My due date is still months away, but already I wonder how Minion #3 will be in the sleep dept. Will he/she be like Noah… who quite frankly was a royal pain when it came to naps and bedtime, or will he/she take after Abby. She was so much easier to put to bed and unlike her brother, almost always woke up with a smile (and she’s still that way today).

The One to One Network recently sent me Dr Harvey Karp, M.D.’s most recent book The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep to review. I was happy to see that it not only covered tips on how to get newborns and infants to sleep well, but he also had some great tips for children up to age 5… perfect for my two right now!!  These were the chapters that I concentrated on most right now, but after having read those, I will be sure to read the others as well before the Minion is born.

What I liked about the book is that it not only described what to do, but also why it should be done. The book debunked some common myths that parents may or may not believe… that it’s normal for toddlers to sleep alone, or that toddlers sleep through the whole night (both myths btw). It also went into detail about just how much sleep a toddler and preschooler need at different ages and what to do when special situations arise at both nap and bed time.

Overall, I found The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep very insightful and useful. I think that it would be a very good book for first time parents to have to help set good sleep habits for their child right from the beginning.

Fine Print

{The review above has been sponsored by One to One Network and The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep. While I received a sample of the product mentioned above, I was not monetarily compensated and the review is written based on my honest opinion. This post does contain affiliate links to the Ozonator. Please click on the link to see my full disclosure policy.}

It’s official… the first trimester is behind me and we’re moving on through the second trimester, one day at a time. Ray and I got to have another little look at Minion #3 a few weeks ago… we got to bring home a few more photos of the little one… some in 2D and even a few in 3D… and let me tell you that the 3D ones were pictures that only a mother could love!!! ha!! The baby did like being seen in 3D and kept moving and moving, which made it hard for the tech to get a good shot.

We did get a few good 2D photos though and used them to tell the kids the big news.

And the kids are soo excited!! They are constantly coming up, lifting my shirt and kissing the belly baby. Both were also very concerned about how and when the baby will come out… and now that Abby knows, she makes sure to remind me about it at least once a day.

Thankfully, the end of the first trimester also brought about an end to most of my nausea. I’m also happy to be getting most of my energy back… there are still days here and there were I really and truly need a nap (who knew that growing a kid would make you soooo very tired?!?!). Having my energy back also means that I’ve been able to start getting back into my old (and very neglected) cleaning routine. I’ve spent the last two weeks of naptimes getting caught up with the house and while it’s not perfect, it’s much better than it was. Next week I tackle my sewing area, which has become a dumping spot for anything and everything that needs a home. I’m hoping that by Tuesday or Wednesday, I can start sewing again… and that makes me very excited!

So I’m rambling… I feel like I’ve really been neglecting this blog… I know that I’ve said that once or twice over the past few months. I know that I will definitely be writing again within the next week or so, since I have a book review to post…. so yay!!! I won’t make any promises that I will be writing more often… right now I’m just trying to get back into a routine… the kids, cleaning, sewing, writing, rest… I’m taking it one day at a time and trying to add back a little more when I can.

So until the next time… I wish you a happy sunny days!!

The past eleven weeks have thankfully been fairly uneventful… beside the whole constant, all day nausea and exhaustion thing. While the nausea is wearing off a little, the exhaustion isn’t, and most days I’m napping right along with the kids for an hour or two in the middle of the afternoon. I’m so very happy that both of them still take naps!! I know that it’s a rare thing and I feel truly blessed by it, because right now, I need my sleep as much as (if not more than) the kids do.

We’re almost out of the first trimester and I’m anxiously awaiting next week’s appointment. I’m sure everything will be okay, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous, considering the news we received last year at that appointment. All signs point to healthy pregnancy though, so I’m trying to keep that in mind and just look forward to hearing and seeing our newest little minion again in a week.

Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about worrying too much… the kids have been keeping me busy and distracted from any negative thoughts that may want to find their way into my brain. We have had more snow in the past few weeks than we had all winter long… and while at first it was a white winter wonderland for them (and may have confused Abby, who thought that it was Christmas again!), by last week they were so sick of the white stuff that they didn’t even really care that it was snowing again… that didn’t stop me from taking them out into it though! This mama is sick of being stuck inside!!

Abby turned three earlier last week… I still can’t believe it. I remember that day so clearly… she was such a little peanut. Our 6 lb 19 inch little girl has grown into a big, little girl who now weighs 33lbs and measures in at 38.5 inches. She is in the 75th and 80th percentiles for her age. No-one would guess that she was 4 1/2 weeks early!! She had her check up today. She did so well and was so happy to not get a pokey (shot). She’s also very, very excited to be going to preschool in September… and names due to mention it at least once a day! =)

That’s all the news I have for today… I’m sure I forgot something… I tend to do that a lot these days. ;)  I’m hoping that within the next few weeks my energy will return (there’s not much hope left for my brain). I haven’t been getting much of anything done these past few weeks (months), and would like to start getting back into the old routine (and a cleaner and more organized house) again.

I hope you all are well!!

It turns out though that the only thing that I’ve been keeping up with so far (and even there I have skipped a week or two) is the new recipes… everything else has been shoved off onto the back burner.

I must say though that while I may not have been cranking out a new project every week to write about and show of on the blog, I have been busy creating something new.. with some help from Ray. ;)

God willing, sometime this September, Abby will become a big sister and Noah an even bigger brother.  We’ve decided to hold off on telling them just yet.. we’ll wait a few more weeks and probably tell them once I start showing. Right now they just know that mommy’s tummy is causing her problems. ;)

This pregnancy feels so different from the one last year… and though there are similarities to both of my pregnancies with Noah and Abby, all of my symptoms are so much more pronounced this time.

I’d be lying if I were to tell you that the past few weeks haven’t been nerve wracking. I’ve been both excited and nervous about today’s appointment. It felt so good to see our newest little minion and a healthy heartbeat on the screen this morning. We’ve got a little over three weeks left in this first trimester and while I am looking forward to enjoying every minute of this journey, I will be happy when the first 12 weeks have passed and I can breath a little easier.

So that’s what’s been happening here =)

I find it even harder not to censor myself, since I don’t write anonymously… some friends and most of my family are aware of my space here and receive updates in one way or another. Because of that, and maybe also because I am an introvert, I tend to shut down whenever it gets too hard for me to open up, when I really just want to get my feelings out there.

Now, I’m not saying that I’ve never opened up and have never written about my feelings on here… I have… but it isn’t always easy… and more often than not, I don’t write about the subject completely enough to have gotten everything off of my chest.

This year is all about growth though… and if that  means that I need to open myself up a little more, then so be it. I’ve been blogging for about 4 1/2 years now. You’d think that after such a long time, I’d feel more comfortable in the little space that we’ve made here… that I would have gotten over my insecurities and wouldn’t feel the need to hold back, and that well… good or bad, I would be able to write about whatever was on my mind at any given time.

In reality it’s not quite like that though, now is it? In fact, last year was pretty bad, and I feel like I barely wrote about anything at all.

For me, 2012 began much in the same way that 2011 ended… like a big pile of garbage… and I’m not just saying that because of the miscarriage. My relationship with certain people in my family had been at an all time low for months… and well, between that and our pregnancy ending, it was just too much.

I have kept a journal of some kind or another for as long as I can remember. The problem though is that over the past few years, my little online space has replaced any paper journals that I may have otherwise used. I knew deep in my heart that I needed to release my feelings somehow, but I also knew that this was not the right place to do so… and so I  held myself back and didn’t write, neither here nor in a “real journal”.

Over months, the feelings that I had inside of me grew and festered… and I didn’t get better. Try as I might to put on a happy face, that feeling inside of me didn’t go away and I could tell that I was getting depressed. It kept going like that until I realized that it had to stop and it was up to me to stop it. I not only had to change the way that I felt, but I also had to change the way that I let others make me feel.

Sometimes you just have to come to a decision as to how you are going to deal with similar situations in the future, wipe the mental slate clean, and just move forward. It’s not easy… it’s not easy at all. But that is exactly what I did.

I’ll be completely honest here and say that the world still isn’t all sunshine and roses, but at least my outlook and how I let it affect me has changed… it’s the little steps that count. =)

This year is all about the little steps and the growth that will come from them. I am in a better place now… and though there are still days where it seems the world is a little darker than it was the day before, I’m not going to let myself get sucked in again. I’m also not going to look for reasons to not write anymore… whether I am happy or sad, have photos to go with the post or not {that’s also a reason why I haven’t been writing as much… I felt the need to have a good photo with each and every post… and well, I don’t always have one}, if I find myself needing to get the words out, I will. That doesn’t mean that I will be writing with an “everything {and every topic} is fair game” attitude… but you will probably be reading more about me and how  I am… not just about the kids, my latest project, or how Noby Designs is doing.

I love blogging… I love writing… and I look forward to bring that back here.

While I haven’t been on here very regularly, I have been on both Instagram and Facebook posting photos and updates about us. I thought that I would share those with you on the blog as well.

Ray’s mom came to visit one day earlier this month and brought with her all of his old View-Master  reels from when he was younger. The kids had a blast looking through them!!

I used up the last of my business cards last month and had to get some new ones… I love seeing them!!

One of the books I’ve been reading lately… this year is all about growing after all. =)

Our first craft for the year… the kids and I made soap! The had a lot of fun making it, but even more fun using  it afterward.

Cold weather fun… food coloring, shaving cream, paint brushes and two naked kids in the bathtub = two hours of entertainment.

Noah wanted a photo of the two of us… I think he was stalling at nap time, but I went with it! =)

Testing out some new products! I’m looking forward to adding these to the shop soon.

It was cold last week… bitter cold… this was at 9 am, and it was actually “warm” compared to the day before!

Cold weather calls for some crockpot Chili… last week’s recipe. It was sooo very good and I can’t wait to make it again.

Noah asked to have Chinese food one night… we ended up getting Thai instead. He LOVED the Pad Thai and had fun winding the noodles onto his fork and then slurping them off again.

The kids were very quiet one night while playing in the playroom… when Noah came downstairs, we found out why! They had been “painting” their faces with their dry erase markers!! Thankfully it washed right off with a little water. =)

Last week’s craft… Noah and Abby wanted a puppet theater, so I sewed them one during nap time. It was fairly easy to put together and the kids love it!

I downloaded the Incredible Business and Incredible Life workbooks from Leonie Dawson a few weeks ago… she’s so inspirational and it felt really good to work on these.

Noah really loves his blocks… it doesn’t matter if it’s Lego or these Trio blocks. His imagination is so great! This was one of his latest inventions… a bat-cycle with sidecar.

That’s a little bit from the past few weeks in photo form… naturally there was much more happening… like a quick last minute trip to Pennsylvania to visit family. I’d love to chat more, but the kids just woke up… and I have a no computer rule for myself while they’re awake… so I’ll say goodbye for now! =)

*this post contains affiliate links

Preschool has started up again, and life is getting back into it’s normal routine. I never thought that I would say this, but it feels good to get back into a routine… I think Abby is enjoying having her mama all to herself for a few hours a week again too {and to be completely honest, I missed my alone time with her too}. =) Three out of the four of us have been sick since before New Years, and I’m happy to say that most of us are feeling better… though Abby is still fighting it and tells me multiple times daily that *sniff* “my dose is duffy” *sniff*.

I’ve spent some time thinking about what I would like this year to be like, and have set a few goals… not really big on the whole resolutions. It just sounds so negative to me… like you are fixing  something that’s broken… but goals, those are things you work toward… and so I’ll stick with that word {even if it is all the same}.

I wrote before that my word for the year is GROW… as a wife, mother, and person.  

For weeks, I’ve been thinking about which goals I would like to strive for this year… and while my list isn’t completely finished yet, I do feel good about it so far. They say that it’s good to write down your goals…  it makes them real… and while I’ve got most of them written in an app on my tablet, I do plan on having a paper version of them too… downstairs in my little part of the dungeon basement {otherwise known as my “studio”}. I want to hold myself accountable… at the end of the year, I want to look back and be able to say “I did that”… and so to make myself even more accountable, I’m also listing a few of my personal goals on here! Aren’t you excited?!?! {I know… totally unoriginal… and something you’ve probably seen a lot of these past few days on other blogs, but bear with}

• make a new (to me) recipe once a week… that means 52 new recipes that I have tried, which I may or may not be sharing with you here on the blog
• make (at least) 1 new craft a week… the first one starts tomorrow… the kids and I will be making soap!!
• in keeping with the crafts, I would like to expand my knitting knowledge and learn to knit cables and lace this year
• sew clothing – 1 item a month, either for me or one of the kids
• put some art on our downstairs walls – our bare walls just look so very, very sad and it’s time to change that!
• teach the kids German – this one may be tricky, while I can definitely speak German to the kids, it’s so easy to fall back into speaking English…
• do a juice fast… not sure yet how long I would like to do that for, at least 3 days, possibly a week. I’m juicing about once a day right now, but would love to go hard core and see what changes take place.
• live a more purposeful and intentional life

So there you have it, a few personal goals… of course I have more goals that deal with Noby Design’s and this little blog, but I don’t want to bore you with all of the details. I’m looking forward to crossing off two of my “weekly” goals tomorrow… we’ll see how it all goes!

I’d love to hear from you! Do you set resolutions or goals for the new year, or is that just a bunch of nonsense to you?

Happy New Year!!

It’s 2013! According to some, it’s the year that wasn’t supposed to happen… yeah, I didn’t really fall for that either. Ray and I celebrated New Year’s eve here at home… both of us sick with whatever cold is going around right now… fun! Thankfully {if there ever really is a thankfully to having a cold}, our family wasn’t hit with this bug until after Christmas was over. Unfortunately though, it’s now making it’s way through everyone in the house… and so far Noah is the only one who hasn’t really gotten it.

So, it’s a new year, and that means good intentions and new resolutions. I for one have a pretty long list of things that I would like to change and/or work toward. I’ve also decided to pick a word for this year… GROW.  While last year had many good and memorable moments, it was a rough year for me personally.  2012 started out on such a high note and then within a matter of days, that little bubble of happiness was shattered. I want this year to be different… I need this year to be different.

I thought long and hard about which word I would choose, if I were to do a word of the year. The word grow jumped at me out of nowhere, and immediately I knew that it was the word. I want {and I feel I need} to grow as a person, a wife, a mother, a cook, a homemaker, etc, etc, etc… I need me grow into the me that I know is hiding in there somewhere. I need to grow to get over my fears… the fears that have been holding me back from doing the things that I know I can do. I need to stop thinking and planning, and just start doing. That step right there is so very hard for me… what  if I fail? What if it’s not good enough? The list of what if’s runs a mile long in my head… a never ending inner monologue of possibilities – both good and bad. But… but, if I never try, if I always wait for the right moment to happen, then I will never take that step  and I’ll always wonder… and so this year, I will grow… I will learn to step out of my shadow and take those chances… for me, for my family, for our life.

This year will be a good year… it is a year full of new possibilities… of changes just waiting to happen. I’m ready, are you?

So much violence… so many innocent lives lost… it is a parent’s worst nightmare.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families involved in the terrible tragedy in Connecticut.