Happy Hallo-week!

What a crazy and fun Hallo-week the girls and I have had here. We started off by participating in our town's local Halloween Horribles parade last Sunday afternoon. The girls dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2, and I was the Cat in the Hat.

 

(See those hats? I sewed them! They were worn for all of 10 seconds. So much for all my hard work!)

It was blazing hot as we waited an hour just to get in to the parade area. But once we were in, Miss H had a blast visiting all the booths "trick or treating." We brought home a bag full of loot!

On Monday, our Kindermusik teacher asked everyone to dress up for class. Hence costume dressing #2. Miss H went in her Cinderella costume from last year, and Lil' B and I just wore our normal clothes.

On Thursday, Miss H's preschool had its annual Fall Festival and Halloween party, for which she was invited to dress up. Again.

So, we rummaged through her dress up box and came up with a cheerleader outfit. I haven't seen any pictures of that party yet, but she looked pretty cute!

Yesterday, my Mom and I took the girls to a local pumpkin festival. There were lots of pumpkins, good food, a petting zoo, kiddie games, and ice cream. It was a lot of fun!

 

Finally, today is Halloween. (Since when did Halloween become an all week event??) This afternoon we took the girls to the mall for Trick or Treating. More loot was amassed.

  

With all the activities this week, I am glad that Halloween is over. It has been really busy and I hope that we can get our feet back under us this week. The beginning of November also gets us closer to Mr. Rose being home - only three more weeks!

Happy Halloween!

Erin

**Don't forget about the Holiday Open House event starting tomorrow. You have a chance to win a prize pack worth over $2000 just by writing a post about Holiday entertaining and linking it up right here!**

I've got the bug...

The sewing bug!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to learn how to sew. I completed a couple of easy projects early in the year, but haven't really touched my sewing machine much. Well, the Rosebuds' Halloween costumes brought be back behind my machine. Miss H and Lil B are going as Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from The Cat in the Hat) and I decided to sew these cute little blue sunhats to simulate the Things' blue hair.

I found the free pattern at my new favorite sewing/crafting blog Prudent Baby. They have the cutest ideas and their tutorials are so easy to follow. {Seriously, if this non-Martha Stewart can understand and follow their directions, you can too!}

So now I have the bug. I am itching to start a new sewing project and I have a few ideas for gifts I can make for Christmas. I am so excited to have actually created something with my two hands. It is a great feeling!

Clean your dryer, much?

Laundry is the bane of my existence. Over the past several months, I have been noticing my clothes dryer taking longer and longer to dry our laundry, thereby increasing the amount of time I spend processing the laundry. Boo hiss.

I have been noting my discontent with this appliance to my husband who says, "So call a repairman." This, coming from the man who normally just fixes everything himself, is a surprise.

Nonetheless, I keep forgetting putting off the call, hoping that the magical appliance repair fairy will come in the middle of the night so that when I wake up one day it will be fixed all on its own. After returning from our vacation and realizing that this situation was not going to resolve itself (darn you appliance repair fairy!), I made the call.

First, the actually appliance repairman came out and for $49.95 informed me that there was nothing wrong with my dryer. Huh?

"Yes, ma'am. What you need is to have your dryer vent cleaned."

My, what? My dryer vent. The big long tube that connects my dryer to the outside world so that the air can be removed from my dryer, and with it, the water from my clothes.

My second call was to the dryer vent cleaning company. (Yes, there are entire companies devoted to nothing more than cleaning dryer vents - I was as surprised as you are.) The first thing the serviceman did was to take the tube off the back of my dryer to show me how much lint was built up in there.

It was completely clogged. He proceeded to clean out the entire vent, and he also took my dryer apart to show me how much lint was built up on the inside of my dryer around the motor.

As bad as all this was, the worst part was when he told me how much of a fire hazard this is. Because my dryer wasn't drying, I kept running cycle after cycle after cycle, which could have caused my heating element to overheat or my fuse to spark and go out. Either could have sparked and caused a huge fire.

My laundry room shares a wall with Miss H's bedroom. I wanted to cry. What if? I can barely even think it. Having a fire in my house is one of my biggest fears. The repairman even gave me a reprint of an article in the newspaper from last month about a house fire at a home in our town that caused $60,000 worth of damage because of built up dryer lint.

So what did I learn? If it takes longer than 30 minutes for your clothes to dry, there is a problem. If the problem is a clogged dryer vent, you have a fire hazard on your hand. For $79, I have a completely clean vent, a dryer that works, and the knowledge to help prevent a fire in my house (and yours!)

Erin

Holiday Entertaining

Is it possible that the holidays are right around the corner? At our house, we are knee deep in Halloween costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and candy, and yet, I can't help but get excited that it is almost November and then December! I love everything about the holidays. I love having get-togethers and decorating for Christmas. Last year, I didn't have the opportunity to do too much with a newborn in the house, but this year I have big plans. We'll see if any of them come to fruition.

How about you? Are you starting to get excited about entertaining for the holidays? Do you have any tips or ideas you would like to share?

From November 1 - 10, the members of the Blogmania Dream Team will be hosting a Holiday Open House blog party. To participate, all you have to do is write a post about holiday/winter entertaining and come back here to link it up. You can even write one post per day for 10 chances to win! What's up for grabs, you ask?

A prize package with over $2000 in prizes for one blogger!

And linking up your holiday posts for people to hop through for ideas and inspirations makes every blogger a winner in the traffic department!! Feel free to grab the Holiday Open House button in for your blog and posts.






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I hope you'll join us for this fun event. I have sugar plums dancing in my head already!!

Erin

Pregnancy Loss and Awareness

A few weeks ago, I joined a local organic food buying group in order to get a wider variety of organic produce than what was available at my local grocery store. The first time I went to pick up my order, I was greeted by a sweet woman with two little boys and a very visible pregnant belly. A discussion about her due date and what she was having followed, and I wished her well with her birth as her due date was approaching.

About a week later, the organizer emailed everyone in the group to let us know that she was suspending the buying group for the next few weeks because "they had received some terrible news" regarding her baby. There were no details other than that.

Today, we found out that her precious baby girl died a few hours after birth due to a chromosomal defect called Trisomy 18. I cried when I read her email, and I am crying now as I type it here. I barely know this woman, and yet, my heart breaks for her and for her family.

Two years ago, I lost a baby at just 8 weeks gestation. I have never written about my loss on my blog before. Every time I hear about another lost pregnancy or baby, it brings back all the feelings of sadness, anger, guilt, and fear that I felt then.

I remember how I felt watching the doctor perform our first ultrasound, looking and looking and looking for that heartbeat. Mr. Rose was there with me, holding my hand. I just kept thinking over and over again, "This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening to me."

Even though I believe in waiting until 12 weeks to announce a pregnancy for fear of having a miscarriage, I never honestly thought it would happen to me. Amazingly, after my miscarriage, I learned that 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage.

My miscarriage is what is called a missed miscarriage because I had no bleeding or other symptoms. I waited a week to schedule my D&C. When my doctor convinced me that it was time, I went to the hospital for the outpatient procedure. I cried as they put me under anesthesia and I was crying when I woke up.

So why am I writing all this now? Well, the email from my friend set me off and got me thinking about it again. Then I remembered that October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. I want people to know that miscarriage is a lot more common than we think. If it has happened to you and you feel alone, you aren't. It seems like every time I tell someone that I lost a baby, they tell me that it happened to them once too.

If you have ever lost a child, from my heart I tell you that I am so sorry. Leave me a comment and let me know (and include your child's name if you named them) and I will include you in my prayers tonight for all the angel babies that have been lost.

If you would, please forward this post to your friends, tweet it, blog about it, facebook it.

 

Erin

Traveling solo with small children - not for the faint of heart

I. Am. Home.

Deep breath.

I am so exhausted, but I want to write this out now because if I don't, I'll forget and I really want you guys to know how my trip went. And I'm sure you're all dying to know, right?

Crickets.

Ah, well. So I type this for Cheryl, Kmama, Shell, Chelle, MarketingMama and anyone else who is lurking around my blog and not commenting. *Ahem.*

Two Saturdays ago, the Rosebuds (14 months and 3) and I left our house with one suitcase (plus a small extra bag), a Mommy backpack "O' Fun", and a Miss H back pack. Getting through the airport was a breeze! We checked our bags curbside, and made our way to security. The girls thought it was hilarious that our shoes had to "get their pictures taken" before they were allowed on the airplane. : )

Lil B rolled in style with her gogo Kidz Travelmate which transforms her car seat into a stroller.

Sidenote - I am a big believer in an airplane seat for kids of all ages. Miss H sat in a seat with just the lapbelt, but Lil B had her full on car seat for the flight. It's just safer, people.

The Travelmate made it so simple to transport her around the airport. The only sticky part was getting two kids, plus a car seat, plus two backpacks, onto and off of the airplane. In my haste, I forgot to plan for this logistically (Doh!) and in hindsight wished I had brought along my Lillebaby Everywear to carry Lil B.

Thankfully, I had two complete and total strangers offer to help me onto and off of each flight. Without them, I don't think I would have made it. So thank you Mr. Front Row seat for your kindness on our first flight, and to Mr. and Mrs. Grandparent for your amazing help on our second flight. The next time I travel sans children (are you paying attention Santa?), I will pay it forward. Promise.

The worst part of the trip was always the flight. By the time we got on the airplane, Lil B had had enough of being restrained. She wanted "Bup!" Vehemently. So I read the four baby books that I had crammed into placed neatly in my Mommy backpack "O' Fun" over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, in order to spare the poor souls on the rest of the plane sitting around us from hearing my littlest one screech.

The best part of the trip was seeing the smiles and the happy faces of my husband and my girls as we walked through the airport to meet him. Was the trip worth all the hassle? Without. Question.

Erin

Going on an adventure

In less than 48 hours, I will be taking my three year old and my fourteen month old on an airplane trip. By. Myself.

How do I get myself into these things?

It sounded like a great idea. My in-laws have a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina which is very close to where Mr. Rose is on his travel assignment. Why don't the girls and I fly up there to visit you, I said. We can stay for a whole week and get to see you on both weekends. And your Dad is going to come down a week earlier than he had planned in order to see us? This is going to be so great!

Now, I am facing the reality of this situation. Packing one suitcase for all three of us because I am not going to be able to physically handle any more than that. Preparing Miss H for airplane travel and all it entails. Planning what to pack in our carry-ons in order to keep them happy and quiet for the 2 hour (it's only 2 hours, it's only two hours, breathe.....) flight.

Don't get me wrong. It is going to be wonderful for me to see my husband and for the Rosebuds to see their Daddy. We are all missing him so much. The cool crisp weather in North Carolina is going to be a welcome change to the heat we have had here, not to mention being at the beach.

So, we are headed off on an adventure. I keep telling myself that I am a smart, capable 32 year old woman and I can handle anything that Murphy throws at me on the way. Patience is where I tend to be lacking, so I have been praying hard for it this week. If you are the praying type, I would appreciate any you are willing to direct my way.

Have a great weekend!

Erin

Kids and electronic media - too much or not enough?

At this time of year, we start making our Christmas "wish lists" in our family. I know it sounds early, but I like to shop early in order to be able to actually enjoy the Christmas season. And if I do the early preparation, I know what we are shopping for on Black Friday and can locate the deals for those items on Thanksgiving day. Preparation = HUGE SAVINGS!

This year on my wish list I have two big items. I am hoping that my husband (are you reading this honey?) thinks that I have been a good enough girl this year in order to deserve them. *wink*

iPod Touch

One of the bigger items on my list is an iPod Touch. I have been feeling the itch for a new "toy" this year. I love how the iPod touch can give me access to so many fun applications, not just for myself, but for the kids too.

There is one huge drawback to this though. Lately, Miss H has gotten a little addicted to screen time. My friend Chrystal came over to watch the girls for me one Saturday, and she let Miss H play with a Barbie dress up application on her iPhone. When I returned home and it was time for Chrystal to go, Miss H had a giant temper tantrum and screamed and cried about wanting to play more with the game. The next two days she kept begging for me to go run more errands so Chrystal could come back with her game.

Several weeks ago, we began letting Miss H have 30 minutes of computer game time. We have a Sesame Street game that she enjoys and I also let her play some games on PBS Kids, again with a 30 minute time limit. She used to be really good with her time limits, but this week she has just been unwilling to let go of computer time.

I feel like I am creating a monster. She sees me at the computer checking my "email" (and facebook and twitter) regularly, which shows her that the computer is something fun and of value to me. I have been really trying not to have computer time unless she is engaged in another activity because I know that my example goes a long way.

So, what if I get this iPod Touch? And worse yet, what if I let her play with it occasionally? It is going to be a huge temper tantrum every time her 30 minutes of play time is over? I am really conflicted here.

My next thought is maybe I should get her a toy or some type of electronic device that she can use on her own. For instance, the vtech MobiGo is a touch learning system with educational games on it. The Leapfrog Leapster Explorer is another option.

vtech MobiGo

My husband and I have always been very anti-videogaming and I don't want to create a screen zombie. But I also have to ask myself if I am doing her a disservice by not exposing her to technology. In a day and age when smaller, faster, more capable machines are launched every day in our society, our children are going to be even more of a technological generation than you and I are. They will never know what it was like to grow up without a computer, either at home, in the classroom, or at the library. They will never know what it was like to not have a cell phone.

So what do you think? Are these types of electronic learning devices a help or a hindrance to our children's education? Do they do more harm or good?

Erin

Cooking 9 meals a day...not anymore!

One of my goals as a mother is to provide healthy food for my family. I buy organic milk and produce and other organic staples when I can. I add pureed fruits and veggies into recipes to up the nutritional value of our traditional fare. It is a lot of work and makes for a lot of dishes as well.

Now that Mr. Rose is away for awhile, I have been trying to keep this up. Specifically at dinnertime, I try to make one meal that we can all eat, with some variations for Lil' B. This has been failing miserably the past few weeks. I have a bad habit of trying new recipes thinking that they will like it, and then the only who eats is me. So, not only do I have to make something else for the kids, but then I have twice the dishes. Three times the dishes if I have to make something different for each of them.

Forget it. I'm done.

From now on, I am going to have to cook for the kids and make a variation for myself. It sounds backwards, I know, especially when it seems like all they will eat is macaroni and cheese. If I eat macaroni and cheese every night, I will be the size of a small elephant house when Mr. Rose gets home.

Here's how I envision this working:

• Breakfast: Traditionally cereal, yogurt, and fruit. No changes here.
• Lunch: I'm done being creative at lunch. From now on we subsist on sandwiches and fruit.
• Dinner: At this point, the only thing I can get them to eat consistently is pasta. Some version of pasta with varying sauces and protein. I am going to try to sneak some tofu into the sauces to get some protein in these kids. Lil' B will not eat meat, even when I try to sneak some ground beef or turkey into her pasta. I'm convinced my picky eater is going to be vegetarian. I may also try some fried rice dishes with egg and veggies (here I go again trying something new....) As for me, I am going to be eating a lot of salads. I need to eat more vegetables anyway, so this will be a good alternative to their calorie packed pasta.

If you have any yummy recipes your little ones love, please feel free to share.

Short order cook no more,

Erin

I love my parents

I am pretty sure I am one of the most blessed daughters on the face of the Earth. My parents are amazing. Really. They are.

They flew down this weekend to hang out with me and the Rosebuds. The kept the girls while I went shopping and got my hair done. We ate out. We played at the pool. We watched football and baseball (GO YANKEES!) We went to church. It was a beautiful weekend.

They just left. And I am more sad than I usually am when the leave. I always hate it when they leave. But it is worse this time. Probably mostly because Mr. Rose is gone so I am here "by myself" again. It stinks.

As they were leaving, they offered to come back another weekend before Thanksgiving. I love my parents. I am so blessed to be their daughter. I could never repay them for all they have and continue to give me.

Erin