I know I've bragged on my talented friends before, but seriously. I have some TALENTED ones. My lovely friend Lisa is selling these gorgeous mocs that she handmade. everything. cut out the leather, stitched and all. I have a pair in grey, since I've had those she's started making the beautiful navajo print. Looks like i'm going to need another pair! If you're interested in a pair leave your email address and I'll pass it on to Lisa! She doesn't have an etsy yet- but I betcha it's coming soon. ;)


$65 with Navajo print | $60 without. What a brilliant thing to spend your Christmas money on.

Peas suck

(4 months)

At 4 months, we started Fern off with rice cereal and oatmeal.. She looooved it. She ate it every day for two months, and the Suddenly at 6 months, she did everything she could to make it stop. She would literally GAG herself when we fed it to her! WHAT! My only guess is that it's a texture thing. I don't know.
Luckily it was just in time to move on to baby foods. So far she loves carrots, sweet potatoes, and all kinds of fruit. .... Peas however... we have an issue with peas. A real life issue.

(6 months)

I don't know what's better, that face, or those rolls.  yowza this girl is a cutie.


Does anyone have any experience with BLW?? (Baby led weening) I've only heard it in brief conversation, but if anybody has hands on experience, I'd like to know what you think.

Learning to count with Mr. Darcy and the like...

I've been collecting these sweet BabyLit color and counting primers by Jennifer Adams for about a month now, and I think it's safe to say I'm obsessed. I hope Fern loves them as much as I do. What better way to learn your colors and how to count than with some of the literary classics? (not to mention the art throughout is adorable.) I hope Fern realizes what a cool mom I am. ;)

"I have as much soul as you- and full as much heart." -Jane Eyre

"Pride and Prejudice"

Fit throwing

Let's talk about how hilarious baby fits are... Fern's fits are so ridiculous we can't help but laugh at her when she starts. She usually ends up laughing with us. Despite her looney fits she loves making people smile. I love seeing her personality develop. This little girl loves to make people happy, and we are her number one audience.

Happy 6 months little plum.

I can't believe I'm halfway to being the mother of a toddler! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I love being a mother so much. Whatever did I do before this? Ooooh my heart is so full. This has been the best 6 months of my life. You, little plum, are the absolute light of my life. I love you a bushel and a peck.

photo credit for the first picture goes to my cousin and her husband, Hibben Photography

Dear Autumn,

I love you truly. I love your colors and flavors, and cozy clothes you bring out. I love nearly everything about you. You are by far my favorite. But my dearest Autumn, if you could stop making my love so stuffy headed I would appreciate it. She can't breathe well at night and her poor little groans tell me she doesn't feel well at all, and although I love her sweet snuggles and always wanting to be close to me, I just can't take her poor sickly tears and snotty nose. I will continue to love you forever as my favorite season, just please have mercy on my little babe.

                        Yours forever.

...because I'm in love with a little soul.

More than 6 months later, I'd like to introduce you all to the love of my life. My daughter, Fern Elizabeth. She is the most amazing, beautiful, hilarious, sweet and gentle spirited human being I've ever had the honor of knowing, and she is all mine. I cannot tell you how blessed I am.

In the time since Fern has been born, we've had some ups and downs and plenty of transition, struggling, and most importantly, growing. Tristan and I were not prepared for starting a family when we did, but it's been the hardest and most rewarding thing that's ever happened to me, and I know Tristan would say the same thing. Due to all the adjusting, I gave up my blog, which is why you all have yet to meet this little sweetheart. I'm glad to say that after a lot of sacrifice on both of our parts, we are now at a place where we can successfully grow as a family: grow spiritually, mentally, relationally, and financially. I'm so proud of our little family.

Obviously priority has changed a little since last posting. In saying that, I'd like to point out that I really have no idea what this blog is about anymore. Probably not as "keep it local" as it use to be, although we still love our local community and supporting the local artists and businesses in OKC. Lacking direction, I assume the path it will go down is a mess of photos of Fern, our family, and lots of lists. Because I'd come unglued without lists.

... and here, with my very own Sweet Darlin',  we begin a new chapter of the blog.

36 weeks

Here's a photo from 36 weeks pregnant. Currently I'm 38, but at this point... I feel like big is big, so this photo will do. I haven't been very good at documenting weekly photos. You get the picture though.. I started out [_] this big... and now i'm [______________] this big.

Fern's due date is June 6th. Anybody interested in guessing the actual date she'll be born? Early? On time? Late? As of last Friday I was already dilated to a 3. I'd love for her to come early. But only if she's good and healthy when she does. 

April Showers: 1 of 3

I know, months without a word. I don't know how these other pregnant bloggers keep up. I'll try to do better, but no promises.

We're probably one of the most blessed families in the world. Just showered by all the love and support from our family and friends. We had 3 seperate showers for this sweet little babe. The very first was thrown by my very favorite friends in the entire world. This group of girls have been my friends ranging from age 4 through awkward middle school and high school periods. (That says a lot) I'm the first of our group to have a baby, and they sure spoiled me.

A few photos from my Charlottes Web themed baby shower, starting with the group of girls who put it all together.

They did such a beautiful job. I got weepy the moment I walked in. They all signed the above Charlottes Web book for Fern, with sweet little love letters. It was more than I could've ever asked for. 

I just wanted to share a couple of the sweet photos. I wish I had taken more, but i was just so overwhelmed. I'm the worst at remembering to capture the most special moments.

The best gift so far.

One of my grandmother's friends, Ann, is an ultrasound technician. As a gift, she opened up especially for us on a Sunday and let us get some of these. What a huge blessing. (especially after all of the horrible dreams I've had of Fern being born with her father's beard.)


Everyone seems to think she has my eyes and her daddy's lips. She's just beautiful either way. I'm so smitten. These photos are the last thing I look at before I sleep, and the first thing when I wake up. I just can't help it.
I'm simply amazed at technology. 

Prints for the nursery.

If you follow my pins on Pinterest, you've already discovered we've got a little theme going on for our up and coming nursery.  Not colors, no, creatures. Here are a few nursery prints on my wishlist.

[1.][2.][3.][4.][5.][6.]

This little girl is registered for!

We're so SO blessed by having so many friends who care about us and want to help us with our first baby.
"April showers" this year have a whole different meaning! I can't wait! But that meant getting my booty in gear and registering. (I was so out of my element). But thanks to my lovely, and much more baby-knowledgeable friend Hillary, and the lovely ladies at the Green Bambino- we are FINALLY REGISTERED! It's so much more overwhelming than I thought it would be!

We're officially registered at The Green Bambino & Target.
The Green Bambino is a local baby store in OKC supplying a large range of cloth diapers, and eco-friendly baby products. They're located at 5120 N. Shartel Ave. Get directions here.
(On Wednesdays you get 10% off of whatever you can stuff in their reusable shopping bags, which are 3$. UNLESS you flash them your handy dandy keep it local card, in which case the bag is free)

A Pie Party.

As mentioned in my last post, one of the more exciting events of the year, thus far, has been our first ever, pie party! I have the best friends. I should mention, first. We've all been friends for years, most of us went to school together and were even friends dating back to elementary school. Some of us added to the group in middle school, high school, and even college days. I'm so lucky to have these girls. They are the sweetest, caring, most talented, ridiculous and crazy girls I know. Although we all lead different lives, have different jobs, some are married, some are single, some live too far away- our get togethers are always sweeter than the next. It's rare that we can all get together at the same time, and unfortunately, for the pie party we were missing a few girls. Even though we missed the company of the girls not present, I'd say the pie party was a complete success. Without further adieu: the pies, and the girls that made them.

[1&2] The assortment [3] Jenni with her homemade chicken pot pie [4] Ashli with her Peanut butter & Nutella pie [5] Brooke with her mini apple pies with cheddar crust [6] I made a pear and raspberry pie [7] Our new friend Danielle blessed us with her yummy cheesecake pies with cookie crusts. [8] Jordan with her lovely lemon Creme Fraiche Pie and silly cute face. [9 & 10] All of the girls I love to love, after we'd stuffed ourselves with pie and chit chat.



Don't you just love them? I just love them. 

2012 wrapped up thus far.

Blogging has obviously not been priority this year, but I figure now that it's MARCH! (how did this happen??) I should catch up. So in one condensed post: here are some highlights from the first months of 2012.

[1.] my first time to *literally* bust out of a dress at 17 weeks [2.] Our REVEAL party! [3.] (cont.) which I got to share with (most) of my very best and oldest loves. [4.] it's a girl, by the way. [5.] 21 weeks [6.] 25 weeks [7.] the BEST pie party you can imagine!


This year, in short, has been a lot about documenting the growth of my baby girl. I don't update much because a lot of my day is working and resting. I am loving pregnancy, and taking it easy peasy for now.  Man, that pie party was good for me, though. I think it deserves recognition in a post of it's own. Stay tuned for that, and also more on a trip to Norman I recently took with a lovely friend.