Sick and tired

I have a full-blown cold and feel like total crap. I must have gone through at least 75 tissues (and sneezed well over 100 times - seriously - usually I do 4 or 5 sneezes at a time) today. (I so need to get my hands on one of those contraptions in the pic!) My nose is sore and red. My throat hurts. I took a short nap today, but I'm still tired.

Ava has a cold too (she got it first), but thankfully seems to be on the mend.

Jody is out playing D&D with his friends tonight (don't get me started), but my sister is over hanging out and entertaining Ava.

I am taking Ava's homeopathic cold remedy and am hoping this won't last too much longer (though I just started feeling sick last night). I also plan to try a cold remedy that my midwife recommended (involving fresh grated ginger and fresh grated garlic mixed honey and hot water with fresh lemon juice) tomorrow, now that my sis was kind enough to go buy some ginger and more garlic for me tonight. It sounds soothing.

I guess the good news in all of this is that there's a 3-day weekend on the horizon and Jody can play nurse if he needs to.

Sorry for being such a whiney baby, but that's how I feel. **Sigh**

Poor baby

We were all sitting in the livingroom, watching a documentary about giraffes on PBS the other night. Ava was enjoying it, especially when they showed baby giraffes.

It got to a part where they were filming a female giraffe giving birth to a baby at a zoo in Colorado Springs. I didn't think anything of Ava watching it since she and I have watched videos of human babies being born in the past and they didn't phase her in the least. In fact, she usually wants to see more. I just wanted to be sure she understood what was happening and told her, "the mommy giraffe is going to have a baby." She got excited. I turned my attention away from her and back to the TV and watched as the baby giraffe emerged from it's mother's birth path and fell about 4 feet into a heap on the sandy ground. At that point, Ava said (in her most concerned, high-pitched voice), "BABY???" and burst into tears. :( I picked her up to comfort her and Jody and I reassured her that the baby was OK. We watched together as the mommy giraffe soon began to lick the baby and it sprung to life and started trying to stand up and walk. She calmed down once she knew baby was OK, but she sure was hysterical for a minute or so. :(

I felt so bad. She obviously thought something was wrong with the poor little thing after it fell to the ground and didn't begin to move right away, but I had no idea she would respond the way that she did.

We've talked about it since then and she's not scarred for life (as far as I can tell!), but it makes me want to cry when I think about how sad she sounded.

How I love a good deal

Today was the last day of a HUGE "Just Between Friends" consignment sale at the fairgrounds and neary everything was selling for 50% off. Ava and I spent two hours there (whew!) and I came away with an enormous bag of clothes.

For baby boy (who definitely racked up the most loot), I got:
15 (cuu-uuute!) outfits and/or sleepers/sleep sacks ranging in size from 0/3 to 9 months - Carter's, Osh Kosh, Old Navy, The Children's Place, etc.
6 pair of socks

For Ava, I got:
2 winter sleepers - Carter's and Baby Gap
1 sweater - The Children's Place
1 pair of jeans
Unfortunately the 2T and 3T girls clothes were majorly picked over, so there wasn't much to be had for the lil miss.

And for myself, I got:
3 pair of maternity pants (though I'm not sure if one of them fits)
2 maternity long-sleeved shirts

How much did I spend on this plethora of clothes you ask?
$150? No way!
$100? Surely, you jest.
$60? Nope.

I got it all for $54!! :-) Not too shabby if you ask me.

I just finished gathering up all of the clothes we now have for baby boy (so I can wash and organize them) and I think he is quite set in the 0/3 month department. If he grows anything like his big sister did, he probably won't even get to wear all of his 0/3 month clothes before he moves into the next size! Ava graduated to some 3/6 month outfits at only a month old.

Anyway, I'm feeling good about what we've got for the little man now. I still need to get some cloth diapers in smaller sizes (because the small FuzziBunz we had for Ava were all borrowed), but I'm hoping some friends will have hand-me-downs for me before November.

I guess you could say I'm getting some of my nesting done early this time around. :)

The weekend wrap-up

Can you top my exciting Friday night? Jody, Ava and I went to Kmart so Jody and I could buy ourselves some new underwear! You know it's time to splurge and get yourself some new skivvies when you start to wear holes (gah!) in the old ones. I've always been pretty practical when it comes to undies (i.e. I can't justify spending beaucoup bucks on Victoria's Secret panties) and cotton bikinis have suited me just fine in the past (heck, I can even wear them under my belly while pregnant), so I picked up a multi-pack of Fruit of the Loom colored bikinis. Woohoo. Jody got himself a couple packages of Hanes boxers and now we are both good to go for another few years. ;)

On Saturday, I got out of the house alone for a few hours to scout out some parks for the maternity photoshoot I had scheduled for Sunday. I did a little bit of hiking and spent some time in nature by myself and it was quite relaxing. After that I picked up a new (well, new to me) pair of jeans at a consignment shop, then stopped by a friend's house and hung out for a bit. Later that afternoon, after Ava decided she didn't want to nap because daddy was home from work, we all took a drive in the car (which lulled her to sleep in no time) and Jody and I got some good quality conversation in. That was nice.
My sister Carrie joined us in the evening and Jody and I snuck out of the house (while she watched Ava) for about an hour to grab some food. We're hoping to plan a little date night in the near future so we can go see a movie ("Little Miss Sunshine" or "Superman").

On Sunday, I had the photoshoot first thing in the morning (hooray - it didn't get rained out!). It went quite well and I'm happy with many of the shots from it. I was worried I didn't get many good ones with the couple's 2-year-old son because he wasn't very interested in being in the pictures, but a number of them turned out quite cute. :) It was the first photoshoot I'd done in about three months (other than Ava's 2 year pics and my impromptu maternity pics), and it felt really good to do it. So now I'm working on proofing those this week.
Carrie came over for dinner with us and I got my Big Brother fix.

So that's it. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Contain your excitement, would you? ;oP

Down on the farm

Ava, my sister Carrie, and I took a short drive (about 6 miles from our house) to a local farm for "farmfest" this morning. We saw chickens, llamas, pigs, cows, horses, ponies, rabbits, goats and sheep and had the opportunity to feed and pet several of them. It was a lot of fun. Ava enjoyed swinging on a tire swing and a horse swing made from a tire, as well as climbing on hay bales, playing in a huge sandbox, riding a tricycle and more.

I had no idea this farm existed so I'm glad that someone let me know about it (via a parenting message board), especially since it's so close to home. I'm sure we'll go back another time, maybe on a weekend so daddy can come too.

Here are a few pics from our day:

Having fun on the tire swing:

Not too sure about that huge horsey (though she did pet it's nose a couple times):

Crawling on a plank with her friend Gabriel:

Feeding ponies with Aunt Carrie:

Giddey-up horsey:

Ava got up from her nap talking non-stop about all of the different animals she saw on the farm today before exclaiming, "I love ALL the animals!" :) I guess you could say she had a good time.

28 week maternity pics

Since I have a maternity photoshoot for an acquaintance scheduled for this weekend, I thought I better take out my trusted camera and get some good practicing in yesterday while Ava napped. Seeing how I have a baby belly myself and a desire to document my pregnancy as well, I figured I'd try my hand at some self-portraits. Eeep! It was a lot harder than I thought. First of all, it's NOT easy to get the focus right when you are using a timer and have nobody to stand in for you. Secondly, it's a lot of work going back and forth from the camera to the backdrop (in a house without A/C) in between each picture. I took probably 40 pictures and have about 8 that I'm sort of happy with, and 2 that I will share here. :)

Here I am - one day shy of 28 weeks:


I saw my midwife on Tuesday and everything is going well. I got to hear baby boy's heartbeat through the stethescope which was really amazing since it was just pure heartbeat and not all the ambient noise you hear when you listen with a doppler. She felt him a lot (and could feel limbs, his butt, his back) and he is head down, though his head is off to the side. She gently reminded him where the exit is. ;)
My blood pressure is great and no protein in my urine.
She got my records from Ava's birth so we went over those a bit and talked about what signs they saw that lead up to them admitting me, inducing and deciding I had HELLP syndrome. From what she could tell, I either had a very mild case of HELLP or they caught it VERY early. Either way, it's reassuring, though it makes me wonder if there really was the urgency to induce as quickly as they did. Ah well, it's water under the bridge and there's no undoing it now. The good news is that I'm not showing any indication that I may develop HELLP this time around. :) *Knock wood*

I had my second acupuncture appointment today and it went well. I began to feel relaxed as soon as she started putting the needles in. I think someone on my blog inquired as to if I've noticed any difference since starting the acupuncture and I've read that it usually takes 4-6 visits to see a difference. My heartburn has lessened a lot though lately but I don't know if that's from the acupuncture or the changes I've made to my diet (like not drinking liquids with meals and avoiding some trigger foods) or it could be a combination. Obviously, with her treating my internal organs (liver and kidneys primarily), I'm not going to notice any difference. But she is also doing some work on some upper back pain I've been having, so we'll see if that gets better.

I need to set aside time to do more relaxation work to help me prepare for the birth. In fact, since the kiddo is napping, I think I'll go do that now.

Oh, one last pregnancy-related thing...the great book I'm currently reading - Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. It's a wonderful, inspirational read. I HIGHLY recommend it to all pregnant women or those who plan on having children someday.

"Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:
• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs--and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth--making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy--is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor--and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding--and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans--what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
• And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention."

Two random tales

Did you ever have a day when you thought you'd have been better off staying in bed?
I began to wonder that very thought today after I first cut the heel of my foot on the front door while getting ready to go run errands. Then, as I walked out to the car, I stepped half on the walkway and half on the grass and half-twisted my ankle. Thankfully I caught myself before it twisted all the way.
It was at that point that I said to Ava, "mommy needs to sit down right here in the driveway." And I pulled out my cell phone and called Jody and contemplated whether or not I should attempt to drive after my less than graceful exit from the house. He suggested I knock on wood or a tree or something before I attempted anything else, so I did. He also reminded me that my joints are getting more loose as my pregnancy progresses. Oh yeah. How quickly we forget. I had a nasty fall while 38 weeks pregnant with Ava - slipped off a curb in the rain and went down hard on my knee. I still have nerve damage from that incident.
Anyway, I decided to go ahead with it since I really needed to get to the bank, Post Office, put gas in the car and go grocery shopping. Thankfully, it was all uneventful after that and I got done what I needed to do. :)

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Have you ever wondered what happens when you set the leg of a couch down on a ketchup packet? ;)
A few weeks ago, Ava came across some ketchup packets (I assume because we got takeout one night) and was playing with them in the livingroom. I wasn't really concerned because I didn't figure she could open them, and I was right. However, I still should have been concerned.
You see, the tv remote had gone missing, so Jody and I were searching the room trying to track it down. He picked up one side of the couch so that I could look under it. No remote. But when he set it down, guess what was right underneath the leg??? The ketchup packet, of course!
We didn't even notice it had exploded until a few minutes later when I saw some ketchup on the carpet. Oh no! But it got worse. We soon discovered ketchup on the carpet, couch, loveseat, rocking chair, fan, window, curtains, and wall - higher up than Jody could reach while standing on the back of the loveseat! It went EVERYWHERE!
Of course we laughed about it, but I'm still scratching my head wondering how we're going to get those last drops of ketchup off the wall way up there. ??!!

Our trip to MI (with lots of pics)

We had a very nice trip to MI and managed to fit quite a bit into a week and still have time to relax. The many pics below (taken with my lousy point & shoot camera since I didn't want to risk damaging my nice one) show some of the highlights from the trip.

One thing we didn't get any pics of though was our floating trip down the Au Sable River. My parents, Jody, Ava and I had four floaty lounge-chair type things that we tied together and floated down the river. Ava sat on daddy's lap for most of the float, then came over to join me and baby brother for the end of it. It was a lot of fun, though got a bit chilly at the end when the wind started picking up.

I also feel bad because I didn't get any good pics of Ava playing with her grandparents, mostly because when she was occupied with them, I was off doing something else. She had a lot of fun with them though - helping water flowers, picking vegetables in the garden, going for wagon rides around the neighborhood and reading books.

Jody got to golf a couple times with my dad, which was fun for him because he never golfs, but also made him realize how much practicing he'd need to do to be any good. ;)

It was nice to spend some time with my parents and not feel rushed to go do this, that or the other thing, which is usually how our visits go because there's always some big function planned. They seem really happy and settled in their place in Oscoda.

On our last day in MI, we travelled back down state (since we were flying out of Detroit Airport) and stopped by my aunt, uncle and cousins' house for lunch, then briefly saw my brother at his house before getting to the airport to catch our flight home. The flight was delayed about an hour and a half - first, waiting on the flight attendants, then, after they loaded us on the plane, waiting for the pilot (doh!). But we had a safe, uneventful flight home. :)

Click the pic to view it larger
A perfect day (though a little windy) at Lake Huron - 8/13/06:

Going swimming in the big lake - 8/13/06:

Practicing her golf swing with daddy (though after the way he golfed this week, it should've been grandma or grandpa helping her!) - 8/13/06:

We had s'more at a campfire in grandma and grandpa's backyard (grandma and Aunt Carrie in the pic too) - 8/13/06:

At Foote Dam (with grandpa) - 8/14/06:

Chasing the fishies (minnows) down at "Three Pipes" on the Au Sable River - 8/15/06:

Looking for more fishies - 8/15/06:

Being a little fishy herself - 8/15/06:

Swimming with daddy - 8/15/06:

On the beach at Negwegon State Park (a beautiful secluded beach on the way to Alpena) - 8/17/06:

Rock thrower - 8/17/06:

In her own little world, exploring the beach - 8/17/06:

Walking on the beach with mommy - 8/17/06:

Stopping to check out the view (while Ava slept in the car) - 8/17/06:

Picking blueberries (she ate most of what she picked, right off the bushes) - 8/18/06:

Ava showing off a freshly-picked blueberry - 8/18/06:

Taking a break from picking to smile with grandma - 8/18/06:

Modeling the new tutu grandma and mommy made - 8/18/06:

Our family (in front of grandma and grandpa's house) before the drive down state to the airport - 8/19/06:

Time to say good-bye to grandma and grandpa before we fly home to CO (at the airport in Detroit) - 8/19/06:

It's good to be home (I confess I missed my bed and body pillow), though we're not settled back into our groove yet. Ava and I went to a grape jelly canning "party" this morning at a friend's house. I'd never canned anything myself before so it was cool to see how it's all done and I'm excited to taste the jar of jelly we brought home. :)

I can't believe that I'll be 28 weeks along this week!! I'm really getting close to the end and I don't feel ready at all. I have both a midwife appointment and acupuncturist appointment this week. I'm also going to look into seeing a chiropractor a time or two before baby boy comes to make sure I'm well-aligned. I've never been before, but I know it certainly can't hurt.

In other news, my sister is all moved into her apartment just a few miles from our house. :) We've seen her more times in the past few days than we have in the last year I think! She goes for her school (3rd year law) orientation tomorrow.

Well, the kiddo is going down for a nap, and I have things to do, so that's all for now.

We're home!

Just a quick post to say we are home safe and sound. We had a very nice time in MI and I will be posting more about our trip and some pics later. :)
Have lots of unpacking, laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping (cuz our fridge is EMP-TY!) to do today. TTFN.

Off to the Great Lakes state :)

We're heading out bright and ridiculously early Saturday (the 12th) morning to catch our 8 a.m. flight to Michigan, where we'll be until the 19th, spending time primarily with my folks and sis (for a few days) up in Oscoda.

The weather looks to be sunny and in the 80s for the week (yay!), except for one day of possible rain. I can deal with that. :)

After flying into Detroit Metro Airport (cuz it was the cheapest [and I use the term loosely] flights we could get of the airports available to us in MI), Mom is picking us up for the four hour drive up to Oscoda. It's going to be a loooong day of traveling. Thankfully we'll have the rest of the week to rest and relax before the trip back home.


My parents live within a couple blocks of the Au Sable River (right pic) and Huron National Forest and within a couple miles of Lake Huron (left pic). We're looking forward to doing lots of swimming, some nature walks, canoeing, campfires, seeing the sights and just plain relaxing.

For those of you who don't know, I spent the first 22 years of my life in Michigan (in the Detroit area), before moving to Oklahoma for a year and a half, and eventually to Colorado - where I've lived for the past nearly six years now. So while I'm going back to my home state, it won't really feel like going "home" since my parents sold the house I grew up in and moved four hours up north to Oscoda a few years ago.

Some interesting trivia about Oscoda (and surrounding areas)...
I asked my mom to check into natural or health food stores around there because I know we'll want to pick up some things for the week. Well, there are no health food stores in Oscoda and they only have one grocery store chain (the other recently closed down), that apparently doesn't carry any (or very little) organic food. There's a Wal-mart Supercenter about 20 miles from there that you'd think would carry *some* organic foods, but mom checked it out and they don't. Gah! Thankfully, I was able to track down one health food store - Marbie's Nutrition - about 20 miles from Oscoda, so it looks like we'll be paying ol' Marbie a visit. ;) Though it's probably worth putting in a call to Marbie first to make sure they carry what I need. Anyway, I know health food stores exist in other parts of Michigan. Hell, they even have Trader Joe's. We don't have Trader Joe's here! But still, the longer I'm away, the more I realize Michigan is such a DIFFERENT world than Colorado.

I know we'll have a good time with the fam, and, even though I'm whining about it, we won't die if we eat conventional food for a week. ;) There are just a few things that I'd like to have on-hand, specifically for Ava. So we'll do what we have to do. :)

I hope to check in once or twice while we're there, but I'll be on *gasp* dial-up so I'm not holding my breath for too much Internet time, which is good anyway since I hope to be enjoying the great outdoors. :) "See" y'all in a week, with some pics and fun stories from the trip.

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Just for the record, I'm 26 weeks pregnant today - only 98 days left to go according to my baby-gaga ticker. Wow!! :) Baby boy has been active as all getout lately. I swear my whole stomach lurches at times.
I talked to my midwife's back-up a couple times this evening (because my midwife is out of town) about the abdominal discomfort I was having yesterday and today and the lightheadedness and it all sounds normal. She suggests I take a calcium/magnesium supplement to help with the round ligament pain, drink more water (is that possible??), and make sure my blood sugar isn't dropping (i.e. eat) for the lightheadedness. She was very friendly and helpful and, while I wasn't too concerned about what was going on, I feel much better after having talked to her.

Give me a break

I just read that the Transportation Safety Administration is, as of today, prohibiting all liquids from carry-on luggage.

"The TSA issued the directive early Thursday following the arrests in the United Kingdom of several people suspected of plotting to blow up aircraft flying from the UK to the United States. The TSA has raised the national alert level to orange, indicating its belief that some sort of threat against U.S. aviation still exists.
The directive states that liquids or gels – including beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and similar items – will not be allowed through screening checkpoints. Concessionaires on the concourses can still sell such items, but have been instructed to tell passengers that the items cannot be taken aboard a plane."

This is particularly maddening to me sine we are flying on Saturday. So are they going to deny me, a pregnant woman who needs to drink at least 64 oz. of water a day, water on the plane? And what about babies that aren't breastfed? Are they going to deny them formula*? I understand the need for security, but sometimes I think things are taken a bit too damn far.

Jody seems to think I could take an empty water bottle through security and fill it up from a drinking fountain once we are through. That is, provided they don't confiscate my bottle. Who knows what the protocol is for empty containers. Oy.

Anyway, I'm just sitting here saying to myself - "what the hell?"

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I don't think we are going to Jody's work picnic at the reservoir today. I was having some abdominal discomfort yesterday and have been feeling a bit woozy today (I have a call into my midwife), and Ava had a fever last night, so I think we'd better just stay home and rest up for our trip (and the long wait through security). ;oP

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**EDITED**: Perhaps I need to edit this post to include that there's definitely more to this than just my being inconvenienced. OBVIOUSLY, I want everyone to be safe, but I think the way the government instigates these new procedures and protocols reactionarily (is that a word?) isn't really the best way to handle things. It's hard to take the threat levels and increased precautions seriously when the government/media is constantly trying to cram FUD (Fear - Uncertainty - Doubt) down our throats. It only takes one time of watching the evening news or a look through the news headlines to see how much FUD is out there. So sure I'm pissed that I can't take my own water through security, but (as with most of the things I post about), there is a LARGER issue here.

*After hearing something on the news about breast milk and formula being allowed, I found this on the Department of Homeland Security's website:
"The only exceptions are baby formula, breast milk, or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines."

On pins and needles

OK, so I wasn't really on pins and needles, but I needed a catchy title. ;)

I went for my first acupuncture appointment on Monday. I read up a bit on acupuncture beforehand so I had an idea what to expect, but the doctor (an MD who practices in natural medicine and acupuncture) did a wonderful job of explaining things to me as well.

After we talked a bit about what I was there to see her for - liver support to prevent a recurrence of HELLP syndrome, heartburn (which I've been having a lot of lately), and stress, she had me lie on the table with supports under my back and legs (since I am pregnant) so I was sitting more in a V than flat on my back. She felt my pulses in my wrists and explained that in Chinese medicine they listen to a lot more than just how many beats per minute. She also explained that what acupuncture does is balance the Qi ("Chee") or energy force in the body. She said that because I was pregnant, she would avoid using some of the common acu-points because we do NOT want to move Qi down through my pelvis at this time. She said if I was at term and baby wasn't coming, then that's when they use the acupuncture to move the Qi through the pelvis, but certainly not at this point in my pregnancy. That was interesting to know.

Then she wiped with alcohol the spots on my body where the needles (which are sterile and disposable and very, very thin) would go in, and began inserting them. She put a couple in my feet, one in each ankle and knee (on the sides), one in my chest (for the heartburn - which she said is "rebellious Qi going in the wrong direction"), a couple in my neck and about four in each ear. The ears contain a spot for each part of the body, so in my ears she treated my nervous system, liver, kidneys and lungs.

It was pretty cool. I felt a slight pinch with a couple of the needles going in (which is what she said to expect), but didn't even feel most of them being inserted. By the way, the depth of the insertions varies from 6 to 12 millimeters into the muscle tissue, so they aren't going in far AT ALL. And once they were in, I could no longer feel them (which is to be expected - there should be no pain involved) and really just felt relaxed.

She left me alone with the needles in for 20 minutes, and said although there's nothing specific I needed to do to help with the treatment, if I wanted to do some meditation or visualization involving boosting my immune system, I could. Mostly I just closed my eyes and practiced my relaxation breathing (for Hypnobirthing), while focusing on having a healthy body. Baby boy was moving around a lot for the first 10 minutes or so, but then he settled down. I could see how it'd be really easy to just fall asleep while the needles are in because it is quite relaxing.

After the 20 minutes were up, she came back in and asked me how I was feeling. Then removed each of the needles.

She said she'd like to see me every week, though I may only go every other week since Jody has to take time off from work to watch Ava while I go.

Anyway, it was an interesting and good experience. Let me know if any of you have any questions. I do recommend that anyone who is wanting to go while pregnant make sure their acupuncturist has treated pregnant women in the past so they avoid the acu-points that move Qi through the pelvis. Don't want any of these babies coming before they are fully cooked. ;)

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In other news, the case of the missing funds has been solved. Hooray! I know I should balance my ledger every month, but (eep!) I haven't been. So I pulled out our bank statements for the past two months and found about six items I'd never deducted from the ledger. A-ha! The lightbulb goes on! Sucks that we are out that money, but I'm glad that I know why now.
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Yesterday afternoon, since Jody had the day off, he, Ava and I drove up to "Ned" (Nederland) in the mountains. It was beautiful up there. We went to the park that we always go to when visiting Ned and Ava had a grand old time on the playground, looking at the fish pond and checking out the dam and reservoir. It was a fun afternoon and nice to get out into nature.

Tomorrow Ava and I have an API meeting to attend in the morning. And on Thursday, Jody's work (Google) is having a family picnic at a local reservoir (or lake to those of you who don't live in CO). That should be fun. :)

Calling all scrapbookers and stampers - helpin' out another mama

To make a long story short, my sister-in-law Debbie has fallen on some very hard times (both financially and emotionally lately). Her husband filed for divorce and then pursued an ugly custody battle in which he ended up winning custody of their two boys. I don't know a lot of the details, but it sounded to me like an unfair/unjust trial. It all went down in Tulsa County, OK, where a fathers' advocacy group has a stronghold on the judicial system - bulldogging the courts and spoonfeeding the dads information to manipulate the system. Her ex-husband is also asking for child support from her (when she was formerly a SAHM and he knows she doesn't have the money).

In order to handle the financial burden of court costs, plus the loss of an income for herself and her older daughter, AND make money for child support, Debbie is doing everything she can to get her online stamping and scrapbooking business (Stampin' Up!) going full force. She's also attending school in the fall to complete her family life education degree.

If you are a scrapbooker or stamper or into crafts, please give Debbie's Stampin' Up website a look (click on the "Online Catalog" to see the products she has available). If you know others who are into scrapbooking, please feel free to forward her site onto them or post a link to her site on your blog. Every little bit helps. :)

Even though Debbie has been dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis for most of her life, has undergone several operations, and has been in an electric wheelchair for the past several years, she is a very independent and determined woman. I am quite confident that she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to - whether that be making this business a success or regaining custody of her sons one day.

Thanks for reading and thank you to those of you who can help out in whatever way that may be. :) I appreciate it and I know Debbie does too!

Don't ya just hate it when...

You can't get your checkbook to balance and you are off by a LARGE amount and not in your favor (of course!)???
Since Jody wiped out my computer last week, he didn't have time to reinstall ALL of the programs that I use regularly, just the majority of them. As a result, I haven't had Xcel on my computer for a week or so, and I hadn't updated our checkbook ledger for a little while before that.
So, here I sit, trying to play catch up and get it all to balance now and I'm off by what started off as over $300, though now I've got it whittled down to $226, but I can't figure out anything else to subtract! Arg! It's so frustrating.
I am usually quite good about staying on top of these things. If I'm off a bit, it's never by much and I usually can figure it out, which is why this is making me want to tear my hair out. Blah. Maybe if I let it sit for a while and come back to it, it will jump out at me. :)

Anyway, we're having a pretty lazy weekend around here, which has been nice for all. The Lupus Foundation never came to pick up our bags and bags of donations on Friday, so we took them to a local charity in town yesterday. Honestly, that's what I had hoped to do before the LF called to schedule the pick up anyway (though I was excited to have someone coming to get them rather than us having to cart them somewhere), so I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. We also dropped off some cardboard at the recycling center. It might sound cheesy, but it always warms my heart to go there and see so many other people recycling their things as well. Call me a sentimental (i.e. hormonal) sap, but I got teary-eyed thinking about it yesterday. ;)
After that, we went to the Super Target across town (since they closed "our" Target down while they build a Super Target in it's place) to pick up dog food and a few other things.

We were actually supposed to go camping this weekend with two other families, but we backed out a couple weeks ago thinking it would be too much for us to do right after Jody's trip and the week before we go to MI. I'm glad we decided that then, because one of my friends got sick (the one who's cabin we were all supposed to stay at), so they didn't end up going anyway.

Jody has the day off tomorrow and I have my first acupuncture appointment. I'm SOOOOO looking forward to it. I've never been before, but I know people who have and who swear it helps them a lot. My midwife suggested acupuncture (and possibly Chinese herbs) as a preventative measure to treat my liver proactively so that I don't develop HELLP syndrome again with this pregnancy. I'm highly in favor of anything I can do now to minimize my chances because I'd hate to have to go through that again. Anyway, since I found an acupuncturist who's also an M.D. AND accepts insurance (hooray for a $10 copay), I plan to go semi-regularly and have her work on some other issues (physical and emotional) of mine as well as the HELLP issue. I'm sure I will be blogging about it to say how it all goes.

Just me and my girl

I started out this week a little apprehensive because Jody would be out of town (at Siggraph in Boston) for the whole week and I would be taking on the single parent role. I had several things planned for Ava and I to do during the week, but I still worried about naps (since she hadn't been napping on a regular basis for the past few weeks). I know she still needs a nap because she gets quite cranky and out of sorts if she doesn't get one. And I know *I* still need her to nap because I get quite cranky and out of sorts if she doesn't get one too! ;) Seriously though, I look forward to that two hours or so every day when I have some time to myself - to read, blog, work on decluttering the house (a project that I will blog about another day), make dinner, clean up the house, or take a nap if I need one. It's valuable time that mommy needs to unwind. :)

I'm happy to say that my apprehensiveness was quite unfounded because Ava and I (although we definitely missed Jody) have had a great week together AND...she's napped every day! :)

On Monday, we went grocery shopping and made banana muffins together. I used whole wheat flour this time instead of white flour and they were even more tasty.

On Tuesday, we went to a play group (open gym at Kangaroo Kingdom) in the morning. Then in the evening, I dropped Ava off with my friend's husband Dax and son Creed (who's 7 months older than Ava) and I got to go out to dinner with my friends. :) Dax took the kids for a ride in the Burley (bike trailer) up to a pond where they fed the fish and turtles and played and then, a couple hours later, brought them all back to the restaurant where we were still sitting outside on the patio gabbing. It was a pleasant surprise to see them pull up. Ava and Creed looked so cute just hanging out in the Burley together. Ava's helmet (which was borrowed) kept falling over her eyes, so she was holding it up to peek out at us. My friend Brandy took pics and is going to send them to me, but I don't have them yet. Anyway, I'm so thankful that Dax was able to watch the kids. I felt good about leaving Ava with someone I totally trust and was able to have a nice evening out. And Ava had so much fun with them. She keeps talking about feeding the turtles and, when I asked her about riding in the Burley, she said, "I told Creed - 'this is fun.'" My little girl is growing up.

On Wednesday, we met friends at the Rec Center pool for swimming. Ava had a great time and I enjoyed soaking in the water for a while since my back was killing me the night before. I'm glad to see her getting more and more comfortable in the water since we've been swimming a few times this summer. I'd still like her to go to swimming classes (maybe this winter so she and Jody have something fun to do while I stay home w/ baby boy) so she can learn to stay afloat if she ever fell in and all of that. There have been too many stories on the news about little kids drowning in lakes, ponds, pools, etc. :( It definitely makes you worry about your own child's safety. After all the swimming fun, we both took a long nap yesterday evening. It was very much needed.

Today we went for a walk (which just about did me in. Even though it wasn't that far and wasn't *that* hot, I needed to lie down for a bit after we got home - blah), did some playing in the yard, cleaned up the house a bit, did laundry, went to the grocery store, and I finished getting together about five bags of clothes, household items, and other things to donate to the Lupus Foundation tomorrow when they come to pick it up. It was funny because I'd been in the process of gathering things up to get rid of (i.e. donate) and trying to figure out where to drop them all off and with what charity when the LF called last week and asked if we had anything. So since their timing was right on, I said YES and they are getting a ton of stuff from us. :)

Jody gets home late tonight then has to go into work tomorrow so we won't actually see him until tomorrow night. I will be glad to have my hubby home and I know Ava will be thrilled to see daddy. She's talked to him every night on the phone and has told me she misses him (and his coworker Tommy, who's also out there - hehe). She keeps saying "Daddy's still at Boston?"

I feel like this week together with just Ava has been especially good for us, because in a few short months, our lives will change dramatically with the addition of another family member. Ava will no longer get mommy's undivided attention whenever she wants it and I will miss that special time with my girl. So this week has made me really appreciate what a wonderful child she is and how much I love her. And now that I'm about in tears, I will wrap this entry up.

The pic above is from Ava's birthday - June 22, 2006.

World Breastfeeding Week : Aug. 1-7

Just a quick post (for now)...
I don't know how I nearly overlooked it, but this week - Aug. 1-7 - is World Breastfeeding Week.

Thanks to Mama C-ta for bringing WBW to my attention with this post about "Vogue magazine proudly showing model Angela Lindvall even more proudly (and quite fashionably) breastfeeding her 14 month old son." Props to Vogue!! :)

Also, how cool is this? The Celebrity Baby Blog Breastfeeding Gallery - "We present to you these beautiful images of our readers breastfeeding their children. We hope that if you are a breastfeeding mother, it will empower you, if you are someone who has not been exposed to breastfeeding that you will be inspired, and that if you are someone who doesn't understand breastfeeding that you will open your mind." I haven't submitted any pics myself yet, but I very well may if I can find the time to dig some up or maybe I'll take some new ones. :)

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Inspired by others

Two of my regular blog reads (Dawn and Leigh - a new one to me) have recently written about positive changes they've made in their and their families' lives.

On Dawn's blog, she mentioned natural dish soaps and laundry soaps. I'd been wanting to switch from Joy dish soap to something more natural for a while now (especially after learning about the link between petroleum-based cleaning products and cancer [and more here]), but figured it would be too expensive or something and I never researched it. (I know, shame on me.) Dawn's post inspired me to check out prices on Seventh Generation dish soap (a vegetable-based product) and it's not that much more than what I was paying for Joy, so I got some this week and have been very happy with it so far. I feel better knowing the dishes, cups and utensils we eat and drink off of haven't been washed with chemicals and petroleum. When I stopped to think about it, it didn't make much sense to me that here I was, buying organic and free-range *to better our health) whenever possible, yet the things I was cooking with and we were eating off of could have chemical residue on them. I'm happy that it's a small change, with a good impact, that won't break the bank.

Also, I learned something interesting from Seventh Generation's web site (which is also printed on the dish soap bottle itself): "If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our vegetable based product, we could save 118,700 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 6,800 U.S. homes for a year!" Amazing! Every little bit really does help make a difference. :)

And on Leigh's blog, she gave recipes for a variety of natural, inexpensive cleaning products, including one for making your own laundry soap, which I'd like to try in the near future. I've made glass, all-purpose and wood cleaners in the past, but never laundry soap. I'd like to try it, because for one reason, laundry soap is expensive. For two, I've been buying All Free and Clear which I'm sure isn't environmentally-friendly. And for three, I think I have soap build-up on my cloth diapers which is making them stink. Pee-eww. I'm a little daunted by the fact that the recipe makes 4 1/2 gallons of soap, but I think if I picked up some of those frosting tubs from the bakery at the grocery store, I'd have a good place to store it. Now I just need to figure out where to buy Fels Naptha soap and get motivated enough to just do it.

I commend both Dawn and Leigh for making positive changes for the health of their families and the earth. It's inspiring to read about others interested in doing what they can to make a difference. :)

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On an unrelated note, I've been extremely busy this week, which has been nice, but is why I haven't been blogging. I'm hoping to play catch up a bit tomorrow and fill you in on what we've been up to.