Baby P meets her cousin

P (FINALLY) met her baby cousin this week when he came home from the hospital.  At first she didn't really seem to pay much attention to him.  We set them in a chair together to get a pic and Jody tried to prop A up against P.  She wasn't having it.  So he sat in the opposite corner of the chair.  After pics Jody picked him up and P was patting the chair because she wanted him to sit with her again.  She kept checking him out after that.  I'm not sure she knew he was a little human.

I love their matching big cousin/little cousin shirts :)

Playing together.

Checking out how adorable he is.

Summertime

God I love summer.  In the midwest it consists of maybe three months of warm weather.  The rest of the year I dream of being back in California where I would be sunbathing on Thanksgiving day.  Sigh....

BUT it is almost June and summer seems to be in full force here in Illinois (knock on wood).  We have had consistently warm weather the last couple weeks and I am in heaven.  P and I have taken full advantage of our days and have been outside playing!

Water table....check!

Sprinkler...check!

Yep, she's totally trying to drink out of it.

Watermelon...check!

Popsicles...check!

Playing with the ponies...check!

 Swimming with daddy...check!

Lots of wagon rides...check!

 Lots of quality time with mama...check!

Being a summertime diva...check!

Don't forget to check out our giveaway for some great summertime jewelry here.

Missmercurylady Giveaway

I ran across Missmercurylady's jewelry randomly one day and thought her stuff was so adorable and great priced.

This pretty little thing is only $10!!

She was sweet enough to send me a couple necklaces in the mail.  One to review and one to giveaway.  When they came I couldn't decide which one I liked better.  I finally let my husband pick which I should keep.  He picked this one...

It's bright and fun and perfect for spring/summer.  I love it.  I've worn it a couple times and have had people comment on it both times.  Love love love. Here are some more of my favorite pieces from her...

Check out her other designs on facebook and her blog.

So now is the time to win a piece of jewelry from Missmercurylady...this is what's up for grabs..

I love it and almost want to keep it for myself but I'll be nice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whew

I am slacking.  I have a lot to update on and an amazing giveaway but it is going to be postponed a few days since I am beyond busy!!!

CRAZY week

This week has probably been the busiest of my life...

Sunday I was blessed beyond belief with a new nephew...

Monday our house went on the market and sold.

Friday we found our new home and made an offer on Saturday.

And tonight they accepted our last and final offer.

For the last day I was having second thoughts....was this it?  Was this our new home?  I started thinking about all the paint it needed (hello painters, I do NOT paint), the new light fixtures (you'll see why in a minute), new furniture to fill in the gigantic basement.  Was it worth it?  We decided to counter their last offer just for the hell of it and see what happened and much to my surprise they accepted it.  So now my second thoughts are gone.  For the price we got this place for in such an amazing neighborhood, it was worth it.

Here it is now...I can't wait to get my hands on it and change it up.  Add some paint and some furniture that actually goes with the house and it'll be beautiful.  This guy who lives there now apparently loves the modern look..the lights hurt my head.  The furniture is...um....different.  He needs to live in a different style of home for sure.  This place isn't a "modern" home.

Anyway on to our new home...2400 square feet (3200 counting the finished basement).  4 bedroom, 3.5 bath. Perfect for a growing family (and a guy who works from home and needs an office).

Real hardwoods.

Granite countertops.  Not really a fan of the backsplash but it will do for now.  And those lights...oy.

Master bedroom.

Master bath

And finally...what won me over...the basement...

basement...aka P's new playroom...guest quarters....relaxing area....

It's HUGE.

and has a full bath...

So there you have it.  I'm ready to get this show on the road.

House hunting

This past weekend we headed to the Indiana to house hunt!  It was a crazy busy weekend.  Whenever we move we usually get a few days to get in as many houses as we can and narrow it down.  This time we spent two days checking out houses.  We hit about 30 or so and we had a few really great options.  A few houses were the same floor plan in the same AMAZING neighborhood but one won us over with it's bad ass finished basement (complete with a full bath).  We put an offer in, they countered, and we are sending a new counter offer tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get it for the price we want.  I suppose there are others if not but Ohhhhh....that basement is my dream playroom.  A great place to hide the millions of toys that P has accumulated in her short little life.  Cross your fingers.

P was a good girl the whole time except the first night at the hotel but of course she had a busy day getting in and out of the car and visiting 15 some houses...she's a trooper.

The day before we left, shopping for goodies for the pups for the puppy hotel.

Ready to go!

Playing in the suitcase at the hotel...she got her toothbrush out!

Ready for the pool.  She loved watching herself in the mirror!

(and yes, she always puts shoes on her hands...always)

House hunting is hard.  

Circus peanuts after a long day...

In other news...my sweet baby nephew has a name.

Tayshaun Thomas.


Ok I kid, I kid.

BUT I had Dustin convinced that that was his name!!!

True story.

I knew his real name but since they gave him Dustin's middle name I wanted Dustin's brother to be the one to tell him. So I told him that his name was Tayshaun.  He was saying that it was g-h-e-t-t-o but since Tyler had picked a lot of ghetto fab names to add to his favorite baby names list it was believable.  That and I threw in Tyler's middle name as the baby's middle name. HA HA  Dustin asked me what I said when they told me and I told him I said it was cute and that he better pretend to like it when Tyler told him!

When he heard baby's REAL name he told me that he teared up.  How sweet is that?

What's funny is I was sitting in bed that morning thinking of my future kid's names and thought that Tyler sounded good with the name Adrian (which I want for a boy).  And then BAM they give him Dustin's middle name.  Great minds think alike.

I won't be telling you his real name on here because I'm not sure if they want it on the world wide web but I shall call him A...not to be confused with P's friend Little A.

And man....is A a cute dude.  

So in love with him.  

He hasn't caught on to eating too well yet but he will.  Send prayers and good vibes that he gets to come home soon.  I know Jody is so sad leaving her baby boy at the hospital and I can't imagine how hard this is on them.  I can't wait for them to have their little guy home.

Home is wherever I'm with you...

Our house went on the market yesterday.  It's all a little bittersweet.  I didn't think it would bother me at all but I will admit once the offers (Three showings...three offers.  Crazy!) started rolling in it hit me.

This is where my afternoon pee changed my life forever.

This was where I was pregnant.

This is where we brought our sweet tiny little baby home to.

And where we watched her grow....

 and spent our evenings rocking on the porch....

 and watched her grow even more...

and more...

 and celebrated her first year on earth...

 and where we spent MANY sleepless nights...

This home will always hold many special memories.

I might miss it a little bit when we are gone.

But then I realize that our next home will be filled with just as many great memories...her second birthday, more firsts...watching her grow more and more...

And maybe our new home will be the first home of another baby, of those first smiles, first giggles, first crawls, first steps, first birthday, the first time P will be a big sister...the possibilities are endless and I've come to realize....

Home is wherever I'm with you...

Holy Moly Me oh My your the apple of my eye
Girl I've never loved one like you

Dont forget the jamberry nails giveaway here.