A time for everything.....

Wow...so it has been forever since I last posted something. :( Sad day.
Sorry to my few followers. I do have some what of an excuse but not one that explains all of my absence.

I am pregnant! :) Dowe and I are very excitedly expecting a new addition to our family.
Baby #2 due to arrive around July 28th.
Right now as I type this I am 14.5 weeks pregnant and am slowly starting to feel better.
I haven't been nearly as sick this time as I was with Monkey but sick enough that I have fallen behind in lots of areas in my life. So now I am slowly trying to get back on top of things.

I am beginning to feel the time crunch and the pressure of mounds of things I need and want to get done before I get too big to be able to do them. It's really quite funny and interesting the thoughts that go through your mind when you're pregnant for the second time. Dowe and I are quite sure that we are having a girl this time which primarily means needing to clear out the "catch all" third bedroom and getting it to where it can be Monkey's room. There is a lot to do to get that room to where it can be a really nice bedroom for him. The biggest issue I have with this house is how badly insulated it is and the fact that the third bedroom has no heater in it! So we will be forced to have a space heater in Monkey's room which I am not really thrilled about but at this point in time do not have any other options. Unless you know...someone would like to give us a house with some land to it. (Any takers?!...)

So to the real reason I am blogging now....
With having so much to do, being so far behind (both with work for the construction company I work for, and around the house), and knowing how fast this time is going to go by I have got to implement some better habits for myself and my family. I found this great 2012 Calendar on pinterest that is an organizational Calendar http://www.mysimplerlife.com/2012.htm. "This is the year you get your house under control with daily areas to declutter."   It's pretty much AWESOME. It gives one task for each day Monday-Saturday with Sunday being a rest day or a do something to benefit yourself. And the tasks typically are not huge and completely overwhelming. It's typically one smallish thing to do each day to slowly over the year change your house. My mom and I are actually both doing this together. (She has already started...sadly I haven't really yet..but I intend to Today!)

A while ago I posted about the Chaos Cleaning Project and what all that meant to me.
"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace" 1 Corinthians 14:33

This verse has really hit home for me and has made me realize that God is a God of order and structure.

He wants for our lives to have order and to have peace.

Well a little while ago I was reminded of this at my church's ladies group meeting.

My dear sweet friend Melissa shared about her passion of being organized and why she wholeheartedly believes it is something that God is passionate about. She also shared this verse...

"a time to keep and a time to throw away" Ecc.3:6b

WOAH!!!This is something that so many people (myself included) have a really difficult time with.

More often than not we want to hold onto the little things when it would better serve our families and ourselves to throw it away. Ecclesiastes 3 talks a lot about how there is a time and a season for everything.

This time and this season in my life I need to embrace that it is time for me to throw some things away and to stop holding onto things that truly do not matter. I have some big plans and big goals of things I would like to do this year including how I want to decorate the new baby's room (if its a girl I have several fun projects I want to do which I promise I will blog about as I do them.)

But I cannot accomplish the things that I would like to do this year with my home in its current state.
I am finding that sometimes it really is more important to just throw some things away over holding on to it thinking I may need it or use it some day.
I also want to put some of the things that I have been holding onto for that "someday I want to do this" to good use and either have it be something worth while or it is time to just let it go.

I would like to ask you all to help keep me accountable in this too.  I tend to have good intentions, plans, and ideas but not always the best follow through. So please join me on this journey and print off your own copy of the Declutter Calendar or if nothing else please feel free to post comments to check up on me and share your favorite cleaning/decluttering tips!

So I am now off to start throwing away some things and organizing things that are worth keeping and trying to find real homes for them. :) 

I want to post an update on how I'm doing on my list of things to do before the start of the new year.
So here is an update on week 1 of 11. I am going to put a number at the start of each one that goes to the number on the original list so you can reference back easily :)

2)I finally just got the final tools I need to give the trunk the face lift it desperately needs. Minus the paint for all the metal portions of the trunk. Haven't quite found exactly what I want for it.
Its so beautiful as it is quite honestly but I just know that we will LOVE it that much more once its all redone.
I have been slowly working on it a little bit every so often to strip out the old paper that is lining the inside.

3) The mirror is all stripped, needs a light sand job and just needs to be painted! I may even work on that more tonight. Really excited that this is o close to being complete!

4) I have started this and have several things sorted out, gave a few things to my sister and am just waiting a little bit to take the clothes to the consignment shop.

5) Sent a card to a friend last week and have a few people in mind for upcoming cards :)

8) I am reading the book "Like Dandelion Dust" by Karen Kingsbury and I am on Chapter 10! Now I HAD started to read this book before the list but had put it down for quite sometime. I did just pick up from where I had left off from and still remembered everything that was going on so I am happy to say that I have a good start on this. There are 28 chapters to this book so this really shouldn't be a problem.

9) Well last week I cleaned the shower, today I started cleaning the washer, and have been making all around really good strides around the house.

6) I did exercise 3 times last week! I was hoping to do it even more than that last week but I am VERY happy to say I did do it the 3 times I put on my list to do.

10) I am so thankful for my son and the fact that I have every day opportunities to teach him new things, get down on the floor with him to play, and snuggle before bed while watching some of a movie. I know not all mommies get that privilege as they have to work to provide for their families.

1) This is probably the one I am most excited to say that I only missed one day last week. And quite honestly I had some really amazing and profound conversations with God over the last week. Its been very enjoyable. I've been trying hard for a long time to be consistent in this area of my life but haven't been. I think it was a matter of changing my mind set of it having to be the first thing I did in the morning to when ever I could do it even if it ended up being before I went to bed. I would still prefer it to be first thing in the morning as it puts me in a better place and makes the whole rest of the day go so much smoother just because I spent some time being alone and quiet with God. I'm not saying that things are then perfect that day, Sometimes they are down right the hardest days all week. I just am at a better place to handle them because I know I'm not handling life alone. Make sense?

13) This is the one thing on my list that is the most overwhelming for me as of right now. :(


oh well. I'm off to spend some time alone with God and enjoy a cup of coffee, then work, and maybe get the Mirror all sanded and ready for paint tonight! :)

12 by 2012

So I was wandering around in the blogging world and came across someone's post about doing 12 things before 2012. I thought this sounded interesting and wanted to know some more about it and then realized that it was something someone was linking up to. So I went to the originator of the 12 by 2012. Danni over at  Oh, Hello Friend created this as a way to push herself to get a few things done before the start of a new year. (I'll let you check out her blog for the full rundown.) A few things that are just lingering. In checking out several of the others who have linked up it seems as though it is a lot of things people intended to do anyways but need the deadline to keep themselves from continuing to put them off. So thank you Danni for creating this challenge and making it a linky party so it'll help keep all of us accountable. Here's to everyone working to get 12 (or more...or less) things done before the start of the new year. And now I'm off to make a physical list so I can put it up somewhere so I can see it and be reminded to follow through on some of this... (like No.6...)

11 Weeks, 14 Items... I can do this!

1. Spend real quality time alone with God at some point in time during the day, every day, even if it can't be first thing in the morning. 
2. Give the beautiful trunk a major face life and get it in our room with the extra blankets inside.
3. Give the mirror a face lift and hang it in our room 
4. Clean out clothes I do not wear and take them to a consignment shop.
5. Send a card to a different friend once a week. (11 Cards in total. 3 of 11 Done)
6. Exercise at least Three times a week in my home. (5,10,15) 
7. Make Home Made Bread Dough 3 Times. (giving me 9 loaves of bread.)
8. Finish reading at least one book. 
9. Make some major strides in the Chaos Cleaning Project. (Including scrubbing the shower, fridge, and washing machine.)
10. Take more time to get down on the floor and play with my son. (not that I don't do this but I also need to make a more conscious effort to do this and take the time to just get right down on his level, not make him come up to mine.)
11. Sit down with Hubby and revamp our budget and really stick to it so we can get out of debt together.
12. Make realistic goals for starting the shop including short term and long term goals.
13. Complete Two Mei Tais.
14. Blog about each thing as I check it off my list. :)

Rough days....blessed heart.

So it has honestly been a rough couple of days here in my home.


Monkey has been unusually fussy and oh so very clingy. I am however so thankful for the time he and I have been able to spend together. The Mei Tai carrier could not have been finished at a more perfect time for us!
I'm not sure if Monkey is just about to hit a major milestone or if we are just in a weird phase right now but he has not been napping and so I have not been able to work. However, instead of getting worked up and frustrated that I haven't been able to work much as of lately I am totally enjoying this time with my baby. 
I still cannot believe he will be a year on the 3rd! We did all of this waiting for him to arrive and then time just FLEW by us!


My thumb is going to be alright. ha... No stitches required. I just took the bandage off to check it and redress it and though it is extremely sore it will be fine. This just happened at an annoying time for me as I'm trying really hard to get things caught up around the house before Monkey's birthday party. We're not having it at our house but I'm sure there will be family/friends who will come over after the party plus I just want and need to have things back in order as well as to be able to continue my chaos cleaning. 


On a more enjoyable note Monkey and I had a WONDERFUL time playing outside today!
We were out there for a few hours together. I laid out a blanket for us, took a small bin of toys out there for him and took a cup of coffee and a book for me. I became a mommy jungle gym and great fun to crawl over, on, up, tickle, and lick for Monkey and did not mind any of it one bit! (ok so not a flattering picture of my son at all...he looks...drunk or something haha)
 

While Monkey was playing I was reading "Self Talk, Soul Talk." This is an AMAZING book that every woman NEEDS to read!!! Seriously....you need to get yourself on over to amazon and buy a copy. (or at least attempt to find one at either your local library or see if a friend has it that you can borrow.) 
(if you click on the picture it will take you right to the listing on Amazon.)
I am actually going to buy myself a copy even though my local library has it and I've been borrowing it to read. I just feel this is one of those books I need to have on my shelf so I can highlight in it, write in it, go back to on those days when my self talk isn't what it should be, as well as let some of those special lovely ladies in my life read too.
    This time spent outside in the quite of our backyard, the sounds of my beautiful son playing and getting to spend some time reading today really blessed my heart and soul. I can not remember the last time I read a book. Especially something that betters my life the way this book is. I talk to myself all the time but most of the time they aren't the kindest of words. Words I wouldn't let others hear me say, things I would not say to someone else, but things I say to myself....to my soul. This is something God has really been working on in my life for quite some time now. I've pretty much always felt that I am never good enough and fail those I love most of the time. But I am learning that God made me who I am and how I am which is perfect in His eyes, I am only human, and I can not always be everything to everyone.
   The women's Sunday School class I was attending started doing Jennifer Rothschild's "Me, Myself, and Lies" just before I started going to the Dave Ramsey Class. I have wanted to do it on my own and keep up so I can go back to the class but I haven't kept up the way I wanted to. However, I am planning to go through the study myself fairly soon. Over the last few months I have really felt God moving in this area of my life. There have been several times at church and at small group about how we need to take our thoughts and minds captive. I need to replace my wrong thinking with things that are True. I need to speak truth to my soul.
How about you? Do you talk to yourself? I bet you do and don't even realize it.
Take notice tomorrow....what things are you saying to yourself? Are you being a cheerleader and speaking truth to your soul or are you being a "Debbie Downer" telling yourself lies, hurtful words, and continually scolding yourself?   Let me know your thoughts on this.






Last but not least......as Promised.... Mei Tai pictures!!!



Daddy will even "wear" Monkey! They BOTH enjoyed the wearing bond they got today :)
Hubby was saying how great its going to be for going to the Fairs this summer! :) Wohoo!!!

The End in the Beginning.

Well this concludes the first week of the new start.
Hubby is off for the weekend from work, Monkey and I are slowly starting to adjust to the new schedule, and I am looking forward to being back on Second Shift.

Who would have thought that the one thing I hated most (being on second shift for the past two years) would be the one thing I would look forward to most!

When Dowe was applying for supervisor we thought we had two options. Stay on Second or move to Third. After much prayer and consideration, along with a pro-con list, we had decided to make the move to Third. We asked God to do his will and that we knew that whatever happened we knew it was His best for us.

Just before the factory made a decision I began to realize how difficult Third would really be. I would no longer have my husband in bed beside me every night. A time I have really come to cherish with him. We tend to do a lot of our best talking just before drifting off to sleep together...plus I LOVE to snuggle. I love laying in bed with my head on his chest getting to listen to his heart beating and the rhythmic sound of his breathing when he has fallen asleep. He usually falls asleep before me but laying there in the quite listening to him more often than not puts me to sleep.

I began to question our decision to make the move to Third.
But then, God always has a plan.

Dowe's Brother, AirBear, also works at the factory. They both worked on Second together for a long time just with different roles and responsibilities. Then back around two months ago AirBear took another position that landed him on Third. Dowe questioned if his brother would really like being on Third and reminded him that once he had moved to Third he would be there for a year. This was all before there was even any thought that the Second or Third shift supervisors would be leaving.
Because AirBear and Dowe are brothers, Dowe can not be his boss. Thus making it so Dowe could not go to Third.

 I am thankful. God had a plan. He always has a plan. We just don't always realize what those plans are and need to learn to trust that He has our best in mind. He knows the desires of our heart even when we do not realize what those desires fully entail.

I am looking forward to the new schedule and how it works with being back on Second.
Monkey has been in bed and asleep the last TWO nights in a row by 10:10pm!!! (our goal again is to have him in bed at 10pm.) I am of course up a little later tonight as I am finishing up this recap of the first week of new beginnings but am headed to bed myself shortly.

A few goals for this up and coming week are as follows:

• Spend Good Quality time with God EVERY DAY
• Make Mother's Day Cards for my mom and my mother in-law
• Make my "Baby Backpack" (Monkey has been very clingy lately and wants me to hold/carry him all the time but he is already half my height and weighs 23lbs at 11 months...So it gets very tiring.)
• Continue working on Chaos Cleaning
• Put in as much time for work as possible this week (I need to make up for the lack of working I did this week...ugh.)
• Continue planning Monkey's Birthday Party and begin to buy things for it

New Beginnings.

Tomorrow starts a whole world of new beginnings for my little family.


New Job for hubby! YAY! Yes, My love got the job! He is now Supervisor and starts in the morning with training. We're so super excited. I cannot tell you how honestly excited I was to be washing his work uniforms for the last time this weekend so we can turn them in tomorrow! (In fact I even stayed up a little later tonight just to finish drying and folding the ones to turn in so they will ALL leave the house at the same time tomorrow!) Yes he will have a uniform still but as silly as this is I like the new style/colors he gets with this promotion. Plus they wont be as hard to clean now. :)


New (more normal) Schedule for us. Both of my boys (Hubby and Monkey) were asleep in bed at 10pm. Seeing as Dowe is training on First Shift for a week or two before going back to second we have decided to try to get on a better schedule starting tonight/tomorrow.  I especially am looking forward to this and am interested to see how it goes.


New Budget. As I have said before we are taking the FPU class at our church and with Dowe's new job we have to redo our budget and I'm actually looking forward to it this time! :)


New Ministry outreach with my church. I am going to be the coordinator of a meals ministry for families who have just had a baby, lost a loved one, or are having serious health issues. 


New Goals. I have a whole list of new goals, some starting tomorrow and some starting in a few weeks when Dowe goes back to his shift. So here they are.....

• Get rid of things we do not need/want anymore. Yes this has been part of my Chaos Cleaning To Do's but with Dowe's new job we are seriously considering the fact that we will hopefully actually be able to get a place of our own fairly soon instead of renting much longer. I do not want to move things we do not need/want. 
• Read more books.    I am a book lover. Have been since I was little. However, since I have had Monkey I have not really had much time to read. I am hoping that I will be able to put him to bed at 10pm, and then spend that time from 10pm till around 11:30pm when Dowe will get home from work reading.
• Do More Crafts!    I am also a craft crazy! I love to crochet, knit, scrapbook, sew, even cut pictures out of magazines and do collages. You name it I probably like it or would at least try it! (Can also use time after baby goes to bed for this.)
• Be More Consistent with my alone time with God.  Though I have been doing better as of lately than I have ever been before, I still am not doing it every day like I need to. Something always seems to come up. :( I am hoping that I can get up a little before Monkey in the mornings, have breakfast and do my devotions.
• Spend more time out doors. As the weather is slowly but surely getting nicer I want to be out doors more.  Cleaning up the yard, cleaning out the flower bed, going for nice long walks with my boys, cooking out, whatever! I just want to get out there and get some fresh air! (this one really isn't too difficult to do but still.)
• Be more consistently doing Elimination Communication with Monkey. For more information on this look up the book "The Diaper Free Baby"
• Take  better care of myself so I can take better care of my boys.
• Look mad hot for my husband for our anniversary trip. This means being able to wear whatever Pre-Baby stuff I have that he would want to see me in for our little get away sometime this summer. (Possibly including a 2-Piece Swim Suit....GASP!)

Those are all of the ones I can think of right now but if I come up with any more I will let you know. :)
But for now I need to get myself to bed so I can also get on this new exciting schedule! :)
Good night world.

Soak up the Son.

So yesterday was more or less a "wasted" day as far as working on things in the house 

I have those every so often....I think we all do. I hope I'm not alone at least.

Things have been slowly getting better around the house though. I have gotten the living room cleaned up and have been keeping up with it for the most part. I will confess I do have 2 loads of clean laundry partially folded the rest waiting to be folded in here but that is NOTHING compared to how it has been.

The dining room is slowly but surely getting a little better. My kitchen is in need of help right now along with the laundry room. But I am getting there. The bathroom seems to be the one room I have the easiest time keeping up with and almost always looks great. 

Monkey's bedroom really isn't too far from being where I would like it to be.  I think more than anything I need to hang some shelves so I can get his books out of boxes and where we could see them to pick new ones out to read instead of the same ones all of the time. 

I am finding it difficult not to decorate his room more than anything. He really doesn't do anything but sleep in his room at this point in time. It would be nice to be comfortable spending time sitting in there reading together.

  

I did reorganize his closet not long ago which has made my life so much better! I did cry slightly in putting away some of his little baby clothes. So hard to believe he is almost 10 months!

Hubby's and my bedroom is also getting really close to being done. We spent an evening together rearranging the furniture and though it has taken some getting use to, we both love it. We feel like there is more space in our bedroom and we both have night stands now instead of just me. We are really looking forward to and praying about getting our own house. But until God directs us to the right house we need to make this place something we can be comfortable in and be able to relax.

  

I enjoyed reading the book of James for my devotions this morning. 
James 1:27 really is my all time favorite verse. Look it up sometime :) 

Monkey and I went for a walk back a few weeks ago when it was actually warm out...you know before we got this last round of snow. It was sunny and comfortably in the 50's so how could we not go out and soak up some sun?! We left around 4pm and didn't arrive back home till 6pm! Walking the whole time. Ok, so I walked and Monkey took in the whole world around him. :) I only wish Hubby could have gone with us. 
I also must admit that it is really nice to be able to look out my window at 7:40pm and still see a little bit of daylight left! I think that is my least favorite part of winter with being a stay at home mommy....Little to no sun and too cold to take Monkey outside. 

Well I'm off to clean a little more around the house and then work for my parents :) 
Hope you were able to take some time out of your day to soak up the Son and some sun.

Reasons for blogging

I have decided to blog again. I use to have a blog on a different website and due to several different reasons I needed to create a new blog and start fresh. But before I begin to blog I feel I need to share the reasons I am going to begin blogging again. So here they are,
My Reasons for Blogging:

1) There are things I am trying to work on in my life to better myself and my family's life and I am thinking this may help keep me accountable. 

2) I am a young wife. I have several other friends who are also young wives and there is a lot of transitioning that goes along with becoming someone's help-mate, counterpart, love, spouse, other half. And though I do not have this whole thing down pat yet I'm thinking it would be nice to be able to share in my struggles as a wife with other soon-to-be wives/recently wives. 

3) I am a young mom and I know there are several other young moms out there that may possibly be feeling the same things I am. And though I do not want this blog to become a place to just gripe and complain (as I LOVE being a mommy!) but there are those days where you didn't get dressed till it was almost time to go to bed, only fed your family a quick little not much to talk about meal, and you just feel like pulling your hair out! I want to be able to share in the joys, tears, fears, and privilege of motherhood. 

4) I am still a woman. This is one of those things that is sometimes hard to remember as a wife and mother that I am still a woman. I am finding more and more as a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom and wife that I NEED some sort of outlet that is mine. I am hoping that maybe this will give that to me? I know I will probably be blogging a lot about my boys (husband and son) but I also want to be able to give myself that time. 

5) Accountability. I know I somewhat touched on this already but now to tell a little bit more about what this means for me. I am thinking of taking on some Challenges. And though I do not know what all of what they will include I do know that if there is a slight chance that someone will be reading my blog and "checking up" on me that will help me to be more consistent with completing my goals. 


So here it goes...my first blog towards becoming a better me. A better Woman, Wife, and Mother.