Proof

As I shuffle through my house each morning, trying to find my way to the fridge for an early shot of caffeine, I am always amazed at the random things I find along the way.

H.O.T.Y. calls it clutter and is constantly trying to map out a plan of attack to rid the house of these random messes. But for me, I’ve developed a soft spot for them. Because they are my little reminders of how lucky I am. Lucky to have two healthy children to leave piles of plastic food in my bedroom and long-lost pacifiers on my coffee table.

They are the proof I need to know that all is right in the world.

Monkey’s in my apple display shows that someone loved my girls enough to buy them a gift.

And princesses in my dishwasher means that Miss Priss has been playing and imagining and believing in fairy tales.

Even the panties that I am forever picking up off the floor reminds me of the triumphic feeling I felt when Miss Priss finally learned to dress herself.

They are tiny bits of evidence of the life I’m living right now. Where my job description is “mommy” and my days are filled with playdough and puzzles and half-eaten bowls of apple sauce. Because as hard as it to imagine, my girls are going to grow up someday and these random things will not be strewn carelessly across my house.

Too soon will I long for baby dolls hidden in the pantry and boxes of crayons stashed in my bathroom drawer.  Until that day comes, I will resist the urge to complain of the constant picking up and choose to cherish these beautiful piles of proof.

Spread the Word

Today I found myself looking for things to do.  And what's crazy about that is that I always have a million things to do.  I surround myself with to-do lists and projects and piles of dishes and laundry I tend to boycott.  But today, the girls both went down for naps, the kitchen was clean (in my opinion) and my projects for clients were all out in cyber-world waiting for approvals.

After staring at my blank computer screen for the span of eternity, I decided today would be a good day for a giveaway.  'Cause my creative juices are flowing and I need someone to give them direction.

So who wants a FREE set of custom designed stationery?

Oh, you do?  That's great!

Here's how to win:
1.  Post a link to my blog on your Facebook and/or Twitter.
2.  Post a link to my blog on your blog.
3.  Click "Follow" and join the Miss Priss and Me FANCLUB
4.  Post a comment below and tell me what you did... entries for every step you complete!
Winner will be selected randomly by Miss Priss on Thursday, March 3rd.

And just because I'm really feeling it today, let's add a set of matching address labels too.

So spread the word, one lucky soul will be getting a set of 40 KJane Designs stationery cards and 80 matching address labels.  Just what I need to kick the creativity in overdrive and pump out some new designs!

Good luck!

Cry Me A River

I’m sitting here trying to stay distracted. Distracted from the sweet little baby crying in her room three floors above me. Tonight is night one of the dreaded Cry-It-Out method. And man, it is hard.

Now let’s just get this out there…. I know lots of people are against the CIO method. They claim that a baby is too young to understand why they are being stranded in a crib and being made to cry themselves to sleep. And to be fair, I totally get that. But I, along with my pediatrician, believe that a baby needs to learn how to self-soothe and if the only way they know how to fall asleep is to nurse, then it is our responsibility as parents to break those bad habits.

And let me tell you, Lil Sis has a bad habit. But I take full blame for it, because in order to survive the last few months of packing and moving and designing and getting in any amount of precious sleep, I have allowed her to sleep with me and nurse all night long. From dusk to dawn she is cuddled up next to me and each time she wakes up, I just roll over and let her nurse herself right back to sleep. Now no haters please…. I know sleeping with your baby isn’t favored by most medical professionals, but a girl’s got to get her sleep somehow.

At almost five months old, my little chunker has practically doubled her nightly feedings. We’re up to four or five times a night now. Which means that in getting my beauty sleep, I have enabled her to believe that sleep is only associated with nursing. As a parent, one of the worst feelings you can have is the guilt of knowing you are responsible for your own child’s problems.

So here we are, with my music turned up loudly, trying to drown out the wails that are blasting through the monitor. Every few seconds I lean over and click the “view” button, silently willing her to calm down and fall asleep. With every tearful sob, I feel my heart breaking a little more. I have to talk myself out of running upstairs to her with each heavy sigh. It’s been over an hour now and my stubborn little booger is still going strong.

Yet I know that this is what being a parent is about. Standing on the sidelines, feeling like your hands are bound, knowing that it’d be so much easier to swoop in and save the day. We are here to nurture and love and kiss every single skinned knee, but we are also here to let them discover things… even if it’s simply how to fall asleep on their own.

As I wrap up and go to hit “post”, I realize that the crying has stopped. The only sounds are her deep breaths rhythmically fading in and out with the music of my laptop. I click “view” one last time to see her with arms spread wide and her feet tangled together, hopefully dreaming sweet dreams that will last the night through.

super fun happy

Warning:  I've been neglecting my blog lately, but not my camera.  In other words... I've got a lot of catching up to do, so you're about to get slammed with a whole bunch of pictures.

Don't you love when life seems to get going so fast that you don't really have time to worry, or stress, or play the "what if" game?  That's how my world has been lately, and in truth, I kinda like it.  It reminds me of the old Flinstone cartoon where they dart to and from in their rubble-rock cars, and they don't seem to notice that it's actually their legs doing all the work underneath.

When I went back today and started choosing pictures for my post, I had no idea how many little moments I'd been capturing lately.  And because all these little moments add up to the whole of my life, I thought we'd just string them along and paint the bigger picture.

Miss Priss is a babydoll/teddybear/stuffedanimal fanatic.  At any time of the day she can usually be found with a handful of dolls tucked under one arm as she happily goes about her business.  Although Ooh-Ooh gets the majority of her love, it always cracks me up seeing her share her kisses and hugs among the other lucky few.

Grammie came to town last week and as always we had a wonderful time.  We shopped, we baked, we took turns keeping the girls happy and content and spoiled rotten.  I wish everyone could have a mom like mine.

My amazing, courageous, stubborn, most-difficult-to-buy-for friend "H" knocked our socks off recently with news that she was moving to Oregon to be a cop.  And as proud as I am of her, I secretly wanted to tie her up and refuse to let her go.  Instead, I joined my friends and celebrated her next big step in life.  So if you live in Oregon, you'd better take care of my girl.

After a few mimosas.... it seemed like a good idea to see what Lil Sis would look like in a few years.

Lil Sis has been introduced to solids and surprisingly she could care less about the stuff.  For a baby that likes to eat constantly, I have been shocked to see how uninterested she is with cereal.  Yet, we continue to try, especially Miss Priss who thinks cramming a spoon full of mush into her little sister's mouth is as fun as it gets.

The girls and I are slowly adjusting to our days without daddy.  From eight to five we try to find different ways to fill our time, so that the hours pass by more quickly.  Most of the time it's just random things we find to entertain ourselves, like discovering Lil Sis fits into the baby stroller...

or serving up meals of plastic eggs, rubbery bacon and fabric toast.

And we've continued to enjoy being around all our friends each weekend.  Our social calendar has been booked solid between birthday parties and superbowl parties and dinner parties and playdates.

As I went through and edited these pictures, I wanted to capture that deep-down bubbly feeling that each one gives me.  The way I look back on these pictures and see how good life really is and how lucky I am to be surrounded by all these wonderful people.  So I chose to apply the "super fun happy" photoshop action to each and everyone of them.... because that's exactly what all these little moments add up to be.

Next week.... a KJane Designs giveaway you won't want to miss!

You've Got Mail

When a friend mentioned recently that we should get the stay-at-home kids together for a little Valentine’s party…. I jumped in immediately and offered to host. Truth be told, I’d been eyeing these little mailboxes for weeks at Target and was just looking for an excuse to buy them. Add in a house full of friends and homemade sweets and you’re talking my language.

So Valentine’s morning we decked ourselves out in shades of red and pink and made up a tray of heart shaped sandwiches. Oh, and a pitcher of mimosas too.

Miss Priss was tickled pink (no pun intended) to have her friends over to play… and play she did. Between munching on cupcakes and brownies, the kids ran around and around, filling purses with legos, banging on the piano and chasing each other with the baby stroller.

It was a morning filled with chaos and laughter, a winning combination that this type-A girl has learned to love. Momma’s passed along babies, wiped up gooey hands and gave kisses to hurt knees. Once again I witnessed the Village that I want my girls to be raised in, where love is poured freely amongst everyone.

My two girls have taught me the true meaning of love, and I can think of nothing better than being among friends that shower them with that same love.

This Valentine’s Day was full of love and laughter and ten pounds of sugar. After everyone had left and my girls were napping, I looked around and saw evidence that it’d been the perfect little party. Where toys were strewn out carelessly and every bit of icing had been licked off the cupcakes.

As Miss Priss later emptied her mailbox and squealed with glee over a temporary tattoo and grape sucker, I promised myself that this was one LOVE PARTY definitely worth repeating next year.

happy {heart} day

KJ is in the HOUSE

I’m the proud new owner of my very own office. Talk about going big time.

After several weeks of painting, laying new carpet, installing heater vents (thanks Homie) and completely finishing out my new beautiful window (thanks Papa)… KJane Designs has its own professional place.

As I sit here in my new digs, I can’t help but imagine all the great things that I’m going to do here. The ability to have a place for me to create and design and touch lives in the ways I know how…. well it just makes the “Saving the World” feeling seem only a puddle jump away.

And with my office comes a new clean slate. Or at least a clean new taupe slate. My walls are the color of light cocoa powder and the carpet is a calm soothing shade of cream. My desk sits smack in the middle decked in a charming barnyard white. The only punch of color so far is my brand new chair. A chair that brings a smile to my face every time I look at. My eccentric grandma would’ve been pleased with this little piece of flair.

My mind is reeling as to what I should do in this little space of mine. Do I pull in hues of blue and brown, bringing my website colors to life all around me? Do I go with old favorites like red and orange, representing the boldness I feel when a client replies back “it’s perfect, you’re a genius.” Do I get all funky with teals and pinks and a stunning lime green, like I expect any art-loving designer should do?

For now, I feel content living in this taupe world of mine. For some crazy reason it gives me the feeling that the possibilities are endless…. not only with the way I’ll decorate my little room, but with life itself. It gives me hope that KJane Designs will grow and become the business I always dreamed of having. It aspires me to continue MissPriss&Me and keep putting my thoughts out there for all those interested in my corner of the world wide web. It encourages me to make new goals and dream big dreams.

Indeed, this little office is going to produce great things.

Latest & Greatest of Miss Priss

She makes up her own songs. Most songs are to the tune “Clementime”… which is funny all in itself. Her songs are usually sung in the car, which means that listening to the radio is not an option when she’s around.

Her new favorite pastime is to HOWL. As in, howl like a dog. Pretty cute unless you’re sitting at the library and everyone starts staring at you. And if you ask her to stop, she just howls louder.

She colors all day long. Markers, crayons, pencil, pen… it doesn’t matter at all to her. I love to see this new hobby of hers, because a year ago I couldn’t even get her to color one page with me. Now she’ll sit and color a whole coloring book! And she’s even figured out the whole scissor thing. She can hold the scissors correctly and cut using both her right and left hands!

Have I told you this girl is obsessed with CANDY? Really, I feel like obsessed is an understatement. She asks for candy fifty times a day. She will spot candy in any book, magazine or movie she sees. The dentist is really going to hate me come time for our next appointment.

Any time I get out my camera (which face it, is almost daily)… she’ll sit still long enough for me to snap a few pictures and then she’ll tell me “okay mommy, now I’ll do it. I’ll take your picture.” And the things she comes up for me to do always cracks me up.

New favorite movies are “James and the Giant Peach” and “Despicable Me”. Although good ol’ Barney still makes his weekly visits to the playroom (gag).

She keeps talking about moving to Kansas City. As in “we’re going to move to Kansas City and I’m going to eat candy and I’m going to get a new playroom and then I’ll have more candy.” The whole…. we’re here already and we’re staying hasn’t seemed to sink in yet.

She’s a bed hopper. Every. Single. Night. She starts out in her Princess Bed…. then she’ll go sleep for a while in the guestroom… and then she always ends up in my bed. I’ve started locking her out of the guestroom, but my exhausted brain seems to be easily won over at 4am. I think she thinks daddy’s new bed is the couch.

Her game of choice is “Chase.” Don’t bother with Candyland or Memory… the girl wants to run. No matter the time or place, she’ll ask you to “Chase” her and then proceed to run in circles until you catch her. And the little squirt is fast.

*This is when she hopped into daddy's pants and proceeded to run around the living room. 

She’s the best big sister in the whole wide world. I swear, it’s true… I’m not being bias. She’ll sit and talk to Lil Sis all day long, and gets really worried when she starts to cry. If Lil Sis even utters a tiny squeak, Miss Priss is quick to tell me “Mom she’s hungry. She wants to eat your boob.”

Favorite foods still include sliced chicken, toast, cottage cheese and hot dogs. Biggest mommy triumphs lately have been to get her to eat buttered corn… more butter than corn, but hey you do what you gotta do.

She’s really into the whole “You be the baby and I’ll be the mommy” game. It always amazes me to see myself through her eyes. The game usually consists of her grabbing my cell phone and pretending to be on it, all while telling me to “Go to bed… Did you hear me? I’m not serious… Go to bed!”