What I Spent Most of My Time and Energy on Today:

I love how the doorframe on the lower right hand side of this picture

makes the picture appear crooked - who knew you could even DO that?

Yes, I have been threatening to do this for over a month and the time finally came today:

I set up the crib.
(If you recall, Aftyn made some adjustments to her bed, here, and so I got to do some sanding and priming and painting before the crib was ready. I did that all last weekend.)

I know, I still have 3 1/2 months left. But I thought it might be a good idea to do this early so:

1.We could get used to how little space there will eventually be
2. Aftyn could get used to the idea that someone is coming to sleep in that crib
3. I would have the energy to organize the closet, set up the crib, get pictures re-arranged,
move the dresser, and all of the other fun things that were accomplished today.

Here is Aftyn's side of the room!

I love how this little arrangement came together - in case you can't tell, that picture of me is from when I was pregnant, 31 weeks to be exact, with Aftyn.

And that super cute needlepoint? My amazing niece who I still haven't thanked - so amazing niece, thank you! We love it! And tell your mom we love hers too, it's hanging in my hallway and I just keep forgetting to write the thank-you card!

So, the room is ready and waiting.

We just have to help it to stay organized and clean, with no help at all from a certain little girl who lives in there. She shall remain nameless.

*In case anyone was wondering, I didn't forget my bananas this week at the store. In fact, I think I bought double the amount because of last week's turn of events.*

Life's A Potty Dance You Learn as You Go

It is time to update you all on our little Aftyn.

She has definitely emerged into that trying time where she is trying to claim her independence, also known as the terrible two's.

Which coincides with the fact that she won't be the only child ruling the roost in our house for long - but I don't think we've even started dealing with those feelings yet from her.

So far, she loves to pat the baby bump and kiss it and sometimes even give it hugs. If we ask her what her little sister is doing, she tells us she is "sleeping".

Sometimes she'll even tell the bump "night night" as if she were putting it to bed. :)

On the potty front, we're calling her "done"! She still wears a pull up at night and during naptime, but the naptime one isn't necessary and will probably be going bye bye soon so she will be held accountable for staying dry and then we'll get to work on the night time one too. She continues to do really well and we're grateful to only have one in diapers when our next little girl emerges.

Aftyn still loves to have fun and loves having her friends come over to play with her. She loves dancing, and loves when I sing new songs to her. She is big on repeating the last word we just said, and still surprises me with words she will tell me on her own. She is a smart girl.

We sure love Aftyn and can't wait for her sister to arrive so that Aftyn can see how much fun it's going to be to have someone at home to play with, eventually. We're grateful for the blessing we have of children in our family.

I've Lost My Bananas

This past Friday night, I went grocery shopping all by myself.

I had my list and even remembered to bring a calculator so I could keep better track of how much I spent as I went along.

First stop: produce.

I got my tomatoes, my bell pepper, and then stopped to pick out some bananas.

I bagged them and even weighed them on the produce scale so I could be more accurate with their cost.

That's where it starts to get a little fuzzy.

I THINK I remember putting them back in my basket at that point.

What I do know is I paid for my groceries and went home, put my groceries away, and moved on with my life.

But by Sunday morning, I realized we had no bananas in the house.

Where did my bananas go?

I have this horrible idea that I possibly forgot to take them off the scale, and just left them hanging there.

Poor abanadoned bananas.

What We've Been Up To Today

A Modern Day Parable

We've had a perplexing problem this past week.

See that cute puppy in the crook of Aftyn's arm?

Well, Aftyn likes to sleep with him and a couple of other stuffed animals affectionately named bunny and bear. Creative, huh?

Well, puppy went missing about 2 days ago.
Every time we laid Aftyn down for a nap or for bedtime, she would ask, "puppy?".

The first night, I just told her that puppy must be hiding, after doing a quick scan of her room and the front room.

Aftyn seemed to accept this answer with no problem, and went to sleep cuddling with bunny and bear.

The next day, same question about puppy.

Same answer from me, but this time Aftyn kind of smiled. Smiled!

I wondered what was going on in that little mind of hers but just dismissed it and was grateful she was fine sleeping without him.

I looked for puppy both days, but still couldn't find him.

It didn't even dawn on me until Saturday night why Aftyn smiled and accepted puppy as "hiding".

Reed came and told me when he put Aftyn to bed that she asked about puppy again, but this time told HIM puppy was hiding, and then she smiled at Reed and said, "boo!".

She thought puppy hiding was funny because she thought it was a game.

I've been thinking about that all day long, mostly because we finally found puppy again, just like Aftyn knew we would.

It finally just dawned on me in the last hour what we can all learn from this situation.

It's all about perspective.

If we have faith that the situation we're in will turn out okay and we choose to stay

happy, well, I think I've learned it's all the better for us and for those around us.

It helps us all to feel a whole lot happier.

What did YOU learn from Aftyn's parable?

Mommy Got Bored/ Aftyn's Crazy Hair

More Sewing Projects, Consider Yourself Warned!

Part of a jumper size 12 months that I took apart. I found the skirt part of
the jumper in my sewing fabric and decided it would make a great spring-y skirt for Aftyn!

My version of a newborn size skirt that matches Aftyn's

Sewing has been a very therapeutic thing for me the last few months.

I am grateful for my mom who gave me my sewing machine,

who helped me do my first sewing project years and years ago.

Sewing has literally become my outlet for stress which is why you might have seen and may

continue to see a whole lot of sewing projects on this blog.

Please don't see it as a brag-festof any sort,

instead understand that I like to put these projects

out there to show that I was able to overcome whatever I might have been struggling with, I

conquered my stress along with the fabric, the thread and any things that might have stood in

the way of me completing what I wanted to make.

It is a personal victory of sorts for me to sew all these things!

And I want to celebrate my victories with all of you so FEEL SPECIAL! :)

And thanks for celebrating my victories with me.

Blogger is being dumb. That's why this post won't let me arrange the lines the way I want to. Sorry it looks weird.