A Little Introduction

There's a little man that I want to introduce you all to.

This here is Abraham Mark.  We call him Abram.

He was born June 5th at 5:52am.

A Little About Abram:

Name: We wanted to choose a strong, biblical name for our little guy.  We really liked the name Abram but decided to go with the full "Abraham" as his formal name.  Abraham of the Bible was a great man of God that proved his faith and willingness to live sacrificially.  He was chosen by God to be the father of His people.  We have some family ties to the name as well.  Abraham was also the name of my Great Great Great Grandfather who settled into the area we now call home.  My family is still running the family farm that has been around for over 90 years.

We chose Mark as the middle name in honor of Michael's dad who passed away when he was 7 years old.  Abram's name definitely has a theme of fatherhood and establishment which I think is very fitting for our first born son.

Birth Weight: 8 lbs 9 oz

Length: 21.5 inches long

Head Circumference: 15 inches

Hair: He was born with lots of it! Brown and wavy and showing hints of red and gold highlights depending on the light.

Eye Color: Like most babies, blue grey. We'll see what sticks.

Sleeps: 2-3 hours at a time at night for the first couple weeks. Now that we are a month old, he's sleeping 3-5 hours at a time.  During the day he is a bit of a catnapper.  But he sleeps best during the day when snuggling with somebody.

At a Month: He's already over 10lbs and wearing some of his 3 month clothes.  His arms and legs are filling out and getting chunkier. It does a momma's heart good to see that! Can you believe he's already a month old?! We had fun with a little Month Old/4th of July photo shoot last week. 

A little bit about how I'm doing.

Boy.  Motherhood is no joke people.  It is not for the faint of heart, that is for sure.

I was not quite prepared for the amount of pain and recovery that I was going to experience postpartum.  Not to go into too many details... things hurt.  And when you hurt, are not getting sleep, and are overwhelmed by this new role you are taking on... it can certainly take its toll.  I won't lie, there were plenty of tears in the first couple weeks.  But now as the pain is subsiding and I'm figuring out our new normal, I am happy to say goodbye to those pesky ol' baby blues.

But you know what has helped?
Kissin' on this face.

Other things that help: An awesome husband.  Having someone else feed him with a bottle.  Sharing cute pictures with friends and family.  Naps. Taking a bath.  Prayer.  Having people come over to visit.  Knowing when to say no to visitors.  Getting out of the house. Crying. Laughing.  Netflix bingeing. Allowing others to help.  Baby swing.  Taking advice and recommendations with a grain of salt and finding what works for us.  

Obviously things have been super busy around here - moving from a Nurse & a Nerd..to a Nurse, a Nerd, & a Baby.  There hasn't been much time for DIY or decorating (let alone blogging about such topics).  However, we are gearing up for a huge home project this fall and I hope to keep you all update on that when things progress a little more. 

On that note... I think I hear a baby waking from his nap! Let me at those chubby cheeks!

Thanks again goes out to my friend Beth Wilson for the newborn photos. 

Simple and Sweet Valentine's Treat

Valentine's day is less than a week away.

Thankfully, Michael and I decided this morning in the bathroom that we would be each other's Valentines :-)... phew! Glad we got that decision out of the way.  ;-) And usually we spend it pretty low key with a homemade card. We may go out to eat or I may just make a dinner for us at home.  We don't fuss too much over this holiday.

But this week I found this adorable woven heart at a consignment shop in town and couldn't resist the $2.50 price tag!   I replaced the old ribbon it came with with some bakers twine that I had recently gotten on sale at Meijer. 

So I just cut myself a length of string and hung it on the door that we use everyday.

I placed some paper and a marker nearby and everyday this week whenever we leave, we have to write a little note to each other... with the Valentine spirit in mind.

Then by the time Valentine's Day gets here we get to open and read lots of little notes from our Valentine! Simple and Sweet.  That's my kind of Valentine's day!

What about you?  Are you more of a big-extravagant-date-with-2-dozen-red-roses kind of Valentine? Or a sweet-card-and-simple-meal kind of person?

Alsoooo......  I can't resist sharing, and if you follow me on instagram you already know...

we started on the nursery this weekend! The initial project?...planking the wall behind the crib! We actually finished it all on Saturday but I want to get it primed at least before I share it with you all.  Just a little sneak peak for today! EEEK! So excited!

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Who would have thought...

Who would have thought that 9 years ago, a nerdy 18 year old boy would ask a talkative and excitable 17 year old girl to be his girlfriend.

Who would have thought they would have hit it off like they did.  That they couldn't help but talk way past their curfews - talking way into the future.  Always laughing and struggling to keep track of all their inside jokes.

Who would have thought that when they decided to go to different colleges, neither would regret it... even when a semester later they were together again.

Who would have thought the girl would end up at Purdue University (and love it!!)  And that her and the boy would meet some of the best friends in the world.

Who would have thought that a place like Purdue could be a place of amazing spiritual growth - for them and others.  That God could be revealed and honored in so many different and beautiful ways. 

Who would have thought that the boy and girl would get engaged and married, all before they were done with school.  And that they could work and go to school and learn how to live life as a new family.

Who would have thought they could fit their new lives into a 500 square foot apartment and love it.  And that they could find a balance in budgeting and picking out groceries.  And that, maybe, chocolate malts for dessert every night is not such a good idea.

Who would have thought that the boy would find a job back in their hometown and that their mothers would think they had won the lottery.  That the boy and girl would feel so right about moving home to be near family.


Who would have thought that their new jobs would teach them so much.  That the girl would meet some of the dearest people in her life.  That the boy would be challenged and mentored in a way he never expected.

Who would have thought they could find a church community that so closely matched their hearts. That the people there could share and walk through life alongside them.



Who would have thought that the boy would stop eating Pop-Tarts every morning for breakfast.  And that the girl would maybe miss it a little bit. 

Who would have thought that the boy and girl would buy "the little ugly one on the river."  That they would take a mess and make a home.  That they would be blessed with so many to help them along the way.

Who would have thought that 9 years later, the boy and the girl would soon be dad and mom.  That thankfulness would be pouring out of every fiber of their being.  Thankfulness for the new baby, but also thankfulness for all the time they shared leading up to this new phase.  So much thanks to God that He gave them so many memories and lessons to remember.  And thankful for the ones yet to come.

Who would have thought....

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Also....Come back Wednesday because I'm going to take you all on a Christmas Home tour!  My girl Emily at Table and Hearth has organized a Christmas Decor Blog Hop.  It starts tomorrow and runs through the end of the week.  Make sure you check out all the talented bloggers who have put lots of time, creativity, and love into decorating their homes.

Monday December 15th

Table and Hearth

Avery Street Design

Average But Inspired

Paper and Fox

Petite Modern Life

The Rustic Willow

The Domestic Heart

Wednesday December 17th

New House New Home New Life

Mrs. Fancee

A Nurse and a Nerd

Dandelion Patina

Elizabeth Joan Designs

Friday December 19th

Churchill DIY Mill

DIY Passion

Fresh Crush

Little House of Four

Home Remedies Rx

Dwell Beautiful

The Big Reveal

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Walnut Garland

Walnuts.  Walnuts and I go way back.  Well at least back to the beginning of when we first started renovating our home a year and a half ago. 

We found walnuts e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

In the drop ceiling in the basement.  Underneath the tub, in the ceiling, between walls...

And inside of the big walnut tree that we had cut down. 

Every time we turned a corner, we found more walnuts.  So now, walnuts always make me think of our home. And that's not such a bad thing....because our home is very special to me.

Finding sentiment is not a difficult task for me.  I like things that remind me of feelings I had or memories I shared with important people.  And now, walnuts will always remind me of renovating our home and the people we did it with.  So about halfway through our Phase 1 renovation, I began to collect some of these walnuts - wanting to capture the memories and bring them into the future with us.

At the time, I wasn't completely sure what my plan was for using them or displaying them. I thought about making a wreath but I didn't want to have to glue them all, assuming, someday it would start falling apart. So I decided to make a garland which would allow me to avoid gluing the walnuts and would be easily undone someday if I ever wanted to do something else with the walnuts. 

So I took some twine and got a big needle and started stringin'.

Almost all the walnuts had enough openings to string the twine through -undoubtedly put there by the critter that had stashed them throughout our home.  The large needle made it easier to get the twine strung through the holes. 

I knotted the ends then used 3M clear hooks on the underside of the fireplace mantel to hang the garland.  Seems fitting to hang it at our home's heart and center.

 I'm just loving how the walnut garland fits seamlessly into our fall decor. 

Side thought: Do you think we should paint our brick?  Whitewash it? Michael is vehemently apposed. It reminds him of Purdue. I'm open to either idea.  I like brick, I'm just not convinced that this is the prettiest brick.  

 

Our love-hate relationship with walnuts has shifted soundly over to the love side... Or at least fondness.  We still hate walnut trees - at least ones that are growing in our yard. But we took care of that months ago!.. No more walnut trees in our yard and no more more walnuts in our walls.  Only on our mantel or in our desserts...on second thought, maybe just on the mantel! :-) 

 
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River Livin'

There's a lifestyle that comes along with living on a river.  A way of life that makes you pause and take it all in.  The crickets chirping outside the window.  The turtles that sun themselves on the driveway.  The way the wind reveals itself as it blows across the tall grass.  It constantly is changing outside, and our favorite place to be is watching it all happen.

So when you accept this type of lifestyle, you have to know that it's going to start affecting your priorities and ways you make decisions.

For instance: You might say, "who needs a new bed when you can buy a couple of kayaks!"

My mom called me out on it.  Last week when she was reading the blog post about how we are still sleeping in a full size bed, she said "you won't buy yourselves a larger bed because of more important expenses?  More important expenses, like kayaks!?"

Short answer:  "Well... yeah!"

This has been the first summer where Michael and I have been able to enjoy living in our home.  Last summer was all about the renovation.  We were here as many nights as we could manage, demo-ing, cleaning, sanding, painting, all of it.  So one year later, now that we are living here, we are getting a glimpse of why we went to all that work for this home.

And the answer might look something like this.

This summer we are discovering what river livin' is all about.  And we are soaking it in.

Ever since we bought our home, we had talked about buying kayaks.  Knowing you can spend a boat-load (pun intended) of money on fancy kayaks, we weren't committing to a plan for when that purchase would happen.  What we did decide on was about how much we were willing to spend.  And this last 4th of July, the price looked right and so did the kayaks.  Menards had a great rebate on some recreational kayaks that we just couldn't pass up.

We were very excited to take the plunge especially since some of our best friends already own a pair of kayaks and knew there would be fun times ahead with them.

got*

And fun times ahead there were.

One Sunday, we kayaked down to the Dam, then down the Mill Race, and made our way downtown to our favorite ice cream place.

.... once we made it past a very low bridge.

 But we made it under (just barely) and were pretty thrilled about it!

Chief Ice Cream ahead!!

But this summer hasn't just been about the kayaks.  Its also been about the bonfires.  If you needed just one reason to live out in the country, I think bonfires would be that reason.

  And if that's not enough of a reason...  here's s'mores. 

We've had countless bonfires this summer and I'm sure there are more to come.  It really doesn't matter the occasion - time with our small group, the 4th of July, time with friends from out of town.  If we have the wood, the time, the weather, the people, and some Woodchuck Hard Cider, we've got ourselves a party!

Oh and sparklers are fun too.

A couple weekends ago we made another river livin' decision that contradicted our need for a new bed.

We bought a canoe.

 We're out of control.  But its so much fun!

We decided that we wanted to have the ability to be able to take friends and family out with us on the river and in order to do that we thought a canoe would be a great option.  Compared to kayaks, canoes are a bit easier to paddle, ours can fit 3 people, and it has room for a cooler or a dog or whatever else we'd like to hall around.

Our friends Bekah and Karl came to visit and got to enjoy the river livin' lifestyle first hand. 

So much fun.

Wanna go too?  Come on over friends! And lets head to the river. 

Linked up to: Amaze Me Monday,

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