Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

Why did I take so long taking care of our changing table cover issue? For the longest time we have put a pillowcase over the pad, but they are to wide and not long enough. Now that Kaitlyn has her own pillow we go through a lot of pillow cases. I stopped putting one on her changing pad and opted to use a receiving blanket folded in half; it's to small to cover the whole surface too and it moves around so all in all it's a bit annoying. Yesterday I cut up two of Kaitlyn's receiving blankets to make a cover that fits the pad perfectly.

Because we don't have receiving blankets that match her room colors I decided to do a pink blue mix. I even went the extra mile and top stitched almost ever possible seam. Every seam is double top stitched (on each side of the seam), but the bottom panel. I was done sewing by the time I reached that point and just folded the seams one direction and top stitched.

This is the second time I've cut up a couple of her receiving blankets for a project. Last time I made her a pillow out of receiving blankets.

My second project of the weekend was altering some new PJs we bought for Kaitlyn. I have a big annoyance with Gerber. Why do they make things so small? Do they use Chines children for their measurements? Actually that wouldn't even matter because the weight/height charts they give are all wrong. Let me explain. Over the weekend we bought Kaitlyn some 24 month (they don't sell them in 2t) blanket sleepers. They were bright yellow with cup cakes, solid pink, purple with farm animals and solid purple I believe. Kaitlyn was at the bottom of the weight and not even on the height scale for the sleepers. When we got home I tried a pair on her. They were on the small side. There is no way they would fit her a year. I know her feet are a size and a half bigger then her 18-24 month size clothes, but are they not expected to grow at all next year? Her feet completely filled their allotted area. I returned the four pretty sleepers knowing my only other option, would be purchasing boy sleepers in 3t. Maybe I should have started this by saying they only get PJs in a couple times in the fall and then again in the spring. You must buy all you will need in those two shipments or buy online. Because everyone knows this most of the girl sleepers and many of the boys were gone. I has two choices as there were only two packages of 3t left; solid red and fire trucks or solid blue with green sleeves and camo with safari animals. We went with the latter. When we got home I put a sleeper on her and it fit. However, 3t are crazy long. She isn't near the height chart on those yet. She was walking around dragging the feet which by the way had the same size feet in them as the 24 months (insert rolling of the eyes). What's a mom to do? I cut the feet out. That's right, brand new PJs without the feet in them. I sacrificed a pair of my least favorite socks to make cuffs. Now the PJs fit great! Yes they are still long, but she isn't dragging them; the cuffs keep the legs up. I was impressed how well they turned out. Go ahead and tell me how smart I am. Go ahead. Yes, maybe not humble in this moment, but enjoying my one up on Gerber. If you find yourself in this situation too and want to consider yourself smart you must first get up the nerve to cut up some new PJs; you'll be glad you did. Now for everyone in a panic because Kaitlyn's feet aren't covered, fret not. They have these neat things called socks that are great for covering the feet. Not to mention with so much of her body covered her feet were actually warm yesterday evening. I was a bit worried the loose fitting PJs could cause her to fall while going down the stairs, but that isn't a worry anymore with the feet gone. Below are the before and afters.

Look how long these suckers are! Her feet are around where her knee should be.

And there's her feet sticking out of the black cuffs. In this picture Neal was trying to get a picture of her with the bag over her head. She was the funniest thing sitting there looking like a bag with legs.

Happy Birthday!

I was going to post it yesterday, but after my long post I thought I would hold off until today. Yesterday, was my big brother's 34 birthday. By the way, I don't have a little brother or sister; I just wanted to make sure you all knew he is the older sibling. Hehehe... 34! Doesn't that make you want to fall right out of your seat?! One day him and I are going to be in our 50's, we will be chatting to someone online who assumes we are in our 20's or 30's, but nope... Anyway, Happy Birthday Big Brother!

I would also like to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister-in-law. Her birthday was actually on Tuesday. She's younger then me so we won't be talking about her age. =)

Yesterday Kaitlyn Joy turned 21 months old. Do you know what that means? Christmas is three months from today. Those who start shopping now will not be so strapped for cash in December as most people.

On a random Christmas note, I've been tempted to buy and put up a Christmas tree now. We don't know where we will be in December or if we will even have a tree to put up. If anyone was around here last Christmas you may remember I put up a tree, but if fell within the first hour. After taking off all the ornaments and lights I couldn't get it to stand back up. I finally had to take off all the limbs then the base would stand. That was it! Our $10 after Christmas bargain tree has seen it's last Christmas in our house. I boxed the thing up and we gave it to the resale shop on base.

Superhero ~ 100th post in 2008!

Kaitlyn has discover she is a superhero. She can take of her socks in the blink of an eye. I've seen her do it, it's amazing. I can put her socks on her 4-5 times a day and like Wonder Woman she can do a little spin and their gone. She is trying to prefect this talent with her shirt too. A couple days ago she was wearing a long sleeve onesie when she took one arm out and trying for the second when I stopped her. She did this about three times throughout the day.

What Kaitlyn doesn't understand is that she's not the only one with superpowers. I have mommy senses; like Spidey senses only stronger. I knew she was about to wear her shirt around her waist and kept catching her and putting it back on. Along with mommy senses I also have the ability to kill with my bare hands anyone who hurts my off spring. I can function on little to no sleep. I can multi task like last night when I was going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and catching up on a novel all at the same time. Not multi tasking means I may have had to wait another day or two on 1 or 2 of those things because said "off spring" demands attention. I have the ability to transform. My lap transforms into the most comfortable place to sit, throw a tantrum, and climb on; all of these happen multiple times a day. Many times they happen back to back in the order given as if someone hit the "loop" button.

Every superhero has their weak point. What's mine? Tantrums for one. Enough tantrums strung throughout the day can momentarily wear down my Mommy Nerves of Steele. Even superheros must know when to walk away or how to put their cryptonite in their room.

Oh man, my mommy sense weren't at their peak because I was typing and now my off spring has lost their pants. Our house is on the cold side, to cold to be missing half your clothes. I know she's only in a onesie because she can be.

Today's socks and slippers

Today's pants

And here's my half naked child in a cold house.

By the way, this is what she slept in not her outfit for today.

In other non superhero related news, today is when head quarters is supposed to FINALLY review Neal's application for a job change. We are supposed to learn the results tomorrow. It's this job change information that is holding us up on moving. Hopefully we will know something soon.

My mommy senses have kicked back in and they are saying forget looks do what you have to in order for her pants to stay on. I just dressed her and left the onesie on; it's snapped on the outside of her pants. Hehehe... Now she really looks like a superhero with underpants on the outside.

Do you think she is warm now? I hope so. Her legs were icy.

Kaitlyn & Sadie Playing

Kaitlyn likes playing with Sadie; this is really a new thing. Kensey doesn't know how to handle the two of them roughhousing. He thinks Sadie's growling is aggression. Seeing how he feels Kaitlyn is a maggot that needs to be out of our lives, well, he doesn't need any other excuse to jump in and bite. We have to really watch Kensey while the girls play making sure he stays out of it.

Kevin

I just remembered today is my "little" cousin's birthday. He's no longer little. Actually he hasn't been little for a long time. He's 16! 16! Do you know what that means? He can drive. Oh my! It also means I will be 32 in six months. Yep those are tears you see. No they aren't for Kevin. For heaven's sake I'm getting old and still trying to get knocked up. Oh, back to Kevin. I was just thinking of how we all sat in the waiting room at the hospital on 1960. Trav band everyone from the labor and delivery room. We all sat anxious to meet his first born and find out the gender. Trav came out and said they should be parents soon. We heard a cry. With a big grin on his face Trav came strutting out saying they have a boy.

For the first couple years of his life I diapered that little tail. I dressed him up like a girl once in some of my baby clothes. Hehehe... I took a picture, but I have no idea what happened to it.

Trav are you smiling today as your baby boy turns 16?

Happy 16th birthday Kevin!

We Tried!

To our parents we want you to know we tried. Kaitlyn is in agreement with Neal and I that spinach is gross. I think she has my gag reflex, but thankfully she didn't employ it last night. Actually she didn't even taste it. She took the fork to her face and it looked promising, but instead of taking a bite she smelled it. No bite. Yuck! It actually touched her cheek and she quickly started wiping trying to get the juices off. Neal and I had an agreement that if she didn't like it we were going to immediately put it in the "recycling" bin. Well, it was "recycled" right after this video was taken.

By the way, I'm a parent, I'm supposed to say it's good, but I don't have to try it. I say, "Mmm" when I give her tomatoes and she doesn't want to eat them yet I would never put one in my mouth. Remember the gag reflex I mentioned above? I don't want to scare the child. "I can't eat that, mommy just vomited."

Quick post about ~ Time

Time is the enemy to anyone dealing with infertility. A friend told me Friday morning they are done doing fertility treatments for the remainder of their time here in England. They are supposed to leave in May. For the kind of treatment they were going for the clinic just denied them. They've had two failed cycles so the clinic doesn't see a point in them going on. My heart breaks for them. If I were in their shoes I would feel like it's a nail in my coffin. I don't want to go into the details, but basically the clinic is fine if they want to try a different way however it would cost them to much. I'm amazed, but right now their plan is to try again if they go stateside. They have been trying about four years to get pregnant. I'm just thankful we had Kaitlyn or our clinic would have cut us off early too.

Please say a quick prayer for K & J. This setback could cost them a year and a half of waiting before they can actually go through another treatment.

About-face

I've gone from sewing to crocheting. I think the new sewing machine has me to intimidated to try it. It has a computer in it that makes sure the needle always ends in the up position.

One of my projects is a crochet blanket for Kaitlyn. I'm using Jamie Baby Yarn by Lion Brand and a honking big crochet needle. My goal is to have a big weaved, light weight blanket she can cover with even when it's to hot to be covered. She likes covering her face when she sleeps, but if it's 83* in the house I hate to give her anything to cover with. I'm doing it as a simple granny square.

My second project which should have been done by now is a top for Kaitlyn. I've done all the "skirting" for it and just need to do the actual bodice. If I had dug into the pattern and figured out the bodice it would have already been done. It's not a hard pattern and it's free for anyone who would like to give it a try.

Men!!!

Why?!!! I hate Neal reading over my shoulder. No, it's not okay to correct or complain about what I type. I know many times my mind is working faster then my fingers so words get left out, but grrr... He is sitting on the couch complaining right now because I told him to stop reading the post I was working on.

Edit 1:30am: You know you like these little random tidbits. I really do hate Neal reading emails over my shoulder and he knows this.

He was home because I had to take Kensey to the vet. They think he will be just fine and that the meds he has been on will clear up his problem. Well... the bleeding that is. His bigger problem is that he is old. He has the start of cataracts in both eyes and needs his teeth cleaned and a couple pulled (one is about to fall out). I now must soften his food to make it easier for him to eat. I would hate for him to swallow it whole.

Toddlers

Kaitlyn is being really trying today. She has thrown her cloth wipes and disposable diapers off her changing table four to five times today. If I had cloth diapers stuffed and up there as well as the container of wet wipes full she would have had those everywhere too. I'm tired of picking them up so now I have moved to making Kaitlyn pick it all up. Why not she made the mess and knows how to pick things up. Since the second mess of the day I've had her hand me everything while I reorganize it. I try not to let her seem me chuckle while she stoops over and hands me everything behind her back. Her I am looking at a little booty and back, reaching almost down to the floor anyway, so I can retrieve diapers and cloth wipes from her hands. There have been spankings. Yes, we spank! Don't confuse a spanking with a beating. Kaitlyn gets her thigh swatted once or twice when needed. It took a couple swats to get her going a few minutes ago, but she finally handed me everything. After picking it all up I told her to get on her bed. It's amazing she can climb a changing table/dresser, but not a bed. I gave her a little boost up. I wasn't downstairs no time when I heard the distinct noises of her making another mess. I immediately went back upstairs to see all my hard work on the floor again. No spankings were needed this time to get her picking everything up (I put the cloth wipes away this time as well as the water bottle (to wet wipes)) and headed to bed. I haven't heard anything from her. I hope she is actually going to sleep. She used her mess making as an excuse not nap this morning.

Oh, I better go call the vet.

"Ken-sey"

Kaitlyn learned a new word yesterday. After months of her calling everything with four legs and sometimes two (ex.a peacock) Sadie, she finally said Kensey yesterday. She has never been able to say K's so tackling this name was big for her. I got her to say it a couple weeks ago, but after two tries she was done. Yesterday she kept calling Kensey Sadie and I would correct her. Suddenly she said "Ken-sey". She played around with the word a little bit until she felt it was perfected.

Speaking of Kensey, he is doing really well. Or at least he isn't vomiting and pooping indoors anymore. I'm hoping yesterdays success wasn't just the product of all the shots he got. I still have three meds I'm squirting in his mouth or pills I'm having to put down his throat; I hate forcing pills down a dogs throat.

Sleepy Time Bear Nightgown Giveaway!

I think this is a cute nightgown and just wanted to share it with you all. If you would like a chance to win it just click on the link or picture to be directed to the site to learn how.
Sleepy time Bear Nightgown Giveaway!

Yuck!

I woke up this morning to the smell of poop. Great. I went into Kaitlyn's room and asked her if she pooped. She hadn't. The house really stunk so I knew I was in for a nasty job, I just didn't know how nasty. I walked down stairs to find poo blown all over (in and out) the dogs pen. Both the dogs were having to sit in the middle of the nastiness. It was just gross. After taking the dogs out I knew for sure who the culprit was. Because Sadie is on a special prescription diet our dogs eat different foods. In the middle of the poop splashed pen was vomit. Kensey was really sick. Last week when we went to Germany our dogs were kenneled. The lady said on Monday she noticed blood in Kensey's stool so she took him to the vet. We have been giving him some kind of cream in a big syringe three times a day. The drug ran out yesterday or the day before. When we picked Kensey up the lady said he had intestinal problems. Well they are apparently worse. Neal tackled cleaning the pen while I washed the bedding, cleaned a toy of Kaitlyn's that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and bathed the dogs. While bathing Kensey he kept trying to melt over. I called Neal in and said start with the guy who saw him last week and see if we can get him in today to be seen. Now $400 later we have a pile of meds, some dog food, and one drugged up dog quarantined in our kitchen. The vomiting has stopped, but that's only because he was given a shot to stop it. He is still pooping blood, but not like before; it's darker and not looking like a dripping cut. We were still not told what the problem is. I'm going to call our vet on Monday and see if they will look over everything we have been given. I think I will set up an appointment for the following week to have him seen too.

Needless to say we missed church today. About the time Neal made it home from the vet our church services would have been 3/4 over. Of course all our fun didn't stop there. I had to clean the kitchen floor while he was gone; poo and vomit everywhere just in the 15 or so minutes from his bath to leaving for the vet. The floor was still wet when he returned so I was holding Kensey wrapped in a towel while Neal ran for a spar kennel we keep in the garage. Kensey went poo (blood) on the carpet while we waited. =( I swear it seemed our morning would never end. We only ate breakfast because after all the cleaning the dogs were still outside. Thankfully Kensey is sleeping or seems to be right now.

Grrr... Kaitlyn's not sleeping. I need to go get her out of bed.

Skirt and Top Giveaway!

Isn't this a cute outfit! I like the fabric the skirt is made out of. I wish I could get it in my size.


Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Baby

I've started to wonder if Kaitlyn knows how to take care of her babies. There have only been a handful of times where we have showed Kaitlyn how to feed them. Today I decided to show her again. I picked up a baby and started cradling it. I declared it was hungry and grabbed a bottle. I noticed the two quilts laying nearby so I wrapped the baby up in one. Kaitlyn quickly got interested. There was another baby near me so I wrapped it up and handed Kaitlyn a bottle to feed it. For whatever reason feeding the baby in person wasn't the same as watching me feed it because I ended up with two bottles and one abandoned baby. I sat her on the couch and handed her my baby. I then picked up hers, fed it for a moment, burped it and laid it back down; the whole time she just sat there watching while feeding the baby she was holding. A few minutes later I walked through the living room to see this...


Easy come easy go. I guess the bottle looked more appealing to her then feeding the baby. For all inquiring minds Kaitlyn hasn't had a bottle since she was 11.5 months old and a paci since she was 5.5 months old. She is sucking/biting on it just because.

When walking downstairs this morning I was thinking how we need to keep things put away at night after Kaitlyn has gone to bed. We tend to leave the kitchen gate open, the remote laying around, Neal's cup and/or plate out from the last thing he consumed. Now that Kaitlyn can come down on her own she is able to get to these things. It's okay for her to have raisins, but we usually give them to her 1-2 at a time. Raisins are a choking hazard. Notice she dumped some raisins into the lid, like I do when serving her a couple, but she's eating out of the container.

Already this morning I can tell we have moved into a new phase in toddlerhood. Kaitlyn has taken her pants off 4-5 times and her shirt twice. Is it overall time???

Inspiration

I need some new inspiration to get back in the saddle again. I still haven't put Grandma's birthday present together and her birthday was last month. Oops! I have fabric for Kaitlyn some sleeping pants that I really need to get to because it's getting colder. I haven't washed it yet which is really what's the hold up. I have some bows for Kaitlyn that just need the clip and center knot glued on. I know if she had an outfit they matched I would have put them together right away.

I did make her a tiny green bow recently just because. It's as long as the clip it's on. I haven't made her one that size since she was about 6 months old. I go through periods of wanting her to have something small in her hair and others where she needs a big bow.

Here's the small green bow.

This is a big bow I made for her new dress.

I got some fabric in a couple days ago for me a skirt and Kaitlyn a couple dresses. I really need to get to them. I would hate to transport fabric to our new home.

You would think this new play pretty would be enough to get me going again. I actually haven't taken it out of the box yet.

Kitty Cat Hat

Isn't this a cute hat?!

If you would like a chance at winning it click on the picture to learn how.

Secondary Infertility

Recently I read an article about secondary infertility (SI). SI is when you conceive your first child without any problems, but must need medical intervention to conceive again. Many times people don't know why they can't conceive. They may try for a long time because they don't know there's a problem. The lady said because she conceived naturally the first time she finds people are harsh with her about infertility. She said she receives rude comments on how she has one and should be happy from those still struggling to have the one.

I was shocked on many levels while reading the article. I'm on or have been on both sides of her struggle. I've been one to have little sympathy for someone with SI. I figure if they did it naturally once they can do it again. Truthfully we have a VERY slim chance of getting pregnant each month meaning it could happen naturally, just not likely. Those with SI could have just hit the month perfectly early on, gotten pregnant, then realized they have a problem when trying for number two. In 10 years I could always fall pregnant like someone with SI did in their first months of ttc. Thursday I was talking with someone from my church who just learned she was pregnant. A said she can go a year without a period then bleed for 60 days. Because of her crazy cycle A went on birth control just to have more of a handle on her cycle. She said they had just gotten off the pill so they could start ttc and immediately got pregnant. If she was someone who was always on the pill she might not know she is dealing with fertility issues.

Speaking of A being pregnant, please keep her and her baby in your prayers. Although she has two little boys, A has been pregnant many times, but doesn't always make it past the first trimester. The Bible says all the days of our lives were written down before one came to pass. In the medical world day one is after one full day post conception. This little one is over seven weeks old. A needs peace during this time. She said she isn't telling about the pregnancy for fear of losing it any day. A doesn't need to live in fear so please pray for her.

The second way I relate to the article is ttc after having Kaitlyn. People really do have little sympathy for those still on the infertility journey. You know I don't think most people really want sympathy; just not to be treated, talked about, ect... like we're second class citizens because we are willing to keep marching down this rocky road.

Yesterday I was thinking of all the politicians who hold my fertility and thousands of others in their hands. More then likely it is either someone who has chosen not to have kids or has naturally had all the children they desired. It's someone who infertility hasn't graced their door step. They have no idea the emotional, physical, and financial struggle that infertility brings to a couple. I have thought about this often. Especially because in the UK I can legally on have two embryos put in at a time. If I had a choice I would put three in hoping one would "stick". In all my pondering I came back to the same thing I've heard a couple times and know others have heard many times and that is those with infertility shouldn't do more then pray and keep trying. There are those who believe fertility treatments are wrong. Of course the majority of those who believe that don't deal with infertility. I remember where I was the first time someone questioned the ethics behind fertility treatments. My thought was girl you haven't even started ttc. Knowing her other medical problems she is dealing with, infertility could easily be one of them. If she does decide to try she may be singing a different tune.

Anyway, I was going through this random dialogue in my head. To those who say fertility treatments - especially IVF - are wrong...

Look this baby in the eyes and tell her she was never supposed to be.

Tell her if you had your choice she never would have been.

Oh come on don't be like that. Yes, I know it's harder to say, "I wish you were never born when looking a baby in the eyes."

Is this easier? Go ahead and tell us we don't deserve children, but when you do make sure you back it with scripture not just your fertile minded opinion.

Now stop being a coward and trying to hide behind the Bible to justify Kaitlyn having never come to existence. If you read your Bible you would know your excuse doesn't hold water.

We could mix the ingredients together all we want - like the sperm and egg in an IVF - but we can't give it life. God is the giver of life. (Genesis 2:7) The doctor could inject as many sperm into eggs he wants, but only God can breathe the breath of life into it.

Psalms 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

All the days. God knew how Kaitlyn would be conceived. Life begins at conception... He planned it. He chose not to give life to some of the other embryos the doctor tried to create. In a couple weeks we will learn if He has chosen to allow us to keep some of those embryos. And next month we will learn if He has chosen for Kaitlyn to be an only child or a big sister.

Germany

Our quick trip to Germany was fun, but goodness a long drive. I now remember I'm not a fan of long drives. I think we were all saddle sore when we arrived in Germany and the same when we got back to the England. Kaitlyn's diapers failed us coming and going. She went through three outfits just getting to Germany. I had only packed two extra. The dress she wore home was one of the only 24 month (trying to think ahead for future use) outfits we could find on Ramstein AFB. I'm not a fan of putting character apparel on Kaitlyn unless we are going to Disney and she is wearing something for there; basically dressing for the activity is fine, but for heaven's sake no Care Bears shoes and t-shirts. Well... Dora came to our rescue being one of the only 24 month outfits found. Kaitlyn has no idea who Dora is. I was VERY disappointed when we put the dress on her that should be a size to big and it's SHORT!!! What's up with that? She doesn't have to move much and all you see is diaper. I figure I will either have to find some fun fabric to make some pants when we get back stateside or she will wear jeans under it.

Back to Germany... We did a lot of sight seeing over our two days there. It was my first trip there so Neal took us to some of the places he's been before. I'll leave you with some pictures (we didn't take many).

Neal didn't get the camera out in time, but Kaitlyn had been talking to the "boy".

Please excuse the bug guts and dash reflection. Some of these were taken through the windshield (or windscreen for all you Brits out there).

We don't know what this is, but thought it looked neat out in the vineyard.

This is an extremely narrow, newly paved, two-way road. It is so narrow it doesn't have a center stripe. We passed several people on this road. Most cars we met when they came fly around the corner and they weren't the best at hugging the white line. I think if there had been a ditch Neal would have hit it several times.

Chili's Mmmm...

Kaitlyn enjoyed talking to herself in the mirror while waiting on our food.

Thanks to the Ford Motor Company Kaitlyn got a little bouncy castle jumping in.

This is from yesterday when we were on the ferry crossing the English Channel. Kaitlyn plays with the sink in our bathroom. She likes having a cup to hold some water then dumps it out. She kept looking at the water saying, "cup". Hahaha...

Munching on a peanut butter cracker while on our 1.5 hour ferry ride.

A couple interesting things we learned about Germany:

1. They observe the Sabbath; no working on Sundays. Even the gas stations we saw were pay at the pump only.
2. They rely on a lot of natural resources for power, like gas and solar panels. We saw many houses with solar panels on the roof and even a couple fields full of big solar panels.

I thought both of these were neat. I never would have guessed they would observe something that is Biblical (the Sabbath).