A pink world

Over two months ago, our world changed. Our beautiful daughter was born. I still look at her and marvel at how adorable she is!

I never thought I'd enjoy picking up cute pink outfits for her to wear. I swore I'd never put my daughter in the lacy socks my mom used to make us wear! Heck no!! But...those are so cute!!

Danny is doing well adjusting to another baby in the house. He has his moments when he wants me to pay attention to him but I need to feed Madeline. He loves helping take care of her though, which is great. He is very sweet to her too.

I truly feel blessed to have two wonderful children. God is amazing.

Halfway through the month

Day 15: I'm thankful that I can cook!! It's a gift my mom passed on to me and I will pass on to both (or all depending on how many God blesses me with!) my children. I seriously enjoy creating masterpieces. I enjoy finding new recipes and also cooking old ones. It means a lot to me that I was taught how so that I can provide for my family :)

So hard to blog!

Day 8:
I'm thankful for my little sister, Anna. I didn't like her in the beginning but she helped me become who I am. Because of her, I am creative. We used to read books, play pretend, play barbies, and even in high school, we used to write stories together. I honestly believe it's because of her that I am as creative as I am.

Day 9:
I'm thankful for my sister-in-law. I'm thankful that she can come watch Danny if we ever need her too. She is easy to talk too and is the one I always sit next to at family functions.

Day 10:
I'm thankful for Catherine's husband, Gibson. I'm thankful that he is there when I have questions or concerns about Danny. I'm thankful that he never gets mad (at least not to me) when I joke about his height. I'm thankful for the many times he has allowed me to come spend time with Catherine without ever complaining. He is a great brother-in-law!

Day 11:
I'm thankful for Travis, Anna's husband. He tells jokes that I don't always (ever) understand, but he is a good listener. I'm thankful to have him in my family because I know if something bad happens, he will be praying. I can always count on that.

Day 12:
I'm thankful for my little nephew Asa! He is almost a year old now and he is seriously a great kid! He smiles constantly and loves everyone. I love seeing pictures of him daily and spying on him when he is at school. I truly miss the little guy every day and wish I could see him more!

Day 13:
I'm thankful for my other little nephew Patrick. He isn't here yet but he is due in March. He is a little miracle. His parents have wanted a baby for so long and he is on his way. I pray for him daily because I know he will be such a blessing to our family!

Day 14:
I'm thankful for this time of year. Yellow, red, orange, brown leaves falling from the trees and covering the ground. Geese flying overhead to warmer weather always in formation. It's just a magical time. I honestly believe that fall is a much prettier time of year than any other. God makes the world come to life with these colors.

Oops

I knew that I wouldn't actually post daily. :) Not that I'm not thankful, but because life makes me busy. I would actually remind myself what I was thankful for that day just in case I made it to the computer. So let's back track...

Day 3:
I am so very thankful for Danny. He is an absolutely amazing little boy. He is extremely smart, very kind, very helpful, and just plain handsome! He is a gift from God! We tried for over 2 years to get pregnant and Danny is just amazing. Every day this little boy makes me proud and very thankful that I am his mommy!

Day 4:
While it took us two years to get pregnant with Danny, it didn't take long the second time! We had plans to start trying again closer to Danny being two years old. God had His own plans. I am very thankful to be able to get pregnant again. Very thankful for the little kicking baby girl! Madeline is going to be a mover when she arrives! Even though I know nothing about fashion and I'm not a fan of pink, I am a fan of her. I love this little girl and her (strong)little kicks and wiggles.

Day 5:
I am thankful for my parents. My parents raised us to be strong, independent women. They gave us what we needed, not what we wanted. They taught us the value of education, the importance of reading, and taught us how to have great imaginations. We didn't sit inside all day watching TV or playing video games. We were always outside exploring and playing pretending. They were wonderful parents and I hope I am just as great a parent as they are!

Day 6:
I am thankful to have my in-laws. They are the drop anything to help kind of people and I am really thankful for that. They have helped us out so many times without complaining about having to do so. They are also really great at finding good deals to spoil their grandson!

Day 7:
I am thankful the election is over!!
I seriously am, but that's not what I want to write about.
I am thankful for my older sister, Catherine. She has been my best friend for 28 years and I am so thankful that she is! She is wonderful, kind, smart, caring, and funny. She is always there when I need her without fail. She has been my shoulder to cry on, my punching bag (haha!), my support system, and has always been the one to cheer me up when I am sad. I don't know what I would do without her!

And done! :)

Day 2

It seems that everyone is doing this on facebook. Haha. Oh well.

Day Two:
I am so thankful for Daniel! We met and started dating a little over ten years ago. God knew what He was doing. I'm so thankful that our paths lined up.
Daniel is a hard worker. Last summer, he was working three jobs to support us so that I could stay home with our son. While that didn't last long (thankfully!!), he never complained about doing it. He still works six days a week. Recently, a job in north Atlanta contacted HIM about an opening in their company. Today is his last day at Point University. It's a bittersweet moment because he loves his job.
Daniel is also a loving husband and father. He drops everything for Danny and myself. He is a strong, faithful man. I honestly do not know what I would do without him.

He is my world and I thank God for him!

To be Thankful

Today is the first day of November. This year is really just flying by!

I decided that I want to write an entry daily of the things I am thankful for. I'm not going to lie, I will probably forget. :) If I do, I'll just double up.

Day One: I am very thankful to have a loving God. I've had my up and down moments in life. I've had moments where I gave up that anything good would ever happen. I've had moments where, I felt like I was hitting the bottom and all that was left to cling to was God. I've had moments (and I don't like to omit them) where I gave up on God. Thankfully, He didn't give up on me. He has ALWAYS provided. Things weren't always when I wanted them, but when the time was right, He did provide.
So yes, I'm very thankful that God is with me.

I can be a good mom too!

I'm a big supporter of Pinterest. I truly enjoy finding new recipes to make for dinner, DIY crafts that I need someone else to do for me, tips on how to take good pictures of babies, Halloween ideas that I can't afford...etc. Seriously, I do love me some Pinterest and I have wasted spent many hours browsing.

Besides recipes, one of the things I search for are things to do with Danny. I want to do things that keep him busy so that he doesn't have time to eat dog food or sit on Brandie (which seems to be a new favorite thing. Ugh!). I have pinned many ideas and done...very few of them.

No really. I have started. I decided to go for sensory bins. When Danny was about 9 months old, I saw one that talked about letting babies play with the pom poms to help with fine motor skills. I borrowed a few random ones from my mom one Sunday. Danny loved them. He would pour them from one container to the other. Then they became a ball to carry around...and suddenly they were all gone.

A friend showed me some of the sensory bins she made for her son. She dyed rice different colors, filled a bin and gave her son some measuring cups, spoons, funnels...etc. She encouraged me to go to Dollar Tree-since everything really is a dollar. So I headed off and bought a ton of stuff!

Now, I didn't want to overwhelm Danny with tons of new sensory stuff (aka: I was lazy and didn't want to make everything at once!), so I started slowly. I bought a little storage bin (which I actually wouldn't recommend buying from Dollar Tree. While it's only a dollar...it's a little more flimsy and Danny can open it himself-which can be good and...not so good), two packs of colored pom poms, measuring cups, and a large spoon. $5.

And he has seriously had so much fun with this. He will play, then get bored and want his Legos. After awhile, he will see the container, and want to play again! I decided to give him a large spoon to help him learn to scoop and showed him to drop the pom poms into another container. Not many

make it in there, but he is trying very hard to do it. I decided to do the spoon transfer to help him learn to scoop food on a spoon into his mouth. Yes, I know I could just let him use food...However, it's a less of a mess to clean this up.

The next idea I had was to color some noodles and let him play with that. I found a recipe that said to pour a cup of noodles into a ziploc bag, add 1/4c of rubbing alcohol, and a few drops of food coloring. I didn't have any bags. So...I decided to

grab tupperware containers. They didn't stain! Yay!! So I dumped in the cup of elbow macaroni noodles, and pretended to measure the rubbing alcohol and the drops. Shook up the container! This is the first batch. Red, green, and blue (I added more drops of blue after I took the picture). I let them sit all day soaking up the color, then laid them out on newspapers to dry overnight.

The second batch is soaking as we speak I type. It's a lighter green (ran out of green food coloring), blue, and my attempt at orange. I'll let those dry over night as well and tomorrow we can play! I bought the noodles from Dollar Tree too. I'll add little cups and maybe a measuring cup. So $4 for more something that will keep Danny from enjoying a tasty bite of dog food. Score! :)

Months ago when I tried this, I became very discouraged. It bothered me that these blogs don't mention how long it held their child's attention. Not saying they need too, but I'm new to this toddlerhood stuff. Danny is my first baby. When I read blogs like those, I believe that their child spent hours working on the sensory bins. Then when I pull it out for Danny and he plays for ten minutes tops...I wonder what went wrong.

Truth be told,(if there's even anyone out there reading) it doesn't hold Danny's attention for very long. And while it's irritating to be helping him scoop pom poms into the back of his dump truck one second and then the next he is off doing other stuff, that's just how it is. I get Danny to help me clean it up, he pulls over his Legos, we play for about 15 minutes and then he is done. It keeps me on my toes that's for sure!