Scavenger Hunt Sunday (58,59/365)

This past weekend was one of the busiest weekends I have had since Parker was born. I had so much fun with our good friends, celebrating birthday's and making new friendships. By Sunday evening however, I was exhausted. The evenings are when I usually have the time to work on my blog, but I couldn't muster up the energy to edit the photos I was using.

Although a little late, here are my interpretations for this week's SHS items.

1. Capture the Sky

We had a great rain storm come through on Saturday evening and it made the Sunday morning sky so beautiful. I was waiting with the kids in the car while my hubby was in the store. I looked out the window and realized that this would make a stunning photo.

2. Everyday
I'm so blessed to be able to wake up everyday and see his gorgeous smile. I'm so thankful that I'm able to stay home with Parker. I don't want to miss a minute of him growing up.

3. Furry

Here is Picasso laying in one of his favorite spots. He will spend the afternoon laying on our shoes, licking the bottoms of them.

4. Life

I had taken a completely different picture for this item on Sunday. This morning, I was sitting with Parker and he kept grabbing my hand and holding it. I was thinking how I created this little life, this little amazing person. Isn't life beautiful?

5. Blurred

I took this photo earlier in the week when I was playing around with different settings on my camera. I almost deleted it but in the end I decided not too and I'm glad I kept it. I think it's a interesting, slightly creepy interpretation of "blurred."

New hats and... he's trying to crawl! (56, 57/365)

I just had to share a few pictures of Parker's new hats(we are actually using these for his 6 month photos, so you will see them again soon.) I'm friends with some very talented and crafty momma's. Parker also surprised me by pushing up onto his hands and knees!! Now today, he's scooting backwards using his new found skill. I love this age and how much they change each day.

A cute Dino hat made to match the Boise State Broncos














Here I was excited that he was sitting without falling over every couple of seconds and he surprises me with another trick. This is another hat that was made for Parker.

Vlog: Storing cloth diapers

I was trying to take pictures of my cloth diaper storage, but I couldn't capture it how I wanted and decided to vlog instead.


Here was my cost(storage items only):

Green stacking basket(Target): $5.00
Hanging shoe storage(Target): $6.99
Black trash can(Target): $9.99
Wet bag(inside of trash can): $5.00
Drawer oraganizer(99 cents only): .99

Total storage cost: $27.97



I forgot to mention in the video, the top drawer of the dresser/changing table has an organizer that contains the diaper creams, vaseline, powders and hand sanitizer.

Bath time fun-SOOC & Edit (54, 55/365) UPDATED

I haven't done photos in the bath since Parker was little...remember the post with Picasso drinking from his tub? That was the last time I took bath photos. You can see the picture here, it's the third photo in the post. Parker was about a month and a half in that photo. Honestly, we don't use this tub very often. We have this chair that Parker uses in the bathtub and he takes showers with me.

SOOC:




I don't have a fancy digital SLR camera I actually use a Fujifilm Finepix S1000x. It's just a basic point and click digital camera. It does have a manual options so I can adjust shutter speeds and aperture settings, also something I'm learning from my mom. Unfortunately, my hubby won't pay for a higher end camera. So I have work with what I have.

Edit:



I still have a lot to learn about editing, especially when it comes to layer masks. What took the most time was trying to lighten his eyes. Parker has very dark brown eyes in person, I was hoping to lighten then up just a bit in photos and it didn't really do what I wanted. When I adjusted the colors it darkened his eyes even more and I couldn't figure out how to re-lighten just his eyes. I think I started working on this too late in the evening and I was getting tired and a little frustrated.


Edit 2:



I toned down the contrast and color saturation. I like this one much better :)

If you have any suggestions leave me a comment, I'd love to have some feedback!



More bath times photos:

Holding you a little tighter...(52, 53/365)

Today has been a tough day for me. I found out a little baby Parker's age passed away today and just after I finished crying over that, there was news of another baby girl passing so suddenly. I'm sitting here with Parker asleep in my arms, and I don't want to put him down. I couldn't even imagine my life without my babies...

Mothers Touch Your Children
Author: Kathie Davis


Mothers, touch your children,
Fathers, hug them tight.
Let them know you love them,
Morning, noon, and night.



Put your arms around them,
Hold them near to you.
Feel the beating of their hearts,
The life that you made new.



Roll around the floor with them,
Tease and laugh and play.
Listen to what they'll tell you,
They have so much to say.



Take time to get to know them,
See the colors in their eyes.
Appreciate that person,
That deep inside them lies.




Let them run their fingers through
Your hair and down your face.
Fill their hearts with words of praise,
Make home their favorite place.

Cuddle with them on the couch,
And watch a T.V. show.
Sing to them or share a book,
And help their world to grow.



Take a walk into the park,
Hold each others hand.
Stroll along the beach,
Build castles in the sand.

Mothers, touch your children,
Fathers, hug them tight.
Show them what a gift they are,
To love them feels so right.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday (50,51/365)

I can almost title this weeks scavenger hunt, "Hubby's favorite things."



1. Chocolate

My hubby's favorite midnight snack!



2. Numbers

My hubby's favorite type of books to read, Manga.



3. Canned Food

The mermaid on this can is a little creepy looking to me, just had to share...



4. Music

Hubby's favorite lil' man.



5. Stack

A little bit of this...a little bit of that! (49/365)

I started researching cloth diapers when I was still pregnant. I knew right away that it was something I wanted to do. I was so excited to put the cute print diapers on Parker and show off his fluffy butt. I thought I knew everything there was to know about cloth and thought that I would have an easy time with it. I mean come on, how hard can it be?

Well, it wasn't as easy as I imagined, there were things I didn't really think about before Parker was born, such as;

• How tired I was with a newborn, utterly exhausted, I had little desire to clean let alone wash diapers.
• I couldn't get them to fit correctly, when he was little, they always leaked.
• Some of the diapers I bought were way too big to fit a newborn.
  
• I didn't have enough diapers in the beginning to get through a full day of changes.
• I couldn't figure out how to wash them correctly.
  
• My hubby loved the idea of cloth diapers, but was afraid to use them.

There was a point in time that I wanted to throw in the towel and quit cloth, I felt completely overwhelmed, frustrated and didn't think it was really all that worth it. I decided to take a small step back and only cloth diaper part of the time. When I felt overwhelmed, or needed a break from diaper laundry I would turn to disposables. I believe that had I not done this, I would not be cloth diapering at all today. The funny thing was that I felt somewhat embarrassed to call myself a cloth diapering mama because I did rely on disposables part of the time.

In the meantime I slowly bought diapers on sale here and there. I bought different styles/brands of cloth diapers until I found what style/brand worked best for us. I tried many different detergents and was able to get a wash routine down. Now, Parker is just over 5 months and I'm proud to say that I cloth diaper exclusively and have been for a month and a half.

AND, our little stash is now big enough to get through 2 or even 3 days without having to do diaper laundry...YAY!



I know that some other cloth diapering mamas will have you believe that cloth diapering is all or nothing and if you turn to disposables on a stressful, overwhelming day you are a bad mother. I wrote this post because I know that I'm not the only mama who has felt overwhelmed about cloth diapers at some point and if turning to disposables some of the time keeps you from losing your sanity, then go for it!

Boys are made of....(48/365)

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !" -Mother Goose


Shamless self promotions! I have been on a sewing boom the last few weeks and I'm starting to increase my designs on Etsy. In case you are wondering I make a lot of semi-custom, custom, and personalized outfits for babies, toddlers, and kids. I also can make matching oufits for moms and dads.

Here are a couple of my newest additions:







I'm also making custom personalized sport sets for NFL, NCAA football, and MLB.






A link to my etsy is on the left hand side of my blog.

My facebook fan page also has a lot of my past designs.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Secret Cupid (46,47/365)

Book is: Baby Love by Sandra Magsamen

Happy Valentines Day! (45/365)

What is it that makes babies so happy to be nekkid? We decided to take some photo's for Valentines Day using Daddy's tie.

This is my first time entering into this weekly photo challenge, hosted by I Heart Faces. When I was looking at different blogs, it seemed that everyone entered this one. Photo challenges are actually becoming quite addicting!







And here are the rest of the photos I took for Valentines Day!







It's so cute when he looks up at the camera like this.






He was really loving his feet throughout all these pictures. Usually, he rolls over the minute I set him down, not today.