Friday Favorites

I blinked, and here we are at the end of my first week back to work. They don't lie when they say 12 weeks will fly by. I hate leaving my little man, but I am really lucky to work with people that I am happy to see every day, it makes it much easier! For the first time since August, I am truly appreciating the arrival of Friday, and to celebrate I have my favorite things this week put together.
 1. Bath and Body Works 3-wick candles.

I am obsessed. They smell so good (the entire store is basically a pumpkin right now), and while they aren't 'cheap', the 2 for 22 deal makes them pretty affordable. (rule #1 of life: neva pay full price) And they last a LONG time. I am halfway through a candle right now that I have been burning morning and night for two weeks. They also melt flat and evenly, so you use every last bit of the candle wax. I may be loading up on the Christmas scents soon..

 2. Blanket Scarves.

Ok, I ordered this, and have to admit I was SO confused as to how to wear it when I received it. It seemed huge and bulky to me, and I could not figure out how to put it on without feeling like I was choking myself out. THANK YOU, Youtube. Good tutorial here, too.I finally figured it out, and this thing is SO warm and cozy. It is also literally as big as a blanket, which my little man appreciates for a good cuddle when I forget to bring his blanket to his doctor appointments. I can honestly say I have already used my blanket scarf as an actual blanket. Mamas are innovative, we work with what we have!

3. Baby boy Christmas clothes. While I would love to dress a little lady some day, dressing a little boy is more fun than I expected. You have to look a little bit harder, but nothing is cuter than a 2 month old human being dressed like a 60 year old man ;) I am loving just about everything at Carter's right now. I mean EVERYTHING. Flannel lined corduroys..I die.

4. I found this skirt through Hello Gorgeous! And ordered it immediately. I am always looking for cute work clothes, and anyone who knows of my obsessions with gold (aka my entire wedding, from my ring to the obnoxious gold rhinestones on our candy bar boxes) and sparkle, knows this is right up my alley. AND less than $20. STEAL OF A DEAL.



5. Because it's Halloween..the ultimate classic. If you don't already own this movie, we can't be friends.


 

Happy Friday everyone, have a fantastic Halloween!

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Baptism

A few weekends ago was special one for us. We gathered up all of the family Saturday night, and our little guy was baptized. It was a busy weekend, but a good one. Saturday morning we were up bright and early. We headed over to my mom's house, and got going on food prep. Our goal was have everything ready to eat when we walked in the door after the baptism. I got going on my crock-pot barbeque chicken, we made coleslaw (for the sandwiches!), cheesy hashbrowns (which I could literally eat every day of the year, they are my favorite), and I tried my hand at some chocolate dipped strawberries. We had strawberries made for my baby shower this summer, but if we all recall a cute little guy showed up early, and strawberries don't keep for a week like we needed for the 'rescheduled' shower. After getting all of the food prepped, we ran into town to pick up the cake. I absolutely LOVE Cold Spring Bakery, everything they make is so good, and their prices are super reasonable. They made our wedding cake last year, and even customized a pineapple flavor for us. To. Die. For. We stayed simple this time with almond cake and buttercream frosting.

The baptism went so well. We opted to do it after the service on  Saturday night. No crowds for us, that isn't good for our anti-social personalities. Jackson was wide awake the whole church service and didn't make a peep. Already mastering his manners. He was great during the baptism as well. His eyes got pretty wide when water was poured on his head, but again, not a peep. 

My little man is so well behaved. *knock on wood*. Let me rephrase: he is well behaved when he is around everyone else. He loves to refuse to sleep and fuss when it's just mom and dad.

Proud mom and dad, and wide eyed baby.

The Godparents

Grandma and Grandpa Kelm

Grandma and Grandpa Stang

After the baptism, we headed back to my parents for dinner. As per usual, we had WAYYY too much food, and everyone left with loads of leftovers.We are so blessed to have the family that we do, the lives that we live, and the perfect child that has made our little family so much more complete. To see him become a member of the Lord's family, was so special. He is a very loved little boy, and we are very lucky.

Mr. Man's display. Is he cute, or is he cute?

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Friday Favorites!

Especially as my maternity leave winds down (cue sad music here) I have had plenty of time to enjoy clothes, recipes, and hobbies that I typically don't have time for when I work. Nothing beats wearing jeans on a Tuesday over the typical business casual attire. Only one Tuesday left *sigh* I just keep telling myself how blessed I am to be able to enjoy a full 12 week maternity leave. If work gets too rough I suppose I just need to find a reason to take ANOTHER maternity leave, right? ;-)
Without further ado, I have decided to put together my most recent favorite things/wants, as I love everything fall I will likely have a new list of Friday Favorites every week in the near future!

1. Black and brown boots. Riding boots are the greatest in the fall, and I LOVE how brown and black being worn together is such a trend right now.

Oh Michael Kors. Constantly creating things I love and cannot afford.

These are currently on sale at Macys, and Target has an affordable option as well!

2. Buffalo shirts. Flannel in general.

Flannel and boots. Love it. Sometimes I look at what we are wearing and realize it is basically the stuff we used to make fun of as kids. 90's grunge, but without the grunge. I can dig it; if bell bottoms were allowed to make a comeback, flannel can, too. And it's warm, you can't go wrong.
Great versions available here and here. LOVE me some Gap and Old Navy. They also make almost everything in a tall version. Fellow 6-foot ladies, holla! And did I mention, extra 25% off of everything today!
3. Sparkly pumpkins. I already posted a tutorial here, but I just blinged out another pumpkin and am obsessed. My front entry is looking fantastic, slowly but surely I am adding some seasonal touches around the home.

If anyone is looking for a sparkly pumpkin, let me know. I may be obsessed with this new project, and I can only have so many pumpkins covered in glitter around my house. ;-)

4. 'Mashed banana' recipes. Here. And here. I love that they can be used to make 'healthy' alternatives, and as of late I never manage to eat them before they get ripe, resulting in lots and lots of chocolate banana muffins. The recipe says 100 calories, so I may be guilty of eating 2 at a time, at 2am after Jackson wakes me up. He gets a midnight snack, I should too, right?
5. Colored skinny jeans. So much fun, especially in seasonal colors. After the pastels of spring and brights of summer, it's time to say hello to burnt colors, browns, yellows, and deep reds. Love this version here.

Corduroy, another trend I mocked as a child. Maybe I should make a list of all the fashion trends I have laughed at that ended up in my closet.
6. Baby smiles. You know I just had to throw one of these in :-)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

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Weekend Roundup

This weekend was a great one! I am blessed to be enjoying one longggg 12 week weekend, but it is always great to have Mike home for the weekend. Watching him and my little guy turn into best buddies melts my heart, and every day that Jackson gets more interactive and develops his personality it gets more fun.
On Friday I ran into town to grab lunch with my mom and sister, and made my way home to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather on a walk with my family. We live only one mile from a beautiful park. We took our engagement pictures there, it is on an old farm with all of the old buildings still in tact, we often see people snapping images when we go on our walks. Bend in the River Regional Park, Check it out! Our little man LOVES being outside. Some of his favorite activities include staring out windows and smiling at trees. When I click his carseat into the jogging stroller he is always excited. I can honestly say when we go on walks or runs he NEVER fusses. I am already sad thinking about winter, I have taken him outside almost every day since he was born, if anyone has suggestions on how to keep an infant who LOVES the outdoors entertained during the dead of winter, let me know!

Saturday we were up early (breakfast at 6am followed by playtime and giggles, Jackson's orders!) He slept 8pm-2am, 6 whole hours! This is only the second time he has done this (the first was a fluke, obviously) so I am really hoping it continues this time! Mike was off to play football bright and early, I have never seen someone so excited about something as that man is about his Saturday morning football. While he was gone, mom and baby tried to somewhat straighten up the house, fold and put away some laundry, and  tweaks to J's Halloween costume!
Since getting dressed up and going out to dinner on a Sunday night just doesn't appeal to us all that much, we decided to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday instead. ONE YEAR. Wow, that went fast. We dropped baby off with Mike's parents, and headed down to the outlet mall at Albertville. For those of you who know Mike, shopping is NOT his favorite thing, but he needed some new football cleats, so it worked. The weather could not have been more perfect, so walking outside from store to store and just looking around was really nice. We also made our way through plenty of adorable baby clothing stores. Everything in Carter's about kills me it is so cute. I noticed prices are just as good, if not better, online, so I will be watching out for a few of my favorites that I saw! I am already dying to buy some Christmas jammie's for little J!
After shopping, we headed to Ruby Tuesday. WHY do we not have a Ruby Tuesday (or Chili's, for that matter) in St. Cloud!? We started with queso cheese fries (yum), both got a jalapeno pretzel burger, regular for Mike and turkey for me (yum), and finished with white chocolate cherry cheesecake (YUM). So good. Seriously, if there was a Ruby Tuesday closer to home, we might just live there. We headed straight home after, it's crazy how much you miss your baby when you leave them. We were happy to be home by 8 o'clock for some baby cuddles. We tried out a few episodes of Orange Is The New Black..neither of us were particularly impressed. One of those shows that I don't really get the hype about, maybe we need to give it more than a few episodes? Still waiting in season 10 of Greys Anatomy, hurry up Netflix!

Sunday was pretty laid back. We woke up and hung out with Jackson. He thinks just about everything is funny in the mornings, it's the best. We decided to watch Neighbors, which is what I would call 'stupid funny'. And then off on another walk we went. We are enjoying every nice afternoon we can before the cold hits. Winter is coming. Game of Thrones reference done.
The afternoon was spent watching the Vikings lose, making a cake, and finishing changes Jackson's halloween costume! We finished off the day with Gary's pizza (which we eat much too often but can't resist) and watching The Walking Dead. OMG. SO. GOOD. The season premiere was fantastic, and much worth the 7 month wait. It is so crazy to think the last season premiere we watched was the day after our wedding, and our bags were packed for Mexico. I am only crying a little on the inside that a year ago at this time I was getting ready to head off on our honeymoon. I do have someone pretty cute who makes me happy to be around, though :-)

just hanging in my halloween jammies

All in all, great weekend. One year of marriage down, and I am beyond blessed that one year later I now have two perfect men. I have the most perfect little family, and cannot wait to see what the next year brings!

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Two Months.

Somehow another month has escaped us! Our little man has changed SO much in the past month, it seems unreal. He seemed so tiny when he was born 4 weeks early, but eating and growing are skills he had clearly mastered, and he is tiny no more!

Age: two months
Height: 23 inches. Definitely getting longer! Bring on the 3-6 month clothes..

Weight: 13 pounds 3 ounces!! He went from the 10th percentile to the 90th for weight, the doctor said he has never seen a baby jump that much on the chart. He suggested I sell my milk because whatever is in it makes babies grow like crazy. He also joked if little man keeps growing he might end up needing a diet. Apparently I'm a master provider and he is a master consumer ;-)

Milestones: He has not rolled over yet, but we are getting close. He gets propped up and positioned to escape tummy time, but hasn't made his move quite yet. He has a strong little neck though, which makes carrying him around much easier!

Sleep: My baby is amazing and excelling at some things (eating...) but sleep is not one of them. We have improved from a month ago, but at our best nights he is still up about 2 times. I guess his skill for eating outweighs his sleep skills, he isn't willing to give up his middle of the night meals quite yet!

On a positive note, he is pretty good at sleeping in his crib, he will even fall asleep on his own if he is laid down while still awake. Now if only he was so content when he wakes up in his crib.

Best Moment: seeing him recognize us and react. We went on a walk the other day and he was dozing off and I wanted to keep him awake so I called out his name, and those little eyes popped open and he gave me the hammest little smile. We talked and smiled the rest of the walk home. 
He also loves to sit in his swing and just STARE at daddy and laugh. I'm not sure what he finds so funny, but watching those two bond will melt any heart, he already thinks his dad is the coolest!
Worst Moment: 3 words: two month shots. Poor little buddy just cried and cried, which was especially heartbreaking because he very rarely cries. 
I also decided to take apart his bassinet to put in storage and I bumped a button that played the lullaby music and had flashbacks to when we first brought him home..Wahhh my baby is growing so fast!

Health: obviously growing isn't an issue! As of his checkup Friday everything looks great. There nothing better than the doctor holding up your little chunk and telling him what a 'healthy boy' he is.

Eating: his all time favorite activity! Sometimes he stops eating for a second to give me a huge grin, I like to think that is his way of thanking me to waking up with him all night, every night. I accept his peace offering.

Teeth: None. He does drool quite a bit, but if we can delay teething as long as possible, I won't complain!

Overall, things are going great and we couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect little guy. It is so funny how despite any planning, hopes, or expectations, the baby you have is so perfect and you really wouldn't change one hair on their head. I cannot wait to see what milestones we hit in the next month, here's to hoping sleeping through the night is one of them!

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Happy October!

I LOVE October. This is the month out of the whole year that makes me happy that I live in Minne-SNOW-ta. The leaves, the pumpkin everything, the cozy clothes, and the revival of boots!

So one day, while spending much too much time on Pinterest, I came across this project and just had to try it. I am not the craftiest person, but I saw the sparkles and couldn't say no!
First issue, this project calls for a silhouette machine. I hasn't heard of one, and after some googling I decided a sparkley pumpkin wasn't worth $200+. Well, shoot. I was determined to make it happen anyway. So, this is my modified, more affordable process to achieving a glam pumpkin (note: if you have a silhouette, by all means follow the original instructions here, I'm sure it will save you some time!)

1. Buy your pumpkin! I got mine at Michaels, but since making my pumpkin I found them at Target, and that is the best price I have seen, even after using my 1/2 off coupon at Michaels. Target never fails.
Obviously the color pops on the white pumpkins, but I saw black pumpkins in the store that would be awesome too. The original thread uses gold glitter, but I saw this copper colored glitter and couldn't say no! Again, you can get creative with this, silver glitter on a black pumpkin would be FAB.
2. Get some double sided adhesive paper. They sell it in 8x11 sheets for the silhouette machine, but I was too lazy to wait for an online order and found some smaller square sheets in the craft store.
3. Go into Microsoft Word and select a font. I made the font size as large as I could so one letter would fill a page (700-800, depending on the font). Our initial is an 'S', so I tried out different fonts until I finally found this one that I liked best.



4. The most tedious part starts now: I printed the letter out, and then used a good old fashioned scissors to very carefully cut it out.
5. After cutting out my letter, I taped it down onto my double sided sticky paper and traced it (time consuming, but not that difficult.)  NOTE:: the double sided sticky paper typically has one side that peels off more easily. Make sure that you trace your letter accordingly so that the side that easily peels off makes it so that you do not end up with a letter that goes on backwards. I made this mistake and had to redo this part!

6. After tracing, repeat step 5 and cut out your traced letter, carefully and slowly.

7. Once you cut out your letter, get your pumpkin! Peel off one side of the paper backing to reveal the sticky side.
8. Place the sticky side of your cut out letter on your pumpkin, pressing it into the creases and making sure it adheres in every spot touching the pumpkin.

9. Peel off the other side of the backing to reveal the other sticky side of your letter.
10. Grab your glitter, and in an area that you can contain the sparkle (unless you are okay with glittery carpets) sprinkle it so that the entire letter is completely covered. Reapply glitter as needed.

11. I repeated the above steps and added two leaves that I copied from an image online.

Here is my final product!

I absolutely love my pumpkin, I purchased a smaller one to repeat the process with, my front entryway looks fantastic, if I do say so myself.

Happy Fall!

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