9 Months

Cameron is 9 months old today.

She is crawling everywhere, saying "dada", giving high fives and flashing the sweetest toothy smile every time you say her name. She has two teeth on the top and two teeth on the bottom and remains pretty happy despite the occasional pain and fevers they bring her. She has learned to use them to bite into crackers and into my shoulder! Ouch. Nothing amuses her more than her sister Haley and our dog Chef and you can find her laughing at them and playing with them when she's not busy with her blocks or banging away on her piano. She has the same laugh as her big sister and also weighs just as much as her- 24 pounds! She loves to take tub baths and splash everywhere. She continues to capture my heart... and gobs of my hair! Double Ouch.

Tomorrow, we head to the doctor for a check up. She's had strep for the past week and it has given her the runs and the ugliest case of diaper rash I have ever seen. We let her roam around the house diaper free yesterday, pooping to her hearts content all over our wood floors, but her bottom is still red and sore and tad bit bumpy. I hope it hasn't sprung into a yeast infection. My poor, poor baby... I hope her little bum bum gets better soon.

Thanks for reading about butts and baby poop, you all are the best! <3

This is what Cameron is watching outside the window:

Homemade Icecream Sandwiches

Oh, being snowed in does good things for the soul. Everything seems to go slower, hugs are longer and warmer, and one can find contentment in all the things that they would otherwise find themselves too busy to do- baking cookies, completing a puzzle, sewing a dress, finishing a book, painting a picture.

Haley and I did a little baking and made some delicious homemade icecream sandwiches. She was such a great helper and I was so excited to eat what she cooked.

Her lastest game she likes to play is "airplane"





We hope all our snowed in friends had a lovely time enjoying life's simple pleasures. And if you're not snowed in, we hope you take a second to do something that will make your heart happy :)

Oh My Deer!

Meet our neighbors. This is the sweet little deer family lives across the street from us in the woods. There are 4 of them, though I was only able to get three on camera. We have caught them prancing about the streets throughout the day since the world was a bit more still and sleepy today after a glorius snowfall. They look so beautiful and magical against the white, but it's hard not to get sad for them when they scamper off scared after hearing the slightest bit of noise. Haley is cute as a button and calls them all reindeer.

Tonight we are cutting out the lights, sipping on hot cocoa and looking wishfully out the window hoping to spot them again.

xoxo

taxes, taxes, taxes

Nick and I had a date last night. It lacked all romance and was more like a trip to Vegas, but I suppose that's typical of all tax-completing dates. Unless you have a cute accountant. We used Turbotax, which has a bit of a slot-machine nature to it and definitley adds a bit of excitement to the whole dreaded tax-filing process. Those who have used it know exactly what I mean. There is a "totals" section in the top right corner of the screen that shows both your federal and state returns and it increases or decreases, digit by digit, as you fill out each section. Thankfully for us, there was a whole lot more increasing than decreasing going on!

What plans do y`all have for your returns? We are saving some, using a chunk to buy a washing machine (finally!), paying off some credit cards and doctor's bills, and I am splurging on this perfect-in-every-way camera bag I found on Etsy.

I believe things are starting to look up!

Happy Weekend and Happier Filing, my friends!

Snow Day Hats...

They are calling for snow this weekend, between 7 and 10 inches! Eee! Haley has got her snow day hat in tow and is ready for action. I think we will have a little winterfest to cap off the season complete with a special snowman cake, hot cocoa and homemade icecream sandwiches (can't find a more balanced meal), and some valentine's day crafting. There is nothing like paper heart doilies and lots of x's and o's to warm up a home!

Tonight I am wrapping up the rest of my Etsy orders and tending to my babies so we can enjoy the weekend. Nick and Cameron both have strep and Haley and I have a stomach bug that has made our stomachs upset and our bathroom trips more frequent, but I am feeling a bit better today and I am ready to get things done!

February's Big Project

Wow. I am all shades of embarassed about the state of this room. This would have been the 4th bedroom of our home, but as our little cottage was built in the 50's and has very small rooms and non-functional closet spaces, a bedroom-to-closet convert was neccessary. Thank you Felicity and Zach, you are renovating geniuses! :)

To Do List:

+ Purge! Get rid of all old clothing we do not wear or recycle it into something for the girls
+ Dance around and celebrate after salvaging long lost favorite shirts and dresses from floor
+ 4982343 loads of laundry, roughly
+ Pick a fabric that I won't get sick after two weeks and sew curtains
+ Find old chair for sewing table
+ Invest in a more compact ironing board
+ Hang art
+ Find small craft table for the girls so we can all craft at the same time
+ Invest in coordinating wooden hangers
+ Get rid of boob-shaped light fixture
+ Replace with something along the lines of this or a charming chandelier.

Wish me luck! I`ll keep you all posted :)

gratitude tuesday: week three

My Inherited Disease...

My mother and my grandmother both tried to instill their great love for vintage and antique items in me from a young age. I will always remember them carting me around against my will to all different grades of antique shops in the historic districs of Virginia and telling me to have a look around as if the antique gods would send me some sort of awakening at age 12 and I would be able to find beauty and pleasure in all this dusty old junk. I couldn't understand their madness at the time as I had more important things on the brain: skater boys and instant messaging. Lord, really?

Nearly 20 years later, their antiquing disease has surfaced in me and I find myself wishing I could go on such adventures again. How much would I love to scower all their old favorite haunts for vintage baby dresses, toys, and shoes? To hunt down some fabulous one of a kind paintings and other unique decor for our home. To aid them in finding their personal favorites: antique gold jewelry boxes, perfume bottles, mirrors and frames.

Ah, it breaks my heart that such a trip is not possible, but I am grateful to have inherited some of their personal treasures. I cherish them with all my heart and soul as I know how much heart and soul was put into collecting them.

I have an antiquing/thrifting date in Floyd with my husband this weekend. I can't wait.