Thanksgiving

I am thankful for many things in my life: my kids, my husband, my home, my job, my friends, my health and my family's health... the list goes on.  I am truly blessed.

This year, I get to host the Thanksgiving feast for my side of the family. 9 adults and 8 kids, I might add. I'm not great at coordinating a big meal, so I'm grateful that I have family members who pitch in and bring dishes of their own.  We are opting out of the big turkey meal because of timing.  Instead, we are having a Thanksgiving breakfast followed by pork loin chili and sandwiches for lunch.  I know - weird, huh?  Although we may be going a little non-traditional this year, some of the usual suspects will be present: Jerry is making a sweet potato dish that is yum-my and Jana is making her famous Heath bar pie.  And just to make the whole event more festive, we have some pumpkin spice creamer for the coffee.

And mimosas.  We'll have mimosas.

All right - I suppose I should get back to cleaning the house.  Up today?  Washing the china, mopping the kitchen floor, and cleaning the bathrooms.  Joy! (where's the sarcasm font when you need it?)

Body Image

Thanks for the responses on my blog yesterday, here and on Facebook.  You know the worst part about that comment I received?  I have now looked at my forearms in the mirror in the past week more times than I have ever looked at them.  Why did I let that get to me at all?  It's my forearms, for goodness sake. 

As parents, we all have this responsibility to our children to love our own bodies.  We can work on being healthy, of course, and talk about exercising and eating right for our health.  But what we CANNOT do is OBSESS over it, and especially not obsess over our weight, body shape, imperfections, etc.  They hear that, and they file it away.  Even when they are 2 years old, they are developing an idea of what is right and who they are.  They want to be just like us, and if we stand on the scale, and curse that extra donut right before we go workout for an hour - well, that sends the wrong message.  Those are the moments that lead kids on a dangerous path toward eating disorders and a poor self image. 

Let's remember to focus on letting our kids hear us say, "Wow, I feel really energized after that bike ride!" or "This meal is going to make me strong."  Let's focus on the positive, and stop stepping on the scale with our kids in the room.  Better yet - throw it out the window.  Wait... not sure I can do that.  Maybe I can hide it in the closet.  OK, well I clearly still have some demons to get rid of myself. 

With 3 kids who still think the world of their Mommy (the oldest is only 4), I'm going to work on not talking about what I dislike about myself at all.  Instead, when I feel like saying something that will tear myself down, I'm just going to tell them that I love them.  That'll shut me up!

I'm 32 and a Half!

I used to say that I would NEVER be one of those women who was ashamed of her age.  I'm still not, but I'm starting to see why some women are. 

I have always had a fairly healthy body image.  Granted, I have had those feelings time to time when I've been unhappy with a particular body part. When I was in high school, it was my nose.  In college, it was my upper arms.  When I was pregnant, it was my ankles (or rather, LACK of ankles).  After I had my kids, it was my tummy and my chest (but that's a small price to pay).  Overall, nothing terrible.  I either work to correct the problem, or just live with it and understand that it's just a part of who I am.

Last week, however, someone guessed my age.  He wasn't off by much.  He guessed I was 34, and I'm actually 32.  I wasn't offended by that comment at all.  I was taken aback when he decided to explain WHY he thought I was in my mid thirties.  He said my forearms gave me away.  My FOREARMS?  He said my skin didn't sag like if I was in my 40s, but it's just... there.  WHAT?!  At first I was just a little offended that he would even suggest such a thing about my body.  But there's this little part in my brain that made me feel self-conscious about it.  Here I was going around day by day and not even realizing that I have OLD FOREARMS.  Yikes!

Well, I do know that this guy may be a little crazy, because I think my forearms are just fine, but that comment will be filed away in my brain next to the comment from a lady at Kay's Jewelry over 15 years ago who shouted at me "Wow! Your ears are TINY!"

By the way, I think my ears are FABULOUS!

It's Expo Weekend!

I haven't been posting much lately because my work schedule has been busy, and in the evenings, I've been working really hard to get Bellaney Babycakes ready for public release!  I have two booth events this weekend, one next weekend, and possibly another the week after that.  So, that's been my concentration.  So much to do, so little time - as always.  I'll blog about Halloween after I'm over the craziness that is this weekend. :)

Busiest... October... EVER!

I have been running a race and losing for a few weeks now.  My house looks awful - Daily 7?  I think not.  I am only stopping to post, because I think it's my therapy!  Here's what I've been up to since my last post...

October 5th was our 8th wedding anniversary.  We didn't get to celebrate that night because I had to work.  I've been doing 2 home visits a night on every night that Jerry doesn't have to be at a football or soccer game.  We DID get to celebrate that weekend by going out to dinner (Olive Garden - took advantage of the fact that we could go out for "messy" food since the kids were with Ooma and Oompa), then to Barnes and Noble to just browse for books (when was the last time we had time to do THAT?), and lastly for dessert at a little place called Amore, where we played Battleship (my victory), and Sorry (my loss). 

I worked hard and put my finishing touches on my Baby Sing and Sign lesson, and taught my first class that same weekend.  I think it was a success, and I can't wait to teach the second class next month to see if any of the families have any great baby signing stories to share!

Last weekend I had a 3 day garage sale which I have been preparing for for months.  I'm so glad that's over and done with.  I got rid of some stuff I don't need anymore, and made some money during the process - always a good thing!  The kids even earned some money by giving some of their toys to the sale, so they got to pick out new toys.  Good lesson for them, and again - more junk out of our house! 

Along with the garage sale on Saturday, the kids and I were in a little fashion show at the "Great Mall" for Shop Baby Kisses - my favorite little boutique for all that is girly.  The girls both wore tutus and little popcorn shirts.  Adorable!  Luke wore some stylin' baseball-themed BabyLegs, and I wore him in an Ergo carrier.  Super fun!

Now, in the midst of all that is Halloween, I am trying to start my business, Bellaney Babycakes.  It's time-consuming, but lots of fun!  I finally got my website together, and now I need to work on my portfolio to take to the two expos I have coming up in two weeks.  Then I need to make a diaper cake or two to show, as well.  Busy mama here! 

Add in a La La's concert, preschool and preschool parties, work meetings, playgroups for work, playdates for fun, 2 doctors appointments, Halloween pictures, Trick or treating, a Halloween parade, and conferences (both for Jerry and for the girls), and you get a PACKED month!

I can't believe that Halloween is only a week away, and I have not put out ANY decorations.  This is so un-like me.  I LOVE Halloween.  I'm just not motivated to put out decor in a house that needs to be cleaned so badly.  Hmm... maybe I should stop writing and get on that.  But first... I'm in need of an ice cream break!

Bellaney Babycakes!

I'm so excited!  I've been working toward this for a while, but I think I'm ready to take this "public".  I've made a few diaper cakes for my friends and sisters-in-law, and now I'm going to try my hand at making this a bit of a business! 

I will post more specifics later, but for right now, I want to post a pic of the diaper cake that I'm MOST excited about.  Up until now, all of my diaper cakes have been made from disposable diapers.  As many of you know, I'm a cloth-diapering mama, so I wanted to make an option for other mama's that put their babies in cloth. 

Here's what I came up with:



This cake is made from 6 Bum Genius 4.0 one size diapers.





As with my disposable diaper cakes, my cloth diaper cakes use only the best ingredients!! 
Bum Genius is a top-of-the-line premium diaper!



The cloth diaper cakes cost more than the disposable ones, however, if you buy a cloth diaper cake, you are providing that lucky mom with a HUGE savings in starting their stash!  She will appreciate it, I promise you!

Keep in mind when looking at these pics, this cake was made with used diapers (my son's), and I will, of course, be using new ones with the cakes that I make to sell.  This was just my practice run.  :)

This is just a 6 diaper cake, however you can really help the new mom by doubling that to 12 and I will make a 2-tier cake. Customers can pick the colors shown here, or the new, fabulous prints shown there.

Expect new pics to come, and I may just start a new blog specifically for this purpose.  Stay tuned!

Fall

Ahhh... my favorite time of the year:

FALL

crisp morning air... changing leaves... wearing jeans... high school and college football games (yes, I said it)... the smell of burning leaves... Halloween... sweatshirts... leaf piles... our anniversary... Thanksgiving... bonfires... pumpkin pie... Christmas shopping... apple picking... snuggling on the couch... new fall line-up on TV... migrating geese... migrating butterflies... chili... jack-o-lanterns... costumes... Daylight Savings... fire in the fire place... crock pot cooking... morning fog...  pumpkins... decorating... burning candles... opening the windows... going for walks... holiday parties...

The list goes on...

What do you like about fall?