Wake Up!

It's FEBRUARY!

This blog is in major desperation for some good ole keyboard lovin'.  It needs more pictures and more stories and more posts!  I'm so sorry dear reader that it has not been updated in practically a month.  Where has this month gone!?  Moving is stressful, yo!  I haven't had the time to curl my hair, let alone sit down and blog about it.  

But, we are all {mostly} moved in.

The house is {mostly} in order.

And I am still {mostly} sane.

Anyway, I KNOW this blog needs some love... and what a better way than a great surprise! 

THE JENSON JAUNTS GOT AN AWARD! 

Das finde ich toll! {I think that's great!}

How sweet is that?!  We are the proud recipients of the "Liebster Blog Award"!  Given to us by our oh so amazing fellow Mormon Mommy Blogger:  Mom, the Intern.  If you haven't started following the adventures of Jenna, Dill, and their two minis, Bubby and Smush (you seriously should take a minute and click this link and see her pretty minis!), you are missing out!  Jenna is one of the best mommy bloggers I know and I'm proud to call her a friend!  Her blog is great with posts about her life along with posts about current events too.  She is great and will keep you guessing about what you are going to learn next with every post.  :) enjoy.  

So, now is time for your German lesson.... 

which is pretty funny considering I don't speak German!  Please dear reader, no comments about my bad German from people who *actually* Sprechen Sie Deutsch.  {mmmkay?!}

"Liebster" is German for "dearest", "beloved" and "darling" {It's also for boyfriend and sweetheart... but we are going to ignore that fact, unless there is some news that Jenna wants to share with me...?} and it's quite fitting for the month of February... blogs I love. :)  

The great part about this is that I get to turn around and give the award to five other bloggers...

BUT, FIRST... Here are the RULES for the award:

1.  Acknowledge the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. 

2.  Give this award to FIVE other bloggers who have FEWER THAN 200 readers.  let them know through a comment on their blog.

3.  Post this wonderful award on your blog.

4. Bask in the glory bestowed upon you and appreciate all the amazing bloggers out there.  

So, my five winners are:

1. Katie D:  Ok, this one might be cheating because 1. I don't know how many readers she has, and 2.  She has more of a "site" than a "blog"... but I'm going to give it to her anyway because it is AWESOME!  There is a host of yummy recipes and Aquaponics (growing plants in water with out soil) and in case you have a tech-y side she even has a section with information about different web browsers, and extensions you can use. :)

2. Be Grateful (formerly What's Cookin?): This is my dear friend Kat's family blog.  She and Trav just had the sweetest baby boy via homebirth.  She is a fellow crunch-momma and I love her SO MUCH.  She is such a great writer.  Right now on her blog she is doing "12 this for 2012" and it is SO great to read.  Her theme this year is "Be Grateful".  I'm loving every post. 

3.  Mama Bell's Blog:  Connie is my former Relief Society President our neighborhood church when we lived in Utah.  She such an amazing woman.  Her blog is lots of fun tidbits about her family, and she posts about her quilting!  She is an amazing seamstress who makes beautiful handmade quilts.  I love going on and seeing her fun quilts and reading about what is going on in her life.  She is such a great woman and I love her so much.  When I grow up I want to be like Connie. <3

4. The Staten's:  This is a family blog of our good friends Paul and Annie.  They have a sweet baby boy named Connor (that I blogged about in, Heart of the Matter last February).  We just recently found out that they are expecting TWIN GIRLS and we couldn't be more excited for them.  She hasn't updated in a bit, but I'm hoping this will spark some blog love. :)

5.  A Day With KT: This blog is my AWESOME FRIEND Katie's blog.  She has some fun posts about her and her husbands fun doings!  I love reading and seeing pictures of their sweet puppy kenobi! :)  

So go read!  

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Be Bald! Be Bold!

Today is the National Fundraiser, Be Bold!  Be Bald! which raises funds to support cancer-fighting charities.  This year, a good friend of mine, Stacy, was diagnosed with cancer.  She has had to have one of her kidneys removed, and has had lots of chemo and surgeries.  She has four beautiful children and an amazing husband.  A group of her friends decided that we should do this years Be Bold!  Be Bald! fundraiser in support of her.  So, we started a fundraising team called "Stacy's Pirate Girls" and have been raising funds to go to cancer-butt kicking foundations.  :)

Each of us are wearing a bald cap and a super cool t-shirt from Be Bold! Be Bald! the fundraising packet that came with it had a magic marker to write who you are supporting today.  I wish my cap was empty with names, instead of the eleven that is on it so far. 

Here are a few photos of our day so far!

See?  She sports the bald EVERY DAY! :)

Love that Marcus wanted to wear the cap for a bit too!

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Astrid's Room!

IS DONE!

AAAH!  I'm so happy.  If you remember, a while ago I posted about Astrid's Bedding being done!  Well, now, her room is done too!

(Hear that little girl?  Your room is finished... you have your own space now... you can come out now.  
...seriously.)


So here are a few pics.

I pulled colors from her bedding to paint her "accent wall" and framed the fabric and some coordinating colors of her bedding to put over top of the painted rectangles.

accent wall

The frames are pieces of cardboard with fabric that matches her bedding stretched over them and then framed.  Super Easy. :)

I swear that dark square isn't black-- it's brown. :)

The pink blanket is one that my friend Katie made!  She's so talented, I LOVE IT!

(please don't mind the can of "feline-away" on the crib.  lol.
We are training Mao that the crib is a no no place!)

I made this mobile by getting a wooden wreath frame and painting it to match her striped bedding.  The dangle-ies are made with wooden crafting circles of various sizes, that I painted to match the floral print.  I glued two of them together on the end of a ribbon and threaded the other end of the ribbon through the pre-made holes in the wreath frame. The butterflies are also wooden ones that I found that conveniently already had holes in them that I could just thread the ribbon through. :)  

The bedding all done and in the crib finally! :)

We didn't like the dresser that went with the crib (or the $300 price tag!) so we picked one up on our local classified ads for 40 bucks!  It was black, so we had to sand it, paint it, and add new hardware, but I LOVE how it turned out. :) For a great tutorial on how to repaint a painted dresser... look here! 

The frame above the dresser is her bow board.  It's just a frame with fabric covered cardboard glued to it with ribbons stretched across taut to hold hair clips.  :)  I painted some clothespins white to hold all of her extra-headbands! Just clip onto the ribbon.

The cute picture frame on the right and the magnetic board behind it are from our good friend Susan Thompson.  She runs The Design House, and has a boutique with all sorts of cute stuff. :)  You can see her boutique HERE.

I LOVE the magnets on this magnetic board!  Cute bees and dragon-flies! :)
I need to get a picture of Mr. Marcus and Astrid to put in the frame...!

So there you have it friends.  Astrid's room... all done... finally.

(phew.)

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Craft Time! Baby Carseat Cover!

I am glad that we chose a unisex carseat... but I still wanted to "girlify" this one a bit.  I KNOW it's just a carseat, but in my head it's Marcus' carseat. Now it is getting passed down to Astrid, so I decided to make one of those groovy carseat tents that I've seen around.  They are pretty cool, and keep the sun out of baby's eyes, and let them have a dark place to sleep.  Plus, it keeps people away from touching your sweet babe with a brand-new immune system. :)

I LOVE this blog called "Make it Do".  It's filled with great tips and tutorials, and that is where I got this one.  It was so easy, I did it in about 2 hours from start to finish, including cutting, ironing, sewing and strap placement. :)  It's GREAT for a beginner sewer!  See the tutorial HERE -> Make it Do: Baby Car Seat Cover Tutorial.

Anyway, here is the carseat without the cover:

And Mr. Marcus enjoying it at three months old (Sorry, I just had to show off how dang tiny and cute he was... awwwww!) :

And here is the tent... I made it reversible! SUPER EASY!

  

And here is it on the inside:

Cute huh?!  Now go make one! :) Pin It

Someone thinks I'm Stylish!

Awesome!

Cool Beans!

Well, my awesome fellow blogging momma (who has much more entertaining blog posts than I do... I totally admit that...) Jenna, aka Mom. The Intern. thinks so... pretty snazzy!  I'm so excited!  I've never gotten a blog award before! Thanks Jenna!  Go check her out.  She is GREAT! :)

Apparently my prize is to link this snazzy black box to my board via google picture search, and share seven secrets with my blogging audience, and then choose seven others to get such an awesome blog award!  Whoot!

  ...seven secrets huh?

Ok... Um...

1.  I could live off of Pasta Roni... Granted, I'd be a big huge tub-ball from eating nothing but refined carbs, butter and olive oil... but man... mmmmmmm... I looooove it.  I could never make a sauce from scratch that tastes as delicious as theirs.  As someone who considers herself a pretty dang decently good cook...that is lame and embarrassing!  lol!

2.  I listen to Catholic Radio on SiriusXM in the car.  I'm mainly out and about running errands between 12 and 4... during those times there are two shows that I really do enjoy.  The one from 12-2 is "Across the Nation with Bob Dunning", a news show that discusses news issues from a Catholic point of view.  As a journalist, Bob is really great at presenting issues and we tend to agree on quite a few things.  He is really balanced and fair and often plays the devil's advocate and allows his listeners to call in and state their points of view.  He is great.  The other show I listen to is "The Catholic Guy with Lino Rulli".  This show is SO FREAKING FUNNY!  Lino's show is so funny. Its just a basic radio talk show...they talk about everything and sometimes they play games when the listeners can call in, like "Are you smarter than a bad Catholic?" and they do trivia between the caller and one of his regular co-hosts.  Anyway, if you need a laugh, Lino is great for that.  (He is also pretty funny on twitter, so you could follow him and laugh all day!)

3.  Lately, I've worn pjs more than my regular clothes.  If you want to see a look of surprise, come ring my doorbell around 11 on a day when I have nothing planned...sorry... hahaha.

4.  I'm an ideas person, not really a follow through person.  Its a fault that I have that I really hate... I always have the idea to fix it...but not the follow through! haha.  For instance, our guest room has a closet filled with what I call, "mommy world" its all off my crafting crap that I think I might use one day that never do... I also three boxes of fabric that I had cute ideas for that didn't ever make.  I'm trying to work on it though... or at least I think I am.

5. I'm shy.  I hate meeting new people because they probably think I'm so weird!  I get really nervous and talk and talk and talk about stupid things... and unless that person is a good listener, they usually just phase out what I'm saying... and I'm only saying it because I'm nervous!  I'm the queen of awkward conversations between new friends... or acquaintances... or the pizza guy...

6.  My Secret ingredient in everything is almost always butter... or, double vanilla.  If something tastes delicious at my house, it is probably because it has butter in it.  And a decent amount.  At least two tablespoons for the whole dish.... at least.  Butter makes everything better. (Except your thighs).  Also, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla, I'll add two.  At least two...sometimes more...  Every. Single. Time.


7. I have a love hate relationship with cleaning.   This probably isn't really a secret to anybody...well, maybe it is.  I LOVE my house clean, (duh, who doesn't dum dum?) but I hate doing it unless I plan my day around it.  I LOVE cleaning if I have a list of things that I know needs to be done.  It takes lots of motivation for me to get started, but then I start and I can't stop until the whole house is clean.  I love getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing my kitchen floor because for FIVE minutes, it's pretty...
        I'm like that with organizing too.  In the past few weeks I've been an organizing machine.  I've cleaned out four closets in  our house and put everything into these awesome little boxes from Ikea (2.99 for two of them that are small enough that they don't get heavy, but big enough to have thirty or so DVDs in them!) or separated it into big tupperware bins.  It's been nice because I want to show off my clean and organized closets, but really... It kind of sucks to be an organizing machine for things that people can't see... because then you look around and have no idea what consumed all of your time for the past few hours of hard organization work... unless you want to leave your closet doors open.  I HAVE gone into those clean, organized closets and just sat and looked at them for a minute or two...Whatever makes the weirdo happy, right?

Okay... now I get to choose SEVEN other bloggers that I think are Stylish... now you can play too... Here we go:


Drumroll Please...

Annie from The Staten's

Stacey from Peanutbutter Fingerprints

 Mikah from Philipoom Phamily (In hopes she will blog more... c'mon girlie!)

Melissa from Shade of Grey (sorry people, this is private...)

Kat from What's Cookin?

Jessica from her private family blog (sorry again guys... sucks to be you who don't have an invite.)

Jessica from The Forever Mummy Blog 

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The Heart of the Matter

I have been writing this post all month... Well, I've been writing this post in my head all month.  :)  For those of you who didn't catch it before now, the month of February is American Heart Month. 

While America has an entire month devoted to heart health, having a day where people wear red to raise awareness of heart disease.  It was spotlighted at least weekly on the Today Show, and the reminder is even on the side of your Diet Coke can. (hahaha... or you could have just thought it was cute hearts for Valentine's Day...!) 

I WAS planning on writing this post at the beginning of February, but decided I wanted to wait until the END of February because it is something that is important to everyone to remember and think about through all months of the year. 

Heart health is an important subject to me.  While I DO have family who it effects, lately I have been hearing MUCH more than just family stories of heart problems.

This past year, I have made some amazing friends, Annie and Paul who's son Connor was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect (CHD) called Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF).

Annie and Baby Connor when he was only a day old.

Paul and Connor

Basically, Connor was born with a hole in his heart.  Connor was born 3 weeks early, and  he was admitted to the NICU for having a hard time breathing.  Annie and Paul were told that the NICU staff thought that Connor had a CHD, and he was sent to Primary Children's Hospital here in Salt Lake City where their thoughts were confirmed.  Connor spent the next 2 1/2 months in the NICU at Primary Children's.  While he was there, he had a feeding tube in his nose, but he was able to come home.  He also developed severe Acid Reflux.  He was scheduled to have open heart surgery, but the surgery had to be rescheduled 3 times before he was able to have surgery this past June to repair his ToF.  His surgery lasted seven hours and was very successful and he stayed in the hospital for two weeks.

I LOVE this picture of Connor!

He had a cardiology checkup in November, and the cardiologist said that his pulmonary valve is leaking more than they would like to see, so in a few years, Connor will have to have open heart surgery again and have his entire valve replaced.  He will probably need to have some type of surgery or procedures throughout his life to replace and upkeep his valve.

Connor at 1 years old

Also this month, I read an amazing story of  my friend, who's grandfather was admitted into the hospital for a heart attack.  He too had emergency open heart surgery and died on the table SIX times.  The second time was the longest duration of the six, and the doctor was looking up at the clock to pronounce the time of death when her grandfather's heart began to beat again.  During his open heart surgery, a team of twenty-two worked to partially clear one of his main arteries that had become 100% blocked.  Her grandfather is still alive, and "24 hours after his surgery, he was sitting up in bed, chowing down on his first solid meal in three days, and had ditched 3 of the 4 IV machines he'd had the day before.  Onward and upward!"

This month, these two stories have really helped me become more thankful for my health and that of my family.  It has made me want to help, even if this blog post gets read by only Annie and a few others, I still feel that putting it out there has somehow made a difference.

YOU can help too by helping yourself. The American Heart Association has a great program called "My Life Check: Life's Simple 7 Success Plan".  It is a fun quiz you can take to see how you are doing in your optimal health.  It's a great way to start

YOU can help too by helping your family.  If you are a mom who plans the meals, plan some that are yummy and heart healthy.  If you are a dad who is sick of your "family fun" watching a Disney movie on the couch, take your kids out for a walk around the block or go play catch at the park.  Encourage your family to have checkups and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked.  If you are expecting a new baby, talk to your pediatrician about testing your baby for a Congenital Heart Defect.


One in One100 babies are born with some sort of Congenital Heart Defect. Remember how the Super Bowl was this month?  Well, the Dallas Cowboys stadium can seat 80,000 people.  If you took every baby born THIS YEAR with a congenital heart defect and put them in a seat, they would fill nearly HALF the stadium.  Between 35,000 and 36,000 births a year.


YOU can help too by raising awareness.  Tell your friends and family how important it is to take care of their Hearts.  Volunteer.  Write or call your legislature and ask to have CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) training given to students (at least) before they graduate.  Ask for better screening for heart problems to the uninsured and under-insured.  Ask for basic screening for newborn babies for congenital heart defects before they leave the hospital by pulse oximetry screening after 24 hours of life.  (For a great example of a mother who went before her state of Indiana's legislature demanding this very easy and life saving screening click here to read Cora's Story.)  Even asking legislature for a basic mandate for schools to have regular GYM CLASS, RECESS and HEALTHIER FOOD in your child's school helps immensely!

You can help too...!

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Two Weeks after Paying it Forward

...Five dollars. Or ten. Or fifty. Or one.

Two weeks has passed since my Paying it Forward post. For those who don't remember, and who don't want to click on the link provided, I'll give you a bit of a background. I stumbled on a blog less than a year ago of a super strong mother named Kelle Hampton. She is such an amazing photographer and writer, and like many now-a-days, has chosen to document her life through a great blog, "Enjoying the Small Things". Immediately following the birth of her second daughter, Nella, she wrote an amazing blog post about that day that changed her so much, for the better. Nella was born with Down Syndrome. This post went viral (take that, surprised kitten video!) and that is how I stumbled across it, on a post on a random moms group bulletin board.

I have been a reader ever since.

This past Saturday was Nella's First birthday. In honor of her birthday, her family set up donations to the National Down Syndrom Society (NDSS) through "Nellas ONEder Fund" linked in a post on Friday, January 7, "Pay It Forward...Rock the ONEder Fund." The original goal was to raise $15,000 before Nellas Birthday in two weeks...

Well, this is a quote from her blog today... I'll let her share it in her words.

"I am thrilled to announce that the total online and offline total of Nella's ONEder Fund surpassed our $15,000 goal. It surpassed our $47,000 goal and our $63,000 goal. I'm excited to report that you all have helped us wish our girl a happy birthday and spread love to thousands of families. Friends, together we raised $101,144. 

...and it's still growing. (Thank you to Dana Wainstein who spun off her own fundraiser to help Nella and raised over $6,500). Thank you to every one of you for giving and for sharing. I never dreamed it could happen like this. But, then again, I never dreamed a year ago that a little moment could change my life so wonderfully."

That's Right People, $101,144...and growing...

The Mission of the NDSS is to creat a culture that fully accepts and includes individuals with Down Syndrome.

So, if you were one to pay it forward.  Thanks.  There are lots of people who are thanking you for your support.  

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Paying it Forward... Even if it's only Five Dollars...

I cried this morning.

It could have been my crazy pregnant hormones, but I'd like to think that it's because I read a post today from an amazing blog that touched a piece of my heart. And I'd like to share it with you.

A little less than a year ago, I found this Blog post of a woman who had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Nella, who has Down Syndrome. Her name is Kelle Hampton. She is a Photographer, A Wife, A Mother, and an Amazing Writer. It was composed so beautifully and filled with so much emotion, that I read it many times, and have been reading it ever since. I really do thank her for documenting this year so well and allowing the world to learn and grow with her.

This morning on her Blog, www.kellehampton.com, I read her words.

"When I sat down to write this post earlier this afternoon, I intended to make this about Nella. But, I've learned something more this year. I've learned to look beyond. While yes, the rawness of loving my own child and imagining her almond eyed, milky-cheeked, tiny-toothed grin on the face of every other child with Down syndrome is what initiated my purpose in this new world, it has become more. I care not just because my daughter personally connects me to this greater world but because I have learned to see their hearts, their capabilities, their spirit, their determination, their love."

And then she gave her readers a challenge.

"So, here's the deal.

I'm going to ask you for something. And it's really important to me. To a lot of people.

I'm going to ask you to think about what you've taken from this space this year. I have felt incredibly inspired by not only the feeling of community here but by this productive push toward good that arises simply from the understanding of the power of a group of people connected in a small way on the Interweb but, more importantly, in a much greater way within this vast world. And so, I'm asking you again, have you gained anything from visiting this space this year? A smile, a thought, a connection, the encouragement to dig deeper or let your own voice speak out. If you have, I'm asking you to give back today. Please, pay it forward.
In honor of our girl's first year, we are asking you to give back to her. And the 400,000 other individuals living with Down syndrome in the United States alone.

The mission of the NDSS is to create a culture that fully accepts and includes individuals with Down syndrome.

Let me say that more clearly. The mission of the NDSS is to create a culture that fully accepts and includes our little girl. Our Nella."

And this is how you can do it... you can donate to the National Down Syndrome Society through Nella's ONEder Fund. Her goal THIS MORNING was to raise $15,000 in the TWO WEEKS from today to Nella's Birthday. That goal was passed in about 12 hours. So, now she has doubled it. 30,000 in two weeks.

It just fills me so much hope and happiness that so many people would donate, even small amounts, $1...$5...$15... to such a great organization that is dedicated to making people's lives better.

I would love to live in a world that fully accepts people living with Down Syndrome.

And that's why we paid it forward today too. And here is some more... getting the word out. :)

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