Friday, November 8, 2013

Five on Friday: Pet Peeves, Hair Loss, & Some Tears

I am normally not a bandwagon jumper, but I decided that my love for random, snippets of life is just too great to keep passing up Five on Friday! Five on Friday posts are my favorite posts to read every week, so I wanted to join in on the fun.
I think these posts are a cute way to get to know the blogger behind the blog; what's going on in their everyday life, what things they are currently loving, cute pics of the offspring... I love it and I hope you will love mine!
Some really great ladies put this link up together, including Darci and April! Go on over and check out all the other Five on Friday posts; it's a great way to meet new bloggers and grow relationships :)


ONE 
Amen and Halleluiah...I am so glad I read this post about Nature vs. Nurture over the weekend.  I love reading studies that confirm my parenting style. People hated on me for not letting Myles cry for like the first 4 months of his life. I may not know everything or even much about raising children, but I do know what I feel comfortable with and what I don't. I've had to defend myself on a lot of my choices, so it's nice to have some scientific backup on what I believe is right. Things have changed a lot since Myles was a newborn (trust me, he cries now), but still I always show him TONS of love and he knows where he is safe. I am so looking forward to reading the book as well! I think it's going to be my first Audible app download. 

TWO
Three words: Daylight Savings Time... "Fall Back" used to be one of the greatest combinations of words to ever grace my vocabulary! I remember just a few short years ago when DST meant an extra hour at the bar, and before that it meant an extra hour of sleep! And if you know anything about me, you know how much I adore sleep. Unfortunately, sleep is a thing of the past now that I am a mother. It's a good thing I adore something else more now because I definitely could have been admitted to the psych ward because of my lack of sleep this past year.
But I digress... This is the 3rd Daylight Savings Time I have gone through with Myles so far and this one has been the worst! Since I have finally gotten him to sleep through the night (10 hours) about a month ago, he was going to bed around 9:30-10 and getting up at 8am. I wanted to get him going to bed earlier, but he kept taking his nap so late that he wouldn't go to bed until 10pm. I was happy about the 8am wake time though. 

Cue Daylight 'Sucking' Time... now Myles wakes up at 7am. His biological clock is on point; no tricking this kid with a time change. I know it's only an hour, but it has really thrown me off. I usually stay up until 12-12:30 blogging and such, but this week I'm so exhausted by 10, I can barely keep my eyes open. The one good thing is that he is going to bed around 9pm now. He is getting the same amount of sleep, so I should be too... I can just never get any blogging done during the day, so I stay up way too late and then hate getting up in the morning. Really, I shouldn't complain; it's actually a better schedule than before, I just need to get over 7am seeming so early and get to bed earlier. 

After writing that, I feel so ashamed I am complaining about 7am... First World Problems at its finest! 

THREE 
This is my shower hair art; I'm thinking of opening a museum! I have several other amazing pieces in my archives now! Anyone else want to submit their work?!?
Okay jokes aside, this actually makes me really sad :(
This has been my normal hair loss since I got pregnant. Yea the thick, shinny pregnancy hair that is supposed to be one of the perks of carrying around a baby for 9 months... yup that one completely missed me. My hair was falling out like nobody's business. And it only got worse postpartum.  Every shower would be handful after handful of my already thinning hair washing down the drain. I vividly remember brushing my hair after a shower one day and seeing two huge empty spots on the sides of my forehead... I instantly freaked out.. like panic attack freaked out... It eventually slowed down around 8 months postpartum and it has started to grow back in those spots. 

But at one year postpartum the hair loss came back in full force. The picture above is the typical aftermath of a shower... this is not including what goes down the drain. Three months into this again and I don't know how much longer it can go on before I am bald! I'm not sure if it can even be considered a postpartum symptom anymore. I'm at a loss.. Anyone with any suggestions?

FOUR
Vent time: I probably have way too many pet peeves to be able to function normally in society. Last week, I had a lesson in learning how to hold my tongue when I encountered one of these:
  
I had to return something to a store. The cashier returned the item and the total was $6.99. After she opened the register, I asked if I could just give her a penny so I could get an even $7 back. She of course says she can't because she already entered it and it would make her register off.... I so badly wanted to school her in Register 101, but I just said whatever and left. But it got me soooo irritated. I worked a cash register for over 10 years and guess what, cash is cash!! If you give me $6.99 or if I give you a penny and you give me $7, it's the same thing! Your drawer still has the same amount of money in it! It's not rocket science people! You can think outside of the register.. you actually have a brain that should be able to problem solve....Okay rant over!

FIVE
This video: A friend put this up on Facebook last night and I definitely shed a few tears. I knew just by the name that it would be a tear-jerker. 

Stuff like this always gets me. I could write a whole post just about bullying at school, but I won't go into that here. It really breaks my heart and makes me scared for Myles to grow up. I never want him to feel that sadness. People say it's all just a part of growing up, but I completely disagree. To this day, I can still remember certain comments made to me during grade school that really hurt. And to know Myles will most likely experience that as well and it makes me anxious. I hope when the time comes, I know how to help him deal with it and not let it effect him. 

Kudos to the students in this video for being supportive and encouraging to him, even though at one time they were most likely the ones making fun of him. It's nice to at least see that they are growing and becoming more mature. 


Happy Happy Friday Y'all 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Ikea Latt Children's Table Makeover

I had been eying this Ikea Latt Children's Table ever since I saw Laura post about it here. So you can imagine how incredibly excited I was when I woke up one day to see the table in our dining room! Apparently Mark had bought a couch from someone off of Craigslist  and they gave him the table for FREE! I never even told Mark about wanting the table, so I was   I, then, of course had to Pinterest all the different ways people made-over their tables. I found some great designs and ideas. I put all of my favorites together and came up with something that goes with the colors in Myles' play room and also is versatile enough to grow with him as he changes. 


What you will need

1. Ikea Latt Children's table
2. 2 cans of spray paint (color is your choice)
3. Allen wrench 
4. Spray Adhesive
5. One yard of fabric (pattern/color your choice)
6. Chalkboard paint
7. Paint brush
8. Chalk

Process

1. The first thing I did was pick out my color choices. Myles' play room is very colorful so I had a lot of choices. I decided it would be best to pick out the seat fabric first, then choice a color based off of the fabric. I found this cute 'letter' fabric at Walmart. I didn't want anything too baby or too specific (like characters or shows) because I plan on having him use this table for years to come. I like all the colors, words, and little faces.. cute but not cutesy!
From there I picked out a spray paint color. As you can see, I went with cherry red. I think red is always a good choice for a pop of color and it goes with his room. 

2. Next, I spray painted the table and chairs. This took several coats of paint and two cans. I just worked on it a little every night for about a week, but I would say altogether, it was about 3 coats to really get it all covered. I decided to keep the pieces together when I painted them because it just seemed easier. I didn't have to hold any parts while I painted and since the seat would be getting covered up, I didn't have to worry about not getting paint on certain areas. It worked out best that way for me, but you could take it apart and paint all the pieces separately, if you wanted. 

3. Once the chairs and table were painted and dried (picture 1), I started with the seats. First, I took the chair apart (picture 2). I took off the front legs by unscrewing the front bolts. Then I was able to slide the seat out. I cut the fabric to the size of the seat and adhered it to the seat using adhesive spray. (I used Scotch Super 77).

*Tip for putting the fabric on the seat: 
Cut the fabric to the exact size of the seat. First cut the fabric a little bit bigger than the seat. Then adhere the fabric using the spray. Let it sit and dry for a couple minutes. Then cut off all the excess fabric around the sides of the seat. It's okay if the fabric frays or anything because it will be tucked into the slots on the chair. 

This advice comes from my mistake. I left the excess fabric around the sides and tucked it under the bottom of the seat. This made the seat thicker and so it would not go back into the chair easily. I ended up splitting the wood on the chair trying to get the seat back into the slots :( 
I realized how I should have done it... after I did it the wrong way! So definitely cut the fabric to the exact size of the seat!

Lastly, put the chair back together. I would recommend keeping the sides in place (like the second picture) and then sliding the seat into the sides until its in place. Then put the front back on and the bolts in.

4. The last part is the table. I also just painted the table without taping it off because I was planning on painting the top with chalkboard paint, so I didn't care if the spray paint got on the table top. I used a bottle of chalkboard paint I bought from Walmart and a sponge brush to turn the top of the table into a chalkboard. I had to do 3 coats of the paint for it to cover the top completely. 

*Tips for the chalkboard paint:
Wait 24 hours between each coat. That way it will be completely dry. If you paint another coat and it's not totally dry it will cause the paint to come off (learned that from experience too).
Once all the coats are done, wait another 24 hours and then line the surface with a coat of chalk. I didn't really know why the directions told me to do this, but I did it anyway. I later found out that it is super important to do so, because if not, the paint will become super smooth and glossy and the chalk will not write on it. 
Which leads me to my last tip: make sure you are done painting, touch ups and all, before you prime it with the coat of chalk. If you paint over any area after the chalk prime, the texture will not be conducive to writing with the chalk.

I think that is it, but if you have any questions about the project or anything I missed please comment below.


What projects are you working on this week?

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Mommy Monday Blog Hop

                                                

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Without further ado, link up!






Halloween Day...Week...Weeks

I LOVE Halloween! 
It is safe to say that Halloween is officially my new favorite holiday! My love for Halloween has grown exponentially over the past couple of years, and this year was one for the books... or blog :) 
I have always liked Halloween for the creativity aspect (decorations, costumes, etc.), but until very recently, I never really got that into it. I believe I only dressed up once from ages 14-25, and all I did was wear a hippie dress that I bought at a thrift store. I HATE haunted houses and being scared, so that part of Halloween I have and always will stay away from. Also, I am not into the 'slutty' costume look. I have nothing against it and give major props to the girls who have the body and confidence to pull it off! I, however, have never been one to wear revealing or skimpy clothing. I just don't feel right and have no confidence to pull it off. During my teen and college years, I was very conscious about fitting in, so I just didn't dress up at all because I didn't want to be noticed as being different (even though I should have been proud; you know how it can be.) 

But now everything has changed! I finally have a house to decorate with all my Pinterest inspiration! I get all giddy even typing this now! I can't wait for next Halloween, when I can decorate even more! 

And of course, the part that makes it so awesome now.. Myles! I remember how special I wanted every holiday to be when I was younger and now I am so excited to make all of Myles' holidays something he looks forward to for months! All my childhood memories flood back into my mind as I celebrate each holiday with Myles. And as he gets older and more interactive, the celebrations get more elaborate! It melts my heart to be able create all these wonderful memories together. Even if he won't remember the first couple years, we are starting traditions that will last throughout his childhood!

So onto how we celebrated our Halloween Weeks... yes weeks! 

First, we wanted to go to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins that we could carve when my family was in town. Since we are new to our city, I just googled it. I found something called Pick of the Patch Pumpkins. So okay sounds about right I guess. Ummm... yea about that... total disappointment. It ended up being just a tent with extremely overpriced pumpkins of various sizes and some bounce houses in the back. WHACK! I was so perturbed, but we tried to make the best of it and just picked out some pumpkins anyway. 

Here is Myles with his pumpkin and of course it's not Halloween without a little mask photo shoot!
Our first party was on October 19th! I take Myles to The Little Gym a couple times a week and we both love it. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a mommy and me class. Myles has learned so much from going; it's incredible. But anywho, they have an annual Halloween Party for members that is tons of fun. The gym is open for the kids and they even have a little area blocked off for 18 months and under. They had a haunted house... which I some how got talked into going through. Myles didn't mind it because they were told not to scare him, but of course some crazy guy jumped out at me. HEART ATTACK people... it's real! 
They had booths set up outside for all sorts of crafts and activities. Myles made a bat, a clay spider (which he later decided to throw in the toilet.. RIP spidey), a sucker ghost, and got a bat painted on his face. He was too cute getting it done; he just sat their looking at himself in the mirror. Lastly, they had a cute photo booth set up. The theme was Monsters University, if you can't tell :)

We decided to do a family costume with Myles being Batman and Mark and I being Joker and Harley Quinn. And yes.. Batbaby caught the bad guys ;)

My parents came into town from the 21-27. Because they would be missing the actual holiday, we did a lot of the festivities with them before they left. 

After my very disappointing trip to the FAKE pumpkin patch, I was on a mission to find a real one. You can imagine how happy I was when we were invited to a farm by church friends! So on Wednesday the 23rd, I grabbed up Myles, Mark, and my mom and we set off for a morning on the Smith Family Farm. 

Myles got to see some farm animals. His most favorite animal is a bird... he's been making this funny bird noise since he was like 10 months old. Whenever he sees anything he thinks is a bird, he makes the noise. He also played in a mock Indian Village, where he started making the bird noise at a gourd that looked like a goose (3rd picture down). And naturally, I was a good mommy and let him play in a barrel of water :) Lastly, we went on a 'hayride' to go pick out our pumpkins. 
 Myles was in heaven with all the 'balls!' He probably could have played there for hours, except he got upset when I told him he couldn't eat dirt. After that he was over it, but luckily by that time, we had all picked out our pumpkins and were ready to go anyway.

 We also took advantage of the many photo ops all around the farm. 
1. Myles and Mark 2. Myles and my mother 3. Me and Myles
I can't believe some of these actually turned out. It wasn't easy, but I think he kind of liked sticking his head in the hole. Him trying to figure out what it was gave us enough time to snap a quick photo. His little face is so stinkin' cute in every one.

Saturday the 26th

During the daytime, we carved our pumpkins together. I knew Myles would LOVE the pumpkin guts, so I set up shop outside and let him go at it. I just put some cardboard boxes down over the rubber mats we have in the backyard. My favorite part of carving is the guts and getting messy too, so Myles and I cleaned out three pumpkins. We all were throwing guts on him and he was having the time of his life. I gave him a spoon and he went to town trying to dig out guts and seeds. 
We definitely got a nice shower after that activity :)

Here are all our pumpkins:

From the middle picture:
The pig one is Mark's. He made it in honor of Myles' nickname: Baby Ham. The second one is grandpa's; a little Jack Skellington inspired. The third one is mine. I thought I would give the drill carving a try. I really liked doing it; it was way easier than using a knife and you can do fun designs. I discovered after I was done though, that even with a candle inside, it is hard to see my design. Next time I will use a bigger drill bit and hopefully that will make it easier to see. The last one is grandma's. She did a cool spider!

Then that night we went to a Trick or Treating event that the city hosts every year in their downtown area. It is about 6 blocks of vendors and businesses handing out treats (and promoting their businesses of course!). They had tents set up and everyone followed in a line to each tent, where the kids would get a treat (candy, glow stick, plastic spider ring, toothpaste, coloring book, etc). They also had Mickey and Minnie and Buzz and Woody characters. Myles has a Woody doll and blanket he sleeps with every night, so he definitely recognized him. We took a picture with them and he wouldn't stop looking at Woody. (I don't have it, but will add it when I can get a hold of it.) And grandma came through at the end of the night and brought him home a balloon. (He is obsessed with all things balls).

Here is our family picture before going out:


Wednesday the 30th
We went to a get together for the church mommy and me group we are apart of in the morning. Myles dressed as batbaby again. I took a picture of all the kids together, but the camera on my iPhone is broken so most of the pictures I take are dark and blurry :( But we had lots of fun playing with the kids and eating healthy snacks (before all the candy intake!)

I have to throw these in because they are just too cute! Just by luck this week, I was going through Myles' clothes and I happened to find two other costumes that are 12 months! I didn't want them to go to waste so I dressed him up and took some pictures. 
Seriously... he makes everything cute..even a cow!

Wednesday we took Myles to a little party that the daycare at the gym we go to was throwing. I dressed him in the other costume I found which was a horse. They had all the kids walk around the gym to show off their costumes in a parade. They also had face painting, a paper plate ghost craft, a haunted house, and a little photo booth set up. Of course, Myles had a blast just running around like a crazy boy! He was doing forward rolls over the mats like it was his job :) LLOOOVVVEEE him too much! 



And here are the pictures we took at the photo booth. Pretty good, all things considered!


Last and certainly not least... actual Halloween Day the 31st
I debated staying home for a bit so Myles could hand out candy and see kids dressed up, but I didn't know if anyone would actually come, so we decided to go out. It worked out pretty perfectly though because before we left, two groups of kids came to the door. Myles was too dazed and confused to give any candy out, so I he just watched. I'm guessing he really wouldn't have cared too much about handing the candy out, so it was a good decision we made to go out ourselves. We went to a subdivision that I heard had a lot of kids and families, and also right next to it a church was having a free harvest fest and Trunk or Treat.

We walked through all the trunks and also played some games that they had set up inside. And I had to let Myles experience his first bounce house! No one was in it, so I let him go in by himself! He had fun until some bigger kids came in and I decided he was done :)
I just kept thinking about that Kevin Hart bit he does about his kid's birthday party with the bouncer.. I die every time... If you don't know what I'm talking about go on Netflix and watch "Laughing at My Pain."

After that we were on our merry Trick or Treating way! We brought Myles' bike so we could push him around because 1. I didn't think he would last that long walking himself and 2. He loves riding on his bike. He thinks it's the greatest thing in the world! 
It turned out to be the best choice. The bike never disappoints! We adorned the bike with black and orange balloons and hung his bucket onto the handle bars (until it got too heavy) and off he rode! Everyone commented on how he was living the good life being pushed around and collecting candy! Yup, that's my boy!



Going up to a house:

 And.. the aftermath! Naturally, I had to group all of the like candies together... Am I the only OCD one or do you all do it too? I honestly have no idea what we are going to do with all the candy. Myles isn't eating it.. I may give him a sucker or two, but that's it and I certainly don't want to eat it all... What are you all doing with all your candy, if you're not eating it?


 I am loving reading all of your Halloween Posts! I can't wait for the holidays to come!

How was your Halloween this year?