Embrace The Camera

So Wednesday night I asked my husband to snap some photos of me and Maddux for the weekly Embrace The Camera. Maddux wasn't in the mood... he just wanted his bottle... as you can see below.
I need to break the bottle, I know. The only bottle he takes is at night... but I need to break him of it.... Its hard though.

When Maddux was first born... I had all these plans... how I was going to do everything. I mean plans for EVERYTHING. Which I am sure all of us do... and somewhere throughout all of it... you lose all of your plans... I had deadlines by three months this... six months this.... well one year was the bottle mark... and we are approaching month 15. And I don't know if its a good thing or a bad thing that it hasn't bothered me too much... I hate the sounds of crying. I hate it. I have always hated it... I still hate it. For me its like nails on a chalkboard... Don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to come off as heartless. It breaks my heart when he is crying.... breaks my heart. but the throwing a fit cry.... the throwing a tantrum over the bottle at night... I need to find my big girl pants and stick with my plan... I know I need to... But I think someone needs to find them for me... because they are lost... very lost.
I think Ill pass the torch to my husband this weekend... and he can be the bad guy to take it away...


Any thoughts... tricks... tips to take away the bottle???
I have tried the sippy cup of milk ... water in the bottle... and he is stubborn... he will take that bottle of water... he doesn't care whats in it...
I'm open for suggestions :)

Well here we are... me and my bottle loving Lil boy winding down before bedtime :)

Do you see him??? Zoned out in bottle land.... not caring mommy is trying to love on him.

Stubborn lil boy... but he sure is cute!

Link it up with Emily... If you have stopped by her blog. You need to!

41. Encouraging words from my Parents...

42. The fireplace going on a rainy night

43. Humidifiers for stubborn colds

44. Hot showers

45. Unexpected hugs sprung on me from my lil man.

46. Taking 10 minutes to give myself a pedicure (much needed) 

Our moments.

This weekend was just me and Maddux all weekend long. Just us....

It's amazing how many times this weekend I would just stop and watch him with pure wonderment. I am truly amazed by every single thing he does. Every single little thing.

This weekend he would bring me books... babble like he was reading them to me.
He learned how to work his shake cars (you shake them and they take off) and clapped with pure excitement at what he just accomplished...
He found his nose... when we played the "where's your nose" game

Each of these moments... these tiny small moments brought tears to my eyes.
It's unreal what motherhood does to you. I am just floored by the amount of emotion that comes with this... I was emotional before and now... its almost ridiculous.

But heres my hope....

I hope that I never lose this sense of amazement. No matter how old he gets... I hope every single moment... every single new thing he does... the look on his face when he genuinely excited.... when I hear the words "mama" come out of that mouth.... I hope that I will always have to fight to hold back my emotions... I hope every single time that happens.... at any age... these moments continue to amaze me. That I always take the time to stop what I am doing... and just let myself be in that moment. Capture that moment... because these moments ...  are my life.

Cheesy Grins
Squeeeling and running down the halll
Tackling Teddy Bears
Trying to share food with Nala
Goldfish breath
Splashing in the Tub
Babbling at books
Blowing kisses
Chasing runaway naked booties

These moments... bring me pure absolute happiness

1000 Gifts
36. Spaghetti dinners with the family
37. Phone calls about nothing with my dad
38. Getting tackled with hugs
39. Rain - signs of spring
40. Ripped Comfy Jeans



Embrace The Camera

This week Maddux has started wanting to share his food. Which is adorable... but not so adorable when he refuses to eat anything and just wants to try to feed you. This past week I have been offered soggy goldfish cracker, mushy bananas, and half chewed hot dogs.... yuuummmmm.

Our mornings are crazy. Jerry and I running around trying to get ready... Maddux chasing Nala.... throwing all of his books off his bookshelf..... running and screaming down the hall. And even though these mornings are crazy busy... its amazing how many small perfect moments there are in all of this craziness.

Maddux's crazy bed head when I go in to get him in the morning. The huge smile he gets... and then almost immediately... him calling out to... not mama... but "Nala!" "Nala!" --- which at this point I think Nala (who is not a morning dog) trys to bury herself in the covers to make herself invisible. Maddux running around smiling and laughing... wow I wish I had that much energy in the morning....
Sloppy goodbye kisses as I am off to work..... big bear hugs... and lots of smiles :)
..... these amazing little moments sure do make it hard to leave... missing out on all of those smiles all day...

We took a moment this morning to grab this photo.

Join the fun with Emily here

1000 Gifts

29. Sleepy Smiles

30. Bedhead

31. The feeling when you take off your shoes and socks after running

32. fountain pop

33. pink tulips on valentines day from my dad

34. the curiosity of a child

35.  putting on sweatpants after a long day at work.



Gallery Shelves

So I will start this out and tell you that I am not skilled when it comes to what I call "boy work" anything that involves tools. wood, patience, planning, measuring... none of these things.

But I have developed an obsession with Ana Whites blog. If you don't know who I am talking about feel free to check her out HERE. This Girl will make you want to build. So I decided I would start out with a simple project... Something very beginner... but something that I loved.

Then I found the plans for the gallery shelving... and thought PERFECT!!!!
Anyone that knows me knows I am obsessed with photos...  so I have plenty to show off. And these would do just the trick. So I went to Lowe's asked one of their helpful people in the wood area.... I am pretty sure he was afraid I was going to kill myself... he was pretty reluctant to sell me the drill/saw combo I told him I wanted. This was right after he I didn't know what kind of wood I wanted.... the screw length I needed.... All i wrote down was the measurements of the board... screws, nails, tools.  I should mention the entire time Lauren is with me. She likes to pretend she knows what she is doing. I prefer to take the I have no clue... please help me route... which comes to find out... embarrasses her. Grow Up Lauren. Jeez. :)
But I really think in Lowe's the more clueless I am ... more willing they are to help me and actually explain it to me. Which I need. So I bought my wood, had them cut it for me, some wood glue, nails, screws, and this amazing drill/saw combo they had there. I am really stocking up on my man tools.... without the hubby. It would be nice if he would try to learn something...  someday... maybe. But hes more accident prone then me. so really maybe we are better off with me having the tool belt :)
So I we Lauren and I come back with our supplies... and we glue the boards together. Well the bracket we bought isn't big enough so we have to sit there and push the boards together for a while to have the glue set. Which really made the experience a little better. Now I am going into detail... not to just embarrass myself But instead to prove if you wanted to start out with one of those starter projects... if I survived it. So can you.
So we tried to originally just screw the shelves in. apparently that's what the guy made me buy those so called drill bits for. So after Lauren I figured it out. Googled what size drill bit we should use compared to the screw... we drilled in the shelves. Then came the hard part nailing on the front of the shelf.... Speaking of which... I now need a nail gun.
So nailing on the board. Hard... Very hard. we broke several nails... almost took off a few fingers... then Lauren had a stroke of genius and suggested we use the drill bit for this also. Amazing Idea! Wow did that make it easy. so we got them all nailed together. I sanded down the ends and that was that.

I build two more... by myself. painted them white.
and Voila.

Here we are.... Now I dont have them set up completely... I need more frames.. and need to reorganize my photos... but I figured I have waited forever so I might as well get this post up. Maybe if I remember Ill get up a final after shot once I have the photos finalized and all :)

PS. I do realize I have one photo up there twice... now you will be looking for it ;)

Well what do you think?

Next on the list.... Bench. For Maddy's playroom.





Also linking up to Tatertots and Jello here  

1000 Gifts

24. The smell of laundry running

 25. seeing all of my nieces in one day

26. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

27. Maddux's dance moves with the hot dog dance song comes on

28. Hearing Maddux call Nala as soon as he's up in the morning

DIY Anthropologie Inspired Necklaces

I followed the tutorial at Little Miss Mama to make these.

Anthropologie has fabric flower necklaces with $$$$ price tags. And for me this works just as well and only cost me less than 4 dollars to make.

Since I dress up Monday - Friday. My Saturdays and Sundays ... If I actually put effort into what I am wearing its a pair of jeans, plain top, and a cardigan. These necklaces add a lot!


I followed her steps. For the chain on mine I took two old necklaces I dont ever wear and cut them in half and glued each half onto the back of these.

Hopefully you like them as much as me. Im a sucker for any accessories that include fabric flowers... :)

I have made a few... in different fabrics... heres the red one.
Dont mind the pictures.... Since i work all week... and its crappy weather lately... i cant get a natural light photo... so i had to not only work with the flash.. but also taking your picture in the mirror.. is hard.....but i gave it a try..

China Cabinet Redo

I found this China Cabinet at the Habitat for Humanity resale shop.... I of course forget about the before shot.... all together so here are the two pieces. pretty beat up... dated hardware.... desperately in need of a home that will love her :)

I cannot believe how long this project took... But with the end project... I can say it was well worth it.

So after sanding it down... painting... and buying new hardware (which I love) you cant really see it here... but the glass knobs are a light green... I love them.
Here she is....

Thanks for taking a peek!






 




19. Mom's Taco Dip Recipe

20. A quiet night out with my husband.

21. Followed by my son squeeling and clapping for us to come pick him up.

22. The quietness of snow falling.

23. A long distance phone call... from a friend I miss very much. 

Rough day....

This blog is for me.
Its about me. My life. My family.
And its not always perfect. Its never perfect. Far from perfect.

And today I was faced with a dilemna. We moved here to be close to family. My family. I wanted to raise my kids... so they could see grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc whenever they wanted. Because growing up I had that. And I really think that made my childhood so great. So I wanted my kids to have that.

Unfortunately... in my pefect family dream world... I forgot about the drama, gossip, etc that goes with being so close to family.
And days like this.... I want to give up. Throw in the towel and say... pfft. lets move a few hours a way... because that sounds better... today.
I have found myself distancing myself for the past year. Its like once you have a kid... people not only feel the need to give you unwanted advice... but also to tell your mom, your sister, your cousin, your uncle something they think you are doing wrong... which of course like everything else makes it full circle back to you. and leaves you hurt... and for me makes me want to confront it... because thats how I deal with it.
But knowing that confronting it will cause denial... and then hurt me more... it leaves me feeling exhuasted... and sad.

But then I see this face...

And I realize what I need to do.
Step Back take a breath... because this is what matters.
I will be the better person... I will adjust how I deal with situations like this.
I am a good mom. I am a good person. I know that. He knows that.... and thats what matters.


I will take a breathe... let it roll of my shoulders... and be the person I want to be for him.
Because at the end of the day.... I need to be a role model. And I want to show him a mature way to deal with this... because you cant make people be nice... you cant make people change... but you can change the way you react to them.

Starting today. I will make that change.
For him. For me. For Us.

15. Slobbery open mouth kisses

16. Dinner ready when I get home... my husband is the best!

17. Pot luck days in the office

18. Mint Choc Ice Cream on days like this

Embrace The Camera

My husband's side of the fam lives about 2 hours from us. And even though its ONLY 2 hours... its so hard to get there. First off. Maddux is a terrible traveler. He hates it. He hates the car. Most people say "oh kids just fall asleep on long car rides" well apparently mine does not. So two hours of pure screaming because he is trying to escape the straps... well its exhausting. Second. My husband is a volleyball coach so two weekends a month he is out of town on tournaments... so if we get a weekend at home together... the last thing we want to do is travel... and Third... well life just is busy. Theres so much to get done and since we both work... we live for our weekends together. Unfortunately they dont like to take the interstates... they dont get the chance to come up to us either...

So all in all. We dont get to see them as much as we would like. Which is hard because every time they see Maddux... (usually once every couple of months...) sooo much has changed. He is growing so fast!

Well we went to visit them to finally celebrate Christmas. And we got two amazing gifts. Tix to Cubs game (Thanks Paul!) and some Xmas Money :) Soooo since they dont get to see Maddux that much we decided to put that money towards a new flip video camera (since for the life of us we cant figure out how to get our handycam on line) so we bought that as soon as we got back in town. I am excited that we will of course enjoy all the clips we can get of Maddux... but also so now family in Tinley Park will actually get to see some video of him. Rather than just stories over phone/email/etc.  I know Maddux's grandma will really appreciate getting to see them :) So this makes us all very happy!

We had a great time visiting... He was insanely tired when we took these photos right before he left... he passed out while being held about 2 minutes after these... poor baby!!!

Maddux with Great Grandma....

Maddux with Grandma and Uncle Paul.....

Grandma... with a very very tired Maddux....

Thursdays I join in the fun over at Emilys... You should too. Check her out HERE.

8. Snow days... Getting stuck inside all day with the fam!

9. scrambled eggs with ketchup. Yum.

10. white chocolate caramel Coffee Creamer

11. Flip video camera to catch moments such as "if you're happy and you know it" fun

12. Amazing Neighbors that come over with their snow blower and take care of our driveway

13. Long naps with my lil man, Husband, and our dog Nala... all on the same couch.

14. Toy Story