My newest passion

Quick update...

We decided not to move after all. Chris was told there would be work through winter but once it started raining work dropped like usual. We could have tried to make it in the new house but it would have been tight. On top of that we are reconsidering moving away at all. After reviewing the numbers we won't be saving any more money by moving and we really have no desire to live in the area away from everyone we know. So instead we decided to move into my mom and stepdad's house for winter and then in a couple of months we'll reconsider moving.

In the meantime I want to talk more about things I'm passionate about especially things I know I'm always telling people about and things I'm learning about. Which leads me to the point of this post.

My last pregnancy my midwife noticed that I had a slight diastasis recti. At the time I had no idea what it was but after some research I wasn't too concerned with the size mine was at the time.  Then baby was born and I knew nothing about how it could get worse or how to prevent it from happening.

Before I became pregnant this go around I finally researched what exactly diastasis recti is. It is when your abdominal muscles that make up a six pack are separated creating a gap in between. It can be caused by pregnancy and is actually very common. During pregnancy a lot of pressure is placed on the tendon in between your muscles which causes them to separate. With proper alignment and healthy abs it can be prevented even during pregnancy.

I began working towards repairing the gap and was hoping to be done before getting pregnant. Having multiple pregnancies close together can make it worse or even cause it. But we've been blessed with another kiddo so I became more diligent to repairing the diastasis before baby comes.

When the move started coming up I was set back a bit but mostly because our internet crapped out at the time and I couldn't get good enough signal to watch my workout videos. I should have stayed diligent to at least walk but I chose not to.

Fast forward to after our move to my moms and I realized that the dr (diastasis recti) has gotten bigger. Uh oh...So I ordered a pregnancy splint to help heal and have been working out in hopes of healing my abs before baby comes or at the very least prepare them for birth and to be healed post partum.

But I say all this because in my research I happened across a blog by a bio mechanist who thinks just like Chris and i. Most of the things we believe about life come from a foundational thought of how did the Lord create us to be/live? Whether it be food, lifestyle, family values, or even movement, how did the Lord create us to function? He is the perfect designer and had reasons for why he made us and the world the way he did. So whenever we question an aspect of life we view it through that lense. A lot of things are presented in the word but the not so important to salvation things aren't so we must use critical thinking and common sense.

What does this have to do with having a diastasis recti? Well I don't believe that God created women's abs to be separated after pregnancy and in need of specific workouts or surgery to repair it. So what is the bigger problem that is causing this problem in so many women today?

From childhood we are taught both intentionally and unintentionally to sit whenever possible. And when we aren't sitting we are trying to find a way to sit as soon as possible. With tv, office jobs, chairs literally every where we go, toilets...I mean it doesn't end. And sitting is the antithesis to movement. But did God create us to sit still so much? Did he intends for us to have to work out in order to stay "healthy" or was his design meant for us to be moving most of the day which helps all systems in our body.

My mind is being blown with ideas and concepts that I'm reading from this blog and I'm thinking of ways to raise my children differently and to change our whole family's literally to be more active daily not just occasionally.

My hope is that I inspire you to do the same. Look it up and think about it. :)

Why I never fed my children baby food

An article came up today about the history of canned baby food and my husband suggested that I write about what we do when it comes to feeding our babies.

Just want to preface with I am not linking any of the research that I have personally done because I did it a while ago and didn't save it. And I don't want to find more just for this post...sorry. So I encourage you that if you don't understand at least the logic behind what we do, which I will explain, then to please research it yourself and really think about it.

Baby food as we know hasn't always been around, duh... in fact in the entire history of mams feeding their babies canned baby food is still a new invention. Even more than that feeding babies BABY food is new.

Think about it, if you were living like you were camping and you had a young baby would you spend time and effort in pureeing your food for your baby. I doubt the thought even came to them.

Reason #1: The nutritional value in canned baby food vs unprocessed real food just doesn't compare. Commercial baby food usually has forms of sugar, salt, food colorings, and preservatives in them. Some are getting better now that people are becoming more aware of what is in their food but they still aren't nearly as good as food made from scratch, whether it be a cooked meal or raw food. The standards that they are guided by, while they are there to protect from certain diseases, they also hinder nutritional quality by use high heat or chemicals during the whole process. Not to mention most baby food isn't organic so your sweet pure baby is being fed food that is laden when pesticides and genetically modified organisms. If you don't think organic is important then you should really spend some time researching it. And you are probably not going to like anything else I have to say in regards to food.

Reason #2: Baby food is bland! It is so tasteless unless it is full of sugar and/or salt. Have you ever tried the food your are trying to shove into your child's mouth? No wonder they spit it out so much. A baby begins learning to taste in utero. A mother's amniotic fluid is flavored by the food she eats and then after the baby is born so if her breastmilk. So babies are being introduced to flavors early on and can even begin developing preferences. So why all of a sudden around 6 months is it normal to stop giving them the flavors they are used to and instead give them something that tastes like cardboard. You try eating baby food for a day and see how you like it. Babies are soaking up everything. They learn at an incredible rate and part of that learning process is eating. Americans wonder why so many children are so picky, I think there is more to it than just this aspect but I do believe this is part of the problem. When you get you baby hooked on processed bland food then when they are "old enough" you try to give them fresh or cooked veggies or cooked meats that taste nothing like they have been having for over a year, it shouldn't be so puzzling that they don't like it and would rather have the puffy star snacks and macaroni. Instead, they should eat what you eat with the same seasonings you eat. If you are worried about salt then you need to learn about salt. Regular white table salt isn't good for your baby OR you! So learn what kind you should be eating, the kind full of nutrients that you need. The kind that has those nutrients naturally and hasn't just been added back in. Then not only will you feel much better when you eat salt (physically and mentally) but you will also not be stressed about it when your child has it.

Reason #3: Baby Food is a lot of work!
You might start learning this about me but I am all for not working harder than I should. Now a lot of what I do requires more work up front for more reward in the end (like EC) but sometimes there is just no point in working harder for something.
There is this idea out there that if we don't feed our babies commercial baby food then we need to make our own healthy baby food. But when I say I don't feed my children baby food I mean I never feed them any kind of baby food. I don't even make my own. I don't make anything that even somewhat resembles baby food. The closest I get to going out of my way for the baby's food is make hard boiled eggs so they can have the incredibly nutritious egg yolk and making liver which is also a super food especially for babies. But other than that...they literally eat what we eat. This is within reason of course. I don't feed my toothless 6 month old hard bacon or chewy steak but if we are eating potatoes or steamed carrots or broccoli then you bet they get to eat it. The thing is until they turn a year eating solids is just for fun for them. It is just a learning experience not a they are going to die without it. You can exclusively breastfeed up to a year and your baby will be totally fine! So if there isn't anything they can eat that we are eating...they just don't eat. I stick a boob in their mouth instead :) As they get teeth and get better and better at eating the get to try more things. And from my personal experience (which isn't much yet) both my girls love to eat and are definitely not picky eaters. My second (who is turning 1 in about a week) has a few more preferences but she still eats a huge variety of foods.

There is a name for this type of feeding and it is called baby led weaning/eating so if you are interested in learning more research that.  Here are some of our guidelines for feeding our babes.

1. They are EBF until at least 6 months. Once they are 6 months I don't force food on them but we start holding them in our laps and if they go for something they can eat we go ahead and let them. Both of our girls were really interested in eating at 6 months so they both naturally started then but I have nieces that didn't start until later which is totally normal.

2. We don't feed any type of grains until 18 months or until molars appear. Whichever comes first. There is good evidence pointing to babies don't develop the enzymes to process grains until this time. So we just withhold them until that time. Another benefit to this is that they don't get hooked on bread so early. It can be really easy to just feed them bread at restaurants or crackers when they just need a snack. But these things are like crack to kids! We limit white flour in our diet so when they do begin eating grains they are mostly only eating whole grains.

3. We don't give them any type of sweet or dessert until 1. For their first birthday we take them to PinkBerry which is frozen yogurt made with real yogurt. It is low in sugar so in my opinion is a good first treat. But even after this point we still limit sugar intake. As a family we don't have sugar often Mostly at birthdays or special events. Even this seems a lot to us; my husband and I were just talking about how often those events come up so we will probably start limiting even at special events for ourselves and our children.

4. We don't cut their food into tiny pieces. In fact the bigger the the better usually. Part of learning to eat is to learning to bite off and chew. If their food is always cut up so tiny they don't learn quickly. Another part of this lesson is learning to choke. What I mean by that is one reason for baby food is so that you never have the fear of a baby choking because they are pretty much only eating liquids. But babies have an incredible ability to gag on their food and prevent choking and the more times it happens the less frequent it becomes and the better they are at eating. VS. feeding them real food much later and them learning at an older age when it isn't necessary. Now I will say though, that we do keep very careful watch over them when they are eating. I never leave the room when they are young and eating in the event that they can't get something up so I can be there to help them. But amazingly if you give them bigger pieces that they have to bite off themselves they choke less because they learn how much they can handle. In fact, certain family members just can't stand to see us feeding our children such large bites so they start cutting it up for them which only makes them choke more.

I am pretty sure that is about it. I may have forgotten a thing or two but you should get the gist of it. If you are interested in learning more please research it for yourself. A great book I recommend is Real Food For Mother and Baby by Nina Plank. And while you are at it go ahead and research nutrition for yourself. The finding of Dr. Weston Price is a good place to start. Or the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

What a difficult day...

Wow, so yesterday was a very hard day to say the least.

Nothing new happened from what I said yesterday but I just had a really hard time controlling my heart and having faith. I thought I was fine because I was functioning but anything the girls did that annoyed me in the slightest would make me snap. I was very short tempered with them and was not calm and soft spoken. Instead I became a mom I never want my girls to have. Almost every word I spoke to them was rude and sharp. And nothing they did could make it better. My poor S girl got the brunt of it since she is older. Everytime she repeated herself (which 2 year olds do often) would frustrate me so bad I would yell "Yes its a kitty cat! Stop saying it!!" I obviously was not responding well.

Then throw in my emotions that would take over me like a tidal wave. All of a sudden I would be sobbing as if my husband had died. And if either of them did something when that was going on...ugh I hope I never have to watch that replay. And the worst thing is as I was yelling or giving an awful face I knew I was hurting them and I didn't want to be but I just could not stop myself. (Or I could but I was choosing not to :(  )

I eventually went to my room, laid on the bed and sobbed to God begging for help. I was angry at the situation but it went further than that. It is something the Lord has been working on in me for months or maybe even years now. I need to depend on the Lord for everything. It is a lot easier to seem like you depend on God when you are surrounded by other believers. Take that away.. then you can still kind of fake it when you have a very strong mature husband...so take that away. And you are left all alone all day long with two kiddos under 3. And slowly it eats at you...or me in this case.

I was desperate but I have been so distant from the Lord for so long I couldn't even remember what to do. I mean I knew what to do but I didn't know how to do it. Like how do I surrender. Its not like I can actually lay down my physical weapons and hold up a white flag.

So after I cried all my tears and felt empty but somewhat peaceful I voxed my husband to let him know what was going on. Later that evening we got to talk about it and wow I am so thankful that the Lord has been so gracious to be me to bless me with this man. So after a really great healing conversation where he called me out and read scripture and encouraged me. I rally felt like things were starting to make sense and that this really is going to turn out okay.

I am really embarrassed by my behavior yesterday. And since no one was there besides my girls I could just act like it never happened and leave it at that. Its not like anyone reading this would know. To most of my friends I am this great example of what a Godly mother and wife should. And this terrifies me! I know I am doing well if you compare me to non-christian moms and even a lot of christian ones. But compared to Jesus I am lightyears away from good.

A couple of weeks ago, during another session of being tested and repenting of my sin the Lord brought me to a blog of a lady I look up to. And she happened to have posted about a realy hard time in her life when she was just downright nasty and not in a good spot in her life or walk with Jesus. And it amazed me that someone who I thought had it all together and was just the perfect picture of the mom and wife and lover of Christ that I aspire to be, could be so awful to her children and husband and so disobedient to God. She told her story of the bad and of her repentance and the fruit she bore from the whole thing. It made me weep because while I wasn't quite as down as she was at the time it was all about her selfishness and that is exactly what I was doing. It cut deep but was so healing at the same time to read her story. And God totally used it to bring me to repentance.

I say all of that because I don't want others who look up to me to think that I have it all together. That I am doing so well and that I am the perfect picture of a mother and wife and lover of Christ. Because haha I so a not. So instead of leaving my story where I left off from yesterday I want to share with whoever is reading this...even if it is just my mom ;)... that I am not perfect. I am so far from it!!!
And I hope and pray that when you ready this you realize that the hard times you are having and the bad attitude you are working to change is the same thing I am going through right now. Maybe the details are different, but I too and a work in progress.

So mama, whoever you are, Jesus loves you. He died for you even when you were still a sinner and were His enemy. He would have died for even if it had been only you. Your sin is now as far as the East is from the West. If you can't find much else to be thankful for, think on this. (I am speaking to myself and crying as I am typing this) There is nothing more good than God. Here is the scripture my husband shared with me last night. I know it takes more than a second to read but please take the time to meditate on it. Even open up your word and read more :)

Philippians 4:4-14

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

⁵ Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

⁹ Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

¹³ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

¹⁴ Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.

Testing my joyful heart

A couple of days ago I posted about needing to have a joyful heart in all circumstances and how I had been tested...little did I know that the harder test would be today.

Last night some one broke into our new home and broke windows, mirrors, and punched holes in the walls. They aren't sure the extent of the damage because the property management hasn't been out to see it yet. All we know is from the police report. But as it is now we aren't allowed to move in this weekend and her initial estimate is in 2 weeks. They think it was some stupid teenagers having fun with a vacant house.

I am royally bummed! Way more so than earlier this week. I am really struggling to be joyful and trust in the Lord. S and I were just voxing with Chris about how excited we are that this is the last night to be away from him...and then 20 minutes later he called with the news. I think it is harder because it is such a huge let down. I mean my house is packed and we are literally ready for the truck to pull up and load it all.

But no...some idiotic person couldn't contain their stupid urge...see what I mean! I am so mad at whoever did this. They have no idea what this means to me and my family. We have to now wait 2+ weeks to actually see my husband everynight again. My kiddos need their Papa and I need my husband. And if it is going to take too long we have to give up on the house all together and find another one because we can't wait another month to move. Which I don't want to even think about not getting this house...it is so pretty and the perfect price!!!

Don't I sound so whiney!!! There are families whose husbands are in Afghanistan and the most contact they get is a video chat occasionally. There are women who have completely lost their husbands through death. And those kiddos don't have a papa to raise them. There are families who don't have a home or food or clothes or a proper roof to keep rain and the cold out. There are women who can't have babies but they yearn so desperately to have at least one of their own.

I am a very blessed woman. I have more than a million things to be thankful for. And everything I have is a total gift. I deserve none of it, not.one.thing! So I am working on putting my big girl pants on and girding my loins. We will make it out of this season. For all I know this is all happening so that I will learn to trust the Lord more and have a joyful heart in even this situation. I want to succeed. I want to do well. My emotions keep taking a hold on me but I am not giving up this fight. I will glorify the Lord whether through obedience the first time or repentence after I fall. I prefer the first but regardless I will glorify God and Praise Him for only He has the power to decide what happens to my soul, which is really all that matters.

I mean who is going to be in heaven complaining that someone broke their window when they were on earth and they couldn't move when they wanted it. Or on a sadder thought, who will be in hell complaining about the same thing. No this is but a very very tiny momentary light affliction.

So thank you God for this trial because this trying of my faith will work my patience (which I need) until I am perfect and whole...wanting NOTHING!!!

James 1:1-4, 12
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

¹² Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

I love my jobs!!

My first job, if you will, is being a mama. It is weird to call it a job though because it feels more like part of who I am. I don't really know how to explain it and maybe all you other mamas out there know exactly what I am talking about. Regardless, being a mama is one of the best things in the world! I love my girlies so much but even more than that I really enjoy who they are. They are so fun to be around and spend my time with!

My second job is I help families create healthy home environments by reducing toxins in their home! And I love doing it! I love to teach people new things, which is one of the reasons I have always had an interest in blogging. (And I think why lots of friends say I should) I love helping people to see things in a new light, a truthful light. It is very eye opening and life changing to learn that what you thought you always knew about something was incorrect. It is similar although not quite as important as learning of the True Gospel for the first time and submitting your life to Christ.

In my job I get to enlighten, if you will, people to the dangers of conventional cleaning methods adn personal products and offer a safe alternative. I work with a company called Norwex as a Independent Sales Consultant. I never ever ever thought I would work for a company like this but when I heard of the products and the mission I immediately thought how I could incorporate my love of teaching with providing an alternative. And thus began my career.

There are more than 80,000 man made chemicals on the market and ONLY 200 have been thoroughly tested and proven safe. Yet thousands are still put into common day products that we spray near our food, lather on our baby's skin, inhale from our clothes, etc. The indoor air quality is actually worse than even the heavily polluted areas! We are constantly exposed to chemicals that are not safe and most don't even know about the dangers of such exposure.

Norwex is working to change this one household at a time. Our products are safe and effective. They still actually clean and usually better than the conventional products. I won't go into the products on this post; I mainly just want to say how excited I am to begin another year doing something I love that can bring change in people's lives one house at a time.

I get to involve my daughters. I get to pick my hours, I am part of a huge team with so many useful resources. I earn a really high commission and I actually get to keep the very vast majority of what I earn without needing to throw it all back into the business. I get to meet new people and spend quality time getting to know them and help them with their needs.

I absolutely love my job...

www.JustineArbaugh.norwex.biz
justine.arbaugh@gmail.com

Getting Ready for the Move :)

S is pulling off all the clothespins for me

I really love my girls. I don't really have much to say other than that. We just worked on packing today and they are so fun to have around! My big S girl is so helpful even at 2 1/2. I love being able to give her a job and know she will do her best job. She is usually very quick to helping and a lot times sees a need before I ask her! She isn't even 3 yet. Ah the beauty of child training :)

It was pretty cold today so I had the girls nice and bundled up. I think D was still cold because she didn't move around much. That or she just couldn't move with all those layers on. She grabbed my jammie pants on our way out the door and used it as her blanket while we were out. I tried getting a picture of her snuggling my jammies but right before I got the shot she sat up.

Then of course S had to have a picture taken of her too. One of her most common sentences that she says daily is "Can you take a picture of me?" So she rolled around in grass.

On an unrelated note, I have a diastasis recti. Maybe I will go into it more later but one thing to help prevent it from getting worse during pregnancy is to support my belly especially when doing laborious things. But instead of buying an expensive wrap thing I just used my woven wrap. It felt very comfy and it def helped, well at least it felt like it did lol. So here is a little belly shot.

So thankful to be moving! I am working on my goals and plans for getting my business up and running in the new area. Very excited to spread my team out and introduce Norwex to a lot of new people!

Having a Joyful Heart

"You need to have a joyful heart" is a common phrase in our household.

D's joyful heart :)

Joy isn't the same as happiness, although similar joy is something you can chose to have with the help of the Holy Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit given to believers. It goes so much deeper than happiness. Joy isn't a feeling based on circumstances.

James 1:2-4
² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

I don't know about you but I am not exactly grinning and feeling warm and bubbly when I am facing trails or temptations. It is usually a situation that I don't like. But you can and should be joyful in the midst of it because of the understanding of what the trials and temptations actually mean. It is opportunity to grow and Christ and be more like Him. An opportunity to overcome sin and bring glory to the Lord. 

Joy,in my understanding, is more of a contentment, a constant controlling of your soul to submit to the Lord's will with the understanding that all things work together for the good for those called according to His purpose. It doesn't mean it feels good but rather you chose to not be swayed by your circumstance. 

I say "where is your joyful heart?" to my daughters frequently. There are a lot of things in life that don't go according to plan and I want to train them young to still their hearts from becoming upset and anxious because they aren't getting what they want or they don't like what is happening. It is amazing to watch a two year old who is clearly upset about something stop in their tracks and change their attitude. It is so beautiful because I know how hard it can be to chose joy when you just wan to be mad and upset. 

I too have a hard time having a joyful heart and controlling my attitude and my girls attitudes totally reflect mine. When I am grumpy and upset all day they have sour faces and bad attitudes as well which upsets me and continues the cycle more. Once I realize I apologize and repent. A couple of weeks ago, D pooped on the floor and I was really upset about it (since it was happening contstantly!!) and S said, "Mama you have a bad attitude." I was shocked she recognized it and called me out at such a young age but so humbled. I immediately repented and told her she was right. I love that my daughter can now tell me to have a joyful heart!

Today I think was a big re-test for me. Months ago when we first moved to the property we had to first move into a room with all of our belongings while we waiting for the previous caretaker to move off the land. He originally gave us one date. We bought our RV and scheduled for it to be moved the day after he moved off. I was so excited to get out of the room as it had been about a month at the time and it was a very trying situation to live in. A couple of days before my husband was talking to the man and he mentioned that he would be staying for a couple more weeks to basically stay as long as the owner said was allowed (he wasn't leaving on good terms and was trying to get back at the owner). It was only two more weeks but I was devastated. I had such a bad attitude. It ruined all my plans. I was so upset and let it show for those two extra weeks. I definitely did NOT have a joyful heart. 

In the present: we were approved for the new house and were planning on moving this coming weekend. My plan was to pack all this week to get ready and that would put us in the new house before Thanksgiving and well before Christmas. But today we realized when scheduling our appointment to sign the lease that the property management company expects the full months rent upon signing on top of paying for the deposit this month. We will only be there a week of November and we don't have twice the rent right now at the end of the month..well we do but then we have no money to actually move. My husband tried to convince them to let us pay the prorated price now and the full rent next month but they said it is their policy and wouldn't budge. This means moving in 3 weeks instead of this weekend. 

One little blessing :)

At first I was devastated. I was so anticipating packing this week and I had it all my head how it would work. I didn't cry but I was very heartbroken. But then I stared praying and asking the Lord to help me with my attitude and I began reflecting on how blessed we are. We are still getting this house. We still get to move and be closet to my husband. He still has his job and is getting amazing hours and we are finally able to start saving! My children are healthy and I am having another baby. We are so blessed and in a couple of month an extra 2 weeks won't seem like much once we are actually there. I wanted to respond well; everything I was feeling was telling me to be depressed and sad but I knew I really had no reason to be. I said to myself, don't be a spoiled brat who throws a fit because I am not getting what I want when I want. I wasn't even being told "no", just "wait". 

So I called my husband and told him it was okay, we are still blessed and God is still good. What more could I ask for! He was so glad to hear me say that; he was worried how I would take the news because being away from him has been very hard and I have been struggling to keep a joyful heart. It was such a joyful moment and as I submitted my heart to the Lord He began blessing me with more Joy. I just changed all my plans and made new ones. I was still bummed and even praying that if something could be done that it would but if not I wasn't going to let it rock my boat. 

The story could stop here and I would continue working on keeping my joyful heart but then my husband called later in the evening saying he had a surprise. Turns out his mom is going to pay for the first month of rent so we can move in this weekend after all! We will of course be paying her back but what a blessing!! I was very shocked and excited and very very thankful. 

I don't think this usually happens where once you submit your heart you end up getting what you wanted in the first place and I was completely not expecting our delay to be changed. Nevertheless, I am very thankful that in this instance He has chosen to provide. I do wonder if he would have if I hadn't had a joyful heart. I truly feel like this time I passed. I was given an opportunity to overcome sin that had taken me out before and I did! Thank you Holy Spirit for your help. Thank you Jesus for your forgiveness of sins. Thank you Father for allowing me to try again! 

Just thought of this, D's middle name is Joy. And pretty since she was born Joy has been something the Lord has been working in me! So interesting!!


***From now on posts will be scheduled so that they don't post the actual day I write them. So if things seem off like me talking about an upcoming holiday that has already past, this is why***

My daughter's breath smells like poop!

So I have to share this story for all you mamas out there that might eventually have this problem and are wondering "What the heck is going on!"

Last weekend my husband came home and kept complaining about smelling poop. I just assumed it D since we had been having the poop everywhere episode that week. But when he would pick up S he would say that he thinks its her breath. I couldn't smell anything on her breath and told him he was crazy. When we were in the car I could smell the poop smell but upon investigating he mouth I got nothing. The weekend ended and he left for work. And sure enough I started smelling it on her breath and it was very unpleasant...I mean like I said in the title, it smelled like poop!

I tried all week to get rid of the smell before my husband came home. I tried brushing her teeth multiple times a day. I tried bathing her more often. But nothing would make it go away.

Then Friday i was voxing (Voxing is the term for using Voxer which is am amazing app that is basically like a walkie talkie on your phone but free!We use is very frequently) my best friend and I noticed Sammy was kind of coughing/blowing out her nose but didn't think much of it until I looked down and she has a disgusted look on her face and her eyes were red and watering. She said, "Ugh, what's that!" and I looked in her hands and she had pulled what looked like at first glance a wad of gum from her nose. I was thoroughly grossed out. I got a tissue and took it from her and it didn't take long to realize it was definitely the source of the smell! Upon further gag inducing investigation I deduced that it was actually paper.

So somehow my daughter managed to show and wad of paper up her nose and kept it there for at least 2 weeks, long enough for it to infect her nose and begin decomposing all the while without it apparently bothering her. Yuck! It was horrific. After looking it up online it is apparently pretty common but is usually discovered after concerned parents take their child in for poop breath only to find out their stinky angel has something rotting up their nose. Thankfully S's came out on it own without a trip to the Dr. And the smell since then has gone away.

So if your child ever starts having breath that makes you want to puke get a light and check up the nostrils for any foreign object. And if that doesn't work take them in before you offend your poor little one because you can't bare the thought of kissing their poop filled mouth :)

On another non-poop note, I completely finished D's doll.

Goodnight!



*** From now on posts will not be posted the day they are written***

Hoping for a home!

So we went to check out rentals this weekend and good amount we liked within our price range but we weren't able to see the insides. Apparently property management groups are as bad as banks and government offices where they are only open 9-5 during the weekday...when everyone that needs their services is working!!! So we just drove past and crossed off the ones we knew we didn't want. We did get to view the inside to 2 of them but neither were something we ultimately want to live in.

Then yesterday I started to call on the properties that we did like to schedule a viewing for next weekend...but again they refuse to show on the weekends. And one that I really liked could only show that day at 3:30 for the entire week! So I called all the others to make a day out of it and quickly packed up the girls and headed out yet again for an unplanned trip. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get the first place because I left during traffic. Poor girls sat in the car all day on Saturday and were now having to do it again :(

To cut to the point the one that I made the whole trip for ended up being my absolute favorite! It is beautiful and is by far the nicest place we have ever lived (granted any of the properties would have been the nicest). This will probably sound funny but I feel like a grown up if we get this house!! I still see myself as a teenager lol, its weird that I am in my twenties!

Anyways, back to the point. So I made an appointment and met the guy to view the property but apparently this guy was driving by to see it at the same time and had tried to make an appointment at the same time but was told that it was already taken. So he decided to come anyways and try to view it at the same time as me and the guy just let him. This man was so obnoxious and loud. He brought in his family and they walked through so fast then told the guy he wanted to place and asked how he could make sure he gets it! It was so rude! I could barely get any of my own questions in because he was like guarding the guy and kept asking other questions. I did get to hear about their process for deciding a tenant. So they go off first come first serve. They don't compare applicants. So whoever submits their application first and is approved gets the property even if their potentially was a better applicant in line. He said he was going to go into the office today and submit his application. I was so annoyed.

I mean I understand that he wanted it too and has every right to try and get it in before us but he did it so unkindly and he didn't really even care about that place. He liked one aspect of it and he was even trying to haggle for a lesser rent. So I got in the car and immediately called Chris and told I really wanted the place and about the whole competition issue. I still had one property to view then we decided I would rush to the management office and try to see if I could submit mine without Chris' to get on the list first.

Turns out you can't. In order to be first you have to have everything filled out and completed and you have to pay the fee. Problem is you can only pay cash or money order so it would have to be mailed. But the lady started showing us favor and allowed me to pay last night since we knew we were going to get our apps in asap. I guess the guy had come in before me and tried to turn his in as well but it wasn't complete either so now it really was a race.

And we won! The office opened at 9 and our was completely submitted by 10:30. I was so happy and thankful that we were able to work it out so quickly!

This house is so beautiful and it is even under our budget! It is in a great neighborhood. I saw 8 parks while driving through! EIGHT! It is a small town but not anywhere near as small as where we currently live. There is a community and events. There are churches and a library! I am so excited.

We haven't actually been approved yet so we have to wait to say that it is for sure ours but we exceed all their requirements so I see no reason they should deny us. If we do get it we get to move before Thanksgiving! Woot!

Needless to say it is a bit busy around here. Trying to finish up sewing projects. I have two Norwex parties this week and then I'll need to start packing soon. Thankfully their isn't actually too much to pack but we want to move everything in one day so I want to be prepared.

Sneek Peak of the property we are hoping for :)

Dolls...and Poop

That pretty much sums up my day :)

The girls and I are still sick and had a rough day but I got a lot done on D's birthday gift!

For S's 1st birthday I made my first Waldorf doll! It was so much fun, but a lot of work at the time! I am way faster at sewing and following patterns than I was 2 years ago! So D is almost 1 and I wanted to make her a doll since she is always trying to steal S's . I'll have to get a picture of the first one later...the girlies are in bed at the moment.

Nakey butt time :)

So back to our day. We have been doing well at pottying. We had a fantastic day yesterday (okay maybe not to today just yet); we caught more in the potty than the floor AND we caught a poop. A sweet glorious poop which hasn't happened in a couple of weeks so you can imagine how excited I was. If you have been following since the days of S you know how much I hate poop; actually is a big reason I love ECing in the first place. You don't realize how crappy cleaning up poop is until you don't have to...okay maybe you do know how crappy it is. But that just makes it so much more exciting when you don't have to do it!

Watching the birds!

So this morning I got up the courage to go to pet smart to get dog brushes (I'll explain in a moment) and I ONLY put pants on D. NO DIAPER!! I am pretty sure this is my first time. Well I guess I have done panties only but that was when she was younger and we were gelling a bit better on the potty front. And no accidents! We got home and she peed AND pooped! I was one proud mama...until...



She then pooped on the floor afterwards. And then again. And then again... and then in the potty :) And then on S's floor...and then on her bed. Seriously.So.Much.Poop!!! I don't know how something so tiny can poop that much! And they were all big poops!!! Ugh, it seemed like everytime I finished cleaning up S would yell, "Agh, she pooped again!" So not fun, especially when sick but really never.

I was really close to just calling it a day and putting a diaper on. Well I guess I kind of did actually because we went out to get food...there was no way I was cooking :( And there was a diaper for that trip and I didn't take it off until bedtime which was when I found, go ahead and guess...Yep more poop!

So...about the doll making, which I am sure you are much more interested in reading about :)
I am making my second Waldorf Doll and this time I am doing jointed limbs. Maybe one day I will make a tutorial...hmm one day when I have extra time that doesn't exist!

I got the dog brushes because I was given about 20 fleeces from a neighbor's flock of sheep and it needs to be carded before using in the dolls. I have some leftover wool from S's doll that I used up and used a tiny amount of our new wool that I washed all by myself thank you very much! (Don't be too impressed I only did one fleece! I am still up to my ears in poop covered wool!) Anyways, real carders are expensive and I didn't want to wait to order them anyways. The dog brushes were about $5 a piece and they worked really well. It will take me a while to get through the whole fleece but I plan working on it whenever Chris and I watch a movie.

Here is the wool I carded.

So here are some pictures of the doll making process...

Lopsided Belly

I used a colored pencil to make pink cheeks.

Arm

Leftover wool before stuffing.

This is just the wool I carded. It squishes down a lot!

Close up of the face. The eyes are a bit crooked but oh well :)

In case you were wondering this is my machine!

 So hopefully I will have to finished product done tonight other than the hair. I can't decide if I want to order this fantastic yarn I found or use the kind I already bought...Stay tuned!

Looking for a home...

Well it is time to find a new home. My husband and I are spending lots of time online waiting for the perfect home in our price range to appear. We are hoping to find a 2-3 bedroom home with a garage within our budget and so far it hasn't been easy.

Another issue; the city we have almost decided to move to doesn't have Whole Foods nearby and seemingly doesn't have anything similar. I can't even find a CSA that delivers to the city. I am getting a bit nervous about this because I really don't want to drive 45 minutes to get groceries every week. It just makes me want to homestead even more!

On another note, my whole family has a cold...Boo! Thankfully on Monday I wasn't feeling too bad so I was able to get the house in order from the weekend and then today had no chores to do other than laundry. I just spent time looking for homes and staring at D's butt! Yes, we had a potty day. I have been wanting to do this (at my husband's recomendation) to try to get her and I back on track. So I kept an eye on her nakey butt all day to see when she pottied and to ge her to associate my words and signs to the potty instead of going on the floor. We had 2 maybe 3 pee catches (I forgot to empty the potty one time) and about 5 misses including 1 poo miss. So the floor won for the day but hey that's more than I caught last week!! When she pooped I knew it was coming but I got distracted for 10 seconds and she was out of site hiding from me. Little stinker.

Well, I am sleepy and i don't feel good so off to bed for me. Enjoy our pictures from this weekend :)

I made my first dress!!

My MIL bought me a sewing machine for my husband's birthday our first year of marriage. :)
That's right she bought it for me on his birthday! The thing was we were poor and clothing is expensive especially for kiddos and we are wanting a lot of children so...sewing seemed like a very practical skill to acquire and my husband agreed. He is a very practical man (and doesn't really care about birthdays) so he asked for a sewing machine for me and since then I have fallen deeply in love with sewing!

That was 3 years ago and I have learned so much! I have made many things for my girlies. (Having girls has been awesome for learning how to sew!!!) But I haven't ever really made anything for myself as far as clothing goes this entire time. It is pretty intimidating to buy all that fabric and potentially mess up! With kids there is usually enough to make another if you mess up. Plus a lot of the clothing I have wanted to try is made with knits. Knits and my sewing machine don't get along.

BUT...last Christmas I got a serger!! (From my MIL and my husband) And it has taken me almost a whole year to finally make something for myself from it!

This weekend we are taking family picture with my mom and stepdad's family and I didn't have the time or the desire to go find something to match. So I found a tutorial for a maxi dress and took a shot at it! Got my fabric for $10.50!! Way cheaper than a maternity maxi dress!!!

You can see my little baby bump :)

 So here it is! Pardon the messy house and hair! Sewing takes a lot of time away from normal duties :) I am so happy the way it turned out! I attached it to an old t-shirt that didn't fit well anymore. I can't wait to wear it for pictures so that I can wear it out in public! I should get the professional pics to show it way better since I was taking with my auto timer on my phone. 

I also made my girls' dresses for pictures and I LOVE the way they turned out. I was trying to copy a picture of a dress I have always wanted to copy and I think I got it pretty well. D's is just a regular peasant dress :) D is too hard to get a good picture of right now so again hopefully I will get a better one from the family pics. 

Well, that's all I have to say for now!

I am making the hair bows right now and would like to finish at a decent hour!!!

More Follow Up

So I posted really general about our life up to this point to catch up from over a year ago. I figured I could go into a little more detail about D's EC journey.

Although I do want to say really quickly that if I do continue to blog I don't want to just blog about the pottying of my children. The title of this blog is Motherhood and EC is just a tiny aspect to that. But I do want to go into more detail to how D is doing and what mistakes I have made along the way with her in regards to EC.

So S did such a fantastic job at pottying and getting the hang of the whole ordeal I think I started out with D a little over confident. I realized (although possibly incorrectly) that S wasn't trained because I was a pee nazi but more because of the consistent communication throughout her life in regards to pottying. And who knows I might have been right but they way I proceeded with D made that theory impossible to tell. When she was about 3 months old we moved out to the country. We were offered to take care of a piece of property in exchange for free rent. So we jumped on it! There was kind of an icky situation with the previous caretaker so we moved into the lower room in the main house for 6 weeks until we could buy and move our own RV onto the property.

The room we lived in housed ALL of our stuff. Now in comparison to most we don't have a lot but we still had quite a bit and to live with it all in one room for 6 weeks is a bit overwhelming! It was crammed to say the least and incredibly dirty. We had to move in so fast we couldn't clean the room first and the previous inhabitant apparently didn't care about filth. I cleaned as much as I could but it still just wasn't the most pleasurable living experience.

During this time I didn't really pay attention to D's cues. I kept her in cloth without covers for a bit but eventually got in the habit of always having a cover on and just changing her when she was wet. And I didn't even have nigh time to fall back on. S wouldn't nurse until after she had peed but D would hold in her pee until you started nursing which was always frustrating!

By the time we finally moved into our RV I was already tuned out to her cues. I still gave a lot of opportunities but I didn't have the same consistency that I did with S. Fast forward a few months to last month D started getting a ash from ammonia. We live on really hard well ward and they have a really bad build up. I tried stripping them multiple times but with no real success. And then she got a REALLY bad rash with huge blisters that would heal during the day but reform at night after sitting wet for hours.

So I decided she would go diaper free during the day and my generous mom bought her honest company disposables for nightime and outings. We will be moving again soon into the city again so when we do I will re-strip her diapers in water that isn't insanely hard and hopefully we can use them again. But this whole ordeal had really made me analyze what was different with S and D.

With S, pottying her was a part of our routine. But with D we got out of it. I didn't want to potty in public or at night and eventually that mentality seeped into the daytime too. It's not that I dodn't have time to or was too distracted, I just wasn't purposeful about it. With S we had a lot more nakey time especially early on. With D, my husband was home her first few months during winter when he is usually laid off for the season and he hates holding naked babies. So early on she never really was naked and I never really got a good sense of her cues.

Thankfully it isn't too late. She is still only 10 months old so I still have time to make up and I am sure she will be golden at the very latest at 2. Like I said we are doing naked time during the day. It hasn't been too successful yet but it is always harder to retrain than to do it right the first time. I think sitting on the potty is just a chair for her to play on because she pees or poops almost right after getting off. We do catch at least once a day and we all cheer and she claps and gets really excited so I am hoping she gets it soon. We pray every evening that she will get it and start going on the potty :)

And with the next babe I really want to go diaper free the vast majority of the time, even at night and for outings. We wont' live by family anymore so not many people will be holding the baby other than me and I will definitely be wearing a lot more often since I will have more children than hands! Going through the whole diaper fiasco I started wondering what people did before diapers and it hit me DUH! (Seriously, I know I knew this but it like really hit me!) People didn't have diapers. They might have had a cloth under their bums but most countries and cultures EC'd before there was ever a name for it. And they did it without the use if diapers AND laundry machines. So we will still use prefolds to soak up any misses. Even my husband who doesn't like naked babies is on board; I am sure he will always have a felt blanket and a diaper under them!

So that is the update. Not too excited but I know there are people who might be interested.

Oh and S is officially a bedwetter. :( I'm a bit bummed by it just because she was dry for so long at night until D was born and then it was downhill from there. She is dry maybe 2 nights out of the week. After posting on the diaper free fb group I guess it is pretty common so I am not worried but I just really dislike it for obvious reasons. Plus my brother was a bedwetter for a very long time and my room was next to his and I hated the smell. So the smells just bring back memories of that and yuck its not fun. This too shall pass :)

Goodnight!

Crazy hair as usual :)

Can you believe how big she is!

Super silly girl!

They have so much fun together!

Maybe I will pick this back up...

I stumbled upon my old blog tonight and saw how many pageviews its gotten. Apparently people want to read more about EC and parenting :)

So maybe if I can find time in my busy life I will pick this back up.

A quick update since it is my bedtime...

Sammy is now 2 1/2!! So hard to believe! She is fully potty trained during the day and has been for over a year now. She does wet the bed at night but it started happening when her sister was born.

Which leads me to announcing that Samantha now has a little sister, Dakota who is currently 10 months old! As far as EC is going for Dakota...its good but not going as well as with Sammy for multiple reasons. We have had a few transitions during her younger months like moving. And I wasn't a diligent to potty her as a was with Sammy. My thoughts were that it wasn't necessarily quantity of catches with Sammy as it was quality but that isn't always true. I depended on diapers a lot more with D especially during the move which the whole process took about 2 months. We are working at it but now he cloth diapers have severe amonia build up from the well water so we have been using disposables for night and outings which really hinder us. But she is still on ly 10 months and she knows to go, just need her to cue to me :) I hopefully can post more on this later.

Another transition that hindered D's pottying was my first trimester for our 3rd baby! That's right I am now 14 weeks into my 3rd pregnancy :) Planning on another homebirth. We are in the process of moving yet again a couple of hours away to where my husband has been relocated for work. It is a crazy time right now but we are making the most of it.

This next babe I am planning on keeping it diaper free the vast majority of the time including out and about. Having depended on diapers so much with D it really makes me not want to this time especially after going back and reading how well we did with Sammy from such an early age.

So there is the quick update of it all. We shall see if I can find the time to come back later and add more!!

Dakota 10 months

Sammy being silly- 2 1/2 yrs