Happy Mamas, Happy Babies

After seeing a news article today about a 20 year old mother who hit her 13 month old son to death and disposed of his body in a cemetery all because he wouldn’t stop crying and wouldn’t go to sleep I thought what can we do to prevent these horrific crimes against children? We’re seeing far too many of these news stories lately, the most prominent of course the Casey Anthony trial, and my sister the psych and sociology major is convinced it is the economic climate and that it is putting far too much stress on the mother. There was recently a report about women getting far less sleep than their counterparts because they are not only responsible for the home and children but they’re working full time jobs, they’re the breadwinners, they’re everything, resulting in less sleep because of the stress. Less sleep then causes aggravation, moodiness, and lack of tolerance and understanding. They’re quick to anger; they’re quick to react without thinking, only seeing red. What can we do to help; it takes a village to raise a child and even though this mother lives in Indiana I feel that the village reaches as far as New Mexico and we failed her.

If only we could monitor the state of the mother having a child from the very beginning. What are her circumstances, is she happy throughout her pregnancy, is she experiencing any hardships; financial or personally? Is she aware of the many programs out there to help with a dwindling income or with an abusive partner, does she know that if she cannot care for the child she can simply drop them off at a hospital and they will care for the child and find someone who can and is more than willing to do so.
But there are so many questions about where and when to start monitoring these women and probably the most important question is will it work? 

I only read this article this morning but I’ve been brainstorming ever since because I don’t want to turn a blind eye any more, I don’t want a child being beaten to death to be a typical news story, we can do better, and we should. We should try and if it saves a child’s life then it was worth it. We need to start on the lowest levels, we need to start asking our friends and coworkers, How are you doing and truly care about the answer, we shouldn’t be anticipating a fine we should be probing for more, yes we may come across as nosy or not minding our own but these children are our own they are the future of this country and I want them all to be happy and safe in their homes and I know you all do too. It’s time to start protecting them and we start with their mamas. We need to ask the neighbor across the street how the new baby is, are you getting rest, do you need help, and what can I do for you? Oh I know I’m talking about taking time out of your busy schedules to help someone else but that’s what we should be doing. What’s one more mouth at the table, what’s a couple of diapers, what’s just sitting and holding a baby for a mom that’s tired and just needs a few hours to herself, it’s nothing when it comes to the safety and happiness of a baby. Plus in the process we will be showing our own children that giving back should be a way of life, a part of our daily routine. We need to start caring about each other; this really is a small world and realizing that helping one helps so many more. We need to start a network of moms helping other moms. We are not alone in raising our kids and sometimes a new mom just needs to hear that. 

We could start in hospitals, with OBGYNs, with midwifes, let’s start asking the hard questions, let’s starting asking a mama not just how she’s feeling physically but emotionally. Maybe along with seeing an OBGYN or midwife expecting mothers need to see a psychologist as a standard to help them become aware of some of the obstacles they may find as new mothers. There is a reality, there is a lack of sleep, there is exhaustion never before felt, there is a change in self that some may find hard to accept, especially young mothers.

The time is now, to beat this changing atmosphere of mamas killing their children. We need to start with the mothers to protect our nations little ones.   

Welcome Fall, Welcome Renewal

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth, no I have not gone into witness protection, and no I have not become a CIA spy and changed my identity, I have simply become the human equivalent of a sloth or the act of being a sloth, whatever that word is.

I have not been blogging, I have not been keeping up with Weight Watchers, I have not done a single thing to the house, and I have become the most distracted parent ever. There really isn't anything to blame expect that when it's the end of summer I feel this need to greet hibernation mode full on.

But now that we have made it to the fist day of fall, I'm so ready to begin again, to take this seasonal change and make it an internal change. My gears need to be switched and the Autumnal Equinox has helped with that. Today was a wonderful day, it just felt good, it felt fresh and I felt like I was 18 again and everything was brand new and that I could conquer any task set before me. 

Now with that, here's to my Renewal, my Autumn period has begun. Ideas are abound!

Our First Paint Job - Success!

I know it's been a while since I last posted but I have good reason, I wanted the living room to be as put together as possible so I could provide a whole slew of pictures and with that let the show begin!

I love how Ektorp and his chubby little friend pop with the green (Mother Nature from Behr). There's my Maria Tortilla to the left, she loves that I put her books in a basket.

I love the way the white, dark wood, and green all play off each other. I'm trying to find a spot for my birdcage but for now it'll sit on the floor. I do have a couple of little birdies sitting around the room so I figured the birdcage would finish the theme.

My brother gave me this artwork years ago but I never got around to hanging it until I discovered the Hercules hook. They are awesome and now my picture looks beautiful against the green walls!

I still need to work on my shelves but I did use the white IKEA frames my mom gave me and they really pop. I'm thinking about replacing all the frames with white ones or just spray painting the ones I have.

We tried to do all the cutting in ourselves but we screwed it up so we paid a guy to come do it for us, he had a taller ladder and he was a pro and for 80 bucks it was worth not falling! I do plan on turning the fan blades to the darker side to match the rest of the furniture.

She loves this little nook! Okay back to the living room; I can see where we need to do some touch ups on this section of the wall. We used a can and a half of paint and used the second can for touch ups but we missed a few as you can tell. It's funny you can only see it with the flash of the camera.

The Before Pics:

Pretty blah huh, too plain for me and after living in the house for over 3 years I needed a change.

The dark wood worked okay with the light walls but the stars of the room did not, the couch and chair just didn't pop the way I wanted them to.

We had to tackle some wall repair before we started painting, which was fairly easy with some textured patches from Home Depot.

Getting ready to paint!

Isn't it a pretty color!!

With curved walls it was hard to determine where to stop. We decided to paint the curve and it turned out great!!

The Screw Ups!!

This is what happens when you get roller happy at 2 in the morning! (Our outlets are vertical, just didn't rotate the picture)

Problems: the tape pulled the paint, which means we probably didn't let it dry completely and we suck at cutting in!

We forgot to put the tape in this area and just went for it and well you know how the story ends. (didn't rotate pic) Everything has been fixed by a professional!

So there you have it, the After, Before, and the middle (This will probably be how my first book goes too... lol)

So there are still a few things to do:

• Get curtains (white)
• Paint frames white that will go on the shelves for a pop effect
• Get an area rug for the center of the room right in front my Ektorp
• Add green and white accents around the room
• Clean up desk behind couch. We really just need a filing cabinet.
• Get a shelf with doors to hide all our DVDs, games, etc. (Right now they're in a bin behind Ektorp.

Next is the dining room and kitchen, but we're gonna have the same guy, who came out to do the edging, do these rooms for us. For a 150 bucks and we buy the paint, sounds pretty good to me!!

So there's our first paint job, Riley and I rocked it with a few bumps in the road.

Here's where I'm linking up too:

Bringing the Outdoors In

Since we bought Ektorp and his little chubby sidekick I've been wanting to completely revamp the living room, so the first place I looked was a little ol' blog called Young House Love. They have this section called mood boards and they are so fun and uber inspirational. In fact I found a mood board featuring Ektorp and his chubby pal and it's exactly the direction I needed.

It's a great color combo right! I love how earthy it looks and I heard once "Whatever works in nature, will work in your home."

So today my mom was looking through her Martha Stewart living magazines and I think we found the perfect green. It's called beach grass. It's the green furthest to the right.

So what do you think?

Ode to IKEA

IKEA how I love thee, your furniture so crisp and clean,

Your Swedish fare delicious and showroom lighting fixtures all abeam.

You had me at gravy covered meatballs for 1.99,

I didn’t share, not even with my child, because they were all mine.

Your catalogue is now a permanent fixture in my home,

Come next year my IKEA collection will have grown.

White couch, no problem; just throw it in the wash,

Coming out bright and white will have me proclaiming OH MY GOSH!

My love for you only grows as we are so far apart,

My love for you will never waver for you are always in my heart.

Don’t judge me!

IKEA is quite the experience and opening weekend just adds to that experience. We got there an hour early, lined up at the elevator to take us to the café, we needed to power up before we power shopped, we had delicious Swedish meatballs, with mashed potatoes, gravy and even a little bit of breakfast foods. And as soon as 10:00 came around we were ready to go. We hit the showroom floor and were in awe the entire time, well maybe I was more in awe than Riley or Maria were but I must stop here and acknowledge how great they both were, Maria was strapped in her stroller and Riley pushed her the entire time, they just followed me all the around the place. When we got to the couches I was so happy because that’s the reason we were there to buy our couch, our anniversary gift to each other. So Riley sees the couch and he immediately sits down and the look on his face was pure terror for me. He looked uncomfortable, and just not happy at all and then when he saw the terrorized look on my face he got a big smile and said just kidding I love it and then I proceeded to punch him. He said it was so comfortable and that he really liked the white, then he told me to try the chair out, but we’re not here for a chair, well just try it and I did and I fell in love and he saw it. So we wrote down all the info we needed to pick up the couch and proceeded to shop, well I had filled up a huge IKEA bag with tons of stuff and when we got to the dining tables and chairs Riley said he needed a break so we sat down and reevaluated our purchase and that’s when Riley said do you want all this other stuff or the chair and I immediately said the chair, so we finished up looking around and headed to checkout. We bought the couch and the chair and are so freaking happy with both, seriously we are in love and the couches are loving us back, they don’t want to let go, and when we get up they’re so sad and they call us back to them and then we sit and they envelop us in comfort. Even Maria is in love with them, I caught her talking on her little calculator turned phone and she said the cutest thing while pushing her little grocery cart and tilting her head as if to hold the phone with her shoulder “Oh yeah and the couch is so purty and the chair too!” It was so adorable and it made me laugh so much. She’s all about the chair, she has claimed it and we’re not allowed to sit in it, I like to call it her throne. So there you have it, we are officially fans of IKEA furniture and will definitely be buying more, which means more trips to Denver or jut biting the bullet and paying the shipping charges.

July 26th

Our Wedding day!

This was the date of our first date and now the date of our wedding anniversary. I love my Riley so much, beyond words, so here are some pics!! 8 years together and married for 5!!

Our First Christmas together - Dec. 2003

Our first trip to Oklahoma together to meet Riley's dad.

when we moved in together

Our first trip together

Our first trip to Vegas

4th of July 2005

On our Honeymoon

Our first day in our newly built home

This is how big I was in November, I didn't have Maria till January!!

And then there were three!

Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary my Riley!!

400 miles for Ektorp

Yup that’s right I’m gonna travel to Tempe, AZ or Centennial, CO for an IKEA sofa. I have just fallen in love, deeply; seriously, I wanna have its baby, in love with this couch. You see the other day I was looking at a blog called Little Miss Momma and I saw her cute little living room, well there it was, a cute little, comfy, white love seat and I thought I must meet her older brother. So after reading that the reason Ashley can have a white couch and a toddler in the same household (unheard of) is because ALL THE FABRIC IS MACHINE WASHABLE, I was sold. I jumped on IKEA and there it was and it's been nothing but passion since our first online encounter. His name is Ektorp, cute huh, he’s Swedish.

 

So anyway he’s only 399 bucks but here comes the distressing news, shipping is 349 bucks. I love Ektorp but I can’t spend that much on shipping I might as well get another one just like him, two is better than one (this blog post is going nowhere but south, stop reading now if you’re already weirded out by my personification of a sofa).

So I announced to my hubby that we’re taking a trip to the closest IKEA to meet my online lover, Ektorp. I visit him online at least once a day, I read the instructions on how to put him together, and I read how to wash him when he’s dirty (oh boy!) So instead of paying 349 bucks for shipping I’m gonna go down there and pick him up myself and maybe a couple of his friends (wowza!).

Oh IKEA please come to New Mexico, there are tons of women out here looking for exactly what you can provide… beautiful home furnishing duh…. what were you thinking?