A birthday boy, wisdom teeth and a wobbly walker...

...all came together in the last couple weeks. Yes my baby is offically the big 0-1 though sadly, just a week after his 1st birthday, I had to dig through his drawers and pack up his 12month clothing and haul out the 18month stuff. Stuff Jackson was wearing only a year ago. Stuff that was slightly big on Jackson a year ago. How sad is that? Oh the massivness of my happy carefree little chunk-a-monk. At his 12 appointment today he weighed in at 25.2lbs and is 32" tall. We didn't do anything for his birthday, but I did make him a shirt that I sadly don't have a picture of on my camera yet, but will get soon. Remind me and I'll do it.

Isn't he just the cutest?

The wisdom teeth were mine and they were surgically removed a week ago today. Everything went better than expected and I am healing very nicely. I didn't really even get too swollen either. My left side was and still is worse, but any discomfort I had was easily taken care of with the drugs they gave me. It was most definatly not something I ever want to go though again as I am a huge wuss when it comes to my mouth and have still not been able to eat the hamburger I've been craving since the day after. Oh I'll be so happy when that day comes :)

Now on to the walking. I know I've been talking about Owen being so close to walking and now he's finally there! Yay for my big boy! Anyways, I wish I could stay and type some more, but naptime is over and I have a headache that is threatening to pull me under. Until next time, mind your teeth and your manners and I'm sure you'll get along just fine. Have a good one!

PS The elusive thread is finally here!!!! Now the neverending quilt may finally be done in the forseeable future! Double Yay!! :-)

My, my, my...

Where did the month go? I promise I meant to get on here sooner, but lately Jeff has been taking the laptop to work so he can do homework on his breaks and durring lunch and since the desktop is in our bedroom(which is off limits to miniature people) I rarely get the chance to get online anymore. So much has happened I don't know where to start. I guess the beginning would be a good place.

First as an update, Jackson's potty training is still doing as well as can be expected for anyone of his age and attention span. We have our accidents and can't seem to keep enough dry, clean underwear in stock to keep him clothed for more than a couple days unless he has a really good week and I am really paying attention. Yes, I have bought more but they are in dire need of being modified to not only fit better but to protect and hold back small floods better. I know, silly me for thinking regular undies would be ok. HA. Good thing I had the notion to pack an extra pair and some clean pants in the diaper bag for church yesterday.

Owen is so close to walking, I almost wish he would just do it already. His 1st birthday is tomorrow(!!!!) and it seems like only yesterday I was a week overdue and miserable instead of it being a full year ago. The time has flown by so fast, I can hardly belive it sometimes. I know for a lot of people the first birthday is a big deal, and although I'd like to make a huge deal about it, the fact is, Owen won't care or even remember it the next day so I'm not going to worry too much about it. We'll have a quiet family get together and watch him devour some cake or muffins or cupcakes or whatever I decide, but there won't be decorations or many, if any, presents just because he doesn't really need them.

We stopped nursing at the beginning of the month, much to my sadness, because when I started on full dose birth control and I started working out more, my supply went downhill quickly and he lost interest. I was really hoping we'd make it all the way to a year this time, but I guess 11 months is better than the 8 months I went with Jackson.

Owen is also working on getting some molars which will put his total tooth count to 10 when they finally break through. My boys get their teeth early and fast, so I'm not surprised. He's talking a little bit, he can say mama and dada and something that sounds like a mix of Jackson and dada. He adores his big brother and they have so much fun together.

So, you know how I've been working on the never ending quilt for, like, ever? Well, turns out I may still be working on it when I die. It has been decided that I will never finish it. About 3 weeks ago I was dutifully working on it in a frenzy, trying to finish it so I could work on some sewing projects I've been planning for a while, including new/reconstructed undies for Jackson, and I ran out of my main color of floss. No big deal right? I'll just hop on over to Joann Fabric and get some more, right? Wrong. Joann was out. Completely out, even though they'd just gotten a shipment the day before, so I thought, ok, no big deal I'll just come back next week when they get their next shipment and they'll have it and in the meantime I can work on this fabulous outfit for my new neice. So, the next week comes around and I meander my way over to Joann on the day they were getting their new shipment and make my way to the embroidery floss isle to find...an empty slot where my floss should be. Maybe they haven't unpacked it and restocked yet? I asked for some assistance which was met with a little reluctance and annoyance at being interrupted from her unpacking and restocking and what did she find? No light mocha brown embroidery floss was to be found among the millions of other embroidery floss boxes they'd just recieved. By this time I was more than a little annoyed and decided right then and there I was going to go online that night(because Jeff had the laptop at work and I avoid my very chilly bedroom during the day) and order some and pray that it would get here soon enough for me to finish this blasted, never-ending, source-of-all-my-headaches quilt.  I got home and I complained to my mom who decided she was going to get the floss for me and send it. Great, right? Sure, if I lived any closer to Illinois where she was watching my toddler cousins for 2 weeks and had no way to get the mailbox on her own. I love her for thinking of me and recognising that if this quilt isn't finished soon it will become like the unfinished quilt her mother kept on a frame behind a couch for about 10 years until the day when she decided to finish it and one of my uncles ruined it by tossing some scissors over it (forgive my run-on sentance) while they were tying it. Whoops. Pray that won't happen to this particular quilt, because I don't plan on putting it on a frame(other than my mother's quilting machine frame which will roll it up quite nicely) and tossing scissors over it. I think I would lay down and die if that happened. Anyways, the floss is finally in the mail and on it's way here(I hope) so maybe this quilt will be done in the next decade. I'll keep you updated.

Now, I mentioned in the middle of that tirade a fabulous outfit that I made for my newborn neice while I was waiting for the elusive floss. Wanna see it? You know you do and you'll die when you do because it's too cute for human eyes :) Get ready...

How cute is this? Wanna see some close ups? Here ya go!

So what do you think? Longing for a girl if you don't have one? I know I am. The headband is a little big, but I'm making another identical outfit for a friend/cousin-in-law/neighbor(yes she is all the above :)) who is due any day and will be doing things slightly different so hopefully it turns out a bit better. I was inspired by this little outfit (http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2010/02/sweet-little-combo.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MakeItAndLoveIt+%28Make+It+and+Love+It%29) (sorry I don't know how to do the special little links) but did my own thing so it turned out pretty different.

Anyways, it's very late and I am a little tired, so I will leave you with these words of wisdom. Never assume Joann will be restocking the most vital item you need to finish a never ending project, never toss scissors over a quilt on a frame, especially if that quilt has been hanging out behind the couch for 10 years, and last but not least, buy the padded underwear when you start potty training, it significantly reduces the amount of puddles and wet socks you end up with. Until next time, be wise, be safe and stay dry.

What do you think?

First off, I have to say Thank you to Heather for pointing in the direction of Delightful Dots backgrounds. I found this background almost instantly and immediatly fell in love with it. It's my colors and just cutesy enough to look nice. Now I just need to figure out how to get a cute heading with pictures and fancy writing. Any tips? Thanks to all you who read my blog and comment, I appreciate it more than you know and if you couldn't comment before, you can now again. I redid a few other things and made a small mistake, but I've fixed it and things are now back to normal. Anyways, take care and I'll post again soon!

PS What are your plans for Valentines Day? I'd love to hear your creative or not so creative ideas for the most romantic (or overrated, according to Jeff) day of the year!!

One down, 10 million to go...

Projects that is! I finally finished Liz's hat and scarf and am planning a trip to the post office this afternoon to send them off. Thankfully Rexburg misses the memo every spring that it needs to start warming up, so she's still got a couple months of cold weather to make good use of them. I am almost loving how they both turned out, the purple yarn I used is absolutly beautful and works so well with the plain gray. Just in case you are wondering, yes, I did redo the hat. Took it completely apart and restarted it. I didn't want to have to spend the time and energy trying to figure out how to do earflaps and make it snugger and figured it would be easier to just redo the whole thing. I am happy enough with it that it's being sent off but I could have done the top a bit different. Oh well, she likes the pictures I sent her so that's that.

Please ignore the duck in the corner, I was hoping it wouldn't get it in the picture, but oh well. If you want a close up of the hat and scarf, click the picture and a window with it supersized will show up.

My mom came and visited us last week while my dad was at a potato conference in TriCities. Before she came, she asked me several times what kind of projects we would be doing while she was here. She wanted to start a quilt that she gave me the pattern and supplies for last(08) Christmas. It is still sitting in my sewing cupboard, untouched, because I've been trying in vain to finish Jackson's quilt(which, by the way, is where all my crafty energy will be spent until it is done). As it turns out, she managed to get sick before she came and was tempted to just stay home, but because she only gets to see us about 3 or 4 times a year, decided to suck it up and come anyways. Unfortunatly, about 2 days before she came, the boys and I got sick as well, so we pretty much did nothing for 2 of the 3 1/2 days she was here(she got here Monday afternoon and left Friday morning). She was finally feeling better by Thursday and decided she wanted to make me a skirt(my closet is sorely lacking many items, skirts and jeans being the biggest deficit) but she didn't have any material to make on with and the material in my sewing closet was either not enough yardage or I had nothing in my clothes closet that would match the finished project. So, with skirt fabric in mind, we finally decided to squeeze into my too small car(Racheal couldn't buckle up, which is a huge no-no in my car, because of the boys carseats) around 5pm(I was ready to go by about 3) and trekked off to Joann fabric, the only fabric store in The Valley that carries fabric for a variety of projects. I kept coming back to this one print I found, but I still kept looking for something I liked better and was more versitile but still pretty. I think we spent wasted about and hour in there looking for the perfect skirt material and this is what I decided on.

And again with the duck! I need a better backdrop :)

Pretty, isn't it? I have most of the colors already in my closet, so it was perfect. I really wanted to wear it on Sunday, but it was a tad too big, needs to be hemmed and I really need to get myself a decent slip to wear under it (can you say static cling?). By the time we were done in Joann, we were all exhausted and hungry, but we still needed to go to WalMart for some stuff. Mom decided that the boys' toy area needed some help and bought us some really nice storage containers.

 

Baskets for shoes and diapers in the bookcase and the rubbermaid drawers aren't much but they really do a lot for the areas they are in. The box on top was what all the toys were previously spewing out of. That mat has been in the boys room for a while and it would never stay in place, so this is the best place for it, especially since their cars and trucks are already here.

Now, I am not an interior designer or anything, but so far what I've done has worked pretty well. Unfortunatly in my hopes of keeping the mess somewhat contained to the corner, my boys have, of course, decided they don't want to play in the corner, so the mess ends up everywhere. You don't even want to know what the rest of the living room looked like when I took these quick pictures. I actually cleaned up the toy corner really fast before hand so it looks pretty good right now. We will see how long that lasts. They've already found the cleanliness and are undoing it as I type. Oh well, that's just life when you've got very active boys. Anyways, it's lunchtime and I'm hearing some whining, so I'd better go get back to real life. Until next time and I hope you find your crafty side and make something fabulous!!

Oh and PS I seriously need some help with my background. Not so sure I'm loving it anymore and can't find anything I like! I need tips on either how to make my own or where to find free ones I'll love. Cutest Blog on the Blog is ok, but I need a few more hours in my day(which I just don't have, I have a hard time carving out a few minutes to get on here in the first place) to find a better site. Please help if you can! You all have such cute blogs I want to join your ranks!!

Potty training fun

And fun it has been. Last week Jeff decided I needed to start Jackson with potty training because someone he works with is starting with his little boy (who is about a month younger than Jackson). Apparently they haven't been having much success at all, and I was sure that Jackson wasn't quite ready for it. I was actually trying to wait until the weather warmed up so I could just strip him down and let him run around naked, but since Jeff thought it was time and Jackson had successfully used the potty before, I decided to make a sticker chart, put on the cloth diapers and try the potty thing hoping it would be a failure so I could wait for my Naked Summer Plan.

Day 1 in the Land of the Potty. Amazing isn't it?

His Potty-tude attire for the week- if you look closely you can see the diaper matches the shirt. Sort of. Yes, I made the diaper myself :)

Jackson has surprised me to no end in that he loves the potty. We are only into the second week, yet he has already filled half of his chart with stickers for going pee, has had only a few accidents and is actually starting to tell us when he has to go.

This is only a week and 3 days and we finally got a poop(that's what the last weird looking sticker is for)!

He has special stickers he gets to use when he goes poop and so far he's only been able to get one. The stickers are cars, trucks, clouds, traffic lights and all other traffic related boy things. He asks for them everytime, but I have to keep explaining to him that he only gets those for going poop. This has caused numerous meltdowns and tantrums, but being the mean mommy I am, I've stuck to my word. Since I know accidents happen and I wasn't expecting him to be doing so well so soon, I haven't really been too hard on him for having an accident. Accidents happen and he gets pretty upset about them as it is. Especially if he is wearing his new 'big boy undies'(Gerber training pants from Walmart). I'm not very pleased with the design of the training pants, so I'm actually planning on making my own pattern for some that I know will be to-die-for cute. I've been trying to find a pattern I like, but so far I haven't been able to find one, hence the desire to make one myself. Hopefully if they are cute enough, I'll be able to sell them too. I've got several projects that need finished before I get too entrenched in that, so I'm trying to hold off for at least a little while. I still have to finish the hat and scarf I was making for my sister for Christmas(don't get me started on the annoyances accopmanied by them) and I really need to finish the never-ending quilt I started for Jackson when I was pregnant with Owen (hopefully I'll finish it by Jackson's 3rd birthday so he can finally use it).

Jackson's Never-Ending Quilt of Shame(mine of course for letting it take so long)

The reason it has taken so long. Hand embroidered monkeys in each square. I'm completely insane.

Elizabeth's hat. Not only is it too big around, it's not long enough, so I've got to add earflaps and take it in a bit. The scarf has been taken apart and restarted for the millionth time, so I refused to take a picture to document my failure.

Those are at the top of my list, followed closely by the training pants and another quilt that I've got all the stuff for but haven't started yet. It seems so hard to find time to sew even though I'm home all day. The boys hate it when I sew and won't leave me alone until I leave it alone. Some day I will finish these things, I'm hoping sooner rather than later. Anyways, I hope you all are having a great week! Till next time :)

Christmas and the New Year

Once again I am late posting, but the last several weeks have been so busy, it's seems I've barely had time to breathe, much less get online. I finally found a spare minute and am taking full advantage of it. For Christmas this year, we went over to Montana to see my family and had a wonderful time spending the entire week with them. They weren't expecting us until the Monday night before Christmas, but our plans changed and and we were able to arrive a day early and surprise them. I wish I could have taken a picture of mom's face when Jackson walked downstairs and said hi. She was so shocked and so flustered and excited it caught up with us as soon as we turned the car off and went inside. It rained like that all night and by the next morning, it was dangerous even to walk on the grass. It was a very good thing we arrived a day early. We went down to Billings on Tuesday night and the road was a solid sheet of ice the entire way there as well. Someone's advice to my dad before we left for Billings was only go as fast as you want to hit the ditch. What a comforting thought. The roads stayed like that until Christmas morning adn then we finally saw the sun. Anyways, we had a wonderful day in Billings, though it was a little rushed, and we were even able to squeeze in a much needed temple session. My sisters were kind enough to watch the boys for us all day as we ran around going to the Dentist(my uncle Cody, who fixed a very sensitive filling for me and to whom I am extremely grateful to), the temple and Walmart for some last minute Christmas shopping. I spent Christmas Eve (the entire day and part of the early early hours of Christmas morning) wrapping all the presents I hadn't had time to wrap before we left and trying to finish the ones that weren't done yet(and still aren't done yet because the store ran out of the yarn I need). We played games and ate food and had a great time. Christmas morning was very relaxed and we didn't open any presents until around noon.

The boys sleeping in. They both decided they needed Christmas morning snuggles with Mommy and Daddy and fell back to sleep together. Good thing Mom and Dad gave us a king size bed!

We did things a little different this year and drew names for who stuffed whose stocking to else the finacial burden on Santa. We had a $7.50 price limit per stocking, but I think most of us went a little overboard and Santa still contributed more than he needed to, but who is complaining :) Mom's stuffer from me was promtly stolen by my little sister Racheal and was broken to bits by the end of the day.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

Her present to me was the best ever and I absolutly love it and can't wait to start sewing on it. I've tested it out, but so far I haven't really done anything with it just because I haven't had the time to yet. I'm so excited though!! Love you Mom!!

Please ignore my hideousness. At least I was clean :)

Jeff got me a digital picture frame!! I love that man :) He also got me a handheld electronic Sudoku game because I like to play but it drives me nuts because I'm terrible at it.

To Jackson and Owen from Mommy and Daddy. They fight over this thing constantly.

Isn't Liz adorable?!

Right before we opened our stockings. Jeff must have been either blinking or sneezing.

Isn't my dad a handsome man?

This is Nathan, can you tell he's a teenager? He was like this the entire week. What a buttmunch.

Racheal, the stocking stuffer thief. Cute though, isnt she?

Unfortunatly I don't have any great pictures of my beautiful older sister Jennifer.

Owen was very sleepy(even though he slept in) and went down for a nap right before we started to open presents, so I don't have any pictures of him playing with his new things.

Here is our tree. The Hospital(were Jeff works) was getting rid of a bunch of things and this was one of them, so we now have a free, though worth $80, 7ft tall artificial tree including some tacky ornaments the boys love. Jackson decorated the bottom half of the tree and I did the top half. Sadly you can't actually see any of my ornaments because it took me a couple days to get around to putting them on. We'll put this tree up when we go to Montana for Christmas and we'll cut our own when we are home.

Right before we left Wenatchee got dumped on, so Jackson and I went out and made good use of the coat, snowpants, boots, gloves and hat he got last year.

This snow is all from just one night and he had a blast!

As for the New Year, I didn't make any resolutions, but I've got some ongoing goals. Once again I've started an excersise program, this one from The Biggest Loser. I've got a weight loss yoga DVD and a Bootcamp DVD with Bob as my 'personal trainer' and they both are kicking my butt. It's a 6 week program, but I think I'm going to drag it out a little longer. For those of you who know me well, you know I am not a morning preson at all and will stay in bed until I absolutly have to get up. Well, starting this week, I've changed that habit and am now getting up at 7am so I can do my workout. The DVD's are supposed to work together, but with 2 little boys who like to interrupt me often, I'm only able to do one a day which is the reason for the 7am alarm clock wakeup call. Ugh. It's working though. The boys wake up anywhere between 7:30 and 8 and because I'm already awake(completely awake and usually dripping in sweat), they don't have to wait as long for me to get them some breakfast. By then I'm usually either all the way done or most of the way done and Jeff hasn't left for work yet so he'll help me out a bit until he has to leave. My body is sore and aching, but like I used to say in High School all the time, no pain no gain. My brother in law(that's you Greg) has the P90X program and has offered to burn me a copy so that when I'm done with my 6 week Biggest Loser program I can do that one and hopefully I'll finally be able to reach my weight loss goal. For those of you who haven't heard of P90X, it's an intense 90 day program designed to slim you down and tone you up in 90 days. I've got some friends doing it and the results are incredible. Google it to see for youself. Hopefully I'll be able to get a before picture up for you all to gag at :). Wish me luck!

A Sale!!(share this with your friends!!)

I know this isn't the normal topic of conversation for me, but I'm too excited about it not to share. I don't have many followers, but for those of you who do actually read my rantings, thank you. A true friend is one who listens and will read the rantings of a crazy person all the way to the end. I love you and appreciate the time you take out of you day to read my blog. Anyways, as some of you may know, I was raised by a mom who loves to quilt and sew and is always doing all sorts of projects(most of them never get finished, but she does have good intentions) and she taught my sisters and myself from a young age to be as crafty/thrifty/cheap/etc as possible. Now I don't really consider myself to be too crafty, but I do have my moments of brilliance. Whenever I am "online window" shopping, I'm almost always thinking to myself, I bet I could find and modify a pattern for that and make it myself. This thinking became almost an obsession when I became a mom and realised how much baby stuff really costs. In the past year alone, I've experiemented with my own homemade cloth diapers, my own brand of "Hooter Hiders" or nursing covers, baby slings and carriers, cloth baby shoes(still working on the pattern for that one) and most recently, hooded towels. Jeff, being the wonderful husband he is, bought me a brand new sewing machine for my birthday last year and I am so in love with the ease of use it provides me and all my projects. Until recently I haven't been confident enough in any of my designs to sell them, but my hooded towels seem to be a hit. My sister-in-law is due with her first baby next month and so I made her one as a baby shower gift, which is where I got my first customer, 3 towels for $15 each. Up until now, I've been making things for free because I'm a nice person and really don't like asking for money from people even though sometimes it feels as though I'm spending a fortune making things. However, if I am ever going to make any money(which was actually the original plan), I'm going to have to buck up and actually put a price tag on my products. I don't have many pictures yet, but I will do my best to take some more for you and if any of you are interested or you know someone who would be interested, please let me know. So far all I'm selling is towels and the nursing covers (price varies with fabric, but around $8 each, I think), but once I get my shoe pattern the way I like it, I'll be selling them too. I'd like to sell the carriers too, but that makes me a bit nervous because there is a possiblily of failure and I'd never want to put anyone's baby at risk. I doubt that would happen because I'm a bit obsessive about getting the right kinds of fabric and reinforcing all the seams, but accidents happen. If you're still interested, let me know, I make asian or Mei Tai style carriers(similar to BabyHawk), wrap carriers(similar to the Moby Wrap) and sling carriers(like HotSlings), prices vary with the type of material I use. If there is any other style you'd be interested in, I'd be happy to try it out myself and let you know what I think. I test all my products on my children (does that sound bad?), so if I don't feel safe using them on my babies, I won't sell it until I've got it right. I will keep you updated on the shoes because they are going to be absolutely adorable when I get them figured out. Have a great week everyone!!

Mei Tai Style Carrier Prototype