Handbag Give Away

Hey, check out this new site for really adorable hand bags. They are having a grand opening in which they are giving away a bag an hour for 24 hours. They are some really stylish bags, ladies!

Check it out here! This is the bag I am hoping for at hour 20! Isn't it stylish?

www.handbagplanet.com

Etsy Weekly Spotlight!

Oops! So sorry this is late but I had a crazy Friday!

I will be posting this either Sunday or Monday but most likely Monday. I am currently typing on a work computer during my overnight shift and tomorrow I plan on sleeping most of the day.

Just think, next week you will get two spotlights!

Oooh.......

Fin

I wanted to post about Fin's progress with his speech therapy and just about him since he hasn't had too much attention on the blog of late.

He has been having speech therapy every Monday afternoon for about 3 months now. She comes loaded with toys, different ones each time, and sits right one the floor with him. He gets so excited when he sees her and he goes right to their little spot and sits down with her. He also starts labelling things for her right when she walks in because he knows that is what she wants him to do. It is really adorable.

I am amazed at his progress. He has probably at least tripled his vocabulary since she started coming. It is wonderful! He is not the frustrated boy he used to be and the screaming is almost nonexistent. Whew! He is still loud and very excitable but that is just his boisterous personality.

He labels things all of the time now. When he wakes up from his nap he says to me. "It's Mommy. It's Goggy. (doggy) It's Whitening (Lightning McQueen). It's door. It's toes. It's stairs. It's snack." In the car he says to us, "Wook, Feet Down. Wook, It's waining. Wook, Shoes on! Wook, It's Mommy. Wook, it's baby. Wook, it's twuck." Again, so cute.

Last week we had our case worker come to observe and check on his progress. It was nice to hear from her that she was so impressed with his progress. Being with him all of the time it isn't easy to remember how far he has come. She was totally happy and excited about how far he has come.

The only thing I wonder about at this point is that he won't say his name. It is strange. Sometimes he even calls himself Mommy. He will say, Ryan, Ruth, Evan, Oscar and other names but will not say Griffin no matter how hard we try. We have tried to get him to label himself in photos but he calls himself Mommy. Weird. Any suggestions?

Fin is one of the most adorable children I have ever seen. He has the most gorgeous big blue eyes with unbelievably long eyelashes. People are constantly commenting on how beautiful his eyes are and I have to agree. He is also such a love. He gets so sad if you can't hold his hand when he is walking somewhere and before he falls asleep he asks for no less than 6 kisses. He loves to cuddle.

He has SO much energy. He can run and play all day long. I think that is why he naps so well. When he wakes up it is GO GO GO from the minute he is up until the minute it is time to rest. Always talking (not always making sense), singing, running, jumping, climbing, playing and always on the go. I see people watch him with a sense of awe. How can he just keep going and going.

I haven't met the person yet who hasn't fallen in love with him immediately. Ok, I take that back. There is a guy in our church nursery who gets annoyed that he won't sit down during their lessons. Oh well. But other than him there is seriously no one who does not adore this kid. He is wonderful. He is just so much fun to have around. We are constantly laughing and enjoying him. I want to take several videos of my favorite things he does and post them here.

Right now my favorite Fin thing is the singing. He will sing for about 20 minutes straight. All the songs run into each other and none of them make a lot of sense. He will go from Twinkle, Twinkle to The Wonder Pets theme song, to ABC's to some song he made up about Lightning McQueen and then to Old MacDonald. Crazy and so.much.fun to watch.

I am simply overwhelmed with love for this kid. I think he is super cool.

Just the stuff

This week is just full of stuff. I am working every night which makes me want to sleep every day. I was able to handle the overnight shift well and on Tuesday I got about 5 hours of sleep before my night shift. I got home around 11:30 and then went to sleep. Wednesday morning I was very tired and had a difficult time getting out of bed.

I got up and took the boys to story time at the local library and then we went to the Amish grocery store. I found some more amazing deals. I just love this place. I came away with a ton of stuff for just $60. That is actually more than I usually spend there but I bought Pull Ups and stocked up on a couple of good deals. Check out my haul!



When we got home it was time for a quick lunch and then naps for Oscar and Fin. They sleep so well in the afternoons and it is such a blessing. I used this time to leave a quick dinner for everybody because I had to go in to work for some training around 2:30.

Training was good but a bit mind numbing. I am learning how to score brain waves. What that means is that I will be able to look at the different waves and tell what stage of sleep the person is in. Crazy stuff and hard to look at for a long time without your eyes crossing. I feel like I am doing alright. After doing that for a couple of hours I went to get a quick dinner and then back to the sleep lab for my evening shift. I was home by 11.

Today we had kind of a lazy day. We didn't go anywhere but I did some laundry and some dishes and just some general cleaning. It's sad but you really can't tell that I did any cleaning today if you look at my house. It is still a total mess. Oh well....I have to let that go at least once a week and tell myself it is okay, it will get done.

Tomorrow Oscar has an early appointment at the hospital for some testing. He is having an airflow flouroscopy and an upper GI. This is all related to his reflux and his breathing issues. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of them and figure out what is going on. I just want the problem to be controlled enough that we don't have to worry about the breathing anymore. That is the worst.

I have tomorrow night off but then on Sat I work another overnight. Then on Sunday I am teaching in church and then I work again at 7 on Sunday night. Whew! I just need to get this week over with so I can catch my breath.


Just for fun, here is a cute picture of Oscar. He is SO smiley!

Late nights

So tonight I am working my first overnight shift at the Sleep Lab. I will be doing this a few times a month to make some extra money and to move up a bit from my current position. Tonight is the first time I have done this. I am a bit nervous about the overnight aspect of this.

Last night I tried to get a really good night's rest but of course it was one of those nights where sleep becomes almost impossible. Oscar woke up several times and had a couple of alarms, nothing serious. He had been sleeping through the night from 8pm-6 or 7am but alas not last night. Griffin even woke up once and that rarely happens. Then Ryan got a text message at around 5am and his phone was in the room so we woke up to that. This morning the boys took a lot of energy. While they normally would play well while I rest today they needed a lot of attention. *sigh*

I did get a nice nap this afternoon so hopefully I won't be too terribly tired.

Ryan took the day off tomorrow so I will be able to get some rest before coming back in for a regular shift tomorrow evening.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Etsy Weekly Spotlight!

This week's Etsy spotlight is a lovely little shop that sells these amazing and darling booties for babies and adults as well. So cute! They look so comfy and so soft. I think we should all get a pair! Be sure to visit Piddies and really take a look at her huge stock of amazing little creatures. I love them all! Here are my two faves!

I simply adore these little birdies with the feet on the bottom.

Just in time for Halloween we have these adorable Vampire booties. Perhaps you are a fan of the Twilight series and want to show your love for vampires in this way. Whatever the reason, these are so cute!

Cleans baked on messes!

As Evan and I were getting ready for guests, he asked to help clean the television. He sprayed, wiped, then stood back and admired his work. When I asked him how he got the television so clean, he said, "I just used the spray." I told him it must be a pretty good spray. Quoting the authorities on television, Evan said, "It cleans baked on messes!"

Thoughts

Random and not in any particular order:

• Money...we are always trying to stretch our small amount of money. I would love to make money from home but they all seem like scams. I would love even more to make money from blogging. How awesome would that be? I loved this post about saving money on groceries and I have been trying to become the best coupon shopper ever.
  
• Ryan makes less but is so much happier. How can you put a price on that?
• Cloth Diapers: will I make my Oct deadline? Not sure I can afford all the fabric by that point. We'll see. I may only be halfway there.
  
• Time with kiddos. Tonight we begin our parent/child date night. I will be taking Evan out. It is our attempt to begin a tradition that will last forever and be able to get to know our kids more individually.
• Visiting Teaching. Tonight I am going to watch a movie at Michelle's house after I go out with Evan. I asked her what she needed from me as her VT and good friend and we decided this sounded like a good idea. I love it!
  
• I may be going to Salt Lake in Oct. I got a free ticket from my sis and bro in law and will be trying to make the arrangements this week. I would love a little vaca. It has been awhile since I have travelled anywhere exciting.
  

Pictures

Look at this kids crazy hair! I did this for fun after a bath earlier in the week. He has so much hair and it is pretty curly. We could have some fun with this one!


Fat and Happy! Just the way I like it!


Here is Evan after a karate lesson. He is taking Tae Kwon Do at the local Karate place and he loves it! He is an orange belt in their Pee Wee class. Soon he will start earning more stripes.

Etsy Weekly Spotlight!

This week I decided to spotlight my sister's lovely little Etsy shop. April has always been very creative to it was a no brainer here that she would have a shop and it would be lovely. Click on the banner to visit her shop.

Milkshake for 2 is the name of her shop and she sells mainly handbags and message boards. I have one of each and love them both. All of her items are made with the utmost care and are of great quality.


She is making me a diaper bag that isn't posted on her site but as soon as I get it I'll put a picture here as well. She also makes the cutest hair bows! If only I had a little girl. Maybe someday.....we'll see. I don't think she currently has any bows in her shop but she is willing to do custom orders if the demand is there. If you look in her sold items you can see all of her many lovely creations!

More tragedy

It seems like everywhere I look there is a family who has had tragedy strike. I have been really wrapped up in Nie Nie's story because I have been a reader of her blog. Today I happened upon this story while reading another blog and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Carol Decker was taken in for an emergency c-section that turned into a raging infection which led to the amputation of both legs and one arm. She has also now lost her sight. This is another example of a family doing their best to remain strong in the face of tragic circumstances. Please take a look and share what you can, even if that means a simple prayer.

Etsy Weekly Spotlight!

So I have decided to do a weekly spotlight of some of the amazing shops I have found on Etsy. I know I always love to find great items there so I thought perhaps you might like to also!

For my first spotlight I have chosen Angel Ana Designs. Click below to visit the shop!



Oscar loves to hold onto a small burp cloth so I thought I should find a small lovey blanket and I happened across these unique and totally adorable Monster Lovey Blankets.


How can you not love this! What a wonderful idea of combining a lovey blanket with a lovey animal. I simply love it. I haven't ordered mine yet but you can bet I will be soon!

Their shop is full of wonderful items for babies and I also thought this Monster Burp Cloth and Bib were adorable.




This is one of those times when you see a great idea you wish you had come up with yourself!


Check them out today, ladies!

Happy Boy!

So last night I had to go back to work and Ryan had a boy scout meeting he could not miss. We had to leave Oscar for the first time. I was worried because he had a lot of gas all day and wouldn't nap and was fussy most of the day. I told Michelle, our lovely and generous friend who agreed to watch them, that she was in for a handful.

This is the picture she showed me from how happy he was the entire time I was gone.

I guess he likes her!

Great News!

This is a post that is long overdue. The above picture is of the elementary school that is across the street from our house. This is where our children will go to school. This is also now where Ryan teaches the sixth grade! We couldn't be happier with this!

This is a very long story of how we got here and why this is such an amazing blessing but suffice it to say that he really deserves this and has worked so hard and gone through so many let downs to get to this point. Yay, Ryan!

Throughout our move and the past two years here we always felt like this was the right place and that Ryan would get the right job. It has been difficult when year after year things have fallen through and by no fault of his own Ryan was forced to teach in a district that did not value their teachers or Ryan individually. He was treated poorly by the administration and the parents and it was not a happy time for him. He paid his dues and is loving every minute of his new job. He comes home with a smile and is happy to go back the next day. That is worth anything to me.

Plus, although it was a slight pay cut it is worth the almost $4000 in gas we will save a year off his commute. Can you believe it! $4000!!!!just for gas, just to get to and from work. It makes me sick to my stomach. Now he just walks to work every day.

The following picture is taken from my deck (I didn't even walk outside to take it) and you can see his classroom window on the top floor by the tree. How fun. That white building is the post office. I zoomed so it all looks a lot closer than it really is. You can't see any of our actual yard in this picture.

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Three Months Already!

It is hard to believe that Oscar is already three months old. He is growing so fast and is already a chubby and happy baby.

He loves to coo and is always talking and laughing. Evan can make him laugh especially hard. His belly is very ticklish and that always gets a good smile from him. His grin is wide and looks like he just can't smile big enough! What a fun kid.

We feel wonderfully blessed to have him here and know what a miracle he is after all he has gone through.

We love you Oscar!