Picture Post

Not a lot to say...but just had to share the cuteness!!

Mommy's little Yoda!!

This should probably actually be called "Papa's little Yoda" since Brack is the big Star Wars fan...but when I saw this marked down in the store, I really couldn't resist!! Besides, since it's a 2T...it'll last him for quite a while as a fun costume. If he's anything like his mama or any of the kiddoes belonging to friends from Sunday School...this is only the beginning of an array of fun costumes!!

Complications & Recovery (Edmund's Story--Part Two)

We were only home from the hospital three days, my mom had just headed home the evening before, and Brack had just headed back to work that morning when things changed for the worse.

Susanna was staying with us just from Sunday evening to Monday evening before flying out to work in English summer camps in Taiwan for several weeks, so she was helping me out a little that Monday (July 20th) as I adjusted to life back home. My legs had gotten rather severely swollen right around the time of our discharge from the hospital, but the doctor assured me that it was probably just residual fluid retention from the IV's...so nothing big to worry about. I spent the whole weekend once we got home with my feet propped up as they were rather painful. It was also rather disappointing to stand on the bathroom scales and not see a change in my weight from before the birth because of that swelling. On top of that I had developed some sort of pregnancy-related rash a couple weeks prior to Edmund's arrival and it was actually worse after the delivery...so I still felt pretty miserable, besides the normal lack of sleep issue!!

So that Monday I pretty much hibernated in the bed and kept Edmund within arm's reach. I had my laptop handy too and was able to finally post a picture of Edmund to Facebook and just check up on what had been going on during my week offline. However, in the early afternoon I started really feeling bad and messaged Brack that it seemed like I had the worst migraine of my life...even to the point of seeing the aura that many associate with migraines, but that I had never had before. Brack came home early from work, which was a good thing!! I do remember trying unsuccessfully at one point to read the clock across the room and being unable to make it out but truthfully what happened next I just have to go off of what others said, because I have absolutely no recollection of what occurred from about 4pm that Monday till around 4:30am Tuesday morning!!

Brack ended up calling an ambulance and I ended up being transported to the hospital with an eclamptic seizure. My blood pressure was 220+/130+!! I evidently was one of those few that have an eclamptic seizure AFTER delivery. Needless to say, I was kept in the hospital several days till they were sure that my blood pressure had regulated and was on its way down!!

So where was Edmund during all this? Well, Brack and I have some awesome friends who were a great help to us when all this happened. Leah is a NICU nurse, and she came right over and picked up Edmund and took care of him till the next day. Her husband Todd drove Brack to the hospital as he was in no shape emotionally at that point to drive. My parents came rushing back to the metroplex and my mom once again stayed at the hospital with us and helped me out with Edmund once we got him back from Leah that Tuesday afternoon.

I was finally released that Thursday evening and we finally got to be home!! My mom stayed till the next Monday and my MIL came and stayed for a week after that, so I had some help around for a while till I was back on my feet. Our Sunday School class was a real blessing during that time as well...bringing us meals every other day for almost two weeks!! It still took a bit to start feeling better and back to normal, as not only did I have to get my blood pressure under control, but just as I was getting over the rash from before, I developed hives from an allergic reaction to my blood pressure meds!! It never rains, but it pours!! However, it did improve and I am fully recouperated now. Well, except for being sleep-deprived...but that is par for the course for all new parents!!

The month of August we pretty much kept close to home, only venturing out a few times to doctors appointments with a few random exceptions, but I am now finally to a point where I can do more than just maintain the house and care for Edmund and am actually able to work on getting various small projects done. The month of September is shaping up to be a little busier, but not tiringly so...as we work on getting Edmund on a schedule and I start attending Mom2Mom and a Bible study two mornings a week at church and possibly get involved in a playgroup or two for Edmund...but we shall see how it all works out.

Next up will be a few picture posts with various adorable pictures from the past couple months...and if I am successful...maybe even a video post or two!! After that, I hope to blog more regularly!!

I'm A Mommy!! (Edmund's Story--Part One)

Since we are rapidly coming up on Edmund's TWO month birthday, I figured it was high time to catch my internet friends and family who are NOT on Facebook or Crossings up on the birth and what's been going on since!! I will probably need to break it up into several posts though...starting with the actual birth story.

In the wee hours of the morning on July 13th...my water broke!! After a quick checkup by my midwife I went back to bed for a bit, then got up for the day and straightened up the house. I laid back down in the afternoon for a while, my mom arrived, we ate Sonic cheeseburgers and visited...all the while I was having sporadic contractions. My midwife came and did another checkup that evening...and recommended some Benadryl and sleep, as I wasn't progressing much.

I took the Benadryl and lay down..and within the hour things started picking up!! By 10:30pm I was having regular contractions just a few minutes apart...so we called my midwife back. The midwives arrived, and so the night began!! It all runs together for me...but it was a LONG night. Come morning, my midwife expressed her concern that my blood pressure was too elevated for where I was at as far as dilation...and she recommended that I be transported to a hospital.

We got to the hospital and I got settled in a room. I was still having regular contractions just 2-3 minutes apart...but not progressing much at all. They finally gave me an epidural just after noon so that I at least could get some rest. I did get some rest that afternoon, but still hadn't progressed that last centimeter needed and by 5:30pm the doctor brought up the possibility of a C-section if I hadn't progressed further by 9pm.

When the doctor came back to check me just before 9pm I had finally progressed to 10 centimeters and got the go ahead to start pushing...hallelujah!! I started pushing just after 9pm and almost two hours later...at 10:58pm...Edmund made his appearance!! He was 8lbs. 7oz...and 21 inches long...and cute, of course!! Brack even cut the cord...even though all along he'd said he wouldn't!! He was so sweet and encouraging to me through all this, even though I know he was tired and freaked out by the whole thing (the birthing process itself, plus the complications).

After things settled down and I got into a room and we'd gotten a few hours of rest we found out that since it had been so long between my water breaking and Edmund's birth that his white blood cell count was elevated and the pediatrician wanted him to go on 48 hours of antibiotics there in the hospital. So we decided to stay till the course of antibiotics was done and mother and baby could leave the hospital together!! That Friday (July 17th) in the afternoon we finally got to go home. My mom stayed with us through all of this, staying up at night with us so that we could have the baby in the room except when he was getting his treatments. She stayed with us and helped me out till that Sunday night and then she headed home. My sister Susanna came in to replace mom for a day before heading off to teach in English camps in Taiwan...and then I was gonna be on my own with the little guy after that...since Brack was back at work!!

But things came up to change all that. I'll explain in my next post...

Busy Days...and Not-So-Busy Days...

After my sister's wedding this past weekend I've been alternating between being uber-busy and uber-lazy!!

Monday morning I was up early and fixed breakfast for my sis Melody, my SIL Dayana, and my little nephew Luke. We then spent a little while getting bags together, loading the car, getting to the airport, and trying to find parking!! Dayana and Luke are going to be staying with Melody, her husband Michael, and their kiddoes until my brother John gets back from deployment. We are hoping that Melody won't be getting deployed at all...but especially before John gets back. At least Dayana will be with her brother and Luke will have his double-cousins to play with when they are missing John.

Tuesday I was really busy. I cleaned the house and then I went to the rec center and walked a mile and a half on the treadmill and swam for close to an hour. I went home after that to shower and get ready. I then had a midwife appointment, a chiro appointment, met with Brack for errands and dinner, and then we went back to the birthing center for our second childbirthing class. Whew!!

After the busy weekend and two days of going I didn't feel like doing ANYTHING!! So Wednesday and Thursday I pretty much just did general straightening around the house and lazed around otherwise...getting some extra sleep and watching stuff on Netflix.

Today I still feel a bit zonked, but am trying to be a little more industrious. I did get some meal planning and grocery lists done up yesterday and Brack and I went to the store last night. So today I have some roasts cooking in the crockpot for future meals. I have a few things planned to mix up and/or cook today...and we will see just how far I can get before I get wiped out!!

Here's what I hope to make today: Mexican Meat Mix (to freeze), Pinto Bean Mix (for tonight's menu and to freeze), Brownie Mix (for future desserts), Snack Cake Mix (for future desserts)...all from the Make a Mix cookbook. Also, I want to make some granola, full meal muffins, and baked oatmeal...for eating in the next few days and weeks. Tonight's menu will be South of the Border Vegetarian Bake and Pluckit for dessert...both recipes made from mixes in the Make a Mix cookbook. Hopefully they turn out yummy!! Edit as of 7pm...as you can see, I didn't get it all done (the strikeouts are what DID get done), but I'm pretty satisfied with what I did get done...and I'm pretty tired out, so hopefully I'll sleep well tonight!!

Anyway, so that's my plan for today. Tomorrow the only thing I'm planning for is my baby shower brunch in the morning...and Brack is gonna grill for dinner tomorrow night, so I won't have to mess with too much cooking. Sunday is gonna be a total rest day after we get home from church...and I'm gonna enjoy that before the week starts in (especially since I'm gonna try to start walking every day to be in shape for labor when Edmund decides to come)!!

Beka's Wedding

My youngest sister Rebekah got married last Sunday. It's hard for me to think of her as a married woman, since many of my most vivid memories of her are when she was a little tomboy whose antics earned her the nickname of "Monkey"!! I can remember like it was yesterday when she was 4 or 5 and she scared the living daylights out of my mom by climbing up the rope swing in our backyard to the branch that was even with our second floor windows and hanging off the branch!! Then when she was a little older, maybe around eight or so, she would literally climb the walls in the narrow hallway outside the bedrooms and scare people by peeking in the windows that were above the doors!!

 

But now she is married at the young age of eighteen and a half...just out of high school. Her husband Ryan is 22 and is even taller than Brack, though just as thin as Brack was before marriage filled him out a wee bit!! She made a beautiful bride (looked just like Mom did when she was a young bride).

My brother Steve came to the wedding with his wife Syrena and their new little guy Caedryn (what a cutie)!! My sis Melody was able to fly down for the wedding, and my SIL Dayana and her little guy Luke were there as well. Unfortunately the military had to be ornery as usual, so my brother John was unable to come. Seems like the military make it their job to always keep at least one sibling out of the mix whenever there is a family function!! But all in all, it was a nice weekend and a beautiful wedding.

I will come back to edit this with a few more pictures once I can snag some pics that have me and Brack, my mom and dad, Steve and Syrena, and Andrew in them...somehow I didn't get many pics!!

Summertime...

It's been a while...much has happened lately. Guess I just skipped right over May with the blogging!! Here's a few highlights to catch people up!!

I started having midwife appointments every two weeks from the beginning of May and now I've started chiro appointments as well. I also got a combo pool/rec center pass for our town and have started walking and will start swimming once the pool opens next week to try to keep in decent shape for the birth and after.

We ended up skipping church on Mother's Day because Brack started having some bad asthma attacks (which had not been happening here in the metroplex before) so he went to an allergist a few days ago and we are hoping the meds they gave him will help clear things up.

My friend Jess Martin has started her photography business and took some preggie pics for me about mid-May. I think they turned out rather well and I've actually grabbed one for my pic here on this blog. Check out her blog here and see some more of her work!!

I am no longer nannying. I finished up with the kids the week they got out from school and will not be nannying them again till at least January. I will miss them a lot, as they are such sweeties, but we will definately keep in touch.

My birthday was very good. I had a midwife appointment that morning so I got to hear Edmund's little heartbeat again. That night Brack took me to Fry's and got me a little digital camera so that I'll be able to catch cute pics and vids of Edmund...even when we are out and not hauling our big camera around. He then took me to eat at a Peruvian restaurant that we hadn't been to before. It was so yummy and they had the BEST chicha morada I've ever tasted!!

Last Saturday we ended up being double-booked!! Our neighborhood had its very first block party and I got to re-meet a few of our neighbors that I met way back last fall...as well as meet some new ones. We were only able to stay at the block party for about an hour and a half though, as we had to scram for a birthday party...getting there just in time to see the candles get blown out on the cake!! Todd and Leah's little girl Maggie had a blowout party for her second birthday and it was a lot of fun. She is such a little doll!!

My sis Melody flew in the other day and I got to hang out with her for a little over a day before my dad picked her up to take to East Texas. I hadn't seen her since Christmas '07, so it was good to spend a little one-on-one time with her before the big family hoopla of this weekend. I was just sad she couldn't bring her kiddoes (Josiah and Lydia) with her.

Oh yeah...this weekend is my baby sister Beka's wedding. A bunch of my relatives will be there and Steve and Syrena will be there with my new baby nephew Caedryn who I can't wait to meet!! I can't believe my baby sis is getting married, but I'm happy she's found the guy she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

Edmund's room is only partially ready to go. We still need to get a dresser to be set furniture-wise and I still need to do a little sewing to get curtains and a crib skirt done. The decorative stuff for the walls is mostly ready to go, though...it's just a matter of getting it ON the walls.

We just started childbirthing classes on Tuesday...once a week now for three more weeks. The reality of just how close we are to seeing little Edmund and the reality of childbirth are both staring me in the face now. I am still determined to have a natural childbirth at home, but having a child is uncharted territory for me and I'm a wee bit freaked!!

I guess that's all I can think of right now off the top of my head, so there ya go!! I guess I'm all caught up now. I just need to be a bit more consistent with the blogging. I am sure that once Edmund arrives though I will probably be clogging up this blog with all kinds of posts...even if they are simply picture posts of my cute kid!!

New Bloggy Layout

Well, even though I just switched to a 3 column layout on this blog a few weeks ago, I was really getting a little bored with the plain old blogger template. So, when I decided to add a couple widgets this morning I also decided to try out a cute new template. I tested it out on my test blog first to make sure I wouldn't lose anything. It looked good, so here we are with a pretty new blog!! What do ya'll think?

It's a learning process...

I like to think of myself as a minimalist...and definately as an organized person...yet I am by no means perfect!!

As far as the organizing goes, well, I can't truly say I am organized if it took me almost two months to get the last of the piles of stuff out of the future nursery for our little one!! Even now, I still have two rubbermaid tubs of papers that need sorting!!  I can be a bit of a procrastinator if the project seems overly big...especially now that I have less energy because of my pregnancy!!

And the whole minimalist thing? Sure, I can look thru a Sharper Image catalog now and not be impressed or covet anything in there (a catalog I used to drool over)...but that doesn't mean there isn't still stuff I wish I had...as evidenced by the baby things and home things I've wished for/drooled over in the last few months.

The thing that makes it easy to turn away from those things is of course money....cause I don't want just any old stuff...but the stuff that costs!! But what if money wasn't an issue? Would I drown myself in stuff then? It's an interesting question. I'd like to say I wouldn't...cause I LOVE a clutter-free environment, but the pack-rat tendencies of my family are not that far removed from me. If you were to see the old farmhouse where my parents live, there is an abundance of STUFF there...mostly useless, but there nevertheless. My grandmother lived up to the last few years of her life in a small house that seemed bursting at the seams with all kinds of STUFF...things that she was certain she could make use of "someday"!! Now, there is some improvement from my grandmother's generation to my parents...as they at least acknowledge that they have too much stuff...but they still have a hard time parting with much of anything!!

My determination is to not let the wants and desires for STUFF rule me. I must acknowledge that the desires are there...but not give in to them. Only then will I be able to truly embrace the minimalist life.

How many of you come from a background of packrats? What sorts of STUFF do you drool over and wish you had...if money were no issue?

Sunday Shoutout

It's been quite a while since I've done one of these...but I thought it time to really get going again with this blog!!

Whether or not you think a woman should be a "keeper at home" I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this post by a lady who has embraced the concept of wearing an apron and being a true homemaker.

Now that we live in a house and have the space...I really want to make my own Inspiration Board like the ones described in this post. I actually have a couple large manila envelopes with clippings I cut out in anticipation of being able to have an inspiration board...one envelope of personal inspiration, and one of home ideas and inspiration.

Stumped by what to do with all your kids artwork? Here's one idea...get Snapfish to make you bound books of their work. Another is to take digital pictures of their artwork (with or without them holding them) and organize them into a folder on your hard drive or online.

I really liked this post about why it's cool to be different...to live simply, frugally, etc. I also liked how she said living simply is different for each person and to not feel bad if your definition of simple isn't the same as someone else's!!

Well, these are just a few of my favorited links...stay tuned for more Sunday Shoutouts in the future!!

My Home...

Some pictures of our house...for those of you interested!!

The entryway, looking back into the house...

The study (still needs a little work to get it just so)...

Looking into the kitchen and dining area...

Looking from the dining area back into the kitchen...

Looking into the living room from the back hallway...

The guest bath/future children's bath...

The master bath (shower just out of frame on right)...

Couple shots of the master bedroom...

The nursery so far (still needs a good bit of work)...

The pictures of the front of the house, the front and back yards, etc. will have to wait for a sunny day, as it is very stormy right now!! The guest bedroom and garage will have to wait too...as they are the only areas inside that still need a bit of organizing!!

A Room To Be Proud Of

We have been in our house for two months now and have gotten almost everything organized...with the exception of three paper sacks for my husband to sort thru, a couple plastic tubs of papers for me to sort, and a few random odds and ends. The house is neat and clean but it isn't to the point that we would love to see it in eventually.

Eventually we would love to replace all the carpeting and linoleum in the house with wood or laminate flooring in the bedrooms and study...and 18 inch tile thru the rest of the house. We'd also love to plaster the walls in the main living area, enclose our patio, build an outdoor kitchen/dining area, and redesign the master bath and closet to suit us better. But all that can and will wait...I'm sure it'll get done sometime in the next five years or so, but there's no rush!! The more important stuff is getting ready for our little one...and just having the furniture and decorative stuff to fill up empty space and walls!!

However, we do have one room that we are particularly proud of...the master bedroom!! Yes, there are still a couple things I'd like to have in there...like a comfy chair in one corner and a ficus or something in another corner...but all in all, it is a room to be proud of and a comfy haven of rest from the big hectic world!!

We decided not to put our bookshelves in our small study, but rather to wrap them around a corner in our large bedroom. My husband even worked it out to install a small stereo into the shelves. We chose a low-profile bed frame from IKEA that has a deep headboard with cabinets that slide out on each side to hide away the little odds and ends. Our paintings are the only truly "fussy" additions to the room, but with everything else being so simple and zen...it really doesn't feel overdone at all. All in all...a room to be proud of!!

It's a BOY!!

If you are a friend on Facebook or a member of Crossings or are an immediate family member, then you already know this...but for the rest of you...yes, our little Baby Bean is a boy. Edmund Robert is set to make his appearance towards the end of July, but he's already making his presence known by kicking the fire out of his mama!!

I am at 26+ weeks now and FINALLY have the nursery cleared out (as of today) of the rest of the things that needed sorting thru from our move!! Granted, there are still several large paper bags of odds and ends for Brack to deal with and a couple piles of odds and ends on the guest bed for me to deal with...but for the most part I'm finally finished.

I know I say this almost every time I post after a long break, but I really and truly am gonna try to keep up with my blogging on a more consistent basis...even if that is only once a week. Truthfully, when summer comes and I'm not nannying anymore...I really won't have an excuse for not blogging!!

Well, it's getting late, I'm sleepy, and my psycho cat is attacking shadows on the wall...so I will close this out. But don't anyone have a heart attack if I surprise you and blog again in a couple days!!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Well, it's been several months since my last post, and if you recall I was planning on really getting going with this blog. I had a lot of ideas for posts with themed days and everything!! So much for that, aye?!!

What actually ended up happening is this... My husband and I both got second jobs for a few months to try and knock out the last of our credit card debt...and that really kept us rather busy!! Then we found out in November that a little munchkin was on the way...so I quit the second job right before Thanksgiving and ended up spending most of December on the couch dealing with morning sickness!! By the time the morning sickness was mostly gone I had to deal with a lot of nasty sinus issues, besides trying to get the apartment into a tip-top organized state so as to make our move a lot easier.

Yes, we moved!! From a 714 square foot apartment into a 1604 square foot house that seems quite huge!! Though I never really saw myself as being a suburban wife and mother, I guess I will be now, as we are planning on this being the house that our children are raised in!! Fortunately, our little suburb is still fairly close to stores so I can either drive with a minimum of gas, or if I can talk my husband into it we may be able to get a Christiana-type bicycle for hauling kiddoes and groceries around!! The suburb we are in is never gonna get too big...and we have a pond right behind our back yard!!

One really nice thing about the move is that it's a LOT easier to be organized since we have more cabinets and space to organize it in (no more propping the bed up on concrete blocks to create space under it for plastic storage tubs)!! The tub of Christmas stuff and the tree went into our little attic space and the shelves that were in our apartment storage room are now in the garage to hold the few tubs of things that we need to be able to get to more readily and for any bulk grocery purchases. We also have room for a small chest freezer so I can buy things on sale and freeze them...but we'll have to wait on that for a while.

In our kitchen, everything has a space and we'll even have empty cabinets for a while...which I'm sure will eventually get used for bigger pots and pans (when I start cooking for more than two people) and for art paper and other crafty stuff for kiddoes to do at the kitchen table!! We decided to put our bookshelves in a corner of our bedroom with a comfy seat to make a reading nook...which looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself!!

We will fix one of the bedrooms up as a nursery very soon (once the last of our stuff gets unpacked out of there) and the other bedroom is going to be our guest bedroom/crafting room. I will work on my sewing projects in there whenever company is not staying with us. Pictures of everything will be forthcoming!!

Now that I've gotten everyone up to speed on what's been going on in my absence from blogging, I can get back to regular blogging on all sorts of interesting topics such as homemade household cleaners, freebies and giveaways to make your $$ stretch, organizing projects, and other ways to simplify and organize your life...as well as passing on some favorite links to other blogs and websites!!

It's been a LONG time!!!

So...it was the beginning of September the last time I blogged here...eesh!! A LOT has happened since then!! Let's see if I can summarize things into topics.

Babies-- Josh and Kym just had their sixth baby (a little boy named Eli) on March 2nd, Steve and Syrena are expecting their first baby (a boy) in April, and David and Danielle are expecting their third baby (a boy) in May. In our Sunday School class between October and November there were five babies born...a little boy to the Brewers, a little girl to the Pitts, a little boy to the Carpenters, and one of each to the Treats!! WOW!! Kevin and Bethany welcomed their little boy into the world in December...and I know there were several other babies born to my MWF friends in recent months as well!! So is that all the baby news? Well, not quite!! Baby St. Clair is set to make his/her appearance on July 19th!! Yep, Brack's gonna be a daddy!!

Houses--Well, I know Todd and Leah moved houses several months ago, Kevin and Bethany moved into a house from their apartment in December, and Katy~* and Marks moved into a new house in February...but we have also moved!! After spending almost 2 1/2 years of married life in apartments, we moved on Valentine's Day into our new home!! It's sure been a lot of fun moving from 714 square feet to 1604 square feet!! We are almost settled in (except for the baby room...which we are currently using as an unpacking room) and pictures will be forthcoming!!

Work--Brack and I both picked up second jobs for a while from around the end of September. I worked at Panera several mornings a week and on the weekends until the day before Thanksgiving. Brack worked at Walmart several nights a week and on the weekends until the day before Christmas Eve. We really were working hard on getting the credit cards paid off before adding a mortgage to our budget...and it sure paid off!! The last card is very close to paid off now...so it was worth the extra work and tiredness for a while!! Now we are back to just one job each and are really enjoying having our weekends and evenings free again!!

Holidays & Guests--We spent Thanksgiving with my family and it was nice (though I was in the middle of dealing with morning sickness). Christmas was spent in Lubbock with the whole St. Clair bunch and was a lot of fun. After New Years we were able to go out to eat at a Romanian restaurant with Steve and Syrena and visit with them some and then go to a family get-together with all of my mom's extended family that evening...which though I was starting to have a bad time of it with my sinuses was still pretty nice. John and Dayana stayed over for the night after the get-together (with little Luke), so I was glad to spend a little time with them as well. My sister Susanna spent a week with us since the move and was a BIG help with getting the last odds and ends moved, the apartment cleaned out, and the garage painted!! I loved having her around...she's so sweet!! We had our first non-family guests last weekend when David and Danielle came with their kiddoes for a short visit. We had a great time and I'm really enjoying the fact that the extra space will make it so much easier to have people over!!

Random factoids-- After homeschooling his whole life, my little brother Andrew is now going to a Christian school!! He seems to like it and is already playing football and basketball!! He sure has grown up fast!! My little sis Rebekah isn't so little anymore, I guess!! She is engaged to be married!! They are planning for a June wedding soon after she finishes her high school work. I can't believe my littlest baby sis is actually ready for such a big step...I still think of her as my little "Monkey"!!

Well, I think that pretty much brings us up to date on everything!! I will try to be more consistent from here on out with this blog...should be easier once we have internet at home again...which is supposed to happen early next week!!