Custom Sling For Sale! (SOLD)

Sold to Sarah! Check back next week for more! (Or you can place an order with me and I will try to fins a fabric to suit you! Those are 35.00)

I have ONE custom sling for sale at the moment. I will take one or 2 orders at a time (just for now) and since I'm picking the fabrics for them, you get a sling for 25.00 instead of 35.00! Here is this weeks fabric:

 

It is a floral pattern for one side, and a coordinating stripe for the other side. Both fabrics are a medium weight cotton and  are perfect for all seasons.  So that means two sling looks on one! If you would like this weeks sling, please email me at: eemfinger0774@bucs.sheltonstate.edu or send me a message on facebook. These slings hold up to 38-40 pounds, and we will get your measurements to get it custom fitted to you! 

Balloon Release (Photo Blog)

Today was the balloon release for precious Harley. I hope you enjoy all of your balloons in Heaven, Harley.

Sewing time!

So, as many of you who follow my facebook know, I have recently been given the best gift ever (well other than Lydia, Daniel and my camera-baby).A brand new sewing machine. I already had an older one, given to me when Daniel's grandmother passed away, but it did not work. So my grandfather bought me one when he came up yesterday (as well as multitudes of things for Lydia and a new video game for Daniel).

I have been a madwoman the past day making things. Last night was a blanket for Lydia, patched together out of flannel receiving blankets she had multiples of. It turned out okay, not too bad from years of not practicing. Lydia loves it  though. She carried it around everywhere we went today. She knows her mommy made it with love...even if she did have to rush through it because her child wouldn't sleep until it was done. At one AM.

Today was another adventure entirely, and one that was just so freaking awesome. I went to Hobby Lobby (one of the best stores on the planet) and found the cutest material. Not having any clue what I was going to do with it, I bought 2 yards of it for just over 8 bucks. I got home, and was just looking at it, when it hit me: I'll make a sling to carry Lydia in! It seemed fairly simple and so I called my grandmother (the sewing genius of the family) and she explained the bits I didn't understand. Now, you must know that I have wanted a sling since Lydia was about a year old...but can't find one pre-made to fit my chest with Lydia in it.

 

So off I went, creating what I just knew was going to be a disaster. But I worked at it and worked at it, and had it done in about 2 hours. It's almost perfect, save for my slightly crooked french felled seam. But, it's hardly noticeable, even up close. It fits Lydia and I wonderfully, and will be used SO much. I plan on making a few more (and would be glad to make them for other people) so I can have some to match all my clothes. And I even have enough fabric left to make a mini sling for Lydia's babies. And here we are in the finished sling (please ignore my chins and sweat...I was hot...)!

I plan on doing much more with it, but I'm taking a break tomorrow. Just a reminder, tomorrow is the balloon release for Harley at 1PM CST. Please see my other post about it if you wish to participate. Thanks!

Balloon Release For Harley!

This is a tag to attach to the balloons on Saturday!



I am asking that you take a few minutes out of your day to remember Harley. This coming Saturday, August 29th at 1 pm. we will be holding a Balloon Release and a Moment of Silence in remembrance of Harley. This may be a silly networking website to some but you girls have become like family and now we have lost one of our own. Being so far from each other there is not much we can do other than to send our support, our love and tons of prayers. No matter where you are or what you're doing please take a moment to release a purple balloon. You can release one, two or ten. It doesn't matter, what does matter is that you care and are showing your support. You can email the photos to me, to Ivy or to Amber, or post them to CM or facebook. Thank you to all who participate!

You may also use the above photo as a default photo, siggie, or post to other sites and such but please leave a credit for me there (on other sites) as I didn't put it on the actual tag. Thanks!

Baby Harley

Most of those who know me, see me post a good bit about a little girl named Harley Carson. She was diagnosed with Alper's Syndrome not that long ago. It is a condition where the brain shrinks. This touched me, because Harley is the same age as Lydia. Her mom and I met through CafeMOM, as did so many other January '08 mothers.

I am sad to say that little Harley passed away tonight after battling Alper's, brain bleeding and pneumonia. She was just shy of 2 years old. Her family needs many prayers, as she was the only child. Katie, her mother, is young like me and I know she is going to need all the support she can get as is Harley's father, Cameron. Harley's blog is here and it is ran by another Jan '08 mommy, Ivy. Please, please keep her in your thoughts.

Not My Child! Monday.

 Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else has not been doing this week.



So, this is my first time with a "Not Me!" or "Not My Child!" Monday post , but oh boy, let me tell you just what my child has NOT been up to the past few days (and maybe a few things that her Momma has NOT been up to as well). Of course, with my child it has NOT been much at all.

Lydia has most certainly NOT been running around with a crusty nose and lunch still on her face. And I DEFINITELY did NOT take close up photos of said non-crusty face.

 

She also has NOT been playing on her Daddy's motorcycle, and I would NEVER let her mash the buttons on said deathtrap. She also did NOT sit on the potty for 20 minutes, only to poop as soon as I put her diaper on. She also did NOT exclaim "EW!" when she sat down in it. My child is also NOT screaming at the top of her lungs right now because her Daddy put her in time out. She would NEVER do that. 

                           

Lydia also does NOT stick her head through the railings on the balcony...or through the back of the patio chairs. So one day I will NOT have to call the fire department to get my child's slightly large head unstuck from some small space. I would NEVER take photos of such an incident either.

I do NOT have the sweetest child on earth, and my child does NOT have the best smile of any little girl ever! Can't you tell?

 

 

Oh, my.

Today started of great enough (as you can tell by the picture of our scientist up there), and remained fairly great throughout. Daniel's parents came to visit for the day, and wanted to take Lydia to Chuck E. Cheese's. I was so game for it...until we got there. I think every kid in Tuscaloosa was there. As soon as we walked in LG had a major meltdown. She recovered rather quickly (though, not very gracefully) and proceeded to comit a misdemeanor (yeah, my kid is a thief...). She stole this (granted, it was on the floor and no one was near it...):

As most of you know, she is NOT the birthday star...today anyways. But what can I say, she likes being the center of attention. And a bright red crown gets it. Since no one claimed it, I let her keep it. She played tons of games with her grandparents and some with us too. She loved the tickets...probably a little too much. She ended up with 426 of them (thanks in large part to her father).

However, what proceeded to happen to those tickets was not nearly as cool as what it took to win them. My lovely, dear, exasperating mother-in-law tore. them. apart. one. by. one. As anyone who has been to Chuck E. Cheese's lately knows that they no longer do the basket weighing. Which means I had to sit my (large) behind in the floor...and put the tickets in the counting machine ONE. BY. ONE. That was the least cool thing I have done this month (though I almost beat up a 10 year old boy for running over Lydia...twice... that would have been way less cool as I rode to the police department in cuffs). Four hundred and twenty six small tickets, shoved into a tiny slot. It was torture .

That being said, Miss Priss appreciated it and picked herself out a nice bouncy ball, some stickers (for potty treats) and a yummy sucker (that I didn't get a chance to photograph what was left of it on her face).  Since I don't have a picture of that sweet little face, I will leave you with this one:

 

enjoy. :)

The Obligatory All About Me First Post

So yeah, I'm Emily, the resident rambler. I have the joy (or curse, depending on the day) of being a stay at home mom to a lively (to say the least) toddler girl. My husband is a wonderful man who works hard at school to take care of his family. This is his senior year, thank goodness, then it's off to the police academy. He makes a great ringmaster to this hectic thing we refer to as out family. Lydia is our only child for now, and she knows it. She plays the part of main attraction very well, and loves every bit of attention she gets. As for me, I am a photographer (if you want to call that a real job) and the organizer of all things Johnson. I love it.

Our lives weren't always so easy, and the road to where we are now isn't the smoothest. I grew up in a small town in central Alabama called Wetumpka. It is a pretty town, but the people there aren't always the nicest. That just goes with the small town thing, I guess. After I graduated, I went off to school at the University of Montevallo. I partied, studied, partied, hungout, and partied some more. Oh, did I mention that at the end of my freshman year I found myself pregnant with Lydia? By a man (er, boy...jackass...loser..) who would become my first husband and first exhusband in a matter of months. At the age of 19, I found myself 5 months pregnant, in a bitter divorce, and scared shitless.

Enter, the internet....

I was on bedrest on and off with my pregnancy and I joined a few networking sites to meet people to talk to, as most of my "friends" decided visiting a pregnant woman was just a major bummer. On one such site, one fateful day, I recived a message from a shy boy with long blonde hair. I was hooked from the first moment, I think. His name was Daniel and he went to school at the University of Alabama. We talked for several weeks and eventually met. He came to my town, went to my brother's football game with me, and was a pleasant distraction from everything I was going through. Over the course of the next few months, he would quietly fall in to the place that had been created for him inside of me. Lydia liked him too, as she would only kick for him somedays. Daniel was present at the hospital the day of her birth (was to afraid to be in the room, though) unlike Lydia's biological father (who has had nothing to do with her since seeing her once the day after she was born) and has been "Daddy" ever since. I couldn't have asked for a better father to my children.

Lydia Grace entered our lives on January 4th, 2008 after many early attempts in the months before. She was so impatient (some say like her mother). Since then she has wormed her way into the hearts of everyone who sees her, and shows no sign of slowing that little talent down. She is brilliant (as all children are) and is a joy to be around. I love this little girl like no other, even when she wants to sleep on me as I blog (ahem, like right now) or when she wants to pee in the kitchen floor (yeah, potty training is a must around the Johnson circus. Maybe I should just put down hay or puppy pads...).

Our life is a little crazy, a little cramped, a litte hectic but it is a lot of fun. We fight, we love, we throw things and share lots of kisses and hugs. And damn it, I love it.