Multitasking Mom skills

Today, I accomplished multiple goals by doing on project. That's what I call multitasking :)

I should have cleaned the house, wrote a paper due for school tomorrow, started a stack of work I brought home with me, or done some laundry. But instead, I cleared out the dining room and set up.....MY NEW SEWING MACHINE!

My mom got me one for Christmas after I'd gotten some help from my mother in law on learing to sew and making a doll for my daughter for Christmas - and I mostly fell in love with all the possibilities I could do.

As an avid pinner, I've been stockpiling things to make to improve our homes and lives (that's what all my pins WILL do, right?) but hadn't really gotten the guts/time to get something started.

Until my sweet little boy who is turning 6 in a couple of weeks turned to me and said he sure would like a blanket sewed to match a handmade pillow his grandma made him last Christmas. And his final request? Sure would be cool if I could do it.

Grandma and I hit up the fabric store Saturday - and they were sold out of the EXACT fabric to match the pillow. We found the same family though. And thanks to a great pinterest link (Click here for the patten)- I was on my way.

It's basic and simple. It took about an afternoon to do. But more importantly - it was my first solo project. And it was for my little boy. And that moved it to the top of the list, here's the final result and I'm VERY happy with it!

Striped side:

Even got some fancy stitching on there!

The flip side is frogs and snails - perfect for my boy!

The goals achieved? I sewed something. I made something from Pinterest. And most of all? I made my son's day - before furthering my career or education, I'm still a momma loving to go the extra mile to make the memories we're both going to cherish :)

Look WHOOOO's one...

My sweet girl is turning one. And I'm developing an owl obsession. What a great time to combine the two right?

Lets start by saying, I handmade her invites. I'd post one, but I don't want you all showing up. Or stalking me. Or egging the house/ding dong ditching me in protest of my weak blog skills.

Lucky for you, I used the same template for some decorations, so envision these owls with a square on their belly with the party info:

From there, I made her Happy Birthday Banner and first year time line:

A Banner with her name:

Some sweet little owls:

Grandma made her a special dress for the event too!

A little smash cake and my greatest cake to date! I'm no Cake Boss or anything here, but not too bad for a suburban mom!

And with that, we had a super party with all our family, lots of super fun presents, and a great time. Its bittersweet when your baby turns - especially when she's your last baby. But with every day her personality comes out more and I get more excited for all the fun I know we're going to have and smile at the memories we already made. Happy Birthday to my sweet Lizabeth Alma!

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! (but we didn't...)

Well the sick baby led to a sick mommy. And a sick daddy. The only “perk” to the situation is that my son was with his father for the weekend and able to just stay there an extra day to avoid the situation.

I saw a link about how “fun” it is to look through decorating books, read, watch tv, take warm baths, and try to relax on a sick day. You know, “make the best of it”. If I hadn’t been completely exhausted from suffering from a horrible case of Montezuma’s revenge while taking care of a baby in similar form – I’d have doubled over in laughter.

Read a book? Take a long bath? I was just glad my husband was rinsing out the bathroom trash can after he had to commandeer it MacGyver style in a moment of panic at 3 am!

The truth is, for any parent that gets sick when their child is sick, there is no relaxing or bathing. Well, maybe for the child. She was getting 2 or 3 baths a day thanks to her situation and I finally realized Monday, I hadn’t seen the shower since Thursday. I’d been consumed by poo and puke.

I read books I suppose. We read “Where’s My Puppy” until I puked. Literally. Then we spent the rest of the morning rotating “Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Hug”.

Think about decorating the house? I did lay on the couch with the sick baby passed out across my chest noticing that my dining room paint color was matching her diapers. I did decide if I lived through the illness that I’d like that changed. Only because I never want to see that color again. Not because I spent the morning comparing paint chips and valences on Martha Stewart’s website.

And watching TV? Do you know what is worse than having to endure hours upon hours of Elmo and his grating voice singing his stupid songs while you’ve got one foot in the grave and the other helping you care for a sick kid? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I might have healed FASTER if we didn’t have to watch that.

So whoever wrote the article claiming you CAN possibly enjoy a sick day is way off base. I’m guessing this is a person who has no children, lives alone, manages to only work 40 hours a week, and has time for actual hobbies that could actually benefit from a few hours of down time when available. I suppose that a Mandy Moore character is most likely the author – although it’s possible that it was a Jennifer Aniston one. Whatever the case, it wasn’t a real person in the real world with real problems who has ever been real sick.

Really.

No judging

Have we all noticed a pattern? I update then disappear then eventually come back. I'm busy,k? Deal with it.

Today,however, I am pinned in a chair with a sick baby snoozing on my lap (the flu is brutal) so I am being forced to slow down. And here I am.

Going into 2012 I didn't make a grand resolution - if you think I suck at updating a blog imagine my resolution success rate. But I have been thinking its time for some change. Most notably with my weight. I'm not overweight by any means. I'd say I'm the higher end of average (I AM good at rationalizing). But I don't like what I see in the mirror. I have done atleast 15 serious structured diets in my life. The problem is that I get tired or sick or just plain bored and the wheels fall off the train. And don't get me started on exercise.

So while most people want to lose "x" amount of pounds I just want to find a healthier lifestyle that o can get behind and stick with. In my lazy and overextended life. And maybe I can sneak it onto my family also. A little. What kind of wife and mother would I be if I did this alone.

Step one, I have decided, will be the exercise portion. I cannot afford nor do I have the time for the gym. This is me on my own. And being in the upper Midwest...I am stick in the house until at least April (I don't do cold...don't even ask). So what do you suggest? Yoga has been good to me in the past and I am hoping to start back into it.

Any other easy to stick to ideas?