A couple weeks ago I was listening to a segment on The Today Show as we were completing our morning feeding that really stopped me in my tracks and made me think. The segment that many of you have probably heard of by now was that of The Wall Street Journal article, that spoke of being a target for extra jobs, duties and such because of simply being a SAHM. I can't say that I totally related to the article because my duties aren't always "favors" for others, it's expectations that I put on myself.
In the recent weeks I've really been fighting an internal battle...you see I'm not technically a SAHM, I do work about 16 hours a week still at the hospital at night since Abby was born. But it leaves me with a lot of free time or what you would think would be a lot but for weeks or probably closer to a month I'm left at the end of the day feeling that I didn't get what I needed done, Abby didn't get enough therapy at home, the list could go on and on. To the point, that it was really getting to me. So I did what any good type A personality would do... I got my "to-do list" in order and put it into action...
And it went a little like this...
Meal Planning~ I believe this has been the biggest most beneficial change, I make my list on Sunday for our meals for the week, this has saved me money, I'm not running into the store every couple of days and buying items that I already have at home. Saves time, I'm only at Publix once a week and the market once a week. And I've lost more weight planning and not eating on a whim. I know how long each meal will take to prepare, so I give myself plenty of time, even making some things ahead, so I'm not rushed...Can we all take a deep sigh of relief. I'm enjoying cooking again ( and my husband is loving it too).
Schedule~ Each night before I go to bed I put together a time line of how our next day will go, every day is different for us, with therapy, md appt.'s and special plans. The list has helped me to get the things done that need to get done and at the end of the day, I feel accomplished! I was driving 30 minutes away to go to the gym with some friends, instead of going to the gym 5 minutes from my house, that has changed I pick one class a week to met them. The other days I go near home, saving time in the car. Little changes have helped me feel free and I'm loving it!

I'm the type a person that hates to say "no" and I'm slowly learning quality over quantity, by spreading myself thin as left me feeling not so good but I'm hoping those days are behind me.

" Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever"~ Keri Russell

Down home

The car was piled high with toys, diapers, formula, a play yard, a bath chair, a high chair, her clothes, her shoes, her things and then there was two small bags for us, you know the mom and dad. The gas tank was full and we were on our way to Mississippi! This was going to be Abby's first of many trips to Mississippi and we couldn't be more excited! We knew we had a long road ahead of us but we would make the best of it, stop often, spend the night, do whatever it took.

As we crossed into the Great State of Mississippi, I had aspirations of stopping and getting Abby's picture at the state line but she was sound asleep and who was waking this baby for the last hour of our drive...not I! She was great, it wasn't bad at all. We had a week of visiting and showing off our lil pumpkin. Granny just ate her up and we just ate up Granny's food. Yum...I aspire to be as good as she is. And after a week I gained every bit of weight that I had taken off but it was so worth it, one of these days I'm going to miss that and I don't want any regrets... We spent a day in Germantown, Tenn., with family and had such a great lunch. It was so nice, my cousins have two girls also, so it was sweet to see all of them together. I just love this picture, I would like to think that Abby is going after Ella Kate's bow. This picture look forever to get and this was as good as it got.
One of my favorite memories of growing up of my summer's in Mississippi was going to church, after church having a big lunch and playing outside all day until Sunday night service, though the day my grandparent's friends, neighbors and family would stop by. I still love those days, after church, we had a great lunch and sat outside while the kids played and enjoyed a hot Mississippi summer day. After pumpkin's nap she joined us, notice my new Ole Miss tumbler in the background that Granny got me filled with sweet tea, I wasn't kidding, one of my favorite days! And she got lots of love from another cousin. Sweet Carlie.

And it wouldn't be a trip without our pumpkin and a water melon from Granny's garden and a picture of our little family.
Are flights are booked and we're going again in less than a month...


"Down home where they know you by name and treat you like family
Down home a man's good word and a handshake are all you need
Folks know if they're fallin on hard times they can fall back on
Those of us raised up down home"
Alabama

Sip and See

If Abby had anything to do with being born 3 months early, it must simply be that she didn't want to miss a party, especially this party in her honor.

After Abby was born, we decided to wait and have the shower in Tampa (where I went to middle/high school and where some of my VERY good friends live) after she came home and was doing well, we would make the trip.
So we finally did.
And it was great.
Being the guest of honor is always a special feeling but having Abby there after everything she had been though to celebrate with many of those that continued to pray for us, was amazing.
The party was hosted by a very dear friend.

This was the invitation sent out, it sets the theme...
(It was Abby's Sip and See, not Taylor's 3rd birthday)

The entrance
The food table, mexican my favorite,

The cake, it was so good, my two favorites, chessecake and red velvet. I didn't realize it at first but it's a beach towel.
And the beachball cookies
The favors, so cute and so sweet of her.
These are many of my very good friends, there were six babies born since Abby, it was so nice to see everyone and met their babies too!
And of course getting to met my girlfriend triplets, together these babies weighed 9 lbs at birth. Crazy huh?!? Together we have had each other to turn to though the NICU stays, development delays and everyday ups and downs, although I don't know how she does it with THREE!
Abby looks so long next to these little ones...

We had such a great time with everyone and it was so cute, I loved every bit of it!

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
- Sent by Donna Roberts

Apparently the Chinese really like me.

Yeah...so can someone explain all the Chinese comments that I receive!?! I must be like the pop star that struggles over here in the United States and becomes a huge star over seas. Well then I would like to send a "shout-out" to my peeps over Seas, thanks y'all!
I'm turning over a huge blog leaf, I'm back in the game, I miss it, I love it and I'm commited. I have a lot to say and to tell you about. I know it's been awhile, I can explain...it's been so long, so much as changed Abby got her license and has become another driver in the state of Florida that can barely see over the wheel.

She makes me laugh.
I just love her so much.

I now know where the saying " I could just squeeze you to death" comes from, I just can't get enough of her.

Stay tuned more to come very soon, like tomorrow!

The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key. ~Edward Abbey

Yummy!

I've been waiting a whole year to make one of these too cute for words fruit pizza. Last year The Luckiest Mrs. posted a tutorial on how to and I've been super excited to share with you with her permission, of course. I wanted to try it out before I actually served it (that's the insecure chef in me) it turned out so cute and good. I wish I had a picture to share but I totally forgot to take one. But I got to thinking...I love chessecake and this would be super cute and tasty on a chessecake as well. Head on over here for the complete post! Enjoy!

The United States is the only country with a known birthday. ~James G. Blaine

I've so missed you...

Just hitting the icon "New Post" felt blissful... Oh blog how I have missed you. I don't even know where to start we have been on the go, to the point where I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. We went on our first family vacation to Charleston and loved it! Lesson learned when you have a baby, stay walking distance to everything, we would put her to sleep with the stroller flat and were able to walk and eat not waking Abby it was so nice to have some alone time, I want to go back! Abby is growing... to me at least! Premiee mommies seem to be overly obsessed (my name is Erica and I have a problem) with their babies weight. She is 7 months and 13.5 pounds...Woohoo! Give the girl some credit she weighed less than 2 cans of diet coke! She is starting to show some delays (that's another post) so we are at PT 2x a week and OT once, lots of time in the car. I think maybe in the last 2 months there has been 3 or 4 days during the week that either her or I haven't had a doctor's appointment, Crazy! And with all that being said, we're doing great! We've been spending our free time in the pool and outside when we can, it went from Winter to Summer in about 2.5 hours here and it's almost so hot, you can't stand it! We've put our house up for rent, pray we can rent it out SOON and are starting to look for a new house, I'm trying not to get too excited, this could take awhile but I'm so happy! Did I tell you all that I missed you! Really? I did. I took sometime away from the house today and left my pumpkin with daddy and told him I was going "surfing" for a couple of hours. Aka, I'm going to McDonald's where the fountain diet coke is flowing for a dollars these days and enjoying some alone time and catching up on some emails and surfing the net. And as I'm sitting at the 50's diner style McDonald's, next to the jukebox (the only plug-in) playing Elvis, it's not exactly what I had in mind. I'm thinking next time Panera.

You know I had to show pictures of my little one...


"A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again." ~Author Unknown

I feel like I need to explain myself...

I can't tell you how many people have said to me (after seeing the picture of abby in her closet) she has too many clothes, "she'll never wear all of them". It was mainly people that don't know me or anything about us. Yes, she has a lot. We were blessed with so many awesome gifts including clothes. And yes, I did buy some. But I want to share with you a little secret ...shh. I'm only going to say this once and then it is between you and I only. It's called consignment shops. There I said it, now my secret is out.
My mom is to blame she introduced me. And now I'm hooked, I just can't see spending lots of money on an outfit unless...I'm totally in love (which as happened a time or two).
Here are a few of my steals...


These beauties...I paid 15.oo dollars for each. Aren't they sweet. We all know that smock dresses are super expensive, so I couldn't pass them up.

Yes, Burberry. The dress was 10.oo and sweat suit 25.oo, how can I pass these up.
But to be honest, I get a lot of things for like 2.oo-7.00 dollars. And then I don't feel so guilty about spending 50.oo when I see what all I leave with.
I live in West Palm Beach, Florida, so if your ever in the area stop by one of my favorite consignment shops and tell them I sent you. There is one in Boca Raton called Will and Emma, they have a ton of Ralph Lauren and Lilly. And the other in tucked back in a court yard in the Town of Palm Beach, ABC's, they have a little bit of everything, I've seen everything from Target to Gucci . This is where I got 2 of the smock dresses.
And the best part is that if you wash them well and have them wear a bib, you can sell them back.

Happy Shopping

"A bargin is something that you can't use, at a price you can't pass up"

Batteries not included.

Before we left the hospital I worked with the physical therapist on some exercises I can do with Abby when we got home, other than just tummy time until she starts physical therapy to help improve her neck muscles etc. For weeks I've been sitting her in the bumbo for a few minutes at a time and helping her to control her neck muscles and finally on Sunday she sat there for about 3o minutes, I was so proud. And now when I'm in the kitchen I prop her up in the chair and when we eat dinner she's on the table with us. I'm loving it! And another great thing...it doesn't run on batteries. I never thought of batteries as a great baby shower gift but we have gone though so many batteries.

"A baby is born with a need to be loved -- and never outgrows it."
Frank A. Clark

Yesterday, was our first "family photo session". I was so excited but nervous too. Even though Abby is only 9 lbs, she is stronger than a newborn making it harder to put her in "newborn" positions that you usually see in newborn pictures but she isn't quite sitting up or able to push herself up all the way, we are somewhere in the middle.
But I think I had nothing to worry about...

She was a perfect little model.
And the photographer Eve Greendale was great, she knew just how to keep her in a position and made it so stress free and fun! I can't wait to do another session when Abby is a few months older. Who am I kidding, we're going to be doing alot more of these in the coming years!

You're going to miss this
You're going to want this back
You're going to wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're going to miss this
~Trace Adkins

A love connection

So on this eve of Valentine's Day, I can feel the love in the air, actually it's too darn cold to go outside so we are staying warm in the house with the heat on, but there's a whole lot of love in this house.
And I think Abby has her first crush...

This handsome little man, Baylen. I think we all fell in love with Baylen and his daddy's love for him Sunday night. I'm so happy New Orleans won, it was exciting and all but this is what brought tears to my eyes.
And even though Abby was asleep before the end of the first quarter, I caught her checking him out on Oprah yesterday, I think she likes him too.

Don't you think they would make such a cute couple?

I just had to add this to my ever growing list...

There are so many great esty shops that it is hard to find them all but my husband thinks I'm on a mission but I found these super cute "play houses" though a giveaway last night and thought I needed to share. Go over and to Mary Jane and Galoshes and enter to win one of these...

Good luck the deadline is Feb. 15

Homemade and Wholesome

I have a love for most all things homemade whether it's a good meal, decorations, clothing, home decor and the list goes on and on. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at something and thought I can do that, then I try it and it's anything but what it was suppose to be. But every once in a while, something actually turns out nice and it never fails every time, my husband says "you should sell those" but that's the thing with homemade items, I don't think others (including myself) realize how much time goes into these items. And just because it's "homemade" doesn't mean it cheap to make.

But with that being said I love the uniqueness of all things homemade.
I love the doors that esty has opened up for those lovers like myself.

I thought I would share with you some of my favorite esty shops...

First, Little fish in a big pond

It's a DIY shop, that sells the pattern, fabric (all ready cut), thread and ribbon for pillowcase dresses.
About a year ago, before I was even pregnant I purchased a few patterns and with the help of my grandmother (which makes it even that much more awesome) we got them done and I have to tell you they were so easy!

Excuse the picture lighting, Abby was sleeping and I was trying not to wake her but I can't wait for her to fit into them as a dress and then as a shirt when she's older.


Then there is And Jane, she has so MANY cute and unique bows, this is what I ordered Abby for St. Patty's Day

The next lady, I'm yet to order from but I can't wait for the day, I seriously went though all her "sold" items a few nights ago and fell in love with so many things, I love the detail in all of her work. She makes one dress at a time and this is the Easter dress she has now.
BitsyBear

Tell me how cute this little girl is...

And then on Saturday I got the sweetest gift for Abby from She She Made.
I LOVE IT!
Thank you so much Ashley for your kindness.


But my favorite "homemade" gift of all...


“Just as there is a trend toward high tech today, there is another trend toward high touch - homemade and wholesome.”

Meryl Gardner quotes

** Edit**

Realized me links aren't working, if you go to esty, go to shops and enter the shop name, if your interested.

BFF

You know the friend that I was talking about in the post prior to this...well I got these pictures from the rehearsal dinner we were at and I want to surprise her with these....

Surprise.




I love this one and I love her too.

Holiday Cheer for next year...

Last weekend we met up with friends in Key West for a wedding and my BFF IRL was able to met Abby for the first time, I was so excited! Although, I wasn't able to be there for their first meeting (I was at the rehearsal), it was special. I love any holiday, any reason to celebrate, I had Abby's Valentine Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and even Cinco de Mayo outfits picked out before she was even born. Yes, I'm that girl, sad as it might be, it's the way I roll. I don't buy outfits unless I have a place or event in mind that I can wear it too. The good thing is I don't have many items hanging in my closet with tags on them. But getting back to my story, I love, let me repeat love the day after any holiday sale ( can't wait to get the heart shower curtain at Target on Feb. 15). But the day after Christmas I was feeding, changing diapers, and trying to figure out what it is I'm suppose to be doing and bearly knew it was Christmas, let alone go anywhere the day after Christmas and do any shopping. But this is what BFF's are for...



She brought all these super cute outfits for Christmas next year. Aren't they cute? She will have an outfit for every Sunday in December, the parade, the parties and seeing Santa.
She's an amazing friend and an amazing auntie.


"I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month."
-- Harlan Miller

A little peak...

As I've told before I hadn't finished Abby's room prior to her being born and though I was "nesting" though our 10 week stay in the NICU, I never seem to beable to get my thoughts together enough to put it into action and so now slowly but surely (by the time I finish, we'll be ready to move on) I'm getting it together. Here's a little sneaky peak at what I've been working on.

I've been looking for a mobile for awhile, I wanted something bright and cheerful with birds, to go with my "early bird" theme.
I saw this mobile at a thrift shop (Goodwill) for 2.99

And I saw these cute birdie Christmas ornaments on Esty
Lovahandmade

And together this was my end product.

And she will have outgrown it by Christmas next year and we have some cute ornaments for her tree!
Not too bad for less then $30.oo.

I don't have a before and after picture for my next project but you will get the idea, I have a real love for ribbon and saw a basket at one of my favorite stores in Delray, but it was $120, I loved it but couldn't see spending that kind of money on a basket for toys. But I kept thinking about it and while I was Homegoods I saw the perfect basket for $19.99 and cut up some ribbon I already had at home and this is what I got.

And my Granny made these cute curtains for her room.

This picture doesn't do them justice when I do a picture of the whole room, I'll get a better shot but they are sheer white with ribbon bows at the top, I love them but love them even more that my grandmother made them for her.


Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.