're changing every day, and watching you become an independent little person is the most amazing blessing! Now I welcome each new stage, and try to savor whatever you're currently saying/doing because I know tomorrow you will be different once again.

We've traded sleepless nights for very busy and active days. Every morning when you wake up, and when I put you to bed I thank Jesus that he chose your Dad and I to be your parents. And I pray that you will grow to know your heavenly Father in a deep and meaningful way that will change the course of your life!

Every day you teach me to be patient. Thanks to you, I am learning to Be present in the moment and just enjoy it for what it is (even the hard moments when you are frustrated and showing it with tears and tantrums). I know that these days will be gone in a snap so I pray daily that God will help me treasure these memories in my heart forever. 

I've certainly taken enough photos to last a lifetime ;)

Happy half birthday my handsome little man. Thank you for all of the kisses, hugs, tickles (or as you say "tiki-tiki-tiki"), tears, dancing and giggles.

God has changed my life so much since you've been around, that I honestly can't quite remember what it was like before I became your mom. I am a work in progress, and I know there will be many lessons learned on my part as I continue to figure out how to be a godly wife and mom. Thankfully Jesus is full of grace for me in my parenting, and I pray that he'll teach me how to extend that grace to you as you continue to grow, learn, make mistakes and sinful choices. You are so dearly loved and I hope that as we keep growing as a family you know that above all God has created you with His purpose in mind. I believe that he has great plans for you and I trust that He will show you His deep and unconditional love as you continue growing day by day.

Summer is halfway over, which means we still have another month of adventures to enjoy together. And as we move into Fall and approach your birthday this coming Winter, I cannot wait to celebrate your second round of holidays. I can only imagine how much more fun it will be to get your dressed up for Halloween, celebrate your second Christmas, and to watch you turn another year older. 

Happy 18 month "birthday" Harrison Levi!

I love you with my whole heart, today and always (especially on the hard days)!

Love you bud,

Mama

10 on 10 :: July 2013 :: Better Late Than Never

We had a wonderful trip to California just after the 4th. We went with no agenda, other than spending time with family (and of course we wanted to enjoy the sunshine and water). And that's exactly what we did.

I will post later this week with photos to highlight our trip...but for now here are 10 photos from the 10th. It wasn't the most sunny day of our trip, but it was certainly an enjoyable one!

Morning fog and water.

Remnants of yesterday's fun!

Relaxing the morning away.

Road trip.

First impressions.

Unsure about the waves and sinking sand, but after a while he warmed up!

Overcast but beautiful.

{Laguna Beach, CA}

Waiting for a table for lunch.

Trying to keep him occupied at a restaurant.

Drumming with forks seemed to do the trick, for a little while at least. 

Leisurely lunches are hard with toddlers.

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Click the Ten on Ten link on the sidebar for Rebekah's blog and more info about the project. My goal August is to actually post on the 10th ;)

29/52

"A portrait of Harrison, once a week, every week in 2013."

28/52

"A portrait of Harrison, once a week, every week in 2013."

27/52

"A portrait of Harrison, once a week, every week in 2013."

daily dose of summer | number 5

Sometimes doing dishes is as productive as it gets...

Chocolate chip banana brownies. Yum!

Another "milestone" ;)

Harry can now open all the doors in our house and the fridge. And there's no way to "baby-proof" our knobs because they're the handle kind that push down...

We're doomed!

What?!?! It's 7:30 and Harry is still SLEEPING?!?!

I'm a morning person. I'm sure I've said that once, or maybe a million times. I tend to tell the same stories again and again (which drives my hubby crazy).

Anyway, God blessed me with a son who also likes to get up early.

Let's go back. I am was a morning person...until having a kid and now that I can never sleep in, I don't enjoy getting up early anymore.

But today I set my alarm for 5:40am. Yes, on a summer day. I know. It's a little crazy, but being a mom will make you a little crazy at times. I laid in bed until 5:45 because CRAP that is way too early to be getting out of bed on a non-work day. After rolling out of bed and making myself some coffee I have to admit that it was COMPLETELY WORTH IT!

I've had nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted quiet time which means:

• I got caught up on my She Reads Truth devotionals (going on vacation kind of set me back a bit). 
• I actually wrote down my prayers in my journal...something that doesn't happen enough these days.
• I wrote two cards to two special friends :)
• My coffee was consumed without having to be reheated in the microwave (which usually happens two or three times, on a good day).

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[ photo edited with #abeautifulmess app ]

Thank you Jesus for this mroning. For extra sleeps from my little guy so that I could spend my morning reading your Word and spending time in prayer. You are so GOOD and I am so thankful for all that you've been teaching me lately, through She Reads Truth's "Women of the Bible" series, through Mars Hill's ACTS series...and just through time in your Word and in prayer.

Amen!

Amen

After I layed him down for bed, Harry was jabbering to himself in his crib for awhile, but his conversation with himself soon turned to tears. I'm not a stickler when it comes to sleep. Every night is different...sometimes he cries for a few minutes and then is out like a light. Other times he cries for a while but eventually goes to sleep. Most of the time he's asleep within a few minutes of being put to bed. I tried thought about "sleep training" for about a day and figured out that it didn't work for us...so we kind of went with the flow for a while and thankfully Harry has become a pretty good sleeper in his own way.

With that being said, there are nights like tonight when he has trouble getting to sleep. I let him cry for a while, waiting to see if he'd get to sleep on his own, but for whatever reason "crying it out" was not working. His sobs were just getting worse so I went in and gave him some snuggles. When he gets like this I usually pray for/with him and apparently that's just what he needed. He can now say amen after I pray (which seriously melts my heart). After "amen-ing" himself to sleep (literally saying "amen" over and over until he was asleep and whispering it to himself) he is currently snoring in my arms and it was too sweet of a moment to not write down.

So I'm blogging from my phone and enjoying his snuggly snores. Someday he'll be going off to college and rolling his eyes at me because I'm his mom. But for now he loves to snuggle so I better take advantage! ;)

This boy is such a wonderful (exhausting) blessing! I'm so thankful that I get to be his mama!!! 

daily dose of summer | number 4

I've got loads of photos and stories to post about from our Fourth of July, and trip to California...but here's a few photos to document some productive and enjoyable moments at home from this past week:

Ice water in a fun cup! 

Working out. Blogilates is kicking my booty but it feels good! 

Letting Harry make a mess and playing with him is always more fun than trying to keep things tidy!

Being productive at school means making a mess before it looks good. Excited about my summer purge and a fresh/clean room. One of the reasons being a teacher rocks...every year you get a fresh start!

Be Back Soon

We just got home from a lovely vacation in California. I have so many photos to share and write about from the past few weeks that it will take me a few days to get organized. 

Until then, I'll leave you with a sappy photo :) because today is our sixth wedding anniversary ❤

And here's a little Harry for those who really only read the blog to hear about him ;) 

First Sewing Project of the Summer

Josh always works on the Fourth of July. And with a 17 month old who goes to be relatively early, I had the evening to myself. I meant to get a few things done, but here's what I ended up doing instead:

FABRIC PLANNER COVER

(because the plastic cover just wasn't very cute, and I had fun fabric to use)