30X30: closet clean out

I'm really excited about a new project I am starting for the month of October. Years ago, I saw kendi everyday do a 30 for 30 challenge. You choose thirty items from your closet and that's all you can wear for thirty days. Kudos points for creating a different outfit every day. That includes shoes too! At first I thought it was crazy, how can you function with so little? Well, I have decided to take a stab at it. 

Steve asked me why I was doing this. What is the point? Well, here are the reasons I came up with. 1) I need a serious shot in the arm, style wise. Living all summer in ill fitting shorts and tees, I'm ready to recommit. 2) Post baby my closet has been a nightmare. I need to bring to the front the items that will work for me now. 3) I love a good challenge. 

Before starting, I needed a serious closet clean. I took everything out of my closet and all my fall/winter clothes out of storage. 

I took a long look at my current lifestyle. You wouldn't necessarily need to make paper signs but I did to help the sorting process. 

Here are the five categories for things to either be packed away or donated:

Donate: You know you have some things in your closet that you never wear (or don't fit and even if they did you wouldn't wear them) and you know it? Well into the donate pile they go. Even now sitting here typing, I can't tell you whats in there, which means I didn't need them and won't miss them.

blurry much?

Refashion & Fix: Since I can sew and am handy at refashioning things, I set aside anything with promise. I also saved items because of cute fabric, maybe I'll make Viv something out of them. But I have a time limit set on these items. You guessed it; 30 days. If I haven't done something with them by then, they are being donated. 

Maternity: I still had maternity clothing in the mix. Its been five months. Time to go. I packed all of it away, even the things I still wear. Its time to get real.

Non-Nursing Friendly: I am a dress person. I love and live in dresses. Dresses aren't the easiest to nurse in, poor access. Having them all hanging in my closet was sad and frustrating. I decided to just pack them away so I don't have to deal with them.

Postpartum Non-Fits: I was super diligent and tried on almost everything in my closet during the sorting. Everything that doesn't fit yet but I could nurse in, went into its own pile. To be honest, it was kind of depressing. And while I am overall happy with how I'm doing weight-wise--its a process, it still is a major blow to have lots of clothing that doesn't fit. Well now it is all folded and stacked away so I don't even have to worry about it.

All the keeps! I just threw them in a pile on my bed.

All the empty hangers! It feels so good.

Here are all the keeps, nicely hanging or folded in the closet. I hung them up without sorting them into types but I did do that before I did my final sort for the 30X30 challenge. Also see that empty shelf up top? I even had room to store all my non-nursing, non-fit items up there out of sight but still within reach. After my initial sort, I still had over eighty items. Stay tuned tomorrow for the big 30 piece reveal.

If you want to know more about the 30 day challenge, check out kendi. Also this girl is doing an amazing job at a capsule collection on un-fancy.

And you can totally do this with me!

organizing: choosing a paper planner

When I have a lot going on its easy to feel overwhelmed or so busy that I just kind of lounge on the couch watching reruns. I feel like ever since school started, we have been going, going, going. Staying organized is key to any success I have as a mom, business owner and seminary teacher. I'm going to start sharing some of the tips and techniques that have worked for me.

Starting the day right: breakfast and planner

While browsing around Barnes and Noble this summer, I fell in love with this beautiful planner. Is there anything more exciting than a brand new, blank planner? Just waiting to be filled with to-do lists and activities. I didn't buy it then, I pondered over it and searched around online for other options. I ended up going back at the beginning of August and I am so happy with my choice.

Reasons I love this planner and things to consider when searching for your own:

Month at a glance pages

• It has both a month at a glance pages and weekly pages with one column per day. I use an alligator clip to easily flip between the month and the current week. I use the month pages to jot down future events. For example when I get the activity newsletter from Henry's school, I can quickly put those events into the monthly calendar. As we enter each new week, I check the month calendar and input the info into the weekly pages. 
• The alligator clip is also helpful for keeping grocery lists handy. 
• The calendar is 18 months. Since I was shopping around for something mid year, I was worried I wouldn't find one. Or that I would be stuck with a blank one where you have to input your own dates. Yuck. 

How my week starts out. I plug in everything I have planned on Sunday night.

• Each week is an double page spread with eight columns. One for each day of the week and an extra column at the beginning for general notes on the week. 
• Each column has six rows created by a subtle change in color. I have each row marked as a separate area of my life. Appointments and activities, etsy, seminary, blog, gym and menu. I love having a space to put in my menu for the week. Seriously I love how I can compile everything together. 

Welcome to the madness!

• Having the separate rows for each type of activity allows me to plan out blog posts and jot down ideas for future writing. I also can spread out all my to do items throughout the week so I don't feel as overwhelmed. I used to write down everything I wanted to get done into one mega list and be overwhelmed by how much there was to do. 
• The larger spiral allows me to keep a pen handy for taking notes.

• In the back there are sections for contacts and notes that I don't really use. But there are some rip out shopping and to-do lists that I have found helpful. 
• I have looked around at apps for my phone to help me get organized and I never found anything I could get used to using. A pen and paper are my go to. Maybe I just can't get the same satisfaction from an app as physically crossing the items off my list. 
• And its really easy to go back to the previous pages and see what still needs to be done. 

Keeping on top of all the things I want to do and need to do is key to having any planner system work. I usually start my day by reviewing my notes and any activities or appointments we have planned. Then I keep checking back throughout the day to cross off completed items and add whatever comes up--setting it on the counter in a central location helps me remember to follow up. At the end of the day while were winding down watching tv, I go through it one final time to make plans for the next day. 

What kind of planner do you use? Do you have any great organizational tips you'd like to share?

Guess Who?

I was rummaging through the game box and stumbled upon Guess Who. Steve and I bought this when we were first married. One of my favorite date nights we used to do was go out to dinner and then go buy a new game and some treats and head home. We stopped playing after my winning streak couldn't be beat. But now we have a new competitor in the house. I love introducing Henry to new games and see him really thrive.

"Does your person have facial hair?" "Does your person have glasses?" "Does your person have earrings?"

Its been a lot of fun.

And Justin is still super creepy.

bexcaliber: halloween & fall printables

I have mentioned that I am pretty busy these days. What is she so busy doing? you might ask. Well I have been busy; it is not just an excuse but I will admit I have been unintentionally silent over here on the good ole blog. I wish blogging was as easy as instagramming.

After chatting with some of my favorite people (Steve and Chelsea) I have decided to offer my designs as printables. I have all these designs from over the years and I was trying to think how I could use them to further my business. I thought about doing prints but I like the idea of offering instant download printables. You buy it and its available instantly for you to print on your own. Easy as pie.

This also opens up my shop to appeal to more people. It provides a different price point; they are all $5! with custom colors at only $7. And I realize that not everyone needs or likes or uses pillows (crazies!), so you can now have my art on your walls.

You can check them all out here.
Don't see what you want/need? We can whip up a custom art print for your home in no time. I love colloborating.

selfies

When you are pregnant you are discouraged from making big hair changes. I would stretch that past pregnancy well into postpartum too. Your body is not your own, you feel so not like yourself, that making a big change might be regrettable.

I waited the appropriate length of time before chopping off all my nasty, stringy, dry hair. At 31, I am finally ready to embrace having big hair. It might not seem like a big deal but we cut off quite a large chunk and its even shorter in the back.

So long mangy, tangles. Hello gorgeous shiny locks!

I also got new glasses. Plastic frames have always had a hold of my heart. The sales associate said he didn't like them. He tried to get me into checkerboard stems. Maybe it is the obstinate streak that runs through me, but tell me I can't/shouldn't do it and I will want them even more. I don't regret them. In fact, I love them. In your face, sales guy!

And not pictured, I totally fit into one pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans today. Small steps towards getting back into being beckie.

155 days into Motherhood: software upgrade

Did you ever work for a company that was going to update its software? Or worse, get all new programs? I did. There was the usual excitement for the new roll-out. Meetings detailing the changes and salespeople demonstrating the technology that would make our processes smoother. The hype accumulates to one day and the new software goes live.

And its a disaster.

No one remembers what they learned in training. The new features are confusing and different and the learning curve is steep. What was supposed to save time and make us more money just frustrates everyone. Why did we upgrade? Is it even any better? Let's just go back to the old applications.

And then one day, everything just clicks. It really is better this way.

Translate that into adding a kid to your family. Its a family upgrade of sorts. You wanted this (hopefully), planned for it (hopefully) and cooked it in you oven (figuratively). The hype accumulates to one day and the new baby arrives. And its hard. Not a disaster, maybe there are moments that are disasters, but its just all around hard. The learning curve is steep. This new baby is tricky. She is not like her brother, she is not like the books. Let's just go back to how it was when it was perfect.

But then one day, everything clicks. We have learned her cues, developed a little bit of a schedule and have been getting a lot more sleep. And now our family is a better perfect. We're so happy to have this little upgrade.

Picture is months ago when she demanded to be held constantly. High maintenance much?

Vivian: 4 1/2 Months

This is a few weeks late. Darn. Oh well.

Official 4 month stats:

13 lbs 4 oz

24" tall (she didn't grow any inches!)

Here are some things that Vivi has been up to in the past 6 or so weeks:

• She continues to love baths! As soon as she is cranky at night, we stick her in the tub and she is set until bedtime. 
• She has been getting out of her swaddle pretty easily these days. Usually she wakes up with her blanket around her middle like a cummerbund. 
• She still sleeps in the bathroom, right next to the toilet. (Steve was kind enough to point that out.) Her sleeping continues to be good but not consistent. She has three patterns. 1) Falls asleep between 7-7:30 and then sleeps until 7:00 am. 2) Falls asleep at 7-7:30 pm and then wakes once between 3-5 to eat, sleeps until we all get up. 3) Falls asleep at 7-7:30 pm but wakes up full of energy before 9:00 pm and then eats again and then goes back to sleep around 10:00 but sleeps in until 7-8:00 am. 
• Just so you know, she doesn't sleep in the bathroom all night. When its time for us to go to bed, we carefully lift her bouncer and carry her to her room. I then lift her out of her bouncer and gently set her in her crib. We have about a 97% success rate on transferring her. 
• She has started launching herself with her legs. When laying on the ground (bed, changing table, etc) she will put her feet down and then push up. 
• She can really get going in her bouncer. 
• She has a new toy that she likes. Its a rattle teether things. If you shake it in her face when she's upset, she'll calm down. I can tell she really wants to hold it but just can't figure it out. 
• When she gets excited, she kicks her legs but mostly just her left leg. It moves at about triple speed as her right one. Its hilarious. 
• She sits in the bumbo with us at the table during dinner. She looks super interested in food, she literally licks her lips with her tiny tongue. I am not ready to start solids yet so she will just have to wait. 
• She drools a lot. Always blowing bubbles. 
• We have entered the hand-in-mouth phase. She always has her hand in her mouth or her blanket over her hand in her mouth. She will gum up anything. 
• Her neck is getting really strong on tummy time but she hasn't rolled over yet. 
• Henry captivates her. Anytime he is around, she is watching him. He reads her books and sings to her and runs in circles around her when she is laying on the ground and she loves it all. 
• Lately she has hated being in the car seat. Not fun. 
• Vivian has turned from a pretty crabby, needy baby into a delight. She wakes up happy and smiley. She loves to be held but doesn't demand it. She doesn't need to be held constantly to be happy either. Its easy to get a smile out of her and we have gotten 4 laughs too. 

Henry: Big Boy

Just a few reasons why Henry is such a big boy these days:

• He eats all his vegetables and even likes them. Admittedly, he dips them in ranch dressing...I don't know if it is a phase or has something to do with Pre-K but he has been so adventurous in the eating department these days. He loves mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and carrots. He also likes most of those cooked or raw. 
• He still walks right into school all by himself. He does wave to me as he is walking in. It makes my heart proud to wave back as I slowly creep along in the car, watching. 
• He no longer sleeps in a pull up at night. This is a HUGE one. He did well during potty training during the day but we kind of were just waiting for him to wake up dry so we could stop with the pull ups. Well that never happened so we just made him wear underwear to bed and he has done surprisingly well. Only a few accidents. And I learned a trick from my friend Kelly. Make the bed with a mattress pad and sheet. Then put another pad and sheet on top of that one. That way, if he has an accident in the night, you just pull off the wet layer and there is already another layer underneath. This has worked wonders. 
• He loves showering. The other day he needed a bath but they take F-O-R-E-V-E-R so we convinced him to take a shower instead. A previous soap in the eye incident had scared him off. Well he loved the warm water and washing himself with a bar of soap. He declared he never wanted to take a bath again! 
• He has started using the word "burning" as an adjective to replace really. For example, "I love this game, it's burning awesome." Or, "Vivian is burning cute." Who knows where he came up with that one!
• Oh and a funny moment. As I was buckling his car seat after church he told me, "Mommy you're eyebrows are beautiful. They are red." He really meant my eyelids which were pink. It was cute though. He often comments on my makeup if I am wearing lipstick or red eyeshadow. :)
• More and more he is starting to look like a boy and less like a baby. I know that sounds ridiculous because he is four years old but there were always glimpses of baby in him. Those are mostly gone now but I am happy with my boy. 

137 days into Motherhood: Splitting Time with Two

One thing I worried about when Vivian came was finding one on one time for both kids. Henry seemed to monopolize all my time and then thinking about adding another one, geesh. Well it has actually gone smoother than I thought. I find myself naturally carving out time to spend with each of them individually.

With Henry we have been playing lots of games. I have been impressed with his lengthened attention span these days. He can sit and play Sorry with me and finish. He also is getting a lot better at not winning. We have also enjoyed reading more together. He has always loved picture books but recently we have started reading chapter books. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a huge hit. It has been a great exercise for him, as we read we discuss what is happening. We also start each time by reviewing what we read last time. To celebrate finishing the story we went and each picked out some candies to try and watched the movie together. He fell in love with the movie and talked about in nonstop for days. Oompa Loompa Doompa Di Da! Vivian still naps for the majority of the day so I find I have plenty of time to hang out with my favorite little guy.

Vivian sleeps most of the day but when she is awake--seriously, only for like 1-2 hours at a time--she is pretty content these days. She likes hanging out in her bouncer and being around us in the living room. When Henry is playing or watching tv, I sometimes quietly slip into my room with her and we lay on my bed. She likes being in there. I don't know if its the bright window or its just a little quieter but it seems so soothe her. Now that she is interacting more I love that spending time with her isn't just about feeding her. Vivian likes to be picked up and lifted above me as I lay down. I lift her up and bring her down for a kiss on the cheek. We call this coming down for a kiss landing. She flies around always with the same non-reactive face. Content for her equals happy. Another thing she likes it to have us move her arms and legs around like dancing. My time for playing with her is usually interrupted by Henry who loves joining the party.

I'm already mentally planning how our time will change once Henry is in Pre-K. I will spend hours with Vivian in the morning and then be ready to chat and listen to Henry after he comes home from school. I really want to make sure I am there for him in the afternoon. Obviously I wrote this post before Pre-K started but it all still holds true. I have found that I can continue to give them each one on one time or make our time all together meaningful. It helps that Henry is super interested in Vivian and is not jealous or resentful in any way.

blogging backseat

So I have been terrible at blogging these days. In fact, I am busier than I have been in a long time. I like it but sometimes I have to come up for air and zone out watching tv instead of sitting in front of the computer. I have so much to share and say and things have been happening here but I just don't have the time.

With Henry in school, I am full force back to work and I love it. There is marketing to do, fabric to design, things to sew and orders to ship.

I am rededicating myself to the gym. I love working out. Vivian doesn't like the gym and I have to sneak in when she is asleep. If she wakes up in the kids zone, she usually cries and they have to come get me. But I can feel my muscle coming back and some much needed mental clarity.

I have also been teaching online seminary. I might get to sleep in but its a lot more work. And since it is all online, I often get exhausted of being near the computer--hence, no blogs.

More on all this later!