May Angel Star

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Our heat went out this past weekend. We woke up to the house being 59 degrees. Brian and our friend Peter looked at the furnace and tried to figure out what was wrong, they came up with nothing. So we called several heating and cooling companies. All of which told us it would be $140 just to come out. I then had the thought to call our contractor friend Eric. He contacted a friend of a friend and a few hours later Jim came out to the house and fixed the problem for $80. Not only did he fix it, he told Brian what to do if it happened again and said that if it didn’t work to call him and he would come out for free, all we would have to do is pay for parts! Now that is service.

During all that I left to go to Kelly and Peter’s house. For some much needed heat and we were going to eat dinner over there as well. Great friends are a wonderful blessing! We got half way there when Brianna asked where her coat was, she had forgotten it. The realization ended with me being aggravated and her in tears. We turned around and went back home. I opened the garage door and it stopped a quarter of the way up. I closed it and tried again. Now there was a small crack in of of the panels that has been there for months. Well when the garage started up again, the panels above the crack started buckling inward. I stopped it, shut it and went in through the front door. Grumbling about the events of the day. We have been parking in the driveway ever since.

Brian looked up garage door replacements and said there was no way we were doing it because it was over $800. My opinion was that I learned my lessen with going with a company and I told him to contact Eric. He did and sure enough, Eric said we could just replace the panels. He called up the company who installed it and they are coming out Wednesday morning to give him an estimate so he can fix it.

Now I’m worried about the next thing to break.

Praying it won’t be the van!

We are blessed to have such a talented and connected friend!

Went to the cardiologist today for the heart palpitations I’ve been having.

I was really nervous.

My BP was good 118/80.

They did an EKG.

The first doctor who came in scared the crap out of me by looking all concerned, but then the main doctor came in and said the first stuff wasn’t what you looked at and that everything had looked okay. I suppose it was a teaching moment for the new doctor, but I had about 5 minutes of unnecessary freaking out.

I was told that what I have been experiencing over the past month+ are PVC’s, basically a premature heartbeat that throws my rhythm out of whack for a beat.

I was told that since it happens most during rest that it wasn’t much to worry about.

But if it became bothersome and started happening during physical activity to come back in for an echo cardiogram and a stress test.

That he didn’t want to do medication because I was still so young.

But he was an odd guy. He laughed and joked around a lot. Then he pretty much made me tell him what I was most fearful of, which was my lack of family history (with being adopted) and the fear of having young kids and dropping dead. Then he tried to reassure me, but I left feeling anything but reassured.

So, for now I’m supposed to not worry about it.

I’ll try.

A is for Alex barfing multiple times last week. Blueberries are not pretty regurgitated! He is thankfully feeling much better this week, though his appetite is not fully back yet. He’s also been racking up the vocabulary lately. His newest words or bubble and touch.

B is for Brianna making student of the month for December. Though it is a secret, so shhhh! Brian and I get to present her an award at chapel in January. She had no clue, so make sure you don’t say anything to her. I am beyond proud of her!

C is for Christmas, which is right around the corner. The house is decorated, most of the gifts are purchased and already wrapped. Yet, I’m not completely in the mood this year. Hopefully I will be feeling more festive next week.

D is for doctors. I went to my regular doc because I was having heart palpitations. They took lots of blood and I ended up getting a thyroid ultrasound. Everything came back normal. Wed. I have an appt. with a cardiologist.

E is for Emma. The cat who is driving Brian nuts by messing with the tree, as well as stalking the hamster cage and attacking my legs. The only time she is awesome is when she warms the spot at the end of my bed, so my feet are nice and toasty, as well as night time cuddle time.

F is for football! The Eagles are in first in the NFC East! They need to win it all to make up for the Phillies blowing the World Series.

G is for good nights rest. I’ve been staying up entirely too late these last couple of weeks.

H is for hair being straightened. I finally used the flat iron on the girls and it has made doing their hair so much easier!

I is for ice cream. I’ve been craving it like crazy lately. Especially blizzards from DQ.

J is for Jesus. Who’s birth we celebrate on Christmas!

K is for Katie. Who barfed at Kamryn’s birthday party at world of bounce on Saturday. It was a mix of feeling sorry for her and feeling highly embarrassed! She has also been saying some highly funny things lately, which of course I can’t recall right now.

L is for lights. I love looking at them when driving around in the evenings. They really beautiful, when they are tastefully done!

M is for money tree, I wish I had a few of them growing in my backyard.

N is for New Moon which lived up to my expectations and more. I’ve seen it twice and can’t wait to see it again.

O is for I don’t know. I’m too tired to think of something clever too.

P is for pick ‘em. I’ve been doing the whole football pick ‘em thing this year. Brian reads off the teams and I pick who I think is going to win. I’m in first place, despite not knowing anything about anything when it comes to football and the standings. He rolls his eyes at me on a weekly basis, yet I continue to be winning!

Q is for the start of my last name.

R is for reader. I’m so behind on reading blogs.

S is for snow. We got a tiny bit last Monday. It was nice, though I almost slid during 2 turns.

T is for Tori, who missed me while I was away. Much longer than I wanted to be. Wiseman’s kicked my booty, I was MIA all week and then last week was recovery. I didn’t have it in me to blog. Though I did tap away at the laptop on the story I’m writing.

U is for umbrella, though I haven’t actually been using one. It has been needed a few times this past week. Cold and rainy. Yuck.

V is for me. I’m good. I think. Just have a lot on my plate, it makes me quiet and introspective. I’ve been using avoidance techniques, such as watching TV, crocheting, reading and writing.

W is for Wiseman’s Warehouse. I don’t have the numbers back from the treasurer but I think it was a success. The kids had a blast Christmas shopping. We had more than enough volunteers. I only had to go out shopping three times during the actual week. There were some hiccups but for the most part it went smoothly. Brian was right, I couldn’t help myself, I said I would do it again.

X is for Xylo Xylophoning.. Sandra Boynton is funny.

Y is for yarn. I’ve been a crocheting fool, trying to get my Mom’s sock monkey’s completely. My hands don’t handle repetitive motion very well.

Z is for zoo lights. Something I keep forgetting about, but really should take the kids too.

Welcome to the  Cloth Diaper Carnival 4 organized by Kim over at Dirty Diaper Laundry.  I came across this blog carnival while doing roll call on SITS this morning. Tracey had commented before I did and I went to check out her blog and send her some comment love! I had been struggling to come up with something to blog about tonight. I wanted to post something, anything, but what?

Then Brian said something that really got my panties in a bunch, and I was going to vent it out, try to reflect on why his opinions made me so darn angry, maybe come to some sort of closure. Not going to happen, coming across this lovely Cloth Diaper carnival has given me a new topic and I’m glad for it. I need to stew a wee bit more I think, not exactly the healthiest thing, but hey, I never said I was perfect. So, onwards and upwards….

Where did you learn about Cloth Diapers?

I have no clue. I’m sure it was a message board. Probably the young moms message board I belonged to during my pregnancies with Brianna and Katie. Someone was CDing their baby and so I briefly looked into it. I came across Happy Heinys back when it was just a WAHM site and thought they were amazingly cute, so I ordered two. An adorable hot pink and white gingham, with flowers, and a white with a light pink angel pattern. They arrived in the mail and I excitedly tore open the package and immediately put them on Brianna, who was around 16 months at the time. Within the first 20 minutes she pooped in it and I was thrilled. Why I’m not sure. I washed them up, and thought, this cloth diapering thing is an awesome idea. So easy, fashionable and reusable! You can’t go wrong. I brought them in to work with me and showed off those diapers with a big grin, telling everyone how awesome they were and how I couldn’t wait to order more!

Then came the comments from both Brian and my Mother, all of which were negative. The fact that my Mom was the one babysitting Brianna while I was at work and the non-support from my husband made me ix-nay doing cloth full time.

I thought about doing it with Katie. Looked at all the information and as soon as I brought it up I was shot down with more negative feedback, this time in the form of my Mom and another family member, Brian wasn’t a fan either. So no go for Katie.

Alex was a different story. I was beyond determined and finally had the mindset of, I’m doing this whether you approve or not. It’s my life, I’ll live it how I choose and gosh darn it, I choose to cloth diaper my son! IRL friends all thought I was crazy, well one thought it was cool, but she’s a hippy at heart and another is a cloth diapering, baby wearing, attachment parenting, green goddess, or at least that’s what I think of her!  Brian for some reason was totally on board, probably when I showed him the money we would save in the long run.

I got expert advice from my friends Alissa, Maria and Crystal. I talked it over endlessly with my dear friend Ella until I was blue in the face. Then I went for it and bought a bunch of bumGenius diapers from Alissa’s store Sprout Soup and some second hand Drybees from Crystal. Maria had also given me the cutest little Mosaic Moon diaper with turtles on it for Alex when she sent me the diaper bag she made me!

Now I sincerely cannot imagine a life without cloth diapering! I absolutely love it, even if I’m hunched over the toilet, spraying off the grossest of poops with a diaper sprayer (a definite must have!)

Plus, the decision to use cloth changed me. It was a decision met with so much negativity and I could have let it beat me down like I had previously, but instead I chose to rise above it and do what I knew deep down in my heart was right for me and my child!

It also goes to show how important it is to have a husband who listens, and even when they don’t fully grasp it or understand it, supports what is important to you!

My son has fluffy buns, and I wouldn’t turn back for the world!

Alex’s first day in cloth in one of the diapers I had gotten from Crystal!