Busy

We have been super busy lately, so it feels like I haven't blogged in awhile (probably because I haven't). My husband and I have been looking at backhoes, tractors, crawlers, etc... We are trying to find one to buy, so that we can break ground for our garage asap. In fact, we are suppose to look at a backhoe tomorrow morning. Our youngest has been keeping me on my toes, she is getting into everything. Last night she pulled a package full of doughnut holes off of the dining table, I found her covered in cinnamon and with a doughnut hole in each hand. At thirteen months old, she finally has six teeth. Thank goodness for her amber teething necklace, it's been a life saver. She doesn't appear to be in any kind of pain and she doesn't hardly drool at all, and to think I doubted the power of amber. I have recently started homeschooling our two older girls, they really seem to be learning a lot. Our middle daughter could be a little lazy when it comes to school, but I am pushing her just enough, and she is actually learning to write her letters! I look forward to this summer when I can buy curriculum for fall, I'm leaning towards the Sonlight curriculum, while adding some of my own touches. My husband and I do worry about the girls being socialized, but hopefully between church, soccer and meeting other homeschoolers they'll be alright for now. I'm trying to find a nice little boyfriend for Zelda, she should be ready to breed in April. I really don't think anything else is going on, other than Indiana's crazy weather. Oh yeah, what's up with Ebay's new feedback policy? That as a seller, I can only leave positive feedback for the buyers. I personally think this is a little stupid. From what I have read no one is happy about it, other than some one who just buys and doesn't sell at all. I hope they change their policy because if they don't, I'm going to have a hard time listing anything.

Dress Up

Having three girls in our house is a lot of fun, most of the time. I only have one complaint about girls, I am sick of dress up clothes. I can't keep "normal" clothes on our middle daughter, she always has a headband and a tutu on. Our oldest daughter isn't as bad, and our youngest hasn't discovered the joys of changing clothes. On top of wearing dress up clothes, they also love to change their regular clothes. Now I'm not just talking about changing their clothes a few times a day, I'm talking about ten times a day. At first I didn't notice, they are very sneaky about changing clothes, they only change one article of clothing at a time. I always wondered why it felt like they had a bottomless hamper. Then one day, I caught both of them. At this point, I feel like I'm going crazy, I can't get them to stop. I have even sat them in time-out for changing repeatedly throughout the day. Nothing helps because now they don't even realize they are doing it, it's like second nature to them. Yesterday I mention to our middle daughter that it looked like she had a new shirt on, and she had a very confused look on her face (like how did that get on me). I think sometimes they even change in the wee morning hours, when we wake up they are never wearing the same pjs that they went to bed wearing. I seriously think it's a conspiracy to make me think I'm going crazy. And to think my husband and I want one more!

Rocket Crazy

My husband is amazing in so many ways, soI won't even begin to list them. One small flaw in my husband is that he doesn't know what he wants. He just informed me earlier this week that he has been looking at some crotch rockets. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but this statement made me mad (to say the least). In the last two years my husband has owned three different motorcycles, his first being a 2006 Suzuki Katana 600, then he bought a 1984 Harley Davidson Softail, and his last bike to buy was a 1996 Kawasaki ZX9R. So let's recap, he has owned a touring sport bike, a cruiser and a crotch rocket. He is pretty spoiled really, if he wants something I try to be supportive and let him have whatever he wants (he works a lot of overtime so that I can be a stay at home mom, so I figure this is the least I can do for him). He sold his Katana so that he could buy his Harley, then when he owned his Harley he decided he wanted a crotch rocket too. He then sold his crotch rocket after a while because well, I really don't know why he sold it. Finally he sold his Harley last summer, and hasn't had a bike since. Less than a year after selling his crotch rocket, he wants to buy another one. Not just any crotch rocket, but one exactly like he sold last year (but he says at least two years newer). AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Ok, I feel better now. If you have made it to this point in my blog, I'm impressed. I really don't care if he has a bike, just as long as he is careful and responsible on it. But I do care about things when he can't make up his mind. He told me he probably won't buy one for a few months at least, but I know better. What my darling husband wants, he gets.

Nasty Habit

If I find one more empty (or full for that matter) cigarette carton in our yard, I'm gonna scream. We don't smoke, but most of our neighbors seem too. Even though one neighbor has convinced his wife that he gave up smoking after he had a stroke, he now hides his cigarettes outside and smokes whenever he gets a chance. He has hid them in his mailbox and the trunk of his car, although I'm sure he's changed the location again. Maybe that's what's happening, he is hiding his cigarettes in our yard, that's the last place his wife would look.

Sick

It's been awhile since I have posted, I thought I should update everyone. Yesterday we were really busy, my husband and I were helping my parents move into their new house. I luckily only had our youngest daughter with us, and she didn't get in the way at all. My in-laws kept the two oldest girls, so that was a treat for them (the girls that is, not the in-laws, lol). My husband is very sore after helping my parents move, it was only my dad and husband, so they had a lot of work between the two of them. The house is really nice, they had it custom built, so it's everything they wanted. I admit I'm more than a little impatient now to get our house started.
Today has been a pretty miserable day for everyone. My husband is really sore, our oldest and youngest daughters are sick and so am I. Our middle daughter is the only one that feels ok and she is super grouchy today. To have a little fun this afternoon we played bubbles, it was our youngest daughter's first time. Our two oldest daughters always have fun with bubbles, but so did our youngest (if you call having a soaking wet head fun). Even our dogs joined in on the fun, our Boston helped pop the bubbles and our Giant Schnauzer just lay sleeping allowing the bubbles to collect on her (which means she got smacked quite a bit today). My husband is off tomorrow from work because of the holiday, hopefully we'll all feel better by then.

Bored

I hope I'm not the only mother that gets bored some days. I know when I tell people I get bored at home, they look at me like I'm crazy. How can I be bored with three little one's running around and getting into trouble, you ask? I'm one of those people that wants to be doing something 24 hours a day, I hate to even sleep, it feels like a waste of time for me. All three of the girls can play together, but while they are playing I want to do something. Sure I read books, knit, get on the internet, do laundry and dishes, clean the house, etc..... Sometimes I want something else to do, like make some money. I love selling some of our used diapers on Diaper Swappers and listing things on Ebay, but there is only so much that you can sell. I've always wanted to own my own business, whether it be big or small. I've been considering breeding our female Boston Terrier, now all I have to do is find her a nice boyfriend. I think if Zelda (our Boston) got bred and had puppies, I would definitely be busy between pups, two adult dogs and three kids. If I think I'm bored now, I don't want to know how I'll feel when all the kids move out.

My Creations

Below are three hats I recently knitted and I promised to show pictures of. The first was just for fun, the second for our youngest daughter and the third is for my husband.

Cloth Diaper Comeback

Cloth diapers are making a huge comeback, even though you should see people's faces when they see me changing a cloth diaper. I am so glad to see that cloth diapering is also being recognized in big magazines, here is a article recently printed in Time- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702357,00.html

There are so many cool options when you cloth diaper, people are often times amazed by all the snaps, velcro, and softness. Everywhere I go I love to tell people about cloth diapering, I really enjoy changing my baby's diaper. It's kind of fun to pick out what diaper your baby is going to be wearing, there are so many cute prints available for the diapers and covers. Right now I have about fifty diapers in size medium, I am truly an addict. At home we use the traditional prefolds with a snappi (we use this instead of pins, you can see a pic of it in my avatar) and a cover. When we go out we use a fitted diaper with a cover, and at night time we use a pocket diaper (you can stuff this with inserts to increase the absorbency). We have only had a handful of leaks, and it isn't a big deal to wash them every couple of days. Our baby seems to enjoy having soft velour touching her little bum too.

Knitting Fool

Yesterday my husband and I were at our church most of the day, it was a work day for the men and I just went to hang out. My parents had our two oldest daughters, so I was left to care only for our youngest. I had a lot of fun, but I don't know about my husband because he actually did some work. I was tired when we returned home so I popped a good movie in the DVD player and started knitting. I finished a cute multi colored rolled brim hat a few hours later (I'll try and remember to post pics sometime soon). Since my mother in law bought me some round looms for knitting, I have been knitting quite a bit. While all the men worked at the church yesterday, my friend and I went to Wal-mart and bought some yarn. My next project is to make two hats for our two oldest daughters and one hat for my husband (I bought him some really manly yarn). The hats looks really good too, I'm surprised because normally I'm not too crafty. I think I have finally found my calling in life, knitting hats.

Getting Wild

My precious little angel (our youngest daughter) is starting to turn into a little devil. We use to be able to hold her, now she is squirming all over the place. She is starting to walk and get into everything, including her two big sisters things. She is learning how to hit and head butt, we are trying to put an end to all of that. She still is a very sweet little girl sometimes, but other times you can see her father come out in her.
I have started selling some cloth diapers that don't work for us on Diaper Swappers. With the money I got out of all my used diapers, I bought a couple new diapers to try. I have been wanting to try the Dream-Eze fitted for awhile, so I ordered one and also the new Bummis wrap. I am actually considering selling off all of our small cloth diapers (our daughter is now in mediums). I was going to keep them for our next child, but now I have read how the elastic goes out on diapers that you put in storage a lot of times. It's so nice to know that after we use the diapers, we can sell them so some one else can also use them, and we can recoup some of the costs too. I know sometimes people are a little weird about buying used diapers, but as long as they were well taken care of I don't see anything wrong with it. I make sure all of our diapers are stain free with no holes or tears in them and if I buy used, I make sure the diapers are in excellent used condition. Really using a cloth diaper another baby has used before is no different than using a bath towel that someone else has used before. Baby clothes are big sellers at yard sells, but you know a lot of babies spit up and poop on their clothes. So how is all of this different than buying used diapers? When I receive a lightly used diaper, I first soak it in Oxi Clean and thoroughly wash it. I would say that 75% of my diaper stash is made up of diapers that I bought new, and the other 25% is diapers that I bought in excellent condition off of Diaper Swappers. We are such a throw away society, it's so nice to know that once we are done with something someone else can then use it.

Time

Tonight after we got out of church I called my mom, she told me that my great uncle died today. We weren't particularly close or anything, but it's sad because that was the last living sibling to my deceased grandma. A whole generation that is gone from us, so many questions that I wish I would have asked them. I have always been pretty close to all of my grandparents, and I really appreciate the two that I have left. My grandma died a little over 4 1/2 years ago, I was really close to her. I lived with her all through college, she made our wedding cake, but unfortunately she never got to meet any of our children. My "mamaw" died two days before the birth of our first daughter. I was getting ready to go to her viewing at the funeral home when I started to go into labor, and I was in the hospital when they had her funeral. It's been so long now, but it still seems like I should be able to pick up the phone and call her or go visit her. Not being able to go to her funeral really made it hard on me, I really never got any closure. You just never know when a loved one's last day will be. On one of the message boards I am a member of, one of the ladies just had their two month old baby die of SIDS. It just makes you want to hug everyone around you, but it seems like you get so wrapped up in life that you put hugs and kisses on the back burner.

My Gladiator

My husband just started watching American Gladiators on t.v. I told him since he is so athletic that he should try and get on the show, he thought that was a great idea. Then he got to thinking about how he doesn't want the whole world to see him in some skin tight spandex, I personally would love to see that, but he won't do it. Oh well, some dreams are so short lived.

Crazy Indiana

I hate the crazy weather in Indiana, the high today was 66 but later on this week there is a chance of snow. It is so hard to explain to the kids that one day they need to wear a heavy winter coat and the next day they need to wear a windbreaker. In fact, it is even harder for my husband to understand the weather. Today he wore a windbreaker with a heavy coat (that could be worn in subzero temperatures) over it. When I talked to him earlier today he told me he thought he felt pretty warm in the truck on the way to work early this morning. My silly husband, I told him he needs to watch the Weather Channel in the mornings before he leaves for work.
Today was our oldest and middle daughter's first day back to preschool after winter break. They were really excited about returning, I think they get a little bored at home sometimes.

Growing Up

Today was our youngest daughter's first day in Sunday School. It's kind of sad because she still seems like a baby to me, but I guess I have to let her go and experience new things. I really didn't have to even let go at all today because she kept by my side even in the classroom. It doesn't help that our middle daughter is also in that class, and she was trying to help her little sister along the way.
Right now is nap time, every Sunday afternoon we try to all lay down for a nice nap. Well there is nothing "nice" about naps in our house. Our youngest lays down for a nap like a champ, but I can't say the same about our other two girls. They find every excuse to get out of their room, today their excuse was that they had to take their pigtails out and throw the rubber bands in the trash. Our middle daughter wanted to sleep in her dress up clothes that she received as a gift for Christmas. Our oldest wanted to lay down in my bed with me for a nap. If they think that they can say something to get out taking a nap, they will say it. Oh great, our champion sleep (our youngest) just started talking in her crib, there goes my nap for today.

Boys

I am so tired of every time we tell people we want a fourth child, they just assume it's because we want a boy. We are perfectly happy with our three girls, and would not mind at all if our fourth is another girl. Having another baby is probably another two years down the road (take or give two years). Now let me talk about the people that think having four kids is a HUGE family. These people really irk me, I don't see how us having more kids affect their lives at all. My husband has a good job, we will be building a house plenty big for four kids, we have a vehicle that can seat eight people, I stay at home with all the kids and we have never needed any assistance from anyone. So why do people care how many kids we have? My husband and I are so tired of people asking how many more kids we are going to have and then seeing their jaw drop when we say we would like to have one more. So now every time some one asks that same question, we just tell them we are going to have as many as God decides to bless us with (now imagine their jaws no longer just dropping, but hitting the floor). Now keep in mind it's just not busybodies asking us these questions, it's our families too. Another question that is no one's business is- How long do you plan to continue nursing? I just tell them that I plan to tandem nurse my now youngest and the baby (then I perform CPR on my mother).

My Wish

It looks like my wish came true today, our youngest daughter's pedi told us that she doesn't need whole milk (only breastmilk) until she is 15 months old. It appears she has a lactose intolerance and we are trying to figure out the degree to which she has it. Won't my mom be so excited to know that we have at least three more months of breastfeeding in our future. Other than that it looks like she is a healthy one year old, she is 29 in. tall and 17 lbs 11 1/2 ozs. So I guess I was wrong guessing she would weigh around 18 1/2 lbs. Our pedi said she is just going to be a petite little girl. She has had a diaper rash for the last couple of weeks, we tried some prescription cream that the pedi gave us but it turned out she is allergic to a active ingredient in it. Our pedi thinks the rash may be a yeast infection, so she prescribed Nystatin, hopefully it will clear up soon. I am a little nervous about her possibly having a yeast infection and how it will affect cloth diapering. From what I have read I will need to wash the diapers in hot water and dry them on a medium setting.
We finally got the new lamp for our big screen yesterday, and my husband installed it last night. I am so glad to be able to watch t.v. on our 50" screen again, we were borrowing a very small t.v. while our t.v. was out of commission. The first movie that I watched on our t.v. today was The White Countess, it was pretty good.
Today when we were down at my in-laws, our youngest daughter took quite a few steps. Up until today she had only taken around five steps, but tonight she walked from my father-in-law to me (probably ten steps). She might have better luck with walking if her two older sisters would stay out of her way. They are always trying to pick her up and she doesn't like that at all (she is extremely independent and stubborn, like her father, not me).

Reunited

Today after six days, my two oldest girls were reunited. They are 12 1/2 months apart in age (our oldest 4 1/2 and our middle 3 1/2), so they can be best friends one minute and sworn enemies the next. My parents kept each girl for three days each, a real treat for them. Unfortunately for my husband and I, they can be real pistols when they get back together after being apart for awhile. Pushing, pinching, kicking just to name a few things that they will do when they get together. As of right now, we are down at my in-laws and the girls are eating pure blue sugar. They ought to be really easy to deal with tonight, yeah right.
Tomorrow our youngest will be going in for her one year appointment and the doctor's office. I am really excited to see how much she weighs, it's amazing what excites a mother. She is pretty petite for her age, so we're only guessing she'll weigh around 18 1/2 lbs. I am officially extended breastfeeding, even though my parents would like for me to wean (they haven't ever kept her overnight). Between cloth diapering and breastfeeding a baby over a year old, I am considered a real hippie in my family.
My husband and I received good news from the bank today, we should be receiving some money next week so we can start construction on our new home. Our plans are to first build a garage with living quarters upstairs, and when we sell our current home, we will start building our larger, permanent home. We are really excited about this, if everything goes as plan (which it never does) we should have a house (or garage) in the country this time next year.