Good morning! How was everyone's weekend?

On Saturday Juan was off so he watched the kids while I spent all day with my Dad and brothers renovating a room in the Ronald McDonald house in Buffalo. It was great. I'll post pics when I can of the before and afters.

Yesterday DH and I painted our bedroom and tonight we'll finish painting the ceiling, because our bedroom furniture is being delivered on Tuesday. I'll post pics of the bedroom and living room (or did I share the living room remodel already?) this week when I can.


My Mom has chemo today. Her parents came up from Florida early this year so they're taking her. Well see if my Poppy can sit still for 4 hours during her treatments. He'll be 73 tomorrow and is the most impatient man alive!

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Morning!

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we went to the farm where our fruit & veggies come from and picked strawberries. It was wonderful! Rebecca being the goof she is, got all excited everytime she saw a strawberry, which was like every two seconds. There were thousands in this little field for us to pick. She kept yelling "Oh my goodness! Look! I see a strawberry!" Within about 5 minutes, she had a fully red mouth and stained clothes. We also went on a guided tour of the farm with the farmer and got to see where all of our fruits and veggies are growing and the improvements they are making to the farm and pick sugar snap peas off the vine. The best part about the day is that Dh who has been a little circumspect about the whole CSA thing, was completely won over.

Other than that, more cleaning over here. I cannot wait until this yard sale is over. While I am completely grateful for it, you literally can't walk a straight path in the garage and the house isn't quite all put away yet. I still have to come up with a scrapbooking solution I can live with. We're picking up our new bedroom set this week and then we just need to frame some art and we'll be good to go. The good news is that we are hosting a party in a few weeks, so we have a definite time frame in which to pull it all together.

Best wishes for your mom today Amy.

And you and Juan and serious renovating fools! I don't know where you get your energy from. I can hardly clean, let alone think about re-painting. I've gotten to a point in my life where I am all about hiring others to do it!

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Andy

What a fun day Andy! I think I'm going to look up some local farms for us to visit with the kids. I can just picture Becca's face when she saw each strawberry, what a sweet mental picture!


I think we're so excited about renovating this house because we plan to stay here and raise our kids here, so we're excited to change everything and make it our own. Although I'd love to hire someone to re-roof the house next summer, but I have a feeling we'll all be up there shoveling off the shingles into a rented dumpster to save $!

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Good morning ladies!

It is another beautiful day here! It looks like rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week, so I may head to the zoo with the boys today. I need to finish planting my garden as well. I'll post pics later of Keegan helping in the garden.

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Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Best Wishes for your mom today, Amy.

Sorry, I've been MIA........I'll be MIA a lot in the coming weeks. Not that you guys will have any trouble carrying on without me.

The last week & a half has been a blur and I just realized I missed the entire thread last week.

My mom fell on Thurs (the 24th) and shattered her foot. So I had to cancel Gabe's party (on his bday) since I was running to the hospital so much. My mom was a basketcase - she is ridiculously claustrophobic and being in a cast only sets that off to another level.

So I've been spending countless hours at the hospital, tanks of gas driving between here, my mom's house (cleaning, picking stuff up, etc) and going to the hospital. Just about every spare minute has been spent making Gabe's bday feel special. He's having the world's longest bday, but it's important to me since everything went so crazy just 2 days before his special day. His actual bday was really nice (lots of presents, good food, lots of play time outside, etc), just not quite as much fun (aka party) as I would have liked.

In fact, we had a beautiful day at the zoo on Saturday to make up for his actual bday being a little less than perfect. I'm so glad this was a nice weekend. I needed it since I finally didn't have to spend quite so many hours with my mom (she's in rehab now preparing for surgery, so she's too busy all day for visitors).

We are unsure of how her surgery, rehab, etc will pan out. But we know at some point in time she'll be here for awhile so I can take care of her. Probably for a week or so prior to surgery and for a couple weeks after she's done with rehab.

So obviously, with playing nurse, hospital visits, taking care of TWO houses, and spending lots of quality time with the kids to make up for the craziness, my computer time will be vary scarce. In fact, I'm typing all of this out as I wait for confirmation numbers as I pay all my bills online. It's taken close to an hour to type this.

I know we have a few bdays coming up in the next few weeks......so happy bdays all the way around. And a special to Bryce.....Gabe's blonde-haired, blue-eyed bday buddy. I certainly didn't forget, just had all this other stuff going on.

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Cyndi
Mommy to

Zach 5/20/03


Gabe 4/26/05


Mikki 1/22/07

I'll be praying for your mom today. It'll be nice to have her own parents with her.
Andy - That sounds like it was a ton of fun! Glad DH is on board now, what a relief.

My weekend was a blur. Running the nursery is becoming a bit tedious for me, especially when my volunteers don't show up. I'm afraid Tucker's growing weary of me staying on for the second service while they go home. I don't want him to start hating church.

We bought THE MOST gorgeous passion vine called Lady Margaret. Simply stunning. I was in awe when I spotted it at the nursery.



I think this one is called Lavendar Lady or vice verse. This picture was taken in my garden last week:



I have more garden pics posted on my blog if you'd like to see.

Melissa, I know it is last minute, but would you like to meet us at the zoo today? If not, we need to plan another time!!! I will pm you my cell #, just in case.

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Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Oh, Angela, I wish!! Would be a perfect day for it. I will PM you. Must get Hayden from school, more later...

Cyndi I hope your Mom's foot heals quickly. Glad Gabe was able to celebrate his birthday.

Did I tell you guys Carsen is walking? He's been walking for about 2 or 3 wks now and he soooo wants to run. I finally decided to turn his carseat around. He's 25 lbs and his feet were touching the back of the seat. I think it was time. I still can't believe he's considered a toddler. We have a NICU reunion this Saturday we're going to attend.

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The Motherland Blog

Candes, how exciting about Carsen! How neat about the reunion, too. I predict Bryce will walk at 16 months, but he could surprise me! I will leave Bryce rear facing for a while. He can see Hayden better that way, too.

Cyndi, so sorry about your mom. She is lucky you are nearby. I am sure Gabe doesn't feel too left out and probably enjoyed his week of birthday more than just one day. I still intend to post a few pics of Bryce's party soon. I am just sooooo tired, not up for much of anything right now, except sleep! Which I am not getting enough of, if you didn't guess. lol

Amy, how does your bedroom look with the new furniture? Good for you for doing all you can yourselves. We have done a lot of work on this house but not much in the last year or so. Still have the plumbing stuff to contend with outside before we can get back to the inside.

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P.S. Andy, the strawberry picking sounds wonderful. How is YOUR new furniture?

I had the worst/best surprise today! I had no real warning, but I started my first pp af today. Now that I look back I was a little crampy the last week, but I hardly noticed it. I also seemed to have a bit of cm. I guess it is good that my body is getting back to normal, but I was really starting to get use to no af. Keegan was 6 months old before I got my first pp af and it was really crazy. It took two months for my body to regulate af. I would bleed for 2 weeks and then have a one week break and af was back. It got old really fast. I'm hoping I don't have to go through that again.

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Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Hi ladies!

Cyndi, sorry about your mom and all the craziness! That sounds insane to be doing all that! Same to, Amy, with the rennovations and Andy with all the cleaning! What stamina you ladies have!

Candes, I used to go to a women's bible study one night a week, so John and the boys made that into movie night while I was gone. Then, they looked forward to me leaving instead of dreading it! Is there some special weekly thing Todd could do with the boys like that so they would look forward to it? Just a thought...

We're doing great over here! Max is going to bed earlier and sleeping later. He does one 7-hour stretch and then a 4-hour at night.

My grandpa died last week so we were with family most of the week. I wasn't all that close to him, but my family is really close and I enjoyed spending so much time with them.

I turned 27 on Cinco de Mayo (Monday). John got me a breadmaker which I'm really thankful for. It's been too much to keep making homeade bread by hand with three little ones - especially since we can go through a loaf in a day!

I have a book recommendation with regards to the organic and healthy eating stuff: The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. I got it on Amazon for 4 bucks (including shipping), and it's fascinating. Next, I'm going to read Nourishing Traditions.

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Mel

John & Melissa (Married July 2001)

Hey Mel - I'm about to do the Maker's Diet!! I've been making lots of little changes to our eating habits and the more I read the more I cut out. My bf here just did the Maker's Diet and we've been talking a lot about it and we are going to do it as a lifestyle but not absolutely strictly.

Andy - I'm glad you keep reminding me to get involved in a CSA. It keeps falling off of my to-do list but I really want to.

Candes - congrats on your new little walker in the house. Aren't they so sweet doing their little frankenstein-ish walk??
William took his first steps a couple of weeks ago and then on Saturday he went from 3 or 4 steps every now and then to 20 steps across the house all the time. Dh and I had a bet on when he would walk. Dh said 9 months and I said 10 so I barely got it right.
DH got home after spending 3 weeks in Japan - working with the same company as when we lived there. So, that's why I've been pretty scarce. I went non-stop from 6:30am until 10 pm every night but we made it through. I seriously broke in our new jogging stroller!

Amy- I hope your mom is doing okay. She will be in my prayers.
Cyndi - I hope your weeks get better!

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Cyndi, Hope your mom heals quickly and take care of yourself in this very busy time.

Frenchie, I my CSA. It just filled up last week and they are no longer taking customers. I checked on another one as well and they were full too. So, my point is...CALL! As food prices continue to go up and people think about going green, I have a feeling CSA's will be in demand. on walking Will. I love the frankenstein walk too. It's one of my favorite moments.

Mel, you make bread daily? Wow! I just buy bread without HFCS. That's it for me. Actually I wouldn't mind making bread and have a recipe that I like that is made with honey, but I can't cut the bread thin enough for us. I used to work at a bakery and we had those bread slicing machines...whenever I make bread, I long for one of those in my kitchen!

Candes, how exciting that Carsen is walking! Have fun at your reunion.

Melissa, our new furniture is nice. Actually, while some of it is very nice, some of it is just OK, but having it lets you try out different styles without buying something expensive and finding out that it doesn't look quite right. So it's been great.

For all of you mama's of one year olds, are they screaming? Yikes! Becca was not a screamer, but Ty! He screams when he is happy, mad, bored, whenever. My house is sooooo loud now!

Mo, how are you doing?

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Andy

Melissa, I can't believe you make bread every day! Do you have a recipe that you would like to share? Maybe I will breakout my bread machine again. I'm with Andy, I just buy bread without HFCS. Also, can you tell me any more about the Maker's Diet? You can pm me if you want.

Andy, where did you find info about the CSA? I can't seem to find anything around here and I would love to have something like that.

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Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Sorry I've been MIA lately. It's just been a blur of obligations and commitments lately. I went from doing Nick's party, to hosting and planning a bachelorette weekend for my friend, to plannning a Mother's day thing for my mom, to leaving to Disney for 5 days this weekend. I swear, it's one thing after another. I actually don't have a single weekend free until after Father's day!

We couldn't wait to turn Nick around. We turned him a couple of days after his birthday. His feet were touching the back and he's way over 20 lbs. Probably close to 25 by now. Also, since my Dh is tall, we couldn't fit his seat rear facing behind the driver's seat, so he was in the middle seat. What a PITA it was climbing into my SUV with my heavy kid, and strapping him in the middle seat. Now that he's forward facing, we were able to move him to the end seat, soooo much easier! Did I mention I've had it with car seats and baby gear?. I've decided to give in and get a mnivan when our lease expires in 2 months. Who am I kidding? I'm a 30 something mother of two now. Might as well forget about looking cool.

I haven't taken Nick for his one year check up. I've decided to post pone the MMR anyway. Do you think I should still schedule it with urgency, or can it wait until things are calmer?

Cyndi- I'm sorry about your mom. I hope she heals quickly.
Mel- I'm sorry about your grandfather.
Melissa- Let's take bets on which of our babies walks first. Our boys sure seem to be in no hurry. It' ok with me though.

Alrighty. I'll be away starting this weekend until the end of next week. Hope everyone stays healthy and happy.

Well, Mo, Nick has 2 whole days on Bryce so I'll bet he walks first. Have fun at Disney!! I really would like to take Hayden but we are a couple years out from traveling fun with Bryce, and the funds to do it. House stuff takes priority right now.

Andy, O M G is Bryce a screamer. We went to the mall yesterday and it was like pushing around a little siren. Hayden was loud (uh, IS loud) and Bryce may be louder. He screams so long and hard his forehead turns red from the effort. And then he grins madly.

Speaking of Bryce, he is sleeping progressively less and less and I am getting progressively closer and closer to losing my mind.

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Mo, have fun at Disney! We will be there in July. I hear you on the minivan. We broke down and bought one before Truitt arrived and I love it!

Melissa, I hope you get some more sleep soon. Truitt seems to have me up a lot more too and I am dying. Why can't these boys see that Mommy needs more sleep to function properly?

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Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Angela, check out localharvest.org and type in your zip code. Hopefully they have something in your area. I'll see if I can find my whole wheat honey bread recipe. It's for a bread maker. It's really tasty.

Mo, on the mini-van thing. Our next car will be a mini van too. I'm done with our SUV and a sedan just isn't going to fit enough stuff. *sigh* All I need is Rebecca to sign up for soccer and then I am officially done for.

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Andy