NO more BEDREST!!!

Well, I met with my mid-wife and was officially given permission to stop lying around in my bed and get up and live life again. You can only imagine my elation! As of Friday, I will be 37 weeks, which is considered full-term, and out of danger for baby if he is to come now. I have high hopes that baby Nathan will be here soon, though I think it would be my luck that he will still take his time, and won't show up for a few weeks still :) Though, it seems infinitely more bearable now that I am free to live, and move, and clean my house!

I have to tell you, for a while now, I have been wondering what it is that God is trying to teach me through all of this, and I must admit that I have been stumped for some time now. Patience is an obvious one, it would be near impossible to not automatically think of that one. But aside from that, I wondered why I was going through this. I was miserable, and uncomfortable, and feeling a bit distanced from all things spiritual. And then a few days ago, I had a revelation of sorts. I realized that what I have learned about service and Christ-like love from those dear friends who have served me these last few weeks is more important than the pain or suffering I have been facing. I have received overwhelming love and service like the Savior himself would give, from sweet friends who I know are suffering with their own hardships and challenges, and yet still found time, to come to my rescue. It is obvious that the Lord has worked through them to teach me the importance of service, and I certainly hope that I may serve others as they have served me, for I have truly seen the hands of God in my life. God has been good to me and my family and I am thankful. For those of you who have helped me and are reading this, I love you and I am so thankful for you.

Puzzle Blocks

I found this great idea on Pintrest, for these puzzle blocks. I thought it was so clever and decided that I was going to make one for each of the kiddies this Christmas. They all love to build things and my 2 older ones LOVE puzzles. So these seemed like a natural fit.

I underestimated the amount of time it would take to make, but still I am very happy with the finished project! And FYI- these were all made from the comfort of my own bed.

I think Logan will love this one. Here is a picture with each side of the blocks put together...and just so you know, this camouflage one took both Craig and I together, 10 minutes to put it all together :)

I think it will be a few years before Logan is actually using the puzzle option,

for now, they will just be for building :)

If you want to see how to make these, here is the link.

In her tutorial, she uses fabric, but I thought that scrapbook paper was a much easier option, and that is what I used. I was also thinking that an old calendar would be a great option too. And I didn't buy blocks, I just had Craig cut them out of some scrap wood he had in his wood shop, which made them EXTREMELY cheap to make.

Craft time

I have 2 little girls who love to make things. Ally especially loves to craft with me. Before being put on bed rest, I had lots of ideas for projects and Christmas crafts, though not many of them are conducive to resting, let alone being in bed. I did have planned to make ornaments with the girls. Last year I bought them their own little Christmas tree on clearance after Christmas. And I thought this year, we could make an ornament a day until it was all filled with stuff that they made themselves. I started gathering ideas on Pintrest, and I figured that was one thing that I could still do, maybe not in bed, but while "resting" at the kitchen table. :) Here are a few ideas, and how they have turned out.

The first idea came from Martha Stewart, and I will tell you now, she didn't make this one with children in mind. While they are darling, they didn't work so well.

We tried to make them like hers, but her mints were prettier than ours, and ours kept falling apart. (Now, I didn't have it in me to make frosting, so we used glue which probably didn't stick too well and then we put a cardboard wreath behind them to give it stability) Since I only had cardboard wreaths in one size, we used what we had and they were much bigger. My biggest disappointment with these, aside from the fact that Logan kept trying to eat them, was that they were sticky from the beginning! I tried spraying them with acrylic spray, and still sticky. Then I tried modge podge, and STILL sticky. Needless to say, they were fun to make, but will not be gracing the bows of our Christmas tree this year.

Todays ornament was much more successful. We all had fun making them, and they turned out really cute. Again, we used what we had, so ours were 2 inches instead of 4, and I just used whatever Christmas material I had. The pictures don't really do them justice, I couldn't get the lighting right, but they really are cute, and super easy to make. For directions, here is the link.

More to come, if you aren't a crafter, sorry, my blog won't be very interesting to you in the next week or two.

Carving Pumpkins

Whenever Halloween comes, I am all about decorating with autumn leaves and pumpkins, and things that say FALL. I am not a big Halloween decorator- I typically don't like skeletons, and goblins and witches and the like. And most of all- I greatly dislike carving pumpkins. Not as a matter of principle, I simply don't like the mess, the goo, or anything about it. Craig however enjoys the artistic opportunity and usually carves a masterpiece. I on the other hand, take pictures :)

Not sure if you can tell, but the look on Ally's face lets you know that she is not a fan of the goo either, and actually, I was the one to finish gutting her pumpkin after taking this picture. She insisted on washing her hands immediately.

Olivia on the other hand, quite enjoyed the process...

As did Logan...who was most content to simply poke holes in his little pumpkin.

And just like any good toddler, he had to see what it tasted like. :)

Everyone with their finished projects.

Pumpkin Time

I often start looking through the pictures on my camera and think- WOW, it's been a long time since I downloaded pictures! Here are a few of the kids at the pumpkin patch just before Halloween.

Logan in the kiddie maze.

Craig with Ally and Livy picking out pumpkins.

Logan guarding the pumpkins. :)

Ally. What a happy girl! Her smile looks like a Jack-O-Lantern with all those teeth missing!

sugar and spice -part 2

Back in June I made a post called 'Sugar and Spice and everything nice?'. I was having one of those days when you wonder if your kids just might push you over the edge at some point in the very near future, and if what I am doing as a mother is really working. I re-read that post today, and just as I had thought, I can look back and laugh at the humor of the whole situation. Today I had an experience with that same sweet, darling 3 year old, and wondered again...Am I doing this right?

Last night, Olivia was in a cross mood and had it in her mind to be naughty, consistently naughty. After about an hour, I simply said, you can choose to obey, or you can choose to go to bed. She chose to disobey and was sent to bed. Mind you it was only 30 minutes before bedtime anyhow, so it wasn't as though she was banished to solitary confinement for hours on end. The theatrics and tantrums were epic. An outsider might think that she was being tortured or tormented. Anyhow, this morning, she was still stuck in that cross mood- you know the "why do I have to pick up my toys", and "why do you make me do chores", and "I don't want to eat that for breakfast!" mood. Anyhow, after a small scolding for her choice of words spoken to me, she said, "I wish I weren't a part of this family!" She then told me that she wanted to be a part of her friends family, because their mom was nice. I have to tell you quite honestly, that I was not yet prepared for an emotional blow like that. I figured I had at least 10 years before the teenage years were here and I had to worry about her not liking me.

So what do you do with a child who has to push the boundaries, who constantly needs to test your limits as a parent? I suppose in life we all like to kick against the pricks sometimes, and at times we all wonder why we have to have rules and boundaries. Life would be easier if we could just do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, without any consequences. Experience tells me that this is just a phase and she will grow out of it, but if any of you have experience in this department that you would like to share, I am all ears....

Bed Rest.....

Surely there are those of you who have experienced this before, and understand what I am going through, but can I just say, bed rest is NOT my favorite thing. I have officially been on bed rest now for 6 days, and I can quickly say that I am ready to be done!

Last Tuesday, I started having contractions every 4 minutes, and they continued all through the night until about 4:30 in the morning. I called my mid-wife's office and they said, "well, you probably should have gone to the emergency room, but why don't you come in to the office this morning." So I did, and here I sit/lay just trying to keep this baby in for a few more weeks at least. As of Friday, baby Nathan was 34 weeks, and still too early to come safely into the world. In 12 more days, he will be 36 weeks, and we can fairly safely rule out any lung/breathing problems. Another 7 days after that, and he will be considered full-term (at 37 weeks) and there will be no hesitation to let him come.

So, for the next at least 12 days, my boredom will continue, my house will stay messy, and I will thank Heavenly Father for all of the gracious service and help rendered to me while I focus on one single task, that of keeping this child from coming out too soon. Thanks to those of you who have helped, you have no idea how thankful I am for you!