Seth & Jillian...Wedding Week!

I want to dedicate this week of my blog to my brother-in-law, Seth and his soon to be wife, Jillian. They started dating a little before I met Sam, but the thing I remember most about their story is how Michelle (Sam & Seth's mother) always described Jillian as a little girl. You see, Seth and Jillian were little friends when they were young. Michelle and Nancy (Jillian's mother) were church friends and pregnant at the same time. Seth was born in September and Jillian in December. Michelle always describes Jillian as the cutest little girl she's ever seen. She said when you would talk to Jillian, her face would turn beat red and she would nestle her head into her dad's chin. And Michelle absolutely adored little Jillian's name. Jillian and Seth would play in the church nursery together, and soon started going to different churches. At this time Michelle and Nancy didn't see very much of each other, but little did either of them know, their two little 1987 babies would grow up to fall in love and get married on a perfect January day.  As you can see, this was destiny from the beginning.
If you know Seth, you know he is kind, patient, funny, charming, and artist and we love him so much. Jillian is the perfect match to this, because she is all of these things, plus more.  Call her what you will...Jillian, Jilly, Jill, Jilby, Jillbug, Jillbilly, Julian (my mom cannot pronounce her name for some reason)...ok I made a few of those up, but you can call her whatever you want...I will call her the best soon to be sister-in-law I could imagine.
We love you Jillian, and we are so so excited about January 27, 2012, we can't wait for you to be part of this (insane) family.

(5 minute) DIY of the week...flower power

I've decided that I am going to be doing a small, inexpensive DIY project every week, and a larger scale DIY project every month. (And by larger scale, that mostly means Sam will be doing majority of the work). This week I decided on a paper flower craft for our cubby hole vase. I found the craft on Pinterest and the tutorial, here.
These flowers literally only took me about 5 minutes to make, and it took this vase from looking semi outdated, to super cute. If you have any sticks in your decor, this would be a good project to freshen them up a bit.
All you need is:
Some sort of vase, mason jar, jug, bucket, etc.
Red paper (construction would work, but I used red card stock)

Decorative sticks (I wish I could tell you I was thrifty and found mine outside in our backyard, but I didn't, I got mine at Michael's for 3 bucks with a coupon)
Pencil
Scissors
Glue or tape is optional

Again, the full tutorial is HERE...she explains it in more detail than I'm sure I could, so just check it out there.

But here is her finished product and mine. Not bad, not bad at all.
Please excuse my poor photography skills, crafts always look better on expensive cameras, in which mine is not :)
         
Happy DIY!

Peace

This morning I learned something as I was soothing Titus back to sleep. You see, every time Titus is tired or fussy, I can see the anxiety and turmoil building up in him, I always lay my hand down on his chest or face, and he immediately calms down and falls back asleep. I always find this amazing that the simple pressure of my hand calms his every nerve.
It hit me this morning that this is so much like the presence of God in our lives. I remember when I was a little (and grown) girl and I was crying and upset about something, I would ask God to just wrap his arms around me and hold me. This would always give me peace, knowing that God was holding on to me. So this morning when I laid my hand down on Titus, I realized it was just like God, reaching his hand down into our lives and just his presence can take away all fears, all anxiety, all pressure, everything...if we let him.
Let God be your relief, put all your fears and troubles to him and have peace in him and his love for you.

For Pam, Sean & Ryan Kelly

Meet Titus Wynn Anderson

If any of you have 2 or more kids, you know that baby #2 just doesn't quite get the same hoopla as baby #1, from friends, family, and unfortunately sometimes, you. With Jude, I ironed every single one of his outfits, washed his sheets every other day, organized his clothes by occasion, and the list goes on and on. Poor little Titus, he's lucky if he even gets a new outfit on after spitting up. His clothes are all over the house, and bless his heart, he NEVER matches. This absolutely drives me crazy, and literally brings me to tears sometimes. If your like me you want everything to be exactly fair on all accounts, right down to how much time you spent breastfeeding. And to be honest, Titus got a little more in that department due to Judes lactose intolerance (sorry guys who may be reading). I feel proud of the fact that Titus even got a baby book. But for the life of me, I just cannot spend as much time on the details as I use to. 

So on that note, I'm taking this time today to introduce you to little brother, and current red-head, Titus Wynn Anderson. He loves the rocking chair, and long walks around the block. He is a fan of the Rainforest Swing and spends most of his day in the Bumbo seat. He loves his sleep and prefers Adele and Christmas music, but any music will do. If you wanna get this little guy real upset, just put him down or stop giving him attention...its game over. And just flash him a smile and he is all yours. But his favorite person of them all is big brother Jude. He'll drop you like a bad habit if Jude is around. There is so much more to this little chunk, but he'll have to get a little bit older to figure that all out.

Welcome to this crazy family Titus. We already know you fit right in, perfectly. 

2 am

Last night I was exhausted, sore (from stupid Jillian Micheals) and ready for bed. If your a parent, you know that relieving feeling when both kids are bathed, fed and asleep..its the most wonderful feeling in the world. It's your "ahhh" moment of the night. So I'm laying in bed, everyone is fast asleep, and I know this because the biggest Anderson was snoring on one side of me, and the smallest Anderson was snoring in his cradle on the other. It's 2 am, and I just can't get Jude out of my mind. He is at a very crucial, impressionable, amazing stage right now in life, and I can't shake this feeling that I'm going to screw it up. I don't know why he throws his fits, I don't know how to make them stop, I don't know how to get him to eat dinner, I don't know how to teach him to sit still, and I certainly don't know how to get him to stop yelling NO at everyone. There's so much I don't know, but one thing I did know at 2 am last night was that I wanted him, asleep, curled up right beside me. So I went upstairs, pulled him out of his crib, carried him to my bed, and fell fast asleep with him in my arms. My three Anderson boys ALL snoring, all around me. Sometimes you just got to go against the rules, and do what feels right. And last night, having Jude right beside is what I needed. He is getting too big, too fast.

Love you, Jude angel.

(Jude at 2 weeks old)