I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We had some AH-MAZING! weather here in the Midwest this weekend and it made our plans all the more enjoyable!

Friday was a pretty lazy day.  L was up and down all night so neither her nor I got much sleep.  We laid around most of the morning and then we both went and took naps in our rooms from 1 till about 4:30 in the afternoon.  I don't know about her, but my nap was lovely!  Once we woke up, L had a snack and watched some Gnomeo and Juliet while I got her packed up to go to her grandparent's house for the next two nights.  We both needed a break from each other and to catch up on our sleep.

L was out of the house by about 6:30 and I got busy cleaning up the house, getting things organized, and pretty much just enjoying the peace and quiet.  I turn the TV off, turn on some music, and just do what I need to do.

Husband got home about 8:30 and we actually just hung out in front of the TV that evening and ate pizza.  By midnight, I was ready for bed.  If it is possible, I died when my head hit the pillow.  I slept straight through until nine the next morning and it was bliss!

Saturday I spent running errands and enjoying some me time.  I browsed some stores, took in some of the latest fashions (some that I am not so sure about), and just enjoyed the weather and the music that Pandora provided for me.  Later that afternoon, I started getting ready to go out to The Muny with some of my people's to see Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppin's was awesome!  I enjoyed every minute of it.  I am just that artsy and that nerdy that productions like that fill my heart up and make me feel good again.  Since L has arrived, I have put that part of myself off.  I am the kind of person that needs to sink into her very favorite things and have those outlets for when other aspects of my life are out of control.  I need that solace that my favorite things provide.  (More on this topic in a later post.)

Here is me waiting on my people's to arrive!  P.S. I bought myself a new shirt for the occasion.  I should have taken a picture of the whole outfit-I was pretty proud of it!



I got home Saturday evening (after getting lost in a not so great part of St. Louis-sigh-I know better.  I lived there for a looong time and I still went left instead right! Argh!) and I was exhausted!  The husband and I got caught up on each other's day and evenings and then went to bed.  We were both so tired!

Sunday morning we woke up early and got ready to go pick up L from the grandparent's house so we could travel down to my  parent's house to celebrate my brother's birthday.  L was excited to see us and she was able to catch up on her sleep (both nights, all night long!) and off we went on our two hour drive, over the river and through the woods (literally) to my parents house.

Watching a kite fly

And eating a fresh cherry tomato from Nana and Papa's garden

L also has become fascinated with rocks, so we all got rocks given to us at various points throughout the day.  She loved to put them in our pockets for us.  The three she gave me are sitting on my window sill above the kitchen sink. Daddy even helped L pick me a flower and she brought it to me, then when I went to grab it, she jerked it back and said, "No, Mommy!  Mine!"  That's typical! Ha! :)

As most of you know, L was pretty sick for almost a week.  After two trips to the emergency room, we finally got it figured out: stomatitis.  It was terrible!  She could hardly eat or drink and, forget sleeping!  I was getting up every hour to two hours with her to try and soothe her back to sleep because the pain is terrible for her.  After the second emergency room trip, they were able to give me something to help her eat, drink, and sleep.  Fifteen minutes after the first dose of medicine, she wanted to eat and drink!  After three days of medicine and slowly gaining our appetite and thirst back, she was mostly back to her old self.  The sores have disappeared and the swelling is non-existent.  We are still waking up at least once or twice throughout the night, but I'm not sure the two are related.

After I figured we were in the clear, I started constructing my plan of attack on de-germing the house! I de-germ after every illness that happens in the house, regardless of who it is.  I don't like knowing there are germs hanging around in my house.  I banish them as soon as I can.  Not only does that save on recurring illnesses, but the house feels better after a good de-germing!

I thought maybe my readers may want to know what I do to get rid of germs, so I have compiled a list of things that I do after L has been sick.  This list also works if my husband or I get sick, too.

1.  Strip the bed:  I always pull all the bedding off of the bed and toss it in the washer.  This also goes for any blankie's, lovie's, etc. that a child may have. I then take L's mattress off of her bed and wipe it down with a good, warm rag.  While the mattress is drying, I wipe down the crib with a different warm rag.  I then get my trusty Lysol and I spray the mattress, the crib, and her room down.  I leave the room to air out and move on to my next portion of the house.

2.  Clean the bathroom:  I not only clean my bathroom after an illness, but the toothbrushes get pitched (especially after this illness) and replaced with new ones, the bath toys get sanitized and rinsed, and once again, Lysol is sprayed.  That room now airs out and you move onto the next phase.

3.  Sanitize the sippy's:  Clearly, my husband and I don't use sippy cups, but L does and those need to be sanitized and scrubbed!  I start by taking all the sippy's she has used apart.  Yup, remove all the straws, seals, etc.  Next, fill your sink with as hot of water as you can stand OR boil some water on the stove and dump it in the sink and a capful of bleach.  Toss your sippy cups and the parts in the sink and let soak for about 15-20 minutes.  (While these are soaking, I go back and put the kiddo's room back together since her bedding is clean and ready to be put back on the bed.) Now that the cups and their parts have soaked, you need to rinse.  I used a pair of tongs to reach down and pull out each piece and rinse it off in my second sink.  I then placed it in my dish drainer to air dry.  



4.  Clean the rest of the house:  It never hurts to mop floors, dust, vacuum  etc. the rest of your house after someone has been sick.  I also Lysol everything down, too.  If, by chance, L has played with toys while she is sick, all of those get sanitized, too.  (A lot of the times, this is not the case.  She usually feels too crummy to play.) 

As I stated before, de-germing my home makes me feel better, not only as a person, but as a mother.  There is just something about a fresh, clean, germ-free home that puts this mom's mind at ease!

Tell me what you do to after your child, or the whole household, has been sick.  What is your de-germing method?

I made these Elmo party favor bags for our daughter's second birthday party.  They were super easy to make and were a big hit!  So, if you have an Elmo fan in your life, this post is for you!

These bags took me about a half an hour to do from start to finish.  I had 8 to do, so not really a large amount by any means.  The longest part was the cutting out of all the pieces. After that I just glued the pieces on in the shape of an Elmo face and done!

Supplies You Will Need:

• Red bags
• White, Black, and Orange Construction Paper
• Glue Stick
• Scissors

Instructions:

Gather your supplies and start cutting out white circles, smaller black circles, a black mouth, and a nose-sized orange circle. Once you have the amount you need cut out, grab a red bag and start gluing pieces on like you see below:

I realize that L's party happened almost a month ago.  I also realize that you may have forgotten all about the party by now.  I had every intention of doing a post a few days after her party, but I was still cleaning up the house from the party, dealing with some minor setbacks, and generally I was just really tired.  So, the post didn't get done.

Until now.

(I know a lot of you are curious about the Elmo DIY Goodie Bags that I made-that is going to be a separate post.  I am working on that post too and should have that to you all shortly!)

Back in May, I posted a little inspiration board to help plan L's 2nd birthday party and a lot of you were pretty excited to see the final result of her party.  I had some great ideas, I had some not-so-great ideas, and I even had ideas that didn't even get done because I just ran out of time!

Oh well.  You can't win them all!

Anyway, here is L's Elmo Extravaganza 2nd birthday party in pictures!





Favorite Moments:  L clapping her hands and getting excited every time she was asked if she was having fun at her party, the look on her face when she unwrapped the toy horse my parents got her, her excitement over her new kitchen set that E's parents got her, and her riding around on her little Disney Princess Power Wheel that we got her.

We had a really good time watching L be the little social butterfly that she is.  She enjoyed opening presents this year and was very excited about everything she got.  She's plays with everything she got so that is a plus.  Before her party, I did a purge of some toys that she no longer plays with and that made room for the new that came in!

Now to start planning for Christmas.....Ha!

***Rachael contacted me last month about writing a guest post for the blog and since I am currently nursing a toddler back to health (and sterilizing everything that has touched her mouth the past week), I knew this was the right time to share this.  It's also clearly summertime across the U.S. and what better time to make memories than in the summer? 

I have been in my head a lot lately.  The new house and the toddler are keeping me rather busy, but it's the thoughts in my own head that are forming a mental block.  I haven't been able to form the thoughts into words just yet.  I have been trying, but it is so hard sometimes when you are down deep into yourself.

I'm deep.  I'm sitting on my knees in some corner of my soul, sifting through things.  I'm piecing things together; I'm trying to make them make sense.  I have certain things stacked to my right-those are the things that I need to talk about-I just can't find the words.  So, those things, they will sit.  They will sit until the words come.  So, for now, I busy myself with the other small things.  Small thoughts.  Small words.  Small parts of myself.

I hope, soon, I can get up off of my knees and come back to the surface.

It is so hard to breathe in this state of being.

All I want to do is take a huge, deep, refreshing breath and come back to the surface.  I can't do that just yet.  I have to let these thoughts run their course.  I have to mull them over and over and over again before they will finally cease.  I have to give in so I can process these thoughts and figure out how to deal with them all.

If I don't, I sink further.  I have never forgotten what the edge feels like.  I remember the light-headed, teetering feeling.  I remember the moments before the fall.  I remember the falling and then the nothing.  The nothing that felt like it lasted for decades.  The slow, quiet crawl of yourself, the agonizing and bleak existence of the shell that walks around in your life.  A being that waits with bated breath for an outcome they are not sure of.

I am trained now.  I know how to keep myself back from the edge.  It took years of hard work and patience and communicating internally with myself to know just what to do.  And what not to do.

It's exhausting, this holding myself back from the edge.  It is almost over though.  These words you are reading are proof of that.  I am coming back, slowly.

This is about yesterday.

There is moral to this story at the end.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by to visit and she gave me 45 minutes of her time to let me vent.  Then, she told me I was her hero.

It was nice to be able to sit down and talk with another mother and have them "get you".  As in, you two have been through the same types of things with your children, you feel the same way about yourselves as a mother, and you share the same feelings about your personal selves.

I've just been having a hard time lately.  I have felt defeated most days at the end of the day and it is hard to lay there and not cry yourself to sleep.  There are only a handful of people I can actually talk to about motherhood and I have felt rather isolated lately.  It was nice to hear that I was, in fact, "normal" and that all of these feelings I am having are valid and very real.

Then, she said something that made me cry.  She told me that because I am able to stay at home with my daughter and not go absolutely insane, that I am her hero.  She said she couldn't fathom what it must take to do that after doing so much in my life before L.

I did have a very long stretch of life that was solely me.  I came and went as I pleased, I had college, I had jobs, I had E.  My life was very busy.  It isn't so much right now and that major life change was hard.  It is still hard.  I manage the best way I know how.

My friend took me by surprise.  I surely don't feel like a hero, let alone to another mother.  I was flattered.  Then, when I get that way, I usually cry.  I felt better after our conversation and the rest of the day was a snap.

Moral of the story:  Take time to listen to others.  It isn't hard to see someone in distress if you just look very carefully and open yourself up.  You never know what you could be doing for the person sitting across from you. 

We have spent the last four days going non-stop with all the festivities this past weekend.  Too much BBQ has been consumed, a lot of sun has been soaked up, and a lot of water has been played in.  So, while I continue to clean up the disaster area that is my house, (because who wants to clean after being out in the sun all day) I leave you with some photos of our weekend shenanigans!

A few weeks ago, I happened to win a blog giveaway! In that giveaway, not only did I win some advertising for my blog over at Green Mountain Couple and Everyday Life, but I got a $25 gift certificate to Cloud Nine Designz.  Now, I love jewelry!  In a former life, I had tons and tons of jewelry to accessorize my outfits that I wore to work or class.  Sadly, over the years, the jewelry collection has almost become extinct, but I am working hard to replace a lot of it with unique and quality pieces.  

When I read the description that Mandee had written over at Etsy, I knew I would find something right up my alley!  The big keyword for me was "handmade".  That's the best kind of jewelry to own, in my opinion.  A piece of the creator is embedded in the piece that you own.  By purchasing, wearing, and talking about a specific piece, you are helping the creator's dreams to come true!  I mean, wouldn't we all love to be able to have everyone's dreams come true and we could dance on rainbows and eat chocolate without getting fat, and toddler's wouldn't teethe so badly, and....Oh wait...sorry...I got off track there...

Anywhoo...

You wanna see what I got??

Stock Photo Cloud Nine Designz

This is their Teal Turquoise Flower Bracelet.  It is made of  turquoise metal flower beads, turquoise beads, black beads, and stretch string.  Yes, that's right, it slips off and on.  I have very tiny wrists.  A lot of bracelets do not fit me properly i.e. they just fall off, but this one is great!  It stretches enough so I can get it over my hand and it is tight enough that it doesn't fly off my wrist.  With my arms at rest at my sides, it sits very nicely where it is supposed to.

Stock Photo

Stock Photo

Stock Photo

If you are in need of a gift for someone or would like to purchase something for yourself, head on over and check out Mandee and her beautiful jewelry.  You won't be disappointed!

Dear L,

You are 2 today!  I can't believe how much you have grown this past year.  It really does seem like only yesterday that we were waking up every 3-4 hours so you could eat and get a diaper change.  Those first six weeks went by so fast.  People told me they would, but I didn't really let it sink in, until now.

Some day's I sit and watch you play and I am amazed that you are even in the same room as me.  You came from me, something that I was told wasn't possible, but here you are!  You are incredibly active (okay, actually, you are non-stop most of the day. HA!) and you are learning how to talk.  You say so many things now and I am floored each time you say something new.  I talk to you as much as I can, because I know that is how you learn.



We read books together and we play with your dolls.  We watch Caillou and Spongebob and Clifford.  You like Elmo and Snow White.  Ellie is your constant companion through it all, as am I.  You're my constant companion.  We go everywhere together, L.  You love the grocery store and you like to "help" me pick out food and put things in the cart.

You love to be outside and explore.  I have fun watching you play outside.  It isn't that I don't want to play with you when we are outside-I just love watching you.  You help Mommy to remember all of those things I have forgotten.  One day you will understand what I mean.  Don't be in a hurry to grow up, L.  I know I will hear you say this countless times over the years, but trust me, it all goes so fast anyway.  Enjoy it while you can.



You are Daddy's favorite.  Any time you get to spend with Daddy is your favorite time.  There are so many thing's Daddy can't wait to do with you.  He's talked about them so much this past year.  Oh, the fun you and Daddy are going to have!  I can't wait for those memories for you.



You are the sunshine in a lot of people's lives, L, just by being yourself.  Don't ever stop being yourself.  I hope that as you get older, you will remain true to who you are.  That's what I am here for-to help you with that.  There are a lot of thing's Mommy knows about that she wants you to understand.  Some of those things you will have to learn on your own, I know this, but I will always be here to help you when you need it.

I can't believe you are 2, baby girl.  You are napping right now and you will probably wake up soon, so I need to end this here.  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and we love you very much.  I can't wait to see all of the things you learn this year!

All my love,
Mommy

I slowly walked down the hall to our bedroom to retrieve my cell phone charger.  When I made the left into our room and looked upon my nightstand, there was something else there that wasn't normally there.

I could see the title Guideposts almost instantly.  As I got closer, I noticed the words written on the front cover "Page 67" and underneath that a smiley face and the words "Love you!".  It was my mom's handwriting.

After a very busy, taxing, and exhausting day of family, friends, toddlers, birthday cake, presents, tantrums, and falls-I was beat.  I took a deep breath and grabbed the Guideposts and my charger, and walked back to the living room.

I sat down on the couch and turned to page 67.  It was a short article.  I thought to myself, "Oh I have time.  I wonder what Mom has found for me to read.."

As I began to read the article, I instantly knew why this was left on my nightstand.  In case you missed my last post, there is a battle of wills going on  between L and I.  She will be 2 on Tuesday and she has already started exhibiting actions that can only be labeled as "the terrible twos".  These past couple of weeks have been very trying and very exhausting.  I haven't been this tired since my last year of collage when I was pregnant, gave birth to, and took care of a newborn on top of finishing my degree.

The article started out like this: