We adore gadgets in my house. My husband always gets me the best gifts. One year I got a minidisc player. Another year I got a Sony Clie and of course last year I got a Canon T1i.

We are getting Little peanut started early with the obsession. Check it out…

Christmas has long been over but I finally got around to snapping some pictures of my 11th hour crafting on Christmas Eve Eve (we open gifts on Christmas Eve after Church and a late late dinner. Some years you could say we open gifts early Christmas morning… say at 1am!)

So there I was trying to think of some stocking stuffers for Little Peanut when I remembered this:

We were at the Doctors office and had an antsy pants on our hands. Luckily there was a notepad and pen on the desk to keep her occupied. I remember thinking at the time, “It would be nice to have some kind of crayon roll for these moments.”

So I pulled out the sewing tools and fabrics, got to work and came up with my “On-the-go Artist” pack.

It holds 5 crayons and a small notepad (that you can find in the dollar section at Target).

It closes with a button and elastic loop.

I designed it so you can leave the notebook tucked in while coloring. There’s a 2 inch slot that you put the back flap into. It’s not quite a pocket but could easily be turned into one by sewing one side down. (Which I would do next time to tuck in some stickers!) Try as I may I couldn’t get Little Peanut to stand still long enough to snap a shot of it in action.

It fits great into my purse and is even useful for my own notes when I’m in a bind! (Shhh don’t tell the kiddo!)

It’s based off of this Crayon Roll tutorial from Prudent Baby.

As Mommies (and Daddies) not only did we gain an additional member of our family but we gained bragging rights! What? You didn’t read that part in What to Expect When You’re Expecting?! Ok, so maybe it wasn’t in there… but everyone knows parents love to brag about their kids.

And well, since this is my blog….

We were in the midst of a little photo shoot of one of our up and coming items and she was giving me the “ugly” smile (which I’ll share someday!) so I broke out into song and when I was reviewing the pictures I noticed I got all her moves and knew I had to make a scrapblog for it.

I’ve been a mother of two for five weeks now and I’ve got to say it’s made me realize how much time I had before I had kids. Sometimes I reminisce about those carefree days and wonder what the heck I did with all that time! Besides the lack of time do everything I want, I’ve also noted other changes in me as I’ve experienced motherhood (I’m wondering if this might foreshadow a book in the future!).

1) Make-up optional – I remember back in the day when I wouldn’t step foot out of the door without putting on some make-up. Even if I were going to make a quick trip out to the store, I’d at least put on some lip gloss. Now, I can go just about anywhere without an ounce of it. It’s not that motherhood has brought out my natural beauty ; rather, I know that I can spend 5-10 extra minutes at the grocery store than if I were to “get ready”.

2) Ready in under 30 minutes…and this includes a shower! I’ve always prided myself on being relatively low maintenance but motherhood has taught me how to be even more efficient. Because kids can be unpredictable, I have to devote more time to getting them ready, which means less time for me. To me, just because I have kids doesn’t mean that I know longer have to abide by the clock. My time is no more important than someone else’s and I just have to allow for more time to get where we need to be - ON TIME (tardiness is my ultimate pet peeve).

3) Cold (leftover) food is okay – back in the day when I had more time, I had to have my food piping hot. It just tasted better to me. Moreover, I wasn’t too keen on eating leftovers. Now, I’m lucky if I can eat without being interrupted or sidetracked. My son is getting a little more finnicky about what he eats too so that leaves me to clean up what he doesn’t (I do have my limits on certain foods, hehe!).

4) Workout when? - Before I had kids, I had a pretty solid workout routine. I exercised at least five times a week – a combination of both cardio and weights…and at a gym! Now? I’ll be lucky to get at least two days. Working out is carrying my 2-year old on my hip. And for strength training, try carrying him upstairs! With a rambunctious son, my workouts have gotten more creative – playing hide and seek, running around the coffee table, pushing my son around while he sits in his Cozy Coupe, etc. I guess I shouldn’t mind not working out so much; it just gives me more time with my family.

There have been some welcome changes as well

5) Speaking Vietnamese at home - I remember growing up, we were forced to speak Vietnamese at home. The problem was that neither me nor my siblings were very good at it so we ended up not talking at all or breaking the rules! My parents were super busy raising seven kids in a country that was not their own so I could only imagine how difficult it must have been for them. Now that I have my own kids, we speak primarily Vietnamese at home. In fact, my Vietnamese has improved quite a bit because I speak it at home with my son. He and my daughter will grow up to be bilingual but I think it’s important for them to learn Vietnamese because I know that once they start school, English will be their primary language. It’s up to me to make sure that they are continually exposed to the Vietnamese language and preserve that part of their culture.

6) Regular communication with my parents – to be honest, I never had a really close relationship with my parents. Being one of seven kids, it was easy to fly under the radar and just check in every now and then. But once I had a kid, that all changed. My kids bridged the relationship gap and it’s been great to be able to share my motherhood experiences with them.

There are a ton more changes that I’ve experienced since entering into motherhood (you can read more of it whenever I get to writing that book!) but one thing remains constant – I’d do it all over again for my kids.

Tried & true recipes!

Before Cathy and I had kids, we had dinner and movie nights pretty frequently. The husbands really enjoyed it too because it was our opportunity to try something new and be creative with our dishes, whether the recipe came from one of our trusted cookbooks or from an episode of “Everyday Italian” or “Barefoot Contessa” that we watched earlier in the week.

Of course, Cathy and I did all the planning, first figuring out who would host that week. The host would prepare the meal and the other couple would bring wine or dessert which usually fit the theme for the night (i.e. Asian, American, Italian, Mexican, etc.). We even had movie themes…comedy, Johnny Depp, horror, action, and so on. We had our share of bad movie picks, but the evening was fun, nonetheless, sharing a good meal with good company.

Our dinner get-togethers (pre-baby!)

We haven’t had a dinner/movie night in a while, but with the kids being a little older and sleeping better at night, I think it would be fun to start them up again…my cookbooks will be happy to see me, and it has been a while since I’ve had a date with Johnny Depp!