Simplifying in 2012

Happy New Year everyone!

We have had such a wonderful break that I almost hate to see 2012 begin because it means that very soon we'll be going back to work.  Doug has been off since Dec. 16 and I've been off since Dec. 22.  We have had so much wonderful family time, with my family, Doug's family and just the three of us.  We always have grand plans for our time off and this break was no different.

First we went to Doug's grandmother's house for Christmas on the 22nd.  Then my parents came down to help us with some projects around the house.  My dad built our entertainment center not long after we moved into our house.  It was built for a big, old TV (not at all flat-screen) so it was really, really deep.  A couple years ago we got a flat-screen TV and hung it on the wall so the depth was no longer needed and Eli kept climbing into it and hiding a ton of toys behind things.  So while they were visiting my dad cut off almost half of the entertainment center.  It is amazing what 9 in. will do in a room!  Doug and my dad also ran all kinds of cables in our attic so that Doug could actually use the SlingBox I got him for Christmas.

We went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve which was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas in my opinion.  Then we came home, put Eli back to bed and got everything ready for Santa's visit.  The next morning was one of the best parts of the whole break.  Eli came into the living room kind of hesitantly but soon he was playing with every toy in sight.  I can't wait to see how fun it will be next year.

After Eli had some time to play we packed up the van and hit the road headed for the beach.  We had a great time!  We have been going to the beach in the winter for 3 years now and our little tradition is to get in the room and unpack everything and then go for a walk on the beach.  As soon as we got to the sand I put Eli down so he could walk... big mistake!  He did NOT like the sand at all!  I think it was because it was so unstable and he probably didn't feel confident walking on it, but suffice it to say, he was terrified of it the rest of the time we were out there.  The waves were pretty rough too so it was kind of loud by the water, we didn't stay long.

We got home from the beach on the 28th and have spent the past few days just being together.  The one thing we did get accomplished is part of our family's resolution for 2012, simplifying.  This past year we got to talking about whether or not our house is big enough for the family we want or if we need to eventually get a bigger place.  At first, both of us were on the "need a bigger place" plan.  We would like to have two more children so our little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house is definitely too small for that, right?  That's when I realized that we had such a materialistic, bigger is better view and we really needed to simplify our lives.  Both of my parents grew up in large families (one with 9 kids and one with 11) so they didn't have rooms of their own.  Even my sister and I shared a room for a while as kids, by choice.  The fact is, if we are blessed with two more living children, all three of them could sleep in the same room or we could have one in a room of their own and two sharing.  Having a small house will simply force us to be together, our living room will be our play space, our TV space, and our fighting space (I'm sure).  And when our children are grown and gone, our house won't be too big either.  We will have the perfect space for a guest bed or two and an office.

The one thing that is important though when you don't have a large space is storage and organization.  We have a nice big attic that is partially floored and we use it for things that we don't use a lot.  But the truth is we also have a lot of unused or not efficiently used space in our house.  Doug and I have his and her closets in our room and they are both big walk in closets.  The truth is there is more room in either of the closets than is really needed for two people.  I mean how many clothes do you really wear?  I know personally I tend to pull out the same 10-15 outfits every time I get dressed.  So as part of our simplifying, Doug and I went through all of our clothes and pulled out everything that is either too old or we weren't wearing.  We trashed some things and took a lot of clothes to the Christian Mission.  Then we reorganized our dresser, allowing us to put some things that had been in the closet in drawers and finally, we combined our closets.  We chose to use the bigger of the two closets although it is still bigger than we really NEED.  Everything is neatly organized in our closet and we even put our extra towels and some blankets on the top shelves.  At this point, the other closet is really just being used for storage and it isn't really organized all that well, but when we find ourselves in need of some more space we'll be ready.  We've even toyed with the idea of putting my crafting stuff in there and making what is now my craft room a playroom.

I am so looking forward to what 2012 has in store!

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours!

We hope you have a blessed Christmas filled with food, family and fun.

The Zoo

We had the chance to go the zoo recently and we had so much fun.  Thankfully it wasn't too cold and it was a beautiful day for us.

Eli had fun watching the giraffes from a distance, but wasn't exactly sure what to think of them up close.

Here's Doug telling him about the rhino.

He really liked the playground they have at the zoo and we spent quite a while swinging and sliding and climbing.

His two favorite things were the Patagonian Cavies and the squirrel monkeys.  The cavies were actually pretty interested in Eli too and one of them followed him down the fence!

 Here we are watching the squirrel monkeys.

After our trip to the zoo, I can't wait to have more adventures with my little family!

Pinterest Projects

I have been getting a lot of craft ideas from Pinterest lately.  Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to actually do many of the projects though.

But this weekend Doug and I set out to get a few started and finished, and last night we actually finished one of the three we started :)

Inspiration from here. I am sooo happy with how it turned out!  We don't have a fireplace so in the past we've always hung our stockings on the entertainment center.  It worked, but wasn't ideal because the stockings blocked most of the electronics, making it very difficult to turn the volume up and down or play a movie.  And this year, since Eli is up and moving, I was worried about him pulling the stocking holders down on himself.  We even threw in a couple extra knobs in case we need more stockings later.

The other two projects are gifts and in varying degrees of completion, but here's a little sneak peak:

My three projects, being painted

One project is a picture family tree, these little blocks will hang below the large piece with pictures of family members.  I got the inspiration from here, but mine is very different.

This is the top part of the picture family tree and a little peek at the 3rd project.

I wish I had time to do more things like this.  I've been having so much fun creating and tweaking them to be exactly the way I see them in my mind.

Memories

Shortly after Logan was born Doug had to go back to work.  We were looking at a long hospital stay and decided that it would be better for Doug to take time off when it was time to take Logan home than to use his vacation days sitting in the hospital.  Since Doug was missing so much, I was tasked with taking at least one picture per day and at least one video per week.  Looking back, I'm so thankful we set up those rules because we probably wouldn't have nearly as many pictures if we hadn't.

When I was pregnant with Eli I decided that it would be a good idea to set the same rules for Eli, one picture per day and one video per week.  I started out with good intentions and took a lot of pictures and made several videos, but before long days passed with no pictures.

To tell the truth, I've been feeling pretty guilty about it.  I mean, we have tons more pictures of Eli than we do of Logan, but that's because we had so little time with him.  I feel guilty because I made it such a priority to take pictures of Logan and I just haven't with Eli.

But it occurred to me last night, as I was on the floor playing with Eli... life is for living, not documenting.  Sure I'll cherish the pictures we have of him, but when I'm looking back on my life I want to have memories of rolling on the floor with him, big hugs and rocking him to sleep, not memories of watching him play through the lens of my camera.  I'm taking pictures in my mind every step of the way.  They won't be put in a scrapbook or hung on my walls, but they'll be cherished just the same.

World Prematurity Day

In honor of World Prematurity Day, today I am trying to raise awareness.

I'm wearing this ribbon:

And I want to share some preemies with you.  Every single child on this list has a mommy who has lost a child.  Some of these are angels themselves while others have angel siblings.

Logan, June 27, 2008-July 14, 2008, born at 24 weeks, 6 days


Chad, Jr. 10/21/2011 19 weeks 4 days gestation


James Matthew 11/16/2010-11/18/2010,  25 weeks 2 days old


Conner born at 36 weeks 11 days in NICU now 6 years old


Alissa born at 35 weeks 9 days in NICU


Patrick Mclean Cupit II born at 24 wees 2 days, passed 6/24/10 due to NEC


Julia Swan Dorothy Cupit born at 29 weeks 


Cali Anne Dickson born at 25 weeks gestation on November 1, 2010 and she passed on November 10, 2010


Wyatt Everett Snyder born at 24.2 days gestation on November 14, 2007.  Died on January 13, 2008 after a 59 day fight for his life


Mason McCaffrey born on October 11, 2010 at 30 weeks 3 days due to my development of early onset preeclampsia.  Passed away on October 13, 2010


Dylan-36 weeks (13yrs old)


Adriana- 36 weeks (9yrs old)


Mitch- 36 weeks (4yrs) No fluid


Juanito- 21 weeks 12/29/09 subchorionic hemorrhage


Brisa- 36 weeks (7mo)


Julienne Taylor, 5/17/2011, 26 weeks 5 days


Isabel- born at 28 weeks, in NICU for 49 day, now 3 years old and healthy


Gabriel- born at 28 weeks, in NICU for 51 day, now 3 years old and healthy


Elena- born at 28 weeks, passed away at 28 days due to septic shock from staff infection at IV site. Never left the NICU.


Meshach Gordon born and died March 09, 2011 at 34 weeks


Noah Declan Schilling... born at 25 weeks.. 04/02/2011 - 04/20/2011


Wyatt Alexzander Golden born on July 26th 2011, born at 34weeks6days


Jack, 36wks, 2 weeks nicu, 2yrs old now 


CayVior Taymere Wilburn born and grew wings on 9-11-11, 24 weeks, he was 1 lb 1oz


Cameron- 12.11.07 at 24 weeks 5 days. 1 pound 9 ounces 12inches long


Kaelynn- 9.1.09 at 26 weeks 1 day. 1 pound 15 ounces 14 inches long


Anthony zecena was born at 25 weeks 2 days. He was born 3/9/08 at 1# 6oz 12.5" he passed on 3/15/08


Christopher Isaiah born 16wks. 7in long, 5oz. 12-30-07, born 3:08am, died 4:20am

Christmas Card Rejects