Mothers Day? Cool.

  Fifeteen minutes ago, at 9:30pm I flopped onto the couch with an audible "oof!" (from the couch, I'm offended) and for the first time today, I began to scroll through my Facebook feed.  As is the annual custom, I saw post after post filled with wonderful Mothers Day recaps.  Breakfast in bed, flowers, sparkly adornments, giggling children skipping about their mother's apron strings with halos-a-glow.  Usually I'm a part of the sunshine parade but this year... the sunshine was, um... sparse.   First, a disclaimer.  This is not a complainy post.  Most of my days are filled with glowy wonderment.  I'm due for a crapper every now and again and I'm a tough bird, I can take it.  Today was a bit shit.  Buuut Ry and I laughed our way through it together and then I laughed all over again as I reflected on it while reading some of your Mothers Day happenings.
  Sure, I had breakfast in bed.  It was a flavorless frozen breakfast burrito served on a paper plate 10 minutes before we had to dash out to church and it was accompanied by an iced coffee served in a red Solo kegger cup.  Cool.
  Sweet treasures made my my little angels?  Check!  I got a yellow piece of construction paper with purple and blue smudges on it.  I quickly realized the smudges were supposed to be handprints since both of my children were sporting one severely stained hand, which was unfortunate seeing as how we were going to be on stage at church today in our Sunday best, doing Luca's dedication.  Cool.
I don't fault Ry though.  He hasn't had a down moment for a few weeks and threw together the attempt at breakfast and art straight from getting off his night shift.  All his efforts (including the 4, still wrapped in plastic, grocery store gerber daisies) were really sweet and a big deal because I know how very little time he has.

  Church went smoothly.  Luca looked dapper, Scarlet danced around with her darling little piggy tales and we even got a picture of everyone in the family smiling at once!  That's a day-maker in it's own right.

  Afterward we had plans to have a lovely brunch at my mother in law's house, prepared by yours truly. Fast forward to my pioneer woman french toast bake A BLAZE in the oven, smoke pouring up through the burners.  And now the scene is set....
"RYAAAAANNNNN!   RYYYYYYYAAAAAAN! FIIIIREEEEEE!  HELP! HELP!"  I scream.  He's passed out (literally from exhaustion of being up for over 24hrs) on the couch and doesn't budge.   So while he lounges oh so casually with his feet crossed no less,  the mothers and I scramble about shooing children away from the danger, removing the threat, ie: the french toast bake, and choking on smoke.  Cool.  After the excitement calmed, we poked and pecked through the edible parts and eventually headed home.  What awaited us there for the remainder of the evening?  Whining, shrieking, wailing, sobbing children that didn't nap all day long, dog poop from my mother's dog getting freaked out by the other two dogs we're watching, art messes, cooking prep messes, and two very sleepy parents.  Oh and a nagging papercut I got from my Mothers Day card.  Cool.
What's funny is, each one of these things made me giggle and as they piled on top of each other they made me straight out belly laugh.  There were good moments mixed in.  Scarlet and I fiddled in the garden (now I have a splinter and a paper cut), we played Candyland for the first time (Ryan, not knowing his own brute strength accidentally tore the brand new board game in half) and we played peek-a-boo with Luca (who laughed so hard he puked on his Sunday best).
  By the time I attempted to put the kids to bed I was crying with laughter.  I considered crying with yanno, non-laughter but it all just got too silly.  By 9pm both kids were a complete mess and wouldn't go to bed.  I dug in deep, tried to find a little zen amongst the dueling sobs, bit my lower lip and decided to just roll with it.  My arms were full of wailing little Luca (who normally goes to bed on his own, happy as a clam) which meant I couldn't read Scarlet her normal bedtime stories.  Heart broken (and exhausted) she cried "you haafffa reeeeaaaaad me stoooorrieeeeesss" while I one handedly changed her into her pj's, guided her through her routine and tucked her in.  She cried while she slipped each leg into her jammie pants.  She cried while she brushed her teeth and eventually she cried as she climbed into her bed.   Luca was swaddled tightly in my left arm and he squirmed with all his might and cried with all his fury in protest to me and solidarity with his sister.  I sat there, on the side of Scarlet's toddler bed with the ineffective calm of the twilight turtle waves playfully lapping about the ceiling and thought what the hell should I do?  They're both exhausted, they're both strong willed and both WILL NOT give in once they start crying.  They both need more from me right this moment then I have to offer either of them.  I envisioned hours of tears before me and somewhere in the back of my mind I resigned any hopes of peace, time to myself or even sleep on this Mothers Day.  I took a deep breath and started to sing..  'cause it was something to do and I was out of ideas.  I sang nonsense lyrics to a nonsense song.  Most of it didn't even rhyme.   Rhyming while children are wailing is not easily accomplished.  I sang things like

 "I don't know what to do.

You two have come unhinged.

So I'll just sing.... about anything...

Until I think of something better to do."

  As soon as Scarlet's head hit the pillow she closed her eyes, and her sobs turned to whimpers, so I just kept singing.   I rambled about things I saw around me, how my shoulder muscles were seizing from holding squirming Luca, how I couldn't believe my dumb song was working.  And it was. After about three minutes in, both kids were quiet with their eyes closed.  I sang for a few more minutes to seal the deal and not press my luck (<-- I think those are actual song lyrics I used) and sure enough they were out.  I win! I @^($#*%)$ WIN!   I felt like a heavy weight champion who just did 10 rounds in the ring and came out the victor!  I threw myself a mental parade, held my chin high and very carefully (but with swagger) transferred Luca into the cosleeper.  I walked out of the kids rooms feeling my cape flap in the wind behind me.   So here I am, on Mothers Day having what?  ME TIME!  Oh yeah!   Pay no attention to the fact that I used that time to myself to rehash what was really, a very hard day and just be happy that I blogged.  :)   Now, onto the next adventure - sleep!  Dosed out in very little increments and interrupted by a tiny shrieking pterodactyl baby.  Cool.

Anyway blog, I missed ya.  This was good.  We should do this again some time.

False Alarm 36weeks 6days

Here's how last night went down... 
9:00pm Ry and I headed to bed early. I was zonked.
9-11pm Heartburn over took me (even after zantac) and I spent most of the night trying not to throw up. No rest was had.
11pm Scarlet woke up crying for Daddy. She came down with cold and was having trouble staying asleep through her stuffy nose.
11-3am Scarlet is up and down about once an hour. Every time she wakes up I use the restroom.  In between Scarlet's cries I woke on and off with round ligament pain and my arms falling asleep.
3am-4am S came into our bed for the remainder of the night. I woke every time I have to turn or adjust my position.
4am I roll over and 30 seconds later feel a small gush.
4:05am I googled "How to tell if your water broke."  After reading a bit I called the on call nurse who suggests I come in to get checked.  While I wasn't convinced it was my water, I know that it's better to be safe than sorry.  
5am  My mother in law arrives and Ryan and I headed into L&D.  The clips you see in the video are from the triage/check in area at the birthing center.  The actual delivery room are much more luxurious to labor in.  They monitored the baby and my pulse a while due to my heart issues.  My nurse at L&D is one of the parents at the preschool I used to work for.  She updated me on how her little boy is doing and then assisted the doctor with my nether bits.   Verdict is that my cervix is soft but aside from that there aren't any other labor signs.  The amniotic sack was still intact.  The doctor said that the baby can move and release the mechanism that triggers your bladder without the mom feeling any desire to go to the bathroom.  Apparently I have joined the masses of pregnant moms who have wee'd themselves.  I'd like a badge or something please.
8am  We made it back home.  I was really moving slowly and feeling a lot of cramping from the speculum.   
10:30am till now - I'm a walking, pregnant zombie and mother of a 2 year old giggling, snot machine. That's the news!

All in all I'm very happy that today wasn't The Day.  I have plenty to get done beforehand and now I get a second chance.  Oh and if I had gone into labor then I wouldn't have gotten this shot.

A Joint Baby Sprinkle in Pictures

In my circle of friends, there are a lot of Sarahs, all with H's of course.  Years ago we assigned each of them a nickname and now it strikes me as odd if I hear one of them actually referred to as Sarah.  Well a few weeks ago, one Sarah (Bee) threw me and another Sarah (Tea) a joint baby shower.
We are both expecting our second babies and didn't register so this was more of a sprinkle than a shower.  I could have just uploaded the pictures onto facebook but I didn't want them to get lost in the ever scrolling feed.  The party was so special to me!  I left feeling filled up and refreshed instead of socially exhausted as per the norm after most events.  Everything was just cozy.

Bee decorated the entire house with these bits of fabric hanging on twine.
Every few feet there was a Bible verse about motherhood and children.  

In lieu of typical shower games we each made goodies to pamper ourselves with.  Everyone chatted as they mixed together the organic body potions.  The party smelled like pumpkin, cider and warm sugar, ya know, comfort incarnate.

Here we are, Tea and I.  The girls at the party gifted us each with piggybanks stuffed to the brim full of cash!  It was so thoughtful and a great thing to do for second time moms.  We each were able to purchase one big item that we still needed for baby using the money in the owl banks.

Scarlet and Anna, Tea's daughter, thoroughly enjoyed the time they had together at the party. They're tiny besties but we don't get to see them as much as we'd like, so they stayed attached at the hip throughout the party.  The girls harvested Auntie Bee's balcony garden (two tomatoes and some parsley) and read through all her diaries.  We found the girls upstairs in Auntie Bee's bedroom with all of her journals splayed about around them.  Little mischief makers.  ;)

Baby Reid was the only boy allowed.  

He kept up the boy antics as best he could.  

 Diddle diddle dumplin' my son John style.  (Note the toesies)

The whole party was so lovely and it was so great to spend time with my favorite people. 

  Thank you Bee for putting it all together for us!

Lovely Pocket Diaper WINNER!!!

I took all 23 applicable comments on the Lovely Pocket Diaper Giveaway and plugged the numbers into 
Random.org to choose a winner!  

The 9th comment came from Maria who writes a blog 

called The Rios Family!  

Congrats Maria!   You have 24 hours to contact me with your shipping information at bitsandclips@gmail.com 

to claim this lovely package!  

Thanks to all who participated!  

A Lovely Surprise! **GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

At the end of my last pregnancy vlog I mentioned that Melissa Frank, the founder of Lovely Pocket Diapers had sent me an A M A Z I N G surprise package filled to the brim with cloth diapering goodies.  Not only did she send me bundles of fluff but also some wet wipe cubes for making your own wet wipe solution, snappis, bamboobies, cloth safe laundry detergent and much more!  It was so unexpected incredibly generous for her to do!  If you're not familiar with Lovely Pocket Diapers I did an extensive review for the company when Scarlet was about 6 months old.  You can get a very in depth look at the ins-&-outs of the fluff there.  I've since referred every cloth diapering mama I know their direction.  They are a great affordable option and after over a year of use, we still love our LPDs!

Like I said in the video, I wanted to pay forward the generosity shown toward me.  I've donated two diapers from the package to a mother in need (that I heard about through the youtube community) and set one aside to give away to you!   

This is the One-Size Classic Pocket Diaper in the Groovy Spots print.

If you notice the waist on LPDs gets teeeny tiny with over lapping snaps, making so this a great diaper for those slim little ones and for younger cloth bums as well. The fit grows from infant to toddler with ease.  

The give away is open to US and CANADA.  

All you have to do is tell me why you'd like to try a lovely pocket diaper in the comments.   The winner will be drawn at random on Monday and announced here on the blog on Wednesday.  

This is not a sponsored give away, just sharing the love that was shown to me!  Good Luck!

psssst - Thank you for waiting on this!  Growing babies isn't for ninnies, that's fo sho!

Oi Vey

I thought if I waited until Scarlet went to bed to put my Lovely Pocket Diaper blog up then I would have uninterrupted brain time to write out the details.  I forgot that my nausea ramps up in the evening on days that I've over done it.  Today is one of those days and it's taking everything in me not to be sick.  I have the photos taken and the logistics figured out.  I just need to be well enough to write the blog.

I've erased everything on my to do list for tomorrow accept getting that blog live.  So cross your eyes, toes and nostrils that I have a manageable health day tomorrow please!  After all, it is my birthday.   That must be what's going on.  Bitty bean is just partying way too hard in there.  bleurgh.

Thanks for understanding and I'll see you tomorrow!

"Hello, this is Marie the Mac Owner"

...is how I answered the phone yesterday.  It's here and now this is what my dining table currently looks like! A MacBook Pro and a Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet.  How hipster-swish-designer-pants am I?  I need giant black rimmed glasses that over take my face and the facade will be complete.   Nevermind the fact that I don't know how to use either piece of equipment yet.

The table only stayed like that for a moment before Scarlet brought in her own design tablets:  

 No more time to blog, the Beeble and I must create! 

Bustling About Like it's Christmas Eve

Today has been of sweet tea, sunshine, biscuits and rasberry jam (both made from scratch and tasting of heaven from a local cafe), a calm tummy, a nearly tidied house, sweet beeble and anticipation of the most exciting package I've ever received in the mail, arriving tomorrow! :)    

Such excitement requires extremely long sentences ;)

omgomgommgomgomgomggogmogomgmogogogogogomgmmgmmmmomg  eep!

Beware the Mutilating Bunny Muncher!

So, this pregnancy hasn't been great on Scarlet's diet.  She's been eating a lot of pantry foods because I haven't felt well enough to prepare fresh meats, fish and produce before they've gone bad.  I keep trying but as the wilted kale, iffy looking cauliflower and random floppy English cucumber will tell you, I'm failing miserably.  Yes I should freeze things, I know.  Chalk that up to the fail too.   

When it's meal time for Scarlet, her plate ends up filled with randoms like today's lunch feast of tater tots, cheese, crackers, a handful of frozen peas and popcorn.  I tried to tell myself it was ok, they were organic tots as was the popcorn (which tastes like lightly flavored paper drizzled in olive oil).  She did eat an apple, so that's something right?  Scarlet wasn't thrilled with the rest of it.  

After naptime I felt really guilty about her recent meals and decided the fresh air might curb my nausea so we headed to the market for some fresh produce.  My poor nutrient deprived Beebs grabbed and chomped on whatever she could get her hands on.  We left with a fresh fruit and veggie haul that looked like the rabbits got to it before it ever hit the bag.  She devoured a (washed) nectarine, so we paid for the pit, took a big ole' bite out of a head of broccoli and nibbled a little nibble on each carrot in the bunch.  I took them from her and tried to explain that we had to wash them first.  Thus began a very persistent protest and chant "cahwutt, cahwutt, cahwutt!"  Within an hour of washing there's only one carrot left!

The state of our carrots as we left the market.

Bottom left is the last bite, greens and all, headed down her gullet

Pic-Me-Up!

Hello, you poor neglected little thing.  Sorry I've been away but my blogging time has been replaced with dry heaving and a general warlbeldy feeling.  Don't feel down.  I promise I'll visit more often!  Here's a happy little Scarlet goon.  A little "pic" me up to tide you till next time.

Worth it

A little story:

Muuuahahah!  Ryan and I are at his mother's house once again. We've got the run of the house while she's out at her clogging class.  Ry is taking a shower in the guest bath, which has clear, etched, sliding glass shower doors .  He's listening to Adele loudly so he didn't hear me when I snuck in and stood about an inch away from the glass doors.  It should be noted that I'm wearing a dark hoodie and yoga pants, you know, sexy style.  He carried on singing loudly and dancing his little nekkid tooshie off (and clapping, who claps in the shower??) while facing the opposite direction. It took him a good 5-10 seconds before he realized I was there.  When he saw me he flipped the frack out. 

  "Oh my God!  Oh my God!  I'm dead.  I've had a heart attack and I'm dead.  You've killed me.  I'm dead.  You're on your own now. Go on without me."  

Heh.  Worth it.  :)

p.s. Spell check wants me to change snuck to snick.  Snick?  Really?  What's a snick?  I understand maybe suggesting "sneaked" but who says sneaked?  Besides you, Natalie. ;)

Scarlet's Easter Basket

Cute no?

I bought the robins egg blue basket at Goodwill last October for $2

Inside:

Foam Alphabet Bath Letters - $4.99 at Target

Owl Wash Cloth - $3.99 at Target

Bird Sippy Cup and Bowl Set - $7 at Target

Hair Bows - $3.49 at Target

Hello Kitty Necklace - $1 at Target

Pink Bunny Ears - $1 at Target

 Pink Feather Bird Pen - $1 at Dollar Store

Chocolate Bunny Pop - $2.39 at Safeway

Reeses Pieces Carrot Treat Bag - $1 at Dollar Store

Pastel Plastic Eggs - $7 at Safeway

Annie's Bunnies Fruit Snacks - $3.49 at Local Natural Food Market

The eggs will be filled with fruit snacks and cheddar crackers and hidden in the garden.

 And the giant cherry on top?  A big ole monkey.

Scarlet is so so so SOOO obsessed with balloons.  It's too the point that Ryan and I avoid floral and gift departments at stores that we frequent because we just can't handle the incessent 'bawoon' jibber jabber.  If she has one then every other word out of her mouth is about the bawoon.  She yammers on about how everyone should all look at it, hold it, see it, look at it, see it see it! Bawooooooooon!  She wont eat if there is a balloon in sight because that's takes away from time that could be spent talking about the balloon.  The first time she was given a balloon to take home after church she talked about it nonstop for 4 days before Ryan and decided the deflated balloon needed to go live on a farm somewhere.  THREE MONTHS LATER the girls still asks after that dang thing!  And that was just a regular old red rubber balloon!  So, we decided to be the best parents on the planet and suffer the aftermath by topping her basket with this guy.
 She is going to flip the frick out.

Betcha by next Friday Ry and I will be kicking ourselves for bringing the monkey into our beeble girl's life. ;)

Conversational Back and Forth with My 2 Year Old (25 months)

It's 10:15pm and Scarlet just woke up in her room and called me in there with a slight pout to her voice.

Me:  What's the matter?

Scarlet:  *using her saddest voice for best effect*  I bonka head on na cwib.

Me:  Uh oh!  Do you have owies?  

Scarlet:  Yea *rubs her head* I cwyin' Mama.

Me: You're crying?

Scarlet: Yea.  I habba owies and I sad.  Make a Scahyet happy Mama.  

Me: Oh, I don't want you to be sad honey.  Kisses will make it better and then you can be happy.

Scarlet:  Ummm, okay Mama.

Me:  *smothers in kisses and loves*  Allll better.

Scarlet:  It's okay mama.  Scahyet okay.

Me:  Are you happy too?  Will you have happy dreams now?

Scarlet:  Yea, a Cuwious George happy.

Me:  You're going to have dreams about curious George?  

Scarlet:  Yea Mama.  *puts head back down and hugs her blankie*

Where'd my baby go?

The Beach

3/13/13 Goodbye

Ryan's grandparents are amazing people.  They traveled the world together, taught ballroom dance on cruise ships, visited tribes in Africa and Grandma Loretta even taught Hula classes.  On Wednesday, around 1am, Loretta passed away in her sleep after a year long battle with pain.
Rudy and Loretta are without a doubt the most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I often regret that I didn't get to meet them sooner.  Rudy sang to his wife each morning as he brought her a cup of coffee (often accompanied by his uke) and they were as in love on the day she died as they were over SEVENTY years ago when they wed.  He adored his wife and sparkles every time he speaks of her.  Grandpa Rudy was one of Ryan's groomsmen and he and Loretta danced at our wedding as the longest married couple there.  Grandma wore a candy necklace from our reception candy shop in all of the professional shots we have and I sooo love that!  She was something to be admired.  She even modeled in a runway show for a big name company when she was in her eighties!  She wrote an essay about keeping a youthful heart and mentality that caught the judges eye.
My mother and I only knew them for the past six years but fell in love with them right out of the gate.  From the moment we met them they loved us as if were were always there, always apart of their family.  It's been an honor and an immense blessing.

 The whole family is doing okay, relieved that she will no longer endure the pain of her broken body.  It's hard to know she's not in our world anymore and even harder to think of Rudy and Loretta apart.  But the family has all come together and the love for them and each other is palatable.    Ryan has been reliving some of his favorite stories from his childhood with me over the past few days. Her life will always be cherished, remembered and definitely celebrated by everyone that had the privilege to know her.  Goodbye Grandma Loretta, there isn't a soul alive that isn't better off for having you in their lives. 

I'll be taking one week off from the blog.  See you all very soon.

A Royal Offense

The other day I was cleaning up Scarlet's room and found this picture that Ryan drew on the MagnaDoodle.  At first I thought it must be me and decided that in place of taking offense to the monster lady depiction, I would instead pity my poor husband's drawing skills.  

But then as I tidied more I found an old magazine and realized who the illustration was of.
 Any guesses?  

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Needless to say, I don't think Ryan will be hired to paint portraits of the royal family any time soon.

International Play Date of the Future!

Scarlet and Nolan danced and giggled with Darcy this morning.  

Our kids are the Jetson Generation!

Me and my girl