the big bow conundrum

When I did Natalie's nursery, I put her dresser/changing table in the closet. There is a lack of wall space in her room due to a double window on one wall & a wide closet on the opposite wall. This was a great solution at the time, because the closet was so wide. Well, she has grown, and her wardrobe has gotten bigger, and she needs more closet space. So I recently moved her dresser/changing table out of the closet to allow for her growing clothes collection. One of the rearrangements I had to make was moving her bows; I'd had them clipped to ribbons just hanging in her closet next to her changing table. I decided to jump on the frame-turned-bow-holder bandwagon, and here's what I came up with! I found a creepy poster in a perfectly-sized (and priced) frame at the flea market, and with a little spray paint and some ribbon, made it into a cute bow holder...and a piece of art. :-)

Before - creepy Mother Goose:

After - hair bows on display:

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

easy recipe: cucumber salad

Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber, peeled & cubed
1 package Pictsweet Seasoning Blend (in the frozen veggie aisle; it has onions, bell peppers, etc in it)
Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian Dressing (you will use however much you prefer, to get your desired consistency)
1 tbsp. olive oil

Prepare Pictsweet with olive oil as directed on package. Let cool, then rinse in a strainer and drain as well as you can. Mix Pictsweet with cubed cucumber & Newman's Own. Refrigerate. Tastes best when allowed to marinate in fridge for at least 30 minutes prior to eating. Enjoy!

favorite things

Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm in Peach Kiss

Mr. Clean multi-purpose cleaner in Gain scent. 

Seriously y'all: GAIN SCENT.

White House Fruitastics applesauce. It has veggies in it! And no added sugar! 

Natalie loves it. Ok, ok...I like it too. :-)

My Kindle Fire. Duh.

Mossimo gauze shorts in brown. Best shorts EVER.

Have a blessed week!!

new every morning

I yelled at my daughter yesterday.

Yep, that's right. This cutie:

And the worst part is, that's not the first time it's happened.

I used to frown upon parents who yelled at their children. "You should NEVER yell at a child! Discipline should come in the form of a firm but calm voice! They need to learn that yelling is NOT ok!" And then I brought this precious baby into my home. And in those first few months, I went through this time that most new mommies attribute to postpartum depression. Except that I didn't give birth to this sweet angel. Which makes me feel that much more sympathetic toward mommies who did give birth. Because if I'd had the hormonal craziness on top of my own craziness, I'm not sure I could have handled it. There were really a few dark moments for me when Natalie was a baby: and she was a GOOD baby. {Yeah. I'm a wimp. I practically had it made, and I still struggled. I digress.} As my teeny baby grew into a 1-year-old, her personality showed up. And it was so cute! And then she hit about 18 months, and her opinions showed up. That's when my patience was really tested. And that's when I found myself starting to lose my temper at times.

If you've raised a toddler before, you probably know what I'm talking about. Deliberate disobedience. Stubbornness. Whining. Oh, the whining. Is that just a girl thing? I'm not even sure where she learned that from, but it grates on my last nerve. Anyway, I realized at some point that I needed some Divine Guidance to help me gain some self-control. Because I don't want to teach my child that it's ok to raise your voice when you're frustrated. But that was what I was doing. So I looked, and I found this:

...His compassions never fail. They are new every morning...

~Lamentations 3:22-23~

OH!! Praise the Lord!! His compassions are new every morning!! Y'all, that means that even though I screwed up yesterday, I get to start over! What an amazing gift from God this verse has been for me the past several months. It's not up to me to control my temper. It's up to me to let HIM control it FOR ME. And when I fail to do that, to let HIM take over, guess what? His compassions never fail. When I mess up & say "crap" in front of my toddler who repeats EVERYTHING...His compassions never fail. When all I want to do is sit down & check my facebook, and my 2-year-old is nagging me to just come BE with her, and I brush her off for "just another minute"...His compassions never fail. When I am lazy and decide to play around or lie on the couch or go shopping, when I should be doing housework or something productive...His compassions never fail. When I constantly think of myself instead of the simple desires of my daughter to just hang out with her mommy...His compassions never fail. 

I need this so much, because on my own, I would fail as a mommy. I fail to remember that she just wants to be with me. Every day, I fail to slow down to her pace. My compassions constantly fail. But His compassions NEVER fail. NEVER. 

They are new every morning. 

What a breath of fresh air for my soul.

Natalie is TWO!!

So, a month ago, my kid turned two. And I forgot to tell y'all about it! Shame on me!! Here is a little synopsis of my little firecracker of a toddler:

• She is not a super picky eater, but she won't eat just anything. She loves chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, and macaroni & cheese. And of course, cookies. :-) Probably her biggest obsession though, is crackers. The girl would eat her weight in crackers! And speaking of weight...
• At her 24-month checkup, she threw me for a loop when she went ballistic over being weighed & measured! I was expecting a fit when the time came for shots {which also happened, mind you}, but I did NOT expect her to go so crazy at the scales & ruler. It wasn't an easy checkup, but we did get shots & stats: 33" tall (25th percentile) and 26lb, 9oz (50th percentile). This seems backwards to me because all of her pants are either too short or too big around the waist!
• She is a chatterbox! The girl LOVES to talk. Unless, of course, you ask her to "perform" by saying something. Then she clams up. Because she is also Miss Independent. :-) She will say a few short sentences: "No Mommy, not dat ah-sauce [applesauce] - dat one!" This week she has started saying "Wow! Awesome!" Which is funny, because neither her daddy nor her mommy say "awesome" very much. Just goes to show she will pick up on anything! So please watch your language around her, haha!
• Mom's Day Out is still tons of fun for her! Most days she comes home with dirt in her hair, and in her shoes, and under her nails, and sometimes in her eyes.......
• She loves to see babies out in public & go up & talk to them. She'll say, "Awww, baby!! Awwww, sweet." I think she will make a wonderful big sister!
• Coloring, stickers, swinging, mimicking Mommy, playing with Izzie, being outside, going to "Mah-mama's house" and "Mimi's house"...these are a few of her favorite pastimes.

There is so much more I could say about her, because she is so full of personality. But she is waking up from her nap now, so I must go. :-) I will leave you with a few pictures from her birthday party & beyond.

Have a blessed day!