Trying to Crawl Out From Under This Mess

This Saturday was the girls' birthday party. Good friends, good food, and the girls got loaded up with presents. Of course, my camera wasn't working, so I wasn't able to capture the adorable and bright smiles on their faces. But trust me, they were there.

Saturday was also The Mermaid's first soccer game of the season. I was so proud watching her play out on the field. Her team won, she was so excited!

Sunday, instead of cleaning up from the party like I planned, the girls and I went out with some friends and spent the day doing various things. Then we got home and both girls said their tummy hurt and both got sick. I am thinking it was from all the sugary food they had, but who knows?

I have a house that desperately needs cleaning, diapers that need washing, laundry that needs folding, and toys that need to be opened and organized and put away.

I have 568 emails to get through and I am so far behind on my Google reader that I think I am going to mark all read.

Most importantly, I have to figure out how to get back on schedule with my studying. I am really behind in my CBE certification and want to fix that now.

So, this week is looking pretty busy. But, I don't mind. Morning Sickness is leaving me breathless with nausea sometimes and an little sick, but I am still functioning. And considering my past pregnancies, I consider that a true blessing.

I'd love to hear how your weekend went.

Trying to Crawl Out From Under This Mess

Love.

Mommy, I'm sick she says, and reaches for me.

Does your tummy hurt? No.

Does your throat hurt? No.

Well, what hurts? My heart, and I don't know why.

I understand. Sometimes I feel the same way.

We sit on the couch and cuddle, and I rock her back and forth for a while, like I used to do when she was a tiny baby. Back then she couldn't tell me what was bothering her, and sometimes she still can't.

I give her a kiss and she sits up and smiles. Thanks Mommy, I feel better now and she runs off to play.

Sometimes love is the only medicine you need. And oh, My Mermaid, how I love you.

Love.

WHOOSH!!

*photo by Wormtown Medic

Our house is located on a quiet, dead end street. If you go to the end of the street and cut through the woods, you will come out onto a high school campus. The same high school I attended, in fact.

On this campus is a windmill.

I love this windmill. We can see it from our house, soaring up over our street like a mighty protector. In fact, when we are out and coming home, the Mermaid always knows which way to go because she can see the windmill. When we first moved in, I would wake up and see it out my bedroom window, and the way it moved made me think it was waving good morning to me. Silly, I know.

Most of the time it is really quiet, but on really windy days or on rainy days, it makes a great WHOOSH sound as it rotates. I don't find that sound annoying in the least; in fact, I find it rather comforting. It sounds like a womb, with the mother's heart beating through.

The only time I found it annoying was right after we lost Kalei. I was still carrying him, laying on my bed, and the sound of the windmill reminded me of the sounds we had heard from my midwife's doppler: the great WHOOSH of my heartbeat and vascular system and no tiny bumpbump of a baby heartbeat.

We are also close to two schools, two parks, and three daycares. So, at any given time when you step outside onto my deck, you can clearly hear children playing and laughing and the sound of a bat hitting a ball. WHACK! This is my favorite sound, because it is always followed by people cheering.

My favorite days are when all these sounds come together. The WHOOSH of the windmill provides a nice, relaxing background to the laughter and cheering, the WHACK of the bat on ball. On these days, I love to sit out on the deck with a book while the girls run around in the yard, adding their own laughter to the mix. The perfect sounds of home.

How often do we slow down enough to appreciate all the little things around us, like the sounds we hear? There have been many times that I've been so busy and rushed, unable to appreciate the small gifts that were all around me.

At this point in my life, I am more still, more quiet and relaxed than usual. And I love it.

WHOOSH!!

Moments That I Kick Myself For Not Having A Camera!

Have I ever said before that I think my girls are so cute?

Because they are so cute.

Sometimes I wish I had a microchip implanted in my eye that would enable me to snap pictures and record at will whatever I see. Weird, I know. But I haven't gotten into the habit yet of carrying my camera everywhere with me, and it's those adorable moments in an ordinary day that I really want to capture.

Take last Friday, for example. We went to the library as usual, but this time the girls asked if they could get their own library cards. So we waited in line patiently (seriously, did the ENTIRE CITY really have to decided to pick that same day to get library cards?) until finally it was our turn. I filled out the forms and signed the Guppy's card for her while the Mermaid proudly signed the back of hers and off they went, picking out books and movies and more books. Then thy both proudly walked out to the counter and proudly informed the checkout lady that they were here to check out their very! own! books! All by themselves! With their very! own! library card!

Meanwhile, I stood off to the side, trying not to be the jerk that cries in the library.

Yesterday, I took the girls to their very first dance class. Again, stupidly forgot my camera. I almost became the first person in history to die from overexposure to cuteness. I was worried that the Guppy, who is much more timid and shy than the Mermaid, wouldn't like the class. Turns out she was the first one in the door, and although she was the youngest child, she kept up with the rest of them and was able to follow directions well.

This time, I didn't do so well at not being the crying jerk.

We left dance class and went directly to my Weight Watchers meeting (3 months on WW and I've only lost 6lbs. Is this the slowest weight loss ever?) and on the way home I called a friend to tell her I lost 1.4lbs. Well, the Mermaid heard me from the back and misunderstood; she promptly told me, "We're not lost, Mommy! I can get us home!" Seriously? We weren't even in our city yet, so I was thinking, No Way. But, out of curiosity, I told her yes I'm lost and that she could tell me how to get home.

So she did.

At four years old, and she could already take the place of my best friend, The GPS. As someone who gets lost in parking lots for heaven's sake, this just blows me away.

Have your kids done anything lately to surprise you, or create a moment that you will forever cherish?

Moments That I Kick Myself For Not Having A Camera!

Because I Can't Be More Than Two Place At Once...

Yesterday, our computer crashed. Yikes.

And while we do have another computer, it is an old and very slow desktop that is in the finished basement. Since the girls generally play upstairs, and I can't be in two places at once, that doesn't leave me much time to blog, read other people's blogs, etc. So, if I happen to disappear for a bit, you know why.

In the meantime, here are some updates:

~ I lost one pound this week, yay! Probably from all the running I do on my paper route.

~ I bought a bread maker and a smoothie maker off of Craigslist. I am so excited to make healthy bread, bagels, and smoothies for my family!

~ Yesterday the girls and I met up with friends and went to see a free movie at a local Regal Entertainment theatre. The girls were soo cute, bubbling with excitement over going to the movies! Afterwards we went to my friends house where they played the day away.

~ I signed the girls up for dance class. They are both in the same class, a 6 week series that runs one hour a week and teaches both ballet and tap. I picked up their ballet slippers yesterday and I'm picking up their leotards and tights this week. I am so excited to see them dance around, but a little wary about how the Guppy will do. She says she wants to take the class, but she is so much more shy and timid than the Mermaid, although I'm sure having the Mermaid in the class will help.

~ The Guppy has slowly started to use the potty. She asks at least twice a day and uses it successfully once a day. I'm completely letting her take the lead, only offering occasional encouragement and of course, praise when she does use it.

That's basically it for updates. Hopefully I will still be posting on a regular basis. :o)

Because I Can't Be More Than Two Place At Once...

So Many Ramblings..

I'm having an "off" day today....tried to do something different with our schedule and it didn't work out, so now I feel like my whole day is thrown off.

I have all these thoughts tumbling around in my head. Sometimes they tumble too fast and I can't organize them enough to get them down on paper (or should that be keyboard?)

I've been in a funk lately but it's been a lovely funk....spending all my days outside on the deck while the girls run around. They love being outside so much, and they always have that healthy glow that children get when they are full of sunshine and fresh air.

Six months ago I would have called these type of days "boring." But now, as slow and uneventful as they are, I am so relaxed and calm and I actually wake up looking forward to the day ahead.

I absolutely cannot believe how big the girls are getting. The Mermaid is so independent and smart and says things that make me do a double-take; things that I didn't know she was even aware of. The Guppy is getting big but she is still my baby, so when she asks to nurse I have no problem sitting down to do it.

I was thinking the other day that I am supposed to be around 37 weeks pregnant right now, with a big round moving belly and swollen ankles. I don't have Kalei with me anymore, but I do have my two girls and they fill up my heart with joy every day.

They are so precious to me.

Life is so precious to me.

So Many Ramblings..

Weekly Deals and Bits and Pieces

I hope everyone had a great weekend, we had a simply fabulous one! Saturday I hit the stores and then headed up to my IL's house where the girls and the Knight were manning the yard sale. We put out one small table of things and ended up making $42, not bad for selling off random stuff we didn't want, and we got to declutter the house!

The Mermaid was absolutely adorable. I took this opportunity to teach her about recycling, money, and decluttering all at once and asked her to go through her toys and pick out the ones she wanted to sell, and she could keep the money. She picked out so many that at first I didn't think she understood that what "selling" meant, but it turns out she did and was willing to let go of so many toys. In fact, I ended up putting some of my favorites back when she wasn't looking, ones that I would like the next baby to play with! She ended up making around $25, and was very proud of herself.

We spent a lot of time out in the sunshine and the girls were thrilled that they didn't have to wear pants and long sleeves under their dresses (they insist on wearing dresses every day, so I have to put them on over their warmer clothes). All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend and I got some great deals on top of it!!

Grocery Deals:

I made two trips out to grocery stores this week, both to Big Y and Price Chopper. Big Y had double coupons up to $1 in their weekly flyer this week, so I went twice to take advantage of the great deals!

First trip:

Big Y had their Light Silk Soymilk on sale this week, 2/$5. I love this stuff and buy it every week, and I just so happened to three coupons for $1 off one. Double all three coupons and with the sale price, I got all three soymilks for $1.50 (regularly priced at $2.98 each at my local WalMart).

Price Chopper was also doubling coupons this week, but only for coupons from pet manufacturers. I had three coupons for whiskers cat food, $2 off one ten pack of food. Price Chopper happened to have them on sale for $4.99, with the coupons and double coupons it came to $3.12. Those packs will last us three months! I saved 89% with this trip.

My second trip to Price Chopper, they had on sale Special K cereal with strawberries (which I buy every week) and V8 Fusion (which I've recently fallen in love with), both products on sale 2/$5. I had two $1 off one V8 Fusion, so the total came to $8, I saved 50%.

Big Y had lots of great sales this week! I got mushrooms BIGIF, apples BIGIF, Romaine Lettuce BIGIF, Frosted Flakes on sale for $2.89, and Mission wraps one sale for $3. I had a coupon for the Frosted Flakes and the mission wraps, and also for the Cascadian Farms Organic cereal I picked up. After sale prices, coupons, and double coupons, it came to $15.84 (total value before discounts was $37.68

Finally, my trip to CVS:

The Palmolive was on sale for $0.88 each, and the Toms of Maine deodorant was on save for $4.99. The Schick Intuition was on sale for $8.99 and with a $4 ECB reward with purchase. I had a coupon for the razor and the Palmolive. Total value of products came to $15.74, after coupons and $10 in ECB's from last week, I paid $0.78 and got $4 back in ECB's to roll with next week.

My "normal" grocery bill this week came to $52, and after hitting the deals to stock my pantry up some more, the total for the week came to $79.62, so I was $20.38 under budget.

Weekly Deals and Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces...

Yesterday I took the Mermaid to the dentist and she behaved really well and was so proud of her shiny clean teeth!

Yesterday I also took the girls to visit some friends and I was able to sit around and laugh for a few hours. It was nice. The best part? They are coming over our house today to visit again!

This morning:

"Mermaid, if you want your friends to come over to play then you should pick up your room and clean it."
"Why do I have to do it when we can just get a robot to do it for me?"
Why indeed.....

The Knight's birthday is coming up this weekend and I am so excited with the gift I am going to surprise him with. In the meantime, I'm going to have to tell you all about the new updates over at Bella Sara, and how the Mermaid loves taking care of her horses!

Bits and Pieces...

Bits and Pieces

Some little updates:

~ I still cannot find my camera. I did find it, but it has disappeared since. I don't know if it was thrown into the 15 or so boxes we have left to unpack, but I hope I find it soon.

~ Our housewarming party is next weekend and I am so excited!! We are doing open house style.

~ The Mermaid continues to love her gymnastics class. I'm bummed I haven't been able to take pictures yet. I am definitely going to keep signing her up as long as possible. On the other hand, she is increasingly losing interest in soccer, due to the cold weather. I think next season we will try to get her into the Spring session and see if she likes it better then.

~ I finally got curtains and some decorations up around the house, but the walls are mostly bare. We've still got some unpacking and decorating to do before the party.

~I've joined FlyLady again, determined to keep our new house clean. So far, it's going great. Having a dishwasher helps.

~ I'm hoping to put the Guppy back in cloth diapers soon. We just need to buy some new diaper pails. I am so over the smelly, chemical filled disposables that she's been wearing the past three weeks. Yuck.

That's it for around here. Hopefull I'll find my camera soon.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces

Some updates:

~ Both my September client and my October client have given birth. Now, so far I'm off call until the end of January. I need more clients :o)

~ Closing day is exactly one week from today! Then we paint paint paint (only two rooms, thank goodness) and move move move. I bet you think I'm so on top of things and that I've already packed up a lot of our stuff. HA!

~ The Mermaid has about 4 weeks left in her current curriculum and then we start another one. I am so excited. Because she is actually going to have a bedroom. And we can learn in her bedroom, instead of all over the kitchen table. We'll have an actual "learning center" and everything.

~ I signed the Mermaid up for gymnastics. So now she is doing gymnastics and soccer, and I've drawn the line. As tempted as I am to sign her up for dance as well, I think two organized activities at a time is enough.

~ I found my camera. Enough said.

~ Can I tell you how much I am loving being a two car family? No more waking the girls up at the crack of dawn to drive the Knight to work because I need the car later that day....no more planning my schedule around the Knight's work schedule....no more feeling guilty because the Knight had to miss another day of work because I'm at a birth and I have our only car. It's sooo nice.

~ The Guppy has become fascinated with money. Maybe obsessed is a better word. She loves sorting it, stacking it, and putting it in her piggy banks. She also likes to throw it across the room and make a huge money mess, but that's a post for another day.

That's it for the bits and pieces. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to post in the upcoming two weeks due to the move (YAY), but I'll return soon.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces

~ The Mermaid had her first soccer game on Thursday. She scored the first two goals of the game: one for her team and one for the other team. ;o)

~ On Saturday I attended the Blessingway for my October client, who is going to go any day. I made her a scrapbook page (with lots of help from a friend) and we did henna, beading, etc. It was great.

~ My September client is due next week but I have a strong feeling she will be late and go into October still pregnant. Which is good, since my October client is probably not going to make it to October.

~ Yesterday I had an interview with a woman who is in her second trimester and is going for a VBAC. My wish for her to get her VBAC is so strong I can feel it in my pulse.

~ I attended my first fair as a doula: an East Meets West Health Fair. Although I didn't meet any pregnant women there, I met a lot of people who know pregnant women and were excited to learn about what I do. In fact, when I woke up in the morning I had two emails from women asking about my services; I am thinking that it could not be a coincidence. I'm excited about the second fair I am doing this weekend.

~ I finally got around to ordering a homeopathic kit for the house. The vials are smaller than what I thought they would be, but so far it's come in very handy with treating the Mermaid's hives and the Guppy's cold.

~ I'm tired. And overwhelmed. I truly bit off more than I can chew this month. At this point, I am (somewhat happily) trudging through to the end of the month, and then I have to concentrate on really packing up and getting ready for the move. Please, Lord, just help me get to November. Then I can take a breather.

Bits and Pieces

Catching Up and Just Breathing

Some bits and pieces of our life...

~ Had a client go into labor Monday night at 9 PM. Baby was born Tuesday at 10:51 AM. Mom was beautiful, baby was beautiful, beautiful family! All is well.

~ Yesterday was the home inspection on the new house. It pretty much passed with flying colors, just some small improvements need to be made. Next step is the P & S.

~ The Guppy has been cutting back a little on her daytime feedings. Since she was feeding 6-8 times a day, this is a relief to me. After we get settled in the new house and our life isn't as rushed, then I will gently night-wean her.

~ The girls' birthdays are coming up: the Mermaid on September 3rd and the Guppy on Sept 26th. Since the closing date on the house is September 30th and I have a client due September 30th, we are going to try to have a very low-key and small party for them the first weekend of September. Wait....first weekend....isn't that in two week?!? I better get cracking!

That's it for updates. Life is good.

Catching Up and Just Breathing