My Lovey Dovey Love Story

In honor of Valentines Day, I want to share my love story with my Husband of 4 and a half years. So, if you are ready for a little kiddy roller coaster, here we go... WEEEEEE!!!

Back in March of 2010, I was a lowly college student. I was in my second semester of College. I had just gotten my first job at a Day care. I loved my job and, turns out, I loved it so much that I changed my major shortly after I started it. Anyways, I was happy. I was just living my life and content.

Then, one Sunday, as I sang in the Choir at my church, I looked out at the congregation (as I did all the time) and spotted this tall, skinny guy in his NSU Navy uniform. Of course I saw him from far away, but I thought even from far away that he was pretty cute and I wanted to meet him. So, church went on and I kept thinking in the back of my head "Man, I hope I get to meet this guy" (Yeah, I know. I should have been focusing on Jesus. Judge me now.) After church was over, I casually made my way over to him and introduced myself. Turns out, he was fresh out of Boot Camp, had just been granted special liberty to leave base, and was recommended this church by his Pastor back home. We talked a while and then had to part ways because he needed to get back to base and I had friends wanting me to go out to eat.

A few weeks later he came back to church. After church, he found me and made some sweet small talk. We invited him to go out to eat with us and he graciously accepted. I drove him because the poor guy didn't have his truck (it was stuck back at his parents house in VA). Our food at the restaurant ended up being late and we had to hurry up to get him back to base by curfew. Turns out he was a few minutes late, but right before he got out of the car, he said "Hey, can I get your number? So that I can text you and make sure you get home alright." HOW CUTE! (Insert little teenage girl squeal here). About 30 minutes later, I got a sweet text from him telling me how thankful he was for the ride, and making sure I got home alright. He was the sweetest thing.

Short story, this went on for a few months until he went home on Memorial Day Weekend to get his truck. When he got his truck back, I guess he didn't need me for rides anymore ( to the mall, church, hangouts) so he kind of stopped talking to me (I know, jerk right?!) I tried to not let it bother me. I guess we never were a thing, but I did have a major crush on him. I thought he knew that, but then again, maybe he didn't. About 3 months went by and I hardly heard from him. Since we were Facebook friends though, I had seen that he found himself another girlfriend (Knife to the chest) and seemed to be very happy with her.

In the meantime, I just kept on keepin' on. School, work, and church. One Sunday, I came into the Sunday School room I was working in. One of the ladies in there saw me come in, and lit up. She said she had something to tell me. She told me that she had a dream about me. She said that she had a dream that it was my wedding day. She said I looked beautiful (ego boost, right?!). My immediate thought was "WHO DID I MARRY!? I asked her, and she said " Oh, I don't know. I didn't recognize him. All I know was that he was tall, dark and Handsome. And he had a good stable job to provide for you". My immediate thought was to John. I knew he was tall, had dark hair and was handsome. I also knew he was in the military and that is a stable job. I had to be kidding myself though. He had a girlfriend. Ugh. All the thoughts. I put the dream to the back of my mind and had to move on. I had too much going on, with finals coming up.

about 2 months later, my birthday was right around the corner. Sunday was the day before my birthday and all my friends had already told me they wanted to take me out after church for my birthday. During church, I noticed someone who looked like John in the back of the church. "That couldn't be him", I thought. "He hasn't been to church in a long time. I thought he was long gone by now." Turns out it WAS him. I planned on talking to him after church. Maybe invite him to go out with all my friends for my birthday. After church, I casually went over to him and welcomed him back to church.

John accepted our invitation and went out with us to Buffalo Wild Wings. He ended up sitting next to me (SSQEEE!!....Teenage girl squeal) and he ended up insisting on paying for my dinner. During our conversations I casually added, "Oh and How is your Girlfriend?" I hoped he would say he hated her and he was breaking up with her. Unfortunately, he said she was good. They were good. (in my mind: Dang it!...But at least he didn't sound smitten saying those words. I wasn't convinced he was happy). When dinner was over, He said he owed me for taking him so many places, being so nice to him and he said no one should have to pay for their meal on their birthday. Mixed signals, right? GRR.

About two minutes before midnight, John calls me to tell me happy birthday. He said he wanted to be the first one to wish me a happy birthday. Then two minutes later he sends me a text. The sweetest happy birthday text. (Geez, this guy is killin' me!)

The next week he asks me to hang out. Here's what happened. We end up driving an hour to find somewhere to play pool that wasn't in a nasty bar. We then gave up, got Sonic and went back to my house. He insists on paying for the food (Hmmm, this isn't a date, right? I couldn't be on a date with someone else's boyfriend?). Any who, we go back to my house and we watch this movie about the coast guard. It wasn't my thing, but he seemed to enjoy it. We sat on opposite ends of the couch, like good kids. HA! He ended up telling me that he hadn't talked to his GF in about two weeks and that he was going to break up with her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I hate it didn't work out for you two", I said ("YAY! Oh, heck yes. Its about time he broke up with that dang girl. I knew he wasn't happy.").

The next few weeks we hung out almost every night. He would comer over after he got off work (which was usually very late) and we would sit on the couch and watch various movies. Our conversation would usually go like this:
Me: What do you want to watch tonight, John?
John: Oh I don't care. Its up to you (He was such a gentleman).
Me: Okay!! How about Rent or Sound of Music, or Phantom of the Opera, or The Notebook? ( Yes, I made him watch all of these. I knew this "we can watch whatever you want to, baby" phase was not going to last long, so I had to get all the good ones in! Ha!
John: sure, whatever you want to watch, baby.

Eventually I stopped torturing him and asked if he liked That 70's Show. He said he did so that's what we watched for the next few months. Each night when he came over, we watched 3 or 4 episodes of that show. There were 8 seasons worth so it took a long time to get through them all! But that's what we tell people now. We fell in love watching That 70's Show.

By March, I was convinced we would get married, but I just didn't know when. I never pictured myself being one of those people that had a wonderful, long, drawn-out engagement. Late march, we had planned a trip to Jacksonville together. We were going to visit my sister there. Sophia (her daughter) was turning 2 at the time and we were going there for her party. We went down on Thursday evening, had Friday to explore Jacksonville, and Saturday morning was the party. Poor John kind of acted funny all day and I didn't know why. I wasn't worried or anything, just didn't seem normal. After the party, John wanted to check out to the beach so off we went. He took a different way than I told him to (typical guy) and it ended up taking us longer than it should have to get there. We went through some fancy hotel to get to the water ( I had some fascination with fancy hotels). I kept wanting to go outside to see the water, but he insisted on staying inside for just a few more minutes. Right then, he took my hand.
John: I'm going to need you to take off this ring for a minute ( I was wearing a birthstone ring on my left ring finger)
Me: (FREAKING OUT) um sure. Why?
Then John proceeded to say some mushy stuff that is just embarrassing and asked me to marry him. OF COURSE, I said yes!
He put a beautiful ring on my finger that belonged to his mother. It's been there ever since. Its such a beautiful ring =)

Turns out, the reason why he wanted to stay in the hotel, was because Michelle, my sister, was hiding and was taking pictures of the whole thing! Such a sneak. That's also why we took a longer way. It gave Michelle and everyone else, time to load up and get to the beach before us. We went a few blocks up and met everyone (my parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece) for some celebratory pizza.

We spent the rest of spring and summer engaged and got married on September 10, 2011. It was a beautiful day =)

My sweet sister made this for me about a year after we got married. I have a small print of it in the house, but I think I am going to get a large one done, too =) 

One of my favorite pictures from our Wedding Day =) 

A favorite from our first trip to DC together!

This was the day before John deployed. I was 12 weeks prego and had no idea when he would be home. 

This is the first picture we had together as a family of three! Taken about 12 hours after Eleanor was born. Makes me get emotional every time I see it. 

And because we are still all kids at heart, this is us riding Go Karts on our 4 year anniversary. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day! And I just want to say, you don't NEED your significant other around to have a good Valentines Day. I have spent three of the six Valentines Day's alone because of Johns work schedule. It used to really bother me, but all in all, its just a day. A day that has been over commercialized (like all the other ones), to get people to buy cards, candy and presents. Valentines Day should be spent with people you love. Your friends. Your family. Your kids. Your Fur-babies. Love them all! 

Book Case Tutorial

I'M BBACKKK!!

I took (more than a few) months off from this blogging thing and I think I am ready to get back to it. But before we get back to ME blogging, my husband has been begging me to post this little Gem. A few weeks ago he made a project and then wanted the "Pinterest world" to see it. And since this is the easiest place to post it......Here is my Husband with his first "Guest Blog". Enjoy, Ladies and Gents! 

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A couple of days before the New Year I did what I said I would never do and created a Pinterest account.  So just like any guy in that situation I immediately questioned my manhood and wondered if I should turn in my mancard.  I began to “pin” things to my “board” like DIY projects and workbench ideas for when I have a garage. After all of this “pinning” I needed to get back to being a man. So after careful consideration, I decided to go to Lowe's and buy some new power tools to reestablish my manliness.  I had plenty of gift cards from Christmas so I got a new four piece Proctor and Gamble 20V set with a circular saw, rotary saw, drill and light. 

Now that I had the tools I needed to build something, which would further reestablish my mancard.  After looking on Pinterest for some time I couldn’t decide what to build and then my wonderful wife came up with the idea for a bookcase for Lil E our amazing little girl who loves to read.  So I turned back to Pinterest to find a DIY kids bookshelf, let me tell ya there are a lot of ideas out there, but none of them on the small scale that we were looking for.  

After hours of scouring “pins” I gave up and decided to come up with my own design, and like most of the time I came up with something more complicated than what we needed.  It was then that Melissa came across a picture that was focusing on some wallpaper or design, but she noticed a small bookshelf/holder at the bottom of the picture and sent it to me on Pinterest. I decided to work on that one as it would be simpler.

(Note from Melissa): The website (as cute as it is) didn't specify (as far as I could tell) where the book case came from so John drew up some "blueprints".

  Just bear with me as this is my first DIY type of post, so now here we go with the DIY portion of this guest blog appearance. 

Supplies:

(4) boards 21/32” thick x 16” wide x 36” long that will be cut to :

·         (1) 7”H x 24”W (front)

·         (1) 10 ½ “H x 24”W (middle)

·         (1) 14”H x 24”W (back)

·         (2) 14”H x 10 ½ “W (sides) (these will actually be 14” in the back and 7” in the front)

·         (1) 25 ¼ “L x 10 5/8 “ W (bottom)

(1) box of 1 ½ “  finishing nails

Wood Glue

Wood Filler

Nail punch

Paint (any color you want) we used True Red for the letters and we got some pre-mixed white paint that was on sale for the bookshelf/holder itself

Paintbrush

Hammer

Putty knife

Circular Saw

5” Letters that Melissa got from Hobby Lobby

Drop cloth for painting

Straight edge for making straight lines and cuts

And 1 sleeping baby (for those of you that don’t have a dedicated garage for this type of work)

First we start off measuring the sides as these will require the most cuts and time:

Make your first measurement at 10 ½ “ from the edge of the first board, this will be point (A).  The picture shows 10 5/8 and that is because I added in the width of my circular saw blade.  

Next from point A measure up to 7” and make a mark, this will be point (B).

Now grab your straight edge and make a line from point A to point B.

Your next mark will be made at 14” along the main edge of the board (don’t forget to add in the width of your saw blade) and this will be point (C).

Next measure out 5/8” from the edge at point (C), this will be point (D).

Get your straight edge and draw a line from point (C) to point (D).

Use your straight edge again and draw a line from point (D) to point (B).

Repeat the steps to measure out the other side of the bookshelf.

The rest of the measurements are pretty straight forward just remember to measure twice and cut once. 

Once you have everything measured out it is time to cut.  Since I don’t have a garage or a dedicated cutting table I had to improvise and cut up some old fence pieces and make an area I could cut on.  I used my straight edge along with some clamps to hold it in place to make sure the cuts were as straight as possible. 

.  (Pic 6 is the sides, front, middle and back) (pic 7 is the bottom).

Now that you have things cut out and ready to assemble you have two options:

# 1 paint the inside part of each of the parts and let them dry before proceeding or

# 2 put it together and paint it all afterwards

I suggest painting the inside parts before you put it together (this is the voice of experience talking as I did # 2 and it makes for a messy situation)…….

….Now that you have decided what method to do lets proceed with the assembly of the bookshelf

During this process you will be using the glue on each piece to make each connection more solid and permanent.

Start by lining up the back panel on the inside of any side piece you want and nail them together using 2 to 3 finishing nails. Next nail the front panel on the same side piece, 2 finishing nails should be enough.  Now line up the opposite side piece and glue and nail that piece on.

Now that the frame is together, we will add the bottom to the bookshelf. Since the sides are cut at an angle I placed the shorter side on my knees to keep it level while nailing in the bottom.  I only used 10 nails along with the wood glue for the bottom.

The bookcase now looks this.

Now you are ready to place the middle piece into the bookshelf.  I placed the middle divider directly in the middle so you will need to use your measuring tape and find the center of your box.

At this point you can still see all the nails on the side of your bookshelf and that is a nasty site even after paint goes over it so break out your nail punch and get ready to hide those nails.

Place the nail punch on top of the nails and tap the nail punch with the hammer until the nails are below the surface of the wood.  Take your wood filler and your putty knife and fill in the holes

Once the holes are filled and the wood filler dries take some sandpaper and smooth out the filler. Now the holes and nails will not be visible when the bookshelf is painted.  Now you are ready to paint the bookshelf and the letters that go with it.  Depending on the color of paint you get you may only need one coat of paint, however, I suggest putting at least two coats for a better look.

Once the letters and bookshelf are dried, lay out the letters to get proper placement and glue

Let the letters dry and insert books and you are complete

Hope you enjoyed. Pray your family has a Blessed New Year.
John

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There you go, folks. Just 456,453 easy steps to your brand new book case! Basically, I don't understand anything that just happened, I just inserted the pictures. HA! But hopefully some of you building savvy people will understand. Happy building, everyone! 

Dear Eleanor, I love you forever.

Dear Eleanor,

Today is your First Birthday. I want to tell you about how this year has gone, since you probably won't remember it. This past year has been THE BEST year of my life.

I just really want to tell you all the ways that I love you. For a few reasons. One, I want you to know that you are the biggest part of my life, you are my First Born. I also want to point out that this is on the internet, and once something is written on here, its out there forever! So maybe if I die in a horrible accident (hope I dont!), I can still embarrass you from my grave.

I love the way that you close your eyes really tight when you are really trying to fall asleep.

I love the way that you always eat your cheese first, and then eat your pepperoni. Just like your mama.

I love the way you always look for your Dada when he comes in the door.

I love the way you have no fear and will pet little chicks without even thinking about it.

I love the way you tuck your little arms in when you are really tired.

I love the way you shimmy when you try to dance sitting down.

I love the way you clap your hands when you are trying to sign "more". You couldn't do it the right way so you thought clapping was close enough!

I love the way you smack your lips when you are trying to be coy about asking for some sweets.

I love the way that you see a phone and expect to Face-time, rather than talk on the phone.

I love the way you say "doggie" and try to love on our dog, Charlie. He kind of doesn't like you sometimes, but you adore him!

I love the way you reach for your mama when you are really tired and need some snuggles.

I love the way you play with your cousins. You adore Haylie and Sophia! You like Cooper too, but he doesn't share the same interest right now.

I love how you think its fun to pull my hair when you are in the Tula. You think its Hilarious.

It brings tears to my eyes that you are now One year old and that you are a toddler now. I'm really crying some major mom tears now. When I brought you home from the hospital, you were barely fitting into newborn clothes, and now you are busting out of 18M clothes! So here are some things about YOU.

You love Cheese and Yogurt.

You weigh 25 pounds.

You wear 18 Month clothes.

You have 8 Teeth.

You love to Dance!

You can say words like "doggie" "Dada" "Mama" "Hey" and "No"

You sign the words "more" "all done" and "milk"

You love to watch the Gigglebellies.

You love to swim in the pool!

You are just about to walk!

You love going to church, clapping and raising your hands in worship.

You are very passionate about your snacks.

You love to be in your Tula and you think your stroller is a roller coaster.

I love everything about you and I wish you could stay small forever. But I know you will grow big and strong. You are going to be a mighty warrior for Christ. You are going to be smart, beautiful, caring, silly, and loving. I can't wait to see what God has in store for you, little one.

I love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

5 Things that helped Me Travel with Baby

Over the last month and a half, Eleanor and I have become quite the little travelers. In April, we flew to Florida for two weeks. Then we were home for a few days and went to North Carolina for a few more days. Then we took another trip to North Carolina. It was unexpected, but a great trip, none the least. Then, this past week we took a trip to New York. All these trips were to visit various family members. I visited almost all of my family, visited with some of Johns family, and even met some of John's family that I haven't ever met. It was a great opportunity.

But over the course of the last month or so, I have learned a few things about traveling with a baby that I wanted to share with everyone.

1. Car seat safety is not only important, it can save a life. Before I went on my big road trip, I made sure my car seat was installed correctly. I pretty much knew it was installed right, but I wanted to know for sure before we traveled 1000+ miles, halfway up the country. So I did a few searches on some Facebook groups and found a local CPST (Child Passenger Safety Technician). This is a person that has been trained extensively on the "do's and dont's" of car seat safety. The service was free. Here's what one of my local CPST's did. We met in a public place. She took a look at how my child was buckled in the car seat before we took her out. She un-installed my car seat to make sure there was nothing in the way of the seat (like anything under the seat or in the way of the car seat. Anything aftermarket that goes in or around the car seat is unsafe). Then she re-installed the seat (it was installed correctly the first time, by the way). It only took about 15 minutes of my time, but knowing that my seat is installed the right way, gives me such peace of mind. I know that if I am in any sort of accident, my child will be as safe as possible. I know that I can drive as safe as possible, but I have to take into account all the other Idiots on the road, and I have to be prepared for their stupidity.

2.  Mirror for the back seat. This thing is a life-saver. No joke. Hubby installed the mirror on the headrest of the seat that E's car seat is installed on. Then we adjusted it so that I can see baby from the rear-view mirror. Or the passenger can look back and see the baby in the car seat, rear-facing. Now that Eleanor knows it's there, she looks in the mirror all the time. She looks at herself (she thinks she is beautiful and hilarious), looks at me (in the drivers seat) and just has a blast. I dont really know what I would do without that thing now. Its just a simple Brica mirror. But it does have some fancy things on it that can come in handy. It has a light that can turn on to see baby in the dark. It also has music so that if baby is fussy, you can turn some calming tunes on to soothe baby. And all this is accessible from the handy, battery-operated clicker that attaches to the visor, just like your garage door opener.

 Here I am with my Beautiful Niece, Sophia and Eleanor in there too. You can see that she loves to look at herself.

3. Portable changing pad. I keep this bad boy in my car at all times. This comes in handy when the restaurants don't have changing tables in the bathroom (Gah, I hate places that aren't baby friendly!). Sometimes I can't even make it inside though. Since little girl likes to poop while in her car seat, I have just made it a habbit to check her every time she gets out of the car. If she's left me a present, I just take her to the other side of the car and change her right then and there. I have a great, padded changing pad from Vera Bradley. One of my dear, sweet friends gave it to me when I had Eleanor, and trust me, its gone to good use! And yes, I do have a changing pad that stays in my diaper bag too. This one is just a little larger, and covers more. I would rather not risk getting poop in my nice, still new, car seats.

4. Entertainment for the child. Going on long car rides stinks. When its a shorter car ride, I try to leave when it's sleepy time for E. But the baby can't sleep for 12 hours straight, so I needed to find a way to entertain E. My mom discovered that E loves the Giggle Bellies. Turns out, they have an App, and you can download a bunch of songs and watch them offline. Boy, that saved my bacon. I put them on my Ipad. And they have some handy iPad holders that can be attached to the back of headrests, but I was just too busy to order one in time for my trip, so I had to rig one on my own. I ended up slipping my case under the headrest and rigging it that way. E loved watching the giggle bellies, and I now know 7 GB songs by heart. Yay.

I attached the iPad underneath the headrest. It was far enough for her to not be able to reach it with her little toes, but close enough for her to see and hear. WIN!

5. Disposable place mats and high-chair/shopping cart cover. These two things combined were germ savers. You just never know who was at the table before you, and you dont know what it was cleaned with (if it was cleaned) after they left. And same with the high chairs. Those things can be so gross. Sticky. Stained. Smelly, even. I got a shopping cart cover as a baby shower gift by an experienced mom, and it sure has been put to good use. It stays in the car, unless its being washed, and goes in with me to almost all restaurants, and came with me to the hotel when we went to breakfast every morning (free continental breakfast, y'all!) I keep a stash of disposable place mats in my diaper bag too. When Eleanor started teething, she started chewing on everything. including the ends of the tables. YUCK. So every time we go into a restaurant, one of the place mats goes on the table. I can also set food on it for her, because most places don't exactly have baby plates. Now she can eat. SLURP!

There is also one more thing that I use all the time, but I didn't include it in my list because most people will look at my like I'm nuts. But its my Tula. I LOVE MY TULA. When I flew to Florida, I didn't have the time or the energy to lug a stroller around an airport, along with my carry-on luggage. So I used my Tula. It was so nice to have Eleanor on my front, diaper bag on my back, and both my hands free to use railings, roll my luggage and not have to push through a huge, busy airport with a stroller. I never had to leave a stroller outside while I used the bathroom, or wait to use the handicap stall. When I went on my road trips, I had to bring the Pack n play for E to sleep in, so trunk space was limited. I didn't have the room for a stroller! But I had my Tula so I was good. now that I babywear, I hardly ever use my stroller anymore. And honestly, I kinda regret getting such an expensive travel system when it doesn't even get used anymore.

I rock my Tula everywhere. Here I am at Niagra Falls. Baby was asleep, It was pouring and I had a poncho on. 

I also rock my Tula at target. Here she is on my back. She loves it back there. And my mom is there too, photobombing!

Travel on, my friends!

Modern Day Miracle

I've been absent from blogging lately. I have been traveling quite a bit for the last month, and haven't been around computers much to do any blogging. But I want to take the time to share something.

Back in Florida, my dad and I had an interesting conversation about miracles. We talked about how no one seems to think that miracles happen anymore. Miracles seem to be a thing of the past. As if they happened in the bible days, but since revelation was written, that no one has had an unexplained event that would not be possible, had God not intervened. We talked about how the news stations only report on incredibly sad things such as terrorism, racism, and politics (yes, those are sad too). Apparently it doesn't appeal to viewers to report on good news. News about mysterious bills being paid by an anonymous person. A tumor that just disappears out of thin air. People that are pronounced dead that come back to life. And people who should have died, that seem to still be walking around just fine.

Little did I know that just 2 weeks after having this conversation, that my family would witness a true miracle. After I came back home from Florida, I had to turn around and leave for North Carolina where my Mother-in-law would be having open heart surgery. Hubby and I wanted to be there to support her and be there with her as long as we could, before having to get back to VA, and back to work.

Last Monday, bright and early, my MIL was scheduled for her third open heart surgery. The surgeons expected the surgery to last about 4-6 hours. We all took turns going back to the pre-op holding room to love on her and say one last prayer for her, and let her know that we would be there to help her when she came out of surgery to help her recover.

4 hours turned into 6 hours. Then 6 hours turned into 8 hours. The family (and friends) started to worry. Surely we should have heard something by now, right? We weren't really worried that something terrible happened, but concerned as to why it was taking so long. Finally, after about 8.5 hours, we got word that the surgeons were closing, and that we should migrate into the consult room so that the Doctor could speak with us. When the Doctor came in, he had a look of shock on his face. At first, I thought the look of shock was by the number of people in the room. There were about 10 people in the room (People who love and care for my MIL so much, that they took time out of their busy week to drive down 3-4 hours out of their way to be with her during her surgery). But when he opened his mouth, I found I was very wrong.

The surgeon started off by saying that the surgery went very well. Here are some tid-bits of what I heard(listening was hard since I was wrangling a 9 month old, and I just don't follow all that medical jargon/lingo) :
"It lasted a lot longer than we all expected"
"I am surprised that she was still up and walking around"
"Her coronary artery wasn't even attached to her heart so I reattached that"
"Then it started leaking out blood, and I found that one of the aorta's wasn't attached either"
"She is lucky to be alive"

Lets just stop right there. I don't know about you, but I have watched enough Grey's Anatomy to know what some of that means. I am not a medical professional by any means, but when I hear that an artery wasn't attached to the heart, I start thinking "How was blood getting to the heart? How was she pumping blood if the artery wasn't attached? How does one live without all the proper arteries, aortas and vessels attached the to the heart?" The heart needs to be working properly to do its job. It needs to have an adequate blood supply. It needs have blood to work. So, why was she alive if she didn't have good blood supply?

But I know.

It was God. It was a miracle. He did this. There is no explanation as to why Cindy should still be alive if there were two major blood supplies to her heart that were not even attached. God put her (and all her family and friends) in this situation to tell everyone. Tell everyone that SHE IS A MIRACLE. The whole situation is a miracle. Its situations like this that we are supposed to shout it from the mountains and cry with joy, knowing that she has survived this. This is now a part of her testimony. Cindy can live the rest of her life knowing that God worked a miracle through her and maybe, just maybe, she will tell the right person the story, that will help someone else have hope. Maybe Cindy can give someone else hope in a seemingly impossible situation. She can tell someone that there is a God and she can lead someone to God that desperately needs Him.

Long story short, My Mother-in-law, Cindy, is doing great. The first night after the surgery was a little bumpy. There were a few ups and downs and she ended up needing a pace-maker put in, but overall, she did great. She was even discharged on Saturday, which is awesome, considering the magnitude of the surgery.

So, on behalf of the entire family, I would like to say thank you for all your prayers, in the days leading up to the surgery, the day of, and in the days following the surgery. Every call, text and prayer sent out was so thoughtful. We would love for everyone to continue praying for Cindy to have a speedy recovery, and that she gets to come home (from North Carolina) soon after her post-op visit at Duke in a few weeks.

God is good, all the time.
And
All the time, God is good.

Rocking Horse Re-Do

A few months ago, we got a nice surprise in the mail. My Aunt and her bestie sent us a package that contained an old rocking horse that Beth (My Aunt Mary's BFF) found on the side of the road, looking all sad and abandoned, and my Aunt Mary's old baby doll cradle. Both were in pretty sad shape, but the moment Hubs saw it, he got so excited. Another project for him!

Here is how the rocking horse looked when we got it and put it together (They partly disassembled it to ship).

She looked so sad! =(

As you can see, poor old horsey is in need to some lovin'.
So John set to work. He started by removing the remainder of the hair on the main and tail. It wasn't much to remove, so he just gave it a nice tug. He also had to take out the eyes. One was cracked and it would have been a hazard if Eleanor was ever going to play with it, which was the reason for restoring it in the first place. Then John started sanding the old finish off. He worked until it was too dark to work outside. FYI, John actually had a LOT of school work to do, but this was obviously more important. LOL

Once it was all sanded, he put horsey back together to take a picture. He is so much better at pictures (Before, during and after) when doing a project, than me!

When the weekend hit, we took a trip to the local hardware store for some stain. We picked an Oak color, which is supposed to be a medium stain. I didn't want the horse to be very dark so we chose that one. We wanted to keep the horse looking pretty original to what she looked like before. Little did we know, that the oak, which was supposed to be a light stain, would make a golden brown horse, look like black beauty. The poor horse looked awful.
I felt awful too. I didn't want him to re-sand, but both of us hated the color. We actually thought it was going to be ruined. After one round of stripping, he brought the body of the horse back in and asked what I thought. The color actually looked great. It looked pretty rustic. I asked John how he liked it as it was. He hadn't thought about it, but once he stripped all the legs and the rockers to the same color, he ended up liking it too. So we just decided "Eh, good enough!"

While he was stripping and sanding the horse outside, I sat inside and created the main and tale for horsey (she didn't have a name yet). I saved the old tufts and used them as reference for how long I needed to cut the new ones. I got the yarn from Joann's that looked as close to blonde as I could find. I had some help from a few kiddo's in the yarn section =)

Please excuse my lack of modesty. Had I know John was taking pictures, I would have been a little more appropriate! And then there's Charlie. LOL! 

I also got the reigns from Joann's as well. I honestly had no idea what I was going to use, until I went down the curtain aisle. Turns out, a golden curtain holder did the trick.

So once we got Horsey all back together, we started putting the hair back in. We used a combination of wood glue and an industrial stapler. For the tail, we took a big group of yarn strands, tied them together, cut the excess as close to the tie as possible (making it look like a pony tail). Then we put lots of wood glue on the spot where horsey's tail was meant to be and prayed it would stay. We also put some staples in the bottom and top to try to make it as secure as possible. After a few hours, John took a few good tugs on the tail and it didnt budge so we just called it a day. Then we started working on the main. We took groups of ten strands, found the middle, and did a combo of gluing and stapling them into the grooves where the main was supposed to go. We ended up doing this about 10-12 times before we did one big tuft on top of the head, tied a few knots in a few of the strands so that the staples wouldn't be noticeable. When she was all done, I gave her a little hair cut, just to clean up some of the ends that were too long.

Yes, that's our kitchen. John Couldn't decide whether he wanted to work in the living room or kitchen. So he chose both. We really need a garage! 

The last thing was the eyes. Since one of the eyes was cracked, we couldn't save them. I searched high and low for "rocking horse eyes" but the closest thing I found was "toy eyes" on Etsy. We had to settle on Toy Eyes. They are supposed to be eyes for stuffed teddy bears and toys similar, but when we got them in, Hubby drilled a hole where the eyes are supposed to go on each side and it turned out pretty good.

I also decided to name the horse "Goldie". I thought it was pretty fitting. Shes got gold reigns, golden blonde hair, and such a pretty brown color. All in all, I think we did a good job taking Goldie, cleaning her up really nice, and making her beautiful again. I also let her borrow one of Eleanor's bows. Every prize horsey needs a pretty bow! =)

By the way, remember that old cradle that I mentioned that my Auntie Mary sent me? We just finished the rehab on that one, so a blog post will be soon to follow on that, too!

Cheers!

The Cloth Diaper break-down

Cloth diapering isnt the same as when your granny cloth diapered back in 1956. No offence to granny, but prefolds, safety pins and rubber pants are just not my thing. "Modern cloth diapering" has come a long way in the last couple of years, thanks to a few Mama's who want to make cloth mainstream again. So I have complied a blog of everything one needs to know on getting started with using cloth diapers.

Here is a list of some things that every cloth diapering mama needs to have in order to be successful with cloth:

Diapers (DUH!)
diaper pail (can be a simple trash can with a lid)
diaper pail liner
diaper sprayer (when baby starts solids. Its not pictured because its attached to my toilet.)
washer
dryer
Laundry soap that's cloth diaper safe (not pictured, but Tide powder is fine)
wet bag (for outings)
 Diaper rash cream that's cloth diaper safe
Note: not all diaper rash creams are safe. There are lots out there (too many to name). Make sure its NOT petroleum based. That messes up the absorbency of the diapers. I simply use coconut oil. Its pure and simple!

Now, when people ask me what cloth diapers to use, I generally tell them what I personally use (right now I am using BumGenius Flip diapers with different kinds of inserts), but I also tell them that every family is different. Their preferences are different. Their babies are different. Flip diapers work well for us, but I know a lot of other families that don't care for flips, or they don't fit their baby very well. So my #1 piece of advice to parents who are starting cloth, is to get a little bit of everything. Try a few different brands. Try a few styles out. See what you like and see what fits your baby.

Now, when it comes to styles, there are a ton out there!
One Size Diapers
These diapers fit babies ranging from 8-35 pounds. How? They have rise snaps that can be adjusted to fit the baby, depending on how much the baby weighs and how the fit is on your baby.
Other diapers come in sizes such as size 1 or 2. One being the smaller size that generally fits babies from 8-18 pounds and size 2 being 19 pounds to about 30 pounds.

Pocket Diapers
This is a diaper that  you stuff with an insert. The insert is that super absorbant material that keeps baby from feeling wet. Pocket diapers give parents the ability to chose what goes inside. Some people prefer microfiber inserts, while other prefer bamboo, charcoal bamboo, or hemp. This also allows for quicker drying time when diapers go in the laundry.

All in One Diapers
These diapers have inserts already sewn into them. Some AIO diapers have microfiber on one side with stay-dry material that goes against baby's skin. Other have organic or natural material that can go directly against babies skin. Its all a matter of preference or the needs of the baby. Some little's have sensitivities to some materials, so you just gotta find what works for you!

All in Two Diapers
These diapers are just the diaper cover or shell, and you can choose the insert you want to put in there. This is what I use the majority of the time. Some All in two's have buttons to snap an insert in, and some have flaps to tuck the insert in underneath. Lots of people use prefolds in these types of diapers.. Prefolds can be folded into a tri-fold, and some people choose to use the prefold all around their baby, pin the diaper together, and put a cover over the diaper.

Photo credits: Me and "A Beautiful mess" App Get it here! 

Hybrid diapers
This type of diaper combines cloth diapers with disposables. The diaper cover is cloth.. but instead of using a prefold or other type of inserts, you use an insert that resembles a disposable diaper. You pop that sucker in, wait for you Little one to peepee and then toss that thing when its soiled.

Swim diapers
These are used for...you guessed it.. swimming. these are basically just covers because there is no real need for an absorbent insert when swimming. This diaper is just used for poop. Its literally just a poop catcher. You can easily just use a diaper cover or shell for this. No big deal!

Trainers
These are used when your little is ready to start learning to use the potty. Most of the time its a diaper cover and insert that can be interchangeable. These have tabs on the sides that allow the child to pull the diaper on and off easily, to encourage going to the bathroom. They are a little more expensive, but you wont need as many of these, because hopefully they will be using the potty soon! And hopefully you will be buying real undies for your little toddler.

You can see that this is like a shell, and you just stick an insert on top and you're all set to train your kiddo to use the potty. (this is Jules, from BG. Drool!!)

There are a LOT of different types of cloth diaper styles and brands, these are just the most popular. There are diapers that WAHM's (work at home mom) make, but often times they are pricey and kind of hard to find. I just stick to what I know, and what I can find at decent prices. 

Cleaning diapers

If you buy used (which lots of people do. I do. Dong judge), you are going to want to strip the diapers when you purchase them. I would recommend that you have multiple diapers before you do a strip. It saves water and cleaning supplies that way! It's pretty simple. I got these wonderful directions from the Fluff Love university page. 

These were screen shots on my phone. Sorry for the poor quality! Whoops! 

FYI: Lots of people buy used diapers. I know, I know, people think its nasty. BUT, if you clean them the right way, there is nothing bad about it. And there are TONS of groups on Facebook where mamas sell their pre-loved cloth diapers. Normally they are at a discounted price. You know, unless it is a hard to find print. Then all bets are off. People jack up the prices of those diapers! Some of those mama's are ruthless! 

And in case if you were wondering if "stripping" works. this is a picture of the tub water after I stripped hubby's work uniforms that he wears every day to work. He washes them every week, but clothes don't always get as clean as you think! Yuck! 

So there you have it. That's my version of the cloth diaper break-down. Its not perfect by any means, and I probably forgot some things, but I can always go back and revise! Happy fluffy butts, everyone!