No earrings

I once said that someone could know something is wrong if I'm spotted without earrings on. Well I'm currently without my dangly friends. I obviously didn't mean to forget earrings, I feel incomplete without some huge thing hanging from my earlobe. When I miss something like putting on earrings, its a sure-sign that something isn't right.

I had a great Christmas. Kien and Brayden's grandparents all came over, Kien loved his presents, we all ate and drank mimosas and bloody marys and laughed and spurted out ridiculous spiritual theories and had a great day. My parent's left about 6:30 and Ryan and I were getting the boys ready for bed so we could snuggle up with Christmas movies on the couch. It was an amazing holiday. Amazing until about 7:15 Christmas night. 7:15 was when my mom opened her garage door from the kitchen to find flames. 7:15 is when she screamed at my dad "FIRE". 7:15 is when she called 9-1-1 as she ran from her home. 7:15 is the last time she'd see her house in one piece with green walls and brand new bamboo floor.

Everyone is fine, physically.

Physically our bodies are unharmed (with the exception of my knees because I tripped over the fire hose when I got to the fire). Physically. And we are thankful for that. Thankful and grateful and all of that relief that comes with seeing your family after you could have lost them.

The house is gone, physically. In spirit it will always be there. There's no changing memories of a place. Of a home. A place that was home for so long. January would make 19 years since my parents bought the house. They just finished a 2-year long remodel on it. Last week they had a solar water heater installed.

BUT we need to look forward. No more looking BACK, no more dwelling on the past. FORWARD.

Over the last two days I have witnessed a community coming together for a single family, and I've seen some of the biggest hearts I've known. It's inspirational to say the least.

Physically o.k,
Lyn

http://www.hawaii247.com/2011/12/26/christmas-day-fire-destroys-home-and-porsche-in-waikoloa/

Shelling

Over the last few days I've had the chance to take the boys to two beaches. Day one we hit up Anaeho'omalu ("A-Bay") in Waikoloa Beach Resort. It was a beautiful day, a little breezy, but beautiful. Kien and I found a lot of broken shells and a few super good finds. For the amount of broken cowrey's we found, I wouldn't say it's the best shell beach.
Then on Sunday Ryan was able to join me and the little boys at Old Airport beach in Kona. There's a little cove that is never crowded that I just LOVE. We used to go there all the time when Kien was little and as I sat there yesterday I wondered why we don't go more often. It has tide pools to play in and even a small sandy area surrounded by rocks that makes it like a baby pond. The shelling there was a lot of the same from A-bay. Lots of broken bits, a few good finds, but the perk of Old A's vs A-bay was that there were opihi. I'm sure the shells were left over from locals picking opihi and cooking them up and leaving the shell. How ever they got there, I was glad to find the shells. Those polish up real beautifully when sanded and ground down enough. It's a lot of work but the reward is killer.

Irregardless of how the shelling was, I had two beautiful beach days with my guys and I loved it. Brayden loved the rocky sand at Old Airport, he liked it between his fingers and kept throwing handfuls. Anything to keep it out his mouth pleased me :) for not being home, Kien was great. He's a homebody, but yesterday he was out in the tide pools and swimming and having all sorts of adventures.

On a family/beach high,
Lyn

A few of our treasures from A-Bay

Ryan and Kien

Waking up hungover

Could be the number one greatest BAD ever. Before kids I could sleep all day. Now we wake up to Kien screaming and crying "Daisy pooped in the house!". Daisy=cat who was shut out of the garage all night, garage= where the litter box is.
Oh. Boy. Wake me up when breakfast is ready, or don't.

Water and painkillers,
Lyn

Easy DIY craft to share

This craft is thanks to Lauren.  It's amazing so I had to share it even though I haven't done it yet.  It's a new craft with (drum roll please...) EPSOM SALT.  Okay, that was total sarcasm with the drumroll because Epsom Salt crafts are no new surprise anymore. It's everywhere.  The makers are loving on this attention and the world will soon be covered.  We'll probably drive past an Epsom Salt covered car soon. I'll take a pink one please.  

All you need to do it coat your item (in this case it was a Mason Jar, Glade Candle's old holders, and Christmas Ball Ornaments) with Mod Podge or glue, roll the gooey item in the salt, let dry, and spray with three coats of sealer.  Amazing right? You can add color to either to salt or the glue.

We're looking forward to doing this trick to fabric flowers, Easter eggs, and shells for jewelry. 

Here are some pictures of the projects.  I'll snap some with the camera later but for now these cell-phone pics will have to do.

Holiday centerpiece with Epsom Salt candle holders

Epsom salt Christmas ornaments

Happy Crafting,

Lyn

Waikoloa Christmas parade and Scentsy + Wine party

What's not to love about a community's holiday parade, especially when 60% of the town is IN the parade?! :) I took a million pictures of the adorable kids but still need to load them on my computer. And then, OF COURSE, my camera dies towards the end of the parade which was BEFORE Santa pictures. We got the one they print for you but the quality was not the best. Ooooh welllll. After the parade nd Santa pics we had to hurry home so I could clean and COOK. I spent more time cooking and baking yesterday than I normally spend in front of the stove in a week. Maybe a month. Ryan was an incredible help, I could NOT have done it without him. The party was fun, I had a few glasses of champagne, and lots of laughs with the ladies in my life. I realized as I was cleaning the kitchen last night that we didn't take ANY pictures. It was sad. But memories are something that won't fade (at least not for a while, unless we go senile earlier) and it was an evening of good memories and yummy food. *pat myself on the back for that one. I didn't even use any frozen food!*
Today I put in a good number of hours in to Created by Lyn by working on a logo and some new typography, as well as shopped around for some metal stamping supplies.
That was my weekend. Good times spent with good people <3

I love Christmas time,

Lyn

Crazy days spin the world

What's an adventure in life without the adventure? Today my story was crazy to say the least. Kien has some mystery illness, and after seeing our doctor today she decided he'll see an allergist/immunologist specialist person. I also requested some in-depth blood tests since he is always sick. He doesn't have BAD hygiene, no it's not as great as I'd like, but it's not BAD. A cold here and there is normal in school-age children, but for craps -sake I feel like he is sick 3 out of 4 weeks a month. Kien's doctor appointment was at the end of the day after the labs closed so he wasn't able to get his blood drawn for his tests. That's for tomorrow's excitement. Ugh.
Brayden took a little spill and hurt his leg, so after four hours in the hospital and two sets of X-rays, he has a little brace on so he doesn't hurt himself while his leg heals. He has HIS follow-up doctor appointment tomorrow, and we may bring him to an orthopedic specialist just to be on the safe-side. I don't want his physical development altered any more than it already will be. Brayden literally JUST started scooting/swimming on the carpet to move forward (he has been ROLLING everywhere like a steam roller. He steamrolls, looks around and repositions himself, and rolls again. It's hilarious) and now idk how much he'll attempt it while he has his brace on. It's so sad. He definitely won't be crawling anywhere since his sprain is on his femur, just above his knee. It's actually taking a lot of me to put this story out. I'm so sad. And I feel terrible that he's hurt, and at such a critical stage of his development. It hurts to think of either of my kids sick, but this is another level of my hurt.

On the lighter side of my day, somehow I completed and "sent out" three Created by Lyn projects. I honestly don't know how I did it since I was home for a total of about three hours today (including tonight) and Brayden and Kien were incredibly (yet understandably) needy. I didn't start-to-finish the projects, I just FINISHED and distributed them. So that must be it :) either way, it feels very accomplished. I even have a load of laundry in the dryer!! I can add that to the three loads on the couch I have to find time to fold tomorrow. Boy oh boy!!

My lights are going out (at only 10:37!), hoping to get rested up for another crazy day,
Lyn

weB LOG

Did you know that "blog" originated as a blend of the words "web log"?

No matter how different we are, our lives encircle one like-item.  That item is the internet.  We could literally become hermits and do everything online (I’m sure some people do).  When blogging opened up, the internet became a brand-spankin’ new place.  We are able to share with millions, our ideas, stories, gossip, and entertainment with just some keystrokes and a quick hit of the ‘publish’ button.

I’m fairly sure that each blogger has their own motivations for joining the community.  That is an aspect that sets all of us bloggers apart.  I haven’t found my niche yet, my direction to this blog, but I love to write.  I took a year of college courses for writing and I debate with myself all the time whether or not I want to continue that path.  I like sharing my stories, especially about my kids, and I enjoy words.  Words are my art.  I don’t have much output-skill; I can’t draw for crap; I can’t even paint straight lines on my walls; I can hardly even cut a straight line.  But I DO have creativity in my mind, and that’s why I’ve focused on creating things on the computer, and in writing. 

Before I decide which blog-path to embark, I’m just writing about my journey in life.

FAMILY

The biggest aspect starts with my family. I love my family more than my words can actually express.  I know that sounds cliché but it’s true.   I have a terrific life and it’s because of my family.  My husband is literally my other half, complementing me completely.  My kids are amazing.  Kien is a little brainiac and Brayden is sweet and adorable as can be. But they are also KIDS. Kien, who is five now, is no angel.  He has his moments where I’d prefer to pretend he isn’t mine; all kids do, and only a delusional mother would not say the same about their children.  Parents also know how humorous kids are, and I hope to share those stories via my blog so others might relate or just get a good giggle out of reading it.   I’d love to brighten someone’s day just by doing one thing that I love.   Just like how Kien brightens MY day when he reads me a new book, or Brayden lights up my world by laughing out of the blue.

CRAFTING

I haven’t done a lot of it because it costs money, but I LOVE to craft. I love decorations. I like to make pretty things simply and cost-effective.  That’s one aspect I hope to be able to share on my blog.

COOKING/ BAKING

I only believe in baking from scratch, except a birthday cake, which I’ll use a boxed-mix and spruce up in various ways. My favorite dinners are ones that I can start and have on the table in 20 minutes or less.  I’m a lazy cook and use boxed-macaroni and cheese or canned spaghetti sauce in countless dinners.  I know that baking from scratch and shortcut dinners completely clash, but it works for me.  I like to find shortcuts and easy recipes and I will share any awesome ones with you.

CREATED BY LYN

A huge and somewhat new kick in my life is my business.  I started dabbling in graphic design around the time Kien was born, and then I started making our Christmas cards, birthday invitations, birth announcements, and also doing the same for my friends and family.  After years of pushing from one of my best friends, I finally officially started “Created by Lyn”. Boring name huh?  Once buying our first house, I got in major decorating-on-a-penny mode.  That’s when I realized I can make super cute home décor items on the computer for just the cost of the print (either at home or at a photo center) and a picture frame.  VOILA, Created by Lyn HOME was established.  My printer broke last year so I didn’t super-pursue that aspect because I didn’t want to sell something that I had printed at Costco.  Well I finally bought a – very nice – printer so I am in business! WOO HOO!  Thanks to my cheap-ass wanting pretty earrings but not wanting to shell out the cash for them, I finally got supplies to make my own earrings.  Once I perfect my technique, Created by Lyn ACCESSORIES shall be birthed. I’m also going to start to learn knitting, that will be fun :)

PEOPLE

I have a great support system in my friends and family.  Family also includes a large part of my 120+ aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I have a unique and strong arrangement friends who have been around for the long-haul and I don’t see going anywhere. Two of my absolute best friends live away, but distance has no effect on a true friendship.  Not that I’d want to, but I can go an endless amount of time without seeing any one of my friends but I know that when I finally see them again, the time apart will have no affect on us, except that we’ll have a lot of catching up to do :)

Holy-canoly this is going on-and-on. How do I wrap it up? Right now MyDizzyDaisies is about life; things, events, or people that actually impact my adventure.  I’m a wife and mom trying to get a small business off the ground from home; it’ll be a great adventure, and I’d like to be able to share it with whoever wants to follow along.  Maybe someone can even get something out of it. Even if it’s a little smile, my work here has been a success.

(At the risk of sounding like a hippy) Peace, Love, and Happiness because everything else is a waste of precious time <3

Lyn

Hoops galore

I have an earring obsession. I feel naked if I'm not wearing any. If in the off-chance I'm caught without earrings on its either because I was THAT tired or sick when I got dressed, or because Brayden ripped it out of my ear. Earring obsession paired with lack of free-flowing funds is not my favorite combo. So I decided to splurge on supplies and make my own! For the amount of money I could spend on a pair or two, I can make my own EXACTLY how I want. And that's exactly what I've done! I bought cheap materials so I could practice, and I've come up with five pairs and can't pick my favorite. I'm sending a pair as a Christmas present to one of my little (she will forever be little in my mind, but she just turned 15) cousin and I love my earrings so much I can't decide which to give her!! The awesome part of this situation is that I can make myself another just like it :) eventually once I've perfected the technique and have enough moolah for good materials (like sterling silver) I'll be selling these. But for now, I'm just LOVING on my new hobby :). I also made WINE GLASS MARKERS today. They are so cool! They'll be a little party favor for my Scentsy and Wine party I'm throwing on Saturday. I'll FOR SURE be adding those to Etsy as soon as I perfect that technique.

Hoops and shells,
Lyn

Fun stuff these last few days :)

Okay so it might actually sound lame to some super exciting single folk, but I have LOVED these past two days. Walked Kien to school which is a blessing in itself that I get to live so close to his school AND that I get to even walk him to school. When I was going back to work after maternity, one of the [many] things I cried about was that I wouldn't get to walk Kien to school anymore. Walking to the school isn't the only reason these days have been happy. I feel like I am slowly DOING THINGS. For example:
My room has been a wreck. It still is, but at least the clothes are hung, walkway is clear (wait, I can actually access my dresser?!), and so far I've filled an entire garbage bag of...garbage. 16 months of shopping receipts, cut-off tags, paystubs, ripped magazines... (don't worry, I recycle paper goods). I also cleaned off, PAINTED the back inside of the bookshelf, and reorganized the shelf. It's dust and clutter free. For now. Still lots to go but it's a major improvement. AGH enough about my bedroom.
I also spray painted a bunch of picture frames white and added some decor to the hallway. Like everything else in my life, it's a work-in-progress but it'll be fine how it is now and I can add on later.
I baked cookies on Monday. I made banana muffins tonight for Kien's class tomorrow. Those two things make me feel good :)

I got a custom invitation order through etsy! That was awesome too. Then the Etsy bug caught me and I bought a new printer so I can f-i-n-a-l-l-y print my stuff from home and sell more!! And, the last big purchase I can make for a while, or for forever, is a new (used) camera!!! About a year and a half ago my Canon Rebel Xsi was STOLEN. Today we received our new Rebel :) its not the newest thing but it's all we will use, and a price that can't be beat.
I also made more Christmas card templates!! So those are ready...

So many little things that make me feel so good inside. Or maybe it's the holiday spirit bit my ass. Whatever it is, I love it :)

"it's the most wonderful time of the year"
-Lyn

Green Veggies

The smell of green veggies, specifically peas and broccoli is starting to make me sick. Other than baby mum mums and the snack Puffs, Brayden only eats green veggies (and sometimes mixed with baby cereal). So when a dirty diaper smelling like fermented peas enters my life every day, I reaffirm the fact that I will never again eat peas. Not that I really HAVE anyways, except in pork and peas.

Even though it grosses me out, here's a method, and reason, for my veggie faze. Kien had a really great pediatrician when he was born. She has since moved out of state but I always agreed with her crazy methods and styles so I've stuck with them for Brayden. The eating schedule she gave is:
1: Poi (if you aren't from Hawaii, google it) and/or rice cereal.
2: Green veggies (Brayden has so far has green beans, peas, avocado, and broccoli. Next week he'll have spinach which I cook up and blend with water and baby cereal)
3: orange veggies like carrots, corn,and then we'll also enter into sweet potato. Whether purple or orange depends on the season.
4: fruits
5: meats. For the first year, that's ALL I think. I can't remember about yogurt, but I think that comes with other dairy like milk at one year old.

Anyways, that's why I'm sick of green veggies. Don't put anything green on my plate for a while please. Thank you.

Greened-out,
Lyn

my etsy ;)

I had my first Etsy sale today and it is EXCITING!!

In honor of my first sale, I wanted to share a couple things I found (not mine) that I'm in love with:

Coffee poster from Etsy shop Of Life and Lemons

"Do what you love" art print from Etsy shop Letter Happy

Of course don't forget to check out MY shop =)

Monday reversal

Monday has a different meaning now that I don't have to go to work. It's my watch Hulu and fold clothes day, so I look forward to catching up on some Desperate Housewives and Terra Nova. The tv time gets me looking forward to folding clothes, otherwise the pile will take over my couch for weeks on end. The sad part is that it's the first day in two days (or in today's case it's four) that it's just me and Brayden. No big brother or daddy to talk to or to watch Brayden while I water the plants or take a longer than necessary shower. But I actually get things DONE on Monday. There's no sense cleaning anything while the two older guys are home; they are a destructive tsunami of ropes, dishes, snack wrappers, and clothes. So all-in-all I like weekdays, even Monday, now that I spend my weekdays in a job I LOVE ;)
My only beef with Monday is that it's a little harder to get Kien to school on Monday mornings, but that's only an hour-long battle so it's really not that bad.

So GOOD MORNING Monday, let's DO today!!

Conquered the Case of the Mondays,
Lyn

BREAKing Dawn. Broken. My review (part 1)

Fact 1: I read the entire Twilight Saga at least four times, and certain books even more than that.

Fact 2: Regarding the movies, I loved New Moon, liked Eclipse a lot, but I hated the Twilight movie.  I felt that the director, Catherine Hardwick, ruined it in every way possible.

Fact 3: I think that the Breaking Dawn Part 1 movie made the Twilight movie seem pretty decent.

The opening scenes includes the beautiful Jacob ripping off his shirt and turning in to Jacob-Wolf.  Considering that it was the only shirtless scene, it was a little too shaky and a lot too quick. Yes, it was the only shirtless scene.  Why were the wolves always fully clothed? They were always shirtless in New Moon and Eclipse, why ruin that streak of pure-brown-gorgeousness?

The first vampire scene is pretty light and cutesy, with the Cullens carrying various pieces of furniture and tree trunks around the yard to set up for the wedding.  I like this scene because it seems candid and not like the room is about to explode with awkward tension.  There was enough of said awkward tension in the next scene in Bella's bedroom.  It's the night before the wedding and Bella and Edward and having their moment.  Between the story that Edward tells Bella about what a monster he used to be (and giving us the forced-visual of his mouth oozing with bad-man blood), the background music, and the horrible emotionless close-up stare down of Bella's face, it was a bad soap intensified.  I can see that they were probably going for a romantic scene showing that Bella is committed to Edward forever, and that she is aware that she will be some monster when she turns to vamp-hood. But the MUSIC. It was supposed to be background music but it was MUCH too high and would not fade in to the background. I was just about to look past the loud music until Emmitt shows up in Bella's window "hanging on" to the window frame.  Yes that is what is supposed to happen, but did it NEED to look like he was being held up on a wire, unable to hold his body still? Probably not. Corny scene number 1.

Wedding day.  The wedding was beautiful when we could see it.  It felt like it took way too long for Bella to walk a short distance down the aisle, but we really don't know how long the aisle was because most of the shots were a close-up of her (once again) emotionless face. Sorry, it wasn't "emotionless", it was full of emotion. I'd say those emotions were "trying too hard", "fake crying", "suffocating", and "burning alive".  Wasn't she supposed to be nervous yet incredibly happy? Edward's facials were great for once.  He looked so happy that was about to jump out of his skin.  I think he even smirked at a point, and I know that is something that you for real can't help but do when you're just so HAPPY.

My favorite part of the movie was actually the wedding toasts.  It was added in for the movie (not in the book), and it was light and comical, especially Emmitt's snide comments about not getting much sleep anymore (which only the vampires and werewolves could fully understand correctly), and Charlie's reminder that he can shoot a gun.

Jacob shows up at the wedding and it's basically a scene out of the book, with the exception that Sam and the others were supposed to be in the woods as WOLVES just incase Jacob lost his cool.  Instead, they all came out of hiding as men. If a fight broke out between wolves and vamps right there, the wolves are powerless in their human form against vamps.  That's actually a point that bothers me a lot; the wolves are too-often HUMAN.  If there was no dialog, they should be wolves.  There was no problem with them being wolves in Eclipse.

Anyways it's OFF TOO THE HONEYMOON, and yeah-yeah-yeah, it matches the book and she seems nervous and all is fine.  Fine but not GREAT.  Except the scene when Bella is all nervous about her night with Edward.  He has gone out to the ocean, naked, and she is trying to mentally prepare herself. It's a funny scene and I like it because, just like the opening vamp scene, it seems candid.  Okay so the obvious comes next.  WEDDING NIGHT.  The sex scene is a okay, again with the BAD music though, and it's just a little awkward.  When Edward broke the headboard, and then the whole bed frame, the audience LAUGHED! Pretty funny.

DAWN at MIDNIGHT

BREAKING Dawn, I mean :)
I have never been to a midnight movie before, so now seems like a perfect time to start! It's also logical; the boys will go to sleep and then I'll leave Ryan home with sleeping kids. Yes I'll be tired on Friday, but that's what caffeine is for right? It makes sense for us mommies to do this tomorrow night and we're STOKED! I'll post all about it afterwards!

Team Jacob (yes even though I know he loses),
Lyn

P.S.- I don't believe people can call themselves die-hard fans if they haven't read the books. Same goes for Harry Potter. Posers ;P

If the stores can do it, so can I.

I pulled out my Christmas decorations today!!! I'm so very excited. Because I got most of my Christmas shopping done I just felt holly-jolly already and wanted to put up the tree. And baby, IT'S GOIN' UP!

sickies, babies, and sick babies

Well a couple weeks slipped me by while I blinked. 

Kien caught a cold just a couple days before Halloween, infected Brayden, and now I have been fighting it since.  I think I've finally failed.  For the most part it's a super sore throat, and I can handle THAT. But now I'm mutating to the nasty cough and extreme irritability.  Okay the irritability might not be related to my cold at all. 

Brayden sleeps all night, I've gone over that I think.  It's AMAZING that he has slept an average of 12 [uninterrupted] hours each night.  While he first got his cold, there were two nights that he woke up around 3 am and I fed him because he's sick.  Well his cough got worse this weekend, so when he woke up today at 3:00 I fed him and snuggled him for a bit.  He dozed off for three seconds.. and he's still awake. It's 6:00. Ryan's alarm clock is beeping.  This baby has had me up for THREE hours.  And I was trying to fight off this cold.  At 5:30 I finally decided not to fight him and just to stay awake since I'd need to get my morning moving along in such short time anyways.  So I'm wiped out and have some killer cramps, a foot that feels broken, and I'm running on four hours of sleep.  But guess what?! I'm gonna keep truckin' on.  That's what mommies are supposed to do right?

Now I am not even going to attempt to say that Ryan is not an amazing dad, man, and husband, because that would be a lie.  He's the best.  But when this man gets sick OMG he's more of a baby than our babies are.  I WANT to be able to take care of him and I WANT to love on him so much that he feels better.  But when he feels the need to tell me every little whiney symptom while he sleeps in bed, during which time I'm ALSO not feeling well, not bitching about it, and functioning for the boys, it makes me mental! I know it seems kind of selfish, and I can't explain what I want. I think I want to feel acknowledged since I'm working my best to appear strong and healthy while I feel like hell inside.  There's also a huge chance that I'm just wicked jealous because I would love to be able to sleep it off all day in a closed-door bedroom while the boys are taken care of.  I often wish I could take some Nyquil and conk out for 14 hours.  

Oh by the way Brayden just fell back to sleep O_O.


Sick and Tired (literally),
Lyn

ALRIGHT I swear that is enough bitching.

Halloween. T-minus... holy cow it's soon!

Tomorrow night is a Halloween thing at the school. Brayden's costume isn't ready. Great, huh!? Aaah!! Brayden is going to be an owl, and possibly a wingless owl if I don't figure out a simple functionable way to make wings tonight. I'm an Indian. Get it? Owl and Indian. I know, it's totally cute. Kien and Ryan are Jedi. Ryan is really a Syth, not Jedi, but same-same in the scheme of things. Unless the "scheme of things" actually involve the force, and in that case the Jedi and Syth are complete opposites.

So Halloween is on Monday this year. I will always maintain my opinion that Halloween either needs to be moved to the last Saturday of October or that the day after Halloween should be a school holiday. Halloween is a kids play night. They should be allowed to get a sugar high until after bedtime, and to run wild with their friends and play the role that matches their superhero or vampire costume. Instead Kien will be making it home on time for his 7:15 bed time. Is that lame? I could let him fight the dark side of the force as late as he wants, and let him take (his first) a tardy on Tuesday. but will I?? Or CAN I?

Undecided and dilemma'ed-out,
Lyn

tgiF and FNMN

Here I am...sitting.... putting Brayden to sleep. I'll be sitting here for probably another 20 minutes. I know I totally asked for this when I kicked Dr.Ferber and all the other cry-it-out sleep training techniques to the curb. But I'm sticky, covered with green beans, and all I wanna do is shower. Then I wanna snuggle up to Kien for our [over two year old] tradition, Friday Night Movie Night. A couple years ago Ryan was working two jobs, one of which being a night job at a restaurant. It was during that time when it was just me and Kien to spend our time together. We'd go on dates to the restaurant up the road. We always went to Taco Tuesday at "daddy's work", we had a lot of Play Doh time, and we ALWAYS had Friday Night Movie Night. Kien wasn't allowed to watch tv on weeknights so I referred to Fridays as my "lazy mom" nights. I didn't care whether or not Kien ate a good dinner and I let him binge out on popcorn during the movie. Then we'd snuggle up on the huge couch that was in our rental at the time and watch any movie Kien picked. It was literally my heaven. I would usually fall asleep before the movie was done and I'd wake up at the end of a totally different movie and find Kien passed out next to me with popcorn kernels all over his pajamas. The tradition has always continued but evolved in various ways; daddy was able to join us once he stopped working nights. Then when I was pregnant with Brayden it was even more special because Kien would cuddle up to my belly and we'd enjoy our movie. Now I have to spend an hour putting Brayden to bed before I can join Kien. There HAVE been times when Brayden joined us for FNMN, but he doesn't go to sleep like normal and then his routine is squashed. I'll get in to detail about my crazy routine later, and talk about my miraculous sleep chart, which will probably make an appearance in my Etsy store as soon as I figure out how to professionalize it ;)

Well Brayden might finally be ready to go in his crib and I hear Yo Gabba Gabba theme music coming from the living room. Gonna shower and intervene on that PRONTO.

TGIF for FNMN,
Lyn

This picture is from FNMN two weeks ago when Brayden joined our party then stayed up until 11PM.

Fed too well at Casa de Campogan

Plate full of various meats(including lobster), bright green asparagus, cheese melting on the potato... Mouth watering right? Add the three handsome Campogan men and a picnic in the living room and we have the greatest dinner ever. My husband rocks. He'll rock even more if after I put Brayden to sleep I find a clean kitchen. I'm going to sleep well tonight <3

Loving on SUNDAY,
Lyn

Mommy's half-selfish {sat.ur.DAY}

Oh my goodness yesterday was a little bit crazy but a lot of bit fun. I woke up and took Brayden to Kona to get a birthday present for a party Kien was invited to that was at 2:00. I went straight from Kona to Alesia's baby shower. During which time I missed Kien's soccer game. Anyways I got home around 2:30 and Kien didn't seem to be feeling well and didn't want to go to the party :( being home ended up a blessing though since I had to get ready for my girls game night. Once a month a group of women get together for Bunco. My first time was last month and it was so much fun and themed as the 80's. 11 women decked out in 80s gear definitely was fun! Last night we wore our Halloween costumes and it was only 5 of us. Not enough for Bunco so we played black jack. I won! That makes it even BETTER! :) it was a lot of fun to sit around and chit-chat and BS and NOT have to get up to check on Brayden, have my boob sucked on, or referee between Kien and whoever he would be fighting with. I think these game nights save my sanity, and sanity makes a better mommy right? :)

Sane and Relaxed,
Lyn

P.S. this picture is my parents who went to a Disco themed party last night. How awesome are their costumes!? Love it!

TGiF

Well really Friday is almost over. There are 50 minutes until the craziest Saturday of the year.

Shopping for birthday present I forgot to that is needed for tomorrow.

Kien soccer game at 12:15 which I'm going to miss.

Baby Shower at 12:00.

Kid birthday party 2:00-5:00.

Ladies GAME NIGHT at 6:00.

Nervous about leaving Brayden tomorrow night.  My poor mommy's boy.

I am so excited for each event tomorrow but wish they weren't all on one day.

Falling asleep at my keyboard,
Lyn

P.S. Check out my ETSY shop!

my ETSY shop NOW OPEN

I am so excited!! More items will keep getting added over the next week. Visit. Share. Buy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CreatedbyLyn

Open for Business,

Lyn

Ferber vs. Brayden night two

Screw Dr. Ferber and his sleep method. Brayden is MY baby.

All I have to do is make sure that Brayden gets one solid nap early enough in the day and bedtime is no problem. And of course he is going to want to eat for an hour straight at bed time, he is loading up so he can sleep for 11 hours without waking up hungry!

So what if I "have to" snuggle my baby for 10 extra minutes. They grow up and grow OUT of snuggles so fast, just let me enjoy the feel and smell of Brayden's head on my shoulder while I still can.

So *I* win this one!

Pleased with MY sleep method,
Lyn

MOMSUMER #1&2: Zerran and Macnut oil

The days of coughing up $180 to sit in a salon for two hours are long behind me. I will always treasure the times when I got to support the cosmetology industry but now I highly lack the resources necessary. Not having the time or money for my old ways, I box-died my hair. For the last month since resorting to such measures my hair has been DEAD. No matter how much conditioner I used, or how many different shampoos I've tried, my hair was gross. Picture a horses mane. Now picture what that horse is eating. Straw. My hair was the straw that a horse would drool over. Most days I didn't even want to touch my hair so I wrapped it in the messiest pile on my head and tied it with a hairband, which only increased breakage. I actually thought about chopping it all off or paying my hairstylist to deep condition it. Then the miracle products came in to my life.

One friend told me to try her "ZERRAN Initiate" deep cleaning shampoo and another friend also gave me a sample she received of Macadamia Natural Oil hair repair masque(and some Healing Repair Oil which I added a few drops of into the masque). I don't know exactly which product was the miracle or if it was a combination but my hair is SOFT! Like straighten it, touch it, don't wash it, soft. Ya.
http://www.macadamiahair.com/ and you can bet your bottom that these products will be on my list to Santa this year.

I loved the Moroccan Oil products until the deep conditioner masque didn't work for the straw on my head. It's always worked in the past, my hair just obviously is over it and trying to get out of that relationship.

http://www.zerran.com for the products like the shampoo I used.

Caressing my hair,
Lyn

Completed projects for today

Finished a baby shower present AND organized my hallway closet. The kitchen is an ignored mess but YAY ME for having something DONE :)

Feeling accomplished,
Lyn

Ferber vs. Brayden night 1

In the red corner, the big-personality almost-six-month old. In the blue corner, Ferber Sleep Method enforced by the weak-for-baby mommy.

The Ferber sleep method involves a modified "cry-it-out" plan where the baby is left alone for regulated, and increasingly longer, intervals of time until theoretically the baby soothes himself to sleep. Read the "Ferber vs Brayden" post to find out why I've had to resort to letting my precious baby cry :(

Quick recap of night one:
6:30 Bath
Lotion massage & jammies
6:50 Nurse
7:00 Bell rings on round one
7:10 Round two
7:21 Round Three
7:28 nurse
7:47 walking out of Brayden's room victorious.

initial put-down:
Lots of kisses and "good nights" as I lay him in his crib. I get out of sight.
He is fine for two minutes then starts to fuss.

First interval: 5 minutes
Then butt-pat and singing and kisses.

Second interval: 7 minutes. Brayden is really crying. This is hard and I have never before seen my timer on my phone tick the seconds and minutes by so slowly. More butt-pats and kisses and prying my hair out of his grip.

Third interval: 7 minutes. This time he one he has tears so I pick my sad baby up. Holding him isn't calming him down I figure he's hungry. Sure enough he gulps down and drains both sides.

He starts to drift off in my arms, startles a bit when I put him down but just looks around his crib and THE EYELIDS DROP!

Final bell rings at 7:47 as I am closing his bedroom door behind me and heading in to the shower.

11 hours and 13 minutes later I get my baby out of bed to feed him

Mommy: 1, Ferber:.5 (since I half-way followed the rules)

Tonight I have the PTSA meeting 6-7:00 so it'll be up to daddy to get the ball rolling. I'll report again tomorrow.

Rested up (or at least better than yesterday),
Lyn

iOS 5

Updated my iPhone.
It's neat. Exciting to get something that feels new. Annoying to have to learn something new. Lol.
No really it's neat so far.

http://www.apple.com/iPhone

Snazzy phone says g'nite,
Lyn

Rain Rain stay a while

The weeds in my ghetto-graveyard-wasteland of a yard have been handled to a pretty satisfyable level thanks to Ryan and our parents. So now its drizzling and I love it. I want it to cool off the heat that is quite uncalled for in mid-October that's killing any motivation I gather up. Turning my dead brown grass green is surely another perk I look forward to.

Loving on Rain and completely aware that "satisfyable" is not a real word,

Lyn

Ferber vs. Brayden

So. Tired. Zombie mom. Help. Coffee. I need to spike my coffee with cocaine. Totally kidding. Stay away from drugs.

Brayden has been a perfect night sleeper since he was two days old. He started with waking up every two hours. Then a few weeks later he would go to sleep entirely on his own and woke up every 3 hours. He then transitioned to waking up only once or twice at night. Suddenly when he was two months old he slept for a straight 12 hours one night. Then again the next night. After the third night of this I celebrated and bragged to everyone that would listen. To my sheer pleasure, he was a 7pm-7am sleeper.

So imagine my frustration when at 5 1/2 months old he decided to stay up til 3:30AM last night!!! He had the hardest time falling asleep and relaxing and wanted to be held but then wouldn't relax. It was just H E L L for both of Brayden's exhausted parents. Especially since I'm the bed-time Nazi.

We aren't the "cry it out" kind of parents but also won't be co-sleeping with him (did that with Kien and he was a-whole-nother form of difficult). We found a decent middle-ground in the Ferber Method (http://pediatrics.about.com/od/sleep/a/110_ferber_mthd.htm) but will still be altering it because I don't like the idea of Brayden crying so much.

Re-starting the new crazy-strict bedtime tonight and I'll report back. My first hurdle will be regulating Brayden's naps. He's going to want to sleep all day. So do I, but that's not an option in mommyhood.

Wish me luck,

Sleepless in Hawaii,
Lyn

The Frozen Pizza

A dinner staple in my house is the luxurious, glamourous, healthy... FROZEN PIZZA. At $9 each for a Digorno or Tombstone it was a pretty cheap meal for the three of us... until Kien started eating more than one piece, which was around the same time I was pregnant and basking in the fact that I was "eating for two". We suddenly required two pizzas which only left enough for Kien to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Do the math and we're up to $18 for dinner for three and lunch for one. That's $4.50 per "serving" (I mean real servings, not the puny amount listed on the package), YEEOUCH!

I am so glad that my eyes were opened to Kirkland's frozen pizzas (not the take-and-bake crap that always gets burned). At $10 for a four pack of frozen cheese pizzas you cannot go wrong. The greatest pizza topping ever is PESTO. Some pesto smeared all over the pizza and even some Aidells Chicken Sausage (any flavor) or Tyson grilled chicken breast and we've got a pizza straight from a chef's oven ;) Tonight it was just Kien and I at home for dinner so I made just one pizza with pesto. I buy a jar of pesto from Costco, which we use for anything and everything. Now to the point of this rambling: My Kirkland frozen pizza + pesto costs a whopping... $2.84. For the entire pizza. It only cost $1.42 per person for Kien and I to eat dinner tonight. !!!

Pesto adds Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium, and Protein to the pizza. Be aware that it also adds quite a bit of saturated fats, but if you're eating a pizza I'm sure the saturated fats aren't your concern.

In all this talk about pesto and $savings, I haven't even mentioned how DELICIOUS the pizza actually is. The light crust tastes buttery. The cheese is a perfect flavorful blend. It is [by far] a favorite in my house!

Kien's shark attack BIRTHDAY BASH

 
It was over a month ago that my little big man turned five years old. He chose a SHARK themed birthday party. Well, he originally asked for Shark Boy and Lava girl but how was I supposed to decorate for that?! So when Kien said "sharks" I stuck with it and had a blast. His party was two days after my last day of work so I had to stick to a very tight budget. In other words-- NO budget for decorations. Now, understand that no decor was not an option for me or my style. That said, check out what I did for decor, mostly all made on the computer and by hand with supplies I already had! I'm so proud :)

I bought a few things for the goody-bags (bubbles, goggles, pencils), blow-up sharks, and balloons. The cake had white-chocolate shark fins swimming on the surface (OH YEAH I also bought a silicone shark-fin mold which I'll reuse for ice cubes the next time kids come over), and a shark-bite out of the cake.

 

"WARNING SHARK SIGHTED Keep Out" and "WARNING KIEN'S BIRTHDAY Proceed With Caution" signs were posted all over and the inflatable sharks were hung from the tent. I used the bottom of empty water jugs as bowls to be filled with goldfish, and glued a Styrofoam piece to the inside so I could stick my mini-signs in to it as a centerpiece.

 

And I can't leave out the paper mache shark pinata! I am very proud about my special* happy smiling shark! It was tough enough that all the kids got to take good whacks at it, and Christian the 8 year old got to really beat at it and was only stopped on time so Kien could finish it off.

Welcoming myself

I've been wanting to get started blogging for over a year but have been putting it off (like many other things I want to do) and I've officially kicked myself in the rear this time. My blog-theme ideas have changed so many times that I finally settled on a broad theme: ME. hehe. Adventures in REAL world mommyhood.

Now for the introduction nonsense: I'm a stay-home mom finally (I've been dreaming of this since I went back to work when my now five-year old turned one) with two little boys; Kien turned five in August and Brayden was born this past April. Of course I can't leave out my BIG boy, my lover man / husband, Ryan. I know it's corny to say but he really is my rock, and definitely as Kien says, "the King of our castle" (though we know it's the QUEEN who runs the kingdom).

I do enjoy cooking even though I often fall-back on frozen chicken nuggets thrown in the microwave then served with {so gourmet} canned corn. I like to try to be crafty, but my greatest skill is definitely with computer graphics.

Another thing I've been putting off is placing items in my ETSY shop, which I opened but haven't touched since I opened it. That will be up soon. Right? Yes.

We bought our first house in July 2010 and have a lot of work to do to it. I'll definitely be sharing all of that excitement, even though the biggest "mini-renovation" was the kitchen and it's pretty much complete for now (minus floor trim) and a paint switch-a-roo. Oh and I say "mini-renovation" because we can't afford any BIG ones, so it's all mini and DIY until we find oil in our backyard.

Anyway I'm going to go ahead and PUBLISH my first ever blog post and I totally predict that I'm going to be hooked to blogging.

Ready, set, go!

TTFN {Ta Ta For Now},
Lyn