JT's library

I've been pining for yard sale season lately. In order to get a little fix, JT and I visited the second-hand store one evening this week. He got a pair of swimming trunks for $1.60 (because we plan to take him to the pool soon for some splashing.) And I got 3 books. Ok, the books are "for him". But really, they're for me.

My favorite is Will's Mammoth:


I love the drawings and how the text works right along with them. The story just wreaks of imagination. The little boy imagines that he spends the day playing with a woolly mammoth and all the ice age creatures. Most of the pages just have pictures, so you can make up the story of his day as you go through the book... a book about imagination that requires imagination. Just look at these dreamy images:


The other two books are Clever Tortoise and Madeline and the Gypsies. Clever Tortoise won me over because it covers animals and African culture. It's also a cute tale with a lesson. And the Madeline book, well! Any story about a kid who runs off to be with the gypsies has to be good! LOL - I like when Miss Clavel gets the postcard and realizes that Madeline has forgotten how to spell in her time with the gypsies! Oh and sure, it has some French culture as well...


I've added many of JT's books to a list on WorldCat. Check it out: JT's Library.

new handmade

So I can't give up the handmade stuff. I bought these two prints for JT's room. Now I just hope they arrive before we go visit my brother. He can make me custom mats for them and I can paint up a couple yard sale frames to match all the other frames in his room. You know, the other frames that don't have anything in them yet. Yeah, yeah, I'll get to those.

Turtle Kite - Gocco Printed

by jenskelley

awww, how sweet is the turtle?!

Baloon flight

by MiaMiBox

This little girl in the balloon is a print of a mixed media painting. I love the trees. Have I mentioned how much he loves the balloon mobile in his room? My heart just lights up when he oohs and ahhs over it.

teething on a lollipop

valentine baby, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Sometimes after JT goes to bed, we sneak up to say good night again and watch him sleep. We did that tonight after watching Friday Night Lights. When that show ends, we say "shwew, thank goodness we won't have any teenagers for a while." Then we want to hug on our lovable bundle of joy while he'll still let us.

I mean, really... I'm not going to stop smothering him with hugs and kisses. He'll just have to get used to it. *kiss*

little taste of sugar

JT had his first taste of sugar... in the name of photography!



Oh yeah... Lost is back tomorrow. Can't wait! I just rewatched the last episode from last fall and I'm pumped!

Caesar... salad.

We had PF Changs takout for dinner. You know what that means... lettuce wraps, mmm-mmm.


Caesar... salad., originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Hey JT, you look like Caesar. Caesar salad!!

C'mon, lettuce go get a bath. :-)

feel good

feel good, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Little guy just coughed in his sleep. It was a nasty sounding cough, so I ran up to check on him... he was sound asleep still. But since I was there, I may as well kiss him and tell him I love him. He wrapped his little hand around my finger so tight in his sleep. Awww... this must be why mommies gain weight with pregnancy. If I were a smaller woman, I'd crawl right in his crib and cuddle with him. :-)

Last weekend was a long weekend out of town away from JT with our youth group. It was a great weekend, but exhausting in many ways. And uplifting, in many ways.

And then this week has been so busy at work. My eyes are so tired that when I blink they threaten not to open back up.

Good things planned for the weekend... looking forward to it. Also hoping to find some time to be creative!

blankie

blankie, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Aren't these blankies yummy?! I have an idea in mind for a blanket for JT... in the greatest shade of green. Now if I just had the energy to put it together. Last night I went to bed with a headache at 9pm. Tonight I've lasted til 10, but I'm fading fast.

I got some good tips from a quilter friend at work on how to attach seam binding. She also showed me how to make my own binding from fabric. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Just.need.energy.

My poor little guy is spending his days in misery over his teeth. I just want to spend the whole day snuggling him (and holding a teether for him to gnaw).

And so... I'm short on interesting things to post this week... maybe next week I will get some inspiration back.

play, play, play!

JT has been in bed for almost 2 hours now... I miss him! He was fun and adorable all weekend. He's teething pretty fiercely which causes some grouchiness, but overall... much happiness. The drooling and gnawing of teething has not been in vain, his first tooth came through this weekend!

On Saturday JT played with Ally and Nicholas most of the day. We walked in the park and played on the swings... it was beautiful outside! There was a LOT of baby laughter that day. We gave Ally the fleece blanket I started on around the start of the new year. I have a few more blankies lined up for the sewing machine... I'm pretty excited about how this one turned out and looking forward to some more:


John, JT and I spent a lot of time just playing. He is sitting up on his own really well now. He is launching backwards less every time we try it. :-) So we make little "baby nests" of pillows and toys and let him go to town.

So here's looking forward to another week of play and laughter... and no more growing up!!

6 months

Half a year already, can you imagine? Our little JT is so sweet... how did we ever get by without him? I think he had a pretty good half-year birthday today. He did have to get stuck a few times for vaccines, but otherwise it was fun. He weighs 17 lbs and is in perfect health.

His daddy took the day off and they hung out all day. The three of us had sushi for lunch. JT totally flirted with the cute waitress. He even convinced her to carry him around and she showed him off to the other tables. In the evening he and I had a little photo shoot (obviously), played some games, and watched Sesame Street.

I could write a blog post every day about how much I love him and what he means to me. I was thinking today about how lucky we are to have him and that he is so healthy (and I sent up a little prayer of thanks once again)... and I remembered the finch who visted us last May.

I'm pretty sure we weren't very thankful for him at the time and I called him some ugly names (sorry about that). Susannah pointed out that the finch symbolizes "multiplicity, new experiences and encounters." Other sources claim that during the Renaissance the finch was associated with the Passion and Christ's crown of thorns (because it eats thistle seeds).

His timing was just uncanny. He was around for a couple months at the end of my pregnancy. I don't remember exactly when he stopped visiting. And while a bird tapping on your window doesn't necessarily have to mean something, I can't shake the thought in my head that he was bringing us a message:

Your little boy is going to be just wonderful.

a blurb

Have you heard of Blurb? I'm going to try it out. The coolest thing is the ability to "slurp your blog into a book". How cool is that? I think if I had in mind that my blog would become a book at the end of each year, it would take on new meaning.

So this year... more stories and more pictures. What do you think? I mean... it's pretty much a scrapbook of our lives that I don't have to work very hard to capture.

I'll let you know how it goes.

*play*

Now... about resolutions and the new year and all that... I did terrible with last year's resolutions. Here's the recap:

• Gain no more than 30 lbs before giving birth. Really should have stopped gaining at 30!
  
• Lose that 30 lbs by December. Needless to say... the amount I went beyond, I still have to lose.
  
• Read more books. I think I read 3 books... which, sadly, was more than the year before. (This was reading for pleasure... not slurping up every bit of info I can find about caring for a baby.)
  
• Put photos in photo albums (takes pressure off scrapping EVERY photo). I think I have one photo album started.

So this year...

1. Lose the remaining 11 pounds of "baby" (er... ice cream) weight.
2. Play

That's right... just two. I'm not going to better myself beyond the weight loss, not going to save money, not going to get organized. I mean, I might do some of that. But the big thing is my one little word... PLAY.

P L A Y

This year I want to remember to take time to play with my little munchkin. I want to remember not to be so serious, so type A, so uptight, so hurried to "accomplish". I want to savor every moment with him by taking time to just play. Hopefully along the way I will be present in more moments with him and create some cherished memories.

And hey, maybe some of our play will bring weight loss!

believe it!

You won't believe it, but it's true, every bit of it. Tonight, JT said his first word. During his bath he looked up at the shower head and said... "bubba". LOL.

Then... he pooped in the potty. That's right, he pooped in the potty just shy of 6 months of age! More LOL! Ok, he had some help on this one. He made what we call "the poop face" in the bathtub. In this situation, the easiest thing to do was to take the baby out of the tub and set him on the toilet. Potty training. Done.

:-)

create(d)

My "one little word" for 2007 was CREATE. I'm not sure how well I did with that. I did manage to create a new life. I've created a lot of messes and some new fat cells over the past year, also.

And my 2007 resolutions... blah. I gained more than 30 lbs... and of course, it's not gone yet. I have 11 more pounds to go. So sad, that is probably the amount I gained by overeating ice cream. *Sigh* If I had behaved, I'd have made the goal already. I think I read three books this year. Sadly, that is better than last year. I have read a TON of baby information online and elsewhere, does that count? I put a few pictures in albums, but I wouldn't say I am caught up on that one, either.

Not sure what this year's word and resolution(s) will be. I am thinking one resolution this time around. Although, I do have a goal to ditch that 11 lbs by April. And I have another goal in mind. Maybe I will have it decided for posting by New Year's Day.

Well, in the creative department... I am carving out time to make stuff. I have done a little digital scrapping. Designer Digitals posted several very cool freebies recently that I totally dig. So I downloaded those and have been playing.


And you won't believe what I did today. I sewed. Still have a bit to finish. Maybe a photo by Tuesday. :-)

buying handmade

Now that Christmas has passed, I can tell about my handmade purchases. I photographed a few of the packages as I received them. I got some notecards from annacote. There is some beautiful stationery on Etsy... definitely check it out. I ordered scrapbooking what-nots from elles and maythird. A few lucky ladies got a handbag and a wristlet/wallet from lulaballou. In the delicious department, I gave a little and pampered myself with some aspenspa. Yum, yum. Go for the juicy pear lip balm!

All the packages were shipped speedily (even if the post office was a little nutty in delivering on time this past holiday season). Every single package was neatly packed. Items were well-protected by plastic wrap and tissue paper. And I think every single seller included a hand-written thank you note. It's a beautiful shopping experience... I love it!

I'll be giving more handmade stuff in 2008. And maybe next year I will be a little more prepared for Christmas with some gifts I hand make myself.

We took the Christmas stuff down tonight. I just couldn't bear the thought of doing anything but relaxing on New Year's day. I got a little caught up on laundry the past few days. But of course, JT got a TON of new clothes for Christmas, so I'll have to pre-wash all those things... so more laundry.

I love his little clothes... they are so cute and I love the thought behind what people pick out for him. My 4-wheeler ridin' aunt and uncle got him a 4-wheelin' outfit with camo sleeves - too cute. My other aunt got him a Pooh outfit in an outdoor explorer theme... it's totally us. I just wish he didn't have to outgrow everything so quickly. Can you believe I have already filled a storage tote with the 0-3 months clothes he outgrew?!

Ok, I'm sleepy... off to bed. N-night.

quick summary in photos...

On Thursday evening we had carpet installed in the basement...


On Friday we got the house all cleaned up, chores and errands done, and finished wrapping packages...
Then we went to visit John's family for the weekend. JT got presents out the wazoo... and spent a ton of quality time with Aunt Jen and the rest of the family...

On Sunday we had our Christmas exchange with John's Dad and JT's cousins... the group photo of the kids didn't go so well. And yet, I love this photo... :-)


If I don't post again . . . Merry Christmas to all!

more wrappin'...

Oh my... there are still packages to wrap! I think I have 6-8 more packages to wrap tomorrow night before I can put away the wrapping supplies. A few much-anticipated packages arrived tonight, so I was able to get those wrapped. Just one more package is still in the mail somewhere. Good thing it wasn't intended for anyone in particular. (I always buy a few extra whatnots to add to other gifts, you know?)

We are having carpet installed in the basement tomorrow. If you've been reading the blog very long, you'll remember those tales - and the debacle of a floor solution. Anyway, we're just going to do wall-to-wall carpet like we should have done in the first place. It should be nice. I'm looking forward to it. Of course, it also meant that tonight we spent picking up and moving all our stuff down there. Ugh. Too much stuff. (Most of it the crafty stuff...)

JT went to bed EARLY tonight. I fed him dinner a little later than usual, then a bath, then off to bed. We skipped the nighttime bottle for the first time ever. He has been sound asleep for 2 hours already... it's so weird. I remember a few weeks ago when I'd be thinking "a couple hours of sleep before he needs fed again". Time flies... please, stop! I don't want my baby to grow up too fast.

Next week is all about him. I am going to savor every bit of him that I can. Luckily for me, it will mean going to bed early and greeting the day a little later in the morning - yahoo! For now, n-night.

wrappin' presents

I told you we had lots of fun on Monday... here is one of our activities...


And certainly, don't let me catch any of you putting your baby in the Bumbo on the tabletop AND letting him chew on plastic wrap at the same time! I had to get the package away from him... he was seriously going to make a meal of it!

santa baby

JT and I had a day o' fun. We did some shopping and hung out all day. He laughed so much today and pretty much captured hearts everywhere we went!

I hadn't really planned to spend so much time at the mall. But he was so enamored by the whole thing, we just sort of goofed off. He loved the lights and the music and the PEOPLE! He didn't cry over Santa. They just sat and chatted a bit... JT reached out and touched Santa's beard. Luckily for Santa, he didn't pull... tee hee hee.

Of course, he screamed in the car most of the way there and most of the way home. I'm not sure what is so terrifying in the back seat of the car... and why he doesn't fall asleep instantly back there like the other 90% of infants.

Well, I can't wait to see his beaming face again in the morning... so I am off to bed to hurry that along. :-)

under the tree

under the tree, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I have a photo of my baby under the tree... but no presents there yet. 80% of the presents are purchased, just need to wrap them. Lots of people are stressing over the holiday.

When should I start stressing? My decorations are minimal, the house is a mess, the playlist of Christmas tunes on my iPod needs work. And yet, I find that I don't care. I feed baby, do dishes, do laundry, and play with baby. (and really, I will play with baby and skip dishes and laundry when I can) So that's pretty much how it's going to be. Christmas is what it is here. And frankly, I have a heck of a lot of spirit!

There is a snow storm on the way this weekend. Woo hooo! There I go again, loving the snow when everyone else dreads it. JT and I are sooo going out to play in it.

I am off a couple days next week, and all week during Christmas. Can't wait. I'm just gonna play, play, play!

crafty balloons

crafty balloons, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I am so into these mosaics on flickr. You can make them at Big Huge Labs.

I'm also really into hot air balloons since we went with the hot air balloon mobile in JT's room. Oh wow, these projects really have me itching to make something.

But you know how it goes... John entertained JT all evening, so I had some time. I made dinner, did a load of JT's food-crusted laundry, and changed his crib sheet. Now he's in bed and the chores are done. I'm exhausted. I am staring at the computer screen, but really all I can see is the backs of my eyelids.

Someday, the crafting will come again...

learning to eat

Here JT tries bananas for the first time:

for this moment

Tonight after his last bottle, I held JT while he dozed off to sleep. This is usually John's time with him, but I got him tonight. The little guy was tired and his eyes were droopy. But he was fighting to keep his eyes open, staring at me, reaching out to touch my face... oh how that makes up for the cranky sobs from earlier in the evening!

datebook

I love this Non-Planner Datebook! I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it when I finish reading Time Management for Unmanageable People. And yes, I'm serious. Time management... bah. Leave me alone and just let me get creative. ;-)

all I want for Christmas...

Christmas tree 2007, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I pretty much have everything at this moment. Not much left to ask for besides world peace, a cure for cancer, and to stop global warming. Sure, I am currently stuck at work awaiting a jump from AAA because my battery is dead and that sucks. But I am only bitter because this is cutting into my precious JT time.

The battery is dead because of JT, actually. Yes, the only grief he ever gives me is in the car. He screams a blood-curdling my-mommy-is-mean-to-me cry when I take him in the car by myself. It's the worst at night. For a while I tried turning on a light for him because I thought he was afraid of the dark. Well it didn't work. And I forgot to turn the light off when I removed my screaming babe from the evil car. So the battery weakened. Now it's 28 degrees outside and it has quit completely.

So anyway... I mentioned before that I took the handmade pledge this Christmas. Last night I placed my Etsy orders. I think everything shipped today or will ship tomorrow. That's what I'm talking about. I have placed Gap and Jo-Ann orders lately and they didn't ship that fast! Go crafty entrepreneurs. I am so happy to be supporting these folks. I'll take some photos as the stuff arrives, but don't expect me to post until after Christmas. Ha! You thought I'd actually tell what presents I'm buying - so not! A few of my favorites are posted at left, you can check those out and guess which I actually indulged.

I had lots of fun with JT over the weekend. He's into squealing. I like to think of it as "discovering his voice". We spent hours squealing back and forth. He'd sqeal, I'd squeal, he'd screech, I'd screech, etc. I tried to throw in some different vowel sounds: aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!! oooooooooooooo!! He'd still just yell eeeeeeeeeee!! He did take a moment to ponder the different sound I made, but in the end he settled on the eeeeeeeeeeeee!! John hates our new game. hahaha.

JT is LOVING solid food. I can't feed him the rice cereal fast enough! I added some cinnamon to it for taste. At least it feels less like torturing him from my perspective. He also watches us eat more intently now. He used to hardly notice. Now if I eat with him on my lap, he stares at me as I eat. And he stares at my food. I think he's going to be ok with trying new things. I just hope he can stand to keep eating baby food before he gets his teeth. (Hands off my Chipotle, baby!)

That wraps up everything I meant to say along with those last couple short posts. Now... where is that tow truck?! Later...

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

In case you're reading... I would not be opposed to finding this under my tree on Christmas day. I promise I would love these stamps forever and make beautiful projects with them. :-D

much love,
Stacy

eating cereal

After a few weeks of putting the spoon in his mouth, JT has figured out eating rice cereal. Here is his Aunt Theresa feeding him some...

interview with a rock star

I got to interview my favorite rock star yesterday...

this baby rocks

this baby rocks, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Look at this chunky monkey. He was very chatty today. Well, after he woke up from an apparent 5 HOUR nap. Haha!!

He's had a lot of new stuff lately that I haven't had time to blog or scrap. We have been trying rice cereal for a couple weeks now. Just this week I had the sitter giving it to him also. She seems to have better luck getting him to swallow it. I think he's too tired with me... or just holding out on me! But we will keep plugging away at it.

He's learning to use his hands, too. He's so funny to watch. He plays with his binky. Plucks it out of his mouth and plays with it until he drops it. Then he will grab bib, toy, burp cloth... whatever is near... and stick it in his mouth. But watching him with the binky is the best. He will eyeball it in his lap and work forever on getting hold of it and guiding it back to his mouth. Usually it's upside down or backwards and he still attempts to cram it in!

He almost sits up on his own. It won't be long. He is so strong. It is so cool to see him develop core strength. He likes to do his ab workouts in the evenings, raising straight up from a reclined position over and over. I couldn't even do that after I had him... pregnancy wrecks your abs!

Last night I read him a few books and then we sang and danced to Peter, Paul, & Mary. He loves reading... I am so glad, as I have that huge collection of books started! We sang "I love rock and roll music" and "Puff the Magic Dragon". He went crazy for singing along to the songs. That's what I'm talking about... growing up on books, music and legos... just like his mama did. (We're still another year from starting legos... oh the things we are gonna build then...)

I can't get enough of these photos. This one is totally "my parents are so weird". lol...

Ok, I'm committing. I signed the pledge to buy handmade this holiday season. Etsy is the place! Recently I bought this print which I framed and hung in my bedroom. And I love this quilt I got for JT just before he was born. Otherwise I have held back. But if you're on my Christmas gift list this year... watch out, it's gonna be a Crafty Christmas. muhaha.

how many days til Christmas?

Yay... it's Christmas season!! I think I have all my Christmas cards ready to be mailed. I finished them up tonight. Obviously, having them finished this early in the game means I didn't write anything meaningful and sentimental in them. They all feature a darling picture of our little Christmas angel, so I think folks will overlook the lack of sentiment. (Next year... words, I promise.)

Now I just need to get the Christmas music loaded back onto my iPod.

highchair baby

highchair baby, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I assembled JT's highchair today. He sat in it this evening and had dinner with us. He squealed with delight when we first pulled him up to the table. He loves the vantage point! We fed him some rice cereal with a spoon. He might have swallowed a few granules of it.

Oh, and he isn't totally sitting up on his own yet... but close enough that he can do 10-15 minutes in the chair as long as he's strapped in.

He really likes when I spin his binky like a top... the tray table offers plenty of space for binky spinning. Endless entertainment. Who needs toys? :-)

thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday

Tonight, in between folding clothes and running the sweeper, John informed me that "thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday." LOL. Apparently, it's not as fun when you have to clean house and assist with the meal preparation. JT sat and watched us run around the house like crazy people... John sweeping the stairs and me cleaning the living room floor. "What's going on around here? Are we having company or something?!"

You know what I like about hosting Thanksgiving dinner? The house will still be clean Friday through Sunday and I will be off to work to enjoy it. Anyone hitting the stores on Friday to start Christmas shopping? I'm thinking I might... JT wants to see the mayhem. Tee hee.

making seasons bright

So what if he didn't make the finalists for the Gap casting call?! What do those people know about cute babies anyway?!


Our friend Bryan took some amazing pics of JT for our Christmas cards at the open house on Sunday. Awesome, awesome shots that we are just drooling over!

Autism Society of America: Urge Congress to override autism funding veto

Autism Society of America: Urge Congress to override autism funding veto

Ok, I admit, I didn't vote last week. I was pretty ignorant of the candidates and issues, so it would have been pointless. BUT, I am interested in increasing funding for autism research AND getting insurance providers to cover some of the diagnosis and treatment.

I really believe it's a disease that is treatable, if not preventable or curable! There are two little boys dear to my heart who stand to benefit from this... so it was worth 10 minutes of my time.

Will you help by writing to your representatives also?
Find your House Representative here.
Find your Senate Representative here.

thanks.

not the mama

We had a fabulous weekend visiting family. I didn't take a single picture. Too busy being "in the moment." JT was so sweet this weekend. He charmed everyone. He laughs so much lately. And he is much more into watching people and examining things than he has been. I love watching him discover the world... I am so excited for every new day with him.

I love being a mom. There is a unique "feature" between me and JT where sometimes he just wants his mama. He did that a few times over the weekend. He'll be really crabby, but if I just hold him for a second, he calms down. I have to say - I love that feeling. Oh, I love it for myself, but I also like that he has someone (or something) that makes him feel at ease. That's something everyone should have, don't you think?

Of course, it brings to mind that show Dinosaurs from back in the 90s. LOL. Perhaps my family were the only people who watched that show during its short run on tv. (We probably only watched it because we got like 4 channels where we lived. So this dinosaur baby refers to the dad as "not the mama". Sure, you're the dad and you're great, but you're "not the mama". Haha!

now roll over!

Guess who rolled over today? Miranda wrote in his journal that he rolled over on his own. At first we said, "oh no! It's the first time and we missed it!" Then we thought, it was probably on accident. Because this boy doesn't roll over. We have been trying it every day. He hates tummy time and when I roll him back and forth he looks at me like, "that's nice Mommy, I will not be needing that skill."

So after his bath tonight, we popped him over on his tummy. He put his leg out and rolled onto his back. What?! Just like that? Like he has known how to do it all along?!

JT is so strong. He was going crazy in the tub. We know that bath time is over when the tub is completely empty of water after he splashes it all out when kicking his duck.

He's awfully cute. But hmm, now I have to readjust all my habits... no more leaving him on the couch or his changing table. And look out when he figures out crawling... we will be chasing him all over. Aaahh.... changes are coming!!

Little Monsters contest entry: shy monkey babe

JT is featured on the Pregnancy and Baby blog... haha! I entered him in the contest only because the prize is a data storage device, something we could totally use to store all the photos I take!

Pregnancy & Baby Blog » Blog Archive » Little Monsters contest entry: shy monkey babe

I mean, I can't help it that he's so cute... :-)

JT's first Halloween

JT's first Halloween, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We had fun. Check him out! :-)

I forgot to mention, I didn't make it past the second round of Last Scrapper Standing. I wasn't terribly disappointed. It was the week that John was out of town and JT and I were hanging out. So I was plenty busy otherwise. Plus, I was using that time to dream up the ideas that I'm implementing now for Thanksgiving. I'm also doing a scrappin' project at church this week, so there was some preparation to do for that. The demo layout I did for the church project is pretty cool. I'll share it after the event. Here is round two of Last Scrapper Standing. The challenge was to scrap 7 random facts:


Nana Sparkles surprised us with a visit this evening. We went for a walk. The weather is supposed to turn cooler after tomorrow, so JT and I are soaking it up while we can. We also lose daylight savings time this weekend, so it's gonna be getting dark on us in the evenings.

JT loves admiring the sky and the trees. The trees in our neighborhood are SO colorful. I tried to take some pictures the other day, but I'm not sure that I was able to capture it.

JT's Aunt Jen is coming to visit this weekend... we will probably be doing some crafting. I told her to bring stamps and stuff for Christmas crafting. I don't usually make my own Christmas cards, but I use a TON of homemade gift tags. I've been making gift tags since I was like 10 years old. My grandma was a whiz at making tags from last year's Christmas cards. Hmm, maybe I should post a how-to. It's like the easiest paper-crafting you could do. :-)

Here is a mosaic of fall photo inspiration from around flickr. What is inspiring you these days?

going batty

Today was a non-stop, action-packed day! I got NOTHING on my to-do list done and I will have to play catch-up this week. But it was good.

Becka called after church to see if we wanted to go to Boo at the Zoo. I had planned to make chili, clean house, and run errands while JT watched the Steelers with his dad. But it was SUCH a nice day... I felt like I was being a bad mom to deny the little guy a day in the sun... so we went. It was awesome.

And it's not many days that we see so many friends in one day. We ran into Allison at the zoo with her fam. Amy stopped by in the afternoon to bring John a birthday card. And Jenny and Robert dropped some stuff off in the evening. JT is feeling pretty well-loved right now. (It wore him out -lol!)

Last night I finished up the Thanksgiving decor project I started earlier in the week. It's letters that spell "thanks" for our mantle. Check out more details on Flickr. I'm loving these letters. Plus, the mantle is the only part of the house that got cleaned this weekend... only because I wanted to admire my finished work. Now, if I could just get the rest of the house in order, I could really get on with the decorating!

Here are some creepy "flying foxes", aka bats, to get you ready for halloween...

paper leaves

paper leaves, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I'm addicted to the flickr mosaics. For this one, I was actually searching for some ideas for a project I was working on tonight. none of these actually resulted in any assistance with the project... but there was some cool stuff that got me completely sidetracked! Maybe this will inspire another project.

Oh, and my paper leaves project turned out SWEET. Can't wait to show it to you. I'll photograph it in the daylight. For now, I'm t-i-r-e-d.

n-night.

sweet little baby-pie

halloween JT, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

He is just so dreamy... JT cried a lot with the sitter this week. I can't figure out why except maybe he misses us. He has been wonderful in the evenings and all day today. We took him out to dinner last night and tonight and he was just good as gold. He laughs and coos and plays with his doggy and just goes along with whatever.

Yesterday evening after we walked, I carried him around the yard just looking around. It was gorgeous out, very still and you could hear peepers... probably the last peepers to hear for a while. So I whispered to him as low as I could, "Do you hear the peepers? Listen... Peep. Peep." He got very quiet and would concentrate for a minute then he would smile GREAT BIG and not make a sound... then he'd concentrate again... I really think he was in tune with what we were listening to.

His sitter has had him sitting in his bumbo seat a lot this week. So he is sitting up pretty good with just a little bit of help. And this afternoon he was working as hard as he could to lift himself up to sitting from a reclined position. It is pretty amazing to see him developing such strength.

I'm thankful that he is such a good sleeper and has taken to sleeping in his crib... but at night I get a little bit of separation anxiety and I just want to climb in and sleep there with him! (Obviously, I won't fit... and we're too paranoid to let him sleep in our bed.)

Christmas Spirit

Christmas Spirit, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I'm thinking Christmas... here's what's inspiring me!

felt

felt ornaments, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I bought some felt last weekend... I might be feeling felty crafty. I've been working on a little Thanksgiving decor project this week. The hardest part of it is finished... hopefully tomorrow I can get to the fun part and be done with it. Maybe I'll have photos by the weekend!

And then I can start on the felt. :-)

i.am.so.full.

I just put my little guy in bed for the night. I am so full of love for him right now! His daddy has been gone most of the week, so it was just the two of us. Uh yeah, I should be ashamed to admit it was the first time I was ever alone with my own child for more than one day. I'm lucky - John loves taking care of JT, so we share him pretty equally.

The house is a disaster... I think I picked up two piles today and created 12 more. AND THEN, we were upstairs playing today and a shelf full of picture frames fell down!! So my house went ahead and undecorated itself. Ugh. I got that mess about half cleaned up. Oh well.

Adrienne and I went shopping on Thursday evening. I started my shopping for Thanksgiving stuff. I decided to not be cheap this year. Haha. I figured if we are always hosting, I should invest in some decor items that will make it special. I gave myself a budget of $100. So I found this platter at Crate and Barrel. I love it. I know, it's nothing fancy, but it's cool.
Today I found some other stuff at Kohl's for $50. I'm talking matching tablecloths for the two tables, some candles, a big pumpkin centerpiece, and some festive towels. (My kitchen towels are DISGUSTING - been doing a lot of dish washing since July!) So that leaves me $15 to finish up with some garlands and crafty stuff... hmm, hope that's enough!


As evidence, here is decorating scheme from the last two years. It features mismatched vintage tablecloths and a vase I made in a pottery class that leaks. I still like that vase... pretty sure it will make the cut this year also. I rig it up with a plastic cup so it will hold water. I'm creative that way. hehehe.

Sooo, I'm having company for coffee in the morning bright and early, so I should really think of going to bed now. Night all....

inside Penzey's

inside Penzey's, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I finally made it to the Penzey's store here in town! Theresa made a request for a gift box that I needed to get before the weekend. I literally got there with only 10 minutes to shop around. I'll have to go back. I'm not any good in the kitchen, but I could fall in mad love with this place. It.is.delicious.

Of course, I didn't get out of there without something for myself. I picked up a jar of their special southwest seasoning to make my taco salads taste scrumptious.

love.this.baby.

Have I mentioned how much I love this baby? We took him for a walk at a metro park yesterday. It is so much fun to be outdoors with him. He just looks around like, "Wow, this place is amazing!" It's very grounding to see God's little creature take in God's landscape like that. It makes us look around with new eyes, too.

Although, he had a similar look of amazement in Target today. :-) Rows of bright-colored shirts, toys, and furnace filters were all equally fascinating. Hehehe. We walked to Target to exchange the furnace filter I got the other day that was the wrong size. There's your reminder to replace your furnace filter.

I love summer. Love, love, love it. But a 90ish degree day on October 7... little weird. I think we walked about 5 miles to and fro... the little guy did really well. He is a champion stroller baby. I was sweating like crazy though.

My bathroom is sparkling clean this evening. And you won't believe how little effort it took to get it that way. "Honey, do you think you could clean the bathroom today?" And he did it. Too bad he's not into doing it on a regular basis, because he does a really good job. (John, I mean... not JT.)

And to round off a completely rambling and random blog post... a story about bird nannies. That's what I'm talking about... longevity for the mother who gets plenty of help. Have I told you that we are going to move the whole fam-damily to a compound? Well that's what we fantasize about anyway. Yeah, not that it takes a village to raise kids, but maybe it helps moms and dads keep it together. And you figure it would be fun for the kids, too... always having someone available to play.

Ok, if you don't hear from me for a few more days, I am working on my "7 random things" entry for Last Scrapper Standing Round 2.

moving on, catching up

Whoo! I am moving on to the next round of Last Scrapper Standing! woo-hoo! I was worried. I just sighed out loud when I checked their blog. John says from the other room, "You made it?" "Yes." "You were worried?" "Yes!" "I wasn't worried." Sometimes he's a nice boy.

In other news (quickly, as it's time for bed):

- I'm reading Alice in Wonderland via DailyLit. Sometimes I think like Alice... it's weird.

- We had the house sprayed for spiders tonight. You know the story of the spider in the breast milk. And maybe you know about the spider that tried to get JT during floor time one morning. Then last night... I went downstairs to get something from the storage closet in the laundry room... I turn to walk out of the room and there is the BIGGEST SPIDER YET in the doorway. I mean, I had just walked through that doorway. Now, I'm the spider-killer in our household. But this one had me at a weak moment in my pjs with nothing at hand to kill it. AND it was blocking my way out. I had to BEG John to come and kill it so I could leave the room. Ugh! SKEEVY! So anyway, hopefully we are on our way to being spider free for a while.

- I hung some painted frames in JT's room tonight. Most of them are empty... but they are on the wall awaiting the perfect art work.

- My mom has me converted to Diigo for social bookmarking. I imported all my del.icio.us links. We'll see if I like it enough. It has more features, but it's missing the suggestions on tagging that keep me using the same tags. (It prevents me from getting mixed up and tagging some "computer" and some "computers". I like consistent data, you know?)

- The "fourth trimester" must be over... my hair is falling out. Too bad the extra pounds don't shed away like that!

- JT is so adorable. He lights up my life every single day. I've never looked forward to 6am so much before. :-)