Tis the season...

I've been a little lax the past month, but to my credit, it is the Christmas season and I have been pretty busy. This month we purchased a new front door because our other door had a nice big crack down the middle. That meant S removing the old storm door and front door, then installing the new door. Thankfully, one of our good friends is a contractor and came over to help him get it up. At that point it became my project, I sanded it and stained. Then stained again and sanded. Then applied spar eruthane and sanded. Then applied one last coat of spar eruthane. And all that was the exterior side. I finished the interior much quicker. Just a little sanding and a couple of coats of paint. We then replaced the door knob and deadbolt. I must say it looks fantastic! We just have to get the moulding on the inside put up and we're done with that project. YAY!

So what else? I've also been busy with Christmas pictures, cards, shopping, goodies and parties. With all that, the month flew by. Here are few of the pictures taken mostly by my sweet cousin T.

Sweet brothers

Hmmm...presents for us?

Just a little proof that G can be a little stinker. (He's yanking on W's hair.)

Who me, a hippie?

Every day I'm inching closer to it, I guess. Hippie-hood that is. With W, I went with organic foods and I made most of them myself. I'm still doing that with G, but I've now taken another leap. I've gone the cloth diaper route and homemade natural diaper rash spray. Awesome.

Poor little G had a raging butt rash - thanks to a virus that caused diarrhea for 2 weeks (just what you wanted to know, right?) - that would not clear. I took him the doctor who put him on probiotic drops and wrote a prescription for a paste to be made by a compound pharmacy. A hundred dollars later, I walked out with the probiotic drops and the miracle cream, which turned out not to be the miracle cream at all. I'm not saying it was bad, but he did not get any relief with it and it was not clearing up. Sigh. During this time, I just started praying for God to help with the rash. I could deal with diarrhea but I could not stand to see my little guy so stinking miserable.

God answers prayers. Within a few days, I had 3 different people suggest grapefruit seed extract (GSE) to me. Funny enough, no one I mentioned GSE to had ever heard of it. Is that you, God? Well, I did a little research and headed to the organic grocery store and bought a little bottle of drops (think nose spray bottle and there you go). Obviously, you have to dilute it. I just added 5 drops of GSE to 4 oz of water and bought a spray bottle. Mist the hiney and air dry there you go.

Now for the cloth dipes. I decided to try them ultimately because I had heard that diaper rashes did not occur as often since they allow more air flow. Additionally, I had been doing a Bible study called Serve God Save The Planet. A baby will typically use more than 7,000 diapers in the first 3 years of their lives. That's a lot of diapers. If you don't think the green movement and Christianity go together, then just think again. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 He didn't day people or you or me. He said the world and that means ALL of His creation.

Anyway, off my soapbox, cloth diapering does have a lot of benefits and I don't mind dealing with the poop. I went with Fuzzi Bunz diapers and they are kinda retro cool. (BTW, these are not your mama's cloth diapers and you don't have to swirl in the toilet. HA!)

If you had asked me 5 years ago, if I ever saw myself moving in this direction, you would have gotten an emphatic "No." But priorities change and people change, and it's still all good. Peace out.

Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

W's School Halloween Parade and Class Party

One picture really sums up the entire experience up...

But what the hay, here's another one for your viewing pleasure...

Seriously, from the moment he saw me sitting in the stands during the parade, the tears and crying started. Thankfully, he wasn't the only toddler crying for his parents, but he, by far, was the worst in his class. Ugh.

In some ways, I just have to laugh because of the sheer ridiculous-ness of it all.

W: I wanna home.

Me: W, baby, we're having a party. We've got cookies, cupcakes, chips. We're going to have SO much fun.

W: Hoooooommmeee.

Me: Baby, sit in your chair. See all of your friends are eating. You love chips and cookies.

W: Carry you. (Translation: "Hold me" from "Want mama to carry you?")

Me: What if I sit by you?

W: Nooooo, CARRY YOU.

Me: *sigh* Let's talk, W. (Carrying him over to a quiet corner.) Mama can't come to your parties if you are going to act this way. There's nothing to be upset about. I'm here. Look at your friends. They aren't crying. There's nothing to cry about. Come on, let's have fun.

Finally, a little stoppage on the tears, but holy moly, I was ready to shoot myself. I'm not sure if it's the chaos or this fact I'm there for a prolonged amount of time, but AYI DE MI. It totally manifests itself as him becoming cling wrap, though. I know it's a phase and I know it's temporary, but you just want your child to have as much fun as the rest.

a poem for my mama

I came across this poem the other day and it really reminded me of my mother. I miss her so much. They say the first year is so tough and I imagine that it will be as the first holidays come up. But, I can very clearly hear my mother say "That's enough, P___. " Anyway, the poem is called I'm Free; unfortunately, I don't know who wrote it.

I'm Free

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free.

I'm following the path that God has laid, you see.

I took His hand when I heard Him call.

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,

To laugh, to love, to work or play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way.

I found that peace at the close of the day.

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joys.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,

Oh yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I've savored much.

Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.

Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your hearts and peace to thee.

God wanted me now; He set me free!

P.A.P.

June 2, 1942 - July 12, 2009

rain, rain, rain

We've had several days of rain over the past month in and half. I think at one point we had 11 days straight in a 2 week time period, then a 3 day break with another 5 day stretch of rain. We are waterlogged to say the least. Our bonus room flooded and we had to pull the carpet out. We have to cut out and replace some of the sheet rock that connect the crawl space to the bonus room because of mold and mildew. Yuck. Not quite what we were wanting. However, S and I are going to take this opportunity to turn that room downstairs into a new space. We're planning on staining the concrete versus throwing down new carpet. We're going to take out the drop ceiling and may do some combination of exposed and sheet rock ceiling. S is going to get his opportunity to build in some shelves (if he still wants to do that). I'm thinking about painting it some funky fresh color. Although it's the PITS right now, I can't wait to see the finished product. YAY!

Our backyard is a bog as well. We're going to have to do something about the drainage problem in the spring. Until then, W is having a grand time playing in the "wadder". I've included photos of his most recent play date with the mud pit.

october

October is my favorite month, not because my birthday happens to fall this month, but because of the crisp colors and coolness of Fall. Unfortunately, this month we haven't exactly experienced that coolness yet, BUT it is coming.

We've had a busy month. The first Saturday of the month we went over to Georgia to visit S's sister and her family. Our nephew, A, turned 3 and had a Cars party at Mickey D's. Before Old McDonald just had a farm, now according to W, he also has "chikken nuggets." Aye di mi. The following Sunday, I went to Walker county for my cousin K's baby shower. We used to be very close but had grown somewhat apart over the years just because we had very different lives. Now, we both have families, etc so we have more in common. Since my mother's and grandmother's passing, I've been feeling a little lost at times and am finding it is very important to me to maintain these familial relationships so that I don't lose that connection to my mother and grandmother.

We also took a trip down to the coast with my father this past weekend. There are pictures down below. I hadn't taken a trip with my mother or father in 4 years because my mother just wasn't physically up for it. It was bittersweet for me. I have a lot of fond memories of beach trips with my parents. In some ways, it was nice to see places I had been with her, but there was a little sadness there too. We drove down Thursday night. Then on Friday, we drove over to Fairhope to take Daddy to dialysis. While he was at the center, S, the boys and I went over to Bellinggrath Gardens. S wasn't sure about going there at first, but he eventually understood why I wanted to go there. It was the perfect place to let W out and run about. We had a nice lunch there with the Senior citizens and then headed back over Fairhope to pick up Daddy. On Saturday, we headed down to the pool and the beach. W and little G had fun in the pool, but W wasn't too sure about the ocean. W did have some fun in the sand though. On Sunday, we went back down to the beach for a little while before we had to head back north. I think that we had a pretty good trip overall.

This weekend is supposed to be one of those fantastic Autumn weekends that everyone visualizes. I've bought some beautiful cosmos and mums to set out on our front porch to welcome the season and we're planning a day at the Pumpkin patch next weekend for W. S has mentioned roasting pumpkins seeds on more than one occasion so I'm sure that I'll be doing that for him next Sunday.

View of Bellinggrath home from dock.

Another set of stairs with artisan well.

Sweet baby G

Big boy W.

Climbing the stairs

Handsome daddy.

Daddy and his boys.

Out on the dock.

Trying on our new hats.

In the pool with daddy.

Showing mama the sand.

Bucket head.

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

G is starting to get the hang of solids. It's probably a 75/25 shot when you feed him where 75% gets in the mouth and down the hatch and the other 25% gets on him and anyone else in the line of shot. So far, he really digs carrots, peach banana oatmeal and butternut squash & corn. The pics below are after butternut squash & corn. I think he liked it as he emptied the bowl without any problem. LOL!

"Where'd it go?"

"More please."

Zoo time

We recently renewed our Zoo membership and have really taken advantage of it. Every morning as W gets ready for preschool, he asks if we are going to the "animules house." If it's a nice day, I'm prone to say "Let's go." W gets a kick out of all the animals and telling me what they say. Here are a few pics from a recent trip where we met up with a couple of my aunts and 2 of my cousins' children.

A beautiful water lily.

W taking it all in at the "animal house." He's really into the Zoo and animals right now. I probably heard 50 times on the way to the Zoo, "I wuuvvvvvv animules." HA! G on the other hand was just happy strolling around and sucking on his strap.

The lion sleeps tonight.

ROOOOAAAARRR. What a beautiful tiger!

The Three Stooges looking at vultures. When I asked W what vultures say, he responded with "gobble, gobble." I guess that works.

The "pippo" as W likes to call her.

W and his cousin, T, playing in the water.

T and E having a girls moment.

These are so much fun. W kept on trying to figure out where the next spray was coming from. I wish they had been around when I was a kid.

mama on my mind

My mother is constantly in my thoughts. I am still grieving hard for her. It's been 2-1/2 months since she passed away and it's still so very surreal to me. I can't believe she's gone and I miss her so much. I miss talking to her and hearing her laughter. She was always the first person I ran to when I was hurting or upset. She always knew the right thing to say. I never feared that she would stop loving me. She was my mother first but she was also my best friend. I know I will never experience that kind of love again and my heart is broken. People tell me it gets easier, but in some ways, I hope it doesn't. Am I being masochistic? I don't know. I just fear that when the pain dulls so will the memories. I don't want to forget anything about her. I am so thankful for her presence in my life. I see a lot of her in me and I find myself striving to be more like her. I often do things and think she'd like this or she'd approve of this.

On Friday, the monument went up at her gravesite. It was tougher than I thought going out there. The monument brings home the cold, hard truth - that she is gone and isn't ever coming back. That reality is like a punch in the stomach. I am trying to hold to the belief that we will be reunited in heaven. I really want to believe it, but that kind of blind faith is something I struggle with. But one thing i know for sure is that I believe in a God that allows us to question, who often encourages us to question Him, so that we will seek the Truth.

With all of that said, we chose an angel to be engraved above her name and information on the monument, because she was an angel in many ways to those who knew her. So on Friday, I went to visit with her and brought her some pretty fall flowers. I "dressed" it up and I think she would have like the flowers I chose.