This has been a very long week for us in our house. In addition to me having a throat infection (and we know mommy’s don’t get sick days) we have been struggling to get into a new routine as well. I haven’t mentioned anything for fear of “jinxing” it but I can’t hold it in any longer. This week I made a promise to myself that I would start having Angel and Ayden sleep in their own bedroom. With Angel, our oldest, we were a co-sleeping family and he slept in our bed till he was nearly 2 1/2 and we brought his brother home from the hospital. When Ayden was born we swore we were going to do things differently, but of course ended up not! Eventually we were able to move both boys our of our bed and into their own separate beds, but still in our bedroom. The thought of bringing home baby #3 and having all 5 of us in our bedroom gave me nightmares so I am trying to do something to avoid it. As a result we have all had a VERY long week trying to adjust to the boys sleeping in their own room. Ayden has done better with the transition than Angel but you can tell during the day they are both exhausted from waking multiple times at night 😦 As for my husband and myself I am considering this a dry-run for when we bring home the new baby due to how little sleep we have been getting at night because of the boys waking up. Some nights have been better than others and next week I plan on putting the boys in their rooms to fall asleep by themselves…this week i have been staying in there with them until they fall asleep and then tippy-toeing out! Fingers crossed 🙂

Blame it on the fall weather, how the leaves just float and fly through the crisp fresh air in their fiery oranges and bright reds. Blame it on me being 36 weeks pregnant and entering my nesting phase, or you can blame it on me realizing that we are about to bring baby #3 into the world and feeling the need to have a stronger grip on our everyday activities and routine. Something has come over me lately that makes me feel very domestic. I try to take each day a day at a time and remember that we are blessed by all we have. Our faith, family, friends, and children are the most important things to us. Lately I have been finding inspiration from other mom’s through blogs, books, or even their Etsy shops. If you have been following a long you would know that recently I have taken up sewing and have completely immersed myself in the culture of it and all it has to offer. This is something I have wanted to learn since shortly after having Ayden, more than 2 years ago and I’m so glad that I’ve finally started doing it, instead of just wanting to do it! Most days my house is a mess, there is laundry to be folded, and my kids don’t listen to me but in the grand scheme of things it’s all about enjoying life and taking each day as it comes!

So there’s this amazing Fabric Shoppe (literally) on Etsy that has the most amazing fabrics…many of which I will have to wait to purchase until AFTER my maternity leave LOL! However right now they are doing a crazy giveaway so go check it out here to find out all the details. Good Luck and happy sewing!!

I found this fellow blogger E while searching for tutorials on how to make reusable nursing pads and I fell in love with not only her blog, and Etsy store but also this headband! Totally cute and I would totally ROCK it 🙂

Halloween was very busy this year. Thursday Angel had his Halloween parade and party at school, then we did trick or treating in central Jersey with his cousins and family friends- oh and i’m now 36 weeks pregnant! This year Angel wanted to be Iron man and Ayden was Frankenstein. Here are some pictures from our weekend!

I’ve been pretty good since I’ve been back to blogging at keeping up with a post every day or so…but this past weekend was just so INCREDIBLY busy that it was impossible. Between Halloween parties at school, going away, and trick or treating we’ve been swamped! So now that I’m done giving excuses as to why i haven’t been blogging LOL let me tell you about my latest and greatest find on Craigslist! I was patient enough,kept checking back, and it paid off. A lady in my town was selling a sewing machine she bought for her teenage daughter that her daughter ended up barely using. Their loss was my treasure! This lady gave me a practically BRAND NEW sewing machine (with the instruction manual), a ton of accessories, a bunch of fabric, (which is great because I can use it to practice on rather than buying fabric at the store) and a huge bag filled with batting to stuff pillows and make little kids items/dolls. She sold me all of this, including the sewing machine, for only $15!!!!!! So i brought it home one night last week and taught myself how to thread the needle, thread the bobbin, etc and 2 hours later practiced some stitches on fabric! Needless to say it felt great! I’ve included pictures so you can see everything i purchased. I’ve already got a few beginner projects in mind so i’ll keep you posted when I attempt them!

Ayden is almost 27 months old and has been obsessed with cars and trucks since shortly after his first birthday! Oh who am i kidding…as soon as he was able to sit himself up and push anything with wheels back and forth he has been obsessed. Well our little guy has so many Hot Wheels cars these days that were spread ALL over the house so hubby and I finally decided to do something about it. On our venture to Toys R Us last week we found a really neat Hot Wheels carrying case that is a back pack and he just loves it. It works out perfectly too because it holds all of his cars he has and knows when him and his brother are finished playing with them they need to go back in his back pack. The only problem is we haven’t been able to get him to take the back pack off! Here he is with it!

I started my maternity leave last week (2 weeks earlier than expected!!) so my mind has been a mixture of being in total mommy mode, extremely pregnant mode, and crazy mode. By crazy mode i mean my thoughts/plans are ALL over the place! I try to stay as organized as I can, write everything down, and remember what comes up on a daily basis but between my blackberry and paper scheduler i feel like i’m on the verge of forgetting everything!! I have a HUGE list of what I would like to get done before baby #3 makes his appearance, in addition to what i already do on a daily basis lol 🙂

On the plus side tonight i think i may have found a sewing machine to finally get started sewing, i’ll keep you posted!! Now i just need to find someone to give me sewing lessons!

So we have been having a terrible power struggle in our house with our son Angel who is 4. I feel like I’m dealing with a teenager when it comes to his attitude, behavior, and rudeness. Yes many of you may say he is only 4, leave him be; however I am a person who likes order in my house as well as a routine. So this is my solution (well solution #1 LOL)…a behavior chart. He will be rewarded with 1 gold star when he shows each behavior. In the beginning we are going to start the star count off small where Angel will have to earn 3 stars in one day and when he does he will be able to pick a prize from his special prize box!! Because Angel is only 4 I am going to do this on a daily basis rather than weekly and see where that takes us. So without further ado on my journey to becoming more crafty I attempted to take pictures to show you the project before and after, enjoy!

Here are the materials I started with.

Here are the behaviors we are hoping to work on:

Brushing his teeth

Listening

Cleaning up his toys

Being kind to his brother

Speaking quietly

Sharing

Angels Reward box

The Goodies inside!

Our stars for the star system

The Final Project!

for a sewing machine that is! In order to feed this Etsy obsession i’ve got going I’m going to find a used sewing machine that still has a lot of life in it! Now…where to start looking???