DIY Day

So today I decided to do some crafts. I wanted to make something for Dan for his birthday and couldn't think of anything that wasn't "too girly" yet thoughtful. So here's my "DIY day" plan for homemade key chains... Much thanks given to pinterest for the idea!

Yesterday I drove all over Saginaw trying to find supplies I would need for this project. I needed different sizes of washers (doesn't matter what size... Pick to your liking), key chain set, and a stamp set. You'll also need a hammer, black Sharpie and a good steady hand! Oh, and lots of washers because you're sure to make mistakes! Practice makes perfect with this project.

I went to Harbor Freight to buy a stamp set. Super cheap (7.99) and the lady was so helpful! :) went to Walmart and after 20 minutes of searching the store with a crying baby I found someone to help me. Much to my surprise the lady didn't help, at all! But I eventually found a key chain set, and in cool colors for under $5, bonus! I had to go to Menards to find the washers, and they have a whole section of a million different sizes! I was so happy! This entire project cost less than $15, how cool is that??

How to make the key chains:

Step 1
Gather your materials. First you will need a towel, hammer, washers and stamps. Clean the washers. They will most likely be filthy from being in a hardware store and you want the surface clean. Lay them out on a hard surface, I went outside and put a towel on the cement then laid the washers there. (if you don't use a hard surface the stamp will move and it won't be pretty!)

Step 2
Grab your stamps and hammer! Put the stamp where you want it and keep a steady hand! You will have to hammer it about 4 or 5 times to get a good imprint.

Step 3
Clean the washers again, get all the excess dirt off and dry them off. Have a damp paper towel handy (or a baby wipe works wonders!) and grab your black Sharpie marker! Color in the letters that you stamped with your sharpie. Make sure you only color in one letter at a time and quickly wipe away the remaining marker, or else it won't come off! That way your letters will stand out more :)

Step 4
After the marker is dry grab your key chain kit. This is the fun part! Decide which color key chain you want and how you want to put it together. I did two different size washers and one key chain hook. I really like the way it turned out! I'm excited to try more combinations & different sizes.

And that's all there is to it!

So you can pick out whatever size washers you may want and stamp whatever you want on them!! It was super easy & a really great gift idea! Now Dan has a daddy key chain, and I have a mommy one! I also made one for my dear friend, Liz!

:)

Grape Juice & Tummy Bugs

So I was "pinterest-ing" and found an intriguing post about grape juice and fighting off those annoying little tummy bugs and the dreadful flu! Drink grape juice and you won't get sick. Who woulda thought!?


Just to be upfront: this little trick is a PREVENTATIVE. Once you actually have a stomach bug in your system, it will not work. You will probably be throwing up grape juice...and could ruin some carpet! ; )

I know this isn't what I typically post about. When you get to the bottom of this post, you'll see why.

One BIG rule is that it MUST be 100% grape juice... just buy Welch's to be sure. Lately, Welch's has been coming out with all sorts of new grape juices...avoid them if you can. No light or white, no "Essentials", no grape juice cocktail....just plain old 100%. I even avoid the ones with calcium. There are so many varieties...look very carefully when shopping for grape juice.

If you're just using it as a preventative when you've been exposed to the bug, try 3 glasses a day. If you want to add a bit of apple cider vinegar (no more than 1 tsp.) to it, it's one more measure to take. If you want to add it to your diet regularly (again, I'm not a doctor, this is just from my own experience), just a glass with breakfast is a good way to do it (I think 3 glasses of this every day all the time might hurt your stomach in other ways...LOL).

So next time flu season strikes, drink some grape juice! I wonder if red wine does the same trick? I'd much rather drink a glass of red wine a day than Welch's. Hmm... ;)

God is great!

I am not a church-goer. I don't read the bible. I don't follow the ten commandments like I should, and I don't live my life free of sin. I am human. I am a human who makes mistakes, slips up from time to time, and ends up in bad situations. I am a human that believed at one time that God was greater than all. That God created this world, he put us all here for a reason and he had a plan for all of us. I believed that everything happened for a reason.

In 2009 my best friend Meghan passed away in a tragic car accident. She was my best friend, and the closest thing to a sister I had. Meghan was my role model, my rock, my everything. When she passed away I stopped believing. I didn't believe that God had a plan for that to happen. I didn't believe that God had better plans for her, or that her accident happened for a reason. There was no rhyme or reason behind it for me. She was gone and I was hurting. When Meghan passed away it was a time I should have turned to God to help me and I couldn't. That moment I felt lost.

It was hard for me to get past that point in my life. I tried reading the bible, I tried going to church, I tried every thing and I couldn't bring myself to believe.

The day I found out I was pregnant was the scariest moment of my life. So many thoughts running through my mind. So many regrets. I didn't understand why God would do this to me. I kept thinking to myself, why me? Why now? Why does He hate me? But it didn't take long to figure out why I was here, why me and why now.

"God will never give you more than you can handle".

I realized that He was challenging me. God was giving me more than I could handle and He was believing in me. All those times I gave up on Him, all those times I said I didn't believe... He was making a plan for me. He stood by my side and He believed in me. God was and still is making me a stronger woman, a better mom, and a better person. Unfortunate things happen in life, giving up is the easy route to take but being strong takes courage, and God gives you that. I prayed for 9 months that I would have a healthy baby girl, who has a loving family, and support team. I prayed that she would have a father who loves her, cares for her and is there every single day! I didn't stop praying, and God didn't stop helping.

I learned a lesson today. Never give up on God, He is always there and will never give up on you!

Eat, Sleep, Poop, Repeat

The glorious life of a newborn... To have someone hold you, swaddle you, cuddle with you, feed, bathe, change, wipe and fall asleep with you every night... Sounds like the perfect life. The perfect life for everyone but mommy!

Lennon is now 1 week and 2 days old, and I finally have somewhat of a routine down for us. We wake up, change a dirty diaper, put on some cute clothes for the day, warm a bubba and relax. She eats for about 20 minutes, then we change another diaper, change an outfit because she more than likely exploded... and we lay down for nap time, which usually lasts 2 hours until she is hungry again and thats when I'm really lucky. Somewhere in that time span I have to pump. Yes, dreadful pumping. Every 3 hours... So you do the math. Lennon eats every 2 hours and I have to pump every 3. In the middle of all that "free time" I have to change her, burp her and get her I relax to sleep. It's never ending!

Other moms tell stories about their pregnancy, their delivery and the horror stories of it all. No one ever tells you about your life after baby is here! It's challenging and rewarding at the same time!

I have a very young family. I have a mom hasn't even hit the big 4-0 yet, and has two young children. My youngest siblings are 5 and 5 months! I have to say I have learned a lot from my mom... watching and helping her with my siblings. I have changed diapers and taken care of babies my whole life... So I never really doubted my capabilities of being a mom myself. That is, until I had a baby.

Don't get me wrong... Now I have been a mom a little over a week and it's going great. Doing the "mom duties" are a piece of cake. It's not rocket science. Change a diaper, feed baby a bubba, put the paci in when she cries. Easy right? Wrong. There is so much more to it. I wish I could make a schedule but it's not that simple. Baby gets hungry, feed her. Baby cries, hold her. Baby poops, change her - and watch out for the explosions! It's all about being aware of what your baby is doing and when. All I do is watch her, play with her, and wait for the next time she's hungry and needs a diaper change.

I feel like a robot.

My Lennon

4:19am on July 11, 2012 my life changed.

Lennon Danielle Hitts, such a meaningful, strong name for a 6lb 12oz bundle.

The labor was not what I expected, it was actually better but I won't get into the gruesome details...

The moment I heard her first cry I started crying. The doctor plopped, literally just plopped Lennon on my belly after delivery and cleaned her up. The moment went by so fast and everything was so surreal, I couldn't even breathe. I couldn't take it all in, can we rewind and play it back slowly? The best moment of my life was when they laid her on my chest, skin to skin, and I got to kiss her head. I just kept thinking, "oh my God I did it..."!

The next few hours were amazing. Seeing her open her eyes, hear her cry, watch as they cleaned her up. I can remember looking up at Dan and smiling, thinking "we did it"...

and she is beautiful.

Today is the day

Last night I was restless, to say the least. I was overwhelmed with emotion, anxious nerves, mind racing a mile a minute kind of feeling. I couldn't sleep. It was like that 5 year old inside of me knowing I'm going to Disney World the next day! Except this is way better :)

Today is the day I am getting induced. I am now 41 weeks - overly pregnant- and 7:00 pm marks the time I call my doctor to make sure they're ready for me. 8:00 pm hospital arrival and then we're ready! Ready for the poking and prodding, needles, monitors, and long hours in a hospital bed with a mattress that seems to not hardly qualify for a mattress at all but rather a mat with a little cushion. Not my ideal delivery room situation but hey, better than being the woman delivering in Walmart? I think so.

So today I am OCD-on-overdrive. Up early, wish I had coffee, making a list of everything I have to do around the house to make coming home with a baby easy - well, easier. If there is such thing of it being "easy". Stocking diapers, disinfecting nearly everything I touch, making sure I have enough paci's, wipes, onesies... Is the mom-to-be list ever ending?

I am the definition of a "Type A personality". I have to have everything perfect, even though I know I will miss something and freak out about it once I am home with a newborn! It's a scary thought. I hope I have everything I need... I'm sure I do. My ever so organized, super mom of a mother made sure I had everything I needed, and I mean everything down to dotting the I's and crossing the t's. Thank God for women like her in the world, thank God for my mom - I'm sane because of her.

My baby girl still doesn't have a name. It's been a heated debate now for a few months and we cannot, will not, come to an agreement on a name we both like. I never thought naming a baby would be so difficult. Naming a puppy, a fish, a cat... Piece of cake! Naming a baby, my baby, now thats the hardest decision I've ever had to make. There are the "trendy-cute" baby names... Lilliana- Lilli, Giuliana -Gia, Mia, London, Leighton, etc... Those have all been on our list now for months but the one name I picked out is still racing through my mind. Still haunting me everywhere I go. Is it a sign? Perhaps. A sign from my Papa, telling me he's here. He's with me and helping guide me through life and all I've had to go through. I can't imagine giving my daughter a "trendy cute" name that means nothing to me... But we shall see. In a few hours, a few days... Who knows, maybe she will have a trendy cute baby name after all... I won't know until I meet her, and at that moment my life will forever be changed. As I feel her moving and kicking inside of me, I feel as though I could never love someone, or something more than her. I can't wait to meet her and fall in love, No matter what her name may be.

Here goes nothin'. It's 8:00 am. I have 12 hours to clean this house, and get it "bring home baby ready". I can do this. After all I do have a super mom... Maybe it's hereditary? :)