January TUSAL - ORT

http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-totally-useless-stitch-long-2014.html

A few years ago I stumbled across a blog that I immediately fell in love with.  Part of the blog is motivating us cross stitchers to get projects done.  We use a jar and collect the ORT's (Old Ratty Threads) and put them in a jar or container of your choice and about once a month you take a picture and post even if there was nothing added to the jar.  A lot of people also take a picture of their project(s) and post them as well.  This is fun because when you think you are not EVER going to finish you can look at the pictures and realize how much you really got done.  

I like it because it motivates me to keep going.....even when I am SO DONE with a particular stitching.  And as you collect the ORT's you watch your jar slowly fill up and the colors mixed together is actually kind of pretty.  Some people can fill their jar monthly....however....I am not that lucky.  I think it is because I have a "waste not want not" type attitude when it comes to floss and I use every last bit and so I only add the short small ends.  If I am done with a section and there is enough floss to use later on I keep it......

Ok enough so here is my jar and a stitching I am making into a birth announcement for my newest baby that was born a month ago.  I had every intention of having this finished before she was born, but I had the virus, cold, crap that laid me out for about 6 weeks...the last 6 weeks of pregnancy so I had no energy and desire to do anything...ANYTHING....I forced myself to not beg my doctor to induce me early so I could take medicine.  My cough so was bad it was probably boarder line bronchitis...my mom was thinking walking pneumonia...I lost weight and all because I had no appetite....It was BAD.  Even after the baby was born it took me a couple of weeks for my ears to return to normal.....

Ok sorry for the side note.....I am random...

Back to the topic at hand her is my ORT for January!!!

This is a cute picture of Tigger and Pooh holding Tiggers tale and Piglet is "jumping rope"

I will finish Tigger...I see orange everywhere!!!

Here is my ORT jar.  I am determined this year to fill it. I added a little bit of yarn because I finishing up a crocheting project.

Tonsils

So I was looking at my blog and I was really surprised at how many "drafts" I have.  I started them and got distracted and did not finish them.  This one took place at the beginning of October.  

Jasmin was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea....OSA.  Which means her tonsils and adenoids were blocking her air way as she sleeps cause sleep apnea, which was causing her to sleep walk.

We went to Doernbecher Children's Hospital up in Portland.....Our second home it seems like sometimes.  When we were waiting they had some volunteers there helping the patients make beaded necklaces, key chains, bracelets....Jasmin was excited and said she wanted to make one for her sister.  So we got her set up and she was started beading a necklace.

They soon called us back to get her prepped for surgery.  The volunteers were amazing and told her she could take her necklace back and finish it. But as you can tell she got distracted by her own TV!!!! 

After we got through all of the paper work of surgery and asking our questions they gave her Versed...we have nicknamed it the silly medicine because it affects Jasmin in a way that makes her super goofy and gives her the giggle big time.

I had a picture of her necklace where you can tell where she was "normal" and when the medicine started kicking in because her pattern was off.

But here is a short video of just before they took her back to surgery and silly she was being!!

Multiplicity

Today as Jeff is laying bed resting from his ACL and Meniscus surgery that took place on Thursday, as the girls are playing with their V-Tech reading books and the iPad, I sit at my computer wishing I could be cloned, kind of like the old movie Multiplicity.  Only I want one of me to keep scanning documents and I work towards de-cluttering my house of the tubs and stacks of paper.

I would like one of me to finish up laundry.....I just made a new batch of laundry soap today.  I would also like one of me to be sitting and stitching to finish at least 1 of the 6 in progress projects.  1 of me could be finishing up pot holders, a quilt, or a baby blanket or 2.  While another one works on crocheting the last of the wash cloths that I have started.

It is amazing to me how complicated we make life.  I am whining and complaining I know.  But all well.  Sometimes I just feel like I have so many things pulling me in different directions that if I sit and work on one I keep nagging myself.  You should not be working on this you need to be working on that. But if I switch tasks than I feel like I am being pulled towards a different task!

Anyways, that is my randomness for the day and my vent for the day.  I know that getting different projects done will not take one day it will take in some cases months to complete. I just tell my brain to shut up and chip away at the project I chose...only today that is not working!!!

Digital Clutter VS Material Clutter

I just had an oh my gosh moment.  I have been trying to down size our stuff and clean out old books that I either have read a long time ago, bought with intentions to read and it has been 10 years......cleaning out old magazines that are still in their plastic mailers from 2 years ago, stacks of paper in general, clothes.....Ok I think you get it.

I had that duh moment.  

When I look at others homes and blogs I think I am so going to have that house TODAY!!!!  HA HA HA HA HA!!!!  A few weeks  ago it dawned on me de clutter takes time A LOT OF TIME....YEARS...IT NEVER ENDS!!! So I have learned if everyday I can get rid of a little bit my home is happier and so am I.  Even if that means only 5 magazines or 6 books or 2 t-shirts I have not worn in 4 years...whatever it may be every little bit helps.

So today I as I have been sitting at my computer trying to get some scanning done I noticed that my computer has slowed down...WAY DOWN. I want to go by a new computer so it is fast again.  Than I thought "when was the last time I cleaned out old files?"  Um Hello 2011 ish.  I have 30,000 pictures, about 500 plus documents, games.....UM no wonder.  So now that I have had this thought what to do.  I need to clean out pictures....you know the ones the kids take of the wall, the shoe, the.......um pitch black, school papers that I wrote and saved that I have not opened back up since the day I submitted them....etc. Some things I want to keep and back up, but not everything.  

As I was sitting here thinking about this I realized digital clutter can be just as stressful as material clutter.  Only digital clutter is out of sight and out of mind until your computer starts running at a snails speed.  Now I have added another TO DO to my list.  Clean up my computer....... 

PUMPKIN PATCH!!

Yes I realize this is after the fact, but all well!  Jasmin's kindergarten class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch and boy oh boy did Payeton mope for DAYS!!!!

We decided to take a family trip to the pumpkin patch that Jasmin went to and it was a blast!!!

There were cut outs like this all over the farm
The girls loved them!

Running through the corn maze!!!

Was cold but did not want to stop!

She must be looking for foot prints to help us get out

This was where the maze lead us....to the teepee!

And it was awesome!!!!

If this was to scale I have got some super tall kids

There is not much difference between the girls anymore

This slide was fun.  You had to climb up a pirate ship
made out of hay bails to get to the top of it!

These were peddle tractors that the girls struggled with.
The ground was wet and uneven.  There were a lot of tractors in
a small area as well

Time for the duck races!  I want to build one of these in our backyard..
when we get a back yard!

Jasmin loved this she wants to learn how
to ride real horses

Payeton not so much!

At the end of the trip we were hungry and they had bratwurst there.  Jeff looked at my and said yes you can get one.  What a good man he is.  So of course I got one loaded with homemade sauerkraut and grilled onions.  YUM!  As I was waiting for mine to be finished I was watching the 2 men that were running it.  I asked them if their sausages were a family recipe and he said "yes straight from Holland, my family is from Holland".  EVEN BETTER!!! Talk about fat free grease free deliciousness!  I could have eaten 2 of them and Jeff laughed at me because I think I ate in 3 bites!

I am horrible at this blogging thing.....

So I have learned that blogging is hard for me to do regularly and I really look up to all my friends that make posts regularly.  However, I keep trying and I always want to go backwards and post things that happened MONTHS ago!!!!

Where we live our city is split up by a river.  We live on the west, but do everything on the east side.  We have 3 bridges that run across our river.  1 bridge takes traffic West to East.  1 bridge takes traffic East to West and the 3rd bridge used to be an old train bridge that has been converted to a foot bridge.  The conversion happened a few years ago and Jeff and I have been saying since they did it that one day we will walk across it to get a different perspective of the river.  Well yesterday was that day.  We ran some errands with the girls in the morning and because the weather was cool, a little windy, and rainy off and on we stopped at Dutch Brothers for some hot chocolate before we walked across the bridge.  

Here is our fun walk!!!

Jeff was trying to get the girls to walk on the same foot as him!!!

Almost have it!!! Ok I also love these kind of shots!!

OK We made them hug, but who can resist a cute sisterly hug!!

Ok ok ok sisterly bear hug!

Jasmin is trying to get away or something

And now the chasing begins

This is another one of my favorite shots.....kids!!!

Payeton just walking along minding her own
business enjoying the river!

And this was the perfect day to do it all as well.  Well until the end when we had a few very creepy homeless guys walk right by us.  Jeff's protective instincts kicked and watched me and the kids like a hawk while keeping an eye on the guys until there was a lot of distance between us and them.  He is my HERO!!!!!

Single - Twins - Triplets?

This is a post I have been meaning to make since the beginning of October, but it seems that life has been happening at one pace....EXTRA FAST!!!  So anyways.  Yes to those that have been asking I am pregnant with our 3rd baby........GIRL!  

Poor Jeff well ok both of us.  This pregnancy has been different in many areas and were convinced between my prego symptoms, friends, and my sister that we were having a boy....we were hoping Jeff really wants a boy. I have to be honest I do too.  

When I was growing up...especially in high school I wanted to be married young and have 6 kids.....boys.  Well so far I was married in my 20's and will be having 3 girls.  Regardless I am one happy momma.

So these are the coolest ultra sounds ever.  They are 3D/4D Ultra sounds that actually let you see the features of the baby. You actually get a sneak peak of what your baby will look like.  HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!

We noticed right away with Jasmin that she had some chubby cheeks and that smirk

This is Jasmin! Our oldest who is now 5 and in Kindergarten

We were in love right away.  Shortly after her birth (3 months after) I went to the doctors for postpartum depression.  I cried at the drop of the hat, I was exhausted ALL THE TIME.  At first we thought it was normal than one day Jeff looked at me and told me it was time to go figure out what was wrong. I went to the doctor and I was telling him what was going on and he gave me a pregnancy test.  He told me he wanted to rule out other options before we approached the postpartum road.  Well it came back positive.  WHAT????!!!!!!  

Are you joking me.  I was so not ready for this.  I went to the bank after wards to deposit a paycheck and I called Jeff.  I told him the "exciting" news.  He was ecstatic. (We were living with my mom at the time) He was in the garage doing a happy dance and I was in tears.  I was not ready for this.  Not after what the tortuous delivery that I went through (that's another story for another day).  I was scared, I was still trying to figure out the entire cleft palate thing.  Learning how to take care of a new born.  Sure I babysat A LOT, but that is different than being responsible for a new born 24/7.  

Well what I was to do?  I finally got over the shock and the excitement set in. Soon it was time for the 3D/4D ultra sound and this is what we saw.

Payeton, my now 4 year old that is a spit fire!

We had to do a double take.  We thought this has to be a joke, they look exactly the same.  I asked the technician if she was using our old ultra sounds and she said no and asked us why.  I said she looks exactly like my oldest!!

Even after they were born they looked identical the only way to tell them apart was to look at dates on pictures and or to look at the baby blanket.  They both had BLACK hair...a full head of it. Chubby cheeks, skinny little bodies, same eyes, nose, ears, cleft palate......everything.  

Now they look different Jasmin has brown hair and hazel/blue eyes, and Payeton is a mini me with blonde hair blue eyes.  However, they look like twins in a lot of ways.  I get asked all the time "how old are your twins?" OR "Are they twins?"  It makes me laugh.  Payeton is about 2 inches shorter than Jasmin if even and weighs about 15 pounds less.  They body frames are a lot different.  Jasmin takes after me and is very German built she is one solid girl with wide hips a big butt and thunder thighs not the demeaning kind, but the strong powerful kind--- she is my mini me in body frame size, and hair twirling between her fingers when she thinks, is nervous, or when she tries to fall asleep.  Jeff will laugh at us especially when we are cuddling and we both start to twirl our hair OR she twirls mine and I twirl hers. (Focus Brendon Focus!!!)

Fast forward to beginning of this month!

So here we are again.  This time the gap is a little bit bigger.  We wanted to have our kids closer together, but life happened, Jeff decided he needed to go back to school to support the family, I was working on Masters Degree and there was no way we had the time or the money to throw in a 3rd baby.  Once I was finished with my Masters we decided it was time.  Little did we know it was going to take us an entire year to get pregnant. 

So we had our first normal ultrasound and found out we are having another girl.  Yes we are bummed, like I said before we were hoping for a boy, but we are just grateful that we can have more kids.  Jeff and I knew we were not done at 2, but we were frustrated that we were not getting pregnant and we were beginning to wonder if we were done.  

So here we go again with the 3D/4D ultra sound and OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! Can you say triple take?

Baby Girl # 3

Are you doing a triple take?  I sure did.  As soon as I got home I started digging through my boxes of stuff to find the other girls ultra sounds and started comparing.  Jeff and I both laughed that we are having 3 girls that look the same.  

The most amazing part even though we will not know until the baby is born, that not only will we have 3 girls all 3 girls have cleft palates...... SURPRISE!!!!!  Ok not really Jeff and I both knew that this baby had a cleft palate just like we knew with the other 2. Jasmin and Payeton's have already been repaired. But due to such a high family occurrence of the cleft palate the technician looked from a few different angles and really took her time on the mouth to see if this baby had one. 

When I went in for my 3D/4D ultra sound the technician looked again and said that she can still see the cleft. But other than that everything is normal and healthy!!!!

As I was talking to the technician she said it is not an exact science, but a very educated guess science, but what we see on the ultra sound cannot be 100% confirmed until the baby is born.  

Here is a better look with all 3 of them together.

JASMIN

PAYETON

Baby Girl # 3