Catching Up from Summer

I am sitting on my couch, watching Kingdom (thanks Hillery!), and luxuriating in the bliss of not having an appointment to get taken care of. Oh yes, my "to do" list is still about a mile long, but I'm ignoring it. The deadline appointments are done with for at least a few days, and I'm trying to decompress instead. That and get my brain out of a gluten fog.

Let's start with that.

We're on our second off day after working 15 days in a row. I really am not a huge fan of double shifts. We've done them a few times, and I know some people who don't mind them, but I'm afraid I'm just not one of them. I think it's my introverted nature that starts screaming out to be left alone for awhile, and during the summer--particularly a summer with a baby--it is 24/7, or in this case, 24/15. During the school year it's not so rough because we get some down time during the week day (normally).

This particular double shift was even more intense than normal due to a combination of factors:

1. We have another new girl in the cottage. I've decided to call her Kanga--she's had some physical issues and is currently on crutches (and might be for quite awhile)--thus the nickname. 10 years old, she is fun and, so far, pretty easy to get along with. We'll see how it goes after the honeymoon period  wears off. Settling in new residents always takes a substantial amount of work just in balancing out all the rest of the residents in the cottage as they shift and shuffle in their social network, trying to settle themselves into new places.

2. Another factor in the shuffling of social layouts was that our Labrador moved to another house two days before Kanga moved in. Labrador was quite a strong factor in the house, to put it mildly. The removing of her influence has had a large impact on all the girls and even on us.

3. Clothes shopping. School started on day 14 of our shift, and as the girls were blessed with some money for shopping, and the consignment sale was in town, I had the fun responsibility of taking them shopping. This means shopping (on my own, thankfully) for a 6 month old, a two year old, a three year old (who I have decided to break with tradition and nickname Sweetie for this blog because that is, apparently, what Blueberry has settled on calling her), and a five year (nickname determined to be Gopher--have you seen the Youtube video?). All this followed by shopping with a ten year old in a wheelchair/crutches, two eleven year olds, and a 12 year old! I went one night and an additional morning to the consignment sale. Then I went out all day with two of the older girls. Followed the second day by two more girls. Followed by a third day with one more of the girls. And I'm still not fully done! I like clothes shopping in moderation, but enough is enough.

4. Blueberry's birthday--my little girl turned 3! And, oh my goodness, was she excited to have a birthday party. Of course, I had to shake my head in amusement as my little introvert burst into tears upon playing a party game; she did enjoy just watching though. We went with My Little Pony theme as she loves them and, frankly, it made for fun party planning. More details to come at Blueberry Bits.

Birthday Cake pancakes on the morning of her birthday. Party wasn't until the day after. I love this picture just because of how Baby Q is determined to get into it in the background!

I finally did my rainbow cake I've been wanting to do. Was so pleased with how it turned out!

Rainbow cake view 2.

Twilight Sparkle and Pinky Pie and Doggie making friends.

4. This was immediately followed by Chris' birthday--for which a gluten free Boston Cream Pie had to be made (and of course consumed) and a good game of Ticket of Ride.

5. Our chef, who is normally the hero of the summer, producing at least an evening meal for us, more frequently an evening and lunch meal (at least during the weekday), has had an awful few weeks of it himself--resulting in us doing all the cooking. For every meal. While trying to do all of the above. And this shall continue until we know not when.

6.  Add into this a bout of Baby Q producing two more teeth (makes four now!), then getting sick with a fever and wanting to be held 24 hours a day, including only sleeping on top of me for multiple nights in a row, and my dumb mistake of eating an entire bowl of gluten filled spaghetti sauce (thought it was chili--how I managed to confuse them can be chalked up to sleep deprivation, a sleepy baby eating through my shirt to get to milk NOW, low blood sugar, and eight children all talking/crying at once).

For the record, I definitely still do not do well with gluten. I made the mistake Saturday and now I am still feeling it. Barely made it through the last few days of our shift and, five days later, I'm still dealing with tender joints; although, the extreme exhaustion, headaches, and painful skin, stomach ache, etc have at last subsided.

7. And did I mention I threw a baby shower today for a friend? Yeah...planned all that in the midst of the above. Sigh. I fully admit that a few things did not come to fruition as planned simply on just not having enough time. Or energy. Or hours in the day. Or hands.

Capris. Because I love them dearly.

Mustache theme. These were a hit--at least according to my husband! Love Pesto.

Baby shower cake--in a baby food jar!

Thus back to the "get my brain out of a gluten fog" luxuriating in watching Kingdom part of this story. Which only took me 8 hours to write because, hey, this is my life.

Call the Midwife

Not for me--don't worry, Mum. I just took the advice of several people, and watched Season One of Call the Midwife through Netflix. Am now watching Season Two because I thoroughly enjoyed Season One.

I find the show fascinating. Everything I have read of the post World War II era in England is beautifully represented in the shows. The births are definitely very realistic (Chris says its to traumatic for him!), but the variety of situations and the well-interwoven personal stories of the midwives are intriguing and often thought provoking.

My thanks to everyone who told me I should watch it. You know me well.

Old Year, New Year, and Other Randomness

Well, once again it has been several weeks since I've blogged and in that time I feel like I've run a marathon. Let's see if we can play catch up.

1. As of today, I am officially 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant pregnant. Which means I can legally (by the state of Arkansas) give birth at home with a midwife. Yay! Which is doubly good as I've had plenty of contractions the last week; although, its hard to tell if they are simply stress induced or actually going somewhere.


Other than the marked uptake in contractions, I've been doing pretty well except for the carpal tunnel that has been bothering me in both my wrists. And yes, the irony that I'm typing right now is not lost on me, but at three am, one has to do something when one can't sleep. And I just can't sleep tonight. I had a little bit of carpal tunnel last pregnancy, but the last few weeks have not been pleasant at all in that regards. Makes sleeping even trickier because you're not supposed to sleep on your back and yet if I sleep on my sides, it greatly exacerbates the pain in whichever arm is underneath. I'm finding wrapping my right wrist at night, which is the one that particularly is bothersome, is helpful in keeping the pain down, but as I said earlier, tonight sleep is just not with me at all.

I feel like I'm still struggling to be fully prepared for Baby Q to come along. All the pieces are slowly coming together, and really I do have the essentials. Almost. Still need to get a new infant car seat and holders for both the car and the van. But in general I don't feel like I've created a space for him yet, physically. That's my job currently; get that final layout in place. The mental prep is coming along, and in the last few days, I've found myself more and more ready to hold my little boy.

To think positively for myself though, I do have baby clothes that are washed (if sitting in a laundry basket waiting to be put away), diapers that are ready, my labor stuff is all ready, bills are all caught up, and I have frozen banana bread! So really, we're not doing that bad. And I have a list of meals to make and freeze (thank the Lord I had not actually managed to do any pre-freezing of meals before Christmas or they probably all would have been lost...more on that in #2).

2. We've had multiple random Christmases this year.

Several parties involving the cottage girls and Blueberry. Blue has really picked up on what "presents" are, which has been both good and bad because obviously if everyone is getting a present, she wants one! And she's still got some learning concerning some presents are for others and not her.

Then we had our little cottage gift exchange. We wanted to do this before Christmas (even though the girls technically don't get the bulk of their presents until January 7 because of donations still coming in) because as of December 28 we are officially down to 7 kids total (counting Blueberry). Our Panda Bear has gone home, we hope for good (not that we don't want her, but she actually has a decent home to go to, it is simply up to her to keep her behavior together so that she can stay there!). The girls all had presents for each other and we had presents for them, so we went ahead and squeezed in a mini Christmas exchange before Panda left. I spent several hours (OK, a lot of hours!) putting together a photo book of pictures from this year, individualized for each girl. It was a lot of fun, and from the general absorption that fell over the cottage when we let them open their gifts, I think the girls appreciated their books.

The next Christmas celebration was with my brother and sister-in-law.  That was a fun time. They arrived Friday the 28th, by which time all the girls except Butterfly had gone elsewhere for Christmas as they were shutting our cottage down for the holiday. We kept Butterfly until Monday for stability sake. Saturday we drove to Little Rock and enjoyed the zoo, delicious Indian food, and a general tour of our favorite places in Little Rock including the GF bakery.

Because whatever Blueberry does, Doggie must do to...

Blueberry and Butterfly were their usual hysterical selves, and that just added a fun element to the day. I swear I don't know what I'm going to do if/when Butterfly gets sent somewhere else. She and Blueberry have become so close, it's going to be a rough day for our little Blue to lose her friend/sister.

Sunday we enjoyed a Christmas service and then had our modest Christmas celebration that night.

Monday morning they left early and mid-afternoon my sister and her husband arrived! Just to keep the celebrating going, you know! Tuesday--Christmas day officially--we did our gift exchange with them. The day, however, was punctuated by steady rainfall in the morning, dropping temperatures, ice accumulation by evening, and finally snow. Around 8:30pm, just as we were settling in for a movie, the power went out. Completely. For the whole night. And the next day. For the whole campus.

 All bundled up for breakfast by candlelight.

 The front of our cottage. 

The following pictures come from around campus. Did I mention we live on a really beautiful piece of property? Cause we do. Just cold when we have no heat!

 These trees that line the main entrance-way are probably the worst part of the storm's aftermath. They've all been severely de-limbed, which is sad because they're normally a beautiful indicator of the passing of the seasons. 

 
Joy and Adam left early the next morning, and we were left to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, we were still a closed cottage at that point, so we didn't have to worry about anyone other than us. So we kind of piddled around all day. Went and played outside at one point. Finally got the power back on at 7:30pm. Light! Heat! Beautiful!

 Blueberry's inspecting the snow.

Snowman

I went to sleep around 11:30pm, and woke up an hour later on Wednesday 12:30am when the power went back out again. Only this time it stayed off for the next three days. We went back on duty on Wednesday. For some reason, some of the cottages and a few of the buildings on campus had power (different grid line or something?), so we wound up bunking in at the high school girls cottage for three days. It wasn't so bad, but having four adults (plus the HPs over there had their adult daughter staying with them) and 14 kids ages 2 to 17 in one house was quite interesting.

We played quite a few games (the girls all really got into Pit), discovered that Blueberry and Butterfly are terrible roommates as they create double havoc at night time when they want to (they slept on the floor in the same room we were sleeping in, just on opposite sides of the bed). Got some gift cards to go to Chic Fil-et one day as that was actually open and we just needed to get the girls out, hit a basketball game, watched some movies, and generally tried to encourage good attitudes, avoiding trouble, and calm.

The most depressing moment was coming over to our cottage on Saturday with the girls and cleaning out the fridges of the last items that were going bad and we just had run out of ways to keep. We did manage to salvage quite a bit, but still, there was an awful lot of dumping that occurred. Having all the help from the girls was great though. We literally lined them all up with garbage bags and filled up the bags which they took outside or elsewhere as needed. Made the whole job go a lot faster. And they apparently thought the whole thing rather fun.

Saturday afternoon, as were were facing the news that the rest of Hot Springs was not scheduled to be reconnected with power until Tuesday, one of the directors finally got on the phone with the mayor (who happens to go to church with him), and we suddenly had power across the whole campus again Saturday evening! Thank the Lord for being the children's home :) 

The girls were hysterical upon coming home. Very happy to be here. In the meantime, we were going off duty that night, so we spent several crazy hours packing up our stuff, settling the girls back into their rooms, scrubbing and restocking the fridges with what we had salvaged, trying to get our paperwork together, and get seven children to bed before our Relief Houseparents came over at 9:30pm.

Oh, and just to make matters worse, it was our last passdown with these particular RHPs before they are scheduled to take over new duties as the HPs in the high school boys cottage! Very sad as it means upheaval for the girls (particularly Butterfly) just as we will be off a lot ourselves whenever Baby Q decides to make his appearance.

We're trying to be scheduled with one set of RHPs as much as possible so as to minimize the change for the girls, but the set who are coming in primarily are actually only temporary RHPs until we get some more RHPs hired. It's just going to be a few months with a lot of change I'm afraid. Plus, on an entirely selfish note, we absolutely loved our old RHPs and are very sad to lose them (even though the situation will be a great one for them!). At least they're still on campus and not gone-gone, but still...

Any ways, back to my original topic in this point. Multiple Christmases. Our final Christmas is tomorrow (Monday) and then the girls are back to school on Tuesday. Blueberry got some of her presents at Christmas, and we have some other presents for her to open with the girls on Monday (it didn't seem right for her to be the only kid sitting there not opening presents. It's going to be a tricky balance as she gets older, but we'll figure it out).

3. Christmas break has been a lot of fun--once we got our power. Just very busy. Lots of appointments, and I've been playing catch up on getting ready for the baby. But we've played games and watched movies and made Peanut Butter Balls (very important!) and gone out shopping, which has all been good. Had some other plans that the storm kind of took out, but I think we've done all right.

New Years Eve we were off duty, and admittedly, we crashed hard for those three days (although I did manage to get the bills paid!). The days prior to that were all the ones of dealing with no power, and that was truly exhausting. Not to mention that my contractions at that point were coming hard enough and frequently enough to make me question whether Baby Q was trying to make his entrance in truly dramatic fashion in the middle of a power outage! Fortunately he apparently does not have a flair for the dramatic and settled back down again--mostly. Our New Years celebration consisted of putting Blueberry to bed, watching a few movies, paying those silly bills, and going outside at midnight to give the girls hugs and wish them a happy new year. I know--we're boring.

4. New Years Resolutions. Well, I have some. Kind of. More my list of items to develop and focus on this year, rather than a bunch of specific resolutions. I think the first quarter of the year is best to be simply titled--Adjust to Changes with Grace for Myself, My Family, and My "Other" Family! If we get through that, we'll be doing good!

5. Blueberry news. She is doing well; although, she still has a cough that just won't clear up. Mind you, I think that's the news for half of us right now. She has officially transferred to a "big girl bed." Mainly, we took the railing off her crib and converted it to the toddler version.That's been an adventure as she definitely likes the freedom of getting out of bed!

The primary issue is that with her potty training, she will get out of bed (before falling asleep) to go potty. Which is fine, except on nights when she just doesn't want to go to sleep and suddenly she has the bladder of, well, a Blueberry! Potty training itself is going really well. She's got the whole process down herself, other than she gets stuck turning the water off sometimes and has been known to climb on the bathroom counter to get to my lotion to put some lotion on her nose because "it hurts." Which it probably does she's been blowing it so much, but she's not to be using my lotion! She's actually napping without diapers at all now, only the occasional accident. Night time she's still in diapers, but really, I think she's doing well!

May you have a blessed Epiphany!

The Whirlwind

As I sit here ridiculously early this morning, I am trying to gather my thoughts and process everything that has happened to us this last week. As I haven't breathed a word of most of this on here--I now get to spill the beans per say. And such beans they are!

Let's begin with last Monday. On that day I received an email that depressed me greatly as yet another one of my friends informed me that she was moving away. And this time on one week's notice.

As I popped over to her house to help her start boxing up her kitchen (packing kitchen's is apparently my specialty as I've packed quite a few friend's kitchen in the last few years), we began talking about the new job they were going to be doing. The more they talked, the more intrigued I became. Chris and I have had a job that we've talked about on and off since before we were married. Then six of seven years ago we had a discussion about dream jobs--and what she was describing was our dream job. Even more than that, what she was describing to me was an answer to our financial, ministry, job, and even family-goals related prayers for the last two years.

And they were hiring.

Wednesday, Chris and I talked it over. I called the director for the company and he confirmed they were still looking, but not exactly for the position that we were wanting. But it was a similar position, and could lead into the opening we were wanting. He said to go ahead and put in our applications, and that he was actually going to be in town next week, so we could do an interview then. That night we put in our applications and went to bed not knowing what to think.

Thursday morning I check my email first thing--we have an email from him. He had reviewed our applications and would look to see us. Immediately. On location. Could we come?

Ensue a flurry of phone calls back and forth between Chris and I. Quick plans and discussions were made. And by 2:30pm Friday afternoon we were on the road, Blueberry in tow, heading to Arkansas.

Yes, Arkansas. To interview to be Relief Houseparents at a Christian children's home for foster children, orphans, etc.

Saturday morning we arrived at the home ready for the interview. One of the first things we were told was that unfortunately he couldn't offer us the position he originally intended.

Our hearts sank. Five hour car trip for nothing.

And then he went on (I'm pretty sure he was enjoying himself). The position he could offer us was that of full time Houseparent to one of the girl's cottages (the children of the home are broken up into six cottages based on age/grade level. Each cottage has it's own set of houseparents)--specifically the little girl's cottage (ages 0-10ish). In other words--exactly the position type (and gender and even age range of kids) that we were most interested in!

We talked and talked and talked all about the home, what happens, how it operates, what our roles would be. Then we drove around in a golf cart and saw all over the beautiful campus, went into the house we would be parenting (if hired), and learned even more about how everything operates. The more we saw and the more information we learned, the deeper our desires grew to be a part of this ministry. Almost from the first moments of hearing about the job itself several days ago, and definitely from the moment we took that fateful step and submitted our applications, both of us had been so excited, but even more, so sure in our spirits that this was where God was leading us. And every moment of that interview simply confirmed our initial response.

Finally after about 2 hours of talk and viewing, we went back to his office and he offered us the job. We accepted on the spot.

And so, in less than two weeks now (July 31/August 1), we will be driving back to Arkansas this time with U-Haul and puppy dog (and child of course) in tow to start a new chapter of our lives that is so entirely different from anything that has come before, it feels like God just pressed the reset button.

Years of prayers, even more years of dreams, all answered in one fell swoop. It will be hard work, sometimes emotionally exhausting work. But it's work that we are both eager to take on. We get to raise our child as we want to raise her--and we get to raise other children right alongside her. We're going from being parents of 1 to parents of potentially up to 10 or 11.

And even as I write this I can hardly believe it. Although if I look at my "to do" list for the next 2 weeks, the reality sets in firmly!

Already my living room is full of moving boxes. I'm trying to plan a make-shift first birthday party/farewell party for next week, see girlfriends who leaving is going to be really hard, make sure I'm stocked up on some Thai ingredients so I don't starve to death (not really that strong on the Asian food stores that I can tell), and sort/pack/toss/sell every item in my house. Oh, and figure out what to do with our house and sell one of our cars as well! Phew. If this is where God has led us, I'm counting on Him to give me the energy and nerves of steel for the next few weeks!

On the Subject of Food

Just got back from grocery shopping. Very tired now. Blueberry is down for a nap, I'm eating a rather late lunch, and decided to take a few moments to write.

I attempted price matching at WalMart today. It went rather well. Granted, I wasn't price matching a whole bunch of stuff, but the few items that I had to match went pretty smoothly. The only minor hiccup I had was when I gave them a catalina from Price Cutter for some almond milk. The lady didn't want to accept it at first, so I was going to go and pull out the WalMart policy and all that, but she called a manger over, and the manager told her it was just fine. Yay!

The advice I read on price matching was to put all the items you're going to price match on the belt at the end, so you can make sure you catch each item as it gets rung up. I also will be putting sticky notes on the items I am price matching (easier for me to find and check and for the cashier). You technically don't have to bring the ad in any more, but I did to be on the safe side and also so I could double check the ad.

I think I will probably do this once in awhile, but not all the time. As I've said before, WalMart is not my favorite place to shop, and they don't have the good meat sales that other stores do. Now price matching will kind of help that, but honestly, the best meal sales I get are the specially reduced items, and you can't price match something like that. However, for those weeks when I need stuff from WalMart already or even for the times when all the stores are having great sales all at the same time, this will be a decent solution.

In other food news. I did make Blueberry some baby food bread. Tried two recipes. The first one I wasn't to impressed with; although, I think if I made it with regular wheat flour instead of GF flour, it would come out better. I haven't tried gluten yet with Blueberry. We were actually going to try this week, but given the nasty diaper rash she's been getting over, I decided I better wait a few more days to make sure that's all cleared up first.

Any ways....recipes. The second recipe I tried came out beautifully. If you're interested, here's the two recipes.

Baby Cereal Cookies (GF/DF/Egg White free) - Variation on the actual recipe

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup vegetable puree (jarred baby food) with a smidgen of oil
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup GF flour mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups infant cereal
• 6 Tbsp water
  

Mix together. Form the dough (it has a spongy texture) into little patties and place on a baking sheet. Bake 375 for 9-10 mins. Remove immediately onto cooling rack

BABY CARROT BREAD - Parenthesis are my notes/adjustments

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I used GF)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. sugar (I used 3 jars of pureed applesauce/pears)
1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 c. water (no water--not needed with the extra moisture from the baby food)
4 sm. jars of pureed carrots (baby food)
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. chopped nuts (left these out)
1 tsp. nutmeg
4 eggs, beaten (used 2 egg yolks - again, didn't need as much due to the added moisture above)
1 c. vegetable oil (no oil)

Sift together flour, soda, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Combine eggs, water, vegetable oil and baby food. Add to dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into 2 well greased loaf pans or into several smaller sized loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Again, I was really pleased with how this one in particular came out. Very moist bread that holds together pretty well. And (depending on the day), Blueberry really likes it!

OK, break over. Must go be productive now.

PinUps

OK, ok, I know. You're sick of hearing about Pinterest. Well, to bad. Because you're probably going to be hearing about it on a regular basis because I love this website!

One of the reasons I'm finding I really enjoy it is I feel like it's another outlet of expression. Pinning the pictures of things that intrigue me, that I enjoy, that evoke some kind of emotional response in me...I feel like it's a way to express a part of who I am without having to say anything.

A second reason I'm enjoying it is that it seems to be giving me the inspirational boost I've needed to do some stuff. Ideas that I'll read about on a blog or in passing on a forum I used to think, "Oh that's a good idea." Maybe I'd bookmark it. Or I'd make a mental note. And then promptly forget about it. I'm finding I don't forget about these because it's easy to revisit and get that quick reminder. And truthfully, I don't want this to just be a time-wasting website (which it could easily be...I'll admit that! Timers are very good when playing with this website), but a website that I take the ideas I get and use them (where applicable of course).

So, partially to just share and partially to check myself that I'm not letting ideas and concepts that I enjoy slip by me but I'm actually doing things--I'm going to be doing a regular Pinterest post.

I want two elements in this post. My five favorite pins of the week (or weeks, depending on how well I'm doing blogging!), and my most recent Pin-spiration.

In the meantime, I give you my pins of the week(ish).

Top 5 Pins of the Week:

1. I wish I had the skill to make this for Blueberry's birthday.

Source: saraspartyperfect.com via Hanna on Pinterest

2. If you haven't been following the Old Spice Guy commercials, this particular Pin will make no sense to you. If you have, you will probably understand why it made me laugh so hard:

Source: warmingglow.uproxx.com via Hanna on Pinterest

3. I'm going to take this picture with Blueberry. Asap.

Source: flickr.com via Hanna on Pinterest

4. There is something about this picture that deeply touches me.

Source: 1x.com via Hanna on Pinterest

5.This is another Pin that is on there because of how much it makes me laugh.

Source: mamaiscomic.com via Hanna on Pinterest

Pinspiration:

I'm going to list two Pinspirations (I love coining words) this time.

1. My office in a closet was totally Pinterest inspired:

Source: beneathmyheart.net via Hanna on Pinterest

2. I found this tip the other day and am now (slowly) putting it into practice. Put your matching sheet sets (and all pillowcases) inside their appropriate pillowcase and store that way. Brilliant!

Source: storageandglee.blogspot.com via Hanna on Pinterest

In the household news...

Since Blueberry's surgery (and my last blog)....

1. Blueberry is doing much better. The first few days were pretty rough, but she seems to be healing nicely. She has an inch plus scar, but when her pediatrician saw it a few days ago, she commented that she didn't think it would stay a permanent scar.

In fact, since the surgery, Blueberry is more mobile than ever. We're thinking that the hernia was slowing her up in terms of crawling and potentially other movement. Before her crawling was awkward. One leg was down in the traditional crawl position but the other was always kind of propped up. Now she's crawling like a normal baby. And getting into everything. She's also continuing to pull herself up on all things reachable and is getting good at moving from one piece of furniture to another. Even though we can officially say she is crawling now, I don't think it's going to last long.

2. In other Blueberry news, her latest tricks of the last month: clapping. She's started this thing of sitting in one spot and using her heels to rotate in a full circle. Rather funny to watch. Interesting conversations going on all the time. She has finally figured out the sign for "food". Refuses to learn "more".

3. My house is piley. By which I mean that there are piles of things everywhere. Part of this is stuff we need to put into our shed (box sitting for my parents while they're overseas). Part of this is partially finished projects that need to be completed (garage needs tidying out, master bedroom needs some work, I've just rearranged our study--more on that later). Must get taken care of. Beginning to get under my skin!

4. Am trying to determine the best action to take concerning her current pediatrician. I like the office we're a part of mainly because they let us give her shots as we like without hassle. However, her actual pediatrician is bugging me. I've had a few things in past visits that have kind of irritated me; however, her 9 month appointment (which we just had on Friday) really got under my skin. Am I over-reacting? I don't think so, but judge for yourself.

Basically what happened was we went in, they did the usual height/weight etc. Blueberry now weighs 14.5lb and is 28". The doctor came in and commented that she was getting "really concerned" about Blueberry's weight. I had to point out to her that when we came in the week before at the start of our hernia adventure, they had weighed her in at 16lbs (with her clothes on), and at the hospital, they had weighed her in at 15.5lbs (diaper only). And as she had just had surgery as well as having had several days of not eating well, was it really surprising that she had lost weight? Should I really have to be pointing this out to the doctor (who has Blueberry's chart in front of her as have this discussion)? Other than that, she has stayed within the same percentile for her weight basically since she was born. She's growing and gaining weight. Just at a lower percentile.

They then did the hemoglobin/iron levels test. Nurse came back in and said we were good to go. I got a call Saturday morning from the pediatrician's office. Apparently her doctor is concerned about her iron levels and was recommending we start her on iron supplements immediately. The nurse proceeds to give me the name of the supplements. I then start asking questions.

Question 1: What about constipation issues that are guaranteed if she's taking iron supplements? We have struggled with constipation ever since Blueberry has started solids (in hindsight this might have something to do with the hernia, but that remains to be fully determined). Their recommendation--another drug that will hep with the constipation. Really?

Question 2: What exactly was her iron levels at? Answer: 11.4. According to the nurse, normal levels are 11.5-13.

I also raised the question of the latest research regarding breastfed babies and iron levels, and increasing iron through food. No answer. I started getting annoyed, finished the phone call, and did some research on my own because a few things just weren't sounding right to me.

Issue 1: According to every thing I can find, normal iron levels at 9 months is considered 10.5-14 (12 average) NOT 11.5-13.

Issue 2: She was sick. Had surgery. Hadn't been eating well. Had lost weight. Oh look--4 things that each on their own can cause someone's iron levels to be lower than normal. But rather than giving her any time to just recover, the pediatrician wants to put her on supplements. Really?

Issue 3 (especially given the facts of Issue 2): She was 1/10 of a percent below their preferred levels. No recommendation regarding having her eat foods high in iron. No. No. We need to put her on drugs. BAH! Just irritating.

Issue 4: It really irritated me that the pediatrician couldn't take the time to look at her levels and have this conversation with me while we were in the office. No, I had to talk only to the nurse from home. This has bothered me greatly.

Any ways, given that this isn't the first time I've had some questions about how our pediatrician works, I have to wonder what to do now.


Well, that's about it in the land of quickish updates. Lord and baby willing, I'll be on here more in the coming weeks.

Daybook March 26

Outside my window...it is rainy and gray and gross and cold. However, I do have a beautiful white tree in my front yard and some lovely red flowers coming out on a nicely-greening bush across the street. So that makes up for the yuckiness a little. This week has really been a typical Missouri week. Gorgeous sunshine and 80s one minute, cold, wet, rainy the next.

I am thinking...that I'm procrastinating on doing a few things. But the day is just so rainy and cold and lazy inducing. I can't help myself!

I am thankful for...finally finding my dress for my sister's wedding. And also got Blueberry's dress (three cheers for consignment sales and affordable children's clothes!). Pictures to come eventually.

From the learning rooms...[or in our case--the learning brain]...The learning has been on mommy's end this week I think. First we've been dealing with the eczema thing (clearing up beautifully by the way--so glad we caught it early). However, Blueberry was not a very easy berry this week. In fact, she was a little fuss pot much of the week and also was worrying me by not wanting to nurse. We were going through the "what it could be's": itchy skin from the eczema (didn't seem like it), teething, shot reaction, just leftovers from to much traveling.....all of the above? While some of the above might have factored in, it seemed like something else was going on. Finally we figured out that her tummy is hurting her and her reflux has picked up again. Did some reading and realized that I had not been feeding her a good enough mix of food (particularly for a baby who is prone to reflux). What we were feeding her was fine in and of itself and for most babies, but with the reflux factor added in, I'm obviously going to have to be really careful on how I balance out her foods. Sigh. Poor baby. We've cut way back on eating any solids for the last few days and have focused on just getting her to nurse. As that is getting back under control, we'll work on reintroducing/balancing the solids she's getting. Sigh. I did feel better as I read on several websites that a lot of people who have babies starting solids who also have reflux struggle with it all. Partially because there's not a whole lot of helpful information out there, partially because what might be fine for one baby might hurt another baby. Go figure.

From the kitchen...my cookies for Charlotte were a success! Pasta for dinner.

I am wearing...jeans, socks (cold feet thanks to this nasty cold weather), and a nursing shirt that I sadly stained with some drops of bleach. Oh well. Still works for around the house wear.

I am creating...more scrapbook pages. Yes, it makes me happy!

I am going...to get off the computer now and get something useful done.

I am reading.. . Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Fascinating and at times infuriating so far. Blueberry and I are just reading general picture books right now. Need to get back into a bigger book again as well. Maybe time to pull out my Winnie the Pooh treasury. One is never to young for Pooh Bear. She's been making me laugh with a few of the books. Whenever we hit a page with a picture of a dog, she gets super excited. Reaches out and tries to pet the dog in the picture!

I am hoping...That I'm not trying to over-extend myself these next two weeks.

I am hearing...the crinkle of a magazine as Blueberry happily rips it to shreds (Travel and Leisure--she's a girl after my own heart).

Around the house...it was not a good housekeeping week. To much other stuff going on. However, getting back into my Flyladying is paying off because it doesn't actually look to bad (or feel dirty) around here.

One of my favorite things...is Swagbucks! It's seriously so easy to earn money through it. Basically I just search through Swagbucks, but occasionally I'll play games and I'll take their daily poll and a few other things that also provide easy Bucks. I'm getting at least $5 in Amazon gift cards every month through them if not more sometimes. If you're not already familiar with them, check them out here (and if you sign up through there I get points too!).

A few plans for the rest of the week: Church. Shopping prep time. Some plans for next week. Meeting up with a lady who will get me set up for a new work at home opportunity that has come up. Hopefully see a few girlfriends of mine. Studio is open again on Thursday (they were closed this week for Spring Break). Working on my baby sister's wedding shower (trying to get a lot done before I leave for Tennessee in less than two weeks now!) Hopeful date night with husband. And as always playing with, loving on, and rejoicing in my Blueberry.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Zucchini. I never claimed she was the world's daintiest eater but she does love food.




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On the First Day Back

So we flew back from Phoenix last night. Feels like I've hit the ground running. Since I got up this morning (thankfully Blueberry slept in this morning which meant I got to sleep in a bit as well) I've unpacked the suitcases and tidied up the mess, planned dinner, called the pediatrician and booked an appointment, went to said appointment (more on all that later), stopped to get Chris' glasses fixed (also more on that later--let's just say this one involves things going bump in the night that shouldn't do so), stopped by a store for a few things, sorted the mail that accumulated while we were gone, entertained a clingy little girl (shots), tentatively made some plans for the rest of the week, cleaned out some back-logged emails (several more to go if you're expecting to hear from me and haven't!), and am now taking a few minutes break before I go start actually making the planned dinner. Phew.

It's a gorgeous day outside, so all the windows are open and we're enjoying a good dose of sunshine with a cool breeze to counter-balance it. Three cheers for spring!

Anyhoo....more on the trip (and bumping night adventures) soon to come.

Woot for Shopping Deals

I've been in need of some shopping motivation. The last months I've really been focusing on trying to get back into the swing of deal shopping.

This week was a good reminder of why I actually enjoy this shopping game (never mind the necessity party of doing it)!

First came Staples. I am the first to admit that if I let myself, I would be an office-supply junkie. I just love office stores. Don't ask. I don't know why. I just do. Any ways, I already shop at Staples because of their handy rewards program for empty ink cartridges. January they had some fantastic additional rebate offers that I decided to take advantage of. End result, I bought this:

for a grand total of $6.08 and I'll be getting back $39.96 in rebates. Ahem. Free ink anybody?

Then came CVS. Been slowly getting back into this game as well. Our stockpile had lasted us pretty well, but now we're beginning to have to pay full price for stuff, so I realized it was time to dive back in. With some EBCs I had from a few weeks ago, we snagged this:

for a grand total of $0.58! Which I had to put on my Discover card because I realized I failed to bring any cash. Go figure.

Grocery shopping has been definitely more challenging with my Blueberry around. Namely because she'll do OK with one maybe two stores in a day. But that's about her max. And not every day either. I generally try to just do a max of 2 days during the week where I have to take her for shopping (or appointments if those are in the "to do" list). Seems to work out best that way. So I've had to really pick and choose which stores to hit each week. Some days (like the Staples/CVS above, if Chris is home I'll run out and hit a few while she's napping). But then of course we have to factor in gas costs into everything now. Is it really worth going down to a store on the opposite end of town just for one deal? A lot of times not.

Making it work. Just having to learn balance and judicious decision making! (And utilizing my husband!)

Anyhoo...Dillons was the grocery store of the week this week. Chris has found that he's actually doing OK with most cereal again, so I've been stocking up on cereal deals for him (haven't bought cereal in a few years. The price was depressing.).

Total out of pocket: $38.76.

Not too bad, especially given that the toilet bowl cleaner was not at all on sale. But when one has to clean one's toilets and when one has not been deal shopping, one has to make sacrifices in price sometimes! (still haven't found a good home-made toilet cleaner that I actually like and feel like does the job).

Good reminder for me. It is truly worth the time and effort I put into the couponing/deal hunting/planning.

Go Packers!

Seriously?

So last Thursday, we got a new hot water heater (much needed for several months, had become an almost desperate situation). Yay! Much rejoicing.

Friday, my dryer broke. It runs. It just never gets hot. Of course I was procrastinating on some of my laundry last week, and as we're in high need of laundry now, I was going to do a bunch of laundry Saturday/Sunday.

Well, obviously that plan was no longer going to work. Sunday I washed Blueberry's diapers (well, stripped them which required multiple washings), and then drove over to my brother's house (he lives 1/2 mile away) to dry them.

For the record--I have a clothes line that I could use. Problem being that I really hate crispy clothes, and so I always throw everything into the dryer for 5 minutes or so to soften them up. And it does take awhile to line dry--I don't have time to line dry the mass of laundry going on here!

Today I'm trying to do the drive back and forth doing laundry method; however, my sweet little Blueberry who normally takes short morning naps has decided that today would be a great time to take a 1.5 hour nap. And now, just as I'm needing to head out the door again, yet another nap was determined to be of utmost importance.

Sigh. Two days left to get ready...gonna make it? I dunno.

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 14)

#1 - Oh my, this is the first "Quick Takes" I've done since the one I posted in August the day I went into labor. And now my sweet Blueberry is 24" long, 11lb 8 oz (I know, I know--skinny little monkey she is), and has turned 4 months old! What happened?!

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#2 - My darling husband sent me this picture about a month after Blueberry was born, and I've hung on to it as a reminder of how much I'm NOT screwing up my child--even when I feel like I surely must be!

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#3 - Been busy working on Christmas presents this week. I think we're almost all done. Now just waiting for some of them to arrive and then to wrap and get them to those they belong. Chris is nice and easy this year as he just wants music. My Christmas present (and birthday present and Christmas present for next year!) is going to take a bit of planning on my part, but I'm very excited about it. I told Chris that all I wanted was to go to see Hillery who went and abandoned me nearly a year ago now (guilt trip much?!). The other half of my present, as gifted by my husband, is that I'm under orders to take a decently sized trip. No fly-by, weekend visit. Tough on him as he'll have to stay home and work and take care of himself. Now to find dates and get a ticket! This kind of thing is truly my favorite kind of gift in the world.

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#4 - Ugly Tree was last Saturday. And I finally won with a hideous hippo! I'm delighted by this fact as I've come in second for multiple years in a row now. Few new people joined us this year, and a good time was had by all. Blueberry did her usual "There are people around, I can't possibly sleep" act. But as she's generally pretty angelic while doing so, it worked out okay.

(photos courtesy of Aaron Jones)

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#5 - I really need to get a picture of the pose I'm currently in. It's becoming a common one for me lately. I'm sitting at our big desk. My feet are propped up on the desk. I'm supporting the keyboard with my knee. And my arms are propped up by a pillow on one side and Blueberry on the other as she is draped over me, munching away. Actually, I take it back. She's asleep now. What am I going to do when she gets bigger?!

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#6 - I'm feeling very accomplished this morning. It's just now 9am, and I've gotten up, dressed, dressed Blueberry, made my husband lunch, made the bed, put in a load of laundry, washed out diapers, cleaned up the kitchen, got a load of diapers out of the dryer (still need to folded), had breakfast (cooked and everything!), and have checked my email, and am now writing a blog. Go me! Now the questions remain: will the clothes in the wash get put into the dryer and then folded later, the dishes that got put into the dishwasher to be run--will they get put away, will I get around to answering a couple of the emails that were sitting in my inbox, and will I actually manage to finish this post in time to get it up today? And let's not discuss what I've been thinking of as The Jumble:

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#7 - Probably due to the many conversations and thoughts on sleep that I've had lately, the quote that keeps running through my brain is Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech. Actually, it's not the whole speech, but just the one line: "...to sleep, To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub..." Of course suicide is the farthest thought from my brain currently, so I can't really go to far with the rest of the speech. But that one line keeps drifting through my consciousness. So I release it here. It's like the song that you have stuck in your head. Sometimes (at least I find this to be true), you just have to listen to the song to make it go away. Maybe just saying the line will make it dissipate? We'll see if my theory works.

In the meantime, I have a wiggle-worm playing peek-a-boo on my lap as she's waking up from her little snooze. Not quite awake enough to keep her head up to look at me, but she keeps trying.

Till next time, I leave you with this additional Hamlet thought.

"This is the very ecstasy of love"

Daybook - November 10

Outside my window...it is dark outside. Daylight savings time has come again and is making me sad, again. I liked having light in the evenings! And now it is all gone. So sad.

I am thinking...that I'm trying to not be too optimistic about having gotten somewhere good in terms of Blueberry sleeping. There's a little bubble of hope that I kept squashing in a desperate bid to remind myself that we've had hope before--and had it destroyed :) I am also thinking that I've been thinking about sleep a lot lately. I guess that's what comes of feeling sleep deprived!

I am thankful for...a couple of very good sleeping days for Blueberry. Which means productivity and sleep for her mummy!

From the learning rooms...[or in our case--the learning brain]...How to sleep.

From the kitchen...I made stir fry last night and fried rice tonight. Apparently it's a week of heavy usage for the wok.

I am wearing...jeans, pink socks, and a long-sleeve shirt. I'm, happily, only a few pounds shy of my pre-pregnancy weight, and fitting back into most of my old clothes. I say most because a lot of my old tops are either (a) not conducive to easy breastfeeding or (b) not quite fitting right anymore (thank you breastfeeding).

I am creating...leggings from socks for Blueberry to wear because I hate pants on her but her little legs get so cold otherwise. (Thank you Hillery for the idea).

I am going...to start working (part time, from home) for my old job again starting tomorrow. Not a ton of hours, but every little bit will help.

I am reading.. .Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell and Star of Light by Patricia St John (to Blueberry)

I am hoping...to get another good couple of chunks of sleep tonight.

I am hearing...the static of the baby monitor. The blowing of the fan. And nothing else. Sweet silence.

Around the house...I've made progress on piles! And my bathroom is clean--miracle of miracles.

One of my favorite things...writing. I love to write. I just wish I had more time to devote to creative writing.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Thursday--studio
Friday--shots for Blueberry (boo); friends coming over in the evening to test out Chris' game (I'll probably just watch as I, or rather Blueberry, might hold up the process otherwise)
Weekend--spend time with husband.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...



Want to join in? Go check out The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Daybooks

I'm going to follow in the footsteps of Almamater (who has followed along from The Simple Woman) and get on this Daybook bandwagon. I find posting on a regular basis to be (surprise, surprise) challenging right now. And having something to help guide my writing might be useful at this time in my life! I hate to lose the thoughts and days of the past few months, but they seem to be whirling by. Perhaps this will help a little bit.

So here we go:

Daybook--October 27, 2010

Outside my window...is a crisp fall evening with some gorgeous clouds, a lovely red-clad tree, and two crazy dogs howling at the passing siren [insert short break here as I go up to let the dogs in and put a stop to the incessant noise].

I am thinking...that I really should be looking for an insurance policy for myself rather than writing a blog. And yet having some time to write is a luxury I'm loath to forgo.

I am thankful for...it being only 7pm and Blueberry being fast asleep already!

From the learning rooms...[or in our case--the learning brain]...Blueberry has been adding new noises to her vocabulary. She made me laugh today when I was talking on the phone with her Nana and talking about Skyping them (yay for web-cams!). As I told my mum that we'd be calling tomorrow morning, I heard a little voice from beside say very distinctly, "uh uh!" How rude!

From the kitchen...gleams a clean counter. Shocking, I know.

I am wearing...my pj's. Which I will, sadly, admit to having worn all day. I've been trying to avoid being that wife who slouches around the house all day in junk clothes. But today, getting dressed any further than this was not going to happen. So we've accepted it and resolved to do better tomorrow.

I am creating...new systems and routines for myself as I find myself still struggling to settle into this new way of life. I love being home, but it has definitely been a resettling sort of experience for me (never mind the stretching experience of just being a mum!).

I am going...to teach at the studio tomorrow. And I'm very much looking forward to it. Being away from Blueberry is rather weird on Thursdays, and as she still hasn't taken too kindly to a bottle, is not the easiest thing for her or her father. However, I've really been enjoying being back in the studio, teaching, dancing, and yes, having a chance to miss Blueberry! On a side note--I've had take on a new teaching challenge as well (because I didn't already have enough new things to get used to in my life): 4 and 5 year old tap class. The most advanced tap class I've ever done in my life was when I helped to teach 3 year old tap. It's quite an adventure. I can now shuffle-step, flap-toe-heel, and tap my heels and toes with the best of them.

I am reading.. The Vaccine Book (again); The First Year-IBS; The Little Prince (reading this to Blueberry along with other, slightly less complex books); Sense and Sensibility.

I am hoping...to hear some news soon on what kind of work, how often, and for how much I'll be able to do some work from home for my old job.

I am hearing...silence other than the clicking of keys and ticking of the clock.

Around the house...things are finally beginning to get put away. I've had random piles of things to sort through and put away for, oh, months now. I'm doing my best to sort through them and get things back in order before the adventure of having little fingers into everything throws a new wrench into the mess!

One of my favorite things...cuddling with my baby and my husband at the same time.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
1. Find insurance plan for me
2. Fill out insurance paperwork for Blueberry
3. Go to studio and teach
4. Go to chiropractor (squeeze in one last appointment before my current insurance vanishes! Did the same thing with my dentist earlier this week.)
5. Meet up with two dear friends from work. Hopefully to take a walk, possibly to just sit and have lunch (depends on how the weather cooperates).
6. Dinner at 6 on Saturday (a monthly church dinner event where couples from the church get together for a pot-luck sort of meal and get to know one another. We've been able to partake in a few so far, and they are a lot of fun. This will be the first one with Blueberry here, so we'll see how it goes).
7. Nap. Lots. Preferably with Blueberry.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Laundry Day