DIY: 3D Paper Snowflake

Hi.

When I was in college I was at the library one time and I saw this girl make this really cool thing out of construction paper. After watching her make it for a few minutes I went over to her and said how neat I thought it was and asked her to show me how to do it. She called it a "star" but I immediately thought that if I made it in white it would look a lot like a snowflake.



Later that day I taught about 10 people how to make them. I think since then I've taught at least 100 people how to make these. I threw a formal dance for the Baptist Student Union at UofL one year and we made a lot of these in red, sprayed glitter on them and hung them as a decoration. We even made a gigantic one for the center of the ballroom. It looked pretty cool and it was such a cheap way to decorate!

Anyways- I love them and wanted to share how to make them with you! They make a cute decoration for Christmas that you can hang around your house!

They are SUPER easy to make! Give it a try!

"Oh Boy!"

Last night we attempted our first gingerbread experience. I had never made a gingerbread house before and thought it would be a fun year to try it as a family. I saw a gingerbread train kit at Meijer's and thought "Perfect!"

Nathan was SO excited- or at least I think he was...what do you think?



Nathan with his creation- so proud!


Um...some of the icing and candy didn't quite make it to the train, hehe.


Nathan actually did most of the decorating himself! 3 years old- this kid amazes me with his creativity and fine motor skills.

Now/Later List and "Man Brain"

Does this sound familiar?

It's about 7:30pm on a weeknight and you feel a sense of urgency. You know there is a list of things that need to be done but you keep remembering other things to add to that list. It just keeps growing!!! And along with it your anxiety starts to grow as well.

You're running around like a lunatic starting a million things but not completing them. You look at your toddler/preschool/spawn of some sort and think "When did I last give him a bath? Yesterday? No the day before. Oh crap it's been 3 days! He needs a bath" (don't judge, I'm a working momma, my kid usually gets a bath every other day in the winter but there are times I lose track!)

Right when you think you might start accomplishing things on your to-do list the baby decides he needs food to survive and since you do want your baby to live- you sit down to feed him.

Great, now it'll be awhile before you can get back to the neverending to-do list that you weren't actually completing to begin with.

That's when you look over at your husband looking at newsanchor gag reel stuff on youtube at the computer. Happy. Content. And oblivious to the whirwind in your brain.

What?

Why doesn't he feel that huge load of things to do on his shoulders like you do?

Why will he be able to soundly sleep even if half these things don't get done?

And why will he absolutely not care if your 3 year old doesn't get his bath?

I'll tell you why....Man Brain.

You see- I am in no way undermining men by saying that. It's just that they are hardwired differently and if you have ever known a man or happen to be married to one- chances are you know what I mean. God made women and men each have different sets of strengths and weaknesses so we compliment each other and together we are a more complete unit.

I once heard on GMA someone discussing how men honestly don't see the things us women see. It was an eye specialist talking about peripheral vision. It goes back to the time when people hunted to survive. Women were gatherers and developed great peripheral vision. Men, as hunters, had more of a tunnel vision so they could concentrate on that one animal they were about to throw the spear or shoot an arrow at.

That's another reason you sometimes have to stand right in front of a man before they have any idea you are trying to talk to them. (once again, not undermining, just explaining our natural differences)

They honestly don't see all that needs to be done. It's not that they are ignoring their to-do list in their brain that has 34582782357 things on it- it's that they don't have one! Or if they do it's more like 1)eat 2)play video games 3)sleep 4)go to work in the morning and repeat.

So I began a discussion with Marcus about Man Brain. I wanted to understand it a bit more.

Well- I say I began a discussion but really it was one of those on-the-verge-of-a-meltdown-get-up-off-the-couch-and-help-me type discussions. It went something like this...

Amanda: "Please help me! I can't do this alone!"

Marcus: (confused and looking at me like I'm crazy) "What is there to do? I don't see anything that needs to be done"

Amanda: (while thinking "seriously? how can you not see it?") "Well- Nathan desperately needs a bath before he starts to grow mold or something in his armpits (ew), the baby needs a bath too, the cloth diapers need washed, my pump stuff needs washed, the toilet in the small bathroom is gross because Nathan can't aim, left over dinner needs to be put away and the kitchen picked up, the towels need folded" and on and on and on.

Marcus: (looked stunned) "Oh, ok" and he gets up to help.

After the kids were in bed we talked about that- I realized it actually stresses me out more to repeat everything to him because I feel more overwhelmed and it's hard to list it without getting upset. Repeating the to-do list outloud also causes you to bring up the not-as-important things that have been camping out in the back of your brain in the "when I finally have time" file like dusting the baseboards, taking down and washing the curtains (yep- that NEVER gets done), and going through the junk drawer- just to list a few. And also repeating the to-do list feels like nagging and we all know nagging doesn't work and our husbands H A T E it. So I knew there had to be another way.

It wasn't that he wasn't willing to help.

He was.

He just had no clue to what needed to be done and to him- nothing really needed to be done because it wasn't on his mental to-do list- so he would just end up sitting somewhere. The computer desk. The chair. Just sitting.

So we came up with an idea. The Now/Later list.

This would eliminate the need for me to verbally list off what needs to be done to him. And solve the problem of him having no idea what was going on in my woman brain concerning the billion things I wanted to accomplish before my head hits the pillow. AND the really cool thing is he can see something on this list, do it, and I never. even. had. to. ask!!! :::squeal:::


(our "real" now/later lists are usually longer and sloppier than this, I gave it a face list for the picture heh)

I just took two dry erase boards I got at Meijer's and put them in a high traffic area (the door b/w the laundry room and kitchen)

On the NOW list are things that HAVE to be accomplished that day. (I included play time because I try to sit down and play with Nathan every day- even if I can only manage 10mins of it)

The LATER list are things you would really like to get to that week.


And so far...it's working!!!

It's been about a month now. The first week we did it Marcus actually did something off the later list and I was SOOO thrilled!

This has made me feel a little more sane and helped Marcus take some of the responsibilities that were weighing me down. We still rarely get to the "later" list because usually even if we focus on the NOW list I still get to bed close to midnight. And some days Marcus forgets to look at it and I have to remind him.

But for the most part...It works for us.

I thought it might help someone else out...hence...this post.

Let me know if you try it!

Scary Mommy Moment

My mother kept the boys for the first time overnight this past Wednesday. I had a lot to do so it was very helpful. I'm so blessed to have great support in friends and family members :o) (she's kept Nathan here and there but this was Luke's first time)

Thursday morning I was about to leave the house for work when my mom called. She said "I don't want to alarm you but..." (of course that is alarming to hear from the person caring for your children!) I said "...but what? tell me?" and she said Luke had blood in his diaper this morning, about a quarter sized spot.

My heart immediately began to race. Why? What in the world would cause a 3 month old to have blood in his diaper? She said it wasn't a bowel movement just a wet diaper and from where the blood was on the diaper it was coming from his boy part. (we use the proper terms in our house for things but since this is the internet we'll use the term "boy part")

I called my boss and told her what was going on. She's a mom of 3 and my CEO has 2 kids so they are both very understanding when it comes to mommy stuff. I took the day off and left the house to go to my mom's to get Luke.

On the way there I prayed a little. I couldn't pray a lot since my mind was kind of all over the place and it was hard to concentrate. I'm not the type to freak out and I wasn't really- just concerned. I knew most likely he was fine. And of course- it's always like a flood of peace to my soul when I remind myself the God is truly in control.

Also on the way there I called the doctor and made an appt for 10:45. When I was at my mom's house I explained to Nathan that Marcus would be there later that day to get him and he gets to spend the day with Grandma. He was pretty excited about that :o)

I changed Luke before we left and there again was blood right where he peed. Nothing appeared to be wrong. No redness. Nothing. Just urine with blood mixed in.

I love our pediatrician. Nathan loves him too and I know Luke will. I never feel rushed during appts and he always truly listens to what I say. After examining Luke he said it would be best to send him for a kidney ultrasound and urine analysis. I changed Luke again before we left and once again there was blood- but much less this time.

They made the appt for 2 hours later at the hospital. The doctor office is right down the road from the hospital so I thought it would be best to stay in the area instead of driving all the way home. We went to Chick-fil-A and I ate and fed Luke. I was mad at myself for drinking left over tea from QDoba that morning because the caffeine had me shaking! (I always forget tea in restaurants is caffeinated since I made decaf tea here)

I asked Marcus to come meet us. I didn't really HAVE to have him there but I kind of just wanted the emotional support. He was pretty busy with work but dropped it all to come be with us.

At the hospital we went first for the kidney ultrasound. It was weird seeing my baby get an ultrasound! I was just getting one 3 months ago to look at him! He stayed very still during the ultrasound and just kept smiling at the technician. He's such a flirt!





I didn't know if she could give me the results but I asked anyways. She said she didn't see any problems but the ultrasound just checks for size, inflammation, backed up urine etc. But I was glad she didn't see any issues.

I changed Luke again right after the ultrasound, his diaper was very full but this time no blood!! I was glad to see that but still concerned about what caused it.

Next was the urine analysis. How do you get a urine sample from an infant? Well- they attach a little baggie to them under their diaper. Hmm- who knew? So now we just had to wait for a sample. I thought it might take awhile since he had just filled his diaper 10 minutes earlier.

So we took Luke out to the waiting area and I just nursed and nursed him hoping it might speed up the process. 10 mins later he had given them twice the sample size they needed! Go Luke!

They took the baggie off and said they would try to get the results in by later that day or in the morning.

Now all we had to do was wait!

There was a women's event at church I was planning on going to and I decided I should still go. Luke was acting ok, there wasn't any more blood in his diaper and there was nothing we could do except wait on the results. So I went home to get ready and Marcus took Luke to go pick up Nathan.

(So in the middle of this crazy day I ended up having 2 hours at home alone. ALONE! What did I do with that time? I made a video showing how to make 3D snowflakes. I'll have to post that soon!)

Friday I called the doctor but they didn't have the results yet. Then last night at 8pm the doctor left me a voicemail (my phone had died so it was charging in the bedroom when he called) saying that all the results were completely normal, just to keep an eye on him for anything unusual and to call if there was blood again. Apparently the urine sample didn't have any blood in it- which makes sense since the diaper before hand didn't have any either.

Just a fluke? Probably. I'm hoping he never has that problem again. And if he doesn't we'll never know what caused it. That's ok with me. I don't need to know. I just want a healthy happy little baby boy- and that's what God has blessed me with :o)

Hanger Sword Fight

Enjoy this video that always cracks me up!



My "clever" comments are somewhat delayed. Because my brain is somewhat delayed. Anyways, I still think it's funny. This was also filmed in the townhouse we used to live in which was super small so the background is all messy and cluttered. Ok no one cares. But there is still a cute baby! And a crazy mommy! What's not to like?

:o)

The Ornament on the Bottom of the Tree

Isn't it funny how the littlest things (and littlest people) can teach you big lessons?

On Monday we decorated our house for Christmas. I was going to do it this past weekend when Nathan was away at my MIL's but when I mentioned it he said "No! I wanna help" and I was so touched that he was interested in helping so we put it off til this week.

I decided to only put up the small tree this year and go with minimum decorations. Not sure why. (I plan on making my super cool 3D paper snowflakes soon and doing a DIY post! Yippee!)

We got the tree together and I started putting hooks on ornaments and handing them to Marcus and Nathan to place on the tree. After we were done I gave it a good look over and saw this ornament hanging on the very bottom of the tree. Kinda of lost in it's old world and sticking out like a sore thumb.


You see, I like things orderly. Not in an obsessive compulsive type of way- but in a "that picture is slightly crooked and will continue to bug me unless I fix it" sort of way.

My house is in no way "in order" but there are certain things I like a certain way. I think we all have our "thing" and an ornament hanging all by it lonesome on the bottom of the tree just irked me a little. It made the tree look uneven.

So I moved it and went about my evening.

30 minutes later I noticed that it was back.

I thought about moving it again and stopped myself. What was I doing? Why was it so important that the tree look uniform? So what if there was an ornament hanging off of the bottom? Apparently that's where Nathan thought it should go if he took the time to move it back there after I had placed it up higher on the tree.

So I left it for the time being, thinking that I would probably give in an move it again the next day.

I tell ya. It still kind of bugs me that it's still hanging there like that. But it's also a reminder of the sweet little hand that placed it there, which is connected to the sweet little boy who brings so much joy to my life.

Since Tuesday my eye has been drawn to that little ornament and now I don't dare think about moving it. My "itch" to be uniform and orderly must take a back seat to my son's desire to hang an ornament his way- even when it's not my way. We think parenting is about teaching them so much but I'm starting to learn my son will teach me 100x's more things during his life than I could ever teach him.

Happy Wednesday :o)

Thanksgiving Throwup

Enjoy the video...


*Disclaimer* This video contains vomit. It's baby vomit. Which isn't as replusive as kid or adult or animal vomit. But still.

Also please ignore my "mom" voice. What is it about having kids that automatically causes you to have a high pitched voice and repeat questions that you know your baby can't answer? Do you know what I mean? Do you? Do you? Yeah? Yeah?

And about half way through this video I thought "Um- if I post this online there is a possibility other human beings will hear my crazy mom voice...ahhh" So I freaked a little :o)

At one point I use the word "yat" instead of "that"...? Yat? Is making up words proof that you are losing your mind? :o)

Thanksgiving was very nontraditional for us this year. It's the first time I didn't have a home cooked thanksgiving meal and although I thought that might upset me- how could it? I was still having a yummy meal with my family- can't complain.

So we all met at Ryans and ate a buffet Thanksgiving meal. The only down side of eating out is no leftovers. However, my mother in law said Marcus' grandma will be cooking for us when we visit in 2 weeks and it'll feel like Thanksgiving all over again!

Enjoy the pictures...

Nathan and his Cousin Cayden. They ADORE each other :o)


Nathan and his Papa Terry.


Mommy and my little sidekick.


Nathan with a mouthfull of food and Daddy


My parents and their grandsons!


My brother Chad and Luke.


And these....melt my heart. My dad's family has a history of heart disease and many of the men pass away before age 50, so I am very grateful that my dad is around to be a papa to my boys.



Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Luke is 3 months!

Lucas Wayne Crumbacher,

I can't believe you are 3 months old already. Has it really been 3 months since I held you for the first time and kissed your little newborn hand? We were more than ready to expand our family and were so blessed to find out Christmas Day 2010 that you were on your way. I knew from the beginning that you were a boy although your daddy thought you were a girl. Two boys is such a blessing and you and your big brother have both stolen my heart.

You love to eat!!! Your brother was a petite baby but now I have a chunky one. I'm constantly sorting your clothes to put away the things you outgrow and find something that will fit you. You were 7lbs 7oz at birth and now I think you weigh around 14 1/2 lbs or more. You're double the weight! You have just outgrown all of the 0-3m clothes and some 3 months. You fit great in 3-6m and some 6m clothing.



You take several cat naps during the day and maybe 2 longer ones. It's kind of crazy since I'm a working momma and you have two different caregivers (who watch you at our home) so we have not attempted to try a sleep schedule but you seem to get plenty of sleep. At night you go to bed after nursing around 9pm- then get up once to eat at about 4am and then sleep a few more hours. You teased me by sleeping through the night 5 days in a row but then decided to still wanted our special time in the middle of the night. That's ok though- I'm in good company. Plus- if I didn't nurse you in the middle of the night I would go from 9pm til 5pm the next day without seeing you and that would be too hard.

You have been nursing like a pro since day 1 and I am SOOO grateful for that. After struggling with nursing Nathan (we still managed 6 months) I know how blessed I am to have a baby who took to it so naturally. You switch back and forth between me and the bottle with no problem. I hope to nurse you at least 12 months if not longer. I enjoy the bonding time with you so much and it's the sweetest thing when you look up at me and smile :o)

Speaking of smiling- we are starting to get a glimpse of that wonderful personality! You smile ALL the time and try to coo and talk. When you hear my voice you will scan the room until you lock eyes with me and then you give me the cutest smile and giggle. :::melt:::


(your red hair and crazy hair line)

You only seem to get fussy when you really want to eat or when you go through your "fussy time" in the evenings. But we discovered during that time you get content if we give you a paci and hold you sitting straight up.

You and your brother are already forming a special bond. Nathan loves you SOOO much and has been absolutely perfect when it comes to you. He hasn't even shown an ounce of jealousy which is great considering he is a mommmy's boy who now has to share his mommy. You light up when you see your brother. Although you sometimes have a look of concern on your facing when he is "holding" you- I think he's already your favorite person. I know you two will be best friends.


We are enjoying cloth diapering. We borrowed prefolds from a friend but then decided to buy our own bumgenis diapers. So far it's pretty easy and not nearly as much "work" as I thought it would be. We still use disposibles in public because they were gifts before you were born and we don't want to waste them. You are about to outgrow the pampers size 1-2 diapers.

You got a rash about a month ago and have kept it still. At first we thought it was from a virus your brother had but now I'm pretty convinced it's ezcema. Your father and I have extremely sensitive skin and you've inherited it my darling- especially since you are light complected and have red hair. We have been using a new baby body wash and ezcema cream that seems to help a lot. It's called babygantics. I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of trial and error to see what's best for your skin. So far it doesn't seem to bother you which is good.


You look different from your brother (a small amount of red hair and chubby, vs. Nathan having a ton of really dark hair and always being on the small side) yet you remind me of your brother in so many ways. I look forward to finding out your similarities and differences. You are your own unique person and although I love the infant stage I can't wait to talk to you and discover your own little world.

The name Luke means "light" and that is something this world needs more of. I pray that you will be a bright light shining for God and be a blessing to all you come in contact with.

(here's Luke's 1, 2 and 3 month pictures- I completely stole borrowed this idea from Katie at http://www.katieballa.blogspot.com/. She took monthly pictures of her sweet Emeline like this and I adored them)







We love you Luke!!

Randoms

~My baby will be 3 months old tomorrow. 3 MONTHS! I can't believe it. Before I know it he will be going on 4 like his older brother. MUST.NOT.BLINK.

Luke 3 days old...


Luke 3 months old...


~Nathan will have his first REAL birthday in 2012. He was born on leap day, Feb 29th 2008. I'm excited we'll be able to celebrate on the 29th! It's a Wednesday so we can't have his party that day- but we plan to take off work and have a "Nathan Celebration" type of day.

~I think I'm just going to put the mini 4 ft Christmas tree up this year. I'll miss the big tree with the matching colors but I just feel too tired to get it out. We're not having any holiday get-togethers here so not many people will see the house anyway. Plus the little tree is cute. We'll put mostly Halmark ornaments on it.

~Speaking of ornaments- it's kinda funny that they are common for gifts. Your tree isn't going to get any bigger. I guess eventually you'll just hang up some of the ornaments and not all of them. Right now we already have way too many and can't display them all. What happens when you end up with 10x's the number of ornaments that will fit your tree? Give them to someone else with too many ornaments? lol.

~This is a pet peeve of mine. Why do interstate signs have a right angle corner yet the white border is rounded? There must be a reason for this madness...


~I can't stand empty hangers in the middle of a closet with clothes. I must take them all and put them together at the end of the clothing rack. Why? I have no idea...

~I am stuck at my prepregnancy weight. With Nathan I dropped weight like crazy while nursing. With Luke? Not so much. Although it could have to do with holiday food. Going to start my weight watchers journey in Jan! At least I lost the 20lbs I gained while pregnant- of course Luke was 7 1/2 of those :o)

~I love that we have a freezer in the garage now- I can buy things on sale and store them. I've yet to make large meals and freeze some. And it's a place I can store some of my 350 oz of breastmilk that I've pumped. tmi?

~Neither of my boys have clothes with their name or initial on them. But after seeing tons of cute blogs with babies with custom shirts it kind of makes me want something with a L for Luke and N for Nathan or with their first name.

~After lugging around the book I'm currently reading which is about 900 pages I really wish I had a kindle or something that I could store books on.

This is my recent read:


~My memory is weird. It used to be better than it is but since having babies I can't hold on to as much detail as I used to be able to. I can remember things like houses I went into once when I was 5- I could draw out the entire house. Things I experienced as young as 2 I remember. Crazy. And sometimes it's not such a good thing when it comes to bad memories. Nathan has my memory...he remembers EVERYTHING.

~I feel like Black Friday is crowding out Thanksgiving. I'm not a Black Friday shopper- I love to shop but the crowds and craziness is just not for me. I went once with my mom and aunts when I was in college and by noon I was begging them to take me home. But stores opening midnight now? Employees at those stores aren't getting to enjoy the holiday since they have to sleep before they go to work that night. Just makes me sad.

~I love meeting other people left handed. Feels like we have a special bond. Like we experienced the same issues in school. Couldn't use the scissors well in Kindergarten, couldn't write on dry erase boards without your hand/arm almost erasing what you are writing, had a hand completely covered in pencil lead from rubbing over what you have written, etc. It's not easy being green left handed :o)

~I'm going to attempt to make homemade bread for the first time today- we'll see how it goes!

Have a great weekend (to the 3 people that read this!)
I'll try to get Luke's 3 month post up tomorrow.

The Bright Side (of a poopypeewater mess)

Today was one of those days where everything was going well.

It was a perfect day at work and although it took me twice as long to get home due to traffic I was in a pretty chipper mood.

When I got home I asked Marcus to give Nathan a bath so I could do some quick housework. Number one on the agenda was to wash the cloth diapers so I put them in the washer, hit the rinse cycle, and turned my attention to another chore.

My goal was to do housework for about 45 mins, warm up left over pot roast, eat dinner together, and sit on the couch to watch a movie.

It was turning out to be a good evening and I was hoping to be in bed by 11:00pm.

The washer? Had other plans.

A minute after I left the kitchen I hear Marcus yell for me. Ough oh. What? I walk into the kitchen and find water evvvvverywhere. I had just left that room a minute ago and everything was fine!

The drain from the washer decided to slip out- leaving an inch of water in the laundry room and kitchen.

But not just water. Poopy Pee Water! I was rinsing Luke's cloth diapers and THAT's what drained.

Immediately I felt all the energy drain from my body.

I would have to pull the washer and dryer out to clean underneath them. The towels that would soak up the water would need to be washed. And of course I would need to mop to disinfect the floor now (and my steam mop is clogged right now...) And this was right when I was on the brink of "me" time. You know what I mean? That little window of time at the end of the day to spend with your family? The time that I look forward to alllllll day. The time where I get to hold my new little baby who I haven't seen since 2am the night before.

:::sigh::: Well at least the bright side was....

wait....

where was the bright side?

I'm one of those annoying people that can always see the good in things. I think there is a purpose for everything and even when things go wrong I believe they happen for a reason.

So where was the bright side to this scenario and why couldn't I find it?

As I bent down behind the washer and cleaned the floor. As I got frustrated trying to reattach the aluminum dryer connector thingy. As I yelled (ok, told loudly?) to Nathan not to come into the kitchen since the floor was covering in poopypeewater. I kept searching for the glimmer of the bright side for all this while feeling my mood go from cheerful to sour.

What was wrong with me? Things like this usually don't ruin my day.

Was it due to the lack of sleep from the 2am feedings?

Maybe it was because last week Nathan scooped peewater out of the toilet and made puddles in his bedroom with it? (which led to me researching and buying a hoover steam vac in under 5 mins)

Or because the next day he decided to pee in the plastic drawer of his play kitchen?

Or because he CANNOT aim correctly so I'm left with a bathroom floor that needs cleaning attention daily? (what's with boys and pee? I'm so over cleaning up bodily fluids!)

I KNEW something like this shouldn't ruin my day but somehow I let it. I let it get me down. I KNEW it was no big deal. I KNEW there are a billion bigger issues in the galaxy besides my poopypeewater kitchen floor. Yet I still couldn't muster that "ok let's just clean it up and continue with our day" go-getter attitude. And I felt guilty about my bad mood. And suddenly very tired.

I eventually gave up trying to attach the annoying aluminum connector thingy to the dryer and decided to go ahead and sit down with Nathan and eat dinner.

When I sat down to eat with him, he gave me the sweetest smile and said the following without stopping for a breath... "Mommy, how was your day at work? I love you. When I get bigger I'm going to marry you. Look Mommy I can move my brownies (eyebrows) up and down now" and he continued showering me with the sweetest things a little 3 year old boy could say to his mommy.

Ahhhhhh. There is was. My bright side.

Ok maybe not a bright side to this situation but a reason to make me smile. My sweet son who I love.

And I thought to myself "Don't feel guilty, we're all allowed to let a trivial situation ruin our day sometimes" Aren't we? Aren't we allowed to let a little bump in the road feel bigger than it is at the moment? Deep down- we know we're blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine. Food. Shelter. Family. Children. Jobs. I'm beyond blessed. And I know that. And I KNEW that when I was in a bad mood.

But sometimes knowing it and feeling it are two different things.

I'm thankful for my oldest son who knows when I need a smile and tries to cheer me up. And I'm thankful for my youngest son who's cute little tushy is responsible for pooping and peeing in the cloth diapers that contaminated my floor.

They are my bright side.


Always.

My nephew Cayden

2 years ago today I became an aunt. Well, techniqually I became and aunt when I married Marcus because he was already an uncle to Nick (who is now 18) But 2 years ago I really felt like an aunt because my brother, my only sibling, became a father and we all fell in love with this little blonde headed sweetheart, Cayden.

Cayden 11-17-10


Saturday my mom had a birthday party for Cayden at her house. I don't get to see Cayden very much. I haven't seen him in maybe 6 months or more. So I was so touched when he greeted me at the car and wanted me to pick him up. I told him we were going to go inside and sing happy birthday and as soon as we opened the door I heard Cayden's little voice sing "biiiirthday, haffy biiiirthday" The house was noisey from all the guests so no one else heard him sing at that moment except me. I love this little guy!

Here are some pictures from the party.


My brother, Chad, meeting his nephew Luke for the first time.


Nathan and his cousin Cayden.


Cayden switched hats with his Daddy.


Silly Grandpa!


Me and Lukey.


My mom and her three grandsons (Nathan 3, Cayden 2, and Luke 3months)
(Cayden weighs more than Nathan although Nathan over 1 1/2 years older- eat kid eat!)


Cayden and Me!


Happy 2nd Birthday Cayden!

...we are blessed to have you in our family...

Wordless Wednesday

Brothers

(I love Luke's expression here...he looks a bit worried!)

I didn't think that through...

I think it's VERY important to play with your kids. To enter their world of imagination no matter how "out there" it may seem. I have always made it a goal to play with Nathan every day although I don't always succeed. I work outside the home, so by the time I get home, nurse the baby, make dinner, make sure everyone is bathed and has clean cloths and diapers (we cloth diaper) then it's pretty much bedtime.

But even 10-15 minutes of play time with Nathan not only makes me enjoy being a mom more but helps me realize the preciousness of him. Because face it- 3 year olds do not always seem precious! But our play time can be...

The other day I was playing with Nathan on the floor in his room. We like to take our pointer finger and middle finger and "walk" them around like they are legs to a person and we make our "finger people" talk.

We were in the middle of a huge world war III type of good guy versus bad guy battle when I had an idea. I said "Why don't we invite the bad guy to church?" all enthusiastically. Although my husband and I seriously need to work on inviting more people to our church- I thought it might be a good idea to instill this idea into Nathan so he might see the "bad guy" as a person. Because after all- there is good and bad in all of us right and we all have value as a person made by God and loved by God. Might as well start teaching this early, I thought!

So we did. We invited the finger person bad guy to church, used jumbo legos to build the church and of course we had to build the most important part of a church (to a 3 year old)- the play area. Equipped with a slide. We had "class" where the bad guy learned a lot according to Nathan. And the bad guy even got to play with the slide and talk to the other kids (who were represented by various plastic animal toys) We had fun- and I think the bad guy did too.

I was proud that I used play time to teach my son that there are other options he can choose other than trying to destroy the bad guy.

Until dinner that night.

Nathan looks at my husband and says, "There was a bad guy at church playing with all of the kids"

Uhhhhhh.....Oops.

(Shout out to Katie who is for the time being my only follower! lol Love you girl!)

Sole Mates

Last Sunday we were rushing trying to get out the door in time for church when Nathan asks...

"Mommy, can I wear my crocs to church?"

"No Nathan, you cannot wear your crocs with your dress clothes."

After a moment of complaining he went to find his brown shoes (aka. boring to a 3yr old shoes), found his shoes, put them on, and came to me to seek out praise.

He came to me, pointed out his shoes and with the over excited high pitched voice and huge smile said "I did it myself!!" I looked down- something wasn't quite right.

"You have it wrong, switch them" I said.

He sat down, did was he was told. I looked again. Something still didn't look right. I thought maybe he took them off and thought he had switched them but actually put them on the same way.

"Switch them again" I said. "Oooookkkkaaay" said Nathan slightly confused and thinking maybe his mom was doing this to be mean, but he did it anyway.

Wait a minute. Something is STILL off!!!

Let me see those.

Hmph. "What in the world???" I said and since this is Nathan's new favorite quote I hear "What the world????" come from him. Maybe I'm losing my mind but these looked like two right shoes- not a right and a left.

Since I'm sleep deprived due to the new baby I thought it would be best to get a second option. "Do these look like two right shoes to you?" I asked my husband. He agreed they were and we just stare at each other with bewildered smiles and think "How can this happen?"

You see- the shoes are about 2 months old. We've both helped him put them on and there was ALWAYS a right and a left.


HOW IN THE WORLD DOES YOUR CHILD SUDDENLY HAVE TWO RIGHT SHOES????


We thought and thought on the way to church. We jokingly started to think of possible flyers we could post around town "Right Seeking Left"..... "Size 9 Searching for Perfect Partner" ...."Seeking a SOLE mate" :o)

My husband finally said "It had to be from Wednesday night" We are taking a parenting class at church on Wed nights and all the kids go to a play area where they take their shoes off. Of course! But what are the odds that some little boy just happened to have the exact same shoe as Nathan in the exact same size and they accidently switched one shoe? And poor Nathan- since Wed we have been making him stuff his left foot in a right shoe and we had no idea!

Somewhere out there was a mom wondering how her son has two left shoes. Would we ever meet? Did she notice or was her little boy still walking around stuffing his feet in the wrong shoes?

There are several things that go on at our church Wed nights and I knew the odds were against us in ever figuring this out. Our church has over 5,000 people!

We get to church and I find my friend Andrea who is the Early Childhood Leader and I said "Here's a crazy Lost and Found story for you...we go to put Nathan's shoes on this morning and"


"DO YOU HAVE TWO RIGHTS?" She interrupts. "I know who has the lefts!"

She put me in contact with the mom with the Lefts (Hi Leslie!) Turns out they are in our Wednesday night class :o)

So the shoes have been switched back. What a fun memory and something that made us scratch our heads on a Sunday morning.




In the end...I think this whole thing was a ploy so Nathan could wear his crocs to church on Sunday :o)

Whooo aarrreee yyyooouu???

Hi.

I'm not new to blogging. In fact, I used to blog about 12 years ago before it was as popular as it is now. I blogged regularly if not obsessively for years and eventually ran out of things to say for the time being. Well, I had things to say but didn't want to type them out anymore. But now with a husband, two kids, a dog and my career- there's a lot of stuff craming up my brain space. And well, I need all the brain space I can get. So I'm gonna dump it out on here.

Here's the stats: age 28, Southern Indiana (born and raised in NC though), married to Marcus for 6 years, we were together 3 years before that, he's my best friend and we have inside jokes that don't even make sense to us anymore yet they're still funny somehow. More about him and the boys on the "Crummy Boys" page.

I work outside of the home 4 days a week as a Dental Hygienist. I LOVE my job- my hands do not (they cramp a lot) I know God made me to be a hygienist because I'm great one on one and when I see a ton of gross buildup on people's teeth- it makes me giddy. No, seriously! I can't wait to clean it off! It's fun! Ok, maybe only other hygienist understand that.

I'm pretty good at drawing and kind of ok at painting. I've never had training in either and wish I did. I don't do it near enough. Mostly because by the time I pull all the art supplies out one of the kids would need me- and I would have to put it up again so the 3 year old isn't alone with the paint. Creating an art desk in our spare room is on my to-do list...unfortunately it's about number 362 on the list :o(

The most important thing about me is that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He's the forgiver of my many sins. Everything good in my life if because of Him and I am completely undeserving of all of it. He teaches me a lot everyday even though I don't always enjoy the lessons!

Hope you enjoy this not-so-crummy crummy blog!