New Year's Resolutions

I'm generally not big on resolutions, but I LOVE the new year. It seems so refreshing. I was especially excited about this new year because 2010 was a rough year for us & I'm happy to have it done with so we can start over again. So I'm making resolutions this year. Or maybe they're just goals. Whatever. They are (in no particular order):

- Blog more often.
Because I enjoy it & maybe someone out there does too (hi John & Mom!).

- Take more pictures & write more.
John thinks my camera is permanently attached to my hand, but the boys are growing so fast & I love have pictures of as much as I can. I don't write nearly enough down (you'd think from looking at Cooper's baby book that he was the 14th child in our family instead of the first). Blogging more will help a little, but I'm going to try to write a little note about each kid every day in a planner. Just cute things they did or said, or milestones, that we can look back on when they're older.

- Appreciate my family & friends more, and let them know it.
I truly love & appreciate all my family & friends, but I don't do a great job of letting them know how much so that's a big goal for me this year (and for all the years to come!).

And, because you HAVE to have a weight loss resolution or it's just not New Year's:

- Lose 500 lbs.
Seriously. John and I actually did tremendous as far as weight loss goes in 2010. I returned to my pre-Dexter-pregnancy weight, which was significantly less than my pre-Cooper-pregnancy weight. And John lost more than 70 lbs this year. It's amazing & I'm so proud of him. He looks great & is so much healthier than before. But more on all that (with before & after pictures!) in a future post.
Our house, on the other hand, is morbidly obese. I plan to declutter (sell, donate, recyle, or throw out) 500 lbs this year. We've decluttered a lot this year, but have so much further to go. I came across this, & I love the idea. I'll keep you all updated on our progress.

Maybe I'll add a couple more goals, but I figure this is a good start.

Why I haven't had time to blog (an excuse in the form of photo essay & paranthetical phrases)

(Dexter walking at 10 months)

(The boys' first baseball game)

(Look, it's a Dexter holder)

Na-ne-na-ne-boo-boo

John came across this in someone's front yard (there was a sign saying it was free, of course) & he knew it was my style. It's hard to tell the size in the picture, but it's totally adorable.. it's about 3 1/2 feet tall. And that's textured contact paper on the inside. So cute!


So the big question is, what do I do with it?

John thought it would be good for gardening stuff, but I'm nervous about leaving it outside (it'd be on our covered deck, but I'm still nervous about it getting wet if there's a lot of blowing rain) & don't want to put anything dirty inside it. I'm thinking maybe indoors, although I'm a little afraid of the boys pulling it down on themselves. (Huh. And John thinks I overthink things...) Maybe for cloth diapers or fabric & notions (see Mom & Karen - I read your minds). What do you think?

West Wing Swap

I did it! I love swapping crafts on Craftster.org & I finally decided to organize my a swap on there. It's a West Wing themed swap because, well, it's the best tv show of all time. You can check out my swap here.

P.S.

You may have noticed my awful haircut in the last post. In my defense, this is the picture I brought in to the "stylist" (if you can call her that):

I'm not sure how it turned into the haircut I got. And that was three weeks ago so it's grown out a bit. Yuck.

My cool new shoes

I collect Converse All-Stars & love Dr. Seuss, so someone sent me these in a swap - hand-painted Dr. Seuss Converse All-Stars. Doesn't get much cooler than that.

Random thing I love

Just have to say that I love this:
"Up" inspired cardboard playhouse
I especially love it because this is the EXACT conversation John & I would have (including the use of the word "Crazytown"):

Now, husband will tell you, "I just wanted to stick a couple of boxes together, cut a couple of holes in them for windows, and call it her Up house. *YOU* took it to Crazytown."

Care packages for military service members

I just learned about this today. The USPS offers a "military kit" of shipping supplies for military families:

While it can’t cut postage costs, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does provide help to military families and friends shipping care packages overseas to their deployed service members. Since Priority Mail® supplies are the packaging of choice for families and friends preparing care packages for service members overseas, the post office has created a "Mili-kit" based on the items most frequently requested by the military. This kit is available for free to military families.
It contains:
Three (3) each of flat rate boxes
Two each of Cube boxes
Address labels
One roll of Priority Mail tape
15 customs forms with envelopes
The kit may be requested by calling 1-800-610-8734 Choose your language (1 is English, 2 is Spanish).
Choose option 1 (it states it is for Express Mail®, Priority Mail or Global Express Guaranteed® products).
When you reach a live agent, request CAREKIT04, the “Military Kit. Allow 7-10 days for delivery. Note: These are free supplies only. Military families must still affix postage to the package.

I will be ordering mine tomorrow morning.

50 free photo cards

I swear, a real post is coming soon, but I had to share this: 50 free photo greeting cards - good until November 30!

http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/2009/11/50-free-photocards-shipped-free-too.html

My solemate

I thought it was John, but then I saw this. (Get it - "sole"mate instead of soulmate? I'm hilarious.)

Me & my big mouth...

So I'm 38+ weeks pregnant now which means weekly doctor's appointments. It wouldn't be so bad except that the wait at the doctor's is RIDICULOUS. Thankfully, John's mom agreed to watch Cooper today so I didn't have the entertain him for the hour & 20 minutes in the waiting room & then the extra 20 minutes in the examining room. So I finally see the doctor & all she has to do is measure me & listen to the baby's heartbeat. It should be quick & simple. She asks, "So, is the baby moving?" And my answer should have been, "Yes, absolutely," but instead I say, "Yeah, not as much as before, but he's moving." BIG MISTAKE. What I mean to convey is that the baby is no longer doing somersaults & flip flops, mostly likely because it's starting to get a little cramped in there, but what the doctor hears is "decreased fetal movement". So she asks me to do a fetal non-stress test. Today. Just to be sure everything's okay. Luckily, John's mom agrees to blow off whatever plans she had for the day to stay with Cooper longer, & I spend another couple hours at the doctors office.
At 2:30 pm I'm finally finished (I arrived minutes before my scheduled doctor's appointment time of 10:30 am). The ultrasound shows the baby is measuring correctly, head down, weighs approximately 6 lbs & 15 oz, & has a good heartbeat & is testing out his breathing skills. Non-stress test shows everything to be fine.
BUT, once they order a NST, they recommend you continue having them twice a week until delivery, so now I'm expected to take a NST every Monday & Thursday from now until the baby arrives. UGH! And for what purpose? Basically because I made a comment that was a little too close to a red flag & now everyone wants to cover their butt.
My doctor says that she just ordered the one & now it's up to the NST specialist to decide follow up. NST specialist says they follow up with bi-weekly test for everyone where another doctor is concerned enough to send them for one. Are you kidding me?? Not that I don't want to do whatever is necessary to make sure my baby is safe & healthy, but come on! What a huge waste of time & money! And they say the test only takes half an hour, but factor in travel time, waiting time, and the fact that Cooper naps right in the middle of the day & the whole day is shot. So instead of spending my last week or so before the baby just relaxing, preparing for the baby, & spending quality time with Cooper I will be wasting 2 entire days a week on unnecessary testing.
So the next time you're complaining about the high cost of insurance, think of me. It's people like me that make dumb, random, poorly thought out comments to doctors causing hundreds (or is it thousands?) of dollars to go towards unnecessary tests. Yah me.

Coolest swap..

Okay, I know I babble & post about swaps a lot. I just can't resist. And here's why! I participated in a "wist" swap. If you're unfamiliar with a wist, check this out. A wist is basically a wish list you create on the www.wists.com website. You can include any picture you find on the internet, even if it's not a store or item for sale. So for this swap we were supposed to check out the other person's wist & craft items they had included on there or items inspired by things they included on there. That way, you're surprised at what you're getting, but guaranteed to like it! Perfect!
Here's just some of what I got:

A sign for my perpetually-messy/noisy house

Onesies for the new baby & a shirt for Cooper

And a 2-piece painting.

Not pictured here is a robot keychain, a fabric embroidered family tree wall hanging, and matching ironing board cover & pin cushion with thread catcher.
How awesome is that?

Garage sale weekend

We've been needing to clear out a lot of stuff lately so I decided to have a garage sale. My mom suggested I bring all my stuff to her house because they have a town-wide garage sale weekend. Sounded good to me! No cleaning our garage, no advertising, I got all the stuff out of the house (& unlike if I had in my garage, nothing stayed - since I had to pack everything in the car anyway it went straight to the Salvation Army), & great babysitters!

Cooper helped to "test" some of the merchandise. He also claimed two hideous Homer Simpson dolls that talk & sing & dubbed them his "guys". He couldn't be separated from them all weekend or most of the next week. Luckily, I was able to hide them away eventually & there has been no mention of them for a while.

There was obviously a lot of pricing to do...

But, there was a little goofing off too.

Okay, maybe a lot.

And by the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted.

Too little, too late

Forgive me. I've been a completely negligent blogger. I would like to promise I'll be better, but I'm now 8 months pregnant, we're trying to sell our house & move, I'm planning Cooper's 2nd birthday (which will be a very small affair considering I'm due on his birthday) & the crafts projects are piling up (not that that's a bad thing, it just keeps me busy).

Cooper & I babysat my parents' 5 dogs & cat at their house while they went to visit my brother for his family day at Army training in Minnesota. We hung out at the house a lot, but managed to get out for some ice cream & the park.

"I like it!"

Cousin Karen came to visit & we stayed for a bit after my Mom & Dad got home. We did some crafting & visited the quilt shop.

Back at home, Cooper discovered stickers.

Future blackmail picture

Me & Cooper cuddling on the couch with our "blankets"

Catching up on life

Okay, so in between having a sick dog, finding out my brother is leaving for Afghanistan, starting my new Avon business, and having a new niece, some other stuff has happened that I haven't posted about. I keep meaning too, but the pictures keep piling up.

Update on Dora: Thanks everyone for all your comments & everything. I really appreciate it. Dora had a single dose of chemo & is on steroids. Her lymph nodes have gotten back to normal & she seems to be perfectly healthy. She's in remission & you'd never know there's anything wrong with her. She has a huge appetite & drinks water by the gallon (side effects of the steroids), but otherwise she's her normal self. She visits the oncologist again next week for a check up. We're hoping her remission lasts as long as possible.

So, here's our life recently - in pictures.

John showing Cooper a chick at the Iroquis County Fair
(where, by the way, my mom won 2nd place for her Around the World quilt, and was totally cheated on her map quilt)

Geez, Mom, let the kids have a turn!

Caycee's birthday!

Children of the corn!

Cooper found heaven - and climbed in.

Yeah, Coop, I agree.

Catching up, craftwise

Sorry, if you're friends with me on Facebook you're probably sick of seeing this stuff, but here's some stuff I've made recently:

Little taggie blanket

Superhero cape

Tie shirts

Awesome patchwork pants. Cooper & I love these.

A Lost (the tv show) pouch. Get it? It's supposed to look like a beach and it has a plane keychain.

I've also received some really great crafted items recently from swaps on Craftster:

A crayon roll with a coloring book - the person who made it actually drew some really cool pictures for Cooper to color in

Burp cloths & a changing pad for the new baby

A hat for Cooper (I have a bit of a hat obsession - you can never have too many!)

A hat for the new baby

Onesies for the baby & a scrapbook for the boys

Déjà vu

This is Cooper in February of 2008, wearing a onesie I bought him. It's a little difficult to read, but it says, "My uncle loves me enough to defend my whole country."

Two years ago (pretty much to the day) I was hugely pregnant (even though I wasn't due 'til late October), my sister-in-law Dayna was on the verge of giving birth, and we got news that my brother would be deployed to a war zone for almost a year.

Fast forward to today: hugely pregnant - check, sister-in-law ready to pop - check, brother going to war zone - check. Except this time it's Adam going instead of Justin.

That onesie is the hand-me-down I didn't want this next baby to have.

I call this my "Just-add-high-heels-and-you'll-be-June-Cleaver" apron

I'm able to post what I sent for the "100 Facts About Me" swap now. See what I got here.
These are some of the facts I kept in mind about the person I was crafting for: has a 2-year-old son, wants a stuffed monster for her son, and likes 50s/60s kitchen stuff, the color blue, baking, entertaining, pearls, & the Loch Ness Monster.
I sent a recipe for Root Beer Float Cake I found online, a rubber stamp she wanted, a monster, a Loch Ness Monster tank top (I may make one of these for myself!), and an apron.





My mom is posing in the apron.. my big pregnant belly made it look all funky when I tried it on.