Breathe

Thanks to Vick for that awesome contest link! :)



So, wow, I am so glad I wrote that post on clutter. Thanks to those who left tips and suggestions; they have given me a lot to think about. And a special thank you to Wiley - who'd have thought that a simple vent post could have brought someone out of lurkerdom with such a welcome comment?? I have really enjoyed your blog and look forward to seeing what you can accomplish with the plan you are following.



I feel like I am just coming up for air here. A quick breath at the surface before diving back down again. Between now and tomorrow(it has taken me a week to write this post) I have to mass clean my house, do several more loads of laundry (after the 10 or so I've already done this week), update my website, place a few more client orders, prepare my own order for a doctor's office display and do a massive grocery shopping trip.



Anybody got any coffee???



My Starbucks gift card is almost gone. *sigh*



Anyway, I am slowly trying to declutter. Baby steps. I have pulled all the maternity clothes out of my closet with the exception of a few tops that don't look maternity and everything is stacked up by owner in my bedroom. Jill, I know you want your stuff back so I will figure out a way to get that to you. Carrie - what about your stuff? Did you want it back? I can't remember.

Getting all of that out has freed up the closet a little. I am tempted to put something else in there, but for now I am enjoying the "extra" space. I can actually see my clothes again!

Anyway, it is now Thursday, July 3rd and I am just getting back to this. I have two other half started posts in my blog that I have got to finish. I am going to get back on track with this blog if it kills me!

More to come.
Until,
D :)

Hold On Loosely

For all you baby wearers out there - check out this AWESOME contest!

[ok, don't, because I really want to win]

Seriously, go over there and sign up!

[no really, please don't - I want to win]

So click on the link below!!

[no really, just go eat a cookie. You don't want to enter]

Enter as many times as you can!

[seriously, are you listening to me!?!]

Here is the link!


Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Until [I win],
D :)

Fix You

Ok, another stolen moment here...

I am so incredibly tired of all the "stuff" we have in this house. Being here day in and day out is starting to suffocate me. We keep everything it seems - I simply cannot stay on top of the epic clutter problem we have.

[why is it that Kiddo will leave me alone all day (even if I am sitting at the computer) and the instant I try to blog he is up in my face??]

Anyway, the clutter. Yes, it is taking over our lives. I hate it. I loathe it. I, for some ungodly reason, cannot let go of it.

Well, I do have some reasons. Some of it is laziness. Some of it is not knowing if I need to keep it. Some of it is sentimental, and some of it is the $$ I see going in the garbage. I HATE wasting money. And that is why there is about $200 worth of unused hair product under my bathroom sink. Well, not anymore. I threw it all away yesterday.

So now there is room under the sink, but no one can tell. lol!

Our biggest issue in this house (that I can see) is paper. We have got stacks and stacks and piles and piles of paper. Bills, letters, cards, magazines, books, etc. etc. It can't be good for Hubby's allergies. We have "hot spots" all over the house. (yes, I subscribe to FlyLady - though she annoys me so it's hard to get really into it) The worst two are the kitchen counter and the dining room table. Before I can even blink those two places disappear in the rubble. It is amazing how quickly things pile up.

Another of our troubles is holding on to things. Just things in general - knicknacks and gifts and stuff that just collects dust. We hold on to old computers [cuz someday we might need a part or can build a custom computer - yeah right] and old clothes and shoes and video tapes and cassette tapes and, and, and...it goes on forever.

How I long for a minimalist life. I would love to have a home in which I can actually *see* the furniture.

So, somewhere in my head there is a reason for all this stuff. It all has a purpose. Sure, I can live without about 90% of it, but I have it, I bought it, so now what?

Where do people keep things? Seriously! I was in a good friend's home a few weeks ago and it was spectacular! I mean, there was nothing but nice furniture and minimal, tasteful decorative items. Where was her stuff??? I cannot fathom that she might actually not have stuff, so where was it??

I hate stuff.

Unfortunately, I can't get away from it. I need more of it. Right now I am putting together a shopping list in my head. We need an exersaucer for Port, wet bags for the diaper pail, I am still looking for a carrier (Julia I need to email you)...it never ends.

So yesterday I, like I said, threw away about $200 in old beauty product. Bottles of gel and conditioner and just about every kind of hairspray under the sun, leave-in treatments, shampoo for red heads, old hair dye that never got used, facial scrubs, foot scrubs, goodness there was so much. There was stuff in there I don't even remember buying. I found an entire, unopened box of tampons in a brand I have never used! Where did they come from??!? [by the way I saved those thinking I could find someone who needs them. What brand do you use? Is this a ridiculous question? yes.]

I put stuff in the trash bag as fast as I could and tossed it in the garbage can before I had the time to change my mind. Then I mopped the kitchen floor and scrubbed the master bath sinks to take my mind off of what I had done.

It felt good and painful all at the same time.

I have got to figure out a way to get rid of our stuff. My biggest problem is, I am lazy.

As I also stated earlier, I subscribe to FlyLady. I have for some time now, but after about 2 weeks I started deleting the emails unopened because they got on my nerves and where so overwhelming.

And I refuse to wear shoes in the house.

Anyway, I am scouring her site once again, 4 years later, trying to pick up some helpful hints. But I think the key is going to be...

getting organized and

getting a routine.

A routine?!?!? Gah!

I am so not an organized routine person. Lord help me.

We shall see how this goes.

Anyone have any other helpful suggestions? Organizational tips? Hiding places? I am desperate here. Wanna come to my house and do it for me? Please?

Until,
D :)

Shout out to Coldplay for my title, Fix You



And my Mental Jukebox song for the day, Jewel, Love By You (Cowboy Waltz).

Don't Fence Me In

I am taking a few stolen moments here to peck out a quick blog. Port is taking his morning nap in the swing [EARLY] because he woke up EARLY instead of doing his usual eat and fall back asleep routine. Kiddo is still sleeping. The cat is howling outside the front door. I would let her in, but it is a cool 72 degrees out right now and she can deal with it for a few more minutes. If I let her in she would just eat a bit then go down the hall to Kiddo's door and howl there till he got up anyway, and I am so not ready for the whole house to be awake yet.

I am sorry I haven't been posting much. I have been lost in the land of editing; computer strapped to my hip. I've been slaying drool and snot and playing with light. I've cured rashes, cuts and bruises, swapped heads and even performed a mouth transplant. It has been one heck of an adventure. And it's not over yet, I still have two more shoots to edit before rest will come.

But it's all good. I love being busy like this.

Though my house is really suffering the consequences.

Have you ever met someone that no matter how much you tried or how much you didn't, you just never could seem to get on their good side - and every time you encountered this person something strange would happen to make you look like an idiot or at the very least rude when in reality you are not a rude person?? (I know that was a terribly long run-on sentence)

A few days ago I was sitting in the living room pumping when the doorbell rang. I don't typically answer the door during the day anyway, so I just ignored it. Besides, I was uh, well, topless and couldn't exactly stop what I was doing to get the door anyway. It had been a long afternoon of trying to get Port down for a nap. He had finally crashed and Kiddo was quietly playing with a puzzle. I didn't want to mess with the delicate balance I had going.

Anyway, a few minutes later I was almost finished pumping and the doorbell rang again. Frustrated, I shut down the pump, unhooked and threw my shirt on haphazardly. I looked out the window at the top of our front door and could only see the poodle curls of quintessential old lady. She was right up at the door, unlike most people who would stand back, and it appeared she wasn't going anywhere until I answered my door. I hastily buttoned up my shirt and after checking to make sure the dog was out in the back yard I opened the door.

She was quite old, a bit shaky and frail, and she clutched her handbag in front of her. With a half smile she introduced herself as one of my back yard neighbors. (I'm sure I've mentioned on here before that we have a ginormous back yard that backs up to about 5 or 6 different houses - so I had no clue which one she lived in. ) She told me that she was about to replace her fence, and that she was wondering about the condition of ours. The last time her fence was replaced they brought the fence line in a few inches and built a new fence next to the old, instead of replacing the shared fence that was in our yard.

We have since replaced several sections of our fence, so I told her that I thought her section was in pretty good shape, but I couldn't be sure because I didn't know which house was hers.

And this is where it all went down hill.

She took a step forward.

And motioned as if she was going to come into my house.

She wanted to go in the back yard and point out her section of fence.

Now, you may be thinking, she's just a little old lady Dawn, what's the big deal??

I know. But here is the deal. Here are the rapid fire thoughts that scorched my brain in about 2 seconds...

While my shirt *is* buttoned, my bra is not fastened.

The house is an absolute disaster. I am seriously afraid she might trip over something and break a hip.

Port has JUST fallen asleep. Sleep people! You know how precious that is!

The dog is out in the back yard. I do not want to be responsible for an excited pit bull jumping up on a frail old lady.

Who the heck invites themselves into a total stranger's house?

Who the heck was this total stranger anyway? And why did she have her purse?

[hanging head in shame]

As she motioned toward the opening of the door, I pushed it toward her, shrinking the opening.

I know, RUDE!

I could not let her in. It didn't matter if she replaced the fence or not. I told her that I had two small children and a dog and the baby was napping. It wasn't a good time, but if she wanted to replace the fence that was fine and if it was in decent shape she could just attach her new section to ours.

The look on her face was well, indescribable.

I could tell she was shocked to be denied entrance to my home. I saw a flash of anger, and confusion; she was insulted.

She shuffled away, muttering something I couldn't decipher, and she encountered Hubby in the driveway on her way out.

I think she only waved.

She came back to the house a couple of nights ago when I was out running an errand. Hubby was much nicer to her than I was. He gave her our phone number, because she wanted to call us when the fence guys arrived, so we could make sure to keep the dog in the house.

They were supposed to come yesterday, but by 4pm they hadn't arrived and she called me.

I tried my darnedest to be overly nice; I used all my good southern manners. Yes Ma'am!

The brief conversation was great; she just wanted to tell me the fence would not be done this week and the guys would call me themselves when they were ready to open up the yard next week.

Then she said "and I am sorry..."

and it sounded like she was going to say something else so I did not respond. There was a long, awkward silence. She was waiting for me to say something like "oh it's no big deal, don't worry about it" you know; all that nice stuff.

And I didn't.

Because my sleep deprived, Photoshop overloaded, screaming kid distracted brain could not decipher what she had just said, and the way it was said led me to think there was more to the statement; so I said nothing.

After the long, awkward silence (did I mention it was long and awkward?) she hastily said goodbye and hung up.

*sigh*

I had done it again! How boneheaded can one person be?!?

I have a feeling I will never win with this woman.

Until,
D :)

Amazing Grace

This was passed to me via an email from my mother in law.

It is a beautiful piece of history and praise of God's glory. I encourage you to watch and listen to an amazing performance of Amazing Grace. The video quality is not that great, but the point comes across just the same.


Amazing Grace History/"Amazing Grace" By Wintley Phipps


Until,
D :)

Space

Ok, so the poop saga continues. For 5 days now, Port has been pooping after every feed. Everyone that I have talked to about it says that for breast fed babies it is perfectly normal - but the thing is, it's not normal for Port. I don't know if his little system finally caught up or if he has a bug or is teething or what. I thought it might be something I ate, but I have gone back to a pretty bland diet and nothing has changed (I realize it can take some time though). Sunday and today he has felt kind of warm, but not enough to make me take his temperature (and frankly that area is active enough already! I am scared to go poking around down there.)

I thought I would make it easier on myself and put him in sposies while he was having his poop-a-thon, but after about a day he started to get a pretty nasty diaper rash (even with a preventative diaper cream coating). I put him back in cloth and the rash cleared up almost instantly. Ah the advantages of cloth! Of course, now I am doing laundry 3xs as often, but I guess for that cute little patootie it is worth it.

Port is chewing on my fingers a lot. And he takes great joy in cramming a knuckle in his mouth and chomping down. Otherwise he is just a happy little boy - so I am thinking this is not an illness thing. Who knows at this point. I would call the pediatrician to ask their advice, but I know them well enough to know that the response would be "bring him in" and I would have to pay a $30 copay for them to tell me nothing is wrong. No thanks, I would rather buy groceries.

The biggest problem with poop-a-rama is that it is disturbing his sleep. He is waking 2-3 times a night now and I have to change his diaper every time because he poops himself awake.

I know, he is turning into a typical 2 month old baby, right?

What happened to my dream child???

He's still adorable though. He laughs so much now; and coos and talks and is just amazing and engaging. I love "talking" with him and playing with him when he is all grinning and happy. I love it so much!

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My friend reminded me of a site that I so love and I spent waaaaayyyyy too much time on there yesterday. I found a couple of pictures to share, for your amusement.



For the photographers out there...


And this one had me rolling!!! Absolutely rolling!!


***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***
I swear people should follow me around in stores. Kiddo says the most bizarre things sometimes. The other day we were in Target, looking around in the clothing section (I love the clearance racks!). Out of no where Kiddo wails (rather loudly). "Mommy I lost my brains!"

[I hear a giggle from the lady a couple of racks over]

Me: You lost your brains?
Kiddo: Yes Mommy, I lost dem. My brains are gone!
Me: Well where did they go?
Kiddo: The angry cows took them to outer space!

[all out laughter from the lady 10 feet away]

Me: The what???
Kiddo: The angry cows Mommy. Dey took my brains and they flew to outer space. And I had to fight dem angry cows!
Me: The angry cows took your brains to outer space? And you had to fight them? Uh, ok.
Kiddo: Yes Mommy. I had to punch them and fight the angry cows.
Me: What about the nice cows? Couldn't they fight the angry cows and get your brains back?
Kiddo: No Mommy, just me. I fight the angry cows and they flew to outer space!
Me: Well that's quite the burden to bear. Having to single-handedly fight angry cows and all. Did you win?
Kiddo: Yes, I win. But the cows have my brains.
Me: uh, ok.

[lady behind the rack says "he's so cute!"]

Yeah. Cute. Something like that. *wink*

Until,
D :)

Friends In Low Places

Last night I read a blog post so hilarious it made me cry. My friend Julia was attempting to take her little one's temperature, and had to give it 4 tries before she got a good reading. He pooped on her the first three times. Her blog is private or I would link to it, but just trust me when I say her account of the incident was hysterical.

Anyway, I shouldn't have laughed so hard. Port did almost the exact same thing to me this morning. I wasn't trying to take his temperature or anything, he just felt the need to poop 3 times in about 5 minutes. He had pooped; I got him on the changing table, diaper disposed and bottom all clean when he tooted. The kid never toots! I looked at him with wide eyes and before I knew it he had poo'd all over everything. I got all that cleaned up and he did it AGAIN!

I finally got him cleaned and dressed and set him down for a second when I heard him grunting. Another poopy diaper, another change and not 5 minutes later he pooped a 5th time. He's pooped 4 times since then. For a once a day kind of guy that is a lot to handle!

Anyway, just wanted to share some of the joys of having a baby with you. I finally finished a post from a week or so ago - it is down below in case you might have missed it. 99 Red Balloons

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Port had his 2 month check last week. He now weighs 14 pounds (99%ile) and I can't remember his length, but he measured right on the edge of 75th%. He's a chunk!

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***

We had such an awesome weekend last weekend. I had to go to Houston to do a couple of photo shoots. We needed to take our car back to the shop for some warranty work so Hubby got Friday off and we went in early. It was the first time in a long time I have been able to see everyone I wanted to and do all the stuff I wanted to while there. On Friday I got to visit briefly with a friend of mine. Then Friday night Hubby, the kids and I got together with our former neighbor and her family. We cooked burgers on the grill and hung out on her back patio for a while. It was so nice! The kids played inside and we actually got to have some grown up conversation. Hubby and I couldn't believe that we lived next door to them for several years, and yet Friday night was the first time we ever actually hung out and had dinner with them. Sometimes I guess you have to lose something to realize how valuable it really is.

Saturday I had two photo shoots across town. In between I hung out at a friend's house. It was interesting in that I had to carry the pump with me and pump and store milk all day. That was weird. But I guess you do what you have to, right? Anyway, both shoots were a blast! I am so busy right now I don't know what to do with myself!

Saturday night I drove to the old hood and got to visit with my "backyard Mom". She was sweet enough to cut my hair for me and now I have a nice shorter 'do. Thankfully it will take a while to grow out so I won't have to worry about it for a long time. It had been almost a year since my last hair cut!

I colored it brown this morning to even things out a bit.

I was thinking about one of the best things that ever happened in my life was when my backyard mom and her family moved into that house.

I call her my backyard mom because they live in the house directly behind the one I grew up in. My junior year of high school they moved in there. Their daughter was an acquaintance of mine, a senior who had given me a ride home from school a few times. When they moved in behind me, her daughter and I began meeting at the fence to chat. She would stand on a chair on her side and I would stand at the fence on my side (no chair needed, I am 6' tall!) and we would talk till our parents told us to come in.

Because of that move and our fence chats, R became my closest and dearest friend. Life wouldn't be the same without her.

Until,

D :)

Now I'm Here

I'm here, I really am. Some day when I get a brief moment and a spare hand I will complete one or two of the bazillion half-written blog posts in my post box.

Anyway, just didn't want you all to think I'd forgotten about you.

Until,
D :)

Something for your listening pleasure...

99 Red Balloons

Eed gads, I haven't blogged for almost a week! I am so sorry about that. Things have been busy I guess.



We had another alone night last weekend when Hubby went to San Antonio to visit a friend. It actually turned out to be a nice evening again. Port slept from 11 to 7:30 - he must like it when Daddy is gone! lol! Saturday morning I once again tried to convince Kiddo to let me cut his hair. I explained to him that it would be so much cooler and easier to care for during the summer. Somehow, that translated to him that if he let me cut his hair then I would take him to the sprinkler park. ???? Somehow the sprinkler park is now called "summer". Go figure.



So, I jumped on that chance and buzzed his hair, and when Daddy got home from his trip we all went to the park. Kiddo and Hubby had a blast playing in the water while Port and I watched from the sidelines.



~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~



Tuesday was Bodily Function and Crazy Grocery Store Trip Day!



Can I get a woo-hoo?



yeah.



First thing after waking, Kiddo has an accident all over the bathroom floor. I started my day mopping up pee. An hour later, Port had the nastiest blow out poopy diaper I've ever seen. It was everywhere! I could not get him out of his clothes without spreading it - gah, I won't gross you out with the details. After we got back from our bizarre grocery trip, Kiddo peed all over the bathroom floor AGAIN. I finally figured out that somehow his little brain decided that every time we go potty we have to strip down completely nekkid. He spent so much time trying to get his hat and watch and clothes off that by the time he got to the pants/undies, he had already had an accident. I had to reboot him on the bathroom procedure and reteach him how to do things. We've been accident free ever since.


Did I mention the bizarro grocery trip? Oh yeah.

So we went to the grocery store. I needed to get quite a few things so it was imperative that I get the biggest shopping cart possible. Since it is about 10,000 degrees here now, I don't feel comfortable leaving Port's car seat in the car while we shop. Normally Kiddo is ok with the gigantic cart, and if he fixates on one of the race car carts I can usually convince him the other one is ok too. Not this time. He wanted the race car cart and nothing I said was making any difference. There was no way I was going to fit Port's seat and everything I needed to get in that cart, so I insisted on the other. Kiddo melted down and cried all through the parking lot and into the store.

He settled down a bit once we got inside, especially after the door staff gave him a bright red balloon with a red sucker attached at the end of the string. After all, red is his favorite color. So, I pushed the mammoth cart throughout the store, picking up what we needed.

You know how sometimes when you are shopping there is one person who you seem to run into over and over again? There was an older lady shopping there too, who we ran into at every turn. Sometimes she was in my way, more often I was in hers, but we smiled and exchanged "excuse me"(s) several times throughout the trip. I sensed that she might have been slightly annoyed with us, only in the sense that we were slowing her down. She ended up behind us in the check out line as well.

In the check out the cashier gave Kiddo a "buddy buck". It's a little dollar bill the store produces to work one of those claw game machines (you know, you move the claw around then push the button for it to drop down in the prize bin and grab a prize). You put the buck in and you get to play until you win. The prizes are little plastic eggs that have numbered stickers in them. You can save the stickers to earn points toward bigger prizes if you want - but Kiddo just likes to play the game. He couldn't care less about the prize once it is in his hands.

The buddy buck game is always the highlight of Kiddo's trip (he calls it "Take Turns" lol!). So we take the buck and go over to the game. He hopped out of the cart before I even had a chance to look. The buck in his little hands, he stooped over to put it in the slot and that was when I noticed the machine looked awfully dark. Then I saw the sign.

Out Of Order

*sigh*

I had to tell him. He exploded into a big ball of mushy wet disappointment. I scooped him up back into the cart and we exited the building, big red balloon bopping overhead. I told Kiddo to hold on tight to the balloon because it was extremely windy that day, and he did so well all the way to the car.

I got all the groceries in the back and tossed the balloon up to the second row of seats. With the cart put away and Port safely locked into his seat base I went around to the other side of the car to get Kiddo buckled in. He had pretty much recovered from the buck incident and was chatting away about eating the watermelon we had purchased. I opened the driver's door to put my purse down and whoosh! the vacuum created when I did that sucked that darn balloon right out of the car!

Kiddo is screaming "Go Get it Mommy!!! Get my balloon!!!" as I am watching it fly through the parking lot at record speed.

I looked up to see where it went when something amazing happened.

Two rows over the woman that had encountered us throughout the store was loading up her car.

The balloon was coming up behind her, sucker still attached to the bottom of the string.

*SMACK* It whopped her upside the back of her head! What are the odds??!?

(oh the embarrassment)

I told Kiddo the balloon was gone. He screamed and cried and I felt horrible that he had experienced such an awful trip. I offered a trip to Sonic as consolation and he didn't want it. It was that bad.

When I got everyone set, we took off in the direction of the balloon, just in case I might find it along the way. Sure enough, on the other side of the parking lot it was tangled in a tree, whipping around violently in the branches.

There was much rejoicing!

I stopped the car and got out to retrieve the balloon. My left foot touched the pavement and POP!

The balloon popped and was nothing but small strips of red floating in the wind.

I untangled the string and sucker from the tree, inspected the sucker for damage and determining there was none, gave it to Kiddo. I could tell he didn't know how to feel - going from happy to sad so many times had taken it's toll. He wanted me to put the balloon back together. I told him I couldn't fix it - the balloon was silly and popped on the tree - and after a bit he accepted that logic.

As we pulled into our driveway at home, I had to shake my head in disbelief. You just can't make that stuff up.

What a day.

Until,
D :)