Disaster Strikes: Kids room

Ive been in my kids room all morning cleaning! I really love that they are independent enough to go play in there for about 30 minutes at a time, nicely, together. But sheesh, it always ends up completely destroyed! Ive been using today to feel some goodwill boxes of odd and end toys that just clutter and are a pain in the butt to pick up everytime. I have the biggest haul to take to them right now! Its been collecting for a couple of months. I made so much head way! Still need to vacuum and straighten their closets. Just sat down for a minute because the kids always act like they desparately need me the minute I look busy. So Im sitting with them for a few minutes. Im mostly trying to make a big enough of a path to get the crib out. Ive decided to go ahead and sell it. Lorelai refuses to sleep in it. She will be ready for a toddler bed before she will ever consider it. So figured I might as well make a profit from her silliness. All that will be in there for now is Finns toddler bed. Lorelai still sleeps in a pack n play in our little dining room nook. Im just not ready to integrate them into the same room at night. They both wake up from time to time and Id rather deal with getting one back down then both of them. Im just glad to be getting the house even more cleaned out. Should like nice and spiffy come this weekend, for Christmas decorating! I really should have taken a before and after picture of their room. But I would have felt a little ashamed of how far I let it get!

El Paseo of Sickness

Well clearly I survived Black Friday. I went Thursday night got my entire list. I also got my friend's entire list while she kept my children. I have decided Black Friday is basically a competition between women to see who can be the biggest bitch. I look forward to it again next year :) Did anyone else go and conquer the madness? What was the main thing on your list? For me, my biggest goal was to make sure Christmas brought an influx of more pink and girliness to the toys around here.

Saturday was spent with visiting family. We took them to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History with our membership. If you ever come to the area, GO! It's great for all ages but their childrens areas are fantastic. Every kid I have ever been there with had a blast. Right now the traveling exhibit there is Titanic(they switch out the big exhibit often, its always fun and interactive). When we finished we went for Mexican and spent the rest of the day home, watching the cousins play together and playing some board games. They stayed the night and headed home the next morning.

A few hours later, I was throwing up the taco salad I had eaten at said Mexican joint. A few people said it wasnt food poisoning cus it had been too long. However, after spending the entire day puking ground beef, Im not sure. No one else had ground beef and no else got sick..So I'm raising my eyebrow at the restaraunt. So I spent Sunday and Monday on the couch and the bathroom. Monday afternoon I finally started feeling better.

Today, I decided to take to little kiddos to their playdate at the local mall playground with some friends. They played a long time and really enjoyed themselves. Wore them out just enough to come home and take a nap so I could clean. I plan to put up our tree this weekend so Im trying to get things extra spiffy. Im so anxious about it. In one way I cant wait because well I love Christmas trees. On the other hand, Im so nervous about how the kids are going to treat it. I cant help but wonder how much time I will be spending cleaning up what they pull off of it all day. Does anyone have this issue with their babies or toddlers? Advice?

When we got to the playground today, I took off their coats and hats. Lorelai literally yelled at me for this. So I put it back on her and she was happy as can be. Wore it the entire time we were there. Silly girl.

Santa Hat Instructions

I decided to include instructions on how I made the Santa Hat table centerpiece. I wanted to add it to my pinterest stuff and I personally hate when I click a pin and it goes no where.

First of all list of supplies I used.

3 Styrofoam cones. You can choose different heights or all the same.
Red felt.
Black ribbon
Silver Ribbon(now the supplies for the buckle were forgotten at the store so we had to get creative. My friend, whom I was making these for, had a big bag of Christmas gift bows. We just pulled the staple out and I placed strips of it into a square).
White pompoms
Christmas ornaments
Strips of white fur
Hot Glue
Some fluffy snow look a like material
And some kind of platter(although I think if you wanted to expand the piece you could lay down a pretty table runner and place these all the way up and down the table with the ornaments around).

Once I had all the materials, I started by covering the cones in the red felt. I found the easiest way was to start at the tip and folded it over(gluing as I went) and then went on to simply wrap the rest.
Next I wrapped a strip of black ribbon all the way around about a third of the way down.(its a belt so whatever looks like good placement to you). I then cut and created the buckle. On the bottom I cut and glued the white fur. Lastly I added the pompom to the top. I do advise putting the pompom on last. You have to turn the cone upside down and things to put the other pieces on and so in order for it to stay on securely, its best to do it last.

Once the 3 cones are all completed, its time to create the scene on the platter. Add a layer of "snow" and arrange the hats to your liking. Lastly, add the ornaments around the cones. Use as few or as many as you like!

Happy Thanksgiving

From time to time, I miss how much fun I had creating and decorating beautiful weddings. I love decorating for events and making them look awesome! Of course, with two babies that job is on pause. So, when my business/science minded friend posted on Facebook that she really needed help decorating for Christmas to the standards of hosting a party, I volunteered. Yesterday, I met with her to begin a list to create and get a feel for what she wants her Christmas home to feel like. I want to help her create something that is easy to bring out and enjoy every year. We got started with a tree and I created a piece for her table. She wants it to be traditional but she has young children, so it should have some youth to it as well.

Over the next week we plan to transform everything to match the season. Tonight I will be creating pieces to transform her fridge into a squared snowman. Over the weekend I plan to create beautiful greenery pieces for her doorways and fireplace. Also, they have a built in bar area in their home that will go a long way in entertaining party guests. I am trying to come up with a good decor scheme to make it festive and pretty but not get in the way of functionality. Does anyone reading this have an area like that in your home? Any good approaches you can suggest?

 

Who has their decorations up? When does your home start to look a lot like Christmas? 

Also what is everyone's Thanksgiving plans? Ours are pretty minimal. While Stephen's position as a Walmart assistant manager takes great care of our family, it has its drawbacks. Such as, the fact he will be going in at 6pm tomorrow. So we will be going out to dinner. Im actually fine with it. The place we are going has delicious food. And Im not stuck with all the clean up. Also the small amount of time we have is spent enjoying dinner together and not cooking and stuff. Right before I drop him off to work, I will be taking the kiddos to a friend's house so I can get in line for the first round of Black Friday sales when I take Stephen.

 

So whatever you guys are doing, I hope everyone enjoys a lovely Thanksgiving! Also, Im ending with a picture of my kids at the playground today just because, I love them and think they are cute!

Christmas Shopping, Getting the Party Started!

So it is pretty late here. However, I have finished my list for Black Friday! Im so excited! This is only the 2nd time in my life to partake in this. My dad was always not much of a crowd person and thought the event was ridiculous. I think its fun. Stephen and I went together the year before we had Finn. I thought it was a lot of fun..total adrenaline rush, haha! The last couple years I have skipped it due to either a tiny Finn or a still tiny Finn and very pregnant momma. People get nutso at these sales and I was afraid someone would hurt Finn or my stomach. This year, Im getting back out there! A good friend of mine is taking my kids and in exchange giving me her list and cash to pick up her stuff. Perfect arrangement! I am excited to knock out some Christmas gifts and of course Lorelai's birthday gifts. How many of you out there participate in this madness? Do you go out or do you stay in and shop online(i did this for Finns train table last year)? Or do you skip the chaos altogether? I just like this marking of the Christmas season starting(at least to me, I have some friends who already have their tree up!). Im excited to get the party started. Im excited to start talking to my kids about Christmas and why we celebrate it. I cant wait to put up the tree and see their reactions to the world around them lighting up for the month! The time between not being a child at Christmas anymore and having children at Christmas, doesnt allot for very much magic. Im so anxious to experience Christmas through my kids eyes, to help them make their own wonderful memories! It really is completely magical!

I also stayed up and tried to create my husbands Christmas list. Unfortunately, Ive only come up with his stocking stuffers. A few things I know he will appreciate. Now I'd like to come up with a nice gift for him. This is the hard part, Ive never been very good at shopping for him. He always seems hard to impress. The last few occasions Ive done well. I just add a Harry Potter book to his collection. He has the entire American series and British(he makes a hobby out of finding them. He is a huge fan of the stories). He has a couple in French, German and Japanese. I could add to that, but its just so predictable! I'm hoping continued brainstorming will bring on something. How do you guys shop for your man? Does he keep moot about what he wants? Does he beg for something starting at the begninning of the season? I grew up with only sisters. Girls just arent very secretive when they want something. Ive noticed guys on the other hand arent as intuned to their material desires.

Well, I think I've exhausted Christmas thoughts for the night, not to mention just exhausted myself in general. So good night all!

Thankfulness and Birthdays

Today, I am soooooo thankful we are all feeling better. Im so anxious to finally get out of the house! Trying to come up with some fun plans for tomorrow. Luckily, Stephen is off too. We can all go as a family! I want to be able to get out and be thankful for the world outside of this house!

On a side note, Lorelai is 11 months old today! One more month left in her infancy! I honestly can't believe we are here! Those first couple weeks after we brought her home, while I adjusted to having a one year old and a newborn(plus I was healing from a csection), were hell to be honest. It took me some time to get into the groove of things and to get it to a manageable point. Didnt help that she wasnt much of a sleeper! Finn practically slept away his first 3 months of life. It was days of one only sleeping when the other was awake. I was sooo over the moon when they started observing the same sleep schedule! He only napped once a day but it finally fell during one of hers.

After about a month and a half, she finally slept all the way through the night with him. That's the point I started to feel human again. I still remember Christmas Day, just after she came home. It was a rough couple of nights before hand, I remember we decided to go to IHOP for dinner cus I sure wasnt cooking breakfast. As we sat there, I just remember looking at my husband and never being more in love with him than when he looked back at me and said "for Christmas, when we get home, you are going to bed and sleeping for a long time." On one hand it was the most romantic thing he has ever done, on the other, I couldnt help but wonder how bad I must have looked that he looked at me and offered it. Oh well, I decided today wasnt the day to discuss it, I was gonna SLEEP! It was glorious!

Today, she is an adorable little girl with a developing sense of humor. She has a big personality and loves to dance and sing with any music. She has a huge interest in my laptop and always leaves handprints on the screen, as a result of her big curiosity. Im thinking one of her birthday gifts will be a child's learning laptop. I know it probably still wont be as cool as the real thing but hopefully it will buy me a few less handprints.

We are planning to throw her party in January. I dont want to inconvenience anyone's holiday and travel plans. So since she doesnt know the difference yet we will be doing it one month later.

More Thanking

In light of sick days, today's thankfulness was something close to home

Im thankful for modern medicine. Im thankful to live in a place where medical help is readily available to me. Im thankful I get to choose how, where and who from which I get it. Im thankful for those in the healthcare profession who like what they do and genuinely care about their patients. Im also thankful to the inventors and creators of medicines that I can use to make myself and children a little less miserable when they go throuhg illnesses

Tot School Fun

So if you read my posts, you know that the kids and I have been couped up and sick(Stephen isnt feeling awesome but must work). The kids have been getting a little nuts. I can tell they wish they could break out and run. Im giving it another day or so. Also while we have felt bad, educational activities have been moved to the back burner. Today, I decided we needed to pull one out! I figured it would be a nice change of pace from the past few days. So after I layed them down for naps(and finally ate for the first time all day), I set to work. I decided it would be a fun day to talk about fall colors. The best way I could think of to do this, is make a tot size construction tree and leaves on our wall.

When the kids walked in to see it, they were both immediately drawn to it. Finn even let out a heartfelt "wow." So, I changed their diapers and fed them a snack. Then we sat in the floor together and talked about it. Then I showed them how to take the leaves off and place them on other branches. Finn really enjoyed this part! Lorelai mostly just wanted to tear up the leaf I let her hold..eh, I let her. By the end, Finn had properly identified the color, yellow and red. We didnt quite accomplish orange and brown but we will come back to it another day. I was proud of how well he participated in the activity.

Once we had exhausted the activity, I decided to finally give into Lorelai. I let her tear it down. It was only construction paper and not that hard to make. I saved the leaves for more activities and let her take care of the trunk. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and I hope gained some motor skills(and good practice for Christmas present opening!).

This simple activity, had both of them in better moods even after we had finished with the tree. It was nice to see their excited little faces again! Now I'm brainstorming something fun for tomorrow! I love making them happy!

Another Day of Thanfulness

I know I havent kept up with this everyday. To be honest these are things I think about always and keeping up with it daily while taking care of sick babies and now my sick self is next to impossible.
They seem to be getting better just left over snotty noses. Last night, however, Finn woke with what seemed to be an allergic reaction. He had sores around his mouth and was obviously having stomach pains, along with painful diaper rash. Since his tongue or anything wasnt swelling and it was clearly not life threatening. I went ahead and gave him some children's benedryl. After 30 minutes, he was calm again and able to go back to bed. Ive been suspicious of him eating apples for a couple months now. Now since he drank apple juice yesterday, it has confirmed what I thought to already be true. He has an apple allergy. I plan to call the pediatrician as soon as I finish typing this entry to set up an appointment. Im hoping they can maybe do some allergy tests. He also can not eat blueberries. In order to avoid something like last night happening again, it would be nice to have a list. He has tested things like peanut butter and been fine. His allergies tend to lie in the fruit families. After talking to Stephen's sister, it would appear there is some family history with this, that no one thought was necessary to share with me(sure wish someone would have had this courtesy!). I guess Lorelai's digestion is all me cus that girl can take anything!

With all of this said, I would like to say, Im thankful for modern medicine and our ability to fix a problem with a dropper full of it. Im thankful it was able to settle my son's pains and tears last night. Watching him in pain had me crying right along with him. Im thankful for doctors and their healing knowledge. Im thankful we live in a place that allows us access to it all.

On that note, Im thinking I need an appointment for myself. Im still sick, while everyone has seemed to clear up. Now in normal circumstances, seeing as its pretty much just a cold, I would continue to just tough it out. However, I tend to be very susceptible to pnuemonia. Ive gotten it 3 times in the last 5 years. I had a horrible case of it in kindergarten(we are talking hospital stay) and since then, it tends to want to follow me around. So, once I finish talking with the pediatrician, I will be calling mine. Hoping for some kind of prevention action.

A Family of Sickies

Well this past week, there hasnt been writers block, just absolutely nothing to write! We kept pretty low key for a few days. Thursday afternoon, I went back to the urologist. My appointment was at 3pm, I got the kids a babysitter. Boy, am I glad I thought to!! It was after 5 before they saw me! The littles would have been going mad by that point! Originally my appt time was 10am but they called me and set it later. No big deal. Turns out though, they didnt move the afternoon people. They were trying to cram everyone in at the same time. Making, for super long wait times. I watched multiple patients get really upset and gripe at the personnel.

I didnt have much to complain about my babysitter charges flat rate but I was hoping to get done there and accomplish a couple things on the way home kidless. Like, you know, a little Christmas business! I was jus there too long, and after a while of being there, I was getting texts from my sitter that Lorelai didnt seem to be feeling well. That confirmed suspicions, I had earlier in the day that she seemed to be different from her usual self. So now, Im sitting in the waiting room feeling like a bad mom because I cant be there to cuddle my poor baby.

The results of the Dr appt were that I still have one decent sized stone in my kidney. It's on the borderline of a size the may be able to pass by itself or it may be too large. He gave me some stuff to take, that relaxes the urethra to help it go through. I get 2 months to see if it passes on its own, if not, he has to do another lithotripsy.

Anyways, after leaving the office after 6:30, I grabbed a quick bite to eat(I didnt eat before I went because I didnt realize how long I'd be there, big mistake!) and was able to pick up Stephen from work for the evening. I didnt want to have to get baby girl back out if necessary. By the time we got home, little girl had already gone to bed. From what I had seen and what was described of her the rest of the evening, it sounded like a cold gone bad. She slept all night though.

The next morning we woke and all of us felt crappy! So all day Friday, we shut ourselves in. I told my husband we are resting and getting over whatever this mess is. Saturday, we woke to everyone still with runny noses but broken fevers and much better spirits. While I didnt think we were 100% we had a couple errands that needed doing. So we loaded the kids in their jammies and Stephen basically drove me around to run in places and take care of things. On the way home we stopped and got take out. Now we are closed back in for the evening hoping to get a little bit more rest. Stephen works in the morning and dealing with sick kids while Im sick alone, is something Id like to avoid.

Anyways, thats about it. This week Lorelai, has followed brother and begun saying "thank you." It's incredibly adorable and another big reminder that she will be 1 in another month! It's sad but she is coming into nicely!

Seventh Day of Thankfulness

‎7: Im thankful for Netflix and a smart TV, frivolous, yes but their combined ability to keep my kids occupied while I clean, makes me very thankful. Without them we would live in a pig sty. Yes, when I need to put away laundry, I shamelessly plant my kids in front of a show. Go ahead and judge lol, idk my husband has clean underwear thats what matters.

Super Why

My son loves this show. I think some of his letter love actually stems from him watching it. Now, I think the show is very cute and not nearly as annoying as others out there, and since he appears to actually be gaining something from watching I will let him watch an episode here and there.

However, I have one issue with the show. Every episode starts out with a problem making itself known and then before all the super readers are called, Wyatt says "this is a super big problem." Now, I understand dramatic effect but the problems are never that big and it bothers me that they are teaching kids that they should consider tiny issues big problems. I want to teach my children not to interrupt others talking unless they have a big problem. I dont want them running up to me and interrupting because they dont have something to wear to a friends tea party or what not. That's not an interrupting worthy issue but this show portrays such things as, big problems.

Maybe Im making this a super big problem when its not, I just wish they would reconsider their wording on this part. I will still let my littles watch it but I do see a talk about what's really important coming up.

Writer's Block...So Video?

Days of Thanks 2 & 3

Well the kids and I went out of town Friday and got back late yesterday afternoon, so I missed a day of thanks. We went back for my old high school's homecoming game and to watch my sister perform as lead majorette. I will post about that soon. It has pictures and my phone has been messing up. As soon as I get the pictures on the computer I will post about that.

In the meantime, I am making my thankfulness post.

day 2: I am thankful for a little boy in my life who brought to life my dream of being a mommy.. I'm thankful for how much he teaches me everyday. I love that he still cant go very long without needing my hugs and cuddles. I never knew I could love having a little boy this much.

My Finnigan

Day 3: I am also thankful for my beautiful little dancing fool girl..Im thankful for the way her huge grin a million times a day always reminds me to not worry about things so much..these babies are happy=life is good

My Lorelai

Quietly Observing

So, a little while back one of my posts included my concern that my 2yr old should be speaking more. I have asked his pedi and they checked ears and ruled obvious things out. In the end, the diagnosis? He is quiet like his daddy. He is stubborn and prefers to play all day. Well I spend a lot of time every day talking to him about everything. Letters, weather, what he would like to eat, and even talk through dressing him. His favorite show is Super Why! Nothing gets the attention span those characters do.

Tonight, I volunteered to watch a friend's children, so she could take her husband out for his birthday. I spent the night with 5 kids. Surprisingly it went well and I didnt ever feel overwhelmed. Go me! Well in one of the bedroom closets, my son came across a bin of the floor mat with pop out letters. I had walked out of the room but came back to check on him and he emerged holding up a Y and saying what it was. I was amazed, haha..I spend a lot of time talking to him but he is usually distracted and doesnt care. It was nice to have reassurance that he has been listening. Then, he pulled out an O and did the same, and then an A and a U and the E! I literally had tears in my eyes! I was just enjoying this moment of not feeling like a complete failure cus my kid never wants to talk! Then it dawned on me while I listened to him pull and B and D, most of his babbling, is letter sounds! He knows them! While more actual words would be helpful in life, Im understanding more about what he cares about. He likes letters and their sounds. He likes to sit down and pretend to read books. Just like his father..that man can hole up with a book for days and we'd never hear a word, if I didnt remind him that we exist sometimes..haha!

Anyways, to others this may not seem like much but to a mom with a 2 year old who doesnt seem to give 2 hoots about speaking to us, it's a big deal!

November Days of Thanks #1

Last year, on Facebook, up until Thanksgiving, I would list something each day I was thankful for. I believe I'll do the same this year. However, I would also like to share my thankful thoughts on here, as well. So here goes.

Day #1 I am thankful to be married to a hard working and loving father. A man who cares about me and cares about his family. I am thankful for the hard worker he is and what he goes through for me to be able to stay home with our babies. I am thankful to have him in my life, despite how much we disagree and argue. The good times are always really good and make everything else worth it!