The Allred Front Door: February 2013

Guest Post: Dressing a Post-Baby Body

Hey! Check out my guest post on Trendkin! Click here for the link! It is on dressing a post-baby body, but who doesn't love a comfortable and forgiving outfit?

Take a look and see what you think! My friends, Brittany and Jen, run the blog. It is for their upcoming company, that isn't launched yet. I love the blog, tons of great fashion advice!

Snooze, Sleep, Zzzz's Being A Parent

I know I am the total exception to this, but I have gotten pretty decent sleep since becoming a parent.

There have been several weeks where the "sleep" thing hasn't been swell, but overall, I am lucky.

We have now fallen into more of a routine with nap times and bed times.

He sleeps the whole night through. He usually goes to bed between 7 and 8 p.m. (although some days he is pooped and I can't hold him out past 6:45 p.m.) and then usually sleeps until about 7 or 7:30 a.m. Pretty awesome!

At first I struggled to get him to fall asleep because he would doze off in my arms and then wake up when I laid him down. But one night a while back, I just decided to lay him down awake to see what would happened.

And what happened was so wonderful...he just made some cooing noises for a few minutes and then dozed off. So the next night, I tried it again. And it worked! He has done it every evening and nap since. There is an occasional squawk or whimper, but hardly ever any crying.

Here he is going down for a nap...

And then a few minutes later...

Such a well-mannered little lad we have!

Some More Happenings...

Had a very successful thrifting session last week on the 50% off Goodwill day...

I already have a project in the works with that huge frame I bought, so stay tuned... (and I love the vintage gold phone I got for $3)

My cousin Michelle, and her husband Jesse gave us this fun exer-saucer for Landon to use. It is fun watching him discover new things!

I've had the chance to wear my Hunter boots quite a bit this season, and I loved every minute of it!

Having fun playing "dress up" with Landon once in a while.

Here he is sporting his adorable hat that Grandpa and Grandma Allred sent him from Chile...

Wearing his cute Old Navy Jeans (thrifted) and adorable Ralph Lauren Polo jacket (thrifted) with some little boots (gifted)...

Sporting his pink bow tie for the Sunday before Valentine's Day...

And showing dad his new "shades" for summer time!

We have too much fun with him!

You might recognize a few of these photos if you follow me on instagram, if you don't, follow me, here!

5 Months Old...

Seriously, can he stop growing so fast?!

He is 5 months old already. I can't believe he has already been around for nearly half of a year. Crazy!

I don't have super current stats, but he does have a scheduled doctor's appointment in a month, so we'll do stats at his 6 month update.

He rolls over from tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy now. He also can navigate the room that way, rolling around.

He still lights up when I sing him some of his favorite songs.

He is chowing down on the rice cereal and has even tried some blended up spaghetti, mashed banana, and gnawed on a raw carrot.

He gets sooooo excited when Brett gets home from work each evening. He flails his hand and arm in front of him, he kicks his little legs, he smiles from ear to ear, and his gaze never leaves Brett for the first few minutes--his eyes just follow him around the room and watch whatever he is doing. It is so darn cute!

He coos, he laughs, he grunts, and he loves bath time a ton. Oh, and he slobbers and drools like it's nobody's business!

And he won't hold still anymore...
which can make picture-taking a challenge

Some Happenings...

We've been making some Valentine's Treats...

just pretzel rods dipped in chocolate, with festive M&M's and white chocolate drizzled.

Loving on baby Presley and hanging out with the Whitings eating knock-off Costa Vida salads...

Having lots of play dates with Baby Bailey (another one of Landon's girlfriends, hehe). Twins would have been a lot of work, but I think I could have done it (as if I would have had a choice!). But I feel like if I am ever blessed with twins, then I have a lot more confidence in myself and that I could actually do it without crying and being stressed all the time.

Which leads me to the next thing, which you might have noticed in the picture above...Landon has started on a bottle...

Been making some new hair accessories that I will try to get up in the etsy shop soon. I just wanted to make sure that they would fit a baby, so Landon was my model. Brett wasn't too thrilled about this. But seriously, he looks like a boy, even with a headband on! I hope that my girls will look like "girls" and not little boys!

I also just got called to be the 2nd Counselor in Relief Society. Here is the bulletin board I have been starting to work on. I am nervous, I hope I don't screw this up! I also am in charge of all of the mid-week activities for Relief Society.

He has also been loving my nose and face--his favorite toy as of late...

A Big Beauty Secret on a Budget

Don't you love it when you find something you love for a price that you can more than afford? And what I love even more, is when someone is nice enough to share their knowledge with me when they stumble on it! So, thought I would share a little secret I have come across...

I have been loving to try out different make-up trends this last year. But even the "cheaper" quality makeup can be hard to justify if you aren't sure you will use it more than once.

Then I stumbled on the E.L.F. (eyes, lips, face) line at Target. Two years ago I bought the $10 set that included eyebrow color, blush, bronzer, lip tints, and about 30-40 shades of eye shadow. I still am using the blush, eye brow color, and eye shadows today!

these were each $1

I can't vouch for every one of their products, but since that first purchase, I have tried out a few other eye shadows (that weren't included in the pallet I first purchased), the tinted moisturizer, eyelash curler, fake eyelashes, lip gloss, cream/stick blush, and probably even more.

The eye shadows are $1 and you can buy them individually (which I love, because I don't usually need another set of "shimmery white" shadow or whole new pallet, when I just want to dry a different deep color). The lip glosses are also $1, and the tinted moisturizer is $3. You seriously can't beat that!

Next time you are at Target, take a look at the line. And try something out! Let me know what you think and if there was a product you loved.

Sporting my false eyelashes, amongst some other E.L.F. products...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rose Wreath

It's not too late to make a little more Valentine's Décor!

This can stay hanging through Spring, and it would be even more versatile on a circle wreath, if you didn't want it too "Valentine-y".

I had this sad grapevine heart-shaped wreath. Plain, it didn't do a whole lot for me.

So I picked up a few bundles of these roses at the dollar store, snipped the rosebud off, and hot glued them to the wreath.

Wa-la! I originally wanted to do some pink roses, but I didn't find any I liked at the dollar store. Red still looks great, you just don't get as much contrast with the red door behind it. But understated can be just fine sometimes.

Here are a few other photos of the valentine décor inside the Allred Front Door...

Balloon Boy

A few weeks ago, we bought Landon a balloon...

...and tied it to his foot...

At first he wasn't sure what to do

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Then he figured out how to kick it, and he began having the time of his life (quite literally!)

It was a fun little activity, and the balloon lasted FOREVER. I finally had to poke it to let the air out and throw it away. Don't worry, we supervised him the whole time he played with it, so he wouldn't get tangled in the string. Can't wait to do it again soon, it was fun!