Crazed and Confused

I have had a lot going on lately. Even sitting down to type this is a bit overwhelming because I feel like I should be doing other things. So I’m going to make it short and sweet and try to explain why I haven’t been writing for a couple of weeks. I’m sure I’ve missed it way more than any of you out there!

I think the fastest and easiest way to do this is just to list a few things off and you can tell me if you think it’s worth my having missed two weeks of blogging just to do a few little things that I’m sure a more organized person would have struggled far less to do. : )

• I’m helping with organizing some details and data entry for a benefit auction for Eden’s school. The auction isn’t until next month, but between making a gazillion phone calls to iron out details of the donations and entering everything into the system I’ve been stressing out (to put it mildly)
• Adaleine’s birthday party is coming up next month, and I’ve been pinning like crazy to figure out what I want to do, how I want to decorate, what I want the cake to look like and what games I want to play. I know this really isn’t a big deal to some people, but it is for me. ; )
• I volunteered to make some curtains for a friend and to attempt to make a slipcover for her glider. To be honest, I’ve been putting this off because I am SO nervous about the glider covers. I’ve never done anything like it before and certainly not for someone else, so…yeah.
• We (my sister and I) painted the kiddos’ bedroom at the beginning of the month. I’ve spent the weeks since then trying to figure out what color to paint the living room. I’ve gone through five or six sample pots from Home Depot and narrowed it down to two. Just when I thought I had made my final decision, I read in my Family Circle magazine that Nate Berkus calls one of the other colors I was thinking about his ‘go-to’ paint color. So now I’m back to two colors to choose from. Darn you, Nate Berkus!
• Trying to find time in the insanity to also start work on Halloween costumes. Eden is going to be Little Bo Peep from Toy Story and Sissy is going to be Jessie. I am going to try to make their costumes myself, but I totally caved and bought Judah Bear’s alien costume off eBay. I know my limits. Kind of.
• The kids and I made a trip back to my hometown for a few days with the goal of visiting family and friends. Then all of us came down with savage colds right before going so we spent the whole visit lying around and just hanging out. Although, it was actually really relaxing to get to lounge in t-shirt and jeans and just talk to my aunts for almost 48 hours straight, but I was bummed we didn’t get to see some of the friends we’d hoped to. Next time.
• The day after coming home from our visit, we hit the road again (for just an hour this time) to spend the day at the zoo with my sister and her kids and my dad and his wife. Needless to say the kids slept like rocks that night!

Now that I look at it, it really doesn’t seem like that much. But trust me, I’ve been a little bit crazed. It’s been one of those ‘spin around in circles trying to figure out where to start and I have no idea so I just sit down and read a blog’ couple of weeks. Please tell me you know what I’m talking about! On that note, a big shout out to Young House Love, Bower Power, The Handmade Home and IHeartOrganizing for killing my time the past couple of weeks. I love you all : )

I promise to be back soon! I have so much to talk about (surprise, surprise) and I can’t wait to share. Until then, I leave you with this picture of my kiddos at the zoo last weekend. Miss Eden was sitting on a wet spot where a leaf had previously rested and she made me pay for it with that face. Ah, sweet little munsters!

Momma Bod

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve made it clear that being a mom is hard. Hard on your heart, hard on your sanity, sometimes it’s hard on your marriage. But that isn’t what I’m going to address today. Today is about something that we ALL struggle with. Our stinking bodies.

Rather than bore you with details of my transformation from pre- to post-baby body, I’ll give you the highlights. I’m not showing you any pictures. Not on your life, folks. : )

• Let’s talk stretch marks. I’d heard the term before I had kids. I’d even read some of those stupid poems online about how women love their stretch marks because it’s a beautiful reminder of their baby’s growth or something and I thought I could be that woman. But I’m not. My stomach and sides look like rabid wolves attacked me. I’m not loving it.

• Speaking of stomachs, what’s up with that? I feel like someone should have told me that all of my abdominal muscles would vanish after having kids. When Landon and I started doing P90X when Adaleine was about 18 months old, I was trying to do the Core Synergistics workout (I hate Tony Horton) and I literally could not sit up at the beginning. Landon thought I was kidding until I yelled something at him like, “I’ve had two little humans stretch my stomach out so much that I’m like Gumby!” Then he shut up. : )

• I’m not going to talk in detail about what babies and breastfeeding does to your boobs. Suffice it to say you’ve been warned.

• If you have your babies by c-section or as my sister says “the way God intended” you will generally retain bladder control. If you have babies the way that makes you worry about pooping on the doctor, you’re gonna want to invest in some Depends. I’ve had three babies the screaming/poop-worrying way and when I gotta go, I gotta go. Other problem situations are funny friends (I’m talking to you, Kassy Marsh!), multiple sneeze attacks, any kind of coughing fit, and construction on the interstate. A good rule of thumb is go early, go often.

• Another bonus that is a bit more specific to me is a little skin discoloration. You’ve heard of pregnancy mask, right? Where you sometimes get skin discoloration around your mouth while you’re pregnant? Well, the upside of that is that it usually fades within a couple months of having your munchkin. The fun part of my particular case is that it didn’t go away. Bummer, huh? So I have some dark spots above my upper lip that make it look like I have an Errol Flynn mustache. Mr. Bug says no one notices but me, but I’m not buying it. (If you read this and see me afterward, please don’t just look at my lip. Tell me you want to see my ‘stache and I’ll feel a lot less self-conscious) : )

And there you have it. All that you have to look forward to. Men, please do not expect your wives to be an exception to any of these rules. She will have tiger gashes, she will not be able to do sit-ups for a while, she will occasionally pee her pants a little bit and she may end up rocking a ‘stache. Women, these things will probably ending up affecting you in some way, with the possible exception of the Flynn facial hair look-alike.

It’s not all bad though. I may not love those stretch marks, but if subtracting them from my body means that I don’t have my babies—no dice. And who really needs to do sit-ups anyway? I can roll onto my side to help heave myself out of bed at 3:00 in the morning when a little one starts to cry. And really the bladder control is hardly even an issue. Judah won’t be potty-trained for a while so I’ll have diapers on hand. Even the mustache effect isn’t too big a deal. ‘Stache parties are all the rage right now. Maybe for my 30^th birthday? : )

Party On! Eden's Gnomeo & Juliet Birthday Party

Before I get started here, let me just say something. I have written this post once already. I am incredibly frustrated because I can’t find it on the computer anywhere so I’m starting from scratch. Very frustrating!

Anyway, here I go again. I wanted to get back to all 12 of my faithful readers who have been on the edge of their seats. You’ve been patiently waiting for me to let you know how Eden’s birthday party went back in June. That’s right. June. Bear in mind this is my second time writing this. Keep your judgments to yourselves. : )

So I told you all about my ideas for Eden’s birthday party here. The theme was Gnomeo & Juliet and the fact of the matter is I totally nailed it. Just sayin’. I wasn’t able to do a lot of crazy expensive stuff, but the stuff that I got done was so much fun!

This was the invitation I put together. I cut out 6,000 Gnomeos & Juliets. (Slight exaggeration)

We had Eden's birthday party on Sunday, June 10^th. We had moved to our new house on Saturday the 2^nd and I worked like crazy to get settled in time for her party. Oh, and did I mention that we also made the trip to my sister’s in Omaha for another birthday party the day before? And that we took extended family pictures the morning of Eden’s birthday party, also in Omaha? Just so the insanity of the day is clear. : )

Here are some of our little friends prepping for cupcake duty

We had a bit of rain right before the party which could have made the outdoor festivities slightly horrible. But it cleared up just in time for us to enjoy near 90-degree weather for the afternoon. We had over 30 people in attendance with kids and grown-ups alike. The kiddos could choose to play Pin the Hat on the Gnome, Bowling for Gnomes, or run the Lawnmower Race Course. The lawnmower races were a big hit and all the kids were sweaty and ready for refreshments when the time came.

A friend of mine made Eden's Juliet outfit especially for her big day! She loved it!

I found this gnome bowling set online and picked up a couple of larger bouncy balls from Target for the kiddos to use

My sweet hubby drew the Gnomeo and Juliet posters and cut out all of those little hats. Yay for Mr. Bug!

For sweets and treats, we served Pink Flamingo Punch (strawberry slushy punch), Muddy Gnome Crackers (graham crackers dipped in chocolate), Wiggly Snail Jigglers (Jell-O jigglers cut into snail and hat shapes), and Lil’ Shroom Cupcakes (pretty self-explanatory). They were a hit all around!

Here are our Lil' Shroom Cupcakes. I tried a few different decorations, but my favorites are the pinwheels : )

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of this story. I’ll be back before too long; Sissy’s birthday is next month and I’ve got ideas out the wazoo! Rainbow Party, here we come!

Here are the dessert tables. My awesome sister made the circle garlands for me 

My little labels for the treats : ) These were fun to make

For a fun thank-you for all of her fabulous gifts, I had prints of this made to send out. This may be my new 'thing' : )

All About Eve: Being a Woman is Hard

Sadly, this post will not feature any performances by Bette Davis or Thelma Ritter. My deepest apologies if I got your hopes up. : ) This is a much more…female post.

I’ve been wanting to write this post for about five months now. Actually, I’ve been wanting to write this post one day a month for about five months now. Then that day passes and I decide to wait another month. But not this month! This month I’m going to give Eve a piece of my mind.

Here's the deal. There are definitely advantages to being a woman. We have much cuter accessories, we get to wear makeup to cover up zits, and we have the option to veto stupid movie choices. But we have some pretty serious cons, too. (I’m not going to get into the theological aspects of whether or not Eve is to blame for the sin of mankind; she is simply going to be my ‘womanhood sucks’ scapegoat.)

First off, I understand the appeal of the idea of knowing everything. Knowledge of good and evil and whatnot. There is definitely an argument to be made for that. But seriously lady, if you’d just been a leeeetle bit patient Google would have shown up in a couple of thousand years. You can find the answer to pretty much anything on there. Ah, blessed Google.

Next in my list of major issues with Eve is the whole ‘time of the month’ issue. I’m sure there are women out there who don’t mind their seven days of misery, and those women should probably have their medication adjusted. For my part, I do not love the sudden loss of freedom that comes with making sure you have all the goods you need to make it through the day, the sudden punch in the gut of cramps, and that moment of panic when you realize it’s coming and you’re in public with no supplies. I’d like to imagine that our cycle signals would feel more like being tickled by fairies if she hadn’t eaten that dang apple. Or fig. Or whatever the heck it was. It was probably a Red Delicious. Those things always look way better than they taste.

This leads me to the main event. The complete culmination of cringing, cramping, and crying. (Check out that amazing alliteration!) That beautiful experience in which you scream, curse your unborn child, try to break your husband’s fingers, and worry about pooping on the doctor. Let me just say this: if Eve had had any inkling of what was in store for her to have all those little humans, she would have kept her distance from that tree. Or from Adam. And she would have reconsidered all those kids. Especially Cain. That dude was nothing but trouble from the beginning. I think the stork delivery would have been a totally viable option if not for that blasted tree.

This is right before they started me on the drugs to induce labor with Miss Eden. Don't I look radiant? (You can also replace 'radiant' with 'bloated, uncomfortable, and downright pissed off.')

The fact remains that women do have quite a few interesting experiences. However, if we didn’t have to get through all those things, we wouldn’t get to experience the awe of a positive pregnancy test, the tickly flutter of first kicks, the giddy elation of holding that little munster for the first time, and the privilege of kissing tears away to make everything better. I wouldn’t trade any of it. So I guess if I saw Eve, I’d give her an awkward side hug and tell her to stop beating herself up. We get it. And the pros outweigh the cons. By a landslide.

This picture reminds me of the saying "Many hands make light work." I love that it's so obvious that our family wouldn't be nearly as lovely without all of those little hands. 

Bumming Around

Just thought I'd pop in and say 'hello!' Hello! : ) I'm not feeling super awesome today, so the munsters and I are having a very low-key day. Eden didn't have school today so we've had a pajama day so far. I love these days!

Hope you're all having a great day!

Pregnancy Scare

I had a pregnancy scare this morning. I say this morning, but it has actually been something that’s been at the back of my mind for a couple of days and I took the test this morning. No worries, it was negative, but I’ve had it on my mind.

I’m generally pretty regular in that area. Not necessarily always to the day, but more often than not I know what’s coming, if you know what I mean. : ) Plus, since I had Judah, I’ve been getting really—girly every time I’m about to start. I hate it. I get all emotional and weepy and snappy and mean. Just ask the fam. It ain't pretty.

With the past couple days and being just a little bit late, I've had all these “What if?” thoughts running through my mind. I kept thinking if I really am pregnant, what do I do? Not in regards to the pregnancy; I wouldn’t consider ending the pregnancy just because I didn’t want another baby. I mean just as far as telling people.

This is Mr. Bug and I right before I was induced with Eden. I was so swollen!! We were so young!!!

I have made it very clear to anyone who asks that I do not want another baby. I am aware that this statement in itself is very selfish and arrogant. I have a good friend who would love to have another baby. I have a sister who has struggled getting pregnant as well. There are countless women out there who would love to have a baby to love and hold and here I can’t help but wince at the thought of having another baby.

My little Adaleine was only a couple of weeks old in the picture. Such a sweetie : )

What would I say? I know I would get many ‘funny’ comments such as “You know what causes that, right?” and things like that. And I would have to laugh along with them even though I’d want to make a rude comment. I know that people, my family especially, would think without saying it that we’re foolish and irresponsible to get pregnant again. That I’m overwhelmed enough as it is and that it would simply be too much.

 

Just a week or two before I had Judah. I was as big as a house. A very big house. With a three-car garage.

 

The fact remains though that it is possible that I would get pregnant again. I am not on birth control for a number of reasons, so there is the possibility. Mr. Bug’s health insurance does not cover a vasectomy or the procedure to take care of it on my end either. (I just hate the term ‘getting your tubes tied.’ Yuck)

Our little family on Mother's Day a couple of months after Judah Bear was born

I know I will need to take care of all of it soon or I’m going to have a very different result to a pregnancy test. Landon has made it clear that he wouldn’t have a problem with that, and I have made it clear that if that happens he stays home and I go to work. I’m only partly kidding. : )

I have no resolution to this. I’m kind of just spilling my guts to the blogosphere. I figure the more real I am, the more I might connect with a momma out there who might be feeling the same way I do. Mommyhood is hard; I don’t want any of us to feel like we’re going it alone.

 

Operation Get My Poop in a Group

You know that scene in What About Bob? where Bob is getting ready to leave his apartment? It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen that movie so I could be remembering it totally wrong, but I just picture him saying, “Baby steps to the door. Baby steps to the elevator. Baby steps to the…” You get the idea.

That’s the general idea with “Operation Get My Poop in a Group.” Where it all started is this: my house is a wreck. We moved in at the beginning of June and I had such high hopes for the organizational possibilities of this house. There are three bedrooms! A kitchen with an attached dining area! Laundry room instead of closet! Two bathrooms! Great big living room! And do you know what all of that means?!

It means zilch if I don’t just—here it is—get my poop in a group! Sorry, Mom. I know you probably think that’s inappropriate, but I toned in down from what I say in my head. : )

Here are some of the things I want to conquer: all of my kitchen cupboards (one at a time so I don’t go completely bonkers), bathroom cabinet, kids’ closet shelves, kids’ closet hanging storage, downstairs bedroom/office/dumping ground, laundry area…Hmm. Maybe I should just say I want to organize my house.

The problem is though, that I can organize it all I want but if I don’t KEEP my poop in a group so to speak, it will all be a mess again in a week. Okay, a day. So what I really want to do is find some systems that really make sense for me and my family and the way we live. Can you tell I stalk the IHeartOrganizing blog? I am unapologetically obsessed.

I decided to start off small with the cabinet where I keep my food storage containers. I also keep paper towels and extra spices up there, so I had to make sure it all worked to shove neatly arrange it all back in there. First I took it all out.

I have a bit of a mish-mash of storage containers here, but the ones on the right are AWESOME for Miss Eden's lunches

Then I went through each container and lid and matched them all together. Anything that didn’t have a match got tossed. Adios, losers!

Oh, and I also made a mental note to ask someone to buy me some glass storage containers for Christmas. Anyone?

It’s not rocket science; it took me less than ten minutes and that includes interruptions for kiddos crying and giving Eden iced animal crackers to go feed the ants. I just put on a little Allen Stone and I was in the zone.

My pared down collection

My newly organized cupboard!

See? If I can try to get my crazy house organized you can, too. One step at a time. Baby steps to the kitchen, baby steps to the cupboard, baby steps to empty out the cupboard…Good luck! : )