Everyday Things

"...For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Philippians 4:11
Brought to you by Everyday Mommy

Every day I am so thankful to get to stay home with my girls. And, right now, while we have only one car, I am home a lot more! I am learning to be content just being at home ... not running out to pick up this or that on a whim, really having to take note of errands I need to run so that when I have the car I can make the most of my time without ruing nap and feeding schedules in the process. I am content to stay home - we have bookshelves of good things to read (both old and new for young and old), food in the fridge and freezer, a backyard to sweat play in, and air conditioning! Like Maria, I am thankful for my home this week ... my sanctuary from all the busy-ness going on otherwise. Here I can slow down, spend time with God, hang with the husband, and the list goes on. :-)

Seen & Heard

Yes, that's right. Crawling. My 4 1/2 month old is crawling, folks. N1 did this, and I had hoped that N2 would be a little more laid back in the quest for motion, but apparently that is not the case. Time to do a bit more baby proofing in our big room. :-)


Conversation between me and N1 as we were loading ourselves in the mini-van for the 823423th time 3rd time yesterday:

N1: Is hot.

Me: Yes, baby, it is hot. It's called summer when it is hot outside.

N1: Is hot. All done summer.

That is so something that I would say. :-)

Works for Me Wednesday

They are little and yellow and help my frazzled brain remember things!! The post-it note is my friend and product endorsement for this go round. :-) I use them to:

stick notes in my calendar

as book marks

when I did Weight Watchers and was counting points, I would stick them on packaging and put the points right on the box or bag of whatever it was

child entertainment system - almost as fun as a bunch of stickers for my 2 year old and they come up off of things so much easier

when scrapbooking, I can put them on the unfinished page with a few notes about what I want to journal so when I come back to it, it jogs my memory

when I have a great idea for Works for Me Wednesday, I put a post-it on the next Wednesday in my planner so that when I turn the page, my idea is right there ready for me to type up and post!

... and so on and so forth. I love that they come in lined and unlined, and in so many different colors and shapes. I even have some that have a pink ribbon on them for breast cancer awareness!

Thus ends my ode to post-it notes. :-) For other great Wednesday tips, see Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

Tackle it Tuesday

Brought to you by 5 minutes for Mom

Today's project is vacation inspired ... I'm going to be cleaning up in the girls' bedroom and pulling the outfits that I want to set aside for vacation, packing up some clothes of N2's that are too small, and generally getting organized in there. I need to wash bedding on both beds and do some serious straightening!

Edited to add some pictures of progress:
The clothes that needed to be put away...



The piles that need straightening...





The finished results. :-)

Getting Organized

That's what this week is all about. We leave next Tuesday for our summer vacation to visit DH's immediate and extended family up North. Our 8 yr. old neice is going with us and I'm excited about that. One, because she's not been on many vacations and this will be a huge experience for her; and two, N1 ADORES her and she will be a huge help with the girls in the car while we travelling. For her Christmas present last year, we told her that part of her gift would be going with us on vacation and going to Cedar Point, this huge amusement/rollercoaster park in Ohio. She and Uncle Travis are preparing to take on the mighty rides, and I'm content to ride merry-go-rounds and supervise stroller activities. :-) Things that spin around really fast and I do not get along well together!

Today has been spent doing laundry and making lists of things I need to pick up this week for our trip, double-checking kennel reservations for our puppies and schtuff like that. I also made my first batch of baby food for N2. I had bought sweet potatoes for the girlie last week and knew they wouldn't keep until we get back. We're still working on eating the rice cereal, and today at lunch I think I got about 1/2 of the little serving I mixed up into her. She is fighting the spoon but thinks it's a huge game so at least she's having fun. :-)

We're still a one car family ... I mentioned that our Civic died about two weeks ago and we've been car sharing with T and taking him to work on the days that we need the car. We got back a first report on the damage and it's not looking good so we've taken it to another garage for a 2nd opinion. The car sharing has actually not been too bad ... it's helping me get organized for each day and getting the girls up and ready if we need to take Travis to work. The only hassle is getting him picked up from work when I need to be making dinner and feeding the girls ... thank goodness for crockpots! :-)

This week is 5 day clubs at our church, every evening from 6-8 p.m. Both our girls are too young to do the activities so I volunteered to do the nursery and my Mom is going to help me with it. Travis is doing the music with the kids so we'll have some crazy evenings this week, but fun. I also want to try and get caught up on my Living Beyond Yourself Bible study that I'm doing with the W@H ladies. I'm about a week behind, but last week was on the different type of loves mentioned in the Bible and it was good although overwhelming. It's hard to read about the self-sacrificing nature of agape love that we are instructed to do, and that Christ demonstrated so beautifully without getting a little overwhelmed!

And, since I haven't posted pictures in a while, a few pics of our Father's Day ... we went over to Grandpa and Grandma's and played in pool. Needed to get in some practice before our vacation! :-) There are a few more on Flickr if you are signed up as a friend/family.

Everyday Things

"...For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Philippians 4:11
Brought to you by Everyday Mommy

This is a new-to-me bit of contentment, because we are new the world of cloth diapering. But, every time I do a load of diapers, and am able to spend just a few minutes pulling warm diapers from the dryer and folding them for my shelf, I am content. Yes, it does add an extra couple of loads of laundry a week to my to-do list. But it saves me loading both girls into the van, trying to squeeze in a run to Target in between the baby's feedings, paying that costly amount even for store brand diapers, and then coming home later to find the 12 other items that somehow made it into my buggy and budget when really, all I went to the store for was diapers. (I lurve my Target). I'm happy and content looking at my pile of diapers and know that I am caring for my baby and saving my family money.

Works for Me Wednesday

Compliments of Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer. :-)

One small way that we keep the grandparents up-to-date with the grandkids is through pictures. When my first (N1) was born we emailed pictures, printed pictures off to mail, and so on and so on. It was overwhelming to keep the out-of-town relatives up to date, and all of my husband's family is far away. So, I started Today's Pic. Every day (or almost every day), we email one picture out to all the grandparents, aunts, cousins, and a few of my friends that have requested to be on our "list." They get an email of one or both of the girls, and most definiately are they not always the posed professional shots. But, it keeps Grandma in the loop on N1's first time licking the cake beaters after I've mixed up a cake, and we can share N2's first time in the high chair ... which she wasn't particularly happy about by the way. They love it, and I definitely get emails when days go by and I've not sent a picture! It works for me. :-)

Happy Birthday

to the husband today!!!



A.K.A. my favorite person in the whole world.

Under the Pile

Life is overwhelming me right at the moment. Lots of good stuff going on, but I'm just feeling buried and having a hard time getting stuff done. We had N2's 4 month appointment on Monday ... the little now weighs 15 lbs., and 2.2 oz., and is 25 inches long. A good report from the Dr. with instructions on starting her on cereal if we were ready. I had been thinking about waiting a few more weeks (basically until we got back from our vacation at the end of the month), but Travis wanted me to go ahead and work on it with her. So far, it hasn't been terribly successful. I think I've tried it with her at least once every day this week (some days more than once) and her tongue-thrust reflex is still really strong and she just spits it out and screams like I'm trying to poison her. We've also moved to cloth diapers with N2 ... for budgetary and other reasons, we decided to make the switch and it is going really well. Other than the learning curve on how to get the diapers on the girl and such. That's trickier than one might think! They arrived in the mail on Monday and I spent the afternoon washing up diapers and getting them ready for use. She's also still getting up at least once (if not twice) at night to nurse. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because I REALLY don't mind getting up to feed her, but the lack of sleep is wearing on me. I've got a cold on top of it and I'm just not into summer colds. There is something wrong with sweating and your nose running at the same time. :-)

What else is going on ... our civic died this week. It's in the shop and, as of yet, we haven't heard the diagnosis on what the problem is. We've been a one car family now since Tuesday evening so there has been some shuffling going on to get Travis to work if I need the car, and a couple days where we've just stayed in all day. Travis came home today over his lunch hour and brought me the car so the girls and I could get out and buy his birthday present. (His birthday is Monday, but we're celebrating with my family at Sunday lunch). We took him back to work and the girls fussed their way through Wal-mart with me, but we got Daddy taken care of with a gift from me and one from the girls. :-) And I am NOT going to let him see them before Sunday. I am the world's worst about spilling the beans on the present or giving in and giving gifts early, but NOT THIS YEAR. I will be strong. :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm off to pack a bag for N1 ... she is spending the night with Grandma tonight. Travis and I have a meeting we have to be at since we are both on staff w/ our church ... an annual combined meeting with the Elders, Deacons, and then staff. We have to be there about 7:30 in the morning - I'm bringing the food for breakfast and lunch - and we'll take N2 with us for a bit. My Mom will swing by later in the morning to pick her up from us and have a day with the girls. I'm hoping the adult time helps me with a little girl-break, even though it is "work" for me. Might be just what my sanity needs.

Congratulations

Just wanted to welcome the new baby over at Like Merchant Ships! Her radiant Mama is one of the few bloggers I've been blessed to meet in real life, and I really enjoyed chatting with her a few weeks after my littlest arrived.

Congratulations Meredith & family!

Works for Me Wednesday

One again, this is something that works for me and I can't remember where I picked up this idea ... may have been Martha Stewart many years ago when I read her magazine. (I like to give credit where it is due). :-) When I have bananas and we haven't eaten them fast enough, I like to freeze them for banana bread. But I would get totally frustrated when I was ready to make bread and, upon pulling my bananas out of the freezer ... having thrown them in there still in their peel ... I would find them totally frozen! Imagine that! So then, I would have to wait for them to thaw so that I could mash them up and that took forever it seemed like.

So, now my system is ... instead of throwing the whole banana in the freezer (in the peel), when it gets all mushy and stuff I peel it and put it in a ziploc bag. Then, I zip the bag shut and mash it up when it's already all squishy. I then freeze it already mashed. It thaws a LOT faster and the messy mashing part is already done in the bag - my hands even stay clean! If I have several bananas, I freeze them in batches of 4 bananas because that is exactly what my recipe calls for. Even easier to just pull out a bag and set it on the counter for a bit and then fold it into the recipe. It works for me. :-)

Quoted...

TV Newsperson: Coming up at 10, the story of how a prophet of God was arrested in middle Tennessee.

Husband: Did you hear that? A prophet of God was arrested.

Wife: You think he would have seen that coming.

The real us. :-) Just a little bit on the corny side!