Pinterest Produced Possibilities

So, this last week, Josh was actually out of town helping with a church kid's camp.  He left on Father's Day after A.M. church services, and returned Friday night.  During the week, Jaela and I held down the fort with babysitting help from Grandma.  We had lots of fun after work each night, playing, making messes, being silly, etc.  However, when Jaela went to bed, then the house got really quiet.  Quite possibly too quiet.  My mind starts to wander in the midst of quietness, and I began to plan these extravagant plans for reorganizing my home and cleaning and whatnot. I started searching Pinterest for some organization ideas, and then ended up distracted by other creative projects, mostly for Jaela's room.
The first project I made was a name sign for her room.  I know, the girl is 9 months old, and I barely have anything hanging on her walls.  I just couldn't find the right stuff.  Anyways, I found a cheap frame from Goodwill and spray painted it.  I then took fabric over the cardboard backing of the frame and cut out paper letters using my cricut.  Finally, I used spray adhesive and voila! A sign is made!  I considered using wood letters and a couple other options, but this was much easier and cheaper.

The sign and the crib cover

The second project I did was to make rail covers for Jaela's crib.  Her beautiful cherry stained crib has developed quite a bit of "character" over the last couple weeks, as she has discovered the fun in chewing wood.  (maybe she is part beaver or maybe she is trying to tell me she needs more fiber)  Anyways, the one rail looks atrocious, and I noticed that she started working on the other rails too.  I had some leftover fabric from her sign, and then also found some remnant vinyl material to use on the back and make it a little waterproof.  However, do not be fooled-I am not a good sewer by any means-in fact, I think this is the first time I've ever used my brand new sewing machine that I've had for 1 1/2 years.  But, it should do the trick for now.  And if it doesn't, I'm not out a ton of money.

Oh, the ornery look in this face!

And finally, I refolded all the clothes in my dresser using a technique I saw on Pinterest.  I really like how I can see all of the logos on the tshirts and how almost 30 shirts can now easily fit into 1 drawer.

So pretty and organized-we will see how long it lasts

Jaela talking to her daddy on the phone-she always gave big smiles when she heard his voice!

It really is amazing what I can accomplish from 9-midnight or so. I did some other mini projects as well, but nothing really noteworthy.  However, it is nice to have Josh back home.  Maybe my mind won't wander as much and I can get more sleep:)

Father's Day 2012

 Fathers are such important people in our lives.  They are essential in shaping us into the people that we become.  I am blessed to have such wonderful Fathers in my life.  First off, my Dad.  He has always made life  interesting for me.  He has always been my "Mr. Fix It" from repairing my toys to repairing my air conditioning.  He taught me how to show love to your kids by spending time with them, through activities such as coaching all of our ball teams (at 1 time), playing horse at home or going to church camp and debating why his tribe should have won the skit that year because they "used both sides of the cardboard." I have always known that my father loved me, which I think is key to the development of a girl's life. Most of all, he taught me the Bible, including the steps to salvation and the love of God. Thank you so much, Dad, for all the love and memories.  I love seeing you interact with Jaela each week, and look forward to all the fun things you will teach her.

playing with Jaela

Grandpa's Girl

Dad with 2/3 of his children and his granddaughter

Next, I speak about the Father of my beautiful child.  Josh has been an amazing father to Jaela.  He loves on her, and plays with her so much through the day.  He is constantly  reading to her and finding new activities to do with her.  He always gets the biggest smiles on his face when he gets to see her and hold her.  I look forward to watching him develop even more as a father, as he teaches her Bible verses, takes her on daddy/daughter dates and chases away the monsters from her room.  And if the Lord blesses us with more children in the future, I will look forward to watching Josh interact with each one of them individually.

Josh with his pride and joy!

Also, a shout out to my father in law, even though I don't have a picture for this post.  You raised the man that I love and have chosen as my spouse and father of my child.  He has learned much from you over the years, including your sense of humor.  Josh always comments that he loves seeing you talk to Jaela on the computer and he is amused at how you act as a Pop-Pop now.

Last, but never least, I am blessed by my Heavenly Father.  His love and wisdom is so amazing.  Each day I am in awe of the love he showed me by sending His son to die on the cross for my sins, way before I was even born.  I thank Him for the many blessings He has given me, including these earthly fathers in my life.  My Heavenly Father spoils me.  Thank you so much, Father!

Josh's Father's Day tie that he requested

I hope everyone had just as wonderful Father's Day as we all had here!

Cute as a button!

Random Cuteness

I love watching Jaela develop in every way.  I love watching her brain work, as she discovers a new item, or tries to figure out how to maneuver around an obstacle.  There is such a sense of wonder about her, and you can almost watch her thought process as she handles everything.  Take for instance, her discovery of a piece of paper.  You can see her use her sense of sight as she discovers the paper and crawls over to it.  Then she uses her sense of touch to pick at the item and pick it up.  She performs careful observation of it, handling it in both hands and turning it over multiple times. She uses her sense of hearing, as she shakes the object in her hand and listens for noise.  Then finally, she uses smell and taste as she brings it up to her mouth and tries to eat it.  I'm pretty sure she is getting plenty of fiber in her diet with all the paper I've found in her mouth lately.  Her highly inquisitive mind has her popping items in her mouth left and right, so that I am constantly on my feet, moving her away from something, taking an item away from her or trying to distract her so I can remove something from her grasp. 

She is also learning to play new games.  Just today, she played hide and seek with her daddy.  Josh said he would go hide in the doorway of another room, and call for her until she came and found him.  When she found him, she would look up, smile and giggle at him until he went and hid in another place.  She's getting pretty smart, knowing how to follow voices and remembering which direction she saw him leave. 

And finally, one little side note, just so I can remember it (cause I think it's cute).  I have been reading the book "Goodnight Moon" to Jaela each night after her Bible stories.  Everytime I come to the page that says goodnight mouse, she reaches out and touches the picture of the mouse.  I think it is because there is a white page with a tiny black and white circular picture and it just catches her attention, but it is really cute.  All the other pages she just looks at.  Hopefully, that will be the only mouse she likes to pet.  I don't think I want her to have any pet mice in my house.:)

Just a couple cute pictures from the last 2 days.  The first 2 are Jaela watching the Winnie the Pooh Heffalump movie.  She was standing on her tiptoes in her pack and play for quite a while just enjoying the movie.  The last one is her playing in her bookcase in her bedroom.  I think her daddy helped her get in all the way, but she was quite content to sit in there and play :)

Family Dynamics

Jaela wants to tell everyone about our family.  I never thought we talked that loud, but you know what they say, "out of the mouth of babes."  Enjoy!