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Saturday, July 31, 2010

What's for Dinner?

Go here, Make This.

You won't regret it. Though, unless you are planning on hosting an army for dinner or have at least 4 kids, I would recommend halving the chicken, broth, and noodles. But leave the veggies and spices the same.

Also? I used dried egg noodles out of the bag, not the fancy shmancy kind she uses. And I also just used regular old black pepper. It was still yummalicious.

Super Quick Update:

So, the ultrasound report showed no Previa. YAY! The only thing that was interesting was that the baby is still in a breech position, but that's something I'm not really concerned about. If she doesn't turn before delivery then we will deal with that at the delivery.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Que Pasa

So here's what's up recently:

*I'm still cranky all the time. All. The. Time. This has a lot to do with why blogs have been scarce. I hate to just sit here and whine and complain, and that is pretty much all I feel like doing. My crankiness has now progressed to a whole new level which we will call the "Don't Touch Me!" level. It sucks. Moving on.

*Ultrasounds! I never thought I would get tired of them, now I hate them. I dread having to go in for the ultrasound hoopla. It means being touched AND smeared with sticky goo. Boo. It doesn't seem to help matters any that aside from one, all of them have been performed by the same tech. I can't believe she still checks my armband when I go in for them. She sees me at least once a month if not twice, and I know she recognizes me from the annoyed look she gets whenever she sees me. Hello. It's me again, Margret. *sigh* The ultrasound they did last month apparently showed that I had a low lying placenta, so Dr. B sent me back for yet another one. I had no idea what that meant, and the (apparently) mute tech didn't help me out any. I had the follow up ultrasound on Monday and all she did was click, click, click, measure, measure, measure. Momma mentioned that it's just possible she may not be allowed to talk to me about it. From what I could see, it looked like my placenta was pretty much right on top of the cervix. But what do I know? I'll have to wait to get the report from the Dr. on this coming up Tuesday.

*I googled "Low Lying Placenta" and then "Low Lying Placenta 3rd Trimester," and probably shouldn't have. Basically, if it's sitting too low it could possibly mean more bleeds in the next few weeks, and also its possible I will have no choice but to have a cesarean to deliver. Whoop. Ee. As if I haven't had enough to think about. I told you I shouldn't have googled it. Stay off of google.

*I'm 32 weeks and a few days. I now watch episodes of "I didn't know I was Pregnant" to torture myself. HOW?!! How do you NOT know you are pregnant? When the baby kicks, my belly MOVES. That is NOT gas! I try not to watch when Tim is home because he starts to look frightened when I begin yelling at the TV screen.

*Nadia starts school on August 9th. That is in roughly 2 1/2- 3 weeks. It seems obscenely early to me. At some point the school is supposed to send a letter with the name of her teacher, date of her orientation, and what time her bus will arrive and so forth. I don't think we're ready. I feel very unprepared and scatter brained.

*Calvin turns one year old on August 19th. I hope I don't go into labor on his birthday. Or worse.. before his birthday. We are planning a cook out with the family to celebrate his big year. I'm hoping all goes well.

*Momma is leaving town for my grandfather's 90th birthday at the end of August. I'm due September 12th. I am freaking out. Momma has been in the delivery room for both of my other children, and now I feel like I'm facing the possibilities of all this scary stuff and there is the other scary possibility that she won't be there. I should mention that Mom was pretty blown away and nervous about being in the delivery room for NB, her first grandchild. She kept saying, "But... I'm not good at this stuff! I didn't even want to see Ya'll being born!!" Despite that, she was awesome and she loved it, of course and has been in the room for all the other grandbabies. She likes to chit chat with the nurses about the grandbabies between contractions. I'm going to freak if I go into labor and she's in Lousianna.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I DID it! I DID It!!!







I FINALLY figured out how to make one of these pop-over, reversible, criss cross pinafore tops without using buttons or ties for the straps!!! I had finally given in and bought this pattern from Whimsy Coture on etsy, but aside from using her pattern pieces, I didn't get much out of it. She had some CRAZY instructions for how to make it using a side seam thing, that didn't make any sense to me. Even looking at the tutorial pics didn't help me one bit. I got really frustrated and probably swore some, and undoubtedly cried a lot. I was actually kind of angry that I finally broke down and bought the pattern and STILL couldn't make the top.
I went to sleep on it and then, suddenly, I had this idea. This wonderfully simple fantastic idea.


See, there is this shoulder bag tutorial that Tammie and I use all the time, that has a way to join the reversible straps without using a button or a tie. There really isn't a difference between the straps of the top and the straps of the purse, so obviously, I could just join them the same way. I ended up joining her pattern pieces to make one, seamless piece like this smockette. I cut one out of each fabric, and then sewed them right sides together, stopping about an inch away from each shoulder opening. I turned it inside out, pressed it, and then crossed the back and joined the straps using the method in the shoulder bag tutorial. Then I topstitched all around the top to finish it off.
I am so stinkin' excited!!! I love the one I made for NB for school this year. The retro fabric is my favorite, but I really like the orange side too. I think I'm going to have to make at least two more of these for the school year.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Conversation With a 5 Year Old:

Me: "NB, stop growling at your brother!" (OK, seriously, does anyone else have to say this several times a day? Or is it just me?)

NB: "What will happen if I growl at him?"

Me: "It scares him, see?! Now he's all fussy."

.....


Me: "NB, come back to the table and finish this milk! Don't waste it!"

NB: "What happens when you waste milk?"

Me: "It gets sour and smelly and then we have to throw it out."

NB: "Well, what happens when we throw it out?"

Me: "......It's wasted, and no one gets to drink it."

........

Me: "NB, it's time for bed, go brush your teeth."

NB: "What happens when we brush our teeth?"

Me: "...........*and then my brain explodes*...........


"What will Happen?" is NB's new favorite question of all time. She doesn't even mean it as a smart ass come back either. She genuinely wants to know what will happen when _________happens or doesn't happen. After hearing it about 50 times or more a day in response to everything I say.....it gets a bit frustrating.

This has been yet another conversation with a 5 year old.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Waiting Game Randomness

* I realize I haven't posted an actual real post here in quite awhile; just random lists of updates. I'm 32 weeks now and the pregnancy has more or less just become a waiting game. Dr. B expects me to go in a little early (around 2-3 weeks early), and I'm beginning to agree with him. I feel so ... heavy. And slow. Things that usually take me no time at all to accomplish seem to take me forever and a day to do now. Mostly I just give up after a few minutes and then wander off to read or something.

* They finally put out the school supply lists for the upcoming year, so I snagged one at the store yesterday and decided to get some of that shopping out of the way. Do ya know that NB has to have 8, EIGHT boxes of crayons? She is supposed to bring 2 boxes of large 8 count crayons, 4 boxes of regular size 8 count crayons, and 2 boxes of regular sized 16 count crayons. Seriously? Not to mention 10 jumbo glue sticks. TEN?! She better come home with lots of art projects. That's all I'm sayin'. Me, being me, I bought a few extra boxes of markers and crayons (hello?! They are only $1!!!!) just to have at our house for coloring with. I will confess. This is my favorite time of year. I did manage to avoid buying school supplies like lined filler paper and notebooks that we definitely DO NOT need.... but it was hard.

* Remember when I talked a little about my facebook shop thing? I have been debating on whether or not I'm going to keep it going. On the one hand, I put a lot of work into it and setting it up and the photos all look really cute; so I hate to just yank it all down. On the other hand, I find I am just not very business oriented. I don't like trying to anticipate what people will buy. I don't like buying extra fabric for a particular item that then doesn't sell, or only one size will sell, so I'm left with lots of left overs. Not that I mind left over FABRIC. Shyah! I just can't figure out how long is long enough to leave that item available before I use the fabric for something else. I don't like when I'm buying fabric or sewing and NB wanders in and asks, "Is this for ME!???" And then I have to tell her no. When I started sewing, is was because it was something Momma did and I wanted to learn. So she taught me, and I sewed things for myself. When I started having my own kids, it seemed "made" clothing was super popular all of a sudden, and I knew I wanted to do that for my children. I really enjoy sewing for my children and for my home, and trying to keep a business mind frame while sewing is NO. FUN. Not for me, anyhow. I enjoy sewing for others: for friends and family, so I will still make things for others whether they pay me for them, or they act as gifts. I just don't have the energy it takes to run it like a business.

* NB has started swimming lessons this week. The child is terrified of water that is any deeper than her belly button, and more than anything, I just want for her to be comfortable in the water. I don't care if she becomes a master swimmer or anything. I told myself when this started that I would be happy if by the end of it she would at least play in the shallow end of the pool, off the steps, without having to cling to me or Tim. Yesterday was the first day, and after the first 15 minutes I was thinking it was probably going to take the whole 2 weeks for her to just get off the steps. Apparently, all it took was for my sister to hang her over the side (in the shallow end, now, don't get all upset) until she'd put her feet down. It scared her pretty bad and then any time she wandered over by the steps, my sis would threaten to hang her over the side again. After about another 10 minutes or so, she was great. She practiced her "bouncy ball" where they have them jump and down in the water. This is to show them that they aren't going to sink even if they aren't touching the bottom. She put her face in the water and blew bubbles. By the end of the hour, she would even kick all the way through the deep end to the ladder with one of the girls holding her hands. I was SO PROUD! She didn't want to leave when the hour was up. I was so happy that she was actually in the water and not freaking out that I'd be happy to just take that and go. We will go back today for day 2.

* Speaking of swimming, you would have died the first time you saw her kick. Instead of putting her feet out behind her, she tucked her legs up under her and kicked. She looked like she was riding an underwater bicycle. It was hilarious. I thought my sister and I were both going to die laughing. We laugh at our children in this family............it's kind of hard not to, actually.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Conversation with a 5 year old:

Nadi-B approached me in my sewing room today and started kind of "dancing around." Only, not really dancing, more like just swinging her arms and legs around all sporadically like kids do when they talk.



NB- "Momma? Did you KNOW that there is ONE flower that is dangerous?!"



Me- "Mmmhmm.. really?"



NB- "Yeah! It's a FORMIS BEE TRAP!"



Me- "Oh? Is that anything like a Venus fly trap?"



NB- "No, it's a formis bee trap, and it's in the forest and when bees run out of time, they land on it and it SNAPS! (with a hand clap for emphasis) on the bee and.......IT EATS IT!!!"



Me- "Really?"



NB- "Yeah, they are really dangerous! So, we have to be careful when we are outside not to touch them. Like the bees. That run out of time. ...........





"Maybe I should write Elizabeth (her best friend) a letter and tell her about the Formis Bee Trap so she can warn her daddy not to touch them when he's hunting in the woods."



Me- "Ummm... I really don't think we have any Formis Bee Traps around this area, Nadia."



NB- "Yeeeaaaahhhh.... but just in case, I'll draw her a picture in the letter."



Me- "Okay..."





You have to admit: It's probably the scariest looking Formis Bee Trap you'll ever see. I think my favorite part is that it's apparently blooming from the same plant as that harmless looking yellow daisy there. And that bee??? He is running out of time.