Tuesday, April 07, 2009
My baby girl is feeling better
Poor Jade had a fever off and on for most of the day yesterday. This morning she woke up seeming and feeling much better. However, just a bit ago I thought she felt really warm and tried to take her temps. She would have none of it. So instead of taking her temperature I just let her play with the thermometer. Oh and this cute little summer outfit she is wearing is a gift from her Aunt Jo!
Monday, April 06, 2009
Thoughts on babies, home birth and sick kids *WARNING* Very LONG post
When I was a young child I use to think to myself that I wanted to grow up and have five children. My logic in having five children was simple, if I had five kids and was married then five + two would equal seven and seven is the perfect number.
Then I grew up, got married and became pregnant. It quickly became quite clear to me that pregnancy was not something I wished to repeat five times (unless, of course, the Lord decides otherwise). My thinking of having five babies quickly went down to one by about month, 8 of pregnancy. After I had my lovely girl...and she began sleeping through the night...my number of children went back up. I decided three was defiantly do-able and what I wanted. Then one very sad day in mid-January something happened that I never thought would happen in my young, healthy, happy, life of 25 years. I had a miscarriage.
While I have been very grateful, and so happy, and ridiculously blessed by my two year old daughter, I don't think I fully understood the goodness of God and the grace given to me through my child until I had to go through knowing a pregnancy of mine had ended so quickly and so easily. Suddenly life, childbirth, expectations and "planning" all changed.
Over the past three months I've put a lot of time, thought, and prayer into children/babies. We would like to have more children, and hopefully...even soon...we'll get to have another child. But there is a huge part of me that is terrified of becoming pregnant again, terrified that all those high hopes will abruptly end. Terrified of losing faith, trust and peace in the Lord. Terrified of something going wrong or maybe worse...everything going perfectly right and realizing all my fears and dis-trust were in vain and seeing what a control-freak seeking mortal I really am.
One amazing thing that came from my miscarriage was the comfort, wisdom and stories that were shared with me by other mothers who have lost babies. In comparison my experience doesn't come close to most all of these stories. Yet still, it was my loss, my pain, and for me something really hard that I am still going through. I am so blessed by the women who have reached out to me through this. If there can be good that comes from something so sad I can only hope that I could one day be used to touch another woman's heart when she shares in the same loss, or at least have a better understanding of what she is going through.
This post isn't meant to sound like a pity party, I'm not looking for more sympathy or encouragment. I'm just sharing. *smile*
So, all these thoughts aside I have been looking towards the future and wondering what I'd like to do when I am pregnant again. That brings me to home births. When we were pregnant the second time we had decided we wanted to do a home birth. There were many reasons for this choice but a big aspect of it was cost. Home births are ridiculously cost effective and the care is wonderful, personal and...natural. With Jade I had high hopes for having an all "natural" birth in the hospital, but after 24 hours of labor in a hospital, with having been on pitocin for a very long while (I HATE pitocin), and tons of tempting, wonderful options available, I ended up opted for an epidural (which I in no way regret).
At any rate, this past week my friend, who knew I was thinking of home birth, let me borrow a video she had gotten from the library. It's called "The business of being born" click on this link and you can see a preview of the movie on the website.
Growing up in a family of a eleven children where six of the births were done at home, you would think I'd understand fully why my mother chose to have home births. Some how (and mom I hope I'm not offending you) I thought it was just a hatered she had of doctors and various things they put her through for the first 4-5 births she had in the hosptial...but I guess I didn't understand that frustration (maybe it wasn't really hatred, lol) that my mother had. I didn't really understand why the interventions and "helps" given to a women who is having a hosptial birth (not all, but most/many) were unnecessiary. Why not opt for a little help if you can? Why not ease the pain or move things along faster? What can it really hurt?
This movie put a lot things into perspective and I realized I really DO want to have a home birth and not just because it would be cheaper then a hospital birth. I don't need the help and intervention that the hosiptial so willingly provides. I'm not a he-woman and I'm not really all that femanist or "I am women hear me roar" kind of personality. But I do want to have a baby the way I'm made to have a baby. Because, from all the research I've done and am currently doing. It's EASIER that way! It's healthier that way and not just for babykins for ME! In a world that is so focused on SELF why aren't more women looking into this option for themselves?
I think I was afraid that if I started having home births, on top of deciding to home school, on top of being a conservative and a christain (gasp) that I would just be looked at as a freak, or weird, or "Granola". But I'm not. I'm cool *hee, hee* and *light bulb* I don't care if others do see me as odd.
If you watch the film you will get to see a whole bunch of home births, complete with some very "granola" midwives. However, you'll also see a birth that started at home but had to be transfered to the hospital due to multiple complications. Everything ended up okay and mother and baby are fine, but it was good for me to see that, "Yes", there is a very good reason, purpose and need for Obgyn's and there are plenty of high risk pregnancies that should and need to take place in a hospital, ceasceran sections have saved a lot of babies and mothers so the technology is good. But, having a baby in a hospital...for me...is no longer an option I wish to use. And I'm really excited about coming to this realization.
I can't explain it all, but if you are even thinking about maybe having a home birth, but you aren't really sure why...watch this film and see what you think afterwards.
I think I always knew I'd grow up and be just like my Mom. Though there have been times that I swore that would never happen. I remember telling my health food eating, home school teaching, politically conservative thinking, hallalujah praising the Lord loving, extremly short standing...Mother that as soon as I could I'd go live on my own and buy cheese you could unwrap individually from a wrapper and I thought...I'm gonna be TOTALLY different. HAHA.
Of course I am different from my mother and there are plenty of things and will be plenty of things I'll do completely different. But it's kind of cool to see how I slowly am following in her footsteps. I don't buy pre-wrapped, processed cheese, I do plan, and am already, home schooling my child, I am a proud conservative who loves the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind, who happens to be very short (Praise the Lord for high heels!) and now wants to have home births. Ironic, no?
So back to babies, my baby is sick. She has a fever. As horrible as this may sound, I have to admit out of all the sicknesses my baby can have, I love fevers best. Why? Because when my baby has a fever all she wants to do is cuddle. She is warm, and cuddly and calm, and just lays on me and sleeps and lays on me and sleeps. It makes me feel like such a MOM. Of course, I hate seeing my baby sick and I want her well as soon as possible, but I love that God gives me these moments with my child where I can just love on my baby and hold my baby and just love on her.
Have I mentioned that I love being a mother? And I think being a SAHM is fantastic, fun, diverse, interesting and exhausting? I also love to cook, color, sing, play music, dance, zumba, run, workout, type, EMAIL, blog, shop, dress cute, curl hair, wash my face, wear perfume, be the center of attention, play games, host parties, go for bike rides, eat FOOD, get snail mail, drink coffee, go on dates, make out (and love, hee, hee) with my man, read my bible, teach sunday school, go to MOPS, go to church, sleep in, sleep long, take naps, sun tan, paint my toe nails, weed my garden and love on my daughter?
Is this a long enough post? Watch, I'll probably delete it in a hour when I realize I've gotten WAY to personal on my blog and now all my friends who read this are gonna talk behind my back about what a FREAK I really am. AH! Hmm...maybe I won't delete this.
Then I grew up, got married and became pregnant. It quickly became quite clear to me that pregnancy was not something I wished to repeat five times (unless, of course, the Lord decides otherwise). My thinking of having five babies quickly went down to one by about month, 8 of pregnancy. After I had my lovely girl...and she began sleeping through the night...my number of children went back up. I decided three was defiantly do-able and what I wanted. Then one very sad day in mid-January something happened that I never thought would happen in my young, healthy, happy, life of 25 years. I had a miscarriage.
While I have been very grateful, and so happy, and ridiculously blessed by my two year old daughter, I don't think I fully understood the goodness of God and the grace given to me through my child until I had to go through knowing a pregnancy of mine had ended so quickly and so easily. Suddenly life, childbirth, expectations and "planning" all changed.
Over the past three months I've put a lot of time, thought, and prayer into children/babies. We would like to have more children, and hopefully...even soon...we'll get to have another child. But there is a huge part of me that is terrified of becoming pregnant again, terrified that all those high hopes will abruptly end. Terrified of losing faith, trust and peace in the Lord. Terrified of something going wrong or maybe worse...everything going perfectly right and realizing all my fears and dis-trust were in vain and seeing what a control-freak seeking mortal I really am.
One amazing thing that came from my miscarriage was the comfort, wisdom and stories that were shared with me by other mothers who have lost babies. In comparison my experience doesn't come close to most all of these stories. Yet still, it was my loss, my pain, and for me something really hard that I am still going through. I am so blessed by the women who have reached out to me through this. If there can be good that comes from something so sad I can only hope that I could one day be used to touch another woman's heart when she shares in the same loss, or at least have a better understanding of what she is going through.
This post isn't meant to sound like a pity party, I'm not looking for more sympathy or encouragment. I'm just sharing. *smile*
So, all these thoughts aside I have been looking towards the future and wondering what I'd like to do when I am pregnant again. That brings me to home births. When we were pregnant the second time we had decided we wanted to do a home birth. There were many reasons for this choice but a big aspect of it was cost. Home births are ridiculously cost effective and the care is wonderful, personal and...natural. With Jade I had high hopes for having an all "natural" birth in the hospital, but after 24 hours of labor in a hospital, with having been on pitocin for a very long while (I HATE pitocin), and tons of tempting, wonderful options available, I ended up opted for an epidural (which I in no way regret).
At any rate, this past week my friend, who knew I was thinking of home birth, let me borrow a video she had gotten from the library. It's called "The business of being born" click on this link and you can see a preview of the movie on the website.
Growing up in a family of a eleven children where six of the births were done at home, you would think I'd understand fully why my mother chose to have home births. Some how (and mom I hope I'm not offending you) I thought it was just a hatered she had of doctors and various things they put her through for the first 4-5 births she had in the hosptial...but I guess I didn't understand that frustration (maybe it wasn't really hatred, lol) that my mother had. I didn't really understand why the interventions and "helps" given to a women who is having a hosptial birth (not all, but most/many) were unnecessiary. Why not opt for a little help if you can? Why not ease the pain or move things along faster? What can it really hurt?
This movie put a lot things into perspective and I realized I really DO want to have a home birth and not just because it would be cheaper then a hospital birth. I don't need the help and intervention that the hosiptial so willingly provides. I'm not a he-woman and I'm not really all that femanist or "I am women hear me roar" kind of personality. But I do want to have a baby the way I'm made to have a baby. Because, from all the research I've done and am currently doing. It's EASIER that way! It's healthier that way and not just for babykins for ME! In a world that is so focused on SELF why aren't more women looking into this option for themselves?
I think I was afraid that if I started having home births, on top of deciding to home school, on top of being a conservative and a christain (gasp) that I would just be looked at as a freak, or weird, or "Granola". But I'm not. I'm cool *hee, hee* and *light bulb* I don't care if others do see me as odd.
If you watch the film you will get to see a whole bunch of home births, complete with some very "granola" midwives. However, you'll also see a birth that started at home but had to be transfered to the hospital due to multiple complications. Everything ended up okay and mother and baby are fine, but it was good for me to see that, "Yes", there is a very good reason, purpose and need for Obgyn's and there are plenty of high risk pregnancies that should and need to take place in a hospital, ceasceran sections have saved a lot of babies and mothers so the technology is good. But, having a baby in a hospital...for me...is no longer an option I wish to use. And I'm really excited about coming to this realization.
I can't explain it all, but if you are even thinking about maybe having a home birth, but you aren't really sure why...watch this film and see what you think afterwards.
I think I always knew I'd grow up and be just like my Mom. Though there have been times that I swore that would never happen. I remember telling my health food eating, home school teaching, politically conservative thinking, hallalujah praising the Lord loving, extremly short standing...Mother that as soon as I could I'd go live on my own and buy cheese you could unwrap individually from a wrapper and I thought...I'm gonna be TOTALLY different. HAHA.
Of course I am different from my mother and there are plenty of things and will be plenty of things I'll do completely different. But it's kind of cool to see how I slowly am following in her footsteps. I don't buy pre-wrapped, processed cheese, I do plan, and am already, home schooling my child, I am a proud conservative who loves the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind, who happens to be very short (Praise the Lord for high heels!) and now wants to have home births. Ironic, no?
So back to babies, my baby is sick. She has a fever. As horrible as this may sound, I have to admit out of all the sicknesses my baby can have, I love fevers best. Why? Because when my baby has a fever all she wants to do is cuddle. She is warm, and cuddly and calm, and just lays on me and sleeps and lays on me and sleeps. It makes me feel like such a MOM. Of course, I hate seeing my baby sick and I want her well as soon as possible, but I love that God gives me these moments with my child where I can just love on my baby and hold my baby and just love on her.
Have I mentioned that I love being a mother? And I think being a SAHM is fantastic, fun, diverse, interesting and exhausting? I also love to cook, color, sing, play music, dance, zumba, run, workout, type, EMAIL, blog, shop, dress cute, curl hair, wash my face, wear perfume, be the center of attention, play games, host parties, go for bike rides, eat FOOD, get snail mail, drink coffee, go on dates, make out (and love, hee, hee) with my man, read my bible, teach sunday school, go to MOPS, go to church, sleep in, sleep long, take naps, sun tan, paint my toe nails, weed my garden and love on my daughter?
Is this a long enough post? Watch, I'll probably delete it in a hour when I realize I've gotten WAY to personal on my blog and now all my friends who read this are gonna talk behind my back about what a FREAK I really am. AH! Hmm...maybe I won't delete this.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Jade's new tutu
I had my friend make Jade a tutu for an Easter gift. It was ready today so I went ahead and let Jade try it on. She LOVES it. She won't stop dancing!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
While browsing
While browsing the internet today, with my daughter on my lap doing what she calls "emailing", I was looking at some random baby website and this picture popped up. Jade started laughing and says "ook, Mommy, baby in a bowl!" I couldn't help but laugh with her to, because she's right it looks like a baby in a bowl:)
That being said, it does look like a very easy way to give your tiny baby a bath. I must admit I dreaded bath times when Jade was tiny because I was afraid her tiny, soapy, body would slip through my fingers and bonk herself on the tub floor, or she'd flip over or something and gulp a ton of bath water. At any rate...if the price of this contraption wasn't so ridiculous I'd buy it now (even though I don't have a tiny baby). Find the "Baby bowl" here
That being said, it does look like a very easy way to give your tiny baby a bath. I must admit I dreaded bath times when Jade was tiny because I was afraid her tiny, soapy, body would slip through my fingers and bonk herself on the tub floor, or she'd flip over or something and gulp a ton of bath water. At any rate...if the price of this contraption wasn't so ridiculous I'd buy it now (even though I don't have a tiny baby). Find the "Baby bowl" here
Roses still bloomin'
My husband bought me these roses for our Anniversary on March 18th (Well, he technically bought them on the 17th) and I just was tickled pink the other night when I realized they still are looking SO beautiful. So I took a picture of them from upstairs...aren't they pretty?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Something really cute I came across
Living in the lovely rainy state of Washington, as soon as Jade's feet were big enough I bought a pair of rain boots. While she loves the rain boots now and wears them ALL the time (even when it isn't always raining) it took her quite awhile to figure out how to walk in this huge shoes.While browsing "Cool Mom Picks" I saw the post on these adorable rain shoes and just had to also post them on my blog. Aren't they adorable? And genius! I really want to get Jade a pair for next fall/winter. If you think they are fabulous as well, you can find them online at Vincent Shoes
The other shoes and rainboots they have for little guys are ridiculously cute as well...and some of the shoes I really want to own for myself. They are a bit higher priced then I would normally pay...but maybe if they go on sale...hmm. Anyway, just had to share!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Going to the Children's Museum on Friday
Friday my friend invited Jade and I to join she and her kiddos at the Children s Museum in Seattle. We all had to ride together, of course so it was rather interesting trying to fit THREE car seats in the back seat of their car. Some how, we did it and the kids LOVED it. They giggled and laughed and snacked all the way to Seattle.
Once there we went to the Curious George exhibit. Jade didn't waste anytime climbing the stairs to inside the rocket and sliding down as fast as she could.
Can you see Kyri in this pic? hee, hee. Jade ran around the slide to go up it again.
I think she slid down this slide a million times...and I'm hardly exaggerating!
A few other things Jade enjoyed was the telephone (that's my girl)
Putt, Putt golf (though she'd say "oh no" when the ball would fall into the hole, which amazingly enough it did often, I think we have a golfer on our hands)
Climbing up to see George...
And playing inside the killer whale. Peek-a-boo!
For a short amount of time I got to hang out with just Kyri and Jade. Those two were SO cute together. They followed each other everywhere!
After playing in the little kids room, we went in search of Ben and Rachelle and Jade (who is obsessed with buses right now) got to pretend to drive a bus! She LOVED it and cried when I told her it was time to move on.
After running around the museum all morning/afternoon our kids were pretty tuckered out. And promptly fell asleep the moment we had them in their car seats again.
Good times, good memories, good friends. Thanks for inviting us to go Rachelle!
Once there we went to the Curious George exhibit. Jade didn't waste anytime climbing the stairs to inside the rocket and sliding down as fast as she could.
Can you see Kyri in this pic? hee, hee. Jade ran around the slide to go up it again.
I think she slid down this slide a million times...and I'm hardly exaggerating!
A few other things Jade enjoyed was the telephone (that's my girl)
Putt, Putt golf (though she'd say "oh no" when the ball would fall into the hole, which amazingly enough it did often, I think we have a golfer on our hands)
Climbing up to see George...
And playing inside the killer whale. Peek-a-boo!
For a short amount of time I got to hang out with just Kyri and Jade. Those two were SO cute together. They followed each other everywhere!
After playing in the little kids room, we went in search of Ben and Rachelle and Jade (who is obsessed with buses right now) got to pretend to drive a bus! She LOVED it and cried when I told her it was time to move on.
After running around the museum all morning/afternoon our kids were pretty tuckered out. And promptly fell asleep the moment we had them in their car seats again.
Good times, good memories, good friends. Thanks for inviting us to go Rachelle!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Curious George at the Children's Museum
I'll post more pictures later. This was a picture we were able to take there and have emailed to us! Cool huh?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Jade being silly
Jade found part of a tape measure and decided to wear it around her neck like mommy did once
While workin on some favors for MOPS, I turned around and saw Jade had climbed into my bag!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Skiing on Friday
To celebrate our 3rd wedding Anniversary, JB and I went to White Pass to go skiing. One of the reasons we chose to go there was because of the all day Daycare program.
Neither of us had been skiing in years so we weren't sure how we'd do. JB use to snowboard so that's what he did and I use to ski a little, so I did the ski's. We had a fabulous time! Here are just a few pictures. More on my FB page.
Top of the mountain.
JB snowboarding his way down
Getting ready to go again
After we finished, we grabbed Jade from the Daycare center and let her walk around in the snow
They had a cool snow castle outside with a tunnel you could go through, Jade loved that!
Me and my baby
This was a great Anniversary gift to ourselves!
Neither of us had been skiing in years so we weren't sure how we'd do. JB use to snowboard so that's what he did and I use to ski a little, so I did the ski's. We had a fabulous time! Here are just a few pictures. More on my FB page.
Top of the mountain.
JB snowboarding his way down
Getting ready to go again
After we finished, we grabbed Jade from the Daycare center and let her walk around in the snow
They had a cool snow castle outside with a tunnel you could go through, Jade loved that!
Me and my baby
This was a great Anniversary gift to ourselves!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
How my daughter likes to watch her cartoons
Jade was a really good girl today so I told her she could watch one of her shows on "noggin". I ran upstairs to check emails and came down to see how relaxed she was.
Doesn't it make you wish you were short enough to sit like this on the couch too?
Doesn't it make you wish you were short enough to sit like this on the couch too?
Cannoli's
Saturday we were invited to a friends home for an Italian themed dinner. Our hostess was making home-made ravioli's, along with delicious salad, asparagus and steak. Yum! I offered to bring an Italian dessert and decided to do cannoli's.
I tried three different recipes for the pastry, before finding one that I liked. It was so simple, just:
Flour
Salt
Sugar
dry red wine
After I made the pastry I mixed up the filling. Which was just heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and ricotta cheese.
Then I fried up the cannoli pastries and after they cooled I filled them with the creamy mixture. Upon completing that step I then dipped both ends in melted chocolate and rolled them in crushed pistachio nuts.
I'm very proud of myself for trying something new and I'm looking forward to trying the recipe again and perfecting it (my pastries were still a bit heavy).
This isn't a fabulous picture of the cannoli's, since I took it the next day, after they had been sitting in the fridge for awhile...but still. You can see what they looked like:)
I tried three different recipes for the pastry, before finding one that I liked. It was so simple, just:
Flour
Salt
Sugar
dry red wine
After I made the pastry I mixed up the filling. Which was just heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and ricotta cheese.
Then I fried up the cannoli pastries and after they cooled I filled them with the creamy mixture. Upon completing that step I then dipped both ends in melted chocolate and rolled them in crushed pistachio nuts.
I'm very proud of myself for trying something new and I'm looking forward to trying the recipe again and perfecting it (my pastries were still a bit heavy).
This isn't a fabulous picture of the cannoli's, since I took it the next day, after they had been sitting in the fridge for awhile...but still. You can see what they looked like:)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Filling Daddy's Shoes
Jade loves to play with shoes. Ever since she was able to walk she has been digging in my closet to try on my (mommy) shoes. But today, JB and I couldn't keep from cracking up when we saw her walking around the house wearing Daddy's shoes! lol!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Playing around in the backyard
"Look at me, mommy!"
"cheese!"
the little guy I nanny
" I do it mommy?"
A pic of us
"lets do it again"
"ah, oh, baby crying"
checking on baby
back to playing in the dirt
I don't really have a reason to post today. I just figured I should update:)
Jade is amazing. Have I ever mentioned that before? Yesterday I found her saying "thank you's" and "your welcomes" and "pleases" and "sorrys" all day long without any prodding from me!
Then early this morning, while on the computer, she came running in the room yelling "come on mom" wanting me to join her in play in her bedroom. I said "Okay, just wait till I finish this email" she stopped in her tracks and said "okay, mom". Then patiently waited by my side till I was done. So sweet!
I've been trying to spend more time teaching her things, such as new words, her colors, shapes, the alphabet, etc. She is so receptive and such a little copy cat she'll do and say anything I ask her.
While practicing my memory verses (which, yes, I do to song) I heard Jade in the background humming the tune and saying words she knew. Melted my heart to hear my baby girl singing memory verses .
Anyway, there is just a little mommy bragging for ya all to read:)
Jade is amazing. Have I ever mentioned that before? Yesterday I found her saying "thank you's" and "your welcomes" and "pleases" and "sorrys" all day long without any prodding from me!
Then early this morning, while on the computer, she came running in the room yelling "come on mom" wanting me to join her in play in her bedroom. I said "Okay, just wait till I finish this email" she stopped in her tracks and said "okay, mom". Then patiently waited by my side till I was done. So sweet!
I've been trying to spend more time teaching her things, such as new words, her colors, shapes, the alphabet, etc. She is so receptive and such a little copy cat she'll do and say anything I ask her.
While practicing my memory verses (which, yes, I do to song) I heard Jade in the background humming the tune and saying words she knew. Melted my heart to hear my baby girl singing memory verses .
Anyway, there is just a little mommy bragging for ya all to read:)
Friday, March 06, 2009
I LOVE Tulips!!
Getting tulips (or flowers in general) is one of the many reasons why I love my husband so much. I love that he'll buy me flowers for no reason at all except to see me smile. It's so sweet and so romantic and makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. *sigh*Aren't they lovely?
Sunday, March 01, 2009
I made an APRON!
Check it out! I made an apron! I even added a pocket! I'm very proud of myself since sewing is not something I do. I didn't show a close up because there was something dreadfully wrong with the stitching tension on my sewing machine (wasn't sure how to fix that). But from far away it looks great! *grin*
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