A Bubble Moment

Ever have a moment that reminds you why it is you do what you do? A moment that melts away stress, anxiety, frustration, and anger? A moment that reminds you just how great your life is? Today, for me, it was a bubble moment.

Something about these bubbles turned my previously whiney and cranky kids (and self) into the two cutest little people enjoying the simplest of pleasures.
Or maybe it was the fact that their baby sister FINALLY stopped screaming and went to sleep, so their parents were able to enjoy a quiet moment with them.
After coming down with a bad cold at the end of one of the hardest weeks so far, I needed a bubble moment.
Here's to more bubble moments and less crying, screaming, and whining! We all need a break from that!

Amelia's Birth Story

This pregnancy took me on a personal journey unlike any of my other pregnancies. At the starting line was me, in my bathroom, starring blankly at a positive pregnancy test in shock. At the finish line was me, surrounded by people I love, welcoming a new love into my life. I'd like to give you a little peak at my journey, focusing mostly on delivery (we don't have all day, do we!).

I must admit, I handled the little double pink lines better than I thought I would. I was a bit shocked, but mostly relieved. You see, I had been feeling quite sick and was thinking, I either have some weird disease, or I am pregnant. So yeah, I was relieved that I was not seriously ill! I walked around in shock for a couple days, because I had a four month old, and really had not even processed through his birth (you too would take a while to process through giving birth to a 10 1/2 lb. baby), and here I was making another baby! Most people have more time to recover from (and forget about)the labor, the pain, the recovery period, the newbornhood, etc. It was all too fresh in my mind. I'd like to point out here that we were being responsible and using birth control, but there's not much we could do when that failed us. We won't be using that brand anymore! 'Nough said.

Over the next few months, as the reality of having 3 kids under 3 set in, God just took me by the hand and led me through the feelings, one step at a time. It was a process, but I felt more prepared for what was coming, and excited to complete our family. God is so good- he really gave me a peace about it all. He also assured me that this delivery and this baby would be different, and easier than the last.

In my third trimester I decided I just couldn't do a hospital birth as I had planned. After having 2 homebirths, and seeing how different a hospital birth is with all their silly rules, I decided it wasn't going to work for me. Since a home birth was not an option in Redding (I couldn't find a midwife I was willing to trust with our lives), I decided to travel to Sonora to deliver with Ellie, the midwife who delivered my other babies. She graciously agreed to take me on as a patient, my parents agreed to me having baby in their home, and Daddy Man's boss graciously gave him the time off he would need to have the baby so far from home. Everything was set and ready.

God helped prepare my heart for the birth as well. As I experienced with my other births, if I can stay focused and calm labor is manageable, but if I am afraid of what is happening, it hurts like heck!! This time around I was determined to have an easier birth with less pain. The Bible says that perfect love drives out fear. God is love, so what better thing to focus on than Him during labor? I knew God had something special for me in this delivery, so I prepared myself to focus on Him and His love, and just have "God time" with Him during labor. So when my contractions finally kicked in and got more intense around 2pm on Saturday, July 31st, Daddy Man put on some worship music for me, and I felt God's presence so strongly. So I labored, with tears of joy in my eyes, experiencing God's perfect embrace and enjoying his presence so much. I sang along (in my head) with the songs during contractions to keep my head and heart in the right place. The songs that most helped me were "Liquid Love" and "I Love it When You Sing" by Janna Adams (check her out on jannaadams.com or iTunes) and "Healer" by Leah Valenzuela (on Bethel's "Here is Love" CD). Not only did I experience God's love in a powerful way during active labor and transition, but I experienced no pain. Yes, the contractions were super intense, but manageable. around 20 minutes before Amelia was born, I was still speaking the words of the songs in between contractions. "I believe that You're my Healer, I believe that You are all I need...." When I started pushing a few minutes later, my declarations and "God time" sounded more like "JESUS HELP!!" It's a good thing that I only pushed for 8 minutes, because oh man did that hurt! In the moment she was crowning (head almost out, in case you don't know) I felt that awful burning that feels like it will never end (all the mom's out there, feel free to cringe now....I know you remember the burn!) I said, "get her out!!" and she came out (you can breathe now). I pulled her up out of the water (forgot to mention that I did a water birth) and instantly felt relief and joy and pride as I gazed at my beautiful, crying, red-haired, itty bitty baby! God had prepared me, walked me through, and loved me through the whole process, leading me into such intense love for my new baby girl. What an amazing time. She cried for about 10 minutes before we could calm her down, and I jokingly said, "maybe she's getting all her crying done now, so she'll be done after this!" But in the back of my mind I thought, "uh-oh, is she going to be 'a crier'?"

After my other births I was light headed, dizzy, and exhausted. I had to sit on a stool in the shower. But this birth was different. I felt so much better, and almost immediately was ready to take a shower and be up talking to people. Since I didn't need stitches this time (yeah!!!!) I could even sit pretty comfortably. A few days later I was even walking around pretty normally. Wow, what a difference.

And baby girl? Well, she sleeps four to 6 hours at night (since day one) and goes 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours between eating in the day. She never cries, puts herself to sleep, and eats well. Wow, I have not had a baby like her before. I guess God knew that with two toddlers, I needed an easy baby. I am so thankful for her, and thankful that things are not as crazy as I had imagined. I have my sanity, I still have a little time to myself in the day (next post I will show you the diaper bag I am making!) and my kids are amazing. Don't think all is perfect, because I have plenty of freak-out moments, but the good times (usually) outweigh the hard times.

Welcome to the world, baby Amelia. You have brought joy to our hearts and a smile to our faces.

Blessed

Well, we have a baby girl! Her birth story is coming soon, I promise! But for now, just wanted to share why I feel so incredibly blessed these days.

I am so blessed for this sweet girl. Do we have a newborn, not yet 2 weeks old (2 days old in above picture)?? I'm not sure.... Aren't newborns supposed to cry? Aren't they supposed to wake up every 2 hours at night to eat? Aren't they supposed to take a long time or lots of soothing to fall asleep?

As for me, shouldn't I feel like I just had a baby? Shouldn't I be tired beyond comprehension with three babies at home? (Ok, well Muffin is not a baby, but she's is not even 3 yet!) Shouldn't I feel overwhelmed at home by myself with all of the kids? Hmm.....

The answer is, No, it doesn't have to be that way. God, in his infinite grace knew what I needed, and graciously provided: Angel baby-sleeps-4-6 hours at a time and at least 2 1/2 hours during the day-never cries-puts herself to sleep-girl.....quick labor with no stitches needed (Thank GOD!!) and super quick recovery....and a relatively sound mind! Even the kids are adjusting beautifully.
Above picture is the first time the kids met baby girl...she was about 12 hours old.
Proud big sister was soooo happy to finally hold baby sister.
And the biggest surprise of all: Mr. 13-month-old hasn't even said his first word yet Baby knew exactly what was going on! It was like he had listened to me preparing big sister for the new arrival, and already knew her and loved her so much! When he first saw sister all he wanted to do was kiss her. He was so gentle and loving- he proved to us that he knows WAY more than we give him credit for. He is such a loving big brother.

A sleepy Daddy man with his girls.

Other blessings: a super helpful Daddy Man who continues to get up early with Muffin before work...now he makes us all lunch in the morning too!

An amazing 3 weeks spent at my parents house with love and help poured on us from all sides.

The best in-laws ever and their many days of helping with the kids while we awaited sister's arrival.

Having baby at my parents house with the best midwife ever and the best doula!

So, I am soooo blessed to have our family complete, and so far it is looking like it (or I) won't be as insane as I thought! Stay tuned, next week Daddy Man starts school again. Sure, lets add one more thing into the mix and see how we handle it! ;)

Surprise Visit!

Last Friday my parents came up to Redding for a surprise visit! It was so much fun! They came up so my Mom could go to my baby shower on Saturday, hosted by my Sister-in-Law and my friend Kristina. It was a lovely baby shower (and true to form, I took 0 pictures!) and such a nice time to focus on Baby Girl. The rest of the weekend was filled with fun and frolicking about with Nana and Pa, like our trip to Enterprise Park. It features a great Kid's Kingdom play area, seen below behind pa, and an awesome volcano that 'erupts' water every 15 minutes. So much fun, and exactly the kind of thing my little niece Madelynn would be all over. My kids? They prefer to sit and watch, and enjoy the nice overspray.

Thank you sooo much Nana and Pa for such a fun surprise! Ooh, and for the 'outdoor oasis!' Pictures to come on that!

I love my kids!

I feel like I have a renewed sense of appreciation and love for my Babies. Maybe it is because their cheeks are so kissable.

Maybe it's seeing them enjoy their new turtle pool ($5 at a garage sale!) together on a windy spring day.
Maybe it is seeing them get so excited about each other....
or seeing how their faces light up when they look at me.
Or, it could be that I decided to sit and relax, simply watching them enjoy themselves, instead of trying to get something done while they were occupied.
Whatever it is, I am glad for it. I love feeling that heart-warming, overwhelming joy when I look at them or hold them. It's such a better feeling than stressing about what needs to be done, or why they are cranky or fussy. I think I am going to bottle this feeling in my heart, and pull it out when times are less fun. (see last post)

You can almost see his tooth in this one. :)

I just can't get enough of this sweet face!
Mr. Baby likes to investigate and figure out how things work, much like his Daddy.
Ok, have you had enough of their cheeks? Didn't think so. But I do have other things to talk about. ;) This week my Sister and Mom came to visit me and help me get prepared for new Baby Girl. Can you believe that I am almost 8 months along, and didn't even have anything set up for her? Sister and Mom to the rescue.

Part of the preparation was moving Mr. Baby into his own room, and setting up baby's crib in Muffin's room. The girls will have a castle/princess theme, and Mr. Baby will have a more modern, orange, green and brown room. I will post pictures of each of the rooms once I finish a few projects, like making curtains, painting some of the furniture, etc. Here is the first thing I made for Mr.'s room: his crib blanket.
I modeled it after an Uppercase Living tree that I ordered for his wall. It took quite some time to make, but thanks to sister's expert drawing, it came pretty close to the model. We had so much fun doing all our projects; from changing pads and pillows, to blankets and shirts, we did it all. (Yes, my living room looked like a craft store exploded in it for a few days, but it was worth it! Sorry housemates!)

The back of the blanket is flannel owls. It was my first attempt at a real applique, and I'm pretty happy with it! Can't wait to finish his room and show you how it all looks together!

Three Things

Three wonderful things happened today.

#1~ Grocery shopping took 30 seconds. I opened my door, picked up my box, and brought it inside. Such a beautiful thing. I just started weekly fresh organic produce delivery and I am loving it! The menu changes every week, the produce is exceptional (often the organic offerings at the market are not great), it's mostly ripe already, and I am sort of forced to buy produce that is in season- a trick I have not yet mastered, but saves a bundle! My hope is that this will enable me to reduce my main shopping trip to once every two weeks.

I don't know what I love more- that cheesy smile, or that beautiful produce! Look at the size of that lettuce!

#2~ As I started washing the cauliflower to make cauliflower soup, Daddy Man called to tell me to stop making dinner- he was going to do it tonight! I had just finished dragging myself off the couch to make it, and wasn't feeling that great, so I was soooo relieved! He just decided to do something nice for me. How cute is that?!

He even held Mr. Baby and entertained Muffin while making it! He's amazing!

#3~ After Muffin and I went in to get Mr. Baby up from his nap, I knelt down so Muffin could say good morning. She crawled into my lap and snuggled in close. Both kids started laughing and I couldn't help but kiss Muffin's cheek, then Mr. Baby's, over and over. It was such a sweet moment and let's face it, could anyone resist these kissable squishy cheeks?

Oddly enough these are the first pictures I have of Mr. Baby eating. I think this blog is forcing me into taking pictures of my lovies- something that I have always struggled to remember to do.

He gets so excited when I pull the camera out. I am enjoying him so much- such a sweet baby.

Empty Tubs

If my needs were visible, they would be contained in tubs (phylate and BPA free tubs, of course). When the tub is full, the need is completely met. A couple of my tubs seem to have holes in them, because it seems I can't get enough! My tub that needs people and social interaction must have a big hole, because I start to go crazy after little more than a day by myself (with my kids, of course). This is one of the things that makes it possible for our family to live with three other guys- I just love having people come and go, and having somebody to talk to in the middle of the day. This week I planned several play dates and get-togethers that fell through, so to offset the empty tub I compensated with sewing. My sewing machine is always ready for a date. ;) Today I finished up cousin Noak's birthday present.

A crayon wallet with co-ordinating snack bags

PLEASE don't look too close at my sewing...I am far from perfection.

I just love these vintage print fabrics.

While I was at it I decided I wanted a crayon wallet too! Here's my grown-up version. I'll probably use it for a shopping list or to do list.

Matching snack bags too. How could I resist?

Daddy Man noticed that my *gifts tub was a bit low too, so he bought me an early birthday present- a new tool box for my sewing gear. I moved my beloved notions out of the plastic bin they were floating around in and into this gloriously organized tool box! (This was a fun project in it's own right!) The best part? When the lid is closed, the drawers won't open, so no little hands de-organizing or finding "toys for the baby" among the pins and buttons. I'm so impressed with the tool box makers...why can't sewing box makers get with it? I have seriously scoured all of Redding for a decent sewing box to no avail. Until now!

That furry thing on the top portion is a mohair bear I started YEARS ago. All I have to do to finish is stuff it and sew up the small openings, and sew on the ears. I really should do that soon. Actually, there's two bears there!

I love seeing my rainbow of choices

My two favorite items in this box: a vintage needle-holder card and vintage belt buckles, both from Grandma Cannon's stash.

*I strongly recommend the book "The Five Love Languages." It helps you determine how you and your loved ones give and receive love. The five 'languages" of love are acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and touch. We typically give love the way we like to receive it, so if you find yourself constantly doing nice things for people, like helping them move, making them dinner, washing their car, etc, then your love language is probably acts of service. The trick is to find out your loved ones' languages, and love them the way they receive love, not how you receive it. This is crucial in a marriage! I could give Daddy Man gifts every day and he would appreciate it, but he really feels loved when I make dinner or clean the house (acts of service). Ok, I'm starting to ramble here...just read the book. ;)

All that said, if anyone would like to hang out this week, call me!!! ;)

A Beautiful Day

We had a lovely, fun day today! After the week I had last week (lets just not go there) I was due for a day of smooth sailing. Muffin and I had so much fun making an owl for Maddie-LuLu (picture to come), squirting play-dough through the toy animals, and making Jodi's amazing sprouted meatloaf. I confess that it was sproutless, as I forgot to soak yesterday, but it was still amazing! Not only that, but Muffin was virtually melt-down free until 6:00. Pretty wonderful.

Mr. Baby pulled himself up to standing for the first time today. This is an old picture, but I am currently charging my camera battery and thus have no new pictures to share. :(

Tomorrow Daddy Man and I leave for Ashland for our 5 year anniversary getaway! I have so badly needed a vacation- having Mr. Baby, moving, Daddy Man going to school, living with three guys (which by-the-way has been pretty fun), toddlerhood- well, if you add it all up you get one very tired Mommy and Daddy Man. And yes, I have yet to turn 25 and I am celebrating my 5 year wedding anniversary, with soon to be three kids! This is always how I wanted my life to be, but it is still crazy to think about. I think it's been at least a year since I was away from Muffin, and this will be my first time away from Mr. Baby. Some mothers would be sad and find it hard to leave. Yeah, I'm soooo ready! Thanks to Sarah I can leave both kids behind with no worries, and galavant about Ashland with my Love. So here's to happy days, and Husband time!