Birdie canvas

Tonight, I made this cutesy birdie canvas to put in baby Eliza's room. I bought the canvas a few weeks ago, and stained it right away. But it took me awhile to have the time to finish it. I knew i wanted birdies (that's the nursery theme!) and I knew what verse, but I just never did it. Finally, I took the time to complete it! The dishes may be sitting on the counter, dirty from dinner, but the canvas is complete. :) what do you all think?

Note: my etsy manager (aka husband) decided to list this on my Etsy site! This is only my second listing, I never did make another pouf to sell, after I sold the first one. (Oops!) Check the link out here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92753060/singing-bird-canvas#photos

Love you all!

Blessings: 02/06/12

Hello again, dear friends. Week #3 (can you even believe this!?). Let's jump in!

1) They say it's my birthday (na na na na na) and it was! Feb. 1 I turned TWENTY-SIX! I love birthdays. Mine, yours, Brads, Coltons, everyone's really. Any reason to make an ordinary day extraordinary is definitely good by me! Colton surprised me with a very extra special gift: saving all of his poops 'til Daddy came home from work! (It really is the little things in life, isn't it?) I wonder if he knew it was my birthday...

The beautiful cake :)

This is the chosen cake mix ... seriously delicious!

2) Brad BAKED me a cake. YES - BRAD BAKED A CAKE! My husband is not one to spend any time in the kitchen. Ever, really. The kitchen is my domain - and the garage is his. But on a very special occasion, he will get in the kitchen and make or bake something. My birthday apparently constitutes one of those times, and the cake he baked was to die for - triple chocolate cake, with a chocolate glaze frosting. I wish I had some right now! But we definitely ate it all!

Working hard in the kitchen! 

3) Taking away the paci has been.... difficult. Re sleep training has been ... challenging. I think it may be even harder to re sleep train this boy than it was to initially sleep train. Initially, he LOVED being rocked and cuddled. Now that he hates it, there is not much we can do to calm him down before bedtime. He knows when it's bedtime - we have our routine - but nothing really works help him self-soothe, or soothe at all really, but the paci.. which we aren't giving in to. So as hard as it is to set a screaming toddler in his crib and allow him to scream, that's all we can really do. Luckily it only lasts maybe 5 or 10 minutes TOPS, but those minutes are excruciating. The rest of the day though has been SO NICE without it - he "talks" more, he hasn't even really missed it. Such a blessing to not need to take it everywhere with us -and to know when Baby Girl gets here, we will not worry so much about how to teach Colton that she can have the paci, but all of a sudden he can't. It will be more "normal" by then! Pressing on towards this goal...

4) Colton has gotten to be quite HILARIOUS lately. He honestly does the funniest things I have ever seen! Last night, he realized his drum can also be a hat... so he has been walking around with it on his head since then. All last night throughout the Super Bowl, all this morning, pretty much as often as he can. He will take it off to eat, and of course to sleep, but other than that he loves his "hat". He plays with his cars, while wearing the hat. He pushes his push-car around, while wearing the hat. He builds with his blocks, while wearing his hat. Here's a pic to show you what I mean:

Don't be fooled by the slightly sad face - I took this with my phone and had a hard time catching  his happy face! But he LOVES it!

5) We found a playgroup on post in the Youth Activity Center, and Colton had a BLAST there! He was a little unsure at first - it's a big open gym with tons of toys, for only kids 3 and under. After a few minutes of grasping my hand so tightly while exploring the gym, he let go and took off running. It was so sweet to see him having such a good time! He found a couple basketball goals, and figured out how to make a basket. Several times, he tried from different distances from the goal to see if he could make it. He is actually a really good shot! Honestly, I could not get him away from this corner of the gym for almost 45 minutes. Afterwards though, he finished exploring and found many blocks, trains with tracks, ride-on toys, tents, tunnels, cars with roads to drive on, etc. I kept trying to play with him, but this boy was not interested in mommy at all. He would give me the stink-eye and walk off, continuing to play on his own and with the other toddlers. What a blessing to know that he is so independent! Although it occassionally made me a little sad when he would snub me, I really am glad that he (already!) is not 100% needy of me. Hopefully that will help to ease the transition to life with a new baby!

Basketball! 

I think this is all I have for this week. Thanks for reading! :)

01/29/12: Blessings

First off: Happy Birthday, Kansas! We love you a lot and do miss your rolling prairies and amazing spring thunderstorms. And, of course, we miss the people there as well! :)

Some of these blessings may sound like a stretch, but if "every good and perfect thing comes from above" (James 1:17), then maybe they aren't stretches, just not as obvious? :) Colton and I have had the sickies for a little over a week now, so we have been confined to our house for the most part, and haven't done too much. But here we go:

-I have a little boy who is 100% not into anything snuggley: no cuddles, no long hugs, no leaning against me and reading a book or watching a cartoon, nada. BUT when I have a sick little boy, the usual 5 minute time span of wanting to read with me, will turn into a 30 minute time span. I always love to read with him, so every day I attempt reading at least 5 or 6 times (Okay.. some days its actually more like 12), but 5 minutes is about all I can get out of him. I cherish those 5 minute time spans, and hope that one day he will enjoy it more consistently. This week, has been SUCH a blessing. I have not gotten to hold him like that, for that amount of time, in many, many months. And I ate. it. up. We got through several "peter rabbit" books, the whole "old testament Bible stories" book he was given for his birthday, and the pop-up farm board book that is his favorite. It almost makes all the coughing and sniffling worth it. Almost. :)

-Even with two sickies in the house, breathing and coughing everywhere, Brad has not gotten sick! I know his immune system has got to be better than a pregnant woman and a one year old, but it astonishes me that he hasn't caught this. I am so thankful! He gets up so early every day, around 4:45 or 5:00am, to get to PT, that any time he has a cold he gets run down so fast. I prayed and prayed that he wouldn't catch this, and so far the Lord has answered that prayer and granted Brad health! Thank you, Jesus!

-On Monday, we had our 2-week ear infection check-up to see if it is all gone, and it's not. Colton has been put on a stronger antibiotic and hopefully that one will work better than the amoxicillin did. I have no way of telling, since it has not really seemed to bother him at all. During that appointment, the Doctor suggested quitting the paci because it has already started to have an affect on his teeth. (EEEK!) She showed me how it is affecting him, and although I had not noticed his top teeth forming around the nipple of the paci, I can definitely see it now! It isn't too bad yet, but it can get a lot worse if we don't quit soon. I know that braces are painful, not from personal experience, and am very thankful that we caught this in time to have the conviction to really stick to quitting the paci before it gets any worse. When I asked the doctor if this is at the point where theres a guarantee he will need braces, she said not yet. Phew!

-We were (once again) home Sunday morning with a boy who is too sick to be in the nursery at church, but not really all that sick. His nose still has some colored snot running out of it, and he is still coughing up phlegm. A pretty picture, right? We thought the other parents would probably not appreciate the possibility of passing this on to their kiddos. I am praying that he will be better by Tuesday so I can attend PWOC this week. I really did miss it last week! Since we have been home all day, we decided to go on a family bike ride. Nothing too long - just about 30-40 minutes, and at an easy pace, but it was really fun! We haven't gone on a family bike ride since the summer probably, and I forgot how much I enjoy it. We bundled Colton all up, (the wind here can be brutal!) but it wasn't very cold and he seemed to enjoy the scenery. I am getting to the point in my pregnancy where my belly is big enough that when I lean forward on my bike, my legs hit my belly. It is quite annoying after 5 or so minutes. I don't know how many more times we will be able to go on a family bike ride while I am pregnant, and it will be awhile after baby girl is born before she is able to sit in the bike trailer with Colton, so we will definitely be attempting a few more rides together before then. I know I said it before, but I am very thankful for this January weather! :)

-Speaking of baby girl... I am 28 weeks pregnant right now! And yes, I did just have to go to thebump.com to remember. I really thought I was 26 or maybe 27. I have one pair of jeans that are non-maternity that still fit. There may be a few more, but the maternity ones are so comfortable I don't even try with the others. I do try to wear this pair frequently, because I love boots with skinny jeans, but I am refusing to purchase maternity skinny jeans. I will just quit wearing boots when these stop fitting. This may seem silly... but I feel blessed that these still fit (with a hair tie around the button, I'll admit) really well while I am 28 weeks!

-ONLY 12 OR SO MORE WEEKS TO GO!! yay! :)

This probably about sums up what has been going on this week, and how the Lord has blessed me. I will admit that at times my attitude this week has been rather poor. I would LOVE to blame it on sleep deprivation - I have been getting up 5 or 6 times a night to either pee/drink milk to curb my heart burn/blow my nose/etc. But these negativities do not compare to the love the Lord has for me. And I feel remorseful that I let a few little things get in the way of me seeing "the big picture" - So thank you, Jesus, for second chances. For a new week, a new day, a new hour, a new minute, in which to change my attitude and be more representative of the Your love, and the sacrifice You have made in order that I might have eternal life for you.

There's a song on KLOVE right now that has really been speaking to me. It's Where I Belong by Building 429, and the chorus goes like this:

All I know is I'm not home yet 

This is not where I belong 

Take this world and give me Jesus 

This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling down on me 

And when I'm lost in the current of a raging sea 

I have this blessed assurance holding me.

 And this song echoes in my soul every time I hear it. What a wonderful reminder that this life is not all there is. I am blessed, not just because of the many things the Lord has given me, or prayers He has answered, but because of His love for me. Love that sent His only son to the cross so that I can be able to spend eternity with Him. I can have assurance that this life is not all there is. I can have peace when the sea is raging around me. I can have hope if I have a Job week. Or month. Or year. (Which I am not right now.)

Lord, prepare me please. I know that this life WILL have turmoil, and that the only way to thrive is by being held in Your hand. Help me to draw near to you during the highs of life as well as the lows.

Dear friends, I do hope your week has been blessed. :)
Jessica

Colton's favorite things

Colton's favorite things...

Being on the couch/wrestling with Daddy..

Hanging upside down

Being silly with Mommy

Hugging my kitty, Lola

And playing outside, with a stick of course!!

Blessings

I think I may attempt a weekly post (Oh. My. I have never been diligent enough in blogging to do a WEEKLY post.)

But this post will be a blessings post - and I think it will be good for my soul. Every weekend, or.. ya know.. whenever I get to... I would like to do a short list of ways the Lord has blessed me this week. Either through answered prayers, things taken care of for me, reminders of His love/justice/mercy, etc. In my hope, this will be a way to keep me focused on the BIG picture, instead of stuck in the little things, the muck, the mundane, the daily.

I won't bore you by relisting the constant blessings weekly. Of COURSE my husband, my son, my growing baby in my belly, etc. are daily blessings. So count those as permanents, mmkay? :) Unless the Lord re-reminds me in some specific way of those blessings, they will be assumed.

No better way to jump in to this weekly post, then to dive. So here we go.
(PS. feel free to join me on this weekly refocusing journey. I could probably use this daily, but I know for sure that won't happen. So weekly it is! Just let me know you're joining me, so I can comment!)

--We sold our washer and dryer on Craigslist. When we moved here to Texas, our rental home already had a washer and dryer. Since we have a 2 year lease, we thought... why store ours, we will just sell it and whenever we need to, we will buy another one! I listed them on CL a couple weeks ago, got lots of responses, but I am a bit picky about who I respond to. (Please. no creepos coming to my house. If your grammar is awful, or your typing has more mistakes than a 1st graders, I probably won't respond. But if you sound like I would when emailing someone from CL, then I will respond.) So I responded to someone, and they came and bought it. Thank you, Jesus, for providing this. Did we NEED the money we sold it for? No. Will it be useful? Yes. It is going towards baby girl things. :)

--The girl who bought the w/d was super nice, so we went to lunch this week. And we have the same degree, from different universities. And she loves the Lord. Seriously Jesus, how do you orchestrate EVERYTHING?

--I joined a Bible study at PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel, a Bible study on post), and picked Beth Moore's Daniel study. I have been LOVING it so far. Who doesn't love a little Beth Moore insight though, right?! :) I can tell it will be challenging for me -but in a way that I need. Somehow she (or the Lord, perhaps?) is focusing completely on things I have been dealing with. Of course. So I am excited to see how this semester plays out, and what the Lord has in store during this study.

--I won a drawing on facebook for a $50 gift card! And to a baby store, nonetheless! Because of that gift card, we were able to purchase a great lightweight umbrella-ish stroller that our car seat will snap onto, for those times we don't need a double. (Like PWOC!) We picked the Bumbleride Flite, and got a phenomenal deal. We price matched Amazon, so they dropped $80 for that, and then used our gift card for 50, and got it 130 off! Score! :)  PS.. still looking for the perfect double. Preferably on Craigslist, of course!

--Brad gets early release days every Thursday. Apparently this is standard for everyone on Fort Hood, according to the post commander. It is such a blessing to have one day a week he comes home around 3. I love Thursdays!

--The weather here has been 100% amazing. Colton and I have spent countless hours this week playing in the playset out back, swinging, climbing up the slide, tossing a football around, exploring the many different sticks in the backyard, and splashing in the water table. It really has been a wonderful time. He would spend all day outside if we could, and some days we come close to it! All afternoon, at least, plus a long walk around the neighborhood! It is such a joy to play with him, see him learning new things all the time, teach him things, see the excitement on his face as we put his shoes on, etc. I am really trying to soak up these last couple months of just Colton and mommy all day time. I know it will be a lot different with a brand-new baby, and as much as I am looking forward to it, I know I will miss these hours and hours of playing with Colton. So I will soak it all up now, enjoy it, and try to overlook the many, many kicks, steps, sitting on, etc. to my growing belly. I know he just wants to be close to me, and using me as a jungle gym is a fun way to do that. As uncomfortable as it makes me. :)

Well dear friends, sorry I am slightly MIA. Hopefully this weekly blessings post sticks, and I can quit being so sporadic with my posts. Please let me know if you are joining me in this venture so I can be thinking and praying for the Lord to reveal His blessings in your life, as well!

--Jessica

Bugaboo Donkey

When searching for a double stroller (I know. My obsession again.) There is one specific stroller that always gets my heart a-racing. But that specific stroller can cost around $1500. EEEEK! The Bugaboo Donkey is amazing, though! But right now BabyGizmo is doing a giveaway of one. Could I be that one? I don't know! But it's worth a shot, that stroller is amazing and everything a girl could ask for!

What is wrong with this stroller obsession of mine?! My husband does not support it at all. Not in the least bit. Which is why I am scouring craigslist looking for my dream stroller. (I have no disillusions that the less than one year old donkey will be on CL right now. But I do know that several others I have my eye on are there - and at prices my husband will approve of, ish!)

If YOU want to enter to win the donkey, just check out the baby gizmo company on facebook. It will give you all the instructions there!

PS. If you HAVE a donkey.. and you want to give it to me/sell it to me for an amazingly low price.. I would be glad to take it off your hands! :)

High Five Friday 12/16

Well I am trying something new - a linky party called "High Five Friday" - which, as I understand it, is 5 highlights of your week. I think (I hope) this will get my tush back in gear and update this bloggity way more often than I actually do! At least it will give me a good excuse to have a bit o' randomness in my posts :)

So here goes. In no particular order:

1. We did Christmas early this year. We will not be in our house in Christmas morning, we will be travelling, and we have all our gifts to each other and Colton wrapped and under the tree so last night, we threw caution to the wind and opened everything! (Santa, please forgive our naughty behavior!) It was super fun to be a little spontaneous with Christmas! And even MORE fun to watch Colton love his gifts. The big thing we got him was this awesome pirate ship water table (YES, its december!). He was really really enjoying playing with it while Brad was putting it together, even without water! So we set it up in our garage and put a couple inches of water in it, and he had a ball. I loved watching him and can't wait for the weather to be warm enough to set it up on our back porch and hang out in the sunshine all. day. long. I know.. it's Texas.. that will probably happen in March! :)

2. We are in the process of making sure everything we own fits in our house (its so hard changing houses!) but we have gotten rid of, thanks to Craigslist, several things we decided we don't need in this home and won't use. PHEW. It feels so good to start getting our garage ready to be a garage and not a place to store furniture that we won't need here! (Bye-bye old TV stand and old TV!) Only a few more things to sell and we will be cleared out! I also just recently took a large box of donations to the Good Will. I suppose I should have done that while in NC, that way it wouldnt have had to be moved all the way to TX. Oh well, live and learn! 

3. I have been making a family cook book for my husbands mothers family and I am almost done! I have even tried a few of the recipes that were sent to me to include and LOVE them so far! I can't wait to have the rest of them in. I was hoping to get it distributed by XMas, but that is looking unlikely now... But I really think it will be  in the mail to everyone by Thursday this week (that is my goal) and so people should receive them right after Christmas. I hope they enjoy them as much as I will! It has been more work than I might have expected it would be, but definitely worth it!

4. Colton is obsessed with the Christmas tree and all of the ornaments. I have found ornaments in every random place because he steals them and hides them, silly boy! We have all of the nice, dont want them broken/lost ones up high. But the ones that are low enough to reach, he will take off the tree and walk around with one in each hand, banging them together. A few have been broken this way, but as long as I am watching him and making sure he doesn't get hurt I am okay with it. He just loves the ornaments so much!

(I saved the best one for last!)

5. We had a sonogram on Tuesday evening and found out.................. ITS A GIRL! I can hardly believe it! We are so excited to have a baby girl joining our family. I know that God has picked her out especially for our family and it will be so much fun to meet her in April, watch Colton play with her and interact with her, and just to generally love on her. I have been crocheting a blanket for her these past few days and I learned how to crochet little flowers, which are quite adorable. Thank you youtube tutorials! :) After Christmas, I will definitely be getting down to the business of figuring out her room. Right now it is storing everything Colton has out-grown - clothes, blankets, burp rags, baby swing, vibratey seat, baby carriers, nursing cover, etc. etc. etc. But I will need to organize it and figure out what is gender neutral enough to use for baby girl! I think almost everything but the crib bedding and the clothes will be, luckily!

Well that's all. Link on up!