Not Yet, Please!

The Master of Disaster at his finest.

Not only is Evan king of destroying a room, he's moved into a few new phases it seems.

Phase One - The Stripper. It seems it takes him no time at all the pull off his socks and pants and even his diaper. I have to keep a sharp eye on him, cause I'm not a happy camper when it comes to cleaning poop out/off of a crib.

Phase Two - The Climber. This child will climb on anything. He's just as fearless as Arabella, if not worse. And I saw first hand last night...he's trying to escape the crib. It feels like he just started walking and now he's using his bare monkey toes to get leverage and free himself from his cell. I'm sooo not ready for this. He's my baby. Arabella didn't escape the crib until 15 months. He's not even 14 months yet, well two days away from it. Where does the time go?

Phase Three - The Yanker. Okay, so he may kill me for this one but the child LOVES to "explore" himself. It never fails, the diaper is open or off and his hand naturally gravitates to his penis. It's cute the first two or three times, but seriously kid, it is so annoying. Especially if there's poop involved with the diaper change. I would think feeling around once or twice would be sufficient, apparently I am wrong.

I also have no idea which teeth he's working on as I cannot get my fingers past his iron clad jaw. I do know he's running low grade fevers and gnawing on everything in sight, fingers and hands included. The poor guy has cuts on his knuckles where he's been biting too hard. If he's this bad with his "regular" teeth I do not want to see what happens when it's time for the molars.

And lastly, if you want to know when it's time for him to go to bed, just look at this last picture. He zones big time and either starts pulling at his hair or his ear. He tends to roll his ear between his fingers. Weird I know, but it seems to be a family trait? And I don't understand it, but when he nurses lately, he's been tugging or stroking his eye lashes; just as he does with his hair. I'm afraid he's going to end up pulling his eyelashes out, and wouldn't that hurt? Eh, as long as he's a happy little man, I'm happy.

The Chair

Arabella is very big on helping Mommy, especially if any kind of cooking is involved. She loves to pour things into bowls or pans. And she absolutely must stir whatever it is I'm working on. Unfortunately she usually takes interest when I'm working on dinner and it involves the hot stove.

She's a pretty strong girl, so she tries to pull the wooden chairs up to the counters. I got sick of hearing the wood on wood screeching, so I retrieved one of the little tikes chair from the basement. That might not have been one of my best ideas.



"I wanna help!"

 She immediately tried to help me and with the hot stove on I freaked out. I asked her to move her chair and go play. That she did. *insert goofy eye roll*

The child first pushed it up to the light switch in the kitchen and of course flickering ensued. I asked her to stop. She pushed the chair to the pantry doors (which she can actually open while standing on the floor) and she couldn't figure out why they wouldn't open with her standing on the chair directly in front of them. I giggled. She pushed the chair to the refrigerator and again couldn't figure out why the door wouldn't open. She then pushed the chair to the back door.

Oh my, I heard "click." That immediately got my attention as I knew exactly what she'd done. She had unlocked the back door and was attempting to pull open the sliding glass door. This child.

Pouting after she was told to get down.

I stopped her and locked the door, sent her on her way to watch cartoons with Bubba. I will note that at the time I had no clue, didn't think to look, that she'd turned on the deck light as well. It was after dark before I realized she'd done it.

We had a pretty nice dinner, I tried a new recipe (Tarragon Chicken) and she really seemed to like it. She gave it a thumbs up anyway.

After dinner we both enjoyed some yummy Banana-Berry smoothies. She really loves them.

Never a dull moment, never.

You Capture - Vibrance

According to dictionary.com here are a few definitions of Vibrance:

1. pulsating with vigor and energy.

2. vigorous; energetic; vital: a vibrant personality.

3. exciting; stimulating; lively: vibrant colors; a vibrant performance.

I found the perfect subject for my vibrance project this week...my baby sister. She exudes vibrance and I never have a dull time when I'm around her. :)



50mm | f2.8 | 1/30 | ISO 800



50mm | f2.8 | 1/30 | ISO 1600



I caught my sister as she was preparing to leave for a wedding where she was going to be a bridesmaid. I just happened to catch her shoes waiting for her. I LOVE her purple bedspread. Vibrance, no?



50mm | f2.8 | 1/30 | ISO 1400



These are another pair of her shoes and I don't think I captured what I was after. I also tried something different from my norm in post-processing. It's "okay" but I thought I'd share anyways.

50mm | f2.8 | 1/30 | ISO 800

I'm very tickled about this last pose. Seriously, how can you NOT be happy around this gorgeous woman? I love my sissy...so VIBRANT!

For more vibrant photography visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Oops...sorry

So I'm feeling a little guilty about this blog. I feel as though it's being neglected as I try to make my life healthier and change my eating/exercise habits. So I'm sorry I haven't been posting as many quirky stories and silly pictures as usual, but in all honesty I'm pretty determined to make my health a number one priority right now.

And kids, should you ever read this in the future, just know that yes, a lot of new things have been happening with you developmentally and emotionally, but I have been making things with my nutrition work so that I can be here for you in the future. I love you both dearly and believe you will understand this when you are a parent.

I will eventually get back to more posts and pictures of our everyday lives, but for now I have to make sure I'm here in the future to do so. Love me.

You Capture - Youth



Peaceful play.



Noisy play.



Spoiled?



Choo! Choo!

And just for fun:

 For more Youth pictures, please visit I should Be Folding Laundry.

Tooth #10

Evan's officially up to 10 teeth...and still counting. This poor kid cannot get enough hard plastics in his mouth to sooth the pain. It makes me sad. On the upswing he doesn't seem to have some of the side-effects that Sissy has when she was teething.

Build Your Own Simple Spice Rack

So I posted some of this on my fb page, but in order to go into more detail for those wanting instructions on how to do it yourself, here's my tutorial. I found the instructions here, but changed a couple of things for my own reasons.

 

 

What you'll need for the 60 Jar Spice Rack:

• (4) pieces of Blind Stop White Vinyl Never Rot Moulding (it's square), 5/8" x 8' @ $4.98each (It feels like plastic and it's very easy to cut.) I purchased mine at Lowe's.
• Brad Nailer
• Tape Measure
• Somewhere flat to work
• Patience
• Approx. 4 yards of 3/8" Elastic (optional)
• Heavy Duty Stapler (optional)

 

What you'll need for the spice jars:

• (60) 3oz Spice Jars (includes shaker inserts and lids). These can be purchased at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $0.99 each. OR You could buy the from Amazon for a penny cheaper, in a case of 48 count + shipping unless you have a PRIME account.
• Avery Multipurpose Round Removable Labels, 1", White, Pack Of 600 @ $6.82 for the Jar Lids
• Avery White Inkjet Labels, Return Address, 1/2" x 1 3/4", Box Of 2,000 @ $12.49 for the Jars (optional)

 

Let's get started! First I used this diagram found on the original tutorial. I made one slight change however, I added 3" to the vertical pieces in order to add the elastic.

I decided I would need to secure the jars on the shelves. We decided the best place for our spice rack in the house at the moment is the small laundry room in the kitchen, so it is on the wall where the washing machine is. I was nervous about the vibrations knocking the jars off the shelves, so I figured the elastic would be the easiest fix. So you can make your own rack with or with out the elastic and the extra inches.

 

STEP ONE 

 

• Cut (10) 24" foot pieces
• Cut (3) 22" pieces (or 25" depending on your method)

Because the moulding is vinyl you can easily cut this with a miter box if you don't have a miter saw on hand.

 

 

STEP TWO  

 

• Using a brad nailer, attach one 24" cross piece on the 22" uprights, at equal intervals.
• In order to get a "clean look" on the front I flipped the rack over and slid one more 24" cross piece under each cross piece already attached. Then I nailed them from the back side to keep the front "hole-less." 
• Once completed it should look like the pictures below.

OPTIONAL STEP TWO

• Cut (5) 25" pieces of elastic.
• Staple each end to the inside of the outter uprights.
• Staple each piece in the center of the center upright.



I didn't get a picture of the center of the elastic stapled.

STEP THREE

• Print your labels. You can choose what font, color, size to use. You can also choose if you want the jars labeled as well as the lids. Customize them however you see fit. 

STEP FOUR

• Round up all of your spices and seasonings and begin transferring them into the glass jars. If you're like us and buy in bulk, you'll need to find a suitable location to store the containers. Then when your kitchen spice jar runs low you can run to the basement, grab your spice and refill your jar.

STEP FIVE 

•  Hang your New Custom Homemade Spice Rack in your designated location.

I'm pretty certain that these instructions can be easily manipulated if you feel you don't have the need/space for 60 jars. Have fun with it and don't be afraid to share how yours turns out! 

Silly Girl!

So most of you know that B being a December baby I joined a mama board while preggo. And over the last two plus years I have become pretty close to my 20 or so Mama's. So close that we even meet up when the chance arises.

We have one Mama and baby in MA that we've never officially met in person, but we did do a video chat so our daughters could "meet." It was fun, and by the way *wink wink* we really should do it again.

Any who, so yesterday she posted this hilarious video of her daughter, Abby, who was supposed to be singing her ABC's for the camera. Instead she ended up being a complete riot. Today I decided that B needed to see her friend again so I offered up my laptop so she could view Abs. After the first two viewings I had to record Arabella watching Abby. it is too funny.

In this first video she is lip syncing the words to the ABC's with Abby, as well as acting like a goof. And yes, she watched the video to the end and then figured out (a long time ago) how to make it replay.

In this second video I had closed the laptop because it was way past nap time. Apparently Abby was "stuck" in my computer and she wanted to see more of Abby. It is sad and funny all at the same time.

For those who may be seeing this on facebook you have to visit my blog here to view the videos.

You Capture - Emotions in B&W

Does anyone else find it difficult to capture toddlers on the move??? Enough pitty party, here's what I managed to capture and it gave me some great practice shooting in manual. I hope I'm slowly improving. This is a big share because I'm rather fond of some of these.

This is the reaction I see most days from B. Tongue out and refuses to look at the camers.

ISO 100 | F/1.4 |1/60 | 50mm

My little song bird.

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/60 | 50mm



Not so happy girl.

 ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/60 | 50mm

First popsicle and it rocked!

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/40 | 50mm

The cutest pouty face ever.

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/40 | 50mm

Bath time fun

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/20 | 50mm

Sing-a-ma-thing

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/20 | 50mm

ISO 720 | F/5.0 | 1/60 | 58mm

Lemons...suck.

ISO 1000 | F/3.5 | 1/30 | 18mm

Happy feet.

ISO 100 | F/1.4 | 1/20 | 50mm

For more black & white emotion photographs visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.