21 Days to Getting ORGANIZED Challenge

The last couple of weeks I have failed miserably at cleaning & organizing my household. I am taking a couple days off of work to really focus on getting things together before the new year. I just want to feel like I am getting off to a good start. I came across this challenge over at A Bowl full of Lemons, and had to join up. I need all the motivation I can get! Have I mentioned how lazy I am? yeah I need all the motivation I can get!!

If you want to join up, here's a post on what you can do to prepare for the challenge.

Slowly going back to normal

My life is a mess!

Well no it's not but my house is so it makes me feel like my life is too hehe.

To save money this year I went the DIY route with a couple gifts (post on that coming), so I have junk everywhere! Over the last week I have lost my keys more times than I can count! and my husband keeps leaving his keys & wallet on the couch which drives me insane!

I have a 5 day break coming up which I will use to clean & organize a bit but I did tackle our key problem!

Inspiration came from the DIY Show off blog, I did a search to see if they had any ideas (since I do not have an entryway), they had this super cute super easy thing I had to do!

I got a serving platter, Letter stickers & mod podge.

 Super Easy! and cute and will get the job done until we get an entryway!
And, here's an awful pic of me & the little guy but I Love how he looks over at me like "put that camera down lady!"

Adieu

My Baby's First Christmas

I am off of work for a couple days and I am just excited - this will be Aaron's first Christmas and I can't wait to see what the day brings. I probably won't be posting much the next couple of days since I will be soaking up these days with my munchkin but I wanted to wish everyone a most Joyful & Happy Holidays!!!!

After the holidays, I have much to share:

• a couple DIY Christmas gifts
• a super easy way to create a key holder
• more baking
• my new "100 in 1001" initiative
• and I'll share how the little guys first Christmas went

so back to bed I go, to cuddle with the big & little guy! It's going to be a great couple of days!!!

XOXO,

 

DIY Christmas Cards

I made my own Christmas cards this year!!!! They are not amazing as I am just learning how to use Photoshop but I came across a simple template and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

I found an awesome free template HERE.
Here are more free photo card template resources I came across in my search: http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2010/12/free-christmas-photo-card-templates.html

Enjoy!


 

2nd attempt at Digital Scrapbooking

Template: Jessica Sprague - Echoes of Asia Kit
Done in Photoshop CS

Thoughts or tips?

Infant Night Terrors

being woken up at 2am by your baby's gut wrenching screams is not fun! especially when it's been happening three nights in a row. I know he's ok because I still have him in the room with us. He falls asleep on our bed and then we move him to his crib (that's in our room).

The first night it happened I cried myself, I picked him up and just help and cried with him because I didn't know what to do. This wasn't an I'm hungry or wet cry - it was an out of nowhere loud cry.

The second night, I told my husband we had to call his pediatrician like NOW, of course my husband thought I was over reacting so we decided to do some research before I woke up my whole family and drove to the hospital hehe.

looks like he's having night terrors and by picking him up and trying to sooth him we were probably frightening him even more and he is still asleep during these incidents. We just need to ride it out.

Looks like it can happen when a baby isn't getting enough sleep, my guy hates sleep and fights it whenever he can. He's also a light sleeper and will wake at the slightest noise.

The good news: He has no recollection of the episode (thank God) and we can try to stop the night terrors from happening if we rouse him a bit after he's been asleep for a couple hours. I'm trying that tonight, let's see what happens.

Resource.

Cuteness

At 7.5 months, he can now sit and hold his own bottle. But of course now that he can sit he thinks he's a big man and refuses to be laid down and if we try he screams bloody murder, lol.

 above is the little guy in best bottom cloth diapers. We are still cloth diapering part time.

 and who doesn't love chunky baby legs!! 

   & Baby Aaron! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Cupcakes

Yup!!! Cookie & Cheesecake in ONE cupcake! aaaamazing!

Again, I am not a baker but I sure do know how to follow instructions. This was the result of a another late night baking session with my girl Diana.

I found this recipe on Hostess with the Mostess Blog, and here is how it came out:

Cookie batter layer first:

Then cheesecake topping:

Final Product:

YUM!!!

You can find the recipe here!

To my new blog followers HI!!! So happy to have you! I have been slacking on blogging for a couple weeks but there is LOTS to catch up on! Post you blog in the comments section, I'd love to stop by and visit you as well! :)

Cleaning Tip: Make a Cleaning Schedule Part. 2

I first blogged about needing a cleaning schedule back in July of '09 and I posted a really good one that I found from the Eight-Step Home Cure. You can see that post here.

It was great but I admit I didn't follow it! but things are different now. With a baby in the house, I have to stay on top of my cleaning routines. So I went back to my friend, google, to search for a full-time-working-mommy friendly routine. My recent search guided me to two great blogs listed below:

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-asked-squeeky-clean.html
http://hannahkeeley.com/home-zone

Based on their tips & suggestions, I updated the schedule posted back in '09 to the one below:

Daily Schedule:
Make Bed. Who am I kidding? I want to, I really do but I know I won’t do it.
Put dishes in dishwasher
Wash aaron’s bottles
5 minutes pick up in bedroom & living room.
Sort mail.
Clean all kitchen surfaces
Take out full garbage.
Take trash out of car

Weekly Schedule:
Clear all surfaces including microwave (put odds and ends away).
Dust – TV, bookshelves, picture frames.
Wash clothing, take in dry cleaning. – TWICE WEEKLY
Vacuum - TWICE WEEKLY
Change sheets.
Clean bathroom and kitchen.
Vacuum interior of car

Monthly Schedule:
Vacuum, sweep, or mop all floors.
Clean bathtub – it’s probably nasty to wait a whole month but I am being realistic with my time.
Clear out refrigerator.


Every Three Months:
Flip mattresses.
Dust celing fans
Clean Stove top burners & oven
Vacuum mattresses & Sofa
Wipe down baseboards (you know the end of your walls)

Every Six Months:
Declutter refrigerator, pantry, entry way, mail, bulletin board, etc.
Clean out cabinets & drawers. Donate and/or sell what I no longer use.
Clean Curtains & shower curtains.
Steam Clean carpets


*Spring cleaning (April or May)
*Fall Cleaning (October) * Perform deep treatment on your home: clean and declutter, change seasonal clothing, clean out drawers, closets, under-sink storage, purge clothing, extra CDs, DVDs, books, and furniture.

Have a cleaning schedule you'd like to share? or am I missing something you'd like to suggest?

My introduction into Digital Scrapbooking

What I love about blogging and the internet is the inspiration you get from others. I am sure you, like everyone and they mama, has read Kelle Hampton's blog. One thing I love is the yearly albums she makes of her kiddos, she prints them with Shutterfly but makes the layouts herself and let me tell you they are always gorgeous. After seeing one of her albums about a year ago, I knew I wanted to get into Digital Scrapbooking.

My interest brought me to Jessica Sprague's website, her website is awesome!!! But what I most appreciate is there is a place for beginners with videos and everything!!! You also learn to use Photoshop as you go! Pretty amazing!

I finally had a couple hours to myself last night. I watched some instructional videos from her site and downloaded this FREE template and got to work on my first ever scrapbook layout!!!

What do you think? I think I need to play around with the colors more but it was fun and I can say that this is now my new hobby!

Any Digital Scrapbookers out there? Can you share with me where you go for templates?

Motherhood: My Seven Month Old Hurt My Feelings!

I had a meltdown after my 7 month old said his first word and it was NOT MAMA but dada!!!!!

It was silly, but with my husband just returning from a week long business trip, I was the only one waking up with an infant who still does not sleep thru the night. Waking up 2-3 times a night while working full time SUCKS!

Anyway, I just wanted to hear mama. So I balled my eyes out and told my 7 month old he hurt my feelings! Apparently he didn't care because after a couple hours he had the audacity to say that word again!

I mean I held you under my heart for 10 months, went thru 12 hours of labor only to be cut open to finally have you AND breastfed your little butt for almost 5 months, ME that was all ME!

The husband is  back home now, I have rested and I am now over it! :)

I love my munchkin!

My Christmas Wish List

I'm posting this in hopes my family stumbles across my blog and they can see what I want for christmas! ;)
Love you! :)
Might serve as gift ideas for your loved ones as well.

1. A 50mm Canon Lens to go with my new Rebel.

2. A Single Cup Coffee Maker  (Hubby isn't a coffee Drinker + this is MY wish list, hence the single cup)

3. Ice Cream Maker. 'Nuff Said!

4. Camcorder to record my baby. :)  I am interested in this cute little flip recorder.

5. Viktor & Rolk Flowerbomb Parfume

6. Tina Steinberg Love Touch Necklace. It is the sweetest thing, a necklace with your child's fingerprint!

Picture Post: A fall day with my almost 7 month old

One piece jumper: Baby Gap
Shoes & Hat: Nike Jordan's VIII
Outerwear: Carters

More to come! also to come some rookie photo editing pics I'll share.

My Baby Shower

Almost seven months after baby is here and I realized I never posted about my amazing baby shower!

First, the theme! Great for boys! The theme was borrowed from Tisha Campbell's Cirque Du Bebe theme highlighted by the Hostess with the Mostess Blog. I loved this theme because it was not your typical baby boy blue theme and I loved the colors and how they popped!

My sisters hosted my shower in the end of April and my gorgeous friend Erica of Sweets & Fonts, designed the invitaions.

 Front

Now Let's get to decor! WARNING: PIC OVERLOAD 

 This was the favors table, water bottles & lollipops!

 Closer pic of lollipos, they simply read "Thank you".
I use the little suitcase to store aaron's first! His first baby hat, onesie etc...

 I love this little elephant, he's part of my living room decor now. ;)

 Yummi Fruit

 Dessert table - cupcakes, gumballs & caramel popcorn!

 This table was where my sisters put the prizes for those who won any games.

 me at the sweets table!

 Food Table. Menu: meatballs, sandwiches, salads, cheese platter, lemonade & punch!

 Those little animals were piggy banks that people put money in, we still put money in them & they will be in aaron's room.

Me opening gifts - 9 months preggo! :)

Source List
listed below are links of where I know my sisters got the inspiration, printables, where items were purchased etc.... If I am missing anything and you have any questions, please let me know.

Invitation Inspirations
DIY: Paper Treat Cones
Printables
Hostess with The Mostess Facebook Album
DIY: Feather Trees
Invitations Design from Sweets & Fonts  - Printed with Vistaprint.com
Cupcakes from Clement's Pastry