bliss.

(anthropologie was nice enough to send me a little gift for my birthday... a candle necklace)
i have had such a great past few days!

sunday we had lunch with my family to celebrate my birthday. japanese food followed by frozen yogurt = amazing!

monday stephen and i spend the evening watching a movie together for the first time in months.

and tonight we had dinner (to celebrate my real birthday) with my friend whitney. my sister took harry to a baseball game so that we could actually have a nice dinner. westley is still chill enough to take out of the house to eat.

the night ended at anthropologie. my hubby knows just what to get me.... an amazing, mustard sweater and full, navy and white skirt. i have the best life ever.

a week away

stephen was out of town this week on a work trip.

it was really hard to deal with being the only parent for a while. it made me incredibly grateful that i am not a single parent. i now have even more respect for my mom who did it for years...
wow.
this week completely wore me out... but it wasn't all bad. i really liked having about an hour in bed with both boys in the mornings. harry would watch some nick jr. while westley nursed. i got some great snuggle time with the boys before the day had a chance to become hectic.
i also acquired some things to help with day-to-day life:

1. a phil&teds stroller

i have been looking for something that was much easier to handle with both kids and a dog. one day it magically appeared on craiglist for an awesome deal. i had to snatch it up.



the picture is terrible because it was taken with my phone....

2. an ergo carrier. i have seriously wanted one of these since harry was a babe... but they are pricey and i had a sling that got the job done. recently, however, i realized that using a sling is next to impossible when your baby is bigger than most elephant babies.
therefore, i searched until i found one for a reasonable price and hit the "buy it now" button as fast as my little fingers would move.

3. more diapers.
i was really blessed by my brother and his wife when west was born with some new fuzzibunz one size. they are amazing and i can use them for either kid. they are lined with fleece too, so harry's nasty #2s are less nasty. BUT, two boys go through a LOT of diapers. i was doing a load each and every day. that was way too much laundry for me.
so, i bought some bum genius 4.0s. i have a couple of 3.0s already and like them, but want to see what the big deal with the "new and improved" is. i have only gotten one in (i ordered from 2 different sites) so haven't really gotten a chance to pay attention to the differences (if there really are any).

but there you have it... we obviously survived the week. i picked up some new treasures. and tomorrow stephen will be in a tattoo parlor for the majority of the day. hopefully with a story or two to boot. soooo, here is to an evening snuggling on the couch with my man while two very cute boys sleep peacefully IN THEIR OWN BEDS.

for consideration

i like stuff.

there, i admitted it. i like all sorts of stuff: big stuff, little stuff, pretty stuff, weird stuff, important stuff and stupid stuff. the point is that i like it all.

that being said- recently i have felt as though the last thing in the world that i should be doing is simply "collecting" (for lack of a better word) stuff. my house is small. i like it that way. i think of it as "cozy". there is very little storage, and what that space should be used for is clothes that harry is too big for and westley has yet to conquer, a few things from stephen's and my childhood, a wedding dress and some luggage. instead, i had made it my personal goal to fill every nook and cranny with the most random and ridiculous thing in the world that we "might need some day". ug.

therefore, weeks and weeks of preparation went into this past weekend. my sister and i held an enormous yard sale. i wish i had taken a picture of just how much stuff was spread out all over my lawn. i did not. but imagine a ton of junk, and multiply it by 3. that was it.

we sold some of it. i was actually surprised how much was gone at noon. what was leftover made it's way to the thrift shop. hopefully it all will find homes with people who truly want and need it.

now, my goal is to make the things that i have left actually mean something. the few toys that we kept for the boys are going to be rotated. a few things will be left out for a month or two, then will be switched with others that are waiting in the attic for their chance to be played with. ( i might take toy story a little bit too much to heart.)

we got rid of at least half of my kid's clothes. they can wear out the ones that we do have, and if need be, we will replace a thing or two. (they don't look like they mind too much, right?)

i read proverbs 31 this morning and it meant so much more to me than before i reached this point.

V 27 : She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness

niv

there is so much that i do wrong or poorly. i just don't want to overlook those things when they are staring me in the face.

so, here is to simple living, gentle and quite spirits, passing up that thing i think i really need, "make do and mend", and learning contentment. it's going to be a long and tough season, but oh so worth it.

alas

this week has tried my patience and fried my nerves.

ants have officially taken over my entire kitchen. ug. i am about to enter into battle. generally i try to only use natural cleaners such as meyers or method. however, i am at the point that i will do whatever it takes to rid my home of these pesky, little pests.
yuck!

harrison has also taken to giving me grief about taking naps. he pretty much refuses to go down without a fight. we have gotten to the point that we are pretty much just waiting for the other to give in and end it.

and lastly, it appears as though my dishwasher has sprung a leak. lovely.

on a good note, the mister and i got a lovely, little surprise of some awesome new toms shoes. life can't be ALL bad, right?