What I have learned from fire ants

The last couple of days have been really rough. I feel like it has been one of those times that as a mom I really had to dig down deep to find the strength to keep going and get what I needed. On Wednesday I accidentally stepped into a nest of fire ants when getting out of the car at a friends house. The ants hurt when they bit, but the bites didn't get bad until Wednesday night. They were so excruciating that I couldn't sleep and continued that way until today. Benadryl and cortisone cream were not helping. What made this even worse is that my husband is out of town. I made it through Thursday but after another sleepless night I knew I needed to go to the doctor. I felt overwhelmed at asking others to help me, but came up with a small list of people to call and was able to find someone to watch the girls. The doctor immediately looked at my foot (with its 10 swollen bites) and said "these are infected, I think it is a staff infection." No wonder they were hurting so badly. She took a sample to get tested to find out for sure, and sent me on my way with antibiotics, steroids and painkillers. Tonight I can already tell the steroids are starting to work. I am not limping as badly and the swelling is going well. So... here are something that I learned from fire ants.

1. Wear sandals outside in Mississippi at your own risk.

2. When in doubt, go to the doctor. I wasn't sure if I should go or wait it out, and I am so glad that I did.

3. Being a mother is much hardest when you don't feel good, and it is hard to take care of yourself when you have others to care for.

4. It is ok to feel disappointed about missing out on fun activities because you are not feeling well. It is important to take care of yourself and be realistic about what you can and can not do.

5. Even though it is really hard, it is important to ask for help when you need it. It is not fair to assume that people will just know when you need it. I don't know why it is so hard for me to ask for help, but I think it has something to do with not wanting to admit I can't handle something by myself or inconveniencing others. What I realized today as I relied on people to watch my children, bring us food and care for us, was that everything was so much easier and better with the support and love from others. I am extremely thankful that we have such kind friends and neighbors here.

Hopefully I am on the road to recovery and will be back to myself in no time.


Sent from my iPhone

Using the learning tower

C and E got this learning tower from my parents for Christmas.  What an awesome consignment find!!  The idea behind the learning tower is that it creates a safe way for young children to access the counter and sink.  C and E are finally stable enough when standing that I decided to try it out at the sink.  They are still pretty little but are able to reach the water to wash their hands.  They like being able to do it themselves and I am excited to see what fun things we can do with this as they get bigger.

* I look at these pictures and just marvel at how big my girls are getting!  It is exciting to see them doing things for themselves, but also makes me miss their tiny baby selves. *

We have been spoiled!

For the last week and a half my family and I have been spoiled by the wonderful visit of my husband's parents and grandmother.  They are so kind and loving, and we had a great time with them.  Here are just some of the ways that we were spoiled by their visit.

E and C got to take to two trips to the splash park in one week.  They had wagon rides every afternoon and lots of individual play time with loving grandparents and great grandparent.  I think both E and C got pushed around in the pink princess ride-on toy about an hour each day.

Here we are just about to leave for our date, dinner and a concert.

I was spoiled in many ways also.  I was able to do my hair and put make-up on at least four days while they were here.  I had help while my husband was out of town which made bed time so much easier.  I had time to run some errands, go out to dinner with friends, go on a date with my husband, and clean around the house.  We power washed our entire house and cleared out a lot of brush in our yard.  I played a lot of cards with my great grandmother-inlaw, which was such a treat as I don't get to play games very often. 



Over all it was a superb visit, topped off by a mother's day shared by three mothers. I am thankful for being able to be a part of this special family and all of the thing that they did for us during this visit. 

Water fun

It has been hot here already.  Yesterday was up close to 90 degrees.  This does not look good for the summer, but has allowed us to have some fun outside with water.  Last week we joined some friends at the local splash park.  I was really unsure about how the girls would like it, especially because they are not walking yet.  I also was nervous about the logistics of two tiny girls, only one mama, and lots of water, but it went really well.  After they got comfortable with the splashing water they enjoyed crawling around in it.  I am learning to relax a little and try things even though they might be difficult.  It is easy for me to say "I have one year old twins, this will be too difficult."  Sometimes that is true, but most of the time it is just an excuse.

We also went to walmart and purchased a small blow-up pool to use at our house.  We couldn't wait and got it ready while the girls were napping.  After nap we popped them in.  It is really interesting because again it took them a little while to figure out what they thought about being in the water and what they wanted to do.  They were not scared, just cautious.  I guess I keep forgetting that these are all new experiences for them.  They have never been to a splash park or sat in a baby pool before, amazing!  I am thankful that I get to experience these firsts with them.  What a gift.



A fun baby gift

I have finally had time to do a little crafting and actually finished a project that I have been working on!  It feels good to be able to be creative and I am excited to share the project on here.  Recently I found this really cute homemade baby toy on pintrest and thought it would be a great gift for a friend that was due to have a baby at the beginning of May.  I got started a few weeks ago with fabric and planning, but it was this UFO link party my friend was hosting that helped me to finish the project. 

I decided to make three smaller ones and use all three of the little boy's initials, HDD.  After picking out and prepping the fabric, black and white for the back because babies love contrast, and different fun patterns for the front, I needed to make my pattern.  Instead of drawing the letters out by hand, I printed them from my computer so they would be the same size.

Then I pinned the patterns to the fabric and cut those out.  I realized that I didn't allow for a seam allowance in the pattern so when cutting out I actually went out about a quarter of an inch on each piece of fabric.  Once I had fronts and back for each of the three letters, I got some cotton batting and used the pattern pieces to cut out batting to go in the middle.  I wanted to give the letters a little more form.

It was then time to pick out ribbon and pin the pieces together.  I tried to pick out ribbon that was different colors or textures to add more interest.  I laid the pieces with right sides out and pinned where I wanted to attach the ribbon.  I sewed around the letter about one fourth of an inch from the edge.  It was a little tricky to get the hang of making sure the ribbons didn't move and also being consistent and neat with the stitching.  I went around the letter twice so that it would be sturdy enough to stand up to a baby.

That is really it!  Once I got the hang of the process with the first letter, the second two were much quicker.  I then just attached a link to them so that they can be attached to a play gym or stroller.  I had a lot of fun figuring out how to make these work and I think the finished product turned out pretty cute.

Here they are laid out.  It would also be great to add a layer of crinkly material so that they made noise, or a different texture of fabric to the back so that they felt different.  There are many ways to make these fun and interesting for babies.

Here is a picture of the back.  I really wanted to use black and white as babies can see that well and like the contrast.

I am linking this project with the UFO challenge that my friend at The Bean Sprout Notes is hosting.  She encouraged me to participate and I am glad that I did because I got this done in a timely manner!