Calder at 8 Months

Today is Calder's 8 month birthday. I'm a bit nostalgic so bear with me.

Our sweet Calder...

These past 8 months have been the most amazing months of our lives. You continue to fill us with more joy than we ever imagined. It's impossible for me to sum up our love for you in a post —words will fail me every time. BUT, I thought for your 8 month birthday I'd write about your favorite 8 things at this age! It's been so fun to document your precious life and reflect back on all the photos and stages.

So, here goes!

1) You looooove to EAT. Eating has never been an issue in this household :) You love fruits, especially anything sweet, but you'll tolerate it all. You hated peas in the beginning and would gag and shudder, but you're now finishing them and wanting more!

2) You love the water! Bath time is definitely one of your favorite times of the day!

3) You love to be outside and play with Bea. Every time we sit on the porch and throw ball with Bea, you squeal and giggle.

You love to watch her through the screen porch door and you talk to her all the time! Bea's still a puppy and a little too hyper to let loose with you, but you can't get enough of her! Y'all are gonna be the best of friends some day soon.

Swinging outside is so fun!

4) You love your family! You've been blessed with wonderful grandparents, a great-grandmother, aunt and uncles and cousins that love you very much!

And every time Daddy walks in the door from work, you LIGHT up. No one else gets that smile! It is precious!!!

5) You love to shop for groceries! You love to look around at all the food and people and just giggle. No matter how tired you are, you perk up on our outings!

 

6) You love to cuddle and be held...and we love this too!

7) You love playing with your toys, especially your dolls. Every time you see them you get such a big grin on your face!

8) And finally, you love to sleep and we are soo thankful for that. Calder, you were born a sleeper and slept through the night at 4-5 weeks and never missed a beat since then.

We ADORE you to pieces and you have made these past 8 months the best months of our lives, without a doubt. You are an angel baby and we keep laughing asking where did you come from? Surely not from us?? 

We love you and thank God for you every day.

The Art of Hanging Art

Hanging art is definitely an art in and of itself! I tried to do my own little wall of art this weekend and included some of my favorite family pictures, watercolors and drawings.

It was hard narrowing down which prints and photos to include, but I tried to use the ones that make me happiest. I know I'll add to this wall and edit the pictures over time...

Here are some rooms that inspired me...

{all images via pinterest}

And because I can't blog without including a new picture of Calder—here are a few recent pics. I CANNOT believe she's going to be 8 months tomorrow!!

our little heart.

Celebrating Mary Allyn

I hate to say it, but I wouldn't just hop on a plane for anyone these days. After the kitchen remodel, we're definitely on a budget and leaving Calder is always hard and full of tears. But for Mary Allyn, the question of whether or not to go on her bachelorette party to Denver was never a question.

The second I got the email from Abbey (MAR's best friend from Greenville) about the weekend, I was game. Most of us live all over the country any way, so traveling was inevitable.

Mary Allyn's been an amazing friend to me and the moment we met freshman year at Ole Miss, we instantly hit it off. She is one of a kind. Anyone who knows her (or knows of her), knows this to be true. I always tell people, she is the girl version of Eustace Winn, aka Poostie. And if you know Poostie Pie, need I say more?

I could write a book about Mary Allyn (someone should by the way...not a bad idea). Her southern draaaaaaaawlll is like nothing I've ever heard before (straight from the Mississippi Delta), and she loves to karaoke and sing as loud as she can (some might say she's tone deaf...sorry MAR:)

Because of her karoke/music obsession, we made her sing and pose with every street musician we passed...

She's obsessed with all-things patriotic and her favorite song is "God Bless the USA." She reads "National Geographic" and to this day, her favorite Christmas gift is a new Atlas. She is hilarious and genuine and as real as they come. She knows everyone (and I mean everyone), and will make the most uncomfortable person at any party feel instantly at home.

We lived in Jackson Hole together and have lived in many other shacks together throughout the years. Love you MAR. Such an amazing weekend and so fun to celebrate you and Stephen!!

This was the funniest (and Funnest) thing I've ever done, and probably the highlight of the entire trip. We drove the "pedal hopper" all over downtown Denver for hours—stopping at several bars along the way. We had the music up as loud as it would go, and don't think Mary Allyn wasn't belting "God Bless the USA" on the way back. The driver said he had never seen such a thing. I hate to say it but I do believe him.

 

 Amazing dinner and view at Linger.

 

I loved Bruner's texts throughout the weekend. This one was my favorite. Looks like they missed me a lot, huh?

 On our way up the mountain to Red Rocks...

What a view. I could go on and ON about how amazing Red Rocks was. Definitely something to check off my bucket list. And I'm not one to go on about how good accoustics are but listen to this video and judge for yourself. Bonnie Raitt was great and her songs always bring back so many memories...

And here are the save the dates I designed for Mar and Stephen. Again, I made an exception here since I'm not designing invites or stationery these days. :) Their wedding is in Monteagle at the Assembly, and I can't wait to be in the mountains when the leaves change colors.

And no matter how much fun we had, I missed my Calder-bear so much!

Messy diapers, spit-up and all—that's all I wanted to come home to. I could just gobble her up!