"Precious"

I'm ready to post this. I was ready from the start but my husband wanted some time to adjust. On January 19th 2010 we found out, quite unexpectedly that we were expecting again :) We actually had been preventing and were very very surprised that the pregnancy test was positive. A few days later I had a "bleeding episode" as I called it. It was a large amount of blood only when I sat on the toilet. It was gone as fast as it came but was enough to start me worrying. I was nervous as I never had any bleeding with the other kids. I was also nervous because according to me charting, I had no clue as to when I got pregnant and I just didn't think it was right. I knew something was off. A few days after that "episode" I had another. Same exact thing as the first. My nurse midwife, said to have bloodwork done was overkill. I totally disagree. I decided to be prepared for the worst and drove to Walmart to buy pads. On February 3 I got really bad terrible cramps and back ache. I started to bleed real bad. My tests got lighter and we lost our baby. I'm glad I know without a doubt that our baby is in heaven. We named our baby Precious.

Get free tickets to disney

www.GiveADayGetADisneyDay.com

Go ahead Volunteer, Disney is offering a free tickets to those who volunteer to hlep in their community. Go to the site for more details, be a big helper this year :)

Count your blessings....

I'm setting here humming to myself, Count your blessings name them one by one...Meme Abby Jr Ariel Moey Arfie... Count your blessing see what God has done, Count your blessings...house friends church body...name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done. Thank you God. You are so good to me. I love you.

Its different now :)

Well I have been MIA for a while and there is many reasons why. Let me tell you. A few months ago we got the stomach virus and we got it bad. For days we threw up, I mean power chucked and dry heaved. Then we never felt good for weeks after. I really never felt right after being sick. So I still had some stomach trouble. Then I started getting this really bad chest pain. I was afraid. I was so scared when it would happen that I thought I was going to die. A few times I was in pain and I was worrying so much that I puked and got panic attacks. I was really losing my mind. Well it just was getting worse. I would be in the store and feel even just a little pain and think here we go again, then I would have a massive panic attack. Heart palpitations, stomach pain, numb extremities, feeling of passing out and way more. I decided that it might be reflux so I put myself on omeprizole 20mg. Finally after Christmas the crap hit the fan. One day I just started panicking for no reason at all. I kept feeling like bad things were going to happen. I ended up in the hospital on Dec 29th. I tried desperately to describe what I was thinking how I was feeling and wondering if I was sane anymore. They gave me a Valium 5mg (wow how relaxing was that!) and ran some BW. Dr was thinking it was PPD, after he asked how old M was he decided it wasn’t (hind sight 20/20, I’m almost sure some of it was). Arthur was there talking with me and I was telling him all my fears. Finally after searching my heart I found out my biggest problem. I was not sure of my salvation. I had been lieing to myself for years and my pride was overcoming me. I cried out to God and asked him to forgive me for the things I had done and my pride, That night I gave him my life and I never want it to change. I went from having to control everything and worrying if I couldn’t to letting God have the control. I don’t have to carry all the burdens anymore. I can read my Bible now with an understanding and I am sure that when I die I will be in heaven with my savior. I was discharge from the Hospital and was told that I should take 5-10 mg Valium every 4-6 hours as needed. I have done a lot of praying and I have read my Bible every day. I am happy to say that God has taken a lot of the anxiety from me. Some days I have to just give my worries to God. I have been doing a lot more with my Hubby and family and am so happy to be with them. I gave God all the anger that I was carrying, toward anyone and everyone. I don’t want to be angry, upset, worried anymore and with God’s help I won’t be. I have only had to take 1 pill since being in the hospital and that was 2 days later. I have had nothing since. Praise God. I went to my Dr last week and he went over my issues. He said my BW said that my thyroid was off and my potassium was low. I have more BW to do at the end of the month. He wants to check my thyroid again. Also said that some might be slight PPD and anxiety. He also said that he is sure I have reflux issues and put me on 40mg of Omeprizole , 1000 Omega 3, Super B complex vitamins and multi vit every day. The reflux meds he said I should be able to wean off in a few months, I may have done damage to my stomach when I was throwing up so hard. I have to see him in 4 weeks. I really feel almost back to normal but very much better. I told my Dr about getting saved and he said getting that straightened out with God was a great thing and that can only help. He said that I am not losing my mind and I can get past this. He was also encouraging to have more kids if we wish and I thought that I would never have anymore because of these problems. So I have been doing a lot more, Getting out of the house, taking my vitamins, praying, reading my Bible, cooking, cleaning. Trying not to feel UN-important.

I have a very addictive personality!

I don't mean that if you know me you will be addicted to me because I'm so interesting, lol. I only wish, but alas I can't be a genius and have a bunch of friends too :) Anyways on to what I was talking about, I find new things and like them. Like them so much that I go overboard with them. For example, I found the Goodmama diaper love, bought a TON of diapers and guess what, sold most of them because I didn't need them *smacks head*. So forever I have loved Partylite candle and I still do but I haven't really had the money to spend on them or the time to host a party so I can get them cheap! Well My Secret Santa sent me a Yankee Candle Tart warmer and I fell in love.... I went to the mall on Saturday for a little after Christmas Clearance and savings and ended up in Yankee Candle Store. They were having 50% off all there Holiday items!!! I walked out after spending 50$ I got 2 22oz jar candles, 2 shades and 2 plates. LOVE THEM! I bought a ton of tarts from Ebay, I bought tealights (read about walmart tealights) and 2 more jars off there online store (more 50% off prices), then today...hold on to your seat... I bought 8 22oz jars off there online site because they are 12.50$ EACH!!!!! OK I am done spending money on those stupid candles. Hopefully these will last me a long long time. See this is the problem I have, I am addictive! So if you love Yankee Candle go, go, go get some sales, they are amazing :)

Easy DIY change your Fuel filter? Not on our truck!

A month or so ago we started having chugging in our 2000 Ford Excursion. We thought we had put some bad gas in it and were experiencing water in fuel related issues. So we did all the normal things you might do when you start having vehicle problems. We changes the Air filter, added dry gas, changed the oil and bought a new fuel filter to change. We took a Sunday afternoon and figured we would have enough time to do these few minor fixes to our truck. Art started by changing the air filter, and draining the oil. These things after we had put in dry gas earlier that morning. Then while the oil was draining he decided to change the in line fuel filter. Not so fast! Did anyone know you need a special tool for this? Not us. Do you think the guys at Advanced Auto would have told us? Nope. So I searched the internet for some information. Any information to help us change the filter without the use of the tool. No such luck. I found a picture of it online and Art and I got to work fashioning our own tool. We really didn't want to take a trip to Cobleskill for a 20$ tool that we might never use again (not that 20$ is much but with the trip and all it would have been a pain). We made a tool, I got under the truck to help ( I HATE BEING UNDER A LOW LIEING TRUCK!!! DO I NEED TO SAY IT AGAIN?). Well the tool we made might have worked but it was too cold to keep trying it and of course it was not perfect being as we had never seen this tool in real life. So we had to buy it. It was less then 20$ but it did the job. Actually, Art changed the fuel filter in the church parking lot, after church, in the dark while the kids were in play practice. So yes it is an easy DIY job as long as you have the right tools. Break it down... Make sure you have the tool to change your Ford In line Fuel Gas Filter. It will save you hours of frustration and frostbite, lol
Here is a great link and a picture of the "special tool" Don't ask me what its called. I have no clue and I really don't care, just thought someone might need this someday when you are stuck trying to change your fuel filter.
Our tool looks slightly different but it is basically the same.

http://www.fordf150.net/howto/fuelfilter.php

Homegrown or storebought? Homegrown baby!

I sent Jr to our neighbors house today to give them a Christmas gift. I made Hot Chocolate and Homemade cake mix for there gift. When he came back he was carrying a dozen of fresh laid eggs, mmmm. I love fresh eggs! When I was a kid we had Rhode Island Red Hens and we got lots of eggs! We loved to search for them. Kind of like Easter everyday ;) Just to give you an idea of how much different homegrown eggs are from store bought here is a picture. Mind you my hands are very large and the egg on the left is very BIG, then next is a store bought egg and finally a small home grown egg! I feel bad for the hen that laid that very large egg, OUCH. One more thing, did you know that when a hen lays an egg she announces it! Yup, that is what all that racket is, lol.

Don't ever buy Walmart Tealights!!!!!!!

My wonderful Secret Santa from TWW sent me a Yankee Candle warmer with 4 tarts for my Christmas preset! I love it. I wanted to try it out but the only tealights I had was partylite and I didn't want to mess up the scent of the warmer but I found one that was vanilla. I figured that couldn't mess with the scent of the tart too much so I used it. What a wonderful smell! I went to walmart and bought there tealights. They are Mainstays Unscented Tealight candles. Well the first one burned ok, didn't really melt the tart very well. I took a closer look and the tealight doesn't even look like wax 8/ I figured that it must have been faulty and so I tried another one. It didn't even soften the bottom of the tart, not to mention that the flame was TINY! Well I thought maybe I need special warmer tealights so I was just going to use these to put in my partylite nativity scene. These burn so crappy that they only burn a little hole in the what is supposed to be wax ??? Needless to say I am very unhappy with these candles and will NEVER buy them again. I hope someone can read this and not waste there money on this junk. Pics anyone???

Quick Cloth diaper Help and a little info :)

There are a few different types of CDs, all-in-one, fitteds and prefolds/flats. All-in-ones are diapers that have the absorbant layer,fasteners and cover all in one diaper. Fitteds are the absorbant layer, may or maynot have the fasters and need a cover. Prefolds/flats are just the absorbant layer, these need fasteners (snappy or pins) and cover. A diaper needs to be absorbant and have a closure and a cover of some sort to protect clothing from getting wet. All-in-one,fitteds and prefolds/falts diapers can be ONE SIZE fits most with adjustable heights. They can also be sized, xs, s, m, l, xl. Cloth diaper require a Cloth Diaper safe detergent , you can't just use any detergent. here is a good list...
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
They also need to be cared for differently then normal laundry...
http://www.diaperjungle.com/washing-cloth-diapers.html
I suggest buying a toilet sprayer, anyone can install it, I installed mine...
http://www.diapersprayer.com/
Or make your own, looks very easy...you are looking to save money right :)
http://gidgetgoeshome.com/2008/08/25/diy-tutorial-make-your-own-diaper-sprayer/
Now that you know the basics, lets talk covers. I prefer Wool Covers and I knit them myself. I knit longies, soakers and skirties. Lanolize them and they are ready to prevent moisture from coming through.
http://www.cookiepants.com/clothdiaperreview.htm
My second choice is Thirties
http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/covers.htm
or something similar. PUL is excellent for keeping moisture in and your clothes dry :) That is a quick run down with help links. Let me know if you have any questions.

Why cloth for #5?

I am so thankful I stumbled across a post about cloth diapers. I was on a forum talking with my "peeps" and one of them stated how they just got a great deal on Bumgenius Cloth 3.0 Diapers. I had always thought of cloth diapers as prefolds and plastic pull up pants. That was how my grandma cloth diapered and how I had seen other ladies cloth diaper when I was growing up. I considered using those myself with my first child as a money saver but I wasn't able to have my own washer and dryer so I figured it would not work for me. Well child after child I struggled with buying diapers. I wanted to buy the best... Huggies...Pampers but couldn't afford them and so conceded to buying the cheapest I could find. I had pee leaks almost every night and when my child would poop it was a poop-splosion! Out the legs...up the back sometimes in there hair! YUCK. I was sick of it. When I heard the word Bumgenius I was on a mission. I now owned my own home, had my own washer and dryer and felt I could tackle cloth diapers. WOW was I surprised. I never knew there was such trendy cloth diapers as Bumgenius, Fuzzibunz, Kissaluvs, Happy Heiny's, Swaddlebees, Grobaby's and even way more Work at home mom designs! I had no clue there was all-in-one diapers that required almost no work, all I had to do was put it on my child and wash it when it was dirty. In January of this year we started cloth diapering our 5th child. I wish I had done it sooner. My diaper stash now consists of Bumgenius 3.0 One Size (no need to buy different sizes), Bumgenius Organics (all-in-one organic), Happy Heinys and Goodmama diapers. I love the ease of Bumgenius. They are great for an on the go family like ours. Easy to wear out, just as easy as a disposable to change, trendy and the best for the environment to boot! They are just as simple to wash. A dirty diaper goes in the diaper pail (just like a disposable), then every 2-3 days they go in the wash. 1 wash with an extra rinse and they are clean. Hang or in the dryer to dry! All ready to go on the bottom again. The diaper bag is no different to pack either. I hope that you are reading this because you are contemplating cloth diapering and I hope I have encouraged you to do so. Best of luck!