A 5 months old's adventures in Photographs!

Today was one of those days that went pleasantly well. LOL. Started out by getting out of bed and showering... no set back there. Decided I would curl my hair so that maybe I could get into a photo or two with the baby... burned my thumb on first curling attempt. Second curling attempt... burnt forehead! Said eff it, unplugged curling iron, ran brush through hair, walked out of bathroom with sore thumb and forehead in tow (uh, Duh! LOL). The burns alone made me have one of those "This Day Is Gonna Suck!" kind of feelings. Well, I know you are wondering... How did this day go? Here it is!

Mr. Serious... He tries not to be photogenic! Ha ha!

After the curling iron flub up I got my boys to the bus stop, came back home, got the baby ready to go have professional pictures taken and then got going in time to make it to the appointment on time. We ended up with plenty of time to spare because we left early enough to get my Husband to his appointment and then drive back across town (the long route) and get my Starbucks, then we found an amazing parking spot! Woo hoo! I keep saying "we" because my cousin was with me for the picture taking process today. What a great thing to take family to do when you have them over for a visit right? (That part gets better, tomorrow she is taking me into the Social Security office so I can ask them some questions) We ended up having a bunch of fun with my little baby boy. Who, I can hardly believe is 5 months old already. Feels like yesterday when my sweet little man was born! We got some great poses in that I fell in love with. I am so thrilled that I only walked away from there with buying one of all but one pose. I also only spent $7.99! Go me go! I never spend that little on photos! Not professional ones at least! LOL. Because I am a member of their "club" I receive a free 8x10. Because Mother's day is coming up, I got to choose a free 16x20!!! And last but not least, for my 4 year old's birthday promotion and again for being part of their club, I am getting a collage that has 3 of the poses on it, for free! I am super excited about these photos! I can not wait to share some of them here with everyone! In the long run of the picture taking the baby started to get upset. Understandably so when you hear how many different pictures were snapped of him. How many times that bright light flashed in his face. And how many different times he had to be moved around! (suspense getting to you yet?) So, the amount of times my little guy had to deal with all that? 42. Yes, indeed. 42 times! 42 photos of little man! He was a trooper though. We got some great photos. Excellent memories. And not to mention, I held back and did not over spend! Again I say, Go Me Go! I went to that studio with $47 in my wallet and left with $39! Not bad! Not bad at all. It turned out to be a pretty great day after all!

Tomorrow after the Social Security office my Mom and cousin are heading to see my sister and spend the weekend and part of next week with her and then they are bringing my 4 year old home! Yippee! I have missed him terribly but I have also come to realize, he is "The Loud One". Every family has one, he is mine. However, I also notice it is easier to take care of one less child no matter which one of my wonderful boys goes to visit my sister for any length of time. My oldest is always the easiest to handle, electronic of any kind and he is all good. #2... Just let him run in circles and blow off steam and he is usually good to go. My third, Anything goes. You could give that child a cardboard box and a stick, he'd be happy as a clam! (Assuming all clams are happy!) And for the baby? Answer: a mom, a pillow and a shirt that reveals "lunch" rather quickly!

But as of late, he also needs something to chew on! He is getting ready to cut his top 2 teeth as well. He already has his 2 bottom teeth.Yes, He was trying to eat my phone. But it got us a great photo!
 He had those come in at 4 days before 4 months and then at 4 months and 2 or 3 days old. Now, at 5 months old he is working on 2 more! He is my last baby... He needs to pump his breaks and slow it down a bit on the growing up thing. Other than saying Mommy first, he he he... I really would like at least one of my babies to say Mommy before anything else. Just a thought. That is all.

During all the teeth "gaining" the baby is doing, the 7 year old lost another one! He was so excited about it the night it was "wiggly". Then it fell out and all that excitement stopped. Now it was wait for the money time. Which makes me want to ask a question of you lovely folks reading this. When you were growing up, when the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa were all still real to you (no, they do not exists, if you believe they do please Google the words "mental" and "help" together, thank you!), how much did the Tooth Fairy leave you? Maybe my Tooth Fairy was cheap, just means my boys' original Tooth Fairy is too! But I can only remember getting a nickle or dime... IF I was lucky enough. My husband informs me that he would get $0.50 to $1.00 per tooth! I am not complaining about my Tooth Fairy one bit. I love her! (Yes mom... That means you! LOL) I just want to get a little more insight into why someone would give a young child, kindergarten to 2nd grade ages, more than a nickle or dime for loosing a tooth. This type of thing seems to be a type of "right of passage" in my book. Why pay a kid a huge amount? I am sure that the older they get and as soon as they start to figure out that these "creatures" are not real they will also start to notice that they want to tell Dad (gives $0.25 per tooth) that they lost a tooth instead of Mom (gives $0.05 per tooth). And that all makes sense. Wouldn't you go for the bigger bucks as opposed to the "change"? I guess money has different importance to different people and that is what sets the tone for that type of "giving".

On another note! While I was out and about this last weekend my parsley plant decided it would be a good time to start growing! This got me excited! I started growing my parsley last spring from a starter kit where I had also attempted to grow tomato, bell pepper and a couple of other veggies. The other plants were moved outside and promptly died! The sprouts off of this plant kept coming up only 2 at a time and would grow, die and then grow new. It was sort of taxing on me by making me thing I had no resemblance of a "green thumb". My sister and several other family members can grow plants like they are weeds! But weeds stay clear of me for fear of death! I have only ever had one other type of plant thrive under my care and that is an aspen tree.I bought my Mother a set of Aspens for Mothers day one year, they were around 2 feet tall then. The trees now tower over my mothers single story home. I hope that the parsley will continue to grow and thrive and that I can maybe start another small garden and get some home grown veggies in our home.

That is it for tonight as my eyes are getting droopy and my back is screaming at me to go to bed! I hope everyone enjoyed my random rantings! Look forward to more from me on babies, crafts, plants, homeschooling, photos and much much more. Feel free to comment your little hearts out on any of the above (or below) topics and as usual...

~TTFN!

I dislike Mondays!

As I said on Thursday, I had a busy weekend. We left Friday to go to Portland and made it there in pretty good time too! We spent the remainder of that day visiting with my cousins(technically my Father's cousins, but they are closer to my mother, sister and I that we claim them! he he...) and getting my 7 year old hooked up to play on the Internet at their house so that he felt entertained! The purpose of the trip was to help clean up a bit so that we can have my sisters baby shower at their house. Well, that wasn't the case. I personally think I will need a few more full days there to be able to get the cleaning done and be of any use. As it stands, I was able to visit, go to a birthday party for a 12 year old(who I was impressed with as far as how he interacted with my boys, both the 4.5 month old and the 7 year old), take a nap and watch some television. I don't have television so that was a real treat for me! I did enjoy the time with family however. I haven't had the chance to get to that area for a long time and I love all of my family and miss them when I don't get to see them.

The trip home was full of fun as well! I stopped at Wildwood Forest Park (which is located just 15 miles west of Government Camp on Hwy 26) with my 7 year old and 4.5 month old in tow. It was a great spot to stop to stretch our legs. As fair warning goes, it costs $5 to visit this park for parking. Prices vary for different options at the park, such as group events. That is normal for forestry parks though, as far as I have noticed at least. I did not take ant pictures at that stop and I could kick myself for that. My oldest was willing to carry his little brother along the trail so that we could walk farther because he had "tons of energy". We found a small area along the trail that had a creek with some logs that had fallen across and where creating a dam effect. So, naturally, we had a short lesson on dams while we watched the water slowly flow through the fallen logs. The oldest also mentioned how he thought "nature was the most beautiful thing ever". Isn't that sweet? After that stop we found our way to Government Camp. There we did the basic rest area routine of restroom usage, a snack and I fed the baby. The baby was acting as though he did not want to eat, so I placed him back into his carseat and off we went. Not even 20 miles down the road the baby started screaming again. I found a handy chain up area to pull over in and there we sat, letting the baby nurse for longer! Next up, Madras!

We found McDonald's in Madras and spent some time there "stretching". We ate some food (I "cheated" on my diet and ate my sons packet of apples, they were 4 carbs so not too terrible) and the oldest got to play on the "big toys" as my kids call them. The baby got to eat there too! While big brother was taking another run through the play structure he got to relax and nurse for about 20 minutes. The play area filled up fast and there was about 15 children running around the one room. That was more than enough kiddos for this mama! So we took our chance to leave and get back on the road. The rest of the way home my oldest played with the baby almost non-stop! The one time he stopped playing with him was because he was crying. I later found out that he was crying because his big brother hurt him by accident by scrapping his nose with his fingernail. It was hilarious to hear both of them laughing almost hysterically. I on the other hand was not in as great of a mood as them. I ended up getting a tooth ache somehow and it was painful to have my eyes open, let alone concentrate on driving. But, obviously, I did it! We left Portland at 10:22 AM (My oldest is a walking, talking time schedule. He can tell you what time any event was throughout the day) and we arrived home at 3:45 PM. Roughly a 5.5 hour trip that would non-stop be 4-ish hours. Trips always tend to be longer when you have young children. And that is fine by me. I would rather take my time than make good time.

Last summer, my husband and I took the 6 year old and 4 year old (and baby technically since I was pregnant) to California to visit some of my husbands family. We ended up touring all of the Oregon to California rest areas between Sunriver, Oregon and San Francisco, California! I had permission to go from my OB-GYN, as long as I made frequent stops. Since the rest areas are roughly 2 hours apart, or less, that worked out great! I got to potty and stretch and so did the kiddos and hubby! However, all the frequent stopping and stretching caused us to make that drive in just over 12 hours! Yikes, long drive! Especially while pregnant!

Looking at that picture from almost a year ago, I notice how much my 2 middle boys have grown up! I know that isn't the best of photos, it is what I have though. We only took our phones with us for photos due to my pregnant brain forgetting to go buy a couple disposable ones! (ugh, stupid pregnant brain!) The trip was enjoyable anyways. Regardless of the pictures being "great" or not.

Back to current times...

I became a BzzAgent! How exciting! My sister has been one for awhile now and has tried out several products that our family has come to love! Such as, Burt's Bees sensitive lotion for my #2 son who, like his father, has eczema and needs a little bit extra moisture on his skin. I have not yet had the pleasure of getting on board with a BzzCampaign, but all my surveys are done and I am awaiting further notice from the BzzAgent site on what to do next! So, look forward to some "item reviews" here! Hopefully I can find items useful to everyone and we can all benefit from my becoming a BzzAgent! I will be talking a lot about anything that I try out through BzzAgent.

I believe I mentioned getting the baby some "speedo" type swimsuits for this summer in my last post. Well, Here is the Beach Print one...

Again, sorry for the picture being so blurry. He is a baby, they wiggle! LOL.

This one seems to be more "snug" around his legs than the other one (red, and I forgot to snap a picture of) was. However, it also seems to have a bunch of extra room in the center area. I do prefer this one to the red one though because this one has an interior soaker, like an all in one cloth diaper does. I am considering switching to cloth diapers from paper or "store bought". This baby just seems to act more comfortable in them when he has had them on while being my sisters "model" for the ones she has made.

          Speaking of, here is the size small she made and tried on the baby during her last visit! That is the best, non-blurred photo I have of him in it. And, hey! My sister too! He he... She made a newborn size and a size small. The newborn size didn't turn out as she had hoped. It was also her first one she had made. Bound to have mistakes on the first go at things! Which is why I am buying extra materials to make doubles of gifts for family! That way they can have the nice and pretty all done right stuff and I can keep the "flubs" for references. I also have decided that "craft stores" are the wrong way to go when it comes to buying fabrics! I can buy the same fabric (exactly the same pattern, everything) for $7.99 per yard at the craft store or I can buy it for $4.99 per yard at Wal-Mart. Sorry craft store, I'm going with Wal-Mart on this one! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy going to the craft store and looking around. I even buy stuff when I go in there! (Gasp!) I found a bunch of things I would like to use during my sisters Baby Shower that are, of course, gender specific! (Grr... I wish more things could be gender neutral!) And my sister insists that we did not do any sort of games during my baby shower. This, I'm sorry to say, she is wrong about. The guests did a baby bingo along with some sort of a guess the gift game. I have hard copy pictures as proof of this! I only have 2 particular games I want to have at her shower and they would be the "Never say Baby" or also known as the Safety Pin game and Baby Bingo. Both of these she does not have to take part in! I would like her to at least "put up" with the Baby Shower routine and have fun with it. I had a blast at my Baby Shower and I hope that she can have just as much fun! And I was in a car accident the day of my shower! Just before the shower actually. This being her first baby, I would like for her to be able to do all the "first time" stuff! Including the fun baby shower games. We shall see. Hopefully she gets more "into it" as time goes by.

In the meantime, I need to knuckle down and get more of my projects finished! Either that or all she will be getting from me is a few post cards saying "I am making... Please wait for gift to arrive in the mail!" LOL.I have a few things near done. One thing completely done and wrapped and ready to give to her at her shower. That was something that took me not too long to make but it was my first try at making one for someone and I feel it turned out rather well. It is gender neutral and hopefully I can find the time and energy to make one that is gender specific once we know what they are having!

I got a message from my brother-in-law last night that my 4 year old was refusing to eat dinner. So, they stripped him down to nothing (to avoid further mess and stains as he was already trying to destroy his clothes) and made him sit there until he ate. In the time it took my brother-in-law and I to have the conversation about what was going on the 4 year old was sent to bed with no dessert and no television! I apologized to them for his behavior and said that is exactly what I would have done. The look on my sons face in the picture that was sent along was priceless! You could tell that he was not happy with being naked at all! But, as the saying goes, do the crime then do the time! Hopefully by the end of next week he will be aloud to come back again. I do not know why my kids tend to act out the way they do sometimes. My oldest and the baby were awesome while on our mini vacation. I get home and I am told that the 6 year old was great and minded his Dad the entire weekend and he turns around and starts being a brat to me. What is that about? Some peoples kids... He turned it around at bed time however and decided he had missed me and his brothers.

Now that I have rambled on and on. I can do it some more! With the weather warming up and things not as cool as before it is time to break out the shorts and tanks! In my case, I have to buy some new things for the summer. I started my new stash with a pair of shorts that go to my knees and some tanks my sister gave me when I visited her. I foresee needing to buy more in the near future. If I can get my weight in check that is. I seem to be stuck at this one weight and not moving very fast in the loosing direction. I think I need to be a little more strict with myself in what I eat in the next few days, weeks and maybe months to come and see if I can get the pounds to drop like they had been. I lost 15 or so pound right after having the baby in November and around another 15 to 20 pounds since I started low-carbing on January 1st. Since my weight keeps bouncing back and forth between these 2 weights I am frustrated to no end! It is a total loss of between 30 to 35 pounds, depending on the day!

Today, a 3 carb Atkins bar and 3 cups of coffee for breakfast and then a salad for lunch and BBQ (on the George Foreman Grill inside) for dinner! Hoping to have dropped a few extra pounds tomorrow when I check out my weight again!

Now that I have rambled and rambled and probably numbed a few minds with my ramblings... I shall leave you for today! Enjoy and have a great day!

~TTFN!

Happy Thursday!

Yesterday was another busy one!

I decided to check my email while taking the kids to the bus stop in the morning and found that both my oldest 2 boys have been accepted into the K12 home school program for next year! Yippy! How exciting is that?

Then my sister arrived in the afternoon and things got a little crazy after that. As is normal. My boys adore their Aunt to no end. Which I can understand because she is my older sister and I too have looked up to her since I was a young child and know exactly how they feel.

Today however, was slightly busier! LOL. We got up, my sister had been asked by the kids to walk them to the bus, then we had breakfast and my mom and husband were off to go work for a bit. This left my sister and I at home to spend a little time "relaxing" with the baby and 4 year old. (That consisted of each of us playing some sort of game on some sort of electronic device and myself feeding the baby at the same time. Either way, silence!) Then we were off! We met up with my mom and husband so that my husband could take the 4 year old back home and my mom, sister and I could go shopping with the baby in tow!

Since we have a couple new (to us) baby shops in our town, we decided to stop by a few. The first was Baby PHASES and although they have a lot of great things in their store I have to warn you, expensive is not a term I would use lightly! They had 2 packs of cloth diapers for just under $30! That is a bit much in my opinion. After that we headed over to a little shop called Kids Paradise (click here to view their Google Maps page) which is actually the same place I found my car seat for the baby! I had never seen a car seat in the print I got his in, until I got his. And as it always goes, you get one and that is what you see all over town! In any case, we found a few things there for my sisters soon to be baby and also a new little red speedo type swimsuit for my baby. I love the idea of him having something to wear into our pool during the summer that is not a diaper that will just become a nasty mess 5 seconds after hitting the water! We had time to hit another baby shop before it was time to stop for a few and feed my pregnant sister! And that last stop would be a store that I myself had never been in but have been hearing a lot about and its name would be The Stylish Stork(That is their facebook page... Like them! I did) Awesome name if you ask me by the way. It is a non-profit store and all of their earnings go to the community. That is a huge plus in my book. I have been to a few other "consignment" shops in our area before who claim to do the same thing and their selections are not as good as the selection I saw at The Stylish Stork today. I will be highly recommending this place to all my friends. We also found another swimsuit there that I love. It has a Beach print on the material and a little fish that dangles just below the belly button. Super Cute! I am sure that during the summer I will be posting pictures of little man in his little "speedo's"! We stopped in at a few other places that are more well known as well. Sadly, we did not find anything to speak of at those places.

Tomorrow is the big "trip day"! In the morning the 4 year old heads off to Washington with my sister while my mom, 7 year old, baby and I head to Portland to visit family there and to help start the cleaning at my cousins house for my sisters baby shower come July. The 6 year old is spending some time with Daddy while the rest of us our away. The 2 older boys are going to school for only a few short hours tomorrow morning so that the "loading" of the cars isn't as difficult as it would be with 2 extra (excited) bodies flying around the house. To start out their "Father, Son time", my husband is taking the 6 year old with him for a few "pre-employment tests" that he needs to get done. He had an interview awhile back at the Hospital and they called him today and offered him the job! Woohoo! I am proud of my husband for finding a job. Not an easy thing to do in the economy that we live in. This will also help in the financial issues as well as the stress levels. I love my husband dearly, I do! However, I think that in the last year we have spent a wee bit too much time together and that we both were craving the time apart that we had when one or both of us had a job. Granted, our last jobs were at the same place and we sat, at farthest distance, a mere 3 cubicles apart! But it was time for us to go to work and do our own thing. We had separate lunch and break schedules along with our own groups of "friends".

Now, I say friends in quotes because neither of us really ever got to spend time making friends with the people we worked with because at the end of the day we were both tired and just wanted to come home and see our kids. However! I do have one friend who is the only one to make me feel important enough to keep around! I made that friend while working there. She is my only friend who came to see me while I was at the hospital after having my baby. She was the first person to come visit me in the hospital when I was re-admitted with Postpartum Pre-Eclampsia (Yes, it happens. But only to freaks like me! LOL). And when my 4 year old (3 at the time) was admitted to the hospital and all I needed was someone who would even suggest they would be there for me... She was! And I know that if she is reading this, she knows exactly who she is! I feel she should know how important she is to me and how much she has effected my life. I know I didn't leave that job on the best of terms as far as the job goes. But I have a great friend thanks to having that job!

Now that I have babbled on and on about home schooling, baby shopping and friendship I fear it is time to sign off and get back to everyone after I return home. Which should be Sunday for those who are curious. I hope to post Sunday Night once the kiddos are in bed for the night and comfortable. Until then, as always....

~TTFN!

PS: Thank you for reading my cray lady rantings about this, that and the other. It helps me to know that people care about my life too and that they will come back for more. Even if it is just coming back for a laugh or two here and there!

Cuteness, Kids and Crafts!

Well, Here we are...

Another day in the life of me!

I know I said I would be back to tell everyone what I had for dinner the other night. And I fail miserably. But in all honesty, it wasn't that fabulous lol. We ended up having "Better with Cheddar" hotdogs and spicy burger patties on a bed of lettuce and shredded cheese for the adults and regular old hotdogs for the kiddos. However, with some "chipotle madness" BBQ sauce topping the spicy burger patty, it was super yummy! In my opinion, last nights dinner was even better! only because my 7 year old tried some of it... AND LOVED IT! This is big in our house. He has always been a very picky eater. But out of the blue, somethimes he suprises us all with food choices. I had fed the boys spehgetti for dinner and then started cooking the pork for the adults. Nine times out of ten my oldests picks what him and his brothers are going to eat and then the adults (my mother, husband and myself) will eat a little later. Well, I cooked the pork up and made some broccoli to go with it and called the adults to the table. My oldest came in and said, "Mom, that looks really good. Can I try some?" WHOA! Who are you and what did you do with my picky son??? Of course, he got to try it and kept saying that he really was enjoying the "chicken". Yes, I corrected him and told him it was pork. He said back "I know. But I just like to say chicken better." (Ok, I guess it is chicken then!) He then began to tell me that he was going to try to eat a little bit of what we have for dinner every night. That way he can try new things and figure out what else he likes.

I had him tell me 7 different meals he enjoyed for dinner after he gave me a really hard time one night for letting his younger brother pick out dinner. I then informed him that I would make him one of those items for dinner 6 nights of the week but that on any given night I got to pick something "new" and not on his list. He agreed. However, he is now deciding that he "does not like" the things on said list. The list seems to have worked for about a week or two. I am glad he has decided to change what he eats now though because I was extremely tired of the smell of spehgetti almost every night of the week. *yuck!*

Now we have Baby Wyatt and his first experience with Green Beans! Yum!

He has even started to open his mouth when he sees the spoon coming towards him. Which makes feeding time that much more fun! He started out eating just rice cereal and has been trying a new veggi every week. He started on carrots, then sweet potatos and now on to the green beans. We have peas and squash waiting their turn.

I am glad that he enjoys his veggies so well. I don't believe his brothers were this easy to feed veggies! Eventually, he will get to try fruits but not until he gets to try every veggi. I wont even buy fruits yet for him. Not until he has those veggies. LOL

For some reason it feels like I do not have time to complete any of my projects lately. This could be in part because I have so many going on. I am doing WAY more than (what feels like) humanly possible. I have a bunch of different projects going on. Some of them are for my sister and her baby (and since she is my only follower currently I can not say what they are) and some are for Christmas for the entire family. The Christmas gifts aren't exactly started yet. But they are being plotted in my head! A matching gift for everyone, hand made by me, is one thing I have planned.



Remember that monkey print I said something about? There it is. All pieces are cut out and ready to sew together to form another Mombo pillow slip cover. I did not have the energy to cut out other materials for the third slip cover so those are still waiting to be cut out. I completely LOVE this pillow! I hope to eventually get in the swing of things with it and remember to take it with me in the car to "feed on the go"! I hurt my back more while feeding in the car than I do at home while not using the Mombo. The pillow is also great for tummy time for the baby and also for helpng him to sit up better. I couldn't have asked for a better baby gift! (My husband's Aunt sent a gift card to Babies 'R' Us) I recommend that every mom have a Mombo or Boppy pillow and a Bumbo! The Bumbo is a great alternative to a highchair, as long as you have the "Play Tray" to go with it. See below!

Sorry for the blurry picture. Wyatt moves, a lot!

We have a busy week, weekend and next week to follow, starting tomorrow! My sister will be here (YAY! I am so excited! Litrally! No sarcasm!) in the afternoon. In the evening, the guy from Schwan's will be here, huge event at our house because all the boys love to talk to him! Thursday I get to spend a little time with my sister while the kids go to school and my mom and husband go work. Then, on Friday, the boys are going to school, my sister is taking the 4 year old home with her, I am picking the boys up at school around 10 or so, meeting my husband to give him the 6 year old and get my mom and then we are off to Portland to visit some family with the baby and 7 year old. I promised my cousin that I would help her clean her house so that I could host my sisters baby shower at her house in July. I also told my Grandmother that I would visit with her for a bit and let her meet her newest (from me anyways, my cousin had a baby 11 weeks after me) great grandson. On Sunday, I will be headed home with the kiddos and leaving my mother in Portland. The following Wednesday my mom and cousin will be back here to visit and so my mom can work. Next up is my mom and cousin going to my sisters house to pick up the 4 year old, drop off some things at my sisters and then bring home my 4 year old and mom. Told you I was going to be busy! LOL

Tonight for dinner: Broccoli & cheddar stuffed broccoli with fried zucchini on the side along with broccoli slaw! Yum, yum, yum! I foresee the children eating hotdogs or some variety of "left overs". (This mom still can not cook for only 3 little people instead of 3 little people and 3 to 4 adults)

Thank you for reading. I shall return. Will you?

~TTFN





A couple of busy days, a weekend and a craft project finally finished

So I mentioned making a slip cover for my Mombo pillow the other day... her it is!

This is the "before" picture (sleeping baby included!)

And here is the "after" or the finished project

We just so happened to have a green zipper to add on to match the material.

And since the before had the baby... so does the after!

The creation of this cover was rather interesting. However, this material only cost about $1.50 per yard so there was no real money lost if we messed up. Turns out, messing up was just in the cards. it just happened that way.

First, we made a "pattern" for the top and bottom parts and that seemed to turn out well. The part that we had the "issue" with was the side piece. we had 22" for the zipper section so that there was seaming room to go with our 20" zipper. Measuring all the way around was 82" and we already had the 22" section. So, we needed only 60 more inches right? Wrong. we then cut a 42" piece (the width of the material we used) and now had 64", leaving 18" to go. So, we cut that part! And, the sewing begins! the side piece attached nicely to the first side until almost finished where we needed another 6" cut! There is a slight overlap at the end of the zipper, but turns out that this just made it easier to "stuff" the big pillow inside! I am happy with the finished project and hope to make at least 2 or 3 more. One of which I am super excited for! I found a material that I used on another project, that I can not show here yet. (I will once my sister has her baby shower) I also have a Monkey print I plan to use and a "baby farm animal" print that actually comes in several different varieties that I plan to get the other "types" of to create a set for my sister and her baby and also a few things for my kiddos because I love it THAT much!

That was our Saturday night project. You'll notice I saw "our" and "we" a lot. That would be because I do most of my craft work and cooking with my Mother. I have been attempting to take pictures of everything as I go along and I apologize, but everyone will have to wait until after my sisters shower (July 7th, if you were curious) to see them all. I am crocheting, knitting, quilting, sewing and just flat out coming up with ideas for things to give to my sister and her baby (it is her first and I have 4 that she has just spoiled with the Auntie love! It is time to spoil back! LOL). If you have ever received anything handmade from family and can help with ideas, leave a comment so we can discuss it please! I am not only making "baby" things. I feel that all Mommies deserve a little something for just them as well. If she chooses to use it with baby, so be it.

Our weekend started off slightly calm with a trip to the urologist for my husband that was only supposed to take around 20 minutes and it turned into 2-ish hours. I am not sure why! So, now my husband and I both can no longer have children. Which is in some ways a bummer since we had all boys and a daughter would have been nice. That is where I hope my sister has a girl. Then I can "spoil" her baby with all the happy pinks and purples, ruffles and flair! I am also still giving her all my "boy" stuff because, hey, girls can like trains and planes too ya know! Plus, if it is a girl, my sister will for sure get tired of all of the pink fluffy frilly girly stuff that she will want to hurl! When I have seen some of my friends daughters closets I have wondered why they hadn't gone out and bought a pair of overalls. Those, always handy in a clothing "pinch". Don't know what to put on baby? A onesie and overalls works wonders on any gender! I also have enough baby clothes from all 4 of my boys to smother a large mammoth! I could bet that I have at least another 2-3 boxes of sizes Newborn, 0-3 and 3-6 month baby clothes out in storage that one or two of my boys has never worn! Which, in some cases, is fine by me because of the amount that I have. Some things I feel the urge to cry if I have it miss my last baby. His dresser drawers are overflowing though, so he doesn't need anymore anyways! LOL

Do you see the brownish colored square? That would be a chunk of cardboard on the inside of a diaper that almost went on my child!

I called the company that made this diaper and am currently awaiting 2 coupons for compensation. (1 $5 coupon and 1 $10 coupon) At the same time they plan on sending my a self addressed, stamped envelope to return the diaper to them. Just to save myself the extra trouble I will be waiting for my coupons to arrive before I send them anything! Along with taking "proof" pictures so that they can't try to say it never happened. The even more interesting part is that their "16 digit assembly/batch code" was missing on the diaper. Only 3 of the 16 numbers are there. Needless to say, I was rather irritated when they didn't offer a little bit more for the "issue" but, I am not one to pry or cause a larger issue.

I am just glad that we aren't doing "double diapers" again! When my second son was born, my first was still in diapers. Then, my third was born and the second was in diapers but the first was potty trained. This time, the third was potty trained shortly after finding out I was pregnant with number four. Now we have to go the normal almost 2 years until we can potty train this one and be done with the whole diaper thing!

The above video is of my youngest doing "the babble thing" and when you get about 13 seconds in he realizes that we are watching him. Thus the laughter! I hope you enjoy!

That is all for today. I will be back to post our Low-carb dinner tonight or tomorrow. I can not wait! Yum! 

~TTFN

Post number 2... of 2! A busy day in the life of me!

Found today to be rather interesting. Here is why...

First, I got up with my boys to take them to the bus and send them on their way to school. At the bus stop the kids (2 of their school-mates go to the same stop) decided to play tag. Tag is not what I remember it to be. First, these kids (my 2 included) have their own set of rules! They declare one of the two oldest to be "it". If it turns out that the one chosen does not want to be "it" the other volunteers. Then the running begins! Oh how I don't have the energy for that. now, just when the one who is "it" is about to touch another one of the kids and "tag" them as "it", the kids yell out "T!!!" (for time out, I assume) and this means the one who is "it" must change course and run after someone else. Once an adult tells the kids that yelling "T" is somewhat like cheating they say "Ok, no T." After that is over with they begin to say "Frozen!" and this also means they can not be tagged. It is interesting to watch these 4 kids play tag with their own "rules".  When you consider the things kids do these days that they never used to do, it can be amazing and sometimes scary all at once.

That leads me to the part of the day after the kids got onto he bus and went on their way. I decided to catch up on reading some of the things posted on CafeMom or The Stir. There was one article I found interesting that actually sparked a Dinner Conversation (we'll get to that later on). It was about how our childrens childhoods will be different from ours. (here is the link) There really are some things on there that not only I can relate to, but my Mother and Husband as well. The reading of this article happened while waiting for my mother at the dentist's office. After my husband joined us (my 4 year old, 4.5 month old and myself) in the parking lot of the dentist's office and took my mother to go do some cleaning for her business I was headed home with the little ones and ready to take care of some things.

Turns out, my version of "taking care of things" and my 4 year olds version of that, are very different. He wasn't feeling too great all morning and once we got home he headed straight to the couch, kicked off his shoes and covered up with a blanket. That is when this mama caved into "child pressure". I told him he could lay in my bed, watch tv and have lunch in there too. He was thrilled! Of course, I made sure that he had plenty to drink (to keep him hydrated) along with a "puke bucket" just in case. (Side note and some background: Back in February he was hospitalized for 2 full days because he had gotten a chest cold that was causing him to have trouble breathing along with vomitting. He has been on meds since and they had been working. Until yesterday!) This made things calmer for the time being because the baby was still asleep in his carseat from the ride home. I had time to relax and start some web games with family and catch up on some e-mails. (Difficult passtime when you haven't had internet at home in over 2 years like I have)

In the afternoon I had an appointment with a therapist to discuss a few things. (I only have 2 sessions left with her and one of those she would like my husband to join in on) My mother went with me so that she could help me remember a few things I wanted and needed to ask the therapist about. Also, the baby tagged along. (Never leave home without him!) The baby was a hit! She also taught him a few tricks that were amazing to us all that he is able to do at such a young age. She mentioned that she had never gotten any child younger than 6 months to do the tricks she taught him before. (My son is brilliant, I know! LOL)

After that appointment I still had hopes of getting home with enough time to spare to make a slip cover for my Mombo pillow that I bought "Nude" (as shown in the link) and would like to get something to cover it with (besides the "over-priced", in my opinion, slip covers you can also purchase from Babies 'R' Us) so that it doesn't get stained and gross. Also, would like to give it to my sister for her baby once my baby "out grows" it. That is, if she doesn't get herself one before then since our kids will be 10 months apart. In any case, that obviously didn't happen. We had to stop by Wal-mart to pick up a few things and ran into a friend of my mothers. We have known them since 1980-something (since I was a young child) and they haven't talked much recently so, there was some catching up to do! Which was fine by me. This gave me some time to paroose the book section and find a few books I may someday want to read, and some I wont. We ended up finding only a few things we needed and of course, as usual for us, some we didn't. We found diapers that we had a $2 off coupon for and figured Why Not?! Along with a couple other things my lovely sister gave us coupons for my baby for. She is using cloth diapers for her baby, along with homemade wipes and other "earth-natural" stuff. (If you too are interested in that sort of thing along with Chicken raising and other "craft-like" projects and low-carbing then check out her blog too! Here! I am addicted to it myself!) I truely look forward to my sister finally having a baby of her own. I am her younger sister and have 4 and this is her first and hopefully not last.

So now, on home we go, at 6:30 at night! We got about half way home when the baby started screaming! Yes, he was DONE being in his carseat! (Mind you, this is how we spent 65% of our trip home from my sisters house 2 weeks ago in the car, not fun!) We get home and as I walk through the door with a screaming baby my 7 year old and 6 year old both yell out... "CAN I PLAY WITH THE KINDLE?" Now, these 2 boys haven't seen me since they got on the bus this morning. They haven't asked me how my day went. This irritated me. So, I said no. This causes the 7 year old to go into melt down! In the long run, I got them told that the Kindle had lost all battery power and needed to charge. Once that was over, showers began. Because the 4 year old was still sick, he got a bath. The 7 year old and 6 year old got to have their normal showers and then it was dessert and movie time and then bed once the 1 hour timer shut off. The 4 year old got a bath, followed quick with menthal chest rub on his chest and back and then a puff of the inhaler and his other normal meds and then off to bed for him. However, that kiddo had been sleeping most of his day away and wasn't all that tired. He ended up crawling into bed with Grandma not too long ago to "get warm".

In the end, today went pretty good. Tomorrow is the big "Snip Snip" day for my hubby! But other than that it should be a pretty mellow day. Next week, my sister will be in town and is planning on taking my 4 year old home with her at the end of the week. I am taking my Mother, 7 year old and the baby to Portland for the weekend to help out cleaning so that we can hold the baby shower for my sister at our cousins house. During that weekend my Hubby and 6 year old get to  have some "father-son" time. On Sunday I will come home with the 7 year old and the baby so that the 7 year old can head to school on Monday. The following Wednesday my cousin will bring my Mom home. My cousin will hang out for a couple days then off to Washington with my mom to pick up my 4 year old from his Aunts and then my cousin will bring my Mom and son home. See? Busy! During all of the above I will try to keep up to date on all of my blog. Also, I will post pictures of the Mombo Slip Cover once I am done making the "tester". I would also like to add that the slip covers I make will never be sold or distributed. They are for my own families use. :-)

If you are still with me, Thank you for reading! Take care! Hope to see you here again... Tomorrow maybe?

My First post, in a long list of (I hope) many!

Welcome to my blog!

I am excited to finally get one of these going. I have been addicted to my sisters blog for some time now and decided that I too have a lot going on in my life, why not create a blog and tell people about it too! I hope this turns out to be enjoyable for more than just me. I am the Mother of 4 terrific boys! The Wife to a man I adore! (Although we all have our flaws!) The Low-Carber (as of this year and The Learning Coach once the 2012-2013 school year starts. My boys have been put through way too much in the "brick & mortar" school system that I felt it was time to take them under my own wing and show them how it is done. My oldest son (7 years old) is actually bored with the 2nd grade curriculum! And that is my main reason to have him home schooled. he will have the chance to excel at what he knows and wont be held back by all of his "classmates". I shall return to fill in more of how things have come to be how they are today, tomorrow! Below are my boys! I am so proud of them. I always take pictures of them, so please look forward to that! Enjoy!


My oldest, Logan Age: 7

Boy #2, Riley Age: 6

3rd in my brood, Tanner Age: 4 (3years in photo)

Last but not least, Wyatt 4.5 months old (3 months in photo)