The rest of the...clothes

Ok girls. Here are the rest of the clothes I purchased in the last 3 weeks! I hope you enjoy your virtual fashion show. =) Overall I got 20 pieces of clothing, 2 pairs of shoes, and 5 necklaces for around $300. Considering I heard on the news yesterday that the average parent spends $450 on EACH child at the beginning of every school year, I think I did ok. I mean, c'mon. I've never really shopped in my 29 years of life. Hopefully now that I have some staples I shouldn't have to purchase much more...so long as I can keep this shopping monster under control!! =) The only outfit I can still take back is the brown patterned skirt and sweetheart neck brown shirt. The rest are mine for keeps.

White shirt and dressy brown shorts
Brown Asian inspired top (with same brown shorts)
Maroon Shirt and black pencil skirt
Turquoise skirt (and shirt, though you've seen that before)
Yellow and green shirt (this was purchased on my own. I wasn't so sure of it, but it was kind of fun and bright, and I wanted something not so dark)
Brown Shirt and Patterned skirt (Too old lady?? This is the one I'm on the fence about. Matt says he likes it.)
Black and green paisly shirt and black dressy capris (one of my favs)
Purple and black shirt and black pants (my favorite of all the outfits I think)
Black blousey shirt (gray capris purchased earlier this year)
Royal blue shirt and black casual capris (I think I might use this for family pics...what do you think, this or the turquoise shirt?)
Purple dress and black shoes (pictured in previous post)
Hot pink skirt (pictured in previous post)

My fashion progression

I've never really considered myself a fashionable person. Cute, but not quite fashionable. In high school I kind of did my own thing. As far as I remember I didn't really dress like my friends. Maybe I did, and I just think I was "original". I did, however, wear make up at that point. (1999)



In college I started toning it down a bit. The fantastic thing about college clothing was living with 5 other girls!!! The cutest outfits I wore were rarely owned or purchased by me. The bad thing about that was the [lack of] clothing shock when I got married! I never really recovered from that.

Right before Matt came home from his mission, I remember going shopping with my sister in VA at Kohls. It was the first time I'd heard of that store. Anyway, I bought myself some orange plaid capris. When Matt saw them, he told me that they looked like pajamas and that it was almost embarrassing to be out with me while I was wearing those. Ouch! haha. I got rid of them pretty quickly, and honestly, I think that was the beginning of the end of colorful clothes. (Looking at an old pic of them, they were pretty ugly, so don't judge Matt too harshly. I was trying to be fashionable, but just didn't know how, so I basically just gave up the notion.) Oh, and once he mentioned that I looked better without make up and I stopped wearing that! I figured it was cheaper and easier, so I was on board!!

In the last few years, I've ended up going with the most very basic of basics. Solid, fitted knit shirts from Target or Walmart. Kahki capris and shorts. I'm talking basic. The only dress/skirt purchases I've made in the past 10 years were during pregnancies. And when I bought those I got nice and stretchy dresses so I could wear them when I was not pregnant!

When I went to Phantom in Feb. with my friend Kirstin, I realized that I didn't have one decent shirt. Not one. After that I bought a few shirts from Target (all the same shirt in different colors!) and slacks from Old Navy to tide me over.

It wasn't until a week before our scheduled family pictures that I realized that even those weren't quite cute enough to be professionally photographed and documented for posterity's sake. So, as part of a trade for piano, I asked my friend Kary (who loves fashion and helps mainly frumpy mothers find a style) to teach me to shop.

Being from rural Snowflake where we don't even have a Walmart, I've never really known how to shop. I didn't know where to shop. I honestly don't think I've ever known what size I am. I couldn't ever find pants that fit both my waist and legs. I've always felt like the women's section was too "old lady" and the juniors/miss section has just gotten uglier and uglier every year (um, maybe that's a sign that I'm not a 'junior" any more and that I'm out of touch with the young kids now a days. hahahaha.)

2 days before our pictures we went shopping for 3.5 hours straight. We hit 6 stores. She had lists of things I needed. We were in and out. No messing around. Most importantly, I found out what size I am, what sections and stores to shop, and general ideas of what looks good on me. Pencil skirts. Wedge shoes if I want some height. Skirts just below or in the middle of my knee or to my ankle, but nothing mid-calf. I'm generally a size 4 petite in pants and a small in tops. It's nice to be able to go into a store and grab a wad of clothes and have the majority of them fit properly! Oh, and I found that when you shop a little higher quality than Old Navy, Target, and Walmart, pants actually fit me properly! We got me make up, jewelry, shoes, dressier shirts and pants and skirts. I felt like I was channeling my maternal great-grandmother when I bought my hot pink skirt.

So, in the past 2 1/2 weeks I've purchased:
2 black capris, black pants, dark brown dressy shorts, hot pink pencil skirt, black pencil skirt, purple dress, a patterned skirt, 8 or so shirts, black wedge sandals, light brown strappy wedge sandals, 5 necklace/earring combos (from the dollar store till I figure out what kind of jewelry I actually like), 2 eye shadows, mascara, lip gloss. Am I missing anything? It feels like it...

These aren't great pictures. I had Matt quickly snap them when I got home from shopping so I could see what photographed ok. I wasn't smiling in any of them, so I cut off my head! =) I've been trying to photograph my other clothes, but Matt's been working tons and I don't have a tri-pod, so I've been pretty unsuccessful. My shirts are where all the pattern is lest you think I got all solids...




I didn't feel like I'd quite gotten what I wanted for pictures, but I felt more confident in my ability to shop, so the next day I went out by myself. I felt like a contestant on What Not to Wear, trying to follow rules and find things that were out of my comfort zone but cute. I found this shirt and I felt happy enough with how it worked with the clothes I got for Matt and the boys. Paired with a cute necklace and dressier capris it makes a pretty cute outfit.



Our pictures got rained out and rescheduled for August. But that was fine. I felt like our outfits needed a little fine tuning anyway. I went shopping again. For a person who hasn't done much shopping at all in my life, I have been a shopping maniac the last few weeks!! I actually want to go again tomorrow to find a few more casual, yet cute tops that I can wear on a daily basis.

I have to admit, I am kind of liking wearing a little make up again (mascara and very subtle eye shadow and lip gloss), and I've really enjoyed (*gasp*) shopping. It's fun looking cute. I hope I don't start enjoying it too much!! Being a plain Jane has definitely been kind on the pocket book.

Cold Turkey

Well, Walt has pretty much weaned himself cold turkey. Last night when I tried to feed him it was immediate chomping. I let him try both sides, but all he wanted to do was teeth. Same story this morning when he woke up, at church, at nap, and again this evening. I refuse to be a teething toy, and he obviously is not interested in nursing. Luckily he's 2 weeks from 1 year so I'm just going straight to cow's milk. He's been stealing Dean's sippies and sucking down his left overs for weeks now. I hope it will make it a little easier for our trip to AZ that's coming up soon here.

I didn't do this with Dean. I did a VERY gradual weaning with him, and it was after I was pregnant with Walt. I think I was 8 weeks pregnant with Walt when I finally weaned Dean from his night and morning feedings. So, I had no pain when I stopped nursing him. Not so with Walter.

Ouch. Cold Turkey is definitely more painful. I think tomorrow I may bust (pun intended) out the cabbage and give it a try depending on how I feel.

(The black mark on Walter's head is soot from playing in our fireplace. He LOVES it in there.)

Land of the Free

I'm grateful I live in this country. I think my appreciation for America and personal freedom skyrocketed after having lived in China for 6 months. It's been 9 years, but I still remember how grateful I was to come home and be able to do things like go to church without meeting clandestinely and to come and go as I pleased without military personnel watching my every move. Oh, and it's also nice to be able to give a speech without a party member writing or rewriting it. I think Americans often forget or don't realize what we have.

As I see it, this freedom comes from at least 2 sources:

1. A promise from God that if we obey his commandments and are faithful, we [who live in this Promised Land] will prosper and be kept safe. If we turn from God, this promise is void. So, let's be good little boys and girls and remember to whom we are indebted! I personally prefer the protection of God to the protection of a government who removes God from the equation.
   
2. The men and women who give their time and their lives to serve and protect and maintain our freedom. It would be unimaginably difficult to be a military family, but I am forever grateful for the people who are willing to give their lives that we might live a life with freedom from oppression.

And to celebrate tonight, I will leave you with some pictures and videos of my cute boys.

Recent happenings

We went to the beach again this week. When I was trying to get the boys showered off before we went home, I had them both stripped down naked. I set Walt in the stroller but didn't strap him in. I turned to help Dean turn on the water and smash! Walter tried to climb out and did a major face plant onto the concrete. Not two minutes later Dean wanted to turn the water off before me, so he ran in his sandals on the wet concrete, slipped and got pretty bad road rash on his bum. I felt horrible. Two screaming, injured, naked babies. Oi. Walt's nose was bleeding. Luckily he just got scraped up. His nose still looks pretty bad and he got road rash above and below his eye. I'm just glad it wasn't worse. They both fell asleep before we even made it out off state park property! I don't have a pic of his face yet, but you can see it in the video I'll link.

He's a crazy climber, though, so I doubt this will be the end of the injuries! I mean, just look at him climbing up Dean's step stool. He gets very frustrated when he climbs up and there's no water in the sink for him to splash in!


I got some new painting supplies for Dean and he has been LOVING them. I got paint, a little paint roller and some dot paints. By 6:30 this morning he was asking to "do crafts"! Today I just let him free paint. Yesterday we did F is for fireworks and Flag for the up coming 4th. He calls the dot paints fireworks now. =) We also made a very hungry caterpillar since he wanted to do more crafts with his new paints. (Dean took the second F picture "Dean want to take a picture for the flag." Every time he wants to take a picture of something he says he wants to take a picture for something.)


I finished building the toddler picnic table today. I nearly finished yesterday. I had 2 screws left and I hit a knot and split my board! I was so furious. I totally cried and everything. (Though I started my period today, a week early, and that may have had something to do with my crying. Once a month I break down over something. Never fail!) I just need to sand and paint it.

Walter's starting to talk a little more. He says mama, dada, uh oh (occasionally), and no, no, no (though it sounds more like na, na, na). He also shakes his head no and yes and can usually get it right. The second one is him trying to climb onto the finished picnic table.

To the Father of my Children

Happy Father's day. You probably won't ever read this, but thanks for being a wonderful daddy and for adding your good looking genes to my good looking genes so we have darling children.

We had a fun day at the lake...

but I think I need to hire a better sunscreen helper! haha.

Just kidding. It's so hard to get the whole sun screen thing down. Walt, Dean and I all walked away from the lake with some sort of burn. I on my back. Dean on his arms. Walt on one foot and a little on both legs. Oops.

Matt says we're not allowed to go back until I learn how to apply sun screen properly and timely. It's so hard with sand and water and no water proof watch!

Lake Ray Roberts is just about 40 min. from us. It's really fun. There's a group of women about my age with kids (ranging from about 10 yrs. to under a year) who go there about once a week. Thursday is the standard day. I hope we get to go a whole lot more this summer (and also hope this is the worst of the sunburns!!).

Oh, and Dean FINALLY went in the water! And he really enjoyed it. He's never really liked pools and refuses to play on splash pads at parks. But with a little tube and good life jacket, he had loads of fun floating "on his own".

Walt loved the beach almost too much! After we got home he had an explosive diaper full of sand! He ate a lot of it the first 20 min. we were there. =) Silly boy.

A Texas Rain

We haven't had much rain at all this past month, and it's been hotter than normal, so we were quite happy when the skies opened last week. We were supposed to go to the pool, but it was nice to have the rain fall on our garden. It was Walt's first time playing in the rain. Dean insisted on the boots saying they were "just right for rain and snow." He is quite right. Walter, on the other hand, went barefoot like always. The kid doesn't even own a pair of shoes or sandals!

Sleeping progress

We have our room back! Last week we moved Walter in with Dean. I was a bit worried since I was still feeding him around 4-5 AM, but I so needed my room back.

It's surprisingly gone much better than I had anticipated. Dean has done really well. He's a much heavier sleeper than I have given him credit for!

The first few days I got up and fed Walt around 4-5AM so he wouldn't wake up Dean. Then I decided to just go for it and finish off sleep training. A couple of nights he cried and cried until he fell back asleep around 6AM for 40 min. nap. Surprisingly, Dean never came into our room when that happened.

I've basically stopped making Dean have quiet time if Walt's napping during Dean's old nap time (since I don't really have a place to put him). While it's not been ideal, it's worked out ok. They go to bed at the same time at night, and that's been nice. There have been a few days where Dean napped and went to bed later than Walt (and once where it was reversed), but he was really good and didn't make noises to wake Walt up. Dean's actually been much better at bed time and has only tried to come out of his room once in the past two weeks after putting him down. I think it makes him feel better knowing that someone else is sharing his fate.

Now they're waking up between 6 and 7, and while I really don't want to get up before 7, I'll take it because of all the other pluses.

A different boy

Every time we cut Dean's hair, I think he looks like a totally different boy. These were both taken last week. The first one cracks me up!

Arlington Highland Games/ Scottish Festival

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Highland games/Scottish festival here. Other than the fact that it was 103*, it was quite fun. Whoever schedules the games really needs to move it to March or October!!! It would be better suited for us whities. Seriously, not 10 minutes after getting out of our nicely air conditioned vehicle and slathering our bodies with 70 spf sun screen, we had a woman offer us some sun screen for the boys since they were already so flushed!!

We tried to keep them pumped full of liquid, and we applied a second coat of sun screen about half way through the day. After this horribly mottled face picture, I took walt to the bathroom and wet a paper towel to blot him down. The pic. of Dean with the blue ice was at the very end of the day. He fished around in the lunch bag and pulled it out to put on his belly!

We enjoyed the children's tent (where Dean made a necklace), the music tents, a long awaited traditional scottish meat pie, a fried mars bar (Matt had that while I went to the car to get more water and had the audacity not to save any!), Irn-bru, a delicious burger and slinky fries, and it was fun watching the actual games. We were unfortunately at the harp tent when a hammer was thrown over the fence and landed in someone's windshield!! Now that's not something you see every day. I actually heard her on the phone crying in the bathroom when I was changing Walt. Poor girl.

We were all quite worn out by the end! It was a good day.

The continuing saga of the potty train

After my last post on the subject, the potty train went downhill fast. Not only did Dean stop going on the potty, but he also stopped telling me if he had a poopy or wet diaper. It was a problem. Not only that, but he continues to FIGHT every diaper change. Since being on antibiotics (and super fast mobility), Walter has started to crawl away and fight diaper changes as well. I was getting fed up with fighting two little boys, so I decided one of them had to be potty trained NOW!

So, as we were waiting for Walt's antibiotics yesterday, I let the boys peruse the toy isle at target to see if there was anything relatively cheap that really spoke to Dean. Treats have no potty value to Dean any more, so I thought I'd go for a sticker chart that would lead to a slightly larger prize after a week of no diapers.

He found a garbage truck. He was very sad we weren't buying it right then and there. So I told him that if he started wearing undies and going on the potty that he could have it after 1 week. As we checked out, he told the cashier the plan, so I was happy he was listening and understood. =)

Today was day 1. He really has an aversion to underwear. I'm not sure if it's because he felt unsuccessful the other times he tried wearing them or what. So when I told him that diapers weren't an option this morning, he chose to go naked. And naked he went (from the waist down) the entire day. I let him decorate his potty chart with larger stickers that wouldn't fit in the boxes. Then I let him pick a small sticker out ever time after he went to the bathroom.

He was very responsible! He ran to the bathroom without prompting from me, and he only had 2 accidents! One was right before he got to the toilet, the other was right by my computer after Matt left for YM and I was putting Walter down for bed. He really did soooo well, especially since he's been so resistant the past few months. He legitimately went pee 9 times on the potty and poo once, all on his own. So, in a 12 hour span (with no nap) I'd say he did quite well.

Here's to hoping tomorrow goes as well. I'll probably let him go naked again tomorrow, and try and get undies on him on Friday.