new book on my nightstand

I am now reading It's a Boy!, a book that I bought a couple of years ago but just haven't picked it up.


It was recommended to me by my sister and I also remember someone coming to our MOPS group a few years ago that talked about this book.  I remember really liking this guy (was he the author?  I don't remember unfortunately), he talked about the importance of mothering and the bond between mother and child and how it is crucial for development.  Awesome stuff. 

Our little boy is four so I have quite a bit of catching up to do (I just started the "toddler" section LOL), so far it is really interesting - makes me happy to be a mother of a boy.  I actually really wanted a boy, I played with boy-oriented toys when I was a kiddo (dinosaurs, transformers, gobots, etc.) and I actually had more guy friends growing up than girl friends.

We're still planning on having another kiddo and I would love to have another boy. Part of me would love the challenge of raising a little girl too, what an opportunity that would be. Raising a girl in today's society that has confidence and self esteem (something I lacked severely growing up). We'll be incredibly happy with whatever we are blessed with. And we're not in any hurry right now to have another child. Although many of our friends and family have children fairly close together, we wouldn't be concerned if our children are several years apart. It's what works for our family.

On another note, I WILL be resuming my Template Tuesday to Thursday give away, I absolutely promise! I missed the month of October so this month I will be giving away two....count 'em two templates/banners, whatever you like! And I have also decided that you can either take a freebie or get ten dollars off a Webset, eBay store design or Selling Blog Template too.

On yet another note (yes I really am that random), I will be unveiling my 2010 signature design really early this year....like hopefully this evening early (but probably tomorrow). The reason? I am really tired of my current design to be completely honest (LOL) and I also wanted to have a separate button so customers can purchase a selling blog template instead of having the hassle of purchasing a regular blog template and then purchasing the add-on. Here is a sneak peek....
More to come soon!

keeping the peace

the past few days have been...challenging around here. Roman has been having a hard time transitioning between playing and...anything really. It is especially hard to get him on the potty these days too, each time he we try to put him on he throws a fit and sometimes even cries because he says he is busy.

Yesterday morning I was at my wits end when we finally got to Occuptional Therapy (late of course). I told Roman's therapist about the issues that we have been having lately and she recommended putting together a schedule to help him transition a bit better. She also recommended reinstating the potty chart (which didn't seem to be working) in addition to giving M&M's as rewards.

So last night I got to work and this is what I came up with, (the squares you see above his schedule are the completed activities for the day)

I made 3x3 squares in photoshop and typed his activities for the day along with a corresponding picture (thank you Microsoft Clip Art!). I printed them out then laminated them with sturdy 10 mil sleeves (my favorite thickness), cut them out, rounded the corners, then added a strip of velcro to the back along with a magnet, the velcro is white and hard to see against the white paper so I added black lines to show where it is.

Then I laminated an 11x17 sheet of paper, rounded the corners and added three strips of velcro for his squares. Last night I made up his schedule for the day and left it on the fridge for him to see the next morning.

The result? Today has been incredible! He loves taking his squares off his schedule and putting them up on the fridge after we're done doing something. We have had zero complaints about going potty today and get this...zero accidents! I also made another potty chart for him too, the one we were using had 20 boxes across and was a bit overwhelming to look at. This one only has ten, everything seems to be working - wahoo! I even made a special square for our "nothing" days: that would be the "Go To Starbucks" square. He is a sucker for hot cocoa and lemon loaf lol. So far so good, will keep you posted!

happy birthday to me

I am official 32 years old as of yesterday. And I couldn't be happier about it. My 20's were all about establishing myself, getting married and having one of two kiddos. My 30's are all about my family and finding my real joys in life. Did I ever think that I would be an at-home Mom with a graphic design business? No. But it is the best job I could ever have. Being a Mom is....amazing. Truly the best thing in the world. Being a Mom and having amazing creative outlets? I couldn't ask for more.

Speaking of creative outlets....I was given the most amazing birthday present ever. In the history of birthday presents. A present that will span many birthdays and a Christmas or two. Or three. Or four. This is a Canon Digital Rebel SLR T1i. 15.1 megapixels. 3 frames per second. Amazing camera. I should say that I am the unofficial family photo historian in the family. I have our family history scrapbooked to the mid 1800's. I scrapbook almost every single day and take a ton of pictures.

I realized about two years ago that I had some major limitations with a point and shoot - camera shake was a huge one. I don't like using the flash, I love the look of natural light pictures. But my pictures always turned out blurry. That and I needed a higher mega pixel, I use a lot of 12x12 and above pictures in my layouts. Here is my first layout from my new camera featuring a 9x14 photo: The picture is clear, crisp and I didn't have to stretch the photo to fit. When I think about the amazing pictures I can take from here on out, I almost hyperventilate I get so excited. I am one deliriously happy girl.

the pumpkins have landed

and I am having so much fun with them this year! I've been thinking of using gourds for noses, ears, etc. for years and I finally did it this year. I actually used our electric drill to drill the hole. I wasn't prepared for the pumpkin goo to splatter all over the kitchen, but when you use power tools, it can get messy. And it did. Big time.

I also wanted to try a fun new idea that I saw on MarthaStewart.com. This technique uses wood gouges to carve into the pumpkin's skin without going all the way through. The result is pretty darn cool. So first I measured my pumpkin, then made a template on my computer, printed it out and taped it to the pumpkin. Then I used an awl to poke holes around the letters so I could see them when I took the paper off. Then came the wood gouges! Here you can not only see the pumpkin but a close up of my super thick glasses. Yes, it is a wonder that I can see at all. Here is the finished design: Roman wanted a scary pumpkin so we made this one for him: Happy Carving!!

lanterns are finished!

and I am very happy with them! They are a bit smaller then what Martha has on her website because I used my wishblade to cut the parts out (did not want to do it all by hand!). I purchased the orange vellum on eBay and I used Bazzill Bling Black Tie Cardstock from scrapbook.com to make the lanterns themselves. Add beeswax votives inside and you have a frightfully beautiful display for Halloween!

welcome sweet baby girl

eight pounds, six ounces. completely irresistable. I am such a proud and happy auntie.

("Welcome sweet baby" text scraplifted from the great ali edwards)

Updates!

My poor sister hasn't had her baby yet. Yes folks, she is two weeks past due today. But the good news is that she is now in the hospital, they started inducing her this morning and as of about five minutes ago...its kind of not working. Meaning she is getting contractions but they are not going anywhere.

I also wanted to update my customers out there, we are having some major computer issues and may need to take the computer in to the Geek Squad to be fixed. It is taking forever to do things that took only seconds before. For me, this is very frustrating as I try to fill orders. So please be patient with me for the next few days, if you don't hear back from me! I can't wait to get this fixed!

So updates will be in order for the next few days...stay posted!