Live BIG!

The other week my wonderful bestie, Beth, and I were chatting on Facebook.  I am very lucky to have such an awesome friend who understands where I am coming from when I say weird things and who won't judge me for ANYTHING.  How blessed am I?  Sometimes we just chat about daily things in life, sometimes we laugh until we are in tears, and other times we talk about very deep and very personal things.  We talk things out, we cry things out, and we motivate each other.  We started talking about why is it that we sometimes look back on our college years together and long for it.  Why?  We have lives that we love and we live for now.  But we both sometimes find ourselves thinking about the days of our past.  As we talked, grateful that someone else in this world felt the same way, we realized that we missed who we were back then.  We missed the feeling we had of complete freedom to be exactly who we wanted to be.  We lived in the moment.  We played hard, we loved big, and we LIVED BIG.  And there it was.  The moment of clarity for us both.  We have settled into life, gotten comfortable, and have neglected to live big anymore.

Me and my Bethie!

So we extended the challenge to each other to live big.  How?  That was up to us.  I got off the computer that night and started thinking about what I could do.  I have been feeling like something is missing lately.  Don't get me wrong, I love my life.  I love my husband, and my children, and the opportunity to be at home with them so much.  I have even begun to love my job again (huzzah!).  What I am missing is something that is mine.  I started to think about what it is that I could do to fill the gap.  I searched my brain for what talent I had that I could expand upon.  I came up blank.  Then it hit me, there is only one thing that I truly regret not doing in my life, for giving up.  One thing you say?  Yes, one thing that I really wish I could take back.  And I felt silly, but this feels like the thing that might do the trick.  Okay, are you ready?  The cello.  That's right, the cello.  I gave it up as a kid due to logistics of getting it on the bus and not being able to get a ride every day that I needed it with me.  So goodbye cello.  Sure, I wish I had actually practiced the piano more so that I'm not ashamed to play in front of people, but that really isn't that huge of a regret for me.  Every time I hear the cello I ache.  It's one of the most beautiful sounds to me.  But is it too late in life to learn an instrument?  Do I actually have the time?  All I know is I need something for me, not for the kids, not for my husband, not for the house.  ME.  Selfish?  I don't think so.  We all need an outlet.  Some people paint, craft, run, cook, read.  Everyone has something, so here's to finding mine.  I just need to go out there and LIVE BIG.  

What will you do to live big?

Sighting

There has been another superhero sighting in south central Pennsylvania. Sources say he was running fast and fighting crime. As most superheroes he is elusive and hard to capture on film. Here are the best photos to come in so far. If anyone else sees this caped crusader please make it known.

Another month closer

How can it be that my baby boy is 10 months old already?  It's impossible.  I refuse to believe he's creeping ever closer to being 1.  REFUSE.  Maybe that's why I can't stop kissing him and hugging him and loving on him.  After already watching one baby grow up I know how fast the time goes and how much I will miss every single one of these precious baby moments.  I'm trying to suck them all up and remember them.  I can't let go of my baby as easily this time around.  But enough about me and my inability to let my baby grow up.  Who wants to hear about me?  Let's look at pictures of the cutest baby in the whole world!

He's so big!  And skinny!  So very very skinny!

I love his smile!  He's got the best dimples and he has an infectious smile and giggle.

So you of course want to know what this cutie pants is up to these days, right?  Well, he's not walking yet, we really thought he would be by now with how badly he wants to.  But he's freestanding some and is super cute when he does it.  He likes to play cars with Landon and Mommy.  He gets very angry if we are playing cars and he isn't.  So he gets his own matchbox car and joins in the fun.  He also enjoys sitting on the floor and having Mommy roll a car to him.  To return it he throws it, he assumes he is also rolling it gently.  He gets very excited about this game.  He still loves to play "peek", but has added "so big!" to his repertoire.  For a long time he was throwing his hands up into the air and smiling like he was the smartest cookie around which he was.  Then one day he stopped throwing his hands up on cue and instead would answer me.  Hilarious.  I would say "how big's Will?"  And he would jabber something at me.  Apparently he was telling me exactly how big he was.  Now it's a toss up if I will get the physical or verbal answer to the question.  He's too silly.  He finds everything hilarious.  I just love my little man and all the things he learns every day.

Creating a Superhero room

Piece by piece we've been building a superhero bedroom for Landon.  I will at one point add pictures of the rest of his awesome room, but for now I'll put up the things that I've made so far for it.  

Superhero coat rack after sculpt

I had a vision in my head of doing this totally awesome superhero coat rack for Landon's room.  Right now his coats just get laid on the bed and I wanted a fun way to display them.  For someone who is not the best with crafting I was pretty impressed with how the sculpt turned out.  (Thanks Mr. Martin and your 3D art class)

We went to Hobby Lobby and bought a pre-made wooden coat rack with the pegs.  We also stood and stared at the clay options for what felt like forever.  Above is the clay we used.  It's just an air dry molding clay.  Real clay would have been awesome to work with, but too brittle in the end since it couldn't be fired.  They have clay that can be baked, but since I was doing it on pegs that were attached to a wooden board we went with the air dry and it was very easy to use.  The only thing that went bad was the Hulk hand.  As it dried it cracked because it was such a mass of wet clay that it expanded.  The cracks affected my detail in my sculpt.  I attempted to fix those cracks after it dried, but the clay wouldn't stick to itself, most of it chipped off after it dried.  What did stick I sanded down  to try to make it look smooth and even.  

 Sorry for the poor quality of images, but they were taken with my phone.  Here is my finished product!  

 I was pretty excited to get Thor's hammer to be sliver and the rings on Captain America's shield silver too.  I was going to go with gray for Thor and leave the shield rings white, but then WHAM!  I realized I had silver spray paint on hand.  I sprayed it at close range onto a paper plate and then was able to brush it on.  Side note: if you are going to brush on spray paint don't use a brush you care about.  Or at least plan on attempting to use paint thinner to clean them.  I used cheap Crayola brushes that I had bought for Landon so I just threw away the ones I destroyed.  oops...I really didn't think about that ahead of time!  But they are shiny...and it's awesome!

Before Landon moved into his big boy room John and I made him some awesome outlet covers.  My favorite is definitely his light switch plate.  It's perfect!  We went to the comic book store and bought some comics that we knew had pictures we could use to create these.  We then cut them up and modge podged them onto the covers.  They are so cool!  Landon was pretty stoked about them when he moved into his room.  He still thinks they are cool, and hopefully will for a long time.  I seriously love how they turned out.

 Shortly after moving into his big boy room he got his superhero comforter made by me and my Mom.  He loved it from the moment he got it.  He still gets upset if I'm washing it and he doesn't have it for bed or for a nap.  He asks for his "avenger's blanket."  That's right, folks, we have a nerd in making!

Oh, and of course his room is Superhero blue!  (no that wasn't the name of the paint)
One of these days I'll get pictures of the rest of his awesome decor and get them up.

The plague

The plague visited our house over the course of the last week.  The only ones spared were John and I.  How did we get so lucky?  I have NO idea, but I am very very thankful.

Doesn't look sick, does he?  I was fooled too...I thought we were safe...5minutes later he proved me wrong

The upside of a three year old with the stomach flu?  They understand the concept of a barf bucket!  Hooray!  You count your blessings at times like this.

How to spot a sick and tired child

 By that night we had lost Will also.  Over the next few days we went through the ups and downs of getting better, but not all the way better.  We went through the waking up every hour crying, every night, for several nights.  And finally, late on night while crying Landon told me his ear hurt.  Thank goodness for being able to vocalize their pain, too.  Once again, counting blessings.  It was at this point that I found myself in tears.  I had been so frustrated with him for waking up crying and then wanting nothing and needing nothing for two nights straight that I had started to get angry.  It was at that moment that he told me his ear hurt him and I realized he really was in pain, it wasn't like the other nights where he woke up just because he was afraid of being sick.  And that was when I felt like a terrible person.  I was so tired, I was worn down, and I couldn't take his pain away and I couldn't help but feel like a failure.  It may be irrational, but I am nothing but human and a Mom.  And what Mom doesn't feel like a failure now and again?  So I cried a little, prayed, and reassured myself.

Snuggling my sick guy.  Yes, he is using my butt as a pillow.

 The next morning John took Landon to the Dr.  And as we suspected, he had an ear infection.  But the poor kid had a double ear infection!  After just one dose of antibiotics he was back to his old antics driving us nuts!  But poor Will suffered a few more days of restless nights, jags of crying, and one night spiked a fever of 101.  By the end of the week he too was at the Dr. suffering from a double ear infection (and a bad case of the teethings).  Getting him back to normal hasn't been so quick.  But he is on the mend and getting less fussy every day.

The face of despair 

I can't wait to have my boys back to health again.

Adoption

Lora and John's adoption sticker, isn't it great?

I know that people don't frequent my blog much from other sources other than those that know me, but maybe, just maybe, this post will reach someone that is looking into adoption.  Either as the birth parents or the adoptive parents. 

Lora was one of my very good friends in college and the two of us enjoyed a lot of fun times together.  She is one of the most energetic and loving people I know.  You can't help but feel happy in her presence and I miss living near her to enjoy fun girl times together.  I frequent her blog now that I live on the other side of the country and am just in love with her family.  They adopted their little girl three years ago and she is the cutest!  I always knew that she would be a great Mom and she really is.  She's brilliant, she's hilarious, and she is dedicated to her family and to teaching Maya and raising her up in the gospel.  

Right now Lora and her husband, John, are in the midst of a month long media blitz frenzy to promote adoption, not just for themselves, but for others also.  They are hoping to add another sweet little spirit to their family.  Please take a moment to check out their blog. It also has links to their adoption profile to check out.  Check them out here.  Take a moment and spread the word, educate yourself a little more on the adoption process and the benefits of adoption, or say a little prayer in their behalf.  I can't wait to hear that they have been given the opportunity to adopt another child.  They are a wonderful family who deserve nothing but the best, and I hope that this reaches at least someone who it can help.

Snippits

I wanted to let you all in on some of the fun things that Landon says.  I of course could only think of a few, but as he says more awesome things I'll try to keep up with them.  I want to remember the silly things he says.  So here are a few snippets of Landon-isms.

As we were getting out of the car to go into Target yesterday he hit his knee jumping out of the car.  He said, "ow!  I hurt my knee.  I'm not going to live."  haha.  When he hurts himself I usually say, "are you going to live?"  His response is always, "No."  I guess he just jumped straight to the end of the conversation.  It was too funny.  "I'm not going to live."  This kid.

On Sunday he was running around the house before church shooting like his fingers were guns.  I told him, "you know you can't use your finger guns in church."  He looks at me and very seriously replies, "I'll keep my finger guns and bullets in my pocket."  And he pretended to holster his finger guns.  He didn't get those out all day!  I had to share that with his teacher since she was the one who had told him to keep them in his pocket the week before.  They do listen!

Landon was having a meltdown one day.  When I asked him why he was crying he answered, "I'm crying because Daddy is mad at me for crying!"

This morning he was pretending to be a reporter.  He stuck his pretend microphone in my face and said, "Mommy, what do you think about the huge mess?"  At that moment I got a little concerned, "What huge mess?"  L: "The huge mess."  M: "Who made the huge mess?"  L: "um...Mo!"  Right....sure he did.

Heard from the bathroom daily, "I'm peeeeeeing!! Say, 'yay, Landon'!"  At least I am told how he wants to be praised.

I hope you enjoyed a little of the fun that is Landon.