unintentional leave of absence.

So, you may have noticed my absence in the blogosphere lately. Ok, fine...in reality, it's most likely that no one has noticed. :) Anyway...I have been super busy lately, and the blog has just been put on the back burner. Trust me, I haven't forgotten about it - I've just been busy being a full-time mommy, a football coach's wife, and a part-time employee...all while still attempting to maintain some semblance of a social life. Anyway I just wanted to post a quick update on our fam jam, just to keep everyone from waiting on the edge of your seats to find out what's going on with the Goins clan. Cause I know you're all waiting with baited breath. ;)

Natalie is now 7 months old. I can't believe she is getting so big!
At 4 months, we started feeding her solids: cereal, then veggies, then fruit. She's a pro now, of course. :)
She started sitting up really well on her own when she was about 5 1/2 months old.
At her 6-month appointment, she weighed 17lbs, 10oz and was 26" long. She's a little chunker. :)
She hasn't officially said her first word yet, although of course I like to count "ma ma ma ma" as "Mama". She loves to babble in "b" and "p" sounds. She has discovered how loudly she can holler & squeal. It's cute most of the time; not so much during the prayer at church.

Here are a few pics of her...in case you've forgotten what she looks like. If you're friends with me on facebook, then I KNOW you haven't forgotten what she looks like, because I obsessively post pics of her. Almost annoyingly often. :) But I can't help it...she's just so darn cute!

{almost sitting up! (she fell over shortly after I took this)}

{somebody loves to eat}

{first time sitting up!}



{go UGA!}

{Natalie's birthmother came to visit & we had lots of fun!}

{yummm...leaves}

{she loves her daddy}

{eating some of Mimi's baked potato at McAlister's}

{I may not be crawling yet, but I am definitely mobile}

{this is her favorite face to make}

And in other news...we've started on the conversion of the dining room into a study. And by "started", I mean we got rid of the dining table & chairs, and that's it. Today I worked from home, so I decided to set up the laptop in the new study to see how it feels. How do you like the TV trays as a desk? And the chair stolen from the breakfast room? ;) Hopefully soon we'll get started on this project for real!

incredible testimony

This young lady has an incredible story. Her birthmother tried to abort her & {obviously} failed. This is no only a pro-life story, but a pro-adoption story, and most of all a pro-God story. Please take the time to watch these two videos {part 1 & 2}. I wish I was as passionate about sharing Christ as she is! We all should be so bold in declaring God's glory. Love this.

purge & merge

I've been reading/hearing/seeing a lot about purging lately. The Nester has been writing about purging her home of stuff, along with her sister Emily, and also Kimba and Thrifty Decor Chick. And the other day, I was watching The Nate Berkus show and this chick was talking about only buying things for your home that you LOVE. So I started looking around my house thinking, "do I really LOVE that piece?" There are a lot of things in my home to which I just respond with a "meh". Those things need to go.

So, all of this talk about decluttering & simplifying & purging has been inspiring me, so I contacted my fam jam to see if they were ready to combine forces to host our annual multi-family yard sale. Hopefully, we'll be having this yard sale extravaganza in November...which means I better get crackin' on this purgin'! I haven't even started yet. Unless you count sorting things in my mind. :)

On a slightly related note, the hubs & I have decided to transform our dining room into a study. For several reasons: 1) We hardly ever use our dining room. We have a breakfast room where we eat as a family, and we rarely have guests over for dinner. When we do, our dining room really isn't big enough anyway. 2) Our dining room is more a part of our "living space" than our current study, which is in a bedroom. It would be nice to be a part of the "living space" when I'm on the computer, or when the hubs is painting his customized sports figures {shameless plug}. 3) Disclaimer: I am not pregnant, nor do I expect to be any time soon. However, should we find ourselves with child #2 before we can afford to sell our current house & build the house of our dreams {ha!}, we will need the current study to be a bedroom for said child. And of course since my mind has already started thinking about this, I'm ready to start the transformation, like, yesterday.

Anyway here are some before pics of the two spaces. Yes, the current study is an absolute MESS. I can't believe I'm actually revealing its current condition to the www. Yet another reason to move it out into the open - so that we don't have the excuse of just closing the door to hide the mess; we will be forced to keep it clean! {Yeah we'll see about that.} Our study serves multiple functions: 1) Computer desk area, 2) The hubs' painting workstation, 3) storage, storage, and more storage, 4) display area for the hubs' sports figures. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Laura, are you really gonna let your husband display his sports junk - I mean, memorabilia - in the open area of what is now your dining room?" Well, the answer is a resounding...kinda. I'm looking for a way to do it in a sophisticated manner. Of course not ALL of these figures will be able to be displayed; some will have to be put away. But really, who needs like 173 Atlanta Braves dudes or 347 Alabama football dudes on display? No one. {Baron, are you reading this? If so, sorry to rain on your parade.}

So...soon, Baron...you will have to say goodbye to your man cave. Go give it a kiss & hug. You had your one room to decorate for a good 4 years, and now I'm taking over. Maybe someday, when we have our dream house, you will once again have a man cave where you can proudly display your letter from Bear Bryant, and your 3D Jaws movie poster, and your 1,568 sports figures.

Here are the before pics. Stay tuned for pics of the progress we've made, and to help me make some decisions regarding the new space!

{ the study }

{ I'm having an anxiety attack over here because I can't believe I'm actually showing these pics...I mean I could have at least straightened up before taking them. sheesh. }

{ does anyone have a good suggestion for how to store an exercise ball? I mean really...it doesn't go ANYWHERE. }

{ the dining room }

{ p.s. anyone wanna buy a dining table + six chairs?? }

falootin' palooza giveaway!!

Ok, I absolutely love the stylin' children's clothing over at Falootin'!! It is adorable. If you haven't checked it out before, GO NOW. And then, head over to pure + lovely for the Falootin' giveaway!! For reals y'all!!

and the winner is...

The winner of the $35 gift certificate for CSN Stores is...



drumroll please...



Stephanie Hall!!!
And all because of her last entry telling me she blogged about it. :)


Thanks to all of you for entering! Keep reading...I plan to have more giveaways in the future!

Special thanks to CSN Stores for sponsoring this giveaway!