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Showing posts from October, 2011

Secret Hopes

Shhhhhh.......don't spread it around, but I have to admit that I am secretly hoping for twins! I doubt I am pregnant with twins because I figure I'd feel very VERY sick if it were twins, but twins sound good to me. I'll find out November 1st. I decided to stick with my usual OB and birthing hospital and he always performs an ultrasound on the first visit. I know there are those who believe in as few ultrasounds as possible, but I like seeing my little jelly bean as soon as possible. I also found a house in Amish country for sale for an unbelievably affordable price. (I know, first thought is what's wrong with it.) It's a cute Cape Cod style cottage with nearly 10 acres of land, a barn and two car garage. 4 bedrooms! I don't think it is going to happen, but we'll see.

Strange Pregnancy Symptoms

Have you ever had any unusual or out of the ordinary pregnancy symptoms? I have the usual fatigue and nausea, food and smell aversions. But, this pregnancy, I'm also experiencing claustrophobia! I can't stand when people crowd around me. I don't like being in small spaces. Even taking a shower drives me bonkers because I'm in that enclosed space! It bothers me, but it is also kind of funny because I know how ridiculous it is. Thankfully, it is only temporary and this baby is so worth all the oddities that occur with each pregnancy. As a side thought, it is also kind of ironic that I have claustrophobia this pregnancy because our little cottage is too small for us now and will be uncomfortably tiny once the new baby arrives. We're praying and trusting in the Lord to provide us with a larger home one way or another. So, I'm curious! Please share your unusual symptoms!

Another One On The Way!!

I am unexpectedly, but happily pregnant again. Ok, well, I'm not happily pregnant. Well, I am, but I'm not. LOL! What I mean is I am happy to be having another baby, but I have to admit, I don't like being pregnant. I'll take labor and delivery over 1st trimester symptoms any day! Ugh! Adding to the difficulty is trying to decided where to birth and who will attend? Should I stick with my usual OB (who's pushed inductions the last two times? Thankfully, I avoided them!) Should I go with a team of midwives who deliver at my usual hospital (the same hospital that has a really crappy recovery, is overcrowded now and ripped off my insurance company)? Should I go for a midwife and deliver at a hospital that has a poor reputation, is far for my husband to get to should he be working out of town when I deliver, but my sister had a good birthing experience there? There are no independent birthing centers here and home birth is not an option. I don't know. It

100 Books to Read to a Child Before Kindergarten

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Do you remember those book lists that were put out listing the 100 books you should read? I wondered today, if there were such a list called 100 Books to Read to a Child Before Kindergarten, what books would be on that list? I asked on my Facebook page and got several suggestions: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Millions of Cats The Very Hungry Caterpillar Good Night Moon Pat the Bunny Guess How Much I Love You Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See Are You My Mother The Little Engine That Could The Poky Little Puppy Llama Llama Red Pajama Leading Little Ones To God My Aunt, a dedicated educator offered this list: The Dr. Seuss books, The Winnie the Pooh books, Corduroy the Bear books, Paddington Bear books. The real Grimms fairy tales (edit as you read to be developmentally appropriate) - not the Disney versions. Same with Anderson's Fairy Tales. Mother Goose. Where the Wild Things Are. Harold and the Purple Crayon. Owl Moon. Click Clack Moo. So many books, so little time... books b

Touching, Interesting Video

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This video's emphasis on the "green" method of lighting in a poor area. But, what strikes me about this video is how happy they are with something so simple. Something many of us would shrink at the thought of, they are excited about! I see their houses and think, "what a way to live! Who am I to complain about my little cottage?" And yet, they seem content, organized. So little means so much to them.

A Use For Recalled Cribs

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I saw this image on facebook as an idea for a use for all those recalled cribs out there. I LOVE it! As a matter of fact, I have a recalled crib with one broken side sitting out in my storage shed. I'd love to do this with it, but I simply do not have room in my house for it.

May I Take Your Order?

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When I was a little girl, my cousin and I were spending the day at Grandma's house. Grandma didn't keep toys at her house for the grandchildren, but that didn't stop us from having enormous amounts of creative fun. One game we liked in particular involved simply a broken phone, a calculator, a pen and mail order fliers from the weekly coupon inserts. For hours we'd pretend to take calls from customers, filling out the order forms and filing them carefully. Oddly enough, I was praised for my phone skills when I entered the working world. Today, I introduced the game to my oldest after we finished homeschooling for the day. He loved it! And then there's the accidental bad mothering turned good that happened last week. My 3 year old needed occupation, so I gave her the only sheet of paper I had on hand to draw on. I was busy with one thing or another when my 5 year asked for paper. Not wanting to be interrupted again searching for a piece of paper, I handed him

A Fireplace of My Own

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Oh, for a fireplace. Our little cottage is sorely lacking in one. It just seems fitting that our little "hobbit hole" ought to have one! Of course, affording the installation for a real fireplace is well beyond our means. My attention turns to the electric and gel fireplace units you can get. I keep hoping their prices drop, but no such luck. Even our local Big Lots store sells them at a price I cringe at. So, I started brain storming again. It isn't so much the heat I want or need our of a fireplace as the ambiance. And ever since I visited a friend's house when I was first married and saw she had placed a grouping of pillar candles within her real (but unusable) fireplace, I was hooked. I loved it! Simple, inexpensive, easy, and lovely! So, how can I achieve that? I'm wondering how much it would cost to build a simple box fireplace out of wood (with some sort of flame proof interior) and surround it with a lovely mantle and surround? I'm thinking

Alternative to Netflix

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We have Netflix and aren't really looking into getting rid of it, personally, but I have heard from some of my Christian friends that they got rid of Netflix. Many of them had the same reason: You couldn't browse through Netflix at all without getting an eye full! It's a pain weeding through all the garbage to find the few good movies. Even their Faith and Spirituality section was loaded with assaults on Christianity. I agree with them! I remember a couple of times browsing through Netflix on the Wii and coming across DVD covers that were scary for my children or embarrassingly indecent or even outright disgusting! Netflix doesn't seem to have a filter for such things. There are other options, my friends. Here are two resources to get more wholesome and more Christian programming. http://www.christiancinema.com/dvdrental/default.php http://bluebehemoth.com/