Blogger Procrastination and Renovation

• I've not made a habit of updating this blog as ofen as I would've liked.  I think that I'm holding back the mundane aspects of our days, thinking that I'll wait for something exciting to happen and blog about.  I'm considering adding some daily inspirations on here as a minimum to blog about.  We'll see how that goes.  With all of the renovating going on, I've been focusing a lot on our daily routines/living and saving simply.  I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan and have lately been subscribing to e-mealz and love it !  We do the low-fat Wal-Mart plan.  It truly cost~$75 for 7 nice, well-balanced meals.  After the first week, we had to cut down to buying only 5 of the meals per week due to having too much food!  *Insert reminder here that our kids are 6, 4, and 13 months and do not consume the amount that they will be in their teens, at which point we may need to double this menu!  There is at least one item per meal that I can get my picky eater to try.  My next venture
  

New Makeup for Mommy

Today, I spent my bithday $ on new Jane Iredale makeup; seen  here.  I got the liquid minerals, powder spf, and circle/delete concealer.  I got these at a local spa, but would also love the sample palettes with eyeshadow/blush/lipstick on the website.  It's been a long while since I got new, quality makeup.  But honestly, with the frequency that I have to replace drugstore makeup, I'm not sure that I'm saving that much money by going cheap.  My mom used this for a while after a spa visit and I tried it on and loved how airy it felt.  So I'll let you know how I like it over the long run.  Pre-boys, I was a makeup/skincare junky.  Some women are clothes/jewelry junkies, but not me.  I guess wearing scrubs a couple of days a week takes the fun out of the wardrobe world for me.  The boys, young as they are, do not understand these girly purchases of mine.  Why in the world would I not buy myself the latest megatoy?  They looked at me as if I had just written a formal letter to Santa requesting only socks and underwear for Christmas.  The hubby partially understands these ' for me and only me' purchases.  They are good for the parenting soul.

Prepping for Sale

We're working tirelessly to meet our deadline of for-sale sign in yard by Easter.  As you can see by the pictures, we are in full prep-mode.  We have officially begun to cross into the territory where this is no longer feeling like our home anymore.  Taking the pictures of the boys down in the hallway was an extremely emotional process for me. Taking steps like that make me feel like I'm flailing in the wind.  I take extreme comfort in being 'settled' in a home.  Knowing that we are probably at least 1.5 years away from finally 'settling' makes me extremely uncomfortable.  I'm finding comfort, though, in simplifying our life by downsizing our 'stuff', which makes cleaning and 'showing' a house easier.  I'm also looking forward to when all the work is over and we can spend the next few months focusing on baseball and weekend adventures and planning and dreaming of our new home and staying away from this desolate one as much as possible to keep from constant cleanup.  I think that the warming of the spring days would also be extremely helpful with my spirits.  It's not a slight downer that it's spring break in the south and we're outside with coats and hats on.  Moving with kiddos means that things like double ear infections and sleepless nights and discipline and making -time-for-1on1-time and grocery budgets continues even when you're tired  and feel like using the tv as a babysitter. And the tooth-fairy doesn't take a day off, either.

New-Old House

Been a little distracted by dreams of this house, lately. We need a new home that will hold a family of 5+??? We love our area and school district...but, we've always loved this 1913 foursquare that my husband's grandmother owned. What to do? Say, honey, why don't we just hire an architect, make a few changes for the modern family (aka more than 1 bathroom), and create a beautiful new replica of this sentimental home to raise our boys in? I can assure you that the to-do list for this project is massive!!! Step 1: Do I have any takers on a beautiful 3 bd/2bath with glorious greatroom on 6 acres of beautiful pastureland seen here??

I must admit that we southerners feel a need to take multiple views of our homes and yards whenever it snows and these pics are rather misleading regarding our normal climate.  We are working diligently at 'staging' our home for quick sale (dreaming, I know) this spring.  And then there's the matter of balancing those boys in the midst of all this change...it should be an adventure.  Will post updates and moments of insanity as they occur! 

First Birthday Homemade Party @ Home

Since baby has no favorite characters to use as a theme for the

party,we just focused on the number '1' and 3 yards of whimsical fabrics in colors I love.  I thought that I

could use it to make a new throw or pillows post-party.This was the result of the baby food jar favors.  Lids were painted by big brother.

We even used the fabric to applique a shirt

for the guest of honor. 

an exercise in self-control...I felt like I was making the letter of the day for cookie monster to eat!  Each letter was a different flavor.

The brothers share a bite of his very first cake!We transformed our memo board into a pictorial of first year memories.

Reflections on Birth of Baby Three

Well... the flurry of birthday activities got me offtrack with my blogging.  Parties are drawing to a close; preparations are done.  Today is not party day, but the baby's 'pure day' as my mom calls it.  The almost 4 year old is a little confused as to why we have party days, actual birthdays, and school birthdays.  With 4/5 of our birthdays occuring within 5 weeks of each other, I must admit that I'm a little confused, too.  Baby's pure day begins in a couple of hours, so of course, I am reflecting on the events that were happening a year ago, tonight.  I remember it as a day that started and ended with me going about my day caring for the older brothers as usual.  I remember feeling a little more relaxed than my usually uptight self, even though I was contracting about 3-6 times an hour (oxytocin, anyone?).  Strong contractions, but able to press through them without anyone noticing.  The more I relaxed, the stronger they became.  When I started to tense up over something, they pittered out.  An after-lunch teacher conference went well, as did my dad bringing supper.  Then, I curled up with the boys and watched a movie.  Once they were tucked in for the night, I decided to relax in the bath.  Within 5 minutes of stepping in, I began going into active labor.  After 5-6 strong contractions, I finally realized that I was in true labor and somehow managed to climb out of the tub.  After another hour of debating whether we should call in childcare reinforcements or not, we got into the car to head to the hospital.  The contractions were very strong and regularly occurring every 3 minutes.  By the time we arrived at the hospital 45 min later, I remember thinking that 'surely I've dilated at least 3-5cm'.  After stopping for several pauses, we made it to the labor-delivery floor and I was elated to find that I was 8-9cm.  Having been induced with the other boys, hubby and I were surprised that I could even go into labor on my own, much less, at 37 weeks!  We had considered natural childbirth due to some issues with my 2nd epidural that I didn't want to repeat.  Little did we know that the decision wouldn't be ours to make.  Less than an hour after arriving at the hospital, my body went into a strong contraction that basically, did not relent for 10 minutes.  During those last few minutes, my body began pushing the baby out in a way that was out of my control.  Those last few minutes were excruciating, but everything leading up to them was definitely bearable.  The fact that my water didn't break until the very end probably was that cushion that kept the pain in check.  The experience took me to a place where I was able to control my own pain, but move forward in the progression of labor and intensity just by relaxing.  When I started thinking too much about the process, I would start to lose control and the pain was horrible.  If I just rode that wave of pain and focused on breathing until the wave let me up for air, everything was easier.  Looking back, I probably would have been more comfortable lying down in the car; but sitting straight up probably caused me to progress faster.  We stumbled upon natural childbirth, but I would never electively go through labor any other way.  The feeling of accomplishment afterwards is huge, and the recovery time is so much quicker.  So that's the beginning of the story of this sweet, loving, snugglebug with the bluest eyes and the constant smile.  Many more, my baby.  Many more!

More First Birthday Planning

So, I'm still thinking all about that upcoming first birthday next month.  Our second almost Valentine baby.  I ordered the invite from shutterfly, using this pattern.  I pasted in photos from birth until now.  It's crazy how much his features changed in those first six months.  With that done, I moved onto favors.  I've been saving baby food jars for a while now, remembering vaguely that a friend made a favor out of these and looked here and found some inspiration.  And now my whirlwind of a brain began thinking about the cake.  Ambitious, maybe.  But I can plan for creativity, can't I?  One thing I have learned on this journey of parenting three is that you have to have a backup plan.  Mine is wal-mart bakery.  I'll be sure to post pics of the final event.  We'll see how much of plan A changes to plan B.  Sometimes, I think I just enjoy the planning.  Like that 10 year anniversary trip this summer....hmmm.

First Year Keepsakes

Today, I'm planning to gather all of Baby Pete's first year pictures and send them off to be printed for his scrapbook.  Being a former scrapbooking champion, I bow my head in semi-shame thinking of the pre-printed pages that these photos will be pasted onto.  The first baby's scrapbook was updated monthly.  The second's was completed by his second birthday.  Same amount of work, spread over a longer period of time.  This time, I chose one with beautiful preprinted pages, seen here.  Will he feel ousted from the hall of scrapbooking fame?  Doubt it.  These are boys.  They're girlfriends and wives are probably the only ones that will ever really look at these as intensely as I do.  What really matters is flipping through the pages and seing that sweet face go from this....

to this...

New Year's

The boys loved stomping on pop-pops.  Big brother had his first go with a sparkler this year.  They're a lot different now than the ones I remember.  These were like little colored flames.  The old ones actually sparked, which was probably more dangerous.  Wonder how many of those fake rabbit-fur coats ignited in the eighties?  The last photo is one of those that will always make me smile.  I was content letting the men handle the fireworks, but the baby kept wiggling to be set free from my hip.  Swapping hip-baby duties with daddy, it was my turn to light up the sky.  Jimmy cackled as a ran from the lit bottle rocket like I had just ignited a grenade.  Next year, I vow to be a spectator only.  Yes, I used to dress up and be all pretty and sparkly for New Year's Eve.  Yet this year, I'm photographed wearing sweatpants and houseshoes.  Hmmm...speaking of resolutions.

Welcome to My Life!

This was a couple of days after Christmas. Nothing better than some first steps caught on camera. What I love most about this is big brother's obvious excitement over baby's accomplishment. Yes, there is a cage around the tree. Sanity trumps pretty in this house.