Long time lost

I've been gone for a long time her. I kind of let this blog die in obscurity. I actually really needed to write, but I've just been so overwhelmed that i kept putting it off. So here I am. I'm back.

So much has happened in the last year and change.
  * We moved from Maryland to California
  * Morgen started a new job
  * Tabitha started kindergarten and loves it
  * Eva has started talking
  * I am going back to school after a 5 year absence
  * We are in the process of trying to buy a house.

Its been a crazy busy year. We are still trying to get the girls into ABA therapy, while Morgen has a great job, the insurance that comes with it is awful. I'm also working on getting Eva speech therapy through the school district, because while she has started talking she is still at about an 18 month level and she is almost 3 and a half.
I decided to go back to school this summer. I'm going to Gavalin Community College and working on a triple major in Digital Media, Marketing and Computer Science. I'm really excited about this.
I don't want to say much about buying a house just yet, but we are hoping by the end of the year.

I've been running non stop for about 2 years, and now that Tabitha has started school, I think I may really start to have time to work on some of the crafty projects I have been putting off. Tabitha picked out some cute peacock fabric and wants a poofy late 50's early 60's style dress a la Betty Draper. She also needs a bunch of church dresses, and she only wants to wear skirts and dresses for ply so I'll be working on a lot of those this summer, and hopefully getting those blogged. I am really hoping this won't be the last post for a long time, but that remains to be seen.


Teresa

Long summer break

Hey ya'll! I know its been a while. We've had a long an interesting summer and I haven't had much time to myself lately. At the end of May we moved from Idaho to Maryland, leaving behind all our friends for a new journey. Its been a rough transition. Eva is taking it all in stride being only 18 months old now, but Tabitha has had a hard time. She misses her friends. I've had a rough time as well. I miss my friends. I miss having such an awesome support structure. I also really miss Rexburg. I miss the feel of it. Everyone was a member of the church, you weren't bombarded with inappropriate clothing or language everywhere you go. You didn't have to navigate the hundreds of people smoking at every exit, everywhere you go. There was also the feeling of community. Almost everyone in our complex would spend the afternoons outside chasing our kids together and helping each other out. I really miss that.
Maryland is beautiful. The trees are amazing, I love that there are little ponds everywhere. I love that there is so much historical significance to teach my kids. I love that I can take them to the smithsonian and teach and show them so many things I couldn't have back in Idaho. I have better medical care for Tabitha here. We have started the process to get Tabitha into ABA therapy and into preschool. There are so many programs that will help her that we couldn't get back in Idaho. Morgen has a great job. He just finished his training and will soon be starting actual work, which he is excited about.
I haven't had much time or a place to sew and most of my stuff is still back in Idaho in our storage unit, which is kind of a pain.
I really hope to get back to crafting, and writing soon. I pulled out a dress that I started when Tabitha was 18 months old. I will hopefully finish it soon so Eva can wear it. I have actually made a different version of this dress (its my own pattern) before and I have been wanting to write a pattern for it so you all could make one too so that is my current goal.
When we moved to Maryland from Idaho we couldn't come out first to find a place so we had to hope that we would find something good like we did when we moved to Idaho. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. We ended up in an awful place that was dirty and starting to fall apart. We were able to move again to a much nicer place but it was a stressful move and cost all we had to make a second move.
We are trying to get settled now and will hopefully get back to our regular routine soon.

Not that this has anything to do with the post, its just a fun picture we took before leaving rexburg. 

Thankful Thursday. 9 pm

Today I'm thankful for 9 pm. Tabitha is in bed at 7:45 most nights. Then I come down and nurse Eva on the couch. This is my time to spend with just her. I also get to watch something that isn't animated which is awesome. Morgen and I get to talk without hearing "mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I'm trying to talk to you!" The second we open our mouths. It's not that we don't love talking to Tabitha because we do. It's just nice to have adult conversations too. So today I'm thankful for 9 pm. Tabitha is asleep in her room. Eva is asleep on my chest and I get to lay on the couch and watch alias. Not bad at all. Oh and I get to watch morgen do a little dance to the end credit music which is awesome ;)

Summer Blog Challenge hardest challenge

Today's topic is the hardest challenge I've been faced with. It may sound lame, but really my hardest/biggest challenge is being able to get my sewing or crafting done with two kids. I used to have so much more time, but Tabitha has been going through a very needy stage lately and Eva is only 5 months old. Not to mention how often my machine breaks down, I still have a dress and some car bags that I owe people that haven't been finished. My goal for this weekend is to get them done. No matter what. I also need to move my sewing machine back upstairs. Its been in the kitchen for a while because I had to keep taking it in, but now that it is working I need it upstairs to get my work done and with my back problems I can't bring it up myself. I really think that it all comes down to time management. Its not really something I had a problem with before, but now with two kids, I have to be so much better about how I manage my time. I also need to multi task better. =)

Summer blog Challenge day 23-25

Summer blog challenge

Sorry I got behind again! So here are days 23-25

Day 23 favorite blog post you've written before this challenge. Probably my pretty in Pink Lace Dress tutorial. I love that dress and it was my first tutorial to be featured on Craft Gossip. 

Day 24 Favorite eco-friendl thing you do. We try to be pretty eco friendly. we have a brita filter and take reusable bottles with us, we recycle anything we can. I like to re use loathing items to turn them into something else, usually clothes for Tabitha, but I've also repurposed some of my own clothes for my self since i've lost weight. I turned a way too big top into a maternity shirt and turned my favorite jeans that got a hole in the thigh into a jean skirt. But the thing I do most often that is eco friendly is cloth diapering. I'm amazed at how much garbage we produced by using disposables on Tabitha and besides saving money, cloth diapers don't sit in landfills for 100's of years. And besides who can resist those cute fluffy butts! =)

Day 25 Ideal day of Me time

Ha whats that? Even on Saturday which is supposed to me my "me day" where I can get my sewing and blog stuff done that didn't get done during the week, i still have to have Eva with me (Morgen does take Tabitha, but she usually stands at the bottom of the stairs yelling at me most of the day until I give up and come down), and I usually end up getting half my list done if that because Eva is going through a very needy stage and I think about to cut a tooth. 

But if I could have a whole day to myself with out having to do cleaning or taking care of kids, I would turn on some silly trashy tv show like damsons creek or one tree hill (darn netflix doesn't have the last season and I want to finish it!) Or something cheesy and creepy like the original Dark Shadows (I watched that while nursing today and I'm hooked although netflix only has a small fraction of the series, they start when barnabis collins returns and then only have 160 of the 2000 something episodes.) I would watch my shows, and sew all day. Stoping to eat dryers all fruit bars, drink newmans own lemonaid. and snack on mike and ikes. 

Summer blog Challenge Days 20-22

 I've gotten a few days behind on my summer blog challenge posts so I'm just gonna cram them all together. Its been pretty hectic around here lately, but I'm hopeful that I can get back to blogging and sewing soon.
Day 20 was to post a picture of me when I was younger.

I'm second from the left on the bottom row. This was from when I used to dance, I think I was 14 or 15 here.
And thanks to my childhood friend Gina for posting these on FB so I have the next two pictures of us playing dress up

Day 21: Most recent words of wisdom that stuck with me. Probably that being a mom isn't easy, but its the most rewarding job in the world. I've been having a rough time with Tabitha lately. She is really jealous of Evangeline and has been acting out because of it. But in the midst of her fits and peeing on my floor, there are still those wonderful times when she hugs me and tells me she loves me, and the times when she wants to hug and kiss Eva, or help me with whatever I'm doing. I know the hard times will eventually fade, and I will remember the laughs, the kisses, the jokes, the hugs, how much she loves her sister and what a good person she is. She has an amazingly big heart. She is so sweet and so loving, the other stuff she'll grow out of, but I know she will always be an amazing, sweet, funny girl who I will always be proud of. 

 

 

Day 22:  When I was little there were a ton of things I wanted to be: a teacher, a pediatric cardiologist, a ballet dancer, a writer, a photographer, a baker, but the most important was to be a mom. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom. I got my degree in History (which makes me qualified to say "would you like fries with that" and live in a cardboard box) because I love history. since I was already married while I was in college and I knew that we planned for me to stay home with the kids one we had them, I thought it was important for me to get a degree in something I loved. I still plan to go back to school and get a masters some day, but for now, I'm loving being home with my girls. I'm their first teacher, their boo boo kisser, their dance teacher, their story teller, their photographer, and their baker, all those dreams I had did come true, just in a different way than you would expect. I have everything I ever wanted in life, and I'm so very lucky. 

 

 

Summer blog challenge day 15

post a picture that you took that you are proud of.

I have 2. One of each of the girls.

I love both of these pictures, and actually both of them I got a phone call from Walgreens when I sent them to be printed telling me they thought I was printing professional pictures. 

Introducing Evangeline Morgan

Well she's finally here! Evangeline Morgan was born at 3pm on January 26th 2012. She was born via repeat c-section. It went really well, It was so strange having everyone in  the OR be LDS and making church jokes. There were two student nurses and while my dr was trying to explain something to them he started singing "do as i'm doing, follow follow me", I almost died laughing. I was scared at first but I had such a great experience and my dr was awesome.
Evangeline was born at exactly 3pm and after the initial clean off Morgen was able to hold her in the OR while they worked on me for most of the time. I was able to kiss her and look at her while they closed me up. Morgen went with her while they did all the initial newborn stuff and they met me in my recovery room about ten min after I got there. I was able to hold her the whole time during recovery and nurse her and bond with her.
My mom had Tabitha and it was so great that Tabitha was one of the first people to meet Evangeline. She was very excited to meet her baby sister.
I was able to walk around 11 and they had me walk to my room (which luckily was right next door.) I was able to leave the hospital on Saturday afternoon and I was glad to be home with both my girls. Recovery has been better than last time, although I seem to have pushed myself a little to hard, so I'm trying to take it easy for a bit.
Evangeline is a great baby. She sleeps really well, and is a championship nurser. She is a total cuddlier and just the sweetest little baby ever.
Tabitha loves being a big sister and tells everyone that Eva is her sister and she's "nice and cute". The other night Morgen took Evangeline in the other room to change her diaper and Tabitha yelled "Bring back my baby!"
Its an interesting transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4 but it feels like Evangeline was a missing piece now and I can't imagine our family without her.

right after birth

How sweet

Cuddling with mommy

what a cutie pie

my little sweetie

so pretty

super baby

ready to go home

last picture as a family of 3

first cuddle with mommy

The best feeling!

Sleepy girl

Milk coma!

Hope you enjoyed the photo bomb! There will be more i'm sure!