Catch Up

Been almost a week since I posted. Its been VERY busy around here!

Ryder got hurt on Saturday :( Apparently, him and Taylor were jumping on her bed(and totally ignoring the indoor trampoline we have RIGHT BY HER BED) and some how, he fell onto the electrical outlet. It broke and his head was pouring blood when I got to him. It was so nasty, and he was screaming and freaking out. So of course I freaked out, but I really freaked out when David freaked out. :/ So thankfully my mom could watch Taylor while we took Ryder to the ER.

So we get there and they think that they can glue it back together, no big deal. So they get a big sheet, and swaddle wrap Ryder up. He is kicking and screaming, turning blue etc. It breaks my heart. Finally they get him wrapped where he can't get out(that took a few minutes) and they numbed it with some cream. Then the Dr came in and (this gets kinda nasty) lifts up the flap of skin. :( He said it was alot deeper then he first thought(David looked, I couldn't, and said it was a very deep cut) so the Dr had to stitch him up. It was one of the worst experiences of my life :( He was screaming kicking, yelling for mama to help. So I rubbed his foot and tried to calmly talk to him and keep him focused on me. Try that with a 20 month old :/ It didn't work well. Finally, after 5 stitches they were done. It was so horrible, by the end I was crying along with Ryder.

So the rest of Saturday was spent trying to figure out how on earth to keep him from messing with the stitches. We decided it was best to keep the bandage on as much as possible because other wise its untelling what would get on the boo-boo! So after nap time and right before bed time(and anytime it needs done) we have to gently pull off the bandage, which is all in the hair area, and then reapply some cream and put a new bandage back. He hates it, but it has to be done. 

Today the kids got to play with Easton some! Easton is 4 months younger then Ryder. He always loves to see my two come over to play with him, he hugs them and kisses on them. Its so cute :) But keeping up with 3 very mobile children is HARD! And takes all the adults attention the entire time we have all 3 together :)

I made home made laundry detergent!!!!!!!

Here is exactly what we done, and bought :)

1 box of 20 mule team Borax
1 Box of Arm & Hammer WASHING soda.
1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap. About 9 dollars together at walmart.

Cut fels naptha bar into 3 pieces.
Get 1/2 cup of BORAX ready
Get 1/2 cup of Washing Soda ready.

First step.
Grate ONE piece of the bar soap into a HUGE pot.
Heat on LOW and add in 6 cups of water.
Stir untill it all mixes together really well and the soap melts.

Second Step.
Add in the 1/2 cup Borax. Stir until dissolves.
Add in 1/2 cup of Washing Soda. Stir untill dissolves.


Third Step.
Continue stiring for a few minutes. It will bubble up and smell great!

Fourth Step.
Add in 10 cups of HOT water.
Add in 1 GALLON of HOT water.
Mix all together.

Fifth Step.
Have empty containers ready(milk jugs, juice jugs, old detergent/fabric softener bottles).
Pour mixture into bottles. Fill bottles about 3/4th way full.

LEAVE OVER NIGHT. About 16-20 hours. It may gel up, and looks really nasty in the morning. Just give it a SUPER good SHAKE and then use it!

Start with 1/2 cup and see how you like it. I have been using 1/3 cup and it works great and smells great!

Had an ultrasound today!

Had a quick ultrasound today because I have been cramping(just an infection nothing serious!) and the baby looks GREAT! The Dr said as of right now its looking like another boy for us! We will find out for 100000% sure on May 24th. But she said that he really looks all boy right now! Super excited! I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow!

Oh, and I have NO names ready :/

Home Made Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Detergent

(This is just ONE way to make it. There are about a billion different ways :)

1/3 bar Fels Naptha - You can try other soaps as well, from what I have read this cleans the best tho. This is at Wal-Mart is the laundry isle!

½ cup washing soda - Also at Wal-Mart in the laundry isle!

½ cup borax powder - Also at Wal-Mart in the laundry isle!

~You will also need a small bucket, 2 gallon or 5 gallon will work. These are at walmart as well!

Step One : Grate 1/3 of the bar of soap.  Add this into a large pot. Add in about 6 cups of water and heat it till the soap melts. 

Step Two : Add in the washing sode & the borax. Stir untill it dissolves. Remove from heat.

Step Three : Pour 4 cups of warm/hot water into your bucket. Then add in the soap,washing soda, and borax mixture and stir it all together.

Step Four : Add in 2 gallons and 3 pints (basically around 6 cups) of water to the mixture. Stir everything together.

Step Five : Let the mixture set for about 24 hours. It will gel up, may look watery, may not. Thats totally normal! Just mix it up VERY well.

IF you have bottles to use(like old laundry detergent bottles, big juice bottles, milk jugs etc.) you can mix up the mixture very well and pour into those containers to easy storage! 

You can use any where up to 1/2 a cup per load. I've read some people only use 1/4th a cup per load! So just test out a few different amount and see which you like better. 

I plan to buy everything Tuesday(the 24th of April) and try this out! I will be adding pictures and everything once I can!

Hello, my name is :___________

Wouldn't it be strange if babies were born with little name tags that said : Hello, my name is:_____. It would be soooo much easier!  I have been going through names for MONTHS now. I am kinda picky about names. Some how, David has managed to name BOTH children? I picked Grace, he picked Taylor and refused anything else. He said her first name has to be Taylor. And now we have Taylor. With Ryder I was looking at Matthew, Liam, something along those lines. He came home from work and said he heard a toddler called Ryder and really liked it. And we already knew the middle name was going to be Blake, so he named Ryder as well.

This time, he says I can name the baby. But really  I can't pick a name without his approval. And he is the most picky person ever about names. Nothing strange or out there(I guess Ryder was common for him?) And everything that I say that I like he doesn't. So, at this point I'm thinking if babies came with name  cards already nicely filled out that would be nice :) - Probably not, I would probably not like the name anyways! lol 

So, as you can guess, trying to pick a baby name is NOT that easy. I'm wanting to have the first name end in the same sound as Taylor & Ryder. And that really limits the options. And David says NO to everything. And I'm OCD and I HAVE to have a name by the time we find out the gender. Which isn't till May 24th, forever from now, but I would like to be set on names. I'm just a little OCD :) lol

Evening in Photos

We went to the park and had pizza at the picnic tables and then the kids played for over an hour. Then we got the call that Ryders new glasses were in! He already bent his other pair and we can't fix them. These bend and have memory metal or something like that built into them. They fit him so well! They do not slide off or anything! 

15 weeks!

15 weeks today with baby number 3! Thought it would be fun to keep track of random things through out this pregnancy since it will probably be my last pregnancy!

Heart burn has started :/ , food cravings are an every day thing(currently craving corn on the cob(crazy I know!) pringles, and mcdonalds sweet tea:)), my pants are getting tighter!, I swear on Sunday I felt the baby moving! It lasted a good 3 minutes but I haven't felt it since. So I'm second guessing my self. But I KNOW it was the baby! LOL Gotta see if I can get him/her moving again.

gender predictions? I think its a girl. Taylor hopes its a girl!

Names? ummmmm I'm not set on names yet. Hopefully by the time we find out the sex we will have a name ready for this little one!

Photo of the day 4-18-12 - Llama Drama

Taylors favorite book of the moment : Llama Llama Red Pajama. We read it before bed at night, and randomly through out the day. She remembers just about every page and loves to "read" it to me. lol :) In the book baby Llama throws a big tantrum because his Mama Llama is busy downstairs. So now, when Taylor is throwing a tantrum I remind her not do all the Llama Drama like Baby Llama in the book! That usually makes her stop crying/screaming etc. and look at me like I'm crazy! lol

In my daughters eyes...

In my daughters eyes I see the world in a totally different way. From the moment she looked up at me I knew I would love this little girl for the rest of my life, with my entire heart and soul. I live for her. 

In my daughters eyes the world is just about playing, quiet time, eating snacks, cartoons, and cuddling with mommy to read books, and playing with Daddy after work.

In my daughters eyes the world seems like a better place :)

In my daughters eyes I see the joy she gets from the simplest things. Bubbles, lotion, snacks, and a new cartoon can make any day the best day ever.

In my daughters eyes I see my reflection. I see the mommy she has helped transform me into. 

In my daughters eyes I see myself in a different way.

In my daughters eyes I see who I want to be. 

I love you Taylor Grace, always have and always will.

Frugal Living

I am doing research for ways to save more money. Money is tight right now for us, so every little bit saved helps us out in the long run! So, while reading up on ways to save money I came across "Home Made Laundry Detergent". Of course I checked it out, and from what I have read it seems super easy! So then I searched for "Home Made Fabric Softener" and found ways to make that home made as well! 
   I am super excited to try these out! I'm going to wait till I'm just about out of my regular laundry detergent is gone, so I can reuse the bottles for my home made batches! I will post pictures and all the websites I find the "recipes" at on here once I get more information. 
      As everyone knows I love to coupon, but lately since everyone is cutting back on Couponers its getting a little tough! Laundry detergent never seems to be on sale any more which drives me crazy. I hate spending money, so if by making my own detergent and fabric softener I can save even more money(And it HAS to work and get the clothes clean and smelling nice!) then I'm going to do it! 
    I also cloth diaper, so that saves us money in the long run. Its getting time to buy more prefolds and diapers for Ryder and the new baby. I want to make sure I have enough for both children to be in diapers for a couple days in between washing. I know with a new born and two other children laundry will not be number one on my mind! lol
    
I love to coupon. But finding the time lately is getting harder and harder. And the stores are limiting everything and its a big mess. So the more stuff that I can make at home, for really cheap, the better! :)




Here's a picture from my last laundry detergent couponing trip back in Feb. 

And even with coupons they were about 3 dollars a bottle. From what I have read on making your own detergent, if you find the right combination of things and get the cheapest deals on the things you need, then you can get by with only paying 0.05cents a load.  :) 


 If anyone has any other home made recipes etc. for ANYTHING around the house let me know! I can't wait to try the ones I found tonight! 

Photo of the Day 4-17-12

We are working on Taylor with her sleeping habits. Since she was born she has slept with the TV on cartoons all night long. She is 3 years old, and never sleeps through the night. So we have tried taking the TV away at bedtime many times before but we could never actually do it :/ So, of course after she was up all night Sunday night because her cartoons would go off, we decided to try again. I talked to her all day about how the tv has to go to sleep at bed time just like she does. She would cry every time I mentioned it. At bed time it took 20 minutes of me reading a story to her, and then about 45 minutes of her screaming to get her to sleep. Finally, at 9 15 I checked on her and found this ^. Sadly, it didn't last long. She was up all night crying/screaming and we finally just let her in our bed................ I got NO sleep. She kicked me, rolled on me, took my pillows, took my blanket. And was up with Daddy at 6 am ready to go. So today I made her take a nap. It was rough at first. But I caved and let her watch ONE cartoon, when that went off I told her the TV would be off so she better go to sleep. It worked. But I know tonight it wont. Because when she wakes up at 2 am and the TV is off it will be a screaming fit again. I wish I could go back in time to when she was little and cut out the TV then. I will never let the kids sleep with TV's on again, if I can get her out of the habit that is......

Parenting.

I logged on Facebook this morning and saw someones blog update about Intentional Parenting. (look for Finding Joy - her blog is wonderful). And ofcourse I read it and done what she said to do.
I had to list 5 things I love about how I mother. Has anyone else tried this? I thought I could do it no problem. 5 things, just 5 right? Well. It took over an hour of me thinking about it. And that says alot(to me at least. I want to be the best mother possible for my kids but I can't even come up with 5 things I love about how I mother them?)

So 5 things? Can you name 5 things you love about how you mother? I still only have 3 three listed. I know I'm too hard on myself, but I'm at a loss another 2 things to add to the list!

Then it said to list 5 things you would like change about how you mother. That was easier for me. I want more family time, more one on one time with the kids, I want to spend more time playing with the kids, I want to cut out some computer and TV time and make that special time for the kids. I want to do more crafts with the kids. I want to laugh more with the kids. I want to do more "adventures" with the kids. I want to teach them more. I want to be their best friend. - I went over 5 huh? But you can get the point.

So. Starting today, I'm going to try changing some. Less computer and TV time and more KIDS time. More games with the kids, more laughing in my house! I'm really going to work on this, I want to be the best mother possible for the little ones that God gave me.

Photo of the weekend!

Taylor Grace -40 months, Ryder Blake 20 months, Easton Rhyne 15.5 months!

The kids had a blast playing together as they always do! Can't believe how big they are now. They are growing way too fast for me :/

Photo of the Day 4/13/12

We went shopping this morning and stopped by Good Will :) It was half off day! (yay!) And I found a ton of neutral baby clothes!!! This one of course is one of my favorite :) Found alot of great deals tho and also bought a super nice bumper bad that is neutral as well!

I could kick my self for selling/giving away all of the kids things as they out grew them. Either way, I believe this will be our last baby so maybe I wont have to worry about it all again!

But anyways! :) LOVE half off days at good will!!!

Following HIS plan.

While the kids were enjoying some Bubbles this afternoon on the porch, my mind kept wondering to the little life growing inside of me. I wondered if this one was another girl, or another boy. Taylor insists that its a girl, and that her name will be "Baby Girl". If it's a boy, I hate to be the one to break it to her. Hopefully it this one is another boy she takes the news well :).

As the kids were blowing bubbles, and spilling most of them, I wondered about all the things we need for this baby. You would think, after 2 pretty close together, we wou

ld have everything for either gender. Sadly, that isn't true. We need all clothes till size 18 month in boys, and ALL

sizes till like 3T in girl :/ We have no infant swing, our stroller is broken, if we can afford the stroller I want we need to buy the special infant carrier for it, then Ryder can be strapped in one seat and the infant carrier fit in the other, and all the cloth diapers we will need. Its all so over whelming when you think of it.

After I give another round of bubbles to the kids I began to remember the "Plan" I had set for 2012. I had EVERYTHING figured out. All the credit cards paid by December. All savings accounts full of money. Everything we needed for the kids and for the baby bought and ready when needed. David would get a weeks worth of vacation in July, the baby due in October so that would work out perfect. Etc.etc.etc.

But of course everything changed. We needed a bigger vehicle. That vehicle was expensive, and it eats gas like you wouldn't believe. And we have had to replace one tire already and now we are about to place even more things because it is randomly shutting off on us. :/ David only gets 1/2 a week vacation in July. That makes the time off for the new baby kinda iffy between Ryder's specialists appointments. And Ryder's health worries. And the fact that we do not have the will power to pay off the credit cards. Something ALWAYS comes up when we finally get money back onto those credit cards. What's that saying? Don't cry over spilled milk? Does that work with bubbles too?

After Taylor spilled her bubbles and threw a massive fit which involved crying and screaming, it hit me. Most of the things I am worrying about right now, will not matter in 1 year, or 10 years. Just like the bubbles. We will figure out how to clean up the mess/get everything we need for the kids and move on. This year isn't going according to MY plan. It's going according to God's plan. His Plan. Not mine. And He will make sure everything happens just as it's supposed to. Every little thing that pop up, its not a surprise to Him. He knows what I can handle and he knows what I can not handle. Everything happens for a reason. And even though I do not see a reason for alot of things right now, later on I will. And if I can't figure out the reason later on, then its just spilled milk. Clean it up, and get on with life. In 5 years, the things I'm worrying about right now will be NOTHING. (Besides Ryder's health. I just keep praying that this new medicine works and he gets better, BUT the Lord has a plan for Ryder and his health as well).

And, even though we can not get the couple credit cards that we have paid off, at least we have money on them when we NEED it. It all works out some how. So, while I sit here now looking at the prices of double strollers, infant carriers, new cloth diapers, more baby clothes adn the kids clothes, and breast pump, infant swing etc. I need to remember that the Lord has blessed me with two wonderful children who mean everything to me. And another little blessing in the making. And He GAVE me these children to love. Not to worry about how we will afford them. The Lord will provide for us. Everything always works out, some how.

Ryder got his new glasses today! He went to the eye dr on April 2nd for a clogged tear duct and we found out he needs glasses like mommy! These are the only type the eye dr had that would fit him. So we are going to go order some new ones from walmart this evening. :) He is still soooo cute in his glasses! Thats for sure ;)

Living My "Golden Years"

I'm sure everyone has heard that your "golden years" are when you are older, retired, kids are grown, house to your self, free to do whatever you want whenever you want. But in reality, life doesn't always happen that way. My grandma told me this after my grandpa passed away in 2008. She told me that your golden years are not when you are older, they are when you are young.

I've been thinking about that these last few days.The kids have been sick for a week now, I'm not feeling to well, there's bills to pay, a house to keep clean, medicine to give every little bit. Life is hectic at this stage in my life. And my husband keeps saying he can't wait for the kids to be bigger so we can have "alone" time and go on dates, and we as a family can go on trips without everyone crying and yelling and whining etc. And I wonder to my self why rush life? It's already going by so fast. And right now, these are our golden years. We are young enough to enjoy our children and our family and our home. We are both in good health for the most part, our parents are healthy and they are big parts of our childrens lives, we own our home(sure, it may not be as clean as I would like but I have 2 kids, and 1 on the way. It will be a while before my house is as clean as I want it to be! ) we have a decent vehicle, we have everything we need and most of what we want. God has really blessed us. And if we keep looking ahead to what we will get to do once the kids are bigger, we will forget to enjoy our life NOW. Enjoy them being little. The little letters on the wall, the splashing and laughing at bath time, the food fights at the dinner table.. We will miss all of this in years. Sure, its hard right now, theres never enough time in the day to get everything done. But my kids are happy and healthy..

But anyways. back to the point. Right now, in my life, these are my golden years. My sweet little children, my husband, family, and everything else. Life is great right now. And we have no idea what the future holds. So I'm not going to hold out for the future, I'm going to live my life to the fullest right now, because we never ever know what tomorrow will bring.