Diapers and diets

Tinkerbelle has been having diaper rash off and on since moving to this house, I was beginning to suspect something in the water as I haven’t changed my diet or washing of her cloth diapers. Shortly after she got healed up she had another rash, we tried all the variations of washing, stripping the diapers as well as different rash creams and even disposables would give mixed results. I recently replaced the diapers we had used for Toodles as 2 ½ yrs of washing had turned them to rags, so I really wanted to figure this out so I could use them. The new diapers are a newer size of the standard prefold, these are so much softer and fluffier than the ones we had been using and the size fits just perfectly into her Bummis snap cover. Well it seems she has a yeast rash, confirmed by the use of plain yogurt as diaper cream and she was noticeably improved after the first application, unfortunately I had used a friends salve that had made it worse over the course of a day, which means I get to change my diet. I have wanted/needed to make some more healthful changes anyway, so now I have a real motivation to cut all the bad stuff out and add in some good. Hopefully I will have some health benefits as well as weight loss for myself and a nice rash free bum for my little Tinkerbelle.

Catching Up

It seems I’ve been doing a lot of catching up these days, so why not here too. The week before Christmas, I took Captain Hook and Tinkerbelle to see my family. We stayed with one of my cousins. It was great to get to know her and her family since we never really spent much time together as we lived 3000 miles away. We were so blessed to be there, we were able to see all my family except one cousin, we missed you A! The best part of this trip was being able to see both of my grandmothers, and letting them meet Tinkerbelle. We then went to visit my Dad and step-mom for a long weekend trip. I only had two complaints about the trip: both children came home sick and we got stuck in the airport for a few hours due to a weather delay.

We got home a few days before Christmas and spent until just after New Years with colds and a stomach bug. I am very thankful that I never got sick, I took vit. c and a pro-biotic which seemed to work. The boys took some too, but they weren’t quite as diligent. We missed several celebrations during this time but everyone is healthy now.

We got healthy just in time to start back to school both at home and our co-op. Now that the spring semester has started back up, we have lots of planning and paper work to do. Graduation, proms, not-proms, college tours, and all the other stuff that goes with the senior year of high school and unfortunately it is all new to us, as we have to do all the work that the school would do. Thankfully we have those who have gone before us to help us along the way. Everything is in order so far for Captain Hook to start college this fall.

Tinkerbelle is now crawling and pulling herself up making nothing safe and creating the opportunity for the floor needing vacuumed hourly. She is no longer content to be held for any length of time, she just wants to go, go, go. She loves being held to walk.

Toodles loves helping--with everything--cooking, cleaning, Tinkerbelle, and whatever else dad is doing at the time.

We are considering allowing Smee to get back into gymnastics. We found a gym run by Christians just under 30 minutes that has older boys who enjoy gymnastic for the sport it is. Smee will be able to get back in shape and do what he loves and either do it for fun or begin competing again next year depending on what he wants to do. We are taking him next week to a practice to see if he likes it. He will be sore as it’s 2 1/2hrs long.

We have found a church; unfortunately it is over an hour away. They are like a large extended family (which some are) but they have welcomed us as if we have been a part of them for years.

I think that catches me up on one more thing. On to yet another.

Realizing...

This will be Captain Hook’s last year at home. I am glad that we didn’t officially start homeschooling until he was 6 as he would be done with school and probably moving out when he turns 18 in less than 3 weeks, but alas we hold his diploma over his head so he won’t be leaving until he starts school in August. He seems ready to make the adjustment from boy to independent man. He has a great plan for getting through school and I am sure as time passes his plans for after school will become more focused. It’s funny that two summers ago he was gone for almost the whole summer and this past summer he was gone for a few weeks and it didn’t really faze me, but this past weekend he was gone and it made it more real – who will help me put pictures on my blog after I tried for 30 minutes. Or what will happen when I want to take a picture of something but his camera is gone. I know these are just things he does for me, but I will miss him as well - even though I know he is ready and at times I am ready for him to go too, as he is just like me and my father. I guess I am also realizing that our life is now here in Tennessee since this is where Captain Hook plans to make his life. I will be Praying that the rest of the children decide to stay in here as well.

Praying for a miracle

As a family we are praying for a place to live I know it is small in the grand scheme of things when we know families that have very sick children or are dealing with cancer or job loss. But this is our need at the moment. Having moved 6 times in 4 years and another in the near future we are feeling the effects of the lack of permanence especially Curly and Smee. Our lease is not over for some time but they have hinted to letting us out early so they can find renters during the peak moving time, and we want to not leave it to the last minute. We are truly thankful for this place but there are some issues that make the place not right for us that we didn’t know until moving in, some small and some not so small. The miracle will be a place that we all fit comfortably in, close to DH’s job, along with room for the children to run, plant a garden, and have an animal or two, not too much further to church, affordable and somewhere we can stay for a long time, maybe forever.