Thirty-one party!

I'm hosting a Thirty-one catalog party, which means anyone can order online by selecting my party on the website.  Just pick what products you want and they will be delivered to you!  I absolutely LOVE these bags and am so glad my sister-in-law, Natalie, introduced me to them.  I have several different ones and wanted to show you how I use them to keep me organized.

First, I have several items in my bathroom.  I have the mini utility bin under my sink with my all of my hair products, dryer, flat iron, brush, etc.

I love the gray with the polka dots.  We have decorated our bathroom in gray and yellow so the dots go great with our decor.  The name is a bit deceiving.  There isn't really anything "mini" about it!  I have a ton in there.  Natalie said she has used it as a trash collector in their car when they take long trips.  The great thing about this (and the other totes I'm going to talk about) is that you can rinse them out with soap and water and they dry in no time at all.  I spilt something sticky in one of my totes and had it cleaned and ready to use in just a few minutes.  Next to the bin, I have the five pocket clutch which holds all of my makeup.  When we travel, I also put my contact cleaner, case, and mini toiletries in it.  It holds a lot also, and I love that some pockets are zippered while others snap.  Also in the bathroom, I have the littles carry-all caddy on the back of the toilet and have all of my, errr, feminine products in it so they are easy to access.

It's also in the dots to go with the look of the bathroom.

Next, are the two I'm most excited about, probably because I use them every single day.  They are the zipper pouches.  They are huge!  You can fit a TON in them. The way I use them is for organizing my diaper bag.  I don't know about you other moms but it always seemed like my diaper bag was a wreck. Sure there are a ton of pockets in it, but I never could get a good system down for what I used each pocket for and I really never could find what I was looking for quickly.  Well, now I have a bag for each boy and they slip into my diaper bag very easily.  They are different prints so they are easy to tell which bag belongs to each boy, plus they are monogrammed.

You can see how much I have in these bags for each of the boys!  And I usually have several snacks in Robby's for him, too.  What makes this a great system is if we are out and Tim or I just need to take one of the boys to change a diaper, we grab that boy's bag and we know there will be wipes and the appropriate size diaper ready to go.  It makes dropping off at the nursery super easy since they are each in different rooms.  I just hand the appropriate bag to the nursery workers and know everything that child needs is in the bag.  And I get to keep the diaper bag with all of my things with me.  Also, if Tim is taking just one of the boys out with him, he grabs that boys bag and has all he will need for their outing.  I can't tell you how much this organization has helped keep me sane!

Now, let's talk about car organization.  I purchased the organizing utility tote first.  I packed it with my jumper cables, bottled water in different pockets, reusable shopping bags, towels, paper towels, etc.  It was my emergency car kit.  Most recently, I have used it to pack toys for our car trips for Robby.  I also put different snacks and things in the pockets.  This kept the car from getting crazy messy.  Everything always had a place to go back into during the trip.

I also have two all-in-one organizers, one for each boy.  In these I have everything I need for while we are out and just in case we got stranded somewhere (you can never be too careful, right?!) and have them in the floorboard on Robby's side.

In Charlie's I have a bottle, some formula packets, my sling, some teethers, and lots of diapers and a package of wipes.  In Robby's I also have diapers and wipes, take and toss cups, snacks, his quiet book, another toy, and I usually have some individual juice bottles in there too.  Having these in the car makes me feel confident that I will have whatever we need just in case we get across town and get stuck in traffic so we're out much longer than we expected or if something comes up and just keeps us away from home and I wasn't planning on it.  They really help when we are traveling, also, because whatever we need is within reach and organized well.

The prices of the totes, bins, and accessories are incredibly reasonable considering the quality of the products.  I am always pleasantly surprised by the actual size of all the items when I receive them.  I'm planning to get more of the fun accessories.  I love so many of the prints they have!  I would love to hear what items you decide to get and what you plan to do with them.  My party is open today through the 14th.  There is special this month that if you spend $31 you get a product from the Spirit Collection for 50% off!  If you have any questions about anything, you can ask me or email Natalie from the website.

Here is the link to my party again: http://www.mythirtyone.com/forms/frm_event_my_events.aspx
I think it is easier to check out the catalog first so you can browse everything and see how it's being used, then shop from the party link.

Wordless Wednesday: A Wooden Horse from Uncle Dusty

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18 months!

My sweet little man, you are a year and a half old!!!  How did that happen??

You are so smart (or at least, we think you are!).  You love your puzzles and are a whiz at putting them together.  Blocks are another of your favorite toys.  You like to stack the single blocks together, double blocks together, and so on.  I have no idea where you get your particularity from!!  :-)  You like to figure out how things go together and keep me on my toes with what you reach and get off of countertops and tables!

You are finally getting more cuddly.  When you wake up in the morning or from naps, you want me to hold you for a little while, give me kisses, and love on me.  Anytime I'm on the floor, you like to back up and sit in my lap.  It always puts a smile on my face when you do that!  You adore your little brother.  He is your "bebe" and you always want to know where he is.  If he's sleeping, you knock on the door and call out for him.  You get down on the blanket on the floor and play with him.  If he's in his exersaucer, you are right there with him playing with all the gadgets.  You give him kisses all the time.  It is seriously the most precious thing I've seen.  I can't get enough of them, let me tell ya!

This past month has been the month of teeth for you!  You have cut every tooth except for your 2 year molars.  Your smile looks so different now!  Thankfully, you are a great teether and the only symptom we see are more poopy diapers and rash.  But you don't get overly fussy or lose sleep.  We are very thankful for that!

You are saying so many words!  We just went to visit the Hawvers and you started saying "Gus".  Gus calls his daddy "da" and by the second day, you were calling Josh "da" also!  You have said "Charlie" several times.  We are constantly surprised by what words come out of your mouth.  When you are hungry, you go to the pantry door, knock on it, and say "nack?".  When you want something else you say "more".  We are working on getting you to say "please" since you are very good about saying "tank you".  You know several animals and animal sounds.  I was surprised when you suddenly started saying them last week.  It was like you listened forever to what I was saying and decided you all of the sudden wanted to say them!  You can say "LaLa" (my mom) and "Pa" (my dad).  You LOVE your shoes and talk about them all the time.  We got you some new shoes last week and one morning, they were on your changing table, so when you woke up, you just kept saying "shoes, shoes, shoes" until I put them on you!  And you go to the door when you are ready to leave and say "go"!  You call diapers "di" and can say "wipes".  You also try to say "hungry", "oranges", and "water".  When a song you like comes on, you sing by saying "da da da" over and over again.  It's pretty cute!

You are my sweet, curious, loving, cute big boy!  I'm so thankful that I'm your mommy and you're growing so big and strong!

I love you, sweet little man!

A little change-up!

When we went to Muleshoe last week, the boys and I slept in the same room.  I was amazed at how well they did sleeping like that.  Charlie slept right through Robby's nightly screaming as soon as we put him to bed and Robby slept right through Charlie waking up at 5am to eat.  So, that got me thinking.  We knew we wanted the boys to share a room later on down the road, but what if we went ahead and put them together now?  While Tim was at work, I moved Charlie's crib into Robby's room and rearranged the furniture to make everything fit.  (On a side note: Don't remove the door from the hinges unless you are sure you need to do so.) (On another side note: If you do remove the door from the hinges, apparently there is a bolt on each hinge that can just be popped out.  So, don't completely unscrew the hinge from the door itself...not that I would know or anything!).  Today, I worked on getting all of the wall decor rehung.  I decided to change Robby's name on his wall from "Robert" to "Robby", so I need to find my paint and take care of the b and y.  And I have a couple of empty frames because we are hoping to get some professional pictures of Charlie done and those pictures will go in the frames.  I'm excited about the change!  Now, when we have guests, Charlie doesn't have to be displaced and I have ended up getting a little office work space for bill paying, meal planning, etc.

 There is absolutely nothing on the walls of the guest room now, but we will change that soon enough!

Four month stats

Today was Charlie's 4 month appointment. He is perfectly healthy and the doctor was impressed by his leg and neck strength. She was also surprised by how calm and content he was when she was examining him. He just laid there and let her check everything out. He would give her smiles and coos throughout the whole thing! Charlie is 13 lbs 12 oz (25%), 25.5 in (75%), and has a head circumference of 16.75 in (50%).

Robby was a little concerned about what they were doing to his brother!

Charlie also had his 4 month vaccinations. He barely cried then snuggled up to me and went to sleep! We got home, he and Robby played then after Robby went down for his nap, Charlie and I snuggled some more. Precious boy!

We are so blessed and extremely thankful to have two healthy, growing boys!

A little photo shoot!

Catie and I have been looking forward to getting some pictures together and of the boys together since I planned my trip. This morning before church we got the boys all dressed up and took some pictures!



Josh and the boys



My boys



Sweet big boy!



The Hawvers!



No one was looking, but I still love it!









Us and our boys!



My boys and me!



Me, Catie, and Little Miss!

We have had a blast here these last few days. It's been fun for Catie and me to just do everyday stuff together. Had we not moved away, this would kind of be the norm. I can't think about it very much or I get sad! I'm blessed to have a great friend to walk this path of motherhood with, even if we are several hundred miles apart as we do it!

Time with Aunt Catie!

While the big boys were napping, Aunt Catie and Charlie had some fun time together!