Falling For Fall...

Haven't we all fallen for fall?  Such a nice time of the year!  I pretty much like to change things up every year so this year while I was cleaning the garage out I noticed our old wheelbarrow that had a flat tire.  I thought to myself- Oh I'm totally using this!  And I did....

It's the perfect prop for all my pumpkins and fall decor!  I got the little tin can idea with the house numbers from pinterest but I can't find the pin!  Anyways I got the cans from Michaels, painted a circle, painted some dots around it, and then used stencils for the numbers. This is really an easy project and fun! 

Ahh, the chevron pumpkin.  It's not as easy as it looks.  There are some tutorials out there and maybe it's just me but I find it very hard to paint zig zags on a round object-taping doesn't seem to help but it turned out good enough;)  I love painting pumpkins though!

The other funky, white pumpkins with the stripes came that way and I got them at Harris Teeter.

Fun burlap wreath!  I'm trying to get a video tutorial up because I find that some of the tutorials I found were only pictures and they don't really explain how to do it.  It's easy once you get the hang of it though and then you can just hot glue things onto it or stuff things in it.  For the "D" I just got the letter from Michaels and traced it onto chevron fabric then used adhesive spray to stick it onto the letter.  I hot glued it and also used clear ribbon to secure it.

More painted pumpkins!

So I painted my door black and I find it funny that I got so many comments about the previous color in my "Let The Decorating Begin" post.  That was the color before we moved here so I don't know the name of it but I felt like my wreaths weren't "popping" (especially burlap wreaths because of the similar color) so I painted it black but now I think I want to paint it a fun blue.  Don't worry, not turquoise!;)

And more painted pumpkins!!  They were bright orange last year and I went with more of a silver, gold theme for the front door so this was an easy change.  Just sprayed them and added the polka dots.  That door mat is from Target btw.

I ♥ fake candles!

These cute bins are from Tuesday Morning.

So this was fun to make.  The white frame is from Michaels (I sprayed it white), you can find them in the wood section, then I found the chalk board paper at a store called Archivers, I then hot glued the chalk board paper unto burlap, glued the burlap onto the back of the frame and you have a very simple chalk board!  I made the little banner out of burlap, jute string, scrap paper and letter stickers.  Ignore my terrible handwriting;) I wish I had better handwriting.

One other fun thing I added to my decor this year and I will definitely be using more of this for Halloween and Christmas is the deco mesh stuff!  I love it!  Have ya'll tried it?  Lots of fun to work with- you can get it at any craft store in all sorts of colors.

So this weekend is a great time to get out your fall decor and start decorating!  Fall for Fall if you haven't already!

Linking up to: 

The Past Week Through Instagram....

So to sum things up around here lately:

• Bennett is doing really well in school- I think he gave them a pretty hard time the first week but now that he knows the routine they say he is adjusting well.  He loves to snuggle though as soon as he gets home, which I don't mind one bit!
• Getting ready for fall/halloween!  The outside is decorated-I'll share this week and I decided to go with a Grease/50's theme for the kids.  I'm making Harper and Bennett's costumes-it's gonna be cute!!
• Yard work and football consume our weekends now and the girls are obsessed with running, since we did a race last weekend.  Both girls ran 2 miles on Saturday with just a little walking;)
• Even though it's fall, it's still in the 80's most afternoons so the girls shiver at the bus stop in the am but are running around in shorts in the pm-that's fall in NC for ya!

Happy Monday!

Fall Around the House...

Fall decorating has begun!  I've got a fun wreath to share with you and tutorial but for now here are a few "Fall Around the House" pics...

 The porch.  We can finally enjoy it again, now that the temperature has dropped just a bit.  

 I'm just loving this old mantel through all of the seasons.  So much fun to decorate!  For $70 it wasn't a bad purchase!  

And a little "here and there" fall decor inside.  I painted this cheap wine cabinet a fun yellow- I will share that post another day as well-all I can say is Chalk Paint- ♥ it!  

 The main mantel.  

The other side.  One of my favorite tiny decor purchases has been that red truck.  I got it from Hobby Lobby two years ago and I've used it for every season.  He's either hauling starfish, pumpkins, pinecones or christmas ornaments;)

Apothecary jars are great year round for all kinds of things!

Pumpkins on candle sticks...easy decor!

These windows (I've got two on each side of the fire place) have been fun to decorate for the seasons too.  I got them from my mom but you can find old windows at most antique stores for around $15.

Dining room table.  I just went with something simple and used things I already had- old wreath, cake platter, old pumpkin thing and another old tiny pumpkin I spray painted white.  I got the burlap table runner from Michaels.  

  Next time we'll head outside for more fall decor.  Love this season!

Decorating With Turquoise....

So my current favorite "splash of color" would have to be turquoise/aqua/teal/robin's egg blue.  There are so many variations of this fun blue!  

A while back I decided the dining room needed a change.  It was boring and too traditional.  The brass chandelier was not cutting it for me and while I wanted to purchase a whole new one, other big purchases were made so the chandelier was put on hold.  But I couldn't stand it anymore.  It made me cringe every time I walked by it so I got my paint brush out and went to town...

Here she is, in all her glory... my turquoise chandelier.  Oh how I love her so.  She just needed a little face lift.  Brass be gone!  I added some shades and did a little Pottery Barn knockoff with the jute string around the shades.  {Just hot glue folks!}

A closer look.

I also took down the white blinds and added bamboo shades and since I had extra fabric from the porch makeover I made some curtains. I discovered some chevron fabric in the attic and added some pillows (you can see them in the first picture).  Just nice little pops of turquoise-takes a more formal/boring room to a new level.

Another shot- you can see that I carry the turquoise into the play room-I'm crazy for turquoise!

How could I forget?  We must see a before!  So here's your before. So much better don't ya think?

Here's some more turquoise- these lamps were a grayish blue {from Lowes} and while they were nice I wanted them to be funkier.  The shades are from Lowes too.  I'm telling you, Lowes has stepped it up in the decorating department!  {This little table by the way gets a whole new look in an upcoming blog post...stay tuned!}

Yep, I would have to say my decorating style is Traditional/Funky with a tiny bit of Shabby Chic.   Totally made up.  Because I'm not modern, not contemporary, not totally traditional.  And too much shabby chic scares me because I'm a neat freak and shabby chic can look sloppy if it's over done, in my opinion.

Traditional /Funky with a tiny bit of Shabby Chic;)

Anyways, more turquoise decor in the playroom!  {Mirror from Tuesday Morning} {Chevron curtains from etsy}

And I went a little crazy and painted the back of the cabinets in the kitchen as well as those 4 knobs.  Again, traditional/funky;)

So what's your decorating style?  Wanting to change it up?  Go for it!  Pick a fun color and run with it!

Make You Smile Monday....

I hope this made you smile;)  

Now lets just hope Bennett actually smiles for the photographer at school!

Also linking up to:

 Sweater: H&M
Shirt:  H&M
Pants: H&M
Shoes:  Carters

Bennett's first day of school!!!

So today he's actually there without me, all day long;(  But yesterday we got to go in, meet the other kids and their parents, take pictures, let the kids meet.  It was really so cute!  So of course I had to take lots of pics, here are just a few;)...

My little man!

Little snuggle with mommy before we go!

Okay let's go!

Totally ready to go in;)  Oh my goodness can you believe this is Bennett??!  Just strutting right in!

Notice the lip, not so fond of sharing right now;0

Loving all the new toys!

Trying really hard to share;)

Just making his way around the room...but really I had to show you his cute belt.  I mean the kid had to look good on his first day;)

Here's just a short video right before we went in...




Sigh.  He's really in school now.

Are you a hair product snob?

I know I'm not.  If if you are, don't worry, no judgement here.  Everyone has their preference.  Living with naturally curly hair I've gone through my fair share of hair products.  First, as a teenager I swore by Paul Mitchell, then came Redken and then Frizz Ease, then TIGI. By no means are these top of line products, more like middle of the road I'd say.  But I know my hair and I know what works.

Trust me, I've fooled with it for years now!  I'm 34 years old for goodness sake, I know what works to straighten and to curl and I know how to do it without spending way too much on products that just end up at the bottom of the drawer.   But I was recently asked to try a Dove product:  Dove Intensive Repair Daily Treatment Conditioner...

I really like Dove in general for the campaign they stand behind (embracing your body for what it is and building positive self-esteem in girls everywhere) and I use their soap on my kids as well as myself so I thought I'd give it a try.

So I found it very conditioning on my very thick, unruly hair.  After getting out of the shower it was very easy to brush!  However, I highlight my hair, straighten it and sometimes curl it so to say it made a huge difference in styling is hard to say because of all the products I use.

I then tried it on my girl's hair (7 and 5 years of age) and I really liked how it made their hair feel.

Again, super easy to brush after showering and even the style after it dried seemed to be better.  It's definitely great for dry, course hair which I think almost all of my family has.  Curly hair seems to love the thickness of it and if you have curly hair you know that to be able to brush your hair easily after showering is a major plus!  But it doesn't make your hair feel weighted down.

So would I purchase it?  Sure!  I really do feel that if you know your hair and how it works you can purchase less expensive products to get great results.

How about you?  Are you a hair product snob or would you consider using a product like Dove for your hair?

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How can it be....

How can it be that in just 2 weeks my baby boy will be off to school?  And not just some "Mother's Morning Out" program or a preschool that keeps him a couple of times a week for a few hours.  No, no.   We're talkin' all day, every day (M-F) people.  Just like regular school.

How can I be sending this sweet little guy off all day, every day?  What on earth am I going to do without my bub?  So now I'm tearing up.  Trying to hold it together.

Bennett's teacher called and will be out to visit us next week along with her assistant and the speech therapist at the school.  You see, I "chose" to send Bennett to a "special" preschool.  I say "chose" because it's not that easy to get into this school.  And this may surprise some in the Down syndrome community that I've chosen this route...

"What?"
"Don't you want him around typically developing peers?"
"Our kids learn from typical kids not other kids like them."
"You want him fully included later on don't you?"

Well maybe I'm going against the grain here but this is not just any "special" school and while I don't feel like I need to defend my reasonings I will share why I chose this school another day.

For now I'm going to cherish these last few weeks with my most precious baby boy.

I mean I know I'm extremely biased but this kid is seriously like a baby doll.  I just love him to pieces.

Enter lots of tears now.

So September 5th won't be easy for me but I know in my heart this is just the beginning of something huge for Bennett and our family.  I can't wait to see it all unfold.  

You just learned your baby has Down syndrome...

Jennifer Graf Groneberg is the author of the book Road Map to Holland. Her book is widely known in the Down syndrome community as a "go-to book" when a diagnosis of Down syndrome has just been given. I read the book when we first found out about Bennett, over three years ago.

At the time, I took what she wrote to heart, but I confess I never returned to the book once he was born. But when I read Jennifer's crib sheet on understanding a diagnosis of Down syndrome, it made sense that her advice and thoughts were much like mine.

Read and print out our crib sheet on parenting a newborn with Down syndrome now.

I often receive emails from moms whose children have been newly diagnosed with Down syndrome that find our blog. They are reaching out, looking for hope. They want to know if what they are feeling is "normal," if the feelings they are having about their baby with Down syndrome will change. I love receiving emails from these people, because I was just like them at one point. I was the one looking for hope, wanting to know if there was light at the end of the tunnel. I know exactly how they feel, and I'm thrilled to tell them that I think their feelings are totally normal and that it does get better!

Mourn the Child You Don't Have So You Can Celebrate the Child You Do Have

Much like Jennifer suggests, I would tell you that you have to mourn the child you thought you were getting, because in your heart you feel as if you've lost that child. Dreams you may have had may not be possible, and plans you made may not seem like they can ever happen. It can be even harder when the diagnosis comes after the birth instead of during the pregnancy, because you were not prepared for the news.

We found out before Bennett was even born, and I literally felt like the baby we were supposed to have was taken away from me at 17 weeks and someone gave me this new one to love instead. Where on Earth did my other baby go? What happened to my dreams for that baby? I couldn't even give this new baby the same name, because at the time I felt as if he was a different baby. You feel like everything you planned and hoped for just went down the drain. It was devastating at the time.

After I mourned the child I didn't have, I realized that the child I was given was always the child I was meant to have. This child was always meant to have Down syndrome. I believe God did this not to hurt us, even though it can cause a lot of pain, but to truly bless us.

Share the Diagnosis

I also encourage you to open up about your child's diagnosis. As Jennifer points out, you set the tone for how people will approach this diagnosis. Friends and family want to know how to act around you, so tell them! If they see that you are OK with things and encouraged by this little life, they too will feel more comfortable to reach out to you and show love towards your baby. On the other hand, if you let them know that things are still really hard for you, they will know to comfort you. If you are avoiding the topic, others will not know what to do or say.

The Support of Support Groups

Some people can enter into support groups or intervention services right away, but others find diving into these services overwhelming. It totally depends on if the mother is still pregnant or if the baby has already been born. This is why I think it's crucial to go through that first step of grieving if you are still having trouble coming to terms that your child has Down syndrome.

Some Extra Advice

The best advice I can give is that right now, you just need to focus on cuddling, kissing, loving your baby just as you would any other baby. Babies with Down syndrome have the exact same needs as any other babies. Remember, they are babies. They are not five years old or 15 years old or 30 years old. The immediate concern is to take care of their infant needs.  And then when the fog has cleared, you must know that you are going to experience the biggest joy of your life.

What are your thoughts on Jennifer's advice? What would you tell a mom who is just finding out her child has Down syndrome?

This post is part of the Absolute Beginners editorial series, made possible by Pampers and BlogHer. Our advertisers do not produce or approve editorial content.

Bennett Takes a "Dive"...

He's becoming quite the little fish these days....

Yep, right where it says NO DIVING;)