the blue swirl

Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Find me here. :)

Dan Cathy takes the fall for others.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:11:00 +0000

I try to not get too political too often anymore, but on occasion something just really gets under my skin and I arrogantly feel like it's somehow my duty to share my wisdom with the world. Like the Duggars. Heh. I guess that's both the beauty and the curse of the internet. We're all journalists now.

With all of that said, proceed with caution into the rest of this post, because it's merely me arrogantly thinking that anyone cares what I have to say. I just have to say it, to put it out there on my little slice of the internet.

Very rarely, I am ashamed to call myself a liberal. I call myself a liberal because I believe in love. In generosity. In acceptance. Right now is one of those rare times. I am ashamed, and I want people to know that while I align with liberals 9 times out of 10, I do not align with them right now.

Right now, Chick-fil-a is under attack. In case you've been hiding under a rock, behold. While I think Dan Cathy could have chosen his words more gracefully, I understand that he was merely answering a question that was asked of him - that he believes homosexuality is a sin, that he supports the biblical definition of a marriage, and that his company, while not a Christian company, is based on biblical principles. We should not be surprised by this, nor should we be shocked that he, then, donates to organizations that support the biblical model of marriage. Shockingly, this rather benign (and not new or unique) statement has sparked a firestorm unlike anything I've seen in a long time.

If we're being honest, let's not pretend that Chick-fil-a is the only company who donates to organizations we don't support. If you want to be in the business of only supporting those who support those you support (ha, try to follow that), then let's take a long, hard look at every company we do business with.

He did not bash homosexuals. He did not call for their heads, threaten their families, fire people up to fight against homosexual marriage, support discrimination or anything of the like. Someone asked him a question, he answered honestly. And his answer came from the Bible he's allowed to read and the religion he's allowed to practice in a country that is SUPPOSED to be built on free speech.

Me personally? Like I said before, I don't feel convicted about homosexuality so I've never taken an official stance on it. I am a baby Christian and there are many issues in the Bible that I have not yet reconciled in my own mind. There are many passages that have yet to make sense to me, but I continually strive for answers...and for peace along with those answers.

I watched a documentary awhile ago called For The Bible Tells Me So, and I was definitely swayed by the idea that we have possibly misinterpreted the passages dealing with homosexuality. I definitely want to believe that. But as Christians know, wanting to believe something doesn't always make it right, so I'm not here to convince you one way or another that homosexuality is or isn't a sin. I feel fortunate that at this point, I don't have to dig deep and find what I believe to be a real answer to this question, because I am not gay.

I am extremely passionate about the denial of rights to a minority, however. I'm so passionate about this that I have quite the unpopular opinion about illegal immigrants that I won't bother getting into at this point. I feel strongly that everyone be given equal rights. Let's pretend that we are certain homosexuality is a sin. Does that make it okay to make it illegal in our country for homosexuals to get married? Absolutely not. We don't make divorce illegal, do we? And I don't see anyone fighting for that.

I believe that it is not our job as Christians to force others to live by our ideals or beliefs, but to live by example, to be a light to the world and to share the great news of the gospel with others - through love.

God gave us free will, so the idea that we should force everyone (Christians and non-Christians) to live by the laws of the Bible makes no sense to me. God could have molded us into the puppets he wanted us to be and created a literally perfect world, but entrance into Heaven would mean nothing without free will.

We can pretend all we want, but in this country we do not treat all sin equally. We've somehow targeted homosexuality as this colossal sin that must be conquered above any other.

Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, I can move on to the protests of CFA, which I am vehemently against.

Let's lay it all out there and take an honest look at what's happening.

Someone asks Dan Cathy what he thinks about homosexuality. Rather than lying or sugarcoating to be nice and politically correct and ensure no loss of business, he was honest. He told the truth and spoke what's on his heart without being hateful to homosexuals. He simply shared what he believes to be true from the Bible.

People cherry picked parts of the quote and took to the internet to ignite a firestorm against Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-a. They claimed all sorts of things: that CFA is anti-gay, that they hate gay marriage, that they discriminate against homosexuals, that their objective is to spread hate messages across the country. I read all sorts of things that were nothing more than lies or speculation.

Worse, I read death threats. I read hateful vitriol. I read things that downright embarrassed me and things that made me sick to my stomach.

It is okay to decide you want to withdrawal your financial support from a company. It's an American right, and I fully support that! I am the first to encourage people to vote with their wallets - think food (or more specifically the treatment of our food before it becomes our food).

But to ignite the kind of hate that has spread like wildfire across the internet in the last week because someone has a religious belief that differs from yours - stated in an unhateful manner - should not become the new American way.

And it certainly shouldn't be defended, but it is being defended in droves.

I just can't make sense of the flawed logic behind this angry boycott.

The following incredibly hateful quotes were pulled from either comments on articles, facebook, twitter, or message boards:

"It's about time these f*ing Christians get what they deserve. Pieces of sh*t."

"lol moralfags"

"God is coming for all you Chick-fil-a a**holes!" -in response to the VP of PR's death

"jokes with their own punchlines built in: the VP of public relations for chick fil a died of a heart attack this morning."

"The Christians and Dan Cathy are a bunch of village idiots."

"Screw Chick fillet and all the crazy religious nutjobs who support him."

It is more than a clever quote to say that you don't fight fire with fire. But that's what's being both done and defended.

I'm not a genius, but I have a proposition. Rather than hate each other more than we already do, let's re-direct this energy at working toward the separation of Church and state. Let's work together to ensure that both religion (or lack thereof) and marriage are equal rights in this country.

It doesn't have to be a war. The majority of my Christian friends feel that marriage should be a right afforded to everyone. Some of them believe it's a sin, but none of them have said they want to deny that right to anyone.

Rather than hate Chick-fil-a, who really has done nothing more than express a belief, let's exert the energy we would have spent hating Chick-fil-a on our government, who ultimately holds the power. We have forgotten along the way that though our government holds the power, we collectively hold the power over our government. But instead, we're using that energy to fight businesses? Because that will somehow help the objective of equal rights? Why not go straight to the source of the denial of equal rights - the government. There are atrocities in both parties happening right now, as I write this.

First, we've denied human beings - breathing, feeling human beings - a right that should be very basic and afforded to anyone.

Secondly, the government - our actual, elected officials - are banning a business from entering cities across this country because the owner believes that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. Read that again slowly and take that in. The government is bullying a business for expressing a religious belief. Not for attacking homosexuals or spreading hate messages or discriminating against homosexuals. Just for saying, "Hey, this is what my Bible says so this is what I believe and what we support." If that doesn't scare you to death, you might want to check your pulse.

It's time to end this fight once and for all. It's time for Christians to admit they don't own the laws of this land and they don't get to dictate how others live based on their Bible, and it's time for those who aren't Christian to lay off Christianity, end the hateful vitriol and respect freedom of speech at all times, not just when you agree with what's being said.

Freedom of speech is sacrosanct in this country.

I pulled the following quote from this post, because I think it is incredibly important and the perfect way to end.

"Of all the groups in the world who are 'hated,' I often feel that none are hated more than Christians who are loyal to Jesus Christ and His teaching, who - despite popular belief - was not about hate, but love for and salvation of ANYONE who would ACCEPT Him as their savior. Bums me out how often His true purpose and message are completely overlooked or simply ignored. I love my Lord with all my heart and as a true follower of Christ I'm called to love ALL people as well...and I do: gay, straight, black, white, old, young, sick, healthy, mentally or physically challenged or not, liberal, conservative, Redskins fans, Cowboys fans, country or rock fans...and yes, that means you too. If you translate God's teaching to intolerance/hate (despite Him commanding us to love EVERYONE) then I don't know what to say...but I do know what to DO because my purpose never changes. So like it or not...I love YOU despite our differences, allegiances, choices or values. Matthew 22:36-40 - 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Both sides are guilty of spewing hate, but the hate has not come from Dan Cathy and we would all be wise to recognize that.

Best quick, healthy lunch EVER.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:28:00 +0000

I've been back on the food tracking wagon. Unlike with my other two children, the weight hasn't dropped off...AT ALL. I'm not blessed enough to lose it all without trying like so many women are, but I generally lose 10-15 pounds in the first few weeks (after the initial birth weight). This time, three weeks in, I hadn't lost a single ounce since that first day.

So I'm reluctantly back to watching what I eat. I still have to eat a lot since I'm breastfeeding, so I'm shooting for 2000ish calories a day. I've been tracking my calories on My Fitness Pal, and with their iPhone app, it's practically changed my life. That thing is AMAZING, especially because you can just scan a barcode of something you're eating and it finds it instantly.

I try to get some exercise in every day, including about 10 minutes of strength training. Last time I did this (back when I lost a ton and got pretty in shape right before I found out I was pregnant with Adalyn), I had a lot of success doing just these short, 10 Minute Solutions series. The one I use for most of my strength training is this Target Toning one. It works for ~~lazy~~ busy gals like me. I would do two different body parts a day, rotating between days because they say it's not good to focus on the same body part day after day.

ANYWAY, after that I would head straight to the kitchen and down a protein shake. I don't know if it was the video alone that helped me actually get a little toned or a combo of the toning workouts followed immediately with the protein, but I like to think the protein shake helps because it's yummy and a little addictive. :)

Getting to the point, I just whipped up a protein shake that I used as my lunch replacement because I'd just worked out and I didn't really have the time or energy to make myself a lunch. And because it is INSANELY DELICIOUS, I figured I had to share!

1 cup of milk (I use whole because I'm weird about food, you know, and believe it's the only healthy milk but that's another post for another day)

1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (of all the stuff I've tried, this one is BY FAR the yummiest - no chalkiness at all - it's expensive but I would never use anything else and it lasts forever)

One banana (frozen chunks is best because it makes it creamy like a milk shake - if you don't have frozen chunks I'd add a little handful of ice to your smoothie)

2 tablespoons of PB Powder (I became crazy about this stuff the last time I dieted)

Blend in a blender. It's huge, completely filled me up even more than a normal lunch and is pretty healthy, especially if you do what I did and throw in a big handful of fresh spinach. In case you've been hiding under a rock and don't know about the green smoothie phenomenon, smoothies are a great way to get greens in your diet if you hate them!

That's all I got today. :) Go, make this! Be in heaven!

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One Month!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:56:00 +0000

One month. How?! He's actually older than that now (sob!) but in my Oh-My-Gosh-I-Have-Three-Kids-Someone-Help-Me Madness, I'm just now getting around to posting this.

Baby boy:

At one month, you are 11 pounds, 7 ounces. Wow!

You love your car seat. You super duper love to eat.

You smile now! Not a lot, but enough to make my heart so happy.

You sleep alright. You still want me up several times a night to feed you, but you're a newborn. Mama expects that. :)

You're busting out of your newborn clothes and pretty solidly in your 0-3 months.

You rolled over two or three times from your tummy to your back.

You love to kick your feet. You make little cooing noises here and there and they totally surprise you. Like, "Did that noise just come out of me?!"

Your brother & sissy adore you, but sometimes sissy doesn't realize she needs to be gentle and you get smacked square in the face. Sorry 'bout that.

You sometimes like to be swaddled. Sometimes not. We go with the flow.

You're a happy baby unless you're gassy, which, unfortunately, you are a lot. You also hate having a dirty diaper and you totally let it be known when we need to change you. You will not tolerate lazy parents!

You've really completed our family, baby boy. We love you!

Landon's birth: the final edition.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:14:00 +0000

My friend Lizz came to our birth to document it for us in beautiful pictures. I'm so grateful to her for helping us capture these moments to remember forever and always. Like we do, here's Landon's birth video.

Adalyn has her own birth video here and Ben has one here. :)

All You Curly Ladies

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:34:00 +0000

Image source: Smart Girl Consulting

(Sung to Beyonce's Single Ladies tune)

All you curly ladies

Put your hands up

Up in the shower, you don't use shampoo, you do your own little thing

It's called co-washing and now you wanna try it

'Cause you want some better curls

WOW. Sorry, I totally just did that. I wrote that blog title on accident and then all I could sing in my head was Single Ladies.

Anyway, let's move along before I chicken out and don't post this at all out of embarrassment.

Who has naturally curly hair? And doesn't embrace it? My hand is totally up.

I hate my curls. They're ugly because I don't know how to take care of them. Oh, and also maybe because I haven't had a cut/trim since Adalyn was a newborn. And now I have another newborn. Whoops.

I stumbled upon Curly Girl: The Handbook a few weeks ago. I've heard a lot about it over the last year or two, but I finally looked into it a few weeks ago. And man, is it a life-changer! Seriously. Life. Changer. If you have curly hair and haven't yet taken the plunge into this process, can I say you simply must? Because you must.

I'll post some before and after pictures when I'm totally done. I've got an appointment with a Deva-trained stylist (in other words, trained in NYC by the woman who wrote this book and they do dry haircuts, which is apparently the only way to go if you have curly hair) on July 10th and I'm so excited! It never occurred to me that if you have curly hair, you should see someone who specializes in curly hair, but I learned that, and many other things, with this book.

There is a wealth of information to be had out there for curly-haired girls, so I think for the first time in my entire life, I'm going to try to embrace my curls instead of straighten them away.

To make a long book very short (you should really get the book, I can't do it justice), rather than washing your hair with shampoo, wash it with conditioner. They call this co-washing, and you do it because most shampoos contain harsh sulfates that damage and dry your hair out. Not good for curly gals.

You must use a certain conditioner for co-washing, then a different conditioner for conditioning (the book goes into detail on this). The co-washing conditioner contains enough washing power to clear your scalp and hair of build-up as long as you're using the right products.

I use this as my co-washing conditioner. It smells yummy! And this as my regular conditioner. These are both safe, approved products. A cheaper, approved option for a regular conditioner would be Garnier Fructis Body Boost conditioner.

Don't use a brush on your hair. Ever again. Wide-toothed combs all the way! Or even just your fingers. Rinse your hair with cold water right before getting out of the shower. This keeps the frizzies away.

After your shower, never towel dry your hair. You can squeeze excess water out, or use a microfiber towel to blot it dry. Some women wait to do this until after they've applied their product, but I haven't tried that method yet. It just seems...I don't know...illogical?

While your hair is still really wet, apply your products. You'll want an approved leave-in conditioner first. I use this because I just think it's the best. But this is a cheaper approved option.

Then I use a prepping mousse. I doubt you have to do this, but I've found my curls work much better when I do, so I'm sticking to it. And I am so in love with the scent of this prepping mousse that I could never use anything else! Oh my gosh, it's heavenly.

Finally, I've read the best thing to finish off your curls with is gel. This might explain why I have hated my curls for so long. I've been using mousse alone for years and years, and my hair is just a big frizz ball. I remember gel as being so goupy and leaving your hair crunchy, but as long as I scrunch up my hair as it air dries, this isn't an issue for me. I use this gel and it's perfect and cheap.

The last rule I'll leave you with is to let your curls air dry, and scrunch as it's drying every so often. They say if you really need to, you can use a diffuser, but the ideal is to always let it air dry. Never use a regular blow dryer without a diffuser.

On the site Naturally Curly, you can find your hair type. I saw quite a few women on the forums talking about having barely wavy hair that became really pretty curls when they implemented this method, so if you've always wanted curls, you may actually be able to have them if you do the above!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from my links, you help support little ole' me and I greatly appreciate that! :)

For fun's sake.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:40:00 +0000

The list of names. I love looking back on these years down the road.

Have I ever mentioned that I was nearly Ariel Dawn? I'm not sure how shortly before I was born my parents changed their mind, but I have to say I am mighty thankful they did. Can you imagine what life would have been like for me when Little Mermaid came out?!

2.5 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:48:00 +0000

So our little guy is 2.5 weeks old. What the heck?! I hate how fast time goes when you want it to go slowly, and how slowly it goes when you want it to go fast. When I was pregnant, I couldn't wait to hold this sweet baby in my arms, and now that I want time to stand still so I can soak up every ounce of this perfect child's newborn days, it's whizzing right by.

He is still an amazing baby. I can't get over it. He's gaining weight much faster than the other two (he's 9lbs, 8 oz now), still wakes up only twice a night (with the occasional once-only waking) and only cries when he's gassy or hungry. He loves the car, loves being held, loves having his head rubbed and even loves the bath.

Our sweet friends threw us a Baby-Q to celebrate his arrival (in lieu of a typical baby shower) and it was a ridiculous amount of fun!

My mom hit the road early this morning so I will be officially on my own with THREE(!!) kids starting Monday. Eek! Someone tell me I'll survive!

The Landon Project.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:32:00 +0000

I've always loved the fun pregnancy picture series that women do. From Pacing the Panic Room to One Little Minute to Elsa Juliet, I just think there's something so cool about documenting a pregnancy artistically.

I'm not very artistic myself and don't know a thing about photoshop, so I had to improvise as best as I could. I'm turning this into a hardcover book for Mr. Landon (who undoubtedly won't care one bit but we'll pretend he's going to love it).

Aside from the "after" picture which I have to get sometime this week, this series is now complete! Yay! It took hours and hours but I'm so happy with the end result.

One week of perfection.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 02:09:00 +0000

Little (big) man had his one week check-up today. Technically he's six days old, which meant my mind was blown to learn he's 9 lbs! In six days, he put on almost a pound. Our other babies still weren't even back to their birth weight by this point.

My midwife said a lot of homebirth babies never lose weight. I guess secretly, I didn't believe she could be right. What babies don't lose weight after birth?

I guess mine, as much as I can't wrap my mind around it. Strangely enough, this is the baby I didn't put on a schedule. You know, they tell you to wake your babies up through the night every few hours to feed them. Not me. I let my baby sleep as much as he wants, which was straight through the night his first night and then only waking one to two times ever since. I guess my little chunk knows when he needs to eat, huh?

This little dude has changed my world in six short days. He's made me ecstatically happy. When I hold him in my arms, I can't describe the overwhelming love I feel. It's crazy to think that nine months ago, I cried when I got a surprise positive pregnancy test. This boy has my heart and then some.

Look at those cheeks, that mouth, those swollen little newborn eyes. It kills me!

I always have a birth high for at least a month after my babies are born. This one is more powerful, though. Birthing him at home has changed me deep in my soul. It lit a fire of empowerment deep within me and I don't think I'll ever forget this feeling I have right now. Amazed. I'm amazed at my body, at God's perfect creation, at the birthing process, all of it.

God made my body capable and my midwife helped me believe in that every step of the way.

With His help, Tim and I made this perfect ball of squishy sweetness.

And his brother and sister adore him.

Adalyn just sits and stares at him. He always makes her smile.

Ben wants Landon to play with him....like, yesterday.

But he doesn't quite grasp the concept that newborns don't play. :)

Someone stop me because I sort of want, like, 10 babies.

The homebirth of Landon Alexander.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:14:00 +0000

This is a birth post. I'm a birth junkie and birth doesn't gross me out at all, so take that into consideration before reading this post if you're not into that sort of stuff. I'm not censoring this post. I love birth and I think it should be celebrated and documented and shared. :)

I'm so anxious to get this written down while every detail is fresh on my mind! I had the perfect birth and I don't want to forget any of it.

As I documented here, I was having a tough time being patient. Ben was born 10 days early and Adalyn 2 days early, so I'd never seen a due date pass me by while still pregnant. That made it tough when June 3rd came and went with no signs of baby.

On Monday morning, June 4th, I woke up with some pretty bad contractions. I started getting what someone has so affectionately named "bloody show."

I got really excited and knew that it meant this was it! I started texting friends and getting things ready. I called my midwife. Tim stayed home from work. We were about to have a baby!

But then the contractions started getting farther and farther apart. Eventually, by the afternoon, there were no contractions at all. I've had my share of prodromal labor with this pregnancy, but this one hurt my soul especially badly because the bleeding really made me think it was time. It was also difficult because I'd actually told a lot of people that it was time. I felt like I'd let everyone down when the contractions petered out.

I went to bed hopeful that my midwife was right, that bloody show meant a baby was imminent and that perhaps nighttime would kick the contractions back into gear.

But when I woke up Tuesday, June 5th, with no contractions, I cried. Literally. I was so upset, so let down, so ready to give up. It wasn't the waiting that was so difficult, it was the labor that would start and stop that was killing me. I could handle not having a baby by my due date, but something about being teased and then let down over and over again was agonizing.

I took my midwife's advice and tried to put it all out of my mind. I made up my mind that I would ignore all future contractions and make decided that baby wouldn't be coming until 42 weeks and I was going to be okay with that. I threw myself into some sewing projects, wrote a blog post and took what would be my last belly picture.

My mom commented later that day that my belly looked so different all of a sudden.

About three hours after I wrote that last blog post, I got a contraction. It was around 3:30 in the afternoon or so. I ignored it. And I ignored the next one, and the next one and the one after that. About an hour after they started, I gave in and decided to time them. But I would not be telling anyone. No, sir.

Except they got increasingly more painful and some of them were difficult to talk through, so I decided to tell Tim and my mom so I didn't have to hide my pain. But I told them both that this was absolutely not labor. It would be stopping any time, I assured them.

By 6:30, I was getting my hopes up. I told Tim we should take a walk. At that point, they were pretty painful but very far apart, between 8 and 10 minutes pretty consistently, and very short, only 30 seconds or so.

Keep in mind that I've only ever had what my midwife refers to as "runaway train" labors. This means from the time active labor starts, my contractions have never been more than a few minutes apart. My labors have gone very quickly with almost no time to rest between contractions. This whole break between contractions thing was foreign territory, so I didn't think it could possibly be real labor. My mom and I sat out on the deck after my walk and I kept telling her that this was not labor. I was getting too much of a break, feeling too good between contractions. After all, if it was labor, I had already been in labor for 5 hours at that point, and I've never had a labor last that long. It just couldn't be labor.

But I was keeping my midwife in the loop just in case. She suggested I try to go to sleep. If it was real labor, I'd wake up with more contractions. If it was more prodromal labor, I would fall asleep and probably not wake up until morning.

Tim and I got into bed around 8:00 or 8:30. The contractions were 6-7 minutes apart at this point and getting pretty difficult to deal with. I tried and tried and tried to sleep. Sleep was not happening. Finally, around 9:30 or 10:00, I reluctantly told Tim that this had to be it. The contractions had been getting stronger, longer and closer together for hours at this point. That was textbook labor, right? Even if it wasn't my textbook labor.

I ran a warm bath and got in. I've never used water in labor before, but was shocked the second I got in by how much relief the warm water actually offered during contractions. The bath really kicked my labor into gear and once I got out, they were unbearably strong and 4-5 minutes apart.

I dealt with the labor as best I could at that point, and shortly after, decided to call my midwife and wake Tim up. I asked him to go ahead and fill up the pool. This was it! I had finally decided I could admit I was in real, definite labor and we would be having a baby soon.

My mom woke up about that time and helped Tim get some things ready and tried to help me get through each contraction. I laid on the bed with my rice bag (throw it in the microwave = instant relief) and started vocalizing through the contractions. Oh, I was definitely in real labor.

My midwife, Cheryl, her assistant, Cheryl, my mom, Cheryl (yeah...), Tim and my sweet friend, Lizz, who is a photographer and also happened to break her foot on this very night (saint, right?) all were there, in our bedroom, to witness the birth of mystery baby #3. Time was starting to become irrelevant to me at this point, but I believe it was somewhere between 1:00 and 2:00 when everyone showed up. My contractions would vary between very close together, at 1-2 minutes if I stood up, to farther apart, at probably 3-5 minutes if I was laying down.

Note the broken foot. :)

I moved between the bed and the pool. When I felt like I couldn't handle anymore contractions while in the pool, I'd lay on the bed for awhile instead and vice-versa. Lizz really helped me learn how to breathe through contractions, something I've never been good at (I'm a hyperventilator).

Everyone was awesome. They left me alone when I needed to be left alone, they were there for me when I needed them to be there for me, they held my hand, massaged me...whatever I needed when I let them know I needed it.

Sometimes I just wanted to be totally, truly alone, so I'd go to the bathroom to get through a few contractions in silence by myself.

I remember thinking how crazy long the labor was. I had never known anything like this. By 4:00, I remember thinking, "I've been in labor for TWELVE HOURS now! Come on, baby!"

I didn't know how dilated I was, but my midwife encouraged me. I remember hearing some of them talk about how I must be in transition. I guess I was getting loud. :)

That gave me some sweet relief. Just hearing someone else confirming what I was pretty sure I already knew. Things were happening faster, I was starting to feel like I would honestly die. I was so exhausted I couldn't see straight. That's also not something that's ever happened even though all three of our babies were born early in the morning without any sleep the night before. I was utterly wiped. I didn't know how I would gather up the strength to get through the rest of the birth.

I think I yelled something like, "Why is this taking so long?!" at some point. I was starting to get upset.

Tim got in the pool with me, which was awesome and relieving.

Shortly after, my midwife encouraged me to check myself. I was totally in control of this birth and that was crazy but empowering. So awesome in hindsight! I could feel the bag of waters, which still hadn't broken, and she told me if I pushed on it, I could feel baby's head. So I did. And I could. And it was awesome. It was encouraging. It helped me muster up the strength I needed to get baby out.

She told me to get into a squatting type of position to encourage the bag of waters to break. I did that until my legs started falling asleep but my water still hadn't broken.

By 5:15 or so, I started getting the intense contractions that my body automatically groaned through. It was surreal to know I wasn't really making those noises, that my body was. I didn't really have the urge to push this time that I did with Adalyn's birth, but I knew it was time and the groaning I was involuntarily making confirmed that. So I started pushing. After a few pushes, my midwife asked if I wanted her to check me.

Yes! For some reason, I guess I just needed a break and someone else to totally confirm that I was, indeed, ready to push. I moved to the bed and she told me I was fully dilated, so back to the water I went. I pushed several more times and eventually could feel part of baby's head and the bag of waters come out. I encouraged Tim to feel it, too, and just then, my water broke. It was crazy to literally be holding it while it broke. We're both in awe of that experience, as weird as that may sound.

A few more pushes later, baby's head came out. It was so much more difficult to push this little guy out than it was Adalyn. The pain was worse, it took a lot longer (Adalyn came out in one contraction) and he was just in a different position. Once his head came out, I honestly thought there was no way I could get the rest of him out. I just knew it would either kill me or we would have to go to the hospital to finish the process with a c-section because there was just no way he would fit. Hilarious in hindsight. :)

Luckily my midwife stepped in to remind me that I could do it and I was doing it and helped Tim really pull (I think he was scared to pull hard) while I pushed, and out he finally came! Right into Tim's hands at 5:53 a.m., almost 14.5 hours after my contractions started.

He had a hard time breathing at first, just like Adalyn, but my midwife helped us rough him up a bit to get him to breathe consistently (he was breathing and red, unlike Adalyn who was turning blue, he just wouldn't consistently breathe). You could hear he had a little junk in his chest, so she sucked it out and shortly after, he was totally fine. Well, he was perfect.

I don't remember exactly when it was that we decided to look to see if he was a boy or girl, but surprisingly it wasn't the first thing we did. I remember we were kind of holding him at first, just snuggling him up and trying to reassure him everything was okay, and then we were like, "Oh, boy or girl?!" It was one of the coolest experiences in the world to see for ourselves what our baby was, rather than by ultrasound like we did the last two times.

We got him weighed and were shocked to learn he's exactly what his brother and sister both were: 8lbs, 1oz. I mean, what are the chances, right?

Everyone agrees that he feels and looks bigger, and my midwife said he was the type of baby you really have to tug on to get out, so I guess we'll see tomorrow when he's weighed again if that weight was correct. He's our tall baby, though! Ben was 18", Adalyn was 19" and Landon is 21.5".

As if the birth wasn't perfect enough, Ben and Adalyn went to sleep before my bad contractions started, didn't wake up once through the night and woke for the morning 10 or 15 minutes after Landon was born. We couldn't have planned it any better than that.

Getting to be at home, in our own bedroom, alternating between a pool and our own bed, snuggled up with my husband with people we love surrounding us as we brought our baby into this world was so indescribably perfect and amazing that I will never find the right words to do it justice. It was comforting and empowering in a way that I never knew birth could be. I was in charge. I did what my body told me to do. I didn't mess with the birth process or force the birth process to happen earlier than my body wanted it to. I (reluctantly, I'll admit) waited for Landon to tell me when he was ready to come. I was the one to tell everyone else when he was about ready to come out. I was the one who first felt him descending. I was the one who pushed him out in the way I wanted to push him out and my husband was the one who caught our baby. He was born straight into his home. In a peaceful, dark, quiet environment, right as the sun was rising. He met his siblings a few short minutes after he was born.

I had my membranes stripped right before my water broke with Ben. I also had my membranes stripped multiple times in the end of my pregnancy with Adalyn and eventually asked to have my water broken when I was 6cm dilated and not in active labor. This time, I knew I wanted to be left alone. I wanted my body to do what it's supposed to do with absolutely zero intervention. This is part of the reason I opted for homebirth. My midwife is not into intervention at all, so she made me stick to this desire even when it got tough at the very end. She never checked my dilation, not until those final few moments to assure me that the baby was ready to come. She is a believer that messing with a cervix, even for something as simple as a dilation check, can interfere with the body's natural birthing process. She left me alone entirely, let me listen to my own body, taught me to trust in my body completely. For the first time ever, I now know my body is 100% capable of birthing on its own.

The recovery has been incredible. I don't feel like I had a baby yesterday. I feel like I could go outside and do cartwheels, but that would sort of be against my midwife's wishes so I guess I'll restrain myself. I had one tiny tear and no stitches. Woot!

Landon is absolutely perfect in every way. He is the best nurser we've had (by leaps and bounds) and so far seems to be pretty chill. But, you know, they always are in the beginning. :)

He slept through the night his first night beside me in our own home in our own bedroom.

All is well with the world.

You can read my husband's perspective of Landon's birth here.

Projects to pass the time: 40 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Boy, 40 weeks is tough. Really tough when it's your third pregnancy and you've never reached this point before. I'm (barely) surviving, but only by distraction.

Our mirrored closet doors broke two weeks ago which totally ruined the theme I'd had going on with all the pregnancy pictures thus far. Now we have these white curtains instead, because new mirrored closet doors are $500(!!!). Yeah. Someday.

I'm huge and too tired to do any sort of making uppage for pictures, so forgive my appearance. Yesterday was a really emotional day so today I'm just wiped. Done. Throwing in the towel. Surrendering.

To pass the time, I've been sewing. To pass more time, allow me to document the sewing projects I've made for baby that no doubt nobody but me cares about. ;)

That's a big play blanket, lots of burp cloths and a new nursing cover.

I'm also totally in love with our new tags. Swoon.

I adore chevron, as I've obviously made clear, and this color was so fun I couldn't pass it up! I've just been sitting on this fabric for a few months trying to find a way to use it, and last week I turned it into a big, fluffy blanket for baby to play on. It's summer so it'd be too hot to use as a blanket for swaddling, but since we have wood floors I though it would make the perfect blanket to lay baby on and for play time.

Burp cloths galore (and there are like 10 more not pictured here...whoops).

And I took my favorite fabric ever that I finally got my hands on again after being sold out for like 8 thousand months and turned it into a giant nursing cover. I've never really liked my old one because it was so small. I went huge this time and think I'm going to love it! It wraps way around my sides. :)

And now I'm off to make this baby come out now.

Upstairs bathroom redo.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:22:00 +0000

My mom's in town and helping me get the last of my nesting done. And then there's just the stuff she's flat-out doing herself, like cleaning my oven that I haven't cleaned since we moved in three years ago (ew, right?) because the idea of cleaning an oven was daunting to me. I didn't even know they made ovens that weren't self-cleaning anymore until we moved into this house.

Anyway.

This morning we decided to tackle the upstairs bathroom. You might remember how horrendous it had been looking. Aside from our master bedroom before its redo, it was the most neglected room in our house. Behold:

This was my original inspiration, but I strayed from it because I could never find a shower curtain that was a light enough blue. Eventually I just went with aqua, which matches the grey fine in my opinion and is nice and cheery and happy for a kid's bathroom.

Source: Martha Stewart

I searched high and low for a mirror like the one above and even ended up buying one, but it didn't fit over the hole left behind from the medicine cabinet so it got repurposed in our master bedroom instead.

So we still have the medicine cabinet but the second I can find a new one, it's getting switched out.

Glad to have that project done! We've had the door to this bathroom shut and even locked for the past few months. Now the kids have their own bathroom!

House projects!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:25:00 +0000

Yes, I'm still pregnant. Yes, I am the most pregnant I've ever been. Yes, I am huge. Yes, I am uncomfortable. No, I am not getting induced unless it is medically necessary and at this point, there is no reason to think that would happen. I'm learning to really trust my body, which in hind sight is something I haven't done before. Since Ben was born in the 38th week, I didn't reach the impatient point. I did with Adalyn. 39 weeks and 5 days was my limit and I asked to have my water broken in lieu of a pitocin induction. And I've always regretted it. So now I get to stop being all talk and actually walk the walk. I get to patiently wait and trust God's timing and my own body. No stripping membranes, no dilation checks, no water breaking. It's a teeny bit freeing.

Okay, now that all of that is out of the way, let me distract myself from my enormousness, heartburn and pain and talk paint colors. Exterior painting, to be exact!

We've never done this before. Being relatively new homeowners (isn't 3 years still new?!), this is just a project that hasn't crossed our radar yet. But the people who painted our house right before we moved in did what I'm guessing is a lousy job. Quite a bit of it is already peeling off. Some of it is down to bare wood siding already, which we can't let sit for long!

So...we're starting to talk house painting. We got our estimate, now we get to do the fun stuff: the daydreaming! Except it's sort of not even daydreaming because it looks like it's going to be reality. Woot. :)

Here are the best pictures I have of our house color right now. These were taken shortly after the house was painted:

All that stone is really going to limit our color choices, huh? Though I adore gray and most of our interior is gray, I can't decide if we could get away with it with the tan stone.

I've been my usual Pinterest-obsessed self lately, digging around for ideas. These are my favorites and I'd really love to have someone weigh in!

Option A:

Source: House of Turquoise

Could we get away with this light grey? The stone on this house is tan, so it makes me wonder if we actually could, but I'm totally up in the air. I adore the blue door! That would be a necessity!

Option B:

Source: Houzz

I am totally drawn to the dark blues on homes. I've been seeing a lot more of them popping up lately. I especially love it paired with the wooden door, which would definitely be something we'd do if we went with this blue.

Option C:

Source: Young House Love

I totally love this, too, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to go this dark!

Or this one, which is pretty close to the same but a teensy less dark but we'll still call it option C:

Source: The Estate of Things

Option D would be to leave it a light tan as is and just repaint the front door a light blue like in option A. I'd lean toward a slightly different tan, though, like one of these:

Anyone? Please vote!

38 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:02:00 +0000

Pregnant life these days has gotten a little annoying. Aches and pains and heartburn have now joined forces with false labor, something I know all too well given the experience I had with Adalyn's pregnancy.

My nightly "labor" started around 35/36 weeks with Adalyn and didn't stop until she was born at 39 weeks and 5 days. This time I thought I might have escaped that wrath of nightly prodromal labor until I hit 37.5 weeks. Ever since that point, it has been nightly and daily and excruciating. The kind of contractions that actually make you feel like your pelvis is breaking. The kind of contractions I've never gotten before until literally right before baby comes.

I try to remind myself during every episode that even if this isn't "it," this is all doing something, all making progress. I don't have cervical checks with my midwife, but I feel pretty confident at this point that I am very dilated. And baby is LOW.

So at least there's that. The constant prodromal labor will make my eventual real labor easier and faster and I should be quite grateful for that! I'm just ready. Ready to be unpregnant, ready to be snuggling my newborn and so ready to find out what this little one is!

Trying to trust His timing, because I know it's perfect. Trying to let go of my impatience, because I know it's worthless. :)

Muslin/Gauze Swaddle Blanket Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:16:00 +0000

We've never done the summer baby thing. Both our kids were born smack-dab in the middle of winter, so these muslin swaddling blankets that are all the rage weren't on my radar.

Well, I'll be honest, they were on my radar, but at $49 for a package of 4, I knew it was a frivolous purchase that I wouldn't get much use out of in ten degree weather.

In case you haven't heard of the muslin blankets, they're made of very thin cotton, perfect for summertime swaddling or nursing covers. Aden & Anais blankets started this trend.

Since this baby is due June 3rd, we definitely get to experience all things summer + newborn. I knew that meant I'd need some of these bad boys. Both of my babies have loved swaddling, but the normal swaddle blankets we use are too thick for a 75-78 degree home (depending on who is controlling the thermostat, ahem).

When I first saw cotton gauze fabric, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it: make muslin blankets! Now, don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure this gauze fabric is the same exact thing as "muslin," but it's not called muslin so whatever. We'll pretend. It's soft and stretchy and thin and awesome. And guess what? Only $3.98 per YARD. Yeah. Buy yours here in lots of fun colors!

I went with one yard per blanket, but in hindsight I'd go with 1.25 or even 1.5 yards each for a bigger blanket. At that price, you might as well.

So...go ahead and pick and buy your fabrics. Here are mine, gender neutral enough since we don't know what this babe is and I'm sick of yellow and green.

This fabric is supposed to be perma-wrinkly, so it's very forgiving and makes this project a breeze.

Trim off the raw edges. The blue and black fabrics had selvage edges that didn't fray at all, but for some reason the white edges were frayed on all four sides, so for that one I had to trim all four sides.

Don't ask why I focused on my fat, swollen preggo hand here. I make no claims to photography!

I didn't measure and cut my fabric out at all as I bought a yard of each so I wanted to take as little off the sides as possible, but if you're buying in bulk, you can choose what size you want your blanket to be and cut it down to size. 47 inches X 47 inches is a nice, generous sized blanket and great for swaddling, but mine are smaller since I only got a yard. Once I have a newborn to test them on, we'll see how I feel about their size.

Now here is where you can be all accurate and technical...or not. I went with the latter option since these are just for me. Cotton gauze is not the easiest fabric to fold and measure well and it's not easy to iron, so I didn't bother. You could fold down all four sides 1/4 inch, iron, and then fold another 1/4 inch and iron again. I didn't. I just winged it because, like I said, this fabric is forgiving.

So I folded it roughly 1/4 inch and then in another 1/4 inch and pinned every so often. No ironing.

Since I had good selvages on two sides, I took an even shorter shortcut and didn't fold or bother sewing those sides. No need, as they won't fray.

So then I sewed the two pinned sides.

Voila! Instant, easy, gauzy, breezy, muslin swaddle blanket. :)

Now, for the next option.

This one was easier and in the end, I liked it better. The only warning I have to give is that I don't have a baby to test this on at the moment, so it hasn't been washed and worn. I'm not sure how this one will hold up over time, so I'll report back later.

Like I said above, the white cotton gauze had 4 raw, frayed edges, and I really didn't want to mess with folding all the edges in twice. Call me lazy if you will, but at about 38 weeks pregnant I'm taking as many shortcuts as I can!

So, I freehand folded each side in about 1/2 inch (whatever floats your boat will work, though - 1/4 inch, 3/4 inch) and zig-zagged all the raw edges up. This theoretically should keep the edges from fraying and ended up looking super cute! I chose a fun minty colored thread and I love how it turned out.

To start, I folded one edge and then the other edge up and started zig-zagging there (basically I overlapped sides to start off with).

Then I went around all four sides and did the same, briefly stopping close to the end of each side to fold up the corner of the next side, like so:

In the end, this option also appealed to me more because the blanket looks more reversible. You can't really tell what side is supposed to be the inside of the blanket and what side should be the outside.

Here's a comparison of the two finished edges.

I still have the black cotton gauze fabric left, but I think I'm going to wait until baby is here so I can use hot pink thread if baby is a she and a fun blue or maybe gray thread if baby is a he. :)

So...there you have it! Not difficult at all, slightly time-consuming only because cotton gauze is a little tougher to work with but so worth the savings and the ability to choose your own fun colors!

37 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:15:00 +0000

37 weeks! I love 37 weeks! You're full term and you can finally start fantasizing about actually going into labor soon (it's all still wishful thinking, but at least at 37 weeks you know it becomes more common to have a baby).

I usually do my panicked last-minute shopping trip somewhere between the 36th and 37th week, so by this point I can usually kick back and relax for the last few weeks because everything is done.

As you can see from the picture above, this is going to be a big baby. Maybe not gigantic, but if this baby goes much past 38 weeks, I bet I'll have a nine pounder on my hands. This pregnancy is ending eerily similar to my first pregnancy with Ben, so I become increasingly more convinced it's a boy every day.

A sweet friend gave us her bassinet that you can see in the picture and I'm so excited to get to do that this time around!

Everything is purchased and washed and organized for baby and birth and I met with an OB today about my iron, who feels good about my hemoglobin level and gave us the green light to homebirth. I feel like everything is falling into place and I can finally breathe easily! Well, as easily as one can breathe when her lungs are being entirely squished. :)

All set!

On orphans.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:53:00 +0000

This is the shortest blog post in history, but you simply must read this blog post by Rage Against the Minivan.

Amen.

Nature is amazing.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Not that I think there are many (any?) men who read this blog, but if by some freak chance you happen to be a man and you're reading this blog, I can pretty much guarantee you this post won't interest you in the least. It'll probably have the opposite effect.

This pregnancy has been oddly different than my other two in that I haven't done, well, anything to get ready for baby. Aside from the obvious prenatal appointments and trying to take care of myself, this one has just been so nonchalant. I was thinking it was more that we really recognize by the third time that there's very little a newborn needs, but now I'm just wondering if I've got a case of delayed nesting.

I went through a case of organizational nesting back a month or two ago, but once fatigue set in, it was over as quickly as it began. Then a few days ago, I woke up itching to rearrange our entire house. I do this, you see. While pregnant with Adalyn, I think we went through two rearrangements.

When I brought it up to my husband last night, I was met with a big, fat, "No way." I can't say I blame the guy. He's always bearing the brunt of my brilliant schemes in that he's the manual labor.

I was starting to get worried that I was so lacking in motivation now that this baby would come into the world and have nothing, not even a diaper in its name. I hadn't bought a thing from our homebirth list. I was just satisfied being ~~fat and laz~~y pregnant and tired.

But nature kicked in, as she likes to do, and lit a fire under my butt. Monday I started off with my famous list making, trying to document everything under the sun we could possibly need for this baby and this birth. I finally got serious about names, ordered a few baby hats with said names (necessary, right?) and today stocked up on diapers, breastmilk bags, pacifiers, newborn onesies and pants, etc.

I just think it's so amazing the way nature (and God) has planned everything so perfectly. I'm not an extremely organized person by nature (or at all), but when I need to get things done, somehow that's exactly what I have the energy and drive for.

Adalyn hasn't nursed much at all for the past four or five months. I lost all my milk entirely in November because of this pregnancy, so the occasional nursing she's done since then has been for comfort only. Then a week ago, she started asking to nurse. All the time. Morning, noon and night. She's been quite persistent, and about a day after it started, I noticed I was starting to, uh, get baby's nourishment, if you catch my drift. :)

How amazing is it that my little toddler could sense that? Sometimes I'm so overwhelmed by the miracle of pregnancy and birth and the life-sustaining abilities we have as women that I'm just speechless. This is one of those weeks.

35 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:47:00 +0000

I feel sort of badly about the fact that this blog has become a giant pregnancy journal lately. But honestly, it helps me get through the end to document it rather than whine about it. Although sometimes documenting it is whining about it. We'll forget that part.

HUGENESS! Baby dropped over the weekend and I can feel him or her pretty low. This is really nothing new for me so I'm trying to remind myself constantly that it really has little bearing on whether or not I go early. I also know I'm starting to really dilate, but again, trying to remind myself that for me, that also means nothing.

My friend Beth gave me the best little piece of insight today that I'm going to use to shift my mindset. If you don't already know, I had Ben in the 38th week and it was a four or five hour labor from start to finish. That's short for a first baby. Adalyn wasn't born until a few days before her due date, but her labor was an hour from start to finish. A crazy painful hour, but an hour nonetheless. And at 36 weeks pregnant I was 3 cm dilated and almost fully effaced. I thought for sure I'd be early...and I wasn't.

I've complained about all my early contractions and the early dilation that sets me up for disappointment a lot, but in the end, I should be thankful. I should be grateful that I dilate early because it means I have less dilating to do once real labor begins. I should be thankful that I dilate early because it means my labors are short. And since I'm wanting to go natural, a short labor sounds so, so much more pleasant than a long, drawn-out one, right? So I think the disappointment of sitting around fairly dilated for weeks on end is a small price to pay for quick, easy labors. Yes?

So I've vowed, from this day forward, not to expect baby to come early or whine that it's so unfair that I'm dilated and having lots of prodromal labor but no baby. I've vowed to thank God every day that He allows me to get a lot of the hard work out of the way before real, active (otherwise known as painful) labor begins.

And of course, most importantly, to thank Him for the blessing that is finishing up its growing inside of me. :)

The Belly Diaries

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Inspired by much more talented artists than myself, like Pacing the Panic Room and Kissing Tree, I decided to compile all my belly pictures and notes to baby into a weekly format. The ultimate plan is to turn this into a book for baby. :)

Brownies, babies, basketballs!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Ignore the terrible picture quality and the sewing mess, pretty please. :)

Here we are - 34 weeks with baby number 3. I look like I have a basketball (or 3) under that shirt, huh? We had a prenatal appointment yesterday that revealed I'm now measuring 37 weeks (eek!) and still have really low iron. Boo and boo. I always measured far ahead with Ben, but not with Adalyn. And this is the first time I'm measuring big with this baby, so I'm a little bummed but maybe that just means this baby will come early like Ben instead of pretty much on her due date, like Adalyn. Wishful thinking, I know.

I'll be a good pregnant patient, though, and accept that this baby gets to come whenever he or she wants. But because of the level of miserable this pregnancy has entailed, I wouldn't be upset if he or she chooses a few weeks early versus a few weeks late. :)

Now I just have to work hard to get my iron up so we can continue on this homebirth journey!

To drown my sorrows about being so big, I decided to make brownies this morning. Twisted logic, right? I did at least attempt to make healthy brownies. Or, uh, as healthy as brownies can be. We consulted one of my favorite vegan bloggers for this feat: Peas & Thank You.

I whipped up these vegan, whole wheat brownies in no time at all:

While my kiddos entertained themselves with the fridge and chair, respectively:

The end result was this:

This:

And this:

Happy customers! They weren't the most delicious brownies I've ever had in the entire world, but they were really good and I felt better about giving my kids brownies in the morning knowing they were at least relatively healthy. The kids loved them, and that's what matters most, especially because they're such picky little things.

Changes, cont.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:32:00 +0000

So now that we've finally got our new business model up and running, we were ready for a bit of a branding change, too.

You might have noticed all the changes, but if not, can I act like a little kid on Christmas morning and share it all with you?

First of all, our blog has obviously undergone an overhaul. I heart its simplicity. I was pretty tired of the giant blog headers, so I opted for something new and different.

And I designed our logo! Wha? Me? I have no digital skills whatsoever, but I've been struggling to get exactly what I want in a logo for the last year and decided to just keep playing around until I created something that was what I'd actually envisioned. And finally, it's here!

Again - simple. And totally don't laugh at me if you're reading this and you're a graphic designer because I know my naivety about graphic design is the only thing that's allowing me to like this logo. So don't rain on my parade, pretty please. :)

Our facebook page went through a facelift:

If you don't already like our page, you really should! We're doing a giveaway a month from now on! This month it's a burp cloth set of two. You can see the "giveaway" tab above. And now you even have the option to shop directly from our facebook page! How fun is that?!

Now our business cards are outdated but that's life. I've got about 300 of them in a box here, so we'll just have to send out outdated business cards for the next few...years. :)

The changes are finally here!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:28:00 +0000

For probably, oh, eight months now, I've been wanting to make some changes in the shop.

Shortly after opening last May (almost a year!), I knew I wanted to do more with the shop than just sew. I wanted to do something. For others. And since I feel so passionately about adoption but we aren't in the position to do it ourselves right now (hello, surprise third pregnancy!), I'd like to do my part to help.

So that's what we're doing. Like we mentioned earlier, we'll be donating a portion of all proceeds to two different organizations: An Orphan's Wish and Warm Blankets.

Every time you place an order from today forward, you'll be helping us help these amazing organizations who help orphans. See how cool that is? Please check out their websites to learn all about their missions and how you can get involved if you want to do more.

As I mentioned back in January, we weren't loving the long turnaround times that come with custom orders. I'm the only one who sews, I'm pregnant and I have two kids under three at home already - there is never enough time in the day to get it all done without sacrificing my family, who is always my first priority.

Custom orders are awesome, but they also carry more problems than just long turnaround times. Like I've had happen a few times, sometimes you run out of fabric and it becomes sold out everywhere (Kumari Garden, anyone?!) and you have an order to fill and you can no longer get that fabric. And sometimes, life just gets in the way. Kids get sick. Mama gets sick. You have to leave town at the last minute. Pregnancy issues. And when I've promised someone an order in two weeks, I need that order out the door in two weeks!

So now you've got the brain dump and hopefully understand why we are only going to offer custom orders on a limited basis as time permits. We opened up a second etsy shop that we'll publish once we re-open custom orders (after baby comes). That shop will open and close as we have time for custom orders.

Right now and for the indefinite future, we're focusing mostly on accessories. You can check out the shop to see all the new accessories we have available for immediate delivery. We'll get clothes up in the shop, too, (we have a dress available right now!) but accessories will definitely be more prevalent in the shop than clothes.

Thanks for supporting us through our changes! We're so excited to have finally gotten to this point and to see how The Blue Swirl grows and how we're able to help others through your support over the next year in business!

32 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:59:00 +0000

Well, we've entered into the land of not much sleep because I have contractions all night long.

This time around, however, I know better than to think that means I'll be having a baby anytime soon. LUCKILY. At 32 weeks, obviously, I want this baby to stay put for quite awhile longer.

With Adalyn, these nightly contractions started somewhere in the 36th week and I "went into labor" almost every night until she was born just a few days shy of her due date. I remember thinking all the false labor was going to be the death of me. Maybe this time it'll be a little easier because I have come to expect my body to do this weird prodromal labor thing. It must just be how I do pregnancy.

But I'm tired! Man.

My nesting instinct still hasn't kicked back in and I'm not sure it will. I think I'm one of those early nesters who fizzles out. There's not much left to prepare for baby other than to buy more cloth diapers and make sure everything is washed and buy our birth kit. This has been such a low-stress preparation for baby. I wonder if it gets less stressful each time?

I was just thinking today how I'm 6 weeks away from that exciting time. Something about the 38th week gets so exciting. At that point, you know baby can come at any time (Ben came in the 38th week, Adalyn in the 39th) and it's half exhausting and half exhilarating. You become so in-tune to your body, wondering if any little twitch, cramp or weird sensation could mean labor is impending. I have quite the love-hate relationship with those last few weeks. With Ben, it was awesome. I expected to be late, so when he came 10 days early with my water breaking and a quick labor, it was just perfect. I was expecting to not only be late, but to have no idea when I was actually in labor and then have it drag on for days. With Adalyn, having been told that she would be so early and then having prodromal labor for weeks, by the time she did come along, I was exhausted. My money is on this one being just as exhausting as those last weeks with Adalyn, but I guess I should be more glass-half-full than that, huh?

Without further adieu, I decided to put together all the pregnancy pictures thus far. You know, for a more dramatic effect. :)