a day in the life of a stay at home mom.

oh, the wonderful world of watching your baby work on her walking skills. my heart stops about 20 times a day! she is not afraid to fall, but i'm afraid for her! since her video debut last time, she has gotten a lot better and a lot more controlled with her awesome walking skills -- she goes a lot slower now and takes her time to stay balanced and go the distance. her latest record is all the way from the couch to the pack n play (about 8 feet in distance). i'll try and get a new video soon. she still prefers to crawl most of the time, especially down the long hallway between the living room and the master bathroom. Will and Audrey's most fun activity is having crawling "races" around the house. yes, my husband races our child around the house crawling around on his hands and knees. she thinks this is hysterical! i might have to get that on video as well!

i started planning Audrey's first birthday for realsies this weekend...instead of staring at Pinterest for hours and pinning a ton of random ideas, i actually started making a list of projects and did her invitations! here is the finished product! (for safety purposes, i blacked out the address and my phone number)

i also picked up her smash cake outfit and party outfit on Friday when Melissa, Audrey, and i took a day trip to Valdosta to shop and have lunch. we had such a great time and.... I WENT TO TARGET! as in, went inside the store and looked and touched and oohed and ahhed over everything! i was literally having heart palpitations as we walked in! i haven't stepped foot in a Target since we moved in APRIL! after a lot of debate, here are the two outfits Melissa and i picked out for Audrey's Onederland Tea Party:

we chose the outfit on the left for her cake smash extravaganza and pictures -- an Alice in Wonderland tunic, black Ruffle Butts linen shorts, and red Wee Squeak mary janes. the outfit on the right is for the rest of the party. i love and adore the tutu so much. it's pink and sparkly and super poofy! we also picked out the silver Moo Shu squeak shoes for added fun.

it felt so nice to escape our small town for the day and explore Valdosta! our waitress at lunch was...um, interesting to say the least and Audrey loved how i so willingly shared my meal with her (like i had a choice, ha! the minute my plate was set in front of me, she started whining and making chewing motions)

yes, i would like to look at the menu please!

oh fabulous, i'll take the grilled chicken sandwich please!

love them both!

Audrey's new $6 outfit from our sister store in Valdosta!

no words! hahaha

when we arrived home, i spent the next several hours going on and on and on (AND ON) to Will about all of the funny and exciting things that happened and what a great time i had!

we had a great, relaxing weekend with plenty of football action and outdoors time!

Audrey's game face, rawr! GO BLUE!

Audrey and i had play time in the yard and i took some great shots (which also double as her 10-month pictures)

and just for fun...

pigtails! my favorite!

call me maybe ;)

cheeeeeeeeese!

in my struggle to find balance in our lives lately -- did i mention Will is working 50 hours a week AND going to night classes? -- i want to do a week in the life of a work at home mom blog series. Will's cousin did this on her blog a while ago as a stay at home mom, which is where i got the idea from. today can be Day 1, so here is a little snapshot of what my Monday looked like:

7:00 am: Will wakes up for work (therefore i'm awake too -- he tries to be quiet but he's sleepy/groggy and therefore he's noisy grrr)
7:30 am: my alarm officially goes off, receive text from Melissa, start to text back, fall asleep -- oops! sorry Melissa!
7:40 am: my alarm goes off AGAIN, jump in the shower, get ready for the day
9:00 am: pour coffee, check my email, start laundry, vacuum living room and kitchen
10:00 am: Audrey wakes up (yes, she STILL sleeps like a teenager!), change diaper, out of jammies, and breakfast bottle (8 oz.)
10:30 am: play time with Audrey -- lots of patty cake, as it's her favorite at the moment and showing her objects (like ball, bow, sock, spoon) and repeating a bazillion times what the object is. she's starting to pick up, at least with the sounds, a little bit. switch loads of laundry.
12:00 pm: diaper change and Audrey takes a nap, i resume work -- today i made some calls to our sister store to fill an online order, invoice an order going to Scotland, and start an album of some options to offer participating moms in my October/November babies group for a birthday gift exchange. switch loads of laundry again.
3:00 pm: Audrey wakes up from her nap, change diaper, and give lunch bottle - 8 oz. (we'll be working on replacing this bottle with a lunch serving of finger foods next month)
3:30 pm: afternoon walk around the neighborhood, stop at park to swing
4:30 pm: Audrey plays on her play mat while i follow up with a few work things, Trey stops by to say hi, drop off some back strap from the buck he killed on Saturday, and play with Audrey for a little bit
5:15 pm: diaper change and Audrey takes a nap, i pick up around the house (clean up toys, tidy kitchen, fold laundry)
5:45 pm: Will gets home from work, i make him a snack while he takes a shower and gets his school stuff together
6:15 pm: Will leaves for class, i take some "me time" and read a couple chapters of a book
6:45 pm: i hear Audrey stirring and start making her dinner (tonight is scrambled eggs and steamed broccoli)
6:50 pm: get Audrey up from her nap, diaper change, get her settled in her high chair with some puffs to munch on while i finish her dinner
7:00 pm: serve Audrey dinner and sit with her to supervise and reinforce good "manners" (i don't even know if i would call them manners at this point in time, but anything that doesn't involve rubbing food in her hair or throwing it on the ground gets praise haha)
7:30 pm: clean up from dinner, get bath ready
7:45 pm: give Audrey a bath
8:00 pm: Audrey has some time to air dry (aka crawl around her room naked) while i clean up from her bath and get her jammies and overnight diaper out, room ready for bed etc.
8:15 pm: Audrey dry, lotioned, hair combed, in jammies
8:30 pm: quiet play, snuggle time, and bedtime bottle (8 oz.)
8:45 pm: Audrey in bed
9:00 pm: Will comes home from class, i catch up on the day with him and he makes dinner (tonight is 'deer nuggets' made from the fresh back strap, rice, and steamed green beans)
9:45 pm: follow up on any pending work messages on facebook or emails from earlier in the evening
10:00 pm: watch a show with Will (tonight is Pawn Stars on the History channel)
11:00 pm: get ready for bed!

Mondays and Wednesdays are pretty easy, but on Tuesday and Thursdays Will doesn't leave for class until 7:20 so i make all of us dinner (Audrey included) before he leaves. it's a little more hectic depending on when she wakes up from her second nap. looking at it all written out, it seems like every minute is jam packed but i actually find working from home relaxing for the most part. some parts are more difficult than others, but i'm lucky that my little lady loves to take long naps so i can have a good chunk of productive time mid-day! see you tomorrow! :)