We are under construction!

Construction started on June 3rd and we are about 2 weeks away from being done.  Originally, the rooms below had no ceiling - actually they had 20 foot ceilings.  So, we decided to add a floor in between.  The new floor turned out to be about 500 square feet and two rooms.  One will be a huge playroom and the other will be my craft room - woot!  The nice thing about the addition is the older kids will have some place to go with friends and not wake up the babies (all the bedrooms are on the other side of the house).  And, the babies will have a fun playroom where I can store all their junk.  I can close the door and not have to look at it.  I'm so excited.  We are also remodeling the kitchen and the stairway, which had disgusting 20 year old white carpet.  I can't wait until this is done.  I am so grateful we could do it, but we have been living in this mess for about 2 months.  My left eye won't stop twitching...

Happy Birthday My Sweet Baby Boy

Oh my goodness do I love my little "man-baby".  Truth be told, I was upset when we discovered a little something extra on the ultrasound.  I had 3 boys already and only one girl.  I desperately wanted a sister for my little girl.  I always wanted a sister!  Anyway, I was disappointed.  I feel so guilty about that now.  He is the most wonderful little boy.  I would not switch him out for a girl if you gave me the option knowing what a great kid he is and what an amazing man he will become.  We all need more good men in the world, right?

He's not talking much yet but says "dada (he calls me that), buh buh (bye-bye) and aaaat? (that)".  Not much, but where he lacks in speech he excels in physicality.  This boy can climb anything.  He's cautious so he's not a risk taker.  He's very methodical about how he uses the humidifier to climb up and over the couch and then on to the sofa table.

The kid started walking at 8 months.  Because of that, he's pigeoned toed.  My opinion is that in-turned feet help with balance when they walk that young.  (I walked at 7 mo. and was very pigeon toed.)  He has the cutest two web toes on each foot.  And, he's humungous!  He started wearing 2 T at one year.  He has the biggest hands and feet I've ever seen on a child - seriously.   He has big fat baby legs - the best, and an enormous rear end.  You could balance a plate on that tush!

He's a total cuddle bug and loves to snuggle with his special blanket.  He sings to himself before he goes to sleep.  He loves to annoy his sister by taking her special blanket and running away with it.  If you run after him, he gets super excited, screeches, then pitches the contraband before you can get it from him.  When he wants something really badly, his hands shake like the cat in Cinderella.

He loves to go places and be outside.  If you leave a door open, he goes straight for it.  He loves to play with any type of ball.  He enjoys playing at the park and is not afraid to go down the slide.  He loves other children and is completely enamored with his siblings as they are with him.

I am completely in love with my little man.  He is a calm and easy going little soul.  I am so thankful the Lord has blessed and entrusted our family with this sweet spirit.

As usual, we went to Disneyland to celebrate his birthday.  We stayed at the Grand Californian - so stinkin' awesome.  We had so much fun!  Disneyland is always a great way to celebrate almost anything.  I hope you enjoy the pics.

The Well-Lived Life

*Sigh*  The well-lived life....  Is it possible?  I wonder.  So, I made a list during lecture in my Bible study class (ADD strikes) about what it would take for me to believe I have lived a "well-lived life".

Here's my list:

1.   Daily scripture study with the kids - have been tanking on this one for sure

2.   Holding FHE every week - ummm nope 

3.   Attending Church every week - sketchy sometimes

4.   Service - meh

5.   Teach kids life lessons with a heavenly perspective in mind - *crickets*

6.   Exercising - HAHA!!!  Although, I've taken 3 Pure Barre classes and am trying to stick w it

7.   Eating healthy - sort of besides the enormous portions of pasta - go carbs!

8.   Organizing my "house" - e.g. not missing appointments, kids games and activities, keeping things in their proper place like car keys - missing half a brain when it comes to this stuff

8.   Cooking regularly with a meal plan - ughh... the bane of my existence.  Cooking daily is a nasty chore for me which I completely stink at.  Beep boop beep boop... take-out anyone?

9.   Personal scripture study - doing better here but only b/c I feel like a loser if I don't do my lesson for Bible study class

10.  Homeschool - yes, I'm the weirdo who homeschools her kids.  I think I do okay but that's only b/c my kid doesn't need much teaching since he's in high school

11.  Being patient with husband and kids - PUH-LEEZ

12.  Personal time - to do whatever the heck I want!  I do pretty good here because I'm selfish like that

Is it possible?  Am I crazy?  Can it be done?  Here are my thoughts:  Maybe a few people exist in the world who can actually do this with out being stark-raving mad.  But, I do about 3 or 4 of those things on my list, but how do I do them all?  LAYERS and serious prayer!  One thing at a time with God's strength.  I've decided to pick something and work on it.  Most people fail miserably when they try to do too much at one time.  E.g. the out-of-shape 40 year old woman who tries to do P90x after just having a baby... ahem.  Layering with the Lord's help is the key.  One thing at a time until its a habit.  It takes approximately 66 days to form a habit.  So, my approach is to tackle one thing at a time, pray fervently that He helps me maintain it, until it is a habit.  Then, move to the next goal and then the next, until I can look at my life and say, "I am living the well-lived life."

Diapers Part 2

Wow, two posts in the same month.  I'm doing good!  These are the diapers I made for baby boy.  I had to tweak a few things but mostly it was easy.  I discovered that the pattern from the book was larger than I anticipated.  I made a couple of large size diapers thinking they would fit, but they were WAY too large.  He is growing so fast.  I have no doubt he will be in them soon.

I still have gobs of fabric to make more (I went a little crazy buying all the cute PUL fab).  For now, we have plenty of diapers until he outgrows the medium sized ones.  Yesterday was the first time in over a month we bought paper diapers.  Too awesome!

Quilting

Since making a quilt for my baby boy's crib, I've been intrigued by the process.  Actually, I love it.  I am still making clothes but lately, I have made a few quilts.  Nothing too big yet (I've got a queen size quilt in the works) but fun to snuggle up with on the couch or let the kids roll around in.  I made the one below from a free tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew here.  She has the best tutorials!

Whatcha think?

Diaper Making

Anybody ever consider using cloth diapers?  I'm not talking about the kind of cloth diapers your mother used...no sticking your little cuties with diaper pins.  Cloth diapers nowadays are just like disposables but MUCH more friendly to the environment and your pocket book.  Just look at all the info out there regarding diapers in landfills not to mention the nasty chemicals in them that go into the ground water (and touch your baby's bum all day).

I know cloth can be intimidating.  What about the poo you say?!?  What about it?  Hold the diaper over the toilet, shake it off, flush.  Or, spray it off with the hose if its really stuck.  I've never done this.  I actually put in a diaper sprayer in my toilet (totally easy to do btw).  Then, throw in the washing machine.  I swear none of my clothes have poop on them.  No poop is left in the washing machine.  Occasionally, I run bleach on the rinse and spin cycle just to clean it out.  But, I'd have to do that anyway b/c my machine is front loading and starts to smell musty after a while anyway.  See, no big deal.  Don't be afraid of the poop!

Obviously, I made the decision to use cloth.  I still use disposables when we go out or on vacation ~ I'm not quite ready to be a full-blown cloth user, but I'm close!  I bought cloth diapers online but my "man baby" has since gotten too big for even the large ones.  I decided to make my own.  I actually bought a book at Joann's but there is a great tutorial at Tutu Mafia.  She does an AMAZING job of showing you how to make different kinds of cloth diapers ~ snaps, velcro etc.  Its not hard.  Joann's has tons of fabrics for diapering.  Everything is right there in one little section.  It tends to be a little pricey but did you know you can sell your used diapers on Craig's list?  People buy them like hot cakes.  There are some online companies like Nature's Fabrics who sell diapering material too.  Here is the book I purchased at Joann's:

So far, its been pretty easy to do.  I'll post pictures later of the diapers I made.  I hope you consider doing this too.  You can do it!

Need Your Blogspot Address

Help!  I just re-set my html and lost all my friends's blogs. Unfortunately, only 2 were on my reading list.  Can you please give me your url again?  I am a true, no out-of-the-box, blonde!!!!