Failure

A couple of weeks ago when I was at Blissdom, I met Erin from Two Story Cottage.  I had read her blog before (I love her DIY posts about her house renovations), and so it was quite a treat to meet her in person.

While we were talking, she mentioned that she was participating in a linky party to promote this fancy little number:

It’s a cute little rustic box that has 365 cards inside with quotes on them.  Good tabletop conversation!  Anyway, the linky party is being hosted by Love Feast Table.  Erin was working with them, handing out the cards from the box, asking us bloggers to write a little post relating to the quote.  They were hoping to get all 365 cards blogged about, and giving one of the boxes away to one of us too! (I love giveaways!!).

The quote I got was:

I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.                      

  -Thomas Edison

I am certainly not a perfect mother.  In fact, on most days, I am about as far from it as possible.  I have a 6 month old who is just discovering that she has separation (from me!) issues.  And a toddler who can’t decide whether she is a whiny three-year old, or a precocious thirteen year old (and often alternates between the two without any warning)!  Needless to say, I have my hands full with these two.  I read about these blogger mommies who have 4, 6, 8 kids….who eat fresh out of their lush gardens every night….who homeschool their kiddos….who still find time to blog about their craftiness with lovely photos.  I don’t know how they do it!

So when I saw this quote amongst Erin’s choices at Blissdom, it immediately struck home with me.  Some days I feel like I am stretched just a little too thin…trying to be perfect at everything.  Jayna has always been mature for her age, and always extremely verbal.  I can remember when she was just a one year old, and thinking how crazy it was that I could actually reason with her!  When telling her to do (or not to do something), I could tell her why, and she would usually comply after a simple explanation.  But now, she’s older.  And even smarter.  And yet she is harder to deal with.  I can’t rationalize with her anymore….she’s too emotional.  So, I have to get creative.  Enter my 10,000 ways.

When Jayna is being unreasonable, defiant or whiny, my first instinct is to get annoyed.  Or, if it’s been a really long day and I’m feeling particularly spread thin, my instinct is to get mad.  And both of those emotions tend to be fruitless with my little bundle of joy…and usually end up with me completely upset and her on the floor in a full-out temper tantrum.  Failure.

Attempt two: Trying to appeal to her immature side.  Treat her like a baby.  I’ll talk to her using baby talk, cradling her in my arms, etc.  She usually falls for this one hardcore.  Especially since Amelia was born and she has to fit the role of Big Sister all the time.  Not only does this approach distract her from whatever meltdown she is on the verge of having, but she also craves the same type of attention Amelia constantly gets.  So Jayna gets into her role as “Baby Jayna” by crawling around, making incoherent noises.  The only problem with this strategy is that it is hard for Jayna to come out of the game…she will follow directions to a point, but it still takes forever for her to comply, and she wants to continue being “Baby Jayna” long after I’ve tired of it.  Failure.

I even tried putting inanimate objects in time out.  Sometimes that is less of a fight than putting her in time out for using something incorrectly.  So for instance, when she was caught using crayons on the table, instead of on the paper, rather than risking a temper tantrum and putting her in time out, or just taking the crayons from her…I put the crayons in time out (in the corner!), and it drove my point home to her, without escalating the situation.  The only problem with this is that I started finding all sorts of objects and toys in “time out” in various corners of my house for months after trying this! Failure.

So I am constantly trying new ways to solve daily issues.  Almost all of them end up failing in the long run, but some of them work in the short-term.  And that’s all that really matters….preserving my sanity (for now!)!!  And I just have to remember that I don’t have to be perfect.  It’s just a phase.  Jayna is growing up healthy and emotionally stable despite her perfectly normal temper tantrums.  And in the meantime, I’ll just keep finding ways that don’t work!

Check out some of the other quotes and posts on the linky party by clicking here:

Simple Pleasures

We’ve had a busy week.  And we’ve been sick.  But, there is always a silver lining!  Sometimes I just have to focus on those simple pleasures…  Here are our highlights for the week:

Of course she wouldn’t show them for the camera, but Amelia sprouted two teeth this week!

Our Christmas Cactus that we got a couple of years ago from Aunt Linda, surprised us and bloomed again!

I had a Pampered Chef/Thirty One Bags Party and had some lovely Girl Time with good friends!

Jayna has almost been a pleasure to be around this week! =)

And we’ve had some very silly moments!

We had a fantastic time with friends at Veggie Tales Live!
 Honestly, I can’t take them anywhere…..

Spring is just around the corner and we are feelin’ it!  Stay tuned tomorrow to see how we are welcoming it into our house!

Jon Acuff Taught My Kid To Roll Over

That’s right.  And I’m not just saying that because I am a huge fan, and practically best friends with the man (now that I heard him speak at Blissdom ’12)!  See?

But because it’s true!  Here’s what happened:

I’m not sure how many of you have ever had a 6 month old, but they can be quite demanding.  For example, my 6 month old does not particularly like to be put down.  She does like to play on her mat, but requires entertainment from:

A) a three-year old dancing and singing “Rhinestone Cowboy” to her,

B) a black lab walking just far away as to not get her ears pulled but close enough to repeatedly smack said baby in the head with her tail (therefore making the baby laugh), or

C) a mommy (also known as “Sucker” or “Pushover”) who will sit next to her on the blanket and make funny faces and silly noises every time the baby even thinks about fussing

 

Not that I am that kind of mommy, but I just happened to be on the floor next to Amelia today while she was playing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, she has rolled over before.  Mostly.  Mostly on the changing table, to reach baby powder, hairclips or dirty diapers.  Really in order to reach anything she is not supposed to have while I am up to my elbows in…..Well, y’all know what happens on a changing table.

Anyway, today, she seemed relatively content to play by herself, with only the occasional fish face from me.  So I decided to get in some light reading.  Now, I have been a fan from afar of Jon’s for a while.  I was familiar with his name and work through Dave Ramsey, who we are BIG fans of, in this house.  So I was thrilled when I realized that Jon was going to be the keynote speaker at Blissdom.  I had heard his first book was really funny, but I had no idea until I was nearly peeing my pants at his anecdotes on stage last week.  But through the humor, he had a great message about not letting the technology and social media take precedence over the important things in your life.  And, he had some great catch phrases, which I immediately tweeted as I heard them.  But for those who don’t tweet, here’s a summary of some of the things he said:

“Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”  (Comes in handy late at night when I am comparing my little ‘ole blog to the statistics and followers of some of the more well-known bloggers out there….who have been doing it for years!!)

“Listen to the little things that make big stories.” (Paying attention and appreciating details)

“Document this moment!  Because this moment didn’t happen unless you tweeted or blogged it!” (Sarcastically referring to our use of social media for every.little.aspect.of.our.lives.)

A blog that’s “90% perfect and shared with your readers is better than one that’s 100% perfect and stuck on your laptop.”  (don’t worry what others think…just share)

And finally, “Let me be your kid, not your content!” (On the importance of enjoying moments with your kids without worrying about blog content to go along with it, picture composition or the right wording for the tweet that may accompany the moment.  Just step back and enjoy it!).

I enjoyed his thoughts so much, I picked up a copy of Jon Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like, at Blissdom.  My buddy Jon even signed it for me! =)  Not only is it hilarious and completely true, but I love the format of it.  It’s a great read for busy moms like me because the chapters and paragraphs are short and succinct, which allows me to read a page at a time throughout the day, without losing track of what Jon is talking about!

So, I was sitting on the blanket with Amelia next to me, and the book in one hand, trying to get a chapter in.  Next thing I know, Amelia is reaching at about 75% for THE BOOK!  So, naturally, I move it away from her.  (Get your own book, kid!)  But yet, she rolls a little more….gaining momentum and reaching for the book.  So I gave in and held it just out of her reach, and she completely rolled over to get it!  So I let her have it for a minute and she goes to town licking it and smashing it into her face!!!  She loved it!  And so that was her motivation for the next 10 minutes as she rolled over 6 more times for that book!

See the book in the left hand corner?  Yeah, so does Amelia!

Now she is serious!

I finally gave in and let her “read” it.  Notice my rockin’ free shoes?  Courtesy of Famous Footwear!

So, it’s official.  My baby can roll over.  Thanks Jon!

P.S. The plug for Famous Footwear is all mine!  I got those shoes as SWAG from the Blissdom ’12 Conference.  I love ’em, and just wanted to share that fact with y’all!  I was not paid for any of my comments.

Missing You

Dear Family,
I’m having a great time here in Nashville, but I sure am missing you!!! Keep sending me pictures of what you are doing too! I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jayna, keep me posted on our new neighbors too!

Love, Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday Jayna!

Dear Jayna,

It is hard to believe that you are three years old today!  I remember when you were born…you were such an easy baby!  You smiled as soon as you were born, and Oh! Your hair!  What beautiful hair you have always had!

You were so good to us newbie parents, sleeping through the night and eating well!  I had people stop me all the time out in public to compliment you.  You were the friendliest, most beautiful baby they had ever seen! (See? It wasn’t just me who thought so!)

And you have always been such a little ham!  You remind me of Loo Loo when she was little.  You love making faces, being silly and looking at yourself in the mirror!

Jayna, you already have such a kind soul.  You make friends very easily, and have always been good at sharing your toys.  You can be very sensitive though….you sometime will get upset just because someone else is crying!  We still have to monitor what you see on TV very closely, because if a character is upset-you start crying too!  And what a little tattle-tale you can be!  You come home from school with stories of the “bad boys.”  I know exactly who sat in time out, who didn’t share, and who had accidents in school each day!

I am so proud of your short little life already!  You never cease to amaze me with your smart-alec comments that most would only think could come out of a 12 year old’s mouth!  You are so smart, and are so independent….insisting on doing everything yourself.  I can’t believe that not only do you know all of your letters, sounds and numbers…you can also copy almost all of the letters of the alphabet and write your name!  And aren’t you a child of the times…you can work my smartphone better than I can!!  And although we certainly have our “toddler” moments, you are truly a joy to be around (most of the time!).

I love how kind you are to your little sister….you always have her needs in mind and are quick to babysit her or help feed her.  You are so gentle (most of the time) and so affectionate with her!  I hope you two are always best friends and continue to help and love each other unconditionally.

Jayna, your love for God makes my soul so glad….although you may not know what it means completely, your heart is so pure!  I love and admire how you crave knowledge about God and how appreciative you are already for all He has given you!  I’m always so touched when I catch you praying with Elly, or when I see you helping a friend or showing your gratitude.

Long story short, I can’t believe you are already three years old….and I can’t believe you are only three years old!  It has been such fun watching you grow so far, and I can’t wait to continue watching you turn into a kind, smart, beautiful little girl!  Happy Birthday Buggy!  I love you!

Love, Mommy

The Birds and The Bees

I’m not quite ready for this talk yet.  I picked Jayna up from school today and she informed me that the substitute teacher she’d had that day was pregnant.  Then…she asked me how that baby got in Ms. Christy’s belly.

I panicked.

I know there are a million different ways to approach the subject with your young ‘un.  But I wasn’t prepared for my almost-three year old to ask!  I even knew of some possible answers that I’d found in my go-to book when I was preggo.  But could I think of any of these possibilities in the car?  No!

So in the three seconds that I paused to think about my answer, my mind is racing….thinking about all of the follow-up questions that are bound to pop up in my little one’s head, no matter how I answer her.  Considering that every answer I give her about anything is followed by a “Why?” or another question digging deeper.

So, I finally decided to go simple.  I said, “God put it there.”

And then a miracle happened.  She said…..”Oh.”  And then told me she needed a snack when she got home.  Crisis averted!

For now……

(Don’t worry, that’s just Elly in her “belly”…and this was way back in June when I was pregnant.)

P.S.   Got any suggestions for the next time this topic pops up?  Leave me a comment!! =)

Scrap Quilt

I’ve been sewing for about a year now, and have no real craft area.  Everything is kept in Tupperware tubs in a giant armoire.  So, needless to say, I was overflowing with little scraps of fabric.  Time to do something with those little pieces.  Because they were kind of all in one color family (pinks, browns, turquoise and green), but all different sizes, I decided to try my hand at a scrap quilt.

Don’t get me wrong….I can appreciate the design and hard work that quilters put into their creations.  But I have no desire to become a quilter.  In fact, I can barely call myself a sewer……so I needed to be able to do this simply and quickly.

So I cut up my fabric into different size pieces, using several pieces of cardboard as my templates to trace.  I had a quilt panel in my pile of random fabrics, but like I said….I have no intention of quilting.  So I cut it up instead, cutting the characters from the quilt panel into the largest squares, and then using the surrounding patterns as smaller parts.  I used strips of the fabrics as the borders too.  And to be honest, I did this completely by trial and error….I had no idea what I was doing.  But, I figured it was a scrap quilt, so the more hodgepodged it looked, the better.

Bear with me…..here’s how I did it:

Materials:

thirty 6 1/2 inch squares

sixty 3 1/2 inch squares

seven strips of 45 1/2 inches worth of fabric…..with each strip being 2 inches wide….and having 1/4 inch of seam allowance on each end

one large piece of fabric 47 inches by 45 1/2 inches

1 piece of quilt batting measuring 46 1/2 inches by 45 inches

I had a big scrap of padding….so I folded a corner over to form a square and cut off the excess ( I think it ended up being about 46 square inches)

This was one of the spare pieces of fabric I had that I loved, but wasn’t sure what to do with….so I cut it up to use as my focus squares on my quilt.

I measured all of the little critters on the panel, and luckily they all were about 6″….so I decided to make my larger squares that size (when finished).

I used a piece of cardboard as my template to cut around.  (I made three templates…a 6 1/2″ square, a 3 1/2″ square and a 2″ wide strip….length doesn’t really matter…..all seam allowances for this project are 1/4″)

 There were large chunks of interesting patterns left after I cut out the critters, so I supplemented more 6 1/2″ squares with them (and other fabric I had), and also used them for my smaller squares (which ended up being 3 1/2″ squares).  If you look carefully, you can see where I drew my lines using a washable fabric pen.  All of my seam allowances were 1/4″.

I also cut 2″ strips from scraps (varying lengths) to use as my borders.  Then I laid everything out on top of my batting.  I wasn’t too concerned about it fitting exactly, but I wanted to make sure that it was at least as wide as the batting….I ended up trimming excess at the end of my project.  I also cut out one large piece of fabric to be the back of the quilt…..measure it to be the same size as your batting, and then add a 1/2″ around the edges to account for the seam.

Lay out your whole quilt…..I alternated one 6 1/2″ square and then two 3 1/2″ squares across, and then a 2″ strip in between each of the square rows.  Just keep cutting scraps until your quilt is filled!  I arranged mine on top of my batting to make sure it was big enough, and so I could get a visual on where all of the pieces were going to go.

 I wanted to make sure that each of my fabrics were spaced out, and no two same patterns were touching.  I also had to watch the spacing of my green and turquoise pieces because they totally clashed together….but spread out against the other patterns looked nice and were great bursts of color!

Time to sew!

Since there were going to be two 3 1/2″ pieces in between every 6 1/2″ piece….I needed to sew those together first.

I started to pin everything together before sewing….and quickly gave up.  So much easier just to hold it in place as I sewed!

Take your two 3 1/2″ pieces and place them right sides touching, raw sides together.  Make sure you know which edge to sew (based on the two 6 1/2″ squares it will be touching….pay attention to color and pattern placement).

Sew the two pieces together with a 1/4″ seam…do a quick backstitch at the beginning and end to tack the ends.

Here’s what the seam should look like on the right side.  Sew all of your pairs of 3 1/2″ squares together…but keep them placed out on your quilt so you know which direction they should go (again, watch your colors and patterns!).

Line up the raw edges of the 6 1/2″ square and the two (sewn together) 3 1/2″ squares….right sides touching.

Sew 1/4″ seams, and backstitch.

Here’s what it should look like.

Sew on the next pair of 3 1/2″ squares to the other side of your 6 1/2″ square and continue to the end of the row.

Here’s the first row I completed….you can see I didn’t follow my own advice about really watching my placement and which sides I was supposed to be stitching together….my snail was sideways!  I had to undo the stitching on both sides of that square, turn it, and redo it!

Do the same with your 2″ border strips.  Sew them all together-end to end with 1/4″ seams.  Then place them right sides together with your square strips, raw edges touching.  Sew a straight line down the whole strip (1/4″ seam), and backstitch at beginning and end. Once you do this to all of your strips, your quilt will be all in one piece….very satisfying to see it all come together!

I pinned the right sides of my quilt and the fabric for the back together.  I layered the batting on top of the quilt back and pinned it.

Ok, so I forgot to take pictures of these next couple of steps (sorry!), but they were pretty easy:

-I sewed all the way around (1/4″ seam), making sure to get the batting into the seam as well.  I left a 6-8 inch opening on one end so I could turn everything right-side out.

-Carefully stuff everything through the hole so that your quilt is facing right-side out.  At the hole, fold the raw edges under (and pin if necessary) and sew closed.  I use an 1/8″ seam allowance to sew it closed…..and then I keep going all the way around the edge of the finished quilt.  Then, I sew another stitch at a 1/4″ in from the edge….all the way around to give it a nice finished look.

Then I sewed along the right hand side of each of the strips of fabric in order to keep the batting in place.  I spread out the seam and used a light pink thread since it matched much of my fabric color and was light enough to be seen on the back of the quilt (my fabric was a yellow and white gingham on the back)

Done!

And she loves it!

Room for two!

P.S. Here’s where I’m linking up!

Milestones

I don’t have a ton to say today.  Jayna has worn me out….she asks “Why” after everything I say.  And comes up with her own questions when I don’t say anything!

“Mom, what would happen if we drove in the grass instead of the road?”  “Mom, why do kitty cats have whiskers?” “Mom, what happens on Tuesday.”  “Mom, what do caterpillars eat?”  “Mom, why did Rudolph have a red nose?  Why can’t he have a white nose?”  and so on…..

Whew!  It’s exhausting!

But, we have reached several milestones this week.  First of all, Amelia is 4 months old…and I managed to remember to take her photos on time (sorta).

Amelia also rode in the stroller for the first time (sitting up, not in her carrier).  She loved it!

Jayna has finally mastered her tricycle.  She probably would have done this a long time ago, but I have been a little slack on working with her on it during the day.

Loo Loo is still working on her tricycle skills.

Have a great weekend!

NOT my handiwork!

I just want to say, that yes, I am feeling pretty good about cutting Dave’s hair.  I, however have NOT yet attempted to cut Amelia’s hair.  Seems as though she has been taking care of that herself!

But alas, she really has taken after her sister….rat-tail and all!  Jayna had the same issue and I let it slide until she was about 9 months old.  Then I snipped that tail off myself, before subjecting her to her first real haircut with Ms. Kelly when she was a year.  Family-do you remember these pics of Jayna?

Terrible, isn’t it?  My New Year’s Resolution this year just may be to get my kid’s hair cut!

Letters to Santa

You know the Christmas Season is officially here when Santa makes appearances all over town.  He has been spotted downtown, riding around neighborhoods on a fire truck, and at various school and church breakfasts each week.  Last weekend, he spent the morning at our church, eating with Jayna’s friends and schoolmates.  It was a lovely little potluck spread, complete with little foam, sticker and coloring activities for the kids, balloon figures, and of course, Mr. Claus himself.

“Dear Santa, I have been a very good girl this year.  Please bring me a bean bag chair!  Thank you! Love, Jayna”

When it was finally their turn to talk to Santa, they could not contain their excitement!  Amelia was a bit overwhelmed with the crowds, and Jayna could not stand still to save her life!

But overall, we ended up getting some great quality time with Santa.  Jayna sat and talked with him for a few minutes, and then Amelia joined her on his lap and we managed to get a pretty good picture!