Project 52: Laughter

     This is the topic for this weekend coming up and I thought what is better fitting than the fact that Kyra and I just spent a day at the park yesterday and I took some pictures of her playing and of course knowing her giggling her butt off!! I have been doing pretty good I think about making sure my pictures aren't all of her so it is only fair that a couple be since she is my life!!

For complete list of all pictures from my Project 52 follow this link to Resolutions which has links to all of my project 52 blogs.

14 months old already!!

Nicknames: Kyra Bug, Bug, Bunny, Fluffy Butt, Butterfly

Clothing Size:  Starting to roll up into 18 months tops but still 12 months pants

Personality:  You are crazy cute, you just love to play and play, we even have fun games of tag!! You make me smile every day with telling me your thoughts and tho its a lot of jibber jabber you sure know what you mean!! I love how independent you are!!

Things I Could Do Without: The attitude you have sometimes when you don't get your way, you ignoring me, and how much of a pain you make diaper changing!!

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Wreck it Ralph!! It keeps you entertained or should I say in a trance while we need to get things done.

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Does Shade count? you two are so freaking cute together!!

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: How proud you are of everything you do, they way you giggle when your playing with Shade, and watching you figure out how to do things for yourself you are so smart!!

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: Running around like a crazy person, going to the park to play, or just going on walks. Playing with Shade and helping her eat!!

Update, 6 months resolutions.

     So I was gonna wait to write this until the 1st but than Kyra decided she was gonna sleep all day, tho had I joined her it would have been a 30 min nap but that is okay I was able to sun tan, eat lunch, and get everything thing ready for next week!! So although I miss all our time we would normally be playing I am glad she is sleeping she must need it!! She slept in til 9 than took her nap at 11 and is still in there at 2.

   Well anyways its been 6 months since the year began, yup we are already half way to 2014 can you imagine. But at the beginning of the year I started 3 resolutions:

1.Save money
2.Loose weight
3. Be positive.

I would like to say coming into this month we are doing great on all of the above....well that would be a lie. Things have been going a bit crazy it seems. My dad came to visit in March which was amazing and I am sure you all saw all the great things we were able to do while he was here. That being said we spent a lot of money we should have been saving. But it was worth it to see many great places in Europe and experience it with family!! But we have gotten my student loan which was defaulted and owed over 3,000 dollars down to under 2,000 which to me is a big deal! I can't wait to have that done. We are paying 50 dollars a month until it goes out of default status than we will pay it off so it won't be until about February next year that we will finally be out of default and can pay our tax return towards it one less thing to pay.

Also we are still paying towards the car, I am unsure how much we still owe as of today, but we pay 500 a month on it so hopefully we are getting down. And we are paying 260 to insurance every month. So with all that going out monthly its hard to save but we are managing to keep 1000-1200 in savings. We could cut back on spending, specifically in the eating out range. But sometimes a girl gets tired of cooking dang...

As far as loosing weight I have adjusted this goal. I have realized that worshiping the scale isn't gonna make me happy. So I have changed my goal slightly to only 5 lbs at a time, but focusing more of my time now on improving my 1 mile time I figure if I set smaller goals I will more likely acheive them and soon be at my original goal. My 1 mile run as of last night is 12 mins exactly. I wanna try to knock a min off a week until I am well under 10 mins. Than I will start adding distance!

And with being positive I try, but I am a girl who is run by her emotions and they sometimes get out of control! But I am realizing in order to be more positive and happy person I have to be happy with the person I am. To do this I am doing things I enjoy, like tanning! I am improving myself with school which I start on monday, with writing my blog and getting tons of views each week, and with trying to be a better wife. By getting my home life(aka chores and house work) under control. A clean house, good meals, and happy hubby makes a happy wife!! So lets hope we can keep all this going.

Speaking of school, don't be surprised if in the next couple months you hear more than you ever wished to about psychology and history as I will probably start blogging about it. But don't worry as busy I figure I will be I know I am gonna do at least a couple cute crafts this summer with Kyra she will still be getting most of my attention, haha I just may be sleep deprived!!!

Cloth Diaper vs Disposables

   This is a blog post that has been sitting here waiting to be written, and I kept putting it off knowing it was going to take a while to write!!! But today I had a dear cousin ask a few questions about cloth diapers and disposables. And although this is one of those topics that is really a matter of opinion, and is different for everyone. I think the more info you can grab hold of and have to think about when you are looking into it the better. So I am finally getting around to writing my experience in the diaper world.

     So maybe its where I live or maybe its just a time we are entering, but the cloth diaper is a very interesting subject!! A lot of people here in Germany cloth diaper and wouldn't have it any other way. But don't get me wrong there are some who still would never do it as disposables are so much easier. Then there are the few of us who can see it both ways. I have to say I am not die-hard either way, I can see the benefits of either way. So to start with my opinion, that is where I am gonna start, a list of pros and cons for each way. Than I will tell you our experience, and how I feel about it going into another child!!

Cloth Diapers:

Pros: cheaper

environmentally friendly

cute designs

Cons: More laundry

Harder to do when your out and about

The trial and error phase

Disposables:

Pros: take off and toss

Easy to bring along

works from day one

Cons: more trash to take out

Takes forever to decompose

Hard on sensitive skin babies

    Alright now that all being said where do I stand and which do I prefer? Well this is how I am. I am lazy as you all know from my "about me" section. And that being said if I fall off the cloth diaper band wagon and go back to disposables I tend to stick with disposables for the whole case. Which causes me to forget about my beautiful clothes!! I have also quit cloth on occasion for traveling because face it on a week long trip 14-18 diapers is just not gonna cut it and when you are in Europe traveling its really hard to find a washer that you can wash diapers in every night, and you don't entirely wanna carry dirty diapers around with you while you are out and about. So I have had my fair share of disposable use. But that being said, every time I go back to clothes and sit and wonder why I ever quit? Because I LOVE them. They are just as easy to put on as disposable, and especially around the house they are great for her to wear!! I do worry when I go out that they will leak as I get distracted and don't check them as often as I should. But we are getting better the more I do it. 

This image is not my own. I claim to rights to it.

    My favorite part is how much money I save. This is our major go to when we are broke and can't afford diapers because they are always there, they will fit her probably until she is 3 and completely potty trained, and you don't need a ton as long as you are willing to do laundry every or every other night. Which frankly I am doing laundry anyways. And my favorite part? The designs!!! We are big fans of pockets and use Alva or Sunbaby because they run around 5 dollars a diaper. And they are the cutest freaking things I have ever seen. Pocket are great, I just wash them and stuff them so when you pull them out of the drawer its literally like using a regular diaper. Dustin was against it at first but has gotten used to it and as long as I stuff them before hand he has no complaints. We do have a couple all in one's that my mom got us at a used baby supply sale, and I like them well enough but they are velcro and I have problems with them staying hooked. So an All In One with snaps would be great as it would be exactly the same as a disposable only you wash them. The only thing with them is if you have problems at night with leaking with a heavy pee'er you will not be able to double up as the inserts should not touch the skin, the microfiber is rough on skin.

  Now to answer a couple questions. Do you save money? YES YES YES. Normal people have a stock of about 40 diapers and if you go the brands we do that is only about 200 dollars. Which is about 8-10 cases of diapers depending on what disposable you choose to use. Which is about 5 months worth of diapers??? so considering these diapers will last you around 3 years per baby and can be used for more than one kid I say heck yes it will save you money!!!

This image is not my own. I claim to rights to it.

What Brand? We love Sunbaby and Alva. They have the cutest designs and are really cheap. And we have had no issues with leaking outside of the trial and error stage of deciding which buttons to snap it to and how to wash them and all that fun stuff. They have boy and girl designs and frankly I don't even mind when Kyra runs around in just her diaper when she has them on it is so cute!!

Disposable inserts? Not really worth it. If you are breastfeeding you don't even need to rinse out the poop before washing it as its all natural ingredients!! I still did cuz for some reason sticking poop into my washer was weird to me. But when you get to more solid poop you just knock the majority off into the toilet and rinse it in a sink or tub than toss it it. And I haven't had any staining issues. The disposable inserts wont save you much money as you will just be throwing them away... and can cause the pee to leak, also if they do just go pee and not poop you still have to put a new one in so your gonna use a lot of them, so I wouldn't even bother. I don't know as far as formula and the possible discoloration it may or may not give them...

Washing? I know this wasn't a question specifically asked but something I feel like I should touch on as its a big part of the process. I am only gonna give you what I do there are many different choices and ways to do it and people will swear by other ways.

1. Place diapers in a basket or bucket or straight in the washer during the day, I do mine every night so I just throw them in the washer during the day( but if you do every other day or have other stuff to wash a basket will do) 

2. I was them on cold wash, warm rinse. With a smaller than normal amount of detergent. You don't wanna use to much it can build up and cause the inserts to not absorb the urine like they should. ( I just use none scented Tide)

3. During the rinse cycle take a peek in, if there is still soap bubbles you're gonna wanna run another rinse (like a said soap build up is BAD!!!)

4. Drying, this one is opinion based depending on what you think works best for you. Some people think using the dryer can wear down the elastic etc...but I have had no issues as of yet so I use the dryer. I just do like I normally would. NEVER use fabric softener in the wash or the dryer sheets as it makes materials water resistant. An obvious thing you don't want your diaper to be!

Tips? Two that I have learned from other moms: Wool, and fleece repel moisture. So they are great to have the kids wear with cloth diapers during the trial and error phase and at night it will keep leaky diapers from going anywhere but the diaper region.   And 90% of stains can be sun bleached out, if you have stains on either diapers or clothes from poop, after washing them hang them in the sun for a few hours and they will be gone. On clothes you can even splash lemon juice on the area to make it work even faster!!

Opinions? Well I feel like either way you go there are benefits. We have gone back and forth between the two and have found good reasons to use both. I think I prefer the cloth because I am home all the time and its just as easy for me. I plan to do only cloth when we have another baby as we have spent a lot of money on diapers we could have been spending else where!!! I hope this has helped you in making your decision easier. Feel free to share this where you please and maybe somewhere a long the time line it will help someone else too!!!

Project 52: Selfie

   So I cant say I took this with my camera, and I can't say that I did anything to exciting as it is a normal picture!! But I took weeks thinking of a creative way to take my own picture, but since I don't have a remote for my camera, and I don't have a tripod, and my timer only lasts up to 10 seconds, and my camera is auto focus so you have to hold down the clicker to get it to focus so you can't really do it than run and jump in the picture!! So I said to heck with it, if I want this picture done I am using the Ipad!! And so I waited until I found something that just screamed me, and what say me more than me laying in the sun?  Maybe that isn't original, but I think the one place where I felt the most like myself, where I didn't feel like I was trying to be something else, or was just being quiet and keeping my personal self to myself was in Hawaii!! And laying in the sun reminds me of being in Hawaii so this was perfect!! Sorry for all the boob, but not much I can do about it lol

For complete list of all pictures from my Project 52 follow this link to Resolutions which has links to all of my project 52 blogs.

Project 52: Rain

     Well they say April showers bring May flowers. It seems that spring came about a month late and so we are getting the heavy down poor of May showers. But I am not one to complain about that. I prefer the rainy weather over the snow, or the heat that is headed our way in the next few months. And it was also perfect for me to go out and get this picture for the Rain theme!!

     I noticed these the other day, when dandelions get wet their seeds all stick together. And soak up all the water!! I thought it was pretty cool to look at so after the big storm rolled through this afternoon I was so excited to go take a picture of it. I love this picture, although even tho I planned to try to do no editing I have to admit there was a bit of exposure changes in order to get the details to be easier seen!! But I love you can see the little rain drops!!!

     I am trying really hard to get caught up this week with pictures, but unless the rain slows down it may not happen for a while!! But I hope you enjoyed today's picture!!

For complete list of all pictures from my Project 52 follow this link to Resolutions which has links to all of my project 52 blogs.

Pretty like a princess!

After sitting and watching a bunch of makeup tutorial videos I felt inspired to make one. But lets be honest none of you wanna see me stutter my way through making a video. I think I will stick to just using my words and pictures! Besides I really only know one way of doing my makeup so it's nothing special. So instead I thought (although it is out of the harm for what I normally do on my blog) I would show you all what make-up I use on a daily basis.

I always start with lotion! I use Olay total effects, I used to use Aveeno but ran out and sent hubby to the store to get more and he came back with this kind. At first I was offended because it is an aging lotion but after using it a few times I fell in love! I really like the texture of it on my face!

After my lotion absorbs into my skin I start to apply my foundation, I am a long time user of Mary Kay foundation. I absolutely love the coverage and it matches my skin tone just perfect! I just use a very light layer rubbed in like lotion to even out my skin tone with out covering all my freckles.

Than I apply concealer I use Maybelline in fair that I just recently bought, I am still not sure I like it. I used to use physician's formula that had green on one side and my color on the other but it was getting old!! I use it to cover blemishes and the dark under my eyes. But this new kind seems to get into my wrinkles and makes me look old.

After I have applied this all, which really isn't much I try to keep it all very light, just covering it up a bit. Than I use a light powder from physician's formula. I love this powder!!

After all the basics have been applied I do blush I use mineral effects from Sally's wonderful product, very pigmented and it takes very little to go a very long ways. I also use hot mama from Sephora it is fantastic for when I go out I love the shimmer it has in it. At the same time, but very rarely I use bronzer. It is also mineral effects from Sally's. Gotta love minerals and how nice they feel on your face.
 

Onto the eyes, where I also keep it very simple. I start with just a simple brown or black line on my eyelid along the lashes. Than I apply eyeshadow. For the bare essentials look I wear silky caramel by Mary Kay, for a little more coverage I use the amber blaze, and for night time I use island bronze which is a gel shadow. I guess you can say I am stuck in some brands of makeup. Looks like I use mostly Mary Kay and Mineral effects or physicians formula.

 The final touch is mascara I use cover girl in dark brown. So as you can see I don't wear much makeup, and doing a video would have just been boring for everyone. Haha honestly this blog was probably just as boring. But I thought it would be fun. Don't worry this isn't going to become a usual thing, I will be going back to things I know better like traveling, crafts, and taking pictures!!

Adding to the family!!

    I have been eagerly awaiting writing this blog for weeks. I wanted to write it during the process, but than if something somehow would have fallen through I didn't wanna get my hopes up. Not until she was here and safely in our arms!!!

    But after much consideration and discussion, although we still really miss Huck, we decided our family just wasn't whole without a four legged furry friend in it. And since Dustin is allergic to cats, and we really are just dog people, we opted for a dog. What really set it off was meeting our good friend Dawns two pooches who are just so sweet and wonderful with kids. We knew Kyra needed to have a puppy to grow up with like we had.

    So here we are sitting in a foreign country, thinking where do we even begin the process of finding a dog for our family? Buying a purebred was out of the question as we didn't have a thousand or so euro to just throw out there. German pounds wont adopt out to Military (I think military has the reputation of abandoning their pets). So we were in a hard place or either waiting who knows how long for someone who wants to get rid of their dog or to do some research. Well that didn't take long. I saw on my newsfeed some post from two friends about how they were adopting dogs. I had previously pretty much just skimmed past them not thinking much about it, but I went back this time and looked at what they were talking about.

     All they had was great things to say about FAPF (Foundation of Animal Protection in Füzesabony) a no kill foundation from Hungary who finds and saves animals from the street and helps them find new families!! I was really nervous as was Dustin about getting a dog from another country and over the interenet. So we looked into it, found ones we were interested in and started talking to them all the while watching and waiting to see how their adoptions went! Once the first family got their dog and was proof the that place was legit we started the process!!

    At first we originally fell in love with Abigel a little brown Dachshund. She was such a cutie, but we had waited too long and she was already on her journey to her new family. So we sat down the next night looking at the dogs who were still available at the time! And it only took a few mins to see that Shade was going to be the perfect little girl for our family!!! The picture we first saw of us made us fall in love her little ear sticking up and the other one down!!

    All of the people associated with this FAPF have been the most helpful, and caring people ever. Shade first started at a foster house with a few other dogs while they were waiting to see if someone was interested in being her forever home. Once we showed interest, they soon sent her to another foster family. This family had young children so we were able to see how she was going to do with Kyra!! She was so sweet with them. And getting a picture of her daughter holding onto her, and hearing that they were sleeping together at night made me fall even more in love. While she was with them, FAPF got her spayed and she spent a few days with them as she first started to recover until she was ready to be transported. 

    Than she went to her last stop with the drivers until they were able to leave and head to our house. It took them quite a while to get here as it is a long drive from Hungary to here. But the driver was so sweet and he seemed to love her almost as much as we did when he brought her up to us!! I would reccomend anyone living in europe looking for a dog to consider going through FAPF to find yourself a little family member!! They are so amazing!! I have nothing bad to say about them, they were so helpful throughout the whole process. And they really do look out for the well being of the dogs!! 

   Shade arrived to us today and it was love at first sight. I squealed like a little girl when the driver brought her to the door. And she was such a sweet girl giving me kisses right away. Although she was a big skittish with her new surroundings it only took about 30 mins for her to be more relaxed!! Than Kyra woke up from her nap, and Shade was super eager to see what was making the noise in the back room. Kyra was also very excited to find that there was a dog in her house. They were immediate friends. Shade was even rolling around and onto her lap within mins. I can certainly say that they really did find us a perfect match!!! She is house broken and has been here all day with out any accidents, she has been drinking water and now after adding some canned food to the mix has started to eat some food also. She has to wear a cone til we get her stitches out, and than for a couple days after that, but I think she will be fine in no time as her incision seems to be healing quickly!!!

checking each other out!!

Kisses!!

playing right away!!

In her body suit, to keep her from chewing on her stitches

Passed out after a long day of traveling, and our first long walk as a family!!

13 months

Kyra's 12 months update.

Nicknames: Kyra Bug, Bug, Bunny, BooBoo, Butterfly

Clothing Size:  12 months

Personality:  Independent little girl you are!! You just love to talk and tell us about everything that is going on. You are really starting to learn some new words and use them all the time. You continue to surprise us with all the new things you do!!

Things I Could Do Without:  Waking up in the middle of the night, teething, fits when you are tired.

Item/Toy We Love The Most:Carrier, new shoes.

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Beside Monkey? Puzzles, and your new car from Grandma.

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: All the new words your learning, your nonscense chatter, the excitement on your face when you walk, how friendly you are, and your teethy cheesy smile!!

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: Walking everywhere on your own finally!!! The new way our house is arranged, playing outside, fruit.

Project 52: street photography

So I went on a walk for an hour this evening and got the pleasure of taking some pictures while I was out!! This topic isn't until June but I had to take advantage of the opportunity when I got it! Wiesbaden is full of tags on about any flat surface you can find, and they range from trashy to pretty, although there are some areas I want to really go photograph I think I will save them for another blog. This was a simple one, and I just thought it was pretty colored. And I was able to get a cool angle and good lighting before sunset.

For complete list of all pictures from my Project 52 follow this link to Resolutions which has links to all of my project 52 blogs.