One year ago today...

One year ago today, at this very moment I was in a hospital room sitting in the butterfly position. Calm, excited and in alot a pain. :) An hour and some later our family changed forever. Tober is now 1 year old and I can't quite wrap my mind around it.

I love her, with all her intensity and emotion, she is an added blessing to our family, Who so freely gives her love to all of us and has somehow brought us a lot of balance.

Happy birthday Sweetheart and can't wait experience many many more.

Love, MOM

boo for broken Camera

My camera is broken, which means no documentation of our camping trip. :( Boo. Oh well I can still tell you all about it when I get back. I will also have to find a way to take a pic of the amazing chair I got at Goodwill.

It is a cheeper version of this 2,000 anthropologie chair. It has cleaner lines and no buttons but is the same color leather and wheels. Mine cost me $9, and will make an excellent desk chair in our master bedroom. I love finding an amazing steal when I wasn't even looking for it. Ok, gotta get back to packing. Camping here we come.

Norm

It is 1 in the afternoon and it is the first day in over a week that I am not doing something at 1 in the afternoon. It is kind of nice and has made me start to think about what the Norm is going to be starting next month. We leave for a week long camping excursion this weekend and when I get back I start School at the Academy of Art University studying fashion design! I am excited and curious to see how it all plays out. Camping with babies seems like a funny thing and I haven't been in school for almost 6 years. Oh the Adventures of me. I am going to miss my new buddies, Melissa kids. They have been fun to watch. I sure am falling in love with the B kids. All 8 of the little goobers (and not so little goobers, teenage boys included)

My support system

The sisters-in-law

MeloncholySmile, Me, Pipsta, hAha

5 years ago and its the only picture I have of all ofus together.

Pip and hAha are an amazing support system. My other sisters are too but because the 3 of us live so close they are definately the ones I lean on in situations like I am in now.They are amazing women and they definately underestimate how much strength they give me.

{and look how rockin we look in our pre baby bodies, what! Except Meloncholy smile, She already had 2 kids not that you could/or can ever tell}

And then there is this guy. Always there for me, He's got my back and is my constant support. I wonder sometimes if He realized He was marrying a crazy lady. Love you Jones.

Update

Just an update.
Some of the Emergency has been taken out of Melissa's situation. Being at the right hospital, that can actually meet her needs, has revealed that no surgery will be needed and that baby doesn't need to be taken away from mommy just yet. Great news!!!However, Melissa cannot leave the hospital, which is an hour away from her 8 kids and husband. :( Their situation has definately become a priority for me. I know over the next couple of weeks {or however long Baby will stay in mommy}I will be helping with their family as much as possible. I still say a prayer every morning that I will know what is best for my family and how I can best serve them. Hoping that when all is said and done they aren't sick of me. :)
Melissa can still use your prayers, I am sure any mother out there can imagine what it would be like to be taken away from there children and stuck in a stuffy hospital long term. Yeah it stinks. Not to mention the fact that there are still risks for her and baby.

On a lighter note, Jone's Sister had her baby yesterday!! A beautiful boy with no name yet :) 12 days past due, he is the last of the babies due this year. Welcome to the family!

A prayer for Melissa

Last night I tossed and turned in my sleep. A good friend of mine had had a Dr. appt that day and was going to be recieving important news. I waited impatiently til today to call and see how she was doing, so when I woke up and saw that she had called I knew it was ok to call back and find out the news. After being on bedrest for 2 months unfortunately,she recieved bad news, involving surgeries and a 9 week premature baby. After receiving the news I cried. Then I pulled myself togther eager to be by her side, made all the arrangements and got to the hospital. I am terrible in these kind of situations. Words have never been my strong point. At this point all I can do is cry, pray and give them my love.

Melissa was hoping for a miracle. As I sit here and think about her, I feel like we have already been given a little miracle. In the short time I have known her I found her to be an incredibly strong woman, A loving and giving mother, and a true friend. Our ability to Love and grow, and survive is a miracle to me. To see the members of our church come together to support her family {of 10} during this time just overwhelms me. My prayer for her is that her body will be as strong as her spirit. That she will know and feel how much she is loved and that it will be enough.

If you have moment today stop and say a prayer for Melissa, for her and her baby's safety. You can never underestimate the power of a prayer.

Just a little bit of polyvore when I am bored.

Jet Set by TheSpanishLady featuring Seven For All Mankind jeans

I have been a little under the weather and so This is what I did with my time today. I could have cleaned, or napped but instead I sat on my couch creating Polyvore art. It was fun and even though I am wishing I could now recreate this scene in real life, totally worth the few minutes of play time. What is particularly fun about this is that I used to clip pictures out of magazines when I was a teenager. So there is a little nastalgia involved as well. Polyvore is great place to get inspiration. Like this:

Don't Forget to Smile by PixieShtick featuring GAP dresses

For more fun, check out my sister's awesome Sets on Polyvore!

Happy Sunday

I am sitting on the couch right now. My right foot is numb and I cant move it. In fact the only things I can move are my hands and fingers to type this and even that is difficult. WHy? well because my 3 year old has made me into a mountain tent ofcourse! It is my own fault for sitting so open and vulnerable on the couch, distracted by a computer. He started by completely surrounding me with every pillow in the house, next came the throw blankets and now he is stuffing every nook and cranny with his toys. All the while singing songs He is making up as he goes along. :) The poor thing is going to fall apart when I tell him I need to get up to get ready for church. I love the little conversations he is having with the toys that aren't cooperating " NO, you have to hold on!", He tells his toy pliers. I can last another 10 minutes I think before the tingling and burning in my foot get the better of me :)

black cardboard chandelier

This is a chandelier I made for someone who bought it from my Etsy Shop.

{I apologize again for the not so great pictures}

I like how it is both elegant and quirky.

I hope it will find itself in a good home :)

Weekly challenges with Project Runway.

I was sooo excited to watch Project Runway this year. I first started watching the show when I was 8 mo's pregnant with my Son. My M-I-L had recorded a whole season on VHS tapes and since I was spending most of my days laying around with a belly the size of a watermelon, it was a fanastic distraction. At the time though I was going through a major personal crisis. Definately facing some demons and discovering what kind of wife and mother I wanted to be. I always said, "if I knew how to sew I would have made this____ ..." But truthfully I never really thought I would be able to. This is the first Season I have watched since I feel I know who I am, I am comfortable with myself and I have actually made clothing!  It is very exciting. I am hoping to get inspiration from the challenges and participate in them myself now and then. Although my Life is kind of crazy, I think that is just going to be the standard for awhile. I guess just like Tim Gunn suggests I am going to "make it work!"

Little Top For Tober

I have been meaning to make more clothes for Tober and C. This little top took me 5 minutes to make and so little fabric.

*Shirring means to gather the cloth to make decorative stitching. You use regular thread on top and elastic thread in your bobbin. You have to hand wind it and make sure your bobbing is screwed extra tight, and then just sew like normal. 

Using this techinique gives the garment a waist without needing to add a zipper or buttons.

Don't be afraid to use elastic thread, it is awesome!!

 Oh yeah and you will need to fold the bottom twice, iron and hem.

A fun little summer top.

{I'll let you in on a secret, it is actually a dress for an 18mo but to fit my 11mo I simply took in the shouders to make it a long shirt now, and will let them back out later!}

(Sorry for the illistrations. My son broke my camera. I am using our video camera to get pictures and it isn't the best.)

Last month of Summer

The last few weeks I have spent my time with a very summer-like attitude; Do what I want when I want. Spending days reading a book, watching Disney movies with Bug, riding our bikes and occasionally cleaning :( While there is still a month of playing ahead of me {going camping!!}, signs that fall is approaching have been coming into play.I definately feel like the sun is setting on one chapter of my life and rising on another. With the new development of me possibly going to{fashion}school  STARTING IN SEPT!! {more details if it really happens!} I want to enjoy these last few days of no deadlines or expectations.

*minor note-
One thing I am going to do before my summer ends is fix my TOWEL PROBLEM. Minor pet peeve I guess, but I hate it when I hang my nice fresh clean towels for hand drying in our bathroom and kitchen only to find them moments later laying on the floor because C had to dry his hands. Does this ever bother anyone else?? I am thinking up some quick hopefully cute solutions, so hopefully I will be able to whip something up this week. Haha really it is a trivial thing to be bothered by isn't it?

Also I have been CRAVING lemon squares, and even though I am a horrible cook I am going to try and attempt making them, cause seriously I NEED them. :)

Isn't this a fun necklace from Anthropologie, even they are presenting their fall line.