Baby Chic

As my home gets increasingly flooded with baby items....swings....play gyms....high chair....exer-saucer....tubs....bumbo seats....bottles....toys.....burp rags.....I am learning to embrace it as sort of "baby chic" decor.  Only a specific population can pull it off.  Its all the rage, and well, comes with being a parent (or grandma!).

I really love to decorate rooms, so I was a little stubborn when Everett's stuff started crampin' my style.  Trying to store it away.  Hide them behind, under, in things. Fold them up and put them away.  It was bad....like OCD - anal retentive bad.  But really, I'm like that all the time--- with everything, so its really not a huge shocker that I'd be this way with all of Everett's things.  I've been accused of taking dishes away before people were done with them, vacuuming up crumbs as people are eating, washing the sink as my husband brushes his teeth, tucking in the love seat cover every five...no...two minutes, dusting the TV while people are watching it, cleaning up food messes before the food preparing is over, and about a dozen other obnoxious tendencies.  I've got issues....my poor husband!

So, it was really no surprise when I wanted to 'de-clutter' (don't even get me going on the de-clutter thing---I am a self proclaimed minimalist!) the rooms and keep them as they were before all the baby stuff.  I mean....are baby swings and  burp rags and bottles strewn about really that aesthetically pleasing?  My initial opinion on this matter was "Helllls No!"  And it is not like my decorating and decor is all that awesome.  I just like to decorate. Its like....blank canvas, meet creative soul.  I like to switch things up all the time and change the look of rooms and add cool vintage finds and just have fun with it.  Its like an art project to me!  You see these rooms every day...why not make 'em cool to look at?

After awhile it became hard to rebel against the new decor.  First of all, some of it is heavy and moving it all the time sucks.  But also, once I began to see how much Everett really enjoyed all of these things and witnessed smiles and giggles and new milestones with them it was harder to look at them as junk, but rather pieces of memories.  Like the time we put him in his swing and he wiggled around so much that he was practically swinging with half his body hanging out of it.   Or the time he first learned to press buttons for noise on his play gym and the look on his face when it happened.   Or how a recently acquired high chair makes me stunned at the realization that I have a big boy that has grown so so SO fast!  Looking at these objects now just makes me proud to be a mom and happy to have been making memories along the way....even if they are crampin' my style.  Its like a dead giveaway that we have a child whenever anyone comes to our home and sees all of this stuff  (not that we have many people over that don't know that we have a kid--but hey--the pizza man has been known to frequent our residence quite often).  And I like that....I don't even have to say, "Hey, I'm a mommy!"  They'll just know, and well, I think that's cool. 

So, here's to 'baby chic' decor.  May it increase over the years and forever cramp your style!

Friday Giveaway!

Time to pop in (I know it's been awhile, but this mama has been sick!) quick and post something I am VERY excited about--a giveaway!  Who doesn't love free stuff?!  Well, as promised before, Jeemaa from Mylilmarket is going to be giving away not one, but TWO of her super cute necklaces.  Great for mama's--but honestly, ANYONE can wear these! (BTW--I love mine!)

Here are the details:

-giveaway starts TODAY and ends next Friday 4/1
-The prizes are two necklaces (pictured above)--so there will be TWO winners!
-Comments = entry into the giveaway.  Leave a comment on this post and whamo bamo--you're in! (winners will be handpicked next Friday)

That's it! Easy right? Now I know you want one of these and you get double the chance to win, so get to commenting folks! :)  In the meantime visit Jeemaa at Mylilmarket and learn more about her handmade products and see what other great things this stay at home mama creates!

Need a comment prompt?  Well, how about you let me know when/if you have started your spring cleaning and what all do you attack when you decide to get 'er done? :)

Top Ten

Feeling a bit lackadaisical--yet still contemplative, so this'll be short n' sweet.

I proudly present the TOP TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED THUS FAR IN MOTHERHOOD (and still learning!)

#10: Celebrate the milestones.  Smiles...coos....teeth....rolls...crawls...poops...sleeping through the night...eating solids...grabbing....noticing mommy and daddy.  No matter how small the milestone, they are always exciting to mommy and daddy. Always.

learning to role onto tummy

#9:  Take pictures. Often and always.  Videos are great too.  Even if they are ridiculous and he won't care to see them when he is a teenage, his mama will.

#8:  Zippered sleep and plays are 100 times better than the button ups.  After buttoning and re-buttoning outfits after I skip over snaps--zippers have been a God send. 

#7:  I'm not crazy for still having to check if he is breathing in his sleep.  It helps mama sleep; so why the heck not.

#6:  Spit up is inevitable. Embrace it as a fashion statement---other parents will understand.

#5:  Mom knows best.  Trust my instinct no matter what the circumstance or inconvenience.

#4:  You can never call the doctor or google too much.


#3:  No amount of sleep, surfing the internet, running errands, cleaning or doing dishes is worth ignoring my child for.  They can wait.  No matter what. They can wait.

#2:  Cheeks are made for kissing--good and often.  'Nuff said.

#1:  This is THE best, greatest and most important role I will ever have in this lifetime. 

And the winner is....

After a real legit process of writting down numbers on a piece of paper and having Everett 'pick' one, the winner is......

Thats right! #4--TigerLily--Congrats!

Please, email me your contact information (email) and then I will contact Jan from BibsBibsBibs and give it to her to connect with you about your bib choice, where to ship, etc.

Thanks to everyone who participated! 

Also, speaking of "Ive got it comins"  I had a wonderful thing delivered from the mailman a couple days ago.  Hey...mail is exciting ok?

Look at this little pretty!

From MylilMarket

Jeemaa from 'Mylilmarket' on ETSY has these really cool "nursing necklaces"--but really they are for ANYONE!!  I love mine!  It is so cute and earthy looking and she had soooo many to choose from!  It is nice and solid so children cannot break it and the circle pendant and stones are great for curious baby fingers. She is going to be giving one away on my blog REAL SOON--so stay tuned if you want one of these pretties!!

In the meantime, check our her sweet little Etsy shop HERE--there is lots to look at! 

Everett loves it too :)

Happy Hump day.

I've got it comin'

What is it about ordering things online that is so exciting?  Here's how I see it.  See, we search online for the item of our hearts desire--books, clothes, presents, furniture, accessories, sports equipment, food, etc.  Then, we press that 'commit to buy' button and send off our order.  Now, we wait and the waiting and excitement--even for the seemingly non important items--builds up and we think, "Hey, I've got a package coming to me--cool!"  I mean, for real, who doesn't like getting mail? And sometimes you forget about it as soon as you press 'order' and then a couple days later you find a package in the mail and it bumps up your day a few notches--at least at the moment.

Or perhaps you are like me and you have things planned--dates, events, dinners, vacations, movies, etc. that you look forward to.  However, sometimes more than looking forward to them, you make them the focus of your day/week/month.  You think, "well, if I just make it through the next couple of days, I have that dinner with my best friend comin up and that will be so fun", or, "I have that big bonus comin to me, so I just need to make it until then.

It's the "I've got it comin" syndrome.

I'm ashamed to say, I am a victim of the syndrome myself.  Finding things to look forward to, whether a soon arriving online purchase or a date with the husband or girlfriends.  Planning much of my happiness and joy around the things I've got comin to me, rather than what is already in front of me.  The plain 'ol "I've got it's".

Is it so hard to live a life content and joyful in the moment without for a minute looking to the next thing to bring us our temporary high?  Why must the thought of a package or a dinner date bring us more excitement than the gift of another breath we have been given?

Maybe I'm the only one in this boat, but I'm sure there are a few other souls out there who feel the same.  Should we never look forward to the packages, dates, vacations, days off, etc?  Heck no!  But, we should be quick to stop ourselves from letting the fleeting "I've got it comin's" from directing our joy in life.

Now if you want an "I've got it comin'"--lets talk about Heaven.  Can I get an Amen! up in here?!  :)  Um, Hello, that's a pretty dang big deal to look forward to.  Perfection.  Happiness.  Holiness. Angels. Worship. Love. Jesus!  Heaven is a pretty big deal folks and its OK to have the syndrome for this one.  This would be favorable in God's eyes--would it not? For us to live our lives wholeheartedly excited for what we got comin to us.  To run--no--sprint towards it.  My package in the mail gets womped by this sucker.  Dinner dates with the husband (sorry Curtis!) just cannot compare.  We don't even have to pay (money) for this one!  Jesus just gifted us the biggest "I've got it comin" ever!  No shipping and handling for this one.  Nope.  There will be waiting, but we should get excited about it.  Giddy even, go for it.


"There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you?  And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live.  And you already know the road I'm taking." Thomas said, "Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?"  Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me"  --John 14:2-6 (the message)

I've got it comin!.....Do you?

Number two.

 Ha! I bet you thought I was gonna talk about poop huh? Nah....Actually, I save the juicy stuff for the end--pun intended :P Bah dum bum!

Number 2. Comes after 1, but 1 is first, so 2 has to be second.  No matter how hard 2 tries to be 1, it can't because it's number 2 and 1 is 1.

I am number 2.  I am no longer numero uno.
My needs are number 2.
My desires are number 2.
My free time is number 2.
My sleep is number 2.
My hunger is number 2.

I think you all know I'm talking about this guy:

Now, of course I don't mind being number 2 to that face---Honestly, who could?  But I would be lying if I said it wasn't a shock to my ME ME ME system (insert clip from Finding Nemo with the birds...MY..MYYY....MYY...MY..MYYYY).  After all, I've been number 1 all my life.

Maybe that is where the problem lies.  Living life like I am number one.  That's kind of like, ya know...selfish.  Right?

The fact is that my good God is number 1.  No...actually, He's better than a number.  He just IS. He reigns. Period.  Its not hard for me to understand that, nor glorify the fact, however sometimes its just darn hard to put my desires number 2 and his desires for me, number 1.That's just plain silly---He's a lot smarter than I am.  Time for me to wise up, take the back seat and live a loud, proud number 2 sorta life.

Everett sure has me wrapped around his finger though, running to every cry...spending money on clothes that last no longer than a month...forgoing a good nights sleep...building mammoth arm muscles by the amount of cargo I lug around...planning EVERYTHING around him!  It takes me ten times longer than before to get laundry and dishes done.  I live in sweat pants.  I smell like spit up and have it fashioned on most of my clothes.  I make everything a song and talk an obnoxious 5 octaves higher than any person should.

It's different.

Sure, I could say life was easier before as number 1--but was it really? I'm not sure.  I just know that each phase of life has its challenges and takes work and nudges us towards being number 2,  but I take being number 2 to him any day over being number 1 without him.  It's an adjustment, like all life changes.  It doesn't always come easy--but the good things in life take work! -- Family, relationships, love, happiness........poop.

Yup, I said it.  Poop.  It takes work.  Just ask Everett, or catch a glimpse of his pitiful little poop face.  I will capture it soon enough. We've all see 'the poop face' on some small child one time or another right?  First, the color changes seven shades past tomato red.  Then, eyebrows up--eyes widen with worry, sometimes tears or perhaps desperation.  Lastly, the grunt.  This is how you can tell how much work poop is.  When did we grow out of the poop grunt? Just wondering.

Everett has been a little irregular the past couple of months.  #2 Diaper changes have become more of a celebration now with clapping and joyous poop songs.  If you would see what this kid manages to muster out with all his strength, you would think he deserves a celebration too!

Thank heavens for prune juice and hot baths--seems to be our special weapon these days.

Number 2.

Being number 2 ain't so bad.  When I wake up in the morning to that cry and pick him up and feel his little breath on my face, my heart wells up and gladly chants....I'm number 2! I'm number 2!  I'm number 2!....




(FYI---The giveaway is ending soon!  On 3/16 I will be announcing the winner of the FREE handmade bib!  Be sure you leave a comment to be entered into the drawing!  Check out the giveaway here! )

Sweet Potatoes and Bibs

This sweet bib was created by Jan from BibsBibsBibs

So, Everett has started on solids officially (about a month ago), so he is practically all grown up now. It's been a messy process and he is about as picky of a eater as I am.  So far we have been successful with rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Really child? You are going to live on sweet potatoes?  Many other fruits and veggies will go in, but come out faster than you can say Gerber baby.  Needless to say we are going through a lot of bibs, burp cloths, wash cloths, paper towels, sleeves, etc. around here.  I believe I have an abnormally regurgitative (Yup, I just made that word up) child, so it makes matters worse! 

 The whole starting solids food process is a bit scary to me.  It just solidifies even more how responsible I am for my little guys development and growth.  Which, you would think after 9 months in my belly and 6 months on earth that the thought would have settled in, but that's a lot of pressure!  What if I don't feed him the "right" foods right off the bat.  What if I don't feed him enough and he starts shrinking.  What if all he ever eats IS sweet potatoes?  I know...its all just another symptom of mommy guilt and being a worrier at heart, but I think fretting is also a genetic trait, so I can't help it anyways :)

     Well, tomorrow is a new day and we are out of sweet potatoes, so baby boy best find a liking to something else!  Its also going to be a somewhat nice day tomorrow here in the frozen tundra so we may venture outside for a walk to the park.  It reminds me that this mama has GOT to get in shape for my upcoming triathlons, yikes! Well, like I said....tomorrow = new day.

Now, for the FREE and FUN part!

You can find a sweet bib for any special little person in your life here!  Jan has an amazing assortment of colors and fabric for both boys and girls and MN friends...she's local! Also, one special commenter will receive one FREE bib from this lovely little shop! Simply leave a comment!  This mama is old school and draws from a hat--so it's real legit!  The winner will be announced on 3/16 so leave your comments and let me know what are you looking forward to this Spring!