Please Take a Moment. You Won’t Regret It.

Chris and I went to school with Charlie and Kelly Butler at Cincinnati Christian University. Though we weren’t close friends with them, it was a small enough school that everyone pretty much knew and was friends with everyone. The Butler family has experienced a lot of heartache in the past few years, and we have been following along with them and their story. There is an opportunity for them to be recipients of an Extreme Home Makeover, and I ask that you please take a few minutes to read their story below, and send an email on their behalf.

Meet the Butlers

Kelly and Charlie Butler are the proud parents of Brooklyn and Boston. A beautiful family of 4 that has had more than their fair share of heartache. Brooklyn is 4 years old and is cute as a button, always smiling. Just before her second birthday the Butlers were hit with some devastating news, Brooklyn was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome. Rett Syndrome is a severe neurological disorder that takes seemingly healthy little girls and robs them of their ability to walk, talk or use their hands. They require 24 hour care for the rest of their lives. Kelly refused to let the diagnosis of her daughter break her, she started looking for ways to get involved with finding a cure and is currently working for a non-profit called Girl Power 2 Cure raising funds for Rett Syndrome research. She works tirelessly for her daughter and the thousands of girls with Rett Syndrome and does it all with a smile.

Last May disease struck the Butler household again when Charlie was diagnosed with Behcets Disease, a multisystemic disease that affects almost every organ in the body. Again, Kelly and Charlie took the diagnosis in stride, believing that things would look up.

They were pregnant at the time and were looking forward to welcoming another blessing into their household. That blessing came sooner than they had expected when complications arose and Kelly gave birth to a son named Boston on September 12, 2009 - 10 weeks early. Boston weighed in at 2 pounds, 3 ounces. Charlie and Kelly joyously welcomed their sweet preemie into the world thanking God for his blessings.

Boston spent 10 weeks in the NICU where he went through a rollercoaster of tests, procedures, and complications, including NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis) – a life threatening condition for preemie’s. Just when things were starting to look up the Butlers were hit with more hard news - Boston was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

Imagine, 3 incurable, rare diagnoses in 1 family would just about crush most of us but the Butlers continue to stand gracefully. Charlie and Kelly are now juggling therapy, doctors and specialists for both their children. You can follow their stories at: www.bostonclarkbutler.blogspot.com and www.brooklynbutler.blogspot.com

I have been following the happenings of the Butler family for about 2 years now and continue to be inspired by Kelly. Though any one of these things could easily crush a person’s spirit, she has managed to maintain her optimism and faith, and delights in the same things as any other parent: time with her family, the smiles of her children, and the progress of their development.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would help the Butler’s tremendously. Their home is not handicapped accessible and though Brooklyn is currently confined to a chair, she will soon be moving to a wheel chair. Additionally, Kelly works for the non-profit organization girlpower2cure which raises money to help find a cure for Rett Syndrome. Her old office has been turned into a nursery, and she is currently working out of a closet. Furthermore, Charlie’s prognosis regarding the Behcets Syndrome is unknown. He currently experiences daily chronic pain, and it can progress to a crippling disease, even leading to blindness. It would be so helpful to this family to receive a home makeover that would meet their needs, help their lives to be just a little less stressful, and be of no cost to them. Every time that I read Kelly’s blogs I want to do something to help, and this is an easy thing to do that could help them out.

Please take 5 minutes to send an email on behalf of the Butler family. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is looking for a family in Indiana, so please include that they live in Angola, IN, 46703. You can email your letters to kristinsmith8405@yahoo.com (Kelly’s sister) or directly to the show at castindiana@gmail.com. (It might be a good idea to send it to both places.) Unfortunately the deadline is TOMORROW, FEBRUARY 10, so please take a minute to write an email today.

DIY: Long Necklaces, Managed.

I had a cute necklace holder a few years ago that broke, and a new one has been on my shopping list ever since. I have looked at several in different stores but never found one that I like or that would accommodate my looong necklaces. Those are the ones that have been tangled up in my drawer and really need to be managed in the first place, so that’s the priority. Last week, Chris ended up detangling a knot of necklaces while I finished getting ready to leave the house, and I decided that I would just take matters into my own hands and make one for myself.

I made it a priority to get to the thrift store on the day that the artwork was 50% off, and walked home with this cool frame for about $5.

I removed the glass, picture and matting and pulled out some old foam board that I had never used. I cut the foam board, wrapped it in some heavy burlap (of course) and hot glued the edges around the back.

I picked up some padded hooks from Walmart for about $1. They started off white, which was just a little too stark for the frame, so I spray painted them beige and then rubbed on a little wood stain. This was a better color but left them tacky and messy, so I put a coat of matte Mod Podge and they sealed up nicely.

I wanted the hooks to be exactly 2 inches apart, so I got out the measuring tape and marked the back of the foam board in pen before I twisted the hooks through. I put 2 smaller hooks at the end of the row for shorter necklaces, and 2 at the bottom for bracelets.

I love it! Of all of the things that I have made, this was certainly the easiest. A perfect combination of cheap, fast, functional and pretty. A+

I’m linking up to The Girl Creative, Cottage Instincts, Making the World Cuter, Made it Monday, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Make Your Monday, A Soft Place to Land, Talented Tuesday, Today’s Creative Blog, and Toot Your Horn Tuesday.

Less Inappropriate Than You Think

When we opened up the little potty this weekend, I thought to myself, “No Erin, this isn’t a camera-necessary moment.”  And then 2 seconds later this happened, and I was so happy that the camera was just outside the door.

And I promise that this was straight out of the box!  Even though a small (very small) voice in the back of my head was saying, “This is probably a moment for teaching and not laughing,” there was a louder voice that was saying, “This is a moment that will need to be shared with Grandparents and Dad when he gets home.”  You can really only get away with this once, which is why you should forgive me that the pictures are slightly blurry.  I couldn’t bring myself to have him do it again just so that I could get a clearer shot.

 

We had a very busy week last week, but I’ve been having technical difficulties with both my camera and my computer.  Both are now resolved(ish), and I’m looking forward to sharing what we’ve been up to.  But I’ve been on the computer for 2 1/2 hours this morning figuring out and attempting to fix them, so for now I’m done.  Happy Monday.

Slight V-Day Decor

I have never really decorated for Valentines Day before. I’m sure it has to do with somewhat of an indifference towards the holiday (not antagonistic, just indifferent), or being a little burnt out from both of our birthdays and Christmas coming right after one another, and just not ready for another holiday. But really, I think it mostly has to do with my general distaste for hearts. I guess I’m just not really a “hearts” person, and while I can admit that most of the Valentines decorations I’ve been seeing are really cute, they just don’t seem like me. (For what it’s worth, I feel like such a Valentines Day Scrooge for writing this!) But I have been seeing so many really great Valentines Day decorations around, that I decided to just bite the bullet and pull something together. Plus it can help fill a bit of the void that taking down Christmas decorations has left. (I have left this little reindeer out though, who Jayce thinks says “Weeee” when he’s flying around, and I think it’s funny.)

Anyway, I got to work seeing what I could scrounge up from around the house. I found this frame last month at the thrift store and though I wasn't a fan of the heart and mat, I loved the square frame for $1. I had planned to put a little wreath in there, but suspended the idea for a little bit.

First I made this, with a linen scrap and some berries. I think it’s cute, but framed up it just didn’t look right.

I re-did the matting in my favorite scrapbook paper, and made a new little heart out of another linen scrap. I got some printable iron-on paper and printed the word “love” thinking that I’d be able to iron the word onto my fabric, but it turns out that I bought the iron-on that looks like you have just printed something on paper. Agh! Stupid, semi-expensive, wrong iron-on paper! Anyone know what the right kind is? I had planned to hand stitch around the linen heart to give it a little something extra, but I already didn’t like it so I just abandoned it completely. I put this up on a shelf, but the first time that I walked by it I flipped it facedown. Again, it just didn’t look like me.

Then, I thought that maybe I could do something that suggests love instead of saying it, so I ended up with this.

And it goes so nicely with my little family blocks. Totally a coincidence. Totally.

(PS-This is no veiled announcement or anything. We are still a family a three, I just like symmetry, and happened to have extra blocks. :)

Furthermore, with the fresh batch of snow that we received last week and the reinstating of the under 20 degree temperatures, I decided that I wasn’t quite done with my winter decorations just yet. I made a little cone tree with twine and cotton thread (the white is a bit like snow, right?), and added a little pop of red.

I was happy to get a little bit of “valentines red” and “love” added to the house without turning to roses and hearts. And I was really happy to have made these with supplies that I already had, particularly since I didn’t want to spend any money or emerge into 14 degree temperatures!

I have wondered, after all is said and done, if I am turning into a bit of a one trick pony with those twine trees. Maybe I am. For now I am okay with it, but I’ll certainly need to have some new ideas come summertime.

I am linking to Just Something I Whipped Up, Make It For Monday, Made by You Monday, Metamorphasis Monday, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Made It Monday, Making the World Cuter, Talented Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, Toot Your Horn Tuesday, A Soft Place to Land, Works for Me Wednesday, Show and Tell, Somewhat Simple, Shabby Chic Cottage, Show Your Stuff, Thrifty Thursday, Floral Showers, Creative Cats, Finding Fabulous, and Funky Junk Interiors.

20 Months Old

When Jayce was about 10 weeks old, I went to meet up with a few friends for coffee. It was the first time they had ever met Jayce and they oooo’d and ahhhh’d appropriately over him. As we were discussing parenthood, (one of them had a 4 year old), I told them about how Chris and I had been recently discussing how this age, 10 weeks, was our favorite, and we didn’t want Jayce to get any bigger than this because this age was so fun.

It’s funny for me to remember that conversation now, with a 20 month old, and try to recall what Jayce was doing then that was so much fun. I think it mostly had to do with how he was interacting with us so much more than he had been previously: smiling, cooing a lot, doing that sweet baby jabbering and still being a happy little snuggler. It didn’t hurt that he was a really easy baby in the first place, and we were probably just starting to feel confident in ourselves as parents.

Anyway, I remember making this comment and then looking up at them with pleading eyes, in that “please comment on my comment” sort of way that you do to lure people into a conversation. My one friend smiled and reassured me that I had a lot of fun ahead of me. I don’t remember everything that she said, but I do remember her saying that she had had a similar conversation with an older friend of hers, who said that the feeling of “this is the best time,” had continued throughout all of their children’s lives. That even when their children reached the middle school age, they found the awkward and geekyness of that stage to be just as charming and fun as first words and first steps had been. This was really comforting to me for some reason, acknowledging that though the fun of that stage wouldn’t last, there was a different type of fun ahead.

Now that Jayce is startlingly closer to 2 than 1, I can truly say that he is a blast and this is my favorite age. :) Though I didn’t mind the baby phase that some people are dying to get through, I can acknowledge that it certainly is a perk for him to be mobile enough to walk himself into the kitchen to eat, get up the stairs himself for bath time, or (while holding my hand of course) walk with me instead of be carried by me in public.

Some of his fun little nuances I know are common of kids this age, such as how much he likes to help. He helps me load the washing machine even though it is over his head to do so. I give him the lighter items of clothing, he throws them up, and they go in about 75% of the time. The other 25% they fall back down and hit him in the face, but he tries again until they go in. His favorite laundry duty is throwing the wet clothes into the dryer, and he grunts with each item that he throws, even a single sock, because that is what I did when I first showed him what to do. When the clothes are dry he pulls them out, often hitting his head as he reaches to get the ones in the back, but that doesn’t slow him down. If the clothes are still warm, he stops to blow on them, because this is what you do with stuff that is warm, obviously. He then pushes the full basket down the hall to the living room where I fold it, though he often succumbs to temptation and pulls the nearest folded pile onto the floor. But I think that having “help” in 4 out of 5 steps is a success, right?

There is no way that the dishwasher will be unloaded without him. In fact, this activity elicits the same type of excitement as chocolate, so this boy needs to get his priorities straight! Chris grabs the sharp knives first, but then Jayce will quickly pull out each item, handing them to Chris urgently and occasionally laying them on the floor if Chris isn’t quick enough. When he pulls out a butter knife he will tell us a quick “no” as he hands it over. He also unpacks the grocery bags, helps take the trash out to the garage, and gets the little vacuum cleaner whenever he spots a bug or a speck of something and sweeps it up.

In addition to cleaning, he likes to take on little projects. As I type this I am watching him unpack a drawer in the kitchen for the 4th time. It is full of only hot pad holders, tongs and some trivets. He pulls out 2 items at a time, one in each hand, from the right side of the drawer only. He then runs over to the left side of the kitchen, puts each thing in it’s own spot on the floor, and then runs back to the right side of the drawer for some more. Once it is all unpacked, he uses the same strategy to re-pack the drawer.

He is not talking a lot, something that Chris and I become occasionally concerned about. He does lots of animals noises though, and I wonder if we should have spent more time having him say dog, than prompting him with what does a dog say? That said, his sounds are cat, dog, monkey, snake, elephant, lion, cow, owl, fish, chicken, bird, horse, car and train. His only real words are da da, ball, go, go go (go Cards), ba ball, chocolate, cookie, cracker, no, yeah, whoah, wow, and uh oh. Also, there is ga, which is all-encompassing. I am ga some days, grandparents are ga, he yells “ga” down the basement when he comes and before he leaves (to hear the echo). He is adding to this every week though, so I really should stop worrying. Oh well.

I think that the option of cooperation makes this age kind of fun too. You just never know what you are going to get. Some days when his dad comes home, he will happily put on a show of all of his tricks for him, but some days he is just a little too wound up to participate in “show dad how old you are.” I think it will really lose something when he always responds to every prompt. Or maybe that never happens.

He still does sign language for more, please, all done and thank you. The week that we taught him thank you (taking your hand from your chin down) his grandma taught him to blow a kiss, so they’ve been rolled into one. Any “thank you” includes a “muaaahhh” blown kiss. Actually, Jayce initiated a family kiss last month, the sort of thing that I would have been a little embarrassed to teach him, but since he came up with it on his own, I will gladly participate in. Any time that Jayce sees Chris and I kiss, he will run over and demand to be picked up, wrap one arm around each of our necks, push our heads together and then lean in, so that we all kiss at the same time. This is accompanied by a big cheesy grin and of course, muuuaahhhhh.

This is not to say that things are perfect around here, because we are certainly seeing our share of tantrums. Also, these “projects” that he’s into, aren’t all helpful. It’s helpful when he unpacks groceries, but not when he swiftly unpacks a purse or diaper bag. As fun as it is to unpack the kitchen drawer, it is much more fun to unpack a bathroom drawer, and he has his pick of drawers since none of those are baby proofed. The contents of a bathroom drawer are so much more interesting anyway, because once the drawer is unpacked there are additional containers to be unpacked: band aids or medicines boxes, cotton swabs, toilet paper, etc. I am always with him in the bathroom, but sometimes I just let him have his way with the drawer if it is the best way to keep him entertained while I’m trying to get myself ready to leave the house. Plus, the band aids make him so happy that I just let him play. The medicine, not so much.

I guess I just want to make a little note to remember these things by. 2 will be here soon enough, and when I am declaring that it is my new favorite age I want to remember what was so great about 20 months.