spirited…….

So, everyone around me is getting pregnant and I have to say that I am feeling those familiar twinges. However, Eve is just getting old enough now that I can leave her with someone for a couple of hours and go do stuff and really starting to get a taste of freedom. Also, this last year and a half has been so hard that I really think we should kind of slow down and catch our breath first. Maybe next year at this time…..Or maybe not. I think I would like to have another spring baby and not be pregnant in the summer!

However, 2 friends, my cousin, and my sister-in-law are all pregnant and due between may and august so I am busy trying to make afghans for everyone. My mom has an insane craft closet full of skeins of yarn. I mean, she has so many that they are sorted into BINS by COLOR! It makes me smile. I am always thinking of all the fun projects to use the yarn on. So, that is why I am making baby afghans. This first one is a monster. I chose a stitch that is small (I think the babies get irritated with holy blankets that their toes stick through….or maybe I do and I am projecting…)anyway, so I am doing a small stitch with a small hook and it is taking FOREVER! It is also taking a ton of yarn. It is fun though. I am doing a simple pattern and making stripes however and whenever I like so there is no rhyme or reason to it. I hope it doesn’t drive the mama crazy since it won’t be “ordered”:)

Anyway, I am also throwing 3 diaper showers and I want to make capes for 3 girls and 1 boy(I loved the sibling presents I got at my shower so I want to make some for them). I have this idea of making “Narnia” capes with hoods and my mom has some faux fur in her awesome craft closet I could put around the collars…..It will definitely be fun!

Oh, and I would like to cut down my shelf so it fits over my bed, add rope lighting, build 2 side tables out the the old drawers from my kitchen and paint the doors to finally finish my bedroom….So, what is likely to actually get done?

So, this last week Eve got really sick again. I mean, REALLY sick. It was a lot like last time. She was just lethargic. So lethargic, it was scary. I would try to wake her and she would open her eyes for a second and then they would roll back into her head and she would go to sleep again. It was like the poor little thing just didn’t have the effort to keep them open. This time, there was no vomiting or diarrhea but the whole lethargy thing had me wigged out. So, I took her to the dr. again and she sent me to have another RSV test done. They did it in the ER last time and it is awful. For those of you who haven’t seen it, they stick a swap so far up into her nose that it looks like they are scrambling her brain and every time, they bring it out bloody and her nose bleeds a little the rest of the day. No sooner had I gotten home, but they called….It was positive. AGH!!! Well, I guess we had it coming, it was the only thing she didn’t have last time! The Ped. just said to keep doing the breathing treatments and if she didn’t get better overnight, we would admit her. Luckily, about an hour later, she crawled down off of my lap (for the first time in 3 days) went over to Olivia and starting eating goldfish (crackers). The rest of the day, she played and ate and drank. Those little darlings really just “bounce” back!!

Anyway, this whole sickness thing is such a shock to me. O has never had so much as an ear infection or antibiotics and poor Eve!@ Luckily, it is over and I am really praying for healthiness the rest of the winter! We have an appt. on the 19th to get her first vacc.’s. We got that book “Vaccinations” by Dr. Sears and we are going to limit the amount of aluminum containing vacc.’s to 1 per visit and spread them out. Luckily, since she is so old, she won’t need some of them like the rotavirus……..

We bought the girls a butterfly pavilion for Christmas. I thought it would be neat for her to watch the butterflies grow into butterflies. It was really neat. We got the catterpillers and watched them turn into chryssalis’ and then inito butterflies. She loves them. This is where we hit a snag….You see, they came in a handy little jar that had all the food they needed until they hatched out of their chrysallis into butterflies. Then we have to start feeding them. Well, we also have 2 goldfish (O named Sam and Charlie) and a dog to feed and we have been busy so I forgot for a couple of days (just to feed the butterflies, the goldfish and dog are still alive). Well, we got the butterflies down to feed them today and some of them weren’t moving. I totally lied to O and told them that they are just sleeping. So, now I am not sure how I am going to explain to her why some are “missing” when I take out the dead ones. I guess I need to explain to her about how things die if you don’t feed them…..ARGH!!!! Why did I get them in the middle of winter? I totally should have gotten them in summer so we could have released them right away and then I wouldn’t have had to worry about feeding them!!!! So, I guess I will have to have another talk with her later….HMmmmmm…how long can I procrastinate this conversation?

Things are finally starting to feel like they are calming down. I am slowly wading through the laundry. Luckily, the laundry mountain in my laundry room has dissappeared and now I have a few loads in my room and the girls’ room. Once I get all the laundry done I think I will make some pillows for the couch. Then, I need to work on our room. I guess it is time to start on the house again after our hiatus after finishing the girls’ room. If I could ever figure out how to upload the pics I would!!

Nothing new to report. I am thinking on cutting up some of the girls’ old clothes that I have been saving. (The ones that have irreparable stains) I have some too. I have several shirts with gooey handprints and stuff all over the fronts…. I think I am going to quilt it together and make a hole in the middle so the girls could use it for puppetteering. I can’t decide if I am going to make it like 8 feet long so it could also double as a stage for the girls or just make it smaller and hang it with a tension rod in a doorway. Well, I am sure that by the time I get to that fun project, I will have had lots of time to think about it!! I do, however, think that if I made a stage, that would be really cool! We could tie back the quilted panels when they aren’t using them. Of course, leaving them closed could lead to all kinds of fun games too…..I am not sure where I would get a rod to hang it quite that long though…Maybe pvc pipe? Would it support the weight? Any suggestions?

Hmmmm, circle of good mama friends.  Isn’t that what we all need to feel more content and to help us navigate the rough waters of stay-at-home-momhood?  I was just thinking how we manage to meet wonderful women in our lives at just the right time and then life takes us in different directions…..I often think of Amanda, Jane, and Tara and how much I learned from each one of them…..

I am starting to try to build up my circle of friends here.  I have had a lot of time to reflect on life lately and I have decided that I need to get a "circle" here too.  It makes life so much easier when you aren’t home by yourself with your children for 10 hours a day.  I have started a regular playdate with one friend, Montana.  She has a little girl who is 5 and plays pretty well with O and a little boy who is 1 month younger than Eve.  I am going to start a playgroup on Wed.’s at our church’s activity center I think.  It is a big open space so the kids could run and play in the winter and they could just go over to the playground in the summer.  I think that will be fun too…..

We have also started hanging out more with Danielle.  She does daycare though but I think once a week or so we will go over there and play.  Our kids play well together and we have a lot of the same philosophies on child-rearing.  She is fun.

Of course, it takes time to build friendships but I feel like I am meeting a lot of great women and the days are definitely brightening up!  It is amazing how much better I feel about life when I have a couple of mamas to hang out with during the week!!!

On a side note, some teachers and aides at my moms school would like to have an exercise class in the school gym after school.  My mom asked me if I would lead it.  Of course, I got really excited.  Before kids, I was trying to get certified to teach aerobics.  I never did because the certification workshops were always too far away…..Anyway, it would be an awesome thing to do because, A…I would get to workout uninterrupted, and B….I might make some money.  Then, reality set in.  After paying childcare and gas, for what I would ask the moms to pay($1 a class, I want it to be affordable and I am not certified), I would be in the hole.  That is depressing.  It always is when you want to do something for yourself and realize it may not be feasible.  But, I am looking for other options.  Maybe I can find someone to swap childcare with me and then it would work out better………