Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts

Friday, March 7, 2014

Blessed Assurance

Thank you guys for the few emails about yesterdays post. Precious baby Faith was born via cesarean and lived for two hours.

As I get older things really hit me harder, it probably isn't a specific age but most likely when I became a mother. I wasn't calloused or unfeeling before but when we're younger we don't think about how fragile life really is.  The older I get the more death impacts my life. I know it is a good thing because it really makes me stop and be present in every moment but sometimes I feel guilty for it.



To grieve and be joyful at the same time is a double edged sword. It's a humbling thought that my friend's arms are empty tonight while our three precious boys sleep soundly in our house. I have so many things to be thankful for (don't we all!),  family and friends, my husband, my children, and most importantly for blessed assurance

Please continue to pray for our friends, thank you!












Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Blurry



Remember the time when I would post two to three times a week?

Yeah, me neither.....it was a loooooong time ago.

Writing this blog has been such a great experience but the last 6 months or so have been like pulling teeth. I feel completely uninspired to write like I used to, but that's not a bad thing.

 I could explain my absence with  how busy I've been and all the stuff we have going on, yada, yada, yada, but you know what?

 Everyone is busy!  There are mom's out there who work full time and still blog everyday, every week. It's a big priority for them and that's fine for them.

I've realized though that it's not fine for me.

I'm not saying goodbye but I am taking a few steps back.

In order for me to post constantly, I am constantly on the computer. Reading blogs, surfing Pinterest, typing posts, uploading photos, on and on and on. Besides taking time away from my husband, my kids, my LIFE.... I've noticed that it very easily breeds a dissatisfaction in me for my own home which then leads to me needing wanting what I don't have.



Anyone else in the same boat??














Friday, April 5, 2013

On my heart lately....

I'm still here believe it or not.

The past month has been a very difficult one. One that knocked me down and left me breathless at times.

A couple weeks ago my parents came over to watch the boys while I had a 7 am root canal. Which by the way was EXACTLY like the horror stories you hear about. I'm not sure how many shots I had, I lost count after the eleventh. I do know that three of them were directly into the root of my tooth. Oh and I had an ear infection at the time.

When I finally drug myself up our front stairs at almost 10 am I was shocked to see my husband inside. He was supposed to be working all day (which was why my parents were watching the boys). He was talking to my Mom, I could see her smiling through the window. I wondered why he was home but everything seemed fine. When I got inside though I could tell everything was not fine.

He had been suspended indefinitely, without pay. They would let him know within two weeks whether they were going to actually fire him or 'find something else' within the company for him. The last two or three managers in his position had the same thing happen and were eventually fired. It didn't look good. (*I don't want to get into details or bash the company at all but this was pretty unwarranted.)

At the time, for some reason I thought this was slightly humorous, comical even.

I blame the novocaine.

My hubby didn't think it was funny at all. I don't blame him. He is the sole source of income for our family but more than that he is a dedicated and extremely hard worker. His work ethic is one of the things I most admire and love about him. He would flip burgers and scrub toilets for 18 hours a day if that's what he had to do.....and he would do it with a smile on his face. He had worked his butt off, given more than I EVER would have to this job for almost three years. Worked almost every holiday and all of our birthdays, worked so many open to closes (12+ hours) when people would call in that I lost count. He was devastated.

He had almost a week 'off' before they fired him. We made the most of the time we had and it was actually a really nice vacation! We painted our bedroom finally, cleaned out the garage, set up the boys' new swing set.

He got a new (old-he worked there before) job and started this week. He'll have to work part time a few nights a week to make up for the pay cut but things are good, God is good! Looking back I'm amazed at how everything fell into place. We complained about getting our tax return a month later than expected but it got us through the four weeks of no paychecks. I had the bulk of my costly dental work done while we still had insurance. My husband and I had almost three weeks together, the most 'vacation' we've had in almost nine years of marriage. We stood and knelt together in faith, knowing that God had a plan for our family, that He would see us through and provide for us. There were days when I worried,  I mean if things got bad enough we could lose our house. I still worry some days but I know I don't need to.

 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11



I'll be back next week with some room tours!! :)

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Happy Day




                                                Eight years ago today we said 'I do'!



                           I love thee, I love but thee

                           With a love that shall not die

 
                           Till the sun grows cold


                           And the stars grow old.


                                     -William Shakespeare

Friday, August 10, 2012

27




Today is my birthday.


This morning Jude asked me what time my party was tonight. So cute!

I tried to explain to my birthday crazed four year old that once you get older birthdays are just like every other day. He didn't agree.

 I am totally fine with that notion by the way. I do not like being the center of attention. I get embarrassed when even my family sings Happy Birthday to me! I'm definitely not one of those people who will have some big bash when I turn thirty.

Which is in THREE years!!!

I'm definitely going to have a nervous breakdown when that comes around!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of getting old(er). Time just goes by SOOOO fast it freaks me out!!!

I can remember being in high school with my whole life ahead of me like it was just yesterday, not like it was ten years ago!

Jude and Phin will be five and three next year, Stanley and I will have been married eight years in November and Isaac is already two months old!

I just want time to slow down!!

It does make me really cherish each day though, even the ones filled with spit up, quarrels and sleepless nights; and especially the ones where I get presents!

Speaking of which, tonight I'm going to pick up this vintage beauty. (Which I will be painting and reupholstering immediately.)



Happy Birthday to me indeed!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Home Sweet Home

Sweet little Isaac Asher came home yesterday at noon.

SO, SO, SO happy to have him home, but I've slept for three hours since then.

Be back soon!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Safe in my arms



         Feeling very blessed tonight because I got to hold sweet little Isaac for the first time!!

He is off of the ventilator, his chest tube has been removed and he is doing great! They will be starting him on a feeding tube tomorrow and once he is breathing fine on his own and eating well he'll be able to come home.


Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support for our family!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Update.......


At my Dr. appointment today we found out that I have preeclampsia, again (I had it with Phin too). For the next two days I'm on light bed rest, Friday morning I have lab/blood work to do and then I have a follow up OB appointment on Friday afternoon. If my blood pressure is still high at that time my Dr. will deliver Isaac via C-section that evening. Not the delivery that I was hoping for but I am so thankful that I'm full term (38 weeks) and that he is thriving.

I take so many things for granted and complain about so many things that I really should be thankful for. I am blessed beyond measure and need to get some perspective sometimes.

Especially when I read things like this heartbreaking story about Michelle's sister in law Cali, who has already gone through so much.

My heart seriously breaks for them, please, please say a prayer for this family!!


Today I read this excerpt over at Gus and Lula and laughed so hard I about peed my pants.




"Look, you're not ready to have a baby. 

You're probably in your late twenties or early thirties, and you've gotten some stuff figured out, and now you're pretty sure you're "almost ready" to have a baby. But a baby is the ultimate, cosmic limit-tester of all ultimate cosmic limits, and no matter what you do to prepare, you will still find yourself thrown for a loop. 

You think you're ready because you have a dog? Ugh, sorry, but no. If you want your dog to help you prepare you for an actual human baby, it only works if you have the worst dog in the universe. It has to be, like, only trainable on Thursdays and it must never eat the first three types of food you offer it. Doesn't sound like any dogs I know! 

If you want to get ready for a baby, take my advice, and do the opposite of fun stuff. I'm not saying babies aren't fun, but it's not the kind of fun for which you need any practice. In fact, if I were selling my own Baby Squad Fitness Program for Actual Baby Readiness, it would come with the following drills/regimen for the entire year prior to conception. (Yes, conception! Yes, a year! Not doing anything fun while already pregnant is not actually all that hard and therefore not true readiness training)
  1. Practice wrestling a large, slippery fish three times a week.
  2. Wake up every two hours at night, punch yourself in the face, walk around for 28 minutes pleading in gibberish. Go back to "sleep." Repeat.
  3. Socialize with friends in 18-second increments.
  4. Practice asking for the check, boxing up your food and exiting a restaurant in under sixty seconds - two bites into the meal.
  5. Watch 38% of any film or television show. Never see the ending or resolution.
  6. Read the same three paragraphs of a novel once every two weeks; fall asleep.
  7. Shower every three to five days, but only for two minutes.
  8. Hire a makeup artist to make you look up to 10 years older. Look at yourself in the mirror, then laugh, cry, laugh, cry, laugh, cry. Do not go get a drink
  9. Pack two additional bags of random stuff to carry with you every time you leave the house.
  10. Stand around a tennis court and catch fly balls with one hand for two hours a day while also preparing a peanut butter sandwich.
  11. Practice wrestling aforementioned large, slippery fish, then dress it in seasonally appropriate outfit, including hat and/or jacket. Then go back, remove all clothing, and apply sunscreen. Re-dress fish. 
  12. Make 24 hours of baby-crying audio. Hit play the moment you take a phone call, fire up your computer, or begin speaking any sentences to another human that contain important or useful information.

I can speak from first-hand experience, all the above only scratches the surface.

But then you realize you have a BABY...and you are a mother...and who cares if you're not ready? It's all worth it."
 

Have a great day and if you don't hear from me for awhile it's because I'll be holding a sweet baby boy!!!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth

I'm still here, don't worry. Things have been CRAZY busy around here lately. Both boys have been under the weather, the hubs has worked crazy hours and I've been trying to chip away at the ever expanding To Do list. I'm currently 28 and a half weeks and running out of time before Mr. Isaac decides to grace us with his presence.

Want to see?



I'll look back on this in about 5 weeks and wish I was still this small!
Don't believe me?

This is me 2 days before all 9 pounds and 21 inches of Phin was born.....Holy Belly Batman!!!



Anyway, for the past week I've been working on the dresser for his nursery and I'm almost done stripping and sanding. Here are some pics of the drawers all sanded down and ready for some stain.


You can still see some of the paint in the grooves but I'm kind of liking how it looks. I really wanted to use Briwax Liming Wax (since I've heard really great things about it) but wouldn't it figure no one in town carries it! I did find this stain at Home Depot though.



Hopefully I'll be done with this project soon!

I've also been working on our china cabinet. Here's what it looked like before....




I had grand plans to paint it some amazing color like these.








Bailey just finished a beauty!




And so with all this beautiful inspiration I chose........white. Bummer, I know but I couldn't make my mind up!
I didn't paint the back because I have fabric panels that fit in there. Hence my decision for white paint. I change things so constantly that instead of re-painting it in 6 months I can just change out the backing.
 I know I'm a genius.




Just waiting for the sucker to dry before we move it back into the house and then I'll show you how we re-arranged the living room. SOOO exciting huh?!

Friday, March 2, 2012

So I chopped all my hair off........

Isn't that such a "Mom" thing to do?!  Yeah, it is but guess what? I don't care! I actually LOVE my hair short and so does Mr. husband.  (Isn't he the best!!!!)

I have very thick hair and while it is pretty when it's long, it is a PAIN to style and takes me forever! So pretty much once I can get it up in a ponytail it rarely comes out. What is the point of having long hair if it's always in a ponytail? Time for a change I decided!

So, here is the before (which is an older picture so my hair was actually about 2 inches longer).



And the after (courtesy of my future sis-in-law, thanks Beth!)................



Ahhhh I love it! TONS of texture makes it so easy to style. Between the highlights and the cut I was at the salon for three and a half hours! I should've taken a picture of how much hair was on the floor afterwards.....looked like she'd done three or four cuts and not one!


So what style are you rockin?

Have you ever gotten a "Mom" cut??

Monday, November 21, 2011

News....

I've been working on a new project for a while now and I'm dying to share it with you.






It's a collaboration.






It's been EXHAUSTING to say the least!






I wanted to wait to tell you about it until I had a photo.






I cannot wait to see how it turns out.........................on June 30th 2012....give or take a few days.





 

Say hello to peanut baby # 3!!!!!!!!!!

SO EXCITED!!!!!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Seven years ago...........

I married my best friend.





We were young, 19 and 20, and in love.






Seven years later, we're a little older, a lot wiser and still so in love! Happy Anniversary Stanley, I love you!!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Did ya miss me?

Wow, what a crazy 10 days it has been!

The stomach flu made the rounds through our house, just like I hoped it wouldn't. Poor, sweet Phin (16 months) was still sick this last weekend, hopefully he is on the mend now!
Dishes, laundry and general cleaning piled up while we were all sick and I'm just now getting to the bottom of it all. Not to mention my anti-virus software seemed to take a vacation just as I did. If you received a spammy E-mail from me, disregard and delete it please!!!

So while I try to get my home and computer back in working order, I'll leave you with some pretty pictures.






Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest


Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest


Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest




Hope you all have fared better than we have!

Follow me on Pinterest!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Quarantine

My poor, sweet Jude got a visit from Mr. Stomach Flu last night and he hasn't left yet.  : (   He's being such a trooper...this is the first time he's had the flu, which is always the worst. So I'll be MIA for a few days.

I finished my desk yesterday and will post pictures after our unwelcome guest leaves.

I'm praying that this doesn't make the rounds......I can't imagine having a 15 month old with the flu.

Pray for me, please!!

Friday, August 12, 2011

The not so big 2-6

Wednesday was my birthday.

Want to know what I did?

First I'll show you what I didn't do, unfortunately; although I did have a great day. ;)

I did not don a gorgeous LBD.....

and super sparkly high heels......

 for a swanky champagne bash.......

with lots of yummy hors d' oeuvre's.....

 including some of these (YUM!!!)......





Just to be clear... this would've been fun, however I totally HATE being the center of attention (I was SO nervous walking down the aisle when "The Man" and I got married because everyone was looking at me!!) and I'm pretty sure I couldn't walk in heels that high! ; )

So what I really did was this: My Aunt and three cousins are visiting from San Francisco and Tuesday we decided to take a last minute road trip. We went to Fairmont hot springs resort in Anaconda, MT (about 2 1/2 hours from Great Falls.).


Swimming + mini-golf + a petting zoo + a waterslide + perfect weather + 2 adults and 5 kids, ages 10 and under = Lots and lots of fun (and not a lot of sleep!)

We had a blast and I had possibly the best meal of my life...(so far!)

CEDAR PLANKED VEGETABLES AND QUINOA Seasonal fresh vegetables, small batch olive oil, golden balsamic reduction, roasted on a cedar plank with warm Maytag bleu cheese, lavender and fennel pollen. Served with toasted quinoa and rosemary.
It was UH-MA-ZING!!!!!!!

Then back to Great Falls for some cheesecake with friends and family (minus the singing of course.....we already went over my aversion to attention.).


I turned 26.

In four years I'll be thirty.



I'm still not sure how I feel about this.