Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby...

Oh, hi. The organizing is not finished. You want to know why? Because on Wednesday I was driving home from dropping Noah off at school and I completely forgot there was a tiny stretch of school zone for another private school. So I was caught going 30 in a school zone. The officer was really nice but he still gave me ticket. It will be dismissed and never even show up on my driving record after I take an online traffic school course. But the whole experience was stressful and embarrassing and I totally cried. I cried so much that my nose decided to just keep running even though my tears were done. And it just developed into a full blown head cold. Awesome, right?

So my kitchen and bathroom look like a tornado has swept through them. A tornado that brought mountains of tissues and scattered them around the with the rest of the mess. I just can't bring myself to show you pictures of that. Besides, baby pictures are much, much better. So without further adieu, may I present Miles John at 2 months old:

He sports a perpetual fauxhawk.

Anyone who has a problem with that

can walk right into his fist.

I'm cute. You know it.

You want to kiss me but it will only result in

slobber all over your computer screen.

Thoughtful baby in a swing.

You wanna piece of me?

Smirky smiles.

Even his eyes smile!

Serious face.

I'm even adorable when I'm crying!

Can you see my little dimple?

Cutest button nose ever!

He's starting to giggle every once in awhile.

I'm surprised his toes haven't disappeared for

the amount of time I spend kissing them.

He sleeps in his swing quite a bit. And I love how he wriggles his

little fingers through the holes in his blanket every time.

P.S. Here's a cute shot of Toby the Chocoholic on a day we made brownies. Don't you love how the brownie batter matches his eyes?

Or. Gan. Ize. Ing.

Is there such a thing as postpartum nesting? If so, I'm doing it. Or maybe it's just my regular "start-of-the-new-year-must-purge-old-stuff-to-make-room-for-new-stuff-and-while-I'm-at-it-why-don't-I-organize-this-closet-oh-and-all-the-bathroom-cabinets-too" thing. But on hyper-speed because I'm working in two hour increments in between feedings. Pictures of my work coming soon. I know how you all love to see a freshly organized space.

P.S. I took Miles in for his two month well baby check today. He is 23 inches long (50th percentile), and 12 pounds exactly (50th percentile). He hasn't lost his hair the way the older boys did. I know I really need to take some pictures and post them here soon. I will try my best. Pinky swear.

Thank you for the blog fodder

Tonight at dinner...

Noah: Hey, Mom. Remember when I used to call foots "feets"?

Geary: Uh...that's a good one.

Jeana: Yeah, and apparently we never corrected you. When you have one it's a foot. When you have two it's...

Noah (confidently): Foots.

More Handmade Gifts

Another type of gift I had fun making were these travel jewelry cases out of potholders and snack size ziplock baggies. I followed this tutorial with the addition of adding pretty fabric to the outside of the cases with iron-on fabric adhesive. I included a little pair of earrings made by me in each travel case.



I also used the iron-on adhesive to monogram knitting bags for a few of my friends who are learning to knit. This one was for my friend Katy.

And the rolled up thing is a knitting needle case that I made with matching fabric. Cute, no?
The base for this was a place mat from the dollar store. I used bamboo skewers to make long skinny pockets for the needles.

Ruffle Necklaces

Now that Christmas is (long) over, I wanted to show you some of the handmade gifts I made. I followed this tutorial by my friend Rebecca to make these ruffle necklaces.

They were fun and super easy to make. I made a red one for myself, too and have gotten lots of compliments. What do you think?

What Does a Grandma Say?

Toby: What does a lion say?

Jeana: Roar!

Toby: What does a bear say?

Jeana: Roar!

Toby: What does a grandma say?

Jeana: Hmm, I don't know. What do you think a grandma says?

Toby: Tweet, tweet?

Jeana: No, that's what a bird says. What does a grandma say?

Toby: Hello, Lover!

42 Things That Make Me Smile

1. Toby calling himself "Tobin Joe-Fish Linhart"

2. Geary loading the dishwasher every night

3. My good friends

4. Getting fun mail like Real Simple magazine

5. Miles' chubby belly

6. Watching Noah be a helpful and considerate big brother

7. Cinnamon Toast

8. Creative Outlets

9. When Miles cries Toby stands over him and says, "It's okay, Miles! I'm right here!"

10. The fresh start of a new year and a clutter free house

11. Ovaltine

12. Watching Noah play Wii tennis

13. Hearing Geary's thoughts about church and ministry

14. The 29 gummy smiles I got from Miles just this morning.

One of Those Days

Let's talk about three things that happened today which made me feel like a complete moron today, okay?

Number One

I had forgotten to turn in a form from Noah's re-enrollment packet for school. The school secretary emailed me to ask about it and after I located the lost form I told her I would turn it in today after dropping Noah off in his classroom. So this morning I walked into the school juggling Miles in his car seat, Toby with his hands full of police car toys, Noah, and the form. I immediately dropped the paper in a puddle.

I'm not done.

So I picked up the paper and laid it flat across Miles' car seat and we continued on. I held the door open to the first grade classroom and ushered Noah and Toby inside. After greeting the teacher and a few other first grade moms I bade Noah good-day and picked up Miles' car seat and the wet form once again and made my way to the office. Once in the office I noticed that the wet form was no longer on Miles' car seat. It must have blown off. So I left the baby in the care of one of the office ladies and ran back outside to find the missing paper. It was laying in a soggy heap outside the first grade classroom. Just as I stepped up to retrieve the paper Noah's teacher opened the door and came out with Toby who I had completely forgotten in her classroom. Soooo embarrassing! And my poor middle child! I hope I haven't scarred him for life. Ugh!

Number Two

I was at Women's Bible Study this morning and I reached into my bag to get my Bible. What I pulled out instead was a stack of thank you notes that I thought I had mailed months ago.

Number Three

My friend Rebecca brought us a delicious meal in a beautiful cobalt blue casserole dish with a lid. That blue dish has sat on our counter for a month and a half. Every Sunday I would say to Geary, "We can't forget to take Rebecca's dish to church to give it back to her." And every Sunday we would forget. But today I remembered! I brought it with me to Bible Study and reminded Rebecca herself three or four times to not leave without getting her dish from me. So when we went out to my van to get the dish I opened the trunk and the dish fell out and shattered on the ground at my feet.

"I'll replace it! Where did you get it?"

"I don't know....it was a wedding present."

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh! Rebecca was so kind and gracious though. And I will replace the dish. And I did mail those cards on my way home today. And I have hugged and kissed Toby a million times already today and have plans to give him a million more.

So glad God loves me and delights in me even when I'm a bumbling ninny.

Christmas 2009

Better late than never, right? Here's a slideshow of some of our Christmas fun. Enjoy!

Sliders

One of my favorite things about Christmas this year was watching my sons and nieces play together. They came up with many, many fun activities but I have to admit that I felt like the best aunt/mom in the world when I taught them how to do this:

High On Hair

So a few days ago I went to the Dollar Tree to get some flossers and I noticed that they had these fake Bumpits. Just in case you don't know what Bumpits are here is their commercial for your viewing pleasure:

I have to say that even though my hair is already quite voluminous I've always been curious about how to achieve some of these looks without having to rat and tease my hair. I thought to myself, "It's only a dollar--what the hay!" and I bought myself some High on Hair volumizing inserts. (Blogger does not think volumizing is a word.)

Here's what I got: one Pro insert, one medium insert, and one Lil' insert. They really used the word Lil'. It's right on the box.

Here I am with my regular hair after not leaving the house since Sunday due to our stomach bug. I did put on some lipstick just for this photo-shoot.

Let's start with the Lil' insert. It looks like I'm trying to hide a roll of quarters in my hair. Or is that sassy, flirty, and fabulous? I can't tell.

Here's the regular sized insert. Not bad from the front. Maybe it's even cutish. But wait till you see what happens from the side as I try to "rock a pony" as they say.

What in the world shape is that supposed to be? Plus, the regular fake Bumpit was really uncomfortable--digging into my scalp and you could totally see the combs sticking out from the top. UG. Lee.

Now the Pro size (aka Glamor or Hollywood Bumpit). I thought I should be more glam for this hairstyle so I found a scarf and added more lipstick. Here's the blurry arsty shot.

And the runway pose. I would not really call this red-carpet ready hair.

The close up. Not so glamorous.

Oh, well! They were only a dollar and the photo shoot was fun and you got to see me making this face:

I do realize that I could mess around with hair more and make it look nicer with some additional teasing and smoothing. But really, I could get the hairstyles I want without the Bumpits (fake or not) with the same amount of work.

P.S. My very most favorite review of Bump-It's ever can be read right here.

Buggin' Out

A horrible stomach bug has hit our house. Noah got it first just before 1am today. He threw up all over the top bunk--can't wait to clean that up. Geary moved him to the guest bed and we took turns getting up with him whenever he would throw up again. Toby joined the fun around 4am. Poor baby, he was so confused. We put him back to bed surrounded by towels and took turns changing out his towels whenever he would throw up again. Sometimes the boys would puke at the same time which made the getting up easier--one stop shopping. But most of the time we would crawl back into bed after helping one kid just to hear the sounds of the other one retching. And then Geary got sick around 5:30. I tried to help when I could but baby Miles needed to be fed, too. I took him out to the living room (mostly to get away from the wonderful aroma of the puke filled towels in the laundry room outside our bedroom door) and just as I started nursing the bug got me, too. What a way to start the new year! I hope this doesn't last long!

UPDATED @ 5:30pm:

We all dried up around 3pm today. Noah watched a DVD on our portable DVD player on his bed. Geary and Toby watched a documentary on the TV in the living room. Miles and I mostly stayed in my bed and nurse/napped. Geary put him in the baby swing an hour ago so I could get a better quality nap. I think we're over the hardest part. Now it's just getting some energy back in our exhausted bodies. Thank you so much for praying and for the encouraging comments! These are the days when I feel truly baptized in motherhood.