My C was held hostage & K wants to be like mama

Kevin stole C from me the other day. He loved wearing her in his sling so much he didn't want to give her back!



Here's my poor little sick baby all bundled up. We all caught colds and are miserable right now.



K being a monkey and wearing her 'night night baby' to be like me with C.

My C was held hostage & K wants to be like mama

This is love

more sleeping pics. its funny b/c so many pics are of her in her moses basket but shes hardly ever in it. shes usually in bed with us, in my arms or in a sling. the basket is a nice safe place for pics where big sister can't get to her.



C is so in love with K.



K pointing out C has a nose.


trying to play with her hands.

This is love

1 Week Old Allready!!!

Time is flying way to fast. My little baby is allready a week old as of last night.

1 Week Old Allready!!!

1 Red Hot Chili Pepper & a Carrot top

another sling home:


our little chili pepper

K wanted to join in the fun

eyes open exploring the world




C is in love with her big sister. She always just stares at her with this look of awe!




The sibling battles have begun!

1 Red Hot Chili Pepper & a Carrot top

soaker? longies? booties?

The weather is warming up here which means more outside time! K is still dressing herself...

Waking up to this!


Super comfy in her sling home.



sticking out her tongue wearing her booties


comfy sleep. Unlike K, C doesn't like to be swaddled.


Looks like a scream but is actually a yawn!

This ridiculously HUGE wool diaper cover in these pics is supposed to be a soaker! It fits her like longies though. It's a size newborn to which makes it even funnier. I am going to felt it today so it should fit a bit better.
Her booties I knit her are finally fitting a bit. They are still big but fit well enough. They look very cute on her.
She went out today in her sling, we had to go to the hospital to finalize her birth certificate. She was quite content in that sling. K was the star of labor and delivery though. everyone there loves her. She acts like she owns the place b/c she has basically grown up there coming with me sometimes when I volunteer.

soaker? longies? booties?

Yesterday...yes you will get sick of so many pics!

All her clothes are still super huge on her as you can see. So sweet though!

Sleeping br />

more sleeping,since that's pretty much all shes doing right now!


Striking funny poses


Hat coming off her head


Not a great pic of her BUT you can see her super cute dimple on her cheek in it!

Yesterday...yes you will get sick of so many pics!

Little Sprout is HERE! (long birth story)

Last Thursday I went in for my 40 week OB appt. I was told that I was measuring 3 weeks behind and that the baby was small with lots of amniotic fluid. Despite this the Dr. decided I was 'overdue' and scheduled me for an induction on Tuesday April 22nd. Needless to say I was not happy with this news. Theres no need to induce a baby who's not ready to come out,especially not at just 40 weeks!
Anyways with this news I told Little Sprout s/he had to come out this weekend. Lini would lift up my shirt and say "Little Sprout come out!" many times on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday we had a play date with some amazing mamas and they told me of some natural ways to help get my body ready for labor. So after the play date I ran to the health food store and picked up some red raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil capsules. I took the oil that night and then on Friday i planned on drinking 4-5 glasses of the tea. I drank 2 that day. That's as far as I got.
We had another play date with Fi and D'Anne Friday at the Blue Bird Gap Farm. It was great. I told D'Anne about my worries of Sprout coming before Tuesday and told her that hopefully I would be calling her this weekend (she was set to watch Lini when I go into labor). Let me just say here and I will say it again... just how AMAZING D'Anne is! <3 I am so fortunate to have her in my life!
Then we picked up Kevin from work and decided we would all take a nice walk to pick up his dry cleaning and drop off a movie at the library. Kevin pulled Lini in her red wagon and I walked Nara which was quite the workout! We are training her to walk by our side so you have to hold her there. She's a big strong dog,not easy to do!Anyways we walked her there and back and we had a puppy play date set at our house for when we got home with a neighbor's german shepard puppy. We met up with them and the dogs played in our backyard. I went inside for a second to use the bathroom and my water broke but only slightly so I wasn't 100% sure. This was at 6:00pm. I walked to the backdoor and said 'I think my water just broke. But it'll be a few hours before anything happens so let the pups keep playing!'. I then went back in and called D'Anne to let her know what was happening and then called my friend Amanda to ask her if she thought that really was my water breaking. Well, I knew for sure about an hour later b/c I was sitting in fron of Lini on her potty reading her 'The Children of the Forest' and all the sudden I was in a big puddle. LOL. Lini thought I peed myself and was very confused. I noticed my amniotic fluid was tinted a bit green though so I knew we'd probably have to go into the hospital sooner than I wanted to. I finished packing my things and then went upstairs to try and deal with the contractions in a nice warm bath while Kevin and Lini had some dinner.After my bath my contractions were already close together and pretty intense so we called D'Anne to meet us at the hospital and left to go. That was around 9:30. When we got in there I was in a good amount of pain. They checked and I was already 6 cm dilated. I couldn't believe it. The nurse checked and said that there was indeed Meconium in the amniotic fluid so she called the ped dr in to be ready for when sprout was born. D'Aanne arrived shortly afterwards and took Lini to the waiting room. I wanted Lini to be there for the birth but then once I was dealing with the pain I decided it would be better for her not to be there until after the baby was born. I didn't want her to worry about me when she saw me in pain. The nurses were all great about my birth plan the dr on call, on the other hand, was not to happy about it. Apparently drug free births aren't easy for dr's. BUT luckily the dr only is there to catch the baby basically so it wasn't too big of a deal. By 11pm I said I had to push and they checked me and said I was at 9cm so I had to wait a couple more minutes. But after just 1 or 2 more contractions I was ready. It took only 6 minutes of pushing and Sprout was born. IT'S A GIRL!! Just like Lini has been telling us along. They had to cut the cord right away so the ped dr could suction out her lungs and tummy right away. She pooed more after she came out too.Luckily what she did poo in the womb wasn't too bad and was thin so it didn't get in her system. Kevin got D'Anne and Lini to come in, Lini had just fallen asleep so she was a bit out of it but then was excited to see her baby sister. Sprout got Lini a baby doll so we gave that to Lini then too. She named her Sita. Sprout nursed right away and nursed for almost 2 hours before they took her back to bath her,measure her,etc.
Her stats were:
7 lbs 12oz, 21" long, Blue eyes and dark hair
Born at 11:10pm on April 18,2008
She weighed 3 ounces more than Lini but was 1" shorter.



ok this is a lot to say! I'll bbl with more info and pics!

Little Sprout is HERE! (long birth story)

Inspiration

Frontier House was an educational reality TV series that originally aired on PBS in April of 2002. The show, which was filmed over the course of five months, followed the lives of three family groups that agreed to live as homesteaders did on the American frontier in 1883. Each family was given a 160 acre plot of land and an allotment of food, supplies, and livestock. They were expected to establish a homestead and complete the tasks necessary to prepare for the harsh Montana winter. At the end of season, before winter struck, each family was judged by a panel of frontier experts and historians, and the likelihood of survival for each group was assessed.

I have watched this series I don't evem know how many times. It is such an inspiration to me to live more simply and closer to nature. I was borrowing it from the library at least once a month and I now decided I just need to go ahead and buy it LOL. so I bought it online the other night. Maybe it will come to inspire me befor sprout is born so I can get more things done..since it seems like Sprout will be staying in a lot longer anyways *sigh*

Inspiration

Patience stinks!

Well, I'm 39 weeks today. Kinda starting to get impatient finally. It's funny b/c i want this babe to stay in so I can get more lini alone time and get things done but yet I'm getting scared from seeing others babies stay in long and come out HUGE. Lini was so tiny and everything was so big on her so this time around I bought tons of super small things and watch me not be able to use any of them! ughh.
I had my 39 week dr's appt today and nothing, no changes nothing to even make us think labor is anywhere near, BUT then again it was the same way with Lini,labor came out of nowhere.

Today was our 1st day of sunshine in about a week. We went out in our backyard in bummy clothes to play in the mud and play with Nara. As you can see shes even bigger! She's alsmost the same height as Lini when she's sitting up.We normally take her to the dog park at least every other day or so now and she gets wiped out there. Shes really turning around and calming down now. Perfect timing with Sprout coming.. SOMEDAY!

Patience stinks!

car seats, stress and a beautiful baby blessing

Today we installed Sprouts car seat. It's Lini's old bucket seat, we are temporarily using it until we can afford another Britax. I will feel a lot better once Sprout is in a Britax though,knowing the safety ratings etc. We have the seats side by side right now as you can see in the pic. Our car is very small and crammed. We really need a van but b/c of our debt it,sadly, will be a year at the very least before we can afford one. This really scares me b/c I don't like the idea of 2 kids crammed in the back seat of a small car, its very unsafe :(
Anyways, Lini was excited ot sit in her seat today with the baby's next to her. She brought a doll with her and buckled it in.

We promised Lini we'd take her to Blue Bird Gap Farm this weekend to see the new baby animals but it rained ALL weekend. We did not want to break our promise though though so we still went for a very short trip. She got to see the baby goats,chicks and lambs. She was happy. Daddy also let her hold the umbrella at one point. As you can see he was pretty much cut off by it! LOL



On Saturday the super sweet Amanda and Betsy had a baby blessing for Sprout and I at Amanda's house. It was so wonderful and amazing. The mamas that attended are all such inspiration for me and I hope I can labor and birth as well as they have. I feel beyond fortunate to know them all and so honored they came to celebrate Sprout with me. It was just sucha warm safe feeling I had the whole time i was there. I didn't want to leave but after 4 hours Kevin was looking for us LOL
K was super excited about the baby blessing but of course as soon as we got there she was gone playing with all the kids LOL. She had a blast! She did join us near the end though for picking out the yarn and tying it around our wrists... see pics!



and here is my birth bead necklace. Every story shared with me and every desire will stay with me all through labor as vividly as when they were told to me. Lini even knows which bead is from who and which child they represent.

I am so grateful for all these mamas did for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

car seats, stress and a beautiful baby blessing

our crazy life!

Nara is a little over 4 months old and HUGE now! K brought home some balloons from Trader Joes yesterday and Nara had a field day with them making us all laugh hysterically.



We had to move our couch and love seat really close together to make a 'safe corner' for the cats where Nara and K can't get to them. K uses this set up to 'be a monkey' and swing from the two. As you can see by her crazy face she loves it!



Lastly heres a picture of one of our rats Boots on my shoulder. We just found a huge lump on both her and sweet pea so they may not be living much longer :(

our crazy life!