Since approximately July 4th, my home has been on a back burner. I got pretty much everything decorated in my 'nesting' stage of pregnancy. Only our bedroom was left ... slightly less than finished.

However, the ceremonial moving OUT of the cradle (which had become a catch-all for clothes waiting to be hung, toys, and books) lit a fire under me to finally address the needs of that room.

The bedroom has mostly browns, so I wanted to add some color and visual interest with art. Still no headboard... so I needed an inexpensive fix for a 'blah' wall. I hate buying things for walls when I know I could make something myself.

My answer was SCRAPBOOK PAPER. Oh how I love scrapbook paper! I framed 4 different patterned papers in 4 pre-matted clearance sale frames....


and voi-la... one decorated bedroom!


You don't realize how it feels living in an unfinished room... until you finish it! It seriously took away stress I didn't even know I was carrying around. Plus, I love my new less than 30$ framed "art."

One of my favorite things about my husband is that he's always a very wise steward of our money and usually quite a saver....
but every once in a while he just wants to buy stuff!

I totally trust him, as he keeps a good handle on our family finances... he knows how much I've spent at which stores while shopping before I even walk through the door thanks to wells fargo online banking. I think he's feeling flush with tax returns and government rebates looming in the distance... so he's been on a veritable spending spree.

Purchase #1: Lily's new bike trailer/jogging stroller. (now all we need is some bikes-- maybe next time, as Jeff's previous bike shop work experience makes him very brand conscious)


Purchase #2: A new camera lens... to achieve those blurry backgrounds previously out of my grasp.


Purchase #3: A rocker/recliner for putting fussy babies to sleep in the living room, so we can be in front of....


Purchase #4: OUR NEW TV! I've been telling Jeff we DON'T need a new t.v. for months until we got the new recliner and couldn't see the t.v. due to the placement of the armoire. In the words of Jeff's friend, Brock, "Your two biggest investments in life should be your house and your t.v." Although... making the jump from 26 inch to 37 inch was big enough of an investment for us. Truthfully, I miss the top of the armoire... which is now residing the the garage.

As soon as we loaded the t.v. into the minivan, Jeff complained of a stomach ache and cold sweats... which signals... the spending window is closed. He now feels shame... much like I do after polishing off half a pan of brownies, when I just wanted a bite. If his thrifty Dad lived here... he probably wouldn't be able to look him in the eye for several days.

It sure was fun while it lasted... and we have some new things to enjoy for years to come.

So.... we went to see this last night. I recommend it to everyone! It was quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever been to... it definitely blows all other IMAX movies out of the water... although, I've only been to rainforests, dolphins, and Nascar.... so not a tough competition there. You get to see the musicians up close and their facial expressions and everything. It was AWESOME... the only thing that could have made it better is if they had ended with '40.' Lots of their songs are so obviously about Jesus if you're listening. I can always interpret a deeper meaning (even if it was the band's original intention or not.)Which is why, even in my car, their music is so transcendent... almost like a worship experience. I hope Jeff will take me along to a concert some time.

It definitely reinstated the fact that THE EDGE is the ultimate cool. Thus... we've been leaving Lily in her stocking hats full time.

I've decided to start posting on my storybook blog every Friday... NO MATTER WHAT. So... every Friday you can expect SOMETHING new on there.

Today I've posted the first few pages of the book I'm working on for my niece, Grace's, birthday.

I'm pretty sure she won't find it on here... so nobody tell her about it.

Day 2 of no daddy time and I've got one crabby baby. Lucky for me, Jeff's trip happened to coincide with my dad's colonoscopy... which takes time with Nana and Grandad out of my list of options. Therefore, today I've exhausted my bag o' tricks and can't possible sing "Lily's a happy baby" one more time... so I've been doing a little experimentation as well.

de-crabbing a child: experimental scientific research

Something that always makes me feel better is eating. However, chocolate and coke are not an option for Lily yet. Thus, I gave her a biter biscuit which she gnawed on until it was dropped on the carpet and somehow magically became entangled in mom hair. I missed vacuum day yesterday (to go shopping... shhh!)
Conclusion: one huge mess... one mad baby when the hairy biscuit was taken away

(photo from previous biter biscuit experience)

Something that also is a comfort to me is pajamas. I had to change the biter biscuit destroyed outfit anyway... so I chose some footy pajamas to replace them.
Conclusion: no change.

I then reasoned with her that a nap would solve all problems.
Conclusion: she decided she needed to gum my nose by pulling my head to her with two fistfuls of tender over-ear hair.

We changed locations to the exersaucer... which ENRAGED her. So, I tried placing a nearby paper sack on her head.
Conclusion: she did not find this near as amusing as I did.




I got a dear friend out of her crib to cheer her up. She violently rubbed her nose with him and then gave him the thrashing of his life.
Conclusion: the blabla is a nice alternative to my head as an outlet for her aggression



Back to toys. I tried bringing out some new ones and placed a ring on her head
Conclusion: putting things on a child's head does NOT make them any happier.




The good ole' bug shoe is always a favorite for chewing... why not try that.
Conclusion: This picture tells all as the shoe is hurtling toward my face.


I used to always like to watch myself cry when I was little... so we went to the mirror. I'm not sure how it ended with a naked baby splashing in a sink full of water. Lily was amused by gnawing on the faucet and talking to that grumpy baby next to her ...until I had to take her out (By the way... I did NOT miss bathroom cleaning day this week... phew)
Conclusion: a LOT of water to clean up and one bulging diaper




Finally, the test subject had enough of her paparazzo mother and her camera.

My creative efforts have been channeled elsewhere lately...

(although Jeff would prefer that my only creative outlet be thinking of creative ways "to be real, real nice" to him)

but here are my two latest scrapbook pages.

Welcome back old friend! Since my apple powerbook sold on ebay the morning that my water broke, my ipod has been out of commission. My wonderful technically savvy husband finally found a way to reformat my ipod to work with our new non-mac laptop. So... for the first time since Lily's debut, we were able to listen to my old faves on our drive to Austin yesterday.

It's funny how a song can take you back to the exact feelings you've had at another time. I had the thing on shuffle and almost every song held a specific memory... usually of me listening to it in "the piece" (my explorer, see post 1/1/06). It was surreal to think of those times that don't seem that long ago and now think that I'm listening to that same song with my child. Ha.

Anyway... the coolest thing was this:
I was watching Lily in the mirror as she sat in her seat playing with her favorite teether. My all-time favorite song, Tupelo Honey, came up on the random shuffle. She literally stopped playing, looked up, and listened to the entire 7 minute song! As soon as the next song, Golddigger (sorry Dad), came on... she immediately stopped listening and went back to playing with the teether.
INCREDIBLE! I can remember so many times while pregnant that I would be stressed out in traffic or after a bad school day that I would turn on that song because it makes me happy. I SERIOUSLY think that she recognized it from the womb and it probably had good feelings attached.
I know my parents said that they were listening to that Van Morrison album a lot when we were little... and Suzanne and I both LOVE everything he sings. I guess we're just creating the next generation of Van fans.

Praise Jesus for the Ferber method... this is a picture of my child napping in her crib!! I feel like a human again instead of a mere shell of a person stumbling around trying to complete a coherent sentence. She's sleeping from 7:30-7:30 at night with only 1 feeding and having two REAL naps during the day. Today she even slept for 2 hours at one of them! I turn on her aquarium and she watches it and plays with her babies until she drifts happily off to sleep. AMAZING!

I also have one week accomplished with my new fervor for cleaning on schedule.
Monday - dust
Tuesday- vacuum and laundry
Wednesday- bathrooms
Thursday- floors
Friday- deep kitchen and laundry
I'll work up to more times a week when Lily can do a little more by herself. For now... this is the most on top of things I've felt since we've been married. I'd like to be a stay at home mom for a LONG time... so I feel I need to be a VERY good one at ALL parts.


I'll end with this ... just 'cause it's funny:

So... I finished some scrapbook pages despite the odds. I decided to use the self-cleaning feature of our oven last night after Lily went to sleep. It's got to be hard to mess that up... but somehow I found a way. It started with an intense smell... followed by the house filling with smoke. My eyes started burning while working on the laptop, so when I couldn't keep them open any more I stumbled over to open some windows and find a fan. Then I thought I could continue in the bedroom with the door closed, but my eyes were watering like crazy and I still couldn't keep them open for more than a second. Thus, I stumbled out to give the laptop to my husband (still sitting on the couch watching football with no sympathy for my serious problem) and blindly made it back to the bedroom to get a cold rag for my eyes. I laid there for about an hour unable to sleep due to the involuntary twitching of my poor eyes.

I'm still working on the 'not feeling sorry for myself' resolution... obviously.

Anyway... here are my latest pages.

On Friday, Lily got introduced to Molly(and her tongue) at David's party.

I'm a little behind with my goals as I'm still catching up from being away from home. Somehow I missed some magic window with Lily's sleep and now I'm having to go back and fix all of our bad habits. She's 6 months and shouldn't be eating 3 times during the night. So, establishing routines has been my focus since the 1st.

2007 goals revisited:
1. successfully carry and birth a baby ---done and done

I realized that all other aspirings are trumped by this one monumental event... so why feel like a failure if I don't accomplish them.

1. make a foray into the world of digital scrapbooking ---I'm getting the hang of it.
2. begin making strides toward getting a book published ---tried an online literary agent, but I wasn't sure if it was a scam... so I created a storybook blog****I just posted the book that I created for luke and lily at Christmas.
3. put more effort/time into friendships...
3a. call people --the phone is my friend, the phone is my friend, the phone is my friend
--- ummmm.... I THOUGHT about calling people a lot more.
4.make a conscious effort to do things that I KNOW will make Jeffrey happy... like loading the dishwasher, cleaning the toothpaste splatter on the mirror, etc.--- I definitely do the dishes now... but toothpaste splatter can still be found from time to time
5. be more active... normal people don't need to start winding down at 4:30... there are still at least 2 more usable hours in the day ---Lily doesn't allow me to be inactive
6. choose to have a positive attitude at work.... "hide it under a bushel... NO! I'm going to let it shine!" ---it's a lot easier to be happy at work when your job is this



My big 2008 goals are:
1. Be a better housecleaner. Stick to an organized schedule for daily chores.
2. Be more encouraging to others.
3. Restart having a daily quiet time with Jeff.
4. Put others before myself and not feel sorry for myself.
5. Allow myself to have a creative outlet... time for scrapbooking, writing stories, taking pictures, etc. ****speaking of... Jeff and I have taken a cue from Laura and Andy and decided to participate in project 365(taking a photo a day for a year)-- check out our progress on www.jeffandshauna.com

We're back. I feel like I've been away from home for months after an 11 day trip to Minnesota. We had a really good time despite Jeff getting VERY sick for three days of it. Lily was a good little traveler. She remained good natured no matter where we went or what time it was. On the plane ride home there was a VERY noisy baby that was excruciating to listen to. I wanted to have a sign when we got off that said "WE WEREN'T THAT BABY... OUR BABY WAS THE ONE MAKING CUTE LITTLE NOISES UNTIL SHE FELL ASLEEP IN OUR ARMS!"

Minnesota gave me some good perspective on cold weather. During the trip, anything from 20-30 degrees was "nice weather". It barely made it to 0 the day we left... so getting into San Antonio at 40 degrees-- we didn't even feel it necessary to have a blanket on Lily.

Here are some photo highlights from the trip:

all bundled up

its fun to have cousins

baby's first Christmas morning

Yay! blabla toy from my mamma

baby's first banana

brrrrr

good morning papa