Today

Today is a gloomy day!  So how does a gloomy day become even better?

A bowl of Potato Soup!(recipe)

Warm fresh French Bread!(recipe)

Snuggles on the couch!

Nothing better(well it could be slightly better if hubby was home to snuggle with us)

Happy Birthday to me!

I had to give myself an early birthday present.  Well to be honest it really isn't a present.  I wanted to wake up on my birthday morning with no dishes in the sink, and no mess in the kitchen.  So tonight after the kiddos went to sleep I got my whole kitchen cleaned up and ready for the morning!

So excited to wake up to this in the morning!  Well good night all, see you tomorrow!

Rough Week

I'm just now able to post about this past week.  Needless to say it has been a rough week. Where do I start?

Monday-Athaiah had to get her shots.  Never fun, but I know it is a necessary evil and I actually hold myself together.  I forgot to mention the appointment was during nap time! Elijah completely melted because he was ready for his nap, it was pretty sad because he normally does so good.  I gave him a paci and a lulley and put him in the corner of the room, and told him to take a nap.  He didn't fall asleep but thankfully he stayed there the whole time and didn't even get up to come see why his sister was crying.  Athaiah was pretty good the rest of the day, thankfully. Night time was a whole other story...she was up every 30minutes just fussing.  She would put herself back to sleep, but consequently that meant I was up every 30 minutes.

Tuesday- One very tired mommy!  Elijah, who normally sleeps until 8, woke up at 7 which feels awful early when you have been up all night.  Athaiah was clingy all day and would not sleep by herself, so every nap was taken on mommy's chest(which I really didn't mind).  Athaiah, once again, was up most of the night fussing(and yes she was getting Tylenol).

Wednesday- BSF, so we get up bright and early.  Get lunch ready and pack us all up so we can be in Wichita by 9am.  We made it, I have no clue how, but we did.  So thankful for that!  It was nice to have a small break from the kiddos and get some much needed women and God time in!  We had to keep Elijah up when we came home because McKids was coming to see him at 2:30 and by the time we are done with lunch it is 1:00.  He made it but barely, he started throwing everything by the end of the visit because he was so tired.  He got to lay down about 3:30 just in time for me to get ready for work. (Oh yeah, I have worked every evening until between 11 and 12, which definitely didn't help the sleep issue at all).

Thursday-Athaiah up at 5:30am and Elijah up at 6:30am. (I worked until 12 last night)Both kids whining and grumpy all day.  They both felt like the needed to sit in mommy's lap all day.  Now we are on day 4 of little sleep for mommy, a lot of work for mommy, and nothing done around the house because the kids needed so much attention.  Which resulted in a stressed mommy! Normally I absolutely love cuddle time, but I will admit it was really wearing on me.  I couldn't give them the attention that they needed and it made me sad.  And the house looked like something blew up in it and that just made for a stressful environment. They were fighting their afternoon naps, so we spent 45minutes in the tub playing, so we could all be happy and relax a bit.  Then it was nap time!

Back to work I go, stressed and exhausted.  Work ended up being stressful and exhausting...now I just feel dead!  I had to remind my self all day that God was with me and would give me the strength that I needed to make it to the weekend.

Friday-  I have to get some much needed cleaning done as we have a friend coming into town tonight to spend the weekend with us.  I felt like super mom on Friday-the only day this week(well let's admit it probably ever).  I got the grocery shopping done, house cleaned top to bottom, lunch made and on the table for Greg, laundry done and mostly folded...AND took care of 2 semi crabby kids who needed a lot of attention.  But I got everything done just in time for me to head off to work. But at least this day I left for work feeling like I accomplished something instead of feeling like we were barely floating.  Our friend got in around 11pm that evening, and I was able to leave work at 10pm, so I got to chill a bit before the company came.

Saturday- MUCH BETTER!  Got to spend the day with my husband(well, part of the day).  We went to a car show in Salina.  To Target for some diapers, because I had some coupons, and then out to lunch at chili's! We came home and I was so tired and so were the kiddos, the 3 of us decided to take a 2 hr nap.  We woke up at 5, so I quick rushed to get dinner ready, because I had to be at work at 6pm.  But overall, a much better day and a much needed nap after such a long week.

I wouldn't have made it this week, without constant prayer asking for strength.  Looking back, I'm quite surprised we made it.  I'm exhausted today and the kids seem to be now, although neither one would take their afternoon nap today(of course).  They both went to be at 7:15 tonight, let's just hope I don't regret that come morning.  Well since the kiddos are asleep, I should probably head there myself just in case they are up with the sun!  Hope everyone else's week was better than mine.  Here's to hoping this week goes a bit better-or at least allows for a little more sleep at night.

Back on track...

It has been about 4 weeks since I have walked. Uggh.  I don't like that I haven't done it.  I was sick, then was getting ready for vacation, then on vacation, then unpacking and cleaning, and this week has been crazy busy and quite rough with the kiddos.

BUT today, as tired as I am, I made myself go for a 2 mile walk.  I only jogged a block and a half, and speed walked the rest.  That was honestly the best I could do today, as we have not been getting much sleep around here these days. It felt so good to get some fresh air, and Elijah was so excited to get to go on a stroller ride.  I'm so glad that we went and it feels so good to feel like we are finally back on track.

Good news is in that 4 weeks, I completely pigged out while we were home(such amazing cooks everywhere, you just can't turn the food down), and I am back down to pre-baby weight.  Now this is big people, but not as big as pre-baby shape.  I'm still working on that one.  I need to find some good ab exercises to add to my daily routine to get rid of the flab there.  But I'm so happy to at least be back where I started.  If I lose more I will not complain, but I'm not looking to loose weight, I'm looking to be healthy.  I want to be able to be around to see my kids grow, and to be able to chase them.  Especially since my little man is starting to branch out on his own some!  I still really would like to sign myself up for a 5k, we shall see what happens.  I feel like it would give me something to work towards.

Well this house needs some serious cleaning so I'm off.  Just wanted to check in for a bit!

Vacation Part 4

The last part of our vacation was spent with Greg's side of the family.  We got to go to a family reunion and meet the kids 3 Great, great, great Aunts!! Talk about cool.  Elijah made sure to shower them with lots of hugs n kisses.  We also had fun just hanging out around the house. It was overall such a good vacation and a much needed break and time with my husband.

 5 Generations!

 With Great Grandma and Grandpa Turley

 Bath time is fun to watch!

 Wrestle time with Uncle Matt!

With Meme and Grandpa!

 



Big Kids!

I do have one more vacation post, but I had to post on this today...more vacation tomorrow. 

Elijah and Athaiah just grow leaps and bounds everyday.  It never ceases to amaze me how fast things can change around here.

Elijah is WALKING, yep you read that right walking! He doesn't do it all the time, but he will just stand up and take off on his own.  This is so exciting for me, as his mommy, to finally see him gain the confidence to let go and take off.  It is so exciting to watch him toddle over to me all proud that he did it by himself.  And when he doesn't feel like going it alone, he always motions for me to take his hand and we get to walk around the house together.  I love that he wants me to help him, but yet is big enough to start branching out on his own. He has yet to have a fall and usually just stops, catches himself, and keeps going. What a strong young man he is starting to become.  What an answer to prayer that he is finally confident enough to step out on his own.  I love his cautious yet free spirit!


He is also teething at the moment.  He has 4 teeth left to come in and every other time he has been teething they all come in at the same time. We shall see how many teeth appear this time!  I must say he is the best teether ever, he doesn't ever whine or complain he just sleeps a bit more than usual.

Elijah is also recently mommy's big helper.  Now that he can get around a bit better, he loves to help me around the house.  If I tell him something needs to go into the garbage he proudly goes and puts it there.  If something needs to be put in the sink, he's the man.  If I need help wiping the table off, he loves anything that has to do with water-so sign him up!  I love that he is learning be a responsible part of the family at such a young age.

Athaiah, our pretty little lady!  She has grown so much recently not just in size but in everything she does.  She has found her feet, and we all know feet are a lot of fun once they are discovered.  She chomps on everything all the time, not sure if it is teeth or not as we have yet to see anything.  She is almost sitting by herself! What a strong girl she is, and she loves to stand(obviously with help).  She is also rolling over almost every time we put her down on the floor.  She will also scoot herself in a circle.  I'm afraid she will be moving well before her brother ever did, so we may have our hands full here shortly!!

We have just started putting her in the exersaucer for fun, and she loves it.  She will walk around the bottom to spin herself around so she can play with all the toys, and she really does play with all the toys.  She loves it, she just smiles and giggles the whole time.  Another bonus, Elijah loves to walk over to her and play with her and she just thinks he hung the moon, so the two of them together have a blast.  I can't wait for them to be able to chase each other around the house, I know they will have a lot of fun together.

Vacation Part 3

This next part of our vacation was spent with my dad and his side of the family.  It was so nice to get to see family again!  We really had a lot of fun with everyone and just hanging out!

 Elijah found a frog on the back patio!

 We got to spend time with Great Grandpa and Grandma Luurtsema!

Great Grandma ended up putting her to sleep right after this!

 Grandpa took Elijah swimming the first day and he loved it!

 

 The next day mommy took him swimming and he kept wanting to jump off the edge into the pool!

 Our sunbathing beauty!

Snuggle time with Grandpa!

 Auntie Natalie walking with the big boy! (don't you love the shirt-thanks dad!)

Sad to leave Grandpa and Grandma Luurtsema!

Thank you for such a wonderful time, we can't wait to see you all again!

Vacation Part 2

The next part of our vacation was waayy too short.  We got to go visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Arnold at the lake.  As a bonus we also got to see Great Uncle Mike!  Here are some pictures from there. 

Wish we could have spent more than just a few hours with them, but we were between places!

Vacation Part 1

Since we got to do so many things on our recent vacation, I will post them in parts.  That way we don't overwhelm you with a super long post-as they will probably all be long!

The first part of our trip consisted of going up north to the lake house.  This was to celebrate my Grandpa Loper's retirement and my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. It was also a family reunion as almost everyone from the family was there.

 The trampoline was a highlight for all the little kiddos(well and the big kiddos)

 Early morning on the lake, doesn't get much prettier than this!

 Elijah and Athaiah with their Great Grandma and Grandpa Loper 

The 88lb pig that we had for the party!

 Three little men!

 Auntie Lolo with Elijah

 Uncle Tyler with Elijah

 First jet ski ride!

 Grandma Kiki and Grandpa Dart enjoying the fire!

On the boat with Auntie Lissa!

We had such a good time, and they are just a few of the snapshots from the weekend up north.  But we really had a great time and a lot of memories to look back on and cherish!

Baby Knit Pants

I had some knit fabric left from when I made those knit skirts- for that tutorial go here, so I decided to make her some cute pants to go with the dress I made her.

I took a pair of her pants and folded them in half along the seam, so I could get the shape of the pants that I needed.  I cut this out adding a bit of extra for seam allowance.  Make sure when you cut it out that the width of the pants is on the stretchy side, so it will stretch up over the diaper buns! Oh yeah, fold it in half and lay your pants up against on side of the fabric, so you will have one whole leg at a time, so you only have to sew up one seam, it makes it much easier that way!

Next, I pinned the two pieces of fabric together, so they would make pants-do this with the right sides of the fabric together so the seams will be on the inside. Sew up that seam very carefully.  Now go down each of the legs and sew up those seams separately.  Now that you have the pants made,  Sew up the bottom of the legs, I did this using a zig zag stitch using 1/2" seam allowance. Which means I folded about 1/4" under and then sewed from there so they would have a nice looking edge.

Now for the waistband you can do one of two things.  You can add elastic to the top and just cut the elastic so that it is 2" smaller than what you need so it can stretch and fit snugly. Elastic waistbands are quite easy to do, just stretch the elastic as you go around the pants so that it will fit. When you do this fold over about 1/2" of fabric and place it in the fold so that it is held tight and not visible.  OR you can make a yoga style waistband, so you can fold it under.  Do whichever you please. If you go the above skirt pattern it will show you how to do a yoga waistband.  The only difference is that I only cut it 3.5" tall instead of 7" since it was for a baby girl!

 Just for fun I added those same flowers to the bottom sides of the pants.  They were cute plain, but why not dress them up if you can!

Casual Baby Dress

I don't have my camera so I will have a lot of posts without pictures and I apologize.  When I get it back I will try and take some pictures of them finished, but I know that doesn't help much with the process of making these things. So I'm truly sorry.

I made this using one of my old shirts that was stained! What a great way to re purpose it!

To make this I pulled out one of her dresses and set it on top of the shirt.  I cut it a bit skinner than the one I pulled out since it was a really fluffy one and I was looking for more of a T-shirt type of dress to wear with some knit pants(make sure you have seam allowance room). I cut out the basic pattern of the dress, but I didn't cut out sleeves.  I am going to make it a tank top.  Sew the side seams together(right sides of the fabric facing each other).  I used a 1/2" seam allowance. Now I didn't hem the bottom of the dress, because it followed the bottom of my shirt so there was already a seam there!  I did fold down the top about 1/4" and sewed that just to make it look a bit neater!

Next I cut out a long strip of fabric(I used this for a headband)

I then cut out two strips of fabric each about 3" long for the straps and about 1/2" wide.  This is for a little girl dress about 6 months old.  So if you are making it for a child bigger than that, adjust the strap size accordingly.  Sew the straps onto the top of the dress about 1.5" in, so there is room for the armpits! Make sure these are sewn on good.

Next I cut 2 small strips of fabric and made them into flowers to put on the beginning of the straps just to dress it up some! This is very easy to do with a hot glue gun. Just keep swirling the fabric around and fold down on occasion to give it some depth and you have a flower. I added them to the straps with hot glue, it has already been through the wash and they held up just fine.

You are done.  I will add, this was made using a knit shirt so there is plenty of stretch in it so I can simply pull it over her head without worrying about any buttons, snaps, or zippers.  So this makes it a quick and easy dress to make!