Gift Ideas for my Family

It's awkward to make wishlists to share.  Feels like I'm asking for gifts, being greedy.  But family has asked for ideas so I thought it might be easier to share if I put it in blog format.  Let me know beforehand if it's something specific you want to give that might get duplicated by other family(I'll let them know it's taken).

Chance age 10- loves Star Wars, especially anything clones.  If anyone gave him cash he would spend it on more lego star wars kits(he has a big one he is saving up for).  This book "Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 2"is on his list, costs $6.99 on amazon.  Cheap dollar tree ideas would be duct tape, bungee cords, Army men

Braxton age 7 is hard to buy for because he just doesn't ask for things!  Good problem to have, I know.  He has shown interest in those science kits you see everywhere.  He likes musical instruments.  Any cash given to him he will probably use to buy Star Wars or Monster Legos.  Cheap Dollar Tree ideas would be assorted tape, Army men.

Onaleigh age 4 is into fairies right now.  It all started with the disney Tinkerbell DVD's that we checked out from the library.  At night before she goes to sleep she looks at the fairy books we get from the library, her favorite books are by Cicely Mary Barker(they get the most time in her hands). On amazon I have seen that C.M. Barker has sticker, coloring, and paperdoll books, so those would be good ideas. She loves all things pink and girly.  She really likes getting cards in the mail so I think she would enjoy a card making kit. She would also love a Go Fish card deck.  She could use some cute hooks to hang her dress-up clothes on.  Cheap Dollar Tree ideas would be simple crafts(please NO craftfoam or playdough), jewlery, anything pink. Santa is bringing her How To Find Flower Fairies, Fairyopolis, & Flower Fairy Magical Doors.

Harm age 9mo loves everything that is not meant for him!  I prefer wood or cotton toys for him.  He likes cars, tipping over things his siblings stack for him, would probably enjoy some nice soft blocks.  A ball would also be a great gift for him.  Stacking or nesting cups. He is in need of one of those highchairs that strap into a regular kitchen chair or a regular highchair.  Used would be fine as long as it has a strap to buckle him in.
 
Chance and Braxton and even Onaleigh would like a DIY gift like this tent in a bag .  All the children seem to take after me and rash from any clothes or bibs that have polyester in the content. All of them love to be outside a neat sled, snowman kit, etc would be fun.  They have all been asking for a small shelf beside their bed to keep library books in, I have seen a DIY on how to make them and some are even just made out of spice racks.

Day at the Como Zoo

Saturday morning we got ourselves together and headed off to the Como Zoo in MN.  For the drive we listened to Winnie the Pooh on CD.  It's a small zoo, which is about all I can handle with a 5week old baby in tow.  First thing we spotted was the flamingos.  That pink was stunning. 

At this point I realised I forgot Harm's hat so we picked up one in the gift shop.  It was a bit too big but that worked out just fine.  He slept through the whole thing.

They have cute photo op type spots at the zoo.  It was a really busy day at the zoo so we only did one, the tortoise.

We saw bears, a lion, giraffes, zebras, very sleepy sea lions, and Onaleigh's favorite a gorilla.  We found our hands full so we didn't take many animal pics.

The kids had fun and so did I.

Time was running short so we made our way to Keith's favorite animals, the primates.  Chance got a kick out of the orangutans.  One had a plastic cup that a child must have thrown into their area.  Chance thought the monkey stole it.  He laughed and laughed.  Sadly the new gorilla forest habitat is still under construction so the gorillas were still in their small area.  I am so looking forward to them having more space.  I have always been bothered by gorillas in the zoo.  They look so human like that I hate that they are penned up.  Onaleigh was taken back by them.  She practically jumped out of her stroller when she saw them.  She watched and watched them.  In fact she didn't want to leave.  Had the zoo not been closing I would have let her stay till she was ready to move on.  So on the run we made it to the gift shop.  Chance got marbles, Onaleigh got a necklace, and Braxton got these little flashlights that go on your fingers.  I picked out a post card and a polar bear coin for my "smash book"(it's like an old school scrapbook).  We all made those souvenir penny things.  And off we went to the park outside the zoo.  The kids ran off the last of their energy and we took some pictures.



The weather was perfect.  I got to snuggle little Harm and hold hands with Braxton.  Chance got to check off his zoo trip in his Cub Scout book.  Onaleigh's wish to see a Hippo didn't happen.  We will be planning a trip to a zoo that has them sometime this summer.  I felt so blessed to have such a lovely day with my family.

Updates and jumping right into 2012

It's been awhile but that's okay I will jump right in!  It is 2012 and our family has grown.  Harm was born Apil 5th 2012. 

Chance 9 1/2yrs old.  He is doing great in his reading and math programs.  He finished one yrs worth of math this year already so we had to buy the next stage a couple months ago.  He loves to ride his bike whenever he gets a chance.  His dad and him ride all over town.  He loves to draw star wars characters and transformers.  He is still into building his inventions as well as other structures.  He is a great help to me around the house and with his younger siblings.  He has a strong sense of what is right and wrong.  I am so proud of him.

Braxton is 6yrs old and coming into his own as a little boy and big brother.  He is doing great with his school work.  He especially loves to work on the computer.  He has been doing Kindergarten this school year but soon it will be time to move him up to first grade work.  He is in Karate, which I hope will help him w/ focus but even more I hope it helps him gain more self confidence.  His imagination is huge.  I love his drawings.  The pictures and characters he draws do not come from TV shows or books but rather from his own mind.  Some days I wish I could go on a trip to his little world.

Onaleigh is 3yrs old.  She is transitioning really well into becoming a big sister.  I am amazed that she doesn't seem jealous of her new little brother at all.  In fact she adores him.  As long as you never refer to her as a "big" sister she is happy.  She insists that she is "little".  She loves to play outside,
play with her brothers, wear ribbons in her hair, and call herself a princess even while dressed head to toe in camo.  She can go from pink and sparkly to hand me down boy clothes and she is happy either way.  She is a bit of a broken record talking about wanting to go to grandpa's house, to Halloween, and any other place or time(like Halloween) that crosses her mind.  With the new baby in the house she has gotten to watch more TV.  As much as I hate to admit that.  Anyway her favorite show is Dragon Tales, I love listening to her sing the theme song.  She likes to paint and cook and is always my partner in crime. 

Harm is 5wks old now.  He was born at home.  We has another homebirth.  The 3 older children all got to be at the birth.  It was an amazing day.  Little turkey is a night owl.  We are all adjusting by staying up late and sleeping in.  He is starting to get more interactive, sometimes smileing back at us when we smile at him.  He doesn't care for waisted pants so sleepers, one pieces, and overalls is what he wears.  He is such a strong little boy always holding his head up to see the world.

My husband Keith has been my rock.  During the end of Harm's pregnancy I wasn't very mobile.  Harm liked to ride low in there.  And on top of that there is that hormonal rollercoster.  Then Harm was born and Keith was able to take 2wks off to take care off us.  Oh how I loved that and so did the children.  He cooked all the meals, all the cleaning, shopping, and all the homeschooling.  After he went back to work he made sure I had meals already precooked in the fridge for a couple weeks.  He is still doing a lot even 5wks after because of Harm's sleeping habits but things are starting to come into focus and I have been able to do more.

Then there is me.  I have been on a bit of a hormonal, emotional rollercoster.  All the joys of post partum.  But I feel like it's getting better.  The more I am able to get done around the house and the with the kids the better I feel.  I am very excited that Thursday this week with be 6wks since Harm was born.  That means I can start working out.  I need it to help improve my moods.  I know it's going to help a lot.  I got out this past week for the first time just the kids and I.  We made it to homeschool group.  That was great.  I loved seeing all our friends and getting hugs, gosh I need hugs.  They mean the world to me.  Been a bit lonely.  But that's a temporary thing while I get on my feet. 

Well it's pretty late now and I very much need to get to sleep. 

My biggest goal for this year to enjoy life as it is, to enjoy what I have and do what I can with what I already have.  I have been so blessed. 

Release...

My word, new years resolution, my intention for 2011 is "release". So much joy will come in this new year if I make room for it. It had pushed hard to come through this past year, I want to ease the way. 2010 was a very good year but too often I didn't allow myself to really feel it. Instead I held onto those overwhelmed feelings that really don't fit my life any more. I was so used to feeling that way that I created it inside me when if I really thought about what was going on it just wasn't real. I will release old unwanted trains of thought, I will release clutter. In those 2 things I will reclaim myself, my mind, my body, my home, my time. With less time focused on putting away/stashing junk and emotions I don't need I'll have all the time I want for enjoying all the Lord's blessings. I am so excited to play more with my kids! I am so excited to feel more at ease with myself. I'm excited to let life flow instead of trying to plug leaks. I can get that by finding our rhythm. I don't know if anyone will really get what this blog is about but that's okay. It's a powerful for me to write it. I can feel a light inside me glowing, getting brighter, ready to shine.

school school what happened to you?

Seems we are getting nothing done. I have to keep reminding myself this is December and this happens every yr. Sometime I wonder if we should just plan to take the whole month off! And I feel bad we haven't done more fun crafts and decorating. I often feel that way when we fly past a holiday w/out much attention. But hey we did make our paperchain count down to Christmas. That's a must in our house. The kids look forward to it every year.
But I am SO SO excitted for the new year!!! I love January, it feels like a fresh start. Almost like September. Okay I know that it sounds crazy but September is this month when school starts and you get so excited about the new school year. Well than January after Chridtmas break is like a 2nd wind. I'm really looking forward to instilling more routine into our days. Going to start small for the first month with set wakeup, meal, nap/quiet time, and bedtimes(For the kids as well as myself). I think from there we will fall into place. Also going to set some big internet use rules on myself for the new year. What about letting myself check my e-mail for 10min in the mornning and then not again online till school is done for the day. Otherwise the internet is like a black hole sucking all my time away. I also want to start doing at least one 27thing fling boogie a day to get rid of our cluter so we can reclaim our home and our free time. I need to think of more things to keep Onaleigh busy durring lesson time. Things like gluten free playdough, watercolor paints, and hey maybe a sensory table(really just a short plastic storage bin) with assorted fun ideas...water, rice, beans, stuff like that. I'm thinking it's time to try starting reading lessons with Braxton. Not so much because I want him reading but because I think it will help him get more out of his speech theropy. We'll keep it gentle. If he's not ready for book work than we'll stick to phonics games and songs. Chance is comming along in his lessons but we need to reenergise, January is a perfect oppertunity for that! LOL. Looking forward to planning more things with friends and doing more projects. 2011 is going to be a really great year!!!!

Updates

So some updates!
Chance is now 8years old and having a good school year. Things seem to be clicking a lot more for him. He was baptised this past September and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost. This seems to have had a very big effect on him. In his blessing it was said he would go on a mission one day. As each day passes I can see that in him more and more. He's very spiritual in all aspects of his life. He is a passionate kid. When he gets evcited about a topic he talks with his hands to make points. It hits me at these moments that he is growing up so fast.
Braxton will be turnning 5 this month! Wow. He is such a sweet kid. I need to help him with his self-esteem. Sometimes he can be so hard on himself. He is craving more school time with mom and I know if I can carve more time for that will make a world of a difference. Over the summer he went to speech camp at the local collage. And then this Fall he went again. He's been working on his s blends such as sp,st,sc/sk. He was going 2 times a week for an hour each and he LOVED it. I think having someones undivided atention means a lot esspecialy to a middle child. This last session is done and it will be 2months before the next session starts. So we will have to contimue to work on those s blends at home. He is very into his superheros right now. His 2 favorites are Batman and Spiderman. He says things sometimes that make me really pause and be in the moment. When he smiles it with his whole being.
Onaleigh will be 2 in a little over a month. And wow is she acting it, lol. He climbs a lot. Pushes chairs up to the counters to reach more trouble. No purse is safe! We pull her down or turn her away from one things she goes straight to another bit of trouble. Some of her words are POOP, mom, Chance, stop, bow(that's her word for dog), Dad(once in a great while). She will sometimes repeat words I say but I can't pick them out unless we are playing repeat. One of those words is Braxton. She and our dog Molly have a special bond. Molly will let Onaleigh snuggle her and she won't run.
Keith is working very hard at work. And also at home. He has been doing Chance's Math program with him in the evenings. Chance is loving it and I think Keith is feeling good about it too. I think eventully he will give this job to me. But he's getting more into our schooling. I can tell he feels good about it.
I have a new, old hobby. I got a Kindle for my Birthday. I used to read all the time but for awhile there I let the Internet take up the time I used to spend reading. It's great to get back into books Now. I'm averaging a book a week. I finnaly read Gone With The Wind, that's a book that has been on my want to read list for 15years now! Also been reading Wizard Of Oz books to the kids from the kindle. Currently I am reading "Simplicity Parenting". Looking forward to really getting into it, just started the book yesterday.
I was going to write more but I'm getting tired(it's 11:30pm). But I'll be back another day!

one of those days...remembering the little wins in the day

I am sitting here at 11:30 at night still in the PJ's I put on yesterday. That's right I never got dressed today, never brushed my teeth, nor my hair. My house is a mess. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. Seems my 15month old wanted to be my best bud today, she was at my ankles all day. So I need to look back now at my day and think of what my accomplishments were and where were the positives. Lets see

-ran my dishwasher 2 times today, washed pots and pans

-did Chance's reading lesson with him today, I'm amazed at how much better he did than Monday(Tues was Homeschool group science class, so we skipped formal lessons that day since he got 3 1/2hrs class time that day).

-got some tips on helping Braxton's growing pains in his legs. I feel impowered, thanks to my crunchy facebook friends

-feed my kids their green smoothie today. It's so cool to watch them drink that and know how much spinach, kale, carrots, etc is in there. My 15mo old loved it so much she licked her bowl. She was such a mess that I just whipped her down. Decided not to give her a bath till after lunch since we were going to have spaghetti(made that too)

-gave Onaleigh a bath

-instead of putting DD down when she feel asleep today while nursing I just held her(over an hour). I caressed her hair, breathed her in and just enjoyed it. Thinking about how fast children grow and that sometimes you need to stop and hold on to the moment. It was a good memory made.

-sure we didn't get a lot of school done today but the boys got lots of outdoor time. As I worked on dishes today I watched them play in the sandbox. And when the neighbor girl came out I listened as the boys and her ran and laughed. Music to my ears.

-read scriptures to the kids

So yes I am going to bed in yesterdays pj's but I guess I got more done than I thought I did. And tomorrow is a new day, Earth Day. Tomorrow I'll get up and dressed. We'll do our breakfast smoothie and hit the books. Then we'll find someway to honor Earth Day. And if for some reason I get behind again, I'll remind myself of the little wins in the day. And I'll love myself. Good-friends, focus on what matters!

It's funny how life works out

It's funny how life works out. Earlier this evening I headed out to what I thought was going to be a Relief Society Birthday party at church. Even though I had already been told it had been canceled and was going to be rescheduled but for some reason even though I knew that I blanked it out and went anyway. So I called my husband from church and told him what was up. He encouraged me to go out and have some fun since I was already out. I wasn't going to but then on the drive I decided it would be really fun to go to Borders(book store). Went to look for a certain magazine(they didn't carry it) and a kid's book which they had but I decided not to get it. Then I remembered I wanted to look at beginner organic gardening books. We want to put in our first garden this year, ACK! So I grabbed a few things and then headed over to the children's section so Onaleigh could play while I looked through the things I picked out. There was another mom(Jessica) there with her little girl(older than Onaleigh). The girls played and both she and I got to look at our stuff. Somehow we eventually started talking and eventually I started telling her about Onaleigh's eczema and how we healed it. LOL, that's another blog I'll write latter. Anyway she was very interested, then a lady(Monica) walked around the corner and wanted to know more about what I did too. I told them both and gave them contact information and took the one ladies card. The lady from around the corner turned out to be an author of a children's book about Irvine Park Zoo in Chippewa Falls(we go there a lot when the weather is nice). The book is titled Emily at the Zoo and can be seen on her Web site at http://holtzcreativeenterprises.com/. She also is a contract publisher, She helps people publish books of all types. She offers one-on-one advice and assistance regarding book editing, layout, design, and printing. I thought her book was really neat so I bought it from Borders for my kids. I should have had her sign it but I didn't think of that till I got home. I absolutely love talking about food and eczema. I love being able to give people hope. Here is a link to a journal I posted about it w/ before and after pics http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1575018/How_I_healed_DD_s_eczema_w_diet_PICS. One of these days I want to write up another blog on it describing more of our journey. And Jessica turned out being an organic eating, extended breastfeeder, chiropractic loving mom, just like me. I invited her to check out the local chapter of HMN(Holistic Moms Network). She actually has heard of it and goes to the church where we hold our meetings. She sounds interested in the group, I hope she checks it out. Neat lady. So I had a blast, great night!

Chance 7 1/2

So my baby is not a baby anymore. He has his first loose tooth! This is just crazy! He's a smart kid who loves to invent things. He even draws up blueprints for his inventions. He builds things out of random things he finds in the garage, out of knex, legos, marble maze and anything else he can get his hands on. He is SO HONEST! He tells on himself. It's so funny.

Homeschooling is going so great. I love being able to write that! Chance really likes Sonlight. He begs for the read alouds. I can see progress in his math skills. And we are now doing Sing, Spell, Read, and Write. He LOVES it!!! I was worried about how he would take it because it's a lot of work. But no he begs to do it. In fact today after doing his math, history, and literature he asked if he could go outside. I told him sure if he would make a deal with me. If I let him go out than we would have to do his reading when he came back in and it would probably be dark outside when he came back in. Told him if we did this than he couldn't complain about coming in. He looked at me SO serious and told me he would never complain, that he LIKES doing the program. I was floating on air! He gets sad sometimes on the weekends that has no school. After looking through the program that is a combo Kindergarten/ 1st grade I decided to jump in with the first grade work. He's flying, so exciting. At the begining of this school year I was concerned that we were so far behind. I thought we didn't do enough last year(his kindergarten yr) and I was kicking myself for it. Turns out when you child is ready things really do just start clicking just like all the books said.

For Halloween Chance was Optimums Prime. Keith surprised him with a costume. He bought it too small to fit over a snowsuit so this year we had to do our trick-or-treating at the mall. That was fine. Last year he wasn't home for Halloween, he went with my In-laws to visit his cousins. So having him home was even more special. He did a great job cleaning out his pumpkin, really didn't need any mom help at the end, I was impressed.

Chance has been talking about Jesus a lot lately is the sweetest ways. He was at the library the other day and there was a boy who wanted to play with the legos in his area. He wanted the space to himself. The boys mother asked if Chance could let him play with him. Chance then said. Well Jesus would want me to share. So yes he can play. Another time we finished playing his reading games. Chance won both games so he was in line to get 2 prizes from the treasure box(things like stickers in there). Braxton was sad he wasn't getting a prize. I told Chance how happy it would make Braxton if he would let him have the 2nd prize. That Braxton was sad. Chance asked if Jesus would like it if he shared. I told him yes but that this was his choice. His face got bright and he told Braxton he could have the prize. It was so sweet! Chance is becoming a fine young boy.

Another thing of recent happenings has been something sad. My brother Chance and his fiance broke up. Lauren the fiance has a little boy Landon that my boys thought of as a cousin already. The boys were very upset when I explained to them that Landon wouldn't be around anymore. I explained the best I could what breaking up was. They wanted to know if they would ever see Landon again, I told them no. Chance struggled with this. Chance had also seen me watching a show on the computer where there is a divorced couple. So over the weekend he came to me and asked if our family would ever break up. Poor kid! I promised him that would never happen. That mom and dad love each other very much and that we were sealed in the temple and we were a forever family. We are LDS, temple sealings are a part of our faith. I gave him a big hug and he felt better, just needed some reassurance.

To end I will tell you about my little geraphobe. The kid is nuts about germs. 2 weeks ago Braxton had a cough. Chance was so concerned that Braxton had sick germs that he baricaded himself in a fort. He is washing his hands a lot. He is so parinoid. So Keith decided to pick on him. The other day he gave Chance a bowl of chips and he licked some of the outside edge of the bowl!!! Chance about died but hey he still took the chips. I guess somethings are more important than germs. I am trying to work with Chance to help him relax about germs a little. My reason is my future daughter-in-law. I can't imagine what it would be like to live with a germaphobe, it would drive a person nuts! So yeah we are working on it. That said today we took Onaleigh in for her 9mo check-up. I totally took advantage of Chance's phobia. So many sick people at the clinic! We brought our own books and things and I had my bottle of hand sanitizer out anytime we touched anything. I pretty much acted like everyone had the plague. No we didn't wear masks, but the thought did cross my mind. To be honest I didn't want to touch the face masks knowing people with the flu had touched those boxes.

Braxton (soon to be 4yrs)

Braxton is such a fun kid! For Halloween he decided he wanted to be a bat. I have no idea why, maybe he got the idea from Magic School Bus. Had to make his costume. So I bought him a black coat, pants, and shirt. Some black polar fleece and black cat ears. Halloween was a busy day to say the least. Keith was working from home so he was here but busy. I carved pumpkins with the boys and then I tried to work on his costume. But of course I couldn't find my sewing kit when I needed it. Eventually after getting frustrated I came up with a plan. I would cut out the wings and then on the way to the mall we would pick up a sewing kit at Walgreen's. So I ran and gave Onaleigh her bath and then got to work. I had no pins to cold it together so I grabed clothes pins off the line and measured and cut them. I also took chalk to color on the boning you see on bat wings. Got us all dressed, Keith finished work and off we went. I found it funny to be sewing his costume in the parking lot at the mall but hey it worked! Braxton was thrilled about his costume and the great part of it is besides the ears the rest of the costume is all clothes he can wear. I just did a slip stitch on the wings so they will come off really easy and then we have a spring coat. Rock on.

When I had the Nutritional Response testing done on Onaleigh I had Braxton done at the same time. His results really surprised me. His big stressors are not food but instead preservatives, pesticides, and formaldehyde. Those are probably because of vaccinations(he is fully vaxed except the FLU shot). I ordered 2 inexpensive vitamins that are supposed to help his body ride himself of them. The hope is that one he gets this taken care off that he will stop wetting the bed. I sure hope so. Braxton potty trained at 21months. Chance didn't like going to the bathroom by himself so he would bring Braxton with him. And before I knew it he was potty trained way before I was ready! LOL.

Braxton tags along while I homeschool Chance. I ask Chance questions and Braxton loves to answer before his big brother can. It's funny. He really wants to do school too so I give him some spare workbooks we have. That makes him feel a part of things. He also plays our games from Chance's reading program with us. I'm not officially doing school with him but he is catching on just from being near us. We'll keep going like this with him for this year, real relaxed. He amazes me everyday with what he knows just from being there.

Braxton reminds me of pig pen from Charlie Brown. He is full of energy and loves to wrestle. When he gives you a hug he presses his cheek to yours. He is easily distracted, I swear his brain falls out every so often. It's part of his charm. I love the way he talks, laughs and gets so serious. He's my little boy!

Onaleigh 9 1/2 months old

Onaleigh is 9 1/2mo, with no teeth. She gets around a lot. Crawling like a pro. She loves to pull herself up on things but can't get down. That doesn't bother her, because she never wants to get down! That is unless she accidently starts doing the splits, then it's time for a rescue. She loves to explore so we have to be very careful to make sure all the doors are closed. The best is when you can see she's on a mission so you run to the door and shut it. She instantly puts her head down on the floor in her sad crumble, poor kid. She loves her brothers and in particular has a thing for Braxton. If he is on the floor than she is on top of him. He can get her giggling like no other.

For Halloween Onaleigh's first Halloween she was a fairy. We found wings and a tutu like thing at the dollar store. We went trick or treating at our local mall. She got lots of compliments. But no candy(I wouldn't allow it). She wasn't so sure of all the masks so she was pretty serious for most of it. Chance accidently scared the day lights out of her with his Optimus Prime mask.

Onaleigh has atopic dermatitis, in other words severe eczema. From the top of her head to her feet. I took her to a woman and had Nutrional Response Testing done. It came back that her stressors are sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, eggs, whole wheat, sprouted whole grains, rye. She also needs to take daily probiotics. Much of those things I had already eliminated from my diet. She is a breastfeed baby. Sugar was new though and wow eliminating it from my diet has been an emotional process. Proud to say I made it through Halloween without a single bite of candy! I have been sugar free since her testing. Topically after trying a few different oils I am slathering her with avocado oil a few times a day and then putting California Baby Super Sensitive no fragrance lotion on her. For the laundy we use All Free &Clear and I double rinse all her clothes. No laundry softener. Her torso is red dry and flaky. But the welt like rash has toned way down. Today I took her in for her 9mo well baby check up. Her pediatrician wrote her a prescription for a steroid cream and told me to go buy Vanicream or CeraVa. Not Eucerin because it contains lanolin which some people are sensitive too(me for example!). I need to research these creams, they do not contain parabens but I want to know about petroleum and mineral oil. He also wants us to see a dermatologist, so he put Onaleigh on their cancellation list. It can take a log time to get into the derm so this way makes it go faster. I'm not sure how I feel about all this. I really do not want to do the steroid cream. What I want to do is handle this holistically. I am going to fill the prescription but I haven't decided if I am going to use it. Other than her skin she is in perfect health. She weighs 15lbs 2oz and is 26in long. Her head measures 43cm. She is a little thing :)

As for solids we aren't giving a whole lot. Mostly if I am eating something she can eat I give her a little. Like carrots, potatoes, apple sauce, etc. With the eczema I am leery to do many new foods. I want to clear up her skin more first.

She used to be a great sleeper but not so much anymore. I think part of that is because of the eczema. We'll see!

Last month was her baby blessing. It was very special. She smiled so big after, my heart just melted. I found her a pretty little white cotton dress at a local consignment shop for $8! She looked so sweet. Still can't believe I have a girl, it's a whole new world after 2 boys.

A really nice day! Staying in the Moment.

Today turned out to be a special day. It's funny how a errand can end up creating memories. My poor husband hurt his foot. Poor guy couldn't walk on it and by morning the pain got to be too much. I talked him into going to the doctor for an x-ray. We decided to drive out to Arcadia(a 1hr drive). That is where he he works and the company he works for has a Wellness Center where you pay a base 10 co-pay that covers EVERYTHING, even any prescription given. Much better than going to our local doctors office. We had a nice drive with beautiful views of green rolling hills country side. Made us dream about our goal of moving out to the country. Once there we got into the waiting room and my husband was called in for his appointment. So there we were with a couple of TV's, magazines, and children's books. We left the TV on our side of the waiting area off and jumped right into the books. Quite a feat for a woman with a cold that involves a sore throat but how could we resist? We read all the books that looked interesting. And played. Then we discovered the drinking fountain. That was fun. Bonus they had small paper cups.... I showed the kids the fun of balancing them on their heads, LOL. They loved it. Eventually Braxton(age 3) lost interest so we read another book and paged through a sports magazine. That lasted a little while when I was inspired to show my action loving Braxton some clapping games. Those 2 boys can really get you! I tried to show them some clapping songs like "This Old Man" and a few others. It was fun. I showed them how to sit in a circle and clap each others hands in a wave like motion. We looked pretty funny ;) They kinda got it. We needed something we could do with a little less thinking so we jumped up and played "Ring Around The Rosie", and "London Bridges". The smiles on their faces were priceless the whole time. Eventually we dug into the bottom of the diaper bag looking for forgotten toys. Onaleigh particularly liked the light up match box cars. It was great to release my stresses and just play with my kids. They were SO good. It was all about taking the time to connect with them. I remembered a great a lesson today one I once knew but let myself forget. Be in the moment. I got down to their eye level really enjoyed our 1 1/2hrs in that waiting room. Not till right now did I realise I could have turned on that TV and plugged them in, while falling into a magazine. If I had done that I probably would have spent more time fighting with the kids instead of making a memory. It was a very quiet day in the waiting room today. But there was a woman who took the time to come and tell me I had really great, well behaved kids. I felt on top of the world at that moment. A smile is spread across my face as I write this. Chance(soon to be 7) was a great helper. He enjoyed all Mom's silly games and worked hard at them. Braxton was full of smiles, and Onaleigh(5mo) let out a more than a few giggles. When my husband came out on his crutches with a booty on his foot, we were happy to see him. He has has been referred to a podiatrist(I told him that is what would happen-I had foot issues when I was younger). They think he has some sort of bulging nerve in his foot. Poor guy but hey we are moving forward. We piled in the van and started our drive home. Stopped at a gas station for a loooong potty trip for Chance. Braxton entertained both his Daddy and his little sister. Happy faces all around. The drive was quiet all 3 children slept. When we got back in town back in town we decided to stop at the pet store to look at puppies, then picked up bubbles at the Family Dollar. Once home we discovered something wonderful, a large check in our mail box from our midwife, it was the insurance reinvestment from our homebirth, $3,185. Went and deposited it in the bank and I got to take 185 of it to go towards our 2009/10 school year. Rest went in the bank to pay back the credit cards we took out to afford the birth. Keith is so excited for the check to clear and to pay off some our debt. I am now they only one up, the house is quiet. Flying high off a really great day!

Little Boys Are Odd!

Last night I listened to me 3yr old going potty. Really you don't have a choice we live in a small house and you can hear everything in the living rm that is going on in the bathroom. He was doing his usual pee, pinch to stop and pee pinch, pee and so on. Sounds like a squirt gun getting fired over and over. So I said to DH why oh why does he do that, I wish he would just go normally. Braxton(my 3yr old) yells out, "I have to shot the bad guys!". So that's what he's doing in there, LOL!

Toys

Today I ordered Onaleigh's first doll for her. It was really important to me to be the one to get her, her first doll. I loved dolls growing up. I wanted her first doll to be a Waldorf doll. No plastic, no bottles, no pacifier. This is the one I ordered if you want to go have a look http://www.amazon.com/K%C3%A4the-Kruse-74198-Nicki-Baby/dp/B000FGISVW/ref=pd_sim_t_1 I even have the doll picked out that I want to buy her for her first birthday or next Easter. When it comes to dolls I plan to throw away bottles or pacifiers that come with them. I like toys that feel good to the touch. I really want too get her some wood toys as well, but I'll wait a little longer for that. I am just so tired of all the plastic and with all the things in recent years about plastics(BPA etc.) I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I want to do a lot of decluttering. And to reward my children and myself I want to get more Waldorf inspired toys. I also want to buy more of the wonderful books from all my book lists. Right now I am collecting them from thrift stores, garage sales, and used book sales. Here is a link to a wish list of books we would love http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/2APV4YO70WUJS. I know very little about Waldorf as an educational philosophy. But it's view on toys hits home with me. Here is a few of websites full of beautiful toys
http://www.magiccabin.com
http://www.novanatural.com/
http://www.threesisterstoys.com/
Of course my sweet husband loves transformers and has shared that love with our boys. It's a fun father and sons thing. He even has transformer books. I have told the boys that those books are special to read with Daddy. Ha ha, but hey he likes them and I'll stick to the classics. They even like to play pretend together. It's so sweet to see my husband down on the floor playing transformers with the boys. Makes my heart melt. I love my family.

Diet change for my family

Braxton has had this rash for 2weeks now. His arms and legs have these little red dots. Then this morning I noticed he now has 2 red pimple looking things on his face. He has been scratching himself to the point that he now has scabs. This rash I think started the same time that he started eating bread all day(we went through 3 loaves last week and ran out before the week was finished), he eats it plain. So I've come the conclusion that I think he is developing eczema. I have wanted to try taking my family gluten free but I was holding back because it well sounds like a lot of work. We are already dairy free and now going off wheat that makes food hard. This is a major diet change to accommodate while having a new baby in the house. Means making food from scratch when we are having a hard time right now getting the convenience food on the table. I have to say this sucks. I am trying to figure out what to put on the grocery list for next week. I started looking for recipes online when I remembered one of my favorite websites godairyfree.org. I went on there to look up recipes and wow there are so many that are dairy, nut and gluten free. Wish I would have remembered that website when people were asking me what foods they could bring us after Onaleigh was born. Oh well.

My messy house is driving me crazy. It makes me feel so scattered. I'm overwhelmed by it. I can't live this way anymore. We have started back up with homeschooling. It has made my moods improve getting back into it. We now need routine desperately in our day. It's the only way we can make all this work. I'm thankful I know about flylady, that will help immensely but it's still a big transition. How do I get over this overwhelmed feeling so I can dig in instead of throwing up my arms in defeat and not doing anything? I need to pray to Heavenly Father to help me with all this.

Fun With Onaleigh

Here is a video clip of my baby girl. She was 7wks 3days old. I took it on 3/10/2009. She is such a happy baby!

Pictures of Onaleigh birth to 4wks

Pictures of my baby girl Onaleigh. She was 6wks old this past Wednesday.

It's a girl!

Baby girl born at 7:21am at home. Waterbirth. 6lbs13oz, 20in long. 4 1/2 hr labor. No stitches! name still to come. Baby is a breastfeeding pro!

Pregnancy and birthing preparations

Today's my due date, can't believe it. With my other two children they were born at 38weeks. So I have to say I thought this one would do the same. Nope! This one is too comfy in there. When we missed 38weeks I then predicted that baby would be born on the 11th, it was a full moon. Had a friend to acupressure on me to encourage baby to come Sunday(the 11th) and no, baby decided it needed more time. I give up, no more predictions from me! Baby will come when it's good and ready.

Had my midwife appt today. I did have growth. I have been measuring small, today I measured 36weeks. Now I know from my first 2 that I tend to stay small in pregnancy. But I can't remember if I actually measured small as well. She said at the last visit that she would like me to get an ultrasound if I didn't have enough growth. My poor head worries, because that's what I do. So to help me feel better about things she set up an ultrasound appointment for me for Wed. She wasn't pushing for one but she wants to put my mind at ease. Would you all believe this is my first ultrasound this time around. I didn't see a need for any earlier unless it was going to tell me info I needed to know. And my midwife was on the same page as me on that one. I didn't want to know the sex of the baby and there is no way I would ever abort because of a defect so I decided I didn't need that ultrasound. I also would never consent to an amnio so that is further reason why I decided against it. Why am I doing one now? I just need to be reassured everything is okay. The measurements bug me. Wish I wasn't such a worry wort! I don't mind being pregnant still. Really, I still feel great. Thanks in BIG part to my wonderful chiropractor. In fact I teased my chiropractor that the reason baby has stayed in longer is because my body feels way too good to be this pregnant! She got a chuckle out of that. I didn't have chiropractic care with my first 2 children and oh I so didn't know what I was missing. I now find it essential to a comfy pregnancy. My feet, ankles, and yes my lower legs are swollen. But not as bad as they used to be. Not since I figured out drinking a ton more water makes all the difference in the world! I never swelled with my first 2, this baby is going against the grain.

I have had the birthing pool set up since Christmas Eve in the classroom. I thought for sure I was going to go early, what can I say. Glad I didn't though. I have had more time now to make the classroom feel more serene. Cleared off the long table and put candles on it. Put blankets over the windows and over the metal shelving. Took down the maps and educational posters. Feels much better in there now. Less like my midwife should be using a laser pointer teaching anatomy, LOL! Now it feels like a room a baby could be born in.

Had a Birth Blessing back on December 28th. Oh that was so wonderful. Because it was so close to Christmas many could come. Still it turned out so nice. The 2 friends that came also have had homebirths. One gave me an amazing foot, lower leg and hand massage. Wow, that felt so good. I felt so pampered. They made my a birth necklace that is very special. The weight of it on my chest reminds me of snuggling my mom for some reason. I love it. We talked about positive birth experiences. Read some birthing type songs, and just felt good together.

So that's my update on baby.

Side note: I had a craving for Chocolate Cupcakes. I made them today and forgot to add the salt. Pooh! Hope the frosting will make up for it!

OH and Braxton(my 3yr old) came up to me this morning, hugged me and told me baby is coming. It was just so sweet. I hope he's right!!! I'm just so excited to meet this new little baby.

I won a new baby sling!

Raspberry Hemp Sling from TaylorMade. Look what I won today!!!! I just can't believe it, I feel so very blessed. Baby #3 is due any day now and I had no carrier. Well I do have my old faded black baby bjiorn but from my research I found out that it's not very good for baby. We really didn't have the money to go buying a new carrier. Thank-you cafemom for putting a link to this contest in your daily buzz a couple months back. http://www.babywearing.com This website gives away a different type of carrier each month. Can you all believe it? People really do win these kinds of things! Here is a pick from the website of what I won..