Introducing....

my new niece!







Isn't she just amazingly beautiful! My MIL says she looks Hawaiian, lol. I just think she looks perfect. I could seriously hold her ALL day. Awwww, baby love, there's nothing like it!

need your help blogger friends

Okay gals, I'm in need of your help!

I am desperately trying my darnedest to advertise, "market" and sell my bows (and clippies) but it's just not working well for me. I know it takes time to get things like this going but I have SOOO many other GREEEEAT ideas in store, IF OOOONLY I could sell what I currently have listed. I'm at a place now where I can only buy new "supplies" when I sell and that currently is at a stand still (except for my Aunt who bought some this past weekend...and a sweet blogger friend). I would graciously and humbly like to ask you all to please grab a button and advertise on your site. Even better, if you have bought from Little Bow Head and like what you received, feel free to post a blog about it recommending Little Bow Head to all your readers. I feel like the bows are priced very decently, compared to what I've seen, and I think once people start hearing and seeing that things will pick up considerably. If you have any "marketing" ideas, I'm open to whatever-I'm obviously not that good at this.

Excuse the lunch and check out how cute this clippie is!


Thanks for your precious time!

wordless wednesday

bow blog deleted

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to delete my bow blog so that I'm not having to keep up with so much stuff. This also makes sense seeing as how my etsy site is attached to this blog. I did make a button though that will send people straight to Little Bow Head on Etsy so if you love my bows and want to advertise them, please feel free to add my button to your blog. I would greatly appreciate it! THANKS SO MUCH!

Memorial Day for us

Pool fun: round 1




Pool fun: round 2






Pool fun: round 3




We basically spent a lot of time outside today. It was a lot of fun and AK enjoyed playing in the water. If the days continue to be as hot as they have been we'll probably spend the whole summer playing in water.

By 5PM I was too exhausted to give her a bath so I just grabbed the Johnson & Johnson, stripped off the bathing suit and lathered her up. It was a fun change and she didn't mind it. LOL.

BEFORE all the pool fun I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some fun stuff. Here's some of what's to come on Etsy, so keep a look out.







I can't help but create more and more and more. I did make some sells this weekend so I AM living up to what I meant when I said I wouldn't make any more until I sold some. So there you go, more to buy :).

flashback friday and more

Here is AK with her proud Daddy on the night she was born. She screamed and screamed for a long time because the doctor nicked her head when he was using scissors for an unmentioned reason to help her head enter the world. I didn't know at the time that that's why she was crying for so long but the next day I noticed a cut on the top of her head. Poor thing! But even though she was so mad her daddy was so happy and proud. Sorry for the poor quality. The pic was taken from his cell phone in a dim room.

ANYWAYS, I've been finding myself super busy with trying to get my bows "out there" for people to see. I'm not the best with "marketing" but my MIL is and she said she's gonna start talking to specialty shops and such. That would be SO cool! I did help market my bows yesterday though when I was in Hobby Lobby. I was getting some material cut and this lady comes up and asks the woman cutting my material if she knew of any "bow books" available for purchase. The woman looked at her weird and I asked, "are you looking for a book that tells you how to make hairbows?" and she said, "yes." Soooo, being the nice and friendly person that I am I offered to show her right there how to make one to save her money. Some would think I'm crazy for showing someone how to do it because that would take away any chances of me selling mine to her but really, it's not that simple. So, I unrolled her roll of ribbon and I explained how to do it. Then I asked the material cutting lady if she had some thread and I just made her bow right there in the middle of Hobby Lobby. She needed a bow for her little girl who is the flower girl in a wedding this weekend. I told her as I was making the bow that I make my daughter's bows and I just started trying to sell them online. So she asked for my website and I'm hoping she becomes a regular purchaser :). I can have hopes can't I!?!

All that to say, I am not making anymore bows until I sell the ones I have listed. So if you want new and fresh colors start buying! :)

neeew designs

Today I went to Hobby Lobby because I was informed that they were having a sale on ribbon. I was like a kid in a candy store and was having a hard time limiting myself to what my budget could afford. It was also hard to visualize what combinations I could make without having it strung all over the place. BUT, I managed and I do believe I have made some incredible bows today! So, if your interested check out my ETSY. You won't be sorry! Here's a sneak peek:

You wanna go look now don't you!

Other than making bow after bow, AK and I went to McD's today to play. I think it might be one of our last times until school starts again unless we go super early in the morning. There were so many preschool aged kids running a muck. The nice and quiet days I've spent at Micky D's is probably a no more :(.

Well, that's really all I have right now. How sad is THAT!......I AM waiting on my sister to go into labor so that's fun. Should be soooon.

wordless wednesday

It's a wonderful life.

Etsy! come buy some bows!

I finally got my Etsy shop up and running. YAY!!! So, if you're interested go have some fun shopping!

Little Bow Head on Etsy!

Also, if you look on the side bar and you see a bow you like just click on it and it'll take you right where you need to go.

I am so excited to announce that I have already sold FIVE, count 'em, F-I-V-E bows since I got my site up two days ago. YAAAY!

Today is my hubby's birthday! Happy Birthday honey.

lucky me

There is almost nothing in life that compares to photographing a sweet, precious, new baby. Today I drove to Waco to help my mom with some things. Among those things, I got to hold, love, snuggle, kiss and take pictures of a delicious 6 week old...all for fun! Lucky me!









She is so scrumptious!

P.S. my hubs birthday is tomorrow. The big 2-8!

i will eat my words

Today I posted the following comment on my friend's blog who is having trouble keeping her sons' diapers on.

"HAHAHAHAHA!

I don't know what'd I do if AK did this...muchless TWO kids. My my. I'm really hoping this is just a boy thing. LOL."

My husband went in to get AK from her nap today and he swiftly called for my attention. I was wondering, as I was pacing down the hall, what could he possibly want.

Well, here you are folks:





It has struck in our home! And coincidentally only HOURS after I posted the above comment.

I blurred out the...um...usually diapered area for the sake of protecting my little one. I mean, I wouldn't want my usually diapered...er...covered area posted for the world to see.

I hope you find this as entertaining as I did.

And incase you're wondering, she waited to go potty until we put a diaper on her. WHEW! Dodged a bullet there.

the urban bats of austin

My husband took the weekend off due to overworking-he is way exhausted, beat down and in need of a day off. I was very excited because this meant we'd actually be able to get out as a family and enjoy some of the things Austin has to offer. We haven't done anything "Austiny" since we've moved here.

We left for downtown yesterday evening around 7. We were on our way to see the urban bats of Austin. If you haven't heard, Austin has one of the largest populations of urban bats. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Instead of sitting on the nice grassy area below the bridge we opted to stand on top of it. Sean had mentioned that as the bats leave the bridge there's a fine mist. Uh, no thanks! There was a very distinct and gross smell as we took our spot on the bridge. I just couldn't imagine that smell misting all over me. YUCK!

Anna-Kate was getting a little impatient while waiting about 40 minutes on a bridge, with fast moving traffic just off the side walk and people walking around everywhere. She did not want to sit in her stroller and she didn't necessarily want to be held although she did well considering the circumstances. The occasional dog was enough to keep her content. Whew, thank God for canines.

While we were out and about AK said a few new words! She said, "boat"...there were boats in the river below the bridge to see the bats too! She said, "bat". While we were walking back to the car I was emphasizing on the smell again and she said, "woooo weeeeeee" as she shook her head from side to side. It was SO CUTE! In the car I took her shoes off and she said, "suuuuuue". Melted my heart. Then she started spelling. "Beeee. Oooooh". I hope she wasn't trying to tell us something.



^^^before she got sick of the stroller^^^


^^^she's so scrumptious^^^


^^^AK entranced with a blue glow stick and Daddy laughing about it^^^


^^^making her laugh^^^




^^^downtown A and the smart people lined on the bridge to see the bats^^^


^^^the misted upon^^^




^^^the best pics I could get of the stinkers^^^

All in all, it was fun and we enjoyed being together.

flashback friday

Oh the days of roommates. I had to post more pics of those days because they're too funny to pass up. One night, for "house night", Megs (the one wearing the blue jean jacket with rinestones!) was in charge of the festivities. She had found these black polka dot sweaters at Marshall's...and there happened to be five of them...and she insisted that we all wear them that night with black tights (besides Kel, she wore a bright pink skirt because she was the "mom" of the house) and bright colored socks. She scheduled a time for us to go to WAL-MART to get our PICTURES done IN THESE OUTFITS with a TERRIBLE backdrop. We did a group photo and then individual ones. It was SOOO very funny. ((When we got the pics back we adorned our stairwell with them! HAHAHA.)) After photos at Wal-Mart we went to Cece's Pizza for dinner. I was definitely WAY out of my comfort zone...hence the reason I refused to go "all out" on the makeup. Despite me not "feeling" the whole night, I'm glad I participated because who has a story like that to tell?...with PICTURES?! LOL.



P.S. the group photo in the top right corner are not the guys we picked up that night, LOL, they are guys we know whom all live together just like us gals did.

dress

My mom bought a super cute dress for AK on Mother's Day weekend. I really wanted her to wear it on MD so I washed it at my mom's that weekend and got it all ready for her to wear. Once she was all dressed and oh-so-cute I jumped in the shower. As I was getting dressed I heard a lot of commotion. My mom brought AK to the door and told me she was going to need a bath. I immediately rolled my eyes and asked what she got into this time. Well, she got into the toilet in the other bathroom. Her dress was completely soaked with toilet water and I was totally grossed out AND frustrated that she messed up her dress after having it on for just a few minutes. Ggrrr.

She wore that dress today. Our second attempt at looking super cute for more than five minutes. We went to McD's and everything and we're still going strong.

I tried to get some "different" pictures of AK than I would usually get in this dress. It was hard, and she didn't want to cooperate but these two are my faves.

In the first pic she was pointing and saying, "aaaaaye". So cute.




Isn't it such a cute and funky pattern! I love love love it!

....Now lets see if the dress makes it through lunch.

dear texas

I took AK to the park the other morning. It was nice and windy but the slides were too hot to slide on by 11 AM. What's up with that?


Dear Texas,

Why do you do this to me? Sometimes you make me want to move where the summer highs are in the 80's. I feel as though I could live a more active life in much better and bearable weather. I just can't deal with the heat AND humidity. One or the other, NOT both please. Look what you do to my daughter's hair!



I won't show you what you do to mine. We'll just say it's not so cute.

Are you convinced yet to change your ways?

With the upmost respect,
Your Sweaty Texan

wordless wednesday

((I guess her horsey didn't obey her command))

20.5 months of pure FUN!

My tot is 20 1/2 months old today. She is doing so much these days and impresses me everyday with her mad skills.

This weekend she started putting the smacking noise with her kisses. It is so hilarious and sweet! She gives them just because now and that melts my heart. She actually feels love and knows how to show it...which is such BIG deal and a milestone if you ask me!

She is starting to connect being sweet with getting away with things. For instance, when we were spending the night at my mom's we were sleeping in the same bed. She kept standing up and I would tell her to "lay down right now!" and she would get down, give me a kiss with a smack and stand back up as if I never told her to get down. It was really funny but after the 10th time I was seriously ready to sleep. So I had to let her know that her sweet kisses didn't merit bad behavior. LOL. That same night I spelled her name outloud even though we didn't have the letters to point at. Afterward she started pointing to my shirt, that had letters on them, and said, "aayyyye, ooooh, whyyyy"! Those weren't the letters but it was so adorable. We obviously cover the letter A a lot since it's in her first name three times, but we've never done O or Y so I have no idea where she got that from! I guess those Brainy Baby videos are paying off. LOL.

On Sunday, when people starting filing in the door, she would walk up to them and say, "hi!" and then walk off. It was so cute and everyone thought it was funny. She even walked up to her little cousin, Kylee, who is two and a half months younger than her but bigger in size and said, "hi. jibber jibber jab blah blah blah." 'Hi' was the only understandable word she spoke to her but I'm sure her cousin knew exactly what she was saying.

She has also started this thing where she walks backwards and stares me down when I get onto her. It's so HILARIOUS and I try not to laugh but sometimes I can't help it. Like if she's headed towards the bathroom and I catch her in the act I'll say, "Aaannaaaa-Kaaaate!" and she'll stop in her tracks and start walking backwards. I mean, what's not to laugh about. It's plain funny!

When I put her food in front of her she'll pick it up, say "haaawwt" and starting blowing on it...even though there's not an ounce of hot. SO CUTE!

I often find myself saying "out" and lead her from a room because she's getting into things. Well now, when she wants in a room or in something, she says, "ow". I guess it's all the same in her little mind.

Her favorite shape right now is the "taaarr"=star.

She has also mastered the art of getting on our bed, giving the mean face at the appropriate times aka mean muggin', sleeping soundly and perfectly in her big girl bed, eating a chicken leg straight to the bone (I find that a skill anyways), crawling under her Grandma's bed in search for the cat, climbing on things to reach the "out of reach" items and so much more!

Our little princess is such a joy to me. I don't know what life would be without her. I can't even imagine it. Her cute little button nose and beautiful eyes make me crazy with love. It's amazing how I see so much of myself and Sean in her. A sweet sweet blessing from God.

the weekend/mother's day

Friday afternoon I made a mad dash to the store to get some Mother's Day stuff. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do but I knew I had to come up with something. I was under the impression that we were leaving for Waco that evening so I was trying to hurry and get something for my MIL to leave for her since we wouldn't be home on Sunday. I ended up getting her some pretty flowers and a card from us and one from AK, a classic, right?! For my mom, I bought a planting pot, some soil, a package of flower seeds and a card. I put AK's hand prints all over the pot and we had us a winner. She liked it and I can't wait for the flowers to sprout up. ANYWAYS, we didn't end up leaving until early Saturday morning. My MIL gave me a card that she signed and signed by AK, which was cute, and $30...along with a package of peanut M&M's and a DP. She's knows me well ;).

Saturday morning my mom and stepdad met the hubs and I off of I35 to pick us up so hubs could continue on to Hillsboro for work. We then went to breakfast and ate more than we should've. Hey, it's Mother's Day weekend though right?! We did a lot of running around on Saturday. I mean A LOT! My mom got me a new wallet for MD and I love it!...I picked it out :). Eventually Saturday afternoon came around and I was super duper happy to leave AK with my mom so that I could enjoy a fun and yummy dinner with my good friend, Bri. It was so nice to get out with another ADULT lady, without the husbands and kids, and talk about whatever we wanted to talk about. It was definitely much needed-full of laughs and good food. Always a winner, eh?! After dinner we went to Kohl's where I proceeded to put that $30 to good use. It was SO hard to spend it on myself and not my daughter whom I love to shop for. It's just so much easier to find fun and cute clothes for her than it is me. ANYHOW, I did find me two shirts with the help of Bri. I really like them and glad I had her with me to push me out of my "comfort zone". LITERALLY, lol, I like comfortable!

AK tried fried chicken for the first time Saturday night. She's never had fried chicken before and I thought it was hilarious how she took to it. I didn't even put chicken on her plate but she high jacked my mom's and started chowing down.

She had two of them.

Sunday morning was full of house cleaning, last minute grocery store trips and food preparation. My stepdad was doing steak and baked potatoes and I was excited about that! There were lots of people over that evening for dinner and it was a lot of fun to have everyone together.


^^^my mom and AK on Sunday morning^^^


^^^at one point during the day I found AK like this watching cartoons^^^


^^^me and my girl...and wearing one of my new tops! (thanks Bri)^^^


^^^waiting on Daddy to join us^^^


^^^my little family...AK was obviously having an objection about something^^^

Happy Belated Mother's Day my friends!

flashback friday

Today I'm flashing back to a few years ago when I lived in a house with four other girls. At one point it was five girls and two kids. Talk about crazy and fun times. When I think back about my time in our house I have a lot of good memories. We had so much fun together. I don't remember there ever being any major issues. Maybe I'm suppressing them, I don't know, but it was my last experience with roommates before I got married. Sweet times with sweet friends.

Our house was awesome. Despite the fibs from our landlord to fix the outside, the inside was great! Completely remodeled and just nice. It's one of those old "historic" homes in Waco. Not like in the downtown area by any means, this was the true ghetto. A lot of families from our church moved into the area and started remodeling/rebuilding the homes there. So, we were so very lucky to move into this two story home with a living area downstairs and one upstairs, a massive dining room that also turned into another living area at one point-if I recall currectly. There was a game room that we hardly used as a game room-it was the catch all room. Our kitchen was red and I loved that! Upstairs there were five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The room I stayed in first was amazing. It was this very small room with awesome white built in bookshelves that almost covered one whole wall, two closets with mirrors on the outside and two awesome windows that let in the best light. I had a twin bed, nightstand and rocking chair in my room because that's all that would fit, but I loved every minute of being in it. It was painted this really relaxing sage green color. It was perfect for me! I moved into another room to share a room with a friend whom moved in after all of us. I was really the only one that knew her so I agreed to bunk with her. That room was amazing as well-but way bigger.

ANYWAYS, one "house night" us gals went bowling. It was so much fun. When I look at these pics it makes me smile, big.


^^^Em and I-we lived together the previous year in an apartment at Baylor^^^


^^^Robin aka Bonita and I-the girl I shared a room with^^^

On a side note, I can't believe how skinny I was. I often tell myself I "wasn't that small" just to make myself feel better. I haven't come across a picture yet that disproves my denial...until this one. AAHHHH. I seriously need to get to work!

bow blog & other stuff

I'm proud to announce that I FINALLY got my bow blog up and half going. There's definitely still some work to be done...like pictures...but it'll happen eventually. I have also created a button which is fun! I'm still trying to figure out how to make the scroll box so others can grab it but I have given up for now after numerous attempts and some foul/fowl?? thoughts. It'll happen, maybe not today, but sometime.

Today I had to take our vehicle to get the oiled changed. I partly feel like this should be my husbands doing but since he works at night and sleeps all morning and into the afternoon it's really not doable for him right now. So off to wally world we went. I was sure to take AK's stroller so we could take a walk to the McDonald's not too far from there. It was a good small amount of exercise but it counts right?....then I ate a burger and fries with a Dr.Pepper....so much for that. AK had fun even though I cringed at the thought of her playing at this particular McD's the whole time. It's so gross and clammy and dirty. I was sure to wipe her hands, feet, arms, legs and face when we got back to the car. Whew.

Now she's in bed napping. She's completed two full nights in the tot bed and this is her second nap. It's been successful thus far. She's so great and amazing and cute...okay that's enough.

Who has fun plans for Mother's Day?

big girl bed

Yesterday afternoon the hubs and I took the side rail off of AK's crib and converted it into a toddler bed. We weren't sure if she was ready for such a transition just yet but I wanted to give it a try. I guess I let comparison get to me because all of my friends, who have children just a tad bit younger than AK, are all in toddler beds except for one friend (she has good reasons). Anyways, yeah, lastnight was the big night. I was really anxious about it because although my kid is laid back and all, she's a go getter and when she sees a fine opportunity she takes it. So I wasn't sure how it was all going to fly. We allowed her to play on her "new" bed for a while so that she could get used to the side being off and her new found freedom. While she gains freedom I will most likely lose the freedom of sleeping in past 9. I hope not though. Anyways, here are some pics of my little dare monkey.









So, after we played for a while it was time to get to business. We changed her diaper, brushed her teeth, spelled her name and then I very carefully and clearly explained to her that if she got off her bed she would get a spanking. It was so sweet because she was really looking at me and listening to what I was saying. A side note: another reason I wanted to switch her to a toddler bed is because I felt like it might increase her understanding and communication skills a bit. If that makes sense. ANYWAYS, here are some pics from that.








(^^^she hadn't gotten a spanking, I was just showing it to her to help get the point across^^^)

I was so nervous about how long of a night we were going to have. I just knew it was going to be one of those Supernanny episodes where the parents have to take the child back to bed over and over again. BUT to my delight, once I put her in bed, that's where she stayed. She cried for about three minutes or so but that was that. She actually went to sleep!!!



Weeellllll, she stayed in her bed, that is, until I found her like this at 6:30 this morning:



Awwwww! I guess snuggling with her dirty clothes, that I hadn't put in her basket yet, was more cozy than her bed. We'll never know.