Here's Hoping

Yesterday I went to my family doctor to talk about a new medication for my A.D.D.

I have been taking Concerta since about the 8th grade I think and it has always worked fine. I got off of about a year after I finished high school thinking that since I wasn't sitting in a classroom all day I would be free from the medicine for the rest of my life.

Yea, that was a dumb thing to think.

About a year ago I went back to the doc and asked to be put back on my medicine. I constantly lose things. If you are friends with me and my husband on Face Book it is not out of the norm to see him post on my wall to call him. WHY would he need to post that so regularly? Well, because I always forget to charge my phone, or I lose it. And since he always keeps the iPad charged, he knows it will alert me with an FB notification and I can call him from the computer. It's pretty annoying. 

Lets see, what else do I do...

I have a hard time focusing. Please imagine how much focusing it takes to keep a house clean. A LOT! Staying on task and finishing housework is just as important and hard to do as focusing on a task at work. I have found little tricks that help me. Like I will set the timer on the stove for 7 min and clean in each room for only those 7 min. When the timer goes off I stop what I am doing and change rooms. If it is any longer than that I will get bored and just stop all together. I have to keep things moving for me to concentrate. 

I also am a habitual list maker, I guess most women and mothers are. And I guess I am super impulsive. I agree to things insanely quick. 

So, being a stay at home mom and not having any real boss but myself is not a good combo. That's why I went back on the medication. But something must have changed since I have had both kids, or maybe something changed since I was on it for so long and stopped taking it. Either way, that crap made me super sad. Around the 5th day of taking it I spent half of my day in tears because my best friend moved to New York. Um, she moved to New York 5 years ago.....so where was this coming from! We talk on the phone about once a week too, so it was weird that I was so emotional about her moving. After a couple more weeks of just dragging around and feeling completely down I just quit taking it and never got it refilled.

Now I am on this new medicine, Vyvanse. I am really excited about it because it is supposed to last for 12 hours, and all the reviews I have read about it have been really positive. 

Im excited to be focused and organized.

Now let me go scrub some floors and clean some counter tops....without a timer going off!

I have been thinking about my family's life a lot lately. 

 I have seen several blogs I read and just random things I have stumbled upon online talking about how French parenting is superior to American parenting. I'm butchering the topic, but what I have gathered is French children are polite, well behaved, don't snack during the day, and their mothers never need to raise their voice. Whatev. I am not one to really compare myself or my parenting style to other people. I'm not saying I have always been this way, but I have just drilled it into my head that everyone has a different situation and personality. And since I don't have anyone's situation or personality but my own I have to be the best ME for my fam, whatever that looks like. 

There are so many different ways to parent out there, and while I like to read about what different people do I also only really care about what God says to do.

Don't worry, I'm not about to start rattling off about being a "Woman of God" and a "Sister in Christ". While I want to be a Godly gal(sweet Lord, did I just use that phrase?) I am so not about all this contemporary Christian lingo people throw around. Gag me.

I found this little picture on Pinterest the other day and I love it. 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Children. Go to this blog to download a copy.

I like this and have been thinking a lot lately about what I should be praying for my kids. Sometimes it is hard to take a step back if you are comparing yourself to others and see that you are you. That is their family, and you have yours. Above anything the most important is your family's spiritual life. If you are working at that the other ridiculous stuff (like random mom always has the most organized house. Seriously! How is she that together!!!) won't matter as much.

That's what I am hoping anyway!

I really need a chart like this to pray for myself. I get irritated at George a lot and sometimes when I am fussing at him I know I'm being stupid. Sometimes George will go for a solid 15 min of talking without me saying anything. I think he just likes to hear his own voice. I need to work on not wanting to throw a rock at him sometimes. Do they make a chart for that?

Tee Love

I love a good Tee. Who doesn't? I especially love them with big statement necklaces. 

Here are a few of my favorites.

Miami Amor Top from Modcloth. $49.99

 Spotted Picture Show Tee from Madewell. $48

Vintage Cotton Tee from J.Crew. $29.50

Cupcakes Make Everything Better from Esty shop: Dressing on the Side. $22

Indigo Ink Dot Tee from Madewell. $48

Do you have any go-to places for Tees? 

In an unrelated note, George is over at his parents house fixing his jeep since the radiator blew yesterday. It's always nice when you have to spend a unexpected few hundred dollars..... -_-

But to make things better we are taking Ryder to see The Lorax with some friends this afternoon! I think I am more excited to see this movie than Ryder is!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, see you next week!

Birthday Weekend

Saturday I turned 26! This is me showing you how excited I am to be on the down slide to 30.....

Saturday morning I woke up, came into the living room and saw this banner greeting me.

 It was the most amazing banner I have ever seen! In case you think I am crazy because this is NOT the most amazing banner then I am prepared to diagnose you as a non-Office watcher. And more specifically, not a Dwight fan.

To help you better understand where this came from watch the video below. It will explain everything.

After I saw the awesome banner George made me he brought me breakfast that he picked up from Panera and my gifts.

Let me start by saying that George rarely gets good gifts for me. Over the years for various holidays and birthdays he has gifted me the following: an hair hockey table, a 3 ft tall Nut Cracker, and a scooby doo trashcan for my car. See, the gifts just don't make sense.

But this year, he finally got it! All he did was walk  into Anthropologie after work one day and he did amazing. That's they key. He went to Anthro, you can't go wrong there. 

Here is what he picked out:

Branch & Twig Colored Pencils

He kept saying he thought they would be good for decoration. Whatevs, I am using these! 

Jewel-Sparked Bobby Pins

I seriously love these. The yellow one is really more of a chartreuse, and it is so pretty. I am wearing it this very second. 

Volcano Jar Candle.

Mine doesn't look exactly like this one, but it is the same scent. Volcano. It smells pretty amazing, and not at all like a volcano....or at least not what I think it would smell like!

George did so great, he is the best!

I had such a good birthday with lots of other gifts & dinner dates from friends and family.

Tomorrow George and I are going on a mini road trip to Atlanta. We are headed to Ikea to get new furniture for our house. I have waited for this day for a long time. We have beige suede couches. Please, imagine in your mind how terrible it is to have SUEDE light colored furniture with a toddler and preschooler. Are you imagining grape juice and peanut butter smeared everywhere??? Yes. Everywhere. And in case you didn't know, suede is so annoying to clean. So we will be purchasing dark gray furniture that has removable, WASHABLE slipcovers. Get ready. Our house (or just the furniture) is about to look like it did before we had kids. It brings a tear to my eye.

I love games

I am pretty sure I am one of very few girls who still loves a good shower game. 

And by shower game I do not mean a game you play while taking a shower....

I'm talking baby showers people.

And, while some of you might disagree, Baby Shower Bingo is one of my all-time favs.

My little cousin is having her first baby due April 1st so her sister and I are busy busy getting ready to throw her shower this Sunday.

I designed this little BINGO card for her shower and wanted to share it with you.

It is a small card, only 20 squares, so it will work perfectly for a small shower.

I'm excited to play this Sunday. I know I can't be the only weirdo who loves shower games! Back me up fellow game lovers!!

Go here to download

*pic from here

Here is what is swilring around in my life lately.

• I can't wait for summer to get here. Occasionally in the summer I would go sit in my backyard and read a book and let the sun dry my hair while Lucy was napping. Of course I can't do this everyday, but on the days I did I was so relaxed.
• Our washing machine broke last week. Well, it would go through all the cycles perfectly but it wouldn't agitate. Thank goodness my dad had a super old one from the 80's in storage that works. If it works that is all I care about. Plus, it washes our clothes in half the time the other washer did. Win.
•  We haven't been going to bed until almost midnight lately. I don't know how George and I got on this path, but it is not a good one to be on. Tonight we are going to bed at 10:30, if not sooner!
• Ryder has been having some sleep issues as well. About 6 months ago we let him sleep in our room because Lucy would just scream and scream when it was time to go to sleep. So we thought it was pretty cruel to make Roe stay in the room and listen to her scream. We let him stay in our room until she stopped that nonsense. Well, Lucy is now a champion sleeper.........and Ryder is still in our room. If we even mention that he is going to sleep in his room he breaks down into a panic. What have we done! He used to be so fine with sleeping in his own room. In the dark, alone, with the door closed. Now he is "scared of the dark". I am going to start preparing him today that he and Lucy are both going to sleep in their beds tonight. It will be a rough week, but I have to get my room back! I just wish I could sit in my room and read a book before bed, but I can't when a 4 year old needs to sleep. Im thinking a sleep machine will be a great help in this. I get it, silence & darkness are creepy sometimes. 
• I have recently discovered dry shampoo. IT IS AMAZING. My hair is super oily. I can shower at 10 pm, go to bed, wake up at 7:30 and it looks like I haven't washed my hair in 5 days. It would be so much easier to take shower at night and then all I have to do in the a.m. is get dressed, straighten my hair, wash my face, brush my teeth and put make up on. Dove makes some that is about $5 a can. It has only been 2 weeks and I have already went through 3 cans though. It doesnt last very long thats for sure. Bumble and Bumble makes some that I am sure is way better and lasts longer, but I haven't convinced George that it's worth it to drop $35 on dry shampoo. 
• Grocery shopping is on my list of ToDo's today.....which is always a fun chore with two kids in tow. Saracasm. 

What do you have going on in your life?

 

Scallop Love

I just love this pattern so much. It's fun and cute and makes me want to scallop everything!

I would love to own a house this beautiful one day! So charming!

*photo via

This little notebook is super cute. $5. It's from Etsy shop Mint Afternoon. I can never have too many little notebooks to jot lists or ideas in. Go check out her shop, she also has colorful circle paper garlands, and really cool map envelopes.

 

This has to be the prettiest little girls room I have ever seen. From this awesome blog! I think I have pinned this image more than once or twice. When we move into a bigger house and the kids have their own rooms you can bet your life Lucy will have scallops!

These shelves are fancy! This would be such an easy DIY to dress up your kitchen. From Better Homes & Gardens.

These are the most precious printable Baby shower invites I have ever seen. I stumbled upon this Etsy shop and instantly fell in love. See the sweet scalloped card? Oh, it makes my heart skip a beat! Go here to drool over Kelli's artwork.

In more personal news I am BEYOND PUMPED because I won this giveaway at this stellar blog! Say Hello and Smile is such a cute blog, please go check it out! I know you will want to follow!!!

George will be gone this evening playing drums, so the kids and I need to find something to do.......I am thinking a trip to CHOM is in order, and maybe some Moe's ;) 

Hope everyone has a restful weekend!