Welcome!

Miss Lily Grace was born on Friday June 18 at 10:09 p.m.
She weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 20in long.

Her daddy is smitten as are the rest of us! :)
She is beautiful and happy.
More pics and a birth story to follow.
Thanks for all of your prayers.

Be Blessed!

Can you tell what I'm doing?

All images are from BHG.com
I am busy, busy, busy preparing for baby. I know I keep promising a belly pic and I really will get one. I meant to get one today but I put on my working clothes before I could. Trust me, no one wants to see me in my working clothes. LOL
We finished the floors in our bedroom and one more coat of paint aught to finish the walls. Then I will set up her corner of the room. I have already pulled all of the newborn and 0-3 month clothes out. I bought most of her blankets the other day though I do have some material to make about three more receiving blankets. I will start that project tomorrow.

My Dr. decided to induce Monday the 21st. I was fighting it for awhile but I think I have almost decided to do it. I will be 39w which is when they like to induce diabetic patients. Everything looks great for me so I was actually going to try to wait one more week. I still don't know for sure yet. I keep praying for some guidance but have not really heard anything either way. I don't want to be induced. I don't want an epidural and I was afraid I would have to have one with the pain of induction. I have read a few accounts lately of women not having epidurals with induction. I'm still wavering. I am probably going to call my OB tomorrow and ask him to talk me through some stuff.

The good news is that at 38 weeks I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. He might just have to break my water. I know still painful but not Pitocin. My prayer is that she actually decides to come this week and make all my decisions moot. That would be awesome! I have some contractions at night but nothing regular. What a wonderful Father's Day present that would be!

Be Blessed!

Almost 38 weeks

Still hanging in there. I will try to get an updated belly picture today or tomorrow. Let's just say it's HUGE! Tomorrow I will be 38 weeks. At the OB on Monday I was 3-4cm dilated, 50%effaced, and 0 station. I have had some contractions since then but nothing noticeable really.
My OB was really pleased with my progress and said that if he has to induce all he will probably need to do is break my water. I'm pushing him to the full 40 weeks, though I have agreed to be induced after that. It's a compromise I made with my DH. I am hoping that extra week will do it for me and I can start labor on my own.

I am OBSESSED with cleaning, organizing, decorating, and crafting right now. The only problem is that the C.O. and D (cleaning, organizing and decorating) is centered on my bedroom. The rest of the house can survive without me. I think it's because Lily will be moving into our room.

Dh is finishing my floors today and Tuesday (if Lily stays put) he will be painting for me. He might even start tomorrow. Yes, I know it's Sunday but time is running out folks! :)

Monday I have a fluid scan and NST in the A.M., then we are going to pick up Lily's bed and a few other essentials, and then I have my OB appt in the afternoon. It's gonna be a full day.

I had a wonderful baby shower with my church last Sunday. I got lots of clothes and baby dolls for my baby. We did not get anything on our registry so there are a few things I have to pick up still. We will do that on Monday when we get the bed.

We seem to be set for clothes through about 9m so that works. By set I mean the child has about 4 outfits a day. LOL I thought about weeding out some of the clothes passed down to me, but they are all so cute. Believe it or not I have no receiving blankets/burp cloths for this baby. I remember with Jonathan I was loaded with those. I thought the girls and I might whip up a few on our own. Good practice for us. :)

Well that's my baby update. I will try to get a belly pic and some pictures of the outfits my mom bought her oh and some really cute things that were made for me and baby up tomorrow or Monday.

I am having so much fun planning for this baby! We have one week of school books left. After that we are off though I did schedule in some read alouds and narrations. But that's not really school it's to much fun! :)

Be Blessed!

A perfect post

Lady Lydia has the perfect blog post up right now. It's for Daughters Taught at Home it spoke volumes to my heart. It is so the vision I have for my own home and family. The one thing that really caught my eye was she said something about the more daughters you have at home the more lovely your home should be. Now I don't think she is necessarily speaking to the moms of three daughters under three. No, she is speaking to me. The mother of soon to be four daughters. At 13, 10, and 8 they should be assets to our homemaking. Instead they don't finish jobs, don't do them well, or only do a half job. My oldest tried to sew a skirt and because the whole project was to overwhelming for me (really, a skirt?) it became to hard for her because she had no guidance. Now it sits half sewn. I blame myself.

Why do my girls not do their best when it comes to homemaking? Because I do not do my best in training and teaching them. I do not do my best because I am overwhelmed when I look at all that needs to be done. I never learned. I never even tried to learn. Why do I want to pass that legacy onto my girls?

So I am going to start today. Today I am going to work beside my daughter who is in charge of cleaning the bathrooms. We will go down the list and do each chore. I am a bit limited in what I can do, but I think just me being there and being joyful will go a long way. I will also instruct her and show her as we go. My plan is to spend the rest of this week with her in the bathrooms and then next week when she is in the kitchen I will spend the week with her there.

I might have the girls clean in shifts for the next few weeks (with a hiatus of course for me when Lily comes) and spend time with each of them showing them the joy that can be had in homemaking.

I plan to put together some craft kits for the next few weeks and have them do some creative stuff for at least an hour every afternoon. After Lily is here and we settle into more of a routine we will spend that hour in the afternoon going through the books Keepers At Home and Raising A Maiden of Virtue. I started the Maiden book with Karly but we did not finish it. Now I want to go through it with all of the girls again.

Also my plan is one day a month to have daddy and the boys go out and do something or stay home and do something and the girls and I will have tea and a craft day at home or a nice brunch and time to browse craft shops or something like that out. We will probably start that up in the fall.

These are all things I have been thinking about lately. Funny the great ideas you have when you can't implement them.

I am looking forward to bonding with my little ladies. To teaching them the joy that is to be had in being keepers at home. In serving those around them. Of course to show that joy I will have to learn it.

I admit as much as I love the thought of having this new little baby to love and the miracle that she represents. And as much as I look forward to having more, I am not a good pregnant person. I don't know if it was the stress that permeated the last year and the first half of this pregnancy or just being so ill of health. I have been very ill through it all. But that's another post. This one is focusing on my little ladies.

I will be posting a baby update soon. I will be 38 weeks on Sunday. Almost here! :)

Be Blessed!

Cassaroles for Diabetics

I made up a dish last night and I have to say it was quiet yumm! It's a little hard trying to find something low carb that the whole family enjoys. Everyone seemed to like this except my non veggie eaters, Adrian and Jonathan.

First I half cooked some frozen broccoli and cauliflower. I did this to try to release some of the moisture so the casserole would not be too watery. It worked.
Then we took some tomato sauce and added seasoning. Onions, garlic powder, and my go to spices, Basil and Parsley.
I layered in a casserole dish the sauce, some go to precooked meat, a layer of broccoli and cauliflower, more sauce, mozzarella cheese, meat, b and c, sauce and then last cheese.
I then baked it for about 30m at 350 degrees.
Oh it was so good! I had some for lunch today.
The best part is that it did not affect my blood sugar at all.
I'm sorry the recipe is not more scientific. I kind of make stuff up as I go along. I have finally taught Roy not to ask how much of a spice goes into the dish. I always just say, "Eyeball it!" Which of course he hates. LOL He's getting better at it though! :)
I will have a baby update in the next few days. I have a busy weekend planned.
Be Blessed!

I heart these videos!

Raising Homemakers is having another GREAT giveaway. I have looked at most of these videos and wanted each of them at one time or other. They are giving away all of them! *Sigh*
What a wonderful addition to our DVD library! It's almost like a Home Ec Course in a box!
Check out this amazing giveaway.

Happy Homemaking

As the mother of three, soon to be four, young ladies I am so EXCITED about this new website. How many of us lived with mothers who worked 40-60 hours a week and just did not have the time and energy to teach us how to be proper homemakers?

The description of their blog says it all:

Raisinghomemakers.com is dedicated to inspiring, teaching, and blessing mothers who have an interest in raising their daughter in godliness and preparing them in the arts of homemaking to the glory of God.

I went into this whole homemaking thing thinking that it would be easy. Add in three little girls who I am now responsible for showing the way and it is very overwhelming. It's hard to teach something you have NO experience with.

These past few years have been learning experiences. Tough ones. We are learning and failing and learning and succeeding every day.

I am thankful for a website that will seek to educate other women in this wonderful area.

Please rush right over and check it out. They have an awesome contest going on!