Month of Gratitude Day 2: Coke

Oh my love for carbonated/caffeinated drinks is not good.  But I feel like my days go much better if I get to drink my coke in the morning! Especially having a baby that doesn't sleep, ever, caffeine is basically a food group around my house. It definitely isn't good for me, but I feel like it helps me get through my day and overall makes me happier so I will take it!  My favorite drink place is Fiiz, which is conveniently very close to my house.  So let's just say I am a frequent visitor there. But their coke is really good, and their ice (The tiny ice my family calls poop ice) and their styrofoam cups are an added bonus. One day I will quit drinking... until then, it's something that I am grateful for! Hey, Oakley has her drink and I have mine! :)

Month of Gratitude: Day 1

For a little while now, every night while Stefan and I are laying in bed, we tell each other four things about our day. The best part of our day, the worst part of our day, something we learned, and something we are grateful for that day. I have really liked doing it, it helps us share more about our day together and to take a second a realize something we are grateful for.  Since this month is really focused on gratitude. I want to blog everyday this month about what I was grateful for the day before. Some might be long, some might be short and simple. Here's to November!

Yesterday was day 1, I am grateful for the freedom that we have. I feel like I have heard a lot about this lately. I am grateful that I am able to write this freely, go to the church I want to, and do the things I want without being punished. I feel like this is something that I take for granted and we are so lucky to have! My mom gave a talk today about Pioneer Trek in her stake conference, and it really made me think how those people were so persecuted, and forced out of their homes. I am so grateful  to live in a place where I have close church buildings, temples, and freedom of religion.

Pocahontas costume!

My cute niece Callie came to me one day and asked if I would make her a Pocahontas costume for Halloween. I don't have much experience with sewing... really at all. But how do I say no to a 4 year old?? So I started thinking, and I decided to attempt it! Everyone kept telling me I needed a pattern... but that is not really how my brain works. So I just winged it.

Here is the necklace I made from felt

I dug through my bag of clothes to be donated and I had this shirt I bought for my dad that was printed wrong. I decided it would be the perfect fabric! 

I cut off the bottom and used that as the bottom of the dress, using that bottom hemline.

I cut out the front side of the dress from the back of the t shirt and then had to piece together two pieces to make the back of the dress. I used another piece from the back and a sleeve. To know the size, I traced around one of her dresses that had a similar shape, just slightly larger so I could sew the seams. 

This is the back that I sewed together. 

Then I sewed around the neckline and sleeves (with a double needle, which I learned how to do just from my instructions that came with my machine but it made it look a million times better). Then sewed the shoulders together and then down the two side seams. So then I basically had a tank top.

For the white fringe, I dug again through my old clothes and found a tank top I hadn't worn in years. I cut strips and then fringes in it. 

Made the bottom gathered to sew it on the top by sewing one long straight line on the largest stitch and pulled the strings! You can see how to do that here. Pinned and sewed it all together and done!

Motherhood: What I've Learned!

I feel like the past 5 months I have learned SO much. I've been thinking about writing down some of the things I've learned since becoming a mom. I thought about calling this post "Tips for becoming a mom" but who am I kidding? I still don't know anything I can't give tips! And I thought about calling it "things I wish I could tell my pregnant self" but then I think, who am I kidding, I wouldn't have listened anyway! So here are things that I have learned... Mostly the hard way!
1. Having a baby is a type of tired I never understood. I apologize to every woman who was a mom before me, if I ever said "I am tired" to you... WHY DIDN'T YOU PUNCH ME IN THE FACE? It's a tired that I didn't know existed. But somehow you are still able to carry on your day! Even though it consists of me more times than I would like to admit... putting milk in the pantry and cereal in the fridge... thinking my blow dryer was broken and it wasn't plugged in... and far more things that should never be repeated.
2. In the worlds of Justin Bieber... Never say never. When I was pregnant, and before then, I thought I had it all figured out... I would always say "I will never be the type of mom that does (fill in the blank)" I have done so many of these things that I said I would never do...
3. Recovery ain't pretty... Your body goes through some intense stuff when you birth a child! There is SO many things that people don't tell you... Just find a good friend you're comfortable with because you will probably call them a million times asking what the heck is happening to your body.
4. When Oakley's umbilical cord fell off... there was a little blood... and a lot of crying. Oh, Oakley was perfectly fine. I was the balling mother thinking I had injured my baby. Since you're so tired, your hormones are out of whack, those first few weeks I cried about a lot. Or when Stefan went to McDonalds and got breakfast and didn't bring me home some... there was a few tears shed. Dear husbands, IT'LL PASS. Your wife isn't crazy. She will be normal again!
5. This is something I saw even when I was pregnant. The thing that is the best for you could be the worst for someone else. Everyone and their dog will tell you their opinion. And every single person has a different one. You just need to figure out the type of mom you are, the things you think is best for your baby, and not think too much about everyone else's opinion.  This is probably been the hardest thing for me... STOP CARING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THINKS. And realize that they are trying to help... even though you feel like you're being attacked as a parent on every thing you do. Just take a breath, and know that you're doing what you think is the very best.
6. I learned that I have to do something for myself. Or I would go crazy. For me, I choose to get ready every day. It is something that I do that makes me feel better about myself and I am doing it 100% for myself. All day long I am taking care of a baby and everyone else and I feel like it is easy to lose yourself! So I think it's so important to find something that you can do for yourself everyday. Even if it is just as simple as getting ready.
7. Make friends, or have a friend you can talk to. Motherhood really can get lonely! You are constantly with a baby, so I never would have thought I would feel lonely. But it is good to have some adult interaction throughout the day. Obviously my husband is home at night! But I feel like the days get long if you don't have people to talk to.
8. Stay off of WebMD. or really google in general... Babies do a lot of weird things that people don't think to tell you. So you will find yourself up at night looking this stuff up and it will make you think that your baby has some horrible disease.
9. I learned to love my husband in a whole new way. There is nothing like watching a man become a dad.  I feel like my love for Stefan and our relationship in general grew in ways I can't describe. It has been so amazing! He has been SO helpful. I really couldn't have done this without him!!
10. You are the first and the last. I am the last to bed, last to eat, last to shower, last to everything. But I am also the first person that is up with the baby, the first person people hand the baby to when she cries, the first to clean up the mess, the first person to take care of her. (of course my husband helps too)
11. I have a whole new respect for my mom. Thank you mom, for always taking care of me, loving me, and doing everything. Even when I know you must have been exhausted and worn out, you never showed that! I love you.
12. IT IS ALL WORTH IT.  The love that comes when you are a mother is indescribable. I really do love every second of it! I can't even explain how grateful I am that I have been blessed with this little baby. I love it!! To mothers to be who are reading this, I hope I didn't scare you away. IT IS AMAZING. I really love it so much.

Disclaimer** these are the things that I have learned. Motherhood is obviously different for every person! I don't want this to come off like I am preaching to anyone about anything. Just sharing my feelings:)

Young Women's Wednesdays: Evening of Excellence

I've been in young women for about a year and a half. I have decided to start posting stuff I have done in young women's on Wednesdays. Last week was evening of excellence.  We did it earlier in the year than we usually do because our president is going to have her baby any day.  We decided on a Picnic theme. We had it outside in the backyard of the young women's president. I was horrible at taking pictures so I only have a few!

We did popcorn as our refreshment. We had a few different types. Tying in personal progress as we "pop into progress" we also had some vases full of popped popcorn around with gerber daisies in them.

As a part of the program I had a 8 girls build a picnic. I had a picnic basket up front full of supplies you would need in a picnic and each girl talked about a value. Here is a little summary of what I had each girl talk about as they pulled their item out of the picnic basket. 

Faith: (blanket)

The blanket is used to give us comfort, and also as a foundation to build our picnic upon. Just like the blanket, our faith gives us comfort in knowledge in the gospel. Also faith is our foundation for all other things to be built upon. We couldn’t build our testimony without faith.

Divine Nature (Plate)

The plate symbolizes Divine Nature. Without the knowledge of our divine nature, our life would be chaos. Like in the picnic, without the plate the organization of your food would be chaotic all over the blanket.

Individual worth (fork)

Just as a fork is one of the tools we use to feed ourselves, our individual worth and knowing that we are of worth can help to feed ourselves as well as others spiritually.  

Knowledge (cup)

We should constantly be thirsting to gain more knowledge, especially in the gospel, but also in all other aspects of our lives.

Choice and Accountability (food)

When we pack the picnic, we have to make choices on what we want to eat. In life, we make similar choices deciding whether all the choices which we make are going to nourish us and make us better, or harm us. 

Good Works (Spoon)

The spoon is used to serve ourselves our food.  So often with good works we are serving others, whether spiritually, emotionally or physically. When we welcome people into our lives we can feed them in many ways with our serving spoon.

Integrity (knife)

The world is constantly trying to damage and destroy our integrity. As we look at the knife, we can remember that our integrity is worth us defending.

Virtue (napkin)

To be virtuous is to be clean and pure, the napkin at our picnic helps us to keep ourselves clean.

We also did a photo booth and I had made all the props just free hand from cardstock. It was super easy and the girls loved it! We took pictures of the girls together and them and their parents.  Here are the other leaders and I. (missing Kelsey!)

If you are interested in me making invitations for you. Contact me at jessicrosland1@gmail.com

Four Months Old!

Oakley turned four months old last week! Today we had her 4 month appointment... which is always so sad when they have to get their shots. But she took it like a champ. She is 13 pounds and 24.5 inches. I have absolutely loved having her in our lives and can't imagine life without her. She loves to roll, laugh, talk and snuggle. Happy four months little one!

Oakley's Birth Announcement

Three months late, but here is a birth announcement I did. Oakley Mae Brown born May 12, 2015 at 5:20 pm weighing 6 lbs 12 oz 19 inches!