Beneficial Thinking

As I mentioned in my Thursday's Top Ten this week, S from Snaps & Snippets posted her 5 Favorites - Scrapbooking and that I would be choosing my 5 Favorites as well. I had a really hard time with this, as I am *that* person who brings EVERYTHING for a crop. Anyway, after a lot of deliberation, here's what I came up with.

With Monday being a holiday, I have been running behind all week. Here's my Top 10 for the week!

1. How To Clean Your Paint Brushes... from A Girl and a Glue Gun
   I am also horrible about cleaning my paint brushes, especially when crafting. When I finish a project I don't want to clean up because I'm ready to walk away from it (and it's usually past a reasonable bedtime).
2. Sewing 101: Supplies from Noodlehead
   This is a great resource to check out before starting a sewing project. I was delighted to see that I had quite a few of the supplies already in my stash.
3. Favorite 5 - Scrapbook Products from Snaps and Snippets
   I love S's list and will be adding my own sometime today. Still can't decide which 5 things I'd pick!
4. Summer Is For... Updating Kids' School Albums from Bits&Pieces
   I love this simple, clean, and classic look. What an easy way to keep up with the yearly documenting.
5. Long Time No Post from Cottage38North
   Check out the dishes at the bottom of the post by 10 Strawberry Street. I love them and am considering replacing the horrible set we have now (I'll save this rant for any other post).
6. 30 Ways To Live A Life Of Excellence from Marc and Angel Hack Life
   Love this list. I know it was posted on May 31st, but I was just turned on to this website yesterday. I can't wait to dig into this site and read some of the other posts, like #7.
7. Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills from Marc and Angel Hack Life
8. New Kicks from Bits&Pieces
   I have been following Cathy's running and trying to follow in her footsteps. But I have to say I LOVE THESE SHOES. I know runners aren't supposed to buy shoes because of their look, and I guess I wouldn't buy them if they weren't right for me and my running (if you can call what I do running) style, but I really do love these. Keep it up Cathy! I hope you decide to do the 5K this weekend.
9. Your Local CSA: 3 Reasons to Join from Simple Mom
   I have always wanted to join a CSA. Unfortunately with a small family and lots of out-of-town time, it just wasn't going to work for us. Although I still hope to try it in the future.
10. Bucket List from Better in Bulk
    I think with all the talk of bucket lists, I may try to make one myself. But whether I do or not, I still like reading other people's bucket lists.

Background
My sweet baby boy needed to have a sleep study done on him to see if he needs his tonsils removed. We've waited over a month to get in. And it finally happened last night.

The Saga Begins
Since it was a holiday weekend, Ben was not on his normal sleep schedule, which turned out to be a good thing. Then, because Ben wasn't supposed to nap after noon on the day of the sleep study, we squeezed in a short nap from 11:30-12:30. Luckily the day was uneventful, even though Ben was exhausted. We headed down to the hospital around 6:00 and I had to work hard to keep my little man from falling asleep. When we got there we had quite the trek, as the main lobby is on the opposite side of the hospital from the parking garage... and of course Ben wanted carried!

So they got one sticker on before Ben started kicking and screaming. I, and two techs, held Ben down while they put some of the stickers and monitors. Then the put him in the papoose, which unfortunately i couldn't get a picture of because I was holding him while he was in it. He hated it, not a big surprise though. It took about an hour to get all hooked up and ready to be taped. When they took the papoose off, I thought he'd go nuts, but he tried and didn't have the energy or the ability (see how his elbows are forced straight).

I asked him if he wanted to read a book and he said "Yes." We made it through one, although he wasn't willing to participate. Then we read a second and he was falling asleep sitting up. When I asked if he wanted to read a third, he said "Noooo." So we laid down and he all basically passed out from exhaustion. He has NEVER done that before, but it was so cute.

It was a really rough night for both of us. Every time he moved he would feel the cords, wake up, sit straight up and cry. Thankfully, I was in the bed right next to him and he immediately went back to sleep as soon as he heard my voice and I laid him back down.

We did successfully make it through the night without any cords coming undone or any long periods of time that he was awake. When the morning came (around 5:00 a.m.) we were woke up... me with the lights, Ben with a finger prick. This picture was right before the finger prick.