Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween 2010

Our communities Halloween Trick-or-Treating was tonight. Russ and I took Chloe Jo to Church members' houses. We started at 5:00 p.m. and didn't get home until after 8:00 p.m.! It took sooo long and there were several members that weren't home or didn't answer their door (it was a little later than we were wanting to be out so these people probably didn't want any more disruptions to their evening). I did go ahead and give Chloe Jo a few freckles on her cheeks. She looked sooooo cute!
Seriously, how could Raggedy Chloe get any more adorable!?!?
Chloe Jo did so good Trick-or-treating. She even went to knock on doors without one of us holding her hand (this may not seem like much to some of you, but for her, it's a huge step)!
She especially loved getting candy out of the bags and bowls.
The first people gave her a couple of apples, too. I love it that they gave her something healthy to go along with her something not-so-healthy.
And here is the happy family. We had such a great time tonight. I love making memories like this!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Converted Crib

I was planning on buying Chloe Jo a twin-sized bed for christmas. Russ and I ended up deciding to hold off on that for a little while. Lately, though, I've been really wanting to be able to snuggle up with Chloe Jo before she goes to sleep. On Wednesday, I decided to convert her crib into a toddler bed. Chloe Jo helped me unscrew and take out the front railing. She was soooo excited to be able to climb into her bed all by herself (she never even tried to climb out of the crib).
She loves her bed without the front rail and I do, too. I'm able to snuggle up with her before she goes to sleep for a few minutes and I just love it.
I have put pillows on the floor the last couple of nights. She did fall out once each night. It is a learning process just like everything else and she will get used to it. She does just fine during naptime. She is the sweetest little girl ever!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Chloe loves Jesus!



The Fall Festival and Pumpkin Carving

Russ and I took Chloe Jo to the local Fall Festival on Monday evening. I love that she wore her Halloween costume and that it will get used twice this year.
Doesn't she look adorable as Raggedy Ann??? I love the costume I found for her!
She is the prettiest Raggedy Ann I've ever seen! I may give her freckles for trick-or-treating Saturday evening.
When we got to the Fall Festival we bought several tickets so Chloe Jo could do the activities. She didn't know what to think at first (you know it takes her a while to warm up to everything). Once she understood that she would get little prizes for the games, she decided she wanted to do them after all.
She was super-duper excited about her spider ring!
This ring-toss game was her favorite.
Daddy and his sweet Raggedy Chloe.
Daddy, Raggedy Chloe and Momma at the Fall Festival.
After we got home, we put Chloe Jo to bed and brought our 2 large pumpkins inside for a little bit of carving fun.
Russ was great about scooping out the innards so I could concentrate on the carving.
We found a couple of carving patterns on the internet and printed them off.
I taped the patterns to the pumpkins and used a pumpkin drill to poke holes around the outside of each of the pictures.
I love the way our pumpkins turned out. Cookie Monster and Elmo...doesn't get much cuter than that!
I had to rescrape Elmo's mouth and outline, but it still doesn't show as well as Cookie Monster's. The pumpkin must be more dense or something like that. We bought the pumpkins from two different places so they might not be the same species.
We had such a fun time on Monday with the Fall Festival and pumpkin carving. I can't wait to take Chloe Jo trick-or-treating on Saturday evening!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

It's a Chloe Suplex!



That is what I have to work with. She will bust out with all these words and then never say them when I want her to. HA!

More on the laundry detergent

-I love the homemade laundry detergent! It is great at cleaning and getting stains out. I have washed several pairs of Chloe's panties that she has had poop accidents in and they are all clean with no stains.

-I don't know if it works on grease because we don't get much grease up in here. I assume it would, though.

-I don't own an HE washer so I can't say from experience if this soap is okay for them. My mother has an HE washer and if I remember correctly, the soap used in those machines needs to be low-sudsing. This homemade soap is a no-suds soap. If that is the only issue with an HE washer (I'm not sure if there is anything else special) then it would work great.

-I found a recipe for fabric softener that I am going to try after I use the 2 bottles in my cabinet. You can find it here.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

He is mocking us.

Dear Mr. Landlord,

When we moved in and you told us you were going to replace the thermostat, we believed you. Instead this is what we are stuck with.
I know you think we are complete morons, but we actually do know how to use this. The people from the 70's put labels on it and yes, we can read. When you brought this temperature gage to us, we hoped you were joking.
Not only is it ugly, but it also broke in my hand seconds after I took this picture. I know you would love this stuff in your house so I'm going to mail it back to you. Along with these suction cups it came with because suction cups don't suction to sheetrock.
Sincerely,
Your Tenant
P.S. The water heater is still dripping.

Monday, October 25, 2010

New Lifestyle...New Life???

My infertility really stumps me. I feel like part of me is not working and there has to be a reason why. Looking back at all of my doctor visits to Obi-Wan Kenobe, I'm not satisfied with the way things were handled. Please don't misunderstand what I am trying to say. I am very thankful to God and the staff at the clinic I went to for giving me my gorgeous little girl. But I also wish other things were done. Instead of trying to figure out why my ovaries don't work properly, I was given clomid to make them work. That's great, but what if there was a better way? What if I could change things in my lifestyle or in my diet that would help my body behave properly? I wonder about that. I remember asking about things like my weight and about my eating habits and I was told not to worry about it. Now, looking back, I feel like I should have pursued the subject more.

A few weeks ago, one of my blogger friends (I don't know her in real life, but have "known" her for a few years) wrote a blog about the book Making Babies by Sami S. David and Jill Blakeway. The thing that really struck me from my friend's blog about this book was that the writers want to fix the problem, not just get around it by clomid or IUI's or IVF's. That really peaked my interest. I searched for the book on several sites and ended up paying less than $7.00 to buy it from here. I was able to get free shipping because I had never bought from them before and I also had a $5.00 off code that they gave me when I hit their site. They did sign me up for a month to month program (I just missed where it said that would happen at the bottom of the page), but they were really great when I called about the extra fee and they reimbursed my credit card within 48 hours.

Once I recieved the book I immediately started reading it and immediately felt overwhelmed. When we were trying for Chloe Jo, I was depressed, anxious and overwhelmed all of the time. This time it is different. This time I feel like it would be okay if we aren't able to have another baby. I am so happy with Chloe Jo that my heart almost bursts with love whenever I see her. So instead of letting myself get so far in that I feel like I can't take it anymore (like I did last time), I put the book down. I pondered the things I read for a few days and I got to a point where I was okay to read more. I'm making myself relax this time.

After I started reading further into the book, I started liking the book more. Sami S. David is a reproductive endocrinologist who was the first doctor in New York to perform a successful IVF. He wrote about that experience in the book and how he decided that wasn't the route he wanted to go. He joined forces with Jill Blakeway, a licensed acupuncturist and together they combine western and eastern medicine. They work under the belief that every person falls into one of 5 fertility types. They have an online quiz if you want to find out what category you are in. They then give more specialized advice depending on your specific type.

One of the things I was surprised about was that the book really stresses eating organic foods. I have never been into the whole organic fad that is going on because I thought it was just that: a fad. Now I understand the reasons behind the lifestyle. I still think a lot of people do it because it is a fad, but it really is a better choice.

What I like most about the program so far is that the book gives you specifics. It doesn't say to take a this or that supplement and leave it at that like many of the other books I read did. The writers actually give a specific dose for each of the vitamins/herbs that it talks about. It also gives a list of the vitamins and herbs that are best for your fertility type. Beyond vitamins and herbs, it talks about nutrition for a healthier you (in general and for your type). It stresses that the best way to get vitamins into your system is by the food you eat and not by popping a bunch of pills every morning, though it does recommend some. I have really enjoyed the section on nutrition because it seems like something I can do.

I have been getting everything ready to start this new lifestyle. I had to order some of the rarer herbs off of Amazon and they were a little pricey, but I paid for most of it with swagbucks. I bought the rest of the vitamins I will be taking today (there will be 11 in all). I also bought the ingredients to make a fertili-tea that I will be drinking 3 times a day. I mixed that up and tried a cup. Unfortunately I used a mesh ball to steep the tea and the spices I mixed with it came out of the little holes so I am going to have to get some filters to strain the liquid out. It was pretty nasty! I also was able to buy more organic than I thought I would. Organic is on the pricey side so I won't be able to get all organic.

I'm really excited about this program. Even if it doesn't give the desired result of a new baby, it will be great to know I am doing all I can to be healthy. I'll try to give updates about how it is going for me!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Chloe Jo's Color Book

My sister made a color book for her daughter, Brianna and I loved the idea so much that I decided to do my own for Chloe Jo for Christmas. I have three projects for Chloe Jo that are supposed to be Christmas presents. This is the first one that I have finished, though. One I haven't started and the other one is almost done. I love the way this color book turned out. Hopefully it will help Chloe Jo learn her colors and entertain her.
This is the title page. I did the book in an 8x8 layout in a denim scrapbook.
The pink and orange pages are my favorites!