If

Saw this fun little survey posted on another blog and decided to copy. Fill in the blanks...

• If I were to get pregnant again...I would cross my fingers for twins! Haha... ;)
• If I could have any job in the world....I'd be a sports reporter (even though I tend to roll my eyes at most of them myself. Ugh.)
• If I had a day to myself I would...start off with a great run, some Starbucks, and get some pampering...a facial, mani/pedi, maybe even a massage...then some shopping at actual stores (not online! ha...), and finally out for a romantic dinner date with the hubs...cause when is the last time we had an excuse to dress up and go out? I guess that doesn't count as day to myself, but I don't think I'd know what to do with that much alone time!
• If I could get married all over again...I'd choose a different wedding dress and hairstyle and florist. Same groom. :)
• If I could live anywhere in the US...it would be somewhere on the east coast. Maybe North Carolina.
• If Grace were a boy her name would be...Luke or Noah. We still love both of those.
• If I could have any talent in the world...I would like to be a great cook. Just able to throw things together with ease.
• If you met me in real life...we would probably get along. I think I'm pretty easy going!
• If I could go back to school and get a different degree...I might do Psychology. I think I would make a good school counselor or therapist...
• If money were not an object...I'd pay off all of our debt, square away a college fund for G, buy a house, fill it with pretty things and wear fabulous clothes. We'd also take some pretty stellar family vacations.
• If I could meet one celebrity...it would be Chelsea Handler. Love her. 
• If I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life...it would be a toss up between Banana Republic and Ann Taylor/Loft. I also have a deep affection for Nordstrom. 
• If we get another pet...I will lose my mind. So, no more pets for awhile, okay? :)
• If I could go on a trip, RIGHT NOW, I'd want to go...home to Virginia. Luckily I don't have to wait too long for that AND we're flying. Thank goodness.
• If I had to chose between a house cleaner and a personal chef...I'd chose a house cleaner all the way. 
• If I had the option of plastic surgery...I would probably (and I know this sounds weird) fix my belly button so that there were no traces of baby belly. The only stretch mark I had was between where I had my belly button ring - that I had taken out YEARS before getting pregnant. It's faded, but it just doesn't look the same. Boo.

That was fun. You should do it too! :)

xo,
H

Treading water

That's how I've been feeling the past couple of weeks. Kicking and kicking and struggling to stay afloat. The hours of each day keep FLYING by and I'm totally struggling to keep my work life and home life in order. You know how some days you sit at your desk and watch the clock waiting for the end of the day?

We all know what that is like.

I've been doing the opposite lately. I don't even want to look because I'm afraid I'll find out another hour has gone by and feel overwhelmed by all of the things I still need to get done.

My house...in complete disarray.
All three bedrooms, including the one I use as an office...are a mess.
Our kitchen...needs a good, deep cleaning.
My pantry...looks like groceries exploded on the shelves.
The floors...covered in dog hair, even though we just vacuumed 2 days ago.
Work...14 different quarterly travel reports and three new training courses being produced simultaneously. 

I want to bury my head in the sand.

D just left this morning to head to Fort Benning, GA for the night so that he can attend Ranger School graduation tomorrow for one of his guys. That leaves two less hands at the house tonight and tomorrow too, since he won't get home until late. Instead of crawling under the covers to cry, I'm going to try to just soldier through it (pun intended ;) and get it all under control.

I have a running date at 4:30 and a baby shower at 5:15 (yeah...not sure how I'm going to pull both of these off) and I'm already doing the countdown of 7 hours to go...

now 6 hours and 57 minutes to go...

I'm making myself crazy. I'll be back once I can stand to look at my house and laptop without feeling nauseous. Pre-scheduled a fluffy little post for tomorrow, so I'll be in touch after the weekend unless I get some sort of super-hero, time stopping power between now and then. I'll try to work on a more positive attitude before I type anything else too. You're welcome. ;)

xo,
H

She'll have her cake and eat it too!

First birthday = Success. 

xo,
H

One.

All day I have been trying to write a post for Grace's first birthday, but have had the hardest time finding the words to convey how excited, proud, and nostalgic this milestone has made me feel. Everyone always tells you how quickly time flies when you have a child and it gets so cliche, but it is most definitely the truth. I know people have been looking for something from me today and I don't want to leave you all hanging, so here are some pictures from this morning and daycare this afternoon. D and I went in for snack time with some cookies for the kids. We sang Happy Birthday and had a little party with her friends. She was so happy to have us there and just kept giggling and giving us goofy smiles.

Tonight we have a little family celebration with pizza and champagne (for mommy and daddy, of course- hey - it's a milestone for us too!) and a cute little mini cake for dessert. Gotta start practicing for the big party next week! Cross your fingers that all this sugar gets her riled up enough to take a couple of solo steps. We are SO close!!!

I know this wasn't the sappy one year post I had planned and actually started writing several times, but it's just going to have to suffice until I can process it all. :)

xo,
H

Busy bee

Apologies for the lack of updating this week...we are less than a week away from our little girl's 1st birthday and exactly 2 weeks away from our trip home to Virginia to celebrate with family and friends. It's been pretty busy around here! The good news is Grace's party seems to be coming together nicely, work is getting done, workouts are taking place, and we seem to be moving right along. The bad news? My to-do list is still a mile and a half long...but I do love lists, so maybe it's not so bad after all. :)

Here's a sneak peek of a picture project I'm working on for her party. The plan is to edit and print a picture from each of the last 12 months, back them with some cute scrapbook paper and either create a banner style display or frame them across the mantle at my mom's house - aka the party location. These are rough, I'm just getting acclimated to using Picnik.

I haven't done a workout post in awhile, so here's a little update on that topic:

- Found a running group training for a half marathon that is local (yay!)
- Found out Nov. 20th (date of race) coincides with D being gone for work (boo.)
- Decided that there was no way I could wake up to drive an hour, run 13+ miles, and then drive another hour home, all the while either finding a sitter to drop of G with or bringing someone with me to hang out with her for 2 hours while I run. There is just no way.
- Bagged the Fall half marathon idea, but continue to run
- Also continue to take spin classes 2+ times a week and D joins me during the week!
- Have started adding family walks in the evening if time/weather permits. Only one dog joins us. Guess who stays home?

Hint: Major.

In other news, that doesn't relate to anything, but I'm obsessed with it- I got D to agree to this bed frame for when we upgrade to a King size: 

It's the Collette bed by Crate and Barrel and it makes me really happy to look at. It also makes me happy that I have about a year to save up and ask for C&B giftcards for our birthdays and Christmas. ;)

On a fashion note: Is it just me, or do mom's lose the ability to dress themselves after having a child? I can whip up an outfit for Grace in 2 minutes. I already have more than enough outfits for her planned for our upcoming trip (and they are SO stinking cute I may have to share). When it comes to myself, however, I am just at a loss. I can pick pieces, but I royally suck at putting anything decent together. This is frustrating to not only me, but also D, who has run out of any patience he may have once had for me taking a long time to get ready. Am I the only one out there who has an issue with this!?

And on that note, this post has turned into a rambling mess so I'll go ahead and wrap it up. 

Alright ladies, hope you all are having fantastic weeks and getting excited for FRIDAYYYY! I am. :) I'll be back tomorrow with (hopefully) more than just a stream-of-thoughts post. Catch ya later!

xo,
H

Moving on up...to the east (coast) sideeee

It is finally official:

We PCS to Fort Benning, GA mid-December. The 16th to be exact. :) I actually thought about not posting the date because I'm afraid of jinxing us, but it's looking like a GO right now.

This will be an interesting move, because we will only be there for about 6 months before it's on to the next duty station. D has what is called the Captain's Career Course to take and we are really looking forward to it. From what our friends who have taken the course have told us, the schedule is very nice and while he will be busy, it will be with things like studying and coursework rather than out for weeks at a time like he is now. I've even heard a rumor that every Tuesday he will get released at 2pm - a post wide policy that is in place with the purpose of giving everyone more family time. LOVE it.

So the point of my rambling is- December 2011 - July-ish 2012 we will be in Columbus, GA.

The Details-

• Yes, I can keep my job and continue working from home full-time. 

• No, we won't know where we are living until we pull up to post in December and find out what housing options are available. (It's 6 months...we're just going to live on post.) 

• No, we don't know where we will end up come July next year. 

So, yeah, a lot is up in the air. Makes me not even want to really unpack.

Our NEXT duty station will be where we should end up settling for about 3 years...more if we end up somewhere we like and depending on D's decision to stay in the Army or get out. We do have a little bit of a say as to where we will be going and based on our current assignment, it sounds like we should be cut a little slack. We definitely have a top choice and I am absolutely already jumping the gun and getting emails on houses in the area. Probably setting myself up to be let down...but the way I see it is this- we will know where we are heading by next Spring and I want to be prepared.

I know school districts, communities I prefer, and I may or may not have an entire pallet of paint colors picked out for our home if we end up buying. By room. I have pages upon pages of magazine cut outs, bookmarked websites, and paint chips laying around waiting to see if they will be used. I also order fabric swatches. You know, just in case I feel like I have to buy a King-sized duvet cover for the King sized bed we don't own yet...

Interiors by Emily Hewett

Has anyone noticed how psycho-obsessive-organizational I have gotten lately? Unfortunately it hasn't applied to cleaning as much as I would like, but when it comes to family planning, meal planning, and researching home decor, I'm your girl. 

So there ya go. I know I've alluded to this post for awhile...just waiting for some additional information before sharing. We are very excited and very ready to move forward to a new duty station. Should be another interesting year for the "M" family...we just don't know how to slow down over here. ;)

xo,
H

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

After we got home on Monday and it was 85 degrees with a light breeze out, I was ready to get my Fall on. For Louisiana this time of year, the 80's are heaven and this whole past week has had us outside and enjoying it while it lasts. Yes, it's supposed to get hot again next week. So for now we are pretending that Fall has arrived and I had a serious urge to make something pumpkin. I found a pumpkin cookie recipe online and made a few modifications.

They were good. Little, moist pumpkin cakes kind of good. So good I gave most of them to Grace's teachers at daycare because my lunch on Tuesday consisted of 5 or 6 of them. Good enough I was going to not share this recipe so that they could be my secret. (Rude, huh?) They were gone by the time I went to pick Grace up in the afternoon and her daycare ladies were raving. Even D, the most picky food critic I know, goes, "Wow. You need to get these out of the house." Just trust me. They are good.

Now that I've talked them up, here's how you make the magic happen:

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon*
1 tsp. nutmeg*
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to bake at 350
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt) and mix. In separate bowl or KitchenAid, combine butter and sugars and mix. Next add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet, more mixing.
4. Using a melon or cookie scoop, scoop your dough onto cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes. Mine took 12...don't let these bake too long, you want them soft. Also, they pretty much stay the shape you drop them in and just "fluff up" a little.
5. Cool and enjoy...or don't let them cool...they are sooooo good warm

*You can play with the cinnamon/nutmeg combo based on what you have...you can also try pumpkin pie spice, ground cloves...just keep your spices at about 3 tsp. total.

These are great with a cream cheese icing, but I actually preferred them without. Grace loved them too...so much that she did not share with the dogs. Seriously, that is noteworthy. Hope you all enjoy.

and you are welcome. :)

xo,
H

My little chick-a-dee

We spent our long weekend in Houston, visiting with family and friends and conveniently getting out of Louisiana right before we had some crazy rain on Saturday. It was wonderful, celebrating a cousin's baby shower and then indulging in some major retail therapy for our own little girl. To say Grace's Fall wardrobe is complete is an understatement; sister's clothes are way more fashionable than mine.

While out, one of our stops was Old Navy. I must not have been thinking clearly, because ON is one of the few stores we actually have here at home. Anyways, Grace was in the cart and we were picking around and then she saw it...sort of like Moxie the Moo Cow, minus the vomit. She was like a moth to a flame...

Yes, a boy's chicken Halloween costume.

 She ohhh-ed and ahhh-ed and petted it and yanked it from the rack and into her chubby little hands before I could stop laughing in time to push the cart away. Then D saw what was going down and declared that a chicken was a great costume idea for a 1 year old girl (what?!) and somehow the chicken costume came home with us.

Unlike Moxie, who has not been touched since she made her debut in our home and cannot be returned, this sucker still has tags and a receipt and I am really tempted to take it back and order something more cute and girly. I mean, c'mon, how many years do I really have to dress up my kid as something I want her to be (or theme her birthday parties as if they are for me...)?

D's vote is no way, keep the chicken.

Mine is, what kind of message are we sending to the world, dressing our girl up in this gag worthy outfit?

Grace? She hasn't shown any interest since the chicken came home.

This is my life. What is your vote?

xo,
H

Babies on the brain

I thought I was HUGE...with 2+ months to go

I guess this should have been included in my confessions, because its been all over my radar for the past few weeks:


Hi, my name is Heather, and I am obsessed with planning out my life and baby #2. 

I'm not sure exactly when or why it started, but it's been recent and it's been vicious. Maybe with Grace's first birthday coming up? It makes me feel like she is getting SO old...and as she gets older, naturally, I've started trying to piece together where another little munchkin will fit in to our world.

First, let me be clear (Haha...doesn't that sound like an Obama speech?)...I'm obsessed with planning WHEN baby 2 will be making an appearance, not getting pregnant right now. You can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. ;) Another factor to complicate things and add to my obsessive behavior? D's schedule for the next couple of years is all over the place. Nothing past the next 9 months is set in stone and the probability of a deployment at some point in the next 2 years has me trying to control whatever I can about our lives.

•  Do we have baby 2 prior to him leaving...which leaves me rolling solo with 2 kids and 2 dogs for 9ish months? (Did you know that deployments are going to no longer be a year?! We'll take it.)
• Do we wait till he gets back...which might put Grace around 3 which would mean she and baby 2 would be at least 3.5 - 4 years apart? That's a lot of space...
• Do I convince D to try and conceive baby 2 right before he deploys and play with the possibility that he could get home right before baby 2 is born?
• Does all this make you as crazy as me!?!? 

G and Pops (my Dad)...it's his B-day today! :)

See! It's a lot to think about...and this is without having a solid time line past July of next year. Really it means we have to wait until next Spring, when we will find out more about our whereabouts for the next several years. So till Spring 2012, we sit tight. I'm going to attempt to distract myself, because D is getting a little annoyed with my incessant baby blabber. He may or may not have thought I was rude to hope he deploys ASAP to go along with my make believe ideal time frame for our family...

So till next March or April I'll just stare at the calendar I created with three distinct possibilities for TTC #2 and someone can hold me back whenever a chubby little bundle of baby passes me by...

xo,
H

Instagram

My new obsession. I'm always late at jumping on the bandwagon...so everyone probably already knows about this, but how COOL?! Especially for iPhone picture takers like me. :)

My username is HMMorgan1 if any of ya'll have the app too and want to follow/add me so I can see yours too! LOVE.

xo,
H

These are my confessions...

- I consider the day a success if I haven't used my credit or debit card for anything. No Starbucks, no running into the grocery store for "just one thing", no nothing. It rarely happens these days and I'm thinking I might need some sort of intervention.

- On that same topic, I often forget what I have ordered online and am surprised when packages arrive. I love surprises! This, however, doesn't work so well when I forget what I have already bought for Grace's Fall clothes and have to hunt around my inbox for order confirmations. Oops.

- D has been sleeping on the couch since his arm surgery. The couch is the only way he claims to be comfortable enough to sleep. I know it's not just that he doesn't want to share a bed with me, because we have a very comfy guest bed available too. Honestly? It's been FANTASTIC. I sleep better, my covers aren't ruined in the morning (I hate when people pull the comforter all over the place! Pet peeve.), and I can move my legs to the cool side of the bed if I get too warm. I ask him when he will feel up to coming back, which makes him think I miss sharing...but really it's to gauge how many more solo sleep nights I have!

- Ever since I started working at home, I wash my hair only 2-3 times a week. Once being on Tuesday nights before I have to go into work the next day. Some people look great when they don't wash their hair frequently...I do not.

- The above also applies to leg shaving. Sorry 'bout it.

- My above eyebrow area breaks out for about 5 days every time I get my brows waxed...but I continue doing it anyways because spending 5 minutes getting hair ripped out and paying for it with gross skin for a few days every month seems easier than having to pluck them once a week. I am the laziest person I know.

...enough about my hygiene (or lack thereof)....

- D and I recently agreed on 2 boy and 2 girl names we both like. We only want to have one more baby (still down the road at least a year), but sometimes I hope we decide to have a third...because we have really good names that sound so cute with Grace. ;)

- Sometimes I look at Grace while she's cuddled on my lap drinking her bedtime bottle and get teary-eyed just thinking about how lucky I am that she belongs to me. I couldn't be more proud to be her mommy. And now I'm teary again.

- I joke about how much our dog Major annoys me to no end...but after reading The Art of Racing in the Rain (great book), I make sure I give him snuggles and tell him he's a good boy every night. During the day...well it's business as usual, we remain arch enemies.

- One of my goals this month is to get back to church as a family. We've been terrible, including our baptism plans for Grace. I'm determined to remedy this and start making church a priority in our home.

- I am always living for some sort of future goal..."I'll lose those 5 last pounds by ___", "I will feel settled in our home once we move in ____", "I'll get better at cooking dinner 5 nights a week when Grace is ___." I'm really starting to annoy myself. I need to focus on things in the present and not put them off or decide they will be a certain way in the future. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone other than me?

These are my confessions....it feels good to get them off my chest. It also feels good to sing the Usher song while I'm typing this out. You are welcome for getting it stuck in your head today. Now fess up, what are yours? :)

xo,
H

SALE!

I'll be back with a real post today...but this is just too good not to share:

HUGE sales right now at Baby Gap and Old Navy. Def worth stocking up on things. The Old Navy prices are just ridiculously low. Just FYI!

xo,
H