DIY Paper Tube Pen Cup

Getting organized was one of my top 2019 goals, since I feel like time is flying by since Hailey arrived! To help keep myself organized, I got this awesome calendar from Pinhole Press and I am so excited to share it with you! Disclaimer: the post was sponsored by Pinhole Press BUT I love their products. The calendar comes in 3 sizes, so I picked the medium size so that I had plenty of room to write but it wouldn’t take up too much room near my desk.

The calendar is dry erase and sticks right onto the wall, so I created this pen cup out of a toilet paper tube (WHAT?!) so that I can keep my dry erase markers handy. It’s also super cute and matches any decor when you wrap it in some washi tape!

These tubes stick on the wall with just a command strip, so you don’t even need to worry about messing up your walls or pulling out your power tools. Head on over to the Pinhole Press blog for the full post!

Hailey's 3 Month Update

Little Hailey is now 3 months old! She changes so much week to week, and I am loving the tiny person she’s becoming. I feel so lucky to be her momma, and to still be on maternity leave soaking up every second with her. It’s a dream. Let’s take a look at all the ways Hailey has changed this month, shall we?!

At three months old, Hailey is 13 lbs 2 oz and 23 inches tall. She’s wearing size 3 months clothes. She’s been quite the fashionista lately, letting me dress her up in fun clothes every day!

Watching TV

OK, Hailey’s been watching tv for a while now, but lately she’s REALLY into the TV! She whines when she’s not facing it and we are, haha. I guess she’s becoming a zombie like us. She doesn’t get much screen time besides when we’re watching tv, and we only watch adult shows so I think she just likes the lights. Either way, it’s really stinking cute when she “watches” Disney or Christmas movies!

Singing songs

Hailey loves our little sing-alongs. I have the worst singing voice ever (and a pretty annoying normal voice, some would argue!) so I find it hilarious that she likes when I sing. She’s been loving Christmas songs, especially the slow soulful ones like my acapella rendition of Please Come Home For Christmas by the Eagles. I can’t hit any of the notes, but for some reason she loves it haha. 

Faces

Hailey is noticing faces more and more, and loves when you smile at her! She smiles back and likes to study people. She also hates when she can’t see you nowadays, so I tend to keep her in the kitchen with me when I’m cooking so she doesn’t start wailing. 

Smiling more

Hailey is such a happy, smiley girl! She loves singing, light fixtures, faces… pretty much everything except toys, haha. Everything makes her smile, and I am LOVING it. I spend all day trying to get those smiles and I can’t seem to get enough.

Singing and sounds

Hailey is making so many sounds these days! She’s even been singing little songs to me, and I die every time. We also have “conversations” and she loves to tell me about her poops as I change her diaper, haha! She knows John reacts when she does a little high pitched squeal, so she does that when he’s around. It’s pretty insane how smart she is.

Sitting upright

So, little miss Hailey is a big girl. She loves to sit upright and whines now when you hold her like a little baby. She also does “sit ups” on her boppy pillow, where she holds my thumbs and pulls herself up. She sticks out her little tongue and smiles at me as I cheer her on. Then when she’s upright, she bobbles around trying to get her balance. She’s getting really good on it, and she’ll probably be sitting up on her own soon!

First Christmas 

That’s right, this Little Miss had her first Christmas! I couldn’t handle it, we wore Christmas pajamas every day for the 2 weeks before, and I sang her Christmas Carols all month long. I was super bummed on Christmas when I realized I forgot to take a photo of us together. My hubby (and tripod) came to the rescue though, because we took some great shots of us in front of the tree and Hailey even smiled in the one with me! It took some of the blues away. 

Baby Fists

Hailey learned how to make a fist and chew on it this month, so she spends a lot of time sucking on her hand. Then, she also discovered her thumb and started sucking that too! It’s mostly when she’s hungry or feels uncomfortable, but it’s pretty funny for some reason. She also grabbed her toe the other day when doing her sit-ups and I thought that was pretty great too. I had to snap a photo for memories, even though I’m sure she’ll be grabbing her foot all day long soon enough.

I can’t believe another month came and went, but luckily we seem to be getting into a rhythm lately. Hoping I can get more blog posts done in 2019- we may have the grandmas coming to babysit while I work! Until then, I’m a naptime hustler trying to enjoy every second she’s awake.

PS- Can we talk about how she’s not only getting cuter every month, but my photos are improving too? I’m gonna be a pro by 12 months!

2018- The Year In Review

Happy 2019! Every year, I like to recap what happened the year before and outline the posts I did. This year, I’d like to do something a little different and more meaningful. (You can see the 2017 recap here and 2016 here)

2018 was an amazing whirlwind of a year. I transitioned to working part time at my job since everything seemed to be going well at the end of 2017. I had some sponsored posts, an e-course client, and a brand partnership. By January of 2018, I had none of that stuff (of course! It’s how life works!) and I basically had to start from scratch. But before I could even start a plan on how to make that happen, life said “Nope! Not this year.”

It all started on Jan 31 when I found out I was pregnant. The blog post has the whole story but let’s just say I was shocked and thrilled when I found out and literally everything changed after that. For starters, I was exhausted the first trimester and some days I could barely get myself to do anything besides watch tv on my days off. I also felt nauseous, so it was pretty hard to do anything... let alone blog work. I think I did the fewest blog posts EVER this year and in the end it was ok. I had a lot of time to think and made some amazing mindset changes. More on that later. 

By the end of spring, I was starting to feel better (and, getting bigger!). I found out baby was a girl and I created the best blog post about it, in my humble opinion.

Despite feeling better, the attic was such a mess and I was out of the posting loop for so long that I kinda gave up blogging. I was seriously going through a funk and going on social media and seeing everyone else’s posts really bummed me out. I wanted to create blog posts more than anything, but I’d sort of lost the spark. 

Most of the summer was spent with me getting bigger and bigger by the day. I spent most of my time working on my photography e-courses and getting them ready to launch. When they did, they totally flopped but I learned SO much from the process. Including the fact that all this time, I wasn’t really honing in on what I was doing in the first place. I was doing EVERYTHING under the sun to see what stuck and -shocker- nothing did. But, I really enjoyed creating the e-course and being able to teach the skills I’ve learned. I’m revamping the free course now so that it’s even more helpful for everyone! 

One of the things I started (and never completed) in 2018 was cleaning up my house. I started doing it around March but then kinda got sidetracked doing “all the things”. And yet, nothing at all. Everything felt like a race against time before Hailey came, and I was trying to do so much that, in the end, absolutely nothing got done. 

Fast-forward to September 28, 2018 and sweet Hailey Irini made her debut. It was one of the hardest and easiest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. The best and worst moments. The post-partum blues are no joke and they knocked me out for a few weeks. But I suddenly started to get immense clarity after Hailey was born. It was like the fog had lifted and I could finally see everything in a new way. I saw my faults, my strengths, my purpose, and where I wanted my life to go. It was absolutely astounding and of course, it didn’t come all at once. But I guess spending a lot of time reflecting will do that to ya. It almost felt like an entire year of reflection. 

The word of 2018 probably would have been growth.

There was plenty of it. Physical growth, as my body stretched and nourished my baby. Spiritual growth, as I began to ponder the meaning of my life, and what I wanted it to look like in the future. And family growth, as we welcomed a new member. And overall, I felt the love grow. Love from our family and friends, from myself to my baby, and a new love for my husband. 

By the end of 2018, I felt like I knew exactly what was holding me back and what needed to change. 

In the past, I felt like I did everything “just because”. Nothing had a real purpose. I couldn’t tell you why I did things or where exactly I was going. But now, I feel like I really know what I need to do and what’s important to me. I hopped off that work-work-work treadmill that was getting me nowhere. I finally understood that busy does not equal productive. I’m pushing for financial growth this year, because I’d really love this blog to be my primary source of income. I also want passive income, because I don’t want to live project to project, paycheck to paycheck. It’s not a sustainable method for my life. 

In 2019, the word I’d like to guide me is intention.

My goal is to know exactly why I’m doing the things I am, not just doing them because some guru told me to. Having faith in myself to create my own path, and knowing exactly where it’s taking me. I’m getting off that tradmill- this year, I’m really going places.

So, what’s in store for 2019? Well, I’d love to refresh our home. I want to update our decor and tidy up (FYI- I liked the KonMari method before it was cool). I want to DIY things with a purpose- fun home decor, crafts for the baby and things to wear. I think one of the biggest things that I’m excited about is improving my photography. It’s something I’ve been working on for the past 3+ years now and I’m ready to go from hobbyist to “pro”. I mastered my blog and DIY photography but now I want to get into more lifestyle photography, room setups, self portraits, etc. 

I think the biggest change I have going into 2019 is an unshakable faith in myself. For so long, I thought I needed someone else to help me succeed. I bought courses, listened to others tell me how to run my business (I mean... what?!), looked for every secret trick and surefire way to success. And I failed miserably. For 3 years!!! Simply because I wasn’t looking at the one and only person that could bring me success- myself. Maybe it was the labor and childbirth, or the fact that I’m raising and (almost solely) responsible for another human... but I finally feel like I can do anything. I don’t need someone else guiding the way- I can figure it out for myself and get help as needed. I’m not a lost cause in need of saving. I won’t let anyone else steer this ship. I have faith in myself to get to where I need to be. 

There are probably going to be some changes around here, but they may not be that noticeable to other people. I’d like to see it as the blog growing up, sort of like I have. DIYs are here to stay, since they’re my favorite. New, fun topics are coming too. And I’m going to spend time teaching and giving back, as much as I can. Another big change is coming that I can’t talk about quite yet but I’ll share more about it next week. Overall, life is good and I’m ready to take on 2019!

DIY Boombox Music Valentines

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and I am still sorta in shock- wasn’t it Christmas 5 minutes ago?! Well, don’t worry- there’s still plenty of time to prepare some Valentines for the kiddos! While you can really easily purchase a stack of Minnie Mouse valentines at your local drugstore, I think it’s way more fun to make your own! Especially if you relate to every parent out there with a nostalgic boombox valentine. The full post is over on the Giggles Galore blog.

I think these would also be great if you paired them with an iTunes gift card for your kids or family members. Gone are the days when you needed to hang out by the radio with a cassette tape inside, waiting for your favorite song to play!

These cards are SUPER cheap to make- all you need is a pack of cardstock and some washi tape. That’s it! Some paper punches with make things a bit easier, but you don’t even need those. So, head on over to the Giggles Galore blog to see the full post!

DIY Holiday Cards Scrapbook

If you’re anything like me, you have a stack of holiday cards from friends and family that you don’t know what to do with. Keep them? Throw them away? So, they usually end up in a pile on the coffee table until April when I stuff them somewhere that I’ll probably never see them again. But, what if there was a better way to keep those cards so you’d actually get to enjoy them, year after year? And what if it was fun and easy to do?! Pop on a Christmas movie and grab your glue gun- we have a book to make!

*This post was sponsored by Pinhole Press, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

This is perfect to make in the days between Christmas and New Year’s. I find that I’m a little sad that the holiday fun is over, and my life feels a little bit empty. This is a perfect excuse to prolong the holiday fun a bit longer, and watch all those Christmas movies you didn’t seem to have time for! Head on over to the Pinhole Press blog for the full DIY.

Seriously the cutest! I’m planning to make mine this week, now that we are taking down our Christmas decor.

Head on over to the Pinhole Press blog to see the full DIY!