Layla on the Move

Little Miss Layla Grace is breaking my heart a little how quickly she's growing already. She's 11 weeks and already developing more quickly than her siblings did. This mama doesn't think it's fair. not. fair. at. all. She's super strong; it's a challenge to give her a bath because I can't get her to sit down easily since all she wants to do it stand. She's started to smile all the time, which just makes her features seem so mature and she's no longer my newborn. ((sob!))

I took the kids to Andrea's today and Layla was feeling like a showoff - I'm sure it had absolutely nothing to do with her doting aunt ohhhing and ahhhhing over every little thing she did. I held her weight and wanted to see if she wanted to try bouncing and jumping but she was more interested in walking. Why wouldn't she at three months??

NeRdY tHiRtY

Justin turned thirty last week and it was really important to me to throw him a birthday party that would make him feel as loved and appreciated as he is by so many. Since his birthday is so close to Halloween, and he's an engineer that loves over-explaining, I decided to have some fun with the theme and threw a "Nerdy Thirty" party for him. Everyone was encouraged to come dressed as a nerd and for the most part, people really got into it and came dressed the part! 

I started planning the party a few months ago since I knew it'd be a little hectic to take on a big party so close after having a baby and I was really pleased with how everything turned out. I had a lot of help from his mom and was able to remain pretty stress-free until the days immediately leading up to it. Justin's mom made a ginormous cupcake for the centerpiece of the dessert table and the plan was to stencil in a bunch of math symbols until we found this ridiculously huge Smarties that fit with the theme perfectly! The remainder of the cupcakes had Nerds or a "30" graphic I made - all in all I think it looked really sharp and even though it was cupcakes, still masculine.

I borrowed a couple ideas I saw online as birthday cards and made them my own by blowing them up and hanging on the walls so you couldn't miss the nerd theme no matter where you were. I also had my brother send me a math equation that equaled 30 and I scribbled it repeatedly on our front door Goodwill Hunting style and a couple other places throughout the house (convenient having a high school math teacher at your beckon call!). Still, even after Justin tried to explain what all the symbols were, I have no clue. I have to admit, planning this party (especially the decorations) made me feel a little stupid since I often didn't understand the joke or know if it was funny until Justin started laughing.

Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of the pictures of the tables for appetizers or the chili bar. I'm not sure if I was the biggest fan of the chili bar, but it's fine if I was because it was a cold autumn night and it was delicious. We had three different types of chili (beans, no beans and white chicken chili) with all the condiments available (cheese, sour cream, onions, cornbread and Fritos). But by the time people were over and it was time to set the food out, my camera was borrowed for our mock photo booth (and I was a little too tipsy after a half hour to remember to snag it back) but it all went with our color scheme and looked really cool.

Ohhhh the photo booth. That ended up being a lot of fun and everyone checked egos at the door and were really goofy and had a good time - which thrilled me because I was a little nervous about it. Justin had some old sheets from college that had a dark blue and light blue checker pattern that reminded me of graph paper so I stretched it out, stapled it to a wooden frame and we hung it on the wall in the kitchen so when people stood with it and a hollow picture frame it made for some fun pictures!

Ugh, I also missed a full-length photo of Justin and I in our "costumes". He was in a NASA lab coat and a shirt with the pi sign on it with high-water jeans, white socks and dress shoes. It was hilarious, and oddly not that different from his everyday... haha! I had a graphic t-shirt with suspenders, pigtails, thick glasses with tape, a pleated skirt, white knee high socks and Chuck Ts. 

Austin was a bit of a distraction as I was trying to write the math equation on the door:

Nerd Alert

Wordless Wednesday

more pictures to come from Justin's Nerdy Thirty party! 

My Mister Mister

This boy warms my heart. He completely makes me a crazy person but he cracks me up and definitely keeps me on my toes. One of my greatest hopes for him is that he'll keep the joy that he finds in everything (even though it tends to be found in a cabinet or drawer he shouldn't be getting into) and he'll continue to be known for his ear-to-ear smile. God bless it.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Throughout my adult life I’ve found that when concerning change – when it rains it pours. The last couple months have certainly not been the exception to the rule. Outside the best and most obvious change rocking our sense of normalcy in the form of Layla, I feel like I’ve been in a game of dodgeball and I'm either constantly avoiding the red rubber balls of change, or seeing one that appears catchable, only to have it rock me in the face and seemingly knock me out of the game.

Fortunately for me, God is graceFULL and when I was dodging the wrong ball, he’d lob it at me again – this time slowly and underhand making it completely obvious which ones I’m supposed to grasp on to. I’ll never claim to be the smartest person ever, sometimes it works best to speak slowly and use small words… Silly analogy aside, life looks a lot different now than it did eight weeks ago. Most of it’s good, some of it’s just requires adjustment as we continue to try to settle into us.

We learned a couple weeks before Layla was born that Justin didn’t get the job in Colorado with the wind energy company. It was disappointing news for all of us – it goes without saying I took it the hardest because the opportunity was such a tease – but I’m still extremely proud of my husband for getting as far as he did and dedicating so much time to the process of getting us to Colorado. It will happen eventually, now’s just not the time.

Alanis may find it ironic, but it wasn’t lost on me that days after we found out Colorado was out of the picture, Justin got a call from a different recruiter about a job opportunity in Cleveland with another aerospace company. I went ahead and took the house off the market before he even interviewed – I just knew he was going to get it. Sure enough, the day before Layla was born Justin got the official offer. This job answers all the prayers and meets our financial needs, it just lacks a few mountains in the distance, but that's okay. I'm bummed I can't brag that my husband works for NASA anymore, but he's got a lot more responsibility with this new position and I can't stress enough about the answered prayer financially. So he signed a 12 month contract and I'm now in the process of making our house "ours" instead of the neutered house we had for showings.

Bella's started preschool in September and absolutely loves it. She's thrilled every morning she realizes it's a school day and is very serious about the time we spend going through her school folder as she empties her backpack at night. Still, she's very much a three year-old and each wrap-up of the school day starts and ends with what they had for snack until I prod for details about the letter of the week or what she picked up from story time. Every day it both warms my heart and breaks it a little when I watch her walk hand in hand with her teacher into school. Even though she's only gone a couple (glorious) hours twice a week, I can't get over how much she's already grown and they don't lie... time flies.

Austin has really started coming into his own the last few weeks. He's not that interested in Layla, but it's like the addition of an infant triggered something in him to start making the merge from baby to toddler. *sigh* This has come with tantrums (his I think will eventually put Bella's to shame) but mostly a love of learning new words and small phrases along with following directions (YAY!) and playtime with Bella. He's still all boy and gets into everything with no intention or curiosity outside of just making a mess. And you know those moms that are so embarrassing and have their child on a leash that they've tricked them into thinking was a backpack? Hello, nice to meet you. Aint no shame in keeping track of my son, he's a flight risk.

Just to make sure I'm completely overwhelming myself I'm trying to throw a quality 30th birthday party for Justin. Usually for his birthday we go to dinner or have the backyard bbq with family and friends. Since this is really the first milestone oh-my-gosh-you're-old birthday I really want to make a big deal out of it for him. He deserves to know he's loved and appreciated - and celebrated accordingly. I've decided on a "Nerdy Thirty" theme and along with help from his mom I think this should be pretty legit. The party is Saturday though and there's still lots to do for it, so excuse me while I go breathe in a paper bag to keep the anxiety attack at bay.

Also, speaking of change, a big shout out to my friend Jenn for the much-needed facelift she gave my blog! I've been staring at the same design for about four years, so I was seriously excited for something different. You can check out all her awesome work here.