Still Here....Barely.

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know I'm still here. It's been a rough couple of weeks. Eden had a horrible stomach bug and now im laying here too weak to move. Needless to say there was lots of Tangled going on today. I promise to catch up..I have a Project 52 to post and an invite I designed awhile back. For now here is a few photos from Instagram!

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19 Months

This was my attempt at getting a half decent photo of Eden. It is SO representative of her stage in life right now...Miss Independent. I tried to take her out of her bike for a few shots and she just threw a fit and then ran back to her bike and climbed in. That's exactly what she is doing in this photo. 

Five more months until you are a 2 year old! There's no doubt about it, you certainly are growing up at a rapid pace. From reading so many blogs I knew you would have a HUGE growth in personality and the things you would learn during your 18th month and were they ever right. Wow. You are such a great talker now. Your words amaze us each day...in fact there are very few words that you cannot say now. You know most of the alphabet by sight, but forget K and Z sometimes. You are such an imitator. You repeat EVERY SINGLE THING we say. I have found that I said, "okay" "alright" and "honey" much more than I ever realized. I do love hearing you say "honey!" You are so very loving and compassionate. Your personality is starting to come out more in public...it's apparent that you are comfortable around almost everyone. I just cannot believe how much you have changed and yet you still have your signature "Eden" personality. 

Things You Love

Dance Parties

Splashing in your bath

Sidewalk chalk

Talking about baby "HeHe"

Helping mommy in the kitchen

Backyardigans

Dora the Explorer

Elmo (still "MoMo" around here)

Playing with your babies

Your buggy (vintage stroller)

Animals

Apples

Being outside! 

Things You Don't Love

Getting teeth (one more on the bottom!)

Being sick

The sun in your eyes

Being dirty

Dirty houses (she will say "UH OH!" until it's clean)

We had a BIG event in our house. Just as promised, the pacifier got taken away before she was 19 months. We made 18 months the rule because her pacifiers specified only being suitable until then and she finally was at an age where we felt like she could understand what had happened, but also forget about it rather quickly. Well, for those wondering, here's how it went down. Josh left out of town for the weekend. So, on Friday, I just never gave her the pacifier. She had been sick the week before and had used it 24/7 (we usually only left her have it for sleep EXCEPT when sick). So I was so surprised when she never even asked for it that day...and it was even sitting on the counter where she could see it. I put her down to sleep and although she fought it she never once asked for the "bink." I should mention that Eden fighting sleep is not something new, it happens almost daily so the pacifier didn't cause this necessarily. She finally slept and at 4 a.m. I awoke to SCREAMING. I pick her up and she is stiff as a board. It took 20 minutes to console her (I think she mostly wanted daddy), but she still never asked for it. Yes, I wanted to grab it knowing that she would settle down instantly, but I promised myself I wouldn't touch it. Saturday went the same way. She has since seen pacifiers with other babies, or even in pictures of herself, but the most she says is, "BINK!" and then moves on. I did not expect it to go this way at all. I assumed we would have to fight it. I'm so glad we went with our instincts as her parents and waited until we felt she was ready (but not tooooo long). It's a great reminder that for the most part, we were made to be able to know our children and how to help them. So, don't be scared about taking away the pacifier, the results may just surprise you. Or not. And then I'll just say, "I'm sorry!"

Dancing with her bear

"Colors!"

A future mommy-in-training

*This is actually something for her 19 month post, but since I am late in posting it and WAY too excited I had to mention that Eden went potty on the toilet! Of course it was when I was out of town. Apparently she asked to go "pee pee" and sat down and went. We are still not pushing it, but we are so excited that she is that excited about it! 

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Project 52:16 | Independence

It seems that the moment that Eden turned 18 months she suddenly became quite independent. Obviously she still needs Josh and I, but she is in a "let me do it myself" phase (a phase that I think will last the rest of her life). Honestly, I have no problem with this. I love watching her learn and grow. She puts herself in her own carseat (no need to fret, we buckle her in!). Every time I open the dishwasher she is right next to be pulling out each dish for me to put away. She picks out and puts on her own shoes...usually 7 or more times a day. It just amazes me how she went from being a completely dependent newborn to a semi-independent toddler so quickly. I hope to continue to foster her independence while always showing her that I am right here if she needs me. 

So...this was my first Project 52 post without my beloved Picnik. There was a definite learning curve trying to figure out how to maneuver the new program I finally found to somewhat replace Picnik. After a whole lot of searching iPiccy ended up being the winner. While I actually prefer the look and feel of PicMonkey for editing, until they get the collage feature that they are promising, I am going to be using iPiccy. It had most of the same features of our dearly departed program, but had a lot less "extras". There were some features that, dare I say it, were better than Picnik. No matter what I am HORRIBLE when it comes to change and prefer to stick to my old ways thankyouverymuchgoogleforgettingridofmyfavoritefreeeditingsoftware. Good for you if you could actually read that. 

Anyway, I am off to get some beauty rest. I have a VERY early day tomorrow. One in which I have to be AWAKE, COHERENT, and HALF DECENT looking by 6 a.m. I honestly haven't seen that time much in a very long time. Well, not willingly anyway. Curious why I am getting up at such an indecent hour? MOPS leadership summit. I am actually pretty excited about it! MOPS was something I always dreamed about being a part of before I had Eden and I have really enjoyed getting to participate this year! Alright, for real, I'm getting some sleep. 

Oh wait..maybe I should mention...I have become completely obsessed with Instagram. I have had the app for quite awhile, but never really understood the social networking aspect. I just want to edit my photos in peace people! Then I started realizing that it's kind of fun and now I can't stop. My name is malmal3 if you want to find me. See you there. 

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate, The Mog Blog, Dana Moran Photography

Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

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Lovely Ladies And Jewels

This post is over a week overdue. Whoops. So remember how I mentioned the Stella and Dot event that was happening at Limeberry last week? Well, it happened...and it was so fun! I really enjoyed getting to work with a longtime friend of mine, Jamie, with her new business venture. It was the first event I have been a part of at Limeberry so it was fun actually feeling like an owner for a day ;) Yes, there are actually employees there that do not know who I am, it's rather embarrassing. Anyway, the event went well...neither of us knew what to expect, but we got to meet a whole lot of new faces and that's always a good thing. 

For those of you that were wanting to attend and were unable, but still wanted to support the Women at the Well Grace House you can click here and head to my trunk show where 15% of proceeds will go to their efforts. Seriously meeting the ladies who are a part of this great organization was inspiring. I love to give to people who are doing wonderful things in our community. It is great to see such love and devotion to the women of Salem. Oh and the pretty jewelry doesn't hurt so head on over and check it out. I *THINK* you have a little less than a week to place your order. And your shipment comes FAST. So think about upcoming bithdays, Mother's Day, or just a little something to spoil yourself with. We all know you deserve it. 

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Chicken And Broccoli Fried Brown Rice

Well that was a bit of a mouth full. Good news is my mouth really was full of this for dinner tonight and because I am oh so nice I am sharing it with you. Hold the applause.

This is one of those meals that you make when your husband is complaining that he is hungry, the toddler is clinging to your leg, the dog has to go outside for the 1,091 time and you just realized its past dinner time.

Not that I would know.

Chicken and Broccoli Fried Brown Rice

Ingredients:
Some chicken*
Rice (instant or precooked makes it quick)
Egg
Broccoli (I used frozen)
Peas (frozen again)
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Spices (ground ginger, garlic, pepper)
Squeeze of lime juice (only if you have it)

Assuming your rice and chicken are ready..

Heat up a skillet on medium heat until hot, add 1 T of oil or butter (for all things that are good please only use avocado oil or coconut oil if you choose to use oil..the other stuff is bad). Throw the egg in, turn down to medium-low, use your spatula to break it up and scramble until heated through and set. Put egg in a bowl and set aside.

Throw the broccoli and peas in and heat up (I happened to steam mine but using the same pan keeps you from having to wash another pan) until they are soft enough (to your liking). Once heated add rice, chicken, and egg. Then flavor with about 1 T soy sauce and 1-2 tsp sesame oil (this was for 3 servings so adjust accordingly). Add in spices as desired. Serve hot.

*if you are lazy like me you buy an organic free range whole chicken and cook it in the crockpot and portion it into individual servings in your freezer. Then when you forget to plan your dinner ahead you just grab that chicken and heat it up. Only reason we have food on the table...seriously.

So I realize I am a horrible recipe writer. I babble, over explain everything, and have no idea how to measure ingredients so I use terms like some, a bit, to your liking to just let you know that there is no science to it, I just throw things in.

If I completely turned you off from this meal due to above reasons I apologize. It really was easy and tastes divine. Maybe one day I'll get un-lazy and actually post all of my lazy timesaver tips and tricks. Maybe.

Now off to make some pretzels cause Eden asked for them (aka mommy was craving them and begged Eden to say she wanted pretzels).

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