Tiny Dancer {Seven Months}

Oh my baby girl! Seven months, I can seriously, hardly believe it!! 

Seven Months sounds SO BIG to me.. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be this big!

 Luckily she's a pretty little gal :) So she's still my teeny tiny baby!

This month has been all about mobility. Evie has been soo active and is literally on the verge of crawling. Each day this past week I've expected to look over and see her crawling around. She is scooting and  moving all the time. And actually, she has been doing some crawling, it's just in the wrong direction! She can go in reverse like nobody's business. :) She's up on all fours rocking and rocking. I'm going to need a baby gate! 

Evie has also started to toss her toys when she's done with them. Oy. I thought only boys did that??? It's both maddening and hilarious when we're in the car and I hear her chuck a rattle or something into the seat next to her. Sassy girl.

She is still a very happy girl and has really started to cheese it up! She has a fake cough laugh that she does.. most often it's directed toward our dog, Duke, which is pretty funny. And she's been doing this exaggerated sniffing/inhaling thing. Almost like she's hyperventilating, only she has this huge cheeseball grin on her face. I'd like to know where she learns this stuff! 

Naps and sleep have gotten a lot better lately. We did have to let her cry it out some :( Horrible. But at least it worked, so it wasn't all for nothing. I now no longer rock her to sleep and just put her down for naps wide awake. I actually really miss rocking her and wish she would let me rock her at least a little bit first, but it's better than having to rock/sway/walk/bounce her for 30 minutes or more. And this week she's had one or two hour long naps per day! For my 30 minute cat napper, that is HUGE! I pray it keeps up!  

My sweet Evie is so precious to me. Sometimes I just look down at her in complete awe that she's here.. and that she's mine! We are so blessed by this baby girl and don't want to take a minute of it for granted. Just don't grow up too fast, Little Miss!

p.s. Yay for Blogger and their updated post editor, aka bigger pictures!  So far, this is their single, solitary point. ;)

Chopped

Before..



and After..

Manic Monday

I know, I know. It's not Monday anymore. And really, yesterday wasn't so manic, but that's what I'm going with.

Miracle of miracles, my child slept until 8:45 yesterday morning. But instead of getting up early and showering, etc, I chose to lay in bed and sleep sleep sleep. I stand behind my decision wholeheartedly.

So I decided I must get myself bathed and ready during her first nap of the day. And then- AND THEN- she proceeded to sleep for more than 2 glorious hours. (!!!!!) This is HUGELY uncommon at our house. My 30-minute napper likes to be awake and social so she doesn't miss one minute of the party.

I took full advantage of the long nap, expecting her to wake up at any second. I'm happy to say I got a lot done. I started dinner in the crockpot (total cooking maven right here) and nearly completed new pillows for our living room. Pat myself on the back, why don't I.

{Are you enjoying my Monday play-by-play? Exciting stuff, I tell you.}

I wanted to add some more color in our living room (read: hubby has requested a color other than NEUTRAL or BLUE). So I grabbed the napkins off my dining room table and got to work.

I've always loved these napkins from Pier 1. Lots of fun colors and a great print. Not easy to find. Twenty minutes later and my pillow covers are ironed and sewn. I was able to finish them up after Evie went to bed last night.

{See, lots of neutral. And I might never quit my love affair with blue. Now I'd like a new couch to go with my pillows..}

After Miss Sleepypants woke up from her nap, we headed to TJ Maxx to return a shirt I bought. If you must know, it was a pink tank top that they only had in a medium. I thought I could make it work, but once I got home and put it on, I realized the neon tent look just wasn't for me. But while we were there I scored these awesome nesting tables for Evie's nursery! I love them.

{At this rate I'm planning to reveal Evie's room in all it's glory when she's about 16.}

So that was my Monday. I feel very productive. How was the start of your week? Was it as exciting as mine??? :)

Water Baby

This is how we've been spending the past few evenings.. crouched down on the pavement of our patio, smiling and babbling with our blue-eyed babe while she splishes and splashes and chows down on a rubber turtle.

A perfect little end-of-the-day ritual, complete with a naked baby and an outdoor bath at the end.

** She inherited the furled brow straight from her daddy. And those squishable thighs? That's all mama. We're still trying to figure out where the baby blues came from!

Friday Morning Thoughts

Good morning lovelies! Here's where my mind happens to be this AM:

1. Are you watching The Bachelorette?? I am not. I'm just "meh" on what's-her-name and honestly can't get past her wispy, annoying bangs. Every time I see a picture of her, I want to tell her to get her hair out of her eyes like my dad used to tell us in 4th grade.

2. We're going to the pool today! Can't wait. And since my baby girl is not as brown as I was just so sure she would be, I have big plans to get her a tan this summer. Heh heh.

(Don't worry, I'm only kidding. Kind of. She'll be slathered in organic baby sunscreen with a hat on. In the shade.)

3. I actually cooked dinner last night.. pasta, chicken, pesto, grape tomatoes.. all the right ingredients, but folks, it was not good. Oh, sure, my husband ate it, but it was bland city. I'm thinking of just giving up on cooking completely. Or at least until we get hungry again.

4. My mom is coming for a visit this weekend! Can't wait for Evie to see her Grandy! And we just made plans to head home for a visit later this month, so she'll get to see all her grandparents very soon. I'm really hating it more and more that we don't live in the same town. :(

5. Okay, are you pinning, or what?? All the cool kids are doing it. And it's sooo addicting. I won't get into all the details, cause everyone and their blog brother already has, but it's like the creators literally sat down at some sort of round conference table with bad lighting and asked "What would Aja like?.. how would she like to keep/store all of her creative, fun, inspirational ideas??" And then the junior associate drew some sort of diagram on a dry erase board and BAM it happened. God bless you.

6. I think it's worth noting that I have had at least 3 strawberry limeades per week in the past month. If that doesn't scream knocked-up around here, I don't know what does.

7. NO I am NOT pregnant. Just craving a tasty drink now and then.

8. My mom and I have been on the waiting list for a booth at my favorite antique/thrift store for TWO YEARS. Seriously. And last week I got the call! Woot woot! So excited! I sold three items on the very first day and I'm hoping it continues. :)

9. Are you on Words With Friends? And are we friends? Don't be a creeper. If so, hit me up in the comments so we can play a game and I can BEAT YOU.

10. And finally, despite all of my dumb comments above, my heart is very heavy today for a close friend's family. Her sister is 6 months pregnant and just found out that the baby has gone to heaven. Six months. My heart just breaks over this and I cannot begin to imagine the pain they're going through. So please say a prayer for healing, comfort and peace for this family. I hope she doesn't mind that I've mentioned it here, but I know how powerful prayer is and want to cover them in it as much as possible right now. Thank you!