Cheesy Chicken Rice

So, I have this problem. I get stuck in a dinner rut quite often. I have started trying lots of new recipes to stay out of the rut, but then I just make those new recipes over and over and forget the old ones we loved. Pinterest has helped me keep a list of recipes we love, but there are those few that were passed down recipes that I can't pin. So I decided to start sharing them here and pinning them on Pinterest. 

I decided to start with my Cheesy Chicken Rice for my lovely sister in law who just asked for the recipe. This one is SUPER easy. 

What you need:

2 Cooked, Shredded Chicken Breasts
2 Boxes Chicken Rice-A-Roni (I use store brand pretty much everything)
1Can Mexi-corn (this will be around the corn in a smaller can...I always have to search for it a bit)
1/2 jar Cheez Whiz


What you do:

I cook the chicken breasts first. Cook the rice according to directions. While the rice is cooking, I let the chicken cool and shred it. Once the rice is done add the corn and let it cook for a couple minutes to heat up the corn. Add the chicken and the cheese. That's it! See super easy AND my kids LOVE it!

Blessings in Disguise

Sometimes I am amazed that the ways Heavenly Father blesses us. Things we see as adversities or inconveniences can shortly turn into an enormous blessing. Twice now, I feel, Heavenly Father has used problems with our van to bless in mysterious ways.


It's no secret that I'm not in love with our van. We bought it for two reasons. We needed something bigger for our soon to be family of four and we needed something with all wheel or four wheel drive. We were living in a place where snow was a certainty and plowing was not. We knew there would be times we would have to drive in snow and our car was not going to handle it. We tried so many different cars, but with Matt being so tall and car seats being so big the van was the only way to go.


That winter I loved the van. I felt safe. That winter was especially bad so there were times we definitely needed what the van had to offer. After winter, I hated and still hate the thing. I started noticing all the little things that were wrong with it. I feel like I'm driving a bus. I'm always waiting for the thing to fall apart. So, really, it's funny that Heavenly Father uses my insecurities in my van to bring us blessings.


The first time this happened. We were on our way from Texas to our home in Wyoming. We had stopped to get gas. I had pumped and took over driving. As we pulled away from the gas station, I noticed the gas gauge rapidly dropping to empty. I was panicked thinking we had a huge hole in our tank and gas was pouring out onto the road. We were 10 hours from my family in Texas and about 13 from home. This could not be happening. We didn't have the money to pay for this kind of repair or the costs associated with having to delay our trip. I pulled to the side of the road and Matt cautiously got out to investigate. We did not have a hole in our tank. There is apparently this metal flap that covers the gas tank when the cap is off and it had somehow become stuck open. Not dangerous, but our gas gauge would be off until we could get it fixed since we had nothing with us to fix it. We got back on the road concluding we would just need to be extra cautious to not go too far on a tank.


About 5 to 10 miles down the road we come to dead stop traffic. We slowly, very slowly, made our way through it. It appeared that a trailer hauling hay had burst into flames. The fire was put out by the time we went through, so I really have no idea what actually happened. A few miles we passed this, Matt noticed the gas gauge rising again. Now, I really am not one to look for "signs." I don't think a rainbow is sent as a sign of the decisions I should make in life. A rainbow appears because it just rained. That being said. We have NEVER had another problem with our gas gauge. I don't know what happened that day on that road, but I do know we weren't there when it happened. I don't know that we would have been there when it happened if we hadn't stopped. I do know that whenever I think of this event, I feel the Spirit confirming to me that Heavenly Father was indeed helping get home safely.


My second event happened just the other day. Matt had been without a job for a month when he started working. We had some money saved up for bills until he started working. We had just enough money for bills through the end of the month, but that was about it. So, as much as I hate it, we have been putting things like gas, groceries, etc on our credit card. Yesterday, I got a text from Matt during his lunch saying our A/C was out in our van (our only car at the moment). My heart dropped. If you live or have ever visited Texas in the summer, you know an A/C is a necessity. Especially with kids in the car. Matt asked to see what our available balance was on our credit card. I know this is horrible, but I never look at our credit card statements. We rarely use the credit card so I just got out of the habit. While checking, I noticed the amount charged since the last statement was much more than I would expect it to be. I checked out the recent activity, and immediately spotted a $255 charge to Office Depot. Someone had used our credit card in person. We both had our credit cards so apparently there is some way for thieves to replicate credit cards. Say what?! The credit card company was very understanding. I have been with them since my college days so I guess that increased my credibility. Since the charges were in person it was considered fraud. Our account was closed and we will get new cards delivered to our house on Monday.


Now, why is this a blessing? When Matt was on his way home from work, the A/C worked! It has worked since then and will probably work from now on. If we hadn't anticipated a huge expense that needed to be put on the credit card, we would have never looked very closely at our account. I probably would have NEVER noticed those charges or more charges would have accumulated. At this point there were only 2 charges that I know were not ours.


Like I said, I'm really not big on signs, but I can't just explain these experiences away as coincidence. I know Heavenly Father was watching over us. Maybe we need to reevaluate our lives to be more perceptive to the Spirit so that we don't need threat of catastrophic events to listen. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who protects, guides and comforts us. I pray that we can live our lives so that these blessings continue and so that I can be more in tune with Spirit so that I may be in instrument in God's hands to protect my family and share the Gospel with others.

Catch-Up!

It's been a while so I'll just cram the last 3 months into one post. So this will be a rambling of things we have done that I actually have photographic evidence of!

I made homemade playdough for the kids one day. Phillip loved it.

Especially when I made a snake for him!

Annaleigh decided it needed to be tasted.

Apparently, it was not tasty.

The weather has been warming up, then cooling off, then warming up...you get the idea. We've been able to take the kids to the park a few times! 

Clearly they love the swing.

I ordered Annaleigh's Easter dress off of Zulily and made Phillip a matching bow tie and suspenders. This was actually before Easter. 

The Saturday before we went to Aunt Ashley's house to celebrate. We have 12:30 Church now so our Sundays are a little crazy. Saturday works out much better for get togethers.

The kids had a blast hunting eggs.

And hanging out with their cousins!

The "Easter Bunny" visited us Sunday. 

With lots of fun goodies.

We spent a day of Matt's spring break from work taking the kids to the Treehouse. They had so much fun and I especially loved the light table with transparent legos. So cool!

And finally, Matt graduated! I can't believe the day finally came! It technically took him 5 yrs, but he transferred schools after the first year and lost almost all his classes. Not too shabby! I can't tell you how proud I am of him. He spent the last 2 years of his college career working full time, going to school full time and he is always a great dad to our kids. He's amazing!

And we got a family-ish picture out of it!

And this is what it looks like when you try to take pictures at lunch/nap time with a 2 yr old and 1 yr old!

Yesterday, was Matt's birthday! I made red velvet cupcakes with a divine cream cheese frosting, ham, and potato salad. A little southern comfort food. 

 

I think that pretty much sums up the last 3 mths. Coming soon: a move, a new job and a 3rd birthday!

Why life doesn't suck and it does take a village to raise a child...

You always hear people say life sucks or being an adult sucks. I have probably said this more times than I am willing to admit. It doesn't though. Is it hard? Abso-freaking-lutely! It's never fair. The right way is always the hard way. You sit back and watch people who lie, cheat and steal thrive. Sometimes only for a slight moment and sometimes you sit back and wait for what seems like forever for karma to catch up. Life is stressful. You have bills to pay, mouths to feed, never ending messes, laundry and dishes to clean, tantrums to defuse, fights to break up, and the list could go on. Amidst all the chaos if you look really hard you can find the good stuff. Those little moments every parent cherishes when your child does something new and brilliant. When your 2 yr old out of nowhere says, "mommy, I love you." When that dramatic 1 yr old sees you and comes running with that adorable nose crinkling smile. When the kids finally fall asleep at night and you get that oh-so-needed quiet moment with the love of your life and best friend. It's in those moments you realize life really doesn't suck. People suck!

I always hated the expression it takes a village to raise a child. Mostly because when you get pregnant it apparently gives people the right to tell you exactly what they think you need to know. You get all kinds of unwanted and sometimes crazy advice. When you have a child you realize that for the most part you really don't need all that advice. You know what your baby needs. You find your own way to make things work out best for you. Every baby and every family is different. What worked for my mom may not work for me and my children. Even though my cousin's best friend's sister fed her baby a certain way that doesn't mean my kids need to be fed that way to grow up well adjusted.

You may not need all that advice, but you do need a village worth of support to raise a child. As much of a blessing children are they are that much work. It's harder than you ever imagine. You need a break occasionally. You need date nights with your husband. Once you've had kids and it's been a while since you had a night out. You realize how important this is. You start bickering with one another over the stupidest little things. It sucks. Especially when your 2 yr old has decided to not acknowledge bedtime no matter how many different things you try. Now I realize how important a village is in raising kids. We don't have a village where we live (half our village is in Texas). We do have an amazing sister-in-law here. I can't tell you how wonderful it is when we are stretched to our limit, we've tried every other option to get our much needed break with no luck, we call her and she rearranges her day on a moment's notice to give us that break. Just in the nick of time! Words can't express how truly grateful I am for those few hours alone with my husband. So, as it is with most things, I have realized, in the absence of a true working village, just how important it is. We need a fully functioning village and this my friends is how I came to the conclusion that it really isn't life that sucks, it's people (not all people of course)!

What A Year!

You're probably expecting a New Year post. Nope! Today is my baby's 1st birthday! Is it possible to feel like time has moved too quickly and too slowly at the same time? That is totally how I feel about a year having passed since Annaleigh was born. On one hand, I can't believe she's already 1! On the flip side, it feels like this year has been several with all the things that happened. Seriously, this girl has been through a lot in her first year of life. She's had jaundice, her first period (yeah, crazy, I know..apparently, it's one of those medical things that are common enough for drs to know about it, but not common enough that the general population knows about it...it happens to some baby girl's as the mom's hormone are leaving their body...it was just the one when she was like a week old), RSV (hospital stay & on oxygen when we went home), acid reflux, 2 falls down the stairs, um i think that's all.  She's already been to Texas twice. She's walking. She can say "uh-oh" and "this." Those are pretty much the only words she uses appropriately in context. She blows kisses, is obsessed with food, and just yesterday she started trying to spin in circles while dancing (seriously, so cute.) She's super crazy, but she is oh so sweet and adorable!

So it really has been quite a year since she was born! We were in Texas a week ago so we had an early birthday party for her there! I loved how it turned out! All of my family were such a help with getting things all set up. Can I just say my husband has some mad decorating skills! He was my lifesaver. He hung streamers while I decorated the cake and came up with a pretty impressive design all on his own. He's pretty amazing!

I love how the cake turned out!

Isn't the inside of the bottom layer awesome! I was trying to get the zebra print effect.

Her cake ended up looking crazy. The cake was still hot, but it couldn't wait any longer to ice it. So it crumbled.

I think she liked it!

I don't know what was up with the face, but it's cute and this was the best picture of her dress that night. I bought a plain zebra print tank dress from Hobby Lobby and added to it!

She got lots of cute presents, but I didn't want to go overboard with the picture bomb!

I just can't believe she's already 1! Here's to hoping she mellows out as she gets older :)!

Turtleneck Refashion

It's been a while! October was a crazy month and I was in a bit of a funk in November. It snowed Halloween night and it has stuck around. I was totally NOT feeling fall this year.

Anyway, I just finished a dress for Annaleigh and had to share! I'm not 100% loving how it turned out. There are a few things I would have changed about it, but it works. Plus, I'm sure no one else can see all the flaws I see.

At the end of last winter our Wal-Mart had turtlenecks clearanced out at $1 and a few days they were doing 50% off all clearance. I ended up grabbing a 5T in the hopes I'd one day be able to do something with it. I'm not a huge fan of turtlenecks so it was a refashion from the beginning. I decided a few days ago to make Annaleigh a new dress with it.

I started out deconstructing it. I took the neck and sleevess off. Obviously, a 5T was going to need to be resized to fit my almost 1 year old (holy heck how did that happen?). Here is what it looked like....

I grabbed a dress in her size to use as a size guide. With the dress laying on top of the turtleneck, I pinned where I needed to sew my new seem.

I wish I hadn't done the next step. I folded the flair of the dress in thinking I wouldn't need the flair once the ruffles were added.

In hindsight, I think this would have helped the dress have a better fit than it does. Oh well, It still turned out decent. While I had the dress laying there I also trimmed down the arm neck and shoulder area of the shirt. Here is what I had at the end.

I didn't take pictures of this step, but I then cut out 3 strips of my skirt fabric. The strips were 4 3/4 in wide (I wish I had made them longer) and the length was long enough to wrap around the shirt twice. I folded the fabric in half and ruffled it. This took a little trial and error. There are tons of tutorials on how to ruffle fabric, but it still took me a while to get the hang of it. My machine doesn't have a straight stitch that doesn't automatically backstitch when you start sewing so I had to start sewing without my fabric under the needle. I should have taken pictures of this, but I got caught up in the moment. I also set my tension to the highest it would go and the stitch length to the longest setting. My machine still didn't really ruffle at that much so I held the thread where it comes off the spool to create a little extra tension. Once the strips were sewn, I pulled the threads to create an even more dramatic ruffle.

To sew on the ruffles, I first pinned and sewed them to the shirt upside down.

Once it is sewn in place you want to fold it down, pin and sew again. This creates a finished look. I definately recommend pinning this and not just trying to wing it. It helps insure you are staying straight and that the ruffle lays nicely. I tried not pinning it and it was a pain. I  repeated this for each layer of ruffle.

I again used a shirt in her size to figure out where to sew a new seem for the sleeves and how long they needed to be. Again, I  got way into it and didn't take pictures. Reattach them to the shirt. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with the collar. In the end, I opted for a cowl, type look. I cut one side of the original turtleneck, finished the raw edges and reattached the collar to the shirt. And there you have it...

I know, I cut off her head. It is insane trying to get a decent picture of this girl!

Infinity Scarf

Or cowl, or whatever else you want to call it. The second I saw Rachel of Maybe Matilda was doing a crochet along I knew I had to do it! When I saw it was a cowl/infinity scarf I was beyond thrilled. I had been wanting to make one, but just hadn't set aside the time, and I wasn't really sure it was for me. I must admit I'm not the best at figuring out what is going to work with my body type by just looking at it. I have to try it on. Then, I have to stare at myself in the mirror from several different angles for like ten minutes. I finally call my husband in to give me his opinion, or if he isn't there I take a picture and text it to him or my mom or sister. And stare at myself in the mirror some more while I wait for a response. Yeah, I am pretty much terrified of buyer's remorse. You should have seen me in the yarn aisle. I spent like 5 minutes staring at the yarn. I'm sure my poor sister-in-law was bored out of her mind, and I know her kids were! I wanted a neutral color so I could wear it with anything. So I chose a Charcoal. We used the Lion Brand Time Out Cowl pattern. I twisted the cowl before I connected the end so it would have a twist in it. So here is how it turned out....

I love how incredibly versatile this can be!

My husband was the camera man. It was a nasty day so we decided to just take pictures on the back porch. He felt a little awkward taking pictures of an adult on our back porch. Understandably so!

I have naturally wavy/curly hair. I love that when it starts snowing I can just pull this thing over my head and hopefully not have the crazy frizz going on!

The little dude wanted in on the action, too!

Ruffles + Wreath = Swoon!

Did I mention it only cost $3? That includes the wreath form. Want to make one, too?

I forgot to take a picture before I got started.

What ya' need!

pool noodle (or other wreath form)

streamers

ribbon

duct tape

glue gun

a couple glue sticks

Are you thinking I'm totally crazy for putting a pool noodle in the instructions for making a wreath? I found the idea here. I must admit I was a little skeptical, but when i saw a pool noodle at the dollar store I thought it was worth a try. I didn't follow the directions in the link exactly. I just put the 2 ends together and duct tape 'cause that's how I roll. Duct tape can fix anything! And it totally worked. When your in the store picking up your noodle checking it out to see if it will work, It probably won't form a perfect circle. Once you get the ends secure it makes more of an oval. Just push your sides in and it holds the circle form perfectly!

I wrapped mine in streamer just so my wreath would have a polished look. You can skip this step.

This wreath idea isn't totally my own either and I really feel I should give creative development credit where they are due. I got the idea from Country Living, but again, I didn't follow that exactly. You'll need to cut out a million or so 4 inch strips of streamers. My pack of streamers came with 2 rolls so I cut out 1 completely then cut the other as I needed. Once you have those you're ready to start assembling your wreath.

Country Living used matching straight pins, but I don't have those just laying around so I used hot glue. Let's just admit it. Hot glue is amazing! So I hot glue the strip into loops by gluing the ends like this...

Then folding it over like this...

Please excuse my half painted finger nails. I couldn't wait to get started on this!

Then you add more hot glue and stick it to your wreath like this....

You'll do "rows" of 3 loops and go all the way around. That's it! Country Living left a spot open, but I went all the way around with mine. I added an orange ribbon to make it even more Halloween-esque. I love it, but I think I should have placed the ribbon a little lower on the wreath. Oh well!

The bottom ruffles crinkled a little setting it on the bookshelf, but they straightened right back up!

Go get crafty!

Linking up to:

Tatertots & Jello
Scatter Girls
Nap Time Crafters

Grateful!

It's been a bit of a tough week for me. I have made myself work out every day Matt has been at work so if I work out today it will be 4 consecutive days. GO ME! Sorry, I'm a little excited that I've finally made myself do it. So back to the tough week. I have felt like everything is working against me in making these work outs happen. Tuesday Matt called twice in the middle of my workout. The second time he needed me to bring him things at work. Oh and I had kids climbing on me the whole time. I was over half way through so I decided I would finish and then pack up the kids and head over! He was slightly irritated, but when I explained he understood. I knew if I stopped in the middle I would never finish because Phillip needed a nap, Annaleigh needed food, and I needed to shower while Phillip was napping.

Anyway, I have decided I really need to work out while Phillip is napping so I can really focus on what I am doing. It has been hard making myself do it. I have a million things I need to do while Phillip is napping. I feel selfish taking that time to work out instead of doing housework or whatever. My big one yesterday was laundry. I have piles of clean laundry that just need to be put away. I usually put laundry away while Phillip is napping because he finds some sort of sick pleasure in destroying my neatly folded piles of laundry. So in order to avoid me fuming and double the effort in putting clothes away I just do it while he's in bed. I have tried waithing until he goes to bed at night, but I'm so drained I just don't want to do anything. While Phillip was napping yesterday I needed to workout, shower, eat, put away laundry, take care of Annaleigh...I'm sure there is more I could add to that list!

I was having a huge inner battle. I know if I find excuses even one day I will find excuses every day after. So I worked out. The living room was a disaster by the end of the day. The piles of clean laundry are still sitting there. I felt so...blah! So I had a nice chat with my wonderful husband. He made me feel so much better. His exact words, "I could care less if the laundry gets done." Haha, ok so I care if the laundry gets put away. I hate digging through baskets trying to find clothes for the kids. But I love him for this. He understands how hard it can be some days to take care of the kids and get things done. He understands working out is important to me right now, and how hard it is to find the motivation to build that habit. He just gets it!

So today I am grateful for our little family. I am grateful for our cute kids (even though Phillip has been waking me up before Matt is even awake). I am grateful for Matt, and his understanding nature. I am grateful I am able to do things that make him happy, and he can do the same. I am grateful that both of us understand stability takes a lot of hard work. We  know we can't expect to own a home, drive nice cars, have the best furnishings, and be up to date on technology without all the hard work first. I think having this knowledge allows us to be happy despite our circumstances. We have been down so many different paths since we have been married and yet we somehow make it work. It's all of this that helps me to know if we can just hold on to this perspective we can conquer anything that may come our way. And for this I am incredibly grateful!

Necessity Is The Mother of Invention!

Ok, so I didn't really invent anything, so maybe creation should be substituted for invention.

It has been one of those days. You know the ones where you run into a link with everything you try to do. I was attempting to put the finishing touches on the kitchen I cleaned up yesterday. Phillip was suddenly interested in the kitchen the moment I started sweeping. I finally got it swept. I went down to the basement to get the mop and found the box of mop pads open and dry.
I sent map a text that was a little ridiculous. It went something like this " YOU left the mop pads open now I can't mop the kitchen." Yeah, like I said ridiculous!
Anyway, so I relaxed and remembered seeing a crochet swiffer pad. So I went to Ravelry, a website of knit/crochet patterns, did a quick search and an hour later had this...

Now we will always have a pad for our swiffer and we can save some money!

Happy Birthday to me! (well a few days ago)

I am usually fairly excited about my birthday. This year I was not so excited for it. I am now closer to 30 than I am 20. Ugh! I am typically not one to fret about  my age. It's inevitable, but this one hit me a little hard. The day itself was a good day. I still had to be a mommy, which honestly is really the best thing ever! Little miss decided to do this on my birthday!

She has been trying for so long, and finally got it! While the kids were napping I relaxed and played on my sewing machine. I made a keychain for myself. One that slips over my wrist so I don't lose my keys with my arms full of kiddos! It has come in handy. Matt made me dinner! It was so yummy and it was nice not having to worry about dinner.

The Friday before my birthday Matt and I decided to go here..

Yeah, check out that elevation. In order to get there we had to do this

And if you are looking at the map thinking it looks quite easy check out this picture I took standing at one of the switchbacks

Can I just say, I am SO out of shape! The first 1/4 wasn't bad at all. About halfway is when it started getting hard. After that we had to stop so often. I would go a little  way and beg Matt to stop. Ok so I didn't have to beg. There is no railing and the clifs are fairly steep. He was quite concerned if we didn't take it slowly I would get dizzy and fall off the edge, lol! There were times when I wanted to just go back down, but I really wanted to prove to myself I could do it. We kept passing people along the way who would give us encouragement telling us it was worth it. I can't say the caves were incredibily amazing for me. At least not amazing enough to say that hike was worth it. I can say, however, the feeling of accomplishment was worth it. The view from the top was quite amazing.

And it was great quality time with my wonderful husband. I love this man!

New School Year = New Goals!

Who would have thought I would have children too little for school, but still have my life revolve around the school year? Well, it does and it will for the next year at least. So I guess we'll get a little break before Phillip starts school. We have been so off our schedules for the last month with Matt home all day. Don't get me wrong I LOVE having my hubby 24/7! We have just been trying to make the most of our time together so schedules and normal days are non-existent. Today we have a little taste of what things will be like when he goes back to work. He has a day full of meeting, the rest of the week off and goes back for good Monday. So I decided to make today a day to see how our schedule will work since the kids are getting bigger and their needs have changed slightly. Enter my new goal: working out! Since we don't have a double stroller and Phillip has too much energy to trust him on sidewalks, I have to find ways to work out in the house. So I am doing Jillian Michael's (The Biggest Loser goddess) 30 Day Shred. Can I just say, holy crap! I am SO out of shape. I think I'm in worse shape now than I was when I started it right before I got pregnant with Annaleigh. My legs are currently like jello. I just went up stairs to check on Annaleigh. Surprisingly up was NOT the hard part. I thought my legs were going to collapse coming down. I am seriously considering sliding down the stairs Phillip style when I have to bring Annaleigh back down. Go ahead laugh it up! I know I am! So my new goal is make working out a part of my daily routine AND, ready for the big one? My ultimate long term goal is to lose 43lbs by my anniversary, December 20th! Am I crazy? I might be! Only time will tell! At that point I will probably create another long term goal because really to make it to a "healthy" weight I will still have about 30 MORE lbs to lose.

YIKES!

Age does not bring grace!

Today was the worst dining experience of my life. We decided to spend our last day of absolute freedom (Matt's classes start Monday) in Riverdale at the splash pad. We haven't been in forever. Phillip loves water. And I am thinking they close it around labor day, but could be wrong. It seemed like the perfect thing for a nice Saturday. We got into town around lunch time so we decided we'd have lunch at Applebee's before the park. We have restaurants we will and will not go to with our kids in tow. Applebee's is on the kid safe list. It is normally a rather noisy environment and has sports and such playing on TVs at all times. It was actually a rather decent day for Phillip. He didn't throw any tantrums. He got a little upset we couldn't just leave to play in the water instead of eating first. He was by a window so he would spot things he like outside and tells all about them excitedly. He was a little loud. He doesn't quite understand the whole inside/outside voice thing yet, but like I said Applebee's isn't a quiet restaurant so I didn't see it as a huge deal. He would get up and jump on the bench. We'd sit him back down and he'd be ok for a while. We waited FOREVER for our food. Matt and I were getting antsy with how long it was taking. I can only imagine how much torture it was for Phillip. We finally got our food. Phillip would eat a few bites then find something to look at or stand up to look at the old ladies behind us.

I was almost finished with my food when he stood up, turned around, and the old self-righteous bat boozing it up at noon got nasty. I don't remember exactly what she said. I was in total shock when I realized she turned around to totally bash my parenting. It was something along the lines of how ridiculous our kid was being and how we should think twice about taking him out to lunch with us. I calmly turned around halfway through her rant. I decided from that point on Phillip could do whatever the heck he wanted for the very short remainder of our lunch. As I finished the rest of my lunch fighting back tears I thought of probably a million different things to say to her. She continued to make comments to her even older lunch buddy AND the people across the aisle from  us. I was so mad and really hurt. We couldn't get out of that place fast enough. Phillip had moved to sitting beside Matt and he can see I'm upset and is asking "what's wrong, mommy." Matt answered for me telling him "old ladies are rude, that's what's wrong." Toddlers are HARD! They have so much energy and are so excited about the world. That translates into an inability to sit still, inappropriate voice levels, and exploration of every kind(translation: they get into everything they shouldn't). I try so hard to keep Phillip in check. Her words were like a sucker punch. Maybe I'm not doing the best. Maybe my son is an insane annoyance to everyone around. Do people look at us and think we are horrible parents? After taking the time to look at this entirely about myself I started thinking about this situation as a whole. This woman knew absolutely nothing about us. What if our situation had been special? A million different scenarios of how she could have really severely hurt someone played out in mind. What if my child were special needs? I can't believe someone could be so rude about lunch at Applebee's. It's not like we took our kids to a nice steakhouse or even Olive Garden. I chose not to say anything at all to the lady. I was wishing after we left that I had said something to make her understand how incredibly rude she was being. After a few hours of thinking, I realized nothing good would have come of anything I said to her. She was too old and shriveled for anything to sink in.

Hours later I am still in shock about what happened. We have gone out to eat several times here in Evanston with Phillip being much worse than he was today, and no one has ever said a word to us. In fact, just yesterday we were grocery shopping and he was throwing an absolute tantrum. Matt had to pick him up and he was kicking and screaming. A sweet lady came up to us. She was shopping with her daughter and told us her daughter had a boy who was exactly like that and is now a perfect gentleman so there is hope. It was such a nice gesture. It is so hard raising a toddler. You spend most of the day at your wits end and the rest realizing how worth it it all is. It was so nice to have someone, especially a complete stranger give you pat on the back. A little encouragement. So if you are out and about and ever see a young mother struggling say a kind word. You cannot imagine how much it will lift her spirits especially if she has a trying little one!

As I put Phillip to bed tonight I took an extra minute to love him. I love the mess out of that little boy no matter how crazy he is. I love his craziness. I love watching him learn and grow. I love watching him get so excited and how he is learning to care for others. Today I vow to try a little harder to let him be a toddler. To not get so worked up over ALL the little things he does throughout the day. I don't want him to ever NOT be excited about life. The manners will come eventually. I think nice little reminders of how to act appropriately for the setting are much more appropriate for a toddler than insisting perfection. You'll only end up overly frustrated. And here's to hoping I do not encounter mean old ladies on a regular basis!

Spoiled?

Matt thinks I spoil Annaleigh. I do make more things for her and I do get really excited about all the girly things I can make. It is so much easier to make cute things for girls. There just aren't a lot of creative things to make for a toddler boy. I might be able to make him a tie. I have made him beanies. Cute things are just simply easy to make. And maybe I do spoil her. I find myself feeling the need to compensate when it comes to her. Other than my mom, sister and brother-in-law who all came in from Texas no one came to see Annaleigh at the hospital despite her birth being scheduled weeks before and actually being in the hospital for like 4 days. When Phillip was born we were met with a group of people when I was finally moved  to my room from recovery. We have never had pictures made of Annaleigh. The only pictures I have of her are the ones I've taken. Then there's the whole being grateful she is even here considering all she has gone through. So maybe I do spoil her a little by making her cute things to wear. It's cheaper than buying her tons of cute stuff like we did with Phillip. I think I'm okay with spoiling her now. She's an independent baby for the most part. She has her moments where she only wants mom, but she sleeps in her own bed, she puts herself to sleep, I can actually clean while she's awake, she can entertain herself, and she developing normally. I think she's a fairly well adjusted baby even with the spoiling!

Nap Time Crafters: Lilypotamus Giveaway & a Winner!

Nap Time Crafters: Lilypotamus Giveaway & a Winner!:

Nap Time Crafters is hosting a Lilypotamus giveaway! Lilypotamus has some adorable girls clothes. While you're there check out Nap Time Crafter's tutorials. She has some adorable stuff!

Some wounds never heal

As I have gotten older (and I'd like to think wiser). I have come to realize there are some things in life we just never recover from completely. The hypothetical wounds heal, but are never completely gone. I still get emotional when I think about the day Annaleigh was admitted to the hospital for RSV. I still get nervous when she gets a cold. When she coughs I instinctively reach for a blanket to prepare for the gagging, entire bottle spit up she had when she had RSV.

Having a c-section was another hard one. I had a few weeks after Phillip was born where I was incredibly sad and mourned what felt like the loss of my womanhood. I think only women who have gone through this can really understand what it feels like. I had resolved to try for a VBAC with our next child. We didn't expect to have another baby so soon. I wasn't sure my body was healed enough to be able to push out a child and if I ended up with another c-section I needed someone there to help me with Phillip. If I had a c-section I wouldn't even be able to get him out of bed. So in order to insure I would have help with Phillip we opted for another c-section. I have learned to accept I will most likely never have a normal birth. Having a scheduled c-section does have it's perks. I know exactly what to expect. We will know ahead of time exactly when our children will be born. I will always have help available. It still hurts, though. When I hear of a women who had a natural birth I always feel a twinge of jealousy. It isn't so bad that I loathe other women, but I just know I will never have that and it hurts.

Then there are other wounds only a few know about. Wounds that we are afraid to share with others and that tend to resurface when we least expect them. They effect those closest to us in the ways they resurface. The hardest part of dealing with these is knowing they will never go away. The resurfacings become farther apart with time, but we know they will always happen. And I think that's what sucks the most about those wounds. They never go away!

Yo! Happy Birthday, Phillip!

His birthday was actually last Saturday, but we had his party this weekend for various reasons. I will never forget the day that little boy came into my life just 2 short years ago. That little boy will always hold a special place in my heart. There are days when I am absolutely at my wits end with him, but he is growing into such a smart and caring little man. I smile everytime I hear him say, "careful" or "hey, what are you doing." He is one special little man. Shortly before his birthday we discovered a new kids show. Yo Gabba Gabba is the most adorable show for little people. It teaches important lessons while having fun. It wasn't long before we were using the "There's a pary in my tummy" song daily to get him to eat. So we decided to have a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party. I found an awesome website with tons of party ideas, here! Let me just say that all the decorations came from supplies I already had on hand, no out of pocket! Here is Phillip's party.

Happy Birthday, my little guy!