Category Archives: InstaFriday

InstaFriday

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It’s Friday . . . and you know what that means!

InstaFriday!

I missed last week (again), so I’ve got 2 weeks worth of pictures to share! (You can follow me at paintandpillows)

Little Miss was baptized 2 weeks ago! She looked so adorable in her pretty little dress (gift from a co-worker) and her gorgeous headband (made by my sister). And my best friend is sooooooo excited to be a God Mama. She told me she’s gonna make people start referring to her as “The Godmother” instead of by her name!

Those cheeks! I just can’t. even. handle. it!

One of my oldest friends moved to Minneapolis this week. We’ve been friends for 16 years. That’s half my life, people! I’m so excited for her new adventures, but so sad for her to go. Saying goodbye was definitely hard. Lots of tears! Thank God for social media! Maybe she won’t seem so far away.

Little Miss rockin’ the bling The Godmother gave her! 🙂

Last Monday was my birthday. I celebrated by going on a lunch date with my two most favoritist people ever! Sushi! My hubby knows what I like 🙂

I finally decided to hang up the Johnny Jump-Up and see if Emma was big enough for it. She loved it! Of course. Little Miss Independent loves her freedom 🙂

More monsoon rains. Only this time, I came out of the nursery and Daddy and Little Miss were sitting at the back door watching the rain. Be still, my heart! I just love watching how much her loves and adores her. He’s such a good father!

The picture on the left was a couple weeks before Emma was born. It’s amazing to me the difference 4 months makes. She wasn’t here 4 months ago. She didn’t exist! Yes, she was alive and well in my belly, but she wasn’t a person yet. And I wasn’t a mother. Now I can barely remember what life was like without her. Crazy to think about.

My mom and I share the same birthday month. So we like to get together and go use all our awesome birthday coupons. This time we took Little Miss along for a three generations shopping trip.People, we were seriously out of the house, shopping, for 6 HOURS! And you know what? Emma was a freakin’ ANGEL the whole time! How on earth did I get so lucky??

We literally shopped til she dropped!

The U of A had their first football game last Friday. So we had to make sure Little Miss showed off her UA pride! Go Wildcats!

My sister got married on Saturday. Perfect excuse to play dress up with the baby. So adorable! I just love her! 🙂http://instagram.com/p/sXypUcrvbl/And right after taking our picture, my niece insisted that we take hers too. What a ham!

Doxie PJs. Gene Simmons tongue. Chubby cheeks. Love, love, love!http://instagram.com/p/sgf0QYrvUs/I’m trying to lose the baby weight. The gym is not an option and I don’t have a lot of time. Enter 21-Day Fix. Just 30 minutes, every day. I can do this!What’ve you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s Friday . . . and you know what that means!

InstaFriday!

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics (you can follow me at paintandpillows)

I really, really, really want to finish Emma’s quilt. So I’ve been working hard on getting things wrapped up. It looks like my sewing supplies had exploded in the dining room. So I moved my pinning process to the kitchen island.

I really need a craft room :-/

Let me preface this by saying that my husband is not a huge sweet eater. That’s not to say he doesn’t like sweets, he does. He just doesn’t crave them like I do. And he certainly never makes them . . . until now.

The last couple months Hubby has been sort of obsessed with making no-bake cookies. He’s been making them like every 2 weeks.

Then he asked me where all the oatmeal went, because we just bought it and he hasn’t been eating any oatmeal for breakfast. Well, neither have I. So take a guess where all the oats are!! 😉

Clock radios are for chumps! What’s better than an alarm clock that makes Hulk noises? 🙂

My little sous chef “helping” me make pancakes.

Because of the monsoons, the weather has started to cool down a bit, so Hubby, Shady Lady, and I were finally able to take a walk. She slept the whole time.

P.S. Look at those cheeks!! Love!

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InstaFriday

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It’s instafriday!

I know I missed it last week. My days off of work were different last week and it totally messed me up! I was not rested at all and spent all week hanging on by my fingernails while I waited for my next days off to come.

Which is also why I haven’t been posting a lot on instagram either (you can follow along at paintandpillows)

But, I do have a few pics to share from the last couple weeks.

I put Little Miss in her exersaucer while I went to grab the vacuum. I came back to her completely absorbed by the TV. I was watching Pitch Perfect. She has great taste in movies! 🙂

She’s been working really hard on trying to roll over. She was thisclose, but couldn’t quite make it all the way over (yet)

And she shall be called Sleeps Like A Zombie!

I think it’s hysterical when she falls asleep in her Boppy. She’s always got her arms sticking out in front of her. Such a weirdo, she is! 😉

We’re getting to the age where everything must go in the mouth. Including the exersaucer. Apparently it’s delicious.

Before I turn off my light to go to sleep, I always do a quick check to see how she’s doing.

Sometimes I just lay there for a little while and watch her sleep.

I love that little girl so much I sometimes think my heart will burst! She’s the love of my life.

Continuing the seemingly never ending process of sewing Emma’s baby quilt. The top has been done for a couple months, and I’ve finally started to work on the back.

I just want it to be done already!

Guess who has finally started rolling over?? 😀

We practice every day. We usually only get one or two roll overs a day. Sometimes it takes a little coaxing from Mama or Daddy.

She’s getting so big!

She’s so proud of herself!

P.S. Look at those cheeks! I just wanna kiss them again and again and again . . .

What have you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s pretty much all chubby baby photos this week. And really, can you blame me? 😉

You can follow me at paintandpillows

Look at those cheeks! I just want to bite them!

Hubby is taking some time off work to stay home with Emma, now that I’ve gone back to work. He’d offered to get up with her when she woke up, so I could sleep in (I have to wake up super early for work), but I said “No, thanks!” As much as I would love to sleep past 6 a.m., she’s just so smiley and happy in the mornings! And now that I’m back to work, I only get to see the happy morning baby twice a week. So I’ll take morning coos and cuddles over a couple extra hours of sleep any day!

I bought a used exersaucer at a local consignment sale. I figured she’d be a bit too little for it yet, but for $13 I figured I’d buy it now and hang onto it. Then I decided to put her in it “just to see” (after all, she is bigger than 97% of babies her age). She is a bit too short, but we just popped a pillow under the standing part so that her feet can reach better. And she loves it! Best $13 ever spent!

As a newborn, we were putting Emma to bed at 10 p.m. since that’s when we went to sleep. We always knew her bedtime would have to move up (especially when I went back to work), so every few weeks we’d shift the whole routine forward 30 minutes (we didn’t wanna shift it too much and risk messing up her schedule completely). On Saturday we shifted it again, so now we start the bedtime routine at 7:30 p.m. and she’s in bed by 8 p.m.

Clearly that’s still too late for this one 🙂

7 p.m. it is!

Mommy and Little Miss did a little shopping yesterday morning. She was so happy and smiley the whole time!

I think she’s finally catching on to this whole “girls love to shop” thing!

She is the most adorable baby EVER!!!

Goodness gracious, I love that little girl!!

I finally got my butt in gear and started trying to finish a project I started a month ago!

There’s nothing like deciding at 8:30 p.m. to start cutting and sewing and hopefully get the project finished before bed (which didn’t happen).

What have you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s instafriday! You know what that means! :o)

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows
life rearranged

It’s my job as a mother to teach my daughter the finer points of shopping. Of course, it would help if she would stay awake for her lessons! 😉

I have a tradition at work, where I bring in treats on Mondays. We call it Munchie Mondays.

So on Sunday, I baked up a batch of Snikerdoodle Cookie-Butter Sandwich Cookies.

Made with love by me and my co-baker, Miss Emma.

Who fell asleep, as usual. Baby carriers are her Zzzquil. Put her in one, and she’s out like a light!

I’m working on trying to be a better friend.

A simple way to do that is to send out a small care package to let someone know you’re thinking about them.

Happy mail.

I sent out a few packages this week to a few special ladies.

I’m hoping to have a post on it up next week.

http://instagram.com/p/qutarNLvRo/

Someone (or should I say, someones) turned 3 this week.

Yes, we celebrate the dogs’ birthday (they’re brothers from the same litter).

Every year they get wet food for dinner, treats, and a new toy.

We love those little furry butts!

Little Miss is trying so hard to sit up by herself!

And she gets so frustrated that she can’t do it yet.

But she keeps trying!

It’s monsoon season. Which means rain! (A novelty in the dry desert of Southern Arizona)

We went outside to enjoy the cooler weather and to show Emma the rain and the beautiful sunset.

A great way to spend the evening . . . with my two favorite people!

What have you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

Posted in InstaFriday by

It’s instafriday! You know what that means! :o)

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows
life rearrangedhttp://instagram.com/p/qVOVOgLvZY/

Pizza Friday!! Normally I like to try out recipes from my Pizza Friday Pintrest board, but this time I just threw on a bunch of stuff from the fridge – diced pork chop, pepperoni, banana peppers, diced grilled zucchini, and pepper jack cheese. It actually turned out super yummy! I may have to make it again (intentionally)!

Going back to work after having a baby is HARD! Thankfully, Hubby is taking a month and a half off so he can stay home with the baby for a bit. But, eventually, we’re gonna need childcare. I had already started looking for a nanny, because a handful of days a month our work schedules require very early childcare hours. I found a lovely girl who’s a student at our local university and the care that I need coordinates perfectly with her school schedule. PLUS, she’s crazy about Little Miss! We don’t need her until September, but she wants to pop over periodically until then to see Emma, so that she doesn’t scare her when the day finally comes that Emma wakes up and Mommy and Daddy aren’t there.

The first time she came over to visit, she brought presents! A cute little stuffed monkey, a couple of books, and a card thanking us for hiring her and expressing her excitement in “helping [us] raise the best little girl possible.” She’s the best! I feel soooooo much better knowing she’ll be here when I’m not!

Emma attended her first birthday party over the weekend. So in honor of the event, she got all dolled up in a pretty little brown and pink polka dot dress complete with fashionable flower hair accessory. So pretty!

http://instagram.com/p/qXGSyarvSd/

And here’s the birthday girl, herself. Emma’s future BFF, little Miss Nova!

I was working on a couple blog posts in the office when Hubby announces that he found Frozen on one of our movie channel apps. Of course that meant dropping what I was doing and running into the living room for family movie time (and a little practice sitting up). She was asleep within 20 minutes. But Mama and Dada watched the whole thing! :o)

This baby wants to be a big girl sooooo bad! She prefers that you hold her up so she can sit or stand instead of laying down. She’s already rolled over once and is bound hell and determined to do it again! She’s gotten close, but hasn’t quite been able to pull it off again, much to her frustration! Where has my bitty baby gone?? Not even 3 months old and already trying to find a way to leave me :o(

I shared Emma’s birth story on the blog this week. You can check it out here.

Can you guessed who dressed her this day? Not just the CHIEF shirt (although Hubby is a firefighter), but check out the bloomers. She looks like she was dressed by a blind man! Silly Daddy!

Like I said, she wants to be a big girl. She needs stabilizing, so she doesn’t tip over, but she can use her little legs to hold herself up. Ah!! The growing needs to stop!!

I started work again this week. I’m out of the house before the little wakes up. I only worked 3 days before getting my days off, but they seemed like an eternity!! I cannot adequately express how much I missed seeing these chubby little cheeks first thing in the morning! She’s so smiley and wiggly and happy to see you, plus she looks ADORABLE in her little sleepers!!

Not gonna lie . . . I keep her in these as long as possible in the mornings cuz she’s so stinkin’ cute! Who needs to wear real clothes?? ;o)

http://instagram.com/p/qj7qMOrvUw/

One of the many little things I love about Little Miss . . . her one super long eyelash!

http://instagram.com/p/qkPUtNrvWY/

Big cousin loves to come over and play with her little cousin. And, of course, silliness ensues!

Since she wants to sit up so badly, we decided it was time to buy her a baby chair. Such a big girl!

That’s it for me. What have you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s instafriday! You know what that means! :o)

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows
life rearranged

It was just me and the little on the Fourth of July. Still rocked the Red, White, & Cute onesie

We had hubby’s family over the day after the Fourth. Thought I should make it a little patriotic. So I whipped up some Firecracker Popcorn. Regular ole microwave popcorn tossed in melted white chocolate and sprinkled with red and blue Pop Rocks. Yummy!

http://instagram.com/p/qFverPLvQn/

The monsoon rains started to move in, so we had to move the get together inside. At least we got a couple hours of pool time first!

Cousins hanging out and watching Tarzan. So adorable! There were like 3 of us taking photos of this all at the same time! :o)

She’s getting so good at holding her head up! She’ll have this head control thing down in no time!

I ran into the kitchen to get her a bottle and came out to her big brother loving on her. We’ve been so lucky to have such sweet dogs. The transition into parenthood has been so much easier not having to worry about them. They LOVE their little sister!

http://instagram.com/p/qPC06Yrvcf/

Boppy’s aren’t just for babies, right? Moscow decided that that was his spot now! :o)

My New Years Resolution was to be a better friend. So I’m working on trying to do just that. Can you guess what I’m up to? (Hint: Do you follow me on Pintrest?)

This is Emma’s favorite napping spot. All Daddy has to do is hold her like this and it’s lights out! Every. Single. Time. So darn adorable!

Got an unexpected surprise in the mail. This beautiful dress from my equally beautiful cousin! I can’t wait for her to wear it! :o)

My little chunkers is only 10 weeks and is already wearing 6 month clothing! She needs to stop growing!

That’s it for my week. Its my last week of maternity leave and I’m trying to savor every moment of it. Hubby is going to take time off until the end of August so we have a little bit yet before she goes to child care. Even knowing she’s home with her Daddy, going back to work is gonna be hard for me. I don’t wanna go!

What have you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s instafriday! You know what that means! :o) Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows life rearranged

I have a lot of baby pictures this week. Because she’s so stinkin’ cute and I just can’t get enough of her. Sorry I’m not sorry. :o)

Milk coma! She was totally zonked out and staring into space. She’s such a chill baby :o)

She’s such a happy baby. I unswaddled her, fed her, then put her back down to go feed the dogs. When I came back in she was smiling and wiggling and I just HAD to go get the camera. Love that little girl!

She’s such a little wiggle worm that I don’t get to really snuggle her much anymore. I spend more time trying to dodge her bobblehead. This day she’d just woken up from her nap and was still a little sleepy. So I just sat on the couch cuddling her and soaking it all in. Before I know it she’ll be mobile and then she’ll never wanna cuddle!

She woke up a little earlier than usual. I wasn’t ready to give up on the hope of more sleep. So after I fed her, I brought her into our bed to cuddle and maybe go back to sleep. She had other ideas. Just wiggled, and wiggled, and wiggled. Even smacked me in the face a couple times. No more sleep for this mama!

And then an hour later she was totally unconscious on the sofa. Go figure!

http://instagram.com/p/qAtgHBrvei/

Hubby has to work today, so we had Pizza Thursday instead. Greek pizza. Yum!

What’ve you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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It’s instafriday! You know what that means! :o)

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows
life rearranged

Working on a quilt for the little miss. Super happy that my new sewing machine has an embroidery feature.

Quilting in the morning, wood working in the afternoon. Built myself a patio table!

We do Pizza Fridays (or Thursday or Saturday depending on the hubby’s schedule) around here. This week was a yummy Jalapeno Popper pizza. Drool!

Happy mail!! I saw this fun flamingo print from Riley Blake’s new line and HAD to have it! Pillows, anyone?

Hubby and I went to a movie while my sister watched the baby. My niece, Maci, loves helping feed the baby! P.S. It looks like a straight jacket, but the swaddles are life-savers! And these (now discontinued) leggies version mean I can wrap her tight and still be able to stick her in her bouncer or her swing for nap time. Love!!

http://instagram.com/p/ppPPmZrvUL/

Cheap dollar store star-spangled glasses on my mantle. Fourth of July decor, done! (Lazy, I know, but I can’t be Martha Stewart all the time!)

http://instagram.com/p/prWapDrvSW/

He really wants to be outside, but he also wants to be cool. This is his solution. Silly dog!

And what’s an instafriday post without a picture of this little piece of adorableness? Love the new Cutest Girl in the World t-shirt :o)

What’ve you been up to this week?

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InstaFriday

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There’s gonna be lots of baby pictures for this week’s InstaFriday. What can I say? New mommy! :o)

Here’s a look at my week in filtered instagram pics! You can follow me at paintandpillows
life rearranged

Rockin’ the “I Love Daddy” onesie in honor of Father’s Day

Hubby had to work on Father’s Day (Boo!), so it was just us girls here. I (as usual) had stuff to get done, so I hustled out to the garage for a couple hours of painting, cleaning, and laundry. Little Miss supervised from her stroller.

This is how my nights roll around here now. No more impromptu dinner, drinks, or movies. Lounging on the couch with sleepy baby is how we do!

Being a baby is SUPER exhausting!

She was SUPPOSED to be supervising while I work on the backyard. Just like a supervisor to be asleep on the job! ;o)

Throwback Thursday! Fun times at band camp! (Yes, I was a band geek . . . and proud of it!)

http://instagram.com/p/pcXd6qLvcd/#

After a long morning of yard work, I decided to take the advice of “sleep while baby sleeps” and take a quick nap. This little ball of fur was my adorable napping partner. I just love him! :o)

What’ve you been up to this week?

 

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