Napa Valley

Today we are leaving Napa and heading to spend the remainder of our trip in San Francisco!

Napa was wonderful and we had great weather. It was sunny and upper 70's/lower 80's every day. Pure sunshine and no clouds. The sun felt so good!!

The first (and our favorite!) winery that we went to was Sterling Winery. We took a tour of the winery, sampled some wines (I just took one sip of each), and enjoyed the views and sunshine. It was really fun!











My mom and sister on the lift up to the top of the winery. My sister was being a wuss! Ha!




My mom and I at Sterling. I bought two bottles of wine for after the baby.

We also went to Cakebread Cellars, Rombauer, and Castello Di Amorosa. But Sterling was by far our favorite.



Cakebread grapevines




My sissy and I at Cakebread







Castello Di Amorosa

We ate some amazing food in Napa! We had some great marinated olives, dinner at Morimoto's restaurant (he's and Ironchef!), and an amazing lunch at Rutherford Grill.

At Rutherford Grill they had these amazing woodfire grilled artichokes. Seriously the best!! I will be trying to recreate these at home this summer for sure!



I can't wait to see what San Fran has to offer for the remainder of the trip. I am soaking in as much sunshine as possible! And....I get to hang out with my bro! He lives in San Fran and I can't wait for him to be our tour guide.

Dump post

This is going to be a hodge podge of photos and posts, mixed together. I just dont have time to catch up on all of them! So, here goes:

In March Peytonn turned 6! How did he get to be six years old so fast?! He's almost done with Kindergarten and soon he will be a first grader. Sniff sniff. My baby and first born is growing up too fast!! He's so tall that I can barely pick him up anymore!

He had his first 'friend' bday party this year. We had it at the YMCA where the kids had gym time and swim time! Let me tell you, 25 five and six year olds for over two hours is exhausting!!!!! But they had a blast!














It was super crazy but Peytonn had a blast and that's all that matters!

We had his family party in Easter Sunday. He now thinks he gets at least two or three parties for his birthday. Yeah....no.

We've been trying to get outside as much as possible when the weather permits. We've had soccer practice and games and baseball is also getting ready to start. We are going to be super busy here soon!

But this weekend the weather was amazing and we got to spend some much needed time at the park and outside working on the yard and the garden.











Avonlea got to break in her new keen sandals. They were great for the park!





First soccer game!




Mama got to enjoy/indulge in a cherry soda. Yum!

I am so excited to leave for vacation tomorrow. I spent last night grocery shopping and making a few freezer meals for the family while I'll be gone. I am almost packed and definitely ready to go!

I've got my spray tan and my highlights/haircut. And a 14 week belly to tag along. :)



See you all next week!!

This....

I want.

Now......who wants to buy it for me?

Anyone?

No?

Come on!

I'll give you ice cream. :)

Girls Trip

I finally get to take a vacation this year. A real one. A week long girls trip with my mom and my sister. No husbands and no kids! To say I am excited would be an understatement.

We are leaving in about a week now. We are going to Napa Valley for three days and then heading to San Francisco for the remainder of the trip. My brother has lived out in San Francisco for about 5 years now and we only get to see him a few times a year. I am very excited to get to see him and get to hang out for a few days.

So, today I start the preparation! I finally get to have my hair highlighted and I am doing the spray tan. I am tired of being so pasty. I can't wait for some sunshine and girl time!

I also need to finish making my maxi skirts. I thought those would be super comfortable for traveling and walking. Plus, light weight and easy to pack. We all plan to just take carry ons, so this should be interesting for packing. I'm not a heavy packer anyways, but trying to fit a weeks worth of  clothing and essentials into a carry on bag may be challenging.

My hubby will  be holding down the fort at home with all three kiddos for that week! I am so thankful that I get to have this time away and spend it with my family! It is a much needed break.

Pregnancy update

I've managed to make it to 12 weeks! I had an unexpected visit to the doc around 10 weeks 4 days due to some spotting, which I've been having on and off during the pregnancy. It makes every day rather nerve racking.

Doc did an internal exam and my cervix was still long and closed. Then he did an internal ultra sound to check on baby. Baby looked great with a HB of 178 and was measuring 4 days ahead. He looked at the position of the placenta and stated that it ended just before my cervix and that may be the cause of the spotting. But he saw nothing concerning. He said as my uterus grows it will likely pull the placenta away from the cervix. Thankfully, I haven't had any spotting in almost two weeks now.

I am feeling pretty good and have made up for lost time in the eating department. I've gained between 3-5lbs already. :( This is not good and I keep reminding myself that I need to make better choices.

My belly is huge and by most evenings I feel like a balloon ready to pop. My belly often feels heavy and bloated. I'm sure it's a combination of normal pregnancy symptoms and my poor eating habits lately.

I am having a harder time now falling back asleep after I get up during the night. I have been taking my vitamin and omega pill in the evening which makes me have to get up and pee about 5-6 times per night. Usually after midnight I have a hard time falling back asleep. Like last night I was up for over an hour at 3am. Not fun come 6am!

But, overall things are going well. I can't complain too much. I remember weeks 5-8 and how horrible those were. I know it can always be worse.

I think as a family we've come to the consensus that we are going to find out the gender of this baby. Everyone so far thinks its a girl. We shall see.

And last, a 12 week belly pic:



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My favorite things

This post is going to be about all the things I am loving right now. Most of these things I use on a daily basis and I just adore them. So, here we go.....




Dr. Bronner's Castile soap in Peppermint. I love this stuff! Seriously. It has about a million different uses. We mainly use it as part of our all purpose cleaner. I add a couple of tablespoons of this soap in a squirt bottle. Then add equal parts water and vinegar. Bam! That's it, works like a charm. We have been making out own cleaner for about 5 years now and I wouldn't go back to store bought. This huge bottle cost $9.99 at Trader Joes and lasts forever. I've had this bottle for about two months now and you see how much is actually gone. It's great for baths, dishes, cleaning carpet, etc.




Suave Keratin dry shampoo. I am trying really hard to wash my hair less. The washing, blow drying, and straightening is starting to take a toll on it. The past week I have washed every other day and used this dry shampoo on the off days. It actually works great and I'm loving it!!




I recently had to revamp my skin care routine. My skin is so dry and just nothing seemed to work. So, I started from scratch. This is now my daily routine and my skin is really thanking me! I use the scrub every other day and its gentle enough for sensitive skin like mine.




Goat milk soap from Goatmilkstuff.com

This soap is amazing! It is all that we use and has been for almost a year now. They are a family run, Indiana based company. I have been to their store front in Scottsburg and their children help run the store and make the soap. They are a large, homeschooling family and their children are delightful! I also adore their scrubs, lotions, and chap stick. If you subscribe to their monthly newsletters, every month has a code for free product or a percentage off your order. Check them out!!





Baby bottom cream from Green Housewives Bath Co. This stuff rocks! Avonlea has super sensitive skin and this stuff really heals it and protects it. I use it every night on her bottom, cheeks, and her eczema spots. A little goes a long way which is nice and a money saver! It also smells fresh. Check them out on Facebook!

Well, that about rounds out my favorites for right now. I hope you check out the products and try for yourself!


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Really?

I'll preface this post with a disclaimer. This is more of a rant than anything else, so bare with me.

I'm slightly irritated by people and their seemingly harmless comments that I just can't  get out of my head. We've all had thoughts or reactions when we see large families in public. I know I have, you know how it goes: you're in the store and then a family passes you and you just start counting the kids. I know I've made a silent comment to myself of "wow, 6 kids!" And then I watch them, all walking together quietly, helping the parents or holding the hand of a little one. And then I make another silent comment to myself of "dang, that mama knows what she's doing!"

I guess I'm just one of those people where large families don't really bother me. Maybe it's because I am involved with 4 different co-ops and most of the families have 5+ kids and homeschool. I'm friends with parents of large families and we attend a Catholic church with several large families. I don't even bat an eye at it anymore. Nine times out of ten, those 5+ kids are more well behaved than my three even on their best day!

So, I guess maybe it just took me a bit by surprise that people would make some comments about us being pregnant with baby number four. I mean, is it really that shocking that people still want more than two kids now a days?! Or that we view children as a blessing and a gift from God rather than creatures that take over your life and ruin any fun thing that you might want to do?! I feel so blessed to be able to be the mama to at least three amazing kids! They are my entire world and every decision I make surrounds them.

I really admire those parents of large families and I often go to those veteran mamas for sound parenting advice. Seriously, I am amazed at how structured, patient, and caring these parents are. I have learned so much from them.

So, I guess I'm going to end this little rant with a piece of my own advice: Please be mindful of your comments to others regarding their children and their family. Just because it isn't for you, doesn't mean it isn't for someone else. And no my children are not a curse, they are a blessing and I am lucky to be their mama! And I can't say that I am 100% positive I am done after four children. I have always had the mindset of taking it one child at a time. I know what I can handle and what my limits are. I would rather have a house full of  chaos and love than a fancy car or 3 vacations a year. That's just me.