Music Monday: The Shins

Happy Monday, hope everyone has had a wonderful, long, Memorial Day weekend!

For this music Monday post I'm featuring another favorite of mine, The Shins.

Hope you enjoy!

On My Heart

This is one of my favorite pictures of my sweet Chloe, in it she's not even a month old yet. It feels like forever ago since she was that small and new. I never realized how quickly time goes by once you have a child, but it does. It goes by quicker then I ever imagined it would, quicker then I could ever even explain to someone. 

As we approach Chloe's 1st birthday I cant help but think about this exact time last year, how both Mike and I were filled to the brim with excitement and nervousness as we waited patiently for the day Chloe would make her grand entrance into this beautiful world. I think about how completely unaware we both were of the journey that laid out before us, how becoming a parent would change us, change our relationship, change our life in the most beautiful way. 

In no way am I saying that this has been an easy year for both Mike and I, that becoming parents has come completely natural to us. The truth is this year has been the hardest year of my life, and the hardest year on my marriage. But at the same time this year has been the most beautiful, life changing, wonderful year of my life and I cant stop thanking God for bringing this beautiful, special little girl into our lives! 

I love where we are at right now.

 "nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy".

The Meaning of Her Name

The name Chloe means verdant and blooming, it is from the Greek origin. 
The name Madison means Son of Matthew, it is from the English origin.


We thought of the name Chloe Madison before my 20 week gender ultrasound, both Mike and I really wanted to be able to call our baby by his or her name even while they still were going inside the womb.


Honestly not a whole lot went into naming Chloe. We wanted our daughter's name to be beautiful, elegant, and a little unique, also something that would fit her, her whole life. Both Mike and loved the name Chloe and thought the meaning of it was beautiful and perfect for our little girl. A few other names I liked (and still like) were Scarlet, Willow and Rose. Coming up with Chloe's middle name was a little harder for us though. The only name I could really think of that sounded good was Elizabeth but then Mike suggested the name Madison and I fell in love with it.


I love how well the name Chloe Madison fits my sweet baby girl. Even in her ultrasound pictures she looks like a Chloe Madison to me!

I'd love to hear about how you came up with your son or daughters name and what's the meaning of their name. Leave me a comment below sharing your story!

Birthday Planning: Part 2

I honestly cant believe that my sweet, little Chloe will be turning one in only 23 days, and that in 25 days our family and friends will join together to celebrate this momentousness milestone in my little girls life.  As we are getting closer and closer to her party I have been doing a lot more planning and organizing and brainstorming.

 At times I notice myself feeling overwhelmed, this is the first birthday party I have ever thrown and since its for my daughter I want it to be perfect and special. I know she wont remember her first birthday and I know that this is probably more for us then it is for her but I keep imagining one day Chloe will love looking through all the pictures we have of her when she was a baby and of her first birthday and together we can smile and laugh and share the story of her very first birthday and how special it is for us to celebrate the day she came into this world.

With all that being said we still plan to keep her party very causal and relaxed with little pops of color, flowers, and girlyness scattered all around. Here is a list of what we have done thus far and what we plan on finishing soon!

:: Guest list is complete but I still need a few addresses.

:: This weekend we will be taking pictures of Chloe for the invitation. We still need to get a few props for her photoshoot though.

:: We bought Chloe's birthday dress this past weekend from Baby Gap! It's so adorable! We also plan to use it for her invitation picture.

:: These are the sandals Chloe's going to wear to her party, also from Baby Gap.

:: Still need to buy a cute headband for Chloe to wear with her outfit.

:: Working on the wording for the invitations.

:: We are planning to have a barbque and will be asking everyone to bring a dish to share.

:: We are pretty certain we know where we will be getting Chloe's cake from.

As of right now this is what I have planned, I still have a lot more to do but I am getting there, slowly! I will feel much better about everything once we have the invitations done and sent out as well as purchasing/making the decorations and party supplies!

If you have any tips or advice for me please feel free to share, I am pretty knew to planning a party!

Music Monday: Alabama Shakes

Happy Monday! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was ridiculously busy but oh so very fun! For this music Monday post I just had to share this incredible band called Alabama Shakes, Seriously check them out!

Also be on the look out for another post from me a little later today!

Moment In Motherhood: Yes Instead of No

This morning as Chloe and I sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast together she reminded me of something that was very important to me. After giving Chloe a few bites of yogurt she wanted to feed herself. My first reaction was no, I didn't want her to feed herself because I knew she would get really messy and I didn't want to spend the extra time cleaning her up. But then I looked at my daughter who is so full of curiosity, who just wants to play and learn and explore and I realized I had forgotten one of the most important things to me regarding Motherhood, saying yes instead of no.

There she sat in her highchair with a cup of yogurt in one and hand and a spoon in the other, happy has can be just feeding herself. In that moment I got to witness Chloe learn, and play and become one step closer to an independent toddler. I love moments like those, seeing Chloe learn and grow but its so easy for me to get caught up in my own agenda and miss out on these important moments for Chloe. 

I want to be the kind of Mom that says yes instead of constantly saying no. Obviously I'm not going to say yes to anything that could be dangerous and harmful but I will say yes to activities that make Chloe happy, that help her learn and discover more of who she is. Like letting her feed herself, or staying at the park for a few more minutes then I wanted to because Chloe's having so much fun, or letting her play with paint and paper even though that means extra cleanup for me.

I am so grateful for this lesson today, to be reminded of the kind of Mother I want to be. To see my daughter grow and experience precious moments in life is so refreshing to me, it opens my eyes and I too take the time to slow down, to forget about my schedule and agenda and really, really enjoy those simple yet precious moments in life, like the one in that picture above.

Chloe's 11 Month Photoshoot