Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak

Ever since Sawyer climbed out of her crib three nights ago, none of us have gotten any sleep.  I actually have been really depressed and frustrated lately.  Hopefully after writing this post I will feel better.  I hate to be negative but I must vent.  So I haven't felt this vulnerable since Sawyer was little little.  We finally got things down to a science, naps and all.  We could put Sawyer to bed awake, kiss her good night and she would sleep until morning.  Unfortunately this lasted a pathetic three months, and even looking back some nights she would stay up late with us or wake up at random hours of the night.  Between runny noses and time changes things weren't perfect but I would take them back in a heart beat. 

Gosh, it is so hard being a mom.  Things that I thought I couldn't stand anymore, I miss when they are gone.  I love Sawyer don't get me wrong but she hasn't been the most easiest child.  I swear none of my friends have had to go through the things I have had to go through.  Sometimes, I really get down on myself and think, why me...but then I smack myself and think how some people can't even have kids and how lucky I actually am.  The only people who get Sawyer are my husband, Jake, and my mom.  Everyone else is clueless, I can talk until I am blue in the face and people still just laugh and say things like:  It is just her age.  She'll sleep in the car.  She's going to sleep good tonight.  She is so smart.  That's how you were when you were her age.  These comments annoy me. 

I am convinced she is either going to me a genius or straight up t-r-o-u-b-l-e.  Me and Jake always talk about what we think she will be like when she is older.  I say she will be too smart for school and do just what she needs to pass.  She'll sneak out at night, wear tied dye clothes, she will chain herself to a tree in protest of it getting cut down.  Her first car would be a old school mustang.

We did convert her crib to a toddler bed.  She didn't go to bed easily though,  the last several nights we have have tried everything to get her to sleep.  Laying on the couch with a binky, with mommy or daddy, watching Shrek or Madagascar (on the dvr), rocking chair, our bed, cuddled up with lots of blankies, heat cranked, laying on the floor in her room, letting her cry, nothing works, this child would not sleep even in our bed she would just toss and turn and sweat and sneak out of my arms like a worm.  It was so frustrating.  She would just climb out of her converted crib and pound on her door, trash her room and scream in protest. 

After asking friends for advice, these are just some of the things people told me to do.

• convert her crib into a toddler bed (check)
• get a side rail, so she does roll out of bed (check)
• hold her laying in her bed, until she crys herself to sleep (mm, nah)
• pin her pajamas to the sheets (seriously?)
• give her benedryl (not even recommended to give at all until two years of age)
• put a tv in her room and let her match a move (no)
• just shut the door and let her cry, trash her room, ect (tried it and no)
• just put the mattress on the floor (her crib is real close the the ground)
• put her on the floor in your room (she needs to sleep in her room)
• get a baby cot so she can sleep in your room (no)
• just let her sleep with you (of course but long term no)
• get a tent crib attachment thingy (Jake highly considered this, he kept researching them online and even called a Walmart to see if they had one in stock)..I read the reviews and this just makes me nervous.

This sort of reminds me of something you would put a dog in.  Hopefully we won't have to resort to this.  She is still sick, sleep deprived and crabby.  It was a process getting her to sleep in her crib.  So this will take some effort.  Rome wasn't built in a day right?  Beside she can count to five.  If she can count to five she can learn how to do anything.  I have faith in my wild child.

mom: "one"

sj: "two"

mom: "three"

sj: "nine"

mom: "five"

See she is so smart.

The crib jumping bandit...

I think the video explains itself....What do we do?

Milestones

Wow, today was crazy! Our little girl is growing up too fast. We are only on day two of potty training and she peed in her potty. I am so proud of her. She is so smart. Besides inspiring people with my blog, loving my husband, and saving lives as a nurse...I really do want Sawyer to have a better life than me. That really is all I want. Beside, peeing in her potty my poor babe is sick, snot just dripping out of her nose all day.  So I commend her for peeing.  I worked a princess shift this morning, only four hours and came home to this:

SO SWEET!

Sawyer loves to wear my shoes. 

She also makes this funny face when I go to take a picture.  I'm hoping this is just a phase because I want to see her beautiful smile. 

I just want to hold her forever and ever.

It was such a nice day out.  We went and got coffees and checked out a cool gun cabinet I spotted at Faith in Action (a hand me down store).  When we got back we rocked out in the garage and sat in the sunshine.  Seth even took his shirt off.  Sawyer ate rocks.

And made her funny face for mommy.

I bought this ugly thing for .80 cents.  I have plans people,  I have plans.  You all know I have a wreath making addiction. 

I bought this for $3.00.  It is is perfect condition.  Someone took a black sharpie and drew a chicken on it.  Really?  But the cork is flawless and I have a vision. 

I started staining my book shelf.  It is going to look amazing. 

Here is a sneak peek.

My loves.

All three of my loves.

Sawyer also climbed out of her pack and play twice, without cracking her head on the cement in the garage.  She also throws things away in the trash, including her fork.  This requires her to open the door with a baby latch.



Wreath makers anonymous

I just wanted to share this beautiful creation I made.  It's hiphopanonymous!  Think I might  have to give this bad boy to a lucky family member at our Easter Eggstravaganza.

Hooking up HERE.

Easter is coming...

A couple of photos, to get us all inspired for Easter.  They are all from Martha's site, I stalk her website daily.  We plan on having an Easter dinner at our house for the first time this year, can't wait. 

Only if we used cloth napkins?

 Egg cups are like the greatest invention.  I bought two white ones at QFC, can't wait to use them. 

I'm still trying to figure out how you crack my eggs like this?

Crete paper is so fragile, I could never make them look this good.

 Seriously can someone find me a giant egg like this, I would have it up year round?

Cute.

I love these tissue flowers, I see them every where. 

 Too amazing not to share twice.  You can also see them HERE.

See my favorite things that are yellow, HERE.

Im so doing this. 

See my sweet Easter wreath HERE. 

(source)

Have a wonderful day!

Just another day...

What a day.  For the past two nights, Sawyer has not slept well.  I think she might have night terrors or something, she cries so hard and I swear she's not even awake.  I actually love tending to her.  She hugs so good lately...really tight, really long with her little face nestled in my neck.  My whole world stops and I just treasure it.  I'm hoping tonight she will sleep and maybe I will too.  Just looking back we have come so far, on the whole sleep thing that is.  It was so hard and it's nothing compared to now.  I'm spoiled now and I'm definitely not complaining.  A mac truck could hit the house and Jake would sleep right through it.  The other night Jake got home from work and went to sleep at 5:30pm and slept all the way until morning.  My bladder is only good for a around six hours.  I'm actually jealous of how he sleeps.  He can fall asleep with one arm in the air.  I'm not kidding, I took a picture once.  I should find it and post it.

Yesterday, I gave the dogs a well needed bath.  Today I woke up and went to let them out and they both sh*t in their rooms and were laying on it.  Brodie never poops in his room.  What a great start to my morning.  I also realized that Brooklyn, my baby girl pug needs a better life.  Her skin is so bad and I don't know what else to do.  Seattle Pug rescue doesn't even want her.   

Sawyer broke the stand for our digital picture frame by pulling it off a table in the living room.  This was my fault and I don't blame her. 

So, everyone talks about how potty training is so easy.  My mom swears I was potty trained at 13 months.  So far I haven't really felt that Sawyer has been ready.  But lately, she has been doing things that makes me think...if you can do that, you can potty in the toilet.  She does all the recommended things the books say except the average age is two and a half.  She walks, she can help with dressing, she can grab a diaper and lay down in front of you.  Lately she hates having a poopy diaper changed, I don't blame her.  But wiggling around in it and making a huge mess doesn't make me happy. 

So we tried the potty today.  I toileted her every hour or so and I put her in thick cloth panties, we had two wet panties and one episode of peeing on the floor.  For her nap I put her in a diaper.  But after her nap we went back to big girl panties.  Then we had a poop in these special panties, these wound up in the trash.  This made a huge mess and I yelled at her.  I still feel guilty about it.  Not that she pooped her panties, but they she made a huge mess and gave me a hard time while changing her.  Her whole room stunk, I had to scrub the poop off her carpet.  After that I let her trash her room for a while so I could shampoo the carpets in the living room.  That's a whole different story, I just bought the damn thing and it wasn't sucking up the water.  After kicking and banging it, I got it to work.  

I went to check on SJ and she had pulled the vent out of the floor and shoved two books and a couple toys down it.  Awesome.  Then I realized her room still stunk so I opened her window.  Then I realized she had another poop, it was like explosive diarrhea and I am surprised her diaper held.  So another battle on the floor just to make her clean, half a package of wipes later.  Then it got me thinking maybe we all ate something funny because I had a weird poop the other day before work and Jake was on the toilet in the middle of the night and had a belly ache.  Too much information?  Nah...everyone poops. 

Things Sawyer does that make me think she can be potty trained; hawks spit wads like daddy does, goes in her room shuts the door and turns on the radio, says "delicious", hollers around the house looking for daddy "Jake, Jake" it's so funny.  She will point at him and say "Jake".  She also calls me "Mimi".  She blows her nose.  She loves "Momo" aka Elmo. 

I got bullied on facebook today....apparently Vegas is no place for a one year old. 

Some good did come out of today, I did clean the carpets in the living room.  Cheaper then riping them out and putting in hard woods.  They were so nasty.  Jake actually said, "I'm glad you didn't rip them out."  I cleaned the oven too.  Seth is watching Sawyer Wednesday for a couple hours too, this makes me happy.   I also laughed so hard when Jake almost slipped on the wet kitchen floor today, twice.  Sawyer slipped a couple times too, I felt bad.  It was wet from my many trips to empty and refill my carpet cleaner. 

Bootcamp killed  me tonight.  Probably because I ate whole box of sugar cookies over the weekend.

We had Fiesta for dinner.  Yum.

I want this house.  Isn't she lovely?  Jake would say, "Let's buy it."

Things I learned today.

Be kind.

Be patient.

I'm happy, no need to convince anyone.

Surround yourself with people you love.

Don't let anyone bring you down. 

Having the last word, is so last year.

Hard work pays off.

My newest creation...

I have been infatuated with making wreaths.  See my newest creation below.  She's my little helper, bare foot on the cement, digging in plants.  Typical day in the life. 

I got the wreath at Walmart for $3.50.  Everyone knows how to make felt rosettes.  I already had the felt paper, which is like .33 cents per sheet at any craft store.  I used my glue gun and went to town.  I love it.  You can see my other wreaths here and here.  Wondering about my yellow door, click here?  Spring is just around the corner, I can taste it.  Hope you are inspired by my wreath!

Frustrated with painting the living room...

I really am so annoyed.  It is so hard picking out paint for our living room.  I have a total of nine paint samples and a million swatches.  We just want something light and fresh.  When you think about it there is only so many colors....we didn't want anything dark and narrowed it down to light green, light blue and light tan/yellow shades.  I just wanted my walls tinted.  I'm really picky about things.  For example, not a fan of accent walls.  But we have lived in this house almost two years and I want a semi-decent living room, since we spend the majority of our time in the living room.  I also like doing things 110% the first time.  I don't like a quick and easy fix, I like a permanent solution.  I don't like cutting corners.  There are plenty of beautiful living rooms our there, that I love and am inspired by but there is also many things I see and think...Oh my! (not for me.)  It is also hard because we have baby and need a functional baby proof living room.

                

This is my latest project, my father-in-law gave to me, for free.  Jake and I wanted to make Sawyer some kind of book shelf, this isn't want we had in mind but I might have to use this for another room in the house, if I can nurse it back to health?  It needed some desperate TLC, it was wet, dirty and moldy.  I am hoping it has good bones.  I washed it with soap and water and gave it a good scrub.  This picture is after the washing.  I have been sanding and sanding.  Jake cut the bottom off with the neighbors saw.  I wanted it symmetrical. I already have stain and plan on staining it soon.  Stayed tuned for the finished product.  It might need new backing because I am not sure how it will stain because of the water damage.  Or I was thinking I could cover it in fabric? 

Thought of this great idea with some left over ribbon, from our wedding.  Instead of a hot pink hair ties to keep Sawyer from opening cabinets in the living room, I tied them with ribbon.  Cute right? I was really proud of myself for coming up with this one. 

I cleaned out our fridge today.  I threw away six expired salad dressings, that I use all the time.  Gross.  Our fridge is bare but sparkly clean.  Grocery shopping tomorrow, we are out of everything.

Sawyer is way off with this time change.  Right now she is in bed with me watching Shrek 2, for the hundredth time, while I blog....its 11:05pm.  She just didn't want to go to bed.  It's kind of nice to have her cuddled up bedside me.  I am so sick of the weather, it's raining so hard right now.  It's been thundering and lightning all day today.  Over it.

Cute Planter Box

     I highly recommend going to McClendon's Hardware in Belfair and picking up one of these cute cedar planter boxes.  The are ridiculously cute and are only $12.99!!!  I go to McClendon's at least once a week.  They all know us there, and love seeing Sawyer.  She is so popular between there and Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, every one loves her and we don't mind sharing.  I love the sale stuff they have and can always find what I need.  I waited all day for Jake to get home so we could build it together in our living room.  Why does it feel so good to use an electric drill?  Jake got a sweet drill for Christmas and it is amazing, I don't know how we made it without one.  I told Jake I really wanted an electric sander, maybe if he wanted to buy me something sweet for Easter?  I'm just saying.  After the finished product, we decided we needed two, so I plan on going back and getting one more. 

This is what I call cheap entertainment with a finished product.  I can't wait to plant something in it. 

     So Sawyer expects a bath every night.  When it gets around that time, she starts taking her clothes off.  Or she will just walk up to one of us and put her hands in the air.  Her way of saying, "Please take my shirt off or I will have a tantrum."  Her new thing is to stand on her head like this picture, when she doesn't get what she wants, when she wants it. 

     Then she just stands at the baby gate, staring around the corner at the bathroom.  Occasionally whining and stopping her feet.  She is so cute and smart and she does love bath time.  She puts her hand under the water faucet until I have to turn off the water.  She plays with her cups and sometimes even drinks the soapy water.  She also likes to splash me.  When I get her out,  I let her step through the towel between my legs and fall to the floor.  This is something my mom did with me and I remember doing it.  We also had a metal copper bottom "top ramem" pot that had a broken handle that we used to rinse my hair with.  Every time she'd pour water over my head we named off a different brand of cereal, lucky charms, cheerios etc.  I plan on doing this with Sawyer when she get a little older and gets hair.

If this doesn't make you cry, I don't know what will...

God Story: The Howerton Family from ROCKHARBOR on Vimeo.

One of the many blogs I follow and love. Just wanted to share.

Post Secrets

So, thanks to my friend, Irina, I have been visiting this sweet website called Post Secrets.  People from around the world send in secrets on a postcard, anonymously.  I think we all should do it at least once in our life time.  I took the liberty of sharing some of these with you, that relate to me of course.  Hope you enjoy and still continue to read my blog. 

Like Post Secrets on the FACE.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."  Albert Einstein

all images from post secret