Some random stuff...

~ I never listen to "popular" music - like Top 40 stuff - and when I do happen to hear it, it usually gets on my nerves. Noah likes to turn on the TV and push the buttons and one day when I was nursing Allie on the couch, he turned the TV to VH1 and left it there. There was a video playing, and long after I had turned off the TV, I couldn't get the tune out of my head. I went and downloaded the song - So What by Pink - and we've been listening to it. A lot. It's just so darn catchy. If I happen to not play it when we're in the car, Emma will usually request it. So the other day I was getting my eyebrows waxed and Emma was standing next to the bed, quietly watching, and then suddenly started absentmindedly belting out the song. "I guess I just lost my husband, I don't know where he went! I'm gonna drink my money, I'm not gonna pay his rent!" She seemed kind of embarrassed when she realized she was singing out loud, but nevertheless, I think it might be time to stop playing that song and start listening to something a little more wholesome.
~ Emma makes ornaments for gifts every year, and this year she really really wanted to make something with glitter. She's been working on them for the past few days, and even though she only ever works at the table, somehow our entire house seems to be dusted with a layer of glitter.
~ I've read all about the possible dangers of using plastic dishes so we've accumulated a decent collection of "safer" cups for kids. For some reason, I have also been holding on to the plastic ones. Yesterday I finally took every single plastic cup we own and bagged them all up for Goodwill. Yay. Now I'm looking for some good non-plastic mixing and storage bowls. My goal is to eliminate every single plastic dish in our house by the end of the year.

~ My very sweet friend Shawn made this beautiful memento for Allie. I love it and I'm looking for a good frame for it so I can hang it in the kids' room. Isn't it gorgeous?~ I made a couple patchwork pumpkins for Halloween gifts. I didn't finish as many as I wanted, so a few people will be getting Thanksgiving Pumpkins instead. Which reminds me, I should probably get started on those.

My lovely, charming, and witty friend Deanna invited me to join a swap. Since I seem to actually be physically unable to decline any swaps, I accepted. My task was to create 35 of one item and I decided to make lip balm. I wanted to make it vegan - no beeswax - because the best chapstick I ever had was some vegan stuff I got from Naturally Luxe and I chose to make it vanilla flavored because that seemed like a basic flavor that most people would like.I ordered all the supplies I would need, including forty cute little tubs, and got everything all laid out and ready to go. I cooked up the ingredients, then dropped the melted solution into the tubs with a little plastic pipette. The whole process was pretty fun, but I especially enjoyed squirting the balm into the containers with the dropper. Perhaps I should have been a chemist.I would have liked to add some color, but I don't think any color really goes with vanilla so I left it out. The lip balm looks a little boring to me, but is otherwise very smooth and well-scented and lip-balmy. I'd like to try making another batch, but I'm not really sure what I would do with forty more lip balms.

I just finished knitting this hat for Noah. It was the easiest pattern ever so it came together pretty quickly. Last night I was seaming up the sides, and I guess it's been a long time since I've had to do that because I apparently forgot how to do it. I was watching a movie with Steve and I didn't want to get off the couch and look up the right way to sew the seams so I just continued to do it incorrectly. Consequently, the seams look pretty awful, but luckily Noah is not the type of guy who cares about that kind of thing.

We have a window in our shower, and during the four years that we've lived here, the spraying water has taken a toll on the trim around the window. Yuck.
It was starting to look really awful and I had mentioned to Steve several times in the past that I'd like him to fix it. Steve has a lot of wonderful qualities, but since starting and finishing home improvement projects is not one of them, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Now, home improvement is definitely not my area of expertise. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I even have an area of expertise, but doing projects around the house is for sure my area of bumbling around cluelessly. Still, after talking to a couple of helpful gentlemen at Lowe's and then purchasing a few items, I set to work on the window. I sanded it all down, then applied spackle over all the rough spots. Once that was dry, I sanded again, then applied two layers of paint. Voila!I did all this yesterday, but didn't mention it to Steve because I wanted to surprise him. He noticed it this morning, and was apparently less than impressed. He said that I did it wrong, but whatever. I'd much rather have something done less than perfectly than not done at all. I am still proud of myself and happy that the window looks so much better than it did.

After Noah was born, we buried his placenta under a tree in my parents' yard. Last week when we were visiting them, they bought two more new trees - one for Emma, and one for Allie. We didn't have Emma's placenta after she was born so we didn't think to plant a tree for her at the time, but I am happy that all three of my kids have one now.
We buried Allie's placenta under her tree, and then my mom read a blessing for her. My brothers weren't there this time (too bad, because I know they are devastated to miss any event that involves a placenta), but both of my grandmas were in attendance. Even though I get the idea that my family thinks I'm a little kooky, I am so glad that they're all good sports. I will always enjoy watching these trees grow along with my children. I am also thankful that my dad was willing to dig the holes for all these trees.
And, just because I think it's cute, here is a picture of my dad and the little boy who is obsessed with tractors.

I'm happy to report that - over a year after starting it - I finally finished Noah's quilt! I had issues with not being able to find a suitable fabric for the binding so that put the whole project on hold for a long time, but a few weeks ago I finally found something that I liked.For this quilt, I chose random fabrics that I thought he would find interesting for one reason or another. I remember looking at quilts when I was a kid and being so interested in the different fabrics, so I hope Noah feels the same way about this. I wanted to do stippling for the quilting so I purchased a darning foot for my machine. I should have gotten one long ago because free motion quilting is so much fun! It took much longer than I anticipated and used almost three entire spools of thread, but was very worth it. I love how it turned out!I just used a blue sheet for the backing and I was a little worried that, because I had never done any stippling before, it wouldn't look good and would really show up against the blue. It does stand out a lot, but I think it looks okay. (And for the life of me, I can't get this picture to turn the right way.)
I was trying to take pictures of the finished quilt today, but the kids kept messing with it so I couldn't really get a good shot of the whole thing. At one point Noah ran up and grabbed the folded quilt off the couch.He immediately threw it on the floor and flopped down on top of it. I guess he likes it!

Something pretty incredible happened today. For the first time in my life, I got my license plates renewed on time. AND...not only did I do it on time, I actually did it two months early. Yay for efficiency! Noah, Allie, and I ran all over the city today, accomplishing many errands. It feels good to have all those finished, but now I have no energy to do all the dishes that are piled up in the sink, pick up all the toys/shoes/books that are littering the floor, or fold and put away the three full baskets of clean laundry that are sitting in my living room. Eh, you win some, you lose some, I guess.
My mom visited us last week, and aside from the usual help she offers, it was great to have her hold the baby so I could take pictures. I always want to bring my camera everywhere, but in reality I rarely do these days because it's just one more thing to carry and it's difficult to take pictures when wearing a baby.We went to the pumpkin patch one day and picked out a couple little pie pumpkins because Steve had promised to make some pumpkin pie. We're still waiting on that pie, and those pumpkins are taking up valuable (and sparse) counter space so I'm thinking that tomorrow might be a good day to make some pumpkin butter. Yum!

I keep going back and forth about this blog - I keep thinking I'm just going to give it up because I can never seem to update in a timely fashion anymore, but then at the same time I sort of miss rambling on about my kids and the stuff we do together. So, here is the beginning of another attempt to keep the blog posts coming.Halloween was fun. We spent it at my parents' house, which is always a good time. Emma was a bride, and she wore her costume off and on for a few days. It was nice to have her looking "fancy" again for a little while. I didn't get a costume for Allie because I thought it would just be a hassle and she wouldn't know the difference anyway, but I'm still feeling a little guilty about that. I guess that's what happens when you're the third baby. The good thing is that I'm pretty sure Emma and Noah alone were cute enough for all three of them.

Last week I found this ruffled skirt tutorial and printed it out, hoping to make one for Emma sometime. I showed her the pictures and she said, "If you make me a skirt like that, I promise I'll wear it every day." Got it. I bumped the skirt up to the top of my "Things I Want to Sew" list and finished it for her last night.It was very easy, and I think it's pretty cute. More importantly, she likes it too. And the good news for her? I'm not even going to make her wear it every day.

The weather today was amazing so we spent most of the day playing outside. Isn't October the best?You know those fuzzy caterpillars with the brown stripe in the middle? I used to see those all the time when I was a kid, but I hardly ever see them anymore. This must be a busy time for them because today we saw four!

Amazingly, all three kids have been going to bed really well lately so I've had some time to sew in the evenings. Yay! I bought this Sweet Little Dress pattern because I thought I would be able to sew dresses and shirts for both Emma and Allie. Even better than it's being so useful is the fact that it is easy and fast. I completed this dress for Emma in just over an hour.She wasn't very enthusiastic about modeling it for a picture, she did seem to like it a lot. She wore it to school the day after I made it, and (according to her teacher) she proudly told everyone in her class that I sewed it for her. Success!

Does anyone know any magic secret for how to get a baby to not cry in the car? Allie HATES the carseat and cries the whole time whenever we go anywhere. With my other kids, if I stopped and nursed them in the carseat they would usually calm down, but with Allie it isn't that easy. She gets so upset that she won't even nurse when she's in her carseat - she just want to get out. I've been trying to limit our diving, but we do have to buy groceries, take Emma to and from school, etc. I just hope she gets used to it soon because it's so hard for me to listen to her cry and know there's nothing I can do about it.My parents and grandma came for a short visit this weekend. Steve was working most of the time so it was great to have them here to fill up the weekend for us. Having three other adults around to hold babies, read books to kids, do crafts with Emma, and mow the grass sure makes things easy for me!

Noah has a habit of dropping things in the trash so I routinely check our trash cans whenever I walk by them and remove any toys, shoes, sippy cups, condiments, or whatever else I find in there. Last week Steve noticed our remote control was missing. We searched all over the house, figured it must have gone out with the trash, and went and bought a new one. A day or two later, the new one disappeared as well, and is nowhere to be found. After having the same remote for over seven years, we are now on our third one in a single week. I think I'm going to have to be more meticulous about looking in the trash cans!

Noah also likes to help me flush the contents of his diapers down the toilet. No problem there, right? I usually keep a stack of diapers on the bookshelf in the living room, just so I don't have to go back to the bedroom and get one every time I need to change a diaper. Yesterday Noah came into the kitchen and was obviously very excited about something. He tried to grab my hand and pull me with him. I followed him into the bathroom, where he proudly showed me eight diapers stuffed in the toilet. I guess I will also now be putting the diapers on the TOP of the bookshelf and out of the reach of little helpers.

I've been neglecting this blog, mostly because I don't have the time to upload pictures that often. Since I'd like to have this to read in the future, I'm going to make more of an effort to update, although the pictures may be sparse for awhile.

Our days have been going well, at least until about 5:00 or so. It seems that at that time everyone, including me, starts to melt down. Things tend to unravel pretty quickly so I'm usually calling Steve around 6:00, growling at him to come home. By the time he gets home at 7:00 or so, I have pretty much reached the end of my rope. Today was no exception. This morning was great - we ran a bunch of errands and all was well. We came home and I made some Broccoli Chowder for lunch and then we made the always-delicious Peanut Butter Banana Bread for a snack and I was patting myself on the back for being so productive. By that time it had stopped raining so we went on a nice long walk. Still, everything was great. Then we got home and Allie was suddenly uncharacteristically fussy, Noah dumped out the kitchen trash can - twice - and Emma started complaining (a LOT) that she was sick. Then, as I was looking for something in the bathroom cabinet, a light bulb fell out and shattered all over the floor. I had a screaming baby and a crying little girl so I left the glass everywhere and just quickly put the baby gate up in the hall so no one could go back there. While I was doing that, the stove timer started buzzing, signaling that dinner was ready and as I ran through the living room to turn off the timer and get everything out of the oven, Emma threw up all over the living room floor. Wonderful.

I am so glad it's the weekend!

I just can't stop taking pictures of this baby. I know she is going to be growing so fast and I want to make sure I remember what she looked like when she was so tiny. She will be three weeks old tomorrow already!Everything is going pretty well. The only real issue is getting Noah to nap. This is always been an issue with him of course, it's just a little more difficult with another baby thrown into the mix. He is nursing so much now that he hardly eats any food anymore. I'm okay with it (except for when it goes on all night long) because I think it's helping him adjust, but I sort of hope he slows down sooner rather than later.Steve wanted to work all weekend so the kids and I went to my mom's house. I was a little nervous about making the trip with all three of them for the first time but we didn't have any problems. Luckily, my kids are pretty great travelers. My grandma rode back with us and has been here helping out. Sadly, she is leaving this afternoon. It's so nice having another adult around during the days!I have a wee bit of crafting to share. I did a swap with my friend Allison and I made her this pincushion. In return, she sewed a birthday banner for me that I'm planning to hang up whenever we are celebrating birthdays in our family. Thanks, Allison!

So we've spent the last week adjusting to having another little person in our family. Allie is wonderful and perfect and she is doing her best to make the adjustment as easy as possible. Noah has been a tad clingy and has stepped up his nursing quite a bit, but overall even he is dealing with it much better than I expected. The real test, however, will come tomorrow because I will be alone with all three children all day for the first time. Eek. Wish me luck!Emma started preschool on Thursday and I think it was a success. She clung to me and cried when we left, which was hard. We did wait out in the hall long enough to hear her stop crying almost immediately, and by the time we picked her up in the afternoon, she seemed very happy and excited about her day. Although I've always wanted to homeschool and am sad to be giving that up, I know this is best for her right now. I'm certain most of my next year will be spent nursing babies, changing diapers, and trying (and probably failing miserably) to keep up with the housework and I don't feel like I can offer her the stimulation she needs while being preoccupied with those other things.

Isn't it such an amazing miracle that what looks like thisone day, can become thisthe very next day?!

Alexandra Jane was born at home at 10:07 p.m. on August 14th after four hours of labor.She is a perfect angel and we are all (except maybe Noah a little bit) enjoying having a newborn around again.

Does "blah" count as a legitimate word? If so, Noah has his first word! He says it every time I change one of his poopy diapers so he apparently knows what it means!

No baby yet. Last week was kind of rough, but today I am feeling good and full of energy so I am looking forward to a better week. My worst problem right now is that even my biggest shirt no longer fits me, and as far as problems go, that one is pretty insignificant. Here I am at 39 weeks. It's not the prettiest picture, but at least you can get the idea of my general humongousness.Emma has decided that she is too old to call me "mommy", and will now refer to me as "mom". She still forgets and called me mommy about half the time, though. I don't know where she got the idea that "mommy" isn't cool. The other day a couple of her friends were over and every time they walked through the room, she pointedly said, "Hi, mom," just to reinforce the point, I guess, that she is now sophisticated enough to call me "mom". She has also always called Steve "papa" and she still does that, but I have recently heard her refer to him as "my dad" when talking to other people. She is trying to grow up so fast!

To add to her grown up status, she will be starting preschool next week. It's only two days a week, but I can hardly believe she is going to be gone from home so much. I'll have to pack her a lunch and I've been thinking about how I can make it waste-free. I ordered a pattern for insulated lunch bags and sewed her one of those. I also bought a couple of reusable sandwich wraps, and a couple of stainless steel food jars so I think we are all set for lunches. She is very excited about bringing her lunch to school. We also purchased her school supplies last week and I think she has packed and unpacked and repacked her backpack about twelve thousand times by now. I really hope she likes it as much as she thinks she will!

Saturday was Steve's and my fifth anniversary. I woke up in the morning just as he was walking out the door. I asked him where he was going, and when he replied that he was going to work (without any mention of our anniversary) but would be back around 3:00, I snapped something at him and closed the door. I took the kids to the grocery store and spent most of the time trying not to cry, thinking that I was going to be spending my anniversary alone with the kids while my husband, who apparently had no idea that it even was our anniversary, spent the day at work. I wasn't going to call him, but I couldn't hold out very long because I called him as soon as we got home and I think it was probably only 8:30 by then. He was totally surprised that I was upset, and in fact he really did have no clue about the anniversary, but he said he would pack up and come home right away. I'm so glad I called instead of sitting around and sulking all day. When he did get home, he spent the day painting our kitchen, which was a perfect anniversary present.

Last time we painted our kitchen, we wanted something bright and cheerful so we picked out a nice green that we thought would look great. Trouble was, once it was actually on the walls, we realized that our nice, pretty green was actually more of a neon green and pretty awful looking. We decided to repaint it right away.Fast forward about three years (which is "right away" in terms of our remodeling timelines around here) and we finally have a much more reasonable color in the kitchen. It's maybe a tad brighter than I wanted, but it's a huge improvement over the fluorescent green we used to have. We always seem to spend less than a minute picking out paint colors, so maybe we should learn our lesson and spend some more time on it next time.