Playing in the Snow

Remember how much I love snow days and couldn't wait to build a snow man with B?

Well my husband does NOT love snow days. I'm going to guess because snow season and basketball season align and he would choose the gym over a sledding hill any day.

There are a lot of R's traits I'm hoping B will get but the love for snow days... I was hoping he would get that from me.

So far, it doesn't appear that he has.....

.....We finally got B out in the snow and he hated it. He kept saying, "Ick. NO! UCK! NOOOO!" You would have thought we were trying to get him to take his medicine or something.

So I tried an ease into it approach. I brought a little snow to him.


What I'm sure B is thinking... 

"Eh.... what is that mama? I'll check it out with my 'one finger' tester. Hmmm.. this is kinda cold. I'm not a fan. What are you thinkin' mama??"

He promptly shoved it off the table and I wasn't quick enough to get a shot of that. As we sat down to eat a little later, I tried the snow again.

"What? Now it's here with my food?!? OHHHH. I get it!! YUM YUM!"


That's my boy! Anything edible=awesome. :)

And hopefully one day he'll love playing in the snow and not just eating it. :)

B's First Art Project

Well not technically his first. He's made some things with me but I've always added to them or jazzed them up. This was his first ever, creative, open ended art project, done all by himself! And even though I was expecting a pintrosity, other than the whole eating paint thing it went great!

Oh don't worry. Paint wasn't the worst thing he ate today. In fact it was #3 on the list of worst things he ate for the day. (Toilet cleaner wand and dog food topped the list. I guess I was just THAT awesome of a mom today.)

(Note to self: Buy children's/non-toxic paint...... and put the toilet cleaner wand away.)





B's Valentine Hearts..... inspired by Pinterest:

DIY Squeezable Baby Food

I swore I would never buy those expensive baby food pouches. But one day we were at the store and the kid (who had no idea what they were) pointed to them and signed 'more please.' And I'm a sucker for his baby signs so I got them. And I tasted them (what, you don't taste the stuff you feed your baby?). And they were actually pretty yummy. And then one day we were running late. And B needed a snack. And these were sitting right there all convenient like to grab. And they made my life a little easier that day. And.. well.. you get the idea.

So B, who has been perfectly capable of eating all sorts of good solid food for quite some time now, started eating the squeezable pouched baby foods. And life was a little easier when I could just grab one of those instead of cook up some peas for a snack.


But they are expensive.

And our small town store doesn't carry them. So we rarely have them on hand. And when we do, I really try to save them for 'special' times (like when mama is running late and shoulda been out the door 10 minutes ago but the babe needs a snack).

But the kid still loves 'em anyway.

And tonight as I was cleaning out the fridge and went to throw one away he freaked.
Of course it was the last one. And we don't own any of those cute reusable ones.
So I dumped some applesauce into a straw sippy cup and called it good.
And wondered why I hadn't thought of that before? And why I've never seen it on the interwebs.

Until now.

Mama didn't raise a rocket scientist but I do present to the world, the DIY squeezable baby food pouch. AKA a sippy cup with a straw.

P.S. I sincerely hope you don't feel dumber for reading this post. ;)

Update: Today we stuck a straw in the yogurt and B loved it. We are getting all kinds of crazy ideas around here. :)

I know this post is old news but several people are still stumbling upon my blog by searching for DIY squeezable baby pouch so I thought I'd add our latest DIY pouch- just use the hole puncher to make some holes in the top of the plastic yogurt lid and stick the straw in. This has been the easiest one yet and B loves that he gets to do it all by himself. (The yogurt eating, not the hole punching!) :)

Forever Reign | Hillsong

'You are good, You are good
when there's nothing good in me
You are love, You are love
On display for all to see

You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true
Even in my wandering

You are joy, You are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life
In You death has lost it's sting

Oh, I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough

Nothing compares to Your embrace.
Light of the world
forever reign.'

You are more, You are more
than my words will ever say....'

The Picture That Never Was

I know I promised the last post would be the last New Years one.

I was wrong.


Sorry you guys but I had to share this shot... or series of shots rather.


You see I had all these visions of my New Year's baby posing perfectly for a party picture and I couldn't wait for New Year's so I could take the shot.

Then (several months later) when it was actually New Year's, I had a sick baby (you can still see his crazy rash in these pictures). And then when I finally got to the store to buy the props, all the New Year's stuff was gone (well not all of it.. but what I was looking for). Then the little guy never really did get to feeling better so we attempted the mini-shoot when he was still crabby. And well... then he wasn't wanting anything to do for it.

So there you have it. The shot that never was.

But I present to instead.... every shot I that I did get.


Oh, B....










:)



(I had planned on photoshopping 'Happy New Year' onto his banner. Because he was going to be sitting perfectly still you know. And yes, it switches sides after the first shot. Apparently while I was adjusting my lights he ripped it off (for the first time) and R stuck it back on him. I didn't even notice until I pulled these up tonight. In case you haven't noticed.... photographer's kids are the hardest clients.) ;)

Best of '12

1. Most thankful for in 2012:

-My healthy boy! We had been so, so blessed with a little guy who had rarely got as much as a sniffle. This last month as he was hit with more, it made me realize just how blessed we are to have a healthy little boy who is so full of life!


2. Favorite Moments in 2012:

-Lazy mornings snuggling
-New cousins and fun with old cousins
-Ledges
-R's Baptism
-Beckett's Dedication
-Weekend at the lake with great friends
-B's 1st Birthday Mustache Bash
-B's first steps!
-Favorite Things Party (anyone want to have another one soon?!)
-Zoo trips with B!
-B first saying 'Mama' and 'Ove Ou' (love you)
-Family time at the Orchard!
-Omaha with the fam
-Mommy dates with A & K (before they had to move)
-Everything about watching B grow and discover new things
-Meeting mommy goals (like breastfeeding and crib sleeping)
-Lots of wagon rides
-B made his KCCI debut (and last I checked, he was still making front page news) :)



3. Favorite Things in 2012:

-Slobbery baby kisses
-Urban Decay Naked Palette
-Minnetonka moccasins
-Palette accessories (I now have 3 different palette necklaces to rock- I'm spoiled!)
-Pre-maternity clothes
-Center Grove Orchard Donuts! (and fudge.)
-New iPad from grandma
-Dry shampoo
-ELF bronzer
-Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (I feel like I read from this book everyday for at least the first half of the year)
-Bloglovin'



4. Other notables from the year:

-Choosing a new church
-Joining a new small group
-R joined his first men's study
-Making our first Thanksgiving turkey (& celebrating Thanksgiving with good friends)
-Running together
-Too many friends moved away
-My first full calendar year of full-time {cb}h (and a lot of take your baby to work days)
-The great hard drive crash of 2012
-My mom retired from her postmaster job. I started mailing my own packages.
-B won a costume contest for his UP costume on his very first Halloween
-B spent way too much time at the end of the year with Drs.


 5. Hoping for in 2013:

-More time with family.
-More time with friends.
-To be a brighter light.
-To be more intentional with my time and to invest more in people that matter (which sums up our 2013 goals pretty well I think- you can check those out here).

What about you? How would you summarize 2012? What are you hoping for in 2013?

P.S.- I promise this is the last of my New Year's posts. ;)

2013

Hello, 2013! It's crazy great to see you! When people talk about 1998, it still seems like yesterday so I have no idea how it is 2013 already but ready or not, I guess it's here!

Do you set New Year's Resolutions? I don't typically but I do always have goals in mind. My high school FCS teacher used to tell us that if we didn't have goals we would stop being productive. She'd ask what we were living for if we didn't have goals to meet. When I'm feeling in a slump or like I haven't accomplished anything lately, I do a self check on what my goals are and what I'm doing to work towards them.

So while we don't necessarily set 'new years resolutions' we do take advantage of the fresh start of the new year to have a family meeting and talk about our goals. We typically make lists for what we want to accomplish for the marriage, as a family, for the home, and for the business. I like to check in on our lists throughout the year to see how we are doing. It's a great way to help us stay intentional about meeting goals together.

This year, I've started thinking about my personal goals for 2013. I feel like I have more than ever before and I realized that's likely because my life feels just a little crazy right now!

My personal goals for 2013:

1. Capture (and record!) B's memories. Obviously this is an important thing for me but I've not been investing as much time into this as I'd like. I plan to do a better job by doing Project 365 again, blogging our life (at least one B post a month), & keeping up to date on the family yearbook (by not getting more than one month behind at a time). In his first year of life I did a decent job at getting photos printed and keeping his scrapbook but I'd like to do a better job of it this year.

2. Spend time in prayer with B each day (other than before meals). When I'm on bedtime duty, this is easy to do as part of our bedtime routine but when it's not basketball season, R does the bedtime routine  a lot of nights (and I'm normally working). I want to be more intentional about spending time in prayer with him more often throughout the day.

3. Schedule 'me time' at least once a week. B was exclusively breastfed (yay!) which made it difficult for me to get much me time when he was tiny. At least that's what my story was. I know even breastfeeding moms make time for themselves and it's so healthy (and necessary) to do but between taking care of B, the home and the business, I felt like there wasn't much time left for me. I plan to take more 'me time' this year by spending more time with friends, reading a book each month, going to the store by myself!, getting haircuts (seriously, I only had ONE in 2012!), blogging and crafting.

4. Exercise at least 2-3 times each week. I know that doesn't seem lofty but for me it is! I go in phases with the exercise and right now I haven't exercised since the Color Run (yikes). When I'm on, I can exercise 5 times a week. And when I'm not... well see my previous comment about the last time I exercised. When B was born, I was intentional about healthy eating habits and exercising so that I could be a good role model for him (in case his crazy dad's exercising habits aren't enough to convince him). At around 6 months, I was losing weight too fast and was going to need to either do something different to maintain my weight or quit breastfeeding. Instead of adding more healthy calories to the diet, I just quit running. What a mistake! I feel like it's something I have to start over with at the very beginning so I'll be working back to where I was (and then STAY there this time).

5. Set work hours for {cb}h (and NOT work outside of those hours (as much as possible). This one will be tough for me! I spend way too much time on email and Facebook during my editing hours. I think setting specific hours for editing and specific hours for communications (email, Facebook, blogging), will help me use my time better. I also need to be more strict on charging extra fees for extra hours. I typically will allow repeat clients to schedule things outside of my scheduled hours and do not charge the extra fees. I am missing out on too much family time to be doing this any more. It's so hard to find a good balance when working from home but I think it's getting easier all the time.

6. Do a women's Bible study. I had been doing both the spring and fall sessions of women's groups but since B was born I hadn't participated in one. R & I do a study with our small group (and it's great!) but I do still miss the women's study and I need to get back to it. My previous studies had been in the evenings and I hated to give up that time with R and as a family so I want to get signed up for a morning one (that also includes daycare).

My other 2013 goals are family, home and work goals that I work on with R. We had our family meeting and spent a good few hours working on them. To summarize- we plan to be more intentional with our time and to invest more in people that matter. Oh and to work on a bathroom. :)

Do you set goals? Do you check in on them often? What do you hope to accomplish in 2013?

Checking In

I think my New Year's post is scheduled to go up early tomorrow but I thought I'd check in with a quick update before that.

Since my last post, R & I have both had a stomach bug and B has some sort of something going on that we aren't really sure what it is (swollen face, hands & feet; goopy eyes; red splotchy skin). It doesn't seem to be bothering him and two Drs have said he's likely still fighting off something viral and to let it run it's course so for now we're still hanging out in quarantine at home with our little guy that looks like he lost a pretty tough fight.

Other than that we are doing better and I think we are finally on the mend!!

As we keep getting hit financially and medically this month, I cant help but hurt for friends and family who have fought tougher battles this year.

I hope you and your family have had nothing but pure joy in 2012 but if you haven't, I pray that you will have a better 2013!

As I think about my friends and family still walking through the fire right now, I think of Romans 12.

'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.'



Joyful in hope.

The last couple years the word joy just seemed to follow me around as a gentle reminder to keep choosing joy even when I didn't feel like it. Even when holding onto the tiniest piece of hope... choose joy. Be joyful.

Patient in affliction.

I've been struggling with this one this month. Patience (as well as tempers and money) have all been running short around here and I could use some prayer myself in this area. I've been repeating this verse, emphasis on the patience part, hoping I'll get it down soon!

Faithful in prayer.

I'm so thankful for my faithful prayer warriors. And I'd love to be a prayer warrior for you too. If you haven't updated me with your specific prayer requests lately, I'd love for you to email them to me. My notes list of prayer request is a little outdated in places! And if you just stumbled upon the Hickstionary today and you need prayer, you can shoot me an email too! I'd love to hear from you.

Happy 2013 y'all!! Here's to a joyful, patience filled, faithful year!

best friends

I don't think I'll ever finish my 2012 To Do list before the end of the year but at the top of the list is finishing up B's yearbook. It's taking me forever but I'm pretty sure it will be worth it. :)

Stuff To Do: My Favorite Planner

I love, love, love the holidays! Christmas is such a special time with my little family and I get so excited about ringing in the new year (even if it's from the couch at home). I really love this time of year but as much as I love it, sometimes the craziness of it can be overwhelming.

Thankfully this year we made a conscious effort to not over plan our 'break' so we'd have plenty of down time.

Ha.




I recently shared with y'all how B spent 5 days straight at Dr's offices and emergency rooms. As soon as he had the Dr's okay, we were (rushing) off to spend time celebrating Christmas at several different family get togethers. After spending a little time at home, we were headed back south to celebrate the life of my step-sister. She was celebrating this Christmas with Jesus after a tough battle with Lou Gehrig's.

While we've had a great time catching up with family this week, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't switched into survival mode yet.

Enter my new favorite planner!

The 'Stuff To Do' planner by Paper Coterie

I know you were totally expecting me to post a picture and link to my favorite planning app for the iPhone. And last year at this time I definitely would have done that. But then there was the great hard drive crash of 2012 and my love/hate relationship with technology took a little turn towards the hate side. My master calendar was (of course) on the hard drive and I spent a lot of time figuring out what was supposed to be where and when. Yikes.


So I'm back to my roots and got myself a good old fashioned, pencil to paper, planner.

But it's so NOT old fashioned. This planner has thought of everything! I love the month at a glance view but my favorite pages are the in between pages. After each month there's a page for: a to do list, favorite moments, funny happenings, 10 things i'm grateful for, ramblings and more!

And you know I love me some pictures of my sweet boy. There's room for those too!



In the back of the planner there's a section for notes and thoughts. I added a smash pocket to one of the pages and it works perfect for me to stick current projects in.

Side note: have you guys heard of Smash?? I was introduced to it at a Favorite Things Party and fell in love! Cutest stuff ever!



Besides adding the Smash pocket, I've added monthly tabs by folding washi tape over the edges and marking each month. I've paper clipped in some sticky notes. And I've replaced the elastic band that holds the book shut with a Smash band.

I also bought these super cute mini colored pencils to use in it.



Not that they're necessary but they are cute, right? :)


All that to say that this planner has totally kept me sane this month and I'm so excited about using it in 2013! If you're looking for a new planner for 2013, I definitely recommend the Paper Coterie 'Stuff to Do' planner!

Pros:
-Super cute! You customize the cover with your own photos and add your own images throughout the planner. There are more options than the 'Stuff to Do' so you can get whichever look you love!
-Month at a glance pages.
-Lots of space to add memories and fun moments (which totally makes it a memory book to keep once the year is over!).
-Sturdy, thick pages. The one year old has gotten ahold of it on numerous occasions but you cant tell-  the planner is tough!
-Great style that's easy to customize if you want!

Cons:
-If you like the weekly/daily planners, this one doesn't have that. (I don't so that's not a con for me but could be for you! They do have weekly planners so if that's more your style, check these out.)
-It's not dated so you have to go through each month marking the dates in (I almost put this in the Pros column because that means you can purchase the planner at any point in the year and make it work for you but in the end, it was just a lot of time and effort for this busy mama.)
-There are only 12 months. I know.. it's a yearly planner and there are 12 months in the year but I always like my planners to overlap just a little since I plan so far in advance.


Seriously though, best. planner. ever. Go get yourself one!! Now!