monthly wreaths

i have been making a wreath every month since october, so basically since we moved into our house. i think it's high time i finally share them with you all (only my 2012 ones, i already shared the others)

so here is my january wreath:

please excuse the poor quality of my photos, i really need a nice camera. this is with the flash, without it, it's way too dark. for this one i wrapped yarn around a frame, then i wrapped pretty, snowy looking white yarn (which you can barely see) and then i tied on those bally things. i thought it looked appropriate for the season. i hand embroidered "happy new year" on my pennants and made a banner by sewing them onto more yarn. i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out- simple but cute!

here is my february wreath:

this one was fun! katie gave me those hearts, she had extras from her wreath and i knew i wanted to use them. she gave me a bunch in all sorts of colors, but i finally decided to just use white and pink. well it was a dark pink and i had nothing on hand that dark, so i decided to try to modge podge tissue paper to get the pink dark enough and lo and behold, it worked! so after i did lots of modge podging (which i enjoy), i thought it was way too plain. what to add? how about beads! how to add them? how about with straight pins that i can just stick straight into the wreath. so i did! and i am very please with how it turned out. again, i really need a better camera!!

finally, my march wreath:

the camera does the worst job on this one, it really is much cuter than this! this one i pretty much took straight from pinterest. i have been gathering a board of wreaths for a while and have finally copied one of them. i just used a roll of kelly green, a roll of a limey green, and a roll of sparkly white tulle around a small dollar store wreath frame (cute in half) and then added a few glittery shamrock stickers to it. i was skeptical to whether or not i was going to like it for a long time, but now, i very much like it. thanks pinterest!

so my wreaths are nothing fancy but i still love them, and i love having something seasonal to greet my visitors when they knock on my door. come by and see one of my wreaths for yourself! we would love to have more friends come and visit us!

mornings with evan

evan is the happiest little baby when he wakes up, be it in the morning or from a nap. the way i know he's up is i hear him talking to himself. once he starts to grunt, i know he's officially awake enough that he wants me to come and get him.

when matt is home, i go and get evan and put him in the bed with us for a little while so we can play with him (plus i let evan wake matt up, then he isn't grouchy). saturdays are usually a day when i do this, and this past saturday was no exception. evan woke up around 7:30 (which is normal) and i brought him in and laid him on his tummy between matt and me. he played the cutest game with us! matt would make kissy sounds, evan would turn to matt, open his mouth for a kiss, and then matt would kiss him. then i would make kissy sounds, he would turn to me, open his mouth, and i would kiss him. he went back and forth doing this probably 20 times. it was so cute! (i love that he asks for and likes kisses except that he will also open his mouth for fergye who will then lick the inside of his mouth- gross!)

then yesterday (monday), matt didn't have school so i again brought evan into the bed with us. we had him sitting up between us and he was just jabbering on and on and on. so matt started saying "dadadada" to try and get evan to say it, but all evan would say in return was "mamamama" so matt said it again, "dadadada" and evan said "mamama". this went on for a few minutes and we just laughed at him and he would laugh back and then say "mamama". so adorable! i tried to record it on my phone but as soon as i got it and evan saw it, he locked onto the phone and stopped playing the game because the new game had begun- get the phone!

seeing evan first thing in the morning is the absolute best way to start my day! i love him oh so much!

pupdate

i realize that i never talk about my pups, which many of you may appreciate, but they deserve a post every now and then!

yes, we do still have our pups. their place in our family has hardly changed since evan joined us, they still do whatever they want, whenever they want, and we still comment on how cute they are (just not nearly as much as we comment on how cute evan is, cause he really is!)

anyway, they love evan so much. too much sometimes because they will lick him in the mouth (yuck!). they love our house, they have their own cubby in the kitchen (aka under the desk, but it's theirs). they love having me home all day most days. we have a little fenced in area for them in the backyard so they can just come and go as they please, hang out in the sun, and watch the neighborhood animals who stroll through occasionally.

they went the vet early this month and we found out that fergye now weighs 6 pounds (biggie as we lovingly call her sometimes) and porkchop weighs 4.2 pounds (what a light weight!). they are just as sweet and cute as ever and we love them being a part of our family.

pre-baby weight, we meet again

i am finally back down to my pre-baby weight!! i gained a lot being pregnant, like i almost hit the 50lbs mark. i joined weight watchers to help me lose the weight in the middle of november. since then, i have never had a weight gain and typically lose about a pound a week (yay!). Well this week, as a HUGE shock to me, i lost 3 pounds which took me to 2 major milestones in my weight loss:

1. i've now lost over 25lbs! (26.4 to be exact)
and
2. i'm back to my pre-baby weight!!

with this comes a lot of excitement for me namely, fitting into my clothing again!! i bought a new pair of jeans last week in a size 8, my normal size, and i have them on right now. i don't have some crazy muffin top hanging over them either, they fit. i feel a thousand percent more confident than i did when i joined weight watchers, even though i still have 30 pounds to go before i reach my final goal. but that's my weight, no more baby weight, and that deserves a post!

valentine's day

what a great day! i am not one of those people who counts down to valentine's day but i'm also not one of the haters. it's always been a nice day to me and a great concept- share your love with the people you love! i've never thought it was just about couples. i made valentine's this year and sent them to my family and best friends, because i love them! my mom sent evan a valentine, because when she thinks of love, she certainly thinks first of that little man these days. it's a wonderful day to show an emotion we are all too often hesitant to share.

neither matt or myself are particularly romantic, which is not a winning combination. but yesterday we managed to have a wonderful time without all of the romance, just a great night out! it started by matt bringing me home a dozen roses and card. this is a big deal in 2 ways- 1) i love flowers and matt is pretty good at remembering that and making me happy by bringing them to me and 2) matt hates cards so the fact that he took the time to pick one out for me scores him some mega points. so for the rest of the evening we went out with friends. our neighbors (who's name is also matt smith, seriously) had 2 extra tickets to spamalot at the brooks center on clemson's campus and asked us if we wanted to join them. we love going out with other couples and have been meaning to go out with them since we moved here, so of course we said yes. we also went to a really good chinese buffet before the show with them.

spamalot+chinese buffet may not equal a great valentine's day to many, but it was for us. we dressed up, got a babysitter, ate good and cheap food, enjoyed a really funny and well done show, and got to go on a double date. we haven't been on a double date probably since a usc baseball game we went to with our friends sarah and david back in may. matt and lindsay are so much fun, it's awesome to know your neighbors, have so much in common with them, and want to spend time with them!

i must make a little note about the babysitter thing- poor poor rachel. we asked matt's drum major to babysit for us, she's been wanting to forever, and she willingly agreed. evan really is the PERFECT baby... for me. i was a little nervous how he would do without me. he stays with my grandmother a lot but, he knows her really well so he's cool with that. well my fears were legitimate- he did not do well. rachel said he screamed crying for the first hour and then off and on the remaining 3 that we were out. poor rachel, she'll never want to come back! but he's got to get used to more people so i'm glad we've started, even if it was a rough start.

although it probably wasn't a perfect evening for dear rachel, it was awfully close to perfect for us. so thanks to matt and lindsay for hooking us up with the tickets and spending the evening with us and thanks to rachel for keeping our little screamer. and of course thanks to matt, for being my eternal valentine whom i love so incredibly much and am beyond thankful for. he's a wonderful man, husband, and father and i'm glad he's mine forever.

my little valentine!

evan- 6 months

my baby boy is 6 months old! how is that possible? he is the best, still. since he did go to the doctor, i will share some of his latest stats and facts with you.

-he weighs 19 pounds 12 1/2 ounces (90%)

-he is 27 and 5/8 inches (90%) (his head size is also 90%)

-he has 2 teeth! the first came on my birthday (2/2), the second came on his 1/2 birthday (2/4)

-he talks ALL THE TIME (where does he get that?) he's an expert at all of his vowel sounds. he says "hi" and "hey" a lot (and always has, obviously he still doesn't know what he's saying, but they are his first words). he also says "goo" "yeah" and a few other things. the latest addition is "mamamama" which he only says when he's mad and fussing. love it. he also loves to just yell.

-he can move really well, backwards and sideways. he wants to crawl so bad and can almost get in the crawling position but for now, he mainly just looks like he's swimming.

-he can roll from both his back to his tummy and his tummy to his back.

-he puts the paci in his mouth all by himself (as long as i'm not around to do it for him...)

-he eats 3 or 4 bottles, 3 jars of baby food, and a bowl of cereal every day

-he can sit up pretty well while leaning forward and a little on his own straight up, but he's still not great at it

-he loves: baths, balls, books, his lion trash can (obsessed), the paintings in his room (done by my aunt joyce) and his mommy and daddy

i mean when i say he is the best little boy! he has the best temperament. he rarely cries. he smiles and laughs and talks all the time and is just so much fun!