Charlie :)

Sunday's are great!

What a lovely day! Got up and got everybody ready for church. We were ready in time to get to church early enough to get a good seat but sweet Noodle (Michael's mom's dog, who's staying with us while she's away in Italy) decided she wanted an adventure this morning! haha Good old noodle. We weren't too late. Once we got home from mass it was time to start cooking! I made my signature hash brown casserole. Yum! John (my brother), Jessica (his girlfriend), Brian (another brother haha), my mom, and David (my step-dad) came over! We don't know how to do anything small in this family. Maybe because there are so many of us that we always have to have a ton of food. Here's what we had: biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, muffins, mimosas, and sweet tea! :) Phew! As you might have guessed...we were realllly afterwards!

Here are some pictures of the afternoon!

Cinnamon rolls with pink icing for breast cancer awareness...DELICIOUS!

Kind of blurry but here's some of the food.

Yummy biscuits!

:)

Us!

Charlie watching all the action and enjoying his jumper!

Tired boys.

David enjoying brunch.

Brian and John, John didn't know when I was taking the picture. Haha

After all the brunch fun, we decided to go get some pumpkins to carve.  I always forget how not easy it is to do, but I think it turned out pretty well.  Here are a few pictures of our pumpkins for Charlie's first Halloween!!

The "fun" part...getting all of the gunk out of the middle.

On the front porch!

Cute little owl!

Sad the weekend's over, but Monday has to come! Little Charlie has had dinner and his bath and is fast asleep, hopefully Michael and I can catch up on some TV or something! Good night, and God bless!

Sooo looking forward to another great Sunday!

Throwing together a Sunday brunch after church! Love it! :)

I love my family.

EX-HAUS-TED! Oh my gosh! Long day! Good day, but a very very long one. As much fun as we had I couldn't be happier to be home! We met mom and Brian (home from Clemson :) )at Papa's and Beer (Mexican restaurant). Charlie did pretty well, he had just had a pretty good nap, but we did have to walk him some. He had sweet potatoes while we had quesadillas, burritos, nachos, and fajitas! Once we were back at mom's and full, my aunt called saying there was an impromptu birthday celebration at my grandma's house (25 mins away).  Charlie got in a little nap so we decided to be adventurous and try to make the trip even though Charlie HATES the car. Ugh it really sucks to have a baby who hates the car. I pray that when (and if) we have another baby that they LOVE the car. I can't tell you how many times people say "my baby looooooved the car!" and I'm thinking....ahhh I wish mine did. Well anyways, Charlie did pretty well on the way there and was good WHILE we were there-but on the way home...much different story!! Woooo-weeee! Longest 35 minutes of my day!!! It is not fun to have to listen to your baby cry knowing if you stop to help them they'll calm down until they're back in the seat to go again. Boo. This too shall pass (?). Now we're home he's fed and giggling on the bed getting his tummy blown on by Daddy. God is good!

PS) I looooove my family. It's not a real party until the race car is outside grandma's house!! Love it!!! Shout out to my awesome family!!

Daddy gettin' Charlie's tummy!

Thank the Lord it's the weekend!!!

Do you ever feel like the weekend is well deserved? I do! I am soo glad the weekend's here. I just can't wait to spend some time with my two boys. We normally are torn between staying in all weekend and just relaxing and spending time together, and going out and getting things done and spending time with friends and family. We tend     to stay completely busy and all of a sudden it's Sunday night and we squeeze in some Mommy/Daddy/Charlie time. So, this weekend since poor Charlie is teething and not feeling great we let him nap and relax and we just hung out and watched tv and had dinner at home. It's been so nice. Now if we spend the rest of the weekend running around and doing fun things at least we had some family time! I am soo very thankful for the weekend! I'm also verrry thankful for my amazing husband who gives me some time to just sit here while he takes care of Charlie. Alrighty, so enough time on the computer...off to spend the rest of the night with Michael and Charlie. Who knows what adventures are in store for tomorrow. :) God is good!


Aaaand here's a funny video to put a smile on your face...

We are not fans of teething... :(

Okay, okay...the video is kinda funny. (especially on mute) but our poor little Charlie just isn't himself today. So sad to see my baby in pain. On the upside-we get to see his precious teeth soon! :) God is good!

My Sweet Tiny Boy.

So Charlie is almost 5 months  old now, and I haven't taken the time to put up pictures from the day he was born. Partly because it made me hurt to look at them for so long! :-P It was the longest, most painful, hardest, most amazing 24 hours of my life! I'm so thankful we decided to have a baby, our life just wasn't complete without sweet Charlie. 

Here's a little background on the day...

I was what we thought was over a week overdue (he wasn't very big, so I don't know if it was that or if his due date was just wrong) and I was delivering naturally (no pain medication...I know what you're thinking--crazy??) with a midwife.  We decided it was time to try and induce, since I was so miserable...thanks to many things, such as my crazy pregnancy rash that felt like poison ivy on my whole body. The natural approach to inducing is using blue and black cohosh (bleh) and if that doesn't work-the dreaded castor oil (dun dun dunnnn).  Yes-it is as bad as you think. Ugh. After a whole day of herbs every hour not much had happened so it was time for the castor oil. I choked it down, knowing I'd do anything to have my precious baby boy here, and that's when it all started.  I was miserable and for longer than twelve hours couldn't keep anything in me. Not the way you want to start off labor!! Anyways, after countless hours of contractions it was almost eight in the morning, we had been up all day and night and it was time to push. I pushed for a little over an hour, and he was here. I made it through! It was all over...well until the terrible six week recuperation! I'm quite proud of myself for making it through. Here are some pictures from the night/day.

Here's the day this precious little angel was born...

Here's the room where I had him, candlelit to relax me!

Ready to be done with this...

By my side every second.

Holding him for the first time.

Our sweet family.

We did it!

Daddy holding his tiny hand.

Love this.

There he is!!

All snuggled up.

Pigs!

hahaha cousins

His very first hat and socks.

footprints

One happy mommy!

I guess every weekend has to come to an end...

So, it's the end of another great weekend. Oh how I love weekends. There's nothing like spending all day with my sweet boys. Here's what this weekend consisted of, two haircuts, organizing, stocking up on baby food, checked out the (beautiful) restaurant my brother works at, checked out the amazing "Vatican Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit", spent some fun time with lots of family! :)

Here's a link to the website for the organization that sends the exhibit to different churches...
Vatican Eucharistic Miracles Link

Sooo amazing...I got goosebumps many times while reading about these miracles.  Of course we were running late and had to kind of rush through, but I found a book with all of the different miracles compiled in it.
Amazon Link for the Eucharistic Miracles Book

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

I went through all of Charlie's clothes, towels, etc., put up everything that was too small, and made my own labels...phew! A lot of work but it's so helpful!

We stocked up on baby food at the store since they were having a sale, and since we had a ton I took the opportunity to reorganize the pantry!

Charlie's precious outfit for his fancy Sunday brunch! :) Complete with cutie patootie shoes, and Ralph Lauren  pants that I got at the yardsale for $1!

Me and Michael...I love him so!

Ahh, I guess I better get to bed. Our cute little alarm clock will have us up bright and early in the morning! Goodnight! God is gooood! :)

"The shoemaker's children are often shoeless."

I'm sure you've heard the old proverb, "The shoemaker's children are often shoeless.", well the hairstylist's husband is often shaggy! Poor Michael always waits so patiently for his (typically) quarterly shearing! haha So today, we decided it's definitely time for his turn. After 3 tries of cutting it while Charlie was asleep and woke up I finally finished his haircut! He looks so handsome (if I do say so myself). Here he is...

Charlie's checkin out Daddy's new 'do in the mirror!

My two handsome boys!! <3

Thanks for being so patient babe, you're the best!

The squirrels are eatin' good tonight...

So...we got Tito's Pizza for lunch...a special treat. And I got to enjoy one piece, and was going to eat left overs later. As I was driving down the road I heard a thump, and in my rear view mirror I saw our delicious Sicilian pizza tumbling down the road. Boo...

My toes are cold!

Happy Saturday! Nothing like starting off your Saturday morning with a good old fashioned southern yard sale! My mom and I went to a yard sale a couple of her work friends were having. Charlie and daddy stayed home so the little guy could get his morning nap. I got some awesome stuff! We got a new boucer for Charlie, a little carrier thing for him and of course some clothes! (oh and a purse to use as a makeup bag :) ) Even if I didn't find any good deals, it was fun to go hang out and freeze my butt off! It is so nice to be cold...I am really tired of hot weather!!! It was nice to go out and have fun with my mom, but I missed Charlie and I'm definitely happy to be home and see his sweet sleeping face.

How about some pictures?


Okay...

Bouncer-Like new!! 

Usually costs $65 we got it for $5

haha me, being silly...as usual.

Modeling the new baby carrier!

It normally costs $80 and I got it for $1!!!

This is what I came home to!

Precious boys! :)

Gotta love the weekend!!!! Can't wait to enjoy the rest of it with people I love!!! Yet again, God is GOOD!

Here's a picture of me and Charlie in his new carrier...so cute! He was confused, and mildly amazed!

\

:)

Phew!!! A quick visit to see an old friend/dinner turned out to be quite an adventure...then again, what doesn't when you have a baby? I've been finding myself saying that a lot lately.  We just got back to our house after 3 hours out! It's not easy to go much of anywhere with a baby who doesn't like to ride in the car...so going from our house downtown (which takes 25-30 mins. is no easy task). But, it was all worth it!!

I have been missing my old friend Caroline, from high school, so I decided we'd try making it to the restaurant she works at.  I invited my mom and step-dad to go for some good company and a couple of extra hands for the baby, and I knew mom had been wanting Liberty lately.  So we agreed to meet at the restaurant. After about 3 u-turns in the neighborhood to go back and get things we had forgotten we finally were en-route and the drive actually went quite smoothly...then we got downtown...we had to drive around in a circle several times to find a parking spot. I thought I found a reasonably good parking spot, until our trek to the restaurant made me think otherwise!

We parked on the other side of the baseball stadium from the restaurant and what I thought was a side road turned out to be a creepy empty (not lit) railroad track!! So it took everything in me to not run until I got to main street.  (couldn't leave Michael and Charlie in the dust). Finally after some freezing cold wind and gravel in my sandals we got to the restaurant.

Dinner was great, and apart from Charlie getting grumpy a few times.  Michael came up with an awesome idea to lay his napkin over the baby sleeping in his lap to catch the crumbs. Hahaha I love my husband! <3

It was awesome to see my dear old friend who I realized tonight that I've known for 9 years!! Gotta love a good night with good food and good people! But, I sure am glad to be home in my cozy house with my sweet boys!!! God is good!!!!

Here we go again...

So...I'm no good at keeping up with something like this, but what's wrong with trying again. Maybe I can make it work this time.

Here's a little bit about me:

Well as you can tell from my blog title, I'm a hairstylist, and a mom! haha
I come from a big family, and I love it!
I would love to have a big family of my own, but I don't know that I can maintain sanity and do that as well...
As for now Michael (my husband) and I have a precious almost 5 month old boy, Charlie.  He is amazing!
I have one (WONDERFUL) sister-Jen
3 (AWESOME) brothers- John, Matt, and Brian
I've also got 2 step brothers- Frank and Scott; and 2 step sisters-Anna and Ari
I love my family more than anything in this world!!!!
I'm Catholic, and I love it. I'm working on strengthening my faith more everyday.
I've lived in SC my whole life, and plan to for the rest of it, I love it here!


Aaaaanyways, congrats to me on making a blog and completing my first post....ta daaa!

More to come...  :)