365-Falling Behind & Catching Up

This past week has been very difficult to find the time to blog. I have been so stressed out that my energy level has been extremely low. I've been going to sleep at 9. That is so early for me and I usually put my baby down around 8:00 so I just need to make the time to blog.

The most interesting things I have learned this past week was having a baby turn 1 is fun, exciting, and sad all at the same time. I let my baby sleep with us the night of his birthday and as he was sleeping my husband and I watched videos of the day he was born. I was of course crying and just soaking in the moment. I know that he's getting bigger and bigger and soon will be talking back to me. And want nothing to do with me. So I made sure to enjoy every second of his birthday.

I'm also in the process of having to be the mean landlord. My renters have been out of contact with me for a while. It sure makes me nervous. I'm not a big fan of change...even though nothing has even changed yet I'm still afraid of it. I just hope that everything works out in a good way.

The next thing I learned but I already kind of knew. That God has a reason for everything. It just takes a while to learn the reasoning behind it. When Scout was born we had to be rushed to get an emergency c-section. He had pushed the umbilical chord out before he was. All this time I have been so disappointed and regretful that I had to be put all the way under and I didn't get a chance to see him born. Well yesterday all that disappointment turned into comfort because I learned why God had my son push out the umbilical chord. I learned that the umbilical chord was not only pushed out but that it was wrapped around his neck. That could have put him in a very bad situation. Who knows what that would have done if I had given birth to him naturally. My disappointment has been replaced with gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father.

The next interesting thing that I learned today actually was that not all states legalize being a surrogate. I guess I never really thought about that and I found it very interesting. I guess it makes sense since there are some jerks out there who would take advatange of people who are desperate to have a baby and charge them out the butt to carry their baby. And who would be able to stop those women from just doing this over and over to make them a fortune? It's so crazy to me that some people just can't do things the right way. Why they have to cheat the system is beyond me. This has kind of discouraged me a little but I know that I might be in a state that allows me to be a surrogate when I'm ready to go through with it. I know it's selfish but I would like some compensation. I want to set up a college fund for my baby and I know that money would be very helpful for him. And to know that I'm helping someone would be so rewarding.

365 New Things-Day 11 &12- Crying It Out

The past two days have been very tough. I've been letting my son cry it out. It tortures me and it really hurts my heart. However, the only reason I continue with this is because I'm seeing progress...lots of progress. The first night I made the mistake of staying in the room as he cried to sleep. First of all that was so hard for me to listen to him screaming at me. I hated it. The second reason that was a bad idea is because he couldn't really relax and fully fall asleep because he felt that at any moment I would disappear. The next night I did a calm down time with him before I put him in his crib, we rocked and read a story. I think this really helped me more than him because it was our little special time before I had to hear his crying. After our calm down time I put him in his crib, give him a hug and a kiss, and then I rub his back for a few seconds before I say good night. Then I leave and the crying starts...BUT...he's only crying for about 5-10 mins before he's out...AND...he's sleeping through his naps and the night. Seriously no waking up after the first night. It was amazing. However, I woke up at 4 am thinking, oh my is he ok, this is the time he usually wakes up, I wonder if he's going to wake up. But he didn't he slept from 8:00pm-7:30am. I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E! He hasn't done that since we transitioned him to the crib. I keep asking myself why I didn't do this earlier...but then I remember that I cherished every night and every moment that I got to hold my baby and comfort him as he slept. That was worth waiting until he was a year old to let him cry it out.

(my son cuddling with his elmo pillow, he's so cute!)

Even though i know so many parents disagree with the cry it out method because of the possible side effects. But it's not like I didn't try all the other methods out there before I did this and I don't let him cry for as long as Feber recommends because I can't handle it and I don't want my son crying for that long. However, I'm grateful that we're going through this experience. I know that this might stress him out for a few minutes but he doesn't cry long enough for me to be worried. I also think that if I wasn't doing this and teaching him how to soothe himself it will be better for him when he gets older. Plus it takes me twice as long to get him to go to sleep if I was having to rock him or sitting there patting his back. I'm going to stick with this and hope that each night it takes less time for him to fall asleep.

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365 New Things-Day 8- The History of Braids

My husband was watching basketball and one of those commercials of the poor children in Africa came on. He said, "This is so fake! Look at her hair, those braids are way too nice." So this lead to a discussion on how I felt that it was definitely real because in Africa there are a lot of women who know how to braid extremely well. He didn't believe me so....this is I figured what the heck I'll learn about it and prove to him that yes it is possible for a poor little girl in Africa to have nice braids.

I'm proud to say that, "I am RIGHT!"

Braiding orginiated in West Africa and the braids were used to signify social status, age groups, and special events. (all the information was found here.)

The women used their time braiding to socialize with each other and teaching their children. I remember my mom would practice for hours on my hair perfecting the french braid. I did the same on my barbies and later on my friends hair.

I'm really liking this challenge I have given myself. I've finished my first week and already so much has happened. I hope to continue learning new and random things. You never know when it will come in handy.

Fun & Easy DIY Christmas Gift for Boys

I made these personalize super hero capes for my nephews birthday a few weeks ago.

It was so easy!!! I had some left over fabric. For these 4 years olds half of a yard was perfect. I took the fabric and cut it down the middle. I used a jersey material so I didn't have to worry about the edges and making it look pretty.

The next thing I did was cut out letters I drew by hand. I placed them where I wanted them to be placed and just sewed around the edges.

In order to keep it safe for children to use, I used velcro to create the latch for the neck piece. I took a small strip and sewed it onto one corner and at the end of it I sewed one of the velcro pieces. At the other corner of the cape I sewed the opposite end of the velcro to create the latch. And I was done!

So simple and so easy it took me less then 20 minutes to finish the entire project and I believe that the blue material was less then $6.00. For the letters I used old T-Shirts as scrap material. So that was free! I even had enough material left over I could have made them masks to match, but since it was a surprise I didn't have them there to measure and create the eye holes.

I hope you all like this!

Walk for MS

Yesterday was my first time walking for a charitable event. It was so touching for me to be a part of this and it was even more touching that my husband tagged along to support me in this experience.

The volunteers there were so kind and the atmosphere was filled with positive emotions. I loved reading each and everyone's badge to see who they were walking for. Some were for themselves and others were family memebers or friends. Being a part of this really has just reinforced my goal to become a neuroscientist. I really want to help and study this problem to see if I can help find any relief for those individuals with MS.

I made a little onesie for my little man

Me walking for my grandpa!

This was the back of my shirt

Me and little man with our awesome shirts!

My support group! My dogs came with us!

I am so grateful that I did this I am definitely going to make this a tradition for my family and me. Next year I hope I can get a group together to help

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Make Your Own Baby Mei Tai

I had a friend of mine show me this awesome blog!

http://www.hobomama.com/2009/02/babywearing-heavy-baby-mei-tai.html

I've been looking for an easier way to carry Scout, especially when I'm out mowing the lawn or walking around where I don't need the stroller. I tried putting him on my back with the little carrier we have now but it's really uncomfortable and it's not made for that. So the link ahead actually showed me an easy way of how to make my own Mei Tai! Plus it also helped that my friend simplified the pattern for me since the one the lady has in this blog is a little confusing for me. Especially after looking at all her pictures. They're all of professionally made Mei Tai's so it was touch to see what she was talking about.

It requires 2 yards of fleece. Fleece is going to be your best best if you do not want to use a sewing machine. If you are good at sewing and would like to make yours a little more unique then I believe any material could work, I would just double check how long the material will hold up. I used Fleece for my first one and it's been working great!

This photo above shows the different lengths, now you can be flexible with these measurements. This can be made specifically for you and your comfort. The next one I make I'm going to make the bottom ties a little wider because with fleece it curls up and makes them a little too thin and it cuts into me a little bit. Also I'm going to add padding to the shoulders right now it's not cutting into me but I could see happening after a while. The middle is long so you'll have to roll it up if your baby is still small.

You'll see I used chalk to mark all of the lines to creat the outline. This was good because I got to see what on the outline needed to be changed.


After cutting out all the edges, I was left with my Mei Tai...but I thought this looked a little plain so...

I took an old receiving blanket that my little Guy can't use anymore. I pinned it around the edges of the already cut fleece and sewed them together along the edges.

Here is my finished Mei Tai! Me and my little guy in the front position.

Me and my little guy in the back position! It's taking him a little while to get used to it but I know I sure love it! It was so much easier and less pain to carry him around like that. The other benefit was if I was breastfeeding I could do this without having to stop what I'm doing. I'm excited to make these now as baby gifts for my friends!

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Made My Own Hair Clip

I never thought I was talented enough to really make my own hair clip but one thing lead to another and before I knew it I had a new hair clip that wasn't all that shabby looking.

I had bought some hair clips last year and they had some cheesey looking flowers on them but they had these pretty feathers. I started cutting the flower off and separating the feathers. I reused the clip that the flowers came on as my "new" clip. The feathers from the flower clip were a little small so I found some other feathers from a halloween mask I bought at the dollar store a long time ago.

After pulling and getting all the feathers I wanted I lined them up how I wanted to have the hair clip and I superglued them to a small fabric on top of the clip.

Once that was done I was able to wear it in my hair for the entire day. It held up strong and I didn't have to adjust anything or reglue it.


This was so easy I'm thinking I might just have to start making my own more often.

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Crafty Week-Wall Decoration

This week I am going to show more of my crafty side. The first project I'd like to show is what I did as a wedding present for a friend of mine.

I was looking on other people's blogs and I found something similar to this but I customized it to what my friend likes and what she wanted for her house. She loves the color red and the Fleur DE Li's. So after showing her what I thought of she was ecstatic about the idea and I was happy that I got to give her something unique and something that she'd actually want to hang in her house.


This was everything I used. I found an old sign at the DI for $2.00 and I also found the picture frames at the DI for .75 each. I found the drawer knobs for $2.50 each at Hobby Lobby. Then I bought the spray paint for $4.00 at Wal-Mart. Then of course the photos were just the cost to print them. Since I took them myself.


I mapped out where I wanted the drawer knobs to be before I painted it with pencil and marked the place where the holes needed to be drilled.

I spray painted the wood and the frames

I added the drawer knobs where I had drilled the holes


Here is the finished product! The pictures I took myself and took them of the temple they got married in. This was it would be of sentimental value as well.

Lesson in Marriage Update

Well after realizing how selfish I've been and going out on a date with my husband. We had a chance to talk about things and I got a chance to hear his side of it.

He didn't see me as being selfish he felt that little guy was just too much for me to handle so I was being more stressed out then usual. I didn't see that at all. I'm grateful that we had this chance to work it out. Life has been so much better for us and I feel like we are back to being a team. I don't feel that wall anymore and it feels so natural again just being together. I'm hoping that we can have more nights alone where we can focus on each other more and not on all the other issues like school work, baby, money, and family.

I am so much happier now and I am so glad we were able to work it out.

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Getting Organized

As we budget and get ready for our finances and the next 3 months I realized I needed to get more organized in order for us to have space for all of the extra things we are going to be buying. For example, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, and other hygiene products.


My first step was to clean the closet where we keep our medicine, towels, and other electronic items we don't use often. Once I organize this closet I'll have the extra space I need. I took this upon myself to accomplish this task today before I went to the store, plus it kept me preoccupied while I was putting Scout down for his nap. I find that if I am working on my projects while he is crying then it doesn't seem so bad.




Here is the before picture...there really is no organization to it what so ever and everything is pretty much just thrown in there.



After taking everything out and putting it into separate piles i finally have a well organized closet with room to put things.

Time to go stock up!!!

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