Just me and my crazies.

Some days, I wonder. I really wonder if these adorable little minions that are my offspring have siphoned out my memory and brains and replaced it with a bumbling mess of... something? Some days, I wonder. Ten years ago I would have scoffingly laughed at my inability to simply remember where I placed my car keys. Like, really?! Methinks I need to duct tape them to my forehead. It's amazing, I tell you. I can set them down  and two seconds later be like, whaaa?? where did they go?! Or my phone? Oh don't get me started on that one! I need a bright neon green blinking light up case for the back of that thing! Then maybe I'd have a prayer of a chance! Maybe. Maybe I need the bright neon green blinking light up case for my keys too?!

Anyways, enough of that three ring circus that I myself am solely responsible for!

 Lately, I've come to realize that this, this is my crazy and my now. I might even tell you that it's growing on me!? Hmm, I don't know, because sometimes I feel my ten-years-ago self protesting greatly, but it is usually quite swiftly silenced by a sweet sticky hand that is slipped into mine and an "I love you" whispered in my ear followed by sweet giggles.

These are the bits and pieces of my craziness that I don't ever want to forget.

Like Andrew tonight, telling me that if I sent him to bed at 7:15 he would, "just come out and eat all the scrambled eggs so much!" (Scrambled eggs? That aren't made yet. Um... Ok...)

And then that moment earlier tonight when I was trying to get all my laptop stuff going before feeding Adrian so that I could, you know, effectively make the most of my time! But then I realized that some moments are better just simply enjoyed. After all, how can we really fully enjoy a moment if a million other things are begging for our attention? I'm not a super human, and I don't know about you, but my attention really isn't even fully in any of those things. It's like a really small piece of me that is trying to be divided and it doesn't work. So challenge to myself to stop trying to multi task so much and just focus on the task at hand. (It was a beautiful thing by the way, to just simply do one thing. Especially feeding Adrian. It was beautiful and bonding to intentionally savor the moment without being all "Oh I wonder what they commented back on that and oh! I need to check up on that email reply." I am determined to do it more. )

I am loving the spontaneousness of midweek adventures to Seattle. Even if it means returning at a ridiculously late hour for having to work the next day. Time with my dad and Adrian? Sweet.

Also, meeting other bloggers? awesome :)

My craziness? 

Having creases in my pant legs, and pinch marks on my arms

from this sweet babe having something else to say about ever being put down right now.

Thank you teething! Really!

{Ok so a cute picture lest you worry that he doesn't have sweet moments too?}

My craziness right now?

Dealing with trying to go GF for a month to see how Andrew does.

Maybe it'll help the extra energy (Like, extra, extra, extra) and impulsiveness and more.

Dude, this isn't easy. Seriously, it's in almost everything.

It means rethinking all our plans, but it's coming. Slowly.

Thank God for Udi's! And Costco that has GF flour!

My craziness?

So many photosessions to edit, so little time, and a bestie's wedding to go to

in less than a month. Ahh. 

Also?

Changes and transitions in life. New job. I don't like change.

I love it but I don't. I miss my other kiddos. I love nannying.

The goodbyes are the hardest :( I'm thankful though

God knows just what I need job wise though.

I hadn't planned on nannying more.

I honestly saw myself in the medical field now,

but oh what an adventure life is.

Craziness?

Josh's office position at JCP maybe coming back??
We hear the help line has been inundated with calls.

Wait times over an hour.

If you think of it, pray they get a little more flooded ;-)

This is my craziness.

I think I'm loving it.

How about you? 

What is your craziness?

:)

Growling for his food

Thought I'd share these two videos of our little sweetie. He recently learned how to growl when excited. It is hilarious to watch. But, that's not the only thing he does in the video! I guess you could say he is a little expressive? Haha!




This one of him laughing, I love. It captures his sweet happy personality.

DIY Spray & Wash

No one told me when I had boys how messy they can be! It seems like I go through spray and wash by the gallon. While it works great, that stuff is pricey! It adds up quickly, and spending extra money is the last thing I'm wanting to do. A sweet friend shared her DIY recipe for Spray & Wash. Honestly, I was kindof skeptical about it working. I mean some DIY stuff sounds great, but turns out to not be quite as great as store-bought. (Pinterest Fail anyone??) I'm pleased to say, though, that this stuff is awesome. It costs literally pennies to make! Um, hello savings!

Here's what you need:

Original Dawn Dish soap

Hydrogen Peroxide

Water

Spray Bottle

Add 1 part dawn dish soap to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide to bottle.

The Dawn is pretty concentrated so you don't need much

to make a spray bottle's worth.

I used about 3 TBS dish soap & 6 TBS hydrogen peroxide.

Add water until the bottle is full.

The blue color will dissipate after a day or two.

And, as they say, the proof is in the puddin'.

Well here ya go!

Now go save yoself some money!

To love a life

I don't know if you've heard about Gosnell in the news lately. It's been weighing heavy on my heart. I mostly skip listening to the news, and let Josh fill me in on what I really need to know, because there is a lot of icky, tough stuff out there and really, who wants to hear about all the tragedies daily? Maybe there's a reason I have a positive radio station on most of the time that reports on positive news. I love it. Back to Gosnell though. It's a hot topic. The left & ride sides have very different views on the solution, but I think we all could agree that there needs to be an end to all the madness. He is only one of many certified "providers" of women's services that, if inspected, would be immediately shut down. I know many have said that they hope he gets what's coming to him. I've even seen some who proclaim the love of Christ wishing the same thing on him that he did to so many others. I don't. I pray. I pray that his calloused soul might be touched by the light of true peace, of true joy and that he might accept Christ as his Savior. It's probably a long shot, but prayer is the most powerful thing.

All of this touches a deep spot in my heart. The place that loves life.


I found this-

I thought this was a little interesting. Because, you know, the name of the business and all.

I love this.

But this? this is my favorite. Because it speaks 1,000 words in two little sentences.

If we as a society start deciding that we have a say on who is wanted or not,

and that we can predetermine the quality of life one will have, where does that take us? 

We trust that the governing powers would never hurt us, but let us never forget

the quality of life that was determined for blacks, for Jews, and today, for all babies.

All life is important. From day 1 to year 121.

We as a society would be wise to not play God

but instead to see the beauty in things, no matter how wanted, or great

of an inconvenience they are. We reach a scary mountain of a situation and don't 

realize the blessing that God has waiting for us on the other side. We panic.

We run. We don't want to face something. We want an out. 

But when it effects over 53 million little lives in four decades....

It's time for a change.

When there is so much pain, and so much trama, 

so much hurt hidden deep down in so many women?

It's time for a change.

It's time to value life.

To live a life that knows that no matter what mistakes come,

what unwanted things happen,

that there is a God who can make rainbows out of storms

who can bring beauty through pain

and that no matter what believe that you will be ok.

Psalm 139:13-14 

For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  

I praise you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made."

But there is something more- 

God is love.

so much love.

Is it horrific what Gosnell has done?

yes.

But does God love him?
Yes.

Does God love us, for the horrible mess that we are?

For the awful mistakes we have made?

For the secrets we pray that no one will find out.

The things we try to pretend God can't see?
He loves you like crazy! 

One bad choice,

or 100 bad choices,

could never separate us from the love of God.

Today?

Choose life.

Choose to love those it is hard to love.

Choose to forgive those who don't deserve it.

Choose to pray for those you wish ill upon.

Choose to give God your secret.

He will take your burden, your guilt, your shame,

your sorrow, your pain, and set you free

and give you peace.

One of my favorite songs ever.

Matthew West- More

Easy No-sew Baby Leggings

When baby legwarmers first came in on the scene, I thought they were just weird. They've kindof grown on me now though, and inspired from a few different tutorials (here and here and here), I decided to try to make my own.

What you'll need:

Medium-length knee socks (just make sure that the length from the heel to the top isn't too long because that part serves as the "leg" for these)- I love Target's selection. You can always find awesome socks in the men & women's section for under $4.00 a pair. These were $2.50 (score!)
Fabric-tac (I had planned on using my sewing machine, but couldn't find the power cord! Go figure! I had some permanent fabric bonding glue and it substituted beautifully! You can sew these if you would like though)
Fabric scissors (I tried using regular ones til I found my fabric ones. Believe me on wanting fabric ones! Unless you just like the magical feeling in cutting as fast as a slug crawls! It's thrilling, I tell you!)

To Do:

Cut off the toes, as close to the toe as possible

Cut from the bottom of the open toe part to the middle of the heel along the natural crease of both socks. 

The easiest way to do this is to put your hand inside the sock to stretch out the material. It makes it way easier to cut it.



Next you're going to turn one sock inside out. 
Put the other sock inside the inside-out one, lining up the cut portions at the end of the socks.

It should look something like this.

Use fabric-tac to adhere the socks to each other. 

I found it was easier to start at the heel and get that matched up so the patterns aligned and I didn't have much extra/misaligned fabric at the end of the sock.

Fold over the top part 

You can use elastic for this part if you'd like but I just folded it over and used fabric tac on it. It stays put pretty well sans elastic since the diaper-clad bum & chunky tummy keep it there. If you have a skinnier baby or would just like the extra snug fit, feel free to add elastic and tuck & glue the edge over it. I would use a thin elastic though because there isn't much space for it to fit over your baby's bum (depending on the size of the sock foot. If you used a men's sock with a bigger foot if might be fine to use bigger elastic.)

If you like to try to make things even and are working with a small pattern, like this one, you'll want to pay close attention to how you glue it over so it's even. If your baby is wearing it under a onesie though this part won't matter :)

Now enjoy your finished product!

Is that cute or is that cute?!

Other two pairs I made

Just an end note: when using glue, it can be a little tricky to get it to line up evenly.

Make sure when pressing the fabric together to press your fingers in the same spot

to keep the seams as even as possible. Because fabric-tac dries pretty quickly,

flip your leggings inside out and adjust the seams before dried, pulling apart or squeezing closer

together to even it out a little more. Also to catch any places the fabric tac may have snagged.

If you have a sewing machine, this would help the seams greatly, 

but if you prefer no-sew, this tip can be your friend :)

And now for the nicer pictures since my camera battery was dead last night and I just

could not wait to make these, hence the lovely phone pics :)

 future quarterback look. Check it. 

I mean really now....

Tags: Baby legs, diy baby leggings, diy baby legs, no sew baby legs, no sew baby leggings, diy crafts under $5

First World problems

Just thought I would share some funny First World Problems I found around the interwebs.

Um, me, every.single.night almost.

Except right now. For whatever reason I want to break out the grill.

At noon.

But of course! It's not dinner time right now.

So of course I want to cook!

Ahh don't you hate that?! We need a half-a-pillow!

Hahaha YES!! Me and the hubby debate over whose setting is right.

Always!!!! Darn it!

Yessss so annoying!!!!!!!

And one more

My current first world problem?

The "home" button stopped working on my phone! Oiy!! 

You know how many times you have to push the "back" button to get it to go

to the home screen?! It's ridiculous. 

Thank goodness for me it magically started working last night!

What was your fave of those? :)

What one do you always run into?

Happy Hump day guys!

Adrian 8 months

Our little bug is changing so fast. It is hard to keep up with him (quite literally too!) There isn't a day that goes by that I can't resist showering his sweet chunky cheeks with kisses. His eyes are so often lit up with wonder, curiosity, and happiness. It is pure joy to be his parents.

He has changed a lot since last month. It is neat to see his new discoveries

and the ways we can interact that he understands that he didn't before.

New things this month-

Saying his first word- mama :)

Standing and taking a few steps holding on

Working on getting tooth buds up 

Learning new sounds- growling for fun 

(thanks Dad for teaching him that one!)

Pushing (or swatting or shoving) things away that he doesn't want

Holding and drinking from a sippy cup (water & mama's milk!)

Experiencing ice cream (again thanks to my Dad, and also Josh's Dad for those! Ha!)

Crawling away from me with an excited squeal 

because he knew he had something he wasn't supposed to!

He still loves nursing and me as a pacifier. We are working on transitioning him to falling asleep

in his crib (pack n play actually for now since the full size crib & Andrew's bed wouldn't both fit in the room) and I am trying to give him a last feeding and then let him fall asleep in his bed because I love him dearly but, I am getting sore!  Mama can only take so much, ya know? (He doesn't even have teeth yet! Those gums! Yikes!)

Our favorite things about him-

How he sings along in his sweet little voice. 

Seeing his personality develop.

How much he loves his people and being with people

His sense of humor

His squishable kissable cheeks

His adorable giggle

Cucumbers make awesome teething toys, just FYI!

Me with my bug

Um... we might need more peas!!!

Playing with his brother. These two are best of friends.

Love them!

Sweet video of Adrian babbling away

Instaweekend

Views from this weekend...

First Jedi battle #nerdfamilywin

Awesome impromptu date night. Godspell was great and it was

fun to see a girl from our church in it.

This article hit me like whoa. That part about having spent enough to equal a small car?
For serious. You can find this in the May issue of  "Real Simple" titled What Can you Really Afford. 

On another note I PASSED my second exam!!!
Now a certified CEHRS (Certified Electronic Healthcare Records Specialist)

So then this happened....

 Um yeah.....

Friday and Saturday were awesome. We played in the sun. We played in the sun some more.
And then a bug hit. And teething hit. And I'm behind on pictures from so much playing in the sun.

So, boo. :-/ Hoping Andrew starts feeling better. It's so hard seeing your little ones sick and 

all droopy eyed. You'd hardly know otherwise because he is so happy!

Just tired and not feeling good. And sometimes having crazy meltdowns over little things.

Like his pet ant getting out of his home. His sweet beloved ant that he had named. 

Cue end of world. Bad Mama for not keeping that ant in its home! Tellin ya!

As for Adrian, ohhh little man. Seriously. I snuck some teething medicine on his gums

 and the next time I pulled it out, he crawled away from me, screaming and crying mad. 

He knew what was up!  After just one application of the stuff. 

It wasn't even Oragel! It was the natural decent tasting stuff. 

Silly boy. At least he's pretty happy for the most part? 

We might need to get more peas though because I mean....

Yeah so.. there you have it. 

The good and the ugly

Now someone hold me because today our sweet little baby is eight months old.