celebrating {birthday morning}

last night, i knew i wanted to do something to make coleman's birthday special. since matt has to work tonight and we don't have spencer, there wasn't an organized celebration. that's all happening on friday & saturday. but, still...he's my baby and i wanted to do something. i struggled to come up with something that a two-year-old would get and appreciate. i came up with a cute idea which i will share later (probably tonight). in the meantime, here are some snapshots of this morning - all iphone shots so i apologize for the quality.

the birthday boy with his "say cheese" squinty-eyed grin.

photo editing done with ps express iphone app.

 chilling on mommy's bed, watching mickey mouse clubhouse, playing with the remote.

 he usually doesn't get to watch tv in the morning (well, at least not with me - his daddy lets him do whatever he wants!!)

 one of his new favorite morning activities - playing with bubbles in daddy's sink while i get ready for work.

 all dressed and ready for the day. at AJ's house right before i headed to work.

view coleman's birthday dance HERE



hope you aren't tired of my birthday boy yet...more to come!!!

{two}

and so the day has come...my "baby" boy, is two. last night, i tucked him in and said goodbye to my one-year-old. the time has flown by, yet i can hardly remember life without him. that early morning drive to the hospital seems like it was so many moons ago. and then i look at my toddler and think how quickly it seems to have passed.

the last two years have been hard and easy. tough and crazy. rewarding and stressful. happy and scary. wonderful and worrisome. they've been perfectly imperfect and i wouldn't change a thing.

coleman rhea - welcome to *two*.

may it be as awesome as the last 24 months!

i love you baby boy.

and YES, you will always be my baby.

here is our precious newborn, two years ago...

and our toddling one year old...

and our phenomenal two-year-old...

feel like a trip down memory lane? check out these posts...

{welcome coleman rhea}

photos {more coleman}

photos {coleman's firsts}

*one*

*coleman at one year*

story {sense of place}

i recently ran across a post on ali edwards' blog that really caught my attention. despite it's simplicity, it immediately reminded me of a photo i'd taken around christmas. her post was titled sense of place. my photo has very little in common with hers, but that sense of place was what got me. in ali's words:

"there's something about the environment
and a sense of place
that adds so much to the photo...
all pieces of our everyday life"

ever since capturing this shot on december 26th, i've loved it. it's not glamorous but it's real.

i love that it captures the main living area of our home.
i love that it feels warm.
i love that it shows our home full of family.
i love that it shows the men retreating to one another.
i love the random, imperfect touches like the green balloon and coats draped on the banister.
i love that there are christmas decorations in sight, but they are subtle and it could've been taken on any given day.

organization {toys}

after christmas (also known as the day our house was taken over by toys), it didn't take us long to figure out we had to do something to regain control of our den. since we don't have a playroom or a bonus room or any of those toy-collecting rooms, we had to make our main living space fun for coleman, while bearable for the rest of us.

one thing that was a issue was our lack of space. we have a really large den but it's already pretty full of furniture. after some brainstorming, i came up with the idea to purchase one of IKEA's expedit bookshelves that is only one cube wide and turn it on it's side. it fits perfectly under a railing that separates our breakfast nook from the den. i purchased 5 fabric bins from Target to fill the cubes.

 this system has some really great perks...
1) the five compartments allow for categorizing toys. right now we have them divided into blocks, puzzles, balls, little people, and of course miscellaneous. i have a feeling these will be continuously revamped, which is perfectly fine!
2) it's the perfect height for coleman to access all his toys...and to put them away himself!
3) the long top serves as extra bench seating when we have a houseful of guests.
4) the piece of furniture is incredibly versatile. if it wears out its welcome in this room, it can serve as a shelf in several other rooms in our house (it's actually the same furnitue spencer has in his room now).

celebrate monday {catch-up}

i haven't participated in the last several celebrate monday challenges at simple scrapper, but i love the concept so i did want to play catch-up. i find that these really help me to see some old photos in a new light. i love it!

2.7: the little things

it's the little things that remind us we have little ones in our lives. a few years ago, a sippy cup and pacifier resting atop pillar candles wouldn't be considered trendy decor. today, i can't imagine anything more aethestically pleasing. (photo taken 01.16.2011)

2.14: my heart soars

this is the one fellow that makes my heart soar. i love his laugh. i love how he wears the same gamecock clothing over and over and ignores my fashion advice. i love how he plays with his boys. my heart smiles when i see him smile. (photo taken on matt's birthday: 01.13.2011)

2.21: change is hard, change is good

when i read this prompt, i knew immediately what i wanted to showcase. having a baby is definitely the biggest change in my life in a long while. it was hard, but it was so good. it still is hard and it is still so good. (photo taken 02.24.2009)

dieting for dummies {2.20}

total weight loss: holding steady at 9 pounds
my body seems to lose weight in a peak & valley kind of way. i don't lose anything for a week or two and then all of a sudden i drop several pounds quickly.

tip: find the victories
despite no weight loss, i'm still feeling encouraged. this week i was able to break out a couple of pairs of dress pants that had been in hiberation for a while. that was very exciting. plus, i've continued getting comments/compliments from friends & family.

tip: plan ahead
think about your day and if you need to "conserve" points. when matt works night, i allow myself more freedom during the day because i know it'll be easy to fix myself a healthy, low-point supper. if i know i will be eating out for dinner, going to someone's home, or just having a high-point meal at home, i am more careful during the day.
a few random thoughts:
~ i failed miserably in the exercise department. no excuses.
~ i'm loving edamame as a favorite snack
~ bubbly water is my liquid treat.

happy heart day {decor}

happy valentine's day everyone!

 

to recognize *heart day*, i thought i would share some photos of my current home decor. i don't go "all out" for valentine's but i do have a small decor collection, and even added a few things this year...

 

my mom made this awesome heart bouquet. i just added a little cheesy garland around the base and a heart shaped candy dish sits beside it.

 

just a cool, large red bowl that i have. i purchased these fake petals from target years ago and just have them resting in the bowl. coleman likes to play with them.

 

a new addition this year. i opened my valentine's day box to discover this heart shaped mat that i must've picked up on clearance. i happened to have a frame the right size with an outdated photo of coleman, so i swapped it out for this seasonal item. i couldn't find any heart or love patterned paper in my stash that i liked so i chose this red snowflake pattern instead.

 

in our bathroom stands this white storage unit. i opted to put our silver "love" in there this year (it's always been in the foyer in years past). i also added a "first valentine's day" frame from last year and a felt mini book that i made matt many years ago.

 

this is my favorite addition of the year. these photo easels were holding very outdated photos (as in, BEFORE coleman's birth). here's what i did...

• "love one another" print - free download from becky higgins. in photoshop, i cropped it to be a vertical 5x7, rather than horizontal.
• family photo - i opened one of our recent family photos in photoshop elements. created a duplicate layer. changed the top layer to black & white. used the eraser over the boys' shirts to reveal the color.
• subway art - free download from eighteen 25. it's formatted to 16x20 so i cropped it to fit a 5x7 canvas.

dieting for dummies {2.13}

total weight loss: around 9 pounds
for some reason, my scale has been really inconsistent the last few days. i'm pretty sure i've hit at least nine pounds. maybe a little more.

struggles: my biggest struggle this past week was eating out so much due to travel. i tried to stick to things such as chicken breasts and salads, being careful about portion size and dressings. overall, i did pretty well.

successes: i am excited to report that people are starting to notice and comment that i have lost weight. yay! oh, and i did the elliptical machine twice this week.

confusions: as i mentioned already, my scale will fluctuate within a few pounds in just a day's time, even though i'm consistent about the conditions under which i weigh. i'm sure this is why it's not recommended that you weigh daily, but i don't care - i'm going to keep doing it!

i'm surprised that my clothing isn't fitting more loosely considering i've almost hit 10 pounds, but oh well! it will come in time. at first i thought a goal of 20 pounds would definitely get me to where i want to be, but now i'm not so sure. unless the second 10 pounds makes a much bigger difference than the first 10 pounds.

foods i'm loving:

-- wheat tortillas & flatbread: i have mastered the art of making a healthy wrap out of just about any food combination (breakfast food, mexican-style, italian, etc).

-- i'm really sticking with a lot of favorites i've already mentioned: yellow & orange bell peppers, fresh healthy dips/spreads, special K crackers, spinach.

-- canned chicken/tuna: i'm not sure if i mentioned this yet, but i love keeping canned tuna and chicken on hand. i can add it to anything (a salad, wrap, pasta) for some protein & flavor without as many points as most meats. they are also easy to take to work. sometimes i use them straight out of the can and sometimes i will add fat free mayo and some spices.

-- spices, spices, spices: if anything ever feels like it doesn't have enough flavor, i rely on the spice rack. it's super packed flavor without extra points. i love using some of the mixes that mccormick's makes like the "italian" spices or a mexican chili powder. i'm also a big fan of nature's seasoning.

book club {incourage}

i want to share with you something very cool that i'm doing right now. i am participating in an "online book club"... that's a first for me. i originally read about this at inspired to action. i was lead over to (in)courage where the club is actually taking place.

the book is called one thousand gifts by ann voskamp, who also writes the blog a holy experience. the book club reads two chapters per week. each sunday & wednesday there is a relevant blog post and a video with the author herself.

i am two chapters into the book and truly enjoying the experience. i have figured out my reading plan and it's working well, so far. first, i read a chapter. then i read the corresponding blog post and watch the video. then i read the chapter a second time, while i also do some journaling that is inspired by all of those things. i feel like i'm getting so much more from the reading by not rushing and making sure i do all of these things to really soak in what's being shared. (please note, i am not doing all of these steps together. i never have that much free time. i divide them up into mini steps and squeeze them in however is realistic).

it's not too late to participate. you can easily catch up, or do this at your own pace, referring back to past posts. the first two chapters have been posted and chapter three is tomorrow. the book can be purchased at amazon (for only $9.23), as well as many other places.

story {pops the bear}

when i picked coleman up from daycare one friday, we were given pops the bear and his bag of belongings. pops was to spend the weekend with us and we'd then document our adventures together. the timing worked out well since coleman & i headed out of town for the weekend. here is our story from pop's point of view...

hi friends! this weekend i went on an adventure with coleman, his mommy and his aunt sherry. we rode in the car for three hours and ended up in a city called conway, sc. that is where aunt michelle lives. she has an ipad and we had fun playing with it!

coleman was a great friend for the weekend. he even let me sleep in his bed with him and his "monk-monk" so i wouldn't be scared in a new place. for breakfast, we enjoyed some tasty oatmeal.

on saturday, coleman's mommy had to go do something. we stayed home with grandma sharon, uncle marion and coleman's cousin, maggie. we watched tv, played with blocks and raced cars. we even built a ramp with the blocks so the cars could ride on it.

later that day, we all went shopping at several different stores. coleman got some new pjs. we had a sweet treat at starbucks too. coleman also drew a special picture to keep in my bag.

it was really a fun weekend. even though we had to spend a lot of time in the car, it was worth it. coleman's family is a lot of fun! i can't wait to see what my next adventure will be. love, pops