New Addition...

Ladies and Gentlemen: she's here!!! FINALLY!

Miss Adalynn Grace Mofley was born Friday, April 15th at 3:53pm

THE BIRTH STORY

(If you don't care to know all the details... then just don't read it ;)

I had some pretty serious braxton hicks for a few nights prior to labor. I know what real labor is, and let me tell ya- they really had me fooled a couple of times... so I'm sure I made some progress with those. But at 7am on Friday morning I awoke with contractions about 10 min. apart- & this time they didn't subside. I tried to rest for a couple more hours and finally woke Nick up at 9:30am. I told him I was in labor and had him call his parents to come get Ben (who was still sleeping soundly between us.) (For those of know who don't know: we go to bed and wake up pretty late due to Nick's work hours so I'd had about 5 hours of sleep- but hey, better than NONE which is what happened with Ben's labor.)

The Mofleys came to get Ben around 10:30 and my contractions were still only 5-6 minutes apart. I knew I shouldn't go in to the birth center until they were coming at 3-4 min. but these contractions were pretty intense & I felt like I was getting somewhere- I was right. Even at 5 min. I was having to  do some vocalizing and rock on my hands and knees. I couldn't talk through them. Nick just put pressure on my lower back for me and helped me breathe. I told him I'd labor at home for awhile longer. I called my midwife to give her a heads up since it was daytime, and she suggested that I get in the shower to encourage progress. I did, and it was a great pain reliever. When I got out, my mind kept telling me I should walk around the house or something to speed things along, but I just wanted to rest between those difficult contractions. So, instead, I stayed on the birth ball and my hands & knees (I knew her back needed to turn a little from my last exam and that position will do the trick.)

Me and Nick watched tv together between my contractions and at about 12:30pm I finally had one come after 3 minutes. It felt a little different and more intense. Even though I didn't have an established pattern at 3 min. yet I told Nick it was time to go. I did surprisingly well on the ride over. Maybe because I wasn't as freaked out as the first time. My contractions slowed back down with me in that sitting position- I knew they would. But, lo, and behold- when I arrived at the center and got checked- I was almost a 7!! I thought I was probably a 5, so that was a nice surprise.

I was glad my water still hadn't broken because I was GBS positive this time. I opted not to do the antibiotics and instead did a colloidal silver cleanse for about 7 days prior to labor and had Hibiclens ready for use during labor. (Turns out they use the Hibiclens for GBS in Europe quite a bit.) The midwife also sprayed a mixture of essential oils called Claraderm (w/ antibacterial properties) on her glove before checking me. (This was the first and only time I got checked.) I got in some side lying positions to continue turning her, then after having a contraction that pushed the pain to the next level, I headed over to the tub. That was the rough part. That last hour in the tub was the part where I really wanted to give up & wasn't sure if I could keep going- even though I knew I had to. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about... if you've experienced natural childbirth, that is :)

Then, during a horrible contraction, my water broke! It was the weirdest sensation for it to happen under water. (I realized later that this was a blessing from God. My water breaking in the tub when it did very much minimized any chances of her contracting the GBS- even if I had taken absolutely no precautions. He answered my prayer about this.) As soon as I could speak, I told my midwife. She let me know the baby's head would be descending with the next contraction due to that cushion being gone. She crowned with the very next one. The birth assistant reminded me that that (awful) pressure was there to stay. I was thinking to myself that I REALLY didn't feel like pushing for 2 hours like I did with Ben- when I heard the birth assistant saying, "Would you like to feel..." her sentence trailed off and I heard her say, "oh!" I knew she was going to ask if I wanted to touch the top of her head... "why did she stop?" I was wondering. Then, I realized I was pushing, and she was coming! "Oh my God! Oh my God! I'm pushing!!" I yelled. I very nearly lost control, but my midwife got close to my face and regained my focus. "Brittney, listen to me! We are going to blow this baby out okay?" I nodded in agreement, and with my midwife Rena on one side and Nick on the other coaching me to "blow, blow, blow" I was able to slow myself down and out came her head! "Her ears are out" I heard Rena say. And with the next urge to push came the rest of her. 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it! I had pushed her out in 5 minutes! AND... here's the clincher... are you ready for this??? I DIDN'T TEAR!!!! I did everything "right" the first time with Benjamin. I did my perineal massages, drank my red raspberry tea.... everything. And I still tore something awful even after blowing through the burning for like, 30 minutes. But this time, I wasn't as faithful with any of those things and I was sure I was doomed. And I didn't even tear.

Well, her head WAS 2 1/2 centimeters smaller, so that helped. As she slid out they placed her on my chest and she began to wail. I was in that euphoria state and kept alternating between saying "I'm so glad it's over!" and "I didn't tear!" :) She was totally covered in vernix (Ben was not.) It was so thick and sticky feeling I had this intense urge to scrub it all off, but they continued to tell me it was good for her skin and to just rub it in. We took our herb bath together about a hour later, and about an hour after that I was walking to the kitchen table to eat the food Courtney and Amy got me from Jason's Deli.

It felt like a "drive-thru" baby to me. I still can't believe we were only at the center for 3 hours before she came! She nursed beautifully right away- as most alert, non-drugged up babies do. It was just awesome. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome the first time too, but trading a 21 hr. labor in for a 9 hr. one is pretty sweet. And, as you may have guessed, my recovery has been so much quicker and easier this time around. I feel so blessed and so in awe of these 2 gorgeous children God's given me. They are amazing!

Our first picture as a family. I look so sickly and pale here- my coloring has improved since was taken!

Love, love LOVE putting bows on her head!!!

Benjamin and his "baby Ahhh"

Living room curtains

I am SO excited that I finally got around to these curtains!!! I've had the fabric FOREVER, but for some reason other projects kept coming first...

I knew I wanted to do pinch pleated panels. But, that is the only detail I didn't end up changing from my original plan.

Since I didn't wanna dish out a bunch of $$ for a long curtain rod, I did the dual curtain rods on either side of the window. (I already had these rods so it worked out perfect.)

The center part is a $6 black panel from Walmart that I hung horizontal on a 1x2 board. My sister helped me sew all these pinches in by hand. (THANK YOU Courtney!! It would've taken me awhile!)

Here are my awesome funky pillows I got at Ross to match the drapes. I wanted to add in bright colors in a modern style & I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pillows I ended up finding!

Our kitchen, dining room & living room is an open space that connects together so I made these for my 2 kitchen & dining room windows to match. (I used another $6 panel from Walmart, cut it in 2 & used half on each window. Already had these rods- it's the same ones as Ben's room I found on clearance... just spray painted them BLACK!) Talk about cheap window treatments!

We just changed out this chandelier from the generic silver one the house came with. This pic doesn't do it justice at all, it's really beautiful. It is NOT centered though (why do builders do that???) It's awfully noticeable from the kitchen- so, we're about to swag it over on a hook.

Thanks for looking!

Our Master Suite- (we MADE a headboard!)

Ever since switching to a king mattress last year, we've been sleeping on just a bed frame- searching around for a bed/headboard that we liked (and could afford.) Finding a bed I actually like is not an easy task. Combine that with the fact that furniture stores don't even carry everything in king size... and talk about being frustrated. 

Well, about 6 months ago, I saw THIS Pottery Barn headboard that was *PERFECT* -and $800 bucks. Yeah- not happening! So I waited awhile, then went searching online- hoping someone wanted to sell one used or something. Instead, I stumbled across plans for making your own replica.

(When I originally saw the bed I DID think, wow- that'd be so easy to make... but didn't want to tackle a project like that not knowing how it would turn out.)

Well, these plans were so simply laid out... and all the tedious stuff like measurements were taken care of ... SOOOO.....

We decided to DO IT!

Wanna make this bed???

Click HERE for the Twin & Full sized plans

Click HERE for the Queen sized version

And HERE for the King modications

The pre-stained version

We stained it a little lighter than the pottery barn version- we used 1 coat of  Minwax Special Walnut, topped off with 1 coat of Minwax Polyshades in Pecan. (The polyshades contain a poly based glaze within the stain to seal for the finished product- saves a step!)

Now, I just need to find the perfect artwork to go above the bed... :)

It cost us under$100 to make this bed- and most important of all: it's EXACTLY what I wanted!

Some other projects...

Here's my curtains that I made. I cut down a large cardboard box down to the size I needed, stapled quilt batting, then hot glued my fabric around it to make my shadow boxes. I then hung the boxes with L-brackets, and hung curtain rods underneath with my sheer panels. Our master bedroom is ALMOST finished now.

I was going for: hotel luxury with just a little bit of an rustic earthy-ness. I still need to add some accesories with a little more color to the space.

As you can see, we did 2-tone walls (which TOTALLY made the room look larger.) Nick picked this gorgeous dark color called Anise from Lowe's Valpar collection, & we paired it with a neutral creme shade on the oppostite walls.

We put our electric fireplace in the room which adds a lot of coziness. We had some extra brick in the garage which I used on each side to hide cable cords & such... and add an urban element to the room.

And... here's the master bath. I added cedar trim to the mirror and wood knobs to the cabinets. (Both of which are about to be stained to match the headboard.)

As you see, I'm trying to keep VERY busy until the big day arrives. Hopefully this baby will be here SOON!!!!!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Baby Adalynn's Room

Doing Adalynn's room was way more fun than I expected! I was feeling absolutely no inspiration on a theme or whatnot, but once I got rolling it came together rather quickly. It ended up being an "enchanted forest, princess-y" sorta theme. I will probably add more greenery on the ceiling eventually. But it's finished for now, and very pretty!

Her "grand" entrance...

My favorite corner of the room.

I made these curtains from 2 solid creme panels (which I bought at Ross for pretty cheap.) I hung a scrap 1x4 board with small L-brackets, after hot gluing the 2 panels to the top & sides. (I used both panels back to back to give it plenty of bulk at the bottom.) From there, I hot glued my ribbons to the top, and pinned the other part of ribbon to the back so I could bring it under and tie it.

Easy-peasy, and no sewing!

Not hanging anything over a crib that could possibly fall and injure the baby was a real challenge to me. I mean, who wants a bare wall?? So we ended up angling the crib a little and using my veil & tiara (from my wedding) as a soft canopy.

My mom *the miracle worker* secured the veil to the ceiling using wide silk ribbon and large [ribbed] nails.

I put up the greenery using small nails & hot glue.

These frames were originally mirrors. Nick said there were too many mirrors in the room... (he was right,) so I tried out this idea I saw in a book & hot glued silk flower heads on them to make my own wall art.

My mom had the idea for hanging this mirror (which came from my grandmother) low to create a little "dress up" area. The pretty hooks hanging beside it & the stuff to make this garland was actually the only thing I had to go out and buy for this room. (Hobby Lobby :)

This is the *gorgeous* dress her Mimi Mofley bought her for her dedication... I don't think I could love this dress any more- I HAD to display it!

These tap & ballet shoes were mine when I was little. SO glad my mom kept them all these years!

A little tulle... and a little ribbon to soften up this lamp.

The changing table on the opposite wall...

(btw- thanks so much to mom & Courtney for painting this room for me!!! It's hard to see in the pictures, but they did a ragging method with a light creme color. It's subtle and beautiful- just what I wanted!)

These Cinderella plates were mine when I was young. They've been in my hope chest for so many years... I can't believe I finally have a use for them!

Addy's closet:

The renter who lived here was a carpenter. He removed the original hanging bar that went across and replaced it with 2 shorter ones on each side which works great for a kid's closet. There's SO much more hanging space. The one thing we added were these 1x6 boards across the back and sides for a shoe shelf:

Her tiny shoes don't take up the entire thing so I also have small stackable baskets on this shelf holding her socks, headbands, pantyhose... etc.

Wonderful space saver!

*We did the same thing in Ben's closet. He's in a size 7 now and his shoes still don't hang off yet, but if you have a bigger child, you may want to go with 1x8 boards instead. Just make sure your L-brackets fit whatever size board you're using.*

Thanks for looking!

Homeade Granola

Well, Becky's post about her homemade granola bars inspired me to make some as well :) I haven't made homemade granola in YEARS and I don't know why.

It's so much cheaper,
so much healthier
and so much yummier!!

Now that Benjamin eats snacks every day our grocery bill has gone up a little so this is really gonna help out with that!

I make substitutions EVERY time I make this recipe- just depending on what I have in the pantry or what I'm in the mood for- but, here's the original recipe:


6 c. rolled oats
1 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. coconut
3/4 c. sesame seeds

1 c. honey
1/2 c. water
3/4 c. canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla

Here's what I made today...   (Craisins in the place of the coconut, and chocolate chips in the place of the sesame seeds... oh, and I halved the recipe.)

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl...

...and pour into the oats mixture.

Toast on a greased baking sheet @ 325F.

I always cut half into bars, and I break up the other half to eat over yogurt.

YUMMO!

Easy right?

Ben's Room

For the very first time, Benjamin now has his own room!!

He loves it. Mommy and Daddy love it. Everyone is REALLY happy. ;)

It's really the only room in our house that is totally finished. The rest of the house is really close... just a few minor things here and there before I post pictures. I'm working on drapes for all the other rooms right now.

I wanted Ben's room to be fun and colorful, but at the same time, very functional. I think I managed to achieve both with this room and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Here's what you see when you walk in the door:

(sorry this pic is so dark)

I found some long purple & white panels on a clearance rack and re-worked them to make Ben's curtains.

I cut off the purple part... (they didn't need to be floor-length for a kid's room anyhow,) then I sewed on some red bias tape to the bottom.

I made his top valance with a large piece of cardboard, quilt batting & some

extra red fabric I had.

*tip: I've learned from HGTV to always make a window look bigger if you can- so I hung the curtain rod far above the actual top of the window; making it appear taller. This "valance" covered that little trick.*

I added some red pom-pom trim.

*Don't use pom-pom trim in an area that can be reached by smaller babies as it can be a choking hazard.*

Then I made a euro-sham pillow case (w/ some red trim) using another identical panel.

Okay, so here's to the left of the bed:

The first main thing I wanted was toy organization...

Shelves - Home Depot

Baskets-Dollar Tree.

Ben is allowed to have 2 baskets down at a time. If he wants something different, we clean up1 basket before taking another down. This saves me SO much clean up time. Our "dump everything into enormous toy boxes" system we had going kept everything a mess. Now, toy sets stay together, puzzle don't lose their pieces, and I can decide whether or not I want Ben playing with noisy toys.

(Those aren't the ones in his reach.)

2nd thing I wanted in Ben's room: a comfy movie area.

*the 2 wooden airplanes hanging from the ceiling were on top of Nick's grooms cake at our wedding- (Since he's an A&P)

This old toy box and rocking horse belonged to Nick when he was little...

Nick and I found this old-fashioned writing desk at a resale shop & loved it!

The Dr. Seuss quote "Oh the Places We Will Go" titles this wall filled with maps of far-off places, Great-Grandpa Mofley's binoculars and the mileage distance to destinations we plan to visit.

I bought these letters at Hobby Lobby for $1.77 each, spray painted them red, and hot glued twine on for some cheap, extra decor.

Well, that concludes your tour of Ben's room : D

Hope you enjoyed it!

Love believes the best

"Love believes all things, hopes all things." -1 Corinthians 13:7

In the deep and private corridors of your heart, there is a room. It's called the Appreciation Room. It's where your thoughts go when you encounter positive and encouraging things about your spouse. And every so often, you enjoy visiting this special place.


On the walls are written kind words and phrases describing the good attributes of your mate. These may include characteristics like "honest" and "intelligent," or phrases like "diligent worker," "wonderful cook," or "beautiful eyes." They are things you've discovered about your husband or wife that have embedded themselves in your memory. Then you think about these things, your appreciation for you spouse begins to increase. In fact, the more time you spend meditating on these positive attributes, the more grateful you are for your mate.


Most things in the Appreciation Room were likely written in the initial stages of your relationship. You could summarize them as things you liked and respected about your loved one. They were true, honorable, and good. And you spent a great deal of time dwelling on them in this room... before you were married. But you may have found that you don't visit this special room as often as you once did. That's because there is another competing room nearby.


Down another dark corridor of your heart lies the Depreciation Room, and unfortunately you visit there as well. On its walls are written the things that bother and irritate you about your spouse. These things were placed there out of frustration, hurt feelings, and the disappointment of unmet expectations.


This room is lined with the weaknesses and failures of your husband or wife. Their bad habits, hurtful words, and poor decisions are written in large letters that cover the walls from one end to the other. If you stay in this room long enough, you get depressed and start expressing things like, "My wife is so selfish," or "My husband can be such a jerk." Or maybe, "I think I married the wrong person."


Some people write very hateful things in this room, where tell-off statements are rehearsed for the next argument. Emotional injuries fester here, adding more scathing remarks to the walls. It's where ammunition is kept for the next big fight and bitterness is allowed to spread like a disease. People fall out of love here.


But know this. Spending time in the Depreciation Room kills marriages. Divorces are plotted in this room and violent plans are schemed. The more time you spend in this place, the more your heart devalues your spouse. It begins the moment you walk in the door, and your care for them lessens with every second that ticks by.


You may say, "But these things are true!" Yes, but so are the things in the Appreciation Room. Everyone fails and has areas that need growth. Everyone has unresolved issues, hurts, and personal baggage. This is a sad aspect of being human. We have all sinned. But we have this unfortunate tendency to downplay our own negative attributes while putting others failures under a magnifying glass.


Let's get down to the real issue here. Love knows about the Depreciation Room and does not live in denial that is exists.


But love chooses not to live there.


You must decide to stop running to this room and lingering there after every frustrating event in your relationship. It does you no good and drains the joy out of your marriage. Love chooses to believe the best about people. It gives them the benefit of the doubt. It refuses to fill in the unknowns with negative assumptions. And when our worst hopes are proven to be true, love makes every effort to deal with them and move forward. As much as possible, love focuses on the positive.


It's time to start thinking differently. It's time to let love lead your thoughts and your focus. The only reason you should glance in the door of the Depreciation Room is to know how to to pray for your spouse. And the only reason you should ever go in this room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE" in huge letters across the walls.




The above is an excerpt from Day 7 in the "The Love Dare." Reading this brought conviction to my heart, not only regarding my thoughts towards my husband, but also towards my brothers and sisters in Christ. Do I assume the best about people? Do I focus on the great things about their personality? Or do I relish hearing a negative tidbit of gossip about a friend? I do not have the ability, nor the responsibility to change others. I am responsible for me. What I am called to do, is to love others with a Christ-like love. If I truly have that agape love, I will believe the best about others. If someone offends me, I will assume that was the absolute last thing they intended. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, just as I'd hope they would do for me.

What a revolutionary way of thinking, huh?