Vacation is over...

... if delivering an 8 pound baby can be considered vacation.

Anyway, it's back to the "grind", (ha ha), tomorrow morning.

We'll see how Delcie does without me.  She has to go from about 5am until 10am tomorrow.  I have frozen milk for her, but she doesn't seem to be a fan of it.  Pray for her, I'm so worried about this.

M.A.B.E.L.

When we were first married, Troy and I would always watch the tv show, "Mad About You".  We worked or were in school all day long, came home after 9 each night, ate dinner or played cards with friends, then watched this show before we went to bed.

Wish I still had that much energy.  I'm getting old.

Back to the subject...
Paul and Jamie, (the main characters), had a baby girl towards the end of the series.  They were having trouble coming up with a name for her.  As they were heading to the hospital, Jamie's mother told her, "Remember, Mothers always bring extra love."

Jamie remembered that and used it to name the baby - Mabel.

I have remembered that for a long time, now, yes, almost 13 years.  I think I need to write it down and post it on my bathroom mirror or my fridge.  There are times when I seem to forget to love my girls.  We are so busy disciplining them or ignoring them that we forget to love them.  I know I don't spend enough time playing with them.  Sometimes I feel I rob time from one to give to another.  I guess these are all results of having children close in age.

When I was pregnant with Averie, I was having a really hard time understanding how I would be able to love her as much as I loved Camdyn.  I didn't think I would have as much love left to give to her, because I loved Cam so much.  So, I crochet her a blanket, hoping the project would help me feel closer to my unborn baby.  I'm not sure if it did, I think so, and the blanket turned out awful, but anyway...

The day Averie was born, I left the hospital while I was in labor just so I could go give Camdyn love before Averie was born.  I couldn't stand the thought of taking some of my love away to give to her baby sister.

But, as soon as Aves was born, I realized that I wasn't taking love away from Camdyn, I was adding another person to give love to her.  I don't understand how I was able to continue to love Camdyn as much but also love this new little one just as much.  It's just a miraculous thing.

Now that we have 3 little girls, I see it all over again.  I love Delcie just as much as I love her big sisters. I would give each of them anything they asked for if I could.  I don't understand how this multiplication of love works, but it's amazing.

This was just something that Troy and I were talking about tonight.  It's a scary thing being a parent, you hold a big responsibility for the tiny lives God has loaned you for a little while.   But, it's also a wonderful thing, being able to teach these little children about the world, and themselves, and God.

Don't forget, bring extra love.

Trying out cloth diapers

While I was pregnant, I found a few really good deals on nice cloth diapers.  I bought some, thinking if I decided I didn't like using them, I could resell them on E-bay.  Believe it or not, they sell for $25 each there! I left them in the package, haven't broken into them yet.

I also bought some cheaper ones, seconds, and washed them.  I have been using them this week while we are home, not out and about, though.  They're econobums.  I think I like them.  But, they're so bulky.  They look so much more comfortable than disposables.

So, since I've done okay with my 5 econobums, I'm branching out and washing my 6 bum genius AIO's.  (AOI = All In One.)

They look like they won't be as bulky as the econobums.  We'll see.

Honestly, the hardest thing about this is working with Troy.  He has been pretty vocal about not wanting to deal with the *solids* part of changing diapers.

So, I got him some bummies liners that are supposed to make "clean-up" easier.

Wonder what my attitude about these will be in a couple of weeks...

I've revived my Etsy shop!

I created it a couple of years ago to sell quilted Christmas ornaments and hand-stamped Christmas cards.  During the rest of the year, I continue to be crafty, and my family can only take so much of my crafty-ness. So, after much coaxing from a dear friend, I'm making my store into a year-round venture.

So, I have 2 items listed.  Wow!

I know.  Get on the ball.  But, I'm not as crafty as I implied, these things take time.

But, I think my 2 items are adorable ;)

Keep checking my store for more items, I do have quite a few that I'll be listing within the next few days.

The Alligator Purse

My beautiful model.

One more thing

I can't believe I forgot to write about the best thing about being pregnant.

The 40 weeks of anticipation for the new little one who will be joining your family!  We didn't find out if Delcie was a girl or boy at our ultrasound and it was so exciting to find out when she was born.  So much fun to think daily of what our child would be like when he/she was born.

(Made it even harder to wait an extra 6 days for her!)

Pregnancy Withdraw?

Yes, I think I have it.  I can understand how some moms get ppd, (which I think I had after Averie).  I miss being pregnant.

When you're pregnant, you have something in common with just a few women in the world.  You can read posts on mothering dot com about your stage in pregnancy and relate to them.

You can walk through the mall and have people stop and ask you about your pregnancy.  When you're due, whether you know if you're having a boy or girl.

You can take it easy, people do things for you because you are so tired and they love you.

And, believe it or not, it's a little fun for me to deliver.  I feel like I'm so good at it, now.  I understand the process, even the complications.  In the hospital, you have people waiting on you, bringing you food and juice.  (Although, this hospital we were just in was so junky, they sure need to remodel it!)

I miss these things.

I think I also am kind of sad because I know this is my last baby.  We don't have any more embryos frozen, and I'm pretty sure we aren't looking at conceiving naturally.  Honestly, 3 children is just perfect for us, I couldn't wish for more children.  But, still...

This is a strange feeling, this pregnancy withdraw.

But, there's also the joy of watching my newborn grow.  She's 7 weeks old, now, and smiling and cooing.  And sleeping many hours at a time through the night!  I'm loving spending time with her, enjoying my last baby.

And, looking forward to the time when my girls are older.  When they are in school, learning so much daily.  Playing sports, teaching each other about life, learning about God.

I'm glad I have 4 sisters and a brother so I can enjoy their pregnancies and newborns.

Wow, I'm old!

Recipe: Chicken and Dumplings

I grew up on the east coast.  I moved to the midwest after I married my husband.  In the midwest, they try to make some sort of chicken and noodles, but, they have it wrong.  I guess maybe they're making egg noodles?  You don't need eggs!

This is for all you midwesterners wishing you knew how to make yummy noodles.  (We call them "dumplins" around here.)

~Cook some chicken in a pot.  I use split breasts and cook them in some chicken stock, onion and celery.

~Make the dumplins:
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. shortening
1/3 c. water

Mix everything together, add the water a little at a time.  Roll out cracker thin.  Slice into rectangles.

(I like to at least double this recipe.)

Remove the chicken from the pot and shred.  Set aside.

Slide the dumplings into the pot, sort of laying them flat/sideways a few at a time.  Stir them to keep them from sticking.  After they've cooked, add the chicken back in.

I like to serve them with boiled potatoes and peas.

Yummy!!!

I have a messy house

And I'm so thankful for it!

Migraine

Wow, I haven't posted since Monday.  Sorry!  This one will be short, because I'm feeding Delcie with my left arm so I'm typing one-handed.   Which means I have to correct each word at least once, often twice.

Today was my first free day this week.  I spent the morning switching out most of my maternity clothes for my regular ones.  I ended up with a laundry basket of maternity clothes, an extra large tub of garage sale clothes, some shirts, jeans and sweatshirts for my closet and one bin of winter clothes.  I cleared out 3 large and 1 regular bin!

Then, I met my mom and sister at the park for a picnic.  While there, I got a rare migraine, (I've only had 4-5 in my life.)  It was strange.  Started with a swirly bubbly spot in my vision, ended with a terrible headache reaching from the top of my head down past my shoulders.  After some x-strength tylenol and sleep, it's manageable.

But, some great things greeted me when I woke up.  First, a paycheck.  For not working.  Yippee!  Gotta love short term disability.

And then, to top it off, my new lens arrived :)  It's a 55mm lens that has some awesome focus.  But, what's super interesting is that it doesn't auto-focus with my camera, I have to do it manual.  It's so fun!

I promise proof soon...

Last of the summer garden bounty

Last week we harvested the last of the produce from my garden.  There wasn't much, because I had been so busy working and dealing with the hot temps, I let the weeds take over.  Here's what we ended the year with...

We still have 4 basil plants, but they've been flowering for a few weeks now without any trimming.  I don't know how good the flavor is now.

I'm working on pulling my tomato plants up, I have the two longest rows done.  It's not easy, they're not in cages, they're planted between stakes and climbing up a trellis of twine.  So, I have to cut the twine, pull the plant, gather the twine and move on.

After they're all pulled up, I'm going to mow the rest of the plants and weeds, then layer cardboard, then mowed leaves and grass.  I can't remember what it's called, but I believe it's what I have to do to kill the grass that's been infiltrating the garden all year.  I hope...

Yes, the carrot is growing roots.  And the yellow thing is a lemon cucumber.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We went to a couple of local farm stands yesterday with my sisters and their children.  It's nothing like a midwest pumpkin patch, but we had fun.  

But, it makes me want to make a trip back to some of our old haunts just visit a patch...

I learned a little bit more about my camera and worked on adjusting aperture and shutter speed.  And light. I think I ended up taking some better pictures than I have in the past.  Yay!

Evan was kind enough to be my subject for about...20 pictures.  I finally got my focus right.

Working on the lighting.  This was a strap with cups on it that the kids could wheel corn up to the goats on the ledge with.

Here I was working on focus.  See that Cam is in focus and the goat isn't, while Aves is blurred and the goat isn't.

More lighting experimenting.

Just a cute picture.

Daddy and Delcie.

Then we moved on to the other market.  We picked out our pumpkins here.

We took some cousins pictures on the pumpkin wagon.  All the cousins but one, who lives in Virginia and couldn't make it ;)

Oops!  That was the outtake, lol!

Here's a better one...

And, we took pics of just our girls.

And, of course, the outtake:

Yea, they're mine.  Ha ha!

Our little pumpkin.  Or "punkin".

We completely forgot to take a picture of us outside, so we'll have to do it next time.  So, we took one in the kitchen.

Oh, and, happy day, I ordered a new lens for my camera!!!  I ordered it from a company that closes for all Jewish holidays and Sabbath, so, although I decided early in the week that I wanted it, I had to wait until sundown last night to place the order.  But, I got a notification that it's shipped already.  Yippee!