Another Charitable Opportunity

Yesterday, my good friend Paula told me of her plan to take a bubble bath when she got home from work. I decided that sounded like a wonderful idea. So after the hubby went to Scouts and the baby went to bed, I drew myself a warm, bubbly bath and settled in with my copy of Parents magazine. And there, on page 26, was a teeny article titled "Caps for a Cause."

Save the Children is a nonprofit that advocates for kids around the world, working to educate parents about basic childcare. One of their goals is providing knit hats for low birth weight babies and they are asking people to donate homemade hats. They even have easy patterns for knitting and crocheting hats on their website. Since I have mounds of extra yarn laying around my house, I spent about an hour last night and made this:

It's the first time I've crocheted a hat from scratch, without the aide of a Kniffty Knitter. It's a little wonky but I think will do a fine job keeping some newborn warm in a country far away. I think I'll make a couple more before I send my package.
Visit the Save the Children website to figure out how to donate for yourself!

Working Mom

I am a working mom.

But I wish I wasn't.

I wish I could spend my days filled with snuggles and giggles and wiggles.

I wish I could be here for every boo boo, every tantrum, every new "first."

But I can't.

I am a working mom.

I don't always hate being a working mom.

My job is rewarding. I like what I do- most of the time.

But I could never like it as much as I love being with my daughter.

It's a necessary evil, one I hope won't last forever.

So I grit my teeth and leave every morning.

And give hugs and kisses when I get home.

But every once in a while, I just can't seem to convince myself to leave.

Like when my daughter watches me put on my coat.

And then hugs my legs and won't let go.

Those mornings I really wish I wasn't

A working mom.

A Brand New Do!

I've been growing my hair out for about a year and recently decided it was time for a change. I typically don't even make it a full year between chops but my hair had been fairly long since before Madi was born so it was time. I had finally reached the point when my long hair was driving me crazy. See if any of these sound familiar:

• Constantly having to pull your long hair out of your shirt/jacket/coat/whatever
• Always gathering it behind my back to get it out of the way
• Sitting on it every time I sat down, therefore constantly readjusting

So today, I called up my cute cousin Danni who just graduated from cosmetology school and got myself a brand new do. What do ya think?

Freezer paper stenciling and an exciting announcement!

I decided to try my hand at freezer paper stenciling. I used this tutorial from Cheri over at I am Momma Hear Me Roar, one of my favs. I wanted to make Madi a unique onesie for a special occasion. How do you think it turned out?

That's right, Madi is going to be a big sister! We are due to have a little boy June 13th. It was a big surprise for us but we're getting excited about it. Madi looks like she is too, but she doesn't really understand anything about it yet.
Here's a close up of the shirt:

Off the topic of new babies, here's a little of what we've been up to this week.
Madi tried a new fruit, kiwi.

She seemed to like it pretty well. Ate half in one sitting. She likes most fruits. She is so not like her mama when it comes to food.

We also had fun putting away some laundry.

I'm sure you have noticed how messy it is in M's room. Let's just say that when she helps me put the laundry away, we end up with more on the floor than in the drawers. In fact, she loves pulling clothes out of the drawer so much we had to put yard sticks through the drawer pulls so she can't open them. Her room is the messiest room in the house (but maybe not by much).

Hope you all had a fantastic week!

Brrr... We're at Brrrrr Lake!

The day after Christmas Allen, his brother Kyle, Little Miss M and I drove up to Bear Lake. Or as my dad calls it in the winter Brrrr Lake.

The rest of Allen's family joined us the next day for some fun. We rode snowmobiles:

played games:

Playing Sneaks (just like spoons)

Making the grab

Sisters, Sisters

There were never such devoted sisters!

I promised I wouldn't post this picture on the internet. Sorry, babe. I lied.

watched movies

and enjoyed some wildlife.

deer on the hill above the house

where the deer had bedded down in the yard

Deer in the back yard

Sorry the color is funny. Believe it or not, both those shots were taken in the pitch darkness.

M enjoyed her third day in her Christmas pj's (I'm a lazy mommy).

It was a super fun time spent with super fun people. Kyle lives in Seattle and Kayla is away at school at Utah State so we hadn't been all together since February. Love you guys!

Feeling Charitable?

I was perusing some favorite blogs this morning and came across a couple of easy charity ideas that would make a huge difference in someones life.

The first is Gabe's Gifts. After experiencing a devastating miscarriage, Amanda decided to host a blanket drive for Project Linus. She will post one blanket tutorial a month and donate those blankets to Project Linus, along with any other blankets that readers send to her. Go to her blog to read her heartbreaking but inspirational story and to learn more. I haven't decided what kind of blanket I will make (I may wait and use one of her tutorials) but this will be something I will do this year.

Our second charity opportunity for today is called Dress a Girl Around the World. Their vision is a world where every little girl owned her own, new dress. You can help by making a dress to send to a little girl all over the world. So far they have delivered 14,192 dresses to 35 countries, including the U.S. They have posted a simple tutorial on their website using a very common material: a pillowcase! Think how economical this could be. I bet I could find 3 or 4 pillowcases at the DI for a dollar! With just a few other things I can make a simple and beautiful dress to send to a little girl who has maybe never had one before. Isn't that something every little girl should have? I will be making a trip to the DI someday soon so I can make a couple of these dresses and send them on their way to a happy little girl somewhere on this vast and beautiful world so that I can help one of God's children that I will never meet.

I hope that you can find something to do to help those in need. If you need an easy project, try one of these! Happy Giving!

More Christmas Pictures

Remember when I said I only took two pictures on Christmas? Turns out that was a lie. I forgot about the pictures on our new camera! Allen and I got a Canon Rebel XS for Christmas!

Image Source

I had forgotten that we took some pictures after we unwrapped our camera Christmas day so here they are!

Madi got a train that she can push or ride on and she LOVES IT! It stays at Grandma's house for now because we don't have room for it here and it might be a little hard for her to push it on the carpet. When the weather warms up and she can use it outside maybe we'll bring it home.

You should see her move when she pushes that thing. Too bad she can't really steer...
We opened a couple of presents while at Allen's dad's house, including this one from Allen's grandparents.

Mud got banished outside for a little while and Madi wanted to let him in.

We had fun playing with our new camera while we were there.

Madi at One Year

Now that Madi has been one for over a month I figured I'd give you all a run down on life with a one year old.

Madi is still our happy baby... as long as you are doing what she wants you to do. She's quite opinionated and if you do something she doesn't like, she'll be sure to let you know. They say toddlers don't grow as fast as babies and we can tell, she isn't eating as much as she was, but she's always been a little bit of a grazer. She has grown a little more picky as well. 

Her favorite food is bananas but she also really likes green beans, sweets, and anything mommy is eating. She thinks if mom is eating something, she needs to eat it too. She also loves to steal sips of Grandma and Grandpa's pop whenever they have some (which is always). She spends four days a week with Grandma while Mommy is at work but she missed being there over the break. On Tuesday morning (her first day back with Grandma) I put her coat on and told her she was going to Grandma's house and she started bouncing and flapping her hands and squealing. That means she's excited.

Old Picture. Sorry.

Madi took her "first steps" a few months ago but started walking for real around Christmas time and we couldn't stop her, even if we tried. Anytime she starts crawling she quickly realizes it would be much faster to walk and stands right up. She always has a bump or scratch on her face from falling or hitting herself in the head or who knows what. Actually, one bump is a conservative estimate. Usually it's three or four. One of her favorite Christmas gifts were these shoes from Grandma.

Cute right? Well, you might not be able to see from the photo but hidden in the bottom of those adorable shoes are squeakers that make a noise with every step she takes. Judging by the giggling, running and stamping when she wears them, I think she likes them. She even gave them to dad twice today so he could put them on and then cried when I took them off for nap time.

She loves phones, remotes, looking out windows drinking out of Nalgene bottles (I have to hide them), climbing stairs and dogs. 

Sometimes she gets a little too close and can't understand why the dogs don't like it when she falls on them. She would prefer Grandma's big dog, Cocoa, didn't like her face constantly but I'm sure Cocoa would do it less if Madi's face weren't always covered in food. (Cocoa would still lick some. She's a licker.)

The constant babble is making a little more sense these days as Madi learns a few more words. Right now she says:

mama (although lately she's been calling me dada)

dada (can refer to any male, or me)

up (used for everything. up, down, out, open)

out

dog

cat (usually she just calls all animals "dod," even if it's a chinchilla)

all done

burp (said without the r so it sounds British. so cute.)

nana (can mean banana or i want that)

book (pronounced boop)

baba (for bottle)

ball

hi

She also waves hello and goodbye, gives high fives and says "yeah" after you give her one, and makes a hand movement that looks just like a wave when she wants something. She is starting to point a little but mostly she just opens and closes her hand in the direction of whatever she wants. We feel lucky the days she takes two naps but today she didn't take any so mom is counting down the minutes until I can put her to bed. These kind of days aren't very productive.

All parties involved agree that Madi is the cutest ever but I can't help but think she'd be even cuter with some hair on that bald head.

We love our baby girl and are so grateful to have her in our family!