Will The Super Mom With Boundless Energy Please Stand Up...

My friend Rachel asked me:

I'd like to know how you do all your creative projects with 2 little kids around. I can't get any of my sewing projects and I only have one right now. Although I do work 2-1/2 days and I'm pregnant so I'm pooped by the end of the day. But you seem to have so much energy.

Oh girl. If you only knew. I hope I haven't insinuated that I am a super Mom with boundless energy and productiveness who completes every task with a smile plastered on her face. No no no. I get all my creative projects done by shirking my housekeeping, playing during naptime and giving up other things. I don't watch much TV anymore, but I've conveniently replaced the my TV screen time for computer screen time.

I am blessed to be a SAHM. I am NOT blessed with excellent time management skills. Besides, being a SAHM automatically means you have issues with completing tasks and actually feeling productive. At least in our house that's what it means. Tasks (and fun crafty projects) are often thwarted by poopy diapers (or poop ON THE FLOOR), children injuring each other, errands to run, sick children to nurse back to health, laundry and...hmmm, what else?.... oh yeah, everybody needs to be fed once in a while.

This bouncing back and forth between projects and housework and childcare is often frustrating for me. I often have to remind myself that being a Mama to Bubbalu and Lil Chick is THE most important task that I have. Sure, I know it in my head, but sometimes my head needs to be reminded.

Yes, more important than completing that super uber cute shirt pattern that I've had mulling around in my brain. Sometimes that means putting my latest project down and not returning to it for a few days (*ahem* WEEKS).

Bottom line: I'm NOT super Mama. I get VERY tired (and cranky!) and exhausted. I often choose to be crafty instead of doing housework. I blog, craft, sew and create things for therapy. IT WORKS FOR ME. It is my passion and I choose to pursue it unless my family is suffering because of it.

Still don't believe my claim? Ok Rachel, here's a photo I snapped just minutes after reading your question:



There, feel better now?

And mind you, superimpose five bins of random Christmas decor scattered about the room and you can see what it looks like right this very moment.

However, my Christmas tree looks quite spectacular, if I do say so myself...

A

***Have a question you would like to see answered? Make my day and become a fan on the Vintage Dutch Girl Facebook Fan page HERE and throw your questions at me.

Destructo Boy...

I am renaming Bubbalu as Destructo Boy. I will applique his new initials "DB" onto his superhero cape as well as spray paint his initials and logo onto his trike.

A small sampling of Destructo Boy's recent accomplishments:

- got into my toiletries and sprayed an entire small bottle of perfume all over my walk in closet, our clothes and Lil Chick. Husband will be thrilled to find he now smells like a woman. Discovery of crime due to Lil chick screaming in protest. Apparently she thought she was sufficiently fragrant.

- broke 8 candy canes into thousands of tiny pieces. Not such a huge tragedy as I can now make white chocolate peppermint bark.

- unwinding an almost full bobbin of elastic thread and stringing all about the living room. Discovery of crime due to Lil Chick screaming in protest. Apparently she didn't like having elastic thread woven around her NECK and cutting into her skin.

- dumped the newly reorganized, size appropriate, freshly washed and laundered (like ONE hour ago) top drawer of clothes of Lil Chick's dresser. ONTO Lil Chick. Once again, discovery of crime due to Lil Chick screaming in protest. Apparently she didn't like having a drawer on her foot.

- discovered an unattended container of itty bitty black beads and proceeded to unscrew lid and dump them all over the carpet. "They have holes in dem Mommy, little holes in dem!" Turns out that was too boring so he sat at my sewing desk and proceeded to unwind and tangle as many different bobbins he could in a limited amount of time. And let me tell you, that boy is efficient.

- picked out itty bitty black beads off of the carpet one by one and put them back into their container (punishment).

- but that was boring so he dumped the entire refilled container of itty bitty black beads into an empty, open bottomed sewing machine case sitting on the carpet.

- picked out itty bitty black beads off of the carpet one by one and put them back into their container (punishment WITH supervision).

- reset the thermostat. One again, that boy is efficient when time constrained. I'm hoping he'll give me a tutorial of the thing.

- discovered unattended new container of Soft Scrub on kitchen counter. Discovered how to climb ONTO kitchen counter. Discovery of crime due to appearance of soft scrub container sitting in a puddle of squeezed out product.

- attempted to pry metal labels off my Father's legal office file cabinets. Fortunately was unsuccessful.

- also attempted to push every button, turn every knob and try every handle in the interior of aforementioned legal office. ( I fled the office after 5 minutes fearing Destructo Boy's Rate of Destruction was going to multiply exponentially.)

- decided that his nap chart in his room was a stupid place to have stickers. During nap time (where's that sarcastic font???) stickers were relocated to finished wood closet doors. Why not?

All this along with eleven hundred ninety seven near misses and Mama interventions.

And I wonder why I'm exhausted at 7:42 PM?

A

*** ALSO: Vintage Dutch Girl has a fan page on Facebook! If you are on Facebook, do check it out HERE and make my day by becoming a fan.

A Beautiful Court Date...

I was in court today.

For an INCREDIBLE reason.

No no, I wasn't contesting a traffic ticket (never even been pulled over - holla!)

It was for a much more beautiful reason.

Remember my awesome sister Rebecca? Yaknow, the one who had a precious baby girl only three weeks before her newly adopted 6 month old son was brought home from Ethiopia by her husband Dusty?

( psst! You want to see some grown folk cry the Boo Mama coined "ugly cry"? Force them to witness a newly adopted child be brought home and placed into his exuberant and loving new Mamas' arms. Yep, ugly cry. But a GOOD ugly cry.)

Today, I witnessed my Father in court (haven't seen that since I was probably ten), who represented my Sister and Brother in law, as they finalized/re-adopted their sweet baby boy...my nephew!

It was an awesome day.

Except when Bubbalu bonked the JUDGE on the nose with the balloon airplane toy he was given right before entering the courtroom.

This Mother? Mortified.

The Judge was cool about it. After all, he's worked with my Dad for many years and has a heart for children. He was wiping away tears with the rest of us.

(Besides, I don't think you can hold a 2 year old in contempt of court.)

Welcome to the family Isaiah! We love you and are honored to be your family.

(psst! And your Auntie Amanda ALWAYS has cookies for you. ALWAYS!)

A

Praying For Olive Hope...

I have someone I'd like you to meet.

Meet Olive Hope:



Sweet Olive Hope was born at 28.5 weeks in Chiang Rai, Thailand where her missionary parents, Rusty and Lynette, are spreading the word of Christ Jesus. Rusty was one of my youth group leaders and our church supports Rusty and his wife, Lynette, as missionaries in Thailand. People around the world are praying for this little one as she fights to live.

Psalm 52:8-9 'But I am like an OLIVE tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will HOPE, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.'

You can follow Rusty and Lynette's blog HERE as they chronicle Olive's struggle to live and the challenges they are all facing by being in such a far away country.

I ask that you join me in praying for little Olive Hope as she fights for her life. Grab the HTML code under the button and paste it into an "html code/javascript gadget on your sidebar to spread the news about this precious baby girl.

<a href="http://www.rustylynette.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt148/VintageDutchGirl/PrayingOlivecorrectsize.jpg" /></a>

Want to know more ways you can help?

An auction has been set up to help offset the enormous medical bills Rusty and Lynette are facing. You can:

- DONATE an item/service for the auction. What ever you have to give would be appreciated. What are you talents? Where has God blessed you abundantly? Be creative. Be generous. (information on how to donate on sidebar of link.)

- BID on an item/service from the auction. Bidding starts on November 22! That's in three days! Bidding will run until November 28th. To enter a bid, starting November 22 all you have to do is leave a comment with the amount of your bid. You'll have to check back to see if others have outbid you and submit another bid to win. ( * Hint, there may be a shirt refashion/sassification up for grabs * )

Need more ideas?

- You can make a DONATION to the Olive Hope Care Fund.

- You can leave a NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT and SUPPORT for Rusty and Lynette on their blog HERE.

- You can JOIN the Praying for Olive Hope group on Facebook. Updates on Olive's condition are often posted, allowing you to direct your prayers accordingly.

- Pray fervently. We serve an AWESOME and ALL-POWERFUL God who holds Olive Hope in His hand...

A

I Need a Vomit Roomba...

Yes, it IS disgusting.

No, you would never CHOOSE to be a vomit cleaner-upper.

However, if you are a mother, chances are at some point you WILL have to clean up vomit. (I've heard of Mom's who REFUSE to clean up vomit. UH, what do you do if they puke at 9 AM and you're the only one home for the rest of the day? Do you just LEAVE IT? Nasty!)

OR, you had SO MUCH practice cleaning up your own vomit while afflicted with morning sickness it doesn't even phase you. (*Or so I've heard, not learned through personal experience.*)

I hates me some vomit.

"BUT WAIT!?", you say. "AREN'T YOU A NURSE!?"

Um. Yep. An OB nurse.

And didja know? Blowing chunks is a GREAT sign of labor! Yippee!

So, aside from the food poisoning I had when one week postpartum with Lil Chick (and that is a JOY let me tell you), I haven't done much spewing myself.

Sunday night Bubbalu came down with some lovely croup. Bark bark bark! And while he is now much better, he still has a cough.

Today Bubbalu came sauntering down the stairs when he was supposed to be napping and said he needed to talk with me. ( Polite, no? )

Apparently he had coughed so hard he vomited.

How to clean up VOMIT:

1. Forget about trying to isolate the puke-pile to only things you can see are hit. Assume EVERYTHING is tainted.

2. Assume you will touch vomit. Right when you think you've got it all your hand will land in a huge slop o' puke.

3. Wash EVERYTHING. Throw all bedding, towels, clothing etc. into the washing machine.

4. Sanitize EVERYTHING. Those handy dandy sanitizing wipes containers? Keep one in the kids bathroom. Use to wipe down floor, toilet, sink, door handles, door (don't ask), stair railings, bed frame...um, I could go on but I think you get the general idea.

5. Give kid a shower and make em brush their teeth. I combined these today and he happily scrubbed his pearly whites in the shower for at least 15 minutes. If child is old enough, that gives you time to strip the bedroom. ( I'm now wondering if he used the bar soap as toothpaste to scrub other things. Mental note to self: sanitize or replace Bubbalu's toothbrush!)

6. Set kid up on the couch with a beverage and a movie.

7. Blog about it for therapy ;)

A

*** ALSO: Vintage Dutch Girl now has a fan page on Facebook. So, if you are on Facebook, do check it out HERE and make my day by becoming a fan.

Clearing Out The Draft Folder...

A smattering of often pointless but nevertheless hopefully entertaining shorts in the draft folder:

***

My almost 11 month old daughter gained four pounds in less than a month. This daughter, who is currently lying prostrate on the ground so as to teeth on the piano pedals, is a CARB-AHOLIC.

Wonder where she got THAT from?

***

Would you rather change EIGHT medium sized poopy diapers per day or ONE insanely impressive ginormo poopy diaper per day?

YES, you have to pick one.

We are currently on the EIGHT medium sized poopy diapers per day plan. And by "we" I do mean Lil Chick. She is going through more diapers now than when she was a newborn. If I had a nickel for every poopy diaper I've changed...well, I could buy these:



I'd call them my poop boots. Nice ring to it, no?

However I am now completely disgustipated. They are actually Girls boots, not Womens boots. What does it say about me that I prefer Girls boots over Womens? Is it just me or are those seriously cute? Please, someone justify my thought processes here.

***

And going WAY back to summer:

My take on the annual, held-in-my-small-town Fair:

I detest crowds. I get crabby at people who walk slowly and then stop in the middle of a walkway forcing everyone to walk around them. However, since I am now one of Those Mom's who push a gargantuan double-wide Bob stroller around I fully realize I am now part of the crowd problem. My penchant for speed walking and whipping around people with the double-wide Bob doesn't help. I'm pretty sure I startled eighteen or so peoples, whom surely though that there was an emergency or a Poffertjes stand that I was rushing towards.

(hint: it was the Poffertjes. Surprised? Didn't think so.)

***

ALSO: Vintage Dutch Girl now has a fan page on Facebook. So, if you are on Facebook, do check it out HERE and become a fan.

A

White Baby Doll T Shirt Gets Some Sass...

Yes, I do realize this t-shirt sassifying thingy is getting a tad monotonous. But guess what? I LURVE it.

So, here we go again.

My adorable cake-baking sister, Brown Eyed Girl, commissioned me to sassify a few of her blah shirts. She has a cutely cut, white baby doll t-shirt that needed some oomph and detail.

We decided tone on tone would look fab. Here's what happened, before and after:



Three separate flowers, frayed to perfection and stitched down to be machine washable and hang to dry.



Add some trim to the neckline and VOILA!

A basic, nothing special t shirt is now a signature piece.



Throw on some rockin' jeans, cute wintry boots with poms on the ends of the laces (am I the only one who thinks those are adorable?!) and this shirt, and you are good to go:



A

Flower Creatin' Obsession...

Uh, I've been kinda busy. And NO, not because my house is now all shiny and sparkly. I wish.

I may have a flower creatin' obsession. It's quite the invasive disease. Not that I'm looking for a cure. It's fun and I'm loving what I can come up with.

Brace yourself.

Flower overload heading your way if you scroll down. Just to break the trend is something a little different at the end. It has ruffles people. RUFFLES. Ruffles make me happy.

Everything (including MORE photos, if that's even possible) is now up for grabs in the Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy Shop:













PHEW! Still with me? I'm impressed!

OK, here you go, some happy smiley RUFFLES:



Need a closer shot? Mkay:



*(insert sigh of contentment)*

RUFFLE quota of the day has just been met...

A

The Sassifying Continues...

At the rate I'm going I soon won't have any normal shirts left:



I say that as if it's a BAD thing.



It's SO not a bad thing.

A

Ms. Boring Pink T Shirt Gets a SASSY Makeover...

Meet Ms. Boring Pink (used to be maternity, but isn't anymore thanks to my scissors and sewing maching) T shirt.

She's BORING. She's BLAH. She needs some OOMPH and some SASS:



Enter extra flower petals laying around, my sewing machine and a napping baby and SHAZAM!!!

She's no longer boring and blah:



DEFINITELY some SASS going on:



I'll admit it, I about peed my pants when I washed it ( inside out) and it turned out PERFECT. Phew! Because really now, what stay-at-home-Mama do YOU know that can walk around in a dry-clean only T shirt? Puh-lease. It needs to be 'baby spewed yams on me again' proof.

And guess what? IT IS! Of course, I don't dare put it in the dryer, so 'hang to dry' it will be.

And Ms. Sassy Pink T shirt makes me smile just looking at her:



Now that's a makeover if I ever saw one...

A

p.s. I'm thinking about starting a little T-shirt Sassification business...you send me a blah shirt and I make it all nice and sassy (ruffles, flowers, decorative trim, petals etc.) . I would love some feedback from you, my lovely readers! So, whatcha think? Spill it in the comments.

Flannel Burp Cloths...

New Flannel Burp cloths in the Vintage Dutch Girl ETSY shop:







A

Guaranteed Halloween Candy Snacking...

Well, this is ONE way of guaranteeing a significant amount of Halloween candy left over for your snacking needs:



You can't quite make it out? OK, here's the close-up:



My neighbor said it was hilarious to watch the oblivious trick-or-treaters saunter up the walkway anticipating candy then run away screaming, "Swine flu! Swine flu!".

I'm happy to provide entertainment for my neighbor and a smidgen of exercise for those candy-laden children.

And now I MUST be going. I have a huge orange pumpkin bowl of candy that I must eat. It DOES have an expiration date, didntcha know?

A