{ oodles of GOODness }

First comes the addition of adorable, happy, healthy Henry the sixth into our lives. We feel blessed beyond anything we can express in words or writing. I'm so glad we didn't give up our hope or faith that there was another child out there meant to be with us. And we are so deeply grateful to Henry's birthmom Sara, that she chose adoption and chose us.

Then, I read that Stephanie & Christian continue to hear everyone's prayers and are making progress recovering. While I was inspired by her love of life via her blog prior to their accident, I am now inspired by all of the good people who have helped by praying, by raising money, etc. Last I heard, over $150,000 had been raised to date.

And then The Container Store placed an order for several of my products which will be in their stores nationwide beginning in mid-October!! They will be right at the checkout counters in their towers so go buy some - they make great stocking stuffers and hostess gifts for holiday parties! Yipee - the Container Store! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would happen. Now, the funniest part of this is that it had to be shipped the DAY that Henry was born. It was a busy day coordinating that with the warehouse/shipping people while eagerly awaiting the birth of Henry. Below are pictures of the notepads in production.

But then there is more...The lovely Tracie at Broadway Paper (the most delightful paper store in the world I think)...told ME that she had been asked by Real Simple Magazine for some popular lists for Real Simples January Organizing Issue and voila, they will be featuring one of LobotoME's notepads! Thank you Tracie! Again, never in my wildest dreams did I think that one of my list pads would appear in Real Simple Magazine.

So today I am deeply grateful for so many wonderful things in my life - and I want to thank all of my friends and family (both in person and my virtual friends) for all of your love & support. Thank you Julie, Heidi, Louise & others for the wonderful meals this week and thank you Kate & my parents for all of your help here at home this past week. I'll be back blogging on a regular basis soon.

{ green to grow }

Loving these bpa-free bottles.

At the bottom of the bottle it says {all gone}.

Good style and good for the baby & the environment.

{ this is the new ME }

So I am in the throws of chaos - a 4 year old who is attached at my hip and a baby who sleeps through the day and is up all night. { note: I do not have 3 children - the little girl is Jayden, my brother's little girl. } My house is a wreck, my inbox is overflowing, orders haven't been shipped, laundry is in heaps everywhere and my husband is out of town. I've lost control. :-) But it gets better {or worse} I should add. Today, my husband broke his collarbone on his bike setting up the race course. SO HE CAN'T CHANGE A DIAPER FOR 8 WEEKS! Lord help ME. :-)

{ But the good news is Henry & Samme are great and we will SURVIVE! } I'm loving every moment with Henry...he is precious. I'll try to post more pics next week and some actual sanity saving tips IF and when I figure any out. {And in the meantime I will remember to BREATHE.}

{ introducing henry }

he was born at 6:27am and weighing 6 lbs, 3 oz.  thank you sara from the bottom of our hearts.

we are so in love with him.

{ O Henry, Where Art Thou? }

Still no little henry...perhaps false labor again? Not too sure. Anyway, looking like it was a false alarm again. :-(

Oh and I almost got bit by a rattlesnake today on a hike near boulder reservoir.

So its sort of my lucky day and sort of not.

Thanks for all of your well wishes & luv.

{ samME's room + what to do with all the art now that school has started + baby update }

Here are a few pics of Sam's room - not sure if I've ever posted some before or not. Anyway, here is the {art wall}. I love displaying Sam's beautiful creations where we all can see and enjoy them. One entire wall in her bedroom is covered with HER art.

I have a bunch of clear frames in all sizes and just pop in new artwork and creations from time to time. I can store a few behind the one showing and Sam can take them off the hooks and re-arrange them when she wants to without fear of her breaking glass.

We've also created a little reading nook for her on the window seat which she uses all the time. What creative ways do you have for displaying &/or sharing your kids creations?

Update: Still no baby...slowest birth EVER.

Dear Henry,
Please come today. we are SO ready to meet you. I'm not sleeping anyway due to my excitement, so I'd rather be up looking at you breathing and taking care of you and kissing you at night. So please come today. Pretty please.
Love, your new family, the Newcomer's

Meanwhile, I continue to find adorable little baby things on etsy.

{ my mamas for obama }

I couldn't resist buying this for little henry.

And in case any of you missed the funniest SNL skit EVER, here it is.

{ a day in the life of ME }

Today's guest blogger is by Heather...I got to know Heather recently and was inspired by her plan to be entirely debt free (including their mortgage) within 8 years!! Here's how they are doing it....Thanks Heather for sharing! Enjoy!


I suppose my husband and I always thought we had the same goals in mind when it came to money. We both liked small luxuries in life such as getting coffee and a breakfast burrito on the way to work or taking part in fun activities with family and friends, even traveling to do so. Somehow we managed to get by without any major financial setbacks until we purchased a business that we operated for two years longer than we should have. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't all bad. I liked what I did each day, so did my husband for awhile. Life was good.

Fast forward a couple years. Somehow, discussions about our money were getting harder. Accusations would fly. Feelings were hurt. Unresolved issues festered. Our goals seemed clouded. How did our credit cards, student loans, and business expenses get so out of hand? We could not communicate effectively about our finances. Thank goodness for organization! My husband and I love to be organized. On a regular basis, we organize our garage, our camping gear, our kitchen shelves, our refrigerator, our closets, well...you get the idea. We derive sheer pleasure from clearing our lives of clutter. It's kind of a family thing - so much so that my father-in-law termed it "Otterizing" (our last name is Otter). Funny thing though....money never got organized. Infact, it pretty much got ignored. Unfortunately, ignoring it didn't make the "spent" part go away. We are not extravagant people, although, we lived beyond our means. Even the non-extravagant lifestyle has wants. The lines between need and want blur easily.

One weekend while camping with our neighbors, they mentioned this guy, Dave Ramsey - some financial guru. Long story short, the neighbors' story appealed to my husband in such a way that within two weeks of the camping trip, he'd gone "gazelle" about our finances. If you know Ramsey, you know about getting gazelle intense. Anyway, Dave Ramsey's debt snowball concept clicked with us. We read his book "Total Money Makeover' and we downloaded a free debt reduction calculator - a spreadsheet tool. Talk about cool! This spreadsheet is Otterizing at its best! We are so organized about our finances now - and it's actually fun. We have discussions weekly - no exceptions. We haven't had an argument about money in months and it feels great.

To top it off, we no longer buy breakfast burritos and coffee in the mornings. We make our own. Every Sunday our kitchen becomes an assembly line for burritos. We roll up about two dozen - breakfast and lunch variety. We set our coffee maker to "delayed brew" mode before bed every night so it's piping hot at 5:30 a.m in the morning. I haven't missed Starbucks a bit! When you're affording your life, even Folgers tastes good. If you're interested, here are links to Dave Ramsey's website as well as a site you can get the spreadsheet for debt payoff. We don't follow every single thing Ramsey suggests, but many of his concepts have been life changing for us.

Daily ME:

My Blackberry signals that morning has arrived, yet again, around 5 a.m. When it comes to consistency, the morning never skips a beat. If I made good choices the night before, I jump out of bed by 5:15. Good choices include ironing work outfits, my husband preparing lunches, and getting to bed by 10 p.m. Not so good choices like watching a movie or hanging out till midnight, blowing off lunches and setting out the next day's outfits result in dragging out of bed later and rushing through the morning. We enjoy eating our breakfasts together, so usually, we make good choices at night so that's possible.

During the week, we stick pretty close to home. I commute an hour each way to work, so I leave by 7 or 7:30 and don't get home until 6 p.m. This means I only have a few hours to spend with "my guys" each day. I usually do the morning routine with our son and drop him off at daycare. My husband picks him up and makes dinner every night. Yep - that wasn't a type-o. My husband makes dinner every night! He's a wonderful cook. My schedule wasn't always like this. I worked part time until 3 weeks ago. I always had 2 days at home with my son and my household. Getting chores done is harder now, but we adjust. My husband and I are a great team. I can't imagine doing "life" without him. Part of my reasoning for working full time goes back to our financial decisions. We finally concluded that although it's wonderful to be at home with our son, it's also wonderful to provide a stable financial ground for our family to survive and thrive on. It's more than just "making more money" - that's good, but the big picture for us is twofold: creating new habits that we can pass on to our son so that he won't make the same mistakes we did. Or, at least, if he makes them, he'll have the tools to fix them much earlier than we did. The second goal is to be completely debt free, mortgage and all in 8 years. This will allow us to make more choices - choices that are not dictated by a mortgage payment, car payments, student loan payments - DEBT! Running our household is a second full time job for both of us, and we take alot of pride in doing it well. When our marriage and the household are running successfully, everything else falls into place. Working full time doesn't necessarily have to be a burden on the time and quality we give to our family. It does, however, take effort to make it all work.

Three basic tenets guide my day to day existence: take care of each other and myself, leave things better than I found them, and listen more than I speak. When I'm able to follow all three, life is good!

{ getting ready for bebe list }

no bebe yet. but we had a fun weekend - one thing we did was take sam to a free outdoor movie (E.T). great fun! (that's samme in the front of the tuk tuk bike!) and some baby shower goodness (see, i'm practicing!)


here are some things i'm working on this week in addition to the regular work related tasks prior to little henry's arrival....

Stock up on household supplies:
x dish detergent
x mild laundry detergent
x healthy frozen foods & snacks
prepare some soup, chili, etc. to have in the freezer for easy meals
x napkins, paper towels, ziplocks
x pet food
x shampoo, toothpaste, soap, toilet paper
x diapers & wipes

Streamline finances:
x balance checkbook
x buy stamps
x set up auto-pay
x refine budget for second child expenses (formula, diapers, etc).
get 401K stuff all at one brokerage firm (preferably one that isn't going to go bottom up anytime soon...)

Domestic maintenance:
x get oil changed in cars
x clean out cars
x properly install carseats in cars
x clean house or arrange for cleaning help
update health/life insurance policies
x clean house windows
x declutter playroom
put away summer clothes / get out winter clothes

Personal care:
x get prescriptions filled & vitamins stocked up
x doctors &/or dentists appointments
x get haircut / waxing appointments

Baby Items:
x create a folder to all instruction manuals and receipts for baby gear
x plan birth announcements
x get address labels ready
x buy stamps
x prepare the nursery
x wash and fold all baby's clothing and linens
x organize older baby clothes in bins in closet for easy swapping out when needed
x send thank you notes for shower gifts
x prepare email address book for quick announcement
x pack for hospital
x get diapers/wipes/changing pad/extra clothes kit ready for cars
x have camera, charger & card reader ready
x first aid kit/baby supplies
x go through Sam's baby clothes and save & giveaway

other:
x sibling gifts & books
x have journal/scrapbook ready (Alli is making ME one - woohoo!)
legal documents - will & testament, etc.
x arrange for childcare during hospital stay for other children (if necessary)
x book a massage - pre &/or post bebe arrivals (luv this suggestion!)

These are some items suggested by my dear friend alli in her new mama handbook of things to have {ready} prior to baby's arrival and from NieNie's pre-baby list. do you have any tasks to add?

{ And even if you aren't expecting a little one soon, these are some great tasks to do this fall to get organized. }

{ room with a zoo }

Because adoptions are $$$ (bummer) - but so worth it I might add - I needed to get little Henry's nursery ready fast & cheap. I also wanted to avoid accumulating a million things that we don't need (like I did the first time around). Here's what I did...introducing Little Henry's Room...

Crib - hand ME down - $0
Ikea kitchen cart ala changing table & dressers - $0 (already had - was using in garage of all places)
Bed & linens - already had
Crib linens - Babystyle outlet - $20
Changing pad & cute cover - $20 (target)
Baskets for cart - $7 (walmart)
Modern Oeuf Bouncer - $60 (ebay)
Mobile, zoo toys, etc.- $15 (ikea)
Wall art - from etsy - here + here - $35
ABC Love poster print - madebygirl - $45
zoo animal prints - gift from the lovely alli at bird dog press $0
zoo chalkboard wall candy - ebay - $20
bright green paint - benjamin moore eco - riendly line - $18
green side table - $13 (target)
red garbage can - $11 (walmart)
total: $275

Also spent some $ on a new infant car seat, some solid onesies & BPA free bottles & G Diapers & Seventh Generation Diapers. We already have a baby monitor, baby bjorn, sling, pack n play for traveling, stroller, baby jogger (although it is purple and I covet an orange one). And I have lots of bags.

Anyone think of anything else I need?

* And little henry still hasn't arrived into this world. No contractions....it might be a few more weeks (official due date: October 1st). Of course we have our biggest event of the year the last weekend in September so knowing our luck/karma/cosmic energy, he will arrive then! :) lol.

{ heal soon nie nie }

Here is Stephanie's custom yoga mat from the {get your yoga ON giveaway}! We hope she gets better soon so she can use it! It turned out beautifully...

I want to thank Karen at Yogamatic for all of her help with this as well as all of the fine folks at Yogamatic for generously donating a custom mat. I hope you will all consider purchasing a mat from them in the future. Don't you all want one with your kids on it? I LOVE it! I'd also like to thank Wendy {Blue Lily Photography} for sharing with ME one of the beuatiful photos she took of the Nielson children last fall.

Get your yoga mats out and do a few poses for Stephanie...send healing thoughts & good energy vibes her way!

{ love this idea }

image via inchmark {her brilliant idea}

I can't tell you how much I love this idea. This is my kind of scrapbooking! Off to go find a jar and some scrap paper right now.

Discovered via Simple Lovely.

{ back to school celebration }

I had planned on big back to school dinner festivities - nie nie style- {before my life became insane and we were out of town for the official first week of school}. Thankfully my mom helped ME pull off a back to school dinner on Sunday night when we got back into town from Boulder. She cooked; I got the crown and decorated the table. Sam told her what she wanted for dinner (chicken, baby potatoes, carrots, broccoli, bread with butter and ice cream)....and Connie delivered! {Thank you MOM!}

Samme's new school!
And next year I am totally doing this.

{ check ME }

The LobotoME Check ME pad was Broadway Paper's delightful pick of the week! Thanks Tracie & gang! The Check ME pad can get you in + out of the store in a flash with a cart full of healthy goods! It is so popular that we are out of here at LobotoME until late September but you can buy it from Broadway Paper here!

{ updates from ME 2 U }

photo courtesy of Blue Lily Photography.

First things first. No sweet bebe boy yet. The contractions have halted and the {big guy} is in there quite possible for a few more weeks. I say big because at Sara's last ultrasound over a month ago he was over 7 lbs and kicked so hard he BROKE one of her ribs {ouch}. So, we will continue to exude patience {yeah right} and pray for a healthy boy soon. ps - we have decided on a name. We are going to hame him William Henry VI (after Will of course). I wanted to call him Sixx, but no one thinks that is as funny/cute as I do. Samme wants to call him {little Willy} but that won't be so cute when he gets older! lol! So we've decided on {Henry}. But, not Hank. Let's make that clear upfront. However, his nickname might very well be HULK depending on his size at birth! I'll keep you posted. But thank you again for all of your well wishes! Oh and I've updated our personal blog with recent photos if you are interested.

Speaking of baby #2 on the way...This baby is like starting over in many ways. As it has been 4 1/2 years since we had an infant and over 2 1/2 years since we've changed a diaper. All of the baby stuff we used with Samme has been passed on to family & friends, so we do need to gather some new things. I'm working very hard to keep it simple and not go overboard (crib, dresser -also use as changing table, diapers, wipes, basic onesies, sling, etc.) But I will admit that I did find myself in the babyGAP while in Boulder buying this this and this. I couldn't resist.

{More on my attempts to not accumulate un-needed baby stuff soon ...is it even possible? Oh and pics of the nursery in the works soon... }

Okay, so the winning bidder for the Nie Nie auction is ACBritt! Please email ME your email address and I'll let you know who/how to send payment to the Nielson's recovery fund. I will get your sanity saving prize package in the mail the week of 9/22. Thank you all for your support!

Some good news on the Nielson's recovery here and a wonderful article in the NY Times about the blogging {communities} efforts to help the Nielson family here. Another great article here. And a great video of the Today Show interview here. I've been so inspired by the outpouring of support & love for Stephanie and her family. You know how I always say "delete blogs that don't inspire you to be a better person, a better mother, a better wife, a better friend." Well if I had to choose only ONE blog to read for the rest of my life, it would be hers. In fact, I recently just read back through all of her archives and printed out a bunch of her recipes.

The winners of the {get your yoga ON giveaway} finally are...

The Yogamatic custom mat...I've decided (along with Yogamatic) that we are going to create a custom yoga mat for Stephanie/Nie Nie with the above photo. As many of you know she was a yoga teacher in Arizona and our hopes are that someday in the near future she will be able to look down at a beautiful yoga mat with a picture of her family and find some peace as she faces a long road to recovery. You all can get your own uber-cool custom yoga mat at Yogamatic!

And if any of you are interested in a LobotoME mantra yoga mat let ME know and I can see what I can do about uploading a high res image for you.

Even Keel Shorts - Sarah
Even Keel is offering up a 20% discount in honor of September as National Yoga Month. At checkout enter: "NYM2008"

Yoga DVD - Rachel

Yoga DVD - Hannah

Yoga DVD - Leigh

Yoga DVD - gkstratos

HTC Book - Jana W.

Please email ME ( info @ lobotoME . com ) your mailing addresses and I will get your prizes in the mail asap.

Oh and some of you asked ME how FitME month went. Well, up until a week ago I was doing great...I didn't end the month on a super strong note but all in all it went well. I think having a great, healthy month going into several months of sleep deprivation will certainly help ME stay sane and healthy. The 1/2 marathon training isn't going as well - it might be OTC {off the couch}. I'd love to hear how yours went!

At some point this month, depending upon the arrival of Henry, I will get back to a semi-normal schedule of blogging. Stay tuned for some great posts on how to have a simple, meaningful Christmas, back to school organization tips, sugar-free halloween ideas, another great giveaway, sanity saving tips going into the busy holiday season & MORE!

{ Nie Nie Auction } - now closed! ACBritt you win!

Since I was out of town last week (and still am) I was a bit behind in doing this but apparently there are tons of auctions still going on to raise much needed funds for the Nielson family!

So, here's what I'm offering up! A LobotoME sanity starter kit! An organize ME weekly planner, 8 brainiac notepads, a mantra poster & a few special surprises thrown in (& free shipping)! Retail value - over $150! This super-fab sanity package includes everything you need to maintain or become your best type-A self — without losing your sense of humor.

I'll also be sending a sanity starter kit and Mantra poster to Nie Nie to use when she gets HOME and to her dear sister who is taking care of her children (lord knows with 5 small children under her roof she could use all the help she can get). :-)

Start the bidding at $10 please. Enter bid amount and email address in comments section. The auction is open until September 8th at noon MST! The items will be shipped the week of 9/22.

Start the school year off SANE! And help the Nielson's too!