Help Wanted

Last week a crazy thing happened. A good friend of mine, let's call her Friend A, told another friend of mine, let's call her Friend B, to call me and ask for parenting advice. I admit, that in itself that is not all that weird. Except that Friend A has five children, one of whom is an infant almost the exact same age as Friend B's infant who she was looking for help with. So why on Earth did Friend A refer Friend B to me??? Clearly, Friend A has plenty of experience. More than me, really. But apparently I got up on a soap-box in front of Friend A not too long ago and she claims it basically changed her life. Apparently I gave her my "baby's need schedules" lecture. It goes something like this:

Even a little tiny, brand new infant is begging for a schedule. The world is a confusing place. They don't know what is going to happen next. They don't know when or what they are going to get fed, dragged from place to place, handed from person to person, sleep, etc. So any way that you can help them understand what is going to happen next helps them relax. They crave a schedule. A very specific schedule. Your infant should have a sleep schedule from day 1. Even if at the beginning that schedule has less to do with time and more to do with things and places. For example, a two month old isn't going to always go to bed at the same time every night - it's a little too early for that. But they can be comforted by always going to bed in the same place, with the same blanket, carried to bed in the same way, and hear the same words/songs/noises as they drift off. They crave that regularity. And they'll sleep better now and later in their life because of it. If you do this right you can put your kids to bed when they are awake and they'll learn to go to sleep by themselves - which is best for both of you. I claim that this is why my children are such good nappers. Because they know that immediately after lunch we go to bed. And they know that a story, song and prayer followed by PJ's is all leading up to getting in to bed and not seeing me again until morning. There are never exceptions. Seriously. Never.

Anywho, if you want more of that lecture give me a call or an email. The point is... Friend A took my advice and is so happy that her baby is sleeping better than any of her other children ever did and she credits me with that. So she told Friend B to call me.

The thing is...Isaiah is no longer sleeping through the night. I am now a total hypocrite. Prior to this, he'd been sleeping through the night since he was 3 months old. But now my own advice isn't working for me! Ever since he had Rotavirus he's been up and wanting to eat in the middle of the night. Sometimes twice! When he had Rotavirus he wasn't sleeping well and I started feeding him in the middle of the night because I was paranoid about him getting dehydrated like Asher had been. And now I can not seem to break him of that habit. I tried just plain not feeding him. All I succeeded in doing was waking up everyone in the house - and I gave in and fed Isaiah at about 3am after being up with him multiple times before that. If a friend called me with this problem I would advise her to just rip the band-aid off - no more feeding the baby in the night. The first few days will be horrid, but after that he'll be back to sleeping through the night. It's not like a nearly-1-year-old needs food during the night. He's not going to waste away to nothing. But I just don't seem to be capable of taking my own advice. So...HELP! Tell me what I need to do. Tell me your magic trick. Tell me anything that might help me get this kid to sleep. We both need the sleep!

Tour of the backyard

Here is a video tour of our fabulous new backyard.

A winner and an announcement!

And the winner of the Hair Clippie Clipper from Chic Made is Miss Heidi! Congratulations, Miss Heidi! I emailed you, but just in case you didn't get it, email me your address and I'll send that right out.

May I take this opportunity to make a very special announcement. All of the Creative Chics of Chic Made have agreed that all of you out there deserve 25% off everything in the shop in honor of Mother's Day! Now through Sunday, May 11, I've dropped the prices. The prices you see listed are the discounted prices. And keep watching for new additions daily. So happy shopping!

25 % off Mother's Day Sale at Chic Made!!

Jewelry making

I have discovered a new ...passion I guess. I've been wanting to learn how to make jewelry for a while now. The other day I finally had a chance to go to the craft store by myself and look around and buy some great starter stuff. And I love doing it! I made 4 pairs of earrings and it was totally addicting! I think I'm good at it since I've been doing it in my head for years. I go to the store with a picture in my head of the perfect earrings and search until I find the closest match. Now, instead of going to the store to buy the jewelry, I can go to the craft store to buy the supplies and make them myself. And while I'm at it I can make another pair to sell!

Now if only I could get my camera to focus on such tiny things. The above picture is as close as I could get without them going fuzzy. And I just don't think anybody is going to buy something from my Etsy shop that they can only see in a grainy, dark photo. So a new camera may be in our future.

Which ones are your favorite? I admit, I like the bottom, left ones so much that I made myself a pair. And, for a little market research, what do the earrings look like that you've been watching for at the store forever? You know the ones: the ones to go with that one outfit, or to offset your eyes perfectly, or to help you feel dressed up even when you're wearing jeans and a tee. Describe them to me. Maybe I can make them!

After I feel like I've mastered earrings I think I'll move on to bracelets. I want to start making baby bracelets since I feel like there are a lot of *way* over-priced ones out there and a decent sized market for them. And I want to learn how to bend wire really intricately so I can make so *really* groovy and unique things. That will require some more investment in the right tools, though, so it might be a while for that. I am so excited about this!

Choosing him every day

Warning: Wordy Post

I am part of this online "community" called MamaSource. Every day I get emails from women who live near me with questions, problems, whatever and I can read the questions and responses, or respond, or not. Today one of the questions got me thinking. The woman said this:

"I've been married to my husband for four years, and we have three-year-old boy. After having a child, I began to find many dissimilarities with my husband in almost all aspects of our lives, especially in child issues. For example, he's pro medicine but I'm not: he wants to give medicine whenever our child's nose starts to slightly runny. Whenever I have problems, he immediately says 'It's OK' without trying to understand my feelings. There are so many things I've found I can't bear, and I've always expressed my concerns to him. He's such a lovely man and also a good dad. I know maybe I'm too expecting. I know I have countless bad points too. He's not my counselor, and he shouldn't be perfect. That's how the shape of love changes. That's what men and women really are. That's how we need to learn to appreciate different ideas. He never did any harms or had smoking/alcohol problems. I just wanted to know if there is anybody who felt the same way. I sometimes can't help missing about the time when we first met and I was blindly in love with him."

And I responded with this:

"I can relate. I sometimes feel like my husband is just this fun room-mate. He's there sometimes and I'm always glad when he is - but he doesn't really understand or relate to me. But then I remind myself that that is just part of being a parent. We can't both be there for the kids 100% of the time. He goes to work all day and I've chosen to stay home with the kids (we have 3). Sometimes it helps me to remember that I've *chosen* to stay home and be a mom. And that if I had to choose again - I'd choose the same thing. Also - he can't relate sometimes because...he's never been there. And that's not his fault. He has to go to work and do his part for our family. So he's never (or only occasionally) known what it's like to have kids hanging all over you for 12 hours straight depending on you for everything. But that's how it's supposed to be.
What you need is some girlfriends. Other mothers who *can* relate because they *have* been there. (Like me!) I have 3 or 4 girlfriends I can call on when I need support. Also, I love to blog and read other Mommy-blogs because it helps me remember that there are thousands of other women out there fighting the same battles I am every day. We change diapers, we discipline children, we clean up messes, we chauffeur children here and there. We fill other people's needs all day long and very rarely does anybody else fill our needs.
As far as those feelings of love that you had when you first met...of course you're not "blindly" in love anymore. You've seen everything of each other. All the weaknesses and flaws have become glaringly obvious now. The question is, do you still accept him as your partner? Even with those flaws and weaknesses? And if you do, aren't you *glad* that your love has evolved into a much more mature and accepting love? Sure you don't feel tingles down your spine whenever he looks at you anymore. Now you can be sure of his love even when he's not looking at you.
I hope this helps. And I hope I haven't totally missed your point. And I hope it's not too preachy. I just really feel like I've struggled with these same thoughts. I'm just trying to say...we're here for you."

The the other responses, from other Mom's, involved things like therapy and counseling, suggestions to talk to a Dr. about the medicine thing, etc.

Anyway, I thought maybe I'd ask for some other people's opinions about roles of husbands and wives, communication, showing love, etc. What would you have said to this woman? Do you think my response was appropriate?

Bloggy Giveaway!

I love the site Bloggy Giveaway's. This week they are hosting a "carnival" where hundreds of bloggers host a giveaway on their blog then link back to the Bloggy Giveaways site. I won a great necklace last time they did it. This time I want to give something away!




I am giving away this Hair Clippie Clipper, which is for sale on my Etsy shop, ChicMade.



All you have to do to enter the giveaway is go over to my shop, look around, come back here, and leave a comment telling me what you like. I'd really like some feedback about my shop, so if you don't leave me any feedback, you won't be entered in the contest, comment or not. I'd also love it if you looked around my blog, but that's not required to enter the giveaway. You must live in the United States to enter, but you don't have to be a blogger - just make sure you leave me an e-mail address if you're not. I'll close the giveaway and choose a winner Saturday morning at 8am.

***UPDATE, Tuesday*** One of my main "Chic's", Kristen, who is also the maker of the "Baby to Bride Bracelet" has decided to lower the price! You all made her feel so loved with your wonderful comments that she's giving some of that love back. So go check out the new price over at the Etsy shop.

A little about me: I'm a mother of three, wife, crafter, blogger, blog reader, novel reader, Mormon, aspiring healthy cook, cookie lover, and whatever else is required of me. I blog about all of those things as they relate to my daily life. Illnesses, funny stories, antics of my kids, whatever.

I hope you enjoy the Carnival, my Esty shop, and my blog. Thanks for stopping by!

*********COMMENTS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS GIVEAWAY!*******************

Saturday's fence blitz

The fence is done! In one big blitz on Saturday it was all finished up. Richard's brothers Kevin and Roger win the prize for arriving early (8ish) Saturday morning to start. They quickly made great bounds of progress. The rest of the Worth's that were in town came around 12 and they were done by 5. The women and children played, chatted, and fed the workers (oh yeah, and did a little bit of shopping). I love that the Worth family is so good at working together. And that it is a fun, party-like, atmosphere as they work. No conflict or tension. We owe a huge thank you to everyone who was here. My Dad is my hero for doing most of this on his own. And we couldn't have done it without all the Worth's. Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone!

Roger and Kevin digging in early under the supervision of my Dad.
Fast progress!

Here you can see the 6 foot tall section of fence between us and the neighbors, meeting the 4 foot tall fence that goes around the rest of the house. And you can see one of the two gates. How luxurious to have *two* gates!

The bulk of the fence done! And Grandma Worth holding Isaiah.

Grandpa Worth and Grandpa Ashurst with Richard's oldest brother Bryan, installing the hardware on a gate.

Asher, cousin Ashby and Naomi playing on the slide while the men work.

Isaiah, enjoying the water table.

Naomi got such a kick out of having *two* Grandpa's with her on the same day. We love Grandpa's!

Thursday's update

There are too many men in this house. I'm not getting my fair share of computer time! So that's my excuse for not getting pictures of the progress on the fence up yesterday.
So here are Thursday's pics:



Today Richard worked from home in the morning and is able to help Dad in the afternoon/evening. They're hoping to get all the horizontal boards up. Then tomorrow several Worth Boys are coming to town with their families for Karen's homecoming on Sunday. So they'll pitch in and we'll get all the slats up and everything finished. Thanks Worths!
Also, the latest addition to this project is a sand box! We have some leftover pieces that we cut off the tops of the posts and they're just enough to make a sandbox in the corner. Woo-who!

Below are pics from today so far:

I had to add this one of my sexy hubby in his safety glasses. Isn't he a stud? (Pardon the curtains wrapped around their rods in the background. I was cleaning window sills.)

And this is Isaiah with his nose pressed up against the back door as he watches Dad and Grandpa work in the backyard. He's spent a lot of time like that in the last few days. It's so cute! I can't get over him in that outfit though. It's Asher's! Asher wore it all last summer and it just seems too soon to have another boy wearing it. The boys clothes' in this house get hardly any break between one brother and the other.

Progress

Today we ordered lumber, the lumber was delivered, Dad dug 14 post holes, and so far he's got 7 posts cemented in to those holes. And he's not done for the day yet! I think his plan is to get all the posts in today. Naomi is faithfully out in the yard with him. She "helped" dig holes thanks to Grandpa buying her her very own shovel. And now she is turning the water on and off for him each time he makes the cement. She is loving it. I am loving the fact that she is outside loving it.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about having a fence? I am just sure that all my problems will be solved. Any time the kids are going stir crazy (or I am going crazy) I can just open the back door and send them out! ... I know it won't really be that simple. But a girl can dream, right?

The lumber!
Digging holes
Naomi with her shovel
Cementing in posts

Grandpa! Finally!

Last night a miracle occurred in the Worth household. Grandpa Ashurst finally made it to our house - despite American Airlines trying to keep him away. Today he jumped right in to his job as "fix it man". He already fixed the toilet paper holder and all three toilet floats. He also has the fence all "staked out" and started digging some holes for the posts. What a great guy!

All three kids are so happy to see Grandpa. Isaiah warmed right up to him as soon as Grandpa fed him a bottle. Naomi loves all Grandparents who will listen to her talk. Asher took a little warming up, but Grandpa zooming him around the parking lot of Home Depot in the cart seems to have helped win him over.

Here's a shot of Naomi "helping" Grandpa in the back yard. Aren't they cute?

Asher is TWO

Asher turned two this weekend. I can't believe he's that old, and at the same time I can't believe he's only 2. It was such a great weekend. Let me tell you the story through photos.

The big birthday boy.
Daddy took Naomi and Asher to the circus with Margaret (Richard's Mom), Kevin (his brother) and Karen (his sister who just got back from her mission Friday).

A big THANKS to Cousin Carl who gave us the tickets. The kids had a blast. Every time I ask Naomi what her favorite part was she tells me something else. It became kind of a game over the weekend to ask her what her favorite part was. Her answers range from the ballerinas, to the elephants, the dogs, the TV.

Asher's big present from Mom and Dad was this sand and water table. We didn't get a chance to get the sand yet so we filled both sides up with water. All three kids really enjoyed this toy and I'm happy because it's an "open ended toy" like the experts say is so important. Our backyard is becoming a very cool place to play. Just wait until we get the fence up!

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kelly gave Asher this great Bubble Mower. It blows bubbles when you push it. Asher had a great time pushing it around. Grandma and Grandpa Worth gave Asher some great books. Thanks, guys!

The birthday boy and his car cake made by Mom while he was at the circus.

Here's half the gang hanging out on the back porch. Notice droopy Isaiah in Aunt Kelly's arms. He had his worst day yet as far as Rotavirus. I was very glad I got to stay home with him and give lots of cuddles while everybody else went to the circus. Also notice Naomi is holding a case with makeup brushes. She got that "under the plates" (a Worth tradition where everybody gets presents under their plate at birthday parties). Her imagination ran wild with it. She painted everybody's faces and nails with the air "makeup".

Here's the other half of the gang. The grown-ups here are the youngest three (of 10) Worth kids. I think Richard and Kevin are very happy to have Karen back. We are so proud of her for serving the Lord honorably. These "kids" were playing with their "under the plates" presents which were blow darts and disc guns.

It was such a great day. Asher really had fun. He went straight from morning nap to the circus. Straight from the circus to afternoon nap. Straight from afternoon nap to birthday party. And straight from birthday party to bed. That's partying all day long. And that's my idea of a perfect day for him. So Happy Birthday my big boy! I love you like crazy. One smile from you melts me like butter. One giggle from you makes me laugh out loud. One hug from you and I never want to let go. You make me happy. You are my sunshine. Thank you.

A break for cute

And now it's time to take a break from the whining and moaning for a little cute.

Flower Picker

Swinger

Nose Wrinkler

Have I shown off my new haircut yet? Once I'd figured out the whole kinda-curly thing it went back to mostly straight. Oh well. Now I'm ready for anything, right?

Update:

My Dad isn't coming until Monday night now. After American Airlines changed his flight six times we gave up and just said "fine, move him to Monday when hopefully this will all be over."

I think Asher and Naomi will be well enough to go to the circus tomorrow, which is great. I'm still not sure what to do about Isaiah though. He's still contagious, so I can't call one of my normal babysitters because they all have younger siblings who I'd hate to pass this along to. We'll figure it out tonight I guess.

Book Tag

I was tagged with a book tag by my sister-in-law, Chelsea. Here are the rules:
1. Grab the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post said sentence on your blog.
5. Tag five people.

I cheated a little here - this was not the nearest book, but it is the book I am reading right now. I am currently reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It was recommended to my by my sister, Angela. I'm enjoying it so far. I had plenty of time to read it in the ER this past weekend and now I feel like I really know all the characters and that we've shared a bonding experience since they got me through 26 hours of stressful tedium.

Anyway, here's your sentence: "And I wanted these people to feel like it wasn't just me, that there were a bunch of other Americans back home concerned about helping them."

I think that sentence gives you a good idea of the essence of the book. It's all about this man trying to build schools and other helpful things in Pakistan just because he saw a need there. Very interesting and slightly historical, although not in a boring way. Beautiful descriptions of the mountains, too.

I'll tag Angela, Ruth, Jessica, Shanae, and Graffiti.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the distraction, Chelsea

A woman on the edge

Things are looking up as far as illness goes around here. Isaiah is obviously a little sick but nowhere near as sick as Asher was. And Asher is doing much better.
But now American Airlines has gone and taken my Daddy away! Don't mess with a woman on the edge by cancelling her Daddy's flight! It's not cool! We're still not sure when Dad will make it but we're hoping he'll make it before the weekend at least.

If you don't know what I'm talking about with American Airlines cancelling the flight, go here for the story.

That's all for this post because I feel like the blog has been too much of a downer lately. I'll try to take some cute pictures of the kids later or something to perk it back up. I fear we may need those paddles from ER... you know.... "clear!"... to get it out of this downward spiral.

Phase two

Well, we're pretty sure Isaiah has Rotavirus too. He has the first signs of it and was up every three hours or so last night which is very unusual. We're hoping that since he's smaller and slightly less stubborn it will be easier to keep him hydrated and away from the ER. Asher is doing well so far today. He's drinking water and eating Cheerios for breakfast. He's looking pretty chipper and we hope it will stay that way. Now I'm just waiting for Naomi to get it - which will be the least fun of all since she doesn't wear a diaper anymore.

My Dad arrives on Wednesday (holy cow...that's tomorrow!) to build a fence for us in the back yard. We are super duper excited about having a fence. And we are equally excited to have a visit from Grandpa. He'll be here for Asher's birthday over the weekend, which will be fun. Also bringing loads of fun this weekend is the arrival home of Richard's sister, Karen, from her mission in Chile. She arrives Friday afternoon. And, just in case we weren't busy enough, we have tickets to the circus on Saturday courtesy of my fabulous cousin Carl who works for Barnum and Bailey. He's one of those clowns that fit into the really tiny cars. Just kidding - he does something with their website. That would explain a lot though, huh? If there were circus performers in my family?

Re-written

I imagine any blogger would admit to writing posts in his/her head as something exciting/tragic/strange/happy/sad/intriguing happened to them. This weekend I think I re-wrote this post at least 5 times. Things didn't exactly happen as planned. And now that I'm sitting in front of the computer to actually type it out I find that I am too exhausted to be very clever about my writing in this post. So let me just summarize and move on.

Asher started being sick on Saturday morning. There were several linen and clothes changes involved and much carpet cleaning (oh, and the carseat). By Saturday around 4pm he was as limp as a rag doll so I took him to the ER. Turns out he has Rotavirus. Which basically just means I can expect 5 to 7 more days of linen and clothes changes with much carpet cleaning. We got home from the ER around 11pm that night. On Sunday, basically the exact same thing happened. He and I ended up back in the ER by about 4pm because Asher was as limp as a rag doll and refused to drink anything. This time they kept us overnight. So he and I just got home. Richard is at work and Naomi and Isaiah are at Grandma Worth's house where they spent the day. Asher is doing better, but he doesn't like to drink anything but milk - which he is not allowed right now - so I worry that he will quickly be back in the ER without an IV to pump him full of some fluids. I think I'll go get his toothbrush and see if he'd like to "brush his teeth" since what that mostly consists of is sucking water off the brush. Maybe later I'll give him a bath and pretend not to notice when he drinks the bath water - which he usually gets in trouble for doing. And Daddy's bringing popsicles home with him. Any other clever ideas for hydrating a kid that refuses to drink?

See you in a few days when I come out of this fog. Please pray for Asher and for the other kids that they don't get it too.

Habits

Since Asher was old enough to stand up in his bed he has had the habit of throwing his pacifier across the room when he wakes up. He doesn't always do it - it seems to come and go in spurts, really. He'll do it every day for two weeks then stop for a while. The thunk of the pacifier hitting the opposite wall is a familiar sound. I can even hear it from downstairs.

Another habit he has is scratching his toosh. I think it's a dry skin thing - the boy has very sensitive skin. That habit recently got so bad that I took to putting him in onesies all the time under his normal clothes (I didn't even know they made onesies that big, but luckily they do). The culmination of that one was the day he got a stinky diaper during naptime and had an itch to itch. All I'm gonna say is ick.

Anway, today he took it all up a notch. During his morning "nap" he started screaming bloody murder. So I go running in there (because it was the "something is wrong" scream not just the usual "I'm mad that you put me in here" scream). He is frantically grabbing his toosh and yelling about his pacifier. So I get down on all four like I always do to look for the pacifier after he's lobbed it across the room. I look in all the usual places, I can't find it. Finally I stand back up to grab the back-up pacifier when I notice he is still grabbing his toosh. So I stop my search to see if he is poopy. Nope. No poop. But there is a lump in his pajamas. That's when I realized that he has put his pacifier down inside his one-piece pajamas! His pacifier is the lump in his pants and he is mad about it. So I chuckle to myself, take it out for him, lay him back down and leave again. Two minutes later he's screaming again. The pacifier is back in his pajamas. Repeat three more times. Finally I give him a stern talking to that goes something like "Asher, stop putting your pacifier in your pajamas!" and leave one last time. He actually went to sleep that time.

But what was up with that? He hated it when the pacifier was in his pajamas - so why was he doing it? Just to get me into the room? What a weird-o. I was waiting to post this to see if he would do it again during his afternoon nap - nope. No repeats yet. What would a psychiatrist say about this? Is it some deep-rooted Mommy issue from his youth? Did I neglect him at some point? Did he not get enough love so he feels like he needs to have his pacifier close to him - VERY close?

Tell you what, I'm in the mood to be entertained. Whoever can give me the best pyscho-something-er-other explanation (the more elaborate and full of bologna, the better) for why he would do this will win a prize. Something made by me. Possibly, something edible.

April Fool's

OK, OK, it was an April Fool's joke. I am *not* pregnant. A friend sent that picture of a test to me and I just couldn't help but pass it along. I am glad I posted it though because I got some responses from "stockers" who I didn't know checked my blog regularly (Hi, Giselle!). I think the only person I really fooled was Chelsea (a Worth sister-in-law). And I think I only fooled her because she really wanted to believe it.
Thanks for playing along, guys. Sorry to have had a little fun at your expense.

!!!