Happy Halloween!

AG- First Rice Cereal

AG tried her first rice cereal on Sunday night. She didn't adore it and kept moving her mouth away, but that was okay. First time with baby food in the books!

Abby Grace- 6 months

My sweet baby is 6 months old. It is unbelievable to me that half a year ago we were at the hospital- she is incredible and we are so blessed that she joined our little family.

The next several months are going to be interesting! This kiddo lives passionately- she is super happy 97% of the time... the other 3%, she is spitting mad. I truly believe it is because her sister is ON 22 hours a day and she just doesn't want to be overlooked. I can't wait to see how that shows up in her personality.

Overall, she is absolutely adorable, so so sweet and cuddly, and awesome. Simple as that.

 Likes: Being around people, smiling, talking, rolling around, sitting up and looking around

Dislikes: Napping, missing naps (see the problem here?), having to wait for food, and loud, startling sounds.

 Basic Stats: At your 6 month appointment, you weighed 15 lbs, 7 oz (39%) and 26.25 inches long (69%). You wear size 2 diapers but are ready for size 3- we are just finishing up the pack. You barely fit in your 6 mth clothes- we still squeeze you into the tunics and shirts, but really need 9 mth pants. You are eating 4-5 times a day, depending on what time the day starts. You eat between 6-8 oz. at each feeding. You nap most mornings for about 1-1.5 hours and most afternoons for about the same amount of time. In the past few weeks, you have started going to bed about 8:30 and waking up about 7:00 each morning.

This is your new trademark face... you make it when you are happy, you make it when you are sad... It is one of my favorite things. I giggle every time. 

Abby Grace, we love you dearly! Happy 6 months!

Abby Grace- 4 months

Abby Grace turned 4 months old just a few days ago. I can not believe how quickly time is flying. I think those cheeks get chubbier and more kissable each passing day. She is one of the happiest babies I have ever been around. She is super flexible, which is excellent for me, and even sweeter than I could have ever imagined.

She has me and her daddy wrapped around those little fingers.

I am so looking forward to the coming months- she is noticing EA more and more. She is smiling and laughing as EA interacts with her and I can not wait for them to be best friends.

Likes: Being around people, wiggling, cooing, and smiling

Dislikes: Waiting for her food when she is hungry

Basic Stats: At your 4 month appt, you were 24 1/2 in. long (80th percentile) and weighed 13 lbs. 8 oz. (50th percentile). You wear size 2 diapers and 3 month and 3-6 month clothes. You are eating 5 times a day, about every 3.5 hours. You refuse to eat more than 4 ounces in the morning, but slowly take more as the day goes by. Eating is not your top priority... you would much rather watch what's going on around you. You are getting to be a much better napper... you nap for at least 1-1.5 hr in the morning and about 2 hr. in the afternoon, not including the catnaps you take throughout the day. You go to bed between 8:30 and 10:00 (ha!) most nights and wake up at about 7:30 most mornings.

We love you Abby Grace! We are so thankful you are in our little family!

30 Before 30- An Update

Today is my 28th birthday. I will celebrate it with all sorts of good things, including birthday cake, farmer's markets, and train rides at the zoo.
In celebration of the day, I want to take a quick look at my 30 Before 30 List.... Only two years left!

1. 

Have at least one more child.

Abby Grace Johnson- 4/16/13

2.

Begin building a house on our land.

3.

Become a mini-van mom. 

4.

Find a way to make just a little money on a consistent basis.
I've decided that this is a hard item to measure... The Lord has blessed us in so many ways, so though I can't name a consistent way I have earned money, He has provided consistently. He is so faithful!

5.

Go on at least one international mission trip.

6.

Teach Sunday School.
Beginning 8/19/12

7.

Learn to coupon.

8.

Go on at least one vacation with just Brian.

9.

Go on at least 3 vacations (big or small) with our immediate family.
#1- The Grand, 9/14-15/12

10.

Find a way to serve Jesus outside the church. 

11.

Find a way to serve and love on our church staff and nursery workers.

12.

Organize fun activities to do during the day with my children. 

13.

Make curtains for our living room/ dining room.
I have reworked this idea a little- I have purchased curtains and plan to paint them as soon as I have a few spare minutes. 

14.

Take a photography class or attend a photography conference.

15.

Go to a Auburn football game with my hubby and children- not just tailgate but go to the game.

16.

Go to a Braves Baseball game.

17.

Run in a 5K.
The Color Run 2012!

18.

Plant hydrangeas in my yard and keep them alive.

19.

Take a Zumba class.
5/28/13

20.

Take a good picture of a cow.

11/13/12

21.

Learn how to drive a stick shift.

22.

Refinish one piece of older furniture.

23.

Organize our photos.

24.

Disciple someone.
I have actually been doing this for awhile now- thanks Kelsey for the chance to spend time together on a semi-regular basis.

25.

Disciple one engaged/ newly married couple with Brian.
We have met with a couple a few times, but have struggled with schedules too much to call this true discipleship. Still hoping for improvement here.

26.

Write a note to someone at least once a month.
I haven't had much success with this over the past year but would still love to do this- a sweet word of encouragement can go such a long way!

27.

Go to Harry Potter Land.

28.

Write at least 1 blog post per week.
If you are reading this now, you know this one is a complete joke. Go ahead and mark fail.

29.

Update my "blog look."

30.

Love Jesus and serve others!

We have several plans in the works before the end of the year so I am looking forward to marking a few things off the list soon!
Have a stupendous day my friends!

Facebook Frenzy

I am excited to share that both So Filled with Love, my Etsy shop, and So Filled with Love Photography are on Facebook!

If you have a minute, I would love for you to check them out!

So Filled with Love (Etsy)

So Filled with Love Photography

Have a blessed day!

Door stop.

This afternoon EA took 2 hours to fall asleep for her nap.

2 hours.

She never cried or got mad, but she talked... and talked... and talked... and talked.

After changing her diaper then putting her back in bed,

then putting her back in bed again about 30 minutes later, I found her asleep in front of the door.

Any other moms have this problem? 

The downside of a big girl bed, I suppose. This doesn't happen all the time, but it is not the first time either. At night we definitely move her to the bed, but after two hours of playing, I was not waking her up again. 

So right now, she is asleep- just like this- in front of her door.

Sweet girl.

Abby Grace- 3 months

Little Bit is 3 months old. 

She is precious and wonderful and basically I could just eat her up.

She has started smiling at us on a regular basis and will coo and talk every now and then- it makes my heart melt.

Man I love this kid and I love being her mom.

Likes: Being around people, cuddling, moving and wiggling, her hands

Dislikes: Gas/ refluxy stuff 

Basic stats: You weigh about 12 lbs. and are getting bigger every day. Your little cheeks are delectable- all I really want to do is kiss them :) You are wearing size 1 diapers and mostly 3 month clothes, though the occasional 0-3 month piece of clothing still fits you. You are eating every 4ish hours and are taking about 5 1/2  ounces at each feeding. Eating was definitely our biggest challenge this month. You are napping in the carseat or bouncer in the mornings while we run errands, go to the park or zoo, or go swimming with friends. In the afternoons you are inconsistent about sleeping in the crib and have recently ended up in either the bouncer or the swing while your sister is taking a nap in her bedroom. Your bedtime varies, but you have been sleeping through the night for about a month now- Mommy and Daddy are grateful :)

We love you Abby Grace! Thank you for being such a precious little girl!

Happy 4th of July!

Abby Grace- 2 months

My precious Abby Grace turned 2 months old on Sunday.

My, how time flies.

I am becoming more and more aware that soon she will be 21 months, running around and chatting with a personality all of her own. And though I am excited about that, all I want to do is enjoy this precious time with her as an infant.

She is incredible. That's all there is to it.

Likes: Napping. Cuddling. Tummy time. Being swaddled.

Dislikes: Gas. Having to wait too long to eat. Shots.

Basic stats: At your 2 month appointment, you weighed 10 lbs. 4 oz. and were 22 1/4 inches long. You are wearing size 1 Pampers diapers and 0-3 month and 3 month clothes. You are eating every 3-4 hours and are taking about 4 ounces at each feeding. Recently, you have eaten at about 10:30, then have slept until 5 or 6 the next morning.... Mommy and Daddy are hoping you stick with that :)You are awake a lot more during the day, but are still napping for at least an hour between each feeding.  

Abby Grace, you are an angel. You are the perfect addition to our little family. We are so very thankful and blessed to have you here.

Abby Grace- 1 month

Today, sweet Abby Grace is a month old.

Basically I adore her. She is the perfect addition to our family.

Likes: Food. Sleep. Cuddling.

Dislikes: Having to wait for her food. Gas. When her sister throws things at her (though in EA's defense, not intentionally- yet).

Basic info: You weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. when you were born and 7 lbs. 8 oz at 2 weeks. You probably weigh about 8 1/2 lbs now. You are wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes. You take between 2.5-4 oz a feeding and are eating every 3 hours. You are still napping most of the day. You eat between 9:30-11:00 each night, sleep until 2ish, then sleep until about 7. You are pretty easy going, which is good, because your sister never stops!

Excess

Several months ago, one of my faves started talking about The 7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker. 

She told me about this woman who determined areas of excess in her life and fasted from those areas to be more like Christ. She was excited to start reading the book and the concept certainly seemed interesting, if not completely foreign, not only to me, but to America as a whole.

I listened to her pre-summary, then walked away thinking, "That's not me. Not only is my life okay, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give up some of these pieces of daily life that this book is going to call me to."

She read the book and began sharing with me the burden God put in her heart for the poor, lowly, and deprived people, not only in this country, but throughout the world. She talked about what God taught her and convicted her of through 7 and I was intrigued,  but still couldn't help but think- "She's more Godly than me and is so much further along in how we are truly supposed to love others. This isn't the book for me. I'm just not there yet."

Then Granny died and I saw the body of Christ at work in an awesome, comforting, and real way. I saw that many of past my responses to hurt or death had not mirrored this perfect grace God has shown me and my family. 

Then we had probably the thousandth conversation about our budget and how much of our money is spent on things we never see.

Then we cleaned out for EA's big girl room and threw/ gave away tons of stuff. More stuff than we ever or could need. Hundreds of dollars of items that have sat in a room for 4+ years and been useless.

Then we spent several days barely speaking to each other, not because we were angry or fighting, but because we couldn't seem to put down our phones with Twitter or Pinterest or Instagram long enough to look each other in the face and have a conversation.

Then we had another conversation about our health and the junk we put in our body under the rouge of time saving or fellowship or simple cravings to have something "different" to eat or to just get out of the house.

Then I completely stressed out over our schedule, which I set, because it was too full and didn't allow time for me to spend with my sweet child or for us to spend with each other.

And I realized- God was prepping me for a change. The timeliness of this response from my friend and these "outside" elements were not an accident.

Because as a believer in Jesus Christ, each of these things matter:

-How we care for others, both known and unknown, Americans and Internationals. 

-How we spend our money

-How we hold on to the things of this world

-How we invest in things unseen rather than the relationships that are necessary for spreading the Gospel

-How our bodies are a Temple of the Holy Spirit, not just a waste zone for the latest cravings

-How we are called to rest and to focus on God and our families through the Sabbath

So I caved and I read the book.

And I must say, it was excellent. 

As an avid blog reader, I adored her "blog" format. I found myself rolling on the floor with laughter in one section and completely convicted in the next. It was the perfect mix for a girl who could not finish a non-fiction book if her life depended on it.

But though I was convicted and brimming to change, I was still unsure how this was going to look for the Johnson's. The couple who are desperately trying to live on a budget, pregnant with gestational diabetes, way over extended in commitments that are truly commitments, not just one week deals, and about to squeeze another big change into their lives in about 10 weeks. How on earth do we make these changes when so much of our life in planned and ingrained by our habits?

Honestly, the timing and facts of the next few steps is kind of fuzzy, but somehow, I ended up with The 7 Experiment: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess. Not only is this the original 7 in Bible study format, it also includes each of the 7 fasts, at 5 days a piece.

Perfect. 

What an excellent way to begin refocusing, to see which parts of these truly need change in our lives, and to see what God has in store. 

I am pumped.

I will officially begin the Bible study tomorrow with a group of about 12-15 women from our church, including homegirl who started this whole charade months ago,  and it's going to be awesome.

^1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

^7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Ephesians 2:1-20 The Message (Emphasis by me :) )

I know that right now I am still letting "that old stagnant life of sin" creep in, but I am excited and ready for change, because He has work ready for us to do and we would be useless not to do it.

28 weeks

Yesterday, I was officially 28 weeks pregnant. 

That's third trimester folks.

To say that this pregnancy has gone by quickly would be the understatement of the year- it is *flying.* Who has time to focus on being pregnant when #1 is walking around looking cute and saying "peese?" and "ble chu" and throwing toys all.over.the.place. all the time? 

But all that said, I am coming to the startling realization that in less than 3 months, Lord willing, we will be a family of four and I will want just a little something to document the 9+ months I have spent with this precious angel in my womb. So this won't be frequent and it certainly won't be weekly, seeing as this is my first blog post in a month, but here it is- pregnancy update for #2!

How far along? 28 weeks, 1 day

Baby Bump? Yup. Thankfully, I am finally past the "wow, she's gained weight" stage and into the "aw, you're pregnant" stage. 

Maternity clothes? At this point, just jeans, but my shirts are getting kind of short and I am working with a closet of maybe 6 options, so that probably won't last much longer.

Total weight gain: None as of last week. Totally don't understand my pregnancies at all. Non-pregnant Ashley gains weight just thinking about food.

Cravings: Chuy's. Basically, it's been Chuy's since day 1. I haven't had it since the beginning of January, which is driving me crazy... I need that tasty salsa with those light, crunchy chips. I could also go for a piece of cake- preferably chocolate with white icing.

Symptoms: Having to pee in the middle of the night.

Sleep: I have been sleeping great. Last night, the cat took up too much room at the bottom of the bed and considering I have 2 positions I can sleep with, it was a bit of a pain, but overall I have been sleeping fabulously.

Movement: I can usually feel her moving any time I am sitting still. It's not always strong enough for others to feel it, but I love knowing she's dancing around in there!

Gender: We are having another little girl! 

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: A variety of clothes. And clothes shopping. Whether I buy anything or not, I enjoy the ability to go in a store and know I COULD wear the clothes if I wanted. That joy is gone... but alas, it will return.

Best moment this week: I love it when #2 kicks me when I am holding EA. It's like, "Hey mom, I'm here too!! Don't forget me!" 

Also, completely unrelated to my pregnancy, EA is sick, so I have had the awesome blessing of letting her nap on my chest 2 days this week. Love that. Can't wait to do that with her little sister.

Biggest challenge: Those dad-gum toys are going to send me to an early grave... it's much harder picking up the 76 legos or the 6 pieces of stacking rings or the 5000 books than it was 6 months ago. 

Adorable.

I posted this picture on Twitter and Instagram, but I wanted to share it here too. 

I love this little girl.

Happy Weekend!

So Filled with Love Photography

Over the past few months, Brian and I have been gathering friends and taking pictures. We have shot a variety of different photo shoots including maternity, newborn, child, family, and Christmas card photos. We love it. We love doing it together, we love the final products, and we love spending time with the friends and families we have been able to work with. It has been a blessing to us and hopefully a blessing to others. 

As the new year comes around, I am excited to announce the beginning of our new venture- 

So Filled with Love Photography. 

Check out our website to see some of our work! If you live in the Birmingham area, please consider us for your family events and fun occasions. We offer full sessions and mini sessions and would love the opportunity to work with you!

Big Girl Room Inspiration

With the arrival of baby girl #2 approaching rather quickly, Brian and I have had to scramble to figure out where EA is going to sleep!

We decided #2 will use the nursery almost exactly as it is, minus EA's initials and pictures that are currently scattered everywhere. EA will move next door to what is currently the office/craft room/ misc. junk room. 

Monday and Tuesday are booked with plans of emptying that room. I am not sure what to do with some of the craft supplies I have collected over the years but don't actually have a use for until EA is old enough to use them with me, but we will figure it out. We will buy some of the furniture this weekend and paint the rest of the furniture next week.

After spending lots of time online trying to find exactly what I wanted to do in that room, I have found a few inspirational ideas on Pinterest that have really gotten the ball rolling.

Source

Source

Source

Taza Tarika in yellow

Dottie quilt- found here

I have located a basic comforter, owned the dottie quilt for quite some time, compared prices for the Tarika fabric on Etsy, and began picking out photos and quotes for the wall collage. Hopefully it will come together well.... we just have to empty the room!

Have a great Sunday!

Christmas in Dixie

Hi everyone! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas! Praise the Lord for His magnificent Gift in sending Jesus to this Earth. What a day to celebrate!

I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. I haven't had much to say recently, but am excited about a few updates that are coming over the next week or so.

Last week, Brian planned and took me out on our Christmas date. We tend to be boring daters, so I wanted something unique, but based on our budget, cheap. 

We started at Cheesecake Factory with a giftcard. I have only eaten a meal there twice, so this was extra special. That cheesey pasta is delish.

As we were heading into Cheesecake, Brian presented me with the rest of our date- a photo scavenger hunt. He had created a list of 10 Christmasy items that I had to find and take pictures of during the night. 

The list included:

 a piece of cheesecake, 

holiday traffic,

a fountain,

  an outdoor tree,

an over-decorated house,

 downtown Birmingham,

 an angel,

 a cup of hot chocolate,

 a nativity, 

and a picture with my husband. 

This was a challenge for me because I haven't had much experience shooting in the dark. Most of the pics turned out pretty good, but some of them could use a bit of improving... I guess we will just have to do it again!!

This was actually one of my favorite shots from the night- Brian took it as we were setting up for our photo of the Nativity. The stars and sky were gorgeous that night.

Though I'm a little late, Merry Christmas my friends! I hope you had a fantastic day!