My Sister is AMAZING!

Posted By:  Stephanie

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their winter.  Spring is just around the corner, personally I can't wait!

I want to first tell you all how amazing my sister is.  She has been such a champ posting without me while I make great attempts at getting through each day.  I have been so, so sick and although I still am it's getting MUCH better.  I appreciate her love and support so much, she hasn't complained even once!

Here I am, sitting on the bathroom floor with the computer on the toilet typing this while Little Lou gets a bath.  She is not only getting a bath but a full on soak while she "swims" because she is covered COATED in ravioli!  This was the first time I had given it to her and she loved it.  After she was done I immediately undressed her, threw her clothes in the wash and her in the tub.

I just thought I would share this random picture you haven't seen of her.  She is eating cheese, one of her most favorite things to eat.  This was on the day of Samantha's snowball.  Lou just saw this picture while peering from the side of the tub, she was yelling "Baby!"  I had to tell her it was her, she liked that.  = )

A Few Updates:

• I made a comment to a friend that Lou hadn't been sick since she left daycare back in May.  The next day she got a horrible cold, soon after she got the flu and was vomiting, then she got a bad fever that turned into a virus that comes in the form of spots all over her body.  Note to self:  Keep thoughts of this kind to myself, or at least remember to knock on wood.  Poor girl.

• Little Lou has a new obsession with brushing her teeth.  She prefers to brush them upwards of 3-4 times a day, so we do.

• I am now 12 weeks 3 days pregnant, loosing weight and gaining a belly.  There's a baby in there folks!  We go back the the doctor on Thursday which we're looking forward to because we will be seeing our midwife this time.  We can't wait to hear our baby's heart beat.

• Lou likes to put my bra on her arms these last new days and go around the house saying "Boobs".  It is funny, but I think we'll keep that in the house.

• This sweet girl of ours has a new thing for hats.  She likes to be like daddy and will put a hat on and walk around the house.  We were getting ready to leave the house yesterday, we were at the door then she quickly turned around went and got the hat, put it on and walked back saying "Ready".  Seriously, so adorable!  I love that she is getting older and having opinions about what she likes.

I'm sure there are a million other things going on, but I thought I would only focus on a few for now.  Talk to you all REAL soon!

Freak Out

Posted By:  Stephanie

I normally think of myself as a clear thinking person.

Calm.

I’m not one to dwell on the little things.

But sometimes…

I freak out.

I have a camera that I got for my birthday and it stopped working.

I was finally able to get a new one after A LOT of trouble because my dad didn’t have the receipt.

Here we are a month later and it’s not working.

Again.

I knew where I put the receipt in my wallet.

I felt one of my freak out episodes coming on.

I go to make sure with my eyes and hands that the receipt is still there so I could stop the feeling.

It’s not.

That’s when it happened.

The freak out.

This is when my blood pressure rises, I’m not mad, just freaking out.

Anxiety hits, something I don’t normally suffer from.

Except in situations when the freak out part of me comes out.

Nothing else matters in my freak out moment, I can only focus on the issue.

I start searching the house high and low, running like I’m in a marathon.

It’s late, Will is sleeping.

I want to run into the bedroom in the most dramatic way possible and flip on the light.

I want to say in a startling voice so he knows it is an emergency that I need help finding the receipt.

Somehow I’m able to fight the urge.

I know it isn’t realistic.

I know that Will losing sleep is in no way going to fix anything.

I know that I need to not follow through with my dramatic entrance.

Fighting the urge is hard, very hard because remember, nothing else matters right now but finding the receipt.

I continue searching.

I found the receipt and the feeling goes away immediately.

I look back and wonder why this feeling ever comes on.

Why do I freak out about small things at times but the large things in life I can be so calm about?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, nor do I think I will figure it out anytime soon.

One thing I do know is, I need a new camera.

Again.

This time I have a receipt.

Do you ever have experiences like this one?

Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Taking "What's in the Drawer?" to a New Level

Posted By:  Stephanie

This past Toddler Tuesday I told you about an activity we call What's in the Drawer?

In the past My Girl has been somewhat tame about this activity, sticking to only one drawer.  Not anymore!  She has taken this to a new level!  She sure does make me laugh, that's for sure!

Please ignore the fact that she is once again in jammies.  I don't know why but I seem to get a lot of pictures before she's dressed for the day. 

If we were going to have a boy we were going to name him Cole, so when she wears these jammies we call her Cole because she looks like a boy while wearing them.

Needless to say, I have been running around the house picking up after this girl like crazy while she has been in her new exploring stage.

Moments Like This...

Posted By:  Stephanie

Early this morning when My Girl woke up for the third time fighting her cold I knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep, she was going to need some mommy love.

I shuffled my feet on the floor with my eyes half open in my attempt to make it to a light without tripping over her toys.  I made it to her room, scooped her up out of her crib and headed to the living room couch where I had planned to cuddle her, hoping she would fall asleep in my arms.

We got settled on the couch, her head on my chest, we were tummy to tummy.  I lay there thinking that I was so tired yet I didn't feel annoyed or bothered, I chose to feel lucky.  I chose to take the rare moment to cuddle her, smelling her hair as she laid so still and silent while twirling my hair in her sweet little fingers.

As the minutes passed I thought about the days the first two months of her life when we spent our time on the couch together each night.  The walking, walking and more walking that we did to settle her as she cried.  I thought about how much she's grown and how I'm so lucky to be her mom.

I continue to lay there thinking about the joy she brings me when I hear her quietly mutter my name, "Momma, Momma" I rub her back to let her know I hear, I don't respond in fear that I would wake her more if I did.  That's when the best moment happened.  The moment where I completely melted and I was reminded once again why being a mommy is the best thing about my life.  My Girl looked up and me, took her nigh-night out of her mouth and smacked her lips at me twice looking for a kiss.  I gave her a kiss and she layed her head back down.

Moments like this make me excited for the next day to come to see what's next in my journey as a mom.  Moments like this are what a mommy lives for, what gives us strength through the harder days.  Moments like this can not fully be explained, they are just felt.

I love you my sweet girl, thank you for moments like this.

During our first two months together.

July, 2010

Our Day at OMSI

Posted By:  Stephanie

My Girl and I went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) yesterday with our friends Deanna and her sweet daughter Miss L.  Our girls are two weeks apart so it is fun to get together to play.  My Girl had a great time, she will have even more fun when she's walking on her own completely like Miss L. does.  It will be a new world for her!  Deanna purchased a year membership and can bring a friend so we got to go too, which we really appreciated.  I love to take My Girl places where she is around a lot of other kids and can explore new things.

My Girl played with some blocks and train parts.

Checked out a ball.

Looked at me with this silly face.  She looks SO grown up here!

My Girl talked to some fish,

and played with Miss L. at the light table.  Miss L. is wearing a squirrel costume she found there.  So cute!

Most of all she liked watching the other kids play.

Thank you Deanna and Miss L. for taking us, we had a great time and enjoyed spending time with you!



Toddler Tuesday - Dance Party!

Posted By:  Stephanie

I have always been amazed at the baby/toddler/child instinct to dance or at least bounce with the beat of music.  I remember being pregnant with My Girl and I would put music on my laptop and put it near my stomach.  It wouldn't be but a minute later before she was jiggling around and rolling like crazy, she loved to dance even before she was born.  Since then nothing has changed so we have DANCE PARTIES!

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Our dance parties only consist of her and I, but we turn on the music and we just dance!  It is so much fun and keeps her occupied and it is great exercise for me as well.  I suggest if you haven't already done this with your little on that you pull our the tunes and dance the day away.  This is a great way to get energy out an hour or so before nap time.  My Girl isn't walking on her own yet at 15 months but she likes to stand and hold onto the couch and dance, or even better I hold her and dance around the room.  She loves it, it's great bonding time when we can laugh together and be goofy (which we like to do often) and again, great child activity and it is a great way for us to get up and move.

My Girl and I had a busy day yesterday, we were away from the house all day and we got home after bedtime.  Will made mac and cheese for himself last night for dinner before we got home and when I went to get her some milk out of the fridge I found this container with the note on it.  So cute, he knows that she loves mac and cheese so he saved her some and wrote her a note.  What a good/cute daddy he is!

Alright, enough reading for now (until we post again of course) it's time to get up and have a dance party with your little ones!



Entry Table, Hot Weather and Weekend Plans

Posted By: Kristi

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

This weekend is supposed to be a hot one! I think we will spend it near a river or in a pool. Our house gets hot and stuffy so escaping for the day sounds like a plan to me!

We are thinking about taking our dog babies to a place called 1000 Acres. It is supposed to be a doggie heaven. You can take your dogs there and let them off their leash. I guess there is some great places for you and your doggies to swim together too. If we go, it will need to be in the morning before it is too hot. Too much exercise on a hot day for a doggie is not good! I can't imagine being covered in all that hair and being expected to walk all around in the hot sun. Here are a couple pictures I googled of 1000 Acres.

This weekend I would also like to buy an entry table. We usually enter our house through our back/side door. The issue is, when we use the front door we have nowhere to set our keys and other belongings and so we misplace them. We spend the morning rushing around trying to find everything so that we can leave the house. This is not fun and very frustrating. Soon, I will show you what I made for the back/side door that makes things easier on us. Anyway, enough of my blabbering. Here are some ideas I found for entry tables.

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I love the dark color and legs on this one. I also think the mirror is a great dramatic touch.

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This one has nice clean lines and is narrow, perfect for our small space.

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This would allow for us to store shoes and leashes while not taking up much space at all.

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I love how this one floats. The chairs underneath are awesome!

Next week, I will show you what we decide on. Hopefully by then I will have it bought and decorated. = )

Crayon Print T-Shirt

Posted By:  Stephanie

Hello!  Today is a great day, the first day of a 3 day weekend for Will.  I love when he gets an additional day off, that way once Sunday night comes we are gitty that we get to hang out late one more night.  Sadly, late for us is like 10:30-11:00pm, that is what used to be 1-2am when we were younger.

Today I went to the Dollar Store, with a craft emergency!  I am working on another project but the paint is taking WAY to long to dry so I wanted/needed to make another project.  It was also a good excuse to get out of the house and sneak to an estate sale on the way.

Here we go, a tutorial on how to make a T-Shirt print using CRAYONS!  This is such an easy project and it only cost $2.  I got the T-Shirt and the sandpaper from the Dollar Store and I already had the crayons on hand.

Step One

Gather supplies.  I used stencils because I'm in no way a freehand kind of girl.  I love to craft but my drawing is not to be seen.

Supplies:

Crayons

T-Shirt

Sandpaper - preferably fine

Stencils if you would like

Iron

Dryer

Step Two

Start drawing your picture on sandpaper.  I decided to use a dog and cat because My Girl LOVES dogs and cats right now.  When you are coloring, make sure to go over your design several times, you want the crayon to be on there nice and thick.  This is something that your kids would love to do, just remind them that whatever they draw, it will be on the T-Shirt backwards.

Step Three

Once you are finished you may see that there are a few spots that have crayon marks that you don't want to show up on your T-Shirt.  I used a piece of the sandpaper from the corner and sanded those spots.  Seemed to work pretty well for me.

Step Four

Put cardboard inside the T-Shirt to prevent the crayon from leaking through.

Step Five

Iron the design onto the T-Shirt.  Put something like a thin towel or paper towel between the sandpaper and the iron to protect your iron.  Iron on cotton setting for about 30-45 seconds.

Step Six

Check to make sure your design is transferring onto the T-Shirt well, if not continue ironing for another 15-20 seconds.  If it is on there well, take the sandpaper off and put a paper towel or thin towel on the image and iron on top of it for about 20 seconds to set it.

Step Seven

Put the T-Shirt in the dryer for about 20-30 minutes to finish setting it.  When you wash it for the first time make sure you wash it all alone because the crayon may bleed some.

My Girl in her new fancy doggy and kitty shirt.  She is such a goof!

I will be using this shirt most likely for when we do crafts, that way I wont have to worry about her clothes getting stained.  We did another project today where she was using some permanent makers...I know probably not my best parental choice, but hey, the project needed permanent markers what was I supposed to do?  = )  Anyway, this T-Shirt will be used for things like that, her clothes were spared this time but the tray of her highchair was not.

This would be a great project for older kids at a birthday party.  Please make sure you either assist them or do the ironing yourself, burnt fingers are not cool!  All the kids could make their design, iron them and then while you continue the party you can dry to set them.  I don't know how multiple shirts would do in the dryer at the same time but you could also send the T-Shirt home and let the parents know that they will need to dry it there. 

WHAT WE'RE UP TO AROUND HERE

WARNING:  Images below may hurt your eyes!

These are pictures of what will be our girl's big girl room.  When we moved in we put a ton of stuff that we didn't want to deal with at the time into this room, and we have continued to throw things in it since.  I will even confess, this room was even worse, this is after Will had been working on clearing it out for awhile.

I'm not sure why these pictures turned out so bad, I think it's because of the bad lighting.  Here is trooper Will, he takes a long time to clear out each box because a lot of them have pictures from his childhood.

I'll be back with more on that room, you will get to watch the room transform, I have a lot of projects in mind for it.  For now, I need to get ready to go, I'm going with Bubba to a wedding.  SISTER DATE!