Busy, Busy

I am seemingly really busy right now. I feel like I have so much to do, but not enough hours in the day to do it. Here is a slight random account of what is going on in my little world right now.

• Tomorrow we are going on a little trip! Very excited to get away for a (hopefully) peaceful vaca. We are headed to Southfork, Co. Which is a very small, pretty much unknown town in southwest Colorado. They are known for fishing and some rafting, but that is about it. We are renting a big house, and Jeremy's parents, sisters, husband and boyfriend, niece and nephews are all coming along too. We are just staying for 5 days, but it is still a ton of packing and planning for a 3 year old and a newborn.
• Yesterday Brady's cousin Zack came over to play, and I thought that would give me time to get some things done. I was wrong. They play great together, and instead of laundry Bryson and I had great fun playing with them.

• I have some awesome friends. Today I got to spend some time with one friend who did a wonderful photo shoot of Bryson a few weeks ago. She was so sweet and along with the pictures, gave us a framed print, and a photo book. It was such a sweet and thoughtful gift. Today I also got to see a friend who was visiting that moved away. We had a nice lunch, and it was so good to see her. I miss all of my friends that have moved away, or live in different places. But I am so thankful for technology, and it is pretty cool to have friends all over the place.
• Bryson is two months old and precious. He is such a happy baby. I have not gotten him to take naps in his bed yet, so each day during nap time I end up holding him and working on the computer and catching up on my bible study.

• I am trying to workout, and lose my baby weight. It is not happening with just exercise. I think I may need to diet also. Gasp! I normally eat fairly healthy, and workout, and it does the trick, but something isn't working, and I am gaining weight. It was easy to lose the baby weight after Brady, but this time it is much harder. After this vacation week, Jeremy and I have a bet going to see who can lose the weight they want to lose first. He can lose weight so fast when he puts his mind to it, so I am a little worried.
• Monday, August 1st will be a hard day for our boys. It is the day that I am going to make Bryson start taking naps in his room. But even bigger it will be the day that I re, re- potty train Brady. You read that right, he is not potty trained. He completely regressed after Bryson was born. He had accidents constantly, and would not even tell us when he needed to go. He gave up, and we gave him time hoping he would get motivation on his own again, but he has not yet. September 8th is the day he starts preschool. If he is not potty trained by then, then he better learn how to hold it from 9 - 11:30, Tuesdays and Thursdays! Pray for us please!

• I am really trying to work on getting stuff back into my etsy shop. I have been working on the craft blog, so I can hopefully use that as a resource to point others to my etsy shop. I also started a facebook page for the blog/shop. I have so many ideas and plans, I just need more time. I know once I get Bryson to sleep in his bed for naps I will have more time and energy to put into it all.
• I am an independent consultant for a company called Jamberry Nails. I am really excited about this product, and I think others will be too. I am nervous because this is not really my thing, a saleswoman, but I am excited to meet new people, and hopefully earn some extra money for our family. (Hello vacation fund!)

Well I think that is it. It does not seem that crazy, but keeping the house nice, taking care of the boys, making dinners, seeing friends, church, trying to start a home business, being a good wife, and working out, it all adds up. Really excited to see where everything leads me, and I really am loving life! (Just will love it a little more, when Brady is potty trained!   

What to do?

Making to do lists are genetic for me. My mom is a fantastic planner and list maker. In fact planning was a huge part of her career before she moved to Russia to become a non-paid planner and fantastic wife. So I have grown to love to do lists. I enjoy marking things off the lists. I currently have about 6 or 7 lists going. Grocery list, Costco list, packing for our trip list, things to do on our trip list, crafty to do list, thank you note list, and then my weekly to do list.

Every week I have a to do list. I sit down on Sunday evening and make my list. It used to be just a normal piece of paper with a huge list of the things I needed to do that week. I rarely would complete my list because everything would get put off and then I would try to finish everything on Saturday. Then I started to separate my list by days. It worked well for me, and I felt so accomplished when I would cross things off of my list.

Last week, at the Target dollar spot, I found this notepad. It is magnetic, separated into days, starts on Monday, and perfect. I bought two, but now I wish I would of bought more, because I will be really sad when I run out.

I put simple things on the list, even a load of laundry, or what I will be making for dinner. Honestly these days, planning, making, serving, and cleaning up dinner is a pretty big chore. At the end of each day, I love to see all the little check marks of what I got done. Some days, not everything gets checked off, but that's okay, I catch up another day in the week. It is amazing how something so simple can be so helpful.

Another thing I that I have done recently is keeping a spreadsheet of the meals we eat. By keeping track of everything we eat, I can make sure we don't have the same meals over and over again. So easy, but again so helpful. So now you know of my obsessions with lists. What about you? Are you a list maker? If so you may need one of those lists pads, they are wonderful!

Do Everything

Since having Bryson, and the initial elation wore off, I realized how hard raising two boys is. Ever since, I had been in a funk. Long story short, I was having a hard time. Somehow I had forgotten what my purpose in life is, and I was being selfish and really feeling sorry for myself. It took a mild breakdown, that involved Jeremy having to come home early from work, and a lot of prayer to get back to a better place. I was feeling better, and grateful, but still overwhelmed and kinda in a permanent bad mood.

Then I heard a song on the radio that spoke to me. Have you ever heard something a hundred times, and then all the sudden it clicks? I know that God uses songs, people, various things to speak to someone. After taking way too long to get out the door and into the car, (no fault by me, mind you), we were on the road, and this song by Steven Curtis Chapman, at that moment, was for me.
Here are some of the lyrics:

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor
for the 15th time today
Matching up socks and sweeping up lost
Cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips
and head out the door


And while I may not know you I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes does it matter at all
We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

Somehow I forgot my purpose in life. It is always to bring God glory! Currently I am doing that by raising two amazing boys.

I am so thankful that I was reminded of that and I can get back to what God has called me to do right now. I hope that what ever you do in life, you do it to bring God glory. After all that is why we are here in the first place!

New Camera!

Yes you read that right, a new camera! I am so thrilled!

 My sister-in-law, bought this camera a little less than a year ago, for her around the world trip.

She took amazing pictureswith it, like this favorite of mine.

I know she also took great care of it. She let me know a few days ago that she had listed it on craigs list to sell it. She is headed to Asia with her boyfirend for a few months, and he has an even better camera. Instead of two DSLR type cameras they wanted one really awesome DSLR and then also a good point and shoot. So after talking to Jerm about it, and getting a great family discount, we decided to get it!

I have played with it only a little, but I am so excited to get to know it more. One of the things I like about it, is that it is a great camera for beginers, (me) and also, it is smaller than a regular DLSR. Once I get to know the camera then I will move up to a better lens. We got a great deal, with a case, memory card, and lens filter, all for about half the retail price!

Get ready for some much better pictures soon!

Blog?

Blogs? What blogs? I almost made it a full month without blogging!

Brady update: He is as busy as ever. He is having a wonderful time being three. He adores his brother. He has completely reversed potty trained himself. :( He had a bit of, (sometimes still does) jealousy issues, but he is getting better each day. He takes those issues out on us, by acting out, and thankfully never on the baby. He says the funniest things, and also knows everything!

Bryson update: He is a chunk, and bigger than Brady was at this age. He is wearing a onezie right now that Brady wore when he could eat baby food, at 5 months old! He lets me put him down to sleep at night right before Brady, so we are getting a few hours of time without children. He is super smiley, and it is not just gas! He still has to be held most hours of the day, so the moby wrap is used a ton!

Belle and Coco update: They have the most boring life ever, but they enjoy that we are home more often.

Me update: I am starting to feel like I am getting things under control. I was able to clean the house this weekend. I am trying to ignore that it is already messy again. I am praying daily that Brady is potty trained by September 8th, so that he can go to preschool. I am excited for my doctors appointment tomorrow so that I can get the go ahead to start working out again. I am very excited for the little vacation we are taking in a few weeks to southwest Colorado.

Jeremy update: He is the best, most patient husband and father, The End.   

Happy Forth of July everyone!