hey channing tatum, thanks for making my name popular

When we decided to name our little lady Everly, we were overjoyed that we had found a name that wasn't "made up", but was by no means a popular name.  The Mr. and I both have pretty classic names, if you don't know a Lindsey, Lindsay, Lyndsay in her twenties or early thirties, I would be surprised.  Growing up I always had my last initial attached to my name, and I didn't want Everly to have to go by Everly L. for the rest of her school life.  For the first seven months after Everly was born, everyone would say how beautiful her name was, and that they haven't heard it before.  

But guess what, something happened.  Channing flippin' Tatum decided to name his little girl, you guessed it, Everly.  Now, some may think it is pretty cool to share a baby name with a star, but I don't particularly think that.  And to make it better, guess who loves Channing Tatum? Women in their twenties, yeah, those same women who will be having babies, soon.  In the last month, when people ask me my daughter's name, the first thing most people say now is, "oh, like Channing Tatum's daughter".  NO.  Not like the star's kid, she was just born last month, Everly clearly had her name before the star's kid.  And now I like to joke that the Tatum's clearly named their daughter after mine ;)  Yes, I know I have no rights over her name, and I love hearing that someones cousin's neighbor named their daughter Everly, but really, someone super famous.  Bleh.  So, sorry Everly, you might be one of ten Everly's in your graduating class just like your mama was with her name, and you are just going to have to be ok with that.  Your mom tried, she really did.

[Photo by Sarah Maren Photographers]

half way to one - photos by Sarah Maren Photographers

well, everly mae turned six months a little while back

but this crazy busy mama didn't get around to having her "half way to one"

photos taken until school was out
so even though she is seven months in these, we will pass them off
as her six month photos

and sorry, I had a hard time narrowing down from all of the amazingly

beautiful images by Sarah of Sarah Maren Photographers
so get ready to scroll, a lot...

see everly's newborn pictures here

and her three month photos here and here

it's all in the details [jaymee's shower part III]

one of my favorite parts of party planning

is paying attention to all of the little details

and thankfully, I worked with one of the most detail

oriented bridesmaid on the planet

so here are some of the details that just can't be forgotten

from Jaymee's beautiful shower

details not to be forgotten:

*the succulent garden was actually an amazing shower gift*

[yes, that is a heart shaped cake pan found at a garage sale]

*many of the poms were made by several of the groom's relatives, including grandpa*

*even the mini clothespins were painted gold with a touch of glitter*

*some cheating may have occurred during bridal BINGO*

[the bride's aunts are hilariously competitive]

*the circular streamers were not only impossible to hang, 

they were quite tough on the sewing machine that made them*

*the bride & groom initials were made out of brown coffee filters spray painted with a hint of gold*

*I was the only one in the bridal party, including the bride, that knew to make her rehearsal bouquet from her gift ribbons - it helps being the old lady in the group*

*and according to the old wives tradition, Jaymee will be having many children*

[don't worry Jaymee, we will let you have two!]

oh hey, I'm 33 weeks old!

yes, I have almost missed an entire month of my

weekly take over of my mama's blog

but I'm back

turns out she doesn't give me too much computer access

when she's busy with report cards, finishing her thesis, blah, blah, blah

now that I've been crawling for about a month now

I'm getting pretty antsy about walking

I try letting go to stand on my own

but typically that never ends well

but at least mom lets me wear this really neat padded thing

on my bum, so these little fumbles don't phase me

three days ago my third tooth officially broke through

and today I figured out that I can make a pretty cool sound

when I bite my top and bottom teeth together

[insert mom cringing here]

besides being extra sleepy, these teeth don't really bother me much

last week I freaked the lady at Target out

when I waved and said hi to her

my mom saw and heard it too, but figured she was just making it all up

in her proud mommy mind

but the lady at Target swore I knew what I was doing

and because I'm so darn little, she was beyond shocked

however, on Saturday we were leaving my Jaymee's bridal shower

and I waved goodbye to Drew & Jaymee

and it was pretty clear, I wasn't just flailing my arms

like mom had thought before!

at my last doctor visit they made a big stink about my weight again

I was just shy of 14 pounds

so I'm now on the world wide growth chart of other boobie babies

turns out, even kids in third world countries are bigger than me

so the doctor has mom feeding me anything, and everything

but here's the thing, it is all fun and games, until I have to swallow that

crazy food, but I'm getting better

so far I've tried [with various success levels]:

sweet potatoes, yams

penne pasta

cottage cheese

yogurt

colby jack cheese

avocados

trisket [daddy gives me the best food]

cheesy bread [again, dad rocks]

toast

many types of bread

watermelon

banana

snickerdoodle [thanks grammie]

and water

mom keeps telling me it will get better

but for now, my food face is intense

and if I do swallow something, I typically shudder my whole body

but the good news, my grown ups got over trying "baby food"

really fast, so it is all on me now, and I'm ok with that

well, I think I got pretty much caught up

sorry for being so long winded

but I've been a busy girl

-Everly Mae

love is sweet [Jaymee's bridal shower part II]

You get together a bunch of women celebrating an upcoming wedding, and yes, many sweets and yummy dishes were consumed.  Thankfully, everyone pitched in to create this amazing spread, and the groom's sister made this amazing dessert bar for all of us to enjoy!

^^^the bride with her dessert of choice^^^

and yes, this dessert bar could have fed an entire wedding!

[see part I here]

soon we will be hearing wedding bells [bridal shower part I]

One thing that I absolutely love about this time in my life is the joy of my friends getting married and having babies.  Getting to be a part of someones wedding is a pretty amazing gift, and I am so happy to be there for the beautiful and amazing Jaymee as she gets ready to tie the knot this coming September. I have known the happy couple since they started dating way back in middle school, and they happened to be best friends with my little sister.  So, in the beginning of our friendship, I was the big sister with the car that could drive them to concerts.  Fast forward a decade or so, and we all ended up living in the same part of town, and the five year age difference was no longer a thing.  [After all, they both have their own cars now].  Yesterday, I had the chance to throw Jaymee her bridal shower, and everything turned out amazing.  Thankfully, I had the groom's rockin' sister to help with everything, because, man, I've been a busy girl the past few months.  I think the two of us were able to give Jaymee just what she hoped for!

 

^^^Jaymee approves^^^

^^^homemade peppermint sugar scrub favors^^^

 

^^^the bride & her ladies^^^

^^^Everly is smitten with Jaymee too^^^

^^^playing "he said, she said"^^^

 

^^^Everly and Grammie made it into the "lighting round"^^^

^^^looks like Everly is guessing Jaymee said it^^^

turns out, when it comes to bridal showers, I get a little camera happy

so I'll break up this massive photo post up over the next few days

yay to happy posts!