I'm Still Alive...

...in case anyone was worried. You probably weren't. And that's okay!

The biggest news of the week is that we're officially homeowners...still. We closed on our refinance tonight, so yay for a lower house payment each month!

Matt and I have not hung out in pretty much forever, so we're about to watch our Redbox movie for the evening. (What to Expect When You're Expecting if you're wondering. My expectations are not very high, but it looked like our lightest/cutest option.)

I'll be back with an update post soon eventually!

Landon: 15 months

I am LONG overdue for a Landon update! He hit the 15 month mark last week and is busy busy. We love this kid like crazy! Here's a recap of the last 3 months:

Landon's (kind of) talking! He says: mama, dada, dog, ball, up, down, more, no, ow, rock rock, door, and makes up a lot of words that we have no idea what they mean. It probably doesn't help that Avery tries to tell me what he wants instead of letting him do it and talks to him in her own special little language no matter how many times I ask her to speak English to him so he can learn to join our conversations.

He is running everywhere. Fast. And he is climbing. On everything.

Our big little dude wears 18 month clothes, just moved up to a size 4 diaper, and wears a size 6 shoe. He weighs 25.5 lbs (60%), is 32.5 inches tall (85%), and has a serious head circumference of 19.75 inches (off the charts).

Landon gave up nursing at 13 months, so he drinks whole milk from a sippy cup before nap and bedtime. Yes, that nap is singular. He gave up his morning nap a couple of months ago. Sad day! Although now he takes longer afternoon naps, so not all is lost. Landon goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 7. We still rock him to sleep and will probably start trying to let him put himself to sleep soon. I just really love that time with him in the evening and it doesn't take that long for him to be out. We'll see. :)

He has been teething like CRAZY lately. He has 10 teeth now and might still be working on some more. Sleeping through the night is hit or miss as a result. Boo to that. Come on, teeth!

Landon is super silly and loves to make people laugh. His newest feat is somersaults, and he cracks up when he and Avery chase each other in circles around the house. Those giggles are the best sounds in the whole world! He thinks it's hilarious to feed us his food, and he pretty much smiles all the time (unless he's teething; see paragraph above).

He started Mother's Day Out this year! He's in a class with 5 other kids who have birthdays within 2 months of him, and he already loves it. His first day was pretty rough (on me, not him!), and he only started to cry as I left but stopped immediately. He already loves his teachers, Ms Jennifer and Ms Jeanne. They're so sweet!

We love this kid! Duh.

First Day of School!

With all these fancy first day of school pictures everybody's posting, I'm almost embarrassed to post our hurried snapshots from Tuesday!

Who am I kidding? My kids are SO STINKIN' CUTE! I don't even care that I don't have little chalkboards or sidewalk drawings. Don't you just want to squeeze these precious cheeks?!?

I know I'm a little biased. But Matt agrees, so I'm gaining support.

I love those little boogers so much! Happy back to school (Mother's Day Out) for them, and happy two days a week of uninterrupted work for me!

Labor Day Roomie Weekend

Labor Day means ROOMIE WEEKEND! We always get together with my two best friends from college and their families for Labor Day, New Years, and sometime in the summer. We love these people! Since Ricky was on call and they now live in Burleson (totally not that far from us!), we shared hosting duties this year. And Candie and Tiff, next time we have GOT to get a picture of the three of us. According to my pictures, Tiffany and I weren't even present. :) 

The girls went shopping (kid-free!!!) together on Saturday morning, we came back for dinner together, the kids played outside, and the boys went to a movie while we watched Bridezillas after the kidlets went to sleep. 

Tiff, Ross, and Macyn came to our place on Sunday afternoon, and Candie and Jacob joined us for homemade pizza. We got the kids ready for bed and then went to my parents' house (where they were all staying the night because real beds always trump air mattresses) for ice cream and a late night Hunger Games viewing. (My dad even stayed awake through the whole thing!)
 

I love that Candie and Ricky live close! Now if we could just get Tiff and Ross to move to DFW we'd be totally set. :) Can't wait until New Years!

So Much to Catch Up On

Ah, where were we?

Matt went back to school. I opened my Etsy shop. And lots of stuff happened in between and since.

Matt and I went on a date to a Grand Prairie Airhogs game. We had tickets that needed to be used before the season ended, and we ended up getting to sit right behind home plate in the second row. Not that we had competition for good seats; the stadium was empty (maybe because it was a Wednesday night?). It was a lot of fun, and we'll try to take the kids to some games next season!

Avery started gymnastics! She's taking a preschool class at a small local gym, and she loves it! (And shhh, I was so glad she chose gymnastics over ballet.) 1) Excuse the horrible quality of pictures. 2) Does anyone know of a good place to find leotards that aren't for dance?

They got to use the Peter Pan apparatus during free time!

AWANA started at our church, and Avery's a Cubbie this year! If you're not familiar with AWANA, it's a kids program where they memorize Bible verses, play games, and have counsel time (Bible stories, etc.). I was in it when I was a kid and still remember all the songs. :) It's super fun! Matt and I are both helping with it this year, so Landon gets to play with the other babies while we're there.

My mommy had a birthday! It was actually yesterday (happy birthday, Mom!), but we celebrated on Sunday night since that was when all the siblings could get together. Allison made a really ugly but delicious cake and we had a low key little get together to celebrate the best mom in the world! (Matt and I took her a gift and Blue Bell ice cream last night for her for real birthday.)

I feel like we've been running a kajillion errands since school started (post office, Costco, grocery shopping, and everything in between), but the kids actually really like being out of the house. And honestly, I do too. I get a little stir crazy if I'm indoors all day. But we've also been playing a lot around the house.

Mother's Day Out starts next week, and I think I'm also gonna try out MOPS on Wednesdays, so I'm glad to get into a for real weekly routine. And I'm so thankful for all of the Etsy orders I've gotten, but I still need to figure out how to get all that taken care of in addition to all my other responsibilities. I need a serious dose of self-discipline!

I'm super excited to hang out with some of my favorite friends this weekend, and I hope your holiday weekend is fantastic, too!

Open for Business!

Y'all, I have so many blog post drafts pending, but I haven't even taken the time to sit down and finish them because...

...my Etsy shop is OPEN!

I've been talking about doing this for well over a year, partially because I wanted to have all my ducks in a row (good-sized inventory, shipping supplies, logo/branding, good pictures of inventory, etc.) and partially because I was terrified of failing.

I know, I know. How could I fail if never even gave myself the chance to do so? We'll just say that I'm not always logical.

So after much "coaching" from a friend who has an amazingly successful Etsy shop (thanks, Rachel!), I finally bit the bullet.

Can I just say that I have the most supportive friends and family in the world? My super talented sister of Allison Jean Photography designed my Etsy banner, Facebook cover photo, and business cards. (Don't they look awesome?!? And I can say that because I had nothing to do with them, haha.)

And that fear of failure? I had mentally prepped myself to not make that first sale for weeks, but the morning after I initially listed my inventory, I got my email congratulating me on my first sale! To someone in California! Who I didn't know! And then the sales just kept coming. After my sale today to a customer in Florida, I can officially say that I'm coast to coast. :)

I am just so, so thankful. I know that it's rare to get those initial sales so quickly, and I seriously attribute it to the time that Rachel and Allison invested in me (cheesy?). 

So can you do me a favor? If you haven't already, can you "like" my Facebook page? You'll be the first to know about new listings and special discounts.

And here's a little peek at what I'm selling. Check out my Etsy shop for pictures of the individual items!

BURP CLOTHS (lightweight cotton or flannel)

KEY FOBS

TAG BLANKETS

By the way, I'm offering a 10% discount on the entire shop this week with the coupon code GRANDOPENING10, but it ends at the end of Saturday, September 1!

http://heatheraileen.etsy.com