sixteen......

I'm slowly getting back into running and it has helped me SO much lately. I dont know if it's because i've been feeling better, or because the semester is out, but either way, i like the feeling. i've been trying to run every other day about 3-4 miles. So far so good. The kids really sent me into hiding there for a few weeks, but i think right now is the calm before the storm. They always get REAL good and everything will be real calm before the next big crazy phase. Here is my Day 16 picture of my sweet angels. I really do feel like my heart has grown since having my 2nd baby. All day i go from spending time with Noah and just loving him more and more, to spending time with Belle and loving her more and more. I love to see them together and their relationship blossom. I have so many wishes and dreams for them. To just be happy, always be themselves, and to love eachother unconditionally.

Day 16



My day 17 picture is kind of embarrassing, BUT it sums up George's days off SO well :) Lately, Noah has been getting out of bed and coming downstiars to spend some time with me. Sometimes it's before i go to bed and he snuggles with me on the recliner and the couch while i watch tv. It's kind of like "our" special time, and other times he comes down when i've already gone to bed and climbs in between George and I. George isnt a snuggler and i definitely am, so i've enjoyed Noah sleeping with us because he LOVES to cuddle. Here we are Sunday morning, George's first day off, sleeping in while George and Belle make breakfast :)

Day 17



This picture is perfect because you can see our headboardless bed :) I have been on a manhunt for a bed, or headboard, for awhile now. I had a certain idea in mind. I KNEW i wanted wood, i wanted something older and preferably just a headboard versus a whole bed. I love the idea of changing a bedskirt and showing that off in a room. I've searched craigslist, the Goodwill, and yard sales. Finally George was getting ready to just build me one and i even played with the idea of making a fabric one like this post here. But finally today during one of my usual Goodwill runs i found EXACTLY what i was looking for........a solid wood, older style, king size, headboard. There was a woman who was a little too late behind me, and as i ripped the tag off to buy it she asked if i was really going to get it. I was like pshhhhhYEAH! I scored some GREAT things today and decided to take a few pics. So my Day 18 are some pictures of my fun Goodwill finds today!

Day 18 Let's start with the bed :)



Don't mind the messy pillows, i need to work on getting some nice ones now that we have a headboard! We're playing with the idea of painting it, but for now we're loving it the way it is :)



Here are some of my other fave Goodwill finds. I got alot of cool things and i'm not going to post ALL the pics, but here are a few. Getting a little ready for Spring!

The blouse is vintage and i LOVE the detail around the neckline. It's kinda hard to see in this pic. The shorts were my size and i just couldnt pass them up, and everyone needs a skinny black belt that you can throw over dresses or cardigans.



I dont know if i would wear these 2 together, BUT this dress is SO comfy and will be perfect for my student teaching next year. And this belt was just TOO cute to pass! I got some AMAZING belts today. I'm kinda belt obsessed.



This dress is alot like the black but a little shorter so i might have to pair it with some tights. I'm pretty much obsessed with this belt. It has the most gorgeous stone in the center like a belt buckle. It's just so unique.



I'm SO excited for our upcoming beach trip, especially now since i have a couple more cute pieces to wear at the beach! And i just heard that my parents will be here to visit on the 14th too! SO much to look forward to! The summer is starting off fantastic!

12,13,14, and 15.

Ok i have one picture that sums up this week :



With that said, here are my pics from the week. Tuesday's class got canceled so i decided to take the kids on a run. I've been using my double jogger alot more lately, and at first is was SO hard to run pushing the both of them! It has gotten a little easier this week and today was the first day i didnt feel like dying at the end of my 3 miles.

Day 12



I'm happy to say that Noah's behavior has improved over the past week. No more poop episodes, so now we're learning how to not yell........ALL DAY. My head hurts by the time he goes to bed because he talks SO loud, and pretty much constantly. And then when he gets mad it's full blown screaming for a good 10 minutes. Here is Noah's gem jar that i made him. He gets a gem everytime i see him doing something good. He reacts VERY well to positive reinforcments o this has worked! Since he is so young i colored some tape at the half way mark so that way he could get a little prize (animal crackers) when he reached it. I learned about the gem jar from this cool gal (HERE).

Day 13



Belle received some new diapers in the mail this week. They are OH SO soft and look so cute on her! I ordered them from a great Mama (HERE).

Day 14



And to end the week i thought this picture was fitting. Or at least her bib is :)

Day 15



This weekend we are going to finish the patio. We have had lots of rain and storms so it was put on hold, but we're almost done. So hopefully i will have a final patio post to share soon! And then i've started on our master bath and hope to at least get it painted this up coming week :)

Day 10 & 11

Day 10 fell on Easter, and because i dont want to seem like i love one of my kids over another i will post 2 pics :) I REALLY wanted to get a good pic of them together but between Noah streaking all day and Belle lifting her dress, it just didnt happen.

Day 10 my pretty lil belle in her first Easter dress :)

The Easter bunny sure was good to my handsome dude!



This is what i found tonight when i got home from school. Both kids tucked in bed and my man sitting out, enjoying a cigar and reading. i love him so much and all that he does for our family. He is the BEST dad in the world and takes such good care of the kids. Not just the kids but me too. I'm always the first in bed and last out of bed because he's picking up and tucking the kids in, or getting them up and fed. He knows how stressful my last year of school has become, and i honestly dont think i could have done it without his help.


Day 11

Day 7, 8, and 9 oh my!

So i think what works best for me in this 365 day project is to do a few days at a time. I DO take these pics on the right days, i just dont upload them that day. It's hard enough for me to find time to sit down, much less find my camera cord, camera, and then upload one pic to post. Things have been rather hard here lately. I wont go into much detail, maybe soon i will have the courage to write about my recent battles, but right now let's just say they have been hard. Things should start looking up soon and i'm looking forward to a small break before Summer semester starts. I still cant believe it will be my very last summer semester in the undergraduate program. i can do this, i can do this, i can do this!! I have tell myself this everyday! Well here are my pics for today and the last 2 days. Tomorrow is easter. Belle's very first easter. That makes me a little teary eyed to think about. She is getting SO big SO fast and sometimes i wish i could just freeze time.

Day 7. This is Belle at her Orthopedic appointment for one of her hips. Her pediatrician thought something might be wrong with it at her 4 month appt so they sent us to a specialist. They did x-rays and after an intensive check up they found that her hips are 100% A-OK! Despite everything Belle kept her usual, to.die.for. smile and everyone loved her!


Here is my Day 8 picture. It is of the kids finished Easter baskets. I tend to go a little overboard and i LOOVEEE holidays with kids. That's the best part about having kids, you get to relive holidays like you're a kid. I wanted to do mostly handmade and all natural things for their baskets. I also didnt want to put too much candy in Noah's because we all know his Mimi in California sent him a nothing but candy basket :) I have included a few links at the bottom to some of the items i bought for their baskets.



Belle's basket liner i specially ordered from (HERE). It was about 75% cheaper than the potter barn kids one i got Noah last year.

Belle's doll and Noah's dino i ordered from a dear friend. I LOOOVEE all her things :) (HERE)

Belle's sensory clutch ball is from (HERE)

And Noah's wooden bunny puzzle is from (HERE)

I also made my own letter crayons in Noah's name. I cant wait for them to get their easter baskets tomorrow!!! :)

And here is my Day 9 picture from today. Mine and Noah's dyed easter eggs :)

Day 5 & 6

So i've given up trying to catch up each night from the one day i missed so i will post my day 5 picture now and day 6 picture from this morning! I need to accept that by the time the kids go to bed at night i cant peel myself off the couch to even upload a pic.

Motherhod has been a journey that i did not know would be so hard. It started out rather simple and easy with Noah. He was SUCH a good baby. I really had NO problems with him whatsoever. George and i immediately wanted another and i guess fell into the trap that most parents fall into thinking our 2nd one would be a breeze and 2 would be no different than one. Boy were we wrong. I'm not saying Belle has been difficult, because she really is a good baby herself. She is just SO different than Noah and we had NO idea that the "terrible 2's" would get SO MUCH WORSE as Noah get's closer to 3. It has been SUCH a challenge for me personally having 2. I know school has alot to do with it too, but i think some people just dont understand how much work really goes into having kids. i know there are different circumstances for everyone. For one, George and i dont live near family. We dont have anyone to come take the kids when we've had a hard day to give us a small break. We also arent the type to just throw both our kids in daycare to make things easier on ourselves. We like spending time with them and want the best for them even if that means we're sleep deprived and havent talked to eachother for days. The fact of the matter is, with one you can still go to the gym, or go out to eat, or go shopping. It's reasonable. But with 2 it's just plain crazy. Getting out of the house takes me AT LEAST 2 hours to prepare. Because by the time i've fed and gotten both changed and dressed to go, one is hungry again and the other has to be changed. It's a never ending story. I hate to complain, it's just where i am right now. I love both my kids to death but i think George and i have FINALLY reached our threshold and agree that there wont be anymore kids in our future. We want to keep our marriage alive and spend quality time with the kids we have now.

As this semester winds down for me i find myself having more time to do more with Noah. I cant help but think of all the fun things i could do with Noah if i wasnt in school. And sometimes i kill myself trying to do it all becasue i have guilt that i am in school and dont get to do as much as i would like to with Noah. But I am almost done and George reminds me everyday that next year at this time i will be graduating! Yesterday one of my best friends invited Noah and I to a playdate at Monkey Joe's. As hard as it was to get the kids out of the house, it was SO nice to see Noah have so much fun. Here is my Day 5 picture from our playdate yesterday :)

There's nothing like friends :)



When we got home yesterday Noah and i had a falling out. He has been OBSESSED with his poo to be completely honest with you and decided to paint almost every item in his room with it. This has been going on for about 2 weeks now, every.single.day. I hit rock bottom yesterday when i was forced to throw out half of Noah's book collection, some of his furniture, and alot of toys due to poop. I really dont know what to do anymore and that's what drives me the most crazy. I have a few ideas that some of my moms friends gave me, so i'm hoping it works. Trust me i've tried just about everything.

This morning i woke up and thought, today is a brand new day! No need to still be upset from the day before. So i came up with a great idea to make Noah and I some rainbow pancakes. Here is my Day 6 picture from this morning. They were DELISH!

Blessed

I've been SO blessed to be a part of a great group of girls. We all met online, and alot of people probably wouldnt understand our story but it doesnt matter because we all do. We would all love to meet one day with our babies and that desire became a reality when one of the girls came up with a good idea to write the Ellen show about our story. Here is the letter my friend came up with. It brought tears to my eyes and although i've never met any of them, i could not be more thankful for their friendship.


Dear Ellen Show Peeps!,

First and Foremost I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I will start off by telling you about an amazing group of women that I am a part of. It all started in early 2010 when we all found out we were all expecting babies in November 2010 by “peein on a stick”, A group of crunchy, cloth diapering, organic, and crafty preggo mommies found themselves searching for people to talk to, there started our “Nov 2010 Due Date Club” on diaperswappers.com. Throughout our pregnancies, we shared stories of our daily life, we supported the struggles with marriage and weightloss, the lives of our other children, crafting and recipe ideas, our exciting news on our pregnancies, the birth (and stillbirth) of our babies, and have now linked with each other on Facebook to continue our journey as our babies grow and as we grow as mothers.

It has been an amazing journey. I have come to meet some amazing women. Each and every one of us brings a different story to the table. We range from from ultra liberal tattooed agnostics to conservative Christians, and Canadians to American Crazies. But all of us are women who have been through so much, who can help one another, who do not judge one another’s lifestyles or choices, who laugh with one another, who cry with one another, and who would one day like to meet one another. These women have become my friends, if even through a computer screen, our words have traveled far and straight through to eachothers hearts.

One of our most heartbreaking moments was that of our dear friend Krystal, who is also my sister. While all of us were experiencing the joyous moments of our Childs births, she was experiencing the tragic loss of a full term stillbirth. It has affected all of us greatly. Some can relate, because they themselves had suffered that same tragic loss, but others have never experienced that, and it has brought us that much closer.

We do lots of amazing things for one another as well. One mother experienced a den of skunks destroying her house and items in it; we rallied together and sent her toys and diapers for her children. Another mother’s cloth diapers were destroyed in her dryer (melted) so we sent her new ones! We do crafty toy swaps, and send each other random gifts out of the kindness of our hearts. We are doing a mother’s day swap and sending each other gifts for that. We will eventually be sending each other gifts for our children’s 1st birthday!!

Its so fun to be able to share the stories of our babies all growing up together. We get to share the milestones that our babies are achieving, we talk and laugh about the funny silly things they do, we share pictures of how they are growing, we give eachother advice about cloth diapering, breast feeding, and even when our babies are up at 3am, we have someone to talk to!
Daily, we talk and learn more about each other. We talk of one day meeting with our babies as well. It would be so neat to meet these women face to face and be able to hug them, cry with them, laugh with them.. And to be honest.. we need to have some cocktails together!! I think it would be so neat for the world to see how we met on a message board and how social media is turning a new circle on meeting moms with common interests. I can tell these women anything, and know that they will be there with advice and help me in any situation.

I hope this story brings new light on how people meet and maintain friendships by using the social network!
Sincerely,
Korin Bourdo and the November DDC!!

Day 4

I know i am late again posting Day 4, which was suppose to be yesterday, but school is literally sucking the life out of me. Anyhoo, the kids and i have a fun day planned today since my class got canceled tonight. I'm excited to use my new camera because Noah has a playdate with one of his friends! Although i didn't upload and post my Day 4 yesterday, i did take a pic. Here is my Day 4 pic. It is one of my first vintage pieces. Everyone knows i'm a sucker for the Goodwill, but i am also a sucker for true vintage items. I got this dress a few weeks ago, and just by looking at the tag alone you know it was made long before my time. It fits like a glove and i just LOVE it! Had to snap a pic before i left to class yesterday. So here i am.....DAY 4!



Here, you can see the dress better without my sweater :)