Poor David.

Hi!

Most of you know this information, if you're friends with me on facebook.

You know, David is hardly ever sick. He got roseola that one time, which barely counts. He had an ear infection we didn't know about until we took him to his well-child visit one time. He's had lots of colds, but those hardly count.
So lately he's been doing his best to make up for 2 years of not being sick! Yay!
Friday night he woke up with a barking cough, and he was crying. i got him up, called the nurse line, and the nurse line heard him coughing and said he had croup. Which is not usually a big deal, in most kids it's very mild. We spent about a 1/2 hour in the bathroom with the hot water running. He slept fitfully coughing the rest of the night.

Saturday afternoon we were at my parent's house and he was taking a nap. He woke up not only coughing badly, but his breathing was incredibly labored. i took him to urgent care. He had 102.5 temp. His o2 stats were good, he didn't have influenza, so the Dr. labeled it as an unknown virus with the croup. Our instructions were to keep a humidifier in his room and give him Motrin. If at any point, the skin in his neck and right under his rib cage sucked in when he was breathing, i was to bring him to the E.R. because it meant that his airways were blocked.

Saturday night, he was doing better with the Motrin. He went to sleep like a champ. 11:00 he woke up coughing and crying, so i was going to have him sleep with me in my bed until Kris got home from work. i laid him on my bed, and he was taking short breaths and his skin was sucking in when he inhaled. It was so awful, watching my little manster struggling for breath. i was crying but trying to smile and use a happy tone so he wouldn't get scared. It was not a good Valentine's day.

So i took him to the E.R., where of course he showed no symptoms, and i was really worried it was going to be an E.R. visit where i would get told "give him Tylenol and keep him hydrated". Fortunately, he coughed and had his labored breathing in front of the doctor finally, so they gave him a steroid and they gave him an epinephrine nebulizer treatment. His fever was down to 101.7. With nebulizer treatments, you have to stay at the hospital for about 3 hours so they know it's working or something. So we were there till 2:30.

He slept well that night. Kris took care of him while i was at church the next morning. His fever seemed to be better, which is good. He still was coughing at night. He and i slept on the recliner for about an hour on Sunday night. He woke up after a while, had a coughing fit, and once that was over, he couldn't get comfortable so i put him in bed, and for the first time i think since we put him in his toddler bed, he just stayed in bed and went to sleep.

Cadence, God bless her, started sleeping through the night, like 12 hour shots, last weekend. So that's good news.

So on Monday, the kids had their 4 month and 2 year old well-child checkups. The Dr. did Cadence first, and she said "Do you think Cadence has an ear infection at all?" And we didn't think so-she had been happy as a clam lately. Turns out she had an ear infection. i guess my kids don't have symptoms with ear infections? And David was fine, his fever was much better, and we were told he'd still cough for about a week.

Tuesday was David's birthday!!
2 years old. Craziness. Luckily, he was feeling great that day. Kris and i took him to this indoor park with play tubes and slides and stuff like that. We went at night, too, and there were only a couple other kids there, so David had the run of the place. We had a picnic there, and then we went to Outback for his free spotted dog sundae.


Oh, and David had his first snickers bar and his first pb & j sandwich, and he's a huge fan. He does not appear to be allergic to peanuts, and loves them. It's been a long two years, not feeding him peanuts. Glad that's over!


So then Wednesday. He woke up early, and crying this really sad, really low pain cry. He just wanted to be held, and he was whining and grabbing at his ear. He wouldn't eat and nothing made him happy, poor fellow. So i made him a Dr. appointment.


He had an ear infection and bronchitis. That kid can not catch a break lately! So we got antibiotics for him, and now we own a nebulizer, which apparently insurance covers 100%, which is awesome. It is very difficult, trying to give 2 neb treatments per day to a 2-year-old. But hopefully he'll be completely better soon.


It's been an exhausting week, you guys. Watching my little son gasping for air just about killed me. i'm so glad he's doing better.

Great news!

Hi!!
So, it's 5:46 AM. Everyone in my house is sleeping, but i can't sleep because i'm too excited.
Right around the 2nd week in January, Kris and i were seriously discussing what we were going to do in the summer about our living situation. We were fairly certain that we would be foreclosed. We just couldn't afford to live where we do. Our mortgage payments were high and we were always late with them. i think 10 of the last 12 months we were late at least a few weeks. Add townhouse association fees and utilities, and it gets expensive, especially because Kris' job opening hasn't opened yet. It was pretty bleak. We were getting 8+ collections calls a day from 4 different places. We just were slogging along, never knowing how much money would come in from Kris' serving tips, and ignoring the phone.
So i prayed. Jesus and i have this thing, where i'll pray for money to come from someplace unexpected that we won't have to pay back, and then 1-2 days later, we'll get money from someplace unexpected we won't have to pay back. The cool thing is, wherever the money comes from? Had been set in motion before i prayed about it.
i prayed around the 10th of January, i believe. And then i waited. 2 weeks later, nothing. And i was all like, "Um, Jesus? Um, yah, didn't we have an understanding here? You send money when i pray?" So here's what happened within the last two weeks, in chronological order.

• My friend Liz's husband got a job. They needed childcare for their daughter 3 days/week: would i like to watch her? And a little less than doubled my income along with what i get paid from church. Now i will actually get a normal person's salary, while being able to stay home with my kids during the week. i start this week, yay! (Thanks for the opportunity Liz!)
  
• Here's my favorite of these bullet points. A few days after i agreed to start watching Mallory, like around January 30, Kris opened some mail from the mortgage company. We don't open mail from the mortgage company, because it usually says things like "You are 2 months behind. Send us $2400 within the next two weeks or we will start foreclosure proceedings." You can understand why we don't open them, right? So Kris opened up a letter from the mortgage company. And it said something to the effect of "Hey buddy! We figure you're having a rough time. You're a little over a month behind, and your credit sucks, so there's no way you can apply to refinance. So how about you pay us $900, and we will cut your mortgage payments by $300+month, and lower your interest by 2% for the life of your loan? Also, if you pay us $900, you will be current, and the money you were behind on paying us, we'll just add to the end of your loan. Does that sound good?" !!!! That is amazing! We can afford to live here now. But the thing is, the letter was sent on January 9. i originally prayed January 10th. Jesus had come through for us, but we just didn't open our mail!
• Then last night, we did our taxes. We used Turbo Tax this time, instead of like last year when 1/2 of our refund went to H&R Block for their fees. Kris and i weren't sub contractors at any of our main jobs this year, and we had a baby, and also got a stimulus rebate for her. (By the way, if you want to use Turbo Tax, which i strongly recommend, if you have a Circuit City near you that is not closed yet, go there to buy your software. They went bankrupt and are selling everything crazy cheap. We got the $60 Turbo Tax software for $44.) So we knew our refund would be better than last year. Well, it was 2 months of mortgage payments, including both mortgages! (We have a big mortgage and a small mortgage: an 80/20, i think it's called.) We are going to set aside our refund and use it only for paying mortgage for the next two months. Then, as money comes in, we are going to get current with all our other things that got pushed aside while we were scrambling to make mortgage payments.  i think the next 2 weeks or so Kris will be able to make enough money to get current on everything.
  

You guys, i will be able to answer the phone again.
After all is said and done, if you add the extra money i'll be making, the money we don't have to pay on our mortgage, and divide our refund by 12 months, we are now $1350 more comfortable every month. All within the last 2 weeks. All of this had been in place before i prayed for it. We'll be making enough money to cover our expenses for the first time since...well i don't know if we ever did. i haven't done the math yet, but i think we will be bringing in even more than our expenses. We will hopefully be able to start paying more than minimum payments on credit cards, and then saving money. Like for our future. Like grownups.
You should see Kris. He looks lighter. i've never seen him look so happy or relaxed. i've never felt so relaxed, either. We have so much debt, you guys. We had numbed ourselves to it, just doing the best we could, and hoping it would get better. And things would happen that were absolutely amazing, but not quite enough to push us over the edge into being able to pay all of our expenses.
There's this song that they played a lot in this church i went to growing up that runs through my head a lot. It is quickly becoming my favorite song ever, surely the most relevant to my life. If you want to hear it, here's the best version i could find on youtube, of like 3. But here are the words, emphasis mine
:

I'm Forever Grateful

You did not wait for me to draw near to You
But You clothed Yourself with frail humanity
You did not wait for me to cry out to You
But You let me hear Your voice calling me

And I'm forever grateful to You
I'm forever grateful for the cross
I'm forever grateful to You
That You came
To seek and save the lost

By Mark Altrogge
copyright 1985 PDI Praise

i hope you all have a blessed day. And week. And year. God's peace be with you.

PPD

So for the last few weeks, i was starting to feel really sad. All the time. Like at any moment, i could have burst into tears (and often did). And i was just thinking that it was my hormones adjusting from giving birth. But i was starting to also go around in a haze, and very sadly, i was starting to not care if Cadence was crying, which she was doing from like 6-10 PM. i just sort of shut down emotionally to her. (It turns out she just wasn't napping enough. It's Kris' fault but that's beside the point). i could only sleep for a couple hours at a time, and even that sleep didn't help, because i think i was sleeping nervously, like i knew i wouldn't sleep long because Cadence would wake up crying. Again.
My mom suggested that it was post partum depression, and i felt silly that i hadn't thought of that. It totally was. Did you know you can get PPD up to a year after you have a baby?
So i called my doctor, and he put me on Wellbutrin. i've been on it for about a week now. i gotta tell you, it's weird, but helping. It's weird because i'm still having trouble getting to sleep, but i wake up feeling rested, not exhausted, even if i didn't sleep much that night. Also, i'm feeling a little more in control, and more energetic to chase after David during the day. David has been a brat lately, but i've stopped feeling like he's being a jerk to me on purpose, and it has more to do with how Cadence isn't going away and all the toddler stuff he's going through.
i feel a little bit more hazy than before, which will hopefully go away. i also can't finish a sentence. When i have conversations with people, i have to stop in the middle of a sentence to remember what i was saying and finish it. And it still might not make sense. But overall, i'm really glad i went on it, and now i'm just going through the adjustment period of being on this stuff, and figuring out the best dosage, etc.
Thankfully, Cadence is behaving much better lately since i started putting her down for naps whenever she was really fussy for no reason. She's also starting to self-soothe a little bit. i hear her wake up in the middle of the night, kick around for a while, and then go back to sleep. She's actually slept through the night 2 of the last 4 nights! Which is good. She's sick right now so she's kind of a pain, but it's not her fault. i'm trying to keep her calm with lots of little feedings and baby Tylenol.
Here are the side effects that i've been having with Wellbutrin, though, for anyone searching for this online:

• dry mouth
• food and drinks don't taste as good anymore. Which is sad, because Dr. Pepper used to be a highlight of my day, and now it's just ok. (i think this happens because Wellbutrin is also a stop-smoking aid, so it makes your mouth all gross so you don't want to smoke anyway. This is pure speculation, however).
  
• trouble sleeping
• constantly feeling a little bit foggy, like i've had a little bit of wine. Which isn't so bad, but it's a strange feeling at 9 AM.
  
• my thumb twitches for minutes at a time sometimes. 

The good really outweighs the bad, in my opinion. And i've been told that most of the side effects go away after a few weeks.
So that's kind of what i've been up to for the last few weeks. This is one of the first days where i could write this out and mean it: things are good, and getting better. Also, my friends in real life have been helping me out. A lot. And i've needed it.
So yay.
More birth story as soon as i can!

Resolute

i'm not normally a New Year's Resolution gal. This year, i find myself really wanting to change some of my habits, so i'm posting them here. Maybe as motivation to be held accountable, maybe because i'm just giving in to peer pressure from all yall, but, nonetheless, here's my plan.

Food:
More whole grains.
Avoid needing two sandwiches by filling one with more stuff.
Fill my sandwiches with healthy stuff.
Hummus or mustard instead of cheese or condiments.
Portion out my meals before i eat, stick to only what's on my plate.
Soda 1x/day, no exceptions.
Only one unhealthy meal a day. Mac and Cheese for lunch and pizza for dinner don't provide many nutrients.
Always have washed, cut up vegetables in the refrigerator.

Money:
Spend less.
Eat out less, if i'm paying.

Marriage:
Cook more of Kris' fav foods, i.e. snickerdoodles.
Keeping the house cleaner will help Kris feel better. i should do it.
No walking off while angry, even if i can't think of anything to say and i just want to run away.


Parenting:
Spend more time reading up on the kids' developmental stages and trying to help them in those areas.
Less tv for David. It's getting ridiculous, though it's tough to keep him entertained with Cadence as high-maintenance as she is.

Me:
Use my cool new Wii fit at least 4x/week. This doesn't sound like a lot, but more than that is too scary to commit to right now.
Lose 1 lb/week for 20 weeks.
Get tan.
Only buy clothes that i love and love me back. If i have to save a while and spend more, so be it. i'm sick of the cheap bargain clothes that don't fit quite right and make me feel really uncomfortable. In the mean time, i don't have many clothes that fit excellently and i feel like a schlub most of the time.
Read more. Get smart. i'm definitely getting stupider.
Be a better daughter.
Be a better friend.

This is where i'm at this year. Part of keeping the house clean and eating out less and being a better mom and wife has kept me off the computer as much as i had been. This will probably continue. Bear with me. i love you all.


What are your resolutions?

Cadence's birth story, part 1

i am completely ecstatic for my pal Kacie from Sense to Save, because she had her baby! She had him 4 days ago, which means i've been crying off an on for the last 4 days. i get, erm, a bit emotional with new babies, especially when it's my really good friends (albeit long-distance) who have them. Congrats Kacie, Shane, and baby Johnny!

Anyway, i'm inspired to write out Cadence's birth story. So here goes.


She was very easy to conceive. i'm one of those super-lucky fertile people. i don't take it for granted. Anyway, Kris and i thought, "Let's try for a baby!" So we did. A few days later, i was ovulating. Turns out i didn't need to buy the super-jumbo ovulation kit, even if 11 tests were only $3 more than 4 tests.

Two weeks later? Positive pregnancy test.

That week was really crappy. Except for the positive pregnancy test, of course. But within an hour, my dog died and my car died. Remember? It was really sad. Being hormonal didn't help much, either.

But the pregnancy progressed nicely. i was a little bit more sick, and quite a bit more tired, but blamed it on running after a toddler, though hoping against hope it was a girl.

And she was!

So that was good news. And then things kept going on. i was sure she was going to be late, like David.

Don't tell anyone, but about 2 weeks before i was due, i did some of those things you're not supposed to that are supposed to spur on labor. i drank a glass of wine every couple of days. i took raspberry leaf tea. i took blue cohosh. These are supposed to soften your cervix and stuff, and mine was already soft.

35.5 week checkup-37.5 week checkup: 1 1/2 cm dilated, 50% effaced

Raspberry leaf tea, blue cohosh week.


38.5 week checkup: 3 cm dilated, 90% effaced!

It was awesome! Except it didn't let my hopes get up too high. i tried not to, anyway. My Dr. had been stripping my membranes for a couple weeks, but usually that is supposed to work within a few hours if it's going to work, right? It didn't.

39.5 week checkup? Didn't happen!!

Back up 4 days.

October 5, Sunday night. My dad went to the hospital with horrible tummy pains. Turns out he had an obstructed bowel. Poor guy! He was in the hospital till Wednesday. Thankfully, they were able to use meds and diet to get it to go back to normal, and not surgery.

October 6, Monday night. Found out some sad family news about a couple separating. That was sad and unexpected.

October 8, Wednesday. My van got broken into: my GPS and 60 GB ipod were stolen. That pretty much sucked. i have missed each of them every day since it happened.

October 9, Thursday. 8:37 AM. Our power went out. Kris forgot to pay the bill. Here's a word-for-word reprint of my texts to him that morning.

8:37 AM: Our power just went out. i wonder what's up.
8:42 AM: i think my water is breaking.

That, my friends, is what happened leading up to her delivery. The weeks surrounding our discovery of her and of her birth were shrouded in bad news, but my little angel sitting next to me, in her little "Santa's little reindeer" sleeper made all the bad events seem brighter in the light of her beautiful new life.

To be continued.

Pictures

Hey ya'll. It's been a while since i've posted any pictures, so i thought i'd change that.
Pardon the blurry ones, the red eyes, and the lack of croppage. It is difficult to put out quality pictures when you have my lack of talent, my camera, and subjects who will not sit still! Anyway, i think they're still cute. :)

 

i love this one. He's so happy. Doesn't he look old there?

 

teensy toes!

 

She looks as though she's smiling there.

 

She is smiling there, but of course i took it on my cell, so i can't make it full size. This is the first smile picture ever taken of her!

 

David sleeping on his couch.

 

Completely ignoring the comfortable "big boy bed" he's got going on right next to it. 

We ended up moving the couch out of his room finally.

  

She's got some HUGE eyes. She gets that from me and my mom.

  

i'm making vanilla extract as gifts this year.

 

Just chillin' after eating spaghetti. 

 

...Must....eat....goldfish....crackers....NOW!

Anyway, these are my offspring. Aren't they adorable?

Alcohol abuse

Kris bought me a bottle of wine last night. i put it in the freezer so it would chill fast, because it had been a rough day with the kids.

i instead went to bed.

Liquor doesn't freeze, right?

Because wine popsicles would probably not be acceptable for breakfast, would mimosa slushes be ok? They've got orange juice in them!

Really, though, i'm hoping the wine doesn't taste like crap after it melts, because in my house, white wine holds a sacred place, and i hate to see it wasted.

Update

Hi! How are you all? Did you know that doubling the amount of children you have makes you more than doubly busy? i didn't know that till recently:)

Anyway, you may be asking, what's going on? Well, here we go.

Cadence got baptized at the end of October. She was 17 days old at the time, which is a bit early, but the pastor we wanted was unavailable in November, and the next time she was available was the end of December. So we had an early baptism. i'm pretty sure it still counted though. :) It was beautiful, and Cadence wore a dress that several other girls in Kris' family have worn, going back 3 generations. She was absolutely angelic in it, and thankfully slept through the baptism. She didn't make a peep! i don't have any pictures from it yet, because i didn't take any pictures. i'll have to ask family members to burn me a cd, and then i'll put them on here. She really was the sweetest thing.

David is talking a tiny bit more. He now says mama, dada, up, zap "zzaaa!", byebye, hi "eye", ball "ba", and baseball "baba". He also calls cellphones "bye", which i think is adorable. We keep trying to teach him they are phones, but he sees a phone, points to it, and says "bye!"

On that note, he uses all things as a phone. He particularly enjoys two people talking on whatever toy happens to be lying around. If one of us is unable to talk on the phone with him, he grabs one, starts jabbering, and walks around the house, looks out the window, etc. Just like i do when i'm on the phone.

On Thanksgiving morning, i heard him playing with his toys in his bedroom. i hadn't gotten him up for the day yet. So, yes, he learned to climb out of his crib. We got a toddler bed for him last summer, and we need to replace a bolt on it, then it's time for him to be in his Big Boy Bed. He slept on a twin bed at my parent's house the other day just like normal, so i think he'll be ok without his crib. It just came as a surprise to me: i definitely did not have the capacity to deal with that on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was awesome! Kris spent a week getting the basement ready. We have two bedrooms down there (we use them as a music room and office) that were bright purple and schoolbus yellow, due to the kids living here before we moved in. Now one of them is no longer yellow, but a beautiful calm gray, with white trim instead of the hideous 70's dark brown. That music room has Kris' drums finally all set up as well, and it's a very relaxing and inspiring room for us to play our instruments in.

We have a closet under our basement stairs that backs up to our laundry room. There were no walls between them, only the washer and dryer and the beams, so Kris found used drywall and made a wall. He painted the closet, installed a light in it, and reorganized all of it, and threw out a bunch of stuff the previous owners had left. We still have 2 weeks worth of trash to throw out in our garage, but our closet is much more neat and has a ton of storage space!

But you know how whenever you make major changes in your house, it ends up being a lot of unexpected trips to the hardware store and a lot more time than you anticipate? The night before Thanksigiving, i got 3 hours of sleep, and Kris didn't even go to bed. Totally worth it, though.

We smoked a huge turkey and made a smaller one the regular way. Our smoked turkey was AWESOME. We call it "Turbacon", and it was my idea:) Kris put sliced apples and garlic and wine in the skin. He then wrapped and stuffed the whole thing with bacon. (i don't like to eat bacon, but love the flavor it adds to things.) We used hickory chips soaked in apple cider and more wine. It was incredible.

i made these parmesan and mozzarella mashed potatoes, and they were insanely good. Definitely no gravy required. i also made white wine sangria which turned out great. Sangria goes down very easily, which made some of my guests have a better time than normal:) i think there were 5? people who were drinking it throughout the day, and there were 3 liters of wine and a half bottle of brandy in the batch. So, needless to say, good fun was had by all. There were 13 people total at Thanksgiving and it was a smashing success.

Cadence is going to play Baby Jesus at my church's Christmas pageant! i'm SO excited. i think she might be the cutest Jesus since...well, you know!

She has started to smile a bit more, and sometimes i swear she laughs. She also cries a lot more. Not enough to where i'd say she's sick, or has acid reflux or anything, but for like the first 6 weeks of her life she never really cried ever, and i guess i got spoiled. So she cries more, and HATES the car, and cries all throughout many drives i take. David isn't a huge fan of the car, but he does enjoy taking his cues from his sister. i gotta tell ya: when you've got two kids crying at the same time, it's amazing how your mind remembers that bottle of rum in your freezer. Her neck is getting stronger, too. Pretty soon she'll hold it up by herself, which will make her a lot easier to carry around.

She still fits in her newborn clothes, which makes me really happy. David hardly ever fit in his: i think they fit him about 2 weeks or so. She is 7.5 weeks now. She did go up a diaper size though. Those newborn diapers were not effective any more.

She slept through the night twice last week, which was just a tease. She tends to sleep from about 11 PM-4:30 AM now, and then she'll usually sleep again till 8 or so. Except today, where she just hates everyone and everything, especially sleep.

Speaking of that, she's crying (shocker) so i'll go be a good mommy and attend to her.

We have a winner!

Hey, remember when i had a giveaway?

My friend Sarah Chia won!

i really appreciated all of your ideas on making my life smell less, so i'm going to copy the tips into this post. They are tremendously helpful! The italics are mine.

From QuiteContrary1977:

For your stinking house: Get a jar of cinnamon from a dollar store, and toss a tablespoon in some water. Let it simmer on the stove. All the time. People still asked "What's that smell?" But in a good way!
For your stinky self: Get your own baby wipes! To that stack of wipes,add lemon juice,water and some squirt of your fave perfume. Pull out and wipe neck when you neeed freshening up!

From Nikki:

I've found that baking soda takes the smell out of anything. It amazing! You could sprinkle some in the diaper genie to absorb the smell. Every now and then I sprinkle it all over the carpet in my house and let it sit for a few minutes before I vacuum. I've even heard of people adding it to their laundry :)

From Jes:

Before switching to cloth diapers we had a diaper champ, I used to spray it with bleach water and rinse it out every time I changed the bag. Now with the diaper pail for the cloth diapers I sprinkle baking soda in the bottom, or I will drip some lavender oil on a paper towel and put it in the bottom. but I always, ALWAYS put it outside to air out for a few hours every couple days. that really makes a difference.

From Katie:

--New baby smell--every time you change her diaper, wipe with a diaper wipe under her chin to get the fold gunk off her neck.
--Breastfeeding smell--now is a sour milk smell, or a yeasty smell? If it's sour milk smell, change pads more frequently (and bras)--and after you've pumped or whatever you're doing right now--give your nipples air time so they dry off...if it's yeasty smelling you may have thrush...and you'll need to boil your bras and breastpads (if they're the washable kind)...and possibly take antibiotics. Are you trying to supplement your formula with breastmilk or are you trying to dry up--I've got tips for both of those as well!
--Formula smell...yeah...there's really nothing you can do about that..
--Toddler smell--save the diapers that are too small for Cadence--or donate them to a women's shelter--it's so not worth a huge load of laundry (or the hassle of changing clothes with every poopy diaper)--just switch up to the next size--it kills me when I have to do it too...but it's so worth it! Also, examine his diet--is it different from before he had a little sister or the same--that could say something about why he's pooping so much!
--New baby's smelly clothes--have a "dirty wet clothes" plastic tub--and once a day have your hubby throw it in the laundry (so it doesn't sit too long)--or if you're up for it--throw it in yourself once a day.
--I'm still working on this mildewy smell in my own clothes--I've experimented with tea tree oil and vinegar and combinations of other "natural" things...and I gotta say--laundry soap and add oxyclean really does the trick! For extremely smelly laundry, soak it first in the laundry soap/oxyclean combo, then when that's done wash it a second time...should do the trick. Also, add a second dryer sheet (if you're into those kinds of things--I AM) in the dryer and make sure they are SUPER dry (I always do a second dryer cycle on towels that got too moldy smelling)...
--Stomach flu--I'm glad you're better!
--Postpartum smell--well...I'll leave that alone! :)
--Diaper genie--ADD YOUR OLD DRYER SHEETS to the bottom of the pail--and sprinkle baking soda in it--OR douse it in vanilla and then after it sits for a while, wash it with bleach really good...
--House--enlist family or friends who love you very much to come help you...(i'll help if you want it!)... Borrow or rent a steam vacuum cleaner and get the couch (We own one so you can borrow ours or I can do it for you) and remember it's OK if your house isn't perfect--it's better to take care of your kids, yourself, and your hubby rather than a perfectly clean house! I guarantee you my house has been worse!


From Sarah Chia:

For mildew, my neighbor swears by the Shout/Oxyclean combo bottle they sell. It's a two-sided thing.

I haven't tried it yet, but she's pretty pumped about its results.


From Kristine:

I remember my mom saying something about using vinegar in your dishwasher. Sorry, I don't know.

P.S. Kristine, i think you're supposed to run an empty load with vinegar in your rinse liquid spot. i tried it and it seemed to help! love jessica

P.P.S. Everyone should check out Kristine's other helpful tips. If you go here, she's got awesome ideas for making your life easier.


Mama Belle said:

The only thing I know of is bleach, Febreze, and B&BW candles & air fresheners. Probably all not good for the baby. Not a lot of help, I know.

You know, sometimes air fresheners are the only thing that work, especially when you've got people coming over and don't have time to bleach the diaper genie. Lord knows i believe in them, which is why i'm giving one away!


Thanks everyone for your awesome advice! Miss Sarah, i will be emailing you to get your lovely air freshener out.

A giveaway

First, a lengthy explanation:

i've been going around blogging for like 1.5 years now. You all have been extremely wonderful encouragements and faithful friends to me through all of my life's events. So lately, i've been trying to come up with a nice but also affordable giveaway to show you all how much i appreciate you.

Here's a tangent:

My life is smelly. Really. i just had a baby (4 weeks ago today, my water broke right about now) and i forgot about how much life smells after a baby. Here's a breakdown for those of you who may not know. These are in no particular order.

• You've got your new baby smell. i'm not talking about that "Oh, she smells like a new baby!" smell, i mean the baby that spits up 2x/daily and poos much more often. These are not particularly pleasant smells.The spit up also tends to hang out in the folds of her neck and that's gross.
  
• You've got your breastfeeding smell. i don't know about you, but when i breastfeed, it produces this...odor. i don't know. It's totally weird. i think, actually, the baby is supposed to smell it and get hungry? Not sure. But with breast pads and the milk and everything, there is just a smell.
• You've got your formula smell. i stopped breastfeeding like two weeks ago after my baby wasn't gaining weight, and i was getting too stressed out. The downside? The aforementioned spit up and poos of my child are quite a bit smellier. Yick.
• You've got your toddler smells. Mine has randomly starting pooing about 3-4 times daily since Cadence was born. No idea why. He used to be a 1 poo a day kind of kid. So now he smells a lot more often. And he needs to go into the next size of diapers, but i don't want to waste the old ones. So i'm having to change his clothes almost every time he poos now, because his diapers are too small, leaving smelly clothes.
• You've got your new baby's smelly clothes.
• You've got the mildewy smell from accidentally leaving all these extra clothes in the washer too long.
• i got the stomach flu. i won't go there, but trust me, i'm glad to be feeling better and have cleaned my bathroom!
• Another "i won't go there" bullet point: the post partum smell. 
  
• The diaper genie. There are so many extra diapers, but less time to empty the pail. It's very stinky, especially when i resort to tossing the diapers in any garbage can but my kitchen. (P.S. Does anyone know how to make diaper genies not stink? Even when mine is empty, it smells to high heaven! It is not dirty, either.)
• The house. i haven't cleaned my house in ages. It's gross. And for some reason, my couch is wet? My is my couch wet? So smell may be coming from there. i need to clean out my refrigerator. i know there's some food in there that would help things if it were thrown. i've got diapers in my bedroom and bathroom garbages. i've got stinky clothes around. 

So you see, my life stinks. :) One of my bestest real life pals, Liz, brought me a really good smelling body wash and lotion kit, complete with loofah, after Cadence was born. So at least i don't smell. (When i get to shower.) But i'm tired of being greeted with ugly smells every time i walk into a room. i have found i tend to buy air fresheners after i have babies. i bought a new one yesterday, the Airwick Freshmatic.You know, the one that automatically sprays? And i totally love it! Outside of it freaking me out every 9 minutes when it sprays, (i've always been a little jumpy though) it is wonderful, and it has made my open floor plan living room, kitchen, hall, and entry smell like holiday spice. i also like it because it takes batteries, doesn't burn a flame, and doesn't plug into anything. With a toddler, i can't really have anything plugged into sockets that looks fun to play with. It's a really great air freshener for me, so i decided to give one to you!

There were two different scents at the store to choose from, vanilla or the holiday spice one. i went for the spice, because even though i don't usually love that one, i find most fake vanilla scents to be a bit nauseating. And it's a very nice smell. So that's what the winner of this giveaway will get.

How to win:
leave a comment, and a tip for getting the smell out of some aspect of my life, ie my towels that won't stop smelling, my stinky dishwasher, my diaper genie, etc. Here's where it gets fun for me, because i don't know how many people read this blog. So it would be fun to see some people come out of the woodwork a little bit. If you're new and just stopping by, feel free to enter. i'd just encourage you to maybe check out my "about me" page, and if you like me, subscribe. i'm looking to expand my blog a bit, and would like to know more of you!

So anyway, i will be picking the entry from the random number generator next Thursday, Nov 13.

(i'm so sorry, but i will only be shipping inside the US. i know that sucks. i'm sorry.)

Good luck! i look forward to this!

Halloween 2008

We had a very nice Halloween. Kris had me paper mache half his head and face, and he used the mold and liquid latex to make his mask. He is Two-Face, from the Batman series, who i'd never heard of until seeing the Dark Knight. i guess true Batman fans have known about Two-Face forever.
We got David's costume last year right after Halloween for $4. It was awesome, because i saw the same one on sale again this year for $16. Now that i think about it, i should go buy next year's costumes before they're gone.
i got Cadence's outfit at Once Upon a Child a few months ago for $8. It was an one sized infant outfit. i wish i'd gotten her one that was A. softer and B. sized according to months. That lamb hat was way too big for her! She was pretty uncomfortable in that outfit, as the "wool" was kinda scratchy to her newborn sensibilities and the whole costume very uncomfortable in her car seat.
The day before Halloween, i dressed up the kids in their costumes and we went to the OB/GYN and my mom's work to show everyone how cute my offspring are. Friday night we visited lots of grandparents, and we also made a trip to Outback where Kris works.
We had the opportunity that night to go bowling with the Coen brothers, but because of Halloween stuff we couldn't go. :( However, on Thursday night the movie is having its wrap party, where i'll be able to partake of free food and adult beverages with the Coen brothers, Richard Kind, Adam Arkin, and all the rest of the cast and crew members from the movie. Kris will miss this movie. He's had a lot of fun with it, and it feeds him really well. For instance, lunch the other day for him? Craft services came over and was basically like "Mr. Gensmer, would you like lobster or prime rib or both?" He'll be home quite a bit more until January when he'll get his ambulance job, so that will be very nice. i miss him a lot. He's been working a ton. The day after i had Cadence, he worked from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM on the movie, while i was sitting there alone in the hospital with the new baby. November and December should help make up for that:)

Also, Kris is on imdb.com! Here's his profile. i'm married to someone famous!

i hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday- 10.29.08 Sleepy girl

Works for Me Wednesday

This is my first time doing WWFM, but i'm always inspired by my friend Kristine who does this, and for once, i came up with something i'm proud of and think is really clever.

At this point, i've been using my breastpump a lot. i hate sitting there holding the cups, but i didn't want to pay $23 for a bra like this

to avoid the hand cramps.

So, i took an old bra that i never wear and cut holes in it. i feel stupid for not thinking of it before! But it works just as well, and it repurposes an old unused thing instead of bringing another new thing into my life.

It works for me!

Find more stuff that works for others at Rocks In My Drier


*Image taken from Babycenter.com

Feeling a little down

This is a breastfeeding post. i'm just putting that out there. If you're squicked out by reading about breastfeeding, don't continue reading please.


Cadence was 8 lbs. 5 oz when she was born. When she left the hospital, she was 7 lbs. 15 oz. At her 5 day checkup, she was 7 lbs. 13 oz. 7 day? 7 lbs. 11 oz. The Dr. had me see a lactation consultant, who said i was doing well and to supplement with formula for one day, but was satisfied with my production. We saw the Dr. again today, and Cadence had only gained one ounce since Thursday, and she's supposed to gain an ounce a day.

The Dr. tried feeding her a bottle, to see how she eats. It turns out, Cadence is what the Dr. calls "A Chewer". She'll suck swallow, suck swallow, and then release the latch. Then she chews a few times and will suck swallow again. So even if i've been making enough, my breasts don't give her enough milk because she's not sucking correctly for them to function properly. Her skin is getting dry and she's dehydrating before our very eyes, poor thing.

So now i've got to pump and feed her with a bottle, to train her to eat properly as well as monitor the amount she's eating. Hopefully she'll learn to eat better with the bottle and we'll be able to go back to the breast, but the Dr. was very bleak and said "chewers" don't tend to ever learn to breastfeed correctly.

Before i had her, i told myself i would breastfeed as long as it wasn't a hassle and we were both enjoying it. Well, not enjoying it. Wanna know a secret? i don't really like breastfeeding. i've never seen it as a real bonding experience. But as long as it was going well, i was prepared to keep doing it, because i think it is better than formula, though i really don't have anything against formula. It solved David's acid reflux problem right away and he's hardly ever been sick, either.

So anyway, i said i'd do it as long as it was easy. It has been 11 days and it's already not easy. i can't imagine that i'll have the ability to pump 8 times/ day for who knows how long until she may or may not be able to breastfeed again.

i've got a great pump, and i'll try it for a while. Please pray she learns how to eat, most importantly, so we don't have to worry about her shriveling up into nothing, and secondly, that she will learn how to breastfeed so we don't have to worry about any of this anymore.

i just feel...like a bad mom or something. i almost cried in the doctor's office. i know it's not my fault and that it happens, but knowing that for the last 11 days my sweet angel hasn't been getting nearly enough calories to sustain her makes me feel awful.

:(

Sweet baby Cadence

 

7 days ago, i was in labor with my beautiful angel. The days that have passed have been this incredible blur: this flurry of euphoria and amazement i can't even explain. She was 8 lbs., 5 oz., almost 1 1/2 pounds less than David was. So, as a result, her birth has not been nearly as hard to recover from physically as David's was. It's allowed me to enjoy both kids, and revel in the newness of life without being marred by the shadow of incredible pain. 

How's David taking all this? Wonderfully! He is very gentle with his sister, and was the first to meet her in the hospital. He was up on my bed with Cadence and i, and she started crying. He handed her his blanket. i could have cried, it was so sweet. That little move made me know having two will be ok. He doesn't appear to be very jealous of her, at least not yet. Whenever he sees her, he points and laughs happily. He brings me her blankets and her pacifier, tries to stick his sippy cup in her mouth, and mostly leaves her alone besides that. Whenever i feed her, however, he does not like her to be covered, which i do if men are over. It's very sweet, like he doesn't want her to lose any air while she's eating. He's fascinated by breastfeeding. He probably doesn't remember it, because i started him on formula at about 2.5 months. So he likes to watch me feed her. My mom said at some point, he will probably start breastfeeding his bear.

She is so sweet. She hardly cries, and has had a perfectly round head since birth. i've never seen a newborn without a bit of a cone head, but her head is so round, it's reminiscent of a cabbage patch doll. On the back of her head, she has a swirl of hair in a perfect circle. i call it her tornado. Her complexion is also perfect. i'll write more about this when i write out her birth story, but i think because i only had to push 4 times, the delivery was not hard on her. Thus: no cone head or weird patchy red spots or broken blood vessels. She has my nose, and the teeniest little legs and VERY long fingers. She will be an incredible cello player, not to mention pianist. She likes pacifiers, which David never did. She also seems to be ok with sleeping in her bassinet, as long as she's on the boppy pillow. She loves sleeping on it-like a little queen. 

i've really wanted to let you all know about her, but i've been busy and sleepy this week. i will let you know more, but i seem to have gotten the cold that everyone has, so i'm going to go take a nap while both kiddos are sleeping. i REALLY appreciate all your support and comments.

Also, a huge thanks to Liz from a Blonde Moment for blogging my labor and delivery times here as well as on her blog. She and her husband also watched David while i was in labor, and i am just so glad to have such great friends to call when i need a huge favor like that! And thanks to Jes from Beauty in Chaos, Mitch from Shot in the Dark, and Kacie from Sense to Save for blogging their congrats to me. i love all of you lovely readers, and am so glad to be able to share my life with you. 

Cadence Rae

Cadence Rae is here, born 9:23 pm!  She is 8 lbs and 5 oz; 20 inches long; and 14.25 inches around the head!  Mom, Baby, Dad, and big brother are all well!  However, I am sure once Cadence learns to crawl, big brother will be less well.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Liz from A Blonde Moment

We interrupt this blog…

To bring you a 39.5 week appointment test. Had there been an actual 39.5 week appointment, you would not be asked to stay tuned for further details. Stay tuned for further details.




Liz from A Blonde Moment

i've been tagged!

So my pals Jes and MIP both tagged me in the 7 random things about me blog virus that's going around:) So here's 7 random things about me!

1. i purposefully concentrate on speaking in a non-regional dialect. For instance, i take great pains to say "for" and not "fer" which is very common around here. There are other ones. Kris, in particular, makes fun of the way i say "bag" because i pronounce the a like hat, not like hate. But i hate the idea that people might think i'm from MN, simply by the way i talk, as the Midwestern accent is very ugly to me.i try not to say anything with a long "O", because i can't help my accent with that one.

2. i think the human gestational period is way too long. i think 6 months would be ideal. 9.5 months is FAR too long to go without roller coasters or hot tubs, not to mention a truly good night's sleep.

3. i'm a terrible artist. Really, really, awful. i'd like to take a drawing class or something someday, to develop basic drawing skills beyond stick figures.

4. Along those lines, my handwriting is also terrible. It didn't use to be so bad, but since i stopped going to school, i hand write things probably once every couple months. So it has gotten messy and unreadable, and it hurts when i write much more than a greeting card. Not sure what to do about that, other than write more by hand.

5. The first songs we've played on the belly for both babies is "Freebird". The second is Miles Davis' "So What."

6. i can't eat most seafood, due to very bad fish experiences when i was little. i can eat tuna salad and clam chowder, but that's pretty much it.

7. i'm addicted to chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast. It's delicious. i'm never hungry in the morning, but i regret it if i don't get some calories in me, so Instant breakfast is a wonderful invention. i'm pretty sure it was inspired by God.

So there you go. Most of my bloggy friends have done this. There are others who haven't, and i'd tag you, but really i've gotta take a nap. Sorry. Please do this if you haven't been tagged: i love reading these things!

PS No baby yet. And i'm resigned to the fact she'll be in there forever. i've got my 39.5 week appointment tomorrow afternoon, where hopefully the Dr. will schedule something so the baby doesn't get too big.

38.5 weeks

So i had my 38 week checkup this afternoon. i've spent all week doing all the stuff they say to do to go into labor, and i kept not going into labor. i was really afraid i'd go in and my dr. would say "You're 1 1/2 cm dilated, 50% effaced" like he had the last three weeks.

i'm 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced! Isn't that exciting? So i guess, even though i didn't go into labor, all the methods i was using were at least doing something. And i was thinking about it: sometimes it takes hours of hard labor to get to 3 cm, and i got there without feeling it really at all!

So anyway, i don't want to get my hopes up too high, but it's looking good for my going into labor, and soon. Cross your fingers!

Here's a picture of me taken last week. Have a great night everyone!

Mama Belle

There's this awesome lady i know. Her name is Mama Belle, from The Bayou Belles and Their Beau, and it's her birthday today!!! She's one of my bestest bloggy friends, and her Beau asked if i could highlight the fact that she's a total worship star. Seriously. this lady rocks! Check out this video!


This sweet video was taken at her church. Isn't she a great singer?

Do you know why i like her?

• She's hot
• She's a great mom
• She's a great wife
• She's got a great sense of style
• She is a wonderful friend to me, as evidenced by her always encouraging comments in my posts
  

So, happy birthday, Mama Belle! You are one awesome lady, and i'm proud to be your friend!

Wanna hear more about Mama Belle? Check out her other birthday posts around the blogosphere:

Jackie @ Moments and Memories
Wendi @ Miraculous Chaos
Jodie @ The Sky is Only Dark Between the Stars
Sarah @ Life in the Parsonage
Rachel @ A Future Pastors Wife
Amy @ Permission to Peruse
Julie @ Blessed with Five