Pinterest Projects #127 & #142

New wall art.

Unfortunately, most of my favorite pictures are horizontal, not vertical. Not sure if I want to re-do it horizontally or not. I cropped some to print vertical, but they just aren't as nice that way. But for $20 worth of supplies {unfinished frames from Ikea}, I'm happy, for now :)

Then onto some burgers for dessert.

I didn't have any red food coloring for ketchup. Oh well. The kids thought they were great none-the-less. Happy January family birthdays.

Sleep Study #2 & Haircut Non-Advice

Well, we actually made it through the sleep study last night. Oh how I hate these. Why do they even call them sleep studies? There is very little sleeping involved! Signing Time DVD's help with the wire prep, but there was still a lot of crying, especially for a kid who hates having his head touched!

And the cannula sensor thing makes it impossible for them to sleep on their tummies, so Max tossed and turned all night. He just couldn't get comfortable. He sat up every 3 minutes, I swear. I will never understand how they even get decent data to get results. He finally got to sleep about midnight (he had had a late nap) and they woke him up at 6am to take all the wires off.

But the good news is that (according to the tech) he didn't need oxygen last night! And she didn't see much obstruction.
I guess I should have prefaced in the last post the reason behind this second sleep study.... Max has mild sleep apnea and needs oxygen at night. He had his tonsils and adenoids out in August in hopes that it would open his airway and help with the apnea. This second study will show how much it helped. It takes a few weeks to get the official results from the doctor. We meet with Dr. Daftary in March to discuss it. (We won't meet with Dr. Pfeffer again unless I want a second opinion, since she doesn't take our insurance. We paid cash to see her last time because I wanted her opinion of how to treat the apnea diagnosed in the first sleep study last year.)


And in response to the comments in the previous post about his haircut...
Not sure you really want to follow my method ;)
It would be easier to enlist the help of my hubby, but he is not always home in the evenings, and I am too impatient to wait for him. Although, I think I will next time after this last horrible experience. So anyway, the key is.... insert drumroll - let them cry it out like they are being stabbed in the eyeball with a pitchfork. Sad. Yes. Traumatizing. Yes. More traumatizing to go to Cookie Cutters. Yes. So we'll keep doing it at home.
I sit Max in his highchair, let him hold the clippers so he can see the vibrating monster isn't really the devil, then wrap his flailing arms in a towel like a cape (I even tried to use packaging tape to hold the towel on better - didn't work - he still shimmied the towel up and tried to grab the clippers every 1.2 seconds). I did have Piper hold his hands for the neckline. And sometimes I would try to hold his hands with one of mine and clipper with the other. Very frustrating!
I started with a long clipper attachment and do the top. (I like it a little longer on the top so it doesn't look buzzed.)  Then medium to do the sides and back. Then short to do the neckline. It is in no way even - but looks great in a picture - haha! I used to use scissors over the ears, but can't anymore do to flailing arms. I end up putting him in a sort of headlock for some of it. Hold his head against the highchair back for some. It isn't pretty. I feel like the worst mom ever. But it gets the job done, and within minutes he forgets, until the next time. Treats don't help - they get hairy and he's crying too hard to eat them anyway. Signing Time DVD's help a little. It's just one of those things where you just try be fast (like an hour - ha) and get it over with. Hmmm. Maybe I need to start combing his hair daily so he gets used to his head even being touched. Good luck :)

Haircut

Max has a sleep study scheduled for tonight. No runny nose at the moment, so I think it will be a go. {We've had to reschedule 4 times this winter due to his almost constant runny nose. Ugh.}

So, I decided I might as well give him a haircut to make it easier to get the electrode glue out tomorrow. Man, how this kid HATES his head touched. Clippers are his LEAST favorite thing for sure. Hopefully it's short enough that we don't have to mess with it for a few months!

Still playing around with watermarks, too...

New Church Calling

Well, after just over three years, I was finally released from the Primary Presidency. I say finally, because Steve had been telling me for months that it would be any day now - ha. So I am now the nursery leader, and yes, Max still escaped out of nursery three times on Sunday!

For the Love of Pinterest & other Stuff

Saw these refrigerator family magnets on Pinterest (tutorial here) and thought about making them for Max for Christmas. Then I remembered the tornado is gated from the kitchen, so I didn't make any. Then I saw these cute tiny Polaroid frame magnets and figured I'd better just make some (tutorial and template here). And as you can see, I made a few, so I have a few to give as a gift :)

Piper LOVED them. We even took a few to church yesterday to play with on a small dry erase magnet board.

The Polaroid magnets turned out a bit too tiny for my liking, so I think I'll be doing some more of those a bit bigger.

While I was finishing up the project, Piper was waiting for me to put her to bed. And ended up falling asleep on the living room floor. She should know by now that "in a minute" really means "just get yourself into bed, I'm gonna be awhile" ;)

Max had a little cuddle time with Dad. See that owie on Steve's finger? He hit himself with the Wii remote while playing Wii tennis. Hehe.

 My mom gave me these cool close-up filters for my birthday. You can focus much closer with a regular lens with the filters on. Pretty cool. 

And in one of my many nightly, staying up til 2am, camera and Photoshop tutorial readings, I found this cool article on photographing water droplets. So of course I had to try it today.

Ignore the watermark - I posted these on my 365/Picture a Day blog and was testing out a new watermark technique. I read about a new wave of stealing kiddos pictures off blogs and decided I probably should get back in the habit of adding a little protection, thanks to the crazies out there. I need to come up with something that fits both blogs, but don't really want to use my full name... so I'm thinking on it.
*watermark tutorial: http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/2009/09/coffeeshop-editing-101-making-your-own.html - I think picnik.com will do a watermark for you, too... or just add text to your photo.

Aquarium River Otters

So the local aquarium has a new river otter exhibit. It opened last week, so we thought it would be a great idea to head down to see it Monday for the MLK holiday. Everyone else in SLC had that same idea. It took 30 minutes just to park. Ugh. I mentioned that we may want to come see it another day and Piper had a meltdown in the backseat. Guess she wanted to fight the crowd. So Max had to stay buckled in the stroller, which was prime shoulder rubbing or pulling hair territory for him. I thought he was over that, but I guess pony tails are just too tempting.

Anyway, we did get to see the otters. Very cute. They woke up and played for a bit. Piper thought they were great.

Max enjoyed watching the fish along with the people.

And licking the stingray enclosure wall - gross dude. Seriously.

I love the sea turtle.

And the river rays.

I don't like that dark area of the aquarium with the creepy snakes and cockroaches. Piper loves it for some reason.

The penguins are a hit with everyone. We saw these at the end of our visit and didn't get the greatest pictures. It was just too crowded.

My favorite picture of the day - the cayman.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the afternoon when it's snowing outside.

41

I turned 41 this weekend. I don't really feel that old. Except I don't think I'd be so tired chasing a 2 year old if I were 31 instead of 41. But I wasn't even married at 31, so... this is what you get for getting a late start on adulthood I guess. Anyway, we had a small family party at my brother's house. They have a new puppy. Piper couldn't get enough. {She is constantly asking when our dogs are going to be resurrected...} Max was indifferent.

He loves the {free} Smule Magic Piano app.

We hit the Grand America for brunch - sooo good. And then Piper drew a lovely flower on my cheek with her face paints for my birthday. And I have no idea why she is wearing this pink rain poncho, but she thought it would be perfect for birthday hugs.

This n That

Got a wireless remote for the camera - $2 off eBay - works great. I don't really do New Year's Resolutions, but I do aim to get more pictures of me this year for the photo books. So we made funny faces at the camera.

I need a haircut. Debating whether or not I should I go short again... but I have just started being able to get it in a ponytail now, so...??

The front door seemed kind of bare after I threw away the Costco Christmas wreath. Pinterest to the rescue - made a new Valentine's wreath for $7 worth of dollar store supplies.

Piper's ladybugs hatched. Why does she love these things so much? She was actually rather terrified to take one out of the "garden"/cage to play with, but she wanted to sooo badly. So I got one out and showed her how un-terrifying it was. Then, for the next 20 minutes she kept saying over and over and over, "OH, wow, this is so much better than I thought it would be!"

Happy Birthday to Me

Steve always sends me birthday flowers :)

Piper cried when I got them, because she didn't get any for her birthday.... heaven help me.

Boy in a Bucket

As I've said before... he loves buckets and bins....

{and watching Signing Times}

3 in 1 post - Snow, Therapy & Fake Sun Flare

We got a little snow this week. It's been pretty dry this winter (knock on wood), so it was a nice little change. Unfortunately, we all have colds, so we didn't really get out to play in it.

These next couple pictures are from last month. Finally downloaded them off my cellphone. Max at his 'structured play' class through early intervention. They work on routines, imitating, fine and gross motor skills, signing, etc. One to one teacher to student ratio. We call it pre-preschool. Parents can watch through the glass window, but the kiddos can't see them back. Max used to cry as soon as we drove into the parking lot. He now loves it and often tries to go back in to play when it's time to leave.

Cool new Photoshop Elements action - "Sun Kissed" from the CoffeeShop Blog. You can give any picture sun flare. Very cool :) I didn't give this one too much, since it is an indoor shot, but you get the idea.