The Best Ideas are Made Together

So.

I wanted something to hang on the wall in our bedroom.

Pictures are always great- except when you're trying to sleep and there are just eyes staring at you! Super creepy, so I knew I didn't want pictures above our bed, haha. Tyler thinks I'm a little crazy :)

What about a painting? Perfect! I can do watercolor. So I came up with an idea for a collage of paintings that would all go together. As I talked to Tyler about it, though, he is not in love with the idea for our room. Don't get me wrong- he loved the idea- just not for our room :)

Hmmm a clock?? I can't stand the tick-tick-tick in the middle of the night. 

Finally I ask Tyler, "what do you think?"  Suddenly Singing commences and the clouds part! Haha

We came up with an idea TOGETHER!! And it means sooo much more to us than any other idea. 

Here it is!

See?? Way cool. We made it to look like trees in the forest, and like one of those carved hearts in a tree. The best part is that it's ours. Not just mine or his. 

We made this in installments. A little bit here and there after the kids were in bed so it could be like a date! 

We first drew the design on a big piece of wood that we got for free from Taylor Carpets by our home. (Pretty much all our wood comes from there, haha)

Then I cut it our with our jigsaw when I was 9 months pregnant...... :) I was just upset that the baby hadn't come yet and needed to wield a power tool-ok? 

Next was the heart.... So we just drew a heart. 

As for the names, Tyler wrote his and I wrote mine, that way we had each other's handwriting!

We used thumbtacks from the dollar store and a hammer to put it in the wall. Like so...

Okay, you don't need to hit it that hard! More like a soft tapping- don't wake up the sleeping kiddos.

We slid the cut 'trees' back behind our headboard so it looked more like they went all the way to the ground. 

 Then, ta-da!

We love it. Maybe I can give a tour of our bedroom and it's projects next week! It is my favorite room in the house so far :)

Happy Thursday!

Jamie 

Mish- Mash Monday... Wait it's Tuesday...

It must be a stay at home mom, or a me thing- but it's hard to know the day of the week! 

Nevertheless here is my mishmash of thoughts for today :) 

It's hard to relax about my imperfections sometimes. Last night was a little rough when I felt like I couldn't do anything right. Heavenly Father is watchful, because today I ran across this on LDS.org:

"One thing that hinders the development of resilience is a misunderstanding of the commandment to be perfect (see Matthew 5:48). This misunderstanding is the most common factor I’ve seen undermining resilience in new missionaries. They want to be perfect in everything because they love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and do not want to disappoint Them. But they do not understand that the Lord works through weak, simple servants (see D&C 1:19–23) and that striving to be perfect does not mean we never make mistakes but rather that we become fully developed or complete through the Atonement of Christ as we strive to follow Him (see Matthew 5:48, footnote b)."

Thank. You. :) 

I make mistakes! I'm not perfect! Whoo-hoo!!! That means the Saviors atonement can be applied to me!

Next thought:

We got to see family last Saturday at a family reunion. It was great! I saw my aunt and her family for the first time in 11 years! And my grandma got to meet my three children for the first time... Ever! We had good time to connect with everyone. And we had a talent show! My dad showed off his AWESOME pantomime skills. As in pretending there is a wall when there isn't one....

But way better :)

And I got to share some songs on guitar, and my cousin juggled! Who knew there was so much talent in one family? 

I did. ;) jk

It definitely was an adventure on Saturday! Because on the way there our car broke down (radiator leak, so we added water and all was well).  And then our car broke down on the way home.... ( back tire's tread was PEELING OFF!! We heard the duh-duh-duh on the freeway. As we pulled over to put on the spare, we realized there was no wrench for the lug-nuts.... Luckily the 3rd times the charm and the third person we asked had one that fit :)

So there is my mishmash! I have a great update to tell you about that we did to our master bedroom! I'll share that soon :)

Jamie

Working on some chairs :)

So this is a project that is in the works. 

I am recovering 2 chairs that were my neighbors. She didn't need them anymore and I loved the lines in the chairs and saw some great potential! She gave them to me- so nice. 

They were in rough shape to begin with but then inleft them outside for..... Oh... Like 8 months....

Through the rain and everything. So the ripped seats then became moldy seats... And the wood seat bases completely fell apart...

I removed the moldy seats for the picture in consideration of your lunch... No need to taste it twice...

This is what happens when you procrastinate!

But look at those lines!! So pretty :) just pretend you can see the vision in my head, haha.

So the first step was for me to cut new board for the seats.

I used the seat that was still somewhat in one piece as a pattern, the. Cut it out with our jigsaw. Which has a crooked blade, so my cuts were DEFINITELY not straight, haha. Or it was just user error...

I did have to cut the seats out twice because the first wood I cut it out of was too thick for the seats. So -take two- I used a different piece of wood. (Which I got from Taylor carpets in Provo. They have lots of free wood and pallets! In fact there are like 8 outside their building now!)

Btw, if you need some pallets, we have like 25.... Haha!

And then I used an old couch cushion for the foam and cut out the same shape. I used a combo of scissors and a steak knife to cut it out :)

So here is the foam and board cut out. Then I layered batting (given to me by a nice neighbor!) and waterproof fabric (given to me by my grandma!). 

Next is to staple-gun it all together. :)

As I'm writing this post, I am quickly realizing how cheap this project is.... So far- free!! 

That is my kind of project... 

Wish me luck so I don't staple a finger in the process!

Jamie

It is SOOOO Nice

It is so nice to feel so good! Physically, I mean :) 

I am literally back on my feet again after a good 2 months of being out-of-commission. 

I did 3 loads of laundry today (folded and somewhat put away), cooked 3 meals (that weren't just cereal or corn dogs), swept the kitchen, did the dishes, played with my girls, enjoyed little Todd, made cookies, and got dressed today! I know!!! It is SOOOOOO nice!

I say this not to brag or anything, because I am usually not so motivated or whatever the word is for getting a lot of things done quickly :) I say this to rejoice! 

To rejoice in health and happiness. To rejoice in the goodness of God in helping me through to the light at the end of the dark tunnel. Or in other words, to the chocolatey-goodness at the middle of the the tootsie-pop. :)

If you remember, I was having it rough at the end of my pregnancy with low energy (which I have now come to realize was anemia from low iron). I wrote about in my post in May titled God gives us hard things. I would link it here, but I'm not that good at this whole blogging thing yet :)

It was a hard time. I would feel barely able to get Rosie out of bed. And then I would feel way guilty for not being able to do more. And for having to ask so much help from Tyler who has work and a million other things to worry about. And guilty for not playing with Maybelline and Rosie as much as they wanted me to. Basically just a slurry of not good feelings! But I would pray. And pray. And cry a little (a lot). Then talk to Tyler and hug Maybelline and Rosie. I felt peace. I could feel myself changing for the better. Unimportant Little things didn't matter as much. I could enjoy the important little things more. Like Maybelline putting a piece of tape on her upper lip and singing chitty chitty bang bang, we love you! Or Rosie squealing in excitement over finding a piece of cotton. 

I hate to say it, but previously these sweet, funny moments would have been lost on me. I was too distracted to notice what Rosie was so excited about. And even annoyed at Maybelline for playing with the tape instead of using it for its practical use. 

But I'm glad to say these moments aren't lost on me now :) Heavenly Father has taught me an invaluable lesson that I would go through that hard time over and over to learn. Here is the gist of it:

Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the sweet spirits I am blessed to have around me. We don't have to be doing something fun (swimming, park, sidewalk chalk, etc) to connect and relish in each other. I just have to see them. See the shiny tape on her upper lip and recognize its funny :) then laugh! Laugh with her and see the sparkle in her eyes when she sees I am with her. REALLY with her. 

:) 

Best lesson learned ever. Or at least so far :) I have really felt my joy increase daily. Not just happiness, but true joy. I can tell as I lay down for bed at night, with a smile in my heart, that there is a good change in me. :)

I know that we go through hard things to become better. Just like the refiners fire, gold becomes more pure. I also know that there are a lot of tough things out there, but God knows you. He loves you. Just ask Him and you will feel it in your heart :) ask Him to help you through the hard times, and He will. Ask Him what you are to learn through your trial. It made it easier for me to have joy in my hard time, because I could see the silver lining :) 

I am greatful for that teaching time for me. And I am also grateful to have my health back again. It is SOOOOO nice! :) 

-jamie :) 

P.S. Since I don't really have any pictures that connect to this post, I'll just leave you with this cutie patootie!

Our First Home Birth Experience

Hello there!

So. Grab something to snack on while you read this. It's a long one :) 

I wanted to share how it was to have a home birth! This was our first go around with a midwife and home birth. My first two babies were delivered at the hospital with an OBGYN doctor. Which, all experiences were good, but if I had to choose again, I would choose to be at home :)

I had an OBGYN that I was seeing, but by 27 weeks I kept feeling like I needed to look into a home birth. Then my amazing neighbor also inspired me when she had her 5th child at home. I picked up her kids hours after the delivery and her home was peaceful and the midwives were doing her laundry and dishes! This could be nice I thought :) so I have a few interviews with different midwives and decided on Melody. :)

Firstly, I was 5 days overdue and SO ready for baby to be here. Don't believe me? Read this post! Www.jamiesloveathome.blogspot.com/i-guess-baby-is-a-late-sleeper

Secondly, I had had a false alarm labor almost 3 weeks prior. So we thought it could have been ANY DAY. Not so, not so. But I feel that false alarm was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. To give me a trail run since I was nervous about the home birth- but that's a post for another day :)

So I'll give a play-by-play as if you were there, excited with us!

5:30- I wake up with intense contractions that won't let me sleep

6:00- Tyler and I decide to call melody (midwife) and tell her what's up. She is anxious to come right then since my last labor was only 3 hours! I tell her to wait since I wanted to make sure it was for real this time.

7:00- OW! "ok, you can come now!"

7:30- Melody arrives! And instantly makes the contractions easier by pushing on my back. Who knew?? 

Tyler and I continue to work through contractions together- he is amazing and would calm me down whenever I got a little scared :) he is so good at making me laugh.

10:00- I am ready to push! And push, and push. But the baby isn't coming! He is stuck posterior (facing sideways instead of facing my back). 

10:45- I am tired! And hungry! We brainstorm ideas to get baby turned. There is manually turning baby by reaching inside, or staying on my hands and knees for a half hour to encourage baby or turn. No th aks to manually turning him! It sounded painful and intrusive. 

Ah-ha! Melody suddenly remembers a trick told her by an old Mexican midwife. She has delivered some 200 babies, but has never done the trick before. "Let's try that" I say.... "Right after a nap..."

11:15- nap taken, food eaten, it's go time. :) labor slowly intensifies again. Contractions had stopped while I took my nap- thank you!

12:30- it's time to try to turn him. I laid on my back while she put a scarf underneath me. Tyler held one side while Melody held the other. They both would jerk their side one after the other. This caused my tummy to jerk around good! The goal was to shake me like a jar full of pickles, turning the baby inside. I sure felt it! Melody checked baby using her stethoscope and sure enough, he turned the right way!

12:35- I stood up and WOAH! This baby is coming :)

12:57- baby Todd is here :) crying and a boy!! 

It was a wonderful experience to have him at home :) I was really nervous at first because what if something goes wrong??. But I felt within my heart that everything would be okay, and this is the best for me and this baby. And it was!!

One of the biggest things that Tyler and I wanted, was to not be 'checked' so many times. If you've had a baby, you know what I mean. If not- let me explain. The nurses, doctors, and everyone in between, want to 'check' to see how labor is progressing by how far you're dilated. That means intrusively going inside, like every half hour. With my first delivery I was checked at least 15-20 times. It is not pleasant!  And takes away the sacredness, we felt. 

Yet with Melody, she was much more relaxed and confident in my body's own ability. She didn't have to check me once the whole delivery! 

Because really, checking is just so that they can track that labor is progressing. But to me, you can tell that by a baby coming out! Haha

Another big difference I noticed is that at home everything was much more relaxed and calm. It was easy to just sit when I wanted to, move when I wanted to, and go grab a cup of water out of my own sink when I wanted to. I was home :)

I could take my time with labor. Like after my nap, my contractions and slowed down in frequency and intensity. I could easily see the hospital staff saying, "time for pitosin! Let's break your water! We need to speed things up again." Yet at home we just waited :).  And my body did it's job! My water broke on its own right before he was born. Which I think is the best because the water acts  as a cushion and the contractions don't hurt as much. So anything that helps pain, I think should stay as long as possible! :)

And here is the outcome of all that hard work!

What would a post about a birth be without a bunch of pictures of the baby?? :)

Feel free to ask me any questions and I can answer them.

In the end it is up to you, your spouse and Heavenly Father what course is best take.

Love, jamie :)

Sally sells seashells down by the seashore

We made an impromptu craft yesterday! 

I have been dying for some seashell jewelry ever since my sea shell necklace broke and got lost! 

My parents went on vacation to Oregon and I thought, perfect! Bring me back some seashells, mom!

And she did!

Super cute, only .25 cents, and I love it! ...just not quite what I was thinking :)

Then as I was feeding baby ( who is super gushable and doing great, by the way) I noticed this mobile my friend got for me from New Jersey.

Perfect!! Why didn't I think of it before?? So I removed one of the shells, tied it to some embroidery floss, and made a necklace! I don't know why, but it felt so good to wear it. Maybe it's like wearing yr favorite shirt/dress that makes you feel like a million bucks. I think this necklace is like that :) 

Maybelline must have noticed because when she saw it she said, oh! It's beautiful! Can you make one for me?

Well, of course I can :)

She picked her seashell from off the mobile, and I realized that we can't leave out Rosie! So I got a shell for her too. It really just took a minute to make both, and it has been so fun to be matching! Rosie's necklace comes on and off constantly, haha. So it alternates between my neck and hers when she wants it again :)

I think more crafting is in order! Next on the list- a sparkly, heart coloring book for Daddy for Fathers Day. (Since he didn't have the best Father's Day because I had just had baby Todd) but we will make up for it! Just don't tell him and ruin the surprise :)

Sparkly heart coloring book, here we come!

Jamie :)