Update on M

New things Maxx is doing from over the last few months...

EATING
He eats by himself SO well now. He's really into soup these days and now gets most of it into his mouth. He spills so much less than before. He's been eating well consistently for weeks now. It's the longest run in a while. Hope he stays like this FOREVER. ha~

The pic below is of his leftovers from one lunch. Do you see the little brown things in his miyuk gook (seaweeed soup)? Those are pieces of chicken nuggets. Gross, right? He would only eat them if they were in his soup. What a weirdo.

Maxx also HAS to have kimchee with almost every meal. Could that be genetic? If so, I'll take it!

GETTING AROUND
Maxx now walks down stairs like adult by holding the underside of the banister/rail. He still can't reach comfortably to hold the top part. When we're out and about, he's so good about holding my hand when he should. And when he just walks on his own, he's great about staying in my view, or his view I should say. He still touches EVERYTHING in sight so I can never let him walk around stores.

SLEEPING
He consistently sleeps so well now. He sleeps like a big kid too. He HAS to be tucked in with a blanket and will try to stay under it. While he's sleeping, if he realizes the blanket's off, he puts it back on. Half the time, he now tells me that he's tired and wants to go to sleep. How CRAZY is that. His naps are longer now, about 2 hrs on average and I now start his night routine at 7:15pm. He's asleep by 7:30/45 latest every night and gets up between 6 and 6:30 every morning. When he gets up from his naps and in the morning, he play by himself for over 30 minutes, and always just says "umma, come!". Dr. Weissbluth knows what he's talking about when he talks about putting them to bed EARLY. It's so simple yet sheer genius. He still gets cranky here and there but overall, he's SUCH a better sleeper. "Dear God, please help Maxx to continue to sleep well so he gets all the rest his body needs to be healthy and happy."

TALKING
He talks SOOOO much now. He regularly says 4 word sentences and hardly ever does the grunting/pointing thing anymore. He's literally non-stop ALL day long. This drives me bonkers for 90% of the day because he doesn't stop talking and needs answers to every question. Fortunate or unfortunate, I'm the only one that understands just about everything he says. But when he says something smart or cute or hilarious, I can't help but hug and kiss him to death. He's such a ham though, he'll then say or do whatever it is 10 more times to get the attention. His vocab is crazy now too. He says at least 5-10 new words every day. Words that I've used with him that I had no idea he knew how to say. Serious sponge. Now I gotta get him more comfortable to talk in public. ha~

READING
We now read Dr. Seuss books as part of his nap/night routine. They are dramatically longer than Good Night Moon. Who knew when I picked up the first one! But since the first book, he sits thru the ENTIRE book and at times will tell me what's going on, according to the pictures. So cute.

But have you ever read "One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" or "And To Think That I Saw That on Mulberry Street"? Oh my goodness. The first time I read those books, I had to stop multiple times on each page to correct myself. I almost felt bad for Maxx because umma felt so dumb not being able to properly read a children's story. hahaha. The rhyming and "unusual" language makes me have to concentrate which is hard when you're tired. Thank God "Green Eggs & Ham" and all the others are so much easier.


I swear that Maxx is so much more interesting than I am. ha~ People tell me he's smart. Not sure if he is really smart, but one thing he is, is extremely observant. He notices EVERY little detail. When he was 7 months old, he would point to a small shopping bag sitting on my kitchen counter. It would be the only "change" in the room and he'd have to call it out. (Yes, I'm anal and most things are put back to their place. ha.) He would point out if my cabinet door was left open or if the air vent was left uncovered. Genetics much? When he was about 15 months, I'd be folding laundry and he'd tell me who each shirt belonged to. That was strangely entertaining. hahaha. Nowadays, he points out EVERY train, big truck, mail truck, garbage truck, firetruck, school bus, and airplane in sight. We could be driving and he'll point out the tiniest airplane way up in the sky. I had NO IDEA there were so many airplanes in the air all the time.

Anyways, here are some other Maxx snippets...

M's scary face. Weirdo, huh? hahaha~
When DJ Lance does Funny Faces, M likes to make this scary face.

Accomplishment meets nap-needing delirium.
Note his thumbs up and pineapple head's cameo.


3_choo_choo from joohyon doo on Vimeo.

Maxx had a cold and mean umma still made him sing his ABC's.
And no, music is not one of our family's giftings.
Note to moms: Don't let anyone tape you with your kids from this angle. NOT flattering.

 
Untitled from gunn doo on Vimeo.

Playing the xylophone at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.

While he was doing this, a 5 or 6 year old African American boy came and took one of his mallets. He had to have been at least a foot taller than M. Watching this, I was scared for Maxx for sec but wanted to see what he'd do. I thought he'd start whining or crying but instead, he looked up, paused, then took a step forward and hit the boy in the stomach. I took a few seconds to CRACKING UP inside, then I went over and apologized to the kid explaining it was because he took the mallet from him.

Dear Maxx,
Hitting is not nice...but in this situation, I was SO proud of you! GO MAXX!!! You showed courage, strength, the ability to defend yourself, and independence. You didn't need me. Good boy! But don't forget...hitting is not nice.
Love, Umma

Update on E

So this last month or so, my life's looked a little like this - mom came back, hubs & I celebrated our 4 yr wedding anniversary, started maxx's 2nd birthday party planning, attended a couple of birthday parties for Maxx's friends, did some minor crafty things for some friends and family, checked out liberty science center, sleep trained Ellie, did some major overdue shopping for the fam, and more. During it all, i realize the kiddos are changing too fast! The kid's have been doing SO many new things. Some funny, some smart seeming, some just so FREAKIN' cute. ha! So I have to document so I don't forget any of it.

Ellie is 5 1/2 months now! She's nearing her half birthday. Not sure why I just wrote that because I never  really understood that concept. Is it a Korean thing? Anyhow, time goes SO fast with the 2nd.   I thought Maxx was a happy baby but Ellie outdoes him. She smiles and laughs SO easily and all the time. She's jibber jabbering a bit more too. No clear consonant sounds just yet but she's definitely trying to say something because she just stares at you the whole time she's talking to you. Normally she's looking all over the place.

Ellie smiling & laughing.
Please excuse my cold/sniffling & how gay I sound. Yes, I know, being a mommy changed me drastically. No shame anymore.

A big difference when you see Ellie now is her face. Besides the fact that I think she's really gotten prettier/cuter, her skin's SO much better than it was just a couple of months ago. Her skin was raw and crusty for months but now that's all gone! It still gets a little bumpy & red from time to time but it doesn't bother her nearly as much. Because she always rubbed and scratched her face, I kept her swaddled literally 90% of the first 4 months of her life. I know, I know. What about her arm development? I didn't know what else to do. Half of each cheek was oozing puss every other day. At her 4 month appointment, her super laid back doctor told me I had to let it go and just let her free. That she should be swaddle free by 5 months. Grrr...if I unswaddled her, that meant, she'd scratch her face more AND no more self soothing with paci because she'd knock it out. So you understand why I was reluctant to sleep train Ellie but I did it nonetheless and she sleeps really well now. I'm so happy! Probably because BOTH my kiddos are sleeping SO well and consistently lately. It's probably not going to last long but I'm gonna hang on to this for as long as I can! hahaha...

So getting back to Ellie, she now moves all over the crib so I had to take most of her stuffed animals out. They were distracting her and made it take longer for her to fall asleep on her own. She also now rolls onto her tummy but can't roll back so she gets stuck and ends up drooling on the crib sheets. Erg...another reason why I will like it when she can roll back.

My pineapple head baby now always has the first 3 fingers of her right hand in her mouth. Her sleeve gets wet all the way down past her elbow. It's pretty gross. ha.

Trying to calm the pineapple, I tried putting a hat on her but it made her look like a hobo. It was the free hat we got from the hospital, from the volunteers. Wish I could knit so I could make one that might actually fit her humongo head.

Since Ellie's always wearing blue or green, hand me downs, I always try to put on at least one article of clothing that's pink. It usually ends up being socks or mittens. I think I need to start looking into hairpins. Where do I find the velcro kind??

Dear Ellie,
Umma's sorry she's not dressing you so hot these days. Umma didn't buy you any girlie home/play clothes because I'm saving the money for better things for you. Promise! :)
Love, Umma

Week 4

So all in all, it's been tiring but doable. I'm shocked that I'm actually able to handle 2 kiddies on my own. The past few weeks, I've been busy with some showers and mini party planning. And I have yet to start planning Maxx's 2nd birthday party, too. Gotta get on that in a week or so. I also forgot how much I missed randomly hosting friends. I think I might be over doing it while my mom's gone but oh well. :)

Even though I've come down with a cold, I'm managing this weekend due to my super helpful hubby. (Thank you.) The AMAZING weather is a HUGE plus too. We took M to a park with some friends last weekend and he LOVED it. I honestly don't think I've seen him happier. I also set up a water table on our deck for M and he LOOOOVES it so much that he talks about it all day long ever since I put it out there. He also cries for it when he's tired and cranky too though. Oh wells.

Anyways, one thing I haven't had time for is blogging! Go figure. I have been taking some pics & videos of the kiddos so I'll post them once I get them onto my computer. Be back soon.

On My Own with Sick Kiddies

So I'm on my own with the kiddies for a month since my mom's on vacay in cali. It's day 3 and it's going surprisingly okay. I'm super duper tired but it's not as bad as I expected. My "always expect the worst" attitude makes me super anxious and stresses me out but it usually works. This time, I didn't think it would but it did again. ha!

So Monday was a super abnormal day. Maxx fussed little to none all day, had almost no "jealous of baby" moments, and ate well too. Ellie fussed a little but slept on her own (with a paci) for a few naps, a few others I had to rock her to sleep, and one time, she cried for like 5 minutes and fell asleep cause I had my hands full with Maxx. Ellie NEVER slept as well and as easily as she did that day. God is VERY kind. (Thank you!) Besides a bit extra TV for Maxx and some watery poo, the day went pretty smoothly. I even got to make dinner, even though it was kinda ghetto. So net net, Monday went pretty okay since the kids were strangely on their best behavior so I told myself, "Don't be fooled. This is an unusual day.". I had to keep myself pumped and confident that I could handle doing everything on my own. God wouldn't leave me to suffer too much, right? hahahaa~

On Tuesdays I now have help so I thought it'd be an "easy" day but at 8am, Maxx threw up his morning milk across a fourth of my kitchen and a little down the hallway. I have a BIG kitchen btw. It happened while I was holding him and had the fridge door open so it got inside and somehow under it too, just a couple inches from the wall. The stench of digested dairy throwup is DISGUSTING. blech. After a couple hours I knew he needed to eat something so I gave him some toast with a tad of butter and salt. He threw that up about an hour later. By 11, he started getting pissed that he was sick and was moaning and yelling "No more!" every time his stomach hurt. He was having waves of pain all throughout the day. Maxx has major A.D.D. and is always on the move but yesterday, he would grab his burp cloth and lay here & there for 5 minutes at a time cause he had no energy. He was so sad looking, literally. His lower lip was sticking out and he was all pouty faced all day. I felt SO BAD for him so I held him as much as I could. He ended up watching UP twice (off & on) and a few Yo Gabba Gabbas. It was the only thing I could do to try to distract him from the pain. I napped him early then tried a slice of apple and pedialyte. The apple stayed but not the artificial grape stuff. I called the doc to see if I should try to feed him or not and they said to just give him an ounce of pedialyte (2 tbsp btw) every 30 minutes. He threw up a little of it but was able to keep most of it down. Before the night was over, I got a couple of spoonfuls of jook in him too, which also stayed.

Aside from Maxx, Ellie was back to her usual self and fussed and cried a good amount cause I couldn't attend to her when she needed. I somehow fit in a bath for stinky pukey Maxx, 2 loads of laundry from all the pukey clothes, and homemade pasta sauce. No puke there. I haven't cooked in so long I forgot how fast I can do it, if i set my mind to it. Even with help, I barely ate 2 meals and I was 10 times more tired than I was on Monday.

Today, Maxx and Ellie both woke up earlier than normal. Maxx first cause he was so thirsty and was asking for water. I gave him some, then more pedialyte. That stayed, so then some jook and then later a third of a banana. He was whinier than ever today and kept asking for TV, saying he was "ah-ya" but I knew it wasn't as bad as yesterday. He just had no energy so it was makin' him cranky. Every time he heard Ellie start to fuss, he'd come to me asking me to pick him up knowing I was about to get her.

Around 11:30 this morning, Maxx was sitting in the corner of the sofa and holding his burp cloth and a banana and told me to "ga". So after I said "Ga, please." I went to the kitchen and started flipping thru some of the catalogs we got yesterday. About 10 min later I was wondering what the heck he was doing and so I tippy toed to the sofa to find him sleeping. SO CUTE and sorta sad cause it means he's that tired. This is the 1st time in his LIFE that he fell asleep anywhere on his own (besides his crib). I took a pic on my phone but I forgot to save it since I was eager to bring him to his crib. So no pic to share today. Boo.

Anyways, both kids are sleeping so I had lunch and even though I should be napping, I'm blogging.

So far so good. I didn't think I could handle it but I'm actually doing it. I think I just need some more social interaction so I don't go batty from talking to a 21 month old and a 3 month old all day long. Oh and I need to figure out how to reduce Maxx's tv hours, too. :D

Hymn to a Good Wife

Some things I will strive for until the day I go to heaven.

A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She's quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!
- Proverbs 31:10-31

Time with God's been hard to find/make with Maxx but it was doable. Now with Ellie as well, it's even harder. Nowadays, it has shrunk down to a chapter of the bible a day, read online on weekdays only, and a short prayer, either when I'm rocking Ellie to sleep for the night or as I'm passing out in bed. Gotta start again somewhere.

Catching Up

By midafternoon, Ellie had already taken 2 long naps. For both, she was in her crib for the most part. That used to be rare but is getting more common these day. Yay!
Her 2nd nap was at the same time as her brother's. Even better.
I also got to shower too! Feat number 3.
The hair's been starting to majorly fall out but that didn't stop me from feeling like it was a good morning. :)


Yesterday...
I took Ellie to the doc for ther 3 month appointment. Time flies.
Ellie's skin's extremely dry in patches. She has 2 big patches on the lower part of each cheek that rub against her clothes so it gets raw. It's been a healing cycle...dry & flaky skin, rub, raw skin, heal...dry, rub, raw, heal...erf. Her face overall is less dry but the areas that are dry are REALLY dry and it's now spreading to her arms and legs. Darn ezcema! Why do you have to be genetic!!


Anyhoo, the doc thought it was bad enough to check to make sure her skin's not reacting from milk allergies. When she was a few weeks old, I had a feeling she might be. So the doc gave me 2 prescription meds. One antibiotic cream to heal the raw skin and the other, 2.5% hydrocortizone cream for overall healing of the dryness. Both of which she prescribed to Maxx when he was about Ellie's age. Again, darn genetics! She also told me to change her formula to Similac alimentum. I actually thought it was adamantium and later realized that's what Wolverine's skeleton is made of. ha! She said it doesn't taste very good so I was nervous Ellie wouldn't drink it but after a couple meals, she's gulping it down fine. I'm not too worried because I don't think her allergies are from milk or if they are, they aren't too severe that she isn't in the process of outgrowing it already. Optimism is good.


Over the last few weeks, there have been a bunch of firsts and funnies. Here are some I was able to capture.


First SNOWBALL - Maxx seems to be sick every time it snows so it had to be indoors. He called it "eye-sh" after a few minutes because it lost its white color and melted so quickly.

First ICE CREAM CONE - Don't you love what hats do to hair?

FIRST time EATING RICE on his own with a SPOON (aka hands). Thankfully this is just rice and not a boogie. He'd have suffocated. And this time, it's not hat hair. It's umma's bad hair cutting skills.

Look CAREFULLY. No, not the soggy diaper. It's what Maxx likes to do with umma's "weeng". I don't think appa liked it too much. :)

How appa likes to position Princess Ellie. She got so big but still makes our sofa look huge.

By the way, I need to do some serious tummy time with her. I was so good about it with Maxx. Poor Ellie. At this rate, she'll be 2 before she can crawl! Bad umma!

FIRST "REAL" PHONE CALL
sem-che = samchon, uncle in korean
comp! = come!
nite nite = sleeping
Maxx opened my phone and said "sem-che, comp!". It was 8 in the morning so I told him that samchon's still sleeping. Hence, the "nite nite".



uncle, come! from joohyon doo on Vimeo.


FIRST time at the new 5 GUYS by the new Walmart. Appas, it's nothing personal.



appa from joohyon doo on Vimeo.


I went with my sister, 2 mommy friends, their kids, and one of the hubbies came to meet us after work. L's mom pointed out that we probably looked like a guy and is 4 wives & 3 kids. hahaah~!


Moms, take your kids. They just LOVE the cajun fries, music and (I dunno why but) drinking cups with straws. The kiddies were boppin' to the music the entire time. They will have a blast while you enjoy a yummy hot burger with everything on it. Oh and of course don't forget to give them some real food too. :)


Oh and I know I mentioned it before but I L-O-V-E Walmart. I'm now going there regularly to get some of the basics for my house. Maxx's organic half gallon milk is $3.50. 50 cents cheaper than shoprite or hmart. Gunn has Activia every morning so I make sure to have that stocked up. The 8-pack is $3.98 at Walmart and shoprite's got it regularly for $5.98! That's $2!! Hell-ooo! And they're hardly EVER on sale. Eggs are way cheap too but I've never heard of the brand so I'm wondering if I should keep getting it there. I figure at least the brand name items are fine. :D


Okay, last but not least, what Maxx says EVERY night...



five! from joohyon doo on Vimeo.


Okay. Goodnight!

Outdoor Fun Indoors!

Nice stairwell, right? Did you look closely on the other side of the rail? Yep! It's a friggin' SLIDE! How awesome is that! Your mom You call your kids to come down for dinner and they might just come on time.

Here's another. You'd never know it were a slide unless the kid was there, right? Simple enough that the design doesn't make your home look like a playground.

Its so cold out and I love snow but when you have kids, ideas like this seem so awesome. At one time I wanted to be an architect, then I wanted to marry an architect, and now, well neither of those things happened AND I don't think I could ever spend the amount of money it costs to make such major changes to any home SO...this one from Ikea will have to do. :)

You can't get it online but our local Paramus Ikea has it. I would totally get it for Maxx's 2nd birthday but its not as cheap as you expect from Ikea. I think it was $150? Hmmm....maybe. Its times like this that I wish I had carpentry abilities as well.

Besides slides, the other obvious outdoor playgroud fave is the swing. Imagine having a jungle gym & swings like this one in your home? I WISH!

Again, not too realistic but these are!

You can use your doorways. If you own, you can make your own & for dirt cheap too (photo left). If you rent, then you can buy a pressure mount support beam and swing separately (photo right). At least you can easily move it from room to room or if you move, to your next place. The other advantage to the pressure mounted style is that you can also get other "attachments" like a trapeeze bar, rings, or even a toddler swing if you have a little one too.

And of course, Ikea also has their version. It's part of the Ekorre line which also has hand rings & a rope ladder.

I can't wait to get or make one of these for Maxx and Ellie one day. Gotta make sure it can hold the weight of an adult too. I know myself. ha~!

By the way, I found most of these ideas over the last few weeks on Ohdeedoh.com.

Meet Chef Maxx

On Wednesday, Maxx made our family english muffin pizzas topped with hot dogs & onions. My mom made these for us growing up so in true Lee family tradition, we had to use Boars Head, gourmet processed meat. ha~

Maxx & Emo

At first, I wasn’t sure if he was having fun because he was so focused. Or maybe it was because I was being so bossy when he was just trying to have some fun. Go figure.


making_pizza from joohyon doo on Vimeo.

Since we were waiting for the pizza to bake, I let him play with water in the kitchen sink. He most definitely enjoyed that.

Maxx & Umma after the water fun

There aren’t too many activities to do with kiddies under 2. He still would rather eat crayons than color with them and you can only play with the same toys for so long. You just run out of stuff to do when it’s cold out. (I can’t WAIT for nicer weather, you have no idea.) But making pizza was really easy with no extra clean up. I had to wipe down the counter and give him a bath anyways. Oh and bonus is that you have dinner all ready once you’re done. Only thing is, you may want to use healthier toppings. :)

In addition to the ever so famous RookieMoms site, here are a few other activities to do with your young toddlers from Ohdeedoh.

Time Starved

After I had Ellie, I found myself feeling less productive than ever and not feeling like I was doing anything well. There just wasn't enough time in the day. I know, I know. I have 2 kids to take care of so I should expect this, right? Yes and no. I expect things to be harder but that doesn't mean I want to accept a mediocre life of doing the minimum. I remember our Pastor saying that we all have the same number of hours in a day as Mother Theresa and Gandhi did. Who knows if they had kids but either way, they got a heck lot more accomplished in their lives than I can ever imagine.

I seek out being a good wife & mom but I know God wants me to do other things too. I want to still do things that Joohyon Lee would do, such as make time for family & friends, have people over now and then, and of course figure out whatever else it is that God's got planned for me once the kiddies are off to school one day.

In order to do more, I need to start being more efficient and productive with my time. I was a project manager in my pre-mommy life and I’ve planned numerous events in my personal life but I’ve never actually applied my love for organizing to how I spend MY time.  I’m a lazy butt & major procrastinator when it comes to my own life. Go figure.

When you're single or married without kids, you feel like you have the world ahead of you and all the time to do anything you want, whenever you want. If anything, you often get bored and waste time doing things that don't bring much satisfaction just to fill the time. What you don't know is that when you have kids, it takes 100 times more effort to do things you could've done so easily before. I know everyone says life gets harder as you get older, but who really can understand that or has any idea why or how exactly?

So no more wasting time. I want to be efficient and effective with how I spend my time so whether it's playing with the kiddies or relaxing, I want to do everything I do as best as I can so I can do as much as I can.

I'm literally hungry for time lately. I’m one that already sacrifices sleep in order to find the time to do the things I want but now I can only do that so much because I don’t have any down time to let my  brain go blank now and then. I showered somewhat regularly before Ellie. :) Now, if I don't consciously plan for it, days will pass before I realize I haven't showered. ha! When I just had Maxx, I had to often do 2 things at once. Now, I find myself doing 3 at once and rushing like never before. I don’t like the rushing part cause it feels like I’m doing things half-a**ed. I have no idea why I thought having one kid was hard. It now seems like the easiest thing in the world. Hate how the past always seems easier than the present.

So…planning out my time is more important to me than ever. :)

I was looking for a pretty but functional 2010 calendar for my kitchen when I came across this article on Real Simple called "How I transformed My Mornings". I find myself falling in the “I Prepare in Advance and Try to Anticipate Snafus” category. Just plan as much as possible in advance and what happens is what happens, right? I know I sound a little neurotic but it’s the way I’m built and how I can successfully get things done. What I think is a little neurotic are the “My Husband and I Run Our Routine With Military Precision” or the “Timers Keep All of Us on Schedule” women. They’re being literal. Scary.

Also, I can't help but want a smart phone. Having one around when I’m out and need to schedule kiddie doc appointments or play dates. Or when I’m waiting in the car for M to wake up…I could check email or BLOG! :) Why didn’t Apple bring the iPhone to Verizon already? The Nexus One is out now but only TMobile carries it, right? And then today, Apple came out with the iPad but its huge and I have enough stuff to carry. My brother has the Droid. The hubs said that Verizon is doing really well with it so people must like it. Maybe I can get him to get me that - gotta see when my next upgrade is. But if I get the Droid and then a few months later, iPhone comes to Verizon…I’ll be SO annoyed. Okay, back to waiting…

Okay, enough rambling for tonight.

Sewing Sewing Sewing

I want to get a sewing machine already.
(Yes, I know. I have no time and no money. Boo.)

I want to hem dress pants, shirts & skirts (skirts for Ellie one day cause I obviously don't wear them). I also want to hem expensive jeans to make them look like they weren't hemmed. It's SO expensive to get it done! Maybe I could be like Julie Andrews in Sound of Music and make dresses and play clothes for Ellie? Maybe some random things too like hats, dish towels, tissue box covers, and pouches for pens and change? You could make a ton of baby things too like changing pads, diaper/wipe pouches, bibs, burp cloths, blankets...dang! The list goes on. SO fun.

On Sunday, I was asking some mom friends at church where I can get cute hair accessories for Ellie. The ones I've seen online that I like are stinkin' expensive. My mom friends said that you lose them really easily, too. So even though Ellie has troll hair that's too short for anything yet, I'm going to try and make some myself so I don't have to spend much and I don't need to know how to use a sewing machine to make 'em!

Here are some tutorials I found online:

1. Felt Flower Pin by Hoot and a Holler

2. Rose Barrettes by The Purl Bee

I didn't think the rose pins were too cute but they look really cute in the girl's hair.

3. Ribbon Hair Clip

You can make these without the button too. You just need cute ribbon.

4. (Another) Ribbon Hair Clip

 

And when I finally do learn to use a sewing machine...

5. A Kinder, Gentler Headband

Arent headbands so sweet on little girls?

6. Little Boy's Tie - Something for Maxx too!

  

7. Christmas Stockings

I want to try to design ones for M & E on my own. :P

On a completely different note, I found a desktop wallpaper site I liked called PixiePresents. I downloaded this one. It makes me think of Maxx & Ellie a few years down the line. They're holding hands & looking up to God in the heavens. How precious.