My girls

So since I've been so bad at blogging the last half year or so, I guess I haven't done a real post about life with 2 kids. I put pictures on facebook, but as I was recently reminded, not all of my aunts are on facebook! :) So here's some pics for you. Can't believe we've been a family of 4 for 5.5 months now. I can't possibly catch up on everything from the last 5 months of course. So I won't try. A few highlights - having Heather (my friend from Red Lake) here for the first 3 months of Josie's life and having my niece Sara here from the week before J was born for about 3.5ish weeks. I was truly spoiled with all the help and it was grand. Jocelyn had some eating issues that were very frustrating as a newborn and until around Christmas. She was on meds for reflux for awhile, still not sure if that was the issue or not, but she's off them and doing much better. She would often not fall asleep till very late. She'd be asleep and wake up when put to bed, or wake up soon after she was put down and want to eat more and we'd repeat the process 4 of 5 times until 1 or 2 some nights. I could just about cry when I think about those days. I'm pretty sure she sleeps more now than she did when she was 2 months old. Before she was born, I imagined that she would be so opposite of Aleah in a lot of ways - just what you hear all the time - siblings are always so different, etc. But very soon after she got here I kept being amazed at all their similarities even down to the fact that as newborns they both had a plugged duct in the left eye and a slightly larger right nostril. haha. (as for the plugged duct, if that's what it is, Aleah had a goopy eye and her doc gave us drops to put in and it cleared up within days. Jocelyn had the same thing, her doc says it's a plugged duct and there's nothing to do for it other than massage it and if it's not better at age 1, do surgery. She's 5.5 months and still has it. arg! what I wouldn't give to try some of those drops!) They both had similar eating issues, although not exactly the same, and A was on meds for reflux as well. They both cry at loud noises and seem (a little too) sensitive. They both love(d) to be around people and will go to anyone. I suspect J might have a bit more separation anxiety at some point though. The biggest difference I notice is size (J is longer and not nearly as chunky as A was as a baby) and motor skills (I'm sure the 2 are related). J is rolling all over, scooting all over, and doesn't stay in one place for long. The annoying thing is she constantly flips over to her tummy, then screams because she's on her tummy and won't flip back. So playing on the floor isn't a very fun, relaxing activity for any of us. As a baby I used to lay aleah on the floor or in the jungle gym which she loved, and she'd barely move an inch. like a giant paper weight. just amuses me how they're so different in that area. so anyway, here's some recent pics - 

 couple weels ago - just hangin out

Finally got some snow. I guess I should have taken a picture of her actually playing in it.

A few of us would get together and our 2 year olds would have a blast playing together. Then this fall there was a little population explosion.

 5 months

 A favorite activity these days

 kefir moustache and bed heaad

 A rare moment of not being too upset to be on her tummy

We took a trip to Ohio last week for a grandparent's funeral (my side of the family). I should have taken many pics, but this is the only one I got - the girls with their great grandparents. After a couple days with my family we spent the weekend in Cincy with Dave's grandparents and aunt and family.

Canvases

Original title, yes? So ages ago my sister was here and we had a grand time and she slaved away on my behalf doing ELEVEN, yes eleven canvases for me. I had most of the stuff, but hadn't got around to making them. I had discovered (been told but had to try it for myself) that scrapbook paper put on canvases will wrinkle pretty badly. It's true. I wanted to do a bunch more like the ones I did in Aleah's room, only I had canvases instead of wood. But scrapbook paper wouldn't cut it. Sooooo, this wasn't even one of the projects I thought we'd do while she was here, but I showed her all my stuff and she thought we could just paint them and we could make it work. So that's what happened. For those of you who have been waiting endlessly for this post, I apologize for the needless suffering I have caused! So without further ado - I present.... many many pictures of us, enlarged and modpodged! (most even hanging on the wall) 

 These 2 aren't pod podged over the picture so the pics can be replaced as chilluns grow up and such.

 Aleah's 6 month

 Family shot when A was 6 months (in case that's not obvious)

Family shot in our backyard when Jenni was here. side not - Jenni did most of the painting around the edges. I did this one after she was gone and sorta got carried away with the corners so it looks a little different than the others. also this picture was taken when it wasn't dry, so not 100% like it looks now, but who really cares I ask?

More Canvases

Okay, this little adventure in posting all these pics is nearly convincing me to switch to word press. ARG! So I have no clue what pictures and what posts will post in what order, but they should all be here in some form.   

Top picture is the arrangement with these 3 wedding pics hanging up over the mantle. These pics aren't the best but hopefully enough to give an idea. These wedding pics are 12x12 canvases with 11x14 pics or close to it I think. So I had planned to use scrapbook paper as a background for the ones where the canvases and pictures were different sizes. But since that didn't work, Jenni suggested fancy painting. I liked how the edges looked with a blotchy finish instead of paint strokes, if that makes any sense. So in a flury of unprecedented role reversal, she did what I told her to do (hyperbole is perfectly legal in the blog world). 

Like the lovely stick tack above the pic? Originally we tried to hang them all that way. Well, originally we did hang them that way and what followed was random loud crashing sounds (alarmingly terrifying at times when you weren't expecting it) of pictures falling to the floor. So now they are hanging with picture hanging velco - had no idea that stuff even existed, but perfect for walls where you can't or don't want to use nails. 

 Two more wedding pics, these for our room, 8x 10 canvases and pics.

This one should be in the following (or previous, depending on which way it posts) post - the other 5 pics hanging on the wall. Soon a 6 month pic of Josie will be added. The individual ones of the girls are 11x14 canvases with 8x12 pic (Aleahs, but I think we trimmed it), and 8x10 pic (Josie). I hope to do a family pic every 2 - 3 years and make an 8x10. Once there's too many for the wall, I'll move them to our room, or to the rec room in the basement that we don't have, or something like that.

And this one is just a bonus one of Aleah at almost 5 months, because it's one of those pics that just turned out amazing and you can't believe you actually got it with your unfancy camera - just a snapshot at the park. One of my favorites of all time. I wish you could see it in person because it really is pretty rad. This is a 11x14 canvas and picture. It would also look pretty neat bigger I think. Someday when I get a fabulous shot of J, I'll do a bonus one of her too, to preserve family harmony and such (sidenote - this is the "antique" setting on iphoto). So there you have it. As far as how we actually did them (I use the term "we" quite loosely), I believe we painted all the edges, then used a layer of modpodge stick the pic to the canvas. Oh, before that, if you have an 11x14 canvas AND picture, one would think they'll be the exact same size and all you do is plop in on there. This is a falsehood. The picture will be slightly bigger than the canvas and that won't work. So you're left needing to evenly trim a huge picture, which is what held me up in the first place. How do you get a straight edge with a huge pic that doesn't fit into your nice little paper slicer? Well, I still don't know cuz Jenni did it for me and she's amazingly talented. whew. And in the end, the paint around the edges covered it up enough that you don't notice if it's perfectly straight or not. GRACIOUS! Pardon my excessive details. So after the pic is on and dried, slather on about 3 more coats of mod podge. Then it dries and looks fabulous. For the edges we added some thinner or glaze to the brown paint and blotched it up a bit. So there you go. My little very unprofessional canvas making tutorial.

my days.

So I've had a million posts running through my mind the last few months. It's crazy. I wanted to write about Jenni's visit. Before that I wanted to write about Heather being here for 3 months. Before that, I wanted to write about Jocelyn being born and life with 2 kids... and many things in between. Most recently I wanted to show you pictures of the beautiful canvases my sis did for me while she was here. Alas, NONE of these have made it to the actual screen. why you say? because I prioritize my time poorly and have days like the following. I was also going to write about my day last wed. but after I tell you about it, I think you'll understand why I didn't get it written down for your enjoyment. But here I am now to tell you about it - ok, as I best recall - Wednesday - the day I work all day towards getting out the door with both kids by sometime before 6 for our small group in the evening. The day started with all of us ladies sleeping in a little too late. Well, me anyway. I put together woman would have arisen and tended to her daily hygiene before the small ones arose, but today, I did not. How hard can it be, I'll just find a moment sometime when they're both sleeping or occupied to take a shower and such. So day started - I fed Jocelyn and she was laying on her change table, one of her favorite places to be. And I thought, man, I should really cut her nails, because she scratches herself so bad when they're not short. Before this I had only done them while she was sleeping, but in a lapse of mental judgement I started chipping away, until all of a sudden there was much high pitched wailing. Oh NO! Her poor thumb!!! I CHOPPED it! It bled and bled and bled and turned purple and the like. I felt awful. Sadly, it was also the thumb that she sucks to go to sleep. That's the ONLY thing she will take to go to sleep. I had socks on her hand and didnt' think it wise to let her suck a liter of blood out of her thumb to go to sleep. Around this time, Aleah was talking off her clothes to get in the bathtub (we're going to meet the public after all, time for our mid-week scrubbins) and she slipped and banged her face against the tub and got a bloody, fat lip. Finally she's in the tub, and I was feeding J with the hope that she would fall asleep enough to not need to suck her thumb to sleep. She was eating really well and dozing off and I then I heard it - the 2 year old making a horrible mess from the bathroom, dumping water all over the place in order to try to flood it. Breathing murderous threats under my breath, but not wanting to disturb the good eating that was going on, I tried to ignore it till I could go deal with it later. Put small child down, she immediately went to find her thumb to keep herself asleep and became furious that she couldn't suck it. Went to deal with the child and mess in the bathroom. youngest child will have none of the sleeping thing, so gave up and got her up. cleaned up bathroom somewhat, did normal day to day things that didn't include getting dressed or showered. Got a call late morning/early afternoon from our small group leader asking if I could bring food for tonight since the person who was going to is unable to. tonight. ok, I can do this. got ahold of dave to have him pick some things up on the way home from work. still wondering about fitting in that shower. Put toddler to bed and feed baby who again is eating well and drifting off to sleep. decide the thumb is surely healed up enough for her to suck it. can hear 2 year old goofing off in bedroom instead of sleeping, but again, don't want to disrupt the feeding so try to ignore it for awhile. baby with injured thumb takes a short nap, toddler takes none, hubs arrives home to find wife in a frantic mess of unshoweredness, at which point I take the goods he has brought, fly around the kitchen making food, fly through the shower, get myself ready to go out the door, feed baby, get 2 kids ready to go, make toddler some food to take along, we didn't even have time to eat supper and went through a drive through on the way home from small group. And we arrived late, with the food. Thankfully it was a very small group so no one cared at all. Arrived home with 2 extremely tired kids, an extremely messy kitchen/house, piles of dishes that needed to be done, but being too exhausted to care. Instead I wondered to my exhausted self... how does this happen?? Why can't I get done the most basic of things? I should have put supper in the crock pot in the morning, I should have gotten up earlier, I shouldn't have chopped off the end of my baby's thumb, etc. etc etc. And that was my day. By the end of the day life seemed tragic, but thankfully, we haven't had any quite that bad since then. It's another Wednesday and so far has gone much better. All that to say, I hope to SOON have pictures to post of canvases and also a new lil crafty project I'm working on. until then, you now where I am - curled up in a fetal position hiding from my kids.

Crafty

So this little project has been in the works for months and is FINALLY done. It all took longer than I expected, as is usually the case. Right before Heather left, in a flurry of last minute activity, we got them hung up on the wall. These are enlargements I did of Aleah's 2 year pics. I got shelving board cut, put scrapbook paper on top, modpodge, painted the sides, sanded the edges, prettied them up a bit - that's about it. Heather helped lots with ideas too. 

 The pics didn't turn out that great - this one has a flower button at the bottom with flower ribbon.

 hanging on the wall

 What would possess a person to buy a 99 cent lamp shade at a thrift store and then try to make it all pretty using scrapbook paper, ribbon, buttons, etc? Again, this took WAY longer than it should have! And when you actually turn it on, you can see the ugly lampshade through the paper. ha. I tried. And it does look rather cute when it's off.

Aleah's room looking a little more room-like, now that we've been here almost a year.

shamelessly stolen from my sister in law Rhonda...

...because how sad to go 3 whole months without blogging??

Outside my window…darkness and streetlights and the occasional roaring fire engine. 

I am thinking…about how long it's been since I've blogged and how much our lives have changed since then and how much I should go back and fill you (my 2 faithful readers) in, or just pick up where we are now. 

I am thankful… that I'm living in a place that doesn't get as cold as the one in which I grew up, for 2 healthy adorable lil gals that make me laugh and go a little more grey each day, and for their daddy too, who reads tons of stories and changes tons of diapers and is good to his wife in many ways, but since I'm falling asleep, I can't think of a creative way to list them, and for all the amazing help I've had the last couple months, preserving that last little bit of sanity that was in danger of going far away. 

In the kitchen… spotless counters because Heather's here. Dave and I actually had a real date tonight at a fabulous mexican restaurant that we'd never been to before, and poor Heather and Aleah ate leftovers.  

I am wearing…pjs (it's almost midnight afterall)

I am creating… wall hangings/pictures to hang in Aleah's room. hope to post pictures of them soon. 

I am going…to go to bed very soon. should have awhile ago, but the house is so nice and quiet. 

I am wondering…how in the world my 2 month old can go for hours on end at times without really sleeping, and other days sleep most of the day away. And thankful she at least sleeps through the night. 

I am reading…lots of Dr. Suess, and random internet articles pertaining to potty training, milk production, and things of that sort. 

I am hoping…that we'll all have a fun, relaxing weekend away getting together with my mom's family, despite that fact that we're taking our kids along. ; P 

I am looking forward to…the day I don't have to deal with the intense frustration of wondering if the baby is hungry or not, why she won't just eat like she's supposed to already!!, wondering why she won't sleep, wondering why she's acting so weird, the day she'll take take 1 or 2 good naps at appoximately the same time each day, etc. etc. etc. But then I know I'll be sad cuz that means she's growing up fast and she may be easier, but she won't be my pudgy adorable little baby for long... 

I am learning… not to expect much of 2 month olds. :) 

Around the house…watching a little "Lucy,"... Heather crocheting madly, as is frequently the case. 

I am pondering…how this is a very similar question to the "thinking" one... how everything will get done that needs to before the weekend?.. and not as much as usual because I'm very sleepy. 

A favorite quote for today… This was my favorite kid quote of the day but I put it on FB so it's probably nothing new - Aleah eating lunch and her hands got covered in yogurt, she was distressed about it - "Ohhhh, I am pretty much a mess!" 

One of my favorite things…the chocolate whipping cream torte that Heather made for supper last night when Dave's parents were here. Here's the recipe in case you need it - you can thank me later. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chocolate-Whipping-Cream-Torte   Another favorite thing - replaying in my mind Heather's reaction when I told her I had dog jaw and that she should feel it. It really was mean of me. terribly mean. I was expecting her to just jump a little, not scream and flail about. mean. very mean. 

A few plans for the rest of the week: shopping for random things, hitting up some thrift stores, packing for a weekend trip for 4 people (that's new), and, I'd need to consult the very detailed list flaoting around here, but I don't remember a lot of it, cuz it's now after midnight. 

A peek into my day… this pic wasn't taken today, but I didn't think you'd mind too much. :) 

(wow! in my 3 month absence, blogger has really improved some things. I was just able to upload a pic at the bottom [intead of always at the top] of a post, and then add text under it with no problem whatsoever. I'm impressed. I bet all you wordpress people want to come back now! )

Good gracious, it really has been awhile. Wonder if anyone even checks anymore... sigh. Where in the world to start? Crazy to think that the summer is winding down already. Dave is off at his first day of teaching. We've been frantically trying to get all ready for baby before he has to go back to work, but as usual, there's still things to do. July flew by, as I knew it would. We packed it full of wonderful time visiting family and friends. I've been meaning to put pics on FB for weeks now and it hasn't happened. But anyway, we went to upstate NY to be with Dave's mom side of the family and celebrate his grandfather's 90th birthday. The whole family was together and it was great to be able to make the trip. Aleah struggled with some car sickness and throwing up, which didn't exactly shorten our travel time. We were already stopping a lot to allow for preggo lady to walk and such, so anyway, we traveled like old foggies, but eventually got to where we wanted to be. We were able to spend some time with my wonderful friend from college, who also lives right by my aunt and uncle and family. Was good to see where she lives and teaches school. And spend time with family I hadn't seen in a long time. Dave's grandpa seemed to enjoy all the celebrations and it was wonderful being with all of them as well. Aleah got sick while there, just had a fever for 2 days and then that was that. We were home for about 2 days, did laundry, got all packed up again, and headed for Red Lake. Dave finally got to see it in the summer which was very fun. We had our family camp out the first weekend, then spend the week in Red Lake. Always wonderful to be with family, but never enough time to really see everyone and spend enough time with them. It was great to be out on the lake, go out in the boat, etc. We were able to take in the annual Norseman Festival, which has decreased in size and excitement since I was a teenager, but oh well. :) It was still fun. We arrived home, again, setting no speed records, but did make it. I'm so glad we went. At times I questioned our sanity, but the time with family was worth it. As for what's been going on since we got home, hard to know. haha. Obviously getting ready for baby and doing lots of rearranging has been going on. Aleah is now sleeping in a big girl bed and it was the smoothest transition in the history of humanity. sigh of relief. She likes going to bed, and stays in bed till we come get her out - hasn't occurred to her yet that she could conceivably crawl out on her own, and I'm just fine with that. It's not like we told her there's alligators on the floor or anything. So we're trying to make her room into a big girl room, and trying to fix up a space for baby wherever she'll fit. :) I have to keep reminding myself that having a beautifully decorated nursery is more for the parents than the baby anyway, and she doesn't really care where she sleeps. She'll start out in our room and we'll go from there, and she has some hallway space as well that we'll try to make sort of cute (not really hall, but not a room either, hard to explain...). More important is trying to agree on a name for small human. gracious. We might just wait till she's 5 and let her name herself. Whenever we ask Aleah what we should name baby sister, she either says "Aleah!" or "Come out Baby!" hmmmm.... "Kummoute" - that could be pretty. Um, what else. July was miserably HOT, even in Canada. I said to Dave - "I'm going to pray for a cool August." He laughed and said that I wasn't going to get a cool August in the midwest. ha! And wouldn't you know, it has been GORGEOUS for weeks. We've had many days in the 70s and very few if any in the 90s. SO nice! Well, I'm feeling as though this is all pretty boring. Just wanted to say hey and I guess I've done that, so maybe I'll go now. It's a lovely day and we really should be outside enjoying it, not on the computer. :)

quick update

I'll try to be quick here while I actually have some internet. We had a big storm a few days ago and our internet went out. I guess there's a line down in our back yard and we won't have service back till Tuesday probably. This is really cramping our style. So how am I updating my blog you ask? Well, we can tap into someone’s internet around here, but the service is exceedingly unreliable. So anyhoo, about said storm, it’s fun sitting in your doc’s office when everything suddenly goes completely black. It didn’t last too long that time, but before I left, it went out again for a longer time and I was sitting there waiting for it to let up before I could leave. Driving home was insanity. It sort of reminded me of baton rouge after Hurricane Gustav – most of the businesses had lost power and were all dark inside (naturally), and the traffic lights were out so driving was madness. I almost got rear ended by an obnoxious and rude semi. Anyway, it was good to be home after all that.

Aleah has been up to some fun shenanigans. Yesterday I took her to Target with me and I was getting insect repellent. She asked to see it and clearly without using my head, I handed it to her. It wasn’t sealed. She twisted the cap off in seconds and dumped the bottle ALL over before I even knew what happened. And it was STRONG smelling. And made a huge mess. We dripped our way to the wipes section and bought some and then dripped our way to check out. I confessed her sins to the clerk who was very gracious and didn’t even make me buy the stuff she dumped everywhere. She brought me a clean cart and there was no way her bug spray soaked clothes were getting in the car, so I pushed my necked 2 year old to the car, feeling like a real winner (she had shoes and a diaper on at least). The smell permeated the house for quite some time after we got home. So gross. It was a super duper fun shopping trip for sure. Today after church she was running in the gym and tripped and whacked her forehead and got an impressive bloody nose. She got blood all over her and Dave’s clothes. Hope it comes out. Fun times for her. I’m pretty sure she’s never bled that much, but all seems fine.

We’re gearing up for our summer travels and I’m getting excited. Not looking forward to hours in the car, but we’ll survive.

Baby is growing well and has been crazy active as of late. She doesn’t just kick, it’s like she lurches or something. It’s rather alarming and I don’t really remember the feeling with Aleah.

Well, this all seems pretty boring and I’m running out of anything new, so I guess I’ll sign off for now. 

Life around here..

- We celebrated Aleah turning 2 on the 14th. So fun to have family and friends here for that. And we were scrambling to get the house more unpacked/organized before company showed up. So it was a busy, crazy week, followed by fun with family, followed by a bit of crashing, if I remember correctly. One slightly humorous thing we've been noticing as Aleah gets older - she has that typical first-born love of order, likes her ducks to be in a row, thank you very much (her dad is firstborn too, but that one totally flew by him without stopping to visit). Any open door or dresser drawer, a raised toilet seat, things out of place (although there's frequently toys all over and that doesn't bug her too much) tends to really disrupt her delicate sensitivities, as my niece might say. I should mention this tidiness does not include her eating behaviors, sadly. Anyway, the other day I said to Dave, wow, you're really gonna drive her nuts! "I know!" he says... "and vice versa" I added, as she toddles around behind him asking him to put things away and close doors. HA! Cracks me UP! I'm hoping in a few years I can hand her a mop and say, oh, that floor really bothers you? why don't you do something about it!

A recent conversation: D: "What's on your foot?"
                                     R: "It's a pea."
                                     D: "Why are there peas on your foot??"
                                     R: "Because Aleah had peas for lunch. Look, there's more on the other foot." Makes perfect sense to me.

The last couple days turned rather crazy. It was like there was one thing going on and then another and then before you knew it, you were dashing around like a mad woman all day. 2 hour glucose test (which always take longer than 2 hours), ultrasound, Bible Study with new friends, making food to take to people, getting pictures taken of small offspring, etc, etc. It all sorta piled up. So let me just tell you about yesterday because I think there's a couple of you who might get a kick out of it. I was taking food to 2 different families from church. I was trying to keep it simple, but um, yeah, that rarely works with me. And things just always take longer than you think they will. I also decided to try making bread for the first time, with my handy dandy new kitchen aid mixer. I know, it's not a bosch, but I've still been pretty happy with it so far. =) Anyway, realized I didn't have everything I needed for that, so Dave went to the store while I did other prep stuff. Finally got the bread going. huh, this isn't too hard. The mixer is huge. Our counters are high and narrow, and the mixer fit doesn't under the ledge where the cupboards stick out, if that makes sense. So the thing has to just sit out pretty close to the edge of the counter when I use it. So anyway, I got the bread kneading away in the mixer, and went to the living room to talk to Dave. We were sitting there chatting when all of a sudden, KABOOOOM! A huge crash was heard by all. Oh dear. Of course, those things get to jiggling around a little when mixing like that and I didn't even think about it that it might take a nose dive off off the counter. DRAT! I went to look and there was a pile of dough on the floor and a sad looking mixer beside it. I think it's ok, other than a bent piece where you would put attachments in. I guess I haven't really tried to fun the mixer since but I hope it still works. I wasn't going to throw out all the dough, so I picked up a bunch of it that wasn't touching the floor and used that, and threw the rest out. gracious! then scurried around trying to get everything else done. Over baked a pan of cookies that were supposed to go to someone for supper, so quickly rebaked another pan. The plan was that Dave would deliver the food before my ultrasound appointment at 4, and at that point, I'd get cleaned up and ready to go. As time clock ticked away, I started to realize that this was looking less and less likely. I wasn't going to get everything done in time. I was scrambling to finish up the main food I was making, and realized I needed way WAY more milk than I had. And there was simply no time to go to the store and get more. I was already running late. So, I added a concoction of plain yogurt, water, and a little sugar to hopefully cut out the taste of the sour yogurt. shoot! I was annoyed because I had made it for us earlier and it was stinkin good. Ok, got it thrown together, dave will have to deliver it when I get back from my ultrasound, no time to clean up, just get out the door, arrived only about 10 min. late. whew. got that over with, rushed home, dave rushed the food to where it needed to go, I threw some supper together for us and stuck it in the oven, then we rushed off to the park to get Aleah's pictures taken. A friend with a good camera took them and did a great job. There's some on FB so I won't post any here. :) As we were finishing up, I remembered that I left the oven on the whole time and the food had been in well over an hour. The perfect ending to an insane day. We rushed home to a house still standing and food that wasn't even burned. how lovely. Whew! glad that day was over. Today, as of yet, I really haven't accomplished much of anything. I think the previous 2 days were crazy enough to include today as well. And that is my long, boring story of yesterday. Ok, I guess I'll leave you in peace now.

freaky baby...

So the other day I was moving some of my things from boxes to my cedar chest. You know, where you keep all your precious belongings from days gone by, the ones you can't bare to part with, that you dream of passing on to your own children. I know I keep too much junk. It's hard for me to throw things out that I really should. But this particular day, I was struck with how utterly and totally ridiculous my saving habits can be at times. I mean SERIOUSLY???? Get a look at this treasure, sure to be a hit with the kids and grand kiddos for years to come -

Yes, we really must ask ourselves "WHY??" What with the gnawed off fingers and poked out eyeball, OF COURSE I kept this beauty! She was, after all, my true and real Gerber Baby and I do remember playing with her (and messing up her poor lil eye beyond repair). She does look a tiny bit better with clothes on, but not so terribly much. I just looked at this thing and couldn't believe I had actually kept her, yes, her, in all her hideousness, Gerber or NOT. She soon found her way to the trash, not to be seen or heard from again.

Ok, that's all from Creepy baby land... Feel free to make fun of me to your hearts content. I total welcome it, deserve it, and would happily join you. Gerber Shmerber - what a little freak! 

In other news around here - not too much is going on of interest. Aleah's Wiggles crush has, I fear, moved to the full blown obsession category, where she talks about them non stop, wants to thank Jesus for them when ever we're praying, etc. She's also currently rather obsessed with the song "Let's go fly a kite" from Mary Poppins. She's hasn't seen the movie but we made the mistake of playing the song for her on you tube. game over. She loves actually flying kites with Dave the few times they've gone - not sure if that's why she loves the song. Anyway, now the phrase "Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking," said in a perfect British accent, runs through my head at will. 

Some boring baby news for the few females who may feel like reading - I had a rather frustrating Dr. appointment yesterday. I wish I could just move to Canada to have this kid! It's getting so ridiculous and feels like I don't have many options or choices in the matter. Once you have had one c-section, finding both a practice and a hospital that will let you at least try for a VBAC is difficult. I did find one and was also told that one of the docs in this practice is very supportive of VBACs and if that's what you want to do, he'll do everything he can to see that you have a shot at one. Well, yesterday was the first that I really discussed it with him. And I was NOT impressed. He seems to be dragging his feet, and not too thrilled to let me try for one. When I had my ultrasound a couple weeks ago, the baby was measuring small. So they want to rescan in a couple week. Well, I have a couple thoughts on that - first is that I think I just have small babies. Aleah was overdue and not even 7 pounds. My mom had all small babies - 6 pounders. So there's that. The second thing is that those silly ultrasound machines, in my experience, and the experience of friends I've talked to, are rarely that accurate. I find it funny that they were predicting Aleah to be this huge baby who wouldn't come out cuz she was too big. Now THIS time around, they are making this huge deal about this baby being small. When we were talking about a VBAC, the doc had the nerve to say that if the baby is small and unhealthy, then she probably won't respond well to labour and we'll just have to do a c-section. PALEEEZE! So my last kid was too big to be born naturally and this one is too little?? You just can't win! I was also really unimpressed with him making me feel like this kid is probably weak, small, and unhealthy. If I believed the machines and everything he was saying, I probably would have left worried sick that something was really wrong. I asked him, "Isn't it possible that I just have small babies?" Oh yes, very possible he said. He also said the ultrasound machines aren't an exact science at all. So why freak out your patients over them?? ARG! And it's not as simple as go find another doctor, trust me. So unless I want a home birth, I'll probably end up with another c-section. We'll see what happens. And maybe we'll get more assertive and start being more vocal about what we really want. If I have to have another one, it's not the end of the world, but I would like to at least try to do it the other way. I know moms do it all the time, but how in the world am I supposed to take care of a 30 pound 2 year old after major surgery? Have constant, live-in help for 6 weeks or whatever it is that you're not supposed to life more than 10 pounds? ugh. Like I said, I know many moms have had multiple c-sections so I'm sure there's a way. Just not my preference. ANYWAY, sorry, this got long and rambly. I guess that's the news around here for now. 

Easter and a few more random pics

Aleah and her cousin Kyra - a bit too sunny to look and smile perhaps? And Kyra is fascinated by sitting in grass for the first time.

We went to Iowa to be with Dave's family Easter weekend. Dave and Aleah had colds before we left and I started feeling rotten while there, but it was nice to see family. = ) I'm bummed I didn't get a family pic of the 3 of us on Sunday.
Aleah and grandma's tulips
Actually sharing the easter eggs! yeay!
Grandpa and Grandma have a swing on the back porch. Aleah really liked it.
First french braid. yeay! how my heart goes pitter patter. or something ridiculous like that. Too bad she'd never sit long enough for me to do all her hair in 2 of them.


An idea from Pinterest - dropping colored vinegar in a pan of baking soda and watching it bubble. It was fun, but not exactly something I could leave her with and go clean for a couple hours or anything.

A pretty dress from great aunt Robyn. = ) She found it and bought it when Aleah was in mommie's tummy, just in case she was a girl.
Speaking of which, we find out on Tuesday if we're having a boy or a girl. My emotions have been so all over the place in regards to this that I'm just so ready to know and move on. This time, I'm glad we're finding out. It's so different when you already have one and might need some time to get your heart in neutral about upcoming small fry.

Dave and Aleah are mostly feeling better. My cold has been lingering forever and driving me nuts. I stayed home from church this morning while they went, and had some peace and quiet. It was marvelous but didn't last quite long enough. I think it's nap time so I should end these boring ramblings. Bye for now.