Well, let's face it: it's been a while, three whole years in fact, since I've bothered to post anything on here.  I won't apologize.  I've been busy figuring out how in the world I am going to successfully homeschool three children every day, ALL day!  Well, maybe not all day, every day, but there are some days when that is all that I achieve.  I get my kids schooled and they have eaten three healthy meals, but they may or may not have gotten changed out of their pajamas. It doesn't sound exhausting, but let me tell you, it is mentally and emotionally draining for yours truly.  At the end of the day there simply wasn't enough computing power left in my brain for putting together anything remotely worth reading.

As happens with all children, mine have aged and become a bit more independent and self-sufficient, leaving me with enough resources to press on.  However, this does not guarantee I will post consistently.  I have noticed over time that I tend to be anti-social during the winter months, so don't be surprised if I go into "hibernation" again!

That's all for now.  I'll be sharing more of what I've been up to in the past three years later.

to teach Emmie the Star-Spangled Banner.  Upon trying to retrieve the words from memory, I found that I could only recall the version my wily Uncle Les had sung so unceremoniously at a few minor league baseball games we had attended together:

"Oh, say can you see
Any dead bugs on me?
If you do,
Pick a few,
Make a sandwich or two."

Good for a laugh, but now I am having to Google the "Star-Spangled Banner".  I feel so unpatriotic...

that when your boys are laughing and having fun together in a room where you are not, it usually means a lot of clean up for you later on.....
Just to note, my camera lens is NOT dirty, that is baby powder floating in the air from son no. 1 dumping it on his brother.  Both were so covered in powder that clouds followed them as I shooed them outside.


About ten minutes after posting this I got a very precious moment with Viggo.  He climbed up into my lap, gave a hearty sigh, then this happened....

under my house and it is stinking up my kitchen.

David just put drywall putty all over the bottom of the cabinet under my stove to help keep the stink out.


Not much more to be said, I'm afraid; other than we both are going to be jumping for joy when we sell this place! The space between the bottom of the house and the ground is too narrow to maneuver around easily, so retrieving the decomposing whatever-it-is might be an impossibility. Yay.....

Onto a more productive note: I dyed a hank of yarn for my dad today.


It's going to be knit into a pair of socks, eventually...

For those of you who don't know (and it won't be surprising if it's a lot of you, since I don't really write about it here), I knit as a hobby and dye yarn to sell in my etsy shop. You can read more about my knitting and dyeing exploits on the blog I share with my sis.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year, by the way!

I want to share a clip from a show that both Ian and Emmaline love. Without fail this is the show both of them will watch together. It was created by the Swedish, so of course it is wonderful! They speak complete gibberish, but it is still a lot of fun for even me to watch. This clip is one of my favorites...I think a lot of stay-at-home moms would be able to see most of their days at home in this video.

So without further ado...

Sometimes you just have to give in!

This week has been somewhat exhausting. We started it off with Emmaline's birthday on Sunday, Ian got sick Monday night, Emmaline was sick Wednesday night, and I was ill all day Thursday. Thankfully, the bug we got seems to be the type that worked its way out of our systems pretty quickly. However, I have been doing a lot of laundry and keeping late hours at night. After finally feeling better from yesterday, I pretty much decided to laze about the house today. I have gotten a few things done today like one load of laundry and a load of dishes put into the dishwasher. Not much to claim, but at least it is something.

On another note, I have accomplished a few other things this week, including a loverly apron for Emmaline!

I had recently purchased some aprons at Ross; once Emmaline saw me wearing one, she had to have one on too. Needless to say, my aprons were filthy within their first day of use. So, I decided to make some for her.

I used a McCall's Pattern for this apron. Very cute set of aprons.

I've decided to only make the two on the side. I have one more to make with different fabrics in the same style as the one I've finished, and I got a pretty green fabric for the one above it. We'll see how they turn out!

I've also been attempting to bake gluten-free products for my family. Since my kiddos seem particularly sensitive to gluten and certain starches, I have to be mindful of how much of those particular items they consume during the day. So far I've made an attempt at Irish Soda Bread

which tasted more like corn bread than soda bread, still have to tweak this one, and some biscuits

which I think turned out pretty well, all things considered. Paired with the sausage gravy I made, I could barely tell a difference. I'm sure it will take me a while to get used to the slightly different taste and consistency of the different flours I am using, but I hope the effort will be well worth it.

All right, now before anyone freaks out, Ian did this to me last night. In his desperation to suckle himself to sleep he latched onto my jaw and went at it. This is the result of only a few seconds. Crazy, huh?

Well, I have started the potty training process with Emmaline!

She has been fighting me more and more just to change her diaper, so I decided I was sick of it. Yesterday I just let her run around the house naked and cleaned up after her. Today I did more of the same, then decided it was kind of silly. Now my battle plan is to just leave her naked for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. This way I can wait until I put Ian down for a nap and give her my full attention.

This morning Emmaline and I spent a good while in the bathroom, reading books until she finally peed in the potty! I think I had two books left to read before she actually peed, so it took her a while. After she peed, I cheered for her and praised her and gave her some M&M's (nothing like candy to get the point across!), and we did a peepee dance together. The second time I put her on the toilet she sat their straining and grunting and said, "Trying". It really is amazing how well candy communicates with children. I told her to just relax and it would come when it would come. After she peed the second time we did much of the same. I really hope this doesn't take too long, but I'm not in control of that. We'll just have to see how much Emmaline really wants to be done with diapers and keep getting M&M's!

A few days ago Emmaline randomly decided to count to ten. (We've been playing a computer game with her that counts to ten, lately. She didn't just come up with the numbers out of thin air. She's never counted past three, though.) Anywho, she started at two and left out the numbers four and seven, but she was so proud of herself for counting to ten!

Today she counted my eyes; apparently I have five, three of which I have never seen before. I was just proud of her for starting at one this time. She still left out the four, but one baby step at a time!

So, over the past two and a half weeks Emmaline has gone through some terrible suffering.

It started the weekend we went camping (which I am NEVER doing again while pregnant and having to keep up with a mischevious toddler!). The day before we were set to leave she got an incredibly nasty diaper rash. The next day she got her first ant bites, plus something in the air was aggravating her sinuses, plus she was teething! She was so miserable on that camping trip. The following Monday, after her ant bites, sinuses, and the rash were finally clearing up, she decided to pick up a bee, therefore getting her first ever bee sting! Her little thumb and forefinger were so swollen and puffy, but she handled it like a real trooper. Also around that time I noticed that the bottoms of her feet were a little puffy and splotchy. The swelling from her sting had gone down by the next day, but while playing outside a few days later she got bitten by ants again! Those bites have finally cleared up, but the bottoms of her feet were still splotchy. Over the past few days I could tell they were really aggravating her.

After getting awoken at 3 o'clock last night because Emmaline couldn't sleep for the itching on her feet, I decided it was time to take her to the doctor. After calling to set the appointment, I noticed that Emmaline had finally cut two of her cuspids (Praise the Lord!!). No wonder she has been so cranky!

The pediatrician diagnosed her as having inherited the Farina eczema gene, and that was what was bothering her feet. SO, now she is getting pampered feet with lots of lotion and steroid creme, plus some infant tylenol to help with the teething. David and I are praying we will get a full night's sleep tonight...it's been so long....

I went to Hobby Lobby today and spent way too much money (sshhh...no one tell David!). They had some adorable fabrics that I decided to pick up and make into dresses for Emmaline. I can't wait to get started!!

David and I took Henry and Sophie to an IG rescue yesterday. David and I both had conflicting emotions about this decision. On the one hand we both loved these dogs, maybe me a bit more so, but on the other the time and attention they required was just getting to be too much. With our second baby on the way, we both agreed that taking care of them and all the messes they made was just going to be too much for me to handle on my own. Plus, I would be too busy to give them the attention they would need.

I have been going between weepy and relieved today. I still look for them when I walk into other rooms, and expect them to be hiding in our bed or underneath a blanket somewhere. It's going to take a while for me to get used to their absence. Oh, I'm going to cry. I can't write anymore.

For those of you who do not know my daughter intimately, she is a wonderful little girl, full of spunk and spirit, a joy to be around, is a great source of entertainment, and is over-all a very good baby. And if you were to pass by her on the street you would probably think, "What a beautiful little girl!", as so many people are inclined to tell me when the DO pass us by while out and about. You would think she was a perfect little angel.

There is a big BUT that comes along with my little bunting, though, that few who intimately know her have seen. This would include myself, David, and Lucia.

Emmaline has a temper, and it reared its ugly little head about five months ago. However, it has of late become a little more intolerable since lately her temper has led to hitting.

This is where I would like to share an experience that is all too familiar to me, in its generality, of course. A couple of Sundays ago, while dropping off Emmaline in the Church nursery, I informed the lady who runs the nursery that Emmaline had been hitting of late and that if she did it while in the nursery they were welcome to tell her "No!" and to come get me.

Do you know what the lady to who I told all of this did after I finished?

She LAUGHED at me!!! Do you believe that?!! She laughed and said, "No, I don't believe that. Miss Emmaline hitting? She's such a little angel." Then she turned to the lady across the hallway who was running the preschooler room and said, "Emmaline's mommy has just informed me that Emmaline has been h-i-t-t-i-n-g."

Do you know what the lady across the hallway did?

She LAUGHED too! Then she voiced the same opinion, "No, Emmaline can't hit, she's too cute!"

My darling little girl started early. I don't know where she learned this, but I swear she knows what she is doing. She behaves perfectly for everyone at church, then when she gets home the demons come out!! She has them all duped, DUPED, I tell you!!!

Now, don't get me wrong, because I love my little girl, and I, too, believe she is a precious little angel. However, she is not perfect, and it can be very frustrating for me as her mother to have to deal with what is a serious behavior problem to me, then have people laugh in my face. I understand that they don't know her, truly, so I just try to let it roll off my shoulders. It doesn't hurt that I have this blog to vent, either.

This morning I got dressed only to realize that Emmaline had leaked through her diaper onto my last pair of clean pants. "Oh well, they don't stink; I'll just have to do laundry after I get back from running my errands", I said. I threw on my favorite warm sweater, spritzed it with my favorite perfume to cover up any residual smell from my jeans, then glanced in the mirror only to see that Emmaline had spit up on my sleeve; I, having forgotten all about it, had just folded up the sweater and put it away after having last worn it. Aaaarggh! Now I am starting to understand why some mothers are out shopping in their pajamas: they simply don't have anything else to wear! Sigh...I LOVE motherhood!!!

Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!

Curse DST, and curse my lack of organization!! Curse being a first-time mother!!! There are so many little details that are so easy to overlook when trying your best to scramble through this stage of life called "Motherhood"! The time change problem just kind of snuck up on me, and I had no clue I would need to do something to prepare my child for this. In hindsight, of course I see I should have done something. Where is the "New Mother's Manual: Everything You Need to Know to Keep You and Your Baby Sane"? I did not receive one when I gave birth to Emmaline. Man did I get cheated!!

Oh well, now I am having to kind of turn the clocks forward a bit. I tried putting Emmaline to bed half an hour later than she is accustomed to going to bed, but so far it doesn't seem to be helping. Perhaps I'll have to do it in fifteen minute increments. Are any of you other mothers out there having a problem?

All Emmaline did this morning was cry: she cried because she was tired, she cried because she was hungry, she cried because she wanted a cream wafer instead of oatmeal for breakfast, she cried because I put her down when she smacked me in the face for telling her, "No, you cannot have a cream wafer for breakfast", she cried while eating her oatmeal, she cried when I changed her diaper, she cried while I was giving her a bottle of milk, and she cried when I tried to lay her down for a nap.

She's NOT having a good morning.

Here is a picture of my first ever finished dress that I sewed myself!! Yea! The dress had actually been done for a couple of months now, but I had one tiny bit of hand-sewing to do to the sash in order for it to be completely done. So, Saturday afternoon I sat myself down and finished sewing up my sash. I wore my dress the next day to church and got a compliment on it.

Well, after weeks of Emmaline pulling on my hair incessantly, I decided to get it chopped off!! Here it is. Let me know what you think.

I decided to make a dress, and this time I am going to finish it. I started another dress about two years ago. The pattern was a level "difficult", and I am ashamed to admit that after fighting to sew the bodice onto the midriff section of the dress I got intimidated by the sleeves. Therefore, that dress's halves have been carefully tucked away, never finished.

So, this time around I got intimidated again. I have never sewn sleeves on before. I did every step up to the sewing of the sleeves then put off sewing for two days. Finally I just had to make myself do it. So here it is folks!! I have faced another self-made obstacle and overcome it. I'm so proud!

Here it is folks!! My first knitting project that I have ever completed!!! I mean fully completed. It is completely finished!! Nothing more needs to be done to it.

This is a Feather and Fan blanket pattern made with Muench "Big Baby" Multi yarn on size US 11 circular needles. I used the colors "Melon Mix" and "Spring Mix".

For those of you who know me well, you may or may not know that I am the Queen of taking on a project, getting really close to finishing, yet never quite achieving the full end! Well, I have finally broken that cycle!! Of course, I still have two other knitting projects that have been in the works for a while, and a ton of crocheting to do, but hey! why not revel in this one victory?

I just wanted to take the time to post an update. I haven't much been in the mood for writing, and have had so many other things to do that I haven't had time either.

Emmaline:
is teething. I noticed that she has already cut one tooth and has at least two more trying to come through. Her first tooth I noticed around ten weeks.

has started sleeping through the night. Every other day or so she will sleep til 5:30 or 6. Hallelujah!

is outgrowing her 0-3 months clothing and moving into 3-6 months apparel. Today is her three month birthday! Yea! She coos and talks up a storm! So far our conversations consist of "ercu", "goo", "ahgoo", "hey", "hi", "help" (the last three rarely come out, and I am sure it is pure chance. However, it is still very odd to hear words from her!), "boo", and "ahboo", among other various gurglings.

David:
is working like crazy remodeling our laundry room and making a dining room table for us. So far neither project is done, but he is very good at completing what he starts.

I am floundering around trying to make this house into a home and failing miserably! Oh well, I am sure eventually things will settle into a form of normalcy for us all. At least, that is what I hope.