A day for random updates

• Its raining here.  Finally.  Its been like the desert, (and our water bill reflects trying to water the desert soil to grow grass.)  Sometimes I love a good rain. 

• 
  
  My baby boy turned 4 a week and half ago. We had a small party on friday. It was hot, but it was fun. He had a blast with his friends. E decided to get all of the kids water guns to take home. Not just the cheapies, but the actual Super Soaker brand kind. They had a great time (including all of the dads. Which, thinking back, the water guns may have been for them in the first place.)

• The cake turned out so-so.  I wouldn't put the fruit in the middle again.  It was fine for party day, but I think the fruit has gone bad so there are no leftovers.  Boo.
• The kids are watching Fraggle Rock.  You know, the show from the 80s.  "Dance your cares away.  Worries for another day. Let the music play, down in Fraggle Rock."  Ring a bell?  I love the Wii.  And Netflix.  Best.invention.ever. for people like us who don't have cable.

• Zeke is waking up from his nap right now, and I can guarantee that he's standing up shaking the sides of the crib.  Yes, that's right, I said STANDING!  Its his new trick.  A trick that he likes to do all day, every day, and even sometimes at night.  He'd prefer to stand than sleep, I think.  In fact, today, he was propping himself up on the side so he couldn't fall asleep.
• O starts Kindergarten in 2 weeks.  Two weeks.  Two freaking weeks!! 
• O's kindergarten list says to buy 8 jumbo glue sticks.  Do you know how much those cost?  Around $2 a piece.  That's $16 in glue, folks.  I just want to buy the mini ones and say "take it or leave it", but probably won't since I always do what I'm told.  E wants to check Amazon to see if they have them cheaper (this is just SO him... lol.)
• I rarely order things online.  Mainly because I hate not being able to return it, or paying to return it.  But, I went to TCP last week to try to find some jeans that fit miss O.  The 4s were huge in the waist and the legs were just a tad too short.  I asked if they carried 5 slims.  Which, they don't.  But, she gave me a free shipping code to order them online.  Woot!  I used another code from http://www.retailmenot.com/ and I ended up getting them cheaper than in the store.  Double woot!  Let's just hope they fit now.

• In the spirit of online shopping, I bought a dress at Gap online today.  I think it'll look nice. It was only $9.99 so it might look nice no matter what.  At least for around the house. 
• E got a bonus a few weeks ago.  We planned to do some decorating stuff with it (well, technically, E told me I could "do whatever" I wanted with it.  But, that quickly changed to buying a few things that we need and putting the rest in savings.  Again, so totally E.  but that's why I love him.)  One of the things we were going to buy were these iron chairs for our front patio from Costco.  I went to buy them, and they were all out.  Darn!  They are too expensive elsewhere.  I just need them to look pretty, not be comfy really.  I can't bring myself to pay much for something to just look pretty.  *sigh*
• We did end up buying a pretty picture to hang above our fireplace with the money above, though.  We went to Old Time Pottery and scavenged through all of their stuff.  (E kept making comments like "let's just get out of here!" and "I hate stores like this!".  I think the clutter makes him nervous.)  I love the way it looks with our new paint color.

For a rather abrupt ending to my posting, that's my list for today. :)

The bad "list"

Things I'm NOT looking forward to in the next few weeks/months:

*O going to Kindergarten.  I mean, I'm glad she's growing up healthy, smart, etc.  but, I wish she could stay my little girl for just a bit longer.

*All of the fun words/sayings that miss O will learn in said Kindergarten.

*O's behavior when she is getting up to be ready and at the bus at 6:50 am combined with no naps.  I anticipate lots of room time.  That, and/or early bedtimes.

*Scheduling around school is ALREADY a pain in the rear.  We have a wedding and my 10 yr reunion in October, neither of which is the same weekend as O's fall break at school.  Its going to be a challenge to work that out.

*Peer pressure.  You know, silly kindergarten peer pressure for things like silly bandz.  There's nothing wrong with the actual thing, I just don't like the constant ebb and flow of "in" toys and the pressure that comes with it. 

*Fighting with O on clothing choices.  The girl is a dress lover.  Seriously, I have to fight her to wear shorts.  She also wears almost nothing on her feet but flip flops.  I told her, in passing, that she might have to wear tennis shoes to school (because until they can tie their own to change into tennis shoes for gym, they need to wear them to school-already tied) she freaked.  Totally freaked.  Not in the fit-throwing sense, but in the you've-crushed-my-inner-sense-of-style sense.

*The 100 degree weather on the forecast for tomorrow.  For A's party.  Which is at the peak of the heat.  Good times.  (and I totally won't insert here that someone may have mentioned having it at 10 am on Saturday, but another someone said we should have it Friday night instead.)

*More of this stage with baby I, were, when he nurses, he pulls off and on, over and over and over and over and over and over and over. 

As I typed this all out, I realize how much I'm not looking forward to O going to Kindergarten at all.  I'm sad.  I feel like I'm losing a little friend.  One who will idolize her teacher, (who will say no wrong, I'm sure) one who will get her advice from her little best friend, and one who no longer snuggles with me at nap time. 

Someone pass me a margarita  tissue.

Looking foward

I fully intended to start a post today titled "things I'm NOT looking forward to".  But, I'm trying to have a more positive attitude lately, so I decided to do a post on things I'm looking forward to instead.  (Maybe not instead.  Maybe just "first", with the other post coming tomorrow.)

 

So, in the spirit of optimism, in list form,

 

Things I'm Looking Forward To:

 

*A's birthday shin-dig.  We're borrowing an inflatable water slide from our neighbors, having a few friends over (when I say few, I really mean few.  I think 9 kids, including my big kids.) having a good dinner (not pizza. I'm actually cooking a meal-meal.)  Of course, its supposed to be 100 degrees out, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post.

 

*Reading out about Photogrl's birth story.  Oh, the cuteness on those twins.  They are just so darn adorable!  And the names!  I love Carina! *swoon*

 

*Visiting with my very sweet, dear, and close friend Devan sometime soon!  Yay! 

 

*Having A's dino camp conclude on Friday.  He's loving it, but I'm looking forward to it being over.

 

*Buying school supplies for Miss O.  I always loved buying new crayons, pencils, etc.

 

*Having Zeke sleep through the night.  Maybe. :)  He slept all the way through until 6:00 am today.  It felt so. good.

 

Well, I'm rushing off to Dino camp now.  Tomorrow we'll conclude with things I'm NOT looking forward to.  I know you are all sitting on the edge of your office chairs in anticipation.  Right?

Happy birthday, Little Man!

Its hard to believe that this little creature

Grew and grew

Into such a little man

Who delights us daily

With his smile

and his antics

who is such a great big brother

and is handsome to boot.

we love you, little man!  Happy birthday!

In the spirit of the birthday "season" a birth story, 4 years later

A's birthday is tomorrow.  His 4th birthday.  Wow.  I know its cliche, but I can't believe that he is four.  It seems so, well, grown up.

My kids love hearing about how they were born, and what E and I did with them the first few days.  I just shared A's with him last night.  He loved it.  Since his special day is tomorrow, I thought I'd share his birth story with you.  Its a copy and paste from a mommy board I originally posted it on.

Austin Davis's Birth Story
7/15/2006






Thursday afternoon (july 13), I went to the dr. and had an ultrasound. I was dialated to 2 cm and the dr. stretched my cervix. The ultrasound measured Austin weighing 7 lbs 12 ounces.






Friday afternoon, I decided to take some castor oil. I didn't really think it would start labor, since it didn't when I was pregnant with Olivia. I didn't take much, and was a little concerned when I didn't start going to the bathroom around the 2 hr mark. But, I did get really sick to my stomach, which I thought was due to the fast food I had just eaten. Around 7 my contractions started, but were very irregular and not very strong. After we put Olivia to bed, I decided to take a bath. After my bath, my contractions started getting stronger and closer together. We decided to call our neighbor over to watch Olivia around 11. We got check into the hospital around 12 am. on saturday morning.






I was hoping to go for a while with out an epideral, but I caved shortly after I arrived. I was dialated to 4 cm when I got there with my contractions ranging from 2-4 minutes apart. They started getting closer together and I couldn't get up and walk around, (hospital policy after an IV is inserted) (a small side note here, inserted after the fact, four years later...  I did my homework after his birth and found out that this was NOT hospital policy, just what the nurse told me.  I got educated and prepared for I's birth with the facts. :) ) They were getting unbareable, so I ordered the epideral. By the time I got the epi, my contractions were making me sick to my stomach and I was close to throwing up. The epi kicked in after 2, and they gave me some medicine for the nausea shortly after. I then slept for about 5 hours. It was great! When I woke up, I was dialated to 7 cm. The dr. came and broke my water and I dialated to an 8 immediately. Within the hour, I was ready to push.






The nurse was going to have me give a few pushes before she called the dr, (since I was a vbac, they thought it would take longer to labor and push). I pushed once, and she called for the dr. Once the dr. arrived, I pushed for about 15 minutes. I guess my husband was trying to "help" me push because he almost passed out and had to go lay down on the couch while I finished pushing. At 12:01, the dr. gave me a small episotomy and at 12:02, Austin Davis Abney was born. He weighed 7 lbs 7 ounces and is 20 inches long.






The minute Austin was born, they put him on my chest and cut the cord. I was able to nurse him immediately, and he latched on great. I was such a different experience from my c/s, in all the best ways! It was a fabulous birth!

working on some things

If you happen upon my blog today, you may notice that its a bit wonky.  I'm trying to work on that. :)  I promise I won't leave it.  Well, for too long anyway.

ETA: Okay, I give up.  I've been working on the size of the pictures on the left side bar for over an hour today.  I am calling it quits for now.  To the 5 people who read my blog, please excuse the mess. :)

"He's definitely one of yours!"

Those were the pediatrician's words to me when she showed me where baby I falls on the charts. 15 % for weight, 30% for height, and 60% for head circumference. Yep, he is certainly following A's pattern for growth (O was a bit smaller... like 0% for weight, but height and HC were about the same.)

Everyone at the dr.'s office also commented on how much our children look alike. I have to agree. He's definitely one of ours.

Olivia

Austin
Isaac

Two recipes: a tried and true, and one that's new.

E's been coming home late the past few days. So, the kids and I decided to make a new popcorn recipe. It sounded great! Kettle corn with a Cinnamon twist. Yum!

(in case you are wondering what I made it in, I have a stove top popper. I have had this Whirley-pop for a while now, even though its been broken since I used it the first time. It was a gift, so I couldn't take it back to get a new one. )

We started with some Cinnamon, sugar, and salt.

with a touch of almost-four-year-old-little-boy love

put it all in my Whirley pop and gave it a go.

I was so excited to try this. It just sounded SO yummy! Unfortunately, I went to turn the handle and the top piece snapped off. It may not sound too vital, but that small turning plastic piece is what kept my Whirley pop whirling.

Here's the end result when said plastic piece snaps to pieces during cooking.

Not exactly what I envisioned. It doesn't taste good either. But, Orval to the rescue. I threw some microwave popcorn into the microwave, then threw the spice mixture on top. Its still pretty good, but I'm sure that it would've been better made the correct way. Especially with that homemade kettle corn.

My tried and true recipe went a little smoother. Blueberry cobbler is in the oven now!

On the ingredients list:

1 stick of melted butter

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 c milk

1 tsp of baking soda

1 can of pie filling (we used fresh blueberries. about 3 cups)

1 cute little helper

Mix everything but the blueberries together. (this works best if a little boy does the mixing.)

Pour into a dish. Pour blueberries (or any fruit filling, really) on top.

Throw into a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Well, I think I hear my timer now. I'm off to check the progress of my yummy dessert.

aperature and other things I don't understand

I've been trying to mess around with my camera today. I did something big for me. I switched it to manual mode. (gasp! I lead such an exciting life, don't I?) Unfortunately, my manual mode was stuck with who-knows-what settings, leaving all of my pictures black. Not black and white. Just black.


After getting some online help via facebook (seriously, how did I ever function with out that?? ha!) I got it to have color. Then, I spent over 30 minutes, trying to find the manual to my camera. Once said manual was found, another 10 or 15 minutes to figure out how to change the aperature.

I found it. But, the only subject that I could get a "good" picture with was a pacifier. Nice.



I messed around for a while up in I's room with some natural light and some with the flash. The results were, well, Meh.

At least the subject is cute.

throwing babies, stress, and the death of creativity

When O was about 6 months old, E threw her across the room. (He claims he tossed her gently, but my version makes for better story telling.) She was screaming crying loudly and I needed a break from the noise. I sent E in to rock her. As E was headed to the rocking chair, he tripped. As he was falling, O sailed out of his arms, blissfully unaware of her misfortune, and landed with a thud.

E, of course, felt horrible. I came running into the room, not knowing what on earth had happened (all I heard was "thud" and then a "waaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!"). Turns out, she had actually landed onto a large pillow and E was the one who had made the thud, and O's crying was only from the shock of it all.

I had a similar incident today. Except for one little difference. I didn't throw toss accidentally drop the baby. He was unable to be dropped/thrown/projectiled into the air because he was in the sling, snug against my body. (I actually fell into the road, crossing the street to get from one of our church buildings to another.) Zeke didn't even hit the pavement. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the funny ride, and had a big grin on his face after I stood up. (I'll pretend he enjoyed the ride, versus laughing at his mommy's klutzy-ness.)

I, however, didn't walk away unscathed. A few scrapes, and some bruises. Definitely a bruised ego for sure, and probably some physical ones as well. Thank God that Zeke was in the sling and I couldn't drop him. It would've really hurt him if I had...


Which is kind of stressful to think about. Stress, stress, stress. To say that I've been overwhelmed lately is, well, an understatement. I feel like nothing is getting done right/well enough/fast enough and that there is always a to-do list a mile long. A friend wanted me to sew some stuff for her, I's baby food issues (we've now decided to skip purees all together) the kids have taken turns getting sick, thrush, antibiotics, etc, etc, etc.

In efforts to try to lose more weight, I've started running the past two weeks. However, I feel like instead of relieving stress, like everyone claims, its actually causing more. Stress over when to fit it in, where to do it, how long, how far, how to keep the kids entertained, etc. Not to mention it cuts into my kid-free time in the evenings, and my hubby time. I feel like E and I haven't' seen each other much this week. He and I were alternating what evenings to go run/workout. When we get back, its shower then sleep.

I could go on and on and on. But, I won't. I've decided to cut back on some expectations as well as some things. For instance, part of my stress is coming from my creativity. I get excited about ideas of things to make. Particularly, things I can make by sewing. But, I get stressed when it doesn't work the way I want, or it takes longer than expected, or I don't have time/energy/hands to do it. So, the sewing machine is getting put away this afternoon. Back into the master bedroom closet. Away where ideas can't stare me in the face every day while I sit nursing the baby, wishing I had free hands.

I'm not sure what else I am going to cut out right now. I might try to combine my devotions with running and see how that goes. Maybe some sermons on my mp3 player, or some worship music perhaps (but, I need fast music, so I'm not sure what to shoot for there...) Whatever the changes are, it has to change for my peace of mind. It needed to change yesterday.