I'm back!!! Introduction

Hello and welcome back to the blog!!! It's been a few years since I've been here and it's pretty dusty (cough cough). 🤣 I spent some time blogging my last pregnancy with one of my besties but when little man arrived, most things took a back seat. However, things are going smoothly again (knock on wood) and I'm back to attempt this blogging thing again. No guarantees it will be perfect. Honestly I am doing this for myself right now. I'm sure no one will even notice, but I renamed the blog to match the gram. Soooooo, here is an introduction!

1. My name is Becca Hickman. I'm an extroverted introvert. I know, I've heard, no such thing. But I swear, I enjoy people. I'm very outgoing around others but I get drained from it so quickly. I am perfectly happy staying home on my couch. :)

2. My husband and I have been married for 12 years this June!! One of the hardest and best things in this world is marriage. It has it's hurdles but it is oh so worth it. 

3. We have two little boys, ages 6 and 3, and they are our world. They are complete opposites in most ways but share a couple of similarities. 

4. I am in LOVE with holidays, especially Christmas! There is something about these times of the year that fill my heart.

5. Decorating for said holidays brings me joy. Also, I'm one of those people who decorates for Christmas the day after Halloween. Christmas tree, stockings, Santas, all the things.

6. I am on my eleventh year of teaching middle school. I graduated with an elementary degree but there weren't any jobs out there. I ended up getting hired 8 hours before the first day of school at a middle school. I truly feel that was God doing for me what I didn't know I needed. 

7. I love Hallmark movies! I feel like it's a love or hate thing and I am one of those people who love them. I'm a sucker for a happy, feel good movie. There's enough bad out there. 

8. Comfort is my happy place. Comfy clothes, comfort food, comfort smell (yes, I think that's a thing). Mine is balsam /Christmas Tree, coffee brewing, and rain.

9. I'm a bibliophile! I love to read, re-read, collect books, instagram books. I haven't always been a reader. It started with a certain series in high school and an amazing author after college. 

10. We are born and raised in South Georgia. There are many things I love about it down here, but the heat and lack of seasons are not two of them. I mean, hello! A lover of holidays needs four true seasons. And man, what my boys and I wouldn't give to see snow every year!

Let's Connect!

     

I've Moved...Temporarily

I haven't forgotten about this blog..I promise! I just have moved to a new spot temporarily. I am now currently located at bestiesandbabies.blogspot.com. One of my best friends and I are expecting 5 days apart and are logging together on this blog. Please swing by for a visit :) So for now, this isn't goodbye but farewell momentarily. I'll see you soon!

Organization a la Baby Food.

Christmas is over now and it's almost spring right? Spring cleaning time? Here's the story...

Before we even got to the baby food stage, I went ahead and racked up on baby food. First time mom problem. I didn't realize how stupid that would be. I never considered he would have food preferences. Our baby food cabinet became a stock pile of foods Liam wouldn't eat. It was a struggle trying to mine out flavors he enjoyed. 

So I tackeled the necessary task of cleaning out the baby food cabinet. We ix nayed the bad flavors and threw out the expired (bad mom I know). 

The result... An organized baby food cabinet. Green shelves from dollar tree. I LOVE that they are stackable! I purchased the munchkins revolving organizer for his travel foods. Voila!!

Happy 6 Months!

Liam is growing so fast. So hard to believe he was born 6 months ago today. He has the best personality! He is starting to sit up and he likes to roll over and over. Soon he will crawling. Looking forward to the holidays. It will be his first Thanksgiving and Christmas! So many cute Christmas outfits to put him in, lol.

Then..

NOW!

The first time we held him :)

Hard to Believe I Was Waiting for You

Six months ago tomorrow, God blessed Rhett and I with the best gift we could possibly receive. It's so hard to believe I was in the delivery room at this time waiting patiently and enjoying that Arbys sandwich, lol. I know I had the easiest labor and delivery on the planet. I have thanked God for the LITERALLY pain free experience. Thank you everyone for the prayers for Liam and I. The pictures below are of the night that changed my life.

Dear Liam,
Tomorrow is your 6 month old birthday. Your journey is just beginning. You can not even begin to imagine the love everyone has for you. Your Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know. Your smiles are the light of our day. We think your little huffs in the backseat are precious and you are the best little jumper ever. You love your puppy brother blankie and your thumb. We have already been through so much together but more is yet to come. Know we will always be here for you no matter what. Keep growing big and strong. Looking forward to the memories.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

So glad I had Rhett and Mom by my side. I know Dad would have been in the room if he could have. Thanks Meme and B for coming so early. 

Happy Halloween!!

First off, I love to dress up! One of the fun things about having a baby is dressing Liam up too. And what better night to dress him up than Halloween! This year Liam was a baby dinosaur :) Rawr!

How excited and cute is he?!

Mommy and Daddy ate his cuteness up...

Not only did I have Halloween but we celebrated homecoming and red ribbon week so we had dress up days all week for various themes. Did I mention I love to dress up?! Some of the various days included Nerd Day and Future Career Day (Yes, I want to be a wizard when I grow up!!!!)

Oh yes, and camo day. Again, had to dress Liam up too!

Growing so fast.

Liam was able to sit and play with his toys tonight while momma and daddy put away groceries. It blows my mind how fast he is growing. We truly are blessed!!

Finished Nursery!!

My mother in law had some left over fabric from the bedding so she made a valance for the window which Rhett hung for me.

and now...

 

I love these little guys. All gifts for Liam. The blue bunny is made from old blankets. The Peter Rabbit blanket is precious (severe obsession with Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter growing up) and I love Sammie the Lamb...note the cross on his right hoof :) "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Stuffed animals from my childhood and other keepsake gifts.

On the opposite wall of the bookcase is the changing table/dresser. Momma and I hung little shelves over it for decoration.

As you continue to turn you have the last wall which displays a Peter Rabbit painting [ done by my mother-in-law :-) ] and the finished organized closet!

~ Nursery Closet ~

So we have a dresser for storage, check. We have a bookcase for some storage, check. Looking around room, still not enough storage. Okay, maybe it was just my nesting. Time to tackle the closet. It wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. Maybe it was, but mom was coping well and helping so much! Thanks Mom!

So here is the before. It's a tiny closet with little room and space so we needed to make the most of it.

 

Holy crap right? Again time to trash and re-home everything. We eventually got it emptied out and everything reorganized else where. 

Now it appeared to empty and the marks (I know you can't see them, but they bothered me). So, I decided to paint the closet! :) My husband totally didn't see the point but I totally understood why. It's just a closet. However, terrified I'd have a hormonal melt down being the sweet man he is, he decided to help tape off everything. :)

Getting ready to paint! I love these valspar samples!! So cute.

Finished look..... deep breath.....

So much better don't you think? (Yes, I later went in and painted the white trim around the bottom a mint color).

~ Nursery Continued... ~

So we moved the crib and dresser into the nursery. Please ignore the paint swatches all over the walls. I was unsure of whether or not to paint the nursery light blue or not. We decided not to because we figured the blue bookcase and blue accents would be enough.

When it came to a theme for the nursery, originally I wanted a nautical theme. However, after husband told me that he hated or wasn't a fan of the idea I decided to go no theme and stick with just a color scheme (blue, white, cream, tan). 

I started looking into bedding first because the it seems like such a focal point in the nursery. Of course, my great taste in decorating ;) falls in love with a SUPER expensive crib set. I knew there was no way in Haiti I was going to spend LITERALLY $1,000.00 on something that would last a year and be something he would probably poop on.

I asked my mother in law if she thought she could make the bedding set and she said yes! Needless to say I was super excited!

So.... inspiration:

The actual fabric used in this bedding set is toile central park which my mother in law was able to find! The exact same fabric...happy dance anyone?  :)

..... Liam's beautiful bedding set! Thanks Meme!!