Sweet Caroline

I'm losing faith.  *and NO, this has NOTHING to do with the current health care crap that's going.  I can't even begin to discuss my feelings on that* So...life has been pure chaos lately.  We've established that.  HECTIC doesn't even begin to describe what all has been going on with trying to finish moving out of our old house...having to move some of our stuff into my parents house for a couple of weeks and getting everything ready for two closings tomorrow.  WHEW. On top of that...my parents move July 14.  So we lose a LOT of help because they have to deal with their own stuff.  And my mom is keeping Collins.  Yeah...it's nuts. We wake up this morning to news that my dad's office/shop has been broken into and RANSACKED.  WTF?  I know we aren't the first and will NOT be the last people to be broken into and we are thankful it wasn't our homes...but they completely destroyed his property. The amount of valuables taken isn't that great, but

We're leaving the mess behind.  *Seriously*  Our lives have been pure chaos the past few weeks.  Our house? ha!  A total DISASTER zone.  Have YOU ever tried to pack up a whole house on your own with a newborn??  YIKES.  We are not neat packers.  I'm okay with it.  Mikey looked at me the other day and said "your just dying aren't you?"  He was referring to the state of our house. I'm typically a NEAT NUT, so how we've been living the past two weeks is completely FOREIGN to me.  But, I'm dealing.  I promised myself that we wouldn't ruin our summer weekends over the whole packing/moving ordeal.  It's not worth it.  It'll all get done, in time.  Summer weekends are WAY TOO precious to me.  So, we're packing our bags and headed to my favorite place in the world for the weekend.  A little quality time on the coast with the fam and some friends.  I think I'll be MUCH better come Monday:) We just need to get away.  Away from the box

My baby girl turned FOUR months old on Sunday.  She's such a big girl, growing up right before my eyes:(  I do love each new stage more than the last though...it's so fun when she can interact with us. What's our 4 month old up to? -She ROLLS, a LOT.  Ever since she rolled on to her stomach that night in her swaddle, she hasn't stopped.  Thankfully, removing the swaddle was a non issue and she does great without it.  Except for now, she LOVES sleeping on her tummy.  Scares me a little, but what can you do??  The first few weeks without the swaddle she would get those fingers and immediately roll to her side and she was OUT.  Now, she has been rolling all the way to her tummy, so cute.  I think she just prefers her tummy...if we put her down on the play mat on her back, she immediately (almost always) rolls to her tummy, she's been doing this for about three weeks now!  (Right at 3.5 months) -Speaking of her fingers, she LOVES them.  She rarely takes a paci any

Our memorial day weekend was absolutely wonderful.  Our good friends invited us to their house in McClellanville, SC for the long holiday weekend.  We had a small little group, which was perfect considering this was our first venture into "vacationing" with a baby!  *yes, we have been to Beaufort with my family...but when you have the grandparents around for added support it's not quite the same*  We packed up everything and headed for the coast Friday after work.  We cooked at night, played cards...and I finally caved and learned how to play Mexican Train.  My friends are OBSESSED with this game and I typically don't have enough patience/attention to sit thru long games, but I gave it my best shot and ended up liking it okay.  One time on vacay in the mountains, a group of  them played ALL DAY long, seriously...like non stop. It was nuts.  Anyways...back to the real point of this post.  We enjoyed a long boat ride Saturday (Collins' second one!), and an afternoon

Mikey and I celebrated our THREE year anniversary last Wednesday, June 13.  I'm going to by pass the typical long, picture loaded, mushy write up...but I did want to at least make a note of it.  To say life has been CRAZY lately is a bit of an understatement, so we didn't really do that much to celebrate...but it was still a special day with my favorite guy.  We did a lunch date...went to the restaurant that we ate at the night we got engaged, so that was fun. I obviously don't have all the secrets to a long lasting marriage, considering we are still pretty new to the whole game; but I do know that not a day goes by that we don't laugh together.  And THAT to me is a recipe for success.  We love, support, cherish, and laugh with (and at) each other. I feel so incredibly blessed to have Mikey as my husband, here's to many, MANY more years together! And just because no one likes a post without ANY pictures... Our family 2012 (end of May...Memorial Day weekend)

The LAST room in my makeover Monday series with the "old" house, we CLOSE IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!! Must finish this now because the new house is going to get LOTS of lovin' and I'll want to document it all! The dining room wasn't bad per se, it was just small and closed up.  It was a hard decision to get rid of the french doors, because typically I love them. But, in this case...it just made sense so that we could have the open concept we wanted and make the kitchen HUGE. My dad built the dining room table AND my beautiful china cabinet. How awesome is that? I'll treasure these pieces forever and they will DEFINITELY be used in our next house. Now that wraps up my series for this house...on to the next!! SO FREAKIN' PUMPED.

Mother's Day 2012. My first one. As I always suspected, being a MOM is the absolute BEST job in the world. It may be the hardest, but it is also the most rewarding. A mother's love is something quite special. I've always known it, my own mama is simply amazing. But, now that I am a mama too...well it is even more clear to me how wonderful it is to be a MOM. So, yeah...it's nice to have a day dedicated to us:)  We enjoyed the second part of our day at my parents house. RELAXING. The first part? Not so much...the night before Mother's Day was Miss Collins' FIRST spend the night party with her Lolly and Grandaddy as Mikey was in a wedding and we wanted to have a FUN time at the reception and be relieved of parenting duties for the night. Of course I made my parents text me pictures like crazy...my dad did a great job...I got a play by play:) Anyways, we were planning on actually doing some WORK around the house Mother's Day morning (my idea) because

Our nephew, Grady O'Neal Richardson entered the world yesterday morning at 7:55 am.  He is absolutely perfect and has a head FULL of dark brown hair just like his cousin Collins:)  We are so excited that Grady and Collins are going to be so close in age...they will grow up about five minutes apart from each other and I hope and pray that they will be best of friends.   We were SHOCKED to see Grady have so much dark brown hair because his big sister Belle has been a tow head since birth. But, my brother was born with lots of brown hair and then it went blonde by the time he was 1 and stayed blonde until middle school or so. He is just perfect ,weighing in at 6 lb, 7 oz and 19 inches long.  Just a smidge smaller than Collins was, but I swear...it hasn't even been 4 months and I do NOT remember Collins being that SMALL! Mikey and I are so blessed to now have THREE beautiful nieces and TWO adorable nephews:)  We love you so much Grady and can't wait to watch you grow!

The den. Really, not that much done here. But, what a world of difference PAINT makes. We painted the room, floors refinished, and painted the fireplace WHITE and it made everything look so much brighter and airy. At least in my opinion...:) and MINE is the only one that counts, right?  And of course, knocking out the wall in between the den and dining room (seen in top picture) (and removing those french doors, which I debated about because I love french doors) helped make things look SO much more open.  This was a GREAT den for two people and a dog...two adults, a dog and a BABY...yeah, it gets a little cramped.  Who knew something that is so SMALL could require so much stuff!!!  Can't wait to have ROOM to grow in our next home:) Paint color: Bittersweet Stem by Sherwin Williams Rug: West Elm Garden stool: gift from my brother and SIL Art: Ballard Designs Mirrors: Ballard Designs Lamps: Target, with my SIL's craftiness, she painted the mono

Ecards just crack me up sometimes. I don't ever pin any or anything, I mean once you've read them once...what's the point? But, I thought I'd share a few of my favs to get us through another FRIDAY! Cheers to the WEEKEND!! We have friends coming over to cook out tonight and then are heading to CHARLESTON tomorrow for the day/night, I'm going to be indulging in some MUCH needed girl time with my bff Sarah on the BEACH:) Collins is going to learn early to be a beach girl like her mama:) The boys are playing golf and then we get to all watch our GAMECOCKS in the SUPER REGIONAL!!! GO COCKS!! Happy weekend!