A Vintage and Handmade Christmas

This year I have attempted my hand at making a few Christmas ornaments such as stars made out of sticks, foam balls covered in sequins and felt stars also covered in sequins. The latter craft didn't even get finished or put on my Christmas tree because it looked so bad. However the stick stars turned out fantastic, especially the ones I made out of grapevines. Several of my stars were to large for my tree so I hung them above the window in my living room as an added decoration.

I was going for a vintage Christmas tree, with only white lights, and natural looking or homemade ornaments with the exception of some tiny bulbs I had purchased in red, green and a light gold. Several years ago a friend of mine was stationed in Germany and he sent me these beautiful straw ornaments that I have never opened until this year and I do have to say they went along beautifully with my vintage tree look.

 Three of my stick stars, I used simple cotton  twine to hang them on the tree and on the window sill.









I also tried my hand at a cookie wreath, I found the recipe and idea in a Martha Stewart book I got at the library. It turned out pretty good but next time I make it I am planning on cutting out a flat wreath circle first then add the cut outs on top of that instead of trying to overlap 60 cookie dough cutouts. I do have to say that once tomorrow is over the bird are going to love this wreath.

Crunchy vs Me?

In the 1990's there was the New Age movement, in the 2000's it has changed to Crunchy. Basically the same thing but with a new and improved name. There also is a new term floating around Holistic, which is finding alternative health care from modern medicine. Both of these are interesting concepts and ways of life, but many people believe you have to be one or the other and if by chance you do not neatly fall into either one you are ostracized all together.


I like to think I fall somewhere in the middle, I like some crunchy ideas like breastfeeding, baby wearing, co-sleeping, raising your own food and being self efficient. 
But I am not in to recycling, I do not lean to the Left politically, nor am I categorized a vegetarian, vegan, eco-tarian, conservationist, environmentalist, neo-hippy, tree hugger, nature enthusiasts, etc. The only thing I am close to is a conservationist only because I believe in land management and animal management like the Bible tells us to.


Arguing with someone who is truly crunchy is like arguing with a brick wall full of ninnies and it is usually over something stupid like using a chemical cleaner vs a eco-friendly cleaner or about circumcision or cloth diapering.


Everyone has a choice it is only your decision to make a choice in what you do, letting someone tell you what to do is like submitting to peer-pressure all over again.


Be you which is unique and different in your own right.


I like being a mix of things that I feel is right for my family and I, it works for us. But what works for my family  may not work for your family and that is the key.

The changing of the seasons.

November has arrived in a glorious display of blue skies and bright sunshine if it was warmer it would be perfect fall days that everyone is always talking about but you never see. At least in Ohio we don't it is usually hot or cold with an occasional warm day thrown in the spring time. Of course with colder weather comes the common cold, I have been battling a cold for over 3 months now. I finally went to my family doctor because it wasn't going away at all and after some antibiotics, nasal spray and allergy medicine it is finally going away (Thank you Jesus!). But of course now Katherine is coming down with a cold (mostly because she hates wearing coats outside, because she says she gets to hot) and Zane has started getting a little cough because his big sister doesn't cover her mouth when she coughs (gag). But all is well otherwise.
It is time to start putting together my Christmas list for the family so I am prepared to go Black Friday Shopping, this will be the first time I am venturing out to do this. Hopefully I can find the deal that I need for my family and maybe just maybe Mama will buy herself a new pair of shoes. ;)

The Birth of Zane

You know the day you wake up and realize that the contraction that woke up from a dead sleep was completely different than all of the prodromal ones you have been getting for weeks, that this was the day you are finally going to meet your baby for the first time?

Well that is how my day started at 0600 on July 17^th, 2011. I had been getting prodromal contractions for roughly three weeks, and each day I wondered “is today going to be the day?” and each day that passed I had to remind myself that my baby just wasn’t ready to meet me yet.

Let me give you a little bit of background, Josh and I didn’t find out the gender of our baby much to his chagrin. I also am having a hospital birth at a wonderful hospital and with an excellent OB Doctor, the only downfall is that the hospital is almost an hour and a half away from my house. Why so far you ask, well many of the hospitals in my immediate area are not conducive to natural birth and letting baby decide when it is ready to be born. Thus is one of the reasons why I am going so far away to have this baby, why not just have the baby at home is another question I get. There aren’t any midwives in my area and I really don’t want a homebirth.

 So here I was having somewhat uncomfortable contractions at 6 AM, I tried to time them but it is a little hard to do so when you are concentrated on your breathing through each wave. So after an hour and half and a shower later I finally wake up my husband Josh to time each contraction for me, his idea of timing them was using the stop watch on my cell phone and hitting the LAP button each time I had a new contraction all the while still laying in bed.  In between contractions I finish my 5 year olds big sister gift I made for her and I try to get a little more sleep, which is hard to do when you are excited about meeting your new baby not to mention a little uncomfortable. After an hour of timing contractions, they were fairly steady at 5 minutes apart and it was time to call the doctor. So I call and he says to come on in since we live so far away, Josh jumps in the shower and in between all of that I am packing a bag for my daughter to spend the next couple of days with my parents since my one sister is off work for the next couple of days. As we head out to the car I call my doula Jennifer, who I knew was in church but thankfully she accidently left her cell phone on and was able to call me right back.  Jennifer and I arranged for her to meet us at the hospital, that way she could stay till the end of church service and still have time to meet us at the hospital.

I had no idea how bumpy certain roads were until I was in labor; even the ride home from the hospital wasn’t as bad as going to the hospital had been. Do you remember when you would go on bumpy roads as a kid and you would make a noise like “AHHH” just to hear your voice change octaves while your parents drove ( and you slowly driving them insane?) it felt like that except the AHHH part.

After a quick stop to hand my daughter over to my parents, grab something to drink (I get a Mountain Dew, I have only had 2 since I found I was pregnant back in November and it is my favorite thing to drink of all time) and hit the bathroom, which incidentally you get strange looks when you lean against a display case while having a contraction in the middle of the store. Strangely enough I didn’t have one person as me if I was ok, other than my daughter Katherine.

We arrive at the hospital and walk up to the Labor and Delivery floor, the nurses ask how I’m doing. “Ok considering, how are you?” Seriously does no one ask the nurses how they are doing anymore, I mean come on it is common curtsey to ask back isn’t it? Maybe it is just the way I was raise to be polite, even when I’m in labor. I say that because they all laughed as if they have never heard anyone ask the question back. Josh told them that we are here to have a baby today, or so he hoped as he hustled me further into the L&D floor.

         

       After getting settled in and changed into a hospital gown, both the doctor and nurses come into the room to ask if there was anything in my birth plan that I wanted to discuss. I asked them if they have read it, interestingly enough everyone had read it. They knew that I didn’t want ANY medication, unless I asked for it, and that if I had to have an IV that I wanted a heparin lock on it. No time constraints, being able to move around freely, intermittent fetal monitoring and avoid excess vaginal exams. Once the baby arrived I wanted delayed cord clamping and immediate skin to skin, absolutely no vaccines or eye ointment and we will be breastfeeding.

The doctor (Dr. O’Dear) asked if he could do an exam real quick just to see where I am at, since I had just arrived at the hospital I agreed. After a quick exam, Dr. O’Dear said I was only 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced, I was a little upset. I mean I had been in active labor for the last 6 hours and I’m only dilated to a 2, come on I had been hoping I was at least a 4 or 5 cm dilated.

After being hooked up to the fetal monitor for 20 minutes (the nurse Josie asked first), I was able to walk around, use the labor ball and finish my mountain dew.  After a few hours, the contractions were getting worse and I was having a hard time standing due to getting shaky. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was starving and having my blood sugar drop or I was going into the second stage of labor. Jennifer the Doula said it was because I was going into the second stage, I honestly am not sure I was starving and I was tired. After a bit Josie asked if I could be hooked up to the fetal monitor again for about 20 minutes I said that is fine since it had been several hours.

What I haven’t told you is that my contractions were about 7 minutes long at this point and were rarely below a 4. Monitoring strip has a scale of 0-12 on it, 0 means no pain aka not having a contraction and 12 a means holy crap it freakin hurts kind of contraction. Each break between contractions was only 30-45 seconds long, not much of a break at all. Many times women who have epidurals can only tell they are having contraction by looking at the fetal monitoring paper.  So what does a woman who doesn’t have any pain relief think about while having long and strong contractions? Well I thought about what I wanted to eat once I had this baby, mostly French fries, every time I breathed in I thought about what my French fries would smell like. After  a while I then just started concentrating on my breathing and listening to the encouragement from Jennifer and Josh.

At some point probably about 4 pm I decide I want to lay down, my legs were getting shaky and the contractions were getting stronger. The nurses came in at the point to check to see if they could do another exam, Dr O’dear had been calling about every half hour to see if I had progressed.  Eventually I said yes because it had been about 5 hours since my last one, I had only progressed to a 4. Seriously what the heck is going on, these contractions hurt like hell and I honestly could see why people ask for an epidural. Josie wanted to know if I wanted my water broke since it hadn’t broken yet and is probably why my contractions are so strong all around. Yes my contractions were not just front ones but they literally wrapped around my whole body at the hips, not fun at all. So they call Dr O’Dear and tell him that he needs to come in so he can break my water. I know many people are against having a doctor or midwife break their water, but I chose to for several reasons. 1. I was in active labor, and 2. I knew it will help relieve some of the back labor pains I was feeling.

While we were waiting for the doctor to arrive at the hospital, they decided to put my IV in with the heparin in my right hand. Which totally sucked since the first place they had it didn’t work, of course it didn’t work I was getting dehydrated from not being able to drink water and just eat ice chips. I was offered a popsicle but they only had grape and I detest grape. Once the IV was in it seemed like only a little bit before Dr. O’Dear came in.

Dr. O’Dear quickly broke my water and checked me, I was dilated to an 8 (hurray for progress). It felt like seconds after I told I was at an 8 that I felt the urge to push and from what I was told by my doula and husband it happened almost immediately.

After the nurses and the doctor get the bed quickly fixed and I try to move into position, which hurt like the dickens because my sciatic nerve had been bothering me for a while and going to the chiropractor had helped some but not a lot. Dr O’Dear looked at me and said I was the only patient on the floor and I could be as loud as I needed to be while I pushed, so I took advantage of that and did what I call the mother’s roar. You that sound that isn’t a scream not is it a yelling but somewhere in between, that is what I did while I pushed for the 15 minutes it took to have my baby. During a break of pushing I could feel something painful at the top and I tried to point to it instead I poked my baby in the head because he was crowning. What I thought was the doctor poking me for some odd reason around my vagina was in fact the ring of fire, well sort of it only hurt at the top and the bottom not the whole way around.

At 6:06 pm my beautiful son Zane Michael Willis was born, 20 ¼ inches long and weighing in at 9 lbs and 8.3 ounces. They laid him on my belly until the cord stopped pulsing and let my husband cut the cord, I tried breastfeeding Zane but he was to busy looking around. I finally handed him over to the nurse to weigh and measure while the doctor sewed up my 3^rd degree tear. When the doctor told me I had torn I about cried, I had a 4^th degree tear with my daughter and was hoping I didn’t tear this time.

Zane is now almost 11 weeks old and is now 18 lbs, our breastfeeding relationship is going beautifully and I can’t wait to have another baby my way again. A birth without fear or unnecessary interventions.

The Total Vintage Look

As a in-training vintage stylist, I have come across some gorgeous outfits and looks. Usually on someone else's vintage retail page, no matter where you find it is how you accessorize your outfit that is important. Because we all know that finding the perfect dress can be easy it is figuring out how to accessorize it can be the difficult part.

This beautiful eyelit fabric dress is perfect for a summer afternoon out, it can be worn as a halter top or strapless. The bodice has a corset like pieces in it that will keep it upright, it is your job to make sure it stays in place.
 So how would you accessorize this dress?

















I would add these shoes for a bit of Glam:

Inspiring Jewelry.

  

 

 

Finding Fun in the Fall

With on coming of Fall comes some of the years best things such as fresh ice cold apple cider, crunchy leaves beneath your super cute boots, hoodie weather, The Ohio State University Football, and my absolute favorite the Algonquin Mill Festival that is every October.

The Algonquin Mill Festival is one of those places that has a little bit of something for everyone, old equipment and steam engines for Dad, Crafts for Mom, Food for the teenagers and face painting, a train ride and pony rides for the little kiddos. So every year I make the short drive over to the festival to see what new and exciting things they have going on, perhaps run into friends and family. This year Josh met up with the us, it was his first time ever going to the festival which I find hard to believe, since he grew up right across the street from where our house is. Now that he has been there perhaps I will be able to convince him to come with us next year.

For more information about the Algonquin Mill Festival: http://www.carrollcountyohio.com/history/mill/millfest.htm

I guess I better head to the living room where my Buckeyes are playing Nebraska on ABC/ESPN.

Honey

We did it we finally added a dog to our family, a 2 year old female Golden Retriever. Thankfully she is already fixed and has all of her shots, I just need to get her dog tags (blah).  I changed her name from Honda (can you tell a guy owned her?) to Honey, which is similar but a much better name in my opinion.
Unfortunately we have to keep her chained up most of the time because we live by a very busy road that semis come barreling down, but I have been letting her loose a couple different times a day to do her business and run around. I am hoping I can eventually let her loose during the day if she will stay away and off the road and only keep her tied up at night so I don't have to worry about her.
           Yesterday morning I sent Katherine to go check on Honey to make she was ok and she had plenty of water.   Katherine comes back in the house about 5 minutes later, covered in paw prints and one very unhappy camper. "Mom, she wouldn't stop jumping on me, she even jumped on my face!" Katherine had 
huge dirt from a     paw on her mouth, nose and cheek and her clothes were really dirty (which worked in my
 favor because I didn't want her going up town in that outfit anyways. hehe).

Say hello to Honey our newest family member.






I told Josh we did it now that we have a dog,and all we are missing is the white picket fence. :)

Tribute to a fallen Hero

This past week a Marine from the small town of Carrollton, Ohio near where I grew up died while fighting for our Country in Afghanistan. This is the video tribute the local paper did while they brought this Marine home yesterday morning.

May This Soldier Rest In Peace.

The Nutty Farm

The other day someone asked me where I lived, with a deadpan look I told them "The Nutty Farm". The questioning raised eyebrow said it all, "are you kidding me? why would you say such a thing? I surely hope you aren't serious!" Yet I was very serious, why because I am surrounded by NUT TREES!!!!! Walnuts, Butternuts, Hickory Nuts and Chestnuts, not the mention Oak trees covered in Acorns.

Walnuts

Chestnuts

Butternuts

Sadly I haven't made it out to take pictures of our Hickory Trees or nuts just yet. But as I said I live on the Nutty Farm.

The smell of books

I love the way books smell, new ones and old ones alike. It is right up there with fresh cut grass as one of my all time favorite smells, the smell of a baby is of course always at the top but when you aren't around a baby these other two smell just as good to me. :)
The library is one of my favorite places in the whole world, the smell of new and old books blending together to make a scent all its own is where I want to be. I can sit and read a book as my escape from the worries and problems of life even if it is only for a few minutes or a whole hour. 

     Katherine has started going to story hour at our local library, I was hoping to meet other homeschoolers there but alas she is the only child that has shown up the last two weeks. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks a few more children will start arriving and she can have a few new friends.

I leave you with this.

Learning for Life

           My Mom is the Director and Nurse Manager of a Crisis Pregnancy Center who has recently started a program called Learning for Life. Learning for Life gets the women (and some men) to earn coupons or Mommy Money to "buy" items they need for their children (clothes, diapers etc.) or themselves that the center gives out. This mommy money is used after the client has been given his or her allotted amount of items for the month.
          It is great program that helps women and men to become involved in their community, for instance going to a Bible study each week earns them 1 coupon, volunteering for 2 hours earns them 1 coupon. There are also classes such as learning to make your own baby wipes, going to the public library and learning Windows basics, Word: basics and editing. The clients at the Pregnancy Center are truly learning something they can use the rest of their life, Learning For Life!

The First Day of School

After weeks of preparing for the start of school for Katherine, today was officially first day of school for her. We had review the alphabet the last several weeks just to get her back in the mind set of school work. As I get my mind into teacher mode, which is a new one for me. I have been a student for so long I have been having a hard time changing my mindset of being a teacher, thank goodness for teacher manuals is all I have to say about that.

The kindergarten that I am using for Katherine is called Our Father's World, it integrates Pre-K and K together. Since Katherine has two years of Pre-K under her belt, she has some of the basics down already such as the alphabet, primary colors and a basic shapes. So that takes some of the steps out of each day, and to be honest that is OK with me right now. We will review some of the things she already knows just as a reminder and I will incorporate them into her regular scheduled day, that way I know she has them down.

Starting school

        Fall is slowing creeping around the corner much to my chagrin, I am in love with summer. I wait for 3 seasons for it to arrive and I get very disappointed once it has left, cold weather and I do not mix well at all and not matter what anyone says you can only put so many layers on before you can't walk, sit, basically move at all.
       But with fall comes the start of school, Katherine is going to be in kindergarten this year and I am homeschooling her. Which I know will be fun and challenging for the both of us, since she isn't one to sit still for long periods of time. Thankfully the curriculum that I have should only take 60-90 minutes, of course that is if I decided not to deviate from the book. Which I am planning on doing, for instance on Monday's she has ballet and tap dance lessons aka gym, on Wednesdays she has Story Time at the library I am not sure where to categorize that one just yet but I'll figure it out ;).
      I have decided to wait till Tuesday the 6th, to start school with Katherine, it seems silly to start so early like the public schools do. But hey its my school therefore my rules right? Thats Right!
Signing off to go heed the call of motherhood.
Ciao!
       

Going from One to Two

          Well our baby is here, Zane Michael arrived on July 17th at 18:06, he weighed 9 lbs 8 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.

            After only having one child for 5 1/2 years, adding a second child to the mix is a bit of an adjustment for me. Especially when Zane needs to nurse and Katherine is having a meltdown over something is usually insignificant to me but to her it is the end of the world, how does a mother handle these situations?
             It has been a learning curve thats for sure, each situation that arises gets handled differently. When Katherine really really needs me to fix her boo boo, I have realized I can put Zane down for a minute or two even though he is fussing so I can hold Katherine and make it all better for her. But like I said it is a learning process and each day it gets a little easier and Katherine finally understands that I love her just as much as I love Zane so she shouldn't feel left out or jealous of him or my time spent with him. Hopefully some of this will be worked out even more once my Moby wrap arrives in the next couple of days, so I can "carry" Zane around with me everywhere a little easier.

                Well it is time to be off, I hear Zane starting to fuss after his little nap.

Is it a hole or a trench?

Life is always interesting in my house, you never know who or what is going to throw the proverbial monkey wrench into your day. Currently the biggest monkey wrench in our day (actually our whole holiday weekend) has been the septic system, no its not pretty thing to think about but it is a part of every day life. Ours decided to take a crap, well actually the pipes decided to take a crap and our septic needed pumped out...blech. So we had to dig up basically my front yard to put in new pipe, because the old clay tile pipe was a goner and it wasn't coming back. No matter how hard one tries having a dug up yard isn't all that grand, in fact it looks like I let Katherine loose with the backhoe, even though Josh's friend tried very hard to do a neat job of digging the trench which he did, its a mounds of dirt that do not look good.
But lets face it a hole is a hole no matter how hard you look at it and with this dug up trench come unsavory creatures like snakes..I shudder at the mere mention of them. So now I don't just have a long trench in my yard, I have a yard full of garter snakes whom I wish to vanquish into the night. Because we all know scaring a 38 week pregnant lady isn't cool nor is it pretty once she gets mad and I mean MAD! Heck I lose it on the stupid birds that chirp outside my bedroom window every morning, its a good thing I didn't have a gardening hoe in my hand to chop that snake to bits after it scared me.
Josh would have come home and asked "what the heck happened."
"It's the damnest thing that hoe just jumped up and whacked the crap out of that snake today."
 "But honey why is there a rock sitting on top of it too?"
"Well that rock decided it wanted to participate and it rolled down the mound of dirt there and landed on the snake to make sure it was dead. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"

One Hot Mama

Summer is my favorite season, many people think I am crazy for enjoying hot lazy summer days. To be honest it is slightly crazy but after a 2 1/2 seasons of cold weather, my body needs the warmth of the sun to thaw me out.
 This summer is a little different for me though, when the temperature is above 80 degrees with 80% + humidity. I'm ready to retreat in to the air conditioning, which isn't like me at all. I'm the person who is ok with 100 degree temps, as long as I have a fan on I'm good to go. No not this year, I get to hot at 80*'s and resort to putting my head in the freezer to cool down.
When the phrase "Bun in the Oven" was coined, they weren't kidding. Babies have their own heating mechanism that will keep you warm/hot all the time, it actually has to do with having extra blood flowing throughout your body that keeps you warm or hot in my case.

I have enjoyed being pregnant for the last 36 weeks, and I'm a little sad that it is coming to an end. Well only a little because I could do without the heartburn and puffy feet and hands. But I love knowing that my baby is safe and full of life right below my heart as I feel my baby move around. So I patiently await the arrive of my baby, while my husband and daughter are getting a little anxious.

The Invasion Part 3 - Ants

As you know my poor house had been invaded by wasps, thankfully they have either all been killed or have moved outside where they proceed to dive bomb my head every time I walk out the door.

 Damn dumb things!

A new invasion has come to my poor house this time in the form of Ants, sugar ants and your ordinary big black ants. If you know me, you know that I absolutely hate ants with a passion the same kind of passion I hate snakes with (but thats a different story). So I have these two different kinds of ants, the sugar ants are coming out of the ceiling (YUCK!) and onto my counter, we have set out ant traps, Josh has put ant killing powder all over the place. Yet these tiny little suckers just keep coming back, I have started to spray them with Windex because the ammonia in it kills them. Finding alternative solutions to bug sprays is harder than one would think, it usually happens by accident or at least it does to me. Now the big black ants are a pain in the butt to kill, even stepping on them doesn't always kill them you have to make sure you hear a crunch in order for them to be dead. 

Gross isn't it? 

Ack the snarky lady is back

Why must people think that asking "when are you going to pop?", "Are you having twins? Are you sure?" and my ultimate favorite "WOW you're HUGE!" are not appropriate comments to say to a pregnant woman? Especially a stranger, honestly what happened to having tact or just plain old keeping your stupid comments to yourself?
Usually when I get a stupid question "You are having baby?" I reply with "No I'm having a purple Hippo," of course I'm having a baby what were you thinking when you said that. Then these lovely people think they are going to "guess/figure" out the gender of my child, because unlike most people I can wait till the baby gets here to find out the gender, plus I love being surprised. Not to mention I HATE HATE HATE the color pink.

Why these people feel the need to say something stupid or hurtful, is beyond me. And being the snarky type of person I usually answer in kind, mostly because someone needs to put these asshats in their place. And I am more than happy to take the job, but also I just feel the need to be mean sometimes and this is how I let it out.
My other favorite question is "How are you feeling?" a better questions would be "how are you doing?" in my opinion. Because honestly you really don't want to know about the swollen feet and hands (I haven't worn my wedding ring in months because of it), the heartburn and waking up at 0630 almost every morning because I can no longer sleep, and plethora of other random ailments pregnant women have. Plus it isn't like I have some kind of illness that requires you to ask how I am feeling, compared to someone with a chronic illness/disease.

I know that most of these people think they are being nice, but honestly its really annoying and after a while I really don't care if I hurt your feelings after you say something stupid. Because I am at the end of my rope dealing with stupidity. I have a very low tolerance for stupidity when I'm not pregnant and it goes down to ZERO tolerance when I am pregnant.

Beware of what you say to the snarky pregnant lady!

Hand prints on the sidewalk

Having a 5 year old is very interesting at times, there are days she still acts as if she is 2-3. Then you have days you are positive that an adult has invaded her brain because what she is saying makes complete sense, or is it just the fact that I am in need of some serious adult time that I in my mind I want her to be one already? Hmm, that is one I will have to think about. 

Then you have days where she is just a normal 5 year old, or at least I hope she is normal. lol For instance I took her easel outside so she could paint out there and since it is concrete the paint will not damage it, along with her easel and her paint brushes she took her bottles of washable paint. After she was done painting we brought everything but the paint bottles (I forgot they were out there) and the next day we were graced with this.

 

After an hour of scrubbing with scrub brush, Dawn dish soap and hosing the area off frequently. The paint did not come off for several days, probably if I went outside right now I would find a faded red blot of paint. I was a little mad at first about it, because it created more work for me and lets just say trying to bend over, kneel or squat down is very hard to do when you are 32 weeks pregnant. LOL

Our next adventure was found a few days prior to the painted hand prints on the sidewalk. Katherine loves to play dress up like almost every little girl does, even the tom boy ones liked to play dress up don't let them lie to you.

Yes, she is the one who dressed herself like this, all I had in it was tucking a piece of the head scarf in so it wasn't poking her in the eye. I believe the purple fuzzy slippers set this off to the right tone of a Russian Babushka. 

Don't you think? 

Only my kid would dress like this and be ok with letting people see her. :)

Clowning Around

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and others well I will let you decide for yourself.

Let me say that this is exactly how I found her, I did nothing to help make this better other than crop the picture. She used washable marker on her face (thank goodness) and for once it actually came off when it was time to wash her face. I think the flower is a nice touch though.                                                                           

"A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as face."

~ Groucho Marx

The tale of scissors

What is with kids and their fascination with scissors? I honestly don't understand it, Katherine has for the 3rd or 4th time (I honestly can't remember how many times it has been) has cut her hair all on her own again. Instead of snipping off a little bit of hair that was easily hidden behind longer locks, she cut off a 2 inch wide bangs. We had been attempting to grow her bangs out, they were past her chin for goodness sake. She cut them 2 inches wide and about 1 1/2 inches long, which of course looks silly as all get out. Her whole reasoning for cutting them was that they were in her eyes and face, however I have made sure she had clips, headbands, bobby pins at her disposal to make sure they were not in her face EVER.
So again after a year of growing her bangs out, she again has bangs. The girl who cut her hair, cut her bangs a little shorter than you would normal bangs so they really short hair blended in.
This child better know how lucky she is, because I had told her the previous time that if she ever cut her own hair again I was going to shave her head. Yes I know thats is mean, but it got my point across for over a year and a half.

           I am keeping my fingers crossed that this was the last scissor escapade.

Miracle of Life

As each day passes I am increasingly aware of how soon this baby will enter this world, and how unprepared I am for this baby right now. Sure I am mentally prepared to give birth and bring this beautiful child home, however I am not prepared physically I guess you could say. Josh and I haven't started to purchase all of the necessary baby items every parent needs, like a swing or a saucer so this Mommy can take a shower every day. Don't get me wrong I am all for Attachment Parenting, but I cross the line of bring the baby into my shower with me every day. Babies are slippery when wet and I don't want to worry about dropping him or her in the shower, plus I like my water so hot I look like a lobster when I get out.
Oh yes I need to go through all of the clothes I kept after having Katherine, even though I never knew when I would have another baby if at all. But other than those kinds of things I can't wait to meet this baby, even though I enjoy being pregnant and feeling my baby kick and move about. So I am going to enjoy each day of this pregnancy and the miracle of life.
On the flip side of this I am ready for birth, I have my birth plan written and a doula, now to just make sure Josh is either home or will be near a phone would be just great. :)

The Invasion Part 2

Its been a month since I have begun the war against the wasps, and I like to think I am winning the war. How would I know that you ask, well I have been keeping a tally of how many wasps I kill. Yes it is sad and very OCD but I am ok with that, and it is a interesting way to pass the time while April rains keeps us indoors.
Wasps: 0
Me: 132
The best part of all of this is Katherine has even gotten into killing the wasps as well, she will smash a wasp into mush but will not go near the occasional cockroach we find in the house to kill it. I don't get it but hey she is one heck of a wasp killer with a pair of children's chop sticks or s dress up shoe.

S.A.H.M

SAHM - Stay at home Mom.
    
         Many people do not understand why I choose to be a SAHM, but then they don't have kids or they really love their job. Which is fine with me, every one is entitled to their own opinion.
I love being a SAHM for several reasons:
1. Katherine is less fussy and stressed about missing Mommy
2. Mommy is less stressed
3. I actually have time to clean my house
4. I am not missing out on any more family function
5. I don't have to deal with stupid people on a daily basis
6. Josh and I don't have to worry about where Katherine is going to be at (the sitters, his Mom, my sister, Katherine's Dad etc)
7. I enjoy staying home and not having to rush off in the morning or come home late
8. We save money (not paying for gas, babysitter or extra lunch stuff)

So you see the options are great for those of us who can afford to have a spouse stay home, and I am grateful that Josh and I can do that. Especially since we have the new baby on the way and I will be homeschooling Miss Katherine next year and that will take up all the extra time I will have.

The Invasion

We are amidst a war in our house right now, we have been invaded by wasps. It is a war that I will win and will not lose, each battle that ensue I am sure to be armed with a hard backed book and aerosol hairspray. Living in an old house always has its moments between the wasps and the japanese ladybugs that bite, however I would rather deal with the ladybugs than wasps any day of the week. Especially since I get hives when I get stung not to mention it hurts like heck, but so far I am winning this invasion of bugs. Since I am pregnant I try not to use anything with chemicals unless I have to, so using hairspray is less harmful than say wasp spray. Hair spray works by making their wings all sorts of gunky and slows them down so I can swoop in with my books and squish them into smithereens.
I have also found that my vacuum cleaner works fairly good too, I have sucked up about 3 since the invasion has started last weekend. But I have only been keeping track of how many I have killed since the 8th, so far we have killed 34 wasps in our house. The way I figure it is if we kill as many as possible now there will be less of them to dive bomb my head later on this year.
I personally hate all insects that sting after my unfortunate encounter with a yellow jacket about 15 years ago, it stung me atleast 16 times. You can still see the scar on my right arm that I received from that encounter where you can count 8 of the marks were the yellow jacket got me, so my hatred for stinging insects is well founded.
So the war has started and my hope is that it will be won without any of us getting stung.

The 4 Seasons of Ohio: Summer, Mud, Winter, and Mud

Living in Ohio is an adventure when it comes to weather, for example we have had snow on the ground for basically 3 months straight. And as all of the snow melts it brings on the next season of Ohio...MUD.
If you have ever or do live in Ohio you know what I am talking about when I say the season of mud, for most of Spring and Autumn fall into this category. Yes I know Spring brings warm weather, but it also brings the melting of the snow and rain which equals MUD. Fall just has rain and perhaps a the tiniest bit of snow, but that usually doesn't occur until December or January. So againg we have our second season of Mud.
As we welcome the Season of Mud (oh I mean Spring) with open arms after many months of snow, we can only hope that the warm weather is here to stay until next Winter.

The Hike

After a weekend of 50-60 degree weather, we were surprised on Monday afternoon/evening/night to receive 5-7 inches of snow. Waking up on Tuesday morning to another day of a winter wonderland, Katherine and I decide to take a short hike around the house. Which is hard to do when your 5 year old would rather shovel snow and build a snowman.

As we took our hike we found deer tracks almost filled with snow and a pretty view of our shed that is up the hill from the house. But all in all our hike was fun with just a pinch of cold noses thrown in.

Treasure Box Whistle Blower

The preschool that Katherine attends has a reward system that goes along with how well each child behaves. If a child was good, did what they were asked to do and listened they stay on Green, if the child did fairly well but were not great they are on Yellow. Now if he or she was bad they are on red, now if a student stays on Green all day they receive a star. After collecting 7 stars, they are allowed to get in the treasure box and pick the treasure of their choice. Getting in the treasure box is a big deal for the students, because it means they have done great the last couple of weeks.

Today Katherine was able to get in to the treasure box, she usually picks out temporary tattoos or bubbles. However today she picks out a plastic green whistle that has yet to be quieted, regardless if she is indoors or out. So fun is to be had with the simplicity of a whistle.

Movement

Ahh the feeling of an acrobat in training is one of God's ways of our unborn children letting us know they are there, they are growing daily and they love you already. Just as you love them as soon as you find out you are pregnant, sure it can seem unreal that you are pregnant at first that is until you see the baby on the ultrasound. For your husband or significant other it can take a while for them to comprehend that there truly is baby growing in your womb.
Many couples are now refusing an ultrasound from their doctor or midwife, because it is harmful to the baby. However research inconclusive on the subject and to be perfectly honest, I have yet to hear of a baby having a deformity from his or her Mother having 1-2 ultrasounds. Ultrasounds or sonograms as some call it, give a chance for Dad to truly comprehend the miracle of life. At the crisis pregnancy center my Mom works at, ultrasounds have given woman who were going down the path towards abortion the visual aid (their baby) they need to realize that its a human being and not just a blob. These ultrasound have given these women's significant others a chance to realize the same thing and turn away from abortion to keeping the baby. Which is a victory for Life.

The Term Educated isn't all what its cracked up to be

After a week of ups and downs, I have finally come to a conclusion about many people. This is just a generalization of many people not all but many. I have found that many woman who say they are educated about pregnancy and birth are truly not educated what so ever and it is very sad. I saw a post on facebook about a woman who said that every woman should be induced (I am correcting her spelling because it awful) because being over due hurts your baby in her "educated" opinion. And that she doesn't know a single woman who has never not used pitocin to help labor along. Her statement makes me sad, because birth is a beautiful experience that doesn't need to helped along with any type of medicine, especially pitocin which causes contractions to be more intense, painful and not getting a break between the contractions as you do when you are all natural.
I should have asked her if her educated opinion was after reading 'What to Expect, When You are Expecting' a book that doesn't educate woman on birth really.