Thursday, May 30, 2013

Birthmark or What?

So, close to a month ago, an oddly-shaped red splotch showed up on Kevin's belly. I thought maybe we'd accidentally pinched him snapping a cloth diaper or something, but I watched the spot, put a little baby lotion on it & after two weeks, called his dr. She said to try putting Aquaphor on it for a few days & come in if it didn't clear up. I did, it didn't, so we went in & saw her. She deemed it something akin to a birthmark. Late-bloomer. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, so I felt relieved.
Then, he got these red lines on his legs that were clearly from the diapers... I later narrowed it down to the overnight diapers we were using.
So, we went to the cloth diaper store and showed them to the lady that owns it & got some new diapers to use overnight. After taking a few days to pre-wash them, we finally tried them. They're ginormous! It's so hard to get the covers over them! They're hemp & he can still soak them through. They're supposed to get more absorbent after more washings, and we can add inserts...
But, at any rate, the marks on his legs do seem to be getting better. The splotch on his belly, however, remains unchanged. *shrug*

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Gardening, ducks, jewelry & more

Been busy here lately. Yesterday we hosted our big Gardening Party!
Yeah, not a fancy party in the garden, and down & dirty gathering to garden! I don't know how he did it, but my hubby actually convinced quite a few of our friends that pizza & fellowship were worth the back-breaking work of tilling and landscaping & tree-planting (other planting is yet to come) a roughly 35'x20' area of our yard on a dreary Saturday. I had to run & get some last-minute things we'd forgotten or put off buying until that day & it ended up taking me long enough that I missed out on all the fun outside. I made it back just in time to track one last set of muddy footprints into the house & fix up some fruit & salad to go with the pizza.
I'm so amazed at how nice everyone was to come & help us and what good, quick work they made of the project! I think it looks pretty great! I was hoping to get out there today and actually plant the seeds and sedum, but it's been raining again. At least it's washing the mud off our patio. ;)
That's my hubby showing me what all they had gotten done. See the little plum tree in the back? :D
There's a little mini-fence up now & we're going to run chicken-wire around the sides to try to keep the bunnies out. We're also planting marigolds outside the big fence. Apparently, bunnies don't like them & will steer clear.

So, backing up a bit, in preparation for yesterday, and just because it needed to be done, Paul was trying to mow Thursday night when I started to feel icky. No usual symptoms of being sick, I just had a massive headache and then I had chills, so I checked my temp. It was 102! I ran out & told Paul, but he wanted to get the mowing done since we had more prep to do on Friday. I tried to tough it out, but Kevin kept crying and crying. That's totally unlike him & it certainly wasn't helping the headache. When I tried to change his diaper I realized my hands were numb & I was having a hard time fumbling with the cloth diaper & concentrating... I tried to put the waterproof cover on without an actual cloth diaper on him! So, I grabbed a disposable and went back out & told Paul, the yard will have to wait, I can't handle the kids by myself. I called the on-call dr. and described my symptoms. He asked some questions & basically said, "that's weird. It sounds like something viral. Get some rest & come in in the morning."
Thankfully, I improved overnight & my temp was in the 99-100 range the next day (even without Tylenol) and I saw the dr. I had talked to. He said he wanted to make sure it wasn't meningitis, but he didn't want to sample spinal fluid unless it was really necessary. Since I was improving, he didn't think it was necessary. He said it was just some weird virus & I'd have to ride it out. My temp was back to normal Saturday, so I wasn't too worried, but it certainly was weird!
Friday, I hired the neighbor's 19yo daughter to mow the rest of the yard for us. Her grandpa ended up helping her and doing the trimming even!
When she came around the South side of the house with the mower, she startled & was startled by a duck who flew out from under our "chimney" vent! She looked & discovered the duck had a nest with at least a half-dozen eggs (we later counted at least 10!) under there!
We're quite surprised & baffled by our new resident. There aren't any ponds nearby! The only idea anyone had that she was out there was that I had heard some noises outside the fireplace (while I was sitting inside) that I'm guessing were from her.
While our friends were working, I peeked & found that mama duck had returned to her well-hidden nest and her eggs.
Oh, & for reference, this is what the nest is under: Can you see it under there?

Meanwhile, my wonderful mother has been hard at work photographing my jewelry & updating my facebook page! I still need to finish some of the descriptions, but I'm excited to be making progress with her help. :D
Most of these are pieces I have been meaning to post & am glad to be getting out there now! I have one more new piece to post soon.
Here's a crappy picture with my leg as a necklace stand! Pay no attention to my mess in the background please! Getting in on the whole ombré trend...

I also got some other art projects done & started with the kids, inspired by this: http://pinterest.com/pin/211176670000214352/
Mine are just on paper so far & not so cool, but they're cuter (to me) because they're my kids' hand- & footprints! ;)