Patty-Cakes

About four months ago I took MC to have her Patty-Cakes made. The girls had had theirs done when they were wee babes, so of course we had to have a matching shadow box made for little sister. (I am the slacker that hasn't gotten them hung, so no pictures of them yet. Soon! I promise.)

Although I made the appointment just to have her little prints bronzed and framed, I ended up leaving as a licensed Patty-Cake consultant!! It takes about 10-12 weeks to get an order back, and I'm excited to show off some of my first impressions!

Baby B snoozed through our appointment so she was very relaxed...which made for these perfect prints!

Baby S decided to grace us with his presence WAY early, so his nurse actually took these prints when he was just a day old. Both of his hands and feet fit on ONE PATTY!!!

He is quite the fighter and I'm happy to announce that he is finally at home and growing like a weed!

I had the honor of meeting this sweet family and creating a shadow box for them. Baby F was born with an extremely rare condition where she had a large duplication of chromosome 16 that latched on to chromosome 19.  Her mom tells about their journey here. I was very excited to get this shadow box completed because I know it means a lot for her parents to get to see her little hand and foot again.  

 

I have enjoyed meeting these babies and making these lasting impressions for their parents and grandparents. Now that I'm home, I've been able to focus more time on patty-caking and am really excited about the projects I'm currently working on.

Feel free to tell your friends with babies! :)

The Big Easy

Week one is in the books. My new boss can be pretty demanding. She even makes me work nights and weekends. The nerve!

Day one was perfect! She played ever so sweetly while I did laundry, vacuumed, and basically cleaned the whole house. Day two...not so much!!! I couldn't leave the room without her screaming...which, she's not much of a crier (unless its meal time) so this was very uncharacteristic. At one point she was trying to play, even had a toy in each hand, and was still crying. The next day I had to take her to get a couple of shots, so I asked if the doctor would give her a general tune up. As it turned out.. MC is in perfect health and is teething! Teeth! Pesky little suckers. However, thanks to Sophie the Giraffe and Children's Tylenol, the rest of the week was much better!

That was also G's 13th birthday week! She woke up on birthday morning to a balloon avalanche and birthday week decorations!

After school we had a celebratory birthday dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. With an owl cookie cake!!!

Look at these sweet friends! Such pretty girls!

Last week Husband had a business trip to New Orleans and I decided to tag along with him. My parents came down to keep MC, and I'm sure she was spoiled beyond imagination!

While he was in class all day, I roamed around the city and checked out the French Quarter, Garden District, Warehouse District...

I also slept late and took naps...just because I could! 

Does it mean that I'm old if I consider 8:00 am sleeping in these days!?

 

We did have a fun get away, even if it was a work trip, and I know Honey and Papa had a blast with this little girl.

It definitely looks like she had a great time with them!

...and just in case if you're wondering what typing a post looks like for me now. Here ya go!

Life is soooo good! :)

The Last Day

Sorry to leave you hanging about my news, but we've had a lot going on lately and the blog had to take a quick back seat. So, here it goes....

After much consideration, Husband and I decided that I would stay at home with our little one!! Whoop, Whoop!!!! And look at this face! I think she's as pumped as I am about this new arrangement.

Friday was my last day of work and my fabulous coworkers had a Melabration!

bhahahahahahaha!

We had a traditional celebratory breakfast, which consisted of the usual breakfast items-bagels, quiche, sausage + egg, etc...as well as cookies and cupcakes for an afternoon snack! So much fun with such wonderful friends!!

Then there's this guy...Mike. He hired me way back in 2007. He calls me Melski, and underneath that business facade he's a closet hippie that hitch-hiked his way across the US in the 70s, and would rather get a homemade present than a store bought gift any day. Oh, and he makes his own beer. If that doesn't make him the best boss ever, I don't know what does!!! No day was ever the same with this guy around!

He gives out his 'rock star' award. They are actual rocks that he writes on and gives out to people that have had comments made about them to him directly. Then a picture of the two of you goes on his 'Wall of Fame.' He surprised me at the breakfast with a sweet speech and awarded me with the one-of-a-kind, multi-colored rock that he brought back from Maine. (remember, I told you he was a hippie)

Leaving was bitter sweet. Those guys were more than just co-workers. We've been together for over 5 years and they're more like family than anything else. Then I just think that I was spending 5 hours a week with this girl and 10 hours a week in my car going to and from work...I know that I'm doing what is best for us, and I'm soooo thankful to be able to stay home with her.

I've never, not worked. Even before I could drive I was babysitting. This is going to be quite the adjustment, but I'm up for the challenge. I know my house isn't going to be as clean as I think it can be and some days Baby Girl is going to be more demanding and cry all day...like Tuesday...and I'll feel like I'm doing everything wrong. But we'll figure it out.

Please keep us in your prayers during this transition and feel free to send me any baby instruction manuals that you may have!

Hi there!

Hello friends! Life has been pretty crazy with us this past month with lots of changes and things to update you on...but more on that later. 

Until then, I wanted to let you know that we are, in fact, still alive and well.

I'll leave you with these pictures for comparison:

Myself as a wee babe

 

MC this morning

Clearly, she is her father's child. :)

Stay tuned for my big news....

Just call me Suzie

Suzie Homemaker, that is! Perhaps this whole motherhood thing has inspired me to be crafty...domestic even. Or maybe its just a phase. Either way, I've made some things...one of which is FOOD related! Here's your proof.

Exhibit A: Game Day attire for Miss Priss

Exhibit B: Baby Food. With a real sweet potato that I baked and pureed all by my self!

AND....drum roll please....SHE'S STILL ALIVE!

Exhibit C: Alive and appears to be happy about my mad cooking skills.

She also assisted me in doing the grocery shopping, but was not at all impressed.

Exhibit D: This is how she feels about 27 registers and only 4 being open.

I know this isn't the proper way to ride in this cart cover, however, Girlfriend was falling asleep and her head kept bobbing...so, I let her get cozy. Whilst perusing the fruit, a sweet older lady stopped me and said, "Shug, I see those fat little legs sticking up and just have to look in there to see what they belong to."

Quite possibly one of my favorite quotes of all time.

XO bid day

Eleven years ago, I went through sorority rush  just so that I could move into my dorm room one week early and avoid the madness they call "Welcome Weekend." I just wanted to meet people and have my room set up before school started, I wasn't going to be a sorority girl.

HA!

Little did I know what was about to happen. Not only did I pledge Chi Omega, but I LOVED it and the people I met there litterally changed my life. I met my best friends. I got involved in all kinds of organizations on campus that I would have never known about AND was allowed to serve my chapter in some leadership roles. Those girls believed in me. They encouraged me. They were my home away from home (literally, as I lived in the sorority house).

As a grown up, I'm now a part of the Advisory Board and I like to host the Chi O Bid Day party at my house each Fall.

One of my favorite parts of hosting this event is the alumni that come back to help out! These ladies were in my pledge class!

Cousin Lara

There is a banner for every occasion :)

My sun room doubles as a buffet when you remove the furniture.

Please note the super cute owl cake toppers designed and crafted by my incredibly talented (and cute) husband.

And this was my back yard! At least 100 people at my house and a majority of them were in the pool!

G even got in on the action and jumped in with Cousin Lara.

And these are my 44 New Members (and their "Owl Pals")! Hello freshmen and the new energy and excitement that you bring.

Bring on the Fall Semester! This is going to be a great year, I can feel it! Bring on football, sweaters, boots...oh, what's that you say? We're in south Alabama. Okay, then...just bring on the football.

Road Trip

Who doesn't love a spontaneous road trip to the beach? When you live as close as we do, there's no excuse not to pack up and go put your toes in the sand. Which is just what we did on July 28th. The only catch was adding a 5 month old to the equation, but we were up for the challenge.

Juicy did really well and fussed just to let us know that it was time to pull over for a little brunch.

It became a little dreary while we were there so we hit up the outlets for a little back to school shopping. However, we were quickly informed by the big sisters that "school" is equivalent to a four letter word during the summer months and we should just call it shopping.

We ended our adventure at the Back Porch in Destin and scored a prime table out on the porch area. Nothing like a little beach breeze while you dine!

Look at our pretty girls at sunset!

After dinner we headed down to get our toes wet and introduce Juicy to the sand.

(check out my mad forearm muscles! Whoop Whoop!)

At first she was not so sure what to think of this wet/squishy stuff...

Oh, but wait...Sheer joy was the final verdict!!!

We had such a big time splashing and getting sand EVERYWHERE!

Can't wait to go back next summer when she can really play!