diaper wreath

I have seen a few of these on flickr lately and I really wanted to try to make one. My sister's boyfriend's sister is getting induced today, so I decided to make one for her. I think it turned out pretty cute. I still have leftover diapers, so I'll probably throw one together for my sister in law who's due soon too.

in my medicine cabinet

OK, Lisa tagged me in a meme! I don't usually get tagged, so I feel all special inside. Uh-huh. We're supposed to show what's in our medicine cabinet and the first thing I though was that's too embarrassing. But, I'm doing it anyway. Not even cleaning it up first. Oh and there's a $25 e-gift card to Sephora for playing if you link back to Supermommy here.


here are the guidelines for the M.C. Meme:
1. Take a picture of your medicine cabinet.
2. You may clean, organize, dispose of the Preparation H if you'd like.
3. Write a post describing what's in the cabinet. (favorite products, least favorite, expiration dates on old products)
4. Leave a link to said post in this comment form.
5. Tag some friends to play along if you'd like. (make sure they link back to this post)

Alright, so here it is:



I cannot believe I just posted that! I'm embarrassed just looking at it, you must be too. If I'd been tagged a few months earlier, there's no way I would have done this. Those baskets weren't even there before, so it was much worse than it is now. Everything this is just basically shoved up there to prevent the kids from getting into any of it. Some things weren't always way up there but my kids don't know how to stay out of things. Also, I didn't buy that ugly cabinet, it was here when we moved in and I never got around to changing it. Now that we're planning on moving, there's not much point anymore.

Now on to what exactly is in there. In that top basket, we have all the mommy & daddy stuff; razors, q-tips, aspirin & midol (pms!), shaving cream, a little make-up, etc. The stuff beside is stuff that really should be thrown out but I'm lazy and always forget to do it. I don't know why I don't just do it as soon as I think of it, but that would be to rational wouldn't it? The second basic is full of the kids medicines & band aids... it looks full doesn't it? We seem to stock up a bit I think. To the left is lotions that don't fit anywhere & mineral oil (Lizzy used to be a constipated little girl) and to the right, my face wash, toner & face lotion. And a penny?

And here are the people I choose to tag, play along if you guys would like!
1. Krissie
2. Renee
3. Stacey
4. Cass
5. AndreAnna

buddies

This is what I was working on the other night, they didn't turn out as amazing as I pictured in my head (does anything ever though?) but I still like them and I'm sure the girls will enjoy cuddling them too. I made them out of a fat quarter, which is why there are no arms, there wasn't enough fabric for that! The faces are out of an old t-shirt that doesn't fit anyone anymore.

As soon as they were finished, I got some sleep! Still not caught up on my sleep yet though, maybe my sister will bring the girls home later in the day tomorrow. I love my sister, she takes my kids a lot! Does it make me a bad mom that I look forward to when someone takes the girls? I feel so relaxed when they're gone, I think it's the lack of screaming and fighting that makes it so nice.

4th picture

Rachel at Four Wise Monkeys did this and I'm going to too. You go to the 4th photo in your 4th folder. I haven't had my digital camera contected to my computer long, so this isn't from too long ago. It's from November 14th, the Backstreet Boys concert! The 4th picture is a goody;



mmmhmm, Brian looking so yummy. That concert sure was fun.

If you want to play along, do, just leave me a comment so I can come see yours.

share some energy, would ya?

I am so very tired today, hubby's home for the weekend, am I getting some extra rest? Nope. Whatever, it's fine. My sister is taking the kids for a day or two next week, so I'll get rest then. I'm so happy my family loves taking my kids, I would be a crazy woman if I never had any kind of break.

I am dealing with a crazy, hyper baby and a screaming two year old at the moment. I forgot how annoying the terrible twos were. Hubby & Sam are out on a date right now, seeing a movie. Hubby takes her out just the two of them once a month, I love that he does that, she loves it too! I can't wait until Lizzy is older and she can go on more daddy dates. I wish I got a daddy date... I do sometimes, not as often as the girls though. No biggy, I guess.

Anyway, I'm still being super lazy and barely getting my sewing done. Maybe if I get Lizzy to stop her screaming, I'll get to it again. I want to get things done. I say that a lot, I know but I really do want to.

look what I got!

He's not impressed with me sticking him in there. I got this baby moses basket for really cheap off kijiji today. Love that site, a great place to find great deals! I just need to recover it and it'll be home to the girls' baby dolls.

what I'm doing

Cutting and sewing, that's what I'm doing. I'm determined to get all the things I need to mail out finished by tonight so I can do one big run to the post office. So far, it's looking good, I'm almost finished.

I'm putting away some clothes that Zach has outgrown too, they're going into a big bag so I can dig through them before he turns 1 and make a quilt out of them all. It was something I wanted to do with the girls' clothes but never did. I am determined to do it this time though.

The last thing I'm doing today is hanging out with this little dude, while the girls play in their room. We are having a lot of tantrums around here, so they've been hanging out in there quite a bit.

I heart the mailman

I think fell in love with my mailman today, okay not really but he did bring me something that I am in love with! Delicious retro fat quarters from Whimsie Dots, I can't wait to sew something with them.

I'm slowly working on sewing together a bunch of tag blankets for some friends of mine with babies the same age as Zach. Most of these girls are a group that I've been talking with since I found out I was pregnant, I love how you can connect with people so easily through the internet. I've made some great mommy friends, we plan on meeting some day. Most of them live in the states, so I have a lot of money to save up to do this. For now, talking everyday and texting back and forth is working for us all. I really can't wait to meet them all one day though!

Anyway, the sewing is going slowly since I'm lazy and now on my own for the week. Hubby's gone back to work away from home again. We're easing into him being gone for long periods, he's only gone for a week at a time for a few weeks. I'm not looking forward to the month long trips. The girls are already trying my patience and hubby just left yesterday.

so creative

I just found this website yesterday, it's called Imagine That... Quilts, it's a new venture from Tracy. They're the most adorable quilted wall hangings for kids. You take a picture of your little one and make them anything they want to be, it really is a cute idea. You must click over there and see what it's all about. They are supposed to be easy enough even for a beginning quilter, so there's nothing to be scared of! I really want to do one or three of these for my kids.

another giveaway :)

click the photo, it's a good one!

it's melting

That was the tree outside my apartment last Monday, here it is today. (ignore the grubby window)



There's still snow out there but not as much, it's been very warm out and everything is melting. I miss it already, I don't want winter to end.

giveaway

A stroller giveaway! I would love to have this stroller, it would make outings so much easier since Lizzy still likes to ride in a stroller.

I did what??

Wednesday night I went to the gym! My sister brought me a pair of extra shoes and made me go to a core exercise class. We were expecting it to be hard to get into the class but when we got there, it was only us, so we didn't really need to be in such a rush to get there. There only ended up being two other girls in the class with us. The instructor was really great and helped us out a lot since it was our first ever class. I didn't want to tell her the last time I actually worked out, it's been awhile. Tenth grade in high school... ahem. Not that long ago, only 8 years or so.

Anyway, it was painful but in a good way if you can believe it. I did pretty much give up near the end because I just couldn't keep my legs lifted in the air anymore. I fought to keep doing it but it was a losing battle. Does anyone know if it starts getting less painful the more you keep going? I plan to go again, other than my arms and abs hurting, I felt really good in the morning. I did learn a lot of great exercises to do at home if I can't make it into the gym, so I just need to go out and buy an exercise ball.

I think this getting healthy thing is really going to work out.

found.

Fabric giveaway over here, don't enter though, I really want to win! But, do go to see the awesome Valentine's Day decorating.

tag blanket

So, yesterday I decided to try out this tutorial, with different sizing though. They turned out not so good but they were quick, easy and fun to make.



I decided to make them into a tag blanket for Zach. First time around, I sewed the batting on wrong and had to rip it all apart. A huge pain in the butt! And the red fabric ripped, so the whole thing shrunk down in size. I decided to practise a little quilting also, it doesn't look horrible. Zach is already loving it and chewing the crap out of it, so I guess it's a hit.





I love the Woodland Friends fabric on the back, I bought it from the Above All Fabric etsy shop awhile back.

P.S. giveaway is ending tonight.

Weigh-In Wednesday

Weight last week: 142
Weight this week: 142

No change. But, that's alright. I made it to the mall every day this week to walk for an hour. I didn't make it to the gym yet, money's been a bit tight, so buying myself a pair of running shoes isn't really happening this week. But, I'm not worrying. I read a part in Shopaholic Takes Manhattan last week that just made me laugh out loud and worry a bit that something like that could happen to me.

"But, it just shows, even if you don't work out, you can still have a level of natural baseline fitness. Because this is causing me absolutely no problems at all. In fact, it's far too easy. I should have chosen level--
Hang on. The machine's tilting upward. And it's speeding up. I'm running to catch up with it.
Which is OK. I mean, this is the point, isn't it? Having a nice healthy jog. Running along, panting a little, but that just means my heart is working. Which is perfect. Just as long as it doesn't get any--
It's tilting again. And it's getting faster. And faster.
I can't do this. My face is red. My chest is hurting. I'm panting frenziedly, and clutching the sides of the machine. I can't run this fast. I have to slow down a bit.
Feverishly I jab at the panel- but the treadmill keeps whirring round- and suddenly cranks up even higher. Oh no. Please, no."

If you haven't read any of the Shopaholic series, I recommend doing so, it's so funny!

Back to the weigh-in, I'm doing pretty well eating healthy wise. The pop thing on the other hand, I'm doing horribly with. I really didn't realize how addicted I am to it. It's just so darn good. I bought some crystal light to help me quit pop because I do like that stuff. It's just not working. I'll keep trying though.

This week I'm going to start doing some working out at home. I'm doing a little bit here and there, squats while in the bathroom waiting on Lizzy to pee in the potty. Push-ups and sit ups while playing with Zach. And jumping jacks with the girls while listening to music, the girls have a blast doing those with me. I'm sure any little bit of working out is good, I just would like to find some sort of routine workout. If anyone has anything to offer in that department, please do share.

Until next week, hopefully I'll see a decrease.

being a baby is hard

A little glimpse into the life of Zachery, it's tough being a baby. What happens in the very beginning happens all the time here, he fits in to our family perfectly.

homemade wipes

I'm still not sure about the cloth diapers working for me, so I'm going to make my own diaper wipes for the time being. I'm waiting for the box of wipes I bought to run out before I try this but I can't wait to stop spending money on them! I've heard really good things about doing this and Zach's starting to get a bit irritated sometimes at diaper changes. We'll see how this goes. Here's a recipe to make some if you'd like to give it a try too.

1 roll of paper towels
2 T. baby oil
2 T. baby bath or shampoo
2 cups boiled water, then cooled
Old diaper wipe container (or any airtight container will do)

Each roll of paper towels will make two boxes of wipes. You also have two options for the style of diaper wipes to make. You can either cut the roll of paper towels in half; leaving them in a roll, or you can tear apart the towels and fold them to fit into the box. The later was my preferred choice.

After you place your towels into the empty box, mix the remaining ingredients in a large measuring cup. Slowly pour the liquid over the towels, making sure to cover them evenly.

If you have chosen the folded method, place half of the towels in the box and pour in half of the liquid. Then add remaining towels and remaining liquid on top of them.

If you have chosen the rolled method, be sure to remove the cardboard from the middle before adding the liquid. After the towels have set for a short while, they will absorb the liquid more evenly and will keep fresh for several weeks.

out of sorts

January 5,2009 (lazy pajama day)
I've been feeling really out of sorts lately, I don't know if maybe my medication isn't working anymore or if it has something to do with my missing "girlfriend" lately. I know that it's normal for a lot of people to not get a period for awhile after having a baby but with my other two, as soon as I was done bleeding, my periods started up right away. So, I have no clue what's going on with that, I'm having really horrible lower stomach pains lately too. Of course, I decided to look up possible causes on the internet (never do that!) and read about ectopic pregnancies and early menopause. I took a pregnancy test just so I could get that out of my head and not worry about that craziness. It was strange peeing on a stick, there's no way I should ever be having to do that again. That leaves early menopause, let's hope that's not the case here, although I did think about it a little and I have been having insane hot flashes and mood swings. But, I think that's just me being crazy. I did ask my doctor about it at Zach's 3 month visit and the doctor said it was normal, I knew he'd say that, I don't know why I asked anyway.

Speaking of Zach, he had his 4 month shots on Thursday. Poor guy makes me so sad when he makes that pouty face. But, he did good, he only cried a bit after the second one (the one in the muscle). He's 16lbs 11oz now, he only gained 1lb in two months, which is insane because he eats a huge amount!

There was a little baby boy who was seven months old there to get some shots, when we walked in he was just sitting on the floor rocking. After I got talking to his mom who turned out to be his foster mom, I started feeling so sad for the little guy, he's already been in 10 different foster homes since he's been born. He was such a sweet little guy, he and Zach got along quite well. I told hubby about him and he got so upset and said I should have brought the baby home with me. He was talking seriously, I couldn't believe it, this is a guy who is so against us adopting at all. It made me cry. Of course, I had to explain to him that it doesn't work like that. Just the fact that he's open to it makes me so happy now, I don't think we'd ever do it though, I don't think we're strong enough people for that kind of thing.

change pad and cute fabric

One broken needle, some wonky (supposed to be straight) lines and 30 minutes later, I have a new change pad. It's not fancy and I intend to never use a towel to make another one again! But, I don't care much about how it looks, it will do it's job. And it will be the extra one in the van for days that I forget to bring a diaper bag because you know, my brain isn't always working. I got the idea to use a towel from Martha Stewart but I did it completely different from how she did, I added a pocket at the top to hold the diapers & wipes and instead of using ribbon, I made my own tie. Even if I don't like it, Elizabeth seems to, she wanted to model it for me.



This is a sheet that my aunt gave me last year for the girls, it was sewn when my baby cousin was little (she's now 13). I love the fabric but it doesn't fit the girls' beds. So, not wanting to throw it away, I cut the crap out of it for a quilt to make for Sam, I just need to get to the store for a little extra fabrics. I can't wait to get started on this one.

FQ swap

This is just the kind of swap I wanted to be a part of this year! So glad to have come across it before it was too late.

Just a quick post this morning, I'll post later with pictures of a change pad I made last night!

Books read in 2008

I got this idea over here and thought I'd give a go at my own list. Now hopefully I can remember them all. Not in order and a few I reread.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory
The Virgin's Lover - Philippa Gregory
The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
Wideacre - Philippa Gregory
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette - Carolly Erickson
Belly Laughs - Jenny McCarthy
Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill
Wiped: Life with a Pint-size Dictator - Rebecca Eckler (reread)
Night - Elie Wiesel (reread)
Harvesting the Heart - Jodi Picoult
Stori Telling - Tori Spelling
The Mommy Chronicles - Sara Ellington, Stephanie Triplett (reread)

My favorites were The Other Boleyn Girl, The Virgin's Lover and Belly Laughs.

I hope to read many more books this year starting with the Shopaholic series, I've just finished the first one, so I'm now on the second. I bought the first one a few days ago, so I made sure to buy the next two yesterday so I don't run out of things to read. This series has already got me hooked, it's seriously very funny! To see more of the books I'm hoping to read, go to my GoodReads profile.

a new year

Wow! I didn't expect that there would be so many people entering my giveaway! Go enter it if you haven't already.

It's a new year and people have lots of resolutions they want to stick too. I don't think I've ever really had resolutions that I've particularly thought hard about. I do have one that I want to make though. I want to make and finish a quilt this year. I really do hope to make more than one, but making a resolution to get just one done makes it much easier. Also, I'd like very much to keep up with The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, I haven't been paying too much attention lately. I haven't exactly slipped or anything, it's just I haven't weighed myself in awhile. Well, I'll admit I have drank a bit more than usual but it was the holidays, it was hard not to.

Random picture from this week of my Project 365. I think this is what I'll do every Saturday, I'll post one random picture.


Yesterday my sister's boyfriend was in a skidooing accident, he broke 4 vertebrae and needs surgery on his small intestine. He somehow managed to get himself home for help afterwards too, so he is a very strong guy and I'm sure all will be fine but my sister is sure worrying. I got a text from her very early this morning, I'm glad I was up though so I could talk to her, I hope he's feeling better.