17 weeks

Finding time to put on the pregnancy dress, set up the camera, and try to take a picture while its light out is proving difficult. A quick cell phone shot I can handle!

Still down a few pounds, still in regular clothes, and the nausea is gone. This stage of pregnancy really does kick butt!

Giveaway reminder!

Don't forget to hop on over to my new blog to enter for the giveaway!  (If you want to add it to Google Reader while you're there that would be great too!)

Bits and Pieces

I've moved!

I changed up the blog this weekend!  New look, new name, new address.  I hope you'll pop over and if you follow me you'll add the new address!

http://sniderbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/

*There may be a little something for you...  ;)  Happy Monday!

I'm horrified and saddened

I typically avoid political and religious posts. Tonight, however, I can't. Have you heard about the Catholic school teacher fired because she was seeking fertility treatments? The school's priest made some ugly and hurtful statements. He called her a "grave, immoral sinner", and said that fertility treatments are:

You can check out the article here if you'd like.

I realize that the Catholic religion is against using alternate methods to get pregnant but it seems so very archaic to me. This isn't the only issue I've had either.  The other main one is sexuality.  I can't go to one of the church's in our area after learning that they won't let gay/lesbian students attend confirmation classes. To listen to a 16 year old girl have to tell me why she's not welcome there... how can I go and pretend that I'm ok with that?

There is part of me that longs to go back to church and be part of that community. I'd like for my girls to be part of it but each time I'm ready to go back something like this happens and I get so angry and frustrated that I can't bring myself to go when I so vehemently disagree with so much.  The sad part is that I know so many of the people who attend do NOT feel this way.

I just won't believe that what He cares about is how we expand our families or who we choose to build or families with.

Ok, I'm hopping down from my soapbox.  Wow, two venting posts in a week...  NO MORE for a while!

Countdowns

*Ok, I DID preview this and I have NO IDEA what's going on with the type!  I know other people are hating the blogger update, maybe it has something to do with that...???

We had 2 AMAZING days of weather last weekend.  Saturday we got and planted veggies in our garden.  Jim made it bigger this year and I can't wait to enjoy our crops all summer.  It's also getting more and more fun to have Stella help.  She loves it and I love that we're giving her something that hopefully she'll continue with her own family some day.

Sunday we took the girls to the spring fair.  It was the perfect day for it.  In hindsight, it may not have been the best idea though.  Lula bug hadn't been feeling very well all week and by that afternoon they both had fevers.  Our great day ended with a trip to urgent care.  (Lucy had been batting at her ears for several days so we wanted to be sure she didn't have an ear infection.)

I spent Monday home with the girls.  I've never used this many days of sick leave over the course of 3 years!

I must say though that being home with them and having had three suck beautiful days has turned my thoughts to summer vacation.  It's a bit premature, but I did a little countdown...

Get-ups (the only one that REALLY matters):  37

Lunches to take: 33

Non-jeans days:  19  :)

Mondays:  7

I'm so ready!  Are you a crazy countdown person like me?  I know I'm not the only one out there!  If you're in another district, when is your last day?

Saturday morning started with smoothies for breakfast.  Stella will never eat, but she's always quite happy to drink her calories.

Stella had a blast helping me plant all of our veggies in the garden.  When Lucy woke up from her nap I made her a little water tub to play in.  It will be SO much nicer to spend time outside when she's a full-time walker.

We had a lot of fun at the fair even though the big slide (Stella's favorite) was closed.  She got to go on the kid's big slide all by herself!  She went on the ferriswheel with Jim.  I was dying to know how she was doing when they got stuck at the top.  Turns out she did better than her Daddy.  :)  Lu just loves being outside so I knew she'd do well.  We were there past naptime though so eventually she got moved from her stroller to her Ergo where she got to snuggle mama and take a little bit of a snooze.

Stella got to play a fishing game and won a little yellow pup.  Eventually, she decided she wanted to use one of her rides to win a matching dog for Lucy.  BEST. BIG. SISTER. EVER!!!!!!!!!  They seriously make me cry!

 As you can see, things went downhill quickly that very afternoon...

 Luckily, it seems everybody is on the mend now!

Saved!

I'm sure you can tell by yesterday's post that I was in a FOUL mood!  When I got to Sheri's to pick the girls up Lucy was asleep.  She woke up a bit later and she was mad too.  She's usually so happy when she wakes up, but if she gets woken up before she's ready that's a different story.  I'd planned to take the girls to Joann's to look for fabric for a couple of chairs I'm redoing but didn't want to risk her screaming the entire time.

I decided we'd just go home, but I didn't want just another after school afternoon and Jim wasn't going to be home until late.  I asked Stella how she'd feel about a girls movie night and an easy dinner.  She said, "like a movie before dinner?"  She was pretty excited and starting talking really fast planning out the rest of our day.  

First: go upstairs and put on our pajamas

Second: turn on a movie
Third: have cereal on TV trays (she thinks eating on TV trays is a pretty cool deal)

 Lula Bug isn't old enough for movies so I wasn't sure how our plan was going to go.  Turns out she was completely happy with some girl time on the couch.  She happily ate her Cheerios and then got a little crazy on the couch.  She was bouncing from one end to the other, snuggling (my personal favorite):

 Tickling:

 Dancing and clapping:

 Standing and climbing on the arms of the couch(follow shortly by almost falling off - averted by a nice save by Mama):

 After 45 minutes or an hour we were all feeling better and managed a bit of play time.  At 6 it was time for Lucy's bottle and then one of my favorite things, prayers with everybody touching everybody.

 After Lucy was in bed Stella and I had our snuggle and cocoa time.  I'm not quite sure how our routine is going to work when the girls have to go to bed at the same time.  It's so perfect right now that Stella gets her Mama snuggle time by herself.  I guess we'll find a new normal.

 We read a library book.  Hailstones and Halibut Bones that Kelle had recommended it but I'm not a big poetry kind of girl so I thought we'd check it out first.  I actually really liked it

Not long after being home all was forgotten and I was completely relaxed which isn't exactly typical for that time of day.  The 4-5 hour tends to be one of the roughest at our house.  We're trying to get home, get everyone settled, get dinner made/eaten, etc and all any of us really want/need is some quiet time spent with each other.  If only we could eat cereal for dinner every night!  There'd also be a lot less dishes to do after they go to bed... BONUS!

Somedays

First I want to make it clear that Jim and I have made the CHOICE for me to be a working mama.  He has a good job and I know we could make it work for me to stay home if that's what I really wanted.  A lot of times I feel like moms who stay home judge working moms and act like we don't love our kids as much if we "let someone else raise them."  They also say that being a stay-at-home mom is the toughest job ever.  To that I call BULL.  I've done both.  Working while raising my girls is a MUCH TOUGHER gig.  I still have to get all of the things done at home on my time home.  (Sorry - that was a total tangent and not where I intended this to go.)

Most of the time I'm happy with the decision we've made and there are a number of factors that have gone into this decision.  Some of the main reasons include: obviously pay/benefits/retirement, I LOVE the district I'm in.  If I were to take a couple of years off who knows where I might end up teaching, if I'd like it at all, how long the commute would be, etc.  My happiness in my job is what allows me to be ok with it and I don't want to risk that.  I have the BEST job for a mom.  There are 180 days of school plus 2 extras for teachers (this doesn't include our personal days and sick days) so I'm basically a 1/2 time working mom. I'm off by 3:00 every single day - only 3 nights a year, no weekends, no holidays.  I think being a working mom makes for a great role model and I think that working in a school is an absolute bonus.

If there is ONE thing that gives me peace about working though it's the woman who watches my girls.  I never wanted to leave them at a "day-care".  They spend their days in a HOME with a MOM.  (I may add, we've had 2 of her 4 kids in class and they're fantastic.  That's how we ended up finding her.)  For the "let someone else raise them" comments... SERIOUSLY?!?!?  We are so very BLESSED to have someone else help mold our girls.  They've become part of our family, she's someone I go to for advice/input.  She LOVES my girls and they love her.  Even during the summer I take them to her house once a week just because they miss her so much.  (In fact, after Lucy had missed a week when she was sick, the first day I came to pick her up after she got to go back she started crying when she saw me and clung to Sheri).  We are so lucky to have such and awesome village to help our girls grow into the people they'll one day become.  Plus, I've seen plenty of kids who spend their days with just their moms who are STRANGE!

All of that said, there are days when I just don't want to be here.  Today is one of them.  I just want to be home playing with them, doing laundry, and making "real" and organic meals.  Our meals and house/laundry definitely take the brunt of the neglect from me working.  They get put off until last because I'm not willing to give up my time with them when I'm home.

Ok, this is the second post I've written this week and wasn't going to post.  I didn't think there was a point in posting and thought it sounded a bit...  angry?  I'm not, really.  Then I went to a staff meeting.  Our principal said one of the teachers who had a baby last spring, "isn't coming back next year because being a mommy is just too important to her."  My face FLAMED, I turned to the teacher sitting next to me (also a mom) and said, "apparently, if you work, being a mom ISN'T important to you."

Ok, so, I really didn't intend for this to be an angry/venting post.  Just to cheer things back up, I'll throw in some of the pictures we had taken for Lu's 1st birthday!