Is it just me?

Is it just me or is this little guy just growing up WAY too fast?

Card Challenge

This week I found a few challenges online and started planning the cards I was going to make, I'm late on a few weddings and thank you's, but here it is Saturday night and the only one I actually managed to finish is this one for the "Tuesday Trigger" challenge from Moxie Fab World:

Oh well, maybe I'll accomplish a little more this week! (Click the picture to go see the "trigger" and all the other cards people linked up!)

Must Read- seriously, you must read this now

Nella Cordelia: A Birth Story. Well actually, don't read it right now if you are leaving somewhere soon, or in a hurry, because it is not short, and you will cry. And cry and cry, but it is a beautiful story. One of my favorite bloggers, Gabby of Design Mom is pregnant and on Wednesdays she shares birth stories and today she linked over to this one, this beautiful mother who had hoped and planned for this birth for so long. She seriously had every detail planned, it was to be an event- a beautiful party in her hospital room with all her friends, and it went perfectly. Right up to the moment she realized that her precious baby had down syndrome, something no one had suspected before. Go read it right now HERE. You will be glad, it will change you a little.

Cricut fans- act quickly!

Cricutmachine.com is having a SUPER "gold medal sale" that ends today I think, but all cartridges are $29.99! I usually try to buy them on e-bay and for the big complete ones (with shapes and alphabets) that's just about the cheapest you can get them if you are lucky, and stalk the auctions for a while! I wish I had more Christmas money left, there are a few I've been eyeing! If you've been thinking about buying a machine, they have the Cricut Create for $75 right now too.

Lovely Love

Happy Valentine's Day to you! My cookie exchange party was fun but I forgot to take pictures darn it! Besides spending time with girlfriends I don't get to see much, my favorite part was making the invitations and stuff for the party! I did snag a picture of the water bottle labels before the kids confiscated them the next morning- they matched the invites and little cards to label the cookies- I loved them.I had a lot of fun making this Valentine banner too, I will keep it and pull it out next year. I just printed the letters out from my computer, 2 to a page, then trimmed them and used a scalloped punch on the bottom and tied them together with tulle ribbon.I also had to share these cute things my friend Ashley made for me- she used American Crafts papers and embellishments and stuck them on painted blocks cut from a 2x4 and then attached some hot pink vinyl letters to spell "love". The candy topiary was just made with a painted dowel and styrofoam ball stuck into a pot. It gets surprisingly top heavy with all those valentine candy hearts so make sure you weigh the pot down well with plaster and rocks or something if you make one!

By today I was a little Valentined out but luckily my kids reminded me that Valentine's Day wasn't over when my party was, and they expected some celebrating! So we kept the red tablecloth out in the dining room and ate heart shaped french toast this morning in there. (FYI- heart shaped french toast is WAY easier than heart shaped pancakes and really cute with powdered sugar and strawberries if you have them- pretend I took a picture for you!)

Mainly for me...

Because my "Favorites" folder is stuffed to the brim and I'd never find these links again, I am posting some really cool things found online that I need to revisit- and I think you might want to check them out too!

Tutorial and pattern for these darling felt rose hair clips from Purl Bee HERE.

Rolled Fabric Flower tutorial from House of Three HERE.

30 Printable valentines (free downloads!) from The Long Thread HERE.

Trinket Keepers (really great little bag things) Tutorial from Amazing Mae HERE.

Celebrate the Boy- tons of CUTE things to make for *gasp* BOYS! on Made HERE.

And finally, easy handmade card ideas from Better Homes & Gardens HERE.

I did something brave for me, I planned a little party for this weekend, a Valentine cookie exchange (inspired by Blonde Designs.) I realized I need to host a get-together of sorts every few months so I can kick my booty to get things done around here! I nearly had a panic attack when I dropped the invites off at the post office- no backing out now! Since Mr. H arrived lots of things have been getting overlooked around here. So back to work- I can dig into those links next week! Enjoy!

Favorite Simple Valentines for kids

I love all the great ideas that pop up on blogs around the holidays! My kids will be giving mini bags of microwave popcorn if I can come up with a cute label or something for them but I love these 2 ideas!
Blonde Designs has templates for lips and moustashes that can be slid on the bottom of a lollipop to make these cute treats:

I also think these 3-D lollipop valentines are so clever and simple, found on 24-7-365:

You could use the same idea and stick a flower or something in there too.

(click on the pictures to go to the original blog post for instructions and more pictures.)

Valentine Wreath Calendar

You can download and print this pretty February calendar and then hang it over your desk to make you smile all month! Created by Lisa Rupp- click picture to go to her blog for the free download.

Throwaways

When I download pictures from my camera to my computer there are usually a good 20 or so shots taken by one of the kids, usually Miss E. Popular subjects include baby H and Mr. C of course, lots of over exposed self portraits, random objects around the house, and in the last batch, about 12 different shots of dirty laundry. Every once in a while there are a couple gems I can't bear to delete- like these chunks of my chubby guy.Have you ever seen such fat little feet? And to think he's thinned out over the past 6 months or so.

Pretty Little Desk (on the cheap)

Miss B needed a desk to do her homework in her room, so we got this simple shelf from Ikea. It's just a solid piece of wood and some wooden wall brackets. I first painted it white but since it had a slick surface it quickly started peeling and looking really ugly. Then I really wanted to cover it with contact paper, but if only there existed pretty contact paper! I looked EVERYWHERE. Don't you think Ikea should carry some? Anyways, I FINALLY stumbled on something online where they had used wrapping paper, and then covered that with clear contact paper- genius! So here's the new and improved desktop!

Terrible 2s

I forget that the "terrible two's" start a few months before they're two. My sweet little defenseless angel quickly has learned to defend himself, and moved right on to being a little tyrant! I've watched him go into attack mode over and over this week and it's driving me crazy! (so sorry to his poor little cousins!!) At home it seems like he moves from one gigantic mess to the next without hesitation. Thank goodness when he's sleeping I can look at that beautiful, giant baby and see my sweet boy because during the waking hours it's hard to see him that way. (Sam dressed him this night- he has no respect for matching pj sets, in fact I think he secretly picks out the worst matched pair in the stack but how can I complain?) I have C.Jane on my blog list and sometimes her posts are too long and wordy for me, and sometimes they are too embarrassing, but last week there was one I can totally relate to right now, about her naughty little boy, about the same age as my Mr. C.

Check out my new header!

If you read me in Google Reader or something, click over and see my pretty new header! I had plenty of other things I should have been doing instead but I'm so glad it's done- I think it's been the same for the past year.

Nearly 7 weeks later!

Isn't he a doll? Full of smiles and still so sleepy! I'm still not getting enough done around here but he is an angel and I already can't remember what it was like without him in our family!

Sunday was his first day of church and he got a special blessing from his daddy- aren't they handsome?

And doesn't this guy look so innocent? Well he's not, and I found that out yesterday when some woman yelled at me on her way out of the children's museum that she was leaving because she doesn't appreciate my child hitting her child. (What? Huh? I didn't see it! I'm sorry! I'm watching 3 small kids here and holding a newborn, let me come move or distract him before you storm out of here yelling at me in front of everyone, sheesh!) He's ONE, and he's not an only child so sometimes he hits! Oh well, I'm almost over it...

But he is generally a sweetheart and he really loves his baby brother.

I'm should be back posting more often now- I got some fun supplies with gift card money, including this new Cricut cartridge that I am really anxious to use so hopefully I'll be posting some projects soon! Scrapbooking and crafting more are on my 2010 to do list!

If you need some gift tags...

There are some great ones available online for FREE! Like these from Jessica Sprague: Or these from Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat:

And these from Inside a Black Apple:

These ones from Creature Comforts have matching envelopes too: (lots of other great printables on her blog if you look around)

Click the pictures to go to the free printable downloads.

Stockings

If I ever make stockings for my family, (and I would like to someday) I think I will go with wool felt styled after these ones from Hable Constuction. I love the simple whimsical designs, and I think I could manage something similar. (and for much less than the asking price at Hable!)

Babies

Trailer for a movie coming out in April about 4 babies in different parts of the world- from birth through the first year. I dare you to just watch it once!

A couple things to get you ready for Christmas!

Time is flying with the holidays coming, and especially with a new baby and I'm giving myself permission to not do a lot of the things I want to do so I don't get stressed! I'm way behind on my blog reading (so forgive me if I haven't left any comments lately!) but I have come across a couple of things I really wanted to share- first, a list of 30 great ideas for neighbor gifts from How Does She HERE. Lots of really unique ones there, also, Little Birdie Secrets has a bunch of cute ones HERE. Next, Shabby Princess has a free download for some ADORABLE Christmas recipe cards! You can get them HERE.And finally, Creating Keepsakes has a great set of Christmas quotes you can use for cards, gift tags, place cards or whatever and you can get those HERE.

One of my super talented friends has FINALLY opened up her etsy shop and has really cute, unique holiday photo cards, so go check out Lilly Mae Designs HERE.

Among other things...

I'm thankful he's finally here! Harrison joined our family officially last Friday morning after a long night of labor- a healthy 7lbs 12oz and we're all doing well! More pictures soon, I've got lots of things to catch up on, number one, sleep!

So are you going tonight??

If so I'm jealous! I am planning on being in the hospital having a baby, and if I'm not, I'm going to be REALLY jealous! This baby is taking his time and already giving me trouble- PAINFUL contractions every night since Monday, but not enough of them to send me to the hospital. (just enough to have me waking up miserable all night) And so the happy pregnant lady is no more, my family is stuck with the tired, irritable version of me. I found the New Moon version of Sweethearts yesterday at Walmart and they make me smile. I can justify buying them (even thought he candy is disgusting) since I can't get lifesize Cardboard Cutout Edward, or my own little Pocket Edward. (term coined by BusyBeeLauren )

So if you are going, enjoy yourself! I wish I had tickets now!

2 New Things I'm Doing For my Baby

I'm not exactly an "all natural" type of mother, I love disposable diapers, I sometimes buy organic, sometimes not, I have no issue using chemical cleaners etc, but there are a couple of things that do concern me, first, the BPA in baby bottles, and second, the fire retardant chemicals used in crib mattresses. (all mattresses in the US actually) I first heard about BPA before Mr C. was born but when I saw the price tag on the "BPA free" version of my bottles there was no way I was going to replace them. This time I'm a little more concerned, and discovered Evenflo glass baby bottles have really good reviews, and they are really affordable! I ordered a box of 6 4oz from Amazon for $12 and thought that was a deal, but today I stumbled on a box of 6 8oz bottles at Big Lots for only $6! (I like wandering around Big Lots from time to time, they get some good stuff!) Anyways, I'm excited to see if they live up to my expectations, and hopefully they don't all break. I am going to nurse this guy as long as I can but in my experience, that is only a couple months before we have to use formula.

NEXT- this one was new to me just a couple months ago. My sister started sending me information about a Dr. in New Zealand who has done extensive research on SIDS and concluded that the cause is toxic gasses emitted from crib mattresses. At first I didn't take it very seriously, but the more I thought about it and the more I read the more I am convinced that it makes sense that it could responsible for a lot of unexplained crib deaths. The solution isn't a new mattress, it's simply wrapping your crib mattress with the right grade of plastic to keep the chemicals from seeping out into the crib where they can collect and create a toxic environment. You can buy BabeSafe mattress bags from several stores online, and read more about it HERE. I got one and it does make me feel a little less worried- if you have a baby or are planning on having one, it really is worth taking a minute to read the information.