Photo Before & After

Hello Lovely Friday,
 It's my day off and it's going to snow- excited for that! Evie didn't nap great this morning, but luckily she's taking a great afternoon nap! So, while she gets her beauty rest, I thought I would share with you a before and after of one of my photos!

Editing can be challenging and VERY time consuming... there can always be a little bit more to tweak here or there. Sometimes I have to say STOP! enough! Anyway, below is a photo that you may recognize if you follow my Facebook page.

BEFORE

AFTER

Isn't she just the cutest?! Have a SUPER weekend!

Randomness on a Monday...

That little jem above is the first of, I'm sure, many Matilda Jane purchases that I will be making.

One of my friends has a little girl and she wears MJC (Matilda Jane Clothing) on her all the time. The clothes are adorable! I wondered where she got them, and much to my husband's dismay, she let me in on the secret to these little treasures! I have been opened up to a WHOLE new world of children's clothing... MJC, Persnickety, Mustard Pie, Livie and Luca... the list goes on!

At first, I thought, no way. I don't even spend that much money on most of my clothes! But who can resist an adorably dressed, ruffles and bows, little girl?! I CANNOT wait for the spring release on Feb.1 and I spend hours on ebay and facebook groups scouring for great finds. I'm hooked!

Anyway, I will be spending my day with my little one... who has NOT been napping the last two days and pretty cranky about it. She's sleeping great at night though, so I guess I can't complain too much! She slept 8.5 hours last night, from 10:00-6:25 and I had to wake her up this morning!

I was going to post cream cheese oreo cookies today... I know I have been slacking on my yummy food posts, but we started a house project yesterday instead. Putting board & batten on our dining room wall. When it's finished, it will hopefully look like this- but only on the back wall. I can't wait!

We have a whole list of projects we want to get done, including: putting tile floor in Kyle's bathroom (all of the other floors are wood or tile), re-doing the entire kitchen, possibly replacing the stair railing... the projects and possibilities are endless! I love changing things and making them more of our own, that's the best part of being a homeowner, I think!

 you all enjoy your Monday- STAY WARM!

And the first week comes to an end...

My first week back to work was interesting.

I really enjoyed it the first day, I think because it was something new and different from how I had spent my days the previous twelve weeks. The hour drive to work was torturous, I was fighting tears the whole way, but once I got there it was fine. There are LOTS of changes going on and big things happening this year, so my first week back was a little crazy between trying to catch up and staying on track with all of the big projects that are starting.

By day #2 I was dreading going back to work and by Thursday I was thinking that it would be nice if my employer had a daycare on site and I could work full-time. Confused? I am.

I had thought, before getting pregnant, that I would absolutely want to work part-time to maintain my identity and sanity. However, by the end of my maternity leave, I was wishing I could stay at home and be a full-time mama.

Now I don't know what I want!

It's still early, but I have a feeling I'm not going to be a fan of the part-time mama, part-time working woman thing. I like to be fully engaged and with only working part-time at work, it makes it difficult when I'm missing things the other two days of the week.

However, this morning, realizing I got to spend the whole day with Evie was awesome and I'm, of course, enjoying it!

So who knows how the master plan will work itself out.

For now, I'm thankful that I get a little bit of both worlds and hopefully sometime soon will figure out which world is for me. Then we have to figure out how to make that world work smoothly.

Working Mama

Well, today is my last day of maternity leave. It's been twelve weeks that I never could have imagined would go by so quickly! I am pretty anxious about starting back to work. I don't know if it's excitement, regret or a mixture of both. If you had asked me four weeks ago if I was ready to go back to work, I would have jumped at the opportunity. I even had the fleeting thought of starting back to work early. However, now that I've gotten into a mama-groove and Evie is starting to be quite adorable (smiling and babbling and such) I am not at all looking forward to leaving her.

Luckily, I am fortunate enough to only be going back to work part-time. I will work three days a week and my mother and mother-in-law will watch Everleigh while I'm gone. I'm so thankful that they're willing to sacrifice their time to watch the little one. I'd rather they get to experience the things I'll miss than some stranger!

Sorry for such a short post today, but I'm going to soak up every minute with my little beauty... even if that means watching her while she sleeps...

Faux E.L Fudges

One day, my husband was snacking. One of his staples is animal crackers with peanut butter. However, we had recently acquired a new tub of Nutella, which I often eat with peanut butter for lunch. He decided to mix things up a bit and dipped his animal crackers in the smooth, creamy, chocolate and hazelnut mixture.

Being the sweet, thoughtful husband that he is. He made me my own little plate of snacks, which he often does when he's snacking himself. I was astonished to realize that they tasted almost exactly like one of my childhood favorites- E.L. Fudge cookies!

You only need two ingredients to make your own, Nutella and Animal Crackers:

You can dip them or make little sandwiches. Eat them however you like! They're delicious and I'm sure better for you than the ones sitting on the shelf in the grocery store! ENJOY!

Remembering... don't forget.

Memory is a funny thing. Some people can recall everything, including things that occurred when they were just three years old. Other people, like me, can't remember what they had for breakfast yesterday. Literally. If I think really, really hard, I might recall.

When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted a way to document moments in Everleigh's life that I would undoubtedly forget. I saw the below idea on Pinterest and loved it. I snatched up a fruit basket from my parents house and bought index cards but never got around to actually making it.

Find the how-to Here

Kyle kept asking my if I was going to get in gear and make it so that we could start documenting things. I mean she is two months and six days already!

So, last week, while looking at sales on one of the websites I frequent, I came across this "One Line a Day" journal. It is basically a five year memory book, where you can document the goings on of life. I decided to take the lazy route and just buy this. It was only $16 at Amazon.

I'm happy to report it arrived on New Year's Eve and we started documenting on January 1, 2013. The first entry included how old she was on that day and the tidbit that she was a very cranky little girl in the evening! Not a great way to start off the year, but so far today she's making up for it by being extra adorable and talking to her favorite little yellow lion that hangs from her play gym :)

This is from yesterday:

Hope you all had a great start to 2013!

On this New Year's Eve...

I usually don't make New Year's resolutions, or if I do they are more or less the same as everyone else's: eat healthier and workout more often!

This past year, however, lots has changed and I want to make 2013 an amazing and exciting year! So, I have decided to set some New Year's resolutions and share them with you to keep me accountable ;)

1. Complete a 30 day photo challenge and blog about it- and just blog. more.

2. Learn the ins and outs of Lightroom (I already know it fairly well) and start to tackle Photoshop Elements (this one is scary, as I just received it for xmas and have been playing around. I will admit, I am super overwhelmed!). Also, to keep snapping photos and improving my camera skills. All this is in the hopes to someday call myself a "professional photographer"... that's kind of three resolutions in one,  but who's keeping track.

3. Take time to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes I get caught up in the day to day, especially now with a little one. I'm all about sticking to the routine and making sure we get things done as efficiently and timely as possible. Sometimes I forget to stop and breathe and enjoy- with her and everyone, including my handsome husband who reminds me to slow down every once in a while.

4. Be energized and motivated! As much as I enjoyed being a stay-at-home Mama, and am sad to start work next week, I'm hoping going back re-energizes me. I have been living in sweats for the last nine weeks, not being able to workout until two weeks ago, not getting a shower until 8pm when the hubs returns home, leaving the house uncleaned because I just don't have the energy or motivation and eating like crap, because I can.

5. This one kind of goes with resolution #4, but get fit and healthy! I will admit, I am not a healthy eater. I would eat carbs and sweets all day everyday if my husband wasn't around.  I also don't like working out, but when I do... I feel marvelous. Not to mention that since being pregnant and giving birth I have lost ALOT of strength, so much so that I used to be able to do 20 push-ups and at 7 weeks postpartum, couldn't even do one because my abs were so weak! I was appalled that I  had to do the girly version with my knees on the ground. Ugh. Nothing like starting from the beginning!

What are your New Year's resolutions? Let's make 2013 a great one! Cheers and be safe!!

Does chocolate make you lactate?

 Well... not exactly. However, while researching ways to increase my milk supply (I will be going back to work in a couple of weeks and wanted to have some to freeze for when I'm gone) I came across this recipe for "lactation cookies". They contain some special ingredients: Brewers Yeast and Flaxseed meal to help with lactation. I was skeptical, but who wouldn't love an excuse to eat cookies all day!?

I found the original recipe at Simply Real Moms, you can check it out here: RECIPE

My version is below, with just a few tweaks.

Ingredients

• 3/4 c butter
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 c brown sugar
• 4 T water
• 2 T flaxseed meal (DO NOT substitute)
• 2 Large eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 c flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 2 T Brewers Yeast (DO NOT substitute)3 c Thick cut oats
• 1 c Dark Chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix 2 T of flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes.
3. Cream butter and sugar.
4. Add eggs.
5. Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix and add vanilla.
6. Beat until well blended.
7. Sift: dry ingredients, except oats and choc chips.
8. Add butter mix to dry ingredients.
9. Stir in the oats and then the chocolate chips.
10. Using a medium cookie scoop, drop onto baking sheet.
11. Bake for 8-10 minutes.