UNMOTIVATED

It's kind of ironic that I'm finally motivated to write a post about how unmotivated I've been. I've been really uncomfortable this pregnancy, especially these past few weeks, and I still have 7 weeks to go! Blah! Is it possible for the post partum depression to start now???
It's honestly a struggle some days to just get through the day and accomplish basic tasks like cooking (oh, don't get me started on how much I've come to dread making dinner!), laundry (I HATE my washer!!!!!), and bathing my daughter (getting more and more difficult to lean over the tub and get up from the floor). I also have difficulty balancing and managing my time. I feel guilty if I'm cleaning and doing household chores because I feel like I'm neglecting my daughter. Then, if I'm interacting with her I feel like I'm neglecting the house. I know there is a proper balance, I just have to get over it in my head and just do it.

I have a husband who works his butt off at his job in order to provide for us and so that I can stay home with Emma. He's also a really great, interactive father who is genuinely concerned with the development of our daughter. But, he's not the neatest of people and that makes for a lot of extra work for me. It's been difficult to get him to pitch in a little more since basic things, like doing dishes (darn belly gets in the way of everything) are getting harder and harder to accomplish. It was really nice of him to take her to the Children's Museum this morning so that I could have "a break", but the huge mess left in the kitchen makes it hard for me to relax.

There are so many things I could complain about but that wouldn't be very fun to read, so instead, I'll TRY to write about some positive things.

There has been some progress in getting the baby's (who now has name, Owen) room together. Of course there's still more to do, there always is, but it's nice to be able to walk in there and have space to sit down and sort through clothes and toys.

I won a totally cute, custom made diaper from Doodle Dypes (review coming soon), and the owner, Sandy was nice enough to throw in an extra, newborn diaper for Owen. Awesome! These diapers are so cute and I can't wait until I can put the matching diapers on Emma and Owen.

I have a mentor through a group at church and she's been really great at challenging me to think critically about faith issues. This is something that I've needed for a long time! I really look forward to meeting with her (and not just because I get to go to Starbucks for adult-only time) because she is so kind, caring and knows the Bible better than I do! I think everyone needs a Biblically more mature mentor on their side!

I finally made an appointment with a therapist who specialized in traumatic birth and pre and post natal counselling. Hopefully, now, I can work through the negative feelings I still have from Emma's birth process and find some confidence so I can have a successful VBAC this time. Oh how I want that more than anything IN THE WORLD!!!!

All that being said: I really do have to thank God for a roof over my head, food on the table, a great family and healthy pregnancy and all the other extra things I have that a lot of people don't.

Oh, and I do have a few giveaways coming up. I just have to get up the motivation to get them done, let's hope this is the start of a roll.
 

Skin MD Review and Giveaway

I was so thrilled when Skin MD Natural contacted me and asked me to do a review of their skin care items. You'd be hard pressed to find a negative review of this stuff! I had never had a problem with eczema before last winter and it hit hard. It was all over my hands and forearms, so itchy and irritating. Nothing I tried was working to make it better, until I found Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion. This stuff truly is amazing!!

[From the manufacturers website]
A shielding lotion does the real work to prevent dry skin in two ways.

First, it assists the inner layers of skin to absorb moisture. The humectant (an ingredient that attracts moisture) used in Skin MD Natural is unique to it and has been laboratory tested to be 6 times more effective than any other you will find in common creams.

Second, a shielding lotion enhances the power of the top layer of the skin to resist environmental irritants while protecting the inner natural moisture.

This can be a big benefit for those who cook, wash dishes and garden because Skin MD Natural helps skin retain its natural moisture and oils in the face of all those irritating soaps and chemicals.

 www.skinmdnatural.com has hundreds of dermatologist and user reviews including many addressing severe dry skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. People with sensitive skin -- and those of us who like to live as naturally as possible -- will appreciate that Skin MD Natural is hypoallergenic, free of fragrances, parabens and colorants. It is made with more than 90% natural ingredients and 100% food-grade ingredients that are on the FDA's "most safe" list.

I'm not having as much of a problem with eczema this year (my midwife swears it's due to the fish oil supplement that I'm taking), but HOLY COW, do I have dry skin!!! I'm sure most of you mothers can relate to washing your hands a million times/day as I do. I really love that Skin MD is a natural product that works by strengthening your skin's own defenses and not just coating you with greasy film. It's super soft and silky. And, the best part is, it works!

I did notice a weird little red patch on the back of my daughter's knee and thought I would try the Skin MD on it. I think it might be psoriasis, but I'm not sure, anyway, here are the results:

before

after

You can see that it's much less red, splotchy and angry looking. And this is only after a couple applications of Skin MD. I'm confident that with regular use, it'll totally clear up. I'm picky about the type of skincare products that I use on my daughter and I love that there are no artificial or weird chemical ingredients in Skin MD, I wouldn't even think twice about putting it on my daughter! Oh, one more thing to LOVE: Skin MD Natural is made in the US, using 100% solar power, without animal ingredients and it is not tested on animals. How many skincare products can claim that?

You can buy Skin MD natural from their website or select retailers.

OR

Skin MD Natural is generously offering one of my readers a full size bottle of Skin MD Natural Shielding lotion!

How to enter:
Each action counts as one entry unless otherwise stated. Leave a separate comment for each entry and please include your email address. You must complete the mandatory entry before you are eligible for any other entries.

**Mandatory Entry**
Visit the Skin MD website and tell me something else about their amazing products not mentioned here. There is lots of information!

Extra Entries:
*like Skin MD on Facebook
*like Skin MD on Twitter
*sign up for the Skin MD mailing list
*Follow me publicly through google friend connect-counts as 3 entries! Leave 3 separate comments.
*Subscribe to my blog by email, through feedburner-counts as 3 entries!
*Grab my button and tell me where it is posted
*Blog about this giveaway, link back to my site and leave me the URL of your blog
*NEW!!! Like my brand new Facebook page- counts as 5 entries!!!!

The fine print:
This giveaway is open worldwide and will end April 26, 2011 at 9PM pacific time.
Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted by e-mail, then must respond within 48 hours or else a new winner will be chosen.
I was not paid for this review, and received no compensation. I was provided samples of the product mentioned for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and completely truthful.

Thank God for an ear infection!!!

Seriously, I really mean it!

To say that the last week has been looooooong would be an extreme understatement! Emma woke up last Sunday with a slight fever and acting sick, so we stayed home from church and rested. I had a little cough, but no other symptoms so I thought it was just allergies. I started feeling worse and worse and was at the on-call doctor by Monday night, he diagnosed me with bronchitis. I wouldn't have even gone to the doctor, but I am 26 weeks pregnant and had just been around a neighbor who had bronchitis and I just didn't want to take a chance that the cough would turn into pneumonia or something harmful to the baby.

So I spent two whole days in bed. Luckily, my husband was able to use sick time to stay home and take care of Emma while I rested. While Cirt is an excellent, attentive father, he's not the best multitasker and wasn't really able to take of Emma and the household chores at the same time. When I came out of the bedroom after two days, the house was a bomb and hubby was saying that he felt sick, fantastic! Plus, now Emma was saying she felt "ick".

Cirt stayed home for the rest of the week and then Emma came down with a fever on Thursday night. She spent the next three days on the couch watching Clifford. She had a fever, which hoovered around 101/102, slight cough, and congestion. The most worrisome thing, however, is that she wouldn't eat, play, smile, hardly moved or talked, she just wasn't herself!!! So heartbreaking!! I knew she had a sore throat, too, because she would cough and then whine or cry. She wasn't sleeping well and didn't want to do anything!

I know some people would've run to the doctor right away, but I was trying not to be that mom (not that it's necessarily bad). I just felt that the fever meant she was fighting a virus or something and I should just let her body do it's thing, making sure she had rest and fluids. I usually just gave her Tylenol or ibuprofen at bedtime so she could sleep better. Our bodies are designed to heal themselves, after all, as long as everything is aligned and working properly. She's normally a really healthy little girl.

Finally, finally after 3 days of her just laying around she woke up Monday morning and didn't feel hot! She was really weak from not eating and kind of stumbled around when she tried to walk, but at least she was up, moving, doing puzzles and she actually ate 1/4 of a peanut butter sandwich and some crackers for lunch, wahoo! I thought she was on the mend. But, then she took a 3.5 hour nap, woke up crying and when I went in to get her she was completely burning up, whining again and didn't want to move. I took her temp. It was 104 degrees and I was scared! I finally decided to take her to the doctor. By this time, however, our regular doctor's office was closed so we had to go to the walk-in clinic.

When my husband got home from work, we bundled up our little girl, took her out in the rain and sat in that darn clinic for 2 hours with a hot, whiny, sore, sleepy, sick little girl. She was saying things like: "I'm feeling bad." "go home now". "need to go to doctor." When we FINALLY got to see a doctor, he took one look in her ear and said: "There it is, she's got a raging ear infection!" He let me look through the ottoscope (is that what it's called?). Her ear drum was monkey-butt red and the dr. said it should be pearly white. Poor, poor girl, I felt so bad! This is her first of, I'm sure, more to come. I used to get ear infections a lot as a little kid so I know how painful they are. They always seemed to strike in the middle of the night and I'd be up all night crying.

I'm so glad, however, that we know what the problem is and it has a quick and cheap fix. I'm not a huge fan of antibiotics, I think they are a little overused, but I'm so grateful that they exist and work in situations like this!!!! Praise God, my little girl is already feeling better and we had a really good day today. She's still whiny and not 100% herself but so much improved over the past 4 days.

Smartipants winner!

Well, after getting hit hard last week with bronchitis, flu, fevers, yucky noses and the such I've gotten quite behind on, well, everything! So I realize that this is late, but here is the winner of the Smartipants giveaway.
Out of 541 entries, wow, random picked number 240 and the winner is....

Ashley! Congrats, she has confirmed and her information will be sent on to the sponsor. I've got two cool giveaways that I'm hoping to get published tonight, so stay tuned!

I have a two year old!

So, actually my daughter turned two a few weeks ago, but I've been really unmotivated lately, especially to blog. Anyway, you know those Babycenter updates that come in your email (I know you all get them too). Well, they used to say: Your baby is such and such months old, then they when Emma turned one they stared saying: Your toddler is such and such months old. But now! Now they say: Your preschooler is....What???? I don't have a preschooler, I have a sweet little baby girl!!!! No, really, I do.

I just can't believe how fast the time has gone, and yes, I do know how cliche that is and that EVERY parent says that, but it is probably the most truthful truth in the whole world! Emma is so grown up and still such a baby at the same time. She is smart, funny, kind, sweet, caring and loving. She can count to 5, knows how to spell her name, knows colors and shapes (even octagon), plays make believe with her little babies and makes up stories and scenarios. She also still says: "need mama" sometimes in the middle of the night, says: "rock Emma" and snuggles with me, wears diapers, uses a binky at night (we're now binky-free, yay), sleeps in a crib, can't open doors yet (and I'm not encouraging her to either).

She's gone from this:

(this was one of her first big outings, to the Skagit Valley Tulip festival, when she was 10 weeks old)

to this:

(first taste of watermelon, at 4 months old)

to this:

(swimming with daddy, 6 months old)

to this:

(her one year check up!)

to this:

(riding her 4 wheeler, 14 months)

to this:

(swinging at the park, 18 months)

to this:

(a super-cute, sassy two year old)

 

 





Just when I was about to start spring cleaning, we get hit with this:

A late February snow! Two days ago I had my drying rack out on the deck and was sunning my diapers. And I have all sorts of ideas for spring cleaning, seriously, I have a huge list. And...the baby is coming in June, so I'm probably nesting, so the drive to clean will be extra strong.

On that note; does anyone have any good ideas for cleaning metal blinds? I hate metal blinds!!!! But they're what we have in our house and not a high priority on the home improvement list. Anyway, I do dust them regularly, but some of them were gross when we moved in and I've never given them a scrub down. I was looking up methods online and found this common suggestion: take them down, soak in a bathtub with mild soap, rinse and then lay out on a towel to dry. Has anyone tried this? Does it work?

23 weeks, and it's a.......

BOY!

Yikes, honestly, I'm still getting used to the idea of having another baby and more so now that I know it's a boy. I really, really wanted another girl (I'm sorry if that sounds selfish or mean or whatever, but I'm not sorry for the way I feel, I can't help it). I just haven't had time to think of myself as a mom to a boy. I know that as soon as I hold the baby in my arms all doubt and any negative feelings will vanish, but at the moment I'm still getting used to it, so please don't judge. I fully believe in expressing one's feelings, I think it's necessary in order to work through them.

Besides just wanting another girl, there are a couple personal issues relating to boys that my husband and I are on opposite sides of and negotiation has been difficult. I was really stressed out about it during the first trimester! I'm starting to feel a little bit better, and again, I know I'll be fine once the baby is actually here.

Most of the important baby gear we bought for Emma is gender neutral looking, not that the color of a car seat or stroller really matters, but you know how some people get ;) So, now I'm on the hunt for baby boy clothes, since I don't have any of those and we're otherwise pretty well set. Oh, except for one more thing......diapers!!!!

Oh newborn joy! I'm so excited to start cloth diapering right away this time (I didn't start with Emma until she was about 6 months old). We bought up a bunch of small Bum Genius all-in-ones (10, I think) back when they were discontinued and I have a super cute Smartipants that I got for review (check out my giveaway here), a couple fitteds that I got from a WAHM and three small Fuzzibunz. I also plan to use prefolds and covers, which I already have. Other than that, what else do you think I need to exclusively cloth diaper a newborn? Of course I still have Emma's whole stash, which is mostly onesize diapers, that I can use too. I'm not planning on Emma totally being out of diapers, but hopefully she'll be mostly potty trained by June when little guys comes.