Unexpected Generosity!

Have you ever been the recipient of unexpected generosity? I have before but it seems especially blessed here recently. With the financial crunch that everyone is feeling things have become a little tight. So we've tightened our belts but some how we always make it. Well, not some how. We are blessed by our Heavenly Father through others.

Here's how I've seen it in my life recently.

• Sweetie Heart was given free tuition for an Art Day that was held over the break. She was also given a half tuition scholarship for a week of Art Camp this summer.

• I was offered some clothes from a neighbor for Sweet Girl, some summer stuff and some stuff for next year.

• A couple of friends and coworkers up at the library spoils the kids with healthy snacks and chocolate when we go up to volunteer and check out book. They also bring special things for holidays and for no reason at all!
  

• One of said coworkers bought me a night cotton summer gown and gave me money for my trip to Boston this weekend.

• My friend's husband is paying for the suite that the 4 of us are staying in when we go to Boston.

• Our insurance will cover the birth of our 3rd child. This is a first for us. We usually have to pay out of pocket to do a home birth. And if I was birthing with anyone else here in Little City we would as well. But our midwives our preferred providers for our insurance and the state insurance!

• Webby has a job when others from his company , who have been there longer, have been laid off. His employers love him and he is willing to do and go where ever they send him. He also completed his first year electrical apprenticeship at the top of his class.

• We are blessed to be having another child. My mom is coming for a week to help after the baby is born. My sister is also coming with her kids and additional baby stuff for myself and the baby.
  

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If I really started to make a list it would go on forever. I pray that I will be able to bless the lives of others the way that my life has been blessed.

Update on Baby

I had a request, from someone who will remain nameless (because they left an anonymous comment without signing their name!) that I do a little update on the baby. I am assuming it was a family member but I have no idea. So here it goes.

First off, I'm pregnant. Just in case you didn't know or couldn't figure that out. I am due September 11, 2009, but I'm hoping for the 9th. Because having a birthday that's 9.9.09 would be totally cool! So I've been focusing on that date and hoping for the best. Of course, by September I'll be ready to have the baby at any time. Sweetie Hearts teacher also has the same due date! How fun is that!

Everyone here at the house is really excited! The girls are looking forward to having a baby around...most of the time. Although Sweetie Heart has voiced that she hopes I don't have another one until she's moved out. But that was only said because she wasn't getting the attention she wanted. But it does go to show that she realizes that when the baby comes more of the attention will be on the baby than her. But mostly, they are really excited. I tell them about how big the baby is and we get out the ruler and look, compare it to things we have in the house (a jelly bean, a doll, a book etc.) Sweet Girl is excited to be a big sister, too! Sweetie Heart wants a boy because she already has a sister. Funny though they refer to the baby as a she all the time!

The pregnancy has gone pretty well. I was sick and very tired through the first trimester and at the beginning of the second. I was pretty much nauseous all the time but didn't throw up as much as I did with either of the girls, so that's a step in the right direction. Maybe by the time we're done having kids I won't feel sick at all! So no this is not our last, probably just the middle. But that's not all up to us, now is it!? But I'm feeling pretty well now. I'm about half way through, hard to believe but it's true!

We have found a couple of great midwives here in New England. They have an office in our Little City so I walk up to the office for my visits. One is a Naturopath, Acupuncturist, and Midwife. The other is a Licensed Midwife. They are great and compliment each other perfectly. It will be interesting to see how they work together during the birth. They are young, you know my age, and have kids, too. I like that I'll have an Acupuncturist in the house for the labor. She can use it for pain management and stuff during labor! I'm totally stoked about that! I am doing it at home again, in case you ever doubted and will be doing another water birth. The other really exciting thing about living here is that this birth will actually be covered by my insurance. Most home births are not, even here, but because she is a Naturopath and covered is a in network provider, it will cover the birth as well! So what would have been $3300 will be closer to $600! That will be a first for us!

Webby and I are really excited! We are so happy to be welcoming another or God's children into our home! We have learned so much in the past couple of years. I can see our family becoming closer to one another and we are changing so much for the better. Part of this is because of a parenting class I took this year called Parenting on Track but I think I'll do a series of posts on that at a future date. Needless to say it has changed so much for us!

I also realize that I am in for a rude awakening. Well, reawakening. This baby is going to need us to do everything for it! That means I'm going to have to get up at all hours to do that. I have been very spoiled this past year. The girls have started getting up in the morning and doing their own thing. If they are hungry, they go eat. Even Sweet Girl at 3 1/2 gets her own bowl of cereal! But mostly when I open their door in the morning they are laying in bed reading books!! Yes, reading books! Sweetie Heart has taken off in her reading this year and is going through 3-5 chapter books a week...in her free time! And Sweet Girl looks at books and has a pretty good memory for a story and loves to "read" books to herself. They are pretty independent which I have been encouraging more and more since the parenting class.

Even though it will be like starting over on some ways, I feel so much more prepared for this addition. I feel like I can do this. I feel excited to start a new adventure as a family of five. We are all very excited to see if it will be a brother or sister, whatever Heavenly Father gives us will be a welcome blessing in our lives.

No picture yet, but I'll try to get some when I'm looking pregnant. With it still being a bit chilly here in New England I'm still wearing sweaters so many people I see on a daily basis still don't know if I haven't told them. The surprises abound!

Have You Seen It?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Release Date: July 15th, 2009

Easter

Tip Tuesday

So here it is. Better late than never...right?!

Last week a touched a little on FlyLady. Now if you know anything about FlyLady you will know she is a bit intense. The whole "FLYing" thing can get a bit overwhelming. Trust me, I know. Now if you a bit on the organized side, you will probably easily slip into the FlyLady thing. Don't get me wrong, I love her! She teaches and encourages you to be better, to do better and to jump in where we are. One of my favorite quotes from her is, "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are." She has great ideas to get yourself and your home in order. Really...go check her out!

If your like me, though, it can get to feel like too much. I get overwhelmed because I want to be able to do everything perfectly right now! Patience in not a virtue I have naturally. But I'm working on it.

Last year I was reading a blog and was given a 30 Day Challenge. It really scaled down what I felt I needed to do and gives me more of a feeling of control. Here is an example of one day in the life of The Challenge.

30 Day Challenge

Monday
personal challenge number: Choose how many things you want to pick up per room.
rooms completed: How many rooms do you have?
today's extra focus goal accomplished? Pick your "hot spot" (the bad clutter area)
focus area for tomorrow: Look around and make your pick.

I slide my paper into a plastic page protector so I can write on it with a dry erase marker.

My personal challenge number is 6. So I need to pick up 6 items per room per day. Yes, I am an over achiever!

For the rooms completed I put down a _ of 6 rooms (because I have 6 rooms in my house.) Then I write how many rooms I get done each day.

The extra focus goal accomplishment is a simple yes or no. I either do the whole project, if it's not too big (less than an hour) or set my goal number higher...like 20 items to pick up and put away. Did I mention the putting away part? Yes, you have to do that too.

At the end of the day I pick my focus area for the next day.

My 30 Day Challenge is for Monday through Friday only. I take the weekends off. I've worked hard all week picking up my 30 things. I'm exhausted! Actually, you'll be surprised at how much you can get done when the goal is just 6 things per room. It make a huge difference in your home. So give it a try.

Are you up for the challenge?

Tip Tuesday

Finally, I am feeling better. The first trimester really wipes me out. The sickness seems to go on forever, of course it doesn't it just feels that way. So that is why I've been absent for so long. I'll do my best to get back on track for the entertainment and education of all.

So here is my...

Tip Tuesday

I actually planned to post this about a month ago. But...well...things happen and I just wasn't feeling up to it. But here it is now. Get a pen.

Anyone who is familiar with FlyLady knows that she's big into Control Journals. She suggests you schedule out you days, what cleaning or errands you are going to do, etc. When I started FlyLady I was overwhelmed. I wanted a Control Journal, but felt too overwhelmed to make my own. Fortunately for me (and of course her) she sells one. My mom got one for me for my birthday. I loved it and used it for awhile. I've fallen off the wagon as of late, but that okay. Here's what I have for my tip.

As a part of the Control Journal packet there is a part for directions to the house, important phone numbers, schedules, release forms for kids. So what I did, for ease, is put them those pages in its own Baby Sitter Control Journal. So now whenever we leave the kids with a sitter I pull it out and put it on the kitchen table, ir normally kept on the top of bookshelf. Since Sweet Girl has allergies I also have the EpiPen literature in there and have the sitter read through the directions before I leave.


So here's how mine goes.

1. Evening Routine
2. 
3. Child/ren's name , allergies, insurance etc. Special Instructions for the Babysitter
4. Babysitter Information, emergency contact numbers and medical release form (I often slide the insurance cards into the sleeve protector if I'm leaving for several hours.)
5. Allergy and allergy information and directions in case of reaction
6. Emergency Section: police, fire department, ambulance, and poison control numbers
7. Other Emergency numbers
8. Child Safety Identification Cards. You can get these off the internet and often at the police department. We happen to have a Boy Scout doing his Eagle Scout project and offered it free to the public. It was really nice. They took and printed the pictures right there, and did the finger prints and everything. Now that was a really great Eagle scout project!
   

It can have anything you want it to have in it. You don't have to buy it. There are probably internet source that will give them to you for free or you can make up your own. As you can see, some of the stuff is hand written and others are filled in on the form. I put all the pages in sheet protectors so the pages don't rip. I also write in pencil on most of the forms so that I can erase and change them as the children grow or we add another member of the family. It leaves me with a sense of calm when I leave the kids. I know everything is at the baby sitter's finger tips because I put it together myself.

With my last birth I put together a Birth Control Journal. It had in it who to call and when. My birth plan. Pertinent birth information from the midwife and where things were kept. I assembled all my stuff so I would be ready for use during and after the birth, but when in labor there is just no telling if I was going to remember. And I can tell Webby a million times, but there are no guarantees he's going to remember. So it's all right there for him!

Nursery Rhymes

Sweet Girl is too funny! She has a great sense of humor. But sometimes her funniness just comes from being a kid who misunderstands what is being said. Here are a couple of the funny ones. Both of these were overheard while she was playing and singing.

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. I hope she dies!"

"London Bridge is falling down.... Take the kids and lock them out, lock them out, lock them out. Take the kids and lock them in. My fair lady!"

Really this does not reflect her reality. It is too funny to listen to her sing. She has a lovely voice and can memorize words and tunes pretty quickly. But I love the mix ups as well.


And how about this one.

I took the kids up to the bigger city to get Sweetie Heart puddle jumpers and sandals. Webby only had to work for a couple of hours so we dropped him off at work to run our errands. I planned to take the girls to Ben & Jerry's as a surprise. So I turned onto the street. She saw the sign and read it, of course.

SH: Ben & Jerry's! Mom can we have ice cream?
Me: Yes
SH: Can we please have ice cream?
me: Yes
::I pull into a parking spot across from the shop::
SH: What are you doing?
Me: Parking so we can get ice cream
SH: REALLY!
Me: I told you we could get ice cream. Didn't you believe me?
SH: I think if it had been someone else I would have believed them. But because you're my mom I didn't.
Me: So because I'm your mom you didn't believe me??
SH: Well, sometimes you don't tell the truth. You say yes when you really mean no.

Take that! I guess I need to joke around a bit less. In my defense, I'm not malicious about it. I never say yes to something that she really wants when I really mean no. I might say no when I mean yes, or tease about giving her something I know she doesn't like. But I'm never mean about it.

So there you have it. A small piece of our life!

Pay It Forward!

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade (or possibly store-bought) gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though: you have to post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!

Goal Accomplished!!

Sweetie Heart was born a thumb sucker. I honestly believe that she sucked her thumb in utero. She picked it up very quickly, she never did like pacifiers. But then again I never really hung in there with them. I don't have the patience to keep putting a pacifier in when it keeps getting spit out. Sweet Girl never took a pacifier, but she never sucked her thumb either. Hence my theory on in utero habit formation.

Anyway, for the past couple of years we have been working on breaking the habit. It's a tough habit to break. I should know. I was 9 when I finally stopped sucking my thumb. I did it so I could get braces. I wanted braces. Little did I know I would be in some sort of orthodontia until I was a senior in high school. Peeps, that's a loooong time and by the end I was none to happy about it. But that's a different story all together.

So last year we started really trying to encourage and help her stop. We reminded, we badgered, we begged, we bribed. We put band aids on her thumbs as a reminder and that worked pretty well during the day, but at night she just sucked them with the band aids on! We finally found something that she really wanted. She wanted her ears pierced! Bad!! So at the end of the summer we told her we would do that after she had stopped for 14 days.

Sweetie Heart really wanted them pierce before school started so we marked the day on the calendar. That day passed. So did many, many others. Mostly, she sucked her thumb when she was bored, upset, or sleeping, but I know she was doing it at school some, too.

I forgot about the bribes and moved on. I knew that she would do it when she was ready and not a minute sooner. So we waited. And something happened. About 3 weeks ago we went to the dentist. I didn't say anything about the thumb sucking. He had the last time, but there is no point beating a dead horse so I let it be. But she came home and said I'm not sucking my thumb anymore. Okay, I've heard that before, but I encouraged her. There were a couple of days with some false starts. But she got it! It had to be 14 day in a row, so if on day 13 she sucked her thumb she would have to start over. we were keeping track by putting stickers on my calendar and all was well. She was in charge of telling me how it was going. One night, on day 10, Webby went in to check on the girls before bed. She had she thumb in her mouth. He pulled it out easily and she didn't even know she had done it. So we talked to her about it and told her that we were going to overlook it because she was doing so well and it was unconscious. It hadn't been happening the other nights so we know it was just an accident.

Last Saturday was the day! She was so excited! We went to a small place, not the mall. There was a young girl there who did the piercing. She was very good. With the first earring she winced a little, but it was fast and the girl just went right on with the next one. She didn't wait to ask if she was okay or wanted to wait, just did the second one. It was perfect! Bing, bang, boom and it was done! Here are the pictures I promised.

And We Laugh Again!!

I don't watch television. I don't even own one at this time. I watch a couple of shows online and that's about it. So I miss out on the good and moreover bad commercials. My sister-in-law sent this one to us. And I laughed! I thought you'd enjoy it, too.



Now get out there and get that job!!