Super Cool- Mom Back-up

I seriously encourage you to do this!

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=3549

Mom's Rising is giving you a quick and easy way to let a friend who is a mom know that if they have any type of family or child emergency this Tuesday that is preventing them from voting, you would be Happy to step in and help out while they go vote. I think this is the coolest. As a mom, it's great to know who you can call for quick help if something arises. I sent a few out to moms whose email addresses I know.

If you are a mom, you know what I mean, and there should be NOTHING that stops a mom from voting. Seriously. So step up and help out by letting a mom know that you are her backup. AND Get out there and VOTE!

And if you aren't registered, get on it! Filling out the form and sending it just takes minutes, and if you can't get registered this year, you will be ready for next year!

Short and Sweet

I am so exhausted tonight. This will be short. Today was a good day but a long one. I woke up at noon! Ardyn woke up at noon! Then I browned 3 pounds of ground beef, made taco dip and crock pot lasagna, got Ardyn dressed, and by then my mom was here to watch her and I was getting myself ready and heading in to "work" for a meeting.

Tonight we watched TV and ate together, my mom and sister were here. We watched Grey's Anatomy and then I watched Wednesday's episode of Dirty Sexy Money. It was good. I then wanted to catch up on the two episodes I missed this season, but when I tried to watch them at abc.com they were really choppy, even on cable internet. I dunno. It was like it was constantly buffering, which annoyed me. And even when I started it over, hoping that it would be better once the downloading got ahead of the area I was watching, it was the exact same. Choppy in the same places. Ack. So I stopped. My brain is too tired to decipher what they were saying, let alone enjoy it. It's hard when their mouths don't match the words, because I can't even try to lip read.

I will just go put the lasagna in the fridge and turn off the crock pot and then it's off to bed for me. Too tired!

Have a great Friday!

My daughter is a genius

I just pinched my finger in the bathroom door. And I said "Fuck." And I realized that it is probably better at this time to create a new bad word. One that can be repeated in public by a small child and not make anyone turn their head. A friend's grandma used to say "Couch."

I will need to repeatedly injure myself and practice using the new word so that I don't screw up. Any word suggestions?

I am not sure if it is a good idea to feed a 1 year old Smarties at 10pm, but we have nothing to do tomorrow morning. She can sleep it off and so can I. She has never had smarties before. She can't have much candy cuz of the milk thing. Right now she is watching Dragon Tales and tearing apart a pad of yellow sticky notes with determined vengeance. She has been playing with lots of random items lately. Flashlights. Doorstops. Headbands. Everything is an instrument of her imagination.

I am filling the bathtub, and it is great until she figures out that it is filling (like she just did now) because then she wants to dive in headfirst. No fear that child. So I have had to shut and barricade the bathroom door and she is having a hysterical moment. We are going to take a bath. She needed one, well, a while ago. I think yesterday morning was technically bath day (we bathe every other around here) and I ended up showering alone last night (for the first time since about 2007) and she was at grandmas for a visit. It ws so quiet here last night that I kept thinking she was about to wake up from her nap. But I got a TON done. So tonight we are going to take our regular together bath. We're all about conserving water here. And making bathtime easy. And that is the easiest way to give her a good bath, spend time with her, and still get my own bath. If I am in the tub and she is not, she is hysterical trying to climb over the sides (usually she is successful) and get in with me. There is no bathing without her, unless dad stands by to whisk her away, or I put her in her robe, which makes her realize that the bath is over. Don't ask why. That's just the way it is. I am considering using a Simplicity pattern that I have to make a bigger, fluffier, hooded robe maybe with velcro closures so that I can just put it on her easier when I am inside the tub and she is not. But I really should get some nice thick Terry cloth. Which I won't find unless I go to a good fabric store. I like to feel like she is warm and dry instead of wet and shivering while I finish up the end of my bath (the shaving, etc just can't be done with her in the tub too. Room restrictions and tiny grabby hands prevent it.)

So today In my stupor of internet wonder I discovered Burdastyle. Oh lord. It's like heaven for sewers (people who sew, not like rancid underground pipes of poo.) I just can't contain myself. Found some patterns I want to try, including a shirt for Ardyn, and of course my laser printer just decided today that it doesn't want to feed the paper. I have tried auto-feed, and the tray, with all sorts of varying paper amounts. The rollers are just being so obstinate. So I have been saving PDF Files for patterns and instructions and SOON I tell you, I will get these things printed. It irritates me to no end. I may even have to hook up Evan's Deskjet and print them with that. I so despise inkjets. I love my laser. It's done this before, and woken up a week later in a better mood, to work another year or so without complaining. I hope that this is the case again.

Well, off to take the bath. I will be back after I get her to bed!

11:09pm. Nice bath. Really nice. We soaked and sang every song we could think of, including a rousing rendition of Old McDonald had a farm in which he seems to also be an exotic animal enthusiast and have things like snakes and monkeys in addition to your everyday farm animals. Ardyn likes to insert the correct sound for the animal as soon as I announce which animal is on the farm. It's too cute. Since we are taking oil bath now for both of our eczema, we soak for about 10 minutes and then we quickly wash her hair, get her out, and then I wash my hair. The idea is as little exposure to soap as possible. I find myself giving her underwater massages on her legs and feet while we sing songs and soak. Tonight she was saying "Sing!" and when I let her out of the tub I put her robe on and she promptly tore it back off again. I noticed that her robe has short sleeves (it's from florida and worked wonderfully after swim lessons) and that I should indeed make her one with long sleeves. Perhaps really long with velcro at the ends so that I can wrap it around her straight jacket style and she can't get it off. Well anyway, she ran around naked and splashed in the water over the side of the tub and tried to catch globs of floating shaving cream and put them in her mouth. And then, she did the most amazing thing. She found a square of toilet paper. To which I groaned and knew that it would entertain her to no end. And instead of tearing it up, you know what she did? She squatted right there in the bathroom and WIPED with it. I shit you not. She wiped herself with a teeny square of toilet paper. And because she got an amazed response from me, she continually wiped herself for the next 10 minutes until she had little pieces of toilet paper stuck all over her crotch. What a crazy smart kid.

And as per her usual bedtime routine, we got in a nighttime diaper, put on her prescription lotion (mimyx) and her pajamas... then situated her room (CD player on, lights out, crib prepared, fresh blanket) and she gave me a kiss when I asked and leaned over towards her crib. And lay down and looked up at me when I placed Stewart the Seahorse (lights up like a gloworm) in her crib "just so" on her right side, and dog in her left arm, and tucked her in "snug as a bug in a rug" and turned on her Rainforest Crib soother. Then I give her a kiss via my hand and up goes the side rail and out of the room I go. And she doesn't cry. And I love that.

Now I have decided that I won't put on clothes, just a robe, and I won't dry my hair. And I should go to sleep but I am trying to talk myself out of browning 3 pounds of ground beef tonight, as I can do it tomorrow morning. I will be making taco dip and crock-pot lasagna with garlic bread as tomorrow night is Grey's Anatomy night and my mom and sister and I all get together and watch at mom's house. Since Liz and I both couldn't afford TV for a while. But now I have cable at home again, and DVR, so we can rewind.... and so I have suggested that we make this week a gathering at our house. Which will be awesome. So I am looking forward to that.

But I also have a meeting at work tomorrow and WIC coupons to pick up, so I am trying to tell myself that I can brown the beef in the morning, but I know we will sleep late, and so the morning won't really be morning by the time that I feed Ardyn and myself and get ready to go to my meeting after lunch. But I don't really feel like doing it all tonight. I already cleaned the fridge out tonight and haven't QUITE finished disposing of all the ickies that I need to stiuff down the garbage disposal. I should probably do that and then brown the beef in the morning. And then put together the lasagna and the dip and then get ready for my meeting and get things ready for mom to watch Ardyn.

Well, Evan just texted me. And I need to get offline. I am addicted all over again.

Mom's Mummy

Mom's Mummy, originally uploaded by Dazed81.

New Pants with Fancy Hems

New Pants with Fancy Hems, originally uploaded by Dazed81.

Well, they aren't really new anymore, but since I just got pics uploaded, I thought I would share some.

Picture of the Toddler "Quilt"

Making a Toddler "Quilt" For Ardyn's Bed, originally uploaded by Dazed81.

There are TONS more photos in my flickr photostream, but here's a "finished" photo of the quilt for her Toddler Bed.

and one of the planning phase with the 54 squares all cut.

Here are the pillowcases I made for her toddler pillow and a photo of the tie-dye pillow I made with scraps.

Monday Night.

Tonight I was at my parents' house and wanted to upload photos. I had to bring Evan's new laptop with me. You see, I have an SDHC (High Capacity) camera Card and regular SD Camera card readers and slots won't read the stupid thing. No big deal, I bought a SDHC Card Reader. The first two were very inexpensive ($5 at Target) and Manufactured by Ohm (who apparently has no presence on the internet) and they both broke. The first one I just returned to target for a replacement as it was like 4 days after it was purchased, the second one I just bit the bullet and bought the $15 one by Ohm, also at Target. It's a multi card reader. And wouldn't you know, it won't work on ANY Windows XP computer I have tried it on, but Evan's laptop has a built in card reader that is new enough to read an SDHC. So I thought I would bring it with me and of course it reads the card wonderfully, but for some reason Flickr Uploader keeps locking up on me and when I try to kill it, the computer (which is brand new and runs Vista) Crashes with a Bloe Stop Screen (Blue Screen of Death) and claims a hardware error. That. Pisses me off. So although I have crafty sewing pictures, funny Ardyn pictures, and Halloween Costume Party pictures.... none of them will upload without repeatedly crashing the computer.

Sunday night was the Halloween Costume Party in our town, and we wrapped Ardyn like a mummy and also wrapped her stuffed dog. She won Second Place Costume- not in her age group (they apparently don't do that here?) But overall. It was fun, I was only disappointed that they didn't do the costume judging first, but had the kids eat and play games first, which really got to a very small mummy.... who doesn't like to wait, especially while wrapped from head to toe in a halloween costume.

I saw several other kids having costume malfunctions like losing wigs and losing props in all the excitement. Maybe next time they will do the costume contest later.... if not maybe I will find when it will be and we will make a late entrance with kids so small in costume. Of course, maybe I am just too competitive. But most other parents had boughten costumes and if you go to the work to come up with and put together a homemade costume, you just would like to get judged before the costume gets torn to hell. At least as a mummy it looks okay when you are unraveling.... unless you can see the flowered pajamas underneath your bandages.

I am So excited about tomorrow. In the morning, Ardyn is going with grandma, and then the Comcast people are coming to install a Dlink and Modem Combo so that they can setup phone and turn on our internet and cable. Then in the afternoon the window installer is coming to take measurements of our windows and then order the windows. Thank GOD. I can't wait. Since it has been in the 20's overnight this past week, it's been plenty cool.

Besides going trick-or-treating to the grandparents on Friday (not in costume) and going in to work one afternoon this week, it will be fairly uneventful. That's exciting. I am saving cash and getting ready to upload photos and order them online, get more adhesive, and cardstock for my upcoming scrapbooking weekend. I can't WAIT!

When I get back from my scrapbook weekend I have an appointment with my endocrinologist, one with my midiwfe, an ultrasound, and our new MATTRESS will be delivered. Ends up that Lays called this evening and after a pricing discussion they agreed that the mattress exchange should be even up and it won't cost us a thing. Thank YOU! I am happy about that!

Last night I watched a couple of movies. Dan In real Life with Steve Carrell was okay. Mammas Boy (with the guy from napolean Dynamite) was really really terrible, so bad that I almost stopped it altogether. Don't bother. I have one more in my group to watch this week.... but the cable will be back on and it won't be so important to rent movies anymore, which is good because there is practically nothing to rent now. Although Don't mess with Zohan was hilarious and well worth renting.

Well, the battery is running dead so that's all, till hopefully tomorrow!

Friday!

Friday, October 24, 2008
1:35pm

Friday. I never thought there would come a time in my life when Friday meant nothing more than any other day. I love it. It’s freaking fabulous.

I am really typing with basically nothing to say. Ardyn took an early nap. We had fish and tater tots for lunch. I have that pile of laundry on the couch still looking at me. Today I called and paid the cable company so now we will have internet and cable and phone at home again. Unfortunately they won’t be able to officially connect us until Tuesday, which seems like FOREVER away from Friday. LOL. I am going to have to get me some internet before then. Every single time I think about it, I kick myself for telling my neighbors that I could get on their wireless connection and that they needed to secure it. WHY Did I do that? It sure bit me in the ass. I could be having free internet.

I have like 150 photos to upload. And Five blog posts. And I need to look up the mailing address of my “former” cleaning people online because they moved and I hope they updated their website otherwise I won’t know where to mail their letter of dismissal. I want to printout a paper before Ardyn’s Monday Dr appointment, on the info for the toddler health powdered supplement to add to rice milk.

Fast Forward 9:23pm

I am so exhausted. I think it’s the headache I have had since about 6:30 that is really dragging me down. Ardyn is just putting herself to sleep, because she is exhausted too. Because of her early nap, I didn’t get a nap, and so about 4pm I was seriously crashing, and lying on the floor of her playroom with a pillow and blankie while she played. My mom stopped by and that perked me up a bit. Around suppertime we went and got Evan and we all ate supper at ZBest Café. It was packed (as it should be, it’s delicious and well worth the wait) and I saw several people there that I knew, including our insurance salesman whom I have known for at least eight years… and would you believe it? Our cleaning people! Or should I say our former cleaning people? Well, I didn’t say hello or anything, I don’t think they even saw or recognized us. I saw a former coworker also.

Ardyn was very tired and fussy, and she was doing her tantrum bit although not nearly as bad as recently, because my mom and Evan were there so they kept taking her outside and letting her walk up and down the sidewalk. I had ZSalad and it was wonderful, and I ordered it last time because it was so good…. But this time we also had Spin-Art dip, which is spinach and artichoke and it was fabulous. I have had lots of spinach and artichoke dip but this one was the best (better than my Pampered Chef Recipe) and it had bruchetta topping on it too which was like a two-for-one. I actually brought some home. I am telling myself that I am still full and I don’t have to heat up the dip and mow down on it at 9:30 when I am trying to get sleep.

I know that since Ardyn is to bed earlier than normal, she will be UP earlier than normal, add in my own exhaustion and headache, and I have taken a Tylenol and a Tylenol PM (one of each, don’t worry, I am not OD-ing) So that I can sleep well and hopefully get rid of this headache. When I am pregnant I have a headache every day in the first trimester, and this time around it seems to be lasting much longer than the first trimester…. And they are really difficult to get rid of this time around. Sometimes I will go to bed with one and every time I wake up in the night it’s still there. And sometimes it’s not gone by morning. That’s a serious headache.

So I need to put diapers in the dryer and then I am off to bed. Even if I play a bit of Touchmaster on the DS, I am still going to bed very shortly. So you all have a great night!

Not much.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
11:12pm

Ardyn just went to sleep. I am hopefully not far behind. Today we picked up her prescription at the pharmacy ($45 with insurance. Ack) and took a bath with the bath oil. As a person who has used a lot of bath oils in my time (eczema) this is by far the best I have ever used. We drug out Ardyn’s humidifier for the season and also turned on the whole house humidifier. I had Evan bring down my tote of winter pajamas from the attic and take up the window fans. Might as well admit that winter is on it’s way. He also put mouse poison in the attic. I hate to do that, but without it they just run around up there and then creep into the ceiling and walls. No amount of mouse traps down here, or electronic repellents- can keep them out.

Ardyn and I worked in the sewing room this afternoon and I added the back to the “quilt” that I made yesterday for her toddler bed, and added orange blanket binding to the top. It isn’t “perfect” but it’s really cute and soft and a perfect fit for the toddler bed. She spent about 20 minutes tonight climbing off the bed, and on the bed, repeatedly.

Evan and I spent the evening eating spaghetti and garlic bread with Ardyn, then playing with her in her big girl room, and finally coloring pictures of the Little Einsteins and Rocket while she watched their Christmas DVD. She was still going strong at 11pm but I put her to sleep anyway. That’s where I draw the line. She slept till 11 today, so I figure that 12 hours of sleep is probably what kept her going. Hehe. And that 2 hour nap this afternoon/evening.

Before Bed I hope to back and laminate the little Einstein pictures, but I think that most of my cardstock has already migrated over to mom’s house, and if there is a piece here, it is piled under tons of crap on the old scrapbook table.

Tonight while looking through my filing cabinet a bit (which I haven’t really opened since, oh, 2005?) I found a folder of all my old term papers for history, and one from college. What cracks me up, is a teacher’s take on formatting. I am not saying that 1994-1996 were revolutionary, but they were the times when computers were just becoming available in schools (rural schools I should say) and typing was being given instead of keyboarding. Formatting on letters, resumes, and term papers was changing rapidly to match what word processing programs had to offer. Unfortunately my teachers were a little behind on that. Things that are now considered perfectly normal, or standard, perhaps even dependent on a person’s personal opinions, were then just “cutting edge” and many teachers frowned upon them. For example, many of my term papers got cited for no paragraph indentations. Or because the page numbers were in the bottom center of the page instead of the upper righthand corner. My papers were all graded at 93-96% but it was really stupid little things that held me back. Another thing that made me laugh… we had a word processor by Brother at home, no computers were in most households around here. I had an old IBM PC Jr, but the printer was a dot matrix with tractor feed paper. So I wrote my papers on the Word Processor. Which could not underline. So every time I would cite a book or a reference I had to underline it by hand. Classy.

I remember when I was in college, learning all about the correct ways to make a resume. And all of those old things that we learned in high school. Total crap. Total old school. I still recall how it was a huge deal to write a letter and left justify the date, the greeting, and the signature. Holy Crap. Some teachers would have a heart attack if they saw that, but others were teaching us what was current. And if you were looking for a job it was seriously important as to whether or not you left justified the date!

Seriously. Sometimes I really what’s wrong with the school system when they teach you how to write the perfect cover letter like your life depends on it but don’t make you do things like balance a checkbook or unclog a drain or hey, how about change a diaper? Ha. Although we may have learned balancing a checkbook in home ec. Or maybe my fake husband did that. I can’t remember. And it makes me laugh to think how few letters are actually written in the 21st century. Everything is done via email. Resumes are posted online. It’s a totally different ballgame now. Running a typewriter isn’t going to help you much, but if you can change a printer cartridge, you’re on the right track.

I digress.

Tomorrow I have another day planned of doing nothing. Nothing much that is. I washed diapers tonight, and thank you rice milk, I only had to rinse ONE diaper as all the rest of them were perfectly dump-able in the potty. This makes my life near picture perfect. He. So tomorrow I expect to dry diapers, and perhaps break out those clean new sheets and cut them up to create some toddler sheets. Cross your fingers. Although by the time you read this it will probably be November. Although, Rumor has it that we will have internet and cable back by the beginning of next week. I won’t know what to DO with myself after two months of nothingness. Living off DVD’s and the weather radio. Oh and my iPod.

I really would like to go to sleep now, but there is a bunch of clean laundry on my bed that needs hung up. And all the hangers are in my closet, which is really messy and has stuff in front of the door so that I can not get to it. And I really don’t want to hang those clothes up anyway. Maybe I will transfer them to the couch and hang them tomorrow. Doesn’t that sound much more realistic?

Okay. But even transferring them seems like a huge deal. Too bad I don’t meet the weight limits in that toddler bed. That would be a perfect alternative.

More Sewing. And More Tantrums

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
11:11pm

Today has been all around awesome. Don’t get me wrong, Ardyn was still onery and throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat, but we made it through.

Of course we had her Dermatologist appointment. I was able to talk to my friend Carrie in Alaska on the phone for a while around lunchtime, while she is home recovering from shoulder surgery. She has a two year old so it’s great to hear her perspectives on things like potty training and how she deals with a 2 year old with one arm. He he.

Ardyn’s appointment went well, although the tantrums in the waiting room were quite interesting. We ended up waiting outside the waiting room in the hallway until our turn. I also had the pleasure of sitting on the floor of the handicap stall in the restroom changing her diaper because there was nowhere else to do it. Ugh. No public restroom is complete without a diaper changing station. Seriously. The dermatologist took one look at her and said “It’s Eczema” just as I predicted. So we got some bath oil and a prescription for an ointment called – oh crap, what’s it called? I want to say Mimzy but that’s a stupid movie. Moxy? No. Something like that. The pharmacy had to order it and it should be in tomorrow and I am preparing for a heart attack when we hear something like “your insurance won’t cover this” and I already had them order it and well, you can just envision it.

So after the doctor visit, despite her tantrums (and the tantrum she threw the LAST time we had to wait to have fabric cut in JoAnn Fabrics) I decided to brave the obvious disaster ahead because I wanted fabric damn it! Not Wal-Mart Fabric. I wanted to go to a fabric store and be amazed and confused and enthralled by all the colors and textures. I want to make her a combination blanket and quilt for her toddler bed to match her room. I want it to be warm enough that she doesn’t need an additional blanket, pretty enough that she doesn’t need a coverlet and it matches her décor, withstanding enough that I am not worried about washing it at the drop of a hat, soft and cuddly, and inexpensive. Those are a lot of demands, so I decided to make my own. I have the quilt and such that came with the crib set, but it really does not match AT ALL with the new room and it matches the baby room and we just needed to do something Cool for the big girl room.

Now mind you, I had no pattern. I just took measurements of the toddler bed and guessed at how much fabric I would need to make some time of joined block “Quilt.” Something without the quilting was my plan. I ended up picking fleece for the colors, softness, warmth, durability, ease of sewing, and COST… it was all 50% off or 2.99 a yard this week. Whoo-Hoo! And can you believe it! I bought FOUR colors for the front blocking and I used all but seriously like a 5 inch strip of each color. Talk about perfect estimates! LOL. I also got a striped fleece for the backside. Something fun. It could be reversible but I really just want her to see something fun under there. I am worried that I might get the room too busy, what with all the patterns and bright colors, but the walls are white, so it should turn out okay.

I also got a 27 inch (huge square, fluffy) pillow form that I intend to cover with some plushy fabric that I bought on sale also today. The pillow form was on sale for $9.99 (way cheap) and then I got it for 50% off with my coupon, so awesome. $5 for a floor pillow? Sure thing. I know that Ardyn and I will want something to sit on when on the floor and this is perfect. I grabbed some elastic to make her sheets with, and I am prepping the twin sized sheet set that I just took out of the package tonight. I can’t believe I am going to cut up a brand new sheet set. LOL. It makes me worry that I will screw up. Knock on wood… I don’t screw up too often.

Tonight Lisa stopped by to see the new room in progress. I bought a bunch of yarn a long time ago from Joann to make a blanket to match for the twin bed, and gave it to her a while ago because she is super crochet-chick and devotes not only more time to it, but actually finishes a project. So she was talking about the cool weather being “crochet season” and came over to see the room and be inspired to create something fabulous. I am not sure if she left inspired, but I always like to see her anyway. She got to see the rug and bedding and stuff.
After she left, I set in with designing a simple block “quilt” on graph paper, and then colored it according to what fabric I had. It ended up with 54 squares. 6” finished and 7” with seam allowances. I cut out all the squares (Thank God for the person who invented a mat and rotary cutter) and then Ardyn and I went to the basement with my graphed “map” of the quilt and I blocked it all together on the serger. Of course with one strip left to put together, the serger started acting up on me. It does this thing that I thought I had figured out. It somehow gets snagged and the right needle ceases to stitch properly, and I have this long straight line of thread that sits on top of the fabric and isn’t being included in my chain. For a while I was able to rethread the needles and it would fix itself, and I could even snip the long thread in the middle of stitching and it would correct itself till I could get to the end. Now rethreading needles is not doing anything.

Seriously, I ended up rethreading the entire serger (ugh) from scratch three times, until I wanted to scream…. And it was still doing it. I know the culprit is that right side thread, whether it be upper or lower, I can’t pinpoint because I rethreaded the whole serger. I can’t see where any spool isn’t feeding equally, and I dusted the whole thing off (fleece is really really fuzzy.) I ended up piecing the last strip and the rest of the patchwork top together on the sewing machine. So the whole top is completed. I am so thrilled. In some ways it’s perfect. In other ways it isn’t fancy enough and I know any quilter would go “whatever” but I have looked at it long enough that I am just indifferent to it. Hoping tomorrow night to put the fleece back on it, and not sure if I am going to stitch in a few places to secure the layers together like a quilt, or let it be. My current plan is to sew it right sides together on three sides and then turn it, and then apply coordinating blanket binding to the topside after sewing together the raw edges to close it. I have the blanket binding that I put on the edges of the matching pillowcases, and I think it will give the bed a soft and comfy look that will not look as stuffy as a quilt.
As for the serger, I am tempted to call Singer tomorrow, but since I just have a cell phone I will have to carry the serger upstairs in order to do it. Not that it’s heavy, but what a pain in the ass! (the cell phone has no reception in the basement.) So even with the Serger problems, it took me about 3 hours from start to finish, designing, drawing, cutting, piecing, and joining the strips to finish the entire front. Not bad at all for a first! I have made quilted pillow fronts in like 15 and 20” sizes, but this was a first of anything else.
I have of course taken pictures and it is KILLING ME to not be online right now to post them to share. I hate writing this and having to wait to post everything. How Droll.
Have a great night.

Sewing and Tantrums

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
9:37pm

Today was a good day. Mostly. I am pretty sure that Ardyn has been possessed by an evil demon, or a molar coming through. They are pretty much equal. She really started getting onery last night, and was so bad that we actually went out at 8pm and took an hour walk, even though it was about 37 degrees outside. I bundled both of us up because she needed to be moving and distracted with lots of things to look at (and did I mention strapped down?) and I really wanted the fresh air to remind me that her attitude isn’t the only thing in the world right now.

She went to bed around 10pm, and I watched Leatherheads with George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. It was a really good movie. I also rented Jumper, which I am halfway through tonight. I was really hoping that today would bring a better attitude for her, but in fact it was much much worse. We started out the morning by skipping the Halloween Story Hour at the library. I had really wanted to go, but because of our walk last night we skipped baths that we both needed. This morning when I woke up at 8:30, I just knew that waking her up when she hadn’t gotten her full sleep would be disastrous. I went back to sleep and so did she, until about 9:30. We started with breakfast and baths, which were good. Then we got dressed and tried to get out the door, which is when the problems started. She is really good at walking now.

But whenever we are heading for the van, she insists that I carry her, and I insist that she get used to walking, because I am pregnant and have a ton of shit to carry already, and when we add a newborn to that in just 5 wee months, it will get ugly if she refuses to walk. If I don’t hold her hand, she gets off task and I can’t get her headed out the door. If I hold her hand, she either has a tantrum and gets spaghetti legs, or drops right to her butt and lifts her arms for me to carry her. Nothing is worse than being pregnant with a diaper bag, purse, and whatever else on your shoulder and have to bend over to pick up a 25 pound toddler who at that moment decides AGAIN that she wants to walk and you can barely hold onto her. When we got down the back steps and out the back door, I put her down again and held her hand and told her that big girls walk to the van, and she did. And was fine until the moment she got into the carseat and decided to throw the classic “arching my back and thrashing like a roped steer because I don’t want to be in this seat” tantrum.

We went to town and went to the pharmacy. She was fine. For a minute. We picked out athletic tape for her mummy costume this Sunday, and went to the checkout to pick up the prescription that I called ahead to have filled. And we waited. This is always when the trouble starts. If we stop, and there isn’t anything to DO, she gets hysterical. At first I thought we were actually going to pay, because she asked about my prescription and went to get it, so I put Ardyn down to get my debit card from my purse, because of course they were on the same shoulder and she was doing the “lean over” where I can’t keep her upright. Of course, near the cash register is lots of CANDY and fancy sparkly things like pens and bracelets and watches, and on the BOTTOM shelves, lots of breakable things that she can grab onto to entertain herself. She ended up throwing a tantrum on the floor behind two customers who were waiting in line ahead of me. Poor Beebs. Poor Me. Poor Everyone in the pharmacy. I love how everyone asks me how old she is. I can just tell they are expecting me to say “2” which would just immediately explain her horrible behavior. But I get to say “1” and they think that I am raising the demon spawn. But they say “she’s so cute” and when she gets in a good mood and says “what’s that?” all excitedly to a pumpkin they laugh and comment how smart she is, and then when I say “Pumpkin” and she insists “Ball” they think she’s just a genius, and then she tries to tear a chocolate bar out of a nearby customer’s hand and it starts all over. All I want to say is “Can’t you all see that I am going to go postal soon? Please just get me my prescription and get us the hell out of here.”

Then we left the pharmacy and walked across to the scrapbook store just so I could see what adhesives they carry. And from the second we hit the door, she screams hysterically. And loudly. So that we have to leave. So we go to McDonalds because this wrestling match has left MOM starving, and I Have more errands to run before she sprouts more heads. So we grab chicken nuggets and apple dippers for her and a toddler toy. She is happy. I am able to talk to the cable company, and my husband, and head for the recycling center where I miss my turn like an idiot and then the entire box of cardboard and magazines and newspapers dumps all over the entire van (and I mean the entire van, damn do magazines slide!) and I am once again cursing my green self and wondering why I am like the only person on the planet with every cereal box flattened and every soy milk carton rinsed and opened. Seriously? So I have to repeatedly climb in and out of the back of the van and RESORT the cardboard from the magazines, and dump everything where it goes, WHILE explaining to Evan everything the cable company said, which I already explained in my voicemail. Poor me. Poor Pregnant Me.
I called my friend Cari and arranged to meet her for an exchange after her work. Ardyn and I had planned to go to the library to return our books and pick out new ones but I could just imagine what screaming tantrums would look like in the library. So we went through the drive through book drop off. And met Cari. While waiting for her I cleaned out the entire van. And got a GIANT bag of garbage and crap. Yay! And then Ardyn hit hysteria level again. So I decided to drive onto the next town, and do my errands there, so that she could nap on the drive. And she did. And then we went to Target. And she was on and off so so in there, mostly on, but screamed every 20 minutes or so. She was temporarily pacified by a set of $1 wooden maracas with animals painted on them. Very temporarily. Then she was pacified by repeatedly throwing the van keys onto the floor where I had to bend to retrieve them.

I found the twin sized sheet set that I was looking for. It felt strange to be buying a brand new sheet set just to cut it up, but It is cheaper than buying fabric, and it matches the rug and theme of her room perfectly, so I am going to make my own toddler sheet set. Tonight I made two pillowcases for her new toddler pillow, from soft flannel and satin blanket binding. One in orange and one in red. I also got 6 Fabric Cubes that will fit in the 9 cube organizer that I will soon be getting to store diapers and pajamas and socks for both kids. They were on sale this week. I now have red, lime, turquoise, and hot pink. If they had orange it would be PERFECT but it’s pretty damn close!

I bought her a fancy nancy dress up hat, and she loves it. It’s purple straw with all kinds of ribbons and flowers in yellow, orange and pink. I knew I could make my own for less than 9.99 but I also knew that finding a straw hat to fit her head size might require more effort than I wanted to expend at this point. After the Target trip, in which we perused practically every inch of the store, I saw some really cool bins that are kinda pliable plastic and have handles cut in the ends, and are the perfect size for putting things on her toy shelves, like people, dishes, her tea set, her music instruments, etc. I was going to get red ones to match her room and label them, but then I figured that she can’t see inside, and she can’t read… so then I saw the same ones come in CLEAR. AWESOME. But they didn’t have any in stock. But that’s okay because I was out of money anyways. On my next trip I will be grabbing just a handful to try out. They are strong enough like hard plastic, but flexible to bend if someone say “stepped on one” or tried to stand inside one… *gasp!*

After Target we went to the mall to grab my wedding ring from the jewelry store. Once again Ardyn had screaming tantrums because we had to WAIT while they got the ring and typed a bunch of shit into the computers. Ugh. And while trying to hold onto her and stop her from screaming (with no success) my cell phone is ringing in my purse. And a couple looking at wedding rings was there looking very afraid as if seeing their own future. Or maybe they changed their minds about marriage. Ha. I got my ring and it is a half size too big but stays on perfectly, exactly as I want it, to leave room for a little last month swelling. And it has been all polished and fixed and is as pretty as the day I got it. Yay! Ardyn screamed for a little while while we got strapped into the van, and part of the way home, but then fell asleep and also slept for about an hour when we got home. Thank GOD.

When she woke up she was so hysterical that she wouldn’t open her eyes. I changed her diaper while she screamed hysterically. I checked her temp. Nothing. Then I gave her some hylands tablets in case it was teeth. I was really beginning to think that something was really wrong. As in call the pediatrician or go to the emergency room wrong. We tried a drink. We tried daddy. We tried an ice cube in a washcloth. We tried walking. We tried sitting. We tried rocking. She screamed so hard I thought she was going to throw up. And then I told Evan that I had an idea and I put in Little Einstein’s DVD and she was instantly quiet and sitting watching it. So it was a tantrum. Again. And maybe a little teething. So we made her a light supper and she ate, and has been mostly fine ever since, although she did think that it was cute to try to pull the fabric out of the serger while I was sewing, nearly ruining her pillowcases. Dad came and got her and she was banned from the sewing room while I finished.

She should be off to bed shortly, and then I can watch the rest of Jumper and maybe just relax (ha.)
Sewing is mostly my relaxation now, which sometimes seems crazy when it can take so much thought. But I can whip up a pair of pants in no time now, so it isn’t a big deal, and I feel satisfied with creating something unique and useful, and pants that are custom fit to a fluffy diaper butt. What makes me the happiest is making something that didn’t require a pattern, but just a measuring tape and some common sense. The serger is so awesome. I serge what I can and sew the rest.

Tomorrow we have a dermatologist appointment... although Ardyn’s rash is about 50-60% better since eliminating soy milk from her diet. Then tomorrow evening we are putting the downpayment on the new house windows, having the installer come and measure, and order them. I can’t wait. Especially since it is even COLDER in the house this year than last year, and usually we would be working on putting plastic on all the windows by now. Tonight Evan was saying “It’s FREEZING in here!” and I said “I know but the heat is on 73 degrees! Ugh. It seems insane, but windows make it so cold! I can’t wait to get them. I am so excited!
Still no internet, but my conversation with Comcast today resulted in our billing issues being resolved, which reduced my “bill” amount from $900.00 to $240.ish Huge Difference. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have cable and internet at home so I can upload a bunch of photos and get this backlog of blog postings online. Ya’ll are gonna have a lot to read!

Well, have a great night. I know I will sleep well after telling Ardyn “No” and “Stop” ten thousand times today. He he. Maybe I will even get a load of laundry done tonight so that I have clothes to wear tomorrow! You know you’re nuts when prepping fabric takes precedence in the washing machine over your own 10 pair of maternity underwear.

Where's the Garbage Again?

So today in the kitchen, I see two Q-tips inside a chicken noodle soup can that I had rinsed out and ready to recycle. Since Ardyn can’t reach the counter, I have to assume this is a gift from my husband, who found it easier to put them in a soup can instead of walking to the kitchen garbage.

Today was a BUSY day for me. After lunch I packed up 99 percent of my scrapbook room and loaded 50% of that in the van. Evan loaded the rest and then I took everything to my moms, where my sister, mom, Ardyn, and I set everything up in my old bedroom, which has been redone. That got half of the room cleared to become Ardyn’s. Then after spending the afternoon there, Ardyn and I came home. She fell asleep in the van and I carried her inside and lay her on her mat with a blanket under her, in her jacket, and she slept on the floor for another 15 minutes before waking up and eating a late supper. Then I rearranged the dining room to find a spot for the computer desk, filing cabinet, and the computer. That was no small task. Then when Evan got home we unloaded the desk a bit and put it on the magic mover disks, and moved it into the dining room where I dusted it, re-organized it, threw out stuff we don’t need, and then hooked everything back up so I could blog before calling it a night. I was supposed to wash diapers but I got all busy and forgot and now I am so doggone tired that I will have to wait till tomorrow.

I am hoping that tomorrow I can take the paper sorters and craft lockers to moms and then work on what to do with the remaining stuff in the office, so that I can start working on making that the Beebs new bedroom/toy room. Right now I have moved about half of her toys in there. Whew. I need to find a home for my scrapbook table. I love that table and getting rid of it is NOT an option. Evan bought it for me, along with one for himself, at an old school sale, and that nice of a table is hard to come by. It’s nice and deep so that two people can really work (across from each other) comfortably, unlike on a foldable buffet table.
I decided to keep just a few things from the scrapbook room in a handy tote here, like my journaling pens, my cutter bee and honey bee scissors, my Xyron X, an adhesive runner, my tweezer bees, and a paper cutter and corner rounder. These things come in handy for trimming photos and making projects that are crafty for the Beebs, like her mummy card and her toothbrush and soap signs. I would hate to want to trim photos or something and not have my stuff and have to drive to my moms. That would drive me bonkers. I also decided to keep my ribbons and put them in the sewing room because I use them for both purposes.
The cool thing is that now I can sit in the dining room at the computer and not be right next to Ardyn’s room, and I can be near her during the day in the living room and also see into her new bedroom if she wants to play with toys. If I have to do some web design it will work out nicely. This is not the first choice for my computer location, but considering the circumstances, it will work out. I also have the Homemedics Shiatsu Heated Chair Massager on the computer chair now, so I can get my daily shiatsu massage. Yay! My in-laws gave us one as a Christmas gift last year, and it really is fabulous! Especially after a long day of being pregnant and moving a bunch of furniture and stuff around.

Today I got online a bit at my parents and read up on Rice milk in toddlers. I guess even though you can purchase fortified rice milk in vitamin A, D, etc… it is still really low in protein. Then I discovered that several moms buy “toddler health” which is a protein powder based of oat or rice, and it can be mixed with juice or rice milk to give a toddler more protein when they have dairy or soy allergies. I found many moms whose children had not just dairy allergies, but accompanying soy allergies or intolerance. It’s like $28.00 for a bigger sized powdered container of toddler health, but all the moms cite that it is really worth it. I will likely wait until our Ped appointment in a week in order to make the decision to use it or not, but I need to remember to get online and print out details because with my luck the ped hasn’t even heard of it.
I am also wondering about vitamins. I am sick of vitamin drops. If the kid can chew a pork chop, surely she can have a gummy vitamin? Any other moms give their toddler gummy vitamins? Beebs can eat fruit snacks and she has had a gummy bear before with no issues, so I don’t see why it would be a big deal. But all the vitamins say like over 2 or over 3 or something. I am not sure if that is because of what is in the vitamin or because they don’t want some kid to choke. ‘

So let’s talk a little bit about being pregnant. I still often forget that I am, except I do have a bigger belly. The midwife is very excited that my belly is just perfectly sized. I haven’t gained any weight, which is great, and I really do feel pretty good. As long as I don’t think about labor, I am fine. I did so much prep last time for hypnobirthing and a waterbirth and no pain meds, but like 12 hours into the damn thing I was not so thrilled and when they decided to give my pitocin I insisted on the epidural; although I didn’t get a full epidural, just a bolus, so I never really felt much pain relief. I was so damn hot in the waterbirth tub and I kept getting out to pee and it was just not for me. But I also know that when I was in the tub and SUPER hot, I was also in transition (for like HOURS) and stuck between an 8 and 9 for about 3 hours and then between a 9 and 10 for about 4 more hours. To walk in at 6cm at 8am and not get to a 10 until 11pm was insane.

I sometimes think that had I been able to get into the water before that transition phase and get relaxed and get a feel for the water and how to position myself, that I may have been able to tolerate it better, but I know the midwife wanted me out of the water because she was afraid I would relax too much and labor would stall, since I was induced. Seriously, If I had advice to give anyone, it would be three things. 1. Don’t make a labor plan. No matter what it is, nothing will go according to your wishes. And later you will feel like the whole OB unit is laughing at you. 2. Don’t be induced. Unless your baby is in jeopardy and you are SURE of that, don’t be induced in any way shape or form (even if you are 6cm and they just break your water.) 3. Never ever ever allow them to give you pitcoin. Don’t believe that they can “so finely control the dose that you can’t feel it” and don’t think that it is always necessary to speed your labor. I think that these three things linked together royally screwed my labor experience. And they have made me completely indecisive as to what I would like to see happen this time. So in reality, I just try to pretend that this time the baby will just fall out while I am vacuuming and not make a single plan or wish until I am in labor and then just bark out what I want through gritted teeth.

I remember while being pregnant with Ardyn, coming across a picture of a woman on Flickr who was in labor and on pit. She looked like a demon with her eyes rolled back in her head and commented that this is what pitocin does to you. I kind of forgot it until Evan said MONTHS after Ardyn was born that what really scared him was after they gave me pitocin that when I was in the worse pain my eyes would roll back in my head and he would feel like something was going very wrong. Well, something was wrong. The pitocin was so terrifying. It had control of my body and was rushing my contractions and I couldn’t feel my body’s own rhythm to push when I should. It made me hold back and try to resist labor (which I successfully did until they promised me a c section and had my prepping for the OR and the team all called in from home… )then I relaxed, made them turn off the pitocin, and suddenly, I could feel my own contractions and work with my body. I could relax enough to deal with it and get through it. I still vow that Pitocin is the devil and I have yet to meet a mother who has had it who thinks any differently. I do recall being exhausted and lifeless but when I heard them say to give me pitocin I rolled over and tried to get out of bed to get away from the nurse who brought it in. If they ever tried to give me pitocin again I think I would jump out the window. I never knew that my eyes were rolling back. I don’t think I knew anything but pain at that point. And I recall wanting to die. And begging god for relief which about sent my husband the atheist over a ledge.

Well, that’s all for tonight. I have more but wouldn’t you know I can’t remember it! And it is midnight now, so that’s a wrap.

Missing Mouse

Man. It is hard not having internet, because then when I don’t get to blog for a while, I can’t remember when I blogged last and where I left off, and then it gets all complicated because I can’t go online and read my post. So, apologies if I repeat myself.

The only downfall to having a wireless mouse, is that if you have a toddler in your house, you could frequently sit down to the computer and have no mouse around. If you were smart enough to fit one more thing into your brain, you might remember to look for the mouse before you sit down. But. Too Bad.
The funny thing about owning a laptop is that I completely forget that I have a fully upgraded home PC with wireless keyboard, mouse, laser printer, and 19 inch flat panel monitor, that is also loaded with software. I find myself roaming around the house thinking “Do I really need to grab my laptop out of the van?” and trying to talk myself into all the reasons I should put on pants and go out where it’s like 40 degrees at midnight to get the laptop so I can blog. Duh. I have a computer. Right here. 5 feet from me. It only took like 15 minutes for me to figure that out.

I realized this evening while sorting thread spools by color (more on that later) that blogging may be the reason that I really don’t have “rage” issues with people. I get it all out. And anyone who wants to read it, is perfectly able. I have recently had a few issues with people that made me want to speak up and tell them how I felt, and I have so far been able to hold back. Earlier in the week, we had a salesman from Pitcher Perfect Windows come. We are putting new windows in the house and were going to get estimates. We had gotten one previously and it was SO high that we actually shied off on even thinking about it for another year. Well, we called a few more people, and the first thing that we ran into is the guy being all polite and nice and smooth and giving his pitch, and then as soon as he finds out that we don’t actually OWN our house and the person who does isn’t here to make an immediate decision on buying his windows TODAY, he starts to get all asinine about how we have wasted his time and his money and his gas and continues on about how there is “no way he can make money today” and that he “could be showing windows to someone else with this time.” To be honest, I was feeling a little more than a little pissed off at this point. I could have told him from the second that I made the appointment that we weren’t planning on buying windows that DAY. That we were going to get prices and compare between several companies. And do you think that his boss would have told him not to come because we weren’t going to buy windows that DAY? I was so irate that the only thing that kept me from coming unglued (and I mean “Get the fuck out of this house” unglued) was the fact that A) my husband was here to talk rationally and sympathize and B) his estimate was the lowest we had so far and C)I kept thinking, you can just blog about this later.

Tonight in Wal-mart, a woman was in the toy aisle having an all out battle with three children (which I assume would be hers) and yelling in a VERY outlandish tone and volume (reminded me of my childish neighbor) and seriously, completely discussing with her children at which paycheck she could afford to purchase them which toys. She was so out of hand with her yelling that Evan said that Ardyn started crying because she was afraid of her. Now let me tell you, Ardyn doesn’t cry at people. Usually she would have just screamed right back. But Evan actually told the woman to keep her voice down and the woman burned him a look. I was in the fabric aisle (more on that later) and I could hear her when I we went back to the toys to look at books. She was crazy. And then she was in the checkout lane next to ours, and also was at the Chinese Buffet where we went to eat! Ugh. People. And so at the Chinese Buffet, I was going down the line with a plate in each hand (one for me, one for Ardyn) and was headed right for a specific item. I sat one plate down and reached for the spoon when a woman came around the corner, cut RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and then proceeded to take the same spoon I was reaching for and take her sweet time adding the meat to her soup?! What? It was so obviously butting in and so amazingly rude that I had to contain myself from either yelling at her or snickering at her tactlessness. I wanted to say “You must be REALLY hungry to cut off a pregnant woman at the buffet line.” Seriously. Who raised these people? How have they gotten out in public for so long (the woman had to be at least 45) and never learned how to interact and treat other people?

So thank god for blogging.

I made Ardyn a couple more pairs of pants yesterday, purple meditating monkeys and pink pigs on yellow. I put lavender rick rack around the hemline of the purple pants, and pale pink ribbon at the hemline of the pink pig pants. They are super super cute. Tonight I got a thread organizer. I have had a Rubbermaid organizer, but it really annoys me that all I can see are the tops of the thread spools on when I open it, and I can’t ever tell what color I am picking out or which colors I have unless I lift each one out. That is way annoying, time consuming, and has resulted in several duplicate colors of thread. So I decided to just get a good ol fashioned wooden spool rack and tonight, I bought one and when we got home I went down and happily organized my new thread and then danced around in my underwear, sweatshirt, and fuzzy slippers at how pretty it all looked. I have more thread than I thought but now that it is organized it will be IMMEDIATELY obvious if I need a color. I also needed Class 66 Bobbins. I have three types of bobbins that I keep on hand. Class 15 for my mom and my MIL’s sewing machines (in case I need to do some emergency sewing, which has happened recently) and the other flatter wider bobbins that came with the Singer that I used to have, and then class 66 that I use in my machine. Well, I have something like 25 slots in my bobbin case for each type, and I had like 15 bobbins in class 66, and I really don’t like not having a bobbin to match all my threads. I am nowhere near close to that yet, but since I have been changing thread colors as often as 7 times a day, I really get annoyed and feel totally un-green and wasteful if I have to unwind a bobbin in order to start a new color. So My goal at Wal-Mart was to get more class 66 bobbins, at least 10 of them. We went to the SuperWal-Mart that is the newest in the area, and farther from home. They have a MASSIVE Selection of everything, but wouldn’t you know that they ONLY had class 15 bobbins? I specifically asked the fabric lady why there weren’t any class 66 bobbins and at first she looked at me like an alien. Then she told me they must not carry them (from 2 aisles over, without looking at the bobbin’s general vicinity at all) and then she proceeded to cut my fabric (more on that later.)

Okay, so I have this rule. I have had this rule since I was like 19. The older I get, the more adamant I get about this rule. If you are over 65, you SHOULD NOT allowed to be cranky. Seriously. You have had 65 years to get shit figured out, make the right decisions, and get yourself happy. If you haven’t figured it out by now, then the rest of us really don’t want to hear about it. Now, I am not saying you can’t be sad, or you can’t have stress, or issues. But if by the age of 65, you can’t even muster a smile or the ability to be polite to people, the last place you should be is at the wal-mart fabric counter. Because Damn it, I believe that if you are working at the fabric center, you had better know at least a little bit about sewing. And if you are over 65, you should be able to make me a quilt in your sleep or you can just go be a door greeter. Harsh? Maybe. Reality? Probably.
So I proceed to get my fabrics (some super cute sparkly black and grey Halloween fabric and some cute yellow flannel with monkeys) and then go to the pattern books so that I can look for patterns for changing table covers, because I am going to make some of my own. I am looking through books, going through pattern drawers, and ANOTHER old lady comes over and goes to the bobbin area (employee not customer) and goes through the bobbins and discovers that someone stocked all the class 15 bobbins over the class 66 bobbins and that there actually WERE two packages of class 66 bobbins on the hooks. The two ladies have this conversation, and the second lady fixes the shelf, and the FIRST lady, who I had JUST asked about the bobbins, went by me FOUR TIMES and even assisted me in finding a pattern that was misfiled, all without even MENTIONING that they found two packages of misplaced class 66 bobbins. Seriously. Not one breath about the bobbins. Now this, folks, is customer service at it’s finest, and the reason that I should be at a fabric store instead of Wal-mart. But it’s hard to go to a fabric store when my husband is with. Because then he knows that my sole purpose is fabric, and he gets all cranky and suddenly is on a time schedule and at least when I am at Wal-Mart I can say “I just need to stop in the fabric department” and send him to toys and electronics to entertain himself while I look.

Yesterday I started Ardyn on Rice Milk. She was so thrilled and even I enjoyed the taste of it. Tastes yummy like breast milk. Sweet. She drank like 32 ounces in 24 hours. Crazy. I will have to limit her on that. All day today, she had just one, solid poopy diaper, compared to 3-4 a day runny stinky pasty messy diapers on soy milk for the past 5 weeks. Seriously. It was like the poo gods shined down upon us. And I called the Ped. And they said that they now want to see us to “talk about all this” and a potential referral to a GI. Seriously? A GI? She’s allergic to dairy. Period. And she is either allergic or intolerant to soy. I don’t blame the kid, as many children and adults can’t handle soy. And they want to refer her to a GI for that? An Allergist maybe. Ugh. Mom’s jobs are never-ending. Even with a good pediatrician, I feel like I have to spend hours on the internet researching and printing medical articles that back my own hunches, in order to not be told something incorrect for my child. That is frustrating. Might be the perfectionist in me, but I am also tired of going around the bush with this deal. It’s been six months already. I am sure glad I spoke up and told them I thought dairy allergy against the ped’s repeated advice of “viral rash” and “yeast diaper rash.” Sometimes I feel like mom’s should get handed a Dr’s degree when their kids turn 18. Seriously. Well, not all moms. But most of the good ones anyway.

Well, midnight it is. Ardyn went to be just after 11. She had a nice long nap in the van on the way home ad was ready to rock and roll in her footie pajamas when we got here. SO I let her. If I put her in bed at 8am, I can’t sleep in till 9:30 or 10. Totally worth it. We live on a different schedule than most. But that’s what’s so great about being your own boss. He he.

Tomorrow I start packing up my scrapbook room. I am really sad about that in some ways. I am moving everything to my old bedroom at my mom’s so that we can scrapbook when we want to. That will at least get half this room empty so that I can start to move Ardyn in piece by piece. I have it all planned in my mind, what will move here and what will stay in the nursery, and in reality I can’t wait to put everything where it will go. But at the same time I have a giant expensive Oak Computer Desk with Hutch, plus the computer and everything on it, that will need a home. I also have a file cabinet, safe, and printer, and a whole shelf of board games that need a home. Oh this little house is going to be outgrown so so soon. Well, already is actually. I might be able to get the desk and the printer in the dining room. But that’s about it, and that would require some serious maneuvering on our part. Whew. Taking the leaf out of the table. Getting rid of the corner bakers rack. Oh boy oh boy.

Everyone have a great weekend and I hope to be blogging again soon.

Sewing and Stuff

Ahhh.... Tuesday.

I made it through Monday, although I was exhausted! I actually dozed on the couch for about an hour and a half before lunch, and then mom came over to watch Ardyn while I went to the endocrinologist. I had blood drawn and expect results tomorrow. When the Dr. felt my thyroid this time, it was actually sore, which he said COULD be a good sign, meaning that instead of hypothyroidism, I could have thyroiditis, or a swollen thyroid, which is easier to correct. But we will see if the thyroid has corrected itself. I have been SO tired the past couple of days, but I think that's because I didn't get a nap for three days in a row. But today I remedied that. Although I have still been yawning all afternoon and night. It's silly.
Today my bead retreat show arrived, and I made a necklace and bracelet right away, and delivered 4 of the orders tonight, and intend on delivering almost all of the other orders tomorrow. I am so excited to make jewelry! I bought three pieces of jewelry that I really loved but had NO clothes to match. Saturday I ran into Target with the family and we found a maternity shirt that matches the jewelry. I put it in the wash, by itself, on delicate (even though it didn't SAY delicate) and all 5 buttons fell off in the wash. I was pissed, but determined to just sew them on three times as secure, but didn't have the right color thread around home. My mom said "I have that thread, I will take it home and sew the buttons on and bring it back Wednesday." So I totally can't wait to get the shirt back and match the jewelry up and wear it. Haha.The funny thing is that we went to Target to look for a damn case for the portable DVD player that we have, and there isn't ONE case at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Target that will secure the DVD player. Ugh. Now I have a $30 one to return and can't find the damn receipt. I also wanted to look at Target for another pair of maternity jeans, because all the ones from my pregnancy with Ardyn are WAY too big and I needed to go down a size. I have bought one pair with this pregnancy (Duo from JcPenney) and they are wonderful, but they are already sold out in stores and in the catalog so I can't get a second pair. When we went to Target, they didn't have my size. I tried on a size bigger, and they were WAY huge, so just for giggles I tried on a size smaller and they were PERFECT and I was like HOLY CRAP no wonder all my pants are too big, they are TWO Sizes too big, not one! Jeez! Imagine my surprise. So we left Target and Ardyn and Evan dropped me at the mall so I could take my wedding set into the jewelers. It has been so big that I have had to wear a plastic sizer on it because in recent weeks I have almost lost it several times, once in a fast food restaraunt garbage. Ugh. I wanted to wait and get it sized again AFTER this baby, in case I lose more weight (or gain god forbid!) and I just decided that it wasn't worth potentially losing it. So when I went in, I discovered that the ring is one and a half sizes too big! Jeez! No wonder I can't keep it on! So I sent it in to get resized. Even with my ring fitting perfectly when I got pregnant with Ardyn, I was able to wear it all the way until the last month of my pregnancy, so I figure it will probably be similar this time around. Unless I don't swell as much because I am not working this time around. So it was good fun to find out that I am a ring size and a half down and TWO pant sizes down. YAY! So I am 15 weeks pregnant now and still haven't gained a pound. In fact I may have lost 5-6 pounds. I thought that I would start to gain as soon as Ardyn was weaned, but nothing like that has happened.

Tomorrow I have my midwife appointment, and that is always fun, but this time it's also Pap time. LOL. So Ardyn isn't going with this time. Last time she got to sit next to me on the table and hear the baby's heartbeat for the very first time. It was cool for her to be part of that.

I have made Ardyn 8 pair of pants and I have two more cut out and two more fabric styles ready to go. The first pair I made was the pink dog pair she is modeling above, and then I made five pair of fleece (lavender, khaki, yellow, blue and yellow stripe, and an awesome tie-dye pair) and then the cool chick pants and the frog pants. Next in line is lavender "meditating Monkeys" and Pink and Yellow "Pigs."

I have been working on getting a stash of postpartum mamma pads ready since I never used cloth after Ardyn. I have a BUNCH of pantyliners all sewn with the exception of adding snaps. I am working on designing a postpartum size made to my specs. I have one completed and it isn't half bad, but there are a few modifications I will make to make the next ones more perfect. There are two layers of flannel wings with a industrial poly snap, and then a layer of flannel topped with PUL, and then two layers of Microfiber, and another layer of flannel.

Well, Ardyn is having a fit attached to my leg, so it's time to get going. Ahhh, how I have enjoyed my tiny spot of time online. I will miss it!

From Sunday, October 12th.

Can you believe I am blogging in notepad? Holy crap. I am on Evan's new laptop and he doesn't have office installed. It bugs me, but at least when I cut and paste this into blogger it won't go all wonky with Microsoft Formatting Code and cause me an extra hour to fix it. Although, without word wrap, this may get old very quickly. Maybe I should have used....ahhh yes, here we are, Microsoft Works. This is so 1994 Sophomore Keyboarding class that I can actually SMELL the old Manlius High School Computer Room. Wow.

Well at least I am not using my laptop that is so damn hot that you can’t stand to put it on your lap and even with the chill pad the fan runs constantly and will run the battery completely dead in less than 40 minutes. I think I need a new fan, but really I worry that it’s probably something else. Because hey, if the fan is running but not cooling, we have a problem. But I don’t want to think about that.

Today I didn’t do a whole lot. But you know how my lazy days go. I sewed Ardyn 4 pair of pants (seriously) and then cut out two more and washed and prepped six more yards of flannel prints. I loaded and ran the dishwasher. Unloaded it. Made Ardyn lunch and watched two movies. Washed a load of clothes. Picked up toys. Then at 11pm when we finished watching Speed Racer I recall thinking that I couldn’t stay awake another moment (I didn’t take a nap with Ardyn today or yesterday) and heading to bed. I took my medicine. I was in my pajamas. I was even getting INTO bed when I remembered I needed to grab my iPod from my purse (I listen to ocean waves) and that ended up with me rinsing poopy diapers, pre-washing them, washing them, unloading the dishwasher, adding dirty sippy cups from the day, cleaning up in the kitchen, going pee three more times, carrying up empty hampers and the empty diaper pail, and grabbing Evan’s laptop and sitting on my bed, again, 45 minutes later, still forgetting to grab my ipod.

Tomorrow I have so much going on! But I won’t likely get to post anything until later, because I have a lot going on, and freaking Starbucks doesn’t have “free” internet because you know that a $4 latte can’t possibly help them afford Wi-Fi in their many locations. Seriously? I am sure this is old news to many, but I live 45 minutes from Starbucks and don’t go there often. As a matter of fact I have probably had a drink at Starbucks, oh let’s say 7 times in my life. And only once was I alone. The only time I stop at star bucks is when it’s Pumpkin season or I can get a bottle of Tazo ginger peach green tea which I have never ever found sold anywhere else in rural america. I don’t like going to city places sometimes because then I feel all sad when I remember that I have to patronize star bucks (damn works keeps making that two words) in order to get the ONE bottle of cold green tea that I enjoy drinking. Bastards.

So anyway, tomorrow I go back to the endocrinologist to have my thyroid tested. We will find out if it has corrected itself or if it is still a problem and will need to be treated during this whole pregnancy. If all is well, I will continue to be tested on a regular basis to determine if things are still going the way they should be. Then on Tuesday we have one company coming to give us another estimate for windows in the house. Then Wednesday I have an appointment with my midwife again, and we will likely schedule my sex determination ultrasound about 4 weeks from now. I am trying not to get excited because Ardyn kept her legs crossed for SO long that we didn’t actually see that she was a girl until like 7 weeks after our sex determination ultrasound. It was AGONY I tell you. I am not the kind of person who wants a surprise sex announcement after a long labor. Or even after a short one.

It really warmed up here today, we had the house open still, and I had on shorts and a tank top. My favorite $45 Bravado Nursing and Maternity Tank Top which I accidentally dyed when I washed my Bravado Tie-Dye Bra from Nestmom with my load of good clothes. Ugh. We have been working on foods that Ardyn can eat. It is AMAZING that there is milk or milk products in almost ALL prepackaged food. Side Dishes of rice or pasta, bread, snacks, even in some MEATS! Holy cow! You learn so much about the food you are eating that it’s kinda scary. It took me almost two hours to get groceries because I spent so much time reading labels. I found chicken noodle soup without milk. I found a few family friendly meals without milk. Seriously, I feel like there should be an entire list of specific brand items that don’t contain milk. I have to say BLESS those companies who label their ingredients with the big bold words at the bottom that clearly say “THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS: Soy, Wheat, Milk.” Hello. Isn’t that fabulous? Instead of looking at boxes and trying to find crazy words like Whey? Seriously. I have started keeping my own list of things that she has been eating with no issues or reactions, that have no dairy. Then grocery shopping should theoretically get easier. Except when they change or discontinue products, or stupid stores like Wal-Mart change what they carry. I almost had a freaking heart attack (more like a 2-year old’s tantrum) in the snack food aisle when I discovered that my local Wal-mart has stopped carrying Honey Main Grahams “Bees” and I had to read 50 thousand labels to find a substitute that has no milk. Ardyn loves those things so much that she buzzes like a bee at the sight of the box. Did you KNOW that the only animal cracker I have found on the market that doesn’t contain milk is Barnum and Bailey? Seriously. I probably said that in a previous post. My heart truly goes out to families with a nut allergy, or a wheat and milk allergy combo. I swear Ardyn would starve. Even most sandwich rolls and buns contain milk. Practically every Gerber graduates product contains dairy. Today I had to clean out her snack tote and replace the snacks with safe ones. I got rid of SO many cheese goldfish crackers, and graduates cereal bars, and earth’s best organic crackers.

I was able to get my first batch of goat’s milk to give it a try. Today I pasteurized. I learned that it is illegal for the farm to pasteurize the milk, and that a buyer has to go to the farm with their own container to get the milk. So after getting groceries, I went to the farm, saw the goats, met the family, and got a quart of milk. Tonight it was cooling in the fridge and I hope that tomorrow we can try a bit and hopefully it doesn’t cause a reaction. Poor Ardyn just finally healed up about a day ago from eating the wrong animal crackers at trick or treat last Saturday. So with Vaseline with every diaper change (which happens like clockwork every two hours unless she is poopy) it takes a full week to heal an allergic reaction from milk. A full week of cracked and bleeding diaper rash. A full week of screaming and crying and thrashing hysterically while you try to gently clean her, ointment her, and put a new diaper on. Also trying to not get my hopes up about the goat‘s milk. But it would be SO nice to get away from Soy. It is really tearing her up, the poopy diapers are insane. If she DOES get a rash, the soy poo makes it worse and more difficult to get under control. I bought a little rice milk to try also, once we test out goat’s milk and make sure we have no rashes. The issue with goat’s milk is supply. Like a human mother (take me for example) when they are pregnant, their milk supply starts to drop and eventually can be gone altogether. So when I got pregnant, even thought Ardyn wanted to nurse like crazy, she slowly weaned herself because my supply decreased as a result of my pregnancy. Well, take a herd of goats, who are being bred, and the whole herd will have a supply drop if they are bred and due around the same time frame. So right now, all the goats around are bred, so even IF the farmers milk the goats, they don’t have much for supply. And most of them drink the goat’s milk themselves, and don’t have enough to spare 1 gallon a week for Ardyn. So if the goat’s milk DOES work out, I then have a supply and demand issue. Ha. But I do have three contacts who milk goats and hope that between the three of them I can find SOMEONE who will have a bit of milk here and a bit of milk there to part with. Otherwise we can supplement with rice milk or soy if we need to. Ick. Soy. I still wonder if she is having some type of Soy allergy.

Next week we have an appointment at the dermatologist to have Ardyn’s rash looked at. I can’t believe how much it looks like my eczema. I hope the doctor recognizes it and can help us get rid of it. I plan on taking my prescription ointment with me to show him.

Well, it’s nearly 1am. And I am going to regret this tomorrow because I won’t be able to nap then either! Hope I get this posted soon, Take Care!

Pics and Stuff

Good Day! I am amazingly on the internet briefly for the THIRD day in a row! It's a miracle. Not at home, but still very cool.

Today I got my own sewing machine setup for a while. I took my MIL's machine off hte cabinet and got mine all reinstalled and setup and then did some sewing. I made a couple of pair of legwarmers for Ardyn, and worked on mamma pads for postpartum. It was so awesome to sew again! FINALLY not so tired that I can't function! I have also been watching lots of movies lately. I rent about 5 or 6 a week. Recently my favorite was "Waitress" With Keri Russel. It was really good.

We got a tree removed from alongside our driveway today, it was dead all down the middle. We also got the maple in our front yard trimmed, we had branches so heavy that they were almost touching the ground. It looks so NICE and our yard looks so much BIGGER! Soon we will have our fence! We hired a tree service "A Cut Above" and they did an AWESOME job. Seriously. The trimming of the front tree was something that I was excited about but also worried but the tree is Beautiful! They did such a nice job while still taking good care to keep the tree pretty and healthy!

Here are a few photos: Starting with the Onesies that I converted to T-shirts yesterday.
Here's Ardyn today modeling the legwarmers we made this morning:It's so strange to be writing every day that I feel like I am blank!

I had a few blog-worthy revlelations lately, but by the time I get to the internet, I forget what they are!

Quickly.

So, last night we got home late and I saw the offending "mouse" leftovers. I got even more angry. There were seriously 4 mouse shit droppings and they were IN THE CORNER, BEHIND THE KNIFE BLOCK. Seriously. I rarely pull out hte knife block, specifically because the cleaning people clean behind the knife block every two weeks. So here they are all acting like we are filthy, because there were 5 mouse turds behind the knife block. I knew that I hadn't seen any droppings around in the last week. I couldn't believe I missed some. So there. Ha.

That's all I have to say.

Today I watched movies. Ate popcorn. Peanut Butter Cups. Ardyn took a three hour nap.

Oh and last night she took a dive and got a big lump and bruise on her forehead. She cried and cried. Poor baby. I put ice on it for a while and then the swelling was down by this morning. So she has the full body rash, a breakout of diaper rash from some milk that got through, a bump on her head with a bruise, a spot under her eye from her fall, and we are watching for Hand Foot and Mouth. Fab!

Sparkly Clean

You know, it really is hard to get people to understand that there is more to milk than dairy. Sometimes I make stupid mistakes, or totally innocent ones. But while doing a little trick or treating with bigger kids at a campground over the weekend, we stayed back and mostly watched, and several people tried to get us to take candy. Which was nice. But occasionally I would say "no thanks, she's allergic to dairy" and the one woman said "well here, she can have M&M's!" he. it was hard not to laugh. I mean seriously, who knew that chocolate was made with milk! I did make a mistake and let some animal crackers through the cracks, without checking, and of course, they had powdered milk in them (Barnum Circus crackers are the only ones that don't bother her) and last week we accidentally gave her a cucumber dipped in ranch without thinking. Both wreaked havoc on her poor bottom. Cracking, bleeding, the whole deal. and dark, pasty poop. Poor baby.

Her full body rash is looking more like eczema every day. I have put a call into the ped as "tomorrow" it will be three weeks since essentially removing dairy from her diet (except for a couple of slipups) and the rash on her body has gotten worse, and looks exactly like my eczema. I have asked for a referral to a dermatologist or an allergist. how long do we mess around with an allergy and an "unidentified" full body rash? I mean, we dealt with the diaper rash for 6 months before i suggested a dairy allergy, and the full body rash has been there for over a month now. I am done messing around. Mom has had enough.

So on top of all that, she was inadvertently exposed to Hand Foot and Mouth Disease on Saturday. I keep telling myself it happens, it issn't my fault, I didn't know, and on top of all that, of she had remained in daycare she already would have had it. But I am still twiddling my thumbs through the 3-7 day incubation period, watching for the fever, etc. Can this child's body handle another rash? ack. We had a great time going to visit Cari and her family at their camping site at the campground. There were older kids everywhere and they all seemed to like Ardyn and want to play with her. A couple of times I had to step in because some of the kids were trying to feed her random snacks (all dairy hazards I am sure!) but they were really very good with her. One girl was probably 10 or so and came over to play. She offered to walk around the site with Ardyn. She was very polite, and gentle, and patient, and never let Ardyn get down in the dirt or get out of my sight. it was relaxing and Ardyn was enjoying it. She held the older girl's hands and played with her, sat on her lap, etc. Then in conversation we overheard the girl say she wasn't feeling well and Cari asked her what was wrong and she let out that she was two days infected withhand foot and mouth disease and showed us the lesions on her hands that were just starting. I felt bad for her because I could tell that she had never thought about infecting Ardyn, but of course as a mom I had this sinking feeling of not having protected Ardyn. And then I worried about getting it myself, and while pregnant to boot. But of course they say that adults don't usually get it, although they CAN get it.

But overall we had a great time at the campgrounds, good foor, warm campfire, watching older kids run around in costumes.... Ardyn fell asleep in front of the campfire. She got a glow stick while trick or treating. She loved that! We tied it to her stroller. I have pictures that I need to upload. But since I am not online at home, it won't be today!

Yesterday we went out for brunch with evan, which was nice, and today we took my dad (grandpa Dave) to pick up his new car (new to him) because he has hit two deer in the past three weeks, which was the third deer he has hit with his bonneville, and finally it is to the point of no return. So he bought a new work car.

Every Fall we get mice in our house. We have an old house. Built in the 1920's and there are plenty of ways for a mouse to sneak in. We have a cornfield in our backyard too, which doesn't help. We have all our food in tupperware containers. We have glue traps, ultrasonic pest repellers plugged in in two rooms, and we have also used poison in the past. when the damn things want to be there, we have a hell of a time getting rid of them. I am not afraid of mice, but I despise mouse poop. This past week they got into the cupboard that has nothing but glass pyrex containers and drink pitchers, and 1 bottle of canola oil (that's too tall to fit in any of the above cupboards) and since there was nothing to EAT in there, the damn things ate the label off the canola oil bottle. Well, about two weeks ago, the cleaning people came. And while I try to stay on top of the mouse poop, there are bound to be a piece or two that I miss, and the cleaning woman got a little upset with me and asked "when we were going to get our mouse problem under control" as if I could just snap my fingers. I told her that we were using glue traps to no avail. I hate to use poison with both the dogs and Ardyn in the house, and also because then you just have stinking deal mice in your walls and how gross is that, especially when you are pregnant and gag at everything stinky. She told me "I don't DO mouse poop." and it kinda sounded like a threat. I just played it off, and said "Oh, I know. I wish we could catch them!" Then today she called me (they are at my house) and I returned her call. Evan had forgotten to leave their check.

Her voicemail to me was dripping with attitude. I called her right back and apologized that Evan had forgotten to write the check and asked her if she would like to leave us a self addressed envelope and we would send it to her right away. She said she would, and then continued to very harshly ask "when are you getting your mouse problem taken care of" and continued to tell me that she doesn't deal with mouse droppings and that she wouldn't be touching them because today is "not a mouse poop kinda day." I understand that, but at the same time I get the feeling that for all the YEARS they have been our cleaning people, they are recently trying to find reasons to drop us. All they have to say is "we won't be able to clean for you anymore." To be quite frank, I am really tired of being given attitude over things like mouse poop. But also when they started cleaning for us, we had no kids, one dog and both worked full time. Our lives have drastically changed. I don't believe that they have children, and so they don't understand what it's like to have a 1 year old and be pregnant and tired, and to have two dogs (who by the way are only allowed on the front porch right now and not in the house) and to really have more important things to do than lose sleep over a bit of mouse poop. I tried to tell her that we currently have traps, ultrasonic pest things plugged in, AND all of our food in tupperware, on top of having all dirty dishes inside the dishwasher... so we are doing what we can except for the potential Poisoning of a family member over some mouse shit. Basically I am upset because she is trying to make me feel like we are filthy because we have mice in the fall. Seriously? I have better things to worry about. And seriously, I think it's time to get different cleaning people. People who won't have a heart attack if they find a dirty sock under the bed or a cheerio on the floor. I mean I have the damn roomba that vacuums every day. How seriously filthy can it be? And when I pay them $65 every two weeks for 2 hours of cleaning, I figure we ought to be able to live in our house and I shouldn't have to worry about cleaning before they come to clean. I already run around like a nutcase picking up and organizing and making sure that all of Ardyn's toys are put away and that anything on the floor is up and out of their way (like the bigger toys, the bouncing Zebra, the ride-on car, the wheeled horse, etc) and I try to be understanding and don't say a word when for 6 weeks straight the top of Ardyn's bookshelf (which is like 4 foot high and mounted on the wall) never gets dusted, even when I remove everything from it in case they don't want to pick up the book and the frame and the stuffed bunny that's up there. And when I know that in the past six months they have never dusted the tops of the two wall shelves in the living room. maybe the problem is that I never say a word? I appreciate my cleaning people, but at the same time, I am tired of worrying that they might see something that will send them heading for the hills. Like, what if I don't get all the hair picked out of the shower drain? Or what if they find that sippy cup that I can't figure out WHERE my daughter left it last? I am pretty good at being on top of things, but spending quality and fun time with my daughter is my priority. And THAT is why I still pay for someone to clean. Because that is what's important to me and I intend to keep it that way. My house isn't filthy. But it is cluttered. But I take lots of time before they come to be sure that the important surfaces are visible, and I tell them that if the dining room table is cluttered, not to worry about it. They almost never have to clean the office desk or the scrapbook table, because they are always full of projects in progress or paperwork. I don't fault them for any of that. My mom mentioned that they never dust one of my end tables, and Evan mentioned that they never dust the arms or the backs of the leather sofa and loveseat. I notice these things, but I don't stress about them. If it bothers me I just do it myself later. I guess it doesn't matter to me if you don't get to everything every time you are cleaning, just as long as at least once a month, the dust gets off here and there. And seriously, I do get frustrated when I pay them for 2 hours and I get home and an hour and a half later, not only are they gone, but they had to pick up all their supplies and pack them up and then leave. I just figure that if they still had 30 minutes to go, why not dust that shelf or that corner end table? Ugh. Sorry. Enough ranting. Now they are probably going to read my blog and be all mad that I was "talking trash." They will probably post about how that one time my husband left his gum in the shower (WTF?!) and I didn't catch it in time. Or maybe about the time that somehow in some wild abandon a pair of my pajama pants entertwined with dirty underwear found their way under my bed, and *gasp* I didn't look under there for two weeks until they cleaned and found them. Jeez. I swear life is too short for this crap!

Please share your cleaning people stories. Am I the lone ranger here?

More Rambling.

Thursday. Really a beautiful day! It's been so cool and fall-like here, and for the first time inyears, farmers are taking out soybeans before corn. We've been drinking hot apple cider and eating lots of muffins, apples, this week (we have been there twice already!) and I cut one in half because I thought they would be really rich. I have to say, I couldn't even eat HALF of one. I needed to cut it into thirds. I am the chick who can eat two pieces of rich cheesecake without blinking, but this brownie was so rich it actually HURT my mouth to eat it. Isn't that crazy? I should have taken pictures of them to post. Since I am not online at home, I am online away from home, which means I can't reach the brownies from here. LOL.

Ardyn is really walking well now and I am trying to work on putting her down more out in public. When we walk to our table at a restraunt or while in the hospital having tests or in a parking lot that isn't busy, I have started to take her hand and let her walk alongside me. She LOVES that and I love not having to carry her everywhere. Last night I decided that I should write down the words and phrases she knows, because I haven't really done that yet (with the exception of her first two words) and by today I was already up to 65 words and phrases. Not bad for a 13 month old? When people had asked me I had been saying she had like 15-20 words to say, but wow was I way off. It's funny because sometimes she will say something and I will be like "Oh, forgot that one!" and run to my journal to add it to the list. Today for the first time she verbally answered a question I asked her. I was astounded. Seriously, very cool. She is getting really good at repeating just about anything you want her to say, but she never does it for an audience. In fact, I can't get her to say hardly anything for the video camera either. I love when she says "shoes" (sooos) and today I was trying to get her to say Rocket and it kept coming out like Cock, so I gave up. he.

Today I had foot and ankle x-rays and also visited a couple of nurses that I used to work with and who were there when I was in the hospital with Ardyn. Then we closed my bead retreat party. I got 4 half-price items, $80 in free stuff, and a free October Bracelet. Yay. Can't wait for everything to come in!

So I have been having issues with the ball of my left foot, right below my second toe. It's been very sore for a few weeks, and usually by the end of the day, I am limping. It has gotten better since I have been making an effort to wear shoes or slippers while around the house, and wear shoes versus flip-flops while out. I made an appointment a while back to go to the foot doctor, and my appointment was Wednesday afternoon. It was enlightening to say the least. My mom has feet that are much like mine, and has had nothing but problems recently, as she works on her feet all day. When I started to have pain where she was having pain, I decided no messing around and went right to the foot Dr. He drew me several pictures of the foot and toes and bone structure and explained that what I was experiencing was due to the way my feet are formed, with extremely high arches. This causes my weight to be distributed too much on my toes, and affects the balls of my feet.

I also have ankle problems, which increases my issues, and explains why I spent LOTS of my college years on crutches with ankle twists and sprains. It also explains why my ankle gave out on me while I was 9 months pregnant with Ardyn, and even though I was standing completely still, I had an avulsion fracture of my ankle where the tendon actually tore away from the bone and chipped a piece of bone off. Ack. So today's xrays will determine at which stage my foot problem (Second Metatasal Pain) is in. It starts with Bursitis, moves to a Plantar Plate Tear, and eventually becomes a Ganglion Cyst, where the bone has rubbed on the bottom of your foot for so long that liquid has filled the area around the bone and the fat pad of your foot has worn away and all that is left between the bone and the ground is your thin layer of skin. It's freaking scary, because not treated, it can end up with foot surgery, specifically a chunk of your bone removed and hoping that your foot bone heals at a different angle. So as complicated as all that sounds, the xrays are to determine if I am just at the bursitis stage, or if the plantar plate has already torn on my left foot, and to see the status of my right foot and my ankles. The plan will probably be to first get custom made arch supports to correct the way weight is distributed on my feet, and potentially Physical Therapy, Cortisone, and/or anti-inflammatory medicine (which I have taken in the past with flare ups of carpal tunnel or the arthritis in my lower back that I got from the double whiplash car accident when in my early 20's.) So next Friday I get to see the Xray results and see what the first step is. And of course since I am pregnant, and will be soon breastfeeding another, I won't be able to take medicine or likely cortisone either. Luckily my foot doctor is not only excellent at what he does, but extremely interested in making sure that it all makes SENSE to me, which is right up my alley.

Of course Ardyn's body rash is a little worse lately. Still new breakouts on her forehead and temples and in her hairline, also on her neck and her chest and tummy. I myself am beginning to think it is eczema. It looks almost Identical to the eczema that I have (when I first was diagnosed) and I am currently testing a bit of my steroid-free lotion on a patch to see if it gets better and so far, it seems to be getting less scaly and red. After Tuesday I can officially call th pediatrician back and let them know that the body rash has not been elimitated by removing milk from her diet.

I also recently learned online that there are vast differences between lactose intolerance and a dairy allergy. Children with lactose intolerance can likely eat milk products in moderation but can be pushed over the edge by drinking milk or eating too many dairy products. They may have gas, stomach upset, or diahrrhea as a result of their intolerance. These aren't allergies, just their digestive system's reaction to dairy consumption.

A Dairy Allergy, on the other hand, is a true allergy to dairy products. It's characterized by allergy symptoms, body rash, diaper rash that won't heal without removing dairy from the diet, etc etc. People with a dairy ALLERGY are the people who don't consume any dairy products, and usually this means even things as simple as the milk powder found in things like instand oatmeal, "lactose free" cheeses, and certain crackers and cookies. They have a true allergy to dairy products characterized by an allergic reaction when given any dairy. That's Ardyn. Today we mistakenly let her dip cucumber slices in ranch dressing, because we weren't smart enough to remember that there is milk in there! Tonight she had really bad, dark, pasty poo, and a diaper rash. All from a tiny bit of ranch dressing. Hence Allergy, not Lactose Intolerance.

Of course now I am reading all about phytoestrogens in Soy products and really searching for locally sold Goat's Milk. I have a couple of leads that I plan on pursuing tomorrow.

Well, still not internet at home, and it's past Ardyn's bedtime, so I think it's time for me to get offline and go home. Have a great night and a happy weekend, since I don't think I will be back before then!