The Clutter We Collect

I am constantly amazed at the amount of "stuff" in our house. Each time we add a child, hobby, animal, pet, etc., the "stuff" becomes more. Not that the barn animals come into the house, well okay, maybe the goats have wandered in once or twice when the kids left the door open (and one knows how to open the door) and I've had lambs in the house when we've had a weak lamb and we're doing bottle feeds. Oh and okay okay so I've also had baby chicks and turkeys and maybe a bunny in the house once or twice. But really, that's just everyday life when you live funny farm, errr, hobby farm.

Children and hobbies, it's easy to see how we accumulate stuff. Both require stuff. Although children do not require as much stuff as we think they do. When the baby was born, we received a gift card from Target and I was looking at baby stuff online deciding what to buy and couldn't decide. There are all these fun hoppers and jumpers and toys. And then I realized a couple of things. One is that I could easily find these things at the consignment shop in town for a fraction of the price and the second is that they use them for such a short period of time.

We also live in a small house in today's standards. It's probably around 900 square feet. Most people think we are nuts but we've made it work comfortably. Part of it is controlling your stuff, which we have a hard time doing. Sometimes the amount of stuff overwhelms me and I spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff and trying to control this stuff.

I recently received Organized Simplicity and love the book.


When I order books, I often take several days to read them. I first skim through chapters and read snipets here and there. Then I'll read chapters and finally I'll read the book from front to back. And then reference books get read periodically throughout the year.

What I like most about the book is that it doesn't tell you HOW to organize, HOW to live simply. It talks about finding organization that works for your family and finding your family's definition of simple living.

The other part that really hit home was the discussion on our emotional attachment to "stuff." That is usually the biggest reason we keep things and often we don't have an emotional attachment to the thing, we have an emotional attachment to the memory. That's what I need to remember, it's the memory that is important, not the thing. There are also things that I'm storing that do not hold good memories but I've not been able to get rid of them and I need to evaluate that emotion and by letting go of the item, I can let go of the negativity attached to it. The biggest example is items from my previous marriage. I've stored and moved my wedding dress, pictures, flowers, etc., for 10 years. The marriage was not a happy time and I became myself again after the marriage ended. It's time to let these items go. They aren't memories that I want to revisit or that I would necessarily share with my children.

Reading this book has really given my thought process direction in simplifying our household. I don't mean to take it down to barebones but to really think about what we have and the physical space that it occupies.

The book takes a 10 day route to simplying and organizing the house. For me, that just won't work. Not with a hubby who travels and three little kids in the house.

My first plan of attach is my closet and getting rid of the clothes and junk that we store there. I know there are winter jackets that don't fit, as well as clothing that no longer fits or I just don't wear. It can easily be donated or repurposed (t-shirts for example can be made into pajama pants, shorts, sweats for the kids). We also have a large closet and all extras seem to get stuck in there. Like the sewing machine that broke or furniture that we didn't want in the house but were afraid to get rid of it.

My second room will be the kitchen. I know there are cabinets that I haven't been into in months and appliances we haven't used in years. I've set a timeline of 4 days to do both rooms.

I'm so excited!!

Blessings,
Lisa

Valentine's Day

After our daughter was born, Shane and I were snuggled up on the couch with her one night when she was barely weeks old. I asked him if he ever thought he'd love anyone so much. This man of few words said to me,

"There are so many different types of love and because of you I got to find out two more kinds."

I love all of these guys...each in their own special unique way.

Blessings,
Lisa

A hat for my baby

My two oldest children have not been home this weekend. Emily went to Grandma's Thursday night and the boys and I picked her up on Friday to go and visit her other grandma (my mom) to deliver her and Grandpa's Valentine's. They wouldn't come home with me. This morning I went to go pick them up and was greeted with, "What are you doing here?" and "We're not going home for 4 days." So it's just me, the man, and the lil' baby. So this momma is kinda lost!!  :)  The house got cleaned and the dishes done. We went to the farm store and ordered field seed and priced out a new chainsaw. I know...such exciting stuff!

I started and finished the pettiskirt for Emily's Valentine's Day dress. I also started another sleep sack. This one is for a baby shower gift. It's the same material as the one in this post. Hopefully I can finish it up tomorrow and mail it out on Monday. I also started and almost completed an order for a customer.

I also started this hat from this pattern on etsy.



I'm not sure if I fell in love with the hat or with the adorable baby!!

I would really love to learn how to knit and I've tried several times but I struggle with knitting. I learn one set of stitches and usually end up forgetting what I learned by the time I come back to it. Crocheting however seems to come naturally. I can not work on any crocheting projects for months and always seem to pick it up quickly again just by reviewing the stitches in a book. There are so many great new patterns out there for crocheting and I do like having a crafty hobby that I can easily slip in my bag and take with me.

I'm off to snuggle down with a movie and work on my little hat again.

Blessings,
Lisa

Natural Lip Balm

For Christmas, my daughter and I made homemade bath products for gifts to give to teachers, grandmas, aunts, and friends. Part of our gift baskets include homemade lip balm. This is definately something that can be done with a child...but only on a day when you have lots of patience.  :)

After researching many different recipes and ordering different oils and wax, I came up with a recipe that I and my family and friends loved. It includes Avocado oil, soy wax, candelia wax, jojoba oil, almond oil, vitamin E oil and essential oils for fragrance.

You can also get the little metal tins for storing lip balm in. I think the next time I need tubes, I will try the tins. I think they would be much easier to clean for reusing. The recipe we made at Christmas was Cherry Blossom and Kiwi. Even the men were asking for their own tubes after trying some and also requested some that wasn't so fruity. So another batch will be cooked up before Easter along with some homemade body butter.

Living self-sufficiently definately can be luxurious!

Blessings,
Lisa

Recipe
4 ounces avocado oil
3 oz. soy wax
2 oz. candelia wax
1 oz. jojoba oil
1 oz. sweet almond oil
1/2 oz. Vitamin E oil
20 drops of essential oil of choice

Melt soy and candelia wax together and mix in oils until blended. Add essential oil. Pipe into tubes and let cool. Chap and enjoy!!
*Place tubes in freezer for 30-60 minutes before adding lip balm into containers if using plastic tubes.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Our daughter is very protective of her brothers. She's also very curious about things that happen in her world around her and asks wonderful questions. One thing she's been very curious about is breastfeeding and we've been very open with both kids about what breastfeeding is and not hiding how Logan is eating.

Last night when I was feeding Logan right before bed, Emily looked down at me nursing Logan and then looked at daddy and asked..."If Mommy's boobs have milk for my Logan Michael, do your boobs have juice Daddy?"

I. LOVE. THIS. CHILD.

 And this one too!!

Blessings,
Lisa

Ramblings

Today is the first day on my own as Shane went back on call yesterday and had to go into work this morning. But I will say that I do have a wonderful family that is able to help me out. Shane is able to get Em on the bus in the morning and his mom will come out at lunchtime to get her off the bus. These are simple little things that make my life easier. When it's warmer out, we'll take the stroller to the end of the driveway but when it's cold, it's a lot of work to get the boys bundled up, into the jeep to sit at the end of the driveway to wait for the bus.

Baby is still working on finding his routine. He has a 3-hour period of awakeness every day but so far those times have changed throughout the day. He also must be ready to grow because he nursed last night from 8 to 11 p.m. and again from midnight to 2:30 a.m. It makes for a tired day since Connor decided to wake me this morning at 5:30 a.m. Although I will not complain because he wakes me with hugs and kisses.

Right before baby was born, I did finish Emily's quilt. She picked out all of the fabrics and binding color and loves it. The minky and the batting make for a very cozy little quilt and it has a nice weight to it. I have a couple spots on the binding that I need to hand sew that I missed with the  machine but I can't get it away from her long enough to do it!!

I also finished another sleep sack. This time using a brown and turquoise ooga booga print. I seriously love the concept of a sleep sack and wish I would have had them with my first two children.

The baby quilt behind baby is from great-grandma. My parents love auctions and often find material that they give to my grandma. Grandma uses it for her own projects and also takes much of it to church because her circle makes quilts for mission work. All of my kids have received a baby quilt from great-grandma.

My daughter loves the fact that her momma sews and often asks for dresses for holidays. She has a valentine's day party at school next Monday and wanted a new dress. Which I'm more than happy to sew and we even picked out material from my stash. Then yesterday when we were getting ready for church, I remembered a dress I made for her last spring for Easter and she wouldn't wear (I think she said it was too big...which was true). I pulled the dress out and she declared it her Valentine's Dress. Her only request was that it was "poofy" which can easily be accomplished by adding a layer of tulle underneath the skirt.



I am so jealous of that beautiful bright green grass in the background. Looking out the window now I see a sea of white!!!

This morning when I was checking my email and google reader, I was found out that I won a giveaway. Lora from Eager Hands (who by the way has 5 lil' cuties and still makes beautiful jewelry and sewing items for her etsy shop) had a giveaway for a gorgeous lil' blanket made from vintage material.

I normally do not enter giveaways. Mostly because I feel guilty winning sewn items when I'm a seamstress. However, yesterday at church we had a potluck luncheon and during lunch I went upstairs and sat in a pew while nursing Logan. I was thinking of how I should sew a blanket for his baptism since I had with both of my other kids, along with a baptism outfit. When I was reading blogs last night, there was a reminder to enter her giveaway and I did thinking it would be a beautiful little blanket for his baptism. And I feel so blessed to have won something made with God's Love.

Have a blessed day,

Lisa

The dreaded post-partum period

I always wished there was a book about post-partum pregnancy that was real. It seems so many things are sugar-coated with talks about this wonderful baby-moon spent in bliss with your beautiful newborn. Oh don't get me wrong. I love the downtime getting to know my new baby and our family using this time to grow and adjust to each other as a new member has entered making us a family of five. However, no one ever tells you that it can suck, it's hard, there are tears, frustrations, pity, pain, sadness that go along with the laughter, tears, joys, and accomplishments.

No one tells you that you'll still have to go pee 14 times a night. But only now it's because you're retaining so much water that your ankles blend into your calves. No one tells you that the ability to wear your pre-pregnancy clothes doesn't return the day you leave the hospital...or for that matter, may not return at all! No one tells you that you will now have the ability to cry uncontrollably because you ran out of bar soap during your shower. No one tells you that you'll feel so much joy over only looking "5" months pregnancy. No one tells you how you can feel such love for all of your children while still feeling so much guilt during your children's adjustment period. No one tells you that your significant other fears this time more than menopause or even childbirth itself!

The post-partum period means different things after different pregnancies. After our first child was born, we spent that time adjusting to our new roles are mom and dad and the changes that meant to our relationship. After our second child was born, we spent that time helping our daughter adjust to her new role as big sister and our own adjustment of two children. We expanded routines, added new routines, ironed out old routines, shifted and adjusted until everything fell into place.

Now after our third child, we have new roles and adjustments to make. We have children that are older and need more help in adjusting to our new family. Our children love their new brother so much but as with all things, have emotions and feelings that are new to them, and us, that we need to work on together. There is a need for each parent to make extra time for older siblings along with including them in the newborn's daily activities.

This has also been a time for us for adding and expanding new routines in forms of organization to our household and finances. I've found that sometimes pregnancy and new births are sometimes that best times for adding and modifying routines. There are often so many changes going on that nobody seems to question another change. Some of our changes began during pregnancy when we were organizing and rearranging our house for our newest member. The toy closet was by far the biggest change and has been a wonderful addition to our household. I find that the kids have more respect for their toys and actually play with them more because they go into the room and look for them. They also have to put away bins before pulling out another bin and *usually* all toys are put back at the end of the day.

Other changes that are or have been taking place are with organizing our finances, laundry, mail, bookkeeping/recordkeeping, scrapbooking, sewing and crafting supplies. We're still working on tweeking these so we have the best fit for our family.

Also with this pregnancy we've taken another look at our diets and nutrition. We generally eat organic and most of our food is from our animals or our gardens. However, we our 2 year old becomes more independent, we've found he has an extremely big sweet tooth and does not mix well with sugar and corn syrup as it tends to send him into a crazy, wild spin where he goes about 482 miles per hour. In making changes to the sweet part of our diets, this mom has had to look at one culprit that should have been given up years ago....her diet mtn. dew. Our children have never been allowed to have soda pop but we also know that our children will make better choices when mom and dad make good choices. To avoid headache withdrawals, I'm allowed 12 ounces of coffee (a safe amount for nursing mothers) and non-caffeinated tea. This is a good switch because there are so many lovely, yummy, good-for-you teas out there my tastebuds will not get bored.

Blessings,
Lisa