Blessings!

Boy, christmastime sure seems to wear me out! This year was great though because Addy was into it for the first time. During her other two Christmas' she really was only into the wrapping paper. This year she was such a lover and loved giving us kisses and wished just about everyone a merry Christmas. At this time of year, I seem to be especially aware of my blessings, as we all should be! I thought I'd share that today.
I am so thankful for my loving God. He has given me more blessings than I could ever ask for in the last year.

(Grandpa and Elliot at church)
I love my parents and the loads of help they give me. I'm so thankful that at this point in our lives with little ones we have the help of my mom and dad. It's tough when we are stuck inside 95% of the time so when we get out or have company it's usually with one of them.

My husband for being my rock the last year, (and the ones before.)I'm so thankful for him just letting me embrace being a mama and all that goes with it.
*My babies. They are the center of my life and I love that I get to be with them every minute of every day.
*My need to create took a huge role in my life this past year. I'm so happy it did because I feel as if I've really found myself. I love making things my family needs, while satisfying my own personal need to make.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. I've got loads of posts to do, we've been up to a lot lately! I hope everyone is off to a great 2010!

more making...

I'm just making a few more things for Friday, baby Jesus' birthday as we've been saying around here.






Sweet Elliot just hangs with me all day! (well, where else would she be!)

To add to my load, I've been potty training this little lovie... who finally showed interest today!! 6 times and counting!!

Lots and lots of pictures

There has been lots of making going on here. I'm going to share my Christmas knits with whoever wants to see them! I am not going to tell who they are for though... just in case someone reads this who usually doesn't.













And a picture of Elliot, just because she's so sweet!

We have smiles!

That's all I could ask for!

Christmas shopping...

or not.

I know I've changed in the last year when I try to go Christmas shopping for my family and I end up with PENS. That's right. Colored pens.

Shall I explain??

Everything targeted for two year olds is crap at the store!!

I got Addysen some nice pens to draw with and that was all I could come up with. Addysen (and all of us,) have everything we could ever need, (other than food...) so I had a hard time trying to find stuff to splurge on. This is definitely going to be a handmade Christmas. There are so many things I want to make her, (imagine that!) I want her things to be special, not just another stuffed animal, or another noise maker. I want her to be able to create and express herself! I've got lots to do!!

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More tutu

And now she has one for her hair!!

And my love...

ONE tutu!!

I had promised Addysen that I would make her a tutu last week but finally got around to it this morning. With Elliot on my lap, I cut strips and strips of tuling, (left over from our wedding,) and tied it to a big band of elastic. I've got more colors and lots left so she may get another one, (or two,) for Christmas. And Addy kept telling me, "You made ONE tutu, mama!!" I don't know why, but she kept stressing the ONE! crazy girl.


And little miss Elliot will be three weeks old on Wednesday! I cannot believe it. Here she is in all her squishy, cuteness.

Pumpkin bars

mmmm pumpkin bars........... No pictures with this post, just sharing. I made pumpkin bars today and finally just had some. They are delicious. This is the first time I've used real pumpkin, from the pumpkins I cooked yesterday. I found that pureeing them is super easy using the large freezer bags. Just measure how much you want to freeze, stick it in the bag, then mash the tar out of it. It was pretty fun, and Addysen wasn't even helping!!
So here is my recipe for pumpkin bars. It is tweaked from the better homes and garden cook book. (If you want that recipe just ask.)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
4 beaten eggs
1/2 cup olive oil*
1/2 cup water*
2 cups cooked pumpkin puree

*the original recipe called for 1 cup oil. To cut calories I only used half but I'm sure you could cut out the oil entirely and use 1 cup water. They will be a little less fluffy but just as tasty.

Mix all dry ingrediants in a big bowl. Add eggs, oil, water, and pumpkin and mix well. Pour in a 13 x 9 (metal) cake pan and cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. (I use a silicone cake pan and they take a bit longer to cook, about 40-45 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the middle to make sure it's done.)

Top with cream cheese frosting and eat up!!

What I've been up to lately

A little bit of this and that has been going on. I'm recovering a lot faster than I remember with Addysen and everything just seems to be falling into place. We'll see how this weekend goes, as Aaron returns to work on Saturday.

This is how painting ends up around here. I love it and she does too. At least it's finger paints :)

Yesterday I heard Addy clunking around the dining room and this is what I found:
I better be careful - this one wants to be just like mama.

And this little love is adjusting quite well to our little familia. She is very fond of nursing and sleeping, so I don't have many pictures of her with her eyes open. I forgot how mellow this newborn stage can be. She's so needy and I just love the fact that I am fully sustaining her right now with my milk. And boy is she a piggy!! I love her...

Yesterday, Aaron let me sneak away to the basement to get a little sewing done. I have a friend who's birthday is coming up this week who is also in college so this is what she is getting. A tote for school things:

A mousepad:

And a bookmark:

(If my computer had a mouse I would totally make one for myself. I used flannel for the top and it is so soft. The bag and mousepad were made using the book, Handmade Home, by Amanda Blake Soule, which Aaron gave me last week. There will be many more projects coming from it soon!! I love it because it focuses on reusing and repurposing material for all of the projects in it.)

And lastly, this is my latest endeavor:

I'm so glad I'm just freezing the puree when I'm done. I forgot how much work it is to cut pumpkins and bake them!! I will be making my most yummy favorite treat tomorrow though - pumpkin bars!!

A Hippopatamus!!

Happy (late) Halloween!!

Baby love!!

Elliot Elizabeth is finally here!!! She was born on Wednesday, October 28th, (only 12 days after her due date.) She was 10 lbs, 4 oz and 21 inches long. I cannot believe how big she is!! She doesn't look big to me but maybe that's because it seems like Addysen has grew a foot over night!
This was my first homebirth and boy was it intense!! Addysen was born in the hospital and I was very disappointed with all the 'protocols' that come with that. I cannot imagine a more different birth this time around. So here is the short version of what all happened.

I woke up Tuesday morning with some mild contractions. Since I had been having those for the last month I didn't count them or get excited. Addy and I just hung out all day while Aaron went to school and just tried to stay normal. After Aaron came home, around 4pm I decided to count them. So, Aaron and Addy decided to carve her pumpkin while I wrote down the contractions. I wasn't surprised when they were coming 5-6 minutes apart and I tried really hard not to get excited. We then had supper and eventually Addysen went to bed. After that I called my midwife and let her know what was happening. I was still contracting every 5 minutes and they were actually getting a bit stronger. She told me to call back in an hour and let her know what was going on. Around 930pm I called her back, to my disappointment, letting her know that they had died down a lot and were now coming every 15 minutes. BOOO!!! :( Somehow I think she knew something was going on because she told me she might talk to me again that night...

After I talked to her I decided to take a shower, since throughout the last month showers have really killed them off if it was just prodromal labor. During my shower, I had 4 more contractions!! I was so excited!! They kept coming after that and called my mom to come over to keep me company since Aaron had went to bed. She came over and saw how real they were and had me call my midwife back. She called her assistant and they were both here around 130am. I then called my doula, to let her know that I thought it might be really happening and she came over a bit after 2am. Aaron and my mom had already started filling the birth pool and we all just hung out in those early hours. I took a few showers when I needed to cool off and ate toast and bananas to keep my energy up. Sometime contractions would slow way down and I'd doze off for about 2 minutes, as if my body was giving me a break through all of it. Oh, how I loved those breaks!!

My sister showed up around 6am and stayed the rest of the day. When it started getting light out it really was starting to hit me that, yes, this might really be happening!! I was sure at any minute it was still going to stop, but at 9 I was checked at actually dilated at to 7cm!! woah!!! I couldn't believe I had done that on my own. When I had Addysen I was only dilated to a 4 before I got an epidural so this was way different!! and on my pain scale I still only at a 7. I thought, yeah I can do this!! It's really amazing how different natural contractions are compared to pitocin induced contractions. I just let my body work and moaned a LOT!!! I didn't think I would be so loud!! I had already labored in the pool for a few hours and decided to get back in around 1130 to start pushing...

And I pushed and pushed and pushed. I never felt like the baby had dropped, even when I was pushing... This I realize was because she had no room to!! about an hour later my midwife wanted to check me again and see what the hold up was. I got out of the pool and was checked. I was fully dilated but had a lip that her head couldn't get around. (This was just like Addysen's birth, where I pushed for two hours to get around that!!) So she held it back while I pushed Elliot's head around it. About this time was when my water finally broke and was also when I decided I was done and I couldn't do it anymore. I kept screaming, 'I can't do it!!' and everyone would say, 'but you are doing it!!' I thought I was going to die!! Those last ten minutes before she came out were the most intense minutes of my life. I never thought it was going to end but I just had to get her out...

And then she was here!!! I felt so good immediately that all the pain and everything around me just melted away. She is so amazing and I couldn't get enough of her. This was at 104pm and took place on the floor in my bedroom. We waited until well after the cord was done pulsing before it was cut and my midwife showed me my placenta and all the parts to it. That was just fascinating. It was huge too!!

About an hour after Elliot was born she was weighed. I couldn't believe that's how big she was!! No wonder I was in labor for so long!!

I really cannot explain how happy I am with her birth. There is no way I would have been able to do that in a hospital. I would have had a cesarean for sure. Elliot's shoulders did get a little stuck and she had to get one arm out before she came all the way out. I also gave birth to her on my hands and knees, so yeah, there is no way that all would have worked out anywhere else. I also cannot believe how good I'm feeling. Seriously, I have very little pain at all. My milk is coming in today and Elliot is such a piggy!!! She started nursing about fifteen minutes after she was born and hasn't stopped.

God is soooooooo good!! I am so in love with my family and cannot believe this new chapter has already started in our lives. Addysen is adjusting so well and just loves her little sister. Aaron is also looking quite comfy with his girls and I am loving this life given to me.

HO hum!!

I think I'm at a good place right now. After debating with Aaron on him being gone for school I think I was spoiled last week with him being present. Even if he is sitting next to me working on school work, it's so much better than him being at school. We've been busy and slow this week but the mix seemed just right for the little time we have now before this baby comes.

Addy has been in swimming lessons since the beginning of September and I finally got some pictures of just her and Aaron. This turned out the best.

Addysen couldn't be more happy to not participate and just float around in the deep end with daddy. Her little suit is too small for her too which makes her look like such a big girl, but where do you get a suit in the middle of October??? I've been trying to make it to all of her lessons but sometimes I just need to stay home and have some time to myself, (which I'll comment on again.)

Addy has been quite the artist lately. She really enjoys drawing these "flower smiley faces" as she calls them. I think they are pretty neat and might just embroider one here pretty soon. I don't think I ever posted on it, but I have done that with her art work before. It's super easy and just a great way to showcase children's artwork... I'll have to do that now.

The picture above makes me laugh, only because we both did our hair and were not wearing sweats. We got ready to go grocery shopping... because we don't go anywhere!! That's all we did that night. We went shopping and came home. No dinner or seeing friends or anything remotely fancy. Just groceries. I love my husband!!
And here is the sweetie after she got some new chap stick!! I swear, give her some chap stick and she is good for at least an hour. I bring some to church every Sunday.

So here is a Christmas gift protocol that Addysen has already claimed. I am making most of our gifts anyways but I thought adding a little ornament wouldn't hurt either.

He's so cute, too!! I just mentioned that I stay home from Addy's lessons every once in a while and this is what I did this week. I know it's a silly little project but it came out cute enough. That night I also started - and finished this blanket.
I bought the fabric a few months ago with all intentions of making a blanket for baby out of it. I just didn't realize how much fabric I had. So, the blanket is for the girls, not just baby. Addy loves snuggling with it already, and I have to say, who doesn't want a blanket for the fall made out of flannel AND satin?? yum yum, I want one.


And my little scarf here, is made by crochet, not knitting. I've been doing my scarves by crocheting just because it is so much faster and I really wanted something for myself. I never make anything for myself so of course I didn't have any yarn specifically for me. This is all scrap yarn I had, hence the different lengths in colors. But it turned out just long enough, just the right colors mixed, just right. And I get to wear it!

And this was made for my lover! I haven't knit him a hat until this one, mostly because of intimidation, I have to admit. I wanted him to like it, not because I made it but because it turned out to be a wearable hat.

And he wears it.


*Other thoughts*
I am overdue, again!! I really don't mind this time around, as I tried really, really hard not to get my hopes up that this girl would show up anytime before yesterday. I've been having a ton of contractions though for the last month and I hope they are doing some work down there!! Sometimes they hurt, but for the most part they are very mild. Aaron gets a kick out of me chanting to my big uterus "keep coming!!"

The sun finally came out yesterday. It was so good to see it!! I was able to get out an go thrifting with my mom, but actually didn't buy a thing. I guess I've been in a more frugal mood lately.

Addysen has been painting like a mad woman lately!! Everytime she does, she shells out at least 6 or 7 paintings. I love them and save them all.

Thanks for reading!
God BLESS!!

Due today!

I made this shortly after finding out about this pregnancy while I was enrolled in a metals class. I think I'm ready to hold my baby like the woman depicted here. Any day now.

I'm just a monster!!

not much blogging these days because not much has been happening around here. I'm very pregant! Due in two days and I just don't have much motivation to do anything. I think my last nesting bust was last month and am very glad that I got everything done on my "list of things to do before the baby comes."

That was taken a week ago and is probably the last time I wore jeans. I'm loving the comfy clothes lately.
Well, wish me luck and pray that this baby comes soon!! (I dare not say 'on time'- that sort of became a stigma after miss Addy was so late...)

Out of Towning

Aaron and I went to his first conference where he presented research on the Mexican president Victoriano Huerta. The conference was held at Simpson College in Indianola, IA and we actually went without our Addysen. We pretty much talked about her the entire time we were gone but got to stay at a goofy, yet pretty neat little bed and breakfast. There were so many things worthy of being photographed. Eclectic is a good word for the place.








Our host made our stay pretty awesome and we never want to sleep at a hotel again!!