Introducing Cahootsie Handmade

ca·hoots [kuh-hoots] 

1. Go cahoots, to share equally; become partners. 

2. In cahoots: in partnership; in league.

 

I am so very excited to announce my new collaboration with my sister-in-love, Lindsey . Introducing Cahootsie Handmade. We will be working together selling fun & stylish pieces for your little babes! Our website, www.cahootsie.com will be launching very soon, and in the meantime we will have an “instashop” where you can buy & order items on our Instagram account. 

We both share a mutual love for sewing, crafting, and making things… and have always dreamt of starting our own little shop. We finally decided to stop just dreaming and start doing! So we put our minds together and came up with Cahootsie Handmade. The name is a fun way of symbolizing our partnership and representing our sisterhood.

We’re a bicoastal business for now. I’ll be making my items here on the West coast and she will be making them over on the East coast, in Florida. Items will be available for local pick up, or can be shipped anywhere in the US for a small shipping charge. 

We are so excited to finally announce the news and are kicking off our launch with a GIVEAWAY!!! Just head on over to our instagram account for details on how to enter! 

A Very Good Day.

A very good day, indeed. Last Friday I awoke to sweet little notes taped all over the house, leading downstairs to fresh flowers and a delicious home cooked breakfast by my hubby. That man is good to me. It was so romantic and sweet, and definitely unexpected. Such a wonderful way to start the day! I love how he continues to pursue my heart even after all these years. Swoon. 

Then we spent the day together as a family, and even went on a little afternoon picnic to the park. It was so precious getting to see Eveleigh take it all in. Seeing the trees and feeling the wind on her skin. It was a little bright, even in the shade, so I put my sunglasses on her. She’s a little diva already ;)

Then to top off an already great day, we even got a little date night in! Our dear friends came and watched little miss Eveleigh while we went out to dinner and a movie. We’re into the cliche dinner & a movie thing. It’s just good fun. 

So blessed by time with my two loves. ♥  

The Poop Queen.

My daughter is the poop queen. When you are pregnant, you hear stories about baby poop. About how much babies poop and how often you have to change them. About how many outfits they will ruin with their massive blowouts. But you laugh it off haha they must be exaggerating! They are not exaggerating. And there is no way to fully understand it until you experience it yourself. I figured, who doesn’t love a good poop story so I’m sharing some experiences below. I’m thinking I’ll print & frame them and give them as a gift to her first boyfriend ;) 

Story #1: It’s a Sunday morning and Eveleigh is almost four weeks old. We had family in town, and I was excited to take her to church for the first time. I got up extra early to allow ample time to get ready. I got her up and got her dressed in a cute little outfit (see above, pre blowout). I was going to nurse her, and then hop in the shower and get myself ready. I got in my bed and propped her up on our pillows to begin nursing. About 10 minutes in I hear the first explosion… But it didn’t seem to blowout the diaper. So I continued nursing thinking that would be the last of it. Oh, how wrong I was. Three more explosions later and there is poop all up her back, all over our pillows, our sheets, and our comforter. I carefully carry her to her room to clean her up and get her redressed. This alone took over 15 minutes. I then have to strip our sheets and bedding, and even the mattress pad, because it leaked all the way through. I throw in the load of laundry, and then I still have to finish nursing her. Meanwhile, I still have not showered or gotten myself ready. So, needless to say, we were definitely late to church that morning. Ohhhh, the joys of motherhood! 

Story #2: It’s a Friday afternoon, and Ryan and I are doing a little furniture shopping. We had been to several stores and then decided to head over to Ikea. When we got there it was time to feed little Evie, so I nursed her in the parking lot. When I finished, I began to burp her. While burping her she had a little blowout, soiling her outfit and my nursing cover. I got out of the car with her and laid down my changing pad to change her diaper. As I was wiping her bottom, BOOM, she poops. All over my hand and arm. Now this was the first time she had actually pooped on me. I thought I would gag but I was surprisingly ok. Ryan took over and finished cleaning her up while I ran inside to wash up. We got her settled and enjoyed her post-poop smiles, and then headed in to Ikea for some furniture browsing! 

Story #3: It was 4 a.m. and we had just finished her early morning feeding. Ryan took her into her room to change her diaper before putting her back to sleep. Two minutes later I hear Ryan exclaim “WHOA!!! EVELEIGH!!” I ran into the room to see what happened. She exploded mid diaper change, and it shot across the room. Covering the dresser, her picture frames, the wall. It was hard to start cleaning up, because she just. kept. going. So much poop. 

So, those are my top blowout stories. Lately, she wakes up every morning with a hugely loaded diaper and has ruined her pajamas, but she is so sweet and smiley in the mornings you just can’t help but smile too. Love that little poopy girl so much!

Any mamas out there have any good stories? Do share in the comments :)

Our Move West.

It was March of 2011. We had been married almost a year and were headed off to California in pursuit of our dreams. We left behind our hometown of Orlando, Florida. Leaving our jobs, family, comfort, and everything familiar to us. We were three parts excited and one part terrified. But we were ready. We were full of faith and trusted this was part of God’s plan for us. We were excited to go on an adventure & build a new life for ourselves. 

At times the path was unclear, and our faith tested. As we headed West, just as we were driving out of the state of Florida, Ryan got a text from the friends we were supposed to crash with for a week or so until we found our own place. Plans had changed and we could no longer stay there. What now? We thought. Do we turn around? We can’t waste all of our savings staying in a hotel. 

Within minutes, out of nowhere, we received a text message from a new friend, Monty Kelso. We were introduced to him by a mutual friend & met him a month prior when we were in LA scouting for apartments. He had no idea of our living arrangements but sent us a text saying “I’m not sure if you guys have a place to crash but I talked to my wife and you’re welcome to stay with us for a week or so.” We read this and tears filled our eyes. This was exactly what we needed at the exact moment we needed it. We barely knew this family. We had only met Monty once & had never even met his wife, and yet they were willing to take us in. We changed our GPS to their home address in San Clemente and continued driving.

A strong friendship with the Kelso family emerged, and they became our “West Coast Family” as we call it. We immediately developed a sense of family, and community, which helped us have a smoother transition into life in California. 

After a few weeks we landed an apartment up in LA and began to get settled in. Neither of us had jobs nailed down at that point and were both searching for the right opportunity. One weekend we were down in San Clemente visiting with the Kelsos. Monty had forgotten that he had made plans to meet with his friend, Todd, for coffee. So he had Todd just come over to the house to meet. Ryan and I were there hanging out in our PJs. Turns out Todd was the Pastor of a church called Mountain View and they were looking for a new worship leader. Coincidence? I think not. The next weekend Ryan was brought in to lead their Palm Sunday service, and was hired as full time staff a few weeks after that. It’s been such a blessing being apart of this church community and seeing my husband grow into such a strong leader. Now it is so obvious that this was a huge part of God’s plan all along.

It’s still a little mind boggling how it all came to be. If our original plan hadn’t failed we would’ve never stayed with the Kelso family. We might never had become as close to them as we are now. We wouldn’t have met Todd that fateful afternoon, and everything might be entirely different. It wasn’t always easy, but we trusted God and he showed us the way. He provided for us and made a way for us. As Todd’s daughter, Rachel, recently wrote, We live in a world that says “God, just show me and I will go” but we have a God that says “just go and I will show you.” That really rings true in our story. And had we never taken those first steps, we never would have gotten to where we are today.

Moving to California was one of the bravest and best decisions we ever made. A journey that brought us closer to each other and closer to God. There have been struggles: we have been lonely at times and have missed family to the point of tears. But overall it has been so rewarding and we know we are exactly where we are supposed to be. ♥  

Paleo Shepherds Pie

Ah, shepherds pie! Comfort food’s finest. I love this healthier Paleo version. I made it for the first time last week and it was so good I made it for dinner again last night. It’s so tasty, but I can enjoy it guilt-free! And cauliflower “mashed potatoes” are my new obsession. Seriously. I could eat them at every meal.

You can find the recipe I used here. I don’t have those cute ramekins she uses (note to self: buy some) so I did an 8X11 inch casserole dish. I also used lean ground turkey instead of beef, topped it with green onion instead of parsley, and added a little bit of shredded cheddar on top (we allow a little bit of dairy). The result was fantastic and this will definitely be a go-to meal for us! Enjoy!