Five

Sam is 5 months old today! He continues to be a sweet and happy baby. He loves playing and chewing on his toys, and along with all of the drooling and fussing he has been doing lately my guess is that he he is teething. Although I haven't spotted anything yet! He is working on his sitting, and loves to be in his Bumbo chair. He loves to be rocked and nursed to sleep, and LOVES snuggling in bed with his mommy!

Baby, you've gone and growed up on me!

So there we were. Sam was nursing, and I was eating my bowl of mashed up pinto beans. Just minding my own business. When all of a sudden my little baby (who was just born yesterday, right?) grabs my spoon and shoves it into his mouth!

It was his first ever taste of real food, and he seemed to really enjoy it. At just a tad bit shy of 5 months, I was planning on waiting a bit longer before introducing food to him. But I guess he has plans of his own!

Fed Up!

2 years ago I started getting small, red, dry spots on my arm and hand. Over the course of just a couple weeks it spread all over both my forearms and on my hands and finger. It stung when it got wet, and itched like crazy. I tried some creams, but nothing was helping. As annoying as it was I wasn't being to pro-active about finding something that worked. Until, that is, it started showing up on my face. My forehead was dry as can be, and under my eyes became red and dry. It looked terrible, and it stung as well.

After doing some research I decided to give a candida diet/cleanse a try. So began a 10 week journey of eating no sugar (not even fruit with the exception of berries), carbs (includes ALL types of grains) or (some) dairy, along with taking (nursing friendly!) supplements 5 times a day. This was summer of '09. My face cleared up within a couple weeks, which was great! So maybe it was diet related; An allergy of some sort? By then end of those 10 weeks, the rash on my arm and hands had gotten much better, but it wasn't completely gone.
 
Eating that strictly was hard. In fact, it really sucked. Having to bring my own cooked up veggies and plain ol' piece of chicken cooked in lemon juice to BBQ's, and watch everyone partake in burgers slathered in ketchup and pasta salads with chunks of cheese. And let's not forget the smorgasbord of desserts that followed.

After eating almost perfectly for 10 weeks, I gradually began incorporating carbs, sugar and dairy back into my diet. My skin problems gradually started coming back. Over the next 6 months or so, still eating "normal", they came and went. I tried many different kinds of creams, salves, and oils. Nothing I used topically helped. Not even a little. I saw an herbalist who did a high tech analysis of my body, and started taking a bunch of supplements, focusing mainly on healing and strengthening my liver/small intestines. Although they did help with other things, I didn't notice any change in my skin. I began to realize that it seemed to flare up whenever I was stressed, and was particularly bad during that time of the month. So maybe it was stress and hormonal?

Then Spring of 2010, I got pregnant. I was sick for most of April and May, and my skin cleared up almost perfectly. Sure, I was hardly eating anything, yet my body had never been more stressed or hormonal than it was then! So was it food related or hormonal? Throughout my pregnancy with Sam my skin flare ups would still come and go, mainly on my face. I had a great pregnancy though! I contribute a lot of that to having a healthier liver. Although all of those supplements I was taking didn't seem to help my skin, by healing my liver I had almost no heartburn, no swelling and didn't suffer from Cholestasis like I did while pregnant with Will!

I have still been struggling with flare ups on my face since Sam was born, but it never got too bad. I was usually able to cover it up pretty well with some makeup. I tried to limit the amount of sugar and carbs I ate, but was still eating them.

Which brings us to the present. A week ago (just in time for Easter, yay!) my face started to get bad again, and within this past week it has gotten worse then it has ever been before. It is red, dry and stings all under both my eyes. Make up does nothing to cover it. I am so fed up with this! I hate having to go out and talk to people when I look like this. So, starting today I am going to start a candia cleanse again. There are so many fun events this month that involve food too! Mother's Day brunch, baby shower, cookout with friends, a wedding, my Birthday! It is going to be very hard to stick with it, but I also would rather not look like death during all of those events.

I would love some words of encouragement, prayers for healing, and please, oh please, don't tempt me!

Four

 I love this guy.

Three

Sam is 3 months old today! He has been such a perfect baby. He will just happily sit in his bouncy chair, slurping away on his hand or sucking his binky. He sleeps well, although it's almost always either in his swing or with me in bed. I know it will make the transfer into his own room and crib all that more difficult, but it just works so great for now! Poor daddy is still sleeping on the couch :-/ It's not that he isn't welcome in bed with us. In fact, I would love it if he did join us. But he just can't get past the clicking of the swing and the slurping of Sam nursing all night long.

Here's my little 3 month cutie...(he is usually more than ready to give a smile, but of course when mommy wants to take his picture it's a whole other story!)

Ah, I wish I could just SQUEEZE him! Oh wait, I can :-P

Making the Most of What We've Got

Our home isn't huge by any means. Our kitchen snuggly fits a round card table that (barely) seats the 3 of us. I look forward to the day where our home is big enough to host fancy dinner parties. For now we make the most of what we've got, and resort to informal, easy, more intimate meals shared over our living room coffee table.

Our living room, which doubles as a playroom, can get crowded easily. I really have to stay on top of the amount of toys we have, otherwise they completely take over. But with the coffee table pushed to the side it is a great space for block building, ball rolling, and nighttime wrestles with daddy.

We have 2 bedrooms, one of which will eventually sleep both the boys. It is definitely considered small, with a lot of the wall space taken up by a window, (our only) closet door, double doors, and 2 built in shelves. But I make the most of it by using the shelves to store the boys clothes, stuffed animals and ever growing collection of books. Placed the right way we can fit a full sized crib, toddler sized bed, glider rocker, changing table and a small nightstand to hold a lamp.

Then there is the "middle room". This is the room you step into when you enter our house, and is between the living room and kitchen (hence the name). We're not quite sure what this room is supposed to be used as. Herein lies the problem. It has never had a specific purpose. As a result of that it has become the place we keep the random things, and over time has become quite messy neglected.

I have had quite the itch lately to be crafty. I'd love to get back into making my flowers, have many sewing projects I would like to try, and would love to finish WILL'S baby scrapbook, not to mention get one started for Sam! I was day dreaming the other day about having our own house where I could have my own sewing/craft space/room. Somewhere to keep my sewing machine out at all times, instead of having to store it away after every use (and not have to use it on the floor!), and have all my supplies organized in one area. But then I was like, Ah ha! In the middle room we have a desk. That desk is meant to be our office area. It holds some books, stores the tacks, tape, and glue, and mostly collects piles of mail, magazines, and other random papers. But we really have no need for an in home office. Dean keeps all his business items at his shop, and we have a filing cabinet that can easily hold a few more supplies. So, I decided to make this nice little space my space. I am so excited about it! I also want to make a space for Will. His Grandma Eaton got him a nice little table and chair set for him to do his "school work" at, but we have yet to find a spot for it.

So, I have decided I am going to give purpose to this odd little room. Here are the before pictures and my re-arrangement/decorating ideas:

That picture has got to go, and I want to get those shoes off the floor! I would also like to find a coat rack eventually. As you will see in another picture, we need one.

The bookshelf will probably stay although I am thinking I might like to paint it. My plan was to store the boys wagon in the basement until Spring, but it never quite made it there. Now, with Spring right around the corner, I figure we might as well not bother. I can't wait to use it for walks to the park!

First things first: Take down Christmas decorations! Gee whiz, Stacey. This really is a pretty window seat, although it doesn't have much of a view. I would love to make some pretty throw pillows for it, and have thought about re-upholstering the cushions. It would be a nice spot to sit and read in the afternoon sun. If I ever had time to just sit and read. It has storage underneath which comes in handy (this is where my sewing machine is kept along with some other crafty items.) The rocking horse is great fun, but just takes up to much room. It will have to go out to the garage to be used when the nice weather is here.

And here is the "office". I will probably take the top part off the desk, and would like to eventually paint the bottom part. I will keep my sewing machine here, and probably get some storage that fits underneath it. Maybe even paint the walls of this nook area? It all depends on how much money I am able to set aside for it. All the junk that has been collected needs to go.  

So those are my ideas. I plan on gradually getting it done throughout the Spring. Especially if I decided to paint things I will need to wait for nicer, warmer weather. I am very excited about it all. Hopefully I will have to gumption to actually complete it!