Happy Birthday Sapphire

Dark lashes spider walk across pale cheeks
Freckles dance between the webs
Spinning dreams behind eyelids.

Snuffling breath shallow in your chest
Whistling through your missing teeth
Giggling sighs under tangled sheets.

I cherish the moments of angelic serenity
That are missing in the daylight,
As I watch you while you sleep..

I can't believe it's been 9 years. I still remember the first time I saw you, all blue and purple over the sheet for the few moments before they wisked you off to the NICU. I was so scared and so in love with you. When I finally got to hold you I just stared, you were such a miracle. One that I wasn't expecting and didn't think I'd have. I count my blessings everyday. You are still my miracle. I love you.

A Last Look At Summer

The park that we are staying in has an outdoor pool. All summer long the kids have been swimming in it. It's great. You should see little Journey. The first time that I put him in the water he immediately started doggy paddling. He was litterally pushing himself out of my arms trying to swim around the pool. It was just instinctive. I call him my little water puppy.

Kenzie has started swimming without his lifejacket. He swims like a mermaid. Both legs together kinds of waving along. He only swims under water. He has yet to learn to bring his head up to breath and then go back under. So he'll swim to you or along the wall where he can touch.
.

Now Sapphire is scared of the water. She's the only child that's had swimming lessons yet she won't swim where she can't touch. She will only doggy paddle and is completely resistant to me or dh trying to teach her any other way. We worked out the goal that if she swam all the way from one end of the pool to the other that she could have a pool party. Well the pool is now closed for the season and no party. I'm sad because I don't want her to miss out on things because of fear. Still she loves the water, she just can't really swim

My Grand Opening

Preview is up, Grand opening set for Sept. 23 at noon. There are two free raffles and free shipping on all items. Check it out.

http://www.hyenacart.com/cottagebabies/

Happy Birthday Mckenzie

I cannot believe that in a matter of days you are going to be four. Time has flown. The past year has certainly been exciting with potty training, learning to ride a bike and 911 calls and ambulance rides. I don't know if I'll live to see you grow up with as much stress as this past year had brought. Still you are my wild child, my little dude, a dreamer who dashes out without thinking. I admire you courage and loving heart. My little lover, to whom everyone is a friend. I'm sure over the years you will cause more than a few gray hairs for me. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mckenzie

Nursing baby

I was surprised to say the least to hear about this. Breasts are made for nourishing your child. There is nothing offensive about nursing a baby. I do it every day, several times a day, in public too! I know, shocking! And you thought that I was such a nice girl. I think this woman addressed this so eloquently. I love nursing my son. It's the one time where he slows down and takes a moment to just be. He sits in my lap stroking my hair and occasionally smiling at me around my breast with milk drooling down. How can you think that is offensive? It's nothing but love.

Where we live

So this is where we live. It looks so huge stretched out behind my dh's work truck. Like someone took a regular trailer and pulled. The two windows stacked at the end is the kids bunk beds. The other end is our bedroom, it's an actual room, with a door. I know that sounds stupid but living in such a small space its wonderful to have some privacy. Just ignore the mess. With three kids it's hard to keep anything clean for long.

My family reunion

This year it was at Willamette Mission State Park. It's the first year I've been here. Last year we missed it because we were moving. As you drive in there are fields of corn and rows upon rows of berries. It's rather dry though. We didn't have a camp fire this year. It was still fun. One of my cousins had a son just under a month after Journey was born so he had a playmate. There was so much food. I swear I gained back the 15lbs that I lost. Yum, fresh made ice cream. Here's the kids all standing around waiting for the ice cream to be ready. The stood there for like 20 minutes waiting and then gave up and went to play. Of course it was only like ten more minutes before it was done but I admire their patience.

My New Endeavor

I've been looking for something that I can do from home to help supplement our income and give me some purpose. I need something to keep my hands busy. So I started sewing, a lot. I've already had two orders. Although do they count if it's your mom?
Isn't it just adorable? Makes me want another little one around the house. ((sigh)) Not that that is going to happen anytime soon as I am fixed. But such is life. I am also making bags, reversible. I've made so many of them already although I've only sold one. Not too good at this business thing. I really don't think that I have all the skills that I need to really get this off the ground but I'm working on it.

Crater Lake National Park

This past weekend dh and I took the kids to visit Crater Lake. I'd never been before. It is the deepest natural lake in the US. It's formed in the caldera of a volcano that exploded thousands of years ago. It's beautiful. It's so blue. The only thing that I didn't like was the lack of guardrails at most places. Not too child friendly. Huge drop off, no guardrails and a toddler with impulse control. Can we say stress? So after the first couple places we decided to do the driving tour. I will take the kids back sometime this week to go to the visitor center and museum.

Do you believe in ghosts?

A Little Lost

Well it's been at least a month since I've written anything. I've been feeling a little lost. It's like talking to my best friend, then she goes on vacation and I can't chat with her. I miss it. I know that the best way to remedy it is to just sit down and type but it's hard. I have trouble focusing and can't seem to stay on subject. I have about a 1/4 of a book written. I left my main character pregnant with twins and that's about it. I have a lot more planned for it and I just can't get to it. I also have about three other half written books. So what is the problem that I can't finish what I start? Short attention span? Maybe...maybe just too many kids not enough time.

Happy Anniversary

Not only did we celebrate our 6th anniversary the whole nation did. We always have a big party. That's what we get for getting married on the 4th of July. We went camping and had a wonderful time. The weather was warm and sunny. We spent time with both of our families. Then on the 4th enjoyed a huge fireworks display. I couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend. I hope that everyone else enjoyed thiers.

Balloon's over Bend

Dh's family came over this way to visit for the weekend. I think that we wore them out. On Saturday evening we went to the evening balloon light up. It was really cool. You could go out and tlak to the people as they were waiting to set up the balloons. There was live music, the kids danced themselves sleepy. Which was a good thing because then they were tired enough to sit still and watch them blow up the balloons. They just glowed in the evening dusk. It was a beautiful site. Next year if we are over this way we'll get up early to watch the balloons take off. They had 20-30 balloons take off in the way early morning that Saturday but we didn't want to wake up.

The next morning we got up and went to another balloon thing. they had three balloons set up in the high school field. They were giving free balloon rides. Not really rides. You got to go up into the air and then come back down. The balloons were still teathered. We got there a little too late though. We were in line waiting for a ride and the wind picked up and the balloons had to be taken down. But the kids and dh got to help take downt he balloon. Still Sapphire was crying int he car she was so dissappointed. Maybe next year. I take it though that they don't do that every year. They just did this year because the wind was too strong for them to take off.

Christmas Valley, Oregon - Camping

For Journey's birthday/ Memorial weekend we went camping in Christmas Valley, Oregon. Unlike what most people imagine when they think about Oregon it is not lush, green with lots of trees. There are few trees, mostly juniper, and those there are are short and rather stunted. The majority of plant life is sage brush. It's high desert. It gets really hot during the day and then very cold at night. Well generally in the summer months, but we happened to visit on an off weekend and we got rain and hail.
The kids had a blast. There were a lot of family and friends there. I think that the adults had more fun than the kids did, staying up until all hours drinking way too much. There were many hangovers the next day. The asprin bottle was passed around. I had a couple mixed drinks but I'm nursing still so I don't drink much. It was fun but I think that next year we'll go some place a little more quiet. The teenagers were really loud until all hours of the morning.

High Desert Museum

While my mom was down we went to visit the High Desert Museum. It was really cool. There are several indoor and outdoor exhibits. There is so much stuff that it'll take more than one day to cover it all. I am thinking of getting a membership since we will be here all summer. The kids favorite exhibit was the river otter. You could see it above water and then below around the side of the tank. It came right up to the window.

There was a birds of prey exhibit.

I was probably 3 feet from a turkey vulture. Then they brought out a merlin, a small falcon, and a snowy owl. They were right there, you could practicaly touch them. It was really fascinating. Of course the kids got tired of it long before the adults did

There was an old saw mill and cabin that you could walk through. An interactive kids site that they could put on costumes and play with puppets. There were fish tanks with salmon and trout in them, (that was Journey's favorite). There was a rattlesnake, a couple scorpians and some lizards. The kids were more interested in the animals than any historical information. But they had a really interesting Native American exhibit. The lights were dimmed low and they had music and background noise playing. Several different teepees were inside and out.

Happy 1st Birthday Journey

It's gone by way too fast but here it is. You are one year old already. You are walking, climbing and pestering your siblings. You're shy and sweet. You are scared of dogs but love cats. You are a dipper, love ketchup, mayo and ranch dressing. You are willing to try anything at least twice. You want to do anything that big brother or big sister are doing and don't let your limitations frustrate you. You are amazing and astounding. I cherish everyday that I get to spend with you. I love you little dude.

Poor things

Well the baby fish did not make it. I think they got eaten by the frog. Poor momma. So we went out an got a couple more fish because the kids were so dissapointed. I am glad that we don't have any other pets. They keep asking for a kitten or a puppy but it's just too much work and not really fair to the animals to be living in such a small space.

I'm thinking about starting up a home business. Making dress up clothes. I don't know how it would work. I already have a lot on my plate and finding time to sew would be hard. But Randy supports me. Said that if it gets up and running he'll learn to sew and help me. That'll be interesting. I think he's excited for any chance to get out of his job and is willing to let me try just about anything I want. I think that it could be fun and rewarding but I don't know anything about running a business. Jeez I can't even balance my checkbook. How am I supposed to keep track of the finances? I'll make up a few things and see if they sell on E-bay. If so I guess I'll read up on small business and interenet business. There is a lot of literature out there nowadays. Okay enough babbling.

Babies

Well I killed our old fish and after a proper period of mourning we recently aquired some new ones. Well we bought four guppies yesterday and this morning were suprised to find 10 fish in our tank. Yes one of my fish is a momma. Must have been pregnant when I got her. Not sure how that happened because they kept male and females in different tanks. The kids are very happy and excited. The babies are about the size of a grain of rice. Very tiny, silvery-grey things. They flit about very fast and excited. The fish and the children.

Speaking of flitting. Journey has started walking. He's getting quiet good at it. Letting go and walking a few feet now before he plops onto his butt. He has yeat to fall face first. Smart boy, learned to fall first. He is also practicing standing and bending over and picking things up. He is so proud of himself when he does this. It's so cute the huge grin on his face and the squeeling noises. Now I'm sad because he's growing up too fast.

where we are now

Central Oregon.
Hot, high desert. Although I've been surprised at how much rain we've been getting. For the last few days there have been thunderstorms every evening. Morning is hot and sunny. I've gotten burnt alread. Curse my fair skin. They kids however are all tanning like the the bunch of injuns that they are. I'm sure that is politically incorrect. Should I have said Native Americans? Don't really care. Journey seems to be the only one who has inherited my fair skin, he also has red hair. Where did that come from?

Our park is surrounded by pine trees. We have had a little furry, fluffy tailed visitor a couple evenings. Very cute but not friendly. Turn your head towards it and it bolts. There are lots of birds. I bought a book with North American wildlife for the kids to try and identify some animals, bugs and plants. So far we havn't seen anything really exciting other than the bunny.

We went to see the largest pine tree in Oregon. Not really that tall, i think that the top fell off at some point. But the circumfranse was enormous. It's estimated to be over 500 years old. That's really old here in logging teritorry. I left my camera at my mom's so I will post pictures later.