Follow my new blog because...

This short lived chapter of my life is over. It is now back to Rilee and I and our renewed/found faith. Please keep the two of us in your prayers and follow our journey through the new blog
http://vanessagowett.blogspot.com/The New One

Anyone Interested?

I am thinking of starting a collaborative journal.
Which simply means I start a journal with a theme, and mail it to someone. That someone mails it to someone else, and so on until its done, and then its shipped back to me, and I can mail it around once more so everyone can see it, or post pictures of it online. Either way, its a way to connect with people all over the world, and share a common bond (IE whatever the theme is).

Whoever thinks this might be interesting and something you would like to do, leave me a comment and ill get in touch with you. You must be willing to pay for shipping at least once, and have no qualms about sharing a journal page with strangers. And you definitely must be willing to do a page in a timely manner, and keep in contact with me throughout the process.

Whose in?

Present for my husband for our 1 year....

So I went out of my element to do something nice for my husband. The "doing something nice" was not the out of my element, it was the THING that was out of my element! (Just to clarify)
Anyways I got my makeup done, and then they did my hair, and then they contorted my body into 5 different "poses" that were beyond uncomfortable! But in the end, they look amazing! What do you think? The quality is "bad" because they are pictures of pictures, but the second one with the hat is my favorite!

I love looking at old pics of Rilee... though it makes me sad!

I like the contests because I get to rifle through her old shots to enter the cute ones! Here is one at her Grandparents house in NJ.

Bench Photo Contest

This was a bench that is in San Fransisco an old ship part made into a resting place, where my daughter found a good place to have something sweet. She was barely one in this picture... wow 2 Years ago almost.Twisted Fate Photo Contest Link

"Movement Contest"

This picture captures the heart of my child...she is silly and adorable simultaneously all of the time!

Click Here to be taken to Paper Mamas site

Beach Body or Bust Competition

I have started a competition, starting March 1st through June 1st with potential to go longer if the competitors want to! 10$ buy in and the highest percentage of weight loss at the end gets the pot of money!
Weigh ins are due Sunday/Monday weekly via an email to me with a picture of the scale with your name and date on a paper next to your weigh in.  I wont be sharing the photos with anyone, just be keeping track of the weight loss.
If you are interested leave me a comment with your email address and I will send you my address to send the 10 dollars, and add you to the list of other people doing the competition.
Heres to hoping that we ALL rock the short shorts this summer and make new friends along the way!

Help I need scraps...

Attention all my crafty blogger friends... I am taking a psychology of creativity class and I need some left over paper/art/fabric/etc scraps. Old buttons, pieces of plastic, bottle caps. Anything will suffice!
Anyone able to send me some stuff leave me a comment and we can talk...
Thanks in advance!
Vanessa

In a world all about others, I focus on me...

In the hustle and bustle of every day life, I think us mothers lose sight of ourselves. So I am dedicating this post to myself, all about me me me!

I shall start with some weird (or at least I think so) facts about myself:
1. I like my showers HOT. Like no cold tap on at all.
2. Anything that should be toasted, I like soft. (toast, waffles, english muffins, etc)
3. I have to sleep with my own blanket
4. I like cookie dough A LOT.
5. My favorite cereal is Fruit Loops
6. I enjoy thrillers the most
7. I listen to country mostly, but can appreciate all kinds of music
8. If I had it my way, I would be a CSI
9. I like earthquakes and turbulance
10. I am a published poet

I love being a mom, but sometimes I wonder what life would have been like without my kid. I don't think that makes me a bad mom, nor do I wish that was the case, I just have that wonder.  The past is the past, but it is hard to not think of the what-ifs sometimes. Is this a common thing? Or am I just being weird?

Miss Personality meets Santa...

So annually the fire department does a Santa's Ship toy drive. (Santa is escorted around various parts of town on various days, and sees all the little kids while collecting new toys for the unfortunate) I usually try to take Rilee, and this year the hype for Santa was fairly large! So my husband and I were excited to take her to see him this year. This is the child that was anxious to see Santa:

Mommy and Rilee

Daddy and Rilee

So excited the camera cant even keep up with her jumping!

 Starting off on a good note right? Well she did fine with mommy sitting with her...and she did ok with sitting by herself...

 And then we asked her what she thought of Santa to which my 2 year old responded, "I wanna go home" and that prompted me to snap this wonderful photo...

No mom, I don't want to see the jolly fat man again.

 Utter failure of a night? Heck no. We settled for the fact that she didn't scream while being with a big strange man surrounded by flashing emergency vehicle lights on a street corner shes never seen before in a sled that shoots out bubble like snow from a "friendly" snow man unexpectedly. We also took her here:

Wagner Winter Wonderland

Which allowed her to be more like the smiley Rilee we know:

So much better

And ended our successful "Get in the Holiday Spirit" Evening!

Another Paper Mama Photo Challenge: Blessings

Sleep after so much pain and sickness...

So I was going through all the cute pictures of Rilee for this challenge as she has been the hugest blessing in my life thus far, but I didnt find one that fit perfectly until I came across the album from her 5 days in the hospital. So this is my idea of a blessing... A moment of sleep though being so sick... She looks like a sleeping angel.Paper Mama's Contest

Wordless Wednesday

And my entry into : Black and White Contest

A Short piece of my self observation paper I wrote for Psychology Class

Going from Rilee’s Mom, to being her “Mommy”-

Moving on from being a something, to being her someone

            I can easily wake up every morning and claim that my daughter Rilee is more than enough of a reason to get me out of bed; while equally claiming with vigor, that she is also the reason I wish that I could stay in bed all day. With such a contradiction at hand, it sums up the feelings a parent has towards parenthood. The project was simple. I must pick something to conquer for the next three months that would somehow transform me, or complete a transformation that had already begun. I could not pick yoga, for my patience level is minimal, and pending knee surgery, some of the moves would have me in the Savasana pose, also known as the corpse pose, before I was even able to begin another session. Finding time to meditate would also pose a problem, being I cannot pee without my daughter running in to the bathroom with a penny screaming, “Yay! Mommy you did it”, referring to the fact that after 25 years of life I was successfully potty trained. So naturally if I was to try to relax, she would claim mommy was sleeping, and that I needed to wake up. Dancing for me is like the tango of awkward two left feet, meets shy wall flower, which if your math is bad equates to a HORRIBLE mix. Art? Nah, I wouldn’t be able to draw anything more than the occasional shape, and I am already a certifiable pathological picture taker, so picking up that for this process would be cheating.

            As a family, we already “commune” with nature enough. We spend weekends outdoors on the lake, or hiking, or riding bikes. Praying is something I try to do daily, but would feel bad for making an excuse to have to do it, and somehow the whole “Dear God please don’t let me kill her” in regards to the diaper cream she just opened and smeared everywhere, didn’t seem to qualify as productive prayer. So, in this being a self-observation paper, it was only right to allow myself time to observe more thoroughly. There wasn’t just one thing that I wanted to do that I felt would transform me significantly, nor was I going to do a multitude of things and try to piece them together. So as I sat in my car with the “Mommy I hear the color song again” playing in the background, I thought. In the shower, while juggling a slippery wet, wanting to splash instead of wash, 2 year old, I thought some more. While rushing from class to work, to my other work, to home, to cook dinner, and do homework, and bathe and tuck in and read and love upon a little girl, and a husband (he would require another paper), I thought some more. In all of my thinking I concluded that thinking just was consuming too much time, until the other day when I read a blurb somewhere that went, “My 3 year old called me mom today. When did I stop being his mommy?” and I couldn’t help but cry. (Why yes, I know what you’re thinking; a grown woman, sitting there crying because someone’s kid called his mother mom, but as a parent of an almost 3 year old I had to really ponder the notion that one day I too would be hearing that word and all the innocence of mommy would be lost.)

Win a Silhouette machine!

Click here for how to enter!
I am super excited for the chance to win this machine, and if you enter you have a chance to win it as well! Think of all the cool things you could do with this!


http://silhouettemachine.blogspot.com/

Made from scratch Cinnamon Buns!

Watch out Martha Stuart I am moving on up! I have started up sewing and baking! My newest feat? Made from scratch cinnamon buns, including made from scratch cream cheese icing! They are delicious.

Final Product!

Made for the party!

I think Rilee loved the frosting!

Yummy!

50$ from Hallmark...click here.

Hallmark Gift Card

Christmas Card

 Card Title: Deck the halls with this!
 Dear Santa,
    I promised I'd be a good girl, but then she put my in this hat. Can I still get my pony?



Here is the contest

Entries in The Paper Mama's Photo Contests...

Here are my entries and for her site, CLICK HERE

Though not bundled up, who isn't cozy in a sink hot tub cozy!

Capturing the sunset in her eyes!

Little miss independent.Black and white!

Yummy Eat!

Wordless Wednesday...

Missed Halloween?

         Sorry for the delay in posting, but the baby girl has been in the hospital. My poor little 2.5 year old was hit with a bad flu virus that landed her in the hospital for almost 5 days. I have missed school and work, and nursing her back to health. She didn't get to dress up in her Minnie Mouse costume I spent hours sewing and she got bags if IV fluid instead of candy this year. Thankfully she isn't old enough to realize that she missed out on good things. Shes better now... still monitoring her intake to make sure that she is ok for the long run.
          Hubby and I had our first guests over tonight, Grandma and her Boyfriend Randy. I cooked dinner and we cleaned like crazy people this morning. It is nice to have a VERY clean house! I love him so much. I am exhausted so this is a short post.