Only a few pics

So, while we were in Indiana, our land lords tiled our kitchen and expanded the floor on it...














AND redid our entire bathroom! :) Neat, huh?
Need we say that we think our landlords are awesome -- and did think that even before this happened.











This is a tiger from the Indianapolis Zoo.














This is Amy climbing on a boa in the snake house.
We had a grand time visiting Oma Jan and Opa Mark and Ben and Miss Liss. Ryan's other sister Steph and her family were there too, and Amy was grateful to be able to run everywhere with her cousins and snuggle up with her Grandma every night. I sadly only took videos of her seeing fireflies and our video thing doesn't upload. Well, so much for that. Point being: we had a great time. I took many mental pictures at least, and it's nice to be back and have a new bathroom and kitchen. For those of you who'd never seen our previous bathroom -- the tub, toilet and sink were purple, the tile on the floor was pink and black and the tile on the tub was pink, black, purple, and turqoise. I think this is a major improvement.

FOUND: Camera

Here are a few photos of our crew...














Captain "Bucket-head" Amy,













1st mate "blue eyes" Esther,













who's a bit jealous of Amy's locks and wondering when she's gonna get some of her own...














Cute as pie though... even if bald as a billiard ball.

An Update

So, I can't find my camera, though we have cute pictures to post... an update on our family?

Esther's learned to clap, and she scoots around a lot on her tummy kind of rolling crawling.

Amy loves Jazz. We went to an art festival where they had music too... Amy was glued listening to this woman singing Jazz. She didn't want to go anywhere -- no french fries, no walking to see the booths, she just wanted to sit and listen to this girl sing. We had to buy a CD for her (thankfully it was only 5$).

An Amy quote, after she sneezed: "Mommy, I just blessed you."

We're sickies here, but happy... and I'm grateful for Ryan.... have I mentioned enough what a wooley-baa-lamb and prince among men he is? He is!!

104.8

So, it's been kind of a crazy week at the Weight household -- Esther got sick, and had a really high temperature 3 days running, one night hitting 104.8. Thankfully, my father's a doctor... otherwise we'd have gone to the E.R. at 2 am. Now, she is doing better, I am very relieved and happy to say. She has broken out in a rash, and most likely had rosella virus or 'sixth disease'.

Severe Insomnia

So, I've had a crazy three week stint of insomnia, where the most sleep I've gotten is two nights of 6 hours (with the aid of sleeping pills), and the rest has been 3, with 6 days of no sleep at all... and several times of taking sleeping pills without sleeping and just having the nausea and tummy-aches for nothing...
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO this post is to share what I've learned from this about insomnia and what I've learned about myself and to celebrate that for the first night since the week before mother's day I have slept!! HOOOOORRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!

So, much of what I learned about insomnia I learned from the Mayo Clinic website, my sister, and the library. Here you go:

Sometimes you get insomnia because you have something life-changing happen (someone dies, or you're getting married, buying a house, a new baby etc) or because you are stressed about something (finals, work, whatever). Sometimes it comes from bad sleeping habits -- too many nights staying up cleaning or whatever. Or sometimes, it happens like it seemed to for me, for no good reason at all.

What's condusive to good sleep? A clean room. A regular sleep time. A sleep routine (reading, brushing teeth, soaking feet). A dark room. Ear plugs or a noise machine... don't stress about not sleeping -- for the most part other than headaches, you can still get through the day on a lot of prayer. What if all that's not working? Well, check with your doctor to rule out your thyroid or other problems. Possibly taking a sleeping pill, or a melatonin supplement which doesn't work for everyone, just those whose body is not producing enough melatonin on their own. I tried that last night. My doctor, who'd experienced severe insomnia last year when his father died, suggested counting breaths -- every time you exhale counting. I just did 1-10 over and over and then I'd wake up and realize I'd slept. It was wonderful!!

What I've learned from this experience:
God listens to all our prayers and helps you do the things you need to do, even if it's difficult at times. Even if He doesn't take the trial immediately away (I don't know how many times I've prayed to sleep in the past 3 weeks), He's still there and loves us.

I love Ryan more every day. He's slept on the couch a lot recently, worried that his snoring was part of my problem. He is so selfless and kind, and so willing to 'roll with the punches' if the house isn't as clean as I'd like, or watch the girls so I can take a bath, or make dinner... he's amazing. He is pretty much superman, and I love him madly!

I love my sister, Jenny, who has experienced so much. It's too bad for her that she's been the trail blazer on somethings, but it's been great for the rest of us, because it was nice to know that she knew what I felt like. She's awesome.

So, the break-down. I love God, and He loves me. I love my husband, and he loves me. I love my kids and they love me. I love my sister, and she loves me. I love my family, and they love me.

Essentially wordless...

I love Esther's blue eyes...














I love my girls, and my wonderful husband...


























I love Esther's new teethy grins (6 new teeth on top)

I'll never go back...

So, there are some things that I would've called extreme-hippie when I was younger, but now I'll never go back...

cloth diapering (I'm not always 100% on this, but I'd say I cloth diaper 75% of the time and it saves me loads of money and keeps my laundry machine running for background noise :). But I do think it's much easier diapering your own kids -- when my sister, or sister in law, first suggested cloth diapering, I thought "ew, gross". I almost puked on my nephew when I changed his diaper and couldn't bring myself to clean it, so my poor brother in law had a stash to clean when he got home from the hospital with my sister and her new baby. Needless to say, I was weak-sauce and maybe not the best helper, but when it comes to my own kids -- I CAN do it! :)

on this same note using the inserts from our cloth diapers (bumGenius variety) as menstrual pads. I don't like pads, or tampons... pretty much I just don't really like having my period, but these at least make it SUPER comfortable!! They are shaped like a pad and soft and you don't have to worry about them leaking through because they're so thick and they're much more breathable. If you have those type of diapers for your kids, try it... Okay, I've said my peace on that.

Using Lanolin. So, I bought lanolin when I had Amy and had cracked nipples. But, it has many more uses than that -- I found it is about the BEST chapstick anyone could hope for. It's initially really sticky when you put it on, kind of the consistency of honey, but then it moisturizes so much better. I also found it is a main ingredient in some of the bum cream I like using for the girls, so I started using it straight on Esther's bum and her rash has cleared up really fast. I also use it when I get cracked skin in the winter.

Washing my hair twice a week or less. I had never considered this... ever, until I had a friend with very cute curly hair tell me that she never uses shampoo because it dries her hair out too much. I was stunned that she mainly does a vinegar rinse on her hair and uses conditioner. Wow! I was looking to do something different with my hair, because it seemed to get oily way too fast. Who would've thought this would be the answer -- We shower every day, but I only wash my hair on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and once a month I use Apple Cider Vinegar on my hair to rinse it and it feels so silky smooth and soft afterwards. Things I've noticed? 1- My hair doesn't get oily as fast... by Wednesday I look forward to shampooing it, but it doesn't look oily... just shiny. 2- I'm saving lots of money on shampoo and conditioner and could maybe even afford to buy the type I really like, 3- I can finally remember what day I'm supposed to wash my hair, 4- my hair looks healthier and is not as brittle as it used to be, so it's growing faster.

Applesauce. I started using applesauce instead of oil because the only oil we had was extra virgin olive oil and I though the taste would be too strong in my bread. My bread not only still tastes as great, but it's fewer calories, and you can use applesauce in SO many things. I recently started subbing it in when I make cake mixes too. I made cookies last week with no butter or oil -- it had applesauce and bananas. They're not bad for being so healthy. (If you want the recipe, it's on the Everyday Inspirations blog: http://www.365inspirations.com/1/post/2011/03/healthy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html)

Fat Free Plain Yogurt. I don't buy sour cream anymore -- and this is much more versatile... I can use it to make smoothies AND use it in place of sour cream in alfredo sauce, or on our burritos. I love it (though Ryan sometimes wishes we'd just get sour cream, but he's a good sport) and if our family can grow up being used to that, all the better for them.

Making my own lotion. I make my own lotion with coconut and olive oil, and lavender or jasmine essential oil for fragrance. I LOVE it.

Making my own soap. I made my own soap with a friend a few weeks ago (Jasmine) and I love it too! It lathers so nice and though I'll have to track down where to buy lye sometime, I think I'm going to keep making my own. It ended up being about 7$ for 20 bars of soap.