Christmas Blues.

Ha I know I know. This post is so ironic considering I've been so giddy and eager to decorate the shit out of my home and do all things Christmas. Behind it all, and maybe this is why I've been doing all this, is a part of me with a wandering mind. I've been thinking about a lot of things. Most of all, I've been thinking a lot about my dad. I've written a couple of posts on him, if you don't know what I'm referring to, you can read that story here. It may be the holidays and how this is supposed to be about family and love and just being together and enjoying one more year of great things. I miss my dad, I wish he could be here and then I don't. I wish he could be part of our lives, part of Elliot's life and then I don't. I think about everything he did, how much he hurt us and I don't want him here, I don't want him to be part of our lives. BUT, that is never ever going to make me not yearn for him, to wish we could undo everything, to wish he could undo everything he did. Family should stick together right? I know this is once a year and this should happen everyday but for some reason this year I can't help but think what if? What if he were here to be with us this Christmas?

I guess when you have a family and a baby you really realize what family is all about. It shouldn't be about the little bullshit things. Can't we look at the bigger picture and let go of the insignificant stuff? I guess it just doesn't work that way. We will always have people and obstacles in life that want to prevent us from being happy and enjoying our lives like we should. Sometimes distance is better to let the heart heal, to let happiness come through and show you what life is really about.

This year having a family of my own made me see the way things need to be. I used to let things get to me, people, bullshit, now they don't. My dad always will though. I will always miss him, his jokes, his Christmas cooking (he made the best turkey & a made-from-scratch fruit punch you wouldn't believe), his advice, everything. This will be Elliot's first Christmas and I really wish he could be here to experience that moment with him.

Sometimes I'll be looking into space with Elliot in my arms and Jack will ask me "what's wrong?" and I say nothing, well this is it, I'm thinking about all of this, then I think about how much I love our little family that will hopefully get to grow soon.

Anyway, I think it's also the fact that this year flew by and my little baby will be turning one next month. ONE. How did that happen? I will say that above all of this, I am really excited to be with my little family Christmas morning and watch Elliot open his gifts, throw his toys aside and play with the boxes. And maybe also all the depressing Christmas music? Have you listened to some of the songs? I'll stick to my malt shop classics & Mariah Carey. ;)

Let's really enjoy this season and let's not let anyone or anything get in the way of that. Let's be Merry!! ;)

My hubby & this baby make absolutely everything better.

Weekend Recap.

Big plans were set for this weekend but they were ruined by the weather! Well, more like us thinking the weather was going to ruin them so decided that was enough to not put them into action? Whatever it was, our weekend was still cool. Pun intended.

When I got home on Friday, I saw this little pumpkin Elliot made for Jack and I at daycare with his little footprint and loved it. I can't wait to buy some cool magnets to put this and all the other stuff daycare does for him/us he will be doing on the fridge. He's so crafty like mama! ;)

On Friday night my sister went over to our house to have a couple of drinks. Since she's not a big fan of the beer I drink (say what?) we decided to make these delicious drinks with champagne and popsicles. I saw these on a morning show one day and the looked soo good and also on one of my favorite blogger's IG and had been wanting to make them forever. These are really cool for a brunch or birthday party. Seeing that I didn't have anything else in my fridge other than my beer, champagne and OJ (which is no fun on a Friday night) I decided to make these for my sister and I. If you're looking for a light refreshing drink, this is it. Try it with your favorite popsicle flavor and you'll end up finishing a champagne bottle in no time. Not the case with us. Or maybe. We also had a dancing party in which only Jack and I participated and my sister thought we were being completely ridiculous. She's no fun.



After she left, Jack and I started decorating the door for Halloween. We are nowhere nearly done but we are getting there! Here's a preview. We made the bats by drawing them onto felt squares and cutting them out which was a pain in the ass but we took turns in drawing and cutting to have a nice variety and to rest our hands from all the cutting.

The letters I got at Hobby Lobby, they are wooden, unpainted letters and I just bought a little tube of paint, some small brushes and painted them black. I still want to add to the wreath but haven't found the right accessories. I did see some pretty cool fabric for a bow so I might just do that. We are also planning on adding a few more bats to the door and other windows in the same diagonal pattern. I also can't wait to buy a thousand few pumpkins for the front door.

I plan on adding this felt garland I bought on West Elm to our mantle and I will leave it there for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it's neutral enough to work for all three. Thanks to Jessica Garvin for the heads up on it!

Saturday we had a whole day planned consisting of an early breakfast, corn maze and pumpkin patch fun. So we started with the early breakfast and noticed it was getting windy and cold (remember the cold front I mentioned?). Yeah it got pretty windy so we decided to skip all that fun. About an hour later after our decision, the weather got so beautiful it would've been the perfect day to pick pumpkins and take cool pictures of Button! Boo to us. It was already too late because we ended up at the AT&T store where Jack finally joined the iPhone family and he's so happy. Like a kid in a candy store ;) We still plan on hitting the pumpkin patch next weekend! 

Sunday was a laundry/cleaning and preparing for Monday kind of day. We also played a lot with this little one. I wish everyday could be like this!

Then we were done. Button was done too. We were in bed sleeping by nine! I think that might have been the best part of the entire weekend. Going to bed early is a very rare occurrence and we needed it.



Are you already decorating for Halloween? Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Fall Boy Style.

As I've mentioned twenty thousand million times before. I am so excited for Fall! With that said (again), I am triple excited about baby boy clothes! I've been browsing around and found some pretty cute stuff that is, again, affordable and stylish. I can't wait to put Button in some of these picks!

 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

These are honestly not even half of all the stuff I'm loving right now, but for now they will do. I love pairing subtle, neutral tones with a pop of color, this way I can make the most out of his clothes without having to buy everything to match. I'm loving that fox hat and who doesn't need a pair of Freshly Picked moccs?! There's nothing like snuggling up with your warm, cozy baby. And with this Texas weather, these are perfect to handle the small amount of cold we get although it looks like this one will be a cold one! (I'm already thinking scarves and boots!)

To make your day even better, Old Navy is having a 20% off sale, just type ONTREAT and Baby Gap is having 25% off on their clearance AND regular priced items, GAPNEW for regular and GAPEXTRA for stuff on sale. Go!!

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Fun-ness.

Naturally, with Fall weather and Fall almost here, the weekend began with a little bit of decorating. Now that we have our very own home, I told Jack there will be an explosion of decorations for every season there is. Tastefully done of course ;)

I couldn't have been more excited to see all the things that stores are coming out with for this season and I couldn't wait to snag a few of them. If you follow me on IG (@shadiabrown) I posted a pic of how I started. I've added a couple more things to it but wanted to keep it simple and somewhat neutral to be able to transition this into Halloween and eventually Christmas.

You know I had to add a button in there somehow. :)



I purchased most of this stuff at Hobby Lobby and Marshalls and used items I already owned as well. I made the banner with tags and twine I got at Hobby Lobby and wrote the letters with a white marker. I also added some dead branches from one of our trees to the white pitcher vase in the dining room. I still need to add a few more things but I'm sure a trip to Target will solve this.

Saturday was a shopping and relaxing day and we really didn't do much since we had to wake up bright and early on Sunday to go to The Color Run. It's a 5k untimed race that is done just for fun while getting showered with colored powder at different stations. It is so much fun. The only downside was that it started right at the time Elliot takes his first nap and he was not a happy camper since there was a guy with a microphone cheering the enormous crowd and there was a lot of noise. He just wasn't having it. Once we were able to move past the start line he fell asleep and was so good during the entire thing. He was happy, looking at everything although we did have to cover him good at every color station but he still got his white onesie along with his toes and hands full of color. He looked so cute. This is the first year I've done this (thanks to Jack's company for paying for it!) and I'm sold. Definitely doing this from now on.

I do have to say that I need to invest in a better stroller, one made for actual walks or for running (hint hint Jack)



I was a little bit bummed because we had to wear Jack's company's shirts and not the actual shirts they gave us for this but I got over it. I can wear it to the gym around the house ;)

It was hotter than a mother that day (after such beautiful weather we had been having) and Elliot ended up with no socks, no head band and ultimately in diapers for the ride home. We still stopped by to get groceries and I was more than exhausted. 5k is no joke. Who am I kidding, we walked most of the way but ran through the color stations to avoid so much color on us but ended up really dirty and not planning ahead. We didn't bring towels for the aftermath (as most people did) so we sat on Elliot's swaddles, changed our shirts and took showers as soon as we got home. After scrubbing for about ten million hours, we were finally clean and relaxed the rest of the day. We even got to watch a movie and have a beer to close the weekend.

Oh and I almost forgot to say that Button can now text ;) Send him your number for a cute duck face selfie! 

Have a great week!

Our Weekend in Pictures.

Ugh, Monday. I hate you. It doesn't fail. I get the crazy blues every.single.Monday. Is this normal? I feel empty on Mondays.

You know that scene in SATC when Miranda quits her job because her boss is a jerk to her and she finally makes Brady's science fair and she says something like, "I made it, I never make it." Well, I don't want to be like that! I want to be able to make all of my son's activities so that is something I always think about. I've also just been wanting to be with Jack and Elliot as much as possible. I think that instead of Elliot dealing with separation anxiety I am the one going through it. Weird. I'm not being clingy, or needy I just love my family so much and I love spending time with them.

I also think it's a combination of missing Jack and Elliot and hearing and seeing so much bullshit and hypocrisy from people. Do you ever get that? You're almost at that breaking point but you decide you will be the bigger and better person and you hold on to that for dear life? I'm almost there. But I won't let it get to me. I won't.

I can't complain about the weekend though. College football season finally started for us and Elliot got to go to his first game with us. They are always so much fun and this year we get to enjoy them as a family. Besides, we get to go back to our old college stomping grounds and Jack and I always talk about how we met and how things were back then and how far we have come. We loved it there and still do.

Elliot did great, but after a while the later it got and as the crowd got louder he just wasn't having it. He cried every time we screamed poor thing. We ended up having to leave at the end of the third quarter but it was so much fun nonetheless.

 I know his looks are deceiving but I swear he had fun! (Ha!)

Our football field is in the middle of the mountains and the weather and view are perfect! I love being there. It's so pretty and peaceful despite the awesome, loud crowd. The sky was overcast and it rained for a couple of minutes before we even got there but it cooled us down. There was a fan of the opposing team among our team fans and if his team made a good play he would get up and start cheering and asking for high fives and we all just stared at him. It was hilarious.



My entire world.

Then of course some mama and baby fun the next morning. His first bottom tooth is finally coming in and he is getting whatever he can in his mouth to help the itching. He hasn't been complaining, yet. We can't wait to see his smile with his little tooth!

I found this beer while grocery shopping and with Fall here I couldn't pass it up! It's delicious! This will definitely be my go-to beer for the season.

This little one is almost officially crawling now. We have been practicing with him as much as we can. I say officially because he slithers and gets to where he needs to that way, but he's already getting on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. So damn cute!

Happy-not-so-happy Monday! Go Miners!