thoughts on missing the baby stage

There are all different types of moms.  Moms that LOVE the baby stage, the toddler stage, the kid stage, and I've even heard the teenage stage is wonderful although I'm terrified of it.  There are moms that love being pregnant and moms that hate it and I know that so much of this has to do with experience.  Some of my friends have the unfortunate situation of being so sick their entire pregnancy that it's hard to celebrate.  I had many food aversions and felt yucky the first trimester but all in all, I loved being pregnant.  
While I've loved every stage so far and wouldn't make Jonathan a baby again, a part of me misses those days.  My favorite moment is when J heard my voice and looked at me for the fist time.  Pure bliss.  It's an amazing connection right out of the gate... I miss snuggling with him and holding him close for hours on end.  My heart literally aches to have him all bundled up on my chest.  My arms feel empty because I want to hold him all day long.  

My JJ is seriously the sweetest boy ever.  He has an amazing heart, tells me "I love you" all of the time, loves to get kisses for his booboos, has more energy and life than I knew possible, loves to give kisses (tiss!!) and hugs, and is the happiest person I know (or maybe tied with Matt).  

And while I would never trade this wonderful bundle of personality for anything, oh how I long to hold a baby in my arms.  Maybe that's why I rock him extra long at night, sing as many rounds of "moon moon" as I can, give him as many kisses as he'll let me, and cuddle as much as possible.  
And as this has been spinning around in my head for awhile, I read this post by The Tiny Twig and it resonated so deep in my soul.  I'm a creator.  I love the creation of a new life and discovering that life.  I love the anticipation and meeting a new person.  And I'm reminded that this discovery process is just beginning.  I have an entire lifetime left of discovering who my boy is and loving the socks off of him.  I'm pretty darn excited about that.  

30th birthday celebration revealed

Ok, y'all.  This is going to be photo heavy.  But I'm not going to apologize because I've gotta do this birthday celebration justice!
So apparently Matt had a planning session with my friends back in March.  Yes, March.  How great is he for having a planning session and how great are my friends for wanting to be involved and help plan a fun celebration for me?  I'm one lucky lady.  So this is how the weekend went:
Awhile back I got a couple of amazing handmade invitations in the mail to reserve Friday June 7th and Saturday June 8th.  No details were given just a reservation.  I was soooo excited already!  

Didn't they do an amazing job?!

So I was picked up after lunch on Friday and we headed off to..... THE PARKER in Palm Springs!!! You. Guys.  This place is soooo fabulous.  It was all designed by Jonathan Adler and is sooo funky and fun.  I had been dropping some major hints to Matt for awhile and he definitely picked up on them.  Friday and Saturday were filled with swimming, a yummy dinner, drinks poolside, a couple of Starbucks trips, and best of all, great chats with my girls.  Man, I feel so lucky to have such great friends and such a loving husband who planned all of this for us.

So I knew that something was going down on Saturday night and when we were on our way home, the girls said they wanted to go get drinks first.  We stopped by The Raymond and when we walked in, my parents were sitting there! So my parents live in Atlanta and I had no idea they were coming out!  It was one of those weird moments where I almost didn't recognize them because I was so surprised.  My friends left and I had a couple hours to hang out with just my parents.  It was great to be able to see them... I was missing them on my birthday so this was perfect.  Once again, so blessed to have such wonderful parents who would fly out for the weekend even though I'd be gone for half of it!  Love them.

So we pull up to my house and....Matt threw a surprise party for me in the backyard!  He DID AN AMAZING JOB.  There is an Abney saying, "Go big or go home" and he took it to heart.  The driveway was lined with balloons that were strung with baker's twine.  This man has been listening to me!  He knows my love for baker's twine and disdain (maybe a little strong) for balloon ribbon.  He had a whole color scheme that I've been into - gold, coral, minty blue....it was gorgeous.  He created this beautiful chalkboard with pictures of me and a place for people to leave me a note.  When I saw it I thought surely one of my friends helped him with it.  Nope!  He did it all on his own.

Still in awe when I see it.  

We had YUMMY tacos.  Here's the station Matt set up for all of the taco fixings:

Sprinkles cupcakes:

 Moscow Mules:

 The gorgeous set up:

I don't have a great picture of the flowers but here is one taken the next day:

Aren't they gorgeous?!!  Matt had a plan for the colors and flowers he wanted and then my mom went with him to the flower mart and helped him with the execution.

I am seriously in awe of my sweet husband.  The weekend he planned, the party he created, all of the details were so me.  Sweetie - I love you more than words can say and still feel so loved and special from my birthday weekend.  Mom and Dad - thank you for flying all of the way out to see me and help with the party!  I feel so honored.  My friends - thank you for an amazing weekend away and for celebrating me! I'm so lucky to have such great friends.  Andy & Kala - thanks for watching my boy so Matt could pull this off!  And to everyone who helped me celebrate - thank you for being a part of my life! I'm so blessed.  Love y'all.  

thirty

Thirty.  I'm thirty.  This birthday was hard and wonderful all at the same time.  I've been learning that is how life is.  Sure, there are seasons that are characterized more by sorrow or more by joy but it seems like more often than not, they are all mixed together.
Have you ever heard of Shauna Niequist?  She is a fabulous author and her book Bittersweet is pretty much exactly where I'm at.  Have you ever read a book and thought that it was written just for you?  Yeah, that's how I feel about this book.  She sums up much more eloquently than I'm able that in the tough times, you can find pieces of joy and in happiness, suffering and pain still exists.  I can sometimes be a little black and white and this concept has been revolutionary for me.  Life is sorrow and joy all mixed together and God uses both times to teach us, love us, and draw us nearer to him.  
But back to my 30th.... it fell right in the middle of a tough time but was seriously exactly what I needed.  I needed to say goodbye to my 20's and start afresh.  I needed to get out of my head and space and be around family and friends and celebrate.  I'm going to share much more about all that happened over the last couple of weeks because really, it deserves a couple posts on its own.  I'll just say I have an amazing husband who celebrates me, loves me, takes care of me, and spoils me rotten.  I have a wonderful family and incredible friends who take care of me and love me.  So thankful for them.  So blessed.  
You might notice that I'm speaking a little more from the heart and not just sharing my latest crafting pics.  You can expect more of that here.  As I approached my birthday, that is something that I kept thinking about over and over again.  I feel ready to be more open and honest and share more freely what's going on in my life...both the good and bad.  So thank you for reading.       

hello there

Who doesn't love gold, grey, and minty blue??  I sure am in love with the combination.  Here is a newish design I created.  It's inspiring some changes in my shop.....

Have a happy Monday, y'all!
** I linked this post up to Sew Chatty's Made with Love link party. 

congratulations cards

One of my favorite clients had me make congratulations cards to give to new parents.  She wanted boy themed, girl themed, and gender neutral themed cards.  I had a blast making these and am thinking of making more to post in my etsy shop.... what do you think??

boy themed: 

girl themed: 

neutral:

baby book

I'm just popping in to share some pictures of a recent baby book I made. Enjoy! :)

 Here's the cover. I used the SNAP binder and it worked perfectly.  I just added some gold and cream twine and was done.

  The binders come with some patterned paper (like the polka dot below) and I used Elise Blaha Cripe's Project Life patterned paper to supplement.  For the first page, I sewed on a small sheet with the birth information.  

The book is divided into three sections: letters, pictures, and keepsakes.  

pocketed page protectors for photos with journaling cards:

  In the keepsakes section, there is a pocket for ultrasound pictures, birth announcement, first birthday, and special cards.

This book was super fun to make - simple, sweet, and easy to use.  Score!

minted

Ok so it's no secret that I am in love with paper.  I mean seriously in love, makes my hand sweat, in love.  I love making paper products, collecting journals I never use, wrapping pencils in paper, buying thank you cards (the art of letter writing is not lost on me), using only my paper calendar, scribbling lists on paper pads, writing out my grocery list, etc.  Basically, we live in an age of technology and I can't get enough writing instead of typing. 
Enter: minted.  This place is awesome.  I can spend entire nap times perusing through the endless pages of picture cards, stationery, address labels, and art prints.  Major drool.  Here are some of my favorites that I've spotted recently.  

 skinnywrap address labels

 love you more than coffee art print

 watercolor stationery

monogrammed stationery

Pretty gorgeous stuff, right??