THREE Months Old

I've gone back to work, which is why there are crickets chirping around here. I am B-U-S-Y and heading into the office at a crazy, dark-thirty-type hour of the morning so I can be home to pick up the J-Bird in the evening and still have every other Friday with him. It is so worth it.

My sweet kiddo is (a little over) 3 months now. He is THE BEST. Seriously, just the best. We're having so much fun. He is laughing tons, smiling tons, and just all around super sweet. He only fusses a little when momma isn't so quick on having the bottle ready, so usually not much (I am johnny on the spot.)

So obviously the biggest change in J's life is that I'm not home with him during the day. We had a few nights where he started waking up again, but he's found his rhythm and is sleeping all night long. His care while I am at work is the perfect situation if I'm not at home with him. We are incredibly blessed that I can go back to work with confidence that he's well taken care of.

Other things this month: still in size 2 diapers (by month 4 he'll be in 3's), shakes his rattle, and enjoys tummy time for about 2 minutes.

Green With Envy

My brother sent me this. It's been far too long since this group has made a movie together, and I absolutely cannot wait to see it!

Flea Market Makeover: Chalkboard

Before: a found custom framed piece of art.
(yes, someone custom framed this.)

After: a chalkboard for my breakfast nook.

I am super impressed with how well chalkboard spray paint works. It actually feels like a real chalkboard and not some weird sprayed on substance. I am even more impressed that two cans of spray paint (gold, for the frame) turned this not treasure into something that retails for upward of $100 at Ballard Designs.

Maternity Leave Farewell Tour

Last week was my last full week of maternity leave, so I decided to take full advantage of it. We had lunch plans every day with friends and family. It was a fun week off with my sweet boy.

Lunch at Zodiac with Auntie Ish!

Shopping with Momma.
One day we hosted a luncheon for several of the new moms on our street. (We have a baby boom on our street--five new babies.) We met my brother and Brad for lunch on different days, along with a little shopping. Friday, we lunched at Tillman's with Auntie Ish again while her sweet parents were in town, then later that night the J-Bird chilled with his friends during his first childcare night at the church, and we headed out for a dinner date.

This week I'm still off until Thursday (hello, short week back then a 3 day weekend) so I'm spending these last 3 days sitting at home, playing with my baby and putting my working mom survival kit together. I'm blessed to have wonderful support as I transition into the role of working mom. One thing's for sure--I won't be bored.

Friday Fave Finds

Rather than the Friday Fave Five, I now present to you the inaugural post of my Friday Fave Finds, a list of my little discoveries this week.

Enjoy!

--I loved this post from Natalie about babies growing up. And talking!

--Am I the last person to know that Zooey Deschanel has a TV show coming out? Here's the preview.

--These pantry pics on Material Girls have me seriously contemplating painting my pantry in my last 3 days of maternity leave. (But I'll probably just sit and hold my sweet baby.)

--And then there's Pinterest. Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. Rather than save things you find on the internet in your favorites, you can "pin" them to boards that will save the original source. I love.

--And also? While not on the world wide web until now, I found myself taking a lot of pics with this tiny gentleman. You understand.

"Cutest thing evaaa..."

One of the girls in my Sunday school class sent me this video of an awesome marriage proposal (The title of this post was her comment about the video. It's so fun to minister to high school girls!)

We were talking over coffee (or tea, in my case) this past week and the subject of proposals (and in particular, this one) came up. I remembered reading an article recently that something like 80% of women are disappointed in the manner in which their husbands/fiances proposed. I wish I could find the article. Now, I must note here that I think my husband knocked it out of the park with his proposal, however I think it's a sad state when that many women would admit that they didn't like how the proposal went. In my book that ranks right up there with looking at the shiny diamond your gentleman worked to give his fair lady and saying, "I expected something a little bigger."

Have we been ruined by romantic movies?

{But I think this is an awesome proposal, BTW.}

Let your hair up.

So there I was, sitting in my hairstylist's chair about 4 weeks before delivering my boy. Nearly every time I go in there I complain about the fact that I have to shampoo my hair every single day. She always says the same thing: dry shampoo or figure out a good second day hairstyle to hide the second day obvious. But this time she also pointed out that I was going to have 12 weeks at home to experiment where I wouldn't have to go out in public unless I wanted to. She is brilliant.

So for the past 11ish weeks I've been here, just slaving away in my laboratory. After trying some super duper expensive stuff along with the super cheap, I am pleased to publish my research for you today. Ladies in a hurry to get to the office, moms, or basically anyone looking for a good shortcut, I've got some winners for you.

The new Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo works very, very well. Just spray onto roots and work in until your hair doesn't look white. Additionally, on a lark I purchased the above little spring-like gems by Goody, called spin hair pins. I have a lot (a lot a lot) of very fine hair that usually requires 1 trillion bobby pins to put up. With these, I whip my hair back and forth up into a bun, spin those little hair pins in, and voilà--up do. I found both of these at my local big-box discount store. They are now staples in my beauty arsenal.

Oh yes, it is an arsenal.

So tell me--what's your cheap beauty secret?

{P.S. I'm not receiving any compensation for this review.}