DIY Maternity: Top from Men's T-shirt

I upcycled one of my Goodwill finds today! I had so much fun with this project and I love the results. 

 Here's before: A medium Mens t-shirt I bought for $3.50.

 It is 95% cotton 5% spandex so it has a nice softness and stretch. 

 I followed this really simple tutorial on DIYMaternity and here is the finished result!! I love it! It is so comfortable and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

(It looks lavender in the sunlight but the true color is darker, like the picture below)

(It looks like I am sticking my butt out in this pic...maybe it is really just that big...sigh...)

Here is a pic of the side. I added a little girly tuck to the top of the sleeves. 

The shirt has such a nice stretch to it; I will be able to wear it for many months to come! 

I have several more projects coming up! I am having way to much fun sewing my maternity wardrobe. 

DIY Maternity Jeans + 14 week bump

I made some maternity jeans today! My regular jeans (read: my "fat jeans") have been cutting into my belly for a week or two now and I needed a new solution for a little bit of money.

 I used this tutorial to alter a pair of GAP jeans that I got for $4 at Goodwill. 

(I hope the link works. It was being finicky tonight)

 Then I used this tutorial to hem 3 inches of length off the jeans (being 5' 2'' it is almost impossible to find pants that actually fit in the legs) while still keeping the original look of the hem.

The whole process took me about 2.5 hours. It would have been a lot faster if I hadn't had to rip out so many mistakes. Oh well. 

I think the end result is great! They are so comfortable and fit perfectly. I hope I can wear them for a good few months (though when I am huge, they probably will be too small). Hopefully I will get some good post-partum wear out of them too. 

My belly at 14 weeks. I am officially in the 2nd trimester! Woot! I've gained around 4-5 pounds so far. 

(I got this sweater at Goodwill today too for $3.50)

I am planning on doing more maternity clothing refashions in the near future (I got lots more "goodies" today at Goodwill!) so keep an eye out for more posts SOON!

Boy = Crazy; Or How to survive as a mother of boys, Part 1

Growing up, I was a little boy-crazy. Ok, a lot boy-crazy. Boys were fun. Different. Mysterious. A puzzle to figure out. I even caught a boy, got him to marry me, had two babies, and am STILL boy-crazy.

But in just a different way.

You see, I am now a mother of 4 1/2 year old twin boys, which should qualify me to have at least a Bachelor's degree in "all things boy" but, alas, I still feel like I am barely scratching the surface of understanding the mind of these odd little creatures of the y-cromosome that I birthed. Every day I feel like I am living on a strange planet, trying desperately to understand the natives.

(A funny coincidence since, while growing up, my three sisters joked that "wouldn't it be funny if Brittany had all boys?" Because I was the girliest girl ever. Like I collected tea sets, couldn't throw a ball to save my life, wore lace and flowers on a regular basis girly-girl.)

I do feel like I have learned a few truths about boys in my 4 years of motherhood. So if you are mom to the young boy-creature and are at your wits end, maybe these truths will help you. However, I am the first to admit, I still have SO much to learn.

**Disclaimer: Of course, these truths do not describe all boys. You may even think, "heck! My baby-girl is more like this than my son!" Every kid is different. These are just the things that struck me as overwhelmingly unique to most boys, including mine.**

Truth #1: Boys are active.

This may seem like a "duh" statement. We all know boys are active, right? Well, if I knew this truth in my head, I certainly didn't understand it in action. As in, twin boys in action. Every. Single. Day.

Forget reading stories on the couch, playing with play-doh, craft projects, quiet (what's that?) playtime in their room--my boys are MOVERS!

Whenever someone meets my sons for the first time, he or she will always comment, "Wow! They have a lot of energy!"

I actually replied the other day: "You are so observant."

Yes, this was snarky. But boys DO have lots of energy (especially mine!).

But I have (slowly) realized that being active for a boy is as important as eating. or sleeping. or breathing. Being allowed to be active may be the most important gift you give your son every day.

So if you have a pre-school son who is driving you nuts in the house every day because he is wrecking havoc, slamming into walls, catapolting over the couch, head-butting the dog, wrestling with anything that looks at him sideways (including inanimate objects) then....

...don't do what I did and wonder for 3 years what I had done to recieve this lot in life!

Follow my advice (actually, my husband's) and get those rowdy puppies out of the house!

"Out of the house" for a boy doesn't mean go to Target. or the grocery store (Lord have mercy!). or the library. Those activities alone are not enough to burn up the raging energy inside your little man.

I get my boys out of the house just about every day for at least an hour of intense physical activity.

"Out of the house" can mean many things. We usually go somewhere. The park.
Our local indoor playground.
A local hands-on children's museum.    A play date with friends.

Or, like we did today, a 45 minute walk around our neighborhood followed by "running races" around the house (oh, 7-8 times) when we got back to the yard.

Now I know what you're thinking: "How do you have the energy to chase your boys 7-8 times around the house?!"

Pi-shaw! I am not chasing them! I am sitting in the shade, drinking ice water, shouting "On your mark! Get set! Go!"

Because after all, I am 13 weeks pregnant. And I don't like to get sweaty (girly-girl, remember?)

The same goes for our other "energy-burners": the trick is to use up their energy without burning up all of yours. (Easier said than done, right?)

However, if I've done my job right, my boys will take a nap in the afternoon.

Now I know some preschoolers are beyond the nap stage. But I have learned, as a mother of boys, that if I provide an intense, consistent, daily outlet for my boys' energy, they will be better behaved.
And even in they don't nap, they may be calmed down enough to read a story (or two!) and play with play-doh for 10 minutes or so.....

....before they start shaping the play doh into cannon balls and guns and flinging little bits of green goo all over your dining room floor.

But that's truth #2: "Boys love guns. Just accept it."

And that truth will have to wait for a later post.

Just keep truth #1 in your mind (especially if you are going out of your mind) and use up some of your son's energy every day. Your boy (and your mental sanity) will thank you.

"Without Love": A Devotional PUBLISHED!

I actually posted this devotional to my blog about six months ago but after talking to the editor of the devotional, I took it down at her request until after the book was published. Well, the book came out exactly 6 days ago!

(If you click on the image, it will take you to the Amazon info page)

I got an advance copy of this devotional and have really enjoyed reading the other selections. There are 60 devotionals plus other short pieces about everything from surviving roommate drama, to handling money, to choosing extra-curricular activities in college. This little book would be a great gift for a graduating senior or college student (I didn't get paid for my writing or for promoting the book on my blog so this is as un-shameless a plug as it can get!)

I have enjoyed sharing my contribution to this book with the Freshman seminar classes that I have taught the past two semesters. My devotional, "Without Love," is my testimony of how, after being a Christian for "my whole life," my faith finally became real to me when I was a Sophomore at Liberty University. 

Please enjoy!

"Without Love"

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” I Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

I once took an online quiz that told me I had the Bible knowledge of a seminary scholar. Whether the quiz had merit or not, I have always been confident in my Bible knowledge: my parents made “Bible” a subject in our home school; I memorized hundreds of verses through the AWANA program; and my best friends were kids who had cataloged away an equal—or greater!—amount of Biblical knowledge. Bible trivia was practically a contact sport—we were vicious in our efforts to “beat” each other to the right answer.

When I got to college though, I wanted to use my Bible training in a deeper way. My sophomore year I was chosen to be a Bible study leader on my dorm—I couldn’t wait to meet my five little sheep that I would shepherding! As I poured over my Bible, I prayed for insight. The Holy Spirit just needed to shine his divine flashlight on the right passage. Little did I know that His “lamp” was going to light my “path” first.

I finally decided to teach on a well-known passage—1 Corinthians 13. The words were so familiar—“love is patient, love is kind”—like a worn-out song on the radio, so recognizable that they bounced off my brain without really sinking in. But I wanted the passage to sink in with my girls so I started from the beginning, determined to extract some sort of “new” insight. I usually sped through the first three verses but this time I paused, wondering how I could present them in a fresh way. My mind started forming 21st century metaphors —“If I volunteer my Saturdays to sing to shut-ins at the nursing home, but have not love. . . if I play guitar in the praise band in front of thousands, but have not love. . .If I know every facet of theology, have read the Bible cover to cover, and memorized thousands of verses…but have not love, then I…am…nothing.”

In that moment, the divine flashlight exposed every prideful shadow of my heart. I had Bible knowledge but I didn’t have love. And that meant my Bible knowledge was…nothing. The truth was devastating—I finally saw myself for who I really was: a girl who had set up a trophy shelf of Bible knowledge yet who had never plunged into the work of Jesus Christ—knowing, serving, and loving others. Jesus loved until he bled—and then died; I had never even loved until it hurt. That day my Christian faith deepened a full 12 inches: the distance from my head to my heart.

I taught some good Bible lessons that semester, but more importantly, I learned what it meant to be a real Christian—a “little-Christ.” Instead of “loving” in words only, I applied my Bible knowledge to my hands and feet: I wrote weekly notes of encouragement to my girls and taped them to their doors; made them hot tea when they were sick; invited them to play putt-putt and eat ice cream on lonely Friday nights; and learned to truly listen, understand, and build friendships with girls who were completely different from myself. Being a good prayer leader, or a genuine Christian, wasn’t about whether I had the knowledge of a seminary graduate. It was—and is!— about love: the love that held Christ on the cross, the pathetically small love I offer back in gratefulness for my salvation and, with God’s help, the love that I give and receive in my relationships with others. Because without love, I am nothing.

Excerpt from The Campus Survival Guide: Representing Christ on Campus. Ed. Paul Buchanan and Paula Miller. Ventura: Regal, 2012. 121-123. Print.

Meng Menu

Sunday: Fried Rice w/ pork and Asian veggies 

Monday: Chicken Parm bake, salad

Tuesday: Bacon, eggs, fruit salad

Wednesday: Stouffer's lasagna, salad

Thursday: Beef tips, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans

Friday: Frozen pizza

Saturday: Pan Seared Chicken, rice w/ gravy, steamed broccoli

Here is our menu for the week. I went over budget this week: $133. Pooey. Put I do include all our paper products, soaps, and bath products in our budget too so this week I bought dishwasher soap, hand soap, paper towels, a loufa, and deodorant and body wash for Aaron. So $133 isn't bad, I suppose. 

I have been such a blog slacker lately but I've been thinking about some new posts this week so hopefully, I'll get some writing done. :) 

Meng Menu

Sunday: Grilled Pork ribs, baked beans, strawberries

Monday: Chicken parm bake, rolls, salad

Tuesday: Baked Talapia, rice, green beans

Wednesday: Cheesy pasta w/ broccoli and bacon

Thursday: Stouffers Lasagna, salad

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Out to eat?

Stayed under budget this week at $120. I am actually going out of town from Thursday through Saturday so my MIL is going to be here taking care of my men, so I tried to have some pretty simple meals for those nights, but who knows what they'll end up doing. 

How do you plan meals for busy night or for when you are out of town? 

Mommy's having a baby: What goes through a 4 year old's mind

Kids are funny, you know? You never really know how their little minds are turning or what is going to come out of their mouths. Especially when you share some life-alterning news like, "You're going to be a big brother!"

Here's how our 4 year old twins processed the fact that "Mommy is going to have a baby!"

A little background first. The boys, an especially Benji, love looking at their baby photo album. The very first picture is this little (huge?) "beauty":

....my humungo-36 week-twin-pregnant belly. This picture was actually taken right before we went to the hospital to have the boys.

And the boys LOVE this picture. The love the "big belly" and are especially fascinated (and slightly perplexed) by the fact that they were "in the belly." 

I thought they had grasped the fact that babies grow inside of mommy and then they come out, but we were slightly unprepared for the immediate reaction the boys had to the "big news." 

Me: Boys, guess what? You are going to be big brothers! Mommy has a baby in her belly!

Boys: (Silence. Look at each other. Burst into tears). But we don't WANT to go back in the belly!!!

Yes, my sons thought that they were going to have to fit back in my belly and be "born again," shall we say. It took a few minutes for Aaron and I to calm them down and assure them that they would keep growing up to be big boys and there was a NEW baby growing in Mommy's belly. 

Benji, my ever literalist, immediately became concerned again. 

Benji: Mommy! you should not EAT the baby!

Oops! Enter long conversation about how the baby was NOT in my stomach getting digested but actually in a special place called the uterus. 

Whew! Potential mental crisis in the mind of my 4 year old averted. 

Benji was full of comments and questions right after we passed these first hurtles. In fact, it took him almost an hour to eat his dinner because he was so excited and could not stop talking. Here are some little gems he uttered as he processed the "big news":

"We need to get a baby car seat!" (Just like his Daddy, thinking practically immediately)

"We need to get a baby gate--and I will have the key." (Already taking responsibility....? Right?)

"We need to get the baby pants, because it will have legs." (Good logical thought process here)

"We will take our baby to Kids Cove, like other babies." (He loves our local indoor playground)

"Mommy, you can watch movies and I will rub your back." (My heart melted....)

Micah, uncharacteristically, was very quiet during this whole conversation. 

In fact, I think the boys reactions could be summed up in this picture: 

That night when we put the boys to bed, Micah started crying and said, "Mommy, I'm so sad!"

Me: "Why, honey?"
Micah: Because I want to be your baby....
Me: (pang in the heart!)

After lots of hugs and snuggles, and repeated assurance that he would "always be my baby," Micah felt much better. In fact, the next day when I asked him, "Are you going to be a big brother?" he smiled really big and proudly answered, "Yes!"

I can't wait to share more of this big adventure with my two big boys! I'm sure there will be many more funny stories to come.....stay tuned....

Meng Menu

Sunday: Grilled chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, corn

Monday: Bierocks, salad

Tuesday: Sloppy joes, green bean casserole

Wednesday: Stouffer's Lasagna, salad

Thursday: Chicken Fajitas

Friday: Broiled chicken breasts, rice, broccoli

Saturday: Leftovers or out to eat

My menu blog post have been sporadic lately--probably because my menu planning has been sporadic as I am still in the throes of pregnancy sickness. Today when I planned my dinners for the week, everything sounded appetizing. I am hoping that the day I make the food, it still sounds good. 

I have been doing pretty well budget wise--staying under or at $125--but I went $10 over this week. Pre-pregnancy, I didn't buy a lot of snacks. Now, I have to load up because eating every 1.5 to 2 hours is the only way for me to feel about 80% normal. So this week I bought yogurt, cheese sticks, goldfish, dried apricots, pudding, individual cups of peaches, granola bars, and rainbow sherbet (my craving last night) and probably a few other things I forgot. Wow! Writing it all down seems like a lot--but I'm sure everything will be gone by next week, especially since the boys are more than willing to help me eat the snacks. 

My first appointment is on Wednesday--maybe I'll ask the doctor for an anti-nausea prescription. This sickness has got to end....

A little bump

So, I've got a little baby bump. 

If my dates are correct, I am 12 weeks today! (Edit: HAHAHA! My dates were way off! I was 7 weeks in this picture. And my sickness was long from gone) My sickness is starting to subside a bit, thank goodness, though it hasn't completely gone away. And fatigue usually hits me hard  around dinner time (if it hasn't knocked me out for a nap earlier). 

My first appointment isn't until March 21 (long story about why it isn't earlier) so I am anxious to see the baby for the first time. 

I really think it's only one, despite all the "well-wishers" who keep teasing me that it might be twins.

Or triplets. 

I think I am going to start charging $5 for everyone who suggests that "there might be TWO (or more!) in there!!!"

If there is, I need to build up a "Brittany will soon be insane" fund. 

Donations welcome. 

"I'm NINE!" The story of a sneaky Benjamin

My friend Michelle babysat the boys on Monday and she had a conversation with the boys where they told her that, yes! they were twins. :)

It was snack time so after deciding on Ritz crackers ("We want Ritz!" in unison), she asked Micah, "How old are you?"

"Four!" he replied.

She carefully counted out one, two, three, four crackers for him.

She then turned to Benji, who was carefully watching this exchange.

"Benji," Michelle asked. "How old are you?"

Benji's little eyes sparkled, his little wheels in his head spinning furiously.

"NINE!"

Michelle burst out laughing.

"How old are you?"

"Nine!" Benji squeaked.

And he cracked the a little smile. He knew how this game worked.

And "nine" was probably the biggest number he could think of on the spot.

Sneaky, clever little boy.

(he did not get nine crackers)

So, did you know I have twins, one who is 4 and one who is 9? Yeah, I didn't either.