...And The Angels Sang....!!!

Last night, my dear friends, was monumental for me. Guess what?? My sweet little angel baby slept FOR EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT!!! Am I dreaming??? This, from the baby who since birth, has nursed around the clock 24-7 every 2-3 hours without fail except for the occasional 4-hour stretch at night.

Except that, I kind of freaked! I put him down at 10:15 and was painting like a crazy woman trying to get a good section done before I went to bed. I ended up going to bed at 1:00. I sat there looking at the clock and debated. Should I wake him up and feed him before I go to bed? Cuz you know it's pretty torturous when you get woken up just half an hour after falling into a deep sleep. But...what if...just what IF....he picks tonight to sleep through the night? I totally want to encourage that! So I waited, and went to sleep.

Woke up with a start at SIX FIFTEEN!! My boobs were rock hard, sorry if TMI – and my heart started pounding. I'm not normally a paranoid OMG what if my baby dies in his sleep type of person, but he really honestly has never slept that long before. And, 2 weeks ago I started sleeping him on his tummy – he can lift up his head quite well, and he right away slept much better. But still, You hear a lot of horror stories about that position, even though like 20 years ago they said never lay them on their back, always their tummy!!

I touched him, and he was COLD!!! His back was cold. Seriously, my heart about died. But then, he squirmed. Oh, blessed little squirm!! Apparently he'd kicked off his blanket and it was kind of on the chilly side in my room so that's why. Ooooh I hugged and kissed that boy and held him close!! And thanked God for keeping him safe, and for the wonderful good night's sleep.

So --- yesterday was AMAZING. Seriously. I MUST remember how up & down my days can be, and not despair during the down days, because the next day very well might be so awesome! I think part of it is looking forward to something special that does NOT have to do with food (cuz even though I look forward to it, once I've eaten it if it's not on my diet, I despair and feel awful about myself for not being disciplined!). It was really fun thinking about all the things I wanted to do on my little date out with Charlie for FOUR hours. So much potential!

I had such a good time! Really and truly, one of my most favorite things in the WORLD to do is shop without a time limit. It just stresses me out knowing I have to be back in just an hour – even though an hour IS a good amount of time, the whole time I'm just looking at my watch and trying to hurry.

I had a lot of errands to run – so I put them all down on paper and hoped I could get them all done:

Goodwill Lancaster – return

Fred Meyer – get James' licorice & more bread (sale ends today) & $100 cash back for spending money – woot!

Sherwin Williams paint – get paint samples for gray paint for my interior dining/living/kitchen/hallway– fun!

Benjamin Moore paint – more gray samples

Lowe's – Paint & primer, spray paint & primer, crystal knobs for dresser

Subway – enjoy a YUMMY veggie foot long sub sandwich!

Post Office – mail Ebay package ... OOPS...they're closed on Sat!

Goodwill Keizer – use my credit from return, and shop til I drop – woot!

Walgreens – get some Reeses peanut butter cups =)

Is that not a crazy list to accomplish with a newborn?? I thought so too, but I actually was able to do every single one of those! I nursed Charlie in between the two paint stores for half an hour, sitting there in my car in complete silence with the golden noon sun shining in. Just me & my baby – I think I fell even more in love with him on our little date. =)

Everywhere I went he was a magnet for people old & young, who with smiles asked how old he was and commented on how cute his smile was, his big wide and alert eyes, his relaxed sweet face when he slept on my shoulder. It wasn't without its hardships though – he cried every time I put him down while I was shopping at Goodwill, so I just held him. It wasn't too bad, he's not that heavy, maybe 10 pounds – but after a while my arm and back were aching so much! But it was sweet when he fell asleep, and I was thankful for the time to shop, it was so so so nice! I did wish I had brought my babypack though, duh, that is the type of situation it is perfect for.

Since my home is being completely revamped in it's look and style on the inside, I am starting over with décor. What better place to look for things than Goodwill??? Hee hee – let all the rich people buy things brand new at Pottery Barn, Ikea (ok I know they have awesome prices, but the 1 hour drive to the store for me is not awesome, so....I can't shop there,waaah!), and everywhere else. Then they can redecorate a year later and send it all to Goodwill where I will snap it up!

I enjoy finding the treasure in the junk though, it is really fun for me to find something super cheap that I know, once sitting in the right place in my home will really stand out and make it homey and pretty.

LOVE this big chunky heavy glass wrought iron ... um...THING I found for $7.99! I think it would be pretty with some flowers in it, or even a candle at the bottom. You can see how big it is compared to the tealights next to it. It looks funny sitting on top of my cherry TV chest, but with white curtains, gray walls, it's going to POP!

I also found the cutest little 6" tall curly iron chair for $1.99 – things like this are adorable on a shelf esp in my french themed bedroom. I plan on spray painting it white and adding something vinyl in the middle using my Silhouette like maybe a fancy script initial or a french word.

The curvy glass vase for $3.99 I loved because it looks so feminine – I am planning to fill it with cotton balls and put it in my master bedroom which is of course, french themed.

Love this silver bucket – turned it over and the Ikea tags are still on it! I've been wistfully seeing these all over blogland – I'd love to have 3 or 5 to put all in a row with herbs in my kitchen, but I found 2 and am happy with that! The flowers were separate and in an ugly little brown pot so I just put the whole thing inside the bucket and wa-lah, perfect for spring! It's very cheery and MUCH prettier than the picture.  It will look fresh and happy with a gray wall background. The other bucket I put some fake wheatgrass I had already, they look nice on my mantel.

Lastly, I found these silver hooks for my bathroom shower curtain! I had the most generic clear plastic rings before, so this is an upgrade – although not quite exactly the look I am going for. I might buy some crystals from the craft store and hot glue them to the end to add a little bit of romance. =)

I still have $37 left to put towards my Silhouette, and that is all the rest that I needed!! So as soon as I can deposit my hard earned/saved cash into the bank, I am going to order it. I am so excited!

Wanna' know the icing on the cake? When I came home from this loooong shopping trip, the house was clean, kids were happy and fed, and ready for a nap. =) =) The boys were gone to the Water's house to spend the night, and the 3 older girls who were babysitting, were soon picked up to go to Macleay and then spend the night. So that left me with just the five youngers ages 7,5,4,2, and newborn. That might seem like a handful to some, but for me – the older ones do cause quite a bit of extra effort trying to coordinate turns on the Wii, and interacting with the little ones. Most of the time they do well, but my FAVORITE part was how quiet the house was at 9pm when I put the littles all to bed!! No older ones were around, I had the whole house to myself!

I had anticipated this, so at 6pm I set about to make my house a sweet little place to be indeed. I vacuumed, I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, did laundry, picked up everything until my house sang! It was purty. =) I lit candles, nursed the baby while watching 24, and enjoyed some yummy food all by myself – a luxury around here! Once I put Charlie to bed I got out my painting supplies and primed one door and a good section of wall. I have to prime so the walls are white, so that I can start painting big samples of my favorite gray color to decide which one is “the one”.

This morning, my MIL showed up unexpectedly wanting to know if she could take my two girls Marie5 & Grace7 to her church for some children's activities they are doing – we don't have church today. They quickly got ready and were wisked out the door, and now here I sit blogging while Jack4 & Harmony2 watch a movie quietly and baby is sleeping. Best of all, my house is staying clean!! Whooop!!!

Life is good......date night tonight with DH to recap all about his weekend. Good food (takeout), good atmosphere (my parent's basement...perfect for cozy dates with DH and baby can't disturb anyone!), and good movie (I think a new one just came out?? I'll have to check), and of course good company with 2 of my favorite guys in the world. =)

PS I weighed myself super randomly this morning – last time I weighed was on Monday when I was starting my hardcore diet regime. I was 151 last Monday, kicked butt for 4 days straight, then FLOPPED for 2 days. After that – I was 150 this morning! Super encouraging....! Makes me want to stick to it again, for sure – slowly but surely!

Keeping it real - 2 months postpartum

Having a rough time today. I feel trapped so often lately - and of course I look at Charlie and he is adorable and such a good baby, and I love him so much! But I also feel trapped, in that I can't leave him for more than an hour before he starts crying and no-one can make him stop except for me cuz well, I have the food. =) If I take him with me, he almost always cries the whole time unless I hold him. Thus, the claustrophobic feeling.

My days are so full of doing what I need to do for and with everyone else that I just crave alone time especially when DH has been gone alot, which he has (both weekends in a row + a couple of evening nights). Tonight I put on a movie and snacks for everyone, DH is gone for the weekend, and went in my room to nurse and watch a movie. It lasted for all of 10 minutes before the little ones were banging on my door asking to come in. I said no, Mommy is having quiet time, but soon enough one of the older ones opened it to ask me something and in came the littles. They were so hopeful and so cute asking if they could come in that I couldn't say no, but...

...within minutes I was feeling so smothered! I was trying to nurse and every time without fail it always happens that soon Harmony2 and Jack4 and even Marie5 are surrounding me on the bed, leaning on Charlie and kissing him and making him unlatch, and inevitably fighting over who sits on the side where his head is.

I'm glad that I have a lock on my door, but especially Harmony just gets mad and lays on the floor outside my door, kicking it over & over with her feet. Since one hinge is already off the door I have to tell her to stop which of course she does not, not until I get up from nursing and open the door and either give her a spank (which is not really a solution since she's doing it in the first place because she feels needy) or let her back in.

So --- I know this will get better. But I think of the fact that he is 2 months old (tomorrow) and how long of a time that has seemed to me! Some days, dragging.....but wanting to, and wishing to, enjoy the phase that I am in. Yet so so so frustrated with the inability to even get out for a little while by myself without someone to buckle or someone teasing someone else in the store and making them screech.

And date nights, oh how I miss them! I miss the relationship I had with DH back before I got pregnant, and the ability to cuddle when both of us go to bed together which happens like, never now, due to Charlie's weird schedule.

Tonight I shooed the kids out of my room for the third time after Harmony knocked out my headphones while I was attempting to watch a movie on my laptop while they played around me -- and just looked at the closed door and felt like crying. I wish I could be the Mom who adores being with her children all the time and is so content with that. But then I thought, some of this so has to be the hormones. I mean it does, right? I'm normally a happy person, a very optimistic person who sees the good in a day --- I normally love getting up in the morning on Monday with the new possibilities of a new week, a new day. I love taking the kids on adventures and making it fun for them.

Today also was the first day I wasn't able to do my workout routine - I was so, so, so tired I felt physically ill like, nausea. The whole house stayed in the exact same state as it was in the morning after the kids left, most of the day. I am SO thankful that Charlie slept and gave me a good nap, I needed that!! But I was bummed about not working out, and then ate off of my diet today. So it all compounds I suppose, and then I feel guilty because I should be rejoicing in my trials right now, thankful for all the things that ARE good in my life.

Ah well, I am sure things will look up in the morning. I just have to remember that, and it really is true that I definitely have up and down days, I can totally see that. I mean, look at my post yesterday, all optimistic and excited to be back on track with my exercise. I feel like it was (and is) a tiny piece of the old me coming back. But it's not all the way there, not at all - I mean, I still have a barely 2 month old baby so...gotta' keep my expectations real.

I just had a thought...tomorrow a few girls ages 12 and 13 are coming to hang with Rachel12 and I thought I'd try to take Charlie and just go shopping. I've never tried it before w/him more than short little trips and it'd be limiting having him along of course, but then at least maybe he'd sleep in his carseat and I could nurse him when he gets hungry instead of frantically trying to get whatever it is I need done while getting texts that he is crying at home. I texted DH at the conference asking him if it'd be ok if I took $100 to spend...and he just texted me back to say he really liked that idea. Yay!!!!!! =)

Signing off for the night, and, I am thinking of and praying for all of you Moms reading this whose husbands are at the conference at our church -- I am so thankful that they can go!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, really, I am. Plus, our turn is coming soon enough for Sisters conf in March. =) =) =)

Exercise & Diet Musings...day #4 today!

7 days?? It's really been that long since I last posted? Wow. That is really interesting to me, perspective-wise. As far as sticking to my diet/exercise goes, that is.

I have to live, go through my days, ANYWAY. And they usually go by fast when I look back on my week. Why not make those days count so that when I look back and see that it has been 7 days since something, I also know that those 7 days are ones that absolutely COUNT as good 100% on track exercise/diet days?

This morning is day #4 of my new exercise regime and I am loving it! I love how I feel in control of something, since every other area of my life seems to be so chaotic right now. I love how this type of discipline spills into other areas of my life. I love looking in the mirror and not exactly liking what I see, but not feeling despair because I know that even though it's going to take time, I am starting on a journey that is going to take me back to where I was before, 31 pounds lighter.

I love that exercise and eating healthy turns me into a much better, less emotional mom and wife. I also love how food TASTES when you're truly hungry from fasting for 24 hours! It is amazing and incredible and how food SHOULD taste. And I love how I am motivated to make something delicious and healthy for dinner when that is the meal I am looking forward to eating all day when I am fasting. My family benefits...! LOL (when I was eating lots of chocolate and whatever I wanted all day, dinners were like pulling teeth for me, it was sooo hard to be motivated because I felt so bleh!)

I am a hardcore person - it is really really hard for me to do anything halfway. I do it, though, in some areas of my life - like trying to paint the interior of my house. So far I have washed the walls & trim of the hallway only, taken off the baseboards, spackled all the holes, and taken off the outlet/switchplate covers. That has taken me oh...maybe, 10 days. =) It's frustrating totally for me, I want to just take one whole day and get the entire thing PAINTED already. It looks so awful right now and it's going to look so pretty when I'm done! I daydream about it...while I'm nursing, with 2 littles surrounding me clamoring for the baby's attention as I try to let them hold his foot or hand or kiss his head, yet not toooo much so that he stops nursing.

I survey the house, in it's need to be cleaned in just about every nook & cranny, the laundry that needs to be done, the meal prep/planning for dinner...there are so, so, so many things to be done! The rosebushes need trimmed, they should've been cut back in the fall (oops). The back porch has so much random stuff on it that is an eyesore, yet I pass it up every day -- too much to do! So I only can do it little by little, tiny bits here and there. I know it'll eventually get done and be gorgeous and lift my spirits every time I walk by, just like my room, which took a year. That kind of thing I have to do halfway because I can't do it any other way, I have no choice.

But if I have a choice? I kick it into high gear! Once I wrap my head around it and really get into the game, that is. Speaking about exercise here.

So on Monday, I jumped in with two feet - I did start my workout slowly, working up to a full 45 min workout probably by Friday. Currently this is what I'm doing:

Exercise:

M/W/F - 45m Venus (love love love this program) full body weights workout
T/S/S - HIIT running/jumping 20 min w/some jogging added when it fits
Thursday - day off, so nice!! (that's today =)

Nutrition:
1500 calories per day, plant based food mostly (99% vegetarian)
Mon/Thurs - Eat Stop Eat (love love love!!!) which means fasting until dinner, with about a 500 calorie plant based dinner.

I'm hungry sometimes, yeah, but it feels so good. Compared to eating tons of food and chocolate every day!!! And I am just loving it so much, loving knowing I'm headed in the right direction and loving feeling sore.

I'm continuing with my beer every night, and so far the milk supply has been good - I'm going to keep a close eye on it and possibly bump my calories up if my supply goes down. On a normal program with Venus, my calories would be 1100 a day to really lose the weight, but I'm going with 1500 for now because of nursing. This is new territory for me so it's kind of a feel-as-I-go sort of thing.

Interesting to me, though, how very many thoughts go through my head in the morning!!! How much I try to talk myself out of the workout or eating low calorie healthy food, and especially when I had a night like last night...

12am: FINALLY get the baby to go to sleep
1:15-1:20am -- baby wakes up, out of the blue crying hard -- bad dream??
2:30am -- DS4, bad dream - pray with, tuck in, stumble back to bed
3:30am -- DD5, bad dream - pray with, tuck in, stumble back to bed
4:15-5am -- baby, nurse
6:40 -- my alarm goes off, get the kids' clothes ready, nurse

I'm pretty bleary eyed today, and glad that today is my rest day. I was so tempted to just fugggetaboutit and eat everything in sight, as today is also my fast day! That yummy soft chewy red licorice I bought yesterday is sitting on the counter, a huge big tub of it. Or caramel corn...or Ritz crackers with cheddar cheese.

Funny how food sounds so good when you *can't* have it. Or any forbidden food, actually!

Another interesting thing - so yesterday, I was nearing the completion of day 3. I had been very careful with my calories, saving them so that I could have my favorite Chipotle Black Bean sandwich for dinner (DH was gone, kids were having rice/canned beef stew/rolls). With cheese, ketchup, yum, my sandwich is sooo good. Then DH called and said we'd as a couple, been invited over to the Joneses house for a gourmet Italian dinner!!! They were expecting guests from out of town and their plane got delayed...did we want to come instead? Wow, yes please!!

Only thing....what about my diet?? Aaaagh! But it was really neat for me to say,

"Self? Guess what.

This is going to be something that happens, on occasion. And this is what you WANT to have happen - you want to live life! You just have to be in control and eat less AS WELL AS not letting it spin you into a full-on 'oh well I've botched it so I can eat whatever for the next 3 days' binge. But you CAN eat it and ... enjoy!!!

And besides...with Venus...the most awesome part of it is you can fast tomorrow to put yourself into a deficit and turn those calories right-side-up and keep on going as if nothing ever happened. And still lose weight!"

Woot!

And that is exactly what I did. Although I can practice more caution when it comes to not eating the entire portion. He had the most wonderful salad prepared, and then a HUGE serving of truly gourmet spinach mushroom lasagna, as well as creamy sliced zucchini. And of course french bread with cheesy garlic topping, yum. For dessert, a multiple layer mousse chocolate cream cake coupled with a kalua/cream drink that each couple shared, it was really rich and yummy. It was an amazing dinner, wayyy better than any restaurant, and with good friends!! (Engles, Kyllingmarks, Joneses, and us as couples) A once in a lifetime occasion!

I don't regret eating any of it, except I should have stopped eating the lasagna when I felt my stomach rebelling a bit. I left some on my plate, though, I did!

This morning, I am enjoying a nice hot cup of peppermint tea and am busy not listening to the voices in my head that don't really feel like fasting today. =) But I have a goal, I have a new mindset and I am working really hard on building new habits (which means to me, consistency!) to get rid of the old ones I've had for the past year.

Since I've been MIA from the hardcore diet/exercise regime for the past year, now that I'm back into it -- (and I say hardcore because that to me means I am totally dialed in, doing BOTH low calorie plant based AND exercising hard 6x per week) I feel like I am still that fit size 2 person. She is still there, that person who just DID it. Got up in the morning knowing exercise was in the plan and fasting was on the menu. No matter what. No matter how much sleep or not. No matter how she was FEELING that day. (biggie)

I'm surprised when I look in the mirror that I don't see her! And when I am laying in bed and happen to feel my big lumpy stomach, it's actually surprising to me sometimes that it's there! LOL

So here's to a successful fasting day and I hope you have a wonderful day too. =)

I won!!! And I normally have such bad luck with giveaways!

One of my favorite things to do is go through my list of favorite blogs and read the new posts -- most of them are about home decor and DIY projects but some of them are personal friends and/or about health & fitness. Love blogger.com!

Anyway, apparently blogging can be quite lucrative if you do it right - if you have so many followers then your blog becomes a marketing tool in it's own right for companies that sell items along the same subject of your blog. When I'm going through my fave blogs and I see a giveaway from one of these companies, I like to enter if I have time. It usually involves liking them on Facebook, or going to the company's site to see what I would purchase if I won. They're getting more traffic to their site that way, so it's smart!

I am currently saving my pennies and any extra money I can make by selling things on Ebay, Craigslist, etc...for a Silhouette Cameo.

It's a vinyl cutter (also cuts many other things like cardstock, stencils, etc) that can cut out any font, any image, that you desire and it goes on well, things. LOL. DH & I are on a monthly budget for spending money - we get a certain amount and we can spend it on whatever we want (no it's not very much lol). I love it because there is NO guilt and if I want to, I can save mine - which I have many times in the past, for a larger purchase. For things like a $100 picture I've been drooling over, I'll save multiple months and you know what? I do appreciate that picture so very much and enjoy it!!

I also love getting creative with ways to make money, though. For instance - someone gave us a big box of Huggies diapers from Costco - size 1/2. I am SO thankful for diaper gifts, they are so much money! But, we don't really need the high end brand - I actually love Walmart and ToysRUs generic brand diapers. =) So my plan is to return the Huggies diapers to Costco for store credit (don't have receipt) and use the $$ for grocery money. So say I get $30 credit - I'll use that to buy our staple grocery items, then go to my budget and take $30 OUT of our grocery budget, so now it is $30 cash in my hand.

Since we do need diapers and I very much appreciate the gift, my plan is to then take that $30 to Walmart and buy size 1-2 diapers in the same number (like if the box was for 120 diapers then I would buy 120 diapers at Walmart) for maybe...$25. Now I have the same amount of diapers received for the gift, but I have in essense "made" $5 - which I get to put towards my Silhouette purchase. Yay! These types of things are fun for me to figure out and + I get to slowly but surely earn more $$. =)

Anyway, I envision being able to do all sorts of fun projects from an elegant french saying on my wall in my bedroom that means, "I love you more and more every day"

to personalized laundry baskets for the kids, to labels for my kitchen,

to treasured and unique gifts for my friends & family,

as well as subway art...or even the kids' names above their beds.

Fun! I also love the idea of something like "The Taylor Home, est. 1997" type thing in fancy script and it looks so professional and classy on a mirror or on the wall above a pretty table.

Only problem is, it sells for $269.99 and that is the absolute lowest ANYWHERE, + you have to buy the vinyl rolls which cost $14. This thing is so popular that it never goes on sale - waaah! And no, that is not the giveaway that I won =(.

But I did win something kinda' cool in a weird sort of way, lol! It was for $100 worth of anything on this patio covers site. They sell patio covers for everything you can think of that would exist on a patio - chairs, ottomans, air conditioners, bbq grills, etc. Only problem is our backyard is really tiny and we have this even tinier slab of concrete. With so many kids we've pretty much eliminated everything except for a trampoline -- otherwise it just gets immediately cluttered and trashed and .... yeah. Except for a little wading pool in the summer.

So I did a little research as to what might SELL that is popular in the area of patio covers - and came to the conclusion that a medium sizes BBQ cover would be the best. I was order 6 of them today, worth $17.99 each on the website. My plan is to sell them on Craigslist hopefully for at least $10 each and be able to pocket $60 from the giveaway. I hope!

So far I have $175 saved from Christmas and my monthly budget. Another fun thing I did was, DH & I agreed to spend $50 on each other this Christmas. I asked for some speakers since mine are dying and I love to blare the music when I'm working out or cleaning. DH went to a kind of expensive store and paid $49.99 for a nice set of speakers. SWEET! I was excited to get them.

But then my wheels started turning and just for kicks, I decided to do some research and found the SAME exact one on Amazon for $29.99! I ordered it and it came within days...and then I was able to return the one that DH bought for me and pocket the extra $20. He thought that was pretty cool too so no harm or hurt feelings - I LOVED the gift, just found it a bit cheaper and utilyzed my brain. Hee hee!

Looking forward to getting my Silhouette Cameo! And if any of you ladies who know me in real life would like to come over and use it, you are heartily welcome!

Loving the Wii Lately!

Lately we are loving the Wii here in our house. I'm observing how it is creating bonds in the children and just in the family in general that haven't been there before, or needed strengthening.

For instance, there are always personalites that seem to clash in certain ones in a big family -- one of them is the combination of Rachel12 and Isaac9. She's way better than she used to be with him, but he kind of has this sort of whining personality that just grated on her nerves. Today for various reasons all the children were gone except for Rachel, Isaac, baby, and me.

I was in my room nursing and came out to find both of them parked in front of the Wii, remotes in hand, playing a Mario Bros game together. They were laughing and cracking jokes and it was SUCH a joy to see! Isaac was just eating up the attention of his big (cool) sister actually enjoying being with him for once, and Rachel was genuinely having fun it looked like. Instead of her nose buried in her phone texting with her earphones in her ears listening to music.

I don't do the Wii so much, but sometimes in the evening our entire family can be found gathered in the living room while I am nursing, the little ones are just hanging out watching, and DH and the older ones are playing a rousing game of bowling with 100 bowling pins. Makes for fun memories and I LOVE how active the game can be where you have to physically swing your arm, etc.

Stop what you're doing RIGHT NOW and go read...

...this post regarding chores from a mom of 7 kids. ***LOVE***

http://toddnjenifermoss.blogspot.com/2010/07/summer-ideas-chore-chart.html

Me & my littles...lovin' Tereza's music!

Except for one, that is. =) Tereza I opened your blog to see if there were any more updates on your xtanga blog and it started playing that super cute song where the little girl is singing "Three Little Birds" with her parents. I told Marie it was Ayla, shhh I hope a little white lie is ok. =) All the kids were fascinated and gathered around me to "see" the music.

Minus Harmony, she's already in bed. Here we are today - this is a really cute picture of Charlie and shows how he is transitioning from that brand brand new look into more of a tiny baby look. But, crappy camera...alas.

ROFL Marie just heard "What Child is This" in piano on there and asked me,"Mommy, did someone die in that song?" Kids' logic is so funny, she probably thought it sounded "Sad" because it's peaceful and thought provoking.

One thing I thought of the other day is, that children and babies especially bring such JOY to people. I mean just about everywhere I go with very few exceptions, my children put smiles on women's faces. It's almost like they see me surrounded by children and immediately think of a memory of their own having to do with little ones - whether it's a memory or something they currently are experiencing. And of course they're well dressed (um...ok most of the time, unless they want to wear their favorite items all together at the same time rofl!) and they ARE cute, too. =)

But a baby, like Charlie, everyone wants to make him smile so of course they smile first! And what a treasure to have in my posession a true blue "smile maker", right? He always makes people smile and make silly sounds...laughter is good medicine and smiling in itself has been shown to produce certain endorphins that make a person naturally more happy.

Love having a baby in the house! Julie & RA, you're in for such a treat!! Especially where siblings are concerned...so fun to watch them.

On Sunday at church, guess who wanted to hold Charlie? My BOYS! They ar 9 & 10 (almost 11) -- and wanted to sit in the coffee bar are which is very public, with their little brother. You could tell by their faces that they were just so so proud of him, and were eager to show him off to their friends. Their super cute baby brother that THEY got to hold. None of their friends currently have baby brothers or sisters as small and cozy as ours.

I just thought it was sweet that it was the boys who wanted to be seen in public showing affection to a baby, seems like it would be embarrassing for them. I'm glad it isn't, not yet, anyway.

That little guy truly is loved, even though he's already been dropped (but he's ok it was on a cushy carpet and not far) by a sibling who loves him soooooo much, maybe even too much. =)

Blessing vs. Crazy Chaos

Sometimes I see the blessing of having so many kids around. My DD12 had a friend of hers from school come over who is one of 3 kids - she is in the middle and 12 also, with a younger 11 year old sister. We don't often having friends from school over to visit, and I was kind of curious to see what the girls would find to do.

Funny thing: most of the time was spent with her friend sitting on the couch eyes wide, just....watching everyone. Ha ha! It was kind of sweet but humorous too - there was little Charlie who she got to hold for a while. Then Harmony2 who decided since she had a captive audience that she would stand on a box and sing as loud as her adorable little husky baby voice would go, all the songs she knows. "Twinkle twinkle little star, Itsy bitsy spider, Who is Always Happy, You're my Precious Little Boy"....it was so cute!

Then Jack4 was going in & out of the newly tiled kitchen which apparently now sounds like train tracks when he races his big car back & forth, back & forth while laughing and having a really good time.

The rest of the kids were doing their normal things - girls 5 & 7 were doing crafts and the boys 9 & 10 were playing the Wii. Lots of hustle & bustle, lots of noise and different ones teasing, some laughing, some talking to each other about things at school, etc. She was here through chores time, through dinner/more chores time, through bedtime, and then the interesting craziness of getting ready for school in the morning time. Oh, and the baby crying in the middle of the night, lol!

When you see it through someone else's eyes like hers, you see something so rich and full - a fun home where there is ALWAYS someone to play with...she kept wanting to get Harmony to come over and sit with her while Rachel was kind of like um...why are we having my little sister come play with us? LOL

Then there's nights like tonight. Hmmmm. I suppose it might have something to do with the combination of my getting short increments of sleep at night + the banging of pots & pants that 4 of the kids are currently doing. Yowza!

And the crying kids because the older boys are goofing off and not watching what they're doing and the little ones are getting hurt. The one child who hates doing homework but is begrudgingly doing it and then gets REALLY mad when I tell him he also has to do the dishes when he's done. And DH who is gone for the night fundraising which I AM thankful he is doing that....it is my part of helping to pay off the church debt.

Sometimes though, life is just like that. I read your post tonight RA about how your life is right now and I can relate so much! So many things at once come crashing down and it feels like you can barely breath, you won't survive, or if you do you don't even know how you did.....!

Life isn't supposed to be easy though...good for me to remember, huh? And remember to look through the eyes of someone else, especially God's, who sees these children and what my ministry here is - something incredibly blessed.

Getting so excited to turn my house into a home I love!

I was bit by the DIY remodel bug way back in August of 2010. I don't know what changed for me, but I am pretty sure it was when I found decorating blogs on the internet.

I have always been an admirer of beautiful homes - but not so much the obnoxiously over the top expensive ones, like in Hollywood with lots of pools and things that I will never have, or really even want to have. Huge rooms with columns, etc.

What I have always wistfully admired were the homes kind of like mine, pretty much ordinary suburban family homes but that look so beautiful! Like magazine type rooms, lovely kitchens, warm and cozy bedrooms -- AND of course, these type of things take talent! Which I am not sure that I have - I mean, I know the look that I like - but I have kind of no idea how to get there.

I love the look of white kitchen cabinets, but ours are oak and really faded. I always just assumed that was something I would never have, since we don't have thousands of dollars just to plunk down on new kitchen cabinets. If our current anything is functional in the least, it does not get replaced. Especially not just for looks!

Then, I found these wonderful amazing ladies online who not only have the same vision as I do for their homes, but the IMPLEMENT it at a fraction of the cost by....wouldn't you know it...doing it themselves! My jaw just dropped when I saw some of the things they did and how they transformed their homes with a very low budget. They just needed TIME.

Time? Uh...do I have that? Not really.

But I DO have little increments of time here and there (okay not really right NOW with a 6 week old, but you know what I mean) that I can slowly but surely work on projects.

And thus, my vision for my bedroom was born. I worked on that for about 9 months doing what I could, and by the time the baby was born I had the most beautiful room! It was AMAZING what I was able to do with elbow grease, and of course the help of YouTube, my ***heart*** favorite blog tutorials, and of course some of my Dad & DH. =)

I turned our yucky looking, faded bathroom knob-less cabinets from oak into stunning black cabinets with pretty silver knobs.

I turned our ugly dark walls of raspberry red/dark sage green into white board & batten on the bottom with a light sky blue top half.

I took out the UGLY Hollywood style light in my bathroom and replaced it (DH did this) with a $12 clearance light found at Lowe's that was brass, but I spray painted it black.

I took our curtain-less, rod-less window and put up a $2 black scroll garage sale rod and added pretty white sheer curtains I found at JCPenney and used a deep discount coupon to buy. I found a beautiful sweeping, romantic bedskirt for our bed and lovely white duvet covers.

I searched and searched on Craigslist and found the most beautiful antique dresser with matching mirror that was faded and chipped and a dark old wood. I spent hours sanding, painting, sculpting it in a way, into the prettiest white changing table with crystal knobs that you ever did see. I get to change my baby on there and he gazes into the mirror smiling at himself - it is such a pleasure!

After searching everywhere online for months and debating which one to buy, I found a gorgeous chandelier on Ebay and saved my money until I could order it. It's still sitting in my closet (arrived 2 days after the baby!) but I can't wait to replace our gold (my room is all silver, white, gray, blue, NOT gold!!) light with that purty chandy!

Those blogs gave me a vision for something that I could do for my home, instead of resigning myself to the fact that 1)our kids will always ruin everything so why even try and 2)this is what I have so suck it up and be thankful.

Do we have lots of money? No way. Not even. Single income, 8 kids, are you kidding? LOL

But we have always made sure to include, even when money was pretty tight, a small amount for DH & I to spend on whatever we want. In addition to that, DH said that whatever money I make on Craigslist by selling things around the house or flipping bargains I found at thrift stores, selling on Ebay, whatever - I could use for my own "egg" money so to speak.

Slowly but surely I saved up - doing little by little, which worked fine with me anyway because that's how *I* am able to do it with so many littles. I figure that if each and every day I do something, anything no matter how little or big, towards a project for my home, it'll get done! Sure 'nuff!

I have so many projects circling around in my head - and one of them? Painting my kitchen cabinets white!! Yep, you're darn right - I can have that beautiful kitchen too. Just for the price of paint, a few brushes, a little protective finish, and knobs. I found a big bag of about 30 knobs at the thrift store for $4!! I can spray paint those babies into something pretty!

Stay tuned - and I will hopefully get new pictures of my bedroom and share soon. =)

xoxo

Baby is 6 weeks...settling into a nice routine now!

I love back to school. Simply because it has forced me to get into a pattern/schedule and I just thrive on that! Although if given the choice I would sleep in every day, so that's why I love it..hee hee. Once you're up and about it's so nice to get things done early in the morning when you would normally be sleeping.

Before the baby was born, I would get up early and do everything before the kids got up - get their clothes ready, prepare their lunches, go through their backpacks. Then get them up and it was a mad scramble to get out the door.

Now, I have to make sure I nurse Charlie before I get them up, giving myself ample time to do so in case of blowouts, or sleepy baby needing to be woken up multiple times to finish his meal, etc. I have to get everything ready the night before just because I don't know how the night will go - if I am up ALL night then every little bit of sleep will be precious to me in the morning and there's no way I'm going to feel like getting up early just to get their stuff ready.

I don't get to go to bed until midnight most nights (Tereza I remember when you came to conference with your 6 week old baby one year, Ayla probably, and your baby did this too! And you were soooo tired...cuz the kids woke up so early in the morning...) so that provides ample time to get everything ready for the morning, even though about an hour of that time is spent trying to get the baby to fall asleep.

So I got wise the last few mornings and it has gone so well. I got the kids up a full 15 minutes earlier than normal, at 7:15. It's a big duh for me. No more mad scramble - everything is done without the big rush and irritations that can come with it. AND - this is very nice - I am able to clean up and tidy things while they're relaxing and slowly getting ready...so when I come home from bringing them to school I am greeted with a fresh house, instead of a tornado! That would be a GOOD thing!

Swagbucks!! Ever tried it??

I first heard about it years ago and then forgot about it. But lately I really REALLY want to buy a Silhouette Cameo which costs $269, ugh, I know! But I'm saving my "egg money" and my monthly allowance, and searching for additional ways to earn more $$. Like pop cans. LOL!

Swagbucks is pretty cool. It's something you sign up for online, and once you have your account up & running, you just type in "swagbucks.com" and use it like you would use Google. I have it bookmarked so I just click, then type in my search word. Every once in a while, usually about 2-4x per day max, randomly a little image will pop up right above your search results and say "Congratulations! You just earned xx swagbucks!". It's fun, makes you feel like you won something hee hee!

So it takes a while to accumulate the swagbucks, but you can cash them in for fun things like gift cards! Wooot! It's one of those things where you have to search for things on Google anyway, so why not use Swagbucks instead and earn points to eventually cash in?

Another FUN thing - they do a referral link where if someone signs up using your link and then proceeds to earn swagbucks themselves, you get whatever they earn. Cool, huh?

So 2 years or so ago I wrote about it in my Ebay newsletter I used to write, and a handful of people signed up. One lady? Holy moly, she took it to the BANK!! She earned 1,000 swagbucks! And guess who ELSE did? Yep, me! So I logged onto my account a couple of weeks ago after not checking it for over a year, and was shocked to see 1200 swagbucks on my account!

To give you an idea, and this is what I am saving for - a $5 Amazon gift card "costs" 450 swagbucks. I'm shooting for 25 in GC's to Amazon. That'll be 2250 points and I have 1328 right now.

If you want to try it out, here's my referral link:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/sheraht