rock 'n' roll st. louis

what a weekend!  we did it!  my (single) brother-in-law, paul, and i ran the st. louis half marathon!

among the other 20,000 runners

the night before the race i got food poisoning and was throwing up and going to the bathroom until 11pm.  long story, but i don't think the fridge in our room was properly working, and after i drank 2 large glasses of semi-cold milk, my stomach immediately started grumbly and then everything went sour.

james sweetly offered to run the race for me since we'd already paid the entry fee and he didn't want it to go to waste.  as much i would've liked to see him run (untrained), i got up in the morning feeling much better and decided to just do it.

hopefully in the spring i'll do another one to help lose the rest of my baby weight (ugh, go away).  for now i will wake up with a little more pride in finishing and thankfulness that the training and run did not affect my milk supply!  paxton is still going strong with no formula so far.

happy 4 months to my little guy a few days late.  17 lbs (90%), 27 inches (98%).  grow, baby, grow!!!  love yall.



wordless wednesday

love these guys...

baby gifts--favorite ideas for personalized items

people often ask where i get all of my personalized baby stuff, so i thought i would share 10 gift ideas and links so some of my favorite etsy shops!  none of these people paid anything to have their sites featured (my blog is not that cool :))...these are just great places to shop online!

1. monogrammed burp cloths, bibs, etc.  there are tons of etsy shops selling these.  i get mine local in nwa from my friend brenda who runs a shop out of her home in springdale.  burp cloths, blankies and bibs are a hit at every shower!

2. iron on decals.  love these!!  budget friendly way to give personalized gifts (you can buy blue or brown & white striped onesies at walmart for $2 or hobby lobby to iron these onto or tshirts for $4 from Target).

here are some i made for pax:

3. personalized bloomers (diaper covers) for little girls. 

4. personalized bean bag name blocks.  i ordered these for parker and pax's room and the boys love throwing them around

5. hair bows and headbands.  half of the reason i want a baby girl is to dress her in big bows (which is probably why God has not given me a girl :)).  but bows make such a cute gift!

6. initial onesies (this one has the name on the butt and comes with a matching tutu!).  so cute.

7. diaper bags & backpacks

8. big bro / lil bro or sis shirts...i ordered these for parker and pax for christmas

9. personalized water bottles.  i ordered these for parker's soccer team and love them!

10. personalized melamie plates.  these make great baby plates for a nursery or a wedding gift!

and there you have some of my internet love.  happy shopping!

batter up

parker's current favorite song is "take me out to the ballgame" so this picture is very fitting :)

it's a...boy!

no, no no...james and i are are not having any more kids any time soon.  but i wanted to give a shoutout to randy and whitney who both just found out they are having their 2nd boys!  get excited for matching outfits and rowdy pillow fights! 

i am really loving having two little boys.  they are so full of energy and love and make life more exciting and fulfilling.  there are several others i know with two little boys and i've enjoyed reading about their journeys and learning from them.  it is encouraging to know that these moms are dedicated to raising godly boys--the world needs more of them!  :)

amy--caleb & garrett
melissa--lincoln & noah
jill--brock & zane
kim--maddox & ryder (who has the same birthday as paxton!)
wendy-- jonas & noah

love.

mazie's picture perfect party

a couple of weeks ago we attended sweet mazie's first birthday party!  i have been waiting to post photos until her mom, jennifer, put them on her new website.  if you live in nwa, you should it out: www.parentsplaygroundnwa.com.

mazie's party actually got featured on a famous party site, so if you want to see more details, check out amy atlas' feature on the party.

here are a few shots i took of the precious birthday girl

jennifer and her husband built the chevron backdrop and jen spraypainted this old high chair.  perfect!

 petit romper + pearls = precious

jennifer's other daughter, madeline.  are they not the most beautiful little girls?

jennifer and me

our lil family (paxton was asleep).  gameday + party = great saturday!

love.

corn maze

last week our church rented out the ozark corn maze near our house.  parker was brave and rode the cow train in the dark.  (it was a bumpy ride!)  how sweet does paxton look in the picture above?  love him.

amy and i with our lil' babies in tow.  paxton was being fussy but i didn't want to miss out on all of the action, so i nursed him while walking around, ha!  it was the first time i'd ever done that, but i just put my hooter hider over the sling and voila!  james didn't even know i was nursing him so hopefully i didn't gross out too many of the other hundreds of people there.  actually a couple people asked if they could see paxton and i had to awkwardly tell them not right now :).

parker and one of his best buds, jack.  these two have so much fun together.  we are already guessing parker is an extrovert because he gets soooo riled up seeing his friends.

our family of four.  and yes, these are my clothes from college.  they don't really fit any more and i really need to give up my american eagle jean skirt, but it was the only fall outfit i could put together.  love yall.