Mother's Day Gift Guide

I am so excited for my first ever Mother's Day on Sunday!

Brandon, Jax and I will be having lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my parents, brother, Aunt & Uncle, and dear friend of the family on Saturday and then we'll be spending Sunday at my parent's house with my family and mom's besties, Diane and Sharon. It'll be a weekend for the books (and for the blog, of course)!

Before even becoming a mom, Mother's Day was one of my favorite holidays--I am blessed to have so many wonderful women in my life (mom, mothers-in-law, grandmas, aunts, friends, etc.) and Mother's Day gives me the chance to thank them for all they do. With that being said, I have always loved shopping for/making Mother's Day gifts and would like to share a few gift ideas with you!

1.) Personalized stationery (pictured stationery from Lemon Tree Paperie): I love to write (hence the blog) and drool over pretty paper, journals, and notecards--and I know I'm not the only one (can anyone else walk around Papyrus for hours without getting bored?)! Why not surprise your mom with some gorgeous personalized stationery for Mother's Day? Whether it be personalized with initials or with a picture of a special someone, mom will love it! 

2.) Baskets/Kits (picture from Green Tea Paradise): Does your mom love tea? Make her a little "Tea Lovers Kit" with a box of her favorite leaves, an oversized mug, and a pretty kettle. Baseball lover? Two tickets to see her favorite team (one for you and one for her!), a jersey, and a box of Cracker Jacks to take to the game would be one 'home run' of a gift! The great thing about making your own basket is that you can also customize the gift to fit your budget.

3.) Birchbox (or any monthly subscription service): Subscription services make a great gift because: 

~They are the gift that keep on giving (most services call for at least a 3-month subscription).

~Each box is personalized to the recipients likes and helps them discover new products.

~Who doesn't enjoy receiving happy mail?! 

4.) Domino: The Book of Decorating: If your mom enjoys decorating, is looking for some colorful inspiration, or just like big coffee table books, then Domino is the read for her. I have been eying a copy at Barnes & Noble for some time now and can vouch that it is a lovely (and practical!) book. 

5.) Hand Carved Willowtree Sculptures: I collect Willowtree sculptures because they are beautiful and because each sculpture represents a different time in my life; I was gifted "Beautiful Wishes" for my bridal shower, "Together" for our wedding, "Brother and Sister" (from my brother) for my birthday, and the "Home" & "Our Gift" statues right after Jax was born (Brandon gave them to me for Christmas). Even if your mom doesn't collect them, they will still make for a treasured gift.

Okay, I admit that most of these suggestions are gifts that I would like to receive but that's okay because I have good taste, right? Right?! but I can guarantee that your mom will love them too! Have you made/bought your mom's gift yet? What are you getting her?

The Story/Video I Meant to Post One Year Ago

..does that tell you how far behind I am with blogging?

Gah!

It was a few weeks before Mother's Day 2013 when we first found out we were pregnant with Jax and decided we wanted to incorporate telling our families with Mother's Day! Our big plan was to give my mom and Mamma Nancy their gifts (more on that below) together during our graduation party and then give Brandon's step mom, Val, her gift when they visited the following weekend.

Those plans fell through almost immediately.

Side note: I'd told my dad the morning after we found out and made him promise not to tell my mom.

If you know me, you know that I talk to my mom several times a day whether it be on the phone, by text, email, etc., so I decided I needed to cut down on the calls/texts or I was going to blow it.. well, she ended up calling me out on it a few days after we found out (she was wondering why I'd been acting so weird and why I wasn't calling or talking to her) and I wound up telling her while I was driving to a news shoot.

Okay, okay.. so we'd wait and tell Brandon's mom during graduation..

That didn't happen either.

We (and by we, I mean me) couldn't keep our secret that long and decided to visit Salina for Mother's Day weekend to give Mamma Nanc her gift (below). Timing wise, it was perfect and I'm so glad we told her when we did--I didn't have to dodge her phone calls and texts anymore either!

 How cute is she?! Jackson is blessed to have such a sweet Nana!

After telling Mamma Nancy, we told Brandon's sister and her family and then had to sit back and wait another week to tell his dad and step mom. I so wish I would have been thinking and had my phone out when we gave Val her frame--she caught on right away and Brandon's dad's reaction was priceless!

Telling our families that we were pregnant may go down in history as the best Mother's Day gift we've ever given.. but I'm hoping this years gift comes in second.

More on that next week.

Sicko

Hey.

Remember me?

I apologize for my absence last week--it was definitely a chaotic week for the Sand clan! I'll do a little week/end recap tomorrow but for now, I'd like to share with you the moment I've been dreading since becoming a mom..

..I became sick.. on a weekday (last Monday).. while Brandon was at work and it was just Jax and me.

I woke up early Monday morning feeling a little queasy but just ignored it, wrote it off as being hungry, cuddled up with Jack, and fell back asleep. It wasn't until I got up to change Jax's diaper and get him dressed when I realized something wasn't right; I felt incredibly nauseous, chilly, achy, and just plain blah. 

I still don't know what I had but it felt an awful lot like the flu and it. was. miserable.

Scary mommy.

Lucky for me, Jax was a total trooper the entire day and played on his mat and watched PBS cartoons (which was rare treat for him--I typically try to keep TV to a minimum) while I laid on the couch and drifted in and out of death.

One scary part of the day for me was when Jax was sleeping and I was freezing and decided to take a hot shower--I hadn't eaten anything that day (nothing sounded good) and continued to nurse Jax which led to major lightheadedness and nearly passing out in the shower. Once I stumbled out of the shower and laid down to catch my breath, I force fed myself some chicken soup (which my brother was nice enough to bring me; thanks Joey!) and waited for Brandon to arrive home.

At around 8:30, I was still feeling really weak (and paranoid that I wasn't producing enough to feed Jax) so Brandon ran out to get me a smoothie and it was almost immediately after that when I began feeling better. By 10pm, my fever was broken and I was ready to sleep.. and sleep I did.

I woke up the next morning feeling 100% and boy was I happy--Jax and I spent the day reading, playing, cuddling, and making up for lost time!

Hooray for chicken soup, healing smoothies, and footie pajamas!

How was your week? Hope y'all are happy and healthy!!

One Year Ago Today..

..I took a long walk to the post office and had to stop multiple times to sit down and catch my breath.

..I took a shower and noticed the "girls" looking a little different.

..I sped over to the drug store to pick up pregnancy tests.

..I peed on a stick.

..I called my best friend to tell her Brandon's & my lives were about to change forever.

..I had blood work taken.

..I rushed to Walmart to buy a KU romper.

..I took this video:

..God blessed our lives tremendously.

Yes, it was one year ago today when we first learned we were going to be parents--and what a crazy, amazing, emotional, and wonderful experience it's been!

Read the whole story here.

Reunited (and it feels so good)!

Last Thursday was a total Monday..

..I woke up, began making my coffee in the Keurig, walked off to do something else, and suddenly realized that I forgot to put a cup under the spout..

Huge mess.

Then, Mr. Jax had the blowout of the century all over our clean, Egyptian cotton sheets..

..yuck.

Makeshift sheets during Thursday's nap time (he was so happy when I took him out of his clothes so I let him nap in just his diaper).

Anyway, it was just one of those days until I received a text from my dear friend Abby seeing what we were up to and if we were up for a visit from her and Ben (her adorable little boy) on Friday.

Umm, yes!!

Abby and Ben live 5 hours away so it was such a treat--and surprise!--to hear they were coming to visit! They arrived in Denver at around 11 on Friday morning and we spent the afternoon shopping, catching up, and eating delicious Red Lobster. It was a perfect day!

We didn't get too many pictures because these two little tykes were tired and grumpy (though you wouldn't know it by looking at them--cuties!).

I have to include a few throwback pics..

The Roomies (FREs), circa 2010--this was actually the night that Brandon and I first met.

Oktoberfest 2011 (why are our lips white?)

Abby's graduation day (with Mal Pal!), 2012

Abby's bachelorette party in Downtown Wichita, 2012

My bachelorette party in Downtown Denver, 2012

Abby's wedding day, 2012

My wedding day, 2013

As you can see, we've been through a lot together in the four short years we've know each other and it's been weird not seeing each other on a regular basis since moving.. hopefully we'll get to catch up again in June when we (plan) to visit Hays!

In other weekend news:

• We got Brandon some new tires on Saturday morning/afternoon.
• Burger Saturday at Giant Burger. 
  
  
• Jax now has pink eye in his right eye (ugggggh).
• Family pictures in south Denver.
  

  

  Don't adjust your screens, folks--this picture is super blurry! Brandon found a great Groupon for pictures in Littleton (which is why we had them taken in the first place) and the proofs they sent us are all really tiny and of poor quality so we can't steal them.. we have a viewing next Saturday and will buy the rights to all of them then so check back next week for all of our pics!

• Swim suit, capri, & shorts shopping at Kohls and Gordmans--I'm now summer ready! 
• I took my first baby less nap since having Jax (it was lovely.. we're going to begin crib training next weekend).
• Nice visit with Ryan (one of Brandon's best friends and best man at our wedding) and his girlfriend, Allison.

Have a great Monday, everyone! 

Friday Funnies (Easter Edition)

..yes I know, Easter was last week.

However, I didn't get to post an Easter Funnies last week because of travel/family visits so I'm just going to do it today (plus, the season of Easter has technically just begun--the only part of it that's over is the commercial/Easter Bunny/Peeps part of it)!

If you like my Facebook page, you may have seen my Easter countdown with daily pictures of the Easter Bunny (keywords being may & have--only 10 or so people see my posts because I don't pay FB to "promote" me.. whatever, Zuckerberg)--Easter Bunny pictures seriously crack me up so I'm going to be sharing a few more of my favorites with you..

..today..

..like, right now..

..let's go.

Is that not the cutest little boy ever?!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Happy 92nd Birthday, Grandpa!

Yesterday was my Grandpa Julius's 92nd birthday!

A bunch of our family got together on Friday evening to celebrate Grandpa's birthday and we all had a wonderful time visiting, laughing, and feasting on delicious food (I had one pound of crab legs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll--amazing!). My dad comes from a family of nine boys so our family get-togethers are always big and fun--we wouldn't have it any other way!

Here are a few pictures my dad snapped at the restaurant:

This picture really captures how happy I was to be eating crab legs (my fave).

The birthday boy (at the head of the table)!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may recognize that cutie on the left--that's my grandpa's older sister, Millie, who still plays poker, drives a red sports car, and walks a couple miles everyday. Love her!

My Grandpa Julius is one of my favorite people in the entire world and I'm so happy that Jax has been able to spend some time with him--I never knew any of my great-grandparents so I love the fact that Jax has not one, but two living great-grandpas (the other being Brandon's Grandpa Emil, who lives up in North Dakota)! 

Here are a few more pictures of my Grandpa Julius:

Grandpa and his boys; Christmas 2012 (my dad is top row, second from the left)

Grandpa and Aunt Millie; Christmas 2012

Grandpa, Joey, and Me; March 2013

January 2012

I'm not sure exactly when this was--I actually Googled my grandpa one time and found this picture of him. He is a contributor to a book about World War II and I believe this was taken at a signing for it.

Joey's graduation; May 2012

90 candles on his 90th birthday; April 2012

90th birthday; April 2012

Grandpa, Aunt Kay, and Aunt Millie; Christmas 2008

Grandma & Grandpa dancing at my cousin Nick's wedding; May 2009

My all-time favorite picture of Grandpa.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! You are loved by so many and are a role model to all of us--I'm so lucky to not only know you, but to call you grandpa! 

Four generations at Jackson's baptism; March 2014