Space Saver

When Josh and I "met" Dave Ramsey the plans of buying a house and settling in changed. It became a better choice for us to rent an apartment and buy a house at another time. That whole thinking process was NOT easy for me. Most of you know all of this already but it was tough. I had just had a house before we were married and I really wanted one. Fortunately I've matured a little and realize that wanting and needing something are different. I've also learned the things I thought were once important (a house) are no longer important. I'm pretty sure if Josh and I had bought a house right after we were married then I would not be able to spend most all my time with Sadie. For me (I only speak for myself and not for others) I wanted to be home as much as possible. I'd be lying if I said I didn't become discontent with things at times. It's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else has but right now I feel VERY blessed to live where I live, work where I work, and more importantly I'm blessed to have a wonderful little family of my own.

Goodness....anyway...all that to say I do love our little apartment. It is PERFECT for us. It's in a great location, a great price, plenty of room, and storage (well when you have as many dishes and things as I do there is never enough storage). One of the best things about where we live now and where we lived previous to this is the built in desk area. Some might use this for a small office but not me. This area is my sewing area. It's a place I set up my machine and get my work done. The problem is its a small space and would take so much time to get things out in order to be able to work. I started thinking about ways to help organize it and make it easier to work. With a baby sometimes I would have 2 hours to work other times only 30 minutes. I wanted to be able to sit down and do what I needed to do. While it still isn't completely perfect it is almost there. It has been so nice. I've been able to get things done and enjoy doing it. My sweet husband is responsible for getting my space ready to go. He's a keeper.

Here it is. Isn't it cute?

I'm lucky because our dining room table is right in front of it so I can use it for cutting fabric or ironing. There isn't a picture but I have a cute little table top ironing board just for sewing.
This shelf holds random things I need while sewing. Having them here keeps them within arms reach and I'm not digging through drawers and bags to find them. I also decided to hang my hoops on my wall. It is so much easier to grab it when I need it.

Here is my thread and some larger grosgrain ribbon. This has been wonderful. No more getting my threads all tangled up. It's also nice knowing what colors I have and what I need.

One of my favorite things about my space are the rods Josh put up. I use these for my ribbon and my tulle. Oh joy. Before my ribbon was in a box all a mess. This makes getting ribbon super easy. Not all of it would fit on here but that's ok. I image I will be adding more ribbon and tulle very soon.

How cute is this little trash can? It has been so handy. Don't mind the yellow thread on the floor that clearly missed the trash can.

Underneath the desk is a set of drawers with most of my fabric and scraps. I have crammed a lot of fabric into a small amount of space. I'd like to organize this more but for now it will have to do.

The cabinets above the shelves need to be organized as well. I have these white baskets that hold stabilizer, interfacing, some patterns, and even blank things to monogram (bibs, burp cloths, table napkins, t-shirts, etc). And the little mail and office supply area needs some work too.

These little baskets hold my current projects. I put the pattern, fabric, thread, etc in here to make it easy on me. So far they have worked really well. It would help if they were a little bigger but there is no room for that.

Anyway, here is a little area in my home that I am very thankful for. I hope I use it to make lots of great things.

I better get started.

Try It. You'll Like It

Starting solids has been quite the adventure with our new eater. It hasn't gone quite like I thought it would.

About a month ago we went for Sadie's 4 month well visit appointment. Her pediatrician told us to go ahead and get her going on solids. I was planning on holding off a few more weeks but decided we might as well give it a shot. Plus a reflux medicine she was about to start taking would require solid food so we needed to get going.

I decided we'd start the process with cereal. She had been getting cereal in her last bottle so I figured she'd be used to the taste. The following pictures pretty much sum up how her first solid food experience went.

She wasn't so sure about this new food. She ate it but she didn't really like. Night two she decided she just wouldn't eat it and so she didn't. Since cereal wasn't her favorite I tried oatmeal instead. She didn't like that either. If I didn't need her to start liking something for the sake of her medicine I would have just stuck with the cereals for a while. Instead we moved to peas. Let me just tell you this girl LOVES peas. She prefers them over everything, including fruit. That's right, my child does not like fruit (or fruit juice unless it is diluted). I guess it is too sweet for her. Having had only her nasty formula I imagine it does taste really sweet. She will eat cereal with fruit as long as I don't get too much fruit in there. She doesn't really like green beans either and carrots aren't her favorite. We'll be moving onto squash, sweet potatoes, and more fruit soon. For now she's so happy I came back to peas.

Guessing Game

First of all how did anyone parent a child before Google, Twitter, and Text Messaging? Seems impossible to me. :)

I've often said the hardest part of parenting to me is all the guessing involved. Babies are such crazy little creatures. Sometimes they do bizarre things and you might have no idea why.

Sadie has kept me guessing since day one. When she starts acting differently it would be nice if she could open her mouth and tell me why. Since she can't do that I have to play detective and see if I can figure it out. Normally at the first sign of craziness I hop on my phone and google my question. I know sometimes the Internet can be overly dramatic but I've found in parenting there are some really good resources out there. Generally if I see the same type of information in several different sources then I take special note.

At the same time as I'm googling, sometimes before, sometimes right after, I'm sending out a text message to a couple of friends asking if their babies "have ever...". It is always nice to know that Sadie isn't the only one acting a certain way. From there I go straight to Twitter. Twitter has been like a mommy support group for me. A lot of people I follow/follow me are moms and have been moms longer than I have. They normally have really good advice.

Oh yeah, and if I'm still stumped or I think it might be serious I call a nurse at Sadie's pediatric clinic. They are my last resort. :)

I will say, before a baby I never text, tweeted, or googled, color and consistency changes in baby poop, constipation in infants, spit up and acid reflux, burping, food allergies, how much should a baby be eating, teething, etc. Now it is nothing for my to text my friend Ashley and say, "Hey, what color is David's poop?" In fact it seems quite normal to talk about these things.

All of this to say we are in another one of those guessing stages. Sadie has decided to stop taking all or any of her bottles without some sort of struggle. Well, that's not true. Typically her first three bottles (7, 10, and 1) she takes pretty well. The 1pm bottle can cause some issues but most of the time she gets it down. It's the 4 and 7 pm bottles that are really tough. She did this once before and it only lasted a week then she was back to normal. My child loves to suck down her bottles and would probably eat every hour if I let her. For her not to want to eat means something is up.

My first guess has been teeth. She does show signs of teething but she has for a while now.

Still no tooth.

Some other culprits have been perhaps tummy trouble due to new solid foods and things like that. Again, I just take the signs and try to do some detective work to figure it out.

I guess I might never know unless she pops a tooth or settles down after a food change.

And yes if she keeps this up over the next few days I will call my doctor. She's very happy and pleasant so I'm not worried there is something seriously wrong.

I admit that these changes can really stress me out sometimes but I need to get over it. Once we get this thing figured out there will something else to google, text and tweet about.

Parenting really is the hardest and most humbling job in the world but there is NO WAY I'd trade a second of it for anything.

And because I can't leave you without a picture here's my little cupcake.

Here's her face after I told her to stop pulling up her dress and chewing on it.

Tradition

Last week before the Razorback game Sadie and I started a new tradition. We read this...

...then we call the Hogs. I may or may not have failed to do this last night among the craziness that is teething but have no fear we'll do it this morning before nap time. Sadie has already been talking about it.

Before I go get us prepped for the game here are a few pictures of my little Hog Fan.

GO HOGS!!! BEAT BAMA!

Just Because...

....I think she's the cutest baby in the world! :)

Orange Beach 2011

We were so blessed to be able to go on vacation a couple weeks ago. Josh, Sadie and I along with my mom hit the road to Orange Beach, AL. Orange Beach is a family vacation spot. We've vacation there for very long time. I really wanted to be able to share it with Sadie.

Sadie had a great time on her first trip to the beach.

She loved spending time in her tent. She napped in it a lot but she would also just lay in it and play. I'm so glad we brought it.

Sadie also loved relaxing in her beach chair. Nothing like chillin' on the beach with your paci.

More than anything though she LOVED the sand. She loved playing in it and she loved eating it.

She also loved spending time with her mommy, daddy, and Jules. Bless her heart no one paid her any attention the whole time we were there.

Sadie loved getting dressed up and going out on the town.

I told her she needs to learn to say "thank you" so when people stop to tell her she's cute she can properly thank them instead of flashing her "I'm cute" smile.

See? Told ya. She loved eating the sand.

Sadie loved having her own pool. She would splash and play as long as we would let her.

I'm telling you the girl loved everything about the beach. Well, actually, not everything...

...she did NOT like the waves. They scared her.

Pitiful.

We had a wonderful vacation. The weather was perfect and Sadie did so well being away from home.

If you have a snapfish account you can go view more pictures from our trip here.

Three Years and Counting

Happy Anniversary, Josh!

Here's to growing old together...

You're my favorite!

5 Months

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sadie you are 5 months old. Five Months Old. FIVE MONTHS OLD. Every month has gone by so fast but this month really flew by fast. I have been a little emotional over you getting so big. I do love this age but you seem to be growing up too fast. I just want to keep you little forever.

You have gotten so big too. You still have the best "sweet rolls" on your thighs and arms. I love them. You're the best of both worlds. You're chubby and cute but still somehow "little". I don't know how much you weigh or how tall you are because your next well visit isn't until 6 months.

You wear size 3-6 month clothes for the most part. You can still wear some 3 month things and you also wear some 6 month things.

You wear a size 2 diaper.

After your 4 month well visit your pediatrician said to start you on solids. There's an entire post coming about that. Right now you get cereal with pear juice in the morning and veggies at night. You take 5, 5 oz bottles during the day but because of the food you can't keep it all down. Since you get full fast you're only eating a little solid food at a time.

You are ALL about what we're eating. You can't take your eyes off of anything we put in our mouths. Soon enough you'll be eating what we're eating but for now we'll stick with baby food.

Your reflux is better. You still spit up some but you don't cry out in pain. I no longer give you Zantac at night. You sleep just fine and don't seem to be bothered by it. Hopefully you'll get off of Nutramigen and Zantac at your 6 month appointment.

Teething has been bothering you quite a bit lately. When you're really in pain you refuse to take your afternoon or evening bottles. If I give you Tylenol you'll eventually take them. You drool all the time and chew on everything you can get to your mouth. You still don't have any teeth but I'm praying they start to come through soon. You do pretty well with the pain as far as fussing goes so that's good.

Speaking of fussing you really are such a good baby. You talk, laugh, and spit most of the time you're awake. You love to smile and laugh but when you are unhappy it is normally an easy fix. 95% of the time if you are crying or fussing it is because you are tired. When you are tired you are DONE and are ready for someone to toss you in the bed and leave you alone.

You are still a great sleeper. You go to bed around 7-7:30 pm and wake up around 7 or 7:30 am. I'm so glad all the hard work of getting you on a schedule has paid off in the sleep department.

You are a little vain these days. You love looking at yourself in the mirror. You smile and laugh. If you're upset I can put you in front of a mirror and you turn the crying off and the smiling on. When people tell you you're pretty you get all giddy.

You're starting to move into the "big girl" stage. You can pick up anything in front of you. You've been practicing taking your paci out and putting it back in. You can even switch hands with it. As if that wasn't enough you are almost sitting up by yourself. You can sit up for a little while but you get a little wobbly once you get tired. I will admit, when you start sitting up it will be nice. But that's it. No more growing up after that.

You have done so well at "school". I was concerned it might completely mess you up but you still do great on your schedule. You love school and all the older girls in your class. You think you are as big as they are. You love riding in the Bye Bye Buggy and playing in the exersaucer when you're there.

You've started getting scared very easily. When I sneeze it sends you into orbit. It's not like I have an obnoxious sneeze but you seem to think the world is going to end with it happens. You're very dramatic and it gets worse every day. Bless us all.

Sadie Lady...what on earth was life like before you came along? Boring I guess. You are so sweet and so fun. You are learning new things every day and it's amazing to watch. Every morning I can't wait to go into your room and see your smiling face. A smile from you cures any ailment. I could spend every second of the day kissing your chubby cheeks. I'm thankful to have you as my daughter. My days are bright because I spend them with you.

Your daddy and I love you to the moon and back!

Teething Toy

I know this is very random and I will post our vacation pictures and Sadie's 5 month pictures soon but I wanted to share something quick.

Sadie has been teething and at times it's been rough. She has almost every teething toy or ring known to man. None of them do her any good except one.

This is a Born Free teething toy. It's wonderful and Sadie loves it. She can hold it really well and it gives her instant relief. A sweet blog reader actually sent it to me soon after I announced I was pregnant. Thanks again, Ashley.

Anyway I just wanted to pass along this information to all you momma's with teething babies.

Nursery Prints

Hello, everyone! I've just returned from vacation so I will be posting about our fun trip in a few days. First I wanted to share something with you.

Before we left to go out of town I ordered some nursery prints for Sadie's room. Let me back up a bit and tell you more of the story.

I've been trying to get Sadie's room decorated. I have several things left to do but I'm almost finished. I bought some floatng shelves to hang on the wall so I needed things to put on them. I decided some neat prints with scripture on them would be perfect to go with a canvas of her newborn photo I ordered. I googled the prints and then I looked on etsy. I found some I really liked but I decided to wait. Several days later I searched again and the ones I really liked at first kept coming back up in my search. I knew they'd be perfect but I wasn't ready to buy yet. I ended up on the seller's blog by way of her etsy shop. I saw a tab on the right that said "The Twins Story" and I clicked on it.

Wow. What a story. I won't give away any details because I want you to read for yourself. I will tell you though when I read one of the twins was named Sadie I knew I had to buy the prints. :) So I did.

I e-mailed Amy at amyjdelightful on etsy and I was impressed from the start. She's the real deal. She obvsiously makes great prints (and other things) but her faith in the Lord is solid. She was an encouragement to my from our first e-mail exchange.

I wanted to share the prints I bought. I'm very excited to put them up. I still need to find frames but I'm looking.

(my favorite and the theme for Sadie's first birthday party)



It is important to me Sadie has TRUTH all around her in the form of scripture. It's a reminder to me to pray them over her. She is fearfully and wonderfully made, God is mighty so save, and He is the light of the world.



You really should check out Amy's store and her blog.