Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again - Updated

Well . . . it's more like, Leaving in my brother's mini van, don't know when I'll be blogging again. :) But I do have that song in my head, so it's not a total deception. My brother and his family are coming out for the weekend for my sister-in-law's niece's confirmation in a nearby town. They are staying with us, then Isabella and I are riding back with them and spending all of next week at my parents'. My mom will bring us back next Friday, and babysit Isabella so Monte and I can have a date on my birthday (the big 28!). I'm so excited I get to go to my parents and don't have to drive! Eight hours round trip with just me and a one year old in the vehicle is not exactly my idea of fun. She's usually really good, but she doesn't sleep very much in the car, and usually gets whiny towards the end of the trip. Hopefully it's nice weather next week because this is my favorite time of year to be at my parents. I think Isabella will love seeing the lambs!

We have winter back for the day (or the weekend maybe). :( It was sleeting this morning, now it's snowing! Monte said he could only go 30 mph on the interstate, and people were going into the ditch. I pray he makes it home safe and sound tonight.

Thanks for the responses to my last post. I really hope we can get things worked out for her!

Have a great weekend and week!

UPDATE:

What in the world? We're now in a worse blizzard than last time! Monte just called and said he was leaving work to come home. Then I just saw this picture on the news of the exact stretch of interstate he is driving on.

Picture from safetravelusa.com/sd

I'm a little worried!!!!

Suffering

I'm sure some people get annoyed when moms talk about their kids' bowel problems, but as much as this blog is to keep people up to date on our lives, I also use it as a sort of virtual baby book. I can go back and read about things I may have otherwise forgot, the date this or that happened, etc.

We've had a rough week around here. Basicly, Isabella has been constipated since she was a newborn, even when she was breastfed (although she was also supplemented with a preemie formula which probably didn't help the situation). It seems to be getting worse and worse. It may not sound like that big of deal, but I cannot tell you how hard it is to watch my child scream and cry in pain. This happens almost every day, with last night being the worst, as it had been several days since she had gone. There are days she literally spends hours out of her day, in agony trying to go. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope, I want to help her so bad. She gets prune juice every day, she eats lots of fresh fruits like pears and peaches every day also. I limit foods like cheese and bananas. She also gets mineral oil every night, and sometime I have to resort to giving her suppositories. But the last two nights, even the suppositories and an enema did not work! Yesterday was so bad because she had an impaction, which caused her to have no appetite and a fever even! We almost brought her to the emergency room last night, but I called a nurse and she said to wait and bring her to the clinic first thing today. Thankfully, everything I have given her finally worked this morning, so we didn't have to go to the dr. today. It is just so hard to watch, she screams, cries, and her whole body shakes because she's in so much pain, and the whole time she looks at me with her big blue eyes and franticly does her "help me" sign. There are times I can't even hold her because her bottom is so sore and bleeding. I've tried every suggestion the pediatrician has given me, I don't know what else to do for her. We are trying a chiropractor next week, as I've heard they can sometimes help the situation.

I think, as a parent, one of the worst things you can experience is watching your child suffer. You would give anything to take all the suffering away, and go through it yourself instead. And it doesn't get easier as they get older, because I watched Monte's parents when he was at his absolute worst with his Crohn's Disease, we couldn't help but think the worst, as a relative of a friend of his parents had just died of Crohn's around that time. His dad always said he would give anything to take his place. And then I think of all the people who have kids with cancer or other diseases, one of my good friends has a first grader with diabetes. These people have been given great strength to endure everything! Also, it really hit me last night as I was laying wide awake in bed. Now that I'm a parent I can put myself in Mary's shoes, not only did she have to endure watching her Son's terrible suffering, but also watching Him die on a cross! Mary, pray for us.

She's grown a little

since the last time she was in her swing, it's been 7 months!

Another 7 month difference.

She has always loved her sunglasses, I think they'll fit her for a while!

Missing the Cuddles

It's official - my Little Miss Independent will no longer cuddle, rock, or do anything that resembles sitting still and cuddling with me. Sigh . . . I suppose she is just too busy, you know, with all the playing, running around, reading, getting into every cupboard/drawer within her reach, and everything else that makes up a 17 month old's day. Which reminds me, she does at least sit still on my lap for long periods of time if I'm reading to her, so I guess I'll take what I can get. As much as I like her independence, there are a lot of times I really just want to scoop her up, and cuddle, cuddle, cuddle. For the most part, she's always kind of liked her space. She does NOT like to sleep with us, and has always preferred her own bed. There are times I've tried to lay down with her, but she just ends up climbing all over me. Just yesterday, she kept doing her sign for "help me" to Monte. He couldn't figure out what she wanted, then she finally grabbed his hand and led him back to her room and pointed to her crib. So he put her to bed, and she was happy as could be, playing for a while, then falling asleep. And now she's got a cold, and part of me thought, yes - now I can rock her and love her all day since she's not feeling well. But no, she wants nothing of the sort. She is VERY affectionate, though, giving lots of hugs and kisses all day, and her first 15 minutes of every morning she spends cuddling (I see how I rate, she cuddles with him!), hugging, and kissing her daddy! Oh, and the patting, oh my the patting, she is always patting her daddy and me, we always say that people in church probably think she is hitting us, but it's just her "love pats". So I guess she is very affectionate, but still . . . I'm missing the cuddles.

Excited

I'm so excited about the Pope being in the U.S! We've been addicted to the coverage of it on EWTN, and my neighbor and I had a nice, long chat about it this afternoon, it seems to be totally occupying my mind lately. I can't even imagine what it would be like to actually meet him!
My family and I attended World Youth Day in Denver when I was 13, and we were very blessed to see Pope John Paul the Great (we never got very close, other than him waving directly over us in the popecopter). We also got to meet Mother Angelica! It was a great experience, but I wish I wouldn't have been such an immature dork at the time, because I didn't really appreciate it until now that I'm older.

Groceries

are getting expensive! I've really noticed this recently. Milk, eggs, and bread are just a few of the things I have noticed that are really increasing in price. This post at Testosterhome got me thinking. And there's only three of us, I can't even imagine how much we'll be paying for groceries as our family grows. I am also thinking about cutting back on our milk consumption. Right now I buy three different kinds of milk every week. Soymilk for Monte, either skim or 1% for me, and organic whole milk for Isabella. I drink milk with every meal, I love it, and that's how I was raised. I don't think that's necessary, though. I'm going to try to start drinking a lot more water from now on, and stick to 1 or 2 glasses of milk a day. Also, Isabella drinks A LOT of milk, I don't even know how much she should be drinking. Her doctor just said to give her whole milk, and that she needs the fat from it. She drinks about 4 to 5 sippy cups full a day (with each meal and with a couple snacks). Is that a lot? She gets water throughout the day, and before bed.

I also buy a loaf of white bread (because of this) and a loaf of whole grain bread, which definitely adds up. Especially since we are "Old Home" people. There's quite a few things I will buy that are store brand, but we do love us some Old Home bread! So I was thinking of maybe making my own bread, we'll see how that goes, and if I actually do it or not. I really don't have any excuse to at least not try it, since I only have one kid right now, and she sleeps an average of 4 hours throughout the day. So I have the time. Anyway, I'll quit rambling now, these were just a few things on my mind today.

Spring!

This is the first time these little arms have been bare in about six months! Our 15 inches of snow is melting away, hopefully it's gone by the end of the week.

Snowed In!

Our drifts are so high we can't open any of our doors except the garage doors! I think it's a good day for baking, if our electricity stays on (it keeps flickering on and off). Monte didn't go to work, only his boss made it in, but he was thinking about closing the office for the day.

How depressing is this?

It's April for crying out loud! We are in the worst blizzard we've had in over a year. We can't even see our neighbors' houses, and our electricity was out for three hours. The good parts though - Monte got to come home from work early, and made it home safely. Also, since our electricity was out, it was starting to get cold in our house so the three of us snuggled up together on the couch with blankets while Monte read to Isabella. It was so much fun, we kept doing it even after the electricity came back on! We're expected to get up to 15 inches, but hopefully it will melt fast!

How to Make a Cloth Book . . . and other winter projects

Warning: This will be a long post, if you're not interested in sewing you might want to skip it.

I was wanting to make a cloth children's book for my friend's baby, so I looked long and hard on the internet for some kind of pattern. I got a few ideas, but there's not a whole lot out there. So this is what I tried.

I used quilters batting to stuff between the pages in order to make them stiff. I attached the letters with Liquid Stitch.

And here is another one I just finished tonight for Monte's niece's first birthday this weekend.

I used a stencil and fabric paint on white felt for the letters, then zigzaged that onto the fabric. Make sure all your pages are completely assembled before sewing them together.

This is just an applique I bought, then handsewed on.

I cut the grass and flower stems from green felt, then attached it with Liquid Stitch. Then I sewed the flower and butterfly buttons on. The "cloud" is some furry trim I attached with Liquid Stitch.

I found these in the trim section in the fabric section of Wal-Mart. I hand sewed the top section only of each of them, so they can be pulled and dangled.

I used quilters batting between the pages of this book too. I also sewed a couple of layers of tissue paper in between to make it sound "crinkly".

And here are the rest of my projects I completed this winter.

I use this big tote bag to pack up Isabella's things for overnight trips. I bought the bag, and cross stitched the design on.

And as I've mentioned before, I'm a little obsessed with purses! I decided to make some, and see if they will sell at my garage sale this June. Who knows, maybe I could make a little money on them.

And that about wraps up my sewing for the year, other than some more purses I want to make. I'm looking forward to spending my free time outside for the next few months!

Out. Of. Shape.

Yup, that's me. Isabella and I went for a walk today (it's 55 degrees, YAY!), not just our usual walk, but a VERY, VERY long walk. We had already walked further than we normally do, and then I decided to walk to the park, which is on the complete other side of town from where we were. I forgot about the HUGE hill at the park. While I was walking up the hill, I could not get the vision out of my head of me either passing out, or dropping over dead from exhaustion and rolling down the hill, with my baby in the stroller rolling down after me!! But no worries, we made it, but I'm guessing I'll be very sore tomorrow. (And to think - I used to be a runner!)

Mimi

Apparently that's my new name, at least Isabella's name for me. No more "Mommy" or "Mama", who knows why she started that, but I'll go along with it, I think it's cute!

A Great Weekend

Monte's mom came to stay with us for a couple of days, and offered to stay with Isabella for the day on Friday so I could go with Monte to his insurance exam (about 100 miles away). It was such a fun day! I went shopping while Monte took his test. He's been studying A LOT for it, but it is a very hard test, and a lot of people have to retake it. He called me at the mall when he was done, I asked how he did. In the most depressing voice, he told me he would just tell me when he got there. So of course, I was all nervous thinking he didn't pass and now he would still have to spend the next days and weeks studying. When he got there, he just sat down and said (still in a very depressing voice) it was really hard, harder than he thought it would be. I was still holding on to the tiniest bit of hope, since he hadn't actually told me that he didn't pass. So I asked him how he did (almost positive I knew the answer) and he replied, "Oh, I passed!" I couldn't believe he tricked me! I am so proud of him, and I am so happy he can relax now, instead of always studying and stressing about the test. We went out for a celebratory meal and had a long Barnes and Noble date, I bought The Toddlers Busy Book, which I could have used during these past long winter months! I also got this book for Isabella. It is honestly the sweetest children's book I've ever read, it gets me a little choked up each time I read it to her.

Saturday was beautiful, it got to 67 degrees! We walked to the park, but Isabella, who loves her own swing, was scared of the baby swings at the park. Today it's back to being cold and yucky outside, but it's April, so hopefully it won't last for too much longer. Now I'm off to work on a sewing project that I HAVE to get done this week, no more procrastinating!

Mission Organization

At the risk of sounding like a complete organizational freak, I thought I would share what I got accomplished today. I started staying home full-time in November, and since then I have felt like I needed more structure. I thrive on schedules, routines, etc. Every morning I think of certain things I want to get done throughout the day, and every day I seem to find a way to avoid doing those things, I feel like I waste a lot of time! Well, not any more! I typed up this loose schedule for myself today.




I made one schedule template that I will use every week, and then just write in whatever pertains to that week. I have a place for notes where I put little odds and ends that I want to get accomplished during the week, like work on a certain sewing project, send a birthday card to so and so, etc. I'll have to change the template when the weather gets nice, and we spend a good portion of our day outside gardening, canning, etc. I sort of got this idea from someone else's blog that I read from time to time, I did get the idea of "What I can do for Monte today" from her blog also. He's been pretty stressed out with a new job and constantly studying for his insurance exams, so I thought this was a good and fun idea. Not that today's task is very fun (iron all his dress pants for work, but I DESPISE ironing). Like I said, it's a very loose schedule, there are obviously things we do everyday (playing, reading, etc.) but I didn't feel like I needed to go into a huge amount of detail. (I'm not THAT organized!) In case you can't tell, I'm very excited about this, the smallest things excite me!