Friday, October 28, 2011

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Crafting the Laundry Room

When we bought our house, the laundry room looked like this:
Not bad, just a little boring.

So, I spiced it up a bit with new paint and here's what it looks like now:

The wall color is difficult to read in pictures, but it's in the grellow family; more closely related to yellow than green.

The mailboxes for our neighborhood are practically right outside of our front door, so I wanted to find a convenient place to avoid losing keep the mail key.

I found this idea and decided to give it a try.  Here's what I came up with:

I still have more plans for the laundry room, but I'm happy with it for now; I guess a room is never really finished. ;)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Words


Stranger: "How old is he?"

Me: "He's two."

.....Awkward Silence....

Stranger: "He's so small."

Me: "Yeah, he was born really early so he's still catching up."

Stranger: "Is he going to be ok?" or "Is there anything else wrong with him?" or "Is he going to catch up eventually?"

This is a conversation I have every time we go out in public which is pretty much daily.  Actually, I'm keeping it mild.  Some of the things people have said/asked would blow you away!  I totally get that our sweet boy is itty-bitty (just like his Tummy Mom and his Mama) and when people ask how old he is, they aren't expecting me to say he's two.  But, the questions that people ask are still difficult to swallow. 

At first, I didn't really care when people asked these questions, but lately I'm not loving it.  Caysen is understanding more and more and it breaks my heart to think that he will grow up hearing people say things that make him feel anything less than perfect just the way he is.  I don't want him to think of himself as Caysen, the boy who is "too small" and "not normal".  I want him to think of himself as Caysen, the boy who is "kind" and "loving" and "confident" and "just the way God made me" and so many other things.

Most people mean well and have just never experienced what Caysen has, so I can't expect them to see it through our eyes.  However, knowing this doesn't make it any easier to accept that our precious boy might be convinced by strangers that he is anything less than the most wonderful blessing and miracle we could ever imagine.

Our sweet boy was born early...really early.  According to science, he shouldn't have made it; but I'm just sure that God's got big plans for him.  He gave him the tough, determined personality he would need to overcome the obstacles in the first days, weeks, and months of his life.  I just hope that hearing these comments from strangers doesn't knock him down and take that strength away.

Sometimes I'm tempted to shut the rest of the world out and just let him be with Mama and Daddy, two people who swoon over his every move and think that everything he does is "the cutest thing ever", but I know that he can handle it and he's going to be ok.  Besides, he'd miss out on an aweful lot of good if it was just Mama, Daddy, and Caysen 24/7. 

This is my feeble attempt at reminding people to think before you speak and remember, even little ears can hear you.

Ok, I'm stepping down from my soap-box now and I'll try to return to positive, upbeat, happy blogger soon. ;)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Get Your Craft On

Now that we're all settled in our new house (sort of), I've had a few chances to put my craft room to good use.  The first project I tackled was a fall wreath.  My inspiration came from here.  I guess I'm a little more boring and neutral so I took the original idea and changed it a bit to suit my taste.  Here's what I did: 

My supplies included a foam wreath, 1 yard of burlap, ribbon and other embellishments, scissors, and hot-glue.
I cut the burlap into about 1 inch strips.  I found that I could get two strips out of each short length of the yard.
I tied my burlap strips around the wreath alternating the directions of my knots.  Then I added my embellishments and it was ready to be hung.
Here's the finished product hanging on the front door.


Even Mr. Kirk thought the wreath was super cool...or is that super cheesy?  The focus in this picture is horrible, but how could I not post it.  You're welcome dear husband.  ;) 


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