Coming Soon

Look for a BIG announcement in March 2008!!

Wordless Wed.

These are older, but too cute! Yes, my house is always this messy!!!

Stressed

Thanks to everyone who has been praying and asking about Jeremy. He did go to the Dr. and they gave him some steroids. This is the typical treatment for Bell's Palsy, but from what I've read, it is not guaranteed to work. While it appears that there is no real health risk, I still worry about him. I make fun of him alot. Ask him to smile, lift his eyebrows, and pucker. It is really funny looking. I really don't think this is funny, but it helps a little for me to make a joke out of it. I'm sure Jeremy will get tired of us laughing at him. He is self-conscious anyway. Although he says no one has noticed on their own yet. He always has to tell them. So I continue to worry about him. He is working late every day and I can tell he is stressed.
If I haven't kept in touch with you, I just have so much on my plate. Of course, Jeremy, helping my parents move, homeschooling, clients, and the cat has a wound on his tail we are having to clean and put medicine on. We are not promised an easy life on this earth, free of worry, but sometimes I would love to just be free from all this. I am constantly reminded that this is not my home and all this is temporary, especially when it seems like so much is on me.

MEN

Why are men so stubborn when it comes to their health? Late last week, Jeremy told me that his tongue had been hurting him for several days. I looked and could see nothing wrong. Then the next day, he tells me that the same spot had gone numb. I told him to go to the doctor. Of course, he said nothing was wrong and what would a doctor do? Now, several days later, he said that whole side of his face is numb/paralyzed a little. He can still do everything, but his speech is a little slurred. I'm out of town so I can't make him go to the Dr. He got an appt for Monday, but that is not soon enough for me. I begged him to go to a walk-in clinic. He just won't listen. I asked him to do it for me and he won't. He has self diagnosed himself with Bell's Palsy and I agree with him that this is the most likely diagnosis, but there is a chance it could be something worse. What if a day makes a difference? he says it is nothing, but if something attacks your nerves, it is serious to me. Some of my fear comes from when I had Encephalitis. It attacks your central nervous system and brain and I was seriously ill for several days. So I take anything like that seriously and it scares me to death. I'm sure he will probably be okay, but I won't have peace of mind until Monday.

Slippery Slope

Home Improvement is such a slippery slope. With my husband, as soon as he starts to fix one thing, he finds or created another thing that needs work. So on Saturday, he decides to pull up our carpet so that we will have beautiful hardwood floors. Our carpet was in horrible condition and we didn't have the money to replace it, so I was okay as long as the hardwood was in good condition. He assured me he had pulled it up in several spots and it looked good. Almost as soon as we start, he discovers a 16x33in. hole in the wood that had been replaced by plywood. The rest of the floor looks nice and will look great after we refinish it. The hole is probably where a furnace used to be, but now we have to figure out a way to fix it. Speaking of slippery, the girls are getting used to the hardwood and fall about 10 times a day. Then they have no cushion, so it really hurts when they land on their knees or catch themselves. Poor things, I am probably contributing to this because I am putting sock on them to keep their feet warm.
On another note, Sunday when it rained really bad our toilet started acting up. We have had a lot of sewer problems this year, so Jeremy went out to try to unblock the line. He opened up the cap on our line and water started pouring out. That is normal, but for it to keep coming and keep coming and form a river in my yard and for squash and apricot and tp to come up is not normal. So we call the WWTA (Waste water treatment association) and had them come and it ends up the big sewer 1 street over was blocked. So if Jeremy wouldn't have opened up our line, my yard would be sanitary, but who knows when someone else would have known to call the problem in?

Not Ready for This

It is official- Lily has cut back to just nursing once a day. She has given up her afternoon num-num. I'm not necessarily ready for this because I didn't lead her to this although I do say no at inappropriate times. She kinda just did this on her own. She is still nursing at bedtime, but not for long and usually pops off before she goes to sleep. The next step is a complete weaning which I'm not sure I'm ready for. There have certainly been times that I really wanted her to stop, but once she stops, that's it. It is really a sad time, an end to an era. I nursed Miriam until she was 3 years old so this is an early weaning for me. Lily is really ready though. She is so tough and independent. Miriam was always more attached to me. Now, all I'm going to be thinking is - is this the last time Lily will nurse??

Social Butterflies

My girls make me so proud and can make me laugh. Yesterday, we went to IHOP for free pancake day. Our waitresses name was Amy so right away Miriam told her "My mommy's name is Amy too". Well, that got conversation started and after we ate, Miriam talked with her for 10 minutes. They were not very busy at the time. Of course, Lily would pipe up every now and then with something to add to the conversation. I love it when they share our life story with strangers! Then, we went to Home Depot to get a few things. We had been there the other day and a woman at the paint counter gave the girls some stickers. So every time we ran into someone working there, Lily would ask for a sticker, but no one else had any. We also ran into a woman who had brought her 2 dogs into the store with her in a buggy. The girls had to talk to them, find out their names, and pet them. Last night I took the girls for ice cream after dinner. Baskin Robbins has $1 scoop after 6pm. Lily had chocolate (big surprise) and Miriam had blue raspberry. Lily had chocolate all over her mouth and on the tip of her nose. it was so cute. Miriam finally noticed and laughed so I laughed too. Lily knew what we were laughing at and said" Look, I'm a clown." She is my little comedian!! Lily can always come up with something funny to say even when she is in big trouble. Miriam makes me proud witht he way she easily makes friends. She always wants to start up conversations with people we meet and at playground she will walk up to someone her age and start playing with them. Ever now and then a kid won't even talk to her and Miriam always gets her feelings hurt. She doesn't understand that not all kids are as outgoing. The good thing is that she does all this when I am nearby and doesn't just run off to talk to stangers. Miriam is totally shy sometimes too. Lily is a big "liar" also. Not that she really understands lieing yet, but she does it very easily. For example if she does something bad, she has already learned to say "Sissy did it!" and if she is talking with someone and they say " I have a dog.", Lily will say "I have a dog, too." What an adventure raising kids is!!!

Where did my 4 days go?

I just noticed that it has been 4 days since I blogged. I've been pretty good about keeping up with this so far. Where did my time go?? Well, I've been busy searching for an apartment for my parents. On Saturday, Jeremy wanted to paint the Living room, so I helped clean and then kept the girls out of the house most of the day. We went and visited with my friend Christina and her (now) 5 girls. My girls love playing with hers and I really like visiting with Christina. When I got home, all the furniture was in the playroom and our bedroom, and there was only the couch in the living room so the girl's have very little room to play. Although they turned the little spaces available in the playroom into forts.
On Sunday, Jeremy woke up not feeling well and spent all day in bed. I took the girls to church and to eat. I then put a second coat of paint on the living room. I've never painted a room before and am kinda proud of myself. It actually looks good too. Then I took the girls out to eat again and a quick trip to the grocery store.
Today, it has been more of the same- working on getting my parents an apartment, out to eat, trip to Home Depot, cleaned up painting stuff, and vacuumed. I can't wait until we're done with this house. The more work I do, the more willing I am to sell as is for a loss. I am so looking forward to Mother's Night Out tonight. I need to relax.

ACOG Statement on Homebirth

Here is a link to the most recent statement by ACOG on homebirth. Some of the things said truly offend me. They make the statement that birth is a "normal physiologic process that most women experience without problems", but then say that you must be in a hospital to give birth just in case. They say that monitoring is necessary, again just in case. they make it clear that they do not support homebirth, anyone who attends a homebirth, nor the woman having a homebirth. While they realize that c-sections are on the rise and that something needs to be done, they give no solution for this except that homebirth is not the answer. What offends me most is what they say about me and all other moms who choose a homebirth. 1) "Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre." 2) "Choosing to deliver a baby at home, however, is to place the process of giving birth over the goal of having a healthy baby." These 2 statements make me fume!! First, I consider myself anything but fashionable and trendy. I have never been in the "in" crowd, wore the nicest clothes, or really done anything trendy. More so, homebirth is an "outside" the crowd thing. Secondly, I chose homebirth because of my awful experience in the hospital with my first child. The hospital policies and my doctors decisions caused me to end up with a c-section with a perfectly healthy momma and baby. If anything, the things they did to me could have caused my death or Miriam's. I chose homebirth as the safer alternative for my family. I did a lot of research and put a lot of thought into my decision. I will never go to the hospital again to have a baby unless there is an emergency. Statements like this just make me stronger in my beliefs.
http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm

By the way, I've been talking about birth a lot lately, it will not always be this way! We started our homeschool bowling league today. Miriam and I are playing and really enjoyed ourselves!

Slings

If anyone is looking for a ring sling at a reasonable price, I have a friend who makes them. Here is a link to her site.
http://close2theheart.blogspot.com/

Homebirth in Hollywood

The man who plays Dr. Cox on the TV show "Scrubs" and his wife had a homebirth for their first child. Of course, she knew about the safety of homebirth since she is a yoga instuctor and a DOULA!! How awesome is that!! I am just glad that this made the news!! Here is the link:
http://www6.comcast.net/entertainment/articles/eonline/2008/02/04/38b9cf84-e03d-4f13-b688-fdf0c7460b33/

My Parents Sold Their House

My parents have finally sold their house and will be in Chattanooga by March 1st. It is so unreal that this is finally happening and so quickly. I am very close to my parents and can't wait for them to be close by. Then, as soon as we sell our house, we will be able to get a house together. I am going to be so busy over the next month- finding them an apartment, helping them move, continuing to work on our house. All this on top of our normal stuff. I am so excited!!! I am certainly looking forward to the benefits for myself- babysitting anytime, more alone time with my husband, having my mom around. I also want to help my parents. My dad will hopefully find a job he loves and my mom will have help raising my nephew. I really think it will be a win-win situation, but it may take some time to iron out all the problems. Now all we have to do is sell our house. Jeremy hopes to have it finished by the end of March and it will go on the market then! Anyone looking???

I just found this birth story through another Blog. It is the story of a woman who gave brith naturally to a stillborn baby. It reminded me so much of how I felt when giving birth to Josiah. I also had much the same experience after he was born. His 4th birthday is coming up on April 17th. I think I will post his birth story on that day.
http://www.mothering.com/articles/body_soul/grief_trauma/charlottes-grace.html

Aunt Flo and Other Visitors

My mom and my nephew came down on Wed to spend a few days with us. My girls love them so much and always enjoy being with them. It also gives me some relief and I'm able to get some things done. Then, Wed night, I get a phone call from my dad asking if he can come down for a few days for his job. I say something about mom being here and he didn't even know she was here. I thought that was funny. So my dad came down Thurs and is staying until Sun. Mom and AJ are going back today. I'm really close with my parents so I never mind them being here. My house is really cramped (we just have 2 bedrooms), but we always manage. When their house sells, they are moving to Chattanooga. I am so looking forward to that!!!!

Speaking of visitors, Aunt Flo showed up today. We've been trying to get pregnant since last July and nothing is happening. At first, I was real disappointed each month, but today I was almost relieved. I have decided 2 things- 1) I will get pg again, just not maybe on my time line. I'm sure that God has plans for me right now and having another baby is not one of them. I have no doubt that we will be able to have another one and I'll just trust God and be happy when it does happen. 2) Since I have been busy with my doula work, it has satisfied my desire for another child. Being around birth and babies helps me so much. I have 4 birth clients and one postpartum right now and that will keep me busy through July. Plus, when you see a woman going through labor, it makes you remember what it was like, so maybe I'll wait to go through that again!