Ribbon wind sock craft

A new day, brings another toddler emotional breakdown. It seems lately L lives his life laughing hysterically or sobbing for the craziest reasons. "Mommy I want real fruit, not cup fruit!! I want watermelon!!!!" 

Thankfully doing some simple crafts will calm him down and get him excited to decorate for Christmas really early. 

This toilet paper roll windsock is easy and quick

All that's needed is a toilet paper roll, ribbons in various sizes and a hot glue gun. 

I let L pick out the ribbons we used (which don't match at all, but whatever) then I cut them and wrap some around the roll and hang the others from the inside. 

I finished it off with a ribbon on the top to hang it. Voila! 

L loved to use this as a "car wash" as well. 

We hung ours from Jingle, our reindeer but you can hang it outside to sway in the breeze, just make sure to secure it well. 

Being the Crafty Mom

With working so much, I often don't get enough time to be "that mom" that crafts with their kiddo, but I just had surgery so I am trying to do more fun things with L while I recover. I have been on Pinterest looking for easy crafts that my big boy would enjoy without getting too messy or too bored. There is A thin line with raising a rambunctious boy. 

Introducing salt dough! 

I absolutely loved this idea because I already had all of the ingredients on hand and L and I could whip up a batch fairly quickly. 

All it takes is 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt & 1/2 cup warm water. We also used different gel colors. He loved using his hands to mix up the dough and we put some cinnamon in the mix to make it smell yummy. 

L also loved using the kitchen tools to cut and divide the dough to color 

Since it is November, we starting to get into the holiday spirit so we used green and red to make some cool ornaments and added in some other colors at the end with the left over dough. We didnt bother with rolling out out, we used the flat end of the dough scraper to push down on rolled balls in order to achieve the right thickness

Not only can you make ornaments, but you can also mold this stuff into shapes. My kiddo wanted me to make a volcano and have lava spilling out of it. So...

Not too bad. 

Don't forget to use a straw to push a hole through the top of your ornaments to put ribbon through. 

Place your shapes onto a pizza stone or a non stick cookie sheet and put in the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. They should dry, not cook. 

When you take them out they should be rock solid, but if they aren't they will dry out completely in about a day. I would wait until that time before you string them with ribbon. 

L had so much fun making these, we are going to use a permanent market to add the year to them and our names. 

Mission accomplished. Now time for a much needed nap after clean up. 

Happy Holidays!

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Our 5-month old!

It has been a long time since I blogged. My life has been a whirwind since our little man was born. He is now 5 months old! He is a pure blessing, and keeps us on our toes. Being new moms, we have learned a lot on the fly. Most of all, we now know that EVERYONE has an opinion on how he should be raised, and fed, and change, and played with... While we appreciate the advice and all, and we sometime solicit the advice, most of the time we just want to scream. Because, while you have a certain opinion, we have heard just the opposite from someone else, and we ourselves have our own as well. SO far, he is healthy and thriving, so I think we must be doing a good job. I have become a wiz at reading his cues, and I know what his body language, sounds and facial expressions mean. Being a mom, is what I was meant to do! Lucas is still waking up a few times a night, and he is still eating every 3 hours, I am hoping he starts to go longer in between feedings now that he has started stage 1 foods. I also hope that his longer stretches at night become even longer. But, I won't ever complainm, because we fought long and hard to become mothers, and I will not take anything for granted.

Being a non-traditional family is sometimes tough. Not in the sence that you would think. We haven't been treated differently among the people in our lives, or the people we come across. You would think that would be the case, but when a smiling happy baby is sitting in front of you, there is little that you can say to the contrary. The issues that we have faced are purely federal. That is a case for another time... for now I will leave y'all with a picture of our boy.

38 weeks- Welcome Lucas

So, it has taken me a little while to get back to blogging after the birth of our son Lucas. It just has been a little hectic around here.
So first things, first. His birth story. On Monday September 17, I was scheduled for an OB appointment to check my blood pressure. Jenn & my mother went with me. I knew that when I got up and got dressed for the day, I would not be returning home for a while. I was right. My bp was too high, and the midwife said "today's a good day to have a baby". Mom was on shock, not prepared to be going to the hospital so soon. She thought shed have more time to get ready, and my dad was at home with no clue. Jenn was as ready as I was to meet our son, so she was excited. I was calm, actually. Like I said, I knew I would not be returning home.
We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 AM, checked in and we were escorted to the birthing suite. Within 30 minutes, I was on a pitocin drip of 2. This would increase by 2 each half hour until it was time to push (was the plan) a few hours later, the contractions were getting really strong, but I just wasn't dialating fast enough. The midwife on call (Jesse) was very nice, and so were our L&D nurses. They gave me an epidural, which was wonderful! I was more scared of that pain, than birth, but it should have been the other way around. The epidural was a breeze, and it made the pain go away. At about 6:00 PM, the gave me a catheter and they also tried to manually get me to dialate a bit more. That got me to 6 cm. that's as far as I got. The contractions were getting faster, but with each one, Lucas's heart rate was getting too fast. He would spike after the contraction, which was not normal. It's ok for his HR to spike during a contraction, but after is not good. So, Jesse decided to take me off the Pitocin to see if Lucas's HR evened out. For 30 minutes we waited, and it seemed that he was ok. So at about midnight, we started Pitocin again at 1 mll drip. Within 20 minutes Lucas was reacting badly again, so that was that. Something was wrong, and Jesse said that she was not going to continue playing with this baby. A c-section was ordered. I was just glad that something was happening. After 11 + hours of laboring, we were going to get to meet our son. I was immediately prepped for the c-section, my parents were ushered out, Jenn was taken to get scrubs on, and things were rolling along. I was taken to the OR, where a larger team that I imagined was needed for this type of thing was waiting, including my surgeon, (OB) Dr. Grana and 3 anesthesiologists, plus several nurses. They moved me to a narrow table, and started introducing a host of medicines that would make me completely numb from the waste down. At one point I was shaking so violently, I thought that I would cause Dr. Grana to slip with her scalpel. I had them use extra medicine because I felt the metal tool that they tested on me before cutting. I apparently have a high tolerance for pain meds. Jenn was now by my side, and they were ready to start. The surgery took no more than 20 minutes, I think. I was a little out of it, and honestly don't remember too much. I just know that at 1:51AM I heard our son cry. That's the sound I was waiting for on pins as needles. I knew that as long as I heard that sound, that he was okay. He was thrust in front of me for a moment, all covered in stuff, then I was vaguely aware that they were weighing him, poking him and testing him, and Jenn had cut the cord and was taking pictures. I'm not sure how long this went on, but eventually he was all bundled up in Jenn's arms and I was stroking his face. He was here, I was out, and Jenn had already texted pictures to her parents and mine. He was then placed in a cart, and Jenn went with him while they finished up with me and wheeled me back to my room to recover for a bit. That was when I was finally able to hold him. He was so little (still is).. And was completely content in my arms. A surge of love, fear and protection hot me all at once. Wow! That is what motherhood feels like. He weighed 6 lbs 11 ounces and was 19 & 1/4" long. This was our story.

36-37 weeks

With my parents arrival, it has been quite hectic. But, it has been absolutely great to have them here. We are all looking forward to the arrival of little Lucas. Unfortunately, I have been put to bed rest. My blood pressure, has spiked which has made my mother very nervous as well as our doctor. We were sent to the hospital for several hours of monitoring and eventually let go home.
Who knew, that lying around could be so exhausting. Monday, we have an appointment back at the doctor to see how my blood pressure is doing as well as doing an ultrasound and a nonstress test.
Mom seems to think that the arrival of little Lucas is just about a week away. The nurses at the hospital seem to agree with her. We shall soon see, in the meantime I'm laying around, watching movies, and being taken care of by my awesome parents & loving wife.

35 Weeks

As our 35th week comes to a close, we are feeling quite anxious. It feels like I have been pregnant for an eternity, and each week, I get more and more tired and ready to be on maternity leave. Our little guy is doing great though, and that is what matters most. Lately, any movement is really uncomfortable for me...Jenn hates seeing the pain on my face. My mantra, is "just 4 more weeks".
We pretty much have everything we need for Lucas. Toys, teethers, paci's, bouncers, saucers and not to mention the massive amount of diapers that we have managed to accumulate. Our friends and family have been (and continue to be) very generous with everything that they have bought for him/us.
Recently, I was having a rough day, and Jenn came home with a package from her Aunt Linda. Linda is one of the most amazing people I have ever met, with a heart of gold, and a generous nature. She has gotten Lucas so many precious things! But that day, she sent a card with sweet and encouraging words, and some really comfy slippers (for the hospital) for me and Jenn. Thanks Aunt Linda, you are the bestest! We are lucky to have you in our lives. It is kind of amazing how something small can make your day, or week. I hope I can do that for someone soon.
We went to Wilmington yesterday with our friends from Maryland (Jenn & Shannon). We had a great time with them in town, not to mention we had the whole weekend off. The downside is, that I am exhausted from walking around in the humidity. I feel that every step I took, I was getting closer to the ground (from the weight). So the fun was mixed with some discomfort, but worth it. That was probably our last mini trip before our bundle of joy makes his appearance, so awe ate good food, had some Kilwins ice cream, and saw some sights before we are locked away from the world for a few months. :)

34 weeks

Had a doctor appointment this week that got moved up. Thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, just paranoid. Third trimester is no joke. Everything just gets amplified. Gas, swelling, fluids, headaches... My mom doesn't like our doctor. She (and we) believe that you should choose when you go on maternity leave. My body just can't handle these long retail days anymore. I get home, barely able to move due to the massive amounts of swelling in my legs. My parents are due to arrive sometime in the second week of September. That is my goal to leave work... Maybe mom can convince my doctor. After all, at 36 weeks we start going to see him every week. There have been major changes to our OB lately, as I've mentioned, but now there is one more. One of our doctors (Seidel) is MIA. They have told us that he is on family leave, and they don't know when he is coming back, so that means that we will surely have Shashadri or the midwife to deliver Lucas. That kinda sucks, because we really loved Seidel, and now we are settling. It's too late to switch doctors, and Seidel is nowhere to be found. It's kind of suspicious. We wonder if something happened to his family, or he has left the practice. The office is really vague. Ugh! Oh well, I guess the dr doesn't entirely matter, as long as we are taken care of.