New Leaf Project

As I said before, I'm a project person.  I'm getting ready to immerse myself into a new project.  I'm calling it the New Leaf Project.  What is it?  Well, I've decided to explore the world of minimalism.  The first thing I need to do is get rid of my crap.  I'm not going all extremist (though the temptation is there).  I'm going to start small.  I'm going to post my minimalism and health (totally different topic) goals on here.  I'm going to do this in small and hopefully attainable chunks.  It may not seem like a lot at first, since I did become inadvertently busy this summer.

Why do I want to do this?  Well, we have a large amount of debt right now.   My husband and I both feel the stress from it and we feel we never have any time.  The list of things to clean, shred, repair keep piling up and not getting done.    My hope is by having less material things we will reduce our debt, get more time and have less stress.

I'm also going to work on my fitness goals as well.  My boy is 17 months old now and I've been struggling in the "being healthy" department.  My lower back has been hurting and I recently dislocated a rib.  This has demoralized me quite a bit.  I feel if I exercise and eat smarter then I will feel better.  So here are my short term goals:

New Leaf Project:

In the next two weeks (by 7/14) I will have all of my old business stock posted for sale.

By August 1st, I will have all of our old clothes that we don't wear or it doesn't fit either for sale, sold or donated.

By September 1st, business stock should be all sold.

Fitness Me:

My goal is to lose 10 lbs by August 1st.
I will do progress pictures and measurements monthly.

What's going on?

Well, it's been about four months since I last posted.  As always, we have a lot going on.  We celebrated Montana's birthday in February with a Hello Kitty themed party.  She had a lot of little friends come and it was crazy around here.

We've been finishing up on "school box".  I would say that we are behind, but we're really only behind on the lessons that came with the curriculum.  I've relaxed quite a bit, since I've noticed that Montana already knows the stuff the curriculum is teaching.  I'm not quite sure how she jumped ahead, but it seems like a switch just flipped from "struggling" to "I got it".  We registered with our local K12 public school for her "official" kindergarten, next year.  I suspect we'll go through it pretty fast.  I think it will be nice to have some extra support.  I'm sure I'll post on how the program is working out for us.

April started morel mushroom hunting.  It was a terrible season for me.  I think part of it, is that I have a very limited amount of time that I get to go out without the kids.  Montana wouldn't be so bad, (except the whining).  However, Gibson has just started walking and I have to take him in the hiking stroller which means that I have to stay on the trails.

The first weekend in April, I took my first backpacking trip.  It was just local and beginner's trip through our local metroparks.  It was really a treat and I loved every minute of it.

I hope to get to go again soon.

Well, I'm off until next time.  Hopefully, it won't be long.

Gibson's First Birthday!

Well, today my boy turned one.  It's amazing how fast time flies.  I'm glad he's starting to get his own little personality and starting to do all those cool things, like walk, talk and feed himself.  However, it makes me be a bit sad as well.  I feel like post-partum anxiety (PPA) robbed me of his first 7 months.  He's my last baby.  I'll never have another one, and I can only really remember these last 5-6 months.  I'll never get that cuddle time back.  That breaks my heart.  At the same time, I'm so very glad that we've finally bonded.  He's so different from his sister, he's loud, rough and Daddy is his favorite.  But it just melts my heart to no end, when I walk into a room and he gives me the biggest, sweetest smile.

Happy Birthday Gibson!  You are so wonderful and we all love you so much.  You make our family complete.

Here are some pictures.

It's been a good ride but...

We are shutting www.BlueStarBaby.com down tonight.  This makes me sad but it was worth a shot.  The economy is bad, people just don't want to spend the extra money to support items made in America.  What really put the nail in the coffin was that more and more of my vendors were starting to have their products manufactured in China.  Again, it all goes back to the economy.  We still have a few items, mostly baby clothes and toys.  If you're interested in these email us at customerservice@bluestarbaby.com.

Everyone have a wonderful New Year.  Now off to our next adventure.

I’ve not posted for a long time, so here is my year in review.  It’s been a hectic year.  We had our baby boy last January.  That was something that was very hard on me.  I never really thought that post-partum depression (PPD) would ever affect me.  It wasn’t really PPD, it was more post-partum anxiety (PPA).  It took about 10 months before I really started to feel like I was getting a handle on it.  Of course it helped that the biggest stress in our lives was coming to the end.  I still have episodes but they are getting further and further apart and I definitely have better coping skills.  One of the best things I've done for myself this year was to arrange time with a professional to teach stress handling and coping skills.  For someone like me, who tries not to take medication, this was best path.

The finishing of the basement has been an elephant on our chests for over a year.  Everything was like a big block puzzle where you have to move certain pieces all around the board before you get the picture.  But now it’s done (except organizing).  Finally, little Gibson got into his own bedroom.  That’s has definitely loosened things up around here too.

I’m closing down my website www.BlueStarBaby.com.  One by one my vendors have started getting their items manufactured in China.  The economy is too poor for people to justify paying more for an item when they can get all the crappy ones for so much cheaper.  Besides, I’m homeschooling and have a baby in the house.  There is just not enough hours in the day.

Montana shot two commercials but so far, neither one has aired.  Oh well, she got paid just the same.  The experience has certainly given me insight on why movie stars think they are so important.  Everyone from the director to the cleanup crew tells you how wonderful you are all the time.  With so many people saying that, it’s almost impossible for the actors not to believe it.  I met two stage moms in my experience with Montana’s modeling.  They both had spent multiple years away from their husbands and other children to live in LA.  It’s not that they had a job already out there.  They were out there trying to get jobs.  I just don’t see how you can sacrifice your family for something like that.  Don’t get me wrong, I would spend multiple months on location with Montana, IF she already had the job.  But I would not go out there for the pipe dream, not when there is a very real family at home.  Montana also tried and disliked gymnastics.  She’s doing martial arts right now and seems to like it.  I have a feeling we’ll be back in dance before too long though.

Now that the basement is done, Bob has a bit of time to work on his own projects.  He basically built a house and he deserves a break.

Finally, my parents celebrated being married for 50 years.  What an achievement!  I love them both very much and I hope they have many more years to come.  So there it is, my year in review.

Now, I’m not one for resolutions but I’ve got a couple I want…no…NEED to do.   I’ve had a real hard time getting back into the groove of eating right and working out.  I NEED to do better at that this coming year.  Also, I need to utilize our parks and the cheap or free programs they offer.  There are things I want to do and these two resolutions will help get me there. 

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and here is to looking forward to the New Year. 

Spring sale at www.BlueStarBaby.com

Spring is right around the corner.  You can save 20% on your next order with promo code SC8EJ6XT at www.BlueStarBaby.com

Expires on 04-08-2012.  Not valid with any other promotion codes. Promotion code is case sensitive.

Gibson's Arrival to the World

Well, after I found out my baby was breech, I had spent countless hours trying to find ways to make him turn so I wouldn't have a C-section.  I had tried the ECV and had started the Webster Technique.  I was also doing moves shown on spinningbabies.com.  But alas, at my last appointment he was still breech.  He did move more sideways, but breech just the same.

We went to what was my last prenatal appointment.  The baby looked good on the NST, there were no contractions and they did a quick ultrasound to check the position of the baby (still breech).  We decided to go ahead and schedule the C-section for January 24th at 8am.  We went to get some food to take home and decided to watch a movie that night.  We ate then started the movie, that's when the fun began.

I felt a contraction, not unlike what I had felt for the past couple of weeks so I didn't give it much thought.  About ten minutes later I felt another one.  This one was a bit stronger so I decided I was going to time them.  The next contraction was six minutes later, I told my husband, "If this keeps up then I think we'll have a show tonight."  The next contraction was about five minutes apart and after that they ran together.  We called the doctor and by the time the doctor called back the contractions were right on top of  each other.  We desperately called my niece to come watch my daughter.  She was still at work so we called my parents to come to the house as we were not going to be able to wait any longer.  We thought my niece showed up but it was our neighbors, I pleaded with him to take her to their house as we had to go right then.

He took our daughter over to their house at 8:20 p.m. and we were on the road.  I begged and pleaded for him to run the red lights but it was icy and my husband wouldn't do it. Here is where it gets blurry to me, I know I was screaming for him to run lights and I know I was screaming for him to call 911.  I know when we got to the hospital, I screamed and cursed more than I ever have in my life.  I know that I while I screamed and begged for relief and for the baby to stay in, I couldn't do anything but push.  As soon as I got into the hospital they checked me and said I was complete.  Basically, I went from 0-10 cm. and ready to deliver in under an hour and my water didn't even break.

They double checked the baby's position then wheeled me into the OR.  They finally gave me a spinal block to which my response was (sorry for the foul language), "That is fucking fantastic."  They then proceeded to the C-section.  I didn't feel anything except some pulling.  I knew my little guy was hung up because two doctors were pulling on him with all they had.  Apparently his hands were behind his head and his cord was wrapped around his neck 2-3 times. At 9:19pm on January 20th, They finally got him out and took him to another room.  My husband assured me that he was okay, but part of me still thinks he was just saying that to keep me calm.  The rest was pretty uneventful.  They tied my tubes (because God knows, I don't want to do that again), and stitched me up.  The spinal made me shake pretty bad so I didn't hold the baby because I was afraid I would drop him.

So all in all, I'm actually thankful that we didn't get him to go head down before labor.  I'm positive, that I would've birthed him on the side of the highway if he would've flipped.  I always thought the scenes in movies were totally bogus with a woman screaming and hollering with a labor moving in a matter of minutes, but I now know it can really happen.  I'm very sore but I'm able to move and do more every day.  I look forward to feeling human again.  I'm so glad the little guy is finally here, everyone just loves him and we love him more and more with each passing minute.