Pinterest

I finally finished a project. I mean my very talented husband finished a project that I found on Pinterest, my new web addiction!  If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, please do!  It is so addicting and fun and practical and heavenly and girly--boys stay away!  Okay, I'll shut up about it.  You need to have an invitation to join, so feel free to leave your email below and I can send you an invite.  I can delete your comment so all the stalkers don't have your email address.

You can follow my pinterest board here:

Anyway, I found a "pin" that led to this blog about how to make rain gutter bookshelves.  For months I have been trying to figure out what do in B's room for books.  The massive pile on the floor was getting out of control. I also didn't want to put a bookshelf that he would be inclined to climb up it and topple it over.  Bookshelves look like ladders to little busy boys!  I knew these bookshelves were a perfect fit for his room. They don't take up much room and he can put them away himself and see all the books at the same time.  and most of all AFFORDABLE!!

See the blog link up there for the how-to. I think it took Nate a total of 30 mn and $30!  Pretty simple!  I'm no handyman, but most handier girls could do this.

Installing the first shelf with his little helper.

second shelf before endcaps.

The end result

Speaking of books, if you've never seen that polar bear book up there, and you have young children, you need to go buy it now!  It's called On The Night You Were Born.  I saw it at the Hallmark store over the holidays last year and cried while reading it!  Hallmark has it available in their recordable storybook line.  I told Ash (B's b-mom) about it and she just HAD to buy it for him.  I love that she can tell him in her voice about the amazing night he was born, anytime he wants to hear.  How special for him to have that treasure for years to come.  She gave it to him for his birthday.  He calls it his "ashee book", listens to it almost every night, and has the whole thing memorized.  

Another modeling session.

I try to take pics of B in clothes that he has received as gifts, and send them to the giver.

Aunt Dee-Dee, my sister, pretty much supplies his whole wardrobe!

This shirt was exceptionally adorable on him and I wish I could say it was easy to have him pose for me, but it was quite the contrary.

I had to do all kinds of silly things to convince him to let me take his picture.

I don't document enough all the cute things he has to say. It is difficult to narrow it down. He talks non stop and it's pretty much all funny.

Lately whenever I tell him goodnight he wants about five more big kisses, then a baby kiss and then a quiet kiss and then a big big hug. Then he says, "mommy are you going to sleep too? Wif daddy? Are you sleeping wif daddy?" yes, if you must know, I am :).

This is what he did if I asked if I could take his picture.

Not sure what to do with his hair from here...

Oh yeah, it's my birfday!

I thought Google was really nice in redesigning their whole page just to wish me Happy Birthday.

Okay, I'm not really that big of a deal. Apparently it's Google's 13th birthday. Makes me feel really old to think that I'm 20 years older than google today.

One would think I'm really a big deal if you saw my facebook page. There's really nothing like facebook to make a person feel like a celebrity!  Thanks, y'all, for making me feel so special.  I'm thankful for each one of you!

Unfortunately, I have to work on my birthday.  Honestly, not my favorite.  B wanted to stay home today, too.  He kept saying, "I don't wannnnnaaaa go to school. I don't wike school. I want to pway puzzles and wead books."   (He really does love school, he just didn't want to do anything I wanted him to do today, welcome to 2.5 years old!)

Never fear, though!  The hubby took me out to dinner to my favorite restaurant on Sunday since today is slammed.  Pizza is, by far, my favorite meal.  Clash gourmet pizza and breadsticks with a fancy girly restaurant==my dream come true!

Our lovely friends that celebrated with us.  {Don't hate me for posting this.  You said no facebook.}

My handsome hubby and me.

Tonight I have the chance to study this amazing book with even more amazing women from my church. 

It's an awesome book about learning to see God in every little thing around you and to give thanks for each gift He's given us, no matter how big or how small.  

So today I give thanks for the Thirty-Three precious years that God has given me so far. So instead of being grumpy that I'm here at work, I will give thanks that I have the ability to work, that B has a great preschool with teachers that love him. That I only have to work two days a week and can spend the other days with B.

Hope you all have a joy-filled day!

Love,

Amber

Hair transformation

I've been growing my hair out for most of my marriage (8 years) due to an unfortunate chopping a few months before we were married. I seriously looked like a Q-tip. It was terrible and I came very close to swearing to never cut it again. So, 8 years later, my hair was practically down to my rear-end! I loved the length, I really did. The headaches and hours of working on it were taking a toll on me though. I wanted to try to go back to my natural color, which used to be blonde.

Four hours, 14 inches, and lots of chemicals to bring the blonde back and you have the below results!

Before

The first cut of hair!

After stripping my hair and now for the dye and highlights!

I love it!

So much shorter!

I can't believe how much lighter it feels! I will definitely be growing it back out again, but for this phase of my life, the easier the better!

I happened to have this done when Nate was away on a business trip. He says it's growing on him!

Oh and this is the look I was going for.  I think I came pretty close:

Little athlete

B is such an amazing little athlete! It's really interesting to see how much he is drawn to sports and how naturally athletic he is.

Nate and I are both athletic but not drawn to sports at all!

B's birth family is very athletic and into watching and playing sports, so of course they are thrilled!

My family is really into sports as well. My brother has already bought B's Christmas and birthday presents that should make B very happy.

A friend of our's gave us this little soccer net for B. He couldn't get enough of it!

He did take a break to eat a strawberry out of our garden.

Bubbles

Just thought I'd share some sweet pictures I took a few weeks ago.

Nate was working late one night so B and I headed outside for some bubble time!

He had so much fun!



P.s. How SWEET is the new iPhone/iPad blogger app?? You might hear from me way more often!

my fear of ...

SALAD!  

If you know me in real life, you know that I love the color green, but not when it's mixed with anything having to do with food.

I tried to take a scared picture of myself, but I make a very scary looking scared person.  Especially since I didn't sleep much last night or really finish putting on makeup this morning.

I have really struggled over the years with eating any veggies and trying to eat anything new.  Some veggies have actually made me gag (like carrots, i know, ridiculous).

Over the last couple of years, I've learned to eat a little bit of salad if it's served to me at a friend's house. I've also allowed restaurants to bring a salad to me if it comes for free with the meal.  I then pick at it for a few minutes and pass it on the hubby who devours it.

Since little B came along, I've really really, I mean REALLY worked on my diet and have tried to eat healthier for his sake.  I have cooked and served very healthy food for him since the beginning and really want him to have a varied palette.  I know I need to lead by example, but it's still really difficult.

This summer when we went sailing with our friend, he served us an amazing chef salad with a yummy balsamic dressing.  I couldn't believe how much I loved it and how much I literally inhaled!  I've been making them for myself ever since.


We went out to eat as a family last night and I made a really big leap of faith and actually ordered salad as a meal.  I think Nate was so shocked he almost fell out of the booth.  I ordered the Chipotle Yucatan Chicken Salad (at Tgifridays).  The only thing I had them leave off was the tomatoes.  I even tried avacado.  My eyes are bugging out of my head typing this because I can hardly believe it myself.

It's pretty silly to think about it.  I can survive and thrive through the very scary process of adoption, even survived the contention of our son's adoption by his birthfather (I think that's the first time I've actually put that in writing on here) {he changed his mind and did sign termination [tpr] eventually}.  It was the most terrifying moment of our lives.  I think I can handle trying a salad and LIKING it!

What are you terrified to try?  How difficult would it really be to try it and just maybe like it?  Is it something little like my fear of salad, or is it something huge? One of my huge fears used to be domestic adoption....


I always think of something else to write at the end of my blogs.  My blog just hit 10,000 hits today!!  I wish I had something creative to do that for that, but THANKS to everyone who has dropped by to read what "little ole me" has to say!

It probably has more to do with pictures of this little guy though. Don't want to keep you hanging ;)

Big Cow and Puddle Jumping

Are those not the cutest pictures you've seen today?

B has so much energy and fervor for life! I love catching pictures of it, even if it's only through my iPhone and not a fancy camera.  

If you look closely in the pictures, you will see "Big Cow" in every single picture.  B has gone through phases of favorite toys and stuffed animals.  He still loves his jr basketball, but I think he figured out that it's not easy to take that thing everywhere.  He still loves his Mickey Mouse, but he knows Mickey stays at home.  

"Big Cow" on the other hand, is his very best friend.  It goes everywhere with him.  A near disaster was averted this past weekend when he lost Big Cow at church. I'm not going to tell you how much it cost his grandparents to replace that during his nap time.  That's what grandparents are for, right? 

Big Cow

I do have a friend who has offered one as a back-up.  Thankfully, there's ebay and I can find another back up there!

What silly toys/stuffed animal/blanket have become your kid's sidekick?  What lengths did you go to to ensure there is a back-up?

I've had several people ask me how I get this "look" on my pictures.  

I use an iphone application called Instagram.  My username is bumberjoy on there, look me up on there (only if you have an iphone, sorry)!  It's kind of like facebook or twitter, in that you can add friends and see their pictures and comment on them.  

There's also this really amazing app called Postagram. You can send real postcards in the mail to people straight from your phone for only 99 cents {I think they are normally 1.99 and are just on sale now).  

This girl is the queen of  forgetting to send thank you notes.  I'm the worst ever.  Which does not mean for one minute that I am not appreciative.  My mother definitely trained me better than that.   

These little postagrams have changed my life (well in the last 3 weeks that I've started using them).  and if you sign up under me with an iphone or android, we each can send one for FREE!  You have to go through this link, RIGHT HERE though!

I'm headed off for a much-needed girl's weekend tomorrow in Annapolis!  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Title-less Tuesday

Hi friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.  Hope you are ready for a scatterbrained blog posting!

I had the privilege of guest-blogging on Behind the Stone Wall last week about how we ending up in an Open Adoption.  I hope you'll go by and read it because it took me forever to write it.  I could possibly be the slowest blog writer in the world.

Today is our eighth anniversary.

8 YEARS --- HOLY COW!  

I'm so thankful for the husband that God has blessed me with!

Nate was in the wedding of his childhood best friend on Saturday.  Then on Sunday night,we had the opportunity to go away for a night to celebrate our anniversary.  Very important for any couple to do, especially once you have children.

At the wedding

at our hotel 

We stayed at the Lancaster Arts Hotel and LOVED it! Thanks to my lovely friend, Mama Duck, for the recommendation.  The hotel was beautiful, exquisite and unique.  And they spoiled us rotten! I highly recommend it if you ever need to get away!

picture of our room

B had the opportunity to be spoiled by his grandparents all weekend long!  He had the opportunity to ride on the Strasburg railroad for the first time!  He also explored some of his Amish roots:

To round out this random blog, I wanted to link to two posts that I really loved this last week!

1. I linked to this blog on facebook, so some may have already seen it.  My friend, Mama Duck, wrote this beautiful blog about "empty nesters".  Even if you aren't an adoptive parent, it is very important for any mother to read.  It will help you see a totally different perspective on nesting.  Not everyone has it so easy!
2. Most of my friends know better than to involved me in any silly games that are going on on facebook about fake pregnancy status.  It actually makes me quite angry that people are so trivial about something that is so difficult for many.  Who doesn't know someone that struggles with infertility, has lost an infant child, or miscarried??  It's just not a way to mess around with people.  This blogger went into great detail about how insensitive it really is.  

oh and ONE MORE thing!  I hope my friends in the area will join me for this 10k/5k in October.  Even if you aren't a runner, you can WALK it!  So excited to support my friend's amazing foundation!

Free stuff friday

Today I thought I would share a few ways that I have won some really cool stuff!  

I enter a lot of blog giveaways. Usually all you need to do is follow the blog through Google and leave a comment about it. You may think it's a little stalkerish to click "Follow", but trust me it's not.  It is really nice for a blogger to know that people care about reading what they have to say.  You could actually make my day by clicking "Join this site" <-------right over there.  {Okay, I'm done with my shameless attention getting plug.}  

By the way, these items were all scott-free and none of these people asked me to blog about it. I just wanted to thank them for the great free stuff by sharing it with my readers. 

Won a blog giveaway for an amazing book about a birthmom choosing adoption for her child.
You can purchase your copy here.  

Won a blog giveaway from my friend, Tink. Super fun blog!

Love this t-shirt I won from this amazing organization!

Won this Hallmark recordable storybook from a blog giveaway! Love these recordable storybooks and so does B!

Received coupons for free full-size products (I've also received, Loreal hair color, Jif pb, and more pantene coupons)!
I start by liking My Frugal Adventures on FB and paying attention any time she posts about free coupons available on manufacturers FB pages.

Won this super cute t-shirt in a blog giveaway.  Check out the blog of this sweet family waiting to bring home their little guy from Ethiopia. You can purchase their t-shirts here.

Another blog giveaway. A great book about domestic adoption for children.
You can purchase a copy here.

Blog giveaway from Leah.  Seriously loved this stuff!

Moral of the story is, If you see a giveaway on a blog just take a few seconds to enter it!  There are plenty of giveaways I don't win, but plenty that I do!  

Also, to my Blogger friends, did you see there are some new features, like a new dashboard where you can actually see more than 2" of what you are typing.  There's also a setting to make your page more accessible on mobile phones!  Blog away, friends!