The Season Of Giving

Please join us Sunday, November 6th for an afternoon of holiday shopping that gives back to those in need!

Proceeds to benefit the Grace House Women's Shelter.   http://www.womenatthewellgracehouse.com/

Where: Creekside Golf Club Ballroom

            6250 Clubhouse Drive

            Salem, OR 97306

When: Sunday, November 6th

           12-5pm

I, myself will be selling homemade Holiday wreaths, very simple, very homemade Soy candles, and fabric flower accessories. 

More things being sold...

Jewlery-Avon-Miche Bags-Pampered Chef-Partylite Candles-Gourmet Foods-Home Decor-Dessert Gift Baskets-Xyngular Health and Wellness.

Desserts and beverages will be served and there will be a raffle! 

Chilly House? Time to start up my fireplace!

So I finally decided that it was time to start it! All the neighbors around us have started lighting theirs, but I just didn't think that it was cold enough to do that yet.
So here I am, being lazy, Josiah is napping downstairs and I'm enjoying myself with a cup of hot apple cider, reading a good book with the warmth of the fire by my side.
I can't wait till the Holidays, as they get closer and closer, I get more and more excited.

Josiah's first Halloween:
I have a monkey outfit that I got from a Carter's store a few months back, they were super cheap and I couldn't pass up the $10 complete monkey outfit. Now all I need to do is make some sort of warm shoes for those cute little feet of his. Hopefully we'll be lucky enough to keep up the trend of the dry Halloween nights like the last few years.

First Thanksgiving:
Both sides of the family live in town, so therefore we have to go to both houses to celebrate. Josiah is now at the age that he can finally eat just about everything and can feed himself really well. Watching him taste the different foods that he doesn't normally have is going to be quite the experience.

First Christmas:
This one makes me the most excited of all! He'll be about 10 months old, and with the rate he's going at mobility wise he may be walking by that time. My very determined little man. :) Definitely won't be a problem for him to get his gifts unwrapped.

Saved Instagram Pics

I figure that I better put these in another place, besides Facebook and my IPhone.

Toothy Grin!

I used to do this to my hair a lot! Decided out of the random to try it again, I think I like it!

Date night with Hubby! At Best Little Roadhouse, I havent been there before til this pic.

Dimple LOVE!

Waiting for Daddy outside Toys R Us, got him a new, big boy car seat(not in pic). Transitions from rear facing, forward facing to booster!

Autumn love

So Sunday we went up to Hood river for their yearly harvest festival. His parents and us that is. Perfect weather, cool creative things to look at and good snacks! It was a good day, then afterwards we went up to the Portland hospital to see Bens cousin. She just had a beautiful baby girl, so was so little I had forgotten how easy babies were to carry at that age. Josiah got to meet his great aunt Chris, second cousin Julia and third cousin Jadalyn.
When we got home and was finally able to get Josiah down for a real nap, he wouldn't sleep for anything on the trip in the carseat because he is incredibly sensitive to light and sound. He only slept for maybe a total of an hour and a half the entire day, and this kid still wanted to climb mountains!(stairs)
Well anyway, with an overtired baby, my sister still was willing to come over and stay the night with me and keep me company we even made some homemade soy candles together and they turned out looking and smelling great!
These days waking up I get to sleep in till as late at 10:00! Now that is awesome! I was needing to catch up on days of lost sleep for some time, and my son is willing to cooperate and let me do so. Going on with our late start days, I don't really feel like doing anything anymore. I'm still sometimes in my sweats, fed Josiah some breakfast, with little chunks of fruit I can come up with for him to feed himself. Now I settle in this big couch and watch netflix. I don't care if the laundry is piling up anymore, and don't care about the dishes as much.
However, I feel bad sometimes for my husband when he gets home because there are those rare days where I have to wait for him to get home just so that I can get a shower in. He is so wonderful at forgiving me for not having dinner perfectly ready for him on the table and for not having the house clean for him. I just get so exhausted by just watching my son play, is that bad? I don't want to be that lazy mommy and wife that sits at home all day, eats bon bons and watches soap operas. I want to be the mom that gets out and plays with my kids at the park and take them to exciting events. I don't feel like I am living up to that standard. I know that my son is only 8 months old and I still have a lot of time to do all those things. I just feel guilty, I think that me being lazy sometimes is bad!
I need to get to the part where I think that I'm qualified for a day off every once in a while. I need to remind myself that its totally ok to let things go every once in awhile. My husband doesn't care just as long as he can eat SOMETHING when he gets home. I love a man that loves leftovers! Maybe the change in the weather is part of the lazy effect that I have. Eventually I'll get my butt into gear. Probably not till after mid-November though, then everything will hopefully be back to normal. Anyhoo-Happy fall everyone!

Using Rhythmic Birth Control

Not only do disappointments happen but the fact that stupid things happen at the most inconvenient time is the most irritating to me.
I just gotta let this out.

The last few weeks or so Ben has been working a lot! So much in fact that I was needing some TLC in the intimate department. (wink*)
Then finally the day that he decides that he wasn't tired and he was going to actually be his 'normal' man self. I start my period! Really?! I wasn't expecting this till next week! I usually have terrible cramps beforehand for an hour or so before their is any, well, you know.
ARG! I haven't been this frustrated in a long time! Now we have to wait another week, and because we do the rhythmic birth control I have to be timely with what my body is doing. Difficult but not impossible and much better than the oral contraceptives in my opinion.

Why did I chose this method? Because the cost of birth control, the extra hormones and depending on something that I easily forget often was not worth it--from my point of view anyway. We used to do the withdrawal method (man pulls out before ejaculation), and we did that method for two years married before we got pregnant. We did, however, get pregnant by accident, we consumed a little alcohol and had a little bit too much fun. ;) Which is a great way to make a baby! lol! We still do withdrawal method, but only during ovulation.
Also, if God really wants me to have another baby right now, nothing is going to stop him from doing it. Even if I did do every birth control in the world correctly He is in control. All birth controls say 99% effective, so how does that 1% turn out?
My midwife did tell me to wait at least a year before even trying to have another baby, because of a medical reason. We want a healthy second baby, so to follow these orders are important to start another chapter of our lives. So we are extra careful, and we are not having intercourse as much during ovulation. I know my body really well and know when I'm ovulating as should hopefully almost every woman know their body this well too if you have regular periods.

I have heard some stories from friends taking hormonal pills, diaphragms, or any other kind of thing that's out there and some not-so-good things happen. Infertility was one of the biggies. For instance on of my friends...she was taking oral contraceptives for 6 years non-stop to help regulate and have lighter periods, now that she is married they want to have a baby. She stopped taking it nearly 1 year ago, and they are still trying, her periods are even more irregular so ovulation is difficult to detect.

That is just one story out of the many others that try and fail to have babies. I feel bad for them, because although the risks are small, there is still that slight chance. Have you seen what could possibly happen if you take medical bc? Blood clots, mood swings, nausea, Palpitation(heart beating rapidly randomly), Decreased calcium retention(osteoporosis?), weight gain, Depression(rare, but still). This is just a few mishaps and for only short term consumption. However long term - possibility of gallstones, decreased resistance during flu season. There is more but I don't want to take the time to get it all down.
But yeah, that is just my intake on this subject, and if it works for you to take oral contraceptives go for it!

I'm not gonna go out there and protest against medical means of birth control. Some women find these means better for them, which is OK. Some women have emotional reasons, and some have medical, which is scientifically better for them by a doctors order.

My husband and I have faith in God that he will bless us with the perfect amount of children at the perfect timing. Happy marriage=happy family! :)

Josiah's first pumpkin patch!

It was such a nice day out when we were at the farm. Sunny with a nice autumn breeze, perfect!

Next time will be 100xs better though, because then Josiah will be 1 1/2, walking and actually get more involved. He just was on Daddy's shoulders, or in my arms the whole time, good times but he's a super heavy kid now and we got so tired of carrying him around. All he did was mainly look at everything and when I tried to present him to the cute animals, he just wanted to pull their ears or eat whatever they were eating. lol

We were going to get a pumpkin but then I decided not to just because I can get one alot cheaper at a supermarket than the pumpkin patch. However, I insisted on at least getting some super yummy apple cider, then Ben insisted on getting the huge gallon size. Yeah that sucker is still in my fridge. So yummy though! 

I got some pics of the cute animals, the cows were so adorable laying int their pens.

Sitting on Daddy's shoulders, drooling, eating his hair.

My what blue eyes! I love this pic, and nothing was done to it. All natural lighting and everything

Pumpkins!

Too many days of no sleep=no good

On top of everything that I have to finish before November, my son has decided to wake up 3-6 times a night. This has been going on for about a month now, I don't know if it's because he just started learning how to pull himself up, or maybe he's growing?
I did read an article about the ages of infants and their sleeping patterns how they change so easily by just the fact the baby is learning new things. Learning to pull themselves up was mentioned.
Hopefully this will pass soon, I really don't know how much longer I can take of this. Not sleeping much I mean.
I was very prepared to wake up every 2 hours a night when he was a newborn, but this, I was not prepared.

Tomorrow finally the three of us is going to have a much needed family day, I've probably seen my husband a total of 10 hours the last 4 days and this time together is something to definitely look forward too.
He is excited to hang out with his son too, which is such a sweet thing to hear from daddy. :)

Pics will be posted from Josiah's first pumpkin patch! Super excited!

Too much to do, so little time, and with a baby!

Yep, the simple life just got kicked up a notch!
I have a ton of things to do before November, there is a fundraiser going on for the Grace House and having booths with different items selling different things.
So the things that I have to finish before that day is...
All the candles that I have to make into the used baby jars, I have SO many of them to do, at least 100 I think
Fabric flowers that come in the form of either a headband, brooch, or hair pin.
Holiday wreaths in which I make from ribbon and other decorative items.

So I have the ingredients for everything, except for more scent options for the candles, and everything for the wreaths. Like I said I have a ton of things to do!

This kind of stuff is going to be made very homemade, and rustic. Recycled baby jars made into mini candles? why not? Probably only going to sell those little suckers for about $1 a piece cause another lady is selling partylight candles, and I don't wish to be a competitor.
Fabric flowers made from recycled shirts, sweaters, and scraps of fabric? Yes! Those will be sold super cheap too!
Holiday wreaths, not so recycled. :/ My mother actually took the liberty to put on the bulletin  that I was selling wreaths, so I have to just make a few for selling. I was going to sell canned jams and jellys but again, another person is already doing so.

I think that I'll call my little private company "The Lil Homemaker" just for the heck of it! Hey maybe I'll make a few bucks off this little thing that I'm doing. I'm kinda anxious about it. :)
So all that and a baby to take care of, along with keeping up with the housework and having a hot dinner on the table as much as possible for my man.

Actually my husband is being such a sweet heart and we are eventually going clothes shopping for me! Not the goodwill items mind you! And I am such a goodwill junkie! He looked at me and the clothes that I was wearing one day and he just decided that my outdated clothing will not do for a wife of his! I deserve better he says, aww. I love him!

Philippians 4:13

What's that you say...

is on my sweater? Many things I tell you! Spit-up, snot, drool, food, formula, diaper cream, crusty snack leftovers, a little bit of my lunch. That's alright, I'm blessed enough to have plenty of clothes to change into. :) The love of being a mother...not minding the fact that my child's life is all over the front of my nicely prepared outfit.
However, it does get a little annoying when my church outfit, favorite pair of jeans and/or new white shirt gets some kind of red sauce on it. I will eventually learn my lesson. :) No touching baby right before going out on a date with my wonderful husband, or at least wear a very over sized apron at all times until after stepping out the door. Oh the good times!
I love my baby and he is growing so fast, pulling himself up, getting into things he shouldn't typical boy. Pretty soon he'll be walking and I won't be able to catch the little booger. He is going to be 8 months old in a week! OMG

Things are overwhelming lately but I think that with the help and grace of God I will be able to handle it. For I don't think that he would give me something that I couldn't handle.

Too much time has passed...

So anyway, yeah, its been awhile since I posted. I've just been kinda busy working on a few things, like making a TON of fabric flowers, wreaths and hair accessories for this fundraiser craft fair for my mothers Grace House that she has been working on. So I've been busy at being BORED, I guess you could say.

The days turn longer as my husband is constantly working and seems like that I don't see him as often as I use to, and out of my frustration I end up being the nagging wife because he is gone all the time. I definitely need to be working on that part, and be patient as he works hard for his family and I don't think that I give him nearly enough credit for it. Also, our old red car has just recently been totaled so we are officially a one car family. Which is making my days even harder because I can't get out of this darn house unless I drive Ben to work, and most the time I don't wanna do that because of gas and he sometimes gets out of work late, and when he does work really late at night I don't really want to wake up Josiah just to go pick up daddy then I would have a grouchy baby all the way there and back. To take up more time of the day, I would totally walk, if I didn't have a baby that I had to walk everywhere with, I don't quite trust this wonderful Oregon weather that we have. So with a chance of rain that comes rapidly around the corner, walking with a 7 month old-not so wise. So on a side note, if you all could be praying for me to have patience and to be that wife in Proverbs 31 that I need to be. Just having a little bit of a rough time right now and I need that little extra boost of prayer from my lady friends out there!

However the upside of things, fall is here! My favorite time of the year, I love the colors, cold weather attire(scarves, cardigans, comfy sweaters) and the knowing fact that the holidays are just around the corner.

Happy October! Halloween is just around the corner and I can't wait for my son's first Halloween celebration!
Love you guys-Jess