WOW

So the past 6 weeks have FLOWN by. I can't even believe that

Penelope is already 6 weeks old.

Being a mama has been incredible in many ways. Incredibly great and incredibly stressful at times. I really didn't think I was going to survive those first few weeks; those weeks when Penelope would scream for hours on end and I had no idea how to help her, those weeks when we had to scrape for money to buy diapers and wipes instead of food for us, those weeks when I didn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time because she was cluster feeding, those weeks that I didn't have a breast pump, those weeks when we worried about how bills would get paid when only Hubby would be going back to work, those weeks when I didn't shower for a few days in a row and felt terrible from the after-labor period. I really thought we wouldn't survive it, but miraculously we did! And we're going STRONG!

Penelope is thriving and growing like a weed. The power of breast milk blows me away! I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed my baby, from the moment I found out I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to give my baby the very best I could give her, and breast milk is it! That first doctor's appointment when my doctor told me that Penelope was doing great on my breast milk made me so happy. I was over the moon that she was doing so well and that we were succeeding with breastfeeding since I felt kind of like I wasn't doing it right and that I must be screwing something up, but NO! Penelope is doing great and growing so fast, almost too fast!

Just look that those blue eyes!

A lot has happened since Penelope's birth, and the main thing is this: WE'VE MOVED BACK TO MICHIGAN!!! Hubby got a great job and so we packed everything up and headed back home to MI, and we could not be happier about it! It was Penelope's first car ride longer than 30 minutes, so needless to say, we were a bit worried about how well she'd do in the car that long (3 DAYS, holy crap) Well, she did pretty darn good! She slept about 80% of the time,
and didn't make me want to pull my hair out! (well, except those few times I had to change her poopy diapers in the back of our cramped and packed to the brim Focus!) She only had one meltdown on the last day,
and it was a short one, she just had to get out of that dang car seat, and honestly, I do not blame her! Those things seem so terribly uncomfortable.

Rupert did great in the car too, except when Hubby had to get out of the car (to get gas/food/etc...), then he was all "Where's he going, why can't I go too?"

So we've been in MI for a few days now, and I gotta tell you, it's so good to be home. In some ways I feel really spoiled now because since we're staying with my folks for a few weeks, it's like, there's HELP available now. I'm so used to doing everything myself, and with Hubby's help, but now I've got Grandma and Grandpa too! I feel so lucky to have this help, I know many folks don't have the help they need, and a new baby is a crap ton of work! How single moms do this, I have no idea, but damn ladies, I admire you so very very much. It takes a lot of strength to do this mama gig, and to do it without support, wow. just wow.

Here's a few more cute pics of Penelope:

Breastfeeding has been going well. The 3 day road trip kind of screwed my stash I had going, I was about 10 or so feedings ahead of Penny, and now I'm just feeding on demand with no stash to back me up. So it's been stressful lately, but I made it to my first goal of 6 weeks! I'm so proud of myself, breastfeeding isn't a walk in the park, especially at first, but we've kind of gotten into a groove and it feels good to know that I'm giving Penny the best that I can give her! My next goal is 6 months! Wish me luck!

Right now, Hubby has started his new job, and it's on the other side of the state, so he's staying with my brother for now, and I'm with my folks. So I won't lie, it's been rough without him here, but he's laying the foundation for our lives, for our future, so I'm doing what I can and trying to keep busy. But I'm missing him like crazy! We'll see each other on weekends, but I hope we can be reunited for good soon! I'm so proud of him and feel so happy that he's found a job that will challenge him. He takes such good care of us, I'm a lucky woman.

I've recently found out that 5 of my friends are pregnant and are due in March, April, and May! I'm so excited for these ladies and their families! I honestly miss being pregnant and am so stoked that these gals are expanding their lives (and their bellies!) and bringing more beautiful babies into the world. I think I'll be busy painting for them next spring! :)

I promise I will try to update this thing more! I'm planning a new design and possibly a blog name change since I'm no longer residing in TX...we'll see though, that might be too big of a pain.

It's been awhile

The past two months have flown by. I feel like an awful blogger for not updating more often!

Ok, here are the updates:

I'm still very pregnant, 31 weeks and 2 days to be exact. October is getting closer and closer every day and it's scary and amazing to think that our baby girl will be here within the next two months or so! We've been doing so much to prepare for her arrival. From washing her tiny clothes to setting up her part of our bedroom and all her little things like her bouncy seat and stroller. Everything's becoming so real now!

Her little kicks and jabs have become sort of painful, but that just means she's a tough cookie, like her mama, so I'm ok with that. She's in the proper position so far (head down, feet up in my ribs) so that's great news. Let's hope she stays that way! From what I hear trying to move your baby into the right position if they're not already is kind of painful, so I don't want to do that. haha.

I'll be updating the Pregnancy Journey photos section today as well, so check that out. If you're on my facebook you can see them there as well.

The Clever Characters business has been going really well all summer. I just wish I could paint faster! I've had about 12 paintings in the last two months to do and I've only finished like, 3 of them. Partly due to the fact that we went to Michigan for about 3 weeks, but also due to the face that the third trimester of this pregnancy hit me like a mack truck and I've been exhausted!

I will finish them though before Penelope arrives. I WILL! I plan on taking a little hiatus from it once I finish the ones I have on my list currently, just so I can relax a bit and work on preparing myself for labor/delivery in early October. Then of course, once Penelope gets here, we'll be very busy taking care of her and giving her all of the love in the world, so painting won't be at the top of my list. I'm not sure how long the haitus will last, but it'll probably be through the holiday season.

Hubby's been working on redesigning the Clever Characters website, which you can see here. No changes have been made yet, but once the new site is up, I'll be sure to let you all know!

Hubby's also been working very hard on his mom's website for her organic skin care business, which you should check out here. She recently changed her name to Common Spirit Organics, so the website will be changing soon as well. Her products are awesome and all of you should check it out and buy some. I personally love the Sweet Pea Belly Butter (for my big ol' preggo belly) and also the A Day for Miracles Eye Cream. It makes your face feel awesome, seriously. Here's her in front of the Ann Arbor People's Food Co-Op, the first store in Michigan to sell her merchandise!

ALSO, Hubby's working on getting his web design company off and running. If you know anyone interested in a website, my Hubby is the man to get ahold of. If you need his contact info, just let me know and I'll get it to you. He's really awesome at it and loves doing it, so get at me if you're interested.

In late June, early July, we went up to Michigan to visit our wonderful families/friends! It was a much needed break from Texas and we feel so lucky and grateful that we got to go up for almost 3 weeks! While we were there, we saw just about all of our friends, spent lots of time with our families, had two baby showers, I got maternity pictures taken, and I did a photo shoot for a Zombie Pinups calendar that should be coming out in October. I was the Pregnant Labor Day Zombie, so Miss September. It was so fun!

It was a really fun shoot, needless to say. :-) Here are some shots from the maternity shoot we did:





Here are more pics from the trip:

Here's a sunset in my hometown, it was sooooo good to be there.


Here's my nephew, Sullivan, being adorable. We were fishing on their dock.



We also watched him for a few hours one afternoon, these are a few of my favorite shots:



Here's my gorgeous goddaughter, Ava, smiling for the camera:



Here's Hubby and I, in front of the restaurant we met at over 7 years ago.


Here's Hubby and I, enjoying being home:


Here are a few shots from the two amazing baby showers our families threw for us:












All in all, our trip was FANTASTIC. I'll try to update soon again!

The Wonderful World of Michigan

Have you ever been to Michigan?

I love it, but I think I'm a little biased being that I was lucky enough to grow up there.

I cannot stress enough how much I love Michigan. And the sad part is that I never knew how much I loved it until I left it. I guess I needed to get out for awhile to really appreciate what I had there.

I never knew that by leaving everyone I love behind (except Hubby of course) that it would create a massive hole in my heart. I should have known, but I didn't really. I thought we'd be ok. That it would be fine being away from family on holidays and on important occasions.

But honestly, even not being there on any random day of the week is ridiculously hard. I miss being able to go to my parents' house to have dinner with them. I miss being there to talk with Hubby's parents about anything because we could.

I hate the fact that I've missed my goddaughter's first steps, words, everything. That I've missed my nephew growing into a little boy. These things that we're missing aren't things that can be replaced or made-up. These are things that happen in a brief instant of time and when you're not there, you've missed it. That's it. It's gone.

I miss Kensington. I miss going on 8 mile hikes a few times a week with Mik. I miss having my closest friends within an hour drive from me. I took that for granted when I lived there.

I miss being able to go to Pentwater during the summer.

I miss being able to go to the restaurant where I met my husband.

I miss being able to make plans on the fly with friends and not having to get time off work and buy a plane ticket.

I miss my best friends.

I miss my parents.

I miss everything about Michigan, even the frickin' snow.

I hate that it's the beginning of April and it's averaging 80+ degrees here. It's springtime. This is summer in MI.

I hate it here. I really do. It's not home, and to be honest, it's never going to feel like home. I know why the Texans love it, because it's THEIR home. It's not mine.

I of course don't mean to offend anyone who lives in TX, I've loved exploring it and being able to go to the ocean.

But honestly, I need to be at least near MI. I'm a midwesterner, and I'm damn proud of it.

Hubby and I have been SO homesick lately. It's easy to say, "oh you'll get used to it, it'll grow on you." But really, with a baby on the way, I can't imagine my child's life so far away from the rest of our family. I don't want to raise my child not really knowing their grandparents.

Like I said, we want to at least be near MI, so we're considering Indiana, but eventually, we WILL be back in MI. Once the economy turns around and we can actually get jobs there, we will be back there as soon as we can.

Michigan is OUR HOME.



Sorry if this is depressing, but I needed to get this out of my head.

I'm 13 weeks now. Here's my weekly pic:


We had to switch our birthing center again. The one we were going to wasn't covered by our insurance, but thankfully this one is, and it's basically the same, except another 20 minutes away from home. I'll have a natural water birth with midwives, and a hospital is literally right next door in case the baby is breech or something. I'm glad we finally have it figured out!

We wont' find out for another 7 weeks what we're having, and that is driving me insane! I want to know so bad!

I've been talking a lot to family this week about our upcoming MI trip. Both our moms are planning baby showers for us. All I know is, we are so loved and I am so grateful for all these people in my life. We are endlessly lucky.

I love our family and friends.

xo
mere

11 weeks

I'm now 11 weeks along. One more week and I'll officially be done with the first trimester! yay! Check me out:


What's weird about taking these photos, is that I look a lot bigger at night than I do in the daytime. In the daytime I don't look like I have a bump, but in this pic it sure looks like I do! Right?

I'm really hoping once I start showing more I can do something better for my weekly photos. Something more artsy and cute. We'll see. Hubby and I have to come up with something. :)

So, how is everyone today? I'm feeling pretty darn good actually. I'm still kinda wiped out, but I'm feeling better mentally. I'm feeling really excited and finally feeling happier. Not that I wasn't happy or something, but my doc took me off my anti-depressants so I was feeling kind of down in the dumps for a few weeks. I think I'm finally on the up and up!

Work is going well. I really love my job. I go to work every day and I love being there. I was talking to my friend Dori today and was telling her how excited we are about going to MI this summer. We talked about how hard it is to leave your family and pick up your life and start somewhere new. It got me thinking that we're really lucky that our coworkers are (for the most part) awesome people. Without knowing them, we wouldn't know anyone and we'd be really unhappy. I truly believe that some of these folks will be in our lives for a loooooong time. I feel lucky to know them, they've opened their hearts to us and I'm so grateful for that.

Especially since getting pregnant, it's really shown me that some of them truly care about us and our well being and our future. It means a lot to us, seriously.

Something funny about pregnancy, I've never loved drinking orange juice so much. I seriously can't get enough. Specifically, Tropicana Tangerine Orange. OMG it's so tasty.

Tomorrow, Hubby and I both have the day off. Who knows what we'll do, but I know we've gotta send out some mail. I've got a birthday present to send and two Easter gifts! Maybe we'll clean this pigsty of an apartment. haha!

I think I need this shirt:

I think Jim needs this, hehe:



goodnight!
xo.
M

wednesday

Hi all,

As of yesterday, I am now 10 weeks along in my pregnancy. Our little babe is the size of a kumquat, which apparently is like a tiny, oblong orange. See?

So my sister-in-law is also preggo right now. She's due in August and she's finding out this week sometime what she's having! I can't wait to find out if Hubby and I will have a niece or nephew this summer!

So I've been thinking A LOT about how we get to go to Michigan this summer. I am ecstatic about this trip. I wish we had more time than 11 days to spend up there. I feel like it's not enough time to do what we want to do. It's not enough time to see everyone we want to see enough.

I wish we had time to go to Mackinac Island. It's one of my favorite places in Michigan and Hubby and I had our honeymoon there. It was an unplanned honeymoon and it was 3 of the most relaxed days of my life.

I know that I'll be going to Kensington Metropark, one of our favorite close-to-home getaways. It has a FABULOUS 8 mile hiking trail and if I wasn't going to be 6 months preggo by then, I'd go do it, but being that I will be, I'm thinking the 8 mile hike that used to kick my butt every time isn't the best idea. hah!


Anyways, lately I've been working a lot on my crafts. Not just my painting, although I've been doing that too, but I've been quite inspired by book art lately. I'll explain this better once my projects are done, and of course I'll post some pics on here. They involve wall art and a book page wreath, so stay tuned!

Also, could this bookcase be any cooler? I can imagine painting it some awesome bronze color or something and having it in my bedroom. I want it!


Goodnight all!

if we have a boy

Ok, so I've been thinking a lot about the baby's room and how I want to design it. I know I said a moon and stars theme and I think that's just going to be a general guideline for it. If we have a boy, I'd love to do a robots theme! How fun, right?

Our kid is going to be a sci-fi dork like us, especially since he'll be named after Fox Mulder of the X-Files!

Here are some of the images I have in my idea file on my computer!

Hobby Lobby currently has these awesome robotic rocker dudes. I almost bought them the other day but I stopped myself because obviously we don't know what we're having yet. I'm so worried they'll be gone though by the time we do find out! I actually almost bought Hubby the motorcycle one because I know he'd love it....what do you think, Hubby?




This was a really cute robot painting I found on Etsy that I could totally recreate if we wanted to. I thought it was just really sweet.


These are some super graphic robot wall decals which are great because they're easy to use and easy to remove when you decide to change themes.


This was a really cool outerspace-y lamp that has my favorite planet, Saturn, on it. For those of you who know me, I have Saturn tattooed on my arm along with the other beautiful gas planets.


OK, isn't this robot plushie the cutest thing you've ever seen? I want one! Even if we don't have a boy, I want one! I found it here.


This is an awesome toddler shirt. I love the mint green color and the vintage looking robot on it. I found it here.


This robot onesie melted my heart! Isn't it precious?


In a few days I'll post the stuff I'm finding for a little girls room. I can't wait to find out what we're having!!! ahhh!!!!

In other news, we've officially decided when we'll be going to visit our families in June. I cannot wait to see our families and give them the millions of hugs we've been missing out on since we've moved. I miss everyone so terribly and think about our trip daily! We'll get just about 2 weeks off so I cannot wait!!!

I also can't wait to see our friends. I know Hubby keeps saying, "when we go to Michigan, I'm going to go out drinking with the news team for two days." (Anchorman reference) meaning he's going to hang out with his friends, and I can't be more excited for him, and ME! I miss my best friends and while the folks we've met down here are awesome, and I'm so grateful to have met them all, it's a whole other experience when talking about my girls.

My girls are my rock, my support, my sisters.