Have yourself a very Merry Christmas!

The Barron Family wishes you a VERY MERRY Christmas with your loved ones! What an exciting time of year it is! We are so blessed to be parents to an amazing little girl. We love her so much and we can't wait to celebrate her very first christmas!

Bristol Elaine Barron wishes you a Merry Christmas!

CIO

cry it out.
that's what we are doing around these neck of the woods. i bit the bullet and decided miss bristol needed to cry it out. at first, i hated the thought of it, i really did. but the more i thought about it, i decided this would be best for her and for me. you see, from day 1, she has been swaddled and rocked to sleep once she was asleep she was then transfered to her swing.sometimes it would take me over an hour to rock her and for her to STAY asleep. this was hard on me because i needed to get this done like school work, etc. she still sleeps in her swing. yes i know, some of you are clinching your jaw thinking, " your almost 4 month old still sleeps in her swing". in the beginging this was the only way bristol would sleep, being rocked or in her swing. she starting sleeping through the night at exactly 10 weeks of age. so why would i stop doing the things that were working? in the back of mind, i knew at some point i was going to have to stop swaddling and putting her in the swing. everyday i would have the mind set, " today is the today where we stop swaddling and start sleeping in her crib. yeah, those days didn't happen.... UNTIL TODAY. as i type this, bristol is crying in her crib wearing her sleep sack. no swaddling no swing. oh my, what am i going to do?

will i still have a baby that sleeps through the night? is this totally going to throw everything out of whack? my prayer is that it doesn't but let's get real here. i know this is going to mess some things up. my sweet baby is spoiled, this i know. bristol is not used to laying flat, she is usually always propped up, whether if thats in her swing, lamb chair, nap nanny, carseat... you get the jist. my prayer is that she transitions nicely to her crib.

i'm not gonna lie, i really do miss rocking her and nursing her. those are sweet moments that i wish cherish forever. i enjoyed spending some one on one time with my sweet angel baby but i know this CIO method is best for both of us. little girl has to learn to fall asleep without being swaddling or swaying back and forth. i already told myself with my next child, that i might tweak a few things when it comes to sleep habits. also, my next child will not be held 24/7 like bristol has been. she is the first grandbaby on both sides so i can understand how everyone wants to hold her but it has put a damper on a few things. and by damper i mean, everything. ha! no really, it's been tough. she didn't want to be on her playmat, she didn't want to sit in any of her chairs - all she wanted was someone to hold her. she actually prefers to be held while you stand up. she isn't a fan of you sitting down and holding her. i dont get it but thats what she likes. she is quite picky :) she has gotten a lot better has she is getting older. for example, today, she sat in her nap nanny for 3 episodes of the mickey mouse club house. she LOVES that show and it's precious. this allowed me to take a shower, eat some cereal, take the dogs out, and a few other little tasks i needed to do. she is growing up and its right before my eyes.

my baby will be 4 months old december 15th. where has the time gone? she gets more fun everyday. it seems like she masters a new trick every week. she is now sticking her tongue out and its the cutest thing. she is also now sucking her pointer finger and thumb at the same time. she will do it on both hands too. i was a thumb sucker, so we will see what becomes of this. she likes her paci but doesn't NEED it. she needs it more for her to fall asleep and then she will spit it out while sleeping. i like that she isn't dependent upon it.


I took some christmas photos the other day of bristol. the 2 in this post are just a few of what i captured. i might be bias, but my baby is so beautiful. i am so blessed to have her in my life and i cant wait to spend christmas with her and my family!

i hope all of you are doing well. enjoy your holiday season with your family!

girod family

I had so much fun with the cute little Girod family this past Friday. Bethany contacted me to take pictures for the christmas cards this year. I was beyond excited because that meant I got to see Bristol's future husband, Max. Of course Betho and I talked wedding plans after the shoot was done. I'm not kidding.

Bethany and I grew up together, since elementary/middle school. She is a twin and Kayla came to the shoot as well, oh excuse me, Aunt KK :) We had some fun times growing up!

So here are just a few pics from their shoot!

my favorite time of the year, christmas!

Hi Friends! Hope you are all doing well. I am so excited about this post. Why you ask? Well, because Tiny Prints is offering 50 free christmas cards to bloggers! Woohoo! this makes me so happy because I am dead broke and what is better than free? Umm... nothing!

I really can't believe christmas is right around the corner! This year has flown by, especially since having Bristol. She will be 4 months old December 15, can't believe it! I am so looking forward to spending time with my family this holiday season. Although Bristol isn't quite aware of what is going on, I am more than excited to spend this holiday season with my sweet girl. Starting new traditions and following old traditions, that is what this momma is all about. We are beyond blessed to have a healthy and happy baby girl.

Ok- back to the christmas cards. Like I said Tiny Prints is offering 50 free cards, that's just amazeballs to me! Yeah, I said amazeballs. It's my new word. You should try it. This holiday season I itching to pick out a super cute christmas card along with taking a super festive picture to go with the card. They offer so many different cards, it's taking me awhile to narrow down some that I like. I find myself leaning more towards the traditional/vintage style but sometimes I wish I would just pull the trigger and pick one that is totally not me, like something more contemporary. Tiny Prints offers so many styles, sizes and colors of christmas cards that there is bound to be one for your family!

I'm down to 3 different cards. I'm not sure which one I want. Any suggestions? I don't even know when I am going to get a good picture, my hope is for this weekend. I'm crossing my fingers that we will have time to take one.

So friends, if you are in need of a christmas card, a cute one at that, go to Tiny Prints and check their holiday cards out!

Have a Happy Thursday!

it's a new day everyday

Everyday when Bristol wakes up, it's a completely new day. It's amazing to think that they are learning new things every single day. There are so many tricks my sweet girl can do now, it's fun to watch her discover and figure out what she can do to make this mommy proud.

Her new trick? Laughing. It's the cutest thing ever. It takes a minute for her to actually get a laugh out but when she does, it's soo precious. It's a combination of a grunt and laugh. I can get her to laugh in the bathtub, on her changing table in her room or in her 1 of 700 different chairs she has, haha. My dad got her to laugh for the very first time and it was so cute. I didn't know what was happening because she was facing him while I was holding her and I felt something come from her belly and I realized it was a sweet belly laugh.

She loves the show mickey mouse clubhouse. She will sit in her chair and watch mickey and friends all day long if she could, well until she gets fussy. It really is such a cute show. We watch it every morning after she gets up and she usually does the deed ( you know, poop). We have quite the routine. She also loves football. The bright colors and players running all over the screen. We just introduced her to veggie tales, she is watching the Saint Nicholas one right now.

Bristol can somewhat hold her bottle now. She will put both hands on it and hold it for a few seconds then wants to me do it. She can also find her paci if it falls out and put it back in. She is very talented :) If I say so myself.

Bristol becomes more and more vocal everyday and it's so fun to hear her new noises. When she is watching Mickey, she will talk to the TV, just precious. She also likes any bright lights and movement.

Bristol Elaine just keeps growing and growing. I'm thinking we are going to switch to soy formula. She keeps have bad gas and bad gas pains which makes for a very unhappy baby. I hear soy really helps. I feel bad that we have had these tummy issues for as long as she has been born. Well, it started at about 2-3 weeks old. I'm hoping and PRAYING that we find the right formula in combination with breast milk to help her little tummy. She does love her bottles now and often will refuse to nurse, which makes me pump more. I'm ok with that, but I know that nursing is such a good soothing technique. We just have been taking one day at a time, that's for sure.

Something Bristol is also doing is boycotting naptime in the afternoon. I can still get her to take her morning nap, but boy, it's a fight in the afternoon. She sleeps between 8-10 hour a night and people say that the more the sleep at night the less they take naps. Well, I don't know about that. SHE NEEDS AN AFTERNOON NAP. She is soo fussy when she is soo tired and it makes for long afternoons when this poor baby is so tired but fights it. OR, she will fall asleep and then when I transfer her to her swing, she will wake up within 10 minutes. It's been a fight the past week or so. I am really praying that this is just a phase and it won't stay like this.

She hasn't rolled over yet and is not interested in it to be honest. That's ok because she is doing so many other things that are so fun and awesome to see.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to go get some things done around the house!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Hodges Family Fun Photo Shoot

Say that title 10 times fast! That's a mouth full! :)

Meet the Hodges family!
Cliette, Lorelle, Preston, Peyton and Parker.

I had my first official photo shoot and I was excited about it. Cliette is Brandons cousin and when Lorelle text me to ask if I wanted to take photos, I immediately said yes. Who wouldn't want to take pictures of those cute boys??

So off to Oyster Creek Park we went. The weather was great, the lighting was even better and I think we got same great shots!

Cliette, Lorelle and boys, I am so glad I got to take some family pictures for ya'll. I love ya'll dearly and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

My little Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving from this butterball turkey!

May your day be filled with fun, family and many blessings!

it's a date!

A play date that is!
Bristol had her very first play date this past Sunday with Max. Max is my friend Bethany's cute little boy. Max is 6 1/2 months old, right Bethany ?:) I think I'm right. Anyway, I went over to Betho's parent's house because she lives in Austin and she was in town visiting. I swear, Max is going to be some type of athlete when he gets older, she is one tall boy! He was so cute while I was there - quite the talker :) He attempted to rip Bristol's bow off her head and I believe back handed her one time, I laughed so hard. He was interested in Bristol when he was up close to her.

Bristol did a great, which surprised me because she has been boycotting afternoon naps. Luckily, she took a 2 1/2 hour nap prior to the play date. She was happy as a clam, had a bottle, smiled, cooed and "played" with max.

I can't wait to get together again with them!

Thanks for having us over Bethany and Max!

I know Bristol is too tiny for the bouncer, but we wanted to see what she would do. She actually liked it. Kicked her a legs a few times. Brandon set hers up last night!

"Giver her to me!" - Max

He is soooo cute!

Trying to get a good picture of them both. Bristol just layed there and Max was a mover and a shaker!

Sweet boy! I'm telling you, look for the name Maxwell Stone Girod in about 16 years... He'll be on a field or court somewhere! :)

My little sweet pea.

They love each other, can't you tell? Their wedding will be in 25 years.

Max was trying to get fresh with my baby by holding her hands. That's ok though, parent supervision was around. :) I love these little people!

Christmas Cards

Hello my friends!

Can't believe it's almost December! Time sure does fly by, especially having a little one now. I've been thinking about what kind of Christmas card I want to send out this year. What photo, what color scheme, etc. Last year I used Shutterfly because they had a promotion going for any blogger who blogged about their cards, would get 50 free christmas cards. Um... yes please! You better believe I did that promotion. Our cards turned out great and better yet, they were free!

This year, Tiny Prints is having an offer for 50 free christmas cards, any style you want. How amazing is that? I swear, I love free things and I'm sure you do too! Especially if your pocket book is a little tight, especially around the holidays.

You need to to fill out this form AND blog about the offer and a rep will contact you within a week of you filling out he form.

Can't wait to browse their website and find the perfect card for our family of 3! Now... I just gotta get a great picture of all 3 of us!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

hi

She wanted to say hi. :)

all i wanna do is craft!

I love arts and crafts or also known as DIY projects, but to me it will always been known and called arts and crafts. Growing up I loved doing arts and crafts whether that was coloring, drawing, making something, painting something, playing with play-dough ( back in the younger days). Really, I loved it all. I still do. I think that's why I loved teaching preschool - it's arts and crafts everyday , of course other things are taught in preschool too. You just do some really fun projects in preschool.

Over the past 3 or so years, I have re-kindled my love for crafting and I consider myself a creative and crafty person. I've always loved it but I have found a new love and passion for it. There for a while, I was making clipboards. Those were so much fun to make, just very time consuming. I sold a lot of them, especially at Brandon's school. At one point I had an order for 14 clipboards from one lady. This little project of mine was great, it kept me busy, my brain was being used and I loved the outcome of each clipboard. I stopped making them because I was cooped up in a 700 sq foot apartment and the space was just too small. I also kind of got tired of it too. It's a tedious process and I got burned out.

Pinterest really has lit a fire under my butt to find and make some really cute things. It's kind of hard right now with Bristol being so young, but I love to look at all the websites and just imagine myself creating and crafting again. I know the possibilities are endless with crafting but what makes me so excited is to start making things for my sweet angel baby. Bows, onesies, shirts, etc! ahh! The only problem is, I need to learn how to sew, like PRONTO.

My friend Ashley over at Plum Berry Creek has started her own company of home decor. She makes the BEST THINGS ever. Before I go any further, I wanted to dedicate a whole post about her little company. Just know, that you are missing out on some SUPER cute stuff, so head on over to her website! DO IT! GO, NOW... HURRY!

Anyway....

I can't believe Thanksgiving is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Um, I could of sworn it was just summer time? Where did the time go? I guess time really flies once you have kids, is that true? I am looking forward to starting traditions with Bristol. I love traditions, do you? There is just something about starting something and continuing it for years and years. My nannie loved traditions, I guess that's where I get it from, amongst other things.

I'm going to the nutcracker market this sunday and I AM PUMPED! I go every year and this time, my friend Ashley ( the same one with the new business ) is coming with. She is going to love it and she will freak out on how BIG it is and all the goodies she will find there!) I'm broke so I will just be "looking with my eyes". It's going to kill me not to buy anything, but yeah, I'm broke hahaha.


So I realized this post was supposed to be about crafting. I didn't get very far on that topic. Oh well. I've found this website full of FREE PRINTABLES. Check it out! I am going to print out some of the thanksgiving ones. I'm waiting for their Christmas printables to be posted!

That's all for now.

Well wait. Did I ever mention that Bristol has been sleeping through the night for the past 3 weeks? Oh yes. it's amazing. I really thought this day would NEVER come. Like never. I am one happy momma!

ok - for real this time... BYE!

picture dump