Sweet boy, Funny girl

Good morning! 

I don't really have much to post about today, but I just couldn't resist sharing this picture of my littlest love. I love that little face.

Yesterday, after folding a load of laundry, I was sitting on the couch feeding Colson and Emma was sitting next to me. She was lost in her own world, talking and squirming around so I was only really half way paying attention to her. Truth be told, I was lost in my own thoughts too (what else do you do when you're nursing a baby?)  After a few minutes I realized Emma was asking to hold Colson, saying she wanted to feed him. I looked over at her to discover that she had taken one of my nursing bras out of the laundry basket, strapped it around her body and was pointing to it, saying "I feed Colson. Mommy I ready feed Colson."ha! Oh brother...

She keeps me on my toes and laughing that's for sure!

New Look

I recently got a new short summer haircut and I decided my blog desperately needed a new summer do too! What do you think? I'd show you a picture of my hair, but I don't have one and I'm not a huge fan of myself in pictures so....you'll just have to come visit me in real life! 

So here's something we all can agree on: 

Sarah has no idea what she's doing when it comes to all things technical on the blog. 

I am a total fish out of water. I don't know how to make fancy cool backgrounds. I have no idea what html codes and template designs and all those things are or how to make them work for me instead of against me. I want an awesome crazy cool blog look, but I have no clue how to do that and paying to have one made like I hear other people talking about? Not even close to being in the budget. Wouldn't even bring it up because the answer? is a big no. :)

I really do try. I'm just incompetent when it comes to blog design AND....I'm okay with that. I've tried several times to change things but usually a baby wakes up or there are naps to be taken chores to be done and it never quite gets finished up to par. But, today TODAY my girl is out changing the oil in the truck with her Daddy and my boy is taking a random long nap and I put my mind to conquering this thing and actually coming up with something decent.

I watched a tutorial on how to make tabs (something I've been wanting for a while) and actually figured it out. (I felt pretty dumb actually because it was really so so easy haha) And I picked out a background that feels summery and fun to me. Hooray for conquering the blog! 

 

Curb Appeal

We do things a little differently around here. You may remember the way we move. ha, redneck much??

My husband tends to go big or go home. He doesn't relax well or like to sit around inside. So this morning when he had the morning off work, he came up with a project for himself...and Emma, his trusty sidekick. He wanted to pull out two HUGE bushes that line our front walkway. For most people, this would be an all day affair. 

Around here? 10 minutes. tops.

Just need my man, his girl, and his tractor...

Attach tractor to bushes...

And drive away! Bye bye bush!

Then have your project manager oversee operations while you load the bush onto the front loader...

And finally, take the bushes to the burn pile. (notice who else hopped on for a ride too haha)

Ta da! Jarred says I still need one more picture, showing you the flowers he bought and planted since this morning, but I'm too lazy to go take another picture and upload it so you'll have to wait for another day. Maybe once we get mulch and the flowers grow a bit. 

Thanks hubby for tackling a project for us (in your typical fast paced, tractor involved way). We love how hard you work for our family! :)

Stitches and Smiles

The cutest little stitched up head I ever did see...

We actually got the stitches taken out last night and her scar is looking REALLY good! We were supposed to head back into Urgent Care to have them removed today, but I happened to be talking to Jarred's aunt last evening and she offered to do it for us. She has medical experience and has done it lots and lots of times so we said...sure! While we waited for her to come by, Emma and Daddy caught fireflies in the front yard and Colson and I snuggled on the porch swing. When she got here, we sat on the front steps and it took Aunt Lynn no more than 10 seconds to get those little stitches out. Emma was right back out in the lawn catching fireflies again. No copay, no wait for a doctor to see us, no stranger coming at her with medical tools...it was stress free, quick and perfect! 

This little guy is happy happy happy! He is smiling constantly these days and I am eating it up! His sister was not a smiley baby. Don't get me wrong...she was an easy going kid, she was/is cuter than cute, and we love her to pieces and ate her up too, but she wasn't quick to flash a smile. She still is pretty reserved and shy by nature. Colson, on the other hand will smile at you the moment you catch his eye and start talking to him. It's been so much fun! It'll be interesting to see if this bubbly personality will continue to develop as he grows.

Oh and speaking of growing....we just had his 2 month appt this week and he is a big, healthy, wonderful baby! 12 lbs 10 oz and 22.5in of healthiness! :) I've had to start getting out his 3-6m clothing because some of the 0-3m things are getting snug!  Praise the Lord for healthy, happy kids!

Have a great weekend! :)

Photo Dump

I have several random pictures that never made their way into any posts, but are worth sharing so this is a mish-mash of a few recent photos from around here. Enjoy! :)

Love her joyful spirit while she helps out around the house!

Oregon Dairy Farm Days 2011
Emma had a blast at the corn table.
Jenny and I spent the rest of this day wondering what possessed us to think taking 2 toddlers and 2 infants into mass crowds of people on a hot day was a fun idea. haha Oh, but it was a memory! :)

Stroller lovin' (Emma and her buddy B)
Oh boy....

Having an impromptu picnic lunch with Daddy in the front yard

Birthday cupcakes....yum!

Do you know what this is?? It's a lovely farm-life "benefit"....fly dirt.
Deeeeefinitely didn't have that in the subarbs.
Totally made a mess of our new awesome porch swing.

Daddy thinks it's funny to make his boy wear his John Deere hat.
(We won't mention the fact that it's covered in sweat and dirt. I wouldn't allow him to put that stuff on my child's head and I definitely wouldn't take a picture of it. No way, never....)

Emma gets stitches...the long and short of it.

I thought my boy was going to be the one to give me gray hairs, but it seems as though my daughter is going to give him a run for his money. We spent a few hours last evening at the Urgent Care getting stitches. Here's the story (It's pretty long, more because I wanted to document and remember all of it for myself. Feel free to read the short version and ignore the rest if you're not into details! :) haha)

Short Version: Emma fell, hit her head and had a cut on her eyebrow. We took her to the doctor who gave her 4 stitches. She's doing great. The end.

The Long Version:
For Father's Day, we had planned to have family night with Jarred's side of the family in the evening. Around 3:30pm, Emma was getting antsy so I took her over to her grandparent's side of the house (our houses are connected...separated by doors) to wait for her cousins to come. Colson fell asleep in my arms so I slipped back to our side to lay him down in his crib for a nap. As I came back down the stairs I heard my mother-in-law's panicked-yet-trying-to-remain-calm voice calling out my name over and over again. She met me in our family room and breathlessly explained that Emma fell and hurt herself. I quickly asked if she was alright and I'll never forget the way my heart stopped and my stomach fell when she responded, "no she's not." ugh....those are words you never want to hear as a momma! She explained that Emma had been running in their family room and tripped on the carpet and hit her head on the bottom of their couch which has wood on it. Her forehead right by her eyebrow had about a 1/2" vertical cut that was bleeding pretty good. We tried to put ice on it, we tried holding a cold, wet cloth on it for pressure but Emma was all worked up and scared and wasn't letting us do anything. I got her a popsicle to calm her down and asked my MIL to call Jarred in from outside. We couldn't tell if she was going to need stitches or not. Together we decided that we felt more comfortable taking her in to be seen and evaluated. Jarred's brother and his family were just arriving so we prayed over Emma as a family before we left...asking for healing, protection for her brain and skull, wisdom for the doctor's and peace for us as parents. Jarr's brother recommended we try the new Urgent Care facility that's close by instead of sitting for hours in the ER. It's affiliated with Lancaster General Hospital and was open so we gave it a try!
This girl is a champ people...seriously, she stopped crying shortly after I gave her the popsicle and didn't make another peep. She played in the waiting room during our 30 minute wait (WAY better than countless hours in a crowded ER), she flirted with the nurse, had a lollypop and was very happy. The only time she cried was when the doctor entered the exam room (she knew he meant business I guess!) and during the procedure. He checked her out and decided that she did indeed need 3 or 4 stitches but reassured us that it would heal really well. After he left the room to get everything ready, Emma kept pressing her head against her Daddy's face and we tried to tell her to be careful but she said "kisses Daddy, kisses!" The sweet thing wanted her Daddy to kiss her boo boo to make it better. Guys...I about lost it. I was on the verge of tears the whole time. My poor girl. Jarred and 2 other nurses helped to hold Emma still while the doctor did the procedure. I'm sure it only took 4 or 5 minutes but I'll be honest...it felt forever long to me. Listening to her cry out for Momma, repeatedly tell us that she was "all gone" aka all done, and cry and cry and cry "potty!!!!" because she was wetting her pants and it upset her so much. All I could do was pray. I paced the exam room, clinging to her sleeping brother and interceded. It was such an involuntary response...like all I knew to do was cry out to my God to care for my little one, to protect her, to calm her spirit, to guide the doctor's hands, to speed the process...I was on my knees (literally), I was crying quiet tears and the staff probably thought I was a crazy person, but oh well. I was a momma bear on a mission for my little one! :)
As soon as it was over, we scooped her up, changed her pants, and loved on her like crazy. She was fine as soon as we were out of the exam room. She picked out another lollypop and we headed home to enjoy the rest of the night with our family. As we drove, my sweet girl called to me and said, "Momma, Emma happy. Emma 'miling at Momma." It was almost as if she was trying to reassure me that she was alright and I didn't have to worry.
She was up about every 2 hours last night, but I'm not sure how much of that was to use the bathroom or because of her head. She never woke up crying or screaming..just came over to our room. She's such a trooper. We've had a great day today and other than saying "boo boo" and pointing to her head a few times, she doesn't seem phased by it. She's playing normally, is as happy as can be, and hasn't even needed any Tylenol. She clearly doesn't get her pain tolerance from her momma. :)

Ok that's about it as far as the story goes, but here's something that I thought was interesting as I processed everything last night. Colson was fast asleep in his crib while we were deciding what to do and when we made the decision to head to Urgent Care, Jarred turned to his Mom and said, "well you'll watch Colson right?" She of course said yes but I quickly, without thinking, said "no I want him with us." It was the weirdest thing. They both looked at me a little crazy because rationally, it wasn't logical to wake him up, take him to sit in a waiting room, and have a second little one to possibly have to deal with when Emma's getting stitches. It made WAY more sense to leave him home, but for some reason, my gut response was to have him with us. They didn't protest with me (probably didn't want to argue with a Momma already on the verge of losing it haha) and he came along. As I processed it later that night, I realized that I think that was some kind of a natural, Momma bear instinct. Even though I knew logically he would have been totally fine (and spoiled) here at home, I couldn't leave him. When things got stressful, my gut response was to bring all of my babies close to me and protect them myself. I had to have them with me and know that they were all right. At the time I didn't think I could handle watching my first baby get stitches and at the same time be wondering if my other baby was alright. I don't know how else to explain it, but I thought it was really interesting to think about how our Momma instincts just kick into overdrive in some situations.

Anyway, hopefully at some point in the next day or two I'll snap a picture of my little trooper (don't worry...she's got a bandaid covering it so it doesn't look awful) to document her little war wound. I just wanted to write out the story while it was still fresh in my mind. That being said, I'm going to try to take a nap while they both sleep. :) If you think of it, pray that Emma would be able to leave it alone for the next few days until we go back and that it would heal REALLY well (is it vain to be sad for my girl to have a scar on her face? I'm praying it won't even be noticeable! haha).

It's been a long time coming...

I've been so very patient.

I listened to everyone share their story "my daughter didn't have hair until she was almost 4." (hmmm, thanks for sharing...that doesn't make me feel better or give me any hope.)

I watched all of Emma's little friends get hair cut after hair cut.

I have allowed my daughter to grow a mullet simply because we cannot bring ourselves to cut off the few (relatively) long strands of hair she has grown. 

I've laughed at the irony of the fact that I was born with TONS of crazy all over the place hair.

I've prayed several thousand hair growth prayers.

and the day has finally arrived.......

PIGTAILS!!!!

OH BE STILL MY HEART! 

I think I just died one hundred deaths. She couldn't get any cuter if she tried. 

I found teeny tiny little hair ties today in the dollar bin at Target....perfect for her thin little hairs. :) I think she liked her hair too - she kept looking at her reflection in the glass door or the stove door and touching her pigtails. So sweet.

Colson is 2 months old!

Colson, you are 2 months old!!

-Colson is SUCH a joy! We fall more and more in love with him each day. :)

-He is a big boy (such a change of pace from our little 21lb 2 year old....yes she's only 21 lbs, no the pediatrician isn't worried...she's just petite and little). I'm not sure exactly how much our big boy weighs now but we'll find out next week at his 2 month appt. Along with those lovely first rounds of shots. Boo. He's not really "chubby" but just a solid baby which is what Jarred's mom says he was like as a baby.

-In the last two weeks, Colson has started smiling and cooing in response to us. He seems to be a really smiley boy which warms my heart. Check this smile out (I caught him mid-smile so it's a little goofy but still so so sweet) 

-He is wearing size one diapers and mostly 0-3m outfits although I have put him in some 3-6m sleepers from Children's Place.   They tend to run a little small, but still....I can't believe he's that big already! It's so fun to have a bigger baby and it amazes me how different my two little ones are already!

-Colson nurses exclusively every 3 hours during the day.

-He is typically alert and happy for about an hour after eating and then starts to show signs (aka fussiness) that he's ready for a nap. During the day, he fights sleep but usually still falls asleep between each feeding....even if it's only 10 minutes. He will take one good long nap (2-3 hours) a day, but each day the time of that long nap is different....sometimes (like today) it's in the morning, other days it's in the evenings. We have yet to settle into a consistent nap schedule during the day but I'm okay with that. I don't think Emma settled into a routine until around 4 months and I'm at peace that he'll fall into one sometime too. 

-He has been going to bed around 9pm and sleeping until 4 or 5am. He will nurse and go back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. 

-I swear his hair is getting thicker, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. Poor Emma is at such an awkward hair stage (see also: mullet) 

-Colson loves to be held, watch Momma blow dry her hair, and lay on his playmat. 

-He is VERY strong and prefers to stand when you're holding him on your lap. I need to capture a picture of him doing this because he looks like a little sumo wrestler. It's hard to describe in words but he hunches his little shoulders and hangs his straight arms at his sides with clenched fists. It's so funny.

And just for fun...here's Emma and Colson at 2 months. For some reason she looks chubbier to me than he does even though I know he's several pounds heavier than she was at this point. What do you think, do they resemble each other??

What I'm Loving...

Ever since I moved out of my parents house, I have struggled with knowing the best way to clean the bathtub. The bathroom at my parents' house had a shower head that you could take off of the wall and use to rinse down the walls/tub. But we don't have that here. I've tried a few different ways, and always ended up muttering "there has to be a better way to do this," under my breath. Add an old house with hard water (aka soap scum galore) and a husband who has about 50 layers of poop/dust/sweat/who knows what on his body when he gets in the shower....and I have a big job on my hands. And I want a good clean tub to sit my babies sweet bottoms in when they take baths!

All that to say....I have found a product I'm loving!!! and the last few times I've cleaned the shower, I've thought to myself, I need to share this with you guys. (I realize you may not have manure coated husbands or soap scum problems, but hey...if it works for me, it'll work for you too!) And then I figured I'd just turn it into a post about all the things I'm loving these days.

1. Kaboom Foam-tastic

This baby is the answer to my shower prayers! I used to use just normal Kaboom spray cleaner and it was pretty good, but this...THIS cool stuff works wonders! First of all...it's way cool that it sprays on blue and then turns white! And literally, my "white" is actually kind of dingy which makes me feel all good inside like it's actually getting of the grim from my shower walls. Then I just wipe the shower down and we're good to go. Totally awesome. I'm loving it!

2. Miracles Consignment Store

If you live in the Lancaster area, this place is awesome. It's a little consignment store that specializes in infants, kids and maternity things. I did all of my summer clothes shopping there for the kids and I spent next to nothing for really great quality stuff! For Emma's bday, I found her a little pair of flip flops that she's in love with and water shoes since we take our boat out on the river often. They have ALL KINDS of things...check it out! I'm loving it!

3. Our deck

Our little slice of heaven....my MIL added the sheer drapes and twinkle lights recently and we are spending lots and lots of time out here. I'm loving it!

4. Aldi

I'm always loving Aldi. If you have an Aldi in your area and you need/want to cut down on your grocery bill....seriously, you won't regret going. Aside from awesome money savings....we often like Aldi brand food BETTER than name brand things. And unlike other discount food stores, Aldi always has the same stuff so it's not hit or miss and they're stuff is always fresh. (not outdated) Check it out if you haven't already!

5. My new Lands End swim suit

Swim suit shopping = my worst nightmare. Swim suit shopping + post-pardum body + budget = disaster. I needed something modest, inexpensive, quality and preferably cute. I found a tankini I loved in a Lands End catalog, but.....the total was dangerously close to $100 and that's just not an option for us. So I decided I'd just shop around and pray that I'd find something. (we're headed to the beach in a few weeks so unless I found something...I'd be sporting some sort of moo moo) Anyway, Jesus heard my shallow bathing suit prayers and came through totally for me! The suit I wanted was MAJORLY on sale online so I was able to get the top and bottom for less than the top alone cost in the catalog!! helllooooooo 50+% off!! woot woot! There are lots of others on sale so if you are in need of a new suit for the summer go check it out.


Ok that's enough. Both babes are asleep so I'm going to try to catch a nap too. What are YOU loving these days??


oh and by the way....I was in no way paid or given cool amazing things by any of these companies or brands (though I would love that! haha) Just sharing the love for free...

2 Amazing Years!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Emma Faith!!

To read Emma's birth story, click here.

-You are a tiny little peanut. We find out exactly how big you are on Friday, but it's some where between 20 - 25lbs. Tiny.

-You still rock the mullet. Momma's praying this will be the year you get hair....

-You talk like crazy. You have a big vocabulary (100-200 words) and it's growing by the day! You're putting 3-4 word sentences together and it's amazing how we can almost see the little wheels in your head turning as you process how to say things. I love watching you learn!

-You wear mostly 12-18m clothing (dresses and skirts are a different story...you still wear some 6-9 month things) and size 4 shoes.

-About a month ago, you successfully potty trained and you are doing awesome. We are still working on night time, but other than that, you wear undies all the time. I can't believe you potty trained before you turned 2.

-When I say we're "working on nighttime", here's what I mean: right after you potty trained, you started getting up once or twice a night to use the bathroom. Then you figured out how to work the system and delay bedtime by saying that you had to use the bathroom. You could also get to see Mommy and Daddy during the night if you came over....even if you didn't have to go potty. It's hit or miss these days...3 nights ago you were up 5 times, then the next night you didn't get up once, last night you got up once. I think it's ironic that your baby brother sleeps better than you do right now. :)

-You are the sweetest big sister to Colson. You are constantly letting me know if he's "seeping" or "wake." You are quick to offer him a "sfire"(aka pacifier) if he's crying and you would LOVE if I would let you change his diaper all by yourself. In the meantime, you always help me get a wipe and undo the snaps on his clothes.

-Your favorite foods are chicken, hot dogs, rice, fruit, cheese quesadillas, cheese, spaghetti (or any kind of pasta), goldfish crackers, yogurt, anything dessert related. Not too many veggies on this list but we're working on that....you and me both. :) You'll also eat anything if you have "dip dip" aka ketchup or ranch dip. 

-You are the perfect blend of girlie girl and farm kid. You love shoes, accessories, dancing, and playing with dolls yet you will never ever turn down a ride on the tractor or 4 wheeler. You aren't afraid of animals and you love to play in the mud.

-If you could, you would swing all the live long day. It's your favorite thing to do by far. Sliding is a close second.

-You love and adore your extended family. It's so much fun living next door to Wadi and Grandpa (we're still working on setting boundaries because you'd love to be hanging out with them whenever they are home!) and we visit Nana and Papa at least once or twice a week. All of them shower you with love and attention and you eat it up. You love all of your aunts and uncles and cousins, but have a special place in your heart for your cousin Abbey. You want to be just like her. 

At the risk of making this entirely way too long, I'll wrap it up. I could go on and on about what you are doing these days and what you are like and it still wouldn't do you justice. You are a precious sweet gift from God, and I am so incredibly amazed at what a privilege it is to be your mommy. Some moments I feel like I could pull my hair out and lose my mind and the next second I could just squeeze you to pieces. You teach me about myself and about God's love and character. I pray that you will continue to grow into a strong, tender hearted girl who knows who she is and Who she belongs to. I bless your spirit to thrive and ask God for grace and wisdom to parent you. It's been an incredible 2 years and I can't wait to see what this year has in store! :)

We love you sweet girl. Happy birthday!!

The post in which I get distracted and rant about bacteria and bubble bath flavors...

My little girl is turning two on Wednesday. Hold on a second while I hyperventilate. How did two years go by already?!??! Holy moly she is growing up way too darn fast! 

Anyway, Emma doesn't know it yet, but for her birthday, her Daddy and I got her some new things for the bathtub. You see, we had seen this segment on the Today show about a year ago where they talked about how much bacteria and other disgusting gross things fester in bathtub toys....especially the ones that have little holes so you can squirt water from them. Moisture sits in the toys and most people don't think to clean them because hello? they are getting a "bath" every day. But in reality, that water that they are in is filled with dirt and feces and germs galore. Sooooo we promptly threw away all of her tub toys that had any ability to collect water. The poor girl has been surviving with a few little toys for a solid year. But she loves the bath. She faithfully plays with those silly toys and never complains..sweet thing. She's also just starting to get into bubbles so we decided to get her some bubble bath and bathtub crayons for her birthday. 

Let me just take a bunny trail here and talk about the bubble bath options out there. First we went to Ollie's because they always have random things for awesomely cheap prices but alas....no bubble bath. So we headed down the street to Babies R Us where I knew I could find bubble bath (just not nearly as cheap....oh well). I perused the bath aisle and found the bubble bath section and discovered that much to my dismay almost all of the options had some crazy ridiculous scent. Wet wild watermelon. Mango. Triple Berry Blast. I don't know about the rest of you (and to each his own) but I have never been a fan of smelling like a food. I remember when it was cool to get lotion from Bath and Body Works and they had all kinds of those types of smells...still do I'm sure. But I prefer to eat my food and smell fresh and lovely and good. Even vanilla is stretching it for me. So you better believe that I was NOT going to have my sweet baby girl smelling like a fruit stand at market. I love fresh out of the tub baby smell. I love Johnson and Johnson's baby cream. I was disappointed that I couldn't get her a fun bubble bath container with Elmo or princesses on it, but sorry girlfriend...momma is a bubble bath snob and wanted you to smell good so we went with plain old Johnson and Johnson's. Ok that was totally unrelated to this post but I had to go there. Am I alone in my disgust in food smelling body things??

Alright, back to the point. Where was I? Oh yes...bubble bath and bathtub crayons. I got the tub crayons because girlfriend likes to color. She gets all close to the paper and holds the crayon the right way and lays on her belly like she's way too old and it's so darn cute. Recently I've been letting giving her a bag of crayons and her coloring book to work on while I take my shower. It's an endless mission of finding ways to keep her out of trouble and entertained so I can take a shower. I thought this was a pretty solid idea. You probably know where this is headed. Because you probably have some common sense and can put two and two together. Give a toddler a crayon, let her loose and this is what you'll find when you're done showering:

Feel free to enlarge this so you can get the full effect. You guessed it. She colored all over the bathroom floor. Circles. She's really into drawing circles which is awesome....just not on the floor.

So as a consequence, she had to help Mommy clean it up. Would you believe this was HARD to get off the floor?!? I was scraping with my nails and everything! I'd say I hope she learned her lesson but really I think it was me who learned the lesson: do not give an unsupervised toddler crayons and expect walls and floors to stay clean.

And another lesson: I am long-winded. It took a really long time for me to get to the point of this whole post. "Emma colored on the floor during my shower." See, that's just not as fun to read. :) Happy weekend everyone!