West Virginia….a picture story

Remember that time we went to West Virginia and it was beautiful? Here are the photos.

All the photos above are images owned solely by Mercedes Arnold. ©2014 Mercedes Arnold

Hey!!! Sleep training… what!?!?

William in West Virginia, June 2014 ©2014

Wow. It's been a long time. Ugh. This always seems to happen.  A lot of stuff has gone down since I last posted! My husband and I had a baby boy last September, William!!! He is the most wonderful boy and we enjoy him so very much.  He had his first birthday already!!! OK, it has been a REALLY long time!!! Forgive me!!! Right now, I mean, literally a couple hours ago my husband and I started "sleep training" our son.

Sleep training a baby is not for the weak. You must be strong, you must be stubborn, and you must not give in to your wonderful child who means the absolute world to you. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS!? It is insanely difficult to stop myself from scooping him up into my arms, giving him a big hug and a kiss and whisking him back into the bed with me, rocking him to sleep, having him close by and knowing he is happy and safe.

I have read countless articles about sleep training; what works, what doesn't, whether or not it does work… whatever you decide to do or not do, is completely up to you and your spouse! This is a judgement free zone, friends! I did consult our pediatrician before we decided to start the sleep training. William isn't the only one who will have to be trained. I have been sleeping in the bed, cuddling with my sweet boy, for a little under a year.  I am going to have to be trained to sleep without my baby! Part of me is excited to have some extra space in the bed and I hope to be able to sleep longer than a few hours now! On the other hand, I feel like I am abandoning my baby to sleep on his own, but tons of families do this, right!? I suppose I am looking for words of encouragement to get through the next few days.  This first night seemed to go well enough… let's hope the next few nights do as well.

As for posting more often, we'll see how sleep training goes.  I may have time to write/edit/post again!! Will you read!!???! Please leave comments! :) What are your thoughts on sleep training babies??

A new baby!

I took some photos of my dear friend's baby recently and wanted to share!!!

This is Matthew David, and he is such a sweet baby! I absolutely loved taking photos of him! I have never been around a newborn baby much before Matthew was born, and to watch how he takes everything in (when he's awake), you can really see his little mind processing all the information that he has to take in everyday.  This makes me so excited for my own baby, which is due in September!! 

Enjoy the photos :) 

Been a while!!!

Holy smokes!!!

It's been a while since I've made a post, so sorry for the delay!! I should play a little catch-up...

Happy New Year everyone! Yes...I realize it's February, but I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful year, filled with love, laughter and adventure! Cheers!

Sparkling wine at Mumm Napa

It's been SO long since I last made a post, and I have yet to post any honeymoon pictures! The above photo is one from our honeymoon trip to California.  My husband's family friend, Rita, took us out in Napa for wine and sparkling wine tastings; it was a wonderful day, one we won't soon forget! Thank you to Rita for taking us out! We sipped sparkling wine on the patio of Mumm Napa which overlooked the beautiful vineyards, beaming from the hot California sun.  I would definitely recommend making a trip to Napa, for anyone who has never been, it is beautiful there!  Along with Napa's art-inspired views, they also have great food, and did I mention they have wine too?! Yum.   

Gah! Seeing that photo reminds me of how hot and sunny it was that day, and makes me want summer to arrive even sooner! Here are some other photos from our honeymoon out in California...

YUM

Elijah & I on our honeymoon at Mumm Napa

Alcatraz

So there you have it! Those are a few photos from our honeymoon!

Next post I will be uploading some photos of my beautiful friend Crystal, and her fiancé, Bob.  I took their engagement photos this past fall and would LOVE to share them with everyone! Keep an eye out for those!  

In the meantime...

Valentine's Day is this week so check out this really cute story

For a chuckle or two, go to Daily Dishonesty  I'm pretty sure I've said more than a couple of those things to myself........

Also, the Grammy's are tonight, for anyone who is watching, or watched, let me know what you thought about the winners/losers of the night! We don't have television right now (gasp!) but I will check online to see what happened. 

Thinking of taking on a painting project like I am? Ever thought about using stencil's to make really cool designs on your walls? Click to take a look at these stencil's and envision what your walls would look like with one of them! I know I have been thinking about which walls I can stencil! 

If anyone has experience with stencils and painting on large walls, I would love some advice! 

On that note...enjoy the rest of your Sunday

We are home owners!

The new house!

The cute little bell that was left, I'm guessing it's Portland (Maine) Headlight

My favorite part of the house, the kitchen!

So my husband and I bought a house! We closed in late August and are thrilled to be living in such a beautiful, well maintained house! This time last year, I had just moved to Maine with Elijah and by the end of October of last year we were engaged. Crazy how time flies and how much can change in a year. 

I posted just a few photos, but more will follow.  The photos above were taken with my point and shoot camera, which doesn't have the best quality.  I will be posting more and I am in the process of taking photos with my SLR of our new home.

It's really easy to go crazy on Pinterest right now, especially with all this space to decorate! Also, as everyone is well aware, the holidays are coming up and Pinterest is a great site to get diy ideas, obviously. 

Happy diy-ing!!   

Amy Poehler noooo, replacement refs noooo

Today is National Voter Registration Day, go here if you haven't registered to vote yet!

The Emmy's happened on Sunday! 

I wasn't able to stay awake long enough to watch the Emmy's, but I did read up on the winners list!  I have to say that I am extremely happy that to learn that Modern Family won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series!!  I can't get enough of that show, I'm going to have to have a Modern Family marathon after we move into our new house.  

More Emmy news:

Although I have never seen the show Veep, and I am big fan of Julia Louis-Dreyfus from her Seinfeld days, I am disappointed that Amy Poehler didn't win the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.  Poehler is AMAZING in Parks and Rec, seriously.......amazing.  She has been nominated five times for an Emmy award and has yet to win anything. Just give her the award already! If you haven't watched Parks and Rec yet, do yourself a favor and start!!! Season 1 is alright, but it gets better in season 2, and not just Poehler, but the whole cast is amazing and hilarious.   What do you think about Poehler not winning? Have you ever seen Parks and Rec? Any recommendations for good shows!? 

How was everyone's weekend? I know it's Tuesday, soon to be Wednesday, but I have been working for six days in a row, tomorrow will be seven, and I. Am. Tired. So just throwing up a quick post tonight and will get going more after tomorrow. weeeeeee 

Photo taken by Otto Greule

Did anyone happen to catch the football game last night, Packers vs. Seahawks?  If not, you can read up on what happened here and how controversial the call was on the last play of the game.  There have been lots of tweets about the call, and about how terrible the replacement referees have been since the start of the NFL season.  The replacement refs however, have made calls since the beginning of the season that have yet to determine the outcome of one game, that is, until last night. Read up on the call, and you be the judge of how it all went down.  Let me know what you think! 

One last thing...

Check out this site for your daily dose of mouth watering recipes, and in particular this one for Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting !!! YUM