Project Life: Flashback: Week 3 and 4

Guess what? You no longer need to pretend you've seen weeks 3 and 4 of Project Life because...I'm sharing them! Which means they're done! Actually all I still have left to do to be completely caught up on this little project is week 2. Then I'll share my title page, and the first two weeks and we can end the pretend game...

Until the next time I get behind. :)

I've been finding time to sneak away to get this project done, which basically means I haven't been watching tv. My DVR is full of things I would normally watch after AJ is in bed or during that precious window of nap time. Now that I'm almost caught up, I think maybe I can find a balance between my love for shows that aren't on Nick JR, Sprout, or Disney with my love of documenting our little life.

And now, crappy pictures of weeks 3 and 4. Sorry, we'll have to keep pretending the light doesn't suck in my house for at least a couple more months!

Week Three

Week 3 Left Side Highlights: Instead of using the weekly cards this week, I used a piece of a map Karl came home with from his business trip. Ticket stub from my first 3D movie experience (Beauty and the Beast), a self portrait AJ took with my cell phone camera, and a couple of pictures I emailed to Karl while he was out of town.
Week 3 Right Side Highlights: The toddler tornado changed the language on our tv, dinner and picture taking with Auntie Barb, more of that Sioux Falls, SD map and journaling about Karl's trip, and a reminder that the high temperature was 3 degrees two days this week!

Week Four

Week Four left side highlights: 20 week ultrasound, paint chips and sheets for AJ's new room (and an example of title creativity when the thickers are getting scarce), and a little dude who was fascinated with the Kitchen aid Mixer (me too, buddy. me too!)

Week 4 right side highlights: Lots of AJ art projects and a used gift card to Chilis (thanks to my dad's thoughtful Christmas gift, I didn't have to cook on Friday night!)

And there you have it. Still no inserts, though I think that will change as the weather gets nicer and our calendar gets busier. Right now we're all kind of in hibernation mode. Or as much as one can be when there's toddler tornado running around.

Project Life: Week Five

Let's play a game of pretend, shall we? We will pretend I'm sharing my Project Life posts in order. So in our little game, you've already seen my title page, as well as lovely spreads for weeks one through four. Because, in our little pretend world, those things are all completed.

Also, since we're so good at pretending...we will also pretend that the light doesn't suck in my house during the winter, so the images of these week five layouts aren't crappy and oddly colored.

Ready to pretend?

week five: I decided to start my weeks on Saturdays this year, so technically my album began with NYE. But you knew that, because we are pretending you've seen all of the spreads, remember?
Left side highlights: glowsticks in the bath tub and the cover of the catalog for a chocolate tasting party I went to. Yes, the gestational diabetic went to a chocolate tasting party. Came home with a bottle of "Chocolate Fig Balsamic Vinegarette" Oh, and how can we forget the blurry eyes closed picture of Karl outside the airport at 5am Monday morning? Story of my life.
Right side highlights: pedicure to recover from single parenting, nightvision image from AJ's video monitor, why yes AJ did fall asleep in my lap holding an empty pop can, and a belly picture where the letter stickers are covering the fact that I need to clean my mirror!

No inserts this week, or anything fancy really. I'm trying hard to keep this simple in the hopes of actually making it more than a couple of months before getting so dreadfully behind that I throw in the towel. Enjoying putting my ridiculous stash of thickers and label stickers to use. Needing to get a bit more organized. I don't have a workable scrap space right now, and hauling stuff out is a pain. Also really REALLY wanting the print at home option as organizing, sizing, and uploading pictures seems to zap all the time I have to get this project done.

Five on Friday: I Will Survive Edition

Delayed: Worst word ever. Especially when said word is tied to the impending arrival of the husband/daddy who has been out of town on business since 5am Monday morning. I prayed for the weather to hold out for his arrival. Apparently I was not specific enough. The weather here is fine. The weather in Minneapolis (where he is layed over) and the weather in South Dakota (where his connecting flight is currently stuck)...not so much. Thankfully we are only a 3 minute drive to the airport so I can wait at home until he has landed. At this rate I am hoping the delay doesn't drag into naptime. Then, we'll have a problem.
Language Explosion Nick Jr. Style: So AJ is trying to talk up a storm lately. Most everything is still a word approximation, but given this time last year he said absolutely nothing, we'll take what we can get. What do most of his latest words have in common? They're tied to television. I kid you not, after one episode of Dora the Explorer earlier this week, AJ now walks around saying "Door? (Dora?) Booo (Boots?)" and then this morning I had the tv on while I was unloading the dishwasher and this show I'd never seen before (and could do without ever watching again) came on. Bubble Guppies. What the heck kind of name is bubble guppies? Anyway. Wouldn't you know it that I go to change the channel and I am met with "No! No! Bubba! Bubba!" There must be some sort of crack like substance that emits from the tv to get them hooked. Seriously.
M-I-C-See you real soon? Craving a trip to see the Mouse in a BAD way. It doesn't help that many of my friends see me as a WDW expert and so I'm getting frequent emails this time of year for advice on trip planning. Four words: TAKE ME WITH YOU! It has been far too long. Maybe if I'm lucky, we'll get there before baby number 2 comes and adds a whole new layer of complications to travel.
Project Life: I'm making it my goal to get weeks 1-3 completed this weekend. And maybe blogged next week? I'm also making it my goal to convince Karl I should print at home for this project. I think it's the only way I'm going to keep up. There may or may not be a Canon Selphy calling my name.
Wardrobe Malfunctions: Another goal this weekend: buy pants that fit. One can only function for so long with a hair tie bridging the gap between the button and the button hole. Especially when one is trying to keep up with a toddler. So, maternity pants it is.

Happy Weekend friends!

Five on Friday: Confessions

1. Mommy Meltdown: I locked myself in the bathroom last night as Karl and I were putting AJ to bed (or shall I say putting AJ back to bed for the 10th time) and had a big old sobfest. We're talking the kind of ugly cry that was once reserved for really really good episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Two and a half is hard in our house. I imagine it is hard at times in everyone's house. Or at least I hope it is. But honestly last night I had a major internal monologue going about how I simply am not cut out for this. I need to go back to working for a boss who says thank you, controls his bowels, and doesn't climb the walls when I turn my back. How stupid I am for choosing a career path where my paycheck would barely cover daycare if I went back to work. How I really, really, just want AJ to be someone else's challenge for a few hours a day. Because someone else can do it better, I'm certain. Things are better, for the most part, after a (somewhat) decent night of sleep. And I'm tackling today like I would a crazy day in the newsroom. I could handle breaking news and severe weather and a screaming news director. I can handle this kid.
2. Project Life: I'm behind already. Not in the picture taking, I'm all over that. But in the picture printing, and layout putting together. Week 2 and I am behind. I need to print at home I think. I also need to get over my bitterness that the page A protectors from last year do not work with the core kit from this year. So my journaling cards are too big. And I can't get new page protectors until they are back in stock. The OCD in me is screaming.
3. Boogie Robots: AJ is obsessed with Despicable Me. O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D. since Christmas Day. Now, the obsession is morphing. Instead of wanting to watch the movie on a loop 24/7 he now only wants to watch certain parts of the movie. Like the last 5 minutes where everyone dances. He gets quite irate when I inform him we need to watch the whole movie to get to the dance part. "DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!" is what I hear a million time a day. It is possible that I make him watch the whole movie so I can see *my favorite parts* "Cookie Robots! I said cookie robots! Why do you have to be so...old?!!?" "Knocked OV-AH" "The physical appearance of the please makes no difference" Ah, Gru...you have stolen a place in my heart.
4. Time Out: AJ has gone to the time out spot 5 times since I started writing this blog. You know it's going to be a long day when a leash sounds like parenting tool. At least then I would know where he is and what he's doing, even if it means I have to bring him to the bathroom with me? (He's going to wind up barging in on me anyway. There is no privacy in this house.)
5. Beauty and The Beast: I'm using my best friend's children as an excuse to go see Beauty and the Beast in the theatre this weekend. AJ isn't ready for the big screen experience and Karl seems to think I am ridiculous for wanting to go as an almost 33 year old. Enter an 8,6, and 4 year old who are all thrilled about going to a Saturday Matinee. Done and Done. I hope they don't mind that I totally plan to sing along to Be Our Guest!

Happy Weekend Friends!

Happy New Year!

So...

Hi.

I feel like after a 5ish month absence I should have some profound post.Or at the very least an extensive recap of the last quarter of 2011.

Don't have those.

What I do have is a baby growing in my belly. (due 6.12.11)

And gestational diabetes. (which will make the above due date pointless)

And a growing desire to eat raw cookie dough. (which I hid in the freezer to avoid temptation)

Problematic.

I'm going to try to come back here more often.

I make no promises.

Blog Your Heart

Yesterday, my sweet friend Stephanie issued a challenge (inspired by the honesty in Ali's post) to blog what's on your heart. You know, the real stuff that gets lost in the posts about menu planning and making homemade playdoh and working on plans for the holidays even though it's only September. (Those are all things I would be blogging about, by the way, if my son ever took reliable long naps and if our house wasn't on the market forcing me to spend all of the aforementioned short naps cleaning) Of course AJ barely napped yesterday, so I'm just now sitting down to take part in Steph's challenge. So here I am, a day late, with what's on my heart right now.

• Family: I have been thinking a lot about the relationships I want for AJ to have with his extended family. I've always dreamed about having a big family and lots of loud holiday get togethers. I've wanted to be "that house" where everyone comes and eats and drinks and laughs together. But the truth is, I don't know how big God is going to allow our family to be. There's a possibility AJ will be an only child. And there's a good chance none of our extended family will ever live close enough to make frequent trips. It makes me sad. And helpless. And maybe feeling like it is time for me to change my vision of the future, amend my definition of family, and find ways to open my home to more people.
  
• Comparison is the thief of joy: I saw this on pinterest a couple of weeks ago (and apparently *didn't* pin it so I just spent five minutes trying to track down the quote) and I've been thinking about it a lot ever since. I do a lot of comparing. I do a lot of listing ways that I don't measure up. It's a hard habit to break. And it's hard to be joyful when you're trying to see how your highlights compare to someone else's.
  
• Loss and Moving On: It's been almost 7 months since I miscarried for the second time and I still think about it every single day. I wonder what our life would be like with a 2 year old and a newborn baby girl. I wonder what she would look like, if she'd be a good sleeper, if she'd be allergic to dairy. I wonder how AJ would be doing as a big brother. I wonder how we'd be managing it all. And when it comes down to it, I wonder why I'm not pregnant again yet. I wonder if we've missed our window. I wonder if we're going to have to invest thousands in conceiving again. I wonder who I would be if this wasn't part of our story.
  

There's more on my heart, but there's also a little dude making noises from his room. Nap time is apparently over. Thanks for the challenge, Steph.

WITL: Thursday

7:00am

9:04am
10:42am
12:30pm
1:41pm

2:52pm
3:44pm
4:15pm

5:25pm
5:25pm take 2
6:01pm
6:40pm
8:29pm

8:57pm