30 Letter Challenge

I am participating in the 30 letter challenge! BUUUTTT I am doing it on a BRAND NEW blog! 

Completely Flustered is a blog by myself that not only includes the 30 letter challenge but also blogs about being a single mother and struggling to have an identity other than "R.bugs Mommy". 

So please check it out and + follow to see all of my letters! 

You can find more information about my 30 letter challenge HERE. 

Or read my first letter "Letter 20- to the one that broke your heart the hardest" HERE.

Join me in this new bloggy fun and maybe it will inspire you to do your own 30 letter challenge! 

->R. Bug's Mommy <-

*A Woman*

:D

Oh blogger why do you have it out for me?

Dear Blogger Reader, 

Why do you hate me so much? Why when I click to connect on Friend connect do you not add my new friends (most of the time). I than have to spend hours searching for that extra special blog once again because you could not be bothered to do it right in the first place. And I usually just lose the blog and it makes me very sad.

Blogger Reader I am really starting to despise you with your little cute interface and your easy to navigate screen. Just do what I want right the first time and we won't have problems. I really hate google reader because it is more buttons to push. Please just behave! 

Sincerely, 

Aggravated Mommy

Dressing up all the little girls handmade style! (giveaway)

Do you have a little girl? Do you like dressing them up in pretty handmade dresses? Well what if you could get one of these gorgeous things for free?! Sound good?! OH YEAH! 

My local friend Emily is having a giveaway over at paper pixie crafts! 

She is amazingly talented and we have known each other for years. I am kind of the reason she got addicted to sewing hehe (tooting my own horn sshhh emily!)

(Those are some examples of the type of dress you would be receiving if your lucky enough to win)

So head on over and check her blog out here or check her store out here... Either way enter the giveaway HERE!

Caterpillars LOVE tomatoes!

Stinkin' caterpillars! 

Yesterday my Aunt and Uncle came to visit and on the way out we were looking at our front porch garden. We have several tomato plants on and off the porch, green peppers, etc...

(Not quite ripe)

(my beautiful cherry tomatoes that are already ripe)

All of the sudden R.bug squeals and my Aunt says, "Oh he likes the caterpillar. But you need to get those off." 

I squealed too  (ignore that confession) Caterpillars were neat when I was a kid but now? PSH! 

I started looking and found 3 of these (HUGE) suckers eating my plants. And I am not talking slowly eating I am talking they ate some of my tomatoes already and the leaves etc... UGH! Caterpillars on a mission!

So I called the grandfather over to remove them since I had the baby (likely excuse). 

But before removal I took some pictures of R.bugs favorite bugs, we've named them ted, greg, and moe. 

(left: Greg right: Ted)

(Moe)

(See those partially eaten tomatoes!)

This also inspired me to try and make R.bug a stuffed caterpillar! 

So check back for our new addition to the family!

I might even include a tutorial :D

Butterfly mobile

This butterfly mobile was inspired by a butterfly chandelier that Pottery Barn used to sell. 

It is paper butterflies cut out some thread a wooden ring and some yard for the top part. 

It came out so good! 

Hours of work in this thing :D I am so glad she liked it. 

I also added a heavy dangler in the middle it is two clear plastic round pieces with flowery designs. 

Like?

Linking to some of these parties...

GIVEAWAY!

My friend AshyBoo at Strings and Things is having a giveaway!  She is giving away a white crocheted headband! 

(this is not the item being given away this is just an example of her work) 

      

I told her I would do some shameless promoting for her because I think her stuff is so pretty! 

And I know how hard it is to just be starting out :D 

You can find out more information about the giveaway by clicking HERE.... 

You can also visit her store HERE! 

:D 

Freezer paper Guitar shirt

So for father's day I decided that my brother deserved something special, after all he is the uncle to my son. :D 

So I took his love of music and my freezer paper obsession and presto, magic happened! 

Here is my "tutorial"....

I started with a plain t-shirt that I purchased from wal-mart for $4.00. It is a darker gray color.

I than hand drew a guitar onto the papery side of freezer paper (remember the waxy side needs to go down onto the clothing to stick) 

I than fit it to the shirt...

Next was the HARD PART!

I got out my x-acto knife and a new blade and got to cutting. 

What was hard about this is making sure to keep all of the little inserts like the spaces between the bars on the neck of the guitar etc... you have to iron those down too so that its not just a blob of a guitar! 

And when it was done being cut out it looked like that!

Finally I ironed it all down (on the seam so it looked like the guitar wraps around the shirt)  (I iron on the cotton setting) and painted it on , black, with a sponge brush and fabric paint.


(EDIT: DO NOT FORGET TO PUT SOMETHING IN BETWEEN THE SHIRT LAYERS! THE PAINT WILL GO THROUGH! :D I almost did this that night started painting and forgot...luckily I realized my mistake asap!)

I did 3 coats because since it was such a dark shirt I wanted to make sure it showed but not TOO much.

Let it dry overnight :D And than peeled off the freezer paper. 

Don't worry you do not need to be careful peeling you cannot use the stencil again and it will rip! 

The great thing about freezer paper is it comes off really easy and leaves a great crisp design.

(the shirt is darker than this but I took these pictures at night because I forgot to take them during the day before I left on my trip)

He loved it! I am going to get him to send me a picture with it on him because once again forgetful me... I did not get a picture while I was down there visiting! 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial !






Linking to some of these parties...

Time sure does fly!

He is growing up fast! R.bug is getting bigger and bigger everyday! 

Overcoming new feats and discovering new things. 

Today we have cut our first two teeth! (Bottom middle)

Still small enough that my camera refuses to focus on our nubs but I am sure by the end of next week they will be photo worthy. 

We are also learning how to make our toes go in our mouth every time we want them and sitting up on our own while leaning forward.

I also got some really adorable photography snaps of him... I love early mornings with my baby! These are over the course of this week... Just a few of my favorites. 

My big boy will be 5 months old in a few days... his buddy K will be 1 year old! 

(The boys in the pool)

(The birthday boy)

Time sure does fly!

Happy Father's Day TO ME!

I just wanted to say a big happy father's day to all of the father's, biological and not so biological, & of course all of the single mommies! 

Big applause to all of us!

As my gift to me ... I gave myself several hours of PEACE AND QUIET! 

Yes... Quiet... No kids... No crying.. No diaper changing!

Ahhh its so nice! Too bad it is going to end soon! lol  I love my RJ bug but... I can use a 2 hour break now and than. 

So where did bug go? 

He went with his great grandparents to his Aunt's house with his Aunt E. I am sure they are having a blast... 

Meanwhile I am sitting here creating a car floor and bed pillow for my nephew KJ, who is about to turn the big 1!!!! 

2 weeks and counting till the birthday bash! 

:D

Back to peace and quiet!

Where oh where have I been?

VACATION! Remember in my last post I wrote about vacation? Well I planned on keeping everyone up to date but vacation turned into one problem after another! We had a great time and got a few problems worked out at the same time. 

I have been having horrible stomach pains since I had my son... Turns out after all that testing and hospital trips they figured out I have gallbladder stones. So I am going to be getting surgery very soon! YAY! 

My son on the other hand has had breathing problems since he was a newborn and they put him on an apnea machine when he was 2 months. He has been having seizure like activity along with horrible reflux again. 

I ended up having to take him to a childrens hospital while on VACA and we ended up spending the night. After a horrible long evening of poking, & prodding, the wonderful doctors diagnosed him with Sandifers Syndrome which will go away once we get the reflux under control . They also diagnosed him with severe reflux and benign myoclonic sleep seizure disorder. :( Which from what I understand he may or may not outgrow. 

It has been very stressful but I am just happy we know what is happening now and how to deal with it. 

Here are some pics from our trip! 

We got to go to the pool for the first time! 

We discovered our toes 

Got upgraded to a big boy car seat 

And sailed through our first hair cut with ease 

Mommy got a day on the town with Auntie Lexy to see the new sex in the city movie and shop for me at old navy (p.s. movie = amazing) 

And treated herself to a well deserved new shirt :P 

We figured out how to roll over both ways 

And played hard even in the hospital 

Our biggest feat was discovering standing and how much fun it is to jump all by ourselves!

(Don't cha just love his pink elephant gown? lol)

So now that we are back home and exhausted I am going to go to bed and hopefully over the next few days get this blog back on track!