Weekend Getaway

We decided to load up the family and head down to Tucson to share our nie little guy with his Great-Grandma, Tata-Ish and his uncle. Of course Nana too, but she had been able to see him when he was born so it was more of a reunion for her.

The drive down was nice, and a bit of an adventure with a five week old infant. He did really well, only adding about an hour and a half to our drive time to stop for feedings and snuggles. We are really lucky to have GM and all his help. He is really great about keeping baby O entertained or just holding his little hands to let him know that he has someone right next to him. I will admit there were a couple moments that I thought we were nuts and that this was a mistake, but in the end it was terrific. On the way home he was happy and all things went smoothly. It was nice.

Tucson is lovely this time of year, as it is all year round. My mother has a beautiful home with a really relaxing and lovely yard. It is always nice to visit, even if just for a couple quick days.

The kids all had a wonderful time, playing with their uncle (he is only two years older than GM). ME explored the yard and collected some new sticks, pinecones and leaves for her neverending collection of cool stuff she finds on her journies. Baby O enjoyed the attention and all the warm arms to hold and love him.

Goals for 2008

Last year GM and I sat down and set some goals for him and where we wanted to be with out lessons and fencing before the end of 2007. We also discussed what we would like to adopt or add into our scope of activities and such. Not only did he achieve these goals, but he surpassed them. He really didn't seem to have much faith in his ability to achieve the goals we set, and so it took some encouragement at first. I would show him when he was on target, or when he was moving ahead of the goal numbers. This really seemed to encourage him and he began to feel that he not only could achieve these goals, but that he could surpass them. I could see the pride and confidence grow in him and I have decided to do the same thing this year, but also add in GD to the mix, as well as the rest of the family.

I chose to set goals with the kids regarding their lessons, extra-curricular activities and their chores. Manny and I will be setting goals for our health, the kids health care, our family finances, our house projects, and for our family quality time. On the side I will be setting the goals along with my partner for Rio Grande Roots & Shoots, an important part of our lives and something that requires a great deal of planning.

Measuring our success...

Last year, with GM, I sat down and figured out where we would need to be at various times in the year in order to meet our final goal. The year as a whole is too overwhelming, but achieving small bites that range for about 6 weeks at a time, can be great. You get to see and celebrate your success several times throughout the year, and if you fall behind, you can see it happening before you are so far behind that your goal becomes impossible to achieve. So for each of our goals I will sit down and figure out our necessary progress in monthly intervals.

So, onto the goals...

House Projects

Landscape the front yard
Landscape the backyard
Furnish the porch
Finish the garage
Window in the dining room
Interior Drywall
New front door
New sliding door
Finish Wood floors
Stain wood exterior
Stain wood interior
Texture the ceiling
Lighting for the upper shelves of lounge
woodwork in LR entry
Enclose the HWH in new bathroom
Fix new bath faucet
Paint the study
Set up scrapbook closet in Guest room
Lighting in the foyer
glass in buffet door
handles on built-in doors in lounge
Organize storage

Lessons

GM
1. Complete 7th grade math
2. Complete 12 Chapter books (minimum 150 pages)
3. Early American History
4. Complete 7th grade L Arts
5. Science @Explora

GD
1. Finish 3rd grade math
2. Complete 12 Chapter Books
3. Native American History
4. Complete 4th grade L Arts
5. Science @Explora

ME
1. alphabet
2. simple words
3. Saxon Math K
4. Saxon Phonics K
5. Science @Explora

Art @ Museum
Science coop
RGRS
Jazz Ensemble
Instrument practice
Fencing/Gymnastics

Health

K
1. Lose 30lbs
2. Work on cardio
3. mammogram
4. Dentist
5. Genetic testing for hydrocephalus

M
1. Lose weight
2. Work on Cardio
3. Have a physical
4. Genetic testing for hydrocephalus

GM
1. tweak his supplements
2. review GF/CF diet
3. dentist (continue)

GD
1. Dentist

ME
1. Dentist

Baby O
1. Keep up on head checks

RGRS Goals

Complete 25 service projects
Coordinate First Annual Conference
Get T-Shirts Made
Meet with Dr. Goodall
Continue Prairie Dog sponsorship
Continue Bosque adopted space work
Complete at least two outreach projects
Develop ongoing fundraising project
Support and work with Youth Leadership group
Develop committees for future growth


The kids are still thinking about their other goals, so I will add them in when we have had a chance to sit down and iron them out.

O So Sweet!

Great book for all parents

A good friend of mine lent me a wonderful book called Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child. I love this book so much. I found a copy of it at Wild Oats and I really enjoy thumbing through it. I believe it helped us through a recent bout with a colic-like gas issue. If you have had a baby with gas issues, you know how desperate you are to help them through it.

The great thing about this book is that it shares with you the medical advise from many perspectives including Conventional Madicine, Nutritional Supplements, Herbs, Homeopathy, Acupressure, Diet and even gives tips for prevention and general info. You are able to read through the various styles and you choose whatyou feel works best for your family. It is just really helpful!!

Welcome Baby O!!

Well I havent written in a really long time. Basically ever since I found out that we were being blessed with another little one.

Welcome our new son, "O". He is amazing, healthy, and such a great eater! We are all enjoying our little guy and looking forward to a peaceful holiday season.

Santa Fe Fencing Tournament Y8-Y10

GM had his first Foil tournament in Santa Fe a couple weekends ago. He was such a great sport and had a lot of fun. He even made some new friends. The kids who were from the NMFC were all really welcoming and nice to the DCF kids.

We are so happy with GM's fencing and all that it has brought to his life. I was really hesitant to let him start fencing, I pictured kids hitting one another randomly and coming home with bruises and hurt feelings. It is SO not like that! The level of control and honor that comes with the sport has really made this one of the best things we have ever chosen to do with him. He focusses, he shakes the coaches hand and says thank you after each class, he remembers to salute the opponent and the referee. It is such a sport of gentlemen, and ladies. :-)

So for this first Foil tournament, lets just say I was NERVOUS! I wanted it to go well for him, which doesnt mean winning, he could be in last place and still be thrilled, but just not humiliated. I was nervous for no reason at all. It went so well, and he really enjoyed the entire process. He even was able to win a few bouts, including one against a team mate who is really really good. So he was on top of the world. He ended up in fifth place, and was just tickled about the outcome!!

We will be doing more tournaments in the future!! It was such a positive experience for all of us.

Rio Grande Roots & Shoots site is up!!

I finally got our site up and running! I still need to edit it, so ignore the poor grammar and spelling issues! LOL

www.riogranderootsandshoots.org

Farmer Monte Makes a good point!

The other morning I was having my coffee, checking my email and a morning talk/news show was on my TV. The lady announced that organic may be out, and local may be in. I about choked on my coffee and a big sense of "oh crap" came across my heart! I watched as much of it as I could, hoping it was one of those teaser announcements where they later say, no, actually you want local organic foods, not just local. I was saddened when no, that was not the result. In fact all they focused on was the pollution issues of transporting produce and foods. Okay, I am not for pollution or fuel consumption, but I am definitely not for feeding my kids produce and meats that are coated with pesticides or for our local farmers to be encouraged to not worry about what they are using in their farming practices. I'm all for the local farmer, if I could buy everything local, I would, and really do strive for that goal, but I cant say I would choose conventional over organic just because it was local.

So here is what Farmer Monte had to say on the matter, he is far more eloquent and since he is a local organic farmer, he is right in the middle of this new debate....

The Local vs Organic Debate

Ok, so when you are a produce nerd like I am, you get a little excited when food becomes a national issue. So I got giddy as a school girl last week when I saw that the cover of Time magazine was a huge picture of an apple.
But then I was quickly let down when the label on the apple said “Forget Organic, Eat Local.” Shoot, I thought to myself, now we have got someone (or a group) trying to separate two things that are not mutually exclusive. So let’s break down the debate.First off, I think the article is pretty much junk. The intensive research that the author did to reach his conclusion that we should all forget Organic, was to eat one Organic apple and one local conventional. He thought the Organic one was a bit mealy, and the local one crisp. So, he then brings the jury back and proclaims local should reign. Very scientific work from Time mag. Impressive.And I am not saying that local should not reign, but I want it to be Organic local. And with that, I would/will take regional Organic over local conventional any day of the week. I know that we might have some disagreement among the members on that, which is fine, but as a business owner, I cannot waffle on our bottom line. LPO’s stance needs to be concrete and consistent; so, therefore, we choose AZ or CA Organic over conventional produce from Belen.But I would love to get members feedback, so we are going to put a survey up on the web site this week for members to vote on and then I will let you know the tally next week. And the question is this, assuming quality and price to be the same, would you choose CA Organic over NM conventional? An interesting debate for sure.And since I have another half page to fill I will walk through my logic on why I would take the regional Organic. It can be summed up in two words, market forces. Economics prove that all markets and suppliers in a market are capable of changing. They can mutate and survive.Meaning that the factory who once made Beta Max video tapes, changed over to produce VHS and for the most part it was no big deal.Well I see the produce world in much the same way. We need to create incentives for growers to change. So that if a conventional producer reads enough articles about the big increases in Organic sales, they might be enticed into transitioning into cleaner farming. And when that happens on a large enough scale, then we will get a new and improved food industry.What happens if we dilute the demand for Organics by continuing to support a farming practice that we do not agree with just to say we buy local? What have we really accomplished?Do we really feel better about the introduction of chemicals into our environment as long as they are used locally? It seems to me that we want any conventional agriculture far away from our communities. Not in it. I am philosophically opposed to chemicals on food. Local or not. Finally, my last beef with the article is that it does not take into consideration the huge strides in farms that are both local and certified Organic. It does not have to be one or the other...we can (and do) have both happening.LPO is a microcosm of the small Organic farms that are popping up all over the U.S. Due to the relative low start up costs (elbow grease is still free) of a 2 to 5 acre market farm, we are seeing a huge increase in certified Organic production. A 40% increase in acreage in 3 years.In addition to the number of new farms and their diverse make up (many women and minority owned), farmed acreage by existing farms are going up, meaning that the marketplace is increasing for farms who do not sell to huge retail stores. All in all, a bright Spring for the Organic movement and all its growers….and consumers.
Have a great week, Farmer Monte

Dairy Free and loving it!

Well, I wouldn't really say that GM is "loving it" but he is dealing with it quite well. I really hesitated about taking him off of the dairy, but WOW am I glad we did. He is certainly happier, but the huge thing that has improved is his ability to EAT!!!

GM used to have a diet that basically consisted of a variety of combinations of bread and cheese, also some chicken nuggets etc. It was a SHORT list. Once we removed the gluten he did expand a bit, but mostly just in that he would now eat grilled chicken instead of breaded. He did pick up a lot of focus and was far less frustrated. So that was a great difference with the gluten. However with the gluten it did take months (about 6) before we really were able to see this change.

We removed the dairy (casein) about three weeks ago. He misses his dairy, but, he is now eating other foods. He ate and sort of enjoyed pasta (gluten free of course) he has NEVER been able to get pasta into his mouth because of the sensory issues and its texture. He is willing to eat kosher hot dogs, not the best food out there, but it is an expansion, he is eating corn and loving tacos!!! He even ate two scrambled eggs for breakfast yesterday. Something that a month ago would have had him gagging at the thought of it. Last night when he went to the coop and got his free piece of fruit, which he usually gives to his little sister, he ATE IT! He did have Dad take the skin off of it, but he said it was delicious! I am just blown away by how quickly his range and ability has expanded.

So what does this mean? Honestly, I think this is huge, and not just for nutritional reasons. Basically GM has struggled with sensory issues all his life and through the years he has really gathered quite the tool box of coping mechanisms. However his oral sensitivity has always been really a challenge and it has only seen moderate improvement in the past 7 years. We did get some huge improvements when he was about 15 month - 2 years old. This was when he wouldn't eat anything and so the expansion into the dry crunchies and eventually all the dairy and bread items was viewed as an improvement. However it leveled off and there we sat. My hope is that with this visible improvement to his oral sensitivities, he must be having some relief from the sensitivities that he has been coping with for all these years, bringing him some relief from the tough job of being "normal". Hopefully this will ease the struggle to filter through all the reactions his mind and body want to have to all these sensory issues and he can either rest a bit, or use that energy to bring strength to other areas or interests. I think his load is lighter.

Overall this has made one of the largest differences that we have seen in years!

Truck Shopping

Well, my husband has wanted a truck since I met him fifteen years ago. He drove a really horrible old Toyota Supra for years that smoked and was so bad that I couldn't even ride in it when pregnant because it leaked so much exhaust into the cabin area that it made me sick and concerned for the baby. Everyone who actually worked for him drove FAR better vehicles and still, he didn't complain (too much). We bought a used Volvo station wagon and I drove that with the baby while he drove the toxic mobile each day commuting in the DC metro area. Then we finally got a larger vehicle for him to use for work, but the gas was so expensive for it that he gave it to me with the boys and one more on the way, and he drove the old Volvo, which by this time had a lot of issues of its own. But still, he did it because it made sense and it was what we could afford. That one finally died and we ended up buying another one that was less than the repair cost of the first one, so he was set again (sort of).

Finally we moved and when we got here he treated himself to a 1976 Ford F150, all green, and dubbed "the Hulk". While fun, this puppy gets maybe 10 miles to the gallon and has left him stranded here and there about town. The other Volvo died too, so now here we are ... truck shopping!

My only issue with this is the fuel economy. It's not the cost, its the environment that concerns me, so we have agreed to go with a flex-fuel or bio-diesel vehicle that will at least be less of an environmental nightmare!

I hope he loves this thing, he will be driving it for a LOOOOONG time!!! :-)

Homekeeping quiz

Aprons – Y/N?
No, I dont usually use one

Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Bread

Clothesline – Y/N?
Not right now, but will in the spring

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
no

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day:
Dishes

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Yes, a standup in the pantry

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Yes

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Usually the internet, other people's blogs

Ironing – Love it or hate it?
I love it periodically

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Oh yes. In the kitchen by the back door.

Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
Eclectic and fun

Love: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
vaccuuming

Mop - Y/N?
No, Im a hands and knees gal

Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Does anyone even have these anymore??

Oven - Do you use the window, or open the door to check?
I used the window until the bulb blew out, now I use the door

Pizza - What do you put on yours?
Pepperoni, tomatoe and onion

Quiet - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Read a magazine or play around on the computer

Recipe card box - Y/N?
Yes . . . not that I actually use it.

Style of house -
Ranch style southwestern

Tablecloths and napkins - Y/N?
Yes, on holidays and special occasions

Under the kitchen sink - Organized or toxic wasteland?
We dont use chemicals, but it isnt organized either

Vacuum - How many times per week?
Five if Im having a good week, 0 if Im not

Wash - How many loads of laundry do you do a week?
Between 7 and 10

Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
Yes I do, my friend Kathy and I email our lists and updates to one another each day

Yard - Who does what?
I do the gardening, Dad does the heavy labor, GM tends the chickens

Zzz’s - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Hmm, I dont have one specific, but perhaps I will start one. Oh, I do start the dishwasher!!!

We "heart" fencing!

On a really great note, GM is really doing great with his fencing. Even the coach told us last night that he is doing really good and improving steadily. Im so happy that he has found something that really motivates and suits him so well. He fits in fairly well with the other guys and has a good time with them at practice. He is definitely the youngest in his group, but that is good for him as having younger kids with more energy doesnt really set him up for success. He is too distracted by the silliness, and cant focus on the lesson or the coach.

He got several really good touches last night on one kid and seemed to hold his own with another who is really quite good. He certainly left feeling really good about himself and how he did, and THAT is the goal! So Woohoo!!!!

Update on our choices with GM

Okay I feel I have had enough time to absorb and process this new advice and have decided that we owe it to him to give it a try. Simply because it may make a great improvement in his daily life and we cant keep that potential from him. I will be really keeping an eye on things and watching for that point when the interventions have become more of a hindrance than the diagnosis is. I know it exists, but we havent come across it yet.

So we have been Casein Free for over a week and he didnt starve to death, so that is a good thing. I made him some delicious brownies which really boosted his idea of how this was going to be, and he likes the Rice Dream Vanilla and hasnt complained once about it not being "real milk". We did find a cheese substitute which we have managed to melt quite nicely for a quesadilla or pizza and that has helped tremendously. The first pizza was a huge flop, but the second seemed to go over fairly well. He hasnt had pizza in the way others eat it in so long that I dont think the comparison is still there and that helped out a lot. Although he did really love the Rice Crust frozen pizzas from the coop. :-(

We will do this for a while, and begin the Diflucan for yeast either next week or the one after that. We might visit with family next week and I dont want him to be an emotional mess from yeast die-off, so it depends on what we do with those plans. His stool has been much better lately, so Im hoping that the gfcf, enzymes and probiotics are helping with the yeast already and we can have the Diflucan come in and kick it's butt on out of there! :-)

Once we have done these two things, then I will start him on the fish oil and the Curcumin, along with slowly starting his other supplements, followed after by the Methyl B-12 injections. I want to be sure this is the right route first and feel I need more time to research and process the info I receive.

DAN! Dr. Visit

In my search for a Dentist who works with children who have special needs and particular issues with their oral senses, I stumbled upon a DAN Dr. in Santa Fe. I feel that I have done searches for this in the past years, but never found anyone; but there he was. So I called expecting to get the usual five-eight month out appointment, and BAM, they had an opening the very next day. So we hopped right on it!

I typed up my usual information sheet which outlines our therapeutic history and our strides. Also including his current diet and our current concerns. Thank goodness because when I got there they were a bit upset that I didn't have the 18 page history packet that they usually send out to new patients. Not my fault obviously because the appointment was from the day before, but none the less I am bothered that the DR didn't have it to review. Although my little two page sheet was of some help (minimally).

So we go, and he is the usual eccentric, way too smart, egotistical, socially challenged specialists we are accustomed to seeing. All that aside, they are usually the best and they know their stuff! So we sit down and he begins to ask why we aren't Casein Free yet, I knew this would be the hit I took walking in the door, and I knew it was going to be the beginning of us taking that next step, so that was all good. Then he began explaining to me that he wanted GM to begin the Methyl B12 regimen. This is a shot every three days of 3cc of Methylcobalamin. It is administered by me and the concept is that it will help us to make another leap in function. Read here for more info.

He then proceeds to ramble off a list of books for me to read, and research for me to do and gives me a prescription for Diflucan for yeast and writes a few supplements down for us to begin at home.

So, that was that.

He did say something that resonated with me, because it is true, and it gave me some hope that this man is indeed experienced with what he is talking about and that he could become a good resource for us. He said that "you are the expert, I am just the facilitator for what you want to do for your child, you tell me what the next step is". I agree with this wholeheartedly and have always known that while we see this specialist and that therapist, in the end, it is the parents who are driving the bus, making the choices and navigating their child through this forest of options and theories. So having him recognize that, gave me hope that this guy might be okay after all. But the jury is still out. I haven't decided yet.

Driving home, my mind is just reeling. I'm asking myself questions like, how good is "good enough"? How far do we go before we can say, we did all we could? At what point is the balance between intervention and obsession? Can continuing to intervene actually make enough difference to make the realities of the intervention (shots every three days) worth it? At what point do the interventions actually become more life inhibiting than the diagnosis? If we didn't do the shots, is there this whole different level to GM that we would be keeping him from reaching? Could this be the bump that puts us into meaningful friendships, love and marriage? Is it possible that we have become so accustomed to who he is that we can no longer see the potential that could exist for him? Or as he said it, "which parts of me are the Asperger's, and which parts are just me"? It used to be easy to see, it used to be easy to point out what areas concern us, but now it is much harder, like needing a microscope to see clearly instead of it being obvious to the naked eye.

So now I am trying to determine our motivation, and our choices as to how far we choose to go. I know that until I make this determination I cant make a decision regarding the choices before us (methyl B12, hyperbaric O2 treatments). It is a process, an ongoing, often life-changing process.

Menu Planning

Okay, this is WAY outside my box!!! But I wanted to try to see how long we could go without grocery shopping and on how little we could live (grocery wise). I really didn't do any grocery shopping in January, with the exception of milk and bread. I wanted us to eat up everything in our pantry (for the most part) and our freezer. We were able to go all of January this way! So now I have a clean freezer and a clean pantry. I made a list of what food I wanted to buy based on my Nourishing Traditions book and our regular family favorites and I went to Costco. The Albuquerque Costco has a surprising amount of Organic food, much more than my old store in VA (although maybe they do now). So I bought a lot of our food in bulk at Costco, and the rest at Walmart (UGH) but I had a gift card to use up and only bought their organic stuff so hopefully I did my little part to promote organic purchases from the Titan store. It was hard for me though!!!! Anything else I can get at the coop.

So I was able to get all our shopping done for the entire month of February and sat down and did the menu planning for the month. I feel like a cafeteria lady... today's lunch will be pasta with cheese and apple slices..... LOL But hey, until we can get into the habit, it will have to work.

I want to be more frugal with our monthly spending, especially in the area of groceries. I watched a show "Kids By the Dozen" and the Jeub family feeds a family of 13 with a household income of less than $40,000.00 per year. They live off less than that. Now they do live in CO and I don't know about the cost of living scenario, but we don't live far from them, so hey, surely we can do this with our tiny family of five!!!

I like the menu planning too because it takes the "what's for dinner tonight" question out of my head. I can actually just know that tonight is salmon with rice and veggies, and somehow it takes the dread out of the chore for me. I don't have to think, I just have to do! I like that. It seems that it is the thinking part that gets me tied up in dread and procrastination. I'm learning........

Anyway, I love this so far this month, and I'm excited to see if we can make it. I just have to keep ME out of the cheese and I need to bake about two loaves of bread per week to meet our needs.

Wish us luck!

The Family Closet

Okay, I have had an ongoing battle with laundry. Yes, that somewhat benign thing that everyone else on the planet does without much thought or worry, has been known to kick my butt on a regular basis. It is sad, but true. BUT NO MORE!!! I have a secret weapon, I have knowledge handed down to me by other, more experienced mothers who have fought the laundry dragon and come away victorious!!!!

First, what was my issue, where was this sort of assembly-line scenario falling apart. First you gather, then wash, then dry, then put away. Isn't that how it goes? Well i had a few extra steps in there... I had gather (I'm good at that one) and wash, then I have sit and start to get that weird smell, then wash again, then dry, then fluff because we forgot it in there and everything is all wrinkled, then put in big pile on chair in bedroom, let rest.... dress from this pile until you cant remember if parts are clean or dirty, and then wash all the pile again. This brings us back to gather, the part I'm good at!!!

Okay, its ugly, but there it is, my not so streamlined version of a laundry assembly line. So, where is the back up? It comes from two places, first if my husband gets involved it can throw me into a terrible backspin that has been known to cause years of laundry hell. I kid you not! There was the removal of wet clothing to dry one shirt incident of 2003 that left us behind and continually screwed for over a year! So there is that....

Then there is the whole folding, hanging, putting away thing. I hate it! I feel so defeated by it and I basically avoid it like it is some sort of terrible manual labor that involves pick axes and a lot of sweat. But why? Oh yeah, because I will fold them and put them away and then in a little one's attempt to find that perfect shirt they will end up all over the floor, where they are then napped on by the dog! Frustrating? YES!!!!

So if I can get that end of things situated, I could then dry fast, and therefore wash faster (without the weird smell) and then we are back to gathering (the part I'm good at)!!!!

Well, a wise mother of sixteen posted on her site about the family closet (insert sound of angels singing here). Yep! One closet for the entire family. Not only one closet, but NO DRESSERS! Freedom! (again with the angels). So here is what we do and why...

Once closet for five people

• the clothes range from ME to GD to GM to myself and then my husband
• Below the clothes on the floor are two bins, one for kiddy socks, one for adult socks
• everything is hung on hangers, including t-shirts. This keeps us from keeping clothes we don't wear because they aren't hidden in a drawer, it also makes it so the kids can see exactly which one they want and we don't end up with clothes on the floor.
• the only clothes not on hangers are underclothes and pjs. These are in my closet in drawers below the hanging clothes.

This is why it is great...

• All the laundry in one room means it is easy to put away
• hangers only makes it VERY fast to put away
• clothing in one room means everyone dresses in there, so laundry is already gathered
• bedroom closets in the children's rooms are free for toys, and special things they want in there (personal storage)
• no dressers frees up space in each child's room so they have more room to play
• I keep a couple bags on the floor (the paper ones with handles) one for donate, one for outgrown and needs to be stored; this really helps me not over accumulate and keep things streamlined and uncluttered.
• I keep clothes that are in the cycle (outgrown by one, but about to be worn by another) on the shelf above the soon to wear child's clothes, this prevents forgetting about them and finding them when the second child has already outgrown them too.

Mommy is sane! I win! I am victorious! I wouldn't even claim victory if I hadn't been doing this for quite some time now. It has been a couple months and the system has not failed me yet. I don't even have to think about it. EVERYTHING is right there. It is so simple and obvious.

First Family Stitches

Well, it happened. That day you know will come when you are holding that little bundle in your arms but you try to not think about it. That first big boo-boo that sends you off to the hospital, covered in blood and someone is coming away with stitches. It turns out that a head wound can cause quite a bit of bleeding!

All is well, our GD is home and resting and enjoying a nice ice cream treat for his trauma. He was so brave and strong, and didnt move at all during the stitches. He had a CT Scan and all came back looking good.

It made for quite an adventurous afternoon. I hope our last for quite some time!!!

Roots & Shoots Watermelon Mountain Animal Refuge Trip

Yesterday was a nice day, but very busy. We woke up and got ourselves out the door by 9:15am to head way north to the Watermelon Mountain Ranch Animal Refuge. A wonderful no-kill shelter that houses many dogs, cats and even rabbits. They have a nice facility that is growing and serving the community. The kids each brought some stuff to donate from the refuge's wish list and the volunteers were kind enough to take the kids on a tour of the facility and share with them some of the important work that they do. It was great to see the kids get so excited to see the animals and especially some of the tiny guys who's faces lit up when they got to touch a cat or see a newborn puppy. It was a nice morning.

We then went to a friend's house to visit. They live way out there so it worked out really well to tie the two together. The kids had a blast and I got to hold a baby for most of the afternoon. :-)

Then off to Grandma's for dinner. It was a really full day, but a lot of fun!!!!