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!