Birthing Confessions

The New Year is almost upon us!  I can hardly believe how fast 2014 flew by.

Anyone make resolutions?

Mine generally come in list form... complete this list of tasks some time during the year.  My list from January is still on the board... and very few things were checked off.  Things change through the year, and I'm ok with that.  I may still get to those things eventually, but for now, they will wait.

There are more important things to attend to.

My main 'resolution', which really isn't a resolution at all, is to be more prepared this year.  I am much more organized than I was this time last year, but I still find myself not thinking about certain things until the time for them to happen is fast approaching... like labor and delivery.  This week, I have managed to put away our Christmas decorations as part of my preparations... as baby is due in little more than two weeks.  I have washed clothes and diapers and the cradle mattress... we've set up a spot in our 'new' bedroom for the baby, but there is still much to do.  And the things that I need to do are more important than a 'proper bedroom' or a 'clean house' (which is an impossibility in itself, I'm sure other moms of toddlers would agree).  I need to prepare my mind.  My heart.  My family.

I am scared.

There.  I said it.  It seems rather silly, actually... being scared of having a baby.  I mean, come on!  I had 3 babies in the last 6.5 years.  I have had a fantastic pregnancy (seriously... I could not ask for a better pregnancy!  It was the best of all of them so far!).  I am scared of labor.  I am afraid of the pain.  I am actually contemplating an epidural... something I never dreamed of.  Especially since epidurals can actually increase the risk of my uterus not contracting back down to size the way it is meant to.  I'll be honest... I'm not actually sure I want one.  But the thought of that intensity during transition and second stage is, in all honesty, giving me the shakes.  Yes... the shakes.  I get them thinking about it.  So, I am trying to do my best right now to research things I can do to deal with pain naturally.  I am looking at essential oils, massage, music, anything.  And I am praying.  There are so many verses that talk about how this sort of fear is not of God.  It is of Satan.  Satan is trying to steal my joy.  This fear has taken what should be exciting and natural, something that is amazing and powerful, and turning it into something I am dreading.  Something I am wanting to run away from.  Something I feel overwhelmed with.

Perhaps that is a good thing.  After all, what control do I really have over all of this?  None.  None at all.  The only one who has that control is God.  Recognizing that this fear is not from Him, but from the enemy, is one step toward the prayer and heart change I need to realize that I have no control.  That it is all God.  That He is bigger than the situation, bigger than me... bigger than everything and anything I could think of.  He is better at being in control than I would ever be.  And I just need to remember that.

And... I can do this.  I CAN do this.  I CAN. 

(now I sound a bit like the little engine that could)

Prayers and well wishes in the upcoming year! 

Are we ready?

Christmas is here.  Are you 'ready'?

Something I find myself asking myself every year.  Something people say often.  Something we are always wondering.  Are we ready? 

Ready for what, exactly?  Ready for opening presents?  Ready with wrapped gifts, stocking stuffers, planned meals, food, goodies, treats, cards, trimmings and decorations?  What exactly do we mean when we ask ourselves, 'are we ready'?

I wonder if perhaps we are thinking about the wrong things when we think of being ready.  After all, I have been taught that Christmas is not about the presents under the tree.  It isn't about the traditions, the decorations, the tree, the garlands, wreaths, turkey, stuffing, or pie.  No, I was taught that it was a celebration of the birth of our King... our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.  So, when I ask 'am I ready', I should really be looking at the state of my heart rather than the state of my house.  How does my heart look?  Have I prepared my heart and mind for Jesus, filling it with gifts of love for Him, preparing myself to give my all to Him for yet another year?  Am I 'ready' for the things He will be bringing to my life in the coming days/weeks/months/years?  Am I 'ready', am I humbled, am I in awe of the gift that He gave by giving up His divine power, wrapping Himself in the womb of the woman He created, and being born as a helpless baby, completely dependant on a young man and a young woman, both having never had a baby before, both completely inexperienced as parents, both realizing that this child was bigger than even they could possibly hope to imagine?  And all this because He loved me?  A sinner?  A child who hadn't even been born yet?  A seemingly insignificant speck of a person in the grand lifetimes of many who have gone before me, and the many that will come after? 

Am I ready for His outpouring of Love upon this body?  The knowledge of what He did, of what He would yet have to do?  And of what He is doing now?

Am I ready to give the only gift I have to Him who gave me everything?  The only thing I have, which isn't even worthy of Him, but is all He asks of me?  No pretty paper, no gift tag, no sparkle or shine...

Just me.  All of me.

Am I ready for Christmas?  Am I ready to accept that I have a gift to give, one that is not easy to give, one that I try to take back even when I have already given it... one which He patiently and lovingly waits for every day? 

Am I ready to give myself to Him?  Am I ready to give the control I so crave over to Him?

Sure, Christmas is a wonderful time!  It is a celebration of His ultimate gift, of His sacrifice.  Of the promise fulfilled in that tiny baby in a manger, the promise of the Saviour given to God's people after sin entered the world through the first two people God made on this earth.  It is filled with fun, family, gifts, food, and good times with friends.  But what is it really about?  What are we really preparing for?

Am I ready for Christmas?

The Paint is Complete!!

So, I know I didn't post last week, but I was very busy trying to put the finishing touches on our bedroom.  You see, after posting about my son's finished paint in his room, we moved the kids into there (it was quite crowded... all four of us had all of our clothing in the same closet.  No joke) and I did my best to empty out their old bedroom (quite the task, that.  Sorry I didn't take pictures, actually.  Too crazy to think about it).  Well, we moved them, and I was able to paint our room.

 

My mom came over and helped me move the last bit of stuff out on my birthday.  Then we took out the few pieces of baseboard that were there, mudded whatever needed it, and on Friday I washed all the walls and started to prime what was needing primer (I left all the old trim around doors/closets/window and just painted them white).  Saturday, I finished up with primer and started what I thought was paint.  Not paint.  Different primer.  Sigh.  Did a fresh coat of actual white paint later that evening (really late) and then on Sunday I finished up the white paint.  Saturday we went to look at paint mistints and I found a lovely yellow color that happened to match a chip I had pulled out that I liked.  I also found a small can of pink for M's room.  So.. for $20, we had paint.  I painted the walls... one coat Sunday evening, one Monday morning (of the yellow) and then I couldn't decide what color I wanted the feature wall.  Was aiming for a dark brown/reddish color, but since I didn't know for sure, we just used what we already had (which actually matched the carpet pretty nicely and lends itself well to a grey/yellow color scheme).  It turned out quite pretty.  Finished painting 3 coats of that (yeah... weird that it needed 3 coats)... and then had issues.  I washed the carpet before bed... took over an hour.  Found out afterwards that the cleaner didn't have the brushes attached.  Had to start all over again at midnight in order to be able to move our stuff in the next day.

 

I cried.  A lot.  This whole week I've been on waterworks setting.

 

Anyway, Tuesday I cut the baseboards (and made so many rookie mistakes with that too... overtired, I swear) and put them in.  Looks so nice with them in!  We moved our bed and bedside tables (I will need to go over the hallways for paint touch-ups now... it happens), and we left our clothes in Bram's room.  Yes... we kept sharing that closet.  It was weird, that is for sure!

 

 

That corner is where I wish to put the 'baby area'... cradle, the dresser will double as a change table (I have cloth diapers in there already, and washed most of the 0-3 month girls clothes which are in there as well).  I want to move the rocking chair down into the corner as well, and perhaps have a bit of a table there for my devotional area.  We were thinking of having a fireplace by the closet since this room needs a space heater anyway, but I don't think we will be able to fit all that furniture in this room.  Perhaps after the baby is moved into the nursery upstairs...

 

Wednesday I got our old room cleared completely (this is to be M's new room), we moved some more stuff around a bit, and we put in the wall panels (with insulation for sound proofing) in on that side of the room.  Took longer than I thought and I did not get to prime like I wanted to.  Ah well.  Primed the walls that needed it on Thursday... first coat.  Early on Friday I primed second coat.  These pics are after first coat, as I couldn't decide if I wanted to prime the second dark green wall and the doors, or just the wall, or just leave it and have less work to do altogether.  I went with the in between... doors stayed dark, and look fine. 

The first coat of pink I mixed ended up looking like pepto bismol on the wall, so I added a bit of a grey/purple to the mix, made as much as I could, and then tried again.  Barely had enough to cover the walls.  I made my own chalkboard paint (measure 3 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/4 cup water, and then fill till two cups with regular old wall paint and you have chalkboard paint... at least I hope so.).  Made a bit of a darker pink paint for that part.  M loves it.  She is so excited! 

She decorated her room straight away.  Nothing is allowed on the walls until Christmas though, as it needs that long for all the paint to completely dry.  Also, we used our old curtains in here for now.  I'd love to do a grey/pink/black/white thing for fabrics.  Like... black and white or grey and white gingham for curtains (or at least the bottom trim of the curtain) would be pretty.

Yesterday I got the majority of the clothes all moved into their appropriate closets.  Moved a lot of stuff, actually.  Worked myself to exhaustion.  At least now all our clothes are in the right rooms.  You should see how much stuff my husband is getting rid of in his clothes!  We can fit all our stuff into one closet without any trouble (although, my wedding dress and some of my costumes are staying in the walk-in closet in Bram's room regardless.  He doesn't need that much closet space anyway.)

Here is my son's room without his sister's bed in it.  Cozy... but with a huge closet space that I'm hoping to store some of his toys in for playtime as well.

Here is his closet.  It has all the bedding stuffs in there right now, too.  That will change, I'm sure.  And all the clothes in diaper boxes that he will grow into over the years.  And some very empty 'shoe' organizers we use for pants, underwear, etc.

Oh, and as if that all wasn't exciting enough, we now have a new infant car seat that my husband picked up on a sale while it was also a no tax day!  Yay!  Graco seat regularly at $150 around here, plus tax, and we got it for $96. 

And add to the excitement, Monday we put up the Christmas tree with lights and the train (which is very lopsided and needs some fixing... somehow... that bracket does not like to stick to the tree very well).  Today the kids and I finished decorating (they wanted to put up every single ornament we own... after awhile I just started cleaning them up as I do not like the idea of having to put these ornaments away after the season is over).  It looks nice and festive again.  M is so excited!  Today we also wrapped a few of the presents (I have more to wrap, just didn't get to them).  Now to haul the decoration boxes back to the basement...

 

Christmas is coming!  Have you started your advent yet?

Cost breakdown of the two into three room renovation:
 - wall panels - $60
 - 2x4's <$10
 - mud/tape $10
 - hardware/electrical <$5
 - paint $40
 - baseboards/trim $60

Total cost - <$185 (and completed in 4 weeks)
Not bad for a complete redo of bedrooms!  Yay!

Bedroom Progress

The last two weeks have been busy!  I've been trying to get the bedrooms worked on, and since we don't have the basement done yet (not even close), we have to attempt to get the work done while the kids are still in their room, and we are still in ours.  First thing we needed to do is move the door in the bedroom from the bathroom to the hall.

 

So, this here is the 'before' picture prior to getting any of the work done (wish I had taken more in between pics... oops)

 

 

And below is the after!  I reused the casings/baseboard, door, frame, inner wall (we moved it over... you'll see in the next pic), etc.

 

Yay!  We have an entry point into the 'third' upstairs bedroom!

 

Below is the bedroom side of the change... with a few in between pics.

So... door going into the bathroom above, and now the door goes into the hallway (below).  And yes, I cut the wall out where the door frame used to be, and my husband and I took and moved it over (I think I posted about it last week... but I'm just so excited that I'm posting pics again).

 

There's baby A! :)

We also put up the wall frame, and cut some panels to make a wall.

 

 

This will separate the bedroom into two.

 

Notice the purple wall color?  My son will be taking this room, and he wanted red and grey (in keeping with a cars theme).  I went to the basement and found out we actually HAD red AND grey paint!  Yay!  Didn't need to buy any.  However, the red paint wasn't enough to cover the wall in two coats.  :(

 

This last week I did a lot of mudding and taping, sanding, etc.  I've never taped before, so it was a bit of a learning curve.  My husband has pictures of that on his phone... I think... I don't have his phone, haha.  So, no pics. 

 

I finished sanding the mud on Saturday, only to find that it needed a little more mud on the bedroom side (I was not going to worry about it so much on the bathroom side, since that is a closet).  After mudding a little more, I was able to sand just before bed.  Sunday I cleaned up all the drywall dust, washed down the walls, and primed the first coat.  Yesturday I was thrilled to be able to prime the second coat of primer on the mudded wall (and the 'new' wall and the closet door I never painted in all the years we've had it up, haha) before the kids woke up!  I did the bathroom before making breakfast, and then later in the day I painted the rest of the bedroom, finishing the second coat of grey (and cleanup of paint supplies) around midnight!  YAY!  (I think I spent a good 3-4 hours painting yesterday).

 

So, here's the pics of it now!  The red still needs a second coat, and the closet doors in the first pic are going to be red, too (they are primer white right now). 

 

Haha... I never noticed that the bedroom door was in the way when I took this picture.  The red wall is a lot bigger than that.

 

 

The above pic of the black wall is the 'new' wall that wasn't there before.  It's done up with chalkboard paint.  :)  I want to put a ledge all along that will hold chalk and brushes (and contain any chalk dust that flutters down instead of it all getting on the carpet).  I may just buy one from Ikea to make it a little easier on myself.  We'll see.

 

I am excited to get this done!  My husband is getting more red paint today, and I'm hoping to, just maybe, get some of that magnetic primer, too (it is pricey... a 1L pail costs $30-40, and it only covers 25 square feet.  It will be enough to do a road along the wall (kind of like a wavy border), plus maybe some fun things on M's side of the room.  I want to put magnets on the bottoms of some of my son's cheap cars and put them on the magnetic road after all is done).

 

I am so excited!  Things are finally looking like they're happening!  I want to go through the kids stuff today and get it all ready to move upstairs so we can wash and paint that room before we move into it (and yes, we'll be using up plenty of the paint we have in storage rather than buying any new).  Then, after we move downstairs, we can paint what will be M's room before moving her in.  Carpets need to be cleaned in between everything, too.  Glad I have a carpet cleaner right now!

 

So far, this renovation project has cost a grand total of $90 (for the 2x4s and panels for the barrier wall, some mud and tape.  Everything else we already had and reused).  With paint purchases, I'm expecting it to total about $150 or less... unless we decide to buy another color for our bedroom.  I'm not sure if we need to buy any baseboards as I know we have a bunch in our workshop... I'll have to check when we get that room empty enough to put stuff in there.

 

Hooray for cheap renovation projects!!  Now if only we could get that basement done.  (actually, the farm's insurance company contacted us to say that we HAVE to get rid of our oil furnace and replace it with gas or electric by the end of 2014 or else the farm insurance will be affected.  My husband is working like mad to try to get the hydro company to finally answer us on if we qualify for their programs or not.  We've been working at this for well over a month now with no answer, and they didn't even know the information they needed when we asked them in the first place.  They now told him they need some papers he has to drive into the city for, and pay for as well.  He gave them what they asked for when he called them weeks ago, and they went and changed it on him.  Sigh.  I think qualifying is riddled with trials so less people try to get into the program.)

DIY Gift Baskets

My daughter was recently invited to a birthday party.  She was insistent on giving nail polish as a gift, but nail polish by itself isn't very fancy, so I decided we'd go to the local dollar store and pick up a few things to go with the nail polish that would give the gift a little extra flair.

 

I don't know how many of you are into pinterest (me... I'm addicted.  I should start a Pinterest Anonymous group with how bad I am, haha), but there are so many ideas on there for making your own gifts.  I always love gift baskets with lots of fun little things that go with a theme.  So, we made a 'nail box'.  I guess it would be better termed a manicure box, but my baby brain isn't exactly great with words lately.

 

It's actually quite easy.  Just pick a theme, and go with it.  Grab a nice container to put everything in, a number of small items to go with your basic idea, tuck some tissue paper in a coordinating color into the container and add your items to it, then wrap the whole thing in cellophane and add a ribbon.

 

One big reason to keep your tissue paper, gift bags, and cellophane... makes for some great wrapping ideas later for zero cost.

 

 

 Here is the package, all wrapped up and ready to go into the gift bag.

 

 For a little added fun, I thought it would be nice to add a 'decorate your nail box' kit.  Included are various gemstone stickers, other stickers, flowers, ribbon, an alphabet sticker book (so she can put her name on it), and glitter glue of various colors.  The little girls I know (and when I was little, too) love stickers, sparkles, glitter, and pink/purple/green!

 

So, what sorts of ideas would you have for homemade gift baskets?  Here are a few of my own ideas, the sky's the limit!

1. Spa basket (bath bombs, bubble bath, loofah, facials, bath salts, perfume, talc powder, etc)
2. manicure/pedicure basket (comfy socks, nail polish, nail files, lotion, nail brushes, etc)
3. basket of ones favorite color (green basket, for example, with various items inside that are green)
4. baking/cookie basket (spoons, measuring cups, chocolate chips, baking mix, egg timer, candy thermometer, etc)
5. tea/coffee basket (tea infuser, various types of tea/coffee, mug, chocolate spoon, peppermint, marshmallows (in case you want to do cocoa), etc)
6. Lego basket (lego magazine, minifigures, lego 'soap', lego cookies, lego head mug, lego key chains or holders, etc)
7. Hello Kitty basket (anything Hello Kitty works in here)
8. Chocolate basket (yeah... chocolates of various types, hot cocoa mix in a mug, chocolate spoons, etc)
9. baby basket (booties, wipes, cloths, diapers, mitts, hangers, onesie, socks, bottle, soothers, put it all in a cute decorative box for the parents to store their diapers)
10. Mickey/Minnie/Princess basket (you could do any favorite character here)
11. Writer's/Artist's basket (art supplies, pens, pretty stationary, sketch pad, paint, clay, you could go with any specific art theme that your recipient is into at the time... beading, clay work, painting, drawing, writing, etc)
12. Office basket (cute magnetic notepads, magnets, sticky notes, cute pens/pencils/erasers, fun paper clips, mini binders/staplers/anything (because minis are adorable), office organizer, etc)
13. tool basket (I'd put this into a tool belt and include various tools the recipient needs, and I'd add a measuring tape.  As a woodworker, I never seem to find mine when I need them and I only have two.  Well... one.  I'm not sure where my blue one wandered off to.)
14. camping basket (include travelling soaps, spices, matches/lighter, campfire starters, etc)
15. sports basket (magazines, various little items that go with the sport like golf tees/balls, or gloves, tickets to a game, snacks for watching a game, etc)
16. games night (board game of choice, snacks of various kinds, playing cards, pad of paper and pencil (for keeping score), a snack bowl to put everything in, coasters, cups with drink mixes, beverage of choice, straws, etc)
17. Animal lover basket (dog, cat, or whatever animal it is, put in some food, maybe a leash, there are lots of fun recipes for dog treats online that you could put in a jar with a dog bone cookie cutter, claw clippers, etc)

I'd love to see your own ideas for baskets in the comments!  Maybe ideas for things you'd like for yourself.  ;)

Costumes and Pizza and Sweets, Oh My!

We didn't want to 'celebrate' Halloween this year by trick or treating, decorating, or anything of that sort, but I do love costumes so very much!  My daughter had 'costume day' on the 31st at her school, and wanted so badly to be Mary Poppins... in the white dress... which she decided a week before she needed the costume.  I said there was no way I'd be able to do it if I didn't have a dress to modify... and I didn't.  So, she said she wanted to be Alice in Wonderland.  That I could do!  I was fairly certain we had a blue dress for her that she wore during the summer, and so on Saturday, I sewed the apron from some scraps of white fabric I happened to have on hand.

 

Turns out that the blue dress was FAR too small. 

 

Out came some old blue fabric that has been sitting in my fabric drawer for over 10 years, and I sewed a circle skirt on Sunday out of that.  Nice thing was that it didn't need hemming.  That fabric was perfect for the job!  And the skirt will work for so many other costumes my little girls are going to want to wear eventually (Ariel's blue dress, Belle's blue dress, Anna's blue skirt...).

 

Monday I sewed the 'shirt' portion of the dress, and found a black ribbon in my scraps which became the headpiece.  M was thrilled!  Here she is, modelling the costume with A by her side.

 

Friday morning, all ready for school, we took some 'tea party' pictures with the white rabbit she brought with her... as part of her costume of course.

I absolutely adore how it turned out!  And I was able to borrow a few petticoat type skirts for under the skirt.  I only found out later (after school) that I should have pinned the skirt to the shirt, as the fabric is so slick that it kept sliding down while she was in school (probably due to how she sits down, actually.  Been trying to teach her to sit instead of slide into her seat).  But she is so cute!

We had some grocery shopping to do, as well as hair cuts, so we grabbed some costumes for our younger two while our oldest was in school, and off we went to town.  A garnered quite the attention while running around as a little pony all over the grocery store.

Our evening consisted of watching Lady and the Tramp while noshing on homemade pizza, and other sweet treats I made myself.  No bake Snack Bars (they taste a lot like Eatmore bars... but next time I'll add more cocoa and less dates), pumpkin fudge (another one without sugar... they need to stay in the fridge/freezer), Caramel corn, and pumpkin rice krispie squares (the pumpkin in the squares makes the rice krispies a little soggy in texture, though.  The flavor was wonderful!).  The caramel corn is such a hit in our house, I may need to start making a double batch.  I think we ate half of it before the movie!  It was gone by the next day.  The other treats are still around, although the rice krispie square only has about 3 pieces left (probably gone by the end of today) and the other two are in the freezer (they needed a food processor, and while I was making the first one, the processor broke and wouldn't work anymore.  So... the texture isn't as good as it should be.  They still taste great, though, and my arms got a workout in chopping and mashing dates and nuts).

And here is our little cutie with a bag of chips she got from grandma and grandpa.  They came over earlier in their costumes.  They had quite the adventure going to their grandkids houses that weren't trick or treating and then later to the store.  Makes me want to dress up for fun again.  Not easy to do with my giant belly, haha.

We do love treats!  Especially since mommy rarely buys any of these things.  At all.

 

Hope you all had a fantastic October!  November is upon us... and with that are thoughts of CHRISTMAS!

Snow = Christmas Carols!

It's snowing today!  And yes, that means we've been singing Christmas songs around here.

I'm not sure how I feel about that, actually.  I love the snow.  I love Christmas.  I love the peaceful way it falls, drifts, and covers everything completely in a beautiful sparkly white blanket.  I love the crunch of it beneath my feet. 

What I don't love, is the intense cold that usually accompanies the snow.  The feeling that I'm not finishing things that I wanted to earlier in fall.  The stress that usually comes with Christmas... my own doing, I know... but my best laid plans are failing this year, and it is stressing me.

I hope that by next week, I can at least show progress pics of some kind on our renovations.  They just have not been happening.  It takes everything in me just to get the daily chores done around here, never mind ripping out walls, putting up drywall, paint, that sort of thing.  Not to mention that the basement is also at a standstill right now since we need to get Hydro in to look at the furnace and the walls for approval into their insulating and heating program.  So, I aim to start work on the upstairs, even though we still have all our stuff in our room and I'm not looking forward to the drywall dust.

Ah well.  I need to get things rolling, and a little start is better than none at all.  After all, a snowman starts with three small snowballs, right?  Right?

Either way, I'm excited about Christmas.  November means Christmas is right around the corner.  Many of our stores in the area are already stocking Christmas things, and I know of a few people who are just dying to set out decorations and put up a tree.  Two of those people are little, and live under my roof.  I want to get more renos done first so I have space to even put a tree (we moved everything out of our basement, so it's all being stored in other areas of the house.  No room for décor here right now).  Plus, I'm not permitted to decorate until my birthday... in about 2 weeks.

I'm already thinking about the advent period... the activities we'll do each day.  I printed up my Christmas planner for the year, and was shocked to find that the binders for 5.5x8.5 inch papers cost $7 each!  Haven't bought one yet, but I just might cave anyway.  I've got our photo cards printed, and a few gifts are done, or partially done... just not yet wrapped.  I have ideas galore for baking, and I don't know if I can make it all... but I sure do want to try.  Plus, extras in the freezer are always good!  ;)

My due date is quickly approaching.  I know, January doesn't seem all that close, but with renos, Christmas, and all that in between, it is going to come so fast that I am not sure how many meals I'll be able to get into that deep freeze!  Plus, I know of at least two other ladies due the same month, both with little girls as well.  My goodness!  This area is seeing a baby boom!

So, has anyone else started planning for Christmas?  What sorts of things are you doing?  Do you have any traditions you are looking forward to most?

Work it, Momma! (A Pregnant Mom's Rant on A Pedometer)

Lately, life has been busy.  Trying to organize life into manageable bites rather than huge chunks has been helping, but it is still a work in progress.  One of the things that has been severely getting me down lately... my weight gain.

Yes, I know, I'm pregnant, so gaining weight is to be expected.  That said, I only ever gained 25 lbs with each of my kids.  I've already gained 24 lbs with this pregnancy, and I have at least 12 weeks to go.  Yikes!  Considering that I'm gaining at a rate of over 1.5 lb per week... well... I'm not happy with the 40+ lbs that I'll likely be putting on over this 9 month period. 

Anyway, weight aside, I do feel pretty good.  I tire much more quickly than before, and I'm finding I do not have the strength or energy to do half the stuff I want to, which is disappointing at best, but I'll live.  I started trying to exercise on a rather regular basis using my Wii Fit Plus game once again.  Started up in June, but not so regularly until September.  I love looking at that graph and seeing all the colorful lines showing how much 'exercise' I've been doing.  Halfway through September I pulled out my step counter from my Personal Trainer Walking DS game.  It didn't take long for me to remember why I had put it away in the first place.

That thing makes me feel LAZY!

I know that I tend to not walk as 'hard' as some people, and it does say that it will not register as well if you are bare foot (which is usually the case as I spend most of my walking in the house) but when you pace the entire duration of a half hour conversation on the phone, and your usual walking pace is about 100 steps per minute, to only have the thing register about 100 steps is a huge disappointment.  Even worse, since almost none of my maternity 'home' pants have any pockets, that means clipping the thing to my waistband... which is not level and contributes to the problem of not reading my steps.  Even my workout steps where I jog for 10+ minutes were not registering correctly.  I have a pedometer on the 3DS as well, which I hold in my hand while I jog, and it was registering twice the steps the clip-on was.  Double.  And when I would count my steps, they were right in line with the 3DS.

So what is the problem with that silly little piece of technology?  Or... is it me?

I read reviews, tried to find troubleshooting recommendations, nothing helped.  Most everyone loved the little device and found it to be accurate to their steps.  My day would end, I'd feel exhausted and as though I walked plenty, only to see that the counter was still flashing red at me... set at 5000 steps.  What?  I hadn't reached 5000 steps?  Checking it on the DS would make me see red in more ways than that little light provided... 3000 steps.  That was it.  I exercised for half an hour (I try to do 30 minutes each weekday on the Wii Fit), 10-15 minutes of that was jogging, walked my daughter to the bus and went to pick her up, paced while on the phone, cleaned and vacuumed in my 2 story house with basement... and still only 3000 steps?!?!

Needless to say, in my pregnant hormonal state I started to cry, and my poor husband could not figure out why a little piece of electronics would bother me so much.  Yeah... I'm a bit of a 'goal' person.  I wanted that thing to turn green every day.  I work for it.  It motivates me... but now it was making me feel like I was lazy. 

After a good night sleep, I realized I needed to make a change.  I'd been using this thing for well over a month now with poor results (unless I was walking outside, then it was fine) and I did not wish to wear shoes in the house.  It was depressing.  So, I changed where I clipped the thing.  Hips?  Nah... my hips apparently don't move up and down enough when I walk.  So... what moves up and down enough? 

Socks.

Yup... my solution was to put the thing on my sock. 

I admit, I was a little worried I'd lose it, but it actually has been staying pretty well!  It's been there for a week now, and I must say, I definitely feel better about the step counts I've been getting!  I matched it pretty well to my 3DS on the workouts, and my mornings (which I feel like a crazy woman running about trying to get breakfast on the table and my daughter out the door for the bus) is registering closer to 1000 steps in under 2 hours vs the 200 it gave me before!  I actually upped my step target to 6000 last night as I finally met the 'quota' the entire week!  And I'm only about 100 steps from that point by noon today (and I have yet to vacuum the house)!  Most of my days this week registered 6000-7000 steps in the day, and that is without me TRYING to get more steps into my day compared to what it was prior to changing where I clipped this thing.

So while I still hate that my weight is on such a steady incline, at least I feel like I'm doing something about it (and maybe, just maybe, some of that weight is increased muscle mass *wink*).

Now with that aside... WHY can't they have a pregnancy option on the Wii Fit Plus?  I KNOW I'm not 'borderline overweight' as I'm expecting a baby, but really!  (and I heard the Wii Fit U doesn't have that option either.  Seriously, Nintendo... Moms want to use this thing, and we have other reasons to 'gain weight' than 'snacking all day'). 

;)

At least I will get the satisfaction of that little balance board freaking out at my two day drop of 10+ lbs at once, hahaha.

A Mudroom Switcharoo

This week I focused on the entryway again.

Remember what I was saying about storage?  Yeah, we have lots of stuff that should be in a mudroom of sorts, but it was in the basement, making things a bit more difficult for me when we need to find winter items during spring/fall, or spring jackets after the weather has cooled.  I loved the way our entry looked with the nice metal framed shelf, the flip lidded 'grass' box, the picture frames on the wall... but it wasn't functioning the way it needed to any more (and this is actually moved around a bit, too.  The bench was on the wall under the frames before, with the shelf/box against the wall the bench is now at).

This is how our entry way was.  The kick in the pants for me was when the kids hooks came out of the wall.  Ripped the drywall right out, in fact.  We had some nice solid metal anchors in there that were supposed to be able to support 20lbs each... and there were two of them.  I guess the drywall just couldn't handle it anyway.  So, there you see a pile of jackets on the infant car seat that is actually expired now (sniff... need to buy a new one for baby #4.  But we got some good use out of this one!).  The wire shelf has been housing my diaper bag, which is really quite heavy and makes the shelf sag when I set it down on there.  Otherwise, it was mostly only holding trinkets and pretty things.  The black hooks/shelf is something I built a number of years ago, when we finished the renovation that gave us an entryway of sorts.

Well, that was the before.  Here is the after.

 

Ta-da!  Welcome, storage!  And lots of it!  I'd have preferred it on the back wall, but that wall was just 3 inches shy of allowing these bookshelves to sit there, side by side (and I'd have to remove my hooks as they go too close to that wall to slide a bookshelf behind).  I haven't yet rehung the picture frames, and the tops of the bookshelves need some decorated diaper boxes to house out of season jackets and whatnot (there's a whole two feet of emptiness up there).  But I pulled up two boxes of outdoor gear from the basement, plus the stuff we already had, and put them all into their boxes.  Each child has a box for their jackets/ski-pants.  There are at least 5 or 6 empty boxes in those shelves, and I need to make the labels for each one yet.  I still want to see if I can have proper shelves that fit at the back instead as it would look and fit nicer than having the bench way over there, but for now, this is a nice change.  I may just make my own 'built ins' as I cannot seem to find anything to fit properly.  Although, the Ikea Billy Bookcases might fit... I'll have to check their measurements again.  They are also much deeper (15.5 inches deep vs. these ones at less than 12 inches deep).

And now there is a nice place to put my bag where my daughter cannot reach it (and play with keys, and remove items that need to stay there so when we need them I'm left searching for something that is back at home... on the floor... in the living room).  The basket under the cowboy hat I plan to use to put extra diapers, wipes, bibs, things of that nature for when we need to replenish the diaper bag.  I even have a bin for all our grocery bags.  When we head out, we just put them back in the van!

All I spent was about $25 on baskets and bins (how I love Dollarama).  We already had the bookcases in our bedroom which we emptied as we need to move stuff downstairs with the bedroom renos anyway.  It is kinda fun to rearrange what you already have to see what you can do with it.  This is not our final, permanent, solution, but it is much easier than it was to find what we need.  I really want to find something that will look prettier (like it did before with that beautiful wire shelf we've now relocated into our bedroom as there aren't any other walls I can think to put it on), and I should put the picture frames back up on the other wall, too.  I'll work out a 'built ins' solution eventually.  But for now, this will work nicely.

I love having all the stuff we need for outside right here in our entryway!!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's thanksgiving everyone!  What are you thankful for?

I thank God daily for my husband and kids, but I wonder what else I could be thankful for?  I find I have had the 'complainies' every so often, and the best way to beat them is to find things to be thankful for, and to thank God for them whenever I think of them! 

Something I am very thankful for is how fantastic this pregnancy has been so far.  I have very little in the way of symptoms.  I don't even have major issues with heartburn like I have with all my others!  It is fantastic!  Lord, I thank you that this pregnancy is healthy, and that I feel so good through it! 

There are many other things I am thankful for... family and friends, the fact that my kids are willing to forgive me when I get upset about things, and the love and understanding of my husband for my occasional outbursts.  I thank God for giving us so much, for rest in Him, for His control over every situation, even when I'm afraid to admit that I have no control, and it is ultimately His.  He is so patient with me, and I am so thankful for that.

Speaking of rest, I think I might just thank God for naps... and take one right now.  :)

What are you thankful for?

Organizing Closets

Nesting has been kicking in (or just the urge to purge... and make things more workable in this house since I feel like I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached).  I have been wanting to reorganize the entrance so badly, in addition to our basement renos, the bedroom renos I wish to yet do, living room changes I am so wanting to accomplish as well, I can go on.

 

It isn't that I'm not thankful for the house that I have.  It is serving us well, and I am glad to be living here.  I do like to make changes to accommodate our growing family a bit better, though.  ;)

 

This weekend my husband finally had some time off from the farm, so we did some shopping.  I was disappointed when the store we went to in order to purchase two items I really wanted for our entry area (a space I aim to turn into a mudroom of sorts) were not in stock in that store (he checked online inventory and they said they had them, but whatever they had was gone by the time we got there I suppose).  Disappointed, we went home, and I tried reformulating something that we could do to help.

 

Enter, the bookshelf.

 

Walmart had a deal on some bookshelves for under $30.  The tall 5 shelf ones.  We have 3 already and I like them.  Since our 'entrance' closet houses so many boots, gardening supplies, etc without having a proper storage for them (think bins piled on top of each other and shoes stuffed into whatever cranny I could place them.  I couldn't find what I needed in there and it really didn't house a whole lot), I came up with the idea of using a bookshelf as a 'bootshelf'. 

 

It worked fantastically!

 

Here my husband is building the shelf, and our youngest is helping him.  He gave her the screws/bolts to hold and when he needed them, he'd ask and she'd give.  She also needed to hold the extra screwdriver, and periodically would attempt to put an invisible screw into the board.  ;)

After it was built, I removed everything from the closet, vacummed it, cleared out and put into our mcc box a number of items, and pulled boxes from the basement storage that made more sense to have in here (namely, more shoes and car seat/stroller parts).  I do not have a before pic (so wish I would have thought to take one), but here is the after...

I just used what boxes and such I already had nabbed from sales, reused the bins and such that were already in the closet storing things, and the large diaper box is my 'mcc' box that stays in there so we have a place to put the things we wish to remove from the house.  It needs to be emptied again.  ;)

I am loving those pink boxes.  Picked up the set on sale for I think $2 at the LW about 2 years ago.  They weren't being used for anything, and I'm so glad I have them now.  Those are all the kids shoes that were grown out of by the older two, that the youngest will be growing into.  Sandals, girly shoes, runners, boots.  I have shoes the oldest two are growing into, sandals in one area, winter boots in one spot, and rubber boots, cowboy boots, etc.  I am so thrilled that now we can actually see all the footwear (some of these things need to be purged eventually, but with how much we need rubber boots here, we tend to keep those).  I actually need to take the 'gardening box' out to the shed, but I liked having those things in here for doing the flower bed right next to the house, so I'll keep them in the house entrance for now.  It was always easier to just go out and do some work when what I needed was at my door rather than outside the back of my house.  :)

Now to finish the 'mudroom' section of our entrance.  I'm thinking of using 2 bookshelves that we already own and cleared out.  They are just the right width to put along the one wall together.  And I managed to buy a number of containers from the Dollar store that will make the job of organizing all our hats, scarves, mitts, winter and summer things, etc.  I'm not sure how many containers I'll need, but I do think I'll probably need to get some shoeboxes eventually.  I look forward to posting before and afters of that!  And of the basement.  Really wanting some afters of the basement.

Speaking of, my dear husband got the old copper pipes off and out now!  I'm so happy!  That much closer.  Just that much closer!  :)

Morning Already?

Anybody here a morning person?  Anyone?  Anyone at all?

Is it just me, or are mornings tough?

I am most certainly NOT in the morning person category.  Sure, once I get up and get going, mornings are the times I can accomplish the most in my day.  However, I'd rather stay up really late instead of going to bed early enough to get things accomplished properly the next morning.

Since school started yet again, and now my daughter is in grade 1 (seriously... in school all day... sniff.  Where did the time go?), I have to make lunch for her in addition to the regular morning breakfast (can't start the day without a healthy meal.  Well, I suppose one can, but she has made it clear that breakfast cereal does not agree with her tummy.  She is just like I was, no joke.  I had the same tummy issues each morning I had breakfast cereal as a kid... and even still).  That means breakfast takes a good 20-30 minutes just to make each morning.  In addition to that, it is virtually impossible for me to make breakfast in a messy kitchen.  Impossible.  I see dirty dishes and immediately feel the need to clean them (doesn't help when the pot or pan I need is in the pile).

So, I've made myself a new night time and morning routine.  :)  I've been doing this successfully for a month now, and I am loving how much more productive I feel in the morning!  Want to get a snippet of what it looks like?  Sure you do!

First... this is an example of what my kitchen looks like before bed on a Sunday night... I didn't have time to unload the dishwasher in the morning, and it wasn't unloaded until now, so everything got piled on the counter (which is really no different from normal, except that during the day I usually put any stray items into the dishwasher whenever I'm in the kitchen).

 

Yeah... imagine waking up to this...

 

 

*shudder*

 

So, rather than dread having to enter my kitchen in the morning, my night-time routine involves a checklist that I look at each night.

 

My 'good morning' starts before bed.  I make my daughter her lunch and put it in the fridge, wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.  I prime my sourdough starter (which still hasn't quite gotten to the 'breadmaking stage', but I'm using the stuff you would otherwise have to dump in other recipes anyway, so at least I don't feel wasteful), and make sure I have the utensils and stuff out for breakfast the next morning.  Any meat needed for the next day gets pulled out and into the fridge.  The dishwasher is loaded and I set it to run (it is on the checklist because you have NO idea how many times I load the dishwasher and forget to turn the dial.  Seriously.  It is such a frustrating thing).  I vacuum the dining room and kitchen (kids plus rice plus floors don't mix) and pick up in the house for about 10 minutes (or less... the kids job before bed is cleaning up their toys).  I make sure I've checked M's agenda for school, put it and the things she needs in her bag, and if I need to bring things for church, I put it all by the door.  The kids and I have our clothes picked out for the next day (I had no idea how long it takes a 6 year old to choose her clothes until I had one.  Really.  It is insane.  After all, the socks must color coordinate with the shirt...).  And then I can relax.

I SHOULD get to bed early... but I don't.  Yeah, the early to bed thing just doesn't seem to be working for me.  Anyone have any ideas?  I tend to stay up until I just can't stay up anymore and THEN head off to bed.  Not helping in the sleep department, that is for sure.

Anyway, here is what I will wake up to tomorrow morning.

 

MUCH nicer than that disaster of a kitchen from earlier (which would make me stress and likely start my pregnant self crying first thing after getting up seeing as both my 'oatmeal pots' were made dirty during supper).  Oh, and the crock pot on the stove has lunch in it, cooking on low already (starting soup stock for tomorrow since we had chicken for supper and I had the bones out already).

 

Anyway, the next morning is much easier!  I start my day with oil swishing while I read the Bible and journal (it is a nice slower start to the morning where I can sit in bed for a little longer instead of 'jumping' out of bed).  I pop the already prepped breakfast on the stove (well... you can't really prep scrambled eggs.  But oatmeal you do.  I soak mine 24 hours with some lemon juice and flour to remove as much phytic acid as possible, so I have my sieve, pot, measuring, and my soaked oatmeal waiting for me).  While it is cooking, I clear the dishwasher and drying rack, get the kids (who are awake and dressed) to set the table (and put their lunch into their bag if it is a weekday), put a load of laundry in the washer, and of course take care of A.  After we eat (and M is on the bus), I prep for lunch or supper if needed, I try to exercise and attempt my daily cleaning task.  After exercising I am usually so exhausted that I sit down for awhile, and then my morning plans go out the window.  :)  Darn that facebook/pinterest.  At least I have started laundry and my kitchen is all clean!

I actually made myself an organizer that sits next to my phone.  I use it to check off how much water I've had (because otherwise I won't drink enough), put in my daily and weekly tasks, and it is so satisfying to tick each one off.  Then I have a monthly dry erase calendar above it where I can see all my appointments and anything that may need more of my attention.  You have NO idea how much this has helped me lately!  I have become so scatterbrained that the constant going back to this schedule to see what I have done and have yet to do is invaluable to organizing my household!  And I actually feel like I've accomplished something, even if it IS only the normal weekly tasks, because believe me, there is a lot that needs doing each week to keep a house running (I'm sure you understand).  Laundry and food are two really big ones.  And I think they take up most of my time, too.  Oh, and yeah... pic of that as well.  ;)

I still need to work on this whole 'sleep' thing.  You know, going to bed at a reasonable hour so that one can get the number of hours sleep that one would need to properly function the next day?  Yeah, that.  If I can somehow get that to work for me, perhaps I wouldn't need mid-morning naps so often.  You know, because putting a load of laundry into the washer is so taxing.  ;)

For now, I think I want to go play some Farm Heros or Candy Crush.  Just 5 minutes... 
um...
yeah...
(where DID that hour get to?)

Bustin' the Basement

I know I mentioned renos last month (can you  believe it is already October?  When did that happen!?!), and I decided to show some pics of the progress (or lack thereof).  I was wanting the wall to be all down already, and the concrete scrubbed, and maybe even primer finished before October.  Sigh.  Ah well, at least SOME things have happened.

 

Excuse the mess, I still need to make use of the laundry area.  ;)  But no more carpet!  Ripped that out while my husband was moving the electrical panel over 4 inches (to make wall removal easier).

 

You'd think that ripping stuff out would be fun, but my goodness it is a lot of work!  The wood is so very old, it almost feels like it's turning to stone!  And the nails are brittle.  The heads keep breaking off when I attempt to pull off plywood.  The panelling is easy enough to remove, thank goodness.

You can see through the one section of wall now!  I also managed to pull off the door frames that were down here in a way that they can be reused!

That bit of wall that is removed was moulding and rotting.  I have been thinking of just removing that wall completely and put in a proper wall with insulation (they actually had no insulation against the wall that is outside... but they did for the interior wall.  I'm guessing it was more for the sake of sound?).  The entire thing is just... ridiculous.  A lot of what was done here makes no sense, and everything was built so tight that it is really difficult to remove anything.  My parents have come down to help me out (thank goodness, I need it).  We will reuse what we can, but it doesn't look like much right now.

 

 

The plan is to cover that utility area with a curtain, but since I have these closet bi fold doors and the frame, I'm thinking of using them for part of the wall as well.  I may still need curtains for part of the 'wall' anyway, as we still need access to the electrical panel.  Or I'll just use the door... ha ha... a door and a closet door for the utility room.  Wouldn't that be silly?

 

Well, I'm really hoping we can get things going now.  I've done some price checking and figure it will cost about $700 to get the blue R7 foam insulation for the outside walls that need it, the pink insulation, the 2x4s, and the drywall.  Considering what I already thought the price for paint, primer, grout, and the likely cost for vapor barrier plastic and nails/screws, we could probably insulate the basement and have it painted for about $1000.  Hopefully. 

 

Now to buy the stuff we need, finish ripping out the wall, and try to wash the concrete, build walls, etc etc. Funny how the 'simple' project escalated so much.  :)

 

I am just really wanting to make my basement a usable space already.  Really badly.  Wish me luck!  :)

Under the Sea

This year, M wanted an Ariel birthday party.  I decided to do an under the sea theme with Ariel added in wherever I could (using whatever we had in the house, or whatever I could make).  She absolutely loved it, and I'm pretty excited with how it turned out as well. 

 

As a warning, this post is going to be photolicious!  Seriously.  Lots of pics here.

 

 Made her a special party hat for the occasion.

 

All decked out as 'Ariel'. 

 We had a treat for lunch... fish, and mac n cheese goldfish.

 

 I reused a bunch of older handmade decorations so I didn't have as much work to do for decorating.  The clouds and pom poms are from Baby A's first birthday, and the raindrops are from my sister's baby shower.  Scrap fabrics are great for other bits and pieces... like Ariel's rock.  Also... toys.  I used all of M's Ariel type toys in the setup.  She was happy to get them for me.

 And now for some of the food...

 I attempted to make the popcorn pink without making it 'sweet', but it didn't turn out quite as hoped.

 Ariel in a jar... you can see the main cake as well.  LOVED how that ended up!

 Blue jello with gummy fish inside.  The fish tasted weird in the jello, but it was a fun experiment.

 

 Some décor, again reusing a few pieces from previous birthdays. 

 I seriously LOVE these oyster cookies!  I wanted to go cheater on this and just buy some round cookies and put icing and yogurt raisins in them, but I couldn't find any cookies that would work besides the ones that already have icing inside them... but I wanted pink icing, not white.  So, I made spritz cookies as pumpkins and used those instead.  More work for me, but those are some TASTY cookies!

 M loves all the foods... and was very intrigued by the 'goldfish bowls'.  Funny thing, I made only 10 (same number as I did for A's 1st birthday rainbow jello cups) and while last time I had jello cups left over, this time they were gone within 10 minutes.

 

As an added bonus....

We had a surprise for everyone.  We found out what our baby gender is this time, and I decided to leave a 'clue' inside the cake.  So, since all the décor was blue (sea) and pink (coral) already, I told everyone to check the inside of the cake for the icing color that would tell them the gender of the baby...

 It's going to be a GIRL.

 

This is the punch.  I love bulk barn as it was the only place I could find blue powdered juice crystals.

 

 
 
 

Opening presents.

 

 We had a lot of people in our house.  I need to seriously consider inviting less people next time as I get overwhelmed quickly by it all!  I love having everyone over, though!  Such a dilemma.

Time to blow out those candles!  :)

 

M had a great time, and she just loved everything!  She makes decorating all these things for birthdays so much fun and so rewarding.  I love how excited she gets!  We leave a few of the decorations up for awhile after the party is over, but not many. 

As for that cake... it was GONE!  ;)

 

Happy birthday, my little M!  I cannot believe you are 6 already!

You have such a giving heart, and I love watching you grow and learn!  People are your passion and you just thrive being around people.  You are gentle in spirit, giving me hugs when you can see I'm upset, and you notice even the littlest of things, commenting politely about them and making those around you feel all the more special for you noticing (like new glasses, new haircuts, furniture that has been moved...).  I am looking forward to watching and learning more from you as the years go by... but don't let them go by too quickly, please!  You seem to be growing so fast and I just cannot understand where the time has gone to!  I love you, M!