Little Bits and Pieces

This whole ’bout with Measles is completely over and done with except for a few little bits and pieces……

….of dried, dead skin shedding on Siah’s litte tiny fingers.

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He’s spent a considerable time in this position over the past 2 weeks, picking at little pieces as he notices or sees or is bothered by them.

The very first symptom that we noticed on Siah was a rash on his hands….it seems that his hands were hit the absolute hardest out of all of this.

I did read that there could be some skin that shedded as a result of the rash associated with measles, and saw some pics on-line of these little kids with the skin on their torso’s peeling off and so I wasn’t completely shocked when his hands started peeling. The only other thing was that the skin on his torso felt like sand paper and so I do know that the rash basically burnt the layer of skin off. Not that it actually burnt it, but the rash destroyed the top layer of skin enough so that it needed to peel or rub off. We have been slathering cream on him, not in an attempt to “save the skin” but to ease any discomfort their might be as a result of dry skin.

His little hands have looked so cute and the look on his face has been so focused that I wanted to try and catch a picture of him……I got the hands, but try as I might (and I tried more than a few times) I could not capture the face….he just kept moving too quickly once I got my camera out.

I love grubby little boy hands.

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The Finished Crib Set

Well, after a lot of cutting and piecing and sewing and stitch ripping and a few quick “on the fly” adjustments because I miscalculated………the crib set is COMPLETED.

I sewed the very last piece of thread on the drive home from church on Sunday and I have to admit….it felt pretty good.

I actually made a crib sheet (still need to make one more), bumper pads and a quilt all without an official pattern and I think that it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

With Quilt

I guess that biggest thing is that I actually like it. I do see things that I could have done differently or if I were doing again, that I’d do better, but for my first ever attempt at anything like this….I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I wrote a few different patterns for the quilt and finally settled on one that I figured that I liked. it wasn’t too busy and I didn’t figure that it’d be too difficult to cut and piece and actually “do”.

I cut out all the pieces of fabric based on the sizes that I had calculated in my pattern and tried to figure out at the same time where they were all going, based on how much of the fabric I had and what looked the best sitting next to each other.

Here is my attempt to puzzle all the pieces together before attempting to sew them….

Somewhat Pieced

Once I actually started to sew the pieces together I realized that I had miscalculated by 4 inches…..that’s a pretty big miscalculation AND…..I didn’t have enough fabric left over to re-cut the pieces that I had messed up on and so…then I had to figure out how I was going to “fix” it and continue on.

Here is the finished top piece and you can see where I had to add additional 2 inch pieces in on the 3rd and 4th lengths and in order to make the quilt look “intentional” I also then had to reduce 2 of the outside panels that I had NOT miscalculated on…oh the joy…..oh the fun!

Quilt Top Completed

I then stopped working on the quilt and started working on the bumper pads. I was initially going to just make them completely out of the dark paw print material, (I bought 2 meters of the yellow dot, and 2 meters of the dark brown and a fat quarter of each of the other prints. I could have just gone and bought some more, BUT…it was almost like a challenge to try to use up the remaining fabric that I had left over and still come up with something that I liked while not HAVING to buy any more fabric……..and aside from wanting to buy one more meter of the yellow dot to make another crib sheet – I have been able to do exactly that.) I didn’t have enough fabric to go ahead and do that, but I could piece some pieces together and hopefully make it work.

I’ll admit, that I created WAY MORE work for myself than was necessary but I was able to puzzle enough pieces together without them looking completely ridiculous and I didn’t have to buy any more fabric (for this project) AND…….even better…..The bumper pads fit PERFECTLY!

Bumper Pads

Here is a side view and we are still going to paint the crib and to figure out a way to tie the end ties onto the head and foot boards to keep them from falling down….

Pads in Crib

Here is Jon holding up the completed quilt…

Complete Quilt

and here is a partial view of the back side of the quilt……

Quilted and Everything

My mom came and helped me to “quilt” the blanket and we used our little man’s name and also put 3 stars in the 2 opposing corners……It looks AMAZING, but you’ll have to wait until the big day to find out what our little man’s name is going to be….

There are a few extra pictures in the set that you can check out if you so desire.

I’m just happy that it all worked out and that it’s ONE MORE THING that I can cross off my list.

Not Quite a Month Of Meals

I sat down yesterday and planned out the rest of the months worth of meals.

It wasn’t intentional, but once I did the next 2 weeks, I realized that there were only 4 more days left unplanned in the month and they were looking a little lonely and so I just chose 4 more meals, threw them in there and TA DA! I don’t have to think about meal planning until May! Yah! That’s one less thing in my brain that’s rattling around taking up space and energy.

This last week of meals got shifted around a bit, but that’s one of the nice things about meal planning is that based on time or necessity, you can be flexible with your meal plans and move or change things up a bit, BUT….if you need to, you can just stick with the already laid out plan and not have to do ANY thinking.

I had a bit of a harder time coming up with these next couple of weeks of meals, and I think that has more to do with me feeling a bit tired, but I’m also feeling a bit icky and that doesn’t exactly lead to WANTING to eat and plan meals.

We need to pick up a few things from the store to make this week work, and also to stock up on kids lunch type thingys. But I do have all we’ll need for meat and so this weeks shop should be not too expensive.

Here are the plans for this weeks menu:

Monday: Bar-B-Qued Steak & Potatoes and veggies (We had homemade soup on Sat as it was quick and easy)
Tuesday: Veggie Stirfry with Pecans over rice
Wednesday: Roast Chicken, Potatoes, and Veggies
Thursday: Almond Chicken with Rice
Friday: Nacho’s
Saturday: Spaghetti & Salad with Garlic bread
Sunday: Lunch out with Family & Friends
Monday: Fish & Rice with Veggies

This is quite a busy (schedule wise) week and so I’m hoping that everything works out well this week.

As always, I continue to look for new recipe’s that are quick and easy to make, so let me know if you have any family favorites.

Sunshine for the Soul & the Baby Booties Giveaway

First I just want to say, a HUGE Thank you to you all who have commented and twittered recently. I appreciate the nice comments that you’ve made and it really made my day(s). You all rock!

I managed to get outside and sit in the sun this morning and it felt so amazing. I had to go inside eventually because my vampire like pale skin felt like it might burn and while I welcome a little color….red is not the color I have in mind. I gotta find me some sunscreen quickly. I felt like the sun was warming right into soul. What an amazing feeling!

I sat out there with my notebook, my personal calendar, my work calendar and scheduled out a bunch of stuff and managed to also fill in the rest of the months meal plans. That’s one thing that’s off my list of “things to do”. I tried to sit down with the kids this weekend, but…it didn’t work out. I did, however, get a bunch of other things planned, listed and on or off the “to-do” list and so on top of the soul warming experience – I also feel like I accomplished something. What a great feeling!

In a highly scientific manner, I chose 4 pieces of paper and wrote the names of the 4 baby bootie entries. I folded them identically and in such a way that we couldn’t tell, which was which and then I had Jon pick one. Normally I’d do a short video documenting the whole process so that you’d see just how I tried to make it all perfectly fair, but this time…you’re just gonna have to take my word for it. I’m too tired these days to fiddle with making a video and uploading it – You’re just all lucky that I remembered to actually do the giveaway today.

Anyway…….without further ado……..

The winner of her choice of booties is…………Lise!

Send me your address or gimme a call and I’ll either mail the booties to you or we can make a plan to get together. (My vote is for the latter – if it works out for you.)

A Big Thanks to Debbie, Courtney and Cara for playing along. You guys rock!

29 Weeks

I am 29 weeks pregnant.

I remember the beginning weeks and how stressful and emotionally unstable they were and now here I have 11 weeks left until I reach full term.

This has been a really long pregnancy. I’m really looking forward to the day that I finally get to hold my little man and begin that portion of the journey. I’m trying to really enjoy every moment that I have left, but at the same time…I’m really looking forward to not ever being pregnant again.

I say that now, but watch me be all sad and upset in a while.

29 weeks front

I’m feeling very emotional these days. I’m feeling emotionally fragile and like I want to retreat into a protective safe zone and just ride out the remaining weeks.

I’m finding it hard to do things that I normally don’t have issues with and the things that I normally struggle with – feel completely overwhelming to me. I hate it.

I’m unsure why I’m feeling like this, and I’m even more unsure what to do with myself.

And so…….I try to continue to put one foot in front of the other and I go to my exercise class and I plan my meals and I attempt to cross things off my list and well…..I’m just trying to make it through on a day by day basis.

29 weeks side

I desperately need to book an appointment with my chiropractor as my left hip is hurting something fierce. Other than that, physically I’m feeling pretty amazing. I am heading into the last weeks and am feeling a lot more sick and hurling more than I had been (YUCK!) but I’m feeling feeling pretty mobile and typically have the energy to make it through the day without feeling like I’m dying.

The roughest thing right now is just the whole emotional/nasty/feeling like jello or whatever……..but, this too will pass – won’t it?

Crossing Things Off My List

I have a list written down somewhere. Actually I have a few lists written down in a few different places, and well….can I find any of them right now…..NOPE!

I’m usually super organized and yet I’ve been feeling SO SCATTERED recently.

I think I’ve got too many things on my plate right now and yet…..that’s a post for another day and another time.

We’ve bought a crib set for each of our other kids. I figured that at the very least, I could save and one day pass on the comforter to each kid and that each child was unique and deserved something of their own….With each child I’ve had a harder and harder time choosing something that I really liked that wasn’t too over the top, gaudy or just down right ugly.

I did find a cute set for Siah and yet I wanted something different for this little one.

I decided to buy some fabric and to make some co-ordinating bedding and covers for this baby.

I’m not the worlds most amazing seamstress. My mother can make anything, even without a pattern, (She sewed my sister’s wedding dress and it was UNREAL! A massive hand beaded fairy tale princess dress!) and my sister has made and can make some of the most amazing things – clothing and toys. They can both sew like nobodies business. I can use my machine (barely) and I’ve made a few simple dresses for my girls when they were younger but I had to follow a pattern religiously.

I figured that most of what I wanted to do involved straight lines (I even have trouble with that sometimes) and that at the very least, I could give it a try. First hurdle….finding some fabric, that #1 went with my bedroom colors (as that is where the baby furniture is and where he’ll be rooming for most of the first year.) and #2 that I actually liked and #3 was appropriately boy-ish without being all balls and animals and primary colors. The second hurdle involved the fact that I had NO PATTERN to follow. I figured that at the very least I could try and if it turned out that bad, I’d rope my mother in to helping me.

Fortunately for me, and the family who has to live with me…….I’ve managed to start to pull it all together.

As of this past weekend, I’ve purchased some fabric…..

Fabric Pile

I’ve finished one crib sheet…..

Crib Sheet

and I finished one change pad cover……(I’m quite proud of this considering the rounded or scooped edges that I figured out how to do all on my own – YAH ME!)

Change Table

Here is a closer view…..

Change Pad

I’m almost finished the second change table cover and I still need to make another crib sheet. After that I have to make the bumper pads and the biggest project will be the quilt…. ACK! I’m a little nervous about that one.

My mom did come over to help me figure out how to “fit or secure” the cover and sheet underneath the pads and instead of using elastic, I’ve…..well…..I’ve no idea how to explain what I did. I basically sewed the bottom edge into a corner so there is a pocket for the corners to fit into. I have no idea if you understand and short of going and taking more pics…..which I don’t feel like doing right now….It’s all okay. It works and looks good and more importantly…..they fit perfectly and required no yelling, screaming or swearing.

I’m gonna finish the change table cover today and hopefully the second sheet too.

I think I might even take few minutes to sit down and actually write out a good list of everything that I really want to do before the baby comes and post it somewhere where It won’t get lost.

Oh, and you can see the color that we’ve painted our room in those pics of the change table. When we finish decorating, I’ll take some more pictures and show the whole thing, but for now…that’s a sneek peak!

Meal Planning Success

So, the weekend before last, the kids and I sat down and planned out two weeks of meals.

It worked out amazingly, as it always does BUT…having then get involved in choosing the meals did actually inspire them to help out even more. They pitched in on the meals that they personally chose and it made it much easier for me. YAH!

We managed to make it the ENTIRE WEEK without one restaurant/fast food/quick pick up meal that was AMAZING!

Not only did we eat healthy, but we managed to save a bit of extra money which is always a nice bonus AND….we sat down at the dinner table every night.

We try to do this most nights, but when tired, overwhelmed and running last minute for meals, there are times when we throw some crap food in front of the kids and turn a movie on the computer and let it entertain them for a bit.

It’s our sanity saver in rushed times….although, to know that with a little bit of planning we can avoid the rush and stress and also get in some great family time and conversation…..I like that much better.

This week the meal schedule is

Sunday: Roast Chicken, potatoes, carrots and asparagus with gravy and Yorkshire pudding

This was Geli’s birthday dinner and is her FAVORITE MEAL. Here’s a picture of the DELICIOUS MEAL before the gravy was smothered on….

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Monday: Ham, Pineapple & Veggie Kabob’s

We cooked these on the Bar-B-Que and they were every bit as delicious as they sound.

Tuesday: Fish and Rice with Kale

We had a little salmon and a little tilapia. I have some who don’t like one or the other and some who like both and so I usually just make a few pieces of each and then let the kids pick and choose.

Wednesday: Taco’s (Beans, Elk, Goat Cheese, Lettuce, Peppers, Soy Sour Cream, Salsa)

This is what was planned but as I posted about last night……even my best efforts at planning can get all bunged up by the amazing-ness that is ADD/ADHD. We had Mc Pukes for dinner!

Thursday: Bar-B-Que Chicken with potatoes and veggies
Friday: Homemade Pizza (for Geli’s Birthday Party)
Saturday: Steak & Potatoes and Salad
Sunday: Soup & Sandwiches

I’m hoping that aside from the mid week glitch, that we’ll be able to keep things moving forward and hopefully stress free (when it comes to dinner’s). I need to plan for the next few weeks to keep the momentum going.

What are your favorite “go to” meals? I’d love some new suggestions?

Screamfest 2010 – April Edition

I’m sitting here in the dark listening to my boys scream their heads off.

It’s AWESOME!

No really, It’s even better than awesome!

My boys are over tired and flipped out and for some reason they’ve decided to melt completely down. Both of them! At the same time! And Jon has taken the girls to a music practice and I’m alone with the screaming banshees. And it’s every bit as awesome as it sounds.

Well, what I haven’t shared is the back ground, and seeing as all i have is time right now…..let’s git ‘r done.

I went to my exercise class tonight and when I came home just after 5:30pm….there was nothing done for dinner. The girls had just left to pick something up from the store, but they were planning on stopping at the library on their way home. Jon was unbelievably on edge because Jeremy and him had clashed while trying to “do homework”. You’d think that Jon would be the most understanding of Jeremy and his struggles because they deal with the same issues…but if you’d think that….you’d be wrong. Jon gets easily frustrated with Jeremy which is terribly frustrating for me…..then everyone is frustrated. It’s so AWESOME!

*****the screaming is winding down in pitch……I give them another 10 minutes before they are completely SOUND asleep*****

So, I asked about dinner and mentioned the practice tonight and well….he’d totally forgotten and by that point is was too late to make dinner and so…….he ran to get McDonalds……YUCK! How nasty.

Jeremy was in top form tonight and egging Siah on like crazy. It was BRUTAL!

Then Jon and the girls left and the boys pretty much melted down and started crying and asking for a movie and wanting to sleep in my bed, and wanting to take a bath and wanting more food and wanting to play on the computer….and the list goes on and on and on and on. AAAAAWWWWWKKK!

I don’t even really remember the last half hour, except for the crying and pleading and begging and fighting to get jammies on and fighting to brush teeth (I gave up with Siah) and I put them in their beds and they have pretty much almost screamed themselves to sleep.

You only wish that you were in my shoes, I know. I’m not sure how I had the patience for all of this tonight. I didn’t scream or flip out or yell or anything. I just calmly herded them upstairs, put them in their pajamas, attempted to brush teeth, and when that didn’t work, I put them in their beds and sat down in the rocking chair in their room to kill some time.

It’s worked.

Both boys are sound asleep and I’ve got a few things to do so I’m off.

How is/was your Wednesday evening? Better than mine started out to be, I hope!?!

Baby Booties and a GIVEAWAY!!!

I’ve seen a few pictures here and there around the internet with the CUTEST little felt baby booties.

Most of them are for girls, but I’m having a boy. And so while I think they are absolutely darling…they are useless to me. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone right now who is expecting a baby girl or I’d be making some of the cutest little shoes for them.

I was, however, thinking about my sisters and their baby boys and how tiny their little feet are and I found a SUPER EASY pattern for cloth or felt booties.

Last week, I had been cooped up in the house for most of a week and on Saturday afternoon – I ESCAPED! I went to the fabric store and bought a bunch of coordinating fabric that I am using to make some crib sheets, some change table covers, a set of bumper pads, and a crib quilt. After I’m done all of that, I have a few other projects that I’m considering (time allowing).

The fabric store closed and I wasn’t quite ready to head home yet, so I ran into Michaels. I didn’t really have anything in mind that I wanted to get, BUT…..I thought I’d just look around.

I found a package of felt in brown camo, blue camo and pink camo and I wondered if I could make some booties from them. After wasting a bit more time, I came home, printed out the pattern and started in on the project. It didn’t take very long and these cute little boy booties were finished. It says that they are a size 0-3 months and while I can’t imagine that they’d fit either of my nephews (just yet) – I do think that they’d fit in another few weeks. They aren’t huge, but they are a little bigger than tiny newborn size.

Boys Felt Booties

I whipped up (hand sewed) the first one of this pair yesterday on the way home from work and finished the second one after the boys went to bed. It is a fairly quick and easy project and one that could be modified with bows or buttons or a cute animal or shape cutout (similar to Robeez type shoes).

Girls Felt Booties

I don’t think that these would be strong enough to handle a walker, but for tiny babies….they’d cover the feet and look awfully cute. More like slippers, than shoes…..

I’m going to give away one of these pairs of booties.

If you win, you get to choose whether you want the pink ones or the brown ones….

To enter, leave a comment and Next Monday April 12th, I’ll randomly pick a winner.

LIttle Bit ‘O This and a Little Bit ‘O That

I’m sitting on the main level of my house killing time listening to my baby scream his head off because he,
“WAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNTTTTTSSSSSS MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMAAAAAAA!” and seeing as he is mostly over the whole measles thingy and I’m so tired of his incessant night waking, we have started to institute the

Back to Bed, Baby! Initiative.

This involves getting up every time he wakes up and putting him back in his own bed. He is in a bed, and so he can easily get out and the biggest issue that we have is not even him coming to our bed in the middle of the night.

The biggest issue is the fact that since the while measles thing, he’s been waking up around 11 or 12 and screaming for no reason that we can figure out. He is quite verbal (as in everyone who hears him speak can’t believe he’s only 2 years old) and his language skills are quite advanced and so if he so desired, he could tell us if there was an issue…..I think that he’s OVERTIRED and can’t even really handle himself. You should see the dark circles he’s currently sporting under his eyes. Poor Baby.

The 11-midnight scream fest comes in a close second in the frustration factor. The number one issue is that he’s decided that regardless of whether we let him sleep with us or if we put him back in to his own bed, around 2am, he wakes up and then is basically restless and awake from 2am until after 5am. This time usually involves TONS of thrashing around. Crying because the covers are on. Crying because the covers are off. Kicking mommy and daddy in the head/stomach/back/whatever happens to be closest to the thrashing feet. Crying because we won’t let him watch a movie. Crying because he wants to go to the bathroom. Crying because he doesn’t want to go to the bathroom. Basically, there is lots of crying and very little sleep.

And so, it is time to learn how to sleep again.

This likely means that we will get even less sleep over the next 3-4 nights as we sleep train him to stay asleep or at the very least, to once again stay on his bed. YUCK! but it will be so worth it by next weekend when we are all sleeping soundly. I hope I’ve not jinxed it by saying that.

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It was my baby girl’s 13th Birthday today. Angelica became a teenager today. I’m still a a bit amazed that I have a teenager and yet….it’s really not that different feeling from yesterday as she was quick to tell me. Time sure flies doesn’t it.

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Jon and Jeremy went to church today and Xani and Siah and I stayed home. Siah’s still officially within the contagious time period and Xani was coughing like a mad woman. We made coffee cake and an egg/hashbrown hash-type breakfast. We cleaned the kitchen and then sewed like crazy.

I’ll be showing you over the next little bit some of the fun things that I made. Xani made 2 pillows and she did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

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We’ve filled and hidden the kid’s Easter Baskets and tomorrow morning we’ll have a treasure hunt for the kids. They are looking forward to it and if it weren’t for Geli’s birthday being today we probably would have done them today, but I wanted to make her birthday special. We had her favorite meal of roast chicken, and potatoes, with carrots and asparagus and gravy AND…..Yorkshire Pudding. And she was a very happy girl. We’ve still not given her a gift or even had a cake so I’m not sure how special of a day it was, but ….well…….ya know……it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?

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I’m still trying to come up with a fun activity for us to do as a family tomorrow……ya know, one that involves being trapped inside the house with a contagious child….ya! should be fun! It’s been a long LOOOOOOOOOONG week and I still have a few days left to go.

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The baby has been making the funniest movements. I’ve been bent over the sewing machine and apparently, he didn’t like being squished because he kept trying to streeeeeeeeeeeeetch out and kept kicking out the sides of my body towards my back. It felt so weird, and yet……….TOTALLY AMAZING. Baby movements are the best thing ever.

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Some people from our complex just had a stillborn at 24 weeks. One week shy of when Nathaniel was born. My heart os breaking for them and all they are going through right now. I only hope that I can, in some small way, reach out and be a support or comfort to them. I’m feeling stressed that I’m pregnant, though and am feeling cautious as to how that might make them feel. So many sad conflicting emotions. In some ways, it’s like reliving the whole loss over again. So SO sad!

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Well, after half an hour, it’s quiet and so I’m gonna sign off and head up stairs to bed. I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday with great food and hopefully lots of chocolate…….