detox.

i'm finally reading a book i bought to read over maternity leave.

soul detox. craig groeschel. 

what a great wake up call.

to not let ourselves fall into what the world tells us is normal.

i am loving it. and hating it. because it's true. and a lot of it is me. 

you should read it!

while you're at it, read anything by him. he's awesome.

good stuff.

christmas twenty twelve.

so many events.

marshall family christmas.

 ugly sweater christmas party.

and white elephant gift exchange.

i'm holding bacon toothpaste. truth.

crafts!

my main craft: felt letters and homemade bags for the kids of a few friends...

an attempt at homemade cinnamon rolls. fail. will be trying again!

check out micah's puma tracksuit.

and the blanket his uncle ben made him laying behind him.

 personalized.

also check out that lifted head. what a tummy timer.

micah being baby Jesus. with ben as joseph.

more to come.

merry christmas to all!

19 days. whaaaat?!

this season is flying by.

so fast.

here are some more christmas ideas that i was going to use but now i'm not... somehow taking care of micah takes up much more time than i initially thought. so someone should make use of these ideas!

chalkboards out of cookie sheets found here.

frame with chicken wire found here

oreo cookie pops found here

soon i'll get to share what i am making for friends, family, and my first graders! 

yeahh buddy. 

saving the earth, one poop at a time.

well.

we're doing it.

cloth diapers... 

we've been at it for over 6 weeks now, so i feel like i can give my opinions (at least as to how they have worked with our baby so far). 

plus, i have a less-than-secret goal of transforming as many minds toward cloth as i can.

reasons i wanted to do it:

1. i've always been a tree hugger at heart.

2. i had read that it can be thousands cheaper from birth-potty training. and i've also always been a cheap-o at heart.

3. they're crazy cute. and who doesn't want baby poop to come in an owl-patterned contraption?!

here are the conclusions i came to after a LOT of research online and at cloth diapering stores (yes, they exist. i'm not crazy).

there are a million ways to effectively go through the process.

here's mine:

thirsties duo wraps.

we only have 6 covers in size one, 6 in size two. 

i liked this brand because they aren't one size, so they're less bulky, but two sizes isn't overwhelmingly more expensive, and with slightly less use they will be more likely to be used with more than one baby. one tip: the snap kind are far superior--last longer and wash better.

for prefolds, my favorite are cloth-eez prefolds--easy to use!

to attach, we use a snappi... and we use a pail liner that's by a local person, but the thirsties pail liner works, too. just with a regular trash can with a foot pedal lid.

basically, we wash using tiny bubbles detergent every three days--dump the diapers from the liner into the washer, rinse once without detergent, then wash with on hot and dry normally. too easy, really.

questions i had:

it's going to be hard, isn't it? it really hasn't been as tortuous as i (and everyone else...) thought.

does it stink up the house? not at all... though we are still just on breastmilk poop (then we have to break out the bum genius diaper sprayer...)

does it do weird things to the washer? no, because of the high heat cycle--it's always clean after!

does it give him a big butt? yes. for sure. haa. luckily i like big butts and i cannot lie.

are they way more complicated to put on? matt, who had never changed a diaper, changes him all. the. time.

are they hard to use when you're not at home? not at all! we just take a travel wet bag to put the dirty ones in, and wash those like the pail liner!

does he leak a lot? not at all!

that's all. that's just my life right now, and it was hard for me to figure out which ones to use... so i felt obligated to pass on my knowledge about poop.

so much thanks.

here was my thanksgiving...

 i made these amazing and crazy simple cookies...

andes mint cookies

-1 box devil's food cake mix, 1/2 cup oil, 2 eggs... mix them together and scoop onto cookie sheets (it made 24 cookies for me).

-bake at 350 for about 7-8 minutes (i took them out at 6 minutes and flattened them a bit)

-move to wire racks and put an unwrapped andes mint on each, wait until it melts and use a spoon to spread it around!

seriously delish.

 my mother in law found a fun pinterest fruit treat, so i created it! cute, eh? (the eyes are chocolate chips held down with peanut butter and the beak and feet are cheese that i cut)

 micah during thanksgiving dinner.

 lots of nieces and nephews!

 notice micah is wearing a different outfit? yep. someone enjoyed his thanksgiving meal a little too much.

the stocking that stays at grammy and grandpa ebright's house. with a baby behind it.

and as if thanksgiving isn't enough,
the next day we had the ebright tradition: asian invasion!
homemade deliciousness.



oh, and this was our baby boy at one month. no big deal.


a lot to be thankful for.
thank you, Jesus.

easy cooking + decorating.

well, my life has obviously drastically changed.

my world now revolves around a 10 pound (probably more like 11 pound...) human who can't talk to me or interact, but somehow commands all my actions.

thus, i need things to be more simple.

until i figure out how to be more productive.

so, first: a simple and delicious meal. 

have i mentioned that i now love frozen bread dough? 

because i do. 

cheap. simple. easy to use.

matt and i have discussed me trying to use it for as many meals as possible.

i wouldn't hate that.

check this out: a mix of calzone and stromboli and made up meal.

 oh yum. 

all you do is thaw the bread dough in the fridge overnight, then roll it out, add pepperoni, salami, sauce and cheese.  

seal it back up, put it seal down on a greased pan, egg wash the top, slit it and sprinkle parmesan.  

cook it at 350 for about 35 minutes and it's delicious--and huge!

more easy... christmas decor!

 i'm loving the merry. 

and it was so simple to make. painted letters? thanks pinterest.

and this is the stocking that i splurged on from pottery barn. whoops!

 oh, and this is our christmas tree. 

in front of a big window at the front of the house. 

that's always been a dream of mine--i love trees in front of windows so we can see the tree from the road!

i have to add the matt addition to decorating... lights up the stairs.

i love it when matt adds his touches. 

check out where it's plugged in...ha!

 

more super easy... micah's room decor!

i didn't want to poke holes in the wall, since it's not our house, so i made these to match his bedding and just used command strips to attach them!

(it's just foam core covered in fabric that's hot glued on, then i painted letters and hot glued them to the fabric!)

oh, and some simple things i'm going to make tomorrow/wednesday/thursday?

simple monkey bread. recipe to come. (thanks pinterest)

simple andes mint cookies. recipe to come. (thanks matt buying andes mints)

huge thanksgiving sugar cookie. recipe's already on my dessert page!

side note: we got micah's newborn shots. crazy cute.

check them out (feel free to judge for how many i put up. i couldn't choose.):

happy thanksgiving, all!

scrapbooking it.

well, i'm going to make a scrapbook.

but i am thinking it would be fun to make it more graphic-designer-y.

so, here's a sample of the template i'm going to use.

that matt helped me make.

the blank space is where i'll put a picture of him.

not too shabby, right?

yeah, buddy.

life with child.

life with a child is a lot different than life without, that's for sure.

some things i've realized...

1. i miss being pregnant in no way. being able to sleep on my back is a joy that i previously underrated. being huge and getting stares and comments everywhere is also something i can live without for a while.

2. while babies are predictable, needing very simple things, it's incredible how much time it takes to get those things done. i literally feel that i spend my days feeding him, changing him, and attempting to get him to sleep or keep him awake. 

3. showering + coffee = survival.

4. even though it's tiring and a weird life change, i sure do love him. to the point that thinking about it makes me tear up. oh, which makes me think of another thing i've realized...

5. HORMONES. out of control. yikes for matt... and my parents. whoops.

6. i've come to love ellen.

7. i wish starbucks delivered.

in other news,

i have super fun christmas crafting ideas. but i can't share them. but here are some i'm not using that are awesome!

painted wooden blocks from here

cinnamon stick christmas wreath from here

or a gift i made last year and was my favorite ever...

(look back here to find the tutorial on this sucker...)

and for meals, well, i haven't been cooking a ton, but i have been watching sports with matt. and a commercial had a great recipe!

BBQ chicken crescent rolls

basically, you just make barbeque chicken and roll it up in a crescent roll with a little cheese. cook for 10 minutes at 375, and holy delicious! it's a great cold night meal.

and i have to put up some pictures of the one who i spend all my time with...

 halloween!

 bathtime... hooded towel style. 

(right after we put him in this, he peed all over the place. for the 19538015938 time.)

next blog, i'm going to put up pictures of micah's room. finally.

as if you care. just pretend for me.

also, i'll hopefully make some fun things--baking, cooking, and hopefully crafting!

oh, and one more thing. i've been reading this book on my kindle. and i love it. and you should read it.

jim cymbala is awesome.