When I Grow Up

Everyone always ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up. Most popular, a fireman! But what did you want to do when you grew up? Are you doing that now? 

I always wanted to be a lawyer, a prosecutor. My mothers divorce attorney told me women did not make good lawyers when I was 12, which made me want to prove him wrong. As I got older my mind changed and I wanted to be a Forensic Pathologist. That is basically a medical examiner but more schooling and a bigger salary since there ( in 2006) where only 400 forensic pathologists in the United States. The average salary then when I was doing my research was $401,000 a year. WOW!! So I went to college and majored in Criminal Justice & criminology and minored in psychology. I changed my mind about the forensic pathology because I knew I would never have the grades to get into medical school.

Now 5 years after graduating college, my degree is still collecting dust. I owe now ( after interest keeps tacking on over the years) around $41,000 in student loans. I can not afford to pay them back. After I graduated I was super excited about finding a job, but of course this was when everything crashed and society sucked. I was either over-qualified with a degree or under qualified with no experience. One job was a year long process of tests and polygraphs, just to be told I was over-qualified! WTF! 

I am now a stay at home mom, which never in a million years think I would be doing this and love it. I always thought that I would be the career woman wearing cute clothes ( even though I am SUCCHHHHH a tomboy!). But I think I want to change my career course because when they go to school and I start work, I would be starting at the bottom with my degree. I think I want to be... A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER! I love love love organizing, I love labels and I love making my life easier. So why not help other make their lives easier too! I have done research and you have to have so many ours doing this before you can get certified. I really think I am going to give it a whirl but I have to get people willing to let me organize their houses, pay me and pay for the supplies that they need. hmmmm.. Something I will have to think about!

Potty Training

Oh the joys of potty training. No one ever told me how much fun this was going to be...NOT!! This sucks something awful, I am not even going to sugar coat it. Benson does great peeing in the potty. In a week we were completely diaper free and not wetting himself at nap or bedtime. He wakes up in the morning and goes to the potty and pees. It is awesome. Pooping however is a completely different story! For the love of God I cannot get him to poop in the potty. I take that lie back, he has twice but those were by accident. I have put him on the potty and kept him there as long as I could, nope he will walk away and poop 10 minutes later. I have tried poop prizes, no diaper or underwear, and nothing. He will poop outside no problem. But I will literally take him around the time he usually poops, he will sit there 10 minutes and not poop, then go into the other room and poop. I am so frustrated I can't even see straight! HELP ME!!!! Some one come get my child to poop in the potty please! I'll feed you a lovely meal or two! :-)

Questions on blogging to make income

I want to make blogging my "JOB." I am a stay at home mom, and the hardships we are having I need to bring in some income. We unfortunately don't have any baby sitters or I would pick up shifts at my old job. Working from home is really my only option. 
I have read so many different things about how to make money blogging and I think I am more confused now then before I started reading anything. I understand needing to get ads on your site and then when people click on those ads you make something from them, but I can't buy those ads. Like I am BROKE.. FLAT BROKE. I have zero money to be able to put into buying ads to put on my site.
I need help because I am so lost. Really. I feel like my head is spinning. I need to start contributing some type of income to our family before we get so far behind we are just screwed. 
Please help! Anything would be appreciated! 

Sleep Deprivation

Oh the joys of motherhood, sleep deprivation being one of those. Everyone warns you about how tired you will be once a new baby comes and even when baby number two comes. But you never really grasp how exhausted you will be until you are actually living it.
All things happen for a baby to not want to sleep through the night, regressions, growth spurts, teething etc. Benson did not sleep through the night until he was 13 months old. Marlee will be 10 months on Wednesday and she still wakes up 3 to 5 times a night. I did have them napping at the same time but the past week that has not been happening and for some reason Benson has been getting up at 7 a.m. every morning. His usually wake up time is between 8 and 9. Needless to say I am exhausted. I have this going on plus the normal daily chores and now my garden has taken off.
New mothers or any mothers need support. They need someone to help them when they need it, when their eyes can barely stay open any longer. We need to support each other or even take turns with another close friend watching the kids and resting. When I first had Benson, getting used to the lack of sleep made me crazy. When he was cutting teeth we were only sleeping 2 hours a night for 3 weeks. I remember crying and crying because I was so exhausted and I had little help. I love my husband but he did not help much with letting me sleep and being with Benson. 
Some words of wisdom though that I am sure everyone has heard but are definitely true,
   - Sleep when they are sleeping!
 ALWAYS SLEEP WHEN THEY ARE OR YOU WONT GET ANY!! 
But now it is finally time for me to close my eyes and go to bed! I am exhausted!

Putting off dieting

So I think I am going to give up on losing weight and dieting right now. Well I am giving up on being such a freak about it and getting upset about not losing weight. I really really really am not lucky enough to lose weight while breastfeeding. It doesn't matter what I do either! I can work out, I can walk, and I can eat healthier and even cut out pop and nothing. So I am not going to stress about it anymore. Im getting tired of doing all of this stuff for a long period of time and still see nothing on the scale. I only plan on breastfeeding one more month, I can make it one more month and then I can get back too it. Yes I am extremely frustrated and let down. I feel like as hard as I have been working I should be seeing some results. However I am not and I am just tired of it. I still plan on eating better for myself and staying on the right path but I am not going to worry about it as much. Once I am done breastfeeding though, GAME ON!! I am tired of being squishy and tired of my thighs rubbing together. I know I shouldn't really complain, I am only a size 4, but this is the biggest I have ever been in my entire life and I do not like it. I don't like being squishy, yes from pregnancy but still. I don't like having to keep buying bigger and bigger clothes. I am just done with all of it. I really feel defeated!! :-(

When the Babies are Quiet

So this is what happens when my kids are quiet and playing back in Benson's bedroom while I am cleaning up the kitchen from dinner.

What had happened was.....
    I was cleaning the kitchen up from dinner and they were back in his bedroom playing. Well I knew they were up to something when I didn't hear anything, but I was almost done cleaning and only needed a few more minutes. So as I walked down the hallway here comes Benson and he had baby powder on his legs, no big deal, he was played with baby powder before (making a huge mess). Well then here comes Marlee, this is what she looked like. She was laughing and smiling, so I ran and got my phone to take a picture. I couldn't even be mad. It wasn't like it was something that could of hurt either one of them, yes he dumped baby powder all over her head, but she loved it. So here we were in the hallway all of us cracking up, but then I put them straight in the tub. 

I know that this will not be the last time something like this happens. I am sure there will be many times they get into something and make a huge mess! With my two I can only imagine what those things will be and as crazy as it sounds, I am actually kind of excited about that. I am excited for them to make those wild and crazy memories to have with each other. 

Toddler life

Benson is the most independent, funny and loving little man I know. He is too smart for his own good. Whether it be figuring stuff out or just counting. But we seem to be going through the terrible 2 stage.
Lately he has been acting out. Nothing gets him to stop either. I could say it nicely, I can use the mom voice, time outs, lose of privilege or spanking his butt and nothing works. He will be right back doing it 10 seconds later. It is literally driving me nuts. Mostly it is doing things to marlee. He will take her toy our of her hand, roll on her, hold onto her, pull her down or throw things at her. Im literally at my witts end with him. I know its a phase but it needs to end quick.
What are some things you guys do to get over this? Sorry I'm not one of those moms who think rationalizing with a 2 year old works. They are 2, sitting down and talking to them like they are grown doesn't work. Im very old fashioned and laid back when it comes to parenting. But I'm getting tired of yelling or asking nicely for him to stop. I really don't know what else to do besides hog tie him.... Hahaha im so just kidding!

DIY will drive me nuts!

In a good way DIY will drive me nuts. 

If you have read in another post, we got my grandma's house after she died in 2012. I started cleaning it in April of 2013 and we moved in in August 2013. Anyway my grandma's house was very nice and clean. She was a believer in all white walls,except the kitchen and no animals in the house, which we have done both. Besides some TLC updates, the house didn't need much.

Slowly but surely we have been updating. The bathrooms are no longer sea foam green and robins egg blue tiles, the kitchen no longer has carpet, wood paneling or wallpaper ( which took me 7 weeks to scrape it off). The walls, except the living room, have all been painted. There are now just decor issues we have to do. 

I have been on a DIY channel and HGTV channel kick lately. It has been extremely insane, that it is all I have been watching. But it makes me want to tear my house apart, no joke! It makes me want to start busting down walls. Making the house an open concept instead of all closed off.  

The only problem though is I don't know if I want to stay in this house or not. We currently have a .75 acre lot, the house is 3 bedrooms and a bath and a half. I think its approximately 1200 square feet. Its just an old house built in 1961. I want more space and more land, but having a house completely paid off by 33 years old seems pretty awesome. So if that's the case, then I have already drawn up plans on how to make a master bedroom with a master bath and to knock out walls in the kitchen to make it more of an open floor plan. 

My wheels just can't stop spinning. I wish I had a ton of money to do so many things! I want to so many things. I want to go to Lowes, Menards, Ikea, Target and so many others!! I feel like HGTV is like a drug for me!

Trying to eat better!

I am 9 months postpartum and desperately trying to lose baby weight. I am not one of those lucky women who lose weight while breastfeeding though. I did not lose anything with Benson and so far the same with Marlee.
My husband also gained baby weight with me both pregnancies and never lost any of it. His doctor actually told him he HAS to lose weight. 
So here we are. I have been doing more besides exercising because that wasn't doing anything for me. I have been taking fish oil every morning, the gallon of water every day (some days I don't drink it all. OOPS!), and I have been trying to eat healthier. I have also went from 3 to 4 poops a day to only 1 or 2. My husband doesn't want to do anything. He won't walk with me or workout with me, even though we have a weight machine.  I have decided to make weight watchers meals so I can get him to eat better and he cant say anything about it. I have found many recipes on pinterest and have adjusted them some because we are picky eaters. But OMG they are awesome and you must try them. My favorite so far is the baked ziti! Yum!  What are some of your favorite weight watchers recipes for picky eaters?
100 Weight watchers recipes!!!

Hand made quilts

I have an obsession that may seem weird to those now. I love to sew quilts. But I hand sew them. I have no idea how to use a sewing machine and have only tried once.The only down fall about not using a sewing machine is it takes about two to three months to make one quilt. I usually make them full size and have only made one queen. 
My mamaw taught me how and I made my first quilt for her at 12. I have made a quilt for my dad, my other grandma, my x's mom and a few others. I have made one very special one for my husband as well. His dad died this past August at the age of 54 from kidney cancer. So I made a quilt for him for Christmas with pictures of him and his dad. The first one I had ever done like that. But I love making quilts. It is so relaxing and stress relieving. I enjoy finding new patterns and new fabrics. It is also a dying craft because not a lot of people now do it all by hand. 
I have been wanting to start sewing them and selling them but have no idea how to go about it. When I looked up pricing a quilt the size I make them go from $400 to $550 each. Everything I have read is that people break it up by materials and by the hours it takes to make them and basically getting paid by the hour. HOLY SHIT! I want to do it to make extra money for my family while being a stay at home mom and it will give me something to do for me. 
So below are some that I have done. They just need the backing which takes about a week! But pass it along if you know anyone interested in hand made quilts. Or if you have any advice about selling them for the price deserved let me know!

This one is Ohio Stars ^^

This one is Flower Gardens ^^
    These are the ones that I am going to try to sell. 

This one I made for my husband with pictures of him and his dad. I chose the colors because their favorite team is Notre Dame. 

Fourth of July

So we have a photographer that has done all of our pictures since my husband and I got together. He has done our engagement, wedding, Benson's birth, Benson's first birth and numerous family pictures. Anyways he did a fourth of July mini session and they turned out so cute! I am going to share my babies pictures.

Benson being Mr. Independent did not really take many good pictures. He did not want to listen and wanted to do his own thing. Marlee, my screamer, did much better than I thought. But she also had taken ibuprofen about thirty minutes before we left because she is cutting three teeth (nightmare)! 

So here they are! I hope everyone has a happy and save fourth of July!