Day 4,5,6...??

Ha! I have gotten sooo behind in my Days of changing... :-) BUT I have been doing stuff! Like on Day 4, I organized our entire room! Isn't that awesome?! It looked horrible and Ash walked in after work completely amazed! It's amazing what an organized room will do for you and your mood.  I feel like I am able to breath again and relax in our room.  So yay! Today I will be organizing the kid's closets... this will be a big one! I am wanting to organize their toys and put away half the toys.  I rotate toys so it's time for a new rotation!

I have also decided to NOT get on the computer while the kids are awake any more.  It takes away from my time with them.  As it is, I often feel like I am overwhelmed and have WAY too much to do in such LITTLE time.  So I need to take control of that! If I feel so overwhelmed, how is it that I find 10 minutes during breakfast to check FB? I need to take that 10 minutes and talk to my kids or clean the kitchen.  So no more computer while they are awake.  This will be a very hard but very important change! (That was for Day 5)

Then today I have decided to focus more on Jesus and his Birth this Christmas season.  We took Cy to see Santa and while we had a BLAST and we will continue to do that, I started thinking to myself last night: its sooo easy to get excited about Santa because we SEE him, we FEEL him, we HEAR him.  But then when I talk to Cy about Jesus and how Jesus' birthday is in 2 weeks, he doesn't get excited.  I do that to him.  I get him so excited to talk to Santa that when it's time to talk to the ONE person who was sent to this earth to take away my SIN, we can't SEE him, we can't physically FEEL him or HEAR him... it's all faith-based.  And I need to share and teach Cy that FAITH is even more important than the things we CAN see, hear, and feel.  Next year we will be doing the Christmas Angel - I will explain more later.  But I want to get out of Santa World and into Jesus' Birth because that is truly what the Christmas Day is ALL about! Though I will still have a blast with everything else ;-) Just more focus towards the true reason that Christians celebrate Christmas Day!  More to come about how I am getting Cy excited about Jesus' Birthday! :-)

Happy Monday everyone!

To finish out real quick -I feel pressed to say a few things.  Friends hurt us.  Friends stab us.  Some friends forget us, some friends always want want want but never give.  I am hurt at times towards my friends and this year I have learned sooooo much about friendship and the meaning of a true friend.  But while it is so easy to point fingers at those who have hurt me this year, I would love to take this moment to address those that I have hurt this year. If I have ignored you, if I have always taken taken taken without giving, if I have hurt you in any way - I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, so so so so so sorry! Truly! I genuinely want and TRY to be the best friend that I can be and just the thought of me hurting ANYONE just kills me.  So if I have hurt you, please know it is NOT intentional and I hope that you will let me know so I can fix that.  I want to only show love and kindness to my friends. 

Day 3 of 20-something Days

So yesterday was Day 3.  For yesterday, I cleaned the frig! WHOO! And to complete it - I kept all my sandwich condiments on one shelf (on the door), I put all fruits and veggies on one shelf (If you prepare your veggies and fruits (the ones you can) ahead of time - you will be more likely to eat them! And if you put them on the top shelf, you will be more likely to USE them :-), then I put all my breakfast/protein items on one shelf.  Protein is a very very important part of one's diet so I make sure each meal has protein!!

A little more on the veggies - if you cut up your carrots and wash/ready your grapes - put them in containers with lids.  You will find yourself reaching for them a lot more when you are in a hurry mid-week than reaching for the quick un-healthy cracker-ish type snack!

That was for day 3.  Don't judge the rest of my house though! I am reminded WHY I do not do these extra jobs around the house that take an hour or 2.  Because then I get behind on ALL my other duties.  BUT do not despair - I will be catching up on those right. NOW! :-) And I have a nice, white, CLEAN frig too.  Even with the 4 loads of laundry on my couch last night - I felt very accomplished, knowing that I knocked out a much needed task!

What are you doing today that has been needing to be tackled for quite some time??

Day 2 of 20-something Days

Ok so one thing I want to start getting back to is doing more projects with Cy and spending more time at home with the kids... and FOR the kids. 

Sleep is so so so important for toddlers and baby and often times I get very upset because I see parents not being respectful of their kid's needs.  When you had kids, you SHOULD have made a commitment that their needs come before your wants.  Staying out late or making the kid get less than 10-12 hours of sleep (each kid is different) a night is NOT fair to the kid.  Being out all day so the kid doesn't nap day in and day out is NOT fair to the kid.  Kids are to get 1-3 hours of nap in a day up until the age of about 2 or 3.  Some even go until 4.  I will talk a lot more about sleep later.  The reason I bring it up is because sleep affects soooo much of a child and is soooo important so I have decided to start staying home more.  Lulu is a very sensitive sleeper and will wake up at a drop of a dime.  Which is funny because I always thought you could train babies to be heavy sleepers - nope! Not this one! I have TRIED... she does NOT sleep if there is noise around.  5 months in and I am accepting her unique sleep needs and giving in! We will be staying on a strict napping schedule for her because her naps are sooo important for her growth and development. 

Ok the other thing is activities - I found this one amazing activity on pintrest - so fun! We took baking soda and dumped in a pan

Walrus HAD to help and yes, Cy still has a paci - that is one battle I am ignoring for now

Then I got vinegar and mixed food coloring in each container.  We started making mini volcanoes or BUBBLES!!!

We also talked about the colors and what happened if we dropped the red onto a green section - we watched as it changed colors.  Cy loved that the most!

We ended up dumping all 3 colors in and watching the bubbles

This was by far the coolest, most easy activity that we have ever done! In fact, he loved it so much, I rinsed out the pan and we did it again just seconds later :-) Also, I used expired, old baking soda - which is a great way to recycle and not just throw it out :-) This is seriously a MUST try for all mama's out there! Clean up was easy, what kid doesn't love bubbles, and this seriously kept Cy entertained for an entire 10 minutes - WOW!!!!

5 Months

My sweet princess is 5 months old today.  I would like to say "that went by so fast" or "how is it already 5 months" ha - but to be honest - it feels like it's been 7 months.  At least this month it has.  That's what long days, hard toddlers, fussy babies, virtually no time out of the house without the kids, and a house to care for does to ya! ;-) But I am so proud of my sweet baby girl! She is so precious and I am so thankful everyday to have been blessed with her.  Today was an uneventful day.  Tomorrow - we start her on solids! So be watching for that post! ;-)

Lulu, at 5 months you are:
- In 9 month clothing but you are not growing any more.  Cy was already in 12 month clothing by this time... so I can tell that you have slowed down a lot in the growing - which I am happy about! :-) I can throw you in the air, you are still in your carry car seat (Cy had to taken out at 5 months b/c he was too heavy lol)
- You smile ALLLL the time.  I have never seen such a happy baby!
- You love daddy and when he is in the room, you stare at him until he looks at you.  Then you give him the BIGGEST smile! It is heart-warming! You have daddy wrapped around you finger - he is soooo in love with you! Everyone says it too - they can tell that he's a daddy's girl!
- Your hair is turning a lighter black but still looks blackish brown, it is getting so long!! Love it! Though you are bald underneath the hair - no one can see it, so it's all good!
- You still wake through the night - I am so exhausted at this point, I haven't found the strength to sleep train you and still think your reflux is bothering you.  So for now, we will continue with the waking.  I am trying to enjoy it - for I know soon enough, you will be sleeping through the night and I will be missing my Lulu cuddles
- Big brother is starting to warm up to you a LOT more this month! You are interacting with him and LOVE laughing at him when he is running through the house or talking to you - so he is loving that and starting to care more about lil sisa.
- You are still eating every 2-3 hours due to the fact that if I feed you any longer than that, you will spit it all up because it's too much for you and then proceed to scream for 30 minutes.
- You love love love to talk! Tonight daddy said: "Lulu, we already have one talker in the house... we don't need another" to which mama said: "Yeah, Cy does talk a lot, huh?" and he said: "I wasn't talking about Cy, I was talking about her mama!" HA! I guess the apple won't fall far from the tree in that area ;-)

We love you so much Lulu - you are the sweetest baby girl in the world! I could NOT have asked for a sweeter baby.  I wish your reflux would GO AWAY so I could have a cuddly baby but I know soon enough it will be gone and I will get to cuddle more with you :-)

Day 1 - Organize & Utilize

So a little clarification - as I was reading the comments off my FB wall, I noticed that some were telling me "You are doing great Sariah"... I felt like my last post might have been read in a negative light...? Well, let me explain for a bit.

You know that corner in your room with all the clutter? The one you say "I'll get to that next week"... it's now been 120 weeks and still it's there? Or the Laundry Room that has a basket of mis-matched clothes or clothes that need hemmed or clothes that you don't know what to do with because they aren't quite fitting you right now but you don't know if you should get rid of them just yet... so they are in a hamper instead? :-) Well, I have a bunch of tiny projects all over the house but either exhaustion, kids, business, or laziness (there, i said it - I can be lazy!) gets in the way and they never get done! SO for the next 20-some days, I promised myself to be better, to work harder at my life and to get things DONE before the new year :-)

Today I focused on Cy's stuffed animals.  Since he was a baby (22 months ago) - I wanted to put up a net on his wall.  Well, I couldn't find one at Target, Wal-mart or Toys'R'Us (It totally could be user error and they actually DO sell them) but I couldn't find them! So, this morning I started thinking about how to fix it.  OH! Take a sheet, fold it, and nail it up.  No... sheet is too big.  A pillow case? No the pillow case is too small. 

But what If I cut the pillow case? This is an old pillow case and I'm all about recycling what I can and using them in other ways.  I still don't do well with it but it's something I want to be better at.  We just throw away SOOO much trash in the country - it's ridiculous!

I cut it down just one side, and it was ready to go!

I nailed it up on the wall.  The Back of the pillow case to the back of the wall and the 2 flaps were nailed up front.

We threw the stuffed animals in (yes, I threw them from across the room because I wanted to make sure it would hold) and we are good to go! I love this! It was free, or cheap for those who don't have extra pillowcases and I can do so much with the pillowcase now! I can tie-dye it, dye it to match Cy's room, I can cricut (Is that how you spell it?) the letters of his name and iron them on, I can do so much with that plain pillowcase to make it "Cy" and match his room! But for now... I'm just proud of have finally found a home for all those annoying animals that take up SO much space! ;-)


The other thing I focused on today was Cy and letting him help.  He needs to start learning how to do chores and helping around the house.  I really want to teach him to be clean and respectful of his things.  So we washed dishes together.  It was a blast... and my kitchen floor got a real good moppin'! Now if you do not have patience, I do NOT suggest washing dishes for you.  It was very hard for me to keep my smile on while he dumped water on the floor and got himself soaking wet or how he constantly put the clean dishes back into the soap water.  But he had a blast and then went around the house looking for more dishes to clean :-D See? He's already wanting to help clean up! LOVE IT! I'm sure after nap he'll have forgotten all about it but for now... I'll enjoy Mr. Super Clean Cy!

Happy Monday to all my dear friends! What are YOU going to accomplish today that has been waiting for you??

Next 20-some days

A lot is going through my mind.  Thoughts about friendships - what they mean... how you know when someone is a real friend... how to be a good friend... how to give to those who are in NEED (whether that be physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally giving).  Thoughts about housekeeping... what in my house needs to be cleaner, shinier, picked up more, what I can do without.  Thoughts about cooking... how to cook healthier, quicker, better... anxious about Lulu starting to eat solids soon and how I'm gonna juggle making her baby food on top of 2 kids.  Thoughts about mothering and the differences between the 2 kids... Lulu does not sleep AT ALL... Cy is being very very moody and "fun" right now... Sleep habits = happy kids, so trying to figure that all out... eating healthy, cutting out sugar... the list on being a better mom could go on and on and on! Thoughts about being a better wife... not complaining so much... giving more to DH... supporting DH more and loving him more.  See? Lots going on in my head.  So for the next 20-some days, I will be focusing on 1 area of my life that I am bettering.  And you lucky dogs get to read ALL about it :-) Aren't you EXCITED?! I know I am!!! It helps to blog so people can keep me accountable and I can keep myself accountable.  What do you want to better in the next 20-some days? Join in and let's get better together right before the New Year!

Lulu with her 1st baby doll! And yes, it does look like the baby doll has a bigger head than my baby - ha!

Rain drops on Roses & wiskers on kittens...

My friend Whitney took part in a Favorite things party blog - it was so fun reading through the favorite things, that I just HAD to join in!!! Who doesn't like finding amazing products that they never knew existed?! :-) So basically each year we have these White Elephant gifts.  I get soooo stressed picking out mine because I want it to be the best, but it never is (Thanks Michelle for bringing those cute little pig shakers.. made my lotion look like dirt compared to those things). See? I mean, no hard feelings... I just think all of us want our gift to be the best $2 gift EVER ... right? ;-) Well how about having a party where we all bring our favorite thing for each guest?! That's right! Invite 5-6 friends and we all bring our favorite thing for each friend.  We get to all get amazing gifts, it's fun and no one feels like their lotion was overlooked ;-)

SOOO here are my favorite things of this year:

My MOBY WRAP!!!! This thing has been a life-saver these last few months! Ignore my face of exhaustion ;-)

Caramel Brulee Latte From Starbucks!!! This has been so wonderful to me.... :-) Another amazing drink is Panera Hot Tea - the Peach one, that is AMAZING!! And has gotten me through some hard weeks of no sugar :-)

A must have all year long to keep a beautiful glow is Arbonne's Made in the Shade self-tanner! I used this ALL year long and LOVE it! I've used my bottle for over a year and still have some left - love love love!!! It doesn't turn me orange and doesn't streak either - perfect! Especially for those winter months when you become all pasty white ... yeah... this would do you WONDERS for those family photos ;-)

Ok so those are my top 3.  :-) At least the ones that I can think of and absolutely love right now! Would you like to have a Favorite Things party with me? Link up to this fun blog and share your favorite things!!!

By the way, I am totally having a Favorite Things party this December - sounds like a TON of fun and I could totally use some time with friends and a kid-less evening!!! ;-)