The Final Countdown, Knitting Action, Quick Dinners

The Final Countdown
Here I have arrived nearly in week 37 of my second and probably last pregnancy.

Almost baby time!

I just found out at my 36 week appointment that this little stinker is head up! I don't know if he flipped or has just always been hanging out that way (honestly a little hard to tell what's a butt or a head or if what is jabbing you is a foot or a fist after a certain point). At any rate, it's not good at this late in the game! I have an External Cephalic Version set for one week from today, so he's got seven days to do it himself or some doctor in a hospital is going to try to MAKE him turn, which will make mommy quite uncomfortable and carries its own set of risks. Suffice to say, I'm not looking forward to it.

Knitting Action
So I'm trying a few weird baby spinning exercises and otherwise trying not to think about it too much. Part of my distraction has been in the form of a big knitting project that I've been hankering to do for a long time: The Melrose Peacoat. It's a chunky knit so it hasn't taken me too long, actually...about three weeks from start to finish. Well, almost finished, there's still buttons and snaps to be applied, but all the knitting is done. I had a sick day yesterday and applied myself to blocking, seaming and putting final touches on my pretty red coat.

And here she is! 

The coat turned out a little baggy, but it fits (as far as I can tell around the big ol' belly, of course!). I was proud of myself because I had to learn a few new techniques for this project and I'm just pretty chuffed at how it actually turned out. With buttons, it is supposed to look like this:


So it's not too bad, really! It's probably the last big knitting project I'll be able to accomplish on any sort of normal time line for a few YEARS, so I was happy to be able to finish it before this bebe makes his appearance.

Only problem with all this is that I spent my day hunched over on the floor in weird positions trying not to let the belly get in the way of my work, so today I feel like I just had leg day at the gym! My legs and butt are so sore...add onto that the late pregnancy "swag" (aka waddle) and I'm sure I'm a fairly comical sight to any onlookers. Ouch.

Quick Dinners
So for all intents and purposes, in a few weeks' time, my life will never be the same. How anyone manages two kids at a time is still a mystery to me in practice. In theory, I know I can do it, but I've never actually *tried*.

My drive for dinners that are quick and easy is at an all-time high. Usually, I don't mind a bit of prep for a delicious, healthy dinner. But nowadays...I'd love thirty minutes or less from start to finish. Besides good ol' Rachael Ray, I don't actually have a ton of ideas for this sort of thing.

Making dinners for a new mama is an age-old church tradition (or just community tradition), but God bless the dinner-cookers...it ends up being a LOT of pasta and/or casseroles to fit in with people's schedules and budgets. I will definitely want something quick and easy to take a break from all the carbs and comfort-foodiness. So far, stir fry is my best idea. But I need more!

Do you have a tried-and-true healthy dinner that you go to in times of need? I'd love to hear it!

Tonight I'm varying from "healthy" in favor of "nostalgic" with what my mama called Haystacks. Fritos, canned chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, some yogurt (in favor of sour cream) and black olives. In our house, we call them "Food Towers" so my child will eat them. =) Healthy, it is NOT. Delicious and family-friendly, it is!

Food Tower Time! 

Thanks for any help you can give!

Mommy Panel at Caterpillar Years

I've been a bit absent...turns out incubating a human and trying to raise a 3 year old and working part-time is pretty time-consuming! Who knew?

(33 weeks! Eek!)

I am excited today because I got to be a part of a Mommy Panel for my friend Heather over at The Caterpillar Years. Her blog is awesome and adorable at all times and I'm so proud and excited to have been involved in it in any small way!

Check it out here: http://www.thecaterpillaryears.com/2014/10/mommy-panel-monday/

This panel is about newborns and new moms and what you would tell yourself if you could do it over again (which I'm about to do, really!) 

Enjoy!

A Week in the Life - Cookie Sheets, Nuudles, Roaring Camp and more

Hey y'all! Happy Thursday to you. 

This week I tried a few new things and revisited a few old things and I'd love to share it all with you!

Pinterest Road Test - Cookie Sheet Cleaner

First up, I have been seeing in Pinterest (link here) how one can revitalize one's cookie sheets with Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda and not much else. I've read so much about how you won't need to scrub, all the yuck just slides right off. Who doesn't want some of that action?! And I definitely have some yucky six-year-old cookie sheets in dire need of cleaning. 

I was pretty much too embarrassed (and forgetful) to take a "before" picture. Suffice to say, it was bad. It really, really needed to be cleaned. 

CLAIM: From what I read, all one had to do was pour some hydrogen peroxide into a container and add enough baking soda to make a nice, thick paste. Then you smear that business all over your cookie sheet and just leave it for awhile. By the time you come back, you won't even have to scrub, just wipe it off and off comes the grime!!

Reality: I've got to call bogus on this one. I did the thick paste thing and left it for HOURS when I went to work. I came home and not even the paste will wipe off...it has hardened to a crust on my already crusty pan. LOL. 

NEW CLAIM: So then I read that you can do a layer of baking soda sprinkles, sprinkle some hydrogen peroxide, then another layer of baking soda. Leave THAT and your troubles are over. 

Reality: This definitely worked better. As you can see, I really went for it with the layers. However, it didn't "wipe" right off, as claimed. I used steel wool. So, I'm gonna have to debunk this one until someone tells me what I did wrong! Or maybe there's just no way in heck you can get around a little elbow grease when the yuck has reached a certain point. Duly noted.

If you can believe it, YES, this is the "after" photo. And YES, this is a pretty good improvement. Yikes. 

Product I Love - Magic Nuudles

OK, on to the next adventure. I'd like to share with you a little product that is so simple yet so awesome. I actually came across it years ago back when I was a Gymboree Play & Music teacher. I taught art classes (among many) and part of the curriculum was a product called Magic Nuudles. 

If you can kind of see from my not-so-great action photo, they kind of look like colorful packing peanuts, and indeed the texture is similar. They're brilliant in their simplicity...all it takes is a teensy bit of water and they stick together and you can create all sorts of marvelous things. As my kiddo is only three years old and not overly artistically inclined yet, his creations are mostly lines and circles. But the real magic for him is using a little paint brush with water to make them stick together just how he wants them. He plays with them probably for about twenty minutes to a half-hour at a time, which is a great stretch of time for mama! =)

(He's also modeling one of my Noonday Collection necklaces in this photo. HA! This is a wonderful company that I hope to review for you soon!)

Adventure Time - Roaring Camp Railroads, Santa Cruz, CA

I've got to apologize for the photo quality on these...I was trying to look after two 3 year old boys (both potty training) at a new location while pregnant, and snap photos at the same time. HA!

Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, CA is a magical place from my childhood. I wish I could dig up some old photos to share with you, but be assured that over twenty years ago, this place was just as charming and frozen in time as it is today!

It's basically an old-timey Western village with a covered bridge, a pond, a General Store, a little schoolhouse, and of course, TRAINS!! These are steam locomotives that take you through the beautiful redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains or down to the beach in Santa Cruz. They have gold panning, an old-time photo studio, candle-making, black-smithing...all the cool kinds of stuff you imagine from Little House on the Prairie or Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman episodes (c'mon, who remembers?!?)

The trains are a little investment to ride, especially if you have a family of more than two. But as a special trip, it's so worth it, especially if your kids are train lovers! And really, what kid doesn't love a good train ride?

If you live in Northern California, this day trip is worth whatever drive you gotta take! 

What's Up With Us?

25 weeks and 5 days - anniversary bump!

August 10th, 2008 and August 10th, 2014. Six years, two kids, many moves and lots life later...still liking this guy quite a bit. =) Happy anniversary to us!

Until next time, y'all!

Domestic Disturbances & Pinterest Road Tests

Hey all!

I've been away for quite sometime. A lot has been happening, not least of which is this (in case you missed it):

Yep, we've found out we've got another baby boy on the way, so I'm about to get a lot busier in the coming months! Little one is due mid-November, and I can hardly wait to meet him. 

Kiddo #1 started preschool for a couple of half-days a week, and the little homebody has had a hard time adjusting. He also keeps getting sick, which is like a school tax for the body. Ugh. This week is a nice runny nose with no other symptoms...except him screeching at me every three seconds to wipe his nose. Kill me. 

However, in the midst of all that, this also happened:

He turned three and got to get Potty trained!!

This kind of gave me an idea, because a lot of people were asking about my crazy guerrilla method of going about it:

We literally just stayed on that tarp ALL DAY on day one of training. Cold turkey, no diapers, no Pull-ups (ok he wore one for twenty minutes but that's a long story...), lots of watered-down juice and small candy bribes. And stuff to keep him busy. And that hot pink potty he wanted.

I kept offering that watered-down juice (a friend reminded me I could have given him salty snacks to keep him thirsty!) all day, kept him only in his undies and never more than two feet from the potty. In the morning I put the timer on for every ten to fifteen minutes and made him just try to sit. He usually peed, at least a bit, and got a chocolate-covered raisin, or a Whopper, or a gummy bear for his efforts. He got a double-prize for #2. In the afternoon, he didn't even need the reminder of a timer...he started to really get it right away and started to go all by himself! The only accident we had on day one was when we went to get some celebratory ice cream and there wasn't a potty nearby (but there was a fountain. Running water and potty-training toddler = fail.)

It worked super-well. He had one accident the whole first day. Then a couple the next day. Then NOTHING for like four days. Completely clean and dry: long car trips, two & a half hour naps, and even a bouncy house later!! Then a bit of a regression, so we're not completely there. He still sometimes forgets about pooping when we're not at home. (Yuck). But for the most part, he's doing amazingly well! So I'm calling it a success. We'll have to tackle night time training when he wakes up dry for about a week in succession. I'm not going rush anything. For now, that's the only diaper he gets!

I learned about this method (where else?) on Pinterest. So the idea I had was to have a blog segment every so often road-testing stuff I've seen on Pinterest to see if it actually works as advertised!

So here's the pin to the method we basically used:

And I can say that it DEFINITELY WORKED for us!! DAILY-Approved. 

Hope to be on here a bit more often, but we'll see how I'm feeling. ;)

Until next time...

Breaking the Silence

Hello readers!!

I left off with a series on essential oils and a promise of more good things...and then there was radio silence.

You know how bad/trying/life-changing things happen in threes? Yeah, I've had one of those kind of months in April. As the Fresh Prince so eloquently put it, "my life got flip-turned upside-down."

One of the exciting things I can share with you from the past month, which many of you will already know, is that we are expecting another little one at the end of this year!

You can't really make much out, but there's a strong little heartbeat there!

So that's pretty fantastic. I read a lot about essential oils and pregnancy. Many sources warn against using them at all in the first trimester, and there are definitely a few you should avoid altogether, as they cause uterine contractions or what-have-you. We wouldn't want that until right at the very end! However, since I have pretty much forsworn any OTC medications, I have been using my oils a bit, diluting them appropriately for pregnancy, especially for a lot of the tummy upset and nausea that comes along with first trimester.

Suffice to say, DigestZen has been my VERY best friend. A few of the other oils I haven't been able to use simply because I've all the sudden become horribly sensitive to smells (thanks little fetus!). Hopefully one day that will subside and I won't associate those smells with feeling ill! 

Besides fostering new life, there have been many, many changes with work and family. Adjusting to them all while nauseous and exhausted has been no picnic, honestly. I don't remember being this tired the first time around...then again, I didn't have a toddler to care for then, either! However, as long as everyone is healthy and relatively happy, I'm a happy camper. And they are! 

And another thing, today is my 30th birthday! That's a hard one to believe. But a good note to end on. I think my husband and I will go have a classic mini golf/arcade date tonight while our little one is looked after by my awesome family. 

Here's hoping I'll be able to shake this first trimester nausea cloud soon and get back to writing more here!

A Thousand Moments

How did you feel the moment you became a parent?

I guess you'd have to define when that moment was...

THIS?

OR THIS?

Finding out I was pregnant was fantastic because I just knew...I.just.knew. And Daddy was nervous and kept telling me to wait to take the test. As if that would change the result somehow? Ha ha, I think he just didn't want me to be disappointed because I seemed so sure. But honestly, I didn't start feeling like a parent right away after becoming pregnant.



So I guess I'll go with the latter photo. Yes, it was taken mere seconds after you were born. I won't get into too many gory details (yikes) but I will say that 26 hours of labor and 5 hours of pushing and a pair of forceps later...you were finally in my arms!!

I was drugged (after all that, no shame in drugs!) and exhausted and a little traumatized, as were you. I was in awe of the fact that you were real. I just kept looking at your poor swollen little red face and thinking, "He looks exactly like my grandpa!"

Ha! Being a newborn is no picnic. 

But because you bore such a strong family resemblance right away, I knew you were mine. You slotted right into the family.

I don't know if words can adequately describe how I felt about you. It took a few hours/days for the shock and drugs to recede (it was quite a difficult birth, my sizable-noggined one!). But I knew I was in love. I knew I didn't want to put you down. I felt like I was living in a dream for those first few days when you slept so nicely. Of course, very soon you were hungry all the time and waking up to the fact that you weren't in the womb anymore and then the real fun began. 

But those first moments are priceless. A thousand tiny moments make up the whole of how I fell in love those first few hours and days. And I just remember being so amazed with how my life could go from

THIS

TO THIS!!!

And all in a matter of a few (ha!) hours of labor.

And also being in awe of how I would do it all again in a heartbeat to get another sweet baby to love.