Blue Couches

Lance says my blog is a total bore these days. Come on, I DO have a newborn, a toddler, and just moved. Sheesh. Anyway, I meant to post this forever ago, but forgot. This is for Stephanie, who hopes to deliver her baby without an epidural. The story of how I did it.

I never really cared all that much to deliver a baby without an epidural. I just really don’t like needles, and I thought it would be great to avoid that thing.

I asked around for some tips from friends. Boy, am I glad that I heard about Angie’s Couch Technique. I never told Lance about it. I figured I would just try & see if it worked for me. But all of the sudden, hours into the labor process, I accidentally mutter “Blue…(sigh) Couch…(sigh)”

I then think to myself, “Lance probably thinks I’ve gone completely bonkers.” But I was too exhausted & in pain to explain. Hours later, I tell him what the couches were all about. Yes, he’d thought I’d gone nuts.

So here’s the deal with the couches. In your head, you visualize a couch changing the colors of the rainbow. Red to purple & then back the other way. Sounds crazy, right? Well, it worked for me. By the time you get to purple, you are in some serious pain. But by then, you’re headed back to red (which is a happy place to be headed.)

Rainbow couches helped me make it through. That, plus a great nurse who talked me down from the epidural request. And, with Ethan, I waited as long as I could before getting the epidural, so I knew a bit what to expect in regards to the pain.

So ladies, anyone else who has been through it have tips?

Gas Crisis

Is Nashville the only city with a gas shortage? For the first time ever, my plans revolve around the conservation of gas. I find irony watching our big long lines of cars idle (& waste gas), while waiting in line for gas. When will it end?

All I can say is I'm glad I don't have a newborn with colic right now. I was hopping in the car all the time with E to quiet him down.

Photo from here.

2 Months Old!

Making the Switch

Way back in March of last year, I thought I might use cloth diapers for baby #2. Today, I made the switch with KB! Disposable diapers are the 3rd largest single consumer item in our waste system. And they last in our landfills for up to 500 years. I just wish I had done this with Ethan. That would have been 8,000 diapers I could have kept our of our waste system.

G Diapers also just came on the scene ("not disposable, not cloth"...Huh?), but how stylish is this baby bottom? Rumor is, you can even compost the wet ones.

Crepe Myrtle

We once had a crepe myrtle that I loved. Then, a drunk driver plowed it down. It was tall & beautiful and looked like an even bigger version of this (photo from here). But it took a lickin' & keeps on tickin'. However, the bush is now coming back like this (ours pictured): I've realized that crepe myrtles are pruned in a number of ways. I don't prefer the bush-style, which is how it's growing back. I've asked around, but am not quite sure how to prune it to get it back to it's previous condition. Should I go ahead and trim it down to 4-6 branches and let them grow? Or should I let it grow as a bush and trim back the other branches when they all are a bit bigger?

Anyone know? I get the best advice here, so I know somebody's got something. ...Anyone?

Day One

Five months after the wreck, repairs have finally begun! They began removing the brick off the house today. (If you click on the picture, you can see the corner of the house & how it has been bumped back off of the stone foundation.)

Next Steps: Removing the plaster from the interior, gutting the kitchen, and then trying to move the frame of the house back onto the foundation. We're hopeful & optimistic that it can be moved back onto the foundation. If not, they will have to tear down the framing & rebuild that too. It's still hard for me to believe that it's all because some guy was drinking & driving. And stealing cars.

In the meantime, we're living with my folks & have our whole house packed up in a storage facility. Why, You might ask? Well, last time we renovated a kitchen, our house & POD were burglarized (yet another insurance claim.) So this time we completely cleared out the house, leaving nothing but toilet paper.

What a Cute Boy.

Just a reminder to myself: If you put your newborn daughter in a blue dress, people will think she's a boy. Get over it, or keep her in pink.

20 Cheapest Healthy Foods.

I love cheap. I love healthy. I love this list of the 20 Healthiest, Cheapest foods. All Under $1. Definitely worth a read. I think I'll skip the sardines though.

Pictured: What I'm eating for breakfast every morning. Making your own cereal - healthy & cheap!

Smiling Baby

She wakes up with a smile. I didn't know babies like this existed.

Well, That's a Relief.

"I don't like Maseratis. I like Pontiacs." - Ethan, 2 and a Half.

Thirty!

This is your birthday dessert if you are on a super-restricted diet, and you go out to dinner. A popsicle in a champagne glass & a candle on an empty plate. How thoughtful of the best waiter in the planet to bring me in a special dessert just for me to celebrate my birthday!!! (I don't like this picture of me or my hair, but I just had to share the birthday dessert.)

Thanks to family & friends for making it such an awesome day. Especially to my wonderful husband.

Katie Belle - Embroidery

I realize that I never showed you the finished embroidery piece I started a few months ago. Well, here it is, my first big hand embroidery project!

Today I'm Celebrating!

I might just have to make myself a egg/dairy/nut-free batch of these.

Seven Weeks

Thanks for the concern about the lack of sleep. We're catching up. For the past week, she's had a 6-1/2 hour stretch of sleep every night! Yeah!!

Moving...Again

This upcoming weekend, we will be undergoing the 9th move in 6 and a half years of marriage. It will be the fourth move into the same house. I thought about explaining all this, but it's entirely too confusing. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to it...or the 10th move, which is to come again in a few months! I am looking forward, however, to spending more time with family.

The good news is that we've finally reached a settlement with our insurance, and renovations will begin next week. This means that we'll have to sort out the entire contents of our house into 2 piles - long term storage & stuff we'll need for the next 3-6 months. It's quite a job! Have I started? Barely.

Rosemary Wreath

Anybody want to come over and make a rosemary wreath with me next week? I've got rosemary coming out my ears.

Amendment: What was I thinking? I'm packing & moving this week. If you want to make rosemary wreaths with me SOMEDAY, let me know. I can't for the life of me think of anyone who loves to craft as much as me. Mary Alice - How about it?

Granola Cereal & Oat Bread Recipes

I've been making my own cereal these days. So, I asked Lance to buy me more oats. He comes back with about 5 pounds of steel cut oats. Gee Gads! That's a lot of steel cut oats! Since I cannot make cereal from this stuff, I'm making Martha's Whole Grain Oat Bread today (it uses steel cut oats).

Here's my cereal recipe. Adjust seeds, nut, fruit ratios as desired. You can also use other stuff, like nuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, etc.

GRANOLA CEREAL

4 c. oats (quick or old fashioned)
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1/3 c. raw brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ c. vegetable oil
¼ c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. dried cranberries
½ c. dried chopped dates

Warm oil and honey in a small saucepan. Add vanilla. Mix all dry ingredients and spread out on large flat baking pan with sides. Pour sauce over the dry mixture and stir well. Spread it back out on the pan. Bake at 300° for 40 min (or less, depending on oven). Stir every 10 min. Let cool. Add dried fruit. Store in plastic container or zip loc. Stays good for about 2 weeks.