Saturday, March 26, 2016

Rocking the Tanks

On my list of things to do before my 30th birthday I had "make three tank tops".  I used the wiksten pattern with some adjustments.  I made the bust area smaller and the length about 3 inches longer than the pattern.  I love the fact they drape down instead of clinging to my stomach.  The floral print is my favorite and the weight of the fabric is heavier and more sturdy, too.  Also it comes out of the dryer without needing any ironing.  Definite plus in my book.




Homemade Butter

Did you know homemade butter is super easy?  Like, all you really do is put heavy whipping cream in a bowl and blend it until it separates into butter and buttermilk.  Sully and I made some yesterday afternoon.  I haven't actually tried it yet.  I wanted to put it on some fresh banana bread but when I wasn't looking Sully ate the banana that was on the counter for the banana bread.  I'm going to buy some more ripe bananas today.  I'm also going to use my homemade buttermilk in my banana bread.

This may sound a bit goofy but I was looking in the fridge the other day and we were running low on "butter".  Not actual stick butter but the stuff that comes in a tub and I haven't read the ingredients but I'm pretty sure they don't say cream and salt which is what real butter is made of.  Anyway, I was looking at that shelf which also has our eggs and thought, "it would be so cool to have homemade butter and eggs from our own chickens in our fridge instead of this stuff that I'm just not so sure about."  I'm not really that crunchy or granola but I really do like the idea of knowing where my food comes from.  I'd also like to have a garden someday and can our veggies and fruits for the winter months.

Here is a link to one of the sites I referenced when making our butter yesterday.  Here is the other.  Again, it is ridiculously easy!

A side note... once I started thinking about homemade butter I decided I needed a butter dish, to have soft butter all the time.  Did some searching online and instantly swooned over this embossed one at Sur La Table so I bought it with some of my Christmas money (thanks mom and dad).  I also went ahead and bought this beautiful set of white mixing bowls, two linen colored dish towels, a veggie brush, and a beehive cookie cutter.  They are all super nice quality and make me hate cooking just a bit less.







Friday, February 19, 2016

30 before 30

One of my favorite blogs, Wit and Whistle is by a creative lady Amanda who makes a list each year of things to do by her birthday.  I was inspired to make my own list since I'll be 30 this year but I'm obviously starting a bit late with my birthday being in July.  I don't have 30 things on my list at the moment but as I think of things I'll continue to add it.

1. Highlights in hair
2. Try out 5 new hairstyles
3. Finish compiling "retro" playlist
4. Take boys to Buffalo Park
5. Go kayaking
6. Buy family bible
7. Take boys to drive in movie
8. Make eye of god
9. Send 5 postcards
10. Memorize 10 scripture
11. Make 3 new tank tops
12. Clean out closet
13. Read 3 books
14. Buy a new nail polish - Essie garden variety
15. Host a girls night
16. Make a portable loom
17. Paint pottery at Wet Paint or Fat Cat Cafe
18. Add new items to Matelia
19. Try a new recipe
20. Make butter
21. Go on a picnic
22. Get sno cones
23. Shop at an antique store or thrift store
24. Dye my purse to freshen it up

side note: I'm considering documenting things at Makers of Matelia but I don't know yet if I want it to be a personal/business blog or just business related.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Sully at 6 months


Sully and his Poppa on his half birthday

Nicknames: Sullybug, Bug, Little Man, Chunky Monkey

Foods he's tried: bananas, apple, applesauce, sweet potato, english peas, butter beans, cooked squash, refried beans, grapes, yogurt, egg yolk

Favorite song: Itsy Bitsy Spider- he can be really upset and crying but if I sing Itsy Bitsy he will calm down. He loves the hand motions too.  One night he was particularly upset and fighting sleep so I set my phone to flashlight mode and did shadow shapes with Itsy Bitsy.  He loved it.  Watched me sing and motion the song for at least 20 minutes.

Favorite activities: Jumping and playing in his Jumparoo, sitting on the porch and listening to nature, playing in the water either at bath time or in his kiddie pool, standing with someone holding his hands, drinking momma's milk

Least favorite activities: getting out of the bath, having to change clothes, getting strapped into his carseat then not moving.

Growth:
12/1/13  20" and 8 lb 7 oz
1/29/14  23 3/4" and 13 lb 2 oz
4/10/14  25 3/4" and 17 lb 6 oz
6/3/14    28 3/4" and 20 lb 2 oz

Milestones:
December 15th- first bath with momma and poppa

January 5th- first smile at momma and first trip to church
January 25th- first nap in crib

January 26th- first bottle of breastmilk, which was the first time Matt fed him

March 1st- been fake laughing for a couple weeks
March 12th- first real chuckle when momma gave him raspberries on his tummy while getting a diaper changed.  Poppa got to hear it too.
May 7- rolled over from back to belly

June 2- tried mashed bananas from a spoon and liked them.  Also tried drinking water from a cup.

Places he's traveled-   Gulf Shores, AL     Jackson, MS      Hot Springs, AR     Nashville, TN

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Favorite Foods

Watermelon has been my favorite food for a very, very long time.

I recently decided that my second favorite is sauteed squash and onions.

And now my third favorite is definitely this Southwestern 2 Bean Chicken Chili, cooked in a crockpot.  It's pretty amazing.  I crave it at least every other week, though I don't make it but once a month since there are a good bit of leftovers and Matt doesn't love it quite as much as I do.  I wanted to share the greatness, so here is the recipe.  Go make it NOW!


My fourth favorite food is probably anything chocked full of sugar.  Keeping it real.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Sully's Birth Story

On Saturday November 30th I was feeling very pregnant.  My belly was huge, sleep had become next to impossible with trips to the bathroom every hour or so, and I quickly ran out of energy each day. As giant and uncomfortable as I was, I still hoped to keep Sully in a bit longer.  I'd planned to work right up until he was born.  And would have been perfectly ok with him coming a bit late, since that would have meant another pay check or two.  Well, God had a different timeline in mind.  Over the last few days of November I could feel my uterus contracting, but it was never rhythmic or painful so I didn't pay it much attention.  I also just had a check-up on Wednesday the 27th and was only dilated a smidge over 1 cm and remained 60% effaced.  Most first babies arrive after their due date so I had every reason to think Sully wouldn't be born for another week or more.  My doula Toni had warned me that what they measured at the check-ups didn't necessarily reflect when I'd go into labor.  She said, "Your cervix is not a crystal ball."

Well, that Saturday night I was watching Netflix, probably 19 Kids and Counting, and thought to myself that I really want a December baby so this kid better stay put until at least after midnight that night.  Matt was in the kitchen processing deer meat from a deer he'd shot the previous week.  It was getting close to 11:30 when he told me I should go to bed so one of us could get up in the morning in time for church.  I figured he was right, so I headed to bed.  It took me a while to fall asleep and even after I did, I kept waking up with what felt like gas pains and my usual need to pee.  At 4:00 am I awoke again with the gas pains, and figured that since I was awake I should try and go to the bathroom before falling back to sleep.  Right as I stood up out of the bed, I felt a tiny whoosh of liquid.  I knew I hadn't peed so I hurried into the bathroom.  There had only been about a tablespoon or less of "water" so I was a bit skeptical that my water had broken.  I wasn't really having any contractions yet so I thought about taking a shower. Toni had told me that it isn't really labor pains if you can take a shower and contractions stop, or if you change positions and they go away.  I text Toni that I thought my water had broken and I'd keep her informed.  At this point I think I was still in denial.

Then I went to tell Matt that I thought my water broke, but he told me I'd probably just peed on myself.  I knew that wasn't the case, I mean a lady knows if she pees on herself.  I decided to take a shower.  I figured if it was labor, then I'd be fresh and ready for it, and if it wasn't then that would be one less thing to do to get ready for church in a few hours.  In the shower, the contractions started.  They were really low, in the front and at first were easy enough to breathe through.  They were happening pretty quickly and after just a few, it was getting harder to ignore them.  I actually had to hold the little bar in the shower to brace myself through them.  I decided the shower was not the easiest place to labor, so I got out and got dressed in one of Matt's tshirts and a stretchy skirt.  First I sat in our recliner, with a towel under me in case my water decided to "break" further.  Then I was getting more and more uncomfortable.  I tried out a few positions but found leaning over our upholstered ottoman to be the least uncomfortable.  I wouldn't go so far as to call it comfortable but they don't call it labor for nothing.

I had recently found an app for my phone that you time contractions with so I'd been using it to record how frequent and for how long they were happening.  My contractions were coming every 2 minutes for 54 seconds pretty much from the beginning.  By 4:30 or 5:00 I had text Toni that I was having a harder time with contractions and if she could go ahead and come over.  She said she'd be on her way so I went back to trying to breathe through the contractions.  She also suggested walking around outside to help speed up labor.  I only made one loop around the driveway before wanting to collapse back over the ottoman.  Now let me just say, I knew labor was going to be hard, probably pretty painful, but I was having a harder time with it than I thought I would.  With every few contractions I'd think, Okay, I'm 10 minutes closer to this being over.  Time becomes a really weird measurement during labor.

Anyway, without going into too lengthy of a description, I stayed bent over the ottoman, sometimes pressing Sully down by leaning forward into it and breathed as best I could through each contraction.  I labored on the toilet, in the tub, back on the ottoman, and the toilet, and the tub again.  Toni was a huge help through all of it, pulling a warm towel she'd wrap under my stomach and holding it up during the contractions and massaging my back.  I was back in the tub sometime after 9:00 am, by then I'd stopped keeping up with all the contractions; they weren't speeding up any, only getting more intense.  I had one or two contractions that seemed spaced farther apart, and I dozed off in the tub.  But then when they returned to normal timing they were so intense I was nearly coming out of the tub in pain.  Matt and Toni would tell me to breathe through them, but this pain was past being able to breathe through it.  When Matt was sitting by me, pouring warm water over my tight stomach, I told him I couldn't do it anymore, and I wanted to go to the hospital NOW and that I needed an epidural.  I thought I was done with this natural birth business.  Toni, and April (another doula who was there for the experience) were in the other room listening to me.  Toni came and asked what I though they'd tell me at the hospital. I told her they'd tell me to push this baby out.  Even though I honestly thought I was just wimping out and it wasn't really long enough yet, Toni said we could head into Tupelo since it's a 30 minute drive anyway.

Matt loaded up while April helped me get dressed again and to the car.  Toni said if I wasn't feeling pushy by the time we got to Tupelo, that we could go to this old mall and walk around.  As soon as we were in the car, I told Matt he better go straight to the hospital.  That drive was kind of a blur.  I remember the pain was the worst then because I was buckled in and there was no remotely comfortable way to sit.  I remember that it didn't feel like we were getting there fast enough; and that my breathing was so shallow it made my whole body feel cold and tingly.

When we pulled up to the hospital I barely was able to tell Matt I needed a wheelchair.  There was no way I could walk in.  I was feeling quite faint by then.  They brought out the chair, wheeled me in, asked my birthday and took me to a little sectioned off space with a bed and a curtain that went around it.  The nurse gave me a gown to change into and I laid on the bed.  Here comes the TMI section, so fellas may want to stop reading.  I suddenly had a very strong urge to poop.  Like a show-me-the-toilet-or-I'm-taking-a-dump-on-this-bed kind of urge.  The nurse had left, for whatever reason so I told Matt he better get her back, NOW.  When she came back I told her I have to poop!  Pretty sure it was more like I yelled it, but who knows how accurate my memory of all this was.  She said I had to let her check how dilated I was first and then she could show me to the bathroom.  When she checked, she said I did not actually need to use the bathroom, I was fully dilated and ready to push this baby out.  I told her I really really really need to push, but she kind of frantically told me don't push until we get you into L&D.  I made no promises.

She quickly wheeled me back, they got me draped and stirruped and whatever else I don't remember and Dr. Hill came in.  I remember being asked about how long I'd been in labor (since 4:00 am and it was then 10:30am) and telling someone I don't want an epidural, to which they responded with laughter and that I was way past that option.  I think they were surprised I'd labored at home for all of that dilating.  Anyway, it was time to push with the contractions.  I wasn't really feeling too keen on the idea.  But I guess once you make it this far, there's no turning back.  A side note, the way I was laid up in the bed and with Sully in the birth canal, my hips really really hurt.  It was a different pain than the contractions but looking back I'd wish I had the mind and fight to not have been in the bed.  But what's done is done.  And I might not have had the energy to stand or squat anyway.

When contractions came on, I did the best I could to lean up off the bed and push, but honestly it was just so exhausting, all of it.  I don't know how many times I pushed but after a little while Toni was let back into the room and she and a nurse would help hold me up when I pushed.  Then I'd drink some clear gatorade (they didn't even have the time to put in a saline lock, go me) to stay hydrated and because my mouth felt really dry from trying to breathe between pushing.  I was beginning to feel done with this whole birthing process because it didn't seem like Sully was ever coming out.  The doctor kept saying he could come out with the next push.  But she said that a few times it seems so I kind of quit believing it.  Finally I asked her if I gave it my all with the next push would I be done?  She said I could be.  So I sucked it up and pushed through the pain.  And let me tell you there was some serious pain.  Let's just say Sully had a big head and stitches were needed, though I never asked how many and no one said anything about there being a crazy amount of tearing so I knew it was just par for the course.  Finally after a couple more pushes, Sullivan Thomas Adams was born at 10:57 am on December 1, 2013.  It seemed so surreal when they placed him on my chest.  My big, squishy, handsome baby boy.  I remember Matt was beaming with pride which was so sweet to see.  They wiped him off a bit and let me and Matt have our time with just him.  After a while, the nurse came back in to weigh and measure him. We were all pretty curious as to how big he was.  The kid weighed in at 8lbs 6.9 oz and measured 20 inches long.

I was very grateful to have the help of my doulaToni, my darling husband Matt, the great nurses and Dr.Hill, who even though I'd never met her before giving birth she gave off an old friend kind of vibe.  Having a natural, unmedicated birth was in fact harder than I thought it would be but I would do it again.  I knew my body was made for this and God intended it to go just how it did.  Just under 7 hours of intense labor for my precious little boy.


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Master Bath, Before and After





Here is a look into our 7'6" by 4'3" master bathroom.  When we bought the house, this bathroom had a sky blue sink and a toilet.  That was it.  We moved the wall out a few feet into the master bedroom, creating space for a stand-up shower and turning our closet into a walk-in.  The walls are a lovely grey-blue color.  We have charcoal colored slate tile that I had Matt cut in half so we could make a brick pattern.  I sewed the curtain and shower curtain with a fabric I had been eyeing for a long while but never had a project for it.
 
 
 
We added open shelves with baskets above the toilet to give the bathroom more storage, but not give it a smaller feel.  I found white skeleton leaves at JoAnn's Fabrics and framed them atop a patterned felt.
 
 
 
Above the shower and out into the bathroom ceiling we added glass tile.  In the shower Matt installed lights above the tile to give a nice glow and extra visibility.  The scraping of the grout was one of my least favorite jobs with this house renovation.
 
 
We really only had room in this bathroom for a pedestal sink, which was fine with me because I like the look of them anyway.  We also put in a larger medicine cabinet for storage.  It's nice to not have tooth brushes and other odds and ends sitting out in a bathroom as tiny as ours. 






 

Friday, May 24, 2013

Color Run Atlanta

To say I am a bad blogger would be a major understatement.  I started blogging for my own enjoyment because I loved reading other people's blogs so much but then it shifted into something else.  Not sure what, but obviously something I didn't enjoy as much so I quit doing it.  I'd like to get back into blogging about whatever I want to. 
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On April 6th, my mom, my two sisters, my mom's college friend LaNell, and LaNell's two daughters and I all did the Color Run in Atlanta.  Oh, I guess I should add, the little apple seed size baby I'm growing did it by default, too.  The original idea was to motivate us to get in shape, which I guess worked for me to an extent.  I did start going to the gym and running/walking on the treadmill for 30 minute increments which is by far the longest I had ever spent consecutively on a treadmill.  I was never quite able to run 5 kilometers but I was pleased with my increasing progress.  Overall it was a really fun girls weekend.
 
 
All the girls, after running the Color Run.
 

sisters, Haley, me, and Allison post Color Run