21 day mission: fail

I wanted to hold myself accountable by sharing

how I did on my 21 day challenge {which ended on Sunday}.

I'll just tell ya right off,
it was a big fat fail on my part.
Towards the end of the challenge, I missed a lot of days of prayer.
I don't even know how many.
Like, I would actually FORGET to have my prayer time.
And would use naptime for other things.
I would like to make excuses for myself,
and say that I'm maxed out with this pregnancy,
didn't sleep for 4 nights in a row,
really needed naptime for my OWN naptime,
but that's just it - they're just excuses.
The fact of the matter is I put my own wants & desires
and to-do lists in front of my time with the Lord.
Ugh. I hate being so disappointed in myself.
But, since God is the incredible being that He is,
He still used my failure for good.

Over the last few weeks, I have found myself praying more often
throughout my day, just talking to the Lord, here and there.
In moments of gratefulness, need, or when someone is on my heart.
And really,
that's what I wanted to gain most from this challenge.
To reconnect with Him and to open up our lines of communication.
I feel back on track and close to Him once again.
I even feel more intuitive when it comes to someone needing prayer,
or when someone asks me to pray for them I REMEMBER to.
And it feels good.
{flowers for a friend}

********************
Jaymin has preschool Mon/Wed/Fri.
So on Tuesdays and Thursdays
I try to stay home most of the day and do housework.
And Jaymin has fallen into the terrible habit of constantly needing
some form of media to be entertained.
And I fear his brain is rotting out of his head.
So I made up a quick little chart to limit his media exposure.
I'm always a fan of emily's organizational charts & tricks
and love the laundry clip idea so that's the route I took.
And of course I had to decoupage the clips with fun fabric
since I'm somewhat obsessed with that right now...
It says:
wii: 30 mins
computer games: 1 hr
tv & netflix: 30 mins
legos: unlimited
puzzles: unlimited
coloring: unlimited
outside: unlimited

His wii time was already limited but as soon as his time was up
he would go get on the computer or watch a show on netflix.
I gave him 1 hour a day for computer games
since most of what he plays is educational and learning related.
So that equals 2 hours a day of media which is probably too much for a 5-year-old but I selfishly need some sanity as well.
I mean, Jett stays plenty busy eating toothpaste, escaping outdoors,
getting into my craft supplies and dumping glitter everywhere...
But Jaymin is the one that will whine about being bored.
And then I gave him a few suggestions of what he can do
once he's used all his media time {cause you know he'll do that first}.
And of course, anything using his brain and his hands
is unlimited. :)

********************
I am 37 weeks today.
Officially full-term - woo hoo!
And wow, have I been terrible about belly updates.
I'm gigantic, so, just take my word for it, mkay?
No really, I will try to have a photo up this week.
But that means I'll have to get out of my sweats
and that takes a lot of effort these days. ;)

This past Saturday was my baby shower and it was SOOO great!
Can't wait to share photos with you!
I have amazing friends and yes I'm totally bragging and don't care. ;)

movin' on up.

Remember when I re-did my kitchen
and said we were using folding chairs?
Well, we are movin' on up in the world people! :)
We finally got REAL chairs.
And I love them...

I'm glad I was patient in waiting for the right chairs
and the right price.

These were found at NFM.
We were going to get 6 chairs
but ended up getting 4 and that lovely bench you see.
Love. :)

I really want to decorate my kitchen {shelves}
for Valentines Day but I always struggle with how to decorate
for this holiday without going super cheesy and cheap looking.
I'm waiting for the blog world and pinterest to save the day...
I'll keep you posted. ;)

the process of transitioning

That is the story of our lives right now.

But, so far its going well.

Right before Christmas Jett started climbing out of his crib.
You know it was one of those times where you say,
"I can't believe Jett hasn't tried to get out of his crib yet!"
and then he does it that day?
Yeah, one of those.
Jaymin did it super early and Jett is extremely physically capable
{and a little pistol to boot}
so we figured he would do it early as well.
But he was almost 2 and hadn't even put his foot over the ledge.
We loved the fact that we could cage him if need be.
Those days are now long gone.
Sad face.

So right after the new year,
we got bunk beds for the boys and moved Jett into Jaymin's room.
We decided to make the transition from crib to bed
and Jett's room to Jaymin's room all at once.
It's taken a few weeks for Jett to really settle in
and for the novelty of the "big boy room" and bed to wear off.
But he's actually doing great.
It took a few days of sitting in a folding chair in their room at bedtime
and saying "lay down" every 30 seconds until he fell asleep,
and quite a few spankings but he rarely gets out of his bed now.
The only time seems to be when he's really wound up
or when we've broken his routine {vital to bedtime!}.

I was a little worried about Jaymin and how he would handle
having a roommate for the first time.
Turns out he loves it.
He's at a weird spot where he's gone from wanting NO night lights
to wanting SEVEN.
So I think its comforting to him to have Jetty in there.
And we can usually here them up there
giggling for a bit before falling asleep. :)

I didn't want to do a TON of work to Jaymin's room
to accommodate the two {ha}
but of course ended up doing more than I intended. :)
But I'm really happy with the way it turned out
and love that there's so many homemade details in it now.
Here is Jaymin's room when I first finished it about 2 years ago.

I kept the paint color and just touched it up.Daddy put together the bunk beds,
that are currently not stacked as you can see.
I felt a little guilty about the fact that I made Jaymin
a handmade quilt and never made one for Jett...
And the thought of cutting it in half and rebinding it DID cross my mind...
And then I laughed at my own ridiculousness,
cause there is no way I'm going near that thing with a pair of scissors!
So I made these little pillows for each bed from the scraps
to help tie in the colors and patterns from the quilt.

I found the polka dot sheets at target,
as well as this green rug I've had my eye on since first doing Jay's room...
A couple of months ago,
Jaymin knocked his red mirror off the wall and broke the glass.
I didn't want to throw the frame away cause I like it so much,
so I started brainstorming about how I could repurpose it.
I was finally inspired by this post at jones design company
and did my own little version for the boys' room.I stitched Philippians 4:13 on some fabric I had...
Then wrapped it around some foamcore that I cut to fit inside the frame
and hot glued the edges of the fabric to the back.
Then I just popped the whole piece inside the frame.
I actually really like how it turned out
and it was a fairly quick project!

Then I made the boys matching hooded towels for bathtime.
I found the towels at walmart for super cheap
and really liked the stripes on the sides
cause I didn't want to put a ton of detail into them myself.
Then I appliqued their names on each.
I read a few hooded towel tutorials floating around the blog world
but ended up just using a hooded towel my sister-in-law
made Jaymin awhile back as a template and it was way simpler.
Then I got the crazy idea to make this...
I pinned this map awhile back and thought
this was the perfect place to put it!
I kind of combined this tutorial with
some of Jami's ideas for her owl canvas.
So I painted the canvas with acrylic paint and let it dry.
Printed off the map, taped the country together, and cut out all the states.
Then I used them as a pattern on a bunch of different fabric scraps.
Then I decopaged the whole thing together.
That part took me a while and a few states are definitely fudged
but I'm happy with the end product.My husband was watching this entire process
{which I would definitely say is not a crafternoon - more like a weekend}
and kept critiquing my state shapes and said,
"yeahhh...you might not want to blog this one."
Lol!
I told him it was meant to be a REPRESENTATION of the US
and not an accurate MAP. :)
Jaymin really likes it though and we've been discussing all the states.
I completed a few projects for this room re-do
that I never got to the first time around.
Like this fan.
I always hated the rainbow blades
{it came with the house}
and thought it would look so much better all one color.So I unscrewed the blades only
and spray painted them.
Super simple fix!

And I also finally finished the skateboard shelf I started!My first attempt at spray painting this {2 years ago}
didn't go so well.
The 80's monster truck design refused to be covered.
So I finally picked up some red acrylic paint and did 3 coats on each side
and sanded the edges a bit {you know me}.
The other roadblock for this project
was the brackets to secure it to the wall.
I never found the cool pottery barn ones
and just got over it and picked up some white metals ones from walmart
and spray painted them silver.
Works for me! :)And this beloved magnet board was rehung in the entry of the room.
Aaaaaand, here come the roomies interrupting my photo shoot.
Heaven forbid this room should stay clean for more than 5 minutes...
...they make sure of that. ;)

{36 weeks today!
On to baby's room!! :) }

plop plop, fizz fizz

First of all,

I just want to say THANK YOU
to everyone that gave me name suggestions on my last post!
I was blown away at how many I got here on my blog,
by email and facebook!! :)

I will say that the name I want to give our baby girl was mentioned... ;)

Our sweet Jemma's name was suggested.
As well as Jem
{you know, from the 80's tv show? I love that show!
I mean, how could you not?? She had pink hair and big pink magic earrings!
I would totally name my daughter that, but its just too close to Jemma. :) }
Also, I like the name Jayma.
But its pretty much a combo of Jaymin {my son}
and Jemma {our baby we lost}.
Too confusing.
So, that's out.

I've always wanted to have a daughter and name her Jade
but its just too dang common these days.
But I really like this spelling, Jayde.
So pretty.

Lots of people like Jovi.
It's cute but not quite right for us. :)

I love Jane.
{Huge Jane Austin fan here.}
But I like it better for a middle name and don't think I'll do double "J's".

My husband and I have also always talked about naming
a daughter of ours Jocelyn.
He has a teenage cousin by that name and we love it.
She goes by "Jocie" - so cute. :)
But again, its getting too common and it gets confusing
have repeated names in families.

I've considered Juniper & Jiana & Julian & Jenevive...

But I will end with this...
Someone mentioned a name my husband and I BOTH liked!
I don't know if we'll use it for sure but its a start. :)
And we don't commit to names until our babes are in our arms
so when I know - you'll know. ;)

************************
So, I have reached that point in pregnancy of no sleep.
{You know, that part you forget about...}
And I am a girl who needs her sleep and I sleep DEEPLY.
But now when I lay down to go to bed,
I can't fall asleep until 12 or 1,
I can't get comfortable in ANY position,
my arms & legs fall asleep no matter how I lay,
I wake up just to turn over
{cause I practically need a forklift to make that happen},
and usually end up peeing while I'm "awake",
and my trusty friend, heartburn, usually shows up.
No fun.
At least that means this little girl might have hair! ;)
Do you believe that old wives tale??
I know pregnancy heartburn is caused by your
big belly pushing your stomach acid up,
but its actually been true 2 out of 2 times for me! :)
Tons of heartburn with Jaymin,
hardly any with Jett.
Proof:
Jaymin
{hello baby monkey}
Jettison
{this is considered bald in my family ;) }

Thank goodness heartburn is the one thing I can fix.
When I was pregnant with Jaymin my dad
(lover of homeopathy and all things narcotic-free...and a chiropractor)
didn't want me taking tums and pepto bismal, etc.
so he found and recommended Alka Seltzer Gold.
And it is GLORIOUS.Well, it tastes like crap but you just slam it and you're done.
It works crazy fast and its great to know you're not giving your body
or your baby drugs they don't need.
This crazy girl has even given me esophogeal spasms.
Yeah. I had to look that one up too.
I woke up one night with what I thought was chest pain
- and asked myself, can you have a heartattack while pregnant?? -
and realized it was more in my esophagus.
Anyway, its linked with heartburn and indigestion.

I've also discovered that its not JUST the food I eat.
{Like the roasted red pepper soup I want every day for lunch.}
I can also get heartburn when I get really worked up.
Like, rushing around doing errands, bending and lifting,
stressing out, yelling at my kids, etc.
Weird, huh?
And my heartburn will actually calm down when I do as well.
But when its too bad I'm glad I have something I can take.

So this is basically Alka Seltzer without any added cold or flu medications.
So I guess just the effervescent.
The only problem is most pharmacies don't stock it.
You have to order it specifically
and most pharmacists will look at you like you're crazy
cause they've never heard of it.
But as soon as they look it up in their system
they realize you're not a crazy pregnant lady.
So its a bummer that you can't send your hubby
out in the middle of the night to buy it so you can sleep
but you'll just have to plan ahead a little and order a couple of boxes.

This little tip has been free of charge.
You're welcome. ;)

Happy Weekend :)

panic has set in.

I need help.

Lots of it.
I'm running out of time.
I'm 35 weeks today.
I will probably have this baby girl in about a month.
And she does not have a name.
Of course I have a name I like and want to name her
{with a LOT of meaning behind it}
but my husband isn't sold, shocker.
So we have literally been stalled out for months.
He likes ONE name and its not terrible
but its just not my daughter's name, ya know?
So again, please help.
Send me as many suggestions as you can possibly come up with.
I want this post to have the most comments I've ever had. :)

I know many of you out there think this is stupid
{my husband included :) } but we're sticking with the "J's".
3 out of 4 of our babies have been named "J" names -
in my book that means we're committed. :)
Me and my siblings are all "C's" and even though I've gotten married
and my last name has changed,
I still feel like we're all connected because of that. :)

I also like my kids names to be unique.
Like, I won't name them something if its in the top 1000 baby names.
{Okay, that might be an exaggeration but top 100? Definitely NOT.}
Hello. Jettison? Yeah, I had never even heard of that word
{and kinda thought I had made it up} until we googled it
right before he was born and found out it means "to throw overboard" - lol!
But at that point, we were pretty set on it and I don't regret naming my child that.
The name {not necessarily the meaning...} totally fits hims. :)

And one final note,
I'm okay with boy names for girls.
My hubby's not totally down with it but we're getting desperate!

Alrighty,
here's 35 weeks for ya...
Do I look miserable?
I'm really not but I feel like that is totally reflected
in my photos right now - lol!
Yowza!

I'm totally serious about suggestions so start brainstorming!

P.S.
I added a few more photos that my mom took
to Jett's puppy party post! :)

a puppy party for jetty

I am so excited to share this post with you today!

My little man, Jettison Charles, is officially 2.
His actual birthday is 3 days after Christmas,
but I have been pushing his party into early January.
It gives me {& everyone else!} a break from all the Christmas festivities
and allows me to focus on just him and his special day. :)

About 9 months ago {yes NINE},
I found the perfect party idea for him.
I had practically just wrapped up his dr. seuss party
but he was quickly developing an obsession with dogs
and I ran across a party for actual dogs at OCP.
I figured it could easily be turned into a people puppy party
so that's what I did.
{And just to give credit where credit is due,
that is where I found most of these ideas! :) }Put on a party hat...
{Great tutorial & template here.}
Real live puppies for entertainment sake... :)No, he did not get to keep it.{Forgive my fat face. Apparently I've reached that point in pregnancy.
Yeah, I'm one of those lucky women.}Balls for the puppies to play with. :)This snack was super easy!
Use a dog bone cookie cutter on tortillas,
brush with olive oil, salt & garlic powder & bake!
I served them with hummus, cause this is obviously a healthy party...
Cause there wasn't enough chocolate FOOD...
Little River had the death grip on his. :)
Cupcake time!
So...
I am a person that realizes they have weaknesses & strengths.
Cake/cupcake decorating? Yeah, not a strength.
But I procrastinated a little too long
and my normal girl was all booked up the week of Jett's party
and couldn't make this little puppy cupcake for me.
Next, option - grandma.
Unfortunately she was too busy this week too.
So that leaves mama, and this is what you get. :)
It looks like a pound puppy - lol!At least Jett liked his puppy. :)
Big brother being a good sport for the party. :)
Jetty's girl.
How cute is this present from my sister-in-law!?
She knows me and my love of themes all to well. :)
Of course, some puppy pj's. :)
And apparently someone thought this was a cute angle...
Hello 34 weeks!
Don't forget your doggie bag... :)
These doggie treats are just little bone shaped graham crackers
{Scooby I believe} dipped in chocolate!
I saw these bags on the OCP post and had to have them.
I tried taping stripes across the brown paper bags
so the painted lines would be perfect,
but every kind of tape I used tore up the paper.
So I decided to just free hand the stripes with black acrylic paint!
I think it worked out just fine! :)

The party was a success,
real puppies and all. :)
No injuries to the poor things and only a couple of accidents. :)
I was pretty thrilled with the fact that I actually finished setting up
AN HOUR EARLY - what??
That is SO not like me.
I asked my husband if that meant I should have done more - lol!
He called me a crackhead. :)