No fun

My poor Ems. Last Friday she woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug. I had to cancel a play date with a friend and Emersyn was really sad because her and this friend haven't played in a long time but I told her we'd reschedule. She threw up for half the day, only got it on her bed once (yay) and then by the next day she was good as new, though with a limited appetite.

Then this past week she developed a cough and it has gotten progressively worse. Last night she spiked a bit of a fever and fell asleep on the couch, something she has NEVER done before. Yesterday morning I went with my instincts and cancelled our playdate (the one we had rescheduled from last week) and again, Ems was so disappointed. This morning she's a bit more congested but her cough is a little more wet and that's a good sign that the virus is working it's way through. Today was "pajama day" at preschool and I don't have the heart to tell Ems that she missed it. I can't tell you how many times this week I've said, "please don't cough on your brother". Praying that Everett stays healthy and us too for that matter.

It is so draining when our kids are sick, isn't it? I think of single mom friends of mine and wonder how on earth they do it? I think my mother-in-law is going to come over today so I can run to the store and by the store, I mean Starbucks. :) I need some fresh air. I also need a new can of Lysol. Everywhere I look, Emersyn's sweet little slobbery hands are touching something that needs to be disinfected.

I know this wasn't the most riveting blog post but it's where I'm at right now! Have a great rest of your week everyone.

Miscellany Monday

{1} Hand me downs are a B-L-E-S-S-I-N-G. Seriously. Everett's wardrobe is 80% hand me downs. They just keep coming too. This past week at the nursery a friend had left a bag with clothes in it and some darling NIKE shoes. I just bought him some Old Navy shoes that I didn't love but at this age I like them to start wearing something on their feet (it's just so darn cute). I can take the Old Navy shoes back now, yay! I used to somewhat hoard Emersyn's clothes and want to make sure I could sell them in the future. Now I am SO happy to give them to friends knowing the blessing they are. Right now I have three little girls that get Ems clothes depending on their ages. They usually go through one girl, are given back to me and then I give them to a younger girl. So fun to see her clothes *live on*.

{2} My hands and feet have shrunk with each pregnancy. When my hands are cold now my wedding ring just about falls off. If only other parts of my body would shrink as well. ;)

{3} We cancelled cable, did I tell you that already?? It's fabulous!!!! We missed it for about two or three days but now we are officially over it. I'd say 25% of our motivation was financially but 75% of the motivation was just quit watching TV just because we had junk recorded on it. It's funny, when the DVR would record something there was almost like pressure to watch it. It's nice knowing that we can watch something on Hulu or Netflix if we want to but we don't have to. It's great. That is all. <--- That was for you Melissa V. ;)

{4} Our pantry project is finally finished. I'm so proud of my hubby!! He painted and finished this all on his own and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

We just finished it last night so I have yet to fill it full of things but I can't wait for some of the clutter of our kitchen to be rid of. We don't have a pantry at all and it's a challenge, let me tell you! P.S. We need to put something in this pot but what? We just tossed the sticks that were in there....they were 6 years old and super dusty. Or maybe the pot should stay empty. Stay tuned.

{5} My poor Everett's eyes have been so red and itchy lately, the same with the backs of his ears. And it is SO hard to keep his little nails trimmed. I wish you could take your baby to have their nails trimmed like you can dogs. Is that an awful thought?? I just worry about cutting him. I even file his nails down but they are still razor sharp little buggers. So, as a result of his eyes and ears itching they are also cut up from his nails. He looks just awful at times. :(

{6} I made my first sewing lesson appointment!! It's in February after my birthday. Age 31 is going to be the year I get my sewing on.

{7} I'm going to read the Hunger Games!! My friend let me borrow the book and I'm hoping to get a chance to read them SOON!

{8} We are having BBQ Chicken Salads tonight for dinner. I've blogged about what I put in them before HERE!

{9} Ems was wearing a darling outfit last Sunday and decided she wanted to pose for some pictures outside. I just love this little girl!!!

Puddle Jumpers Blog!

I'm a guest blogger for our church's preschool blog again, this time I wrote an *article* versus last weeks interview. You can find the article HERE!

A year ago today....

Miscellany Monday

1) This weekend consisted of some amazing productivity. Something hit me and I was in the mood to CLEAN. I'm talking deep-cleaning-on-my-knees-scrubbin-shower-curtain-laundering-baseboard-scouring cleaning. It felt GOOD. I cleaned my bathroom and bedroom and the kids bathroom. That doesn't sound like much but it really is in the midst of raising two babies. :) While I was a cleaning fool, Brett was a painting one!

We bought an unfinished pantry from a local furniture store a week before Christmas and just now had the chance to paint it. Brett did a ton of research on what product to use to paint the wood. I initially wanted to just stain it because I think a lot of painted furniture looks too DIY (in a tacky way) but Brett found this "Milk Paint" and I just love it. It's a unique product and it comes in a powder form to be mixed manually. I love how it turned out. Once it's all put together I'll post more pics. Now I'm looking around the house, wondering what else can be painted with it. :) Update: just put Emersyn to bed and spied an unfinished baby bed that is so asking to be milk painted!!!

{2} The week before Everett was born, I bought and spray painted an 8 x 10 frame that I was going to add ribbon to as a way to organize Emersyn's bows. Well, I never got around to finishing it and then I thought I would just use this canvas that Ems had in her room with pictures on it. It's a little small for pictures and I was kind of tired of it in her room so I thought even though it will be WAY too big, I'll just put what I have on it. See above, ha! It was NOT way too big and apparently Ems has way more clips then I realized. And there are a few pairs still missing that are somewhere. It's so cute to see all of these put up! I am a sucker for Gymboree sales, as evidenced above. A LOT of her clips are from there. The entire section on the right are darling bows made by a sweet friend of mine. She has her own Etsy shop and the clips are great quality!!! You can find her shop here: Bebe Boutique

{3} Ems is really into being an older sister these days and now that Everett is more interactive, she can't get enough of him. She was a big help this weekend by playing with him, singing him songs, and reading to him.

{4} Guess who is in his big boy crib now??? It finally happened. Everett slept in his pack and play bassinet longer then it was intended to accommodate him. Or that's what I gathered when it started sagging. A couple nights ago he was having trouble falling asleep and I could hear him moving around so restless. I decided that he was not sleeping well and that he would do better in his crib. Sure enough, my mommy instinct was correct! He slept great. I on the other hand tossed and turned and mentally went over my "How to Prevent SIDS" checklist 1000 times. Ultimately I just had to pray and give that worry over to God. I have to pray and surrender that worry every time I lay him down in his crib and I check on him a million times. It is nice having our room back again and not having to whisper and sneak around in the dark. :)

{5} My church's preschool program started a blog. I was the first featured "M.O.M" (Mom of the Month). You can read my interview here: Puddle Jumpers

{6} We got the jumper out! Everett loves it and Ems loves entertaining him in it. It's time to put away the baby swing. *sniff sniff*

{7} My handsome dude before church yesterday.

{8} My girls got style too. :)

Christmas Day

My brother is a proud uncle. :)

I was going through my blog drafts and realized that I completely forgot to post this draft about Christmas Day!! How lame am I?? My mom must have been wondering why on earth I only blogged about our celebration with my in-law's and not them. Ooops! Well, better late then never.

My brother David and his wife Jenny.

Ems needed a new CD player for her room. She has a personalized lullaby CD that she listens to every time she goes to sleep so needless to say, this CD player she has had since her first Christmas needed to be replaced. I found a CD player that is also a portable karaoke machine with plug in's for an iPod. It's so much fun and Emersyn LOVES singing into a microphone. She's a natural, what can I say? :)

Emersyn got her brother a present....a sea horse "glow worm". He loves it! Now that I think about it, I totally forgot to get a present from Everett for Emersyn. Oops, ha ha!

My parents are kind of tough to shop for. A big reason for that is that they travel here and we don't want to get them anything bulky or heavy to have to haul home. This year I thought of the perfect gift for my dad....a classic moose mug from our family's favorite Christmas movie "Christmas Vacation". Look at how surprised he is when he opened it! I was so happy to capture this look on my camera. :)

My dad drank egg nog out of it just like Chevy Chase did in the movie. Then he drank out of if rot the rest of the night, even filled it up with sparkling grape cider for when we did communion before dinner.

This Santa suit was totally cheesy and I LOVED it!!! How adorable is he??

Ems in her jammies from Mimi and slippers from Nana!

Happy birthday Jesus pumpkin pie!!

Mimi and Everett.

We had prime rib for dinner and it was a wonderful day!

4 Months

"Hello there handsome..."

Everett David, you are 4 months old already! How did that happen?

I took you to the dr. today for your 4 month visit and it was our first visit just the two of us. We've always had your sister with us and usually one other person too, either Nana or Mimi. I enjoyed our little *date* to the dr's office.

(Don't judge Mommy's roots....I have a hair appointment on the calendar this month!!)

Upon arriving at the office we got checked in and escorted back to a room where I got you naked and ready for your big 4 month scale reveal. I was sure you were around 16 or 17 pounds at least. I was wrong! 15lbs, 12 oz (52nd percentile). The nurse weighed you twice because she thought you looked bigger too! You are exactly one pound bigger then your sister was at this age! You are 26.5 inches long (97th percentile) , also exactly one inch longer then Emersyn! You are my long and lean boy. The dr. took a good look at you and determined a couple things. For one, you are ADORABLE but I knew that already. Secondly, your eczema has flared up pretty badly and mama is so sorry about this. I feel like it is partially my fault but not because of anything I did knowingly. Dr. Smart says I need to lube you up twice a day and she also gave us a prescription for some medicine that worked really well on Emersyn. I also went a bought you a thicker lotion cream that should help as well. Thirdly, you have cradle cap still pretty bad. :( The cradle cap has affected your ears a bit and they are very dry and cracked. You tend to pull at them at times and the dr. said this is probably because they itch. You are such a good natured baby, I would have never known anything was bothering you. Behind one of your ears got really dry and cracked and is now infected so I have to apply an antibacterial cream.

Seriously, could you be any cuter?!!?

You have been blessed with amazing health so I can't complain too much about this eczema/dry skin. Emersyn had it really bad and now doesn't have it at all. This is encouraging!

Okay, enough boring dr. talk! Let's get to more fun things, shall we? You are my darling boy and sweetest little buddy. Your smiles and giggles bring me such intense joy that I can hardly stand it. I am so honored to be your mama.

During your 4th month of life we enjoyed many fun activities. We went on many many Starbucks dates, some with just mommy and daddy, some with sister too, and lots with Mimi and Grandpa. They have this magical card that is golden and has Grandpa's name on it. When you hand it to the cashier, all the beverages are paid for instantly and it's just wonderful!!

You loved hanging out with Grandpa while they were here for two weeks. You two had some man to man time reading about the car of the year in this Motor Trend magazine.

You are such a sweet and chill baby.

Last Sunday we took you to your first sporting event, a Portland Trailblazers game! We debated taking you or not but decided it would be fun and easier to coordinate with your eating schedule. I was nervous at first but you did amazing. You didn't make a peep! I couldn't resist buying you a shirt at Fred Meyer before the game. It's a size 12 months though so you can wear it all season. :)

Many of our friends warned us that it would be super loud at the game and that you would need ear plugs of some sort. I improvised with my hands instead.

My hands must have worked pretty well because before we knew it, you had passed out! It was so cute!!!

You just adore your sister. Every day when we put her down for a nap, I try to snap a quick picture of you two to send to Daddy at work. You guys just love cuddling.

You are a drooling machine these days!

This is a picture of you looking at your sister. Oftentimes when I take your picture I'll ask Emersyn to help me get you to smile. It always works!

You have started wearing 9 months clothing, mainly for the length. You are officially too big for the 1/2 diapers at Costco so you are in size 2 or 2/3. You are a great eater, though sometimes I run out of food for you. You'll be getting some rice cereal soon so coat your tummy and also give you more iron.

You are just my precious little man and I think God every day for you! I can't believe how quickly you are growing up. I love you forever and ever.

Love, Mama

What I learned in 2011

I was thinking through some of the life lessons that I learned last year while pondering goals for the new year and these are my thoughts....

* I remember that I was so so worried about transitioning from a working mama to staying home. While I was working, I treasured my days off and made the most out of play dates while keeping my house clean for the most part. I always admired how nice and neat Emersyn played but it turns out, we were just never home long enough to make that big of a mess. Now that I've been a stay at home mama for a year, and spent a lot of the early part of 2011 at home due to me have NO energy and morning all day sickness, I have come to realize that three year olds are capable of making a mess and making it real quick. And you know what? It's just a season. My house is far less put together then it was when I was working and for that I am grateful. It's messy because we are here more, praise the Lord. I used to be really unhappy whenever the house was messy and I took out a lot of my rage on my poor husband but I've learned to let things go and enjoy my family more. For that I am happy.

*I learned that nagging is pointless. I used to get really irate and controlling when it came to things I wanted Brett to do around the house and I just decided to not be that way anymore. It's obviously a simple concept but not easy to do sometimes. Now that the home and our kids are *my job*, I try to make Brett feel appreciated at the end of the day and have gotten better about the nagging. You attract more bees with honey, isn't that what they say?

*I learned that having another baby wasn't as big of a deal as I thought in some ways, but then a bigger deal in others. For instance, during the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Everett, I kind of felt like a chapter of our family was closing. Brett, Ems and I were the three amigos and now we were going to have this other kid with us all the time, ha! It was a strange concept I know. I didn't truly get to bond with Everett until he was born because I think it almost felt disloyal to Emersyn in a way? I'm not sure. But anyways, when Everett was born it was instantly adoration at first sight and he has only enhanced our lives and not taken away from it in any way, just like when Emersyn was born. So in that way, adding him to our family wasn't as big of a deal that I thought it might have been. However, I had no idea how crazy busy it was to have two kids. I mean, of course I knew that I was having another baby which would obviously require more attention but wow, I didn't expect Emersyn to be so challenging in addition to the the challenge of a newborn. I expected sleepless nights but I didn't anticipate the crazy whiny age that three is. I am getting better at finding my balance but there were weeks and weeks when I would feel like all I was doing was wiping bums, changing diapers, feeding, nursing, cleaning up, and then repeat. Two kids is far busier then I expected and in that way, was more of a big deal then I anticipated.

*I learned that there is no such thing as a perfect friendship and that people will come and go in your life. Friendships have seasons sometimes and rather then dwelling and obsessing, I've learn to let things go and just accept the friends that the Lord has placed in my life. I read a book recently that said "start being the kind of friend you want to be and stop thinking about how you let your friends down." (The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers by Meg Meeker). I was so encouraged by that. I can't tell you how many nights I lay awake at night thinking about things that I might have done or not done to let a friend down. I should have texted this friend, I should have written this friend a card, that friend would have appreciated dinner, etc. I have had people in my life tell me that I am selfish and not good enough and that messes with your head. I don't believe those lies anymore though. I AM good enough. There is always room for improvement but friendship isn't something where you worry about not doing enough or saying the wrong thing. It shouldn't be HARD. There are friends in my life that never seem to have time for me due to their lives and schedules and that is okay, they'll come around eventually and in the meantime, I'll love them from afar and still send an encouraging word their way every so often. We're all at different milestones in our journeys through life and it's so much more worthwhile to cheer each other on and learn to be patient with one another.

*I'm less uptight about holidays. I think I've had to let a lot of things go now that I'm a mama to two and having picture perfect holidays is no longer a priority. I used to get upset at thrown together holidays that lacked the perfect table centerpiece and place settings. I've come to realize that hosting and entertaining is a talent and has a lot do with our individual temperaments. Being expressive, I love to make everything fun and decorative. Not everyone is that way and that's is okay. I had a much better holiday season but letting the little things go and just enjoying being with family. Having 4 adults, two children, a cat and a dog that sleeps in a large bed with multiple blankets in my living room made for a somewhat chaotic holiday but it was okay. Memories were still made and they were wonderful.

*I learned that it's not worth it to compete with other moms. Instead of getting jealous and bitter at mom's that plan these ah-mazing birthday parties complete with handmade crafts, I compliment them and admire them instead. I learned that when I realize my value as a mama, I don't have to try so hard to earn my husband and kid's admiration. My kids and husband don't care if I make them a cake from scratch, from a box or buy it pre-made at a store...they just want to sit down and eat it with me. I could run around frantically cleaning when my husband gets home from work while he takes care of the kids but he would much rather we sit and read stories as a family. I'm learning to live more in the moment and worry less about the presentation.

*I learned that I am only able to pour into my kids what I let God pour into me. If I'm not seeking the Lord each day for patience and understanding, I will lose my mind by the time Brett gets home. I am STILL trying to conquer this awful bad habit of not getting up early enough...hopefully that I will be what I learn in 2012.

*I learned that I truly love blogging and sitting down to write meaningful posts. Sometimes I'll write things without thinking and then re-read them and think, "wow...I really needed to hear that". It's like a way of getting a message through to myself.

*I learned that good parenting doesn't equal perfect children. Bummer!!!!!

*I learned that a handmade less then perfect nursery for Everett was so much more fulfilling to create then Emersyn's picture perfect store bought one. Yes, her nursery was darling but the hand made touches that came together in Everett's nursery are just SO fun!!!!

*I learned that the unexpected can be the greatest blessing ever.

*I learned that marriage and dates are something to be continually worked on and that having kids makes finding time to connect and just be Brett and Patti, husband and wife near impossible at times. Thus, the importance of dates.

*I learned that you actually can buy too many Groupons, LivingSocial deals, etc. Ooops! :) I blame late night nursing...I can't tell you how many times Brett woke up to me buying something on Groupon at 4am...it's like he sensed the transaction going through!

*I learned that ironing provides the same satisfaction that vacuuming used to. Guess what? Vacuuming no longer brings me the thrill it once did. I think it's because our carpet needs to be replaced so badly and so when I vacuum, it doesn't transform the room the way it once did. Steam mopping however.....don't get me started!

*I learned that finding the positive in situations with Emersyn works SO much better then the negative. Example: "Emersyn Grace, pick up these toys right now!!!!" doensn't work nearly as well as "Ems, you are such a smart girl...if anyone can pick all these toys up and put them away correctly, I know it's YOU!!!!". She really digs the words of affirmation, as does her mother. Maybe Brett should try this tactic with me regarding chores.....

2011 was an incredible life changing year and I'm so excited and looking forward to all that 2012 will bring!!

Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning we headed over to the Jensen's to celebrate and have breakfast.

I wanted the kids to have matching pajama's this year but I had already bought Emersyn 5 or 6 pairs of Christmas jammies on mega clearance last year and I just couldn't justify buying her another pair just for the sake of matching. Everett wore Emersyn's first Christmas jammies, although they fit him much more snug then they did her!

Everett and Uncle Brock, Brett's older brother.

New TOMS, yippee!!!!

First dress up clothes from Auntie Brianna!

It was a great morning. Unfortunately Emersyn's cousins were with their moms so we didn't get to see them and exchange gifts until New Years.