Sheet Rocking Marathon

Over the 24th of July weekend Jon and I pulled a regular house working marathon. When we were tearing up the WAY nasty carpet in the bedroom, Jon's uncle accidentally put his hammer through the wall and we realized that the walls had never been sheet rocked. The people before had just put up wood paneling and the lathe and plaster was falling off behind it. So we had to pull it all off to the bare walls and put up insulation and sheet rock. Woah, what a lot of work! For three days we painted, demolished, cut sheet rock, hung sheet rock, ate sheet rock, slept in sheet rock, bathed in sheet rock and breathed in sheet rock.
I also got the living room painted and the cupboards in the kitchen painted. It is starting to look better little by little, but there is SO much to do. I am trying really hard not to stress out or get overwhelmed. We have to be out of our apartment by this Saturday so we are going to move all our stuff up there and just put it in one of the rooms while we finish up the rest of the house. I don't really know where I am going to be living (Jon will be in Nevada for work for 3 weeks). It is hard to be a hobo when you have a baby!

Here are some before and after pictures of the outside of the house


Before painting the outside

After painting

Before painting

After Painting


Jon tearing off the lathe and plaster in the bedroom


The bedroom torn down the the bear walls, can you see the dust!



This isn't a good picture, but I found that strapping Asher on my back was the best way to get any work done. I COMPLETELY understand why African women wear their babies this way. It frees up your hands, keeps the little nursling from grabbing things, and he really seemed to like it. He even tried to fall asleep. You know, we are so lucky to live the way we do. It would be SO hard to have to work in a field, carry water several miles, and do all the things those African women do when you had a baby to carry on your back! Wow.

MASSIVE OVERLOAD OF PICTURES

Yippee! I finally got some pictures downloaded so here are all the pictures I have been storing up-- yes and most of them are of Asher. I'm a crazy mom like that.

First time biting his stroller-- okay actually it is like the 100th time, he does it all the time!



First bag of cotton candy-- no I didn't let him eat, what type of mom do you think I am!



First time sitting in a shopping cart-- the belt was broken so I strapped him in with my sling



First time at the Shakespeare festival, and unfortunately NOT his first mowhawk



First time putting his hand on Wiiliam Shakespeare's leg



First time on the Merry-Go-Round at Lagoon




First time backpacking with Mom



First time sleeping in a tent--man what a rough night! I kept wondering what someone walking in the woods (in the middle of the night) would think if they heard a baby crying way up in the mountains.



This is my FAVORITE picture! Asher LOVES hiking and camping--I've never seen him so happy!



Zonked ou from all the strenuous hiking--really how can anyone fall asleep like that!


First time trying on glasses. Dad was getting a new pair- not these ones, though he almost did--really!It was a hard battle but I won.

Laboring to Save Home Births

This is a BEAUTIFUL article about the struggle the Amish women are having to protect their right to have home births.

I LOVE the last few paragraphs when one Amish woman describes her birth. She says “I pace my kitchen floor, lean over my chair, say my prayers…. When Diane comes, she’s my boss.” The article continues, "Even Annie’s most difficult delivery was met with a sunrise, a moment so tranquil, she recalls, she gave the child the middle name of “Joy.” An Amish mother expecting her sixth child recalls how Goslin (the midwife) strapped her birthing supplies on a toboggan and walked uphill to her farm when the road was impassible one winter. “I didn’t even think to be worried. I figured she’d get here. She always does.”

I LOVE this perspective on birth-- filled with Joy, Faith and Trust instead of fear, uncertainty and not trusting that women's bodies know what they are doing. I REALLY believe that this is how birth is suppose to be-- natural, peaceful and attended to by a woman whom the mother trusts and admires.

I feel SO lucky that I had an AMAZING midwife. Over the few months that I got to know her, Vivian really became a dear friend and a woman whom I would trust with my life. She gave me physical, mental, emotional and most importantly SPIRITUAL strength. She helped me learn to trust my body and my baby and how not to be afraid. I will be eternally grateful to her because she stood by and watched as I labored, and she was there at my hardest moments comforting me and urging me forward. She received my baby and I loved it that her loving hands were the first touch Asher felt in the world (well besides me touching his head to make sure he was coming out). She cried with me afterwards, and held my hand days later when I was exhausted and overwhelmed.

I know home birth isn't for everyone, but mine was an AMAZING experience. It was sacred and life changing. I truly believe that every woman has a right to decide how and where to give birth and that NO one has a right to decide that for her. It makes me so upset that organizations and some doctors are trying to take that right away from women! I admire the Amish women for standing up for their rights.

Now I Know He Has Some Thomas Blood

Now I know for sure -- Asher DOES have some Thomas blood in him. This week I gave him sweet potatoes for the first time and boy did he HATE them! Every time I gave him a bite he would pucker up his mouth like I had just fed him dirt... oh well actually he likes to eat dirt... so... anyway. Every bite either got spit out on to his bib or sprayed back at me. I attribute this apparent dislike to him having Thomas blood running through his veins. The first time I had sweet potatoes was after I married Jon and I LOVED them. I couldn't figure out why I had never had them before until I found out the both my Mom and my Dad HATE sweet potatoes. I guess tastes can be inherited! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the three other packs of sweet potatoes I bought. Maybe I'll have to get tricky and disguise them... what about sweet potatoes and peaches? Sweet potatoes and pears? Sweet potatoes and applesauce... hmmm?

This is an old picture (taken in March) of me with my drop dead beautiful Thomas sisters. I am still having camera/computer problems so this picture will have to do, besides I love it.

Do you remember when?

Two of my fellow blogger-etts (Reading Armadillo and P Funks) have posted this game on their blogs and I think it is fun. Here are the game rules:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember(it can involve the family or even my husband too)!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you... either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!
3. If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all ☺
4. Consider this a Tag: if you've read it, you have to do it!

"All Things Grow With Love"

Yesterday was Asher's 7 month "lunar-day" and I have been AMAZED at how fast my little boy has grown up. Not only is he physically bigger, smarter, more mobile and aware, but I can feel that his spirit is growing and thriving as well. Sometimes I watch him and feel like his little body is much too small to contain the amount of love, joy and kindness his spirit emanates. I just hope that I can help nurture and preserve that love and goodness, so that he grows up to be a MAN who emanates love, joy and kindness. Motherhood is so much more of a challenge, spiritually and physically, than I ever thought it would be.

In related news-- my garden, which I previously thought I had killed in my attempt to incite an ant genocide, has been blooming and producing! It seems that all my "pesticide" did was thin out my lettuce, spinach and carrots. Okay, not totally true. I did loose two broccoli plants and the other two didn't produce any flowers. That happened to me last year too! I am really good at growing HUGE broccoli plants that don't produce anything! Even so, we have really been enjoying spinach, lettuce and peas for the last few weeks, despite my mistake.

Lesson learned: Nurturing a garden and nurturing a baby are similar because ;
1) they are forgiving,
2) they bounce back when you make mistakes,
3) they thrive in the sunshine,
4) they take time and patience, and sometimes you don't see the fruit of your labors till far in the future,
5) in order to reach their full potential they have to be protected from weeds, birds and other harmful influences,
6) God is the master gardener,
5) you don't need fancy equipment, books, tools or toys because deep down inside nature knows what she is doing better than anyone else,
6) Love makes them both good, strong and healthy.

Some one needs to invent....

This week I've thought of two inventions which if properly manufactured, marketed and distributed could make me a multi-millionaire overnight-- well that is if there happen to be several million mothers out there who, like me, have:

1) a baby who has learned how to blow raspberries with his mouth, and thinks it the ABSOLUTELY funniest thing in the world to blow one at mom when his mouth is full of peas or any other food (including breast milk);

2) tried taking a 6 month old baby backpacking/camping and realized that it is miserable and nearly impossible to fit one normal sized human mother and her rolley polley nursling onto the same backpacking air mattress. Who knew that a 6 month old could HOG a whole mattress to himself and push his mom off onto the ground.

SO in view of these exceptional circumstances in my life I've decided that I need to invent...

1) a MOMMY BIB! This stylish poncho-like bib will protect mom from flying spoons, flying sippy cups, projectile masses of peas and other solids, and did I mention... flying spoons. The deluxe edition comes with a face mask, hair cover, and a floor mat. Matching "Mommy and Baby" bibs available.

2) an INFLATABLE SIDECAR CRIB MATTRESS light enough for backpacking. This amazing mattress would have a little mattress with three little walls attached to it. This would solve the problem of trying to make sure the nursling didn't slid off, while still keeping him close so mom doesn't have to wake up to feed him! Brilliant. An inflatable playpen is in the works as well.

Accepting orders soon.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Here is the finished product.



She looks SO much better than before... imagine bare wood, concrete with cracks in it, no trim paint, and white dirty, chipping paint. We found out today that she passed the inspection with flying colors. The appraiser called us and told us it looks like a new house and that he didn't think we'd be able get it fixed and painted that fast. We really have to give a BIG HUGE thank you to our family... to my dad for tearing out the crazy electrical mess, to Brittney for helping wash, scrape and scrape and scrape, to Jaleen and Elvon for masking and taping, to Jim for EVERYTHING, Jon's dad for being a wonder with the paint gun, and to ALL of Jon's family who came down on the 4th of July and finished the painting so we could go to Idaho for my birthday! Thank you so much! We REALLY appreciate all your work and hope that we can repay you somehow-- you better take advantage of it, or such an offer may never come again. :)


The back patio, painted and looking a lot less mint green!

Painting Palooza!

WOW! What a crazy week this has been. In one mad crazy day of paper, tape and paint we got the outside of the house all painted. It was a lot more work and money that we'd thought it would be, but I guess that is going to be our theme song for the next few months. When I went to get the estimate for how much paint we were going to need the guy at the paint store told me that I would only need 5-6 gallons for that square footage. Little did we know that because the house has this strange old stecco on it ( it is really bumpy-- we think they mixed pea gravel in with it) the surface area was increased by almost 3 times. We ended up using almost 17 gallons of paint! Woah Baby! It reminded me of the intestines-- you know they have all those bumps on the inside of them that increase the surface area by 100 times so they can absorb more nutrients. That is like the outside of our house, except our house absorbs paint.

We also painted about a thousand box elder bugs. One time I found one in my hair all painted white-- it looked really funny.

The house looks much better now though. I am a bit more optimistic that this house will turn out really nice with just a bit more TLC-- and a whole lot of paint. I have some before and after pictures but my computer still isn't working-- so I'll post them later. Oh, my dad-in-law said that the outside of the house reminds him of cottage cheese. I think that might be an appropriate name for our house-- The cottage cheese cottage! Maybe I'll have to make a sign to go above the door ;)