You're gonna hate me...
So...... I moved my blog yet again. Sorry. Posterous sold itself to Twitter and for a long while now has been going in a direction I really haven't liked. I finally took the plunge and switched to
Wordpress. This should be a permanent swtich since my website, website (www.buttontais.com) is a wordpress.org site and will stay that way. I'm now familiar with the wordpress platform and there just aren't many other options out there (i've tried almost all of them *sigh*). One thing I REALLY don't like about wordpress is that they don't give you many "free" options for making your blog feel personal but one day when I am rich I won't have to worry about that ;)
For you readers, this swtich should be much better. Wordpress.com as a blogging platform is pretty user friendly for the reader. Commenting on posts is easy, starting to follow is easy as well. I might change the look once in a while but the url should stay the same. I've moved all my old posts over and, as a special treat to reward you for switching the url link in your readers or RSS feeds or bookmarks...my very next post will be about the adventure in the ER and my emergency surgery. Exciting, I know ;)
Move with me this one last time and I promise I will try my best to never invonvience you like this again :D
(Females only:) A post about menstrual cups
I know some of you have heard me talk about how AMAZING these things are...but I just found a post someone else did (including a really helpful video) that says it all!
If you even slightly hate using pads or tampons and have ever condsidered looking into an alternative option, check out this link http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2012/04/menstrual-cups.html.
I've been using mine (off and on, obviously) for 4 or 5 years now and LOVE it!! :)
A very happy birthday to the best Grandpa and Daddy!
We love you!!!!
Argharghargharghargh....blah
Sera is a sleeping disaster! Both my children have been sleeping disasters as babies and I am just SO over it! You cannot possibly imagine what I mean by sleeping DISASTER unless you have had a near similar experience to this. I am not overexaggerating when I say that for the majority of Sera's life we have been restlessly sleeping or just plain awake all night. It is not for lack of trying that I am stuck with this cross...i've tried many sleeping schedules, approaches, set ups, etc. I've even tried for months to have her go (cry/scream) to sleep without me nursing her and yet NOTHING has made any significant improvement. Something is bothering her, of course. But something is almost always bothering her!
My current theory is that my babies are born with compromised gut flora due to yeast that both Brandon and I carry. Because of this, they quickly develope acid reflux and food intolorances that make their early weeks and months constant agony (hence the constant screaming, crying, and sleepless nights-newborn style). After that, the inital problems begin to disappate but they are chronically plagued with at least a bit of intestinal discomfort as well as the residual effects of lack of nutrition and a weakened intestinal system. Also, they are now accustomed to waking up at the slightest provocation.
I don't have much of a plan for "solving" Sera's sleep issues. I'll wait it out until she grows it out for the most part just like Solomon did. Whenever we start trying for #3 though, i'm ready with a plan for a healthier conception, pregnancy, and family in general!
The Motorcycle Saga
Last September, Brandon decided he wanted to get a motorcycle. We had been tossing the idea around for a few months prior but it was then that he decided he really REALLY wanted it to happen. Most people think I am crazy when they find out I encouraged my husband to start riding a motorcycle but for us the decision was a very practical one--we are a one car household and don't have the money for a second. Brandon would be able to ride his bike to school at least 50% of the time freeing up the car for us regularly. Being housebound with two kids is just no fun whatsoever! At first Brandon wanted to buy a brand new sport motorcycle for $2,500--his idea was to use a bit of money he had saved up, put the rest of it on the credit card, and pay it back by spring. We typically don't do things we dont' have the money for so even though it sounded like a "plan" we decided against it and went with a more reasonable option. Brandon found a bike he liked well enough that could be squeezed into our budget at the time and bought it. I'm not sure precicely what God was trying to teach us but that bike was a disaster! One thing after the next happened to the bike and it was virtually unusable for MONTHS. It became almost humerous. Almost.
A little over a month ago, right after Brandon FINALLY got it up and running consistantly, he got into a crash. I was in the basement with the kids at the time and Brandon was supposed to be arriving home any minute to take Solomon to the park but minute after minute passed and after 45 of them had gone by I knew that something was wrong. Right as I was going to check my phone to see if he had called, I got an incoming call from his phone and answered it. His first words, "before I say anything, know that I am fine". My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and I knew he was going to tell me he had been in a crash.
Long story short, the accident was the farthest thing from his fault. Some woman had pulled out into both lanes of his street so that she could make a left turn and she never once looked his way. He ran straight into the side of her car because there was no were else for him to go. His leg got smashed in between her car and his bike and he got thrown on his back in the middle of the street but other than a slight temporary limp and some gashes and bruises, he was fine (don't worry, they got everything into the police report). Good thing my man is made of steel!
The poor woman was from out of state and driving a rental car, didn't even have proof of insurance on her! I would not want to be in her shoes. But the rental company had a very good insurance company and with in two weeks Brandon had gotten reimbursed generously. For the bike he originally paid $600 for, and then put $250 of repairs into, he was given $1600. We were both relieved and happy! Of course my ever frugal husband ;) went and bought a bike he had been drooling over for sometime--a Honda CL350--with his monies and has been happily riding ever since.
Having a "second vehicle" that actually works has been so wonderful! Spring is a beautiful and suitable time for a motorcycle rider to be riding and my husband comes home happy every day. I'm happy every day too because we have been able to get out and about more, and my children are happy because they aren't cooped up all day any more. Win. Win. Win. I'm grateful for the lessons of patience and perseverance that God taught us through all this but i'm even more grateful for the greater appreciation it has given us for this small luxury.
- Posted from Topeka, KS
Interlude
I've been meaning to write my post "The Motorcycle Saga" but we've been busy and it has yet to happen. I am really enjoying having this blog post agenda, however, and think I might adopt it frequently in the future. It helps being able to write down concise titles to posts when I think of them so that I can come back later and elaborate.
ANYHOW, i'm not sticking to agenda tonight. Tonight, what is really on my mind is the idea of success. I will warn you that I may or may not have had a couple of glasses of wine (in honor of the Annunciation...wootwoot!) and so I may type more frankly than normal (and may also make even more spelling mistakes than normal :P).
I've been in a funk lately. I am mindless, wandering. Business related matters are mostly what are casuing me to be this way, and I have to confess that I am disapppointed by the feedback I have recived. I am ashamed to say that I have not gotten a single order on my website in the last 2 weeks that it has been up. I shouldn't be surprised...these things take time and people need to have faith in a product before they plunk a lot of money down on it but I put a lot of energy and heart into getting my website up and running and it is hard to press on when I am running on less than fumes. Brandon keeps telling me that I need to try harder to believe in myself so that others will believe in me too. It is all too clear to me--I am TERRIBLE at being able to inspire others.
I've noticed that the key to other's sucesses, not matter what they are over, always ties back to their ability to inspire others and get them to feel like part of it! The company TOMS is a perfect example of this. I'm sure the founder is a really cool dude who figured out a way to get other people to have that "feel good" feeling just by buying his product. And you know, it worked! I love TOMS. Everyone loves TOMS. I have a friend who is amazing at convicing people to try what she tries, to do what she does and I often sit back and wonder how some people can just have that effect on others. My pride and anxiety often hold me back--I am so self concious about what other people will think of me. I have fears that I can trace back to as long as I can remember about people rejecting me and thinking I am dumb or that my ideas or werid and it taints me to this very day. When people excitedly ask me about the carrier I am wearing (my Button Tai, of course), I always have reasons floating around in the back of my head for why they would end up not liking it, or how it is too expensive for someone like them, or any reason whatsoever that they would regret having bought it...and in the end the imaginary guilt I have about trying to pursuade this person that they should get a Button Tai overwhelms me so much that I stutter and stammer and pretty much kill all my chances of inspiring that person to give something new a chance. Brandon says that I need to be as convinced myself of my mission---that every parent should have a Button Tai--as I want them to be. And he's right. I don't believe in my mission enough. I believe in my product though. I love my carrier! I have friends who love their Button Tais too! I just keep on giving excuses to my mind about how they only like their Button Tais because they've never tried any other Mei Tai etc. etc. If I could I would just give every parent in the world a Button Tai and just leave it a that. People don't hate on things they didn't have to pay $$ for.
I have no conclusion to this. Drinking wine is not usually good for decision making--mosly just uncovering the deeper issues at hand. I want to be an inspiring person though. I want to not take myself so seriously. I need to not be so narrowminded and proud. I want to CHANGE the world and I really, truly believe that babywearing is one of those things that can change peoples lives for the better! I don't even care about the money, just about the mission. (But maybe I should care about the money more since I am trying to start a business and all.... ;) ) Argh.
Home Improvements=Life Improvements (Photos)
So excited!!! We just finished all the home improvements we had scheduled for this spring break week. Here are a few pictures (I really need to get better at indoor photography...)
The before/work in progress pictures... boy was it a mess!
And hereare pictures of the now reorganized and finished parts of the house: livingroom/dining room, den, bedrooms and hallway....
And my wonderful new front screen door!
Home Improvements=Life Improvements
It will never cease to amaze me how much of a difference simply moving a few pieces of furniture, or painting a wall a different color, or having windows/doors that open and close easily can make in one's life! A few weeks ago, I rearranged (yet again!) our diningroom/living room area. This really is the most awkward space in our house because if things are not *just right* you end up with a significant amount of dead or unused space. In a house as small as ours, dead space is the ultimate tragedy. After months and months of observation, I realized that we would pretty much never use our dinner table no matter how hard we tried and therefore would never used our "dining room." Laughably, every night we all sat around our toddler sized table in the den eating dinner. Brandon hated it. One day I just sat down and really thought through WHY the diningroom table/room just didn't get used and finally decided it was because of size and location. Our table was just too big and unmanagable to get 2 wiggly little ones to sit down at every day and the table was so stinking far from our kitchen that it wasn't worth carrying everything back and forth from. I began hawking Craigslist to find a smaller table and FINALLY found the perfect one. We haggled it down to $150, sold our bigger one for $550 (originally bought off of craigslist for $375) and made our lives SO much better. Man, I love Craigslist.
Because our new table was so much smaller, we were able to move it into a more accessable place closer to the kitchen and more central to the house. We moved our couch back by the window again and created a lovely sitting area. Its genuinely hard for us NOT to spend all our time in the living room or dining room area now! This has radically changed our daily lives.
Two other pending improvements:
1) We are going to be recarpeting the den/carpeting our bedrooms NEXT WEEK!!! I am so insanely excited! We have been waiting on this for over a year and I can't believe its finally happening. Carpeting the rooms means we will be moving the kids over to our second bedroom and Brandon and I will finally have our own room for the first time since Solomon was born. The kids are pretty excited to have their own space too :) (We are also re-painting the bedrooms but thats just clumped into the carpeting project in my mind :P)
2) We bought a new glass/screen door for our front door which will be so amazing! Our old one not only has terrible insulation but is falling apart and has no screen and the glass is pretty funked up. The center of our house gets a pitiful amount of daylight so being able to keep the front door open and just have the glass/screen door closed when we are home will make a world of difference! (I'm hoping Brandon will put it up soon! :D)
Home improvements are magical-- last month I was starting to really hate our house and now we just love love love it! :) Anyhow, i'll post pictures when everything is done.
